A little update
Sorry I've been absent. Finally went to the doctor about the Cold That Never Dies. Turns out I have some chest congestion, bronchitis, and a staph infection. Yuck. Then I had a reaction to the antibiotics he gave me and spent literally an entire day in the bathroom. Yuck and ouch. Missed one day of work; went in on the second day when I was still sick from the antibiotics and became a Stupid Crying Girl and had to go home. Maaaaan, I hate being sick.
I think the pills are starting to kick in now. I'm still sore but... less so.
Tonight I put up my teeny little Christmas tree (it sits atop my entertainment unit) and put batteries in this little musical dancing thingy that I got this year. It's a penguin on a polar bear's back on a sled, and they talk and sing. What? It's cute. I put it on the floor and played it for Cassie -- she tentatively approached and sniffed at it and then ran away.
I unexpectedly started crying tonight while putting up my tree. A couple of years ago Jen (of the Awesome Fabulousness) got my mom a little Christmas tree ornament with her name on it. I found it in my box of holiday things -- I don't even remember getting it from her room after she passed away or putting it away with my things -- and started to cry. Some times it just hits you, you know? It didn't last long and now the ornament has a prominent place at the front of the tree.
I am listening to Christmas music. I should be wrapping presents. But I spent the last couple of days when my brain was stuffed full of cotton and I was hacking up parts of my lungs rewatching S2 and S3 of Oz. Mmmm, Keller. He's just so... delicious. I must admit that when I should have been writing yesterday, I was instead reading Beecher/Keller fanfic. I can't help myself. Now I am forcing myself not to start on S4. It's just.. KELLER.
I'll be starting back on "The Long Road" tomorrow. I have half of the next chapter written, so I should be able to finish that and get it posted Saturday night. Then it's the home stretch. My goal is to be done by Wednesday. *crosses fingers* Sorry for the delay.
Oh! And I keep forgetting to track my progress on mission101. Here's
Weeks 36 to 40
Completed
#88 - When shopping, pick up at least one item for food bank, weekly
Latest items: canned potatoes, 2 vanilla puddings, 1 vanilla wafers. Final tally: 32 items.
#89 - At Christmas, donate above food to a food bank.
#90 - Donate toys to a toy drive
Donated to the Wesley Centre, a local shelter that runs a food program/toy drive for the homeless and underprivileged. Food and toys are given points, and people are assigned a number of points they are allowed to "spend" based on income. They are then allowed free rein into the rooms to pick out what they want to spend their points on. I really like the way the system is set up, and it's incredibly satisfying to drop off the donations and see those rooms getting put together with so many wonderful new toys and food items.
In Progress
#14 - Write 2 - minimum 50,000 word stories
First story -- "The Long Road". Over 50,000 words with about two or three chapters left to go.
#21 - Read 130 books
46. Stranger to The Sun by Jeff Mariotte (Angel TV tie-in. Pretty bad.)
47. The Living Dead ed. by John Joseph Adams (ZOMBIES! Short story anthology. From the amazing [Dan Simmons' "This Year's Class Picture"] to the derivative ["The Dead Kid" by Darrell Schweitzer, who really should be sending his royalty checks to Stephen King, who wrote the basic premise for this eight million times better as "The Body" aka "The Stand"])
48. kd lang: All You Get is Me by Victoria Starr (Eh. Victoria doesn't slobber all over her celeb as most biographers do, but she definitely takes it easy on her.)
49. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (I picked up Hill's book Heart Shaped Box at the Buffalo airport last summer, and couldn't put it down. Engaging characters, interesting plot, and (I swear this is true) I thought his writing was comparable to Stephen King -- same style, same slow reveal of plot and characterization, same ease of writing. I got home and checked Amazon to see what else he'd written, and discovered that his only other available work was this book of short stories. I made a mental note to look for it in my local bookstores. Imagine my surprise a couple of months later to discover that Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's SON. Whoo! Turns out he wanted to use a short form of his middle name, Hillman, to avoid comparisons with his father, but he was found out. The writing style gives him away, I swear. How exciting as a longtime, lifetime King fan to discover that his son is equally as talented. I look forward to many more years of reading Joe's work.)
