One thing I cannot stand is when I see people throw their cigarettes into the street. I always want to run after them with the butt and say, “Excuse me, you dropped this.” I would then thrust it into their hand. I am not courageous enough for this but I always make a face when I see it.
Here is my list for when I get home today in order of importance:
Here is what I wish it said:
I have a feeling only 1 of the things on list 1 will get done but since only 1 of things on the second list is even possible, maybe more will creep in. Guess which one I can do! I’ll try to come back and tell you but really, do you believe that at this point?
**very loud and annoying alarm goes off. O turns it off and gets up**
Me: Shoot, I forgot to set my alarm.
O: Why?
Me: Now I’ll be late.
O: It’s Sunday.
Me: Oh, I thought it was Friday.
I love coming home to a clean apartment on Fridays when our housekeeper cleans up after our messy selves. Today is going to be even better. I put a pot roast in the crock pot so it will be a clean home with a warm dinner ready.
In recent weeks my social calendar has exploded. It has kindly combined with extra energy from a new food intolerance diet and some really hard situations in my life. I like being busy but lately I haven’t had much time to myself. This last weekend was packed and the one coming up is starting tomorrow. I had so much fun last weekend that I was exhausted.
Friday I went to see Porgy and Bess at Lyric Opera. It was very well done. As always, the sets and costumes were flawless and really brought the show to life. The performers were amazing and kept me riveted until the last note. That being said, I don’t think I actually liked the opera itself. It tried to pair two styles, opera and black spirituals. Some moments were golden but mostly it was just a beautiful spiritual spoiled by the slow pace of operatic singing. I think it could work but I’m not sure it did.
Saturday I went to the NaNoWriMo wrap up party and then out for dinner with some of my new friends. It was immensely fun and I also won a $5 gift card to Starbucks just for showing up. A fellow NaNoer and Baha’i, Valerie mentioned that she was going out to the Baha’i convention out in Schaumburg (far suburb) and we jaunted out there. I saw my mom again and what felt like every Baha’i I knew from Minnesota and Chicago. It was overwhelming but very fun.
Sunday I went the Bears game with a coworker. At the start, the temperature was 24 with a windchill of -1 and when the game ended it was 16 with a windchill of -1. I wore:
With all this, my coworker also brought some stadium blankets but I sat on mine the whole time. The only thing that got cold were my feet. The froze solid and hurt badly. The game itself was great, especially because we won. We sat on the first level by one of the end zones and chatted with the season ticket holders around us. I stomped my feet and clapped my hands and yelled loudly. I drank lukewarm hot chocolate out of a Bears travel mug and ate scalding hot cheesy bread and frozen cookies. She has tickets for tomorrow’s game, too, but it’s going to be even colder. Once was enough for me this year.
That was my weekend. Monday and Tuesday I just relaxed. I cooked a little yesterday. I tried to knit but that was even too much for me. When the weekend starts tomorrow I will be ready for some more fun!
I won NaNoWriMo. A few days ago I was very excited about it but now I want to actually finish the novel. I like it a lot. I feel like it has some humor in it, which is lacking in most of my writing. Hopefully I can keep on working on it. I did most of my writing at work and I’m starting to get busy again so I probably won’t do that as much but now I know what I am capable of. I have found myself wanting to work on it in the last few days so I’m going to try to harness that energy and finish it off. It was a crazy month and I’m so glad I did it.
Last week I went to the opera Lulu but I didn’t get a chance to write about it. It was mesmerizing. Lulu is a modern opera (written in 1937) and since I don’t like modern classical music or modern art, I thought I would hate it but it was great. Because Lulu is a very crazy and unpredictable character, the modern music really brings out that lunacy. The ending was a little odd and I wonder how much was actually written by the composer, who passed away before it was finished. Parts of it seemed tacked on and it had a moralizing ending that I’m not sure was intended.
Gas prices here have dropped amazingly along with everything else. Just a few months ago I was worrying about the price of rice. We are finally rid of our car so the gas prices don’t matter but I think it’s a good barometer of the country. By us it is at $2.19. Yesterday it was $2.39.
I have been working on my NaNoWriMo* novel in stops and starts. I write a lot at work and other places but not at home. Part of this is because my keyboard is missing the F key but most of it is just all the distractions. When I’m at work I think of all the stuff left undone at home: cleaning, organizing, sewing, knitting. When I’m home I can only work on one thing at a time (and it’s usually playing computer games) so I don’t get everything done. With the novel, I get even less. Luckily I’ve had some time at work to write 11,744 words. I should be at 18,000+ by today but I think I’m doing fine. What’s more,I actually like my story. I’m running into some trouble writing about things I don’t have any experience with (becoming a mechanic, working at a grocery store, getting your GED) but overall it’s going fine. I think I just need to get through this next transition in my main character’s life and then I can make some real progress. My goal is 2,000 words before I leave work and if I actually spend some time on it (instead of surfing the internet) I will get it done. My job is usually very busy but we’re in such a weird place right now that all my projects are on hold so I have a lot of free time.
ps, Sorry for the bad pun in the title. I spent 10 minutes trying to think of a better one.
*NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. Write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.
I think of Grant Park as my local park. It’s 2 blocks from our apartment. Yesterday O and I went down to check out the action but came back before any results were in. I’m not a big fan of crowds and they weren’t even that large yet. O went out later right before the announcement came. He said that the whole street just erupted. The noise after everything broke up was enormous. More than any football game or festival at the park. I like that history was made in my back yard. I feel a part of it. This is indeed a momentous day, regardless of your political leanings. If it had gone the other way it still would have been historic, which is even more amazing.
A few semi- and unrelated notes:
The day goes by much faster when you get in at 10 and have lunch at 1:45. The only problem is that the only sleep I managed last night was 15 minute increments between 5:30am and 8:30am. I did finish a book that I had started Saturday and watch a movie but nothing useful got done.
I had a fabulous day on Saturday. I visited with Liza and Liam all day and then hung out at Ethel’s with Liza, Liam and Brent. We even got a cute baby discount at the shop! Let me tell you, Liam deserved every single cent. He is amazingly cute. His smile and laugh is very contagious. He was fascinated by the chandeliers in the shop and kept looking up to check if they were still there. Oh, I miss him already. Liza and I already made another date so we won’t wait for another 6 months to see each other.
Gas is down to $3.71 across the street. My mom says it’s $2.80 in Minneapolis.
I have been reading some of P.G. Wodehouse’s stories concerning Bertram Wooster and his ‘man’ Jeeves. My father has had many of his books for as long as I can remember but I just got interested in them from watching the show “Jeeves and Wooster” on public access television. The stories are great but I think one of the best parts of them is the way that Wooster - “Bertie” to his friends - will concede to him in the end and give Jeeves what he wanted for the entire story. In one he let his valet burn his pink tie and another let him shave him. It’s a reward for helping Bertie out of a jam.
Unrelated: gas dropped 40 cents while I was on vacation for 10 days. It was $4.29 when I left and it is now $3.89. It also dropped 30 degrees.
