First, I'm feeling loads better, so thanks for the well wishes.

But I got home today, did some things, and made a sandwich. I ate the sandwich and some chips, and about halfway through eating those chips I noticed something feeling funny with one of my teeth. Specifically, the tooth I had a root canal done on... five, six years ago? felt like it was chipping. Oh boy. Why couldn't I have noticed this while I was back at the parents' house? At least then I could have gone to the dentist up there as well. Sigh.

So tomorrow I'll call around and see about this.

ALSO, I have a student loan payment due in April.

And eventually I'll get the bill for that emergency room visit. I filled out some forms as an attempt to help out with the bills before I left, so we'll see how that goes.

Oh, and I haven't done my taxes yet. Not that I'm expecting a big fat refund, but they do need to be done.

I could handle one of these, but all of them at once? Seriously?! I made it through February (which turned out to be pretty great, by the way) only to make March the month of woe. And the Ides of March aren't even here yet. Oh boy. It's like the world is testing my ability to be an adult here.

At least Script Frenzy starts in a few weeks. I'm way behind on Edmo, though.

The pain turned out to be a ruptured ovarian cyst. Lovely, right? At least it's not as bad as it could have been.

 

I stayed with the parents last night and will be back in Atlanta tomorrow. Yay.

 

The puppy has adopted me as her new favorite person ever. Dad is still cranky and mad at everything. So really, not much has changed.

 

But I get another night with the puppy. Yay!

My lower abdomen hurts. Seriously, OW. I could hardly get out of bed this morning, and then I nearly fainted on the toilet. Yeah, not good. But I did manage to make a bowl of oatmeal, eat it, take some ibuprofen, and call Mum to tell her that I had some health issues that were not your run of the mill health issues. (A cold or sinus infection? Eh, I'll recover, even if being sick is no fun. This? Could be serious and they might be able to help.) I even managed to get up to answer the phone while it was charging. That took some real progress, let me tell you.

If this does turn out to be serious, proofreading my NOWD donor novel and getting the character excerpts out might not happen this weekend like I planned to do. Ah well. Thanks for coming during an otherwise nonbusy day, medical emergency!

At least all this happened this weekend and not next weekend. Andrew Bird is coming to Atlanta on the 17th, which happens to be next Saturday and David's birthday. If I got sick during that I'd have to open a can of health whoopass.

Hello there LJ. I am alive. It is February. I have some very affectionate terms (ha!) for this month, but so far February has been pretty good. It'll be even better this weekend with two They Might Be Giants/JoCo shows.

I'm still catching up on lots of things in Dr. Nbook, but at least I've caught up on the Nano stuff. Seriously, there's stuff from October I haven't written about yet. Oops.

February is Wikiwrimowrimo over at Wikiwrimo. Thirty article contributions in twenty-nine days. I'm ahead but only because I've been doing things I meant to do before February. Oops? Maybe I'll finish those and then get on to real contributing.

Probably the real reason I haven't updated is because there's so much to talk about and I haven't gotten around to writing everything down, along with the fact that I've been thinking a lot about the consequences of letting other sites host your content and the future of my journalling. More on that later, though. Truth be told the real stuff that hasn't been written down is from Octoberish, so maybe I should just start writing as if nothing happened.

So yes, I have lots of Thoughts About Things. More on them later, though. Time to tackle these ribs with a vengeance. I hear computer keyboards don't like barbeque sauce.

It's time for me to start writing more regularly again. I know, I know. So to get started let's take a look at my post-NaNo 2010 goals (which rougly align with 2011) and how I did on them.

1. Get a job.
Well, I'm doing things that I get paid for. I count this as a win enough, though I wouldn't complain about more.
2. Move out.
Success!
3. Adhere to my 2011 Writing Schedule of Doom. See below for that schedule.
3a. Do Jannowrimo, NaNoEdMo, Script Frenzy, the Three-Day Novel Contest, and NaNoWriMo.
Check! I even squeezed in a Camp NaNoWriMo session to boot.
3b. Complete at least one more version of my first 2009 novel and my first 2010 novel.
Not so check! I did finish another draft of my first 2009 novel and adapted my first 2010 novel for Script Frenzy, but not much progress has been made on those.
4. Go to NaNoWriMo’s Night of Writing Dangerously.
Check check check check check check check!
5. Read at least 25 books that I haven’t read before.
I upped this goal to 30 on GoodReads, a goal I probably won't reach this year. I'm at 23, I think. I foresee a last-minute reading binge.
6. Pursue whatever direction in life I decide to go.
Still figuring this one out.
7. Make Wikiwrimo the best source for NaNo-related info.
Considering Wikiwrimo got featured on the NaNo homepage right after site launch, I think this is a win.

Now for the post-NaNo 2011 goals, which are roughly 2012 goals.

