30 November, 2006

NaNoWriMo: Fin. 

I actually made it to 50,000 words last Saturday night, but I wasn't quite finished with the story, so I worked on that Sunday and finally got to write "The End" some time around 6pm on Sunday.

Obviously, the novel needs a hell of a lot of work (OMG, when I was telling my friends about it over Thanksgiving I found so many places where my plot will disintegrate), but at least this is a draft of a novel that I can edit into something that I may possibly let someone else read. Aside from the swiss-cheesey plot, I have entirely too much dialog going on. So those are my starting points.

So, I'm two-for-two on NaNoWriMo and am looking forward to next year. I've even got an idea for the next novel. But tonight...I needs me some sleepies!

Labels: NaNoWriMo

   ~~ victoria on 9:15 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

A sure sign of the holiday (shopping) season 

Nearly all of the berths at the Port of Oakland (which I lovingly refer to as POO) have huge container ships docked. It boggles the mind to think of how many millions, or likely billions of dollars I drift past on the ferry every day.

Labels: ferry commuting, Oakland

   ~~ victoria on 7:37 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

28 November, 2006

Bay Bridge? 

Anyone out there know what the deal was with the Bay Bridge last night? When I was on the ferry, I saw that the lights were totally out on most of the span (the lights were on at the Yerba Buena Island and San Francisco anchorages). It looked damn spooky!

Labels: San Francisco

   ~~ victoria on 7:18 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

27 November, 2006

Vote early 'n' often 'n' stuff 

So, I submitted a photo for JPG Magazine's Issue 8. There were a couple I wanted to submit on a couple of other subjects, but they only take a minimum 2200 pixels (wide or tall) and my PowerShot digital maxes out at 2048. Feh! I'll have to see what else I've got scanned from the film cameras, though I may not bother. I'm not sure my shots are really JPG Mag material, anyway...

Meh. Whatever. I'm going to bed.

Labels: JPG Magazine, photography

   ~~ victoria on 9:23 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

26 November, 2006

My Ideal TV Family 

When I was a little girl, I absolutely LIVED for Friday nights when The Partridge Family pulled me into the world I longed to live in. I was an only child and, because we moved a lot, I didn't have a lot of friends to hang out with. Being a painfully lonely child--and totally into music--my two greatest wishes were to have brothers and sisters and to travel around playing music all the time. The Partridge Family was my dream. Over the years, my desire to run all over the place playing music waned (stage fright poured the bucket of cold water over that fire), but I still would love to have Keith Partridge for a big brother...

Labels: The Partridge Family, waxing nostalgic

   ~~ victoria on 10:22 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Simon Sunday: A week with Simon and Billie 

Thankful
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

I took last week off from the office, which meant I was a stay-at-home mom for the first time since my two-year un/under employment crisis ended. Once Simon got used to me being around, he quit trying to cram feeding and playing activities into every moment we had together and he settled down and let me work on my novel, or whatever other chore I had to get through. I had forgotten how much I loved it when I'd be working on the laptop and he'd be curled on the couch back cushion, snoring, with his kitty jowls curled into a smile. I also loved it when Billie would wake up from one of her (many, many) naps and chitter at me as if to say, "Oh! You're HERE! That's so nice!"

Spending so much time with the furkids, I learned that:

Simon gets really excited when the post man comes, which is odd, when you consider that the only mail with HIS name on it is reminders from the V-E-T about updating his S-H-O-T-S. He could be in the kitchen completely immersed in some other activity, but as soon as he either sees the blue baseball cap bobbing along the front sidewalk, or he hears the footsteps, he's off to stand near the mail slot, at full attention: Head erect and tail in a long swoosh, as if he were a show cat. I always thought he was part puppy.

Simon still misses the big liquid amber tree we had in the back courtyard. There just isn't anything interesting to watch, anymore. This morning, I caught him straining his neck, trying to look toward the other end of the yard to see if the tree moved down there. He looked so disappointed: It still breaks my heart.

Billie sleeps--or rests--a lot. Like around 22.5 hours a day. I don't know if that's because of her wonky hips or if it's causing them to be wonky. She's otherwise perfectly healthy and when she is up, she'll engage in some play activity (she especially loves to chase shadows) and eat and drink her water. But, mostly, she'd rather curl up in a warm spot and get her beauty sleep.

