NaNo log: Delta

I have hit a roadblock at the write-in, so this is a good time to update my past NaNo logs. The last two days have been tragically slow. All the procrastination I have been diligently fighting off won last night and is proving to be a worthy opponent. So, without further ado...

NaNoLog 11/04
08:22 writing in the parking lot waiting for my late boss @6899
13:23 watching door for Lacey, broke 7k
13:35 off the door. @7126
//made it to the Barnies write-in just a few minutes late
19:00 first word war. -->804
20:00 second word war. -->908
22:30 writing in between election updates and ffxi
//Barack is the new president, woo! Thank you America
finished the night @9013
//I really wanted to hit 10k tonight. Bah.

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NaNo log: Gamma

So I am way behind on my NaNo blog updates, but am *not* way behind on my NaNo word count. I am currently at 12,128 words! Woot! The standard model of 1,667 words a day would put me at 10,002 and 11,669 by the end of today. My goal, however, is 2k words a day. I have adhered to that thus far. Today, though, I have only written a little over 100 words. That means I have to write 1900 words tonight. Yeeeaaah. I may have to engage in some word wars with friends on AIM.

Anywho, here it is. NaNoLog from 11/03:

woke up. went to work.

14:06 lunch break. writing!
14:46 break over. --->500 words!
20:30 got a fire going and started writing.
20:50 break. -->150 words
20:58 few more words. now gonna stoke the fire and toke a fire.
21:08 added more WriMo's to twitter. resume writing
22:03 fire is dying and i am tired of fighting it. going inside. @6217
23:15 been writing in bed for a bit. @6522
23:21 calling it quits. @6603

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NaNo log beta

09:50 out of shower and headed to Borders for an Oviedo NaNo meet
10:20 arrived at borders
11:20 started writing (i know, an hour of shootin' da shit instead of writing)
11:35 my first casualties. 57 words lost due to an unexpected error in Word when I tried to use the "find and replace" function. I finally had come up with a name for my main character. Now at -->3515
11:53 spent the last twenty minutes deleting doubles from iTunes. Now I am actually writing, I swear!
12:40 passed 4k words!
13:00 taking a break -->4,236 words
13:15 had found LOLcat collection. Didn't know they made those. Now resumed writing.
14:21 broke 5k by two words.
14:26 added 18 words. Left meeting that no one except Jen came to -->5,020!

//home. eat. smoke. nap. smoke. recording session.

21:35 sit down in bed with laptop and try to squeeze out a few more words.
21:49 exhaustion wins.

// total for the day -->1,500 words (exactly)

//cumulative total after two days -->5,072 words!

NaNo log alpha

My journey began a little late, as I tend to wait till the last minute to prep for anything. By a little late I mean 2 minutes ;)

NaNoWriMo day 1 - saturday
00:02 opened word
00:03 began typing. its official!
00:28 first save! "Origins" -->347 words
00:33 first break. needed headphones and redbull.
00:35 resume.
01:35 reached 1000 words! need more redbull.
02:05 first character dies. -->1245 words
// i decided that the theme song for my book is: Surprise! You're Dead by FNM
02:17 done for the night. -->1328 words.

sleeeeeeep. Zzzzzzzzz.
wake up butt early and stand in line 4 hours to vote.

13:00 got to NaNo kick-off party
13:30 first 30 minute session -->675 words
14:45 second session -->748 words
15:30 free write -->few hundred more.
16:40 left the kick off party with 3,105 words!

home. nap. eat. smoke.

21:45 fireside writing session -->257 words
22:37 break
22:53 resume -->211 words
23:17 finished

// Cumulative total for the day -->3,572 words

Rock the Vote

So I voted today, yay me. But I had to stand in line for 4 hours.

I can be very patient, but 4 hours is too much. I was prepared for 2 hours, maybe two-and-a-half. After three hours I felt it in my shoulders, legs, feet and stomach. At 3 1/2 hours my patience had run out. And I started losing my mind. Finally, after 4 hours my votes had been cast and I walked out of the library just a little toasty and made it to the NaNo kick-off party an hour late.

I am glad I voted, for the first time I might add, but for the rest of time I will do absentee ballot.

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twenty 8

So, I turned 28 on Sunday. Happy belated birthday to me. I had quite an exciting day. I walked around the world, twice, took a boat to Morocco and had leg of lamb there, traveled back in time, crash landed on Mars, traveled to the future, recycled enough garbage to power a village, sampled foods and wine from around the world, took exciting boat rides in Mexico and Norway, and saw a spectacular fireworks show; all in the Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow. Thanks to Shelli for that awesome experience. :)

Actually, I must admit, I am feeling a bit melancholy about 28. I am on the precipice of my 30s, standing before the doorway of the rest of my life. Realizing that your youth is fading and now you must make real decisions about what you want to do with life is slightly depressing. They do say, though, that 30 is the new 20. Maybe this cloud does have a silver lining after all.

