I don't think my lack-of-motivation streak is at an end.  In fact, I think it's dug in hard and doesn't wan to leave, but I'm tired of my apartment looking a bit cluttered and messy.  I don't think my friends really mind, I mean they come over willingly enough, but it's bothering me.  I didn't get any of the desired cleaning done yesterday because I got frusterated with my other website and started hand updating files.  It took two hours and it didn't fix the problem I was having.  I think I'm at the point where I'm just going to pay someone to fix it.

But!  But I have been successful about getting some things done.  I've written a lot recently, in fact more consistently and with more gusto than I have since I finished Abs.  That is encouraging!

So, I'm going to look for small steps this week.  I want to tidy up the apartment and go to bellydancing on Saturday morning.  I've been putting off going back to classes for, well, I don't know why, but I have and I will be going Saturday because I just will!  I think I'm going to only go once a month until I'm back into a routine and then kick it up to twice a week again.

I'm going to try to keep my dishes under control, and be a bit more tidy with my laundry.  Those are my goals for the forseeable future.  Start small, right?  Well this is small enough.  Little steps create habits, and making them good habits is kind of the focus I need right now, so there you go.

Tonight I really need to take out the trash and clean the Chinchilla cage and go grocery shopping.  I'm going out to lunch because I didn't have anything else to bring with me to work to eat - even for breakfast.  If I can squeeze in putting away my laundry I'll be thrilled and try to tackle the clutter in the livingroom tomorrow.

I'm hoping to start using the WiiFit again as I watch back seasons of Dr Who since it's on the Netflix Watch Instantly.

All in all, it's a start!

So we got some sad news this week.  The biggest indi bookstore in the DFW area is closing down.  They opened when the recession was just hitting and have held out for eighteen glorious months.  It's a super cool place and I wish I could share it with everyone.  I'm going to miss them.  Hopefully all of the authors who supported the bookstore find other boolalicious homes for their signings and events and stuff.

As usual I'm staying plenty busy!

This last weekend I went to my best friends, little sisters wedding in Oklahoma - I just wished someone would have told me where in Oklahoma it was before we started driving.  We assumed the wedding was in Oklahoma City - but in actuality it was in Ada, Oklahoma.  Yeah.  Making that U-Turn was not fun.  The wedding was very pretty and the couple were very happy.  I also got to see the fore mentioned best friend and her family and that's always special.  I road-tripped it with an old college friend, lots of fun talking about school, our lives now - and books!

Sunday was the official Book Addicts kick off, so several of us went over to Suz's house and camped out to write all day.  I learned something very important about myself.  Sitting at a kitchen table I will stare at the cursor mocking me and maybe dredge out 500 or 1,000 words.  If I move to the couch - BAM - thousands of words!  Yeah, after learning that I parked it across the room on the couch and pounded out words; lots of words.  It's a little disheartening because the weekends are turning into my writing time; I'm getting so busy on the weekdays it's almost impossible.

Like Monday - I did do revisions, but I also had to balance cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning, and everything else I missed out on doing this weekend because I just wasn't at home!  Tuesday was the book club up at Legacy and that's always a full evening of shopping and talking.  Wednesday I had an accident and didn't go to dance class, but I still had stuff to do for people! 

Tonight is supposed to be Harem Night; I'm thinking I'm not going to go because my weekend is already full and I need time at home to clean and knit and wash clothes and do stuff for meeeeeeee.

Friday we're going up to Legacy probably to say our goodbye to the store and attend the Rachel Caine book signing.  Saturday is dance class and I got roped into going to my friend's cooking demonstration class, and I might possibly have a movie outing if we get out early enough.  Sunday we're discussing another possible writing day... And then it starts over again!  @__@  I need a vacation from my life, lol.

I know, I'm supposed to do a Girl Talk Thursday blog today, but I haven't blogged about me in over a week so I might as well.  I've been busy, I have a lot to say.  Like - how I need to really keep my camera on me.  I really should take more pictures.  I'm bummed because we had a baby shower on Saturday - and did I think to take any pictures?  Nope.  I really would have liked to.

So, my sort of goal now is to take more pictures.  More memories.  I want new pictures to hang on my walls at home and fill those gaping places.  I should get the chance this weekend; I'm going to my best friends, little sisters wedding - in Oklahoma.  It's love to go to Oklahoma, let me tell you.

And what have I been up to the last two weeks since I haven't really been blogging?  I've been catching up with my friends.  Doing things.  Watching movies mostly.  Knitting.  Ooooh!  I knitted a book cozy.  It's going to go with my first Book-Addicts.com giveaway and it's super nifty.  I need to make one for me so that I protect the books I thoughtlessly toss into my purse all the time.  I also need to take a picture and update my Ravelry and just show it off.  The next one I make will have a few changes, like a ribbed edge instead of just a k&p every other row kind of plan. 