50. Stonewall by David Carter (Part of my ongoing quest to educate myself about recent history that interests me.)
51. The Undead Vol. 2: Skin and Bones edited by D.L. Snell & Travis Adkins (ZOMBIES! Short story anthology. But not very good.)
52. Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison by T.J. Parsell (Very interesting. Parsell now works toward prison reform.)
#26 - Clean Sweep twice a year
I keep my "things" so minimal that it hardly takes me any time at all to do a sweep and purge unnecessary items. I went through the apartment in preparation for the Christmas Bazaar at the nursing home and found a few things to donate, and did my clothes back when I bought new ones for autumn/winter.
#39 - Watch 50 movies
16. Beetlejuice w/Geena Davis - I actually watched this in October, but it was so dreadfully awful that I forgot to mark it down.
17. 101 Dalmatians - the original animated classic. Haven't seen this since I was a kid. I LOVED it.
18. Groundhog Day w/Bill Murray - rewatch; it was on television during my bout with The Cold From Hell. Always good.
19. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull w/Harrison Ford - Well. It's Indy. And Marion's back! And it's Indy. Otherwise, you know, kind of whatever. It was fun for the nostalgia factor only. After hearing Shia LeBeouf (sp?) talked about on my flist for what seems like forever, it was... erm... interesting to see him. He's a little boy! I hope to catch him in another film someday, when his balls drop and he manages to grow some chest hair. ;)
20. Trading Places w/Dan Ackroyd & Eddie Murphy - rewatch, also during The Cold From Hell; such a GREAT movie (and thanks to the imdb, I now understand that final trading scene after 20+ years!)
#57 - Take long weekend 2x/year for personal health
I actually did this in October -- took an extra two days off, one of which was spent going to see Henry Rollins in Toronto. Very enjoyable.
Failure
#25 - Maintain apartment cleanliness weekly.
Okay. Gotta be honest. I've been keeping up on the bedroom and bathroom, but totally slacking on the kitchen and living room. Nanowrimo and having The Cold From Hell is totally my excuse. I even gave myself a grace period of two weeks, and still couldn't get my act together. FAIL. But lesson learned: goals that stretch over the entire length of Mission101 shouldn't be used. 9 months of being good down the drain. I've now gotten back on track, though... well, except for the living room area rug. Heh. (Owe $5 to charity at the end of the mission.)
Goal List
I think the pills are starting to kick in now. I'm still sore but... less so.
Tonight I put up my teeny little Christmas tree (it sits atop my entertainment unit) and put batteries in this little musical dancing thingy that I got this year. It's a penguin on a polar bear's back on a sled, and they talk and sing. What? It's cute. I put it on the floor and played it for Cassie -- she tentatively approached and sniffed at it and then ran away.
I unexpectedly started crying tonight while putting up my tree. A couple of years ago Jen (of the Awesome Fabulousness) got my mom a little Christmas tree ornament with her name on it. I found it in my box of holiday things -- I don't even remember getting it from her room after she passed away or putting it away with my things -- and started to cry. Some times it just hits you, you know? It didn't last long and now the ornament has a prominent place at the front of the tree.
I am listening to Christmas music. I should be wrapping presents. But I spent the last couple of days when my brain was stuffed full of cotton and I was hacking up parts of my lungs rewatching S2 and S3 of Oz. Mmmm, Keller. He's just so... delicious. I must admit that when I should have been writing yesterday, I was instead reading Beecher/Keller fanfic. I can't help myself. Now I am forcing myself not to start on S4. It's just.. KELLER.
I'll be starting back on "The Long Road" tomorrow. I have half of the next chapter written, so I should be able to finish that and get it posted Saturday night. Then it's the home stretch. My goal is to be done by Wednesday. *crosses fingers* Sorry for the delay.
Oh! And I keep forgetting to track my progress on mission101. Here's
Weeks 36 to 40
Completed
#88 - When shopping, pick up at least one item for food bank, weekly
Latest items: canned potatoes, 2 vanilla puddings, 1 vanilla wafers. Final tally: 32 items.
#89 - At Christmas, donate above food to a food bank.
