Alright, random blog entry number two.
Let’s see, maybe I should actually talk about NaNo a bit, since that’s where I was all November and it consumed all my goals.
Par for each day was 1,667 words. In the beginning, I surpassed that. Then I actually had to work and it fell. But I got it back up on the weekend. And it kind of worked like that the whole time. I complained about falling far behind, but my “far behind” was not really far. I don’t think I ever fell more than two or three days behind, and I pushed through. I think I took fewer naps, too, which is an accomplishment with my schedule.
Half the time I hated my story. One time I had sudden inspiration for a new story which was brilliantly amazing. (Did I mention I don’t follow the letter-of-the-law in NaNo? You’re supposed to start one story and keep going with it and not work on anything previous. I started something I’d already started and also jumped around stories a bit. Not much, but clearly enough to have “cheated” if I was actually following rules). My story still frustrates me a bit, but I think I’m coming around to the idea of editing. I don’t edit things. It’s a major flaw of mine. But it’s worked for me for a very, very long time, and that makes it even a bigger flaw—getting through college without ever having TRULY edited a paper puts a sort of stubborn pride in your head that resists edits.
And I won, which was an awesome feeling. And then a kind of dead feeling, because now what? As weird as it sounds because NaNo is an arbitrary goal with a fake deadline and no reward or consequences with finishing, without it looming over my head, my pressing urge to write and my proper dedication to write has fizzled miserably.
I wonder if it’d be too lofty a goal to try to finish my story by the end of December. Heck, I might as well set it as a goal and fail it if I fail it. Done.
So, an unmentioned goal of mine was to get down to DC before my cousin Krista left to go back to the west coast. She’s been “studying abroad” in DC and working as an intern at the Supreme Court (how cool is that??). October and November absolutely flew by, but I managed to make it. It was just about the shortest trip ever and at a random time, because it was what I could afford – I left Monday morning, got in Monday night and left tonight (Wednesday night) for an overnight back to Boston. The overnight seemed like a good idea at the time (plus it was three times cheaper than the Thursday morning bus) but I’m not sure how well I’ll sleep on this bus…but I don’t work until Thursday night so I can always sleep all afternoon and really screw up my sleep schedule.
It was fun. I didn’t see as much as I could have, but that’s not why I came down. I came down to see people, and partly because I’m sick and partly because it was such a short trip, I wasn’t feeling touristy. I saw the majority of the stuff this summer and so I was there for family, and it was great.
I met a bunch of Krista’s friends, and even though I hate meeting new people, I love meeting new people. Doesn’t make sense? Think of it this way – I don’t like the awkwardness and the basic questions of getting to know people. But I love meeting people. (There comes a point when you don’t like meeting new people, but it’s been a long, long time since I was bombarded with new people for six months in Denmark).
I got a tour of the Supreme Court, led by Krista herself. It was amazing and I nerded out. It was great. Standing in the courtroom was surreal. It’s the same room/setup since the uh…30s Krista said. So all those decisions that have been made since then – CRAZY.
I basically ran through the National Gallery of Art for 45 minutes before it closed. I didn’t get to see all of it, and I think I missed some of the interesting stuff, but without a map, I still somehow managed to find my impressionist and early 19th century French artists whom I love.
I got to see my other DC cousins – Casey, Mike and Kim and their son. We went to a fabulous southern food restaurant, then Casey joined Krista and I meeting Krista’s friends and basically having an awesome mini Perry reunion. It’s rough that the Perry family is so spread out and yet so cool. It would make things a lot easier if our family sucked ;-)
Oh, and a truck ran over my foot. I was crossing the street legally, as were two others. Totally fine. Krista’s decided I’m super woman or something with unbreakable bones. I’d be cool with that, if this is how I find out I’m a super hero. All for it, in fact.
I’m actually kind of glad it happened, because now I have a story about “that time my foot was run over and nothing happened other than half an hour of tingling pain”. I don’t actually believe it happened, to be honest, but hey.
So, let’s see…some goals.
December: Finish my story, don’t go broke, and fully enjoy Christmas.
This week: Make pumpkin pie and celebrate the holidays with Katherine before she leaves for her winter break.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Step Eight: Ramble. A lot.
