What I’ve Learned

The past four days have been busy with me learning things I had no intention of learning. I hope it’s not an indication of the rest of the week.

On Friday: My Good Friday was 90% non-religious unless you count “Oh God why aren’t you open!” as a prayer, then the number changes to 60%. For starters I had to go shopping, get the oil changed in Rizzo, see about getting a haircut, and go to a great-aunt’s funeral.

Crap, learning things actually started on Thursday when I found out Paris Parker no longer give complimentary haircuts for Locks of Love donations. This is the only way I’ve cut my hair for the past ten years, so changing things now. *raspberry*

Back to Friday, Dad said the oil change place opened at 7am. I left home at 7:30am. New hair salon was closed (expected since it was the crack of dawn) but didn’t have hours posted on the door (unexpected). Headed to oil change station and they’re setting up for the day. They open at 8. Go to Tuesday Morning. They open at 10. Ross opens at 9:30. I reminded myself I needed a new extension cord that I can get at Lowe’s. Lowe’s is open because they cater to contractors.

Not only is Lowe’s open, the parking lot was full. Which makes sense, everyone in Hammond was there because nothing else was open! Extension cord procured, followed by the oil change, which took about 30 minutes. So I headed to TJMaxx, since none of the other stores on my list were open. TJMaxx opens at 9:30.

At this point, the breakfast I had at home was long gone so I retreated to McDonald’s, refueled, and waited for 9:30. Everything I needed was at TJMaxx and I made it to the funeral on time.

Lesson: I have successfully reprogrammed my bio-rhythms out of sync with my home town and if I have been up for hours, you should be too. *growls*

Saturday: I learned that Dad’s Santa Fe has a kill switch, but I don’t know how I activated it. Luckily, the car started again before someone exiting the Westbank Expressway killed me and Mom.

Sunday: I finally had time to really flea treat the house. I had already dosed Mustard with the spot treatment, so first he got shampooed and kicked out of the house while I vacuumed and sprayed the floors. I learned that one large can of the flea killing spray is only enough to cover half the house.

Monday: There will be no time for writing when over half the office is M.I.A. and there’s a payment deadline on the 15th along with the mail running on Good Friday. I ended up working an hour and forty-five minutes overtime. Which derailed my plans for after work, luckily there were adjustable.

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Closing Open Tabs

What Anonymous Doctor says hearted a million times:

I do not feel that it is reactionary or even inaccurate to describe an unwanted, non-indicated transvaginal ultrasound as “rape”. If I insert ANY object into ANY orifice without informed consent, it is rape. And coercion of any kind negates consent, informed or otherwise.

In all of the discussion and all of the outrage and all of the Doonesbury comics, I find it interesting that we physicians are relatively silent.

After all, it’s our hands that will supposedly be used to insert medical equipment (tools of HEALING, for the sake of all that is good and holy) into the vaginas of coerced women.

Fellow physicians, once again we are being used as tools to screw people over. This time, it’s the politicians who want to use us to implement their morally reprehensible legislation. They want to use our ultrasound machines to invade women’s bodies, and they want our hands to be at the controls. Coerced and invaded women, you have a problem with that? Blame us evil doctors. We are such deliciously silent scapegoats.

Where Is the Physician Outrage? Written by An Anonymous Doctor and originally published on Whatever (http://whatever.scalzi.com).

The Doonesbury strips referenced in "Where Is the Physician Outrage?"

Michael Bay vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles controversy: I ran across one theory that Michael Bay said he's making the Turtles aliens to deliberately rile the fandom up. Because what came up after that infamous remark was a comment that the ooze is alien. But you know what, the damage has been done. The awful stuff in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen insulted me (a white, non-Transformer fan woman), so I don't want Michael Bay anywhere near my green teens. Then to use my worry about a universe I adore and have accepted many mutations of by various license holders to stir up publicity? Oh hell no, you ain't get any of my money.

Because of all that and that I am a rabid fan of both franchises, this Gutters page made me giggle a lot.

Project Rooftop highlighted a redesign of the Turtles cast that kicks some shell!

Bully will be released un-rated, since the MPAA is being dicks about language used by actual teens. But male bums and full-frontal female nudity are fine for PG-13 movies. *Rolls eyes* From the trailer, I feel this is a movie that all of America needs to watch.



In full disclosure, I was alienated and had no school friends until I changed school districts for my sixth grade year. My online handle is my reclaiming the word that was constantly thrown in my face as an insult. And now what kids face is so much more worse and physical.

And my baby sister is engaged! We're all very excited and happy, even though the wedding itself is over a year away. Now that my neck is back to normal, I need to get back into exercising so I can shed the extra weight I'm carrying.

Okay, that's everything, I hope. Now I have to get back to outlining Forget the Sun and what the paying job actually pays me for. :p

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The links cover a whole spectrum

First up, a situation that pisses me off. Jim C. Hines covers it much more coherently than I can right now in his post Doonesbury and Rape.

Second, Kate and Rick: a Love Story is a review that so eloquently explains why I squee so much at Castle and refuse to miss an episode if I can help it.

Third, 1920's Batman design. What really amuses me is how many costumes really don't change that much.

Fourth, Neil Gaiman found my engagement ring while he was looking for a replacement TARDIS pin. Too bad I don't have a fiance to give it to me.

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It's March Already

Yeah, the end of February flew by me. But being sick is a good reason to miss the end of the month, I suppose. I got back to the paying job February 28th to a March 1st deadline for the Tax and Company Licensing divisions. February 29th, still rushed and I woke up with a stuffed up nose and got nothing written around all my appointments. That night I kept waking up every hour sweaty, but achy and chilled and burrowing under all my blankets. March 1st, I dragged my ass to the paying job still feeling achy and chilled but we had a deadline. I bought a thermometer when I finally got off the paying job and turns out I was running a fever. I stayed home March 2nd and the fever finally broke that day. I spent the rest of the weekend recuperating.

Today was the first day back at the paying job since getting sick, since I took Monday and Tuesday off ages ago to drive Uncle Scott to his appointments. It wasn't bad like last week, but still had to get back into the paying job groove.

Fun stuff: Gotham 1459

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Least I Could Do Moment of Truth

LICD is their annual Valentine's Date contest, and the winner this year is Tyler, a SCA member. Today's episode nearly made me snort diet soda out my nose.

Today's my last day of work. Tonight I'll be driving to Austin. Saturday Sherwood Forest Faire! SQUEE! I'll be back home Monday and back to the normal routine Tuesday.

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The Shining Analysis

This is a topic that has been keeping me distracted while at work. It came up in my newsfeeds that someone made a documentary of the theories surrounding Stanley Kubrick's the Shining called Room 237. It's been a while since I saw the film and what I remember of it as a whole was "not the novel at all but SCARY with a dash of significance." Hey it is Stanley Kubrick apparently he didn't know how to film without "significance" all over the place. And I was now curious as to what film analysis people had come up with and went Googling.

Bill Blakemore The Family of Man This is one of the first ones to come up in the search, explaining in broad strokes the whole subtext regarding Native Americans. The Exploding Kinetoscope's essay "Dad, Do You Feel Bad?" The Secret History Lesson of the SHINING expands on the first essay with screenshots to illustrate.

Physical Cosmologies: The Shining (excerpt) part one is a bit harder to get through, reminding me of all the reasons why I evade literary analysis. But ultimately, the writer made some good points about mirrors being doorways to the realm of the ghosts and Danny luring crazy Jack to his death on purpose. That second part really impressed me, since my initial viewing I always thought this kid was clever to get away from him and was just plain lucky with the blizzard.

Then io9 posted Watch this Insane Breakdown of Stanley Kubrick's Hidden Narrative in the Shining, so I did. Then I clicked on Rob Ager's other YouTube videos analyzing the movie before finally ending up at his site Collective Learning. Here's the direct link to his in-depth analysis: "MAZES, MIRRORS, DECEPTION AND DENIAL". Good news is he has done analysis on more movies than just the Shining, bad news is he wants you to buy his DVDs to get all of it. He is upfront with what is available for free on his website is about 50%.

And in the someone is being very cute file: The Overlook Hotel article that blends fictional facts with behind-the-scenes facts. My only issue with it is that the writer tried to match Kubrick and King's depictions in the same article. It may have been easier to just pick one.

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January's Done

The past two weeks have been off, so it's time to climb back on track. To start, see what I accomplished this month and set my boulders for February.

January Boulders

• Take measurements Jan 1
• Self-assessment for exercise
• Research for Imbolic (Feb. 2)
• Start reading 365 Goddess
• Spending diary from Dec. 20 - Jan. 20
• Finish "Stellar Gift of Death"
• Update my NetWorthIQ badge

Monetary Concerns
I finished the spending diary boulder for January, caught up Chase Student Loan payments, took and out a new loan to pay off Republic Finance so they wouldn't sue me.

