Thanksgiving Leftovers
A quick check-in to report:
* BT Broadband is on the top of my feces-list for unacceptable customer service. Remember when I said all was up and running? It up and ran away. I've been without broadband at home for a couple weeks. Still no access at work (except for the double-secret workaround I discovered today)
* Family has come and gone in all-too-fast visit (for me at least ... I expect the kids will be glad to get back to their routines and own beds, but I surely enjoyed having them around)
* My overpriced bird turned out very well (as did my pies), if I do say so myself, and the meal seemed to be a success. Especially for the wine store. Best stuffing ever.
* Bath is beautiful. Stonehenge is, well, windy and cold.
* Impossibly behind on my nano word count, and while I officially haven't thrown in the towell, it's not looking like I'll be a "winner."
* Work beckons (and is still just a skosh above miserable).
More later (if I ever get real access to the Internet again).
November 9, 2005
Settling In nICEly
It's official. I love the new flat. And its name it TEM (sounds like the river, but is an acronym for an American breakfast treat with nooks and crannies ... wait till you see it, it's a cornucopia of hidden space). It already feels homier than the old place did after nearly a year. I have a nice Anne Frank room to hide in. There's a club house/panic room hidden in the hall closet (and that's not even the Anne Frank room). The master bathroom is Narnia.
Yay.
And here's the best part ...
I know, how disgustingly American ... but it makes me sooooo happy. Almost as happy as watching (and rewatching) Weeds. I think it's just brilliant ... a perfect little (too) short story every episode, with nary a word wasted.
Broadband has been turned on (a day late) and the wireless is working perfectly. I'm sitting at the kitchen table right now, looking out over the square (B this time, not M), thinking I should try to catch up on my word count for Nano (didn't get anything written yesterday, nor today so far).
I'd complain about work, but why bother. At least I have a job. This week.
I ordered a nice fresh, organic, soon-to-be-dead turkey this morning for Thanksgiving. 7-8 kilos is what they tell me I need. I'd settle for an 8-ball.
Can't wait for the clan to get here in 13 days.
Have I mentioned that I love the new place? Come see for yourself!
November 6, 2005
My First 10k
Hit 10,000 words this morning in the nano project. 1/5 of the way done, and should easily knock out another couple thousand today. Unless I get distracted and venture out into the cold, blustery day for something silly like food.
Movers come tomorrow to start packing up M2. We should be mostly settled in the new place by Tuesday night.
So in my marathon of writing today, I'm reminded that a year ago I chased Larry around Manhattan (and Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx) while he pounded through his 26.2 miles of city pavement. By the end of the day, I felt like I'd run the marathon.
We should find out in the next couple months if our entries to the Flora are accepted. I'm ready to run another one. Or at least I could be come April.
Happy running to anybody in New York today. And happy writing to any of Wrimos out there.
November 5, 2005
Terror in the White House Television
I just came home from a writing-in-the-coffee-shop afternoon to find Larry watching what could be the worst Lifetime-esque movie ever.
Joan Van Ark is the Vice President of the United States. It's not a comedy. With the White House under siege, she's hiding kitchen. She just took out a bad army guy by jumping on a metal cart and ramming him into the walk-in freezer. She's now stalking the hallways, brandishing his M-16.
One can only imagine she's off to shoot her plastic surgeon.
And I thought I was worried about creating a believable plot for the Nanowrimo experiment.
In other news, Jonathan Woss had Harry Potter on last night. Ding dong adorable. If there are any NAMWLA (North American Man Wizard Love Assocition) members out there, Master Radcliffe is becoming kind of adorable.
I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin' ...
:: :: ::
And in a move from horrible to horrific, Larry has changed the channel. He's now watching From Justin to Kelly.
I'm cancelling Sky.
November 3, 2005
Writing the Waves of Change
I'm a little out of commission on the blog front lately, but all is well.
Oxford Stret is totally done up for Christmas. Lights, bows, the works. It's like London decided to dress up as December for Halloween.
Lease is signed on the new place. Movers come this Monday to pack up M2 and then move us into the new Thomas' English Muffin flat (tons of nooks and crannies) on Tuesday. So that's pretty much sorted.
My PowerBook ate the new Franz Ferdinand CD, so it's in the shop. The Vaio says "can't find operating system" and, when I reboot with a system recovery disk, it says "can't find fixed drive." Methinks the Sony has a fried hard drive, so oh well on that.
Work laptop doesn't seem to like my Interweb connection at home and bobzyerunlce.com is now blocked. Hence the lack of posting.
Should be back up and running normally next week
And since there's nothing going on this month, I decided to suck it up and try this. 50,000 words in a month, when I've got family coming in for a week, a move to get through, and work's never more schizophrenic. What better time than to vomit on the page in the name of fiction-writing.
Been up at 6am for 3 days now, meeting my goal of 2,000 words first thing in the morning. Verbal bulemia can be fun.
Have no idea what I'm doing, or where the plot will go, but it's a trip to just get up and write, internal editor hogtied away in the attic.
Maybe I'll have the movers leave him there.