I had to finish nano tonight because tomorrow (er today) I work the night shift, so not much time before midnight to get the writing done.
I had to get 8000 words written, and since I had previously calc'd that I write about 700 words in an hour, this worried me greatly. First time I've ever been seriously worried about Nano. I was determined to finish it (Personal Life facing off against Work Life) but to finish it and get no sleep... not great. I have a ton to do at work the next two days!
I actually finished about 2 hours ago at 5 AM, but had some other things to read and catch up on afterwards. But yay! Turns out I can write 8000 words in about 6 hours. Not bad not bad. And actually it was 8500 words because nano calculates less words than my writing program does. So I knew I was going to have to keep writing a bit until the nano robots recognized the right count.
Funny thing is, I left this novel in the same place as last year's -- at the Dark Point. It's very sad to keep leaving my characters at the point when everything's going wrong!
Okay, off to bed. And soon must replenish groceries. Shortbread eaten. Soup eaten. ...Still lots of tea.
Personal Life WON!! (Just barely, but a win is a win.)
Hmm just realized I only have tonight and Sunday night to finish the remaining 10 000 words. How veddy interesting. Meanwhile I have a million things to do for work. I've take ONE home with me, and am allowing a small amount of time for it. But it's 2 AM so I'd better get to it. It really is coming down to ...
Job vs Writing
Meanwhile I ate the last of the old pita bread I found in the freezer. I've finished the soy milk, but still lots of rice milk. Realized I had icing sugar so I could make one dessert--shortbread cookies. But now the margarine is gone so I can't make anything else.
But there's pasta, 2 tomatoes, canned beans, lemon juice, and spices left. I think I can make it.
So... the story is getting there. The guy who runs nano sent out an email saying that at this point nano divides into three groups. The people who wrote their daily requirement all month and are finishing up now. The people who are too far behind and have pulled the plug. And the "comeback kids" who are in the 20 30 000 range and will be posting at the last minute. That's where he's at, and that's always where I am. Previous years I wasn't quite THIS behind, not that I recall. But it'll happen... despite the fact that the next few days at work will be ridiculously busy... I will Gloria Gaynor survive.
Well reading the Daily Mail hasn't become an addiction yet, but... here are the stories that got me today.
* I once wrote (on some blog or another) how the advice to live each day like it's your last is Very Bad Advice. And here's proof! "A breast cancer sufferer who thought she was going to die lavished £50,000 on her family - only to be given the all-clear." (read here) The weird thing is she spent it after all her treatments, before finding out whether they had worked. And that's all debt money. How did she think her husband would pay for it after she died??
* Dude strikes it rich by finding buried Saxon hoard with metal detector. "Mr Herbert, 55, a former factory worker on disability benefit, discovered the hoard while searching the field between Lichfield and Tamworth on July 5. Armed with an 18-year-old metal detector, he unearthed beautiful gold sword hilts, jewels from Sri Lanka, exquisitely carved helmet decorations and early Christian crosses. Within days he had filled 244 bags, including gold objects alone weighing more than 11lb (5kg). Archaeologists believe the loot was buried at the site by a king or warlord who was most likely killed before being able to retrieve it.(here)
* Crazy deep sea animals. "This is a female Pacific giant octopus who guards her eggs in a den for six months. Gradually she starves, and her last act of devotion is blowing water over her eggs to help them hatch. And then she dies."
* Homeless kid falls asleep in a garbage skip and dies when the truck emptied it! Eeep!! Sad.
* "
A football-mad benefits scrounger refereed more than 40 soccer matches - despite claiming he could barely walk.
Stephen Southern, 50, pocketed more than £11,000 in disability handouts after telling benefits officials that severe back pain meant he could barely hobble 30 yards.
He claimed he suffered 'chest pain and dizziness', could not dress himself, needed help to sit and stand, and wasn't able to lift his arms above his head.
But the Department for Work and Pensions secretly filmed him sprinting, twisting and turning as he officiated in a string of football matches." (here)
* Hey they're filming the new A-Team in Vancouver! It's so exciting.
Yay! Clash of the Titans! But I'm a little uncertain about the description of the plot--Hades trying to take over the world. I mean... Hades wasn't really a bad guy in the Greek tales, was he? Not that I remember. He was just the god who ruled the underworld.
