I re-emerge to announce that not only did I complete NaNoWriMo, ahead of schedule, but to announce I finished my comic script.
Now that I’m supposed to let it sit for a few days before editing, I can catch up on my reading here.
I hope you all are staying safe and healthy (and as sane as one can be in these times).
Well, I’m still taking part in NaNoWriMo.
So far, I’m ahead!
Well. Ish. I still have to write 1667 words tonight. My current “encouragements” for writing on a daily basis comes from a friend and my former professor.
You see, if I don’t write my word count, their pets end up in gastric distress.
(Their pets are fine, don’t worry! Well. Hopefully the cats are. My friend has mentioned his are puking a bit, which is concerning. Trying to make light of a possibly worrying situation in these stressful times.)
Anyway, the goal for NaNoWriMo is to write 50K words and/or finish the comic script. Whichever comes last.
In other news, Thanksgiving will be, for the first time, celebrated without family. California’s going purple almost everywhere. I’m okay with that in that we really need to keep people indoors and folks need to wear their masks.
I’m also aware that businesses could die and make the problem worse, so I’ll just boycott Kentucky as my response to that.
(Just as well; I aim for Irish or Tennessee whisky anyway.)
But yeah…this will be a fun Thanksgiving, I guess. Last year’s involved going through the infamous Grapevine (we got through it literally as it closed behind us from the snow last year). That was fun.
It’ll also be the second Thanksgiving without my grandmother (or Grandma from here on out). Last year’s was okay because it was with the rest of the immediate family. This year’ll be fine for me, but I worry about the rest of my family. We aren’t really a bundle of neurotypicals, I guess you could say. I’ll probably be texting my aunt to ask about any recipes from Grandma she knows.
Because this year will consist of just me and the boyfriend, it’ll be an experiment. Fortunately, we both like stuffing and mashed potatoes. But, alas! Green beans? Hard no from him. Sweet potatoes? Should probably find out. Turkey is eh, but honestly that’s okay. Buying a whole turkey is both out of budget and a waste. We’re gonna try little quails instead.
And, of course, we aim to make enough food so neither of us have to worry about cooking or dishes for days.
Ah! And before I forget given how it’s in the title…
I have a Twitter! I’ve had it for a while, actually. But I decided to just go ahead and finally share it (it’s also on the side of the blog page now): https://twitter.com/c_salix
My postings there are more scattered and far more scathing. It was really there to force me to be held accountable about posting bad art on a daily basis (and we all know how plans tend to go when I touch them).
Now it’s just to post and find out which of my 3 friends like me the most ;P
Oh and PS I’m getting screened for ADHD next week. My therapist gave me the questionnaire for it. I scored a 14!
14+ is “highly suggestive of ADHD.”
Probably not, now that I think about it. Apologies for false advertisement!
Anyway, my thoughts on the election results (as I’ve said to friends):
We’ve won the Battle of Helm’s Deep, but now the great battle of our time begins.
I can get into the mindset of a lot of people.
But I am legitimately disgusted that people saw everything Trump did–even child separation at the border and then some and went: “Yeah, four more years sounds great.”
Perhaps I am more privileged than I thought; I see no need to choke and drown in my own shit and blood to upset somebody. How legitimately pathetic do you have to be to hurt yourself and your neighbors to anger “the libruls”?
It’s just a mindset I can’t sit in for more than a minute.
In other news, apparently anxiety nullifies hours of sleep. I stress ate four rice balls and the carb-coma isn’t kicking in.
Can we please eject the orange cesspit?
My goal will be to finish a project I started in September. I’m currently somewhere between 2/5’s and 1/2.
So 45%?
That sounds right.
Anybody else participating in NaNoWriMo this year?
This latest batch of absence has been brought to you by MOVING.
Not too far–I can still see my family, though we’ll have to socially distance now, I imagine.
Things are starting to settle. The environment is already less stressful despite the tiny quirks and hiccups apartment living offers.
Ideally a reading and posting schedule will be back to consistency next week.
But enough about me–how’ve you been?
Okay so I spoke too soon on the fire thing.
Literally after I finished writing that, I hear Santa Rosa’s on fire. Again.
But also the president and his wife tested positive for COVID.
The ride just don’t stop, man.
