This is day one of what might (?) be a Facebook hiatus. My lack of commitment to it makes me skeptical that I'll pull it off. It feels like quitting cigarettes, though, back when I did that. Breaking the habit was always the hardest part - the nicotine was far easier for me to eliminate. My habit is to immediately check social media when I'm bored, or waiting for something to finish at work, as soon as I wake up, etc.

I don't want to quit all social media. But for some reason I can't quite put my finger on, Facebook "feels" the most unhealthy to me right now. 

One of the parts of my personality that I'm least proud of is my constant need for approval. I'm always seeking positive feedback from everyone around me. Every like and heart and retweet gives me the dopamine hit I'm craving. And running to social media all the time reinforces the feedback loop. 

It's really killing me to not check if I have notifications right now...

when I die, here are the things with which I think I should be cremated. 

first, make sure that all of the remains fit into one biodegradable urn when you're finished, and use my urn and remains to plant a tulip poplar. 

here's what I'll need. 

my purple backpack, or the gray messenger bag that Dr. Fig gave me for graduation. Most likely the latter would be most appropriate. 

paperback used copies of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, One Flea Spare by Naomi Wallace, Ruined by Lynn Nottage, and The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

my purple bandanna

a notebook and my Cross pen that my mom gave me. also a couple of ink refills. dammit, now pens are out. leave me a couple of Ticonderoga #2 pencils instead. I could run out of ink in the next world. 

the black pocketknife that's upstairs on my desk. it's Vince's, so you'll have to ask him if I can have it first. 

I guess I don't need a toothbrush, hairbrush, deodorant, or any of that stuff, since I'm leaving my body on earth. wait. but I'm burning my body and all the stuff in the list. what's the point of this list? will I need a hairbrush in the next world? a toothbrush? I enjoy brushing my teeth.  okay, let's assume that when I'm dead I won't need things to maintain my body's physical health, because otherwise this list will be too long. 

a pack of colored pastels would be nice. 

my knitting. whatever I'm currently working on. unless I was making it for someone else. 

the purple blanket that my grandmother crocheted for me. 

a towel. preferably the giant yellow one that I like to take to the beach, or one of the purple ones that I bought for my first single-lady apartment. 

I really don't need anything else, because I think I'm going somewhere to see/do something new. maybe a pack of playing cards in case I need to make a friend. Oh, I definitely need a pack of Tarot cards in case I need to figure some shit out. 

some bobby pins, because I always seem to need those. and a couple of elastic hair bands. 

Maybelline Waterproof Lash Discovery mascara. If they have it in brown, so much the better, but I think Maybelline discontinued it. Bastards. 

the red shawl that my mom knitted for my wedding. the red beaded lace wristband I knitted for myself, but it needs to be repaired first so it fits. both of these are impractical but beautiful. 

Lindt Dark Chocolate with chili. I might not need it for myself, but I bet I can use it to trade. 

I'm not sure what else I'd need, if I were traveling into unknown territory, so I guess that's it. This is, really, the list of stuff I'd need if Jarnsaxa ever shows up in my back yard with a ceramic bottle and a whole lot of copper wire, asking if she can borrow an extension cord and plug into the side of our shed for a bit.  

Finished all the dialogue notation for Episode 7 today. Three more episodes to go. 

This episode is the most obviously sad. Loki tries to avenge Jarnsaxa's betrayal, and hits the wrong target. It's hard to listen to these characters doing painful things to each other, because I can put faces with the voices. 

The day we recorded, I saw Ethan-as-Loki, looking at Amy-as-Sif, her face and whole body a wide open trusting welcoming embrace, and his absolute hunger, enjoying the thought of what he was going to do to her, all the possibilities of what he could do with that trust and how it could affect her and those who love her. 

The episode gave me physical chills (which saves on air conditioning, although it wasn't that hot today).  Part of my brain kept grabbing at distractions and running away from the story- oh, look, I could cook dinner, oh, I should take a shower. I ended up having to use a timer and take breaks to get finished. 

Sif is the goddess of fertility. The line I never got to write into the story, which I wish was there, is "do not confuse my generosity with foolishness." She seems like a simple little sweetie pie, but I also see her as being the kind of girl who'd come across a dead bunny rabbit in the forest, say, "poor little thing," and then shove her long, delicate fingers into its decaying carcass, digging it into the soil, mixing it in so it can fertilize the earth, whispering gently, "refresh, refresh," then wiping her hands on her apron and trotting on her way. 

