Stress therapy to improve my bill-paying job and my writing. *Shrug* Some times whining leads to profound ideas. Also known online as KLCtheBookWorm.
Friday, October 29, 2004
More Halloween pics
For details on construction, see Eowyn dress notes Day One, Day Two, and Day Three. (P.S. I do not recommend trying to do a sewing project in three days.)
Craziness at work and no writing. *Bonks head on desk* Maybe I can scribble at dinner.
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The BookWorm
Friday
Too much to do, too much to do, too much to do.
I need to finish all the writing projects, finish sewing pennants for the camp--pirate tent is coming this weekend WOOT!, plan my ritual for Samhain, shopping at some point.
And surveyor stuff STILL isn't finished. GRRRR!
But at least 4 days off in November and I'm not doing anything for at least 2 of them. Writing time!
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The BookWorm
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Nothing else got done today
Damn, I got 3 days to finish everything. Going to sleep now.
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The BookWorm
Eowyn Dress Notes Day 3
12:25a.m. - Back panel finished. Time to fit again. Looking pretty good. Too bad I don't have a working camera. Not too full at the bottom, so yeah chopping the hemline at the beginning has worked so far. (Now realize I didn't do as good of fitting as I should have. Checked the hem, and placed panels together but didn't pin them. Had I pinned them, I might have seen the problem I found before work.)
12:50a.m. - Body of underdress finished. Now neck peices.
1:05a.m. - Yes, I finally got the iron-on interfacing to work right!
1:25a.m. - Sewing machine is protesting sewing through interfacing. Probably have something set wrong. I'm taking a thirty minutes nap.
2:00a.m. - Decided I better jump to the surcoat so it can soak in the tea dye. Discovered I have to have peice 11 at least two. I'm really not crazy about this pattern.
3:00a.m. - I don't know fucking anything about altering patterns. (Discovered that I had to have four panels of peice 11. Made the last two as skinny as I could, so not to add to the bottom circumfrence.)
5:00a.m. - Well, I have something resembling an undress in blue and something resembling a sideless surcoat in red. No time for tea dye. I also skipped a lot of steps. Underdress: neck opening facing, trimming the sleeve seams, hemming. Surcoat: installing lining correctly, loops for laces, trim.
Perfectionist me hates it. It's not even close to what Eowyn wore. I've got a wooden sword and a coffin shield (yes, I know the Rohan have circular but I was out of time and money). so I won't look any worse than the ones who bought their costumes. And then the bodice of the underdress is too small.
But I wore it all day long proudly. When I wasn't yawning my head off.
I didn't place. The two groups had hilarious skits.
What have I learned from all this? I hate McCalls' patterns. I seriously doubt any recreation Mideval gown needs fiftenn to sixteen peices. I need a new pattern for a sideless surcoat. I learned I can't sew in a hurry. I learned to get material that the wrong side is easily discernable or else mark it. I learned I can't sew when I'm sleepy. I learned to research before I buy materials.I've learned my seams always correct ease-of-fit issues (I make big seams.) and I should go with the package recommendations. Cutting two sleeves doesn't work one on top of the other; pattern must be flipped.
Reflections: I'd like to try it again, but with a saner budget if time and money. Or maybe I should try chainmail?
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The BookWorm
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Eowyn dress notes Day 2
5:45a.m. - Trying to get more tissue paper patterns cut, but I can't find the scissors. Found the scissors buried under the tissue paper. Got three more peices pinned to the blue. Most importantly the sleeves. Got to get dressed now.
Looking ahead, I think Peice 11 of the overdress will have to be narrowed. Which means I should probably narrow Peices 3 and 4 on the underdress.
6:15p.m. - Cooking before sewing. Finish eating and get started cutting out the rest of the tissue patterns.
8:40p.m. - Now have all the peices I am using pinned to the material both blue and red.
Fourth Step - setting up the sewing machine. I packed it to go to the Inn last weekened and haven't unpacked it yet. The back bedroom is my sewing room though it has exploded into the living room. Slight delay due to going outside and watching the lunar eclipse.
