Attempted Writing

I shouldn't be doing this but I am.

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:31:32 GMT

I didn't want to set Sam on fire. I really didn't. But she's making me. She's making me and I have no choice and suddenly I have 1200 words of Sam on fire. This is not good.

In other news - we're going to Hershey today! Hopefully chocolate and Christmas happiness at Candylane can make her a little less evil. Hey, I can hope.

The evil laughter is drowning out all other noises.

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:25:45 GMT

I'm eating a Curly Wurly and setting Sam on fire.

culf must be here.

I'm also drooling over an autographed photo of John Simm that is signed "To Lauren, With Love" and so I don't hate her as much as I did for getting to meet him in person.

More details will follow. Right now, I have to look at more pictures of Wil Wheaton being a creepy clown and make her watch more episodes of The Invisible Man.

The Return of Culf, Part 1: The Reckoning

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:17:30 GMT

Because every part one should be entitles "The Reckoning." Or is that part two?

Yesterday went mostly as planned, and by mostly I mean the recurrence of another "pasty shop incident" since culf and I are incapable of meeting up without their being some sort of complication. I suppose this could be the universe's way of screaming out, "Keep them apart or God help you all!"

Mom and I went up to NYC in the afternoon so that Harry wouldn't be alone all day. Before attempting to meet up with the Evil Twin and her family, Mom wanted to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, which we usually manage to see every year, and we both wanted to go to the NBC Experience Store which is right there. Some of my favorite shows are on NBC right now and a lot of times the store has merchandise that's not available online. And oh boy, did they ever have stuff. I was geeking out for a good 45 minutes. Not only did I get a new 30 Rock shirt, but a Battlestar Galactica "What the Frak" long sleeve tee.

Oh, but there's more.

They had House stuff! See, even though House airs on Fox, the show itself is owned by NBC Universal so they have merchandising rights. I got an "Everybody Lies" women's cut tee and a House quotes tote bag which includes one of my favorite lines, "It's never lupus." Then, in the clearance racks, my mom spots a Shaun of the Dead t-shirt. SHAUN OF THE DEAD. So of course I got it (well, she got it for me and I'm getting it for Christmas), and, and...there's more!

Hidden in the corner, as if they thought I wouldn't find it, DOCTOR WHO. Yes! Doctor Who stuff! By stuff I mean four different t-shirts. But still, DOCTOR WHO STUFF! One shirt was just the current logo and another was a Dalek with the line "Exterminate." They also had "Trust Me, I'm the Doctor" with David Tennant's face on it, which I really, really wanted, but unfortunately a billion other fangirls must have gotten to it first because all that was left were men's XL and XXL which was way too big for me, even for a nightshirt. So, I settled on a shirt with the TARDIS on it. Yes, I now own a shirt with the TARDIS on it. This makes me very, very happy.

Alright, so onto the meeting up with Culf. Well, Mom and I were planning on grabbing food near the gallery before we went to the exhibit and the original plan was that I would let Culf know where we were going and if she and/or her family had time, they would meet us there. So, I texted her that morning with the address for the pub/restaurant we had chosen. I then texted her that afternoon letting her know we got into the city, and she replied.

So, Mom and I are leaving the NBC Store and heading for the pub when I get a text from her asking which pub we're going to. Assuming she hadn't seen my first text, I sent her the info again. Mom and I reach the pub and I text her to let her know. No response. I text her and ask where she is. No response. Mom and I get our own table, deciding if they are able to make it, they will. We order our drinks and our food and start eating our food with no word. Finally I get another text asking me where we are. Assuming she means where in the pub (it was a large pub), I tell her "in the back," then go up front to look for her anyway.

I don't see any Norwegians at all, let alone the one I'm looking for, and, confused, I head back to the table. This is when my mom and I begin to wonder if she's even receiving my text messages. I did try to call her, but my phone wouldn't let me call an international number. So, I have to wait and see if she'll call me. As we're finishing eating, she finally does call and, no, she hadn't been receiving any of my text messages, though we can't figure out why.

Anyway, having made contact, we agree that we'll just meet at the gallery, since her family had to be there by 6pm and it was now 5:45. Mom and I finish our food, then decide to walk there since it wasn't far. We find the gallery no problem and inside, I spot Culf's dad first (who, yes, does look like Victor Garber), so I know we're in the right place, and finally I spot the Evil One herself.

