Movie Making Madness

I went back to work today. Apparently it has been busy all week. We found out today that our site has been selected to be open on Christmas Day and New Years Day. Thankfully both of those are on Fridays, so I'm off anyways!

So this Our Lady of the Snows trip took a humorous turn. My dad didn't mention we were going to my sister. My sister asked him about it, and he told my sister it was up to me if she could come. She calls me up, I tell her of course she can come. I called my dad and we had the following conversation:

Me: Can Kristina come?
Dad: Sure I guess she can.
Me: Why didn't you tell her that, instead of having her call me?
Dad: Goes into explanation of how this was my idea etc and he didn't want to drag anyone else in.
Me: Ok, I understand. When she called me, I told her she couldn't come.
Dad: You did what?

I should have kept him on the hook longer. The whole change in his tone was priceless. It should be a good time Friday night.

After my C drive space was whittled down to 500MB, I had a serious choice to make. I really don't have the resources to upgrade to Windows 7, and I found the culprit was my "Documents and Settings" folder bloated with over 7GB of Obaba's indiscretions and whatnots.

The truth is, I hate my C drive.  It's like a dishrag that is so very useful, but is full of  everything it has ever come in contact with. Most of the usefulness I've extracted to my other drives, by moving the "My Documents", "My Music","Program Files" "My Images" to other more creatively named folders.
The C Drive is a holdout for Windows only.
After considering the offender, I simply imagined there was a way to move it, like I had done for the rest of my folders.

As it turns out, this isn't a simple C&P. Most of the files will deny access if you try too, with good reason. 10 minutes of googled research later and I  found
a solution. There are some naysayers, but this does work:

Moving the '\Documents And Settings\' Folder to Another Drive

The following is based on KB236621 but revised for XP.

1. Open Explorer.
2. Create a new folder called 'Documents and Settings' in
your desired drive.
3. Create a new profile with administrative permission and
call it "move".
4. Logoff then logon to the "move" account.
5. Copy all the folders inside 'C:\Documents and Settings\'
(except the 'LocalService', 'NetworkService', and 'move'
folders) to the new location. (The LocalService and
NetworkService folders will be re-created automatically.)
6.
++++DANGER! DANGER! WILL ROBINSON!++++
================================================
Registry Edits are serious business! An error could make your computer INOPERABLE!
Back up the Registry before you make ANY changes. You will thank yourself for it!!
================================================
Open the Registry Editor and use Find & Replace all
instances of "C:\Documents and Settings\", including:
   • '\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Documents and Settings\'
   • '%SystemRoot%\Documents and Settings\'
   • %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\'
   • 'C:\Docume~1\'
Change them all to "*X:\Documents and Setting", where "*X:" is the drive letter you moved it too.
If you have something in a different place, "*X:" is the entire file path to the "Documents and Setting" folder.
(Personally, if there was a "C:\" I just changed it to "X:\")
7. Shutdown your computer, wait 30 seconds and turn it on.
8. Logon to the 'move' account.
9. Repeat step 6 until you get no results. That means you got them all
10. Reboot and logon to your original account.
11. Test by renaming the '\Documents and Settings\' folder
in drive C. If you can rename it then it worked!
12. If everything's OK, you can delete the 'move' account
you created before.

I now enjoy some performance improvement after defrag. I did have a few program issues, like some settings were lost or confused.
We had pizza and snuggled down in a comfy robe.

Current Mood: FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
Currently Listening to: More (東方Project) I recognized most of the songs, which is kinda scary at this point.

Alegria: I always forget how much I love Cirque du Soleil, even though my iTunes is packed full of their music and I've got the box set of their shows. I'm watching 'Alegria' for the eleventy-somethingth time.

I really like how they blend myriad cultural moods into their shows, in ceremony and costume and behavior. 'Dralion' is my favorite and the most obvious example of this, but the fact that 'Alegria' is stylistically so different from that show and yet just as engrossing shows their creative team is really inventive.

