Back to Blogging

I had a conversation with a friend of mine a couple days ago. We both like to write, but seldom find the time to do it, even though we both have blogs that we could be updating. And that got me thinking about this place. Obviously it's been a while since I posted, but I do really enjoy blogging. With the amount of interesting things that I find on the internet everyday that I just really need to share with someone, or even just put somewhere and talk out my feelings about, blogging could be really good for me.

So, I guess the point of this is that I intend to start posting here more. I do not promise high quality everyday. And it won't always be one thing or another. I hope to post a mix of videos, my writing, pictures and just talking about links or something happening in my life.

I'll start right now with an update on my life. I have the same Dunkin' Donuts job that I've had since I graduated high school. Except now instead of working nights, I'm the Assistant Manager and I work a dark o'clock early in the morning. It's been an interesting transition for this night owl, but I still enjoy it. I am still working my way through college with online classes. I do participate in NaNoWriMo every year (I think I'm pretty good at keeping my sidebar updated with that). I tried Camp NaNoWriMo in August this year and didn't even break 7k. I am still very much a James McAvoy fangirl. I would appreciate it a lot if TPTB would release one of the three movies he filmed last year and early this year (or even Arthur Christmas! Give me anything.). I am still in love with X-Men: First Class. I have grown this love by attending a fan meetup for XMFC and starting to read X-Men comics. I am of legal drinking age (I was the last time I posted, but now I've found people that I can be around and drink and just have a good time). I like drinking, but I'm responsible about it. I saw Train in concert on Saturday. It was fantastic.

I think that's it for tonight. I've got comics that I really want to read. Expect the layout and design to change.

Nice to talk to you again, blog people. Have a good night!

4.0.3a Impressions Part One: Mostly the Alliance Part.

4.0.3a Impressions Part One: Mostly the Alliance Part.

NOTE. This post is full of spoilers for the World of Warcraft Shattering. If you don't want to know about the Shattering, or how I feel about the changes, then you probably shouldn't read this. Also, I'm writing this in my NaNoWriMo document and counting it as part of my NaNo word count, so this post is long and in some places uses a lot of words where less could have easily said the same thing. But that's part of the fun of NaNo, and it was very cathartic for me to be able to write all this out. Also, as I am writing this in my NaNo file it's sure to be full of spelling and grammatical errors. I'll probably catch some of them as I skim through it in the future, but I tend to skip entire words when I get typing fast, so there may be sentences that appear to be missing words.

STORMWIND. Stormwind is beautiful. It looks like it's been hit pretty bad, but the people inside have adapted to the change and rebuilt. I love the area north of the Dwarven District. Olivia's Lake is beautiful and little Olivia is cute as well. The houses, farms and fields there are very cool, and that little house with a clearing in front is a lovely place to put the druid trainer with the demolition of The Park. The fountains around town are lovely, but there are so very many of them. It's like everytime they had some free space they decided to throw in a fountain. "Hey we've got some space here, what do we do?" "Put in a fountain." "Nah, man. That's getting old. We have far too many fountains as it is." "Alright, then put in a half fountain with a lion's head coming out of that wall there." "That's awesome. Great idea."

Adding the fishing and cooking dailies to Stormwind was a great way to really cement Stormwind as the new Alliance hub. There are certainly people that prefer other cities better, but Stormwind has the access to Northrend, Outlands, Kalimdor (maybe because I haven't explored enough to really know what they did to Auberdine/Darkshore), and the tram to Ironforge, as well as trainers for all classes and professions (I didn't check on Jewelcrafting though). With Stormwind as the new hub, I do expect it to be a bit more laggy than usual, but hanging around there tonight around 6pm server wasn't really any laggier than usual. Which is very nice. I love the addiction of a second bank and auction house in the Dwarven District. That will definitely be helpful for people who do have lag problems in Stormwind, as they will be able to head there instead of trying to get anything done in the Trade District.

