Election Time in Saskatoon

In Canada we are in the middle of a run-up to a federal election. Today I found some info on CBC's website regarding different ridings. I thought it might be a useful thing to share with the world, so here it is!

1. CBC - Canada Votes main page. The following are the four ridings that incorporate parts of Saskatoon:
2. Riding 229: Blackstrap, comments
3. Riding 236: Saskatoon-Humboldt, comments
4. Riding 237: Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, comments
   
5. Riding 238: Saskatoon-Wanuskewin and comments from people in this riding (This is the riding I live in.)

It will be interesting to see the results of the election. Will we be rid of a minority government??

The Internet Oracle

You may or may not have heard of the Internet Oracle before, but it's something I remember being around from the early days of the internet. The website says it's been around since 1989!

Last spring my brother sent me a link to this digest because there was a great Monty Python style spoof of the Lord of the Rings that began it. I had completely forgotten about the Oracle otherwise.

Here's a little taste of what you might find there:

1352-02

The Internet Oracle has pondered your question deeply. Your question was:

> O Oracle most helpful, > > Despite the fact that I lost my arms in a horrible accident 2 years > ago, none of the arms dealers I've spoken to are willing to help. Why > is that?

And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

} Like you, I'm stumped.

126-05

The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply. Your question was:

> I made some cookies the other day. They were chocolate chip. When I > put them in the oven, the chips leaped out of the cookies, jumped onto > the floor, and ran out of the house squeaking. I had to eat the cookies > without any chips. They were terrible. Why do you think this > remarkable event occurred?

And in response, thus spake the Oracle:

} Hmm. Mutineering chocolate. } Obviously they were trying to jump chip.

All in all it's fun stuff! Most questions and answers are a lot longer, so you're up for a fair amount of reading!

More Videos

Heh, how can you tell I finished school on Tuesday. I think I looked at videos online for almost three hours today!

Voice over guys go to award show

Here's a local one! (language warning)

Funny breastfeeding video

These next two are of a couple of impressive amputees. I thought I'd put them here in case I want to check them out next term. (I'll be taking a class on amputations next term.)

Amputee playing video dance game

Amputee in swim meet

Video Links

I just wanted to share some amusing video clips I've found on the internet recently.

The Shining... if it was a happy movie

George Bush's speech writer

Balancing Point

Karate master video

Contortionist

Catch Phrase

Man, I still can't stop laughing over the last one! And I've seen it like three, four times now!

Link sharing

Here's something I thought would be fun to share: Happy Fun Town

NaNoWriMo Follow Up

So here is the message where I include everything I want here for posterity's sake. I've put up an excerpt from National Drunk Writing Night in my NaNoWriMo writer's profile. Until I have time to put up my whole novel, you can get a taste of it there. (Note: that link requires that you have flash. If you don't you can try this non-flash version of my profile.)

First, my graph of progress:




Next, the myriad of icons:



And for the final thing to put up I also wanted a copy of the winner's certificate that I received, but it's in PDF and if I scan it the lettering would be too small to read. Instead, I'll just type it out here:

National Novel Writing Month hereby certifies that the author:
Lorianne Earl
Has completed the astounding feat of producing:
The Modern Fairy Tale
between November 1 and November 30, 2005. By accomplishing the heroic deed of drafting
an entire 50,000-word novel in one ridiculously busy month, the writer has achieved the rank of
Winner
As the bearer of this title, the author shall be entitled to an array of adoration and praise from fans, and envious glares from less prolific novelists.
The author shall also be officially logged in the National Novel Writing Month Gallery of Heroes,
where his or her name shall stand as an inspiring testament to the unforgettable month when one lone writer battled a ferocious deadline and emerged victorious.
We congratulate you, writer, and record the contents of this certificate into the NaNoWriMo Winners archive with all statutes and bylaws withstanding.

So I guess that's it for now. Now what am I going to blog about? ;-)

NaNo - Day 29

I know that if you look at the graph above it looks like I wrote like a mofo today, but that's not the truth. It would seem that I won the NaNoWriMo Word Count Validator Lottery! Here's a posting I made in the forum that describes what happened:

I have had quite a lot to celebrate tonight! First off, I finally won NaNoWriMo for the first time, this being the fourth year I've participated. Yay me for coming back from 'failing' for three years and doing what I didn't think was possible!

Then, when I finished writing tonight, WordPerfect 9 told me I had 50133 words. Yay! I was finished! Part of me had been hoping for 51000 words or 53000 words, but I decided to be happy with the word count I had. Eager to prove my win, I converted it to text and uploaded it into the word count validator. I just took it for granted that the validator would tell me I had the 50133 words or so that I figured there was! It was so exciting afterwards to see Winner! written on the page after it accepted my document.

I spent a minute or so looking over the winners info page, then opened a new window to see if I could find the information again. I wanted to be able to get everything another time. Instead of clicking on 'edit profile' I accidentally clicked 'view profile.' I said yay as I looked at the little 2005 winner banner around my picture. Then I noticed that my blue line was way above the 50k line. I thought it was weird. Why would they put it way over? Then my eye caught the number it said for my word count - 62874!!! That's an extra 12741 words that the validator added to my word count! A full week's writing! I don't know if it was all the French I had thrown into my novel or what, but wow! What a fabulous surprise!!!

Yay! I finished! And a day early even! And if you'd like to see my NaNoWriMo profile you can check it out here. Tomorrow I'll show off the goodies I get for winning.

Word Count Goal: 48343
Actual Word Count: 62874 or 50133

NaNo - Day 28

Not a bad day of writing. I'm not quite caught up, but I'm pretty much close enough that I'm not concerned. My personal training client cancelled on me this morning, so I had a fabulous nap instead. That meant that I was able to write fairly well tonight - yay! I even finished the chapter with a funny line, but I can't remember exactly how it went now.

My main character had a really great day today. Two things happened to her that I have been looking forward to all month. I'm not exactly sure how to get from here to the end. I was thinking of maybe writing an epilogue. Maybe I'll write that first and see how many words I still need to write. Then I can fill in the plot hole after.

I'm hoping to make tomorrow my last day!!! 3879 words left minimum. Yay!

Word count goal: 46676
Actual word count: 46121

NaNo - Day 27

Too busy doing stuff with/for people. Sigh. Oh well, I guess this adds some drama as to whether or not I will finish...

Word count goal: 45009
Actual word count: 42781

NaNo - Day 26

I didn't write much today, but I did study, work, find $10 in a library book, ate pizza, and helped Tanya and Mike cart some things over to their new place. I was basically too tired tonight to write much when I got home at 9 pm (left home at 10:45 am). My main character has returned to school for Term 2, and I copied some stuff from her text on the next author they're taking in her French lit. class - Chateaubriand. Good times.

Now I'm behind again. Most people seem to make use of the weekends to catch up. Not me, apparently! Enh, I might be able to catch up again tomorrow. I'm busy for most of the day after 2pm, though, so I guess we shall see.

Oh, and my brother has written over 90000 words. He's only 3/4 of the way to his goal. He has to write about 30000 more words in the next 4 days. Luckily he took those days off work...

Word count goal: 43342
Actual word count: 42781

NaNo - Day 25

Yay! One month until Christmas! Three months until my birthday!