#90 - Donate toys to a toy drive
Donated to the Wesley Centre, a local shelter that runs a food program/toy drive for the homeless and underprivileged. Food and toys are given points, and people are assigned a number of points they are allowed to "spend" based on income. They are then allowed free rein into the rooms to pick out what they want to spend their points on. I really like the way the system is set up, and it's incredibly satisfying to drop off the donations and see those rooms getting put together with so many wonderful new toys and food items.
In Progress
#14 - Write 2 - minimum 50,000 word stories
First story -- "The Long Road". Over 50,000 words with about two or three chapters left to go.
#21 - Read 130 books
46. Stranger to The Sun by Jeff Mariotte (Angel TV tie-in. Pretty bad.)
47. The Living Dead ed. by John Joseph Adams (ZOMBIES! Short story anthology. From the amazing [Dan Simmons' "This Year's Class Picture"] to the derivative ["The Dead Kid" by Darrell Schweitzer, who really should be sending his royalty checks to Stephen King, who wrote the basic premise for this eight million times better as "The Body" aka "The Stand"])
48. kd lang: All You Get is Me by Victoria Starr (Eh. Victoria doesn't slobber all over her celeb as most biographers do, but she definitely takes it easy on her.)
49. 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (I picked up Hill's book Heart Shaped Box at the Buffalo airport last summer, and couldn't put it down. Engaging characters, interesting plot, and (I swear this is true) I thought his writing was comparable to Stephen King -- same style, same slow reveal of plot and characterization, same ease of writing. I got home and checked Amazon to see what else he'd written, and discovered that his only other available work was this book of short stories. I made a mental note to look for it in my local bookstores. Imagine my surprise a couple of months later to discover that Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's SON. Whoo! Turns out he wanted to use a short form of his middle name, Hillman, to avoid comparisons with his father, but he was found out. The writing style gives him away, I swear. How exciting as a longtime, lifetime King fan to discover that his son is equally as talented. I look forward to many more years of reading Joe's work.)
50. Stonewall by David Carter (Part of my ongoing quest to educate myself about recent history that interests me.)
51. The Undead Vol. 2: Skin and Bones edited by D.L. Snell & Travis Adkins (ZOMBIES! Short story anthology. But not very good.)
52. Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison by T.J. Parsell (Very interesting. Parsell now works toward prison reform.)
#26 - Clean Sweep twice a year
I keep my "things" so minimal that it hardly takes me any time at all to do a sweep and purge unnecessary items. I went through the apartment in preparation for the Christmas Bazaar at the nursing home and found a few things to donate, and did my clothes back when I bought new ones for autumn/winter.
#39 - Watch 50 movies
16. Beetlejuice w/Geena Davis - I actually watched this in October, but it was so dreadfully awful that I forgot to mark it down.
17. 101 Dalmatians - the original animated classic. Haven't seen this since I was a kid. I LOVED it.
18. Groundhog Day w/Bill Murray - rewatch; it was on television during my bout with The Cold From Hell. Always good.
19. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull w/Harrison Ford - Well. It's Indy. And Marion's back! And it's Indy. Otherwise, you know, kind of whatever. It was fun for the nostalgia factor only. After hearing Shia LeBeouf (sp?) talked about on my flist for what seems like forever, it was... erm... interesting to see him. He's a little boy! I hope to catch him in another film someday, when his balls drop and he manages to grow some chest hair. ;)
20. Trading Places w/Dan Ackroyd & Eddie Murphy - rewatch, also during The Cold From Hell; such a GREAT movie (and thanks to the imdb, I now understand that final trading scene after 20+ years!)
#57 - Take long weekend 2x/year for personal health
I actually did this in October -- took an extra two days off, one of which was spent going to see Henry Rollins in Toronto. Very enjoyable.
Failure
#25 - Maintain apartment cleanliness weekly.
Okay. Gotta be honest. I've been keeping up on the bedroom and bathroom, but totally slacking on the kitchen and living room. Nanowrimo and having The Cold From Hell is totally my excuse. I even gave myself a grace period of two weeks, and still couldn't get my act together. FAIL. But lesson learned: goals that stretch over the entire length of Mission101 shouldn't be used. 9 months of being good down the drain. I've now gotten back on track, though... well, except for the living room area rug. Heh. (Owe $5 to charity at the end of the mission.)
Goal List