Post Number Nine Hundred

Well, damn.

When I started this, I never thought I'd have 900 things to write about. (And perhaps some of you think I haven't, ha ha.)

Then, I was desperately trying to figure out the transition from college - what I wanted to do with my life, how I fit into my professional and personal spheres, how they fit me. All I knew was that I wanted to write about it all while I did it.

Six years later, I'm delighted with where I am, both personally and professionally, but - of course - still trying to figure out how the world fits me, and how I fit it. Less desperation, thankfully, but just as much curiosity.

And this place has changed to match.

I can offer useful commentary on my profession - public relations, the pharmaceutical industry, social media, and how they all fit together.

(However, I still like pop music, silly links, pretty things, and shiny bits of technology. Some things won't ever change.)

Thank you for reading. Sincerely. It's an honor to know that you think I'm worth the time. And while it's always a nice place to air out my opinions, it's ever so much better when it's a conversation.

So I'll try to make sure this stays worth its place in your RSS reader. And don't worry. I'll keep talking in the meantime.

With love and appreciation.

C'mon Get Happy

This afternoon I was grouchy.

But then a lot of things cheered me up.

...

Wow. Am I a storyteller or what?

Anyway, I thought I'd borrow a page from Karen and list my happy things. But the thing is, when I do that, I notice that the things that cheer me up are a little weird:

• Smelling the hyacinths mixed in with the daffodil beds as I walked out the door from work.
  
• Still seeing afternoon light even though it was after seven.
• Adorable neighbors saying hello as I got home.
  
• Unfreezing the DVD player after I was afraid it had eaten the putrid Ryan Reynolds DVD out of spite.
• Learning that I am to be the recipient of the Best Bridesmaid Gift Ever, the Ryan Reynolds Box Set, a threat/promise on which Maria cannot renege even if it has to be made with a shoebox and Scotch tape and a Sharpie.
  
• Turning on the TV to see Andy pitching (yes, of course the TV was left on YES).
  
• Realizing I don't need to make or decorate any more cookies for a little while.
• Watching Jon Stewart talk about being bitter, elitist and from western Pennsylvania.
• Making rice and beans for supper.
• Bailing on working out in favor of curling up for a geriatrically early bedtime.

Yeah, it's geeky, but it's that kind of night. You cheer up however you can in this world.

Classic Examples I: Perfection

One special reminder this Easter weekend that the world is, sometimes, very nearly perfect.

That reminder is about as big as a handbag, and her brand new name is Avery Rebecca. Welcome to the world, little one. And all the congratulations in the world to your family, who, if your dad's any example, very possibly might explode from pride. Keep an eye on him, girl.

RSVP: It's About Time

People who share my geeky passions for papers, stationery, and overall pretty design will be delighted to see pingg. No more lame art, no more ads, and it works with SMS and Facebook. Bliss.

Now, to have a party worth sending invitations to? All in good time.

(via)

Thirty

So. Thirty. Wow. (Not to be eloquent, or anything.)

I didn't expect to feel ready for this great big milestone birthday, but I actually think I am. My twenties have been... well, a lot of things. Good and bad and big and little and - just a lot. And now, I guess I feel like I'm better at being me, sort of. I'm more like who I really am most of the time than I ever used to... but at the same time I think I'm awfully different than I used to be....

Ugh. I'm doing an awful job of explaining. Okay. There are two weird ways to sum it up.

First. I sing now.

Not on stage or anything, God no. Not even hardly ever in front of anybody. But before the last year or so, I always sang so quietly that I couldn't even hear it myself. I hadn't really sung out loud since I was about six.

And this is completely eye-rollingly maudlin, but true - it's a lot because I've found people who sort of turn me up. Who sing (and don't care if they're off-key). Who play my game. Who let me hear their songs. Who tell me I'm not making enough noise.

So I doubt I'm any better than I ever was, which was never very good. But I'm finally loud enough to hear myself. I can hear what I'm singing. I can also hear what I want and what I don't want. I'm loud enough to hear myself. And that is very good.

