Write On!

I found this test through Gumby's site and I have to agree with it, especially since (I'm not sure if I mentioned this before) I just finished writing a 50000 word rough draft of a novel in a month. . .

You Are An INFP

The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world. Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships. It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close. But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

What's Your Personality Type?

P.S.
I just printed out the novel and it was 72 pages long. . .YIKES. ..that is going to be a lot of editing.
Oh yeah, and wish Gumby luck, he is giving it a go!

Day 31. . .50,059!

Success is mine. 50,059 words! Woo-Hoo! I did it, of course it was a questionable thing a few days ago but I managed to pull it out of my ass and do it at the last minute. YEAH ME!
Things I learned from this:
1- I work good under pressure and deadlines are good for me
2- I can actually do it after having failed twice already
3- Writing 50,000 words in one month is so not as easy as it sounds
4- I can still be at least mildly creative

I am so happy that I did this little project. I really needed the boost of completing something difficult, yet creative and requiring thought. I think there might actually be some salvagable material in there too. I'll put it away for awhile then pull it out in a week or two and then I'll know for sure.

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement. If I had not of bragged about this little project and chronicled it here I am not sure if I would have actually finished it or not.

OH, and no giant magic talking owls or little people were injured in the creation of this document.

Metro or Homo?

Yesterday D. brought her little brother Nothing to lunch at Panera where he then proceeded to tell me that going to see Mama Mia was very metrosexual and not homosexual. I will concede that going to the Cirque du Soleil is pretty metro but I maintain that going to see Mama Mia is pretty darn Homo (nothing wrong with that btw! as we all know I am anyway and I do want to see Mama Mia). What do you all think?

Day 30

Just a short and sweet post today. I have 47006 words written today (I had a gang busters day with writing 7000 words today) so just under 3000 words tomorrow to go and I am done with this little experiment!

What Surprise. . .

I was eavesdropping on a conversation of some young 20 something girls today (yes I know that is a bad habit, but it is kind of fun listening in to what other people are talking about) and they were expressing surprise at Lance Bass being gay.

I'm surprised that more of them aren't gay!

Day 29

I had a very productive day yesterday. I wrote something like 8500 words. It was a veritable diareah of story telling. As of last night I was at 38050 with 11950 to go. I really do think I can get this done especially since I am off work again tomorrow. I just need to get about 2000 words done today and that leaves me with just 10000 left to go in two days. Tough, but doable. . .

Hot Stuff Saturday

Look, it is my body double. . .

Just Not Fair

I read C4u's post about the mother trying to make something "fair" for her daughter. It reminded me of the other day at work when one of the myriad of screaming children who go through there every day started crying about how something "Just Wasn't Fair!" (and yes she did scream in capital letters). I just wanted to laugh and tell her to get used to it Princess. There is no Prince Charming on his white horse coming to rescue you. The drangons outnumber the Knights and the Evil Witches are more successul than the Good Witches. I hope somebody does tell her that she better learn to take care of herself and grab any opportunity that she can grab because nobody will take care of her as good as she can take care of herself.

That was when I realized just how bitter and jaded I was. When did I give up hope about Prince Charming coming to take me off into the sunset?

Oh yeah, when I finally realized that Mom was right and there are no fairy tales and life really isn't fair.

Alternate Reality

Wizard 40% Combativeness, 43% Sneakiness, 76% Intellect, 47% Spirituality

Brilliant! You are a Wizard! Wizards are spells-casters who study powerful arcane magic. While Wizards tend to be pretty fragile, some of those spells can pack quite a punch. Unlike Clerics, Wizards aren’t as good at fixing people as they are at breaking them, so watch where you toss that fireball… Your most distinctive trait is your intelligence. You're probably well learned and logical, if perhaps a bit fragile.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 56% on Combativeness You scored higher than 63% on Sneakiness You scored higher than 42% on Intellect You scored higher than 42% on Spirituality

Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Last Picture Show

I just got around to reading yesterday's newspaper and I just found out that the Memphis Drive In Theatre is closing. All I could think of was "Damn, that really sucks." Mind you I have not been to the Drive-In in years, but that place plays an integral part of my childhood. I spent many summer nights there with my family. We would get there early and I would be in my pajamas as my Mom took me to the little playground where I would run around like a little maniac before the movie started in my little Winnie the Pooh footie jammies. We'd make a quick pit stop at the concession area and I would go to the bathroom before heading back to the car where my brother would torment me trough the previews then I would promptly fall asleep when the actual movie started.
On Saturday mornings I would accompany my parents to the giagantic flea market that gets held there every weekend. We would spend the whole afternoon rooting around through the various stalls looking for who knows what. I always loved the used book seller. I would usually be allowed to get four or five books for a buck, always a great find.
Now progress is on the way and it royally sucks. I have one summer left to get my butt to the Drive-In before they rip it up and put in some God aweful big box piece of crap. So D. we have to get there before they rip it up.

What About The Other Half

So the Senate approved the bill making it illegal to take a minor across state lines to get an abortion. My question is where is the legislation to give the funding to assure that these girls don't get pregnant in the first place? Fine, you don't want them getting an abortion without their parents knowledge or consent so are you going to provide A)the education necessary and B) the tools necessary (condoms, diaprhagms, the pill, etc) to assure that pregnancy does not occur. I don't even want to hear about that crap abstinence only education. It is obviously not working or the Senate would not have needed to pass this legislation now would they?
Of course I forgot, to actually educate and equip our young people to avoid getting pregnant and thereby not having an abortion would be immoral because NOBODY in the Senate has had sex just to have sex. . .of course not! That would be as ridiculous as Newt Gingrich screwing a congressional aid while still married. . .Ooops! Okay, how about as silly as Rush Limbaugh abusing drugs. . .damn that one doesn't work either.

Express Lane

I have a lot of issues and I totally realize this. One of them came to a head this morning at Target. I stopped by to pick up my 8 items that I needed then I proceeded to the checkout counter where the light was on in the express lane for 10 items or less. I counted my items and had 8 plust I knew I would pick up a pack of gun to make 9 items. That would be well under the limit of 10. Like a bat out of hell some woman nearly rammed me with her cart to beat me in line at the checkout. I had seen this woman earlier in the store and I did not think she had it in her to move that fast, especially as I had noticed her walking extremely slowly down an aisle and blocking everyone else from moving by. It must be her super power to only go fast to beat other people into line.
The part that bugged me was what she said to the cashier. "I have 11 items, you aren't going to kick me out of line are you?" she practically sneered at the the poor young kid running the cashier register. I just wanted to scream at the top of my lungs "Yes, you hag, the sign says 10 items. Not 11! Get your ass over to the other registers!" I realize it is only one item and really makes no difference to the world or even my life, but damn that bugs me. 10 means 10 the same as No means No.
I had to go to Starbucks right after to treat myself to a carmel macchiato just to wind down.

Oh Really?

I am getting really sick of hearing how gay marriage and allowing homos and lesbians will undermine society and result in a massive wave of new recruited homosexuals. All I have to say to that is if all it takes to be gay is to be raised by a gay person then there should be no such thing as homosexuality. After all almost every single one of us was brougt about because of the union of two heterosexuals. I was raised in a household with two heterosexual parents. Going by the previous theory I should therefor be straight because I was raised by heterosexuals. It would be so much easier if these people would just come straight out and say "I hate those people and I think they are less than me," then at least they would be truthful bigots instead of hiding their hatred behind useless smoke screens that anyone can see through. I don't care if you hate me because of who I am, I probably wouldn't like you that much either if you felt that way so we would be even but I would never presume to intrude on your life and tell you how to lead it so back the f*ck out of mine.

Cat Nap

I was reading this months issue of Wired magazine and I finally found something in there that I could put to immediate use. They had a little mini blurb on how to take the perfect cat nap. Now I love to nap and Lord knows I usually stay up too late doing stupid stuff so I decided to put their little perfect cat nap to the test this afternoon.
The method: Drink a cup of coffee right before you go to lay down and relax. Evidently it takes 15-20 minutes for the caffeine to work it's way through your system. Next lay down and close your eyes for only fifteen minutes and relax. By the time you get back up the caffeine should be going through your system and you should be nice and refreshed.
The Results: Surprisingly good. I was exhausted this morning after meeting someone last night for coffee and having about eight cups. Add to that the dog going into freak out mode last night and waking me up every two hours going crazy barking and that does not make for a happy VinnieG at six in the morning. The fifteen minute break really refreshed me to the point that I wasn't a total dick for the remainder of the day at work. I'm lovin me some of that fifteen minute cat nap.

