My sister just told me that the nurse where my Granny Pat lives said my grandma probably won't make next weekend.
My dad had the idea to have people - family members, friends, caretakers - sign a quilt that my grandma made and has had on her bed for the last week or so. I've signed, Dad and his brother have signed it, several of my mom's family signed it over Thanksgiving, and many nurses have signed it. My grandma will be cremated, and this quilt will be her shroud.
The most beautiful message was from her friend Willie, an adorable old woman with beautiful white hair and a beautiful smile. She reminds me very much of my grandma earlier this year. Her message reads: My dear friend. I love you. Willie.
11.26.2006
My Dear Friend
11.20.2006
NaNoWriMo
Yes, November is National Novel Writing Month. I have been trying to write a novel since November 1. I have a little over 900 words.
Ooops! Guess I'm not doing so well. I did all of that in an hour or so on the 1st or 2nd. Since then, I haven't even opened the Word document with the stuff in it. I keep forgetting. I'm too busy filling out job apps (still searching!) and avoiding my thesis.
I kind of liked what I was writing, but I'm not sure if I am going about it the right way. Okay, obviously writing would be a good start, touche, but I mean my method. I am trained in screenwriting. With that, you pretty much plan out as much as possible ahead of time - your characters, major plot points, beats, etc. I understand that is helpful for novel writing as well, but the people over at nanowrimo.org advise not overthinking this novel. after all, trying to write a novel (50,000 words by there count) in a month is daunting enough. they say, just write, get down as much as possible, and then we can worry about the details.
so what do you guys think? should I give up for now? or do you think I can squeeze out 25,000 words or so over thanksgiving break? cause even if I got that far by the end of november, I just might try and finish.
I never finished my screenplays. ooops! ;)
11.05.2006
What's been happening
Yes, it has been a while. But I just told someone about my blog, and now I feel oblogated to put up a new post. Ha, ha! That was a pretty nice joke.
I have been very busy. Grad school apps are due in a little over a month, I think I've narrowed it down to four or five schools. My research project is moving right along. Still searching for a job; I am now very poor. Thanks to my loving sister and parents, I have been able to pay rent and bills this month. I've sold three things on eBay and made a little over $50. Last float night, Pandy Bear and I got into a huge fight that lasted hours, so we had floats at about 12:30 AM instead of 8 PM (having a float that late doesn't make for restful sleep, but I'm sure that is common sense). I just finished my first non-school book since the semester started - The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. My life is chugging along, domestic and pedestrian, just the way I like it.
Saturday night movies has gone very well. This is what we've watched since The Hunger:
Krull
High School Musical
Cat's Eye
Monkey Shines
Suspiria
Halloween.
We weren't able to keep it up every Saturday. Since I last posted, I also went to a wedding, a funeral, and I have made several trips to see my grandma(s) because they've had surgery or been sick.
I have been busy. Hopefully I'll get a job soon. Money in my pocket, pay back the people I owe, and new stuff to blog about. I'm a little sleepy and I've got some studying to do. Good night.
9.27.2006
Taking a Break from Celebrity Gossip
I know you never thought you'd hear me say this, but I have decided to stop looking at celebrity gossip for a while. Since my last day at work, I've had a lot of time on my hands, and I've wasted most of it - snacking, looking at gossip, flipping through the cable channels. Yes, there is a lot of work I've done, too. But now that I am no longer suffering at work and no longer have as much to avoid/forget, the gossip is just obnoxious, mean, and leaves a yucky taste in my mouth.
So, what specifically is off limits? Pretty much anything that makes me scowl. I don't have a problem with talking about how silly an actress' dress or make-up happy to be, but the endless shots at people's looks, their choice of mate, photos of where they ate, how drunk they look, etc have just become so tedious. It's my own fault for checking these things a million times a day.
There are several blogs that are updated frequently which I will continue to look at. I'm not against all time-wasting! Cute Overload and Stuff on My Cat have never made me scowl. I do not see these as time-wasters at all: there has been many a time when looking at adorable animals, my spirits have been lifted. Those websites are most essential. There are several academic-, science-, and women-in-science-minded blogs I read that, while effective time-wasters, also serve to enrich my understanding of where I am at in my life right now, as well as intellectual curiosity. Other blogs and websites in my favorites include a fansite for a certain fabulous sci-fi tv show from the late eighties/early nineties, shopping websites, friends' and family members' blogs, fake news and real news, and a really hilarious blog dedicated to romance novels. See, more than enough to divert my attention from the tasks at hand in a happy, healthy way!
