Donna

Shipbuilder needed

2006-05-14T02:49:16Z

It's been raining since Tuesday. Mostly sprinkles and showers, with the occasional heavier rain. Since last night it's been pouring, with very little letup, and is supposed to continue through tomorrow morning. When it will not clear up, just get a little less soaking.

It's supposed to continue raining, off and on, through the week, with maybe some sun on Friday, at the earliest.

Does anyone have some planks they can sell me cheap? And some tar? And could explain what a cubit is? I have the Bill Cosby album somewhere, but I'm too busy looking for two creatures of every kind. Or better yet, just send a shipbuilder. I don't know how I'm going to choose which books to put onboard.

Writing and Vacation

2006-04-20T22:56:16Z

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits.
Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle.
Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it.
You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Well, it fits. I am a night owl. Only three more days of April vacation left. It goes so fast. I didn't do some of what I hoped to do. I meant to write more. I did do a few blogs, and I have a friend looking over my book who'll get back to me with editing.

I'm taking one of those Barnes & Noble courses, the one on writing the mystery. I could read the books on my own, but this forces me to read them in a month. Also, it's interesting to see all the other student's responses to the study questions. I do want to write a mystery, this summer probably, not for Nano next Nov., and this has made me think about characters, setting, situation. I wrote a bio for my two main characters, a descriptive paragraph of a town in which it may take place, and I'm working out the beginnings of a puzzle (ie who's going to be killed and why, secondary characters, etc.). However, since I had this week off, I'd hoped to be further through the lesson plans.

Gack and W.O.M.B.A.T.S and Quiz

2006-04-08T05:50:22Z

Gacked from norwegianblue47:

Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year).List three neat facts, two births and two deaths in your journal, including the year.

Facts:

1605 - Gunpowder Plot: A plot led by Robert Catesby to blow up the English Houses of Parliament is thwarted when Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, finds Guy Fawkes in a cellar below the Parliament building. Fawkes was later hanged, drawn and quartered for his role in the conspiracy.

1872 - Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100.

1935 - Parker Brothers releases the board game Monopoly.

Births

1857 - Ida Tarbell, American journalist (d. 1944)

1913 - Vivien Leigh, English actress (d. 1967)

Deaths

1960 - Mack Sennett, Canadian producer and director (b. 1880)

1989 - Vladimir Horowitz, Russian pianist (b. 1903)

The results are up from the W.O.M.B.A.T. test on Rowling's site. I got an O! And I didn't even look at the Lexicon. I bet nobody failed, though. It seemed to me that there could be more than one right answer on some of them.

You Are A Lily

You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist.
People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you.
You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words.
Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize.

What Flower Are You?

Destroyer Movie News from Warren Murphy

2006-04-04T03:59:57Z

Brian Murphy released this item this afternoon on Warren Murphy's Forum

Warren Murphy announced today that he had signed a Destroyer film production deal with Robert Evans independent production company in Hollywood. The deal covers film and television, as well as computer
games and merchandising, and the old man says "after quite a few years in the Destroyer doldrums, we've got a chance here of seeing something good happen."

For those who don't know, Robert Evans is a one-time actor who took over the running of Paramount Studios when the company was down the drain and on the verge of bankruptcy. In just a handful of years,
Evans produced The Odd Couple, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, Love Story and The Godfather, and turned Paramount into the hottest studio in town.

This is great news, though I realize it may take awhile for a movie to begin production and there are many things which can go wrong.

I'm really hoping this stirs interest for the Destroyer books with a publishing company, and that this comes sooner rather than later. The contract with Gold Eagle is up as of this year and I'd like to see the books continue on with a minimum of interruption. Even if a publisher can be found, there would be more of a gap than the usual three months Destroyer readers have become used to.

A new publisher might choose to issue only two books a year instead of four. Or they might issue two Destroyers and two spinoffs (good too!). Or four Destroyers and two spinoffs (I'm getting greedy here).