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way. I didn't write super lots today, but I also didn't spend much time at it. Gwen and I got together and wrote at Louis' for a while today. We wrote for about 35 minutes, and I wrote about 1000 words in that time! That's quite fast for me! I feel like I'm just getting the ending set up at this point. There's a chance that I might run out of story before 50,000 words, but I think it's pretty slim. Also, I can go back and add in a bunch of description, so I'm not worried about having to come up with a bunch of stuff spontaneously at the last minute.

I'm set for a sort of busy weekend, so we'll see how much I get written, but I would really, really love to finish on Sunday. I guess we shall see....

Today's word count goal: 41675
Actual word count: 42347

NaNo - Day 24

Yes!!! Another productive writing day. I wrote another three thousand words, but have hardly advanced the plot at all. I guess that means I may have to rush things a little, or put what I thought could be a climax as an epilogue if I want to only write approximately 50000 words.

I really hope I can finish writing this on the weekend. I want time back!!!

Word Count Goal: 40008
Actual Word Count: 40134 . . . slightly ahead again!

NaNo - Day 23

Whew! Thank god for a day like today. I had my best day of writing for a week or so. Apparently that jerk my main character was dating was holding me back. I wrote about 2900 words today and it was fairly easy and even fun at times. I can see a new relationship developing and I'm excited because this guy is nice, caring, and French!

So now I'm almost caught up again. I'm about 2/3 of a day behind in my word count, but I'm not too worried about that. In an absolutely ideal world situation I'd finish this weekend, so that I could start studying for finals with everyone else in my class. On Friday I'm meeting another WriMo to work on our novels at Louis' for a while. Looking at her word count, there's a chance she could finish her novel that day! I'm hoping that will keep me focused on getting a lot written then. Another good day tomorrow and I could cross 40k! Wow! That's so hard to imagine.

It also feel really good to see the number of words left to write shrinking. Now it's to the point where it's fairly small when compared to the words I've already written. Less than 13k to go! It's almost like "Wow, that's not too much!" It's nice to have some enthusiasm back for this project.

Today I was also pleased to find a graph that I could put up here on my blog. Now you can quickly see where my word count is in relation to where it should be if I kept a steady pace through the month. When I first got it today my estimated finish date was Dec. 4. It's nice to see that come closer to the end of Novelber. Here is a link to the profile of the awesomely nice guy who designed the graph and shared it with the NaNoWriMo world (note: requires Flash): Rick, AKA knowbuddy Now here is a guy with some good karma coming his way!

Word Count Goal: 38341
Actual Word Count: 37100

NaNo - Day 22

Man, writing is sure feeling like pulling out fingernails lately. I wrote for a while today, but not for very long. I decided that today was the day that I would follow through with another word padding technique: going back and replacing contractions with their two-word forms, and changing hyphens to spaces. That added over 700 words for my word count today.

So yeah, I was writing and the love interest guy who had been so promising just a couple days ago turned into a total dink, so my main character broke up with him. The main problem with that is that now I have to write that they get back together so that they can break up at the novel's climax. It's been a tough relationship to write, because I just want her to be with a different guy. She will be, but she's not allowed to yet.

Word count goal: 36674
Actual word count: 34206

NaNo - Day 21

I wrote for a while this evening, but I was tired and it was fairly hard. Luckily I'm done school at 10:30 tomorrow morning, and don't have dancing until 7:00 in the evening. I'll have to see if I can get caught up.

My main character is just getting ready for a big date tonight, but she can't decide what shirt to wear. She just finished a week where I half-assedly wrote about what she did. I don't want to focus too much right now on stuff that won't advance development of the story very much.


Word count goal: 35007
Actual word count: 32190

NaNo - Day 20

Whoah! Two thirds of the way through the month, but not quite two thirds of the way through my novel. At least today was a better writing day. Today my main character got drunk on halloween (last year), then slept in the day after. Not such a big deal until she realized that it was Monday and had missed two classes. I've left off at my main character talking on the phone with her love interest about their relationship. Maybe things can start progressing with them better now.

Well, the last few days have put me behind. I'm not sure when I'll catch up again, but as long as I can write 1667 words a day I won't get any further behind.

Word Count Goal: 33340
Actual Word Count: 31111

NaNo - Day 19

Gone dancing. Won't be home enough to write today.


Word Count Goal: 31673
Actual Word Count: 27911

NaNo - Day 18

Didn't feel like writing in the afternoon. In the evening I had a dance event that started 2 hours late - bleh. That ate up my whole night - bleh.

Word Count Goal: 30006
Actual Word Count: 27911

Canada's 100 Most Important Books

The Literary Review of Canada has released a list of Canada's 100 most important books . I looked through the list to see which ones I've read:

English
11. Anne of Green Gables (1908) Lucy Maud Montgomery (don't remember reading for sure)
39. The Stone Angel (1964) Margaret Laurence
58. Red Lights on the Prairies (1971) James H. Gray
66. Alligator Pie (1974) Dennis Lee (don't remember reading for sure)
79. The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) Margaret Atwood

French
14. Maria Chapdelaine (1914) Louis Hémon
22. Bonheur d’occasion (The Tin Flute) (1945) Gabrielle Roy
25. Les Plouffe (The Plouffe Family) (1948) Roger Lemelin
48. Les belles-sœurs (1968) Michel Tremblay

And of course my favourite from this list was Red Lights on the Prairies. I'm a bit of a local history buff, and it was interesting to read about the early history of prostitution in various cities in the prairie provinces. I like the section on Calgary in particular: there were some very interesting characters in the brothel business there, I tell you!

NaNo - Day 17

Bleh, another tired day. At least I was ahead yesterday, and have all of tomorrow afternoon to write. Yesterday I ended in the middle of a sentence that I could not figure out how to finish today. That meant that today's writing began with a really lame conversation, and just maintained it's lame-itude until I quit. Bleh. Oh well, I can make up for it tomorrow.

Word Count Goal: 28339
Actual Word Count: 27911

NaNo - Day 16

Well, didn't write until after my dance classes tonight. I don't really feel like I'm advancing the story too much, but I realized my main character (MC) was spending more time with her study partner than with her love interest. I thought it might be hard to believe that she even really had a relationship with him! So they're hanging out right now. He showed up at her place, and was waiting for her there when she got off work. They kissed some, and now she's eating supper and trying to get him to tell her something interesting so that he's not just watching her eat. Actually, it's more like I'm trying to get him to tell her something interesting so that he's not just watching her eat! These characters, they are putty in my hands to do what with as I will! Bwahahahahahahaha!

So anyway, when I finished up writing tonight I was tied for 3635th place. Go me.

Word count goal: 26672
Actual word count: 27022

NaNo - Day 15

Yeehaw! Halfway there!

Today I wrote for a while before I had to go to dancing, then wrote again for a while after I got home. I really, really, really wanted to make it to 25000 words today, so I stayed up until 12:45 writing. I made it! That means that I am now on pace with people who are writing 1667 words/day. I'm contemplating changing my goals to match this pace, since I reached it early and have been ahead of my goals for a while.

I did fluff up my word count tonight quite a bit. I had my main character study for a French test by reading the ending of Tristan et Iseut, which is a tragic love story. That fluffing up added 890 words. Oh well, it says in the book (No Plot, No Problem) that it's okay to do that.

