I have either one more Friday to do this if I decide to slack off, or the next NaNo post will be the one that says I just passed 50k.
Nov 13 - 30177
Nov 14 - 32461
Nov 15 - 32461 (Yes, I goofed off and did not write! XD)
Nov 16 - 34669
Nov 17 - 37348
Nov 18 - 40235
Nov 19 - 42565
Nov 20 - 44286
I guess I can allow myself to start looking forward to what happens after this.
1. Well, I will have to see if I can attend the Thank God It's Over party. I hear there will be a raffle and that there will be moleskine-type notebooks up for grabs. Oh my, do want. The PinoyWrimos bash is scheduled for 5 December.
2. If and only if I manage to finish this monster, go and do that "get a free proof copy of your NaNo work". It's something in the forums that I spotted some time during the month. The offer's from www.CreateSpace.com.
3. Get a lot of sleep.
4. Start working on concepts for next year's NaNo. Yes, I'm going to go again.
5. Cross my fingers and hope that the folks behind NaNoWriMo have already received my USD10.00 donation. :) I would have given more if I could. I'm really getting so much out of this novel sprinting monster thing, and I want to give something back.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Reading in My Sleep: Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, 1982
I remember being quite the disaster in the needle-type Home Ec classes when I was in school: I couldn't figure out a simple embroidery sampler, I pretty much failed a unit on crocheting, and I still have an irrational fear of getting stabbed by the needles in a sewing machine.
So, yeah, imagine my wonder and my absolute overweening (and, needless to say, misplaced) pride in myself when I discovered that there were a few types of sewing that I could actually DO: things like do counted cross-stitch, mend seams in a cotton t-shirt, sew buttons on skirts. I think I can safely blame the cross-stitch part on my mom, who went through an absolute mania for the craft when she was pregnant with my younger sister. And when I say mania I meant she was stitching gigantic designs fit for framing on walls.
Having gained some small measure of confidence in plying a needle thanks to completing my own cross-stitch projects, I find myself more willing now to learn all these crafts. So far, I think I want to tackle crochet again. I want to make a scarf and perhaps a pair of fingerless gloves or two.
So it's a good thing that I spotted this book in a store a year or so ago:
Maybe you've seen one or two of those yourself: an all-purpose guide to needle-craft. Knitting, applique, quilting, rug making, macrame, lace, and of course the essential embroidery stitches.
This is the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, edited by Virginia Colton. First published in 1979, the edition I have was printed in the same year that I was born, 1982. Yes, this book is as old as I am. And the amazing thing is, I wish I was that well-preserved: the pages remain crisp and clear, the pictures look great, there are no missing bits or pages or even a stray trail of chewed whatever.
I literally read myself to sleep with this book on those nights when there's so much on my mind. I may not be working the stitches or knots myself, but something about the book leads my mind into the same peaceful pace and patterns, so it's great for relaxing reading.
(I wonder if I'll feel the same, though, once I go and tackle a project or two. Like I said: rank beginner ahoy. I'm thinking of myself as having no knowledge at all - at least, not until I actually begin - and then FINISH a project.)
(Yep, this is what I'm going to do next after the whirlwind that is NaNoWriMo. Weekly update post on that one later.)
So, yeah, imagine my wonder and my absolute overweening (and, needless to say, misplaced) pride in myself when I discovered that there were a few types of sewing that I could actually DO: things like do counted cross-stitch, mend seams in a cotton t-shirt, sew buttons on skirts. I think I can safely blame the cross-stitch part on my mom, who went through an absolute mania for the craft when she was pregnant with my younger sister. And when I say mania I meant she was stitching gigantic designs fit for framing on walls.
Having gained some small measure of confidence in plying a needle thanks to completing my own cross-stitch projects, I find myself more willing now to learn all these crafts. So far, I think I want to tackle crochet again. I want to make a scarf and perhaps a pair of fingerless gloves or two.
So it's a good thing that I spotted this book in a store a year or so ago:
Maybe you've seen one or two of those yourself: an all-purpose guide to needle-craft. Knitting, applique, quilting, rug making, macrame, lace, and of course the essential embroidery stitches.
This is the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, edited by Virginia Colton. First published in 1979, the edition I have was printed in the same year that I was born, 1982. Yes, this book is as old as I am. And the amazing thing is, I wish I was that well-preserved: the pages remain crisp and clear, the pictures look great, there are no missing bits or pages or even a stray trail of chewed whatever.
I literally read myself to sleep with this book on those nights when there's so much on my mind. I may not be working the stitches or knots myself, but something about the book leads my mind into the same peaceful pace and patterns, so it's great for relaxing reading.
(I wonder if I'll feel the same, though, once I go and tackle a project or two. Like I said: rank beginner ahoy. I'm thinking of myself as having no knowledge at all - at least, not until I actually begin - and then FINISH a project.)
(Yep, this is what I'm going to do next after the whirlwind that is NaNoWriMo. Weekly update post on that one later.)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Meal Snack in the City: Chocolate + Bacon Lollipop
OMGWTF (and see the new tag below the entry).
I've finally tasted that evillest evil sweet thing that ever evilled in this world.
Please do not be fooled for an instant. That looks rather like an innocent milk-chocolate lollipop, nothing to write home about, nothing special, yes?
WRONG WRONG WRONG. Inside that chocolate shell is a liberal sprinkling of ground crunchy crisp salty BACON BITS. Yes and it's the real deal, none of your fake bacon concoctions, it really is pork belly.
OMGOMGOMG. This is an evil sweet and *ohmygodIwantmore*.
(Of course I can't be the only person obsessed with this stuff. Here, this is what Google coughs up when you search "chocolate+bacon": the first page of search results.