When I create a new setting for my stories I found I really love blending elements of cultures and styles together. My shiny wiki has a database of evocative graphics and lists of things and themes and movies and books and music that typify each 'cultural mood' to me. Because I'm working in fantasy, I can free-associate things that leap to mind when I think 'Russian' or 'Scottish' or 'mod' or 'art deco.' 'Wings of Avatars' started out with a blend of Indian and Celtic themes, but developed a lot of retrofuturism, medeival and early punk aspects through the course of developing that world. In the end I had a really unique place in my head I could visit. In fantasy and science fiction that I love best -- movies, television, books -- I can see tendrils of more than one style weaving together beautifully.

It's why urban fantasy is such an endlessly inventive genre to me. It's not limited to the traditional or high fantasy milieu of medeival-mixed-with-magic. Urban fantasy is steampunk, it's Harry Potter, it's 'Howl's Moving Castle,' it's 'Pushing Daisies,' it's 'Neverwhere' and 'Labyrinth' and 'Stardust' and countless other multi-layered works that proliferate these days. With its magical realism storytelling and lush design, Cirque du Soleil falls into that broad category for me too.

Mateus: Portugese rosés, while not as refined as the French ones I adore, tend to be mildly sparkling, have a more domestic bouquet and are dirt cheap but still tasty and not too dry or sweet. My parents used to drink this one, and when I got into rosé wines they were reminded of it, only to find it's still around. It's one of the few things that really alleviates the misery of my strep-turned-sinus-infection and helped me get a much-needed nap today. Another great one is Lancer's.

Also, this year's popular Coteaux aux Provence import (my FAVORITE region of rosés, Côtes de Provence have a unique color and process that sets them apart) is experiencing an end-of-season sale. Yay!

Diana Wynne Jones: Seriously, an awesome fantasy writer. Neil Gaiman loves her stuff, so don't just take my word for it. If you haven't picked up anything by her, I recommend either 'Howl's Moving Castle' or anything in the Chrestomanci series. I haven't disliked a single thing I've read by her, and that makes her unique among the authors I love. Even my favorite authors like Terry Pratchett, Tad Williams, T.H. White, Patricia McKillip and authors of my childhood classics don't have her perfect batting record with me. I haven't read them all, and many are out of print, but by Apollo's bear I'm gonna try.

How I Met Your Mother: Earlier this journal, when this was first an awesome thing to me, Neil Patrick Harris was the only thing I liked about the show, and for my tastes it fell into way too many clichés of vapid sitcoms. Because I kept watching for Barney Stinson, eventually I warmed to the other characters and the series overall engrossed me. It edged away from throwaway lines and stupid laughs and became its own unique world. Yay! Also? 'The Daily Show' correspondents showing up unexpectedly as bizarre characters made me so happy.

If only there was a way to catch up on Season Five, which is airing now, I'd be ecstatic. CBS kind of doesn't want people to watch episodes online if they're not the last two aired. Since stuff actually changes, episode to episode, I can't just jump in anywhere. Oh well.

Dance of Descent: In July of 2005 I was doing 'JulNoWriMo,' a July-long version of NaNoWriMo to try to write another novel. Shortly into the month we found out the lymphoma had spread to Derek's internal organs and he would have to stop working and go into intensive chemotherapy. As my life fell apart, so did my attempts to write, and the book foundered and died. I kept poking it with my brain from time to time, but it was a rotting beached whale of hurt and aimlessness that did not stay out of my writing. Only through sheer bloody-minded determination and desire to escape hell did I finish NaNoWriMo later that year.

I'm going to start over. It's a story I want to tell. I'm going to spend December re-developing it and write it all in January. Looking through my old files it's not as much a lost cause as I thought. I feel freed by dumping what I wrote so far.

There's a famous writer I don't remember at the moment whose process was that he'd bang out the first draft in a rush, lock it away, and then some time later write a completely new second draft without looking at the first one. His idea was that whatever bits were the best were the ones he'd remember and put in the second version, and everything he forgot clearly wasn't gripping enough to belong. I'm not throwing out all the work I did on the world or the characters, but I'm doing it with the story. As I recall, there was a lot of nothing at all happening, like the seventeen years Frodo had the ring in Hobbiton and Sauron and the wraiths were like, 'eh,' and all of a sudden getting the ring to Mount Doom was an emergency. (Really? Way to maintain dramatic tension there.)

