Star Shaped

Hooray, I finished NaNoWriMo! I am absolutely surprised I finished, what with the setbacks I faced this month; I got sick a few times, work was insane, and my laptop died on me halfway through the month. Still, I persevered and finished my novel this morning! I don't get a prize or any sort of reward; it's just fun to actually say I've written a novel. NaNoWriMo's one of the best things I've ever gotten involved with, as I've met so many fantastic people through it. I'm already thinking of ideas for next year; I may resurrect the craft store romance I tried writing last year, only this time, plan a lot better for it. Who knows? I have another year to think about it!

Today I am thankful for my friends, and my family, and the fact that I am gainfully employed. I am thankful I've been able to support myself these past few months; I'm not just surviving, but I'm thriving. I am thankful for the fact that my life may not be perfect, but I am enjoying myself regardless.

I had an excellent Thanksgiving filled with turkey, ham, pie, eggnog, noveling, and exploring the Notre Dame campus. Not too bad for the first Thanksgiving I've ever spent not in the presence of either my family or a significant other's family.

How is this month almost over already? Seriously? Thanksgiving is THIS coming Thursday? Christmas is a month away? Wow.

I have been totally and utterly busy this entire month, with NaNoWriMo, being sick, and being stressed. I put in almost 12 hours of work each day this past week except for Monday when I was on death's door and still went to work anyway. I still have a cough, but in general, I'm feeling better. This is the third time in about a month and a half that I've been sick, and this silliness needs to stop.

I haven't said anything about this on my site yet, but I have a new job. My last day at my (now former) place of employment was Friday, and it was pretty emotional for me. I'm always a little emotional when I leave a job, and yesterday was no exception. A few of my now former coworkers and I went out for drinks after work, which was nice. I'll be staying in touch with them, for sure.

Anyway. My new job. I will be working as a php programmer for a political website based in Chicago; the development team is based here, obviously. Once again, I will be working with a small team; I eagerly anticipate what will come my way with this new opportunity. I like starting new things.

My novel's going okay. Unfortunately, my laptop's video card decided to fry on me, rendering my poor portable machine useless for now. Thankfully it's still under warranty, so I'll be contacting Dell sometime soon to get it replaced. Such bad timing, really, since I'm once again laptop-less this month. Writing my novel on my desktop is so very different. At this point, I'm not sure if I'll even finish my novel this year. I really hoped I would, but getting sick and my laptop issues have really cut into my writing time. Add to that all the late hours I've spent at work, and there goes my sanity!

I always forget how busy November and December are for me. I do love this time of year; we've received about five inches of snow so far this year and now that the ground's covered, it feels like Christmas. I bought my plane tickets for home this past week; I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my family. I'll be staying here for Thanksgiving, which will be interesting. Hopefully I can catch up on my novel over Thanksgiving weekend, because I really would like to finish. I just don't want to stress myself out over it.

I have so much else I want to update. I want to update with knitting, but of course, I haven't taken any pictures of anything I've made recently. So hopefully now that my time seems to be a bit more freed, I will update more. At least, that's my hope.

Hooray, NaNoWriMo 2008 has begun! A few of my writing friends and I kicked off our novels at midnight at the local IHOP, and wrote even more at a local coffeehouse this morning. I am very excited about NaNo this year, mainly because this year I HAVE A LAPTOP and will hopefully be able to finish! I'm off to a good start so far. I'm hoping to get a little bit more written today, but that depends on how much of my apartment I get cleaned and how much work I do today. (Yeah, I'm doing work on the weekend. Not a huge fan of it, but stuff needs to get done. Good times and all that.)

Anyway. Yay for NaNo!

Yeah. I didn't feel too wordy for most of September, seeing as it's October now and I'm breaking my month long silence. Fall's definitely come since I posted my last entry; it's currently 60 degrees outside and leaves are just starting to turn brilliant colors. I've always loved this time of year, from now until New Years; I love looking at Christmas decorations, drinking tea, and smelling fresh pine trees. Plus, Christmas Day is also my birthday, so I have that to (sort of) look forward to. I will be 28 this year, which frightens me a little. One year closer to 30.

Anyway. Since my last post:

My mom came to visit! We went to Chicago and to IKEA, where she bought me a bookcase as an early Christmas gift. I love my bookcase, and I'm so happy to not have my books piled on my floor anymore. Though, transporting it from Chicago to my apartment, then getting it up a flight of stairs, THEN assembling it, literally pulled a ton of muscles in my little body. I think I need to exercise more to build up some strength! I had a great time with her and I'm glad she came to visit.

I changed my hair! I went from blonde/pink to short and black. I absolutely loved having blonde hair but I definitely needed a change! I'll probably go back to blonde sometime in the future because I dug it so much, but for now, I like it being dark again. I am also considering getting a nose piercing; I almost got it done this summer (I actually bought the piercing!) but I ran out of time that evening to actually get it done. Next time, I will do it!

I went to Dallas! Yes, I can finally, finally say I've been to the state of Texas. The pain of getting up at 3am to get to Chicago for a 6am (central time) flight was well worth it, as I ended up flying first class! Naturally, I took advantage of the free drink service and enjoyed myself a few mimosas. And who knew there's actually a 'rich people' magazine given only to 'premium class' passengers?

While in Texas, I experienced the wonder that is Whataburger, ate a fried s'more, went to a very awesome show in downtown Dallas, rode the tallest Ferris wheel in North America, and ate Mexican food for the first time. Linda definitely showed me a good time during my long weekend in Texas, and she was definitely a good hostess. To see pictures from my trip, go on over to the Dallas Trip gallery. I saw many good, interesting things, only some of which I photographed.

I knit. A lot. I even finished a few projects! But that will be the subject of another post, another day.

In other news, NaNoWriMo's starting up in a few weeks! I'm excited because this year I actually have a laptop, therefore there's a higher probability that I will actually finish my novel this year. I tried writing it by hand last year and got maybe 20,000 words into my story before I tired of my hand hurting all the time. This year will be different. And no, no one can read it after I'm done.

Awesomeness.