Thank heavens...

that counter is wrong...I still have through tomorrow to finish...and I'm gonna need it!

One more ... just because of the description of the shoes

One more post as written by Eve...just because I love the description of these shoes:

I'm still staring at my shoes in their paid-retail boxes. They are Steven Luxe, which is the luxury version of Steve Madden. Which means ... supreme quality. I was thinking I'll sleep better if I put them under the covers (in their box) with me. So. Apparently the therapy they are giving me here in retail jail isn't working. I just keep telling the parole board that they are wearing really unattractive shoes, Not. Like. My. Shoes.

Apparently I'm gonna be here awhile.

Or at least til I can go to my shoe guy and have him stretch the shoes at the toe just a smidge so that I will be caused no pain as I break them in.

Ok I'll just admit it.

I bought Barbie's shoes.

THERE. I finally said it!

They are gold and pink and have GLITTER on them! And then the glitter gets all over you. And everyone else. It's like being Barbie AND Tinkerbell, which is all I have ever wanted! I told the SHOE SALESMAN this. And he laughed. Then I think I may have said something like, "I love you shoe guy. Thank you for making my shoe dream come true."

It's all sorta black and then wavy and fuzzy ... I may have fainted? It was like being DRUNK ... on a shoe.

The point is. I have these shoes that I can't even SHOW you because they are so beautiful and so sexy and so amazing and I cannot find a picture of them online. All I know is that ... as I told the Shoe Man ... "Shoe Man, you can't just be all devil may care about these shoes. This is like a shoe that demands a certain ATTITUDE. You know, you gotta really own this shoe. Be ONE with the SHOE. Commit to the SHOE!"

I'm sure he thought I was INSANE.

But people don't care if you are insane if you pay them for the merchandise and you smell good and YOU DON'T HAVE A MOUSTACHE!

Long slow deep breaths. (I'm gonna be fine)

Oh my...lots to write, lots to write...

That's ok...writing away.

In the meantime, a couple posts from a site that I occasional read. The writer, Eve, is an excellent motivator, and the basic point? Live your life to the fullest and do it now. Whatever it is, do it now and stop waiting for ... whatever ....

So, without further ado, here's a reposting.

Choosing to burn down your own life.

Understanding; in a deep and soulful way; This. Is. No. Longer. Working. For. Me.

Not a decision that many people make once in a lifetime. I feel; that this is perhaps the eighth time I have done this in my life time. I just counted. In my head I see versions of me with a simple "Strike Right" box of matches. The life I'm about to burn has become brittle, dry, filled with weeds. There's the threat of wildfires, which is a decision that isn't in your hands. That is a decision made by the Divine and the fire. Of course they say that fire is the Devil's only friend.

Truths are always startling.

You look at the foundation you so carefully rebuilt and you see huge cracks. When did they get there? Suddenly a sidewalk that lined up has split. It's no longer going to let you ride your pink sparkly disco roller skates over the smooth surface. Because the surface changed.

The cracks and shifts; they got there during the Earthquakes. You felt the Earthquakes, remember? But Earthquakes are such a funny thing. You are seated, pretending that you are on solid ground, that everything on your dresser can only be knocked off by your mischievous kitten who has taken to trying to understand the forces of gravity. Cats are baffled by Gravity. They cannot understand it. No matter how many times they see this, their eyes widen in amazement. You see the cat thought, "How could this be!? I don't understand. Isn't that supposed to float?" They cock their heads to the side.

In an earthquake there is a sound before it begins. Car alarms go off first. This gives many old people heart attacks because it startles them so very much. It is an explosion of noise. Like a marching band just exploded while playing "Eye of The Tiger" during a football game ....

Then the rolling motion or a sudden violent jolt. The violent jolt makes everyone who was raised in California, say in a calm voice, "GET INTO THE DOORWAY!"

Then the sounds of breaking glass. And the thought, "You know, I really should have bought that stupid Earthquake putty." Followed by the thought, "Hmmm ... I wonder if the roof will cave in?"

Depending on how large the quake is, it can seem to go on forever. You wonder; am I going to die? Are my loved ones ok? Where are my animals?

And then. As suddenly as it begins, it stops.

Rock and Roll Baby.

Immediately after the quake ... people run into the streets. They want to talk to humans. They want to say, "DID YOU FEEL THAT!? Turn on the news Mainard, I wanna know how high that one was!"

There is electricity in the air.