The Hero's Call Board is also a cool addition to the Stormwind Trade District. I'll have to do the quests and check the board again to see if they are one time quests or low level dailies. The two quests that I got tonight on Hiromimmi looked to me like they were specifically to get low-level characters re-exploring some of the regions that have been hit hard with the Shattering.

Overall, Stormwind is looking to be a pretty great Alliance hub. The lag is bearable (and today was patch day. Patch day lag is always the worst), though time may prove me wrong on that and the city is close enough to it's former layout that people who have been playing for a long time can still get around. It's really nice to see so many people hanging around Stormwind, fishing and generally going about their business. It really sunk in when I saw people posting in Trade Chat offering services such as Jewelcrafting and Enchanting to the public in Stormwind instead of Dalaran. My only regret is that fishing up the coins in the Dal fountain is almost going to be creepy with no other people around the city.

DALARAN. While I've started on Dal, I may as well continue. I love Dalaran. It's small, neat, beautiful and I know my way around it. I'm going to miss it. It was nice to have a place where both Horde and Alliance characters hung out. It made the world really feel whole. In the major Alliance cities you only see Alliance characters. In Dalaran, you'd get to see Horde characters as well. Enemy faction or not, they are the other half of the same world, and it was cool that Dalaran (and Shattrath before it) provided a place where the two factions could interact with (mostly) the same NPCs and go about their business in peace. The fact that the city had a sanctuary for each faction was nice as well, because it pushed the idea that while the two races got along in the city they were still enemies and don't get along outside of the city.

I speak about Dal so fondly because I didn't play before Wrath of the Lich King, and I never saw Shattrath in it's glory days. Dal provided fishing, cooking, and other profession dailies, as well as the test of trying to fish in the fountain. Fishing in the fountain was etiher a test of luck, trying to get all the coins, or a test of patience, trying to fish while some idiot on a mammoth tromped all over the fountain and blocked your bobber. It was also the main place to spam trade for people for lvl 80 raids. I feel that in the coming weeks Warlocks (and people willing to meet at the stone and summon) will be more needed and loved. IceCrown Citadel is a bit farther from Stormwind than it is from Dalaran.

Also, I need to continue to run my warlock around Dalarsn to find the last couple of those Higher Learning books. The transporting book that comes from the achievement isn't very excxiting now, but I still want that cute little voidwalker pet for my warlock, because come on! She's a warlock. And I already have it on my DK and my druid, of course.

DUNGEONS. My dungeoning experience since the patch is pretty slim. It's only been a day. But I did run Gnomeregan a couple times and Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard a couple times. I love that quests have been moved inside the dungeons now. It's much easier than sharing quests and trying to make it to a zone you're not questing in to turn in it. The Gnomeregan quest chain took me two runs to complete, but that's only because I missed the Face turn in, and had to run back and turn in his quest after we killed the final boss. So I didn't complete the boss killing quest until the next run. The Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard quest also took me two runs: one to complete it and one to turn it in at the beginning. It's nice that the quest rewards are still pretty awesome. The gear looks pretty good, the money is nice (at level 30 I got a little over 1 gold), and the experience is awesome (Over five thousand experience at level 30).

I also like that the bosses have been buffed. They have more health than I remember them having, which was good when the rogue in one of the Gnomer groups stealthed off presumably to try and solo the boss. If the bosses in all dungeons really have been buffed, then soloing low level dugeons is going to be harder than before at level 80, though maybe it will be back to the same at level 85.

GNOME STARTING AREA. New Tinker Town is very cute. It's nice that the gnomes (and trolls) are finally getting a place of their own. Gnomes start inside the same building where the Gnomeregan instance is. The quests are pretty close together and very easy to follow. When one chain ends a new quest can be seen on the minimap. The quests level you quickly. I think I got to level 4 withing 20-30 minutes. And they quickly take the new character from New Tinker Town and out further into Dun Morough to fight against "red" creatures (creatures that will attack the character). As much as having starting zones have all "yellow" creatures is easy and a nice way to introduce new players to the game, it makes leveling slower (because you can chose not to attack all the creatures around you) and it really doesn't fight in with the idea that someone in town needs you to go attack them because they are super dangerous.

