Update on the gardening saga

Tending to my garden reaps joy, rewards, and frustration. The joy comes from simply giving my plants attention: watering them, talking to them (yes, I talk to my plants; I'll do anything that will help them to grow and I'd probably talk to them anyway even if it didn't do any good at all), watching them change a little bit every day because they're growing so fast.
The reward comes from watching the bud turn to bloom, flower turn to fruit. I've never done that before! There is already a pepper starting to grow: joy and reward rolled into one, tiny little baby pepper!
Unfortunately, one of the other blooms that unfolded about the same time as the one that has produced a pepper withered already.

And a couple leaves on both the pepper and the strawberry plants show a couple yellow spots - is that the result of disease? Pests? Vermin? Too much sun, too little water? But the rest of both plants look fine and dandy. So do I pinch off the bad leaves? And if so at what point do I do that - just the leaf? Pinch it off where the stem grows out of the main stem?
So many questions, and no easy answers in sight. But I guess that's part of what it means to garden. Granted, resources certainly exist out there that sprang out of trial-by-fire testing, as well as more traditional means of testing, plain ol' scientific research, and sheer experience to yield answers to those questions. And some questions will always have the same answer: don't put too much nitrogen in your plant food or it will kill your pepper plant (for the record I am not currently using any food at all, not that the plants are suffering the least bit for it).

As if all that weren't enough, this morning I inspected the underside of the pot holding these veggies of mine, only to discover tiny roots coming out of two of the holes! I could NOT believe it! I thought that was at least another month or so away from happening! I suspected the plants might outgrow the container I bought for them, but not this fast! Unless those roots are coming from something growing up out of the ground it was sitting on. I say "was" because I've now propped the pot up on some glass squares I found lying around, not only to aid drainage but also to protect the plants from fire ants and Lord knows what else might be in the native soil/sand.

I've also noticed tiny, winged bugs flying around, but I have no idea if these are pests or not. However I discovered a couple days ago that planting garlic with your veggie garden is a very natural way to ward off pests, so if I wind up transplanting my garden to a bigger pot you can bet some garlic cloves will be joining them.
As for the amaryllis plant ... a fourth leaf has joined the other three, but still no stem. From what I've read it's possible that the bulb needed to go through this stage in order to produce a stem later on down the road, so I'm not giving up hope yet. Still, it would have been cool to see a bright red bloom towering above some red tomatoes and strawberries, and yellow bell peppers.

As always, dear reader, if you have experience gardening and you'd like to give me some advice, please do! Until next time ...

The Amaryllis Project: End of Week Two

As you can see the plant is growing quite nicely! Still no bloom yet, and that may be over a month away. But this is what the plant looked like this morning. You can see a third leaf showing in-between the two big leaves. It's only had one feeding two weeks ago. I fed it again when I took these pictures. (Click on the picture below to be taken to more pictures of the plant.)


Yes, I can see the plant is tilting sideways and I need to re-pot it. Not to mention if I don't add some more soil the roots are likely going to choke the plant to death and ruin my work thus far. I'm hoping I'll be able to re-pot it this weekend.

Otherwise, I am so pleased with the progress!

Sche-dueling (a vent session)

I am growing more and more disheartened by the business of my weekday schedule at work. I estimated that I have 5 hours from the time my work shift ends until I have to lay down in my bed for slumber to do everything I need to do and get the amount of sleep I need. Now I don't know if I got too ambitious yesterday or if I just need to give myself time to get used to being on the five-day schedule again or what, but I did not get the 7 hours of sleep I was shooting for ... then again, it's not a typical 5-day schedule either. In fact, more and more I'm reaching the conclusion that this particular version of the 5-day schedule is worse than a typical one. Now ... now I know why the folks at work hate it so much.

Saturday and Sunday I only work 6.5 hours, which means I have to make up 3 hours during the week. Guess where those 3 hours go? One extra hour tacked onto my 8-hour days, to turn what is essentially a 9-hour day (counting my break period) into a 10-hour day. That's why I feel like I don't have enough time between shifts to do what I need to do - because I don't! When you factor in drive time (which in practice is not actually all that long) and grocery store trips, it cuts down that time even more. Guess I'll have to make sure to do grocery shopping on the shorter days and/or my weekend.

Okay, I feel better now. Actually now that I've got it written down like this, now it presents to me more of a challenge rather than a burden. I like challenges.

