Did you notice anything different? I cleaned up a bit. There were all these pesky doodles laying all over the place. I stacked them in a neat pile above and called it good.

It took me a very long time to realize that filling sewcrates’s front page with Doodles was taking away from my productivity. It’s not what you think. Doodling doesn’t take much time. What it did remove was the incentive. I’m what you would call an “externally motivated individual.” Without an external motivation, I don’t get much done.

One of the reasons I started this website was to provide a place for people—and by “people” I mean me, and sometimes my mother—to stare and compliment me on the cleverness of my thoughts. I do love to read my own writings, and to hear how much others like my writings (see my previous discussion in drowning out people who want to criticize). As my doodles filled the front page, I felt less reason to pound out the words. I figured I was writing three to ten words each day in doodle form. It took me a couple of weeks to realize this wasn’t sufficient. I wanted to tell stories, and I wanted to tell them with words—maybe illustrated words in the future, but mostly words. That’s why I’m back, baby! (I must resist consternating and adding, “For how long?” There. I did it. I resisted.)

The new “Cast of Horribles” code (and I am going with that name until another one strikes my fancy) is rather horrible: it’s all spaghetti and hacked together. I should have added this functionality the last time I messed with sewcrates.com’s innards. But it’s mostly working, and I even added a friendly-if-oversized slideshow based off the wedding website code. I’m still considering creating a separate website for the little guys. I played with a few designs, but I couldn’t make anything work. Throwing doodles on a webpage does not make for a very interesting experience. Words really seem to flesh out the page. Or maybe I’m just not creative enough to see how to make it work.

Doolies is (finally) returning to Seattle on Friday from her three-week trip to Taiwan and Australia. She performed in her first headline concert a couple of weeks ago. I was planning to attend, but a work trip interfered. She was wonderful, of course. She posted a few photos on her website maintained by her biggest fan (that’s me!): Dr. Julie Show.

I can’t wait to see her again. This time apart was good in some ways, and very bad in most ways. When I turned the corner on the second week without the Doolies, I entered a massive depression. I’m not blaming Doolies or anything (definitely Doolies’s fault!), but it kept me down and drawing depressed doodles for more than a weekend. I’m out of the funk now, thanks to a busy work week and plenty of gym goings.

The “Save the Date” cards for our wedding are almost ready to send out. I’m still missing a few friends’ addresses (it would help if I sent out email requesting them—have I told you how lazy I am yet?), and I’m still fighting with the printer. After printing the first sixty or so envelopes, it didn’t want to feed the envelopes anymore. It decided the addresses would look much better on the far left side, or—and this was what finally pushed me over the edge—completely off the paper for no conceivable reason. I’m letting it rest for a few days before trying again.

It feels strange to write again. I’ve been doing a lot of writing (well, emailing mostly) at work, so it’s not as if I’m out of practice. I do miss jotting down useless thoughts, however. In my quiet days, I did print on my Nano 2005 and attempt to read and plan for a rewrite. It didn’t last very long, but it is something I would love to do. I even found the story I meant to tell in my Moleskine. It seems as I was racing through that November, I forgot all about my intensive story planning. Before I get there I will probably play with some short stories again. It’s all about baby steps. Tiny, tiny baby steps.