adventures in grocery shopping, original fiction, Scott Westerfeld, and kitties
Not that this has anything to do with anything, but I went grocery shopping the other day...and had my lowest bill yet since moving! It's really exciting. I think I'm really learning which foods I can use as staples in any meal, and which foods are worth splurging on. I don't buy soda for myself anymore - I only buy milk - and I allow myself two treats with each shopping trip. Typically I get one pack of cookies and one thing of some sort of chips. Everything else is meal fixings. And I'm really learning how to make one meal go further leftovers-wise.
Also, a milestone for me in terms of grocery store history: I went to the butcher! And got ground beef! Because there weren't any packages small enough left in the refrigerated section. I felt like such an adult!
I've shifted gears with my ghost story - such as it is - and decided to write the second chapter from the other main character's point of view. Seeing as the female protagonist is completely indisposed of - having just survived a car accident - I figured I could explore the male protagonist's character to keep things in motion.
I've been doing some mind-bending math over the past couple days. I have to figure out the average number of deaths on each continent in order to figure out how many 'soul reapers' are necessary to keep up with all the deaths. I have one reaper being able to take care of an average of four spirits per hour, so I think the math might be correct?
I spent hours on it two days ago, and the numbers I used turned out to be 2005 estimates. Granted population numbers all over the world are changing every second, but I wanted mine to be even more realistic than that. Today I went back and instead used estimates for continent populations in 2010. I actually ended up being able to simplify my calculations using those numbers and also 155,000, which is the average number of deaths across the world per day. I know, it all sounds very morbid, and none of this information will ever be included in my book, but it's something that I, as the author, thought I should know. It's important in describing the scope of the soul reaper world.
In other news, I finished Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld. It's the second in the Midnighters trilogy. The creepiness factor certainly escalated exponentially in this one. I don't know how he does it, but Westerfeld certainly has a way with words in that he seems to effortlessly make nightmares seem horrifyingly real. He can make my skin crawl, basically. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the ending, although I'm certainly glad there is a lasting effect on one of the characters for the trauma s/he faced (hopefully that's not too spoilery!) In any case, I'm thinking of shifting gears for my next book, perhaps embarking on An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, not because I'm not looking forward to the final installment of Midnighters. No, it's because I know Blue Noon - Midnighters #3 is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and I need a break from the sheer creeptasticness of it all (that's creepy fantasticness, if you were wondering). I still intend on gobbling up everything else Scott Westerfeld has written at some point when I have the money to buy books again -_-
Last but not least, I had my first shift volunteering at PetSmart this weekend, and it was fabulous. I feel a bit of pressure, because it seems like there is a lot to remember, but I wrote most of it down once I got home, so here's hoping I manage to keep things straight. I get to go back and play with the kitties again on Wednesday, so that's what I'm looking forward to right now.
Also, a milestone for me in terms of grocery store history: I went to the butcher! And got ground beef! Because there weren't any packages small enough left in the refrigerated section. I felt like such an adult!
I've shifted gears with my ghost story - such as it is - and decided to write the second chapter from the other main character's point of view. Seeing as the female protagonist is completely indisposed of - having just survived a car accident - I figured I could explore the male protagonist's character to keep things in motion.
I've been doing some mind-bending math over the past couple days. I have to figure out the average number of deaths on each continent in order to figure out how many 'soul reapers' are necessary to keep up with all the deaths. I have one reaper being able to take care of an average of four spirits per hour, so I think the math might be correct?
I spent hours on it two days ago, and the numbers I used turned out to be 2005 estimates. Granted population numbers all over the world are changing every second, but I wanted mine to be even more realistic than that. Today I went back and instead used estimates for continent populations in 2010. I actually ended up being able to simplify my calculations using those numbers and also 155,000, which is the average number of deaths across the world per day. I know, it all sounds very morbid, and none of this information will ever be included in my book, but it's something that I, as the author, thought I should know. It's important in describing the scope of the soul reaper world.
In other news, I finished Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld. It's the second in the Midnighters trilogy. The creepiness factor certainly escalated exponentially in this one. I don't know how he does it, but Westerfeld certainly has a way with words in that he seems to effortlessly make nightmares seem horrifyingly real. He can make my skin crawl, basically. I'm not sure yet how I feel about the ending, although I'm certainly glad there is a lasting effect on one of the characters for the trauma s/he faced (hopefully that's not too spoilery!) In any case, I'm thinking of shifting gears for my next book, perhaps embarking on An Abundance of Katherines by John Green, not because I'm not looking forward to the final installment of Midnighters. No, it's because I know Blue Noon - Midnighters #3 is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and I need a break from the sheer creeptasticness of it all (that's creepy fantasticness, if you were wondering). I still intend on gobbling up everything else Scott Westerfeld has written at some point when I have the money to buy books again -_-
Last but not least, I had my first shift volunteering at PetSmart this weekend, and it was fabulous. I feel a bit of pressure, because it seems like there is a lot to remember, but I wrote most of it down once I got home, so here's hoping I manage to keep things straight. I get to go back and play with the kitties again on Wednesday, so that's what I'm looking forward to right now.