Monkey Mind

Quirky Four-Eyed Primate

NaNoWriMo - Down to the Wire
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey

Holy crap on toast, I have never waited this long to let an enormous quantity of words to build up in order for me to complete Nanowrimo. I’m not even sure that last sentence made sense… I have been doing nothing but trying to catch up today.

I have a little (very, very little) over 40k words at the time of this blog entry. I need 50k to complete my fifth Nanowrimo novel. I am NOT going to fail two years in a row… except unless I do fail.

*oy*

Tomorrow is the last day to write, and I have to work through a majority of that day, so today is THE day to get this stuff done. This is the big day of “get your shit together and write,” and here I am writing a blog post because I’m not sure what to write in my novel.

EGAD. Between switching jobs and buying a house, this just has NOT been a stellar year to write a novel.

*slaps self*

*goes back to writing a hastily composed work of fiction in an inordinately short period of time*


Big Grown-Up Step: A House
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey

I’m sitting at Starbucks, and I should be writing my Nanowrimo novel, but instead I’ve spent the past hour getting caught up on all of you, your blog posts and Facebook updates and comments you’ve made to me that I haven’t replied to yet.

Life is really good right now. Today, Jim and I signed papers to finalize our purchase agreement for our first house. It’s a GREAT house, at a great price due to the current buyer’s market, and most importantly, it means that I will get the dog I’ve wanted for a long time (it already has a fenced in yard!).

Here’s a peek at the house:

Such a big step, buying a house. I thought getting married would make me feel like an official grown up, but that feeling is nothing compared to the process of actually finding and then owning a home. Other than having kids, I’m not sure there’s anything more grown up.

It’s pretty freaking exciting to know that in a month or so, I will have a house that I can do whatever I want with… I will NOT have white or beige walls, I will NOT have generic lighting, I will NOT have to drive to the UPS plant every time I get a package because of a locked apartment building, and I will NOT have to worry about a landlord discovering my cat. Sounds like minor stuff, but when you add up everything you get to do with your living space once it’s really YOURS, it’s really pretty huge.

I’m already planning a huge housewarming, even though we had a housewarming when Jim and I moved in to the apartment we’re in now. We won’t be asking for any house gifts, maybe just bottles of wine or liquor to stock the bar we have in the finished basement. We were really lucky with our first housewarming and with a multitude of amazing wedding gifts we’ll finally have room for, so it will really just be a huge celebration for the sake of having a huge celebration. We’ll finally have ROOM to have a huge celebration! :)

If anyone has any great tips on successfully transitioning into a first home, feel free to leave comments. Tips on taking care of a dog (a larrrrrge dog) are welcome also. :)

NOW I’m going to go write something for Nano. This novel won’t write itself!


NaNoWriMo 2009 - Lift Off!
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[info]misfitmonkey

Nano stickersIf you’re going to be one of those people that complains about all the Nanowrimo talk during November… shoo. Go ‘way. Not interested. It’s what I do each year, and it’s AWESOME.

For those of you who don’t know, I am the Municipal Liaison for the Canton, Ohio region of National Novel Writing Month, and this is my seventh year with that title (my eighth year doing Nano). If you’re enjoying the madness, friend me up on the site! :)

This year has been really interesting so far, because I started at midnight last night with a specific novel in mind, a serious novel with a lot of heavy topics planned, and it completely TANKED before I hit 500 words. I discovered in short order that completely turning away from my Nanowrimo writing style was absurd and counterproductive, so I took a restroom break and returned to the table with zero plan and a lot of determination.

Now I have 1175 words of a novel that just materialized as I kept writing, and it would appear that I’m now writing about a cyborg man named Wendell who refuses to fight crime and save the planet because of a manufacturing mishap that has resulted in his constantly craving french fries. Since he was supposed to be the planet’s last ditch effort to same humanity, his creator, Peter Stimple, is in seriously trouble with his higher ups, and chaos will surely ensue.

The midnight kickoff at Denny’s last night was awesome overall. There were a few of us who’ve been doing this together for a while now, and new people popped in right at midnight and joined us. Pretty good turn out for the midnight event, so I’m sure today’s kickoff event will be a huge success. :) Happy noveling!

(If slideshow doesn’t appear, photo set is here.)


Update : Work, Family, House, Life
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey

Man oh man, has life been busy. Those of you friended up on the LiveJournal will see that this is the 4th wordy post today. I have two days off mid-week from work, and it feels like I finally have time to sit and enjoy some reading, some writing, and some reflection on the past several weeks.

