Well, I've made the move to WordPress! I've gotten everything transferred as well as a new post, so go ahead and check it out!
kileykatey.wordpress.com
Over the past year and a half, Blogspot has been a great place to start out, and I've shared some of my greatest memories here. From the beginning of my year abroad, through Australia and France and all the adventures in between, to New York and my internship and back, all the way to where I am now. I have a feeling these coming months are going to be so very interesting and challenging in different ways, and I'm looking forward to sharing, looking back, and looking forward on WordPress.
Thank you so much to everyone who's followed me thus far. This was a record-breaking month of page views, and I'm happy to say farewell to Blogger on such a high note. See you at WordPress!
Over there from now on,
Kiley
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Going Back in Time
Okay, so I didn't go back in time. But I did go back to my high school during the school day for the first time since I graduated in 2008. While the halls and even atmosphere were so familiar, it was beyond odd to not see anyone from my graduating class or even any of the surrounding classes of 2005-2011. I spent the entire day doing double and triple takes, only to have to remind myself that everyone I went to school with has long since graduated.
Let me back up just a little further. I'm thinking about going back to school for teaching, so I contacted one of my high school English teachers last week. This week, she invited me to observe a few of her classes, and I was really excited about this until my alarm went off at 6:00am. I haven't been up before the sun in quite a while, but despite my slow start, I was on track to be on time. Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate the construction in the high school parking lot or the line at the office to get my visitor's pass. Guess who was a few minutes late to class?
I skirted down the halls like a guilty, tardy high schooler and slid into the classroom where I was greeted by my gracious and understanding teacher-host, as well as two of my younger sister's friends. Though I didn't see anyone from my class, my sister's friends and my friends' younger siblings were more than kind when they saw me in the hallway today. The friendly familiar faces really were so refreshing.
The classes I observed were all in the same room I sat in during English my senior year, along with the collage of photos our teacher printed for us or allowed us to put up throughout the year. The collection spans back at least to the 90s. From my class alone, there was Kara cheesing on the track, Avni looking like a diva, Jackie smiling at her desk, Matt with his mouth hanging open and Paul photo-bombing the background, and my then-boyfriend, Jake, and me on Lumberjack Day, a holiday my class invented and is still celebrated. (Everyone wears flannel the Friday after winter break. We went so far as to build a forest in the parking lot using everyone's discarded Christmas trees.) So many of us, from my grade and the surrounding grades, are made immortal on those walls, and it made me smile, laugh, feel nostalgic, and a little sad about those who I've lost touch with over the years.
Though I got to observe Performance Poetry, Creative Writing, Multicultural Literature, and Publications (the newspaper), my favorite was IB English, the class I took. The class was discussing Hamlet, in just the same way my class did. I looked back to the wall of pictures, which were also speckled with quotes, and found one of my favorite 'IB-isms' from my class:
Why was Fortinbras so shiny?
Because he was Hamlet's foil.
-Fred
I walked through the halls and saw a few of my old teachers, feeling like I was right back in high school, but in a more respected adult way. Being treated just slightly differently made me feel weird, and it was even weirder that the teachers I expected to see, who have since retired, weren't there. Of course I knew things would be different, but when they were it was weird, and it was weirder when things were the same! Behold the paradox of growing up.
In the Publications room (where my sister is the co-editor in chief!), I looked at back issues of Odin's Word - the only title fit for a school newspaper where the mascot is a viking. The Senior Issue from 2006 happened to be at the top of the stack, and I quickly started flipping through. I spent a good amount of time with the class of '06 in my freshman and sophomore years, and it was like hitting rewind to the first time I read the senior shout-outs all those years ago and wished they weren't all leaving for college.
As I flipped through other issues, I noticed photos of George W. Bush and fashion pages displaying girls in short and frayed jean mini-skirts, leggings that stopped at the calf, and Birkenstocks. Think the opening scene of 21 Jump Street, complete with the guys with frosted tips or hair down to their shoulders. I remembered or at least vaguely recognized all the names of the editors and interviewees, and it was hard to believe that we've all moved on in at least one way, shape, or form.
I'm thinking of the I'll-show-'em attitude in Just Friends, and the awkward familiarity when Hannah goes home to the Midwest in Girls, and the happy but odd in/exclusive dynamics of the American Pie series. Pieces of my 'going back' experience are similar, I guess, but maybe I just didn't expect to feel all these things at once. Regardless, all the movies, shows, and books in the world couldn't have prepared me for the mix bag of emotions I felt today. It's only made worse by the five-year reunion emails I've started getting from Classmates.com.
It seems I'm growing up, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
Still, with so much ahead I really can't complain about my open-ended and promising future. Plus my sister was kind enough to let me tag along with her for part of the day, and I was mistaken for a substitute teacher on more than one occasion. Despite the emotional roller coaster I rode, I'm putting a mark in the win column for career-Kiley, and that's even without getting into how much fun I had observing and being in a classroom where (at least some of) the students are eager to learn.
Let's hope the next five years are as good to me as the last five have been, and someone send suggestions my way on how to reconcile these crazy conflicting emotions. Or I guess I could just, you know, grow up.
Here and there,
Kiley
Let me back up just a little further. I'm thinking about going back to school for teaching, so I contacted one of my high school English teachers last week. This week, she invited me to observe a few of her classes, and I was really excited about this until my alarm went off at 6:00am. I haven't been up before the sun in quite a while, but despite my slow start, I was on track to be on time. Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate the construction in the high school parking lot or the line at the office to get my visitor's pass. Guess who was a few minutes late to class?
I skirted down the halls like a guilty, tardy high schooler and slid into the classroom where I was greeted by my gracious and understanding teacher-host, as well as two of my younger sister's friends. Though I didn't see anyone from my class, my sister's friends and my friends' younger siblings were more than kind when they saw me in the hallway today. The friendly familiar faces really were so refreshing.