What's wrong with the good old fashioned love story, hero journey, and bickering between jealous gods? I don't seem to be alone--the comments on youtube are all "hope they didn't change the plot, just updated the effects." But to be fair, it looks like a lot of key scenes and creatures are in it.
And really, it will be hard to ruin this. It looks awesome. :-)
My favourite one is still the Sun City project led by Little Steven. Musically & lyrically I think it's the best song (love Miles' trumpet at the beginning), its critique is directed at the artists' own government, it's political, and it not only tried to raise awareness of apartheid, but had a more specific and art-related goal to get artists not to play at the resort. (There are some other good songs on the album too.)
Reading on wiki it's even more interesting. Little Steven had traveled in S.A. and was "distressed" by this resort, and wanted to write a song paralleling it with the state of Native Americans ("relocation to phony homelands"); but his journalist friend "suggested turning the song into a different kind of "We Are the World", or as Schechter explains, "a song about change not charity, freedom not famine."
And you must be on to something when many of the radio stations in the US ban you. (I'd never realized it because it played all the time in Canada.) Our government tells us we're doing all we can Constructive Engagement is Ronald Reagan's plan Meanwhile people are dying and giving up hope This quiet diplomacy ain't nothing but a joke
And in the end the money apparently went to Oliver Tambo and the exiled ANC. (Though I wonder who gets the royalties now?) And finally... everyone in this video is just so much cooler than the We Are the World crowd. It all degenerates into a big dance party!
We're rockers and rappers united an strong (Run DMC) We're here to talk about South Africa we don't like what's going on (Grandmaster Melle Mel & Duke Bootee) It's time for some justice it's time for the truth (Afrika Bambaataa & Kurtis Blow) We've realized there's only one thing we can do (Big Youth & All Rappers) I ain't gonna play Sun City
Relocation to phoney homelands (David Ruffin) Separation of families I can't understand (Pat Benatar) 23 million can't vote because they're black (Eddie Kendrick) We're stabbing our brothers and sisters in the back (Bruce Springsteen) I ain't gonna play Sun City
Our government tells us we're doing all we can (George Clinton) Constructive Engagement is Ronald Reagan's plan (Joey Ramone) Meanwhile people are dying and giving up hope (Jimmy Cliff & Daryl Hall) This quiet diplomacy ain't nothing but a joke (Darlene Love) I ain't gonna play Sun City
Bopusthuswana is far away (Run DMC) But we know it's in South Africa on matter what they say (Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, Afrika Bombaataa) You can't buy me I don't care what you pay (Duke Bootee, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Afrika Bombaataa) Do'nt ask me Sun City because I ain't gonna play (Linton Kwesi Johnson & All Rappers)
I ain't gonna play Sun City
It's time to accept our responsibility (Bonnie Raitt) Freedom is a privilege nobody rides for free (Ruben Blades & John Oates) Look around the world baby it can't be denied (Lou Reed) Why are we always on the wrong side (Bobby Womack)
I ain't gonna play Sun City
Relocation to phoney homelands (Jackson Browne & Bob Dylan) Separation of families I can't understand (Peter Garrett) 23 million can't vote because they're black (Nona Hendryx & Kashif) We're stabbing our brothers and sisters in the back (Bono)
I've made some more celery carrot soup. I've made some apple walnut pudding. My fridge is almost empty. I've only 1 bagel left, then there's no bread. There's milk, but only non-vegan cereal which the husband bought 3 packages of and then left. No sugar left for making desserts.
There is lots of tea, however. I may survive on tea.
I'm ready to write... but I have to get up at 6 AM tomorrow for work, so... it's gonna be a tough last 5 days in nano land. I've finished my modernization of King Henry IV Part 1, so now it's on to Henry IV Part 2. I may accelerate through this part and get to Henry V. It's the adapting that slows me down--trying to figure out how to take a battle in the play, and turn it into something contemporary, not involving death since I'm writing a Light and Frothy Comedy. Yes yes, I'm turning three history plays about war into a screwball comedy. Failure is imminent.
As my father quoted on his facebook today, from Homer Simpson:
"I hate trying. Trying is just the first step towards failure."
