Pictures of Mérida, Part I: Roman Theatre and Amphitheatre

Mérida, about an hour from Cáceres by train, is something I really looked forward to seeing while in Extremadura (the province). Why? Because it was the Roman capital for the Roman province (which included Portugal)! All things Roman! How can I not get excited?

We went there Thursday the 23rd. It was cooler and windy but the skies were clear. The first stop was at the Roman Amphitheatre and Theatre which are right next to each other and you get one ticket to see both. Below are pictures from these two landmarks (a later post will include the rest of Mérida - I'm trying to limit how many photos end up in each post).

This is the ampitheatre. It is known as the most well-preserved one in the world. Essentially, it's the place where the gladiators and animals fought and blood ran. Very exciting entertainment. You can see Emily's hand pointing something out as she explains some aspect of the place.

 This shows the southern entrance which is opposite the one in the previous picture. Colin is taking a picture and Rachel is posing prettily.

This is one of the rooms off the side of the northern entrance. It was probably where the gladiators prepped. Rachel and Sarah demonstrate how that was done.

Since I'm only posting pictures from my camera, there are very few of me. This is in some crevice near the southern entrance (notice my new hat and pashmina).

This is from above the southern entrance, just before the announcement that the place was closing in fifteen minutes.

First glimpse of the theatre (which was decidedly much more posh than the amphtitheatre but not as popular). The center arch is the back of the stage.

One side of the stage (the side closer to the amphitheatre). After this quick glance, we hurried out to the entrance. They normally wouldn't re-admit people who had been there in the morning, but we got a promise that we would be let back in after lunch (and we were).

After lunch: the toilets!

These columns, in the area behind the stage, were completely submerged in dirt that had accumulated over the centuries and has recently been excavated. The area includes the toilets in the previous picture. This whole area was where hobnobbing took place after performances.

A closer look at the stage.

A look upwards from directly beneath columns on the stage. Good view of two layers of decorations.

Rachel photobombed her parents during a cute photo session.

Pictures of Cáceres

Happy Christmas Eve! We're taking things pretty easy around here today. Some are currently hiking up a mountain (on a road) this afternoon. I don't trust my stomach enough to go (had a bad time last night and things haven't quite settled down yet). When they get back, we will be meeting Emily's host family and having dinner with them. It is very nice and sunny out today. For this post, I've picked out photos sights around Cáceres, mostly the old city and I'll give a short description for each. Yesterday we went to Mérida but that warrants its own separate photo post.

The three sisters, opposite of Arco de la Estrella.

A wooden door leading to ... bricks? Sarah's hand through the slit can touch the barrier beyond. Why the need to preserve the door after walling in whatever it used to lead to is a mystery indeed.

 

The Alworth family just outside of the old city walls near the Jewish Quarters.

Colin for sale at the market! This colin is a type of fish, not slabs of my Colin.

River of umbrellas in one of the two passage ways along the long line of regular weekly market stalls. Got great deals on leggings (1 euro each), pashmina (2 euros each), zip-up fleece top (7 euros), and a brimmed hat (6 or 7 euros).

Do not fear, fellow Americans: these are costumes of individual religious orders in Cáceres which are worn during a parade. The different groups each carry a large float usually with a figure of Christ or Mary and plants on them as they trudge slowly through the streets. The hoods are to show humility.

This is Papa trying out a weighted example of the wooden supports for the floats.

The ceiling of an underground cistern, where water has collected for many years. Cisterns were a large part of the water supply as far back in Cáceres's history as is known.

Stairs leading from street- to water-level inside the cistern (not navigable anymore, at least for the average tourist).

Colin and Papa walking down the street, having one of their many conversations.

In Cáceres!

Just a quick note saying we've all made it. We did come through Frankfurt airport but there was only an hour or so delay for our airplane, which we spent most of the time sitting in our seats waiting for them to finish hosing the plane down with what looked like antifreeze. Otherwise, all is well. 3-4 hours of sleep in plane seats in about 36 hours is not fun, let me tell you. Rainy but quite warm (maybe around 50 degrees F) here in lovely Cáceres. Have walked around, looking at the old city, and have had a sufficient amount of coffee :) About to head to the Christmas market! Hasta mañana!

Now I'm a Real Librarian!

I just got accepted for the part-time reference librarian position at CLC! Hurray! My first day is the Monday after we get back, which is perfect because it gives me about a day to deal with jetlag and relaxing but not enough time to get too nervous. Hopefully.

I'd gotten a call but it was during the 20 minute interval that I just happened to have my phone off on Wednesday. So I talked to Colin that night and then called back, leaving a message Thursday morning then Thursday afternoon. I got a call back this morning and from the sound of it, I felt like I was hired already, but I tried to be only cautiously optimistic. I said I was available to talk and look around either today or tomorrow but not next week, so they said, "How about 11:30?" So in I went, with hardly a minute to freak out.

I don't remember the names of most of the people I met, but that should come with time.

I am so excited! At the same time, I can hear my inner critic and the sloth side of my brain voicing their opinions and saying, "It's not all *that* great." But I really do think it is awesome. I feel blessed. Blessed - it's the only word I can think of to describe what I feel right now. So I say to the negative critics in my head, "Shoo! I don't need or want you right now!"

Oh, and yes I am still pretty nervous, but not as nervous as I have been since getting the voicemail on Wednesday. This is an awesome thing to happen just before leaving on the trip.

Phew ...

Jokes

I found a list of animal jokes on a piece of paper that I wasn't sure what to do with, then I decided to share the fun here!

What's black and white and goes around and around?
A penguin in a revolving door.

Why don't you see penguins in Britain?
Because they're afraid of Wales.

What do elephants do at 5:00 in the morning?
They hide in the forest and jump out of trees.

Why are alligators flat?
They wander about the forest at 5:00 in the morning.

Perhaps a real post will be made later :)

Kind of hopping around and got things to do so I'll try to make this short and sweet.

The roads are getting pretty slippery with the weird 20 degrees but steadily falling snow melting to slick wet stuff on the roads. Glad I got prescriptions and went to the post office before it got to bad and/or real rush hour started. This is the second time this winter - last was when we went downtown Chicago on Saturday for Colin's soccer game and to hang out at Shaheli's but there was a huge load of snow that got dumped on us so it was pretty and fun. Also tried an interesting restaurant called Lokal which served Shaheli and me bottomless mimosas. For lunch.

I've written 5k words since the end of nanowrimo, which makes me both happy and disgruntled. But mostly, I am surprised that it seems I garnered so much boost from the nanowrimo craze. Though I suspect there are three reasons that have greater impact: 1) It's not November anymore. No more buffer (excuse) for not doing other things. 2) So much stuff needs to get done now, because it's not November anymore. You know, real life stuff. 3) I've been trying to force myself to find a stopping point which is making me freeze up because "ACK I have no clue how to 'end' this." So, instead of stressing out trying to basically do nanowrimo and real life and getting ready for Spain all at once, writing has downshifted in my list of priorities. This lets me not freak out whenever I don't write in a day or feel like I should have written more. I'm aiming for a "wimpy" 500 words a day which will get me another 5k or so words before leaving for Spain. If the story ends by then, awesome. If not, something else to do in January when we get back. 500 words is a lot harder to come by now that I'm so far into the story and don't have a clear end in mind, but I refuse to let it collect dust until January. The creative juices must keep flowing.

