Party, Obligations, and the KiwiWriters’ Notebook

Kim had her flat warming party last night. The theme was Pokémon, and so I went as Butterfree thanks to some wings and pipe cleaner feelers, and Dale was a generic Pokémon trainer. It was fun, I guess, in a hanging out with annoying people you do know, and lots of people you don’t know kind of way. We watched some Pokémon, and I realised that although it had been the in thing when I was about 12, I had never seen it (we didn’t get TV reception). It was all good until one chick started trying to convert the asians to Christianity; then I went and sat in the hallway. I’m not a party pooper, I just think that it’s not appropriate to try convert people at a party, especially when he had said “don’t try convert me” and she said “I won’t” yet then spent the next hour trying to, and so I didn’t swear at anyone I left. We crashed at Jen’s house, and this morning did the hour trek home (we were going to catch a bus, but it didn’t show up).

So now I’m trying to organise what I’m going to do with the rest of my day; the last day of summer (although the weather outside claims summer is way over). I feel the weight of so many things I have to do pressing down on me. I need to get the dittoGUI help file finished (I haven’t forgotten about you dad!); I still haven’t finished that recipe book for Ro; I need to post my little brother’s birthday present (his birthday was at the start of Jan); and I’m still hoping to get my short story finished for the Collection Challenge.

And Uni goes back tomorrow, which mean assignments will need to be done, and texts will need to be read. I will admit I have already started reading my Linguistics Analysis which is going to be an awesome paper, I’ve been learning about how language is arbitrary, and what a lexeme is . All interesting stuff (yes, I’m weird for liking this stuff). I was thinking of skipping uni tomorrow (that sounds bad, I know, first day and I’m not going to go), cos I don’t have any classes, and I could work on that massive to do list of mine (it’s way longer than what is listed above), but I’m expected to be part of the library tour group. Sure, I don’t need to be shown the library, and neither to the other 4th year BAs that will be doing it, but you get $3 printing credit for following an old lady around and asking dumb questions like “when do we get our $3 printing credit”.

Something very exciting happened yesterday. I went to the Palmy writers meet-up (not for long, just to say hi) and I was give the KiwiWriters’ Notebook/Journal. Basically it’s a notebook being sent around the world to KiwiWriters members and they can write  something in it. It started its life in England, came to NZ, went to America, and then back to NZ, and it has to go to Canada at some point too for Chibi. I wasn’t on the list to receive it, but I had posted on the forum, and so I was given it, yay! So I have to decide what to write in it, and then chose someone to post it to.

Anyway, that’s about it from me. Keep Smiling All!!

Over it

I no longer care about the Vikings and their achievments or how to spell words like Íslendingabók or Landnámabók or other words that use letters my computer can’t even produce.

But, on the other hand I am stressing about this exam. I know my English Viking Age almost inside out, but that is only one essay, and I have to write three. So in short I am pretty screwed, which sucks cos I need this paper to get my history minor. But, on the other hand, I should pass, as I know enough to get by, and I got good(ish) marks for my essays. I am being torn asunder by the part of me that insists that I will be ok and the part that claims I don’t know enough and don’t have a chance to by tomorrow. Arrghh!!

So I took a break and worked through the new version of the dittoGUI help file. It’s coming along, and I think it won’t take much to get it near perfect. It sounds like a great little programme, and I wish it ran on ‘my’ computer, but alas, she is too old to upgrade to 10.5 (and she’s not even mine, I am borrowing her off iLike). Check it out, it should be available in a few days and is so cheap I think every Mac should have a copy.

But now I think I should return to the Vikings, as much as I now dispise them. I should work through religious conversion one last time *sigh*.

Editing

I got my first official editing job today. My dad is a programmer and I am editing the Help file for his newest programme. It’s exciting, but actually quite hard work. He sent through a style guide that it has to adhere to, which I should have looked at before I changed ‘dialog’ to ‘dialogue’ through the whole thing. ‘Dialog’ just looks so stupid, but apparently it is the correct form for this kind of thing. Another couple of hours and I should be able to get it finished .

I haven’t had time to do any writing today, but I did go shopping for my uni stationery. I love buying nice clean crisp books and shiny new pens even if they only stay that way for a week or so.

I’ve also been reading my Viking text book, but I’m kind over over it. I hoped to finish it today because I need to go to uni tomorrow but no luck. You can’t win them all. it just doesn’t feel like I have exams in a week, which is a very dangerous issue, I need the pressure to study. So, I am determined to stay at uni until the 4pm bus, no slacking off early or giving in to the desire to spend time with Dale instead of ensuring I actually pass my exams. But I might take my short story in with me so I have something to work on when I am dying of over exposure to text books .

