Busy Not Blogging

A picture post to show why I’ve been so absent in the blogging sphere.

 

The end.

No, no. I tease. But that’s how I’ve felt this month. Everyone at work is taking their summer vacations, so I’ve been doing 30-35 hour work weeks, coming home to redo my bedroom, and doing wonderful (but exhausting) things with grandparents and coworkers the time I have off. I say time, not days, because again, I do a lot right after I get off work.

The 9th, I got my hair trimmed, and so did my sister. We gave her bangs. (She doesn’t have bangs yet in this one.)

Friday the 13th, my grandparents took Ej and me to our state fair. I wore heels the whole time as part of a new challenge I gave myself. Any day I’m not working and have to leave the house for whatever reason, I must wear heels. The girls in Korean dramas wear heels for everything, and I aspire to be that awesome.

I am the happiest person alive when I have a corndog.

The day after the fair, I worked. And then turned traitor by trying a pesto and cheese sammich not of Panera making…

Then I fell asleep. I’m rather good at catching up on sleep in odd places, contorting myself to fit where I need to.

I have worked on my room a total of six days, a few hours at a time when I get off work. I had to take down (by that I mean unscrew, rip apart, and basically destroy) a giant desk, move everything out of the way to fit a giant futon bed in, paint one section of wall at a time, let that dry, move all my belongings to the newly dry wall, paint the next section, and so on and so forth. Oh, and each section requires two coats of paint. So that’s been.. exhausting. But still fun, and I know it’ll be worthwhile when I can put all my Victorian things around the room.

Since I can’t afford a smiley vampire shirt right now, I compromised and got a toothy cloud tee for painting.

This Friday, the 20th, I took a break from my room to dress a little nicer and go to dinner at The Elephant Bar–Grandpa’s treat. Guess where we went after that?

Here’s a big hint…

AAAGFAGAODIGHODHGIURHOEFASAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was kind of amazing. Also, I fell in love with THIS MAN and if you look at those pictures, *coughs*dressed like a 19th century man*coughs* you’ll see why. Aaaaand his voice!! It was better than the Prince Eric on CD. Ursula was, too, although sadly, Ariel was not up to par. But that didn’t matter! I was there for the Prince, darnit!!! Kiss The Girl was intense because they kept coming THIS close and just…no, and then the costumes were spectacular… I just… gush, gush, gush. The one complaint I have was that weird crush Flounder had on Ariel. I know in the Broadway, he’s a little boy, and it’s adorable and I was expecting that. Instead, he was played by someone more teenagerish and he kept talking about how in love he was with her. Yeeeaah.

You can have this, to enjoy, though. It’s pretty much the whole reason I wanted to go see it.

As of today, my door frame is done in a “Romantic Smoke” colour; a darker rose in comparison to the lighter “Embroidery Rose” on the door. I have a pink door. Teeheehee!

So far, ’tis been a productive month.

 

 

 

 

30 Days of Writing: Day 6

Challenge #6: Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol’ pen and paper?

I will write anywhere and any time inspiration strikes. I have dozens of notebooks with disorganized thought-blurbs littering the page in pen, pencil, crayon, and highlighter. I’ve scribbled notes and outlines on sermon bulletins, receipt paper, napkins, and in rare and desperate cases, bank deposit envelopes.

I am most comfortable writing in a quiet, secluded spot where no noises can lay siege to the ideas that come flowing out of my brain. Music and chatter are all very well for beginning a thought process, but while I’m transferring it to readable print I need stillness.

Because of this need I’ve grown used to writing through witching hours–between 12 and 4 in the morning–when the tots are all abed. However, work has made a respectable woman out of me (sort of) and since I have to sleep much earlier in the evening, writing sprees occur anytime I have time. Usually late afternoon or the wee mornin’ moments before work, if I have a spare half hour or so.

The majority of my writing happens right on the Word document. Typing speed is ideal for getting ideas onto a page before they’ve slipped my mind. However, there’s nothing quite like the feel of lined notebook paper smooth and cold under your hand. I love wooden pencils because chewing on them gets the creativity flowing and tastes delightful. I’ve discovered (to my immense horror) that pencil rubs out after a couple years, and ballpoint pens are therefore best for preserving notes. I like the cheap ones that come a dime a dozen.