February Boulders

• Finish taxes on Feb. 19th
• Have a budget for Sherwood Faire trip before Feb. 15th
• Update the NetworthIQ badges for Dec. and Jan.

Not on the same level as the boulders, I have budget exercises on the Big Rocks list that I need to do:

• Set up Zero-based spreadsheets for 2012
• Create a five-year financial plan

Take health seriously

I completed the January Boulders of taking my body measurements and self-assessment for exercising. But as soon as I started adding daily exercise into my schedule, I got the bad news stress courtesy of Republic Finance, and my upper back seized up in response to the point where turning my head brought tears to my eyes. So exercises is on hold until my back is fixed.

February Boulders

• Find the best time of week to update FitDay.com

Spirituality Practice

The idea behind reading 365 Goddesses was to follow the suggestions for celebrating each goddess. That hasn't worked out in the morning scramble to get ready and I stopped reading it. I also didn't do anything for Imbolc.

Add to Pebbles

• Read 365 Goddesses

February Boulders

• Research Ostara
• Make a new Book of Shadows

Fiction Writing

I haven't finished the first read-through of Forget the Sun and I feel like I'm stuck in Stellar Gift of Death.

February Boulders

• Finish Stellar Gift of Death
• Finish Forget the Sun's read-through and move to step two.

DIYLife featured a "snapshot of my life" that I liked enough, I decided to answer it like a meme.

Snapshot of My Life Version

Actual age: 35 years minus 20 days.

Age I feel: Present. Except for more physical aches and pains, I don't think the interior has changed all that much. I matured early.

How I look: Forever getting carded.

Marital status: Single and happy with it, much to my mother's consternation.

Short term goals: They're on my This Week I Need to Do list, and I'll spare you since most of them are above.

Long term goals: Remodel my house or at least get a new roof on it. Publish my original fiction. Travel more.

What’s worked recently: Sticking to my checklist for the day.

Things I’m trying: Breaking goals down by the month seems to be working.

Thoughts on Life: One shouldn't read a story about a cooking show when one is hungry.

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Bad News, Invitations, Punishments, and Insights

Now I’m at a safe place to look back at last week. The week was cruising along, had worked in an exercise routine into my schedule, needed to work in more progress on my writing and editing, two appointments one for the doctor on Thursday and with the CCFairy on Friday. I got invited to a Pampered Chef party and was considering going. So far my next paycheck forecasted a surplus that I should save for my birthday trip and emergency fund, but I could spare $20 on the microwave rice cooked that I’ve had on my wish list for a long time.

Go home Wednesday night and find out that one of my creditors wants to sue me in small claims court over the remaining balance and my inability to pay it. Okay, fine, I still don’t have the money. Also amused by the irony of the amount that is so out of my reach right now only qualifies as worthy of small claims court’s time. I’m ticked off at the marshal who handed my private papers to my parents. I have a meeting with the CCFairy on Friday and hopefully we can get this settled without undue hardship on me.

After that, the second invitation came through Facebook: a free women’s safety seminar for 6pm next Thursday. And my first thought is: “Can’t go! Can’t got ot Pampered Chef either! YOU CAN’T GO!” in the most seething, angry inner voice I have. If it could have separated from my body to beat me up, it would have. As it was, it knocked me back enough from my worries to ask “what the hell?”

The projected surplus hadn’t changed, because it won’t make a dent in what I owe to the creditor. But immediately my mindset is I’m a bad rotten person who should be locked up at home to not get in trouble with money. Brain points out that it’s not free because I would have to eat and spend gas to get to the seminar. I don’t deserve money spent on me. Come straight home and don’t do anything.

That night I went to bed thinking this was my coping mechanism to avoid temptation. I woke up Thursday to a muscle knot where the stress always goes and the idea that I’m grounding myself because I need to be punished over my bad with money. “What the hell” has now become “why do I do this to myself?”

Thursday, I got confirmation that I had maintained my current health even with going off my meds for a few months. I’m back on them and wondering if I should go back off them again. :p

Friday, CCFairy swooped in with an emergency loan to cover the other and kick the judgment off me credit report. I signed up for the credit union’s credit counseling service so I can’t make any financial moves without talking them over with the CCFairy. No arguments from me, since that was my goal at the beginning of the year. I did bring up the punishment insight and admitted I have no idea what to do with it.

I still don’t, but I’m leaning towards accepting the invitations. I double checked my next paycheck forecast and I think I can afford to go to both and not reach the point of can’t pay a bill. That’s where I am today, minus the running around I have to do to actually pay the creditor off. And my mouth is a little sore still since I got the new bridge put in Saturday.

This week: I need to stop typing up blog posts and work on my fiction. ;) I also have to squeeze in sewing time at home. Yeah, I finally feel like sewing again. :D

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Hot Bod 2012 Post 2

So I had a week and now I need to report progress. I exercised Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I used the rest option on Thursday because I woke up with a knot in my left deltoids muscles that made it painful to turn my neck and it is still present today. Friday through Sunday I skipped, mostly to avoid more pain from the knot.

So Monday I’m going to get back in the yoga groove and make an appointment to see a massage therapist this week because the self remedies I’ve been trying haven’t alleviated the symptoms.

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Random links

Good writing advice sent my way:

Just Make the Bed: Overcoming the Problem of Writers Resolutions

Terrible Minds: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing

A Word to the Writerly Wise

SOPA & PIPA

WWdN: In Exile: Today the US Senate Is Considering Legislation That Would Destroy the Free and Open Internet

Making Light: SOPA and PIPA. Where We Are. What They Want.

Money & Living Hacks:

Get Rich Slowly: Make 2012 Better By Asking the Right Question. This has future budget post written all over it.

Lifehacker: How to Book a $1700 Vacation for $700 by Volunteering This is the first time I've ran across this idea, but I'm intrigued. Vacations have been off my radar for so long as well as charitable giving.

A Food Triage Box Granted, I haven't been wasting as much food lately because I haven't been buying any, but I have ran into this problem before. I think a box of need to be eaten soon would work in my fridge.

Apartment Therapy: How to Clean Your House in 20 Minutes for 30 Days I like the break down of surface cleaning and deep cleaning, but don't know how it would work with the schedule I already have.

Enjoy!

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After I swore I was never going to give that man any more money

I’m shilling for George Lucas. After swearing never to give the man any more money, he finally gets “Red Tails” out in theaters Jan. 20th. He is the producer and has been trying to do this movie about the WWII heroes the Tuskegee Airmen for 35 years. Hollywood has been, well, Hollywood about it: i.e. majority black cast, nobody will pay to see it. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard both star in it and people besides Lucas wrote the screenplay and directed it. This is a WWII action movie like “Band of Brothers” and “Saving Private Ryan”, so support it for the Greatest Generation and to prove the studio heads wrong.

Movie Mom: Red Tails Interviews

Due to the way my paycheck falls, I'll have to see it the weekend after it opens. But I will see it in the theaters. I hope you will too.

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P.S. SOPA protest: I've sent emails to my senators and will be sending more emails to my representatives once I get home.

Hot Bod 2012 Post 1

It’s so cliché to make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or get into shape, I’m almost embarrassed to declare this goal that it may be mistaken for the same thing. But my embarrassment doesn’t change the fact that my body can’t do all I ask it to do and I don’t want to hurt when I do it.

So the first step is to see how bad the damage is. I found a three-column journal that never helped me master my finances, but gives me lots of room to record weekly measurements.

Jan. 15, 2012
Height = 158.12 cm
Weight = 197 lbs
Neck = 38.1 cm
Shoulders = 121.7 cm
Bust = 121 cm
Waist = 112 cm
Abdomen = 115.6 cm
Hips = 121.7 cm
Thigh = 65.8 cm
Knee = 40.2 cm
Calf = 40.5 cm
Ankle = 22.5 cm
Upper arm = 31.3 cm
Forearm = 25.7 cm
Wrist = 15.6 cm

Fit Day result = BMI = 36.03 Obese

Step two: Make daily exercise a part of my routine. Primal Blueprint Fitness concentrates on moving slowly, lifting heavy things, and one day of sprinting a week. Since my flexibility has gone to crap, I’ll do yoga on the move slowly days: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Tuesday and Friday are the lift heavy things days concentrating on five body weight movements: push-up, pull-up, squat, overhead press, and plank. Today I need to assess myself to see what my maximums are to calculate which level to start the exercises at.

Set back already. I had bought an Iron Gym Express in 2012 when I found it on clearance since my attempt at building a pull-up bar on the front porch flopped. Plus I wouldn’t use it when it got cold. So one that you can set up in a doorway seemed like a good investment. Today, I put it together to do the pull-up assessment and found that my doorways are too wide for it to fit. *headdesk*

All is not loss because they packed in a Cardio Jump ropeless jump rope. Jump ropes have been my enemy since elementary school. This lets me jump without something to tie my ankles together.