...Except that then he waited another several months to actually leave the Shire. On this dire emergency. Time it took in the movie: if you went to the bathroom when he got the ring, chances are when you go back there was a Ringwraith all up in his business. Thank you, Peter Jackson.

Looking back, I had 19 posts in November. That is pretty darn good. Makes up for 2006 where I only had 1 November post and 2007 when I had 4. I start the new month sick. I've been kinda sick since Friday. It mostly throat and drainage. It's not getting worse, nor is it getting better. Yesterday I had plans of just working half a day, and did. Today I called out all together. Hopefully this thing subsides and soon.

So I've been working on a preliminary list for the Top 10 Events of 2009. It's the only day of the year that I've posted on each of the last 7 years. This year kind of stinks since I have to work Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. At least I'm off on Christmas and New Years Day.

This Friday I'm headed up to STL. Hopefully I will get a chance to see steelmug. In the evening my dad and I (maybe sister, dunno yet) will be headed over to Our Lady of the Snows. I think we'll do dinner over there, then look at the lights. I put my little Christmas tree up yesterday. I have a strand of lights on it, but for some reason there was another strand in the box. There is no way you can get 2 strands on that tree! There is also ornaments and tinsel, which I haven't put on yet. Part of me thinks I'm going to get hit hard with the absence of Sarah around the holiday. Then I think back to last year, and we didn't put the tree up.

Sometime this month I'm hoping to get a chance to go see "A Christmas Story" playing at the Rep theater. I would love to see how that gets translated onto stage. Maybe I'll shoot for the 11th or 12 for that.

One last thing, does anyone have plans for New Years Eve? I couldn't get up to STL until at least 8 that night, but as of now I have no plans. Just a thought, we have a whole month to figure out what is going on.

...than having deadlines be later than you thought?
Almost nothing.
Now I just need some fscking sparkling cider........!!!

I just noticed that my last Memory Monday (#23) was on the 23rd of the month. Good planning huh?

So black Friday is past, Cyber Monday (if you believe the hype) is today. That can only mean 1 thing: Christmas is approaching. Growing up we had a way to countdown to Christmas. Hung on my door and my sister's door was a long fabric contraption with many ties. You would tie a small piece of chocolate (usually a Santa shaped piece). Each night before bed you would eat one piece of candy, showing you got closer to Christmas. I can't find a picture anywhere of it, but the picture below will give you an idea.



It didn't have any numbers on it, and had more than 12 spots. I think it had closer to 25. It was always a nice way to end a day by eating a small piece of candy and knowing that Christmas was one day closer

I certainly hope this is true.

"BATHROOMS IN BRITISH RAMADA INNS ARE STOCKED WITH COMPLIMENTARY RUBBER DUCKIES."

Today was slow at work. We had a very staffed help desk thanks to our four new agents. They seem to be doing great. One of the team leads, Angee B, had her prediction pencil out. According to her, for the last 8 years it has predicted how many kids and what gender they will be with 100% accuracy. She hovers it over your wrist and the movement "clues her in" to this information. She tried it on several people that already had kids and it worked. I'm pretty certain she did not know this information ahead of time. So later on, she did the pencil thing with me, and according to the pencil I will have no kids. Take that for what it's worth. Angee then asked me if I can have kids. That question caught me off guard. As I told her, as far as I know I can have kids. I don't think I'll run out and get my boys tested, although it would be funny (and highly irresponsible) to have a kid just to spite the pencil.

Tonight I went out and bought bottled water. I never thought I would be the type to do that. Actually I wanted it more for the crystal light singles I bought. 10 calories a pack is a whole lot better than most other things out there. The last couple days I've not been feeling well, it’s been generic cold symptoms. The part that bothers me is that it has been steady. I wish it would get really bad then heal, or just go away. So that last couple days I haven't been eating a whole lot, but I've been keeping track of what I've been eating. Don't know if this will lead anywhere, but it's kept me entertained.

