ZOMG!!! It's NaNoWriMo time!!!!

The countdown begins: (warning...long post)

One more day, that's it. That's how long it will take for the NaNoWriMo site to be re-set and the NaNo community to start buzzing back into life. Right now, all of us crazy writers are sitting waiting in our stalls at the final race of the Kentucky Derby. One day till the site is reset, and we make our way to the gates. 33 until we begin our crazy breakneck journey headlong into the muck the grime and the excitement to reach that 50k.

Ok, enough with the horse analogies. But that's the amount of tension that any NaNo-er starts to feel when fall hits the air. We know it's coming...it's just around the corner. And we can't wait.

To sum up: Na No Wri Mo is National Novel Writing Month. It started in California, and slowly has spread throughout the world. It's a global friendly competition/self motivator/goal achieving phenomenon where would be authors (and some who are already published) attempt to write 50,000 words in the form of a novel in just 30 days of November. And yes...we are all partially or completely insane.

Why? I have no idea. But i look forward to it all year. It's not my lifelong goal to become a writer, although i would be immensely pleased if it were to happen. I know amazing people who that actually is a lifelong goal.

Gotta watch out for the Plot bunnies. Plot Bunnies are the tiny seeds that are sewn when the creative juices are flowing. It's an idea that will start small, and then suddenly start breeding more ideas at an alarming rate, and the next thing you know you are swamped with many tiny ideas for stories and plot changes, and if you're not careful, they will overwhelm you, distract you or worst of all...let the good ones get away!

I'm already starting to play hostess to the local group again. I found my sign, I know where my ducks are, I copied the text that I used last year for the forum sites and I'm preparing my speech.

I've had a lucky break. So two years ago, i was driving with my friend colin along a certain road when our conversation somehow broke through the barrier I'd been having with my 2008 story. In 2009, the major breakthrough on Constellations came when i was moving my apartment and driving along the same road. This year, it happened while I was driving Boyfriend Jon to a doctors appointment and took the back way to this same road.

I'm not one to be superstitious but it's kind of crazy that I distinctly remember having huge breakthroughs on this normal, suburban, road where there's nothing special in any direction.

Who knows...i'll take all the help i can get.

My story this year is looking like a combination sci fi crime novel.

Needent have worried

Events conspired to put all my fears about my birthday to rest. I was able to spend time with many of my longest, greatest, and most fun friends.

It turns out that last year, while doing the dating thing with Boyfriend Jon, I signed up to be on the birthday list for a local comedy club. They sent me an email telling me i get FREE tickets to the club on my birthday, and to just let them know how many i want. The comedian that night was hilarious and we enjoyed ourselves.

The following night, I got a different group of friends together at Red Robin.
Originally, i had asked for a table, but in the process of waiting 20 minutes, we saw a parade of young fussy, noisy, shrieking children. There had to have been a minimum of 100 people show up in that space of time, all with multiple children in tow. There was only one post-pubescent group.

Now don't get me wrong. I love kids. They're hilarious, easily entertained, and typically enjoyable to be around. That is to say in small groups. But there's really only so many squeaky or light up shoes, "daddy i want a balloon"s, and shrieks of horror at the thought that there might be mustard on their burger....that a sane person can take before they go Freddy Cougar.

After twenty minutes, I told the receptionist that we're going to eat in the bar. She gave me a rather knowing look considering there were about 10 family's waiting to be seated and a child currently demanding that her parents make her little brother stop. Poor woman deserves her own never empty flask of some hard liquor.

It makes me remember why some of the people whom i call friends have been around so long. We laughed, told old stories, re-connected, joked, and figured out how to fix 10 people at a table meant to be a squeeze for six.

I love my friends.

Also managed a trip to the nearby Bavarian Village. And by nearby...i mean 2 hours away. It rained the whole drive up into the mountains, and the whole way back, but our entire stay was warm and sunny enough to eat our meals outside and enjoy the dancing, tuba players and watching children go up and down the rock climbing wall.

It was a lot of fun, and overall a great birthday weekend.

Things I have learned this year

My birthday always seems to make me look back on the year to see what I have learned.

1. Even at the height of summer, with a long stretch of no rain...the swamp in the back of my apartment will always be a mud pit. It's just a matter of how wet the mud gets.
   
2. Massage Envy, was nice. Expensive, but nice. A foot spa was better. WAY cheaper...and better.
   
3. Not all cupcake pans are created equal
4. I can afford to live alone with no roommates and no financial help.
   
5. There is no such thing as affordable, real wood, well made furniture.
   
6. Unless it is in writing, don't expect people to follow through with promises, especially when it involves them owing you money.
7. Just because you spend time picking out colors, doesn't mean you'll actually get around to painting.
8. My personal style is clean classic and simple; when it's not influenced by anyone else, or having to fight for space in the middle of someone else's style.
9. I still do not typically hang up pictures of friends, family, or otherwise. The only artwork up in my home, is the oil painting i got off of ebay.
   
