Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sad to see the four day weekend go.

Aww, the weekends go so quickly. I remember last Wednesday, being so excited to leave work...then we went to happy hour at this cute little Italian restaurant, we, the office workers. We had a good time, I guess -- even though I got this text message from a co-worker that said "That wine gave me a headache", which I thought was really weird. It's like...why would you text that to someone? I am still on the 10 cent a text plan, so I always feel slightly personally offended when people send me texts that are stupid. Hehe.

So, yes, I hadn't been blogging for a long time. I missed it! I am going to pour out all my intimate feelings into this blog as I work on other ones that have a more "commercial" appeal. This one is just for me and my little thoughts.

The thing is, I've been thinking a lot about self-employment. I think people get jobs because they can't handle planning their own time, developing their own goals, and following through. People that work at offices, as you know, often have problems going to the gym, eating right, getting enough sleep -- you would know, or at least I know, that people are constantly like "I'm so tired" "Darn, didn't go to the gym today", and all these other self-sabotaging phrases that they discuss openly (is it wrong that I never really try to reveal any faults of my own in public? I don't want to give anyone any ammunition LOL).

But I was thinking...well, if these people were ordered to go to the gym, would they? I like how I'm talking like I'm the exception, but I do what all those other bitches do too. Lazy when it comes to anything having to do with maintaining yourself or doing things you like, and nervous/scared to please others that give you orders in exchange for money.

I think it's important that I realized this, and I will work to create goals and follow through -- like the phrase, "be your own boss". But I'll be an awesome boss to myself!

What do you think? How do you manage time when you work for yourself? What did you notice about yourself when you worked in an office environment versus being self-employed?

Thursday, November 27, 2008

I wasn't ready.

I'm not gone. I was just so busy and not fully committed to blogging, but now I am. More to come later.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I love blogging!

I have nothing of value to say right now, but I just love blogging and reading other people's blogs. I am going to start recording some experiments I conduct on myself. The one I am working on right now is the self-designated deadline. I hope it will work out! It is fun to work non-stop instead of waiting and being like "okay, should I start this now?"

CREATE YOUR OWN DEADLINES !!! DON'T WAIT FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO CREATE DEADLINES FOR YOU!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Creating arbitrary deadlines to become successful.

I think one of the reasons why people are not successfully doing independent companies or working at home is because we're trained to only work on deadlines set by other people. Do youo think we can succeed if we create our own deadlines?

FInding your voice.

I think a large part of why I've started on this writing endeavor is to find my voice. For so long, I've just been faced with tasks given to me by others: do this assignment, come into work by nine, do this, do that.

I've also been faced with tasks given to me not just personally, but societal mandates: first you go to college, then you get an office job, then you work for forty years, then you retire, then you do what you want for however long you have left, and then you die.
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Isn't there more than this? I think the reasons my postings have been so terse and unimaginative is because I simply don't have a voice. Or if I have a voice, it's very scared and in hiding.

What does one have to do to find their voice?

Why does no one come to my blog?

I've been very disappointed recently, I'm just going to be honest. I've been going to several blogs and commenting -- blogs with not that many people going to them, hoping at least in response to my good comments that they will at least come to my blog.

Not one.

I find that offensive and it makes me angry. I thought I would get a little help! Well, they all just lost one viewer! LOL

However, I'm going to switch up my style...generate some good content that will make them beg and crave to go to my blog. They'll see!!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Procrastination: 3 Tips to Overcome

A lot of times in my life, there are times when I'm delaying doing something. It may be something that is personally important to me, a task that was given to me and that I now feel obligated to carry out, or any situation in between. We can spend a lot of time thinking about the "root cause" of procrastination, but will it really help us get things done? So I've developed some tips to help everyone get over their procrastination and get things done.

1. Make a list of five simple things, and do them: Oftentimes when I am cleaning my living space, I am overwhelmed by all the things I have to clean, organize, and so on. So instead, I just try to find five things and five things only to organize/clean. I hone in like a laser and do the five things. Then, I see if there are another five things I want to do. If not, I can do five things later. However, it seems a LOT easier to do stuff when you break things down to really "do-able" segments.

