If I Were A My Little Pony...

...I'd look something like this.

Check out this completely fun My Little Pony Creator game here. I know you always wanted to make your very own my little pony!

Watch Out for the Queen

Of procrastination, that is.

Stumbling around Google images the other day, I came across a site that had a procrastination test.

A test!

Sounds like more time wasting fun!

What is this amazing test, you ask?

I'll show you in a bit...

Just kidding!

THE PROCRASTINATION TEST
By Dr. Bill Knaus EdD, Design by EduDemic.com


                   Not Me          Somewhat like me     Like me

1. Procrastination comes naturally to me. Duh!
2. I have responsibilities that I'm not doing. Definitely.
3. I have plans that stay on the drawing board. So many plans on that board!
4. I divert from uncomfortable priorities. Who wouldn't?
5. I tell myself that later is the time to begin. Every. Single. Time.
6. I start things that I don't finish. Shall I count them?
7. I have a habit of showing up late. I've had people lie to me & tell me things start an hour earlier than they actually do, just so I'll show up on time.
8. I delay acting to meet a deadline. Sure! Why start until you have to?
9. I find ways to extend deadlines. Not always *sad face*
10. I come up with excuses to explain delays. I'm the excuse queen!
11. I put off hard decisions. Actually, I'm pretty good at making decisions quickly.
12. When I'm not sure, I'll avoid the situation. 50/50 on this one.
13. I put off making a needed lifestyle change. Does changing procrastination habits count?
14. My pessimism prompts delays. I'm naturally an optimist!
15. My emotions affect what I do. I'm no Spock, that's for sure!
16. My intimate relationship is going nowhere. Uh...are married couples supposed to be going somewhere?
17. I avoid what frustrates me. I like to torture myself, so I keep coming back for more
18. I get side-tracked by conflicts. I thrive on conflict!
19. My doubts and fears inhibit my actions. What doubts? What fears?
20. When I feel anxious, I'll avoid what I fear. That's what my pills are for.

Total "somewhat like me" + "like me" scores:   13

I got 13.

13!!!!

Ugh.
I'm sad but not really surprised that my number is so high.

The test doesn't tell you where you stand on the procrastination scale between inconvenience to disabling, but I think you can probably figure it out for yourself.

Sometimes I like to assuage my guilt by reasoning that it's not really procrastination, just over-estimating the time it takes to get things done. Like my new programming homework. Or how long it takes to get somewhere (I act like I live in LA--everywhere takes 20 min or less to get to from where I'm at). Or cooking dinner. Or a thousand other things.

Why start it a week ahead of time, when I fully believe I can finish writing that program & get it to work the night before it's due? Why waste time doing it until I absolutely have to? It's madness!

The perky, pesky, hate-inducing early birds really get my worm. How many times have I heard the comeback "If you get it done right away, you won't have to worry about it and you'll still have lots of free time afterwards!"

Try telling that to MY brain. It'll punch you in the face, kill you, then wait to bury you until it's almost too late, when the sirens are wailing away just down the block and the trunk of the car is stuck and your rigor-mortised body fights me every step of the way.

Tomorrow I'll work on a plan to stop procrastinating...

Mushroom Monday

A mushroom-like home...

My friend at 377 Photography came across this house during his work duties one day. (He changed the name of his photography company after making this photo. If you want to see more of his work, click here).


I'd love to live here, although I suspect I'd need to keep some pipe-weed handy in case Gandalf stopped by for a surprise visit.

Why IS the Grass Greener on the Other Side?

When I was little, I would be fascinated by the toys that weren't mine.

Like the ones at the dentist, or Nana's.

In retrospect, they weren't the greatest toys. Nope, in fact, they were usually much older than I was or were some strange collection that adults had held on to in the hopes of keeping elementary school-aged kids occupied while the adults chatted or a sibling was taking their turn under the white hot lights of the dental hygenist.

But precisely because they weren't my usual toys, they held an alluring but elusive appeal.

By far my favorite was a stuffed rabbit I named Shy Rabbit, for reasons that are lost to the mists of time.

Now Shy Rabbit is another little girl's favorite toy. My own collection of toys I keep in the house consists of some stuffed animals that I can't part with and my huge sack of My Little Ponies. When I babysit these two sisters, I set up the ponies in the spare bedroom and let them go to town. But the littlest girl inevitably seeks out Shy Rabbit, wherever he may be.

Even if he's in the forbidden zone upstairs. Once, their parents came over to hang out and the girls were playing in the other room. They asked what was upstairs and I told them our bedroom but it was off limits.

Never tell a kid something is off limits. It will only guarantee they go there.

The adults had stepped outside for a minute and when I opened the door to go inside, I heard a veritable stampede and suddenly both girls were there with their best innocent faces on. But Shy Rabbit clutched in the youngest's hand gave them away.

"Did you girls go upstairs?"

She shakes her head and makes denials while her older sister tries to change the subject.

"Are you sure?"

Vigorous head-nodding is the response.

"How did you get Shy Rabbit? Did he hop downstairs on his own?"

I could see the gears turning in her head as she swiftly contemplated the chances of succeeding at a denial at this stage and was rewarded when she discarded it and in a tiny voice admitted she had gone upstairs.

"But it's so cool up there! Can we play up there?" and Bam! she was off on a tangent, but she couldn't fool me, precocious child! She knew what she was doing, every minute of it.

I can understand the appeal, however.

I wanted so badly, as a kid, the play room the dentist office had.

First of all, the place had a kick ass aquarium in the adult portion of the waiting room. But if you were under 4' feet tall, you could climb up a ladder into a special cubby-like room that was filled with crazy neat old toys. Weird fiber-plastic faded colored blocks that were maybe the forefathers to Legos/Duplos. Random stuffed animals & kids meal toys from fast food restaurants.

Better yet, inside this cubby room in the middle of the wall, was yet another ladder leading to another room above that one, even smaller. They were their own secret worlds that just screamed "No adults allowed!" Plus they had a treasure chest full of goodies and after your visit, if you were good, you got to choose a treasure from the chest.

That dentist really knew how to cater to kids. Even though I dreaded the icky flouride rinses or whatever the hell they were, going to the dentist was exciting because while my sister took her turn under the white hot lights of the hygenist, I got to play in the indoor play house.

And it's strange collection of haphazard but wonderfully strange toys.

It's Less Than A Month Away...

...the second season of Game of Thrones! This video was too fun not to share.

This doesn't mean that I'm not still waiting for the next book in the Song of Ice & Fire series, but I'll take HBO's wonderful adaptation of the series in the meantime.

Did you know my dad didn't like my sister or I to watch the Simpsons when I was younger?


(Well of course you didn't know until I told you, duh!)


But it apparently had something to do with the show's morals (or lack thereof).