My Blog Goals

 

I hate writing down goals. I know, I know, you're supposed to, and make them something measurable and all that. But I've never been able to do that. I don't like tangible goals, because then you can fail so easily. I'm the type of person that once I start failing on a goal, it's a slippery downward spiral.

For example, I don't diet (because I honestly can't be bothered, and I think I live a moderately healthy lifestyle already) because if I did, one cheat day would turn into all the cheat days. And after a week that diet would be a goner.

But despite myself, I've decided to write down my blog goals, and maybe try to actually achieve them. Baby steps. These goals aren't perfect. They don't have numbers and percentage increases. But they do exist now somewhere other than my mind, and that means you can hold me accountable. You can say, "Hey, Kait, have you worked on achieving X goal lately?" and I can shrink down and avoid eye contact. Or (big hopefully here) I can smile and say "Yep, I've totally been doing A, B, and C this past week!"

Without further ado, here they are:

1. Organize my blogging schedule better

Why: Other than to appease my obsessive compulsion, it might make me a little more accountable to post on time. Also, scheduling will make it easier to post time-sensitive material.

How:

• Project management software
• Redefine my blog post workflow
• Stop leaving half finished drafts around!

2. Connect with other bloggers to build a community

Why: A lot of people I know in real life just don't "get" blogging. It's nice to have a group of people to bounce ideas off and lean on when I need support for things like writer's block.

How:

• #Twitterchats!
• Be more active in SoFab and 20sb, my blogging networks
• Promoting real discussions by commenting instead of liking things

3. Promote my blog better

Why: I don't just write for my own health, although that is a big reason. I also want my words out there, and I want acknowledgement that what I do and say could actually be important.

How:

• Be more active with promotions on social media
• Learn about SEO techniques and utilize them
• Discover new social networks and figure out how to use them properly

Doctor Who Favorites Tag

Trivial Pursuit: Doctor Who

When Pines and Palmettos was posting her series on Doctor Who, I had to read along. I love the show! The Boy and I watch each episode together, and we can't help but discuss our own fan theories, even though we know we can't get inside the writers' heads. If you watch the show, enjoy reading about some of my favorites. If you don't, umm, please get on that.

Note: This may contain minor spoilers, but mostly linked to my opinions. I use character names and episode titles, but I don't mention storylines.

Favorite Doctor
Nine - no question. He drew me into the show and I was the saddest when he left. Also, I just liked the way he played the Doctor. I've only watched the reboot, so I can't say much about the older Doctors, but here's my ranking of those I know well: 9 (Eccleston), 12 (Capaldi), 11 (Smith), 10 (Tennant). I sometimes wish there was more Eccleston, but also I think he left after giving us so much amazing material. It's better to go out with a bang than fade away.

Favorite Doctor Who Story
The Girl in the Fireplace is just beautifully written, and it gets me every time. It really shows the implications of time travel, and I also love the slight throwback this episode gets at the beginning of Series 8.

Honorable Mentions: I mention a few from my favorite series' below, but others I love to watch are: Midnight, Vincent and the Doctor, Turn Left, and Human Nature/The Family of Blood.

Least Favorite: I absolutely hate Love and Monsters. Ugh, this episode is intolerable. It's straight up awful. Does anyone like it?

Doctor Who: Who-ology | Character Encyclopedia | Dining with the Doctor

Favorite Companion
Rory is my absolute favorite. First of all, he's perfect. There is no man on this Earth who is as incredible as Rory. Amy (who is borderline insufferable without him) does not deserve him. Also, he gets some of the best lines. Not to mention, it's interesting the see the dynamic of the Doctor with a male companion. I've always been a fan of the concept, and Rory did it best (Sorry Mickey!).

Honorable Mentions: Donna got some fun storylines, but her arc was devastating. Also, I didn't like her at first and she took some warming up to. Rose is the companion I best relate to, and I felt as though she has the strongest audience connection, which I like and think is the main point of the companions.

First Doctor Who Story You Watched
The beginning of the reboot: Rose. I was hooked pretty much as soon as Eccleston said "Run." I recommend anyone that has never seen Doctor Who before to start here as well. I know some people would say to watch Blink first, but I strongly feel that getting the whole rebooted story in order is worth it. Plus, Blink is so much better when you know a bit about the characters.

Favorite Series or Era
I love the first series, plus Nine+Rose are amazing. The subtlety of the overall arc was perfect, and not as in-your-face as some of the later series. Not to mention, it had great stories like The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Dalek.

However, I was also a pretty big fan of the most recent series as well. Clara and Capaldi have a great chemistry, and while Danny wasn't my favorite character, I liked the storyline with Missy, and I thought the series overall had some amazing episodes like Listen and Flatline.

Least Favorite: Series 2 because It took me a long time to warm up to Tennant, and many of the episodes were just unbearable: Love and Monsters and Fear Her for example.

Custom shirts made The Boy's sister! I'm clearly the clever one.

Favorite Pre- or Post-Regeneration Episode or Story
"This is a fighting hand!" Yeah, even though Tennant is not anywhere near my favorite Doctor, I did like his transition. I don't want to give too many spoilers away, but that line I quoted makes the whole thing fantastic!

Favorite TARDIS Desktop Theme
This was tough, as there's so much amazing fan art out there and I don't really utilize any of it as much as I should. However, I am in love with the Exploding Tardis Van Gogh painting. I even have the mug! So I definitely had to go with a version of that. This one is my favorite, but any are gorgeous.

Exploding TARDIS mug

Favorite Villain or Monster
Vashta Nerada are my favorite because they scare me the most. Something lurking in the shadows? Oh man, that's terrifying. Who isn't already a little bit afraid of the dark? After seeing Silence in the Library for the first time, I could not sleep. These little guys are absolutely petrifying.

Honorable Mentions: The Silence are amazing and have a brilliant defense mechanism. I hope we get to see more of them one day. Daleks are my favorite carry over villain from Classic Who. They are fun to quote, and I like how just sincerely evil they are!

Reactions
This was so much fun to fill out! It was super tough to narrow down a few of the categories to just one option, which is why I've listed a bunch of honorable mentions. Are you a Whovian too? Steal this survey and post it on your own blog. Leave me a link in the comments!

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June in Review

Wow. Can you believe that June is over already. It's July, and 2013 is halfway done, which is completely crazy to me. Time is a strange phenomena. It's amazing how quickly and slowly it can go at the same time. Thinking about that always reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

Texas Sheet Cake! My favorite summer picnic dessert. Yum!

“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.” - Albert Einstein

Friday Five Things [06/07/13 - On Saturday]

1. I write a lot about food in the summer, because that's when I do most of my cooking. It's strange, because you'd think I'd rather cook in the winter when turning on the heating elements will keep the house warm. However, in the winter, I like to hibernate. I like to order in. I like to eat out and be lazy. In the summer, I'm so much more awake and motivated to cook, so food posts galore! Let me know what you want to see: desserts, salads, etc.

Friday Five Things [04/05/13]

My nails this week. They look like space!

1. I'm going to a minor league baseball game tomorrow! I'm not that into baseball, but I'm going with someone who is super passionate about it, and I love seeing people in their element. Learning something new from someone who is so enthused about it is so much more satisfying than learning from a book. And someone so captivated with a topic makes you want to learn. Also, he's just a really good, nice guy.