Wipe Out

2006-03-30T02:13:33Z

Your Quirk Factor: 57%

You're a pretty quirky person, but you're just normal enough to hide it.
Congratulations - you've fooled other people into thinking you're just like them!

How Quirky Are You?

My site and a friend's site was hacked a few days ago. Idiots with too much time on their hands.

Heard from Jerry when I got home. He can't save his site's contents or my forum, so he's going to go in tonight and wipe both our sites. He's giving me time to save everything I can from my site.

That's not difficult, since I don't have too much stuff on there, and most of it was already saved on my HD. I went through everything, double checking. And I used the occasion to tidy up my files. Now I have a donna.com folder, with sub folders for each page. The one place I can't access -- the Forum -- all of it was on my HD already.

It's Jerry I feel bad for. He lost the most, but he's not letting it get him down. He does have some of it on his Last Witness website, which helps. And he's going to install some of the security stuff Brian recommended on both our sites, so this should help ensure there's not a repeat of this hacking.

Pathetic Losers

2006-03-28T06:05:28Z

A few friends and I have been having a little problem recently with hackers. Saturday when I went to my website all the news items on my home page, which I have been using as a blog, were gone. No one took credit, though.

Shortly before that, my friend Jerry had a small hacking problem also, though they left something in place of what they'd hacked, and most of his home page and everything else was left intact.

Now tonight, when I go to my site, everything looks normal, except when I go to my forum, the only other place on the site where I have any content, and not only is it missing, but there's something left in place. Bragging by the pathetic losers who have too much time on their hands and whose mommies should be monitoring their Internet access more closely. Unfortunately, Jerry's site has been hit by the same people and I can't access it at all. And Jim's is the same. So I don't know how much they're going to end up losing.

The really pathetic part of this is, we're all such small, untrafficked web sites. Jerry says a mutual friend wrote to him saying it looks like someone's targeting us personally. And that Dclub, a web site we all belong to and administer, might be a future target.

Jerry says he's going to take precautions before that happens. Dclub just finished being restored and doesn't need to take another hit, though thanks to the recent problem, everything's backed up and certain sections are also being saved off site for greater protection.

I'm not sad for my site. The forum contained some fan fiction I've written, and I've got them all saved to disc anyway. And the blogs they hit, thanks to my tendency to cross-post, and write them up in Open Office before posting, can be restored fairly easily too. The worst that could be lost on Jim's site is his thoughts on the Destroyer books he wrote, but Jerry says that's saved off site too. Jerry has more on his site, though, and hopefully that won't be lost.

If it should turn out to be a disgruntled Dclub member, he/she probably isn't a regular. I'm certainly not going to let this make me paranoid. Most of the regulars are frequent posters, or long time members and I don't see any one of them having this level of childishness and viciousness.

Another silly quiz

2006-02-22T02:17:51Z

How evil are you?

Well, I don't know how I got that, given a few of the answers I gave. I wonder if it just opts for angelic or evil, with nothing in between?

The Bartimaeus Trilogy

2006-02-19T07:44:57Z

Series of three books by Jonathan Stroud: The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate.

Excellent series, not just for the target audience, but all ages.

In The Amulet of Samarkand, we're introduced to Nathaniel, apprenticed to a mediocre magician. When the eleven-year-old is humiliated by flashy magician Simon Lovelace and receives no help from his master, Nathaniel vows revenge. He studies in secret until he feels confident he can summon a djinni on his own. When he summons Bartimaeus, he orders him to steal the fabled Amulet of Samarkand from Lovelace. But he doesn't expect to get caught up in a plot to overthrow the government. And djinnis are a little harder to control than he'd anticipated.

We're introduced to Stroud's alternate London, a London of Magicians and Commoners, who are very much second class citizens -- barred from the government and all important social positions. Magicians derive all their power from their ability to summon and control demons (djinns) from the Other Place. The dual themes of injustice -- the powerlessness of Commoners and the enslavement of djinns -- is the main theme of the trilogy.

