Wednesday, February 29, 2012: Leap Day? Leap this!
I
t happens every four years- February gets another day added onto it. Kinda nifty, a little odd, but nonetheless it happens. Now- what is the big deal behind all this? Outside of car lots and furniture stores advertising their "LEAP DAY SPECTACULAR" sales... (Insert loud announcer's voice- "Deals like this only happen every FOUR years!" Big deal? I think? I guess outside of the general oddness of writing 2.29 in the check book register for the bill I paid online today and my quick stop at Circle K- I don't understand all the fuss.
Pardon my attitude today- I'm feeling fussy. Like an irritable toddler that just won't cheer up or stop throwing fits for no reason. Nothing seriously bad happened at work today. Nothing was horribly broken or out of place here at the house. All the bills are paid, nothing lingering there. All being good reasons to be fussy. The only thing I could even narrowly pin my ill mood on would be either the bone chilling damp weather outside my door or the fact that I took my computer apart, brought it to work, and thought I could download TurboTax onto it in order to get our taxes done on it later this week. Well- that didn't happen.
I apparently didn't read the little line of text saying- "Pay when you file", meaning now, since I have dial-up at home- the concept of doing anything extensive like say, taxes, online isn't an option. Now I have to go out and buy the damn program from the store, bring it home, and install it on the computer. All this trouble for a one time use to file income taxes myself rather then pay through the nose for some snotty jerkface in a big box store booth to OVERcharge and UNDER be nice while doing it for me. H&R Block, isn't an option either- the amount of money that you have to pay to sit there, sweating bullets on whether you brought all the right paperwork, while they silently stare at the computer screen and finagle you into paying a screaming high fee to get your pittance back from both state and federal. Ugh! I hate tax season. If not for the annoying commercials then for the irritation of gathering paperwork, figuring out mileages to write off, who what when and where I made donations over the course of the last year... It's frustrating! But also necessary, this I know.
In other realms of my life-
Writing: I have begun the somewhat daunting task of editing "MEDICS" for the final time. I think I am way over thinking the process and doing more work then is really needed, but in my cranium what I am doing is working. Until of course it all blows up in my face and I'm left sitting at my computer, smoking from the ears and fuming a constant stream or F bombs. I have broken the novel apart into chapter segments- like chapters 1-5, in one document. Chapters 6-10, another document- and so forth until you reach the last segment of Chapters 31-34. Yes, there are that many. I've also gone through the book- 3 times now, adding little "***" whenever there is a time transition, or chance of scene but not change of chapter. Wanna talk about difficult? Sure, it makes the flow better, and a little neater, but holy crap- Enter inner dialogue...
"Do I break for chapter here? Or wait, no, I can just add the transition here, leave it one chapter not break it into another chapter... But does that make sense? Ugh, I really need to weed out the crap I don't listen to in this iTunes playlist- skip, skip, skip- there's a good song. Well, shit... I really should break this into another chapter here, but it's still the same scene- but something big is about to happen and that should be its own chapter..."
Then, and this is why I broke the book into several chapter segments then on full body document, comes the spell/grammar check. It is far easier to run that one a 57 page document then a 380 page document. More inner monologue-
"Okay fine! I get it. It really should be THAN not THEN! Maybe I should just change all of them! No, wait- that should be a then not a than, dammit! Stupid grammar check! YES! Amiodarone is a word! So is capnography! Don't you know medical terms you stupid program? Dunno and douchebag are also words! It's slang! It's dialogue. Nothing really needs to be spelled correctly in dialogue if you are portraying a dialect! Southern accents are portrayed by badly misspelled phonetic words! What the crap is with this iTunes playlist!!!"
Can anyone hazard a guess as to how much fun it will be to go through the book again- adhering to the notes scribbled in the margins by the lovely, fun woman who edited this book for me? Sure, the book is a might technical- it's about paramedics and paramedicine, not really a topic a normal individual would know. And the terminology therein can only be dummied down SO FAR... But I will try my best.
