On the ninth day of NaNo...

Hello there :) It's been a while, hasn't it? In fact, it's been... 10 days. Actually, that's not that huge of a gap. I've done worse.

So I am nine days into National Novel Writing Month (affectionately referred to as NaNoWriMo, for the uninitiated), and have faced - and still am facing - what I think has been the worst kind of unexpected roadblock: a cold. It's a little thing, the common cold, but it can seriously mess with your routine sometimes. Luckily, I wrote a lot in the pre-sickness days, so if I'd missed my quota while sick, I would've probably been able to get to 50k in time.

Fortunately, I managed to write my quota or more each day, even when I had a really awful sore throat. Go me! /shameless self-promotion

Warning: TMI ahead. I will talk about sinuses and stuff.

To start with, I got a sore throat from my dad, which went away and then came back as a full-on sore throat and post-nasal drip thing. I would start talking to my mom, and then after a few seconds I would have to gulp back this painful grossness in my throat. It felt a bit like acid reflux, which I don't get very often, but when I do it's a pain in the ass. After lots of disgusting but relatively effective cough syrup - which didn't do much for me during the day, but at night it helped me sleep well - the sore throat went away, to be replaced with a stuffy nose that runs out of one nostril (a very weird sensation, I must say), and some coughing and sneezing. Right now, my ears feel like they're plugged up, but that might be an air pressure thing because it's getting warmer where I am, and later in the week it will drop back down to single-digit temperatures (in Celsius, that is, because single-digit temps in Fahrenheit would be freaking COLD). I'm still stuffy, still coughing and sneezing, and my left nostril is still dripping like a faucet. I guess I won't be going to the library tomorrow.

Okay, TMI over.

While I've been battling my cold and doing NaNo, I've also been reading a book from the library - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. (Because I'm writing dystopian, I feel I need to take a break from The Hunger Games for a little bit.) I'm not sure if I can finish it by the 23rd, which is when it's due back, but I finished the third chapter yesterday so maybe I can do it after all. Of course, I could also keep it out late to finish it if I want to, and then pay the fine. I'd like to avoid fines if I can, though. I still have Dogsbody and A Wizard of Earthsea out of the library, too, but I can probably renew Dogsbody again, and I think I can renew Earthsea. If not, I'll add them to a wishlist - or, if I get another Chapters Indigo gift card from my grandparents, I could buy them.

That's all for now - I should go eat something, seeing as all I've had to eat and drink today is coffee, hot chocolate, and a popover.

New things, good things

I have some new, good things in my life right now.

First off, I now have new computer speakers! My brother gave me a pair that he didn't need anymore, and helped me fix a problem with setting them up. (I had tried to put them in the Green Socket, but had wound up in the Blue. Thus, the power cord was operating, but the cord to the speakers didn't.) Now I have proper speakers that don't sound like headphones. This will be perfect for listening to music during NaNoWriMo.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, that brings me to another good thing: I dug out my Evanescence CDs again. I had put them in a shoebox to take a break from listening to them, and also to make room in my drawer for CDs I'd received for Christmas one year. (Other CDs in the shoebox were the Black-Eyed Peas, Linkin Park, and *shudder* Avril Lavigne. I later gave those CDs to Value Village having not sold them at the yard sale we put on.) I feel bad for boxing them up now, but I really shouldn't - after all, I didn't give them away or sell them, I just put them someplace else to give myself a break from them. Much like the Clapotis that I started a long time ago, and lost my place in. I still have to restart that particular project.

...I'm getting off-topic. I'm not sure when I rescued the CDs exactly, but it was either after seeing Underworld: Awakening and hearing a remix of their newer song "Made of Stone" in the end credits, or when I was planning for this year's NaNoWriMo and thought, "Hey, 'Good Enough' would be the perfect song to listen to when I write this scene!"

When I was sorting my old karate certificates (from gradings and in-house tournaments - the first dojo I had attended didn't like the idea of open tournaments, but that's a story for another day) before we had our yard sale, I decided to put on Fallen and listen on my headphones while I sorted, and... well, let's just say that Fallen is an album that's made for headphones. Honestly, if you get the chance to listen to it on headphones, do it. You may love it as much as I do.

