literally! it was my birthday celebration(s), so we were in fact celebrating my lifetime, AND it was all fabulous, haha. i managed to stretch my birthday for four glorious, family-, friend- and food-filled days, and a girl really couldn't ask for more.
thursday jon and i slept in wonderfully late and then went to the big e, where we spent my grandmother's birthday check to me on such things as maine baked potatoes, vt beer & flatbread pizza, hot kettle corn, opa opa (ct beer),... mmm. oh and jon got apple pie with cheddar cheese, possibly in the vt? house, and i tried it, and it was the first time i've ever had them together. i had always thought it sounded particularly gross, but no.. it was delicious. how weird, though.. who was eating apple pie and thought, 'hey! why don't i add some cheese?'
for those of you who don't know what the big e is, it is a giant fair with everything from 8 gabillion booths set up selling everything you can imagine to carnival rides to elephant rides to 'see the world's smallest pony' to petting zoos to buildings full of more booths (the international house, the farm house, the house of random wares). there's everything from an irish/ireland booth to people selling knives that cut leather or tools that can drill through concrete or .. etc. and there are shows during the day -- horse shows, product demonstrations, etc -- and concerts at night. and THEN there are the state houses -- connecticut, rhode island, massachusetts, maine, new hampshire and vermont. each state house showcases the best features (and food & beer) of said state, usually offering maps of places to go, things to do, samples of food & beer. i am sad i didn't try the maple cotton candy in the vermont house because it sounded delicious. that's my only regret!
so after we came homew from that, we hung out, watched tv, cooked up some breaded chicken cutlets, green beans (love) and lipton garlic shells noodle package -- which i absolutely love and haven't had in FOREVER -- and it was a fantastic birthday dinner if i do say so myself. and by cooked up, i mean jon cooked and shooed me out of the kitchen every time i tried to help, haha. AND he gave me fall out boy tickets for my birthday!! he told me awhile ago i had something to do on nov. 10 but not what, and it turns out that's the concert. i heeeart fall out boy, they are one of my latest favorite cds. so i am pretty stoked for that!
friday we decided to go hiking. going up to unh was thrown out on the table; jon knows i want to take him there and show him around sometime so that when i talk about something he can actually picture it and know what i'm talking about. but we decided it was too much driving for one day, so it's on the itinerary for next summer's nh vaca, when we'll only be an hour away instead of 2.5. so instead, jon called his friend pete, an avid hiker (he's done the at (appalachian trail -- how i'd love to, if only i could afford to not work for 3 months)) and asked for suggestions, so we ended up going to a place called case mtn, which was actually pretty small -- only like 974 ft or something. it was a very easy climb, but that's probably for the best anyway since i'm not really in prime hiking (*hillwalking, anyone?) shape. but we got to the top pretty easily, and oddly enough, the hillside before the trees started again really powerfully reminded me of culloden, of the actual battlefield. so we sat on one of the benches and i told jon about culloden, just the bare bones of the rebellion and how it all came to a head there, and how the thing that had really shocked me about the actual battlefield was that it was so covered in bracken and brush and thorny things. i would have pictured an open field, but it is instead something that would tear your legs up in about 3 seconds. and this, despite it being a hillside, looked much the same, with the sort of low, prickly, different-colored bushes (for lack of a better word) all over it. so that was a fun little scotland moment.
and then we decided to go down a different trail (we took the pink trail, which i thought was not very hard-sounding, but theoretically was the hardest, according to pete. so i wondered, was the white trail an escalator, cause pink was super easy..), a white trail, because the parking lot up to the pink trail was a white trail. so we kind of picked a direction out of 4 choices (one being the way we came) and gallavanted off into the woods. (and by that i mean walked calmly..) and at some point, we came across a big wall of rocks with big rocks strewn on the ground in front of it, and i wondered aloud if they used to be part of the wall but had fallen. and somehow this prompted jon to go climb the wall of rocks. rather than watch him and think about how i was going to go get help if he broke something, i decided to wander a bit father.. at which point i found an easy-as-pie way to get up to where he was. so as he fought his way down the rock face, i climbed it, musing about how women are definitely the smarter sex. although when i shared this, he gave the classic, 'well i wasn't looking for easy, i wanted to be challenged.' ....mmhmm. okay.
