Maledicte

• Talked to Mom about Mexico. She said she might be able to get me a trip there for my birthday. Commence squeeing like a disturbed fangirl. Warm and toasty, here I come! Beach, oh how I have missed you. Did you guys know that like... two months before I moved to Santa Fe, I bought a bikini. I've never worn it. Clearly, I need to go to Tulum and the beach, if only to have a chance to wear this friggen' bathing suit!

• I am thinking about getting a netbook—yes, I am deviating from (but not abandoning!) my fierce loyalty to Apple—to take back and forth to school. Since my MacBook is heavy and if it gets stolen or damaged, I will probably have to commit ritual suicide. (My life is on here!) But a teeny laptop that can do internet and documents and has a little bit of storage space is perfect. So. Any suggestions? I'm looking at the Acer Aspire and this Acer AO532h-2223. But also I know that exrpan liked HPs, so I'm sort of looking at this HP Mini, one of my techy friends has a Lenovo, so I'm looking at this Lenovo Netbook, Mira has a Vaio so I'm considering this Vaio Mini Netbook. Or, I guess an Asus Eee PC, a Toshiba Mini Netbook, or a Samsung Netbook. YOU HAVE TO HELP ME OUT GUYS. The only computers I've ever worked with have been Macs. For my ENTIRE life. I clearly have no idea what I'm doing. But, uh, I guess the goal is to keep it under $400. Under $350 if you can, and under $300 would be even better. But I don't want to get something crappy just because it's cheap. SEND HELP STOP I AM CLUELESS STOP SAVE ME FROM MYSELF STOP.

• Hah. Yeah, having a period at the end of that last bit there is a little redundant. Oh well.

• fantasybigbang is doing ok. We're still in dire need of artists, so if you know someone who's an artist, please point them in the direction of the challenge. Still, we had many authors sign up, but life is getting in the way of many of them finishing, so the number of authors and the number of artists are slowly moving towards each other. I'm praying that everything works out.

• This past weekend was Parents Weekend at school. My mom came to three of my classes and said she was really impressed. We're both sort of beaming with pride at me. Hah.

• I'm considering my next tattoo. I know the design I want. I've worn this pentacle for years, and there's something about it that makes me feel safe and protected, even though I am no longer a practicing wiccan. I want that pentacle as a tattoo—but I'm now considering where. Mothers on my flist, you might be able to help with this too: if I got it on my hip, or more towards my lower stomach (yeah, sort of closer to the pelvis)... Is that a place that's going to stretch if I decide to have kids? (Oh the sort of things I think about.) I'm thinking on my back possibly if hip/pelvis area doesn't work. We'll see.

• Kind of random: I sent an email to someone about FBB, but I sent it to the wrong domain name. Right email username, wrong domain. And I got an email back! Mostly asking if I had possibly emailed the wrong person, but asking if I was in a pinch for a story and maybe she could write one if I needed. !!! I let her know that I had sent the email to the wrong person, but if she was a fantasy writer—and how could she not be with the email she had—she should check out the challenge, and think about joining in the future. So she might join up! Life is sometimes weird and cool.

• Man, that makes me want to go back to writing my Letter Game-inspired novel. Bad Sky! You already have a novel plan for this year's NaNoWriMo!

• Also, sometimes, my life is hilarious. Mostly in that sad sort of way that amuses me so terribly. My fuckin' life, guys. I keep saying this. Mostly to myself, but sometimes to other people. They smile and laugh with me, probably because they know I need it. Because really. My fuckin' life.

• For the first time in four years, I'm living "at home" with my parents. (Just a small clarification, for me home always seems to be where my laptop is.) It's weird. After I went to college the first time, my father emptied out my room and used it for his office. But since my parents' separation (about which I will not be answering any questions or talking about at all) my room has been mine again. And since I refuse to live on campus and pay for shitty food that will make me ill, I am living at home. And making my room mine again. I finally took my father's books out today. There were 15 boxes of them. My journals are on a real shelf again, and not in a box. I put my "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster up over my bed. Tomorrow my mother and I are going to look for a desk, and some curtains to put in front of the shelf I've put my clothes on. I feel sort of like a kid who just got her first room to herself—even though I never had siblings. It's weird. But fun.

• Because I was putting things onto newly cleared shelves and unpacking boxes that I've had in my room ALL SUMMER, I didn't actually get anything done today that I had planned on. Including seminar reading. I definitely need to do some of that before I go to sleep tonight since I only got half of it done yesterday and the reading for tomorrow is the entirety of Exodus. Then for Thursday I will be reading the entirety of Leviticus. It's like they don't know that some people don't read as fast as I do.