Word count goal: 23000
Actual word count: 25083



New Goals:

Nov. 16 26672 Nov. 17 28339 Nov. 18 30,006 Nov. 19 31673
Nov. 20 33340 Nov. 21 35007 Nov. 22 36674 Nov. 23 38341
Nov. 24 40008 Nov. 25 41675 Nov. 26 43342
Nov. 27 45009 Nov. 28 46676 Nov. 29 48343 Nov. 30 50000!

NaNo - Day 14

I was pretty wiped out today, so I didn't write too much. But my main character got to make out with her love interest, so that was sort of fun. She's about to study for a French midterm with a guy from her class. Not really too much else to say I guess. I should go do some studying myself or something!

Word count goal: 21000
Actual wordcount: 22514

Intellidating

Man, I could go for some of this: How do you say "What's your sign?" in Latin?

At least you'd be doing/watching something interesting if the date wasn't going well. My main concern would be that maybe you wouldn't have time to actually talk and get to know each other. But then, I guess it's probably just supposed to be a way to meet someone who you want to learn more about later, set up your own dates, etc.

NaNo - Day 13

Whew! I've done not a lot this weekend, except work on my novel. I wrote quite a bit again today, pretty much all during word wars. Last I checked I was in 3939th place. Today some of us WriMos (i.e. people participating in NaNoWriMo) got together for coffee. We try to get together every Sunday. There was even 2 new people there today! Yay! Newbies!

Also, in the "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" forum in NaNoWriMo, somebody started up a NO QUIT club. Today I made up a file with the names of everyone who posted there and what their wordcount is. In a couple days I will go back, check the wordcounts of those people, then list everyone there who has not yet quit (i.e. they updated their word count since Friday). Right now there is 66 people. Probably a pretty big job, but I'm feeling like things are going pretty well, so I'd like to be able to congratulate the other people who keep trucking along.

I had my second cameo in my novel today, and Lynette you're mentioned there too. Unfortunately I can't quote it here because my novel is on a laptop without a CD burner, and my desktop computer has no floppy drive. You'll just have to wait until I get around to that, I guess.


Today's word goal: 18000
Actual word count: 21201

NaNo - Day 12

Another good day of writing. Did some more word wars. I hardly even notice having to think very much about what I'm going to write when I participate in a word war. After I finished writing today I searched for my word count in the big list of people and I'm in 4965th place out of about 60000 people who signed up (or out of approximately26000 who have submitted word counts). Yay me! I'm only a couple thousand words away from where I should be if I was writing the same amount of words everyday.

So my main character and her friend got drunk at Amigo's: main character because she was getting mad about the guy she was supposed to meet not being there, her friend because she was weirded out by her English prof being in the band she was watching. They both really liked the band's music though, and went up and danced. I went up and danced too! In the story, that is. I'm pretty sure I did in real life last year, too! ;-) Heh, it was kind of fun to write my characters into something I experienced in my own life.

Word count goal: 15000
Actual word count: 18047 (over 36% done!)

NaNo - Day 11

Had a good writing day. I'm still a full day ahead of my plan, and only a few thousand words behind where I should be if I was writing 1667 words a day. I tried some word wars today, and that was kind of cool. NaNoWriMo has an online chat area, and people can set it up to have timed writing sessions called word wars. It tells you when to begin and when to end, then you tell it how many words you wrote. It keeps track of the total for you, and today I wrote over 2000 words while engaging in word wars.

My main character went to Amigo's but her date wasn't there yet, so she's sitting with a couple of friends chatting while a weird band finishes their set on stage. My main character's best friend is all weirded out because Joel, her English prof, is there. Just wait until she finds out he's in the next band that performs!

Today's word goal: 12000
Actual word count: 15048

NaNo - Day 10

Had a decent day of writing. Lots of procrastinating again, but came through in the end. I am far enough ahead that I have already attained tomorrow's word count goal. However, I scheduled two heavy days of writing on Saturday and Sunday, so the more I can eat into that now the easier that will be.

My main character has a date tomorrow! How cool! And they're gonna go see my friends' now defunct band play at Amigo's last year. And I get to have a cameo of myself there in the audience! How fun is that!

Word Count goal: 11000
Actual word count: 12283

Which of the X-Men are you?

You scored as Rogue. Rogue is a strong but tragic personality. She loves Gambit. Because of her mutant powers, she cannot touch anyone without hurting them. Therefore, she longs for human contact. However, this southern gal's strong personality has allowed her to deal with this. Powers: Absorbs lifeforce and powers by touch, Super strength, and flight Rogue 75% Storm 70% Jean Grey 70% Cyclops 60% Wolverine 60% Nightcrawler 50% Beast 50% Iceman 35% Colossus 35% Gambit 35% Emma Frost 30% Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

NaNo - Day 9, part 2

Woohoo! Crossed the 10000 word mark, which means I'm 20% done. My 10000th word is "it." Not the most exciting word, but it still feels good anyway. I still might do some more writing later, after my dance classes tonight. We shall see.

Today's word count goal: 9500
Actual word count: 10065

Edit: I did indeed write after class. Word count is now 10368. Well on my way to tomorrow's goal.

NaNo - Day 9

I wrote for a while this morning since I didn't have to go to work or school. Now I'm ahead again, and I'll get even more ahead if I write tonight too. I hope to crack 10000 words tonight! Wheee!

My main character finished talking on the phone, did some reading for school, and is now getting ready to go out. It sure feels like it takes a long time to get her to do anything exciting! She's supposed to be going out - how long is it going to take for me to write her to get there! Probably not for another 1000 words or so at the detailed pace I'm going at!

Today's word count goal: 9500
Actaul word count: 9619

NaNo - Day 8

I wrote for about an hour, an hour and a half tonight, but also watched TV at the same time. My main character walked home from work, talked on the phone a bit (including a conversation in French about her class that day and upcoming homework), and is currently making supper. I've been trying to get her to Bud's on Broadway, but I'm writing too much detail! I'm thinking that in another 500 words or so she'll end up there. It will be nice and loud so they'll have trouble trying to hear each other when they talk. Not only is that realistic, but it gives me an opportunity to pump up my word count by getting people to repeat the things that they say!

I have all morning tomorrow to do whatever I like, and no school until 1:30. I plan to sleep in, then spend some time writing. Woohoo!

Word count goal: 8500
Actual word count: 8574

Mouse River, Souris River

Tomato, tomate. According to this story from CBC News, some counties in North Dakota have opted to call the Souris River by its English translation: Mouse River. "We don't speak French here" a guy was quoted as saying.

What if other American place names were translated into English?

Des Moines, Iowa --> Some Monks, Iowa
Des Lacs, North Dakota --> Some Lakes, North Dakota
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho --> Alene's Heart, Idaho
Lac qui Parle, Minnesota --> Lake that Talks, Minnesota
La Salle, Minnesota --> The Room, Minnesota
La Grange, Wyoming --> The Barn, Wyoming

It just doesn't have the same ring, does it?

I really like some of the French names we have in Saskatchewan (where few people speak French). Bienfait (pronounced like 'bean fate') translates to 'well done' in English. My favourite would have to be the Qu'appelle Valley (and river). It's such a beautiful place, and the name is sort of mysterious ('what's calling?'): it's a romantic combination and I just can't imagine ever wanting to change it.

