Photo prompt

"What the heck are you doing?" Shiloh screeched as her human offered her up in front of Martie.  Unfortunately, it came out as a cross between a hiss and a meow, which did nothing but make her human laugh.

"Hey, you can talk?" Martie asked, sniffing at the cat who was dangling in front of her.  Her question sounded like a sneeze, and elicited another round of laughter from the humans in the room.

"Of course I can talk," Shiloh said.  "Can't everyone?"

"The humans can't," Martie pointed out.  "They make those weird sounds, and that laughing thing."

"Well, obviously humans can't talk," Shiloh said, a note of superiority in her tone.  "But I haven't met an animal who can't talk properly."

The human and her companions seemed to tire of the animals, since all they seemed to do was sneeze and sniff at each other.  The human set Shiloh down, and the cat sniffed at the dog once more.

"Well, I haven't had any other animals around for long enough to talk to them before," Martie told Shiloh.  "There was a squirrel in the yard once, but he just wanted to play chase, so we didn't talk much."

"I have a dog here," Shiloh told him, leading the way into the kitchen.  "He's rather irritating, though, so I wouldn't expect much conversation from him."

"Hey Shiloh!  Hey, hey!  Who's this?  I'm Grover, who're you?  Hey?  What are you doing here?"  A very high-energy, rather large dog came bounding into the kitchen, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Shhh!" Shiloh hissed.  "The humans will come!"

Sure enough, even as Shiloh hissed her warning, the lead human came into the kitchen, shouting angry words.  The two dogs cringed, while the cat simply stared at her.  After another few shouts, the human left, apparently satisfied that the dogs were now silent.

"Who are you?" Grover asked again, more quietly.  He sniffed at Martie, who stood still while he completed his inspection.

"I'm Martie," the smaller dog replied once Grover moved away.  "I'm new."

"Do you like to play ball?" Grover asked, getting excited again.  "I love to play ball.  Come on, I'll show you my ball!  Hurry!  Come see!"  The big black dog bounded back to the other room, and Martie followed close on his heels, her toenails clicking across the floor.

Shiloh sighed.  Dogs were so uncivilized.

The holidays keep my busy...

I had really great intentions for blogging all throughout the holiday, I really did!  But then I got home, and I had time off, and I had a million projects to finish, and I rediscovered my NaNovel...  Life kind of got the best of me, unfortunately.  But on the bright side, I've been having a great holiday!

I managed to finish two knitting projects, and I've almost used up the yarn that I've purchased for another, which means I've only got two skeins to go, then the border, then I'm done that one, too!  I want to get my boxes open again (since it looks like I won't be moving into the new house until at least February), and pull out some more projects to finish.  I'm a finishing machine!

Of course, all I really want to do is start a new project...

But I can wait, really!  I think I mentioned that I've joined Ravelry, and it's definitely making me want to finish things.  I hate seeing all the WIP tags - they just remind me that I have a hard time finishing what I've started.  Granted, a couple of my projects are big, long-term projects... I've got at least two queen-size blankets that I'm working on, plus three baby blankets, plus a sweater.  Those all get, well, boring after a while.  I'm getting better at finishing the other, million, little projects I have, though.  I've got the yarn and the pattern for a set of wrist warmers for my sister, and those will be the second-next project I start once I'm done with all the holiday fun (the first will be a set of maternity scrubs for my cousin).

Hmm... this blog is supposed to be my writing blog, but this is a very craft-related update!  But really, that's what I've been doing lately, in addition to working on "Happily Ever After" (my NaNovel).  If you want to read more about my crafting fun, check out my craft blog!

It's Christmas!

It's Christmas!  Well, technically, it's Christmas.  It's around 1 am, and I'm still not asleep.  I had presents to wrap after shopping late this afternoon!  But it's very exciting around here - it's like being a kid again.  I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep.  It doesn't help that my sister is in the same room, and she's still MAKING her Christmas presents right now... 

I'm sure I'll have many pics and stories soon, but until then, I wish you all a Merry Christmas!  (And I'll try to sleep, I promise!)

Car go boom!

I don't know what a catalytic converter is, but I have learned that it is an important part of making a car go.  If it is not working, your car is not happy.

My car is not happy.

My catalytic converter is 'dead.'  My timing belt is about to go.  My water pump is also in need of replacement, as are my brakes.

This owning a car thing is expensive to deal with!

Car go boom

Okay, so the car didn't go boom.  It went, "Bing bing bing bing bing!"  (That sound makes me want to watch 'Friends'...)

I was on my way home from the vet, and the ABS light wouldn't go off.  That didn't seem good.  Then, as I was stopping before pulling out of the parking lot, there was a loud beeping sound, much like the sound that means I'm almost out of gas.  I looked down at the gauge, and I was not out of gas.  Then I saw the 'BRAKE' light flashing.  That seemed worse.  As I started going, the brake light turned off, and the beeping stopped.

Then I came to a red light.  As I stepped on the brakes, the care started screeching at me again, and the light came back on.  Again, not good.  This went on the whole way home.  Keep in mind, I'm on my way home from the vet, and so I have a puppy in the car with me.  She's not a happy puppy.  She doesn't like the vet much, even though he didn't give her any shots this time.  (I'm not sure I like him, either... he's got creepily vacant eyes.)  I pulled into Arby's to get dinner (because that's what we do on the way home from the vet), and I went through the drive through.  Of course, this involves much stopping, and there was much binging from the unhappy car.

I finally got home and pulled out the manual.  All combinations of brake light and ABS light apparently require an immediate, slow trip to the nearest VW dealer to fix either broken brake cables or empty brake lines.  Hmm.  I was right.  This is not good.  Of course, all of this was going on AFTER work, so I couldn't get in anywhere.  The place I called is fully booked tomorrow, but the guy on the phone was super-nice, and told me to bring the car in tomorrow and they'll hook it up to the diagnostic computer to see if it's a major problem, or if I just need to top up fluids.  

So I may have to spend my Christmas shopping money on fixing my car.  *sigh*  On the bright side, this guy was really nice on the phone, which says a lot about the company (in my opinion).  As long as they don't charge three times what the market rate is, I think I've found my 'shop.'  Yay!  And since the car's going in anyways, I'm going to get a quote on the price to fix the electrical outlets (can't charge anything!) and the roof (the lining is falling off).  I don't think I'll necessarily get those repaired soon, but it would be nice to know what I'm saving for.  :)

And that was today's car fun.

I want to play in the fog

I was driving home tonight (woot for driving!), and as I drove past Tatnall Square Park, I could see that the lower parts of the park were filled with fog.  It looked so cool!  It was rolling around, like in the movies, which, I suppose, is why movie fog rolls like that...

In any case, I really wanted to just pull over and get out and walk around in the fog for a bit, because it seemed like it would be a lot of fun.  Sadly, the logical part of my brain would not go for it... something about it being 11 pm, and downtown, and dark, and alone... I almost called Blake to see if he'd come play in the fog with me, since it was a block from his place, but the logical bits pointed out that it's bedtime, not playtime.

*sigh*

But the next time I see fog, I'm probably going to get out and play!