Assessment Outcome
Push-up = 3 start with Wall Push
Pull-up = 0 and have nothing to do them on
Full Squat = 15 start with Wall Squat
Shoulder Press Push-up = 5 start with Elevated Jack Knife Press
Forearm/Feet Plank = 74 sec. start with Hand/Feet Plank Level 3 (90 sec.)
Forearm/Feet Side Plank = 25 sec. start with Hand/Feet Side Plank Level 1 (45 sec.)

That takes care of the lifting days; what about yoga days? I like my yoga DVD, but I’m not ready for its routine. Luckily, I kept my notes of poses to help my problem areas: hip openers, core strengtheners, chest openers, and weight loss.

Always start with Sun Salutations. Even if I have no time for anything else, that is better than no exercise. Wow, it actually works out. I have four days for yoga and four problem areas.

Mondays
Sun Salutations x 2
Hip Opening Routine

• Butterfly
• Left Leg Pigeon
• Left Leg Head to Knee
• Left Leg Happy Baby
• Double Pigeon
• Butterfly
• Right Leg Pigeon
• Right Leg Head to Knee
• Right Leg Happy Baby
• Double Pigeon

Child
Corpse

Wednesday s
Sun Salutations x 2
Core Strengthening Routine

• Mula Bandha 30 lifts x 3
• Find TA
• Happy Baby x 3
• Toe Taps x 4 each foot
• Bridge Pose x 2
• Dolphin Pose
• Dolphin Plank Pose
• Locust Pose
• Downward Dog
• Left Foot Low Lunge
• Right Foot Low Lunge
• Handstand Prep

Child
Corpse

Thursdays
Sun Salutations x 2
Chest Opening Routine

• Cobra
• Boat
• Downward Dog
• Right Leg Pigeon
• Downward Dog
• Left Leg Pigeon
• Downward Dog
• Fish
• Bridge
• Table
• Cat/Cow Breathing

Child
Corpse

Saturdays
Sun Salutations x 2
Weight Loss Routine

• Hero
• Camel
• Child
• Rabbit
• Child
• Half Shoulder Stand
• Plow
• Bridge
• Table
• Right Foot High Lunge
• Right Foot Warrior 1
• Downward Dog
• Left Foot High Lunge
• Left Foot Warrior 1
• Downward Dog
• Mountain
• Five Pointed Star
• Right Foot Warrior 2
• Five Pointed Star
• Left Foot Warrior 2
• Five Pointed Star
• Right Foot Triangle
• Five Pointed Star
• Left Foot Triangle
• Five Pointed Star
• Mountain
• Right Leg Tree
• Mountain
• Left Leg Tree
• Mountain

Child
Corpse

Yoga is blance, hence my reminders to do both legs. Yes, I have forgotten before. Overall, I feel good about these routines. Let’s see what happens next week.

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Geaux Tigers!

I can't have the TV on and get any work done, so its WWL and all the BCS talk. I want my state to win, evenif I'm not much of a football fan.

But I am a Better Than Ezra fan and they released Death Valley EP. The band started while they were students at LSU and they noticed that most of the fight songs hadn't been updated since they were first written, so they modernized the songs. Enjoy!





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Something a little bit lighter

I'm taking a break between planning. I've got the big stuff done, now it's onto boring stuff like the grocery shopping list. Boring, but necessary. So something that made me *giggle!SNORT*

The Bloggess has started watching Doctor Who

Okay, back to getting stuff done.

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Goals for 2012

Lessons learned from 2011’s Goals: I need to find my doable point before I can stretch beyond that. While I like the yearly plan and will keep it, I’m going to break it down to what I can accomplish in a month. Carrying the metaphor of Big Rocks, the monthly goals are my Boulders, things to finish in a week are the Big Rocks, and daily chores become the Pebbles. I’m also crossing fingers and hoping that the monthly focus will change some things into daily habits.

The big topics this year: Monetary concerns, taking health seriously, spirituality practice, incorporating writing into my life more fully, and getting non-anxious over submissions.

Monetary Concerns

• Specific: Follow the budget set up by the CC Fairy.
• Measurable: Update Quicken every day.
• Action-oriented: Do the exercise assigned by the CC Fairy. Due on January 20th: a spending diary and reports on my spending habits.
• Realistic: Prioritize spending:
  1. Food
  2. Gasoline
  3. Utilities
  4. Mortgage
  5. Chase Student Loan
  6. Family Loans
  7. All other loans
• Trackable: Update NetWorthIQ badge every month.
  • Update the zero-balance budget spreadsheet each month.

Take health seriously

• Specific: Follow Primal guidelines on food and exercise
• Measurable: Weigh every morning
  • Take body measurements once-a-week
• Action-oriented: Exercise every day.
• Realistic: Lose 4 pounds by next check-up with Dr. Miller
• Trackable: Keep a food diary and measurements at FitDay.com
  • Fill out the workout log book every day I exercise and show progress at Joe's Goals

Spirituality Practice

• Specific: Carve out sacred space in my house where I can store the tools and conduct rituals.
• Measurable: Read 365 Goddess.
• Action-oriented: Create a new Book of Shadows
• Realistic: Celebrate the Sabbats.
• Trackable: Journal exercises and Sabbat rituals in the Book of Shadows.

Fiction Writing

• Specific: Finish Stellar Gift of Death
  • Edit “Words of Parting”
  • Edit “Blue Man on the Porch”
  • World building for the steampunk mystery
  • World building for Piper of Shadows universe
  • World building for Zy’s universe
  • Edit Forget the Sun for Mez’s 2012 project.
  • Write 2000 words a week and pick out a new project once Stellar is finished.
• Measurable: Post the weekly total at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar.
• Action-oriented: Dedicate at least 30 minutes on a writing project every day.
• Realistic: Write what I feel like I can’t not write.
• Trackable: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted every day at DUF.

Submitting more stories

• Specific: Submit to three markets.
• Measurable: Enter submissions into Sonar 3
• Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets.
• Realistic: Look for email markets.
• Trackable: Note how anxious I am about the submission in Sonar3.

So now to break down to what Boulders I want to do in January.

January Boulders

• Due on January 20th: a spending diary and reports on my spending habits.
• Start reading 365 Goddess
• Research for Imbolc celebrations on Feb. 2
• Self-assessment for exercising.
• Take measurements on Jan. 1st
• Finish Stellar Gift of Death

Changes to make on my Pebbles list:

• Write 15 minutes x 2
• Exercise every day and track what is done
• Update Quicken every day

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Results For My Lofty 2011 Goals

How do I think I did with all the SMART goals I outlined for this year? Truthfully, I don’t see any progress on all the fronts I tried to attack. Some I ignored completely, which carried over to how I ignored writing this post over the holiday break. My willpower petered out for doing anything on my list and I ended up watching BBC series of Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries made in the 70’s (and 90% accurate to the books).

Let’s see what I managed to accomplish.

Show progress on paying off debt load

• Specific: Follow budget every month. I tried, but picking myself up when I fell off the rails proved to be a barrier. I’m too close, I want to take care of the here and now annoyance, and usually go off the rails due to frustration. 2012 tweak: The next exercise the Credit Counselor and I will do is to set up a budget I can live on and make headway with. I’m hoping it’ll trigger I’m-getting-graded-for-this behavior in me.
• Measurable: Update Quicken every day. Now this I think I have finally beat. As long as I don’t go over 15 minutes a day, I haven’t shoved it aside as the dreaded chore and let it build up until I have no idea what’s going on. 2012 tweak: Maintain this progress.
• Action-oriented: Find a part-time job to increase income. We all know how well that went. First, I helped Mom with housework for my grandfather until the S.O.B. did something that Dad put his foot down about and got us fired. I was surprised by how long it lasted. Second, the sales job with no demos that I quit in November. At least I did get my parents a vacation out of that. 2012 tweak: As mentioned above, I’m seeing a credit counselor to find a new plan for tackling my debt and budgeting issues. I’m going to be referring to her a lot so she is now dubbed the CC Fairy. I also put in an application but I don’t expect anything to come of it.
  • Bring all bills current by Jan. 28, 2011. I got them current and now they’re not current. It’s a merry-go-round chase. 2012 tweak: Girls Just Want To Have Funds: Four Reasons to Stop Scrambling To Feed Your Creditors Before You Feed Yourself: I have to remind myself of this every time they call to harass me. I Come first. Granted, one of the steps with the CC Fairy is to restructure my debt to what I can afford, but I’m a few months away from that step.
  • Put the budgeted amount into savings out of the first check every month. If there is overdrawn issues to pay for, it comes out of what should be saved. I never got to the point where I could budget savings. 2012 tweak: Find some money for savings and keep it there.
• Realistic: Pay off what I owe Mom, Dad, and Republic Finance using the debt snowball method by Dec. 31, 2011. *Hysterical laughter* Okay, that’s not really fair. It was doable with more income and more income never materialized. 2012 tweak: I’m working towards taking out a loan with my credit union to pay everyone off with a note I can afford to pay. The CC Fairy is one of the steps I have to work on to make this happen, and one I’m rather gung-ho about because I can’t see the forest for the trees at this point. So far we’ve discussed hypothetically refinancing my mortgage to do this, but if I take that route, I’m getting enough money for a temporary roof too.
• Trackable/Time-based: Update my NetWorthIQ badge and show the progress. Or lack there of. I haven’t updated it since June. 2012 tweak: Update it only a monthly basis.
• Save $1000 emergency fund by March 25, 2011. *Blink* I don’t even know how the math said that was doable. I did set up an ING Direct savings account and have $12.50 out of each paycheck going into it. However I had to raid it twice to try to reach my monthly expenditures. So I’m $944.50 short of the goal as of today. 2012 tweak: Budget in savings. My credit union is also running a savings challenge that I’m looking into. The Balanced Money Formula recommends 20% Savings (which includes retirement accounts, emergency savings, and debt repayment). I would be happy to set aside 10% each paycheck, but I can’t afford it yet.

