I thought I'd take a quick break from research (microchips implanted in humans, this week) and make a full-fledged attempt to catch up the blog. I miss getting here as often as I used to but it comes down to a conscious choice - blog or write - and right now, I have to choose writing or my brain will look like part of a 4th of July fireworks display.
I have the 1st Act scenes all blocked out and a few from the 2nd Act. So, it's going and I'm not unhappy with my progress though I am itching to get to the actual writing part. It's weird though, while I'm pulling at the tether keeping me from writing I realize that the story is taking a more solid shape in my head, no longer resembling the ghostly amorphous images it did a month ago, even. This is good news.
In between research and half-writing, I've actually managed to get a few other things done around here. Mainly day job work. Ugh. I'm so disinterested these days. It's not a bad job, at all. It's actually a wonderful job but I'm in my usual summer slump with it. I expect it'll pick up in the next couple of months and start being somewhat "fun" again.
While hard at it yesterday, I noticed movement outside my office window. Being out in the country, and in Texas, I've had the opportunity to see some strange things: a deer wearing a collar and riding in the back of a truck with a dog, an Emu running down the road next to our car, a guy bottle-feeding baby Javelinas (wild pigs, and nasty ones at that - they growl and it'll raise the hair on your arms) at the local gas station. Oh yes, I've seen some strange things. At the beginning of the year, Shaggy reported back that he'd run across a bobcat in our back pasture (half of which is still rather heavily wooded). Well yesterday, I looked out the window and caught sight of something so Texas, it made me giggle.
This, my dears, is a Roadrunner, and he's a Big One. This is a horrible picture but he's just a hair smaller than a female pheasant. We have two of them running full tilt around our place this year (the other one being even bigger than this one).
Just after snapping this picture and relinquishing my batteries for the use of a PS2 controller, a Mockingbird swooped down and attacked him, nearly knocking him from his perch. He decided it'd be better to hide beneath my horse at that point. Of course, her being a diva and all... she thought not. For the next five minutes, I watched her move and stop and move and stop and move and stop while this poor fellow kept trying to run beneath her for cover from the evil Mockingbird who continued to swoop down at him like a dive bomber. Finally, she'd had enough and took off for greener pastures outside her immediate paddock (which seriously needs mowing, if only it'd stop raining on the weekends). It was a nice break from work. Would have been nicer to have kept those batteries though.
When not watching Roadrunners from my window, or researching, or working, I've been actively trying this thing called "compromise" with Mr. Clean. Many moons ago, I mentioned my father had drawn up blueprints for a house we were planning on building. I love that house, it's absolutely perfect for us. Mr. Clean, on the other hand, is having some issues with the fact that builders are insisting mass inflation on the per square foot price in order to build it. In other words, to use one of their house plans will cost roughly $90 a square foot but to use ours will cost $120/sq ft. Buggers.
So, for the sake of compromise I've been looking through various builder sites at their plans and then trekking along with Mr. Clean to model homes to see how they look "for real." It's tiring business and between you and me, I want to stomp my foot and tell him I'm done and we ARE building from the plans we have. Dammit.
But last week I found a plan so similar to ours and I had a little Hallelujah moment. I actually just saw a picture of MY kitchen in the book they'd mailed us. Mr. Clean emailed the builder and asked about the plan the kitchen belonged to. They sent him a link. I looked and thought, "Hmmm, I could work with this," but there were no room dimensions. Mr. Clean requested them (again via email) and they replied, but forgot a few (like bathrooms and the master closet). Still, it looked even better and I felt tiny bubbles of excitement start to fizz up. Because, see.... I would get what I wanted AND be compromising (a word usually relegated to the naughty word dictionary in my head).
Of course then I had a meltdown because I had to request Mr. Clean email them AGAIN for the elevation pics and AGAIN for the total square footage. One would think that the people running this builder (a well known one to boot) would be more freaking proactive in their approach and send ALL OF THE INFO upon the first request instead of us having to email them fifty bajillion times.
Because, see.... if they'd done that... I wouldn't have had the chance to fall in serious like with this house, only to find out the square footage is more than what we were looking for and the cost higher than our range. And I wouldn't have then found it necessary to stomp around my office spewing such filth from my mouth that the paint melted off the walls I have to live with until we build a new house! I'm just sayin'.
I really despise builders this week. That being said, I'm about to go forth and trek through another thousand houses today. Ugh. Pray for me. And pray for the poor hapless people at the model homes who will feel my wrath if they make me ask more than one question before offering ALL of the information one would expect to hear. I'm So Done With Houses. I think a YURT might be nice...
