It's what I'm going to undertake. I really need to lose weight. At least 20 pounds. I'm gonna do it by eating healthy (limiting carbs, eating fruits and vegetables, etc.) and exercising. And hopefully, I'll lose weight. Because I'm not happy with myself right now. I feel terrible and I have to do something about it or it's just going to get worse. I know I can do it. I just have to exercise, which is going to be hard for me. But I can do it. I just have to get off my fat, lazy ass and do it. And no making excuses. It starts tomorrow for sure. My goal is to get down to 140 pounds. I'll be in the average for my height. Wish me luck!
Current weight: 163.3 pounds.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Revelations and Pancakes
Last night I was reading this book that a friend reccomended to me, The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing and I had one of the biggest revelations ever. Seriously. I realized that I was starting my novel in the entirely wrong place and that's why it was stuck. I started on Dante's first day of work and it was written from Gabe's POV, his partner, which doesn't really make sense because Dante is the main character. So I'm going to start the story 6 years later. It's making me really happy. There may be some hope yet.
I also cooked pancakes from scratch last night. For the first time ever. I've made them with pancake mix from the box, but not from scratch. I've slowly begun to learn how to cook. I know how to cook tacos and now I can make pancakes too. I'm getting there. I have no problem following a recipe (though I did have to ask my mom about a couple things I wasn't sure about) and I love baking. I just haven't cooked much. But I'm getting there. It was a bit of an adventure. The recipie is simple enough. I just was a bit worried because the pancake mix was too thick. But it was okay. The hardest part was getting the pancakes to cook on the finicky cooktop my parents have. It's SO freaking picky. It's either too hot so the stuff cooks too quickly and burns or it's too cold and the stuff doesn't cook enough. Needless to say, my first four pancackes were no good because they were gooey inside. But I got it down eventually and made plenty even though I was the only one eating them. My mom did try one and she seemed to like it. And they were good. I wrote the recipie down on an index card so, provided I don't lose the card, I will have the recipie when I get my own place. I'm planning on looking through all the cookbooks my mom has and trying out different recipies so I can write them down and actually know how to cook things when I'm on my own.
Went to the bank this morning to transfer another $200 to my checking account from my savings account. Now I only have about $400 left in my savings account. Yikes! I have no idea why I can't get off my lazy ass and get a job. Probably because the summer is almost over already. I did work in June at a preschool. My dad is not happy about that. But there's nothing that can be done about it now.
Driving into town this morning sucked. First, I had to take a detour to avoid Ann Arbor Road because they're doing construction there. And I also had to avoid Main Street in Plymouth because they're filming a movie there. Scream 4. It's probably not going to be a very good movie, but that's okay. I still feel proud that they're shooting at least some of the movie in my hometown. I don't actually live in the downtown area. I live about 10 miles out in the country. But I still consider Plymouth my hometown because I've been going there since I was a kid. I go to the library frequently. I've been to the park for Art in the Park and Music in the Park. I've gone Christmas shopping in some of the stores there. I've watched all the stores come and go over the years. Our zip code is for Plymouth. I will always consider Plymouth my hometown.
So I had to take a detour to avoid Main Street even though when I got there, it actually seemed to be open. There was just one small strip of road that was closed for filming that had no significance to me. But I took the detour anyway. Instead of going down Ann Arbor Road all the way into Plymouth and turning onto Main Street, I took North Territorial. Bad idea because they're doing construction on North Territoral now. UGH!!!!!! It was down to a one-lane road so it was BAD. I hate construction with a passion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I don't know what I'd do without the backroads here in Michigan. They're a real life-saver in a pinch.