Take health seriously This is the category that fell into the black hole of can’t-concentrate-on-this-with-bill-stress. Once I have a grocery budget, I’ll be concentrating on this in 2012.

• Specific: Follow Primal guidelines on food and exercise
• Measurable: Weigh every morning
  • Take body measurements once-a-week
• Action-oriented: Exercise every day. Use outside play with Atticus
• Realistic: Lose 4 pounds by next check-up with Dr. Miller
• Trackable/Time-based: Keep a food diary and measurements at FitDay.com
  • Fill out the workout log book every day I exercise and show progress at Joe's Goals

Write 182,500 fictional words between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2011

• Specific: Write at least 500 words every day. I didn’t write every day and it stresses me out to see me not working by quantitative standards. 2012 tweak: Count by projects, not daily word count (unless I’m in a challenge that requires it).
• Measurable: Post the weekly total every Saturday at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar. This year I’ve been fairly good with keeping this updated. 2012 tweak: Continue with this progress.
  • Keep track of daily progress with a marathon spreadsheet. This year I’ve been good at keeping this updated too. 2012 tweak: Maintain this progress.
• Action-oriented: Finish Stellar Gift of Death by March 20, 2011. I’m still writing this story. 2012 tweak: Finish it already!
  • Finish a 5000-word short story for Triangulation submission by March 31, 2011. “Words of Parting” I actually finished and submitted. 2012 tweak: Use the helpful feedback and revise it!
  • Finish steampunk mystery Never started.
  • Finish another story in the Piper of Shadows universeNever started.
  • Finish the "Blue Man on the Porch" Never started. 2012 tweak: All of these projects should be listed under “Specific” and “Action-oriented” should be write every day.
• Realistic: Finish four original stories before any fanfiction. *Snort* I so didn’t follow this 2012 tweak: Write what I want to write. Yes, it would be nice to have a stack of stories to throw at the markets, but if I don’t have the how-will-this-turn-out itch, I drag my feet.
• Trackable/Time-based: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted daily at DUF. This has worked out really well. I have remembered to do this, even if I’ve been a few days late on the postings. 2012 tweak: Continue with this progress.

Submit enough stories to get rid of the anxiety over it

• Specific: Submit to six markets by Dec. 31, 2011. I submitted to two markets before I got bogged down with Stellar Gift of Death. 2012 tweak: Submit to three markets, which means I have to get three stories ready for submission.
• Measurable: Find a tracking method that I can update without fuss. Sonar3 is fitting my needs at the present. 2012 tweak: Get some data to put in it.
• Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets. *Snort* Stellar Gift of Death has been quite the distraction from this. 2012 tweak: Do it.
• Realistic: Send out at least one story in February, April, June, August, October, and December. So this wan’t realistic for me at all. 2012 tweak: Base the submission deadlines off the markets I fine.
  • Have conversations with the Fear Monger; it helps. Ole Fear Monger has been distracted from my writing by the debt crisis.
• Trackable/Time-based: Honestly note the anxiety over each submission on tracking method. Sonar3 lets me keep whatever notes I want on each submission. 2012 tweak: This is a valuable tool, so use it!

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The BookWorm

Some Weeks Should Have Warning Labels

Computer, commute, tire--hey, I'm off the C's! Well it deals with the car so maybe I haven't left the C's at all. let's add crying to the list. I spent a good chunk of yesterday's free time in a depressed funk because of what I have to pay out of the next check. Then I spent this morning working on a debt consolidation list on loan paperwork--namely confirming that the totals nearly equal to one of my take-home paychecks each month.

I didn't want to take out another loan to consolidate, namely because I can be the poster girl for "you can't borrow your way out of debt." And there's no guarantee my credit union will give me one, but if they can get the three biggest albatrosses off my neck for a lower amount that can come out of each paycheck, I may get some breathing room. Breathing room especially important since a second job is not happening.

So I did that math and left for the paying job. After commute hell yesterday, the drive in was smooth and I was ahead of schedule, up to the Capitol building. That's where my tire blew. I managed to get into a parking lot near my building. Roadside assistance changed it to the donut so I didn't lose any time, but buying a new tire was not in the budget!



At this point, I am beyond ready for this week to end. And I think my car got jealous that I wasn't planning to spend any money on it beyond gasoline. Right now, it's been half the day and nothing has blown up, maybe I can work on Stellar Gift of Death.

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The BookWorm

What now?

Yesterday was computer, today was the commute. Interstate 12 Open Following Early Morning Wreck. Luckily, I left home late, otherwise I would have been under one of those pipes. But I got caught in the snarl to find an alternative route into Baton Rouge. There's only thee ways to cross the Amite River and also the huge reason why we need the loop project that idiots keep killing, and I was stuck on the north of I-12 side. When I finally reached Magnolia Beach Road and it wasn't moving either, I called in that I was going home.

I had plans of catching up on chores, figuring out my budget for the next paycheck, and writing. Writing didn't happen. Mom co-opted me for a couple of hours, and budgeting the paycheck put me in a funk that was not conductive to fighting with the manuscript. I'll make up for it tomorrow.

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The BookWorm

You Better Believe It's Monday

After months of being used to my paying job's computer being frozen and wiped a certain way, someone decided to "fix" it for me and changed how it wipes. Now all the tabs I had open in Firefox on Friday are gone; Outlook doesn't want to work right because a certain archive file must now be hand deleted; and between programs freezing up on me, trying to find that damn file, and etc. I'm still fucking 30 minutes late getting anything started!

Before I was thirty minutes late waiting for the computer to finish dealing with the other wiping program and saving changes. Aggravating, sure, but at least once it was done, it worked.

IT keeps going through contractors like Kleenex, which doesn't help. I got the new kid, explained what I knew had been done to my machine and what I thought was going wonky now. He did some remote fixes and they didn't stick. We tried it again, and I decided to test it the next time I shut down over the weekend since it took him over an hour to get through it the first time.

Needless to say, most of what little I got done on fiction was rough draft stuff.

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The BookWorm

I'm Crashing Hard Tonight

No more shows running until 10pm so I'll probably crawl into bed at 7 tonight to catch up on the sleep I have missed. Though I can't regret seeing the Christmas episodes of Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Haven.

Other good news, Haven IS getting a season 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The season 2 cliffhanger was downright EVIL, and I really didn't want to stalk the makers for a resolution.

In other geeky news, my confession made it to the Once Upon a Time Confessions Tumblr. If you're not watching it, I can explain my reasoning. But tomorrow after I'm not so droopy.

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So I'm Officially Second Job-less

So the Public Awareness gig didn't come through and I turned in the demo kit for HDP because I wasn't getting any demos. What's going to happen to my cut to the bone already budget? For starters, I'm ignoring all creditors I can't afford right now. No more letting them guilt me into payments that I can't afford when they want it. All money I can spare will go into the emergency fund because I'm tired of the car breaking down and there's no money to fix it. And family debts move to the front of the line, mostly because I feel the worst about it and if Mom takes up bill collector tactics, I'm screwed.

2012 will either be the year I make writing pay for me and can apply those funds to my personal debt crisis or the Mayan Apocalypse happens and I won't have to worry about it any more. I'm working on the first part.

