Neglect

My blog is definitely suffering from neglect lately. I guess that is probably a good thing because it means that I have been busy and not spending hours on the internet.

I can't believe it is already the beginning of December. I have been officially unemployed for a month. Sheesh. But the beginning of December also brings other things. My friend, Lisa, in Texas, is having a baby today. I'm sending good vibes out into the cosmos for her c-section. I'm happy for her. I only wish I could be there to help out by bringing them food or cleaning or taking Andres for a little while so they can adjust to a new routine.

December also means that Christmas is on the way. At the Digi Chick, there were discussion threads about holiday traditions, favorite Christmas movies and songs. I really wish that we had more traditions. Thinking about that made me decide to jump in at the last minute and take Shimelle's 30-day class about holiday meaning. Should be interesting. I feel like this year could be a real turning point in life and I want to document it all. I don't know that it will be starting with Christmas, but I think that it is important to be thoughtful of the real meaning behind the craziness of this time of year.

December also signals the end of Nanowrimo. I'm disappointed in myself for not "winning" and reaching 50,000 words. I could have done it. I procrastinated and slacked off because I figured that I have additional time to work, so I wasn't going to get all crazy about it. Now I wish that I would have. Last night, I was able to get nearly 2000 words done in a little over an hour. If I would have worked at that speed earlier, I could have made further progress. But I ended up with 43,707. I'm not finished, but my official tally for the end of Nano was 42,608. I'm going to keep working on it and actually finish... then go back and edit. When it is my "turn" for the critique from the writing group, I'll see what everyone thinks about it and go from there.

The beginning of December also is exciting to me because it means that there is just one month (full of busy activities) until I get to start back to school!

I signed up to take a full load this quarter. Originally, I was just going to take a writing class, but I need to take math to go any further with a degree, so I signed up to take math for retards (maybe I'll have to look for "Algebra for Dummies" to help me get through it--but I do have Jessica who will be invaluable for assistance). I also signed up to take a photojournalism course and work on the school paper. I'm really excited (and nervous) about that. Last night, I was telling Tim that I had read some articles somewhere about getting an MFA and what the pros and cons were. I read that there are a lot of full-ride scholarships available at smaller, out-of-the-way colleges, you just have to be willing to go and do it. If I could get a scholarship somewhere, I don't know how he could shoot that idea down. Anyway, my classes start January 3rd, so I'm soooo looking forward to it. I don't know how happy Tim will be with me being gone four nights a week, but we'll just get through this quarter and it will be fine. I think he's glad that I'm doing something since my job hunt isn't going too well so far.

I'm going to lunch with my grandma today. She is all excited about getting to see me during the week because when I was working, there wasn't much time to get over to see her. In fact the last time I had stopped by, I ended up getting a call for work and spending 45 minutes on the phone (at her house) instead of talking to her. She thought that it was ridiculous that they would call me after work hours on a Friday and interrupt my life. Anyway, she wanted to go to lunch today. I talked to her last night and she had slipped on the ice and fallen, so I'm hoping she'll be okay. She won't go to the doctor to be checked out. I'm going to nag her about it today. She always nags me about stuff, so turnabout is fair play. :)

I started on my Christmas shopping yesterday. Jessica convinced me to go to the mall with her by bribing me with an Orange Julius. We also got our eyebrows waxed. So we didn't get all that much shopping done, but it was nice to get out with her. We went to Borders and I picked up a "few" things. Hahahaha. I got some screaming deals and had a coupon and a discount plus store credit, so it was wonderful. But now I just have to figure out what I'm getting everyone and get busy doing it!

Now I have to upload my Thanksgiving pics and put together a post about that... I guess I'm a little out of order!