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.

Tent sale!

I went to my LYS's tent sale yesterday. I went $24 over my budget, but dad floated me the extra money and said it was fine. He'll probably have me doing yard work to pay it off, which is fair. I still felt bad about spending $60, though :p I've always felt bad about spending money, though, which is weird because I rarely spend money on myself. The last time I bought myself something was last year when I had birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa, and I bought a skein of Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, a gauge ruler and some used books from the library book sale. And I think I still had change leftover.

The fact that summer is almost over is kinda freaky. I didn't get to do much because the weather was ridiculously hot and muggy, and things just didn't seem to work out. Oh well, there's always the fall - a season I prefer over summer anyway, because I don't get sunburned.

Anyway, I'm rambling. After the tent sale, I found out at the last minute that Nathan and Steph (my brother and his girlfriend/fiancee) were coming up for dinner, so I had to sweep right away and didn't have time to put laundry in or go on the computer. So, I was freaking out last night and this morning because I absolutely had to do laundry, and I was worried that I had more overdue library stuff, but fortunately, I had already renewed the items. Crisis averted!

I took a photo of my tent sale loot, but I haven't uploaded it yet. I'll put it into my Flickr and post it eventually :)

My nose is slightly itchy.

I bet it's because of leaves drying up. Jerks.

So, my wonderful sister is coming up tomorrow, according to Mom, so we have to do some serious cleaning today. I'm thinkin', after Mom watches EastEnders, we'll put some Meatloaf on the stereo and start cleaning.

Youth group was weird last night. I had to go with Stephen and Laura to Laura's house to pick up some boxes, because Stephen couldn't go with Laura alone because of church regulations, so I went with them. And Laura said she needed to add me to her Facebook friends, so I'll add her sometime soon.

After we got the boxes from Laura's house, we got back into Stephen's car and this Billy Talent song was playing on the radio. HE LISTENS TO BILLY TALENT OH NOES. And Laura was like, "My mom hates this song, she says it's morbid." And I think Stephen sang along. DID NOT NEED TO HEAR THAT. Dad thinks I should tell Stephen that Billy Talent makes you sterile, lol.

The reason why we needed the boxes was because we were decorating them for a potluck fundraiser thing next week that some folks from Coming of Age are doing, which I can't go to because of family stuff, so I need to stay home. And it got nuts. People were crowding around the box that I was trying to decorate, and when I tried to help paper the other box, I felt I wasn't wanted/needed, so I walked out because people were being jerks. Then Riley came and asked where everybody was, so I directed him to the room where people were decorating boxes. It went a little better from there, but I still felt like the black sheep in the herd of perfect white sheep. Grr.

So, today will be a cleaning day. And then tomorrow Katie's coming, and hopefully we'll order Japanese take-out from the new sushi place that delivers. Katie would love that. I also need to start the duplicate stitching on my wristband.

Boo!

It snowed.

At least it's partially melted now, but I didn't get to walk to the library. Oh well. I renewed my DVDs, so I only have one item that's due back soon - the David Bowie CD I'm borrowing. I have two CDs to pick up (Pink Floyd's The Final Cut and David Gilmour's Live in Gdansk album), and a book on Pete Townshend. And I have a CD in transit - Coldplay's Prospekt's March EP, which should be pretty neat.

Hmm, what else is going on? I'm probably going to youth group tomorrow - wait, maybe not. My dad's working different shifts this week, so he might be working tomorrow night. I'll have to ask him. Katie and Dan are coming up this weekend (Easter weekend!!!!!), so that should be cool. I don't know if I'll see Nathan over Easter, and I don't care much anyway. I'll probably see Breanne, and maybe Justin, because we're supposed to be having Easter Sunday dinner in this room at the hospital that Grandpa rented or something so that we could have dinner with Grandma. Should be interesting...

Oh, and I have to post this...





But it's even funnier in Spanish:

Afterwards

So Nathan's visit went well. He offered to help me get rid of the remnants of the biology program, but I declined.

I think I miss actually talking to my brother. One time at Grandma and Grandpa's house - it was for a party of some kind, but I can't remember for whom - we just sat in Grandma's kitchen and talked, with their little radio on. They have this little TV with a radio built in. Pretty nifty. Nathan was put to work putting trays of hors d'oevres (I'm probably spelling it wrong) in the oven and then taking them out and serving them - I think Aunt Patti made him do that. I wouldn't put it past her. Anyways, we just sat on the floor and talked. Normally my brother is a social butterfly, but at family functions he often prefers to socialize with only a few people. So today we all chatted pretty normally - me, Nathan, Mom and Steph.