I've been knitting a lot more.  I think it has something to do with that whole wanting to make Christmas presents thing going on in the back of my brain.  I'm working on an adorable pink and blue stripped scarf.  It rolls in on its self, so it would be a really good accessory, but not very functional.  I'm thinking I'll give it to one of my younger nieces and do scarves for the whole brood.  That's five kids.  Just so you know.  That's a lot of knitting - but I wanna do it!

The writing and revising has been going very slowly.  I'm up to the third chapter on the new WIP called My Personal God.  I've cut about 7K from Sing Softly - and that hurts.  Like OUCH!  My goal with Sing Softly is to just get the plot in place and the manuscript readable and get someone to just read through it; probably the #writersdatenight girls because they're all bugging me about it.  After that I'm thinking I'll shelf it and n-e-v-e-r work on it again. 

I wound up dancing at Stratos for the oil spill fund raiser last week.  It was random and happened at like 4pm - and silly me - I thought there would be more than just one other person and myself doing it.  I'm so silly!  Over all dance has gotten much more challenging.  Myself and three others were bumped up to the intermediate class, which is also intro to zills.  Uh, I can't even move my body in all the ways they're telling me to, and now I'm supposed to zill?  For me it's the body moving that's harder.  Zilling?  Pft - I was in marching band, yeah my right hand is a little dysfunctional; I played French Horn.  But zills and moving and playing doesn't bother me.  Yes, I do get off rhythm easily, but I've always had issues with my internal metronome not functioning properly.

Oh, and I had my first ever experience at a gaming place with a friend for her hubby's birthday.  Yeah, I so don't have a nerd/geek card.  Race?  Class?  What?  *plays with Killer Bunnies*  Yeah, I have never felt so normal in my whole life.

What else?  This weekend is the wedding and the kick off for Book-Addicts.com - so go enter my friggen contest Saturday!  Fer serials people.  I'm going to be giving away a copy of Feed.  You don't know just how awesome this book is.  It's very much a rock-your-socks-off book.

And while we're talking about books, my awesome, funny, talented, mommy-amazing friend Erinn is celebrating her blogging success with a mystery box giveaway of books! G-o E-n-t-e-r N-o-w !-!-!-!

Right.  So that's all the interesting stuff I've been doing for now. 

I'm doing better at blogging, aren't I?  Yes?  Please just say yes.

Thank you!

Things are still busy, but it's a fun, good busy.

The weekend was full.  I went and saw The Sorcerers Apprentice on Friday.  I went in with mediocre expectations and I was entertained.  It's a Disney movie, about sorcerers, and Nicholas Cage is in it.  I like Nick Cage - don't ask me why, I. Just. Do.  It probably has something to do with my persisting like of The Rock and ConAir.  "Put down the bunny."  Now, the movie is fun, the affects are good, but it's total cheese - like you leave the movie theater constipated from the Cheese Factor.  It's cute.  It's interesting.  I was entertained, but I could have Netflixed it and not missed anything.

Saturday was a total race against time!  I woke up early and got writing done before dance class.  It was only a few  hundred words, but it got the gears turning and I liked what I had going on.  I think I was off kilter for class because I was letting the cogs spin about the novel and not really on beat with the class.  I think I bruised my foot when we were doing floor work; seriously!  Bruised the top of my foot!!

The rest of Saturday was spent at the monthly RA meeting, where I returned to what I'd been working on earlier and really pounded out some good stuff.  RA always has a lot of chitchat going on, but we did focus on writing for a good chunk of it.  There was a craft store run, where I bought yarn for Christmas presents.  I've made myself knit more recently - because I like it and I want to get better and do stuff!!  I'm excited about some of the projects I'm going to do; mostly scarves because lets face it: they're easy!  But there are two projects I want to do that will be fancier takes on scarves.

We watched Predator that evening.  Now, I have a deep residing love of the Predator movies.  Predator 1 & 2, and also Aliens vs Predator - love them!  Something about the Predators just makes me cheer.  I was told it was a good movie; I hadn't remembered that Adrian Brody was in it, but he does a great job.  I think he's an amazing actor that I wish did more movies.  If you like action movies, Go. See. Predator.  You'll like it.  You'll cheer.  You'll leave wanting more.