Because when my brain hurts, it lunges for comedy, I keep imagining this story as a sitcom called Everybody Loves Loki. and Loki's sitting grumpily on the couch, wearing his big horned helmet, trying to watch the football game (Vikings vs. Eagles, most likely), while Sigyn shows him this lovely new Pyrex bowl she'd gotten at the mall, and asking how his day went, and did his boss Mr. Odin give him any more trouble? 

Meanwhile, next door, Sif is sitting at her kitchen table holding a can and a can opener, carefully reading the ingredients on the side of the can. 

"Everyone says it's a mistake to open a can of worms, but I can't imagine why. All it says under ingredients is: 'Contains worms.' How can that be a problem?" and then opening the can. 

Then Thor comes in. "NO!" Hurls Mjölnir. KABOOM! 

"Hoooneeeey!"

I bought Adobe Illustrator today and I'm using Skillshare to teach myself how to use it. I watched some of the lessons, then opened up Illustrator and chugged along, doing the lessons along with the lecture. Then Safari froze, so I decided to knock it off for a bit. 

There's a lot I can do, but I still haven't figured out how to draw a triangle yet. I'm doing this because I want to do the graphic design for the podcast. I will learn this eventually. 

So, it feels like I goofed off all day doing fun things. I guess it was productive. I want to do more, but I'm getting tired and my back doesn't want to be sitting up anymore. ​

I made gazpacho today. 

It was delicious; smoky, rich, a tiny bit spicy, perfect. 

Then the blender's pitcher got stuck when I tried to remove it. 

Never make gazpacho with a second-hand blender. 

I lied. Nothing from me tonight. Just got back to the hotel (at 11:30pm) and I still need to hit the gym.

Tomorrow - podcasts. Fer real.

(This was just to keep me posting. Trying folks. Falling off the horse, but...)

For any of you who don't know, my day job consists of driving a car. Lots and lots of driving.

This lead me to start listening to 1. Audio books and 2. Podcasts. Lots and lots of podcasts.

I go through a lot of them both. Audio books I burn through at an alarming rate (alarming because of costs involved in getting good quality audio books) and podcasts I 'go through' because I'll subscribe for a while, find that they annoy me in some form or another, and then I'll unsubscribe.

I've heard/read a number of my friends recently bring up  podcasts of one form or another, so I thought I would do a post to get folks talking about it. I would love to find some new casts that I'm not familiar with, and share what I've found to be good/fun/quality in my own hunt.

In case you're curious, I use Pocket Casts for Android. I download the episodes to my phone overnight using the wifi at the hotels so I'm not killing my data plan (and I don't have data in Canada anyway).

Friends

These are podcasts which friends of mine are actively working on/in.

•  Elvis, And - Some of you may already be aware of this one. Kevin Reagan is working on it, and Hot Breakfast! has contributed their musical skillz. Premise: short improvved 'stories' based on details left by friends of the King. Likes: I love me some improv. The fact that I have friends that are really good at it provides me with a great deal of happiness. I love that this is a new (to me at least) idea/format for telling improv stories. Dislikes: It's hard to say if I'll have any actual dislikes for this show in the end because they're just starting out. I'll keep you posted. Note: some of the dialogue in this can be very NSFW. You have been warned.
• Totally Beverages and Sometimes Hotsauce (TBASH) - My buddy Josh (aka JoJo or Intern Josh on the show) turned me on to this. Kinda a strange premise - a show entirely about beverages (and sometimes hotsauces) but it really actually works. Just try an episode or three. You'll see what I mean. Premise: It's a show about beverages. The hosts bring on a new guest and discuss beverage profiles, sample various drinks live (in the 'shootout' segment) and generally talk about... beverages. Are you getting the theme here? Likes: First of all, these guys are really pros. In a sea of podcasts which have the technical skill of "my buddies and me sat around a speaker phone and made a podcast!", this show has the technical skill of a more traditional radio show. Think NPR as a podcast that err... isn't NPR. If you had told me about the concept, and it wasn't cohosted by a buddy of mine, I probably would have turned my nose up at it. I'm glad that I didn't. Dislikes: I honestly don't have any. These guys make what should be a very dry subject (Ouch. Sorry.) really fun.

NPR

Yeah. They get their own category. I listen to a lot of them. I've subscribed and then unsubscribed to a bunch over time, but here's the current list. Most of these, I will assume you're familiar with (thanks to them being radio shows) but I'll jot notes for the ones I wasn't familiar with prior to the podcast. If you want to know more about any of them, lemme know.