Today I get to look forward to washing washcloths and towels and folding them. And I'm going to try and get some work on Dante's Requiem done. And I'll probably watch the Tigers tonight even though they've been sucking like crazy lately. If I can get control of the big screen TV in the addition, I can even work on my knitting and reading. It's a lot easier to sit up and knit rather than lounge on a bed. And even if I can't, I can still work on my reading. I'm currently reading 5 different books: The Simillarion by Tolkien, The Inferno by Dante, The Last Juror by John Grisham, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Montana Sky by Nora Roberts. I own all the books except the last, which is a library book. I have four books by her checked out by the library and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get them done on time. If not, I can renew them. Even though I'm going back to school at the end of the month. I'm really starting to make progress on Montana Sky. It's really good, but suspensful, which is why I can't read it at night. I'm afraid it'll spook me too much and I won't be able to sleep. What can I say, I'm a sensitive person. So I can only read that one during the day. Same with The Last Juror. And The Inferno as well. That one is really really bizzare so who knows what kind of dreams I'll get from it. I was reading The Simillarion but got bored so I started The Mists of Avalon. Both those books are going to take FOREVER to read because they're really slow reads. I've read The Mists of Avalon before, though I didn't get all the way through. Oh yeah, I'm also reading Harry Potter in French. I'm on the first one. Still. It's taken me forever and a half to get through it, which is understandable. But I still have a long ways to go. Sigh.
I also cooked pancakes from scratch last night. For the first time ever. I've made them with pancake mix from the box, but not from scratch. I've slowly begun to learn how to cook. I know how to cook tacos and now I can make pancakes too. I'm getting there. I have no problem following a recipe (though I did have to ask my mom about a couple things I wasn't sure about) and I love baking. I just haven't cooked much. But I'm getting there. It was a bit of an adventure. The recipie is simple enough. I just was a bit worried because the pancake mix was too thick. But it was okay. The hardest part was getting the pancakes to cook on the finicky cooktop my parents have. It's SO freaking picky. It's either too hot so the stuff cooks too quickly and burns or it's too cold and the stuff doesn't cook enough. Needless to say, my first four pancackes were no good because they were gooey inside. But I got it down eventually and made plenty even though I was the only one eating them. My mom did try one and she seemed to like it. And they were good. I wrote the recipie down on an index card so, provided I don't lose the card, I will have the recipie when I get my own place. I'm planning on looking through all the cookbooks my mom has and trying out different recipies so I can write them down and actually know how to cook things when I'm on my own.
Went to the bank this morning to transfer another $200 to my checking account from my savings account. Now I only have about $400 left in my savings account. Yikes! I have no idea why I can't get off my lazy ass and get a job. Probably because the summer is almost over already. I did work in June at a preschool. My dad is not happy about that. But there's nothing that can be done about it now.
Driving into town this morning sucked. First, I had to take a detour to avoid Ann Arbor Road because they're doing construction there. And I also had to avoid Main Street in Plymouth because they're filming a movie there. Scream 4. It's probably not going to be a very good movie, but that's okay. I still feel proud that they're shooting at least some of the movie in my hometown. I don't actually live in the downtown area. I live about 10 miles out in the country. But I still consider Plymouth my hometown because I've been going there since I was a kid. I go to the library frequently. I've been to the park for Art in the Park and Music in the Park. I've gone Christmas shopping in some of the stores there. I've watched all the stores come and go over the years. Our zip code is for Plymouth. I will always consider Plymouth my hometown.
So I had to take a detour to avoid Main Street even though when I got there, it actually seemed to be open. There was just one small strip of road that was closed for filming that had no significance to me. But I took the detour anyway. Instead of going down Ann Arbor Road all the way into Plymouth and turning onto Main Street, I took North Territorial. Bad idea because they're doing construction on North Territoral now. UGH!!!!!! It was down to a one-lane road so it was BAD. I hate construction with a passion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I don't know what I'd do without the backroads here in Michigan. They're a real life-saver in a pinch.
