I guess you could say I enjoy things that stimulate my senses; when shopping, I'm always touching things, loving the textures of fabrics and materials. I love eating good food…it's hard to stop because I enjoy the flavor so much. I like looking at shiny, colorful, or bright things that catch and hold my eye. I almost always have scented candles or incense burning because I love the different aromas.

All this makes it easy to overindulge when I should be thinking about the bigger picture. I want a second helping of pasta because it turned out so well. I want to order another box full of beads because they're new and shiny or have such pretty colors. It's not that I need to stop enjoying these things; I just need to know when to stop.

I have more than enough materials to make countless bits of jewelry…all I have to do is sit down and commit some of my ideas to the materials I have on-hand. I don't need to cook less-tasty food…I need to learn to listen to my stomach when it tells me I'm sated rather than listen to my tongue and get another helping.

There's more to be said, but that's for another post at another time. Suffice to say that this year will be a year of moderation!

1. A Nice Perspective Yesterday was my first yearly exam after the Cervical Cancer...
2. Early Resolution I've decided that I'm going to try to blog a...
3. Halloween Hubbub I've been immersed in the EQ2 Nights of the Dead...

I've been down on the Gulf Coast visiting my parents for a few days now. The flight down was ok — except for that combat landing into Memphis, ugh — and the airport wifi gets a big thumbs-up from me. It's really nice being able to tweet, email, and even do a little gaming while waiting for my flights.

Of course, I wouldn't be able to do any of that if Peter hasn't gotten me this kick-ass laptop for the holidays/my birthday. /dance

1. PAX East, here we come! Today we're driving out to take in day 1 of...
2. Dodging the Bullet I know a lot of folks have been following @pasmith's...
3. A Gift to Myself The gift I want to give myself in 2010 is...

My holiday gifts:

• Intuos3 6×11 tablet — OMG, the best present I remember getting, ever
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on DVD — love it!!
• Animal Crossing: City Folk for Wii — really looking forward to giving this a go
• Personal Trainer: Cooking for Nintento DS — another one I'm eager to dig around in
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini (hardcover) — I'll be cracking this one open soon
• A 1GB USB thumb drive leather keychain that would be nice even if it was just a keychain!
• An IOU for Afrika on PS3, if/when it ever arrives in the US (I LOVED Endless Ocean on Wii, and this is along the same lines)

Hmm…did I miss anything?

The Ailments to Date – cue the ominous music!

• Ovarian cysts (15 years and counting)
  • I've had 2 laparoscopies to aspirate them as well as more combinations of birth control pills and hormone therapies to try to control them than I care to count. They're reasonably under control now, but I still have pain a couple times a month. The general concensus is that they're a result of endometriosis.
• Migraines (11 years and counting)
  • Took me forever to find a doctor that was even willing to treat them, but I'm on a cocktail of anti-depressants and blood pressure medications that keep them at bay –  mostly.
• Fibromyalgia (diagnosed August 2008)
  • One walk-in emergency clinic, two PCMs, two rheumatologists, a bone scan, several x-rays, and countless blood tests and physical exams later, it's official: fibro. The joint pain, overwhelming fatigue, body aches, over-sensitivity to certain stimuli (pain, heat, cold), and inability to focus on just about anything most days really isn't all in my head.
• Polycystic Kidney Disease (diagnosed October 2008)
  • All the blood work I'd had done on the way to my fibro diagnosis alerted my various doctors to an unexplained elevated creatinine level. After meeting with a nephrologist and discussing my family and personal medical histories, he ordered an ultrasound to look for cysts. (My dad and his mother both had one non-functioning kidney, probably congenital, and PKD in the remaining one, along with high blood pressure issues; I'd already passed a kidney stone by age 24, and had been in a car accident in '97 that banged them up pretty bad.) Nothing showed on the ultrasound, but he was sure something was going on, so in I went for a CT scan. Sure enough, cysts ahoy. I'm pretty asymptomatic at this point, but my dad's functioning kidney isn't doing so hot, and I remember my grandma living with dialysis for years, so I know what can happen to me down the line. Thankfully, it was caught pretty early, and with medication and diet management, I might never have symptoms. Then again, my kidneys could fail in 5 or 10 years. Good times! :p

