Skinny jeans are a conspiracy designed by boot companies. Really the only thing they are good for is showing off your boots. And perhaps looking at other peoples cellulite, but really, who wants to do that, in public, there are websites for those kinds of fetishes.
I am not a very fashionable person. I would live in sweats if I didn't have an office job. I would never wear shoes unless my office job supplied me with a handbook about appropriate footwear (yes, I did go barefoot in the office for about two weeks before the HR people brought me a copy with the "appropriate footwear" thing highlighted, then I switched to flip flops).
I do,however pride myself on one element of fashion. I am very good at dressing for my body type. So good in fact, that people often guess my weight as being about 50lbs less than it is, 20-30lbs I give up to kindness, but that means I can successfully hide 20-30lbs of extra weight that I carry around, mostly because I live a sedentary lifestyle, that I blame on having sedentary hobbies, and working 80 hours a week. In fact I have been surprised in finding out that people I am friends with wear the same size clothes as me.
That being said. I think skinny jeans area conspiracy designed by boot companies, to sell more boots. And, tights aren't pants. You see there has been alot of talk in the news and apparently in squatters, and maybe even on this blog about the 1% vs the 99%. Well, in my opinion, approximately 1% of people look good in skinny jeans. (I might go up to 15% but 14% of those people wear them poorly). This is a fashion trend that drives me crazy, for three reasons.
1) It doesn't look good on most people, and I don't want to ever see other peoples fat.
2) Because its a trend all the stores carry skinny jeans which makes it impossible to find regular jeans that actually look good on the majority of people (this directly contributes to #1 since people who look bad in skinny jeans, and need clothing, will buy skinny jeans if they have no other option)
3) They are uncomfortable.
Then you get the people that take the trend to a bizarre extent. Like, the other day, I was running some errands in DC and there was this woman walking in front of me, her pants were so tight I could see every ripple and fat bubble in her ass, I was transfixed, mostly wondering how much skin she lost getting the damn things on. Then, how she could look at herself and think, damn this looks good...she must have more self confidence than me.
Or, the girl I saw wearing pantie hose outside, and her top wasn't even long enough to cover where her underwear was showing.
Now I also get, that guys like looking at asses, especially of people of the opposite sex, or perhaps even of their sex. So I want to suggest some equally wearable options, that show off the ass. Pencil skirt, jeans that fit tight on the ass but are loose in the leg (wide leg jeans). Are probably my two favorites.
If you haven't given up already, you are probably wondering where I am going with all of this. #3 of my list as to why skinny jeans were created by the devil, is they are not comfortable. And to write, you have to be comfortable (at least I do).
This past week the company I work for celebrated its 40th Anniversary, we had a party on Capitol Hill, lots of important people were invited. I had to dress up. It sucked. But I went out with my co-workers afterwards, there was an open bar at the party, and then there were more drinks at the bar. There was a girl (not with our group at the bar) wearing leggings, and a tight sweater. She was being rude and loud to our server, and I was very drunk. By very drunk I mean, I was four beers, two glasses of wine, and a shot into the night. So I decided to tell her she was dressed inappropriately. "Excuse me, tights are not pants."
p.s. I also learned that night that, pencil skirts with but zippers get guys to ask for your phone number.
p.p.s. Wide leg jeans are making a come back in stores!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Get Your Stats out of my Edumacation
And now, for something completely different. Some of you might know that writing and blogging is not my full time job. My full time position is Lacky. Not really, but it works, I put it on government forms and everything. Never ask for me to fill out a reference form for you, especially if you are applying for some sort of government clearance. I mean we've already established that I am addicted to sudaphed, play with bomb dogs, tell police that I am going to KKK meetings, and do u turns in front of the CIA, I digress.
Sometimes I wish writing was my full time job, I doubt the pay would be much worse. Anyway I work at a civic education foundation, called the Close Up Foundation.
I describe my job about as vaguely as I describe my writing. I do stuff. Lots of stuff...but its easier to tell you what the foundation does.
We bring kids, mostly high school students, from across the country to DC where we teach them about government and current events and other important political stuff in a non partisan way. We break down the barriers. We try to get them to see each other, and through each other the issues.
You see, a student from Orange County California might not ever have seen a gun, and only know about gun violence from tv, while a student from Chicago might have lost a brother to gang violence, and a student from Hiawassi Georgia might go hunting once a week. These kids know people exist that dont believe the same thing they do, but if they have never met them, seen them, talked to them etc, these other people become mythical creatures, stuff of legends and newspapers, and yes I believe those are the same thing.
