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Measuring the Easy Stuff vs. Measuring What Matters

amanda_lee — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 22:07:39 +0000

I went to a super-competitive nationally ranked school, and while I valued the education it gave me, it warped my view of what was within the normal range of acceptable intelligence. As a result, I felt an intense need to prove I belonged there, so I became obsessively focused on the minutia of the numbers and measurement at the expense of the bigger picture. Test scores. Memorized facts. Boxes ticked off. Hours spent in ballet class or on the piano bench. Rarely did I ever think about doing something I enjoyed or learning something real. ¹

This is a thought pattern I’m still trying to break. It’s hard, because you wouldn’t believe how often I hear adults who are several years out of school talk about their test scores or their GPAs. Few things compare to the universality of these numbers – nearly everyone remembers their scores and their grades. Some people took their SATs multiple times. ²

There are other, more common measuring sticks that grown-ass ladies and gentlemen regularly use to measure their success. Salary. Dress size [sometimes relative to the dress size you wore in college]. Calories burned. Square footage of your house, garage not included. How little we slept last night [because the amount we sleep is inversely proportional to our importance].

The Internet isn’t exempt, either. In fact, it might be worse, because we have so many ways to measure everything – ways that can be refreshed constantly and cost us nearly nothing. Blog hits. Comments left. Retweets. Friends, +1s, likes. Ad revenue. Subscribers, clickthroughs, forwards, CPM.

I want to stop measuring the easy stuff and start measuring the important stuff. I’m not sure what these actual metrics will be yet, though.

For you, though, what are your personal yardsticks? How can you tell, quantifiably, whether you’re doing a good job with what you’re doing?

¹I’m not going to tell you my standardized test scores, because that would defeat the purpose. But for the record, I studied very hard for them. I think this might have had less to do with raw intelligence or desire to do well and more to do with the feeling of virtue I got from sitting around in coffee shops surrounded by half a dozen SAT practice manuals when I knew my classmates might be doing something other than studying. And, honestly, those logical reasoning problems weren’t going to solve themselves.

² Strangely, I’ve fallen in lately with a bunch of graduates of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and they never bring this up. I did some digging and discovered it’s because their classes are all graded on a pass-fail basis. Lucky bastards.

Throwback Thursday: How to Make Heels Bearable

amanda_lee — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:23:32 +0000

[This post went live in summer 2008. Since then, I have successfully continued wearing heels ninety percent of the time that I'm not at the gym or in a yoga pose.]

Full disclosure: Before I moved to New York two years ago, I wore heels all the time. I’d had the same three pairs of black heels for the past two years, and I loved wearing them out—to work, on dates, to the grocery store (okay, maybe not so much).

When I got to New York, though, I quickly learned that living in a car-centric city in the midwest was way, way more high heel-friendly than living in a large, public transit-oriented city during which my commute was upwards of forty minutes a day (and often spent standing the entire way). I was staunchly (stupidly?) opposed to changing my personal style for mere functionality, though. As a result, I had a brief period of bloody feet, blisters, limping, and constant trips to the drugstore to purchase Band-Aids for my aching tootsies—as well as a shock when I walked through the soles of two of my favorite pairs of heels. It took me awhile to learn what I needed to do in order to wear heels in the city without dying from pain or developing severe foot deformities. But since I did, I’ve stayed ahead of the curve and can sport sexy shoes with the best of them.

(No, seriously: My good friend Mark saw me in flats for the first time in the year and a half that I’ve known him, and he was shocked that a) I wear heels as often as I do without developing serious foot problems, and b) I’m actually shorter than he is. He had no idea because he always saw me in heels!)

Tonight I’m going to share with you everything I’ve ever learned about tolerating heels in a large, pedestrian-oriented city. With a few quick precautions, you’ll be able to wear glamorous shoes all the time without risking soreness, injury, or scuffed-up shoes. Read on!

