Making Plans

I have no idea how I managed to do it, but my back feels like it has been tied up in one giant knot. Or as my massage therapist friend put it, “You’ve got a lot of tension there.” My monthly chiropractic appointment is Thursday, but I may see if I can move it up if it doesn’t improve. The only thing I can think of is that I haven’t been moving enough, with the sit-and-study, sit-and-write, sit-and-manipulate-the-images routine I’ve had lately.

And it took almost all weekend to review projects and plans and try to figure out what will be going on in the next eight months. There’s something really satisfying about being able to make a hole in my Weekly To Do List template. Not that the other things already scheduled on the list won’t fill up that time without me adding anything, but I allowed myself a Zen moment of accomplishment.

I would like to avoid the insane layering of projects if at all possible. Which is why I took so long studying everything. Let’s start by looking at the really backlogged:

• Housework – shouldn’t count as a project but it got out of hand and needs to be wrestled into submission before I make myself sick.
• The BookWorm’s Library – updating is a year past due
• Alt. BM Site – ditto
• FFGarret – time to unveil this and see if I can make it work
• BMFM: Turbo – finish
• BMFM: For Worse – finish
• Tin Man: Dragons and Ninjas – finish
• Tin Man: Pirates of the Nonestic – finish
• Strix – start and eventually finish
• Zy’s Novel – start and eventually finish
• Faulkner paper – finish on the deadline
• Office remodel – have plans so I’m ready when I have money
• Kitchen remodel – have plans so I’m ready when I have money
• Bathroom remodel – have plans so I’m ready when I have money
• Sewing circle – toying with this idea as a way to be social and get things off the project list

And this is just how easily the plans overwhelm me, damn it. It’s all well and good to say “update the website” but that doesn’t cover all the mini-projects that must be done fore I can sign off that it is finished. *Deep breath.* Prioritize. Admittedly, not my strongest affinity.

The BookWorm’s Library – what needs to be finished for me to feel like it’s a real update?

1. Newsletter set up with a new story ready to go including Author’s Notes and soundtrack
2. Edited Author’s Notes with soundtracks uploaded
3. Story mistakes fixed
   • missing flash players added
   • fix McGilla to Magilla in crossover
   • Make sure all the edited Evil Jack stories are uploaded
4. Take down old Writing Tutorials and put up link to FFGarret
5. Forum for feedback
6. Project Wonderful ads

Okay, I think these six things (and believe the idea list is much longer) are doable by the end of the month. Some of them may be already done and I forgot I did them. But let’s not get ahead of myself here; break everything down into Action Steps.

1. New story ready to post: BMFM For Worse is done
2. New story’s Author’s Notes is ready to post: done
3. Soundtrack for new story: already uploaded
4. Newsletter delivery system: need one
5. Newsletter announcement: rough draft written
6. Author’s Notes had soundtracks added to them: done
7. Author’s Notes have been uploaded: no
8. Missing flash players have been added: no
9. Crossover fix has been uploaded: no
10. Edited Evil Jack stories have been uploaded: no
11. Removed old Writing Tutorial section: no
12. Add links to FFGarret: no
13. FFGarret ready to go live: no
14. Forum delivery system: need one
15. Project Wonderful ads created: no
16. Project Wonderful ads have been positioned on pages: no

Lot more listed as “no” than “finished.”

FFGarret: Needs before going live

1. Create ads for Project Wonderful
2. Write first article
3. Write second article
4. Write third article
5. Write fourth article
6. Write fifth article
7. Write and publish an article a week—see if setting up future posts is possible with Drupal

Like dominoes falling into place, sadly almost. There’s a lot to do here, but I think it’s totally doable to make two of these items two Big Rocks for the week. So I’m going to have these projects finished by June 1st before moving to the next one.

That’s the plan as it stands right now. Let’s see how the week turns out.

MA Exam Part 2

I PASSED PART TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unless I get told differently, I should be walking in December, after I finish the Faulkner paper for the Fall semester. So I am one more step closer to the pictured event.



So what does this mean for my writing schedule? I haven't gotten that far yet. Planning out my project schedule will have to wait until I get home and can take an uninterrupted look at the calendar.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

M.A. Exam Part 2

Taken. I actually feel better about how this went than I did the first time I took it, but I won't know anything until they release the results. Which they hope will happen by Thursday. o.O Yeah, I think that's pretty quick.