Big hugs ensue and, it being a small gallery, everyone that's there sees, and large "Awww" sounds from the crowd. She then makes the reunion better by handing me a copy of Doctor Who Adventures that has pictures of the Master and latest Radio Times. I get a big hug from her mom and her sister and our parents finally meet, share the initial stories of worry and skepticism of when their daughters first told them they had made a friend on the internet.

So, after the texting fiasco (never rely on technology) we spent the rest of the evening talking, geeking out over End of Time promos, the stuff I'd bought at the NBC store, and planning our Spaced-theme flatwarming. Several comments by both families were made, usually to the effect of "it's like their looking in a mirror" and "I don't even pretend to understand half the stuff they're saying."

Alas, the night had to come to a close and, since I had to work this morning, Mom and I had to head home. Our parents seemed to get on well, though, and now my mom really wants to visit Oslo. Now, the plan is that I return on Sunday. I told her what time my bus is supposed to come in, and she's supposed to call around that time to see where I'm at. Then, I'm going to head to their hotel and meet her there, paging their room once I get there, while her family packs and gets ready to leave. Oh, how did people communicate before text messaging?

Work this morning was thankfully pretty easy going, even though I had missed the past two days. I caught up on all the labs, all the visits went smoothly, and I was out of there by 1:50pm. We're open tomorrow morning, and it's also the day Harry graduates from Intermediate Obedience (hopefully), so I'm going to work at 8:45am, leaving at 11am, getting Harry to class/graduation by 11:30am, then going back to work to finish labwork. After that, I probably need to clean my room so that Culf doesn't die from a dust allergy while she's here, and possibly going to Starbucks.

I did finish my other two [info]martianholiday fics today, so yay! Number 1 is all typed up, proofread, and ready to go. I just need to type up #'s 2 and 3. I'll probably post them late Saturday night if I can since I'll be away from my computer most of Sunday.

Well, that's all for now. I'm sure more updates will follow, though the evil one and I aren't planning on doing much except watch a lot of DVDs and go to Hershey. Yay Chocolate World!

She's baaaaack...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:48:11 GMT

If you felt distinct rumblings underfoot, noticed dark clouds forming in the sky, or saw a statue bleeding, it's only because culf has safely landed in the US. There's no need to worry.

Yet.

I am not sick!

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:31:50 GMT

Physically, that is. Mentally, well, I leave that up to you. I've had a cold for the past two days, perfect timing with culf 's visit, of course. Normally I'd just let it run its course, but now I work for a doctor which means free medical advice! I got two days worth of free samples of an antibiotic before getting a prescription for a stronger one, and samples of Singulair and Xyzal to help my symptoms. I didn't have to go into work today as there were only two patients scheduled for this morning, so I slept 12 hours last night which helped a lot. My head is still a little cloudy today, but I should be fit tomorrow for the trip to NYC to see the evil twin. I'm working Friday and Saturday morning, and then am going back to the city on Sunday to pick up Culf and bring her back to PA where she'll stay the rest of the week. Yay!

Also wrote one of the three martianholiday fics I was assigned, and I'm pretty happy with it. It's a little different than others I've written but that was part of the fun. Just two more to go!

Now to look at the bus schedule and see what time Mom and I will be leaving tomorrow.

ETA: Oh, and can someone tell me what's up with all the snowflake cookie things? All I've gotten today are e-mails saying that "so and so" as received one. I even changed my LJ notifications and I'm still receiving the dang notifications. Are people in a very giving mood right now?

Yay for finished fic!

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:17:17 GMT

Finally, finally finished the SASG one shot today. I wasn't going to leave Starbucks until the beast was finished. It's somewhere around 7,000 words. Now to just type it up and proofread. Now I have a week to write 3 fics for martianholiday. Eep. Well, I'm not ~~kidnapping~~ taking culf to my house until that Sunday, so Friday afternoon/night and Saturday should give me enough time. In the meantime, back to the typing!

Oh, and all these new Master pics are making me a very happy fangirl. Someone please tell me there will be an emo!Master action figure. And I want the 13" Master figure this time. They've made one for everyone else, including an Ood, I think. Why not the Master? Tell me toymakers! Tell me!

Random Thought

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:35:42 GMT

Would PETA get upset with me for eating a polar bear shaped cookie?

It snowed today!

