Martian Death Flu, North Carolina, Free stuff, and Reading!

The Martian Death Flu has had me at its mercy for five solidly intense days. It feels like three weeks. I believe I am starting to recover and I hope I am correct. Christmas is SO SOON! I would hate to be ill during the festivities. Lots of OJ, Vitamin C pills, more Thera-flu than I can recall, and tons of rest have been my friends. Also, I have a loving relationship with a box of Puffs Plus with Lotion now.

Unfortunately I was sick during FINALS WEEK! I did get my results back on my Statistics and Research final and I got an 81. Not what I wished for but so much better than it could have been. I felt like death warmed over the night I took it. I’ll not complain about the B. I am still waiting on the results of my other final, and a term paper. At this point I’ll be happy with passing grades instead of my usual stressing about OMG MUST MAKE BEST GRADES EVER!

I had to cancel my trip to North Carolina because I was just too sick to drive. Also, who wants to purposefully pass the Martian Death Flu to other people? Not me. So I have to go at another time. I will though. Nothing will stop me indefinitely.

In other non sicky news, I got chosen to sample some products and review them for this company. Then a few days later I got another offer from a different company to do the same. I feel really excited about that. My beauty blogging is paying off already! I need to do more vlogs also. I’ll review stuff in vlog format in addition to blogging. I don’t have an awesome camera though. I have horrible lighting too. Horrible. I’ll work on it though. Nobody starts at the top, right?

In other other non sicky news I met my Goodreads challenge for 2011!! I am super happy about that. Granted it wasn’t a dramatically difficult challenge, but considering I work full time and go to school full time and am a single parent, I think a book a month is a reasonable challenge. I am setting myself up for 13 books next year since I have to take one semester off due to financial aid thingees. Should I go for 14?!?! 

Christmas, NaNo, beauty blogging, and Joy.

Christmas is coming! I have done so much shopping but still have some to do. I just love this time of year. As a kid it was all the presents I get - but as I get older it truly is about the ones I give! Seeing other people get excited over something I have done really makes me happy. It's like a high I can get from nothing else. YAY presents!.. or as my dear bestie Scar says.. Prezzies!

IN addition to this, NaNoWriMo is over. I hit 19,222 words this year. My personal goal was 20K. I knew that with taking a 15 credit semester, work, Trey's science fair project, Mom unable to drive (I am infact the only driver in the house), trips to Grandma's, etc etc etc, I would never hit 50K. I didn't set myself up for failure - I gave myself a new goal. And I was THIS close to making it. I'll count it as a victory for myself.

Also, incase you didn't know, I started a beauty blog a while ago. My rate of views on the blog is growing every day. I focus on lipstuff ("I love my lipstick!" as my boss likes to say my catchphrase is.)  but I dabble in other beauty things too. Note: beauty is more than your face, it's in your soul and I blog about that too.

I'm taking a trip to the Carolina's soon. There is a breath of fresh air waiting for me.

A little NaNo talk..

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) is a yearly event that sends tens of thousands of novelists into a frenzy. This year is no exception. I am one of the novelist.

“But Yume (or DJ or Cissy or whatever you call me), how do you find the time to write 50 thousand words in 30 days?” Let me answer that for you. I don’t find time – I have to make time. 50K words breaks down to 1667 words a day. That’s a LOT of words to do for 30 days straight. The first week you’re on fire! After that, it gets harder.

But I love it. Each year I write something I have never written before. Sometimes even new genre’s. last year I wrote a pirate story. I did pretty well for a new genre, but then I ran out of ideas. It was too much of a foreign territory. No worries though, it is saved. I have a real feeling that story will come back to me in time and I will know what to do with it then.

This year I have a story with ghosts and spirits and angels and such. This is new for me. I think I’ll be fine with ideas though. Time is short so that will be my biggest challenge. But I think I will be fine. I am really excited about my new characters. Clementine is really neat. So is Stone. I have a lot of excitement for that.

Anyhow.. some of you have dealt with me before in November. If so you know your job. If you’re new let me advise you of your job. If you see me screwing off you have permission to fuss at me with a simple yet effective “WRITE Dammit Write!” 

10 Commandments of NaNoWriMo for 2011

These are mine. Yours may vary.

10 Commandments of NaNoWriMo

1)      Thou shall be very selective of internet time until thine word count has met it's daily goal..
2)      Thou shall follow thy characters wherever they may lead, for they know their story better than thee.
3)      Thou shall remember to sleep.
4)      Thou shall not neglect thine homework or tests.
5)      Thou shall allow thyself the nectar of the gods without guilt, for Pepsi keeps us sane.
6)      Thou shall get ahead of the word count whenever the ability arises so that it will balance on days when inspiration or time is lacking.
7)      Thou shall not neglect thy crowning glory of hair, nor thy eye makeup.
8)      Thou shall remember that fruit edible by fingers is thine friend, as are Stouffers animal crackers.
9)      Thou shall have a scrunchie available at all times to pull back thy crowning glory.
10)   Thou shall not delete a sentence for thine NaNoAngel will lose it's wings and plummet to the ground.

Run For Your Lives

I never did wrap up Dragon*con or talk about Pottermore further. Someday I will.

What I am here to blog about is something else entirely. It started with Scar. She posted a link to her husband (I think) that she wanted to do a Zombie 5K run in Austin in December 2012. I posted it on my Twitter asking for any takers for the Atlanta run. I didn’t expect any! But..

My sister replied. She lives in Atlanta. She was game. Well, nothing much else was said from there. Given the fact my sister nor I are runners the idea seems crazy. It seems even crazier because the run is in exactly 5 months. Not 5.5 months, not almost 6 months – 5 months from yesterday. Holy cow! No way we can be ready, right?

Well Monday, exactly 5 months from the run, I got up at 5 in the morning to start exercising. I did not run because I lack tennis shoes (I live in Florida. I have flip flops and work shoes.) and also I probably need a good sports bra less I injure myself. So this weekend I should have time to go shopping for these items. I live in a small town – our shoe stores are Walmart and JC Pennys and one sports store that caters to everything (Not even sure if they have shoes to be honest.)

In addition to these things I had been holding onto a friends site of Couch-to-5K. I sent it to my sister because guess what – she started running in Atlanta today! I had no idea she was serious about the run. Sooooo seems siblings stay on the wavelength even without meaning to! After sending her the link I started looking around for something else and found a better Couch-to-5K link. I sent her that too.

The obstacles of the course will likely cause me to end up a Zombie. Still, I want to do it. I want to say I did it! Even at my very best shape (and some of ya’ll know how amazingly in shape I used to be) I could have NEVER scaled a wall. I don’t set my sights that high now. But I have my sights on completing that course, Zombie or Human, I will cross that line!