I think I'm all listed out. Mmm, clam chowder time…

1. A Nice Perspective Yesterday was my first yearly exam after the Cervical Cancer...

I ding 30 this month, and I have a lot to work on in the coming year. My first priority is to lose weight. Yeah, I have the body of a goddess…unfortunately, at this point in my life, we're talking more Venus of Willendorf than Venus de Milo.

I promised this last year, but I really mean it this time: I'm going to stay on top of my commitments to other people. I have a bad habit of slipping into "poor me" mode when I'm not feeling well and blowing things off until the last possible minute. My personal and professional acquaintances deserve more than that of me.

Although speaking of not feeling well, I have a serious cold at the moment. I think I picked it up on the plane back from visiting my parents last week, and I'm feeling spectacularly crappy. Fever, mucus, cough, aches…the whole nine yards. Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

As part of my commitment to keep things moving — both physically and mentally — I've got an Events Calendar widget and the Hacker's Diet widget installed on this here blog. My lovely readers (um, when I actually have some) can help keep me on track by visiting these tools and giving me a gentle nudge (or a big thwap with a stick) when I start slacking. And I just know I'll slack, but I'm sending this out to the universe in the hopes that it will send something back.

1. Early Resolution I've decided that I'm going to try to blog a...
2. A Gift to Myself The gift I want to give myself in 2010 is...

This past year has been one of mostly good things for me. I've landed some corporate design/development projects that have paid the bills for a little while. I've gotten diagnoses for my mystery ailments. Our little family has grown, and grown closer.

I've also got my mitts on some really cool stuff this year, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to share my experiences. Here are just a few of the non-geeky ones, in no particular order:

Proactiv Solution
Because my hormones have been out of whack since I was 13, my skin is always doing something freaky, from being dry and flaky to its ever-popular Exxon-Valdez impression. One thing it's done consistently since I was a teenager is break out, and I finally got fed up and decided to shell out the moulah to try Proactiv. One word: Wow. I noticed a marked difference after using the three-step system just a few times, and 3 months later, my skin (and my self-esteem) is thanking me.

One thing to note: Yeah, it's expensive stuff, BUT you can change how often you receive your auto-delivered shipments (as part of the "Clear Skin Club"), from every 4 weeks to every 16 weeks. You can even change the combination of items they send you, in package prices ranging from $40 to $60 — or just cancel your auto-delivery altogether and order the stuff as you need it (at a slightly higher price), including sun care, makeup, and body and hair care items ranging in price from $9 to $50.

PedEgg
OMG, I LOVE this thing. I was having serious problems with the callouses on my heels starting to crack and peel, and they were becoming really painful. A quick trip to Walgreens and $10 later, I'm footloose and fancy-free. Peter thinks I'm crazy for using a glorified cheese grater on my feet. What does he know?! My feet haven't looked (or felt) this great in a decade.

Sudoku
Most. Addictive. Puzzle. Ever. It's supposed to improve your memory, but I find it very methodical and relaxing — great bedtime "tire your brain out" material. Can't get enough.

Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil
I love this for more than the obvious "it's more healthy than regular mayo while remaining quite tasty" reason. When my fibro flares up and my joints start bothering me, the last thing I want to do is open jars. No problem here! This container is pleasantly oblong with a flip-top lid, making it much easier to grasp and open than conventional mayo jars. Two achy thumbs way up.

Limoncello with Sprite or Sierra Mist
Chilled sweet lemon liqueur with lemon-lime soda FTW. Almost impossible to tell that it's alcoholic until you've had 3 and then try to walk. :p Tasty.

1. A Gift to Myself The gift I want to give myself in 2010 is...
2. A Nice Perspective Yesterday was my first yearly exam after the Cervical Cancer...