Occupy Wall Street

This speaks for itself. To whomever wrote this: THANK YOU.

Must... Log... Off...

Yeah, this was me all day on Google+. Okay, I'm done. No really, I'm done now. Wait! Another interesting person! And now my stream has more updates. Oooh, look at all the replies. My little red box up there is going insane.

No really, I'm logging off for now. I can check this in the morning.

But first I'm just going to reply to this reply.

IT NEVER STOPS.

... Elsewhere in the universe ...

What was that I heard about FB having some updates? Meh. I'll check it out later. Right after I finish this post.


~Sass~

LXD: Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

I love this show. LOVE. Despite the title sounding like another bad reality dance competition, and despite the beginning-of-every-episode narrator that makes me roll my eyeballs, this show has turned out to be creative gold. There is an actual plot here that has the potential to turn cheesy at a moment's notice, but the writers handle it well. I can't get enough of it.

Besides, even without a plot the show is worth watching just for all the pop-n-lock man candy.

(And if you notice, Glee kid Harry Shum, Jr snuck his way into this cast!)

The writers, directors, and choreographers keep this show fresh every episode, adding new spins or different viewpoints. No two episodes are the same. In fact, I think I may have to make a new playlist on Spotify specifically for all the music I've heard so far in this show.

The third episode is really what got me hooked, and since Hulu is nice like that, I'm going to embed it for you here:



I'm currently in the middle of season 2. It's a full on creepy-scary sick effects visual adrenaline fest. It's original. It's addicting. What are you waiting for?


~Sass~

Case of the Mondays

What I think about when I get to work:
1. Damn I have a lot of homework to do.
2. Damn I have a lot of house work to do.
3. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I think about when I get home:
1. Don't want to do homework.
2. Don't want to do house work.
3. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I think about when I'm doing my homework:
1. I should really do some house work. This place is a mess.
2. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I'm thinking about when I'm doing house work:
1. This is way better than doing homework.
3. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I think about when I'm actually writing my novel:
1. I should really be doing my homework.
2. I should really be doing the house work.
3. I should be working right now, but eff it, it's almost the end of the day.


Brought to you by A.D.D. Because only having one thing to think about is clearly too boring!

Children's Books

As a parent, a writer, and an avid reader I did my son a favor and started reading to him before he even knew a book could be used as anything but a teething toy. (I'm telling you, Brown Bear looks like it went through a trash compactor.) The books get cuter and cleverer. We both enjoy them. My 18-mo old son even walks up to me a few times a day with a book and sits in my lap so mommy can read to him.

Imagine my excitement when they started making humorous kids books for adults.

I don't mean humorous in a Disney sort of way. You know, where the movie is fun for the kids and a few adult jokes sneak into the dialogue in such a way that the kids are none the wiser. No, I mean like adult humorous.

Samuel L. Jackson narrates one of my favorites:



And now there is a new one to prepare your child for the upcoming apocalypse!

That's Not Your Mommy Anymore



I heart the writing community. I hope someday my son will find as much amusement in reading and writing as I do!


~Sass~

No Less Miraculous

Already breaking my promise to keep my social media updates unique from each other. This was interesting, though, and I've wanted to talk about this for quite some time. Be warned this is a RELIGION thing and it's bound to offend someone. You are free to leave this post at any time but please stay.

What got this started was a video about quantum physics and how the person who posted the video didn't get it, basically said scientists are full of crap, etc etc (I can't find this video because the person that started the convo didn't link it, so I am basing this on her testimony). Jennifer Bailey responded on Google+ and of course I jumped in because I love me some science (why I didn't go into the field as a career I have no idea). Since I don't know how to directly link a specific post I'll re-post it here for you all:

Was reading through my Sparks and some guy made a video about how butthurt he was over quantum theory. I don't even want to show the video because it's just completely painful. He says things like: "Scientists don't really know what they are talking about, they just guess all the time. There are no facts about anything, ever."

Well, the poor guy is sort of right. I think he's trying to understand what a theory is. But he clearly is biased and neglects the entire spectrum of how the entire point of science is testing a theory so the percentage of error is negligible. Observing something so many times that it becomes what we'd reasonably expect to see.

He didn't like the idea that the whole entire universe is just energy. I can understand how it might be hard for a mind to grasp that. It is hard to comprehend if you're just suddenly confronted with that idea without the physics background to back it up. It may indeed be difficult to come to grips with the fact that at the sub atomic level, particles aren't even ... anything. They're stable probability patterns.