People discuss the quake in the middle of the street. Sometimes, people leave their houses and gather together, sitting with a radio or a small TV. The near death experience is profound. The fact that the Earth itself just moved EVERYTHING, including say .... your refrigerator which you cannot move by yourself. The quake picked up your house. It picked up your neighbors house. You see chimneys collapse. If you have ever been inside a home that has been retrofitted, meaning the foundation is bolted down, you feel the quake differently.

A wooden house that is older may stand up better than a brand new brick house. Because you see, flexibility is an important part of strength. Without flexibly, strength is too rigid and unyielding. This is why you cultivate not just strength, but flexibility and the ability to balance to both.

A decision to change your life is not entered into lightly. You will need help.

Regardless of the timing, it's important to understand that while it's natural to go back to the status quo after an Earthquake or natural disaster, because human beings cannot hold onto truly knowing how very ... not in control they truly are. What you need to take from this moment is that you do control ONE thing.

You control the very things that you need to get to goal....

Seven - well - Six Short Days

Got some work to do to catch up. BUT, I have every intention of doing it. The stack of filled boxes is getting smaller and the stack of collapsed boxes is much, much bigger now. Very nice.

Keep writing!

Holy Cow

Did you know that it costs approximately $750 to have someone analyze a broken (what exactly is broken is still unknown at this point and for $750 may remain unknown) hard drive and retrieve the information stored therein (and that's for a base price - it could cost more than that)?

The question becomes, at this point, what price knowledge?

Sigh.

I'm thinking that I could get a NEW COMPUTER for that.

I'm also thinking that I am SOOO thankful to the Geek Squad guys for putting a new hard drive in my laptop yesterday. They gave me my defunct drive - it's sadly boxed up in a little foam container. I'm also thankful that I still have SOME stuff backed up (of course, I hadn't gotten around to backing up stuff since August of last year so I'm missing about a year's worth of school stuff). I'm thankful that some of that stuff was on my jump drive. I'm thankful that I emailed Derrick a copy of my novel pages to take a look at. I'm thankful that, even though I'm missing tons of school stuff and all my favorites are gone, I still have a computer to work with. I'm thankful that most of what I have I at least have a hard copy of at school so I can retype if need be.

So...what price knowledge?

I'm also thinking I should look at this as an opportunity to start fresh. I spent most of yesterday putting everything BACK on my computer.

Life IS exciting.

The Plan

Well, since I'm a bit behind, I figured I need a new plan. So, starting tomorrow, if I commit to writing 3,334 words per day (ok...really, starting Monday after I get myself moved but maybe on Sunday once everything is packed) for the rest of the month, I'll STILL be done before the deadline because then I have the luxury of being ahead of my NEW schedule. It's warped, I know, but it IS procrastination logic at it's finest.

Ah, the leisure of summertime.

Moving this weekend

Ok...I'm moving this weekend so writing's kinda taken a back seat this week. BUT I have a plan for catching up beautifully. It's good to have a plan. :)

Rolling on the floor, just laughing...

As provided by a fellow-teacher: Some of these I've seen before but they still make me laugh. A collection of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year (but, I have no idea where) to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners.

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Still catching up...

Didn't get quite as far as I'd planned this weekend but I DID get some done...quite a bit of fun so far. Playing playin playing!

Ketchup Day

Well, it's catch-up day for me! I'll be celebrating all things pertaining to catching up with my word counts. Perhaps I'll even have hamburgers with ketchup for lunch. Writing writing writing...

Whooohoooo!

I'm off to a good start...a writer's high I believe. 6974 words, 24 pages, already. Darn good start to the month of July. The goal is 1,667 words per day so that means I'm about 3 days ahead right now. I'm just happy, happy, happy. And who knows what might happen next?

Of course, I'm leaving out how many times I got up from the desk and how difficult it was for me to just sit still and write for a little bit today. A friend of mine enjoyed pointing out the likelihood that I'might be just a touch ADHD - hmmm, there's an outside likelihood that he's right...maybe, but I prefer to think of it as enthusiastic about life and the things that are going on around me - and I did finally settle down and write so, I think I'll not lay claim to that title. Once I got going, I was smoking.

Don't bother asking what it's about though. I don't have an answer yet. I'll know by August 1 though!

Oh - and complete side note, sunburns and the television can be a wee bit distracting when trying to write. Sigh. Darn, I love summer though.