But we bring these kids together, make them room together, hope they become friends, then get them to talk about gun control (or other important issue, like the economy, I hear that's important).
Maybe your thinking, whats the point. So I'll throw in some statistics:
Families that make above $75,000 per year are twice as likely to vote and six times as likely to be politically active as families that make below $15,000 per year
Only one-third of Americans can name all three branches of government
Less than one-third of 8th graders know the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence
Despite the highest level of voter turnout in 40 years in the 2008 election, only 56.8% of eligible voters voted, that means on hundred million Americans failed to vote.
African American and Hispanic students are twice as likely as their white counterparts to score below proficient on national civic assessments
These were taken from the September 2011 Civic Mission of Schools Report.
Are you scared yet? If not I'll throw a bit of an analysis in there for you. Follow me for a minute (I have logic and I'm not afraid to use it, you should be though):
Wealthy families have more opportunities to help educate their children, for example, they can afford private schools, tutors, extra curricular activities, college, etc. Upper middle class families who might not be able to afford private schools might be able to afford to have a parent work part time, or from home to provide assistance with their child's education. This parent most likely is college educated. Middle class families can probably afford extra curricular activities, and perhaps tutoring, odds are one if not both parents graduated high school with some college or technical school. Blue collar and lower middle class families rely on public school systems, but maybe they belong to a union which gives them health benefits, etc. Immigrant families and families that live below the poverty line, have kids in public school, with limited assistance, who may or may not drop out by the time they are sixteen so they can get a job to help out the family.
Most public school's get their fund's from property tax collected in the area they are zoned in. People can typically afford to live in area's with other people earning about the same as they do, you dont typically see a trailer park next to the McMansions. This means that the schools where your lower earning families live have less money than the schools in the higher earning neighborhoods (although not always). And your middle class/upper middle class families have a bit more flexibility in where they live, they can look at the local schools before deciding where to move.
Now, consider that families earning $75,000 plus a year are more likely to vote and be civilly active, write letters, call politicians, donate to campaigns, go to town hall meetings and more, than families earning $15,000 or less. Who do you think these families will advocate for? What do you think they will advocate for?
Now lets look at the recent government "entitlement program" spending cuts, you know, that bill they passed to end the deadlock that faced congress last winter, when the government shut down for a little bit. Here are a list of programs that lost some, if not all of their government funding.
Center for Civic Education
Communities in Schools
Council for Economic Education
Close Up Foundation
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
National History Day
National Writing Project
New Leaders for New Schools
Project GRAD
Reach Out and Read
Reading is Fundamental
Teach for America
VSA
Yep, that's right. Extra curricular education programs were cut, across the board. As I said at the beginning, I would eventually get to the point, and here it is.
Higher earning families are more likely to vote. Children of high earning families are less likely to need educational assistance provided by the government. People with high education are more likely to get high earning jobs.
People keep complaining that the rich are getting richer and the poor and middle class are staying the same, if not getting poorer. People seem to forget the role education plays in this. Don't believe me? Want proof.
The Civic Mission of Schools Report identifies six proven practices that overcome these statistics:
Provide Instruction in government, history, law and democracy
Discussion of current events and controversial issues
Service learning/applying what is learned
Extracurricular activities
Simulations of democratic process
Some of the Benefits of civic learning (also from the same study)
81% of high school dropouts say they would have been less likely to do so if there were more opportunities given for experiential learning
Civic Learning in middle school with a focus on civic responsibility is directly tied to a students propensity to drop out of high school.
Now, I have two questions for you:
Do you think democracy works when only 58% of eligible people participate in it?
Do you think all people from all economic classes are given equal opportunities when they do not have the same access to education?
I will end with a quote from Thomas Jefferson.
"Now let us see what the present primary schools cost us, on the supposition that all the children of 10. 11. & 12. years old are, as they ought to be, at school: and, if they are not, so much the work is the system; for they will be untaught, and their ignorance & vices will, in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences, than it would have done, in their correction, by a good education."
1818 January 14. (to Joseph C. Cabell)
Sorry for the political rant, we will return to our regularly scheduled programing on Monday Have a good weekend!
Sometimes I wish writing was my full time job, I doubt the pay would be much worse. Anyway I work at a civic education foundation, called the Close Up Foundation.
I describe my job about as vaguely as I describe my writing. I do stuff. Lots of stuff...but its easier to tell you what the foundation does.
We bring kids, mostly high school students, from across the country to DC where we teach them about government and current events and other important political stuff in a non partisan way. We break down the barriers. We try to get them to see each other, and through each other the issues.