Hello! I've returned! With a bunch of tangents and unrelated things. Because that's what I do best. When I write, I am both super introspective and also completely random and have the ability to go on rants about pretty much anything. Or paragraphs of praise. Either one.
I’m getting really anxious about my trip to England. Anxious not as in anxiety but as in the must-need-happen-SOON phenomenon. I’ve been having inner wars about leaving Boston, and I’m sure I will continue to have them later on, but it will always come back to me dying to take this adventure. And it’s not because I want to leave Boston—I don’t—and it’s not because I love England—I do. I think a large portion of my desire to leave stems from my life history. I’ve moved a lot, and in the last four years especially, I’ve had some crazy adventures. I moved to Boston and found a real home, chosen by myself. I went to England as a tourist. I went to England as a student archaeologist. I went to Denmark and traveled Europe. I’m ready for the next adventure. The other thing is that I’ve almost been in Boston too long…I think, I hope even, that one day I’ll come back to Boston, and it might be sooner than I think (I mean, my plan to get a job in England might fall flat on my face and then I might leave after 90 days)…but right now, I sort of feel like I’m stagnating. I’m going to be doing the exact same thing in England that I’m doing here – I’m going to be working a not “real” job (though, really, someone needs to provide you with your caffeine fix) and writing, but it’s going to be an adventure and new experiences…and I haven’t been having as many of those lately, and I think I’m getting restless.
Actually, that’s a lie…I’m always having new experiences. Working at Starbucks is certainly full of experiences, and new people, which is the whole point. (I LOVE everyone there, by the way.) But, you know…I love England and have to go.
Speaking of new experiences, November certainly was one. It was a crazy, hectic, emotional whirlwind of a time and I loved it. As you saw, I did exceed my expectations fabulously. I wrote 50,000 words, which, I don’t remember exactly because I already transferred all the writing over to the various Word documents, but was about 85-90 pages.
(I could go into another tangent about how I am a weird, weird person and I seem, on the surface, very open about my writing and I’ll share some things, but as soon as people start asking questions, I get upset and hate answering. I’m a really, really complicated mix of open and private and I love superficially and theoretically talking about my writing, but whenever it gets real or I’m asked what I’m writing, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s just a weird quirk. It’s also a self-conscious thing.)
I had basically no life in November. Actually, no, I was proud of how much of a social life I did have, but my room was disgusting and I didn’t cook anything somehow for pretty much the entire month.
Not only was NaNo really satisfying for my own concept of my abilities and just pure writing-flow joy and showing me that if I delegate my time properly I have TONS of time…but it almost felt like a facial for my life. When I “left” NaNo, I felt rejuvenated with lots of new goals. Simple things like consciously trying to prevent my room from becoming AS bad (I have to have some clutter, though)…like trying to bake more (just made pumpkin cookies for the first time and they were a MAJOR success…I love sharing them and I love even more getting compliments ;D)…like trying to eat healthier. That’s actually worked fairly well.
(A link to an author who tried NaNo and failed but wrote an awesome blog entry about it…and, in general, is a god of a wordsmith. Completely seriously, if you like fantasy, or even if you don’t, or even if you only like Tolkein or Harry Potter, you should read Patrick Rothfuss. There is not a single misplaced or unimportant word in his work. And they are all beautiful. It’s unbelievably and makes me feel like a terrible failure at life – but only when I’m able to put the book down long enough to do that.
Blog entry here)
…This blog really has no purpose. It’s just me rambling about life. And the ‘goal’ purpose is a total front.
I’m going to post this random entry and then write another one about DC and actual goal-y things, maybe, but I should break up my rambles, because I’m convinced they take effort to actually read and make sense of.
