Eight more days left in NaNoWriMo. Or something like that... I've got 33,340 words written right now, and I have to be at about 36,674 by the end of today. I've got a pretty big gap to fill, but I was busy with my parents that came down to visit. I got some new jeans though, that I needed desperately, and I got another cute skirt outfit.
A word about jean shopping: I hate buying jeans. I have a hard time finding jeans that fit me well and that I can wear and wash multiple times without them physically changing. Most of the jeans they make nowadays have spandex and elastic in them and they wear funny after a few washes. I hate jeans with more than 1% spandex in them. The ones that don't have the elastic in them come with holes in them already. I don't even think Goodwill would sell jeans that have that many holes in them! It gets pretty frustrating, which is why I stopped buying jeans at American Eagle. I haven't been there in a while though, so I don't know if they are now selling jeans that are whole again.
I have about five pairs of jeans from the Gap that I really like. I've had them for ages and they still fit well and haven't gone all icky. Only problem is two of them have holes in them now since I've worn them so much. I went to the Gap again, figuring I would just be able to buy a few more pairs of the Long and Lean style that I had grown accustomed to.
I was wrong.
The Gap apparently changed up all their jeans in August. I wish I would have known, because they probably had a pretty nice clearance sale on all the old jeans at the time and I could have gotten several pairs to last me for a while. They still have the Long and Lean style, but they have completely changed it. The jeans still fit on the legs like they used to, but now they are a mid-rise instead of a low-rise. Only problem with mid-rise is I hate mid-rise jeans. I love low-rise, mostly because I have a little bit of a tummy and the low-rise is a little bit more comfortable. I have a tendency to push down mid-rise jeans and if I do that, the fit looks odd, which is what I did in the store when I was trying them on and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with them until I read the tag. So now I have to buy a different style, the Curvy style, because it is the only style that fits right and has a low rise, which only comes in three colors. Three. Whoopee.
I may have to find another jean that fits me well. I bought a few pairs of jeans from The Buckle, but those didn't fit well at all after a few washes, and I haven't found a pair of Levi's that fit my proportions right. I may have to try American Eagle again, if they're selling jeans that aren't full of holes. Did I mention that I hate buying jeans?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
NaNo Day 16 and Orientation, yay!
Quick update on word count for NaNoWriMo. I'm at 28,154 words. I should be at around 26,600ish words right now, so I am a little bit ahead. I'm hoping I'll get even more ahead this week, but I've got quite a bit to do, such as more laundry and grocery shopping, so who knows.
My story has gone off in a very strange direction, but it still oddly fits, considering some of the new ideas I have gotten. New characters and love interests have invented themselves and though I should reign them in sooner or later, I'm giving them a little bit of freedom to explore since this is NaNo and I can always go back and edit. I know I'll have to change some stuff in the rewrite, but this is a rough draft, so I can do whatever I want, just gotta get my ideas on the virtual paper. I've even thought up an ending, though it is subject to change and I don't even understand half of it right now.
I had my first day of new employee orientation today and it was incredibly boring. Sadly, they yell at us if we fall asleep, but staying awake is so hard when they're talking about affirmative action and pension all that other boring stuff.
Oh, and there's some kind of new Caramel Brulee Frappachino at Starbucks. It is my new addiction, so yummy! I love creme brulee and this was probably the closest thing I've ever found to it in a drink, so it is very exciting. I just wish it wasn't nearly four dollars. Day two of orientation is tomorrow though, so I have a feeling I'll be grabbing one of those to stay awake. At least I'm getting paid for this! I wish I could get away with writing during this thing.
My story has gone off in a very strange direction, but it still oddly fits, considering some of the new ideas I have gotten. New characters and love interests have invented themselves and though I should reign them in sooner or later, I'm giving them a little bit of freedom to explore since this is NaNo and I can always go back and edit. I know I'll have to change some stuff in the rewrite, but this is a rough draft, so I can do whatever I want, just gotta get my ideas on the virtual paper. I've even thought up an ending, though it is subject to change and I don't even understand half of it right now.
I had my first day of new employee orientation today and it was incredibly boring. Sadly, they yell at us if we fall asleep, but staying awake is so hard when they're talking about affirmative action and pension all that other boring stuff.
Oh, and there's some kind of new Caramel Brulee Frappachino at Starbucks. It is my new addiction, so yummy! I love creme brulee and this was probably the closest thing I've ever found to it in a drink, so it is very exciting. I just wish it wasn't nearly four dollars. Day two of orientation is tomorrow though, so I have a feeling I'll be grabbing one of those to stay awake. At least I'm getting paid for this! I wish I could get away with writing during this thing.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Where has the week gone? NaNo Day 14 and I'm barely making my wordcount.
This week has positively flown by. Actually, the whole month has been going at a pretty good pace and I have no idea where it's been going!
These last two weekends haven't been very productive for writing. Last weekend was opening weekend of deer season for rifle users. Brandon spent his weekend out at his parents' ranch, hunting, while I spent all day Saturday in Dallas with his mother and sister. We did some shopping, went to the IMAX, and went to Medieval Times, a dinner theater-type place with jousting and swordfighting.