Fifth Step - cutting material.
10:20p.m. - After lots of short breaks to watch the eclipse, I finally got all the peices cut out. Feet are really hurting since I have to do all the cuttin standing up.
Sixth Step - following the directions and sewing up the dresses.
11:00p.m. - My first big oopsie. Sewing on side panels and managed to put the seams on opposite sides of the front panel. Take apart and redo.
11:30p.m. - Oopsie fixed. Front part of blue underdress is done. Looks like it fits. Here comes the hard part, the first peices left out. Sewing up the back seam, no zipped. Zippers in Middle Earth, ha! Then fitting it to me.
Thriced damn the way they designed the bodice of this gown! I'll have to add in peice 4 and I'm not sure there's enough material left. (I had decided earlier to leave peices out to narrow the shilloutte of the gown. Here I discovered that won't work. The blue material is actual salvage sheets, so it is in very limited supply.)
Okay, found two blue peices big enough for peice 4. At this point I don't care about the hem line. If I ever have time after Faire, I'll add more material to the bottom.
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The BookWorm
Sewing craziness and tweaking templates
Tweaking template: I think I'm going to go with expandable post summaries for Discipline Under Fire. Just to tidy up the home page, and making finding only the posts you want to read a lot easier.
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The BookWorm
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Eowyn dress notes Day 1
Eowyn Refugee Dress Project
Project goal
Unfortunately, the digital camera is battery-less and I can't take really crappy pictures of my progress. Seriously, it's a cheap camera and the resolution is awful.
First Step - analyze pattern and take measurements. I bought McCall's 3653 because it had a sideless surcoat. It looks like I can also get the blue underdress out of the same pattern. I don't need to go so wide at the bottom. The film dress has a flare, but this looks like it has material to trip on. Measurements say I should be a size 20, finished garmet size 18. I think I'll be measuring before I cut peices.
Second Step - pick and wash the material. Prepare tea dye. I borrowed Mom's stock pot and am brewing eight family size tea bags now. When the dresses are onstructed, I'm going to soak it in the tea. Hopefully overnight so the blue and the red get dark. Most people would tea dye the material before sewing, but since it's the perfect red for pirate pennants I'm just going to dye the finished gown.
Fold laundry, wash dishes, pick up while waiting on washer and drier. Put in Sleepy Hollow so I can watch the end again while doing chores. After Sleepy Hollow, I put in a CD of Anime Music Videos. The tea smells great.
Third Step - cutting out peices. Blue material finished first so now to get the undergown started. Trying to figure out what size of the tissue to cut out isn't as easy as it sounds. To make things easy on me, I'm going with a size 18. I'll have to do a fitting.
11:30p.m. and I'm stopping for the night. My feet have gone numb. I've only gotten one peice cut out, the second laid out, and the rest identified and I haven't even started on the red material yet. I'm hoping to finish the cutting out before I go to work in the morning.
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The BookWorm
Working on changing email
Went to a party at Marcie's last night to celebrate her new job at DEQ (Department of Enviromental Quality) and didn't get home until 9pm. So no sewing done. Also meant I had to drive to Faire site and pick up my cell phone from Chad this morning. I've found a time when he's not perky in the morning, before dawn!
I can't wait for Shinigami's reaction to Lotus Blossom reveal. He corrected my math for how long ago World War II was for 2004--forgetting that Bloodlines is set a decade earlier. Now he's trying to figure out who the Shedder is since Nagi was killed--a fact that was never mentioned in the film dialogue. *Chuckle* Time for a new chapter to go up too.
Let me get to work, writing work that is. Though I'm thinking of changing the post showings to seven days if people are only coming by once a week.
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The BookWorm
Monday, October 25, 2004
Halloween
Looks like the one I was thinking of was the brown and blue ensemble. Let me see if I can figure out posting pictures.