Onwards happier subject matter, I watched the first half of the Neverland miniseries last night. What I liked:

• Bob Hopskins as Smee: if Disney ever has to rerecord the audio to the animated Peter Pan, Bob Hopskins must play Smee instead of the guy who played the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.
• Captain Bonnie!: "There is no us!" I will be buying the DVD so I can have a reference for her wardrobe. But her character is filled with such SMART piratey goodness, I'll be clapping to bring her back to life. Screw Tinkerbell. She had me at the astronomy lesson.
• Robert Halmi Sr. strikes again: Virgina got wet in The 10th Kingdom, DG got wet in Tin Man, Alice got wet in Alice, and now Peter got wet in Neverland. He's the producer in common on all four, so I'm considering it a scripted Easter Egg.
• Minority casting department: Indians played by Native Americans and given something to do besides be colorful background of exotic Neverland.

What I'm iffy about:

• the Alchemist figured out holograms: well, I don't think it's a factor in part two and it looked cool, so I'll let it slide
• Tinkerbell glows brighter than the other fairies: somebody forgot to tell the CGI department because she looks the same as the rest
• Hook is actually Peter's father: *YAWN* I'm so bored by this trope that the antagonist turns out to be the protagonist's missing parental unit. Why can't Hook be Peter's maternal uncle instead? Or another suitor of Peter's mother who took non-related Peter in for her sake? Do I care enough about the rest to fix this issue with fanfic?
• Peter the Responsible: For ending up as the poster boy for irresponsibility and lousy memory, this Peter is choke full of responsibility for his crew who will be the Lost Boys, for the Indians, for the orb, for Jimmy. Maybe's there's a moral lesson here? Too much responsibility at too young an age will make you crack so you never want to grow up?

If Bonnie wasn't in it, I don't think I would be buying it on DVD or putting it on my to buy list until I have funds.

Added after Part Two: Okay, the second half completely redeemed all the stuff I was iffy about. :D

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The BookWorm

Happy Turkey Day!

My baby sister is hosting this year, so after today, I'll probably be offline until Sunday. Have a great holiday everybody!

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The BookWorm

Movies!

Tor.com is having Muppets Week in honor of the new Muppets movie coming out, which I want to see so bad it hurts. But that's not the subject of today's post. Today's post is why don't I have these movies already inspired by the reviews at Tor.com?

The only Jim Henson movie I have is Labyrinth. None of the original Muppets trilogy nor any of the later ones. I really don't know how this happened, but if I ever get a chance to rectify it (which means I have disposable income for entertainment again), I won't be buying the movies in order.

First up, Muppet Treasure Island. Second up would be A Muppet Christmas Carol.

The third movie in the list is something I'm willing to rent before I buy Detective Dee and the Phantom Flame because I had no idea it even came out last year. To explain, Judge Dee was an actual Chinese official that a Chinese novel was written about. A Dutch diplomat translated that novel and then wrote more stories with the same character. Now a Chinese film has taken back the character for an extravaganza movie like Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (which I ADORED). Oh heck yeah! I must see this movie at least once.

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The BookWorm

A Full Week Ahead

Of the paying job at least. No funeral time nor holidays until Thanksgiving. I haven't heard back from my interview last week, so Candi's comic today feels like an accurate kick in the gut. I'm calling for an update at lunch. And at some point today, asking my supervisor to change my hours to 7am - 3:30pm. Even if I don't get that job, it can only help with my commute.

We successfully got through my grandfather's funeral without an incident which would end up on the evening news. Celebrate the little victories in my family, folks. I got a three day weekend thanks to Veterans Day, which I spent on housework, writing, and confirming that I have no money. I haven't had any work to earn money in two weeks.


At least I finished Chapter 15 in Stellar, dived into the first scene of Chapter 16, and finished Chapter 2 of Tin Man: Prince. Oh and somebody sent me a link where Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic was recommended with a nice review. Nice to know I'm doing something right in someone else's unbiased opinion.

Interview: Still reviewing things on their end. *Crossing fingers*

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The BookWorm

Friday of Fun

A few days ago, I saw a bald eagle on the way home. I thought it was portentous at the time. All raptors are bit of a luck charm, but a bald eagle, WOW! But now I'm wondering what the sighting is portentous of.

Family: my paternal grandfather died this morning. No, condolences necessary. This has been coming for a while and I'm not looking forward to how my father will be screwed over with the settling of the estate.

Second job: I'm looking again and feeling more peeved than panicked. Why when I haven't had any demos all this week? Because I asked about needing to generate leads and was assured I wouldn't have to do that. What actually happens? The only work I got this week was registring people for about an hour and a half for no pay. I got two contacts, but the odds: you need ten contacts to get one demo.



Everybody has been nice, it's a cool product, and it still feels like a great company to work for. But not for me right now with my need for cash NOW! Landing it was a good shot of self-esteem boost that I was in denial that I needed.

So my plans? I'm calling about an interview today and hoping to hear back from a medical test. I need to finish Chapter 15 and start Chapter 16. Taking more vitamin C so I don't catch a coworker's cold. Nearly everybody else in the state is obsessed over the LSU vs. BAMA game, but my only wish is that I could have had a free ticket to resale for a couple of grand.

Overall, it doesn't look like I'm suffering from procrastination as much, which is funny since I just found the perfect description of the whole cycle in Hyperbole and a Half.

Damnit, BMI is still too high for the medical study.

Interview set for Monday. Yeah!

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The BookWorm

Crazy Week

I might get home before 10pm tonight. Training for the second job finished last night, I did really well, I get the demo kit today and go out to canvas a neighborhood for people to demo to. Marketing then takes the names and phone numbers and sets up the actual appointments. But the canvasing only lasts until dark and then I can go home. The end result will still probably be me crashing as soon as I change clothes while Mustard is telling me I'm a bad cat mommy for staying out so late and not letting him outside at all, but I'm not complaining. Mustard would probably tell me I have nothing to complain about.

Those who have met my cat know he's not very vocal. Usually he only does it demanding to go outside by a door. So I know it's bitching at me when he's in the hall herding me toward the bathroom meowing the whole time.

Writing took a hit with all this. I've only managed to eek out a page in the rough draft. The scene isn't giving me any trouble, so I think it has been a matter of focus and concentration getting used up. I only have to schedule three to four demo a week for part-time (I initially thought it was ten) so my fears of decreased writing time are gone. The only drawback I've found is the second job's no jeans policy, which I do understand. But it looks like I forgot today was Friday at the DOI.

Demos are scripted, but they let me tap into my improv skills that I haven't used since I hung up my cutlass. So any time the Fear Monger tries to twist me up to anxiety-addled-me my response is a laugh. "This is no different from renfaire, only I have a lot less crap hanging from my waist." Seriously, I should weigh my belt of renfaire gear if I can find all of it again. Fear Monger gets huffy and drops it. I'm also positive Dug-In-Heels Defender has been activated over the whole second job thing. "Mom is acting weird about it. My supervisor flat out told me 'you won't like doing that.' I will prove them WRONG."

Plus I'm broke enough to make prostitution of my mind look like a good idea. How far before I contemplate prostitution of the body? If this job keeps me from thinking that they are viable options, I'm in a much better place. Last plus, I can walk away once I've paid things off. Unfortunately, because of how crazy this week has been, I haven't developed my timeline estimate for when that will be yet. Four of my Big Rocks for this week deal with the Budget and I've only gotten one done so far. I've got a busy weekend planned making up for what I've missed.

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The BookWorm

Naysayers Already

Janine Melnitz: Do you believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis?
Winston Zeddemore: Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.

Financially, I'm so close to the edge, I'm hanging on to a root with my fingernails. So my attitude is totally Winston right now. I've got good vibes about the company, I'm asking questions to make sure it's not a scam to blow up in my face, and overall feel very relieved over the opportunity to earn some money.

My mother who has been spending at least the last six months silently fuming whenever I have needed to borrow money and can't pay it back is now suffering from I'm not saying anything because you're so excited but something ACK! is going to happen to my baby on this new job! I'm not sure what bad she is expecting and really don't want to ask and invite the drama into my head.

My supervisor doesn't think anyone should have to work a part-time job. I asked for my annual work performance raises back. Today she's convinced that I will hate a demo sales job, to which I responded, "If there's a steady paycheck in it, I will sell whatever they want me to."

I am not going to plop my financial statements on either's desk. No one needs the dirty details but me, and hopefully they'll be more in the black this time next month.

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The BookWorm

Political Feel Free to Skip It

If you really feel Obama hasn't done anything while in office, please read this post from the Daily Dish.

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The BookWorm

Sitting Next to “Peter’s Laws” Poster is a Sign

I have an interview with a potential second job in less than an hour, and the Fear Monger and the Perfect Girl have ganged up on me. The Perfect Girl is freaking out that I don’t look professional enough, that I didn’t grab the reams of paper supporting items on my resume, and when I tried to wing it from memory, I only filled half a page of the resume. The Fear Monger is focusing on how I can’t afford this meal at Raising Cane’s and what will I do when I get rejected. Not “if” but “when;” the Fear Monger is such an optimist.

