Jenaicklefritz’s Weblog

Day Eight!

34,053 of PURE CRAP! Going strong! (Or burning out. Whichever.)

Day Seven!

One week in, and I’ve busted out another 4K and some change! I’m up to 29,115! Close to 3/5’s of the way to NaNo’s base goal! I’m 30% to my own! Yeeessssss…. I wanted to do around 6K, but meh. Next time!

Day Siiiiiiiiix………….

Busted out another 5000ish! I’m half way to Nano’s base goal! Within only a week!

I’m not trying to brag, but this is toooo much fun, and I’m too happy with myself! Especially since my whole goal is to finish this idea that I first thought of back in 2003! It’s been a loooong time in steeping. But now I gotta call it a brew and see what I can get accomplished. And by accomplished, I mean published. From now on, my goal is to write at the very least around 5000 words a day! I like going strong, and hope I don’t lose any steam.

Well, off to wherever it is I go when I’m not workin.

Day 5!!!! Holy bazooka! 20,937 words in! I’m over a fifth of the way there!

Day Four.

Wrote about 5000, but didn’t upload into the counter. Too busy. Job tiresome. Don’t like going to work. Goodnight.

Blah!

Day three… It’s a Tues., but in relationship to my workday, for all intents and purposes, it feels like a Monday. I have to be at work by 1:30 today, so I’m not surprised I only wrote 5,314 words, putting me at a 15,708 total thus far. Okay, so thinking about it, being only 3 days into the challenge, where the basic goal is 50K, I’m doing really well. But like I said, I have a 24 (plus an epilogue now, so 25) chapter book that I’m trying to bust out, and there’s no way 50K will cut it. Which is why I decided to write 100K. I feel like I’m being redundant, so I’ll try not to repeat myself and stick to the stats.

Since I have to be to work at 11AM tomorrow, I’ll probably not get much done unless I stay up really late tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll see how I feel. If I can bust out around 6K on a work day, I’ll be stoked. Tired, but stoked. Here’s hoping I survive!

Day two…

Busted out another 6,531 words. Seriously, though, I’ve been known to write upwards of 6K words in an average blog post, so I wonder if I’m slacking off… especially knowing that today is the end of my weekend, and I will be working 40 hours a week on top of trying to bust out 100K in 30 days. At least I don’t need to sleep all that much.

Well, I’m 10K+ into my novel, and going strong. That’s a tenth of the way there! Woohoo!

Day one.

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve joined NaNoWriMo in hopes of writing a complete novel in 30 days. The goal: to complete a 50,000 word novel in the time spanning between Nov. 1st and 30th. But I write so much in one sitting, I decided that I will go for 100,000. If anything, that goal will at least ensure my beating the website’s 50K mark.

So anyway, I knocked out a solid 3,863 for day one. I’ll up my word count on some days, skip others, too–but I’m confident things will go smoothly, as I had the good fortune of outlining a 24 chapter novel BEFORE signing up for the challenge.

Anyway, I figured I’d just keep track of my word count here for fun. I’ll try to do it daily. Ciao!

Amended ex post facto: I should say, the lovely lady who introduced me to NaNoWriMo is none other than the sharp witted Andii, former roommate, best bosom bud, and pal. You can read or just visit her grossly under updated blog here: Circumlocutionary. If you are anything like me, you will pester her about updating!

No time to apologize for my absence. I’ve a matter of inconsequential importance to discuss. It would appear that Age is not only stalking me, but using me. Oh, I know; it’s deplorable. I’m offended that this is even worth blogging about. I’m twenty-five—ish. That’s a quarter the age of my great grandmother, who is a century. A quarter!

In monetary value, that’s a mere sofa cushion away from death! And I’m too young to get old or be the pawn of Time! But alas, that dastardly malfunction in youth is creeping up on me. Point in case—tonight I brought up the IOWA BASICS in my pedagogy class, and my teacher commented on the “archaic” concept the tests were founded on, and how standardized testing has come a long (emphasis on the “loooooong”) way since those “many” decades ago that the IOWA BASICS were used. Decades? The crippling test anxiety spawned of the IB’s still haunts me and feels like it happened only yesterday. But no (emphasis on the “noooooo!”) My “yesterday” is only accessible through academic archeology digs. Silly me, for not being young enough to be unfamiliar with the IOWA BASICS. Like many of my classmates seemed to be. Lucky them.

So of course, this little revelation did not come alone. Like Misery, Age too loves company; (it’s why old people play cards on Thursdays and discuss denture paste and hip replacements. None of that is fun or particularly scintillating, but the company is more or less pleasant.) Next point in case—my best friend from high school texted my cell phone after class because Utada Hikaru (Japanese R&B singer) was on the radio in Bozeman, MT, of all places. This is an amazing step in the global direction for a monochromatic town such as Bozeman. To think there would be any worldly flavor there! True, my best friend and I had wanted this day to come since we were chit’lans in high school… but it wasn’t until she asked me how “long” we’d waited for something like that to happen that the truth finally started to sink in.

Ten years! A whole bloody decade!

I was honest, and tried to be calm. I answered her, “all four years of high school, and the six—going on seven—years since.”

And of course, her encouraging response was, “wow, that makes me feel old!”

Without even thinking, I replied, “well, I do have that effect on people. The longer you know me, the older you get.” It was then I realized how true the statement was. So true, in fact, that I have discovered a biological anomaly within time and space—that Age is an entity. It has taken on some metaphysical symbiotic properties and is using me as its host to wreak havoc and liver spots on my loved ones!

The more I thought on the concept, the more I realized how true it was. I mean, even my dad for years has complained about me giving him gray hair, but I hadn’t realized that it wasn’t a crude metaphor, but a fact-based accusation. As the host for Age, I am to blame for his gray hair. And most likely his memory loss.