NaNo - Day 7

I wrote a bit over lunch - about 500 words or so. I thought I'd write more later, but I was too tired after work. I decided to go to bed early.

So my main character is currently devising a way to get closer to her love interest. He told her about a good band playing at a club, and so she's going to see if her best friend will go with her.

Word count goal: 7500
Actual word count: 7537

The roadsign of my life

Hurleyanne Highway Bankruptcity 3 Loony-Bin Lane 13 Childbirth Hospital 66 Confusion Lane 135 Family Farm 392 Please Drive Carefully

Username:

Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com

Personally, I thought I'd be a lot closer to Confusion Lane than Childbirth Hospital. But yeah, drive carefully

NaNo - Day 6

Had another decent writing day today. I wrote a few hundred words this morning. Then I went and played ultimate frisbee for a bit (I made a really awesome interception today, we almost scored after too), came home, showered, ate, went to work, cleaned, talked to a guy I went to high school with, cleaned some more, read my neuro lab for tomorrow, cleaned some more, picked up my paycheque, went home, ate halloween candy and played a game on my computer, ate supper, and had a nap. Then I wrote for a couple hours. I'm still ahead of the game - at least my own goals. Technically if I was writing the 1667 words/day that it averages out to be, then I should have hit 10,002 words today. I'm just happy that I'm writing pretty much everyday, and that I'm a little bit ahead of the goal I set for myself. I think tomorrow's goal isn't very high, either, so maybe I'll be able to get even further ahead. I'm not expecting too much, however, because I have a fairly long school day and have to work for a couple hours in the evening. I guess we shall see.

Today my main character went to work at her job as a customer service attendent at a bank near the university. She talked to a co-worker, piddled around, then she ate an apple fritter and bought some raffle tickets from another co-worker. At the end a guy who she'd been flirting with all summer came in. This is going to be the love interest guy. Now I should be getting the story going along! I'm not exactly sure how yet, but she's going to give him her phone number before he leaves. Maybe on an appointment card, or something.

Today's word goal: 6500
Actual word count: 7040

NaNo - Day 5

Well, I worked this morning, went shopping with Tanya in the afternoon, then spent most of the rest of the day procrastinating. I felt pretty tired tonight and decided I didn't feel like driving for45 minutes to go to a superhero-themed birthday party. Instead I had a couple of drinks so that I could participate in National Drunk Writing Night with other writers from around the world. (It's not drinking alone if I know that there are also at least two other drunk writers out there at the same time as me, right? There was even a girl from South Dakota who started drinking later than I did.) It was a pretty productive writing night. I decided to go past my goal for today, because I wanted my wordcount to pass that of more Saskatchewan writers.

I think I've experienced my first plot bunny. My understanding is that a plot bunny is a story element that pops out of nowhere and places itself in your novel. Joel, if you're reading this, it involves you. My main character's best friend is in your first year English class and has something of a crush on you. She's not about to pursue anything, but my main character (Kaylea) was trying to push her into it. I'll keep you posted!

Word goal for today: 4500
Actual word count: 5359

NaNo - Day 4

Well, I did a fair amount of writing this afternoon. I'm back on track and hit today's goal around 3:45 this afternoon. I'll probably write for another half hour, and then maybe again tonight after teaching my dance class. It would be kind of nice to get ahead so I don't have to write so much tomorrow. Tomorrow I work 10-noon, then I'll hang out with Tanya in the afternoon, and finish my day at a superhero-themed party. Good times.

Today my character wandered around the university some, bought some textbooks, ran into a French guy from her French class, then walked home. When she was at the bookstore she browsed through the physical therapy section and picked up a textbook. I copied one paragraph from one of my textbooks while she 'read' it. Ah the things we do to attain our daily wordcount goals! And no this novel will never be published, so I have no worries about plagiarism. I'd be more worried about boring people to tears...


Todays goal: 2500
Actual wordcount: 2520

NaNo - Day 3

I have a midterm tomorrow, so I don't think I'll write today.

Instead, here's a link to weird lines that people have written and later gone back to shake their heads over - Nanoisms.

NaNo - Day 2

After I blogged last night I attempted to get the laptop working again, and I did! I wrote a few hundred more words, then went to bed. I wrote a little bit before supper tonight too. I don't plan to write any more tonight, because I should go study for my neuro midterm on Friday. Today I got to write a really bad sex scene. Last year I wrote down some dares I might use, and I included one of them today:

And then, as they both lay drowning in the golden warmth of the afterglow, he rolled over and farted. The paint rolled down the walls, and she covered her face with a pillow.

Today's goal: 1000 words
Actual word count: 1014 words

NaNo - Day 1

I stayed up to start writing at midnight, and wrote for a half hour. I wrote 477 words, which is only 23 shy of my goal for today. I've borrowed a laptop to write the novel on so that I am not distracted by the internet. Unfortunately the power cord is very touchy, and now I can't get it to turn on. I wanted to write for at least another half hour. Booooo!

So far my novel is pretty lame. I can't wait until it gets more interesting. I have to make sure that I make my main character likable, so that I'll want to find out what she's up to.

Today's word goal: 500 words
Actual writing: 477 words

Interesting multiple birth

Thought that this was interesting enough to share:

Woman with 2 wombs has 'twins'

The NaNo Plan

(i.e. The plan for how I'm going to write a 50,000 word novel in November)

Less than 5 hours until National Novel Writing Month begins! So, this year I haven't spent a heck of a lot of time getting much planned, so I guess I'll mostly be winging it! I have about a half dozen characters that I've thought of, and I don't think any of them have names yet. I've got a basic plot idea, but nothing significant planned, no secondary plot lines or anything like that. What I do have is a plan of action:

• I've borrowed a laptop computer so that the internet will be less of a temptation (oh those evil NaNo fora!) and so that I can take my novel away with me (to school for breaks, to Regina, etc.).
• I plan to write for 30 minutes when I come home from school, then write later in the night after I've gotten some school work done (I'm thinking of starting around 10 or 11 p.m.).
• I have a daily word count goal. Instead of going with the standard 1667 words per day, I've looked at how busy I am and set goals accordingly.

So, I'm thinking this looks fairly under control... Aaaaaaagghhhhhhh! Or whatever....

Here are my wordcount goals:

• Week 1: Nov. 1-3: 500 words, Nov. 4,7: 1000 words, Nov. 5,6,: 2000 words Total: 7500 words
• Week 2: Nov. 8-11: 1000 words, Nov. 10: 1500 words, Nov. 12-14: 3000 words Total: 21,000 words
• Week 3: Nov. 15-18: 1000 words, Nov. 19-21: 2000 words Total: 32,000 words
• Week 4+: Nov. 22-30: 2000 words Total: 50,000 words

Or if that makes no sense to you, this is where I'd like my wordcount to be at the end of each day:

Nov. 1 500 Nov. 2 1000 Nov. 3 1500 Nov. 4 2500
Nov. 5 4500 Nov. 6 6500 Nov. 7 7500 Nov. 8 8500
Nov. 9 9500 Nov. 10 11000 Nov. 11 12000 Nov. 12 15000
Nov. 13 18000 Nov. 14 21000 Nov. 15 23000 Nov. 16 24000
Nov. 17 25000 Nov. 18 26000 Nov. 19 28000 Nov. 20 30000
Nov. 21 32000 Nov. 22 34000 Nov. 23 36000 Nov. 24 38000
Nov. 25 40000 Nov. 26 42000 Nov. 27 44000 Nov. 28 46000
Nov. 29 48000 Nov. 30 50000!

