December 24th, 2006
Cathy, Kevin’s mom, is here for the holiday. She’s leaving before New Year’s, though. We decorated our artificial tree last night– Kevin finally gave in on the real tree issue because Raymond is allergic to tree sap. It looks very nice. I made cookie dough which I’ll probably bake half of today and half later in the year; I think Raymond likes those cookies.
I have been playing Disgaea and Kevin has been playing his early Christmas present a Nintendo DS. He also informed me that he was giving me a Wii for Christmas, just as soon as they were in stock somewhere.
Kevin’s insurance has changed and apparently they’ll cover Stratterra now. So I need to decide if I want to go back on it again. Long term, I would like to. But if I get pregnant, I’ll have to stop again, and, well, theoretically it could happen at any time. And yes, pregnancy is something I kind of have issues about, but Kevin and I want the end result so I guess I’ve got to suck it up and cope. Well, I hope I have to suck it up and cope. I’ve read enough infertility stories to not want to go there. Anyhow.
I have lots of excellent presents for Kevin and I’m reasonably happy with my presents for other people. Perhaps more on that later!
Christmas always raises my anxiety level significantly, so hugs and kisses, everybody. Be well and be happy and, if you feel so inclined, reassure me that you care.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: Health, holidays, Me, video-games | 4 Comments
December 14th, 2006
I keep burning my arm on the oven.
I have a new dishwasher, which Kevin installed because Sears didn’t. Yay Kevin.
Work on TFN 2 goes Very Slowly.
We don’t have a Christmas tree yet. Christmas shopping goes apace. My family should give me a shout-out about what they want though, or they’ll get truly random things. I think I have ideas for most of my friends. Even Raymond.
I sleep, I clean, I work on creative projects. Sometimes I cook. I play with the pets. I play video games. Currently enjoying Ninety-nine Nights. I still spend too much time goofing off. It’s hard. I miss the ADD medication, it turns out. I don’t know if it would actually be helping but I do seem to lose a lot of time to random semi-productive tasks that nonetheless don’t need to be done NOW… but I do them anyhow.
I’ve been rereading various David Eddings novels. 4/5 of the Belgariad, and I just finished the Elenium. Encouragement for TFN 2, I suppose. Today I was thinking about horses in Ceria; their gaits and the injuries sustained by riders after unexpectedly long rides. In the Elenium, they apparently canter their horses all day. These are men in full armor, too. Hah hah hah. And the warhorse is faster than the palfrey. Time to break out Tough Guide to Fantasyland!
We’re recording Lost Room from the Scifi Channel but we haven’t watched it. I’m also enjoying reruns of Scrubs and am relatively current on My Name Is Earl.
Did I mention Dragon Naturally Speaking? I got that piece of software with my spare change jar, and finally the voice recorder Kevin gave me two years ago is getting adequate use; I can dictate into it and then Dragon Naturally Speaking (version 9) will transcribe it. It’s not perfect, of course, but I’m trying to teach myself how to write via dictation; it’ll be useful as my wrists get worse.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: Health, material-stuff, Me | 1 Comment
December 4th, 2006
I just finished watching Six Months Ago, and was promised by the Announcer Dude that something shocking would happen in the next episode. I’ve always thought I was rather good at deductive reasoning (as regards fiction, anyhow), so I thought I’d take a stab and see if I can guess the shocker. I’m probably not as good as I think I am, but if you’d like to read it, you can.*
*I should note that if you’re current as of Six Months Ago and you want to be surprised, my speculation might ruin things for you.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: television, theories | 5 Comments
November 28th, 2006
For those that hadn’t noticed I have been and am going to be out of the loop for a while, at least on the post/read blogging circuit. I can still be reached by my GMail email address; if you don’t have it and want it, post here and I’ll send it to you. Nothing particular is going on, but I’ve been slacking too much reading stuff on the internet and so I need to get priorities straightened out. I had a great Thanksgiving and OMG there’s five inches of snow outside WTF?
xxoo
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: Me | 2 Comments
November 14th, 2006
Today I had trouble sleeping because the dogs and cats were bickering on top of me. So shortly after the boys went to work, I went to get some stuff at Costco. I got potatoes for Thanksgiving. I got beef for Raymond and I. I did a lot of walking. I’d only had two hours of sleep but that was okay.