Sunday I spent cleaning.  Like deep, scrub the floors clean.  I haven't seen my kitchen table since December!  I have a kitchen table again!  It's not without purpose that I'm doing all this cleaning; this weekend we're having a baby shower for a very awesome lady at my apartment - and Crafty Day is this weekend.  Yeah, it sort of slams me, but it's all in one place so that's at least nice for my poor nerves.  LoL.  So I cleaned and scrubbed and I'm feeling uber good about my place.  I want to attack the shelves with my swiffer duster and do some moving around of books, but the living room/kitchen is looking good for this weekend.

Oh!  And I watched this movie called Daybreakers.  It's a semi-horror movie about a world where most of the population has become vampires and are facing a blood shortage.  It's a really awesome, non-sparkling vampy movie if you're into horror-vampire-gore movies.  I slept with a light on in the living room.  Not so much because of the vampires, but because of these other things that were in the movie.  Made me shudder.

Now, last night!  It was the fundraiser for the oil spill rehab at Stratos, the Greek place we go to and dance and hang out at.  I was supposed to just go and watch, hang out with friends, etc - but at like 4pm one of the girls texts me and asks me if I'll do the routine we did for Harem Night with her.  Uh - sure, why not?  I didn't realize it was just going to be the two of us.  Greeaatt.  I'm a team player and since a few people who were supposed to perform didn't show up, I did it.  I also got pulled up to dance with a few other things.  It was cool and also kinda made my skin crawl because I'm not that good.  All in all - I had fun, my friends had fun, and we raised money for a good cause.  I just didn't expect to be on the performing side of it, lol.

Okay, so off for a busy week!

Okay, so I was chatty, then silent, then chatty - dramatic! - and then silent again.  I'm sorry, very sorry - last week was just a lot to handle.  No, my father's health isn't great - and I'm not supposed to know anything so I'm not going to talk publicly about what I'm not supposed to know.  There has been Other Family Drama, resulting in me turning rather anti-social.  I think after a few crazy weeks I need some down time, without the crazies or the distractions to sort of recharge.

But wait! This is me we're talking about - I hardly know how to do nothing, ya know?  Last week was almost an experiment in just that.  Oh wait - no it wasn't! 

Monday I did spend solo, warding off the world, cleaning, doing grocery shopping, etc.

Tuesday was Cover Girls, a monthly book club up in Plano my friends and I trek up to attend because it's just awesome.  I made cake-pops, which there are pictures of them in my Flickr.  I also made some book-pops with Dakota Cassidy's new book My Way To Hell done as a flag.  Super cute.  Check out my bakery success, fer serials.  Somehow, I'm not quite sure, but I wound up as the Teachers Pet at this event, lol.  The organizer, who turns to my friends and says, "I don't remember names, I'm sorry," proceeds to call me out of around 60 women for opinions and things.  It was funny and Certain People poked and prodded at me all night, but we were all laughing about it and really I didn't care.  Hey, it's flattering to get noticed!  You're lying if you disagree!

Wednesday was dance - but sort of a big night.  My dance school was featured by Groupon.com and Wednesday was the first night people could redeem their class voucher.  400 people signed up for the class!  400 people!  There are now two beginner classes on Wednesday.  I'm getting kicked up to the Intermediate Class that meets afterwards.  Sunday instead of just having Aliki's class, there will be two additional beginner classes taught by Neenah.  That's a lot of additional classes!  That's a lot of people!!

Thursday - Writers Date Night - and Cid forgetting the power supply.  It was a very beneficial night as I plotted out a new WIP and worked on some additional writing stuff I'm doing.

Friday - I think, don't quote me on this because I cannot for the life of me remember - I spent alone!  ALONE! HURRAY FOR ALONE TIME!

Saturday was dance class again - this one seriously kicked my butt.  We worked on floor work, and how to gracefully get onto the floor while dancing.  It's freaking Wednesday and my whole body still hurts.  The worst move we did was getting down on the floor, sitting on your legs.  Raise your butt up off of your legs just enough to clear your heels, and then move hips in a circular fashion while making your arms look pretty.  There are all sorts of directional changes and other things to do.  It also hurts like hell after not using those muscles seriously for a year!  We also did fifteen minutes of arm drills.  I didn't think this would be that bad.  Arms? Pshaw!  O. M. G.  The rest of the day I spent groaning every time I got in and out of my friend's car.  We went shopping in the pm for clothes.  I lurv shopping, and I lurv making people be my personal barbie dolls - because I never really played with them as a kid I guess I just like reliving that portion of my life now, right?  Did lots of great shopping, had dinner with some other friends and hung out for ages talking and whatnot so I got home uber late.  Now, I cannot just get home and go to bed, I have to like, unwinde and stuff, so I check my email and - So a few months ago I wrote lots of short stories and submitted them.  Haven't heard anything so I just accepted the silent rejections and moved on with my life.  Waiting in my inbox was a contract for a short story I'd written and submitted.  A contract to be published - and paid!!!!  I text'd tons of people, heck, you probably already know yourself but it's still fun to blog about!