And so tomorrow I must return to the office. I'm really going to miss hanging with my furkids.

Labels: cats, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday

   ~~ victoria on 8:33 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Colour me 

I've been playing with the Colorgenics cubes. I'm curious about how this all works: I've done the cubes a few times and the results are mostly accurate. I don't always have the same results, but what I do get seems to reflect where I am (or, in one case, where I was earlier this summer). Anyway, here's me as of this morning:

"You have always been on the move seeking affectionate, satisfying and harmonious relationships. Your ultimate goal has been the realisation of an intimate union in which there could be love, self-sacrifice and mutual trust. It has often been said that 'True love is just around the corner' and - if you haven't found it as yet - you possibly soon will.

At this time you 'need to be needed' and again you 'need to need'. You have had this feeling for some time now and you are looking for someone who could share a close bond in an atmosphere of shared intimacy. You have the belief that with the right person you could conquer the world.

Enough is enough - but the problems never seem to stop. They never stop. You feel, and maybe you are right, that the problems seem to go on and on and you have indeed had more than your fair share of trials and tribulations. But to give you credit - you bounce back time and time again - you stick to your beliefs because deep down you have that inner knowledge, that 'belief' system that in the end, everything will turn out OK - and you are right -it will!

You are an emotional, sincere and impressionable individual experiencing frustration and unnecessary stress. You vehemently resist any form of pressure from outside sources, insisting on your independence as an individual. You want to be a decision maker - to make up your own mind without interference. You wish to be able to draw your own conclusions and arrive at your own decisions. You detest uniformity and mediocrity as you want to be regarded as one who gives authoritative opinions. Your favourite expression could well be that 'I may not always be right but I am never wrong'. You're a perfectionist and even though you may feel that the other person's point of view may be right, you find it extremely difficult to admit that you could be wrong.

You would like to be respected and valued for yourself and this can only be achieved from within a close and harmonious relationship."

Labels: Colorgenics, personality quiz

   ~~ victoria on 8:07 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

23 November, 2006

*I* get the drumstick, bitchez! 

*I* get the drumstick, bitchez!
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

The furkids and I wish our friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

   ~~ victoria on 12:20 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

22 November, 2006

NaNoWriMo Update: End of Week Three 

I'm down to my last 5,000 words, which is good news, except I had hoped to hit 50k by tonight. An unfortunate bout of writer's block completely derailed my effort on Monday, when I only managed to tap out 60 words or so.

Still, I'm on pace to make the goal Very Soon Now, though I will keep working on the novel all the way through November 30.

But tomorrow, it's all about good friends and good food! I wish everyone Stateside a Happy Thanksgiving. May it be a day where the hardships dissipate enough that we can clearly see what we do have to be thankful for.

Labels: NaNoWriMo

   ~~ victoria on 10:39 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

A Person I'd Like to Meet 

The sadistic bitch--or bastard--who came up with duvet covers! It is just simply not possible to get the damn comforter spread out evenly in the cover. The hilarity and hijinks don't end! Try shaking the cover/comforter ensemble out, only to realize that it is so damn heavy because THE CAT SLIPPED INSIDE THE DAMN COVER!

Gah!

Labels: cats, domesticity, furkids, gah, ranting, Simon

   ~~ victoria on 10:35 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

21 November, 2006

South Park Self Portrait: During NaNoWriMo 

What do you do when your plot bogs down, you're tired, every system in your body is out of whack and your cat keeps hollering at you for a snack?

You bring in Zombie Girl Brandishing An Automatic Weapon, of course!

(You also use cute South Park cartoon characters to test post from Flickr to your Blogger-Beta blog while you're drinking Darjeeling tea and eating a scone at Julie's where you've gone to escape the screaming cat!)

   ~~ victoria on 7:24 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

19 November, 2006

This. Is. Fucking. BRILLIANT! 

I'm late to the table with this one as it came out before the election. But I'd love to see an update to this video in 2008!



(p.s. it would seem that YouTube doesn't work with Blogger Beta, either--despite having updated the account settings everywhere. Feh!)