You see, a student from Orange County California might not ever have seen a gun, and only know about gun violence from tv, while a student from Chicago might have lost a brother to gang violence, and a student from Hiawassi Georgia might go hunting once a week. These kids know people exist that dont believe the same thing they do, but if they have never met them, seen them, talked to them etc, these other people become mythical creatures, stuff of legends and newspapers, and yes I believe those are the same thing.
But we bring these kids together, make them room together, hope they become friends, then get them to talk about gun control (or other important issue, like the economy, I hear that's important).
Maybe your thinking, whats the point. So I'll throw in some statistics:
Families that make above $75,000 per year are twice as likely to vote and six times as likely to be politically active as families that make below $15,000 per year
Only one-third of Americans can name all three branches of government
Less than one-third of 8th graders know the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence
Despite the highest level of voter turnout in 40 years in the 2008 election, only 56.8% of eligible voters voted, that means on hundred million Americans failed to vote.
African American and Hispanic students are twice as likely as their white counterparts to score below proficient on national civic assessments
These were taken from the September 2011 Civic Mission of Schools Report.
Are you scared yet? If not I'll throw a bit of an analysis in there for you. Follow me for a minute (I have logic and I'm not afraid to use it, you should be though):
Wealthy families have more opportunities to help educate their children, for example, they can afford private schools, tutors, extra curricular activities, college, etc. Upper middle class families who might not be able to afford private schools might be able to afford to have a parent work part time, or from home to provide assistance with their child's education. This parent most likely is college educated. Middle class families can probably afford extra curricular activities, and perhaps tutoring, odds are one if not both parents graduated high school with some college or technical school. Blue collar and lower middle class families rely on public school systems, but maybe they belong to a union which gives them health benefits, etc. Immigrant families and families that live below the poverty line, have kids in public school, with limited assistance, who may or may not drop out by the time they are sixteen so they can get a job to help out the family.
Most public school's get their fund's from property tax collected in the area they are zoned in. People can typically afford to live in area's with other people earning about the same as they do, you dont typically see a trailer park next to the McMansions. This means that the schools where your lower earning families live have less money than the schools in the higher earning neighborhoods (although not always). And your middle class/upper middle class families have a bit more flexibility in where they live, they can look at the local schools before deciding where to move.
Now, consider that families earning $75,000 plus a year are more likely to vote and be civilly active, write letters, call politicians, donate to campaigns, go to town hall meetings and more, than families earning $15,000 or less. Who do you think these families will advocate for? What do you think they will advocate for?
Now lets look at the recent government "entitlement program" spending cuts, you know, that bill they passed to end the deadlock that faced congress last winter, when the government shut down for a little bit. Here are a list of programs that lost some, if not all of their government funding.
Center for Civic Education
Communities in Schools
Council for Economic Education
Close Up Foundation
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
National History Day
National Writing Project
New Leaders for New Schools
Project GRAD
Reach Out and Read
Reading is Fundamental
Teach for America
VSA
Yep, that's right. Extra curricular education programs were cut, across the board. As I said at the beginning, I would eventually get to the point, and here it is.
Higher earning families are more likely to vote. Children of high earning families are less likely to need educational assistance provided by the government. People with high education are more likely to get high earning jobs.
People keep complaining that the rich are getting richer and the poor and middle class are staying the same, if not getting poorer. People seem to forget the role education plays in this. Don't believe me? Want proof.
The Civic Mission of Schools Report identifies six proven practices that overcome these statistics:
Provide Instruction in government, history, law and democracy
Discussion of current events and controversial issues
Service learning/applying what is learned
Extracurricular activities
Simulations of democratic process
Some of the Benefits of civic learning (also from the same study)
81% of high school dropouts say they would have been less likely to do so if there were more opportunities given for experiential learning
Civic Learning in middle school with a focus on civic responsibility is directly tied to a students propensity to drop out of high school.
Now, I have two questions for you:
Do you think democracy works when only 58% of eligible people participate in it?
Do you think all people from all economic classes are given equal opportunities when they do not have the same access to education?
I will end with a quote from Thomas Jefferson.
"Now let us see what the present primary schools cost us, on the supposition that all the children of 10. 11. & 12. years old are, as they ought to be, at school: and, if they are not, so much the work is the system; for they will be untaught, and their ignorance & vices will, in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences, than it would have done, in their correction, by a good education."