But I'm making it sound too stuffy. It's a good adventure story with intriguing characters. Nathaniel is neither perfect nor heroic; he's whiny and petulant for much of the book, though when the going gets tough, he comes through with courage and quick thinking. Bartimaeus is pompous and sarcastic, but when he could harm Nathaniel, he doesn't, which is unusual. Most "demons" test their bonds and try to trick their masters into making fatal mistakes that not only free the djinns to go back home, but allow them to devour their masters too.

The story alternates chapters between Nathaniel (third person) and Bartimaeus (first person). Bartimaeus' wit and sarcasm make his chapters a treat.

The story continues in The Golem's Eye. Nathaniel is now fourteen, working in the Internal Affairs department, and is known as John Mandrake (magicians take on an assumed name, as their birth name can be used to harm them). Important artifacts are being stolen and buildings destroyed. The government believes these are terrorist attacks by Commoners, who have been growing more resentful. Worse still, there are rumors that some Commoners are becoming resistant to magic.

In addition to Nathaniel and Bartimaeus' viewpoints, we're now introduced to Kitty Jones, a Commoner who joins the resistance after a run-in with a magician who takes revenge after Kitty and a friend accidentally damage his car with a carelessly hit ball while they're playing in a park that's off limits to Commoners.

Bartimaeus' investigations take him and Nathaniel to Prague, where they try to find the magician who's behind the attacks.

Once again a fast paced adventure, with humor and intrigue. Bartimaeus' disappointment in being summoned again is increased by Nathaniel's progression into what Bartimaeus sarcastically calls your typical magician: cold and cruel, ambitious, self-serving. But behind his needling, the reader can sense his sorrow at seeing the man the boy is becoming. You sense that he's hoping that by needling him, Bartimaeus is trying to find the human core that still remains before it's too late.

Ptolemy's Gate concludes a satisfying series. Stroud has never pulled his punches or talked down to his audience. Even though marketed as a children's series, this is what makes it entertaining for adults.

Nathaniel is now seventeen. His success with the golem incident has led to his appointment as Information Minister. His main job is publishing propaganda pamphlets on the success of the war in America (the colonials are rebelling -- 200 years later than in our reality). The Commoners are growing more restless and rebellion is brewing as more and more people are developing resistance to magic.

Bartimaeus has been weakened by spending too much time in this world; Nathaniel refuses to dismiss him until the problems are solved.

Kitty is undercover in London. She's researching magic and Bartimaeus in particular, trying to find a way to break the cycle of conflict and slavery between djinns and humans.

The three are brought together again when a magicians plan to overthrow the government by allowing a demons to inhabit their bodies, confident they can maintain control and harness the demons' power for their own.

We also learn more about Bartimaeus' past and his relationship to a magician which has continued to haunt him down through the centuries.

The plots that have been building through three books come to a satisfying conclusion. Nothing slacks off or is given a hasty or overly rosy conclusion. To say anything more is to risk saying too much and spoiling it for first time readers.

Full Circle

2006-02-05T21:58:54Z

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgeable, you are the perfect sidekick.
You're always willing to lend a helping hand.
In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going.
"15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test

Super Bowl Sunday. I care nothing about football, but I am thinking of tuning in just to see the ads. Those are the big, expensive commercial slots which corporations with enough spare change hurry to snap up, before they have all sold out. They unveil their new campaigns and their best concepts; a lot of ad execs must be swigging antacid about now, as zero hour approaches. Tomorrow people will be discussing them, venturing opinions on what worked, what tanked, the boring or the weird.

The triumph of advertising. It's come to this (well, it's been this way for some time now, but I remember when it was different). People are now watching programs that don't interest them just to see the commercials. The pitch has become the entertainment.