• I might have gotten a certain tricksy aspect of my life under control. (Also, my computer knows that "tricksy" is a word. Awesome.) I feel pretty comfortable about it, even though I know it's going to make my super uncomfortable all the time. But as long as I don't do anything stupid—which is the reason I've come to this conclusion really, as I think it will help protect me from doing anything stupid—I will be less uncomfortable in the long run. I hope. (Whoo, cryptic post is cryptic.)

• I've started taking diphenhydramine hydrochloride (tl;dr = Bendryl) to help me sleep. It's kind of awesome. It doesn't make me drowsy at all, but once I fall asleep, it keeps me asleep. I started taking it right about the same time I started school—so that I would be rested for classes—but before that I was having trouble sleeping through the night. I'd wake up every couple of hours and then drift off again, but I would never get enough sleep to be rested. Now, I wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready for the day. It's nice. Next time I have a break, I'll go off it and see if I can sleep again, but since it's non-addictive (except in the sense that I don't really want to stop taking it in case I don't sleep well when I don't) I don't feel too bad about taking it to help. Sleep is awesome.

• I'm going to start thinking about and plotting my NaNoWriMo pretty soon. Since I'd like to keep up with it even though I'll be in school, I need to prepare as much as I can before hand. And I need to not tell my parents I'm doing it. They want me to focus more on school this year than last—and I totally am—but I think I can do both with enough planning and preparation. If it starts looking like I can't do both, I will absolutely drop NaNoWriMo without any hesitation, and I feel pretty good that I know that and am prepared for it if I have to. Yeah, no idea what I'm going to write. (At the writing of this part of this entry, Fleetwood Mac's "Running Through The Garden" came on and it made me think about the story that I wrote based on it, and how bad it was, and how it might make a good novel, so there's something. We'll see.)

• Nyx is getting bigger and playing with everything—including my hair while I try to cuddle her!—and is just overall adorable. We're going to have to take her to the vet, something we knew we had to do after adopting her, but one of her eyes is kind of oozy, and I don't want Hank to catch an eye infection if that's what Nyx has. I've been cleaning her eye out periodically throughout the day and kind of keeping watch, and yeah, it's definitely a vet issue. Poor kitten. Vet will probably be a whole new traumatic event, and she was just getting bolder and friendly. After going to the vet, she'll probably not let us touch her for a few days. (Which she will just have to get over if she has to have drops put into her eyes for a little while. Poor kitten!)

• Long post is long!

• I'm all caught up on Covert Affairs, White Collar, and Burn Notice. (What? USA's shows are awesome, ok? I haven't finished watching the first season of Royal Pains or I'd be all caught up on that too.) I have to download the last few eps of The Pillars of the Earth and catch up on that. I need me some medieval England.

• I helped teach blues dance last week, and then did a private lesson during the free dance, and totally got told that I'm an awesome teacher. If I didn't get horrible stage fright, I would totally do more dance teaching. I kind of have no idea who's going to be helping out the real teacher when he gets back into town, but... I kind of hope it's me. I could use some practice if it gets left to me to teach next year. (WHO KNOWS.) Still, I'm looking forward to another year of awesome blues dancing.

• And once I get a car I will be able to go to all the events I want! Car is totally in the works. If calling strangers wasn't one of the things that scares me the most, I would have called some of them today. But... yeah. Phones are bad enough, add in strangers, and possibly leaving strangers a message... yeah, this is me shaking in my proverbial boots. Plus, I have no idea what to ask about when I call someone about the car they're selling on Craigslist. My dad wants to me to call them, and if we just ignore the fact that that would scare me witless, I'm not going to know if the problem with their car is minor or major. My dad's like, call them and ask them the questions, to which I just sort of go, "About what? The fuck do I know about this?" Anyway, there's this cute little Saturn that I like, which doesn't have power windows (or, I suspect, locks) which makes me crack up a little. But as long as the windows roll up and down and the heat and the AC work, I'm ok with that. There are a bunch of other cars that I have my eye on, but this little Saturn is adorable. (And, since that's totally how I judge cars, my dad should know better than to make me try and evaluate the cars!)

• And... I think it's time for me to finish clearing off my bed and then get into it with my Torah. I need to read at least 70 pages before I go to sleep tonight.

• P.S. MY ICON TOTALLY MAKES MY NIGHT.

• Twitter has been down all day. I keep getting a message that something is wrong, and they will fix it soon. I wish it would be sooner.

