Tuesday, June 24, 2008

...Something's Different...

This will probably be my shortest blog ever; for those of you who are tired of the longer ones, that's probably good news :) I don't have much time, but feel compelled to update since I haven't in quite a few days...

The big news? I've finally moved into an apartment!! (Where I lived previously will remain a mystery for those of you who're confused as to where that was before...yes, again with the vagueditity :) nice. It's sweet! It's an apartment in part of a house...I guess it's a triplex, though I don't think that was it's intention when it was originally built. The house is surrounded and well hidden by beautiful, though awful smelling, trees.

My favorite part: in the living room there are two built in desks with bookshelves above them, separated by a fireplace! It's really quaint and cute and perfect for my books that had been previously neglected in boxes. I love it! The kids' room I've decorated all cutesy and will continue adding upgrades here and there; my room is fine and the most important thing: I at last have my own kitchen and bathroom! Wow! What commodities! :)

So moving this past weekend kept me busy. This coming weekend will be even more swamped with the upcoming Arts Festival, which you all better go to! I'll be volunteering with the Community Writing Center and having fun there, cool! I don't recall having ever even gone to the Arts Festival before, so this will be quite the thing...all those people...I hope I don't freak out...

I'm excited to say - I just couldn't resist - I bought Jessica's second book to Dragon Slippers, Dragon Flight and am thoroughly enjoying it! It'll be a fun read as well tonight on my lengthy trax ride to Sandy...

Does anybody else miss ConDuit so much it's painful? I miss being around everybody, all you author people and sci-fi freaks (I can say that, cuz really I'm one too) I just miss it so bad. And I know I'm being repetitive in saying that... I'm just really looking forward to whatever the next thing is coming up and whatever it is it's not soon enough...okay, Arts Festival is just a few days away...that'll be fun...I just hope I see some of the same people there that I saw from ConDuit...which I'm pretty sure I won't because they're a whole different species of people...but I can hope, right?

Did I say this would be short? Well, have a great week and I look forward to hearing from some of you...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Am I really a Pottermaniac?

I've been avoiding updating my blog till I have something reasonably of interest to post. I realized I'll probably be delaying forever if I keep that up, so here I am...updating...again...

I have to say I feel my presentation went really well today. For those of you who I haven't raved to about this, I had to give a ten-minute presentation for one of my classes at school today on the Harry Potter Phenomenon and how it's revolutionized children's lit. Gosh, what a fantastic topic! And no, I didn't come up with it myself. It was on a list that we were required to pick from. My presentation was more like 30 minutes rather than 10... I managed to narrow my 20 pages of exciting facts down to ...5? and I think even then I only got through half... thank you to those who contributed to it, it really was awesome to be able to quote my friends as qualified sources on the subject.

One of the facts I ran across was that at a university in Calif, there's a class specifically called Harry Potter Lit. ...or something of the sort. I've decided I really really really would be totally happy teaching a class like that! There's just so much to cover!

Okay, Okay. I can feel myself building up to going off about all of it and so I'll stop myself now. ...I'll stop...breathe... :)

So, when I'm not madly doing school projects and studying, I've been stopping by the community writing center for tips on my novel. That really is a humbling experience, by the way...for a few reasons which I'll refrain from stating as well... (note to self - be less vague on blog) Anyway, it's really awesome having people to talk my story over with. I've gotten some really awesome feedback on improvements to make and what's already working well. I just want to get it flowing enough to have a few people start reading it...or at least the beginning of it. I like feedback.

If I were more tech savvy I'd have a link to a page where you could all view my stuff, but it just seems like a really overwhelmingly complicated thing to figure out right now...I'll ask my all-time computer savvy brother and we'll set something up. I've had many requests from gathering fans to reveal my fantastic writing, can't let down the fans :)

Alright, so I exaggerate (a little ;) Wow. So I think I'm on day...3...day 3 of not buying or 'acquiring' any books... hmm...interesting... but honestly I think I'm on target for having 365 new books by the end of the year... that's just nutty. - new as in books I didn't already have...not just new books I've purchased... I might cut back. Maybe it's just a June thing, you know, birthday...books... they go together quite nicely. I don' t think I'll buy any more at least until I've finished all the ones I just bought, which should take me a while.

I'm currenlty reading Dragonslippers by Jessica Day George...feeling bad that I haven't already read it as I just love her and she's such a fun awesome person to be around. And, I Love her book! It seriously is great! I was reading it at night only so as not to have nightmares from reading Koontz at night and now I've switched to pounding it during the day and I should have it finished...maybe by tomorrow night.

Okay, Jessica, I woke up at 5:30 yesterday morning and couldn't get back to sleep and read a lengthy portion of the book. I'm really quite into it and find myself picturing all the places and people so many times during the day and I'm really quite distressed about what's going to happen!! I just want it all to turn out okay! :) Brilliant!

(Does Jessica even read my blog? ...probably not...)

Alright, time to get back to work.
Ciao!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Butterscotch and Chocolate

Swiss cheese makes it all better too.
I guess I should take Dashner's advice and apply it to other important people too. Only I feel if I did that I'd end up writing about absolutely nothing because I'd be so worried about who would read it. Or maybe I should just first read Kevin Alexander's article on blogging posted some months ago in the Writer's Digest. In any case maybe I'll just not worry about it for now.

Having said that, the job I wanted so much...lets just say it didn't come through this time around. But I'll not lose hope, I'll keep checking as recommended and see what other things pop up that they may be hiring for. The perfect position would be in that one section, maybe that will come through.

