Yes! Day One!

So, today was Day One of Nanowrimo. I've "participated" before, but without much of a plan I basically just wrote character descriptions and set pieces till I got bored and gave up.

However, I'm talking about my goals for this year to keep myself accountable. So, here goes...

Getting to the end and "winning" is as simple as averaging 1,667 words per day. Today I wrote like crazy and got to that number in about 1.5 hours. So, not bad. I could probably do it in less if I had some ability to focus, but as it was I did about 500 words while waiting for Chris to get his hair trimmed at Great Clips (as an aside, ever got your hair cut at Great Clips? I'm surprised I got anything written), and then managed to clack out about 1500 more while watching the end of the Anaheim Ducks/Washington Capitals game at home. (What can I say? Temmu Selanne inspires me.)

So...the grand total for today? 2,600! Go, me! Just 29 days to go!

Nature Has Other Plans...

I have guests in town, my parents, who hate the cold. So when we planned their visit, we talked a fair amount about the potential for snowfall. "No problem," I assured them, "it'll be way before the first snow. It only snowed this early once before, and that was an anomaly."

Put simply: WRONG. Yes, it almost never snows so early. It hasn't since 1972, actually. But I woke this morning to blankets and blankets of flakes coming down, and it's only gotten worse since then.

And in fact yesterday was a great day to be outside. I rode my horse in the afternoon, and it was a fantastic day to have a panoramic view of the mountains with all the leaves changing. Then, later, my guests and I had dinner at the Nittany Lion Inn and participated in the Lantern Tours that are put on by the Lion Ambassadors. The highlight was climbing Old Main's tower, which isn't usually open.

But we're definitely not going out there today. So, now my parents and I are hunkered down in the basement watching college football. Which is pretty awesome, but very different from what I had planned this weekend.

Literary Endeavors

This is one of those omnibus posts where I just throw a summary of my recent activities out there for everyone to peruse. I've been on a bit of a literary jag, in addition to my other activities.

This has included reading -- and I read what's handed to me, what I see on the shelves at the library, and what I get assigned for various reasons, so there's no particular value judgement afoot here.

• Just finished re-Reading Ellison's Invisible Man, Bryson's At Home, and McEwan's Amsterdam. These actually do come with a value judgment, because I like them enough to keep them around and rotate them on and off the shelves for frequent re-reads.



• Just finished reading, from the library: T.C. Boyle's When the Killing's Done and Clyde Edgerton's The Night Train.



• I'm currently reading: GHW Bush's All the Best (wherein he refers to that old battle axe Barbara Bush as "Bopsie"), Hoover's The Quickening, and Ian Weir's Daniel O'Thunder.

Beyond all that, did I mention that I'm endeavouring this year to participate in National Novel Writing Month and to "win" it? More on that later. Suffice it to say that I have a challenge what with my travel for work, my lack of a laptop, and my other obligations. But I'm spending a lot of my non-copious free time this month doing research, writing character sketches, and generally setting myself up so that I can just write when it's just writing time.

Ahem.

I MADE IT!

This makes me "fresh meat," and now I'm being tenderized by the extremely painful phenomenon of fresh meat boot camp with the State College Area Rollers.

I also have a lot of upcoming activities.

For example:

• Traveling to Hanover for a scrimmage bout this weekend.



• Participating in the 10/22 bout against Binghamton as both a non-skating official and the zombie pirate singer of our national anthem.



• Participating in Bellefonte's Halloween Parade and Fall Festival with the team, which should both march in the parade and have a booth at the Fall Festival.



• Etc., etc. There are bouts and appearances and all kinds of stuff through the end of this season, which is December.

Note that I'm not a full-fledged member of the team yet. Sometime in late November/early December I'll hopefully pass my Level 1 assessments, and graduate to full status and the ability to actually receive and give contact in practice.

So, wish me luck. And watch this space for more events and whatnot.

After

After, a photo by Athens Nikita on Flickr.

Here's the nighttime view of the finished project.

You guys think the light is too low, too high, or just right?

