comic of the day

Nice.

US = money

Check out this map: It replaces each US state name with that of the country whose GDP it most closely matches. (I tried to put the picture here but it turned out quite badly.) If you scroll down it goes into a bit more detail about the GDP rankings. Our 50 states plus DC match the top 101 GDPs in the world. The top 45 states match the top 61 economies. Total American GDP is almost as much as #2-5 combined. Amazing.

treo hell

Oh happy day... my Treo unilaterally decided to erase about 7 months of calendar data. Not the oldest things, mind you, but the most recent. It doesn't make any sense because the problem is most likely that I have too many records (6 years' worth), which generally causes the oldest to be deleted. It sucks - I like to write down stuff I do & where it is. So not only do I have no record of what I did since last September, all the addresses & place names I noted so painstakingly are gone. I'll have to go through & replace some of it from posts here. & the worst part is, tech support told me I should purge events every so often to prevent this kind of problem again. But the Palm Desktop software only gives me the option of deleting events older than a week to a month. I guess I have to go through & delete things from 2000 one by one. Damn retarded machines.

apologies

Yes, yes, I've been a terrible poster lately. I'm sorry. When I get home tonight I will catch you up with recent drama & other incidents. I'm so excited - my client tonight is bringing lacy beige Louboutins!! Also the money is sorely needed. Until later...

anorexic clothes

I forgot to mention that I have exercised myself down to the point where I can now fit into clothes I bought 4 years ago, when I was anorexic. It was only one summer but I've never been that thin again. The best part is, I'm not constantly dizzy & fainting like before, & I'm toned all over instead of skeletal. Yay! I love being thin. Hedge Funder noticed when I saw him briefly on Monday & said, "Oh my god - you were all muscle when I saw you a couple weeks ago, & now you're tiny. You're the hottest I've ever seen you." :)

Asurion convert

I have insurance on my Treo 600, since it was an expensive phone, & it kinda doesn't work so well anymore so I called Asurion last week. They sent a replacement phone that buzzes during all sounds. Within 1 week I can replace a replacement, so I called yesterday to do that. The guy asked if I'd charged my phone for 12 hours. No, of course I hadn't, you can't do that with Treos or it will fuck up the battery. When I got the new one it was already charged so I left it alone. He argued with me politely that I had to follow the activation instructions. I argued less politely that I didn't want to break the battery & the problem was the sound, possibly something loose internally, not battery life. He told me to charge it up for 12 hours & then call back. It made me really mad but I said fine. Today I called back after following orders, happened to get the same guy, & we reset it, which didn't fix anything. So he said he was very sorry I was having difficulties & could he make up for the annoyance with a free upgrade to a Treo 650 or 700? I was floored. Asurion has been nice the last 4 times I had to get my phone replaced but this was above & beyond. I did some research online & called back to get a 700p. I couldn't believe it! Now that is real customer service. I'm so happy, I can't wait until I get the new phone tomorrow.

I'm back

I have safely returned from my family's clutches... finally got to play tennis today. Hopefully Brooklyn Hottie - or someone at all - & I can find time to play here too. I'm exhausted after the tennis & 2 hours (conditioning & dance) at the gym, so I'll post more later. It's good to be in civilization again!

thank you Dear Readers

I can't tell most of my friends about my blog, usually because they don't know I'm a dominatrix, & sometimes because I have many complaints about them. So it's really hard for me to build up circulation. I like to check Sitemeter & see who's been tuning in, & I always find it hilarious how many totally random people read me, even if it's just the one time. I seem to have a fan in Prague - dobrý den! - as well as someone in Fiji & a couple people in New Zealand. Also a shout-out to Future Lawyer friend who reads me faithfully, unlike some friends (yes Girlfriend, I am making a face at you). Good luck on finals both of you.

I always wanted to be a writer but found myself ripping up all the extracurricular stuff I wrote, thinking it wasn't good enough. There are probably a grand total of 4 stories that survived the carnage. This is my way of keeping my writing, thinking about stuff I read or that happens to me, & feeling like I'm connected to the world. I hope to stay entertaining - feel free to comment & ask questions, & thanks for reading!

I'm so sleepy

I really need better (or any, actually) drugs to keep up this lifestyle. Friday, Saturday & Sunday I was partying very late & up early every day while running around during the day so no time for naps. This is on top of working in Jersey full-time & working out for at least 2 hours when I finally get back to the city. Once I'm home I still have to practice if it's not too late & make dinner. I end up only getting 5 hours of sleep on a good night. I am so psyched for this project to be over at the end of the week so I can just curl up in bed & SLEEP for a long time.

gay marriage in Jersey!!!