Day 24

Okay, I have come to the realization that I am way behind, but I am not going to sweat my drastic lack of words at this point. I still have two days off before the end of the month and I have just passed 30,000 words. This is how I hope to complete my word count. Tonight, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I will try to get my grand total to as close to 40,000 words as I can. That means I would just have to try to pound out 5,000 words a day on each of my days off to hit my 50,000 word count goal. I think this is doable. I am bound a determined to hit that damn 50,000 word count before the end of the day on the 31st come hell or high water. I have made it too damn far to give up now!

Permission

I saw this video on naked city boys
and it really struck a chord.



Ok, so I don't even have a boyfriend, but it would be nice to know that if I eventually find him we can do more than be roomies.

Chad Vader

This was actually brought to my attention by my boss. . .check out Chad Vader Day Shift Manager. Funny stuff.

Day 22

And I am so behind it is not even funny. I only have 28368 words written and I should be at 35486. Damn, I hope my good old buddy stress procrastination kicks and and gives me that adrenaline boost I need to make it. I would really like to hit the 50000 word mark by the 31st just to know that I can do it. To answer a few questions though, I am doing this in July instead of the standard November because I work in a retail environment and I go to school so November is a complete mad house month for me. I decided to do July because I really had nothing else going on and figured it would be a fun thing to do. Turns out it is a stressful thing to do, but still fun. Wish me luck Ya'll!

Ride em Cowboy

Hot stuff Saturday goes Brokeback for a moment for a delightful view of some ranch hands.

DateLine

Gumby, from You Can't Handle the Truthiness, and I have been threatening to share with each other horror stories of our dating lives and exboyfriends. I would just like to get that little ball rolling by sharing a little list of dating faux pas, all of which occured on my date last night.

1. Do not spend fifteen minutes on your cell phone talking to another man while at the restaurant.


2. Do not be rude to the waitress and say things rather loudly like "Where the fuck is that waitress".


3. Do not repeatedly check out the ass (no matter how hot it is) of the 18 year old busboy and then loudly proclaim just how hot said ass is to the person you are dining with.


4. Do not enquire of the person you are dining with if he thinks every random hot guy in the restaurant is gay or not. Newsflash: There are hot straight guys.


5. Do not grab your dates crotch and say "I can't wait to get a look at your wiener". At least that happened in the car and not in the restaurant.


6. Do not refer to penises (what is the plural of penis anyway?) as wieners (unless you are actually fourteen years old)


7. Don't stick your tongue all the way down the other persons throat during a polite kiss goodnight.


8. Don't brag about how everywhere you go guys always flirt with you.

On the upside he did pay for dinner.

In Other News

A female police officer in Auckland New Zealand was censured for being a prostitute for a short period of time last year. It seems that first off she did not go through the proper procedures to have her secondary job approved. A spokesperson did say that prostitution was not a job that would be approved as a secondary job for an officer. She was not fired because prostitution is legal in New Zealand. She basically got her hand slapped. So what was she working towards? Well according to a rep for the prostitutes collective on a busy night a prostitute could make up to $312 American. Now is it just me or does that seem a little bit low? A busy night? How many customers does one need to have to make that much (500 NZ dollars)? It seems to me if I was going to prostitute myself I would want to make a hell of a lot more than that on a busy night!

reuters

Travelin' Thru

I just finished watching Trans America and I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it. I was expecting something really dull and dreary but it was actually quite humorous. Felicitly Huffman was incredibly as a woman playing a man trying to be a woman. She was actually really funny too. I just have to say too that Dolly Parton is an amazing woman for doing that song for the movie. Country music is not really know for being queer friendly but she still stood up and did it. Bet you a dollar you will never see Tim and Faith or either of the Keiths or, heck, even Kenny Chesney doing music for a movie like this. Of course Dolly Parton has a much better gay sensibility than I can ever hope to have, but that is another whole topic entirely.

P.S.
Why do they have Felicity as a woman on the cover of the box? Doesn't that seem sort of sell out-esque?

Ain't It The Truth

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Slacky McSlackster. . .