so we continued on our way and ended up at a parking lot. and i do say A parking lot, because it wasn't OUR parking lot. whoops. so we look at the map, which was a terrible map in the first place AND situated behind a metal cage so you can't take it, and figure we've got to go pretty far back. so we end up going all the way back where we had come from until we reach the pink trail, which was about three minutes from the summit. literally. and by the time we had reached the first (wrong) parking lot, we were pretty okay with nature being done for the time being, so we weren't really loving the fact that we had to climb it twice, but it was okay. i just had a blister forming and i really wanted to get out of my shoes -- i need new ones real bad. i could feel every rock under my feet and it got old after awhile, yknow? why i didn't wear the hiking shoes heather gave me i don't know.. i guess i figured i wouldn't need them on such an easy hike.
it was nice to be out in nature, though. it's not often i get to do anything like that anymore, solely because of the hours i work and we've just been so busy lately. so it was a nice little refreshing jaunt, although i will say i was excited to see the truck at the end, haha.
but seriously, who freaking puts maps in the parking lots and at the summit but not in between?? maps AT the destinations. not on the way to said destinations. pfffft. turns out we could've taken a much easier way to get back, but we had no way of knowing that since there were no freaking maps in between. jerks!
so anyway. we went home and showered and went to dinner with his friends sarah (cousin) & eli and freya & bobby to chili's, and it was delicious. chili's makes an excellent frozen raspberry margarita, and i heart their southwestern egg rolls (and the awesome blossom, which jon got and i stole pieces of) and their steak fajitas. and the company was swell, so it was a good time. we went to sarah & eli's afterwards to play apples to apples, and it was another good time. i did manage to walk into a parking spot curb leaving chili's, though, because i was texting my cousin and not watching where i was going, and it did cut my poor pinky toe under my nail and bleed and hurt and turn purple, but jon emt-ed me with triple antibiotic lotion and a bandaid and a kiss (on my lips, not my toe.. ew), so i lived. (whew. it was close.)
saturday we had to be at my mom's at 11, which meant waking up at 10 -- a little early for my birthday weekend, but worth it. my grandparents arrived less than a minute, i'd say, before us, so we made it fairly well on time. and it was wonderful to see them, i hadn't seen them in awhile, which is actually why i requested said dinner from mom. so mom cooked up chicken and maple-syruped carrots and there was macaroni salad & potato salad and homemade apple sauce (which my grandfather kept trying to get her to put in a pie crust -- he loves apple pie like nothing else). and my mom had a cake for eric & i to decorate like we use to when we were kids. i still have pictures.. his bday is the 4th and mine is the 20th so we tended to do mixed celebrations, and one thing was to get/cook a sheet cake and then let each kid decorate half. and as i'm trying to make an 'M' out of mini m&ms on my half and my brother is just chucking chocolate chips on his half, my mom, not even looking, was saying how monica used to decorate hers pretty and eric would just throw stuff on. haha. classic timing, cause that's exactly what was happening. so eric just kept throwing chocolate chips on the cake -- and especially on my side, to obscure the 'M' and just be a pest -- until i a) threw m&ms at him and b) took the choc chips away. so then i'm trying to make it pretty and fix the piles of choc chips he left, and he starts putting slices of cheddar cheese on the cake because i had taken away his choc chips and the m&ms and that's all that was left next to him. pffft. (so then, of course, later, when mom brought out the cake, there's a piece of cheese on it and eric wearing a shit-eating grin. pffft again. ha.)
so after that, my grandparents left (eat and run, it's their game -- although saturday my grandmother did have to work, so they did actually have a reason to leave for once, haha) and eric, tiana and jon all fell asleep on the couches. and i tried to stay awake to chat with mom, haha. so i chatted, and finally gave in and fell asleep for a few, and then chatted again, mostly about real estate and how she's going to have to sell the house someday probably soon. and i tried to persuade her it might be a good idea to paint the living room a neutral color instead of pink, and she resisted, and i dropped it, haha.
and then we went to kmart & kohl's to try to find jon a belt cause his had broken, and we found him one, which is yay because the day before on the hike his pants kept sagging down like he was a g, haha. and then we booked it out to coventry to go to bidwell's tavern, which is an amazing place circa 1872 or something. it's got a good pub feel to it, and they make like 50 flavors of wings. i got a trio of honey mustrad (eh), honey bbq (pretty good) and my favorite, hot teriyaki sesame. they're just hot enough to give you the good flavor and a teensy bit of kick without burning your mouth. mmm. i already want more.
