November always makes me itch to write. Nanowrimo contributes of course – I’ve always wanted to write a novel; I do not have the ideas or the time or the internal will to write an entire novel. In the past, I’ve done NaBloPoMo – National Blog Posting Month – at least for the first week or so before I forgot and don’t post for a few days and give up.

I’ve done modified NaNoWriMos in the past, where I’ve made a writing goal (write every day, 100 words or more) and used their website to keep track. I’ve really liked that – there are rewards of badges when you meet goals and seeing the graph makes my happy – and plan to do something similar this month.

I have three glee fics and my gilmore girls fic to work on this month:

– Fic 1: a coffeeshop AU, where Kurt comes back to Ohio and now owns the Lima Bean and Blaine opens a coffee kiosk across the street. The prompt also called for a snarky “social media messages” between their businesses and that’s where I’ve really struggled to develop the story.

– Fic 2: Blaine feels like he is getting older and life is passing him by so he tries to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest cronut (the prompt said cookie) and Kurt owns the bakery that Blaine wants to use. I’ve written a few words of nonsense and have an opening scene, but haven’t made much more progress than that.

– Fic 3: an epistolary story where Blaine is chosen to go to space and Kurt’s back at home. I’m writing this one with a friend (her idea, I just jumped on it because I love letter novels) and it’s my turn to write back (and has been since June I think). This one is just for fun, and I love that there isn’t any pressure around it.

– Fic #4: My Gilmore Girls fic, Like Never Before, that stands perpetually in its unfinished state. I managed to write a couple of paragraphs for the WIP Big Bang, but then it wasn’t selected for an art piece and my summer was super busy, so I set it aside. I do so want to finish this as it’s been 20 years since I started working on (!!! no really !!!!). 

I also want to polish up the essay that I wrote for a devotional about my spiritual journey and see if I can get it published somewhere.

What writing goals do you have?

Six month ago, February 1st started on a Sunday, creating a perfect month. At that time I was going to blog every day that month. I did manage to do it for 14 days before I gave up. I make no promises this time. I still delight over perfect months.

Doing: I’ve had the week off service and I have been utterly lazy. Bad Julia.

Thinking: I made an appointment to see a therapist tomorrow. I mentioned before that I’ve been having some difficulty dealing with things. I’ve been fighting a pretty severe case of “Impostor Syndrome”, some “Single and Unwanted” and “Religious Floundering,” and wow, I have problems with intimacy and vulnerability. I’ve referred people dozens of times to therapists but I’ve never gone to therapy myself. In high school, I was petrified that my parents were divorcing and met with the traveling counselor once, who basically patted my head and told me that I worried too much. It really takes a lot for me to open up: I’m so much more of an active listener. So this is petrifying for me.

Reading: I’m taking a class this semester on leadership. So I’ve had lots of reading for it. Some interesting. Some boring. It’s been a good class – we’re starting to work on some group projects and there are so many good ideas and I’m making connections.

Watching: Glee’s final season started and it’s been brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Witty and biting, emotional, and just tight writing. It’s been everything that I love about glee. I’ve always loved glee, from the very first time I watched the pilot and I am truly heartsick that it’s ending. And it’s also disappointing that it’s had such poor ratings this year. I hate that it’s ending, but I hate more that it’s ending and nobody will remember what a brilliant show it was. I’m also watching Orphan Black, which is also brilliant. I’m in the middle of season 2; I’m dragging out the episodes because I don’t want to it to end; it’s still way too long of a wait until season 3.

Making: Nothing, unless you all want to hear about my failed attempt to repair the LCD screen on my camera.

Writing: I attempted to work on my book chapter this past week. See above’s failure. I have this week off service as well, so I’m hoping to make more progress.

I went to Hawaii last spring, one of the first real vacations I’ve had in years (most of my vacations have been traveling home or to Arizona to see family). I was so lucky to get to go with my dear Susan and her husband, not only because it was a chance to spend time together, but because they also understood and completely supported my need to get my fangirl on.

It’s been 10 years since it first debuted and four years since it left the air, but there were still many, many remnants of old filming locations of LOST. We were staying on the northern side of Oahu, in a town where many of the flashbacks/forwards/sideways were filmed and I found myself a google map and tracked down as many as I could during our stay. There were a few big ones that I missed, like hiking to the lighthouse and going to the bamboo forest. Luckily I have a friend who lives in Hawaii, also a Lost fan, who has promised to take me anywhere when I come to visit again. I just started rewatching Lost in honor of its 10th year anniversary (wut), and it’s been even more incredible because I have now actually been there.

(You can see pictures of my Lost escapades here, although I need to label the locations).

I’m afraid that this activated my travel bug. Now I’m itching to go all over. I have a friend who just moved to Japan – and she’s wanting to go to Italy this summer; another friend is making plans to go to Japan in the spring. Greece is on the list. As is England, and Cape Town in South Africa. And. And. And.

