Hi! This post (below) was the first I'd written in several days because of work craziness. (Thanks, BlogHer Ad network for linking to me.)

So, if you're new around here -- please check out some of the funnier stuff on the sidebar or read the one about my unfortunate experience finding a personal trainer. It is called BALLS OF DEATH and involves drawings like these:



and



Thanks for stopping by!

I have a zillion ideas for blog posts, and they're all bouncing around my head like ping-pong balls. I don't know where to start or where to go with them, and I don't yet have the mental acuity to write them. I will soon, though! I'm on the rebound. Anyway, here are random snippets, hopefully prefaces of things to come.

- The conference was fantastic, but it is SO draining. Like any big event, even a wedding, afterwards you just have to look around and go, "Did that really just happen?" Now that I'm back, my sleep patterns are still really off, and I am terribly broken out. Obviously more important things happened at the conference than my losing sleep and developing heinous zits, but I haven't quite put them into coherent thoughts yet.

- One thing that did occur to me -- prior to the conference but made more evident by some of the things I heard there -- is that I have an "issue" with blogging! (And probably you're wondering why that last sentence involved quotation marks and an exclamation point, which is good of you to notice.) It's that I don't know what kind of blogger I am, other than a "life" blogger. Apparently, everyone wants to know what "topic" you blog about, and the answer, You know, my life and stuff, isn't very easily categorize-able. Especially because I'm not married, I don't have kids, I don't write about Tech, or Finance, or Law, or Career Advice (although wouldn't you love to read THAT blog? Hooo-wee!) or even San Francisco. I want to write about this more, because I do think it impacts all of us in the non-category category.

- I finally saw Enchanted!

- The day after the conference, my sister picked me up and we drove to my home town, where I stayed for a couple nights. It was weird. Really weird. Sort of like stepping into a photograph taken ten years ago. Completely uncomfortable even though everything was familiar. I don't really understand why I was uncomfortable, or why it seemed so sad, but I was and it did.

- While I was at the hotel in New York, I accidentally paid $4.99 to order an episode of Top Chef I'd already seen twice.

- I am really, really enjoying living with Ish. Coming home to him after being gone a week was fantastic. (And off-topic, but since I have been a poor blogger, I wanted to at least ask if you'd seen his post on Things That Are Comcastic?)

- I feel like I should apologize for what I'm about to write, but if I were genuinely sorry, I probably wouldn't be writing it. As you may recall, I prefer reading "easy" or "fun" books to books that have Real Literary Merit. I love the mystery/thriller collection and all the stand-bys that go with them (particularly Harlan Coben, who I do think is an excellent writer). But I have recently semi-joined a book club, and the book we're supposed to be reading this time around is Eat, Pray, Love.

Now. More than one of you IIFs (and one of my actual real friends, darling MakeOutKate) has recommended this to me and so I figured it was probably time I try it. And so this probably makes me evil-souled and horrible, but I cannot stand this book. It rubs me the wrong way, in every possible way. I don't know if any of you reading this care to hear my particular reasons for why I hate this book, so I'll leave it at "rubs me the wrong way" for now.

Also, I should say that I realize my opinion is particular to me, and I absolutely do not begrudge anyone who does like this book.

- Lastly, I think that it says a lot about me that when reading Eat, Pray, Love I wanted to throw the book across the room. Comparatively, I think Beauty and the Geek is a fabulous show, and will be writing another recap in the next day or so.

Clearly, my standards are well defined.