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:05:38 GMT

About 3-4 inches, not much, and it was really wet. But it was Harry's first snow! He loved it, though he had a hard time going potty because all his smells were covered up. Oh, the issues dogs have.

Oldest sister and only niece were here overnight, so I was kicked out of my bedroom and forced to sleep on the couch downstairs. I was exhausted, though, so I slept easily. Harry did, too. When you have a two and a half year old chasing you around the house for hours, it tends to wear you out.

Tonight we had a fire in the fireplace - I am good with starting fires, let me tell you - and Mom and I watched the US "State of Play." I think if I hadn't known all the plot twists already, it would have been less boring. They did have all the plot twists from the real version, and the same ending. They cut out a few of the reporters, the victims's families, and reduced a lot of the investigative work to montages. It didn't feel like they tried to cram too much in, though, and it didn't feel like they cut too much out. Ben Affleck was a good choice for the Stephen Collins role and Rachel McAdams did a good job. I like how they changed it from oil to defense corporations, and they made it partly about the death of the newspaper in the blog era. However, the Cal and Ann Collins affair wasn't addressed well enough, and there was a completely random and unnecessary (albeit very short) gunfight at the end.

I think it would be good enough movie for people that wouldn't have the patience to sit through the six hours of the original, but if for anyone who has seen the original, they'd probably just be bored since audience interest relies heavily on the plot twists (which, like I said, are exactly the same.)

Hey, it didn't disgust me to watch it, though, like some US remakes, and I could sit through it without banging my fists and cursing the heavens, so that has to mean something, right?

(culf time is almost here! Yay!)

Drive By Update

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:56:41 GMT

1) The Silpada party Mom's hosting for sister's step-mother-in-law is tomorrow evening. Ergo, I need to change out of scrubs and go help her clean downstairs. Bleurgh.

2) Mom and I had a good birthday dinner for her yesterday at a restaurant. I had a great seafood risotto, but I forgot my leftovers. Bleurgh.

3) I made mints. My great-grandmother's recipe. They were awesome when she made them. Mine appear to be...okay. How can you mess up something that's just butter and powdered sugar?

4) Work continues to be frustrating and amusing. Today I had to do an ECG on a 54-year-old man who had nipple rings. Yeah. Put that in the "please never make me do again" category.

5) New girl #2 will not be hired, thank goodness. Even though we need the people, after a week of working, one should be able to answer the phone and put someone on hold without having a nervous breakdown. Yes?

6) Only had a half-day yesterday but did not get done any of the writing I wanted to. Had to run home from Starbucks because Dad accidentally ordered a Comcast service call that I had to cancel. SASG one-shot is languishing at one-sentence at a time writing. And I still have at least 2 more scenes to write. Probably around 5-6K words right now. Don't know. Haven't typed any of it up.

7) Tomorrow - Friday! Joy abounds.

8) Exactly one week from today - with culf ! Terror abounds.

Culf may not live to see another day...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:19:23 GMT

...as I am planning on killing her in a jealous rage. This may possibly destroy my own mind due to the telepathic link, but it may be worth it. For now, I'm just going to weep in the corner as I snuggle my Master action figure. Which one, you say? All of them.

*sharpens imaginary swords for next week's visit*

But I don't want to go back!

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:26:03 GMT

After 5 glorious days off between Thanksgiving and the weekend, I finally have to go back to work tomorrow. But I've enjoyed my time off. I don't want to pretend to care about people's issues anymore! Oh well. After working a full week next week, I'll have the Thursday of the following week off to see culf in NYC, and then Wed-Friday off in the week after that for super evil Culf 'n' Dak time. And that'll be paid vacation!

I was productive this extra long weekend, though. I finished making all the changes to the first half of the novel, and got half of them typed up. I helped my mom with a lot of cleaning to get the house in shape for the Silpada jewelry party she's hosting this Friday, and I wrote more of the SASG one-shot. I wanted to finish it today, but the damn thing kept adding scenes I didn't expect to write. So, there you go.

Tomorrow I work. At least it means I'm earning money. And we'll see how the two new people are working out. At least I'm not doing the work of 3 people anymore!

Success!

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:54:56 GMT

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Iron Man
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Watchmen
Drag Me to Hell
The Blair Witch Project

Which means I now own 8 movies which I have never even seen: Broadcast News, Brokeback Mountain, House on Haunted Hill (the 50s original), Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Run Fatboy Run, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Drag Me to Hell.