And of course the Wikipedia entry: Chocolate-covered bacon)
I've finally tasted that evillest evil sweet thing that ever evilled in this world.
Please do not be fooled for an instant. That looks rather like an innocent milk-chocolate lollipop, nothing to write home about, nothing special, yes?
WRONG WRONG WRONG. Inside that chocolate shell is a liberal sprinkling of ground crunchy crisp salty BACON BITS. Yes and it's the real deal, none of your fake bacon concoctions, it really is pork belly.
OMGOMGOMG. This is an evil sweet and *ohmygodIwantmore*.
(Of course I can't be the only person obsessed with this stuff. Here, this is what Google coughs up when you search "chocolate+bacon": the first page of search results.
And of course the Wikipedia entry: Chocolate-covered bacon)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Reading in My Sleep: The Joy of Cooking, 1997
[I am really sorry for letting the post count drop some while I've been working on NaNoWriMo. Most of my words are falling straight down the rabbit hole of my novel - I should do better in diverting some of those towards this blog. Two weeks left in the noveling rush.]
As I said in the introduction to the Meal in the City series of posts,
"This is a blog where I talk about a lot of things that I find interesting; one of those topics that really get my motor running isfood reading."
When I meet people for the first time I often hear questions about how long I've been wearing them, and the only answer I often give is something on the order of magnitude of "About fifteen years". I honestly cannot remember the days before I had to wear glasses although pictures of those times exist. It seems like I have always had to peer at the world through my specs.
Anyway, so why have I always been wearing glasses? One word: READING. Yeah, I got the four-eyes look in the traditional manner: read too much, read in the dark, read on a moving vehicle, etc. etc.
In this series of posts, there are pictures showing me asleep with a book in my arms - bit of a habit of mine, really. It's also a sideways introduction to my library and the wild mishmash of books that call my apartment home (along with me and my BF, who takes all these pictures for me).
Here's the first one:
The book in my arms is my current prize-winning bargain book find: a 1997 reprint of Joy of Cooking. This is the Irma Rombauer / Marion Rombauer Becker Plume edition. JOC was first printed in 1931 and remains one of the benchmarks of American cooking. Where other cookbooks might have a hundred or a thousand recipes, JOC (this edition in particular) has over 4,500.
And I bought this for just about PHP200.00 - or USD4.29. Yeah. Super bargain mode. I got VERY, VERY LUCKY at the bargain bookstore that I frequent. :)
I've already got a list in my head of all the recipes I want to try from this book. Failing that, I intend to lend it to my sister and ask her to bake some of the treats in it for me. (I have no baking skills and no oven at home.)
Have you got a copy of JOC? When was it printed? What's your favorite JOC recipe?
As I said in the introduction to the Meal in the City series of posts,
"This is a blog where I talk about a lot of things that I find interesting; one of those topics that really get my motor running is
When I meet people for the first time I often hear questions about how long I've been wearing them, and the only answer I often give is something on the order of magnitude of "About fifteen years". I honestly cannot remember the days before I had to wear glasses although pictures of those times exist. It seems like I have always had to peer at the world through my specs.
Anyway, so why have I always been wearing glasses? One word: READING. Yeah, I got the four-eyes look in the traditional manner: read too much, read in the dark, read on a moving vehicle, etc. etc.
In this series of posts, there are pictures showing me asleep with a book in my arms - bit of a habit of mine, really. It's also a sideways introduction to my library and the wild mishmash of books that call my apartment home (along with me and my BF, who takes all these pictures for me).
Here's the first one:
The book in my arms is my current prize-winning bargain book find: a 1997 reprint of Joy of Cooking. This is the Irma Rombauer / Marion Rombauer Becker Plume edition. JOC was first printed in 1931 and remains one of the benchmarks of American cooking. Where other cookbooks might have a hundred or a thousand recipes, JOC (this edition in particular) has over 4,500.
And I bought this for just about PHP200.00 - or USD4.29. Yeah. Super bargain mode. I got VERY, VERY LUCKY at the bargain bookstore that I frequent. :)
I've already got a list in my head of all the recipes I want to try from this book. Failing that, I intend to lend it to my sister and ask her to bake some of the treats in it for me. (I have no baking skills and no oven at home.)
Have you got a copy of JOC? When was it printed? What's your favorite JOC recipe?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Presenting: Hamster!
Way back in July I talked about wanting this:
And now, as I had hoped for in the end of yesterday's entry, I get to introduce to you my Hamster:
So, yeah, meet my new baby. :) I hope to put him to good use and hopefully provide a review in maybe two weeks' time.
This is also the part where I start getting even more paranoid about my bag and my belongings. Having already had the painful experiences of being mugged at knifepoint and getting my purse snatched by motorcycle-riding thieves, I'd be an idiot if I don't try HARDER to hang on to Hamster. I'm already pondering the extra steps of getting locks for the bag that I bought to go with.
And if safety means permanently carrying that backpack in front so I can see it all the time, then so be it.
And now, as I had hoped for in the end of yesterday's entry, I get to introduce to you my Hamster:
So, yeah, meet my new baby. :) I hope to put him to good use and hopefully provide a review in maybe two weeks' time.
This is also the part where I start getting even more paranoid about my bag and my belongings. Having already had the painful experiences of being mugged at knifepoint and getting my purse snatched by motorcycle-riding thieves, I'd be an idiot if I don't try HARDER to hang on to Hamster. I'm already pondering the extra steps of getting locks for the bag that I bought to go with.
And if safety means permanently carrying that backpack in front so I can see it all the time, then so be it.
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