Bah, humbug

I can't get into the holiday spirit.  I've tried.  I made Christmas cards, and tonight, I addressed all of them, and tomorrow, they'll go into the mail.

I've got plans to make my Christmas fudge tomorrow after work, and then go shopping for the supplies to make a few Christmas gifts for friends.

I've been working on my sister's Christmas present for weeks, and I'm halfway finished.

I've planned what to get my parents for Christmas.

I've watched Scrooge the Musical twelve times.

But I'm still not in the spirit.

I change the station every time a Christmas carol comes on.  I growl when people ask if I've finished my shopping.  I'm just not into it.

I blame it on the lack of snow.  How can you people have Christmas without snow?  It's like Halloween without pumpkins, or Easter without chocolate eggs, or Valentine's Day without awful attempts at poetry!

Blink, blink

It's over...

I swear, we just opened yesterday, and the show closed tonight.  Okay, it didn't literally open yesterday, but the days have run together, so it feels like it opened yesterday.  I'm tired.  No, I'm exhausted.  And I think I'm coming down with a cold.

I'm looking forward to sleeping, and not rushing through dinner, and getting my evenings to myself again.

Of course, I'm also looking forward to the next show - as long as there are no other conflicts in my life, I'll be Stage Manager for the next three shows at MLT!  Which is kind of cool.  And it's nice because I can organize stuff in the theatre a little more long-term (at least the stage manager stuff).  I'm really enjoying myself backstage, although I do miss being onstage, too.

But I'm exhausted post-show, so I'm going to go sleep for 12 hours now.  Later!

Dear Stupid,

Dear Driver Behind Me,

It's eleven o'clock at night. It's dark out. It's pouring rain. We're on a road with lots of curves and hills. There are almost no street lights. I am driving exactly the speed limit. Riding my ass will not make me drive any faster. And if you don't turn off your brights, I will fucking stick a fork in your eyeball.

Love,
Me

Joke of the day

I work in a medical office, and we get lots of dirty old men coming in and telling jokes. Here's today's "cute" joke:

There was this dog lying on the train tracks, sleeping, when a train came by and ran over its tail and lopped off a bit of it. The dog whirled around to see what was going on, and the train lopped its head off. The moral of the story? Don't lose your head over a piece of tail.

Wasn't that awful?

Opening Night!

There is very little that has the same feeling as opening night.  Tonight, Scrooge opened at Macon Little Theatre, and it was a good show.  There were a few little... snafus (or is it 'snafoo'?)... but overall, it was a good show.

The cast is large.  That's being polite.  It's a bit crazy.  And there are children everywhere.  Insane, mind-reading children.  Have I mentioned that I don't plan to have children?  There were a lot of them.  And they weren't particularly well behaved.

Shows definitely feel different from the perspective of a tech crew member, though.  There's a lot less of the excited energy back at the sound booth, and a lot more reviewing of cues and pre-setting all the technical stuff.  And tonight there was much panicking... the sound board got turned off.  This may not seem like a big deal - if it's off, you just turn it back on, right?  Wrong.  There's a short somewhere in it, and it's a 20 minute process (at least) of plugging in, unplugging, turning on and off, and wiggling cords to get it on again.  So sound check was 20 minutes late.  But we had sound, so it was good!

If you're in Macon, and looking for something to do, go see Scrooge!  Visit Macon Little Theatre for ticket info!

Ah, the theatre!

I showed up at the theatre for tech rehearsal on Sunday, and was immediately asked if I could please run the sound board, as there was no one available that the directors trusted.  That was a pretty nice vote of confidence!  Of course, it's been years since I've run sound of any sort... and I don't think I've ever run musical theatre sound before... so it's an adventure!

So I'm playing with the unlimited authority that comes along with being a stage manager, and the unlimited feedback that comes with running a sound board... I've realized that I need to go on line and do some research about this particular type of soundboard to figure out just what everything does, but I've been told that I'm doing well so far.

Of course, all this work comes after work, so I'm getting, like, five hours of sleep a night by the time I get home and take the puppy out and get things ready for tomorrow and finally get into bed... so the next few blogs may kind of suck.  But I'm planning to write a bit more of "Take Five", and I'll probably throw in some random prompts, too!  Look out for more writing!

*Yawn, stretch*

What?  Is it really the last day of November?  Yeesh.

I finished NaNoWriMo, but I have not finished the story.  But that's okay.  I'm going to keep on working on it, although not necessarily at the same break-neck-ignore-everything-else pace that I had earlier this month.

And the lack of NaNo pressure means that I'll probably be blogging more regularly!  Yay!  In my old age (no smart-ass comments, please), I've realized that I can't focus on multiple writing projects very well.  I can still run 27 knit/crochet projects at a time, all with mental patterns, but more than one story gets things a bit confusing.  Hence the limited blogging.

Hopefully, though, I'll finish "Happily Ever After" soon, and then I'll put it away to age for a month or two before I start with the editing process.  Ick.

Unlimited authority!

I have been granted 'unlimited authority'!!

Okay, so it's limited to within the walls of MLT, but still!

*cackles and rubs hands together*

Sneak Peek

I know, I know. I've been bad about posting this week. But I've been making really good progress on my novel! I'm about a third of the way through, I think, and I'm pretty happy with the story so far. Here's a peek at the opening scene:


“Dammit!”

The peaceful silence of the glade was broken by the shout as Princess Martha Louise dropped a frog into the pond.

“We’ll try another one,” said Heather, the Princess’s companion, rolling up her sleeves and reaching into the water.

“Wait, how do we know if it’s a new frog?” Martha Louise asked.

“Um…” Heather paused, trying to figure that out. “We don’t, I guess.” She thought for a moment longer. “I could try putting them off to the side when you’re done, instead of putting them back into the pond.”

“Okay,” Martha Louise agreed. She was sure that some of the frogs would make their way back into the pond, but she did not have a better idea.

“Here we go,” Heather said, reaching deeper into the pond and pulling up a rather large frog. He was wet and slimy, and smelled vaguely of fish. Martha Louise reached over and took the frog from Heather’s hands, closed her eyes, puckered up, and kissed it.

Nothing happened.

“Dammit!” she cried again.

“Here, give me that,” Heather said, reaching for the frog. She carefully deposited him on the opposite side of the log that she was sitting on, then reached into the pond again. This frog was a smaller candidate, with a bright green skin.

“He looks kind of regal,” Martha Louise said cautiously.

“He does,” Heather agreed. “He’s very shiny, and he smells better than the last two.”

“Well, here goes nothing,” Martha Louise said, taking the frog. Again, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and kissed the frog.

Nothing happened.

“Dammit!”

Heather took the frog and placed him gently beside the larger frog. The two animals looked at one another, as if wondering just what offense they had committed to receive this kind of treatment. The larger one croaked deeply, and the smaller one replied with a more high-pitched rabbit.

“Shush!” Heather scolded them before reaching into the pond again. “We’re busy here!”

Again, Martha Louise took the frog from her companion and kissed it. Nothing.

“What am I doing wrong?” she finally cried in frustration.

“I think you’re just kissing frogs that are really frogs,” Heather observed. “We really don’t have any way of telling whether a frog is just a frog, or if he’s a cursed prince.”