Make sure your shoes fit. Know your size, and don’t buy outside of it. Don’t try to squeeze into a smaller one just because they don’t have your size—you’ll be headed to blisterville and might even develop heel spurs or plantar fasciitis (nasty and painful!). And wearing shoes that are too large for you will mean long days of faceplanting in the street whenever your feet slip inside them. This is a huge temptation when you’re a seven and you find the perfect pair of vintage boots in a six and a half, or when that pair of Jimmy Choos on sale is too narrow for your prominent tailor bunion. But don’t be tempted. You’ll merely end up miserable, and not only will you be unable to return them to the store, you might endure enough pain to swear off heels forever. It’s worth noting, also, that every brand and style fits differently. So, don’t buy shoes without trying them on. (Come on, do you ever buy a piece of clothing without trying it on? If so, shame on you! You should stop now!)It’s also worth noting that your feet can change size. Your feet swell as the day goes on, so some people end up wearing a full half size bigger in the evening than they do in the morning. (This is why it’s smart to go shoe shopping in the evening rather than the morning!) Also, heat and cold can cause your feet to expand or contract seasonally—I definitely have a pair of amazing vintage white cowboy boots that I can’t fit into during the summer, because my feet are too big! Finally, events like injury or even pregnancy can cause your feet to change size or shape—so beware! Always try your shoes on before buying. You’ll thank me.
Take care of the shoes themselves. Inspect your heels often. If you’re like me, the little rubber tips at the bottom of the heels will wear off over time, exposing the metal posts in the heel (called the taps). When this happens, take them to the cobbler right away and get them replaced—if you don’t, you risk ruining the whole heel of the shoe and marking up the leather. Likewise, check the sole for excessive wear, and the heels for instability—you can have both fixed. If they’re real leather, clean and polish them often, especially after they’ve gotten particularly dirty—this will keep the leather in good shape for a long time, ensuring against cracking, peeling, or excessive scuffing. And finally, wear the correct size! If you wear shoes that are the wrong size, they’re going to wear out more quickly!
Buy good shoes. This pains me. But it’s the truth. If you continually buy poor-quality shoes, you’re paying for badly-constructed, thin-soled, ill-fitting, weak-heeled shoes. So stop. If you’re on a budget, save for one or two good pairs of versatile heels rather than ten pairs of cheap ones. If you have an addiction and require a constant influx of new shoes, frequent the discount stores like Daffy’s and T.J. Maxx, as well as discount online shops like 6pm.com (this is the overstock site for Zappos)—they’ll cure what ails you.
Take care of your feet. Clip your nails and file them down–sharp corners can dig and cause blisters. Also, if your feet sweat a lot, coat them with a little bit of baby powder before you put your shoes or stockings on, or wear those teeny pantyhose-like socks inside your shoes if you think it’ll help. Soak sore feet in a warm tub of Epsom salt (which I recommend for any kind of muscle soreness!), and it goes without saying that if your feet are injured, DON’T WEAR HEELS, damn it.
Break them in. Wear them around your house while you do some lightweight chores, or while you’re having some friends over for tea. They’ll mold to your feet, and if they start hurting you, it’s easy to kick them off and go barefoot for awhile (as compared to, say, on the subway—come on, do you really want to put your bare feet on that nasty subway floor?!)
Know how your feet behave and anticipate any rubbing that you know is going to happen. I personally have little bumps on my heels left over from years of squeezing my feet into pointe shoes. As a result, this is the first place I get blisters—so as a result, I habitually bandage my heels with clear adhesive tape or Band-Aids before I step into my pumps. If your toes habitually crunch and rub blisters on one another, try a set of toe spacers—I used these when I did ballet, and they’re great for stopping blisters on the sides of your toes. Keep in mind, though, that some of these issues are merely caused by poorly-fitting shoes, so I repeat: don’t wear shoes that don’t fit you!
Don’t wear heels seven days a week. No matter how well they fit and how diligently you take care of your feet, heels are kinda bad for you. If you wear them all the time, you’re just asking for chronic problems with your ankles, knees, and back. Plus, you’re much more likely to sustain acute injuries while you’re wearing them—sprains, strains, and fractures, as well as trips and falls that can make you skin your hands and knees like a schoolgirl. Give yourself a break—designate every other day or every third day as a heels-wearing day, but the rest of the time, opt for ballet flats, oxfords, or flat boots.
Don’t commute in heels.It’s one thing to wear your amazing peep-toe t-straps all day when you’re sitting at your desk or padding around the carpeted office. It’s quite another to wear them for your six-block walk to the subway and your five-block walk from the subway to your house. So don’t. The same goes for going out—wear your killer gladiator heels at the bar, but tuck a pair of cute, comfy flats into your bag for the tipsy train ride home. (Plus, let’s be honest: If you change out of your heels during a long night of drinking, who’s going to know? Everyone around you will likely be drinking too. And you might save yourself some trouble—drunk walking in heels can result in injuries and severely distressed-looking shoes. Trust me.)
Do your best not to wear heels in rain, snow, or ice. I know this isn’t always possible to predict, but use some common sense. If it looks like rain, bring an umbrella and flats. Or, better yet, wear boots and change your shoes when you get where you’re going.
Learn to walk in them properly. Having been a dancer, I am one of the rare breed that can run in heels. Walking on my toes is natural to me, so it’s no feat of strength. However, if you’re not like me, you should watch this video. It instructions you on how to walk in heels confidently and safely, and I really can’t do any better than that.
Bring band-aids, invest in some Epsom salt soak, and have a drink. Because, at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can do to make heels one hundred percent comfy one hundred percent of the time. So do your best, but be aware that it can all go awry.

Do you guys have any really harrowing heel-wearing experiences? Or, how do you make heels more comfy and practical?

Non-Dirty Networking: Schmoozing [sans skeeziness!]

amanda_lee — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:06:33 +0000

As part of my efforts to be better at Grown-Ass Lady Stuff, I’m trying to learn more about Businessy Things in a way that doesn’t make me want to take a bath afterward. So in the past year, I’ve gone to a handful of networking events.

The biggest difference between networking and hanging out is that you can hang out with someone without an agenda, but when people network, it’s almost obvious that they always have one. And that’s where the typical skeeze factor comes in. It’s common to feel like the person who’s talking to you only cares whether you can hire him or point him in the direction of a new job.

So I’m going to tell you about what I’ve learned about how to attend a networking event without the implicit “What have you done for me lately?” attitude.

Show up with business cards. Assume you’re going to meet at least five neat people at your networking event. Now assume you want to get their card without giving them one of your own. Super-weird, right?

So getcha some. Here you go – under thirty bucks [that's not an affiliate link, dudes...'cause I love you that much]. They don’t have to be glittery, holographic, or interactive. They just have to tell people how to get hold of you. True story: I had signed up for a networking event and ordered new business cards, but they didn’t arrive in time. So instead of showing up without them, I went to work with some cardstock and a fancy pen. My handmade cards were definitely less professional than the cards that I eventually got, but more than one person I met that night became a client of mine.

Always have something to ask. If you don’t, the conversation will dry up after a few minutes, and then you have a few awful, awkward moments that are really hard to recover from. How long have they been doing what they do now? Do they like their coworkers? How do they choose to spend their time outside of work? In fact, this brings me to my next point…

Talk about non-work stuff too. Some people might be sort of uncomfortable bringing this up, but I say go for it. Yeah, we’re probably all at the event to find work opportunities, but at the end of the day, we’re all people, and knowing something about others besides what they do for money makes it all more interesting. These are the moments when you learn that the insurance salesman has a running hobby and he’s completed three marathons in the last year, or the graphic designer runs a music blog that puts out an awesome monthly mixtape. [Pro tip: Alex Franzen wrote an awesome article on stuff to ask people that isn't "So, what do you do?". Read it. Use it. It's awesome.]

Shut the @#$& up. Extroverts get a bad rap for wanting to talk about themselves all the time, but honestly, everyone does it. Introverts included. A person who’s capable of shutting up and letting others talk is so rare that people automatically perceive them as smarter, less impulsive, and more responsible. So ask your thoughtful questions, and then shut your face. If you learn to do it well, you’ll be allowing your new acquaintance to do what everyone loves to do best – talk about themselves.

Actually listen. Shutting up isn’t enough. Actually take note of things that they’re saying. Oh, they went to Xavier? Cool. Did they see the proverbial Big Game? Oh, what’s that? They’re interested in education policy? Awesome. My dad was an educator for thirty years. Maybe he knows someone that does policy work and we can put them in touch. [Psst: I wrote an awesome post about how to be a better listener. Revisit, if necessary.]

Save the soundbites for the elevator speeches. Talk like a real person. There’s a lot to be said for taking your work seriously and being able to discuss it in a professional way, but way too many people confuse “sounding professional” with “sounding like a robot”. When people ask me what I do, I never say anything about “custom small business solutions for maximizing reach in the digital sphere.” What I say is: “I help small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals share their awesome work with the entire Internet.” It’s a little unspecific, but it sounds like the way I actually talk, so I feel a lot less uncomfortable saying it. If someone’s interested in learning more about the specifics, I can go into more detail. Or ask about projects they’re doing where I might be able to help.

