How can I not be in a good mood today?

I'm |__| this close to finishing the first draft of my novel. Right now I'm sitting in Starbucks getting ready to write. I'm so close to the end, I WILL get it done today. Then I've decided I'm putting it aside for the month of December. Next year, I'll look at again again, revise, edit, and rewrite, and maybe do something about sending it off to a few publishers. Yeah, I've decided to try and make it a real thing. I doubt it'll actually get published, but I'm hoping I'll get some good feedback when I'm rejected to help my writing. I actually enjoyed this process and am already working on ideas for my next book.

I mentioned Script Frenzy to Brian the other day. He said no. Not no, I can't do it, but that no, he doesn't want to lose me to writing for another month. It's in April, which is right after tax season (I do taxes as a second job seasonally), so he'll already be missing me then as it is. Plus, come April, I'll probably want some free time anyway. But I know if I do decide to do it, he'll still support me on it. I couldn't have written this book, Sweet Addiction, without his support.

But it was hard to leave the house this morning. We were watching America's Ballroom Challenge. I love to dance, and I really wish I knew more ballroom dancing. But, I'm partnerless, Brian, like many men, doesn't dance. At my nephew's wedding, I relied on my nieces as dance partners, and we had fun, but I sat alone for slow dances. So it surprised me how much Brian was getting into the program. He was as taken in by the dancing as I was. Hm, maybe he'll dance with me someday. A man who can dance is totally hot.

Speaking of, another reason I'm in a good mood today is due to the dream I had last night. Gideon Emery had come to Bloomington to visit me, and for some reason, we were chatting in my bedroom. We talked until we fell asleep and shared a bed together. It was totally innocent, we were both fully clothed and nothing happened. But Brian had to sleep out in the hallway on the floor, and I had to explain to him that nothing happened. Most of my dream was explaining to people that nothing happened, that our relationship wasn't like that, and we were really just actor and fan, not even really friends. I kept telling people that's just the kind of great guy that Gid is.

I think what sparked the dream is that Brian stayed up later than I did last night and fell asleep on the couch. I woke up in the middle of the night to a cold bed, and got him to come upstairs. I didn't really do anything yesterday, I didn't read anything or watch anything, involving Gideon Emery. But he is one of my favorite actors, so it's not too surprising that he'd show up in a dream. And one of the reason he is one of my favorites is because he's such a nice guy.

Okay, enough of that, I got down my dream, which was the real purpose of this post. Now, I have a novel to finish.

Baby-napping Dream

It was nice to see family for Thanksgiving, but we sure were busy. I wish we would've had some down time at some point. Although we did get to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and subsequently, got RickRolled. Classic.

Back in my own, warm bed last night, I did dream:

My sister, Elizabeth, and I were walking around town and campus, when we realized we'd walked too far away from my car and we were going to be late for Thanksgiving dinner. It was getting dark outside. We considered walking home, which was then closer than the car.

We decided to go back to the car, because there was a baby I was carrying that I had to exchange for another baby. We went to a motel room, and I set the baby I had, a big boy, down on the bed all swaddled and comfy, and picked up a little girl. The babies had no significance to me, they weren't related or a friend's, in fact they didn't have names at all. But I knew to save the babies, I had to leave the boy behind in the room and someone would find him, and I had to take the girl with me.

When we left the room, we saw a police car, so we hurried to get in my car and speed away. But my car was a two-seater, and I didn't have a carseat anyway. So I held the baby as I drove, resolving to pick up a car seat right away. Upon further inspection, I could slide my front seats forward and had a mini back seat to the car that I might be able to fit a baby carrier in.

I DID IT!

Last night, I hit the 50,000 word mark!


That's me there in the front, the viking going, "Aargh!"

I still have a bit to go on my novel yet before the story is finished. I'm hoping I can get that done this weekend.

Top Blogger In Indy, Me?

This morning, I am floored. I made Kyle Lacy's Top 50 Bloggers in Indianapolis list! My lowly little blog?

Although, I'm guessing it has a lot to do with my micro-blogging as much as this actual blog. I'm pretty active on Twitter, and might even dare say I put more substance on there than on here.

So, speaking of substance, my main topic is dreams. And I've been slacking. I actively dreamed a lot last weekend, but didn't write a bit of it down. But I have a good excuse, really I do.

I've been focusing my writing efforts on NaNoWriMo. And yesterday, I passed 46,000 words!! Tonight, with a bit of effort, I may be able to reach the 50,000 word goal. But, I'm not going to stop there! I'm really rolling with this story, and I think it may even be a viable novel, not something I expected when I started. I'm still hoping to get it done this month, because if I don't, I don't know when I will.

I've had a lot of people express interest in reading it when I'm done. I could certainly use the input. But I've also heard that if you ever want to get published (and I might, I haven't thought that far ahead yet), that you shouldn't post it publicly. So when it's done, I'm going to put it up and password protect it.

So if you'd like to read my novel when it's done, let me know, and I'll give you the password. And Thank You!

Four Foods on Friday

I'm in a bad mood today, although I'm not exactly sure how it started. I'm still in a bad mood because I feel like someone is manipulating me and using me as a scapegoat, but I'd rather not post slander here.

So to lighten up the mood, a brief survey. Please, friends with blogs, add this to yours too!

#1. What’s the worst tasting food you’ve ever eaten?
I'm not sure if this counts as food, but it is something you consume. The worst taste ever is the taste of Tylenol. One time I accidentally bit into one. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth.