“We really should find a way… I need to get a prince!” Martha Louise looked as if she were on the verge of tears. “Heather, I’m almost twenty five! In two days, I’ll be a quarter of a century old, and I still won’t have found my prince! What’s a princess without a prince? I can’t be an old maid!”

“Don’t worry, Princess,” Heather tried to reassure her. “I’m sure you’ll find your prince. After all, you’re a princess, and like you said, what’s a princess without a prince? Just because you haven’t found an enchanted frog, that doesn’t mean you won’t find your true love. Besides, don’t you think true love’s first kiss will be better with a person than with an amphibian?”

Martha Louise sighed. “You’re right, I know… and these frogs are kind of nasty…”

A deep croak came from the group of frogs behind the log, and both of the young women turned to look at them, wondering if the frogs had actually understood what Princess Martha Louise had just said. As they looked, they managed to catch sight of the two smaller frogs hopping away from the larger one as quickly as they could – it seemed that the croak was just a coincidence. The large frog slowly turned around to stare at Martha Louise, then croaked again.

“Um, let’s get going,” she said, rising from the log beside the pond.

“Good idea,” Heather replied, glancing nervously at the frog. He croaked again, and the two young women hurried away from the pond.

I want to do something big

As I mentioned a few days ago, I can't stop listening to/watching Dr.Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. The more I watch it and hear it, the more I want to do something cool like that.

I've considered some options. I could just take the idea and adapt it, making myself into some kind of superhero or super-villain. If I were to do that, however, I would need some sort of identity, because, well, I'm not a superhero or super-villain in my everyday life. I would need a costume, too. I'm kind of broke, though, so I'd have to use a costume that I already have. I've got this nifty silver outfit... and Avon just came out with silver mascara. I don't really know what kind of super-character that would work with, though. I've got lots of scrubs, and surgical gowns, and surgical gloves - but I don't know that I want to be that close to Dr. Horrible. Plus, I wear scrubs in real life, which would make it harder to disguise my identity.

I could also learn to write music, and just blog about my own life in song. Of course, that would involve learning to write music... I can't actually read music, and I'm not a poet, which makes the whole lyric thing more challenging. I could find a new friend who can write music for me - but I have no idea where to find that sort of friend.

I thought about just doing video blogs, too, but that defeats the purpose of writing every day. Unless, of course, I write a script for the blog. Hmmm... that's an option.

Is there anyone out there with an opinion?

What a boring day...

I got sent to a conference for work today, and I was bored out of my mind. The office manager chose the courses for us, and the choices were... not ideal. It's not that it was a total waste of time... well, not really. Let's just say, I felt really smart.

*sigh* At least I got paid to go hang out in a hotel all day, right?

Baby Got Book

Friends pointed this out to me last night, and I had to share.

I love my dreams

I have the most whacked-out dreams!  And I love them, because they give me something to write about :)

I dreamt that I was the stage manager for a show, and I had to sit in the audience to watch rehearsals.  (Okay, that part's not a big stretch.  Shut up.)  It was a musical that I had never heard of, and it was starring my friend Jonathan.

He was up on stage singing a song that summed up the whole show - it was about bad poetry and unemployment.  And the words of the song were atrocious, but in a way that had everyone rolling with laughter.  The song had a line about how hard it was to find a balloon that said "I'm sorry I couldn't take you to the zoo, because I'm broke," so he found a plain balloon and wrote on it with a Sharpie.

It was an awesome show!  I wish it existed outside of my dream... *sigh*

I <3 Neil Patrick Harris

Have you ever listened to a song or watched a movie and liked it well enough that first time, and then gone back to it again later and realized that it was the greatest thing since sliced bread?  

I have.

I have become rather obsessed with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  I just can't get enough of it.  It's on my iPod right now, and I swear, I watched/listened to it at least seven times today.  I'm close to having the whole thing memorized, and it doesn't phaze me at all.  I love it.

I realized that I've had a huge crush on Neil Patrick Harris since... well, since I saw him on Doogie Howser, MD.  Yes, I've been crushing for almost 20 years... 

Wow.  That last sentence makes me feel REALLY old.  But to put it in perspective, I was 9 when the show started, and I had a crush on him even then.  And then I found out that he can sing!  Ah, the joy of it!  Have I mentioned that singing/musical ability is a big plus?

If only he were straight.  And single.  And I was too.  (Single, that is.  I'm already straight.)  Or a man.  (Me, not him.  Then he wouldn't have to be straight.  I'd have to switch teams, but I'd totally do it for Neil!)

My favourite letter is 2.

According to dictionary.com, a letter is "a symbol or character that is conventionally used in writing and printing to represent a speech sound and that is part of an alphabet."  Again, according to dictionary.com, a number is "a word or symbol, or a combination of words or symbols, using in counting or in noting a total."  Given these definitions, the symbol "2" is a number and the symbol "B" is a letter.

Letters and numbers should not be a difficult concept.  I learned my letters and my numbers before I started kindergarten.  Most people learned their letters around that same time in their lives, and I am quite sure that schools, while severely degrading in quality as time goes on, still teach letters and numbers.  

All that being said, IT DRIVES ME CRAZY when people insist on naming NUMBERS on their eye exams when I repeatedly ask them to read the LETTERS on the screen.  Letters, people!  "2" is not a letter!  "8" is not a letter! "1" is not a letter!  I get that you can't quite see the symbols on the screen because you're old or blind, or whatever, but when I ask you to read the LETTERS, at least use letters in your guesses!

/rant.

My head exploded

I had to listen to love songs again.  Bits of my brain scattered around the room, and I managed to collect most of them into a pretty little jar, which is now sitting on my desk.  I stapled the skull bits back together, so that my head wouldn't be too lumpy.  But it sounds hollow if you hit it now.

If I hear Olivia Newton John's "I Honestly Love You" one more time this week, I think my head might pop off and fly around the room (since clearly the explosion didn't do anything to reduce the love song content of my morning).

I wanna puke.

I think that the genre of music referred to as 'love songs' needs to change its name.

I work as a surgical scrub technician, which means I'm the gal who hands instruments to the doctor in the operating room ("Scapel!"  "Yes, doctor!").  It also means that, once I'm sterile, I can't touch anything or leave the OR.  With some doctors, it's not that bad.  With the one I'm usually with, it's torture.  Why?  Because he insists on listening to the "Love Songs" XFM station during surgery.  The two operating rooms (and in fact, the entire ambulatory surgical center) are all on the same sound system, so everyone has to listen to his choice of music.  All morning.

After listening to four hours (yes, four straight hours) of love songs today, I realized that very few of them are the sort of song that you would play for someone with whom you are in love.  If you start listening to the genre, you'll realize that these 'love songs' should really be called 'creepy stalker songs.'  At least half of the songs that played this morning were from the point of view of someone who had been dumped and couldn't manage to get over their 'true love.'  It was just... ick.  If I played any of those songs for my SO, he'd have a restraining order against me in a heartbeat!

And on a related note, do you remember, several years ago, there was a big controversy over the song "How Do I Live (Without You)"? (Big is a relative term, of course.)  The question was whether the LeAnn Rimes version or the Trisha Yearwood version should be included on a movie soundtrack (bonus points if you know which movie it was!).  The folks in charge decided that Trisha's version should be included, because at 15, LeAnn was too young to understand the emotion behind that song.  As I listened to it at work today, I realized that LeAnn's version should have made it!  Why?  Because that horrible, desperate love is totally typical of a fifteen-year old!

