Still Life With Soup Can: November 2006

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Gross

Courtesy of my brother comes this attractive shot, taken in my kitchen Thanksgiving morning. It depicts me doing battle with the turkey. What? The turkey was gross! I had to pull the giblets out of its butt! It was slimy and it weighed 15 lbs. And did Mike or Bryan help? No. I made them stand in the kitchen for moral support. They laughed at me and took pictures.

The turkey is gone now. We put it and the leftover shrimp into a pot of Zatarain's Chicken Creole two nights ago. The green jello is gone because I ate it today for breakfast. It occurs to me that in the last picture I posted of myself, I am wearing exactly the same thing. Really, I do own more than one sweater. I promise.

Thirteen Mysteries About My Cat

I could watch my Jolee all day. Because he is just such a cute fluffball. He knows it. He is terribly vain. Pondering him this evening, here are some mysteries that float to mind. (Does anyone else ponder their cat? He looks like he likes to be pondered. He is clearly posing. Clearly.)

1. Where he came from before he was here. (He was trapped! On the streets, last January!)

2. Why he loves me so much.

3. Yet is terrified of everyone else.

4. How old he is. (The vet guesses three or four.)

5. Why he is so fascinated by watching the bathwater drain. (Isn't this sort of like the old cliche of watching paint dry?)

6. Why he can't allow me to go to the bathroom without him. He could be on the other side of the house, asleep, and when I start to pee, he comes running. Seriously, running.

7. Whether his fur will get any longer (dear lord, I hope not).

8. Why he has giant mutant feet.

9. Whether he was indoors or outdoors during Katrina. Poor cat!

10. Why he has a scary post-dinner meow. It is about four times louder than his usual meow and sounds like he's being strangled.

11. Who his other people were, and whether they miss him.

12. Why he sometimes gets himself stuck in his Palace of Poo. (This is what I call his litter box with a lid.) He uses it several times a day. He KNOWS how the door works. Yet sometimes he gets stuck in it, usually late at night, and feels the need to paw the door loudly for ten minutes until we yell at him. Then he gets up the balls to push through the swinging door and just hops out. I think he does it to be annoying.

13. Why he likes the smell of feet.

And now I have to go because he is head-butting my chair. Did I mention that last night he knocked my LAPTOP off the table onto the floor? He has jealousy issues with my laptop.

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Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Short Stories

Since I decided I couldn't deal with finishing NaNoWriMo this month (yeah, yeah, yeah, dismal failure, I know), I am in the middle of two short stories. I'm writing them both at the same time, which is actually convenient in this instance because they feature the same characters. It's a world I've been writing in, if you can believe it, since the fifth grade. Of course, there have been plenty of developments, changes, new names, longer outline, etc. But I figure I've been writing stories all my life about a witch named Emma, and I find she's still got a lot to say. The one is from the point of view of another character in her life, and I am close to 2,900 words and trying to pare back. I think a large problem with the stories I've sent out is length. For example, I've gotten several (albeit nice) rejections on Dangerous City, Dark Skyway, which runs about 8,500 words. A lot of magazines won't go over the 4,000-6,000 range, so basically the shorter the story, the more options you leave open for yourself. In case you could not have predicted this about me from my blog, I have this problem with wordiness.

Yeah.

But I am REALLY AIMING for 5,000 words on this story. Seriously. And the second one, geez, I would like to go for 2,500-3,000 and keep it very, very short. A snippet of life, if you will. I can't believe all the sites out there dedicated to those itty bitty 100-word drabble things. It is impossible for me to tell a story in that amount of words. Impossible. And yet people do it! Amazing.

Oh, Spammers

The subject heading of my favorite piece of spam e-mail to land in my inbox (or rather, to get deleted from my inbox) today? "Take it to your potfolio."

Hot damn. I do not have a potfolio. But I almost wish I had a potfolio. It sounds entertaining, albeit not entirely legal. Like having a pot plant out behind the shed. Perhaps several pot plants out behind the shed. It's a potfolio, after all. One marijuana plant does not a folio make.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Slacker

Well, the weekend was great, and we have a fridge full of leftovers. My dad managed to bust through at least two (2.5?) large fantasy tomes in as many days, which was impressive. My mom took walks and basked in the warmth (we were sunny and in the 60's-70's the whole weekend). My brother sampled a pint of each variety of Abita beer, and played foosball and poker. The cat even (grudgingly) allowed himself to be touched.

