kungfuwaynewho | Entries tagged with holidays

*raises slivovitz in toast*

I could have sworn I'd posted sometime more recently, but I guess not.

Anywho! My November final NaNoWriMo word count total was 31,000. Which I was totally happy with, and is a good, sustainable monthly average for me. I'm at around 13,000 thus far, which is actually pretty good considering how much time I've spent editing Part One. Which is still going on, as I decided after reading through it that I needed one more chapter at the end. Originally it was just going to be 3-4 pages, a character-based chapter rather than a plot-based one, more in the line of an epilogue than anything else. It's about five times that length now, and I finally finished it yesterday. So now I need to edit/polish that up, and maybe give a quick once-over to the last quarter or so of Part One.

But it's coming along! I'm well-pleased.

About halfway done with Christmas shopping. I don't understand how it, like, sneaks up on me each year. I've got three stores to hit this weekend, and my goal is to get up early Saturday morning and get going, try to beat the crowds, if that's even possible the weekend before Christmas. I decided to make gifts for my co-workers, and was planning to be done long before now, but I'll have to finish them up tonight. Mini-pallet coasters! Though I made mine with popsicle sticks, cut to length and then glued together double or triple thickness. A box of popsicle sticks is a lot cheaper than buying like actual wood. A pretty easy craft, even for someone as relatively uncrafty as I am, but it took much longer than I was anticipating.

I finally saw Gravity yesterday. I'm glad I got to see it on the big screen, and it was a really great movie, and Sandy did a wonderful job, but I guess my expectations were way higher, because I wasn't particularly wowed. Beautiful, and science-y, and it's nice to see a clear, simple, straightforward story for a change, but it wasn't the technological oh-my-God marvel everyone had blown it up to be. But still very good, and the clear winner this year for SFX.

Speaking of awards, I'm pretty happy thus far with how the award season is playing out. I don't really have a favorite I want to win everything, except maybe Cate Blanchett for Actress, and that seems in the bag. I haven't seen a lot of the major contenders yet, either because they haven't come out (American Hustle, Her), I don't really care (Wolf of Wall Street), or I'm not comfortable seeing it in the theater and will wait till DVD (12 Years a Slave). I feel like the upcoming Oscar nominations won't have a huge amount of surprises, but this year that doesn't seem to be a bad thing.

And only 300-some the day before that! Right now I'm on track to hit 50k on December 11th, I think, which isn't too bad. I have next week off, though, so I'm looking forward to at least one whole day spent inside, all by myself, a big thermos of coffee and something baked fresh, cats meandering nearby, classical music in the background, and I'll probably knock a huge chunk out.

That, or lounge and watch TV. Either works, really.

I finally finished one of my big projects this last weekend that has improved my mental health considerably. We have a very small "linen" closet next to the bathroom, but we don't really have a lot of linens and such, or extra towels, or whatever. There were some sheet sets and some random fabric, as well as a bunch of assorted bric-a-brac. I packed stuff up in a plastic tub and took it to the basement, then went through a box of papers and threw most of it away, and cleared out the majority of the closet. We have no room for food storage in the kitchen, so there was stuff shoved everywhere, stacked on counters, stacked on the baker's rack we have for mason jars and tupperware and appliances; I moved all that food to the linen closet, and arranged it by type, and now everything's put away and accessible, and our kitchen doesn't look like eight grad students share the house anymore. We also cleaned house and put up the Christmas tree and the Christmas decorations, so it's just lovely.

It really is amazing how much better a clean house makes me feel. Like I'm just at peace now.

One of the reasons I only wrote 300 or so words on Sunday is that I started writing a John/Delenn fic. Yay! I got about 1700 words on it, and am feeling very motivated to having it finished and posted by Thanksgiving. My goal for December is to edit part one of the novel, and finish my WIPs. I have two chapters on Metamorphoses, one of which has been sitting at 75% finished for months; a chapter on Alma Mater; probably an epilogue on both of those; and then two or three chapters on Conquest. I hate that I turned into that fic writer I hated that would start a series and just putter out and never finish. The endings are there! They're just in my head!

I started my new year off by waking up on a futon to an angry cat clawing at the door demanding to be fed, feeding said cat who continued to dislike me, and then I made my own breakfast: chocolate cake in a bowl with milk. I had a very nice, casual New Year's Eve at a friend's wherein we watched HGTV and Arrested Development, ate pizza and chocolate cake, drank some wine (I had two whole glasses! Bringing my 2011 yearly total of wine consumption to approximately 4.5 glasses!), and generally just hung out. At one point we heard distant fireworks and then like half an hour later were like, oh, happy new year.

Today we took down all the Christmas stuff and grilled out, because this weekend was gorgeous. Yesterday we went for a walk! In short sleeves! ♥

( December Writing Progress )

( New December Media )

When the least stressful part of your day is finishing up Christmas shopping, then your day is stressful. Ostensibly I have the day off, because I'm working this weekend, which means I work seven straight days and my next day off is Christmas Eve. ~*~*~ Things that are stressing me out:

My sister and I are buying a house. We're smack in the middle of the paperwork/inspection/mortgage process.
We are having our big family holiday get-together tomorrow. I have to clean.
I decided to make presents for co-workers and am nowhere near done and I don't know when I'll finish?
Applying for a freelance job for extra money so I can afford, like, the internet and nice food in my new house IF I EVER GET TO MOVE IN THIS IS STARTING TO FEEL LIKE AN IMPOSSIBILITY.
Family dra-llama.