Around that time, I also listened to The Open Door while sorting through knitting magazines (which, by the way, I got rid of a lot of), and that too is a good headphones CD. Actually, it may have been the first time I'd listened to it on headphones, I'm not really sure.

Anyhow, I need to back up my Evanescence CDs on my computer. I haven't gotten around to setting up Media Player yet, though - a lot of my music was on my old hard drive and was transferred over, so I just dragged and dropped it into Winamp. I do want to get it set up relatively soon, though - at least before NaNoWriMo, so I can build a novel-writing playlist.

I also have Evanescence's self-titled third album out of the library. I've only listened to about half of it, but so far I love it.

In which my stomach grumbles and I begin to hate my computer speakers

I'm having a bit of a set-to with my speakers.

From what my brother said, they were hooked up to my computer without a certain cord, so instead of sounding like decent speakers (which they are), they sound like crappy headphones. I may disconnect them and use my headphones when writing this year's novel draft for National Novel Writing Month, because while I was listening to a variety of music (from rock, to alternative rock, to opera, to video game music, to j-pop, to Edith Piaf. Yes, I'm very serious.), my speakers sounded like static-y crap.

Also, I haven't eaten lunch, so my stomach is a grumbly, painful mess at the moment.

I forgot to mention in my last post that I now have a new PS2 controller. My parents ordered me a wireless one for me for my birthday, and IT GLOWS. I'm serious, people, it has lights and a weird liquid thing that glows bright-ass blue. I can turn the lights off if I want, which is good because it conserves battery life that way (and the lights may be distracting for me depending on which game I'm playing), but it's quite awesome. And the wireless-ness is very helpful with our pets, as they aren't tripping over the cord - or sitting on the cord, as Smiles the Jack Russell likes to do sometimes. She's a strange thing.

Well, I should close now, because I really need to eat something.

I have a zit on my chin

Yes, it's a bit of a weird title, but it's true. There's a zit on my chin and it's driving me nuts.

The bulk of my course homework is done, so now I have more time for blogging and other various things. I'm still way behind on my Camp NaNoWriMo, but I don't mind too much - I can always finish it in July, I suppose.

Also, we had my siblings and their significant others over for a barbeque. It was nice. We have some burgers in the freezer now. I'd have one for dinner if I hadn't had one for lunch... what am I going to have for dinner?

This post is getting boring. I shall post again, hopefully soon, and hopefully with more interesting things to say.

"What's occurring?"

So, I'm still alive ;D I haven't been posting because NaNoWriMo was eating my soul. For those who may be reading this for the first time, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and that takes place in November - which is the reason for my absence.

I've not done much knitting, but I did get an extra skein of blue yarn for my Ravenclaw scarf. It's going to be very, very wide - I'm hoping it'll tighten up once it's washed. I probably should have gone down a needle size, but I was worried that the scarf would be too stiff. It doesn't matter too much - it'll be warm, and my ski jacket is loose enough to accommodate a thick scarf. I'll need a thick scarf in case we get dumped on with snow in January.

Also, I'm seriously considering making my brother a hat for Christmas. I have a skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in a gender-neutral colour that's been kicking around in a yarn bin for a while, so I should put it to good use. He could use a spare hat, anyway. I've been looking at patterns, and I found this one by DROPS Design. I keep forgetting that DROPS has lots of nice patterns in super-bulky yarn, so if you have a lot of that weight of yarn, take a look at their patterns.

I still have a ton of Christmas shopping to do, and it's making me slightly batty. I've got ideas for the people I need to shop for, but I feel like I'm running out of shopping days, even though it's only the fifth of December. I like getting my shopping done early, though.

Anyway, that's what's been happening lately. I'll try to make a habit of posting more often. Until next time...