I didn't take too many pictures while I was there...well I attempted to, but I couldn't get them to turn out right, mostly because there was low lighting and lots of movement, which isn't best for taking pictures. I got a few while they were standing still, but most of them were blurry. It was still kind of fun messing with my camera's manual settings though.
Work-related, things are going well. I have my official orientation on Monday and Tuesday, so it will be interesting, considering I have to be in downtown Houston at 7 am both days. Not fun and probably an hour drive, especially now that they're doing some construction on the main highway.
Brandon and I have been working on the house a bit, and we've been doing some furniture shopping as well. We may have even picked out a bed, even though we're probably going to wait to buy one until probably December.
We've been pampering the dogs a bit lately. Lucky got a new dog bed, though I think he still prefers the floor. I picked up a new blanket and Doobie thinks it's hers. We also got them some chews, they aren't rawhide, but a nice and easily digestible chew with a pork liver center. They really enjoyed them!
I think Doobie thought i was going to steal it from her.
This was right after Lucky got a bath, so he was still a little wet. We gave him the chew to keep him busy so he wouldn't lick himself for an hour.
We've been running pretty much nonstop and I haven't been doing much writing during work hours mostly because I don't have the time. I'm always working and I don't get much of a break during the day. In the evenings, Brandon and I have been doing a lot of running around and he hasn't felt like playing games. Still, I've managed to stay on top of it pretty well. As of this writing, I'm at 23,318 words and I'm supposed to be at 23,400ish. Tomorrow is the big 25,000 halfway point and I'll probably be heading to a write-in in Sugarland. In the morning, we're heading to the off-leash dog park down the road to let the dogs run around and the new Mario game comes out so we'll probably play that a bit. I need to get back ahead if I'm going to win NaNo, I'm probably going to have to lock myself in the study next week.
Maybe I can get some writing done during orientation...
These last two weekends haven't been very productive for writing. Last weekend was opening weekend of deer season for rifle users. Brandon spent his weekend out at his parents' ranch, hunting, while I spent all day Saturday in Dallas with his mother and sister. We did some shopping, went to the IMAX, and went to Medieval Times, a dinner theater-type place with jousting and swordfighting.
I didn't take too many pictures while I was there...well I attempted to, but I couldn't get them to turn out right, mostly because there was low lighting and lots of movement, which isn't best for taking pictures. I got a few while they were standing still, but most of them were blurry. It was still kind of fun messing with my camera's manual settings though.
Work-related, things are going well. I have my official orientation on Monday and Tuesday, so it will be interesting, considering I have to be in downtown Houston at 7 am both days. Not fun and probably an hour drive, especially now that they're doing some construction on the main highway.
Brandon and I have been working on the house a bit, and we've been doing some furniture shopping as well. We may have even picked out a bed, even though we're probably going to wait to buy one until probably December.
We've been pampering the dogs a bit lately. Lucky got a new dog bed, though I think he still prefers the floor. I picked up a new blanket and Doobie thinks it's hers. We also got them some chews, they aren't rawhide, but a nice and easily digestible chew with a pork liver center. They really enjoyed them!
This was right after Lucky got a bath, so he was still a little wet. We gave him the chew to keep him busy so he wouldn't lick himself for an hour.
We've been running pretty much nonstop and I haven't been doing much writing during work hours mostly because I don't have the time. I'm always working and I don't get much of a break during the day. In the evenings, Brandon and I have been doing a lot of running around and he hasn't felt like playing games. Still, I've managed to stay on top of it pretty well. As of this writing, I'm at 23,318 words and I'm supposed to be at 23,400ish. Tomorrow is the big 25,000 halfway point and I'll probably be heading to a write-in in Sugarland. In the morning, we're heading to the off-leash dog park down the road to let the dogs run around and the new Mario game comes out so we'll probably play that a bit. I need to get back ahead if I'm going to win NaNo, I'm probably going to have to lock myself in the study next week.
Maybe I can get some writing done during orientation...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
NaNo Day Three, Work Day Two, Write-In Pictures!
Yesterday was quite exhausting. I got up earlier than I'm used to, but still not as early as I needed to, battled traffic for forty minutes, and began my first day at work. Yesterday was also the second day of NaNo, and I made my word count goal for yesterday as well as today. I'm at 7,115 words as of this moment (only actually needed about 5,000 by today), but I'm probably going to head off to bed after I make this post. Tomorrow should be a more productive day, since I'll have some downtime in the morning.
My new job is pretty interesting. I'm beginning on ammonia distillation and then I'll be doing the reading to make sure the various wastewater treatment plants around Houston aren't harming the environment. Tomorrow I'll actually get to do some hands-on stuff.
But enough about that. I went to my first NaNoWriMo write-in on Sunday, and though I only wrote about 700 words while I was there, I got to meet a bunch of people. We met at the TeaHouse in Sugar Land, which is a pretty awesome bubble tea place. There's another one by where I work, but I haven't stopped in yet. I will though, I will.