They left about two hours ago, and I am glad to report I have dropped quite easily back into my old slacker ways-- currently having instant pad thai for breakfast while sitting at my computer in sweats. The cat appears to be in a state of euphoria, racing throughout the apartment with his little nose turned up to the sun and what I could swear is a smile on his face.

More later.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Figuring Out My Turkey

I love cooking in the internet age. I think my turkey was still a bit frozen this morning, even though it has been thawing in the fridge for 2 days. I am doing a little bit of cold water speed thawing. In older days, I might panic at the thought of cooking a turkey (this is my second turkey). But in this fine internet age, it's all right there! Yes, I admit it. I shamelessly Google for cooking instructions. "What do I do if my turkey is still a little bit too frozen?" Got it. "How long do I cook a 14 lb turkey?" Check. "I don't really have a roasting pan, can I just throw it in this Pyrex thing?" Yup.

Heh.

I have made green jello and cranberry relish. I still have turkey, stuffing, and jambalaya to go. I am going to chop up the veggies for the stuffing now.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Allow Me To Explain About the Restaurant Business

"Allow me to explain about the theater business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster."
"So what do we do?"
"Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well."
"How?"
"I don't know. It's a mystery."
.... Shakespeare in Love

I think of that quote every night when I'm working. So many times it really does look like disaster up till the last hour. The whole back of a large restaurant exists in a condition of barely controlled disaster, at pretty much all times. And everything is moving very fast. The diners do not notice, but I am telling you it is true. Everyone's job is to not let the diners notice. It is what we get paid for.

Tonight I had this table. They were super nice, polite, loved everything, and the bill was $138. I took the cash and counted it up, and there were 3 fifties. It added up to a tip of less than $12. It was baffling to me. I thought maybe they didn't count properly, and I was sort of disappointed, but there was no way I was going to say anything. It wasn't going to ruin my night, but it made me feel "meh." About fifteen minutes later, the guy who paid comes BACK through the front door, asks the manager, "Where is my waitress? Oh, there she is!" He walks up to me as I am standing by the food counter and hands me a twenty. Turns out he didn't have enough cash, so he CAME BACK. I kind of stuttered, "Oh you didn't have to-- thanks so much-- have a great night-- thanks." Oh my God. No one comes back! They just don't. We were all standing there like, "Did that just happen?"

I made $245 on the dreaded Thanksgiving double. I told you it all turns out well.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Thanksgiving Double

I am working a double shift today, to make up for the fact that I'm missing Saturday night. Here I sit, smack in the middle of the dreaded Thanksgiving Double, panicking because the house is a mess and I have nothing done. Nothing. I have to be back at work at 6:00, so I'm thinking I can manage 2 loads of laundry and vaccuuming the cat up off the floor (I don't mean the actual cat. I mean there is enough fur on the floor to MAKE an actual cat, if one was so inclined.) I think then I will have to run to the store for last minute supplies tomorrow afternoon. And change the sheets on the futon. Because lord knows, I don't want to do that too early, lest they get furred up in the time between now and then.

I have made $80 so far on the rare and dreaded double. $200 on the day would be nice, but I would settle for $170 or $180. I am going to be there ALL FREAKIN' DAY, after all. I need some compensation.

I have so much to do. Why am I blogging? Why haven't I started the laundry?

Where am I?

Sunday, November 19, 2006

I Have No Shame

Earlier this year I joined the Science Fiction Book Club. I bought a bunch of books from them, fulfilled my membership obligations, and quit. Mike said, "Just wait." Lo and behold, the e-mail arrives in my inbox this week: "We've missed you! Rejoin and get 5 books for $1 each, plus a sixth book FREE!" For two days I didn't do anything, while it burned a hole in my inbox.