2. Set a time limit: Similarly, often when there is a huge task, or even a little task I need to complete, it can take up whatever time is left until the project is over. For instance, if I am doing a homework assignment and it is due on Friday at four PM, but right now it's Tuesday at noon, without planning, doing the assignment would LIKELY take the whole time until Friday at four. But will you actually be working on the project the entire time? I don't think so! So many times I've given myself "tons" of time to work on a project, but only to be doing it totally last minute because I had no foresight. Yes, I would be printing things out, quickly trying to edit them, and re-printing [the printer WOULD usually malfunction at some point during this stressful time, only adding to the horror of last minute homework completion]. What I try to do is create a little schedule and then a big schedule. The big schedule would set the major goal, i.e. have the assignment done a day early, and the little schedule would go hour by hour, stating exactly what I would be doing each hour. And it's weird, the little hour-by-hour schedule would kind of act like a self-fulfilling prophecy -- I would actually accomplish what I put my mind too!

3. Know Exactly what you are doing and why: So many times in my life, I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, or have no clear focus on what I'm trying to accomplish. I will sit in front of the computer for hours, just reading stuff related to it, but not idea how to apply the information. So keep in the forefront of your mind the reason you are doing what you are doing. Is it to find information to put in in an academic paper you are writing? Are you trying to find out how to put wallpaper in your blog that will look cool? How much time are you allocating to this task? How important is this for you achieve? Just keep on top of yourself!

Hopefully these tips helped!!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Why you have to be selfish.

Yesterday afternoon when I was at work, I received an email, a facebook message, and the promise of a phone call from a "friend" of mine who wanted me to go somewhere with them [some place totally inconvenient for me] the next morning at 8:30.

I had not heard from this person in several months, so it came to me as kind of a shock as well as an annoyance that this invitation was seemingly so last minute as it was presenting the event as some sort of an obligation I had to carry through on.
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My stomach twisted at the thought of saying no to her, knowing that there will be questions, comments -- "What are you doing instead? Why can't you come? You'll miss out". Those types of comments.

The thing was, I wanted my time. Saturdays for me are the only day where I don't have to immediately interact with people when I'm first waking up. I want to do whatever the hell I want to do. The thought of me doing something at 10:30 on a Saturday also appalled me, as the event involved mass consumption of alcohol. I didn't want to be having to find a taxi in some obscure part of the area, because I will not drive under the influence of alcohol.

I began to think about what it meant to be selfish, to be greedy about your time. I simply do not have to tell people what I'm doing with my time, nor do I have to spend it on them. It kind of feels to be greedy, after giving away my time so freely for so long. I'm greedy, selfish, and I like it!

People act like their feelings get hurt when you say no. But saying no is powerful and under-rated. Do you think Jennifer Lopez agrees to do whatever people who randomly text her want to do? Do you think Madonna got where she was by accepting weird "dates" with people early on Saturday mornings?

So I will vow to be selfish with my time. I will do what I want to do. I don't feel bad or guilty about it -- in fact, I feel quite liberated!

What do you do that's selfish yet positive? Leave a comment and let's chat!!

Why you have to make mistakes to succeed.

Why do we want to be perfect? Why do we have such huge goals that we wish to come to us in the blink of an eye -- a new car, a new house, a book deal, and so on? Why do we want these things? Why do we want to get these things without making any mistakes?

Mistakes don't really exist. They're just learning experiences. This blog entry is likely going to be poorly written and difficult to read. I would be surprised if half the people that have started reading this blog have already moved to another site or skipped ahead to a new article.

But my point is this -- we need to make mistakes, and make them consistently. Make as many mistakes as you can, because each mistake brings you closer to your goal.

Is writing a bad article bringing me closer to my goal? Of course it is! Simply writing this blog entry gives me writing practice, even though the writing is crude and uninteresting. Writing this blog also helps me achieve my goal of being creative -- I am creating this article, thus, I am creative! I also wanted to not only practice writing, but practice writing consistently. By writing this article, I am doing that and am glad.

So it really doesn't matter if what you're doing is not to the level of quality that you would ideally want to achieve. By doing a poor job, you are setting the stage so that you will one day do an excellent job!

What do you think?

Never stop posting.

I am going to avoid the common pitfall of bloggers who start and then stop posting after a few weeks (in some cases, days). Maybe they don't get enough of a response, maybe they don't get enough advertising revenue.

I am going to continue post, even if it's worthless and stupid. It is so important to me that I follow through on this. It's essential. If I start now, what will I have learned in 10 years? Maybe I would have learned so much about advertising and html and coding and scripting that I can start a huge internet site or service and be rich and contribute to the world.