Yeah, got it. :D I think I have enough light blue stuff to at least make a blouse version of the underdress. But the material I bought is red. Looks like I'll be tea dyeing that to get it darker.
I did find this site all on building LoTR garb. This is the page for this dress.
Yeah, I really don't like sleeping.
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The BookWorm
Friday, October 22, 2004
Just give me a day off and I could clean the world
Of course you can't have a day off just on a whim like that. That's what the weekend is for. But my weekends are just as full as the rest of the work week.
I think I got the plot of the rest of Blue Man worked out. Now I just have to write it. I've been working on tutorials to give myself a buffer there. Onward, if I can finish Blue Man before resuming work on the novel that will help the backstory out immensely.
Oh and must remember to only put up PDF link at Pen to Paper thread. Gets way too confusing when I just post sections. Post sections in Discipline Under Fire. Back to work now.
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The BookWorm
Thursday, October 21, 2004
I hate this time of year
Oh bloody hell, no notecards. They must be at home somewhere. And I don't remember what journal entry I wanted to write for chapter four of Zy's novel. Well it wasn't first on the list to do today anyway.
I went ahead and started a Gmail account. I like the interface, though I'm still leery of transferring everything to it. I could just keep it as a super secret email too.
Time to get to work before the mail gets here.
Oh, but I am doing something right. I'm wearing a pair of work pants that I had put aside as being too snug for comfort. No problems with them today. :D
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The BookWorm
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
November plans
Yeah, I'm intrigued. Both Red and Jazzie crashed and burned with NaNoWriMo, but I think Red was going to play again. I don't want to join it officially join because both novels I need to finish are already started, and that is inherently against the rules.
Plus my supervisor has told me yet again, too much time on the Internet. I've noticed my writing projects lagging. *Sigh* Not good.
I can't join, but I like the idea of putting it in blog format. And it doesn't go against my tired of getting feedback to early feeling if I don't activate a comment feature. And I also like the idea of making myself churn out four pages a day for an entire month and finishing the damn thing.
That also leaves me with half a month to finish the rest of the stuff on the writing back burner. What's on that list?
Tutorials newsletter: should be two months ahead in each category.
WT29: Cliffhangers 2 is written
EL07: Judging Characters is written
GG10: no clue
WT30: Cliffhangers 3 is rough drafted
EL08: Antagonist needs to be written
GG11: no clue
That's shaping up nicely. Short Stories:
The Blue Man on the Porch need to finish first draft.
Underneath the Colored Lights need to finish rewrite.
Elizabeth's Oak needs editing and possible rewrite for publication.
Dreams of the Dead needs rewriting, don't remember where I left off.
That's what I have with me at work. Of course that's ignoring the Group Script and trying to catch up on the Forward Motion forums.
Half a month? Try 10 days, Kindra. Oy vay. And I haven't had any time at home to update Alt BM. Discipline under fire. I need discipline. Plus I can't sew until my fingers are healed, but typing seems to be back up to speed.
Course it also means I'm going to have to rebunkle and get back into those writing exercises.
Wasting slow time now. Hop to it!
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The BookWorm
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Exhaustion
Friday: cleaned half the house, finished putting striped doublet together (minus hooks and eyes and decorative buttons), and surveyors don't show up. Finally get ahold of their office and they'll be out first thing Saturday morning. Mom had me help unload stuff at her new shop. Yes, shop. Mom is going into collectible-selling business. Finally get a hold of Chad because I'm supposed to spend the night with him, and I'm starting to get that hysterical panic because nothing is finished. And he insists on me getting online, which I hadn't been able to do all day. Saw he bought the tickets to the Kenny Wayne Sheppard concert, and finally got over to the Inn--forgetting half of what I was supposed to bring. And then Joe shows up, killing all my romantic plans for the rest of the evening.
Saturday: First workshop day at the Faire and everything went smoothly for my pirates. The surveyors finally came and they found something was off. Dad thought it happened when the land was divided after my great-grandmother died. Anyway, they have to fix that before driving my corners in, and I don't know when that will be done. Finished putting the hook and eyes on the doublet. Chad and I went back to my house and collapsed from exhaustion.
