Another Year, Another NaNoWriMo

November has come and gone and, once again, I failed to write 50,000 words.

I haven't been doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about) all that long, but I still feel like I should have been able to write 50,000 words in a month. I mean, I sat down one night and wrote almost 3,000 words in one sitting - 1,667 a day shouldn't be a problem!

I wish that it didn't take place in November. I have a lot going on with Thanksgiving and the other holidays coming up. For some reason, it seems to be the busiest time of year for us even though we do a lot of social nonsense all the time. But this year from Thanksgiving until Christmas, I won't have a single weekend to myself to do nothing (or at least just do whatever I want, which usually involves reading and staying in my jammies).

I was hoping to catch up over the four-day weekend, but that didn't happen. We went out Wednesday night; Thursday was Thanksgiving and I made dinner for everyone; Friday night was Friendsgiving with a group of friends; Saturday was Small Business Saturday so we went out for that, and then that night was a birthday party with the same group of friends from Friday; and Sunday I went to visit my grandparents and aunts and uncle.

Of course, by Sunday it was too late. I'd missed the deadline and hadn't met the goal.

While I would say that I'm disappointed in myself, I'm not really. I mean, yes, to a certain degree I am because I didn't finish my novel - not even close! But you know what I did do? I managed to write over 38,000 words in a month - a very busy month - and hammer out a lot of details for a story that I've been trying to get down for a long time.

I think I might try my hand at Camp NaNoWriMo this summer. I'd like to at least finish the story I started and maybe get somewhere with it, and come up with a solid outline for the next NaNo story I'm going to write (yes, I already have one in mind for next year).

So while I didn't finish, I am proud of myself for attempting it and getting at least some words down. I'm happy that I figured out where I want to go with my story and that I got more plot lines down. It's okay that it's not finished. I'll still work on it now. I'd like to get a book published some time in my life... why not 2014?

Anyway, I'm off to go do actual work and other things that have been neglected during this month of insanity. My office is in shambles... I got a new desk and everything is just sitting in piles on the floor because I don't have time to fix it. I have filing to do, a closet to clean, and bookshelves to organize. We've been in our house for two years now... I guess it's about time these things got finished.

What I'm Thankful For

As I sit here at 11ish on Sunday night, I'm getting grumpy about my four-day weekend disappearing. I won't get another until next Thanksgiving (unless I take time off) and I felt like it got wasted making food for Thanksgiving and parties that we had to go to. I didn't have one day completely to myself to just relax and enjoy.

And then I thought about it - I spent my entire weekend in the company of my family and friends. What better way is there to spend Thanksgiving weekend?

It made me think about what I'm really thankful for. I didn't do the typical Facebook post listing everything that I'm thankful for. I used to, but anymore I feel like people just like to talk about what they love in their life to make everyone else feel bad about theirs. I could be wrong, but Facebook should really just be called LifeBrag or something because that's what people do. Facebook rant aside, I have a lot of things that I am thankful for, but I don't want to irritate people on all social media outlets.

So while I'm feeling cranky about having to go to work tomorrow and not really having a relaxing long weekend, I'm incredibly thankful that I have a job to go to, and that I actually like my job. I'm also thankful that I have friends and family that want to spend time with me, and that I want to spend time with. I am thankful that I have the time and resources to make Thanksgiving dinner for my family. I'm very, very thankful that I don't work in retail anymore. I'm thankful for my husband, my dogs, my house, my life.

All things considered, it was a good weekend, and now I need to get to bed so I can function at work tomorrow.

If you try sometimes/you just might find/you get what you need

Well, I know I said I was going to post more frequently, but life seems to keep getting in the way. Not that I have a huge following... but a promise is a promise! Right?

Anyway.

Work has been busy enough that when I get home at night, the last thing I want  to do is sit in front of my computer and write something. I'm reading and proofing all day, and will soon add a bit of writing to that mix, so my eyes are BEAT and my brain is usually pretty fried when I get home. Don't get me wrong - I love my job and I'm really happy that I get to use my brain on a daily basis... I'm just tired enough that I don't blog much.

I'll get back on track, though. I've finally cleaned up my office enough that I can actually sit at my desk and work rather than haul my laptop out to the living room and then get distracted by whatever is on TV. (Oh, Jane Eyre is on again? Yeah, sure, why not?)

It's funny, though, how things happen in life. I've wanted this job since I temped in this position over two years ago. I never really stopped thinking about getting back to the company, and even applied for other jobs within the company if not in the same department. Now I'm finally back... and it's a lot of work, like I said, but I am really glad to be there. Sometimes I get annoyed and think about how things would be if the girl I replaced had never taken the job - would I have been working there for almost three years at this point?

But when I had my 90-day review the other day, I realized that I'm actually glad that I didn't get this job right away. The girl who worked there before me was, apparently, a bit high-strung and didn't handle stress well. So compared to her, I am really relaxed and on top of things. I can't help but wonder if people would be as impressed by my work and my timeliness if she hadn't worked there first.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that things have a way of working themselves out. Not everything, obviously. You won't magically wake up one day and be thin or incredibly gifted at playing the oboe or something. You do have to work for things. But sometimes you have to know that maybe you are better off for not getting something you thought you wanted.

Goodbye is Never Easy

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."


Today I went to a funeral for someone I didn't know very well. I only met her a handful of times, but she was always very sweet. I knew her through her family; more specifically, through her oldest son, a friend of mine. He's the reason I went to the funeral (I don't make a habit of popping up at random funerals).