Early on the wordcount goals are pretty low, so I should be able to meet my goals without too much hardship. This will allow me to feel good about how the writing is going, and motivate me to continue pushing on. November 11 is a day I've only set to write 1000 words, but I have absolutely no commitments that day and should be able to get much more written. I've also set myself a couple of rewards this year:

• If I reach 25000 words before Nov. 19 (when I am likely going to Regina for a dance event), I will allow myself to buy a nice dance object when I am down there. Something like music, jewelry, a sword, a drum. I made $60 dancing last weekend, and I've set that money aside for the trip.
• If I reach 50000 words I will buy myself the Earthworm Jim cartoon series. Yay!

I was hoping to come up with more rewards along the way, but this is as far as I got. Oh well, two rewards is better than none! I'll just have to reward myself with fun!

The Highwayman

By Alfred Noyes

Part One
                               I
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding-
               Riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

                               II
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
               His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

                               III
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
               Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

                               IV
And dark in the old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
               The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say-

                               V
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
               Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."

                               VI
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
               (Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.

Part Two
                               I
He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gipsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching-
               Marching-marching-
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

                               II
They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side!
There was death at every window;
               And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through the casement, the road that he would ride.

                               III
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
               She heard the dead man say-
Look for me by moonlight;
               Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

                               IV
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like
years,
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
               Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

                               V
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
               Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain.

                               VI
     Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs
ringing clear;
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did
not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding,
               Riding, riding!
The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up strait and still!

                               VII
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
               Her musket shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him-with her death.

                               VIII
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
               The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

                               IX
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
               Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with a bunch of lace at his throat.

       *       *       *       *       *       *

                               X
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding-
               Riding-riding-
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

                               XI
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
And he taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
               Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair. 

Saying

This should explain a little about some scientists:

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.

Smarter than a monkey

Your Final Quiz Score: 37 right out of a possible 60
The Monkey's Final Score: 15 right out of 60

You asserted your intellectual superiority brilliantly! The monkey is now left contemplating his own inferiority. Where others have failed to claim the mantel of unequivocal dominance over lesser species, you have truly succeeded! Congratulations on besting the ape and reaffirming the capabilities of the human mind. You have done mankind proud.

You scored in the 88th percentile.
(88% of quiz takers scored worse than you)

Geography Your score: 11 Monkey's score: 4 -- Quite a sufficient job.	History Your score: 10 Monkey's score: 5 -- Not too bad.
Science/Technology Your score: 6 Monkey's score: 2 -- Well done.	Random Trivia Your score: 10 Monkey's score: 4 -- A handy defeat of the monkey.

Link: Take the Trivia Challenge

How I will die...

You scored as Disappear. Your death will be by disappearing, probably a camping trip gone wrong or an evening hike you never returned from. Always remember that one guy who was hiking alone and got in a rock slide. He could have died, but he cut his own hand off to save himself. Don't end up like him (or worse, dead). Suicide 80% Bomb 80% Disappear 80% Gunshot 67% Disease 60% Natural Causes 60% Poison 53% Eaten 33% Cut Throat 27% Stabbed 27% Suffocated 27% Drowning 20% Accident 13% How Will You Die?? created with QuizFarm.com

This is a pretty bleak result! Disappearance, suicide, and bomb all tied! Not that any of the answers would lead to something good like me living forever. At least I don't need to worry about dying in an accident...

My Cyborg name

I rather like this one!

My Monster Name

How weird are you...

You Are 60% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?

Aagh! Where am I?

Hi! I've been stupidly reading NaNoWriMo forums again... and not accomplishing a lot. I had a major midterm on the 6th, and I feel really good about it. Studying for it went well; a real improvement over last year. Last year I would study and get more and more down about not knowing anything. This year I feel like I learn more and more when I study, and gain confidence too. Yay! I'm coming back! Over all I know I'm feeling happier a lot more frequently than I have in a long time. I'm still having some confidence issues and some down days, but I find I'm not feeling crappy and wishing I felt happy so much.

I'm still hoping to do NaNoWriMo this year, but I don't think I'll do the idea I mentioned before. I have more of a chick lit idea now, with a woman who falls for a married man (who never tells her he's married) then gets a nasty trouncing for it when she is confronted by an acquaintance about it. Her life falls apart, but in the end you know it will get better. I've decided that if that it takes me less than 50,000 words to write that, then I'll warp my characters into the plots I had planned out for the last few years but never got to use (i.e. my main characters get abducted onto the Spaceship Love Machine (2003), later escaping back to earth but finding they're 1000 years in the past in Iceland (2002)). I plan to start my novel with one of the '50 Last Dates' from last years NaNo novel plans.

I've planned out how much I think I can write in a day, gauging by what things I've got going on in November. I'll be starting out slow, then coming in with higher word counts at the end of the month. I'm also trying to start preparing now for some big things in the first week of November (midterm, presentation) so that I'm not wasting lots of energy on them instead of my novel.

seems i've been tagged...

Another Tag from Lynette... Go to your 23rd post....find the 5th sentence.....report it here.


For me that would be this post:

Thursday, June 09, 2005

y.e.t.a.n.o.t.h.e.r.e.b.a.y.l.i.n.k.
I've been looking for percussion instruments on eBay lately. Maybe if you bought it you could make your money back by charging people money not to hit them with it! Newfoundland Ugly Stick

As you can see, this post is not even 5 sentences long. However, if you believe that a period always ends a sentence, then I guess my 5th sentence could be "n."

How very profound.

P.S. This is my 65th post.

New World Record for Ironing Set by Canadian

I guess I was so busy last weekend that I completely missed hearing about this remarkable achievement. ;-)

I actually heard an interview on CBC radio earlier this month when Suresh Joachim set a world record for rocking in a rocking chair. He wants to set the world record for the most world records. He uses these records as an opportunity to raise money for the Universal Fund for Suffering Children. He and his wife set three world records at their wedding: most groomsmen, most bridesmaids, and longest wedding bouquet.

I can't say I feel very inspired to beat him, but a solo dance marathon does sound fun.

25 Things to do for Fun

My friend Tanya and I have been feeling like we haven't been having enough fun lately. She thought it would be a good idea if we each made a list of fun things to do. Here's what I came up with at work today, if you'd like someone else to think of something for you to do:

1. See a movie
2. Make a movie
3. Body painting
4. Draw on a pregnant belly
5. Karaoke
6. Go swimming
7. Try to make a food explode
8. Make up a silly choreography
9. Write a story with someone, alternating sentences/paragraphs/whatever
10. Write a sappy love song
11. Make some food, show up on a friend's doorstep, and invite yourself over for supper
12. Pin someone down and tickle them
13. Use a soundboard and prank call someone
14. Race to see who can take the longest to eat a chocolate bar
15. Invent a martial art
16. Make up a language for you and your friends to use
17. Wear frilly underwear like a little girl would
18. Lie in the grass and watch the clouds/stars/birds/meteors/monsters/etc.
19. Invent a new sandwich
20. Synchronized sunflower seed spitting
21. Makeover or spa night at home
22. Go to a park and watch kids play
23. Pretend to be supermodels and take pictures of each other in model poses
24. Make up names for body parts that don't need names
25. Develop a very silly walk indeed
    

Aaaagh! I Know I Shouldn't ...

but I'm finding myself thinking about NaNoWriMo again this year. I actually bought No Plot, No Problem from Amazon yesterday. Today I thought of a novel idea too: "Imaginary Adventures of my Friends in Other Cities." Pretty much speaks for itself. The way to tie it all together would be if I went to other cities and visited my friends there, and I could witness their adventures or be told of them. 50,000 words though? Can't be too sure....