Gnomish buildings.

I like the New Tinker Town's look. It's very much Gnomish. It's all Gnome buildings, like the one's seen at the airstrip in Borean Tundra, and spare parts lying around. And the NPCs around town are creating crazy devices (some of which make you explode), and watching holoscreens. In one of the first quests as a new gnome, you are asked to "rescue" the survivors by beaming them out. So you get to run around the area and cast the beaming technology on the survivors of Operation: Gnomeregan.

Me and my robot for one of the early Gnome starting quests.

Beaming out the survivors.

It was also fun to watch a hologram projection of the final events of Operation: Gnomeregan after participating in it on all three of my 80s. It's like "hey, doing those quests made a difference because now the gnomes have this great new city that they're building and growing and protecting."

Another thing I noticed was that the slimes in the Gnomish starting area have faces. They're some where between cute and really "Fern Gully" creepy.

The slimes are kinda scary.

DUAL-BOXING. Blizzard wants me to get a second account. They've discounted the prices for the base game (Vanilla) and both Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. Instead of paying around $90 for the game (all the way up to Wrath of the Lich King) and the extra $15 a month for the second account I could buy all three (Vanilla, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King for $20 and then only have to worry about the $15 extra a month for the second account and my social life and nerd status.

I'd really like to try dual-boxing because having a second account would make leveling easier and give me more options for race/calss combos on Shadowsong. Having these ten extra character slots on Shadowsong would also mean that I would be able to experience all the Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor quest and zone changes through questing.

I can see leveling being much nicer if I always have a healing class to keep the dps (or maybe even a tank, gasp!) alive. It would also make dungeon queues easier for my dps characters (not that I have many low level dps toons right now; they've all been abandoned for healers.

I think the biggest cons to getting a second account are macros/extreme multi-tasking and the nerd factor. I'm worried that I will have trouble controlling two characters at once, and a large part of my play style really is how much I connect with my characters personalities. I'm not all that good with macros, and I don't want the whole game to become a large set of macros that make multiple characters do different things. It may force me to learn more about things that I have so far avoided, like tanking and aggro handling, and group dynamics (how different classes work well together or don't). The nerd factor is more about real life and less about the game. I'm already a huge nerd that writes a novel every November, works at Dunkin Donuts, takes nerdy web design art classes online and plays WoW all the time. It really won't help if I decide that not only am I going to play the characters I already have at level, but I'm also going to get a second account so that I can play even more characters at the highest level. Nothing's nerdier than playing WoW, except playing two versions of WoW at the same time.

For now I think I'm going to stick with my one account. I love the characters I have, and I still have seven slots on my server to get to 80 (soon 85). If I come to a point in the future where I have ten level capped characters on Shadowsong, then maybe I'll revisit the idea of a second account and dual-boxing. The recruit-a-friend is still very tempting though.

LEVELING, QUESTING, DEATHWING'S DESTRUCTION AND THE TROLL STARTING AREA. It's getting very near to my bedtime, and I only got to play a couple of hours tonight after getting my homework finished up. However, I look forward to playing more tomorrow and getting a look at more of the world. I'll have more impressions tomorrow night and hopefully they'll be as productive as tonights because up to this point this has added almost two thousand words to my very behind NaNoWriMo word count. My WoW plans for tomorrow include creating a troll of some kind (I'm thinking druid right now, but I'll see what my other options are tomorrow) and exploring the troll starting area and checking out Origrimmar. I won't have nearly as much to say about Org as I did about Stormwind because I am an Alliance player at heart and Org confuses me. I know a bit of my way around, but not like I do Stormwind. I also plan to get in some questing on one of the many characters that I have stuck between the levels of 28 and 80 (my highest non-80 is actually my 45 priest). As well as some exploring (either with one of my leveling characters or with one of my 80s). My shaman has quests from the Hero's Call Board for the Barrens and Stranglethorn Vale (both of which have been changed drastically I know).