I really should get around to watching some of those.

Anyway, now time to update the spreadsheet!

Today I ate, tomorrow I shop.

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:38:33 GMT

Thankfully, there was no cleaning up involved as Mom and I made the smart choice and went out to eat instead of cooking. I ate way too much stuffing and had the fluffiest lemon meringue pie ever. It was great. And I had some pumpkin pie. And some chocolate chip cheesecake. And some mashed potatoes. And some turkey. And some corn. And some carrots. And some green beans. And a chocolate martini.

Now, tomorrow I will brave the stores, well just one store, and shop. This will be only the third time I've ever gone out shopping on Black Friday. The first was when I was in high school and my sister was visiting from college. She needed to buy something at the mall so we went down there, completely forgetting about it being Black Friday until we got there. The second was last year when I was forced to work a double shift at Best Buy and had no choice but to go out.

Tomorrow, I shall go, in a valiant effort to create a DVD collection that would envy Danny Butterman's. I already added some DVDs to the pile yesterday when there was a special sale at Borders. I got Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist for $4.99, though I've yet to see it, and I've finally, finally, bought Firefly: The Complete Series, and for just $19.99! So, we'll see what we get tomorrow.

After the shopping I'm going to return home to recuperate, then head out to Starbucks around 4pm-ish, after the main surge of shoppers has died down.

Wish me luck.

Please vote for Harry!

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:40:22 GMT

I entered Harry in a Hallmark-sponsored dog photo contest. If he wins, I get $1000, plus a $1000 donation to the animal charity of my choosing.

Please go vote for Harry! I need the money. You can vote once a day until December 15th. The top entry has nearly 15,000 votes already, so Harry needs a lot of help.

http://www.hhofdogcontest.com/node/13756

How can you resist that face?

Mental illness in action

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:29:11 GMT

So, I saw a patient today. Let's call her Patient X. Now, I had seen Patient X a few weeks ago when she had the flu. She has lupus and gets pneumonia easily and had just been in the hospital with pneumonia, so she knows it's important to go to the doctor right away if she's feeling ill. She was a very friendly woman, about 30 years old, though she looks like she could be in her 20s. She had had anxiety and mild depression issues in the past, but that was well controlled now. She's known the Doc for years and years and they get on great together. She was a little shy, but she also had the flu and felt like crap. She was easy to talk to and grateful for all the help we gave her. Nothing unusual about her at all.

Patient X came to see again today after being in the hospital, again. She had to have a brain biopsy and was put on Ativan which gave her violent mood swings in the past. She was also started on a steroid which she also reacted negatively towards.

It was like seeing the mentally ill!Sam I've written in a few fics. She wouldn't make eye contact, just kept picking at her sneakers and the staples in her head. She hardly spoke and didn't want to answer any questions or engage in any conversation. It wasn't clear if she recognized who the Doc was or not. He kept asking her if she knew who he was, but she never responded. When her mother asked her if she knew who her husband was, after the third time she finally mumbled, "A pain in the ass." When her mother asked her if she knew who she [the mother] was, she mumbled again, "A pain in the ass." She had tried to escape from the hospital, too. She'd removed one of her PIC lines and had made it all the way to the elevator. The only thing that she repeated was that she did want to go back to the hospital.

We heard later that her husband did take her back to the ER as planned but while there she freaked out again and refused to be admitted.

We've had a few schizophrenics in the office, but they were controlled on medication and didn't seem any weirder than most of the people we see. This, though, you could tell something was wrong as soon as you walked in the door. They're hoping she'll be alright after the steroid and Ativan is out of her system, possibly in a week or so. Apparently this type of reaction has happened in the past. Yeah, I've read about this stuff a lot, but it's different seeing it in person.

What's wrong with meerkats?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:49:41 GMT

My mother is flipping through a magazine that sells odd knick-knacks and t-shirts.

Mom: Who would buy statues of meerkats? *shows me picture* That's just weird. Really. What person would buy a meerkat?
Me: No idea. No idea at all...

(This from a woman who won't admit that she wants a "Mrs. Gene Hunt" t-shirt but does admit she wants to time her visit to me/London next year with the next LoM meet-up.)

A much less hectic day, so lots of fic stuff accomplished!