1818 January 14. (to Joseph C. Cabell)
Sorry for the political rant, we will return to our regularly scheduled programing on Monday Have a good weekend!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Green Suede Shoes: An Insecure Writers Support Group Post
I have a pair of knee high boots. They are green, suede, I don't wear them all that often, because they are not that comfortable, and they are falling apart. The oddest thing is that the right boot is ALWAYS harder to get on then the left boot. Its obnoxious. its weird. I think it's because the right boot is made of slightly thicker swede than the left boot. I ripped the tongue on the left boot shortly after getting them. The right boot keeps my legs a little warmer, and it doesn't slouch quite as much.
They are the same boots they came in the same box, and I've had them both the same amount of time. I've never worn one without the other, although I wouldn't put that much past me. They are just different.
When I was a kid, I think I was around nine or ten, I was taking horse back riding lessons at this barn with woman named Ms Darby. She was a great teacher, she challenged me all the time, she gave me riding gear when we couldn't afford the real stuff. There was another girl in my class, she was a better rider than I was. Her parents bought her a pony, and she had all the right equipment. I envied the hell out of her. Then one day, we were doing some basic jumps. I was on the ugliest horse in the world, named Honey, and she was on her pony, and something happened. Her pony spooked and she fell, she wasn't hurt but she was scared. She was crying, and Ms Darby had to stop the lesson and take her up to the barn. She never came back. I couldn't understand it. Here was this girl who was so much better than I was, who was willing to throw it away because she hit the ground once.
When I grew up and started teaching horse back riding lessons, parents needed a to sign a special waver to get their kid in my class. I could guarantee they would advance. I would also guarantee they would fall off at least once. There were two lessons I took from the girl in my class ( I dont remember her name), one if you've never fallen off you've never pushed yourself hard enough, and two, if you've never hit the ground to see if you will get up again, you dont know if you will.
Writers deal with a-lot of different types of rejection. There is the social sort that everyone else deals with, and then there are the other kinds. The is this good enough sort you ask yourself. The kind that comes from friends when you tell them you want to be a writer, or you are a writer, and they think you will be rich, or are crazy, or will be poor. The kind you ask yourself when you are feeling seven kinds of overwhelmed and wonder why on earth you want to do this. The kind from agents, the kind from editors the kind from other writers. The kind when someone tells you "writing isnt hard/work/creative, cause anyone can do it"
The worst part of all of it is that it's not something that you (for the most part) put some sort of half assed effort into. Writing is hard work, mayhaps not the physical kind, but still, hard work none the less. The search for the perfect word, turning creativity into words and putting them on the page.
Someone on another blog (and I WISH I could remember who) asked the question, does creativity directly link to insecurity, and I do not think it does. I do think however, that because creative people, who need/want to share their creativity face a certain amount of rejection, and that rejection causes anxiety which leads to insecurity. But just like in horse back riding you have to get back up and try again, and you've never pushed yourself until you've hit the ground.
And just like boots, no two things are exactly the same. I might have stretched it a bit to make those two metaphors work. But, I signed up for the "Insecure Writers Support Group" with Alex J. Cavanaugh. And today was the day to talk about insecurity.
p.s. GO check out other blogs on here. Its an order.
How do you deal with insecurity? What kind's of insecurity do you face?
And I will end with a "Sara and Bobby" just to lighten things up.
Sara and Bobby on Judaism:
Bobby: I made up a new word!
Sara: uh huh
Bobby: Jewnicorn! Though, I wonder what that would be.
Sara: A kosher unicorn. A unicorn without cloven hoofs.
They are the same boots they came in the same box, and I've had them both the same amount of time. I've never worn one without the other, although I wouldn't put that much past me. They are just different.
When I was a kid, I think I was around nine or ten, I was taking horse back riding lessons at this barn with woman named Ms Darby. She was a great teacher, she challenged me all the time, she gave me riding gear when we couldn't afford the real stuff. There was another girl in my class, she was a better rider than I was. Her parents bought her a pony, and she had all the right equipment. I envied the hell out of her. Then one day, we were doing some basic jumps. I was on the ugliest horse in the world, named Honey, and she was on her pony, and something happened. Her pony spooked and she fell, she wasn't hurt but she was scared. She was crying, and Ms Darby had to stop the lesson and take her up to the barn. She never came back. I couldn't understand it. Here was this girl who was so much better than I was, who was willing to throw it away because she hit the ground once.
When I grew up and started teaching horse back riding lessons, parents needed a to sign a special waver to get their kid in my class. I could guarantee they would advance. I would also guarantee they would fall off at least once. There were two lessons I took from the girl in my class ( I dont remember her name), one if you've never fallen off you've never pushed yourself hard enough, and two, if you've never hit the ground to see if you will get up again, you dont know if you will.