Love you all (my total of three-ish readers…)
I’m getting really anxious about my trip to England. Anxious not as in anxiety but as in the must-need-happen-SOON phenomenon. I’ve been having inner wars about leaving Boston, and I’m sure I will continue to have them later on, but it will always come back to me dying to take this adventure. And it’s not because I want to leave Boston—I don’t—and it’s not because I love England—I do. I think a large portion of my desire to leave stems from my life history. I’ve moved a lot, and in the last four years especially, I’ve had some crazy adventures. I moved to Boston and found a real home, chosen by myself. I went to England as a tourist. I went to England as a student archaeologist. I went to Denmark and traveled Europe. I’m ready for the next adventure. The other thing is that I’ve almost been in Boston too long…I think, I hope even, that one day I’ll come back to Boston, and it might be sooner than I think (I mean, my plan to get a job in England might fall flat on my face and then I might leave after 90 days)…but right now, I sort of feel like I’m stagnating. I’m going to be doing the exact same thing in England that I’m doing here – I’m going to be working a not “real” job (though, really, someone needs to provide you with your caffeine fix) and writing, but it’s going to be an adventure and new experiences…and I haven’t been having as many of those lately, and I think I’m getting restless.
Actually, that’s a lie…I’m always having new experiences. Working at Starbucks is certainly full of experiences, and new people, which is the whole point. (I LOVE everyone there, by the way.) But, you know…I love England and have to go.
Speaking of new experiences, November certainly was one. It was a crazy, hectic, emotional whirlwind of a time and I loved it. As you saw, I did exceed my expectations fabulously. I wrote 50,000 words, which, I don’t remember exactly because I already transferred all the writing over to the various Word documents, but was about 85-90 pages.
(I could go into another tangent about how I am a weird, weird person and I seem, on the surface, very open about my writing and I’ll share some things, but as soon as people start asking questions, I get upset and hate answering. I’m a really, really complicated mix of open and private and I love superficially and theoretically talking about my writing, but whenever it gets real or I’m asked what I’m writing, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s just a weird quirk. It’s also a self-conscious thing.)
I had basically no life in November. Actually, no, I was proud of how much of a social life I did have, but my room was disgusting and I didn’t cook anything somehow for pretty much the entire month.
Not only was NaNo really satisfying for my own concept of my abilities and just pure writing-flow joy and showing me that if I delegate my time properly I have TONS of time…but it almost felt like a facial for my life. When I “left” NaNo, I felt rejuvenated with lots of new goals. Simple things like consciously trying to prevent my room from becoming AS bad (I have to have some clutter, though)…like trying to bake more (just made pumpkin cookies for the first time and they were a MAJOR success…I love sharing them and I love even more getting compliments ;D)…like trying to eat healthier. That’s actually worked fairly well.
(A link to an author who tried NaNo and failed but wrote an awesome blog entry about it…and, in general, is a god of a wordsmith. Completely seriously, if you like fantasy, or even if you don’t, or even if you only like Tolkein or Harry Potter, you should read Patrick Rothfuss. There is not a single misplaced or unimportant word in his work. And they are all beautiful. It’s unbelievably and makes me feel like a terrible failure at life – but only when I’m able to put the book down long enough to do that.
Blog entry here)
…This blog really has no purpose. It’s just me rambling about life. And the ‘goal’ purpose is a total front.
I’m going to post this random entry and then write another one about DC and actual goal-y things, maybe, but I should break up my rambles, because I’m convinced they take effort to actually read and make sense of.
Love you all (my total of three-ish readers…)
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Not a Real Entry
Hey peeps!
Happy 11/11/11. I hope you made an amazing wish at 11:11 :)
Things have been good. I've been quite content with my lot in life :)
I only came on here, because I thought this widget was nifty:
Happy 11/11/11. I hope you made an amazing wish at 11:11 :)
Things have been good. I've been quite content with my lot in life :)
I only came on here, because I thought this widget was nifty:
Monday, October 31, 2011
Step Seven: Ignore your Social Life (in favor of writing!)
My mom has been dropping subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle) hints about this blog. And how it hasn’t been updated.
Sorry.
Double sorry, because I don’t think this will be a real update.
Things have been kind of crazy the last few weeks. I got my second job (my backup plan to England, which I still haven’t talked about), a good thing, too, since my primary plan is half failed (not unexpected, hence the backup plan). So I’ve been trying to figure everything out. There’s the stress of being new somewhere and having to adjust to different hours and what not. I think I’m doing good.