I'm getting Nano-numb-bottom. Been at this all day yesterday, all day today--10 hours so far today. I'm up to 21 300 words, which at least brings me somewhat into the possibly-I-can-finish-this range. I've completed Nano twice, so you'd think I'd go easier on myself about having to finish it a third time. But this time I'm working full-time... and refuse to let Work defeat Writing. Never give up! Never surrender!
I want to get to 25 000 before I go to bed. I calculated that I can write about 1700 words in one hour, if I'm working on a scene that doesn't require me to stop and plot. So I should be able to finish by 5 AM.
But now I shall take a short bottombreak. And watch my favourite autotune the news video, because it inspires me. Makes me laugh each time. Makes me want to have all the characters call each other "shortayee!"
Will we choose liberty? Or will we choose tyranny? That depends who gets to be the tyrant! I thought this bill was about the climate?
I've almost got it memorized. And once I have it memorized I can sing along to this!
I made a ginormous creamed soup using 5 leeks, a bag of baby carrots, and a head of celery, and some corn. Now all I have to do is eat a bowl of it every day and I'll have all my required vegetables.
I'd consider doing this all year round except... presumably at some point I'd get tired of cream of carrot-leek-celery-corn soup.
Just watching Purple Rain again. One of the problems with the movie is that the club owner is having to choose between keeping Prince, The Time, Apollonia 6, and The Modernaires, because he only needs 3 acts, not 4.
But it's a little hard to believe he'd kick out Prince before Dez Dickerson (Prince's old lead guitarist.) You're sitting there going: Just kick out Dez Dickerson, what's the big deal!
Coder #1: I just can't work in these pants! Coder #2, raising hand: Seconded! Boss #1: No! Motion fails! Boss #2: Indeed -- pants remain a workplace requirement!
7255 East Hampton Avenue Mesa, Arizona
Overheard by: Chris Cardinal
*
Reporter #1: How should I identify a chicken at a press conference? There was a guy in a chicken suit who refused to give me his name. Reporter #2: If it was a guy in a suit, I think you'd have to call him an 'Unidentified chicken impersonator.'
400 East Pratt Street Baltimore, Maryland
Overheard by: Jack Ace, reporter-at-large
*
Boss, setting down ancient computing equipment: I don't know what's going to happen when I turn this on. Hopefully it won't catch on fire... Minion: Then why is it on my desk?
Tyco Road Vienna, Virginia
Overheard by: Hiding behind the bookshelves
*
2PM Astonished at His Success, the Customer Went on to Broker Peace Between the Israelis and the Palestinians
Counter person: Hi, can I help you? Customer: Yes, I'd like a dinner for twelve, please. Counter person: Oh, I'm sorry. For orders that large you have to call catering at least twenty-four hours in advance. Customer: Er, then how about two dinners for six? Counter person: Oh, sure, we can do that.
Boston Market, Highway 60 and Limona Road Brandon, Florida
Overheard by: Stefanie
*
Female employee #1: ...so if the sun exploded seven minutes ago, we wouldn't know it yet, because it takes eight minutes for the sun's light to reach us. Male employee: That's depressing! What would you do in those seven minutes? Female employee #1: If I were at work? Have sex. Male employee: Isn't that's a lot of pressure on the guy? Female employee #1: Please. Guys are usually all, "Gimme two minutes!" Female employee #2: You could do three guys in that time! Female employee #1: Three and a half!
The Nano goes slowly. Slowed down by things like digging out my old CD collection (old because I only download now) and deciding if there were any songs not uploaded to my computer that deserved to be uploaded.
All it really confirmed was that being able to download single songs off otherwise mediocre albums is a truly great thing. There are only 2 good songs on the How Stella Got Her Groove Back soundtrack. This Boyz II Men love song, and a Wyclef track.
Perhaps the strength I need to get through nanowrimo!
Nano has been a disaster so far. Work is definitely winning the battle against Energy For My Personal Life this month. I actually went to bed by 2 AM the last two nights cause I was sooo sleeeepy even before my sleep pill. And the headaches have been bad.
But I'm back to my old self tonight. It's almost 6 AM and I have to make myself go to bed. Yay! A good sign! We'll see how the weekend goes...