Make an exit gracefully. Sometimes your social anxiety gets the best of you, or maybe you just don’t want to hear an MLM pitch or a business plan about how someone can help you “revolutionize” social media for your small business [because it's not 2007 anymore, and you're already on Twitter, thankyouverymuch]. Whatever the case, you have to get out of there. So, duck out saying you think you see your coworker across the room – imagine that! Or, go refill your wine glass. [Because drinking more eases any awkward situation.]

Follow up like you mean it. After you attend networking events and exchange cards, you’ll probably get a spate of generic “Hi, it was really nice to meet you” emails from people you may or may not hear from ever again. Don’t send emails like this. Instead, find something unique to say. Forward them an article that you think might be interesting for them. Send them an invite to a cool, relevant event coming up. If you know someone in their field, ask if they’d like to be introduced. And actually respond if they write back. [Pro tip: Peter Shankman wrote a great post on not being full of shit. Part of it involves regular daily check-ins with your contacts. He's got a fishbowl full of business cards from people he's met, and every day he fishes out a few and writes a "Hey, what's up?" letter. Do this. Really.]

Have you been to any networking events? Any awesome/horrific/hilarious stories? What’s worked for you?

No related posts.

Photos: Our House

amanda_lee — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:01:49 +0000

I’ve been storing some of my books in my mom’s old train case.

Before we had really bought any wall art, I found an old S encyclopedia at a thrift store, so I cut it up and put the pictures in frames. Pictured here: South America, skeletons, sailboats, and space travel.

We are not fans of Michelle Bachmann, but Chris loved that awful, scary, uncanny valley-like photo of her on the cover of Time, so he commissioned a sketch of it from an artist he knows. People don’t know what to make of it.

Our friend Mike Lopez made this tiny crocheted hat for Chris.

The zebra mask is an old favorite. It lives somewhat creepily in our bathroom above the toilet.

This is Lindsay Lohan’s mug shot. Katrina got it as a bonus gift when she ordered something from Etsy a few years ago, and she gave it to us.

What’s on your walls?

Today I’m Reading About: New Year’s Resolutions

amanda_lee — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:55:42 +0000

I’ve written before about how I’m more likely to make resolutions in the fall than at new years’. This is probably because a) I love the structure of a school year, even though it’s been a lot of years since I’ve been in school; b) I’d rather make resolutions around my age than any other arbitrary measurement [hence my 31 in 31]; and c) by the time New Year’s Day rolls around, I’m usually battling seasonal affective depression, so I usually prefer spending time in bed with Netflix to self-improvement.

However, I love reading about behavior change. So here’s some good stuff to fill your Sunday.

Here’s a list of the most common New Year’s Resolutions for Americans, and ways you can make them happen a little easier.

Thirteen fresh starts for your new year – vintage Sarah Von at her finest.

Celebrate it whenever you want to and whenever it works best for you, because New Year’s is arbitrary.

How do you create resolutions when your life is about to change?

Michelle is brilliant. Go read this: How to make your habits stick using anchor habits.

If your resolution is to get a better education, start here. [I did one of Stanford's open courses last semester, and this year I'm hoping to do a couple more. Awesome stuff, and completely gratis.]

50 Radical Resolutions from the lovely Ashe Mischief.

For freelancers and solopreneurs: stuff you should measure at the year’s end to make sure you’re doing awesome work and to set your goals for next year.

One from my own archives: Stuff I wanted to stop doing at the start of 2009. [After I posted that, I quit my not-so-great-paying job, moved to another state to go to school, and then got a better job instead, even without school. I also ditched a not-so-great boyfriend and got an amazing/supportive/hilarious one. Funny how that works!]

What are your resolutions? What are you doing to make them reality this year?

Faithful Friend: Bribery

amanda_lee — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:08:14 +0000

Hachi is only amenable to being photographed if there’s food involved. In this case, it was a buffalo meat treat perched atop the camera. [Related: Did you know that I spend more on the meat my dog eats than on the meat I eat myself? I've never even tried buffalo.]

I Made This: Deeper Context Logo

amanda_lee — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 02:50:55 +0000

In the past couple of months, I’ve been helping my good friend Jeremy with his startup. Here’s the logo design we worked on:

This is the first logo design that I’ve done that wasn’t super-cutesy and hand-drawn first. The typeface is one of my favorites from the League of Movable Type, and the symbol on the left was Jeremy’s own creation. I’m pleased with how it turned out! Do you all like it?

[A note on Deeper Context: The entire site is still in progress, but seriously, hire this dude. He'll do brilliant work for you.]

A quick update on my sensory deprivation experience

amanda_lee — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:53:42 +0000

I got such great feedback from everyone about my sensory deprivation post, so I wanted to tell you guys that I did an Ask Me Anything session over on Reddit about it. If you’re inclined, go check it out and ask me about it!

Throwback Thursday: How to Clean Out Your Closet

amanda_lee — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:01:52 +0000

[This post was initially posted in 2008. I still follow this to a tee - even more so now, since my closet it the size of a tissue box. Enjoy!]

Last weekend was a long weekend—woohoo! Normally I would have spent a day at the beach with friends, or maybe taken a train somewhere fun, but last weekend’s skimboarding adventure left me sunburned and hence unwilling to leave my apartment for long while the sun was out. So, instead of attending a barbecue or a party, I did some wardrobe maintenance.

Given my fixation with collecting fashionable items, particularly vintage clothing in perfect condition, I was a little overdue for a wardrobe pare-down. Luckily, one of my other fixations involves evaluating whether the possessions I own are actually bringing any value to my life, so my closet decluttering extravaganza occurs a couple times a year, typically when the seasons change from warm to cold and then back again. I’ve streamlined a cleaning process that works for me. Here are the steps I take, including some suggestions for modification.

