I did it. I joined National Novel Writing Month. Which is November. I am going to write a novel in November. My 'thank you for joining us you probably won't regret this' email said that I should tell everyone I know that I am going to write a novel in November because, ahem,
"This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who've had to hear about your novel for the past month. Seriously. Email them now about your awesome new book. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse."
So yes. Without fail, I am going to write a full and complete novel in the month of November. Nothing could stop me from doing this. There is absolutely no chance that I will quit or fail. Everyone will bow before me because I will have accomplished what... only 13,000 of 79,000 people managed to do last year. Which means I will be the only one (in this chair) who will do it this year! And the crowds will applaud and worship me for my superior... havingdonethisness. It's gonna be sweet.
I'm sure I've heard about this before, but it was Gina who told me about it this time. So I looked it up, because I've been tinkering with some stories since I got into Hawaii. And what the hell, I've never written a novel in a month. Now's as good a time as any, and possibly a better time than most. Wish me luck. It would be pretty sweet if I pulled this one off.
Oh yeah, www.nanowrimo.org
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Gettin On
In Chicago I lived in community. I worked in tight-knit community neighborhood. And then I had the Claretians. All told, I'd say on any given day I had a good dozen meaningful conversations with people. Give or take.
Here, I work mostly on my own. And that gets old for people like me who really like people. I've got some friendships growing, and I've got academic and even some professional contacts with people, but still. Big drop in personal contact when I moved here. So I've decided to work on that.
I joined a women's group that meets once a week to talk about women stuff. It's great. That'll last this semester, and we'll see about after that. And I went to the UHM Sierra Club meeting last night. I'll think I'll keep up with that too. They're active, diverse, environmentally conscious... and I met this guy who invited me to Sustaining Dialogue, which is a group that meets and talks about race and racism. Michael and I are going this afternoon.
Also, I went and auditioned for student film projects. They always need actors, and in my very limited experience with student film projects, they're fun. There were three films I could have auditioned for, but one of them was all male assassins with the bound up female in the trunk and then they torture her... just... not quite... my thing. I don't watch movies like that. I'm certainly not going to help make one. But I think I might get the call for at least one of the other two. I'll find out in a week-ish.
In the academic realm... I haven't yet got back my Methodology midterm grade. He hadn't finished grading everyone's by class time. But he did talk about good things and bad things he'd noticed in the ones he'd read so far, and... I think I did fine. I've started designing my final project in my head, but I'm going to wait two weeks before I really start working on it, just in case it turns out that this project can be in line with my thesis. If the timing doesn't work out, I'm not gonna force it, but if I figure out a specific course of research in the next two weeks, I'll design my final project around it.
Cultural Community is going well. Good grades thus far. And, I'm nearly done with the data collecting for my final project. Next part is sorting through the data and creating the report. But... if I really apply myself, I think I could do that in a week. So the goal is to finish it before mid-November, so I can have the folks at Safe Haven look over it. Then I'll re-treat it if need be, ready for presentation in early December.
Yay.
Here, I work mostly on my own. And that gets old for people like me who really like people. I've got some friendships growing, and I've got academic and even some professional contacts with people, but still. Big drop in personal contact when I moved here. So I've decided to work on that.
I joined a women's group that meets once a week to talk about women stuff. It's great. That'll last this semester, and we'll see about after that. And I went to the UHM Sierra Club meeting last night. I'll think I'll keep up with that too. They're active, diverse, environmentally conscious... and I met this guy who invited me to Sustaining Dialogue, which is a group that meets and talks about race and racism. Michael and I are going this afternoon.
Also, I went and auditioned for student film projects. They always need actors, and in my very limited experience with student film projects, they're fun. There were three films I could have auditioned for, but one of them was all male assassins with the bound up female in the trunk and then they torture her... just... not quite... my thing. I don't watch movies like that. I'm certainly not going to help make one. But I think I might get the call for at least one of the other two. I'll find out in a week-ish.
