NaNoWriMo Panic! My Thoughts Through Pictures

I seem to do pictorial blogs most frequently on my Saturdays. I don't have a really good reason for that, but it seems to be that way. I'm starting to get panicked about NaNoWriMo - I was SO much better prepared last year than I am this year, but even more than that, I don't have quite the drive that I did, although I can't wait to get back to my novel. So I'll be diving into that next week.

This lovely rainbow bridge, lit in the rainbow colors to celebrate
the achievement of LGBT rights, is a great way to start my journey today.

Samhain is just around the corner, my house is a mess, my father-by-marriage's house will get its final cleaning on Sunday and after inspection, will go on the market, so hopefully by November 1 (much later than I had hoped). Time is compressing into a solid lump, rocking on an unstable ledge, and just waiting to fall heavily on me. And all I want to do is write a novel *sigh*. So...here's a picture blog that's as rambling as my thoughts.

At this time last year I had already spent more than six months researching
my novel. This year is a continuation of what I already started last year, but
I really should have been re-reading some of the books I had checked out
before starting/continuing the writing next week. NEST WEEK? ACK!!!

My novel takes place in Colorado and deals with the early mining history
of this wonderful and fascinating state. Because it deals with true
history, having my facts accurate and understanding the cultural realities
of that time frame is essential to making the novel both realistic and readable.

The other part of the novel takes place at the Aspen Music School. I was
raised in Denver and Aspen, and spent every summer in Aspen for as
long as I can remember. Since this aspect of the book pulls more on my
own memories, I didn't have to research it quite as much, but I
still spent a fair amount of time hitting the books.

Time is slipping away from me. I thought I had so much time available, and
suddenly, I have none. I'll be writing the second half of this novel
steering by the seat of my pants. 

So there you have it - my reasoning for the panicked feelings I have been feeling as pictured in a random photo blog. Am I ready for NaNo this time? Not even close! But that won't stop me from writing, it just means I'll have more crap to edit out when I am finally able to double and triple check my facts.

But ...I'm a writer, and I'm going to write!

Dreams vs Reality

Sometimes dreams can come true, other times they have to move aside in the face of reality. Yesterday I was faced with the necessity of shooting one dream down in the hope of achieving another, having the possibility of a much larger dream come true. It was a give and take, in essence. But it didn't feel that way initially.

Choices - sometimes choices can be difficult, especially when
they are things you know you really want.

Last year, as every year since the mid-1990's, I attended the Bead & Button Show. For more than 10 years it has been held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the state next door to me and less than a six hour car drive away from my home. So it's quite easy to get to. The Show has expanded year after year, offering more and more classes and more specialized classes that spur not only my artistic imagination, but also my technical skills.

I wanted to expand my jewelry-making techniques. I haven't
had a chance to sit down at my bench for an
extended period of time for far too long.

Last year my friend Shruti from India came to the US for an extended visit and we intersected for a week shared in the madness that is Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee. We had a totally fabulous time and parted with the idea that we would meet again in 2014 and each would try to get registration for one of the Master Classes offered before the show opened their full range of classes.

My friend Shruti is a marvelous artist with
a "go for it" attitude that blends with my own
"devil may care" focus very well. 

Master classes are three-day intensive classes with a single teacher - some of the best teachers and artists in the world. They are a very expensive class but you learn a lot and it can be a fabulous experience. I wanted to take Andy Cooperman's class in connections and Shruti wanted to take Celie Fago's class in metal clay techniques. I sent my registration information for the drawing the week after I returned home, but I decided I should Email Shruti and make sure she had sent her own registration in. So I emailed her last week.

Andy Cooperman is known for unusual combinations
of metals, fantastical shapes, and methods of
combining disparate materials into final items. He's
totally off the beaten path of traditional jewelry, but
based in solid technical skill. 

Unfortunately, because of a variety of circumstances, Shruti has had to change her plans and will not be able to come to the US next year after all.  I can't afford to be at the Show for an extended time period without someone to share my hotel room, so I decided that I also will pull out. I contacted Bead & Button Show organizers yesterday and pulled my name from the Master Class registration pool. If I attend Bead & Button Show at all next year, it will be for a much shorter time with a small number of classes.

I dream of sharing a vacation with my DH. We haven't gone
out of town together on any trip since 1994. I think we're WAY overdue.