Computer is defragmenting right now. After the analysis, it told me it didn't need to be defragmented. I went ahead and did it anyway. It's been running for half an hour and is only 14% complete. Sounds like some fragmentation there. Not much else to report, I have my Memory Monday lined up for tomorrow. Just hope I remember to post tomorrow:)

Wings of Avatars:



So for the record, here's the total number of words I wrote for this year's National Novel Writing Month, midnight November 1st to 4:26 pm November 29th:



It's over. A year and two months of work and second-guessing, of false starts and restarts, of re-evaluation, of two mad thirty-day writing challenges one year apart, of feelings of failure and apprehension and hope and sickness and struggle. Now I rest, resist the urge to go back and read it in this vulnerable post-novel state, and in a while, the editing, the gentle reading, and the hope that when I'm done, it's enjoyable.

I can't tell if I'm sadder about those characters who lost their lives over the last year, or that the journey is over and I'll no longer wake up knowing I have to find out what happens next to all these people I've grown to know, in whose shoes I've wandered. At least I finally finished a complete story, four years after the last one I completed, two weeks before Derek died. I thought I'd feel more accomplished and proud of myself. I guess it's time to write something else.

That is, after I cry a bunch and do all the things I put off to finish this today, like dishes and laundry. Time to finish the prosecco and be productive in tangible ways.

I was asking a few people about this, do you realize that the end of the decade is almost upon us? The decade which began with the Y2K scare is almost over. Very freaky if you ask me.

On to Thanksgiving. It was small this year. I would venture to say we had about 15 people total. Dad brought a gooey butter cake which was great as usual. I noticed I posted a few years ago how I wasn't a fan of the homemade stuffing. I don't know what I was thinking then. The stuffing was great, and the rolls as usual were to die for. The Cowboys won this year, which made Richard happy. We played pictionary. I seemed to get some hard things to draw, the hardest of which was the action slow motion. Too bad you couldn't mime. I got down there around noon, and dad and I headed out about 6. I stayed the night at his place, and then got up early Saturday to go shopping. NOT!

You couldn't get me anywhere near a mall yesterday. I did go to the bank, met my sister and Brian for lunch at Wendy's, played some video games with my sister, then did dinner with Sarah. Was going to stay for the D&D game, but I wasn't feeling great. In fact, I'm still not 100%. I headed back, took a nap, and was going to play the game via Skype, but nothing ever happened. People showed up late, they had technical difficulties, so I called it a night.

I was thinking about going in for some OT today, but then realized the way the pay structure works, it wouldn't be overtime since Thursday gets grouped as holiday pay, not part of my normal 40 hours. I still may go in a bit if I feel up to it. I'm sure I'll have to take some regular calls again tomorrow (Sundays suck!).

That's all for now, I need post these last couple days of November. Seems that all my November posts end around the 28th. I want to make sure I have something to read this time next year, when we are in a new decade!

Wings of Avatars:



Other relevant numbers: 25.5 of 27 chapters done. 3 scenes remaining. 61,523 words since November 1st. 3 days left to finish.

(Stay on target!)

Right now, I have overdue homework to do.
Pretty soon, I need to do a lot if I want to catch-up, stay on top, and get ahead...
Graduate school applications are closing in; one is due almost immediately.
Right now, that application is going to be half-empty, with "forthcoming" written on it.
Pretty soon, that professor of mine will have to deal with me fluxing a schedule.
Graduate school makes me think of all the pretty housing opportunities.
Right now, I am watching Ouran while eating super-cheap awesome exotic fruit sorbet from Publix.
Pretty soon, I should sleep but I won't.
Graduate school is corrupting my mind with a wishlist of expensive toys.
Right now, I'm rather normal, but pretty soon I'll be in graduate school?
For all this, I'm thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

(Aside: today was really freaking sad for me, which ruined my work schedule; other students know what I'm talking about. I think he'd want me to continue on like THIS though!!!)