And the second... I use the word "home" now.

For most of my 20s, you wouldn't hear me calling anyplace "home." It was, internally, a very big deal to me. Because no place felt like home anymore. I was a nomad, a vagrant. "Home" was a word fraught with a lot of meaning, for me. It made me wistful. But now, I have people and places that feel like home. Moreover, I just feel at home in me, more. So it's nice to casually be able to talk about "home." That, also, is very good.

So who knows if 30's the new 20. But either way, I'm okay with it. In my 20s I had nine mailing addresses in four years. Worked seven jobs. Got three promotions. Put myself through grad school. Totalled two cars. Hooked up, dated, got engaged. Got un-engaged, dated, hooked up. Traveled 14 countries. Watched little people grow up into amazing adults. Had people I loved die. Lost friends, made friends, reconnected with friends.

Some of that I'm phenomenally proud and happy about, and some of it I'm not. But it's all made for a decade that I am so grateful for.

So. Thirty. Wow indeed.

Weekly Roundup: Monsters, Songsters, Actors, Flacks. and Tech Support

• Public relations is mostly just about being real. A breakthrough, that.
• Patrick Stewart as Macbeth? Ooooh, yes please.
  
• In Japan, March 3 is Girls' Day, or Hina-matsuri - "hina" meaning girl or princess. March 3 is my birthday, and "Sarah" means princess. (No point. I just liked that.) Also, Ronan Keating and I share a birthday. In addition to our soulmate connection, of course. (I digress.)
  
• Cookie Monster on NPR. Fabulous.
• flickrvision and twittervision. Totally addictive mashups.
• Sirens magazine. Biting, funny, true.
  
• Running iTunes off an external hard drive is not working for me. I am afraid to investigate further tonight, but it appears the library is suddenly missing all kinds of random songs... again. If I have to copy the whole thing over from the backup external... again... I shall be displeased. It takes days to sort out the duplicates. Drop me a note if you can help/commiserate.
  

Possessions

A box on my doorstep.

Bubble wrap and a pink plastic bag.

A packet of old letters and photos in an old stationery box.

A card, as always with no printed message, just a short handwritten

"March 3, 2008. Dear Sarah, Happy 30th birthday. Love, Mom"

Maybe most people don't immediately think about how giving away possessions is a warning sign of suicide when they open their birthday presents.

I wish I didn't.

It's Gonna Be a Happy New Year

New Year's posts usually are one of two things... lists of the Top Somethings, or wishing people a happy new year. Both overdone. The first I don't have the expertise for, and the second is well-deserved, but finished. So what do you get?

You get me telling you that I know how lucky I am, how many wonderful things I have in my life, and how hard I have to try to deserve them. I've had a truly amazing 2007, and a lot of those wonderful things aren't things; they're wonderful people. And it's eye-rollingly mushy, but it's true: I am just plain blessed to have shared it with them.

So here's what you get... a toast. Here's to doing the best to deserve more good things in 2008.

The Royal Channel

This is the coolest thing on YouTube.

Not just because I'm a ridiculous Anglophile, although there is that.

But truly, The Royal Channel is genius. It's a government really getting new media - and, importantly, one already in power, not just a desperate candidate.

(Which is not to take away from YouChoose - just to point out that there's less need for the monarchy to do it, and yet they are. I'm pretty positive there's no White House channel. The Office of National Drug Control Policy has one (which... yawn), but if you search for President Bush? Let's just say it's not flattering.)

But back to the monarchy, because frankly, I like them better. And moreover, they got this right. The execution is perfect. The design is in keeping with YouTube but representative of the monarchy. There's new content, but there's almost a century of very cool old footage and links to pre-TV transcripts. (The Queen Mother's silent-film wedding procession, with her getting into her carriage in her cloche hat - fabulous. As well as Princess Elizabeth and Margarets' message to the evacuee children at Christmas 1940.)

