No Fun

Lately, all I've done is work, do extra work to make some money for my trip, and sit at Joshua Cup doing all my web surfing while my husband works. 

I watched the show Quarterlife and I think I'm going to start a videoblog as well. Although mine won't tell about the lives of all my friends, because I don't have any.

I'm only kidding - all my friends read this blog, so eventually, they will comment and out themselves with only slight nudging from me.

I'm too excited about going to Europe. And then after that, I'm going to Africa with commenter bigben and his lovely wife. 

I'm becoming addicted to word games. I've been playing Scrabulous on Facebook with a couple of friends. I have three games going. One I'm doing okay, the other I just started with the guy who graduated as the salutatorian of our high school... I graduated #7. Then I'm getting my ass kicked by someone I met online a long time ago. The score is 273 to 237 and I have seven letters which all have a base score of 1... basically all vowels and I've been adding them to words here and there. That game sucks... I've already lost one game (also against bigben) and that sucks even more, because it shows the score and if I lose them all, then what kind of writer am I? I feel like I'm lagging behind, even though I still consider myself a word nerd. 

I'm also playing this game called Eight Letters Word Game. That's getting to be addictive. And always, when I'm on whatever is the highest level and I can't figure out what the 8 letter word is so I'm trying to string together as many words as I can to make my points, someone comes up and talks to me. Even in my own home. I hate feeling rude, but I gotta increase my score! It's a fun little game though.

So, yeah, all I do is sit and do things at the computer. Sometimes that includes writing, sometimes not. I got good advice from Chris Offutt and that was to write for one minute every day. I can do that. It doesn't seem like a lot and it keeps stretching into longer periods of time. I mean, there are days when I'll be writing for hours, but then there are days when I don't touch the keyboard for the purpose of storytelling. So one minute a day is getting me into a habit I should have developed long ago - writing something everyday.

Okay, I'm done boring you.

L'Italia, qui vengo!

That's Babelfish English to Italian for "Italy, here I come!"

I am going to Italy, and if the price is right, I might also get to go to Paris. The next three months, I will be teaching myself Italian, saving every extra penny I make, working to make sure I have extra pennies by trying to get more work, etc.

Advice from The Honey, who won't be going... "Have fun in Italy. Don't fall for any Italian men. You know they're all criminals." "'Cause they're in the Mafia?" I ask. "Yes. Me, I paint with a broad brush. My brush covers all of Italy."

He didn't, however, say anything about Parisian men.

It is officially Christmas day. We are watching 24 hours of A Christmas Story. The Honey says, "You're going to watch this every Christmas, aren't you?" "Until they stop showing it," I respond. "And then, when they stop, you're going to complain about it on your blog."

That man knows me so well.

Merry Christmas, all!

Starting Over

It's that time of year, the time when an old girl's fancy turns to age.

I'll be 32 in a couple of weeks and a few days. I'm not really sure what to do with that.

So, it's time for things to happen. We (the Honey and I) are in a growing phase of our lives, where everything as we know it has been turned on its head and we are rolling with some punches, making new plans and solidfying the ones we are keeping. It's not a rollercoaster, it's more like the Dumbo ride.

**********************************

So, starting over means more than just a few words here and there. It means I have things to do, places to go and stories to write about it. First off, I'm going to Italy. Now, when I say I'm going to Italy, I mean, I barely have enough for plane fare (and that is supplemented by my very, very, very, very smart little sister whose 4.0 GPA earned us an extra $1000 to use on our trip) and I have stopped crocheting my scarf long enough to write this blog. Yes, crocheting a scarf so that I can sell it for whatever I can make to add to my trip. And The Honey is being a really good sport about the idea of me going to Italy, but I know he wants to go to. It just, what's the easiest way to make $3000 in 2 months that doesn't include nude dancing or finding Robert Redford? I'm lining up a couple of jobs... I can work 3 hours a night at minimum wage as a janitor for approximately $60 bucks a week after taxes. I wanted to make about $100 extra dollars a week (not including what I make writing) to help with this little trip. But what I make writing and any extra I make would just pay for me. I'd have to write double what I'm writing now and The Honey and I together make $200 a week to supplement his going on the trip as well. I would say I'd pray about it, but that's another story in itself that will be told in bits and pieces in a remembering sort of way.

I feel a little bit like Italy will be about me finding myself. I know that sounds trite and kind of 21 year old angsty, but it's true. There are a lot of things I want to understand and it is hard to understand those things in the midst of the bustle of life. It's not impossible. I don't need Italy for that, but my dream has always been to go to Europe. Italy, and just outside of Rome, is a good enough place as any to start. We may even fly into Paris so that we see France and Italy. To be able to grab that dream when it was offered... it's amazing. I have an amazing husband who would sacrifice his time with me and his wish to be there as well to see my dreams take place.

Okay, so enough smarmy.

The house we live in now, I love it. The one thing it has that is in part cool and in part very irritating is the scary house lights. When you turn on the lights in this house, they flicker on, as if you were watching a scary movie and the lights got doused in water and now you're watching them flicker, expecting to see the killer or his shadow right in front of you. Very creepy. Oh, I know it's some technical name for why it does that, having to do with temperature and something that reminds me of striking a lighter, but for right now, it is a neat way to be greeted by your house.