The classes I observed were all in the same room I sat in during English my senior year, along with the collage of photos our teacher printed for us or allowed us to put up throughout the year. The collection spans back at least to the 90s. From my class alone, there was Kara cheesing on the track, Avni looking like a diva, Jackie smiling at her desk, Matt with his mouth hanging open and Paul photo-bombing the background, and my then-boyfriend, Jake, and me on Lumberjack Day, a holiday my class invented and is still celebrated. (Everyone wears flannel the Friday after winter break. We went so far as to build a forest in the parking lot using everyone's discarded Christmas trees.) So many of us, from my grade and the surrounding grades, are made immortal on those walls, and it made me smile, laugh, feel nostalgic, and a little sad about those who I've lost touch with over the years.
Though I got to observe Performance Poetry, Creative Writing, Multicultural Literature, and Publications (the newspaper), my favorite was IB English, the class I took. The class was discussing Hamlet, in just the same way my class did. I looked back to the wall of pictures, which were also speckled with quotes, and found one of my favorite 'IB-isms' from my class:
Why was Fortinbras so shiny?
Because he was Hamlet's foil.
-Fred
I walked through the halls and saw a few of my old teachers, feeling like I was right back in high school, but in a more respected adult way. Being treated just slightly differently made me feel weird, and it was even weirder that the teachers I expected to see, who have since retired, weren't there. Of course I knew things would be different, but when they were it was weird, and it was weirder when things were the same! Behold the paradox of growing up.
In the Publications room (where my sister is the co-editor in chief!), I looked at back issues of Odin's Word - the only title fit for a school newspaper where the mascot is a viking. The Senior Issue from 2006 happened to be at the top of the stack, and I quickly started flipping through. I spent a good amount of time with the class of '06 in my freshman and sophomore years, and it was like hitting rewind to the first time I read the senior shout-outs all those years ago and wished they weren't all leaving for college.
As I flipped through other issues, I noticed photos of George W. Bush and fashion pages displaying girls in short and frayed jean mini-skirts, leggings that stopped at the calf, and Birkenstocks. Think the opening scene of 21 Jump Street, complete with the guys with frosted tips or hair down to their shoulders. I remembered or at least vaguely recognized all the names of the editors and interviewees, and it was hard to believe that we've all moved on in at least one way, shape, or form.
I'm thinking of the I'll-show-'em attitude in Just Friends, and the awkward familiarity when Hannah goes home to the Midwest in Girls, and the happy but odd in/exclusive dynamics of the American Pie series. Pieces of my 'going back' experience are similar, I guess, but maybe I just didn't expect to feel all these things at once. Regardless, all the movies, shows, and books in the world couldn't have prepared me for the mix bag of emotions I felt today. It's only made worse by the five-year reunion emails I've started getting from Classmates.com.
It seems I'm growing up, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.
Still, with so much ahead I really can't complain about my open-ended and promising future. Plus my sister was kind enough to let me tag along with her for part of the day, and I was mistaken for a substitute teacher on more than one occasion. Despite the emotional roller coaster I rode, I'm putting a mark in the win column for career-Kiley, and that's even without getting into how much fun I had observing and being in a classroom where (at least some of) the students are eager to learn.
Let's hope the next five years are as good to me as the last five have been, and someone send suggestions my way on how to reconcile these crazy conflicting emotions. Or I guess I could just, you know, grow up.
Here and there,
Kiley
Monday, January 21, 2013
My Only Resolution
So I'm sitting here trying to figure out which of the hundreds of posts I've thought about writing in the last year I'd like to write tonight. My attention veers back and forth between the blinking cursor and The Lion King (I've been debating since Scar's creepy song with the hyenas about becoming king, and - spoiler alert - now Mufasa is about to die. I can't take this any more.) and Mean Girls (too late, Simba's nudging Mufasa and I'm about to cry because I have the movie-emotional stability of a nervous five-year old) and I realize that I'm a little unfocused.
Even though Timon and Pumba are about to enter and Gretchen Weiners was just denied Candy Cane-grams, I've turned off the TV. Now I can put together an entire thought. I don't try to de-motivate myself or intentionally procrastinate - does anyone? - but when it comes to the things that only concern me, I find I have a much greater tendency to put them on the back burner. I wanted to write a post this weekend? Well, I'm tired and these movies are on. I meant to work out this weekend? Well, so-and-so bailed and now I could go out instead. The list goes on, but those actually happened in the past few days.
When I was reading 90 Days to Your Novel for NaNoWriMo, one of the first things Sarah Domet, the author, said was that plenty of people think about writing, but you're only a writer if you actually write something. What a novel observation.
What's the difference between a language enthusiast who speaks four languages, and one who only kind of knows their native tongue? The person who plays a dozen instruments, and the person who listens to tracks longingly? The person who travels the world, and the one who stares at the globe or browses the internet?
The first group of people are DOERS. They DO things. (And yes, they must also have the means, either because of their own hard work or by being born into fortunate circumstances, and probably some degree of talent.)
There are so many things that I've always thought 'Hey, that'd be cool to do/learn/see', and I think I can fairly say I've tried my best to accomplish those things. Part of what helps is always having an end goal in sight. In high school, it was to get to college and play soccer. When I quit soccer, it was to do well in my major, then biology, and go abroad. When I changed majors, it was to excel in those new majors, English and French. When I graduated, it was to get into publishing. Up until now, I've always been working toward something.
Now that my big picture is a little less clear - teacher? editor? writer? baby baboon handler?? - I want to work on the little things that have always been put on the back burner. I mean, let's face it. Even if I do multiple applications or resumes a day, I've got some extra time on my hands and they could stand some useful employment while I'm, well, unemployed.
My original plan was to pick all these various things up at the New Year, but between visiting friends, hanging out with my family, and the 1000+ piece jigsaw puzzle I bought and finished over five days, I just didn't get around to it.
But who says the New Year has to be the time for resolutions? Why not start over now?
I couldn't think of a good reason, so here I am. My resolution is simply to DO stuff. Write stuff, read stuff, try new stuff, get my stuff in shape, there's all kinds of stuff to be done. It may seem like a small victory to have managed to turn off the TV to write this post tonight (DAMN IT, I just realized my computer clock is an hour behind. How did that happen??), but it's a step in the right direction. Before I go to bed, I'm going to read and that'll be another small victory. As I continue to hash out my list and make progress on the DOing front, I'll keep you posted.
