So it looks like I'm not finishing NaNoWriMo.

But, but! There's still like 29 hours left! And you ONLY have 18,500 words to go!

Yes, but, reality has weighed in that I am tired, and that there's work tomorrow, and I've been pushing myself pretty hard all month and I feel rather worn out. I mean, damn, a lot's happened this month, to me and to people I know! I just got back from a 4-day free-for-all in Northern NH, where winter decided to visit early and kicked out almost a foot of snow. This left my Saturn struggling up a seemingly endless slope, which we finally conquered, only to get stuck in traffic caused by an accident, only to finally get home and watch the lights flicker until power finally gave up the ghost around 8. (And all our Farmville strawberries withered - the travesty!)

What I did accomplish, this Novel Writing Month - is the start of something that I hope will be good. And I do intend to finish it - I am giving myself the goal of writing another 25k words a month until the first draft is done. And while a lot of what I've written is crappy, I think there's quite a few good parts too, and overall it's a silly plot but it has potential. So, I will continue on! And one day I will have something to show for it!

(hopefully!)

Hi Guys,

I'm nowhere near the second part of my novel yet but I need some ideas for it, namely, places.

I need a whole bunch of places, anywhere in the world!

Where would you like to spend one day, anywhere in the world, that you could?

Where would it really suck to spend one day?

Where would it be interesting or exciting (in a possibly dangerous way) to spend one day?

I guess I am looking for wacky places, busy places, poverty-stricken places, beautiful places, harsh places, remote places... anywhere really. I've already got a few in mind but I could use many more!

Thanks guys!
-Stace

Hey there, I need help with some names in my NaNo novel!

My main character's parents need first names! They live in St Johnsbury, VT, the father is of Austrian ancestry and the mother of Irish, and their last name is "Wolfer" if that helps at all...

(yes, my main character is named after my mom's best friend Suzy, and has Heather's last name!)

Evan the minor character journalist needs a last name! He is white, that's all I can really tell you. In fact, if you can think of a better first name than "Evan," throw it out there!

Ah, that's it for now... so far I'm doing pretty well. Liz asked me "who is making you do this?" and I suppose the answer is myself! Or, more specifically, the part of me that hasn't given up on my childhood dreams of being a famous author just yet... haha, we'll see how that turns out. But this would be the first step. no?

And Beth, if you're looking for a word processor program for your laptop that had spell check and other nice and shiny things, try OpenOffice.org! It's like Word, but free, and doing quite nicely for me!

"Let there be SONIC!"

Apparently this opened in August, but I just found out today, thanks to my wonderful coworkers.

So who's up for a trip to - where the hell is Peabody - oh jeez it's all the way up there? Well, sure beats driving into freakin' Amish Country to get this stuff. (Oh, but it's SO. WORTH IT.)

***

This weekend was awesome! Dave and I made Thai food, visited Clyde's (where we partook in both hard and soft cider), watched some good movies (Balto and half of Dances With Wolves), survived football fans while eating wings and tacos, and even tried out the new Longhorn in Waterford.

And Dave gave me a laptop!! This will surely come in handy for NaNoWriMo (I am seeing lovely afternoons in Brewed Awakenings, typing up my novel where everyone can see me being hip and cool and authory, in my future) Now I just have to get used to the thing!

Back from a weekend baking apple cakes and three kinds of lasagna with my mom in NH! We also made a puzzle, which from sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning has lost a piece - I'm blaming Fred!

Hung out with my dad as much as possible - since they are short a cashier, he's been working doubles all weekend. I don't know how he does it!

When I left Twin Mountain this afternoon, it was cloudy but precipitation-free. Then around mid-NH it began to rain. Upon entering Nashua, it changed to snow! Come on now, this isn't supposed to happen as you head south! These shenanigans continued up until I reached Rhode Island, where it became rain again (as it damn should be, in October!)

Also, I hit 150,000 miles while driving on 495 (somewhere near the Mass Pike). Go Saturn, go!

Now to lay out my plans for the rest of the week... a few phone calls to be made, but for now it's time for Lean Cuisine Dinner Extravaganza!

Hell yeah, it impedes me!

I'm worried people will finally see how much of a WACKO I am!