i only invited a few friends, but they seemed to mesh pretty well, which was good since some of them didn't know each other. i had a great time, i hope they did too, haha. heather bought me a car bomb, which was the first i'd done in a couple months at least if not more. they're tasty, i sorta forgot.. =P
after that, jon and i went to blockbuster and picked up some movies (and beer, but not at blockbuster) and went home, watched 'vacancy' and 'you kill me', which were both okay. not stellar and not terrible. decent entertainment.
and then sunday we went out to the mall to get baby a giants jersey.. i think last week, when tiana showed up at the bar wearing a giants jersey and jon was the only one at the table of me, my dad, my brother, and tiana not wearing a jersey, i think that was the straw that broke the camel's back, cause he was very into getting a jersey this weekend, hah. so we ended up finding him one after a couple stores, and i am happy to report he looks very good in his red jacobs giants jersey. mm. :)
so we went out to my dad's newly built house where he was cooking the best bbq ribs you'd ever have in your life, zucchini & summer squash, red potatos, and the best corn EVER. he cuts the corn off leftover (cooked) corn on the cob and sautees it up with onions and peppers in butter with garlic and salt & pepper. and it gets .. not syrupy, but i can't think of the words. but it is so ridiculously tasty.
so we got to eat some fastastic food with my dad, his fiancee, her sister, one of her sons, and my brother & his gf again, and watch the giants game on a ridiculous huge hd tv that my aunt got my dad & bonnie as a wedding present. i asked eric if he thought we'd get those when we get married too and said i'd contemplate a ceremony in town hall to get one.. it is freaking sweet. it's a plasma too, not an lcd. and huge. and clear. and .. okay, so i'm a little jealous.
so that was my weekend, and it left me feeling rejuvenated and happy, which was good. although it's only tuesday and my glow is somewhat gone already. it's amazing how fast work saps me of that. but i was giddy wednesday night last week when i got home, and it lasted for four days. it was so nice to not have to work and to see jon and to get together with all my family and friends and have so many people saying happy birthday. i was afraid my weekend wouldn't live up to my expectations, but it was really nice. i think this was definitely the longest i've ever stretched a birthday, and that wasn't even my original intention. i just wanted to see people i love and do what i want. we've been so busy lately but this was the first weekend where it was all stuff i wanted to do, stuff that i planned. well, minus the dinner fri night, jon suggested that, but it was a good idea. so it was just really comforting to be surrounded by good people and good times.
i have plenty more to say, but i am a little tired of typing, and i am thinking you might be tired of reading (especially if you're kate or sami, who have both already heard all this, haha.. sorry guys!), so i will wait til later to update more.
PLUS, it's almost house hunters time. woot! i freaking love this show.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
it sucks to live where i live
there is a dearth of jobs around me. okay, i guess that's technically lying. there are jobs. but there are no journalism jobs. and there are no jobs i have any qualifications for. and apparently the market is especially terrible right now, because all i did was put in my zip code -- no job specifications -- and the first job on the list -- so, the closest -- was in a town 45 minutes away.
what?
you're kidding, right?
booooo. i just searched journalismjobs.com, jobsinct.com, careerbuilder.com, monster.com, hotjobs.com, workct.com (okay, it doesn't exist yet, but i tried, anyway), craigslist.com.. even some random site my cousin sent me. and i found? a fat lot of nothing. i found a couple prospects....in colorado. and hawaii. for much more money than i'm making now, too.
so that begs the question, would i move? the urge is hitting more and more lately. it's been awhile since i've picked up and run away -- cause that's sort of what it is, isn't it? we can disguise is as an adventure, a change, something new.. but aren't we running away, maybe just a little? think about it, when do you first leave -- after high school, when you finally become an adult and can get the hell outta dodge. sound familiar? yeah, you and your cousin, everybody and their mom. the next time i left after that is when i went to scotland, and i don't think getting away was a conscious reason behind leaving, but i definitely needed to get away. i was feeling stale and bored and unhappy, and i didn't like the person i was becoming as a result of those feelings. and i can honestly say i think i liked myself the best i had in years when i was in scotland, because i was happy. and being happy makes you a better person. misery breeds misery, and all that.. it works the opposite way too. pay it forward, remember that movie? it's really true. i love those commercials that show how a good mood or a bad mood can spread like disease, cause they're so true.
so, returning to the (actual) topic at hand.. would i move? i don't know. it never really fixes all your problems. it helps, sometimes. i don't know about other people, but sometimes i feel like i'm stuck in a rut and i desperately need to get out. moving definitely helps that.. but eventually i'll feel that way again. what am i gonna do, move every couple years? i'm hoping traveling often can help quell my wandering instinct, cause it would be a pain in the ass to uproot every couple years.