Sunday: Building at the Inn. I avoided the rest of my house cleaning and paid for it dearly. They wanted to make the shinny brass fixtures on the doors not shinny. Amy had heard that ammonia makes brass old looking. So I scrubbed the brass padlock clasp. It was a bust, and we decided that we better go with spray paint. Nobody bought gloves and I forgot to wash my hand. Then Amy mixed up bleach to scrub the baskets that already had mildew on them and I helped with that. I had to stop when my fingers started burning and I had no idea why. I still have holes in my fingertips. And no, I didn't figure out I had made hydrocholoric acid on my right hand until Monday. Boys got started on the new hearth and oven, and Amy and me hung the pennents.
Typing is still hell, since my middle finger has the biggest hole in it.
Monday: Work as usual, even though we lost two batchers. One is out this week on vacation, and one had to leave early due to a family emergency. But we got it done. I picked up Chad, and we booked it to the Varsity.
The concert was supposed to start at 8pm, and they didn't start till 9pm. Lord and Lady, how that man can play. But our feet went numb before it had even started. Scant seating in the Varsity. Oh but it was a great show. Must buy all his albums now, while he only has three. And the guitar Kenny Wayne used the most, you know that one is his baby. All the paint was wore off from the edge of the guitar to the strings where the wrist rests. And they ended with "Voodoo Child" again, and he played the guitar behind his head.
Belated supper was at Walker's Waffle House. We were the only real customers sitting in the meat locker of a restaurant, so food was quick and we barely had time to drain our drinks. Chad finally had to ask the waitress not to refill it since we had to sleep tonight.
I got home and in bed at 1am. I crawled out of bed at 6:30, which is the time I'm supposed to be driving. Consequently, I got caught in wreak traffic and was 30 minutes late to work.
But it was worth it.
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The BookWorm
Monday, October 18, 2004
Tickets
*Happy Dance*
Though Joe is now known as "Joe of the Bad Timing."
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The BookWorm
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Surveyors
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The BookWorm
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
How do you know it's the middle of the week?
I was bad today. Only got 5 lines done on the rescue Ashley scene. Still perculating I guess. And it will prbably need some poofing to make it fill Act One.
And I finally got to section in the Murder book on Thrill/Lust and Sexual homicides. Nolan is a Ted Bundy type. Thestern, I'm not exactly sure what he fits. Still researching. But gee why do I think everybody's going to like Thestern more as a villian because he has such clear motivations--even if it's coming out of left field. Probably for the same reason Nolan is cliched because I'm going with documented research.
*Staples the note 'Don't share background info unless wanting a specific question answered' to monitor*
Chad probably feels the brunt of my teeth gashing more than online friends do. Because I have this need to gab otherwise why would I write in the first place. And he has this need to ask my why I'm tearing my hair out. And if looks could kill, he wouldn't had to worry about his play attendence grade after he suggested Cyndia's quirk should be Tourette's Syndrome. Just a little serious support for my chosen career; the same I afford your's. Thank you very much. (P.S. For those worried about the status of our relationship, he actually came up with a good suggestion collectng slogan buttons that I'm going to use. After I gave him more info, and made a few heads turn in the theater why Tourette's Syndrome is publishing suicide. He does try, he just has to be stupid first.)
Anyway, I was lazy today. Mainly because I found The Great Pattern Review of the Greater San Francisco Bay Costumers' Guild. I don't want more sewing, but I do want to wear more pretty clothing. No Civil War, growing up here you either love it or hate it. I want to do Victorian, Edwardian, Colonial, Roaring 20s, outlandish fantasy. But no where to wear them to, and Halloween too close for sewing. *Sigh* And my striped doublet is wrong because I don't have sleeves. I lost them in the shipwreck, problem solved.