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One Week until Madness!

That's write, NaNoWriMo begins in a week. This year is my first attempt at such literary insanity. For those who don't know, I am talking about National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November. 50,000 words in a month. Fifty-Thousand words in 30 days. That breaks down to 1700 words a day everyday. Nutso. Since March, I have written about 15k words on my current project. I need to more than triple that in one-tenth of the time. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to *finish* a book. A staggering percentage of people who want to write never do, or at least never take themselves seriously, because the idea of finishing a novel is preposterous to everyday life. Not to mention you aren't a literary genius so why try? Well, every literary genius out there has been quoted saying something like, "First drafts always suck." Well, Its true. So just frakkin write it. Get to The End. *Then* cut out half of it and rearrange the rest. Then you get to take the story where you really want it to go. At least that is what I am hoping.

That has been exactly my problem. I have never finished a book or a short story (unless it was due for class) because I let my self-critic talk my way out of it. Forget all that. Just keep pumping out words. Breakthroughs will happen. The point of NaNo is to get over that internal criticism stigma. Quantity over quality.

So, the next month will be spent primarily in coffee shops drawn into my laptop. It will be fun, like running 15 miles is fun. Painful and liberating all at once.

http://www.nanowrimo.org

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Now Hiring

Due to overwhelming request from my burgeoning fanbase, I promise to update more! And check it, I am looking for an Assistant! With the overwhelming amount of mail I get daily I need a super organized-multitasking-coffee drinking-calendar brained-administrative cyborg by my side. Please reply with resumes.

My dog, Oscar, has the worst breath ever. Death Breath. Boy, I love it when he decides to plop down next to me and start panting. I think I'm going start hiding Altoids in his treats. Anyway, I am procrastinating right now. I should be brainstorming and preparing for NaNoWriMo. But I am not. My fans are more important.

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Big Mac

actually, its a small one. I inherited Shelli's iBook g4 when she got her pimp new 20" iMac last week. It needed a new battery and a RAM upgrade. I found this guy on craigslist who was selling a factory sealed battery for $50, a nice savings from the Mac price of $130. Turns out, this dude refurbishes and resells used Macs. He happened to have a gig of RAM lyin around for my iBook. So he sold it to me and installed it for $20. Killer.

I have come to the light! Oh lord, I have come to the light!

Now I have a notebook to take around and type up my book during NaNoWriMo! I will be spending much of November hunched over this thing in coffee shops.

In other news, I got a new network card for my PC and can finally play FFXI again! After months of not playing I will be returning to my virtual gaming mmorpg world. Oh yeah.

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I Finally Saw Saw

Great movie. I thought it was a creative spin on the typical serial-killer-cop-investigation movie. I was expecting it to be a bit gorier, which I am generally glad it wasn't. Excessive gore really only works in cheesy horror flicks like Evil Dead, Society, and Dead Alive, etc. The movie was intense though, mostly taking place in a nasty cell where the master mind serial killer has the victims, usually two, pit against each other where one must kill the other to survive, or both die, in some sick game. For those who haven't seen it, no spoilers here. I will say, that the twist at the end is ridiculous. Absolutely unexpected and, in my opinion, made the movie. I will be renting the next three to watch before Saw V comes out in theaters on the 24th.

On a totally different direction, I had another first in the last 24 hours. I did yoga. Holy shit it is hard. Shelli has this yoga dvd, and she convinced me to try it. It is good for the mind, body and soul no doubt, but I am about as flexible as a cinder block. I had to stick to the easiest modifications of the positions, and even then had trouble with some of them. But, it was a good work out and surprisingly relaxing. All the movements are deliberate, so it forces focus, but slow enough not to be strenuous. And breathing. Lots of breathing. I think I am gonna keep it up a couple times a week. It will no doubt help me with my discipline and stamina in playing the drums, and help boost my energy all around. I have one word of advice for those wanting to try yoga: do not attempt after eating until you are completely digested. It makes you gassy.

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Intro

Here it is, the weblog of none other than me. Right next to yours in the massive, expanding sphere of complex connections we call the web. In a world populated with millions of blogs, mine is but one. "So why read it?" you may ask. Because it's one-in-a-million. Because here you will find daily rants and ravings, insights, tips, tricks, advice, stories, experiences, art, music, reviews, previews, scenic views, abstractions, distractions, attractions, contradictions, predictions, humor, rumor, emotion, commotion, introspect, retrospect, monologues, dialogues, prologues, epilogues, captain's logs, and whatever else spews from my mind and shoots out my finger tips like volts of lightning. I meant bolts of lightning.

Who would not want to read that? Stay tuned.