April 27, 2000

One year ago: I detailed my daily routine, which actually hasn't changed all that much, except I got new pajamas and I don't drink coffee as often any more. And Jim, look! I linked to a story about those plastic disks in your eyes!

Jim and I were just talking about them (Intacs, like permanent contacts) becaues Terry just got the laser eye surgery on Tuesday. He had really bad eyesight before, and he says now it's 20/25. I haven't talked to him yet, but Mary was telling me about it. I don't wear glasses, but Jim does, so he's interested in it. It's awfully expensive, but I'm sure if you look at how much you spend on glasses, contacts, supplies, etc., it works out financially. Plus, just the freedom of having good eyesight -- being able to swim or wake up in the morning and be able to see! I take it for granted.

That picture is of the snowglobe that Jim brought back for me from San Diego. He got his pictures back from his trip, and I'm including some of my favorites in today's entry. Sorry to those of you with slow connections. I compressed them as much as I could without compromising the quality too much. This one to the right is Eric on the beach. He's such a dirty hippie. I mean that in the nicest of ways, though. Jim went swimming even though the water was only 50 degrees. He figured if he was going to be there, he should at least try to swim. Once he got in the water, the lifeguard yelled out, "Attention swimmers! There are violent riptides. You should move over in front of the lifeguard station." Jim was the only one in the water, so everyone was looking at him. He didn't stay in very long, because he couldn't feel his legs after a while.

This picture is of Eric on the left and Justin on the right. That's about all I have to say about that one. The last two pictures are pretty self-explanatory. One is a giraffe at the San Diego Zoo. I just liked the picture. And the other one is an ocean view. I liked the colors. Jim is like a professional photographer. I was so impressed with some of these pictures. And to imagine he took them with a cheap disposable camera!

In other exciting news, I met with the client for my freelance consulting gig. I am really excited about this job! I think it's something that I will be really good at, and I find it interesting. I hope it goes well. It doesn't hurt that they're paying me well, either. Now I have to find an accountant and start figuring out the whole self-employment tax thing. Mary said she would help me (she's an accountant by trade) which is great. Wing Chun has also been giving me good advice (namely, find professional help). If anyone has any thoughts about being self-employed, especially the financial aspects, feel free to send them my way. I realize that none of your advice is legally binding and all that, and I promise not to sue you if you give me bad advice. I know some of my readers work for themselves, and I'd love to hear your tips and tricks on navigating the self-employment jungle. I think it would be cool if I could somehow finagle this into a more permanent gig, but one job does not a career make, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. That said, it would be great if I could deduct some of my expenses. I've been reading stuff online and I'm going to get a book or two to help me out, along with the professional advice.

What else? Oh! People were talking about journals in Beth's forum, and someone called me "one of the cool kids" and someone else called me "a web goddess". That really made my day. Hell, it made my week! I've talked in here about how I was feeling a little bad about my journal lately, and that revived me a little. It's weird because when I first started the site, I used to cherish each and every e-mail I got from readers. Then after a while, I started taking it for granted. Like, the normal "Love your site!" didn't do it for me anymore. I'm so jaded. I remember when I used to get excited if I have more than ten people visit my site per day. I think I've finally gotten back to the reasons I started doing this in the first place -- to have an outlet for my thoughts and stories, and share them with people. It doesn't matter if it's one person or one hundred people. I don't have any intention of trying to make this site into a money-making venture, so traffic really shouldn't matter. That's what I tell myself anyway.

Blah, enough of my whining. Congrats go out to Wing Chun and Glark, who just bought a house! I am so jealous.