I am not going to give up. Even each stupid post is important, because it gets me closer to my goal and affirms that I care enough about myself to follow through on what I started.

Why is Youtube so slow?

Today while I was taking a break from cleaning, I was watching some videos on Youtube and it was slow. I was so upset, it took like 5 minutes to load one video.

But Youtube is slow in another way. Why is Youtube going to acknowledge that they profit so substantially from the efforts from others -- hosting videos that play music from artists, scenes from movies, etc. -- and none of these people are seeing any profit. It seems like a bad deal to me.

A common argument I have heard is that "Well, the people are getting publicity." I don't think that's really true. Maybe it helps to a certain extent, but then it gets to the point where people are so used to listening to bad-quality recordings of music that they would rather just load up a Youtube page than pay 99 cents for an MP3.

What are we going to do about this? I find it disturbing. What do you think??



Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Why you need to watch the Rachel Zoe Project

Hey everyone.
I've been meaning to write this for awhile, but I never wanted it to come across as being sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek. The thing is, I really enjoyed watching season 1 of the Rachel Zoe Project. There's just something about it that's so wonderful, how Rachel views choosing clothing as an academic endeavor, with rights and wrongs but an overall complete subjective viewpoint of what is "bananas".

Rachel Zoe Missoni

Her clothing tastes are, of course, impeccable. I wish I could articulate what I like so much about the show, but it's the lack of the functioning A key [when I was watching my friend's dog, he jumped up on my Macbook Pro keyboard accidently, ripping a key off. I was pissed because now typing is burdensome, and I love to type, but it's not the cute, lil' doggie's fault. I shouldn't have put it on the bed.]

I think I love Rachel is because of her compassion. Her compassion for herself, her employees, and for her viewers. I don't know how to explain it, but even though she has this artistic eye, the vision of which she never strays from, she never ...she always tries to synthesize how it will relate to everyone else. Ugh, it doesn't make sense. But she makes her world view...she tries to present it in a way that's her own, but so we can understand it.

OMG this blog entry is just like...going nowhere.

But I will say this -- WE NEED SEASon 2 of RACHEL ZOE ProjEcT like yesterday!

Tell me what you think about the show!!

I do love how Rachel loves Missoni as much as i do.

Senator Palin

"The Gentlewoman from Alaska, Senator Palin"

Senator Palin

Now that we know there's no way that Sarah Palin won't be VP, the next thing to consider is if she's going to become a Senator. With Senator Ted Stevens, 84 [???] years old [ed note: Does Sarah have some thing for taking advantage of elderly, powerful men -- shall we call her Anna Nicole Palin?], almost out of the picture, she could place herself right into the Washington she hates.

Senator Palin. I would love to see her and Hillary placed on the same committee. I don't doubt that Sarah has potential, but she has no curiosity, and has been considered an anti-intellectual. That is putting it lightly.

Does Sarah deserve to be in Washington? Yes, if the proper people elect her. No one elected her to be VP, she was chosen by the Republicans [may God bless them that they reform stronger than ever].

I think a two-party system is important, and even though I’m a liberal leaning Democrat, I think the Republicans really have to reform and create a new message.

But what ruined Sarah Palin’s credibility and what is she going to have to do to become huge in Washington?

1. Do something eco-friendly.
2. New hairstyle/glasses
3. Have one of her children be gay, become pro-gay marriage.
4. Say that she was on drugs during the VP campaign...that maybe can explain away her inability to answer any questions.
5. Become a published author in highly-regarded academic journals.
6. Sex tape with Todd [sorry, that would be hot -- not gonna lie, they’re both beautiful people]
7. Become more crunchy and hippie-ish : publicly destroy/burn expensive clothes the RNC bought her, or sew them into a giant AIDS quilt and sell it for fund-raising. Next, wear overalls and clogs -- Todd would always have to be shirtless or nude.
8. Go to grad school, finish top of her class, get a PhD, teach, and become a community organizer.
10. Go blonde.

Do you agree what my ideas for Sarah Palin 2.0? Please let me know in the comments section!

What is my American dream?

I was reading a headline on the news right before drifting off to bed, but it created a rise in me. The headline is:

Voter at rally: 'Barack Obama is the American Dream'

It made me think of what my American dream is. America is a land of immigrants, where almost all the people that are here today are the descendants of very brave men and women who left their home for the hope of a better future. I feel obligated in a very good way to show them that it was worth it, that I am achieving the American dream, that their struggles were worth the heartache and struggle, the coal mines, the hunger, the sadness.