As for "the rest of life," I've been really tackling things. You might remember me mentioning my on and off interest in productivity and organization tricks and tips. I had been dancing around the idea of reading the Getting Things Done book and I finally checked it out of the library Monday. I'm trying really hard not to become some crazy fan of it. Definitely need to test it out for awhile, but wow I'm actually feeling real relief and control and seeing results already ... I'll be sure to blog more specifically about it later, but you can find a good summary of the GTD ideas here. The best thing to do is read the book, though. I will refrain - for now - from raving and shouting that everyone should do this.

Okay, that was a bit longer than I thought it'd be but it has been a few days. Back to ruling the world now.

Arsenic life forms, moms, and cats

Sometimes my mind just goes crazy for random tidbits of information. Some of what I find is not always exactly "information" but funny nonetheless. Similar to a news update but with silly things, I thought I would share this morning's finds:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/nasa-finds-new-life/
Arsenic! New life form on Earth! Mind boggling indeed. Since the official news briefing isn't until 2 pm EST today, definitely something to file under "keep active watch on news about this." Also, in case you don't read xkcd, this is what they were referencing but I picked up the news separately. After reading the comic and not getting it.

http://www.johnnywander.com/files/comics/209.jpg
This is one of my favorite webcomics. I love it because it's especially relevant today. Both Colin and I got silly/cute/ridiculous emails from our mothers this morning. We had talked to Colin's mom last night who asked us for a list of books we wouldn't mind getting as gifts. One which is called "52 Loaves." Being funny, she sent us an email asking if "52 Meat Loaves" was the book and if we *really* did want it. Also, talking to Colin helped ease some of the family-related stress (which I won't go into here) and she thanked him for a good night's sleep. Aww.

As for my mom, she has a different thumb pain than I do and she'd just gotten a cordisone shot for it. It hasn't helped at all. She and my sister also have an enterovirus that's going around in northern Michigan. She had called Colin yesterday wondering why I hadn't called her back. She asked if we were fine (Dad had emailed me earlier and I'd sent a bulk email to all immediate family members reporting that we hadn't come down with it). It turned out that my phone during an update had decided I didn't want automatic Google Voice syncs anymore although Colin's kept his preference of autosync. She had sent a lengthy text message yesterday morning with no "call me" included. This morning I got an email from her - she was typing on the smartphone (which acts as the homephone) because she hasn't yet learned how to set up the wifi connection on her laptop (which she's had for almost a month). Apparently she is still sick and her thumb still hurts. She was concerned because Colin said I was fine but "the email you sent Dad suggested otherwise." The text from that bulk email? "I did have a headache like Nathan a couple of times and felt bad on Saturday morning but I don't think I had what they had. I had a bloody nose this morning and have been feeling especially tired lately but I'm far from incapacitated." Maybe I should have just said "I am fine" but I thought that last phrase would be enough to calm anyone's fears. Silly me.

Normally, I stay away from blogging about the frustrations with my mom, but the Thanksgiving visit is so fresh on my mind. There were definitely fun times but, well, it was family times too.

And on a lighter note: The ridiculousness of cats and boxes plus the coincidence of two tweets from different people on the subject very recently.

wilw 

Cat: WAT U DOIN. Me: Putting books into this box. Cat: I HALP U! [Jumps into box] Me: So... Cat: MYBOXMYBOXMYBOX! Me: Um. Cat: NOT YOURS.about 14 hours ago via web
And since a friend of mine chooses to keep her twitter private, I will paraphrase by saying that one of her own cats was in love with his cardboard box. Previously he was trying to claw his way out of the bottom of the box and at the time of the tweet (three hours previous to wilw's) he was investigating it from all angles.

I will now use this as an excuse to include a lolcat.

Summary of novel so far

A fellow nanowrimo-er that I had met at a meet-up earlier this month sent me a message congratulating me for winning and she asked what my novel was about. After I sent a reply, I decided I would copy it here for others to read. Keep in mind that it's a very rough summary and what the writer thinks a novel is about is always different than what a reader will find in the novel. I have this nagging feeling that it'd be an extremely boring for anyone else, but I'll probably offer it up when I think it's finished for anyone to read it. Anyway, here's my response:

I have to admit I'm a bit of a rebel. I *did* write the same novel all month, but it's turned out to be a lot bigger of a story than I thought it'd be. I'm happy enough to have the kickstart nanowrimo gave me and the fact that I did manage to write 50k by the deadline. I'm still typing away, which is fine by me.

What it's about? Well, it's about a little boy who starts out as a three year old when the novel begins. He's currently seven and a half. I just follow him around, recording his adventures. Although they are not spectacular, his development is interesting enough to me. The backdrop is that he was born in a mining colony on a (currently unnamed) moon in the solar system which means right away he's unusual because most natural births that had occurred off Earth had been unsuccessful. When he was born, such births were simply just discouraged but his mother was unaware of this and had become pregnant before they left Earth. Also unusual is the fact that he has three older siblings. This oddity has only been hinted at so far; the progression of the novel is learning simple things like this as the boy learns them. His colony finished mining that moon and are now living in a large space station.

The overall questions: When will the mining company and/or the authorities learn of his existence and what will happen to him then? What will the rest of his life be like? Right now, he wanders around and becomes friends with other people, including a girl much older than him, a boy his own age, a librarian, and an elderly Jewish couple. He's on the brink of many life changes though. The fun isn't over yet!

I know it's encouraged to write the whole novel - beginning, middle, end - during nanowrimo, but I had no idea what the end was going to be which made it a bit difficult to pace so that I'd be done by the end of the month. I am still not entirely sure what the ending will be, but I suspect I'll have to do a series. Or at least find a satisfying ending point for the first novel, regardless of whether or not I actually write any sequel.

In related news, my wrist is almost always aching these days. It doesn't seem like it's directly connected to how much writing I do, oddly, but I suspect it doesn't help any. My mom is getting a cortisone shot in her thumb soon for a different ache and when I was home it was discussed that sometimes people need to just keep getting another cortisone shot periodically. It has been over seven years. It'd be sooo nice to be able to not have an aching wrist almost all the time, but I'm hesitant on the surgery option.

So along with the continued writing, I plan to make an appointment with a different doctor (don't get me started on why I'm switching doctors, but if you ever move to Round Lake area, contact me before you pick a doctor) and ask if another shot would be wise. (Yes, pretty please, may I have one?) As for the brace, I find that it can be hard to be sure I'm wearing it correctly, such as if the angle the brace is on the wrist and such. A few times wearing it has actually exacerbated the pain (usually I'd just call it a dull ache but sometimes it elevates to worse). Not to mention how much more it cuts down on what I can do.

Okay, done enough writing for the day. Time to crack open a book.

It's been a wild ride

Today is the last day of November. What does that mean? It's the last day of Nanowrimo 2010! That's right, it's coming to an end already. Earlier today I reached the 50k goal. I had to write about 3k per day yesterday and today to get there because, as I suspected, no writing got done during the four day Thanksgiving holiday. Not a word. I tried, too, but only parts of my house are warm and they happen to be the parts everyone congregates to. Plus, it was after a day of shopping with family and I wanted to sit next to Colin and just veg in front of the TV. "My Name is Earl" is surprisingly entertaining, although some parts are more offensive than I care for.

So I've "won" Nanowrimo. Hurray! Except it's really more of a milestone than an end, because I plan to just keep writing my novel. If I never quite find the end of it, I don't think it'd bother me too much. But I need to at least find a place where I can take a deep breath, or some way to make it appropriate to just say "to be continued." Even if it never is continued.

