I understand that is a past-time of Americans to get paid as much as possible while also doing as little as possible. I am here to help you in that endeavor, so here is my unproductive tip of the day:

Try to minimize things into the task bar. I know that when I look at other people’s computers, my eyes immediately sweep across the toolbar at the bottom to see what they have open, but I rarely glance at their task bars. Whenever I have programs that I want to hide, I always try and stash them there when minimized. Also, when I have things like gaim running, I set it so that it is “always hidden” along with the inactive icons. For those few programs where that won’t work, I just set their icons to something that looks like it is work related.

I know I promised that I was going to start posting and updating Wordpress. Well, Wordpress is finally updated (after a two-day battle), I am writing this post as we speak AND a new layout idea is in the works! That “new layout” will probably just be a different banner image because we all know how lazy I get with web/graphics work I’m not getting paid for.

Also, I finally updated the about me page to reflect some of the changes in life, which I’m about to elaborate on.

So, right…changes. In the past year, I’ve gotten a new job, a new apartment, and got out of a long relationship that was well past its expiration date. And you know what? I’m so elated about all of it. The job is old news, and the apartment was a result of said break up so we’ll start there.

Two months ago, I got out of a 3.5 year relationship. I guess because the break up was well overdue, I felt relieved when it finally happened. I’ve already mourned the relationship millions of times so there were no tears when it finally ended, just a sense of freedom. I know, isn’t that sad? You know you need to end a relationship when you feel trapped in it. Ironically, that’s when it’s the hardest to leave.

Anyways, the break up caused a lot of changes in my life. It was the catalyst for some good, much needed changes. For example, I started working out more to get back my post-relationship body. I starting going out with friends more and having more fun. And I quickly lost that omg-nobody’s-ever-going-to-love-me-ever-again emoness that sometimes accompanies a break up. And for the first time in a long time, I was so happy (and I still am!). All I needed was endorphins, a little alcohol, and some good times.

But the break up wasn’t roses all the way. We lived together and shared everything, so splitting all those assets, bills, etc, up was a nightmare and a half. So much so that I would have to think really hard about integrating my life with someone else’s like that ever again (unless a ring is involved).

Yesterday I was looking at old pictures, and I thought, “Seriously? This was my life?” Looking back, everything seems so…something. Grimy? Mediocre? Frustrating? All of the above? I have this theory that people only take pictures of happy times. And there weren’t a lot of pictures from the past 3 years with just him and me. All of my pictures were car shows, dogs, or my friends.

So I started reflecting about why I was so unhappy, and I can’t quite put it into words but I think part of it is that I became extremely complacent. I can’t believe I fell into that trap. I’ve vowed not to do that with the next one. I’ve vowed not to repeat a lot of mistakes, but that’s what life is. You live, learn, and do better next time.

After everything went down and I knew change was coming, I thought I would miss my old apartment and life. When I moved out, I made a big deal of saying goodbye to the place I lived in for the past two years. That’s the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere except my parent’s house. It was just starting to really feel like home. I thought I would miss the 90 square feet I was giving up, the office space, the huge bathroom; but I’m falling in love with the new apartment. It’s open, everything is shiny and new (to me), and best of all, I have the whole damn place to myself! Ha!

Life is pretty great right now, I can’t complain too much. Now if only I could finish my damn degree next semester. But I’ll save that rant for another time.

….sort of. I’ve been posting more on tumblr lately, and that’s where I disappeared April last year. But now this place is being resurrected since I’m trying to get back into web design. I just spent two hours making a little flash “coming soon” page for my portfolio site. So, things to do for MildlyNeurotic:

1. Upgrade WP
2. Redesign!

Yay! Wheeeeeee! It’s almost 3AM so all this is going to wait until tomorrow– I’m so sleepy and my brain is running on, um, nothing.

I have some things to get off my chest (as always), but these grievances are addressed to specific people. Here we go.

Dear Man sitting behind Bill Worrell at the Rockets vs. Kings game,

Were you aware that everyone in Houston watching the broadcast could hear you taunting T-mac, telling him he should have eaten his “wheaties?” Better yet, do you know how ignorant and hick-like you sound? I guess not, otherwise you would have shut your mouth and spared all of us the agony of listening to you. We in Houston did not appreciate being subject to listening to your continuous, stupid, meaningless heckling. I used to think of Sacramento as an intelligent, charming city. You have single handedly proved me wrong. Please go choke on some of those Wheaties you love so much. Thanks!

Coincidentally, both the Rockets and the Astros lost tonight. Each by one point.

Dear Stephen King,

Congratulations on making The Mist. I am now truly frightened of driving around in the mist. Really, I am. Also, the ending of your movie was really…upsetting. I must say, my remaining hope in humanity went down the drain with the ending. Well, it actually started going down the drain when everyone started buying into the extremely pious, crazy lady because I know that in our society, most people would probably do the same thing.

I have been meaning to write for the past two weeks but have been putting it off because (you guessed it)– life is so busy.

I have a thing or two to say to my fellow Houstonians. First of all — how about those Rockets? With the boyfriend being such a huge Rockets fan, I have gone to a few of their games this season. We have some tickets to see the Celtics on Tuesday night, but will most likely sell them to the highest bidder.

Secondly, as I’ve mentioned before, the traffic here really sucks. I read an article in Wired a few months ago about gridlock traffic. A study suggested that traffic gridlock would never be prevented because (to put it bluntly) people are stupid. One single person slamming on their brakes can create a butterfly effect that will cause gridlock to every car behind them. So, my suggestion to you, dear fellow Houstonians, is to lay off of your brakes. If the car behind you is slowing down and not slamming on their brakes, just take your foot off of the gas. It’s a novel concept, I know. You all must be a very nervous bunch– I have seen people two car lengths behind a car and slam on their brakes for no reason. You, idiot, are the reason that everyone else is stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Every morning, I leave my apartment and sit in I-10 traffic, but only for about five minutes. After I pass up Gessner, there is no more traffic. I wonder why that is. There must be a small group of idiots driving that way every single day that ruin it for everyone.

To continue with my rant– I have no realized why Michael Moore created that documentary on the US health care system. I have in front of me an invoice for $651 that my insurance was supposed to take care of. According to this invoice, it was originally paid by my insurance in October of last year but they have recently issued a “take back” for no apparent reason. Gee, Aetna, thank you so much for all of the warning that you gave me. Luckily this was under one of my parent’s insurance plans and I am having them call and yell tomorrow. I love Asian parents– they are good at calling at yelling. Not only to their own young but to other people as well, and the result is pretty much the same.

If you know me, you know that I love the finer things in life: sexy cars, travel, good friends, and killer shoes that I never wear. This weekend combined two of the three. I also got to watch a decent rockets game and I walked 2 miles for charity.

This weekend will arguably be one of the best weekends this year though it’s just gotten started. Pics after the jump since the front page is taking forever to load.
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This is going to be the first good weekend in a while. Tomorrow, we have the Houston Auto Show (one of the true highlights of my year), Rockets Run 2008, and the Rockets game against the Utah Jazz. Cars, basketball, and walking for charity. Yay!

To keep you in suspense until then, here is an inside-look (literally) at my eyes. This was from my visit to the eye doc yesterday:

Also, on a side not about Cloverfield…(spoiler warning, click at your own risk) (more…)

I am sitting in an amc theater waiting to watch the much anticipated cloverfield. I am wet and my feet are still thawing from the freezing temperatures outside. Houston weather, to say the least, sucks today.

Also, I’ve just realized that blogging via smartphone is a major pain in the butt. To remedy this, I will be installing some mobile-friendly plugins as soon as I get home. (Mostly for my own personal mobile-blogging convenience.)

I hope everyone is having a great start to their new year. <3

Update: Writing this post has taken 15 minutes so now the previews are about to start. Yay!

Update #2 (from my Mac): This can now be viewed on most smart phones. The download link on Andy Moore’s blog was disabled so I had to settle for Alex King’s version. It makes it easier to read the blog on the go but it’s still quite a pain to post on the go without enabling e-mail posts. I have class in nine hours so my thoughts on Cloverfield will have to wait until tomorrow, probably during lecture.

Hello everyone and belated merry Christmas! I hope that all of you got what you wanted this year and more. Among my fat loot this year is the Sims2 for Mac (unfortunately this is still in the mail), fender earrings, a capo and some hello kitty guitar pics, a wallet, and a speeding ticket!

That’s right– I got my first-ever speeding ticket on Christmas day. The scrooge that gave it to me claimed that I was doing 63 on highway 6, but who doesn’t? Anyways, I figure any cop that is working on Christmas is not a very merry soul. My girlish charms and (later) tears had no effect on this hard-ass. On the bright side, I can test out everyone’s theories on how to get a traffic ticket dismissed. The plan: stall, stall and pray that the officer can’t make it to court. If all else fails, cry.

I almost forgot. Houston Christmas pictures:

(This set will get updated periodically until New Years since I still have some random pictures that haven’t been uploaded.)

Also, there’s one thing that I did not get for Christmas– a dwarf robo hamster. Because I like the name, and they look cute as hell when they are all trying to keep warm, here is a picture:

Teehee, their name sounds like robot dwarf.

Last month, for my birthday I decided to treat myself to a ton of new toys including a new phone, camera, and a pro flickr account. With the pro flickr account came 10 free moo mini cards, which just came in the mail on Friday. These are the cutest things I have ever seen in print. Pics of mine are below. Flickr has more print recommendations at flickr.com/do/more. Moo is my favorite by far but I also love qoop’s mini photobooks, HP’s picture cubes; and last but not least, blurb’s professional-looking picture books.