aside from that, there's the family and friends aspect. i was thinking about it the other day, and mostly i'd miss my family. my dad, my mom, and my brother, and then my grandparents -- but they're the only family i'm really close to that are in ct. i've got cousins in arizona & maryland, one in florida. i've got a grandmother in florida. aunts and uncles in maryland, florida, arizona.
but friends? i've still got a couple here that i'd miss, but too many are gone or never lived here in the first place. i feel closer to some people that live far away than people in my own state. i never see anyone here anyway, so what's the difference if i actually live here or not?
but where would i go? i'd still die to move to colorado. i could maybe manage dc, although i don't really want to go hotter. if i'm going hotter, i want to go to hawaii. i'm sure jon would pee himself to live in boston again (and under happier circumstances than the last time he lived there for a few months, not being 21 and in a terrible relationship), but i feel sort of bored by that. edinburgh? i'd cry, so happy. but is it too far? i'd randomly go to montana, but jon doesn't want to. i could go to maryland, with the small wealth of family conglomerated there.
the where would i go question also begs the question do i light out on my own into an unknown area (and by on my own i mean with jon, not actually by myself) or do i go somewhere i know i have at least one friend? it's harder to meet people once you're out of school, so it's tricky to move somewhere -- you might find yourself all alone, and then what problems are you solving? sweet adventure, hanging out all by yourself.
so what to do? continue to fall into this stupid void of hating my job, not being able to afford life, never seeing anyone, not being able to accomplish the things i want to accomplish, not liking who i am, not liking what i do.. wait until i find something else in this area -- and i've been looking for over a year now? or do i bite the bullet and move somewhere? would missing my family be worth it? i'm reasonably sure i could talk the few true friends i have left here into coming to visit me. but would occasional visits from family be worth it? i love going to the bar on sundays with my dad & brother to watch the giants play. i like going shopping with my mom. i like being able to call them up and say hey let's get together for dinner.
but i feel so stale here. i need a change. i am hoping changing my job will help chase away that panic, that i-need-to-break-out-of-this feeling, because i have felt it coming and it's not stopping. i keep wanting to say 'i can't take this much longer,' but i have no idea what would happen next. i don't know what to do except endure and wait and try to make the best of it. what happens? do i have a mental breakdown? do i run screaming out of my apartment half-dressed and run down the road until someone stops me? do i tear my hair out? do i start drinking uncontrollably? none of these seem like acceptable options, and yet, the thought of staying at this job, staying in my life, .. i don't want to.
i want to leave. i want to go somewhere new and start over. i want a do-over. and the logical part of my brain reminds me that it won't solve my problems. but i still want it. i need a change, so very badly. i need a break from this miserable-ness.
on the plus side, i have thursday and friday off because my birthday is thursday and i didn't want to be sucked into the black hole on my birthday. so at least i get a four-day weekend, in which i have requested a home-cooked meal -- complete with grandparents and brother & his gf -- from mom on saturday and then another home-cooked meal -- complete with dad's fiancee & her sister, soon-to-be stepbrothers and possibly brother & gf -- from dad on sunday. i think mom's is going to be a pork roast, and i know dad's is going to be ribs. he makes the best ribs in the world, literally (well, my mom does too, but i'm fairly certain the recipe is dad's). they cook them for houuuurs so the meat just falls off the bone. actually. it really does. they are so delicious. and mom's pork roast is exxcellent. and i also requested green bean casserole (my very favorite!) and possibly carrots cooked in maple syrup (substitute some maple syrup for water: soo tasty. sweetens 'em right up). mmmm.
we're also going to the big e either thursday or friday, so that'll be fun too. so. i am hoping my fair-, family- and (home-cooked) food-filled (holy alliteration, batman) weekend will go some ways toward helping with the tear-out-my-hair-scream-til-my-throat-hurts restless stale-ness.
side note, i looked up 'alliteration' to make sure it was the word i thought it was, and an example was "apt alliteration's artful aid" and i am now in love with that phrase. i love alliteration.
on another side (yet unrelated) note, check out the video for "rockstar" by nickelback. it's a funny song, and the video's good.. a good mix of regular people and random rock (and other kinds of) stars singing along. entertaining.
