Here's a tip: If you put the word "Spam" in the title of a blog post, it will attract spam. Who knew spam-bots were that dumb?
Who knew I was? It took me a whole month to figure out that I should just close comments on that post. *eyeroll*
I don't really like the new Blogger interface. Part of it is just familiarity, and I know I'll get used to it. But before, all the important stuff was right there, one click away. Now it's in multiple drop-down menus and you have to hunt for it. That's not an improvement. Not thrilled with quirks in composing posts, either. Very annoyed, actually.
This morning, I woke up at 6:15ish, and thought (with a long mental groan) "Ohhhh, it's Tuesday, and I have to work a double, and train, and...wait. It's only Sunday, AND I don't have to work tomorrow!" So I went back to sleep for two-and-a-half more hours. Nice!
I used to think I had long, intense, vivid, exhausting dreams when I wasn't writing. But I've BEEN writing, nonstop for weeks and weeks. Okay, revising, but isn't that the same thing? Apparently not, or I broke my brain, or the correlation was never valid in the first place. The dreams have gotten more and more vivid lately, and I wake up physically battered and just as tired as when I went to bed.
On Friday, I told our trainee that when I first started working there, I had dreams that they'd changed the information on the fee slip and I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing anymore, or they'd moved everything around in my work area, and I'd spend hours trying to set up one patient while other patients backed up around me.
That was apparently stupid, because that night, I dreamed they'd rearranged the entire area again, in a manner that was not at all beneficial for either the patients or the staff. The difference in this dream was that I wasn't alone. The regular therapy person and the trainee were both back there with me, just as annoyed and concerned. :)
I also dreamed the other night about Stephen King trying to give me a list of his SF-romance series. I know, right?! He's so pushy. ;)
Okay, that's enough randomness today. I am now off to clean/organize my office in an attempt to unclog my brain. What are YOU up to this holiday weekend?
Showing posts with label Stupidity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stupidity. Show all posts
Sunday, September 04, 2011
Thursday, June 17, 2010
This and That
I can't shut off the day-job copyeditor part of me when I read anything, and a couple of things have popped up lately that really disappoint me.
You don't hyphenate adverbs and adjectives, like "excellently-done."
When someone says "my skin regiment," I think they have a zombie army. It's regimen.
On the other side of things, a huge thank-you to Shannon Stacey for using "you've got another think coming" correctly! :)
~~~~~~~~~~
Number One and I saw The A-Team recently. We both LOVED it. She, of course, had no frame of reference for it, and while I have fond memories of loving the TV show, it was too long ago for me to actually remember a lot of details. So we just both thought it was awesome.
I've lost patience with certain reviewers, though, who apply the same complaints to every single action movie no matter what it is, and it's been completely false in many instances. I really dislike Michael Bay-type action movies, the ones full of destruction for destruction's sake. In fact, it was my biggest complaint about The Dark Knight. Long, extended chase sequences bore the heck out of me, and are usually replacements for true plot and relationship substance.
But the complaint did not in any way apply to Iron Man 2 (though other complaints did), which had like three fight scenes that were rather short. And it only barely applied to The A-Team. The thing about TAT's action sequences is that they were clever, and I love cleverness. You had to watch carefully to see how it all fit together, to try to predict what was going to happen next, rather than zone out while explosions follow flying parts follow punches and falls. And I thought they did an admirable job developing character. Sure, we didn't know much about any of them beyond the scope of teh movie's plot, but we don't NEED to know more.
Anyway, great movie, go see it. Oh, and yes, Bradley Cooper's abs are as advertised. And stay through the credits! You really don't want to miss the end thing.
~~~~~~~~~~
My husband had his identity stolen recently, by someone vying for "stupidest criminal on the planet." So far, we've found out about a Target card they tried to open (thwarted because Target is SMART and called my husband to verify), and a Verizon Wireless account. We know about the Verizon account because the confirmation of opening the account and the first bill came here, to our house.
What kind of half-a**** identity thief uses the correct mailing address? Does he not know or care that he'll get about a week's use of the phones before they get canceled? AND the phones could be used to trace him? He probably spent more time setting up the accounts than total minutes he got to use.
~~~~~~~~~~
I was in a cyclical funk on Tuesday, one of those hormonally driven slides into "everything sucks and me worst of all." I've got to remember, next month when it happens again, that the best cure is getting out of the house. As soon as the kids and I left for the City Islanders game--first round of the US Open Cup--my mood lifted.
It was an incredible game. The Islanders have only one win all season, and we missed it, being out of town. And last year they went deep into Cup play, beating two MLS teams before losing to DC United. Amazingly, they managed to tie it 2-2 before winning in overtime 4-2. We were in shock! But so excited to be able to hear "Apache," their victory song, on the way out of the stadium.
The only bad thing about the game was that overtime took us into Mayfly Massacre territory. Near the end of regulation play, they started descending from the lights and flying around us, occasionally alighting. It got worse during the first 15-minute overtime period. While Number One and I were in the bathroom between overtimes, Number Two came rushing in, as if the stands had been attacked. And they had! The bleachers were COVERED--literally!--with dead and dying mayflies. We stood at the rail for the rest of the game, doing the mayfly dance. Waving them away, shaking them off our clothes...I had a loose shirt on with a scoop neck, and I swear, half a dozen got into my bra (and back out again, luckily). It was horrible.
But so worth it! Regular game on Saturday, round two of the Cup on Tuesday, and we're dragging Nana along for her first non-grandchild soccer game. It's gonna be epic!
You don't hyphenate adverbs and adjectives, like "excellently-done."
When someone says "my skin regiment," I think they have a zombie army. It's regimen.
On the other side of things, a huge thank-you to Shannon Stacey for using "you've got another think coming" correctly! :)
~~~~~~~~~~
Number One and I saw The A-Team recently. We both LOVED it. She, of course, had no frame of reference for it, and while I have fond memories of loving the TV show, it was too long ago for me to actually remember a lot of details. So we just both thought it was awesome.