Until then, just imagine how (much) cool(er) of a person you would be if you actually went for it and did just half the things you're interested in. Think of the life experiences you'd have, the people you'd know, the things you'd learn! I'm willing to bet it'll make a huge difference, and I'm really eager to see what the days to come have in store for me if I just get busy and DO.
Here and there,
Kiley
Even though Timon and Pumba are about to enter and Gretchen Weiners was just denied Candy Cane-grams, I've turned off the TV. Now I can put together an entire thought. I don't try to de-motivate myself or intentionally procrastinate - does anyone? - but when it comes to the things that only concern me, I find I have a much greater tendency to put them on the back burner. I wanted to write a post this weekend? Well, I'm tired and these movies are on. I meant to work out this weekend? Well, so-and-so bailed and now I could go out instead. The list goes on, but those actually happened in the past few days.
When I was reading 90 Days to Your Novel for NaNoWriMo, one of the first things Sarah Domet, the author, said was that plenty of people think about writing, but you're only a writer if you actually write something. What a novel observation.
What's the difference between a language enthusiast who speaks four languages, and one who only kind of knows their native tongue? The person who plays a dozen instruments, and the person who listens to tracks longingly? The person who travels the world, and the one who stares at the globe or browses the internet?
The first group of people are DOERS. They DO things. (And yes, they must also have the means, either because of their own hard work or by being born into fortunate circumstances, and probably some degree of talent.)
There are so many things that I've always thought 'Hey, that'd be cool to do/learn/see', and I think I can fairly say I've tried my best to accomplish those things. Part of what helps is always having an end goal in sight. In high school, it was to get to college and play soccer. When I quit soccer, it was to do well in my major, then biology, and go abroad. When I changed majors, it was to excel in those new majors, English and French. When I graduated, it was to get into publishing. Up until now, I've always been working toward something.
Now that my big picture is a little less clear - teacher? editor? writer? baby baboon handler?? - I want to work on the little things that have always been put on the back burner. I mean, let's face it. Even if I do multiple applications or resumes a day, I've got some extra time on my hands and they could stand some useful employment while I'm, well, unemployed.
My original plan was to pick all these various things up at the New Year, but between visiting friends, hanging out with my family, and the 1000+ piece jigsaw puzzle I bought and finished over five days, I just didn't get around to it.
But who says the New Year has to be the time for resolutions? Why not start over now?
I couldn't think of a good reason, so here I am. My resolution is simply to DO stuff. Write stuff, read stuff, try new stuff, get my stuff in shape, there's all kinds of stuff to be done. It may seem like a small victory to have managed to turn off the TV to write this post tonight (DAMN IT, I just realized my computer clock is an hour behind. How did that happen??), but it's a step in the right direction. Before I go to bed, I'm going to read and that'll be another small victory. As I continue to hash out my list and make progress on the DOing front, I'll keep you posted.
Until then, just imagine how (much) cool(er) of a person you would be if you actually went for it and did just half the things you're interested in. Think of the life experiences you'd have, the people you'd know, the things you'd learn! I'm willing to bet it'll make a huge difference, and I'm really eager to see what the days to come have in store for me if I just get busy and DO.
Here and there,
Kiley
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Hiatus No More
Whew. It has been a little over two months since I've posted. How time flies.
I left you in the middle of NaNoWriMo with the serious appeal to anyone within reaching distance to smack me if I stopped writing which, sadly, no one followed through on. As a result (or because of my own undoing...), I haven't written. And I hate it! I won't monotonously bullet point or cruise you through my past few months - they were anything but boring, to say the least, and I owe them the justice of a real post - but this is my new promise to start posting once a week. I'm back in Cincinnati for the foreseeable future, so while I'm anchored down, I may as well let my mind and fingers wander for as long as the rest of me can't.
Maybe it's because I just watched the first season of Girls last night and am feeling inspired/terrified, because I'm so sick of writing boring cover letter after cover letter with no call backs, or because I miss writing for the pure joy that it brings me, but I have to get back to writing.
Here's to a year of doing, of making things happen, of staying busy, and most of all being happy. Here's to a year of life still getting in the way and making the commitment to write through it anyway. I have no excuse for my silent keyboard, and it's time I make some noise.
I know I've said it before, and I feel a bit like How I Met Your Mother's character Marshall with his sweeping declarations, but I'll see you all back here in a few days. Bear with me, and come along for the ride.
Here and there (and by that I mean my mind this time),
Kiley
I left you in the middle of NaNoWriMo with the serious appeal to anyone within reaching distance to smack me if I stopped writing which, sadly, no one followed through on. As a result (or because of my own undoing...), I haven't written. And I hate it! I won't monotonously bullet point or cruise you through my past few months - they were anything but boring, to say the least, and I owe them the justice of a real post - but this is my new promise to start posting once a week. I'm back in Cincinnati for the foreseeable future, so while I'm anchored down, I may as well let my mind and fingers wander for as long as the rest of me can't.
Maybe it's because I just watched the first season of Girls last night and am feeling inspired/terrified, because I'm so sick of writing boring cover letter after cover letter with no call backs, or because I miss writing for the pure joy that it brings me, but I have to get back to writing.
Here's to a year of doing, of making things happen, of staying busy, and most of all being happy. Here's to a year of life still getting in the way and making the commitment to write through it anyway. I have no excuse for my silent keyboard, and it's time I make some noise.
I know I've said it before, and I feel a bit like How I Met Your Mother's character Marshall with his sweeping declarations, but I'll see you all back here in a few days. Bear with me, and come along for the ride.
Here and there (and by that I mean my mind this time),
Kiley
Monday, November 12, 2012
NaNoWriMo: A Writer's Reality
*Disclaimer: This post was written in full NaNoWriMo mode, ie. no proofread, no (okay, some) typing corrections, and little thought given to word choice, the object being to get words on paper STAT. Thanks for understanding!*
Okay, I know I said NaNoWriMo was real in my last post, but let me just paint you a little picture of what this month has looked like chez Kiley.
