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November 30, 2004

give me a nickel, I'm done

50K in 30 days

Oh baby. I finished NaNo! And though the 50 K in 30 days is over, I'm not done with the story. Nearly there, really, just the big climax to write still ;)





Word Count Winner!
50139 / 50000 words

In case you're wondering, the nickel bit in the title is in reference to Lell's lovely encouragement and motivation of offering a nickel to write a heckuva lot of words one night when I was truly behind. Thanks Lell. You've been such a dear!

I will try to post more about it when I get myself sorted out. For now, I think I'm going to try that little thing called going to bed before 2 am.

But here's a taste:

"It's just something else to get used to. Before I came here, you know, I didn't believe anything like this could be real. I thought I was going crazy. Or my imagination was running wild," Jon said, running his hands through his hair, the coppery curls standing in disarray. "But now I find out that they were truly my memories, that I had lived before. I think I've accepted that with remarkable aplomb, really, but now you're saying that I'm some sort of magician?"

"Not only a magician," Taliesin returned. "It is the heritage of kings, the right of power. But you wanted to eschew that for normalcy, or what little you could have of it, since royalty is rarely ever allowed the chance of liberty. But even when faced with proof of the forces arrayed against you, you elected to trust in the strength of your body rather than anything mystical, the word of your advisers. Would you consider it, embracing this power within you?"

Jon looked at his hands, staring at them like he expected to see something different about them. "What could I do?" he asked softly.
"Become more," Taliesin whispered.

listening to  National Treasure Soundtrack

file under: writings

In Pursuit of the Purple Bar

National Novel Writing Month - National Novel Writing Month

The elusive green purple bar. The green purple bar of 'winning.' I'm so close to 'finishing' NaNo...only about 2000 words left. We'll see if I make those tonight, what with actually *working* at work and the Spidey 2 dvd coming out tonight...must also remember to pick up the National Treasure soundtrack, because it was fun. And maybe Hero, though I should probably wait until I see it to buy it. Ah well.

And just in case you were curious...I have been around. Just figured that if I was writing, I ought to be writing NaNo, not posting. I'm sure you'll see much more of me than you like soon enough. Silly Orgo. Test in a week! Eek!

listening to  Jars of Clay: Portrait of an Apology

file under: writings

November 24, 2004

Dear Lord, will you look at that

It's snowing. Snowing! In St. Louis! In November! Egad! Yesterday it was 50 deg outside and now it's snowing. I'd just like to point out how I absolutely love snow but detest driving it in. And I'll have to do that later.

Although, it is the large, wet variety, so it might stop soon. I love how it blew up Highway 44, just in time for us to travel down that way for Thanksgiving. Thank the Lord I don't have to travel today.

So I've got over 32,000 words...but I kinda doubt that I'll make it to 50K by the end of Nov. Esp. since I haven't done enough orgo homework. Ugh. Should do that. And am little annoyed because it looks like they turned off ActiveX controls on the network at work so I can't play any online games. Alas. I guess I'll actually have to do work. Though how anyone is getting any work done today is beyond me. Thank goodness we officially get Friday off.

Excel can be really frustrating. And taxes really, truly suck. Now onto your regularly-scheduled snow viewing.

listening to  Maroon Five: She Will Be Loved

file under: thoughts

November 18, 2004

sometimes it's funny what you find out

I've realized that I really enjoy looking things up for writing my story, almost more than writing. This is, at this moment, probably because I don't want to have to do a bit of expository backstory which is a pain in the butt to write and frankly, quite boring. But I think I've got more of a plot now. Which is good, because I'm still very much behind...like 11,000 words behind. Which is why I should be writing right now instead of posting. Ah well. You know me, the queen of procrastination.

But I did want to share one funny thing I've found on my researching...Duncan McLeod, the main character in the Highlander the Series tv show, is a fine upstanding (immortal) scotsman, right? While researching an appropriately menacing Welsh, Scottish, or English first name starting with M I found out what Duncan's name means. I got a laugh out of it. Doesn't mean you will. Perhaps I've just been staring at the screen too long.