We Americans need to consider...what is our American dream? People like Obama, and even Sarah Palin show us that no matter what others think, anything is possible.

It took Sarah Palin six years and many, many colleges to get her bachelor's degree. This woman then went on to become the Vice President candidate. Obama was addicted to cocaine, or at least used it, and is now going to be our President.

This goes to show that in reality, the only thing stopping us is ourselves. IF we don't care what others think, we can attain great things.

My past certainly isn't as...bad...as those two people. What will I become? Or, more accurately, what will I choose to become?

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What can I say? I'm proud to be an American tonight.

Tonight is a night we will all remember. Not only for Americans, but the whole world. We're entering a new world, a world where peace will reign, hope will be abundant, and reconciliation will be our priority. The years of fear are over.

Obama is our new President.

No more Bush, no more Palin, no more Joe the Plumber, no more Cindy McCain, no more elitist Republicans preying on our poor country folk, no more war, no more evil.

A new day has come.

We are free from the past. Too bad so many of America's men and women perished overseas, in Iraq. I pray for them everyday, letting them know that they are loved and appreciated for all eternity -- for taking our leaders on their word, and working to protect us, exposing themselves to horrible, inhumane conditions, even though they did so under the pretense of deliberate lies that misled and confused us, the American people.

But those days are over. Obama is so much more than the man. It's the movement.

It's for us. Enjoy it, my fellow Americans.

Tired after work.

I hate being tired after work. It is not the tired of "oh, wow, I accomplished so much today I just need to relax." It is a type of fatigue that you get only from sitting in an office for eight hours. Your brain hurts slightly, your body is sore for some reason -- it's not like you were exercising -- why does my body hurt?

Working in an office sucks. It's simply the truth. But when you're in the office, you think about how great it will be when you get home, how much you will accomplish, how you can't wait to do y and z. But no...not me.

I come home, strip off my street clothes, and usually sit in my bed for like three hours, sometimes falling asleep. Isn't that sad?

I am trying to push past my ennui by typing this blog posting. I just want to have my life back...not selling forty of them in exchange for...for what? Clothes, food, money to buy shelter?

I need to rethink my priorities.

Having nothing to do at work.

Okay, at my new job, there really is nothing to do. While my boss is out of town, he gave me an assignment to do something...but the person before me already did it. However, the person who did it before me did it in such a weird, illogical way that it took me five, long, frustrating days to figure out it had already been done. It was depressing. I volunteered to do something for someone else, and I was allowed to.

Now, I would be fine with having nothing to do...but...there's a huge reason why it bothers me. Everyone in the office can see my computer monitor. When they walk out of the office [which they seem to do about once every 10 minutes], they all have a chance to see what I'm doing.

Do they look? Are they checking up on me? I have no idea. I catch myself trying to get a glimpse of what is on someone's computer screen from time to time.

Regardless, I still have to sit there and pretend I'm doing something. Luckily, there are only five weeks left before I leave this gig. It's only temporary work for a school requirement.

But what has this taught me? Don't be responsible for other people telling you what to do. Does this lesson help me in regard to my current situation? Not really, because I can't go up to someone and say "I'm going to decide what I'm going to do today" -- because there is no person to say this too. I'm just left all alone with nothing to do, but with the paranoid feeling that someone is watching me.

So I am going to create my own jobs or job. There is a lot of resistance against this in my family. They think I should get some "stable" job with the government so I won't get fired, get health benefits, and so on. But what would be the point of that?

I've already socked away a lot of money. I want to buy property, like a condo, so I can have a place to live where other people [Condo board excluded] really don't have any say in what I do. I want to live, discover, have fun. Having some office job, while perhaps "stable" [I don't even believe that's really accurate anymore when people get laid off all the time -- government workers included, but maybe at a lesser rate] is the opposite of living, discovering, and having fun.

My relative is like, but you will meet new people! Well, I met new people at this new job, and while they're "nice", it's not like some huge new social outlet. I'm beginning to suspect that some of the people are gunning for each other. But I'm not going to get into that.

However, this job was important because it taught me several things, as seen in the list below:

1) I don't like people keeping tabs on me.
2) I don't like having to be stuck in an office until a designated but arbitrary time.
3) I don't like having nothing to do, or having things chosen for me to do that are a) poorly thought out, b) boring, or c) unnecessary.
4) It's not fun to spend the whole day with people, but feel uncomfortable or weird around them.
5) I like working with people -- sometimes.

should you give up on your blog?