We're all just... math. :)

I find this exceptionally incredibly cool and vastly freeing and wonderful.

But I guess I can understand someone, without having any background to be prepared to hear this sort of thing, will just outright reject it and start coming up with theories of their own to deny the truth.

My response:

+Jennifer Bailey: "I find this exceptionally incredibly cool and vastly freeing and wonderful."

I do too! I love that I don't know everything about the universe (multiverse?) and I think it's more fun to explore the possibilities than have the answers handed to me. Life and existence are magic enough on their own. Maybe this is why I'm not into religion? (I'm not trying to knock anyone's religious beliefs.. I just don't get the appeal. Not my thing.)

And then here comes Tim Elkins to put words to my feelings like he's all up in my head:

+Sarah Rios, I've always thought that compared to other creation stories, it's just as miraculous that billions of years of random interactions resulted in every one of us and every thing we see. It's still awe-inspiring. Having no overarching purpose or divine guidance does not automatically mean that the universe is worthless and meaningless.

It took him about two seconds to voice what I had been trying to figure out how to say for years. (I mean it... years.) I guess I am not like billions of other people in this world that feel there needs to be a divine purpose behind everything. In fact I feel like a divine purpose kind of spoils it all. I very much don't like the idea of having an unavoidable fate, and I find it kind of silly that a diety or dieties has a giant cosmic plan for every living thing down to the smallest bug on this earth / in the universe (it also strikes me as slightly narcissistic if we think that humans are the only "worthy" lifeforms deserving of divine attention). If in fact a higher being does exist, I like to thing such a thing would have more fun in creating life and turning it loose to see how things unfold. Higher beings wouldn't be micromanagers, would they? What fun would that be? The insecurities in a person necessary to trigger the need for micromanaging probably wouldn't be present in a higher being. Or maybe that's just me?

I honestly do not believe in a higher being. It has taken me years to admit that to myself, and I still haven't broken this news to my husband. He thinks I'm agnostic. Who said agnostics were basically atheists without balls? Description is accurate with this blogger. I shamelessly hit behind an agnostic label rather than admit to being an atheist. It's probably time I own that label.

Personally, I think there is enough miracle in the universe without needing an imaginary figure in the background to orchestrate it all. The idea that we were all created out of pure RANDOM is mind-blowing and much more exciting than a bored diety (or lustful/vengeful/etc dieties...to each their own). That said, I do think faith in something is necessary for the mental and emotional health of one's self. If religion fills that void then more power to you, it's just not something I subscribe to.

That was my heavy post for today. You all can breath easy until I make a post on another hot-button issue.

Have some Batmanning:





~Sass~

Variety?

Since rejoining the world of online everything I've tried to make posts unique between my FaceBook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts. A lot of people post the same things on all three, or the same things on FB / G+ and then use Twitter for the "chatting" (but also still posting the same things there from FB and G+). My thought is... if there is anyone out there that actually follows me everywhere, would they really want to see the same things in three different places?

My thought is no.

It *is* tempting to post the same things in all three places, especially when there's something hilarious or exciting to be shared. Like this giant swing thing I posted on FB this morning:



(makes your stomach drop straight to your feet, no?)

Or this cat picture I re-shared on G+ (originally from Richard Sexton:



I've found that I don't usually like posting links on Twitter. I'm one of those that mostly uses it as a source of chatter, and even though some of it is interesting I don't usually repost it to FB or G+. Example: convo I had this morning on Twitter about Marylin Manson's new song "Born Villain." Like woah Shia LaBouf really showcased his dark side with the directing of that video, and no, you don't get a link because it's WAY not appropriate for anyone under 18 or even some adults with weak stomachs. You can search that one on your own if you want. But that's an example of things I do on Twitter that never make it to FB or G+.

With the exception of today's (and the previous) blog post, I think I'll even try and keep the blog content unique to itself and not let it bleed over to FB / G+ / Twitter.

Don't get me wrong, I don't disapprove of those that post the same things in all places. I follow quite a few people that do that. I just figured I would make my own online presence somewhat different to follow and see if it works for both me and the few people that follow me. I would be interested to know if there is anyone else that does this (Scalzi comes to mind as someone that keeps it "fresh" sometimes between these outlets).