...Twiddled fingers... Looked back and forth... Clicked just to see what they have. Oh, come on. How is a person supposed to resist that kind of offer? I am getting 6 books for $18.70! What an unbelievable deal! Again! Several of these are books I was meaning to buy anyway. Here is what I'm getting this time around:

Forest Mage, Robin Hobb
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
Old Man's War, John Scalzi
Memories of Ice, Steven Erikson
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Patricia C. Wrede (omnibus edition of a series I was OBSESSED with as a child)
Outward Bound, Robert Heinlein (omibus of 3 novels in one)

Friday, November 17, 2006

To the Maaaaaaaall

A conversation between me and my friend Darwin last week:

Me: Friday was my day off, and I didn't get to do ANYTHING. All I wanted out of life was to buy a new bag for winter. I realized I hate all my bags.
Darwin: Then clearly you need to go shopping.
Me: The problem is, I like all my summer bags but I hate all my winter ones.
Darwin: So? Why didn't you buy one?
Me: I couldn't!
Darwin: Why not?
Me: We had no water! I had not showered since Tuesday night, and I couldn't even brush my teeth. I couldn't do anything. It was like I was paralyzed. I could not do anything besides sit on the couch and watch Star Trek reruns on Spike TV, because I was just TOO DIRTY.
Darwin: Oh, sweetie. You should have just gone anyway. Screw them.
Me: I thought of that. But I wanted to go to the Coach store. And I just knew they would look at me like, "There is no way a person that greasy can afford to pay $100 for a bag." And it would be just like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. And so I couldn't go.
Darwin: [laughter]
Me: I can handle a lot of things, but I cannot handle being thrown out of the Coach store because they think I am homeless.
Darwin: [more laughter]

And so another week passes, and I happen to have just taken a shower. So I am going FINALLY to buy a new bag. Preferably a nice neutral-colored leather one that works well with both black and brown, such as dark red, gray, or tan. And one large enough to hold all my junk, but not so large that I feel like I am schlepping around with this giant thing hanging off my shoulder. And something that is not trendy, because my current bag (which has a semi-broken strap) is one I received for Christmas at least four years ago. I am a shopaholic about some things, but clearly bags are not one of those things.

Plus while I am at the mall I'm going to the GNC to pick up some all-natural drugs for my Joleeest... Joleest... Joliest... Jolee-est... oh, fine, Kittiest (some nicknames do not translate well into type). I am going to try Rescue Remedy so he doesn't turn into a reclusive shedding furball of panic when my family arrives. Which is starting Tuesday! YAY!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Thirteen Really Random Things and Then Back to Writing

1. I am supposed to be writing. So this is going to be a quick, random, and scattered Thirteen.

2. The Cox cable guy just left. He had been here since I woke up. In fact, he woke me up by ringing the doorbell. Our digital channels appear to actually work now. Though at one point he drove off somewhere in his truck, leaving his coat on the back of one of our dining room chairs and leaving me slightly confused. Luckily, he came back.

3. I always feel slightly awkward when people are in my house to fix things. Do I offer them coffee? Do I have to talk to them, or should I go about my business? Because really, I wanted to be writing.

4. Which reminds me of one of my co-workers' Cox cable guy story. This summer the Cox cable guy exposed himself to her! She ended up having to move and everything! And her dad is an attorney in Metairie and is sueing them. It really isn't funny at all. But the way she told the story... I admit it makes me crack up a bit to think about it. So here I am drinking coffee with a sweater pulled on over my PJ's, hoping I am unattractive enough in the morning not to entice the Cox cable guy to expose himself.

5. Speaking of which, this is me! Doing what I do all day when I am not at the restaurant! That is, being on my laptop either writing or internetting, unshowered and wearing my favorite very old J. Crew sweater and glasses. With coffee, naturally.

6. This is my "Russian peasant girl" look. I always say this, and people laugh. But I swear it is true. When I wake up in the morning, before my eyes are open all the way and without makeup, I resemble a Slavic peasant girl. I do not know where this came from. Well, yes I do. My dad's entire side of the family is Eastern European of some variety or another, but mainly Hungarian by way of what is now geographically Croatia. But the point is, I seem to have gotten all those genes, which results in me looking vaguely ethnic, more so than most of my immediate family. For instance, I have very light blue eyes and brown hair, my features are somewhat round, and I have darker coloring around my eyes such that I rarely put on eyeshadow. I have actually been asked in bars where I am from.