Home: The house is sick clean. Between my most recent run of cleaning, pitching, sorting and the preparations for the "Ice-ma-geddon" that never effing happened last night (i.e. fridge cleaning; laundry- done in advance so as if we lost power and needed to run on generator laundry wouldn't need to be done for a few days; firewood splitting and bringing in- vacuuming after all that mess)- the house is quivering in fear of another cleaning spree, I'm sure of it. So is Doggie-Pup. She hates when I go on cleaning tears- she must think, "Oh gawd... I'm going to the pound, I just know it. LOOK! She's Febreezing the bed to get rid of my smell! And she's sweeping and vacuuming up all my shed hair! I'm done for!"
Photography: I figured, since I'm fussy and really shouldn't be allowed in public places with my mood or hell, driving on public roadways (I'd be too prone to flipping off little old biddies and driving like an effin idiot with a road rage problem), I staged a few photos, in my kitchen, for the upcoming beginning of the new "Themes" 365 project. Now, unless something else grabs me, or I see a trend in what I photograph between now and next week Monday- the first 7 photographs following a theme have been taken. Not edited, not posted- just taken. And if I do find something on the list of ideas I want to post before what I've done today- I will! Like I have a few ideas on the list being people oriented and I'll be around a lot of people the next four weekends straight. Besides, what I did today isn't really an "idea" on the predetermined list, but its pretty badass nonetheless.
In a week so, I will be joining the lovely, gorgeous, stunning Kirin on a photoshoot in GR. The photos of the studio make me what to take photos of the studio! Hopefully Mr. Photoguy will be forgiving and let me take some shots of her getting photographed by him. Otherwise, and just to make sure, I'll have my camera set to silent mode
Sneaky little girl I be! "Oh no, Mr. Photoguy... I'm not doing nothin'... I'm just checking settings on my camera... For sure, yeah, that's what I'm doing..."
Kinda seems as if this blog should have been titled "Inner Monologue Much?" I'm going to get going, cruise the Internet for inspiration, and perhaps maybe even get more editing done on the novel...
I
t happens every four years- February gets another day added onto it. Kinda nifty, a little odd, but nonetheless it happens. Now- what is the big deal behind all this? Outside of car lots and furniture stores advertising their "LEAP DAY SPECTACULAR" sales... (Insert loud announcer's voice- "Deals like this only happen every FOUR years!" Big deal? I think? I guess outside of the general oddness of writing 2.29 in the check book register for the bill I paid online today and my quick stop at Circle K- I don't understand all the fuss.
Pardon my attitude today- I'm feeling fussy. Like an irritable toddler that just won't cheer up or stop throwing fits for no reason. Nothing seriously bad happened at work today. Nothing was horribly broken or out of place here at the house. All the bills are paid, nothing lingering there. All being good reasons to be fussy. The only thing I could even narrowly pin my ill mood on would be either the bone chilling damp weather outside my door or the fact that I took my computer apart, brought it to work, and thought I could download TurboTax onto it in order to get our taxes done on it later this week. Well- that didn't happen.
I apparently didn't read the little line of text saying- "Pay when you file", meaning now, since I have dial-up at home- the concept of doing anything extensive like say, taxes, online isn't an option. Now I have to go out and buy the damn program from the store, bring it home, and install it on the computer. All this trouble for a one time use to file income taxes myself rather then pay through the nose for some snotty jerkface in a big box store booth to OVERcharge and UNDER be nice while doing it for me. H&R Block, isn't an option either- the amount of money that you have to pay to sit there, sweating bullets on whether you brought all the right paperwork, while they silently stare at the computer screen and finagle you into paying a screaming high fee to get your pittance back from both state and federal. Ugh! I hate tax season. If not for the annoying commercials then for the irritation of gathering paperwork, figuring out mileages to write off, who what when and where I made donations over the course of the last year... It's frustrating! But also necessary, this I know.
