My Life and Weightloss

There are a few things on my mind today, so I'll outline first.  1. I'm going to be blogging about losing weight (I know!  The horror!), even though I'm sure there are like a bajillion blogs out there about people trying to slim down.  The bottom line is, I think it will help me actually commit and lose the weight.  So bear with me, or not.  I'm not even sure anyone reads this blog, so it can just be for me.  2. I'll give you a little update about what I'm up to.  3. I'm going to talk a little about my novel, but really, if you hate hearing about peoples' novels, feel free to skip that part because I often find it annoying myself.  But, if I'm going to talk about me and what I'm doing, well I'm going to talk about the novel.


And, we're off!  I guess I'll talk about the book and other things I'm up to first.  So, I started this book last summer and got pretty far (at least for me) until the steam started running out.  Once I started the fall semester, though, my progress came to a standstill and I probably wrote less than a few pages the entire school year.  Now, I've started working again, but I'm kind of doing it randomly, just picking out separate scenes and working on them independently.  I actually think this is easier because I was having a lot of trouble with the section I had gotten to in the book and hopefully I can write out the major scenes and connect them together at the end.  


Now, when I started the book, I was writing in 3rd person, but I think I've decided to write in 1st person now because it was sounding impersonal.  I've never written a novel before, so I'm really trying to get into this character and make her unique.  I don't want her to be generic, and I want her to have her own failings, weaknesses, disturbing past, etc., just like any real person.  The other problem I'm having right now is that I want the book to mean something.  I want it to make people think or give them insight or affect them in a real way.  I don't want it to just turn out to be some generic novel with flat characters and no real, deep meaning behind it.  I don't want it to be like one of those best seller's factory line novels.  (You know how some authors do it when they're really successful - pumping out books every few months like there's no tomorrow). So it has to be special and it has to mean something.  I might even cross over into gritty.  I just want it to be real and not apologize for it.  I think I should try to explore this idea of lies and deception.  Maybe I should do a study on pathological liars and people who successfully hoodwink people into trusting them.


Alright, that was a lot about the book.  Well, other than that, I finished up a little ipod pouch for my boyfriend and I'm working on a ribbed hat for him, too.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this on here, but I've recently been crocheting quite a bit and I've already made a scarf and an ipod pouch for myself.  After I'm done with my current projects, I'd like to make myself a make-up bag, as well.  I'll try to post pics of my projects when I can.


Other than that, I'm planning on starting a peacock painting.  I've done some sketches, but still need to make some tweaks before starting out.  I like to paint more cartoon-y or at least less realistically.  I'm guessing if I gave it enough time I would do fine with more realistic paintings, but I think it would detract from the fun of it.  I find  is surprisingly relaxing.  Ahhh...


So, the weight loss thing.  I'm not really sure what I'm going to do yet.  I think I'll outline my goals and my plans and then write out my progress each day (or every few days) - like, what I'm eating and what exercising I've done.  However, this post is a little long already, so I think I'll start this out another day.


<3 Christen

Clumsiness and Comics

So far, today has been a bad luck day.  Fortunately, I don't believe in luck, just clumsiness.  The first thing was not my fault:  a rogue shampoo bottle leaped off of the shower shelf and fell on my big toe.  Next, I cut myself with the razor, then I spilled a bottle of foundation (at least not the whole thing), and lastly, I just spilled my boyfriend's drink everywhere (including on myself).  


Nevertheless, I've decided that I'm going to look at the bright side of things!  First of all, I didn't break my toe.  I didn't even get a bruise.  My cut didn't bleed.  I didn't spill the whole bottle of foundation, and was able to mostly scrub it out.  Also, at least my boyfriend had a cup full of melted ice and not something stainy like grape juice or Hawaiian punch.  So there.  I'm not going to let my day of clumsiness get me down.  I'll just have to focus harder on not spilling anything else today.


In other news, I've discovered a new webcomic:  Savage Chickens.  I'm pretty much addicted to webcomics.  Actually, I don't think I've ever spoken of my love for webcomics on here, so I'll list my favorites which I check every day, plus some other ones I'm working through the archives on.  Check them out; they're all really funny! 


(These are listed in the order that I read them every day.  However, not all of them update every day.)


xkcd - updates Mon, Wed, Fri


Cyanide & Happiness - updates every day (Can be a little shocking, but very funny)


Bug - updates Mon-Fri


Amazing Super Powers - updates Mon, Wed, Fri (Might not be to everyone's taste)


Robot Beach - updates Mon, Wed, Fri


Sinfest - usually updates every day (This is one of my very favorite comics!)


Ones I'm still working through the archive on:


Space Base 8 - updates Mon, Wed, Fri


Road Apples Almanac - updates Mon, Wed, Fri (Very creative story on this one)


Slither and Friends - updates Mon, Wed, Fri


Other than that, you may have noticed that I've changed the layout of the blog a little.  I moved the blog posts over to the left for better flow.  Enjoy!


<3 Christen

A Change of Heart

I think I need to go in a new direction with this blog.  Since I started, I've pretty much written about political and social issues, but to be honest, I'm not super interested in writing about that stuff all the time anymore.  I'm not getting the paper while I'm at home (and probably won't next year, since I'm going to a branch campus) and I'm not watching political shows, either.

