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.

Wow, I haven't posted in ages.

Hi there :)

The past few weeks have been a bit hectic. Remember my last post about the appliances and how I 'slew' them? Well, our furnace decided to have a tantrum as well, and we had to have it fixed. In a nutshell, I had to sleep on our futon, and was grumpy.

In knitting news, I made a ton of dishcloths. Well, it was only three, but it felt like a ton. I'm trying to knit up older stash, including dishcloth cotton - I hope to find a pattern to use up odds and ends of cotton, because I have a bunch of partial-skeins to use up. I've also got plans to use up my acrylic.

I haven't worked on my novel as much as I'd like to. I think what I need to do is set aside one day - probably Sunday, when my dad's watching his NASCAR race - to work on it. Maybe I can stick with that.

That's pretty much it. I'll try to post more often...

Blaaarrrgggh

I couldn't come up with a clever title, so there you go.

My teeth on my right side are hurting a bit. I think it's from chewing a very tough candy, or from brushing too hard. Or maybe both. I'm trying not to poke at my teeth too much, but I'm like a little kid picking at a scab :p

I think I might refine a short story I started a while ago and try sending it in to a magazine. I sent a short story to a magazine for a theme contest, but it didn't get accepted. I still want to put my writing out there, though. It can't hurt to try, right?

Actually, I managed to remember to work from a writing prompt in the special issue of Writer's Digest that I got from Indigo. One of the articles is a year's worth of writing prompts, and the idea is to do one prompt a week. I got kinda lazy and only did a handful (some of the prompts just didn't spark anything), but a few days ago I wrote a few paragraphs. Pretty awesome, I think.

I did some GED work today. Actually, I think I got a fair bit done in the essays chapter. I'm doing exercises on paragraphs, and I wrote two practice paragraphs, did a quiz on which sentences in the example paragraphs were unnecessary, and an exercise on finding main ideas in paragraphs. The only one I'm unsure of is the main ideas practice, because there weren't any answers so I was like, "Wait, did I get that right?"

I watched the first two episodes of season four of Doc Martin and worked on my Ravenclaw scarf this afternoon. I probably should finish the Calorimetry though :p

Rain = awesome :D

Finally, we have rain! This summer's been so hot and muggy, I've been craving rain. And after those few excellent, balmy days, we started getting rain. It's been making my head ache, but otherwise it's very welcome. We've had the doors open and let the fresh air in, and it's just wonderful.

And yet I can't seem to read today because I'm all antsy. I realized today that I haven't finished Blood and Chocolate, which I started a while ago. Problem is I can't seem to focus on novels, but I really want to start a Tamora Pierce book. I don't know why I'm so worried about finishing that book, but I am. Maybe when I'm done reading my manga from the library, it'll become my nighttime read. Or I'll just abandon it and start Terrier! MUAHAHAHA!!!

...ahem.

Anyways, I watched the other two Doctor Who specials, The Next Doctor (the Christmas special), and The Waters of Mars. Both were pretty epic.

I haven't been able to write much for fiction, but I might write a rant. And I've thought about trying script-writing, so I got a book out of the library on film-making, but I've barely looked at it. It looks all right, but I think I'll reserve library books solely on writing scripts.

There are a bunch of knitting projects I want to finish, and now that it's not so humid, I think I'll try finishing my Calorimetry. I'll have to shrink it, but that's fine. At least I use the right weight of yarn this time, and it won't turn out to fit around my waist :p I also want to finish my Irish Hiking Scarf. I haven't been able to wear any of my handknit scarves, because last fall was so warm, so I'm hoping for a seasonable fall so that I can wear my scarves.

Thank you, dog-creatures.

Thank you ever so much for waking me up. Now my stomach is all out of whack.

All I've had today is a McIntosh apple. Which isn't too bad - I mean, it could be worse. This morning I felt repulsed by bread, so I had fruit. Wise choice, I think. I've not been too enthused by store-bought bread lately, but whatever, it needs to be eaten up.

Maybe I'll have a can of soup for lunch. Although, leftover brisket with a little barbecue sauce sounds great, too. But again, store-bought bread = gross in comparison to homemade.

