Maledicte

Yep, looks like it's time for my monthly update.

• Writing continues apace! Not quite as much as I'd like, but I got stuck at one point and I thought I could skip ahead, but I realized that I'd gotten to the point of the story where the thing I skipped that I wasn't sure about was highly relevant to the rest of the story. So I sat on my butt and thought about it for a long time, and then forged ahead. So. Now I am trying to figure out how the climax of the story is going to work.

• On the other hand, I've been called up for jury duty and I have to report bright and early tomorrow morning, so I foresee plenty of time sitting around waiting for whatever to happen where I can be writing (since my first draft is entirely handwritten in a notebook). On the other other hand, I'm leaving for Phoenix at stupid o'clock Weds. morning and that's one of the days that I'm supposed to report, so... I mean, I'm not just going to not go to Phoenix and not see Neil Gaiman. I'll tell them I can come in some other time if they really, really want me to be screened as a juror. (LOL, I hate people, I would be the worst juror ever.)

• I've been trying to keep up with my knitting too. The things that I'm working on right now is a giant blanket in sock yarn (see: tiny) and a sweater for autumn/winter. But I can only seem to do a row at a time before I have to put it down and do something less complicated. Which is ridiculous, since nothing I'm doing on either (at the moment) is all that complicated. (The sweater will get more complicated soon, but I am not worried.) It's sort of annoying, actually.

•And speaking of knitting: I usually listen to audiobooks when I knit because it's enough like reading that it sort of feels like I'm managing to read and knit at the same time. And I'm one chapter away from the end of Fellowship of the Ring which is amazing! But... there are other things to do while knitting right now. Like... watch The Vampire Diaries (more on that in a moment). This would be so much easier if there were a dozen of me with like... a hivemind. I could read and knit and write and watch movies and surf the internet all at the same time. (Not to mention the fact that I could write a dozen books at the same time. I could be stupid prolific.)

• And according to the security at the court house, I can't even bring my knitting because the needles will probably be seen as a potential weapon! (I mean, my plan is to write, but I could have used that time in other ways, too.)

• Anyway, hah, yeah, The Vampire Diaries. I like it slightly better than Teen Wolf since the only saving grace of the latter is Dylan O'Brien. At some point I will make myself watch it, but right now I'm all about the vampires and their dumbass shenanigans.

• Speaking of werewolves and vampires and writing, though... Ever notice how, when you have a deadline on a particular thing (i.e.: my novel), a zillion other things you could be doing instead suddenly fill your mind? I have actually had three dreams (so far) this summer that I've thought, "I need to use this in a book." But I can't actually take the time to fiddle with them right now, because I really need to focus on the one thing. It's frustrating. I say this in relation to werewolves because two of those ideas have been wolf-related (though not necessarily werewolf related). Apparently my dreaming mind loves wolves. Not that I'm complaining.

That's basically what's been going on. Ugh, getting up early tomorrow.

• Tomorrow is the last day of the semester. Because I decided to be lazy today, I have two papers to write tomorrow. I suspect that one of them will be less than stunning and the other will likely get me at least a B, though it won't be great work. I am ok with this, as my grades are pretty good regardless.

• I was snowed in on Wednesday, and I was snowed in today. My neighbor who usually plows our roads didn't think anyone was actually living in this house, so he didn't plow me out. I was surprised to hear this since I see him walking his dog all the time and always wave to him. But! Now he knows I'm here and that he should rescue me from the snows, so all is well.

• Ironically, I got snowed in and was unable to go have snow tires put on my car. Since I was plowed out a couple hours ago, I am going in tomorrow morning for the tires. Hopefully there will be less slipping when driving up my driveway in the snow. Of all the things that are on my "Do Not Do" list, slipping off the semi cliff that is my driveway is pretty high up there.

• I am knitting a sweater. I think this is the biggest project I've ever taken on. Also, I am entirely improvising this pattern, so hopefully when I'm done I'll actually have something that functions and looks like a sweater. So far it's going well, though. I'm almost through the second skein of yarn, though that really only means that I have about 8 inches of the body from the bottom hem up. Since I want it to be a long-ish sweater and that means I need at least a foot of body before I do any shaping, that means I'm not terribly far along. But it looks like a lot so I am happy.

• This entry is sort of pointless already.

• My birthday is exactly a week from today. I'll be 23. Not a landmark or anything, and I'm not really "excited" or anything, but I might actually get to spend it with friends, so that might be nice. It'll be whoever is still in town, I think. But that will be better than spending it alone. The last two birthdays have been remarkably uninteresting. 21 I spent with my father, watching Studio 60 and not drinking the scotch were were going to drink. 22 I worked the whole day and then went to dinner with my mom, and then... Actually, I can't remember if I did anything after dinner. If I did, apparently it wasn't memorable. I'm thinking dinner with friends would be a nice birthday, so we'll see who's in town.

• I'm also leaving in a little over a week. Vacation for almost three weeks. I am excited for Christmas and New Year's and seeing friends and being in NYC. Even though I generally don't like the cold, I actually think I prefer winter in New York to summer. Summer is too hot and muggy. Winter comes with beautiful holiday windows dressings, lights, and fun. I will have missed the Union Square Holiday Market which is one of my favorite things about NYC in the winter, but at least friends will be there.

I'm mailing out holiday cards in the morning. I'll add any addresses I get between now and then, but after that, no more cards!
Request one here!

So, the knitting project that I started last night? Yeah... I decided that it wasn't right. So, I started again today. And finished the first half today as well! And it's to utterly perfectly awesome. I can't wait to finish the second part. XD XD XD (Though, I might not have enough of a particular color to make the second half identical to the first. I might have to rip back the first try to get enough of yarn. Hm...)

I am so utterly pleased with this!!