I think what I need to do is get back to the heart of this blog - why I started it in the first place.  The blog is supposed to be all about how writing things out is the best kind of therapy.  So maybe it's time to make this blog more personal and write about my actual life!

I guess I could start somewhere a bit obvious.  If you've read this blog before, you may have noticed that it originally stated on the homepage that I was an aspiring therapist.  That is now gone because I've changed directions and am going back to school next year to get a degree in computer technology!  I know, it's a big change.  I had been so sure about wanting to be a therapist for a really long time, but I had a change of heart this past year.  The thing is, I'm really not that great with talking to people.  It seems like an odd career choice for someone who has felt socially awkward her whole life, right?  Well, the thing is that when I got into the one-on-one counselling situation, everything changed for me.  I just relaxed, got down to business, listened, and let those wheels in my brain spin.  

I have to admit, counseling was very fun for me when I was at Johnson.  Once I got to Kent, however, it was like reality striking.  I was ready to go to grad school for 5-7 years to get a fancy doctorate for a while.  Then I realized that was a huge waste and was going to get my master's in counseling.  The problem is, counselors don't make much!  However, I am willing to do what I love for less money.  I think the most important thing is that you love what you do.  The thing is, I lost my enthusiasm for psychology and counseling!  Somewhere along the way, reality struck me hard and I realized this job was going to be taxing, emotionally draining, stressful, rarely fruitful, and I decided it wasn't worth it.  I can't imagine going in every day to try to help broken people and not feeling broken myself!

So, I was searching for other options and came across this computer program at Kent Ashtabula.  The concentration is Internet and Multimedia and I'm hoping now to become a web developer/ web designer.  It's a way different field than psychology, I know.  I'm a little scared that I won't fit into the field, besides already knowing the psych field so well!  But the thing is, I have always been interested in creating web pages.  When I was younger, I spent hours and hours planning and working on web pages.  And, as you can see, I'm obviously still into it, since I have two blogs!

I think this job will fit me better.  I think it's going to be a good mix of problem-solving, technical work, and creativity.  I love that I'm going to be able to (hopefully!) be creative in my job every day.  In my spare time, I'm always painting, drawing, writing, crocheting, and just expressing my creativity.  And I love love love solving puzzles!  I've recently found a great site with a bunch of matrix puzzles:  www.puzzlersparadise.com.  Plus, I love doing cross-words, hidden object games, sudoku, word puzzles, and more.  As far as the technical side, I've had a web design course before, and I kind of like the coding.  The other elements are more fun, of course, but I wouldn't mind doing that every day.  Another plus for this job is that I can possibly work from home in the future.  We'll have to see if that would be a good or bad thing!

Well, I think this post is already pretty long.  I'm going to try to write on here more often and write about my life more.  I'm thinking most of my life is a little boring to blog about, but I'll try to find interesting things to talk about!  Hopefully I still have some readers or maybe people who stumble on this site will find it interesting.  I'm thinking a mix of personal posts and issues posts will work out best.  Oh!  I almost forgot.  I'm writing this post on my new laptop and it is fantastic!!  Yeah, I'm pretty sure I made a great decision!  Love love love it!!

Thanks for reading!

Christen <3

It's on the Way!

I found out yesterday that my new laptop has already shipped.  It's actually coming in from Shanghai, so hopefully it won't be stuck in customs for a long time.  The estimated ship date is June 2nd - next Thursday.  Needless to say, I'm really excited about it.  Unfortunately for my boyfriend James, I had been complaining about it quite a bit since I ordered it last week.  I can't help it; three weeks is a long time to wait!  Luckily, though, I only have to wait about four more days!!

Other than that, we went to Geneva on the Lake today.  I wrote a little about on the Design Destination blog.  We mostly walked around and looked inside all of the cool shops.  They had some pretty amazing stuff there.  We also got some amazingly good cherry maple smoked turkey jerky and Dairy Queen.  YUM!

I'll let you know when my computer gets here!  Here's looking forward to my first post on the new laptop!!

Computer Update

I ordered my new laptop last Wednesday!  It should be built by June 3, and then I have about another week until I get it.  I seriously cannot wait!  I've been checking on it pretty much every day...  Anyway, I'll let you know which one I chose... *drumroll*

Sooo... I got the quad!  Yes, I'm very excited about it.  I did A LOT of research before I made my decision, and I finally decided after consulting a computer genius friend.  I had actually given up on the mac and was trying to decide between the quad and a similar dual core model, but in the end the quad was a better deal.

Well, you've already got the specs, except I did decide on the better graphics card and the larger-capacity battery.  I wasn't able to get the LightScribe feature, however, but the good news is that I was able to get it in steel grey instead of dark umber (brown is not exactly what I imagined for my new computer).  So anywho, I really just want to post the picture of it online for you to see in the new color.  I'm so excited!

Oh, it's so beautiful!  And I almost forgot, if you are in the market for a new computer, I learned something VERY handy.  Search google for coupons before you order your computer.  I actually saved 30% on my laptop!

Other than that, please please please check out my new blog Design Destination.  I'm going to post a link for it on this blog soon.  I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts:  it's going to be all about design ideas and will maybe include some clothing, accessories, and other fabulous things like that.  My latest blog post was about Lady Sanctuaries - man caves for ladies.  Please check it out!!