Watching the Queen's first Christmas TV broadcast in 1953 is not only interesting in comparison to her first YouTube-televised Christmas message this week - but also because of what she says about what the advent of a novel medium can do to a society. The more things change... you know?

But yes. This is a lot of thinking for a holiday week. So. If that's a little much, you can learn how to say "bra" in German with Posh! (Along with... which one was Geri?)

Weekly Roundup: Multiple Personality Edition

Idle Curiosity asks...

• How much does it hurt after you get kneed in the quad by someone almost a foot bigger than you? Sub-question: is it weird to find it comforting that your leg hurt his knee, too?
  
• How elderly are you when someone who was in kindergarten when you were in college now has a college boyfriend of her own?
• For serious, do there need to be American Girl history dolls devoted to the far-off era of the 1970s?
  

Voice of Experience answers...

• Even more than you'd have thought. Also, no it isn't.
  
• Very. But that's okay.
• No. But perhaps this is additional proof of the elderly-ness.
  

Music Snob notes that...

• There may be a great big junior-high-style crush on Lupe Fiasco going on right now.
  
• The JXL remix of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" remains pretty fantastic.
• Fort Minor is fun (but as a Linkin Park side project it's not shocking).
  

Serious Note points out...

• That if you donate $3 to DarfurFast, you can protect a Darfuri civilian for a year. It's a guard for a mother to collect cooking firewood without being raped or killed by militia. On December 5, give up one of your little luxuries and send the money here.

Amateur Psychologist decides...

• Sarah will now get back to decking her halls, and will try not to be too topsy-turvy and happy-sad because it's been a long weekend full of quite a lot of stuff.

Weekly Roundup: Sox and Links

Since yesterday's liveblogging of my day - what was up with that? I never do that. That's what happens when Sac tells me to post. I go overboard - I have grounded myself. I discovered yesterday afternoon that I need to do a whole lot of financial math ASAP. (You may know me well enough to know how I am with math. So stop laughing and wish me luck.)

It's all very exciting. However, it means that I've had to miss out on the birthday of the fabulous Jon, which made me very sad. Since the Red Sox won I am sure that it was very happy, but I'm very sorry I wasn't there. But he might like this. Good luck today Jon (even though it is the Red Sox).

For everybody else:

• Oskope is the coolest way to find things.
• Calypso Cards makes Selfish Kitty cards which are sold at Urban Muse and are funny stuff.
• Paper Stories makes Bittersweet cards which are elegantly profane. Just like me.
  
• Greg is my fairy godmother. He is also a PR geeeenius and this post should be memorized by everyone in the industry.
• Jillian is a makeup diva. But she is also now a ridiculously successful makeup diva with one killer website.
  
• Death Counter is creepy but appropriate for Halloween.

Weekly Roundup: Three... Two... One

Three weeks' worth of places I'll be

• Chester
• Stewartsville
• Frankfurt (just to change planes but still)
  
• Vienna (where I have just discovered there is a baby panda!)
  
• Prague
• Paris (just to change planes and trains but still, specially as I may have a little time to pop my head out)
  
• Montpellier
• Ogunquit
  

Two people I am so worried for it makes me cry but so proud of it makes me dizzy

• Tracy - who is currently in Scotland and WHOSE FORTIETH BIRTHDAY IT IS TODAY SO GO SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HER
  
• Matt - who leaves next Saturday
  

One final thought

• Wish them luck (and me too).

Two pictures that are not great, and for which I'm sure I'll catch heat from their subjects, but which I love because they show two of my favorite people happy:

The First Day of Summer...

...is the one where I see fireflies for the first time that year.

So - happy summer, y'alls.

Painting Again

I started oil painting the Saturday after September 11th, 2001. Most every Saturday, except for summers. But I stopped to get myself done with grad school, and it's been a long, long, long time. Since... June 2005? Really?

So today I shoved some things around and... wow, does it feel good to get back into it, even if just by myself.