I've lost patience with certain reviewers, though, who apply the same complaints to every single action movie no matter what it is, and it's been completely false in many instances. I really dislike Michael Bay-type action movies, the ones full of destruction for destruction's sake. In fact, it was my biggest complaint about The Dark Knight. Long, extended chase sequences bore the heck out of me, and are usually replacements for true plot and relationship substance.
But the complaint did not in any way apply to Iron Man 2 (though other complaints did), which had like three fight scenes that were rather short. And it only barely applied to The A-Team. The thing about TAT's action sequences is that they were clever, and I love cleverness. You had to watch carefully to see how it all fit together, to try to predict what was going to happen next, rather than zone out while explosions follow flying parts follow punches and falls. And I thought they did an admirable job developing character. Sure, we didn't know much about any of them beyond the scope of teh movie's plot, but we don't NEED to know more.
Anyway, great movie, go see it. Oh, and yes, Bradley Cooper's abs are as advertised. And stay through the credits! You really don't want to miss the end thing.
~~~~~~~~~~
My husband had his identity stolen recently, by someone vying for "stupidest criminal on the planet." So far, we've found out about a Target card they tried to open (thwarted because Target is SMART and called my husband to verify), and a Verizon Wireless account. We know about the Verizon account because the confirmation of opening the account and the first bill came here, to our house.
What kind of half-a**** identity thief uses the correct mailing address? Does he not know or care that he'll get about a week's use of the phones before they get canceled? AND the phones could be used to trace him? He probably spent more time setting up the accounts than total minutes he got to use.
~~~~~~~~~~
I was in a cyclical funk on Tuesday, one of those hormonally driven slides into "everything sucks and me worst of all." I've got to remember, next month when it happens again, that the best cure is getting out of the house. As soon as the kids and I left for the City Islanders game--first round of the US Open Cup--my mood lifted.
It was an incredible game. The Islanders have only one win all season, and we missed it, being out of town. And last year they went deep into Cup play, beating two MLS teams before losing to DC United. Amazingly, they managed to tie it 2-2 before winning in overtime 4-2. We were in shock! But so excited to be able to hear "Apache," their victory song, on the way out of the stadium.
The only bad thing about the game was that overtime took us into Mayfly Massacre territory. Near the end of regulation play, they started descending from the lights and flying around us, occasionally alighting. It got worse during the first 15-minute overtime period. While Number One and I were in the bathroom between overtimes, Number Two came rushing in, as if the stands had been attacked. And they had! The bleachers were COVERED--literally!--with dead and dying mayflies. We stood at the rail for the rest of the game, doing the mayfly dance. Waving them away, shaking them off our clothes...I had a loose shirt on with a scoop neck, and I swear, half a dozen got into my bra (and back out again, luckily). It was horrible.
But so worth it! Regular game on Saturday, round two of the Cup on Tuesday, and we're dragging Nana along for her first non-grandchild soccer game. It's gonna be epic!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Nature Wins Out
I'm a pretty self-aware person. I think it comes, in part, from being a writer, and having to dig deep into what makes people who they are. But there are some fundamental things I know about myself:
1. I need 8 hours of sleep a night.
2. I am required to get up at 6:20 a.m. on weekdays, and sometimes even earlier on weekends with away soccer games that the bleeping officials set for first thing in the morning even though we have to travel nearly 2 hours to get there.
3. I am not a morning person. It's difficult to struggle out of bed any day, never mind when I'm operating on too-little sleep.
I've known these things for a very long time. Before my kids started school. Before I had a 45-minute commute to an early day job. Before I scheduled 8:30 classes in college (frosh mistake--I hate being a cliché!). So why is it such a challenge for me? Simple equation:
Bed at 10:00 + Up at 6:20 = full complement of sleep = happy Natalie
But there are a couple of other factors that trump this self-awareness and solid logic. I'm not only not a morning person, I'm very much a night person. My body tries very, very hard to follow its preferred pattern: Stay up until 3:00 a.m., sleep until 11:00 a.m., repeat cycle. Some nights this summer I was up until 4 or even 4:30, and it was easy. I wasn't tired! Not at any point during the day!
Yes, some of it is a matter of training. If I force myself to go to bed at 10:00 or 11:00, I can maintain the week with no trouble. So far, I haven't been able to make that happen. The problem is work.
Any of you who freelance or work for yourselves know that one of the drawbacks is constant availability. It's okay if I don't do this data entry while the kids are at school, because I can do it after they go to bed. I'll critique this friend's manuscript over the weekend, which will let me work on my own book Monday...until the proofing jobs come in, pushing the writing back to after the football game. That kind of thing.
So what happens is I come back down to my office after the kids are in bed, and that's it. I keep working and working until it's stupid time, then I need unwinding time (pleasure reading, and--an unfortunate side effect--a snack, because it's been 5 or 6 hours since dinner and my stomach is growling).
It wouldn't be so difficult if I got progressively tired. But I don't. I'm at my most tired between 3 and 7 in the afternoon/evening. But I have to push through, because of after-school stuff and soccer practices and meetings and school events and kids' bedtime activities. Then I have my second wind, and if I'm not tired, I should be productive!
Then the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., and I want to stab somebody in the head for being such an idiot.
After three solid years of this with no real change, I've come to decide that imposition of a "smart" pattern is impossible. Nature is winning, and all I can do is hold on until the kids are both old enough to not need me, and then I can follow my own pattern...for the rest of my life, if I'm lucky.
I know Mary either has the opposite nature or has greater control over her natural rhythms (as evidenced by daily 4:00 a.m. blog posts). How about the rest of you?
1. I need 8 hours of sleep a night.
2. I am required to get up at 6:20 a.m. on weekdays, and sometimes even earlier on weekends with away soccer games that the bleeping officials set for first thing in the morning even though we have to travel nearly 2 hours to get there.
3. I am not a morning person. It's difficult to struggle out of bed any day, never mind when I'm operating on too-little sleep.