What I’m saying is: whatever causes aging in human beings is directly the fault of the Age symbiote’s host. And one of those Age symbiotes is using me! I cause people to get old. Don’t try to argue with me, I have proof! Every single person I meet who sticks around and talks to me gets older by the minute! Only people whom I don’t interact with on a daily basis seem to avoid aging. I mean, just the other day I ran into an old acquaintance who I distinctly recall commenting “hadn’t changed a bit since last I saw” him. True story. Yet I watch as everyone I keep near and dear, either physically or emotionally, wither before my eyes. And I know it’s because Age has cursed me with its leeching, parasitic ways!

I don’t know when it happened, but I know I’ll be avoiding sofa cushions for a while—if only to escape the loose change. At least until I can figure out how to keep from getting old, and preserving the youthful glow of my friends and family. I know I’m not smart enough (or understand enough chemistry) to create an anti-aging serum. But perhaps my discovering of the symbiotic Age organism (I’ll call it SAO from now on) will inspire some chemists out there to develop some kind of Bleach or Oust or Frontline for this parasitic SAO!

Just had to get that off my chest. Sorry to make y’all old.

(The Sequel to Jenai’s Chronicles of Online Dating)

Well, since I’ve decided to put my online dating on hold for an unforeseeable amount of time while I try to procure a job which will entitle me to capitol beyond my capacity to earn thus far—I’ve decided to make a new chronicle series on my blog to keep me writing. (FYI, that doesn’t mean I’ll be on the ball, since I’m not sure if I’m coming or going these days…)

Okay, let’s get on with it!

So right. Basics, starting with basics! I’m enrolled in a pedagogy and professional responsibilities class for my teacher certification program that I’m betting is going to be a big-time repeat of everything I learned in my international teacher training program for TESOL, plus all the weird rules and laws the great country of Texas (ahem, excuse me, I meant “state”) might find necessary for pedagogical students to commit to memory.

Also, the class is a condensed version of it’s normal “semester” sister, meaning it’s twice as short, twice as crammed, and three times more stressful to balance with a job—especially a job that requires me to leave an hour and a half early to make it to work on time. Top that off with a work schedule that doesn’t allow for extra curricular (see homework) activities, and we have a winning combination.

Let me jot it all out to illustrate better what I mean.

NOTE: The early half of the day for the next few months is ALWAYS dedicated to one of these tasks, depending on the specific date: online test/quiz, teacher meeting, teaching job fair, job hunting, or program meeting.

Monday: CLASS DAY 6:30-9:30pm
Tuesday: WORK DAY 2:30-12:30am
Wednesday: CLASS DAY 6:30-9:30pm
Thursday: WORK DAY 2:30-12:30am
Friday: GAWD WILLING I GET THIS DAY FREE.
Saturday: WORK DAY 9:30am-6:30pm
Sunday: WORK DAY 9:30am-12:30am (double shift day)

I only pray I am left time to actually do the few hours of homework required for each class (that’s about 4-6 hours of computer based learning per week that I have to fit in with all my extra curricular activities and part time job)… and that doesn’t even cover everything. I don’t make enough money working at my job in Kemah, and so I’m running low on fuel! I have no idea how I can afford to drive myself to work and still manage to make it to my school, which is a good 40 minute drive from where I live, too.

Nothing is near by, and I’m wondering if maybe I should give my two weeks notice and go back to working in a private club, and make 500 dollar in tips per night… if I did that, I could dedicate the whole week to school and getting my teaching contract through an Harris County independent school district, and work Friday and Saturday nights, making the big tips, pulling out close to a grand a week by looking cute and serving liquor to guys who are wealthier beyond comprehension, and probably married while they enjoy the scenery and music… I know after my jobs in Japan I said I’d avoid that kind of work, being burned out and all… but I’m very sick of being broke and still having to borrow money to pay for stupid fees to take a million tests to get a sheet of paper that says I’m qualified to do something I’m already qualified to do in Japan or Taiwan… oh the humanity…

Wow, that was a bigass runon sentence, wasn’t it?

And does anyone else see the wrongness of me working in a private club (probably a titty bar) in order to make money so I can go to school to be a high school English teacher? Here’s the real kicker: If I made an average of $500 a night like my cousin does at the bar she works at, and worked four nights a week, I’d make an yearly tip income of 96K, assuming I don’t claim any of the tips… my teaching salary would only be 44K a year, minus taxes, and I would be working 5 days week.

Oddly enough, I’d rather be a teacher, making less and paying taxes, even though I could just as easily work in a bar for the rest of my life.

Here’s where I do the long-term responsible thing:

Cons of Club Work: no benefits, shitty hours, rude clients, I’ll eventually get old and my cuteness won’t earn me extra tips anymore, no retirement plan, possibly caught for tax evasion if I don’t claim my tips, and I wouldn’t… me+lots of alcohol=bad news, etc etc. Oh, and since I’m on the paranoid path: hepatitis. LOL

Cons of Teaching: could end up working for a title one school, and get shot by a student who thinks I failed him/her because of an imaginary vendetta.

Just for fun, the pros of Teaching: benefits, retirement, sense of purpose, summers off to work on my novels, can afford to legally buy a house and car without worrying if the IRS is hiding in my front bushes… Obama said teachers are cool.  Okay, that last part is not a pro, and is almost a lie, since I never heard Obama say teachers are cool. But I have the feeling he would say it, if asked.

Okay, I kind of lost track of what I was talking about, so I’ll go to sleep now. I have a list as long as my arm of things I need to do for school before I go to work tomorrow, and I really don’t have time to try and do all that on sleep dep. (I really wanted to type way more about my situation and how my first day of class went, but I’m out of time folks.)

Ta!