New Jersey has basically allowed gay marriage!! (See the NY Times article.) They're not sure they want to call it that yet, but the court has ruled that gay couples must have the same marital rights as the heteros regardless of name. This is so exciting! I guess this means if the Girlfriend & I ever get married (though that's unlikely) we could just go over to NJ instead of all the way up to Massachusetts. In any case, I'm really happy for all my gay friends.

homemade shuriken

I found this site online that shows how to make all sorts of cool origami things, including a throwing star (shuriken). As a martial arts junkie, I felt honor-bound to make at least one. Here's what it looks like:

Isn't it cute? It doesn't fly straight but that is probably due to it being made out of thin notebook paper. It actually wasn't too hard to make either, the directions are very clear.

rent comparison

Found this site yesterday through Lifehacker: rentometer.com. It's cool, you put your address in & it tells you how your rent stacks up to other apartments in your area. It works for places outside New York too. I was happy to reaffirm that my place is a good deal.

street art

I fucking LOVE this Parisian graffiti (via Gawker). The modeling industry summarized in one classic picture. This should be the official poster of afterparties.

haha

I've been reading this comic all day: http://xkcd.com. It's smart & nerdy & funny & helps this interminable day pass.

gmail access

For all of you working at corporations that restrict email access, here is the backdoor into gmail: https://gmail.google.com/gmail. Apparently I was the first to think of this when I started working here in July. It's like quietly bringing the truth to a totalitarian régime... I feel like part of the Résistance under the Vichy French.

dearth of posts

I have to go back to document review at the same giant corporation next week, so I will post more then - this weekend is all about organizing my place, finding the ever-elusive new cheap giant apartment, & exercising as much as possible. I'm overdoing it, I know (hurt my ankle in dance class today) but I'm worried I won't have time to exercise as much with increased legal work. Ah well. Incidentally, check out Showtime, they're doing a promotion so it's free through Monday. That show Dexter is phenomenal. The book rocked & somehow the show captures it perfectly. Good night... tune in Tuesday for more interesting posts.

brave new world

Well, maybe just a brave new me. Wednesday morning I was supposed to get a free haircut at Equinox's salon with the head guy - they've got some "hair model" promotion & when he saw my hair he wanted to cut it himself, though normally he wouldn't. I booked this 2 weeks ago. I called Tuesday night just to make sure, since they didn't confirm with me, & the phone girl says not only do I not have an appointment, it wouldn't have been with the head guy anyway, it would have been with an assistant. Which is not what we discussed, so I decide to confront them the next day. Turns out I actually was incorrectly scheduled with the assistant, which last night's dumbass somehow didn't see, & the desk girl insists on rescheduling me with the assistant for next Wednesday. I don't have the energy to keep arguing with her so I go swimming. After 50 laps being mad about it, I decide I need to stop being a wuss & go get what I was promised. This time it's a very nice guy at the desk & he totally takes care of everything. So I'm still getting my free haircut with the head guy AND I can be proud that I stood up for myself. Ahhh, the benefits of being a dominatrix...

the cloud descends...

I can feel myself getting depressed again. It seems to be a combination of overwork, lack of sleep & stress, so at least it's not as reasonless as before, but that doesn't make me feel any better. It's like watching the color slowly leach out of the world, so gradually that I almost don't notice, until I look around & everything is grey. Being aware of the decline doesn't really help. I can't just tell myself to stop feeling hopeless & despairing. That's the thing with depression. There's no logic. I know objectively that I have a pretty good life, & I still feel listless & sad all the time. I'm trying to keep myself busy with practicing & work & no self-pity.

I think part of the problem is that I was with a man for a long time & I allowed him to become the center of my universe as well as my schedule. When I left him 2 months ago, I suddenly had to amuse myself & create my own sense of self-worth outside of him. It didn't help that I became so frightened of men that dating was more scary than fun. If I'd been able to jump into another relationship I probably wouldn't be floundering as much, but I have to admit it's good to scrutinize myself critically without distractions. Very uncomfortable, but I think I'll be a better person for it.

Oddly enough, I feel happier after writing this. I guess reasoning through why I'm depressed is clearing the clouds away. They thrive on obscurity & ill-defined feelings & putting them under a microscope shows them for the nothings they are. Let's hope this feeling stays.