I've known these things for a very long time. Before my kids started school. Before I had a 45-minute commute to an early day job. Before I scheduled 8:30 classes in college (frosh mistake--I hate being a cliché!). So why is it such a challenge for me? Simple equation:
But there are a couple of other factors that trump this self-awareness and solid logic. I'm not only not a morning person, I'm very much a night person. My body tries very, very hard to follow its preferred pattern: Stay up until 3:00 a.m., sleep until 11:00 a.m., repeat cycle. Some nights this summer I was up until 4 or even 4:30, and it was easy. I wasn't tired! Not at any point during the day!
Yes, some of it is a matter of training. If I force myself to go to bed at 10:00 or 11:00, I can maintain the week with no trouble. So far, I haven't been able to make that happen. The problem is work.
Any of you who freelance or work for yourselves know that one of the drawbacks is constant availability. It's okay if I don't do this data entry while the kids are at school, because I can do it after they go to bed. I'll critique this friend's manuscript over the weekend, which will let me work on my own book Monday...until the proofing jobs come in, pushing the writing back to after the football game. That kind of thing.
So what happens is I come back down to my office after the kids are in bed, and that's it. I keep working and working until it's stupid time, then I need unwinding time (pleasure reading, and--an unfortunate side effect--a snack, because it's been 5 or 6 hours since dinner and my stomach is growling).
It wouldn't be so difficult if I got progressively tired. But I don't. I'm at my most tired between 3 and 7 in the afternoon/evening. But I have to push through, because of after-school stuff and soccer practices and meetings and school events and kids' bedtime activities. Then I have my second wind, and if I'm not tired, I should be productive!
Then the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., and I want to stab somebody in the head for being such an idiot.
After three solid years of this with no real change, I've come to decide that imposition of a "smart" pattern is impossible. Nature is winning, and all I can do is hold on until the kids are both old enough to not need me, and then I can follow my own pattern...for the rest of my life, if I'm lucky.
I know Mary either has the opposite nature or has greater control over her natural rhythms (as evidenced by daily 4:00 a.m. blog posts). How about the rest of you?
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Today's Insanity and Other Stuff
Have you heard about the upcoming law that's gonna wipe out the economy?
Oh, wait. Economy already wiped. Okay, consider the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 the salt in the wound, or the foot kicking everyone while they're down.
Basically, any product meant for children under 12 has to be tested for lead before being sold or given away. The onus is not on the importers who brought in those 45 million lead-containing toys made in China last year, nor is it on the manufacturers in this country who make toys, clothes, shoes, books, and jewelry that kids might have access to. It's on Amazon, and Walmart, and the little shop around the corner. I'm told they have decided to exempt thrift stores and resellers, so yay, you won't be committing a felony with this spring's yard sales. But there's a lot more to the problems of a panicked, broadly worded law. This article explains it far more eloquently than I ever could.
I don't generally buy used stuff (for deep psychological reasons) but I'm involved in publishing, so this affects the people who might contract my books, and I feel for the small retailers who will get forced out of business by this insanity. So check it out, do your part if you feel so inclined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FYI, Adobe Acrobat Reader has a version 9 available now. I learned this when I tried to open my paperless bank statement in PDF and it gave me an "Adobe failed to open" message, even when I opened the reader manually. If this is happening to you, go to the Adobe site and click "Get Acrobat Reader" on the right. Save yourself some frustration.
I don't know why Acrobat Reader can't tell when there's a whole new version when it runs it updates, but it can't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I felt like a hero last night. My brother-in-law (BIL) texted me the other day for suggestions for finding pink skull stickers my niece needed for some unknown reason. He called me less than helpful. Well, I showed him!
Last night Number Two was working on a project for school and wanted wavy scissors to cut out her text for display. Normally, I'd have put her off, since it's the weekend and the project isn't due until Tuesday, but I played Good Mom and went to three different stores last evening, looking. Of course, the first two (drug stores) didn't have them, so I went to Michael's. I went down the sticker aisle, curious, and BAM. Pink skull stickers. Texted the BIL, niece still needs them, so they are on their way to Florida today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That success went a long way toward easing the pain of sucking. Some people can be trained and trained and instructed and helped and handheld and educated and then trained some more and still not ever be able to do what needs to be done. I'm really hoping that's not me, but the hope dims a little more each time. Mega thanks to all my friends for trying to convince me I'm more of a Matt Cassel than a David Carr. You all rock, and I couldn't do any of this without you.
Oh, wait. Economy already wiped. Okay, consider the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 the salt in the wound, or the foot kicking everyone while they're down.
Basically, any product meant for children under 12 has to be tested for lead before being sold or given away. The onus is not on the importers who brought in those 45 million lead-containing toys made in China last year, nor is it on the manufacturers in this country who make toys, clothes, shoes, books, and jewelry that kids might have access to. It's on Amazon, and Walmart, and the little shop around the corner. I'm told they have decided to exempt thrift stores and resellers, so yay, you won't be committing a felony with this spring's yard sales. But there's a lot more to the problems of a panicked, broadly worded law. This article explains it far more eloquently than I ever could.
I don't generally buy used stuff (for deep psychological reasons) but I'm involved in publishing, so this affects the people who might contract my books, and I feel for the small retailers who will get forced out of business by this insanity. So check it out, do your part if you feel so inclined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FYI, Adobe Acrobat Reader has a version 9 available now. I learned this when I tried to open my paperless bank statement in PDF and it gave me an "Adobe failed to open" message, even when I opened the reader manually. If this is happening to you, go to the Adobe site and click "Get Acrobat Reader" on the right. Save yourself some frustration.
I don't know why Acrobat Reader can't tell when there's a whole new version when it runs it updates, but it can't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I felt like a hero last night. My brother-in-law (BIL) texted me the other day for suggestions for finding pink skull stickers my niece needed for some unknown reason. He called me less than helpful. Well, I showed him!
