Last night was New Year's Eve, the cusp between 2009 and 2010. Obviously the neighbors behind us felt the occasion warranted a loud celebration, perhaps to ward off evil spirits, maybe because there were rivers of alcohol flowing through their yard. A karaoke machine was the centerpiece of this tribal ritual. I was treated to horrific rendtitions of Marvin Gaye'e Sexual Healing, the entire sountrack of Grease, and the little gem in the video below. They defied tradition, continuing to play even after this song ended. ANd Lynryd Skynyrd fan worth their salt knows that Freebird is the last song they play. I only wish I'd had a lighter to hold up in the dark backyard.

The serenade went on for hours, culminating in the neighbors firing off massive quantities of illegal fireworks directly over my house (I can throw rocks from my yard and hit the dwelling of ALL my next-door neighbors). Except for the threat of fire, it was pretty funny.

Obviously I have nothing better to do than post here. Burn Notice marathon is on, the neighbors behind us have a karaoke machine and starting drinking WAY too early. My prediction for the New Year is that they'll probably all be snoring by midnight.

2009 saw some bad things and good things. Friends have had it far worse than me. I wish for them a wonderful 2010. For myself, I want to keep on climbing. And maybe to stay awake until midnight.

And something to get the sounds of Open Arms being massacred out of my brain.

If I manage to stay awake until the ball drops, it's a big deal. DH and I share a kiss, then it's usually off to sleep. I've been out on NYE before... never again.

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To help Connie, please donate follow this link to lunaris1013 's journal entry about the fire. I spent many an hour talking to Connie and Cathy online in the old ATH days. We finally met face to face for the wonderful trip to Scotland back in '98. As part of the American contingent, we followed up the con with a motor coach trip across the Highlands, with wolfette  acting as our tour guide. It was an experience that I will treasure as long as I live, as I do the friendships I made during that fandom. I remember waiting in the airport to go home. All passengers of international flights were questioned before boarding about their whereabouts during their visit, how well had their bags been watched, etc. I had just finished my interview and they were right behind me in line. The gentleman asking the questions took one look at them and said "I've dealt with twins before. I'm going to ask you "(nodding toward Connie)" a question, and you're going to answer, then I'm going to ask  you" (indicating Cathy) "a question, and you're going to answer. Do we understand one another?" In stereo, they replied "Sure!" The man just shook his head and got on with it.

The smell of fresh cut grass in the summer, the smell of clean kitty fur, said cat purring, quiet time spent writing and coming up with a great scene or charatcer, quiet companionship with friends and family, the usual...

::rant ON::
If the prospects for finding a new job with comparable pay weren't so poor, I'd be considering the very thing right now. Fuck benefits and health coverage, who needs retirement if I don't fucking survive to see the end of the year from the physical exertion and stress?
::rant OFF::

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Still rattling away. Under the banner of research, Molly now has a collection of bartender t-shirts. My favorite slogan so far is “I can do it a number of ways; straight up, on the rocks, or, if you’re flexible, with a twist.”

As you can see, I've gotten a good start on my NaNo project this year. I didn't even get started until this afternoon but I already have better than my daily goal in the can, so to speak, and some rough outlines of scenes to come. Hopefully this will be a firaly easy goal to kick, especially with the extra time off coming my way this year. Veteran's Day on the 11th and Thanksgiving later in the month should give me planty of time to rattle something quasi-coherent out. I'm waiting for the inevitable ticklings of my other characters, clamoring for attention, climing I'm ignoring them. Well, technically I am, so that Molly has her time to be in the spotlight. Even if these never get published, it's all practice and improvement toward the goal of becoming published someday.
Yeah, I tend to be optimistic at the beginning, No doubt something will come along and piss in my cornflakes. But, until then, onward and upward!

Crossposted to The Pen Whore
Progress meter found at Writertopia

Finish my book and bust ass to get it published, hoping it sells well. I have a lot of debt.

What's that on the horizon?! Yet another month of writing insanity, called National Novel Writing Month!

I 'won' last year, by writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That story, my werewolf idea, has gone nowhere since, but that's probably because I've concentrated on the myriad of other stories that harass me at any given moment.

What to write this year? Well, I have a couple of choices. One is expanding on that dream that so captured my attention last month, tying together dreams, alternate universes, the concept of One True Companion for another, and Shakespeare. This might require me to become much more of a Shakespeare scholar in the long run, just for details or, since this is specualtive fiction, I can just make shit up. Probably the latter.

Tentatively titled Downtown Babylon, after a Paul Thorn song, my next choice is another non-supernatural, non-fantasy, non-weirdness story about normal people. Molly (have I picked a last name for her yet? It'll be an Irish name, to take full advantage of the Irish-owning-a-bar thing) owns a bar in a Navy town in Florida (might as well say Jacksonville or vicinity.) It sits across the street from a church. She and the members of the church have a policy of mostly ignoring one another. Her place is more of a family place and she tends to mother-hen her clientele in her own way, tossing them on their ear when they're too loud and obnoxious being part of the policy. Therefore her patrons tend to be pretty well-behaved. She is challenged by a young man who works at the church across the street, as to her lifestyle, which is not at all as decadent and sinful as he would like to believe. Typical for her, she pushes right back. Did I mention the on-again, off again musician boyfriend that comes around once in awhile just to shake things up? Or the homeless man she helps out? Or the dog?

Then there's A Single Self, an idea I've had for ages, about a person who is the result of a single birth, in a world where identical twins is the normal way of things. Probably mostly psychological.

And I could always write on New Tricks, the sequel to Old Dogs that I'm writing right now. There's plenty of material there and the characters won't shut up, but I may give Valerie and Daniel a rest for the time being, just so I can come back to them fresh and with new ideas.

So, what're you planning to write for NaNoWriMo 2009?

C'mon, spill.


*Crossposted to The Pen Whore*

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Thank you Danielle, for introducing me to this video. Absolutely hilarious, and so very true!

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