But my reality will be focused on my business next year and going out of town at the beginning of June may be a really poor idea and a huge scheduling conflict. So it's looking as if I will give up one dream in the hope of realizing another, much larger, dream for my future life, my business, and my personal art. Will it be a worthwhile trade? Only time will tell, but it feels as if I've made the correct decision...at least so far. And I may still go to Milwaukee for a very short time, but it won't be the week+ of time I had originally been looking at.

Oh well, that's serious money that is now saved. Maybe I'll buy a Surface2 with the money I'm saving...

My Day Off Adventures

I had fun on my day off, wandered, looked at very pretty things, and checked some other things out. All in all, I had a successful and productive day even though I ended up folding the final load of laundry at 8:30 pm last night *sigh*. It wasn't a time management issue, just one of those times that moved in a more plodding direction than running off to do the 50 yard dash.

I just wasn't in the mood for a 50-yard dash yesterday.

I had four repairs on my desk and only actually managed to finish one of them. I did a partial for a second one, was missing some components on the third one, and I couldn't even start the fourth. But the one with the hardest deadline is complete and I'll phone her in the morning to come and pick up her necklace.

The Mall of America Rotunda is in the center of the east side. I didn't
encounter this locale yesterday, staying on the south side and entering
and leaving from the western side. But the Mall is HUGE.

I went to the Mall of America for the first time since 1996. The Mall is still a very uncomfortable experience for me, lots of shivery memories, but I had a goal and knew exactly where I wanted to go. The advantage of having spent such a long time in the Mall so many years ago was knowing exactly where I wanted to park and where the store I wanted was located.

The Microsoft store had a lot of similarities with the Apple stores I've
been in, but (obviously) featured different products. It was my first
experience playing with Windows 8 and I liked it. Yes, I'm sucked in and
yes, I want a Surface 2.

Less than half-way down the South Hall, there it was on my left. The Microsoft store - the only one in my metro area. I wanted to look at the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro and see what they really cost, what they felt like to hold, what the keyboards felt like, etc. I saw, I touched, I liked. Very nice. The Surface Pro is like a laptop replacement - a machine that you can actually install programs onto. If you want Microsoft Office on it, it will cost you an additional $230 and the optional keyboard is $130, so those would be additional costs over the base price. But the item I really liked was...the Surface 2.

I liked the Surface 2. Full MS Office is included at no additional
charge as well as a good amount of cloud storage,. It comes with
the fully functional pen and the kickstand. The keyboard is extra -
$130 for a backlit keyboard, clicking keys or not. I really liked this a lot.

The Surface 2 is a true tablet - lean, light, and amazingly powerful with a USB3 port, a micro port and a slot for an Micro SD card allowing for a lot of expansion possibilities. What I loved is that the full Microsoft Office program is included on this at NO EXTRA CHARGE. So I would be looking at the standard machine plus a keyboard (because I need a keyboard) - total cost of $700 or less. It will take me until mid next year to save up for this, so I didn't walk out of the Mall with a Microsoft bag, but I think it will be worthwhile to add to my electronics stable. So no NaNo writing on a Surface this year, but possibly for next year.

Directly across the hall from the Microsoft store is the Apple store. I found
that quite amusing. The Apple store is smaller, but they both feature
the full-front glass windows that most MOA stores have. Both stores had
customers and lots of genius personnel to answer questions. 

I was totally amused by the fact that the Microsoft store was directly across the hall from the Apple store. The employees can stare at each other through their open glassed-in fronts and make faces at each other. I guess I am amused easily.

The Cathedral rotunda features a star-shaped central lamp and is
surrounded by 24 stained glass windows. The support pillars feature beautiful
mosaic work, each of the four with a different figure, prodence, justice,
fortitude and temperance. The red band
at the bottom of the dome has gold lettering around it. 

Before heading out to the Mall I spent a lovely 45 minutes or so wandering the Cathedral of Saint Paul. They were tuning one of the two organs while I was there and I was reminded of one of my first serious boyfriends. He was a guy who was 6-8 years older than I was. He played the organ at a restaurant when they showed silent films, and as a side job he repaired pipe organs. I remember many a day when we would go to nearby towns so that he could repair an organ. I would sit in the audience or on the pews with a good book or my school work, he would be doing the same monotonous note-by-note fix that the two gentlemen were doing yesterday. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the artwork, though, so I think I'll go back again soon.