I DID, as of five minutes ago, complete my October goal of editing my story. For a while there I didn’t think it was going to happen because I was bad at time management. But it did happen. Now comes the search for literary agents. *gulp*
November’s writing goal is also tied-in to the not-real-update. And why there might not be a real update for an indefinite period of time. November is National Novel Writing Month, and with that comes a challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. I’ve never done it before because I’ve always forced writing to the back of my mind (as much as is possible with me) and made myself complete all my school work first. After which I was mentally exhausted and therefore could not write. So writing was hard enough, let alone writing 50,000 words (ca. 100 single-spaced Word pages). This year, however…I’m not sure if I’ll make it, but my goal is to write at least SOMETHING every day (as one of the goals before) and get to at least 30,000 words AND to exceed my own expectations.
The e-mails they send me about preparing for NaNoWriMo amuse me. It’s all about tying up loose ends (like this) and alerting people that you won’t be around (like this) and doing grocery shopping for a month and dispelling any penchant you may have for cleanliness (done LONG ago…Dad, I blame your genetics for this). Actually, Katherine, one of my roommates yesterday told me that if I ever wanted her to cook any of my dinners for me, she would. Awww. That’s just about the sweetest thing ever.
The point of this being that I’m already far behind in my journal and will probably get much farther, thus affecting this blog as well. All my writing energies will be expended on creative writing. But, who knows, maybe I’ll occasionally need a break.
What else, what else? I did walk to work once, after I recovered from my cold. It was a shorter walk than I thought, and it was very pleasant. I also finally used up all my apples with apple-y goodness treats.
Another goal for November: Despite the fact that we just had our first snowfall and that Starbucks is going into Holiday-Phase-One, which includes holiday cups (hooray!) and peppermint mochas (actually available year round, for your info, but only really special when it’s the holidays) and the Thanksgiving Blend coffee…do NOT get into a Christmas-y mood.
Actually, a Christmas-y mood would be happy and cheerful and loving and giving, so I can be that. I just can’t listen to Christmas music in my own spare time (I can’t help what happens to be playing on the radio or at Starbucks) or anything like that. I found myself wanting to listen to Christmas music the other day, and I was horrified, being that I am a very adamant Christmas-after-Thanksgiving person.
I guess this counts as a real update.
And with that, toodaloo!
Sorry.
Double sorry, because I don’t think this will be a real update.
Things have been kind of crazy the last few weeks. I got my second job (my backup plan to England, which I still haven’t talked about), a good thing, too, since my primary plan is half failed (not unexpected, hence the backup plan). So I’ve been trying to figure everything out. There’s the stress of being new somewhere and having to adjust to different hours and what not. I think I’m doing good.
I DID, as of five minutes ago, complete my October goal of editing my story. For a while there I didn’t think it was going to happen because I was bad at time management. But it did happen. Now comes the search for literary agents. *gulp*
November’s writing goal is also tied-in to the not-real-update. And why there might not be a real update for an indefinite period of time. November is National Novel Writing Month, and with that comes a challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. I’ve never done it before because I’ve always forced writing to the back of my mind (as much as is possible with me) and made myself complete all my school work first. After which I was mentally exhausted and therefore could not write. So writing was hard enough, let alone writing 50,000 words (ca. 100 single-spaced Word pages). This year, however…I’m not sure if I’ll make it, but my goal is to write at least SOMETHING every day (as one of the goals before) and get to at least 30,000 words AND to exceed my own expectations.
The e-mails they send me about preparing for NaNoWriMo amuse me. It’s all about tying up loose ends (like this) and alerting people that you won’t be around (like this) and doing grocery shopping for a month and dispelling any penchant you may have for cleanliness (done LONG ago…Dad, I blame your genetics for this). Actually, Katherine, one of my roommates yesterday told me that if I ever wanted her to cook any of my dinners for me, she would. Awww. That’s just about the sweetest thing ever.
The point of this being that I’m already far behind in my journal and will probably get much farther, thus affecting this blog as well. All my writing energies will be expended on creative writing. But, who knows, maybe I’ll occasionally need a break.
What else, what else? I did walk to work once, after I recovered from my cold. It was a shorter walk than I thought, and it was very pleasant. I also finally used up all my apples with apple-y goodness treats.
Another goal for November: Despite the fact that we just had our first snowfall and that Starbucks is going into Holiday-Phase-One, which includes holiday cups (hooray!) and peppermint mochas (actually available year round, for your info, but only really special when it’s the holidays) and the Thanksgiving Blend coffee…do NOT get into a Christmas-y mood.