It's been a blast though. Really. I was skeptical that I'd ever be able to actually write that much in one month. But I did it, even with five days of no writing. Any words of advice for future writers? There's no secret tool. Just start writing. Even if you don't think there's much of a story. I was worried about not having enough material for 50,000 words, but I have passed that milestone and the story is still going strong. The boy has aged from 3 years old to 7.5 years old. I'm serious. Okay, I may have more monologues than I care to admit or chunks I wouldn't probably include in a published novel, but I wrote them and they're part of the nanowrimo novel.

You'll probably find that there's not enough "space" to say and do everything you want to do with all the things that pop up and surprise you. A novel is a lot like life, I think. You start out feeling like you've got a plan although you're not completely sure how it's all going to play out, and then you meet new people, you explore new places, you learn new things, you change, and your world constantly is turned upside down. What ends up happening is wildly different from what you'd expected, but it all works out in the end. Sometimes things seem hopelessly chaotic but then suddenly you find things tying in and fitting together neatly almost on their own.

The most practical and tangible piece of advice? Write every day. It's really hard to get back into the flow when you miss a day here or there. Your novel will actually *change* if you leave it alone for awhile. No, the words already on the page won't rearrange themselves magically, but the story in your head is constantly being molded by your own life whether you recognize it or not.

Another piece of advice is to play out scenes. Maybe not physically, but at least in your head. Imagine the surroundings, the moods, the conversation pace, and all the other undercurrents, as you write the scene. Write down the parts that jump out at you or write more about the scenery or physical actions than you think you should when you feel a lull in the conversation or story movement. It almost always helps, either by giving you clues of what happens next or letting your brain take a step back.

Well, I'm more tired than I thought I'd be. Time to chuck the keyboard aside and just laze with a cup of tea until Colin gets home. I'll say it again: It's been a wild ride. And it's not over yet.

100th post! 40k words! SF!

Wow it's been 10 days since I last wrote. I feel like I've got legitimate reasons for not writing, but I still feel bad for not keeping this up to date, especially with the adventures I had in San Francisco a week ago. Other than keeping pretty active, I've also pushed myself to write just my novel whenever I had writing juice and time on my hands.

But it's also the 100th post on this blog! And I've reached 40,000 words on my nanowrimo novel! Woo hoo! I personally think reaching 40 was more exhilarating that reaching the 35 that seems to be the second biggest milestone in the nanowrimo process. But to each their own. Perhaps if I'd been as busy and as able to come up with ways to procrastinate (ooo look! sightseeing! ooo look! a book to read!) this month I'd be a little closer to the norm. Oh well.

I've also come to the realization that this isn't just one novel. It's more like at least two novellas. Case in point: the main character is three years old when the story begins. 40,000 words later, he's only seven. I don't think I'm writing way too slowly (maybe a bit at times to kind of explore ideas in my head), but I've let loose the idea of saying only what needs to be said and going wild with it. I still have only a hazy view of the rest of the story, including how much there is left, but no, the boy does NOT die young. At least, not this young.

I'm kind of in awe of my novel in some ways ... there are so many surprises that have cropped up and the story just goes flying in directions I didn't really expect it to. I wouldn't say the story has flowed painlessly all month, but I'm surprised at how I'm able to keep writing without too much pain. I have only taken one day off, and that was the full day of sightseeing. Looking back, I could see that I could have crammed a few words in when I was at the coffee shop instead of reading Google Reader, but I was multitasking and noveling is not a multitasking ... task.

Okay, short summary of SF:
Arrived Sunday afternoon at hotel on Nob Hill, was starving, got lunch in Chinatown at Happy Chinese Restaurant. Returned overdue Toy Story 3 to Redbox (still haven't watched it) down the hill near Union Square. Saw people ice skating and a tree being put together out of multiple trees. Died walking back up. Had overpriced latte with Illy espresso at hotel cafe, now know that Illy just tastes burnt normally. Wrote a prolific amount of novel in hotel room while Colin partied with other computer geeks in the garden right below. Also emailed Kelsay after realizing she lived in SF's vicinity then made plans to meet up with her and go to Alcatraz Island the next afternoon. Had dinner of Spaghetti Carbonara at a small and good Italian restaurant after half an hour's wait. They like to put tons of parsley in it, perhaps to make up for not enough cream. Fell onto pillow-top bed.

Went partway downhill with Colin to a breakfast place. He left me with the check because he was a bit late for the beginning of the convention. Walked down the rest of the way to Union Square. Tried to get cash with my TCF debit card with no success. Loitered in Yerba Mate before anything there was open. Went to a cafe even further south where I got my internet fix. Made my way over to Embarcadero to get three day muni pass and walked around pier one (for the view, not for any special sites since it's just all businesses). Found out that Kelsay wouldn't be able to make it after all and grabbed a Vietnamese sandwich on my way to the boat to Alcatraz. Was herded onto boat, around island, and off of boat. Still had a good time and enjoyed using the transcript of the audio tour. Took too many pictures. Then met up with Kelsay back on the mainland for a couple of hours of chatting and discovered the amazing food called garlic fries. Then met up with Colin and other developers at the Cheesecake Factory where I had a delicious Pina Colada with dinner. Fell into bed again.

Tuesday: Snuck into the convention breakfast for Danish rolls and coffee. Then struck out for Fisherman's Wharf with no jacket, only a t-shirt, spotted the Rogue bar (I'd recently picked up a random beer glass from a thrift store back home with a Rogue logo on it, no idea that it was a bar in SF). Spent the morning touring the WWII sub Pampanito and the WWII Victory ship next to it, before picking up lunch of clam chowder and fish n' chips to take back to the hotel. Walked most of the way up hill since the streetcar left before I could reach it and the next didn't start up until I was almost to hotel. Then headed back down the hill at a slower pace, stopping in Chinatown to get handmade fortune cookies and waiting quite awhile for the next streetcar going the rest of the way down. Wandered around Ghirardelli Square and in the Boudin sourdough bakery, bought some tee shirts, before finally hobbling to a cafe in North Beach. Wrote words, rested my back. Nabbed a couple of slices of real Italian pizza and splurged a bit on a bottle of wine. Walked back up hill to hotel and vegged while watching Dirty Jobs, drinking lots of wine and falling asleep before Colin got back from his fancy convention dinner.

Wednesday: Broke the rules again and ate breakfast with the convention members. Took a shower after eating, packed up. Computer was accidentally awake on the way to the airport so it was dead when sat down to wait for airplane. Eventually found outlet, wrote up outline of trip then had to board plane. Finished reading 'Pirate Latitudes' by Michael Crichton with Colin. Ended up napping most of the rest of the flight. Got back to wet, cold and dark Milwaukee and drove home.

So I did a lot of walking and doing things by myself. After being in Hyderabad for a month last year, SF felt like a cake walk when it comes to comfort zones. My back killed me but I did start dying less when I had to walk uphill. The weather was insanely perfect the whole time we were there. There were no major mishaps and I enjoyed the trip. Sure, there was plenty more I could have done (such as gone to the Golden Gate Bridge or walked around the biggest municipal park in the world) but I am more than satisfied with what I did do in such a short time frame. And I really like North Beach; it made me nostalgic for Italy.

What else ... oh yes, I reached 40k. And I've had 3 dental appointments since my last post (introductory, cleaning, 2 fillings). And today I tackled the pile of clothes that needed fixing via iron-on patches, including pants with holes in them or peeling decor (yay for more pants I can wear! Also for cut off sleeves of an old ripped long underwear top for fingerless gloves). This weekend Colin had a soccer game (they lost which isn't unusual). We both seem to have some kind of cold which results in coughing and wanting to go to sleep all the time. I picked up a book called "Stuff," found out it wasn't what I expected it to be, but got drawn in anyway and read it as fast as I could. It meant I almost didn't write one day, but then I got up the motivation and wrote anyway.