Azeroth is a whole new world, and so far, I am loving it. I'm torn between trying to explore and do everything as fast as possible and trying to slow down and pace myself so that there's more new things for me to look forward to in Cataclysm.

I just hope that most everyone else is enjoying the Shattering as much as I am. And I still need to finish my Pilgrim's Bounty stuff because I love how fast it is to level cooking with this holiday.

Bargaining Already?

It's day four of NaNoWriMo, and I am already resorting to bargaining to get myself to do my writing. As of right now I have written 4,540 words. I promised myself that if I made the day three word count goal (5001 words) and did my homework before going bed tonight I would buy myself the Celestial Steed for WoW. I will finally have my sparkle pony. I submitted my homework over an hour ago, and I've been writing pretty steadily since (except for the break I'm taking to write this).

I was directed to this forum thread by a friend and I think that it will be what gets me through NaNoWriMo this year: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3737543. I've scrolled through the first two pages and owe over 7k words. It's helped me write 1-2k already tonight. Writing 100-200 words at a time definitely makes it more managable.

This thread is also very cool: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3821427.

EDIT (12/16/2010): I did do the writing and but myself the sparkle pony. My priest rides it everywhere because it looks so cool in shadow form. My warlock chooses to ride her Dreadsteed instead and I haven't played my druid or death knight to see if they'll be riding it.

NaNoWriMo 2010 Version and Loremaster

The NaNoWriMo website has been reset for 2010. The forums are new (but definitely not neglected, it's only been aday or two and already there are threads everywhere) and everything looks all shiny and pretty. It's almost NaNo time!!

I've decided to attempt the Loremaster achievement on Gnavie. She's completed two zones in Northrend and will work through the rest of Nothrend and all of Outlands before heading back to Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor to finish up the achievement. I will post updates on her progress as I go.

Nanolyser

Found this site via the NaNoWriMo website and wanted to share it. It's called the Nanolyser. To see what it does the following is a link to my stats from last year. It'll only be there for a couple more days though (until the NaNo site goes down on the 1st): Leviathan's Nanolyser Stats.

Also I am watching/listening to the following video on repeat while writing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyN7F51g0Rs. I was so excited that they had NPH on Glee.

It Really Is Coming Up Soon

After my post last night about starting to prep for NaNoWriMo 2010 it was surprising to me to get an e-mail today from my regional ML. It reminded everyone in the region that come October 1st, the NaNoWriMo website will be shut down and come back all shiny and new, ready for this year's NaNo. In a little over a week the forums will start to fill with people getting pumped for this year's NaNoWriMo. And I will get even more excited!! And maybe I'll even get a plot or characters or something like that. I know it's not necessary for NaNoWriMo, but it could be fun to try that way for the first time since my first NaNo in 2007.

Mentally Preparing Myself for NaNoWriMo 2010

I'm starting my NaNoWriMo preparations early this year (earlier than a week before, like the past two years, though definitely not as early my first year when I had the whole novel planned out before the month began). I am preparing by reading tons and tons. I'm speeding my way through "The Dresden Files" series. I'm on the fourth book right now, Summer Knight, and I started reading them just last week.

I've also re-found this blog today, jimbutcher.livejournal.com/. It's the blog of Jim Butcher, the author of "The Dresden Files." It has a lot of really good information about writing and I like the way he writes (obviously, or I wouldn't be reading "the Dresden Files" and especially not as fast as I'm reading them) it's fun and easy to read. Just reading a couple of his posts has me really pumped to get a plot, characters and for it to be November.