December

So, NaNoWriMo is over, which means I now have time to post regularly. Sorry for the long gap between posts, I was really busy :p

NaNoWriMo actually went pretty well. I'm happy with my novel, unlike last year's novel, which sounded silly to me. Next year, I want to try something completely different - either science fiction or an adventure-type novel (think National Treasure). I started a synopsis for each novel idea, and I have a protagonist for each one as well. I need a break from urban fantasy writing... :p

Now that NaNoWriMo is done, I'm itching to read a lot of books. I started Un Lun Dun by China Miéville, but I'm still in the prologue because I couldn't focus on it when I started it. I read a bit more today, but got distracted because the dogs wanted inside. I'll probably read more later.

But there's so many books I want to read. I really want to start Terrier by Tamora Pierce again, but I promised myself I'd try to read all of Un Lun Dun. Plus, I have the books I just bought a month or so ago with my Chapters Indigo gift card from my grandparents, which is just too tempting. But Un Lun Dun is a library book, so I kinda have to read that first.

I'm kind of in a panic about what to buy people for Christmas. I have no idea what to get my sister. I have some ideas for my brother and his girlfriend, though, which is comforting. I like to get my shopping done early so that I can relax. I hope to only go into the mall once, to shop for my mom, because the mall gets a little crazy during Christmas shopping season - and sometimes it gets crazy outside of that season. For instance, one year I was in the mall with my dad (I think we were shopping for either Mother's Day or Mom's birthday), and out of nowhere this woman almost walks into us on a diagonal and gave us a pissed-off look.

I'm happy that it's December, though. It means that I can put on the Galaxie Traditional Holiday channel on my TV and sweep the living room, or listen to my holiday playlist on YouTube while on the internet. Speaking of sweeping, I have to vacuum my room...

Anyways, that's my post-NaNo update of sorts. I'll try to post more often :)

Michaels Sale of Awesomeness!

Yesterday, I went to the Michaels sale I'd mentioned in my last post. It was 20% off your entire purchase, including sale items; but not including things like books, magazines, Christmas trees over a certain height, etc. And I got yarn!

I wound up getting up before my alarm. Somehow, I tend to do that; probably because I'm anticipating the alarm. I had set it for 7:00 and got up at around 6:15, so I had plenty of time to eat and get dressed. I had to get up early because the sale was only from 9:00 until noon (I think), and Mom wanted to get there early so that she could get the yarn she needed.

After helping Mom pick out some colours, I started looking for yarn for the patterns I'd brought with me - Ysolda Teague's Lace-Up Opera Gloves, and Jenny Dolan's Punk Rock Corset Gloves. I wasn't sure what colour to get for the opera gloves, so I picked two colours for the corset gloves instead - Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in 'Cranberry', and Loops & Threads Impeccable in 'True Gray' (I think that's the colourway!). I thought about making the gloves in black and another colour like red, but then I realized that black yarn can be tricky to work with, so I didn't want to plunge into applied i-cord using black yarn. I liked the idea of red and grey, so I went with that. I think they're gonna look great :D I'll still make the opera gloves, but I might use some worsted that I already had before going to Michaels.

I felt really tired that afternoon, probably because I was up so early; so I rested for a bit on the sofa, watching/listening to Robin Williams' HBO special (which, I should warn you, is R-rated). After that, I think we watched the news, and then the Tina Fey Mark Twain Prize special on PBS (which was really great).

That's pretty much it. I'm starting to love my novel for NaNoWriMo, but I feel like it isn't moving quick enough. But I'm excited to write tomorrow, because I have a really good scene in my head that I want to write :D

Christmas shopping woes

Sorry about the huge gap between posts. NaNoWriMo is eating my soul. I'm at something like 31,903 words, which is pretty great. My story hasn't plunged into adventure quite yet, but I'm working on it. I think I'll throw a curve ball in tomorrow to make things interesting.

So I'm having a minor dilemma with Christmas shopping. I know it's early yet, but I like to get my shopping done ahead of time so that I don't have to go to the mall more than I need to. I'll probably have to go to the mall to shop for my mom, but that'll be it, I think. I already have my dad's present (I won't say what it is, just in case he comes across my blog by accident), so that's one person down.

