La Vie En Rose for 2004 November

Oh, well. I had a pretty ok first day at work and last night Wes Clark's speech was awesome! I did disagree with him on a few things, such as the stupid electoral college, but he was very inspriring, and afterwards I got to shake his hand!

I saw Mr Cowles, my AP US History teacher, at the polls this morning. He patted me on the shoulder as he left and said "Vote right." "Oh I will," I reassured him. Mr Cowles is one of the Great Liberal Thinkers of BHS which make me so glad I went there, and when I did.

1. I'll get more mileage from my "american traveller apology shirt."

2. He can't run again!

3. Maybe Hillary will run in 2008.

I won't post the rest because I couldn't think of any more real ones and they got pretty sarcastic.

To top things off, my new job is Not That Fun. Maybe it's just because I'm in training and that's always boring. But I am seriously wondering why I'm going to put on a skirt and shoes and drive over there to stand on my feet for 4 hours when I could stay here in my PJs and keep working on my summary and make more than twice as much.

A lot of people talked about moving to Canada if Bush were re-elected, and apparently some of them weren't joking. It's actually had the opposite effect on me, and I am now considering more strongly than ever staying in the US for grad school--at least my MA--so I am in a prime position to do all I can during the next election. Also on BBC is a collection of emails from non-Americans, and they seem to be as divided as we are. Reading over them, I see a lot of the same arguments. but considering the global media, I guess that's not really a surprise.

Now. It just so happens that I now have two jobs (my bookstore job is becoming more enjoyable, thanks for asking) and I am also attempting to write a novel in the month of November, in addition to juggling various activities and peoples who demand my attention. I have just spent over an hour writing out responses to the comments to the entry before last. The previous entry I have not even attempted yet (though I would suggest to Kristen that she watch Outfoxed). I realize that the beginning of this entry is political in nature and, if the last two posts are anything to judge by, will prompt a spew of comments that I will feel the need to respond to.

I would like to take this time to thank Sumana, Stacy, Mom, and "President Bush" who, since I generally agree with them, have saved the effort of saying certain things, and also brought up good points that have never occurred to me.

But, as much as I enjoy(ish) having my weblog function as my family & associates political forum, it is beginning to be a strain on my precious time resources. So could you please, please just do me a teensy favor: if you have something political to say, even if it's in response to something I say (as I know I won't be able to shut up) please just post it on your own weblog (if you don't have one, see Leonard). Agreeing with me is fine :o), or expanding on what I say, but if you want to start an arguement discussion, please do it elsewhere. At least for November. And I promise to come along and join the fray in a timely manner. Besides, there's no reason why I should get all the attention! And otherwise I'll spent all of my time at crummy, and all of you people who are clamouring to read my book will never get the chance. Thanks.

But I do have all day to write, and also finish this summary for a book on the History of the Scottish Women's Hopsitals. I'm kind of close-ish to the end...

I'll post more things I'd like for Christmas as I think of them. Those of you who think you might be getting a present from me, feel free hint about what books are on your wishlist.

Also: A USB light for my computer.

Also: will I ever learn how to spell soildersoldier?

In England during the month of November they sell paper poppies to benefit veterans, and everyone everywhere is wearing one. Tony Blair appeared nightly on the news with a fresh crisp poppy on his label. Mine was pinned to my jacket and got a little crumpled because unlike Tony Blair I had the same one all through November; I still have it, in my scrapbook, along with the poem my history professor explained was the background of the poppies: In Flanders Field.

Armistice day is important because it's the day the fighting stopped. But it's not the day the war was over. To many, delirious with illness, they didn't even realize it. Isabel Hutton said, "On November 11, 1918, we heard it was Armistice Day, but nobody seemed happy about it, and we hardly seemed to realize what it meant" (With a Women's Unit, p 164). To others, going home with broken bodies or to broken homes, their troubles were far from over. And even though there's hardly any veterans from World War I left, to some, the war is still not over.