Who knows how long this "break" will last. The Chocolate Boycott lasted more than a month, and when I returned to eating chocolate, it was nicely in moderation. I don't eat it everyday anymore! No doubt I will look up some of these gossip websites again, but I don't intend to do it everyday.
Hoorah for cute puppies and kitties and bunnies!
9.25.2006
To Do by 2 PM Today!
Will I get everything done? On Friday, I made a list of things to get done by 2 PM today, here's what's left:
- Apply to jobs (6 total)
- Finish Bramblett vertebra chapter
- Read Skelton & McHenry article
- Organize thesis resources
- 5 candidate papers for their molecular-based trees
Wow, now that I listed it out, it doesn't seem like too much. On Friday I found the jobs to apply for, and over the weekend I read 3 articles for a class and looked up resources a prof gave me. Yeah, I can manage time! (Premature celebration? We shall see...)
In other Mr. F news, had J and P and A over to watch some movies. J and I watched THE HUNGER and could not believe how amazingly gorgeous Catherine Deneuve was and is. Seriously, have you seen her? She has aged so well. She's put on weight, which I think is a smart thing to do as you get older (it's natural, right?), and she obviously took very good care of her skin. Makes me want to wear long sleeves and a hat - my arms are so much darker than any other part of my body, mostly cause I wear pants pretty much all the time.
But I digress. THE HUNGER was very enjoyable, poor David Bowie! Had a little of the Dorian Gray action going on. Then we watched POLTERGEIST. Hilarious! Seriously, though, it was a little too long. The whole second ending thing? For me, I only appreciate it if the second ending is about five minutes long. An additional 20 minutes or so is too much! My mind and body are all prepared for the movie to end, then it doesn't - makes me very annoyed, not scared! But overall it was fun. The weather was all stormy and moody. And P and A brought cookies! Yummy!
9.23.2006
Disappointing TV
A-hole* and I finished watching the Arrested Development dvds last night. So sad. What a great show! The cast was talented, the writing was great - irreverant, political, and at times very subtle - it was so much fun to watch. Seriously, I pretty much now detest the 30 minute sitcom. Have for a while. Someone - anyone - list one good one that is on right now.
That's what I thought.
A few posts ago, I wrote about how excited I was for the new Grey's Anatomy. Blech. It turned out to be pretty lame, of course, and simply rehashed everything we already new from the first two seasons. Characters with baggage, Meredith's in a love triangle and gots to decide. There had better be some fun stuff or I'm gonna stop watching the show! Why create melodrama with someone dying every single episode? I know they're in a hospital, I know that kinda stuff happens, but I wanna see the characters do things that make them seem real, the everyday stuff. Cleaning house, buying a car, making jokes with each other. Not every moment of the show has to include one of the characters experiencing a huge crisis or epiphany. Please, don't go there! I like George and Izzie and Christina and Miranda and Preston and Addison and even Alex - I like them so much more than Meredith and McDreamy right now. Those two are just Obnoxious.
That's all on the TV front for now. Tootaloo.
*A-hole when I'm not so pleased, Pandy Bear when I am.
Research is hard (boring post)
At least it is easy for it to be overwhelming. This undergraduate thesis is the first major research project I've undertaken. In the end, I will have written 30 - 60 pages, complete with graphs and cladograms and phylogenies and tables, and a bibliography of 20 - 30 sources, primarily from scientific journals. Phew! I do have fun searching in databases for articles, but so far I haven't done a good job organizing what I find. As soon as I download it to my desktop, I forget about it. There's around twenty on my desktop, and about 30 more in various folders from various stages of the research problem. I talked to a professor the other day who had some resources to give me. I really liked his system: four or five file cabinets organized by topic, then the articles alphabetized within. It was very easy for him to find exactly what he wanted to give me.
Wow. Thrilling topic, I know. I'll start a new, more blog friendly post.
9.21.2006
Second to last Thursday of the month
Pandy Bear and I have a new tradition. This will be the second month in a row that on the third Thursday (aka the second to last Thursday of the month) we have celebrated by having a float. No reason in particular. I just read in Real Simple or some other silly magazine that having a tradition is a way to make your abode more home-y. Since I'm not religious, and since there are already enough traditions in the fall/winter, I decided that the summer was as good as time as any to start.
