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.

Frankenstorm and Diana Wynne Jones

So, I'm sure you all have heard about this Frankenstorm that's been going on. I'm okay - we got hit with rain and winds, but my neighbourhood appears to only have a few garbage cans knocked over and some small branches on lawns. Other areas had trees uprooted, and a woman died in Toronto after she was hit by a store sign, which is terrible. My thoughts go out to those effected by Hurricane Sandy and/or the Frankenstorm.

Last night was the first night of the fall that I decided to break out my duvet. I might have been warm enough without it, but I figured it would best to be safe and put in on my bed. I was quite toasty under all those blankets, so much so that I kicked off my slipper socks and pushed the sleeves of my sweatshirt up on my upper arms. If the dogs hadn't needed letting out when they did, I probably could've slept longer.

It was a little windy this morning, but right now the trees outside seem to be fairly still. It's still quite damp and cold, of course, so I may spend the evening curled up under my duvet with a book. Actually, I may be in the living room, where it's warmer, crocheting another swatch while my parents and my brother watch Sons of Anarchy (I don't really watch the show - it's a bit gory for my taste, even though the storyline is interesting), or reading either The Hunger Games or my library book, Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones.

Speaking of library books - it's happened again. Too many books are coming in for me to pick up. I have The Fault in Our Stars by John Green waiting for me, and A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin in transit. I probably won't be able to renew The Fault in Our Stars, though, because it's too new of a book and a lot of people have placed holds on it (I think it's fifty-odd holds for twenty-odd copies), and I may not be able to renew A Wizard of Earthsea either, so I'll focus on Dogsbody. I'll probably read a chapter or two of TFIOS, to see if I like it, and maybe do the same with Earthsea.

I think I'm going to love Dogsbody, just from the synopsis and the fact that Neil Gaiman wrote an introduction for the edition I'm reading. Though I haven't read any of his works yet (I picked up Interworld, which he co-wrote, at a book sale at Indigo, so I'll probably read that soonish), I saw the movie adaptation of Coraline and the episode of Doctor Who that he wrote, and thought they were both fabulous. I definitely trust his opinion of literature.

Since picking up Dogsbody from the library, I've felt the itch to try reading Howl's Moving Castle again. I got about halfway through it, but then I got side-tracked, then I started it over again, and got side-tracked again... I start too many books, that's the problem. But when I finish a book or two, and I feel less guilty about my reading habits, I'll start it over again.

New adventures

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I've decided to try learning to crochet again. I got books out of the library that explain things considerably better than the booklet I own, and now I've done two swatches in leftover bits of grey-green Red Heart - one in single crochet, the other in double. I might make a scarf next, using oddballs of Patons Astra in poppy red and canary yellow.

Because of my new-found crafty addiction, I have put a number of crochet books on my Christmas list, and I'm looking at yarn scraps with a different perspective. For instance, when I finished my dc swatch last night, I had a long scrap of yarn leftover and said to my mom, "I think I'll keep this, because there's just enough here for using in a granny square." I usually hold onto long scraps like that, but before I'd keep them for working into knitting projects, like keeping bits of cotton for working into dishcloths. I actually got rid of a bunch of shorter scraps, because they were too short for knitting with. I probably could have kept them for crocheting, but then again, they weren't the most appealing scraps.

I think I might use crochet to use up yarn that I don't feel like knitting with. For example, I have three big skeins of dark green Red Heart Super Saver that's a bit too scratchy for a cardigan, but it would probably make a good, airy shawl. One of my favourite things in the world is the afghan that my mom crocheted for me when I was younger, and if I had a more portable version of this, I think I'd be in crafty heaven.

This isn't the only artistic passion I've had lately, either. Just this morning I was making a warm drink when I suddenly came up with lines of a potential song or poem. I had this feeling a few weeks ago, too, when I was listening to a lot of Evanescence - I thought about how their songs are usually written from personal experience (i.e. "Call Me When You're Sober", about Amy Lee's breakup with the guy from Seether), and I wrote down a couple of lines about one of my personal experiences. The same thing happened this morning, but it's less about a single experience and more about... well, an ongoing experience. I won't say more than that. Like novel-writing, I don't like to talk about my verse-writing too much.

Speaking of novel-writing... National Novel Writing Month is only two weeks away now. I'm excited. And also nervous. I'm worried that I'm drawing on too many influences, and I want my work to be original. I think I'll do okay, though. And anyway, it's only a basic, rough draft, intended to get the creative juices flowing. Even so... I think this year's draft will be my favourite.

