Artsy crafty

I guess what they say about stress killing creativity is true.

Now that it's summer, I've been doodling all the time (....errrsometimesatworktoo) and now I really want to get out there and just make things.

I've also expanded my music collection by almost 2G, though I feel like I'm getting more mainstream.
Oh well, as long as it's good music that I can sing to, I don't mind. As Weezer says, "everyone likes to dance to a happy song, with a catchy chorus and beat so they can sing along".

Favorite song of the bunch? Definitely 'On the Radio' by Regina Spektor. It and 'Pork and Beans' are probably my feel-good songs of the year.

So my parents are getting on my case about deciding what I want to do about the rest of my life, which I'm kind of grateful for because otherwise I'd put off thinking about it....

Speaking of which, I'll post some useful links for stuff, since I've started using del.icio.us to find those lifehack lists of ways to be productive, etc., etc. as well as useful tools to shorten time doing useless things. I also try to restrict my compulsive internet and checking habits. We'll see how long that lasts.
Anyway:
Joe's Goals: This is a good site to keep track of your habits; assign positive scores to good ones, negative scores to bad ones, and check off which ones you do every day. You can chart your progress to see if your score gets better. The first step is to track your habits!

del.icio.us: Saves a bunch of time looking for sites that you found a long time ago. As long as you get in the habit of compulsive bookmarking, it's pretty useful. The most I've gotten out of it, however, has been seeing what other people use to increase efficiency. Take a look at the most popular lifehack bookmarks out there

Pandora: Free streaming music! What more could you ask for? The best part is that you choose songs you like, create stations, and Pandora will fill the list with things that are similar to the song or artist you chose. Great way to expand your music repetoire. Downside is that you can't pick the songs in the list (well, you can skip them), so if you want to hear a particular song, this isn't really useful. It's like customizable radio without the annoying announcers or ads.
On a side note, you can use Pandora.fm to track your listening habits. It's like Last.fm, but for Pandora. Pretty nice.

Craftzine and Instructables: These are great DIY sites that have instructions on how to make a whole crapload of your own stuff, from tshirts to Ironman masks. I personally cannot wait to spruce up my wardrobe full of black t-shirts

Meetingstarter/GracefulTools: This is actually kind of a plug for my brother's startup. It's a useful tool for planning meetings, appointments, and events, you just have to get everyone to join in. it is quite helpful, especially if people start getting used to using it.
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In other news, I'm going through another emo-style phase. I've picked up 2 skinny ties (checkered and polka-dotted). I might get a collar. Made some armwarmers out of some old striped stockings. Oh no, what am I turning into?

The worst part is that there's no one to slap me if I try to buy anything else.....

I may branch out and design some more Quail and Hawk t-shirts that'll be quite designy, hopefully. We'll see what my schedule looks like after this weekend.

Since I'm rambling anyway, I might as well ramble on a bit more.
I had some strange dreams this week, but they were strange because they were distressingly mundane. It was just flashes of completely normal things, like changing my laptop battery or taking stuff out of my backpack. I think they managed to combine into this dream about going on a quest to save the world, but somehow the dream largely focused on me packing for the journy in a completely ordinary way. I guess life is like that. You get stuck on the little things and somehow lose sight of the epic quest. Or something like that.

More randomness: Since I haven't been able to get regular exercise because of work, I've been playing Stepmania a lot, to the point where now my calves hurt like my gastrocnemius muscles have been replaced by small cacti.

Mmmm, what else?
Oh, I'm getting a library card today, finally. I lost mine in Freshman year and I never bothered to replace them.....

I slept funny last night and now have a painful crick in my neck

Hey Hawky-dear, I hope you're having fun in the lab analyzing your (possibly non-existent) results! Come home soon so we can shanghai you into going to Ikea.