• I got paid, so I bought another pair of shoes. I'm down to one pair of Converse without a hole (but they're skull patterned, so I end up wearing the ones with a hole in them to work anyway) and a pair of Keds that I got a few weeks ago. Since Keds were still on sale where I bought the last pair, I got another pair. I can't wear them as often as I'd like—as I twist my ankles really frequently without the teensy bit of support the Converse hi-tops give me—but at least I will have shoes. And, again, yay sale!

• My freaking subconscious. What the fuck.

• I might actually want a Kindle or maybe a Kobo. You can pre-order the new Kindle—sans 3G wireless—for $138 now. I think it would be nice to take an eReader with me everywhere—but really I would have millions of books at my fingertips! Lugging books around has kind of been the story of my life so far.

• Today I bought a "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster that was on sale at Allposters.com—as well as Mucha's four seasons, also on sale—and found a place that has a skin for Blackberrys that says "Keep Calm and Carry On" on the back. Aaaand then I remembered that Etsy is my friend. So I bought a necklace with—yeah, you guessed it—"Keep Calm and Carry On" on it for $2.99. I... might have become a little obsessed. So what.

• My new favorite variation is "Freak Out and Break Shit". It cracked me up.

• My dad and I watched Bounty Hunter—that movie with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler in it—tonight. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie that bad, and I am counting Clash of the Titans and taking into account the 5 good lines Bounty Hunter had in it. So bad. But it was only $1 to rent. So eh.

• I might need various "Keep Calm" icons. Just sayin'.

• Feeling less fucked up today, but that might only be because I've had less time to think, really. Because...

• I've been rereading some of Lackey's books. There are certainly good moments to them.

• I want a smoothie so badly right now. But it's too late to drink the whole thing, and it would be loud to make it in the blender. Life is hard, obvs. I will just have some limeade instead.

It's definitely time to curl up with my journal and a book. And maybe tonight I won't forget to take my contacts out before I go to sleep.

• Made a new post over on Forever Nevermore: Though: Authors Withholding Info. I had less to say about it than I thought I would.

• Even though I'm waiting a month—30 days exactly from today—to get my Blackberry, I've started looking at what sort of games I can put on it. It started because I wanted to see if I could get BookWorm and TextTwist still, because those are my preferred words games. But then I found all sorts of interesting things I can get! Granted, none of the ones that look interesting to me seem to be free. D: So I will have to get them sparingly. But! Backgammon! Mah Jong Solitaire! A Star Trek Reboot game where I get to be captain of the Enterprise! It all looks so interesting. ... AHAHAHA. There's also a Twilight New Moon game. That's hilarious. Maybe you can let Bella get eaten or something.

• Thank god the Facebook and Twitter apps for Blackberry are free to begin with. Whew.

• I'm starting to get hungry. :< And it's still a little while before mom gets me from work—but from there it's grocery shopping and then home. I needs me some dinner.

• I think it would be nice to have a little more mental flailing for today and possibly tomorrow. At least then I know something is going on. Because otherwise I feel like I'm giving up, and I hate that feeling.

• I WENT A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT MY COMPUTER.

• Relatedly, I might be getting a blackberry tomorrow—apparently I am eligible for an upgrade now, who knew?—so I will never have to be without internet access again! I will never be without you, my beloved flist!

• I am going to look at the car tonight! Cross your fingers for me, please. We wouldn't buy it tonight—if it's worth it, we'll jave a mechanic come and look at it to make sure everything's sound—but I desperately need the freedom that a car of my own would bring. I might be getting a little bit of cabin fever.

• Also, via rubyd, Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel is greenlighted! I cannot tell you how excited about this I am. I'm not even going to bother with the live action movie (too many people told me it was bad) but I will gleefully look forward to this.

• I joined a really neat writing community: writerighton.


Write Right On is a writers' group with a difference.

WRO is a brand-new community seeking creative, active members to make our community the place to be. It's a place for writers to talk about the processes, problems and triumphs of writing -- and for their characters to talk to each other. We aren't a roleplaying community; rather, we prefer to think of ourselves as a writers' resource. Every week, we host a workshop session, as well as offering prompts, community help, and in-character questions to help writers get inside of their creations' heads, build up their world and eventually, we hope, write a better story.

Sound good? Join us here.
Rules || Activities Schedule || Introduce Yourself || Community Profile
writerighton officially opens on Monday, July 26 2010, but feel free to join up and post your introduction ahead of time!

• Already this week is slipping towards the not-what-I-was-hoping-for. Still, there is room for improvement, and some real possibilities.

• Plus, you know, car and blackberry possibilities as well.

• This morning I tried to reactivate my WoW account. I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or not that I couldn't seem to navigate the new account system. (And... I totally sent Blizzard an email asking what could be done...) I would only activate it for a month, though. Since that's about the amount of time between now and when school starts up again.