In the academic realm... I haven't yet got back my Methodology midterm grade. He hadn't finished grading everyone's by class time. But he did talk about good things and bad things he'd noticed in the ones he'd read so far, and... I think I did fine. I've started designing my final project in my head, but I'm going to wait two weeks before I really start working on it, just in case it turns out that this project can be in line with my thesis. If the timing doesn't work out, I'm not gonna force it, but if I figure out a specific course of research in the next two weeks, I'll design my final project around it.
Cultural Community is going well. Good grades thus far. And, I'm nearly done with the data collecting for my final project. Next part is sorting through the data and creating the report. But... if I really apply myself, I think I could do that in a week. So the goal is to finish it before mid-November, so I can have the folks at Safe Haven look over it. Then I'll re-treat it if need be, ready for presentation in early December.
Yay.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
October Left Me
It was the beginning of October and the month stretched out before me. So much time. Then exams happened, and I glanced around and it's the 21st already. I lost two weeks to essays. How did this happen? Did anything else happen during that time?
Well, yeah. Stuff happened. I guess the important and somewhat freaky aspect of this month is that most of the month passed without me looking at a calendar or being aware of the date or passage of time in general. One day was just like the next and the one before, so they all seemed to be the same day. I spent most of October thinking it was still October 2nd. And most of October was not October 2nd.
Sigh. I guess that's grad school, for you.
This kind of scares me about November. I've been working on my final projects already, but I've really got to get off my butt and get 'em goin'.
Well, yeah. Stuff happened. I guess the important and somewhat freaky aspect of this month is that most of the month passed without me looking at a calendar or being aware of the date or passage of time in general. One day was just like the next and the one before, so they all seemed to be the same day. I spent most of October thinking it was still October 2nd. And most of October was not October 2nd.
Sigh. I guess that's grad school, for you.
This kind of scares me about November. I've been working on my final projects already, but I've really got to get off my butt and get 'em goin'.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Running, jumping, climbing trees
Sadly, it turns out not so much with the running. Still. It's been almost a year (minus two-ish weeks) since I hurt my foot before the marathon. My knees had been giving me trouble, but I was gonna push through that. But I could hardly walk on my foot. The marathon was a no-go.
It was many weeks before I could walk properly and without limping. It was months more before I could walk without pain. Then, months followed in which I could walk without pain unless I walked a lot, or was carrying many heavy things while I walked. This came up a lot at the pantry, but I still think I was a better candidate to carry those things than the 80+year-old volunteers. Anyway, the last two-ish months, I have had pretty well-on no pain. Which translates to, "Just the one time I can remember during that time."
So I decided to give running a go, and here's what I found:
1) Three months of wearing sandals have allowed my feet to spread so that they no longer like restrictive shoes. This caused, among other things, my toenails to bump my shoes with every step I took, and now my toenails are bruised and sore. If I had run a marathon yesterday, I would be without toenails now. As it is, I only ran ~1.5 miles, so they're sore and firmly connected.
2) My knees don't like running. Not even short distances. Sad story. Although they recovered quite quickly after I stopped running, giving short distances some modicrum of hope.
3) My foot-- really, only very vaguely sore. I think long distances would probably be no good for it, but I think it could handle short distances. It's issues numbers one and two that are really bugging me right now.
***
I had decided to give running a go again after this weekend. We had a study group down at the beach. I missed my bus by three minutes, according to the random old guy at the stop. This bus only runs once an hour on the weekends, and I decided I could walk to the beach in an hour. Turns out, I can walk to the beach in half an hour. That's about how long it takes me to walk to school (depending on which building I'm going to), so suddenly, the beach seemed far more accessible to me than it had when I had been taking the bus.
I was meeting Gina and Melodi and Melodi's daughter Sabina, but it turned out that they had decided to take their time getting there and didn't arrive for another hour and a half after I did. So, after looking around and not seeing them, I laid out in the grass, looking over the ocean, and read about statistical correlation and causation, as well as the difference between factor mediation and moderation on the IV and DV. Oh, I was having a right jolly time. Reading. On the beach. Looking out over the ocean.