. . .should be my new nickname. What have I written in the past two days? Nothing. Not one single word added to my NaNOWriMo novel. I now have about 11 days to write 27,000 words.

SHIT!

Quote of the Day

made by D. last night at the Orchestra concert

"I want to go check out the pee trough. . ."

The worst part (aside from screaming babies) of going to Blossom is the pee trough. Someone decided back in 1968 when the place was built that it would be a great idea to have a big long trough in the men's room where you just kind of squeeze in and go. It is absolutely disgusting! For the orchestra concerts it isn't too horrible, but at any other concert when you have drunk idiots there it is the most vile thing to first have to wade through a veritable lake of urine to reach the trough then try to go while being jostled by more drunken idiots trying to get in to do their business. On top of it all the water trickling down the sides of the metal trough is never on high enough so you can just imagine how gross it gets in there.

Why in the world they did not redo those restrooms a few years ago when they renovated I'll never know. Of course D. did not believe me when I related to her the horror of the men's room at first but gradually she began to believe after seeing the look of revulsion on my face as I described it to her.

Oh, and her quote was made as two very fine specimens of manhood were making their way to the restroom.

Lazy Sunday Pt 2

Well D. and I are back from a sunday evening at the orchestra. As usual they did a fantastic job. The highlight was Mozart's Requiem which I have never heard live before. Wonderful job. And of course since I drove D. packed the picnic. Man can that girl cook. We had a fantastic creamy arichoke heart dip, albacore tuna salad with a lemony/vinagery dressing and the best lentil salad ever. For desert she fresh fruit with a yogurt and whipped cream dip. Yummy!

The down side?

Kids.
(and this part goes out to those parents who are lazy, selfish, and irresponsible)

Is there no place where I can escape other people's children. I mean c'mon wasn't it bad enought that there was a baby yesterday in the theatre at Superman (yes, a baby, as in under a year old) but then I have to deal with a pack of 6-8 screaming kids at Blossom? For those you who don't know the Cleveland Orchestra has their summer home at Blossom Music Center which is an outdoor venue. The pavilion sits at the bottom of a natural bowl shaped valley then the whole hill in front you can sit outside and picnic and drink wine and listen to the orchestra. For some reason a group of idiotic parents thought that this would be a great place to bring their pre-schoolers.

Now I don't blame the kids for having a good time running around the lawn and screaming and laughing at all. They were just being kids. I blame the stupid, lazy, selfish parents who let these kids do that DURING the concert! Oh yes, their little yells, squeals, and laughs echoed right up from the bottom of the hill to the very top THE WHOLE CONCERT! What is wrong with people? The zoo, DisneyWorld, waterparks these are all great places to take your hyperactive kids. The Cleveland Orchestra (one of the premier orchestras in the world) not a good place to take those same kids. For crying out loud can't an adult with no children find ANYWHERE to enjoy themselves without others inflicting their children on you? Sure, your kids are cute. . .TOO YOU! To me they are just irritating. If your kid can't behave and stay quiet then leave and let those of us who are at an adult type venue enjoy ourselves without the burden of your children. Get a sitter or go to an age appropriate venue for your child. The whole world does not need to be kid friendly and cater to your children just because you made that choice to have children.

To those parents who actually parent and make wise decisions and have well behaved children in public. . .thank you, I wish there were more of you out there.

Day 16

To be on pace I am supposed to be at 25800 words by the end of today. I have been playing catch up but I am only at 23712. I have to do about 2100 words to catch up. Ugh, I could shoot myself for getting so far behind. Oh well, just gotta keep on plugging on. Now that the second week has finally ended the third week is going much better. I actually have somewhat of a plot finally after writing two weeks worth of expostition!

Well, only 26288 words left to go and fourteen days to do it.

Lazy Sunday

Tonight D. and I are going to see the Cleveland Orchestra. One of the few benefits of living in Cleveland is the Cleveland Orchestra. How awesome is it that for 20$ I can go see a world class orchestra at an outdoor venue? Luckily D. is doing the cooking for the picnic. For some reason she is totally opposed to my idea of a bucket of chicken. Another awesome thing about Blossom (the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra) is that bottles are allowed for their concerts so a nice bottle of wine, great weather, and D.'s awesome cooking. That makes for a great lazy Sunday night listnening to the orchestra.

Hot Stuff Saturday

MMMM, pretty!