Today I get to look forward to washing washcloths and towels and folding them. And I'm going to try and get some work on Dante's Requiem done. And I'll probably watch the Tigers tonight even though they've been sucking like crazy lately. If I can get control of the big screen TV in the addition, I can even work on my knitting and reading. It's a lot easier to sit up and knit rather than lounge on a bed. And even if I can't, I can still work on my reading. I'm currently reading 5 different books: The Simillarion by Tolkien, The Inferno by Dante, The Last Juror by John Grisham, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Montana Sky by Nora Roberts. I own all the books except the last, which is a library book. I have four books by her checked out by the library and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get them done on time. If not, I can renew them. Even though I'm going back to school at the end of the month. I'm really starting to make progress on Montana Sky. It's really good, but suspensful, which is why I can't read it at night. I'm afraid it'll spook me too much and I won't be able to sleep. What can I say, I'm a sensitive person. So I can only read that one during the day. Same with The Last Juror. And The Inferno as well. That one is really really bizzare so who knows what kind of dreams I'll get from it. I was reading The Simillarion but got bored so I started The Mists of Avalon. Both those books are going to take FOREVER to read because they're really slow reads. I've read The Mists of Avalon before, though I didn't get all the way through. Oh yeah, I'm also reading Harry Potter in French. I'm on the first one. Still. It's taken me forever and a half to get through it, which is understandable. But I still have a long ways to go. Sigh.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Blogging From the Road
Greetings from De Queen, Arkansas. This is my second day here. We arrived last night after spending a day and a half on the road. It was about two ten-hour days. I am down here with my mother and my maternal grandmother for a family reunion that took place today, actually. It's been an interesting couple days.
The storm came even before we left with heavy rain and wind plus a bit of thunder and lightning. This is what the BP looked like after the storm hit:
There were a couple more rainstorms we drove through and I took a bunch of pictures of the clouds. I won't post all of them, but these are my favorites:
It started on Thursday at about 7:19 in the morning when my mom came in to wake me up. My alarm wasn't going to go off until 8, but unfortunately, that was the time my mom wanted to leave. Naturally, I went back to sleep until 7:25 when my grandma, who came down the night before from Ludington got me up. I had woken up at like 4 that morning feeling a bit dizzy and was worrying that I was having a dizzy spell. I did manage to go back to sleep. when I woke up, I was still felling a bit unwell, but I still got up, got dressed, and did my last-minute packing. I made myself breakfast and got ready. I was the last one up and the second ready. My gradnma was up first at an unnaturally early time (I wish I had her habits--getting up in the morning is always really hard for me, especially now that it's summer and I have nothing better to do than sleep) and she, of course, was the first one ready. My mom was up second and the last one ready. She had to take a shower and do who knows what else. Point is: we were waiting for her. We, of course, didn't leave at 8, but that doesn't surprise me. We are not a family of efficiency. I always like leaving early and I get that from my mom's side of the family. My dad is almost never early. Nor does he leave on time. Usually. Exceptions will occur. We left at about 8:4. I got a bunch of reading done. I finished Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, though truthfully, I didn't have too much to go in that. I started working on the second book I brought: The Last Juror by John Grisham. I really like his books. He writes leagal thrillers and they're very good. We stopped at a rest area outside the city of Marshall, after about an hour, because my grandma needed to use the bathroom. It was okay because I needed to pee too. After we got back in the car, I decided to put my headphones on and listen to music. And then my mom deecided she had to listen to music too on the car radio. Loudly, I might add. But my headphones block out a good amount of noise and if I turn my music up loud enough, I can't hear the music or my grandma and mom talking.
Lunch was at Wendy's. I find it a lot easier to eat on the road now that I've gone back to eating meat. My vegitarian streak of about six years came to an end last year. I've decided that for the time being, it's just easier to eat meat. It's a bit hard to be vegitarian while living n the dorms and surviving on cafeteria food. Though Northern has a vegitarian station. I think I'll check that out this fall and while I won't totally devote myself to vegitarianism I'll at least try new things.