Or maybe things are just coming full circle. Back in the 19th century, one of the precursors of saloon shows and vaudeville was the traveling medicine show. Feats of strength to show the triumph of Dr. Humbug's Rejuvenation Potion, or the little old 'granny,' who goes into a jig after a dose of Dr. Pseudo's Pepper Up. A song and music as the wagon rolls into town, to gather the rubes.
'Twas Pirelli's
Magical Elixir,
That's wot did the trick, sir,
True, sir, true.
Was it quick sir?
Did it in a tick, sir,
Just like an elixir
Ought to do!*

It's the same with Jerry Springer and the reality shows. They're the twenty first century's versions of the freak show, carnival, religious camp meetings. Everything old is new again.

*from Sweeney Todd; lyrics by Steven Sondheim

Busy day

2006-01-29T03:16:44Z

Who Should Paint You: M.C. Escher

Open and raw, you would let your true self show for your portrait.
And even if your painting turned out a bit dark, it would be honest.

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

Busy day. Worked part time at my second job, then did a few errands and went to the library. They had a CD playing on a loop at work, and I got to like it, and was hoping I could find it at the library, but couldn't get to a computer to look it up.

The school was having a spaghetti supper and I dropped in there for a bit. Didn't win a basket of the fifty/fifty raffle. One of my friends was there. I had given her my free Lulu copy of my Nano book. She volunteered, I didn't force her! Anyway, she started this morning, is about halfway through, and says it's holding her interest. Sounds promising! And this is the crude copy; aside from the first five chapters, everything is just as it was coming out of Nano -- no editing, just full speed ahead writing, not looking back. It gives me the heart to start revising and editing.

dmcourt @ 2006-01-25T01:47:00

2006-01-25T06:47:00Z

Today I got the two things I had ordered. First, UPS delivered the second Destroyer adaptation from Cutting Audio. They really ship promptly; I only placed the order the 19th. I'm looking forward to listening to this one -- Infernal Revenue -- more than the last one. It's one of my favorite Destroyers. I'm glad that Cutting Audio got the contract to do the adaptations, but I wish they weren't doing them in the order the books were published. I don't remember if the other company did that too. I didn't buy them all, just the ones I liked best. Cutting Audio may only have the contract for this year; I don't know if Gold Eagle will bother once they no longer have the contract to publish the books. However, they do retain the rights to all the Destroyers they've published, for how many years I don't know. So they'd still be making money on the books if they let Cutting Audio continue. And this way, maybe eventually we'd get to an audio adaptation of The End of the Beginning!

Second, the mailman delivered my book from Lulu.

I knew I'd be thrilled to see my book as a book, not just a computer file, but I had no idea how it would affect me. I actually teared up a little as I was looking through it. And not because of grammar and punctuation errors (though they are certainly there)!

It really is gratifying to see something you've created in your head and on the computer in solid form. It's a book, darn it, a real honest-to-God book. Not with the polish or sophistication of a commercially published book, but still... At least maybe, if I'm reading it through all the way for the first time really since finishing it, if it still holds my interest, maybe that means it's not hopeless.

I finished!

2006-01-16T07:37:07Z

Not just an excuse to show off my new icon!

I finished my Nano novel today. All it took was the pressing deadline from Lulu -- the company that offered to give Nano winners a free copy of their book.

It only took me six weeks to finish another 4000 words. Actually, it took me a few two hour sessions. But unless I have something looming over me, I put things off.

It's not going to be the Great American Novel. Not even a great novel for me; it will be much better when I get a chance to edit more than the first five chapters. And I only hurried to do that because there was such a glaring inconsistency that I didn't want it in the printed version, even though I'll be the only one who sees it. That's one of the problems with writing so fast; no chance to look back and make corrections as you go.

Anyway, book is downloaded to Lulu and they're processing it. It should be here in three to four weeks.

Funny... my cat never listens to me

2006-01-13T00:47:28Z

The Cat-herder
Congratulations! You scored 62%!