I thought about something else today, too. Before I get into that, I should probably say that the dojo where I got my black belt was not the dojo I had originally started karate at. The dojo I started at was a place closer to our house, and it's in the same plaza as a good fish-and-chips place. We left after I got my red belt, though, because we didn't like the way the instructors - namely, Mr. M and Mr. C - were teaching the classes.

Anyways. What I was thinking about today was a particular evening at that dojo. In the class, all of the boys, directed by Mr. M, had to briefly leave the class because they had all thrown their coats on the floor of the men's change room. While they were attending to the mess, Mr. V had us girls go through our katas (katas are patterns of stances, blocks, kicks, etc, and are pretty much imaginary fights). I was thinking this evening that Mr. V really took us seriously in that class - in all the classes he taught, in fact. That was something neither Mr. M nor Mr. C ever did.

That memory makes me feel awesome.

In other news, my nose hasn't been dripping as much today, which is good. I have thus far watched two discs of Are You Being Served? - one disc yesterday, the other disc today. The whole series is seven discs long, but I think the seventh disc is just special features. So that's cool :) I had a book due back to the library today, and didn't return it today, but I'm not too worried. I have change to pay for fines.

A little less gross-feeling today...

I'm still stuffed up and groggy, but last night I was pretty alert and stayed up late enough to watch U2 on Letterman. They kicked ass :)

So today is my brother's birthday. He's supposed to come over after lunch. I didn't get him anything, and I'll probably be hiding in my room as much as possible. And I don't feel that awful about not getting him something - after all, he re-gifted an anime DVD to me, which I think I can only play on my computer, I can't figure out how to put it on my hard drive, and it's one whole season of Naruto with no, like, episode selection or anything, so I'm not gonna sit through several hours of Naruto to figure out where I left off. I'll just borrow the box sets from the library.

I wound up not going to youth group last night, as I had predicted. I was probably still contagious, and neither Jeff nor Stephen want us to come to youth group sick, because they can't get sick.

Anyways. I was going to give Nathan two pennies for his birthday, but Mom told me not to, because it's 'just nasty'. Bleh. I'll just hide in my room, reading Blood and Chocolate and listening to either David Bowie or Gavin Rossdale. And I have an excuse - I'm sick! ;)

More loot!!!

Yup. I got more stuff for Christmas. It came from Katie and Dan. I recieved...

It Girl Knits by Phoenix Bess (!!!)
Stitch N' Bitch Nation (!!!)
It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas (now I don't have to watch them on CBC!)
A pretty journal

Katie and Dan came over on the 27th, and then they picked up Justin and Breanne the same day. Justin liked his scarf (yay!), and because I hadn't bought anything for Breanne, I gave her some nice soap that Mom bought at Winners, and because we had these pen-and-pencil sets in the house, I gave her one one of them - they're rather nice, too. She liked the soap, and I think she liked the pen-and-pencil set, too.

Nathan came by today to get his pressies. He seemed to like the lamp I gave him.

Unfortunately, though, my keyboard is acting up again. Actually, it's the USB port, so my dad may have to take my CPU to Summit to have the USBs replaced. Whee.

Just the seaming to do now...

That's right. I'm DONE sewing the yellow triangles on Justin's scarf. It was actually not that difficult - pinning the triangles down and fixing the bind-off holes on some of the triangles, that was the hardest. Well, that and aligning the triangles. But the sewing part was not that hard. So now I just have to seam the ends, wrap 'er up in a gift box, and I'm all set. I think I might also include a little notecard with washing instructions written on it. Might be helpful.

And holy crap, it's already the 20th of December! EEP! I have to wrap pressies! Well, I've got Dad's done already. I'm giving him a shirt and The Essentials: The Blues Brothers CD, which we got at Indigo during the bitter-and-sorta-pointless shopping trip.

...And now my left speaker has kicked out. Dammit.

Anyways. Uncle Brent is probably dropping in on Christmas Eve, which is cool. Christmas Day is just us three - me, Mom and Dad. Katie, Dan, Nathan and Steph are coming up on the 27th.

I only have Nathan's lamp, Katie's pressie and Mom's pressie (can't say what they are, because they both know about my blog!) to wrap. Oh, and Justin's scarf, of course. I was going to make Breanne something, but I decided not to. I feel a little guilty, but she's been giving Uncle Brent a hard time, so maybe I'll knit her a scarf for her birthday instead.

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.

The Holiday Weekend in a Nutshell

I'm typing this using Dad's computer, because I can't get to mine. We put up an air mattress for Katie and Dan to sleep in, so Mom's elyptical workout machine thingy had to be moved to make room for the mattress. Said elyptical is behind my chair. A Rubbermaid tub is in my chair. I don't mind, I just find it funny that I'm not used to this monitor.