And that's why I wanna puke today.

A puppy on my lap

My puppy is particularly cuddly today, perhaps because I traumatized her earlier by making her wear a costume to the mailbox.  Or perhaps it's because she knows I'm going out later, and that means we won't get as much cuddle time as usual.  In any case, I'm typing with a puppy on my lap, and that's a challenge.  So much of a challenge that I'm copping out and posting a picture of her Halloween costume instead of writing a full post.

Enjoy the cute!!

Novelling ahead.

So NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and I've got an idea percolating.  I like it.  A lot.  It actually has potential to be a marketable story.  This is a VERY GOOD THING.  

For those of you unfamiliar with it, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.  This will be my fifth year trying, and I've 'won' in the past four years, though I have yet to fully finish the story by the end of the month.  I finished one novel (my first), and self-published it, just so I could hold the product of all that effort in my hands.  It was tripe, and I admit that, but it was a great feeling to know that I could finish something of that size.  

The next year I had a good idea, but it fizzled out around the end of the month, because I wrote myself into a corner.  The third year, I scrapped everything but the core idea from year two and tried again.  Unfortunately, that idea REALLY needs an outline, so it fizzled out again, around 53,000 words.  Last year, my story was pretty much entirely based on events that had happened in my life, and while it was very cathartic, I made the mistake of coming to terms with everything that had happened to me.  Accepting and forgiving most of those involved made it feel less important to finish the story and kill off the bad guys at the end.  And if they don't die... well, the novel isn't as good.

This year, I'm channelling my love of fairy tales, and I've spent all night online looking up princess stories.  Have I mentioned that, sometimes, I'm a five-year-old girl?  Plus, for my birthday, two friends bought me a princess hat.  They intended for me to wear it to the restaurant for dinner, but it's going to sit at my computer to inspire me next month.

Oh, and I got a red Moleskin and a red pen, so I'm totally inspired to write!  I'm all about having special notebooks for different writing projects - "Take Five" is being written in a black Moleskin with navy blue ink, then transcribed into my blog.  I've got a lot of notebooks sitting around...

Never fails...

Have you ever noticed that you never get sick when it's convenient?

I had a day off from work today.  I wasn't nearly as productive as I should have been, but that's a moot point.  I felt great all day, which was a nice change, because usually my body decides that a long weekend is a great time to get sick.

This time, it decided that the tail end of a long weekend is the best time to get sick.  Except I don't have any sick days.  

This sucks.

I'm going to go be miserable now, and try not to get any sicker before morning.

Choosing sides

I have learned that if you want to live in Georgia, you have to pick a side eventually.  You know what I'm talking about... UGA or Tech.  There's no in-between.

Given that I really don't give a flying anything about football, especially American college football (I can kinda get into the CFL... kinda), it was hard.  I mean, really, how can I get excited about a team when I don't care about their sport?

But I finally gave in.  I picked a side.

And my reason may be the dumbest reason ever, but, hey, it's my reason.

I picked UGA, because their colours are red and black, and my school colour was red, so I can wear my current clothing and look like I'm supporting them.  I don't think I own anything yellow.

A friend of mine is a big Georgia fan, and for his birthday, I made some accessories with polar fleece (won't specify what yet, because I haven't given it to him yet!), and I had some leftover, so I made a Dawgs blanket for my dawg.  Isn't she adorable?

A quiet week

Aside from my good news on Monday, it's been a quiet week.  This is not a bad thing.

Unfortunately, I haven't really been in the mood to blog for the last few days.  In this spirit, I give you the top ten Excuses for Not Blogging:

10:  My dog ate my computer cord.  I swear, my dog eats  everything else (Dammit!  I loved those shoes!!), so why not a power cord?  Shane's cat, Tyler, chews on cords all the time.

9:  I lost my notebook of ideas, and couldn't come up with anything under pressure.  (Of course, this only applies if no one knows that you really work best under pressure.)

8:  I got busy watching TV.  I only get to watch quality television (and by quality, I'm referring as much to picture quality as to content) once a week!  When I get it, I get REALLY into it.

7:  I spent my time online searching the internet for recipes for pulled pork (because I totally forgot everything that Mandy put into hers (except for a little bit of liquid smoke)).

6:  I started to blog, but then got sidetracked as I tried to determine the proper location for a period when also using a parenthetical statement at the end of a sentence.  (Notice that I didn't end that sentence with a parenthetical statement.)

5:  My dog ate my shoes.  Seriously, that distracted me for, like, an entire night!

4:  My dog tried to eat a notebook.  I don't know where she got this taste for paper, but she's munched on notebooks, looseleaf, scrap paper, tissue paper, kleenex... anything paper-related.

3:  I tried to have a life instead of geeking out on the computer.  (Hey, it could happen!)

2:  I was busy carving a pumpkin.  (It's really cute, too!)

And the number one excuse for not blogging:  My internet connection crashed.  Again.  (Does anyone know how to stop it from doing that?  And can you please tell my network admin about it?)

Drawing a blank

I want to make something.  I REALLY want to make something.  But I don't know what to make.  I went to Michael's tonight, armed with a gift card and a coupon, and I walked up and down all of the aisles... and still couldn't really find any one thing that inspired me to make something.  Sure, I got some bits and pieces for Halloween cards and Christmas cards, and some shiny stars and flowers for my NaNo countdowns...

But I really didn't find any project, and that's kind of sad.  I like projects.  

I get to stay!

Take that, you illegal aliens!  The legality pays off!  I get to stay in the country and pay taxes until next July!

Wait...

Hmm...

Maybe the illegal aliens have got it right.  They don't have to pay taxes.  They don't have to worry about getting kicked out if the PTB decide that they don't like the visa renewal application.  They don't have to renew the damned thing every year...

Nah, I like being legal.  Woot!

Take Five part 12

"And action!" Ricardo called, almost before Laura was out of the shot.

Sophia opened the book, her expression unreadable.  For a moment, Ricardo was afraid that this book might not be any better than the last.  He took a breath, ready to stop the action again, but Sophia's expression changed subtly.  He stopped, watching her intently.  "Get in close on this," he told the cameraman, his voice barely a whisper.

Ricardo watched on the monitor as the shot closed in on Sophia's face.  Her normally cool expression had transformed.  Her eyes flicked across the page of the book, and there seemed to be a hunger inside, as if she couldn't get enough of the story.  Ricardo let the cameras roll as Sophia read for several minutes.  She seemed to forget that the rest of them were still there.  Once, she shifted her position, turning on the bench so she could prop her feet up and rest the book on her knees.  She chewed her lip gently, and Ricardo grinned - he never would have seen these reactions with that piece of crap book that they had started with.

Finally, satisfied that they had sufficient footage of Sophia enjoying the book, Ricardo made a motion with his hand, cueing Blake's entrance.