DUNCAN, DONNCHADH, DONNACHADH: brown warrior
MACLEOD, MACCLOUD: son of the ugly man
(from 20000 names.)

listening to  Mandy Moore & Jonathan Foreman: Someday We'll Know

file under: writings

November 17, 2004

Rocks

Remember how I told you that I was really enjoying Ben Jelen? Yeah. Rocks is a beautiful song. I'm really going to have to get this album someday. Lyrics follow :)
Deidre, please, let's go...Alta Meadow Ranch (check out the rainbow), or Zephyr Adventures. But we have to find a place that lets us get our gallop on! haha. Of course, there's always the Grand Canyon. (Want to know what it looks like there?)
I need a vacation.

Strokes of dark, a brush of light, I watch you bring your canvas into light
Oh I know that's how you see the world, I know that you see anything you like
But now I'm doubting me, I know I shouldn't be but
I've been down, I've been down

'Cause it was love wasn't it?
Well it's killing me not having it
It's hard to not remember, forget it's not the same
When still you come and tell me
"Sorry I came without an invitation, just wanted to be loved"

The last perfect thing, you know that you bring me back to life
On and on and on and on, I think about you all day long, I need you to be stronger
'Cause now I'm doubting me, I know I shouldn't be but
I've been down, I've been down

'Cause it was love...

Yeah, I hear the sound, and I know that you'll be
Coming 'round, you know I'll wait for you

Oh love, it's killing me not having it
I need you to be stronger
Don't wanna hear the sound
'Cause rocks upon my window mean that you're coming 'round
And how could I resist when I think you're still in love
How can I move on when I wanna be in love with you

listening to  Our Lady Peace: Innocent

file under: getmoving , music

another day with not much to do

Chesterfield and Springfield MO made the list of the Top 100 places to live in the US. Yay MO! Homestore: Real Estate News - General - Top Cities (I still wish we weren't a red-for-republican state, though.)

I really should be writing or studying at this point, ideally both at the same time, but we all know how unlikely that is.

Wanna see a volcano?

I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving. The nice folks at Human Resources finally realized that everyone takes off the friday after Thanksgiving anyway, so it's an official holiday that we get paid for. Whee! I'm glad I already got Mom her birthday present...I am positive she will like it. But I'm not sure if I should give her two things for her birthday or save one for Christmas...Christmas will probably be pretty small this year, since my parents have quite a bit to pay off shortly. It makes me sad to hear that they're struggling. Bugger. I want a web design job so I can finance my new laptop and a greenhouse/studio for my parents. Yeah. Let me get cracking on that one.



file under: miscellany

November 15, 2004

running behind

The Art of the Lord of the Rings So it's the halfway point of NaNo and I'm only at 34%. Ugh. Also, my story keeps not wanting to be saved to zip, so if I write anything today, it will be with the hope that I start where I left off last night. Bugger. Ah well. I guess that gives me an excuse to read the chapter and a half of orgo that I didn't this weekend. Sigh. I have fallen into the trap of 'oh, there's time, you can spend a little time on ----' and then there isn't time anymore. Blast.

The orgo test comes back tonight...*prays* sigh. I really have to do better with this. I just hope that the last test isn't during the last week of NaNo. It would be pretty hopeless then. Ah well. Wish me luck!

Partied with Olga this weekend. We went to Panama Red's downtown...they had a Brazilian band playing. It was hot but fun. I danced alot. I think my knees are still hurting.

Oh, and did you notice that it's been a year since I was mugged? Strange to think that. And quite a few people still don't know that it happened. There was a spate of robberies last week in the Central West End (did you know that London boasts a CWE as well? Theirs probably came first, though) and that guy had a gun. Thank goodness my assailant didn't.

*tries to think of where she left off in Artorius Rex Novare* Screw it. I have to study. At least I have my word count.



file under: writings

November 11, 2004

glad that's over

So, the test is finally over. Thank goodness I don't have to carry around my orgo books for at least two weeks. Ugh. I think I'm going to have back problems from this class. I actually weighed both the orgo book and the solutions manual...together they only weigh 10 pounds, but carrying that extra ten pounds every day is a bitch. Ah well.
I know there were some stupid things I missed because I just couldn't think of them...I even wrote down the steps for it, I just couldn't think of the reagents needed. I could kick myself, if I could. Er. Hopefully I'll get full credit on a few of the questions. Ah, the joys of partial credit.
And on the NaNo front: I have reached 13,000 words, which sounds like a lot, but we're close approaching the 15th of Nov when theoretically I should be halfway finished. Eh. Not failing orgo is a higher priority than finishing the novel. But I think I might actually be able to do both. Who knows? I do think it's coming along quite well, but I have to try to figure out how it's going to end. I need an ultimate goal for the characters, you know? What would *you* have a boy who learns he's King Arthur reborn do? In modern times. Yeah. Not so original, but it's fun to write. It's definitely tending towards the fantastic side. I don't think I can write reality, unless it's on this blog.
I'm happy because tonight I can go home and actually *watch* tv instead of taping it, hoping to watch the shows later. I'll probably never get around to seeing all the shows I have on tape right now. A little over two weeks worth, I think. Oy. But I'll have my laptop set up out there in the living room, so hopefully I'll get something done. Yay for upping the word count! I'd post an excerpt, if I were on the comp that had it.
And hopefully MT will let me post this. Some days I hate technology.

