NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up Gathering
The Portland NaNo Wrap-Up was held downtown at Powell's Books at 3:00 p.m.
There was a good-sized group, though I didn't see anyone else from our local neighborhood group there. Several people, including both Marilyn mistressmarilyn and me, did readings from the novels written for NaNo. And everyone brought along goodies, like cookies and candy. It was fun hearing everyone read and getting to talk to other writers. I'm really glad we did it. (We didn't attend any gatherings back in 2005 when we did NaNo.)
I've had killer headaches recently. Marilyn said that's a side-effect of antibiotics, and considering on my the second round of a strong one, I guess it's no wonder. The infection in my mouth (and body) rages on, I'm afraid. (sigh) I hope I can knock it down more.
Anyway, I phoned the Endodontic office that Mary (my dentist) referred me to, only to discover that the cost per tooth can range between $1,200 - $1,400 per tooth -- and my case possibly involves TWO teeth (!!!). Um, right. I can afford a Grand for dental work! And two grand? It might as well be two million!
I'll phone Mary's office back on Monday and discuss it with her. I can't believe that knowing my financial situation she'd refer me there in the first place. That's crazy. She's apparently going to one of these people herself right now for a root canal. If Mary can't do the job (which it appears she can't), and she can't refer me someplace else, then I'm simply not going to be able to get it done. Period.
Interestingly enough, I tried to call her on Friday -- even though I was pretty sure the office was closed Fridays -- and discovered that not only is it closed on Fridays, but it's only open half a day on Thursdays. (Monday - Wednesday the hours are 8:00 to 5:00.) When I emailed to tell Marilyn, she responded by writing, "No wonder it's impossible to get in."
No wonder, indeed!
I can't even BEGIN to imagine what it's like to work a three and a half day work week. Seriously. (And only eight-hour work days, for that matter.) It must be nice! Think of huge amounts of free time! Cool.
In fact, Marilyn and I were talking about someone today and the amount of sleep he gets every day. He breaks up his sleep into two sessions (which is what we usually do), but I estimate he gets between 8 - 9 hours of sleep every day, as a rule. We both tend to get 5 - 6 on a regular basis. Different life styles, obviously! But I can barely start to stay on top of my work load with the hours we keep -- and I'm not at all on top of housework (cleaning, laundry, etc.). If we slept more than we do, I'd never catch up at all.
We're still trying to get back to our normal hours -- and laughing about what hours we'd keep if we wrote for a living. We're such vampires. We love being up all night long. We'd probably be awake between midnight and 6:00 a.m. every day, then sleep until noon. (grin)
Well, I need a nap now. But I wanted to be sure to blog (I'm not about to forget NaBloPoMo!).
The NaBloPoMo theme for December is THANKS, so each day this month I'll try to include something I'm thankful for -- or an example of the word 'thanks.'
I'm thankful:
That I'm able to write. Yes, it's WORK, but because I've got Marilyn to help me -- and my computer to work with -- I'm able to spend time on my writing (when I make it a priority).
I'm glad I have Marilyn to beta my work and offer suggestions on improving my writing.
I'm glad we're able to participate in NaNoWriMo. And I'm grateful we got to meet and interact with so many other local NaNoWriMo-ers this year. Very interesting and FUN!