I've been trying to read Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins, but I'm still at the prologue :p My dogs seem to interrupt my reading, which is a bummer. I also want to try to get Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince finished, because I want to be able to see the second part of Deathly Hallows when it comes out. Finishing Half-Blood Prince and reading all of Deathly Hallows might be a bit of a stretch, but it's a challenge I'm willing to take. I think I'll make it a goal for the new year.

I'm getting up early tomorrow to go to the Michaels 20% off entire purchase sale tomorrow. I have to get up early because it's only a four-hour sale. I don't know if I'll get anything (I really don't need yarn :p), but I might look at the clearance yarns to see if there's anything I like. Or I could pick up some Vanna's Choice to make a hat or a pair of Ysolda Teague's Lace-Up Opera Gloves.

I also want to make a Doctor Who scarf (you know, the one Tom Baker wore), but I have to do my research on what yarn to use. I think that'll be another goal for 2011: knit a Doctor Who scarf.

So that's what's going on right now. I will try to post sometime soon, but it may be a long break between posts while I'm doing NaNo. Later!

Halloween, NaNoWriMo, and other happenings.

Wow, I haven't posted in ages :p I never did write a Halloween music post. Sorry! I'll try to remember to post Halloween songs next year.

First, I'll write about Halloween.

My Halloween was a little different from last year, because I went to a coffee shop in the afternoon for the local NaNoWriMo kick-off party. I hadn't seen some of the local NaNo'ers in two years, so it was cool to see them again; and a lot of the folks at the party were unfamiliar to me. I brought my handknit eyepatch with me, but it was a pain to wear because I made the patch part a little bit big. I had a lot of fun at the party, and came home with an awesome party bag (with chocolate in it!).

We had a timer set up to change channels to America's Funniest Home Videos that night, so I didn't get to put on Rocky Horror at 7:00 on Treasure HD. I put it on halfway through, at the 'Touch-a Touch Me' scene, but then my dad changed the channel and pretty much hogged the TV for the rest of the night, so I couldn't put my Rocky Horror DVD in :( I did listen to the soundtrack later that night, though, and I did the Time Warp :D

We didn't get a lot of trick-or-treaters - about 42, I think, was our final count. One of the kids that came to our door was adorable - she got her fairy wing caught on our screen door, and said, "My wing is caught AGAIN! It keeps getting caught on things!" It was really cute :)

The only problem with having very few trick-or-treaters is that we have a LOT of Tootsie Rolls leftover. I'm pretty sure I'm going to OD on Tootsie Rolls pretty soon.

And now, for NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month) started on a Monday this year, and a lot of people on the boards felt a lot of pressure because of it. I was all right, though, because I'm not enrolled in school right now. I have been neglecting my GED work, though :p I started out with a pretty good word count, and now I'm at 11,904 words. Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of myself :)

I really like how my novel is going so far. Last year I wasn't too happy with my novel - it felt a bit like a silly soap opera. I really liked how my novel from two years ago turned out, though. I totally didn't know what I was doing with my idea, and it kinda morphed into an urban fantasy. My novel for this year is a werewolf urban fantasy, which I find is easier to write than vampire urban fantasy because there's less lore to memorize.

And now, Other Happenings.

Aside from NaNoWriMo, not a lot has happened. My sister came up to visit, and my brother and his girlfriend came up as well, and we ordered Chinese take-out for dinner. We had fun chatting about cats and other stuff, and we had fun teasing Steph (my brother's girlfriend) about going back for seconds, because she's really tiny :p

That's all, folks. I'll try to post regularly, but I might not post a lot because NaNoWriMo takes up a lot of time.

Blah, punctuation.

Normally I don't mind punctuation all that much, but today I totally screwed up a practice test on it. I think I rushed through it, because when I was checking my answers I was going, 'oh yeah, I should've gotten that!'. I got most of the exercises right, though.