• Freakonomics
• Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
• All Songs Considered - Great show most of the time. I love the very broad spectrum of music. Sometimes the do a 'life performance' recording, and I get bored with those fairly quickly.
• Snap Judgement - Storytelling with a beat. I lovelovelove the music that tends to back this show. When I first listened to it, I found the mood... over the top. Now? I crave it. It's enough to make me bounce with happiness when I hear the host come on and the music start. Highly recommended.
• Invisibilia - Another storytelling podcast (probably my favorite type) but with a focus on the hows and whys of human experience. Double thumbs up.
• Intelligence2 (squared) - A debate show about current topics. Focus on the debate, not on which side is 'right' or 'wrong'. Interesting listening.
• TED Radio Hour - Clips from the TED talks and a slightly more in depth (or at least from a slightly different angle) discussion with those who gave the talk.

Business / Entrepreneur

What can I say? I'm a sucker for this sort of thing.

• Smart Passive Income - Ok. I'm going to go ahead and confess: I'm a bit of a Pat Flynn fanboy. Short version? The guy found himself out of a job, and started trying online business ideas. Once he started seeing some success, he started given what he knew back out to those who wanted to hear it. And then he kept on giving. Now he makes a ridiculously healthy living from his online businesses and posts the income statements and all his tricks and tips for the world to see. One seriously refreshingly open dude. 
• Ask Pat - Another Pat Flynn joint. Super short format where he takes one phone call question and answers it. Simple, to the point, and in typical Pat fashion - fun.
• 1 Day Business Breakthrough - Pat and his friend Chris Ducker take an emailed question / request for help from a fan, and disect that fan's business in an attempt to help them grow. Another fairly short but delightful podcast.
• Home Work -  Hosts Aaron Mahnke and Dave Caolo discuss elements of working from home (or in my case - from the road) whether you're a freelancer or just have the ability to work outside the office. This one can sometimes be a bit 'goofy', but it's always good hearted, often helpful, and I like the show.
• Social Media Marketing - Michael Stelzner hosts this show on - you guessed it - social media marketing. Overall a good show, but it sometimes seems like the show is primarilly there to market his live events. That's not to say that the show isn't useful / helpful.
• Social Good - A 1/month show about using the power of your business to help out the less fortunate. I wish this show got more love / support and was able to produce more episodes.
• Internet Business Mastery - Heard about these guys via Pat Flynn. Enjoy the show, and I have to say that aside from Pat, they're the only folks I've ever considered buying from. And I'm pretty sure I will.
• Startup - Familiar with Alex Blumberg from NPR? Well, he's gone off to create a new company - Gimlet Media - and is producing a whole slew of new shows. Startup is a show about startups - including Gimlet Media. Season One was all about how they created the foundation for Gimlet. This one is a seriously high recommendation. (Especially if you like the NPR format for shows.)
• Freedom Fast Lane - I enjoy this one, but as he's talking about investment real estate (among many other topics) I sometimes get the feeling that he's working with folks on a level that I won't be for... a looong time (if ever).
• Confessions of a Pink Haired Marketer - Pretty much what it says.
• Nomad Together - A show I just subscribed to about families living a location independant lifestyle. Don't worry - I'm still not planning on a family anywhere in my future, but I figured the information (or most of it) will likely be useful to me too.
• The Tim Ferriss Show - The author of The Four Hour Work Week (among others) hosts a show where he interviews 'top performers' and attempts to break down their process / methods and determine what makes them so good at what they do. Everyone from Hollywood stars to athletes to business folks. Great concept, interesting show, and somehow I'm not always thrilled enough to listen to the whole thing. Pretty sure that's my ADHD talking.

You know something? There's a LOT more for me to go through and it's getting late, so I'm going to call it a night. I'll try to do a post tomorrow with the rest.

In the meantime, feel free to let me know what podcasts you're listening to and why. I'm always looking for more...

Yesterday, Wide Open Spaces, today, One-Minute Play Festival (runs Mon & Tues nights, at Plays & Players, includes work by OPWer Matt  Casarino). This afternoon, a kindly worded rejection e-mail for This Is Halloween. 

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life. 

Now I've got Mo on my belly demanding attention, and so, to bed. 

Wide Open Spaces, pre-reading setup.

Later that night, Mo responded to The Cat Signal.