Wednesday, October 31, 2012

NANOWRIMO!

Are you ready???? For:


It starts tomorrow! I am so excited. I have to admit that this year, due to the fact that last year I felt a little rushed and a little lost and he was here for only two more weeks before leaving again! I wrote a whole bunch of crap that I eventually had to cut out of that novel. It was very unfocused. And perhaps one can argue that this always happens with first drafts, that I shouldn't sweat it, etc.

It's not so much a question of sweating it. It's more the fact that I discovered, in writing cold last year (my first NaNoWriMo), that I am an OP.



According to James Scott Bell, there are two types of writers: NOPs (no outline people) and OPs (outline people). I thought I was a NOP. I was convinced that I was the free-wheeling type, just letting my imagination take me where it will. There something bad about that, though. Because left to its own devices, my imagination loves nothing better than describing settings and people in exuciating details. Pages and pages. That, and edifying the reader as to the back story of every single character from the minor to the main, from the time they were both until they show up on the page. No good.

So I have an outline. Overall structure, chapter line summaries, chapter full summaries. I also wanted to get into outlining setting details and character detail in full (but in point form) so that while writing that first draft, and I can go and pull certain details (but not all) and cut down on the heavy handed description. Is that cheating?

Well it matters not since I didn't get around to it in time anyways. Oh well! The novel's first draft has the difficult job of being absolute crap.

But I feel good about the upcoming month. The novel is the first in a series, and yes, that fantasy series that I have been needing to write, been writing my entire life (well, ok...22 years). Here's some fun! Visualization is fun!

There is a regional group in this town that is meeting up several times for NaNoWriMo. But I am scared. Not only of social interaction with new people in general, but about showing this, my most important work, to total strangers.

So today is Halloween and I have the candy waiting by th door already. It's not even 3 p.m., the kiddies won't even be home from school yet. Still I am nervous/excited. I wish he was here. It is lonely doing this.......alone. Um, yeah.

Anyways let me know if you are doing NaNoWriMo and maybe you could find me on that website and be my "writing buddy"! Cause I have none so far. Boo Hoo. :P

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

More Adventures in the Prairie Wilds

What a long day it was yesterday. It was about 13.5 hours from the time I got up to the time I got home and was able to actually sit down.

First I had a day of substituting for the Hutterites again. It had been raining all night -- and although I didn't get lost for the first time (these folks really do not want to be found, I swear), when I turned down that long dirt road that had turned to mud, my car started slowing down. And then I got stuck completely. I made the mistake of getting out of the car, although it did prove to me that the wheel wells were completely encrusted. I did get the car out of the muda moment later, but it took turning off the automatic stabilization. Then the driving looked a little like:



With a lot of wrenching the wheel back and forth on the inside of the car. When I got there, I was muddy and shaken. It was probably the most stressful driving I've ever done. Fortunately, there is another way back into town that is all gravel roads! I'd never thought I'd be happy to see a gravel road! Woot.

Other things:

-good thing I went to Catholic school as a kid, since they don't have an intercom system in their two-classroom school. I had to lead them in not only singing the national anthem (I can't believe I remembered the words!) but also in the our father. The same version I learnt as a kid. Despite atheist shutterings,  having ex-nuns for teachers back in the day was good for something.
-At lunch time the other teachers informed me that half way through, two of the girls would bring some soup to the staff room for us. What with having an extended family who, on my mother's side, are of German descent and all, I was expecting some sort of hearty beefy stewy egg noodley rustic dish. What we actually got -- apparently called Canadle (that's what the name sounded like), was like cup of soup. Miniscule dough balls that were the noodles, complete with bright yellow broth (when has real chicken broth ever looked that way?) and tons and tons and tons of salt. And a lemon meringue pie that was grey.

Okay I'm spend.

Monday, October 22, 2012

My Favourite Holiday

So Halloween is coming up and I love it. I can't wait. I won't tell you what my costume is yet, because it's a surprise. Always a surprise.

So the good news is that I might be able to help out with the planificationisms of the party being thrown by my significant other's (such an awkward title) ....professional organization. Yay! Haunted House set up my favourites!

Look at all this halloweeny stuff!!!!

On the weekend I slacked off of exercise and diet. Oops. Oh well back on the horse this morning. I have some substituting work this week, some tutoring. I'm going grocery shopping today.