I want verneers of wood for MY manuscript sheet-covers.....(!)

Just read last year's post from this day. It was a bunch of random things going on. Strange how much a year has changed some things, and some things have stayed the same. If you want help interpreting this post, read last year's post here

1) There are 3 people on my original team from when I started. The rest have been fired.2
2) Not been putting in as much OT as I did when I started. Evelyn and Zach no longer work at the company either.
3) I can't believe that happened a year ago, seems like just a couple months.
4) Aunt Evelyn is still in the same state from what I know. I don't think she will ever get better.
5) Downstairs neighbor has had several more signs on the door saying she can't get out of bed due to sickness and isn't available for company. I haven't seen her husband in ages. I had hear from someone else that he wasn't doing well.
6) Neighbors still rock.
7) Yahoo answers was a fad. I haven't logged on to answer questions in a long time.
8) I will be headed out highway 8 again this year for Thanksgiving. The big question is will I be headed back to Farmington afterwards, or going to STL?
9) I still check failblog most days. I have the feed on LJ friends page, so its easier to look at people failing.
10) Last year I said it was just wrong to end a list with 9 items instead of 10. I still believe in that theory and have put # 10 on this list to make sure that point rings home.

Wings of Avatars, Part II:



Of the four events that comprise the climax of the book, the two (relatively) small ones have occurred, and the next scene will be a rather long treatment of the landscape-altering third that is more or less the entire point of the book, with the fourth (or hellish aftershock) occurring two scenes later. There will probably be four scenes in two chapters of resolution to tie up over 100,000 words of character arcs and world-altering events. ( Writing is a drug, and I'm jonesing. )

Edited to add: Oo-oo-oh, what a little tea and painkillers can do!



All right! Goal one of two reached! Here's the rest of the plan for National Novel Writing Month.

Chapters:


Based on the average length of all the chapters so far, here's how I've estimated the total length of the finished book (both parts!) and how close I am:



After each successive chapter I finish I'll re-estimate the total length, so from now on this will be the bar you see until I have plonked down the last word and the two word counts match exactly. I know in the eyes of NaNoWriMo's computers I've won, but way more important to me than getting all the words is getting all the story. Three of four climactic events down! Next one happens next chapter!

The Confrontation: I've always liked this song. I saw OKGo perform it opening for TMBG a billion years ago, and that was the first time I heard it (shut up, yes, I still haven't seen the musical!). I've heard various snippets throughout the years and have concluded that this is by far the best:

BUT... it's not the full thing and there's laughing which takes away from the dramatic 'oomph' of their performance. I want a really good powerful dramatic version of this, but there are so many versions and MP3s out there and all I can get are 30-second snippets so far. So, guys, I have a request! Any Les Mis fans out there have a favorite? The thirty seconds I get of the Original London Cast recording sounds pretty sweet, but the orchestra in the thirty second preview of the 10th Anniversary Concert is smoking. Yet I'm way more interested in the vocal performances, because I think they carry the most dramatic weight in this piece and define whether or not it blows me away. Help?

The Thanksgiving tradition for most of my life has been going to a relative's house. Most of the time it is my mom's cousin Dorothy's house south of Jeff City. One year I remember Chris and Mary had Thanksgiving (right after they moved into their new house). I can't tell you exactly when we started going out there. If I had to guess, I would say somewhere in my early teens. Prior to that we used to have Thanksgiving at our house. I have several fond memories (which probably span several years worth of Thanksgivings) of Thanksgiving at our house. I remember getting up and watching the Macy's parade. Mom would start the turkey mid-morning and would work the rest of the time getting everything ready. Dad would go and pick up grandma (his mom) and Cecilia, who was somehow distantly related. I can even remember one year it snowed while we were in the dining room eating dinner. It was one of the few times we ate in the dining room (as opposed to the kitchen), and used the nicer table settings. Those were back in the days where everything was nice and simple.

Yo!
So, now that I'm working on (slightly?) more fun endeavors for school, I have the brain cells to think about OTHER THINGS (le gaspez!).