10. I really really miss riding a motorcycle.
11. I hate fruit flies.
    
12. When I had tons of time, no where to be, no one to see...yeah, my house was darn near immaculate. Not so easy to keep it that way now.
13. Northern California was a great trip and I would go there in a heartbeat again.
14. Sending that email to (now) Boyfriend Jon about NaNo was the most brilliant move i think i have ever made.
    

Otherwise, it's been a pretty sedate year. With the exception of fruit flies. I want them all to die fiery painful deaths!

The years of transition

I'm sure many people not much older than me can look back at this point in their life. The point when things are starting to go well for you and you have the ability to do things you've never been able to do before. But there's a disparity between your past and future.

I'm not rich. Nor is Boyfriend Jon my sugar daddy by any means. But events, bills, credit cards and other such expenses have finally settled down into a do-able level which even leaves me a tiny little extra to enjoy life with. I've worked hard to arrive at this point and look forward to the continuing expedition.

My birthday is coming up. And with it I was hoping to do some things I've never done before. Granted my first choices were things like Zip Lines and White Water Rafting. But logistics and demographics have put the instant kibosh on that. I pretty much don't drink...so bar hopping is out. Which leaves me with three things. I love my friends, I love to eat, and I love to laugh. So I started looking up local comedy acts. And a great comedian is playing nearby on the day and days surrounding my birthday.

But here is what brings me to my problem. I seem to sit in the middle of two kinds of friends. I've gathered a new category of friends. The friends who are out of college, gainfully employed, and have the ability to drop 35$ on tickets for a friend's birthday. Then I have the friends who are still in college, and 35$ means the difference between groceries for the week and some fun. People whom I love and would feel horribly guilty about asking them to make that choice just because it's my birthday.

I don't want to divide my friends into the haves and have nots. And I certainly don't want to make people choose between needs and wants. So how do i surround myself with all the wonderful people who have been there for me at my lows, highs and everything in between ....and still get to experience new things in celebration of surviving another crazy year?

Is it better to play it cheap and do something that everyone can participate in or to "do what I want on my birthday" because it's the one day where it would be socially acceptable to be a little selfish?

....is there a way for that to NOT sound completely selfish? Uhg.

Hailing in the month of September

Well, it's officially my favorite month. Labor day weekend is now over and soon fall will be in the air. And the weather is proving it. In the course of one weekend we have gone from warm sunshine and bright blue skies to dark gray clouds and torrential downpour. At least it gives me an excuse to wear my new jacket.

This month is my favorite because it has my birthday and the birthdays of 9! other people in my life whom i hold dear. Longtime friends, old classmates, colleagues....all Libras and Virgos.

It's also what i personally call the gateway month; leading into my favorite season. Very soon the streets, sidewalks and grass will be littered with thousands of felled leaves which glitter with the first frost. Trees will be come bright and vibrant with fall colors. And the chill in the air will give me ample reason to snuggle up to boyfriend Jon. I can't wait!

Labor day weekend was spent doing some much needed and long overdue cleaning. I mean deep cleaning. I threw out three trash bags worth of garbage, broken items, and things I've been holding onto for WAY too long. I went in there with a (if i haven't used it since i moved out...it's going)
Example: I found the tape recorder (yes actual tapes) my dad got my brother before he hit puberty! It didn't even work! I kept meaning to fix it....
Example: expired makeup that i bought and wore ONLY for my junior year homecoming.
Example: 9 pairs of jeans with holes in them...most of them in unwearable places!
Example: Getting rid of multiple bras and underwear. I haven't been a C cup in a very long time.
This is all not to mention the fridge and pantry getting cleaned out, getting rid of 3/4 of my socks (why i had 68 pairs...i have no idea) and a partridge in a pear tree.

I had originally planned on making a sock puppet army....,but elected to go the more altruistic route. I plan on making a couple trips to the good will tomorrow and hopefully spreading some much needed supplies to those who need them a lot more than I do especially once fall weather sets in.

In other news: my job inadvertently has decided to help me prepare for Nano 2010! By...typing a 24 page document word for word...in just 4 days!!!!

And naturally on the heels of that revelation...comes the "oh my god it's almost Nano time!!!!"
Time to start planning for leading the workshops again, prepping materials, reserving the time slots, and oh yeah, working on my plot idea.