listening to  Switchfoot: Dare You to Move

file under: education

November 10, 2004

waiting for tonight

...when the test is over. I feel like I've been under a lot of stress lately and it just hasn't gone down. On the upside, I HAVE to be out of here by 5 because they're laying tile (finally! It's actually going to look like a hallway instead of a war zone) and everyone has to be out. Yay. I'll leave an hour early anyway and head over to the library to study. Tests are hard! wish me luck. I'll need it.

I just had to laugh when I saw this line in my comment-notification email (of course I deleted the comment, but it's funny to see what the spam-bots string together hoping to make their comment sound legitimate):

Eisenhower!! Your mimeograph machine upsets my stomach!!


Yeah. Lovely.

So am I a horrible person to want to head over to King's College since I'm trying to read up on it for my NaNo novel? Sigh. London has always been a place I want to visit, but now it's much higher.

Must go study!



file under: education

November 9, 2004

not fond of this countdown

I want this! It would still let me be creative but I wouldn't have to muck around with silly things like a bandsaw. Anyone have a spare $200? Build Your Own Lothlorien Galadrim Legolas Bow. And it would be fun to have these. Cheaper, anyway.

So yeah. Little over a day until the orgo test. Ugh. Bad things are sure to happen. Last time, the Cards managed to pull a miracle out of their bag and made it onto game 7 of the NLCS. So at least one good thing came out of that day. Now, I don't think anything nearly so good will happen. And I'm horribly behind in NaNo, which makes me sad. Week Two wall, indeed. Just my luck to have a test, which by necessity has higher priority than writing for fun, during the crucial hit-the-writing-wall week. Bah. I've got the must-study-want-to-write blues. Ah well. Wish me luck.

listening to  John Hiatt: Have a Little Faith in Me

file under: education

November 8, 2004

just a reminder to myself

Oh. It's after midnight. That means I only wrote like 200 words today. Bah. I was catching up, sort of, since I had some stuff that was already written. But I figured that orgo would make it difficult, and it has.

The following song is on the first Spidey movie soundtrack, and I like it (which was surprising to me, because most Pete Yorn songs I hear I'm not a fan of) but I wanted to figure out the lyrics for once and for all. So this is mainly a post to make that nagging 'find out' voice shush.

Say the talk and I won't mind
There's a cause you know I'll never try
And I love you like the one I used to know
And if you never had the time
That's an ordinary problem
And I said I'd like to have a place to go

And you held and you tried
I could never find another
If you walk me to the car park
I won't go
To my left I saw the time
Flash and fall it seemed to swallow you
I could love you like the sister
I never had

Drawing circles in your concrete
I will know your every move
And I'll send you
I'll send you

And you held and you tried
I could never find another
If you walk me to the car park
I won't go
And we held and we tried
There was heart and lust between us
I will love you
I won't let go

'Cos we are one inside these walls
Undercover
We are one inside these walls
Undercover
We are one inside these walls
Undercover
We are one and
We are one
We are one

And you held and you tried
I could never find another
If you walk me to the car park
I won't go
And we held and we tried
There was heart and lust between us
I will love you
I won't let go

We are one (undercover)
We are one (undercover)
We are one (undercover)
We are one

Also, the song "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked is on the B'Way soundtrack, and I really love it. You should check it out if you can. If only I could go to New York and see it for myself...as apparently the soundtrack is edited so it doesn't give too much of the story away. But I like the song anyway.
Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by
The rules of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes
And leap...

