Train to Pluto

Talking with a friend the other day, trying to explain how I stayed busy, she said it sounded like I was in on too many things and none of them were being done. That's true of course. I'm trying to do a few writing things, help out with some iPhone app stuff, crank out some sites/blogs, get some family business stuff together, and am trying to join up with some other people's projects.

I'm not busy at all but a lot of time is being used to do things that I probably shouldn't be doing. But then, where's the fun in doing all that you should be doing? I think you should do what you like, even if it doesn't necessarily translate into pay or advancement. My friend was right though, that if I've got only one one finger in ten different pots, I'd never actually finish anything. And the important things would never be given their proper attention.

What that means is I need to re-prioritize again and start ditching things I can't give at least a solid commitment to. I mean, for someone without a job, I'm sure not accomplishing much day to day. If the new year is for resolutions and starting fresh, I should try to take that to heart. Of course, I hate resolutions so I have to think up what my 2012 declarations are.

So far I've only got one: If you ask me for an opinion on something (mostly tech related), I'm just gonna tell you what I think should happen, not fight you and go over every single point. That's what I do when I go to someone. If I trust their opinion enough to ask them, I don't need them to give me every reason under the sun for why I should follow their advice. I need to come up with something pithy to call that rule. And then figure out two more.

The other night we had a sleepover so we could watch No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits back-to-back. Two movies with such similar premises released so closely together, we had to know which was better. Of the two, Friends with Benefits was definitely the superior movie, as the interplay between Justin and Mila was far better. Most of all, they were actually friends before they engaged in the benefits, whereas Ashton and Natalie were virtually strangers.

While these are romantic comedies so the endings were obvious, I was hoping for a tiny bit of insight into if friends with benefits ever worked out. My gut says "no" but it can't all be horrible. There has to be some movies that depict friends who don't fall in love or hate each other afterwards right? If not, I should get on writing that.

There was talk afterwards about which movie reflected our lives more. My friend had been accused of being the Natalie Portman character and we laughed five minutes in as the young version of her gave a perfunctory pat to little Ashton Kutcher as she tried to console him. "Look, I'm not really an affectionate person. People aren't meant to be together forever."

A long time ago a friend who didn't know me in person, but very well through emails and letters, told me that I reminded her of the main character from About a Boy. When I finally watched it, I couldn't see any similarities, but that was probably just denial.