7. Which is a bit ridiculous because I am pretty obviously American.

8. I also get asked, at least 3 times a week, whether my eyes are real. Which they are. I wear contacts, but not colored ones. I have had very blue eyes all my life, so I ought to be used to it by now. Besides, it is usually people I am waiting on, so it is best not to roll one's eyes and just say thank you.

9. Today I need to get kitty litter for Da Kittiest. Can't forget that.

10. And I work the night shift.

11. I want to be at 20,000 words in NaNoWriMo before I leave for work. I will still be egregiously behind, but I don't really care. I "won" last year, so this year it is more about the motivation. I was in the middle of a couple other projects, so this novel was sort of a last minute idea. By that I mean I had been thinking about the characters for a while, because they featured in a short story I was writing, but I hadn't given great thought to a larger plot. I don't think I'll hit 50K in a month. I'm too far behind, and I have a lot more going on. But even if I don't win, I want to have kicked myself in the butt and made myself write. That is what it is about for me. If I got 35K done, I'd be happy. Then I can finish next month.

12. I am enjoying writing in a humorous voice, though. I think it's the voice that comes most naturally to me, and I've only used it in a very few stories.

13. I want to keep going with this project, though, because I think it has a bit more marketability than my other novel. In terms of first novels, anyway. I also think it will stand alone in a stronger way.

Geek Musings...

I just took the Geek Test again for fun, and I suspect I've moved up. I think before I was a Major Geek, and this time I just crossed the edge into Total Geek. I am 25.64% Geek. This means I am one or two percentage points geekier than I was before. I wonder where I made the gains. Certainly I have spent inordinate amounts of time playing That Star Wars Game. Oh, and I watched a Star Trek movie the other day. The Geek Test is a couple of years old, though, and it feels outdated to me. I don't get any points for my slight obsession with all things Firefly. Plus I think even in the last couple of years, the web has become more mainstream. You need to be a hard core web geek in order for it to count toward geekdom. And there are so many more ways to be hardcore. There is so much geekiness there to be explored and exploited. (How about, for instance, a how many hours do you spend on LibraryThing question? Or how many times a week do you Technorati yourself? Or really, I just demand credit for being online approximately 65-70% of my waking hours.) They need to do a Version 3.2. The reason I don't score higher on the Geek Test, I figure, is twofold: I haven't played roleplaying games, and I don't care for science.

The next thing you'll be saying is, "But Sarah, aren't you writing a science fiction novel?" But hey, whatever. That's why it's the trend to call it "speculative fiction," rather than hard science fiction. Like, I speculate what it would be like if my heroine lived on another planet, colonized by Earth several generations ago, and stole ships for a living. I can speculate on that without having any clue how a spaceship would work. I don't know how my car works. OK, I lied. That's why it's called space opera, not science fiction. But the whole point is the idea of it. If you're the kind of person who looks at the stars and sees imaginary people out there and wonders how they live, it appeals to you. It's about "otherness." It's about imagination. Really, I just want to tell an adventure story. But the fun part is putting it in space and seeing how that affects things.

Oh, and I want geek points for naming my cat after an obscure Jedi master. Oh. Crap, I think I found where I gained my points-- wasn't that on there? Haha! "I have named a pet after a gaming, literary, or B-movie character."

Yeah.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Hmph

Totally blowing everything I typed this morning to hell, I made $80 at lunch. And the sun came out.

Miserable Day

It is so dark outside, I almost forgot to get up. Technically, I still have not gotten up, since I am on my laptop in bed. It is torrentially downpouring outside, which makes me not want to go to work. Not just because I know I will get wet on the way (ew), but because it is supposed to do this all day. Actually, checking the weather shows that we have a strong wind advisory and a tornado watch. And my power has flickered twice in the last five minutes. But seriously, the reason I do not want to go to work is because I will make no money. I bet I make less than $30. Which is not really worth leaving the house for. Think about it... when it's raining, do you go out for lunch? Or do you look out your office window and say, "Who wants to order in?" For me, this would totally have been a day when I looked out the window and thought, "Not going to happen," and then went downstairs in the elevator to buy a Cup of Soup from the nice Asian lady who ran the newsstand in the lobby.