Sunday was all about being at home and writing and reading and knitting and watching movies.  Really productive in some areas, I will say.  Started a new knitting project I'm excited about and will probably share pictures of later.

And this brings us to Monday - which was a random celebration of my impending published status and going out with the belly dancers to support Aliki dancing at Stratos.  Stratos is probably becoming my new, favorite restaurant, sorry McAllisters!  It's just a fun place.  Dance floor where the dancers dance every so often.  Amazing Greek food; I ate flaming cheese!  The waiters are almost all super cute.  And you get to dance!  Even on the tables!  Aliki got a bunch of us up to do a Shakira routine with her that we pretty much improved.  We did Greek dancing and some other line dancing - the only thing we didn't do this time - dance on the tables, lol.

So now we're at today - and today is another shutting the world out day, but only because there are books coming in on order today I'm crazy about and Must. Read.  The rest of the week is dance, writers date night and RA, so my live moves on in an ever persistent pendulum of crazy!

I knew going into this last week that there was going to be a lot going on.  It was compounded by the things going on at work - but I'm me and I manage pretty well under stressful situations, I think....

Well, besides that - there were other random things that happened this week that I want to blog about - so here goes!

Monday I was really annoyed because my apartment smelled like Death when I got home.  It wasn't really time to clean the Chinchilla cage but I did so in the hopes that it would clear the odor.  I also took out both trash cans and cleaned the fridge.  I'm pretty sure I even bought a new Febreeze air freshener.  Did any of this do me any good?  Nope.  Frustrated, I opened the blinds to my patio to enjoy the rain and pout over the odor.  No sooner than the blinds being opened and a fur ball launched at the glass doors, hissing, clawing and spitting.  Yeah, crazy!  Well, I realize that it's a momma cat with two or three kittens who have taken up shelter on my patio because of the rain... But that's when I see their leftovers!  There was something very dead and in such a stage of having-been-eaten I couldn't identify what it had been; I'm thinking tail because there looked to be five, long appendages.  Well, I live in apartment so I can have someone else take care of problems like this so at 5:25 I jogged over to the management office and was at least able to tell them about the situation - with a straight face.  Seriously, only me will have an attack kitty and dead things.  They sent over a maintenance man and together, armed with brooms, we were able to beat the kitties back and he removed the Dead Thing.  I have seen the cats since, but I've been trying to scare them away from my patio.

Tuesday I was able to close another book.  I wrote another whole book!  I talk about it on my website of writerly things if you're interested in hearing more about it.

I think it was Monday that a friend of mine (who we will call C) mentioned she was going to Austin for a writer's workshop and convention, but another friend of hers was no longer going.  She was bummed to be going alone.  The whole ticket to get in was only $50.  I totally bandwaggoned and invited myself.  Another friend jumped in (who will be called Z) and before C had an opportunity to say no, we had the whole trip planned out.  Thankfully C is excited about Z and I attending with her; or at least she claims she is.  ~__^  The heart-attack moment came when I realized that I had to send in a chapter to use for the workshop; it had to be Fantasy, Sci-Fi, or Horror.  I don't have a completed project of any of these three that would - in my mind - fit.  So I decided I would break out a short story that I have been itching to expand into it's own, full length story, and embellished on what I had.  I wound up with a kick arse first chapter!  I waffled because I will admit, the first chapter is shocking and I was and am a little uncomfortable that strangers will be reading this and then sitting down with me to talk about it.  They won't know I've never written anything like this before and that I'm trying something new.  I waffled over what to send until yesterday and just sucked it up and sent it off.  I have since brainstormed and plotted the whole thing and I'm pretty excited about it!

So I did mention that Harem Night was this week, right?  It was last night.  Three of the girls in our routine dropped out so it was just the five of us, which was cool, but that threw off some of the girls and we had a lack of formation for the whole performance.  I totally got part of it wrong but had such a big smile on my face that it really didn't matter!  Pictures I believe are forthcoming...  And a huge thank you to all my wonderful friends who came out to support me!  It was really cool to have so many people there, and I am so lucky to have such a great group of friends.  You guys make my heart go all warm and squishy!

After Harem Night an abbreviated group of us went to go see Shammy's rip off of a great cartoon series.  I went with low expectations and would advise you do so as well if you choose to see it.  I was entertained - bur for probably the wrong reasons.  Watch the cartoon, you'll be less confused and more entertained.