Today it was really warm (comparatively) and it thunderstormed at least twice. I celebrated by putting on a tanktop (though I never really went outside except to clean out the back seat and wore a sweatshirt anyway). It's supposed to be back to dreary grey cold and windy tomorrow. *sigh* If you happen to have sunshine or cheery/exciting weather where you're at, send some my way?

Spain and Fox Lake Library

This hasn't been the greatest week but I am looking on the bright side. We got our tickets for Europe! After much consideration and many other ideas (plus some hair pulling behavior from bosses), we have roundtrip tickets going to and leaving from Spain with almost three weeks in between. I'm getting pretty excited about it but I'm glad we have over a month before we go.

I was feeling grumpy and not up for going to the write-in Wednesday night. I almost asked Colin to come home so that I could just be with him. But I also knew I wouldn't regret going once I got to the write-in and I needed the boost to keep writing. I had written a grand total of 200 words earlier that day and it felt like real work. And I didn't regret going - the one other person who had been there the week before was happy to see me, even told me she had double checked to make sure I hadn't sent a message saying I wouldn't be there. And two new people showed up! We got two intense writing hours in and  then we succumbed to temptation and talked for half an hour before everyone left. Now I'm currently at 26513 words and I have what looks to be a promising writing day today.

Colin left his wallet on the train last night which caused some stress but it's been easily resolved. He asked the conductor this morning and he said it was at the station at the end of the line and I could go pick it up before noon. "Perfect!" I thought. "Great excuse to try out that cafe there." Wallet retrieved I ventured over to the cafe and it was closed. So was the bistro next to it. And a place called "Whistle Stop Cafe" nearby didn't really look like a writer's haven but more one of those artery clogging breakfast places required in rural areas. So I went to a Dunkin Donuts and got a coffee there before heading to the library. On the way to the library, I noticed a bakery that looked promising, but I already had the coffee. Which I couldn't bring into the library anyway. It's interesting to note the variety in library policies regarding food and drink. At Deerfield, they even supply free coffee (along with lids) which you can then wander about with. I suspect that the building being brand new here at Fox Lake Library has something to do with it. Most places I've been ask that you have covered drinks only so I use that as a default expectation unless there's a sign saying otherwise.

When I came back into the library (after seeing the sign turning around and putting my coffee in the car), I noticed an area wasn't blocked off anymore but wasn't quite open. I was peering around the corner at it when a woman came up to me and said "That's the new section, it's not open yet." I said I noticed but I was just looking from where I was. Then she got all excited and gave me a personal tour. She showed me a room where there would be food and drink machines and pointed out a counter made from recycled glass. She also unlocked some doors and revealed the large lecture/meeting room and said that the seating is made from recycled seat belts. On the way out, I asked what was going to be put in the now-just-dirt area in the back and she explained that they'd be putting a wetland plants back there. I was excited because I had read about such things and thought they sounded great. Definitely worth checking out Fox Lake Library if you have the opportunity.

And now here I am, sitting in the quiet reading room alone, planning to do some noveling before hunger kicks in. Oh, and just as a reminder, I will be leaving for San Fran on Sunday. Along with sitting in quirky cafes and being all writer-y, I'll definitely get some sight seeing in. Despite some renovating going on, Alcatraz is my number one spot. There's some other ideas but I don't think I'll regret whatever does and does not happen while I'm there. Tomorrow, Colin has a company soccer game downtown and I just might join in. We'll see how that goes. Bad balance, two left feet, don't completely know all the rules to soccer, haven't been getting much exercise ... oh yes - we'll see. But then it's lunch with Tom and Keegan! With possibly sitting in a cafe and writing, maybe even with other nanowrimoers!

One short note before I sign off: I keep thinking it's nano-wree-mo but apparently it's nano-wry-mo. I kind of want to make a fuss and say that if we're trying to follow correct phonetics, we should be saying nah (like in national) noh (like in novel, not no) wry muh (as in month). But that's hard to say. Perhaps it's that darn Spanish/Italian in my brain protesting that it should be a long i. Either way, carry on.

How noveling eats brains

Bleargh - record daily word count so far: 3844. Sure, I could go on and try for 5,000 but I think I've had enough. Gonna celebrate the random high word count by taking the rest of the night off. Read Michael Crichton's 'Pirate Latitudes,' make a lazy dinner, and veg in front of some Stargate. That's the plan anyway. Still have to wait for Colin so we can go home.

Still going strong - getting really close to the half way point (cumulative is now 22,337 - 9k over the suggested)! Not sure how I will celebrate the milestone which will almost certainly be reached tomorrow. Part of me feels like a snail riding on the back of a turtle "Ack! Too fast! Slow down!" but the rest of me just wants to go faster and keep finding out what happens next. I was initially worried the story would be used up quickly and I'd run dry of ideas well before the 50k goal, but that's not looking likely. Now I'm starting to wonder just what the ending might be ... I will focus more on concluding it so I have a whole novel by the end of the month. I can't really plan the pace of the rest of the novel since I have no idea what's going to happen and I don't want to skip over stuff since it's the journey that guides the story. I've introduced 14 characters, one who is still unnamed and I highly suspect she will play a much bigger role later on.

Despite my high word count, my brain apparently doesn't think it's getting enough noveling time. I don't actually think about the novel at night, but something has been making it difficult to sleep the past few nights. Colin suspects it's the novel's fault. I honestly don't know but that is the one big change in my life. Perhaps all the thinking I normally do during the day has been crowding into my brain at night. Nothing specific, just random stuff. And I don't feel stressed. Still pretty excited.

Okay, I've had more than enough typing for one day. My wrist is faring quite well, but my right ring finger has a weird sore joint. Hope you all got some of the warm sunshine we had here!

Gunpowder Treason and Plot

I had always heard of Guy Fawkes and was dimly aware he was some VIP in history. However, I'd never run across him in any of my studies either in school or out. It's understandable now why this is so; he wasn't part of Modern European history and I'd just never studied James I.

Of Henry VIII I am quite familiar with and of Elizabeth I have a lesser degree of familiarity. The history of English royalty is far from my forte. I am definitely aware of the overall idea of Catholics and the separation of church and state and the related events that occurred in Henry VIII's and Elizabeth I's reigns. What I had almost no knowledge of was what happened next. And this is where Guy Fawkes comes in.

As is always the case with history, the events were much more complicated and interesting than I will describe. There was some confusion over who would succeed Elizabeth I and she wouldn't announce a successor. But things went surprisingly smooth right after her death and James I came into power. He carried on the anti-Catholic sentiments the two previous rulers had had. A couple of years passed while Catholics in England became more and more upset with James I. There were many plots to try to kidnap him and his family and make them promise to be nicer to the Catholics in England, but none of them worked.

Then, a bunch of Catholics (13 overall in the end) got together and decided to blow up the House of Lords with all the Lords and the king inside it. This would certainly intimidate the high and mighty ones (since the idea was that all the lords would be in the building when the explosion happened) and the Catholic plotters hoped to gain some official tolerance towards Catholics by then placing James I's Catholic daughter Elizabeth (who was nine years old at the time) in power.

Oh, and just so you know, almost all of this is garnered from wikipedia along with other websites (brittannia, about.com, bonfirenight.net) and I still don't understand things like how such an anti-Catholic king could have a Catholic daughter. Apparently he discovered his wife had received a gift of a rosary from the Pope but I don't know if this means she was merely a tolerant individual or if she was Catholic herself. For now, I'm only focusing on understanding the gist of the Guy Fawkes story. If anyone wants to enlighten me, by all means go ahead - I'll probably end up finding out soon enough, just not right now.

