KatieAlender.com ~ the official website and blog of author Katie Alender

Friday!

Friday already.

I have spent this morning's free time updating my website, which has been perpetually under construction since its inception. Which is how I liked it. But I thought, sometimes you have to give the people what they want. Then I thought, no one wants anything from me. And then I thought, but maybe someday they will, and then it will be done, and you won't have to interrupt your partylicious lifestyle to give it to them, because it will be waiting.

Can I just say that giving up Diet Coke has proven to be easier than I would ever have imagined? Perhaps it's the fact that I don't wake up at 3 am wanting to chug a gallon of antacid to prevent my stomach acids from tearing my esophagus to shreds. But drinking water, so far, is working out. I can't believe I just said that. I can't believe this whole paragraph. I love you, Diet Coke (and it's not just Diet Coke, you know, it's ALL carbonated beverages -- and, so far this week, alcohol (but that won't last)).

It's 7:30 am, time to start getting ready for work. I can't believe there are only two more weeks on this show. It really amazes me how time flies. Anyway, we're down to the wire and now I've finally started the arduous scripty process. In my head I call it "overscripting," because that's probably how a lot of people would see it. But I don't say it out loud.

In case anyone reads this and is curious, the Travel Channel special I worked on last summer, "Travel Memories: Are We There Yet?" will air next Thursday, 5/26, at 8 pm. Look out for my cameo, as a mom sitting on a suitcase. Also look for my house's cameo... it's really all over the darn thing. That was a fun show to work on. Nerve-racking, though, because every little piece of footage cost an arm and a leg. We still came in way under-budget, though, so HA!

Labels: day job

501 measly words.

It amazes me that sometimes 2,000 words can come dumping out, and sometimes 500 is like pulling teeth. If I had to explain my opinion about something and was told to keep it to 500 words, it would be agonizing after about eight minutes. But write fiction for a half hour and you're lucky if you can manage to achieve 500 coherent words.

I guess it's like they say -- that quote about writing being easy -- you just stare at the page until drops of blood form on your forehead.

I just have to keep reminding myself that (1) the struggly writing is usually the best, and (2) 500 words is still 500 more than I had yesterday.

Okay, time to get ready for work.

Labels: whining, writing

Working late.

Still at the office tonight because our editor took a spill on his bike this weekend and we had to call in backup. Works out because we brought in the dog show expert to sub, and things are getting pulled up delightfully. There's half a barbecue chicken pizza in the fridge and I only ate one piece. Those thoughts aren't necessarily related, but they both have to do with work, so they go in the same paragraph.

Yesterday went to the mall to buy some clothes. Also stopped off and had a drink (or two) at PF Chang's. Enormous swarm of bees. Not a fan of bees, swarm or no swarm. All I know is that I never in my life saw a swarm of bees until I moved to LA. When we saw the huge one in Mexico and went downstairs to get off the open-air roof of the restaurant, the restauranteur said, "What? -- they're not African!" Great. Getting stung to death by plain old Mexican bees has never been high on my to-do list either, frankly.

I used to work this late every night. God, how miserable. Now I'm so spoiled, when I'm not working late, it seems like the most unreasonable and outrageous thing. But now that I'm here, it's not so bad. Although I'd still rather be home with the husb.

I guess I should stop typing, because I don't have anything else meaningful to say.

Labels: day job

Saturday Morning

The cleaning ladies are coming today, so it's going to be a busy morning of cleaning before they get here. There's that age-old joke about not wanting them to see how you really live, but for us, it's more that they will stack each and every item we leave out. So the dirty shoes go into the clean laundry basket, the gardening gloves go into the utensil drawer, etc. It's really awful, because, for instance, the glove-utensil incident happened six weeks ago and we still can't use anything in that drawer. If we had a dishwasher that would be different, but the dishwasher happens to be typing in her blog at this moment, so that's a no-go.

We watched a movie last night. Sideways. Hateably indie. I don't care how meaningful that lingering shot is -- if it's a shot of a bad actor reading stupid dialogue, I'd rather get off it sooner rather than later. One movie left until I can make a call on Best Picture.

Then on to Best Supporting Actor.

Aside from cleaning the inside of the house, it's really time for us to focus on the pool. It's green. Dark green.

No plans for the evening. So far.

Labels: domesticness, movies

How To Be a Better Person

In nine easy steps.

(1) Don’t drive in the asshole lane. It’s extremely rude and frustrating for the drivers who happen to be considerate enough to get in line and wait like everyone else. This fits into the larger category of “Don’t break the rules just because you can.” If everyone else were a sociopath like you, you wouldn’t even be able to cut in front of traffic. And while you’re at it, take your cart to the Cart Corral when you’re done shopping.

(2) Don’t, I repeat, don’t, go through my mail. (Unless you live at my house.)

(3) Oh, are you listening to your music at the office? That’s great! However, your taste in music is abhorrent. Buy a pair of headphones.

(4) Be nice to waiters, receptionists, and grocery store clerks. Their day is almost always harder than yours. Especially when they have to deal with jerks (read: you and your friends).

(5) Don’t get mad about something just for the sake of getting mad. Don’t go out of your way to be offended if someone doesn’t mean something offensively. In fact, if something is meant offensively, you’re better off acting not offended, because it will drive the offensive person out of his or her mind.

(6) Don’t use “which” if you can use “that”. Don’t use “that” if your sentence makes sense without it. I mean it!

(7) Even though it’s verrrrry hip right now, don’t go around spouting about how you hate humanity and people are stupid. Sometimes people are mean, or rude, or make bad decisions, but every person on the planet was once someone’s baby, or is someone’s father/mother/wife/husband/child. Try to see the world compassionately. The only people who are okay to hate are the people who bring down property values in your neighborhood.

(8) Don’t talk politics at the office. Suck it up from Monday to Friday and spill it on the weekend (when I’m not around).

(9) When someone talks to you, stop what you’re doing and turn to them and listen. They will appreciate it a lot and will probably be more willing to listen to you when you have concerns, because they know you understand where they are coming from. (This applies mostly at work, not at home or in social situations -- sorry, Chris.)

Labels: katie expresses an opinion

Archives! Archives! Archives!

Labels: archives, blogging, website

Aw, Shizbur.

Importantly, I didn't make that up. I merely interpreted it from blogger.com's secret crazy-word, the kind you have to type to get an account. Because a lot of fake people are blogging these days, and it's really a problem.

Chris has a blog, too. His will probably be more informative than mine, unless you're primarily interested in (1) dogs, (2) catching up on the latest slang, or (3) Dr. Phil. Also, (4) many other fascinating things. I'm not making any promises, but I'm also not NOT making any promises. (Which is not the same thing as making promises.)

In conclusion, I'd better go now.

Labels: blogging