Dec. 9, 2009 - Vote for my cat Oreo!
Please vote for my cat Oreo. To be the cutest kitty of them all!!!!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - The Haven of Rest
Amy and I played this as a special last Sunday (just practicing in this video). The original arrangement was meant for piano accompaniment to a soloist singing, but this works, too! This and other piano arrangements can be found at http://www.thechurchpianist.com/.
Friday, November 27, 2009 - NaNoWriMo 2009
*happy sigh*
50,046 words.
Saturday, November 21, 2009 - NaNoWriMo Day 21
Just in case any of you thought I'd given up somewhere between Day 6 and Day 21... well, I haven't!
Word Count? 41,217!
To my dismay, I discovered that the word counter on Google Docs and the word counter on the NaNoWriMo website do not agree. And Google Docs, what I have been using, is the one with the higher count. So I'm not really sure which one's right, but it doesn't really matter, since it's only the NaNo counter one that guarantees winning status at the end of the month.
The writing is going super. I've written quite a bit today, mostly thanks to Bluejane -- the two of us have done several word wars. I did my first word war last night, and it's absolutely amazing!! Now I'm just feeling kinda disappointed that I was into the end of week 3 before I discovered them! I don't get tired out like I do just grinding away on my own. Thanks, Blue!
(She and I sorta have this competition going on over who can hit 50,000 words first. It shall be interesting to watch it unfold.)
Okay, I said the writing is going super. It is, but it is not going perfectly, lest you get that idea. I have several scenes that I think are pretty much pointless. But at least they are there, helping fill that progress bar. I can tell I'm getting close to the end of my novel, but I'm not sure how close. And I'm not exactly sure how it's going to end, either.
Hey, if you're a fellow Wrimo struggling with your word count, let me give you a quick hint. Write a scene telling the gospel in great detail. It accomplishes two things. First, anyone who reads your novel will hear how to be saved. And second, It really does wonders on your word count. I wrote a 1,609 word scene with the gospel as the central focus (not like it was all telling about Jesus, but mostly).
And of course, word wars do wonders, too. Throw in a character with a broken heart who can go on for a long time telling all her troubles. Have someone get kidnapped, betrayed, whatever. 
Just a few things I've learned this month.
Oh, and go congratulate Narniagirl -- she reached her goal of 25k last night!!! *throws confetti and sets off fireworks*
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - The Writing Bug is Contagious
My six-year-old sister Emily has caught it. Today she wrote the following story. Way to go, Em!
Chapter 1
It was a dark and stormy nite. A black figure was oowtside. Wooo woooo it went. It loock [looked] werde. Grase was 5 and she was the only one home. The nabbse [neighbors] hred it to. Sam was the only one home he was 2. Dad was the black figyor. Grase hid under her covers. Sam hid under the table.
Friday, November 6, 2009 - NaNoWriMo Day 6
My word count is 11,725.
And I haven't written anything today yet! I really should, but I've been so busy with tennis and speech co-op... now that is another story. I didn't have my expository speech ready yet this morning, and when I tried to draw an evolutionary tree as my visual (my topic was on convergent evolution), it just didn't work out. So instead of stressing out over my visual, I just wrote a whole new speech! (And this was like two hours before I had to give it, too.) So I did my expository on CDs instead -- how they work. I was very pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I didn't have a whole lot of preparation on it!
My next speech has to be a humorous interpretation. *dies*
And tennis... it's been great for only day three! Today I took Betsy to the courts for about an hour. She is improving, too. It's fun when other people come to use the courts while we're there -- then I can watch them from a distance and try to imitate their serves. And I only hit the ball over the tennis court fence once this time. Much better than yesterday when I hit like five over the fence (at least). That got to be a pain. 
Um wait... this was supposed to be about NaNoWriMo. But my life this week has been more than just NaNo.
I'll leave you with an excerpt from my (still unnamed) novel. I like this scene, even though I was feeling a little goofy when I wrote it. lol.