The decorating scheme of Raising Cane’s concentrates on framed movie posters and other pictures of pop culture significance along with some stuff for the town or university. I picked this booth to be out of the sun and sat down before looking at what was on the wall. Next to the Easy Rider movie poster is one titled “Peter’s Laws: The Creed of the Sociopathic Obsessive Complusive.”

1. If anything can go wrong, Fix It! (To hell with Murphy!) The audacity of that statement shut them both up and I nearly laughed out loud. When I got to #5 Do it by the book… but be the author! I am convinced I need this poster in my home office.

15. Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary. Maybe a copy for the office cubicle too.

16. When in doubt: THINK! 17. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing. I’m ready for the interview now.

8:00pm Update: I got the job! *Snoopy Dance*

Snoopy Dance taken from this page of Penny and Aggie.


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The BookWorm

Did we just skip autumn all together?

Temperatures dropped into the thirties overnight and is STILL 36 degrees according to my desktop weather gadget. The DJs this morning keep saying "coldest day so far this fall." This is too damn cold for fall!

Rizzo has shoved my second job search to a new urgency. Last night, I spent two hours fighting traffic jams to get out of Baton Rouge. I finally reached Denham Springs and got back on the Interstate at 6pm. Then, just past the Juban exit, one of my tires goes flat. And by goes flat I mean it had a blowout but stayed on the rim. A nice trucker helped me put the spare on, but now I have to go buy tires, which I have no money for.

I don't know what else to do. I'm looking at a medical study for compensation, but I was over the BMI they were looking for. Convergys rejected me. The home based businesses that I bought this computer for rejected me. I walked away from Craigslist last night seriously considering selling my papers to a site that will sell them to plagiarizing students. I'm telling myself that I'm not desperate enough for that or street-walking yet.

Yes, I was stupid for the last two paychecks. But all the math adds up to I have to get more income in order to keep my head above water. I have a few more ads to check out. Cross your fingers for me everybody.

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The BookWorm

Cleaning out opened tabs

I will eventually type up the blog posts I have written. But probably not today.

John Scalzi gives out writing assignments based on sci-fi films. If I actually needed a prompt to get me writing, #4 intrigues the hell out of me. But I don't, even if Monday's fire drill at the paying job and Tuesday's power outage at the paying job really knocked my progress off its feet.

Appalachian Prison Book Project Seeks Donations. Admittedly, why I don't weed out my books more often is I want them to go to a good home. Shipping charges may bunt this worthy cause out of my league though.

This year is going to be a pull the costume out of the closet Halloween. So I'm leaning towards Joan of Arc. More likely Joan of Arc taking a rest day, since I don't have a full-plate suit of armor in the closet.

Oh and cruise around Take Back Halloween for more costume inspiration. Their inspiration is to give women more options than just "Sexy whatever" for Halloween. And they gave me a source for Christine de Pizan's hat. Whenever I get to the project again, I can buy the damn thing rather than figure out how to build it.

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It’s a Lovely Idea But...

My house has a front porch and a back porch and to accuse me of not using them to their fullest potential would find me guilty. I’ve lost count of the years Mom has been storing the furniture that wouldn’t fit on their garage after she closed shop on my front porch. The carpenter bees have been feasting on the roof joists and ceiling and it’s not screened, so that limits the time one can spend on the front porch without becoming a blood donor.

The back porch is the laundry room and storage shed for my tools and yard equipment. I’m nearly convinced it will cave in and take the back half of the house with it. Remodeling is on my bucket list at this point.

The weather is crisp this weekend, so I put bug bombing my house on my to-do list, which means four hours and thirty minutes out of the my house. So I relocated current writing projects and part of my old desk to the front porch. I had a lovely idea of making myself a writing desk on what space I could carve back for myself on the front porch.

But there’s no way to sit at it with the desktop surface propped on sawhorses. All I have to sit on are rocking chairs and I’m composing this on my knee. Not comfortable at all.

I still love the idea for those times when you have to get off the computer. But I’m afraid I will have to get legs and make a table out of it. The last time I tried that the results were less than pretty. With this piece—formerly the leg of my L-shaped computer desk—I have screw holes already created in it. I’m considering some premade table legs or stair banisters that I can screw in to make it stable and give me leg room. When I get some money.

Second job hunt hasn’t gone so well, so I’m reopening my account at Freelance.com. I had luck there before, hopefully I will again. Now if my true side hustle is writing fiction, I’ve got three and a half hours to make a dent in Stellar’s rough draft.

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The BookWorm

Let's start the countdown!

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The BookWorm

Things to Share

Please stand by for a demonstration of relevancy.:
I can't make this shit up -- Why not researching who you are talking and then name calling is a BAD IDEA. But funny for us watch the Internet unleashed.
"Surprise! Meet the Internet. It’s kind of pissed." John Scalzi's take on the situation.
And now Wil Wheaton's.

OneLug recreates the Last March of the Ents from the movie Two Towers DUDE! I didn't know that many black Legos existed. Ssh! Don't spoil it for me if they could use paint, okay?

Why Steve Jobs Matters I don't own any Apple products and I don't use iTunes, but the world is better for having had him here and we should all be mournful of his loss.

Can't decide what to read? Use this flowchart to find something. ;)

Okay I think that cleans off this group of tabs.

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The BookWorm

Project 333

Posting daily metrics at DUF saps my inclination to post here. Something to bear in mind if you feel I need checking up on.

This weekend ended up being a lazy one for me. The crisp autumn air we have been blessed with didn’t give me any drive towards housework. All I managed to do was switch out my closet. Since the end of June, I’ve been following Project 333 and now is time for a progress report.

I haven’t seen a drastic reduction in the clothes I own in total, but only being able to wear 33 items is reducing the number of shoes I have: two pairs wore out and another pair I’m discarding because they hurt my feet.

Another thing that struck me as I continued reading blog posts on Project 333 was the complaints about the neutral basics. Just change up in the next three months was my conclusion until I had an epiphany. I can’t pinpoint when I had it, but I still remember: other people didn’t keep enough clothes to completely change over their wardrobe every quarter. I’m not ready to throw out more clothes than I already have, but it’s not a bad goal to have in mind.

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The BookWorm

Almost Doing It Again

I’m considering a weekly schedule, mostly for “hello, I’m breathing” sake. Posting daily at DUF takes out much of the oomph to post here too.

Lee ended up being much alarm about nothing really. But if I hadn’t prepared for no electricity, the power would have gone out. Only lost one tree on the border of the lawn and the woods and it didn’t hit anything. The enforced quiet time to work on Stellar was a boon I’ve missed in the weeks since—especially this week.

Last weekend I spent with Eric and Suzanne and the break was worth the havoc on my sleep schedule.

This week the home computer is being a pain in the butt. McAfee Security Center developed a tick that I had to contact tech support over (the program came free with the new computer). The fix last night doesn’t seem like it held and now the computer is freezing up the first program opened. Before leaving for work, when I should have been working on budget stuff, Quicken froze up so I told the computer okay, it could reboot and examine the RAM. An hour later it was still logging off. I have no idea what I’m going to find when I get home, but I’ll be running Malware Bytes or something else to see what I’m missing. Unless some of the RAM died, I should have issues with it this soon.

Paying job: 312 lawsuits to go before the backlog of paid for dismissals will be finished. I’ve promised myself the day after I finish them is a vacation day and now it’s easier to slough through them.

Project 333: There’s fifteen days before I switch my current closet for the October, November, December set. So I should probably analyze what isn’t worth saving in this set. I already killed one set of sadals. There’s a skirt I never wore once. Thinking about this reminds me of the formula developed by What Not to Wear for putting together an outfit: “love, like, plus bling squared.” I’ll have to use that as a fine tuner for the next set.

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The BookWorm

Tropical Storm Lee update

Haven't lost power yet, so maybe we won't. *Knock on wood* But the storm is going nowhere quickly, hovering on our coast and in sending feeder bands of rain. They issued tornado warnings yesterday, but I never saw weather that bad at my house. The center is around Morgan City, but it is very undefined there. The feeder bands are now stretching from Tampa, FL to Louisiana.

The back bedroom leak has nearly filled the bucket, so I need to use a lull and dump that. The kitchen had a few drops when I woke up yesterday morning, but since I spent most of yesterday writing at the table, I never saw more water pour in. The back porch yikes. Even the light fixture had water running over it. I need a new roof, but I can't complain too bad about the water. We need it to put out a marsh fire near New Orleans and my yard is soaking it up like a sponge.

I finished crushing all the cans to get a little exercise during the lulls and to make sure the porch wasn't going to sling junk at my parents' house. I got my words done for NPI and have reached Chapter Eight in the rewrite of Stellar Gift of Death. Today's plans: laundry, dishes, Stellar Gift of Death rewrite, vacuuming, any other housekeeping chores I've put off, paperwork, cleaning up the book list project that I put on hold, and I think that is enough.