My desk is cluttered with several notecards, some of which have really important information pertaining to my story, some are to do lists, some served as coasters when my actual coasters was misplaced under all the other notecards, and some contain utter drivel. There is also my Moleskin notebook that I bought as a motivational present for ONLY NaNoWriMo notes. That plan is actually working out well.
My two watches both sit crumpled to the left of my laptop, because I always take them off twelve seconds into writing. Have you ever typed on a laptop with a bulky watch on? No good.
I have several blue pens (okay, and one black pen for distinction) and several highlighters, all (hopefully!) tightly capped, for whenever I need my next multi-colored bout of inspiration.
There is a dinner plate with smudges of hummus. There is an empty glass that still smells vaguely of Yuengling. There is an empty coffee cup with a spoon sticking out of it. There is a bowl originally used to ration my chip intake, but it has since become a pomegranate detritus receptacle. There is also a half-eaten pomegranate.
Sidenote: pomegranates are SO not writing friendly fruit, what with the juices and staining and difficult maneuvering for the seeds, but if you like to munch and keep your hands and mouth busy while watching TV, I'd recommend them for that.
A number of earrings and hair clips and ties are sprinkled over the desk, because when I put on my SkullBeats headphones that actually block out noise, the earrings inevitably gouge holes in the sides of my head, and I end up ripping them out of my ears and tossing them aside. Somehow, I forget to do this before putting on my headphones EVERY. TIME. The hairclip graveyard that is collecting has a similar story, except it's because my hair is getting pulled by the headphones.
I can almost see my bed under the discarded and carefully laid out dress clothes. When I get home from work, I immediately pick up my sweats and t-shirt from my bed and get out of my work clothes, because who wants to be in slacks any longer than is absolutely necessary? I take just enough care to make sure they don't get wrinkled, but not quite enough for them to make it all the way to safety in my closet. When I go to bed shortly after this post, I will move the pile to my desk stool, and they'll be moved back again when I get home tomorrow.
Over the past twelve days, I have consumed at least two cups of coffee, more often three, one of which may be a medium from Starbucks. (No, I don't want to think about the money that I'm wasting there, but damn is that pumpkin spice latte to die for.) I have eaten some fruit, but also multiple family-size bags of chips, a box of peanut granola bars, some fruit, and the delicious sandwiches that Bouchon Bakery provides as break food. Yesterday, I opted for the salad, hearing the little voice in my head (and the not so little voice of my ass) calling to me, "Vegetables! Please, for the love of all that is holy, VEGETABLES DAMNIT!"
I was running regularly, 2-3 times a week, but have now run once in twelve days. My stomach is losing what little tautness had been growing, and my ass is making an impression on the cushion beneath it.
I am tired. I am grumpy from being tired. I have a near constant headache, but whether that's from staring at the computer screen for hours on end or because I'm having caffeine withdrawals, I don't quite know. I found out last week that I'll be leaving New York - at least for now, I'll post about it later - and moving back to Cincinnati, so there are boxes littering my floor that need to make it to the post office before this coming Sunday if I'm going to have any chance of staying under the weight limit. I haven't had a day off of work (shortest shift has been 6.0 hours, the longest when I work both jobs has been 12.0) since last Tuesday, and I will work every day until I leave New York on November 19.
But if I said that any of this was making me genuinely unhappy, I'd be lying. In twelve days (excluding yesterday, because my computer crashed and I was going to hand-write, but I took the day off of writing and it was EXACTLY the breather I needed...we'll see if it comes back to haunt me at the end of the month), I've written 21,165 words. I'm almost halfway to my novel, and I'm feeling writing highs that I haven't felt in over a year.
I'm not halfway into the challenge, but already I cannot thank NaNoWriMo enough for the support, the motivation, the kick in the ass that I needed to get writing again. I'm nervous about this next half coming up - moving back home with my family, Thanksgiving, and plenty of distractions - but I'm excited to keep writing, and I want to WIN. (Winning means submitting your novel to the official word count and being declared a 'winner' and receiving a digital high-five.)
The next time I stop writing, somebody come give me a smackdown, kay? It may sound like I'm torturing myself, but I really like what I'm doing right now, and you'd be doing me a favor if you were to give me a wake up call in the future.
Maybe I'll learn my lesson and be my own motivator soon enough, but I'm going to take advantage of all this camaraderie and interweb support and keep plodding along on this month's challenge. I hope you all are well and having a happy writing-November, non-shaving-November, or whatever kind of November you choose!
Here and there,
Kiley
Okay, I know I said NaNoWriMo was real in my last post, but let me just paint you a little picture of what this month has looked like chez Kiley.
My desk is cluttered with several notecards, some of which have really important information pertaining to my story, some are to do lists, some served as coasters when my actual coasters was misplaced under all the other notecards, and some contain utter drivel. There is also my Moleskin notebook that I bought as a motivational present for ONLY NaNoWriMo notes. That plan is actually working out well.
My two watches both sit crumpled to the left of my laptop, because I always take them off twelve seconds into writing. Have you ever typed on a laptop with a bulky watch on? No good.
I have several blue pens (okay, and one black pen for distinction) and several highlighters, all (hopefully!) tightly capped, for whenever I need my next multi-colored bout of inspiration.
There is a dinner plate with smudges of hummus. There is an empty glass that still smells vaguely of Yuengling. There is an empty coffee cup with a spoon sticking out of it. There is a bowl originally used to ration my chip intake, but it has since become a pomegranate detritus receptacle. There is also a half-eaten pomegranate.
Sidenote: pomegranates are SO not writing friendly fruit, what with the juices and staining and difficult maneuvering for the seeds, but if you like to munch and keep your hands and mouth busy while watching TV, I'd recommend them for that.
A number of earrings and hair clips and ties are sprinkled over the desk, because when I put on my SkullBeats headphones that actually block out noise, the earrings inevitably gouge holes in the sides of my head, and I end up ripping them out of my ears and tossing them aside. Somehow, I forget to do this before putting on my headphones EVERY. TIME. The hairclip graveyard that is collecting has a similar story, except it's because my hair is getting pulled by the headphones.
