No, the title to this entry is not my Inuit name, or something bizarre like that. You see, November (in addition to being the birth-month of one of the coolest guys any of you know) is National Novel Writing Month. The point behind it is this, as best I can tell: the main thing standing between most people and writing a novel is not writing skill, or ideas, or time, or anything like that… it’s actually just writing the damn thing.
For the last several years I’ve toyed with the idea, rolled it over in my head, and then ultimately (usually due to laziness) just didn’t ever even start. I anticipate this year will be very much the same, but every year I’ve been taking little baby steps toward eventually doing it. So maybe one day I’ll actually follow through.
This year I was thinking it might be fun to take a “fictional book” and write it. In a way, that’s like back-filling the past… or a cheap ploy to trick people into reading it. The problem is that, to do it right, you’d actually need to do a fair bit of research into what that book is actually supposed to be about and write it in such a way that it fits in with the source reference. It could be a fun project… but which one would I choose?
After all, what’s 50,000 words, right?
Tags: NaNoWriMo
As you may have noticed, PeteHoliday.com remains the URL of the blog, but is no longer the title. Most commenters seemed to be in agreement that The Devil Went Down to Georgia was a befitting title and I’m not one to argue.
This weekend Hilary came to town to visit. It was my first chance to play host in Atlanta and it was a lot of fun. We managed to find tickets to the opening weekend of Wicked (a show I saw not terribly long ago with Mandy in Chicago). Different cast, but every bit as good. I tended to like Chicago’s Glinda and Elphaba better, but the rest of the cast was as good or better here in the ATL. We did some other stuff, too.
Tags: Atlanta, Bar Exam, Cooking & Food
Today is the marks two great occasions. First and foremost, the anniversary of Charlsie’s birth, so happy birthday to her. You should all buy her presents.
Second, as of today, I have been an Atlantan for one full month. I’ve lived a lot of places, and I have to say that this is (at least so far) easily my favorite among them. There’s so much to do here, so much great food, fun places to explore. It’s really a fantastic city. I’m liking my job, my commute is easy, and I’ve met a lot of great people.
It’s also nice to be back in the South again, where grits come standard with brunch and sweet tea is available everywhere.
Indianapolis is often referred to as a “bright blue dot” in a big red state. That’s why it should come as no surprise to anyone that the city has an estimated 105% voter registration. Good work, Indy!
In other news, there are some internet rumblings that maybe Obama was a member of the New Party) after all. For those unclear on what the New Party is, exactly, it’s basically like the Democratic party… but with more socialism! Hooray! Just what we all need!
I’ve made my election decision, but that post will have to wait for another day.
Charlsie sent this Op-Ed today and I agree with it 100%:
I’ll say this upfront: I hope the titans of finance who expect us little people to save them are ashamed of themselves. But at the same time, in painting Main Street solely as a victim of a rapacious Wall Street, we are being hypocritical.
We are all to blame.
Step back. The securities that are poisoning the financial system are made up of mortgages and home equity lines that are going sour. . . . “Innovation” on Wall Street meant that the institution that made the loans could sell them off, and bankers could carve up those loans into new instruments, which they in turn sold to investors around the globe, with the result being that no one felt responsible for ensuring that the person who got the mortgage or the credit card or the home equity loan could actually pay for it.
But who made the decision to take on that mortgage she couldn’t really afford? Who lied about her income or assets in order to qualify for a mortgage? Who used the proceeds of a home equity line to pay for an elaborate vacation? Who used credit cards to live a lifestyle that was well beyond her means? Well, you and I did. (Or at least, our neighbors did.)
Amen.
I have a fairly broad sense of humor. I generally find practical jokes pretty funny. This one, not so much:
The 20-year-old Atlanta woman was never raped or injured but said she got a steady flow of telephone calls, text messages and visits to her apartment on Sept. 19th all from men who wanted to be part of a rape fantasy described in a Craigslist advertisement.
Some of the men showed up on her doorstep and “tried to enter the apartment,” the police report said.
This might be funny if the internet were not filled with complete weirdos… it also sounds like a decent Crim hypo.
On Sunday night the internet connection that I had been borrowing for the last few weeks mysteriously disappeared. It reappeared, encrypted, several minutes later. I didn’t care much for this turn of events, to be honest.
Now, when I lived in Tuscaloosa, I had very few problems with Comcast. When I moved to Indiana things were almost as good (for the most part). Then I moved to Illinois where I had, literally, months of trouble and they only seemed to care about it after I had moved out. Now, because they did end up putting some effort in, they’re the fastest option, and, on the whole, Comcast has been decent I decided to give them a shot not to suck here in Atlanta1.
For you non-literary types, this is really, really weak foreshadowing
Tags: Comcast Sucks
Yesterday was a crazy, crazy day. So crazy. I drove over to Athens for lunch and some tailgating before driving back to Atlanta to watch the game. Scout wouldn’t have done well for the 14 or 15 hours he’d have been alone had I stayed.
Speaking of Scout, his old collar (now 2+ years old) broke last week. He got a snazzy new collar as a gift from a friend of mine yesterday, and he really likes it. At least I think that’s why he gets all excited when I put it on him.
So USC drops one to Oregon State. ESPN provides this as a headline:
Oh, ESPN, you're so funny.
Game summary or dire warning about certain kinds of contraception? You tell me.
