(1) Mon May 02 2005 00:24 PST Metamorphosis and other stories: A huge cockroach came to visit me this evening. After a failed attempt at siccing Tonks on him, I killed him dead with Spider Killer XXX. Now he awaits a burial at sea, once I get enough nerve.

Only about 20 pages left of my novel to type. Then I can print the whole thing & start revising. One of my May goals is to have a good re-written part one. Maybe I can do all of part two in June, depending on how long I make it. There are a lot of interesting people and things to write about though.... so who knows.

It's actually been kind of exciting work. It's been a good 5 months since I wrote it, so reading it again is like a surprise--I can't wait to see what happens next. And it's nice to see how it's shaping up. I'm getting all sorts of ideas, plot wise. But it will take some doing wading through all the narrative and making it as sharp as I want it to be.

I keep having weird dreams, too. There was one with all the Walch cousins, and we were at a cabin, I can't remember. Then at my old house, and I found a dog too keep Gretel company, but I was worried they were going to fight & hurt each other--Mom said it was a Croatian dog. Real mom said I'm getting too into this "retreat thing". She's probably right, if I am projecting Balkan ethnic feuds onto my dogs, real and Freudian... does that make Gretel a Serbian dog? Ohh the irony. Ok, stopping. Now.

Mon May 02 2005 14:59 PST Huzzah: I am all done typing what I have written of my novel! Nearly 55,000 words, and 100 pages! Now, onto fixing it...

Update: Ugh. I can't print it because I can't use Word on mom's computer. Even though I already put in the product key and everything when I used Access, it insists I do it again before I use word. How stupid is that? Hate MS. Hate.

Update II: Called Office Depot. How much is it to print from disk? 7 cents. Can they do it double-sided? 6.8 cents. Even better! I burned a CD and ran off. But when I got there Mr Phone Guy said he hadn't known I was talking about from the computer... ok... So no double-sided printing. But what he can do is print it single-sided, then make a double-sided copy on the copy machine. My little environmentalistic heart just about died. So I had him make a single-sided copy, which I could have done myself at home or work if I just had the patience to wait. But it turned out ok, since it cost less than $5.00 because he gave me a discount for the misunderstanding. And now I have 133 (1.5 spaced) beautiful pages of writing just waiting to be scrawled all over with green ink.

Also: I need to work. Clearly. I need to do the hours to get the money I need. But, as I told Stacy earlier, I can't seem to drag myself away from WWI in Serbia to focus on Serbia during WWI. Plus, these purely inspired spurts where I am really motivated to work on my novel and in love with the whole project are so rare that I feel I must take advantage of them as long as they last!

(1) Mon May 02 2005 21:14 PST Tomorrow I play catch-up:
Oil change (has needed doing for 500 miles)
With free car wash (has needed doing since... I can't remember the last time I washed my car--may or may not have been this year)
Gas getting (has needed doing since I saw a station with $2.49/gal.)
Sears to get my glasses adjusted (has needed doing FOREVER)
Ross to see how much their Pilates/Yoga matts are (doesn't technically need doing because the gym has matts but they are ew-gross and all the serious Pilates people bring their own, plus I think I should start doing some of the leg stretches at home so I can do them better in class, and goodness knows I can't do it on the bare floor!)

My email inbox was feeling lonely so I answered a bunch that were sitting there (I have to let them build up and do it all at once... it's weird) so hopefully I will get some replies =).

I'm going to work on my Serbia article now, really I am (*hides novel rough draft and turns off Airport*).

(1) Thu May 05 2005 11:33 PST Strange as it seems there's been a run of crazy...: There's nothing more relaxing than dreaming about chasing Gretel through the house screaming "bad! baaaad!"

(1) Thu May 05 2005 16:45 PST Words I made up: Retreaters, refugeeing, and Britishers. Actually, I didn't make up "Britishers," I borrowed it from somewhere, but I'm still pretty sure it isn't a word.

(1) Thu May 05 2005 20:54 PST Fab: Someone egged my car. Maybe they reallt didn't like my bumper sticker? Maybe the rain will wash it off?

Fri May 06 2005 19:13 PST If there were a contest for nerdiest 22-year-old, I'd totally win. : Shala. In a very good mood. Congrats to Tony Blair on his third term. I must admit I was rather torn about this election, as well as anxious about the outcome. While it is no secret that I am a fan of Tony Blair and most of his policies, his stance on the US-led Iraq war, as we all know, has caused quite a scandal, and while I understand his reasoning, I also very much understand not voting for him on an emotional level. So… Labour is still in power, but has lost a lot of its majority. What will happen? We shall see.