We drove from Michigan to Indiana, though I can't tell you which highways we took. I wasn't really paying attention. Then we drove to Illinois. We drove through several rainstorms iwth insane rain. It was a good thing my mom was driving. We stopped at a BP, though I don't exactly know where. I had no idea where we were or even what state we were in for quite a while. We could see the dark storm clouds in the distance and in the direction we were heading. Here's a photo I took at said BP:
The storm came even before we left with heavy rain and wind plus a bit of thunder and lightning. This is what the BP looked like after the storm hit:
There were a couple more rainstorms we drove through and I took a bunch of pictures of the clouds. I won't post all of them, but these are my favorites:
They aren't in any particular order. I had enough trouble getting them where I wanted in the post. I'm still very new at this. Blogging, I mean.
We stayed in Marion, Illinois, which is in the south. It was very hilly there with lots of trees. And it was really cool becaues the clouds hung low in the sky. It was kind of like being in the mountains. It stormed when we got ther eand when we went out to eat at this Mexican place down the road. My mom got a margarita and I had two sips because I wanted to try it. Didn't like it very much. Still sticking to non-alcoholic drinks. Didn't get very much sleep. Between my mom's snoring and my grandma's, it's a wonder I got any sleep at all. Plus my left arm was hruting for some reason and it also kept me awake. Plus I had caffiene, which helped keep me awake. That's all for now. Don't like feel like writing any more right now.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
It's Late and I'm Still Up Plotting...
I'm currently working on the planning for a novel called Holding On Until Tomorrow, something completely different from Dante's Requiem. What can I say? I have too many projects that never get done. I'm trying to get a sense of things, plotwise, and I keep getting stuck. It's a really long story. *takes deep breath*
So there's a guy named Danya who is a champion skiier. The best of the best. He has a twin named Dimitri who is not as good, but still really good. Jealous twin. Causes an accident that ends Danya's career. Danya was hurt really bad. He doesn't remember much of the accident. Does not know Dimitri is the reason he lost everything. Fast forward a couple years. Same ski resort as before. Danya is suffering from flashbacks and trying not to have a mental breakdown, which is hardly working). Meets Nick. They have a relationship. A short one. Then they part ways and meet up again a couple years later. Nick's father is killed in a car accident and he gets shipped off to San Franscisco where his mother lives (parents divorced when he was a baby). Danya remains in Michigan (where the story has taken place up until now). This is all great. Fine. I just can't, for the life of me, figure out how Danya gets to San Franscisco. Because he needs to go there so he and Nick can rekindle their relationship, the one his family doesn't approve of because they're highly religious and homosexuality is a sin in their eyes. Did I mention that Danya is almost 3 years older? Oh the drama.
So I just can't figure out how Danya gets to San Franscisco without making him out to be a total creepy stalker, because he's not a creepy stalker. And a long-distance relationship just isn't cutting it. And it's driving me crazy. He needs to go out to San Franscisco because he loves Nick and they need to have a relationship so there can be lovely drama with the family.
I already know how this is going to end and it's not going to be pretty. Why do I have to write such angsty stories?! There's no way this story is going to end happily. The good news is that I eliminated a few plot lines that weren't going anywhere, really, and created confusion. And I got rid of a character who made things eternally complicated. But I'm still stuck. Things were going so well. I have three chapters forming with more on the way. And more ideas and a general idea of where things are going. But not anymore.
And yes, it's after midnight and I'm still up plotting.
The other problem is that Bryan, a really close friend of Danya's who has helped him through all the drama he's faced with his family and stuff has randomly dropped off the face of the planet. Not to mention Danya's family and they had such a huge role in Danya's life up until the point his twin brother attempted to kill him or at least maim him enough to end his career so he could take his brother's place and win their parents' affections, not to mention all the fame and glory Danya has been enjoying plus all the moolah. And he got away with all that and I'm not sure how. I guess there weren't any witnessess or proof or something. I don't freaking know. So hopefully I'll be able to get some closure with Danya and his family when I finish fleshing out the rest of the first part of the novel.
