Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Wednesday Memeday

When I first started this blog I think I wanted to have a theme for every day of the week. I suppose that goes along with regular posting.

I'm thinking about London, today, but I'm always thinking about somewhere other than where I am. It's gotten so misty outside I can't see a thing and in this sort of weather everything seems more insulated, like even crazy ideas aren't so crazy, after all.

Lost some weight, I think.

New theme song:

Saturday, January 24, 2009

St. Adelaide was a cool lady

I am not being a very good dieter, but the thing about diets is that if you do badly one day you have to try again the next day. Go me!

I am not being a very good writer, either. I picked up my brand new idea book today, snuggled up with my pillow to do some awesome brainstorming, and promptly spent about an hour trying to decide the name of the CHURCH where one of the MC's GRANDPARENTS were married.

Even when I make myself think about the characters I procrastinate! AGH!

And it was St. Adelaide of Burgundy Catholic Church, just in case you're interested.

St. Adelaide is the patron saint of brides and also had the sort of shrewd longevity that lead her to not only outlive her first husband, which was not a terribly impressive feat as he was poisoned, but parlay that survival into a second marriage with Otto the Great, who was at the time Holy Roman Emperor and who, surprisingly, crowned her Empress at their wedding. She outlived him, as well, and was actually quite powerful in the court until her daughter-in-law, Theophano, had her exiled. Apparently Theophano didn't know that Adelaide would get her revenge not by any kind of scheming but just by waiting. She outlived Theophano, too, and came back to be regent in her grandson's stead until he was old enough to rule, making her effectively head of the entire Roman Empire, though I don't actually know if the Roman Empire was that large at the time. After he did grow up and take his place, she left and devoted her life to charity, which was what lead to her canonization.

This is the exact sort of awesome slow-motion power climb that my character's grandmother would approve of, so it seemed appropriate. Whether or not I will actually include the name of the church is... to be decided, but now that I've written it all out I am sort of glad I know that. It's interesting.

On the other hand, I got very little done today. I spent a good long time transferring my hand-drawn family trees to the computer, but that doesn't actually seem that important. I really love this book, but it's got to the point where it's so big I don't even know where to start. It's twisty and layered and beautiful, but it doesn't really have a "beginning". We're sort of jumping into the middle, right, and when you have a whole pool to jump into how do you choose where to land? Stupid, stupid.

Back to New York on Monday. Excited.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

How I Spent My Summer Vacation (last year)

I made this video and it's really good and you should watch it and YAY!
Paper Airplane Pilots - The Way It Goes

That was a really exciting thing I did last August and now it is out for all to see! So, um... watch it and join Vimeo, which is something I had been meaning to do for a while because the Vimeo community seems much nicer than Youtube, and have a nice day!

In blog news, I'm planning something called "20 for 20" which I plan to start 20 days before my 20th birthday and which will consist of posting a story from my life every day until that day. I may start it early, though, since you can't have too many memories!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

25 pounds by June

I weighed 145 lbs. from the time I was 15 to the day I left for college.

Dear reader, I gained EXACTLY fifteen pounds at school. What is that? I'm a stereotype!
I'd never been over 150 in my life, and now I'm 160 and, according to my BMI, just barely overweight. I need to start doing things again. And no more comfort eating!

I'm not saying I'm a horribly blimpy thing to look at. I think I look fine, but it's a very slippery slope this weight-gain thing, so I'm going to nip it in the bud.

140 by June. Now, I know that pounds don't actually mean that much, so we'll be more specific: I want to be a size 6. I was always trying to push off those last 5 lbs in highschool, so I'll get them, too. I don't think losing weight will make me happier, but I do think it will make me healthier, and I'd really like to not be embarrassed by my bikini.

So... size 6 by June. That's about 5 pounds a month, which is totally manageable, and do-able if I treat it like a project which I must finish in accordance with my New Year's resolution: "Finish Something."

Projects I've started today:
- 25 Pounds by June
- A short story to submit to Seventeen magazine (maybe)
- Get a job at school

These are going well. For now.

Also, from io9: "Space is in trouble! Now's your chance!"

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Abandonment

I am not abandoning this blog. I am not abandoning this blog. I am not abandoning this blog.

It explains a lot about me to say that my defining behavioral trait is an inability to finish anything. Not an exercise plan, not a short story, not a novel, not a relationship. My follow-through in life is as poor as mine in golf.

Christmas was fun. Low-key. I learned to make mousse, then I went to a really stellar Christmas party a couple days later and caught up with some people I'd been missing. New Years I had a head-ache and also an acute case of follow-through anxiety so I stayed home and watched Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffith. We used our Tivo to rewatch this a couple times.

She went to my high school. Actually, OPRF alums were all over New Years in Times Square. Ludacris was playing on a different channel. You just can't hold back a Huskie, I guess.

Later on in the night I regretted not going to a party, but I'm glad I stayed home with my parents in the end. They usually do the exact same thing every year and they were really happy to have me there to make things just that little bit different.