Small Improvements

Given the theme of this blog, and the fact that for about the first year all we did was various forms of construction projects, I shouldn't be surprised when people ask me what's up with the house at the moment. The short answer: very little. We're well into the "enjoy the house" phase, and are currently putting our money and time into other things.

However, occasionally we do small projects when we can see the opportunity to make a big improvement in a short time. A few weeks ago, the front porch light seemingly burned out. This coincided with my blowing a fuse during band practice, and so it could have been a fairly serious problem -- but when Chris hauled the fixture down and discovered that it was simply a shoddy fixture, it was time to go shopping for a new one. At the same time, I decided to replace the contractors' special sconces/lanterns around the back doors, too. Why not? I hate those things -- they work, but they're cheap and ugly, and I am way over cheap and ugly.

At the same time, we decided to take advantage of the lack of a front porch fixture to remedy a basic problem with it -- it's all white! Technically, I suppose that's fine, but being from the south a white porch ceiling is something of an abomination. The proper color is something called "haint blue" -- supposedly it wards off evil spirits if you happen to be from one of the cultures (they are numerous in the south) that believes in it. Personally, I'm not all that superstitious, but I like the way the blue reminds me of the sky, cools the space in the summer, and brings a little color in in the winter -- a major consideration in a place where winter is twice as long as it was down south.

So today Chris and I spent about 6 hours painting the ceiling blue. (Photo at left: pre-painting prep.) We did this on Sunday, because it's one of the few days where we can steal away a few hours and because the local construction nannies don't work on Sunday. I was lucky this morning to find a whole suite of matching lanterns at Lowe's -- they averaged about $40 a fixture. SCORE! (Incidentally, for those who like me are cheap, both Lowe's and Home Depot appear to be having sales on lighting at the moment.)

So, new photos forthcoming once I can manage to get them to upload (damn Flickr!). Not only does it make the house look a tad more southern, but it makes it look great.

Roller Derby in Central PA

A little less than 6 months ago, I tried out for a roller derby team, the State College Area Rollers or SCAR Derby. This came as a surprise to more than one person. My father, when told, said "you remember what happened the last time you rollerbladed?" (I got hit by a car.) My mother said "you used to just cling to the wall at the roller rink." (So true.) But my bandmate was trying out and as I practiced to try out my husband decided to support me and try out as well. So, for better or for worse, I was in. I signed up for a clinic and tryouts with the State College Area Rollers.

In the process, I learned a lot about a sport I honestly knew nothing about.

1. Roller derby is experiencing a resurgence nationwide thanks to the Austin roller derby team and media stuff like Whip It.

2. Maybe if I hadn't spent so much time clinging to the wall, I would've discovered much earlier that skating is actually a great workout.

3. Central PA actually has a burgeoning, if young, regional scene to be part of. Williamsport, Harrisburg, Rochester, and a dozen other teams are located 3-5 hours from State College. Most are under 2 years old, so it's a good time to get in on the action.


I also, unfortunately, didn't make the team. My friends did. Can you say awkward?

I don't hold this against SCAR, since on skates I looked like a baby giraffe does in one of those shows on Animal Planet where they try to figure out how to operate their feet. However, I also didn't give up on skating. After all, my friends and husband spend all their time at the rink or at events, which means I spend a lot of time at them, and I've transitioned to a much more graceful skater in a few short months. And skating was the problem. I hear a lot from people who are not thrilled with having to hit people. Whereas I would love to hit people strategically, if only I could get to them. What I find hilarious/maddening is that there's a weird learning curve for skating -- you start off sucking at everything and then one thing clicks, and then all kinds of things click, and then suddenly you're just elaborating on stuff you already know. So getting started and putting in the time in that sucky stage is key.

So, a new season with new challenges is upon us, and one challenge I'm taking on is a second tryout. I'm also involved in SCAR Derby for better or for worse, anyway, so I'll be spending a lot of time this season as a non-skating official at the bouts. For those who might want to join me (and so far it looks like this recruiting class might be a little smaller than the one I was part of), the next clinic is September 25th at Penn Skates -- with tryouts on October 9th.

See you at the rink?