At the same time that Joel was getting his fishing lesson, William's spirits were sinking lower and lower as he participated in the classes for the handful of children on the island. This was even more dull than school back in Canada!Please excuse any improper grammar, punctuation, or spelling. NaNo is about writing, not editing. I'm stomping all over my inner editor, and it's great! *grins*
The teacher was an old man named Thomas who had no hair, and no teeth (which made him very hard to understand). He never smiled, but he didn't raise his voice, either. In fact, he spoke in a monotone. A toothless monotone. If one of the children misbehaved, he would walk over to them and knock sharply on their head for a good two minutes while the class continued.
The children varried in ages from three to fourteen, and Thomas believed in teaching them all at once. As a result of this way of thinking, the older ones had to review the learning material for the three-year-olds every day. The day started out with a pledge to the island, the ocean, and the sun and moon that William found very disturbing. Of course, he did not know the words yet, so he was not expected to participate, but as he listened to the chant of the other children, he knew he could never join in with them. Growing up in Canada, the idea of saying a pledge was completely foreign to him.
Next, they said the ABC's together. Then they counted to 100. After that, Thomas called the students up to the front of the class one at a time and had them spell simple, three-letter words. William was bored to death with all of this.
After this came Science. This was the worst class of the session, William was sure. Thomas gave the class a lecture on some scientific topic (at least William guessed it was scientific, but he couldn't tell at all what the man was teaching them about). Then he asked each of the students questions which they could not understand because of his missing teeth. When they did not know the answers, he calmly walked over to them and started knocking on the child's head.
This man is crazy, William thought, as Thomas was painfully knocking on his head. Why is he allowed to be our teacher? We aren't learning anything here. At least I'm not. I'm not even keeping up on my multiplucation tables!
"Neh we wih do hiftoree," Thomas said in his usual monotone.
William payed close attention. This was his absolutely favorite subject. Hopefully Thomas would not make it as miserable for him as he had the other subjects so far. But "history" turned out to be nothing more than the children saying a chant that went like this:
China, Japan, Russia, and India. These are the countries of Asia. The men of China built a wall around their country to keep out intruders.William found this exercise very dull, very uninformative, and very silly. Of course it wasn't true that nothing happened in South America, Australia, or Africa. And there were a lot more countries in the world than those mentioned in that silly chant. He started to raise his hand to say so, and then thought better of it. No sense in saying something that would cause Thomas to come over and start knocking on his head again. One time in Science class was painful enough.
England, France, Switzerland, and Germany. These are the countries of Europe. Long ago, some people rebelled against England and started a new country in North America.
Canada, Mexico, and the United States. These are the countries of North America. The United States is made up of that group of people who rebelled against England.
Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina. These are the countries of South America. These countries are not important; nothing ever happens down there.
Egypt, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Kenya. These are the countries of Africa. The ancient Egyptians built giant pyramids and a strange looking statue called the sphynx, but other than that, nothing much happens here anymore.
Australia. This is a country that gets a whole continent to itself. No one is really sure what goes on here.
Antarctica. There are no countries here. It is cold and snowy, and no one lives here.
Oh, and I finished Algebra II this week!!!! We're having cake and ice cream tonight to celebrate.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - The Local Prison -- Oh, I Meant High School...
Recently a friend loaned us some tennis rackets and balls. We had been wanting to learn to play tennis for a while, but never acquired any equipment. When our friend heard about that, he offered to let us borrow a couple of rackets and a set of balls. Great, we thought, we can play at the high school's tennis courts.
So Mom made a couple phone calls to find out who exactly we needed to see to get the key to the courts, and then we four girls set off in high spirits, with our water and rackets and balls -- oh, and our $5 deposit to get the key.
As we walked onto campus, we were a bit nervous, never having been there before. This place has a high fence all around it, so as we walked inside it was sort of like entering a prison or something. I turned to Amy and said, "It's not like we're entering the Institute or anything!" (If you've ever read The Mysterious Benedict Society)
Of course, we were stopped by security. "What are you doing here? Do you have ID?" I don't know why I was so nervous, it's not like we were breaking the law or anything. We were allowed to continue.
So we made it to the desk where we could pick up the key. Whew! "We'll need a copy of your driver's license to give you the key." Of course I don't have one. So the woman at the desk went to go check with someone else to see what we could do. "I'm sorry, but you'll need an adult to be responsible for you." Frustrated, we left campus and wait for Mom to get there.