A Thousand Metres Underground

... is where I was on Saturday evening. I got to go on a tour of a potash mine just a little ways west of town. Jay's dad is one of the head safety guys there, and it was 'family tour and barbecue day' so Jay was able to get me and Brad in for a tour. It was pretty okay. The mill was loud and the tour guide started talking before everyone got to the stops he wanted to show us. Thus I have a pretty poor understanding of the potash processing. The mine tour was more interesting. We took a 3 1/2 minute elevator ride underground, then we sat in Land Cruisers while a mine employee drove us out to where some mining was being done. They had us go out in front of the big mining machine so we could see it operate. Let me just say that breathing in salty dust is not the most pleasant experience. There was a mild burning sensation in my nasal passages, so I decided to mouth breathe. The cloud of dust rushed into my mouth, tasting of salt. I like it more when air has no taste. The smell of the mine reminded me of a really mild version of what an anatomy lab smells like. I thought it might be pretty freaky to think of being underground like that, but it really just felt like you were driving in a really long corridor. I think it would be a pretty creepy place to be all by yourself. It's quite dark in most places, and there's a conveyor belt that extends the entire length of the mine. It makes lots of creaking and thumping noises, and when there aren't any machines operating that's the only noise you hear. All in all it was an interesting tour, but I'm glad I don't have to go to work there everyday.

P.S. Don't take a handful of salt product in your hand when you have a cut on your palm. Ow ow ow ow ow!

Shine Day

As you might notice from my little bio I am a physical therapy student at the University of Saskatchewan. Every September we participate in a fundraising event called Shinerama, where we shine shoes to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis treatment and research. Yesterday was shine day and as a college we raised over $5000 - yay us! There were probably nearly 80 of us who participated.

Anyway, I had a really good time doing it this year. In the morning I was with my partners at a fairly busy mall, largely populated by retired people during the day (Market Mall). I found it to be a good opportunity to get to know some of my classmates a little better. There were also two highlights:

1. When one guy put his money into the slot, he also dropped what appeared to be his grocery list into the box. Examining it later we found that it said "tomatoes, cheese, dinner buns - nice bum!" It was pretty funny....
2. A driver for a seniors residence made several drop offs and pick ups while we were standing at the entrance. I don't recall him donating, but once he came out of the mall with half a dozen doughnuts for the three of us! Very sweet man!

Then in the evening we had free pizza and pop, the same as every year, and I helped roll money. They had a quick draw at the end of the evening and I won some Jelly Bellies and six free games of bowling at Eastview Bowl. Woohoo!

What kind of belly dancer are you? Quiz

You are an American Tribal Style Belly Dancer! So
it's not one hundred percent authentic, but who
cares? It looks really cool, you have a great
time doing it and the costumes are fantastic.
You're not into all the glitz of cabaret but
you can never have too many Kuchi medallions on
your turban. Undulate on, tribal chick!


What Kind of Belly Dancer are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Google Blog Search

So, in the interest of testing out the new blog search service from google, I decided to look up 'Lorianne' to find my blog. Now I'd like to share with you blogs by other Loriannes:

• Dr. Lorianne DiSabato's blogs Hoarded Ordinaries, Dr. D's Domain, and Creative Mindfulness
  
• Lorianne nolastname's blog Minutia
• Lorianne otherdifferentnolastname's blog at X111.com
• LoriAnne yetanothernolastname's blog Women Writers
• Lorianne lastnamenotgiven's blog c'est la vie
• Lorianne nosurname's blog The Straightest Edge
• Lorianne guesswhatnolastname's blog at LiveJournal
• Lorianne nolastnameinFrance's blog Carpe Diem
  

Newness

(I know, I know, finally something new here!)

Now that I'm back at school I'm finding I'm having quite a few new experiences:

• I belong to a new class of students and have had to learn 29 names
• I got a new mattress set for my bed, and have been sleeping quite comfortably for the past week
• I got a new computer - how do you like it? ;-)
• I joined a recreational ultimate disc (i.e. frisbee) team... I haven't been involved in a team sport for 15 years.
• I went to a party with a hottub in a van. Very fun!

I like change, so this has been pretty nice. I just hope things don't get too boring later....

Irony, I guess

Couldn't resist sharing this: Funny Coincidence

Inevitable...

First Katrina Recovery Contracts go to Bush Friends

Go Canada!

Yay for people who go out and do things to help those in need!

Louisiana Senator: Thank you Canada

I'm such a sucker...

I don't know why, but I got the theme song to Earthworm Jim in my mind today. Now I want to get this. Earthworm Jim was one of the funniest cartoons I've ever seen. There was a lot of wordplay in the dialogue, and the evildoers always had great names: Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, Evil the Cat, Henchrat, etc. And Princess What's-Her-Name, daughter of Queen Slug-for-a-Butt if I remember correctly, reminds me of a similar character in Willow. I thought that there had been more than eight episodes, but I guess I was wrong. Do I dare spend my money on this???


Edit (Sept. 13/05):

For some "memorable" quotes from the Earthworm Jim show, check out this.

Back to School

Today was the first day of classes for most students at the U of S. For me it was the first day of class, since I only had one class. Wow, I totally forgot how hard it is to just sit and listen to someone for an hour at a time. I need to start wearing my focus hat... if such a thing only existed!

First day of class and I'm already behind in my reading - or at least I will be tomorrow!

Edit:
Oh! I almost forgot! Today when I was at the Admin building a girl working there recognized me. She said she'd seen me around a lot. The main reason why she recognizes me is that I look pretty much exactly the same as her friend Phaedra (not sure of the spelling). Now, when most people say you look just like so and so there might be a few features in common, but you don't really look that similar. I've actually met Phaedra once. She was in the audience at a dance performance once, and somebody introduced us. She was a little heavier than me, but she looked just like me! Unfortunately I was wearing a turban and had weird dance make-up on, so she couldn't really see it herself.

That's such a weird thing though - knowing there's someone out there who looks just like you. I wonder how old she is? I wonder what her life is like? It's hard to believe that someone who looks so much like me, isn't related to me. She should be my long lost twin. Hmmmmm.

I'm one hot doll!

If I was a paper doll, this is what I'd look like! Cool shoes, hey! (... I have way too much time on my hands.)

American Natural and Unnatural Disasters

American govenment officials have been commenting quite a bit about how the situation in New Orleans was really two back-to-back disasters, and that nothing like that had ever occurred before. Maybe not in their lifetime, but nearly a century ago there was the famous San Francisco earthquake. It was followed by a devastating fire, since extinguishing fires was hampered by water lines that had been broken during the earthquake.

Here are some numbers from back then (taken from a website by U.S. Geological Survey, Earthquake Hazards Program):

Dead - more than 3,000 (including the chief of fire departments - bad news that one)
Homeless - 225,000 from a total population of about 400,000
Buildings destroyed - over 28,000
Monetary loss - more than $400,000,000!!!!!!!