And on a side note, I think I should pass simply because I got two parking tickets while taking the stupid thing. I'm not arguing that I shouldn't have (cause I was running out of time and said "shit with it" as I parked. Put a parking garage where Lee Hall used to be; if you go taller you could still have grass. :p) But as a karmic balancing thing; it sounds fair.

Or just tell me I failed and let me cheerfully reclaim more of my time from Faulkner's grasp. It's unreal how easy I am to please over this outcome. Now I'm going to take a break and play with maps. I have to go break a continent.

Oh in other details, cause it has been a while since I updated. I did get the home computer up and running. I'm still cleaning out the saved files, because there is only so long I can work on that before getting sick of deleting. Now I need to turn everything off and install a new battery, but I want to be able to turn the computer back on, so I'm leery.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

And it only took four ciritical papers this time

I'm about a third of the way through reading the Beloved critical articles for the M.A. Exam Part 2 next Monday. And I hit my limit, which is sad because I still have eight articles to go.

How do I know I hit my limit? When I have to reach for the dictionary to define words I already know. When I have a cracktastic idea that will not let go.

The cracktastic idea this time: I want someone to go all literary critical theory on one of my fanfics. Take the most extreme Freudian position possible. Or Lacan. Or ... okay I already forgot most of the major movements. Why do I want to see this happen? Because I can remember most of the stuff that churned in my brain, and proving or disproving patriarchal family models based on Oedipal theory was not one of them. The problem of domination was not one of them. Greek tragedy and resisting it wasn't one of them.

If none of them above make any sense to you whatsoever, thank the deity of your choice that you managed to skip literary criticism. But I honestly just want to see it from the other side of the curtain. Because deep down, I think this is all bunk any way when it comes to creation of the works analyzed. I think it has a purpose in helping people understand the work better or perhaps understanding the genre and stereotypes to break away from them. But I'm driven to hair pulling when I find one of these scholar positing so finitely "Morrison was creating an African-American feminist maternal dialogue to combat the white, patriarchal system that oppresses us to this day." You don't know that (but you sure wrote a damn long paper on the subject)! What if Morrison's inspirational thought was just exploring what about slavery would make a mother kill her child, which she has said there was a true case that sparked Sethe, and what if the child comes back as a ghost or something else?

Well, if you do want to psychoanalyze one of my works be prepared for me to laugh hysterically or congratulate you for getting into a character's headspace. Because the only agenda I have is seeing if I can make the plot and theme work and make readers happy.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Number Crunching #155

Actually figured 12/13/2009

Quicken Cash Flow = 785.23
STEF Total = 214.77

April Budget Meeting

Reconciling Quicken with bank statements: Done.
Reconciling last month’s budget: Not going to try to figure this one out because I didn’t make a budget. I know I didn’t do good because I got $75.00 in Overdraft fees.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Computer Crash Update

I put in the hard drive and the sound card all by myself, and they worked. Yes, that is an accomplishment for me since I have always been afraid I’d blow it up if I messed with any computer innards. Dad did have to come and help me because I messed up the settings and lost my D hard drive in the process. So I ended up having to install Windows XP twice.

So now I’m currently waiting to get the back up restored from Mozy so I can finish loading up all the programs. I did try just copying the program files that I had saved so I wouldn’t have to reinstall everything again, but Windows XP’s menus didn’t recognize programs that way. So back to reinstalling :p. The new hard drive has a 160 GB, so it should be a long time before I put so much on it, it won’t function. Though I am seriously considering if how I have My Documents set up is the most efficient way to do it. I have 80 GB on the D drive, and I was using that as internal back-up storage and 150 GB on the external hard drive that I wanted to be a backup for things I would have normally burned to a CD but now fear losing forever. The rough idea I have is that XP will continue running really smoothly if all I have on the C drive is it and other program files. I have no idea if that is actually true.