I got the idea from another LJ friend: do you want to get a holiday card from me? Comments screened (or give me an LJmsg), so drop me your address. I should be sending them out Dec. 21 or so. Everyone will be getting a unique card made specifically for them between Dec. 16 - 20~!

Also, anyone interested in looking at my thesis (specifically, at the end of this week, my graphical summary of the thesis...) please let me know, feedback is currently all I can do~~! (....and formatting. Oh lord, the formatting...)

Stupid sheet music store. If I don't have that stuff by week's end, I'm going to be seriously annoyed. I think I need to find a new supplier, which is just all sorts of bothersome.

I've been turned into an internet MtG player. I dunno what to say about that. Wow?

I just e-mailed in a .pdf that makes up 300 days of work.
There are still things to do this week.
It all PALES in comparison to what I have been doing.
Then I get to do some final revisions.
I already feel like a million bucks.
So tired....

SO GOOD!



....the sheet music company I like is being stupid. Also I think I need to buy reeds but I owe a friend money for stationary (big time). Oh, whitelife. Oh.


I want to do a meme. After I sleep.

Wings of Avatars, Part II:



The Third Man: I'd explain why this film noir classic is awesome, but I'm too out of words to do more than a list: acting, writing, Joseph Cotten, Orson Wells, zither, cinematography.

Just cooking some stuffing for tomorrow's help desk Thanksgiving celebration. Tomorrow our 4 new HD people also start, so that is exciting. I got stuck taking calls for part of the day (3.5 hours to be exact) again today. I don't understand the logic. Yes I know our staffing level is low compared to what you expect for call volume. But when we have 2 minutes between calls, I would say your predictions are a little off and need to be revised. During the time I got my D&D books out of the car and worked on my Lumi a little more. I also tweaked Sarah's Japanese flash card program so now you have the choice of whether it shows the Japanese or English words first.

I had an interesting surprise yesterday. I had made tacos. I do this a lot, no surprise there. Instead of the usual 4 cheese blend I usually pick up, I picked up a Mexican Taco Cheese that Kraft makes. Turns out it has taco seasoning in it. I would have known this if I had read the packaging. On tacos, you can't really tell because of the seasoned meat and salsa. Usually I will use the cheese for other things (breakfast burritos, salads etc). I don't think the taco seasoning is going to go well with either of those. I like my old cheese better, it's more versatile.

I think the best part of making stuffing is the quality sampling after each load made. Hmm, and my computer seems stuck on 90s 1 hit wonders. "Lovefool" by the Cardigans, "She's so high" by Tal Bachman, "Hey Leonardo" by Blessed Union of Souls, and "Closer to free" by the Bodeans. I know the Point had a way back weekend, I didn't realize they told iTunes about it.

I don't wear hats. It isn't some anti-religious reactionary thingy, I just DON'T unless its a religious gathering. Um. Why do people think this is weird? It can't be stranger than "I think scarves are stupid (my best friend)" or the boxers/briefs debater or WHATEVER, but people keep commenting its weird that I don't wear hats. Insult/injury: getting an earful from an AIRPORT DRESS SHIRT SALESWOMAN. All I wanted were some collar stays!!! Stop recommending me hats when I'm GETTING ON A PLANE.
For that matter, the difference between wearing a wrinkly or ironed/starched shirt is staggering; security treats you like a different species. I've flown hundreds of times, but until now, I was always a minor, untouchable, innocent, whatever. Weird stuff.

Before the end of this weekend I will have a text block with musical examples totalling 125 pages or so (double-spaced); by the end of this week I'll have some ridiculous appendices to it as well. The end of the following week, I will have edited this with faculty-recommended revisions. It is an insignificant piece of my life, and yet it is a ridiculously huge deal in my brain/heart. I.... just wow! I'll be posting up a PDF of my thesis when it is all ready to go~

Oh, and McDonalds doubling their prices in the airport is sheer genius/sadism. I should stop slashing that, before I start mentally associated overpriced crappy food with........