Small off-topic edit: What was I thinking when I decided to try Compose mode instead of doing the HTML myself? Of yeah, it totally worked, but then I looked at the HTML that Blogger had written and almost cried. It was terrible. The problem is now fixed.

The First Post of 2010

It's 2010 and so much has happened since I last posted here, and yet there's not much about those months that I feel like sharing. There is some though, so here it goes.

I won NaNoWriMo for the third time in November. I updated the side bar to have the 2009 winner banner. I had to write 14k on the last day to win it, but I did do it.

I am still very much a fan of Heroes, Star Trek and Zachary Quinto. I'm very excited for tonight's new episodes of Heroes.

I tried to go to sleep an hour ago, but couldn't. I've been wanting to get back to blogging, and writing in general, so now I'm on the couch with my netbook watching The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. I had forgotten how much I love these movies. I clearly remember my obsession with everything related to them, but I'm glad that even now that the obsession has passed they are still entertaining to me. I'll decide once I've finished this one if I want to move onto the next movie or actually go to bed.

The princess of the house (Powder cat) is trying to decided where she wants to be laying.

I've been working, but for the most part I've been playing a lot of WoW. If I continue to blog more I plan to make tags for each of the characters I play the most, so that I can write on here about the progress I make with them. Not many people in the real world care to hear about them and my guildies don't care because their not all 80 and completely geared. I love my guildies, but the game is more about knowing your character than having the best gear and being a flawless raider. And on top of that, it is a game and I enjoy leveling and playing each character at my whim, not forcing myself to grind to get to the endgame content, especially when the endgame moves so often.

I think that's it for now. Powder has settled on the back of the couch by my head and Aragorn has just been introduced to the story as Strider, the Ranger. Good night!

Guess What Time It Is?

It's almost November again, and I am gearing up for NaNoWriMo once more. This will be my third year participating, and hopefully my third win. I've been fleshing out a plot and main character to start writing about next week when November begins.

This year I promise to not promise to keep this blog up to date on my writing progress. After two years saying I will and then not doing it, even I know I'm lying.

I Needs To Do Some Writing

I love NaNoWriMo, but it only comes one month a year and I find that I do barely any writing in the other 11 months of the year. So I think I'm going to try a NaNo type thing in February. That's right. Starting today I'm going to attempt to write 50,000 words. I don't have characters or a plot or even an inkling of an idea, but I'll make it work. I'll keep you guys updated with a bar on the left sidebar. There's no official site for people attempting 50k in February, so keeping my numbers updated here will have to be good enough.

I Did It Again

Before explaining the title of this post, let me start by telling a story.

On Sunday November 30, 2008 (this year), I was sitting in my friend Monique's car. She was driving us from Maine back to Vermont after Thanksgiving Break. I was working on my NaNoNovel. At some point during the ride she said something to the effect of "if you hit 50k, I'll buy you the ten year shirt."

A little more back story now. This year was the tenth year that NaNoWriMo has been held, and the Office of Letters and Light has a shirt that they are selling that commemorates the ten year anniversary of the writing challenge. Both Monique and I had seen the shirt and thought it was very cool. As of Sunday November 30th, the last day of NaNoWriMo, I was around 38,500 words. Approximately 11.5k away from the 50k word goal.

At around 7pm, I passed 50k and validated my word count for the month. So, for the second year in a row, I have won NaNoWriMo. I just uploaded the winner badge to the sidebar, and I love my shirt.

101 Goals for 1001 Days: My Goal List

I am doing 101 Goals in 1001 Days. The goals is to complete 101 goals in the space of 1001 days. To learn more visit Day Zero or 101 Goals in 1,001 Days.

I will be starting to achieve these goals on October 4, 2008, and will have them finished by July 2, 2011.