I know Starbucks is a hot spot for writer types like me and I want to try it out someday. I have not yet because I’m afraid I’ll be distracted every time the door opens. I’d wonder too much about the people, the associates… any good conversations would take away from my writing. I’ve tried writing at Panera a few hours before my shift started, but unless I can steal a corner booth I’m too worried people can see what I’m doing.

If there’s anything that will disrupt my writing flow it’s peekers. I cannot stand people seeing a project in the works. Beta aside. The most frustrating thing in the world is someone peering over your shoulder saying, “Oh, what are you writing?”

You will not read until it is finished!!!

Featured Snippet

Reaching these conclusions, I looked in on them, casually as
it might be, in the servants’ hall, and, finding tea going forward,
instantly invited myself to that meal. (For, NOTA BENE, a drop of tea is
to a woman’s tongue what a drop of oil is to a wasting lamp.)

My reliance on the tea-pot, as an ally, did not go unrewarded. In less
than half an hour I knew as much as the Sergeant himself.

-The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Victorians knew how to write. If you ever want to be astounded by perfect word choice and delicious similes, grab a book written prior to the 1900′s. There’s nothing like it. It takes me far too long to read such a book (I’ve been working on The Moonstone for months) but savoring is not a bad thing.

I’m ashamed to say I cheated and watched the film to The Moonstone before I was quite finished with the book, but the book is exceeding expectations in every way.

Featured Image

The Woman in White by Photia on DA

Here is what made me a Wilkie Collins fan in the first place. Certainly holds a place in my top five favourite books. Similar to The Scarlet Pimpernel in that it has a little bit of every genre: tragedy, romance, mystery, satire, drama, history. Oh, how I love it! I wish to read it again. And then immerse myself in the little-known musical version by Andrew Lloyd Webber. If that intrigues you, I demand you enjoy full length conversations that are entirely sung.

I make no demands on reading/hearing book or musical first. Usually I’d cry, “Read the book! Read the book!” but the entire story is there in the soundtrack, so if you fancy a late night scare, pop in some earphones and listen on through!

Though I must warn you that the musical is very different from the book in many ways so don’t expect to get the same thing from both. Whichever you choose first, you must do both you know.

And if a certain commenter of mine enjoyed “I’ll Be There” for its belting-into-crowds line, she will love the musical dialogue from Woman in White.

30 Days of Writing: Day 5

Challenge #5:  By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?

My youngest character… by age… what a quandary! It must be the unborn, unnamed child from Arranged and Engaged; the story that I finished only to discover its innumerable follies and start afresh with the barest of plot points in tact. But I’m not sure that counts since I’ve no idea if I’m keeping the child.

That sounded dreadful.

Quick change of subject! My oldest character is Ziv. He was born sometime before the rise of the Roman Empire and was made into a vampire well into his nineties. He might be in his hundreds. It’s all very sketchy. But yes, he lived a long life by normal standards and then kept on living. So he’s over two-thousand years old. At least.

Oldest in terms of creation–not counting my very first play characters who I do not remember names of–is Clarissa May Laurence. Her story is on Chapter 4. It’s stuck. Quite stuck. I decided I don’t like writing murder mysteries in the girl’s point of view. I cannot say whether that story will ever be finished.

My youngest character in development just received the name Gemma. She has a husband in politics. I have no idea where her story is going–if it’s going. It’s just lines of argumentative dialogue at present.

Featured Snippet

What do I say?
What do I do?
How will I ever hope to fare?
How can I stay
So close to you
Knowing now that your place is
In another’s embraces
In another man’s care?

I should be gone
Far from this hell
Till not a trace of you survives
Yet I’ll stay on
For I know well
Though you’ve left me behind you
One day troubles will find you
And when that day arrives

I’ll be there
For to me there’s no sorrow
Worse to bear
Than a life lived apart
I’ll be there
Come the mists on the morrow
I’ll be there
By your side
And deep within your heart

Now she’s his wife
Nobody knows
How much of her she’ll have to hide
But whatever life
He may propose
Will be merely pretending
To the dream never ending
We’ll now hold inside

I’ll be there
Though I know that it’s madness
Hearts laid bare
Stripped of pride yet still proud
I’ll be there
In the depths of my sadness
I’ll be there
Ever steeled
Unyielding and unbowed