And it is so good to have sound again! But I discovered a hiccup that I haven’t figured out how to solve yet. I saved 5 YouTube fanvids before the soundcard crapped out on me with recovering from the February crash: 4 in a format that runs in QuickTime and 1 with RealPlayer. Despite reinstalling the latest free RealPlayer and seeing that the file is there and nothing appears wrong with it, it refuses to play. The program says it’s playing but the clip indicator doesn’t move, there’s no sound or video. The QuickTime vids play just fine, but the sound is practically non-existent. I have to turn the player’s volume control to max, XP’s volume control to max, and then the speaker’s volume control to max before I can hear a whisper of the music. I had to stop experimenting with it in order to reinstall programs, so I haven’t tested files that I didn’t save from YouTube or if resaving them in a different format would help. I also need to buy a couple of speaker extension cords; I can give myself surround sound now. :D

I spent a few hours rearranging the computer equipment on the desk and tidying up the cords. This is my second attempt to get all the stupid cords off the floor so I can vacuum under my desk without fear of sucking up one of the cords and causing expensive and painful damage. First attempt was with some nice clips that attach to furniture and walls with a sticky back. They open and close easily to allow you get to the cord in question without much hassle. I thought I had put enough of those up to bear the weight, but I figured wrong. All of them had detached from the desk.

While I was wracking my brains to come up with a solution that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, I mentioned the problem to my mother. “I use zip ties on your father’s stuff. Otherwise, we couldn’t walk around his desk.”

“That would bundle them together, but not get them off the floor.”

“Then just tack them up.” That’s when she showed me the zip ties she had. Whenever I need to make a bundle, I have a zip-tie machine that can fit around just about any size object and then cuts the plastic tie close so I don’t have any dangly bits. Mom had a package of all the same size ties that you don’t use in the machine, and they also had a built-in loop at one end. I pulled out the horde of cup hooks I ended up with for some reason of another, and hung the bundled wires from the desk with the cup hooks. That took hours to accomplish on Saturday. Plus I installed a new shelf in the bathroom cabinet and my body still hasn’t forgiven me for all the twisting into unusual positions.

Yeah, not a lot of writing or tax work got done this weekend. Which means once I finish reinstalling programs tonight, I have to finish the taxes and send them away. I’m not freaked out about the deadline because I always e-file (and I still have another month before state taxes are due), but this is just bad form. I thought not doing them until March was bad, but this takes the cake. Writing, not even taking longhand notes was simply because I had a computer in pieces and was rearranging the office for updated function (and something new to look at until I can afford my built-in idea) and the living room is still mostly filled with stuff I need to finish dealing with and get rid of. But oddly enough I didn’t need to escape any of it. I’m going to try to get back into the grove today while at work, since I can’t do anything with taxes until I get home.

Next up is replacing the computer’s backup battery, which should probably happen ASAP. After that, I can probably wait a while before getting a DVD burner, new video card, and the Dazzler set-up to burn my VHS tapes to DVDs.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Computer Crash

The home computer has started the "I can't reboot cycle" again, so I'm breaking down and buying a new hard drive and sound card now. I have to finish my taxes this weekend. But if you're wondering why I've suddenly gone silent, it's because the computer is in pieces.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Nothing Like Waking Up on Time

There's also nothing like waking up before the alarm clock to cramps. Unproductive cramps, soon discovered as one stumbled out of the bedroom to the bathroom, takes painkillers, and mutters about the warning system really isn't necessary, crawl back into bed pressing down on stomach to make the pain stop, and then the alarm goes off.

Guess which wake up I have this morning?

though after the Aleve kicked in, I don't have any complaints. I exercises, I finished the Beloved reading hour, and got a crap load of printing done so I can edit BMFM: Turbo.

Verdicts from the meetings: Faulkner paper has to be completely rewritten, but I have a better grasp of where and what to explore. the topic may expand to Faulkner's use of sexuality, which may give me the opportunity to explore other characters I actually like. And we set up actual deadlines I can worked with for a Fall submission and graduation.

If I pass the second shot at the graduate exam on May 4th.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Hot Bod Countdown 1

First full week, and I screwed up on Tuesday by oversleeping and missing the workout. But I did get Thursday’s and remembered pushups. I got three of them, full on the floor! And I mean real pushups, not the girly version done on your knees.