TTFN, and THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY. That was worth typing out in all caps. It's been one of those weeks.


~Sass~

Gear Ring

Yep, I need one.



Buy it here.



~Sass~

I was RESTING MY EYES

Brief tangent before we even start: I have issues with starting blog posts, social network status updates, and paragraphs in general with the word "So." I almost did that here. Almost. I caught myself just in time. Improving my writing one repetitive word death at a time.



Teh Sass has issues keeping up with her writing. News at 11.

I've decided that I'm going to try blogging again once a week. I think I can handle that, even when school starts again in a few days. It won't be the TLDR once a day posts of yore but it's better than writing a couple of posts once a year right around NaNoWriMo time. (Sadly, that was one of the reasons I came back now -- I remembered it was almost time to get obsessive about NaNo. Blog? What blog? Oh YEAH. That one! Aww, look at all these kyoot widdle posts from like THREE YEARS AGO. Holy crap.)

I miss my blogging sessions. They were great exercises in creative flow. I miss the process of composing my [many] thoughts into a random bit of silly, finding just the right picture to punctuate my statement, and leaving random bits of youtube for myself to remind me of what was interesting to me at the time. Plus, doing the blog thing is kind of a warm up to doing the novel thing. I haven't written something worth squat outside of NaNoWrimo in YEARS. What the eff happened to me? Gah!

I will get back into writing on a regular basis. Oh yes, I will.

In other news, I've returned to the social networking scene and revived my Twitter account as well as joined Google+. Not gonna lie, Google+ is the best thing on the internet since captioned cat pictures. I'm slowly trying to coerce friends and family to join me there. Something I was pleasantly surprised to see was all the photographers that popped out of the woodwork in Google+. Photographers and Nerds. Artsy peeps and the tech-savvy. My kind of crowd! Part of me actually hopes it stays that way. Please, Google, please don't allow business pages on Google+, or if you do, do it like you did with the games and make them completely ignorable!

Seriously, love me some Google+.

Another thing I usually do that probably annoys you as much as it does me: start my ending paragraph with "Anyway." Not gonna do it. There! See me not doing it? VICTORY IS MINE.

See you guys next week. Gotta get back to the grind!





~~Sass~~

Battlestar Galactica

First, the Ramen noodles were awesome (see previous post).



Second... OMG. I got on the BSG wagon a few years late but holy crap. Drama! Politics! Space battles! The human race is going to destroy itself... no, maybe it's not... oh wait, yes it is! Ahh!

I finished all 4 (new) seasons within a few weeks and it was one hell of an emotional roller coaster. I gotta give kudos to those writers for the way they manipulated those characters. There had to be a psychiatrist on that writing team having a psycho-gasm with all the bad shit people did to each other in that show. Baltar was a freakin' head trip, and although my friend thinks he should have been thrown out an airlock early on, he was actually one of my favorite characters. It was amusing seeing the desperation on his face at certain points, especially when number six would randomly appear to mess with him even more. And then I always wanted him to do the right thing, but half the fun was waiting to see what he would do wrong...

Now, I didn't see the original Battlestar Galactica. I've only seen the new one. One of my fellow geeky coworkers was all up in arms about the changes they made from the old one. It took my good review to get him to get past the first episode. His biggest beef?

Starbuck? Originally a guy.
(But she still smokes and sleeps around.)



My coworker likens Starbuck's gender change to rewriting Star Wars so that Han Solo is a girl (while that's actually an amusing thought, I get his point). Since I haven't seen the original I can't comment. He keeps bitching about Starbuck every time I ask him where he's at in the series, but he's still watching, so clearly it doesn't bother him as much as he says it does. So what else changed?

Boomer? Black dude.
(Not even close.)



Cylons?
(From Toaster to Titillating.)

Centurion gets a face lift...


And then we have skinjobs!


There are a lot of other changes from what I hear, but the writers gave themselves a valid reason from deviating so far from the original. I call it the Star Trek plotline escape.

Seen the new Star Trek? That whole oops Spock created / went through a wormhole and messed up the space-time continuum so that everything changed but the same players are still there thing? Yeah. It's kind of like that in the new BSG. There's a line repeated through most of the series (although a lot more often in the later half): "This has all happened before, and it will all happen again." Yes, yes, we get it, history repeats itself. But wait! There's more. At the very end, in the last episode, there is a conversation going on in which this statement is given (I won't spoil anything for you by saying who said it etc etc... it's non spoilery on its own):

"Let a complex system repeat itself long enough, eventually something surprising might occur."