From across the set, Blake gave a thumb's up signal before starting his walk towards the bench.  He approached from the side.  Had Sophia stayed in her initial position, he would have been coming from her left, but with the way she had shifted, she was now facing him.  Unless she looked up, however, she probably would not see him.  Watching the scene play out before him, Ricardo wondered why he hadn't thought of this positioning on his own - it was going to look much better than the planned shot.

As he got closer to the bench, Blake slowed down.  Both in character and out of character, he watched Sophia.  There was something different about her... something more human than he was used to seeing.  He stopped at the side of the bench and just watched her as she read.  He smiled as he looked down towards her, trying to keep his mind on his character - he had just spotted the woman who was exactly what he had been looking for all of his life, and now he had to get her, without scaring her off.

"Hello," he said, breaking the spell that the book seemed to cast on Sophia.

"What?" she replied, startled as the book dropped from her hands.

Blake reached down and picked it up, handing it back to her, smiling at the confusion that was in her eyes.  It looked as if she had forgotten where she was, if just for the moment.  "I think this is yours," he said.

"Thank you," she replied, offering him a slightly dazed smile as she tried to figure out how to get back to the script.  The director hadn't stopped them yet, so it would appear that he was comfortable with the slight ad libbing that was going on.

"I'm Zach," Blake said, extending his hand towards Sophia.

"Kat," she replied, shaking his hand.  "Um, I'm sorry, should I know you?"

I want pie

I have fallen in love with Pushing Daisies.  I can't wait until Wednesday nights, so I can see the next episode.  Ned (Lee Pace) is adorable, Olive (Kristen Chenoweth) is awesome, and Emerson (Chi McBride) is probably my favourite character.  I'm still torn about Chuck (Anna Friel)... I like the interplay between Ned and Chuck, and I totally feel for Ned as Chuck is trying to figure out who she is.  At the same time, I get where Chuck is coming from, because I've felt the same way myself.  There's just something about her, though, that gets under my skin.  I think she might just be too sweet and perfect.  The character doesn't really seemed flawed enough to me.  What I probably need to do is watch the first season - maybe that will help round her out for me.

In related news, I've started downloading the Pushing Daisies Piecast (with Swoozie Kurtz).  There's all sorts of great tidbits on there!  It's cool to hear an opinion from the people who are actually in the show, and I love how excited she sounds about it.  Any show that makes the actors that excited has to be a good one.

In unrelated news, I'm trying REALLY hard to avoid buying from Handbag Planet.  Unfortunately, I did not win a free handbag in their contest.  However, it may turn out that this is a fortunate thing, because if I had, and the bag was as awesome as it looks online, I would probably have spent the rest of my paychecks there.  On the bright side, I do have an even 30 handbags now, because I got one for my birthday!  It's red and shiny... mmm... shiny...

This post has been oddly rambly... I'll aim for more cohesion tomorrow.  I'm going to bed now, instead of staying up until almost five (like I did last night/this morning), so that should help!

Debauchery etc

Did I mention that today is my birthday?

It's been an interesting day, to say the least.  It's been a combination of good, bad, and weird.  I was late for work and late for dinner - bad.  I ate lunch alone - bad.  I got a surprise birthday balloon when I came back from getting lunch (thanks, Zach!) - good.  One of the doctors thanked me for the work I was doing on all of the studies at the office - weird.  

But it's been a good day, and hopefully this bodes well for a good year!  

Stupid internet!

So I lost my connection again, for two days.  That sucked.

I'm not feeling really creative today, probably because I got presents!  Presents get me distracted from other things.  I'm guessing tomorrow will also be a not-too-creative day, because I get presents tomorrow, too!  Yay!

Did I mention that tomorrow is my birthday?  It's a little bit exciting... we're going out to dinner, which will be followed by cake and debauchery.  I'm not sure how debauched we'll get, but I've made sure to clear my calendar on Saturday, just in case I'm very bauched.  (I like taking real words and making them my own.  According to my high school English teacher, I'm allowed to do that, because I'm a published author.  Woot!)

On that note, I'm off to bed, so that I can be good and rested for all the hours of entertainment that tomorrow will bring!

Blame MJ for this one... go check out Handbag Planet and get a chance to win a new purse!  

Not that I really need a new one... but has that ever stopped anyone before?  I just finished packing my box of purses and bags, and I've got 29 purses.  One more will make it an even 30!  

Take Five (Part 11)

As the director led Sophia away, Laura looked at Anna and rolled her eyes again. Anna laughed. "Have fun! I'll be over at Stage B for a bit, then I'll come back to touch her up." 

"Thanks," Laura said wryly.  She took a deep breath, trying to convince herself that a bad start didn't necessarily lead to a bad day, then followed behind Ricardo and Sophia.  By the time she arrived at the set a few minutes later, the actors were all in place, and the lighting guys were turning on their equipment for the first scene.

"And, action!" Ricardo called.

Sophia picked up her book and crossed her legs, getting comfortable on the park bench.  In the bright lights, she flipped through the pages, looking bored.

"Cut!" Ricardo yelled.  "Sophia, darling," he said, approaching her so he didn't have to shout.  "Let's try something different.  Your character is... bookish.  She likes to read.  I need you to look excited about this book - it's interesting to her."

Sophia huffed and put on a pout.  "But this is a boring book!" she protested, holding it up.  "It's old and hard to read."

Laura was already on her way to the props people when Ricardo called out, "Can we get a new book?"

"I'm on it!" Laura called back.  "What can you give me?" she asked the nearest prop technician.

"Give me a minute," he said, scrambling into the trailer behind him.  A few moments later, he reemerged with a paperback book in one hand and a hardcover book in the other.  The paperback was clearly a romance novel - the scantily-clad woman and the muscular man on the cover left no doubt.  The hardcover book looked to be of a similar genre.  It seemed likely that Sophia would appreciate either of them, at least compared to what she was reading now, but Laura wasn't sure about the character.

"Give me the hardcover," she decided.  "But keep the dust jacket."  The man handed it over, and without the dust jacket, the romance novel looked much more like the book that Sophia was already holding.  Laura glanced at the title - "In the Garden" -  and decided that it could pass as a non-fiction title, something that Sophia's character was likely to read.  Hurrying back over to where Sophia waited, Laura handed her the book.

"'In the Garden'?" Sophia half-asked as she read the title.  "What is this, a gardening book?"

Laura tried to hide her smile.  "No, it's a romance novel, with a gardening title.  Hope you like it."  Before the actress could say another word, Laura hurried off with the other, boring book in her hand.

"And action!" Ricardo called, almost before Laura was out of the shot.

Productive, yes... Creative, no

I had a productive day today, though not a creative one.  Although, if I think about it, I did have some flashes of creativity.  I spent the day packing.  I managed to pack 17 boxes, which is not bad, considering I got distracted by things like the puppy, and GraphJam, and eating.

I was reminded that my OCP is in full force, though, as I was doing all of this.  OCP, you ask?  It's 'obsessive-compulsive personality,' not full on OCD.  I've never been diagnosed with OCD, but I do have some of the traits, including a ridiculous need for order.  This can make packing a bit of a challenge.  My boxes are all numbered and colour-coded with stickers to indicate which room they belong it.  I have two main styles of box - the others that don't match are boxes that stuff came in (like the KitchenAid box).  The numbers on the box correspond to a list on my computer that catalogues exactly what's in each box.  A bit of overkill?  Maybe...