Labels: ITMFA

   ~~ victoria on 9:09 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Simon Sunday: Mr. Polite 'n' Proper 

And oh, what I would give for him to be just like this, right now, instead of the shrieking, attention-starved B-R-A-T who's currently stomping around the apartment in a snit. This morning he's being exceedingly petulant, demanding more food, more attention, more, more MORE! I'm about to go batshit from being yelled at constantly for the last hour.

I have a feeling if I want to get anything done on my novel today, I'm going to have to find some place less distracting to work from: Like, maybe, the centre lane on the Bay Bridge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those scoring at home, this is my THIRD attempt at posting this. Flickr doesn't seem to work with Blogger Beta and, though it worked last night, Ecto can't seem to post now, either. Between this and a screaming cat, I foresee breakable objects being hurled around my apartment before the weekend is done.

Labels: furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday

   ~~ victoria on 7:57 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

18 November, 2006

'nother test 

this time from Ecto...

   ~~ victoria on 10:11 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Nothing to see here 

just testing Blogger Beta to see if everything is working...

update: so far, so good!

Labels: beta, eeek, testing

   ~~ victoria on 10:55 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

17 November, 2006

Things that made me smile 

My morning ferry ride. How many of you get to see sea lions on YOUR commute?

A big furry guy in full biker leathers on a throaty Harley Davidson, turning onto Market Street with Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy" blaring from his stereo.

Imagining myself as a South Park character:


(Make your own.)

   ~~ victoria on 9:07 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

16 November, 2006

The one where I hug my Macs 

I have learned that pretty much every day, at some point, I'm going to have to battle my PC at work over some odd quirk that it's developed. The latest one is when I want to print to the big colour copier/printer, it now makes everything 2-sided. When I WANTED it to print double-sided, it flatly refused. Since I don't seem to have this problem on any of the other printers I use, I'm guessing that the drivers have some 1's and 0's mixed up. That's not to say there aren't problems printing to the other printers; frequently, I'll either click the printer icon, or ctrl-p and, before it spools to the printer, it jams every letter on every line over onto the left margin, so I have one big mash-up line down the left side of the page. The only way to "fix" it is to reboot.

And tonight, as I and a fellow NaNoWriMo'er were tapping away at our respective novels, a guy was trying to use the PC at Javarama. Whoever had been using the PC before had...well no one could figure out for sure what they were doing, but it was FUBAR. It took at least a couple of reboots before it was functioning again. Then, later, a woman who was sitting next to us was working on her laptop (I think it was a Dell...all I know for sure is it ran Windows XP--sort of), when, suddenly, she started cursing. Not loudly, like shouting, but quite audibly. Many f-bombs were dropped and many more "shit"s were flung at her hapless spreadsheet. From the tone of her voice, it would seem she hadn't been saving her work frequently. (Sorry, but if you're on any computer--but especially a Windows machine--if you don't save your work regularly, you're just asking for heartache).

It finally got to the point where her cursing was becoming a distraction and I was getting tired, so I saved my novel, closed Hamish the iBook up and furtively hugged him as I slipped him back in my bag. And when I got home, Fiona (the eMac) got a pat on the head as well. Yeah, I paid a hell of a lot more money for these computers than I would have had to for a comparable Windows box*, but they're worth every penny, just in the up time (Fiona's been up since the last software update a couple of months ago, and Hamish has been up since NaNoWriMo began on November 1st).

*which is not to imply that I believe Windows can compare to Apple in any way, shape or form.

   ~~ victoria on 9:30 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

14 November, 2006

NaNoWriMo: At the end of Week Two 

Tomorrow will officially mark the end of Week Two of NaNoWriMo, but I will be at the East Bay group's Halfway Party gorging on chips and salsa (and cheese enchiladas!) and tipping back a celebratory margarita or three, so I won't have the chance to write the update. Or much of anything else.

Word count-wise, I'm kicking it. I had a couple of very productive writing days over the weekend, that blew a big hole in the word count. The target for the end of Week Two is 25,005 words; As of tonight I'm at 30,265. Yay me.