You tend to rally a group to consensus by gently nudging them to
decide. You try and be considerate of others, while still finding some
way to voice your opinion. Some might call you a leader, others just
impatient, but either way, you get things done! Watch out for
personality clashes with those more dominant (and less considerate)
than you, but otherwise, keep up the good work!

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 63% on dominance

Link: The How Dominant Are You Test written by nimowy on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Icon

2006-01-05T05:32:24Z

I was looking for new icons. Now that I can have six, I can add a few. I've deleted the ones I put up for Christmas, and have room for four more.

Since I have a few HPs, I wanted something different. I like My Name is Earl, so I began looking for icons, but couldn't find what I wanted. So I decided to get a picture, as close to the right size as I could find, and add my own text.

And voila! I did it. I made my very own icon. Now I'm working on an animated Earl icon, if I can download the animation program. I have a good picture and good dialog from the series to go with it. I'm always surprised when I learn something technical, but I shouldn't be. I can usually do something if I try, as long as it doesn't involve higher math, heavy lifting, or fine motor control.

Added later:

I downloaded a free trial animator. This is my first try:

It's 89x120, so it's too large to use as an icon here, but I didn't want to make it smaller and have it distorted. I think I'll change the speed and perhaps the text -- have white text with the blue background. Will have to experiment.

Writing and Resolutions

2005-12-26T20:10:01Z

Writing and Resolutions Happy Boxing Day (for those countries which celebrate it)! Though in the United States most of us have today off, since Christmas fell on a Sunday.

I can't believe I wrote so much in November, and almost nothing in December. Though I have been going over my nano book and doing some correcting. When you write so fast and write without looking back, ideas that come to you midway through necessitate going back and altering some plot points in the beginning. Most of it, though, is pretty consistent. It's important that I finish it also. The people who run Lulu have offered to give nano winners a free copy of their book. I'd like to see it as a book, even if I decide that it will never be good enough to submit for publication.

Not New Years Resolutions:

I don't believe in them, but I've been noticing things about myself that I want to improve. So what follows isn't because it's New Years. It's because it is time to list them.

1. Write every day, if only for here or my blog, livejournal, etc. Preferably work on my book or stories.

2. Develop thick skin. Needed if I'm going to start showing people my writing. Also, if anything is ever published, I'm going to need to learn how to push myself forward and sell myself. There are a lot of extraordinarily talented writers out there, even published ones, who are not living up to their potential.

3. Speak up. This is connected to the last resolve but there's more to it. It isn't just standing up for myself, it's asking for clarification, making my opinion known, asking for something if I want it.

dmcourt @ 2005-12-24T12:53:00

2005-12-24T17:49:25Z

Technorati Profile

Technorati

2005-12-24T04:44:24Z

Technorati Profile

Copied tag above. I did the html copy into my account info, but it just kept searching without finishing. Nothing showed up in my My Account; I wonder if it was supposed to? Technology.

Don't know why I want to be listed anyway. There are so many people on Live Journal and blogs and websites. I don't have anything particularly profound or unique to say and I don't intend to share my deepest thoughts for the enjoyment of others (doing that whole 'I want my 15 minutes of fame' jumping up and down thing which we've had to deal with since reality TV and the explosion of the internet).

*grumble, grumble, grumble*

Happy Solstice

2005-12-21T07:50:54Z

I'm not celebrating the holiday. I'm just happy to be turning the corner.

It's always hard, watching the sun set earlier and earlier. When daylight savings time ends, that's the worst -- losing a whole hour of daylight. Now I go to work as the sun is coming up and leave work only shortly before it sets. The day won't be any longer on the 22nd, but I know now every day that passes will see the sun set a few minutes later. It gives you something to look forward to.

Random Thought

2005-12-12T06:47:00Z

My local PBS station has been doing fundraising for the past few weeks. I know they've shown other programming, but it seems like every time I flip past 2 or 44 they're showing one of two Andre Rieu concerts or Wayne Dyer's Power of Intention lecture.