Personally, I have met many people who first are very excited to start blogging. Everyone starts blogging for different reasons -- someone may want to express themselves creatively, others may want to become part of a community, and some do it strictly for monetary profit [the last category usually gives up fastest.]

Anywho, I am here to encourage you to never give up on your blog! You should always be posting your ideas, thoughts, questions about life in your blog so other people can read them.
Plus, you never know who is going to read your blog and what impact that will have on your life!
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remember to clean and prowl away from creative ennui...lol that's so badly said but that's what i came up with in adobe.

For example, that chick that wrote that movie called Juno. She kept a really nasty blog that some guy thought was something else [starts with p and rhymes with horn], but he was a Hollywood producer and then she got a movie writing deal and got to win an Oscar.

You may not care about that story, even I don't really care, but there's still an important message! Never give up! Wouldn't you rather write screenplays at home than go to a job where youo're yelled at for being late to a meeting [and the person doing the yelling is late almost ninety-five percent of the time]. I know I would!

That is why I am going to start my next project: Maximum Light - One Screenplay per week. Yes, I am going to write one screenplay per week and see if I can replicate the success of Juno writer Devil Kody or whatever her fake name is.

I am going to do this because it is most important for me to become a better writer, out of fear more than anything else. I see so many blogs written by people who are, unfortunately, writing in such broken English. I want to become an excellent writer who writes only in excellent english!!

I just want to express myself. It hurts to keep so much in for so long. I want to express and explore different forms of expression...writing, organizing, dressing, and so much more.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Is being neat correlated with being rich?

When I watch old movies, I really like to look at the backgrounds -- the huge mansions the rich characters live in, the furniture, the decoration. It's so interesting to me. But one thing I've noticed is this -- in old movies, rich people always live in huge houses with rooms with only a few pieces of furniture, with lots of space, huge windows, and so on.

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Poor people? Shots of the impoverished, which are few because in movies people want to escape reality, the apartments are tight, cramped, and oftentimes overcrowded with items. Stacks of newspapers is one thing that comes to mind.

What are they trying to tell us, these movie-makers from the '30s, 40's, and 50's? Rich people expect the best, and one of the best things to have is a clean environment.

Now I know some of you are thinking -- wait, so and so is so messy, bordering on being totally disgusting, and they're so rich, so creative, so ingenious.

That's an exception. But do you think Bill Gates would tolerate messiness? Do you envision him programming or sitting in his office in a messy, dirty room? Madonna is supposedly a complete neat freak, and she's one of the richest musicians in the world. Did you hear about how Lucille Ball used to scrub airplane bathrooms [I think Joan Crawford did too].

Is there a correlation between neatness and wealth?

Look at 30 rock. Liz Lemon, played by Tina Fey, is a talented albeit maladjusted writer. What is her office like? Small, cramped, no thought given to the layout, design. Jack Donaghy? His office is spacious, clean, with nothing out of place.

I don't know why I'm thinking about this...but remember this phrase? Cleanliness is next to Godliness. What does that mean? Clean in thought?

In Christian Science, it would be clean as in removing yourself from a dirty, flawed material reality and realizing that you are currently and always have been existing in a perfect spiritual reality. God rewards those...okay, I don't know where I'm going with this. I just wanted to express this thought and perhaps I'll talk about it later.

But I am going to clean and find out what happens! I will do a blog experiment called -- clean and get rich? I will copy Steve Pavlina, who I think I am secretely jealous of LOL

steve pavlina? why would you listen to him?

Okay, my beef with Steve is this. Why would you listen to him? He's successful only from telling people how to be successful, but that's the only thing he is successful at. When I read about self-improvement, they always refer to him as "guru" or whatever. I'm sure he's charming and nice, but I like to follow my own intuition. Okay, this made no sense. I love you Steve!!! :)

My suggestions to improve Kath and Kim.

So the new show Kath and Kim is out, and here is my verdict -- it will improve. But right now, the plots are just so implausible, the writers are so cruel to the characters, and it's just so...out of touch.

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Molly Shannon and Selma Blair are good actresses, but the writing is really bad. I think the premise is good...comedy about mother and daughter living together who represent the bottom levels of cultural achievement. But they made the daughter seems so dumb it's not even believable -- and if people really exist like that, then I don't want to really watch it.