An anonymous letter was sent to one of the lords who was Catholic (they didn't want him to be there when the building blew up) warning him of the plot. It didn't say the exact date but it did describe the intention of the plotters. It was easy to deduce when to be on alert since the House of Lords was going into session in just a few days after the letter was shown to the king.

On the night before the House of Lords session, soldiers searched the building and caught Guy Fawkes in the cellar next to 36 barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes chose to maintain that his name was John Johnson (yeah, very original, like "John Doe") and it took a few days of torture before he started revealing his real name and details of the plot. The other plotters were eventually captured, including a strong attempt to blame some Jesuit priests for being in on it (good for anti-Catholic politics), and a couple months later the plotters were hanged, drawn, and quartered, including Guy Fawkes who managed to snap his neck when he was hanged so he didn't suffer the following actions customarily given to traitors.

And why am I reading about the Gunpowder Treason Plot? What does it have to do with my novel? Well, it has absolutely nothing to do with my novel. The "why" is that today happens to be the day, four hundred and five years ago, that Guy Fawkes was caught. I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't spotted a tweet from Neil Gaiman> which said:

Remember, remember the fifth of November: Gunpowder, Treason and Plot. Perhaps I will have a very small bonfire here tonight, just because.

I wondered what the heck he was talking about. So I looked it up.

And now, I will end with a copy of the Gunpowder Plot poem.

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot.

We see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent

To blow up king and parliament.

Three score barrels were laid below

To prove old England's overthrow.

By god's mercy he was catch'd

With a darkened lantern and burning match.

So, holler boys, holler boys,

Let the bells ring.

Holler boys, holler boys,

God save the king.

And what shall we do with him?

Burn him!

Of course, I have seen the movie "V for Vendetta" but it was only once awhile ago and the references to the actual historical event I completely missed. Sometimes, I'm a little thick in the head. I mean, V wears the Guy Fawkes mask, and he quotes part of the poem, and he's trying to do what Guy Fawkes failed to do and blow up the English Parliament. His reasons are different and it's set in a futuristic England which is a totalitarian state, but *still* I feel like I should have known. Alright, I'm gonna scuttle off and actually get some things done ... work on website, get a higher nanowrimo wordcount, and such.

There's a high level of science-y-ness in this entry

I wasn't planning on writing a post today. Those of you who follow my blog might notice I rarely post the day after a post. Oddly, I've seemed to have developed a routine of posting M-W-F and maybe once on the weekend. It was not intentional, but it's a nice surprise. Someone once said regularity is key to the success of a blogger. I'm not trying to garner a huge following or anything, but it always tickles me pink when I hear from other people who have been reading. So thanks, guys! I'm not comment-fixated but I still appreciate your support :)

What triggered me to start this post was an article at newscientist.org (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19665-aircraft-bomb-finds-may-spell-end-for-inflight-wifi.html)
Mostly, the title says it all. First, let me say that I appreciate that there are people who attempt to keep us safe when we're traveling. I really do. Being crammed into an airplane can be stressful enough without the feeling of completely being in other people's hands, most notably the pilots. I don't have a fear of flying. I can't even remember my first flight. My grandpa has a small private airplane that he flies himself. It's really tiny and he's had it for years. It helps him cut down on travel time a LOT because he flies back and forth between the two offices where his business is which are a considerable distance apart. He usually takes a trip back and forth once a week. Yes, he's a busy guy, my grandpa. He also loves flying and when he was in high school he would skip to go hang out at the airport. It makes me uncomfortable admitting that he has his own airplane and stuff but since it was relevant to the topic, I mentioned it. Along with lots of explanations. *shifts nervously in her seat*

Okay, back to the main topic: cellphones and wifi on airplanes. I don't mean to sound ungrateful here, but my common sense tells me that banning passengers from communicating with the outside world while in flight seems kind of stupid. Okay, so you're giving the already obedient passengers even more restrictions and they're even more bored. There's nothing actually stopping someone from using their cellphone, short of the attendants wrestling their cellphones out of their hands. And true, connection will be really pathetic at best, but I know from experience (again, Grandpa's airplane, not a commercial one) that cellphones are wimps when it comes to reattaching every minute or so to yet another cellphone tower. But it's still possible to send text messages.

What about cellphones in luggage left turned on? Or accidentally turned on en route? Or what about satellite phones? Or the phones on airplanes on the back of seats that I've never seen anyone use? Banning cellphones and wifi use from passengers just seems like a pathetic way to "fix" this threat. Instead of being so reactive, why don't we try being proactive? Those who are determined to do bad things on and to airplanes will always find a way. If there's some rules they will break them or look for an alternative. They're clever like that. I really hope no one starts worrying that I've got some devious plans up my sleeve or anything ... I just felt I should comment on the article's content.

On the flip side, what's up with those people who turn on their phones and call almost as soon as they hit the tarmac, if not earlier? No, this is not jealousy here. This is me simply befuddled at how many people just ignore safety. "Oh, we're almost there. Maybe we're already on the tarmac and maybe we're still rolling but we've landed and there's no way we are going to crash. Who cares about the other airplanes? It's so much more important that I call this person and let them know we've arrived, the flight was terrible, and we *still* have to wait before we can get off the plane." Grr. *end rant*

Also on newscientist.org, I ran across a gallery of photos that are intriguing. Most of their photos are fun, but I wanted to share these in particular: http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/messages-from-the-stone-age I love looking at ancient paintings and etchings found in caves. I have very little sophisticated knowledge about those people that lived thousands of years ago (okay, everyone today has very little, but I mean I don't know most of what is known). But I like letting my imagination drift. I mean, tens of thousands of years ago they scribbled this stuff on the walls? And we can see it today? Some of these are 30,000 years old. Compare that with the fact that "history" started only 5,000 years ago with those clay tablets containing cuneiform writing on them. Those "really old" civilizations like Rome and Greece? They didn't appear until around 700 BC.  Only 2700 or so years ago. It just astounds me.

And I am intrigued that the people studying these paintings have determined that they used to use these squiggles, squares, and dots but then stopped doing so. The youngest are only 10,000 years old. So what did these abstract shapes mean to them? Why did they stop using them? I'm thinking it was another Dark Age of sorts but we'll probably never know. I also like to imagine those who are painting merely made these dots and squiggles to warm up and to test how their mixed ink was working. Which would make the idea that we are studying them and trying to find some great marvelous meaning behind them hilarious. But hey, who knows? They could contain the answer to everything. (I kind of doubt it. Especially since clearly, as everyone knows, the answer is 42.)

On a more serious note, the hands are my favorite. They relay so much more human-ness than the pictures of bison and hunters with long pointy sticks to me. "We were here. We were like you. This is our signature. Notice how our hands look so much like your own."

Some of you are probably staring at this long post in astonishment, wondering what the heck I'm doing. Shouldn't I be noveling? Okay, sure, maybe I should. But I've written 11,763 words the past four days. I'm not tired of writing or exactly procrastinating, just welcoming a shift of mindset. I'll most likely get a few more words in before Colin's done with work. Yes, the novel is going well. My characters continue to control more than I'd expected them to and surprise me continuously, I have progressed in the story but not too much and feel like there's plenty of material floating around in my head to carry me through to the goal and/or deadline. The first write-in I somewhat unofficially hosted was last night and although only two other people showed up, it was fun and we've decided to meet every Wednesday night. I'm used to going into Deerfield on Wednesdays but that can easily be changed to Tuesday or Thursday, like today.

