I am already breaking all but one of my new year’s resolutions. One of them I am breaking just by being up at 1am writing this blog post. But I think that breaking resolutions each year is NORMAL. Its getting back on the wagon even after you have fallen off that is NOT THE NORM. But I am. And I have. And I will continue to do so. The only resolution I haven’t broken was the one that is the most important to me – the resolution to begin getting back in shape.

I find it odd that the one resolution that I thought was going to be the hardest to keep, is the one I am actually keeping. I have not been perfect at it, but I have been consistent. That has got to count for something.

All of this talk of resolutions brings me back to the purpose of this post, the year 2010.

If there were a book detailing the worst years on my life, the last 3 would probably rank in the top five, with the year I lost my dad being first. I am tired of having bad years and I am making it a point to ensure that 2010 doesn’t fall in line behind 2009.

But you know, sometime remembering life is not a race can be hard. Remembering the role of plan and purpose in your life can be even harder. I often forget that while some of life’s purpose for me will kind of fall into place; other parts require that you plan for them. That is what 2010 is going to be for me, the planning year…the year that I incubate and plan the next part of my life’s purpose.

Its kind of like the whole caterpillar to a butterfly thing, (but without being asleep for most of it and wrapping myself up in a cocoon).

I am about to transition from the world of freelancing and self employment, back to the world of the 8-5 folk.

I am finally able to work at getting back in shape after a severe ankle injury that left me sidelined and totally frustrated about not being in control of my body for most of last year.

Some long and well planned out ideas of mine on the business front are finally getting to see the day of light and I am already reaping the benefit from them. Sometimes, being a part of the social media scene doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be front and center on stage. I like helping other succeed and doing the work from behind the curtain to make it all come together. People are beginning to trust in my instincts and skills in this manner and I am enjoying the feedback.

This year I am also working on taking my design/developer hybrid self to the next level. By improving my development and programming skills, developing training courses and even picking up a few new languages along the way, by the end of 2010 I plan to be at the next level of web development – growing by leaps and bounds in the areas of knowledge and skill.

I am working on two books and a few other multimedia projects that I am really proud of.

And most importantly, I plan to reconnect with some friends and family this year in ways I have neglected to do before. 2009 divided the fair weather friends and downright “frienimies” from the true friends and plain old troopers in the field with me.

2009 showed me my weaknesses, highlighted my strengths and showed me that I must be a pretty decent friend TO those who have supported me this past year-because I certainly think they went above and beyond anything I could ever expect from friends-proving to me time and time again how much I can count on them.

And that, more than anything is what I take away from 2009 and bring into 2010-friendships, family and inner strength can help pull you from your deepest depths back into reality and beyond to your highest highs.

This post is dedicated to my friends-new and old, and even to the ones I had to let go of this year. Every path in life has its purpose. To be the very best that you can in life- you sometimes have to plan.

Let it be known that

Daddy dont play when he speaks

He will find you man

While highly improbable, Taken was entertaining enough that i never once stopped to think about the fact that the likelihood of an American girl being taken in another country and her father being able to track her down and recover her within 96 hours was zero to none.  I enjoyed the sheer suspense of the movie and Liam Nielson was able to convey the determination of a parent with a child in peril brilliantly.  Definitely worth seeing.

I shouldn’t left you,
without a dope post to read to.

(corny, I know.)

Oh boy, but when I DO start blogging again and updating you all on everything that is going on in my life, you are going to LOVE it! Please stay loyal (dont remove me from your Google Reader please! lol) and please stay tuned.

-Danielle

Damn! Pump ya brakes kid!
Downey was in rare form
Who knew Cruise could dance!

-DB

Sidenote: This movie was soo wrong on sooo many levels, yet I found myself laughing sooooo hard that I was crying.  I am not saying Downey deserves and Oscar for his Osirus role but damn! The man never ONCE came out of character until the end of the movie (when he was supposed to!).  He was “a dude, playing a dude, playing another dude….”.  And boy was it funny.  First Batman to give me the blockbuster of the summer and now this for the biggest laugh.  Go check it out….you will find yourself laughing, embarrased and grossed out all at the same time.