Total points possible for 4/4/09 = 154
Total points earned for 4/4/09 = 94

3/25/2009 Starting weight = 199 (doctor’s office scale)
Week 0.5 Avg. Weight = 196.75 (home scale)
Week 1 Avg. Weight = 195.94

So onto the next week’s progress.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Number Crunching 154

Quicken Cash Flow = 306.37
STEF Total = 214.77
Amount Available to Spend = 62.91

Enter receipts into Quicken: Done.
Reconcile Quicken to online accounts: Done.
Add totals to spreadsheet: Done.
What did I accomplish during the week? I’ve caught up and stayed on target! I got Number Crunching #153 and #154 wrote and posted on time.
Plans for next week:>

1. Handover the budgeted contributions for Linda’s retirement party


2. Move cap and gown savings to where I can’t spend it.


3. For the love of all that is holy, FINISH DOING TAXES


4. Try out once a month cooking
   • Plan out the meals with what I already have in pantry.
   • Grocery shopping after I get my first paycheck for April.
   • Have to clean kitchen and fridge before I can cook


5. Dispute the overdraft charge on the Demco 4/3/09 payment

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Number Crunching 153

Quicken Cash Flow = 614.79
STEF Total = 363.69

March Budget Meeting

Reconciling Quicken with bank statements: Done.
Reconciling last month’s budget: Okay, back to acknowledging where I did good and bad.

• Problem categories:
  • Bank charges is the worst because I wasn’t keeping a good enough eye on the balances.
  • Eating Out had way too much money spent in it mainly because I do not want to face my kitchen.


• Did-good-with categories:I don’t see anything that qualifies as “good” spending for the month of March.


• Verdict:Stop giving the bank so much money and restrict how much eating out I’m doing.


• Leftover amount = -35.06

Creating next month’s budget: Done. It’s going to be a tight month as I try to scale to live under my two paychecks.
How much cash can I have: 39.00 and that’s essential shopping and fun money. Planning meals is going to be fun this month.
Automatic payments: Everything has been set up and the bills have been divided into what falls under which paycheck.
Reviewing short-term savings goals: Still trying to reach the STEF goal mark. I ended up having to use a good chunk of what I had put back to plug the hole I had at the beginning of the month, but I’m hoping I can put it back with each paycheck.
Update NetworthIQ statements:

Update NCN Savings Chart:

Overview and plans:

1. Update the Bills List with all current accounts and passwords. Found out that Chase Student Loans, Nationstar, Mozy.com, and Netflix are not on it.


2. Tweak the NetworthIQ Jan. and Feb. statements once I have verified the balances for
   • Sallie Mae
   • Chase Student Loans
   • Republic Finance
   Citifinancial
   • Nationstar Mortgage


3. Change Federal tax withholding amount in Quicken.


4. Handover the budgeted contributions for Linda’s retirement party


5. Move cap and gown savings to where I can’t spend it.


6. For the love of all that is holy, FINISH DOING TAXES


7. Try out cooking for the month

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Hot Bod Countdown 0.5

This week isn’t a full week, which is why I given this post 0.5 title. The first full week will have three extra days in it.

Thursday’s workout: I did everything but push-ups, because I forgot to do them at 4am.
2 Sun Salutations
30 ab crunches
15 leg raises
Shoulder exercises – 5 lbs. weight
20 Dumbbell rows
40 Hanging arm circles
20 Extended arm circles
20 Dumbbell press
20 Dumbbell flies

Saturday’s workout didn’t happen as fast as I thought it would. I’ll admit I’ve been avoiding my front porch since November and Mom put some of her store furniture on it. Well, my weight set is getting rusty and a bird built a nest in a box of my exercise supplies. So I took measurements to see where I can move the weight bench.



I still have two craft hobbies to go through in the living room, papers I was storing in the back bedroom, and my hurricane supply box. But I can say that the majority of what is staying in there is already in their just needing a few finishing touches (I’m going to hang Captain Kate’s weapons on the walls for example). The measurements work, so now I have to move all of it.




It fits better than I thought it would. Now the bucket of weights ended up in the hall right outside the room, but only because I wanted to be able to walk in the back room.

I figured out my max. weights for lifting and calculated my workout weights.

Hanging arm circles Max weight = 15 lbs, Workout weight = 10 lbs.
Extended arm circles Max. weight = 10 lbs, Workout weight = 5 lbs.
Dumbbell rows Max. weight = 15 lbs, Workout weight = 10 lbs.
Dumbbell flies Max weight = 15 lbs, Workout weight = 10 lbs.
Dumbbell press Max weight = 15 lbs, Workout weight = 10 lbs.
Bench press Max weight = 40 lbs, Workout weight = 30 lbs.
Squats Max weight = 40 lbs, Workout weight = 30 lbs.
Leg extensions = 50 lbs, Workout weight = 37.5 lbs.