Hello, hello everyone…!
I guess it’s time for another one of those life update things. Hopefully I’ve figured out the newerish scheduling set up and this goes up Monday morning at 8:30am or sometime around then…
Anyway. Life continues to coast by. The state is no longer as severely on fire as it was before, so that’s nice. We should probably expect more of this each year unless intelligent measures start taking place.
Work, on the upside, is providing me with more hours. It is starting to impact my ability to read and write and draw as much as I want, but I might be able to force out some kind of system. Maybe.
I’ve definitely become more listless. Admittedly, RBG’s death hit me pretty hard. Her replacement supposedly inspired The Handmaid’s Tale, so that’s all sorts of fun.
Also she died just before Rosh Hashanah started. As my Jewish professor put it, since her death was before sundown, we technically didn’t start the year with that.
And, alas, no Yom Kippur for me this year. A little bit of poor planning on my part, but also the weather continues to yo-yo, which dehydrates me pretty badly.
On a brighter note, though, for Rosh Hashanah I made an amazing honey cake. Changes I made were replacing the oil with applesauce (better for the waistline and texture) and replaced the OJ & whisky with unsweetened almond milk. The removal of OJ was mostly because I’m actually super picky about my cake flavors. Fruit flavors are only allowed under my made up special circumstances. But also we didn’t have any. And the whisky I do have I may or may not have taken a swig straight from the bottle once, so that nixed it given my plans were to share the cake with friends.
The cake will stay fresh and amazing for 5 days at the very least. It’ll also make a LOT of cake. Just have a really big bowl to accommodate all the liquid.
I’m also excited that it’s going to be October. I love just about anything pumpkin, so I might do more baking in the future!
Oh, also, happy Banned Books Week everyone! Got any favorite banned and/or challenged books?
Streetlights streaked past, the twinkling lights of the office buildings flashed in and out of existence.
They were going above the speed limit, but it was two in the morning, so who cared? Their car was nice enough to be left alone.
Luna offered another fry. Lilly accepted it, leaning to the side, mouth open, but eyes on the road, which made Luna laugh. “Your face, every time you do that.”
“What?” Lilly asked, the fry unflatteringly hanging between her chapped lips. The salt stung.
“You’ve got this super intense look when you do that.”
“I don’t wanna crash!” Lilly protested before chomping down the rest of the fry. “Hey, we got nuggets, right?”
“Yeah, but maybe when the roads are a bit less shitty.”
“This’s as good as they’ll get. We’re leaving this place, remember? And it’ll be out in the open after this.” Lilly said, and then left her mouth open, a bit wider this time, indicating she didn’t care about the choking hazard.
Luna sighed but went ahead and tossed a smaller nugget in.
“Thanks,” Lilly said.
Luna let out another sigh, this one more relaxed and happier. “I’m glad we did this.”
“I hope we stay glad,” Lilly muttered, more to herself. All of their possessions had been thrown into the trunk and backseat. It was enough to, maybe, furnish a studio and still leave room for more. Which was probably all they were going to be able to afford.
But neither cared. Everything was going to be okay.
Written to “Scribble” by Underworld.
Gavin checked the map. He had put X’s over the areas they had already checked; there were a lot of them. But the sources said she was definitely in this city.
And, given the utter lack of chaos and screaming, she was probably unconscious. Or worse.
He swallowed and put the map back in his pocket. Walter was checking the sleezy bar, and it was Gavin’s job to check out the sleezy coffee shop. It was for the best, he figured. Walter was the kind of guy who could pull off being classy after watching the classy-folk act for an hour. Gavin was a country bumpkin through and through; he couldn’t even hide his accent. It just sounded bad. Walter, though, was perfect at imitating accents.
Gavin shoved his hands into his pockets and made his way, stepping through the streetlights. This was definitely a ritzy city given how many they had. He felt out of place; he felt horrendously out of place.
But he wasn’t ever going to feel like he had a place until Ursula was found. Ideally found safe and alive.
At this point, he was ready to settle for alive. And, again, the lack of evidence she had exacted bloody vengeance told him they had her either chained up or unconscious. He heard there were types who enjoyed that.
He swallowed the rising bile.
Written to “aXXo” by Binarpilot. From the same story as as “A Snippet.”