I can almost see my bed under the discarded and carefully laid out dress clothes. When I get home from work, I immediately pick up my sweats and t-shirt from my bed and get out of my work clothes, because who wants to be in slacks any longer than is absolutely necessary? I take just enough care to make sure they don't get wrinkled, but not quite enough for them to make it all the way to safety in my closet. When I go to bed shortly after this post, I will move the pile to my desk stool, and they'll be moved back again when I get home tomorrow.
Over the past twelve days, I have consumed at least two cups of coffee, more often three, one of which may be a medium from Starbucks. (No, I don't want to think about the money that I'm wasting there, but damn is that pumpkin spice latte to die for.) I have eaten some fruit, but also multiple family-size bags of chips, a box of peanut granola bars, some fruit, and the delicious sandwiches that Bouchon Bakery provides as break food. Yesterday, I opted for the salad, hearing the little voice in my head (and the not so little voice of my ass) calling to me, "Vegetables! Please, for the love of all that is holy, VEGETABLES DAMNIT!"
I was running regularly, 2-3 times a week, but have now run once in twelve days. My stomach is losing what little tautness had been growing, and my ass is making an impression on the cushion beneath it.
I am tired. I am grumpy from being tired. I have a near constant headache, but whether that's from staring at the computer screen for hours on end or because I'm having caffeine withdrawals, I don't quite know. I found out last week that I'll be leaving New York - at least for now, I'll post about it later - and moving back to Cincinnati, so there are boxes littering my floor that need to make it to the post office before this coming Sunday if I'm going to have any chance of staying under the weight limit. I haven't had a day off of work (shortest shift has been 6.0 hours, the longest when I work both jobs has been 12.0) since last Tuesday, and I will work every day until I leave New York on November 19.
But if I said that any of this was making me genuinely unhappy, I'd be lying. In twelve days (excluding yesterday, because my computer crashed and I was going to hand-write, but I took the day off of writing and it was EXACTLY the breather I needed...we'll see if it comes back to haunt me at the end of the month), I've written 21,165 words. I'm almost halfway to my novel, and I'm feeling writing highs that I haven't felt in over a year.
I'm not halfway into the challenge, but already I cannot thank NaNoWriMo enough for the support, the motivation, the kick in the ass that I needed to get writing again. I'm nervous about this next half coming up - moving back home with my family, Thanksgiving, and plenty of distractions - but I'm excited to keep writing, and I want to WIN. (Winning means submitting your novel to the official word count and being declared a 'winner' and receiving a digital high-five.)
The next time I stop writing, somebody come give me a smackdown, kay? It may sound like I'm torturing myself, but I really like what I'm doing right now, and you'd be doing me a favor if you were to give me a wake up call in the future.
Maybe I'll learn my lesson and be my own motivator soon enough, but I'm going to take advantage of all this camaraderie and interweb support and keep plodding along on this month's challenge. I hope you all are well and having a happy writing-November, non-shaving-November, or whatever kind of November you choose!
Here and there,
Kiley
Sunday, November 4, 2012
NaNoWriMo is a Reality
*This post was supposed to go up Wednesday, October 31, but due to lack of interwebs, well, it’s a little late*
Committing to writing scares me. To talk about it is one thing, to post tidbits on a blog is another, but declaring that I'm going to write a novel in thirty days has me scared shitless.
Today is Halloween. Which means November begins tomorrow. Which means NaNoWriMo begins, and I have to physically commit myself to the cause and to my writing. Until now it’s been all talk, but the reality of what I’m about to undertake is just now hitting me.
50,000 in 30 days, averaging about 1,667 words per day. AH! Why did I sign up for this? Where am I going to find the time to fit this in? Is my story good enough? Will my characters be believable? Will I like what I write? Will anyone else? Will I make it?
These questions have all been plaguing me over the past few days that I’ve been stuck inside, thanks to Sandy, and I’ve procrastinated with the best of them. I’ve logged over 25 episodes of House and done minimal work on my outline for NaNoWriMo. Even now, I’m writing about being scared about writing instead of taking action and doing something. That’s the worst part. I know I’m not being productive! As I’ve written these last few sentences, I’ve thought about organizing my desk, writing out a list of goals/motivational notes for myself, going to sleep to get well rested for November, and a dozen other things that would surely increase my productivity, but really would all just help me procrastinate. I’m the worst.
In an effort to stop my procrastination and assuage my fears, I’m going to make this the shortest post ever and hurriedly straighten my room before I do the last bit of outlining and character profiles before taking the plunge tomorrow. I said I was going to write a novel in a month, and I am scared to death that I’m going to fail, fall short, or write crap if I do finish, but I guess those are all risks I’m going to have to take.
Please excuse my limited posts or potential absence over the next month. Hopefully it means that I’m busy writing an awesome novel! I’ll try and share a bit of what I’m writing or other pieces I’ve written in the past if I do post, but follow me on Twitter with that button over there << or search for KileyKatey. I'm sure I'll be word-vomiting there when I'm not word-vomiting my novel.
Thanks for any thoughts, good wishes, or prayers you can send my way, too. Know that they are appreciated!! See you on the other side, 50,000 words down the road!
Here and there (but really, just sitting in front of my computer for thirty days),
Kiley
**At the time of this post, I'm up to 7,235 words! Still, send encouragement, tell me you're sure I'm not writing utter drivel, and please keep bearing with me this month. Also, my story is about gnomes, if you were wondering. I am tweeting a hell of a lot more than usual too, so if you want to keep in touch, follow me there!
Committing to writing scares me. To talk about it is one thing, to post tidbits on a blog is another, but declaring that I'm going to write a novel in thirty days has me scared shitless.
Today is Halloween. Which means November begins tomorrow. Which means NaNoWriMo begins, and I have to physically commit myself to the cause and to my writing. Until now it’s been all talk, but the reality of what I’m about to undertake is just now hitting me.
50,000 in 30 days, averaging about 1,667 words per day. AH! Why did I sign up for this? Where am I going to find the time to fit this in? Is my story good enough? Will my characters be believable? Will I like what I write? Will anyone else? Will I make it?