Go and marry a man you don’t love if that pleases you
Throw away for a cause all the joys we have known
I thought love’s more than clan
More than faith
More than anything
May his kiss keep you warm
I’ll be fine on my own

Is it me I’m deceiving?
Mad or not I’ll stay true

I’ll be there

I’ll be there
Heaven speed me
By your side
As you need me
I’ll be there
For you

-I’ll Be There from The Pirate Queen

This song fiercely expresses the determination of a man in love and remains one of my favourites to belt out at inappropriate times.* I posted the lyrics I’m used to; they’re the most generally accepted words to the song, so I assume the performance in the video took place before changes occurred to the script. Usually I don’t take to songs about men pining after other men’s wives, but I make exceptions for this and Walter from The Woman in White due to exceptional circumstances. I can’t help but love the way he promises to stick by her come the day troubles find her. Because he knows she married a brute. It’s all very complex and I won’t burden you with the details of the plot, but suffice to say this musical produced a number of fantastic songs.

There is something monumentally appealing about angry man-singing, and no one does this particular piece justice like Hadley Fraser. I love this song for the emotion so I shared the best one for the expression of it. You can just feel the emotion roiling off him in angry, devastated, frustrated waves as his movements echo the thought, “WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, WOMAN!?!”

Yet… he’ll still be there.

*swoons*

Featured Image

Flynn by Jackie Sullivan

It was more than trying for me to come up with an image that was not from The Dreamer. I had one that was perfect: about age gaps and the legality of modern “courtship” but I’m being a good sport and expanding your horizons. *wink* Though I reserve the right to be glum about it.

*sulks*

Oh yes. I started another web comic because I needed something to keep me occupied while waiting for Dreamer updates. I found one that’s enjoyable, but the conversations that go on in the comment section are the real draw. One thread was on a page that introduced a butler to the story and it went like this…

Virtual: A butler called James. I wonder, are ALL butlers called James? :p
trav26: i thought jeeves was the ubiquitous butler name..
Virtual: Don’t forget, Batman has Alfred
Val: He’s not witty enough to be called Niles you see
ArtsAngel (author): Often a butler’s real name was not used and they were “given” one by the household.
Kurieo2: I’d call my butler Fluffy or Rabbit…just because. :3
Me: I’d call mine ‘husband.’ Because any British man who brought me tea whenever I asked…

*When I say inappropriate times I mean walking up to a coworker who’s toasting a bagel in order to screech, “GO AND MARRY A MAN YOU DON’T LOVE IF THAT PLEASES YOU!!”

Day of a Sickie

This was me yesterday. (ALL credit for the image goes to Lora Innes. Click for full page.)

I called in sick for the first time ever this morning. I knew last night I wasn’t feeling up to another full shift after opening the bakery with the onset of a cold, but I was scheduled for 7:30 this mornin’ so I tried to call as soon as possible to get a fill-in.

Thank God for coworkers who answer their messages at 5:15 in the morning!

Today was all about recuperating so I’m well enough to do a little Christmas shopping tomorrow and get back to work by 6pm.

This is my recipe for making a sick day as “well” as it can be.

Nourishment

-Buckets and buckets of sweet black tea with brown sugar and cream.
-Fruit. Apples with honey walnut cream cheese and tomorrow pineapple smoothies.
-Anything that goes down easy. Grilled cheese and soup. Killer combo.
-Pills. Vitamin C and Dayquil/Nyquil.

Reading Material

-Biblical stories of gotten-through trials.
-Still absorbed in the 18th century: my web comic as well as that charmingly mistake-riddled Felicity story.
-Story editing. I finished a chapter today! Woohoo!

Music

-The Pirate Queen: particularly If I Said I Loved You. Oh baritone love.
-Promising Promises by Jon McLaughlin. Amazing with the piano.
-Josh Groban’s Love Only Knows. *melts*
-Another Jon McLaughlin with piano loveliness I’ll Follow You.

A Humorous Classic Film

-Muppets Treasure Island is the movie for tonight. It makes me happy inside. And outside. For it causes laughter.

Wellness Essentials

-Continuous Skype chats with best friend.
-Cherry chapstick.
-Shea butter and cocoa lotion.
-Double blankets.

Let It Be Known I Am Versatile

The ever colorful and quirky Elana has bestowed upon me this splendiferous blogging award!

The Versatile Blogger Award

Dah dah dah duuuum!

It’s rather funny, but the other bloggers who earned this prestigious title seem to question their eligibility. Well. I may be infrequent, unkempt, and disorganized with my blogging, but I’ll never doubt my versatility. I’ll write about anything on my mind and more besides.

Honestly, I’m not sure how I can write about something not on my mind… maybe that’s what happens when I’m partly watching a movie and partly scribbling notes?

Wee, I love to ramble!

Alright, since the requirements for this award was to be found guilty of being versatile and then to award 15 other persons of like-crime-mindedness, I award anyone who desires to be known as versatile! If you think your blog spans subjects beyond the confines of a dark, dank Gollum cave, then snatch this little icon and plaster it on your post with pride! You may link back to me or you may not. I’m being supremely lazy and making this a free-f0r-all since last time I barely managed to come up with three favourites to link to. Hurrah, free award!!!! <-green like money.

Oh yes. Now the part where I talk about myself.

In Which I Talk About Myself

1. Yesterday I made banana cupcakes with molasses frosting. I got so full on the batter I didn’t eat any once baked.

2. I’m making a list of movies I watched this whole year. So far Tangled and The Slipper and the Rose are ahead in repeat viewings. I’ve watched them three or four times each already.

3. I’m always writing story scenes in my notebooks and they turn out really well, but when I need to copy the scene chronologically into the story document I can’t find the notes! That’s happening right now. They turn up at some point… usually after I’ve finished the chapter without them. *sigh*

4. When it comes to love I’m afraid of time. And timing. I hate romances in which time is an obstacle that turns out impossible for the two intended lovers to be together. In fact, I don’t know why I started watching Doctor Who when I knew from the start time had doomed him. Okay, I do know. I’m too much of a geek.

Movies on my black list for just this time obstacle reason: Dear John, Captain America, Tuck Everlasting, Atonement, West Side Story, Tristan and Isolde, any version of Romeo & Juliet.

Movies that scared me, but ended up being favourites because they didn’t make me angry at the ending: Prince of Persia, The Lake House, The Holiday, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Kate & Leopold.

That was basically a super-list of chick flicks.

5. Sometimes I fantasize that a man with legal authorization to carry a firearm for his profession will drive up to Panera in an armored jeep during lunch rush and compel me with said firearm to drive his jeep while he shoots at his pursuers who are tied up in a complicated and despicable political plot. You know, like in the movies. And we’d have some after-the-fact cliche conversation I would initiate with, “Why did you choose me?” and he’d say something slightly less cliche and we’d return home as heroes and my managers wouldn’t even mind that I left in the middle of a lunch rush and my parents wouldn’t be upset that I was driving a killer jeep with a strange man in it because it would be a matter of national defense wherein thousands of innocent lives were saved due to our instinctual bravery and he’d marry me in gratitude and buy me a castle (or a cottage) in Scotland where we’d raise fifteen bairns and a few sheep.

The details vary, but the main plot is always the same.

6. I did not get enough sleep last night.

7. I very rarely have solid favourites, but rather phases. (Excepting a handful of books, songs, and movies.) I have a favourite song for a day, or a month, or a favourite project to be working on at the moment only. I’m giving y’all more info than is strictly necessary, but here’s a list of my current “phase” favourites.

Song: Unworthy of Your Love – from (originally) “Assassins” but also (in a far less creepy context*) “Putting it Together: A Musical Revue”
Video: HISHE: Captain America – pure. unadulterated. brilliance. Exactly why I hated that blasted ending!
Book: The Phantom of the Opera – Lowell Bair translation
Project: Finding my missing story notes so that I can continue a project.
Word: expulsion

————-x————-

*At first I thought a musical called “Assassins” featuring a song like that must be awesome. But after sifting through hours and hours of Wikipedia bunny trails, I have to confess it sounds outright creepy. And if you know me at all, I’m not one to use the term lightly. Basically, it’s about a bunch of historical figures who either attempted to or succeeded in assassinating U.S. presidents, and the original context of the song involves John Hinkley and “Squeaky” Fromme, singing separately in their perverse delusion. (The actual historical context is even creepier than any fictional story I’ve yet to encounter. Honestly.) But in the clip featured, it’s a really nice love song between relatively normal human beings. As far as I can tell.