Before I go on, though, I have to give props to Gwen and Tim, who sent me one of those email/MySpace/NameYourSocialSiteHere type of surveys on Saturday. Because I had had two consecutive shitty writing days (and actually fell asleep at 8:15 p.m. Friday night and didn't write a damn thing!), I cursed my lack of discipline and filled it out instead of working on my novel. I made a joke at the top of it along the lines of maybe I should add this to my novel since I needed the word count. Then it hit me: These surveys would be a great way to reconnect with my characters (whom I was no longer on speaking terms with by Saturday morning). So I pasted a copy of it in BBEdit and wiped out all of MY answers and then I took my three main characters and did a survey in each of their voices. It was a huge help in getting my novel back on track, so THANK YOU GWEN AND TIM!!!

As I head into the last 1/3 of my (as-yet untitled) novel, it has taken an unexpected dark turn. It needed to, but I was still surprised at how it came about. There's one more dark corner that I have to nudge my characters into, and I'm really not sure how my main character is going to handle that yet.

But, thus far, this novel is much, much closer to being something that I might actually let someone else read a draft of (after I do a fair bit of revision). Last year's effort is buried deep on one of my hard drives where it will remain until, with my last ounce of strength, I will reach over from my death bed and hit the delete key.

If I can maintain my momentum, I hope to be finished with the novel in time for Thanksgiving dinner!

P.S. Blogger is thoroughly being a shit tonight.

   ~~ victoria on 10:10 PM ~~    1 comments

========================================

13 November, 2006

Vicster's Helpful Hints 

When you're sitting on the ferry and it's a VERY stormy day and the boat is rocking and rolling, do NOT, for any reason, try to look out the window on the other side of the boat! Unless you actually enjoy having your equilibrium tossed around like so much flotsam, the view is just not worth it. My eyes still don't feel like they're aligned properly in my head after that moment of stunning stupidity!

Urp!

   ~~ victoria on 9:27 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

12 November, 2006

Simon Sunday: Disappointment 

So far...
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

So far, Simon is not enjoying my participation in NaNoWriMo all that much. He thinks it should involve more snacking, preferably HUGE bags of nacho cheese Doritos.

His frustration has led to a few "acting out" episodes. Taking my things and glaring at me as if he's saying, "what are YOU going to do about it?" and, his usual stand-by, sitting on poor little Billie and biting her. Of course, with Billie, it doesn't take much to set her off; all Simon really has to do is look at her sometimes, to get her hissing and growling.

I'm getting my revenge on him, though. My main character now has a cute, though somewhat annoying, cat.

Labels: Billie, cats, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday

   ~~ victoria on 8:14 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

11 November, 2006

Confidential to War Veterans 

Thank you.

   ~~ victoria on 1:00 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Things and stuff 

CONSTANT COMMENTS:
Gwen: thanks for offering up D's services as guitar teacher. If I ever get a guitar with a small enough neck that I can do barre chords, I may take you (her) up on that! I'm more than happy to introduce anyone to The Who, but you know she could be doing worse than Siouxie, for 80's rock heroines.

Tim: I know I didn't have to get after you to vote! That's good that you also came out 91% Canadian. We may yet have to defect and it's good to know there's a place where we can just slip right in!

Gary (and those who emailed me): Thanks for the yays, hurrahs, you-go-girls, and don't-worry-you-can-fix-your-novel-laters as I bury myself deeper in the quagmire that is My Novel. I refer back to these words of cheer and they've kept me going (except for last night when I fell asleep at 8:15pm and didn't write a damn thing).

UH-OH:
I've gotten the Message of Doom on my Blogger Dashboard. My blog is now "ready" to switch to Blogger Beta. They swear that I don't have to change my design and that It's So Easy to switch, but I've read of too many nightmares from users who couldn't log into their blogs, or basically had them blow up after switching. I'm gonna see if I can put this off, at least until after I'm done with NaNoWriMo. But, I've also read that people are being switched whether they want to or not. So, if it suddenly seems as if I've dropped off the face of the Blogosphere, you'll know I've been switched and that it didn't go so well.

And now that I'm BEHIND on my NaNo word count, I must get back to work.

   ~~ victoria on 12:37 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

10 November, 2006

I'm SO GLAD this country has more important things to argue about now 

Like whether or not a burrito should be considered a sandwich.