And I got to thinking: if I could walk out here in half an hour, if I can run-- I can run here even quicker. And if I ran here quickly in the morning, I could jump in the water and stretch my muscles and joints a bit and then run back. I could do all that in an hour or less. That would be a nice little routine. If I can run.
The biggest issue before I try running again is the shoes. They're way too tight now, and I don't think I brought both pair of my running shoes (the other pair was larger). I'll have to look for those. If I have those, I'll give it another go. Otherwise... what? Dunno. New shoes? Because what if I buy new shoes only to discover my knees won't let me run anyway. Maybe it's getting on time to invest in a bike here.
Which brings me to my closing thought. In Murfreesboro and Chicago both I was able to find a purple Murray ten-speed in a thrift shop for under $20. Will my luck hold out in Honolulu? And the closing sub-thought is to wonder if this whole episode means I'm becoming a beach bunny.
It was many weeks before I could walk properly and without limping. It was months more before I could walk without pain. Then, months followed in which I could walk without pain unless I walked a lot, or was carrying many heavy things while I walked. This came up a lot at the pantry, but I still think I was a better candidate to carry those things than the 80+year-old volunteers. Anyway, the last two-ish months, I have had pretty well-on no pain. Which translates to, "Just the one time I can remember during that time."
So I decided to give running a go, and here's what I found:
1) Three months of wearing sandals have allowed my feet to spread so that they no longer like restrictive shoes. This caused, among other things, my toenails to bump my shoes with every step I took, and now my toenails are bruised and sore. If I had run a marathon yesterday, I would be without toenails now. As it is, I only ran ~1.5 miles, so they're sore and firmly connected.
2) My knees don't like running. Not even short distances. Sad story. Although they recovered quite quickly after I stopped running, giving short distances some modicrum of hope.
3) My foot-- really, only very vaguely sore. I think long distances would probably be no good for it, but I think it could handle short distances. It's issues numbers one and two that are really bugging me right now.
***
I had decided to give running a go again after this weekend. We had a study group down at the beach. I missed my bus by three minutes, according to the random old guy at the stop. This bus only runs once an hour on the weekends, and I decided I could walk to the beach in an hour. Turns out, I can walk to the beach in half an hour. That's about how long it takes me to walk to school (depending on which building I'm going to), so suddenly, the beach seemed far more accessible to me than it had when I had been taking the bus.
I was meeting Gina and Melodi and Melodi's daughter Sabina, but it turned out that they had decided to take their time getting there and didn't arrive for another hour and a half after I did. So, after looking around and not seeing them, I laid out in the grass, looking over the ocean, and read about statistical correlation and causation, as well as the difference between factor mediation and moderation on the IV and DV. Oh, I was having a right jolly time. Reading. On the beach. Looking out over the ocean.
And I got to thinking: if I could walk out here in half an hour, if I can run-- I can run here even quicker. And if I ran here quickly in the morning, I could jump in the water and stretch my muscles and joints a bit and then run back. I could do all that in an hour or less. That would be a nice little routine. If I can run.
The biggest issue before I try running again is the shoes. They're way too tight now, and I don't think I brought both pair of my running shoes (the other pair was larger). I'll have to look for those. If I have those, I'll give it another go. Otherwise... what? Dunno. New shoes? Because what if I buy new shoes only to discover my knees won't let me run anyway. Maybe it's getting on time to invest in a bike here.
Which brings me to my closing thought. In Murfreesboro and Chicago both I was able to find a purple Murray ten-speed in a thrift shop for under $20. Will my luck hold out in Honolulu? And the closing sub-thought is to wonder if this whole episode means I'm becoming a beach bunny.
Monday, October 15, 2007
First Grade of Grad School
What exciting times. I get a new tooth, I get midterms, I get grades. Things are really starting to happen here, let me tell you.