Writing
01. Participate in all three NaNoWriMos during the time period.
02. Win/complete all three of the NaNoWriMos during the time period.
03. "Blot" something/someone out of existence (in real life or in writing).
04. Edit 2007 NaNovel.
05. Edit 2008, 2009 and 2010 NaNovels. (0/3)
06. Have at least one NaNovel printed and bound (with cover art by me).
07. Participate in the summerwrites during the time period.
08. Write 15000 words in one day.
09. Participate in a writing challenge other than NaNoWriMo and summerwrite.
10. Write a song.

Reading
01. Read Janet Evanovich's Stephenie Plum series.
02. Read a book (or more than one, if possible) by Kaleb Nation.
03. Read at least one book by Jane Austen.
04. Read "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte.
05. Read a Stephen King novel ("The Stand"?).
06. Read "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown.
07. Read more of Orson Scott Card's books.
08. Read The Bible.
09. Read 100 books (books already specified on this list can count or it can be a separate count). (0/100)
10. Read 200, non-Lit Mag, poems. (0/200)
11. Reread the Lord of the Rings books. (0/3)
12. Read "1984".
13. Finish reading the Deathnote books.
14. Finish reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
15. Read Dante's Inferno.
16. Borrow at least 20 books from a library for "fun" reading. (0/20)
17. Reread Catherine Coulter's FBI Thriller series.
18. Read a book by Catherine Coulter not in her FBI Thriller series.
19. Always carry a book in purse.
20. Write a review of every book read for this list. Post reviews here.

Buying
01. Buy a semi-formal dress for dances (and shoes to match, if necessary).
02. Buy a good camera (do this after the photography class).
03. Buy something from http://www.etsy.com/
04. Buy some plants and keep them alive for at least one month.
05. Buy another bookshelf/a bigger bookshelf.
06. Buy a pair of shoes only because they are cute.
07. Buy (or acquire) The Sims 3.

Real Life
01. Graduate from Champlain College.
02. Vacation on Isle Au Haut.
03. Go on a date.
04. Have first alcoholic drink with parents.
05. Submit a piece of writing to Willard and Maple.
06. Get help from a teacher outside of class in order to better understand something.
07. Put more effort into Music Makers (Be energetic and excited to sing, not exhausted).
08. Run around in the rain and jump in puddles.
09. Sing in the shower. completed 10/4/2008, post here.
10. Use a bus ride to get some reading or writing done.
11. Read something at a PoJazz event (on stage to the audience, not a book in the back corner of the room to myself). completed 12/11/08, post here.
12. Go to a concert.
13. Go to an orchestra concert.
14. Take a college level creative writing class.
15. Take a photography class.
16. Have laundry/top level of parking garage parties.
17. Get my driver's liscense.
18. Try to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night.
19. Wake up everyday.
20. Get a friend to do NaNoWriMo (one that isn't already planning to).
21. Get a friend to do the 101 Goals in 1001 Days challenge.
22. Continue being awesome.
23. Keep room/living space clean.
24. Stay sober until 21.
25. Learn to drive standard comfortably.
26. Get my passport.
27. Complete the Couch-to-5k running plan (thanks to http://devons101in1001.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-list.html for this goal).
28. Watch this YouTube vid with sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvit4QgHRBo-completed 10/4/08, post here.
29. Get nails painted by someone else (manicure?)
30. Go on an insane roadtrip with Jenny.
31. Register to vote. - Completed in late October, post here.
32. Participate in Post Crossing (Thanks to http://www.lunky.net/101.html for this goal).
33. Donate blood.
34. Donate 1,000,000 grains of rice at FreeRice.org. (0/1,000,000)
35. Do all the homework/reading that has been assigned for this week (10/5/2008-10/11/2008) during the weekend so that I can start the school week with no work to be completed (This means lit mag packet as well).
36. Learn to make 10 new meals. (0/10)
37. Add more pictures to my wall. Take pictures of my wall and post them here.
38. Take pictures of Spinner, Champlain Campus and my apartment and room. Post them here.
39. Keep caught up in classes. Aim for Dean's List.
40. Continue to use a planner to keep self organized.