Oh, and I had my dental appointment this morning! I know, you're so proud of me. No alarming news, just need a couple small fillings, which is a relief. Alright, I'm off to stop being a nuisance to the baristas.

Feeling quite accomplished

Yesterday was election day - I hope you all voted or ... or else! I am not someone who talks about politics day in and day out but I do feel strongly that we should vote. Why? Because we can, duh. Well, my reasoning is a bit more sophisticated than that but I'm savoring some a new cup of hot tea. The steam tends to carry away my thoughts with it. Blame it on the tea.

I also want to comment on the nature of election information on the web: it sucks. I don't know anything else that is as hard to find good stuff on than the simple who supports what and what they plan to do in office. Individual candidates' campaign websites are almost all the same - they all really suck. Do you support the same things I do or don't you? My eyes glaze over after a few lines of politically snazzy gibberish and I beg for plain English. It's no wonder so many people just vote depending on who has got the right letter next to their name. Bottom line was, the more information I could find on a candidate, the more willing I was to vote for them over the guys who had not bothered to express themselves online. There was at least one exception to that of course where the person was just digging themselves further and further into a hole in their crap. I was also mildly surprised when I ran across someone who simply stated "I am strongly pro-life." Good for you, thanks for letting me know that, I almost want to vote for you because you just *told* me something of use. Granted, not all of the positions will ever actually influence big issues like abortion and same sex marriage and health insurance, but I like having people who share my opinions having some power. I think one of my biggest complaints is that people complain the government doesn't represent the people when they are thinking only of themselves. The people are more than one type and their political opinions vary widely. That's why we've got such a wide variety of people in power! It's definitely not a perfect representation. But having less than half of the population vote makes it hard to get closer to a more realistic representation. And I'm throwing out another thought: Do you think this variety is why it's so hard for the government to get anything done?

I'm still ahead on my nanowrimo word count. 6,387 so far! I'm taking a break until the write-in tonight which is why I'm writing a blog entry. Yeah I know it's still writing. But it's different. It's about ME rather than my characters who have quickly taken over in the novel. Don't worry, I am still having fun. There have been lots of surprises already. I'm feeling quite accomplished too. It doesn't matter that it's only the third, that I've written just over 10% of the goal so far.

This weekend I cleaned up and stacked the papers that I'd gone through in October in one big pile. All the papers from the two years of SLIS. When Colin saw it he was amazed. And I finally felt like I actually got something done. So I took a picture of the stack with a ruler next to it. Over eight inches thick (or high?). Which means it's roughly 2,000 sheets of paper. That's not even all of them but it's about 98% of them if I had to guess. Everything has been accounted for - if it hadn't been marked up, I just made sure I had a digital copy before scanning it. But most of it was scanned, back and front, over the course of one month. Phew! No more carrying those papers around!

And we're off!

Well, it's off on a rocky start. First, I spent so much time just trying to print my manual. I mean, how hard could it be to print a mulipage pamphlet? Very, it turns out .. especially when the printer quit listening to me. Got it all figured out but it only took the whole morning. Also, I'm trying not to feel guilty for not finishing my entire GTD list. I hadn't realized how much the website making would hinge on my digitization project. But I just wanted to start so badly today ... so the compromise is to write as much as possible today and then finish the website tomorrow before continuing writing. My internet now works in spurts and the nanowrimo site is very slow today, so I can't post my first word count.

The bright side? My finger that I cut this weekend and my stubborn wrist are cooperating very nicely. I have enjoyed some jerky and tea. And I've written 1,044 words so far! I plan to hit the library after a quick late lunch to keep going. I'm afraid it's far from gripping. I have managed to write two scenes so things are progressing. A lot of it is making it up as I go, including names and exactly how things work in the colony. So probably way too much explaining, but I'm not laying out everything at once and there's action and dialog ... Who cares if it turns out boring for anyone else  who might read it, right? ;)

I'd post a screenshot and maybe a picture of my supplies but the internet is so flaky I'm going to be surprised if this gets up at all, let alone be able to upload pictures. And how's your November looking?

Quick! Stuff about Halloween before I snooze and Nanowrimo starts!

Okay, I'm really tired because I didn't sleep well last night since I didn't feel all that great. Fine today though, which is bizarre. We finished the pumpkins in time for the hordes of kids who came to our doorstep clamoring for candy. We tried to not eat too much of it ourselves but I've eaten more than I have in probably a month or two. Which is still not really that much ...

Just so you realize, these pumpkins maybe not the best you'll find on the internet but it was the first time we did something other than hacking out a regular grinning jack o lantern with a kitchen knife. I created the designs and made the initial cuts. I also scraped out the guts and seeds while Colin did a lot of cutting and also scraping the second pumpkin's inner wall. We attempted at first to try using a dremel power tool but it didn't quite work (it coats *everything* in the vicinity in pumpkin goo), so we switched to the trusty speedball cutting tools. Also, the first one was the crow on a fence and we didn't realize we should scoop the wall from the inside to make it thinner so that's why it's cut so deep. So, without further ado, our glorious pumpkins:

And tomorrow, Nanowrimo!

Productive days, Paneer Masala, and Naan

It's proven to be a fairly productive last couple of days without any major casualties like getting locked out. I will have Colin call dentist(s) tomorrow morning. I will finish off the digitizing project and website tonight or at least before Monday. I have done a lot of pretty heavy duty cleaning especially in the kitchen/den area (where we spend most of our time). As for Europe planning and getting tickets - that's the one bit I think I might need to exempt. I'll focus on doing some heavy planning with Colin this weekend but I think it will be less stressful to not require having tickets by Monday. The point of the GTD list was to, well, get things done, but ultimately to relieve any stress that not doing those things would end up affecting November. I don't want to make hasty decisions and then have to clean up the mess later, such as if we end up needing to change the tickets (note: we aren't the only ones affected by our plans but nobody else has really got things figured out).

I can't remember what initially made me start a blog post just now, but so far it's boring. What else ...

Oh! So last night I made our usual Indian dinner. It always involves a lot of planning ahead, hopping around, and tons of dirty dishes. I don't know how often I make it - maybe once every two weeks or so? First, there's the basmati rice. I've actually forgotten it a couple times while thinking dinner was almost ready. It takes over 20 minutes to make so it's not fun to forget it. Then, there's the paneer masala, most of which is quite simple: a spice packet, milk, can of tomatoes, and the paneer. The paneer is the tricky part and it's been trial and error (lots of error actually) trying to have actual chunks instead of it melting and becoming invisible. We've tried making it from whole milk. We've tried sour cream. Then we realized farmer's cheese is about as close as you're going to find to paneer here. Some say it's one and the same but I have my doubts. Last night I cut it up into cubes and used paper towels to soak up the excess moisture. It worked much better but I don't think it's quite there yet. I also let the paneer masala cook for a bit too long so it was more pastier than goopier. Strangely, this seemed to subdue the spices.

Then there was the naan. Elusive but oh so yummy and, at least for me, necessary to complete a dish. Last time, I figured out how to make one actually turn out thin. But this time? I am so much closer to getting something like real naan. I had lots of bubbles! And they all turned out quite thin! I let every step take more than enough time and then I stored the balls of dough in the fridge for a couple of hours. They were big and poofy when I pulled them out. Interestingly, the upper layer (there were two layers of four balls each) was much easier to make thin. Next time, I won't stack them. Then the final touch? Roll them out a LOT. Roll it one way then straight back, pressing hard. Do it again and if they're still too thick, turn them 90 degrees and roll them sideways. If they keep trying to shrink, have gravity help out by holding them up by one edge. All in all, I was very happy that they turned out nicely.