Gather the right materials. You’re going to be trying on lots of clothing, so be prepared. I make sure I have seamless undies, a couple of different bras in different styles, a slip and a half-slip, and heels in a few different heights, but if you don’t wear any of these things in real life, you can alter this list to fit the underthings and shoes that you actually own and use). In addition, you’ll need a full-length mirror; a fashionable friend (or ten!); and a plastic storage box. (What size? It depends. Read on.)
Take everything out of the closet that you haven’t worn in a year. This is the beginning of your “no” pile, as in, “No, I’m not keeping this” (or, more pointedly, “Hell, no, I’m not wearing sequins anytime in the foreseeable future!” or “Why in Bertrand Russell’s name did I ever buy those sparkly leggings in the first place?”). If you haven’t worn it in a year, you’re likely not ever going to wear it again, if you ever did in the first place. So why not get rid of it to make space for something else that you’ll wear more often? Some professional organizers say you should take out everything that hasn’t been worn in the past six months, but I like to give myself a year to account for climate variance. If I followed this rule, I’d clean out my closet every springtime and routinely give away all my sundresses that I hadn’t worn all winter. . . and then come summer, I’d be kicking myself in the ass for doing this.
Let the fittings begin! Try on every piece in your closet. I like to try all my clothing exactly like I would wear it out—combined into outfits, and paired with reasonable underwear (if you’re trying to decide whether to keep that black sheer skirt, wearing pale pink granny undies doesn’t exactly make for an objective decisionmaking situation). This way, I get a better idea of how it will actually look when I wear it out. I check for four things: whether it fits; whether I like it or whether it fits in with my own style aesthetic; whether it’s in good repair; and whether it fits with my lifestyle. The fit is usually the easiest thing to determine; even though I’m done growing and my weight doesn’t really fluctuate, some of my clothing shrinks in the wash or stretches out as it gets old. This leads to skinny jeans that are way skinnier than I am and tees that don’t clear the waist of my pants, so those are easiest to put into the “no” pile. The question of whether it fits with my style aesthetic is usually pretty easy as well; if I find myself doing a lot of freelance work in offices where business attire is the norm, it would make sense that I’d want to get rid of more tees and keep more blouses. The question of lifestyle, however, is the hardest for me—mostly because I sometimes own things on the basis of their aesthetic merits, but never have anywhere to wear them. Vintage cocktail dresses are at fault here, as well as too many pairs of track pants (I don’t go running nearly often enough to own more that two athletic outfits total).
After you try each item on, you’re going to put it in one of three piles. You already have a “no” pile from above; the other piles are “yes” and “maybe.”
Get fixing. While you’re doing this, keep two running lists. The first is the items that you own and plan on keeping, but that aren’t in great repair or need alterations. When I did my cleanout last weekend, my list included sewing on buttons, replacing broken zippers, fixing torn seams, hemming some floor-length gowns up to cocktail length so I can wear them more often, shortening sleeves, and putting in darts to nip in the waists of some dresses I’d typically worn with belts to cinch them. I plan on doing the majority of these alterations myself, but if you’re not skilled in sewing, you can usually have a tailor do them for you for a reasonable price. The second list you’re going to keep is a list of things you need to purchase. I know it seems counterintuitive that the result of cleaning out your closet is going out and buying more stuff, but you’re not just going to buy crap. Maybe you have a dress that would look way better with a big patent leather belt over it. Maybe some of your summer sundresses can become four-season dresses with the help of some coordinated turtlenecks and solid tights. Maybe the only thing stopping you from wearing your amazing wool skirt three times weekly is the fact that you don’t have a blouse that goes with it. Or, maybe you’ve had your black tee since before you hit puberty, and it’s been through the wash more times than you’ve been on the Internet since birth. . . in this case, you should get rid of it, and buy a new one (or two, if you wear it more than once a week). Keep in mind, though, that this is not complete carte blanche to buy whatever you want; look for things that will add value to what you have already.
Deal with the “maybe” pile. This is where your friend comes in. If it’s a particularly stylish friend or even a group of friends, all the better. You need opinions—harsh ones. So invite over all the fashionistas you know and start trying on your “maybes” with an audience. Your fashion-forward friends who know your style are your most indispensable asset. Because they’re familiar with your tastes and your lifestyle, they’ll be able to give you the most accurate suggestions about what looks good and what doesn’t. But what’s more, they’ll be able to make suggestions as to how you can possibly make it work. (Case in point: I never wear tube tops, but I have a couple of vintage wrap skirts in different colors and prints. My friend Leigh watched me complain about not wearing them enough because they don’t look good with any of my tops, and she suggested, “Why don’t you wear them with a tube top?”) Remember the shopping list from above? You’ll likely be adding to it here.
Take the “no” pile and shove it. . . Seriously. Get rid of that stuff now. If you have trouble getting rid of your old things, just think: there’s a reason you don’t wear them anymore. You don’t need a prom dress more than a few times in your life, even if you’re Greek in college and attend formals on a near-monthly basis. Your pre-weight gain clothing that you may be hanging onto as an incentive to lose weight? It needs to go, because even if you lose weight, the first thing you’re going to want to do is go shopping. And there’s someone somewhere that will want what you’re giving way. . . even if you don’t. If you’ree having a really, truly difficult time parting with your pretties, put them in a plastic storage box and tuck them away somewhere safe. Then mark your calendar for exactly six months from now. If you haven’t gone looking for anything in that box by the time six months has passed, you likely never will. So get it out of your life!

So, there you go. You’re ready to clean out your closet quickly and effectively. Did I miss anything? Do you guys have a different method you like for closet decluttering? Share in the comments!

12:12 Tune of the Day: “Feel It All Around”, Washed Out

amanda_lee — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 14:13:43 +0000

12:12 Tune of the Day: “Blanket”, Bachelorette

amanda_lee — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:28:00 +0000

I don’t even know where I got this album. But it’s amazing. Equal parts party jam and ethereal chill-out.

The Traditional Christmas Video E-Card [Made with Love by Chris Collins]

amanda_lee — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:23:35 +0000

Chris made this video two years ago, and it’s still amazing. Merry holidays, y’all.

31 New Things: Do An Entire Session of Sensory Deprivation [My first try]

amanda_lee — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:13:48 +0000

[I'm trying to do 31 new things in my 31st year. is the full list of what I'm doing, with linked updates.]

I first found out about sensory deprivation in 2009, when a dude I knew was fixated on the idea. We lived in Cincinnati, and there was nowhere we could do it there, but he knew there was a flotation center in Chicago, and we talked about taking a trip and doing it together.