But it makes my brain happy.  So now my happy brain and I are going to go cuddle with my puppy, then go to sleep, and plan what to pack tomorrow.

Trying to be creative today

Unfortunately, by wanting to be creative, I may have ended up finding another hobby for myself.  D'oh.

I'm currently searching the interweb on the techniques of making webcomics.  I'm hoping that it seems like a terribly difficult undertaking, so I get discouraged and decide not to pursue it.  At the very least, I would have to hook the big computer up to the internet again, because it's got my PaintShop on it.  Hmm... this feels like it's going to be more trouble than I want to go to.  Yay!

In other news, I got turned on to a new website today!  I spent my day working on data analysis, trying to come up with an easy-to-read graphical representation of the visual acuities of patients who were four months status post cataract extraction with ReStor intraocular lens implantation.  Sounds important, doesn't it?  In any case, I was making pretty pie charts and bar graphs.  I talked to a friend about this at lunch, and he suggested that, given how excited I was about these graphs (and yes, I really was excited), I should visit Graph Jam.  I did.  I love it!  Too lazy to click on the link?  Check out a sample of the fun you can find:

Must... sleep...

Okay, so last night sucked.  Well, the part after leaving PRN sucked.  A migraine hit literally moments after I got into the car to go home.  But I still stayed up all night (well, until about 1:30) to bake cupcakes for the baby shower at lunch today.  (The blanket I made for the baby was awesome - 'the softest thing I've ever felt' according to Joy, and HD complimented me on it, too!)

And tonight, I'm up crazy late because Josh and Tams were in town, and I haven't seen them since before they got married.

I REALLY need to sleep.  Also, I have to do stats tomorrow at work.  Yeah.  Sleep would be a good plan.  I'll be more creative tomorrow.

OUch

Got into car after PRN, migraine hit.  No is posting tonight.

Puppy!

My puppy is just adorable!  I took her to get her nails trimmed at PetSmart today, and it was fun!  She hates car rides, but loves PetSmart - they got her nails trimmed, cleaned her ears, and gave her some breath spray and a bandana!  Then, as a reward, I got her some treats.  I got her a bag full of Booda bones, and a stuffed hoof.  She was so cute with that!  It's huge, and she had a hard time picking it up, but I could tell that she was trying to roll over onto her back with it (that's what she does with her favourite toys).

I took a billion pictures - enjoy!

EDIT: I can't upload them!  Crap!  I'll try again tomorrow...

Five-minute fiction

From "The Writer's Book of Matches," page 168: "She had the best calves I've ever seen."

John looked across the room.  A woman in her late 40's stood there in too-high heels and too-tight jeans, placing a pitcher of beer on another table.  The country song playing on the sound system seemed to fit his mood perfectly at the moment.

"Never shoulda walked away," he mumbled to the man beside him.

"What was that, John-boy?" the other man asked, leaning in to hear.

"I never shoulda left Rita," John repeated, louder this time.  Loud enough, in fact, that Rita heard him from her place across the bar.  She looked around, and saw his face, then shook her head.  With a look that was somewhere between pity and disgust, she walked back behind the bar and started pouring another mug of beer.

"That woman was the best thing that ever happened to me, Petey," John continued, lowering his voice again.  "She had it all... great body, great family, great everything.  She had the best calves I've ever seen."

"Really?" Petey asked, leaning backwards a bit, trying to catch a glimpse of Rita's legs.  They weren't all that special, not from what he could see.

"Yep, they were beautiful... Holsteins and Herefords and Galloways... her daddy was gonna leave us all of them beautiful little calves... but then I had to go and be an ass..."  John took another swig of his beer, setting the empty mug down a little too forcefully.  "Yeah, I had to tell her that them cows was as purty as her... Never, never, never tell a woman that she's as purty as a cow, Petey."

"I'll try not to, John-boy," Petey replied as hus buddy laid his head down on the table.  He certainly didn't want to end up like this poor bugger.

Looking for inspiration

With November just around the corner, writing has been on my mind a lot lately.  I'm still writing every day, but there are days that I just don't feel inspired.  Rather, the ideas aren't there.  I want to write, but I just can't figure out what to write.

Today, I participated in a critique group for the first time, and I think, overall, it was a good experience.  The novel being critiqued was a Christian fiction piece, covering the three-day period after the Crucifixion.  This was not my usual genre.  Honestly, I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I saw it in a bookstore.  However, that's one of the good/bad things about the group - everyone in the group has a different preferred genre, so I'll get to read a lot of things that I don't normally read.  

I read the book once, because I wanted to give honest opinions as a reader - when I read a book, I rarely go back and read passages again, unless the writer lost me somewhere along the way.  I think this approach was probably right for the first run-through, but, after hearing the way the other members of the group gave their comments, I plan to do things differently next time.  I will definitely do a first read over a 1-2 day period, the way I normally read a book, and make notes about my initial impressions and things that lost me along the way.  However, I'll then go back and try to pinpoint what got me lost and why; which characters I liked or disliked, and whether that seemed to be the way the writer wanted those characters to be perceived; any subplots that didn't get resolved; basically, I'll treat it like a high school reading assignment during the second read-through.  Hopefully, that will be more valuable for the writer.

This time around, the writer told us not to worry about line-editing because he knew that the grammar and punctuation could use some work.  I tried to leave it alone, I really did!  My father trained me well, though, and I just couldn't leave the dangling fragments alone.  My critique was probably more technical than the others because of that, so hopefully my input was valuable to the author.

I'm actually looking forward to having one of my pieces critiqued by this particular group.  At least two of the writers have completed projects that they're sending out queries for, which is also valuable - they're more than happy to help the rest of us with submissions when the time comes.  I think that's the part of the process that I'm looking forward to the least.  I don't like rejection.  I hate it, actually.  I applied for grad school and got rejected because the program I applied to didn't get enough grants to take on another student, and I was devastated.  I've been 'rejected' at my last two auditions, and I'm not sure I'm up for auditioning for anything else (at least in the near future) because I don't want another failed attempt.

Intellectually, I know that just because I didn't get a part at the last audition, it doesn't mean I won't get something at the next one (there were a LOT of politics at play there, and I knew that going in).  It still hurts, though, and it's very discouraging.  I know, based on what I've heard from all of the other writers I know, that I will get lots of rejections before I find an agent who will accept my manuscript.  I know that just getting an agent doesn't guarantee that anything will actually get published, although that's a good first step.  I just get disappointed and discouraged easily.  It's something I need to work on.  If anyone has any suggestions about how to get past it, input is welcome!

I am no longer covered in paint

And it is wonderful.  But as I sat in my bubble bath, it occurred to me that, for as long as I have been living on my own, I have not had a bath that was not a bubble bath.

I remember, as a child, that bubble baths were kind of special - you didn't get bubbles every time you had a bath, so it was a big deal.  My sister and I would spend forever in the bathtub when we had bubbles.  We had a bag full of bath toys that would get pulled out, and there were tons of games that we would make up.  One of us always ended up with a bubble beard, and bubble hairdos were all the rage.