Writers deal with a-lot of different types of rejection. There is the social sort that everyone else deals with, and then there are the other kinds. The is this good enough sort you ask yourself. The kind that comes from friends when you tell them you want to be a writer, or you are a writer, and they think you will be rich, or are crazy, or will be poor. The kind you ask yourself when you are feeling seven kinds of overwhelmed and wonder why on earth you want to do this. The kind from agents, the kind from editors the kind from other writers. The kind when someone tells you "writing isnt hard/work/creative, cause anyone can do it"
The worst part of all of it is that it's not something that you (for the most part) put some sort of half assed effort into. Writing is hard work, mayhaps not the physical kind, but still, hard work none the less. The search for the perfect word, turning creativity into words and putting them on the page.
Someone on another blog (and I WISH I could remember who) asked the question, does creativity directly link to insecurity, and I do not think it does. I do think however, that because creative people, who need/want to share their creativity face a certain amount of rejection, and that rejection causes anxiety which leads to insecurity. But just like in horse back riding you have to get back up and try again, and you've never pushed yourself until you've hit the ground.
And just like boots, no two things are exactly the same. I might have stretched it a bit to make those two metaphors work. But, I signed up for the "Insecure Writers Support Group" with Alex J. Cavanaugh. And today was the day to talk about insecurity.
p.s. GO check out other blogs on here. Its an order.
How do you deal with insecurity? What kind's of insecurity do you face?
And I will end with a "Sara and Bobby" just to lighten things up.
Sara and Bobby on Judaism:
Bobby: I made up a new word!
Sara: uh huh
Bobby: Jewnicorn! Though, I wonder what that would be.
Sara: A kosher unicorn. A unicorn without cloven hoofs.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Were All Mad Here
Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.
The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.
I have an orange tutu.
I bought it because I wanted to dress up for the Mad Hatter for a costume event, and because its otherwise awesome. I was thrifting with my friend Abby, Abby is that friend from college, you know, the one that you get in the car with to drive somewhere (in this case target) and end up in New Jersey for no good reason? Yeup that's Abby. Abby is also the friend that called to tell me about her "Dragon Problem" Abby and I meet at the University of Northumbria on a study abroad program, we were both from different schools in Georgia, and to this day we have only hung out once in that fine state.
Abby is actually the one who found the orange tutu. I took her out thrift store shopping when I was in Philadelphia in August and I was looking for a skirt, she was sitting down by the shoes, when I walked over carrying a tulip skirt made out of track suit material. All she did was point, at the manikin on the shelf. It was wearing the tutu. I immediately found the clerk, had them take it down, and tried it on. I was expecting it to be too small, but it fit! So I bought it. All the store clerks seemed a little sad to see it go, but happy that it was going to a good home. They asked for pictures, I brought them a few.
I carried the tutu out of the store in a plastic bag that it was a little to big for, orange overflowing out of the top of the bag.
People stopped us in the street, and in stores. I took it out, and showed it off a bazillion times (have I mentioned I love Philadelphia). Abby didn't blink an eye, she admitted the skirt was perfect for me...of course I would have an orange tutu. Why not?
This past weekend I went up to Philadelphia to visit Abby for Halloween. We were supposed to go to the Renaissance festival, but it was canceled since apparently people cant have fun with trees falling and power lines down. So we came up with a backup plan. On the fly. We would have a dinner party. A Mad Hatter tea party. A Mad Dinner party. Bobby and another friend braved the storm and bought food. I had the liquor already. Abby and I sent out texts and cleaned, kinda. We were goofy, we were weird, we had fun.
Writers tend to be, at least the ones I know, supper creative people. And that creativity occasionally lends itself to being weird. I know I am weird. I know Abby is weird. Bobby is weird too, but pretends not to be. And sometimes its nice to go off and have someone you can be completely bizarre with. Someone, who will just be as "Mad" as you.
p.s. If you haven't figured it out yet, I have a thing for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
p.p.s. Sorry this was a bit more mushy than normal. Check back in Thursday so you will be really surprised by something COMPLETLY different.
The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.
I have an orange tutu.
Abby is actually the one who found the orange tutu. I took her out thrift store shopping when I was in Philadelphia in August and I was looking for a skirt, she was sitting down by the shoes, when I walked over carrying a tulip skirt made out of track suit material. All she did was point, at the manikin on the shelf. It was wearing the tutu. I immediately found the clerk, had them take it down, and tried it on. I was expecting it to be too small, but it fit! So I bought it. All the store clerks seemed a little sad to see it go, but happy that it was going to a good home. They asked for pictures, I brought them a few.