I normally find it rude to publicly message people, but in this case I've got to say thank you to Jilly for setting a good example, Dusty and Derek for the day at the Met, and Rinnie for the day of creativity.

I'm not done with the four projects I started today, but they got off to good starts and I have ideas.

I guess I didn't realize how much I'd missed being dirty and happy and exhilarated and just still inside.

Like Peter says, you need to reboot. (...he does his way; I do mine.)

A very good way to start the summer.

Here's a photo of what I think was the last one before now:

Portrait as Still Life, 2005

Weekly Roundup: What Have You Done for Me Lately Edition

Wow, I've been asking a lot lately, haven't I?

• Send my baby brother congratulations and good thoughts to keep him safe.
  

• Donate to Tracy's Amazon adventure, coming soon to a newspaper near you!
  

• Give Jeff five stars and a good comment.
  

• Help me find tickets for an amazing show.
• Edited to add: oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness I'm going I'm going I'm going I'm going!

But I know you can do it. And if you do.... maybe imma make you some of these like Rin and I did today. Creative, festive, delicious, and just a little weird: just like us. Fear us, Pittsburgh Cookie Table.

Other odd goings-on this weekend:

• Realizing that there are not enough parking spots disguised as drag queens. Because if there were, I'd find them.
  
• Learning that women are like sailboats. Because you have to constantly change to keep up with them. Or because they're oceangoing vessels you dump money into. I forget which.
  
• Discussing the origins of zombies in front of priceless art.

So yeah. It's random.

But happy Memorial Day. Take a minute to remember somebody who did fight - is fighting - will fight - and think good thoughts for them. Sine qua non.

That's all she's got. Escalator.

P.S. Go for it, Olivia.

Maverick, Not Goose

Matt got his first choice. He's going to fly jets.

I am so scared for him that I want to throw up, but I guess that's my job as a big sister.

His job is to be awesome at this. And as he's pretty much been awesome at everything he's ever done, I know he'll be fine. I know, I know. It just doesn't make me any less freaked out.

Guess I should have seen it coming when he wouldn't take off the camo t-shirt that he got from GI Joe cereal....

Weekly Roundup: Things I Did Edition

This Weekend:

• Graduating
• Dancing on a bar with crazy sisters (Also, hee)
• Watching the sun rise
• Going for McDonald's for breakfast barefoot
• Swinging in my pajamas
  
• Unpacking
  
• Repacking
• Watching the rain
  
• Playing with my new toy
  

Things I'm Doing This Week:

• Flying again (yay, but, boo)
  
• Jumping on a hotel bed
• Feeling bad that my posts have been totally lazy lists and promising to do a real one soon
  

It's Been a Big Day

(Via Fordham University, very many thousands of dollars from my own wallet, and five years of hard work)

Edited to add what I wasn't allowed to say yesterday - that the OTHER reason it was a big day is that, walking to the Fordham bookstore from my thesis defense, I found out I was getting a promotion! So yesterday, I was about as happy as you can be without your head exploding. I haven't felt that proud of myself since... probably one night in November.

Secrets to Life

Alec Holden won $50,000 this week by staying alive.

Ten years ago, he took 250/1 odds that he'd make it to his 100th birthday.

The bookies are delighted for him. (Except not really. But in a delicate, proper kind of "not really". They're not going to bump him off or anything.)

Anyway, he was asked how he got there. And these were his rules.

• Porridge for breakfast.
• Do as little work as you can.
• Go on as many holidays as you can.
• Keep breathing.

You can see that interview in CNN's Offbeat (which won't link to clips, annoyingly). And in other interviews, he apparently added:

• Tell no lies.
• Don't worry about anything.

Not a bad set of rules. And him saying "porridge for breakfast" was completely adorable.

Happy birthday, Mr. Holden. And many more.

Twenty-Six

Matt four pix

You reminded me of some of these today, so here's a few for everybody to look at and go "awww".

So: "awwww."

You're an awful lot taller now, but you're still my little brother.

Happy birthday, Matt!