The main altar is pretty impressive. It has formed bronze from the
gates in front to the top of the baldachin - a bronze canopy supported
by six black marble columns. It was designed by Whitney
Warren, the designer of Grand Central Station in New York City.  

Here's to a lovely and relaxing Thursday to all of you.

Starting a List and My Day Off

I got a new computer built for me this summer, and I love it. It's big, it's fast, and it has huge hard drives so I finally have room for my stuff. But not everything transferred over and I'm starting to find and recognize all of those gaps. So I've started a list because I still own my old computer for the time being. I don't have a screen for it, so when I take care of the final transfers, it won't be simple. But I need to do it because there are some really important things that didn't move. Such as...

Have an old computer just sitting around? Here's one possibility.

My Egyptian fonts - I have eleven files of Egyptian hieroglyphic fonts that I use in my artwork. Those might be available to download, I'll have to spend some time to see, but if not, I need to pull them over from my old fonts file. There are also a few fonts that I used regularly that aren't in my Win 7 "available" list, so I also need to pull those over.

My hieroglyphics fonts would allow me to write what is
written here and translate it. I use the hieroglyphics for
my artwork and my hobbies. I need these fonts back!

But the thing that is causing my inner clock to tick is my software for my Solstice cards. I'll be diving into NaNoWriMo soon and that will take as much of November as it will take, leaving me with a serious crunch time to get my solstice cards printed and into the mail. OY! I love doing the cards and I've collected the materials I need for the past few months, but time just warped once my father-by-marriage passed and when I thought I had time, I don't. I'll be sending out my Solstice cards because I love marking the change of seasons and keeping in touch with friends both near and far, but I'm warning all of you - they very well may be late this year. If I have to reformat my custom files instead of just transferring them from my old computer, then I guarantee my cards will be late. I'll open a call-out for cards later in November, so watch this space.

If I was sending purchased cards, this one might be a good one. But I
really prefer to hand-make my cards, even though it is a ton of work.
I look at my cards as little pieces of artwork.

Today is my day off and I'll be running around like a sick chicken (apologies to my friend H who has chickens). I'll do the standard things: work at the shop for an hour or two in the early am, go to the grocer, do laundry, cook dinner and talk with Aearwen. But I have visits to Target, the post office, the Mall of America (a place I haven't visited since 1996) and the St Paul Cathedral to fit in this morning. I also have four repairs for customers on my desk. Since those charges actually end up in my pocket, that's almost $100 just sitting on my desk that I really could use. I also want to work through my Scrivener tutorial. I have a trial version installed and from looking at the video, it will do exactly what I need, but I do want to work through the tutorial before making up my mind.

I hate the Mall of America. I ran a store here from the time the Mall opened
until January 31 1996 and have only been back once, to close down my store
bank account. But the Mall has a Microsoft store, the only one in the area, and I
want to take a closer look at the new Surface 2. I guess I'll have to go to the Mall.

And there's reading, and writing, and taking pictures, and...and...and. Yeah. Crazy. I'm thinking maybe a nice egg fritata for breakfast... I hope your Wednesday is totally AMAZING!

When Did We Become So Angry?

So yesterday's news - another school shooting, this time in Nevada with at least one teacher dead and two students in the hospital. The shooter took his own life. What a waste. It was the thirteenth school shooting in America this year.

Michael Landsberry, a teacher and former Marine with
tours in Afghanistan and Iraq behind him, died as he attempted
to wrestle the gun from the 7th grade student shooter. The
teenager later shot himself. 

Twitter comments about Mister Landsberry from the students he touched.

I have to wonder - when did we, as a society, become so angry? When did "Make Peace, Not War" morph into "Firearm Justice"? Have we moved back in time, deciding to have personal disgruntlement and arguments solved by walking towards each other at high noon, guns blazing? What the hell is wrong with us?

Love the entire imagery of this picture. 

I don't know of many religious beliefs that do not espouse peace between peoples, no matter what angry or vengeful god they may portray. I do know of many interpreters of divine will, however, who narrow their focus so much that they close off the majority of the world's population as "unworthy". Unworthy of what? Who knows. I don't know of many people who don't have a better time hanging out with friends than with people with whom they feel uncomfortable. But it's become too easy to point fingers at those who are different, to bully or physically abuse those who are perceived weak, or to take out aggression and perceived slights upon others in a mechanized and violent way.

