It is done. Look up and too the left. I'm quite pleased!

I'm closing on my NaNo goal! 43,358 words (as of this moment, according to MS Word) out of 50,000. Counting today, I have 5 days left in the month to write the remaining 6,600-some. Happy happy!

I have been keeping an eye out the whole way through this for people I know, and I was delighted this morning to see that I passed up Herefox (though who knows if he remembers me or not?).

So I've managed to work full time, run two small business, go to school full time AND carry on a social life and still, if I keep on my current pace, finish on or ahead of schedule.

Then, the book will sit on ice for at least a month, after which time I'll come back to it, edit it, flesh it out, then start looking for a publisher, or an agent.

Yes, seriously.

I think it's that good. Don't get me wrong, the first third of it or so sucks excrement, but its suckiness derives from the lackluster writing, not a bad story. The story's great. Just ask me ;^)!

Thank you, job. I've gotten more writing done there than I ever would at home.

Walking on sunshine, I am. At least today ...

Yeah. Well. Things calmed down. We talked things out last night. I still don't know where things are going and I'm not entirely satisfied, but I guess we're back from the brink and things are making a little more sense.

I'm optimistic.

On the bright side, my novel continues apace! I fell a little behind since I unexpectedly got invited to go see Simon & Garfunkel last night, but I figured that was a reasonably good reason to give writing a pass for the evening.

Surprisingly good show! Maybe later on today or so, I'll write about all that in more detail.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling to find scenes to insert in my novel on the way to big plot points that need to happen so that I don't run out of plot too quickly.

I'm such a nerd. I was trying find out clever anagrams for the name of the main character in my novel (Peter 'Hotshot' Oaring [which is itself an anagram -- a free lunch to whoever figures it out first]).
TAO HEIGHTENS TORPOR
also: THERE HOPING TO ROAST
and: HITHERTO ATOP NEGROS
and: HOTTER GEISHA, PRONTO
and: TOGETHER ATOP RHINOS; SHOO, PARROT TEETHING; SEETHING RAPTOR HOOT; HENRI TATTOOS GOPHER; ORATOR HEIGHTENS POT; SHORTER POTATO HINGE; HIT SOPRANO TOGETHER; NATO: TIGHTROPE HEROS; and APRON GOES THITHERTO
Inexplicably: THE SONORA TIGHTROPE. And this just sound like something that should be in the next Tomb Raider movie: TAOIST GOPHER THRONE.
Something I only engage in when drunk: RASH TREETOP HOOTING

Sorry. I'm silly. I made my word quota for the novel today after all. I originally got about halfway and was going to give up out of frustration. But perseverance worked.

So yeah. Things with Mason are looking pretty bad just now. I may end up having a $750-a-month apartment I can barely afford. Yay.

BIG conversation coming when he comes back from his current trip, so things will either get MUCH better really quick or they'll totally collapse. But something has to change. A lot.

Perhaps needless to say, but I'm a bit angry and sad at the same time. I'll update as events warrant.

Studs Terkel

Oh my G-d, this man is funny! I want him for my grandpa.

"I'm agnostic. You know what that means? It means I'm a cowardly atheist!"

"I have a hearing impairment, but sometimes it works to my advantage. At the beginning of the war in Iraq, we heard a lot about embedded reporters and what a great adventure it was. Now, because of my hearing impairment, I heard 'embedded' as 'in bed with.' And I think that was pretty close to the truth."

He's not answering a single question he's being asked, he's just jabbering. But he ROCKS!

When they put it up to listen to, it'll be here.

Yeah, so, just because I caught a spark of curiosity from my sister's Blog, I've involved myself in yet another project for which I don't have the time. NaNoWriMo.

Start today! There's still time to catch up. I'll be starting a new blog soon to contain my updates, and updates will also go into livejournal as friends-only. It's gonna be crap, and it's more stress I don't need, I know, but it's fun.

Many, many things have changed, but nothing earth-shattering. It seems like a lifetime ago I updated this thing.

First off, I have a new job. I'm getting paid the same amount I was, but I'm spitting distance from home, I have next to no stress and more favorable (i.e., shorter) work hours, and I'm still with Banner, so I get to keep my PTO, seniority, etc. And I'll still be up for a raise in January. Life is good.

Grad school continues apace, and now that I'm not brain-dead every day when I come home from work, I can devote some time and attention to keeping my GPA somewhere higher than barely sufficient.

Likewise, I can devote time to the book and music businesses. The latter of these is getting liquidated, and getting liquidated at a fairly good pace thanks to Amazon.com. Mason seemed to have enjoyed himself helping me out at the Sebastopol Celtic Fest, so I've basically decided to continue vending at festivals. There still exists the need to liquidate all the old crap that's been filling up various closets for years, so that will continue, but I'll slowly add new releases and interesting stuff that won't get sold online. Eventually, I'll stop selling online outright.

So fast-forwarding to today, my friend Chris from California is coming for a visit! He'll be here for about a week. Of course, I'll still have to work and stuff, but it won't be as bad as the last time he visited, when I basically had about 2 or 3 hours with him a day for 5 or 6 days and just left him to his own devices in my dad's house. That was uncool. This should be fun.

Ach, well, work beckons. Maybe I'll be able to write more regularly. I have some interesting things that have been buzzing around my head lately and much to say.