I'm going to make the supreme attempt to go to bed now, at 1 AM, because I have a bloodletting at 9 AM downtown. Stoopid bloodlettings downtown. Sucks.
I decided I needed a new avatar. (Why? Because I'm procrastinating of course! Ya-duh!)
The first one I made years ago when I was trapped in the prison of school. The second I made showed me writing romances in London, wearing an historical type gown. This time I chose a Victorian look (with clogs) in a theatre, while writing. Because part of me wants to be back at Stratford watching Oscar Wilde plays, and the other part is happy to be here, writing. Okay but in reality... I spent a few hours reading Hunger Games this morning, and I made some scones, but the rest of time has been spent working out my plot so I can actually start the WRITING part. I think I've got enough plot worked out to get going tomorrow.
The Importance of Being Earnest ends with some familial revelations, resulting in the fact that one of the heroes is now engaged to his own cousin. This seemed to cause some "distress" to people around me, after the play. (Well, more like they thought Oscar Wilde had overlooked something.)
But if you're A Great Reader of Aulde Books then you know that (a) cousin doesn't always mean "first cousin", and (b) though in this case it does, the taboo against marrying cousins is a recent thing, and (c) in any case it isn't against the law in England. And it's legal in many US states, as well as in Canada.
I just thought... I needed to put everyone's minds to rest.
Or I needed a minute of procrastination. I swear I was researching!
When I was in grade 7 and "I'm So Excited" came out (Pointer Sisters) I could have sworn there was a shot where you could see June's vagina as she gets out of the bathtub. But I never saw it again, and so wondered all these years if I was crazy.
Apparently I'm not the only one who wondered, and very little googling brought up the video in it's pre-edited form.
Sigh. There are, like 80 characters in Henry IV Part 1, Part 2, and Henry V. But some of them are the same person, just with a new title, so I have to weed them out. And then I need to figure out which characters are minor and easy to cut. And then I'll still be left with too many characters, so I need to blend some, cut some, etc.
Sigh sigh sigh.
But I've got a nice little spreadsheet now. I think I've earned the right to go to bed.
Yes, I should be working on my book. I am! I opened up all my files. I put on the right music. And then I sat there staring at the screen. Staaaaring... sigh. I'm so so sleepy. Sleeeeepyyyyy. But the last few nights I at least make myself work out one plot point before I go to bed.
The Curse of the Full Time Manager is starting to take effect. I'm getting that "och i'm so tired" feeling when I get home, plus the overtime here and there, here and there. Och aye! This month... Nanowrimo and FTM will battle it out for supremacy! Scaaaary.
Our third day was Cyrano de Bergerac, again at the Festival Theatre. Here's the Shakespeare garden, looking a little worse for wear in this weather. Here the Boyz discuss the merits of Cyrano, as they wait for the doors to open. One thing that's fun about Stratford--a bit like being at a convention--is that everyone's there for the same reason, so they're all fun to talk to. Like, one day I was standing in the shop and said: "Colm Feore was so great in xyz" and the woman behind me said (gushing) "Colm Feore is great in anything!" And we were both going to see Cyrano the next day.
And at West Side Story when Gilby warned the people around us that he might break out singing, both the woman behind us and the woman in front of us said they would join him.
And at Cyrano there was a girl behind us who'd been here earlier in the summer with her mom, and had to come back and see Cyrano again with her sister. It was alll sooo chummy.
After the play we set off back to Toronto. At the airport I got on a standby flight back home. Here we are with our last cranberry juice, at the airport. And here we are on the city bus going home. We just finished reading our second E. Lockhart book, which was, appropriately, about kids at a theatre summer camp. And that was the end of Stratfordganza. It was so fun, I wish I could do it every year.
I met Gilby 12 years ago when the store I work at opened--he worked in the Computers department, and I was in Fiction. When his birthday came about he went dancing around the store telling everyone, which I found Veddy Amusing. So I stood at my computer and made him a birthday card. Which he found Veddy Amusing. And so we became friends.
He was this Ayn Rand loving, philosophy-arguin' type, so when he drove me home one night and sang "Stars" from Les Miz to me, I was shocked to see this whole other side to him--the musicals lover!