I got my car back this morning. They had to replace the halfshaft , which is hooked to the axle. They also realigned the front end. I may be headed to work later today to see if any overtime is available. This upcoming week is a 4 day week for me since I'm off for Thanksgiving. Why is it that Holidays always fall on days that I already work? I have a 4 day week and 3 day weekend and I'm getting paid for 5 days. What is the problem with that you ask? If Thanksgiving fell on a day I already had off, I'd have a 5 day week but get paid for 6 days. Maybe this is a grass is greener thing. I'll let you know after Christmas, which is on a day I have scheduled off.

I'm glad the car is taken of. If it hadn't been, I wouldn't be going to Thanksgiving with the family. I take highway 8 to St. James and head north from there. Highway 8 is beautiful, but in that 70 mile stretch there are only 2 towns. If anything would have happened to me, at least I would have had nice scenery to walk in.

Something else that crossed my mind recently. I've known this for several, but I don't think I've posted about it. In James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" the line "She could see from face that I was flying high" is a radio edit. The original has fucking instead of flying. Just thought I'd pass that along in case anyone was interested.

Gaming last night was cut a little short. Rodger cut out early since he is working days. Clarance gave me a lift home. He also approved my Lumi character for his game. I may work on that if I have some time today. That is all for now, have a great day everyone.

Wings of Avatars, Part II:



Three-quarters of the way to the 50,000 word count (also known as goal one of two, number two being the end of the book). I have five and a half more chapters with a total of thirteen more scenes to write in the next ten days, and I can usually only manage a scene a day. I'm trying to keep my perspective just on what I'm writing next, keeping blinders on so I don't freak out about how much more I need to write.

Usually when I get to the climax I get a burst of speed and the resolution comes really easily. There is a lot to resolve. This has been a two-year project, with part one being last year's NaNoWriMo. Five viewpoint characters and five secondary characters, and epic lore that's going to affect the whole ongoing world I've been working in for seventeen years.

Here's the whole book's wordcount, with the minimum wordcount goal to hit 50,000 for part two:



It's reassuring to look at it like that, and to realize that however far I still have to go this month, I have come a long, long way already. I'll make it, right?

Tea: I'm good at making up lots of words, maybe not necessarily good ones, and maybe too many. I'm also good at tea. I love doing it. I love sharing it. I love coming up with new ways to make each tea special and unique.

This time for sandwiches I branched out from my usual cucumber, egg salad and croque monsieurs. The first two were there, but I added in grilled turkey and cheese, pastrami reubens with fontina, egg/tomato/chutney, bruschetta sandwiches (mozzarella, basil, tomato, balsamic vinegar and olive oil on toasted bread), and took what I learned from Peanut Butter & Co. about making gourmet peanut butter sandwiches. I want to share these with you since grocery stores have started carrying Peanut Butter & Co.'s eclectic PB flavors and you can probably duplicate these without having to order the PB from their website:

1. dark chocolate peanut butter and sliced strawberries (FOOD PORN)
2. white chocolate peanut butter and orange marmalade
3. cinnamon raisin peanut butter and apple butter
4. 'The Elvis' -- banana, honey and plain peanut butter

I'd been wanting to do a peanut butter tea for a while with these specialty peanut butters. It worked out better than I'd hoped, although it seems the bruschetta sandwiches were the winner because they vanished almost instantly.

Since I love sandwiches with a passion it's awesome to find new recipes and innovations between breadtangles and take those ideas to my teas. egbert826 came up with the brilliant idea of putting strawberries in the pink prosecco I got for this particular tea and it was amazing! The other ladies brought really interesting new teas I'd never had before and some homemade jam made out of a billion types of berry. By the time we got to the dessert course of truffles and cookies we were stuffed. Yum.

Sometimes I like to dream that I own a tea room where I share everything I love about tea and sandwiches, and it's part of a store that sells velvet clothing and furnishings year-round that I cull from various retailers, secondhand shops and make myself. I seriously, seriously doubt I'd ever do it for a number of reasons, but the little imaginary haven of elegance can exist forever in my mind. I think I'll make my imaginary store a Holly Yashi retailer and also sell triskele jewelry. I think I'll call it Tea & Velvet. It does what it says on the tin. Imaginary customers who love tea or velvet or both would think, "Hey, really?" and the store would say, "Oh yes, really."