In other realms of my life-
Writing: I have begun the somewhat daunting task of editing "MEDICS" for the final time. I think I am way over thinking the process and doing more work then is really needed, but in my cranium what I am doing is working. Until of course it all blows up in my face and I'm left sitting at my computer, smoking from the ears and fuming a constant stream or F bombs. I have broken the novel apart into chapter segments- like chapters 1-5, in one document. Chapters 6-10, another document- and so forth until you reach the last segment of Chapters 31-34. Yes, there are that many. I've also gone through the book- 3 times now, adding little "***" whenever there is a time transition, or chance of scene but not change of chapter. Wanna talk about difficult? Sure, it makes the flow better, and a little neater, but holy crap- Enter inner dialogue...
"Do I break for chapter here? Or wait, no, I can just add the transition here, leave it one chapter not break it into another chapter... But does that make sense? Ugh, I really need to weed out the crap I don't listen to in this iTunes playlist- skip, skip, skip- there's a good song. Well, shit... I really should break this into another chapter here, but it's still the same scene- but something big is about to happen and that should be its own chapter..."
Then, and this is why I broke the book into several chapter segments then on full body document, comes the spell/grammar check. It is far easier to run that one a 57 page document then a 380 page document. More inner monologue-
"Okay fine! I get it. It really should be THAN not THEN! Maybe I should just change all of them! No, wait- that should be a then not a than, dammit! Stupid grammar check! YES! Amiodarone is a word! So is capnography! Don't you know medical terms you stupid program? Dunno and douchebag are also words! It's slang! It's dialogue. Nothing really needs to be spelled correctly in dialogue if you are portraying a dialect! Southern accents are portrayed by badly misspelled phonetic words! What the crap is with this iTunes playlist!!!"
Can anyone hazard a guess as to how much fun it will be to go through the book again- adhering to the notes scribbled in the margins by the lovely, fun woman who edited this book for me? Sure, the book is a might technical- it's about paramedics and paramedicine, not really a topic a normal individual would know. And the terminology therein can only be dummied down SO FAR... But I will try my best.
Home: The house is sick clean. Between my most recent run of cleaning, pitching, sorting and the preparations for the "Ice-ma-geddon" that never effing happened last night (i.e. fridge cleaning; laundry- done in advance so as if we lost power and needed to run on generator laundry wouldn't need to be done for a few days; firewood splitting and bringing in- vacuuming after all that mess)- the house is quivering in fear of another cleaning spree, I'm sure of it. So is Doggie-Pup. She hates when I go on cleaning tears- she must think, "Oh gawd... I'm going to the pound, I just know it. LOOK! She's Febreezing the bed to get rid of my smell! And she's sweeping and vacuuming up all my shed hair! I'm done for!"
Photography: I figured, since I'm fussy and really shouldn't be allowed in public places with my mood or hell, driving on public roadways (I'd be too prone to flipping off little old biddies and driving like an effin idiot with a road rage problem), I staged a few photos, in my kitchen, for the upcoming beginning of the new "Themes" 365 project. Now, unless something else grabs me, or I see a trend in what I photograph between now and next week Monday- the first 7 photographs following a theme have been taken. Not edited, not posted- just taken. And if I do find something on the list of ideas I want to post before what I've done today- I will! Like I have a few ideas on the list being people oriented and I'll be around a lot of people the next four weekends straight. Besides, what I did today isn't really an "idea" on the predetermined list, but its pretty badass nonetheless.
In a week so, I will be joining the lovely, gorgeous, stunning Kirin on a photoshoot in GR. The photos of the studio make me what to take photos of the studio! Hopefully Mr. Photoguy will be forgiving and let me take some shots of her getting photographed by him. Otherwise, and just to make sure, I'll have my camera set to silent mode
Sneaky little girl I be! "Oh no, Mr. Photoguy... I'm not doing nothin'... I'm just checking settings on my camera... For sure, yeah, that's what I'm doing..."
Kinda seems as if this blog should have been titled "Inner Monologue Much?" I'm going to get going, cruise the Internet for inspiration, and perhaps maybe even get more editing done on the novel...