Man what a boring entry. Probably go do some writing now. Not much else to say at the mo, I suppose. Later.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Day 6

I got so sick last night. Randomly sick. I was having a sweets craving and so I made myself a little microwave cake with quinoa flour. I don't know if it was a bad batch of flour or the microwave or what...but I got really sick to my stomach. The pain of which seemed to accentuate the fact that every single one of my muscles hurt.

I'm on Day 6 of the The 30 Day Shred.


My shoudlers hurt. I think I did two days of bad form reverse curls, and so my lower back hurt. I just hurt all over. But I did it again this morning. Argh the punishment. I have been losing a few inches here and there, however. So I suppose I should keep going.

And throw out that quinoa flour. In the throes of nausea I seemed to remember this happening the last time I used it...

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Mani

I was just reading a couple of my previous posts on here and realized that I tend to muck up my verb tenses and pluralizationisms. Call it fatigue.

Anyways today I thought I'd write about nail polish. Woot. It's a rainy day and cold, and other than some transcription I have no work. Poop. So I painted my nails.

Recently I stumbled across some China Glaze nail polish in Winners (T.J. Maxx if you're American -- more or less best store ever) that was 3 for $10. I've actually never seen China Glaze sold in Canadian stores. Or maybe I've never noticed. There were a bunch of three packs with weirdo colours, but here's the one I got:


So it's three metallics: gold, silver, and this bronze-y one. And they are crackle polish. Now, I realize that the trend itself is like, so over or whatever. But I've never tried them and always have wanted to. But I could never justify paying $14 in walmart or sephora for a single bottle.

You have to have a second colour on the bottom for the things to work. So the first combination I tried was this midnight blue called Pier 17 from NYC with silver. It was awesome. The thing about NYC nail polish is that they are a dollar cheaper or so than Wet N' Wild, but they are sooooo watery. Whatever. I can't really go for $2.50 bottles of Wet N' Wild at the moment. And the NYC colours are nice -- at least.

Today I tried Black and Gold. So awesome!

 
So there's the NYC colour. It's called Bowery Black but it has this weird iridescence to it that makes it look more like gunmetal. One of these days I'll buy a true black and wear only that with bright cherry red lips and my fake leather (apparently now called 'vegan') moto jacket and be angry. Flashback to 2009.
 
Okay so this is what it looks like:
 
 
Argh! I have claws! No just kidding. Anyways I really like this. It makes me wants to dress all edgy. I wish my sister was here so we could both do this. Shout out sistafriend! I know you're reading this! ;P
 
Ok I'm going to do some writing now. Later.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Kitty Cat

Just a little note to say that I made a short video of The Cat, Zora. She's so cute:


Yay! Enjoy.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Adventuring

This morning I had my second experience with the Hutterites. Substitute teaching, that is. It wasn't so bad. I always have crazy nerves before hand, nervous stomach and all that -- but in the end it always turns out alright. Apparently they were very well behaved (although I didn't think so). For being pacifists, these kids sure do hit each other a lot.

Oh well, whatever. On the way back home I did my usual re-integration into society thang and blasted Korea pop on the radio. I wouldn't give up my life for all the world, really. Then I'd have to give up guilty pleasures such as:

 
Maybe because it is the farthest thing from Hutterites I can think of existing in the world today, I just need it as a tincture in recovering from all these naughty children who have their own built-in cell phone ring tone that no adult can hear (i.e. that old dialect of German that is so removed from modern German as to be even less intelligible than Quebecois is to a speaker of Parisian French. Thus one cannot learn it from a book).
 
Anyways, Digression. I was driving back to the city (The City out here) on this long dirt road that threathened to turn into mud and it occurred to me: these strange adventures and misadventures on this great vast plain are exactly what I've always wanted my life to be. No, I never thought I'd be teaching children of an Anabaptist sect in the Canadian midwest -- that's not what I mean. But how many people from when and where I grew up can say that they've done this?
 