I really should go through my GED book today. I watched the first episode of Let's Learn Japanese on YouTube, though, so that's cool.

It's been rainy for the past few days, so I haven't had that humidity grumpiness, which is good. I did a little bit of writing... yesterday? I think? I worked on a short story.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the Writer's Digest special issue magazine I got has writing prompts in it. It's done as a prompt-a-week thing that goes right to December. I'm gonna start doing the prompts this week.

My mom is cleaning with vinegar.

I can smell it, and it's disgusting. Effective, yes, but disgusting. I think she's using balsamic instead of white vinegar. Yeeugh.

On the upside, I finally found the studio version of 'Janie Jones' by The Clash last night. I'm very happy about that.




I also found the studio version of 'Blitzkrieg Bop' by The Ramones, although the end is slightly cut off. I can live with that, though. I think I'll have to start listening to my 'Punk' playlist when I write.

I actually haven't written in a while, aside from writing prompts from One Word. It's a neat site. But I want to start working on my vampire fiction from last year's NaNoWriMo. I think I'm going to do something different for NaNoWriMo '10 - for the last two years I did urban fantasy, but I think I'm going to do something more... what's the word I want to use... everyday. Like, a present-setting drama thing.

That reminds me - I checked my library account, and Precious is at the library for me to pick up. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch it, but I think I can manage it. I don't think I'll read the book, though.

Finally, I started it

I started one of the short stories that's been brewing in my head. So far it looks good for a first draft.

My sister's coming up next week, so I'm pretty happy about that. And I might be going to Len's Mill Store on Monday, 'cause they have knitting needles on sale, and I don't have many sets of double-pointed needles. And it couldn't hurt to get some more circulars, either.

Speaking of knitting, I've been kinda sluggish on that. I finally sewed a button on my Calorimetry, but it's too big. I think Patons Decor drapes too much, so next time I'll use a yarn with more body to it. I think I'll swatch with Decor for that bookcover thing I wanted to make for HPKCHC, because I don't know what else I'll use that Decor for.

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.

My arms hurt

But it's not the same kind of pain that I had with my knitter's elbow - it's a mix of muscle pain, two fingers falling asleep, and weird tingling. Advil and Myoflex are working well to ease it, though. In fact, I can take more Advil now.

It sucks, though, because I had a damn good idea for an essay, and I want to work on my Snoopy dishcloth and start my cowl. I might start my cowl in a few days when my arms are better, because the yarn I want to use is a mystery teal-coloured wool-acrylic mix. I know it has at least 50% wool in it, because when I wrap it around my finger and pull, it snaps. But it doesn't snap as easily as 100% wool, so I know it's part acrylic. The colour is lovely, though. When it's made up into a cowl, it'll most likely match my brown coat.

I also have to write up some kind of resume. I don't know who would count as a reference, though. I might ask Stephen if I could put him down as a reference, or maybe Jeff.

I also want to work on my pre-existing stories really badly. But, alas, it'll have to wait.

Well, I guess I'll take more Advil now. Toodles!

Stripes!

So I did the first set of stripes for my house tie, which makes me happy. My wrists are aching, so I won't be able to knit until later today. Unfortunately, I have no picture of said tie yet. I think I may run out of yarn, so I might have to rush out to Michaels to get some Patons Canadiana in the Bright Royal Blue colourway, which is pretty close to the Eaton yarn I'm using. Maybe not as soft as the Eaton yarn, but very close in colour.

I think I've figured out how the proper measurements for my DADA project. More happy. I might start it today, because it'll be a small project.

I started reading Return to Labyrinth #1 last night, and I quite like it so far. I'll have to send the library purchase requests for the other ones in the series.

I wrote a bit today. I was going to do memoir writing, but then I had a strange itch to write some passive-aggressive letters that will never be sent. Kinda like PostSecret. I think I was inspired by both PostSecret and Don Rickles' book, Rickles' Letters, which is all letters he wished he'd written, or something like that. The first letter I wrote was to my former karate sensei, the second to my Aunt Patti.

I should probably stop writing now, before my hands fall off.

Drinkin' pimple juice

Actually, it's pineapple juice, but my mom and I like to call it pimple juice. lol.