Stop bullying. Stop allowing one person to feel good at the expense
of another. Celebrate diversity and individuality.

This is America, and as much as I love my nation, I know the issues of gun availability in this country. In fact, I remember discussions with friends over the years where said I felt sorry for any foreign nation which might want to take over our country. The US would become a guerrilla war fought from house to house and town to town because in any given block, there are hundreds of firearms. Are you frightened yet? Maybe we all should be!

"Call of Duty" is one of the more popular 'shooter' games for
video players with a new version due out soon.  Will
it become real on the streets where you live? 

Somewhere, somehow, something has gone terribly wrong and we're losing a generation. They are feeling forgotten, ignored, and abandoned. When my generation felt that way, we banded together with love-ins, music that is considered classic today, drugs (some not so good, but others generally positive) and mostly passive anti-war demonstrations. We put flowers into the end of rifles and mourned the dead of Kent State. We gathered at the Haight and at Woodstock, had love-ins and sit-ins, and as we aged, we become responsible for the laws and running of the nation.

I remember this picture from when I was young. Although protesting was not always
directed in a way that helped in the long run, the protests were peaceful, not
violent in nature. They were flowers and sit-ins with guitars and marijuana, not
secondary school students coming to school with semi-automatic weapons to shoot
as many people as possible before committing suicide.  

Ooops! Did we f__k up? The generation before us, those who fought in World War II, is often referred to as the "Greatest Generation". Will we look back on the heritage of the baby boomers and see that we took that great promise handed to us and threw it behind us into the nearest trash container? I'm amazed that we seem to be focusing on nothing more than our material wealth, our retirement incomes, and our insular lives. Something is drastically wrong in this country right now. These school shootings and the general anger that seems to simmer just below the surface of our society are only small, visible bits of a much larger illness. Is there a cure?

Four young people were shot in what is known as the Kent State
Massacre.  The Ohio National Guard shot 67 rounds into a student
crowd protesting the Vietnam War killing four and injuring 13. 

I believe that all cures begin with a single step and a single person reaching out to others. I'll continue to try affecting people in a positive way, hoping that the stones that I throw can help overcome the storms out beyond my horizon. Will I be successful? Maybe, or maybe not. All I know is that I cannot stop the fight for common sense, mutual respect, and kindness - above all, kindness.

Cold Has Come

Sometimes we'll have warm weather through Samhain, but this year the cold seems to be catching up with us and it hit throughout the weekend. As DH and I happily looked through rocks at the small local rock show, we were absolutely freezing! It was drizzling, it was in the low 40's or upper 30's (4.44 to -1.11C) and we were standing outside holding wet stone. Ooof!

Love these colorful Jack-O-Lanterns.

But indoors it was pleasant and I picked up some stone from one inside dealer who is going out of business. I felt sorry for him - he was a young man who was obviously having some health issues and it seemed, as I talked with him, that giving up working and cutting rocks was the last thing he wanted to do, but that he had to do it. He had Feather Ridge Plume Agate and I fell in love with the stone. DH says he's not sure about how he should cut it, but I know exactly what I want him to do and I'll do the rest with my Targus. I'll get what I want from the stone. Then I'll need to figure out exactly how I want to use it in a finished item. I also won a door prize - a really fun piece of Selenite from Peru!

Our saw is a LOT smaller than this one. Look carefully - it is actually two
large blades that cut stone blocks. Pretty amazing equipment. 

We left the show earlier than we normally would have because we were cold. We dropped off the rocks and went shopping at Target - time for the monthly pick-up of things like toilet paper and deodorant - the important things in life. Then an early dinner and I went down to my computer to edit a story due later this week. I fell asleep on my desk (hopefully it wasn't that the story was boring) and he was also falling asleep, so a nap before "Amazing Race" was in order.

I do love a lot of reality shows and The Amazing Race is one of my favorites.

My Denver Broncos lost last night. I didn't stay up for the game - sleep before my work week is usually my focus on Sunday nights, but first thing this morning I checked the standings. *sigh* Oh well, they're still my team, no matter wins or losses. But it was a disappointment.

Our first loss this season *sigh*. BUMMER!

Here's hoping you all have a fabulous Monday!