Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

So, for the past month I've been working on a 30 day blog challenge. Found the prompts on my friend Katie's blog.

I don't know why I decided to do it, exactly. I was done with school for the semester, and I'm not taking classes again until the end of June, so I knew I'd have time on my hands. I liked some, but not all of the prompts. I went with all of them, though, hoping that I'd find a few interesting things to say about the ones I thought wouldn't appeal to me. And I was right about that. For instance, I haven't traveled much, so wasn't looking forward to the prompt about travel. But then I remembered why I started collecting postcards, and wrote about that, which was fun. I probably would not have thought to write about it otherwise.

Some of the prompts, though, were redundant. I think I was asked to write about travel twice. Some of the prompts about goals for the future were like that, too. And unfortunately, a few of the really good prompts were about things I'd written about recently. Like my views on education, for example.

But it was a good way to bide time while I tried to figure out what to do with this blog. I've always thought that the best blogs have a specific focus. Mine does not. Nearly two years ago, when I started this blog, my intention was just to create a personal space to spout off about things that get my ire up. :) But then, last summer, I started participating in blog carnivals, and that has opened me up to a whole community of bloggers that write about things that really matter to me. I've been trying to figure out how to focus my blog in on those things. Another option would be to start another blog, but keep this one for more personal stuff. I don't know. Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, I've made a few updates to this page. I added a couple of lines from a Tracy Chapman song beneath the header, because I think it sums up my world view pretty well. I moved my tags to the top of the page, just because once I started adding stuff to the sidebar (I'll get to that in a second), it started to look way too cluttered over there.

Most notably, I added a blogroll. I actually have about twenty blogs there, but decided to just show the five most recently updated ones. Less clutter.

I struggled with which blogs to include because of the focus issue I've been having. I didn't know whether to include strictly feminist blogs, or personal blogs, or blogs on other topics. But because I still don't know exactly how I'm going to narrow this project down, I went with "anything goes." Lucy's blog is there. So is Sarah's. Then I included a bunch of feminist blogs. And then there are a couple of random ones thrown in there devoted to environmental and health issues. I just shared what I liked to read.

Furthermore, I added a link to my Good Reads account. Mine's private, because I'm kind of an Internet privacy fiend. But if you're on Good Reads, feel free to add me.

You might have noticed that a few days ago, I added a badge for a new blog carnival. I will be blogging for LGBT families on June 1. You should, too.

And that's pretty much it. My life has been pretty uneventful lately, because I'm taking a few weeks off school and chilling out in suburbia. I've just been working, reading, and hanging out with myself. One of the books I finished recently is Gloria Feldt's latest, _No Excuses: 9 Ways That Women Can Change How We Think about Power_. It was excellent; I'll post my thoughts on it soon. A lot of the things that Feldt said is what got me thinking about the changes I'd like to make to this blog, actually. So when my review goes up (probably sometime later today), I hope you'll read it. :)

Okay, that's all for now. There's a downpour here, with rumbles of thunder. I'm lying in bed with my laptop, cat, and a cup of coffee, and couldn't be happier about that.