This brings me to the point of... NaNoWriMo! I'm officially signed up! Me and Maura, we're totally going to do this! You should too, because BOOKS are awesome and YOU are awesome, therefore a book by you will automatically be made of win!

I think I've settled on the plot (out of about 7 or 8 random plot ideas I've accrued over the years) that I will use. I picked this one because I think I can have a lot of fun with it, I actually have a good idea about how it will end (very important, and very hard for me to do!) and will give me lots of fun ways to ramble on if I'm falling short of that 50,000 word sweet spot.

So what is it? Well, don't want to say anything yet, in case I change my mind again. Don't worry, you'll probably hear more than you'd like about it by the time this is through.

I'm hoping I will just let myself relax for this and let the silly story flow!

The Scituate Art Festival was a lot of fun today! Gill, Maura, Pat, Kate, Kate's boyfriend John (whom we met for the first time today - he seems really cool!), Dave, and I all headed down there today. Brendon met up with us there, too. As always there were lots of vendors and LOTS of people shopping! When you hear numbers like "approximately 200,000 people visit each year," it sounds quite unbelievable, but then you see the crowds and the sheer size of the place and it's suddenly very plausible.

Everyone was hoping to see "the penguin guy," Greg Stones, and sure enough, he was there. We bought a wide variety of cute prints with titles like "Zombies Hate Hippies," "Penguin Vs. Reaper," "Goodbye Boyfriend," and "12 Penguins, 1 Cannon." I actually didn't pick any up this year; two's enough!

I did buy a pretty photograph of a Japanese pagoda during sakura season - so now I should probably hang that up AND the picture I bought last year! And the print I bought in Cape Cod in May, and my poster of the cranes, and the hermit crab drawing Heather sent me last birthday, and the two flower paintings I bought in New Hampshire... by the time I hang them all up it'll be time for me to move.

Also, Maura and I have entered a pact to both do NaNoWriMo this year - so I better pick a silly plot idea and start thinking things out a bit!

This weekend is supposed to be a long weekend, but I went into work yesterday, and we don't have tomorrow off - so really it's far too short for me! Well, I'll make the best of what time I have left tonight...

Odd things happen before dawn...

I stopped at McDonald's this morning for an Egg McMuffin and a coffee. The woman working the drive-thru asked me, "Have you ever seen Labyrinth?"

"Uh, yes."

"You know that woman, who plays the main character? With the dark, curly hair?"

"Um, yes, not sure what her name is though..."

"Well, you remind me of her! Especially your eyes."

Well, I must say, my memories of Labyrinth are a bit hazy (except for David Bowie in tights - his junk is forever engraved in my mind whether I like it or not), so I turned to the internets this afternoon, and... what do you think?:


I guess we have similar eyebrows! Anyway, turns out "that woman" is Jennifer Connelly, who may have had a passing resemblance to me back when she was 16 and surrounded by Muppets, but now she's a sexy 30-something and not much like me at all, hehehe!

Dammit, be strong!
Prove yourself wrong.

These are the kinds of things I come up with at 6AM. (Sometimes I'm my most "creative" when I'm half-asleep.) I feel like I should be putting this on a coffee mug or T-shirt or something. Sure as hell seems to be having a positive effect on me!

Today was a very interesting day; Dave had to go in for a half-day, so I decided to head back home. But I took an extremely roundabout way - I decided I wanted a chicken and falafel wrap from International Pockets, and I wanted to eat it at the Bay Campus!

So I drove through URI - remind me not to drive through there on a weekday during school - the sight of all those damn youngsters looking cool and texting their bffs made me feel a wee bit stabbity! I got my wrap, and then got a free sample of iced tea from a very nice woman standing outside Bagelz. The tea is made locally in Saunderstown* and is very tasty! (I believe it's called Granny... Smith's?) She said it's sold in the Providence WholeFoods as well as Belmont market, so I may have to take a trip there sometime!

She asked me where I live, and I told her Woonsocket. "Oh, I love it up there!" she said. "I was working on the dog film they were making up there. It hasn't come out yet because Disney feels it's too sad!" So, there you have it folks, that's what's happening to my dog movie - apparently after all the filming, Disney realized a story based on a dog waiting for his dead owner to come home at the train station every day until he too died might be too sad!