Not to mention my fandom must-sees. New Zealand for LOTR, which needs to be soon since they are finished up with the Hobbit. And I just stumbled upon this, and oh my word, I absolutely have to go on a location tour for Anne of Green Gables. Have to.

I better get that passport renewed, eh?

It’s already interview season, where the neurology department interviews nervous 4th year med students who are eager to find the perfect place for residency. Five years ago, that was me. The best part is always the dinner the night before – we take out all of the applicants to a nice restaurant and spend most of the time catching up with each other. 🙂 Tonight’s dinner included pumpkin cheesecake which brought out Homer SImpson-type salivating.

I was a little miffed at the dinner, as two of the neurology fellows came (it’s supposed to be the residents only) – and one brought his girlfriend. Really? The department is paying for it, and you’re going to turn it into a free date? Scuzzy. Haven’t decided if it’s worth it to rant to the program director yet.

I’m mixing and matching the 30 day memes, because I thought some of the questions on the original one were lame, so I googled for other memes to supplement.

All About Me Meme Day 02 – Where you’d like to be in 10 years.
In 10 years, I will be finally, finally completed with my medical training (I hope), and finally, finally in a real job. Right now, it seems too distant of a hope. Everybody always asks me where I want to end up and the answer is always “I don’t know.” Honestly, I have loved living in the Midwest more that I thought I would. I miss the mountains and the quick easy getaways to nature, but I love this little city and I love the surrounding farms and villages, so there are times when I contemplate coming back. It would be fantastic to be closer to home and be able to see my family and friends more often. I’m missing my nephew growing up, not to mention all of my friends’ kids. My grandparents are getting older and frailer. When I interviewed at Portland, I could easily see myself settling there – the fellowship program was too weak for training, but as a job once I was done: pure heaven.

I do hope that I have a life where I’ll have some free time so that I can become involved in all of the little hobbies that were dropped once I started med school: some painting and writing. I’d love to be involved in community theater and take some real photography courses. I’m also hoping for enough flexibility that I can do some international work; while I no longer have the burning desire to flee to another country for several years, I think that spending 1-3 months at a time in needy areas would be more my style.

HP Meme Day 2: Your favorite movie.
I don’t have one – they provide a couple of hours of entertainment and that’s about it. The first two movies were just glorified picture books. The third spent so much time concentrating on floating leaves for “atmosphere” that there wasn’t enough time to explain anything. The fourth had the needlessly long first task and then skimmed over the return of Voldemort. The fifth: okay, I loved Luna and Umbridge, but I only saw it once. The sixth: the fire at the Burrow, Ginny tying Harry’s shoes, Ginny feeding Harry food – yeah, haven’t seen it again either. It’s not that I’ve hated them, but as they came out at the same time as Lord of the Rings, which besides the murdering of Faramir’s character, was the most perfect adaption of a book that I have ever seen, I have been disappointed. I AM looking forward to Deathly Hallows – it looks awesome. But not awesome enough to get midnight viewing tickets.

1. How good a long workout can be. Did I tell you that when one of my friends moved this spring, she gave me her elliptical machine and weight bench? I can’t remember. In any case, I haven’t use them more than 1-2 times a month. Did I also tell you that my friend had a household of cats, and the elliptical machine had the unfortunate residence in the litter room? I like cats (although I’m slightly allergic which keeps me from giving in and buying a cute ball of fur), but I don’t like my hands smelling like cats after a workup. I’ve sprayed it with bleach, baking soda (no worries, I washed it with water in between), more baking soda, and two applications of Febreeze and with a towel, it’s tolerable.

In any case, I walked for 30 minutes today and burned 300 calories! Go me!

2. The perfection that is the show Everwood. Oh, my poor, neglected, canceled-in-its-prime show. TPTB at the WB finally, finally heard the numerous pleas and released the second season on DVD, and I had forgotten how much I love this show. The relationships, the characters, the acting is just perfect. Every single week. It makes me homesick (in the cathedrals of new york and rome, there is a feeling that you should just go home and spend a lifetime finding out just where that is) and heartsick and happy all at the same time. I miss good tv like that. (Season 2 can be purchased here from Amazon if my little missionary moment convinced you. 😉 )

In other news: I had a lovely 4th of July weekend. I had a blissful three days off, and caught up on sleep and read for fun for the first time in months (East by Edith Pattou, The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison and Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. Hmm, wanna play spot the theme? Actual book reviews are forthcoming, I hope), helped my friend paint her mother’s bathroom, went to another friend’s house and played with sparklers for the first time ever, and ate strawberries and ice cream cake, and just had a nice time. I really miss not having a summer vacation; this was a small but appreciate glimpse of freedom.