and to wrap it all up.. i dunno, i got nothing. i am looking up some perseverance quotes and i've found the standard -- once you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on, etc -- but i do like this one:
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich
and these two:
If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking. ~Buddhist Saying
I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown
and i don't get this one at all:
When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~Author Unknown
..what is that telling you? give up on your dreams? in times of hardship, make sure you clean. i think it's supposed to mean start over, but.. eh. i think it's silly.
but i do like these two:
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. ~William James
Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting. ~Christopher Morley
and with that, i bid you adieu. good morning, world, i am going to bed.
what?
you're kidding, right?
booooo. i just searched journalismjobs.com, jobsinct.com, careerbuilder.com, monster.com, hotjobs.com, workct.com (okay, it doesn't exist yet, but i tried, anyway), craigslist.com.. even some random site my cousin sent me. and i found? a fat lot of nothing. i found a couple prospects....in colorado. and hawaii. for much more money than i'm making now, too.
so that begs the question, would i move? the urge is hitting more and more lately. it's been awhile since i've picked up and run away -- cause that's sort of what it is, isn't it? we can disguise is as an adventure, a change, something new.. but aren't we running away, maybe just a little? think about it, when do you first leave -- after high school, when you finally become an adult and can get the hell outta dodge. sound familiar? yeah, you and your cousin, everybody and their mom. the next time i left after that is when i went to scotland, and i don't think getting away was a conscious reason behind leaving, but i definitely needed to get away. i was feeling stale and bored and unhappy, and i didn't like the person i was becoming as a result of those feelings. and i can honestly say i think i liked myself the best i had in years when i was in scotland, because i was happy. and being happy makes you a better person. misery breeds misery, and all that.. it works the opposite way too. pay it forward, remember that movie? it's really true. i love those commercials that show how a good mood or a bad mood can spread like disease, cause they're so true.
so, returning to the (actual) topic at hand.. would i move? i don't know. it never really fixes all your problems. it helps, sometimes. i don't know about other people, but sometimes i feel like i'm stuck in a rut and i desperately need to get out. moving definitely helps that.. but eventually i'll feel that way again. what am i gonna do, move every couple years? i'm hoping traveling often can help quell my wandering instinct, cause it would be a pain in the ass to uproot every couple years.
aside from that, there's the family and friends aspect. i was thinking about it the other day, and mostly i'd miss my family. my dad, my mom, and my brother, and then my grandparents -- but they're the only family i'm really close to that are in ct. i've got cousins in arizona & maryland, one in florida. i've got a grandmother in florida. aunts and uncles in maryland, florida, arizona.
but friends? i've still got a couple here that i'd miss, but too many are gone or never lived here in the first place. i feel closer to some people that live far away than people in my own state. i never see anyone here anyway, so what's the difference if i actually live here or not?
but where would i go? i'd still die to move to colorado. i could maybe manage dc, although i don't really want to go hotter. if i'm going hotter, i want to go to hawaii. i'm sure jon would pee himself to live in boston again (and under happier circumstances than the last time he lived there for a few months, not being 21 and in a terrible relationship), but i feel sort of bored by that. edinburgh? i'd cry, so happy. but is it too far? i'd randomly go to montana, but jon doesn't want to. i could go to maryland, with the small wealth of family conglomerated there.
the where would i go question also begs the question do i light out on my own into an unknown area (and by on my own i mean with jon, not actually by myself) or do i go somewhere i know i have at least one friend? it's harder to meet people once you're out of school, so it's tricky to move somewhere -- you might find yourself all alone, and then what problems are you solving? sweet adventure, hanging out all by yourself.
so what to do? continue to fall into this stupid void of hating my job, not being able to afford life, never seeing anyone, not being able to accomplish the things i want to accomplish, not liking who i am, not liking what i do.. wait until i find something else in this area -- and i've been looking for over a year now? or do i bite the bullet and move somewhere? would missing my family be worth it? i'm reasonably sure i could talk the few true friends i have left here into coming to visit me. but would occasional visits from family be worth it? i love going to the bar on sundays with my dad & brother to watch the giants play. i like going shopping with my mom. i like being able to call them up and say hey let's get together for dinner.
but i feel so stale here. i need a change. i am hoping changing my job will help chase away that panic, that i-need-to-break-out-of-this feeling, because i have felt it coming and it's not stopping. i keep wanting to say 'i can't take this much longer,' but i have no idea what would happen next. i don't know what to do except endure and wait and try to make the best of it. what happens? do i have a mental breakdown? do i run screaming out of my apartment half-dressed and run down the road until someone stops me? do i tear my hair out? do i start drinking uncontrollably? none of these seem like acceptable options, and yet, the thought of staying at this job, staying in my life, .. i don't want to.