Gilby is one of my beSTest friends. I am in adoration of him. He's very easy to love. And thankfully my husband and his wife don't Take This the Wrong Way (it's totally non-sexual) so we're able to run away for a weekend together (and I stayed 10 days in London with him, when he was there on business a few years ago.) Giiiilbeeeee!
We've given each other a Christmahannukahbirthday present each year, but I (who am supposed to make something creative) am running out of ideas. So this year I proposed we go see a play, or go to Stratford together. I think this will be our tradition, though I don't think I can afford Stratford and 3 plays each year. But maybe a musical in Toronto, where I can stay with him and his wife.
On to... Day Two.
Here is Our Spot at the bar, where we usually ate cause the restaurant was always full. At least we tried to make it Our Spot. But after the first couple times, it was always taken. Basts.
Went souvenir shopping that day. I bought Fernando a shirt with a bear on it that says "Exit, pursued by a bear." And a pen. And a magnet for our fridge. And a water bottle. And my Oscar doll. And Gilby got his finger puppet, and I tossed in a collection of Oscar Wilde's works for him. I do not feel guilty for my materialism, since the money supports the festival--whose traditional supporters are dying-off-oldies. (One of the central plot points in Sling and Arrows.)
After I had to mail some cards. I asked where I could get stamps.
Lady - At Blowes, across the square. Me - ... ... Blows? Lady (suppressing giggle) - Yes, it's someone's name. Blowes.
On the way we saw Allen's Alley, which needed photographing. How many of us can claim to own an alley after all? Here I've got my arm around the boyz. (And might I add - everytime I buy slacks from Reitman's they shrink the first time I wash them, even though I use cold water and hang dry? Despicable.)
There was Much Wind. And chilliness. I was wearing 4 layers all weekend. But I have a Most Excellent poppy - the kind with a Canadian flag pin holding it in place. That's what you get when you buy early and donate well! Blowes. This is the Avon theatre by our hotel, where we saw Earnest the night before. Our hotel. That night we took a 20 minute walk down to the Festival theatre. There were mirrors in the lobby, so we didn't have to ask someone to photograph us! Oscar's a bit low, because we're seeing something he didn't write -- West Side Story. I thought we'd get a shaming for placing our toys on the Weird Sisters, but no one noticed. And everyone who walked by laughed. And instead I got a shaming for photographing the theatre interior.
West Side Story was great. Our friend, Mrs Alfonse, had had a bad performance earlier this summer. But everyone sang well, and the staging was great. Tony did a lot of leaping around on Maria's balcony, which really made them seem IN LURV. The songs were beautifully sung, the dancing was great. Gilby was meh'd by Riff, but I thought Action was great.
Here is Gilby watching Darth Vader at the canteen, again. The Boyz regard New Oscar with suspicion. And so ended Day 2.
* The truth is rarely pure and never simple. - Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest *
Because I know that punctuality is not one of Mr. Gilby's strong points (though he has many), I wisely planned to arrive in Toronto by noon. Our first play wasn't until 8 PM.
This was good thinking, because Gilby was expected to make a stop at work lunch, where one of his work crew was celebrating his birthday. So we stopped in at the Indian restaurant for lunch. They were lots of fun and A Pleasant Time Was Had by All.
Then we took the 2 hour drive to Stratford. It's a very cutesy sort of place, though probably prettier in summer. Here is Finger Puppet Oscar as we enter his hometown. (FP Oscar was born in Stratford, where Mrs. Bacher adopted him and gifted him to me. We brought FP Oscar and Beanie Yoda with us.) I was most worried about our hotel (Foster's Inn), because I could only rely on online reviews of it. But it was great. It was a funky little place, and I considered stealing much of the furniture. (In the end I only thefted the room key, which I have promised to return by mail.) Gilby brought True Blood with him, he wanted to force upon me--so we sat on the bed together and watched episodes, in between meals and plays.
Back to the tale... here we are at Othello's. We were going to eat at the hotel restaurant, but were informed by the Funky Wait Staff that they were booked solid, and Othello's would be the only place in town with room because (a) they were big and (b) their food sucked. Both proved to be true, but that was fine. Pictured here: the boyz, with cranberry juice--for some reason that's all I drank the whole time. Our play that night was The Importance of Being Earnest by my fave fave fave writer, Oscar Wilde. Here we are waiting for I of BE to begin. We tried to take our own photo but Gilby looked like a madman, I looked scheming, and the boyz looked like they were falling down drunk. So Gilby asked the girls next to me to take our pic. The I of BE was the show we both enjoyed the most. Gilby had never read/seen a Wilde play, so he was delighted by the fantastico humour.