I carried the tutu out of the store in a plastic bag that it was a little to big for, orange overflowing out of the top of the bag.
People stopped us in the street, and in stores. I took it out, and showed it off a bazillion times (have I mentioned I love Philadelphia). Abby didn't blink an eye, she admitted the skirt was perfect for me...of course I would have an orange tutu. Why not?
This past weekend I went up to Philadelphia to visit Abby for Halloween. We were supposed to go to the Renaissance festival, but it was canceled since apparently people cant have fun with trees falling and power lines down. So we came up with a backup plan. On the fly. We would have a dinner party. A Mad Hatter tea party. A Mad Dinner party. Bobby and another friend braved the storm and bought food. I had the liquor already. Abby and I sent out texts and cleaned, kinda. We were goofy, we were weird, we had fun.
Writers tend to be, at least the ones I know, supper creative people. And that creativity occasionally lends itself to being weird. I know I am weird. I know Abby is weird. Bobby is weird too, but pretends not to be. And sometimes its nice to go off and have someone you can be completely bizarre with. Someone, who will just be as "Mad" as you.
p.s. If you haven't figured it out yet, I have a thing for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
p.p.s. Sorry this was a bit more mushy than normal. Check back in Thursday so you will be really surprised by something COMPLETLY different.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Holy netbook batman!!!
Holy netbook batman!!! Where did November come from?
Sometimes I feel like there is a major disconnect in my brain. I know its almost the end of October. I've solidified my Halloween plans, and bought my plane ticket to go home for thanksgiving. You know, those normal things that go with the end of October...but apparently I forgot that November comes after October. So I was completely taken back by seeing all of these "Advice for NaNoWriMo" posts show up in the blogerspher (I love this word, mostly cause I dont think its a real word and that makes it awesome)
So, needless to say, I will not be doing NaNoWriMo this year. I might re-avow my vow that I routinely ignore, to write every day though. You see, I have this problem with goals. I like to make them, like outlines for stories, and then shove them into my sock drawer where they get forgotten. My sock drawer is my equivalent for a safe. I keep lots of important things in there, like sudaphed and my passport and tickets to shows, and my goal to one day be more organized.
The truth is, I don't find the NaNoWriMo version of novel writing very useful, even though at the same time I find it very useful. I know. That doesn't make any sense, but then look around, how much of this blog has made any sense? I find NaNoWriMo very useful in the fact that I get words down on paper, I create characters and concepts. I write. What I write is completely unusable.The last few time's I've done NaNoWriMo I've ended up with a 50,000+ word character sketch. So, its great because I write, it sucks because I dont write anything that I can use. Perhaps I will come back to it some day, but not today.
See, I think in order to get something remotely useful out of NaNoWriMo, you have to do something that I dont do very well. Plan. If you have a story before you begin, then well, you should have a story when you end, maybe.
My family has an awesome motto for procrastination, and I thought I would share it with you. "Why procrastinate today what you can put it off till tomorrow."
With that I will end with some of the things I learned this week, that I hope to one day turn into full blog posts.
DC Police do not get my sense of humor.
Don't talk to strangers (I learn this like once a week, and promptly forget it)
If a CFO and a Vice President get into a fight, dont get involved. Run away. Screaming. Cry under your desk. In the fetal position
If you give a group two very different openings to a novel, expect to get equal numbers of opposite opinions.
What have you guys learned this week?
Anyone doing NaNoWriMo?
Sometimes I feel like there is a major disconnect in my brain. I know its almost the end of October. I've solidified my Halloween plans, and bought my plane ticket to go home for thanksgiving. You know, those normal things that go with the end of October...but apparently I forgot that November comes after October. So I was completely taken back by seeing all of these "Advice for NaNoWriMo" posts show up in the blogerspher (I love this word, mostly cause I dont think its a real word and that makes it awesome)
So, needless to say, I will not be doing NaNoWriMo this year. I might re-avow my vow that I routinely ignore, to write every day though. You see, I have this problem with goals. I like to make them, like outlines for stories, and then shove them into my sock drawer where they get forgotten. My sock drawer is my equivalent for a safe. I keep lots of important things in there, like sudaphed and my passport and tickets to shows, and my goal to one day be more organized.
The truth is, I don't find the NaNoWriMo version of novel writing very useful, even though at the same time I find it very useful. I know. That doesn't make any sense, but then look around, how much of this blog has made any sense? I find NaNoWriMo very useful in the fact that I get words down on paper, I create characters and concepts. I write. What I write is completely unusable.The last few time's I've done NaNoWriMo I've ended up with a 50,000+ word character sketch. So, its great because I write, it sucks because I dont write anything that I can use. Perhaps I will come back to it some day, but not today.