Work has been stressful recently, not so much in the always-present aspect of dealing with patients and other people’s emotional and psychosocial wellbeing all day, but the whole picture. I think I’m doing a really good job of just riding with wave with that, and I know it will pass.

Family life is good, although I wish I had more time and energy to give to family time (my little brothers and nephew especially). I think this is related to work and Nanowrimo starting up and the next exciting news item. ;) I was really disappointed to miss a lot of family time this past weekend due to a trial work experiment that involved me working the weekend. It was horrible timing. I spent a lot of quality time with my sister and 11-month old nephew today though, so that was a blessing. :)

Jim and I are looking for (and may have found) a house. Holy CRAP, is that ever exciting! We think we’ve found the right house, and we’re making an offer today at the realtor’s office… our first ever time making an offer on a house. We have a decent down payment, both of our local parental units have taken a look at the house in question and all approve of making an offer. If anyone wants to really get wacked in the face with “damn, I’m a grown up whether I like it or not,” go buy a house. It’ll throw you into grown up mode real quick-like. ;)

Spiritually, I’m in a good place, but I’m pretty sure my family thinks I’ve joined a cult or something (my sister confirms that this is likely the case). I’ve found a really comfortable home in the area of energy healing, meditation, and neopaganism that feels really authentic for me, but really foreign to most of the people around me, which has been interesting to explore. On a really positive note, I’ve found a great group of people locally at Merging Hearts who are very much on the same wavelength, so while I’m sort of out on a spiritual island among family and many friends, I’m much more supported now in other ways. I’m going to my first ever observance of Samhain this Saturday! :)

Dogs are on my brain lately, since we’re looking for a house. I originally wanted a mastiff, and then was worried about my little allergy-ridden brother Ben not being able to visit, so then I spent some time looking into hypoallergenic dogs and found out that Tibetan mastiffs ARE hypoallergenic! :) Pretty much completely in “I want a dog… dog dog dog!” mode now.

Where are you at in life right now? Exciting transitions? Happily resting in a comfortable place in life? Struggling through a rough patch? I feel so out of the loop as I’m moving through my own transitions, so leave links to your exciting news and updates in the comments. :)


I enjoyed the morning commute today
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey

Thanks to Laura for the kick ass cd I’m still loving in my car a year later. :)

[Although, while I do love the cd, I wish I could play music on my iPhone while also Qik recording… This is a major pet peeve, since I primarily use my iPhone for music in the car.]

Also, Paul finished his novel on Saturday with everyone there at our meeting at Panera! His moment of completion is 30 minutes from the end of the video, if you want to speed up to the moment of victory. :)

Originally published at Brandice.net. You can comment here or there.


Nano Excerpt from Chapter 11
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[info]misfitmonkey

Random excerpt of the day:

All three of the scientists got down to business, Rigec and Jaco taking the second specimen back to the ship’s lab while Doctor Kimlynk Coh continued to wander the area looking for further plant life. Peter Xylim and Jomy passed the doctor on their way around the perimeter area just as Jomy was nearing the end of his patience.

Jomy sighed. “There really doesn’t seem to be any danger, Peter. We’ve been around the ship perimeter about four times so far, and we haven’t encountered any sign of life forms at all. I think this area of the planet is deserted.”

As aggravating is it was to admit that Jomy might have had some useful insight after the utter chaos he had created earlier in the day, Peter had to admit that Jomy had a point in suggesting that they were likely to be completely alone in this area of the planet. They really hadn’t seen a single living organism in quite some time, other than the plant life that the scientists were already investigating.

The fact that they were alone wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, because generally when you’ve landed on someone else’s home planet, avoiding the inhabitants of said planet can sometimes avoid deadly confrontations or just generally unpleasant relations. Peter was rather encouraged by the idea that they might be able to land here on Earth, quietly fiddle with the native plant life, and then be on their way again without any confrontation at all, but if their previous attempts at this particular mission were any indication, they should really be looking for whatever complete disaster was currently lying in wait.

Originally published at Brandice.net. You can comment here or there.


First Nano Excerpt - Prologue
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey

Because you all asked for it, here is the prologue to my 2008 Nanowrimo novel. I am in no way responsible for what may happen to any of you as a result of reading the beginning of what has become quite a work of utter and complete crap. I’ll try and only share the slightly readable bits, so enjoy (or hate) the beginning.

