It’s not easy. I’m not trying to vacuum the entire curtain, just the bottom foot or so, where all the cat hair is.

How does one clean curtains? No, seriously, how do you?

I am not even remotely ready for Christmas. Well, maybe remotely ready. I’ve done some shopping, and I have presents for some. I, of course, have my wrapping paper. Yesterday I bought a rolling pin so I could make sugar cookies. But it’s not good enough, kids, not nearly because … I DON’T HAVE ANY COOKIE CUTTERS!!!

Anyhoo, today I’m cleaning. No sense in going out shopping on a Sunday if you don’t have to. And we all know how much I hate cleaning. So much that I have to tell you guys I’m cleaning so everyone knows how brave I am.

Brave little soldier.

I mentioned, earlier, that I signed up for an online writing “intensive.” It’s kinda freaking me out, frankly. First of all, I’m expected to critique others? Seriously? I’m sure some part of my brain registered that fact before I signed up, but now that I am faced with the imminent fact, it’s daunting. Critique how? I don’t critique. I’m not a critiquer.

“Nice penmanship” doesn’t really work in an online environment.

I’m having flashbacks to 12th grade AP English class. That class caused no end of stress and anxiety related stomach pains. (In fact, so ingrained in my psyche was the fact that stomach pains were associated with anxiety and stress, I lived with gal stone attacks for a year before going to the doctor. I just figured I was REALLY stressed.) All we did in that class was write. The goal was to be able to sit down and write a standard 5 paragraph, approximately 500 word, essay about any topic at a drop of a hat. And to do so well enough, in a big expensive test, that you could clep out of college hours of English credit.

Which I did.

So I suppose, for that, I owe AP English a “thank you.” But I lived in constant fear of my teacher using my work as an example of what not to do. He seemed far more fond of examples of what not to do, in my memory. I never got any kind of extraordinary praise, so, therefore, it stood to reason that everything I did was crap. At best, mediocre crap. I never felt like I was up to the standards of that class.

And, ok, most of the time it was anonymous, but the peer critiques were merciless. Except for mine. They were non-existant. There was also the ultimate fear that he would put your paper on the overhead projector. God… even if it was anonymous, I think the blushing look of horror on my face would have given me away. Don’t get me started on the times it was not anonymous.

For some it was intellectually stimulating, I suppose. Not for me.

Every day I would quiz my friends Julie and Holly what had happened in their 3rd period AP class, so I would know if I would need to find a miraculous way to be somewhere other than 5th period AP English. Or, better yet, just learn to be invisible.

So yeah, I’m in an online writing intensive and I’m a bit freaked out. And – double ack – my homework is due tomorrow!

I signed up for an online writing class, and since NaNo was a big FAIL for me this year, the NaNo cam is now the Watch Jodi Work On Her Homework, or Possibly Play Guitar Hero, Cam.

Sonic Youth’s Kool Thing is kicking my ass.

I decided not to make a full thanksgiving dinner. It’s so much work and I am the only one who would be into it. Next year, I’ll just travel down to the states and have Thanksgiving dinner cooked by my mom. The way god intended me to have it.

I made homemade mac and cheese. I read that the average person consumes 4,000 calories per thanksgiving meal, so I thought I’d make a single dish that could give me all that in one serving. Saves time. I did, however, get the fixins to make myself a pumpkin pie. hee!

Gotta go make me some pie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo,

Jodi

I don’t think I will be able to finish 50k by the end of November. Despite my best intentions, I have not involved myself in any local NaNo events, I feel quite apart from the fun. I’ve gone back and forth about this, in fact if you asked me 30 minutes ago, I was still trying to figure out how to finish. I even contemplated changing to an auto biography because if there is one thing I should be able to write about, with little or no research, quickly, it’s my life. 50 thousand words divided by 40 years is 1250 words a year. Easy, right?

Nyah, I am just not interested in writing 50 thousand words about myself. 50 thousand more words. Someday I should figure out how many words I’ve written about myself on this blog. Damn site more than 50k, I’d reckon. I want to keep working on my mystery. It’s just going very slowly. And I guess that’s ok. As long as I keep working on it, I’m going to go ahead and give myself permission to work at my own pace. I’ve been struggling with one scene for many days, each and every word. This is not how you win NaNo, but it seems to be the way I am working this year.

Officially I’m blaming the loss on the fact that I still have not received my 2007 NaNoWriMo tshirt, despite the fact that it shipped on October 3rd. I’m a little sad that I’m giving up. I’m disappointed in myself, since I have all this time on my hands.

Well, bummer. Awww, Momo is giving me kisses on my feets to cheer me up. And, on the upside, I made some really yummy buttermilk mashed potatoes for dinner. So I’ve got that skill going for me. Which is nice.

to keep things exciting.

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’ve been wanting to go dark for a while. And it is by no means black. But it’s darker than I expected, I think, and I still feel like 40 year old goth.