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The BookWorm

Don't Know Why I want to Remember This

On the old saw that “relationships take work”:

I think of this in terms of maintenance vs. repair.

All relationships take maintenance, just like cars. For a car, you have to put gas in it, and change the oil, and wash it, and get the engine checked, and rotate the tires. If you don’t, your car will stop running, no matter how good a car it is.

For a relationship, you have to treat your partner with respect and kindness (even when you’re tired and stressed, or mad), consider their needs and wants as well as your own, pay attention to how they’re doing, speak up, respectfully, when you have a problem, and listen honestly when they do the same. You have to make time and energy for you as a couple — date nights, pursuing mutual interests. And if you pay attention to maintenance, when a serious problem does come up (and it does), you have the foundation to weather it.

On the other hand, “relationships take work” should not be used as an excuse to do the relationship equivalent of buying a 20-year-old beater with faulty brakes and no floor, and pouring all of your money and energy into trying to get it to run, because you’re never going to get a reliable car out of it.

If your partner doesn’t care about whether you are happy, doesn’t regard you with respect and doesn’t think there is a problem (or vice versa), all the work in the world isn’t going to make a healthy relationship out of the two of you. If you have to work to put up with them or enjoy their company in the early stages of the relationship, it’s unlikely to improve.

As a corollary, sometimes it’s a great car, just not one that serves your needs. If you have four kids and live in a snowy climate, you’ll regret buying that sports car, no matter how good it looked.

J. Carolyn Hax Sept. 2, 2011 Column

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Really, it’s Friday

Blogger is trying to roll out a new interface. I tried it, got aggravated, and told them my complaints. So I’m not rehashing here but it is a good opportunity to make sure all my labels are more appropriate to the titles before the old interface goes away. For example, “Zy’s Novel” is now “Stellar Gift of Death” and I decided on “Zy Universe” for a series title (as far as DUF in concerned—this is no reflection on what the books may have).

Already getting rain from Lee as I drive into work.

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Tropical Depression for the Weekend

Looks like I better cancel my weekend plans and bunker down. Craptastic, I better ask what are the contingents for NPI.

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Love Affair with TV Monitor Over Already

I didn’t think I would be disillusioned over hardware before the sore feet. Well, I was wrong. The whole reason I used the TV is I didn’t want to deal with moving the monitor and its sensitive cord and I was hoping to transition to watching things on the computer more. I thought all the kinks were ironed out.

This morning was a whole new kink. The margins of the desktop moved off screen on all sides. I spent an hour tweaking everything and researching what could cause this. When I finally stopped to get dressed, I had managed to get the taskbar back (except for the Start Button) and the highest screen resolution, which is too high for the recommended setting.

So tonight’s project will be shifting the monitor and seeing how to kink the cord so it won’t put the images on the monitor in the green spectrum. It’s like viewing everything with Emerald City sunglasses when that happens.

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I Haz Standing Desk!

It's nothing pretty, but it's a functional experiment. My uncle found out you don't clean that type of screen with Windex the hard way and gave the TV to me because I don't have a thinner TV yet. So I figured using it as a monitor was less hassle than trying to set it up in the living room and deal with my old TV. The milk crate and shelf brings the keyboard to the exact height it should be for me, but without being permanent. If the experiment works, I'll look into creating a permanent standing desk.

So far all I accomplished Sunday was making my feet sore. but the only sitting I did was thirty minutes story writing, putting the can crusher together, eating, and the thirty minutes soak I had in the tub to stop the feet from hurting. Adds up to roughly two hours, maybe?

Can Crusher: It's a cheap one Harbor Freight offers that is prone to breaking, but it works with gravity (crushed can falls into the container below it). I haven't killed it yet or tore it off the porch post--which seems what will happen first since mounting it was less than perfect. Anyways, I'm all about consolidating the storage of the cans since I sell them quarterly during the year.

Stellar Gift of Death: Saturday was a planned day off, but Sunday I got distracted by everything else that needed doing. I never got a chance to type anything and really test out the standing desk setup. So the plan shifted to finishing Chapter 7's edit. I got thirty minutes done on that. In theory, concentrating on the revision part on the weekends is not a bad plan, provided I don't have a gazillion chores to yet at my monkey brain and distract me.

Captain America: Finances improved enough to free up the tickets. Oh how awesome it is. It's on my to buy it list.

Dum Dum Dugan: I didn't know you spoke German." Gabe Jones: "Two semesters at Howards before I switched to French because the girls were cuter."

I'd be thrilled with a sequel on just the Howling Commandos, but Marvel thinks there's more money with Iron Man and friends.

Rich's Newest Project: The guy who brought us the Ten Doctors, Forever Janette, Stalker of Norfolk, Outrage of the Zygons, and Seeds of Destruction (Written by Landry Walker) has started a new story.



Have you got the theme music handy?

Why so silent? I haven't posted here since July 21st and August is almost over. What have I been doing? A lot of writing if you look at DUF, and other stuff that I can pinpoint since I'd write out a blog post but never type and post it. Which is a variation of "trying not to think about it." (Hatter in Alice). So don't be surprised if some out of date posts pop up filling in that missing time. I thought about adding it all to this one, but it's long enough already.

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Finally Got to Test Out the Brilliant Idea

It’s probably late in the game on a technology scale and it’s late to my game since I meant to experiment all last week with it but failed due to oversleeping. The copier at the paying job can scan papers as a PDF file and email it. I have a box full plus a shelf-full of binders of class notes I cannot just throw away. I also have a scanner but it doesn’t have a paper feeder, so making PDF files at home is such a chore, I haven’t finished the project in years.

Brought a binder to work and was done in ten minutes—including two paper jams, me not sorting out the two-sided from the 1-sided pages so I had multiple files, and me having to scan one set over again because I got my work email addy wrong. Ten minutes.

TEN MINUTES

I’m a little boggled right now, thanks for asking. This project just went from I’ll-never-finish-it to could-be-done-by-the-end-of-the-month before I finished breakfast.

So now that’s my plan: bring two binders to work, scan, and save the PDF files, and put the papers in the recycle bin. When I’m through with the binders, I’ll figure out a way to transport the box full of papers in smaller chunks.

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Another Month Gone

Alt. Biker Mice Site and The BookWorm’s Library are back up and running. Hope you guys appreciate that I’m not watching Harry Potter, Capt. America, or Cowboys and Aliens. I’m not upset much. There’s no way to justify spending nearly $20 on entertainment when I have to pull money out of the meager emergency fund to buy gasoline and groceries.

Being a grown-up sucks.

It’s not all doom and gloom. I haven’t projected budget for August yet, but it doesn’t look as bad as July and June have been.

Side Hustle: I like this way of describing what I’m trying to do with a second job. If the hours spent and effort, etc. isn’t strenuous, I’d like to keep it until I can pay for the house remodel. Writing fiction is the ultimate side hustle, but I have a lot of work to get there.

At the same time, I need to figure in this equation: website earns money – expenses for websites = nothing out of pocket. I haven’t gotten any further with this idea yet. I still like the last idea I had but it needs a lot of scrubbing and a complete overhaul before going forward.

To be honest, I have no idea how to fit it into my schedule either.

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Schedule Changes

I mentioned briefly that I had cleaned off the schedule in What a Week It Has Been. It was to clear more writing time, I decided to try it even though I shifted to looking for a second job. Daily tasks went from # to 5: make bed, wash dishes for 15 minutes, work on budget for 15 minutes, write 500 words, and set out stuff. Weekly chores went from # to 8.

Today was my first oops because I didn’t go to bed on time last night. Some tasks I’m fine tuning, but shifting the budget work down to 15 minutes is working wonders on staying on top of finances. It’s enough time to update Quicken (as long as I’m sure to do it every day) and to start a more involved budget project like making a spreadsheet to detail my net worth or figuring out how to break down the next paycheck. I do need to update my list of those projects so I can remember what to open the next morning. Hopefully, I’ll remember to do that tonight.

Second job: maybe have a lead on a work from home. Need to apply tonight.

All my Sallie Mae loans are consolidated with the Direct Loan program with an income-based repayment plan. I still didn’t have enough money to pay that, so now it’s in deferment until 7/28/2012. It’s not the best solution since interest is accruing, but I don’t have the cash until I get rid of other creditors. I still need to see how it affects my monthly budget and potential snowballs.

Note for DUF: It puzzles me how quickly I can lose track of what I’m supposed to be doing.

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Job Hunting

• Look for Staples call center
• Look on Craigslist
• Look at North Oaks

Wanted: a part-time or full-time night/weekend job.