And the best part of all this is that this is only the first adventure. We'll be here for two years at the most -- and then on to the next adventure. I suppose what I am saying is that I am feeling grateful for finding a life with a man who is as much an adventurer -- and wanderer -- as I am. And I'm not talking vacations here. I've had my feminist moanings about how I have to follow his career around...but honestly...I'm deep down more glad than sad that I do. After all, even before I met him it was difficult for me to stay in one place more than a year.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Mixed Bag

Weight loss has stalled, feel super bloaty. TMI, I know. Tried to write and clean the house at the same time. Never a good idea.

We were going to go to Minneapolis this long weekend, but we'll be staying home instead. No Mall of America/Target and H&M for me. :(
First we couldn't find his passport, then it seems like if we go at Easter we might have more money for it. Then we decided that I would break my diet and have a couple's version of turkey dinner (since I found a box of stuffing and a packet of gravy in the cupboards...plus I'm going to make a pumpkin pie! Now I need a couple turkey breast, a few potatoes and some veggies to make bacon vegetables! (We had those at my brother's wedding a few weeks ago. Best veggies ever!)

And now, on top of everything, it's snowing. First week of October. Oh yah, this is going to be an AWESOME winter. :(

So I had an interview yesterday. It went well, but I won't hear back about it for awhile. If I get it, that will mean that including writing I will have 6 jobs. SIX. This one summer in university I had three jobs: weekday job, weeknight job, and weekend job. That was hell. But SIX? tutoring, transcription, two substituting contracts...oh crap I counted wrong. Ohhhh right. I'll have six if I get the 'casual' fabricland job. Six jobs that don't add up to a work week.

I guess this is what they mean by under-employed.

Anyways, in more happy news I took myself out shopping after the interview. Because what else is an underemployed lady to do with her but put her mere pennies into the pockets of corporate kagillionaires? I went to Forever 21. I tried on like, a million things. I narrowed it done to three tops, a necklace, and a pair of leggings. I wanted about six pairs of their shoes. But stayed away. The total came to $100 or so when I added in my head. So I put down two tops. $50. So put down the other top $25. I ended up spending about that after tax. After tax = evil words.

Anyways. I got leopard print leggings for $6.80 in lieu of getting the leopard print jeans I really wanted -- those were $30. So cheap! No, not so. Not when you have six jobs, my friend. I got this necklace:

There was only one. I had to. It was on my pinterest, and only $11.80. (yes, that IS a lot of tax, certainly. But at least I won't ever had to pay for a hospital bed. Unless, you know, I get cosmetic surgery or something. Which I won't. Botchalism is not cute).

Okay, so I came home and look at the pin again, and realized that the website was not Forever 21. I thought not. So then I went on their webpage and looked for it, but couldn't find it. Do I have to look in the sale section? Am I hallucinating, or did this necklace just appear randomly and mistakenly in my life? I'd like to believe that. I think I will just for fun.

Anyways, I am still ironing the kinks out of this diet business. protein concentrated in the morning, fruits mid-morning/lunch, veg in the late afternoon/evening. And I am not having much luck with nuts, other than almond milk and almond butter. Peanut butter is dangerous. Cashews just come out too chunky. Working out, pushing myself. Results are gradual. Not crazy enough to be all that encouraging. But I should give it a little more time.


Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Update: Day #1

Woo hoo! One pound down! Now this is encouraging....

UpDATE!

Okay, so progress. Progress is good. But it's not like it's easy. Here was what yesterday looked like:

Wake-up

40 Minutes Yoga
2 cups of hot water with a lemon wedge

Breakfast

A basic smoothie of my own devising:

1 cup frozen raspberries
6 ounces plain 0% fat yogurt with probiotics
1 stock kale, chopped
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp ground flaxseed


And a cup of green tea. This is the smoothie I make when I am stuck for ideas. Probiotics, protein, fruit, veg. It's all good. You'll see in the weeks ahead that because I have the cheapest blender known to human kind, I have to do a lot of extra work to help it along. This includes pre-chopping almost everything!!!!

Snack #1:

Another smoothie of my own devising, since I had to get some more calories before braving the grocery store. Otherwise I'd find myself standing in an aisle behind my grocery cart staring into the middle distance, half-braindead. This is what I meant by out of control insulin levels. Ridiculous.

1 of those little snack cup thingys of unsweetened applesauce (since I'm pretty sure my blender cannot handle apples). I used one of those Mott's flavoured ones that was called Anti-Oxidant but basically means apples and pomegrante.
1 cup frozen raspberries
Like 1/4 cup almond milk just to make it work
1 tbsp ground flaxseed

A little less successful since the applesauce and almond milk don't exactly mesh well.

