Sooooo....

     See that? ^^^ Yeah, that thing that's circled in red.

 Um. Dat's me.

      ....Yeahhh, I'm kinda still here.

Sorry to disappoint. I realize this must be hard to fathom, BUT. I haven't died yet. 

I know right, you're probably shocked. How did a freak like that manage to stay alive for... how long was it.. oh look. Over a year. It's been over a year since I last posted on (ima be cliche now, get ready) my own personal corner of the web. (Oh, and thanks for dropping by! You're the peachiest.)

 WAIT.

 WHO ARE YOU.

 WHY ARE YOU HERE.

 GET OFF. MY. PROPERTY.

Kk, now that that's out of the way, I can FINALLY get to the point of this post.






TADA!!!!




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Wait.

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Oh my wooooord. THERE ISN'T A POINT. 

That got embarrassing fast, ya know, kinda like.. the rest of my life. -_-

[No Time...]

 ..Like the present.

 That's what I said last night when, at 10:30, I decided I needed exercise.

 My rationale was good. I hadn't done anything active all day. From morning til' night, my main activity had been sitting in a cushy seat pounding away at a laptop.Though profitable, my day hadn't been invigorating or healthy.

 I'm the sort of person who's loaded with energy. I get asked all the time if I'm on a caffeine high or loaded up with sugar. The fact is, I'm just spilling over with excess intensity and enthusiasm 80% of the time. (Magnified x12 in the presence of PEOPLE). With all of my extra energy, spending an entire day doing nothing (active) poses a problem when it comes to sleep. Added to this, I get punchy and restless without a good outlet. Which brings me back to my point.

 Just about the time my parents turned in, I hit the rebounder (small indoor trampoline) with active force. I call it a Maddy workout - half an hour of crazy jumping (it's a wonder my head didn't dent the ceiling) then (girl) pushups, and a rendezvous with the ten pound weights. At 11:15, I felt good. (No hating on my exercise plan, it's awesome and fun. And I'm no body-builder.)

  ...But the only problem with exercising late at night is that it gets you going. Instead of getting some sleep for tomorrow, I felt like going on a cross country bike ride, hiking up a mountain, or playing volleyball for hours. (Or kicking down a wall.) If the opportunity had arisen I would have, but instead I...

 Straightened the house. Framed some photos. Cleaned my room. Arranged my shelf. Wrote a list: (see post #5). Did my hair up. Spilled tacks. Cleaned up tacks. Got my stuff ready for the next day. Pondered what to get Sami for her birthday (which was yesterday but SHHHH).Sent an Instagram Direct. Did every random thing I could think of.

 I do believe it was after one thirty when I finally got to bed (oh and look... it's one thirty right now. and I haven't even exercised yet, I'm so behind...), and set the alarm for 6:45 the next morning. I had to be at a childcare job by 7:30. I'd have five hours of sleep, but that's ok, cause... it had to be ok.

 But the next morning, it wasn't ok. Because when I was finally fully awake enough to check the time, my heart flopped. 

It was 7:37.

|||| true story |||||

[Lists]

                                         

I love making lists. 

 Not for any useful purpose, you understand. But the ability to write up a daunting task list and wallow in my own pathetic misery is an idea too delightful to ignore. 

 Whether I eventually check off the items on my list is a non-issue. And I don't even really care about the order it's written in. All that matters is that I get all of my stress out on paper - after that, I can toss it in my junk basket (wait, you don't have one?), or send it to a friend with a rant about the miseries of life. (Either one, and probably both, would do.)

 Then I can move ahead, hopping from task to task at my own sporadic pace. That is, until the next task pileup crashes in, when I take the opportunity to do it all over again. 

 Life is good, kids. 

[About Procrastination]

 I am the worst procrastinator. In the world.

 This is probably the fifteen hundredth blog post you have read starting with that sentiment. They always say the same things. "That post about procrastination." "I've put this off for months." "I should put a bag over my head until I promise myself to actually get something done! And punish myself by dieting if I don't keep my promise."

 Why do today what you could do tomorrow?

 You know what? That is a good question. 

 And it has a good answer! Here it is: If you're capable of reading this, that means you have at least enough brain capacity to decode these moronic ramblings. That being the case, you are a human being, and as such, you have a responsibility to be.. well... responsible.

 We all have a work load. We all have things that we need to get done, and the chances are 999 to 1 that someone else is counting on us to do it. So why do today what we can do tomorrow? Because we can do it now, but may not be able to tomorrow.

 If you can get it done now, then it's your responsibility to be responsible. Get er' done!

 Two more things. 1, this: (Ok nvm. It was an article. But now that I just proofread the whole thing, I discovered that it had some language in it. I'll figure that out later.) (LATER. SEE??)

And 2. I am a complete hypocrite. Because, instead of smashing my killer editing load (see blog post #1), I wrote this blog post. Because, just like in the article above, I HAVE AN INSTANT GRATIFICATION MONKEY. Living in my brain. No, I have three. I HAVE THREE INSTANT  GRATIFICATION MONKEYS LIVING IN MY BRAIN. Do you feel sorry for me?

 Neither do I. Because I should be able to corral enough will-power to harness these monkeys. Pretty soon they'll be pulling my banana sleigh, and I'll be riding on top.

[Extra! Extra! Read All About It]

 I got new boots today.