#2. Share a funny or embarassing story about a meal you’re made.
I can't think of a really interesting one about me. When I was a teenager (or perhaps younger) and learning how to cook, I was given the task of making macaroni. I dumped the water, noodles, cheese packet, milk, and butter all in the same pot and put it on the stove.

But, I feel this question would be better served by telling one about Brian. When he was working 3rd shift, I'd go pick him up from work around 5 in the morning, then come home and doze for a couple hours before I got up for work. I wasn't entirely asleep, and I could hear him making something in the kitchen. Then suddenly I hear a lot of banging, the door being pulled open, and him running outside. I got up and looked down the stairs through the back door. He was in the yard, there was a pan in front of it with something on fire, and he was beating it with an oven mit to put it out. It sounds more boring typed it, but it was hilarious.

#3. What food do you burn or have problems cooking most often?
My mom is good at burning things, so I've inherited a little bit of that. I really can't think of one thing that stands out that I'm particularly terrible at. But I'm not the best cook in the world.

#4. Name two foods you’ll be eating on this Thanksgiving.
Turkey (of course) and Jello. I know there will be Jello, because it's the only dessert that my family makes that I can eat due to the food allergies.

Now that I'm starving, I'm off to find some lunch.

Only I Could Rickroll Myself

I think the lack of sleep finally caught up with me last night. I fell asleep right before I should have been heading off to tai chi, and slept for 2 hours. Then I woke up for an hour to eat supper, and went to bed. I ended up writing one sentence towards my book. Which means I'm back under my 2000 words a day goal. At this point, I think my book is going to be longer than 50,000 words, so I really need to get on it. But, at least during my extended slumber, I dreamed.

We were over at my step-grandparent's for Thanksgiving (which is typical, and Grandma does an awesome job of making things I can eat!), and we had to move cars around to get out. They had a strange driveway, and it led onto a busy street, which made moving cars around even more complicated. We were the last to leave, and as we were pulling out, the edge of our front bumper touched Grandma's, but she wasn't worried. She showed us a back way out of their driveway so we could avoid the busy road.

Afterwards, all of us went to a theme park. We got there later in the day. We stood in line, and I took my sister down the water slide. She was much younger in this dream, early grade school age. After the water slide, she wanted to go on "something that moves!" Grandma pointed to a ride that was like a slow version of a teacup ride, except it had plush chairs instead of teacups. I said that no, what she wanted to go on was a roller coaster. But we didn't have enough time before the park closed, so we left.

Then we went to a drag strip where we got to ride in back of a racecar. There was the driver's seat up front, then my sister and I sat in the seat behind him, and Mom, Ray, and Brian sat in the very back seat. Before we took off, my sister decided she wanted to sit in back too, putting 4 people in the back seat and leaving me in the middle seat alone. Ray jumped up to my seat and convinced Elizabeth to come up with us. She started crying that her feelings were hurt because she couldn't sit with Mom. I cried and tried to make it look real to her but fake to everyone else, that she hurt my feelings for not wanting to sit with me. She asked me, "What God are you crying to?" I responded that I didn't have to be crying to any God, my feelings were just hurt.

Then the cars staged. The other car was driven by Rick Astley, but he had a huge purple/green mohawk. They blared Never Gonna Give You Up as he walked out and got into his car. I was mad that he got all that attention for being flashy when he wasn't a very good driver.

And then I woke up. Does this mean that I Rickrolled myself?

South African Wine?

Last night I went to the fancy new Kroger on the east side of town. This grocery store is HUGE! It's so big, it's intimidating. But they've got lots of new stuff. They have a "health foods" (organics and such) section that's as big as the downtown co-op. There's an organic bulk foods section that has tamari roasted pumpkin seeds, I can't wait to try those! They make their own tortillas now, and the wheat ones don't contain baking powder with corn starch, so I can eat them! I can start making some of the stuff that I drool over as Rick Bayless creates it on tv. And they've got a huge wine section, organized by country. Next to the Australian wines, I was surprised to see a sign for South African wines. I wonder how South African wines compare. Hm, what are the chances if I mention it on my blog I'll get an answer from someone in the know?

Pretty good actually.

Have you ever had a streak where the same thing keeps popping up wherever you turn? Sometimes, it's a number, no matter where you look you see that number. Sometimes it's a name. You could have never heard of the name Lanaya until a month ago, and suddenly you've met 3. For me this year, it's been South Africa.

I remember in school hearing the news about South Africa and Nelson Mandela. But that all seemed to be in a country so far away.

But now, I can think back to just when this whole South African thing began. It was an episode of Globetrekkers where the host went back and visited some of the places she was from in South Africa. Again, it seemed so far away, and it was on a travel program.

Then I got interested in tai chi and met Madeline, the instructor. She happens to be from South Africa, and even took Grandmaster Chen back with her that Christmas.

Then this year, I discovered a new actor that quickly made it to my favorites list. He also happens to be from South Africa.

I've also started following a South African blog. It's just the rantings of everyday life, a blog not too unlike my own (except written better and wittier).

And now there's the South African wine. So, are there any opinions out there? Are they more spicy, like Australian or Italian wines, more rich like French wines, or more mellow like California wines? I saw a couple different brands including Longneck and Sebeka. Has anyone tried either of these? Any thoughts?