Finally Mom showed up (on my bike) and we were able to finally secure our prized key. Our troubles weren't over, however. Mom turns to ask a man (who she thinks is a security guard) if there is an exit out a different direction, and it turns out he is a police officer, leading away a student in handcuffs!
And of course, there were all the weird looks you get from all the high school students who no doubt are wondering what you are doing there. *screams*
And then, the tennis courts were being used anyway! So we had to go all the way back home without playing.
I guess it doesn't sound that bad now, as I write it, but all in all, it was the kind of experience that makes your blood boil. When we got home I put on my iPod and listened to Handel's Water Music to calm down. *grimace*
Oh, and NaNoWriMo! Isn't it something that my happiness depends on a number? As long as the number is up, so am I. If the number goes down, so does my writing interest. Hmm, there's something not quite right about that. Oh well. Anyway, I'm now at 7,341 words! Not as good as some people... but at least I'm ahead of schedule.
I hear that week two can be tough... well, I'm preparing to meet it head on. Now if I could just get a running start -- a giant leap ahead on my word count, that is. *heads off to write*
Monday, November 2, 2009 - Yes, I know I'm crazy.
Yes, I'm doing NaNoWriMo. And yes, I'm still getting used to the idea myself. Because it wasn't until just a few hours before the starting line that my evil friends, writer4him and Bluejane 
convinced me to do it.
Actually, I wanted to do it, but I had no plot idea. And then, while chatting with them last night, I decided to rewrite a book I started like two years ago. But I am totally re-writing it. I'm not even going back and reading the old manuscript, if I can help it. I want it to be entirely fresh and new. So we'll see how it goes. Unfortunately, I have forgotten a shocking number of characters' names, so I will have to go back and find them. lol.
And of course, I'm already way behind on my word count, but I'll recover sometime this month (hopefully). Hmm, well, this is only the second day, I could stop worrying about it, right? It's not like I have a big fat 0. I actually have 908 words. I'm hoping to catch up today.
So you know where I'll be for most of my free time this month -- either glued to my pen, or glued to my keyboard. Holler if you need me.
Saturday, October 24, 2009 - Special Music
We just finished up our church's special meetings Thursday night. The preaching was excellent each night!
Sunday morning my sisters and I played I Sing the Mighty Power of God on our violins for special music (that's Amy on the piano). I love it, and I can't wait until they're ready to play in church full-time -- with the congregational singing, that is.
Friday, October 16, 2009 - Shopping at Walmart
Can you believe I like shopping at Walmart?! Well, I had fun today. About as much fun as one could have at Walmart, I imagine (that means it wasn't exactly a thrill, but it was a tad enjoyable).
For my birthday a couple weeks ago, I received some walkie-talkies (a.k.a. two-way radios, but I've always called them walkie-talkies), which I had wanted for years. They have come in very handy -- I can go on a walk and have all my peace and quiet taken away while I talk with Amy the whole time (kidding, kidding). No, they are fun. But one way they come in handy is shopping! Today Mom and I took them to Walmart -- she gave me a list of things to get in the grocery section while she shopped the other end of the store, and we both had a walkie-talkie so I could ask her questions like "What brand of tostadas do you want?" 
I got a good amount of groceries, and then Mom finally got to the grocery section about that time, so she gave me some more things to pick up. Then I went to the check out and did that all by myself (well, until the very end, when Mom showed up, but I had already paid anyway).
I was so pleased with myself for knowing how to unload/reload my cart at the checkout -- I put the cans and other stuff like that at the start of the line, so I could put them in the bottom of my cart afterward. And I saved the stuff like cereal for last so it wouldn't get crushed. LOL, that might not seem like a big deal, but to me... I have my moments when I just don't think.
My #1 problem with shopping is that I had the hardest time finding some of the things on my list. Most of the time, I was in the wrong aisle, but other times there were just too many items on the shelves, and it was almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack (okay, okay, that was a big exaggeration, sorry). I know, that will improve with experience.
But all in all, it was a fun time, and I am actually looking forward to next time I can go shopping with Mom at Walmart again.
No, in case you were wondering, Walmart is not my favorite place to shop. That would probably be Kohl's.
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