The only show that got away with this was Strangers with Candy and i think the reason it worked was because Jerri was so bizarre, and the other characters were "normal".

Let's make Kath and Kim the samme...but make them do different things...

Make it a dramedy, not an absurdist "comedy". It's not funny now. Ugh, I'm being so inarticulate because I was just at work and I'm suffering from that post-work gross brain freeze. But I will elucidate my point eventually!

I'm thinking...make kath and kim...more dangerous. exciting, sexy, suspenseful...not dumb and nonthreatening. Set these two, cheerful yet unassuming women against a dark world...create contrast. Right now they're in this perfect world that no matter what stupid decisions they make, there are no repercussions. I think that is the main problem.

Have Kath have some dark secret...have it rain more. Change the tone. Americans like dark comedies...in tv, we want there to be outcomes as a result of the characters actions.

I will write more about this later. I will consult for the show if asked -- but it can't be between five and 7;30 at night, because I am now realizing that those are not my "peak' hours.

Most addictive song?

so the song i've been addicted to for the past week or so is ...lady gaga "eh eh"...this song is so simple and perfect. I love how it's just the perfect pop song. Her whole albulm is really good imho and I know she is going to go far. I think the persona of gaga is an interesting marketing technique, because it seems more interesting when some freakly looking girl sings standard pop songs than like vanessa hudgens. it just adds more depth to the songs, i think. anyway, i highly recommend this song. :0)


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i made this image in celebrtion of the song...

Sunday, November 2, 2008

why i enjoy christian science.

Okay, this blog post is going to be a bit different. I don't know why I feel the need to write about it, but I do so I'm going to write about it. Recently, I've been reading Mary Baker Eddy's book "Science and Health", as well as the 500 watching points and her book where the title is something like miscellanious.

[sorry if my typing is weird, but the a key is not working so i have to press extra hard and it is disrupting my flow of writing :-[ }

I used to not know what christian science was or confused it with scientology. but christian science basically states that if God is the creator, then nothing God creates could be bad, because a good God sees no value in disease, badness, and if we are his creations, we should have a good life.

Okay, that is not eloquently put at all. I am still grasping at the meaning, trying to understand it. I am trying to heal using Christian Science -- I have tried using lots of energy therapy, like EFT, and other stuff. But it was too hard/wasn't working. one thing i hated about EFT [www.emofree.com] is that it started out like 'oh, this is therapy you can do yourself! It's free and you can heal from whatever problems you are experiencing"

Well, that only lasted a short time. Eventually, EFT "practitioners" came out in droves, sensing an ability to be opportunists, and started spouting jargon like "The reason you are not healing is because you have deeply rooted issues that you CAN NOT uncover yourself!! So hire me for 75 dollars an hour and I will help you find the ROOT CaUSE of your problem!"

So, I adopted that mindset of, well, this is too hard to do because I won't be able to figure out the root cause that is buried under so many years of other memories. It was very discouraging.

On the other hand, Christian Science is like...God will take care of everything. I like that better, and my life has improved. I feel more focused on positive things knowing that negative things aren't worth thinking about because they...don't exist. Yep, they don't. It makes so much sense to me.

afraid to sell on ebay?

I was talking to a friend today about the success I've had recently selling on Ebay. Although i have no plans to sell forever on ebay, i have been enjoying it with a few exceptions. However, when i was telling her about it...she said she had wanted to try selling, but was afraid.

afraid? to sell on ebay?

I asked her why, and then I remembered I too was once afraid of selling on ebay. first of all, let's be honest -- the site is not that well organized and it takes awhile to figure it out. second of all, if you have never shipped through the mail before, you might be intimidated or afraid to go to the post office, embarressed that someone would out you were selling on ebay [yes, it does happen -- people are ashamed to admit they sell on ebay lol], and so on.

For situations like this, I have prepared five major points about overcoming your fear of selling on ebay.

1. Search then Copy: First, just start with ONE item you have in your house that you wish to sell. I would strongly advise you do something that is easily shippable like a book, magazine, or CD -- we can do harder stuff later. Next, search for your item under the advanced search > completed search listing. try to find one identical to yours -- then click watch the item. now that by watching you have essentially saved it so you can keep an eye on it, look at how they are advertising it. does the price seem fair to you? how have they described the item? what are they charging for shipping? how have they photographed the item. if you think they have done a good enough job, i suggest just copying everything they did -- take your own picture though, because they legally own the image. but kind of copy how they described the item, how much they're starting the price for, and so on.

