Happy (belated) Halloween!

From your angry and innocent punked out private school girls, respectively.

NaNoWriMo: Day 1

So, I'm not exactly sure how bad of a hangover I have right now since I'm writing this at 4:39 pm on Sunday and haven't even put my costume on yet. Sigh, the joys of scheduled posts...

Speaking of costumes, here's what I will have worn (ha, will have...I'm having way too much fun with the future at the moment), all from Forever 21:

Picture the necklace in black and the skirt in green and that's it. My friend came up with the idea for Liza and I to go as punked out private school girls, so that's what we did. That, plus pigtails and black eyes. Done and done. What did you guys go as? Do tell!

Okay, enough Halloween talk. I titled this post NaNoWriMo: Day 1, and that's exactly what it's going to be about, damnit!

As this is being read, I pray to multiple Gods (sarcasm people, I'm Jewish) that I am writing away voraciously on my laptop, having absolutely no writer's block of any shape or form and am pounding out those first 1,667 words faster than I can say...NaNoWriMo?

Yeah, right.

Yesterday (Saturday, which is actually today...man, these scheduled posts are quite confusing), I went to Barnes and Noble and got 4 of these babies to jot down my ideas, thoughts, whatever really.

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I figure I can keep one in my bag at all times when inspiration hits...or doesn't. Either way, they're my security blanket for the next month.

I know what my novel is going to be about. I know, I can't believe it either. I'm keeping it to myself until I actually write something of substance on the topic. Then, as promised, I'll let it out of its cage.

So metaphorical. Anyway.

I had no idea how insane NaNoWriMo really is. According to their Twitter, there are currently 107,522 authors signed up to write a novel in 30 days. And the number can only go up. Unless it goes down, I guess.

Aside from enjoying the hell out of a scheduled post, I suppose I am writing this to just say hi, I'm here (except I'm really not, mwahaha) and that I'll be reading your blogs...just not as often as I have.

NaNoWriMo, I'm ScaToStaYo

I might be taking a cue from K.Law and begin scheduling my posts in the coming days since, as you know, NaNoWriMo is coming.

I feel like screaming, "The Redcoats are coming! The Redcoats are coming!"

It's freaking me out that much, I'm afraid.

NaNoWriMo, I'm ScaToStaYo.

Or scared to start you.

Am I clever or what?

But I'm so beyond excited at the same time.

I tend to rock my own socks off when it comes to deadlines because that way, I can divide up the work and know that it'll get done in small amounts rather than in one massive pile of craziness.

However.

This is a 175 page novel! Holy I'm-about-to-become-a-hermit, Batman!

I have some ideas. Okay, I have an idea that I'm 90% sure I want to stick with. But it's a very big deal for me to write about said idea, and since I do want to share it with you all, I need to come to terms with the whole thing, bite the damn bullet and just do it. Nike style.

I'm not about to ask for your support; I know I already have it based on past comments and overall amazingness. It's just me who has to commit and go. Balls to the wall. Yep.

So that is that, I guess. Halloween, then BAM. I write my life away.

So dramatic.

So it goes.

Happy Halloween! Be safe and have fun!

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Psst...

Can't type much right now but I wanted to steer you guys over to Midtown Girl's blog, where I'm participating in the SIMC series! Let me know what you think!

Love,
A

Got Jazzercise?

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Post-It Note Tuesday programming to bring you a very ridiculous story concerning...

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...jazzercise.

Oh yes, I'm afraid you read that correctly. My sister somehow managed to convince me to try a jazzercise class with her. And somehow, she succeeded in doing so, including a 7:30 am wake up call.

After searching high and low for this gym and questioning its existence, we finally found not only the gym, but a slew of women 50 years of age and older.

"Welcome to jazzercise!" beamed a woman in said age bracket. "Could you please sign in?"

Liza and I obliged, exchanging various looks of a combination of equal parts fear and "holy hell, what have we gotten ourselves into?"

