So… the Blog Hop Extravaganza of Talent seems not to have taken off, as evidenced by the lack of videos uploaded to the Vimeo group.
Including my own 😀
So, let’s call it a bust – no harm, no foul. It’s all good; I’ll eventually post a video of me in all my opera-singing glory (Ha! Betcha didn’t know that, did you? Ask me about how I know Anne Hathaway She Who Must Not Be Named sometime and I’ll tell you all about my storied coloratura soprano past one day).
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I’ve been enjoying the cooler temps and relief from the oppressive humidity of last week. Yesterday was unusually windy and mild, the clouds morphing between blinks, their wispy traces curling into a memory within minutes. When you think about it, when you think of August, you don’t really think of wind. You think of the opposite really: stagnant, held air.
The doldrums.
(Wikipedia tells me the official name is the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Tada! Your new fact of the day.)
Sailors would enjoy the gusty winds of the Pacific and Atlantic but as they approached the Equator, the wind would just stop. Thunderstorms could appear out of nowhere. Sailing into the doldrums meant significant delays at best, death at worst.
That’s where I kind of feel right now; I get like this every August, for a variety of reasons. But this year I feel like I’ve had such gusts behind me, propelling me forward: interviews with the Huffington Post, WBZ-TV, The Surrogacy Lawyer Radio Show, and Exhale Magazine; a post recognized as a BlogHer Voice of the Year, my first contributing article published, and an upcoming Feature on BlogHer.com (check me out on August 17th under the Blogging & Social Media tab!). I wanted to whip my blog into shape so I did The SITS Girls 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. I wanted to whip my writing into shape and have joined two writers’ groups: Prompt-ly and The Pomegranate Society. And then I had my grand move over to WordPress and a brand new design for this blog.
It’s been a whirlwind year indeed.
And things have just kind of… paused. I know a lot of folks are at BlogHer right now, so that accounts for some quietness on the blogosphere. But as Mel over at Stirrup Queens noted back in early June, it has been pretty quiet on the blogs all summer.
My boat feels like it’s sitting still in the waters. I know where I need to go: I’ve got some great goals I’ve set for myself, personally and professionally, that I’d like to hit before the end of the year. My maps are all lined up, my compass is calibrated – I just feel like I’ve got no wind behind me right now.
Anyone else feeling the doldrums?
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I think some of this is related to 88 days straight of birth control pills too, to be honest. I’m actually taking them as prescribed (90 days pink pills, 7 days white pills). This is the first time I’ve ever taken them consistently for this amount of time. The last two weeks, I’ve kind of been a hormonal beast: mood swings, increased sex drive followed by “don’t touch me”, cravings, and the random crying jag or two. (It’s not depression – I know the signs all too well.)
Right now I kind of feel like my crazy ass hormonal 18-year-old self all over again: estrogen-fueled with nothing but possibility on the horizon.
The bonus: I’m running my “let’s see if I’ll ovulate” experiment again. So… either we have a ton of sex followed by a bun in the oven or… the most epic period ever.
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Sunday begins The Busy Times. I work in higher ed and our new crop of graduate Resident Directors join us for 2 weeks of training, followed by 10 days of undergraduate Resident Assistant training, followed by freshmen move-in, returning student move-in, a quick blip of a Labor Day weekend and then BAM! First day of classes on September 6th.
I loathe this time of year if only for the extremely long days and the constantness of having to be “on” virtually every one of those days. I’m getting weary just thinking about it. I’m hoping to hunker down this weekend and pre-write a bunch of posts for August if only to have my blog publishing regularly during the month.
But, it might get quiet around here too. It’s nothing personal… it’s just me trying to juggle the dozen or so balls I have going at once in the air.
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The doldrums have rolled in and I seem to be caught in this windless void. I need something to fill my sails. Any suggestions?
She Who Must Not Be Named………had me laughing for at least 5 minutes with that one.
I suck. 😛
And yes, I’m in the doldrums, too … how can I be so swamped when I’m technically a SAHM right now? Looking for a job is a full time job, I guess, as is coordinating care for the family of my friend in heart failure … and then there’s the beginning of school and day care … I feel the stress creeping into my shoulders.
I wish I were Milo, and could just think my way out of them … ! 🙂
Oh Keiko, I am so with you. I have two weeks until school starts and SO MUCH TO DO. On my one blog I’ve created a project to go through and seriously purge and organize all the rooms in my house. I’m currently stuck in my bedroom spinning my wheels. I told myself I had until school starts, no exceptions and yet I can’t get my ass in there to do it! It’s too hard and I’m too tired.
It’s funny, the wind here is CRAZY right now. That is common during San Francisco summers because it gets hot inland and then that air rises and sucks in the cool marine layer and fog. Sometimes I feel like our weather is the exact opposite of everywhere else in the country. It’s strange and kind of isolating.
Unfortunately I do not have that kind of wind in my own life. I was thinking about starting the new SITSGirls 30 day challenge in September but I’m nervous it will be difficult during the beginning of a new school year. What do you think? Was it super time intensive?
I guess it will figure itself out. I will get moving, I’ll have to. I go crazy if I sit still too long. In the end that will spur me into motion.
I hope you get out of the doldrums soon!
PS Did you ever get my email? I used your site to send it and I was just curious if it made it to you.