0. Get a more stable job or at least turn what I'm doing now into a stable business.
1. Rewrite the first 2010 NaNo.
2. Do some kind of physical activity every day. (I've been doing well on this so far, believe it or not.)
3. Launch the first Wikiwrimo Writing Month (February!). I'm writing the page for this right now.
4. Be more social outside of NaNo. This may mean (gasp) interacting with non-Wrimos.
5. Get my finances straightened out.
6. Do Wikiwrimowrimo, NaNoEdMo, Script Frenzy, Three-Day Novel Contest, and NaNoWriMo. Maybe I'll do a Camp NaNoWriMo session too if I come up with a plot. (Holy balls, my late winter/early spring is going to be ridiculous.)
7. Go on a date. Note that I said go on a date, not get in a relationship. I am perfectly okay with this one date goal.
8. Learn to cook better.
9. Install that home server. Also, if I do get a new laptop, finish The Longest Journey and install Linux From Scratch on the old one. Because I can. :D
10. Read 25 books I haven't read before.

That's my 2012. What about you?

Hi LJ. I haven't been here in awhile.

1. I hit 130k today and am still going strong. Not as strong as I'd like given that certain people are topping me at the moment, but I'm still going.

2. Since people may want a last chance reminder, here's your last chance reminder for the NOWD fundraiser. I have deadlines up now for things: noon Eastern time tomorrow (Thursday) for the outfit, the 20th for the novel (which is currently going for $100), and for those who care, the time for official NOWD prizes and extra raffle tickets ends at 11:59pm Pacific Time tomorrow (Thursday). I am dangerously close to raising more than Lindsey. As in less than ten bucks dangerously close. And I've raised the same amount as Rachael Herron.

3. What happens when you put a bunch of overachievers in one place? WAY TOO MUCH AWESOME FOR ONE BULLET POINT, THAT'S WHAT. :D That was last weekend, by the way.

4. I leave for San Francisco on Friday. Yaaaaaaaaaay! :D Oh my Baty, I'll be in California. :D

Word count: 50,004

Yes, you read that correctly.

Awhile back a few folks at the NaNo forums (*cough*cosmam*cough*) talked me into doing a 50k day one. I accepted this challenge and took it today. And well... Let this Google doc of my progress tell you how I did (spreadsheet also courtesy of cosmam). Note that I was significantly behind for most of the day but apparently rule at catching up.

I wrote only 3k at the midnight kickoff at my place. The last folks left at 3am, and the party was lots of fun--we had ten people show up! David's evil scheme to put me behind on 50k day worked, but it didn't put me down. As soon as everyone left and I cleaned up the stuff that was actual mess I went to my room and started writing and caffeinating. I took a couple of 15-minute power naps throughout the day but otherwise stayed up all night, and I used Dropbox to write nearly 1k on my way to and from tutoring today. This was probably the vital 1k that saved me, as I finished with barely ten minutes to go.

And then I had a celebratory drink; if I hadn't succeeded it would have remained untouched until December.

Oh, and the best part? I hit THE END on the book too.

#50kkillmenow? #50kkilledit.

But now I sleep since I haven't done much of that over the last few days. Mmmm, sleep.

I did all the things today. Well, except actual work, but my schedule is flexible enough that I can do it over the rest of the week. I can deal with that, especially since my brain will need a break from massive amounts of writing after day one. Moderate amounts of writing will have to do.

There were things I would have liked to finish before the first, like journalling and writing other pep talks, but they're things I can do later. I don't have to have my pep talk for the ninth ready right now, though it would certainly be nice. And I don't have to have my Night of Writing Dangerously donor pep talks ready yet. But the laundry's done and I have clean clothes and I have food ready beyond the frozen dinners that I'll probably be eating tomorrow and I have my Adopt a Day pep talk for the day after tomorrow and I've paired all the newbies and mentors and I've sent a friend something she needed that I had and I've done my first @NaNoWordSprints session and I haven't died. Yet.

And I'm hosting a midnight kickoff party at my place, and ten people have already said they were coming. This includes David and me. Holy wow.

All things considered, I think I'm in pretty good shape. As the sign Tia got me yesterday says, "Keep calm and carry on."

I think I can handle that.

NaNo starts in twenty-four hours.

The madness is nigh.

Now to finish things before I sleep.

That is all.

I love to-do lists. They keep me organized, and I can cross things off when they're done. Bonus points if I put every item on a Post-it note and hang them on my wall so I can take the Post-it down when that item is finished, rip the note up, and toss it.

So here's this year's Pre-NaNo to-do list.

* write pep talks
-three NOWD donor pep talks (contact donors to see when they'd like the pep talks)
-one Adopt a Day pep talk (by 2 Nov)
-two regional pep talks (by the end of Week One for one, the other is more flexible)

* catch up on journaling to this point
-I have two major events left, but these are major events. We're talking weekend-long events here. This may take most of my spare time over the week.