Isn't there any other holiday specials this year? What happened to the Three Tenors? Or the Ten Tenors? Or Daniel O'Donnell?

dmcourt @ 2005-12-10T15:44:00

2005-12-10T20:44:02Z

Just came in from finishing the shoveling. I know I was hoping for a day off yesterday, but we didn't need this much this soon! Plus, it's hard to shovel, clean off the car, knock some snow off the roof, when you're fighting a cold. Can't figure out what it is yet. It's not really a head cold, but it's not in the lungs either. Still just feeling lousy all around with a scratchy throat.

I finally started in again on my Nano novel. It needs a few more thousand words, at least, to finish it. I had seen something on the nano forums about a print on demand web site, Lulu, offered one free printing to anyone who had completed Nano, but I hadn't noticed it expires Jan. 16th. I'm not printing it up unless I can finish it, and edit it at least enough to take care of the glaring inconsistency in one of the earlier chapters. It wouldn't be so bad, but it affects what the main character does in a whole chapter, and I'll have to figure out something else for her to do.

Hermione Granger
You scored 67% Maturity, 90% Goodness, and 65% Abilities!

You're the smartest witch of your age. You're also way more mature than
your age suggests. You're a great friend and willing to drop out of
school (of which you'd die to miss one day) to help your best bud
Harry. Your abilities in magic are really great, but you can't fly a
broom to save your life. If someone needs something researched you're
the person they go to. Hooray for smarts.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on Maturity
You scored higher than 85% on Goodness
You scored higher than 85% on Abilities

Link: The In-Depth HP Personality Test written by lisshart on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Snow Day?

2005-12-09T06:32:33Z

I'm really hoping they cancel school tomorrow. Not that I'm a student -- haven't been for over twenty years, but I work at a school, and if the city cancels, I don't have to go in.

Normally I don't mind so much. I don't like to drive in snow, and this year I'm not familiar with my new (used) car and how it behaves in slippery or snowy conditions. But I can get to work on the bus, with one transfer. Which is also handy if my car's out of service.

However, I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat, achy, feeling blah, and it hasn't improved any over the day. Being able to sleep in tomorrow would be such a great thing! And if there is school, with the snow seeming to be a definite thing, it's going to be wild tomorrow.

For some reason, as long as it's not snowing too badly by seven a.m or so, they don't seem to want to cancel. Even if by dismissal time they know that there's going to be three or more inches on the ground, the roads treacherous, and the school buses having to make their way through a city of people who've left work early to beat the rush hour storm traffic.

This has happened before, and what it usually means is that, starting around 10 a.m. and continuing until school gets out, there will be a steady stream of parents through the front door getting their kids dismissed early. A few times there were dozens of dismissals out of a school population of about 330, not counting the ones who started showing up at the side door from a half hour before school ended and were taken care of by the day care workers.

Then I'll have to slog through the snow to the bus stop, wheezing and sneezing, and stand ankle-deep in freezing slush to wait for a bus which will probably be late because of the weather, to catch a bus to take me to wait for another bus which will also be late.

One time the traffic congestion and driving conditions were so bad, none of the buses could do their routes after about four p.m. They had one final bus for each route at about 6:30 to get all of us who had been trapped downtown home. That day I got home after seven, after leaving work at 3:30. And my house, under non inclement driving conditions, is about fifteen minutes away from work.

If you're coming snow, come early!

Thanks to emachines...

2005-12-03T07:32:54Z

having to reinstall Windows was not the disaster that I thought it was a few days ago. I was so disheartened that I spent the first day or two reinstalling programs that were lost.

Then I noticed there was a file on my C Drive called Backup 11-27-05. When the computer was reinstalling Windows it put the My Documents file and a few other things into the backup file! My Nano story was intact! It was only the last 3500 words, but I was so glad to see them back! You can bet I sent the document to myself on Gmail and put a it in my web page files. Now it's in three places and I'm going to download it to a cd-rom.

