Lots more rambly journalling...
I woke up today thinking "I need a vacation." It's not that I don't do fun/entertainment/non-work-type things, but I haven't travelled, gone somewhere new, away from my day-to-day activities, in a long while. One of these days... or more likely months... or next year... or something, I will figure out somewhere to take off to for a few days of pure escapism.
Meanwhile, today has been productive, in kind of a relaxing way. Nothing major... but I slept in, and got out to do a few errands, and I'm not feeling time pressure because I'm still off tomorrow too. I'm really spoiled, but with making myself busier now that I have this internship on my non-working days, I really need all the more some days where I can sleep later and not be anywhere at any particular time. Lazy time, ok, I do like to be lazy at times!
So I got to the bank, went to the grocery store and got some kinds of soup I like, and some new kinds of tea, and an envelope that fits the odd-shaped item I have to mail tomorrow. There was a blood drive, and I almost gave blood, but they recommend eating first, and I hadn't eaten all day, and I've never given blood before, so I don't know how my body reacts to it. So... I got their info and maybe I will do that another day.
The new teas I got are a "red tea" from South Africa, with pomegranate, and a raspberry. Ok, the raspberry isn't really "new" as in never had it before, but it's new because I haven't had any in the house in a while. I tried the red tea, and it's good... very fruity, which I like. Inside there was also a sample of blueberry green tea, so I had some of that too. I like tea, drink a lot of it. I drink it really sweet, usually, so the flavors come out. I did just read an article in the paper recently confirming that at least so far, there have been no health concerns raised about Splenda sweetener, which is great, because I use that in my tea/coffee now without feeling like I'm doing bad things to myself. Tons of extra calories from sugar, or cancer and brain-damage-causing agents like in other sweeteners... I like my sweet stuff and I like when it's guilt-free!
So then I got back and jumped in again on the studio's web page. The formatting I did yesterday made putting the rest of the links on the page a breeze, and I finished them all! Listened to some live Rush music from a concert from last year that I downloaded. I don't usually listen to music while I work, because I tend to zone on the music and the work suffers or at least takes a lot longer! But today, with no time frame, it didn't matter that it might have taken a few minutes less if the music hadn't been on. I skipped around, picking tracks of the show to listen to, and really enjoyed it.
Ever since reading Ghost Rider, I'm connecting way more with the most recent Rush album, Vapor Trails. I never did connect that much with that album... I liked it, but it wasn't all-encompassing greatness, the way Rush used to be for me. Part of that is just from me moving on, but in my moments, when I listen to their older work, I can still hear why they meant so very much to me as they did, and this album just never did that. After reading the book though, and knowing exactly where some of those songs came from, they have meaning that they didn't before. Also I'm a lot healthier emotionally than I was when that album came out, and I'm able to respond to music much more than I was then. All in all, I'm glad I was spurred to take that cd out and listen to it some more, because I'm enjoying it very much now.
Listening to this live show, too, reminds me how much fun a Rush concert is. I've been to see them maybe 6 or 7 times, not a ton, but certainly more than any other band besides a few friend's/teachers' bands that I saw bunches of times at clubs. But Rush is obviously a national act, big shows, at outdoor places, and the atmosphere is charged, and their video interludes are great, and I love seeing and hearing them make their music. Last year I found out about their blues concert the day of the show, and it was sold out. Now I'm really hoping they do another album/tour sometime soon, and that I'll get to see them again. So, that's my renewed love for Rush that I'm having recently.
Well, after that tangent, I'm pleased that the studio's page is done... I go up there tomorrow for a session, but I'll try to get there a little early and show it to the manager, and download it from my server onto the computer there, so it can be passed along to their main web maintainer. Hopefully there won't be any bugs what with the combination of Mac and PC coding, but then pages are supposed to be pretty compatible, I guess... if there's something that has to be fixed because of it, all I can do is have them tell me, and fix it, and learn from it. I think they'll be really happy I got it done this soon though. I really don't think their other interns take projects like this home and do them. I'm more than willing though. I have time, and it's work that is ok, slightly tedious, but not particularly objectionable to do, and I'm really trying to make myself valuable to the studio as a potential future employee.
It's a chilly, grey day here... I'm not pleased with this weather, and we're supposed to get our first snow of the season soon. The only upside is I can start wearing my long black coat again, but I'd still rather just have it be warm out! I'm feeling pretty good because I kept up my workouts this week and also kept much better eating habits. If I continue with both of those things, I should be much more satisfied with my physical shape and condition in a few more weeks. I can already see the difference, but the improvements should be more obvious and less subtle with a little more time. I'm looking forward to that.
I wish I had a good book to read... having done some work and feeling a sense of accomplishment for that today, it'd be a perfect evening now to relax in bed with a nice book and read for a while. I don't have anything to read right now though, so... hm. Maybe I could do some music instead, at least pick up a guitar and play something for a little while. I'm feeling a strong creative urge, but I don't know what to shape it into. To draw, to sing, to play, to write words or music... but... I can't put form to it, I can't get ideas to develop into anything. Maybe I have tons of stuff inside that will come bursting out into great art one of these days now that I've been feeling a lot healthier, mentally, for a while now. I can hope for that! Of course nothing can come out if I don't pick up a pencil, or an instrument, or something, and see what happens, so I think I will grab my guitar and see what comes out today.