These questions have all been plaguing me over the past few days that I’ve been stuck inside, thanks to Sandy, and I’ve procrastinated with the best of them. I’ve logged over 25 episodes of House and done minimal work on my outline for NaNoWriMo. Even now, I’m writing about being scared about writing instead of taking action and doing something. That’s the worst part. I know I’m not being productive! As I’ve written these last few sentences, I’ve thought about organizing my desk, writing out a list of goals/motivational notes for myself, going to sleep to get well rested for November, and a dozen other things that would surely increase my productivity, but really would all just help me procrastinate. I’m the worst.
In an effort to stop my procrastination and assuage my fears, I’m going to make this the shortest post ever and hurriedly straighten my room before I do the last bit of outlining and character profiles before taking the plunge tomorrow. I said I was going to write a novel in a month, and I am scared to death that I’m going to fail, fall short, or write crap if I do finish, but I guess those are all risks I’m going to have to take.
Please excuse my limited posts or potential absence over the next month. Hopefully it means that I’m busy writing an awesome novel! I’ll try and share a bit of what I’m writing or other pieces I’ve written in the past if I do post, but follow me on Twitter with that button over there << or search for KileyKatey. I'm sure I'll be word-vomiting there when I'm not word-vomiting my novel.
Thanks for any thoughts, good wishes, or prayers you can send my way, too. Know that they are appreciated!! See you on the other side, 50,000 words down the road!
Here and there (but really, just sitting in front of my computer for thirty days),
Kiley
**At the time of this post, I'm up to 7,235 words! Still, send encouragement, tell me you're sure I'm not writing utter drivel, and please keep bearing with me this month. Also, my story is about gnomes, if you were wondering. I am tweeting a hell of a lot more than usual too, so if you want to keep in touch, follow me there!
Hurricane Sandy: Uptown, over, and out
*This post was supposed to go up Tuesday, October 30, but due to lack of interwebs, well, it’s a little late*
So here on the East Coast, we’ve been dealing with Hurricane Sandy since this past weekend. Storm trackers were on top of things starting last Friday, though my family had already heard reports and were asking me about it even earlier. Thank you to everyone for your love, concern, and offered support over this last week. I am so privileged to have so much love in my life, and I thank you all for it. To those who experienced effects far worse than we did, who have suffered from the damaging winds and surges, my heart goes out to you. You’re in my thoughts and prayers, and I wish you the fastest, safest recovery. For those helping, thank you, God bless, and please take care of yourselves, too.
Being here on the upper side of Manhattan, the effects haven’t been nearly as serious as those seemingly everywhere else on the East Coast. It’s like we had a special umbrella that protected us from everything – power outages, floods, property destruction – and for that I’m so thankful. On the other hand, a girl can only watch so much television over the span of a few short days. I say that tongue in cheek, since many are without power, but here’s a little glimpse into my last four days, preparing for the worst and experiencing the best, and luckily the most boring side, of Hurricane Sandy.
Saturday: My only day off during the week, I had a late start and went running for the first time since I got sick nearly two weeks ago. It’s not that I just now felt well enough to start running again; it’s that I was too lazy all week to get up an hour early and take care of business. I have every intention of getting back in shape starting November 1, so I will capitalize on these last few days of October and be the sloth that I loathe to be until then! After my run, I lazed around the apartment some more and went grocery shopping. Not only was I out of food, but my family in the Midwest was checking in on me and urging me to stock up on non-perishables and water, and I figured better safe than sorry. Afterward, I went to meet a new friend for coffee in this really neat little coffee shop with a library! We sat and talked for a good few hours, and I’m so glad we got together.
Saturday night was meant to be spent Halloween partying, but after plans fell through, I took advantage of the couple of Coors tallboys I’d bought for the occasion and went to work on my writing. I’ve nearly got a full outline for my NaNoWriMo story, but these character profiles are giving me the hardest time, mostly because I don’t feel like writing them. With November only a few days away, I know what I should spend the rest of the day doing! I didn’t pay much attention to weather reports, but my family kept me well informed that a storm of massive proportions was coming my way. The biggest news was the mayor’s warning that the MTA was considering shutting down transit. I didn’t realize it then, but in a city like New York that relies primarily on the subway and buses, this is a huge deal to say the least.
Sunday: I got up on Sunday for work at the bakery, and was surprised to see that the mall was largely dead. Usually we’re on a wait thirty minutes after we open, but we only managed a waiting list for an hour the whole time I was there. I did answer a number of phone calls asking whether or not we were open, and our managers mentioned in our pre-service meeting that if the subway were to shut down, that we would close early. As it was, I was sent home an hour early, at 3:00 instead of 4:00, and we did in fact close early, though I don’t know when. The subway stopped running at 7:00 that evening and buses shortly thereafter.
It wasn’t until then that I realized exactly how serious a storm this was going to be. Once home in my apartment, I went back out to do laundry (figured I was down to just a few pairs of underwear and should probably have enough to at least get me through the six days of stormy weather my iPhone weather report said we would have), where both TVs were showing weather reports. I started getting a lot more messages from family and some friends at this point, asking about my safety and wishing me the best. Between washing and drying cycles, I wandered next door to the same grocery store I’d visited the day before – then with minimal shoppers, shelves still lined with gallons and cases of water – to find ridiculously long lines at every register, most nuts and canned goods nowhere to be found, and a few singular bottles of water left on the selves. Deciding that I had enough from the previous day (but mostly because I was irritated by the long lines and frantic people), I just went back to the laundromat.
At home with clean laundry, I packed a go-bag complete with multiple days worth of clothes, my passport, my Nook, a few family photos, a box of granola bars, and the hundred dollars my mom suggested I withdraw, just in case. Since I’m a list-maker, I wrote out a “fast-grab” list in case we were made to evacuate immediately, which included: toothbrush, phone charger, phone, notebook, and medicine. The emergency hotline for my internship informed me that the office would be closed on Monday, and I was excited to have another day off work. My roommate and I bunkered down and I still got to watch Revenge and 666 Park Avenue between weather reports tracking Sandy’s progress.
