Jen Leo's blog

My boyfriend left town for a month and it's fascinating to me to see how my behaviour changes when he's not around. I'm more devious. Secretive. Slovenly. There are bursts of feeling totally liberated and on motivated beyond comprehension, and other times when I feel as if I ought to batten down the internal hatches, as it were.

I've got plenty of work to keep me busy. And no doubt lots of thought wandering for procrastination.

How are you? How much does your routine change when your mate is absent.

I'm teaching a travel blogging class at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA right now and the students are very excited about Vox. There are three instructors here that are familiar with blogging and programming websites for writers. I'm joined by Gil Zeimer and Bradley Charbonneau. While we were introducing the different types of blog software for them to choose from, I mentioned the friends vs family feature on Vox. When it was time for our workshop "build a blog" section of the program, they all asked us to do it on Vox. Depsite hearing about TypePad, Blogger, and Word Press - the demand of the four students was all about the Voxy.

You should've seen their enthusiasm. Within a half and hour, two of our students had bought their domains on GoDaddy.com and whipped up their own new personal blog on Vox. They are so excited.

Thanks, Vox!

What's the strongest association you have between a scent and a memory?

In 2001 I spent six months in Australia. I lived in a suburb of Brisbane with a familiy that had dinner out on their back deck at least 4x a week. The dad would grill (not shrimp) but steaks, and snags, pork chops, and lamb chops out on the grill. We'd sit, often with their friends, eating and drinking, talking and laughing about life. Cockatoos would occassionally fly overhead, and if we were out there early enough we could hear the lorikeets chirping in the trees, or eating fallen mangoes out front.

My friends knew how to enjoy living. And I learned to appreciate the finer points of <strike>Australian shiraz with good lamb</strike> spending time with family, and friends.

Every once in a while, here in California, i'll smell a plant fragrance that is the exact and unique smell of their tropical back yard. I think it's only happened once. And another time, i could smell it, maybe I manufactured it between my heart and my senses, just thinking about that lovely time in my life.

Last night I dreamt I had a baby. I didn't dream of the actualy deliver, but that it was brand new and I was with my family. I didn't have anything for the baby. Nothing. No, crib, no clothes, etc. The father in the dream, not my current boyfriend, was no where to be found, my family hated him, but I called him anyway thinking he'd want to see her.

She was a little girl. A little pink thing who liked music.

I swaddled her in one of my shirts, and carried her around in a little box or something, always checking to see if she was still breathing. She was so tiny. Tinier than other babies first out.

It was a weird dream.

I don't think I've been thinking about having kids, just in the I'm not ready to have them yet but I'm 35 so I better start thinking about it sense.

Jockstrap_sm

A producer with the CBC called me yesterday after hearing about the travel humor series on World Hum. I have a feeling this is going to be a really fun show. I blogged about the upcoming interview on the new site for What Color Is Your Jockstrap?

The show is called CBC Freestyle and I think you can hear it online.

I'll be talking about the women's humor series, why we added the male of the species, some crazy travel misadventures of my own (as well as those in the book), and anything those crazy Canucks (said affectionately) throw at me.

9:30 am Pacific Standard Time.

I had to do a rush job on biz cards because of the WOMMA conference next week.
My boyfriend uses 4by6.com .
I've used Overnight Prints , and also got a quote from VistaPrint .

But the cheapest and the quickest way to get the job done was to use the local print shop . (Pasadena, CA)

$69 - 250, 4/1, matte (which looked better than the $79 glossy)
Friendly service and no quick shipping charges.

So, the next time you're in a pinch. Save at least 1/3 of your cost and support the local indies.

I can't wait to pick them up on Saturday!

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm going to the Wombat conference next week. I just found out today. I've built my career as a writer, editor, and blogger via accidental word-of-mouth these past five years, and now all my efforts are intentional and I'm turning to studying it.

The World of Mouth Marketing Assoc (WOMMA) is an amazing organization that share its resources about w-o-m and viral marketing, and I've been dying to go to these Basic Trainings since January.

You have to check it out, and of course, let me know if you're going.

WOMMA Basic Training2

Now to get my plane ticket!

Current: Pasadena, CA
Next: San Francisco, CA (June 20-21)

I was out to dinner this weekend with John's friends. At one point during the conversation a young woman decided to bash bloggers. She was all bent on how they are ruining journalism. I sat silent. Here's why: She's in her early to mid 20s, I'm 35. Based on the two times I've been in conversation with her, it was clear to me that she lacked a sense of propriety. And with people like that, it's better to just let them have their vent, than to fight them over it. To me, it was clear she was generalizing and wasn't that educated in her subject matter. They went on to another conversation about music that had me fighting to keep my eyes open and pointed in their direction, but I held fast. Must do my girlfriend duty, as anyone knows, John will be up to more of my social gatherings than me his.

At some point she left to go to the bathroom and the man across the table from me said, "How are you Jen? If I'm not interested in this stuff, you must really be bored."

"I'm a blogger," I said.
"I know," he smiled. And we just held a moment. An inside laugh at the young opinionated one from the other side of the table.

It just wasn't worth it, and she didn't offend because she just had to rant about everything. She's that kind of person I've seen her to be. The kind that pisses on the fire hydrant.

But on the upside of blogging. I'm dying to go to BloggerCon in SF this month, and I'm pretty sure I can't. That's why I haven't signed up on their wiki . If you go, I'll keep a stiff upper lip while you tell me how great it was.

Marley and Me by John Grogan. I got it for my birthday and it's been an easy read that I'm savoring chapter by chapter. I'm enjoying his clear yet crafted writing style, and even read by flashlight last night after John had gone to sleep.

I would love to use Vox within my family. I started a free Blogspot blog to keep them up on my wearabouts, and to my surprise, it worked. They follow along. Now they always know where I am and what I'm up to, and comment on it when they call me. Perfect. Except that I hate blogger and it was truly an experiment that lasted.

I'm thrilled about Vox and hope that I can get all the online Leos involved so that I know what they're up to, too. I just invited my cousin, Michelle. Lets see if she can keep the ball rolling.