Argue More, Be Nicer, and Always Say Hi.

I know this guy. We’re both workaholics, but he’s in a different field and knows things I don’t, so I find myself asking him a lot of inane questions related to his line of work when we’re both online.

I should mention that he’s in tech.

I know what you’re thinking: Star Trek, ancient pizza boxes, and esoteric MySQL references.

Of course, people think because I’m a writer, I wear bathrobes, drink wine, and have lots of cats. And I do do those things – all of them. But I digress.

This techie buddy, well, he and I argue off the clock every now and then. It usually starts with a question, and it’s usually good-natured: we’re really different, and we’re both stubborn, so it comes naturally. On a good day these snits result in both of us learning something.

And That’s My Sunday Story, Folks. What’s Yours?

I’ve had a rough week.

I was distinctly “not myself,” a funny phrase we use to excuse ourselves when we can’t quite hide that our personal lives are messy. So messy they’re interfering with everything else, from our unwashed laundry to our drippy eyeliner.

I don’t know exactly what happened, come to think of it. I’m still sort of baffled.

I do know that I fell behind on my accounting, missed a critical deadline, didn’t get a lot of sleep, and hit my daily goal marks only 1 or 2 days out of the seven. And I do know that I feel disappointed.

This isn’t a new feeling – we all have bad weeks, don’t we? – but I get more tired of it every time. Especially on Sunday nights. I want to break free of the past week, not dwell on it. What gives?

My Unscientific Formula for Success: Remain Dissatisfied.

I work for an amazing web startup, iGrad, that’s chock-full of people trying to create a space for 20-somethings who are graduating from college and finding themselves jobless, living in Mom’s basement, playing Wii, and trying hard not to go insane.

We ran a writing contest recently, and all the winners shared one distinguishing characteristic: optimism in a sea of student loan debt and unfulfilled promises.

When I’m not working on my company’s clients, I spend a lot of time thinking about the questions iGrad addresses. After all, I’m a 20-something, gainfully employed but still trying to make ends meet. What did I do right? What did I do wrong?

Plus, I have been thinking about 2010 as a Big Change year for me. I am a planner but I don’t like all the nitty-gritty stuff.