2. Buy supplies ahead of time: you need to know what you plan on selling ahead of time so you can buy the proper shipping materials. I recommend you first start out selling books, magazines, and cds -- things that are easily shipped -- and the appropriate shipping materials are also easily found at staples, office depot, cvs, rite-aid, and so on. I highly recommend you buy more higher-end shipping supplies, at least initially. You want your buyers to know that you are a high quality seller, so splurge and get higher priced shipping envelopes -- those brown envelopes with bubble-wrap already in them. I have heard of people stuffing enveloeps full of newspaper as bubble-wrap, turning priority boxes inside out -- do NOT do that. The buyer is never happy [not to mention using priority boxes/envelopes for things other than PRIORITY items is illegal and wastes tax payer money]. you just want to represent yourself as a smart, intelligent, "together" seller.

What you need to buy:
1. packing tape
2. high-quality envelopes

ok, those are my tips for now. ... i will post the other 3 later :)

love this list.

this is more here for my own reference, but for those of you interested in internet business, please read the following link:
http://you-v.com/2008/11/02/new-to-affiliate-marketing-11-crucial-things-you-must-know-before-getting-started/

basically he talks about what you want to do...i want to do something creative with my life, and i regard internet as the new frontier of creativity. working in an office job for 8 hours a day is truly a horrible thing and i will not subject myself to that.

commenting.

Commenting is so important....please comment on my blog.

http://employmentmoney.blogspot.com/2008/10/get-free-traffic-by-blog-commenting.html

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making money from photos?

http://blogs.photopreneur.com/52-ways-to-monetize-your-photos

awesome link. we're so lucky that there are so many ways to make money online, amirite? LOL!

i'm just posting this here more as a reminder than anything else. i will include a fun picture i made though!!! LOL!

Important Reminders for Ebay Success

I have been selling on Ebay for about over a year, and I have found some great tips through experience (and have not read these on the web) concerning what to sell, how to sell it, and how to make sure you get return business.

1. Don't spend extra time customizing your Ebay seller page, adding graphics, etc.
I see a lot of sellers with customized graphics trying to give the idea that their Ebay site is an actual store, or pretending it's special or something. Buyers don't really care. All buyers look at is 1) the item that you are selling that they are interested in, and 2) your feedback. When I see other sellers with tons of graphics about "Ami's Store -- supporting my 5 kids through selling on Ebay!" it reeks of desperation and probably hurts their profits. Ebay buyers REALLY don't want to know about you, why you are selling. Just show the product and have good feedback.

2. When sending items through the mail, ALWAYS include the last four digits of the zip code: Yes, this will take an extra 3 minutes to go to the www.usps.com site and type in the address to get the zip code, but this step is SOOO neccesary. It takes about 5 minutes and gets the package there to your customer oftentimes a week earlier than normal. Most of my good feedback has been about quick shipping -- this definitely adds to the quickness of thigns being shipped quickly.

3. SHIP AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. Okay, this tip is sooo important. When someone buys something from you and have paid, you should RACE as fast as you can to get it wrapped and in place to be shipped (your car, a box you take to the post office, whatever). Even if it isn't going to be taken physically to the post office until the morning, you need to wrap the package. if you do not do it immediately, you will have the tendency to say like "oh, i can do it tomorrow -- i'm too tired now'. suprisingly, a large number of people procrastinate wrapping the item, which lengthens the time in which the buyer will receive the item. get into the habit of as soon as you receive the money in your paypal, RACE to wrap the packge.

4. Always wrap professionally. Never hand-write your return address or the address of the person to whom you are sending it.

5. Never try to make money off of shipping. If anything, reduce your shipping costs to slightly less than you would usually charge and increase the starting bid to offset any loss. People hate paying a lot for shipping and if your shipping seems too high, people will ignore your listing.

Okay, that's it for now. Tell me what you think and be sure to add tips in the comments section. I may do other blogs talking about how I've made thousands selling VERY random yet profitable things!!! LOL

Saturday, November 1, 2008

britney ;)

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dont u luv this?///
wow, this blog totally sucks. i am going to quit blogging. it really is not fun lol i mean what r u supposed to write about anyway?? i am just trying to be tru to myself annd pour my heart out but itz like no one even carez...really sad...

अ व्होले न्यू world

why, why does this type in chinese?? lol