And then there's another craft I want to learn: sewing. I've gotten many sewing books out of the library, and I don't know if it's because of my plans to write dystopian fiction, or because of my artistic passion, but I really want to start making my own clothes. I've been flipping through the sewing books I own, and saw a bunch of tops and dresses that I want to make. All this time I've been bitching and complaining (pardon my French) about store-bought clothes not always fitting me, when I could be making blouses to my measurements. It's the perfect solution, really. But first, I have to make my own pajama pants - I've had the flannel fabric for a long time, and it really should be stitched up into something that's wearable.

If that wasn't enough crafty-ness, I also want to get into scrapbooking. I've clipped pictures out of magazines for a while now, and after selling my Klutz scrapbook at the yard sale, I've felt guilty about not utilizing my clippings. I still have my mini-scrapbook kit, though, so all is not lost. I just wish I hadn't thrown out the pictures of Evanescence. They would've been to big for the mini-scrapbook, but I'm still disappointed in myself. At least I didn't get rid of the CDs, though. I'm glad I kept them.

I should probably close now, and do something constructive. Or eat. All I've had to eat and drink is biscuits, a cup of tea, and a cup of hot chocolate. And I should try to read more of The Hunger Games. It's getting exciting now that the build-up is done. I should probably study some Japanese as well.

Until the future...

Seasonal weather is kind of great

I'm very, very happy, because it's October and I'm not wearing shorts.

For the past few Octobers, it's been so warm that I've worn shorts until Halloween. I wish I were kidding, but I'm not. One time when we had my uncle and cousins up for Thanksgiving dinner, we had to put the AC on. No word of a lie.

Well, Thanksgiving has come around again, and this year I am wearing track pants and a fleecy cardigan. We even had to put on the furnace. It's kind of awesome.

If it's this cool outside in the fall, winter might actually be wintery. We didn't get a lot of snow last winter, until around January when we got dumped on for a day or so. (I remember this well, because I had to shovel snow off the sidewalks and driveway.) But after that, we didn't get much snow. I'm hoping, as always, for a white Christmas. Sounds like a cliche, but it's true. One year I wore a hoodie on Christmas Eve to go buy our traditional breakfast of cannoli for Christmas Day with Dad. Granted, the hoodie I wore is very warm, but it's a hoodie nonetheless. (I believe I also wore the same hoodie about a week before Christmas, when I walked with my mom to go shopping for Dad's stocking-stuffers.)

I love cold weather. I love bundling up in blankets and cardigans with a cup of cocoa, watching movies or reading a good book. When I was little, I'd make snow forts with my brother and sister, and we'd have snowball fights and look for icicles. I'd really like to have snow for Christmas, so that I can curl up with a fluffy blanket or throw a snowball at my brother. I'd like to see icicles before Christmas, provided they aren't the huge kind that can hurt somebody. That would suck.

I think this colder weather is a good reason to get my Ravenclaw scarf finished. It's really big - I was worried it would be too big, but after having to sleep in a sweatshirt last night, I think it'll come in handy when the snow starts falling. Plus, it's good TV knitting, because it's just a striped Stockinette tube. I only have about half a stripe left to knit, and then all I have to do is weave in the ends and make the fringe.

My dog, Teddy, was just sitting in my lap as I typed that last paragraph. It seems that she wouldn't make a very good novel-writing buddy, because she kept nudging my hands :p Anyhow, I think I'll close now. I hope to write again soon :)

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.

Back in the swing of things

Things are finally getting back to normal, sort of. I'm back on my own computer (it needed to be moved to my room - long story, not gonna get into it on here), so I can work on writing again. That, and I can back up my music on my computer without having to cart CDs up and down the stairs, which is handy.

I've decided that I ought to learn to crochet past the chain stitch. There's so many crochet patterns that I adore, and it would probably be a good TV-watching craft. And you can craft zombie-catching nets. (Little inside joke from Ravelry, but I think anyone can "get" it ;D) I also need to de-stash, so I think that crochet would give me more options for using up yarn - especially variegated yarn, because there's so many crochet patterns that look great in variegated yarns.

Another reason to learn crochet, for me, is that it's less strain on your wrists. Not to say that you can't get a sore wrist from crochet, because I imagine you can, but it's a different kind of stress on your wrists and fingers. I'm thinking that it would make crafting with acrylic yarns a little easier, because of the different motions and crafting tools.

Now I just need to figure out a way to prevent my forearms from getting sore at the keyboard... this may be an issue when National Novel Writing Month comes around. I may have to steal my mom's computer chair, because this one really sucks: it's short (which is why I have this forearm-ache issue, I think), it always gets full of cat hair (because Mouse thinks the chair is hers), and it's itchy. I could solve the itch problem by putting a blanket or a towel on the seat, but the forearm problem is driving me batty.

Until next time...