 These aren't just any boots. They're tall boots, to the knee boots.They're western boots. Boots with buckles, and leather lookin' pull straps. Boots with dark spots on the toes. With wood imitation soles. Boots that smell like leather, feel like leather, look like leather. Boots that walked right out of a John Wayne movie, complete with ride-em-up-cowboys and shoot-em-up villains, the ranch owner's daughter, plunging horses, and of course, COWS. These boots are classy. They out-class any other boots I've seen.

 Basically, they're the best boots in the world.

Becoming the owner of these unbelievable boots (for the obnoxiously sweet price of $20), I couldn't wait until I got a chance to wear them. I had to show them off right now! To the world! (The world being every person who had the misfortune to talk to me.)

 I needed picture of them, of course. My normal procedure is to set any inanimate subject up on my picture stool for a classy portrait. But these boots are so tall that they can't stand up on their own. They needed a model. I gladly tried them on again, and whipped out my ipod to take the picture. But it was too dark in front of the mirror. 

 Not a problem, I can just use the mirror in my room, right?  Right. I'd wanted to move it onto the floor anyway. So I wrestle it off the dresser, take it out of the closet, and...I'm about to set it on the floor when I hear a sliding, then a crashing as the mirror slid out of place in the frame and hit the floor. This doesn't sound good. I hadn't heard a breaking sound however, and it hadn't fallen far, so all was good after all. :grins to myself: :sets mirror down and takes a look:

What. What? I didn't even hear it break.

 I guess that didn't matter. The mirror was broken alright. :swallows hard:

 But... I had WANTED to break it. Yeah, that was it. I did it on purpose! Because... that picture I was going to take.. it needed an authentic and rustic touch. Something that a normal mirror shot couldn't attain. This was perfect, and quite purposefully done, I assure you. 

 And so, here they are, products of my hard work, imagination, modeling, and photography skills.

tHe BoOt PoRtRaItS

:waits for you to pick your jaw up off the floor:

I know, I know. They're incredible. Mind blowing. Outstanding. 

Now at Target for the incredible price of $40!

--

note: the boots neither feel like leather or smell like leather. They smell like Target.

 But.. target smells like leather.

[The Way To Get Somewhere]

  The one thing I've learned about time is that it slips away from you.

 It leaves, even without your knowledge or consent.  It's easy to let your time slip by, not realizing that what you've lost is unrefundable, unexchangeable, and without price. 

 And here's the thing about life: It only has the qualities you instill in it. You get out of it what you put into it. Life's not something that happens, it's something you do. If you put quality in your life, your life will have quality. If you have a game plan, a set of goals and a realistic way of reaching them, your life will assume a quality it couldn’t otherwise possess.

 In the end, it's all up to you. If you want a drifting life in which you accomplish nothing, then just

do nothing. But I have found that the way to live life is to live it, not just let it happen. There are so many things to explore, discover, accomplish, enjoy, experience, and become. But you won't get anywhere if you don't start walking.

 The way to get somewhere is to go somewhere.

--

[YOUR EDITING WORK FLOW]

See? We're aiming high.

 Follow these steps for efficient workflow and increased production:

1.   Cut the tabs. Use grooveshark or spotify and leave your email tab open,  but STOP facebook and feedly while you’re on the job. Cutting the distractions is paramount to establishing good self discipline.

2.   It is absolutely essential that you STAY IN THE FOLDER YOU NEED TO WORK ON. Don’t hop from session to session, stay in the place you need to work. Doing the opposite of this is tried and true, and…doesn’t work.

3.   Start at the beginning, and work your way to the end. Basically, the hopping from favorite to favorite needs to stop. Now. Part of getting paid to do a job is working. And, since you’re no longer five and building block castles, this isn’t going to look glamorous (all the time, at least). Slog through it, from beginning to end. And then it will be done, and your clients will be pleased with you! And you’ll be pleased with yourself, which is always an added benefit (Just don’t take it too far please).

4.   Set goals for yourself. Choose a number of pictures that you have to edit before you leave the job. Don’t even open up Lightroom if you’re going to edit less than, say, 20 photos. This assures at least some results, and puts you in the right mindset.

5.   Be decisive. This one’s important! How many times have you edited a set of pictures with one filter, only to find that you like a different one better? And how many times has this lead you to redo the entire set of pictures? More than once? I’m cringing.

6.   DELETE THE REJECTS. This accomplishes two things.  1, it cuts down on the files in the album so you can keep track of the good ones, the ones you’ll give to the client. And 2, it saves space on your computer! There are so many reasons to do this, and not doing it is just cementing laziness and failure.

7.    Think of this the right way. Remember that your job is important, it’s a big deal, people are counting on you, you’re getting paid for this. You don’t really have an option on whether you’ll do it or not, so why not make it easier on everyone and just get it done in the best way possible?

8.   Quality control. Go over the pictures in a detailed way, and don’t let little mistakes slip past. Get other people’s opinions on which photo to choose, or which edit you’ll go with. Basically, become a detail freak without letting perfectionism get a strangle hold.

9.   If you’ve got a seemingly colossal work load, setting aside at least an hour a day in which you’re certain to plug away at the job will have an enormous impact on that stack. Just as the projects build up over time, so does the slow and steady get-er-done method. It snowballs, and pretty soon it’ll be Christmas!

10. Train yourself to succeed. Keep yourself in the right mindset, and don’t grow stagnant. Remember to learn something new every day. Don’t stop taking pictures, flip through other people’s work, read another article, take on a new challenge! And, even though this is hard, be open to criticism. It’s all about becoming a better artist.

 As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Whatever you are, be a good one.” Keep all this in mind, and you’re set! 

Now back to the dungeon. I mean, Lightroom.