I've been lazy lately. Very little writing -- slipping back into old habits. I haven't even been writing here or adding to my web page. And I did think I would write a few short stories which had been in my head since before November 1st. The only thing to do is resolve to do better tomorrow. To sit down for at least an hour and write something.

I was reading norwegianblue47's journal entry about seeing Casablanca for the first time, and I realized I never talk about old movies, even though Turner Classic Movies is my most watched station.

Thrill of Victory, Agony of Windows

2005-11-28T16:42:42Z

I wrote over 3000 words yesterday, getting to about 50,120 or so. Got my winner's icons and certificate. Spent time putting them here and on my website. Wish I had backed up my story then, though I had sent it as a file to my gmail account Sat. morning, so I have about 45,000 of it backed up.

Long story short, CompuServe screwed up on me, and trying to fix that, including using the cd-rom to reload it. Which didn't work. In the course of trying to restart the computer, got fatal or corrupted file message/cannot open Windows.

After long effort, found protected area that contained the uncorrupted version and reloaded it. Bad news, lost everything that didn't come with it.

Good news: I have most of my nano book waiting to be downloaded (will put on disc now, will put as a private file on website). Since I only got this computer in July, have only four months of stuff lost. I still have the cd-rom I'd made containing the My Documents file from the old computer. All of my other stories are on the Quill, Dclub, and my website. The only thing I'd been working on was Nano.

Bad news: Still a pain in the butt and a lot of stuff that has to be reloaded. Lost the cool Nano report card that showed my daily progress. Lost notes, character names and chapter summary file. Lost about 5000 words off my book (I know, could have been much MUCH worse).

Nano Update

2005-11-25T06:22:45Z

42,690 / 50,000
(85.4%)

I've slowed down lately. I'd really like to finish with a few days to spare. Although I intend to keep on writing it, since it won't be at the end by 50,000. Then I need to re-read it; I've just been writing without looking back and I know there's changes that have to be made in some of the earlier chapters to fit in with later material. At least if I finish, I'll be able to say I wrote a book. Whether it ever gets published or not, or even if it's worthy of publication, I'll know I can do it the next time I get an idea for a book.

Comebacks

2005-11-22T06:23:20Z

I just finished answering a "worst things" poll that was on my bulletin on My Space. It had been there for a week, but I just got around to answering it now. The pet peeve one made me think of something that happened today at work.

One of my pet peeves is people who put people down to build themselves up. This happened today, though not to me and not around me (worse luck). Why is it you can always think of a great comeback when it's too late? Or you would have had a great comeback if you'd been there but you weren't?

I work at a school. They had a teacher's meeting today, which I didn't go to (not being a teacher). There's one teacher there who would be on many people's "worst co-worker" list. She's sarcastic, and puts people down. And has the most annoying nasal whiny voice.

Actually, a few years ago, several of us were speculating as to what would be the worst job for someone with that voice. My suggestion of Suicide Prevention Hotline Staffer won hands down.

But to get back to this afternoon. The librarian had cut out and laminated a little picture of a turkey to make pins for several of us. For some reason, none of us have Thanksgiving pins. If you've never worked at a school, be advised that teachers and staff tend to dress for the holidays. And not just the major holidays. Most of us have Welcome Back, Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. clothing, jewelry, pins, socks. It's part of the scene.

When Deb came back down from the meeting, she'd said that Madam X had struck again. She'd walked up to Deb, looked at the turkey, and said, "Oh, is that your picture?" and the response Deb had come up with had been rather lame -- "that's me before the moisturizer" or something.

And on hearing that, I immediately came up with: "You should have said, 'No, that's a mirror'."

I have to wonder if I'd have been that quick witted if I'd been there. Or if it had been said to me. I think, since it was said to someone else, I would have been unflustered enough to come out with it. Ah, missed opportunities.

And, since I can't let a day go by without an update: closing in on 40,000! I should hit the goal by Sat.