Anywho, if you basically don't see me for awhile, that's why. Cheers, babies!

Yoinked from

nhpw and

enigmaticblues.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate, bitches. I mean, I love egg nog, but it is intense, and I will just sip on a teeny tiny glass forever. Hot chocolate is perfect.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa only brings the biggest and most expensive present, one for each person, and it only appears Christmas morning. He puts them unwrapped on the couch. Santa don't have time to be wrapping presents! LBR.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored! Colored colored colored! I especially love that the great big single colored lights for on your house have come back; for awhile you could only buy the tiny lights.
( The rest under the cut. )

Tuesday
The Orphan Queen: 36973 words --> Daily Total: 183 words

Wednesday
The Orphan Queen: 37082 words --> Daily Total: 109 words
The Fall: 24 pages --> Daily Total: <1 page

Thursday
The Orphan Queen: 39133 words --> Daily Total: 2051 words

I finally had a breakthrough! So that was exciting. It wasn't writer's block so much as writer's ennui, which always happens. You just have to power through it.

Thanksgiving was fine, if eh. It's like my least favorite of all the major holidays, mostly because it doesn't even feel like a holiday. I finally had to turn off the TV last night because all of the Black Friday ads were making me queasy. So I came down, snuggled down in my writing armchair, and wrote for about two hours, and it was quite lovely. Also lovely yesterday was the extraordinary weather; we went for a walk at the park after eating, and it was much, much better than lounging around watching football no one cares about feeling bilious, or taking a nap.

My goal today is to finish the chapter I'm working on, then finish the act I'm on in The Fall. I want to finish the craft project I'm in the middle of, and maybe clean out my car. (I say I'm going to clean out my car every weekend, LOL.) I most definitely do not plan on going anywhere or shopping or any of that. I might see if there are any good online deals, but I doubt it.

At approximately 1pm, I am going to make some hot chocolate.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! For the first time in my life, I am working during this holiday season, and it is weird. I went from being a kid to going to school to working for a school, so I've always had at least two weeks off around this time, so the idea of going to work two days after Christmas hasn't quite percolated through my stupid brain. Most of my brain, the part I imagine is run by the man who sits behind a help desk and who for the last few years I have imagined looking like Kenneth from 30 Rock, is still pretty sure I will be home in my jim-jams tomorrow, watching Christmas movies and playing Christmas games and eating Christmas leftovers.

Took my Grandpa to see True Grit today. It was amazing and flawless. As always happens when I watch a great film whilst in the middle of writing something of my own, it made me think about what is not working in my own project, what I'm missing, and how I can fix it.

( Yammerings about writering. )

1. Yes, it is cold outside. Yes, it is very windy. No, I don't really want to park a long ways away from the entrance to the store and hoof it, either. But you know what, buddy? Ball up and park in a parking space. The curb in front of the store is not a parking space. I don't care if you're just getting a coffee really quick, or if you're just grabbing a gallon of milk, or what. Park your car. There were FIVE cars doing this when I drove up to Target today; four were SUVs. I'm just saying.

2. Remember when I said it was cold and windy outside? You sir, with your three-month-old baby, are an idiot. You are worse than an idiot, you may actually be a neglectful parent. Why are you taking an infant outside when the infant has NONE of the following: a coat, a hat, a blanket covering his/her face. That baby was in the carrier just wearing a shirt and pants. That was it. Maybe you're a "real man" and don't need anything other than a jacket, but when it's this cold out, you either make sure your child is adequately covered or you don't bring the child out. No excuses.

3. When I buy something a month in advance for a holiday craft project but now I can't find it so I get to go up to Walmart during the two-week pre-Christmas danger zone. FFFFUUUU.

4. Just because you are buying Christmas presents does not mean you are allowed to ram my cart out of the way while I'm still putting my change away. What is wrong with you.

I think I'm over Thanksgiving.

I mean, it was never my favorite holiday by a long-shot. I mostly appreciated it as a break from school. But the last few years I have become more and more disenchanted with the day. I mean, is it really a holiday? Is it? Every other holiday, in addition to the big meal, has something else associated with it. Christmas has presents! Halloween has candy and ghosts! Valentine's Day has flowers and chocolates and SadFM! St. Patrick's Day has booze! Hell, Arbor Day has trees. But Thanksgiving? Has a big meal and a contractually obligated sense of shame and guilt for not feeling more thankful the rest of the time, especially when you're sitting there trying to think of something you are actually thankful for and all you can come up with is your new pair of fluffy winter socks.

( My Thoughts on Thanksgiving )

It's that time of the year again! I'll be getting ready to send out Christmas cards soon, which means that I need your address! Obviously only if you want a Christmas card from me; if you don't, then just...don't reply, LOL. (If you don't celebrate Christmas, let me know which holiday you celebrate! If you don't celebrate a holiday, let me know so I can send you some booze.)

And if you've already given me your address, you could totally reply with it anyway because it would probably be good for me to have everything in one place. I am not remarkably organized.

Comments are screened, of course, so I will be the only ~~perv~~ person to see.