PROLOGUE (or The Way This Whole Mess Began)

Somewhere, in the very vast reaches of the deepest of deep space, there is a very tiny planet. The planet is small despite laws in the universe that would seem to indicate that planets cannot possible be this small and still withstand the forces of space, but there is also some evidence that would point to a mishap in intergalactic mail that should have been speedily delivered to this planet at the time of its creation to alert its inhabitants that the planet would simply not do. This type of communication is often lost in transit (damn meteors), or is delivered prior to the planet’s inhabitants being fully evolved to the point of being able to decipher the communication, which is how the square, invisible planet in the middle of the Milky Way continues to exist despite the impossibility of said existence.

The planet is called Myklox Prime by its sentient inhabitants, the Zomi people, and the inhabitants are sadly unaware of the fact that their planet is in total and complete violation of universal size-related guidelines. While the inhabitants themselves are also quite tiny, they are unaware of anything amiss with their little world, and they have lived in peace for a few million years.

Until five years ago.

Five years ago, a devastating evolutionary process took away the Zomians’ beloved delicacy, snum goi. It wasn’t so much evolutionary as it was an accidental result of an experiment by a very cocky scientist with too many test subjects who escaped his cocky lab and commenced in spreading an accidental snum goi-killing bacteria throughout the tiny planet. It really didn’t take long since the planet is only the size of Texas, and the Zomi people quickly found themselves without a single bit of snum goi.

Not only were they without their beloved snum goi, they were unable to grow it any longer due to the elusive and fancily complicated nature of the quickly dispersed bacteria. The bacteria could not be contained, the snum goi could not be grown, and the very cocky scientist was quickly fed to an animal of great ferocity and enormous size (at least when compared to the rest of Myklox Prime’s inhabitants). Zomians around their tiny globe were extremely displeased.

It was decided that a team of researchers, scientists, and other useful Zomians would need to leave the planet in search of similar plants that could be genetically altered to recreate their beloved snum goi. Several of the very sensible, reasonable and intelligent scientists on the planet suggested that this was a very silly solution to a stupid problem, but then quickly found themselves recruited for the space voyage themselves because they were the best scientists on the planet. It was quite a bad situation for the lot of them, but then you really should avoid openly disagreeing with snack-related opinions on a small planet, no?

The voyage was planned, and the scientists flitted off to the nearest planet to look for snum goi, quite disgruntled and unhappy. The first trip was to the planet Wontwyrk, which was inhabited entirely by sentient talking tree moss that had evolved to a point where trees were no longer needed. Had the Zomians known about astro turf football fields, this planet would have been a large mass of evolutionary irony, but the Zomi scientists simply threw up their hands and headed to the next planet, Stylwontwoark. Stylwonwoark had a plant very similiar to the snum goi berry, but when the scientists tried to alter the plant’s makeup to make it more like snum goi, the berries went feral, gained intelligence, and took over the entire planet in a matter of three days.

Things were clearly not going very well for the very unmotivated snum goi non-fan scientists, but upon communicating their double failure back to Myklox Prime, they were sent even further out into space, where they were knocked off course by a very tiny space particle (remember, they are very tiny creatures in general and their spaceship is incredibly miniscule) and ended up on the planet Direnshelpaltina.

The plan on the intended destination planet had been to cultivate a certain plant that they knew existed that was almost identical to the snum goi berry plant, and when they unknowingly landed on a different planet, they found what they believed to be the correct plant and made the adjustments they’d already designed and planned in transit. The results were quite terrible, and no one speaks of what happened or why T’im the ship janitor disappeared.

Now, three failures behind them, a tiny crew of Zomian men have begrudgingly set off a fourth time, heading for a planet named Earth, hoping that they will finally be done with their snack finding endeavors so that they can return home and provide their famished people with the snum goi they have gone without for half of a decade now. No matter that a snack food is a silly reason to voyage through out the dangerous vast reaches of the universe! No matter that none of them really wanted to go in the first place! This last voyage will bring victory, fame, and the conquest of the furthest planet the Zomians have ever managed to reach via space ship.

And most importantly, it will produce tasty treats, or they are all likely to be fired and told to stay on Earth.

Originally published at Brandice.net. You can comment here or there.


Recent Projects - My footprint on the interweb this year
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey
I've been working on a lot of web projects this fall, and a lot of them have taken off fairly well. Since they have their own presence on the internet, I don't import them here to my blog, so they are floating out there on the net, in the event that you'd like to add them to your RSS reader, etc.