i want to leave. i want to go somewhere new and start over. i want a do-over. and the logical part of my brain reminds me that it won't solve my problems. but i still want it. i need a change, so very badly. i need a break from this miserable-ness.
on the plus side, i have thursday and friday off because my birthday is thursday and i didn't want to be sucked into the black hole on my birthday. so at least i get a four-day weekend, in which i have requested a home-cooked meal -- complete with grandparents and brother & his gf -- from mom on saturday and then another home-cooked meal -- complete with dad's fiancee & her sister, soon-to-be stepbrothers and possibly brother & gf -- from dad on sunday. i think mom's is going to be a pork roast, and i know dad's is going to be ribs. he makes the best ribs in the world, literally (well, my mom does too, but i'm fairly certain the recipe is dad's). they cook them for houuuurs so the meat just falls off the bone. actually. it really does. they are so delicious. and mom's pork roast is exxcellent. and i also requested green bean casserole (my very favorite!) and possibly carrots cooked in maple syrup (substitute some maple syrup for water: soo tasty. sweetens 'em right up). mmmm.
we're also going to the big e either thursday or friday, so that'll be fun too. so. i am hoping my fair-, family- and (home-cooked) food-filled (holy alliteration, batman) weekend will go some ways toward helping with the tear-out-my-hair-scream-til-my-throat-hurts restless stale-ness.
side note, i looked up 'alliteration' to make sure it was the word i thought it was, and an example was "apt alliteration's artful aid" and i am now in love with that phrase. i love alliteration.
on another side (yet unrelated) note, check out the video for "rockstar" by nickelback. it's a funny song, and the video's good.. a good mix of regular people and random rock (and other kinds of) stars singing along. entertaining.
and to wrap it all up.. i dunno, i got nothing. i am looking up some perseverance quotes and i've found the standard -- once you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on, etc -- but i do like this one:
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich
and these two:
If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking. ~Buddhist Saying
I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown
and i don't get this one at all:
When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. ~Author Unknown
..what is that telling you? give up on your dreams? in times of hardship, make sure you clean. i think it's supposed to mean start over, but.. eh. i think it's silly.
but i do like these two:
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. ~William James
Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting. ~Christopher Morley
and with that, i bid you adieu. good morning, world, i am going to bed.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
by all things holy
..or just my disappointment, whichever -- either way, i have just received a crushing blow. after victoria burst my bubble (hah) and told me there isn't a new outlander book out, i decided to go look at the web site (http://www.its.caltech.edu/~gatti/gabaldon/) since i know she has one from previous searchings. i scroll down a bit, and i see this:
21 August 2007
(blah blah blah here)...
And in Book Seven News...
I still don't have a working title, but I do have a first line! (Well, quite a bit more than that, to be sure, but the fact that I now know where The Beginning is, is important.) Said first line being:
"The pirate's head had disappeared."
And if that tells you anything...more power to you!
GAHHHHH! this clearly means it is nowhere NEAR publication. which means MONTHS, possibly even a YEAR, until book 7 comes out.
sigh. i am crushed. i was so looking forward to another book, and i am close to being done with book 5 (yes, i know i reread them in backwards order, what with starting with 6. and now i may have to go read the others as well, since i clearly won't get any new ones right now. but there's no bree and roger and jemmy in those. :( i quite like them.)
on an odd? side, she had this up:
If any of you have wanted to see a physical representation of the Claire's wedding ring, now's your chance. "In 2006 Janice Millford (JaniceM) and Michelle Moore (M&M), of various Diana Gabaldon book discussion groups wanted a Claire's ring. We asked and received permission from Diana Gabaldon and took upon the task of having Claire's ring from the novel Outlander brought to life."
(in case that doesn't come out, the link is: http://www.ivmoores.com/claires_ring/claires_ring.htm)
i went to the link, and i have to say, i don't think so. that's terribly impractical for everyday life in the 1700s in scotland OR america. can you IMAGINE the gunk that would get caught in there? food, dirt, grime, filth, waste, and in her case, blood.. and with no defining way to get it out, ie, no spraying water. ew. that would be super gross. i am going to prefer to think of the design etched onto a silver ring instead of carved into. because really. that's just so impractical.
there is a new lord john book out, though. that can do in a pinch, i guess. :-/ i have read Lord John and the Private Matter.. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade is the newest one. hopefully it includes william, it'll be fun to see if he has any characteristics of jamie. and apparently Lord John and the Hand of the Devils ('a collection of three novellas') is to be published nov. 27. so i guess those are good. but it does definitively say "Untitled Book 7 of the Outlander series. There is no publication date at this time for this book." on the (only! grr) plus side, there are two excerpts from the book. better than nothing, i suppose!