Dangerous territory

I am bored. Horrifically bored. Bored with Blip.fm, bored with Twitter, bored with just about anything I might do today. My life is at a crossroads and I am bored!

I used to pride myself on never being bored. That is not the case anymore, but then I used to have more control over my life once upon a time.

I know I've got things to do - I'm done with laundry, trying to figure out the dishes situation being under a boil water notice. (Damn the boil water notice!)

"What have you dreamed of doing that you held back from doing because you were scared?"

Answer: Nothing. I already did what I dreamed of doing, so then I figured I should help other people realize their dreams. Problem is ... there is nothing I can do to help people achieve their dreams! It's all up to them!!! I can help if they ask, but ... that is a complicated topic too. (My dream at one time was to play drums in a rock band. Been there, done that, did it in front of a paying audience, too, on a stage with a microphone in front of my mouth and bright, flashing lights. Yes, I dreamed of being a rock star, of gaining the approval of the audience - it was great! I was a success at that, but I had a falling-out with my bandmates and it was short-lived. Part of me wishes I could get back to it, but ... that was almost 10 years ago ... )

I walk outside and see the trees, the clouds in the blue sky, feel the rain on my skin sometimes, breathe the fragrant air ... and I see my freedom.

The End.

What should I make my blog about? (Feeling introspective)

I'm feeling like I should blog; the last two posts, besides being BLATANT advertisements - you're welcome Mountain Dew!!! - weren't exactly inspired. Not to mention the fact the month of May is almost another page in the history books and I have a whopping 2 entries to show for myself. And they're both uninspired advertisements!

I've been contemplating what it means to 'monetize' my blog ... I recently got the idea that I could make money off my blogging efforts. Like to the tune of $30k a year, which although I would not get rich off of that, it would be quite the supplemental income.

But how do I make my blog one that makes money? I've never really gained much of a following on any blog I've ever kept up for any length of time. The most following I've ever had is on Twitter, which is awesome, but it's not going to pay the bills.

One thing I learned about successful bloggers is to find a niche and cater to that niche crowd. Totally makes sense. Trouble is, EVERYTHING interests me - and the things that fire me up the most are the most controversial and will most likely get me fired from my current job! That would be bad.

I'll have to ruminate about this some more, do some soul-searching. I also know it's best to write what I know about ... hm, that gives me an idea ...

Circumference and radius

I've got so much energy and motivation to do SOMEthing today - but I probably won't do any of the things I want to do such as: go to the beach; follow my whims; write [more] in my blog. Dream in my blog ... so yeah, I've kind of gotten away from working on my movie, except for one brief flare-up last week while I was at work waiting for the 11am show to start. That was going very well, too, but - as usual - I had to stop what I was doing in order to tend to the job at hand, the job that puts the bread on the table.

And I can't pick it up again after I get off work, because once I get off work my job as housewife enters into play: I must go home, prepare the meals, take care of the dogs, do the laundry, do the dishes, do the taxes ... by the time I'm done doing that, I'm already thinking about the next day and getting ready for it, and then I'm so exhausted I can't collapse into bed fast enough. It's a never-ending cycle.

Or maybe I'm just complaining and don't have enough passion for my project - right!

Apathy runs deep right now. A change would do me good.

Thoughts of home

Nothing sends me into a veritable tizzy of nostalgia the way hearing the strains of this old familiar show does:

And yet not a word comes out...

I finally have some time to write. My pre-show chores are done, the thirty-second weather hit is done, I tended to some personnel matters (although I still feel I could have done better), my show is even completely marked, except for the first block of the second half hour. Finally, I can sit here quietly with my thoughts and write ...

... so why does nothing come out? It's the same phenomenon that governs shopping: when you have money nothing appeals to you. You only see things you like when you can't afford to buy them. The perfect dress, the perfect pair of shoes, on sale usually, but still just out of reach. It sucks.

Oh, here's something to talk about: Glenn and I started watching the BBC version of Doctor Who. It is awesome, which was a pleasant surprise. It is also a vast improvement over Sliders which we've been watching through 3 seasons. But this Doctor Who series is really pretty great. Both of us can't wait til the next opportunity to watch the next episode! We watch it on the Xbox 360 via our Netflix subscription. A truly great pairing if ever there was one. It's particularly interesting for me to watch this series, as it is a BBC production; I haven't really sat down to watch any British television since I lived at home with my parents, so in a strange way this has proven to be a bit nostalgiac at times.