I've also found a first hand report of the earthquake written by Edith Weatherred. One paragraph in particular caught my eye, as it shows interesting similarities and differences to the situation in New Orleans right now:

There was hurrying to get together families and friends. Excitement ran high but people were gently one with the other as they crowded in the middle of the streets, each moment fully expecting the earth to again be set in motion. Faces appeared at windows calling for help. The wounded and dying fell by the way. Thousands crowded the open squares in the heart of the city. The scenes were appalling. Those fortunate enough to get together a few personal effects were piling them in heaps in the square. Beds were made for the wounded, and, before one could realize it, the National Guards, Federal soldiers, Red Cross Society and other good people were setting up tents and tenderly caring for the sick and the dead.

It seems as though people were more cooperative in that crisis, but the horror of death and destruction was equal. Help, according to this account, was also accessible more quickly. My guess is that looting was largely prevented by this.

To learn more about the earthquake, you could also read the official report from 1907. If you would like to look at pictures, I'd suggest this site.

A Dancing Day

It's always cool to run into one of my fans. This morning I was buying makeup at a warehouse sale and one of the cashiers asked if I was the girl who danced Meditation, Spiritualism, and Love. She remembered seeing me perform that at the Fringe (which would have been 4 or 5 years ago), and apparently really liked my dancing. Crazy.

Tonight we performed at a wedding in Borden. The bride is a woman who used to perform with us, but for the last couple years she's been busy operating the Sand Castle Ranch outside of Borden. The audience was quite good. It was easy to get them to come up and dance with us, and they even seemed to enjoy it! Very cool.

New Orleans' blogs

I've spent several hours reading blogs written by some people from New Orleans.

I just wanted to share an entry from the first one I read Sept. 1 check it out here . Reading the comments section is pretty disturbing: for example, one guy is posting under the name David Duke (who was a white supremicist in the news something like 10-15 years ago).

Another one (this one was mentioned on CNN) is written by a guy who has locked himself up at work since before the hurricane hit. He used to be in the army, and he's really gotten into soldier mode. He just started it up on Aug. 26, something for his friends to read, and now there are people reading his blog from all over the world It's been very interesting to read. http://mgno.com/

Here are some pictures they've taken http://www.tampabusiness.com/directnic/

He is supplying live video feed from three different URLs (all the same footage). Sometimes it shows the city, other times it shows the people at his workplace:
http://old.mises.org:88/NO
http://old.mises.org:88/NO2
http://194.97.144.25/NewOrleans

Getting to know your friends

Welcome to the Summer 2005 edition of getting to know your friends. What you are supposed to do is copy this entire e-mail and paste it onto a new e-mail that you'll send. Change all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to a whole bunch of people including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends and family, if you did not know them already. Don't forget to send it back!!!

1. First name: Lorianne

2. Were you named after anyone? I was creatively named after my great grandmother Laura, and we share the same initials (her maiden name was Errickson) . . . at least until she got married. I inherited a watch that used to be hers, but it was engraved after she was married. If I want those initials to fit, then I'll have to marry a guy whose last name starts with B and I'll also have to feel inclined to change my name.

3. Do you wish on stars? No, but I remember doing that as a kid, staring at the sky out my bedroom window. Brings back good memories.

4. When did you last cry? Last weekend, I think or a couple days before that - August 25ish.

5. Do you like your handwriting? no. I tend to print, and haven't used writing in years.

6. What is your favorite lunch meat? summer sausage?

7. What is your birth date? February 25, 1974

8. What is your most embarrassing CD? I got rid of all the CDs I didn't like last weekend, so I just own good music now!

9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with yourself? Yes, and we'd have a great time.

10. Are you a daredevil? I am more likely to say crazy things to do than to actually do them.

11. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell?
Yes, but only to people who didn't know that person. You know, venting to people who could have no idea who the person was, it's safer.

12. Do looks matter? Somewhat, but I find myself much more attracted to behaviours.

13. How do you release anger? I go silent and fume.

14. Where is your second home? I guess that would be Jay's place. I mean, if he's going to be gone, someone may as well be living there! ;-)

15. Do you trust others too easily? No, probably the opposite.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Hmmm, my favourite stuffed toy was Pungee, some sort of weird knitted dog/bear/animal thing with a shirt and socks. His neck didn't have enough stuffing, so he looks pretty freaky with his head hanging down all floppy.

17. What class in high school do you think was totally useless? none

18. Do you have a journal? Does this blog count?

19. Do you use sarcasm a lot? whatever....

20. Favorite movie(s). Monty Python movies, Princess Bride, Willow, Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Man with Two Brains, The Shawshank Redemption, Dead Again

21. What are your nicknames(acceptable)? Lori . . . I don't think I've had a nickname since high school

22. Would you bungee jump? No, the thought of jumping off of something and stopping seems jarring. Don't feel like doing that to my joints. I'm probably still a little afraid of heights too.

23. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? not usually

24. Do you think that you are strong? Yeah, but only because people tell me I am. It's mostly due to core body strength, so I can use my legs to power upper body movements.

25. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? not sure, something fruity

26. What size of shoe do you wear? 6 or 6 1/2

27. What are your favorite colors? green, orange, and purple

28. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? I wish I felt better about myself.

29. Who do you miss most? Probably Debbie. We got to know each other well only in the two weeks before she moved away. It's kind of like getting cheated out of having a really fabulous friend.

30. Do you want everyone you send this to to send it back? Sure, either e-mail it to me or leave a comment where I can find it

31. What color pants are you wearing? But I'm not wearing any pants... just kidding, darkish blue (jeans)

32. What are you listening to right now? CNN in the other room, and my neighbour's lawn mower

33. What was the last thing you ate? free pancakes and sausages

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? orange

35. What is the weather like right now? sunny and breezy

36. Last person you talked to on the phone? my boss, Mindy

37. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? faces

38. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes, she's even shorter than me! :-p

39. Favorite Drink? water

40. Favorite sport? to watch: short track speed skating, to participate in: ultimate frisbee

41. Hair Color? blonde

42. Do you wear contacts? nope, hardly even need my glasses

43. Favorite Food? pizza

44. Last Movie You Watched? Adaptation (at least there's someone in the world who is at least as messed up as me)

45. Favorite Day of the Year: Any 25th day of the month, because I can countdown both Christmas and my birthday

46. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? Happy Endings

47. Summer or winter? Summer

48. Hugs or kisses? both please

49. What is Your Favorite Dessert? Key Lime pie is pretty good

50. Who is most likely to respond? loaded question - not answering

51. Who is least likely to respond? loaded question - not answering

52. Where Would You Want to Go on your Next Vacation? My dream vacation is a Mediterranean cruise.

53. What Books are you reading? The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Classics of Western Literature: Bloom County 1986-1989 (remember that comic strip? Very funny, and I enjoy the political commentary even 20 years later)

54. What's on your mouse pad? don't have one

55. What did you Watch Last Night on TV? CNN coverage of Hurricane Katrina (getting a little obsessed too, but it's so heartbreaking)

56. Favorite Smells? new leaves in spring, cookies baking in the oven

57. Rolling Stones or the Beatles? The Beatles

58. What's the furthest you've been away from home? Probably either southern Wisconsin or western Washington state

Cooties

On Sunday Saskatchewan celebrates its official 100th anniversary of provincedom. Today, however, there was a free pancake breakfast (with Saskatoon berry syrup!) in downtown Saskatoon featuring Premier Lorne Calvert and Prime Minister Paul Martin. When my mom and I arrived Paul Martin was just finishing his speech, then there were a bunch of unremarkable speeches by the other politicians who were present. The Premier got a cheap cheer by making some comment about the Roughriders. Ugh. The MC tried to introduce all these politicians like they were rock stars. It felt very superficial. I don't seem to have much enthusiasm about these sorts of things . . . particularly at 9 am I guess.