It's time to try Defying Gravity
I think I'll try Defying Gravity
And you can't pull me down

I think I'll try Defying Gravity.

listening to  The Polar Express: Josh Groban: Believe

file under: music

November 7, 2004

What a random, somewhat productive day

You haven't forgotten that I'm doing nanowrimo just because I'm not posting it here, right? You know why I'm not? Because Livejournal has a feature that allows you to friends-lock posts so you control who reads it for future electronic rights protection. Since I am insane and holding out the slim-to-none hope that one day I can be published, friends lock is the way to go. I'm also too lazy to do the same to this blog, and since I have no idea who reads it, this would be a bad place. But if you have LJ, head over to artorius rex novare and comment on one of the posts you see there. I might be nice and let you in J So yeah. Been hard juggling orgo and writing, and will most likely spell disaster for both, but at least I have something to look forward to when I'm killing myself over orgo. Reactions suck!

Don't you just want to get the Extended Edition of the Return of the King? Yahoo 50 minutes of bonus footage! I DO want to sit in my chair for four hours straight! Just over a month til it comes out...I shall have it! And in about half a month I shall have HP & PoA and Spidey 2. Whee!

Onto the ickiness. Read on for more ranting. Warning: exceedingly long, because I'm tired and out of it.

So I get up early this morning to go help my dad set up for the Artist Boutique in Kirkwood. Actually manage to get there on time despite waking up about 10 minutes later than I should have and walking out the door about 15 minutes after I should have. Get all set up, and then lots of people come by, so this is good. Hopefully the rest of the day went as well. But I left after an hour, because I had to get back and gather up all the miscellaneous crap that goes along with studying orgo and meet Eileen at a café near my place. It used to be called Aesop's, but now it's the Blackberry Café. As far as I know it's the same menu (now I can say I have had baba ghanouj, and liked it) and the same owner, just different name. Eh. Weird. Anyway, I get there, I'm a little late, but Eileen usually runs quite late, so I just sat in the café and waited for her, then we went outside because it was such a beautiful day. Now, I fully intended to order something, the desserts looked good, but I wasn't hungry at that moment nor was she, so both of us waited until we'd both been there a while. She orders the baba ghanouj, and offers me some, and later a guy comes out to gather up the dirty dishes and comes over to my table (the tables outside are pretty small so we both needed one each just to have our books open) and said, "And what did you have to drink?" I said, "Oh, I didn't order a drink." Then he goes, "Well, you NEED to order one." Not remotely politely. I guess I should have said, haven't ordered a drink *yet.* I realize it's not nice to go to a place and take up a table that could be occupied by a paying customer without buying something, but I really did intend to get food--when I felt hungry. Which wasn't *yet.* So sooner than I wanted, I went in and got a soda and a pita sandwich, which was good, but not good enough to make me want to go back. Apparently that was the guy who told Eileen she couldn't push two tables together to have more room to spread out the last time she was there. Jeez. It's not like the place was packed to the gills. I did happen to hear the people at the next table over talking about NaNo, oddly enough. We had a small exchange ;) I thought it was pretty crazy that I'd randomly encounter someone in town doing it outside of an organized meeting.

So I did get some studying done, not as much as got done when we met up at the library before the last test, and I left pretty shortly after I had finished my sandwich, because I had to run some errands. Read: use my 20% coupon at Borders to get my mother's birthday present, which of course turned into much more. I got a few electronica cds to hopefully encourage the writing spirit (Amethystium, Robert Miles, Desert Groove, and, I know, not electronica, the Vanity Fair soundtrack, and the Polar Express sdtk, solely for the Josh Groban song) all of which seem to be good. Then I had to return stuff to target and pick up some essentials, like milk and orange juice (even though I had been right across from a grocery store, I didn't want to cart the cold stuff in the car with it being so nice outside) and then�I went home to study. Whee. Ugh. I'm going to die. And sadly enough it looks as though I won't be able to go to the write-in for Nano tomorrow since I've got to help my parents pack up. Dear God how am I going to learn all these reactions and still make my pages for the day? Ugh.