(Fair warning, the following assessment is slightly spoilery in concept.)

Put those two quotes together and BAM! There's your reason for the changes. This is NOT the same Battlestar Galactica. It wasn't meant to be. This is history repeating itself. The old BSG happened, yes. Starbuck was a dude, the cylons were toasters, etc. But now it's happening again. It's the same, but different. Starbuck is a girl. The cylons look like hot chicks. Why all the changes? Because the complex system is creating surprises on its most recent repeat. Oooo. Some of you may think this is a cheap way to bring back the awesome show to end all awesomeness, but you lore sticklers gotta admit it's a good way (or at least an acceptable way) for the new writers to justify their adaptations.

And someone said they didn't like the ending to the new one, but I actually thought it was good. It resolved the storyline in a satisfying way. Plus it was a much happier ending than I expected compared to all the pessimistic build up (maybe that's why people didn't like it?).

My recommendation? If you haven't watched it, go seek it out. Netflix, your local rental place, a friend that has the DVDs, maybe even a library, whatever. Get your hands on that series and go watch.

I'll even see if I can find the original BSG and watch it while you watch the new one.



~Sass~

Ramen Noodles of Win and Awesome

Happy New Year everyone :) Yes, it's over a week since the coming of 2011, but I haven't blogged yet this year so I thought I'd play catch up and throw that out there.

Today I've been struck with the Ramen Noodle bug. Good Morning America (or some similar show... I don't know because I wasn't really paying attention) had a special on the popularity of Ramen Noodles and how the craze is coming to America. They don't mean the Ramen noodles in the packaging with the little flavor packet. They mean Ramen noodles that have been deliciously re-invented into bowls of yummy goodness. Of course I immediately had to run to my computer and look up recipes for Ramen noodles, and then run upstairs to check the expiration date of the box of chicken Ramen we bought from Costco forever and a day ago.

Sad story - we have actually reached the recommended use-by date on the package. 01/05/11. It's only 4 days past that so I figure if I cook all of them today I should be good. Right? Let's hope so. If not, I'm denied Ramen until we can get to a store and it's snowmageddon out there so I don't want to go driving for a cheap package of Ramen.

Anyway...

I'm now struck with extreme indecision. How many recipes could there really be for Ramen noodles, you ask. Too many, I answer. Google "ramen noodle recipes." I dare you.

The one thing I got from going through the search results is that I could pretty much throw anything I have in my cabinets into ramen noodle soup (within reason) and it will turn out divine. I'm favoring recipes with shrimp or chicken since we have a frozen abundance of both. I believe I also have a choice of veggie or chicken broth, and we even have some dried shiitake mushrooms that I could use to make Shiitake Dashi broth.

(I say this like I'm actually going to do this myself and not have my husband make it. He usually cooks. For the sake of this blog, I'll pretend I'm the one that will be cooking.)

The recipe here to the right actually looks really good and is really easy to make. I may go with that one. Veggie broth, veggies, Ramen noodles, soy sauce, chili oil, minced fresh ginger root, and green onions. Looks like that cook also garnished it with a lettuce leaf and a slice of mushroom. I think I see regular onions in there too. Mmmmmmmmm. Along with all the tea we just bought from Teavana yesterday, it looks like I'll have a lot of warmth to combat the extreme cold blowing through Colorado the next few days.

Okay, enough blogging. I've made myself so hungry I think I'm getting heartburn. I'll let you know which recipe I picked and write it out for you if it turns out to be as dreamy as I think it will be.


Today's LOLvideo:



Enjoy!



~Sass~

Oh Look, a Shiny!

Today, while our system at work decided to go tits up for a few hours, I rolled around the writers forums skimming for something that might catch my interest. I gravitated towards the research part of the site because sometimes the weirdest stuff comes up in conversation and the answers tend to inspire me. What did I come across today?

Racing thoughts & bipolar disorder

It sucked me in. My mom is bipolar and the first thought I had on reading the title was "I wonder if this happens to my mom?" I read the initial question (what is it like for people that experience it?) and then read the responses, and then...