So today has been somewhat eventful. We went to the lab because Mom had to have a blood test done, but there were, like, 25 other people there, so we had breakfast at the restaurant in the same plaza. I had a waffle with a side of breakfast sausages. It was yummy. And filling, since it's ten after eleven and I don't feel hungry. I may not eat lunch for another couple of hours.

I tried to do some polynomials, but I may have to redo some of them, because they have mixed symbols - a plus and a minus. I hate those kinds of polynomials, because you have to figure out if it has to be positive or negative. And usually, when you times a positive by a negative, you get a negative (see? I remember at least one of the algebraic principles!), so if you're times-ing the factors at the beginning of the polynomial, you'd wind up with all negatives - but, at the end you have to have a positive in there. So yeah... re-writing must be done before I can say that the polynomials are finished. eep.

My Labyrinth fanfiction is coming along nicely. I've also started a crime story that I wrote down in a notebook a few days ago - basically, I wrote down a paragraph, the plot, and a few character names in the notebook, and today I started it in Word, and it's taking shape better than the paragraph I'd written in the notebook.

So, I don't think I'm going to youth group tonight, because I think Dad's working this evening. I'm not too bothered, though. As long as people don't bitch me out for missing three meetings, I'm happy.

The weather's nicer today. It was chilly this morning, though - about 32 degrees farenheit - so I wore my ski jacket. There's still patches of snow here and there, but not as much as yesterday.

I should be doing math

...but I feel like writing.

Today's been a good day. Not much schoolwork got done, but I did a bit of writing. I wrote a lot last night, it was brilliant. I might start some memoir writing - that, and I have to work on essay writing. I want to read more books on other cultures and religions, too. In fact, I reserved a book on paganism, but it's on order so I may not get it for a few months.

I might walk to the library tomorrow, because the two DVDs I'm borrowing from the library are due on.... the 8th, I think. And I've never walked anywhere on my own, really. I know that sounds pathetic and childish, but it's true. And I need some time alone.

The weather is damp, rainy and pretty awesome. I like damp weather - I think I'm most creative when it's damp, or windy, because when the weather's warm and sunny I get lazy, and when it's freezing cold I just want to curl up with a book and a cup of hot chocolate.

I think I'll do some math later, though - try and get that big page of polynomials done. Or maybe I'll put in my CD-ROM and read up on geometry.

Blech

Okay, so I'm not literally wasting away, but I certainly feel like it.

I got some writing done, though. I started some Labyrinth fanfiction and worked on my Harry Potter fanfiction. I read a bit of Blood and Chocolate, too, but not a lot.

My right nostril is dripping, which isn't very pleasant. On the upside, U2 are on Letterman this week (I missed them last night, though... damn), and I have the entire DVD set of Are You Being Served? out of the library. I don't think I'll be going to youth group tomorrow, though... dammit.

Oh, and I've also been in love with this song lately...

Writing!

All I did today was write, listen to 80s music via Youtube, and muck about on my computer. I tried to doctor a photo in Photoshop, but it didn't work out well.

Anyways - writing. I got quite a bit done. I started some Harry Potter fanfiction, and I worked on a story that had been resting for a little while. And I've found that 80s music helps with writing - I logged onto Youtube to put some music on, and in the 'reccomended videos' was the video for Billy Idol's 'White Wedding'. I love that video. It's so cool, and weird - like a Tim Burton flick. After that I saw a video for 'Rebel Yell' in the 'related videos', so I listened to that. I had noticed that in the 'White Wedding' video's related videos was the video for 'Don't You Want Me' by Human League, so I, being paranoid, checked to make sure it was the same one that AJ had put up on her Facebook page, then I listened to that, too. Awesome :)

I'm such a music geek :p

So. I didn't pester Dad to help me with Human 3D today. Maybe I'll ask him tomorrow, after youth group. I hope I can get to youth group.

I didn't do any algebra at all :p I did some polynomials yesterday, though.

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

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

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.

Silly speakers...