Oh, and I am over my whole sucking at life thing. Thanks to everyone who responded to perk me up a bit! It was just one of those moments.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

25 and Sucking at Life Rant

Am I the only one who has these moments?

( self-pity rant )
I am twenty-five years old and do not have a career. I graduated from college, went to law school for a year, hated it, quit, went and taught sailing, got a job in a law office because they were the only people who would hire me, got kicked out of it because of Katrina, am going to graduate school part-time, and not even a prestigious graduate school, and in twenty minutes I will leave the house to go serve people food for three hours and make $50-60, because the lunch shift sucks and yet it is my job. I AM SMARTER THAN ALL THE PEOPLE I KNOW WHO HAVE REAL JOBS AND CAREERS. I am not a loser. I got a 1350 on the SAT. I got a 162 on the LSAT. I own more books than most people have read ever. I do not suck at being smart. Why do I not have a career?

I will never get anywhere in writing, because I suck. I am just not good enough, and I don't have the inner capacity to push myself hard enough. I'm 9,000 words behind in NaNo, and I am STILL working on that other novel. I am going to write a lot today, to push myself, and it will probably be crap. Because I am sort of burned out. Not incredibly burned out, but at that slightly frustrated point where I realize that my novel would be going a lot better if I outlined. And I hate writing uninspired crap. I used to be able to write and write and write. I still sometimes can. HOW IS ONE SUPPOSED TO WRITE PROFESSIONALLY WHEN YOU CAN'T CHANNEL THAT FOR 75,000 WORDS AT A TIME?

I suck. At life.

( /self pity rant )

Brought on by the Googling of random St. Lawrence classmates, because I had a dream in which I was talking to some random guy I used to go to school with, so I Googled. Only to find that people who were dumber than me appear to have cool jobs. Legitimate jobs, more importantly. Where they make actual money. Lesson: do not Google before work. I should have remembered the last time. The last time I Googled, someone died (well, not exactly, but still).

Monday, November 13, 2006

Creativity and the Ongoing Cat Fur Quest

In an attempt to reduce my cat's recent ridiculous fur output, I am attacking him with the brush once or twice a day instead of sporadically. He hates it, but I hope it gets him used to the process. I think his coat is finally at full length, for the first time since I got him. For instance, he just hopped up next to me and his tail brushed the keyboard... leaving behind a dusting of at least eight giant long hairs. My mom very unsympathetically said, "If you don't like having a long-haired cat, give him away to someone who does."

!!! I could never give him away! I love him! I just do not love his fur attacking me. Speaking of Jolee (let's get real, though, when are we not speaking of Jolee on this blog?), he did the cutest thing Saturday night. I got home from work at 1:15, tired but with a satisfying $180 cash in pocket. I looked up into the lit living room window as I pulled my car up to the curb. No cat on the chair. But wait! As soon as the car stopped, a little head popped up in the window! I got out of the car and waved to him. Then the head disappeared. By the time I got to the door, he was there waiting for me. Yow! Yow! He must know what my car sounds like. Or else he hops into the window to look every time he hears a car park on our street. Which is just so cute. Poor guy!

Last night we went to Carrollton Station to see our friend Amanda. Amanda was one of our classmates at Tulane Law. Unlike me, she finished all three years. Like me, she doesn't want to practice law-- and is now pursuing creative options. She is currently recording her first album. It was good to see her because it reminded me that there are other people who feel the way I do about the "traditional" 9-5 version of America, and want to opt out. In that vein, I sent two submissions out this week. Probably to be rejected, because I am still working through the "longshot professional markets" part of my list, but you know what? At least they're out there!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

What? Like It's Hard?