When you freelance, there are periods throughout the day that you just literally “zonk out.”  By that I mean, there comes a point in the day where your brain is on dump mode and all you can do is something simple and stupid that will give you a small distraction from starring at the computer all day.  So this is my brain fart for the day:

The top five searches on RealSimple.com today are “Top Searches”

That means that most people that go to their website are looking for something to eat, preparing to clean (in case people are coming over to eat), drinking, arranging flowers and then looking for solutions on how to get rid of the stains they made from cooking, eating drinking and cleaning while drunk.

Happy Freelancing!

Just when I thought there were no more REALLY GOOD reasons to vote Republican this November,….some GENIUS shows me that I WAS SOOO WRONG!

Damn those Democrats!
(you have gotta know I am kidding)

When Photoshop goes bad, it goes really really bad,…really really quick.  A lot of the photographers on Model Mayhem are COMPLETELY guilty of over using Photoshop when touching up their models.  This website shows us how having a heavy hand with that smoothing tool can go oh so wrong.  The pictures are already funny but the captions make the pictures hilarious!

I am blogging about photodoto.com’s entry on shooting live events not only because I think the photos in it are AMAZING, but also because I think it offers some really good advice for new photographers like myself and my friend Stephen.  Stephen has taken photos of several live events since starting his budding photography business and for a newbie I think he has done a great job in putting some of these tips into real world practice.  I am NO WHERE NEAR the level that he has been able to achieve in a short amount of time, but Stephen, as soon as I get my Cannon, I’m afta-ya son! :-)

It all started the last week of the 2007 with a trip to the ER for the crud. That was fun. Especially the two shots. Thank you Mr. Doctor.

Then, I got a little better. That lasted all of 4 days.

Then I got the gobally-gook which led to another trip to the ER two weeks later. It was the most lovely of experiences. I especially enjoyed the nice little needle you stuck in my arm, Ms. Nurse when you took my blood.  And to REALLY get the party started, the extra long cotton swab you jabbed up my nose for a flu test was a barrel of laughs.  But wait!!!…just when I thought things could not get any more exciting than they already were, you pull out another mutant cotton swab shoved it down my throat for ANOTHER test for Mr. Streppy – OH JOY! Fun was had by all that night.

As I sit in my bed, a glass of orange juice on my nightstand, as completely drugged up on Nyquil and Tylenol as one person can LEGALLY be,….I must say, … it is WONDERFUL to have a friend that understands the source of my happiness can be found in a tiny little box of orange tic tacs.

They made me laugh, (then cough, and cough and snort, then cough some more). They made me happy. Yeah, (sniff, sniff, gag, hack).

Anyone that knows me knows how I feel about Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, Alltel, Embarq, AT&T, SunCom, Cricket, US Cellular, and any other wireless phone company out there.  I think they all make up the REAL axis of evil in America.  Other than Nextel, a company that was swallowed up by Sprint; I can honestly say I have not had decent cellular service since my first analog block cell phone back in 1994.  With each new cell phone company that comes on the scene, I pray, wish and hope that THIS one is going to be the one to really make a change,…this one is going to be the one that really lives up to its smiling, glorious, glowing view of what the world could be and how they plan to make it so.

They all lie.

Its just a matter of whose Kool-aid you plan to drink more of -  the older, established,  “we can do what we like because we have you by the ****s” companies; or the newer, niche companies that liken switching your cell phone service to the action of a rebel that starts a revolution.

I am beat down.  Dead.

I give UP.

I am currently trying to compare and contrast ALL the cell phone companies as I plan to cancel my Verizon contract and find YET ANOTHER new prison, uh, I mean cell phone service contract to sign…..

About this blog

On occasion I have something that I want to say. When I do, I will post it here. Most likely it will be something about WordPress, Music or Design. But you never know, I could surprise you :-)

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