Also, in case you were wondering how much time this all takes, it depends. I had prepared the dough and the paneer earlier. I don't know quite how long it takes to do that though. However, once it came time to cook, it took about half an hour. I have to work on the timing of things, such as not starting the panner masala right away. But from the time I put the rice on to boil to the time it was done, the rest of dinner was ready.

Now I'm all hungry thinking about the leftovers. Maybe we will eat dinner earlier than usual tonight ...

The oddity ensues

While Colin was gone, I watched two movies in one night, slept until I couldn't sleep anymore, and ate way too many powdered sugar donut holes. Oh, and locked myself out of the house. With no money or ID or car keys. If I had money, I most likely would have walked to the train station and gone downtown to get Colin's keys. If I had car keys,  I could have simply unlocked the car to use the garage door opener. As it was, we have no hidden spare key (soon this will turn into "had" after this experience - I promise you that). And Colin couldn't be back until the following late afternoon.

Fortunately the sun was shining, it was 70 degrees, and after trying to break into my house without busting a window, I sat down and plugged my computer into an external outlet to try to figure out what my options were and to talk to Colin. He was busy and took awhile to respond, and meanwhile I chatted with his mom. I was trying not to panic and get mad but I finally got ahold of Colin. There were many options discussed (should or could or was it worth it to walk to the station and try to have them take my reduced 10 pass? I didn't have any extra money nor do I have the required ID card they neglected to mention I needed to be eligible for in order to get but I still don't know what to do with the remainder of the stupid card). In the end, it just made more sense to go ahead and call a lock smith, even though we both got paranoid reading the lock smith scam stories online. Two and half hours and 85 dollars later, I was back in the house. It didn't really make sense to commence with my plans to spend the afternoon in Gurnee so I relaxed for a bit with a cup of tea before heading to the library. And that's the story of the first time I've locked myself out since graduating from college.

I was very glad to have Colin back yesterday late afternoon even though he was exhausted. I must mention a story about a coworker I have yet to meet. Apparently, they've started a fast friendship, his wife's name is Karen also, and he felt the need to text me while they had had quite a bit to drink. The text read: "I will be very gentle and tender with Colin tonight. It may be the best experience of his life." Colin had mentioned he was straight and married. I knew he was joking and I laughed at it although I only had confirmation from Colin that it was a joke over half an hour later. I simply couldn't think of anything to reply to the message from someone I have yet to meet, so I left it alone. Neither of us are all that great at getting jealous, let alone suspicious. Everyone always laughs whenever Colin tries to put on his jealous boyfriend act. I think we're just really comfortable because we know we love each other so much.

In weather-related news, it continues to be very blustery. I struggled with toting a breakfast-in-bed type tray from a thrift store to my car at least four blocks away and it felt like a sail no matter how I held it. I've been on the look out for one for awhile. It'll be great for toting food into the den or having another desk option. I don't know yet if the external keyboard will fit on it, but if it does even better. I have arranged a nook in the guest bedroom with blankets and pillows and a short table in which this would work very well in. If not, yay for more space to put papers and hot cups of yummy drinks. I also found a a "So you want a revolution?" glass, a tee shirt with Wonder Woman all over it, and a pair of jeans that fit.

Note to self: need to get rid of all those clothes that no longer fit. If I do ever get back to their sizes, shopping for new clothes at thrift stores is better and more fun than lugging too many clothes around when/if moving.

I also found a hat that I have dubbed my "crea cap." Crea is short for creative, and in some not-so-good Spanish it means "think, believe, imagine." (For those that care, "crea" is the subjunctive form of creer for he/she/it. More appropriate would be creo - which would mean I believe without a doubt.) It's red, knitted, soft, and good for indoors and out. I plan to wear it only when I'm actually writing the novel. I've read of a lot of people have something they wear during nanowrimo that becomes another trigger to get into the mindset of writing. I might not wear it all the time, but it helps that I do like it.

So yes, November 1 is now less than a week away. I'm doing really well on the scanning and digitizing project and the pre-novel research. At least I think I am on that last one. I'm going to try to catch up on laundry but it's not imperative. As for the rest of the GTD list - plans have been thrown off kilter this week and things like calling possible dentists to check if they take Colin's insurance and the planning for Europe in December are tough to do when I barely ever see Colin and he's so tired most of the time. Usually, we just want to zone out and simply be together when we are together. Hopefully the rest of the week isn't quite as stupid. The weekend will largely consist of pumpkin carving and handing out candy to the gazillion kids in the area.

Odd Times

Already this is quite an unusual week. We had a relatively normal Saturday; we tried out a pizza place nearby that has double decker pizzas and we spent sometime enjoying the library. The weather is a bit odd - we had frost one night recently but yesterday I ended up having to take off a lot of layers a couple times and would just sit in my tank top outside for a bit. Then there's the rain. Lots of small thunderstorms, almost nightly it seems. And tomorrow we're supposed to get high winds with gusts up to 60 mph.

Then Sunday rolled around and Colin had to be downtown Chicago by noon for the start of his company's conference. We didn't know how long he would be down there but I decided somewhat last-minute that I wanted to be with him on the 1.5 hour one way train ride. It worked out really well because Tom and Keegan were able to join me for an afternoon and early evening of sitting in cafes. It was fun to talk with Tom about library science since I hadn't seen him for two months or so and he's in his first semester of lib sci school. Made me somewhat nostalgic for grad school but I didn't envy the introductory class assignments he's going through. I read a lot of "Coal: A Human History" which I'm finding quite fascinating.

I ended up getting home earlier than Colin at 10 pm. I had no reason to stay for another two hours until the next train and I knew I'd be worthless for socializing that late. My shoes and bottom half of my jeans were pretty soaked from the rain so I was very thankful to be able to hop right into a hot shower when I got home. Also, I'm glad I had every bit of clothing I did have including wool socks which meant my feet stayed warm even when damp, rain coat, wool scarf, and an umbrella which I loaned to Tom and Keegan when they needed it. Couldn't have really been more well prepared for the wacky weather I'd encountered during the trip, except maybe some waterproof footwear. Even then, I would have needed something that was not too hot and that I could walk a lot in comfortably.

I struggled to stay awake while reading a (exciting) book and ended up taking cat naps, which meant I'd dose off partway while sitting up. Finally Colin got to the station at midnight and I picked him up. It turned out I had to drive him back to catch a train before seven this morning. He was pretty wiped out when I picked him up and he wasn't able to get much sleep :( I went back to bed and crashed until almost 11 though ... I've been building up a sleep deficit for awhile from the virus we had and the lingering side effect of sinus congestion, so I was glad for the extra sleep.

Colin won't be home until who knows when tomorrow night. I'm trying to stay positive and focus on doing things I enjoy, perhaps things I normally wouldn't do with Colin. Perhaps I'll eat a dish with tons of mushrooms tonight ;) Or borrow movies from the library that he wouldn't like at all. I have some things I have to do but the list isn't huge and I need to focus on not getting too sad that he's not here. It was actually hard to see his train leave this morning, knowing it'll be longer than usual before I see him again.

Planning and Productivity

Every once in a while I think about how to better organize, plan, and prioritize things. I know I was not a normal teenager, especially if you take note that I was drawn to books about how to be more productive, how to get more things done in the day, how to find balance. Why yes, I did enjoy reading "Cheaper by the Dozen," how did you know?