Okay, so that was this week!  This weekend I have a wedding, fireworks, more dancing and I need to bust a move on the editing train so yet more me - not being all that entertaining I guess.

Okay, breaking a little rule here.

I'm going to talk about work, but mostly so I can explain my soon-to-be craziness.  This week, and Tuesday of next week, I will be filling in for a co-worker; I'm her back-up when she takes vacation.  She's never taken a whole week off before and her job is very large within the company.  I will be filling in for her.  For a week.  I expect my normally relaxed lunches to be me huddled in a corner staring out of the window willing my mind to do nothing more than contemplate the shapes of clouds.

Apart from work, I have three days to go until my personal deadline for finishing a novel.  Three days.  Lots of plot.  OMG!  If only I hadn't hit this wonky slump that took me so long to get out of.  If only I were doing regular 5K days.  If only so many other things had fallen into place I'd probably already be done with it.  As it stands - I'm not and I'm so far behind on things I said I'd do for others I'm also shoveling the guilt on top of my own shortcomings.

In short - I don't expect a whole lot of blogging/socializing to be happening.  I have my harem night this week and I'll probably post something about that and GTT, but not a whole lot else.  I think that the 4th of July weekend will be a nice recovery time for me.  So here's hoping that in seven days I'll be a much happier person!

Well, like I said, this was bound to be an interesting week!  Thankfully the low point of the week was dealing with my exhaustion post-Tremors marathon.  The rest of the week has been a lot of fun, stuff is going on, I'm happy, blahblahblah.

I think I've read like - four books this week.  Highway to Hell, Mage in Black, Stormwalker, and Over My Dead Body.... wow, yeah, I've read four books this week!  I looked it up on Goodreads and thus far this year I've read about 59 books.  The one I'm reading now will be the 60th.  I took Kori's challenge to read 100 in a year and even if I cake walk the rest of the year I'll still make that - but I bet I blow 100 books out of the water - easy peasy.  I can't talk about why I say this with confidence, just rest assured you'll know when the time's right and everything is a well oiled machine!

Other than reading, I had a bit of a writing slump, which I discussed in todays WIP update.  I'll refrain from double posting about it, but suffice it to say - I felt uber dumb.

Because June is a five-Wednesday month, we skip one Wednesday and go without dance class.  Yes, very sad, very nervous about the upcoming harem night - but whatev, right?  I can't change it - oh well.  On the up side, girls from my class decided to pop over to Strato's where the harem night is taking place next week, and hang out for Greek Night.  I hauled a friend with me because that's the kind of person I am; if I'm going down I'm taking you with me!  I had no idea my Saturday instructor was performing; that was loads of fun!

It was kinda a bummer cuz the restaurant was mostly empty, but our table was loud and cheered a lot.  At one point we got involved in one of her routines - and in short - I wound up on tables with two of my class mates - dancing.  Yes, I was dancing on a table, stone cold sober.  There are pictures, and I trust those that have them to use discretion - because I had this pained look on my face.  The three of us had no idea what was going on, so we mostly floundered around and had fun. 

The biggest kicker was that our sub instructor decided we would do our routine - sans the two girls that didn't come with us - right then and there.  I learned a few very important things: I don't know the ending as well as I thought (and neither does anyone else!).  My jeans are really too big.  And I step on my own jeans.  I need to just not dance in jeans - so I will be finding appropriate dancing pants this weekend most likely.  All in all, Wednesday was a load of fun, I'm sure pictures will be forthcoming eventually.

This weekend should be an interesting juggling of events.  I'm trying to finish my novel by the 30th, but I'm still going to a theater event on Saturday night, Sunday is Crafty Day, and next week is it's own beast.

Now if I could only convince myself to not stay up all night reading a book - I think I could tackle the day a bit better!

So for this week's GTT we're going on a shopping spree.  With only $100. I think I could sneeze and spend that.  Yes, I am aware of the fact that I like to spend money - and that's not really a good thing.  Right now, for an internet shopping spree, I think I would have to start off with a few purchases for my current extra curricular activity: dancing.  For those of you who don't know, I started taking bellydance classes a little over a month ago.  It's lots of fun, and accessorizing with fun hip scarves is super fun.

Unfortunately it's not so easy to find different styles of hip scarves.  I have a beautiful light blue with silver coin scarf my amazing friend bought for me because I couldn't go to the fair with them.  Ebay has become my favorite place for trolling for scarves.  So lets see how much I'd rack up if I did a little accessorizing....