Also, when typing a song name, it's proper to put it in quotations. But I like apostrophes better for song names ;p

I think I'm going to paint my nails bright orange soon. One of my nail polish sets that I got in my Christmas stocking has a bottle of bright orange. It'll be a nice change from hot pink or blue.

I've got an idea for NaNoWriMo '10 already. Crazy, yes, but at least I'll be prepared. I was going to work on last year's NaNoWriMo novel today, but I forgot. I think I'll write some character outlines for my '10 novel later.

There's snow on the highway...

...But no snow in my yard. Aw, crud.

It is a little chilly, though, and a little breezy. I went downstairs to chat with Ma, and wound up dumping the cat's litter, the bathroom garbage, the kitchen garbage and the laundry room garbage in one big black garbage bag. Pretty odd, how that can happen - you go downstairs to do one thing and wind up doing several.

So, NaNoWriMo is done, and I reached 50k no problem. I think this year's novel is considerably better than last year's. It's not finished yet, though - I want to add more to it. I also have an idea for a short story.

Almost done for the day...

I have a little less than 300 words to write until I reach today's word goal for NaNoWriMo. I have to get my ass in gear, because my sister's catching up to me!!!

In other news, Grandpa's flip-flopping on what the family's doing for Christmas dinner (but hey, what else is new...), I took Grandma's Clapotis out of hibernation, and I'm on my forth stripe of my house scarf.

That's all, folks!

Procrastinating again

Sorry for the lack of posts. NaNo is eating my soul, little by little. Probably with one of those tiny coffee spoons you use for espresso. Or cappuccinos. I can't remember.

So I'm back on my computer for NaNo, because Dad got mad at me for writing on his computer (I don't see why, but whatever). I'll have to back up my files in a little while, though, because the driver is going to go kaput in a few months, from what the guy at the repair shop said.

Aaaaaand I have nothing much to talk about! lols. Umm, Dad's working late this week, so I'll be able to write a lot without much distraction, which is cool. And I started my Ravenclaw scarf. It's not that big yet, but I've done the first blue stripe and I'm about five rounds into the first bronze stripe. Pretty spiffy, I think.

I also have no clue what to get people for Christmas. The year's going by too fast! It's already the 15th, can you believe it? Christmas is roughly 6 weeks away.

Oh dear.

Well, I have some ideas from Mom as to what I should get her. I might get a CD for Dad - I know for a fact that he doesn't own Jethro Tull's Living in the Past album, and he's always asking for new pajamas. I have no clue what to get Nathan though, and I suppose I have to get something for my future sister-in-law, too. Katie says she'll e-mail me a list, so that's cool.

I have 485 more words (roughly) to write to reach my word goal.

Oh dear.

Itching to write

I can't wait for NaNoWriMo '09 to start.

I have a really good story in my head, but the rules of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) say that you can't write any sentences until the 1st of November, but you can write stuff like a synopsis, character descriptions, etc. So I've been taking notes.

I've been cruising the forums on the NaNoWriMo website as well. I didn't read the teen forum much last year, but I'm going to start reading it more this year.

And I might have an idea for Arithmancy :) The assignment is to make something that has two uses, or something that's reversible, or a set of two items that compliment each other, or something made up of two pieces sewn together (I think). And I think I've found a reversible pattern that I love. And I even bought the yarn for it!

I'm currently listening to some music while blogging to see what works best as writing music. I have a writing music playlist on YouTube, but it only had 7 videos before today, so I'm trying to add more to the list for when NaNoWriMo rolls around.

Not sure if I'll get to knit night tonight, because Mom had a sore neck yesterday.

Howdy.

My dad is shredding paper, so I'm drowning it out with muzak.

It turns out that Katie isn't coming up until this evening, so there's more time to clean than I thought. I still think that people are dragging their asses, though. Dad put my lamp from IKEA in my room.

I started duplicate stitching on my Virgo wristband, and it's looking pretty neat. Not perfect, but still neat. ARE YOU GOING TO BUFFER, YOUTUBE?! Yeaaaaahh YouTube is being dumb today. Every effing video stops to buffer at the same spot. Ah, that's better - it buffered some more.