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The BookWorm
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Playing around
Can't get the Quick Edit feature to work. I'm think it must be the security measures at work. So I'll have to test it from home. Hey! Now it is working! Wow, I did something right.
Workout was great. Took me an hour and a half to get through the 60 minute workout, but that's because the program is designed for the comfort of your own living room--not walking across the gym to get the equipment you need. Then I treated myself to dinner at Waffle House. I have to cook tonight. :p
Need to finish the catch-up typing on "Thanks" and then I need to work on the rescue action scene. But today is going to be one of those killer days since the Post Office was closed Monday for Columbus Day. After that I need to see if Nolan wants to be cooperative now.
Anything to keep my mind from fretting. Now my worry is that Chad is in no hurry to get the concert tickets and it will be sold out when he does decide to buy them. So I'm being anal and pessimistic at the same time, woo-hoo.
Time to type.
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The BookWorm
Monday, October 11, 2004
Fly forever, Superman
Well, I can actually exercise this week. For some reason I've been thinking that the concert was tonight, even though I know it's on the 18th. As Chad said, "PLEASE don't delete a whole week, we need it!"
All my pirates haven't given me their character names. Oh boy. And I still have to make my long sleeved doublet, as well as finish my striped doublet and striped breeches.
And at some point I have to do the update for Alt. BM.
Let me catch up on typing.
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The BookWorm
Friday, October 08, 2004
Icky weather
The perfect dialogue snatch came to my brain this morning. It's for the next BMFM and TMNT crossover. During the fight between Zack and the Oroku champion and after his eyes have blazed white.
C: You're not human... some kind of demon!
Zack: I've flown with demons. I've slayed dragons. I've stared the wicked witch of a zillion dimensions in the eye. And I'm supposed to be scared of you?
If it sounds a little atypical of Zack, that's because he is fed up. I also have a buttload of other stories to finish for any of those references to make sense.
Lots of work to do that's not work related and lots of emails to answer. I finally got my PIN from the government so I can now apply for federal aid. Which I'll have to do tonight because I don't have any of my tax info. :p Delay tactics.
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The BookWorm
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Tony smooshed again
Funny thing about writing a prequel to an already established character, you better consult your notes a lot. I had Cyndia a whole year younger in "Blue Man" than what I had planned for in Zy's novel.
Today is my fitness assessment. After that I can work out a lot harder than what I have been. Of course going back to the A workout is going to have to wait till Monday, since the play Chad get tickets for starts at 7:30pm Friday night. I know I can do the B workout under an hour, not counting getting dressed and showering time. Since I haven't had a chance to use the A workout with all the different machines, I have no idea how much time it is going to take. So why did everyone wait until AFTER I shelled out $40 to make me popular?
And "Fans" had a really appropriate touch today. They started with an analysis of the Road Runner and Coyote. Today the sniper going to take out two of the character just fell out the window during an earthquake. Take a good look at his shadow on the pavement before he goes splat. *Snicker*
Okay time to get some serious work done today. I have to go out to site and get a box of flyers tonight after the fitness assessment thingy. And I wanted to clean house. :p I really need to clean office and find sewing stuff again and wear my new corset some more. Ack. Too much to do. Too much to do.
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The BookWorm
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
THEY'RE ALIVE!
Oh happy day! Oh happy day! Oh happy day! Damn, I've gone religious. I've also scared Mustard with my whooping and hollering and he's run away.
TONY AND JASON LIVE!
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The BookWorm
Monday, October 04, 2004
I give up on dating
HE came up with the seeing "Vertigo" tonight. Free showing at the Columbia Theater starting at 7pm. At 6:30, I was still sitting in goddamned Baton Rouge traffic. I call. "Okay we'll see you when you get here."
I actually make it to the theater by 7:07pm. No mean feat. Slosh through the rain in my nice clothes that I have been in all day in anticipation of a nice date thingy. No Chad outside theater waiting for me. Go to restroom since the trail mix and Diet Dr. Pepper I had in the car ride have hit. Get inside the theater. Still no sign of Chad and they're ready to start the movie. I plop down in the first available seat and proceed to cry because my boyfriend doesn't care enough about me to wait outside the goddamned theater.