First up is this hipscarf from Australia.  I'm so close to clicking the Buy Now button it's not even funny!

It's different from what I see a lot of girls wearing - which means I sort of want it for that reason.  But if no one else is wearing it.... Does that mean it's not a good buy?  I'm torn.  I also really like the white - but it's WHITE!  There are other colors, but I thought that the beading and detail work showed up best on white.

I'm rounding up, but it's about $10 to purchase it and then about $7 to ship it, for a total of $17.

I still have $83 to spend on my online shopping adventure... More scarves!

Okay, so this one comes in lots of different colors.  Some versions have sequins up on the top of the belt, but I'm not totally in love with that.  The other versions also have pearl detailing that I like better - but this black version looks like it has more coins - which means more jangle - which means more movement...

My hips will shake louder than your hips!

Again, rounding up - the scarf costs about $5 and shipping is $10. $10 shipping!  For a total of $15.

I still have $68 to spend on my online shopping adventure. I think I need one more hipscarf.

Yes, red.  I like red.

I'm also really digging the different ways the coins hang.  I think that's pretty cool.  I'm really into all of the scarves having a different look, can you tell?

Currently bids on this start at $.98, and the shipping is about $17 - which until I realized this was in China, seemed a bit much.  However, I could go to their store and do a Buy Now option for $23.  The person inside of me that wants instant gratification would do that.

I still have $45 to spend on my online shopping adventure. I think four scarves is plenty - so what else would I want to shop for online?  I don't buy clothes online.  I don't really like shopping online anymore.  But I do like books.  And I like shopping for books.  I have a B & N card, so I get free shipping on things delivered to the store.  I also get like 10% off my purchases so I'm dropping change unless it's an online special.  So, were I to preorder books today, I would purchase the following titles:

Go, Mutants! by Larry Doyle ~ $13
Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi ~ $3.99 (online special!)
Red Hot Fury by Kasey Mackenzie ~ $7
Night Myst by Yasmine Galenorn ~ $7
From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming ~ $10

Leaving me with $4...

Well, now I really want to go shopping!

It's another uber busy day!

I know I can't really talk about the Seekrit Project that we met about last night, but lets just suffice to say that the morale is high and we're all hopeful and excited.  We also had lots of fun just hanging out and talking; we're girls.  We're into that sort of thing.

Tonight is dance; which is code for not gonna get a whole lot done today.  I'm hoping to get the dishes and a load of laundry going before I head out with a friend to go do some girly stuff.  aka - waxing our eyebrows.  It's a necessary evil because I hate using tweezers; they're like specialized instruments of torchure.  Oh yes, you could have all the pain at once, in one quick burst, or in smaller incriminates a hundred times over in five minutes.  Hmm, I'll go with the wax thank you very much.

I'm also in a world of trouble.  I haven't practiced the harem routine anywhere near enough.  If there's time between waxing and dance I should really practice so learning the last half of the dance doesn't fry my brain.  This means I'll more than likely be eating Chickfila tonight.... Yummy chicken!

All of this is me talking about everything except what I want to talk about - because I refuse to blog about what's really on my mind right now but suffice it to say that something is annoying me but I can't talk about it because when I started blogging I decided there were some subjects I just wasn't going to touch.  *sigh*  I should just drink a Dr Pepper and stick a smile on my face and everything will be uber good again.  :D

I probably shouldn't blog - because I'm uber tired, but it's my lunch break and I'm too tired to write or revise credibly and my eyeballs feel like falling out of my face so reading is out *gasp* so OMG I'm going to blog!

This week sees me as being uber busy - which isn't really that unusual, just not really at a point that I wanted to be busy.  I have things that I've promised people I would do and because stuff happens I'm sort of a flake.  I hate flakes.  I'm pissed at myself for being flaky.  Flakyness is a sore subject right now; because of flake behavior my bestfriend and I haven't seen or really spoken to each other in months.  I just got tired to being flaked on and just decided there was no point in getting upset about stuff and said something polite and all - well, when you want to hang out, call me.  We haven't spoken.  I'm not upset at her, but I'm upset that everything has unraveled like it has.  I try very hard to be dependable and come through on stuff, because I know how much it sucks to not be able to depend on people - and I've been a wonderful flake recently.

Goal for the next week: improve on the flaky behavior.

So what am I busy with this week?