The more I read it, the more I thought, huh. That happens to me all the time. I thought it was just me having a lot of mental ADD. It didn't occur to me that it might not be normal. It certainly isn't an unpleasant experience for me, not like it's described in those few responses in the thread. I don't go into the negative beating myself up and saying "you suck you suck you suck" over and over in my head. It's more like... well, here, let me see if I can come up with an example.

Back to the original reason I'm blogging: the system at work is down. At that point my first thought was to check email. I got to my email, saw that one of my brainstorming buddies was online but away, and it occurred to me that I could use this time to write. I then jumped to thoughts of using writing programs such as Scrivener, which then made me think of when I was messing with the Beta version of Scrivener on my husband's computer, which then made me remember that there was a bunch of crap I needed him to get done today, so I went back to my email to message him about it. I then went back to the writer's forums, which looped me back in thought to planning my novel, so while I was reading the forums I was also in the back of my head thinking about how I could go about getting back into the mind set of writing as my werewolf Kate (who has been renamed Mallory, but that's another blog topic), and I began to wonder if I should just start retyping the story to get into that frame of mind. (It's first person and I've been out of it a while... I'd need to get back in Kate/Mallory frame of mind.) Then, I remembered when I was writing my NaNo this year that I used a lot of mental ADD in that character to get me through my word count, which then looped me back to the bipolar thread on the writer's forums and I thought, wow, I need to blog about that.

This all happened in a matter of about ten minutes.

Then I went back and checked (because I keep checking) to see if the system was up, and lo, it is still down for the count. At which point my brain then went back to thinking of ways I could revise my story, and I tabbed back over to this blog window to continue blogging.

I don't think you even want to know how long it takes me to actually blog, because the mental zig zagging that has happened during the course of even this one post would probably make you dizzy. And I consider it normal. It happens to me every day.

This statement in particular I found hilariously accurate:

Just a bit to add is that one thought leads to another leads to another and so on. Until the person forgets where they started. Sometimes, the person would have to back track to get to the first thought that started the whole mess.

This happens to me all the time. Occasionally I even have to back track multiple times because I run off on another tangent while I'm back-tracking.

It's why (here comes another zig) that I loved my previous job, and why I am starting to like my current job. I like these jobs that keep me so busy I can hardly think, precisely because they keep me so busy that I can hardly think. It blocks out my ADD. I simply don't have time to get lost in thought all day (and believe me, if I had the time, I would literally be lost in thought all day long). Did this make me a total space cadet growing up? Yes, yes it did. I strongly suspect the reason I became a writer was to organize and record all of my many weird and interesting thoughts. Sometimes it's exhausting having a brain that never quits.

Does this happen to anyone else? Does your brain just go and go and go like some demented Energizer Bunny on crack? I'd be interested to know how many of us writers experience this kind of thing.


Distractedly yours,


~Sass~

Almost! Almost!

Tomorrow is the Harry Potter madness! So excited!



(Also, sorry for not posting for two weeks. I didn't realize it had been that long between posts. Bad Sass. Bad.)

I'm rolling right along with NaNo. Right around day eleven or so I had a change of heart with my story and took a three day break. It was a good break, because I came out of it and decided that no, I was not going to write this story from the perspective of the snakeshifter. No, I was going to write it through the perspective of one of the very human coworkers of the snake shifter. And not just any human coworker. No! I was going to write this thing through the perspective of the office gossip chick.

Let me tell you, things got interesting.

I did get three days behind in my writing, though, and I'm still working to get caught up from that. Last night I was "only" 4800 words behind. I'm going to try to get back on track by the end of this weekend, and then I'll tackle the holiday when it gets here.

Thanksgiving typically kills my word count. If I'm not ahead of my word count by that Wednesday, I'm generally doomed to miss my 50k goal. We're traveling back to KC again this year (MO side, kthx) to see family and of course we have to hit all three Thanksgiving dinners. But I will make 50k this year. I will. Why?

I want my discount on the Windows Scrivener!

So yeah. Cheer me on. I'm totally making it this year.

To keep in the spirit of Harry Potter-ness, here it is. The Harry Potter cast tries their best at American accents. Enjoy!

'American Talk' With Josh Horowitz And The 'Harry Potter' Cast



~Sass~

Harry Potter and the Movie Marathon

Harry Potter is almost upon us.