And now, the Holiday Weekend Thus Far. This section will probably be edited later to include dessert at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Saturday

As I mentioned before, Dad didn't bring up the table, so Mom and I had to haul it upstairs either during or after Letterman. Fun times. Mom also did some quick dusting. Dad did help clean before he went to work, but the floor still needed a sweep later that day.

Katie and Dan arrived first, because they had to pick up Nathan and Steph. When everyone except Dad was there (he was working that day, and came home around 6:00-ish), I put in disc 3 of SNL, season one. Nathan kept talking over it. He also asked me if I wanted their DS if he replaces it. I said that I was thinking there's more to it. He got all pissed off and changed his mind. When they went out later (to get bread so Steph could have a sandwich), I got upset. But I'm not upset anymore. Why should I be? I have a PSone. A piece of history.

We ate when Dad got home. I had to sit next to Steph, which I wasn't thrilled about. I told Katie that in private, and she told me to just sit through dinner. So I did. It wasn't so bad, until dessert. I was being goofy, smearing whipped cream on Mom's nose, and I accidentally got some on her glasses. She wasn't too mad about it, but that didn't stop Nathan calling me a jerk. So I went upstairs and ate my pie.

I'll add more later, I have to face the Grandparents. Yay us. Woo-hoo. I hope I get outta this alive.

edited for spelling

This is not funny.

We have had meat go missing from the freezer, and our blanket mysteriously reappeared in our laundry room. Allow me to explain.

When my brother, Nathan, moved out, he decided to take our microfiber blanket with him. He had borrowed it, but it was still my parents'. Then, about two or three weeks ago, my mom found it in the laundry room, in a plastic storage tub if I remember correctly. It was matted, and trust me, those blankets never seem to get matted unless they're wet, because I have my own, and I have never seen it dry and matted like that. And so my mom reminds me that she'd noticed that roasts have gone missing from the freezer prior to the blanket's return.

And now our Canadian GED guide is gone.

That's right. Gone. It was in the dining room, where the other textbooks are, but now we can't find it. I'm so pissed off. I'm not really pissed off about the missing meat, because if he's stealing meat it must mean that he isn't eating properly, so if he's eating better because of the meat he's stolen, it isn't so bad. But the GED book? Can't he get his own copy?! I'm really pissed about the missing book because I wanted to use it to study towards the CAAT (Canadian Adult Achievement Test).

I think I'm gonna password-lock this computer, just in case.

Hmm...

So I told Mom that I was worried about schoolin'. So she started writing up a schedule. Oh noes. I don't want to mimick school, but I understand that I'll have to work by a timetable when I reach university, so...

We went through Nathan's books today. Mom found some of her own books that he'd claimed, along with the first three Artemis Fowl books, which Mom is letting me keep! She said, "I paid for them, not him!", and let me have them! I also got a copy of George Orwell's 1984, and the second 'The Dark Is Rising Sequence' book - I'll have to find the first one. Oh, and a knitting booklet, which was not my brother's! Haha. She also let me have his Redwall books, because he pretty much hogged them when we were younger, so I wasn't able to read them. And I also got a copy of Where the Red Fern Grows, and Master and Commander, both in Nathan's old room.

Book sale!!!!! :D :D :D

I went down to the fall book sale with my dad. He got a book for himself and a book for Mom (a Martha Stewart Living Christmas book). I got three rather awesome-looking books...




Yep, I now have my own copy of Hip to Knit! There's also a poetry book and a book with vikings in it :D

I saw Nathan there, actually. I spotted him, and, thinking I was seeing things, told Dad, "I'm hallucinating. I thought I saw Nathan over there." Dad said that it was Nathan, so when we got closer to him, Dad said, "Hey stranger!"

Nathan replied, "What're you two doing here?"

Dad and I answered together, "What d'ya thing?", and Dad added, "We're gardening. No, we're buying books!"

Nathan made a comment about needing to get his box of books from home. Well, he's not getting the guitar book back. Last time I checked, he doesn't have a guitar, and I don't think my dad will be giving his away, especially to my brother!

I feel better

My cold seems to have gone for the most part, which is great. So thank you, Sarah, for wishing me well :)

I'm feeling so relaxed right now, because it's raining. Rain has such a calming effect on me.

So, my day has gone pretty well. I watched the rest of Gilmore Girls, I read quite a bit of the second Artemis Fowl book, and I listened to The Jeff Healey Band's See The Light, which is a pretty awesome album. Only one track skipped! I also watched Coronation Street earlier, and I read The Arctic Incident (the second Artemis Fowl book) during commercials, and sometimes during scenes that didn't require my undivided attention.

Back to the rain... I walked upstairs a little while ago, and I felt a lovely breeze, and I could smell that familiar rainy smell. You know, the smell of damp earth. Man, I love that smell! I can't really smell it as much in here, probably because the ceiling fan is running. But just the sound of the rain is fantastic.