* Cook food so I don't have to cook as much during the first week or two of Nano
-I have four frozen dinners and five packs of ramen for November first and those nights when I really don't feel like cooking, but I don't want to eat these the entire month. Even though I'll be away from my kitchen for about a third of the month (the Overachiever Invasion, Night of Writing Dangerously weekend, and Thanksgiving weekend), I still want to eat reasonably healthily, and cooking in advance and freezing meals is a good way to make sure I do so.

* Acquire the last few needed groceries before starting all this cooking.

* Various ML stuff.

* Three kickoff parties the upcoming weekend. For those in the Atlanta region, there's one on Saturday evening followed by two on Sunday. See this thread for details and how to RSVP. (It's so close!)

And then the noveling begins...

A couple of things:

If NaNo is messing with my productivity and sleep schedule now, imagine what it'll do in November. No, life, I need to get work done. I can't spend all day on the NaNo forums. I would like to have money to fund my Night of Writing Dangerously shenanigans and write-in food and drink fund.

I also need to figure out what to cook for the first week of NaNo. A couple of years ago I was smart enough to cook enough food for a week and heat up individual portions as needed. Yes, this meant that I ate a lot of the same thing for nearly a week, but that was worth being able to sit down and write without worrying about food to me. Maybe I'll get lucky and I can stock up on cheap non-crappy frozen dinners again before the first for those really desperate times. (I already got two of them in anticipation of November first, along with a few packs of ramen. Don't worry, I eat real food most of the time. The ramen I ate the evening of NaNo site launch is an exception, not the rule.)

So I need some quick meals that I can cook before the first, preferably things I can cook all at once, freeze, and then pop in the oven or microwave before eating. Quick and inexpensive to fix are always better. I'm cooking for just myself, so almost any recipe will give me enough for leftovers. Ideas?

Soon after the new NaNoWriMo site launched last night, I found myself on there, refreshing intermittently while doing other things.

There's one very big thing from the relaunch.

Wikiwrimo is the very first site featured in the Procrastination Station... meaning it's on the front page of NaNoWriMo right now.

Oh. My. Baty. Threads I've started have been featured there, but never a website I built. Then again, Wikiwrimo is the first NaNo-related site I've built. Still, seeing it on the front page of NaNo is ridiculously awesome. I BUILT that site, after all. My Wikiwrimo is all grown up.

It went something like this on our way to my place after the weekend trip (which included an extra day that's now sending me scrambling, but that's another story)

Me: You probably figured this out by now, but I like you.

David: Is that a proposal.

Me: Depends. Do you want it to be?

David: Well, I hate to break your heart, but I don't want anything more.

And that was that. No additional awkwardness when we got to my place and he got his Tupperware dish and balanced it on his head and I called him possessing of a level head and we talked for a bit before he left and he said he may see me in a few months because it sounded like I was going to be so busy due to NaNo.

But I'm still writing his Renaissance assassins for NaNo. We had a great time planning that one out over the trip, mostly last night.

Also, now people are creeping my Twitter @ mentions to figure out who he is after I tweeted somewhat cryptically about it. Is this what being famous is like?

You know those sayings about ideas coming in droves or when you have too many? That appears to be happening to me right now, at least about the last part. I blame the #nanolanta chat room for helping me come up with this idea, even if I did hint at the idea myself.

I can't write the idea this year. Well, I could, but most the research is experience-based, and that experience can't happen until next year. All I can say is that you have a year to read or reread Adventures in Wrimonia if you haven't already. I'm just saying.

The new NaNoWriMo website launches in a week. I'm running around like a headless chicken thanks to MLing, having a social life, trying to get other work done, and oh, being away last weekend and this upcoming weekend. This thing called a social life is really getting to me, but at least I'm getting it out of my system before Nano season officially begins for the masses.

What many people don't realize is that Nano season begins much sooner for me. My brother contacted me about the family coming down to visit me this weekend for my dad's birthday. The fact that my dad and I aren't very close at all (the least close of all my family members) aside, I have an airtight excuse in being away this weekend. But it also happens to be Nano season, and as we all know, Nano eats my soul even more than usual during October and November. Not that it doesn't during the rest of the year, of course, with many of my social interactions being with Wrimos, but the soul-eating definitely goes into overdrive and obsession during Nano season. You would think my family is aware of this since I did Nano as a high school student while living with them, but no, every single year they still ask what Nano is. At least my brother, who is like me in that he is Internet-savvy and geeky, has figured out what Nano is after all these years and even commented on it last year when Nano trended on Twitter. He still thinks I'm nuts for doing it, which is expected. My parents primarily care about my writing to get published and therefore rich. It doesn't work like that, but that's a separate subject altogether.

So how do I explain to my family just how important Nano is to me? They sort of know what Nano is but don't really value writing unless it's going to make me rich. You know, because all writers are rich, right?