Super Future Ex-Husband

Oh wow, D. and I just got back from seeing Superman and all I have to say is WOW. They could have just put Brandon Routh and James Mardsen up on the screen shirtless reciting the dictionary and I would have been totally mesmerized! I still think James is super sexy as Cyclops, but damn, the man is fine even without the visor! But the new Superman. . .Ay caramba! That man is hot, hot, hot! Okay, so he can't really act but who cares! All he has to do is stand there and look pretty. I do have to agree with D. though, they really needed to "accidentally" rip Superman's costume a bit just to show him off. So I would now like to add this hunky man to my ever growing list of future ex-husbands.

New Word

I love new words and phrases especially when they are very fitting. I was reading The Week today (great magazine, a sort of Readers Digest version of new instead of recipes) and they had the newest entries for the Merriman Webster Collegiate dictionary. My absolute favorite one was

Mouse Potato- a person who spends all their free time on their computer.

Love it!

Stay to the Right

And I'm not talking politics. . .I'm talking drivers. This happened to me on Wednesday. I was on my way to work in the morning running late as usual. I was going at a good speed down the highway in the left hand lane when I came up on a car in front of me going, get this, 50 miles an hour in the FAST lane. There were no cars in front of her and there are no left hand exits on that highway. I end up getting stuck behind here for a good fifteen minutes while everybody passes on the right. I finally get a chance and I go around her and guess what she was doing? Yup, she was on her freaking cell phone. First of all if you are in the left hand lane you had better be going at LEAST the speed limit and not 10 m.p.h. under it. Second:

GET OFF THE CELL PHONE AND DRIVE!

Diversion

So instead of writing I have been perusing YouTube.com and I have been watching music videos. I completely forgot all about this band until I came across them again and I loved this song. I hadn't seen the video before but these guys are freaking hysterical. . .so for your flashback viewing pleasure I present Reel Big Fish's video for She Has A Girlfriend Now.

Day 13 Pt 2

Well, I'm still a little bit behind, but I did get some catching up done. . . I am now only about a day and a half behind instead of two full days so that really isn't so bad. If I can just add and extra 500 words to the next three or four days then I will be right back on track. The book sure wasn't kidding when it said week two would be hell. I've been tempted twice to give up and three or four times to start fresh, but I'm not going to do it. I will keep plugging away at this. So the final word count for day 13 comes to 19208 done with 30792 left to go.

Crime and Porn

Two inmates in Indiana are suing because of a new prison rule that forbids them to get their nudie magazines. OH, how sad. . .NOT. I'm just thinking that maybe if you didn't, Oh I don't know, KILL someone like both of them did then they would have all the access to their porno that they could afford. Should we feel bad that they can't get this months Hustler or even Easy Rider? No, I don't feel bad at all. In fact I think they should be relegated to only reading Jane Austen novels. . .Hey it is prison. . .it is supposed to be punishment.

Day 13 Pt 1

I am so far behind on my word count right now it isn't funny. In order to catch back up with my word count and be current I need to add 4796 words. It is my own fault though, last night I only added about three hunderd words and then I started to read a new book I bought yesterday. If you know me you know what that means. Essentially I could get nothing else done until I finished reading that damn book, which I did at an unGodly hour this morning. So now I have a caffeine headache because I did not have a cup of coffee until 12:30 in the afternoon (a good seven hours past my usual time for a cup of coffee) and I have to write almost five thousand words by midnight. . .wish me luck!

Neck Tech

Why do people feel the need to wear their technology around their necks? I thought that those lanyards that college kids kept their keys on were bad enough. Who would trust someone who couldn't keep track of their keys? Now people are putting everything on lanyards around their necks.
No, your flash drive is not a fashion accessory even though you can get them in colors to match your shoes. Any why in the world would a person wear a cell phone on a chain around their neck? I saw three people with those today. It is insane. The only exception to this rule that I'll make is that it is acceptable to wear an ipod on a lanyard but ONLY during the actually activity of exercising. Other than that keep your tech in your briefcase/ pocket/ bag/ or wherever, but not around your neck.

This may be the trend that finally sends Kenneth Blackwell over the edge.

Ah The Memories

That this song brings back from college. . .