I admit to being a complete book nerd (like you haven't figured that out already?). I waited in line to buy each book as it came out (insisting, of course, that I get my own separate copy in addition to my husband's so that we could both read the books at the same time), faithfully saw all of the movies, and of course had to buy them all on DVD. Except for the sixth one, which we somehow still don't own, but I intend to remedy that.

Since I had anticipated not having a job on November 19th when the movie comes out, I planned on going with my whole team to the theater that day to take over an entire row of seats in a midday show. That plan did not change when I got the new job. So guess what I get to do with manager approval? Take the day off and go see the movie. Damn straight.

It's going to be crazy. We're going out to brunch, going to see a 1pm-ish movie, hitting up the happy hour at a nearby bar and grill, and then possibly doing dinner. Yes, I am friends with an entire team of Harry Potter fans. We are awesome. And somewhat insane.

(Yes, we did secure a baby sitter for that day. I am so not bringing our little bundle of teething cuteness into a theater.)



Of course we have to prepare for the 7th movies by watching the first six. I'm still trying to figure out how to fit in that many movie watching hours with a finite number of free weeknights and weekend hours available, but I think we can pull it off.

Anyone have an extra scarf? :)




~Sass~

Cold Hearted Snake

Snakeshifters. Yes, there, I said it. I have snakeshifters in my NaNo this year. The awesomeness that is reptilian were-form has me trying to think up all kinds of great battle scenes for later in the story. Although, typical to NaNo, I haven't quite figured out who my bad guys are yet. I've simply referred to them as... THEM. In capital letters. It's my flag to go back and change the reference once I know their identities. I can't tell you how jerky it is to read through a paragraph and see "THEM"... "THEY"... "THEM"... "THEIR," but oh well. It's all part of the fun.



I am a little behind, though. As my husband put it, our 7 month old "thinks sleep is for the weak," and by that I mean as of last weekend he's been waking up crying multiple times a night. I don't know if he's teething again or what. Since it's super dry here we started running a humidifier in his room. That helps some but he's still waking up way more than he should, and it's making my brain short circuit. Hard to stay up late and meet that word goal when I suddenly cease to function after about 7:30.

I'm most of the way through season 2 of Weeds, though. That show is freaking hilarious.

We have a new plan to tackle our lagging word counts tomorrow. Multiple birthday parties and game nights shall not interfere with snakey NaNo goodness!

A JOB I HAS ONE

Much happiness. I'm still gainfully employed as of 9am this morning when I accepted an internal position. Made my Monday a lot better, let me tell you.

Don't forget - it's the first day of NaNo! Join in the craziness! I mean, come on, I got my husband to do it, and he's never written a sentence of fiction in his life. If nothing else, make it your goal to beat him. :)

Those of you already doing it, what are your first lines? Here is mine in all of its silly glory:

"What do you mean, you 'lost your tail'? How do you lose an entire appendage?"

I have no idea where I'm going with it, but that's half the fun!

So how was your Monday?




~Sass~

The Waiting Game

For those that don't know, I've been laid off and my last day at work is November 16th. I've been applying to various jobs and interviewing like crazy... which has led me to one conclusion.

It isn't the applications or the interviews that are the stressful part of job hunting. The stressful part is the waiting.

To be honest, the first couple of rejections smarted a little bit. I haven't had to interview for a job since I worked in retail (temp agencies and promotions are freaking awesome, btw) so getting those first form emails or phone calls saying "we picked someone better than you!" is a little damaging to one's pride. Worse than that, however, is when I hear nothing at all. "We should have a decision by the end of the week"... and then two weeks later I have to assume they didn't like me. I actually feel that's worse than outright rejecting me, because then I'm left to wonder what went wrong.

Just tell me so I can move on!

I understand why some recruiters / companies skip the rejection phone call all together, but it is a little rude, and it does reflect badly on the company. Avoiding confrontation by avoiding contact altogether? I would rather get a form rejection.

Anyway, back on point, there are two positions I'm waiting to hear about. Both are internal. Both are trying to make their decision by the end of the week. What has this done to my nerves?



So yeah. Until I hear back about either of these positions, I'm going to be a little scatter-brained.


Quote of the day (courtesy of Despair.com):

Excuses - "If you keep asking others to give you the benefit of the doubt, they'll eventually start to doubt your benefit."



~Sass~

Hi, How's It Going?

Wow. It's almost been a year since my last blog post. It's like I've been busy or something.