I don't deal well with death. At all. I've almost passed out from thinking about dying - knowing that one day I will cease to exist doesn't sit well with me. If I go to a funeral, it's because I truly love that person or someone close to them.

My eyes hurt from crying for the rest of the day. I haven't really been able to stop. I will randomly think of something sad and the tears will start. And then I read Sarah Silverman's obituary(ish) post about her dog that just died. Let's just say that that didn't help.

I have too many friends that have lost parents in the past few years. It makes me appreciate that I still have both of mine. It puts things in perspective. Appreciate the people around you - life is short. Let the people you love know that you love them.

Death is a scary thing. I am glad that my friend's mom passed with her family all around her, knowing just how much they loved her and how much she would be missed. I am glad they are a close family so they have a support group while they grieve.

Take care, friends.

M.I.A. No More...

Sorry for that little absence there, lovely readers...

 

I think I hear some crickets. Hmm. Anyone?

 

Anyone?

 

Anyway, I haven't blogged for a bit because I was in the process of getting a new job. I know it seems like a bad reason for not writing, but it took a lot out of me.

 

I will have a new blog up for your enjoyment soon. I promise. I have SO much to talk about these days. I'm loving my job and the fact that I get to use my brain every day.

 

So keep your eyes peeled (ew!) for a new post soon. Before the end of the week. Or weekend. I can't make any promises, really...

 

Random Facts

Sometimes there are things that I feel like I want to share that really have no context, so we're just going to call them Random Facts about me and leave it at that.

Today, for some reason, this one popped into my head. I can't remember at this point if it was an article that I read or being forced to listen to some Rush yesterday, but whatever it was made this come to mind and I can't help but laugh at myself.

When I was a kid, I heard people talk about prog rock. I didn't know what it was because I didn't really care. Music was music - I didn't quite grasp the genres and all that. I just liked most of what I heard because I was a kid and probably had more important things to do, like make mud pies or collect beer bottle caps.

Anyway, I never saw the words "prog rock," I only heard them. In my tiny little mind, I thought they were talking about Prague rock. As in rock music from Prague. Makes sense, right?

I don't know if I should be proud of myself for knowing that Prague was a thing (or a place, really) or if I should be embarassed because I didn't understand that it was prog and short for progressive. I didn't care then, but now it makes me laugh.

So there you go. A random fact about yours truly. Hopefully it's somewhat funny to you too.

Book Blocked

If you are an avid reader like me, I'm hoping you can shed some light on something that happens to me more and more often these days.

I am one of those people that, given enough time, can read a book in a day, or at least a book a week. Well, a normal book, not Anna Karenina. That one took a while... Anyway, the point is that I can read a lot and usually do. I also read several books at a time just to keep things interesting. But sometimes I will finish a book and be completely unable to pick and commit to a new book to read. It's not that they're not good books that I choose - I picked one up yesterday and got completely sucked in until I had to take the dogs out, then totally ignored it the rest of the night.

Am I crazy or does this happen to other people, too?

I hope I'm not crazy.

Sometimes I can figure out what some of the contributing factors are. The last two weeks of work have been kind of crazy, so I cut my lunch breaks short to make sure my work gets done, so I couldn't read at lunch. And now that school's out, my husband is working during the day, so he's been a distraction in the evenings when I come home. Normally, however, I'm really good at tuning him out.

Right now I am staring at three books that want me to finish reading them. Is there a cure for a book blockage??

The PMS Monster

This might be a TMI kind of entry for a first blog post, but I'm okay with that.

Not too long ago, there were some articles out there about how PMS isn't a real thing, that women expect it so they make it happen by thinking about it.

Normally I believe in scientific things and tend to trust science over anything else. This, however, pissed me off.

Here's the thing, science - thought can cause symptoms to manifest, yes. I know that. But why would I want to have cramps and horrible mood swings for at least one week out of every month? Even if I knew that was coming, I would try to think it away. That doesn't work, by the way... don't think I haven't tried.

Sometimes I forget that I'm about to get it and then the cramps start and I cry at the most random things and then want to murder someone two seconds later. If I'm not thinking about it, how am I making it happen? And sometimes I don't even have any symptoms.

I have a feeling this study was done by men. They don't get it. They think it's a little pain and a little bitchiness and a little crying and we do it to get out of things. They don't understand that sometimes it feels like the angriest washer-woman in the world is wringing out your uterus or that Godzilla is destroying Tokyo inside of your abdomen.

Men don't understand why you will grind your teeth in anger over things that on pretty much any other day might go by without more than a mildly annoyed feeling, if that.  They don't get how you acan be so irritated at every single thing that they do. They don't understand how you can start crying at the drop of a hat. Movies that normally make me a little teary will reduce me to a blubbering mess on the couch. When I pet my dogs, all I can think about is how they're going to die someday and how much I will miss them and then sob over that. I was flipping through channels today and started bawling over freaking Lilo & Stitch. When that little alien started in with the whole "ohana means family" thing, I couldn't contain myself. I mean, come on! Normally I'd  just be impressed that the little guy learned to speak English.

If I could affect these things with a thought, wouldn't I try to make them stop happening to me?

Ladies,  I think you know what I'm talking about.

Guys, when your wife/girlfriend/fiance/whatever says she's got PMS going on, just be nice to her. And if she starts crying, just know there's a good chance that there's not a damn thing you can do.