February Already

And I feel as though January was almost wasted. I have done almost no writing beyond essays. I did learn to knit yesterday, so that sneaks into achievements of Jan; I am knitting myself a blue fluffy poncho . Although my trip south took out two weeks of my month and left me way behind in my study I did enjoy myself. I’ve also gotten to spend a bit of time with friends, which was something I missed all last summer. I miss those out of town, especially Abby, but she is going to try come over on Waitangi Day to visit.

I have my first exam on the 10th of Feb, so I will be spending the next 2 weeks studying hard. I am not worried about my marks, so I’ll just see how much I manage to get done. I really do need to pass the Vikings though, I need it for my history minor. I have all my extramural studyguides for next semester, and am enrolled properly now. It looks like it’s going to be a hard semester, but I am doing 2 writing papers so it should be fun. Can’t wait til my exams are over so I can buy my books and be excited about only having 2 more exams ever .

I have to get a bit of writing done this month if I really want to get something in for the writing challenge. Hopefully I can get it done over my week between semesters. I also really need to get some editing done on Forbidden Knowledge or there will be no way I can get it finished by April. I think I will joining NaNoEdMo to give me a good push in the right direction. If I get to 40,000 in Feb then I can use the 50hrs of editing to finish it.

Life plods on. I was hoping to cruise down to the gypsy fair in town but I can’t get hold of Ro and I don’t really feel like going alone so I’ll give it a miss. I’m already sick of Dale working all weekend and this is only the second one!

Oh yeah…

… I have a blog.

I’ve had a quiet few days. Dale has had his first three day weekend of hopefully not too many to come. Thank goodness StudyLink have increased my allowance by that $3 a week. It has been nice to spend some quality time with him, although he has spent a fair bit of time playing Portal. I must admit I was glad I was there when he finished it as the end credits song is very funny. I would recommend playing the game through just for that — I’m not sure the song would be quite as amusing if you don’t know the story, but if you want to check it out it is here.

Last night we had a good old Brown pot-luck dinner. Charissa, my cousin, is leaving home tomorrow. She is moving to ChCh to train how to look after people that play sport. She has been warned that when we get there we will be around at her flat to eat her food, although she insists it will be vice versa. The night was endurable, but everyone wanted to know what I was going to do when I’ve go my degree, and I don’t really know. The “I’m going to do a barista course and work in a cafe” didn’t go down so well except for with Ro, but she has the same temperament as I do, so we think alike a lot. Her belly was huge before Christmas, but seemed about normal this time as she has just entered her third trimester. ‘Henry’ is due on ANZAC day, so he my be called Albert after his uncle who was in Gallipoli. I can hardly believe I will have 14 cousins! Maybe Ro & Andrew will have one more so grandmum has a nice round 20 grandchildren.

As for study. I am a little concerned about my current assignment because it seems to be the easiest assignment ever. Not in the research, but in the writing, the words are just coming to me and flowing right. It’s almost like I’m writing fiction when my muse is talking to me, but it’s non-fiction so it feels weird. But I shouldn’t complain, I should just be glad it will be finished on time to be in tomorrow. I get to celebrate by going to a Gilmore Girls marathon sleep over with Jen, Kim and Panna. I’m not so sure about the sleep over bit, and I find Gilmore Girls hard to watch since me & Tash stopped being friend cos it was our thing, but I’ll just toughen up and bear it.

Dale should have finished watching South Park by now so it’s probably sleeping time. Adios

Plans for the Future

With my degree nearly over I’ve realised that I’m coming to a new point in my life. We’ve been tossing up ideas of what we could do. The current plan is:

In July we will move to Christchurch where Dale should be able to get his own store to manage. Although if EB doesn’t start treating him a bit better I can see him walking out again, and not going back. Last July I quit my job because he was told he would have full time work; now they have cut him back to 4 days a week, and they are not even all full days.

Dale is happy for me to get a job where I don’t use my degree as long as I keep writing and work towards getting published. I am stoked! I’m looking at doing a barista course in September so I am more employable and getting a job in a cafe, but who knows what will happen between now and then to change my mind.

Part of me wants to just move now and get on with the next part of my life. It seems stupid to stick around here for another 6 months when the 3 papers I’m doing to finish my degree are extramural anyway. I am so sick of full time study, of always having an assignment to do or a text book to read. But Dale says wait, so we will wait, not that we can afford to do otherwise anyway.

So that’s our plan, which will probably be tossed out the window as soon as we get bored with it and decide perhaps we want to move to Timbuktu (not that that particular destination is likely).

Trying to get back into it.