Well, last night I went to see Iron Man 2 with guy-friend (I have to come up with a better way to name people for privacy's sake).  I have to say, I think Pepper is a freaking bimbo; she should have left that job 5 minutes into the first movie.  She's stupid for sticking around.  That's my opinion!  The movie was entertaining - and guy-friend and I are um, we're movie-talkers.  If you're familiar with Mystery Science Theater, that's kinda what it's like sitting through a movie with us.  We talk, laugh uber loud, and follow tangents.  This is why he's currently my fav movie buddy.  It's a rare person who doesn't mind my endless chatter.  The really funny thing was after the movie we decided it was a GREAT idea to go back to my place and watch Inglorious Bastards, which I've had from netflix for like two weeks, maybe more.  Yeah, I had no idea it was full of subtitles.  My contacts were trying to peel themselves off of my eyeballs by the end of the movie. 

Tonight is uber seekrit project meeting.  I'm thinking it'll include lots of tangents, talking, and possibly some productivity.  I can't say any more or else the other co-conspirators might ambush me for my snack money.  (Not really. I could tak'em.)

Practicing for harem night hasn't happened a whole lot.  I have hardly any room to practice in my apartment.  I think that I'm just going to take my hip scarf with me tonight and make everyone learn the routine so I can practice in an open space.  I have got to figure out what to do with my hands.  They're totally out of control, lol.  So yes, dance class is tomorrow night, it'll be lots of fun and I'm really liking it.

Friday is yet up in the air as far as what's going on, as well as Saturday - though there was discussion of going to the derby game - I should probably poke people about that, shouldn't I?

And Sunday is Father's Day!  I need to do something special for him.  I think he's hit a streak of blue days.  His health is good, but he's getting older and I think that's hard on him right now, and with my mom always gone on her bike he's left alone and lonely a lot.  I need to be a better daughter and call him more often.  I suck at phone calls.  If my dad would only learn how to text.... Well, then we'd never STOP talking and he'd probably know far more about my life than he wants to - because anyone who text's with me generally ends up that way.

So I had someone ask me: Don't you ever regret your tattoos?

Honestly?  Nope.  I mean, there have been times that I've stopped and realized that life would be easier were I not a tattoo'd person.  I've realized that a guy didn't like me because of my ink.  I've realized some girls are scared of me/won't talk to me because of my skin color.  But you know what?  It's like a litmus test for people; the ones who really are cool enough to be in my life pass it with the physical.  So if you think for an instant I regret or wish I would have done something differently, please stop.  I'm happy with who I am.  Okay, I'd like to loose like 50 pounds and I'd like it if my hair were longer, but really - those aren't that big.  So I'm happy with me, so you should be happy for me.

And really cold Dr Pepper burns going down and is a great way to really wake yourself up!  Back to work I go.

I don't have a lot to say but i feel bad about neglecting this blog, my other blog, and reading hardly any blogs.  I gave up reading blogs about a month ago to get myself to be more productive ~ and had the most productive month evah as far as writing goes.  which means there's not a lot else that I've really been doing.

And I get to finish season 3 of Dexter tonight, which is awesome.  I haven't watched much tv or many movies.  In fact, I think the last movie I went to see was How to Train Your Dragon...  And that was a while ago.

Some friends and I are working on an uber seekrit book related project we can't talk about ~ but really excited about what's in store.

My parents are doing well.  Mom's cycling, dad's hanging out, so nothing big or life changing there.

Dance class is going awesome.  I have a recital at the end of the month ~ yes, that means I'm performing. Dancing.  In front of people.  It's fun and something interesting to throw into my week.

Oh, and I've decided I should grow my hair out longer, something niceish looking.

I'm also going to own up to the harsh reality that I hate housework.  I need to take a whole day and just clean.  My bedroom.  The kitchen.  Floors.  Carpets.  The whole nine yards.  But have I?  No.  Do I plan to anytime soon?  Not really.  But do I need to?  Yes.

Okay, that's me rambling about nothing at all to ease my conscience about my lack of blogging.  There.

So another week of dance classes, and I have to say that I think at times I look more like a fish floundering on land than an actual dancer.  Tonight one of the ladies in my class and I spent half the time looking at each other with very lost looks on our faces and laughing with one another.  The thing is that the usual instructor was there this week - where last week we had a substitute.  6:45 rolled around, the music went on and she started a sink-or-swim session.  I think I succeed in moving in the right direction, but there's no way I'm doing this stuff right; we won't even discuss what I look like doing it.  But it's fun!  And my arms and all sorts of me hurt.

If you're into comics, the Boondock Saints comics are out.  I'm subscribed to them via Heavy Ink.  Comics are a very recent addition to my reading library.

Right now I'm reading an amazing Zombie book called Feed; I'm sort of anticipating being up later on tonight with nightmares, so I'm half tempted to draft this blog and publish it after that wake-up, but tomorrow is Thursday and I should be a good girl and do my Girl Talk Thursday since I've missed the last two Thursdays!