Rubbing soap over the bubbles that stuck to my legs made a super-rich soapy foam that was fun to play with, too; much more dense than the regular bubbles.  We always stayed in the bath until the very last bubble had popped, even though our fingers and toes were pruney and the water had turned cold.  You simply couldn't waste a single, precious bubble.

I still do some of that - I don't have a bag of bath toys anymore, but my imagination always runs wild when I'm in the bath.  I have some of my best ideas lying there with my eyes closed, the sound of bubbles bursting in the background.  I don't usually do the bubble beard anymore, but every once in a while, it makes an appearance.  And I always wait until the bubbles are gone before I get out, even though my fingers and toes are all pruney.

Maybe it's because I rarely take baths now, that I only have bubble baths.  I think that's why they're still special.

I am covered in paint.

Today was the SuperFun Priming Party, and I'm covered.  Except for where my coveralls were.  I've got paint in my hair (despite wearing an oh-so-attractive pink bandana on my head).  I had paint on my nose.  I've got paint all up and down my arms, and my hands are multicoloured.  It's not as pretty as it sounds.

Tonight's blog is short, because I must go scrub all of this paint off.  I can't sleep with it.  It just freaks me out.  And then I have to go edit a novel... hm... this will be a LOOOONG night...

Boxes, boxes, everywhere

I'm in the midst of packing, and I forgot how organized, yet chaotic, it is.  The last time I moved, it was a cross-border move, so I had to have the contents of every box specifically recorded.  My OCD brain loved that.  This time, I'm doing it again.  Each box gets its own worksheet in an Excel spreadsheet.  Boxes are labelled with big number stickers, and each number sticker has a coloured dot in the corner that indicates the room in which it will eventually live.  Most of my boxes are bankers boxes, though there is a set of Alcon boxes that I rescued from the office.  It's so pretty... I've got three stacks of boxes sitting in the living room, and they're all the same size and shape...

It's also nice, because I'm getting a current inventory of all of the STUFF I have.  I now have a complete record of all my DVDs, all my CDs, all my books, all my EVERYTHING!  I even have a list of the types and quantities of yarn that I own.  I think I need to stop buying yarn for a while...

However, in addition to the boxes that are neatly stacked against the wall, ready to go, I have piles of unassembled boxes, box lids, tissue paper, bubble wrap, tape, labels, and stickers ALL OVER!  And there is stuff all around, too.  I took the afternoon off of work to try to get it under control but, well, not so much.  I think tomorrow night and Sunday will be tidying up time, trying to at least get things into the room where they belong so I can pack them when the time comes...

And on that note, I must get to bed, because tomorrow is the SuperFun Priming Party (Again)!  Wish me luck, and helpers!

Mmmm... Chrome...

It turns out that I'm a big Google fan.  I'm a little bit surprised by this, mostly because when I first started using the internet, there was no Google.  My first preferred search engine was Yahoo, my first webmail was some little company that no longer exists, my first browser was Netscape Navigator, and I don't think anyone had really thought much about blogs, much less created something like Blogger.  Wow.  I just looked at all of that, and I feel REALLY old. One of the first things I downloaded was a .txt file of the script for Monty Python and the Holy Grail... I'm sure you can find that very easily as a PDF now.

I digress.  As I was saying, I'm a big Google fan.  I didn't expect to be.  I stuck with Yahoo search for a really long time, but finally realized that Google was just as good, if not better, and the Google homepage was much more pleasant to look at and navigate through.  I've had Hotmail and Yahoo mail accounts, but I love my Gmail account.  Again, it's pretty and it's easy.  I'm a smart cookie - I can manage with just about anything that's thrown at me, but I don't like having to fight my way through my inbox if I can avoid it.

Now, I've discovered Chrome, Google's web browser.  I like.  I've been playing with different browsers lately - IE came on my computer, of course, but I got an updated version of Netscape, I've tried Safari, and a couple of others that I can't think of off the top of my head.  I wasn't really happy with the whole tab thing in IE when it first came out, but I've become accustomed to it.  I really enjoy the Chrome setup, though.  It was beautiful to set up - it automatically snagged my bookmarks and favourites from IE.  The startup screen gives screenshots of recently visited pages, so if I've been searching around for something but can't remember the site where I saw it, I've actually got a visual reminder of where I was.  This works well with my visual memory :)

I feel like a corporate whore... but I really am impressed with most of the products associated with Google.  So congratulations, Google!  (I didn't mean to write an ad!  Really, I swear!)

Need your opinions!

You may or may not know that my SO and I are in the process of renovating a house, so that we can move into it together.  This is a rather stressful event, as there is a lot of dust and chaos, and I don't like these things.  However, in the end, there will be nicely painted walls and a 13-foot bar in the basement.  And a huge-ass TV and gaming table.  And more bookshelves than I could have dreamed of.

However, the other day, I realized something.  We will have a yard.  Okay, so I didn't just wake up and say, 'Hey, we've got a yard!' - I did actually notice that when we looked at the place.  What I actually realized was that we have a yard where we can put stuff.  We talked about it, but I think we've decided against putting up signage for a particular presidential candidate, because we're not entirely sure how that will go over with the neighbours - there aren't many of those sort of signs up in our neighbourhood.

Then we came up with what I think is an awesome idea - we're going to put up Canadian political signage!  I'll have a Liberal poster in my front yard!  And maybe a Tory one, so my dad doesn't totally disown me.  And maybe, for fun, we'll put up NDP and Reform signs, too! (And yes, I realize the Reform party doesn't actually exist anymore, but who's going to know down here?  Besides, looking at it will remind me of Ross Perot shouting "Refoooooorm!".  Actually, I don't know if he ever said it like that, but This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Royal Canadian Air Farce always spoofed him doing it.  Wow, this has been a really long parenthetical comment.)

So I want to know, if you had a yard, what kind of signage (or other things) would you/do you put up in it?

I can haz internetz!

Look look look!  I have internet!!!!

Yes, I have my internet connection back!! And it's working!!  We bought new boxes (apparently the magic internet boxes are called bridges), and got them hooked up last weekend.  All last week, the connection was spazzy, only staying up for about 30 seconds at a time in the evenings.  I could barely load a single webpage, much less surf the net or blog.  But the bridges have worked out their differences, I suppose, and I'm back in action!!

It's going to be a bit strange, I think, blogging again.  I've been writing, and it's great, because I've managed to get some work done on several other projects, and I've been doing a lot more reading and crocheting (look forward to seeing stuff for sale on Etsy soon!), but I haven't been doing any of this at the computer.  Two of my three big writing projects are hand-written, which makes them a bit more difficult to do, in that I still can't write for long periods of time (see story below), but more rewarding, in a way, because it takes more effort to write longhand.  I'm also plotting for NaNo again.  I just found out that this year, I'm a Municiple Liason!  Roughly translated, I'm a cat-herder, helping to organize all the parties and write-ins, and trying to motivate everyone else in the group, while still writing a novel of my own.  Good thing I can multitask!