Fast-forward to this year, when I moved here. I knew it was something I still wanted to try, even though my original cohort in doing so wasn’t around. So after hearing me talk about it a bunch, Chris booked a session for the two of us at Space Time Tanks during the weekend directly after my birthday. He actually kept it a secret from me, which was agonizing – my compulsion for planning means I’m not good with surprises, but I actually guessed where we were going about two hours before our session began, when he told me we were going to a place in Lincoln Park and we would be there for an hour, incommunicado.

Here’s how it works: you get in a dark tank that’s about four feet by ten feet, and once you’re in, you lie down in about a foot of water. The water has a few hundred pounds of epsom salts dissolved in it, so it’s dense enough that a human can float. The water and air are constantly filtered for purity and to make sure no one suffocates, and the temperature of both are controlled so that they match the typical surface temperature of human skin, so you can’t tell where the water ends and the air begins. And then once you’re in, you lie there for an hour or longer.

I was interested in it because I thought it would be a good complement to my yoga practice – meditation, forcibly getting rid of distractions, clearing my mind, relaxing my body. What actually happened, though…

…was that I freaked the @#%$ out.

I didn’t know this when I went into the tank, but nearly everyone who does sensory deprivation experiences fight-or-flight within a few minutes of getting into the tank – their body is so accustomed to all kinds of different sensory inputs, and when these are taken away, there’s an immediate sense of, “Holy shit, am I going to be okay?” So what I experienced was normal for a first try, but it felt exactly like an anxiety attack. So instead of staying in the tank, I got out and hugged myself and shook for a few minutes…during which I rubbed my eyes. Which wasn’t a good idea when I’d just been sitting in salty water.

So I took a shower, and when I was calm enough again, I got back in the tank. And freaked out again.

This time, I opened the door. And thought to myself, “This is ridiculous. I’ve wanted to do this for almost three years. And Chris paid good money for me to do this on my birthday weekend. Get it together, self.”

I made a deal with myself. The next time I felt like I was going to die, I promised I’d stay in the tank and count to twenty. And then if I was still freaking out, I could get out. So I did that. And then I kept counting until I reached well past one hundred. At that point, I allowed my mind to relax and my body to feel nothing at all.

About ten minutes before the session was to end, I had another freakout. I felt like the water was moving without me moving, and this immediately called to mind my abhorrence of muddy lake water that threatens to hide all kinds of nasty, flesh-eating creatures. So then I was like, “Holy @#$*, what if the filters stop working? I could die in here!” And I threw the towel in.

After the session, Chris and I both rehashed our experiences with the man who owns Space Time Tanks. They have a lot of regulars, some of whom come in daily or weekly, and some of whom float for way longer than an hour at a time. Some come for physical therapy or sports medicine, and some just like the meditative aspect of shutting everything off. Some of the more spiritual participants have out-of-body experiences or get messages from beyond – I didn’t experience any of that, but I don’t doubt it happens for people who believe in it.

I’m definitely going to try again, but I’d say it’s going to take about two more tries for me to do an entire session without any anxiety. In the few moments I wasn’t freaking out, though, it was really nice. In fact, while I was in there, I figured out the answer to a problem I was facing on some client work. So that’s good, right?

Have you ever done sensory deprivation? How can I make it less frightening next time?

Things to Do on the 25th If You Don’t Celebrate Christmas [That Don't Involve Starting to Drink at 10 a.m.]

amanda_lee — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 04:13:55 +0000

- Have your own spa day. Take off the nail polish that’s been chipping off since Thanksgiving and replace it with a nice DIY inverse French mani. Don’t worry if you mess it up – you’ve got all day, so you can let it dry properly while you’re watching your favorites on Netflix [or, if it ends too badly, you've got time for a do-over].
- Go to the gym. I don’t know about yours, but my gym is open 24/7/365. You might see a few of the people who believe fitness is a full-time commitment, and no one should fudge their weightlifting schedule just to go eat carbs and receive soap-on-a-rope from relatives they don’t know. But to be honest, nearly everyone loves Christmas more than calorie burning, so they probably won’t be around. This means:
a) You’ll probably get a chance to use the rowing machine without waiting in line
b) The pool will seem more like an oasis of calm than an Olympic training center
c) The yoga studio is probably unbooked, so you can reenact your favorite scene from Center Stage with choreography you learned on dance team in middle school.

- Make yourself brunch. Eat it in bed. Bonus points if you have the foresight to put on satin sheets on Christmas Eve.
- Make a restaurant reservation by yourself or with friends. Tip excellently and order an extra appetizer.
- Host a dinner yourself for all the urban orphans and non-Christmas celebrators. Make it potluck, or unleash your inner Paula Deen and make some amazing decadent food. Afterwards, put on your favorite SomaFM station, and sit around drinking wine until you’re all drowsy.

- Find the one big-box store that’s open in your town. Then find the people who had to work and say thank you. Bonus points if you give ‘em a sweet treat to enjoy after their shift is up. Just ’cause you don’t celebrate doesn’t mean they don’t celebrate.
- Soup kitchens, cancer wards, nursing homes, and shelters are inundated at this time of year by do-gooders. Even so, they could probably use your help. Go play Santa, or chat with someone who has no one to come visit them or nowhere to go. Sometimes, the company can mean as much as any food or care you give.

- Get work done. Thing of it this way: even if you don’t celebrate the holidays, nearly everyone else does. This means during almost the whole month of December, actual work takes a backseat to shopping online, flocking pine cones, and standing beside plates of snowman-shaped cookies saying, “Oh, I’m not that hungry…I guess maybe I’ll have half of one…will you split it with me?”¹ If you put in a couple of hours of pure, unadulterated work today, you might be in the running for the Productive Person of the Month plaque.
- Free your domestic goddess. Finish a household project that you’ve been meaning to get at all year, so you can check it off your list. Maybe you need to hang a shelf or scrub out your refrigerator or put a bunch of new art in frames. Just get it done. This might be the only time for the rest of the year that you don’t have anywhere to be.
- It won’t be hard to find someplace deserted. Take your camera and capture it.

- Which of your friends are in town? Meet up with them at their house. Bring a bottle of wine for their family and hug their mom. Sit through the millionth retelling of the story of when you won the big game or rocked everyone’s socks off with your Bowie lip-sync in the talent show. Leave quickly, and drag your friend off to go have a drink someplace.
- Start a Google Plus hangout, or jump on UStream. Trust me, by mid-afternoon, everyone’s going to be itching to get away from all this IRL communication and back on the Internet where they belong.

¹ Seriously, just eat the damned cookie, you jerk.

What are you doing on Christmas day?

