missives from the birdcage

Woot!

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:40:38 -0500

Considering the month it has been, I really wasn't sure if it would happen this year, so I'm pretty happy.

Nano_09_winner_120x240

Now I need to go soak my hands to cool them down after three straight days of non-stop writing....

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Thanksgiving!

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:39:37 -0500

turkey!

After a terrible travel experience a number of years ago, I vowed never to travel Thanksgiving weekend, ever again. (We'll see if that holds forever, but I think it will certainly hold for flying-- a never on Thanksgiving activity-- and also for traveling to anywhere that requires driving on I-95). Instead, my tradition is that I make a Thanksgiving feast and invite friends to come over. So we had our friends Laura and Richard over yesterday, and it was a wonderful night.

chocolate pie

Turkey, stuffing, all the fixings-- including yummy homemade rolls and cranberry sauce that Laura made-- and my mom's famous chocolate pie (that recipe has gone a long way).

Friends!

And a bottle of champagne to celebrate new ventures!

Lots to be thankful for-- a wonderful husband, fabulous friends, a great family. And pie. One should always be thankful for pie.

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Rough seas

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:34:50 -0500

It's been kind of a rough month. Not worst ever, but not so easy. We spent Friday driving out to Tennessee to see Mr. P's grandfather. I'm relieved to say that we did get there in time to see him, but that he passed away the next day. Monday was very long-- up early for the funeral, we hit to road mid-afternoon for a long drive home in the rain and in the dark. Made it home safe and sound, if exhausted, and both of us headed to work this morning.

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving with friends, and I'm hoping to get back into the mode of being able to finish all the stuff I have on deck in the next few weeks, and maybe getting back to the gym at some point....

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I rescind my gratitude.

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:15:42 -0500

I ended last week happy to have ended it, however, if I had realized I was trading in last week for this week, I might have thought again. It is early Thursday morning, so who knows what new and interesting issues await, but here is my week thus far:

Sunday (highpoint of the week): Laundry & house cleaning

Monday: Good thing-- had dinner with much missed friend Jason. Bad thing-- I spent four hours driving/stuck in traffic, and then almost two hours in the metro system trying to get back to the hotel when someone jumped in front of the train across the platform at the station where I was. As in, we were all sitting on the train while across the platform emergency services were scrambling around trying to figure out where, exactly, they might find the mangled body. They kept announcing that they were being held there, the train would move on in just a few minutes, but after twenty minutes they kicked everyone out of the station and we all had to walk past cops putting out crime scene tape. Shuttle buses hadn't started yet, and booth guy at McPherson said "just go to any metro station and tell them what happened and they'll let you in". So I walked over to Metro Center to grab the red to the yellow, where I had to argue for a long time with that booth guy about whether or not I should have to pay a second fare to get on.

Tuesday: Good thing-- had dinner with dear friend Rebecca. Bad thing-- started morning out with two hour trip to Reston that should have taken forty minutes when, two exits short of my destination, everything halts on the Dulles toll road because of a nine car pile up. So for the second day in a row, I get the sight of emergency services scrambling around to retrieve mangled bodies, this time surrounded by the twisted metal of nine cars. Spend my day bringing art to the children and attempt to rush back to hotel to dump car and metro over to board meeting. This should have worked, right? Board meeting at 6:30, I leave school at 4pm, I am driving reverse commute, Reston to Arlington. I gave up on making it to the board meeting when it was 6:25 and I was still sitting in front of the Pentagon. I could have walked to the hotel faster. I could have walked to the hotel and back to Arlington National Cemetery twice in the time it took me to get past the Pentagon. So, I ended up calling into the meeting, as usual.

Wednesday: Discover, much too late to do anything about it, that the latch on that turns the hotel shower into a shower is stuck. Am forced to wash hair by squatting in the tub and shoving my head under the faucet. How happy does this make me? Not very. Get to school fine. On departure, see yet another accident. Creep past, four miles an hour. By the time I get home, I have spent more hours in the car than I did in the school.