Actually, a Christmas-y mood would be happy and cheerful and loving and giving, so I can be that. I just can’t listen to Christmas music in my own spare time (I can’t help what happens to be playing on the radio or at Starbucks) or anything like that. I found myself wanting to listen to Christmas music the other day, and I was horrified, being that I am a very adamant Christmas-after-Thanksgiving person.
I guess this counts as a real update.
And with that, toodaloo!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Photos
Some photos of what I've written about!
My clean and organized room (not so clean anymore...):
Wheee, books!
My "Love" wall
Postcards! (Where I've been in Europe, ones people have sent me, where I've been in America)
The result of not-finding celebrities in Boston:
Apples!
The road
Please do not throw apples into the lake
A bushel of apples
This tree was all sorts of photo-awesome
My clean and organized room (not so clean anymore...):
Wheee, books!
My "Love" wall
Postcards! (Where I've been in Europe, ones people have sent me, where I've been in America)
The result of not-finding celebrities in Boston:
Apples!
The road
Please do not throw apples into the lake
A bushel of apples
This tree was all sorts of photo-awesome
Step Six: Lack Coordination and FearTraffic
Written Tuesday, October 11th
Upon hypothesis formation and experimentation, it has been determined that Boston city biking is not for Elizabeth. It was very stressful. There was traffic and more hills than I realized (and I’m not very coordinated on bikes…having a red light at the top of a hill is a very, very depressing sight). So I’m out of shape and FAR too timid to deal with Boston drivers.
I really enjoyed riding my bike when I wasn’t scared of traffic, and I’m fairly close to Reservoir, which has some bike trails, and the Emerald Necklace, so maybe I’ll brave traffic occasionally for a bike ride but not as a money-saving tactic to get to work.
I think I might still bike Sunday mornings to Sunday School when there will be less traffic and get the hang of it, then decide in spring. But not every day, especially with my laptops and the stories my coworker was telling me—she’s seen at least three times a car open their door right in front of a bike and the bike flipping over it.
Maybe I’m chickening out because I’m just not experienced and more tries equals more experience, but I DID try it…I miss Danish bike riding (though I like the bike here). So I think I’ll make my daily goal to get home safely.
Weekly Goal: Bake apple things
On Saturday, we went apple-picking, a quintessential New England fall pastime (and one that makes me wonder about leaving Boston because I love it so much…but that’s a whole different ramble). Only it wasn’t fall. Boston, being Boston, decided it felt like being in the 80s. It was a BEAUTIFUL day but so HOT.
Another new experience with Boston traffic—I drove, but it wasn’t so bad. We live right by the highway out of town so no navigating crazy downtown. Plus, I had Minerva the English GPS to help me. And the drive was gorgeous. Not really fall colors, but they were getting there and the light was hitting the leaves just right.
Because of the long weekend (Columbus Day—yes, he was a terrible person but quit whinging if you get the day off) and the weather, the orchard was packed (and the parking attendants just stood there…thanks for the help, dudes!). However, packed with small children—which is more a bonus than a retractor. There were five of us, so we bought the 20 pound bag equaling LOTS of apples for each of us. On my menu: pie (obviously), apple-raisin bran muffins, and applesauce. I’m weird because I don’t much like apples but I love things made WITH apples.
The weekend was busier than I’d planned because of the weather (we walked to Cold Stone—burning off those ice cream calories!—and met some old guy who was trying to be helpful even though I actually knew where I was going…and then started going off about how the Red Sox are sucking so he’s going to burn all his Red Sox stuff and oh yeah he has cancer. Alright.), so I didn’t do any editing. I did write on Monday, all afternoon, and I’d forgotten how exhausting it is. It sounds weird that sitting and writing all day would be tiring, but if you remember writing essays and how you’re braindead after? It’s like that, only you’re emotionally dead, too, because you’re so invested in it. And all the emotions the characters feel, you feel, too. So, contrary to popular belief, writing is not easy peasy.