I'm constantly entertained by things that happen on Twitter.  Like, the random stuff I say that complete strangers pick up on and reply to.  It's funny to me.  For instance, I twittered something to the affect of, I have a Dr Pepper. What do you have?, and got like 50 replies with what other random people had.

Today I realized I haven't picked up knitting needles in weeks. Going to try to fix that on Sunday, since, wow, Sunday's Crafty Day.  I totally forgot!  Oopse.

And it's a holiday weekend! That's uber exciting.  And I might have plans for Monday, so that's a step up from my current habit.  Oh, and I'm getting my hair cut this weekend.  Finally!

I won stuff! I won a companion to the Dexter tv show from Grasping for the Wind.  Super excited.

I've read several books.  Still needing to write outstanding book reviews on my other blog.

Writing - a lot.

Having friends over at various points for movies.

And oh yeah! Belly dance!

So I'll talk about my belly dance class I went to.  It was super fun, and I felt kind of silly, but that's expected when your body isn't used to moving in certain ways.  I think I'm really going to like it.  I mean, by the end of the class my arms hurt, I could feel the burn in my thighs and I felt the workout through my upper body and abs.  I need to practice at home, which I've been bad about because of my fanatical writing, but I will get better.  I even bought belly dance music and one of my writer-friends-who-shares-my-brain bought me a hip scarf at the ren fair this weekend.  I'll now have jangly hips.  I may or may not post a picture of me wearing said hip scarf.  There will be no video of me dancing.  None.

Got to see The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus this weekend which was sort of sad to see Heath Ledger's last film.  There's a really ominous moment early on in the movie where it kind of hits you: he's dead.  The movie was really nifty.  I'm supposed to watch it tonight again.

Also saw two movies I didn't care for: Nine (the musical) and Defendor.  Both were very disappointing.  Nine I knew was the story of a filmmaker, but it was just downright depressing at times.  I re-watched it yesterday and became even less impressed with the music.  Defendor was just all round depressing, though I love Woody Harrelson after Zombieland, I wish I would have passed on this movie.  It wasn't funny, it was depressing and sad.

Yup.  This week should be lots of writing because I'm wanting to finish one novel this week and I have a lot to accomplish.  Though next week should be more interesting as far as social interaction goes.

Thanks to those who have contacted me willing to help with research. I appreciate it!

I've gone from being an every-day blogger to a, you-might-think-I've-fallen-off-the-edge-of-the-world blogger.  *sigh*  I'm sorry!  There's either nothing going on or I can't possibly think of anything interesting to say that's not something like, 'I'm writing.' or 'I just wrote this really cool scene where so-and-so does THIS and whats-his-face does THAT! It's awesome!'  Because as much as I know it excites me, I don't even pretend to think that anyone wants to hear a minute by minute replay of my writing.

What is new is that tonight I start dance classes.  Yes, dance classes.  I'm taking a belly-dance class this month, well, for the next four weeks.  After tonight I'll know if I'm a once-a-weeker or a twice-a-weeker; I'm thinking twice a week, honestly.  I'm already looking at hip scarves.  I'm not too excited about the whole belly-dance costume, but the hip scarves are super nifty.  I'm sure I'll have all sorts of interesting bits to say tomorrow about my dancing experience; heck, I might even surprise you and double blog!

Besides the dance class, I've been thinking heavily about tattoos.  For several years now I've had standing plans for a full sleeve on my left arm.  I love the memory-tree idea and in my head it looks uber cool.  However, now that I'm in a professional environment - I have learned how much I hate wearing longed sleeves.  Plus, it's Texas and Texas is freaking HOT in case you don't already know.  I'm toying with the idea of cutting the tattoo down to a half sleeve, get it designed to look like a stained glass window and just have multicolored stars hanging from it so it mirrors the stained glass window on my right arm.  I'm not sold on the idea at all, which is why I must now begin the stewing process.  This probably also means I most likely will not get a tattoo in 2010.

I'm also still in limbo about my two submissions for press; I have 12 days left until no response means no acceptance.  I'd really prefer a rejection letter, personally, but understand that not everyone has time for those types of things.

My family is doing well.  Dad is of course experiencing some changes to the way he does things but he's coping and things are good.

Hmmm ~ Oh! I finished Avatar: The Last Airbender and recently came to understand that the movie will really be three movies.  I sort of died a little on the inside when I heard that.  I don't have much faith in Shammy, can you tell?  I could stomach one movie, but three is trying my patience.  I should be open minded, I know, but I like the series.

And I got a new phone. I think that's the end of my exciting news.