Last night Number Two was working on a project for school and wanted wavy scissors to cut out her text for display. Normally, I'd have put her off, since it's the weekend and the project isn't due until Tuesday, but I played Good Mom and went to three different stores last evening, looking. Of course, the first two (drug stores) didn't have them, so I went to Michael's. I went down the sticker aisle, curious, and BAM. Pink skull stickers. Texted the BIL, niece still needs them, so they are on their way to Florida today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That success went a long way toward easing the pain of sucking. Some people can be trained and trained and instructed and helped and handheld and educated and then trained some more and still not ever be able to do what needs to be done. I'm really hoping that's not me, but the hope dims a little more each time. Mega thanks to all my friends for trying to convince me I'm more of a Matt Cassel than a David Carr. You all rock, and I couldn't do any of this without you.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Wrapping Up 2008
I have no posts in 2008 labeled "Goals."
None.
Of course, according to my final post about 2007, I didn't set goals. I made plans.
Let's see how I did:
Exercise
I did very well through May, when I got swamped with work. From May through August I occasionally missed my goal of 2.5 hours per week, and then I was totally inconsistent, with some weeks in the fall good, some bad, and then nothing at all in the entire fall.
Compared to previous year: 126 days of exercise compared to 301 in 2007. Ick.
Goal for 2009
I dunno. I started again this week, went to the club yesterday and today. I'm just going to try to go every day, except when I can't.
Weight
No change. Nothing different in my plans for 2009, either.
Entertainment
I read 95 full books, a falloff from last year's actual 107. I also started but didn't finish 40, and tracked 7 additional novellas.
I saw 22 movies in the theater, 8 fewer than last year, but 35 on DVD, up from 17 in 2007. Plus two on TiVo, two on TV, and two on DVD that I didn't finish.
I won't go into the TV I watched live or TiVo'd, I do that during the year. I also watched the following on DVD:
All the Buffy seasons
All the Angel seasons
Prison Break season 3
Entourage
Roswell season 1
Goal for 2009
I always strive to read 100 books, but I think I'll keep better track this year so I can push myself if possible and make the goal. I don't expect as many movies in 2009, probably about the same amount of TV. Once I finish Roswell, I might give Bones a try.
Work!
Okay, this is the biggie. Here's what I accomplished:
Overall writing
Fiction: 184,486 words (includes totally new text and added words during revisions)
Nonfiction: 57,855
That's a total of 242,341 written words in 2008. That's more than 60k less than 2007!
Goal for 2009
Whatever I manage to do, based on my circumstances.
Project breakdown
Fiction:
Submitted 8 projects
Sold 2 novellas
Wrote three novellas
Revised three+ novels
Compared to plan: Did two of the revisions I planned, started both of the sequels plus another book, though not the one I intended to.
A reminder of my plan for 2009:
1. Revise Under the Moon until it's ready for submission
2. Process critiques for Hummingbird and prep for agent review
3. Revise Fight or Flight again, if Agent Awesome so decrees
4. Do first round of revisions for More Than You Know and submit to critique partners
5. Finish Zoe WIP
What else did I do, that caused me to write so much less in 2008? Well, let me tell you:
Nonfiction:
1 20-page report
58 articles
74 biographies (short ones, not book-length!)
21 autoresponders, 4 ads, and a few miscellaneous things
Editing/Proofreading:
Approximately 3,579 pages, some being full editing in hard copy transferred to computer documents, some being small projects that I typed a list of corrections for.
Critiquing:
40 pages for LM
55 pages for M2
184 pages for M3
402 pages for TM
491 pages for JW
506 pages for VB
783 pages for VS
1,011 pages for M1
for a grand total of 3,472 manuscript pages! That amounts to roughly 868,000 words, though it's probably more than that because some people don't use standard format.
I think I only sent one full book out for critique in 2008. I'll make up for it this year!
Judging:
I judged 9 stories with just a scoresheet, and 279 pages that required comments as well as the scoresheets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, I'm tired just adding that all up! I will no longer feel like a slacker! Such occasions are surely few and far between, with that kind of tally, wouldn't you say?
So that's all. Goodbye 2008 (a few days late) and hello 2009! May it be better than productive for all of us!
None.
Of course, according to my final post about 2007, I didn't set goals. I made plans.
Let's see how I did:
Exercise
I did very well through May, when I got swamped with work. From May through August I occasionally missed my goal of 2.5 hours per week, and then I was totally inconsistent, with some weeks in the fall good, some bad, and then nothing at all in the entire fall.
Compared to previous year: 126 days of exercise compared to 301 in 2007. Ick.
Goal for 2009
I dunno. I started again this week, went to the club yesterday and today. I'm just going to try to go every day, except when I can't.
Weight
No change. Nothing different in my plans for 2009, either.
Entertainment
I read 95 full books, a falloff from last year's actual 107. I also started but didn't finish 40, and tracked 7 additional novellas.
I saw 22 movies in the theater, 8 fewer than last year, but 35 on DVD, up from 17 in 2007. Plus two on TiVo, two on TV, and two on DVD that I didn't finish.
I won't go into the TV I watched live or TiVo'd, I do that during the year. I also watched the following on DVD:
All the Buffy seasons
All the Angel seasons
Prison Break season 3
Entourage
Roswell season 1
Goal for 2009
I always strive to read 100 books, but I think I'll keep better track this year so I can push myself if possible and make the goal. I don't expect as many movies in 2009, probably about the same amount of TV. Once I finish Roswell, I might give Bones a try.
Work!
Okay, this is the biggie. Here's what I accomplished:
Overall writing
Fiction: 184,486 words (includes totally new text and added words during revisions)
Nonfiction: 57,855
That's a total of 242,341 written words in 2008. That's more than 60k less than 2007!
Goal for 2009
Whatever I manage to do, based on my circumstances.
Project breakdown
Fiction:
Submitted 8 projects
Sold 2 novellas
Wrote three novellas
Revised three+ novels
Compared to plan: Did two of the revisions I planned, started both of the sequels plus another book, though not the one I intended to.
A reminder of my plan for 2009:
1. Revise Under the Moon until it's ready for submission
2. Process critiques for Hummingbird and prep for agent review
3. Revise Fight or Flight again, if Agent Awesome so decrees
4. Do first round of revisions for More Than You Know and submit to critique partners
5. Finish Zoe WIP
What else did I do, that caused me to write so much less in 2008? Well, let me tell you:
Nonfiction:
1 20-page report
58 articles
74 biographies (short ones, not book-length!)