Do three sets of ten repetitions. Barbell = 15 lbs. Dumbbell = 5 lbs.

What might be useful is buying two pairs of dumbbells that are already set at 5 lbs. and 10 lbs., because I don’t have enough small weights to make a balanced pair.

Saturday Workout
Bench press = 30 reps.
Hanging arm circles = 30 reps.
Dumbbell rows = 30 reps.
Extended arm circles = 30 reps.
Weight plate press = 30 reps. Instead of wasting time switching the dumbbell weights, I just grabbed a 10 lbs. plate and did the workout with it.
Dumbbell flies = 30 reps.
Leg extensions = 30 reps.
Squats = 30 reps.
Ab crunches = 20 reps.
Leg raises = 20 reps.

And boy do I hurt today. Total points for the four days 52 out of a possible 66, I think that comes out to a C. Not bad for starting, since I came up more positive than I thought I would. I also found out that Fit Day’s freebie account now keeps track of measurements. This is a good thing since the last website I was using to track it died since I started and restarted this whole health odyssey.

3/25/2009 Starting weight = 199 (doctor’s office scale)
Week 0.5 Avg. Weight = 196.75 (home scale)

So onto the next week’s progress.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Number Crunching 152

Quicken Cash Flow = 1662.71
STEF Total = 363.69

Enter receipts into Quicken: Done.
Reconcile Quicken to online accounts: Done.
Add totals to spreadsheet: Done.
What did I accomplish during the week? Finances spun out of focus again for an entire month. It’s not an unreasonable schedule, but I hate doing it so much. Do I really prefer the build-up and the guilt that brings? Just when I was asking that, I ran across this in one of the blogs/news I follow.

My sense is when you get discouraged you lose momentum and may slip into patterns of procrastination which also take you farther away from your goal. For some insight on this, I turned to life and executive coach BrianWhetten. Brian shared: "We usually think that procrastination means we're lazy, unmotivated or unworthy. But that's rarely the case. Instead, it usually comes from an over-use of guilt and self-judgment. What do you tell yourself about your study habits? Do your thoughts include things like 'I should be more motivated', 'I have to stop procrastinating' or 'I blew it again'? Thoughts like this cause a burst of guilt and stress. Used on occasion they can push us forward, but when they become a habit, they quickly start to backfire. So instead of trying to "should" your way forward, start by writing down the judgments you've been making against yourself, and then check out www.thework.com as a powerful tool for releasing them." – “Searching For Motivation” by Christine Hassler

My life story feels like one big battle against procrastination, so I can agree I have a habit of trying to lay on the guilt and stress. I don’t want to deal with it, so I ignore it. But I know I’m ignoring it and in comes the guilt.

In an attempt to figure out what was wrong with finances at least, I applied the Feng Shui principle, which basically boils down to “internal life issues are reflected in the external environment at certain points.” The wealth and prosperity point in my house is in the back bedroom and I discovered I couldn’t get into the room because of everything crammed into it. So everything came out, good cleaning, everything got rearranged so I can actually use the space, and I added the weight bench so I have to look at the room at least once a week. And I’m not surprised that I suddenly have the oomph to finish the budget catch-up today. I need to find my health and creativity points next.

Plans for next week:

1. Update the Bills List with all current accounts and passwords. Found out that Chase Student Loans, Nationstar, Mozy.com, and Netflix are not on it.


2. Tweak the NetworthIQ Jan. and Feb. statements once I have verified the balances for
   • Sallie Mae
   • Chase Student Loans
   • Republic Finance
   Citifinancial
   • Nationstar Mortgage


3. Change Federal tax withholding amount in Quicken.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Hot Bod Countdown #0

Blood pressure = 109/84 – good
Cholesterol – good
Weight = 199 pounds – creeping up again
Fasting Blood Sugar = 127 – still on the borderline and creeping up

My endocrinologist wanted to put me on Byetta, which involves a very non-complicated injection of the prescription. And my phobia freaked out. “I don’t want you to think I’m forcing this on you,” he said, “I can tell by your face, you don’t like this. But your weight is creeping up and October’s blood sugar was 135 so your body is maintaining it at that level.”