Faithful Friend: Dog Scouts

amanda_lee — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:14:59 +0000

At summer camp, he skipped his courses in agility, herding, and circus dog tricks [much to his counselors' chagrin]. His priorities were clear, though: the only merit badges he cared about winning were Sleeping and Intentionally Avoiding Internet Fame.

31 New Things: Grow out my Hair for the Whole Year [First Photo]

amanda_lee — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:56:51 +0000

[I'm trying to do 31 new things in my 31st year. is the full list of what I'm doing, with linked updates.]

When I was about 7, I cut my own hair. I had bangs and a pageboy, and I hated it, so I took matters into my own hands. When I got in trouble almost immediately after, I thought fast and blamed my best friend, thinking I’d be off the hook and my mom would never call her mom. I was so wrong. Megan got in trouble, and I’m fairly sure she never really forgave me [and neither did my mom].

In the last five years or so, I’ve repeated this home haircut – I get annoyed with how my hair is behaving, and I cut it. And then I regret it. The only salon haircut I’ve had since 2006 was from a hair modeling gig I did, where the cut turned out a little bit like this. For the most part, though, my hairstyles for the past five years has been cycling through these two moods [ragecomic via the lovely Redditor MizGinger].

However, since March, I’ve mostly left it alone. This is where I am now:

I’m planning on posting an occasional update photo so you can see how well I’m doing with this goal. Maybe if I’m feeling fancy, I’ll make an animated gif. Fun times!

[Yeah, that's right. I put a silly Photo Booth picture on my blog. Sans makeup. So what? I'm not currently dating a professional photographer. Sue me.]

Throwback Thursday: 7 Things to Do Before You Move to NYC

amanda_lee — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:22:59 +0000

[I first posted this when I started this blog in 2009. It's been especially relevant in the last year since we relocated to Chicago. Enjoy!]

For some people, moving to New York is a snap decision. There’s a kernel of truth to the stereotype of the wide-eyed kid from far away getting off the bus at Port Authority carrying nothing but a suitcase and a moxie-filled smile in pursuit of the ever-elusive “making it”. Or, more often, recent grads show up in New York after their mortarboards have been turned in and their diplomas framed because it seems like the cool place to be; there are tons of opportunities for success in almost any field; there’s always something fun going on.

However, upon arriving or very soon thereafter, practicality sets in, and you might realize you’re way out of your league–you can’t find a job without an apartment, nor an apartment without a job; your Craigslist roommates are crazy; no one at your job interviews takes you seriously. If this happens, prepare to find yourself drunk, phoning your mom at midnight crying and asking, “What the hell have I done?”

Fortunately, all this can be avoided by simply laying some groundwork. Based on my own experiences and some of my friends’, here are some of the most important things you can do to make your transition to New York as smooth as possible.

Clean up your credit report. It’s commonly held that the hardest part of moving to New York is to find a place to live – and the fact that you’ll likely be applying for an apartment without a job won’t help your case one bit. If your credit score is high, it’ll be that much easier to get a landlord to take you seriously. If you’ve been paying your bills on time and avoiding overdrafts and late fees, you should be in the clear. However, if you’ve been sloppy with your finances and your credit report reflects it, you might want to take a couple of months to clean up your act before making the move.
Get out of debt. I don’t need to tell you that things are damn expensive here. Nor do I need to point out that once you get here and get adjusted, there may be a ton of pocketbook-straining necessities – office attire, happy hours spent schmoozing with coworkers who might be able to get you a better gig, a doctor’s appointment when your seasonal allergies turn into a nasty flu. These unexpected items may add up to be expensive, but they’ll be downright impossible if you’re trying to balance buying necessities with paying the minimum on your credit card and your student loans.
Sock money away. Even if you’re debt-free and have a sparkling credit report, coming to the city with $500 in your pocket isn’t a good idea. Most landlords (and even some sublets) require three months’ worth of rent up front–the first, the last, and a one-month deposit. In addition, there are credit check fees (you didn’t think that credit check would be free, did you?) and other incidental expenses. And after you’ve paid what might be upwards of five grand to your landlord, you still have to eat. Repeat after me: “The more money I have before I move to New York, the better off I’ll be.”
Purge your belongings. Get accustomed to the fact that for the shockingly obscene amount you pay in rent, you might not actually have a closet. You also might have a bedroom too small to hold a kids’ bed. Prepare yourself for the shock of this by arriving with as few belongings as possible. I have friends whose possessions fit into two suitcases. Full disclosure: this piece of advice was the hardest for me. I arrived with a 12-foot uHaul truck full of stuff that I planned to use to furnish a two-bedroom with a roommate. Now, a year and a half later, more than half of that stuff has been given away, sold, or abandoned on the curb to be freecycled. If you’re afraid of leaving behind something you need, just remember: we have Ikea in Brooklyn and New Jersey, and a burgeoning Craigslist community full of people selling stuff on the cheap (or even giving it away). Your stuff will not make or break your New York experience, I promise.
Get as much experience in your field as possible. When you first move to New York to try to break into a profession, there are a ton of people here who have an advantage over you–they’re really well-known for being really good at what they do. If you can match or beat their skills, you’re going to be that much better off. Make sure your resume is sparkly-clean, and round it out with freelance work if you can. Line up glowing references, and polish your portfolio. If you’re talented and tenacious, being new in town won’t hurt you…but do your best to lay some professional groundwork before you arrive.
Sell your car. Some people here have cars, and they do okay. But unless you’re using it for frequent day trips to remote locations, you won’t need it, and it’ll be more of a hassle than it’s worth. I haven’t checked on this, but I imagine that paying car insurance for parking in any one of the five boroughs will break the bank. If you really can’t bear to part with your four-wheeled baby, do yourself a favor: promise yourself you’ll try to go a month without it. After you’ve been here a month, you’re pretty well settled in, and you’ll be familiar enough with your neighborhood and your daily travel routes to decide if a car’s really a necessity.
Catch up with old friends who are already here. Here’s the one place where social networking works to your advantage. Use Facebook or MySpace to search for old classmates, sorority sisters, alumni of your college, or family friends who already live in New York. It just might net you a job, an apartment, or both. Firsthand proof: I recently got a call at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday from a high school classmate whose brother had just come to town; said brother crashed on my couch for three nights while he looked for a place of his own. He left New York for a few weeks to tie up loose ends back in Kentucky before school starts, but he’ll be back for good in mid-August, and he’s already got a circle of friends he met through family and friends, myself included.