Watching
01. Watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy in a day or a weekend.
02. See "Twilight" in theaters.
03. Watch the original Star Wars movies in a day or over a weekend.
04. Watch the movie version of one or more books that I read. Read the book first.
05. Rewatch all the episodes of Stargate SG-1 and the movies. (0/214 + 0/2)
06. Rewatch all the episodes of Stargate Atlantis. (0/100)
07. Watch the Stargate Atlantis movie (when it becomess available/if it becomes available in time).
08. Watch 100 movies. (0/100)
09. Write a review for every movie I watch. Post the review here.

Web/Computer Goals
01. Post a video on YouTube.
02. Update blog (this one) at least twice a month (if not once or more a week).
03. Make a website using Flash (outside of Digital Interactive Design).
04. Learn the difference between relative positioning and absolute positioning of divs. Make a website using both absolute and relatively positioned divs.
05. Become more confident with XML. Build a site using XML to prove confidence and competence.
06. Become more confident with PERL. Build a site using PERL to prove confindence and competence.
07. Participate in a graphics challenge.
08. Read through past web class books and underline/take notes.
09. Redesign Got Nothin' (this blog).
10. Play The Sims 3.
11. Play the same family/household in Sims 2 Apartment at least 4 separate times. (0/4)

Miscellaneous
01. Blog about the completion of each goal (and the work towards completion of each goal). Take pictures for goals that should have pictures taken for them.
02. Based on how successful I am with this list decide whether to do this again.
03. If I decided to do this again, write list for next 1001 days.
04. Have 101 goals by 1am Oct 4, 2008. completed 10/4/2008, post here.

Creatures and Lengends Myths for My NaNo

"List of Legendary Creatures," at WikiPedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legendary_creatures)
This seems like a good place to start. A jumping off point of sorts.

"Top 10 Mythical Creatures," at List Universe (http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-mythical-creatures/)

These are creatures that I really don't want to use in my NaNovel unless I dig really deep into research and do them differently than others have before. I just think that they are too common. Also: dragons and angels, but I am willing to change my mind if the story needs it.

NaNoWriMo: Is It November Yet?

I've given up on doing homework for the night, and instead I'm looking through the NaNoWriMo forums. I don't why looking through the forums gets me so pumped for November, but it does. I'm ready, well, inpiration wise. I have no plot, or characters. But those things don't really matter for NaNoWriMo anyway.

One thing that I've found that looks interesting (while looking through the forums) is a program called Temptation Blocker. The link is here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/temptblocker/, and I think I'll be putting it on my laptop when I get home from work tonight.

I've also just noticed that I can't find my NaNo 2007 winner badges, so I'm going to look for them online and steal them, because I thought I'd posted them on here, but apparently not. I did win though. No doubt about it.

Script Frenzy Warning Post

Dear Anyone Who Reads This Blog,
I apologize in advance for what you are about to have to endure (unless you just choose to stop reading my blog). Let me explain: Script Frenzy. I have already stated that I wish to participate in this endeavor (http://gotnothin.blogspot.com/2008/03/break-time-when-you-can-do-what-youve.html), but I don't feel that I've properly shouted it from the rooftops of my blog.

I AM DOING SCRIPT FRENZY IN APRIL. I WILL WRITE A 100-PAGE SCRIPT IN APRIL!!

</capslock abuse>. Now that I've gotten that out of the way I feel that I need to explain a little more about what this means for my blog. During the month of April I plan on posting more than I did in November when I did NaNoWriMo. I'll try to do, at least, weekly page counts. If I'm good I'll also post about character problems, plot holes, daily frustrations, and notes I'll be doing beforehand.
So, to sum this up. My blog is going to be taken over by Script Frenzy, just as in the past it has been taken over by Stargate SG-1, Supernatural, NaNoWriMo, Stargate Atlantis and probably Psych when there are new episodes for me to comment on and weeks to wait before new episodes.
What is this warning for anyway? If you read this you're probably already used to my obsessive behaviors.
My Sincerest (Early)Condolences,
Meg

My goal for tonight is to start an epic Stargate Atlantis marathon, not because I want to watch Stargate Atlantis (never! ), but because I want to take notes while watching on funny or effective lines or plots. That way I can better see what I like in tv shows.
And also because I really, really want to have a Stargate Atlantis marathon.