So I headed down to the Bay Campus; I'd forgotten how fun it is to go flying down that hill from Rte. 138 into Narragansett! I ate my yummy chicken and falafel by the sea, and then on a whim decided to see if my old employer from my fun internship days was still around.** Sure enough, he was there! He was as friendly, talkative, and scatterbrained as I remember! He still hasn't retired because "it's easier to keep working; I have no idea how I'd clean this place!" His office has about 30 years' worth of papers, documents, marine samples, awards, coffee mugs, and who-knows-what scattered everywhere - I remember the place always made me feel good about the state my dorm room was in!

"So next time you want to picnic, or show someone where you used to work, come on by!" he said. I think I will.

I rounded off the day going to Wickford to try to find Maura a birthday present. I ended up buying presents for just about everyone else!*** Then I bought a Mocha Madness and sailed off for home.

Here I am, home at last, getting nothing done that I told myself I would, and you know what? Not caring either!

*a mythical RI village; you can reach it on the night of the full moon if you stand under the Towers, click your heels together, and say 'Where the hell is Saunderstown?" three times.
**you know you want to be paid $10/hr to sort dead marine life!
***damn straight I bought myself something. something shiny!

So after surviving that 10-hr Saturday afternoon shift (which went by a lot better than previous end-of-quarters because I actually remembered to pack headphones), I headed to Dave's for the next couple of days. I took yesterday and today off because we went to a game at Fenway last night! It was quite a hassle trying to round up everyone to get there on time, but with a little help (and leadfootedness) from the Lucky Chosen One*, we reached Dave's brother Tony's place in Dedham with plenty of time to spare!

We got to the game on time, but as many of you know it was a wash-out in two ways! For some reason we put out our crappiest pitchers that night, and Toronto clobbered us. The goddamn Canadians** beat us at the Great American Pastime! Then Mother Nature joined in on the fun in the seventh inning with a freak rainstorm that had all of us fleeing in an ineffective slow manner out of the stands. I don't think I've ever been rained on so hard before!

The cool thing about last night was somehow, among the thousands of people, we ran into Maura - twice! Also, Dave's friend Don came with us, and I got to meet him for the second time ever. And I had my very first Fenway frank! I had gotten one from the dude walking by, and was just finishing it, when Dave came back with one he had bought me inside!

Today was fun, too, but I will make another post for it since this one's reaching the "skip because it's too long" limit***, hehehe.

*that's apparently me; I have the fortune cookie fortune to prove it in my wallet
**remember, when it comes from a Canuck like me it's okay
***I believe weirdos on 4chan call this "tl;dr"

We went to see the NASCAR race in Loudon, NH this weekend! It was a blast! And yes, very very loud! The weather was beautiful, except for the whole dropping to 30 degrees at night part - let me tell you, that was one cold tent we slept in!

Not only was Sunday the big race day, it was also Dave's birthday! We found out one of the drivers has the same birthday! Unfortunately, it's Juan Pablo Montoya, whom is apparently hated by everyone if the booing of the crowds was any indication. From what I gather, this is because he is a douchebag.

So I looked on Wikipedia to see if I could find anyone more suitable for Dave to share a birthday with, and look who I turned up!

So, wow! That really was the best birthday I've ever had! (Certainly the best since that one my mom threw me when I was eight and we played crazy games and ate worms and dirt...)

Anyway, a huge thanks to all who contributed to making it a wonderful day and a wonderful weekend!

In other news, somebody just got herself a Halloween costume...!

and Happy Birthday Silver!!

"it's 9-9-09!" my mom said this morning. "Not as cool as 9-9-99, though."

In a couple of days, my mom's age and mine will be reciprocals! (25 and 52) This happens every eleven years!

"Have we hit you being half my age yet?" my mom asks.

"No, Mom, that'll be 27. Close but not yet!!"

There's a big Muscular Dystrophy telethon going on this weekend, and Channel 5 news did a little segment on my company, which they first aired Thursday night. (Remember me mentioning the film crew at work a few weeks back? Here's the end result!)