So that's it for today. The rain has stopped and I need to drag Mr. Clean away before he gets the idea to try and mow the wet grass on his tractor toy. Sigh. If I have a few moments tomorrow, I'll give you an update on the MySpace stuff. Deb was right about it being blogging fodder. *grin*
I have the 1st Act scenes all blocked out and a few from the 2nd Act. So, it's going and I'm not unhappy with my progress though I am itching to get to the actual writing part. It's weird though, while I'm pulling at the tether keeping me from writing I realize that the story is taking a more solid shape in my head, no longer resembling the ghostly amorphous images it did a month ago, even. This is good news.
In between research and half-writing, I've actually managed to get a few other things done around here. Mainly day job work. Ugh. I'm so disinterested these days. It's not a bad job, at all. It's actually a wonderful job but I'm in my usual summer slump with it. I expect it'll pick up in the next couple of months and start being somewhat "fun" again.
While hard at it yesterday, I noticed movement outside my office window. Being out in the country, and in Texas, I've had the opportunity to see some strange things: a deer wearing a collar and riding in the back of a truck with a dog, an Emu running down the road next to our car, a guy bottle-feeding baby Javelinas (wild pigs, and nasty ones at that - they growl and it'll raise the hair on your arms) at the local gas station. Oh yes, I've seen some strange things. At the beginning of the year, Shaggy reported back that he'd run across a bobcat in our back pasture (half of which is still rather heavily wooded). Well yesterday, I looked out the window and caught sight of something so Texas, it made me giggle.
This, my dears, is a Roadrunner, and he's a Big One. This is a horrible picture but he's just a hair smaller than a female pheasant. We have two of them running full tilt around our place this year (the other one being even bigger than this one).
Just after snapping this picture and relinquishing my batteries for the use of a PS2 controller, a Mockingbird swooped down and attacked him, nearly knocking him from his perch. He decided it'd be better to hide beneath my horse at that point. Of course, her being a diva and all... she thought not. For the next five minutes, I watched her move and stop and move and stop and move and stop while this poor fellow kept trying to run beneath her for cover from the evil Mockingbird who continued to swoop down at him like a dive bomber. Finally, she'd had enough and took off for greener pastures outside her immediate paddock (which seriously needs mowing, if only it'd stop raining on the weekends). It was a nice break from work. Would have been nicer to have kept those batteries though.
When not watching Roadrunners from my window, or researching, or working, I've been actively trying this thing called "compromise" with Mr. Clean. Many moons ago, I mentioned my father had drawn up blueprints for a house we were planning on building. I love that house, it's absolutely perfect for us. Mr. Clean, on the other hand, is having some issues with the fact that builders are insisting mass inflation on the per square foot price in order to build it. In other words, to use one of their house plans will cost roughly $90 a square foot but to use ours will cost $120/sq ft. Buggers.
So, for the sake of compromise I've been looking through various builder sites at their plans and then trekking along with Mr. Clean to model homes to see how they look "for real." It's tiring business and between you and me, I want to stomp my foot and tell him I'm done and we ARE building from the plans we have. Dammit.
But last week I found a plan so similar to ours and I had a little Hallelujah moment. I actually just saw a picture of MY kitchen in the book they'd mailed us. Mr. Clean emailed the builder and asked about the plan the kitchen belonged to. They sent him a link. I looked and thought, "Hmmm, I could work with this," but there were no room dimensions. Mr. Clean requested them (again via email) and they replied, but forgot a few (like bathrooms and the master closet). Still, it looked even better and I felt tiny bubbles of excitement start to fizz up. Because, see.... I would get what I wanted AND be compromising (a word usually relegated to the naughty word dictionary in my head).
Of course then I had a meltdown because I had to request Mr. Clean email them AGAIN for the elevation pics and AGAIN for the total square footage. One would think that the people running this builder (a well known one to boot) would be more freaking proactive in their approach and send ALL OF THE INFO upon the first request instead of us having to email them fifty bajillion times.
Because, see.... if they'd done that... I wouldn't have had the chance to fall in serious like with this house, only to find out the square footage is more than what we were looking for and the cost higher than our range. And I wouldn't have then found it necessary to stomp around my office spewing such filth from my mouth that the paint melted off the walls I have to live with until we build a new house! I'm just sayin'.
I really despise builders this week. That being said, I'm about to go forth and trek through another thousand houses today. Ugh. Pray for me. And pray for the poor hapless people at the model homes who will feel my wrath if they make me ask more than one question before offering ALL of the information one would expect to hear. I'm So Done With Houses. I think a YURT might be nice...
So that's it for today. The rain has stopped and I need to drag Mr. Clean away before he gets the idea to try and mow the wet grass on his tractor toy. Sigh. If I have a few moments tomorrow, I'll give you an update on the MySpace stuff. Deb was right about it being blogging fodder. *grin*