But it’s so hard. Every time I look at my project list I cringe, wonder what to do first, and then don’t manage to get anything done anyway. So, I’m going to make a cuppa, put on some good music, clear my desk of all distractions and start my second Vikings assignment; it still has a chance of being finished on time.

Everything else on my project list will just have to wait, even though their are more deadlines looming that I know are going to come on way too fast, and at least one thing that has missed its deadline *sigh*.

Full Time ’08

Ok, so I was planning to write this one up at some point yesterday, but didn’t really have a chance. Better late than never.

’08 was a full on year. I did 9 papers at Massey; had to kick out our flat mate; travelled down south for Easter; lost over 2 months to depression; wrote 17 essays (plus exams), 1 children’s story, 1 epic poem (that wasn’t very epic), 3 short stories, 2 novels and several poems. I also started a YA novel.

I think for writing ’08 has been the most successful year for me. http://kiwiwriters.org/ is a great site which helps to keep me focused on my writing. I also participated in NaNoWriMo in November for my second year. This time I was much more successful, and my draft was good enough to warrent having a second draft written (now titled Forbidden Knowledge).

2009 is going to be awesome! We are heading down south in 2 days, very excited about that now. Having Amber here is awesome, although today was lost as I lay in bed most of the day feeling sorry foor myself (stupid alcohol). I’ve invited a couple of friends around tomorrow night and we’re going to have a movie night.

At some point in the year (we’re looking at July) we are going to finally move out of Palmy! I think we’ll be going to ChCh. It’s going to be a huge move, and we’ll have to hire people to move everything because we’ve acquired so much stuff since we moved here. Most of it’s just junk, I will admit, but I’m a hoarder and just can’t help myself. You never know when you’re going to need something, and if you throw it away you are bound to need it.

’09 is going to be the year of finishing for me. I will finish my degree (yay), and I am determined to work through a lot of my writing and actually get some projects finished. Starting with the second draft of my novel.

Kiwi Writers has some great challenges for ’09. There is a full year one called ‘submit a book’ which I am thinking about joining. It will encourage me to get Forbidden Knowledge to a point where I will actually let others read it. I printed the first 2 chapters today, and when Dale started reading it I stopped him. I thought I’d be alright with it, but clearly I’m not. There is also the ‘collection challenge’. This sounds awesome, and I am hoping I will be able to find something to submit. I have until the end of Feb to find something. But first up is the ‘new year novella challenge’ which I have decided I will not join. I have heaps of work to do this month, and I’m away for almost 2 weeks, so it’s just not possible. If you do feel like writing a novella this month sign up at Kiwi Writers and get writing!

The end really is nigh now.

Grouch of the Day: I thought I had got lucky this year, and that I was not going to get preached at or have my beliefs questioned this ‘holiday season’. I even avoided my grandma’s cousin at the Brown Christmas get together to encourage her to leave me alone. But no, I can’t have that little gift can I? *sigh* The thing that really bugs me is that this year the attack (for lack of a better word) came from my father. Just back off, please! (Thank you all those people who did not leave comments attacking my beliefs).

Right, with that grouch out of the way, today is going to be a full day. I have started writing the essay (yay). For all those that haven’t studied, the writing of the essay is the quick part; it’s the research that takes forever. I still need to do a heap of editing on Forbidden Knowledge which will take about 3hrs, so I’m not sure when I’m going to squeeze that in because I still have a bit of work to do on the spare room to make it inhabitable for when Amber arrives tomorrow morning. I’ve also got a movie to watch before I return it this afternoon. It’s V for Vendetta; I haven’t seen it. Is it worth it??

So onwards and upwards into my busy day.

Yay, Chapter 2 done

And now I feel my novel is going to really work. The world seems much more real to me now at their language and culture is coming through in the writing. And having a culture and language to intergrate gives the world some real depth. Once I buy some more paper I am going to print the first two chapters. Then I’ll really feel I have achieved something. (I might even let Dale read it, but I am s**t scared of criticism when it’s only a draft still).

I’ve also managed to start the assignment that I really need to finish tomorrow. I just keep looking at the paper thinking it’s no big deal, it’s only 100 level, and it’s Greek Mythology which I know reasonably well as I have had an interest in mythologies since I was about 12. I can sit and do it in a few hours. But I know once I start it I will go off on tangents, and the essay itself will take quite a while to get written and edited. Mythology, I’ve realised, is the reason why I cannot be Christain. So much of what was collected and put down in the Bible was taken from other more ancient mythologies. Even the word Bible is from the greek word biblos, which meant papyrus.

Anyway, Dale is going to make some of his infamous fudge later on (YUM!!) while I continue to slog through this essay and add to my novel.