Here's another little random bit from my writing. This is from chapter three (remember, really rough draft!):
Someone was walking towards me from the hallway to my left. Down that way was my English class. The girl’s high-heeled shoes clicked on the linoleum as she walked, sashaying down the hallway. I recognized that walk. It was Michelle’s walk, honed by years of cheerleading and dance classes. She was the most popular girl in school, and always dressed like she was going to a party. Designer accessories, dresses that only she could wear without getting in trouble for violating dress code, and always immaculate makeup. Always trailing around several boyfriends, too beautiful to ever have to chose one.
Too bad she was dead
My new job is pretty interesting. I'm beginning on ammonia distillation and then I'll be doing the reading to make sure the various wastewater treatment plants around Houston aren't harming the environment. Tomorrow I'll actually get to do some hands-on stuff.
But enough about that. I went to my first NaNoWriMo write-in on Sunday, and though I only wrote about 700 words while I was there, I got to meet a bunch of people. We met at the TeaHouse in Sugar Land, which is a pretty awesome bubble tea place. There's another one by where I work, but I haven't stopped in yet. I will though, I will.
All of the pictures I took at the write-in are viewable in their own little Flickr set, so go check them out if you get bored. We had quite a few people there, so it was pretty fun.
The picture above was actually before several more people showed up. After that, I couldn't really fit everyone in the frame, since some were hiding by the plugs. When the bugs got kind of bad, a few people went inside. The only problem with writing outside is that power cables only reach so far! It was all good fun, though. We made fun of Twilight, got to know each other, and had a lot of laughs. Who needs productive writing?
Here's another little random bit from my writing. This is from chapter three (remember, really rough draft!):
Someone was walking towards me from the hallway to my left. Down that way was my English class. The girl’s high-heeled shoes clicked on the linoleum as she walked, sashaying down the hallway. I recognized that walk. It was Michelle’s walk, honed by years of cheerleading and dance classes. She was the most popular girl in school, and always dressed like she was going to a party. Designer accessories, dresses that only she could wear without getting in trouble for violating dress code, and always immaculate makeup. Always trailing around several boyfriends, too beautiful to ever have to chose one.
Too bad she was dead
Sunday, November 1, 2009
NaNo Beginnings and the Terrible Twilight Tattoo
Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo 2009! I have quit my actual writing for today, but I am happy to post that I am ahead of the 1,667 words I needed to pound out today. I finished today with a happy 3,113 words and I'm proud of them. I may have gotten more writing done if I hadn't gone to the Sugarland write-in, considering it was about an hour of drive time and I got maybe 800 words written in the three hours I was there, but it was worth it to go. I got to meet a bunch of cool people, got to sit around and talk with other writers, and I got some motivation. Some of the people there were already up to 8,000 words! I'd better get busy!
I have decided for sure that I will not be blogging the entirety of Celeste. I plan to, if things work out, get it published. Not only that, but I will not be editing as I go along, and I don't want to post drivel that doesn't make sense, lacks continuity, or has poor grammar. Therefore, I am going to post random quotes from my writing. I may not post them every day, or all that often at all. It just depends on what I think of my writing for the day. Today I am posting the first paragraph of Celeste. Remember: rough draft, unedited, blahblahblah.
I have decided for sure that I will not be blogging the entirety of Celeste. I plan to, if things work out, get it published. Not only that, but I will not be editing as I go along, and I don't want to post drivel that doesn't make sense, lacks continuity, or has poor grammar. Therefore, I am going to post random quotes from my writing. I may not post them every day, or all that often at all. It just depends on what I think of my writing for the day. Today I am posting the first paragraph of Celeste. Remember: rough draft, unedited, blahblahblah.
I found myself growing weaker as the hordes of creatures kept coming up through the ground. Wide-eyed and panting, my breath visible in the freezing air, I knew I wouldn’t be able to kill them all. There were just too many of them and my energy was limited. Once I ran out, it would be the end of me. I sighed as I conjured another fireball and hurled it at the nearest ghoul. If I was going to die, I would die trying.
I'm not necessarily looking for criticism here, just posting so people know what's up.
For part two of my post...I would like to mention that we went to the Renaissance Festival yesterday. We had a great time and I got a nice hand-crafted, leatherbound journal with homemade pages in it. Brandon got a wooden beer mug and the rest of our money went to food. Mmm funnel cakes.
Of course, you can't go to the Renaissance Festival on Halloween without seeing a ton of people in costume. A few are posted below.
Brandon and I enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.
It was quite interesting to see all the people in costumes they thought were hot/daring/sexy, when they were really ugly/terrible/nauseating. Not to mention the myriad of tattoos that were strutting around the Festival grounds. Nothing was more terrifying, however, than the Twilight tattoo that I just had to take a picture of. Note Edward's eyes staring back at you. I bet if she ever gets married or gets laid, her partner won't ever want to get creative with positions for fear of Edward's eyes staring into his soul.
That's just plain scary!
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