Day 11

Well, on day number 11 I have managed to catch up with day number 10's goal of 17178 down and only 32822 left to go. So I am going to have to do some major catching up on my day off on Thursday. Although I am only one day behind so that isn't all that bad compared to my other previous tries.
I would also like to remind those of you asking to see samples that the whole point of this is to puke out 50000 words in only thirty days. It may not sound bad, but it is tough as hell. Sometimes you have to resort to sentences like this to hit the count

"It really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really hurt."

There is also the trick of the dream sequence which I may just have to employ in order to catch up on that last day, either that or someone will develop a stuttering problem!

Hi!

It is such a simple word, Hi. It is one syllable and quick and easy to say. It is one of the first words many of us say and we use it over and over and over as kids. So why is it so damn hard to get a simple hi back from people? I swear today half the people who came in could not be bothered to respond back with a simple hi. If I had dared to do that growing up my parents would have been right in my face asking me if A)I understood and B)What is the appropriate response to a question? Is it because I happen to be slinging their coffee that they feel I do not need a simple Hi or hello back? Let me fill ya'll in on something. . .if you would like good service all you have to do is be nice. That's it. Don't ignore the person who is trying to assist you to talk on your cell phone, respond when asked a question, and use manners. This is not hard stuff, it should have been ingrained since childhood. Gay Marriage isn't what is ruining this country, it is a simple lack of manners that is. . .okay that and W. but that is another issue entirely.

Whew!

I checked my email this morning and found out that on Tuesday I'd be the featured bestest blog of the day. Cool, I thought. . .I'll come up with a great blog entry today and then have plenty of time to hit my word count on the Na-No-Wri-Mo. Alas, it was not meant to be. First of all I completely forgot tonight was my friend Tracy's birthday dinner. Not just any Birtday dinner, but the first birthday she has ever celebrated in (mumble mumble) years (the whole Jehovah's Witness thing). Obviously could not blow that off (cause that would have just been crappy of me and Melinda would have killed me). Okay, no problem, I'd have plenty of time after work and before dinner to be creative.

Yeah, no.

Turns out I got stuck late at work and barely had time to shower before heading right out to dinner. I'm home now (obviously) and I should have been in bed an hour ago and I have absolutely nothing creative to say and I only added 450 words to my book in progress. Well, it was worth it. I really needed a night out with friends away from the glow of my laptop plus I got to meet Tracy's boyfriend or psuedo boyfriend or whatever the hell is going on with those two (and he is a cutie pie). So I'm a bit behind, I can catch up tomorrow and besides, just read all my other posts to find out how. . .ahem. . .creative I am (and no heckling from the peanut gallery ya'll). So thanks for the bestest blog of the day designation and I will do my best to uphold the honor, but if I should fail I know my runner up is just waiting to steal that damn tiara off my head.

P.s.
Happy Birthday Tracy! Hope you had fun, I know I did and great choice of restaurant Melinda. You were right D., the food was fantastic

Day 9

Finally caught up with day 9. . .15468 done and 34532 left to go. I didn't post an update about day 8 because I totally slacked on that one. I woke up late and only got about 400 or so words written then I had to go in and work the night shift so I had to finish yesterday's word count and then do today's. The story is actually starting to show a glimmer of being interesting now, I'm just wondering if there will be anything worth salvaging at the end of this. Even if there isn't, this is still a great experience.

From The Sack It Or Whack It Files

comes this little gem. . .

High Society

Anybody who wants to tell me that Cleveland has a very active social circle and is really up and coming I will laugh at them and pull out the proof from Cleveland's own newspaper the PeeDee. In the Sunday "society" section (which emcompasses one page of pictures) this Sunday one of the four featured events was the preview of Flex Cleveland a "men-only hotel and spa club" Yeah, a bath house. Granted it is a very fancy bath house and probably a bit more upscale than the average (Okay, I'm a prude, I've never been in one so I really don't know) and it is the largest, but really. . .in the society section? On the one hand YEAH diversity, but on the other the diversity that they are showing is, well, a bath house. Where were the pictures from the HRC dinner and talk or a bunch of other events like that. No, we get our little piece of the pie when a bath house opens.
Anyway the point of this is that one of the highlights of Cleveland social life is the opening of Bath House, God I have to get out of this town.

Ain't That Right. . .

Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"

You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love. You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!) Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Well, except maybe for that hard to get part. . .hard to keep thought, definitely.