I haven’t hit the full-out depressed funk stage of job hunting yet. Mostly I’ve been glaring at myself in the mirror. “Why isn’t anything ready to publish? Hmmm?”

There’s no answer.

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Should I Lie?

I heard back from Convergys today.

Thank you for taking the time to submit your resume to Convergys. Your qualifications have been updated and reviewed against our openings. Unfortunately, we have identified other candidates who more closely meet our requirements at the present time.

This is why I hate job hunting. I understand really a desire to hire someone unemployed first as opposed to me who has a steady job, but I need to WORK! And the first thing that hit me, is should I lie on the damn application?

I probably won't; I'm too honest for my own good. And I don't want to get slammed with a "you lied on your application" problem. But I could use some good news soon.

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Sympathetic Magic

There are spell components waiting to be used in the back bedroom. Don't remember why I didn't actually perform the ritual, but I think I should take some time for magic. Especially after this beginning of this week.

First there was my sobering weekend over the state of my finances. I applied to the position at COnvergys online, but didn't know if I counted as a rehire from 2003, so I didn't call the rehire phone number. I resolved to go see them in person and beg if it came to that, but not on Monday.

A deadline for our tax department was on July 15th and we're in the middle of the assessment season. I didn't get to leave until 6:30pm, stopped for supper, and finally made it home around 8:30pm. So much for rewarding myself with Warehouse 13.

Tuesday's work at the paying job started at 7:00am. I didn't have any time for writing with the work left over from Monday to get out. Don't cheer for my overtime. State workers are compensated with K-time, not money. Now if I don't use any of the K-time to take time off (it is used before annual leave time) for the next few months, they will exchange it for cash, but I have no idea how long I have to wait or how big a balance I must have. If and when, it'll be a nice surprise.

I got to leave at my normal time and on the interstate, Rizzo's engine started making a new noise. "Okay, I have to get that checked out, but nothing's changed with the performance so maybe I'll make it home." Then the air from the AC isn't cold any more even though it's still blowing. I start watched the temperature guage to make sure Rizzo's not overheating again. The needle doesn't move.

Right after I passed the O'Neal exit, the battery light comes on the dashboard. I turn off the AC and the radio, but it stays on. I got off the Interstate and went straight to Denham Springs Tire Kingdom. Verdict: tensioner was making the noise, the AC compressor stopped, and the alternator was dead. Fixed the tensioner and the alternators because I could afford that before the labor. Now I owe Dad more money and didn't get home until 8pm.

"I miss my Hyundai. I never had any trouble with my Hyundai up until I wrecked it."

"That's what my mom said about her Hyundai," the Tire Kingdom clerk said. "No problems until she totaled it."

I left before finding out how much more me and his mother had in common. I also resolved to go to Convergys and not leave until I got a job or ran out of lunch break.

They weren't seeing any walk-ins, but the security guard told me I would be a rehire, so I left a message and found a short cut back to the office today.

Disappointing, especially considered how I screwed up my courage to go out there and make results happen. Even more disappointing is when I got home on time (despite the road construction on Pumpkin Center Road) and saw my answering machine beeping with a message from the governor's reelection campaign. :p So why does all this remind me of the gathered spell components?

They're for a spell to attract money.

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What a Week It Has Been

It started last Monday July 11th with fretting about money. Then because I was fretting without the figures in front of me, I went into denial period where I thought I could earn enough to get over the hump by writing articles for Helium at $2 an article. That at least got me to overhaul my daily schedule, which it needs periodically to combat my tendency to keeping adding to the To Do List.

When I got home Friday, payday, I stuck the figures in front of my face to pay the bills and the results were a bloodbath.

Assets = $41,462
Debts = $153,111
Net Worth = -$111,649

The one piece of good news I had was my Direct Loan consolidation package came through and my repayments are now based on my income. And I still don’t have enough income for that. *headdesk*

Faced with the ugly truth, I filled out an online application for the Convergys call center again. It’s a full-time position, just like the one that sent me into sleep deprivation back in 2003. This time I will insist on a saner schedule (I’ll work all Sundays without arguments if I can set Fridays and Saturdays as my days off to sleep. Heck, Friday is even negotiable, how about Wednesdays and Saturdays?). And I will use vacation time to catch up on sleep. Because all my spreadsheet calculations done on Saturday have convinced me it will take longer than four months to accomplish the four goals I came up with.

Second Job Goals

• Service car
• $1000 Emergency Fund (849.77 to go)
• Debt snowball and pay off my highest interest rate debts and everything I owe to Mom, Dad, and Uncle Scott
• New temporary roof

In theory and from previous experience, this will keep me so busy, I won’t spend money on other things in my budget and can probably snowflake more cash towards these goals. But I also won’t be surprised if I have to keep this job until after Christmas.

Now I’m going to go work on some fiction while I still have time to do that.

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Home again

Finally got home a little before 4am this morning from Austin, Texas. Ridiculous high heat. It's hot in Louisiana but it's not the same kind of heat.

So my websites are down because I can't pay hosting fees until next paycheck. Doubt it's a big concern for anyone but if a download of mine doesn't work, that's why.

My sister's surgery went fine. But she also developed pancreatitis and had an inflammed liver by the time she got to the hospital with the gall bladder. She stayed in the hospital nine nights and was finally released Thursday on the 8th. The fever didn't spike back up and she's restricted on lifting, but since she wasn't having any other issues, Mom came on home with me.

Now I have to go catch up on everything.

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Commentary post

Sister made it through surgery without complications! Me and Mom are still on track to head over there and help.

The rest of the post is some interesting things that came up during my blog crawls.

The Daily Dish: When Did We Become Rome, Ctd. "As for me, I believe in this country, and sometimes surprising even to myself, I believe in the ultimate decency of the American people. We can be late imperial Rome, or we can choose not to be. It is that simple. The difficulty lies in what we do after we stop whining." I heartily give that writer an "amen."

BEST Doctor Who shout out EVER! And I though the USB hub TARDIS is pretty darn cool.

EW made Rick Castle their number one dad Every review I do of Castle starts with "Rick Castle is the best father on TV since Bill Cosby. And he really is ruggedly handsome."

That's all I've got for now. Enjoy the links.

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Impromptu Time Off

My sister in Texas is undergoing emergency gallbladder surgery tomorrow. We don't have a time yet and it has gotten to the point where her pancreas and liver are also inflamed.

Current family plans: I'll be taking off Thursday, Friday, and probably a good chunk of the week after July 4th to drive Mom to Austin. Whether Mom comes back with me depends on how things go post-surgery.

So just a heads up if it seems like I've fallen off the grid.

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Focus, don't have it

I remembered to turn on Bedtime Helper, went to bed on time, and STILL couldn't wake up this morning. I've had my caffeine fix and still want to curl up and go to dreamland. Usually by this point in the morning, my body has grudgingly accepted that we are going to stay functional and lets go. It's not working this morning.

There are too many lawsuits for me to play hokey. I haven't had a chance to work on them so far this week, thanks to other job duties. Same thing can be said for writing too. I think I'll let myself have one more can and then stay on water for the rest of the day.

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Happy Summer Solstice

Remember when I said I couldn't count on extra time in the morning? That's because I'm not going to sleep until 10pm and not waking up on time since I haven't had eight hours of sleep.

The aggravation is my fault because I should be using the Bedtime Helper program on my computer to shut it off. If I had more sleep, I'd probably remember to turn it on. :p But nope, I've been relying on the office window cue and the sun hasn't been setting until 9pm.

So I'm celebrating the fact that we start losing daylight from this point until Winter Solstice. Happy Summer Solstice everybody!

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Good Start to this Week?

We got called into a meeting early this morning, my computer turned on needing a reboot, and two of coworkers are out sick. Not a particularly auspicious beginning.

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had planned, typical. So typical I should make that sentence a macro or something and plug it in with the push of an F# key. :p However getting the closet cleaned out and the clothes I don't want/don't fit out of the house was HUGE. Especially since that project has dragged out so long. But I think it deserves its own post with pictures. Which reminds me I still need to write up the sink project that also took much longer than it should have. :p

The other thing that dragged down productivity was my dental appointment Saturday to take off one of my bridges and see what was causing the gum irritation. I didn't need a root canal but my mouth is still sore on Monday. I'm taking prescribed pain killers which is a first for me after dental work. So being off my game should be expected.

"It only took the end of the world for you to finally grow up."

Took Dad to see Green Lantern for Father's Day and was entertained. It's no Dark Knight but given that I'm not a Green Lantern fan, I followed the logic of the film and enjoyed supporting Hollywood South. The set designer did a fine job making New Orleans look like California.

What I didn't get done: chores and any work on Stellar Gift of Death. Then, surprise of surprises, I got to the paying job early this morning and marked up the next two chapters for edits. Now if I could only count on it everyday.

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