New Year's Eve and Stuff
I've had an eventful day for the last day of 2012 -- and it's not over yet, but so far, this has happened:
- Creepy Old Guy at the gym caught me off guard and enveloped me in a gross, sweaty hugs, and I have no idea why he thinks mingling sweat is okay, but it wasn't my fault that the 40 pound weight I was holding happened to slip out of my hand and fall on his foot (and bounce), or that I was grinning when I said oh gosh I'm sorry are you all right?
- The plastic bag that contained several bottles of sample solution tore unexpectedly when I hefted it out of the refrigerator, and somehow, a shelf dislodged at the same time, which meant that I was performing a Spider-man-worthy scramble to keep the bottles from smashing on the floor and several dozen racks from sliding out and drowning me in a tsunami of test tubes.
- Apparently, when you depressurize something in order to exchange a cartridge, it's really not depressurized, and it's a good thing that my startle reaction is very small, or I would've fallen off the ledge of the table when I got sprayed with a blast of high-pressure water. I think this is fandom's revenge for something that I wrote in Part 11. I'm sorry, okay! I'm really sorry!
- I went to the health food store on my way home to pick up some protein powder, because my diet is sorely lacking in protein, and not only did someone nearly run me over in the parking lot, but a second person nearly slammed the door into my face, and a third snatched the bucket of protein powder from my hand and screeched, "That one's mine!" At which point I backed away slowly, said, "Yes, it's all yours," reached for a second bucket, and got out of there before something else happened.
As for 2013...
Well, the Not!Apocalypse came and went and is now forcing me to evaluate what I'm planning to do for the upcoming year. I'm not much for resolutions, but I'm a sucker for goals and deadlines and experiments, so here goes.
- I mentioned that my diet doesn't have a lot of protein in it, and for all that it's healthy, it's still slanted toward a higher carb intake, which is kind of not good for me considering my workout regime and how stupidly hungry I am like all the time, so I'm going back to an experiment that I did before I went to Peru, which was to drastically alter my eating habits to include more legumes, more protein, and less sugar. On that diet, I had more energy; on a carb-rich diet, I feel tired and sluggish. The only reason I didn't go back on this diet when I came back from Peru is because the bout of food poisoning that hit when I got home? It did something to my stomach and I couldn't tolerate protein anymore. I seem to be okay lately, so I'm going back to that diet.
- I'd say that not killing anyone at work would be a goal, but, sadly, it's something that I have to take day by day...
- As it turns out, I got wind of a research project that piqued my interest so much, I sent in an inquiry to find out if I could apply to a PhD program on a part-time basis, which means that if I get into the program, I would be juggling part time studies and full-time work starting September 2013, with absolutely no idea how I'm going to manage everything.
- 2013 marks the 11th year that I've been trying to break into publication by way of original fiction. I have two novels on submission that, if I don't hear back from the publisher by the end of January, I will have to trunk permanently. I have three others making the rounds of agents and publishing houses, and two others that need to be edited and polished before I send them out. I don't think that this is the year when I will get published, but considering how much more writing that I've done over the last couple of years in fandom, I think this may be the year when I should write something new and see what happens with it.
- And, well, fandom... Right now I plan to finish the first series in the Loaded March universe, but we'll see how that works out. I have a RBB to write in January and I also plan on participating in Paperlegends again. But beyond that? I have other Merlin fics loitering in a big folder on my desktop, and I need and want to get those finished. I also have two kind-of-major TW fics on the go in the background. I have no plans to participate in any additional fests this year, not even Merlin Redux (however much that I want to), but this is because the timing doesn't work for me and everything else that I've got going on right now.
I've got to say, though, that despite its inauspicious ending, 2012 was still a pretty amazing year for me. I've (virtually) met and made a lot of friends through fandom, and they've all been absolutely awesome and wonderful. All the encouragement that I've received for the fics I've written has recharged my batteries when it comes to writing original fiction (after a while, all the rejections suck the desire to write clean out of you). For that alone, I owe the fans of Merlin and the fans of the Loaded March series a big thank you for keeping me going.
I wish everyone the best in 2013. Happy New Year to all of you.