I have NaNoWriMo planned out already. And I have badges saved from their site. They look neat. I'm gonna put up a meter on this here blog if I can find a meter. Can't wait 'til the kick-off party!

I IZ NANOWRIMO WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, kids! I GOT TO 50K!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And LIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't posted in three days :p

I went to Winners with my parents. I got my sister's Christmas present and my brother's Christmas present :) I think I've decided what I'll make for Breanne - a dropped-stitch scarf. I think she'll like it if it's in a colour she likes. I might have to either look through Mom's stash for yarn or go to Michaels, though. Or Len's. I heard Talk by Coldplay at Winners, too, which was pretty cool.

So, NaNoWriMo is going good. Just look at the widget! I'm not doing too bad! :D

Breanne, my cousin, was supposed to come over today, but it didn't happen :(

BUT, we have more chocolate in the house! :D

ETA: Hey, guys! I just put a Coldplay widget at the bottom of the page! What you do is click 'start', then rub the glass with your mouse. Don't click on it, just run your mouse across it back and forth. If you're lucky, you'll hear a portion of a song from their upcoming EP! I would have left it at the side of the posts, but it got chopped off when I put it there.

i can haz chocolate!

I scarfed some Bridge Mixture while I wrote today.

We didn't go to church today. Good thing, 'cause I didn't really want to go. I got up this morning, went upstairs, looked at the clock and thought, why aren't we watching Sunday Morning? Turns out it was too early for Sunday Morning and Q107's Psychedelic Psunday program. And I thought that the time change wouldn't affect me. Hehe.

So lately I've been listening to Cheap Trick. Here's 'I Want You to Want Me'...

NaNo

So, have you noticed that my NaNo meter on the left-hand side of this blog has updated?

That's right, I started writing yesterday. I updated my wordcount today. Pretty cool :)

We bought more NaNo snacks, this time at the British imports shop. I got a raisin and biscuit Yorkie bar (it's chocolate with raisin and biscuit), some Munchies (chocolate, caramel and cookie squares) and a small bag of Dolly Mix, which is a candy mix. Plus, we have leftover Halloween candy.

I don't know WHAT is in nanimo bars, but they're good!

More on nanaimo bars later.

So I went to church today. It was okay. It's just felt so phony since the minister was forced to resign. There was a potluck after the service, but we didn't stay for it because my mom had a NaNoWriMo meet-up to go to at a local cafe. I went with her, and I've decided to do NaNoWriMo this year - and yes, Dianna, I know I'm crazy ;) The folks who came were pretty cool. Mom and I each got a chai tea - well, actually, Mom got two. I don't know what my brother was talking about when he said that the coffee at the cafe is expensive, it's pretty reasonably priced to me. But then again, he's probably used to cheap Tim Horton's coffee... Anyway, I got a nanaimo bar later, and Mom got a tart. I actually started writing stuff down for a story, so it's lookin' good. It's mostly an outline at the moment. Actually, I have to get my outline out of Mom's purse, because she let me use her notebook to write stuff down. I was going to bring a book with me, but I forgot.

The knitting's going good. I made a teeny scarf out of my leftover rainbow Red Heart Traditions. It turned out shorter than I'd expected, so it's more like a neckwarmer. It kinda looks like one of the girls' Chilton ties from Gilmore Girls actually! I'll have to take photos of my knitting when I remember to...

Crap, I gotta finish Justin's scarf. I still have time, though.

I also have to start swatching for Breanne's headband.

Anyway... I started another skinny scarf with my yellow Red Heart Kids. And I'll probably make lots of skinny scarves with my acrylic. I can't believe I didn't think of this before!

I've almost finished watching season one of SNL. I think I have only one episode left to watch. Hehe. It's gonna be almost two weeks overdue!

I have a bunch of stuff waiting for me at the library. Mostly CDs, but a book on Photoshop CS3 is there too. After I pick that book up, I'll have to make a new badge image for the Tamora Pierce group on Rav.

I have to do math tomorrow.

Blah.

edited to correct my bad spelling