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:26:37 GMT

Rolled out of bed around 10:30am, left for Starbucks at about 11am, and was there until about 2pm. Then I came home, took Harry to the park since the weather was nice, and then went back home. It was a good Starbucks day. Not crowded, so I got my favorite table, had a great Peppermint Mocha, and even the creepy barista acted semi-normal. Didn't work on novel #2, though I brought all the stuff with me, because I wanted to churn out some fic. I wasn't happy with what I had for the penultimate part to the Sam-Ray fic, so I ended up rewriting the whole the thing. Now I just need to edit the last part/epilogue bit and that will be another fic finished.

I barely remembered to sign up for martianholiday this year, but I did my sign-ups last night. I loved the fic and icons I got last year, and I was really happy with the fics I wrote, so I thought I'd do it all again. Now I just have to remember to go choose some prompts once the list is up.

The angst monkeys have been upset about being locked in their cages for so long, and have started lobbing bunnies at me. There's a "Sam caught in the rain, in the middle of nowhere" plot bunny that culf tossed at me, so I'll be writing that, and I've been toying with an idea for an extended series about Sam's teenage years, with fics going from age 12 to when he's accepted to the Academy. I'd have to do some research for that first, though.

In the meantime, I've wrote the first scene for the next SASG one-shot. Yeah, it's been over a year (I think) since I last posted a fic in that series, and maybe I should just leave the AU be, but I've always wanted to tell this last story, and now I've finally found the way in which I want to tell it. So, hopefully the story will write in the way I want it to write, I'll be happy enough with it to post it, and it'll be up in a few weeks. Hopefully.

I'm presumably only working Monday and Tuesday this week, thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, so I should have plenty of writing time ahead. Though, on Wednesday I need to stick around the house while the new appliances are delivered and the new microwaved installed, and on Thanksgiving Day itself, Mom just wants to clean all day for this Silpada party she's agreed to host for oldest sister's step-mother-in-law. But, Friday looks good with my only plans being to go to Best Buy later in the afternoon for the awesome DVD sales they'll have for Black Friday. I don't typically (read: ever) go Black Friday shopping, but after working in Best Buy last year, and getting a load of awesome movies like Memento for only $3-4, I want to check out what they'll have this year. Last year I didn't buy anything until later in the afternoon and they still had plenty of DVDs, so I should be alright with my afternoon shopping timeframe. No way in hell I'm going to be up at 4am to go to a store. Not even for cheap DVDs. I'm not that much of a DVD addict. Yet.

I did a lot of stuff today, and so my back hates me tonight.

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:16:18 GMT

Today was the one Saturday a month we see patients, so I had to get up and go to work in the morning. Now, I'm currently doing the work of two people at work, since the physician's assistant is gone. Today was also the doc's stepdaughter's birthday, so she wasn't coming in at all, which meant no one else knew how to process labs (not event he doc) which meant I did the work of three people. Well, today was Saturday which meant Harry had class at 11:30am. Mom had to play the organ for a special church service, so doc said I could leave at 11 in order take Harry to class. Well, out of the goodness of my heart, I told him I could come back around 1pm to finish processing the labs.

So, I went to work at 9am, left at 11am, got Harry to class at 11:30am, took Harry home at 12:45pm, got back to work at 1:15pm. Finish labs, then the doc wants to talk to me about ways to make the office run better as he says he likes my input. Well, I do appreciate that he listens to my opinions and that he is open to changing how some things in the office work, but I don't really want to talk about them on a Saturday afternoon. Not that I had much choice. So, after 5 minutes of actual lab work and 40 minutes of talking (at least it was paid), I finally get to go to Starbucks around 2pm. Stay until about 4pm, then go home, then go right back out with Mom to Lowe's to get new appliances.

See, our 20+ year old dryer decided to finally die, so Mom decided it was time to get all the new appliances we wanted - dryer, microwave, oven, refrigerator. Not that we cook. Ever. Except in the microwave. But, our microwave was purchased in 1983 (and therefor, is older than I am), our oven is pushing 20+ and our refrigerator is somewhere around 15 years old. And she wanted new appliances with the house for when they put it back up for sale. So, we went to Lowe's, quickly picked out what we wanted, and then waited for about 45 minutes until the order and delivery stuff was fully processed.

Then, we got some food, then went up to Petsmart to get stuff for Harry that I didn't have time to get earlier. And then we came home. And my back has decided to seize up and hate me after all the running around I did today.