See, I think in order to get something remotely useful out of NaNoWriMo, you have to do something that I dont do very well. Plan. If you have a story before you begin, then well, you should have a story when you end, maybe.
My family has an awesome motto for procrastination, and I thought I would share it with you. "Why procrastinate today what you can put it off till tomorrow."
With that I will end with some of the things I learned this week, that I hope to one day turn into full blog posts.
DC Police do not get my sense of humor.
Don't talk to strangers (I learn this like once a week, and promptly forget it)
If a CFO and a Vice President get into a fight, dont get involved. Run away. Screaming. Cry under your desk. In the fetal position
If you give a group two very different openings to a novel, expect to get equal numbers of opposite opinions.
What have you guys learned this week?
Anyone doing NaNoWriMo?
Monday, October 24, 2011
Story Time: Medication for the Abi somethings
One time, when I was a kid, my mom lit my neck on fire.
I give out drugs, the legal kind, at work. This started because I am responsible for tracking our stock of medicine. Which means I know where everything is. Most of the time I give away my personal medication, and in case you didn't know from "Oh The" I get headaches. My standard solution to what ales you is pain medication + sudafed. I think my obsession with sudafed began with my father. He took it all the time, he gave it to me all the time, and to my sisters. We said our knee hurts, he would give us a pain killer and a sudafed.
I think this started, because everyone in my family has allergies and the allergies manifest in the form of sinus headaches, and if you've ever had a sinus headache you have probably taken sudafed. As of now, I am fairly certain I am on at least one federal watch list, because of my sudefed consumption, and perhaps because of the U turn I made in front of the gates for the CIA headquarters, and then there was the time I tried to play with a bomb dog. Again I am off topic, this is why I should not take a sudafed and drink a red bull, with an Excedrin migraine.
All of this came up at work the other day cause we were talking about butter, or burns, or alcohol. I think. Or because someone told me they felt feverish and I offered them a sudafed, which prompted the question, "does sudafed lower fever." and no, it doesn't. Its just a family remedy, like putting butter on burns. Or ways to remove a tick.
Apparently I have this obnoxious habit of beginning stories in ways that catch people off guard. Like, back when my sister was using meth, or my mom is an alcoholic. This isn't normal, or so I've been told. But these odd phrases are typically important background for the story I'm gonna tell. Like, my mom lit my neck on fire, which has everything to do with removing a tick.
It started sensicaly enough, first she tried to pull the tick out without killing it and leaving the head stuck in. That didn't work. They she tried to soak it in vodka, I think your supposed to use rubbing alcohol, but she was drinking vodka so it was what we had on hand...well that didn't work. So the next thing we tried was to hold a dead match at the tick, you know how the rest went.
And if you cant appreciate the humor in the horrifying well then. I dont know what to tell you. The thing is, I am full of stories like this, stories that most people probably find rather horrific. I deal with these situations by laughing at them. Laughing is better than crying, and why cry about something you cannot change. Its a funny story, or at least it would be, if it wasn't so sad.
What are your family remedies?
I give out drugs, the legal kind, at work. This started because I am responsible for tracking our stock of medicine. Which means I know where everything is. Most of the time I give away my personal medication, and in case you didn't know from "Oh The" I get headaches. My standard solution to what ales you is pain medication + sudafed. I think my obsession with sudafed began with my father. He took it all the time, he gave it to me all the time, and to my sisters. We said our knee hurts, he would give us a pain killer and a sudafed.
I think this started, because everyone in my family has allergies and the allergies manifest in the form of sinus headaches, and if you've ever had a sinus headache you have probably taken sudafed. As of now, I am fairly certain I am on at least one federal watch list, because of my sudefed consumption, and perhaps because of the U turn I made in front of the gates for the CIA headquarters, and then there was the time I tried to play with a bomb dog. Again I am off topic, this is why I should not take a sudafed and drink a red bull, with an Excedrin migraine.
All of this came up at work the other day cause we were talking about butter, or burns, or alcohol. I think. Or because someone told me they felt feverish and I offered them a sudafed, which prompted the question, "does sudafed lower fever." and no, it doesn't. Its just a family remedy, like putting butter on burns. Or ways to remove a tick.
Apparently I have this obnoxious habit of beginning stories in ways that catch people off guard. Like, back when my sister was using meth, or my mom is an alcoholic. This isn't normal, or so I've been told. But these odd phrases are typically important background for the story I'm gonna tell. Like, my mom lit my neck on fire, which has everything to do with removing a tick.