The last chapter is on the Girton and Newnham Unit, which is what--in the form of Isabel Hutton--introduced me to the SWH almost a year ago, so in a way it's like coming full circle (although I'm sure I'll be round a few more times before I'm done. One thing that struck me, near the end, was Dr McIroy retelling the story of what an officer had told her about something he'd seen on the advance: a retreating army, caught on a pass and shelled, leaving just as mass of death. "One little foal was alive and standing by its dead mother; a little dog was also whining round a dead pony it had evidently lived with. Personally I always feel worse about those poor beasts, dragged unknowingly into the war and unable to get away." I've always felt the worst for the animals, too.

I was going to leave my "Defend America, Defeat Bush" sticker on, but now that someone has scribbled "Not!" after it (which is very rude) I'll have to take it off, and I have nothing to replace it with until my "Republicans for Voldemort" stickers come.

And, hahahahaha, we've just realised that the deadline for proposals for a conference is on... Monday. It's only a half page--page abstract, which I'm sure I can manage, but I'd like to think that at some point along my academic career I'll be prepared ahead of time for these things and not doing them at the last minute.

* Minus the chapters on the Royaumont and Romanian Units, which belong to Stacy.

1. UCLA sweatshirt
2. The Corrs Live in Dublin CD
3. USB light (would probably fit in stocking)
4. Norton Systemworks (for mac)
5. Griffin iTrip for iPod mini
6. Gift membership to audio-to-go.

Also for my stocking: a small calculator. I bought one but it appears to have disappeared.

*headdesk*

Also, can anyone explain the phenominan (which anyone who has ever worked in a store will completely agree is so true) that while fifteen minutes will go by without a single customer needing help leaving you free to alphabatise to you hearts desire, all of a sudden ten people will want to check out all at once, using gift certificates and book clubs, which have to be tracked down in the master log and crossed off, and getting new book clubs that have to be recorded, or gift certificates which is just a pain, and writing checks, and joining the book club which means I have to add them right there, and wanting the complementary gift wrap and its enough to drive a person crazy! And somehow I always end up at the cash register with no credit card reader so I have to type it in by hand! But still, it's better than being non-busy and bored. And it's challenging, so I enjoy it.

Speaking of challenging, yes I am well aware that my word count hasn't moved in a while. I have written more so it's not quite as dismal as it seems.... we're all just waiting for me to make my big come-back. I hope no one was expecting me to actually pay attention to them over spring break.

PS: www.mugglenet.com reports a rumour of a June 2005 6th HP book release. Wouldn't that be exciting!!

I've decided to stop typing my novel as I go along, and I think this will be removing a major hinderance. I've figured out that each composition book page I write is about 200 words, so all I have to do is write about 200 more pages and I'll be all set! Then when it gets to be december I can go back and type and edit as I go, instead of the frantic typing I do now where I don't even spell-check. I know I could say myself a lot of trouble by just writing it one the computer, but for some reason it just comes out better on paper.

Mom made some homeade macoroni and cheese. Yum.

They would also like me to remind you that they will mock you mercilessly should you fall short of your 50,000-word goal this week. Your mother is especially looking forward to reminding you of your novel-writing shortcoming for the rest of your life.

*pant pant* After extensive counting I've figured out that I actually average above 250 words per compostiton book page, which is very good news. So I can do one page/ 15 minutes, and four pages or one hour equals one thousand words. This is a lot of math, but as long as I have four hours of writing every day left in November I should be fine. Considering I've given up pretty much all extra activities including IMing and research (which isn't really extra but it's only one week) I should be able to manage that. I'll just tell y'all (sorry, listening to Little Altars everywhere must have gotten to me) not to bother me too much this holiday. I figure have three other people in the car excepts me from driving on the way to SF :D so I'll just dope myself up on drammamine and write the entire way there.

I took my car in today. $560 to replace the radiator & other variousness. Got paid today. $194. Ho-ho-ho.

The optimist in me takes this as a wonderful excuse for not doing anything but staying in bed and writing; but the thing is I was planning on doing so anyway, except for the five and a half hours a day where I have to go to work and stand on my feet. :-{

Of course, my novel is nowhere near to being done, and if possible it's an even bigger mess than when I first started. Which could explain my lack of elation. That and the illness.