The move to New York is surrounded with myth and romanticism, but it’s seldom a smooth ride. Any New York transplants want to chime in with other pre-move advice?

Pay What You Can in 2012: An Announcement From My Other Website

amanda_lee — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 03:13:05 +0000

Hi. Guys. Over here. Listen up.

Most of you know that I maintain a second website for my freelance work. In general, I try not to get all salesy with my work here, because that’s not really what this blog is for.

HOWEVER.

I want to kick off 2012 by reaching a wider audience of people. I want to work with a roster of clients that do awesome things and want to share the awesomeness with the rest of the Internet. And I know that category includes a bunch of you guys.

I also know that cost can be a prohibitive aspect to getting good work done – you can’t afford a developer, so you end up trying to hack something together that maybe isn’t as good as you’d get if you could afford to pay someone who really knows how to do it well…which means you spend a ton of time on trying to make it work instead of working on the thing that you do best [blogging, decorating cakes, making hats, training dogs].

So for a little while, I’m going to eliminate the cost as a prohibitive factor for people who want to work with me.

Starting right this minute, I’m offering two pay-what-you-can packages to kick off the new year.

Package The First: I will build you a custom WordPress theme from scratch, or modify an existing one. This is perfect if you’re just starting a blog or a website, or if you’re converting to WordPress from another blogging platform. This package includes three rounds of design revisions, full hand-coding, and cross-browser testing. I’ll host it for free for a year on my hosting. [The typical cost of a project like this: around $1000 for around 25 hours of work.]

Package The Second: I will help you set up a Mailchimp list, with a signup form on your website and a template for the emails. This is great if you already have a site you love, but want to take your marketing to the next level. I’ll help you with copywriting, split-testing, and design for four campaigns. They can be weekly, monthly, or quarterly. [The typical cost of a project like this: around $800 for around 20 hours of work.]

The Fine Print:
1) You must pay something. Even if it’s just a little bit. I’ve given you the approximate values of these packages so you know what they typically cost [depending on the kind of bells and whistles you need], but you can pay me whatever you think they’re worth to you and whatever fits in your budget right now.
2) I’m capping the hours on each project – not because I’m trying to short-change anyone or pull a quick bait-and-switch, but because I want to make sure this is as good an experience for me as it is for you.
3) You can use these packages anytime in 2012, but you have to purchase them by January 15. So that means if you want to launch a project or a new blog later in the year, but still want to take advantage of the deal, you’re golden.
4) You can buy one package or the other, but not both.
5) I’m only doing seven of each. So if you want one, you have to be one of the first seven to purchase.
6) If you buy one and I do an awesome job for you, you must [or all!] of these things:

Write me a sparkling testimonial for my site
Recommended me to your friends
Include a backlink to my portfolio from the work I do for you

So if you’re ready to rock the web in 2012, get in touch. I can’t wait to work with you.

P.S. If you don’t need this kind of thing yourself, but you know someone who does, send this post along to them. I’ll be forever grateful!

P.P.S. I mean what I said about this being done on January 15. I’m not sure when I’ll be doing something like this again, so if you want to get in on it, you gotta let me know soon. Got it? Cool.

Style Song: I love hot toddies.

amanda_lee — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:11:57 +0000

[image via thewanderous]

Whenever I’m feeling sick
And I cough, and my throat feels thick
A toddy I drink,
And quick as a blink
It helps me feel good super-quick.

A Review: Three Tiny Habits.

amanda_lee — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:50:15 +0000

I’m really interested in the work that BJ Fogg does on behavior change, so I was stoked to participate in his Three Tiny Habits project last week. It went like this:

- At the beginning of the week, the participants told him [via a web form] what their three habits were.
- Every day, the participants got an email every day asking me whether they’d done their habits, whether they planned to do them the next day.

You build three habits at once. Each habit has to be an action that takes you less than 20 seconds, and it has to be immediately preceded by something you do every day. This way, the thing you already have a habit of doing can form a trigger for the thing you’re trying to make a habit of doing.

My habits:
- Gather up the garbage to take out right after I snap the leash onto my dog. In our one-bedroom apartment, we have around six garbage cans¹, so if I don’t stay on top of it, it’s a pain in the ass to have to take it all down at once.
- Hang up my coat and put away my boots immediately after taking them off. I’m always freezing when I come in, so before this my habit was to keep my coat on and then shed it after I sat down at my desk to work a little bit.
- Shut down my email after I take my melatonin every night. I’m lacking a good shut-down routine for my evenings. Usually I work until I’m too tired to work anymore, and that means I fall into bed without a proper face wash/flossing/meditation and general wind-down. I thought this would be a good step.

How it turned out:
- In taking out the garbage every time I went downstairs with the dog, I ran out of both garbage bags and my stash of grocery store bags that I habitually save within two days. Doing it every time was excessive. Now that the week is over, I’ve been taking it out once a day – either the kitchen trash or the trash from all of the other rooms in the house. But it’s way better than what I used to do, which was to wait until the cans were all full and then try to juggle them when I went downstairs.
- I’m a lot better about hanging up my coat and putting my boots away. What helped me was having a sweater and mukluk socks right there where I hung my coat, so that I could hang up my coat and slip into something else warm immediately.
- The email shutdown was the hardest thing, because while I did it every day, there was nothing stopping me from logging back in and continuing my old habits. It was a start, but it wasn’t enough to change my habit of late-night work in the long-term. I’m not sure if this is something I can change, or even if I should try, since my late-night schedule isn’t really causing any problems for me.

It was an interesting experiment, and I can see how it would be really easy to augment the habits I’ve already established with new ones. I’d love to see the full results of this whole experiment.

¹ I should probably feel guilty about the amount of waste my household produces, but I’m always working on that. I recycle, damn it.

43 Things: A Review

I Made This: Tot Dogs website

amanda_lee — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:16:10 +0000

One of my clients is a couple that owns several restaurants in the Cincinnati area who are opening a brand-new restaurant concept. We’re holding off on launching a full site until they’re certain when they’re opening, but for the time being, I made a quick placeholder site.

I suggested the email signup form so that we can keep track of the people that want more information about Tot Dogs. After the full site launches, we’ll send an email announcement, and then that list will be our marketing list if we end up doing any email campaigns. [And it goes without saying, if you live in Cincinnati and you're into gourmet hot dogs, you should totally sign up for the list. It'll be neato.]