I have three classes this semester, although "class" is kind of a stretch for one of them. It's an independent research credit, and I'm fulfilling it this semester by reading background lit in Cultural Community Psychology and meeting with Cliff and his other advisee Andrew every week for a short "how're things" talk. Then, I have Methodology, which I ultimately enjoy even though some of the readings drive me nuts and a lot of times I'm not entirely sure how much of the class applies to me. It's quantitative methodology, and I'll likely be doing mostly qualitative work. Still, it's dead useful to know this stuff at least for reading other studies in the field if not for my own future research, and my professor, Yiyuan Xu, is really good at explaining it all even when I've spent a week going nuts over incomprehensible readings.
I'm currently (like, I'm taking a break in order to post this) finishing up my midterm for that class. I'm writing a detailed critique of the study of my choosing. I chose a study about population density because population density really affects poor communities. But this study isn't about poor communities. It studies monkeys. Because everything is better with monkeys. I've been slowly working on this for weeks now. It's due Wednesday, so now is the big cinch. But it's good, and again I'm realizing how much I've learned this semester.
I say, "again I'm realizing how much I've learned this semester," because I went through that process last week with my Cultural Community Psychology class take-home midterm. It was comprised of four out of five essay questions that did a right good job pulling the class's copious readings together. Recapping, making connections between what we talked about in the second and eighth classes... I learned a lot from taking that midterm, or rather, really thought about all that I'd learned. And plus, I got an A+ as I've just found out. And because my class participation, discussion, and presentation have been "excellent", I have an A+ for the class so far. Which makes me very happy. Because it had been five years since I wrote an academic essay (or four) and I wasn't sure I still had it in me. I was a little worried there for a minute.
But now? Quite pleased. And you know, I like being quite pleased.
I have three classes this semester, although "class" is kind of a stretch for one of them. It's an independent research credit, and I'm fulfilling it this semester by reading background lit in Cultural Community Psychology and meeting with Cliff and his other advisee Andrew every week for a short "how're things" talk. Then, I have Methodology, which I ultimately enjoy even though some of the readings drive me nuts and a lot of times I'm not entirely sure how much of the class applies to me. It's quantitative methodology, and I'll likely be doing mostly qualitative work. Still, it's dead useful to know this stuff at least for reading other studies in the field if not for my own future research, and my professor, Yiyuan Xu, is really good at explaining it all even when I've spent a week going nuts over incomprehensible readings.
I'm currently (like, I'm taking a break in order to post this) finishing up my midterm for that class. I'm writing a detailed critique of the study of my choosing. I chose a study about population density because population density really affects poor communities. But this study isn't about poor communities. It studies monkeys. Because everything is better with monkeys. I've been slowly working on this for weeks now. It's due Wednesday, so now is the big cinch. But it's good, and again I'm realizing how much I've learned this semester.
I say, "again I'm realizing how much I've learned this semester," because I went through that process last week with my Cultural Community Psychology class take-home midterm. It was comprised of four out of five essay questions that did a right good job pulling the class's copious readings together. Recapping, making connections between what we talked about in the second and eighth classes... I learned a lot from taking that midterm, or rather, really thought about all that I'd learned. And plus, I got an A+ as I've just found out. And because my class participation, discussion, and presentation have been "excellent", I have an A+ for the class so far. Which makes me very happy. Because it had been five years since I wrote an academic essay (or four) and I wasn't sure I still had it in me. I was a little worried there for a minute.
But now? Quite pleased. And you know, I like being quite pleased.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
New Adventures in Dentistry
I'm 28 years old and I have a new tooth. Ever since I was about 16, every six months to a year my wisdom teeth will start to cut. The gums in the back of my mouth will be sore for a few weeks, and then... nothing. It just stops. Nothing changes. I chalk this up to the fact that I actually have a very small mouth, and a very small jaw, and really, just not enough room for any more teeth. I barely had room for the adult set as it was. I remember going to the dentist so he could shave bits off the bottom row so they could all squeeze in. So, sorry, wisdom teeth, there just ain't no room at the inn.
Or so I thought.