In short, I don't like working on Saturdays, especially when I'm doing the work of three. Good news - they may have found a qualified medical assistant, which they desperately needed to do as doc's stepdaughter got a job at another doctor's office and will be starting there in early December.

Tomorrow = Starbucks and football and not much else. Thank god.

Not as bad as I thought

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:59:24 GMT

So, I only needed to have one tooth drilled, not two! After filling the one cavity, the dentist was staring in my mouth and said, "There's really no need to crack into that other tooth." So, yay! And it's not sore at all, at least right now. I did make sure to take an Aleve before the novocaine wore off, but really, my mouth feels no different than before. So, that's good. We'll see how it is tomorrow morning.

And I also managed to be a productive writer today. I got to Starbucks and clocked about 2 hours of writing. I'm sorting out a big messy knot right now at this point in the novel, but it's been going along relatively well. I can tell that I'll still have to make a lot of changes to this section of the book once the first draft is finished, but at least it makes a whole lot more sense now than it did previously. I just have to keep chugging along. I also managed to get work done on it after taking Harry to the park later in the afternoon. He was tired after playing tag with two, friendly Rottweilers, so I could focus on writing. That's twice now this week I've been able to get work done while sitting in our dining room. This is good that I can change my writing habits some what. I need to be consistently more productive if I'm ever going to get anything done. I've worked through 17 of the 26 Post-its now. Once that's done, I'll type up the changes, read the thing through from the beginning to get a good feel for it, then power on with the second half.

Not setting a goal to finish the first draft, but I will once it comes to editing. I put off editing Novel #1 for way too long. I may take a little break and work on screenplay #5 a little, then go back and start editing, but it would only be a little break. Not a big one.

Still no word from my admissions advisor. This is me, twiddling my thumbs. Still, this application is a lot simpler than when I was applying to colleges. It is nice having someone to do all the work for you, especially when you don't have to pay them.

Surprise day off tomorrow

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:13:32 GMT

I'm usually done by 2pm on Wednesdays anyway, but there are no patients scheduled for the morning, and nothing for me to do. so the doc told me to take the day off and go write a novel. And that is what I'm planning on doing, before going to the dentist at 2:30. *Grumble* I won't be in the mood for Starbucks, nor should I consume hot beverages, after getting this two cavities filled tomorrow (and hopefully figuring out why I'm still having sensitivity on the upper right side), so I'm going to go beforehand. If I wake up in time. For some reason, I've been extra tired these past two mornings, despite getting the same amount of sleep I've been getting. I blame it on the cold weather. That makes sense, right?

I have started reading "The Book of Lost Things" and I already love it. The writing seems so simple, yet it's quite elegant and descriptive, and the story just leaves me wanting more. I'll have to recommend it to my sister, if she hasn't read it yet. My middle sister is a huge reader. She has about 40 books on her shelf that she hasn't even read yet, she just keeps them in reserve.

In grad school updates, I'm waiting to hear back about the edits to my personal statement. Also still waiting to here if the scans I sent of my transcript are acceptable. I did look up my application at the website and it says both of my recommendations have been received and approved, though I'd still like to hear it from my advisor that she got my academic reference. Now, I'm just waiting and twiddling my thumbs until she e-mails me back and tells me what to do next. Thankfully, it looks like my application will be all done before Christmas, which was the goal. Once all the documents are officially approved, I'll just have to wait and see if any of the programs will require additional information, like a writing sample, for instance.

My motto lately has just been each day brings me closer to where I want to be. I have to keep telling myself that everytime an old man comes in and removes his shirt for no reason. (Yes, that man came in again today. He had been in a motorcycle accident. Though there were no problems with his chest or back, only scratches on his face, as soon as the doctor came in the room, the shirt came off. And the pants. The pants I didn't get too much warning on, but I managed to turn away just in time.)

Maybe I should eat better

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:59:21 GMT

Just had microwaved Healthy choice french bread pizza and three thin mint cookies for dinner. Now I'm stomach's a bit queasy. Hm. I wonder if there's any correlation?

Got out of work early today because the doc needed to go see a cardiologist, for himself. Don't know what that's all about but he was planning on being at work tomorrow. I'm under the impression he wasn't seeing him because he was a cardiologist but just because he didn't feel well and he trusts that particular doctor. Again, I have no idea. Just making assumptions.