So why can't I write for long periods of time?  I'm glad you asked!  Back in my first year of University, I had an injury.  I tore ligaments in my wrist.  How?  I'm glad you asked!  I was tap dancing.  Yes, tap dancing led to a wrist injury.  I was doing pickups for the first time, overbalanced, and FOOSHed (Fall On OutStretched Hand, for those of you who aren't in AT (for those of you who don't get that abbreviation either)).  It hurt like crazy, and the next morning, I could barely move without crying.  I went up to the sports medicine clinic, and came home with a cast, because they couldn't tell if it was broken or not.  My parents were a little sheepish, since they had told me that I should just take some Tylenol and put some ice on it.  In any case, it was my right hand (and I'm right-handed), so I couldn't write then (obviously).  It healed very slowly - I went for several x-rays, a bone scan, an MRI... finally, they decided it was the ligaments, and I got into physio.  It was an uphill battle to get better.  For the rest of my University career, I used the special needs centre at the Uni to take my exams, because I simply couldn't hold a pen long enough to write two, three, or more essays at a time, and the special needs centre was the only place that I could use a computer to type my exams.  To this day, I have to be careful if I'm going to be doing something strenuous for long periods of time - I can't write for too long at once, and I have to take frequent breaks when I'm knitting or crocheting.  

So that's the story of why I can't write!  Stay tuned for more bloggy goodness!

I'm not dead yet!

It turns out that at least two people really do read my blog and care when I disappear! Yay for friends!

Here's the deal. My internet box died. I'm not sure what it's technically called, but it was the box that lived in my window and talked to the box in Shane's window across the parking lot, and allowed me to connect to his network, since he was already paying for internet and I don't get paid enough. I went away for the long weekend to Dragon*Con in Atlanta, and when I came back, I tried to get online, but I couldn't manage that night, so I wrote a VERY sucky post and saved it on my computer, figuring I'd just connect on Tuesday. I spent a LOOOOONG time on Tuesday screwing around with the computers and trying to connect, and finally realized that the problem was with the little box. I tried resetting it, but it didn't help. On Wednesday, I decided to try again. I looked at the box, but all the lights were out. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, and the lights came on for a few seconds, but then went out again. It was dead.

So we've been trying to come up with a solution. Apparently, the little box is rather difficult to come by, and we've been talking about other options, including using Pringles cans to amplify the wireless signal. Yes, Pringles cans. I need to buy some chips. So far, though, we haven't managed to get me online again. Right now, I'm in Joshua Cup, using the free internet.

I was pretty upset at breaking my blogging streak - I was over 125 consecutive posts! But then I reminded myself why I started this blog: to make myself write every day. I did save a couple of posts on my laptop before I realized it might take a long time to get online again, so I will post those. After I admitted that, though, I decided that I didn't have to write in my blog to write. So for the past couple of nights, I've worked on other projects. I put in some time on last year's NaNovel. I wrote a bit more of my play. I worked on Take Five. I've even started a little story about a germophobic vampire. So I'm still writing, even if I'm not blogging, and that's what matters to me.

But it still sucks that I broke my streak.

If you scroll down a bit, you can see the post-Dragon*Con posts :) Enjoy the pics!

Four days out...

I am now four days without internet access from home, and it’s killing me. I don’t have my own internet access, but Shane lives across the parking lot from me, and I’m using his. I’ve got an access point set up in my window, and it strengthens the signal that comes over from his place so my computers can connect wirelessly. Unfortunately, that magic box is dead. The blue light went red, then went out. Hence the lack of access.

I’m still writing, though, even if I can’t actually get this up online as I’m writing! The whole point of my blog was to write every day, and I’m doing that, even if other people can’t read it. My blog is not meant to be something that gets hundreds of hits and earns me tons of money because people can’t wait to see what glorious wonders spill from my fingertips each day. I’m not that good. ;)

Actually, what I miss most is comments. I love reading what other people say about my blog, especially my writing. And I miss making comments. I really enjoy flipping through the blog roll (over to your right! Go visit them! They’re all awesome!) and commenting on the craziness of my friends. *le sigh* It was supposed to get fixed today, but that is a no. Instead, we went out shopping and looking for stuff to finish the basement. Don’t get me wrong, that was a ton of fun (mmmmm… tools and stuff….), but I miss my internet.

*sniffle*

The parade

Three days without internet access from home. This sucks. I have so much to post about and with! Dragon*Con was awesome, and I took about 200 photos. Today’s episode: The parade!

The Jedis... there were a TON of Star Wars fans.
Chewbacca.
Two Leias... and the closer one was the least-appropriately-sized one I saw at the Con this year - I'm VERY happy about that!

So many Kaylies! (From Firefly)
The Browncoats - I've been invited to join them next year if I have any desire to sew a costume!
The Pez dispensers
The cardboard box Storm Troopers
Chewboxa.

It was a remote-controlled car, and a cool one at that!
Mad scientists - my kind of people!
I don't know what it was, but it was HUGE!!!
Mmm, zombies....
The Jayne hat!

Chinese dragons! They had three of them in the parade, and it was awesome!
Some sort of anime character. Anime is not my thing, so I have no idea who it is.
A man on a dragon!
I don't know what she was... but she was in the parade!
A kid on a dragon - it was cool and cute.

One of the Cruxshadows fairies
Cookie Monster! Dragon*Con embraces ALL fandom
I think these were the Monarch's henchmen... a few steps after this photo, they found a guy dressed like the Monarch in the crowd, and pulled him into the parade.
The 300... for the college jocks who are also geeks
More half-naked men. I still think the "300 pounds" costumes from last year were funnier.

The Harry Potter section! You can see Hogwarts students, and the tree...
More Potterverse.
The Nintendo folks, though again, I don't recognize most of them.
More Nintendo stuff... they're some sort of twin... Matt knew who they were and told me, but I've since forgotten.

It's Gingy!
The guy from that Disney movie! I can't remember who he is, or what the movie is, but I think he turns into a llama at some point... The Emperor's New Groove! That's the movie!
A whole pile of superheroes... I'm not enough of a geek, so I could only identify a few, like Superman. And Supergirl?
More from the superheroes, only I don't know who they are.
And more superheroes!

It's all about the Hat

It’s Jayne! I made myself a Jayne hat (although I have no pictures of me wearing it…), and I saw dozens of them at Dragon*Con. I decided to give you a montage, because it was just too cool – I started taking photos of all of them on Sunday afternoon. I should have started earlier! I will next year, though.

My favourite Jayne hat moment? I was waiting in line to get seats for the MST3K showing of “The Wasp Woman.” Matt and Penny were still in the food court, and I knew I’d be in line alone for a while, so I brought the hat (I started it in the car on the way to D*C) to work on. I got more photos taken of me knitting than I did during any other part of the con! And someone commented that he loved my costume – “Jayne’s mom.”

This guy is the first guy that I ran into on the day that I wore my Jayne hat: he was in the elevator with me as I went down to the main floor, and he commented on my "nice hat." Hey, you gotta stick together!

This is the only guy who gave me a pose when I asked if I could take his picture - but he was all-out dressed as Jayne, not just sporting the hat.

I critiqued a lot of the Jayne hats that I saw, trying to figure out what sort of changes I could make to my pattern to make it better. I learned from this specimen that pale hats just look like toques.

My friend Miller, wearing my Jayne hat!

Possibly my favourite costume of the Con - she didn't wear Jayne's hat, she WAS Jayne's hat!!