At one, I left Costco, in Tukwila, WA, intending to go home and pass out.
At three, I arrived at Flying Lab, in Seattle, WA, on Queen Anne Ave. On the way there, I drove in two complete circles around the Renton Municipal Airport, cruised past Diamond Lil’s Casino three times, discovered the worst five lane road in the county, and crossed Pike St and Pine St. three different times (without making any circles at all).
I’ve been to this Costco at least four times before. I decided to try a different exit from the parking lot, and it went downhill from there.
At Flying Lab, I ate lunch and huddled in somebody’s office chair until six, when my groceries were transferred from the Jeep to the car, and I went home with Kevin and Raymond. Tomorrow I have to ride to work with them and bring one of the vehicles home again. God, I hope I don’t make any wrong turns.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: flakiness | 2 Comments
November 6th, 2006
Apparently my blog was a lot more interesting when I was at work. I’m sorry!
In between novel work I’ve been playing Star Wars Legos, Neverwinter Nights 2, and a bit of World of Warcraft. I’m also rereading the Belgariad. I chase the dogs around a lot. I gained a lot of weight during the move and I’m trying to bring my step-count up but it’s been raining. Shopping is good on those days but I’ve also been sleeping during the day a lot and that cuts into shopping time.
I don’t have nightmares about moving or being back at work nearly as much as I did last month. I’m starting to have other dreams again– but I haven’t yet recaptured the trick of remembering them, a trick stolen by the Zoloft (as far as I can tell).
The house is still basically a disaster area. It’s better in some ways than before we moved (we rarely run out of forks) but there’s still an enormous amount of unpacking to get done and it’s been hard to motivate anybody to work on that on weekdays. I keep wanting to post pictures of our house but I want it to be clean first, too. And unpacked. It’s definitely going to have some nice rooms once everything is in place and it shouldn’t be too hard to keep decent once everything is in place.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: Health, Me, video-games | 2 Comments
November 1st, 2006
my current mode, inspired by anime and superpowered epic fantasy: wherein one undergoes character growth and is rewarded with power growth and plot progression in response
George R. R. Martin: undergo character growth, be punished by plot /regression/
Categories: Writing |
Tags: Writing | No Comments
November 1st, 2006
I’ve just realized I forgot to outline the second half of one character’s Thrones plot arc.
I’m feeling the old familiar sensation of ‘this is too hard, this is too messed up, best bet is to throw it all away and start something new’. Yucky yuck.
Edited to add: Still, I have to take some deep breaths. It’s more important to nail this part of the development cycle than the next part. Oh lord, the dogs are bickering again.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: tfn, Writing | No Comments
October 26th, 2006
So, I’ve hit a snag on the outlining that will require a slowdown– some worldbulding, some re-consideration. My self-imposed schedule, as you might recall, is very tight. Even tighter, since I was aiming for finishing the outline on the 30th so I could have a day to breathe before launching into the text.
I get all panicky when I think of my schedule as a hard deadline, as ‘must have X by end of November’.
But when I think of it like I was taught to think of deadlines at work, as ‘I think I can have X by the end of November, but of course events may revise that’, I feel calm, relaxed, as if it’s achievable.
I have to remember my theories about not rushing. But I also have to balance those against various unavoidable time limits. Juggle juggle.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: Me, observations, Writing | 1 Comment
October 24th, 2006
I seem to be more interested in reading about writing than writing today. Lots of breaks, pulling those little sentences out, staring in dismay at how hard it is to get so few words, wondering how the heck I’m going to make this work in the rough draft phase, wondering if anybody is going to find this dreck interesting, worrying about tension and how I haven’t as precisely constructed each scene this time. There’s more of ‘I need to show X happening’, less of making sure each scene follows the rules I used in the last book (wherein things never quite go the way the scene protagonist plans). Whine, whine.
Jenna had a lot to say about how ‘unique’ my narration style was. She said it was like opening a door and walking into a room full of people, mid-scene. I’m still thinking about that.
Categories: Updates From the Void |
Tags: Me | No Comments