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Nothing

I promise I will never complain about the hot water being broken ever, ever again. We have NO WATER at our house. Yesterday we had NO WATER at our house. There is not even enough pressure to flush the toilet... yeah, you can imagine that. I have not showered since Tuesday. In case you hadn't looked at the calendar yet, today is Saturday (This may seem overly gross, but I showered late Tuesday night, so I didn't shower Wednesday. Then on Thursday I was at the restaurant and I didn't shower before I left, because I figured I'd just take one when I came home all covered in dirt. Only I just went to bed, figuring I had an entire day off in which to shower, which, as it turns out, was a vicious lie). My whole day off yesterday was ruined because I couldn't even brush my teeth and I was too gross to leave the house. We didn't call anyone yesterday, because the city ran a story in the paper about the water pressure being low because they were fixing a pump. It should be over now, and it is not. This is the last straw.

The Sewerage and Water Board is supposed to be on the way. I'll believe it when I see it.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Does Your Cat Have a Pimp Hand?

Mine does. Fear the pimp hand.

Thursday, November 9, 2006

Thirteen Things About Me & NaNoWriMo

1. I suck at it. Or at least I do this year. I feel like I have been massively busy with class and other things. Therefore I am 6,000 words behind today.

2. But I have a massive catch-up strategy I am employing today.

3. Last year I won. My novel was called Dangerous City, Dark Skyway. It is currently stuck in the re-write process, and I must admit, a little stalled.

4. This year's effort does not have a title yet.

5. My main character is named Claudia Nuevos. She is a con artist who basically seduces men and steals their ships. She decides to go after the richest man on the planet, and gets rather more than she bargained for.

6. It takes place on a moon called Calliope.

7. I'm writing in first person, present tense, which is odd for me, because I usually only use it for short stories. I'm trying for sort of a chick-lit tone. Except in scifi.

8. My name on the forum is Jedisluzer. I haven't been posting much, though. When I get caught up, I probably will.

9. I shamelessly took two days off for the election. That was what screwed me. Before that I was caught up.

10. I think there are a lot of people who do NaNoWriMo and don't take it seriously. For example, there are forums where people play stupid games to pad their word count. I don't get involved in any of that. For me, it's more about forcing myself to write a LOT. All at once. Every day. Because my goal is to become a professional, and NaNoWriMo helps me to enforce a writing schedule on myself.

11. The widget on the left under my picture and profile link very handily tells you how much I've written -- and how far behind I am.

12. For example. This entry so far has been 330 words long. And it took me just a couple of minutes to write. If I get on a roll, I ought to be able to get a lot done today.

13. The Democrats are in the House! Whooooo! And the Senate! (OK, sorry, and apologizes to anyone reading this who does not feel the same way, that just slipped out...)

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Tomorrow, Space!

While recovering from dinner at Nacho Mama's (to celebrate the taking back of Congress, of course-- we ordered BLUE margaritas), watching the opening credits of one of many, many discs of Star Trek: Enterprise Season One on DVD...

Me: Sweetie? Do you think the Democrats will take us into space?

Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History

Holy Shit

Half an hour ago, it looked like there were 3 states left, all of which were going to the Republicans. I had conceded that the Democrats were going to gain significant seats but not take the Senate. Which was OK. I was more than happy enough about the House. Since a little before midnight CST, Virginia and Missouri have flip-flopped. This is crazy.

They still might do it. Unbelievable.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Democrats Win the House!!!

Eeeeee! CNN just projected that the Democrats will take back the House. Have been waiting all night for this. Will stay up till it's official. And the first female Speaker of the House, which is a huge, huge, huge thing in my book. I love it. I loooooove it. I am so excited right now.

Voting Day... Again

I hate living in Louisiana because they make you vote all the freaking time. Now, I came close to majoring in government and am quite outspoken about my political opinions, so don't get me wrong. I am interested in politics. I'm all for voting. But. Since coming back from Katrina in January, this is the fourth time I have gone to my local place of polling! And of course there will be a runoff, so in another month, I'll go again! Oy. But meanwhile, another day, another election.

