NaNoWriMo

My Adventures are about to get a lot more adventure-y!

Mike, a friend of mine, who is a fellow lover of books and writing has been suggesting that I join NaNoWriMo for quite some time now. He will be happy, upon reading this post, to find out that I have decided to do it!

I know, I know Blog Land...I can already hear your question...What the heck is NaNoWriMo??!

Haha.

I shall explain.

It is an acronym for National Novel Writing Month. In case you weren't aware, November happens to be said month. 

So, the general idea is to start writing a novel on November 1st and to complete it on November 30. It must be at least 50,000 words, which is roughly 175 pages. It cannot be part of a previously started work; it must be new. 

Quite a feat, eh?

I have to admit that I was leery and a little hesitant to commit to this particular challenge. I mean, I have hardly worked on my thriller since the semester started...how in the world am I going to start and finish an entire work in 30 days?! 

I have no idea. Ha. But I'm sure going to try!

Mike suggested that I do something that's not quite so serious...just something light and fun....and I've decided that I'll do just that. I haven't quite decided what it will be yet...but I do know that it'll probably Alice-esque. That's code for weird and off the wall. Haha. I've only got 7 days to formulate characters and a plot!

Oh the frantic madness of it all! Muwahahahahahahaha!

Ahem...anywho...I digress.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in trying you can find out more about it at www.nanowrimo.org.

Wish me Luck!

Cookie Thief and Dum-Dums

So, this is undoubtedly the information and computer age. Everywhere we go we're confronted with different technology media, all vying for our attention. At the grocery store, at the mall, in the bathroom *giggle*...you can't get very far these days without seeing someone with some kind of device attached to their ear or palm.

I am an avid Apple lover. I love all things Apple(with the exception of the newest system "update"). I have a Macbook computer and an iPhone 4S. If it wouldn't be completely ridiculous and superfluous, I'd get an iPad. Whenever I do eventually buy a full desktop computer, you can bet it will be a Mac.

Unfortunately, technology has become one of those things that you can't live with or without. While most of the time it is consistently consistent, there are those terribly inconvenient times when it decides when it doesn't want to be consistent. Like at 11:45 p.m. when you have a paper due at midnight. Or when you're lost in the boonies and your GPS stops working. Or when you're trying to register for classes and instead of the desired screen, up pops a screen with random numbers and letters with the word "dummy" interspersed between.

Yeap...the computer was calling me dummy.

Of all the nerve!

All I wanted to do was register for next semester!

So, I giggled to myself and then shut down Safari, waited a few minutes before trying again...this time I got an error message that said something like, "break in attempt detected, number of cookie sections detected: 2"

Oh Lawd! There's a thief amongst us trying to break in and steal all my cookies!

Teehee.

Haha. I don't know why but that error message struck me as hi-larious. I mean, really...I could laugh or pull my hair out...and well...I do so love to laugh.

Anyhow, I'm still trying to register for classes and continue to be alternately verbally abused and warned of break-ins by my computer...and because I'm feeling a  lil zany, a lil crazy, and a lil awesome....whilst I'm being abused warned....this is the music going on in my head....

30 Before 30: Update

Well Blog Land, I figure that the time has come to update you on what has been accomplished in my 30 Before 30 Challenge...So what has happened? Well...to be honest..erm...not much.

Now, I will say that I have started working on a few things....but as of yet, nothing has been completed. But as you can imagine, these things take time. Two of the biggest challenges that I have begun to work on are the weight loss and taking control of my finances. As I have endeavored to correct all that is wrong in these two areas, I was shocked to find that these two seemingly different problems share a common root problem. Are you ready for this? Self-Control.

Yes, Blog Land...I said Self-Control.

As I have mentioned before, I have been doing the ViSalus Meal Replacement Shake Program. It started off quite well and I was amazed at how quickly the weight rolled off. I was super-vigilant. I cut soda out of my diet and cut back on how often I ate out and my intake of sweets. I was in heaven the day I got on the scale and discovered that I was 12 pounds lighter. However, around the same time, I experienced a disappointment which led to some emotional eating. I was craving everything I knew I shouldn't eat. Remember the whole burrito thing??

While I was still doing the shakes, I was eating anything and everything I wanted between meals. Mostly fast food and sweets. I literally couldn't get enough. This continued for about...ooooh...I'd say 3 weeks, and then I climbed back on the scale.

I had gained 5 pounds.

Well really, what did I expect?

I WISH I was one of those people who could eat whatever they want and never gain a pound. Sadly, due to a hormonal disorder, I have the metabolism of at least a 50 year old. So if I don't watch what I eat, I will gain weight.

I'm happy to say though, that I have snapped out of my binge eating and have gone back to actually considering what I'm eating before I put it in my mouth, as well as, how much I'm putting in my mouth. Portions are EVERYTHING.

The same thing goes for my money. I have a tendency to be very impulsive at times. For the most part, I carefully weigh all of the options before making a decision. But there are times, like when I'm craving chocolate or want a new pair of shoes, where are all my resolves flies away, and I cave.

I have had the opportunity to work in some very beautiful and very expensive homes in the last year. I often come away thinking, " Man, I would love to own a home like that one day". Of course, right now, that's impossible. While I do well as a nanny, there's no way I can afford a 500,000 dollar house. But it did bring to mind a conversation that I had with one of my aunts a while back. She said, " It's not always about how much money you have, it's about what you do with the money you do have." Well said, and so true.

If I want to have nice things in the future and be able to do fun things, then I have to stop throwing my money away, simply because I cannot, or rather choose not to, control my spending now.

With God's help I'm getting better.

I know that self-control is important to Him, because it is listed as one of the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22 & 23.

Doing this 30 Before 30 Challenge is already turning out to be more work and more revealing than I thought it would!

However, learning more about myself is just another part of my Wonderland Adventure!

Disenchantment ---> Transitions

It's Midterm week.

I can't believe that the semester is already half way finished. For the most part I have been staying on top of things, and not procrastinating too terribly. Which is a vast improvement for me.

I'm afraid that there hasn't been anything particularly blog worthy going on in Wonderland....or perhaps I'm just a little too preoccupied with everything to really consider whether it's newsworthy or not. It could also be that most of my writing energy has been tunneled into pumping out 2 papers a week on the vastly interesting (can you taste the sarcasm?) worlds of Tort Law and Civil Procedure.

But anyhow.

In the last month I have stepped out of my comfort zone and and really stuck my neck out. In the end, the result wasn't what I had hoped it would be, and I am still weathering the disappointment. But mostly I'm proud of myself for trying something new.

I've learned that rejection isn't the end of the world. Even though some days it hurts like it is. I've learned that the image in your head of how things are "supposed to be" is detrimental and counter-productive to finding happiness in each day. I've learned that feelings are like waves...you can't always keep them from coming, but you can decide which one to surf.

Everyday I'm learning that if all I have in this world is Jesus, then He is More than Enough.

Disenchantment, whether it is a minor disappointment or a major shock, is the signal that things are moving into transition in our lives. 

William Throsby Bridges