Monday: For me, the most dramatic parts of my experience with Hurricane Sandy had passed. If those last few paragraphs didn’t seem overly dramatic, it’s because they simply weren’t. Preparing and wondering what would happen were the worst part of my preparations by far, and I’m thankful for that. I watched the reports of water levels rising at Battery Park, the most southern tip of Manhattan, and massive waves wreaking havoc on New Jersey before the storm even hit. With no coverage in our area and hours until the weather was supposed to get really bad, my roommate and I decided to take a walk by the Hudson to see what was happening for ourselves.
We walked down to the Hudson, which really is walking down. I’m maybe ten blocks from the highest point in Manhattan, and to get to the river I have to walk down my street, down a set of stairs, across a little overpass, down a winding path under the highway, across the street, under another underpass, and down another winding path through some woods. We’re a ways off the river, is my point. The water was very high and we could see where, presumably during high tide, the water had pushed up across the running path. Aside from some small gusts of wind, things were relatively calm, and there were even joggers, bikers, and families with young kids out looking around.
Satisfied with our photos, we worked our way back up to the neighborhood. On the way home, I got a Dunkin Donuts pumpkin latte as well as 25 Munchkins (chocolate and pumpkin!), and a piece of pizza to accompany me while we rode out the storm. At this point, around 1:00, Sandy had reached the status of Hurricane Irene in some places, but the storm was still a solid six hours off the coast, the worst yet to come. I put on my grey baggy high school soccer sweats and snuggled up with the weather report. But I was bored of the weather within an hour, so I muted it, keeping half an eye out for breaking news, and cued up House from my external hard drive.
The rest of my Monday was spent watching 15 episodes – yes, 15 45-minute episodes – and eating way too much. I kept an eye on the charge on my phone, plugging it in when it fell to less than 80%, and tried to resist opening my entire stash of food all at one time. Casualties in my apartment include: two pieces of French toast, SunChips, RiceWorks Sweet Chili crisps, ¼ jar of dry roasted peanuts, one slice of broccoli and tomato pizza, one pumpkin latte, approximately 12 Munchkins, and five water bottles of water (filled from the faucet, not the sealed gallon I bought). My greatest health threats: impending obesity from my binging, and bed sores from excessive lying around all day. You’ll be happy to know, I scraped by with only mild stiffness from my self-imposed lack of movement. I received an email that the bakery would be closed on Tuesday, another day off work for me. I dozed off around 1am to the occasional gust of wind outside my window, though only mild from what I could hear.
Tuesday: I woke up this morning and immediately turned on the news and realized just how lucky I am and how much real damage I avoided here in upper Manhattan. I ventured outside to see the state of our streets, but aside from a number of leaves from the now bare trees, there’s nothing piled up on the sidewalks, no damage here to speak of. Down closer to the George Washington Bridge, all I see are more bare trees. There may be more to see closer down to the water, but there are plenty greater and more important stories all around the area, particularly in New Jersey from what I’m seeing.
For now, public transit is still shut down here and there are a reported 2 million without power. That seems to be the primary concern for the city now, other than rescue efforts of course, and some buses will be running starting this evening. For now, I’ll wait until there’s another update on my office’s emergency hotline to see what my agenda will be for tomorrow, on Halloween. They don’t expect the subway to be back up for another four days or so, and I don’t know how else I would even get to work unless the buses all start running by tomorrow.
I don’t mean to be insensitive by highlighting how un-serious my situation is here in Manhattan, only to show how lucky I am to have such minor, petty concerns. To everyone who has reached out to me, thank you all again! I really do feel all warm and fuzzy, and it’s not just the sweatpants I’ve been wearing for days on end. To those all over the area, I wish you the best and hope your situation more closely resembles mine and not some of the tragic cases they’re continuing to report on the news. To those in the Midwest and further north who are just now experiencing the effects of Hurricane Sandy, be strong, be safe, and God bless. Take care everyone! I’ll be here, hopefully continuing to write and prepare for NaNoWriMo (unless I’m watching more House, which is saddeningly likely). For myself, I hope to God I can manage to eat less and control myself today, because my ass cannot continue to handle the amount of calories I’m ingesting. Stay safe, everyone.
Here and there,
Kiley
So here on the East Coast, we’ve been dealing with Hurricane Sandy since this past weekend. Storm trackers were on top of things starting last Friday, though my family had already heard reports and were asking me about it even earlier. Thank you to everyone for your love, concern, and offered support over this last week. I am so privileged to have so much love in my life, and I thank you all for it. To those who experienced effects far worse than we did, who have suffered from the damaging winds and surges, my heart goes out to you. You’re in my thoughts and prayers, and I wish you the fastest, safest recovery. For those helping, thank you, God bless, and please take care of yourselves, too.
Being here on the upper side of Manhattan, the effects haven’t been nearly as serious as those seemingly everywhere else on the East Coast. It’s like we had a special umbrella that protected us from everything – power outages, floods, property destruction – and for that I’m so thankful. On the other hand, a girl can only watch so much television over the span of a few short days. I say that tongue in cheek, since many are without power, but here’s a little glimpse into my last four days, preparing for the worst and experiencing the best, and luckily the most boring side, of Hurricane Sandy.
Saturday: My only day off during the week, I had a late start and went running for the first time since I got sick nearly two weeks ago. It’s not that I just now felt well enough to start running again; it’s that I was too lazy all week to get up an hour early and take care of business. I have every intention of getting back in shape starting November 1, so I will capitalize on these last few days of October and be the sloth that I loathe to be until then! After my run, I lazed around the apartment some more and went grocery shopping. Not only was I out of food, but my family in the Midwest was checking in on me and urging me to stock up on non-perishables and water, and I figured better safe than sorry. Afterward, I went to meet a new friend for coffee in this really neat little coffee shop with a library! We sat and talked for a good few hours, and I’m so glad we got together.
Saturday night was meant to be spent Halloween partying, but after plans fell through, I took advantage of the couple of Coors tallboys I’d bought for the occasion and went to work on my writing. I’ve nearly got a full outline for my NaNoWriMo story, but these character profiles are giving me the hardest time, mostly because I don’t feel like writing them. With November only a few days away, I know what I should spend the rest of the day doing! I didn’t pay much attention to weather reports, but my family kept me well informed that a storm of massive proportions was coming my way. The biggest news was the mayor’s warning that the MTA was considering shutting down transit. I didn’t realize it then, but in a city like New York that relies primarily on the subway and buses, this is a huge deal to say the least.