< ~~ (Totally his fault.)

I've decided that I took way too long of a break from writing and I need to get my ass back in gear. I miss it. It misses me. But you'll have to excuse the first few posts because woah I'm rusty and this isn't as easy as it used to be. Stuff no longer flies from my fingertips like... like...

Well, see, there you go. I can't even do a simple simile anymore! Aaahhh!

I'm not going easy on myself, though. Jumping right back into NaNo again this year to make sure I can hit the ground running with some of the ideas I have fighting for life in the accumulated mommy slush that is my brain. After taking a two year break (!) from my wolf story I went back and read it and got excited all over again. Need to spruce up the ending, work on some consistency issues, and get that puppy submitted. That's it. I'm doing it this year. (ooo, look, I accidentally made a pun!)

In the mean time, to keep you all entertained, witness the frightening glory that is Germany's Got Talent:





~Sass~

The Game Plan

Okay, so I'm lagging a little bit on NaNo. Lagging is better than a complete stop, however, so I've come up with a game plan to keep myself in his race.

Right now I stand here:



Technically, I was supposed to be here by the end of last night:



That's about 4200 words behind. But, that's okay. I've been behind for all but the first day of this NaNo and I haven't stopped yet. So what is my plan? There are a few things to consider.

1 - We're leaving for KC on Wednesday, and we're driving. From Denver to KC is about a 9 hour drive if we speed a little more than is necessary and don't stop much. It might be 10 hours if we decide we're not in that much of a hurry, or if there are too many Kansas State Troopers hanging around. Since I'll be in the passenger seat of our comfy rental car (because we are so not taking OUR car on that long of a trip) I'll have some time to pound out a few thousand words. If I don't get carsick.

2 - I'm pretty much not going to write from Thursday to Saturday. This is because I have a very large family and multiple Thanksgivings to attend, plus my mom's 50th bday party on Saturday, and some additional baby shower registering on Black Friday (*shudder*)... not to mention the fact that there are a lot of people waiting to see the pregnant lady. I still haven't posted or sent anyone baby bump pics so they're kind of antsy. Due to the insane amounts of food I'll be eating that baby bump will probably expand to make me look like I'm 7 or 8 months along instead of 6. Anyway, not a lot of writing from Thursday to Saturday.

3 - This leaves me with only Sunday (and if all else fails, Monday after work) to do any catch up from Thanksgiving week. That blows. Why? Because Sunday is November 29thth, the next to the last day of NaNoWriMo. The site will be slow from everyone validating their word count -- which is why Monday after work is completely out of the question. If I wait until the last minute to update my word count I may not register as crossing the finish line within the deadline even if I DO actually do it. This means I want to have my NaNo completely done by Sunday the 29th or I only want to have 1-2k left to go.

So, with all of that in mind, I have to be damn productive from now until next Tuesday.

I figure if I can make myself pump out a good 3k words a day from now through Tuesday, that will leave me with a word count of approximately 46,400. Like this:



(I like pictures, can you tell??)

That means all I would have to do is write 3,600 words between Wednesday through Sunday. My hope is that I can write those 3600 words in the car on Wednesday and have some breathing room for Thanksgiving, but this is uber slacker we're talking about here. I'll probably get 2k in the car and have to find time to write the last 1600 somewhere in there. This is assuming, of course, that I actually make my 3k a day word goal from now until then. But I shall banish such pessimistic thoughts.

I CAN DO THIS.

And if I can't... well, hey, I've got more words written this month than I've done combined in the last two years. That's huge. I've found out that even when I'm brain fried and baby tired (which is like every day after 6pm) I'm still able to force 1k words into a word processor a night. If I choose, I can make that a daily ritual. And I will choose to do that. Oh yes, I will. I miss writing. It's time to insert it back into my busy life.

Root for me, people. I'm on the path to victory!


~Sass~

Poker Face

So if you haven't already heard it (almost impossible at this point), Lady Gaga released a song earlier in the year (possibly last year?) titled Poker Face. I kind of like it actually. It has a nice beat and ornery lyrics.



Then, if you've been watching South Park lately, you may have noticed that Cartman sang the song for a game that looked like it was probably Rock Band or something similar. Oh my hilariousness.



I didn't think anything could top that...

UNTIL I SAW THIS.



Traumatized yet? ;)


~Sass~