Xmas in July

And can you guess what I want under my tree?

Day 7

Whew, just barely made my word count today with only twenty minutes left to go. That is what i get for finishing reading a book before getting cracking on hitting my word count tonight. It is amazing the things you can find to do to procrastinate. Last night i was searching through Youtube.com to watch crazy Japanese music videos before finishing my word count for the day. Oh well, I just gotta keep on cracking at it! Oh yeah, I have 12350 done with 37641 to go. It does feel great to see that latter number shrink as the first number grows. The writing may be absoulute shit, but the sense of accomplishment is not so bad.

Dreaming

I really hate pee dreams. You know when you are dead asleep and you have to pee so instead of your body jolting awake you instead dream about water. I absolutely hate that. Especially when you are just completely wiped out dead tired and you keep dreaming that you are peeing, but there is never any relief because you are so damned tired that your body can't separate reality from the dream. It gets even worse when the dream starts to include waterfalls and rainstorms and rivers all flowing through the bathroom. Could my unconscious mind be any less subtle?

Geek Alert

Oh man I am so psyched up for this. . .but I have a whole freaking year to wait. Oh yes, the Transformers movie comes out 7.4.7! I used to love those things. My favorite ones were the cassette tapes that would transform into these little leopard things. I also remember my brother and his girlfriend taking me to go see the Transformers movie when I was like 10 or something like that. Well since my neice has inherited my love of Transformers (she now has all my old ones too thanks to my mother not throwing away any or our old toys) I think this would make a great excursion for us. You can see a mini trailer here.

Day 6

Day 6 done. ..10364 done with only 39636 words left to go. So it turns out that my protagonist is a werewolf. . . HUH, who knew? Well, D. probably guessed that it would be that or a vampire, or a unicorn, or some sort of something or other mystical like that. No huge talking owls yet though D., but there is still 40000 words left to go so who knows!

Cappuccino

A letter to that lady who always bitches about her cappuccino:

I would like to discuss with you today about what, exactly, a cappuccino is. I went to Wikipedia and this is their definition

Cappuccino is an Italian beverage, prepared with espresso and milk. A cappuccino is generally defined as 1/3 espresso, 1/3 steamed milk and 1/3 frothed milk.


So, why am I sharing this with you? A couple of reasons. The first is when you go to McDonalds and order a cappuccino that cup of processed chemicals that they give you is most definitely NOT a cappuccino. Also when you pick up the cup I don't want to hear "What? Why is my cup empty? Can't you fill it up?" If you didn't want all that foam then don't order a cappuccino. I get so sick of hearing you complain about cappuccinos because of McDonalds or BP. Here is a little clue that maybe, just maybe, I have a bit more of a clue about what a cappuccino is and that, yes, I did make that damn drink right. It is the fact that you are in a Damn COFFEE SHOP and not a gas station dumbass. If you really think that the definition of what a drink is would be based on what you get a gas station then go back to your trailer and watch Judge Judy and leave me the hell alone.

Day Five

Has been a rough one. . .I still have 500 words left to go and no energy to do it. . .ah well, must persevere. . .I have a feeling I may have to cheat a bit on the last 500 words today and repeat the word very a lot. Hopefully this isn't the week two doldrums starting two days early!

Hover Round

Before meeting D. for dinner tonight at Panera (they have free hi speed wireless so it is a favorite destination of ours) I had to stop at Super-K for a few essentials (okay, Jergens Natural Glow which, yes, I do consider an essential so shut up) when I saw a disturbing sight. There were not one or two, but many extremely large people in those motorized scooter thingies. Okay, I can understand thyroid or hypothalamus problems or whatever but then I started looking in their carts. One woman had a box of Little Debbie Snack Cakes, Ho-Ho's, Pop Tarts, Spam (does anyone actually eat that crap?), a National Enquirer and Diet Coke. Wow, good thing she was drinking Diet! I'm sure that really helps. I don't get it. If she was really all that concerned maybe she would make a few more informed eating choices or, maybe, I don't know, actually walk.

But no, her sole concession to being "healthy" was drinking a Diet Coke. I knew there was a reason I normally go to Target. . .