::scampers off to read::
21 August 2007
(blah blah blah here)...
And in Book Seven News...
I still don't have a working title, but I do have a first line! (Well, quite a bit more than that, to be sure, but the fact that I now know where The Beginning is, is important.) Said first line being:
"The pirate's head had disappeared."
And if that tells you anything...more power to you!
GAHHHHH! this clearly means it is nowhere NEAR publication. which means MONTHS, possibly even a YEAR, until book 7 comes out.
sigh. i am crushed. i was so looking forward to another book, and i am close to being done with book 5 (yes, i know i reread them in backwards order, what with starting with 6. and now i may have to go read the others as well, since i clearly won't get any new ones right now. but there's no bree and roger and jemmy in those. :( i quite like them.)
on an odd? side, she had this up:
If any of you have wanted to see a physical representation of the Claire's wedding ring, now's your chance. "In 2006 Janice Millford (JaniceM) and Michelle Moore (M&M), of various Diana Gabaldon book discussion groups wanted a Claire's ring. We asked and received permission from Diana Gabaldon and took upon the task of having Claire's ring from the novel Outlander brought to life."
(in case that doesn't come out, the link is: http://www.ivmoores.com/claires_ring/claires_ring.htm)
i went to the link, and i have to say, i don't think so. that's terribly impractical for everyday life in the 1700s in scotland OR america. can you IMAGINE the gunk that would get caught in there? food, dirt, grime, filth, waste, and in her case, blood.. and with no defining way to get it out, ie, no spraying water. ew. that would be super gross. i am going to prefer to think of the design etched onto a silver ring instead of carved into. because really. that's just so impractical.
there is a new lord john book out, though. that can do in a pinch, i guess. :-/ i have read Lord John and the Private Matter.. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade is the newest one. hopefully it includes william, it'll be fun to see if he has any characteristics of jamie. and apparently Lord John and the Hand of the Devils ('a collection of three novellas') is to be published nov. 27. so i guess those are good. but it does definitively say "Untitled Book 7 of the Outlander series. There is no publication date at this time for this book." on the (only! grr) plus side, there are two excerpts from the book. better than nothing, i suppose!
::scampers off to read::
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
seas the day!
so. my cousin is writing a book, and i am totally riding her coattails to stardom and fame. or at least to money, haha. her book is totally going to be a bestseller, and i am totally cashing in on said success by being her editor. woot!
no but for real, she's a fantastic writer. and i am happy and proud to be her editor, and i am excited for the process. she's 20-30 pages in right now, and i think it's great already. i suppose i could be counted as biased, being her cousin and friend, but i don't think it's that. i really think it's good. i was wanting to read something the other day, and you know how when you want to read, you start searching through things you have that you can read and you feel a little thrill when you remember something new that's good that you have to read? and you get excited because you want to jump back into the story and find out what happens? i had that when i thought of her story. and then i felt crushing disappointment because i can't read it yet cause it's not done, but that's another matter, haha.
it's fun, though, reading her story and being part of the book-writing process. she sends it to me after she's written a few more pages and i read it and ask questions or comment or praise or whatever. right now we're just trying to make sure the plot meshes, is continuous and makes sense. i figure once she's finished writing it, i can fly out to arizona and we can go over the little grammar stuff together. hopefully by the time she's done writing i can afford to fly out there. she's next on my list of places to visit anyway; i've been wanting to go there for years and just can't afford it. so it would be swell to go there, see her, edit the book, see arizona, etc.
on an unrelated note, i am still stalled in ... life, i guess. the decision of nursing school is still hanging around, unmade. i have to admit that my heart's not really in it, and i suppose it should be. i am trying to figure out if it could be in it if i came up with a certain direction to go within said field as opposed to just the generic 'nursing.' i do still feel crappy about not making a difference in the world and/or helping people, but i dunno what to do. i feel like i'm sort of just wandering aimlessly in an abyss of nothingness. (i'm not sure how you'd wander purposefully in an abyss, but..)