21 autoresponders, 4 ads, and a few miscellaneous things
Editing/Proofreading:
Approximately 3,579 pages, some being full editing in hard copy transferred to computer documents, some being small projects that I typed a list of corrections for.
Critiquing:
40 pages for LM
55 pages for M2
184 pages for M3
402 pages for TM
491 pages for JW
506 pages for VB
783 pages for VS
1,011 pages for M1
for a grand total of 3,472 manuscript pages! That amounts to roughly 868,000 words, though it's probably more than that because some people don't use standard format.
I think I only sent one full book out for critique in 2008. I'll make up for it this year!
Judging:
I judged 9 stories with just a scoresheet, and 279 pages that required comments as well as the scoresheets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, I'm tired just adding that all up! I will no longer feel like a slacker! Such occasions are surely few and far between, with that kind of tally, wouldn't you say?
So that's all. Goodbye 2008 (a few days late) and hello 2009! May it be better than productive for all of us!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Random Friday
I'm still calling this Random Friday because I started writing it just before I dumped an entire mug of hot chocolate in my laptop and drowned the keyboard. That tends to take the wind out of your blogging sails. I've been working on this, therefore, for three days.
So, yeah. Stood up to help Number Two pull her hood out. The dining room carpet is thick and the chairs don't slide on it, so when I pushed on the chair, it didn't move. I did. I ended up leaning forward just enough to tip the mug with my heavy winter shirt. I didn't even feel it, just heard it clunk.
The good news is, I found another keyboard for about $24 and it's already on its way. The liquid didn't seem to get into the laptop itself. The bad news is, one of the screws holding the plate down over the laptop connector was tightened by Big Strong Man, and we can't get it off. It's now partially stripped. Stay tuned for the finale of that saga sometime next week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have officially reached that time of year when I want to renovate my bathroom. Tear out everything in the master bath and the teeny room labeled "Daddy's Room" that's off our bedroom. Combine the two and install a gigantic tub. A tub that will allow me to immerse myself in hot water, from toes to chin, without, you know, half my body sticking out the top and my knees pushed up to my chin and my neck totally torqued.
I'm tired of being cold. Already.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moviefest
Friday night I watched The Christmas Cottage, the Thomas Kinkade movie. It had a fabulous cast, good acting, and nice individual scenes, but it was very slow and self-important. That sense was intensified when I watched the behind-the-scenes stuff. Thomas Kinkade seems like a very nice guy, but I'm always suspicious when someone says, "I have some great ideas for movies from my own life." He and the director acted like they were making a hugely significant, high-impact film that in actuality, didn't go anywhere that a thousand movies before it haven't gone.
However, I didn't get so bored I wanted to turn it off, and it made me cry at the end, a few times, so it was definitely worth the rental fee. As for Jared Padalecki, he made me forget about Sam, except a few times when he had an expression that's all Jared.
Next up was Bolt with Number Two, which was fun and funny, with a cute, well-executed premise. As all the reviewers said, the pigeons were awesome (Number Two couldn't stop giggling).
And finally I braved the teenager-fest and took Number One and her friend to see Twilight. I went in to this with a huge dose of cynicism, after seeing the trailer and reading interviews with Robert Pattinson. I expected high melodrama, and there was some, but not as much or as bad as it could have been. The casting was pretty good. The guy who played Jasper was the worst actor of all of them, and that made me feel bad for him. He looked terrified all the time, when he didn't look constipated. Luckily, he didn't have much to do. Charlie wasn't at all as I pictured him, but he did the job well, conveying the spirit of Bella's dad, if not the image. Everyone else was spot on.
Unfortunately, Robert Pattinson was pretty inconsistent. He did fine with general interaction, but when he had to convey intensity and struggle by itself, it was with wide-open eyes and flared nostrils instead of emotion. He made the crowd laugh at the wrong times, especially when he first encountered Bella. And his hair was just ridiculous.
But it was a good enough performance that I think he'll develop through the next three movies.
Story-wise, I thought they did a great job. Number One said she kept up a constant stream of criticism for what they got wrong (the color of Edward's rug, for cripe's sake!), but I read it the book long enough ago that only the bigger things mattered to me. Two scenes were absolutely perfect--the car/ice rescue, and the baseball game.
All in all, it earned the highest compliment I can give a movie adaptation--it made me want to read the book again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My NaNo words are trickling out. I'll make the NaNo goal, but it will be down to the wire. I have to spend all day tomorrow on a read-through of a previous book, then get started with revisions on that, so the NaNo book will suffer. Which is okay, actually, because it sucks. But that's to worry about later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trying to think of what else I planned to say...I'm behind on all my TV watching, so my Sci Fi Chicks reviews are suffering. And...
OH.
HOW COULD I FORGET?
The Supernatural Convention will be coming to Cherry Hill, NJ, in March. That's two freaking hours away from me. And guess what?
I GET TO GO!
It's my birthday present, and I am giddy with joy. The only confirmed guest is Jared Padalecki, but if he was the only one I got to see/touch/listen to/get my picture with, it would be worth it. I promised my autograph to Number One, since she's all ticked that I'm not taking her. Honestly, she doesn't need to see her mother being all fangirl. Not like that, anyway.
So thank you, Megan, for jumping all over this, and thank you, J, for being the best husband in the world, and thank you, JPad, for being so amazingly willing to put yourself out there for the fans. I am full of love for everyone.
Who else will be there? Gail? That's close for you, too!
So, yeah. Stood up to help Number Two pull her hood out. The dining room carpet is thick and the chairs don't slide on it, so when I pushed on the chair, it didn't move. I did. I ended up leaning forward just enough to tip the mug with my heavy winter shirt. I didn't even feel it, just heard it clunk.