• TATTOO. I'm seriously excited. I haven't stopped being somewhat giddy about this yet.

• I might not go to the masquerade tonight. I don't know that I can get a ride or find a place to crash, so I might see if a friend wants to come by my house and spend the night. (Yay sleepovers!) Plus, there was no experimenting with the sewing machine last night. Not that that means I wouldn't have a "costume" but still.

• I have no idea whether or not my weekend—which, for me, starts tonight when I get off work and goes through Monday—will be awesome or not. I've got my fingers crossed. Guys, think good thoughts for me. Or, really, send hopes that I can get what I want. Hah. Still mentally flailing about, here. :o

• I called a guy about a car. 1996 Ford Taurus, supposedly without any mechanical flaws and only a few cosmetic flaws, for just $1000. I've got enough money to pay off insurance for six months, and not have to worry about it for a while. So I'm really hoping. GUYS. A CAR OF MY OWN. Oddly, having a car, might actually make it easier to get my drivers license. Hm. (I should probably see about a license plate and registration and all that.)

• It's so cold here at work. I can barely feel my fingers.

• Yesterday was not nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be—which is not to say it was bad, it just wasn't... what I was hoping for. I don't really know what to do about that. Mostly this whole situation is making me mentally flail around a lot. And as I haven't yet hit on what to do, I suspect that the mental flailing will continue for a while.

• My mother has headed off to NYC again. She's stopping back here between NYC and Haiti though, so... yay? I'm happy that things in her business are picking up and being productive. So I guess that's good.

• Guys, the place I work is freezing. The other receptionist brought in a thermometer—because she and I were convinced that it was way colder than 70ºF in here—and left it over night. It said 62ºF. When she showed this to our boss he was like, "No, I don't think that's right." Both of us were like, "...wtf. We're freezing." Wtf, I ask you. WTF.

• I discovered The LXD last night. If any of you are at all interested in dance movies and dance things, check it out on Hulu. (It's Hulu exclusive.) It's totally awesome. So far as I can tell, there are going to be two dance teams, one is Good and one is Evil, and at some point they will dance-fight! And it will be awesome!

• Also, I think White Collar and Covert Affairs premiered last night. ... Yeah, they did, and I now have them downloading, so that I don't have to wait for them to go up on Hulu. I don't like waiting. :>

• Before the summer is over, I want to go to what passes for our amusement park here. I haven't been in years and I definitely want to have some fun. (Since my dad refused to make up for being stuck in Denver an extra day by taking me to the Six Flags there...) Besides, it's not outrageously expensive, they have a few neat rides, and I think it would be fun. Clearly I shall have to see about this...

• Oh! Oh! Also! I'm getting my tattoo this weekend. I'm excited. :D

• I got stuck in Denver. Ok, somewhere between Colorado Springs and Denver. About 20 miles from our destination on Friday, my the front left wheel of my dad's car started making CLUNK-CLUNK-GRIND noises, and just when we thought it couldn't get worse, it started sounding like things were falling off the car. I was riding in fear for my life for a little while there. Anyway, it turned out all right, I'm alive, car's being fixed, and we're only here two days longer than expected.

• I'm reading Nora Robert's book Black Hills and I'm having trouble getting into it. Normally, this is not so much of a problem. Actually, the beginning was good. But now that the actual plot is getting underway, I'm like, "Why is this so hard to read?" And then I hit on it. The reason. The main female character is annoying as fuck. Holy crap, I loathe her interactions with the main male character, because she's ungrateful and annoying and bitchy, when he's being concerned for her life. Lesson one, ladies: it might be annoying when your old flame tries to keep you from being killed, but shut up and let the man do it. Geez.

• I should write something instead of distracting myself from the Nora Roberts with Arthur/Merlin fanfiction. You know, I should be productive instead of being a lazy bum.

• Our hosts here in Colorado had like.... 25 avocados here, and most of them are ripe and I've been eating them constantly with their blessing. It's delicious. Avocados are some of my favorite food, and we almost never have them. But apparently our hosts got a good deal on avocados, and are pleased to let me eat away at them. There was guacamole the first night, and avocado on toast for almost every other meal since. DELICIOUS.

• There are TV shows that will be starting soon that I am seriously looking forward to. White Collar will be starting in like... a day. And the series premier Covert Affairs is either right before that or right after that. Which looks seriously awesome. Haven I guess has started, as I found it on Hulu last night and watched the first episode. It was good enough to continue watching it. I don't know what else there is, but if there's more I'm probably looking forward to it.

• Still pretty much walking on air. Being in Denver for the whole weekend has put a slight dampener on it all, but it's still there. Things are still delightful.