I woke up today thinking "I need a vacation." It's not that I don't do fun/entertainment/non-work-type things, but I haven't travelled, gone somewhere new, away from my day-to-day activities, in a long while. One of these days... or more likely months... or next year... or something, I will figure out somewhere to take off to for a few days of pure escapism.
Meanwhile, today has been productive, in kind of a relaxing way. Nothing major... but I slept in, and got out to do a few errands, and I'm not feeling time pressure because I'm still off tomorrow too. I'm really spoiled, but with making myself busier now that I have this internship on my non-working days, I really need all the more some days where I can sleep later and not be anywhere at any particular time. Lazy time, ok, I do like to be lazy at times!
So I got to the bank, went to the grocery store and got some kinds of soup I like, and some new kinds of tea, and an envelope that fits the odd-shaped item I have to mail tomorrow. There was a blood drive, and I almost gave blood, but they recommend eating first, and I hadn't eaten all day, and I've never given blood before, so I don't know how my body reacts to it. So... I got their info and maybe I will do that another day.
The new teas I got are a "red tea" from South Africa, with pomegranate, and a raspberry. Ok, the raspberry isn't really "new" as in never had it before, but it's new because I haven't had any in the house in a while. I tried the red tea, and it's good... very fruity, which I like. Inside there was also a sample of blueberry green tea, so I had some of that too. I like tea, drink a lot of it. I drink it really sweet, usually, so the flavors come out. I did just read an article in the paper recently confirming that at least so far, there have been no health concerns raised about Splenda sweetener, which is great, because I use that in my tea/coffee now without feeling like I'm doing bad things to myself. Tons of extra calories from sugar, or cancer and brain-damage-causing agents like in other sweeteners... I like my sweet stuff and I like when it's guilt-free!
So then I got back and jumped in again on the studio's web page. The formatting I did yesterday made putting the rest of the links on the page a breeze, and I finished them all! Listened to some live Rush music from a concert from last year that I downloaded. I don't usually listen to music while I work, because I tend to zone on the music and the work suffers or at least takes a lot longer! But today, with no time frame, it didn't matter that it might have taken a few minutes less if the music hadn't been on. I skipped around, picking tracks of the show to listen to, and really enjoyed it.
Ever since reading Ghost Rider, I'm connecting way more with the most recent Rush album, Vapor Trails. I never did connect that much with that album... I liked it, but it wasn't all-encompassing greatness, the way Rush used to be for me. Part of that is just from me moving on, but in my moments, when I listen to their older work, I can still hear why they meant so very much to me as they did, and this album just never did that. After reading the book though, and knowing exactly where some of those songs came from, they have meaning that they didn't before. Also I'm a lot healthier emotionally than I was when that album came out, and I'm able to respond to music much more than I was then. All in all, I'm glad I was spurred to take that cd out and listen to it some more, because I'm enjoying it very much now.
Listening to this live show, too, reminds me how much fun a Rush concert is. I've been to see them maybe 6 or 7 times, not a ton, but certainly more than any other band besides a few friend's/teachers' bands that I saw bunches of times at clubs. But Rush is obviously a national act, big shows, at outdoor places, and the atmosphere is charged, and their video interludes are great, and I love seeing and hearing them make their music. Last year I found out about their blues concert the day of the show, and it was sold out. Now I'm really hoping they do another album/tour sometime soon, and that I'll get to see them again. So, that's my renewed love for Rush that I'm having recently.
Well, after that tangent, I'm pleased that the studio's page is done... I go up there tomorrow for a session, but I'll try to get there a little early and show it to the manager, and download it from my server onto the computer there, so it can be passed along to their main web maintainer. Hopefully there won't be any bugs what with the combination of Mac and PC coding, but then pages are supposed to be pretty compatible, I guess... if there's something that has to be fixed because of it, all I can do is have them tell me, and fix it, and learn from it. I think they'll be really happy I got it done this soon though. I really don't think their other interns take projects like this home and do them. I'm more than willing though. I have time, and it's work that is ok, slightly tedious, but not particularly objectionable to do, and I'm really trying to make myself valuable to the studio as a potential future employee.
It's a chilly, grey day here... I'm not pleased with this weather, and we're supposed to get our first snow of the season soon. The only upside is I can start wearing my long black coat again, but I'd still rather just have it be warm out! I'm feeling pretty good because I kept up my workouts this week and also kept much better eating habits. If I continue with both of those things, I should be much more satisfied with my physical shape and condition in a few more weeks. I can already see the difference, but the improvements should be more obvious and less subtle with a little more time. I'm looking forward to that.
I wish I had a good book to read... having done some work and feeling a sense of accomplishment for that today, it'd be a perfect evening now to relax in bed with a nice book and read for a while. I don't have anything to read right now though, so... hm. Maybe I could do some music instead, at least pick up a guitar and play something for a little while. I'm feeling a strong creative urge, but I don't know what to shape it into. To draw, to sing, to play, to write words or music... but... I can't put form to it, I can't get ideas to develop into anything. Maybe I have tons of stuff inside that will come bursting out into great art one of these days now that I've been feeling a lot healthier, mentally, for a while now. I can hope for that! Of course nothing can come out if I don't pick up a pencil, or an instrument, or something, and see what happens, so I think I will grab my guitar and see what comes out today.