Picture evidence of the weekend and of the rest of my adventures in May and June can be found at my Picasa web site, including English Country Dancing, seeing Carbon Leaf in concert (one of the best concerts ever), and hanging out with my crazy yet beloved coworkers.

The VA emergency department has continued to be somewhat slow. I’ve seen a total of four patients in the 3 days that I’ve been there. I’m not complaining – I’ve gotten caught up on my clinic notes (it’s amazing how quickly I can get behind if I don’t do them immediately after clinic) and I have a big fat 1000 page book that I’m determined to have read by the time I switch to the medical ICU in August, so I appreciate the chance to study. I start night float on Friday. Meaning, I work 8 pm to 8 am (or 6 pm to 8 am on the weekends) for a week, admitting the sick patients who come in from the emergency department. Long ago, I lost any semblence of a circadian rhythm, but it’s never been tested like this before. I’m kinda excited to see how I handle it and I’m hoping to get a couple of things done in the day, such as getting a basement/foundation specialist to diagnosis why my house leaks and taking my car to the garage to figure out why it suddenly sounds like it’s been possessed by a family of crickets.

And that’s it with me. How are all of you?

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many path and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
~ JRR Tolkien.

I am done (mostly) with call for the next 3 months AND I’ll have weekends off as well, as I’m on a stretch where I’m doing more consult work than taking care of my own team/patients. It’s going to be a nice change of pace, aka, freaking fabulous. I’m already booking stuff for every weekend until June, let me tell you.

I’m trying very, very hard to talk myself out of signing up for this: http://www.folklorevillage.org/t2/user_file/English%202009.pdf. An entire weekend of English country dancing. Let me say that again. An entire weekend of English country dancing. Granted, the price is somewhat outrageous (okay, it’s outrageous), but… it’s an entire weekend of English country dancing!! Hopefully, people can show up just for the Saturday night dance. (Must finish, aka start, dress!)

This place also holds monthly barn dances. I’m hoping to drag a few friends out to one of these this summer. So much fun!

I have vacation starting on Friday night. I’m just about to the point where I’m counting down the hours. I need a vacation sooo badly. Even my hair seems fried to the ends (it could be because I haven’t had a haircut since October, I think). It’s been a hard winter. I’ve never really been one who has seasonal affective disorder; I usually like winter, but this one has been brutally cold and everlasting and I’m ready for some sunshine.

I have a pseudo-date-thingy on Thursday. A boy from church and I were talking months ago about finding some good ethnic food around here and he stated that we absolutely had to go out and find some. Last week, he facebooked me (funny how that’s becoming a verb) and mentioned the idea again and we confirmed plans today. It’s a pseudo-date because the guy is somewhat weird and for all I know he could be bringing the entire ward with him. He did say that he wanted this to be a monthly thing, so who knows. My expectations of the evening really consist of hoping that I’ll have lots of good stories to share when I go home. Good or bad.

Oh, and Trouble’s back in town. Apparently his version of “never to return” meant gone for 4 months and then back for a month, then gone for another month and then back for 2 weeks and then, never to return. He’s as much as a flirt as ever, which, since the other flirt in the ward got a girlfriend has been in short supply. Did I tell you that March is going to be fabulous? Somehow, though, I don’t think I’m going to be convincing him that a weekend of English country dancing is just want he needs. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try!

Lastly, on a complete change of topic: every year, since the LOTR fandom sank quietly into oblivion after the movies (it’s okay by me, I like the quiet fandoms just fine, thank you), various groups sponsored a “Back to Middle-Earth Month” in March. I’ve never participated, but I’ve really been missing LOTR. It’s been probably 2 years or more since I’ve seen the movies, longer since I’ve read the books. My poor little discussion group has long since been overgrown with briars and thorns. My website sits unfinished; I felt so guilty about paying the hosting fees every year, but couldn’t convince myself to let it go. I’ve now transferred my blog over there, so it’s not wasted space any longer (it’ll be officially introduced to the public soon), but I’d love to redo the section of the discussions properly.

More importantly, I made some really good friends on my discussion group, that I’ve missed a lot. I’ve missed talking about LOTR, the in-depth analysis of Tolkien and his works. We had a great deal of fun, for over 2 years, until medical school consumed me.

Anyway. For B2ME month, I’m re-reading LOTR and will be posting some of my favorite quotes or thoughts or maybe drabbles throughout the month. For old-times sake.

You can’t change much on the team computers downstairs. I.T. has deactivated the ability to right click and has even removed “File” drop down menu to prevent viruses and other nefarious activity. The only thing you can do is change the background. All month, I’ve been subjected to “Dukes of Hazard,” some Justin TImberlake SNL skit, and Urkle (sp?).

No longer. Thanks to me and my “decorating” skills this afternoon, the computers have been wallpapered with Doctor Who.

There. That’s better.