1. STeaP - http://steaptv.com - My video podcast with Joe has taken off in a huge way, with weekly episodes on tea, an upcoming tea giveaway/showdown, and the free samples from tea companies all over the world have been coming in recently requesting reviews on our show. I'm really excited about this project and how well it's taken off. Our blog (linked above) has all of our episodes and blog entries, and if you like tea, it's a great show. :) We're very proud of it.

2. Internetiquette - http://internetiquette.blogspot.com/ - I started a blog for netiquette a couple of weeks ago and I've already received an offer from an online video content site to do a segment on internet etiquette (Revision3.com), so we'll see how that pans out and we have a pretty decent readership already. I am actively recruiting other contributors who want to write about the issues of etiquette on the internet, so hit me up if you're interested. :)

3. Podcamp Ohio - http://podcampohio.com/ - I am in charge of viral marketing for this event, which will be happening on June 28, 2008. Ohio's first ever podcamp, and I am really excited about how well the planning is already going. You can find viral links, our podcast meetings, and other info at the site. If you're a podcaster or love podcast, PLEASE come! :) We're going to hit Dave & Buster's after the event for some crazy networking/partying.

4. NaNoVideo - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node%252F402861 - I was really excited to see how well the NanoVideo project took off, with the explosion of the Viddler group that I created, getting to talk to Chris Baty himself on the phone and through email, and knowing that this year I helped Nanowrimo become even more interactive in ways that Wrimos obviously really wanted and enjoyed. I can't wait to see how I can expand on this next year, and I'm really proud of how well this year went with such last minute planning and haphazard organization. Next year I'm already planning an actual video podcast (hopefully with Joe's help). :)

5. CantoWrimo - http://brandice.net/cantoakrowrimo - If you were a part of my region's Nanowrimo group, this is where all the action is from now on, and all the videos and meeting information are on that site, including our calendar, chat room, all that stuff. We had a good time this past year with the chatrooms and making videos, so I anticipate even more craziness next year. :)

_________________________________

Everything else I'm doing on the web ends up here on the blog, but those are the projects that I'm a part of that you don't necessarily see here, and if you're interested in knowing more about what I love to do online, there are the links and how to find me EVERYWHERE on the interwebz. :) This has been a big year of internet projects for me, and I've discovered that I have abilities and talents in community building and organizing online that I hope to someday incorporate into my profession, which is exciting for me.

Last of the Nano TGIO Videos
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[info]misfitmonkey
Book Crossing group gives out awards

Dianah hates me for slapping her:


Who is Kim, Kim, Kim?


And then there's a friends-only vid of the after-party at Applebee's (friends-only just because it's long, unedited and kind of lame):
http://www.viddler.com/explore/brandice/videos/286/

Fun times. Stay tuned for more videos... I left my MacBook uploading about 1 GB of video... lol.

TGIO Flickr Pics
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[info]misfitmonkey
Below you will find the funniest Nano picture I think I have ever taken in my life. Good times, vids of the actual TGIO event to come, and the whole pool can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timshelyn/sets/72157600226483064/



Nano Progress as of 1:03 a.m.
nerdy type keys
[info]misfitmonkey
*Ugh* I really forced this stuff out of me tonight. I finally got Pepper on the plane, but not the final connecting flight with her family. That's coming soon.




Family Guy meets Nanowrimo
love everyone wants jim
[info]misfitmonkey

Intro to the New NaNoWriMo Multi-Media Interaction :)
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[info]misfitmonkey
Two videos: Intro to NaNoVideo and Intro to NaNoLive!



Cool moment today: Phone call with Chris Baty
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[info]misfitmonkey
So, I just had the most incredibly cool conversation with Chris Baty from National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo.org) and The Office of Letters and Light.

What a fun, enthusiastic, passionately open person! :) I emailed him last night about ideas for expanding Nanowrimo participation into a more multi-media experience and he immediately emailed me back with enthusiasm (and a phone number) and we just talked for about a half an hour about Viddler, lifecasting, and Twitter.