Time is acting all weird for me. During the week, time crawls by. Seriously, I can't believe how slow work goes. It's not like we're slow (well the agents were yesterday). They've introduced a new program called Knowlagent. Basically it's short 15 training courses you do at your desk. They have some that are scheduled, or they can pull people off the phone in slow periods to work on the lessons. They have had some hiccups with it. The biggest one has been the pop-up blocker. Work has one installed on all the computers, but this program uses a pop up to tell you when it's time for a learning session. I'm sure it will all get worked out.

Speaking of computer stuff, I just finished creating a short easy program for Sarah. It is a flashcard program so she can learn some Japanese. She inputs the Japanese and English words in a text file, and the program generates the Japanese words randomly. You click and the English equivalent. Future upgrades will include an option to get the English words and click to get the Japanese equivalent, a multiple choice "test" part, and maybe a section where it will show the symbols for the words. It's fun, it's educational and it keeps me busy.

Today has flown by. Right now my car is in the shop getting repairs. I'll have to get the exact name of the piece, but it has something do with the axle that needs replacing. I dropped it off, walked home (with a stop for lunch at the Pizza Hut buffet). Hopefully should have it here in a few hours. Tonight is the Zombie game at Chris's place. I'm going to be dropping out of that game soon. I'll be running a D&D game down here, and playing in Sarah's game in STL, so something has to go. Clarence is also running a D&D game on Sunday nights. I'm hoping he'll let me play a Lumi cleric/Church Inquisitor. That would be bad-ass. Before I know it, it will be Sunday again and time will start crawling. At least it's only a 4 day week for me.

I happened to be thinking about Hagane and listening to news coverage about the Health Reform debate and it hit me something likely unintentional about the series, but very symbolic of this issue:

This is the Flamel, as it appears in the series:

It is a variation of the Rod of Asclepius and Serpent Cross, symbolizing healing, wisdom and alternatively victory over the devil. What is obvious is the resemblance to the symbol that is referenced all over medicine and those that practice it. It is ironic that this symbol is used as an alchemist in reference to the series is much of scientist or doctor, typically understood to be secular and seekers of truth through research and science. But this rare instance, (there are only 3 characters that bear ths symbol), are worn by those that came to realize that even with all their wisdom, some things can only be achived by God.

I found this to be the health and human side of health reform. A physisian uses their skill to heal others. It is a task they know is full of uncertainty sometimes, but they do what they can, and what they can't is in God's hands.




It is a known symbol of perpetuation and cycles.  In the series however, it is worn by those that work to the ends of their own means. While they run things behind the scenes, they may take care to make sure the populace is content with the status quo The many that die are consider nessecary sacrifices for their long term existance, even if each death only sustains them a short while.

I likened this to the insurance industry.  Capitalisim in America is fine when there is a human conscience behind it. But when an industry is completely for profit, people become little more than a crop for harvest.
Customers become $$ and this detachment allows a cycle to continue.




There is a lot of fight over Health Reform at the moment, most coming down to either politics or a irrational fear that a change in what we know currently isn't working will get worse. Without the burden of a struggling economy, why isn't universal coverage currently the status quo now?  It's been stalwarted for years as corporations gained a foothold that makes enough profit to lobby for their interests to be considered over human health concerns and needs. The President saw his own mother deal with this cycle and made it a priority as premiums are projected to climb cripple Americans economically over the next 20 years.
A child is born into this world to a young mother who was resticted from Planned Parenthood counseling via the same movement, yet unable to save an ill child due to a pre-existing condition that isnsurance won't cover.

Job 13:16, "an hypocrite shall not come before Him."

Let's keep that in mind, shall we?

Current Mood: Reflective
Currently Listening to: "Beloved Tomboyish Daughter" from Touhou Project