Lunch:

#18 from here. A lot of my smoothie idea are going to come from this list since it seems to have a great mixture of fruit, veg, protein.

So Mango, Carrot and Herb sounds like a crazy weird mixture, right? Wrong! It was the best smoothie I have ever had. EVER! I put mint and basil in mine and it was so so so so so so goooooooooooooood. It made me have high hopes for the rest of the list.

Oh and I had green tea. Like at every meal.

Snack #2:

Alright, here's where it got a little wonky. I blame the cat for crying half the night and keeping me up. See, I didn't exactly wake up at my usual time and so the entire day was off-kilter. I actually had this snack right before dinner, and it was an 'escape hatch' snack.

I was right in the middle of making dinner when I felt faint. Low-blood-sugar faint. And so I cheated. Sort of. I had a Larabar. Yes, I bought them at the grocery store knowing that something like this might happen. I'm hoping I can get better at front-loading my days with protein so it doesn't happen again.

Anyways then I made dinner.

Dinner:

Carrot Soup from Dr. Joshi's Holistic Detox. Wish I could type the recipe here, but I'm pretty sure that would be bad. Other soup ideas come from Whole Living and Eating Well.

Bedtime:

So first I did Zumba for 50 minutes. I had a bunch of water while I was at it. I had had, throughout the day, 8 glasses of water, 8 ounces each. Hooray!

Then I made myself some herbal tea. Mojito from Tedley, yummy. I like mint. Then I couldn't get over my post-workout I need 300 more calorie to repair body hang-up, so I had another smoothie. It was....a kefir smoothie from The 17 Day Diet. Super simple: kefir (I use raspberry flavoured), mixed frozen berries, flaxseed again.

All in all I was under my calories by about 79 or so, no bigger. And I lost a pound! Now if only I could get over that need-to-hit-my-calorie-limit thing. It comes from being obsessed with tracking on My Fitness Pal, I think, and the little warning they give you if you don't eat enough.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Liquid Lunch

Thunder Only Happens

So I was all ready to tell you all about this new diet that I've concocted, but I had this crazy dream last night. It was about how Kanye West had decided to execute a bunch of people. Like, 500 or so. I guess he was the ruler of...something. I don't remember. But I do remember that I was the only person who had the power to dissuade him from randomly executing a bunch of people for no reason. Very Weird....

Liquidy Goodness

On to the diet. So I have this friend who has been on a "cleanse" and has been documenting it on facebook. I'm not sure exactly which cleanse it is -- but I know it's not the Master Cleanse. It involved liquids and then adding proteins back in and stuff ... but here's the thing: she's lost a pound a day. And after seeing some unfortune photos of me walking away from the weekend, I've decided that I too want to lose at that tempo. But no juice fast for me. No Sir.

The Constraints of Budget

Juice fast require either a) a juicer or b) access to a company that provides the juice. Both of which I have no money for. Do you know how much a juicer costs? Jack Lalanne wants like, $119 for his. Or I could do the 'cheaper' $80 Hamilton Beach. Perhaps in some parts of the world that seems reasonable, but I need to buy about 6 juicers a month for the National Student Loan Centre, with just enough dough left over to save up for next month.

What I do have is a personal sized blender that I bought for $12 about a year or so ago. And a kitchen. So Here's my plan:

Wake-up: Hot Water with Lemon, 40 Minutes of Yoga.
Breakfast: Green Tea, Smoothie with fruit, veg, protein, and probotics.
Snack #1: Detox Water of lemon, cucumber, mint, Smoothie with fruit, veg, protein, and probotics.
Lunch: Green Tea, Smoothie with fruit, veg, protein, and probotics.
Snack #2: Detox Water of lemon, cucumber, mint, Smoothie with fruit, veg, protein, and probotics.
Dinner: Green Tea, Soup of Pureed Vegetables (carrot, leek, etc.).
Bedtime: 50 Minutes of Zumba followed by Mint Tea.

My reasoning is that I'll be able to do a cleanse without all the potential muscle loss of a juice fast. And with any luck I'll be able to rectify my insulin levels. I'll let you know how it all goes.