new blog/word of the day/site of the day

To those who are interested - I deleted the old blog (it's cached by google if you really must read it, just search around) and restarted this one because I needed to clear my head, clear a lot of things. I have a very love/hate relationship with myself, and therefore with blogging, and especially blogging about myself, but it's also necessary in some ways and useful. I want to have it to tie in with the column, so I can check in whenever, so I can let you all know when I arrive safely in Turkey (one more week until my trip!), etc. But as I wrote above, I'm a work in progress. Definitely, always. I often feel (and surely am) utterly uninteresting, so may have nothing to say, or may just point you to someone else's cool happenings. I am about to make major changes and take on and maybe even let go of some projects in the coming months. Will be living alone for the first time EVER, juggling all the usual things, including a full-time job, 2 columns, 2 interview series, several book proposals, running a reading series, turning 30, etc. It's a lot, it really is, and sometimes I have no idea how to cope. Not a clue. Which is why I sometimes have to laugh until I cry when people ask me for advice. I would show you photos but, of course, I don't know where I put the cord to connect my digital camera, but that's one of the teensy things I have chosen just to ignore for now. I AM being pro-active, I just can't be pro-active on all counts at all times. That's when I start bawling in the middle of the day, outside bars named after prepubescent girls, in the middle of comedy shows, in the middle of the night. I am trying not to let the pressure build in my head to that point, but also realizing it's okay if it does. So my word of the day is:

proactive

pro·ac·tive or pro-ac·tive     P   Pronunciation Key  (pr-ktv)
adj.
Acting in advance to deal with an expected difficulty; anticipatory: proactive steps to prevent terrorism.

Site of the day is:

Michelle Collins's You Can't Make It Up - trust me, she's hilarious and totally awesome. I knew that within minutes of talking to her, way back a few months ago at the Rejection Show, when she began extolling the virtues of Dr. Praeger's Spinach Pancakes (actually she recommended the broccoli ones, but I now swear by the spinach ones, and just discovered that they also make Bombay Spinach Pancakes - who knew?). Michelle is just one of those fun, smart, awesome, wacky, lively people who I'm always excited to see and am happy to chat, gossip, eat, and laugh with any time, especially on some random street corner.

Something that's very odd to revisit a year and a half down the road:

"I am woman, hear me blog"

The Daily News profile of several prominent New York women who blog. What's funny is that when it came out, I don't think I knew a single one, maybe I'd met Jen Chung. Now I write for Gothamist and am friends with and adore quite a few of these ladies, though, alas, don't get to see them often enough, especially Eurotrash, who never fails to make me laugh, most especially at her ability to laugh at herself:

"Loony slut from Hell wasting her life and writing drivel" is how Eurotrash (who prefers to remain anonymous) suspects some might see her blog.