The good news is, I found another keyboard for about $24 and it's already on its way. The liquid didn't seem to get into the laptop itself. The bad news is, one of the screws holding the plate down over the laptop connector was tightened by Big Strong Man, and we can't get it off. It's now partially stripped. Stay tuned for the finale of that saga sometime next week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have officially reached that time of year when I want to renovate my bathroom. Tear out everything in the master bath and the teeny room labeled "Daddy's Room" that's off our bedroom. Combine the two and install a gigantic tub. A tub that will allow me to immerse myself in hot water, from toes to chin, without, you know, half my body sticking out the top and my knees pushed up to my chin and my neck totally torqued.
I'm tired of being cold. Already.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moviefest
Friday night I watched The Christmas Cottage, the Thomas Kinkade movie. It had a fabulous cast, good acting, and nice individual scenes, but it was very slow and self-important. That sense was intensified when I watched the behind-the-scenes stuff. Thomas Kinkade seems like a very nice guy, but I'm always suspicious when someone says, "I have some great ideas for movies from my own life." He and the director acted like they were making a hugely significant, high-impact film that in actuality, didn't go anywhere that a thousand movies before it haven't gone.
However, I didn't get so bored I wanted to turn it off, and it made me cry at the end, a few times, so it was definitely worth the rental fee. As for Jared Padalecki, he made me forget about Sam, except a few times when he had an expression that's all Jared.
Next up was Bolt with Number Two, which was fun and funny, with a cute, well-executed premise. As all the reviewers said, the pigeons were awesome (Number Two couldn't stop giggling).
And finally I braved the teenager-fest and took Number One and her friend to see Twilight. I went in to this with a huge dose of cynicism, after seeing the trailer and reading interviews with Robert Pattinson. I expected high melodrama, and there was some, but not as much or as bad as it could have been. The casting was pretty good. The guy who played Jasper was the worst actor of all of them, and that made me feel bad for him. He looked terrified all the time, when he didn't look constipated. Luckily, he didn't have much to do. Charlie wasn't at all as I pictured him, but he did the job well, conveying the spirit of Bella's dad, if not the image. Everyone else was spot on.
Unfortunately, Robert Pattinson was pretty inconsistent. He did fine with general interaction, but when he had to convey intensity and struggle by itself, it was with wide-open eyes and flared nostrils instead of emotion. He made the crowd laugh at the wrong times, especially when he first encountered Bella. And his hair was just ridiculous.
But it was a good enough performance that I think he'll develop through the next three movies.
Story-wise, I thought they did a great job. Number One said she kept up a constant stream of criticism for what they got wrong (the color of Edward's rug, for cripe's sake!), but I read it the book long enough ago that only the bigger things mattered to me. Two scenes were absolutely perfect--the car/ice rescue, and the baseball game.
All in all, it earned the highest compliment I can give a movie adaptation--it made me want to read the book again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My NaNo words are trickling out. I'll make the NaNo goal, but it will be down to the wire. I have to spend all day tomorrow on a read-through of a previous book, then get started with revisions on that, so the NaNo book will suffer. Which is okay, actually, because it sucks. But that's to worry about later.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trying to think of what else I planned to say...I'm behind on all my TV watching, so my Sci Fi Chicks reviews are suffering. And...
OH.
HOW COULD I FORGET?
The Supernatural Convention will be coming to Cherry Hill, NJ, in March. That's two freaking hours away from me. And guess what?
I GET TO GO!
It's my birthday present, and I am giddy with joy. The only confirmed guest is Jared Padalecki, but if he was the only one I got to see/touch/listen to/get my picture with, it would be worth it. I promised my autograph to Number One, since she's all ticked that I'm not taking her. Honestly, she doesn't need to see her mother being all fangirl. Not like that, anyway.
So thank you, Megan, for jumping all over this, and thank you, J, for being the best husband in the world, and thank you, JPad, for being so amazingly willing to put yourself out there for the fans. I am full of love for everyone.
Who else will be there? Gail? That's close for you, too!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, June 25, 2007
Old Friends
I posted on Friday about the dreams I'd been having, and that reminded me of some old friends, and that put me in a nostalgic mood, and that made me want to blather on about my past. It might be boring. You've been warned.
My first best friend was David, the son of my mother's best friend, and I have no idea how his last name was spelled. Hey, I was nine the last time I saw him. It sounds like Ploo, and is probably Pleau. I dunno. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that he was Steve Austin, the Six-Million-Dollar Man, and I was Jamie Summers, the Bionic Woman, and my brother was Oscar Goldman, our handler. That's the main memory I have, of us playing that all the time.
After David was Tammy Moran. Her mother called me a few years ago, when she saw my mother's obituary. She's apparently teaching music in California, exactly what she wanted to do. We were close friends from age 7 (she was a year younger) to high school. But she was two grades behind me and we weren't in the same school after elementary, and she had her school friends and I had mine, and then I moved to NY.
In junior high and high school it was Jeanne Graham, Linda Rivera, Dawn Fournier, and occasionally Laurie Minihan. Linda and Dawn keep in touch with me. I don't know why. I was never a very good friend to any of them. We were all outcasts, and my mother had tried to teach me that we're known by the company we keep, and I hated being an outcast and knowing that hanging with them wouldn't help. My strongest memories of them are times I was an ass.
Something you didn't know about me that probably makes you like me less.
Linda and Dawn are married, Linda has kids, Dawn is trying. I haven't seen or heard from Laurie since I moved away from Agawam, and Google has nothing on her. Unless I'm just spelling her name wrong.
Betsy Hernandez was probably my closest friend in high school, at least in our junior year (she moved to town our sophomore year). She's my sister-in-law now, and we keep in touch about as well as I do with the rest of them. Which is, barely.
Bethany Sudbury was my next-door-neighbor for a while. She was a few years younger than me, but if it weren't for her, I might never have played outside. I always preferred books to sunshine. Beth contacted me a few years ago via my blog, asked how to get published, and then never responded to me again.