NaBloPoMo in March?

I'm thinking of doing NaBloPoMo in March. They even have a cool theme that you can blog about: lists. Let's see if I can make a list right now.

Things I Want To Talk To My Family About When We Talk Tomorrow:
Not!Snow Day
My Classes
Friends
Supernatural and Stargate Atlantis (yeah, my family is as bad as I am)
Things to bring when they come up on Saturday
Things they've been doing for the last two weeks (I feel like it's been forever since we spoke, but it's only been a few weeks)
The epic music vid I found to the song "Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking"
The East House Dinner
East House being the best house ever

Lists are harder than I thought they would be. NaBloPoMo in March would be fun though. I'd like to give it another shot. I was able to write more than 50,000 words in November, but I forgot to post on the 4th day of the month.

Why Can't I?

For some reason I can't focus today. I'm trying, but I keep zoning out. Then I zone back in and I have no idea what's going on. This sucks. I have so much work I need to do tonight. I don't have time to zone out. I really do want to write tonight as well. Even though I have a lot of work to do I'm also going to spend sometime on AIM doing sprints. That way I can hopefully get out of my post-NaNo Writer's Block.

Party Post!!

On the 29th I posted that I would win NaNoWriMo. I'm proud to say that I was able to make that statement true. I submitted my novel at a little after 10pm on November 30th with 50,012 words! Then I called my family to brag about it. Now I have printed all 145 pages of my novel out. It's double-spaced in 12pt Garamond font, and now I'm ready to go at it with my pink editing pen of greatness.

So this is my exciting I DID IT post. Tonight I'm going to play laser tag in the gymnasium. And East House will win. Because I am officially AWESOME!

NaNo Update

I will win NaNoWriMo. Through pure will, if no other way. I haven't been posting here because I've been too busy procrastinating to do so. As of yesterday morning my NaNoWriMo word count was 29k. That's 21k below the 50k goal. Right now my word count is 41k. So I procrastinated so well through the first 27 days of the month, never on top of my word count goal. I don't think I made any of the quotas after the one on the first day. And now it's an hour before the last day of November and NaNoWriMo and I am proving once again that I am amazing under pressure. Tomorrow I will have to write 9k, or less if I squeeze another thousand or two words out of the next hour, and I'm thinking that pulling an all-nighter into the last day of NaNoWriMo sounds like a really good idea. So what if I have two classes and work tomorrow. I can survive on no sleep. Plus, I got a good night's sleep last night, and I can sleep in December.

I want to win NaNoWriMo more than I've ever wanted anything in my life, so I'm going to do it. Go me!

Sleeping On The Inside

Sleeping On The Inside: That's what I'm doing. I'm sleeping, but I'm awake. It's not because I'm bored, it's just because I didn't get enough sleep and I dislike mornings. So here I am, at work, sleeping on the inside. And trying my best not to fall asleep on the outside as well.

I slid past 8k last night before bed (I wouldn't go to bed until I reached it). Today I'd really like to catch up, but I'll take one thousand at a time. I'm going to try to push closer to 9k between now and noon. Then after lunch I can write in my room with music (though I may need to take a nap). I'm doing homework somewhere around 3pm. Then I can write more until dinner between 5pm and 7pm. And I work again from 8pm to midnight. I'll be able to bring my laptop for that shift, and write more. Wednesdays in November are going to be my catch up day because I'd really like to catch up to the 11,900 words I'm supposed to be at. I think it would feel really nice to not be so far behind.