I'm incredibly excited to get the go-ahead on a few ideas I had, but I want to wait until they've started to head toward fruition to elaborate. Wrimo's, get ready for a whole new level of interactive, community supported writing! :)

*squee*

The Weekend - Nano, Grandma, Essences
happy pamsmile
[info]misfitmonkey
Thin crust cheese pizza is the best possible thing in the world right now, even if it IS re-heated from last night. Panera's food was absolute shit today, although the company ([info]hklbry and [info]enchantedonyx and Amy) was fantastic. :) It's been a while since I've closed down Panera because of a really stellar Nano meeting, and tonight was one of those very nice occasions. :)

Jim's grandmother is not feeling well, but thankfully did not have stroke today (had to go to ER and she's dehydrated - other tests were okay). I went to the hospital after Nano and sat with Grandpa until the doctor got the test results back since Jim had to leave earlier with a migraine. She's a tough cookie, but she's in incredible pain with her back and finding the proper pain management has been a slow and yet unsolved process. Keep her in your prayers and Jim's family as well. :(

The weather continues to suuuuuck. I just want to stay in bed and pull the warm covers around me and sleep until spring. Thankfully the amazing flower essences I picked up a week ago have been absolutely amazing and I feel like myself again for the first time in a few months. I have no idea why or how they work, but it's worth making the small commitment to add a few drops to a bottle of water or other beverage a few times a day to feel like myself without taking drugs that over-alter me.

*yawn*

Okay, time for some SVU and then bed.

Poll about writing
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[info]misfitmonkey
Remember when I used to write poetry on a constant basis and posted it lots?  I miss writing on a regular basis, and I'm also tired of saying "someday I'd really like to put together a few chapbooks of my favorite work and try to do something with them."  Why haven't I done that, when it's so easy anymore to put together your own chapbooks and market them online?

Maybe this is the year to really make a regular writing group out of Nanowrimo, since there are so many more seemingly serious writers in the bunch... it's been a failure in the past, because eventually everyone just stops working on anything or doing writing prompts or even writing period, but maybe this could be a better year to keep the writing going, and maybe revive the reading group as well.

What do those of you in the Nano region think about our group's future?  What do the rest of you think about my  putting together a chapbook or working toward this?Poll #886446 Creative Nano Group + Poetry
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

What would you like to do with the Nanowrimo off-season group?

View Answers

I'd like to continue to write and share our writing.
5 (100.0%)

I'd like to do a reading group / book club
0 (0.0%)

I like to read and write together as a group
0 (0.0%)

I'd like to keep things casual and just hang out
0 (0.0%)

I don't plan on making it to any meetings until next Nanowrimo comes around
0 (0.0%)

What do you think about my putting together a chapbook of my poetry?


WriMo Anthology Project
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[info]misfitmonkey
My region is compiling all of our novels into an anthology to be shared among us only, and the formatting and uniforming of all of these files is going to make my brain explode.  Every time I think it's ready to be finalized, I get another novel or I realize that a cover page is going to flip on the wrong side or something.

Brain.

Explode.

That is all.  I'm going to bed and I'll work on it more tomorrow.  

Nanowrimo TGIO Party = Best Fun EVER
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey
Dozens of awesome pictures involving me, other wrimos, fake mustaches, and Dianah's hat are here:

http://brandicedesigns-cantoakrowrimo2006.buzznet.com/user/photos/?id=3835632

Also, I told [info]scarlite to film a video with my camera and without warning, promptly attacked Dianah, who complete spazzed, creating the best video known to man:



Thanks for a great year guys!

Brandi eats Di's hat

Ps. Thanks to new lj friends made along the way: [info]enchantedonyx[info]xphoenixrising [info]marzipan9[info]gothamgal

Pps.  Other account of our great TGIO night: here

Websites and News of Noteworthy Content
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[info]misfitmonkey
10 Minute Mail - need an email addy to register for something but don't want the later spam bits that result? This gives you email and then self destructs

Dead Dad has interesting things to say about his college's plan to host faculty websites:
Say a professor has a blog. (Unthinkable, I know, but bear with me.) If the professor's page on the college site includes a link to the blog, is the college implicitly endorsing the content of the blog? If so, does the college have the right to vet the content? If it is endorsing but has no right to vet content, then the college has no choice but to ban links altogether; the alternative is equivalent to giving professors blank checks on the college account. (This is one of the great many reasons that my blog is pseudonymous, and even has a disclaimer in the prefatory paragraph on top. I want to make absolutely certain that nobody mistakes my musings here for the official positions of my college.)

jesus' favorite asks what I was doing last year, and I took a peek and I was doing this:
November 29th, 2005
*ahem*

I FINISHED MY MOTHERFUCKIN' NOVEL, DUDE.

You can be very jealous now, and I will post more tomorrow.
Tags: books, general, personal
_____________________________

And that is all.

P.S. - Non-care-ers!
me couch
[info]misfitmonkey
I wrote a novel, and no one said "yay."

Bastards.