(no subject)
I have been meaning to post for quite a while but never seem to get to it. I want to start by taking this all the way back to the Sunday before Christmas.
The family went to the symphony Pops concert that Abby sang in. It was a really great concert. The last song of the first half was a Pittsburgh version of the 12 days of Christmas. Of course for the 5th day they had to throw in the 5 superbowl rings. "On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 5 SUPERBOWL RINGS!!" Everyone cheered when they sang that and the Mendelssohn choir waved terrible towels. It was intense and awesome. The whole song had really great Pittsburgh things for every one of the 12 days. The song was great, the concert was great, but the people behind me SUCKED ASS! I hate people who go to symphony concerts/operas/other upscale musical performances and whisper, hum, and worst of all open candy wrappers during the music. They were two women and they had absolutely no concept of proper concert etiquette. It made me insane to the point that I truly almost turned around during some applause to tell them to shut it. The older of the two women took her coat off and on at least three times - and it was one of those swishy crinkly coats. They both unwrapped candy numerous times and one of them even ate tic tacs which she freely shook out of the container and onto her hand with no apparent idea of how loud it was. They whispered to each other about a zillion times and hummed to all the songs they knew. It seriously was outrageous. I hate people like that.
I've been wanting to get that out... felt good.
Christmas was fun. We did Gary's family that Sunday before the concert, Dad's side Christmas day, and Mom's side the Saturday after. Good food, good presents, lots of fun. Gary got me a new computer chair. It's one of those ritzy leather corporate comfy chairs. I love it. He also got me the 2008 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market book that I've been wanting. I got him new dress clothes (the only thing he asked for) and a new computer game - Call of Duty 4. Indy got a zillion presents. New bones, new toys (which as usual lasted for all of 30 minutes) and a new blanket. He's spoiled. New Years was alright, nothing too special. All-in-all, fun holidays.
I've been writing a lot more. The book Gary got me is definitely motivating me. I started a really great new novel and two new children's books. I always have a million projects going on at once which might seem like a good thing, but usually isn't. I get distracted with so many things to work on and can never dedicate enough time to just one to get it completely finished. Night writing is the best for me. I can actually get a few hours of work done on just one thing. My creative juices definitely flow much more at night. I spent several nights recently working until the sun came up. It's really the best way to go for me. I could definitely prosper as a nocturnal.
Gary's interviewing for new jobs. He's done well at opening up some really great options. Now I've just got to encourage him to actually choose one and stop pining for the next best thing. We've started to think about buying a house. We found one that we really liked and wanted, but after going through the appraiser reports and owner disclosure we realized it was a shady deal. The house has asbestos siding, at one point had foundation issues that don't seem to have been sufficiently corrected, and has a market shelf life of only 40 more years. Bad investment. We'll keep looking, but I see us waiting a while to actually buy. We tend to get really excited about things really quickly and let the excitement cloud our judgment. But, we also tend to nip that in the bud right away and become much wiser and savvy about financial prospects. It's happened several times with large purchases. You always have to take a step back and really think about what you're doing and look into the best options. I'm like an after school special on financial responsibility right now. Ha.
Well, that's about it for now. Still never touched on Anita's hospital days and near death experience, but that's such a long story. I'll get to it eventually.
Oh, I'm still married.... still loving it.
The family went to the symphony Pops concert that Abby sang in. It was a really great concert. The last song of the first half was a Pittsburgh version of the 12 days of Christmas. Of course for the 5th day they had to throw in the 5 superbowl rings. "On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 5 SUPERBOWL RINGS!!" Everyone cheered when they sang that and the Mendelssohn choir waved terrible towels. It was intense and awesome. The whole song had really great Pittsburgh things for every one of the 12 days. The song was great, the concert was great, but the people behind me SUCKED ASS! I hate people who go to symphony concerts/operas/other upscale musical performances and whisper, hum, and worst of all open candy wrappers during the music. They were two women and they had absolutely no concept of proper concert etiquette. It made me insane to the point that I truly almost turned around during some applause to tell them to shut it. The older of the two women took her coat off and on at least three times - and it was one of those swishy crinkly coats. They both unwrapped candy numerous times and one of them even ate tic tacs which she freely shook out of the container and onto her hand with no apparent idea of how loud it was. They whispered to each other about a zillion times and hummed to all the songs they knew. It seriously was outrageous. I hate people like that.
I've been wanting to get that out... felt good.
Christmas was fun. We did Gary's family that Sunday before the concert, Dad's side Christmas day, and Mom's side the Saturday after. Good food, good presents, lots of fun. Gary got me a new computer chair. It's one of those ritzy leather corporate comfy chairs. I love it. He also got me the 2008 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market book that I've been wanting. I got him new dress clothes (the only thing he asked for) and a new computer game - Call of Duty 4. Indy got a zillion presents. New bones, new toys (which as usual lasted for all of 30 minutes) and a new blanket. He's spoiled. New Years was alright, nothing too special. All-in-all, fun holidays.
I've been writing a lot more. The book Gary got me is definitely motivating me. I started a really great new novel and two new children's books. I always have a million projects going on at once which might seem like a good thing, but usually isn't. I get distracted with so many things to work on and can never dedicate enough time to just one to get it completely finished. Night writing is the best for me. I can actually get a few hours of work done on just one thing. My creative juices definitely flow much more at night. I spent several nights recently working until the sun came up. It's really the best way to go for me. I could definitely prosper as a nocturnal.
Gary's interviewing for new jobs. He's done well at opening up some really great options. Now I've just got to encourage him to actually choose one and stop pining for the next best thing. We've started to think about buying a house. We found one that we really liked and wanted, but after going through the appraiser reports and owner disclosure we realized it was a shady deal. The house has asbestos siding, at one point had foundation issues that don't seem to have been sufficiently corrected, and has a market shelf life of only 40 more years. Bad investment. We'll keep looking, but I see us waiting a while to actually buy. We tend to get really excited about things really quickly and let the excitement cloud our judgment. But, we also tend to nip that in the bud right away and become much wiser and savvy about financial prospects. It's happened several times with large purchases. You always have to take a step back and really think about what you're doing and look into the best options. I'm like an after school special on financial responsibility right now. Ha.
Well, that's about it for now. Still never touched on Anita's hospital days and near death experience, but that's such a long story. I'll get to it eventually.
Oh, I'm still married.... still loving it.