   ~~ victoria on 1:08 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

09 November, 2006

R.I.P. Ed Bradley 

Ed Bradley passed away today after battling leukemia. Journalism has lost one of the few remaining respectable correspondents it had. He was a consummate professional, distinguished, intelligent...and damn cool.

You'll be missed, Ed, more than you can ever know.

   ~~ victoria on 12:41 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Yeesh. 

As we were about to dock in San Francisco this morning, the most exciting part of the trip was a spot of controversy over whether they'd tie a bow line or not. Then we docked and discovered paramedics, police and the Coast Guard were on our dock, evidently carrying out a rescue. They kept us on the Encinal for a few minutes while they got the person on the gurney prepared to carry up the dock to a waiting ambulance.

When we were allowed to disembark a few minutes later, we got outside the gate to find more police and fire trucks and a television camera and other assorted people milling about, one guy with a small digital camera taking photos and upsetting the two female security guards.

According to the KPIX site, there were two jumpers (but I have no idea how many were pulled from the water).

Hell of a start to the day.


UPDATE: According to the KPIX site, a good samaritan jumped into the water after finding a young woman floating face-down. They're both in hospital in stable condition. My thoughts and best wishes for a full and fast recovery go to both of them.

   ~~ victoria on 9:03 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

08 November, 2006

NaNoWriMo: One week in 

So, a week in, I'm on pace to finish my novel a few days early. Well, that is to say, I'll have 50,000 words on or before November 30. Basically, my plot is in a death spiral right now and I think I'm going to have to either kill someone (in the BOOK, people, not IRL!) or maybe have my main character have a near death experience. It wasn't the way I originally meant to write out the life-altering conflict, but whatareyagonnado.

At this point, I'm trying to write through my slump and this weekend will take some time and regroup and reorganize the story. It's tough slogging, but considering I've had one new character pop up, WHO COMPLETELY CHANGED THE STORY ARC, the day before I started writing (when I thought I had all the characters and plot reasonably sorted out), and another new character appear who is trying to sweep my main character off her feet, I'm holding up pretty well. I've embraced the first new character, and have thrown a bucket of cold water on loverboy, though he's not backing off without an argument.

A few of us Alameda NaNo'ers have met up at Julie's for a couple of informal write-ins. Julie's is a nice place: good coffee and treats and free wi-fi for *cough*research*cough*. However, on Tuesdays there is live music. It's a good folk band. I really loved the woman who sang, she has such a beautiful voice. But I was trying to get a group of characters off to an indie rock show, and as much as *I* enjoyed the folk music, it kept my characters at home on the couch. Also, I felt very self-conscious, as though, by working on my novel, I was being rude to the performers. That showed in what I wrote last night.

Which has been the other challenge. I've been carting around Hamish, the iBook, to write while I'm on the ferry. Although I do get about 100-200 words in while we're en-route, it is hard (especially in the mornings) to come back out of the world I'm creating and into the real world. In fact, the last couple of mornings, it's been a rather severe jolt and I've been somewhat agitated once I've had to close up the computer and walk to the office. It's a lot easier to transition between "realities" when I have a few hours to drift in and out of each world.

So, that's week #1 done. The word count "goal" for the week is 13,336 and I'm currently at 14,659. I should reward myself...maybe I'll treat myself to a chicken tikka masala supper this week!

Technorati Tags: NaNoWriMo

   ~~ victoria on 10:28 PM ~~    1 comments

========================================

Yeah! What Pete said! 

Yes, I know I've posted a lot about The Who lately. But, for many reasons, I always get this song playing in an endless loop in my head around election time. Over three and a half decades (and many administrations and regimes worldwide) later, it still rings true:

WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
The Who

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
Though I know that the hypnotized never lie
Do ya?

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

   ~~ victoria on 10:07 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Confidential to the Democratic House (and possibly Senate) Majority 

Congratulations. Enjoy your victory today but know that the hard work is only beginning. Your constituents need decent living wages and health care. Our national debt needs to be brought under control. Our soldiers need to start coming home from Iraq. That's just the start of the to-do list.