Anyway, on his way out Paul Martin passed by the line where I was waiting for pancakes, so I got to shake his hand. Later on Brad Trost (a local member of parliament) also shook my hand. Now I feel all covered in politician cooties. I hope it's not infectious.

Steps towards something beautiful

In a previous post I think I alluded to some beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful, amazing fabric that I've had sitting in my closet for about 5 years. It's been waiting to be a costume for quite some time, and I've been making plans for it during the last couple weeks. Today I had an opportunity to ask some dancers their opinions about how best to make a skirt to fit my vision, and now I feel fairly confident that I can finish it before school starts. Then I will be able do some work on the belt and bra here and there when I decide I have time for it - yay! I imagine the big push on this project will occur around Christmas time. Right now I have an idea for how I want the bra straps to go, but I'm not sure about the shape of the belt at all. The belt will probably be narrow, and will have to do up in the middle of the front or the back, because of how I want the fringe to hang from it. I want loopy fringe for this costume, similar to something like the below costumes on eBay. I already have a necklace pattern that is nice and loopy to match!

• loop costume
  
• loops on bra
• loops on another bra
• probably bolder than I'll go
  

Tonight I found a website that teaches you how to make your own skirt pattern. It can be found here. This would be a starting point for me to adapt from. I'm not sure I want to put a zipper in the waistband (I've never sewn one in before), and if I do I might put it in the side instead of the back, just to make it easier to get into the costume. I have plans to put at least one triangular insert into the hemline to add fullness to the skirt in the back

This is an exciting step for me! Sometimes I'm too afraid of wrecking something really nice that I don't end up actually making anything. I feel well on my way now, though, so I don't think that's likely to happen.

How grammatically correct I am

You are a MASTER of the English language!


Huzzah. While your English is not exactly
perfect, you are still more grammatically
correct than just about every American. Others
admire the way you speak and could learn a lot
from listening to you. Still, there is always
room for improvement...


How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)
brought to you by Quizilla

Gazal research begins

Well, I've just spent a little time looking into the meaning of Gazal, that song I so desperately want to dance to. Looking at the liner notes of the Essam Rashad CD containing this song, I see that Gazal is explained as "Poetic Song." I have heard of Ghazals before, but don't really know much about them. I decided to look it up in Wikipedia. The article there is pretty much impossible to comprehend, but there are a couple of wonderful links at the end. I totally recommend them to anyone interested in poetry.

The Ghazal: An Inevitable Unity by Jenny Burdge
That Bastard Ghazal by Andy Weaver

It's a little odd how Ghazal means literally "speaking with women" in Arabic, and means "the last meloncholic cry of deer cornered by hunters" in Farsi and Urdu. I can't help but think that really says something about communication between the sexes!

It seems like such an interesting poetic form. It's sort of exciting to think of writing a poem that can have couplets so thematically different from one another. Is there a way to interpret this in dance form? Hmmmmmmmmm...

Brain Explosion

(Just to get this out of the way) Mmmmmmm, raspberry pie.

Now that that's over with . . .

I have had a lot of really good experiences lately. They weren't all happy, fun experiences, but I feel positively impacted by them.

Tonight I went to see the movie Sabah at the Broadway Theatre. It's a Canadian movie about an Arab-Canadian woman whose family became even more traditionally Muslim after they moved to Canada. Sabah turns 40 at the beginning of the movie and starts to take some risks. Some really wonderful changes happened in her life, and her family's as well. There was lots of belly dancing in it (along the line of Arab women's social dance, not belly dance club performances). There was dancing all through the end credits. It was really inspiring to see a woman take risks, and find love and a new identity and happiness. The movie was so good I almost cried! To read more about the story click here. It was interesting to see Roula Said mentioned in the credits. She was the belly dance instructor, wrote and performed some of the music, and acted as well. She is a singer in the group Doula.

Last weekend one of my favourite bands played at Lydia's - The Plaid Tongued Devils. They had a vehicle problem on Friday night, and we left at 1:00 and didn't get to see them perform. On Saturday a big bunch of friends went out and saw the show. It was a lot of fun. And a cute drunk guy hit on me all night! That was a treat! Usually I feel so invisible and uninteresting. It was really awesome to get some attention. We never hooked up (couldn't find him at the end of the night), but I like to think that somewhere out there in Saskatoon there's a guy talking about the hot girl he met at Lydia's, wondering if he'll ever see her again! Maybe this is a sign that non-drunk, young (as opposed to the drunk 40+ year olds who hit on me), cute guys could possibly be interested in me too. We'll have to see if I take any risks to meet someone new at the next show they play here . . .

A few weeks ago I went to watch DancEgypt perform at the Billy Tent (at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan). Just as I was walking up to the tent and before I could see anything, I heard them playing one of my favourite songs, Gazal by Essam Rashad. For years I have been wanting to make a choreography to that song. It evokes so many strong emotions in me, and I think it could be a really powerful performance piece. In April I was telling my friend Debbie about this song, and how I had recently decided I probably wasn't a mature enough dancer to express what I wanted to with it. Fast forward to me walking up to the tent to see a much less experienced dancer performing to this song. My heart sank and I felt practically sick. I have been too intimidated by the song and the emotion of it all to even make this choreography, and here is someone dancing to my music!!! I can't even say if they danced well, because my attention was drawn so strongly inside of me. I've been thinking about this a lot ever since, contemplating what to do to make this happen. Some of the ideas I've had so far:

• Contact a modern dance choreographer and get them to help me map out the feeling and rough stage positioning for the song. This would be a framework for me to build a choreography off of. I'm thinking of taking this step because I want this to be a very expressive piece, and I'd like to take it a step up from what I've done with previously choreographed work.
• I've noticed that if I listen to the song over and over again, I sort of get paralyzed and can't plan. I was thinking that if I listened to the song once then videotaped myself dancing to it once, I would probably do some interesting interpretation while not being overwhelmed by it. Do this enough times over a couple of months and I would be sure to have several lovely moves ready to put into a choreography.
• Give myself some time. If this is such an important piece of music for me, then the creative process deserves some time to be savoured. Initially I was thinking of performing this at Medicomania, but that only gives me a couple months. I think that's why I didn't work on it last year.

This choreography obsession has gotten me thinking of working on a dance costume I've also wanted to make for years. I have pretty much all the materials to make it, and in the last week or so I've bought more beads and a bra for it. The fabric has such beautiful colours in it, but it has a striped pattern in it. I think I would like some help designing and cutting out the skirt, because I haven't worked with fabric with such a large pattern in it before.

So, as you can see, my brain has been pretty much been wanting to explode for a while. At least it's out now, and didn't make a big mess everywhere.