Written Wednesday, October 12th
Random sidenote. I read an article that writing dates with the “th” at the end is incorrect. My friend and I then had a lengthy conversation trying to decide whether that was true or not. We decided that either way is correct, but that people tend to write October 12th like above but in a history book or something it would say 12 October 1589.
I just wanted to say that I survived my ride back and I still disliked it so I no longer think I’m chickening out. However, having lost my exercise method, I’m thinking about being completely crazy and walking to work in the mornings. It depends on my work schedule (which will determine my sleep schedule), but if I’m not jipping myself out of sleep, then I’ll wake up earlier and walk to work (it’s about an hour). Until it’s freezing, that is. Is that crazy? My back might not like it with my laptop in my backpack but otherwise, it’s a nice part of town with pretty buildings…
Upon hypothesis formation and experimentation, it has been determined that Boston city biking is not for Elizabeth. It was very stressful. There was traffic and more hills than I realized (and I’m not very coordinated on bikes…having a red light at the top of a hill is a very, very depressing sight). So I’m out of shape and FAR too timid to deal with Boston drivers.
I really enjoyed riding my bike when I wasn’t scared of traffic, and I’m fairly close to Reservoir, which has some bike trails, and the Emerald Necklace, so maybe I’ll brave traffic occasionally for a bike ride but not as a money-saving tactic to get to work.
I think I might still bike Sunday mornings to Sunday School when there will be less traffic and get the hang of it, then decide in spring. But not every day, especially with my laptops and the stories my coworker was telling me—she’s seen at least three times a car open their door right in front of a bike and the bike flipping over it.
Maybe I’m chickening out because I’m just not experienced and more tries equals more experience, but I DID try it…I miss Danish bike riding (though I like the bike here). So I think I’ll make my daily goal to get home safely.
Weekly Goal: Bake apple things
On Saturday, we went apple-picking, a quintessential New England fall pastime (and one that makes me wonder about leaving Boston because I love it so much…but that’s a whole different ramble). Only it wasn’t fall. Boston, being Boston, decided it felt like being in the 80s. It was a BEAUTIFUL day but so HOT.
Another new experience with Boston traffic—I drove, but it wasn’t so bad. We live right by the highway out of town so no navigating crazy downtown. Plus, I had Minerva the English GPS to help me. And the drive was gorgeous. Not really fall colors, but they were getting there and the light was hitting the leaves just right.
Because of the long weekend (Columbus Day—yes, he was a terrible person but quit whinging if you get the day off) and the weather, the orchard was packed (and the parking attendants just stood there…thanks for the help, dudes!). However, packed with small children—which is more a bonus than a retractor. There were five of us, so we bought the 20 pound bag equaling LOTS of apples for each of us. On my menu: pie (obviously), apple-raisin bran muffins, and applesauce. I’m weird because I don’t much like apples but I love things made WITH apples.
The weekend was busier than I’d planned because of the weather (we walked to Cold Stone—burning off those ice cream calories!—and met some old guy who was trying to be helpful even though I actually knew where I was going…and then started going off about how the Red Sox are sucking so he’s going to burn all his Red Sox stuff and oh yeah he has cancer. Alright.), so I didn’t do any editing. I did write on Monday, all afternoon, and I’d forgotten how exhausting it is. It sounds weird that sitting and writing all day would be tiring, but if you remember writing essays and how you’re braindead after? It’s like that, only you’re emotionally dead, too, because you’re so invested in it. And all the emotions the characters feel, you feel, too. So, contrary to popular belief, writing is not easy peasy.
Written Wednesday, October 12th
Random sidenote. I read an article that writing dates with the “th” at the end is incorrect. My friend and I then had a lengthy conversation trying to decide whether that was true or not. We decided that either way is correct, but that people tend to write October 12th like above but in a history book or something it would say 12 October 1589.
I just wanted to say that I survived my ride back and I still disliked it so I no longer think I’m chickening out. However, having lost my exercise method, I’m thinking about being completely crazy and walking to work in the mornings. It depends on my work schedule (which will determine my sleep schedule), but if I’m not jipping myself out of sleep, then I’ll wake up earlier and walk to work (it’s about an hour). Until it’s freezing, that is. Is that crazy? My back might not like it with my laptop in my backpack but otherwise, it’s a nice part of town with pretty buildings…
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