The Devil Wears Prada

I have to admit that I did read the book and it was horrible. The only book I can think of that I hated more (at least in that same genre) would be the Nanny Diaries. Luckily the movie was so much better than the book (which is so seldom the case). I love Meryl Streep and I think that she did an absolutely fantastic job as the evil Miranda Priestly. I do have to agree with someone (and I apologize for forgetting which blogger originally said this that I read) but Emily Blunt really did steal all the scenes that she was in as Miranda's first assistant. It was also good to see Anne Hathaway actually act and not have to resort to showing her breasts to prove that she is all grown up.
Of course my employees are all a bit confused as to why I am calling them all Emily and asking for a table at that restaurant that I ate at that one time (and where is that paper I had in my hand last week) but what can you expect? It is so hard to find good help these days. . .

Day four done! Whew, 7107 down and 42893 to go. I can definitely tell that the dreaded evil week two is right around the corner. I still have that adrenaline rush telling me to go, go, go and yet my brain keeps thinking of other things to do. . .such as laundry. Bad brain, stop thinking!

This is What I'm Talking About

When I say that stupid parents need to be taxed more. I found this video at Weighing In Without the Cookies (stop by sometime, there is always something interesting to read about) and C4u was wondering WTF? (well maybe not those words exactly, but you get the point). Why in the world does this child have a computer with Internet access and a Web cam in his room? Never mind about the song, I mean we all snuck stuff into our rooms that our parents had forbidden (okay, so I as a total geek and gave my brother money to buy a book my mother had forbidden me to read, but you get the point). The thing that ticks me off is that he has access to not only all the good info on the Web but all the craziness and what not going on out there.
This relates directly to an article that I read in this month's Wired magazine. Somebody wrote in to the advice column and actual asked "I'm worried about what my teenager is doing online. Should I monitor his surfing?"
Well, duh! If you have to ask then you probably should be. The columnist does give very good advice saying that most definitely a parent should monitor the child's Internet activity for a variety of reasons. The most important was that "in a teenage brain, impulse control is still under construction." Which means that the parent has to be on gaurd to keep a kid from doing massively stupid shit. A good way to do that would be to move that kid's computer into the family room. Take a look at this vid and then decide for yourself.

Day 3

Day 3 down and out of the way with 5350 done and 44650 to go. Today started to get a bit on the hectic side. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to have the stamina to do it, but I did take a quick break and went for a bike ride to clear my head and to give my wrists a break. That was just what the Dr. ordered. I came back and blew out the words that I needed (with no cheating this time by repeating very six or ten times) and an extra hundred words added onto that.

Jersey Blues

With the state of New Jersey in a budget crisis and closing down I don't understand why they would close the casinos. Okay, I get the fact that it is really a scare tactic to get somebody to cave and vote for a budget that somebody else really wants. My whole thing though is the casinos bring in 2 million dollars a day. That's right, 2 million American dollars a day. Not to mention the money from tourists spending in other venues. . .don't you think that the casinos would be the one thing to stay open seeing as how they are probably the one mainstay of the N.J. budget?

Day 2

Well day two is done and over with finally. Today's word count 3549, 46451 to go!

I'm finding that in order to hit my daily word count I am getting quite creative in the use of adjectives. Pretty much it goes like this. . .the more adjectives I can find to use to describe something the better off I am. It is still fun, although it is the first week. The excitement is still there and the adrenaline is buzzing. We'll see how much fun I think this is when I hit week two (which according to the book is supposed to suck hard so I'm really trying to get a jump on the whole word count issue).

Day One

Day 1 of my own personal Na No Wri Mo is done. 1816 words down and only 48184 to go. . .woo hoo!

July 1st

Here it is July 1st so here is my goal for July. To write 50,000 words of a novel in 31 days. Have any of you tried the Na-No-Wri-Mo? This is my third time trying it (the first two times were horrible tragedies). If anyone is interseted you can check out the book or the website. Trust me, it is a hell of a lot harder than it sounds. So far I'm at 1158. . .only about 550 words to go for today.

Hot Stuff Saturday: Celeb Edition

Okay, so Eric Balfour is probably not even a B list celeb, but damn this man is spicy hot! I remember him from the first season of Six Feet Under (the few episodes that I caught) and lately there has been an explosion of stuff about him on the Web and in blogs. . .when you see these pics it is no wonder! He has that whole deliciously evil look going on.