Sunday: I got up on Sunday for work at the bakery, and was surprised to see that the mall was largely dead. Usually we’re on a wait thirty minutes after we open, but we only managed a waiting list for an hour the whole time I was there. I did answer a number of phone calls asking whether or not we were open, and our managers mentioned in our pre-service meeting that if the subway were to shut down, that we would close early. As it was, I was sent home an hour early, at 3:00 instead of 4:00, and we did in fact close early, though I don’t know when. The subway stopped running at 7:00 that evening and buses shortly thereafter.
It wasn’t until then that I realized exactly how serious a storm this was going to be. Once home in my apartment, I went back out to do laundry (figured I was down to just a few pairs of underwear and should probably have enough to at least get me through the six days of stormy weather my iPhone weather report said we would have), where both TVs were showing weather reports. I started getting a lot more messages from family and some friends at this point, asking about my safety and wishing me the best. Between washing and drying cycles, I wandered next door to the same grocery store I’d visited the day before – then with minimal shoppers, shelves still lined with gallons and cases of water – to find ridiculously long lines at every register, most nuts and canned goods nowhere to be found, and a few singular bottles of water left on the selves. Deciding that I had enough from the previous day (but mostly because I was irritated by the long lines and frantic people), I just went back to the laundromat.
At home with clean laundry, I packed a go-bag complete with multiple days worth of clothes, my passport, my Nook, a few family photos, a box of granola bars, and the hundred dollars my mom suggested I withdraw, just in case. Since I’m a list-maker, I wrote out a “fast-grab” list in case we were made to evacuate immediately, which included: toothbrush, phone charger, phone, notebook, and medicine. The emergency hotline for my internship informed me that the office would be closed on Monday, and I was excited to have another day off work. My roommate and I bunkered down and I still got to watch Revenge and 666 Park Avenue between weather reports tracking Sandy’s progress.
Monday: For me, the most dramatic parts of my experience with Hurricane Sandy had passed. If those last few paragraphs didn’t seem overly dramatic, it’s because they simply weren’t. Preparing and wondering what would happen were the worst part of my preparations by far, and I’m thankful for that. I watched the reports of water levels rising at Battery Park, the most southern tip of Manhattan, and massive waves wreaking havoc on New Jersey before the storm even hit. With no coverage in our area and hours until the weather was supposed to get really bad, my roommate and I decided to take a walk by the Hudson to see what was happening for ourselves.
We walked down to the Hudson, which really is walking down. I’m maybe ten blocks from the highest point in Manhattan, and to get to the river I have to walk down my street, down a set of stairs, across a little overpass, down a winding path under the highway, across the street, under another underpass, and down another winding path through some woods. We’re a ways off the river, is my point. The water was very high and we could see where, presumably during high tide, the water had pushed up across the running path. Aside from some small gusts of wind, things were relatively calm, and there were even joggers, bikers, and families with young kids out looking around.
Satisfied with our photos, we worked our way back up to the neighborhood. On the way home, I got a Dunkin Donuts pumpkin latte as well as 25 Munchkins (chocolate and pumpkin!), and a piece of pizza to accompany me while we rode out the storm. At this point, around 1:00, Sandy had reached the status of Hurricane Irene in some places, but the storm was still a solid six hours off the coast, the worst yet to come. I put on my grey baggy high school soccer sweats and snuggled up with the weather report. But I was bored of the weather within an hour, so I muted it, keeping half an eye out for breaking news, and cued up House from my external hard drive.
The rest of my Monday was spent watching 15 episodes – yes, 15 45-minute episodes – and eating way too much. I kept an eye on the charge on my phone, plugging it in when it fell to less than 80%, and tried to resist opening my entire stash of food all at one time. Casualties in my apartment include: two pieces of French toast, SunChips, RiceWorks Sweet Chili crisps, ¼ jar of dry roasted peanuts, one slice of broccoli and tomato pizza, one pumpkin latte, approximately 12 Munchkins, and five water bottles of water (filled from the faucet, not the sealed gallon I bought). My greatest health threats: impending obesity from my binging, and bed sores from excessive lying around all day. You’ll be happy to know, I scraped by with only mild stiffness from my self-imposed lack of movement. I received an email that the bakery would be closed on Tuesday, another day off work for me. I dozed off around 1am to the occasional gust of wind outside my window, though only mild from what I could hear.
Tuesday: I woke up this morning and immediately turned on the news and realized just how lucky I am and how much real damage I avoided here in upper Manhattan. I ventured outside to see the state of our streets, but aside from a number of leaves from the now bare trees, there’s nothing piled up on the sidewalks, no damage here to speak of. Down closer to the George Washington Bridge, all I see are more bare trees. There may be more to see closer down to the water, but there are plenty greater and more important stories all around the area, particularly in New Jersey from what I’m seeing.
For now, public transit is still shut down here and there are a reported 2 million without power. That seems to be the primary concern for the city now, other than rescue efforts of course, and some buses will be running starting this evening. For now, I’ll wait until there’s another update on my office’s emergency hotline to see what my agenda will be for tomorrow, on Halloween. They don’t expect the subway to be back up for another four days or so, and I don’t know how else I would even get to work unless the buses all start running by tomorrow.
I don’t mean to be insensitive by highlighting how un-serious my situation is here in Manhattan, only to show how lucky I am to have such minor, petty concerns. To everyone who has reached out to me, thank you all again! I really do feel all warm and fuzzy, and it’s not just the sweatpants I’ve been wearing for days on end. To those all over the area, I wish you the best and hope your situation more closely resembles mine and not some of the tragic cases they’re continuing to report on the news. To those in the Midwest and further north who are just now experiencing the effects of Hurricane Sandy, be strong, be safe, and God bless. Take care everyone! I’ll be here, hopefully continuing to write and prepare for NaNoWriMo (unless I’m watching more House, which is saddeningly likely). For myself, I hope to God I can manage to eat less and control myself today, because my ass cannot continue to handle the amount of calories I’m ingesting. Stay safe, everyone.
Here and there,
Kiley
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