Meanwhile Chad is waiting for me to show at Rick's house and is convinced I've been in a car wreck. Calls my house and calls my cell phone, which I left in the car so not to distrub people in the theater. 8 times.
When we finally connect, I'm upset. I've wasted my getting all pretty, rushing through exercising and the damn traffic, and I'm starving. The first thing he does is grab his shit so he can bail out of Rick's. No huggies, no kissies. Oh yeah sure he was really worried about me. Even more upset.
And dinner? Wendy's I got all dressed up for fast food that I had to eat alone because he already had supper and the nicer restaurants of Hammond all close at 10pm.
I am happy to say that I did not break the glass at Wendy's yelling at him. I just broke the glass in my car. And we made up, after about an hour of whatever it was we were doing. I was spating; he was whimpering and apologizing. And I've given up on Kenny Wayne Shepard, and Sky King or anything else that is not planned by Jamie or connected to RenFaire. It's just not going to happen.
I don't think I'm so out of line to ask to be swept off my feet just a little. Not to have to share a special evening with everyone we know. Not to have to make any of the plans, do any reminders, get some flowers.
Oh who am I kidding? Of course I'm out of line. Real romance NEVER works that way.
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The BookWorm
Ignore the whinning
I finished writing Editing Lesson #7, now I just have to get it in order. Clean out the notebooks and get back started on "The Blue Man." Brought lunch today, so won't waste any time foraging for food.
Found "Mad Love" in the comic bin. Also found some others that need to be put on my shelf of graphic novels. Maybe this is a trend, mention something is lost in my blog and I find it. I lost $300.00... (I hope this works).
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The BookWorm
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Need more sleep
Also not fair I got an entire house to clean and stuff to write and want to go hammer and have to go shopping. Yuck.
Can't find "Mad Love." I know I bought it, I remember reading it. But what the hell happened to it? School this time around involves no moving. :p
Tired of feeling I have to censor what I say in here. Now having said that I suppose I need to censor that as well. Doing RenFaire is crazy, going back to school is crazy, being the token professional to back London up in her project is crazy. But when I agree with that assessment because of some horrible way I have behaved, I'm not crazy! If my eyelids weren't so droopy, I'd be pulling hair out right now.
Most of the instructors at London's animation school have responded favorably. Getting that kind of feedback is great, considering, it's only my second script and I don't normally write in that format.
I've actually have a full crew for my ship. Enthuastic crew, and I want to make the experience as fun as possible for them so they will return next year. More worried about everything Chad is trying to do and the issues occurring behind the scenes. That's what ruins it for us management. If we just managed, it be fine. But we're supposed to forget all the management stuff and go play on the streets. Very hard.
Going back to school is me trying hard to fill a void that is affecting everything. I hate my job and feel that it is crushing my creative output. Faire is contributing to that as well, and quite possibly descending to a playtron will happen next year. For a while, Internet was giving me balance but now it feels like a distraction. Forward Motion is better in terms of feedback, but it just adds to the guilt pile because I cannot keep up like I should and want to.
School would address my professional needs as well as forcing me work on new stuff. Did anybody care that the creative writing concentration thesis is four or five short stories? Does it matter I'd be four years away from that regardless?
Of course not, I'm just crazy.
Now the crazy person is going to go tottle off now figure out how to make a target run to Wal-Mart and not spend a fortune. After I wake up.
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The BookWorm
Friday, October 01, 2004
Time to exercise
So no more writing hour after work. I'm going to have to buckle down and write during lunch. Well lately, I have had to run to the library. I think I have all the books I need right now. Since I had to run to the library yesterday, I didn't get any writing work done.
So I better get busy now. And concentrate on something besides how badly I want to kick the rears of the other people in the group script. Why oh why, when you haven't even established Limburger as a villain, you want to put his family into the second episode?!
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The BookWorm