Speaking of elections (ish), I’ve been doing a lot of research on diplomacy in WWI as background for my article, since, I think, one of the most striking features of personal narrative of British women in Serbia, especially in 1915, to *gasp* critcise British policy! I know that doesn’t sound too amazing in this day and age, but these women were intensely patriotic. Their main goal and hope was to serve their own [British] men—largely denied to them because of the misogynistic attitude of the War Office… but that’s a story for another time. Anyway, I am slowly discovering that the British were quite bastardly in their foreign policy for Serbia, and the women had quite good reason to be critical. It’s like uncovering… a dinosaur fossil, or something. Thesis material, anyone? Whooo. So back to how elections tie into the story. There seems to be a bit of divergence about the importance of the Balkan campaign in the different histories. But one thing is pretty clear: both the Entente and the Central Powers were aching to get the smaller Balkan states. In the scenario where this is actually important in deciding the fate of the war (and I certainly think it could have been, and even was, to some extent), I compared Bulgaria and Romania to swing states: they aren’t as big as say, Germany and France (Texas and New York), but since those powers even out, one has to get as many of the little countries on one’s side as possible, in hopes of tipping the scales and breaking the stalemate. It might have been 2000! I told this theory to Stacy, who added that the Bolshevik revolution in Russia was the equivalent of California going to Bush. In order to balance it out, the US would need to absorb Canada as a state (= US entering the war). It almost works, as a metaphor.

More funny things were said, which I meant to write about, but can’t remember. Especially with Becca—but I think I wrote that down. Later.

There was a Call For Papers announced yesterday for a conference on WWI and popular culture. Stacy and I are aching to go. It would be really fun to do portrayals of WWI in romantic fiction; can anyone think of any romance novels set in WWI? It would also be really fun and relatively easy to do Depictions of a Mutually Adoring relationship between British women (esp ambulance drivers) and Serbia soldiers in Personal Narratives. The only problems: it’s in Newcastle. Which, incidentally, is where the Gertrude Bell archives are, and is also, incidentally, an expensive plan flight away. Since I’m not a grad student, I bet I wouldn’t be able to apply for any grants, and who knows if they would take my abstracts seriously, or even look at them. Woe.

(1) Mon May 09 2005 00:32 PST: Just back from hanging out at Chris' and watching Chamber of Secrets with the special Goblet of Fire preview stuff that was on ABC last night--they taped it. Chris is all done with school and graduating next week. I also got an announcement from Becca. We're all getting so old! Fortunatley I think we've proven that just because you graduate from college does not mean you actually have to "grow up."

As for the new Harry Potter movie... the special effects look really cool. I'm super excited about it. But the boys seriously need haircuts, and I'm afraid Movie!Hermione is getting soooo much more annoying than Book!Hermione.

(3) Tue May 10 2005 01:09 PST Thank goodness you're here! Someone just hit me with a frying pan. : I just watched the funniest movie with Becca at Chris' (Chris was there too). It was called "Scotland, PA," and was based on Macbeth but set in a 70s fast-food restaurant. Seriously hilarious. Great, quirky stuff. Weiiiird.

Also: apparantly without having seen the last post, Christina sent me an email with the following comments in it: "am I the only one who really wanted to hurt Hermione *every* time she said something in the GoF clips? What have these silly movie people done to her?... And the boys need haircuts..badly. They both look silly. I mean I know Harry has messy hair, but this is ridiculous."

Wed May 11 2005 20:51 PST 3rd Annual May Day of Spontaneity: After frolicking on the beach, we retreated to the 3rd Street Promenade for a picture scavenger hunt. Objects included: worst street performer, inappropriately-dressed pre-teen, tattoo, and flamingo.

(2) Fri May 13 2005 12:14 PST Book...book...book...GOOSE!: I went to a Subway on Pico because a) I wanted Subway and b) it’s right next to a used bookstore I’ve been wanting to investigate for ages. But when I peered in the windows, I realized it was closed—seriously closed. No hours posted on the windows, and boxes and Trader Joe’s bags of papers and junk covering every spare inch of floor. Woe!

Does anyone have any good used/rare bookstores in the LA area suggestions? I really need to go to used bookstores in England and hunt up my WWI books that weren’t published in the US. I’m skeptical as to how many of them may have made their way across the ocean and are sitting on a dusty Californian bookshelf waiting to be discovered by me(but that doesn’t mean I won’t look!).

Sun May 15 2005 23:20 PST Solitaire addiction: I was doing so well, I deleted the game from Dave, but then I discovered games on yahoo.com. Why it is so much more interesting than all of the other things I could be doing? Must be the allure of the forbidden.

Mon May 16 2005 22:29 PST It's kind of like social networking...: Some people I know like to collect friends on thefacebook. I'd like to collect friends to stop global warming.