“I haven’t been watching what I eat or exercising. Give me three months to get strict on that and then we’ll see if I need the Byetta.” He agreed so here I am, plotting how I am going to make these changes. The problem isn’t knowing what to do, the problem is doing it consistently enough to make a difference.

Current schedule has me down for exercising three days a week. Current exercise routine I came up with consists of: ab crunches, leg raises, arm exercises to strengthen my left shoulder, push ups, and as many Sun Salutations as I can do. Which would be great if I actually did any of it. Established pattern, moving on.

Let’s change it up a bit. Make Saturday a day to work with weights. I love weight work and I love getting stronger.

Tuesday/Thursday

• ab crunches
• leg raises
• hanging arm circles
• extended arm circles
• dumbbell rows
• dumbbell press
• dumbbell flies
• push-ups
• Sun Salutations

Saturday

• ab crunches
• leg raises
• hanging arm circles
• extended arm circles
• dumbbell rows
• dumbbell press
• dumbbell flies
• bench press
• squats
• leg extensions

Eventually I want to add pull-ups, but I don’t have the equipment or the upper body strength to do them. The equipment issue I might be able to solve fairly quickly if Big Lots still has that bar that fits in a door frame in stock. I like the idea of putting weight work on Saturday, that way I don’t freak out with trying to squeeze correct form before work.

Part Two is diet. Watching carbs and sugar flew out the window months ago—I think about the same time I had a clean kitchen. So now’s probably the best time to take the plunge into Primal Living. I was being lazy and said I’d wait to start when Mark’s book came out, but now I don’t want to have to stick myself even every other day. It’s the perfect time for a clean start.

And I need to dig out the glucose monitor and use it daily. :p But if I’m tracking my weight daily, I need to track my fasting blood sugar too.

How I want to configure Joe’s Goals:

• +2 for all Tuesday/Thursday exercises
• +4 for all Saturday exercises
• -6 if carb intakes is over 20% daily
• +1 for weighing in daily
• -1 for missing daily weigh in
• +1 for measuring fasting glucose daily
• -1 for missing measuring daily fasting glucose

That is a potential 90 points a week.

Current statistics:

• Height = 62.25 in. / 158.1 cm
• Weight = 199 lbs.
• Neck = 38 cm
• Bust = 119.7 cm
• Waist = 104.8 cm
• Hips = 120.6 cm
• Right thigh = 65.2 cm
• Right calf = 40.0 cm
• Right upper arm = 30.9 cm
• Right lower arm = 26.6 cm

My ultimate goal weight is 120 lbs, so I’m 79 pounds above that and 61 pounds above 140 lbs. (a weight I’d be happy to see). Healthy weight loss is about a pound a week, so 80 weeks should see me at 120, 65 weeks should see me at 140. Three months equals 12 weeks equals 12 pounds of weight loss.

Calendar and goal weights:

• 12 weeks = June 21 = 187
• 24 weeks = Sept 13 = 175 lbs
• 36 weeks = Dec 6 = 163 lbs
• 48 weeks = Feb 28, 2010 = 151 lbs
• 60 weeks = May 23 = 139 lbs
• 72 weeks = Aug 15 = 127
• 80 weeks = Oct. 10 = 119 lbs
• 84 weeks = Nov 7 = 115 lbs (I doubt I see that amount of weight loss)

Rewards for meeting goals: My first idea was to pay myself a dollar for each positive goal point I made a week but I don’t think my budge could take a potential $90 a week hit. A better idea is to schedule out the fun stuff I want to do this summer and then assign the points I should have reached by doing everything in order to do it. I really like this idea.

• DragonBall Z = April 8 = 180 points
• Wolverine = May 1 = 450 points
• Star Trek = May 8 = 540 points
• Angels and Demons = May 15 = 630 points
• Terminator: Salvation = May 22 = 720 points
• Land of the Lost = June 5 = 900 points
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen = June 24 = 1170 points
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince = July 17 = 1440 points
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra = August 7 = 1710 points

That gets me through the summer at least. Treating myself to some new clothes and exercise equipment would be nice and I need the clothes, but might be best to tie those treats to pounds loss. I’d hate to buy something and then it not fit.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Words epic!FAIL

I finished Battlestar Galactica 45 minutes ago. Still reeling from it. If only one of my projects ever turns out half as epic as that did, I will consider myself blessed.

I do have to add, perfect ending for Tory. Also makes me curious about the other crap she's pulled in the 2000 years. Galen wasn't buying her moves when she first tried them, and then his laugh when Anders revealed they had been an item.

And I can't participate by listening to anyone's discussion because the computer still has no sound. I haven't tested that out fully, but the theory I'm leaning toward is I need a new soundcard. So now I'm off to play with TiddlyWiki some more as I start to wind down from the high.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Number Crunching 151

Quicken Cash Flow = 1209.58
STEF Total = 1220.69

Enter receipts into Quicken: Done.
Reconcile Quicken to online accounts: Done.
Add totals to spreadsheet: Done.
What did I accomplish during the week? Nothing with finances.
Plans for next week:

• Need to change Federal tax withholding amount in Quicken.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

MA Exam Part 1

I'm done, spent, wrung out. Faulkner is getting shelved and it'll be another decade before I crack open one of his books for pleasure reading. If anyone mentions Flowers in the Attic to me, I'll probably start blabbing about Sutpen and Quentin and Horace. No, I did not mention V.C. Andrews in my paper. I really kept it on a scholarly level. I just hope it is scholarly enough.

If I start sobbing in my cubicle, it's because my advisor told me it's not done and I have to do more. I'm waiting for his approval before the final, final turn in. And I will be lighting every candle in my house tonight and praying to every academic god I can find reference to that I pass and don't have to deal with Faulkner any more.

Next thing to figure out is how to read all the material for Part 2 of the MA Exam and stay sane.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Another Never-ending Cycle: Faulkner's Use of the Incest Taboo

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Number Crunching 150

Quicken Cash Flow = 576.61
STEF Total = 306.20

Enter receipts into Quicken: Done.
Reconcile Quicken to online accounts: Done.
Add totals to spreadsheet: Done.
What did I accomplish during the week? Nothing with finances.
Plans for next week:

• Need to change Federal tax withholding amount in Quicken.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Oops I got tagged

Well, in other news, I moved Merrilee's blog in Bloglines where I won't skip reading it for days on end.

The problem I have with memes and answering memes is they make me so self-conscious. I don't hide much, how can it possibly be interesting, I've complained about everything to everyone who reads the blog or as a blog post--what don't they know? Sometimes they just feel way too close to the chain emails to list all your favorites. I really avoid those. But I'm going to make a valiant effort to list seven unknown things about me, frankly because I felt guilty about missing it for so long.

1. I just tried to kill myself with the numerator stamp falling from the shelf above my head. All because time change has messed with my sleep and I get clumsy when I want a nap.

2. I have played so many tabletop RPGs I normally think of goofs like that in terms of "I failed my dexterity roll."

3. I'm writing this post instead of my paper that my Master's depends on. My only defense: I tried to write at work and my coworkers are distracting. They are not nearly as distracting for the fiction, so my conclusion is that I want to write the fiction and I am able to concentrate more on blocking them out. Instead of spending all my energy battling the ennui of that writing project. I like my intro so far, the idea feels pretty solid, I don't know if I will find outside sources, I just don't care about passing the damn thing.

4. I started doing fanmixes! Give me some comments on those, nobody else has seemed to notice them.

5. I went back to school because I had a fit of the grasses is greener on the other side. Now I wish I had at least picked a subject that wasn't so subjective. Accounting would've been a good choice, and work would have paid for some of it.

6. I made a word count goal for myself this year that I have yet to tally up any words for it. I have tallies, elsewhere, but I haven't filled out that big one for all the fiction I have wrote.

7. I had to start writing that paper in committee. Yes, I actually wrote down what the other voices inside my head were saying as I tried to make sense of the project. Now I feel like I have earned a pic badge I saw on someone's LiveJournal: "Writing: socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." I'll worry about the development if the voices tell me to go kill people or commit blood sacrifices.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

Fanboy wailing, oh that's what that sound is

Shortpacked: The Worst Jobs in Hollywood

Come on, if you've seen Watchmen, you know that comic is so very true.