I should really stop this because I'm tired and I don't think clearly and it's probably the reason why I'm not able to work past this little problem right now. It's not even that important because I haven't finished fleshing out the first part of the story yet. I'm doing an outline and I've only gotten to chapter 3 and all this stuff doesn't happen until later. I'm still trying to figure all that out. Danya needs to have a huge confrontation with his family (especially with Dimitri) because they were the ones who caused him to be so fucked up in the first place.
Why do the plot bunnies have to bite me so late at night? And it didn't start out this way. I suddenly realized that Nick's mom isn't married to Nick's stepfather until after Nick moves out to California to live with her--they're only dating and after Nick moves out there, they get married. And I started writing it down and now it's devolved into this. So I'm seriously hating myself right now. And I'm going to bed so I can give my poor brain a break. Me + being tired = me not being able to think coherently. As is illustrated by my above sentences which are epically run-on sentences.
So there's a guy named Danya who is a champion skiier. The best of the best. He has a twin named Dimitri who is not as good, but still really good. Jealous twin. Causes an accident that ends Danya's career. Danya was hurt really bad. He doesn't remember much of the accident. Does not know Dimitri is the reason he lost everything. Fast forward a couple years. Same ski resort as before. Danya is suffering from flashbacks and trying not to have a mental breakdown, which is hardly working). Meets Nick. They have a relationship. A short one. Then they part ways and meet up again a couple years later. Nick's father is killed in a car accident and he gets shipped off to San Franscisco where his mother lives (parents divorced when he was a baby). Danya remains in Michigan (where the story has taken place up until now). This is all great. Fine. I just can't, for the life of me, figure out how Danya gets to San Franscisco. Because he needs to go there so he and Nick can rekindle their relationship, the one his family doesn't approve of because they're highly religious and homosexuality is a sin in their eyes. Did I mention that Danya is almost 3 years older? Oh the drama.
So I just can't figure out how Danya gets to San Franscisco without making him out to be a total creepy stalker, because he's not a creepy stalker. And a long-distance relationship just isn't cutting it. And it's driving me crazy. He needs to go out to San Franscisco because he loves Nick and they need to have a relationship so there can be lovely drama with the family.
I already know how this is going to end and it's not going to be pretty. Why do I have to write such angsty stories?! There's no way this story is going to end happily. The good news is that I eliminated a few plot lines that weren't going anywhere, really, and created confusion. And I got rid of a character who made things eternally complicated. But I'm still stuck. Things were going so well. I have three chapters forming with more on the way. And more ideas and a general idea of where things are going. But not anymore.
And yes, it's after midnight and I'm still up plotting.
The other problem is that Bryan, a really close friend of Danya's who has helped him through all the drama he's faced with his family and stuff has randomly dropped off the face of the planet. Not to mention Danya's family and they had such a huge role in Danya's life up until the point his twin brother attempted to kill him or at least maim him enough to end his career so he could take his brother's place and win their parents' affections, not to mention all the fame and glory Danya has been enjoying plus all the moolah. And he got away with all that and I'm not sure how. I guess there weren't any witnessess or proof or something. I don't freaking know. So hopefully I'll be able to get some closure with Danya and his family when I finish fleshing out the rest of the first part of the novel.
I should really stop this because I'm tired and I don't think clearly and it's probably the reason why I'm not able to work past this little problem right now. It's not even that important because I haven't finished fleshing out the first part of the story yet. I'm doing an outline and I've only gotten to chapter 3 and all this stuff doesn't happen until later. I'm still trying to figure all that out. Danya needs to have a huge confrontation with his family (especially with Dimitri) because they were the ones who caused him to be so fucked up in the first place.
Why do the plot bunnies have to bite me so late at night? And it didn't start out this way. I suddenly realized that Nick's mom isn't married to Nick's stepfather until after Nick moves out to California to live with her--they're only dating and after Nick moves out there, they get married. And I started writing it down and now it's devolved into this. So I'm seriously hating myself right now. And I'm going to bed so I can give my poor brain a break. Me + being tired = me not being able to think coherently. As is illustrated by my above sentences which are epically run-on sentences.
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