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HA! I finally figured out Blogger's code for a horizontal line, which is different than LiveJournal's coding. Hooray, O Happy Day!

Anyway, so I've been talking a lot with some people at work (by no means everyone) about the state of things at work. In a word, it's horrible. Morale is about as low as it gets in a workplace; everybody is backstabbing everybody else, the bosses are always stressed out ... we are all extremely grateful to have our jobs, but yet I can't help wondering if I'd happier flipping burgers? The way people talk about each other when they're not in the room (and I myself am guilty of this) is downright insidious! It's just not enjoyable to come to work.

And the illness that's going around ... there's no sympathy for anyone, because we're so short-handed that if someone gets sick and calls out, SOMEbody is going to be resentful at being called in. Or, as in last night's case, somebody takes on more show responsibilities like with me punching/calling and doing chyron.

Did I mention there's no sympathy for anyone? I might get myself in trouble here, but I'm going to go ahead and say it: right now as I type there is a small group of 3 people who are pretty upset that one member of our crew is getting to go home after only doing 1 show, and what upsets them is that the person going home has a history of calling out (ALWAYS with a doctor note, without fail) and/or showing up late (usually calls). They are sitting there talking and talking and talking, and the only thing coming out of their mouths is how unfair it is that this other person - whom they don't think very much of - gets to go home early. They are judge and jury here, they are smug in their opinion, they even went so far as to throw it in my face that they want to talk my colleague about it - not me. That's probably because I'm friends with the person they are lambasting ...

... and oh by the way, I'd like to see the list of ALL the times they had to work BOTH shows, and line it up next to the person they've spent so much time about. Then I'd like to see how many crew positions they're trained to solo a show on.

More later, if I have time, because I have more to say, MUCH more.

Happy St. Patrick's Day for real

Well. I've managed to let 3 full days go by without a post. Unacceptable.

Okay, it's acceptable, but very disappointing. Understandable, considering when Saturday and Sunday roll around I am actually working 3 days packed into 2. And because my job involves dealing with a lot of equipment - which occasionally breaks down - often my would-be downtime gets robbed from me.

This past weekend however made me focus more on personnel issues than anything. Mostly just with the morning staff. I had to make a decision about something and as it turns out I was alone in how I felt about the decision I made. Now regardless of what the opinions are of either side, I found myself smack dab in the middle of having to stand firm to what I believed in. (that is not actually the statement I wanted to make, but I'm really bad at writing around a bunch of distractions, not to mention getting frequently uprooted from what I'm doing, so ... maybe it will come back to me later.)

So anyway. Have not done any writing on my movie. Again, not surprising given how busy I was this weekend.

Okay. I'm going to go read about more Facebook tools. This is useless, I am unable to pick up my train of thought...

Friday the 13th - a Day in the Life

This post is mostly to keep my promise to myself to post SOMEthing every single day to my blog. So I'm just going to go stream of consciousness for the moment. There was something I wanted to write earlier, but it escapes me now. So this is going to become an extended Twitter, if you will.

It's 5:52pm and I'm getting ready to head to bed. I'm sitting here figuring that if I want to get a minimum of 7 hours sleep and still have time to eat and shower before work in the morning, I will need to get to sleep NO LATER than 7 pm. Which is cool; but I prefer to go to bed earlier so that if I NEED more sleep, I have that 'cushion', or sometimes I just need the extra time to wake up. It takes me a long time to wake up. I also have no problem falling asleep. I love to sleep, let me tell ya.

I also just enjoy having that free time, or the semblance of "free time", before I have to buckle down at work, shut out distractions, and have to focus on the tasks in front of me.

However, since my body would rather be horizontal and asleep, inspiration is not coming to me at all right now. It's amazing how the human body reacts in different situations.

I do wish I could remember what the heck I wanted to write earlier. I need to always wear clothes with pockets so I can always have a pen and a piece of paper on me, since we can't always be on the computer at work. Wow - lots of writing blockage right now. Oh well, I got my blog post in today, even if it isn't the most inspiring.

St Patty's Day, 2009

You know, I would really like to post some new, updated pictures of myself. But with makeup on and looking halfway decent for a photo. I've got a week until St. Patrick's Day, perhaps that will be enough time for me to put makeup on, and have clean hair. A pint o' Guinness will make me have a genuine smile, hence the brilliance of targeting that particular date on the calendar.