One of the things I remember best is the idea of big rocks and little rocks and trying to fit them in a jar. The concept is that a jar represents the amount of time you have or space in one day, the little rocks are small tasks that don't take up a lot of minutes and the big rocks are those time-consuming and hopefully either necessary or rewarding endeavors. First, fill the jar with the little rocks, then pile in the big rocks on top of them. Notice how many big rocks are left over. Empty the jar and refill it, but this time with the big rocks first then the littler ones. The idea is that by inserting the big, important time-consuming tasks first you will have more room to fit in more of the smaller tasks.

Another connected concept that I like is the idea of the big three. I'm not sure what it is technically called but it doesn't matter because it works anyway. I decide "what are the three big things I will get done today?" It helps me focus on working towards completing tasks that will take more than one day to finish. They usually take an hour or two each. Then, combining this idea with the big and small rocks idea, I space out the big three (usually the big rocks) throughout the day and keep in mind what little rocks I have that I can do in between each. I rarely actually schedule things down to the minute or even the hour. Instead, I keep a list and if there's something that makes sense to do at one time than another or an actual appointment, I'll keep that in mind. My days are quite unstructured but this helps me focus on the tasks rather than the time.

Periodically, I've searched again and again for pearls of wisdoms and magic formulas to maximize time and productivity that I seem to believe do exist. It's not relentless. In fact, it's how I do most things in life. I have lots of interests and hobbies and passions but I'll maybe be actually doing something about one or two of them any given month and that's about it. They'll fade to the background and neglected ones will rise to the surface. This is certainly not the case for everything in life but for many things.

Yesterday, I browsed the web and looked for what else is new out there in terms of software and ideas. I've tried Remember the Milk in the past but like any other electronic organization set-up, it fell to the wayside. I always feel like I'm spending so much time plugging things in when I could be doing some of them. With paper, I enjoy the flexibility and it feels like a faster system. I like the way I can get a good feel for the week or month or being able to just pencil things in. Often when I try to stick with purely electronic methods I get an itch to just grab some paper and a pen. But I don't carry a paper planner and I always have my phone with me. I don't like seeing empty days or weeks when things were just too simple for the need of a planner.

The biggest reason for an electronic planner is so that I can share things like grocery list with Colin. But for some reason, the cloud lists program hasn't updated and synced our shared lists in weeks. It was buggy before then which means it caused more headaches than it should have. "Oh I didn't see (foo item) was needed." "I put it on the list two days ago." "Well, it's not on mine. See?"

So since I'm used to it and it works just fine without sharing, I've changed the focus of my lists. Along with things like shopping lists and movies to see, I've simply got four to do lists: @ home, @ out and about, @ people, and @ online. It's pretty new but it helps because I get annoyed when I realize something on my list can't get checked off because I didn't remember to do it where I could get it done. It's not perfect but it's simple and fits for now. (Side note: @ people are things I need other people to do some part of the tasks or have them with me in order to get it done.) For timed things, I just use Google Calendar which sends alerts to my phone.

My most used and biggest list is the books I want to read, usually with what library I visit that holds them and where it can be found. I'm not exactly gung-ho about social sites for book reading since I find myself wanting to read rather than spend time on them, but I do have a goodreads account. It gets updated! Whenever I'm reminded of it by an email notification of someone else posting something.

I'm not some super efficient do-it-all, not even close. I seemed to need those deadlines in school to push me to get them done. I only pulled one real all-nighter but I did stay up late and spit out papers that would juuuust slide in under the deadline. I don't exactly thrive under that kind of pressure but sometimes nothing else would give me the focus and energy to get something done. Not the best way to do things, but it obviously worked well enough.

So you might remember from earlier this month that I dedicated this as a Getting Things Done month (yes, loosely related to the GTD philosophy which I don't completely understand). How am I doing? Well, I'm optimistic and think I'm doing just fine. Okay, so dentist appointment hasn't been made yet ... and tickets to Europe haven't been reserved ... and my website hasn't really been worked on ... these all depend on Colin's participation to some extent. I'm not putting the blame on him because that's not fair (he's got the website all set up) but it's hard to remember to ask what his dental insurance company is and to have him remind me how to get to the web pages to edit them. He's especially busy this month since his company's annual conference is this weekend where they roll out a new release of their software. Also, we keep mentioning Europe but never can seem to make any actual decisions and the decisions involve more people and their plans. At this point, we just need to decide and make plans ourselves. But I've accomplished quite a few things (many that weren't on the original lists but were propelled forth by its momentum). I'm well on my way to completing everything by Halloween, especially since I'm treating it like a hard deadline. I can't start nanowrimo until I finish the list! I know I wouldn't be able to stand it if I had to delay nanowrimo even for a day ...

Thinking short but not so random thoughts

Colin and I were sick over the weekend with something everyone has been catching at his office. Very low but persistent fever, off and on sore throat and headaches, congestion, fatigue, and Colin did more coughing than I did. Not so much fun. I've had two small lattes (including extra milk added to my already half-drinked cup) today and I haven't had coffee for almost a week. I did have lots of tea and we've got only one bag of Constant Comment left, but I definitely have a buzz right now.

I noticed I say "oh well" a lot here. It generally sums up how I feel quite nicely but I need to stop saying it so often because I'd imagine that repeated phrases irritate people.

Also, it seems I am not done rolling the egg rolls that have no egg in them. I've used up the 50 wrappers and I've still got a good chunk of stuffing. I did a lot of them while watching "Marley and Me" by myself last night while Colin had a business dinner. The movie is sad, sure, but not quite as sad as I thought it would be. There were some cute parts but it seemed a lot more "real lifey" than I'd expected it to be. So it's back to the store to get some more wrappers, probably tomorrow. No library volunteering session tomorrow since the lady who heads it is out of town to a funeral.

Today we finally got to try the Wild Berries pancake place somewhat close to home. The french toast stuffed with cream cheese and topped with strawberries is really good! Colin dreamed of clocks not working and then it turned out his alarm hadn't gone off when I got up 45 minutes after the usual alarm time. For lunch, we went to visit a restaurant we used to go to more when we lived in the area to celebrate Shaheli's birthday. We'd found a mug that seemed to fit her very well: sparkly, contains silly words like "hope your day is filled with love!", has a rainbow and cute sketches of little boys.

Oh, and I wanted to correct what I said earlier: the pringles weren't a dollar a piece. Well, originally they were, but I bought them for 25 cents each. I knew it had been a better deal. I found some different cookie wafers at Garden Fresh Market yesterday. One thing I realize now is that so much of the food is imported and it makes me wonder just how much food mileage there is for most things at that store. Yet on the other hand, many of their fresh foods are more local than most grocery stores. I think at least spice packets for Indian foods would be a fair exception. I know many people who try to be more locavore follow the Marco Polo rule: if it was transported during his time by ships (such as spices), it's okay if it comes from the other side of the world. I always with the out of pocket costs versus ethic (environmental) dilemma. I like a deal but I also like good guilt-free food. I'm mostly gonna be ignoring this during November I think ...

Speaking of November, it's coming up so fast! Eep! I've been feeling nervous about not having enough story stuff but today I was mostly doing some research but also spitting out overall plot fragments that have been floating around in my mind. I feel much better have stuff a bit more written out and better organized although my "outline" is very very bare. Still have a couple overall questions but the characters are much less elusive to me now, so that's helpful. Overall, I've got 5,000 words of research. This includes copy pasted passages and writing tips. Considering that this is one tenth of the word count goal, the goal feels more real and obtainable now. Of course, none of these will actually be in the novel itself as that would be against the rules. But words beget words, it seems.