Anyway, because I got off early, and the weather was nice, I was able to take Harry to the park for a little and run him around. Now I have about an hour until House, so I think I'm going to take all my writing stuff downstairs and try to work through another Post-It or two for the novel before the show starts.

And, less than 1 month until culf 's visit. Yay Apocalypse! (And paid time off!)

More writing progress!

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:48:26 GMT

The way I've been working this weekend, you'd think I'd want to do this for a living. *Sigh*

Spent a solid two hours at Starbucks this morning/afternoon, slowly working through the changes I need to make to the first half of novel #2. I have 26 Post-Its to go through, and I made it through 9 of them. So, slowly but surely I'm working my way through. Then I'll need to type up all the changes, but at least the thinking part will be done. I've been forcing myself to not make nitpick corrections to what I have so far, as that will only hold me up and it's not what I'm trying to accomplish right now.

I also made adjustments to the personal statement, typed them up, and sent them off to the advisor. My academic reference also told me she sent my reference letter to the advisor, but I haven't heard anything yet, so I asked advisor if she'd received it. So, now I'm just waiting to hear. If she does have that reference letter, than everything that's left to do (personal statement, transcript) is in my hands and I need to get it done, so that I can just sit back and wait for further instruction. I'll scan and upload the personal statement as soon as I'm done here.

Also did some shopping after Starbucks. I picked up a Christmas present for my sister at Borders, which will actually be from my mother. She just wasn't headed towards the bookstore and wanted me to use her 30% off coupon, so she handed me the Christmas lists and said "find something." I did pick up two books for myself, though. They were buy one, get one 50% off, and they were two books that I've been looking at for awhile. Plus, I have nothing to read right now except my zombie short story anthology, which is heavy to carry around. So, I got "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly and "Let the Right One In" by John Ajvide Lindqvist. They're both about the same length, so I don't know which one I'll read first.

Writing accomplished! (Somewhat)

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:08:19 GMT

Today was a 3 hour, Venti Peppermint Mocha, Starbucks day. I tucked myself in at a corner table, pulled out my multi-colored pens, plugged the iPod into my ears, and just had at it. The end result was this:

That's the first half of novel #2 - 254 pages, and I went through it all. I wasn't looking for any typos or polishing-type changes, just the major stuff that needed to be worked on. All the yellow tabs represent a scene I need to write, change, cut, or move. There are less towards the end because that's when the bastard thing finally gets into a good flow and starts working the way I want it to work. (The Master is there for no purpose except that he wanted to be, and to also remind me that Waters of Mars airs tomorrow.)

Now, the next task is to go through and actually make those writes, changes, cuts, and moves. Once all that is under control, then I'll be able to move forward and write the second half of the story.

Random Thought

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:48:32 GMT

I wouldn't want to work customer service at a firearms store.

And that is my random thought of the day.

Aren't I supposed to be writing something? (Plus, new Harry pics)

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:28:15 GMT

So I'm not working nearly as hard enough on novel #2 as I ought to be. This, I realize, is partly because I've been procrastinating and I've been procrastinating because the damn thing keeps twisting and turning away from me and while I've been redoing outlines and making fresh notes, I haven't actually been writing anything for it. So, though I say the outlines and notes are helping me work on it, they've actually been only helping me procrastinate more because really, I'm procrastinating because I'm a little afraid of going back and tackling this thing.

Well, the time has come to fear no more! I need to just dive and fix this thing. I'm printing off all 254 pages I have so far, slapping it in a binder, and grabbing my handy, dandy red pen. I'm going to rearrange the scenes I need to rearrange, write the scenes I need to add, and get the first half in decent enough shape so that my brain can clearly see how the second half is headed. I usually hate to go back and edit while I'm still working on a first draft, but this is more than editing. It's a massive overall and it has to happen. I just hope I have enough paper...

And here are some new photos of Harry. He's six and a half months old now and almost at his full size, but his coat's only about halfway finished growing. The boy still has a lot of fur to go! He doesn't have class tomorrow because the teacher has a family commitment, but he did do well at the park today. He's been having some trouble heeling (ie, he doesn't want to do it), but he's doing really well with his other commands and slowly but surely he's making progress on heeling and loose leash walking. He still has some issues with my toys vs. his toys. I just had to rescue Shaun from his clutches once again.