Athena Labs Helps Fight Neuromuscular Diseases
While I'm not in this video, some of my coworkers are. The first lab shot you see is of my department, and you see my coworkers Beck, followed by Vera!

(Watch out for annoying pre-video commercial.)

SEPTEMBER!!

SEPTEMBER!!

PARTY TIME!

EXCELLENT!

Don't forget, the Hat-Mandatory Labor Day Party is this Saturday, from 3 'til whenever I get tired and make you leave! I think there's a good chance we will be going to the Drive-In, for real, this time! And we will be eating the usual food suspects, I imagine - let me know if you'd like to bring something :-)

The Good:

Torrid sent me a $10-off coupon and a birthday card! Totally buying $10 sunglasses! (or $10 worth of underwear...)

Saw Beth and her temporary East Greenwich abode! The lady she's house-sitting for seems to be quite the character...

Saw Liz and spent a lot of cash on birthday presents in Wrentham! (Mind you, most of these presents were for... myself!!) We also ate Godiva chocolates like the princesses we are.

The Bad:

Ballou, my poor little Ballou, has gone to the big fish bowl in the sky!

Work was a real bitch today!

We had our annual "Big Raffle with 40 Prizes Including Gift Cards and Red Sox Tickets" shindig today, and I won absolutely nothing yet again this year!

The Ugly:

The weather for this weekend isn't looking so great for camping. But we are going to try our damnedest anyway, because we're New Englanders, dammit, and we're not going to let weather dictate our lives, especially when the forecast is almost always wrong!! (see: Last weekend, and the "hurricane")

Just got back from Cape Cod a few hours ago! I think I've finally succeed in having a vacation that I actually relaxed on, and not tired myself out to the point of needing another vacation! (Only taken my whole life to figure this out...)

Gill, Mark, Dave, and I stayed at Gill's uncle's beach house in Dennisport. It was a really nice place, with two bedrooms, two showers (one outdoors), a kitchen and a living room. We even had cable TV, which came in handy for watching baseball games. Outside was a nice patio area with a table, lounge chairs, a fire pit, and a huge grill that we made much use of.

On Saturday, we visited Provincetown, which was a lot hotter and more crowded than when Beth and I were there in May. (I still can't believe they jacked up the all-day parking prices so much!) Because of the oppressive heat, as well as Mark's leg still being in a cast, we weren't able to stay too long, but we got a little bit of shopping in, and also saw plenty of interesting characters.

We also stopped at Atlantic Spice Company in Truro, where I got a whole bunch of cheap spices, and Dave picked up some steak rub that we tried out Sunday night - that stuff is worth its weight in gold, my friends! Dee-licious!

Sunday got off to an interesting start - S'mores, donuts, cheese and crackers, pepperoni, blueberries, and Captain Morgan shots for breakfast! All while watching Ice Age 1 and 2, which I really liked! Then we moved outside where there more shots (more being consumed by the guys than by the girls - you should've seen the faces Gill made trying to drink the stuff) and burgers for lunch. By this point, Mark was sick and tired of his cast, and reasoned that it was supposed to come off on Tuesday anyway, so he might as well hack it off now so we could all go to the beach! He and Dave, with the help of a few cutting tools, reduced the cast to rubble in about 15 minutes.

Then it was off to the beach, where I estimate I consumed about 3.5 gallons of seawater through my nose! The waves were quite high (after all, Hurricane Bill was out there somewhere) and therefore quite fun. If my mom only knew how much the waves were knocking me about, and how far out I was, I think she'd have a heart attack!

Then it was back to the cabin to make steak, scalloped potatoes, corn and salad for dinner. We ate like royalty last night!

Today we made our way back home, but not before getting some brunch at Joe's Diner in Yarmouth. I'm a bit surprised that Gill didn't get the chocolate chip pancakes! Anyway, here I am at home, relaxing, doing laundry, and wishing that I was still on the Cape...

I know it's a bit early to call, but today's going to be great! And not just because it's Friday (though that always helps)...

Today marks six months of awesomeness with one helluva great guy!

I'm off to spend a long weekend with him (and Gill and Mark) on Cape Cod, which luckily has been spared being hurricane'd!

♥

(In other news, one week 'til Pat's back in the States! w00t!)