It wasn't long before some ridiculous 80s tune blasted through the speakers and the women began sidestepping in time to the music. We joined them.

It also wasn't long before we realized we were the youngest girls in the room by a landslide. Most of the women looked exactly kind of like this.

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So what is jazzercise, for those under the age of 50 that are not educated on this hilarious workout?

"Jazzercise is a 60-minute group fitness class combining cardio, strength, and stretch moves for a total body workout. We’ve taken moves from hip-hop, yoga, Pilates, jazz dance, kickboxing, and resistance training and bundled them into one hour."-from the official Jazzercise website

There was one woman in particular who just took the class to an entirely different level. I'm talking about the cliche crazy workout woman. Yanno, decked out in her insane exercise gear and doing every single move completely over the top. She kinda wished she was Ms. Fonda circa 80 something.

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We did routines to about 7 songs, and most of them are a blur because Liza was laughing her ass off while I kept saying, "not while I'm jazzercising!" to her. I do, however, recall Spiral Staircase's More Today Than Yesterday and all the women singing along as we shuffled and hopped and...well, all that jazz.

After the class, another woman came up to us exclaiming, "You guys are great! Are you dancers?!"

Um...no ma'am. Noo ma'am.

She urged us to come back and see them all again soon, and we very promptly exited the building.

Upon telling my dad of the hilarity that was jazzercise that morning, he says, "Ali, you are aware that jazzercise is a pretty old school workout, right?"

Well dad, I do now.

Hey Friend Makin' Monday, You Lookin' Good

Oh yes, 'tis that time again. Now that I think about it, it hasn't been that time for a while now around these parts, has it?

FMMs, I've missed you. Glad to have ya back.

FMMs are now hosted by the lovely Amber over at {aefilkins}. And this week's topic comes courtesy of Kenz at All the Weigh.

If life were a movie, which movie would you want to live in?

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No contest.

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Every time I watch this movie, all I can think about is how simple that time was. And how nice (and pleasant, har har) it must have been.

And of course, it had a wonderful message in the end.

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Your turn!

PS: My lovely Ocean Dreamer gave me the Dragon's Loyalty Award and I wanted to say a big thank you to her!

NaNoWriMo, Here I Come

So.

Have you guys heard of NaNoWriMo?

No, it's not some weird new species of rhino. And yes, that thought was the first that came to my head upon my hearing of this word.

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Here's some more from the official website:

"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

I originally heard about this from this fab lady and was immediately intrigued and inspired.

You see, writing something big has always been on my Bucket List. The thing that's kept me from doing it (as I'm sure is the case with many people) is that I don't have any light at the end of the tunnel. No goal, no reason. Make sense? I'd be doing it strictly for me, and when I do things strictly for me, they kiiinda fall by the wayside. And I know that's really lame, but I'd be lying if I said anything different.

So there's that.

Then I hear about NaNoWriMo, and BAM! I have a goal. Not only do I have a goal, but I have a website, chock full of people with the same exact goal as me. In the same exact amount of time. And most likely with similar fears and anxieties as me.

Gotta love it.

So yes. I am finally going to do it. I'm writin' a novel, folks! What I love about NaNoWriMo is that they advise you to not focus on quality as much as quantity. It's generally the opposite, but this makes total sense. You can go back and edit the hell out of it when November 30th (at midnight!) hits, but the point is to write a novel in a month. To get 'er done and be proud of yourself for doing so.

At any rate, I encourage anyone who has this dream (or has had it and like me, has pretty much kicked it to the curb for one reason or another) to join me. My user name is ABD1350. If you choose to participate, find me and friend me! We can cheer each other on. And cry together when we think there's no hope. And drink together (or apart) when we just can't take it anymore. I really think we'll bring out the best in each other?

And at the end of the day month, who doesn't love taking a Sharpie and crossing the crap off something on your Bucket/to do/whatever list?