About a month ago, they started to cut again. And my gums were sore. And then... nothing. Nothing changed. It just stopped. AND THEN, about two weeks after all the soreness had receeded, I noticed a little hole in the back of my mouth. It didn't hurt. It just was. Then, the little hole got bigger, still without hurting. And eventually, I was able to distinguish a sliver of tooth poking out of it. Over the past few days, this sliver of tooth has gotten slightly bigger. It's still only a sliver of tooth, but it is very clearly tooth, and it is very clearly a new part of my mouth. It makes me wonder how far it's going to come in, and whether it's going to cause problems with my other teeth, and whether or not I'll eventually have to have dental surgery, and why God would have designed us to have wisdom teeth if you were going to need to get surgery on them, and why we would have evolved wisdom teeth if that was how it came about, and whether I should give the new guy a name; he might feel intimidated by the others since they're so much bigger and have been around so much longer. Poor little tyke.
To paraphrase the great prophet Bob, 'Either we came from monkeys, or we're supposed to be this way. Either way, I don't like it.'
Meanwhile, it's midterms. I'm all writin' essays and pretending to be a grad student, but I couldn't possibly be a real adult because I have a new tooth. And I'm 28-friggin-years-old.
Michael says maybe one day I'll have as many teeth as he does. He managed to grow his full set with no problems at a young age. Lucky bastard. Hm. Maybe I should have his wisdom teeth talk to my wisdom tooth. A good role model might be just what's needed.
Or so I thought.
About a month ago, they started to cut again. And my gums were sore. And then... nothing. Nothing changed. It just stopped. AND THEN, about two weeks after all the soreness had receeded, I noticed a little hole in the back of my mouth. It didn't hurt. It just was. Then, the little hole got bigger, still without hurting. And eventually, I was able to distinguish a sliver of tooth poking out of it. Over the past few days, this sliver of tooth has gotten slightly bigger. It's still only a sliver of tooth, but it is very clearly tooth, and it is very clearly a new part of my mouth. It makes me wonder how far it's going to come in, and whether it's going to cause problems with my other teeth, and whether or not I'll eventually have to have dental surgery, and why God would have designed us to have wisdom teeth if you were going to need to get surgery on them, and why we would have evolved wisdom teeth if that was how it came about, and whether I should give the new guy a name; he might feel intimidated by the others since they're so much bigger and have been around so much longer. Poor little tyke.
To paraphrase the great prophet Bob, 'Either we came from monkeys, or we're supposed to be this way. Either way, I don't like it.'
Meanwhile, it's midterms. I'm all writin' essays and pretending to be a grad student, but I couldn't possibly be a real adult because I have a new tooth. And I'm 28-friggin-years-old.
Michael says maybe one day I'll have as many teeth as he does. He managed to grow his full set with no problems at a young age. Lucky bastard. Hm. Maybe I should have his wisdom teeth talk to my wisdom tooth. A good role model might be just what's needed.
Monday, October 1, 2007
The most recent excitement...
...is the result of a noise Michael and I heard early this morning. It sounded like a car crash just outside of our house. But it was early in the morning. We were in bed. We couldn't be arsed to go check it out.
Some time later, I rolled over and looked at the clock and thought, oh damn, the power's out. The normally bright face of the digital alarm was blank. I tried to only doze from then on out so I could make sure we woke at a decent hour and Michael wasn't late for class. My watch was on the floor by the bed. I would check the time in a little bit. Just a little bit. In a few minutes. Just a few more minutes...
And then the alarm went off. I looked over and the face was still blank, which made me realize that it was not the face which was turned toward me. I was staring at the side or back of the alarm. As Michael got up to turn the alarm off, I told him I had thought the power was out, but now I realized the alarm was just turned around.
As I woke up a bit more, and squinted my bad vision a bit more toward the alarm, I realized that it *was* facing toward me, and the face *was* blank. Huh. I came up with all manner of reasons for this in my foggy state. None of them included,
"Yeah, the power's out."
Michael had ventured forth, unsuccessfully, to make coffee. The coffee maker refused to turn on. And the lights.
"But the alarm went off."
"It's got a battery back-up."
(Really, that whole portion of the story is there solely because I think it's so neat that our alarm has a battery back-up -- so that even when the power is out, even when you can't see what time it is, you will still wake up on time. This alarm clock cost, like, $15 and I think it is the nicest alarm clock I have ever owned. I am now officially in love with it. The really interesting potion of the story begins now.)