I moved my senior year to North Chatham, NY, and went to Ichabod Crane Central High School. Everything changed. No one remembered the shy, introverted kid. It was a small school, the jocks and the brains were the same kids, and they hung out with the goths after school. My best friend there, Sue Schreijack Pulver, remains in the area. She grew up there and still belongs to the rescue squad. We lost touch, too, and I think it's my fault. She stopped writing back when I wrote to her, and I'm guessing I said something in a phone conversation that she took badly. I don't know what else would cause her to stop.
My senior year I had lots of guy friends, too. David and Mark and Chris and Geo--oh, especially sweet Geo--and Dan and Sean. Makes me long for our reunion, except many of them were juniors. We lost touch through college. I ran into one guy about 9 years ago, when I was pregnant with Number Two. He chased me down outside of Staples. He was the manager of the Encore book store, which closed soon after so I never saw him again. I assume he was relocated. We weren't that close so it was flattering that he remembered me, and came after me. He'd been in the military right after graduation, though, and I wrote to him for a while because he was really homesick. I wonder if I still have those letters somewhere...
Summer jobs seemed to lend themselves to intense, short-lived friendships. I mentioned that I hung out with Vince and Peter that summer of '89. Ninety saw me in Michigan, working at a nature center and living with four other people in an old farmhouse. I never clicked with Kahle or Heather that much. I don't think they cared for me. But Rob and I had great religious debates, and he and his brother Dave were sweet guys. But they were older and didn't stay in touch, either.
There's a trend here, you might have noticed. I haven't stayed in touch with anyone. None of my friends from college...roommates...friends...I did trade e-mails with Eric Schutzbank, who was a very sweet, very understanding pledge the year I met Jim. He'd asked me to the pledge formal but I was about to have my first date with Jim and thought he'd ask me, so I turned Eric down. He never held it against me. :) He's a married attorney now, and seems happy.
There was Victoria, with her contraband cat who'd only eat when we were in the bathroom, but would always eat when we were in the bathroom. I made a mistake with her. I'd asked her to be one of my bridesmaids, but the church was really tiny and Jim didn't have enough guys to be groomsmen, so I "took it back." Idiot. She didn't come to the wedding and I never heard from her again. There are way too many Victoria Andersons for me to easily find her online.
Shawna Wamsley was my suitemate for two years. I heard her "crying" one night and thought her boyfriend was being an ass to her. But he was just playing the fart game, I found out the next day. (Farting and trying to shove her under the covers with it.) She had gorgeous strawberry hair that I still envy. They apparently got married but her news item on OWU's web site is twelve years old.
Okay, now I want to go pull out photo albums and yearbooks and wallow in nostalgia all afternoon. I betcha anything I dream in the "past" again.
My first best friend was David, the son of my mother's best friend, and I have no idea how his last name was spelled. Hey, I was nine the last time I saw him. It sounds like Ploo, and is probably Pleau. I dunno. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that he was Steve Austin, the Six-Million-Dollar Man, and I was Jamie Summers, the Bionic Woman, and my brother was Oscar Goldman, our handler. That's the main memory I have, of us playing that all the time.
After David was Tammy Moran. Her mother called me a few years ago, when she saw my mother's obituary. She's apparently teaching music in California, exactly what she wanted to do. We were close friends from age 7 (she was a year younger) to high school. But she was two grades behind me and we weren't in the same school after elementary, and she had her school friends and I had mine, and then I moved to NY.
In junior high and high school it was Jeanne Graham, Linda Rivera, Dawn Fournier, and occasionally Laurie Minihan. Linda and Dawn keep in touch with me. I don't know why. I was never a very good friend to any of them. We were all outcasts, and my mother had tried to teach me that we're known by the company we keep, and I hated being an outcast and knowing that hanging with them wouldn't help. My strongest memories of them are times I was an ass.
Something you didn't know about me that probably makes you like me less.
Linda and Dawn are married, Linda has kids, Dawn is trying. I haven't seen or heard from Laurie since I moved away from Agawam, and Google has nothing on her. Unless I'm just spelling her name wrong.
Betsy Hernandez was probably my closest friend in high school, at least in our junior year (she moved to town our sophomore year). She's my sister-in-law now, and we keep in touch about as well as I do with the rest of them. Which is, barely.
Bethany Sudbury was my next-door-neighbor for a while. She was a few years younger than me, but if it weren't for her, I might never have played outside. I always preferred books to sunshine. Beth contacted me a few years ago via my blog, asked how to get published, and then never responded to me again.
I moved my senior year to North Chatham, NY, and went to Ichabod Crane Central High School. Everything changed. No one remembered the shy, introverted kid. It was a small school, the jocks and the brains were the same kids, and they hung out with the goths after school. My best friend there, Sue Schreijack Pulver, remains in the area. She grew up there and still belongs to the rescue squad. We lost touch, too, and I think it's my fault. She stopped writing back when I wrote to her, and I'm guessing I said something in a phone conversation that she took badly. I don't know what else would cause her to stop.
My senior year I had lots of guy friends, too. David and Mark and Chris and Geo--oh, especially sweet Geo--and Dan and Sean. Makes me long for our reunion, except many of them were juniors. We lost touch through college. I ran into one guy about 9 years ago, when I was pregnant with Number Two. He chased me down outside of Staples. He was the manager of the Encore book store, which closed soon after so I never saw him again. I assume he was relocated. We weren't that close so it was flattering that he remembered me, and came after me. He'd been in the military right after graduation, though, and I wrote to him for a while because he was really homesick. I wonder if I still have those letters somewhere...
Summer jobs seemed to lend themselves to intense, short-lived friendships. I mentioned that I hung out with Vince and Peter that summer of '89. Ninety saw me in Michigan, working at a nature center and living with four other people in an old farmhouse. I never clicked with Kahle or Heather that much. I don't think they cared for me. But Rob and I had great religious debates, and he and his brother Dave were sweet guys. But they were older and didn't stay in touch, either.
There's a trend here, you might have noticed. I haven't stayed in touch with anyone. None of my friends from college...roommates...friends...I did trade e-mails with Eric Schutzbank, who was a very sweet, very understanding pledge the year I met Jim. He'd asked me to the pledge formal but I was about to have my first date with Jim and thought he'd ask me, so I turned Eric down. He never held it against me. :) He's a married attorney now, and seems happy.