I guess I'll start there since it is just the most recent. Wow. Speechless, breathless, wonderful wow. Casting was superb, and it visually looks like Snyder has developed a way to keep the comic tone and iconic images without shooting a staged story panel. Though I found out my stomach appreciates the violence a little less realistic. Or in other words, I'm happy with breaking bones as long as they don't break through skin with blood. During the prison riot, I was actually glad to see some of the crooks decide to stay in the cells. I agree with a lot of the dumb criminals stereotypes, but come on they do have a healthy sense of self-preservation. And they kept all the favorite lines: "I'm not locked in here with you; you're locked in here with me!" "I'm used to going out at 3am and doing something stupid." And I am so going to buy the soundtrack. Whoever put that together was brilliant.

Now the rest of the post probably contains spoilers, though I'll try not to give too much away.

And yes, they changed the ending. I know for some fanboys (using the derogatory meaning of the term) that is the ultimate sin, but I think the movie ending made even more sense than the book. One: we don't have time in the movie to set up all the secondary characters and investigations that something big and bad is going to happen and cover our five main characters dealing with the death of the Comedian.

Two: The movie ending gives an extra wrinkle of foolproof-ness to Adrian's plan. Dr. Manhattan being the unpredictable wildcard has to be neutralized. If killing him didn't work, turning the entire world against him sounds like a reasonable alternative to me. Even if he hadn't decided to go play god in another part of the universe, he wouldn't have been able to stop Adrian publicly ever again.

Three: The theme didn't change. Nothing ever changes, human nature is what makes the world a rotten place, and all Adrian has probably accomplished is a delay is all still present. Though I wish they had kept in Dr. Manhattan telling him that and then leaving the atom bomb cloud in his globe as he departs. But I'm not so crazy to demand that my favorite panel must be in a film in order to call it good.

Coraline is drop-dead gorgeous and if you can stand to see it in 3D, it's used to give depth to the world and not so much thrusting things in your face. And the story is wonderful. I love Neil Gaiman's stuff for the simple fact that he layers in stuff that most people without a Liberal Arts degree wouldn't understand but if you do get it, it just adds another layer of texture to the world. And if it does go past your head, you really don't have to know it to get the story. Also, I think that movie is one of the few times I have felt justified in wanting to call Social Services on behalf of a fictional child.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li: what the hell happened to this movie in development? I'm putting all the blame on the writers, directors, and possible whoever was in charge of editing it. Yeah, there will be spoilers in this part.

Problem one: YOU KILLED BISON! You put in a cute little ad and a nod to go find Ryu next, but you killed off Bison. You put Charlie Nash in the movie (and yes, someone else had to remind me of the significance of that character) and you let him live and killed off Bison! I haven't decided if I should give out brownie points for making it the most hard-core Neal McDonough on-screen death or not.

Problem two: I can accept using a video game as the place to get characters and build the story up from there. But with the genre of the game and the movie, your audience is expecting fights. And then when you set up fights between two characters from the video game, we expect to see some major ass-whumping. The Vega/Chun-Li fight is an epic fail in this regard. And the only reason I can't see it getting more time is because of problem number three.

Problem three: The B-plot with Charlie Nash and the Bangkok cop; why the hell was that even in the movie? Seriously, we get cheated on Vega fight because you need to make a joke about gold handcuffs? All those scenes should have hit the cutting room floor leaving the storage container scene and maybe some of the so unhelpful guns at the end. And Nash should have died. I mean DUDE, you just let a seventeen-year-old girl see her father get killed brutally and didn't even try to turn her aside when you saw what was going to happen!

I totally want Rose to snap and go evil just because of that alone. Either that or Bison invested in cloning research. And Nash should have died.

Problem four: I'm not hating Neal for the Irish accent, he said repeatedly in interviews "they" wanted Bison to have an Irish accent, so he came up with a backstory reason for it. Epic fail on directing there. I figured based on the interview reasons that it was mostly leftover from his parents and then reinforced when he went back to Ireland. Parents died when Bison was infant; any accent should have been Bangkok-ish since he never left until in his late teens or early twenties! Yes, you do pick up local twang (some people more easily than others) but being back in Bangkok should have been bringing that out in his voice.

Yeah, they made the first Street Fighter movie look Oscar worthy. Ponder that one.

And of course I had to go fix it. You know how Clue gives you three endings. Well this is the ending I think they left out.

Read Free!
The BookWorm