Stuff and Things

work: this is the biggest stuff and greatest thing in my life right now, and is also a major time suck and boner killer. it’s no exaggeration to say i have been working an average of 60 hours a week for many weeks now. it’s also no exaggeration to say that i’m really tired of it. hope is on the way as i’m about to hit a major deadline with a magazine i’ve been working on, which will give me a little breather until the next production cycle of another magazine i’m working on starts. the breather may equal a whooping three weeks, a time i’ll spend catching up on my own projects, in addition to sleeping, reading and tv watching. of course, these plans might be foiled if i sign up for a book project (unfortunately, not my book), but i’ll know more about that after my meeting with the author in a few weeks. so apologies for lack of blogging lately, but it’s not like i’m lying poolside at a cabana somewhere.

view from the downtown LA highrise in which i work 

mini-getaways: i’ve had two in the past month, one to Palm Springs for my friend’s bachelorette party, the other to Ojai, courtesy of a Groupon Getaway. i guess that means i have been lying poolside at a cabana, though there’s usually a pile of work beside me, so i haven’t been having too much fun. expect i had plenty of fun, particularly in palm springs, where i wined, whined and dined with three of my closest girlfriends. it was divine! the Ojai getaway was more functional as i did go there to work, while also hiking with my dogs, meeting a friend for lunch in Santa Barbara and paying a visit to Meditation Mount. i have another mini-getaway already planned and have now become someone who regularly mines groupon for deals on pet-friendly hotels within driving distance of los angeles like the spinster shrew i’m destined to become.

 view from a Meditation Mount lookout in Ojai, California

house: no, the deck still hasn’t been built yet, but the good news is that permits were secured just this week, so construction is imminent. my contractor is currently ordering materials, while i am currently bracing myself for another round of construction that is sure to include chronically nervous dogs, an always disheveled house, an orchestra of power tools on saturday mornings, mounting expenses, unhappy surprises and persnickety city inspectors. but by the end of it, i’ll finally have that goddamn fucking new deck damnit. as usual, i’ll be blogging about the whole thing, and if you are my facebook friend, you will see daily photos of construction in progress.

rendering of my future deck in plans submitted to the city

everything else: i can’t believe the year is half over. to offset the copious amounts of time spent sitting on my ass working, i have been hiking regularly and going to yoga. i went to a Dodger game with my dad the other week and an LA Kings playoff game with some friends; both times, the LA teams won. my resolution to stop eating meat this year is holding up, though i confess to having eaten one steak this year, which was delicious but hard to digest. there is no man or any other salicious drama in my life currently, you voyeuristic pervert, and i’m very ok with that. i’ve been working on a magazine called Geek Monthly, which hits newsstands next month and dissects all things geeky; you should totally buy it and/or subscribe. and i’ll be 36 next month.