i just feel.. unfulfilled. i am so tired of this stupid job. it's really sucking my soul into a big ugly black hole (no rhyme intended). and now this whole new software system is driving me bonkers. it's not so bad itself minus the occasional super slowness (the pace is often described as 'glacial' by one of my bosses), but everyone complaining about it is driving me nuts. as is the person who sits next to me, because he asks me the same questions over and over and over again. i am clearly more proficient at said new systems than him; i have been lucky enough to get it pretty easily. knowing that it hasn't been as easy for him, i don't mind helping him, but when he asks me how to do something i just explained to him the day before.... argh. i get mad. and he gets all cranky, because i keep telling him to take notes and being crabby at him. it's just irritating, because i learned by taking notes. every time i learned how to do something, i wrote it down. and then every day when i came to work, i pulled out my sheet of notes and would leave it on my desk for referrals until i felt i didn't need it anymore. but it's still in my desk drawer just in case. i have decided, i think, that i am not going to answer any more of the same questions. because i have told him to take notes like 7 times now. so i will be like, 'oh, i already told you how to do that. check your notes!' and then i will ignore him.
sigh.
on the plus side, my mom got me (and jon) this cute sign from cape cod that has a beach with a sand castle on it and it says "Seas the day!" and it makes me happy to look at it. (i took a picture of it and made it the background on my phone.)
anyway, i'm still at work and my break is up, so i will go do work-related things, i suppose.
(boooo)
but at least it's wednesday! woot for a half-over week.
no but for real, she's a fantastic writer. and i am happy and proud to be her editor, and i am excited for the process. she's 20-30 pages in right now, and i think it's great already. i suppose i could be counted as biased, being her cousin and friend, but i don't think it's that. i really think it's good. i was wanting to read something the other day, and you know how when you want to read, you start searching through things you have that you can read and you feel a little thrill when you remember something new that's good that you have to read? and you get excited because you want to jump back into the story and find out what happens? i had that when i thought of her story. and then i felt crushing disappointment because i can't read it yet cause it's not done, but that's another matter, haha.
it's fun, though, reading her story and being part of the book-writing process. she sends it to me after she's written a few more pages and i read it and ask questions or comment or praise or whatever. right now we're just trying to make sure the plot meshes, is continuous and makes sense. i figure once she's finished writing it, i can fly out to arizona and we can go over the little grammar stuff together. hopefully by the time she's done writing i can afford to fly out there. she's next on my list of places to visit anyway; i've been wanting to go there for years and just can't afford it. so it would be swell to go there, see her, edit the book, see arizona, etc.
on an unrelated note, i am still stalled in ... life, i guess. the decision of nursing school is still hanging around, unmade. i have to admit that my heart's not really in it, and i suppose it should be. i am trying to figure out if it could be in it if i came up with a certain direction to go within said field as opposed to just the generic 'nursing.' i do still feel crappy about not making a difference in the world and/or helping people, but i dunno what to do. i feel like i'm sort of just wandering aimlessly in an abyss of nothingness. (i'm not sure how you'd wander purposefully in an abyss, but..)
i just feel.. unfulfilled. i am so tired of this stupid job. it's really sucking my soul into a big ugly black hole (no rhyme intended). and now this whole new software system is driving me bonkers. it's not so bad itself minus the occasional super slowness (the pace is often described as 'glacial' by one of my bosses), but everyone complaining about it is driving me nuts. as is the person who sits next to me, because he asks me the same questions over and over and over again. i am clearly more proficient at said new systems than him; i have been lucky enough to get it pretty easily. knowing that it hasn't been as easy for him, i don't mind helping him, but when he asks me how to do something i just explained to him the day before.... argh. i get mad. and he gets all cranky, because i keep telling him to take notes and being crabby at him. it's just irritating, because i learned by taking notes. every time i learned how to do something, i wrote it down. and then every day when i came to work, i pulled out my sheet of notes and would leave it on my desk for referrals until i felt i didn't need it anymore. but it's still in my desk drawer just in case. i have decided, i think, that i am not going to answer any more of the same questions. because i have told him to take notes like 7 times now. so i will be like, 'oh, i already told you how to do that. check your notes!' and then i will ignore him.
sigh.
on the plus side, my mom got me (and jon) this cute sign from cape cod that has a beach with a sand castle on it and it says "Seas the day!" and it makes me happy to look at it. (i took a picture of it and made it the background on my phone.)
anyway, i'm still at work and my break is up, so i will go do work-related things, i suppose.
(boooo)
but at least it's wednesday! woot for a half-over week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