The I of BE was my fave Wilde play as a girl, but the recent movie version ruined it for me, even though it starred my #1 Actor Boyfriend Rupert Everett, playing one of my Top Character Boyfriends, Algernon Moncrieff. The film was by the same dudes who did one of my fave movies of all time, Wilde's An Ideal Husband (also starring my #1 Boyfriend in one of my favourite roles) but the director completely missed the boat on this one. It's not the LEAST bit funny (as you can see on youtube). Ugh. I was soooo disappointed, and haven't returned to the play since.
Thank heaven for Stratford. And for Brian Bedford who played Lady Bracknell and was HI-larious. We lahffed and lahffed. This was our favourite bit: Algernon has always used his invented invalid friend as an excuse to escape from Lady Bracknell, and in this scene he kills off Bunbury...
Lady Bracknell. Dead! When did Mr. Bunbury die? His death must have been extremely sudden.
Algernon. [Airily.] Oh! I killed Bunbury this afternoon. I mean poor Bunbury died this afternoon.
Lady Bracknell. What did he die of?
Algernon. Bunbury? Oh, he was quite exploded.
Lady Bracknell. Exploded! Was he the victim of a revolutionary outrage? I was not aware that Mr. Bunbury was interested in social legislation. If so, he is well punished for his morbidity.
Algernon. My dear Aunt Augusta, I mean he was found out! The doctors found out that Bunbury could not live, that is what I mean—so Bunbury died.
Lady Bracknell. He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians. I am glad, however, that he made up his mind at the last to some definite course of action, and acted under proper medical advice.
Gilby was so excited that he had to have his own Oscar finger puppet. And I had to buy a doll-sized Oscar, even though I feared he would upstage Oscar FP and Beanie Yoda. Gilby grew tired of my vacillating and made me buy him. Brian Bedford as Lady Bracknell (from a CBC article):
One of the funniest battleaxes in the history of English comedy, the role has been played on stage and screen by the likes of Dame Edith Evans and Dame Judi Dench – and at Stratford, memorably, by the late, great William Hutt. His Lady Bracknell in the festival's 1975 production – revived twice – has become the stuff of legend. That's doubtless what inspired Stratford's new artistic chief, Des McAnuff, to suggest Bedford do the part.
"When he told me, I said, 'Oh my God, really? I'll have to think about that,'" Bedford says during an interview in the living room of his long-time Stratford home – a tastefully refurbished Ontario cottage. He's barefoot and wearing sweats – a disarmingly casual look for a member of festival royalty. He says he went back and reread Wilde's play and decided it would be the perfect left-field followup to his last Stratford outing two seasons ago. "What do you do after you've done King Lear?" he asks. "Lady Bracknell seemed to fill the bill."
..."I realized I had to be as utterly convincing as Lady Bracknell as Barry Humphries is with Dame Edna," he says. "Of course, you know it's Humphries you're watching, but you don't think about that – you're just absolutely flabbergasted and absorbed by this crazy woman that he's giving you. I thought how important that was: there mustn't be any hint of a man playing a woman."
Without sacrificing a single of Lady Bracknell’s withering bons mots, he avoids the stridently arch and the obvious. A single word — “Found?” — spoken in a tone of hushed stupefaction sets the audience roaring no less than that peerless joke about losing both one’s parents seeming like “carelessness.” The trick to making a male Lady Bracknell into something more than a camp joke is to take her as seriously as she takes herself. That’s no mean feat, of course, but Mr. Bedford performs it with forthrightness that inspires admiration, riding the crests of Wilde’s language like a great galleon in full sail. [Once you've seen the production you realize how accurate this review is. I can still hear that "FOUND?" in my head!]
*** To see how horribly unfunny the movie was, you can see this exchange at the end of this scene on youtube:
It couldn't be less funny.
This version (at minute 6) is much better. And Bedford was even better.
