FB Acct Disabled Day 1: Status Updates

Since my Facebook account has been disabled, I thought I would revive this blog just to share the status updates that now regularly come to mind. I'll post every 24 hours.

January 10, 2010:

12:07am C. J. Alice Chuang has found the silver lining to the disabling of her Facebook account - opportunity to try Picasa and Flickr, more time to get through her borrowed West Wing DVDs, and ... well ... more time period.

1:08am C. J. Alice Chuang is still up exploring Picasa and creating a new "2009 Holidays" album despite having woken up at 7am. She is exhausted and will probably sleep late, very late.

4:00am C. J. Alice Chuang can't believe she's up playing Minesweeper. She loses Facebook and copes by reverting to being her 19-yr old self.

10:30am C. J. Alice Chuang is half-zombie on her way to Stacks for brunch with Fe, Be, Max & Sophie

10:55am C. J. Alice Chuang receives lame comment from Stacks manager about her Cal vest (to the effect of, "you're in the wrong neighborhood - if I'd known you were Cal I would have made you wait longer"), and she says something snippy back (although instead of saying something effective, like "this IS my neighborhood" or "Felix, whom you just called from our party, is from Stanford, but apparently too ashamed to show it," I said simply, "I live here," implying that this IS my neighborhood, but not actually saying it). We all sit and discover Minnie Mouse pancakes, which are Mickey Mouse pancakes with strawberry slices for a bow.

12:45pm C. J. Alice Chuang loves her new Angel iPhone cover from Max & Sophie! And she's getting back into bed now.

3:15pm C. J. Alice Chuang had the best nap ever!

3:45pm C. J. Alice Chuang is rooting for Aaron Rodgers, the current Packers and former Cal quarterback! That was one exciting drive!

3:55pm C. J. Alice Chuang thinks that's a shame the Cardinals scored again, even though she likes Kurt Warner, too. This was just becoming a really exciting game. One full quarter left, so still could be.

5:30pm C. J. Alice Chuang misses her 2009 Christmas tree already. It was perfection.

9:20pm C. J. Alice Chuang helped her parents set up their new Samsung phones.

9:53pm C. J. Alice Chuang hopes the nap didn't ruin her for falling asleep at a decent hour tonight.

10:35pm C. J. Alice Chuang has no Sunday night TV shows to watch. Thank goodness for TiVo and West Wing DVDs.

Season's Ending

Every year after the new year begins, I look for the end to the holiday season. Is it January 2 or later? Maybe the Monday after? I feel strange displaying holiday lights after New Year's Day, so even if we haven't taken everything down (you know how it is, sometimes those lights stay up weeks or months into the new year), I stop turning the lights on in the evening . But every year, I see others do it. It seems the more extravagant the light display, the longer it stays up. I appreciate having the beautiful lights to look at on the way home, but not as much as I did up through December 31. It just doesn't feel a bit stale, as folks start back at work and hunker down for the post-holiday winter quarter.

Speaking of the post-holiday winter quarter, since I have a few months of freedom, I've been looking for something to punctuate my days. So I started a regime on my new Wii Fit, one of the holiday gifts I received this season. Today was my first day, and considering I've never kept to a New Year's Resolution for more than two straight months and my fitness goal requires a 3-month long commitment, I'm hoping to make this new habit last a bit longer.

I'm also committed to finishing at least a book a week. I somehow whiled away December without finishing a second book (easy to do when your sister needs babysitting 3 afternoons a week, you commit to throwing 3 parties in that many weeks, and you take a 3-night vacation in Las Vegas). I've also indulged in a bit of reading ADD - allowing myself to jump back and forth between books - so I'll have to be more disciplined. As an English Lit graduate of Cal, I'm ashamed to admit it, and so hopefully motivated enough to exceed my (relatively conservative, unless my list includes Finnegan's Wake or Paradise Lost) goal.

Even though I won't have work to distract me from these goals, it won't be easy to do. Like with any good sabbatical, I'm making travel plans. Los Angeles in February, Japan and Hong Kong in March, and more if I can help it (New York in May?). Just listing off the cities is getting me excited.

I best go and help my husband take down the Christmas tree now.