The logo was done, so it was just a matter of finding a color scheme that worked well with it. I think it looks great. Don’t you?

Decrease Your Social Awkwardness at Parties [by a factor of ten or more!]

amanda_lee — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:01:48 +0000

When I was young, I was an extrovert. I’m not sure when I made the switch to introversion, but sometime in the past five years, I’ve gotten really bad at interacting in real life with new people. However, since I moved here a year ago knowing about seven people, I started tagging along to parties and events with my friends in pursuit of meeting new people.

Sometimes it’s painfully awkward and embarrassing. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all. But since I’m actively trying to avoid becoming a hermit whose only friends are via her blog, I’ve tried really hard to get out more in the last year. Here’s what I’m doing to be less awkward in public.

Don’t use anxiety as an excuse not to go out. When you’ve spent months making a habit of not going out, it’s harder to drum up the motivation to go out. Make this deal with yourself: you have to go for just an hour. If you feel like leaving, you can leave. And if you’re having fun, you can stay.

Bring a wingman. For me, a lot of awkwardness in social situations comes from being at a party where everyone knows each other, and I only know one or two people, so I always feel like the implicit question from everyone is “What the hell are you doing here?” Chris’s art shows are the biggest example of this for me. If I show up with a friend who also doesn’t know anyone else, it’s a lot easier for me to have the confidence to include other people in our conversations…or I don’t even have to. [Case in point: Last weekend we attended a show at Kunsthalle New, and to ease the weirdness of being the only non-Internet art-making person there, I dragged Neil and Jake with me...and we had a blast. When we weren't engaged in conversation with the artists, we turned to each other and talked about technology and design and Cincinnati.]

Find another single person who doesn’t seem to know anyone, and strike up a conversation. Who are they? How did they get to this party? This might end badly, but if you get bad vibes you can always excuse yourself to go get another drink or to say hello to a friend you think you saw across the room.

Stay active. Finding things to do, no matter how small, keeps your mind off of being anxious. So find the bathroom and wait in line [bonus points for chatting up the person in line behind you]. Refiill your water glass. Grab something to eat. Whip out your phone and see what’s going on on Twitter or Reddit. Touch base with the couple of friends you know. Step outside to see what the smokers are talking about. In fact…

Step outside. If you’re a smoker, you’ll do this anyway. But I’m not, and I still do this. It’s a nice moment of calm, when I can talk one-on-one with people I don’t know in a less hectic setting. And if things aren’t clicking, I know that they’ll be done with their cigarette soon, so they’ll probably go back inside then.

Avoid the temptation to drink a whole bunch more than you normally would. Aside from the other ill effects of drinking too much, after the initial loosening of inhibitions, it can have the opposite effect – it makes you more sensitive to perceived social slights and more embarrassed when you make a social faux pas [and more likely to make them]. Counter-intuitively, you’re a lot more likely to be in control of yourself when you’re drinking if you drink often and you’re well aware of your own limits and triggers. [For instance, things end badly for me when I drink Southern Comfort and champagne. I imagine that's true for almost everyone, though. If it is not true for you, please email me. I'd like to know all your secrets.]

Leave when you want. Sometimes it’s just not happening. Sometimes the party just sucks and you’d have a better time at home drinking a beer with your dog…or asleep…or working…or hanging out with a friend one-on-one at the dive bar down the street. If you stay too long when you’re having a bad time, that contributes to an overall aversion to going out at all…and next time you’re invited out, it’ll be that much easier to talk yourself out of going. [Pro tip: My friend Kelly Parkinson has a great post about allowing yourself to leave a party early if you're an introvert or a sufferer of social anxiety. Read it. Learn it. Live it.]

Know that this is a process, and you get better at it over time. For me this has worked in two ways. First, as I’ve made a habit of making small talk with people I don’t know, I’ve gotten better at it. I’m less likely to try to start a conversation by accidentally asking creepy or prying questions, or fumbling my beer and dropping it [actually, I shouldn't lie: this still happens all the time]. Second, the more I do it, the more likely I am to know more people at any given party I’m at, so they’re immediately easier to talk to.

How do you guys deal with party-time awkwardness? Any of this work for you?

Ten blogs you should subscribe to right now

Routines: Dinner + Chores

amanda_lee — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:49:31 +0000

Lunch for me is still tinged with the “om” of coming out of yoga class and slowing my roll¹, so that’s probably why I feel a bit more okay with stopping for a burrito. But by dinner time, when I’ve been working for several hours already, stopping for a meal is less about enjoying the act of eating and more about feeding myself so I can get back to work.

When I try to cook for other people or with other people, there’s no telling how ambitious I’ll get; but when I cook for myself, my repertoire is limited to crock-pot chili, stir-fry, and western omelets – three items that are quick, easy, healthy, and for which I nearly always have the ingredients.

Chris is home by this time, but 95% of the time he’s asleep; he likes to nap after work so he can stay up until the wee hours of the morning and still wake up for work at his grown-ass man job. He’s tried to break this habit multiple times to no avail. And since he’s asleep, I’m just cooking for myself. I’m also eating alone. We aren’t a couple that sits down and eats together every night. If it’s a special occasion [read: if both of us are feeling exceptionally lazy], we’ll order carryout after he wakes up.

Ironically, even though my dinners are made to facilitate eating quickly and then getting straight back to work, there’s something about standing up to wash my dishes and straighten the kitchen makes me want to stop. So after I’m done eating, I clean the apartment, take the dog on another long-ish walk, and generally decompress. I’m almost never done with work for the day, but it’s a welcome little break before the next thing I usually do.

¹ One of my yoga instructors tells me to slow my roll all the time. She also reminds me of Janeane Garofolo. I am 100% in favor of having a yoga instructor that resembles Janeane Garofolo…if you’re wondering.

12:12 Tune of the Day: “No One Does It Like You”

amanda_lee — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:12:23 +0000

I’ve had my head deep in curve-fitting and coding all week. This album was on repeat.

12:12 Tune of the Day: Holocene

amanda_lee — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:12:49 +0000

I tried to post this last week, but then I became aware that my Grooveshark embeds were messing up my theme. Trying it again this week. Sorry!

My good friend Mike and I have known each other since middle school. I went to a Halloween party with him and his girlfriend Anna, and he described my music taste thusly: “She’s into indie rock. Some of it is kind of mopey, but some of it is pretty good.” I think it’s apt, no?