And tonight is great for Float Night. The season premieres of The Office and Grey's Anatomy are on tonight. Yeah, TV! Pandy wants to watch The Office, and don't get me wrong, I do to, but I really want to watch Grey's. He wins, though. He had four cavities filled today! I can watch tomorrow at 8 pm when they rerun the Grey's premiere.
Yes, so Pandy had four cavities filled today. He looked hilarious! His cheeks were so puffy, and he was walking around the apartment with him mouth slightly open. I couldn't stop laughing.
The first Float Night was soooooooo much fun. I know, tradition with food, desserty-snack food, no less, very typical, unoriginal, and unhealthy. That's why it's only once a month! No big commitment, not expensive, just me and Pandy feeling like kids. What more could you want?
And here is a picture of my mother's new puppy, a beatiful little girl named Lilly who came from the city pound. Don't you just love her one-eyedness?
UPDATE: The best news! The Office premiere is at 7:30, not 8:30. Yippee! Now I can watch both!
9.16.2006
Eggs Benedict w/o the Spinach
So I have thrown away the spinach in our fridge. We buy a brand that sells organic spinach and salad mix in those clamshell boxes, and this brand was listed as one of those being pulled from the shelves. Kinda sucks. Love me some spinach! Last night, A-hole made fun of me for throwing it out. Must I remind him I have a compromised immune system, and this strain of e. coli is not welcome in my gut?
So, while on the topic of veggies, I am excited that fall is coming. For the first time, I will attempt a fall garden (albeit a container garden on our front porch) featuring spinach, lettuces, onions, and whatever else lends itself to fall planting in Austin. This renewed gardening spirit is due to the fact that my lantana has several (10-12) small blooms on it! So wonderful! This is happening because - best news - it seems that maybe our days of 100 plus degree heat are leaving. Fabulous!
9.15.2006
Home again, home again
It's so nice to come home from work, or school, or whatever, and have no "responsible" things you have to do for the rest of the day. Today I get home, and it's Friday - I say hi to Friedrich and Stu, change, talk to my dad on the phone, grab a cookie, check the mail, catch up on news and life in cyberspace. Just easy stuff, you know. I was a bit sick yesterday so I didn't make plans for tonight. I'll just chill.
I may do some constructive things, like planting the herbage for Stuart, a little research on phylogeny and primate cladistics a la molecular data, but I will definitely do a lot of stuff because I want to, not because it has to get done.
So anyway, rejoice, the weekend is here.
What are you doing this weekend? Ms. P is going to ACL fest with her peeps, as are J&J. Evidentally, so will some local celebs and their friends (I'm sure you'll see some pictures on a certain celebrity gossip site), and of course, thousands of other people. Good for them. I decided I didn't wanna try the heat, and most importantly, I couldn't quite afford the price tag.
And I don't need live music. I can just watch old David Bowie music videos on You Tube.
9.12.2006
It's official
School is now kicking my ass.
My ability to grasp and utilize the concept known as "Time Management" will probably be the single most useful predictor of my future success.
Things are looking grim.
9.06.2006
Funny conversation with Dad
I called Dad just to chat the other night and told him I was watching the Project Runway marathon. He really likes that show. He told me all about how Allison (sp?) was 25 and designed and made her clothes, and we both agreed Jeffrey is a total jerk. I told him that earlier that day, Jr and I watched Xanadu. I loved ONJ's dresses, but especially her black/gold pantaloon/argyle-legging number at the end. He kinda moaned about the movie, like it brought back terrible memories.
Dad: Huh. There's a show you should try watching, it's kinda funny. It's on WE...
Me: WE? The Women's Entertainment channel?
Dad: Yeah. It's called Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty.
He is serious, people! My dad is turning into the old man who likes to watch women's television. He already listens to Annie Lennox (who is amazing, btw - I called her The Red-Haired Lady when I was a mere child rockin' out to Eurythmics videos on MTV). He's turning into a softy! My grandpa has Fox News on all the time (used to be CNN) if there's no game. My children will talk about how their grandpa watches Lifetime and made-for-TV movies starring Melissa Gilbert and Dana Delaney.
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