It started sensicaly enough, first she tried to pull the tick out without killing it and leaving the head stuck in. That didn't work. They she tried to soak it in vodka, I think your supposed to use rubbing alcohol, but she was drinking vodka so it was what we had on hand...well that didn't work. So the next thing we tried was to hold a dead match at the tick, you know how the rest went.
And if you cant appreciate the humor in the horrifying well then. I dont know what to tell you. The thing is, I am full of stories like this, stories that most people probably find rather horrific. I deal with these situations by laughing at them. Laughing is better than crying, and why cry about something you cannot change. Its a funny story, or at least it would be, if it wasn't so sad.
What are your family remedies?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Ready, Set...
Announcing the first annual blog off! Not that it will ever happen again, its just when you put annual on something it makes it sound more official. Not that there is anything official about this.
In fact I dont even really remember how it came about, except perhaps that I might have told Bobby McDaniel that I was a better blogger than he is because I post more often, or have more followers...or something, so to defend his pride, he challenged me to a blog off, duel style. The person with the most followers/page views at the end of the blog off wins. And the prize is nothing more than bragging rights, between the two of us.
I am hopping that this will inspire Bobby to blog more often, and in turn inspire me to blog more often. Kinda like the vicious cycle of NaNoWriMo. See I tried to do NaNoWriMo without him, and I didn't do anywhere near as well as I did with him. When I would check my word count online at the end of the day and see that he was 200 words ahead of me, which was just unacceptable.
That being said, you should go over and check his blog out at Wildly Urban, I also link to it on the side. And if your lurking on here, just go ahead and hit that follow button (just make sure you follow me first). I wont hurt you much, unless of course, you continue to lurk, then no rules apply.
All of this kinda went to my head this morning, when I decided I really need a buisness card with my blog on it. So I can give it to people who might then check it out, or probably not. Like I've mentioned before, all of this self promotion stuff is very new to me. So I spent a good bit of the morning looking at buisness cards at Vistaprint. I finally decided on a style and then Bobby (he is a marketing person so I kinda trust his judgement on this) suggested I put in a quote at the top.
I almost went with a few Luise Carrol quotes I was trying to decide between:
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
"Begin at the beginning" the king said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end; then stop."
Or--I am not sure if this is Louis Carrol "If you don't know where your going, there is no wrong way to go"
But then I started thinking about it, and realized it makes much more sense to quote myself on my own card. Since I am trying to market myself as a writer, so the quote I decided on is:
"All the following is true, except for the parts that are lies" Which actually came from my post Flash Fiction Friday.
What about you guys? Anyone have personal buisness cards? What do they look like? What quote would you put on a buisness card if you made one?
In fact I dont even really remember how it came about, except perhaps that I might have told Bobby McDaniel that I was a better blogger than he is because I post more often, or have more followers...or something, so to defend his pride, he challenged me to a blog off, duel style. The person with the most followers/page views at the end of the blog off wins. And the prize is nothing more than bragging rights, between the two of us.
I am hopping that this will inspire Bobby to blog more often, and in turn inspire me to blog more often. Kinda like the vicious cycle of NaNoWriMo. See I tried to do NaNoWriMo without him, and I didn't do anywhere near as well as I did with him. When I would check my word count online at the end of the day and see that he was 200 words ahead of me, which was just unacceptable.
That being said, you should go over and check his blog out at Wildly Urban, I also link to it on the side. And if your lurking on here, just go ahead and hit that follow button (just make sure you follow me first). I wont hurt you much, unless of course, you continue to lurk, then no rules apply.
All of this kinda went to my head this morning, when I decided I really need a buisness card with my blog on it. So I can give it to people who might then check it out, or probably not. Like I've mentioned before, all of this self promotion stuff is very new to me. So I spent a good bit of the morning looking at buisness cards at Vistaprint. I finally decided on a style and then Bobby (he is a marketing person so I kinda trust his judgement on this) suggested I put in a quote at the top.
I almost went with a few Luise Carrol quotes I was trying to decide between:
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
"Begin at the beginning" the king said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end; then stop."
Or--I am not sure if this is Louis Carrol "If you don't know where your going, there is no wrong way to go"
But then I started thinking about it, and realized it makes much more sense to quote myself on my own card. Since I am trying to market myself as a writer, so the quote I decided on is:
"All the following is true, except for the parts that are lies" Which actually came from my post Flash Fiction Friday.
What about you guys? Anyone have personal buisness cards? What do they look like? What quote would you put on a buisness card if you made one?
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