I climbed out of bed and started opening the front windows to get some air through the house. I got as far as the first one before I ran back to find Michael.
"I figured out why the power is out!"
Just outside of our house (even closer to us than the geyser was), a pole carrying electrical lines had snapped in half. Snapped in half about 30 feet up. The top, with all the wires still attached, was just hanging there cockeyed from the splintered break. The base appeared to be undamaged.
I later heard that a car had smashed into it. For three years there had been bracers on the already weakening pole, but the impact apparently caused enough shock to splinter the wood.
So I had a peach, my morning coffee, some breakfast, all while watching the crew stabilize the wires, cut the pole into pieces, and then erect a new one. It was fascinating. I got some nice pictures. I'll put them up after I get 'em developed.
...
Other exciting news is that I have done my first bit of data-collecting as a Community Psychologist. It's not official research; just a class project. But I'm looking at it as my practice round of data collection. I'm doing the project on Safe Haven, which is a transitional housing shelter for mentally ill homeless individuals. I had a great time talking to the director today, getting the tour, the hot skinny on the place. I'm going back next week to meet with the second-in-command, and I'll stick around a bit for "Monday Night Football", which actually happens in the afternoon. Over the next month or so I'll go back and talk to different people and try to get a holistic view of how the place operates. Then I'll put together a report and presentation for class in December.
Some time later, I rolled over and looked at the clock and thought, oh damn, the power's out. The normally bright face of the digital alarm was blank. I tried to only doze from then on out so I could make sure we woke at a decent hour and Michael wasn't late for class. My watch was on the floor by the bed. I would check the time in a little bit. Just a little bit. In a few minutes. Just a few more minutes...
And then the alarm went off. I looked over and the face was still blank, which made me realize that it was not the face which was turned toward me. I was staring at the side or back of the alarm. As Michael got up to turn the alarm off, I told him I had thought the power was out, but now I realized the alarm was just turned around.
As I woke up a bit more, and squinted my bad vision a bit more toward the alarm, I realized that it *was* facing toward me, and the face *was* blank. Huh. I came up with all manner of reasons for this in my foggy state. None of them included,
"Yeah, the power's out."
Michael had ventured forth, unsuccessfully, to make coffee. The coffee maker refused to turn on. And the lights.
"But the alarm went off."
"It's got a battery back-up."
(Really, that whole portion of the story is there solely because I think it's so neat that our alarm has a battery back-up -- so that even when the power is out, even when you can't see what time it is, you will still wake up on time. This alarm clock cost, like, $15 and I think it is the nicest alarm clock I have ever owned. I am now officially in love with it. The really interesting potion of the story begins now.)
I climbed out of bed and started opening the front windows to get some air through the house. I got as far as the first one before I ran back to find Michael.
"I figured out why the power is out!"
Just outside of our house (even closer to us than the geyser was), a pole carrying electrical lines had snapped in half. Snapped in half about 30 feet up. The top, with all the wires still attached, was just hanging there cockeyed from the splintered break. The base appeared to be undamaged.
I later heard that a car had smashed into it. For three years there had been bracers on the already weakening pole, but the impact apparently caused enough shock to splinter the wood.
So I had a peach, my morning coffee, some breakfast, all while watching the crew stabilize the wires, cut the pole into pieces, and then erect a new one. It was fascinating. I got some nice pictures. I'll put them up after I get 'em developed.
...
Other exciting news is that I have done my first bit of data-collecting as a Community Psychologist. It's not official research; just a class project. But I'm looking at it as my practice round of data collection. I'm doing the project on Safe Haven, which is a transitional housing shelter for mentally ill homeless individuals. I had a great time talking to the director today, getting the tour, the hot skinny on the place. I'm going back next week to meet with the second-in-command, and I'll stick around a bit for "Monday Night Football", which actually happens in the afternoon. Over the next month or so I'll go back and talk to different people and try to get a holistic view of how the place operates. Then I'll put together a report and presentation for class in December.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)