People keep going on about the low voter turnout, but there was a fair little crowd at my polling place (13th Ward, 10th Precinct, Newman school). I voted for consolidating the assessors. I got to vote in the 2nd District Congressional race. Mike was of the opinion that we should vote for Jefferson because otherwise the vote would be split and the Republican candidate might sneak in. And "innocent till proven guilty." Personally, my feelings on this are the same as they were about the spring election. There is no way I am voting for a dude who had money in his freezer, just like there was no way I was voting for Nagin (who I handed a Coke at lunch today, coincidentally), because I don't want people in other parts of the country looking at us and going, "They keep re-electing these same idiots. They deserve what they get. We're not sending them any money." I voted for Troy Carter. There's going to be a runoff anyway.

And now to write more novel and check up on the results of other states' more interesting elections.

Sunday, November 5, 2006

New Orleans Sports Day

First we watched the Saints win on TV yesterday, then we went to the Hornets season opener. Both games were victories for New Orleans.

The Hornets game was fun. We got a free T-shirt with our ticket, and there were bands and beer outside on the walkway. It was the "home opener," which is kind of inaccurate because they are playing all their homes games in Oklahoma City except six. We have season tickets (ahem-- a frivolous expenditure for people with $150K in student loans, but I'm over it), so this was our first chance to check out our seats. Having only watched basketball from the upper deck (and I can't really watch it; heights make me dizzy), our seats made a big difference. We are 18 rows up from the court, in the corner. There are only six games in New Orleans, so "season tickets" is kind of a misnomer, but it will be cool to have such nice seats when we go next in December.

The Hornets played the Rockets. We are not sure if Yao Ming can possibly be a real person. He was just that huge. In fact, he is exactly two feet taller than I am. How crazy that there was a person walking around on the court down there who was TWO ENTIRE FEET taller than me. In China they must think he is some sort of mutant alien or perhaps a god.

In other news, my cat has become a shedding machine and I am at the end of my rope. I brushed a huge ball of fur out of him yesterday. You should see the carpet. It is exactly like you are gazing out at a desert, where little tumbleweeds of cat blow in the wind. That is the best way I can describe them: tumbleweeds of white cat. He sheds in clumps. I do not understand his shedding procedure. I know he's an indoor cat, so he can't be expected to be consistent with the seasons, but... it is getting colder! Why have we experienced a 50% increase in shedding? Yesterday I discovered he has a mat under his right elbow... probably because he flips out when I try to brush his stomach, which is the most out of control. It is the first mat I've found on him since I had to cut out his dirty Katrina mats with a pair of scissors... a lengthy process which involved two people holding the cat down and which I do not want to repeat. Hopefully it is not that far advanced that it is necessary to bring the scissors into play... yet.

Wahh. I did not want a long haired cat.

Friday, November 3, 2006

3,620

Only about 1,500 words behind, and off to work. Hmph. I like my characters though!

Hats

And now, just for fun, a picture of me in a hat. I believe I should go entirely retro and cultivate red lipstick and a hat more often. I look good in that hat.

Off and Running And Doing Crappily

Well, I have written 1,750 words so far, which means I need to do two days worth of writing today because I am behind in NaNoWriMo. I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been beaten. I went to work last night, my first night shift in almost two weeks, and I felt my body crash at about 10:00 and was a zombie by the time I left just before midnight. On a good note, looks like $170 Thursdays are back (at last, we can retire and give up this life of crime!). I am working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, to make up for the shifts I missed last weekend. Hopefully, by the end of it, I will be able to do that thing where I throw all my hundreds and twenties on the floor and roll in them. I slept amazingly well all night, probably because the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and I was curled up under a pile of blankets. It seems to have taken care of the rest of my cold.

I must write today. I must write a lot. And I must outline, because I need to have some document in which I pull my ideas for this book together in one place. I had some good ideas yesterday. I am going to try and write in more chronological order than I wrote my first book... which is now, go figure, suffering from timeline issues in the editing process.

Jolee is running races around me. He runs out into the living room, then he turns around and runs back through the hallway and into the office, pops up onto the back of the futon, then kicks off and runs back out of the room and down the hall, continuing on the same crazed trajectory. Wash, rinse, repeat. Haha.