My speakers seem to be possessed. Seriously. They cut in and out. Well, they are old speakers - they're from our old 386, which I think was our first computer. Then the computer along with the speakers because my brother's, then he traded the speakers with my sister in return for a Walkman. My sister used the speakers for a while - she used to plug them into her discman. Then they sat in the laundry room for a few years. They can go really loud, but I'm trying to take it easy on them since they're so old. Maybe I'll ask for new speakers for Christmas. Or a printer.

So far my files have stopped disappearing, which is a good thing, but I'm still gonna work on my story in Google Docs. I wrote another draft for my story, but it took me a bit of time to get it to look okay. I wrote the original draft on paper early this morning while listening to the replaying of the Legends of Classic Rock program on Pink Floyd, parts one and two. I wonder if they're playing parts three and four tonight...

I think I'll turn off my computer and see what mom and dad are watching on the telly.

This cake is awesome.

Mom decided to use up one of the cake mixes, so she picked a lemon one, and man, is it good! I got a second slice.

So on Wednesday, I went to pick up my stuff from the library, including Twilight. I started reading it that day, and it is now Sunday and I finished chapter five today. Wow. My Ravelry friends are right - I am getting sucked into it!

Although I was a little annoyed that it took so long to find out why Bella left Phoenix when she loves Phoenix but hates Forks...

And, though I did get excited whenever Edward was nice and caring towards Bella, or whenever he'd look at her deeply and she'd feel amazing, but I still don't go for weird dudes with dark circles under their eyes. Maybe it's something I'll appreciate more as I read the book???

The only character from a book that I find extremely attractive would have to be Numair Salmalin from the Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce.

Neil from I Capture the Castle sounds pretty handsome, too, but Dodie Smith doesn't describe him in great detail. I guess it's because it's Simon that get mentioned more, because he loves Rose.

But really, I prefer long-haired Englishmen. Like Robert Plant ;)

Man, this cake is good.

I worked on my story a bit more today. I might write another seperate draft for the story, either on Google Docs or on paper, since I don't trust Word '07. That reminds me, my keyboard was being stupid today, but Mom fixed it.

My cake is now gone except for crumbs, but I'm still happy.

M-O-N-D-A-Y S-U-C-K-S!

Well, the new season of the Ellen Degeneres Show starts today, and Bonnie Hunt's show started today, so that's a plus. But I have an annoying headache. Being on my computer (man, that sounds weird... MY computer!) probably isn't helping much, either. It started out as a headache and sinus pressure, so I took a Claritin, which helped with the pressure.

Back to my computer. I was on it yesterday, and had a strange craving for seafood sauce, the kind of sauce you dip shrimp or calamari into. I couldn't believe it. Seafood sauce! I was craving seafood sauce!!! I find this weird mainly because I got sick of seafood sauce and stopped eating it with shrimp and calamari.

I also had to do updates on my computer. Java was yelling at me, as was Windows. On top of that, when I opened a PDF, Adobe decided to automatically update. Then I had to install the Adobe updates, with help from Dad. Dad also helped me with the Java updates and with the Windows updates. Fun. i did get some writing done while I waited for stuff to finish updating, though. I'm still getting used to Microsoft Word 2007, though, because on the downstairs computer, the version of Word that we have is '97-2003. Eeep.

My shoulders ache as well. I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats today, because I felt that I needed to exercise more. I haven't gone to cardio kickboxing in a while, so I'm out of shape. Mom wants me to go to the cardio class tonight, actually.

My thumb's better.

So, my thumb is healing nicely. Which is good, because that means I'll be able to play Final Fantasy VIII sometime soon. I had to start a new file a week or two ago because I got lost on my first file. Yikes.

I went to cardio kickboxing last night, and now I'm aching. It's my own fault, 'cause I haven't been going to cardio kickboxing on a regular basis like I should be.

Also, I started a new short story. It's about ghost hunters. I was so excited when I started writing down the characters names, because I'm so pround of the story idea.

I added a few more books to my GoodReads to-read list. Everyone has been talking about Twilight, so I thought, "Why not? Everyone on Ravelry who's read it loves it, so it can't be bad."

And now I'm craving honey garlic chicken wings. We ordered chicken wings last night, and we got some honey garlic ones. I had three for lunch and I'm hungry again. There's still five left, but I'll leave them for Dad.