Know this: The Neocon faction has been wounded, but they did not die. They will come at you with everything. Do not forget the lessons of the past 16 years: If you so much as forget to pick up after your dog while you're walking him, they will seize on it and make it a front-page scandal.

You have been elected because the people have placed their faith in you to bring our country out of its darkest time. Keep your eye on the ball, keep your collective nose clean, and DON'T SCREW THIS UP!

That is all.

   ~~ victoria on 12:33 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================

Nice. 

So, on this, the morning after the elections (where Big Oil was handed a gift by California voters who defeated Prop 87), I see that prices at the pump are UP 5-8 cents a gallon.

Fuck you very much, Big Oil.

   ~~ victoria on 9:11 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

06 November, 2006

Confidential to Americans 

If you haven't already mailed an absentee ballot, GET OUT AND VOTE ON TUESDAY!!!
(sorry for the shouting, but this is important)

Have a nice day.

   ~~ victoria on 7:21 AM ~~    1 comments

========================================

05 November, 2006

Simon Sunday: Writing Buddy 

Break Time!
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

Now that my second NaNoWriMo is in full swing, Simon has taken it upon himself to be my Official Writing Buddy. He takes this duty very seriously, reminding me when it's time for a snack (which, funnily enough, seems to be every fifteen minutes or so--or maybe I'm just so into my writing that hours seem like mere minutes) and when it's time to stop typing and play chasey with his mouse or ping pong ball or one of my nail file boards.

Occasionally, he will also help me type, though I'm trying to set a boundary on that. Technically, the NaNoWriMo word counter would count "]]]]////////kkkkkkkkkkkkkk" as a word, but it's gonna make things a bit more tricky when it comes time to edit my lovely novel.

He's a very good writing buddy. He does not snort derisively when I talk out one of my idiotic plot ideas and he'll put a sympathetic paw on my shoulder when I complain about my characters being unruly, or, worse, lazy and boring. And he's right about one thing: all plot and character problems are best thought through over a handful of cheese poofs.

Labels: cats, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday

   ~~ victoria on 11:37 AM ~~    0 comments

========================================

04 November, 2006

What I'm screwing around with instead of writing my novel 

(taxpayer money well spent)

(I *knew* it!)

(No great surprise. I think I f-'ed up on the tea question and I never can remember how many damn players make a cricket team.)

Which wife of Henry the Eighth are you? Your Result: Catherine Parr You are Catherine Parr, sixth, and final, wife of Henry. You are known for your patience and calm manner. Though not the prettiest, brightest, cleverest,most devout, or strong, you are a good person who knows how to handle her temper. Good for you!
Kathrine Howard
Jane Seymour
Anne Boleyn
Anne of Cleves
Katherine of Aragon
Which wife of Henry the Eighth are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

(Grrrreaat. Now I've got that #$@*%&! Herman's Hermits song stuck in my head.)

What kind of Elemental Master are you? Your Result: Fire Master You are an Elemental Fire Master. You are exceedingly hot-tempered but your anger burns itself out, so you forgive as easily as you quarrel. You enjoy fire in all its forms. This element has correspondences to the Western Zodiac signs Aries and Leo.
Air Master
Water Master
Earth Master
What kind of Elemental Master are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

(this could have gone either fire or water, since my born day sits on the Aries/Pisces cusp)

   ~~ victoria on 7:28 PM ~~    1 comments

========================================

03 November, 2006

Why does he only do this when I have no video capturing device handy??? 

So I'm sitting here on the couch writing my NaNoWriMo novel (I'm pretty much on-pace at 4,819 words--about 200 words to go to make the daily quota--thanks for asking) when I hear a strange noise coming from Simon, who is dead-to-the-world asleep next to me. Veeeerry quietly, I slipped my iBook off of my lap so I could lean forward to see Simon's head. That's when I discovered HE WAS SUCKLING IN HIS SLEEP! He's had eating dreams before where he would actually chomp in his sleep, but this is the first time he suckled like a newborn kitten and OMG it was the cutest thing evarrrrrr! Then he stopped suckling and his feet and whiskers started twitching, so he must have been playing after his "meal".

If he's going to be this cute, I may have to find another venue to write in where I'm not so distracted.

   ~~ victoria on 9:56 PM ~~    0 comments

========================================