There was Victoria, with her contraband cat who'd only eat when we were in the bathroom, but would always eat when we were in the bathroom. I made a mistake with her. I'd asked her to be one of my bridesmaids, but the church was really tiny and Jim didn't have enough guys to be groomsmen, so I "took it back." Idiot. She didn't come to the wedding and I never heard from her again. There are way too many Victoria Andersons for me to easily find her online.
Shawna Wamsley was my suitemate for two years. I heard her "crying" one night and thought her boyfriend was being an ass to her. But he was just playing the fart game, I found out the next day. (Farting and trying to shove her under the covers with it.) She had gorgeous strawberry hair that I still envy. They apparently got married but her news item on OWU's web site is twelve years old.
Okay, now I want to go pull out photo albums and yearbooks and wallow in nostalgia all afternoon. I betcha anything I dream in the "past" again.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A Truly Ridiculous Post
All authors have their grammatical bugaboos. Things they have a mental block about and, at the least, have to think hard about when they use them.
Mine is bring/take. I was probably near 30 when someone told me I use them interchangeably and I'm not supposed to. I was floored. I mean, I grew up with a mother who corrected every sentence. "There's cars" still echoes through my head whenever I think of "Mom" and "grammar" together. I took AP English. And got a 5. But no one ever taught me that bring/take don't mean the same thing.
I still struggle with it, though I do get the basic idea. "Bring" is action toward the speaker, and "take" is action away. But what if the action has nothing to do with the speaker?
The example that used to vex me was when I edited case management reports. The case manager would say that Medical Equipment Company X brought/took a bed to the patient. If the point of view is MEC-X, they took it. If the point of view is the patient, they brought it. But the point of view is a third party who is not part of the action. She was not at the MEC-X when they left, nor at the patient's when it arrived. I think I settled on "took."
The example that prompted this rather silly post was this:
I've been giving my husband my Entertainment Weekly magazines for his bathroom. They've been piling up because I scolded him when I found some in the trash. We recycle glossy paper. So he set them on my dresser, which is right outside his bathroom. I think he wants me to deal with them, which is just annoying.
So I was thinking that I will tell him, "When you're done with the magazines, bring them to the kitchen and put them in the paper bag by the desk."
Immediately, Vicky Burkholder's voice echoed in my head. "It should be take them to the kitchen."
My mental response? "Not if I'm in the kitchen when he brings them."
Yes, I am a smartass. My mother always said that, too. :)
Mine is bring/take. I was probably near 30 when someone told me I use them interchangeably and I'm not supposed to. I was floored. I mean, I grew up with a mother who corrected every sentence. "There's cars" still echoes through my head whenever I think of "Mom" and "grammar" together. I took AP English. And got a 5. But no one ever taught me that bring/take don't mean the same thing.
I still struggle with it, though I do get the basic idea. "Bring" is action toward the speaker, and "take" is action away. But what if the action has nothing to do with the speaker?
The example that used to vex me was when I edited case management reports. The case manager would say that Medical Equipment Company X brought/took a bed to the patient. If the point of view is MEC-X, they took it. If the point of view is the patient, they brought it. But the point of view is a third party who is not part of the action. She was not at the MEC-X when they left, nor at the patient's when it arrived. I think I settled on "took."
The example that prompted this rather silly post was this:
I've been giving my husband my Entertainment Weekly magazines for his bathroom. They've been piling up because I scolded him when I found some in the trash. We recycle glossy paper. So he set them on my dresser, which is right outside his bathroom. I think he wants me to deal with them, which is just annoying.
So I was thinking that I will tell him, "When you're done with the magazines, bring them to the kitchen and put them in the paper bag by the desk."
Immediately, Vicky Burkholder's voice echoed in my head. "It should be take them to the kitchen."
My mental response? "Not if I'm in the kitchen when he brings them."
Yes, I am a smartass. My mother always said that, too. :)
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Cluelessness
Usually, when you put telemarketers or research people off once, they don't ever call back. Which is great, because I hate to be mean to people who are just trying to do a job and support themselves and maybe their families.
So this research firm called a few weeks ago, asking for my husband. Told them he wasn't here, and that he works, he's not home during the day.
Well, apparently they really, really want his opinion on health care. Because they called again. And again. And again, and again, and again. And then one more time.
First they'd ask for him, then when to call back, then if "Mrs. Damschroder" (which I do not use, though I will cop to being his wife) can do the survey. The first time, I was in a hurry and said it wasn't a good time. They asked when would be. I told them mornings are better.
Yesterday they called at 3:15. I told them that every time they call, they ask for my husband, and I keep telling them he's not there. He said, "You told us he'd be available in the morning."
OMFG.
"No, I told you I'd be available in the morning, and it's 3:15 in the afternoon."
The guy confirmed that if they called me in the morning, I'd do the survey. I said, sure, if you call me in the morning.
They just called. And asked for Jim.
*headdesk*
I said, "No, there is not a better time to reach him." He thanked me and hung up.
The kicker? It was the same guy I talked to yesterday.
So this research firm called a few weeks ago, asking for my husband. Told them he wasn't here, and that he works, he's not home during the day.
Well, apparently they really, really want his opinion on health care. Because they called again. And again. And again, and again, and again. And then one more time.
First they'd ask for him, then when to call back, then if "Mrs. Damschroder" (which I do not use, though I will cop to being his wife) can do the survey. The first time, I was in a hurry and said it wasn't a good time. They asked when would be. I told them mornings are better.
Yesterday they called at 3:15. I told them that every time they call, they ask for my husband, and I keep telling them he's not there. He said, "You told us he'd be available in the morning."
OMFG.
"No, I told you I'd be available in the morning, and it's 3:15 in the afternoon."
The guy confirmed that if they called me in the morning, I'd do the survey. I said, sure, if you call me in the morning.
They just called. And asked for Jim.
*headdesk*
I said, "No, there is not a better time to reach him." He thanked me and hung up.
The kicker? It was the same guy I talked to yesterday.
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