(2) Sat May 21 2005 14:42 PST Cleaning hoodlum house: I made a schedule for my novel. If all goes well I'll be finished revising and on my way to finishing in three weeks. Then I'll be done at the end of July. I divided it into 16 chapters (about 15 pages 1.5 spaced each) of which I've already written 9 and a half. So I'll revise three chapters a week for the next three weeks--that's two days per chapter, three while I'm in LA. Then I'll write a chapter a week (and do some revisign) till I'm done! Whee. The tenth chapter, which I've been stuck at for the last five months is where the idea of the whole thing came from.

So it's actually not too long. I was kinda afraid it might be. But all I have to do is cut out the useless crap and not write any more useless crap. 16 chapters isn't too long. And they're pretty short.

And speaking of my novel, here's a funny story of what was said one night while I was trying to work with Becca. I was debated whether I should keep my London scene, or whether I should rewrite it as leaving with the group for Serbia--or at least part of it--from Edinburgh, which I think makes more sense historically. But I like my London scene, and I explained to Becca why:

"She becomes her own woman, like--"
"She's a hoodlum?"
"No, she just...starts to break rules."
"That's what hoodlums do," said Becca in a knowing voice.

It was really funny when it happened.

Sun May 22 2005 15:51 PST My printer hates me: And guess what! The feeling is mutual. There's nothing wrong with it. It just won't print. I've tried about 50 times.

Sun May 22 2005 16:40 PST Pestilence: In my dream this morning my skin started breaking out in warts in like, 5 different places. "But I can't afford to go to the dermatologist!" I wailed.

In the same dream I ran into one of my disliked ex-roommates. I said something, mean but truthful, I can't remember what, and then, "Oh, I miss you!" I lied, and gave her a hug. This is the only time I can remember being deliberatly dishonest is a dream, and for some reason it really bothers me. Probably because if I saw this person in real life there's no way I'd give her a hug.

(1) Mon May 23 2005 08:28 PST The time is ripe: for dreams, I guess.

After reading a chapter entitled "Evelyn bobs her hair" in a book on women pilots, I had a dream in which I got all all of my hair chopped off! Whew--thank goodness I woke up and found it was only a dream.

Although, I seemed to like my Haircut in my dream.

No, no, no, no must not chop off all my hair. I'll have bangs instead.

Perhaps it represents a latent desire to go back in time and work in Serbia during WWI. Although this would make more sense if yesterday I'd been working on the part in my book where the girls cut each other's hair. But that's for today.

(4) Mon May 23 2005 16:28 PST Rainy Day: I did a lot of errands today. I manged to escape the hair salon with most of my hair, then went to Russo's to buy a birthday gift and pay for a copy of a book coming out tomorrow, yay! But I won't be able to pick it up till Friday when I get back from LA.

Then I went to TJs to get provisions. I forgot to find the sundried tomatoes.

Stacy & prob. Susie will appreciate this: the checkout girl's name was Odessa. I asked her where she got her name, she said a BeeGees album (which is an odd thing to name one's daughter after, but oh well).
Then I said, "You know it's a city in... Romania?" (I'm actually not sure if it's in Romania or Russia, but in my defense it's probably changed hands twice in the last 100 years).
"Yes," She said.
Then I felt lame, like those annoying people who point out obvious things about someone's name, or something, and then say, "You probably get that a lot."

But in my defense, Odessa isn't all that well-known of a city.

Also at TJs was the shopping bus from Grandma's retirment home. All the way across town!

The thing I hate about errands day is feeling like I've spent so much money all in one day. Which I have, like whoa, but all things that really needed doing.

Especially my gas. I have an 11 gallon tank; I got 11.04 gallons of gas.

Wed May 25 2005 13:22 PST Oh for heaven's sake: Paypal is confusing!

Thu May 26 2005 19:56 PST Oh the joy: As a bit of background research for one of my Belgium girls who later begame a novelist under a psuedonym, I'm dipping into Desert Love by Joan Conquest (1920), which is everything you'd expect, and more.

Fri May 27 2005 21:18 PST Just wondering...: What's the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day? I'm sure it might occur to me if I thought about it some more...

But, other than Memorial Day started after the Civil War (as I just learned reading Wes Clark's email about his radio address tomorrow) and Veteran's Day started after WWI, I can't think of any difference. I mean, it's ok to have two, I was just wondering.

*re-reads email* Maybe Memorial Day is for those who've died and Veteran's day is for everybody.

(1) Sun May 29 2005 22:51 PST Dun DUN dun dun dun DUN dun : Leonard is here for a vist and we're having a fab time. We took Grandma to the cemetary and she seemed happy, and we went to the Home & Leisure Show at the fairgrounds which was a bit lame, then me & Len went to see Star Wars. I'm rather glad I listened to everyone talk abotu how bad it was before seeing it, because I went in with no expectation and it turned out to be not so bad!

In other news, I'm hopelessly behind on my novel editing schedule, but I'll catch up, and instead I think I'll read about Macedonia for a bit before bed...

PS: Kristen's post reminded me... I think the best part about Star Wars was seeing the trailer from The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe.