Penguin Girl

One of the unique features of my wacky brain is that I can remember bizarre random factoids from my life (such as the colour of a sweatshirt I wore in sixth grade for “group” yearbook photos) but I cannot remember what I wore to work yesterday. I started drawing my work wardrobe about four years ago when E complained that I always wore drab colours. He’s right, however I always have and always will wear boring things. These days he’s worn off on me enough that I try to sometimes spice things up with something different as variety for everyone.

I can’t draw very well but enjoy the fun in trying. I recently took a fashion illustration book out from the library and am trying to improve. We’ll see how it goes.

Today I continue to record what I wore for a few reasons. One is that I often visit certain places once a week and could see myself as always wearing a certain shirt on that day just because that’s when I grabbed it and put it into the rotation. I also have too much clothing and this is a good way to track (without doing that weird reverse the hangers thing) what I have and haven’t worn.

Part of my inspiration for this was that my mum used to draw the weather on her calendar. It’s a wonderful childhood memory and I’m sad she stopped doing it after my dad died and she moved. I record the weather on a chart too (thanks teabird for the help) but mine aren’t the same. My wardrobe drawings definitely do not have the same fuzzy feeling but it is quite useful to see what I’ve worn and what colours or styles I tend to gravitate to.

For example, it took considerable effort not to pull out my green striped shirt this week and give other items in my closet a go to see if any of them should be retired (most likely, splattering cooking oil all over one shirt helped hasten that decision). This is also useful to remind me that I don’t need any new clothing.

I generally just record the tops. I buy my bottoms in multiples of the same colour and style and I figure at least for an office setting they are similar to boys clothing, for the most part, no one notices. :)

This list currently lives in my personal-sized filofax (more on that saga next week). It most likely doesn’t need to, but that’s where I started the chart and I find that in taking a short break in my day to at least pencil sketch my outfit (it’s later outlined in ink and coloured with pencil) helps to rejuvenate my brain and provide inspiration.

Does anyone else do anything at all like this?

With much of the United States experiencing drought conditions it isn’t too hard. Unfortunately.

Anyway, life has been really busy lately. REALLY busy. I’m putting in a solid 9-12 hours of Work each day. So, how am I doing with my tools and are they helping me keep my head above water?

I think things are mostly going great. Today I feel off (and missed an obligation, but she forgot too so I don’t feel *too* badly considering it was scheduled informally). I woke quite tired with a huge headache so I’ll er.. hmm.. I’ll just buckle down and try to make this coherent.

RTM is being used for more longer range planning than routine items, that’s been the case since I switched back to filo from the composition books. I’ve improved greatly on the routines (doing laundry on Sundays the past few weeks has helped). I expect that once the term fully ends (on Wednesday) and my routine changes I’ll pick up the the frequency of use in order to track and complete everything.

Joe’s Goals I’ve not been using them at all. It’s a great idea but I’ve not really succeeded in placing this in my work flow.

My A5 planner? It’s beyond awesome. Almost every day I’m quite good in recording everything I need to. There have been a few days (like today) that I’ve not been so good at pulling it out, nor do my notes always make sense, but it’s there and I’m happy with it. To replace the daily log in the composition books, I’m using Dave’s awesome PCEO ETP scaled to print on A5 paper. I’ve been using them actively for two weeks and find that they are working as I need them to and that scaled from US letter to A5 doesn’t impact the space I need to write in. Additionally, I’m using the week on one page for my calendared items and I like the format for the calendar. I do need to supplement the calendar with a daily notes page. I currently keep these daily records for well, my idea is 6 years but I need to finalize and legal-check my retention schedule.

For the record, A5 Japanese punched paper does not fit in a filofax A5 ring binder but that doesn’t mean you can’t purchase it and have some funky holes on the opposite side and use your own hole puncher. The paper (at MUJI is cheaper than filo branded.

I also use a small A5 zippered pouch (different from what is pictured in the flickr photo. There are not photos today—I just can’t take decent photos this week.) to carry those papers I can fold. It’s small size makes sure I constantly review the contents and purge as necessary.

Katom has surprised me by working so well. When I had to schlep my laptop and its bag a few weeks ago I was amazed at how heavy everything was! I finally scored a MaxiMini bag from tcs 9in olive) and it is also nice and holds what katom can’t. However, I’m not pleased by the seam on the handle and see that as a weakness and design flaw. In any case it’s clipped to the keyring thingee on Katom and fits inside the outer pockets. I look forward to making the padded thing for the strap to both calm down the large amount of orange and to well, pad the buckle that hits at my collarbone. I could adjust it but then the bag is either too long or too short. ;)

Lastly, I use Google Calendar as my calendar backup (in case I lost the filo, ka’h) and for the reminders it sends. Oh and for the pretty colours without carrying twenty pens. I switch between the month and agenda views and generally keep this open through the day. I have some items colour coded (birthdays, book due dates, holidays, shabbat) and that is quite nice. I’m a sucker for colours on my calendar. I’ve included a screenshot of the pretty colours in my gcal for this month. [OMG that was embarrassing I uploaded to flickr the WRONG IMAGE which wasn’t mungled. I wonder how many trillons of people saw it. *sigh*]

Whew! This ended up longer and both more and less coherent than I expected. If you made it to here, THANKS!

Provide me time and space, and I will find a way fill them. This is true of deadlines and my bag. I never said /what/ I would be filling these with. ;)

Today I will attempt to discuss lightening my bag, at least my current (mostly failing) attempts to do so. I love my bag. I obsess about my bag. But it is big. It gets heavy and even bigger. I have no really clear good reason to carry all the silly things around that I do. At least not all the time. I use my bag while grocery shopping and if you add in a quart of milk and juice and things, it will get even bigger and bulkier.

Last week, I laid out all of the items and asked E if he could help me limit.

He couldn’t.

I’ve been reevaluating every single item I carry. I’ve been leaving pieces of paper on site if I do not need to urgently consult with it when I’m not at that site. I’ve been remembering to remove course materials after that session unless otherwise needed that day. I haven’t yet found an answer to my food dilemma. I haven’t carried my laptop for the past week. I’m having mixed feelings over that.

Another factor to this desire to lighten is that I’ve recently been the recipient of numerous comments (some overheard, some to my face) wondering if I was a high school student. I’m sure in another decade I’ll be pleased to hear those remarks, but it has made me rethink the image I portray on the street. (Why they think a high school student would be in a business attire is beyond me).

I’m looking into new bag options. It saddens me, but I see that if I am given the space I will fill it with the heaviest possible items. I swear that sometimes I must have some dark matter hidden away inside. I love the comfort of a backpack, as it distributes weight evenly and allows my hands to be free to do other things (such as knit). I’ve been through Ravelry several times over (with additional help from Sara and I just haven’t found an existing design which I like. I want something sturdy, light, waterproof (or at least water resistant to a limited degree), and professional looking with a penguingirl twist. It needs to be able to hold my essentials, which includes some knitting and US letter sized paper; ideally it would leave my hands free and distribute weight. I’m not sure that I want a felted item. It would mean needing to find a new solution in the warmer months. Ideas? I’ve been looking at many bag companies and sites. I have some ideas and will need to find the time to sketch them.

While I have enjoyed my two-piece composition book and calendar solution, I missed my filofax and the ability to keep reference material with me and move it around as needed. I like the A5 size. I like the ability to have one item to misplace.

I found myself with some time Tuesday late afternoon before a class session at AMNH and found myself inside a B&N. Imagine my excitement when I started leafing through various calendars when I discovered a binder which looked to be about the size of my filo but with smaller binder rings. I have been carrying one sheet of A5 filo paper around for months to do measurements. I pulled it out gingerly and found that it fit! I flipped the bonded leather (eww, will that bring weird searches here?) binder over and read the price, $24.95. The sign said 20% off. At that point, I determined it sold! A comparable A5 filo is much more!

My big black one (which I’m weighed almost empty, perhaps with 20 sheets inside) weighs 822g. My new one (which is RED) while completely FULL with calendar (for this quarter) and lots of other pages is 818g! I’m currently looking into calendar options for 2008. I do not need a week on two pages. My deadlines are not that much and it’s too much wasted space and weight. I think I will purchase a week on a page with a two week spread. R, my coworker who I converted to A5 filo-land, is looking at a vertical yearly planner, but he only uses the filo for work at one site. I bounce around.

I took some pictures of the two this afternoon but they turned out horrible. When/If I succeed I’ll upload them to flickr and somehow update this post.

Lastly, I may soon find my wallet lightened as well. Not by calender pr0n but by the fact that Kinokuniya Bookstore just opened a branch near Bryant Park (on 6th between Staples and 41st), also known as “very close to one of my clients”. It is a beautiful store of three floors and a very impressive knitting, crochet, and tatting collection. I was very good today and refrained from purchasing anything despite walking around with a book for a good amount of time. A Japanese-language blog which I cannot read has two pretty pictures of the new store here.