Anyway, I'll stop blogging in obscurities. I have to laugh at the two people who voted yes they've read the series. Or maybe I'll just laugh at myself in that I'm still the only one so far who's admitted to dressing up for the Harry Potter book release parties! Come on! You've gotta dress up! One time I went as just a general witch (book 5), and my daughter, who was... 1 1/2 at the time... I dressed her up as Winky, complete with giant fuzzy ears. The last time (book 7) I went as Rita Skeeter, so appropriate to my profession, don't you think? :) Though people I interview don't hide from me. That's a good sign, right?

I still absolutely cannot remember purchasing my book 6. I can't remember where I lived, what I was doing, who I was with or how I got it...It's possible I dressed up for that one too...even probable.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can hang out at a cafe and my children can hang out with me and actually appreciate the calm of the atmosphere...having said that, I don't like the idea of them growing up at all though. ...with everything comes a cost, right?

I really came here to research an article for IW homework. Guess I'll do that and get out of here rather quickly so as to not annoy everybody. Lily spilled her water and it only Just missed my computer...that was too close.

I'm still averaging a book every other day...though it may be more like 2 books every other day now, which, wouldn't that be a book a day? It's got to stop soon, don't you think? They're just so great!

Speaking of books! I finally discovered Sam Weller's today!! Eric, my apologies, I should have gone with you that day. I have to say, I was almost overwhelmed, not only by the number of books, but I'm absolutely used to Barnes and Noble; whether that can be deemed as acceptable by the general populace or not. I really really love brand new books. I love the way they smell, look, feel...their stiffness waiting to be broken.....okay....getting carried away a little now. Sam Weller's is really amazing though! I will be back there. Plus they have free WiFi. One up on B&N.

So now to research my stuff. The internet just wasn't like it is now when I was in school before. It's so easy to find answers to Everything! I remember it used to be I'd search for something and always find a close answer, but still not the one I wanted. Now it's exact. It's really amazing!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Sluffing or Excused?

I have to admit, I'm a little miffed. One of my professors today didn't show up for class today! If we didn't show up for class, three times that's ten percent of our grade...but if they don't show? Not only did he not show today, but our first class was only a half hour - normally an hour and a half class. I guess I won't label him as a slacker just yet, but it's disturbing when your professor is less reliable than the worst of the students in the class...

I even did most of the reading assignment - the first hundred pages of our book! I have less than twenty left and am now wishing I hadn't stayed up so late this weekend struggling to finish. The rest will seem like a breeze this afternoon. Oh well, no homework on top of that, so I ought not complain.

Since there's no class, I'm at the library, updating my blog and avoiding those twenty pages. I could be working on my Harry Potter presentation, a ten minute thing on how the series has revolutionized children's lit. Perfect for me, huh? Seeing as how I've read the first four books no less than twenty times, the fifth three or four, the sixth twice, and the seventh once. Yes I do read other stuff too.

Why do I always feel like I'm being watched whenever I'm at the library...especially walking around... does anyone else ever feel that way? They have it set up so the people at the tables on the sides can see the people in the elevators and some people on each floor...there's people everywhere...! (just don't think about it...just don't think about it....) no, I'm not psychotic and yes, for the most part I like people very much...I guess if there's still any chance I might be working here I better get used to it...the openess, I mean...

Either way, time for lunch!
Ciao!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

What Am I Thinking??

It's official! As Monday was my birthday I'm now two days into being 26!
I'm at what has to be the craziest point in my life yet! Lets just say, I never thought I'd be HERE at 26! But hey, it's not ...what? Life threatening or anything, I guess, so that's good, right? And life's getting better and better! Saying things can only get better from this point on would entirely be true...at least I hope.

Today's been better. Actually, today has been a great day! Today is a mark in my life even bigger than my birthday two days ago. I Started School Today!! Woohoo! Finally! I've been planning on going back to school for...well, maybe 4 years now. I've even registered a couple of times, just never committed enough to fully enroll in classes. It's one of those things where I've said, maybe Fall would be better than Spring...maybe some other time would be more convenient. Then it hit me, at my age school will never be convenient, only a requirement if I say so. So this time I've made it a personal requirement! And I had my very first class today, Intermediate Writing!

I admit I have major misgivings. (haha) One. It's summer school, so 4 months of stuff crammed into 2! Two. Assignments galore! I'll be doing assignments on top of assignments. Three. Everything Else in My Life!! But it's cool. I can do it, I'll get it done. (just breathe!) I'll learn lots of cool stuff and be on my way to getting some kind of degree. The goal is a major in creative writing, minor in journalism, though people tell me I should switch the two. Frankly, I believe there's not much money in either, unless I decide differently. So far writing has been rather lucrative for me and I plan to always have it be that way.

So what did I do for my birthday? My second favorite thing: I had my Second interview at the Main Public Library! I feel it went very well! An hour of talking about why I'd Love that job!! It was very fun!

My first favorite thing? Well, that's hard to say. It's a toss up between eating breakfast with Lochlan (my four year old) at Cup o' Joes (he was very cute, sitting right with me enjoying his muffin) and going out to dinner with four of my very best girlfriends! The waitress even brought me a delicious slice of chocolate mousse cake, complete with pink candle! :)
I feel that being with very best friends in groups like that should Definitely happen more than just once a year!

If this blog has seemed choppy it's cuz I'm at Cup o' Joes (yes, I go here a lot!) only this time I've got both of my lovely children with me. They're playing chess on the pool table...yeah, we'll get kicked out any minute now...I can feel it coming. Time to Leave!

Write On, Writer Friends!! :)
To you non-writers...Right On!! :)