If you read this far, I salute you. Amazing how I can write 800 words about a lot of nothing but I'm still far behind on the actual writing. Yeah. I think it's about time for bed. Not making much sense.

listening to  Amethystium: Into the Twilight

file under: writings

November 5, 2004

it's not like we knew ourselves that long

So far behind in both orgo and nano. I'm going to die. Er. Perhaps not. Just be really disappointed in myself. So, to make myself happy, you have this pretty gratuitous music post, since all I wanted to do was waste a little time and learn the lyrics to a JM song. Regardless, I thought I'd share my newfound love of Ben Jelen, which has beautiful piano music mixed in with very nice beats (I recommend the song Rocks, which is not about the hard pieces of stone nor a particularly loud band, but a love song), Keane, which also has amazing piano and beautiful lyrics (I recommend the song Somewhere Only We Know, which you've heard on the radio, and several other songs that I can't think of just yet) and the
Graham Colton Band, who you might remember from sometime in 2003 when I mentioned that they opened for John Mayer the first time I saw him at Riverport/UMB Pavilion for an outdoor concert. Yay! They have good lyrics too. Are you sensing a theme?

As follows are the lyrics for my favorite John Mayer song right now. It's called Tracing. It's such a pretty song. I can't wait until he puts out a new cd. Can I just say that he has the most remarkable way of combining words to make meaningful lyrics?

Do you ever get the feeling
that we started in the middle
or have you ever had the sense
that we've been lying just a little
i mean come on
its not like we've known ourselves that long

and i cant say i really blame you
for being bored with the beginning
always staring at the score
just to figure out whos barely winning
but dont you know
there is a reason strong,move slow

and im okay
if your okay with
wasting time
but when we trace
you always see the bottom line

we are tracing
i hope you know
we are tracing

and if you want to know the moment
i knew that i was still alone
i found i never learned your number
i only stored it in my phone
you'd think by now
id know the shape of calling home

and im okay
if your okay with
wasting time
but when we trace
you'll always see the bottom line

we are tracing
i hope you know
we are tracing
we're both alone
we are tracing
we are tracing

did you ever get the feeling
that we started in the middle
or have you ever have the sense
that we were lying just a little
i mean come on
its not like we knew ourselves that long

More Amazon fun stuff:
Also really liking Story of the Year's Anthem of Our Dying Day. Of course, you've also heard me talk about liking Yellowcard, which is still true, because that song from Spider-man 2 rocks. Luff. And Lacuna Coil deserves some more listening, since I'm not really sure what genre that music fits into.

listening to  Graham Colton Band: Morning Light

file under: music

November 3, 2004

What a depressing way to start the morning

I can't believe that more than half the country wants Bush in office again. He's just...inept, and silly, and doesn't seem to have his own opinions. His advisors do, perhaps they should have been the ones running. "Didn't make any mistakes in the last four years" my foot.

I still hope and pray that Kerry can pull ahead, but I have to be realistic and say that it doesn't look like he will. And then I think of how awful it will be under four years of full Republican control. Here's where I fall into the trap of not being very good at articulating my political feelings. I can't enumerate exactly what it is I don't like about the GOP, other than everything seems to get just a little more expensive, a little more unfriendly. The thing is, if they control everything, if there are any problems, they can't blame 'partisan politics,' it will be their own fault.

This was such a nasty election year. It makes me sad that in a way, even though I cast my vote like I should have, in a state that was swinging at one point, but in both the presidential elections I've voted in, it seems like it didn't count. I guess I helped the Carnahan family, who sends a congressman and a secretary of state into office for Missouri. But if you look at the map, you see the cities, with their typically better educated constituents, voting Kerry, and the rural areas voting Bush. We didn't really have a chance. Bah.

It's just depressing to think that whoever is elected is going to have half of the country hate him right off the bat.

Oy. Civic duty is good and all that, but it would be nice if I could vote for the Democratic candidate that I like and have him (or her, as in the race for governor) win, without trouble.

I have to say yay for Illinois, with Barack Obama winning the senate seat...I wish I could have voted for him. He sounds like a great guy and I think he'll go far.

Katie Couric asked her guest this morning, a former Clinton aide, if Hillary was going to run in 2008. The lady said, "We haven't even picked this term's president and you're talking about 2008?" She's the front runner though. And I'm pretty sure that no one will like the Republicans in four years.

*last minute shout-out to Dems*



file under: politics

November 2, 2004

VOTE!

Please please get out there and vote today. This is going to be a close one and every vote will count.

I'd like to say I don't care who you vote for as long as you get out there, but that's not wholly true. I do want you to get out, even if you are voting Republican, but I'd really rather you vote for Kerry :) Good luck to both men. It's going to be a crazy night. Let's hope that we have a president by the end of it. Go Dems!



file under: politics