Rest of week: Mr. P's grandfather is gravely ill, so we are heading out tomorrow morning for an emergency trip to Tennessee.

Somehow I don't think I'm going to finish nanowrimo this year. Actually, I think I might just be happy to finish November.

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so grateful the week is over

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:03:21 -0500

This week has been insane. The month is pretty insane, really, but this week involved two major deadlines, work travel, and another project where multitasking was not possible, but which took up a dozen hours. In addition to the regular stuff-- work and home and nanowrimo and stuff. I had my last letterpress class today, and it's a class I've really enjoyed.

Lettre Presse

I was only able to produce three things over the last six classes, just because it takes a really long time to set type by hand. But it is so very pretty when you are done.

Here's to the last week of the month, when I won't be traveling and will have friends over for feasting!

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one down...

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:49:36 -0500

Paper: done. Yeay! Nanowrimo: about a third done... could be worse. House: messy. Need to get on that. Work project: not started. Really need to get on that. Stuff for craft show tonight & tomorrow: as done as it's gonna be. Car packed for craft show: right. Gotta get on that now....

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Have you kissed your vet today?

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:29:30 -0500

Star Trek: The Original Series - Season Three (Remastered Edition)

Why, yes, I have. My love, Mr. P, does get kissed quite often, but he got extras today for his service, and because I'm very very happy that he is not in Iraq anymore. I had the day off, which meant that I was at least somewhat productive-- I did get some sewing stuff done that had to get done, and finished the second edit on the paper and worked on additional accoutrements. The project for which those pieces have been made is due tomorrow, and I think now that I will be able to get it wrapped up-- yeay!

In the meantime, I took Mr. P out for a Veterans' Day lunch, wherein we stuffed ourselves so completely that neither of us is interested in dinner. Instead, we're going for an episode or two of old skool Star Trek. We are just wild and crazy, que no?

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first draft

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:55:47 -0500

of the paper done! Yeay! Now for more editing, boooo. But at least the first draft is done. I have a couple more components to finish on this thing, plus editing, and then it will be wrapped, bow-tied, and sent off. Yeay!

Only seventy-eight more things on the list for November. Meanwhile, it's 5:45 AM and my bags are packed, so it must be time to bring art to the children.

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procrastination

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:34:48 -0500

I'm supposed to be writing this paper. Not my novel, this other thing. It's actually on something I'm quite interested in, it's just the timeline on it is kind of bad, so I'm not feeling super motivated to get the thing done.... when I really need to be very motivated, considering the deadline and all the other things that need doing in the same time. So I'm working on it, but not in the oooh, I've got to get this done so I'm plowing through it way I need to be. More of a peck peck, finally finished that paragraph I wonder what is going on in the New York Times sort of way.

It's the absolute worst kind of procrastination. See, I've got a long list of other things with imminent deadlines, but this one is the most imminent, so I am only doing that one rather than any of the others. Because if I actually moved on to those I would really be procrastinating, and this is the top of the list. So, instead of doing the paper, I'm writing a blog post while I pointedly do NOT write my nanowrimo, because the paper comes first. SIGH.Okay, back to the paper.

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busy busy busy

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:13:57 -0500

writing my Nanowrimo novel thingy. And also an article that I'm feeling a little half hearted about, but that needs to be done if it is going to get done, and soon. Maybe both of these at the same time not such a good idea. But all of the writing is distracting me from the rather disappointing election we had here. Because I love the idea of having a governor who thinks I'm half a person because I have interior rather than exterior plumbing.

In the meantime, I'm getting close to the 10K word mark on my novel, so pens up!

And also, because this cracks me the hell up every single time, I will share:

Death by Tray

Mr. P and I were discussing this last night, and it is just the beauty of Eddie Izzard having encapsulated that moment that we have all had in which we find ourselves being defeated by relentless stupidity. Which is kind of how I feel about the election.

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