Not Well

Today my mother's surgery didn't happen. There were complications...she had a doctors appointment for tomorrow to discuss her options (MAJOR surgery instead of minor surgery). Me and my Dad brought her home, and she seemed okay.

I bought her a blue berry muffin from Panera and she ate it. Then she asked if I'd help edit my Uncle David's obituary. The original was written by his executor, and was too wordy. So wordy it was going to cost $300. So I saved them a few hundred by doing a little editing. I got on the phone with the KC Star after I emailed it over and paid for it with my mom's credit card...when something happened.

It was really weird, but all the sudden she just started freaking out. I got off the phone with the newspaper and went upstairs and my Dad had me hold her while he called the hospital. She was standing up, clutching her stomach. She was totally out of it. She babbled, it was strange non-sense. I'm not sure she even knew who I was.

I'm not trying to be funny, but it sounded like fucking Hebrew she was speaking. It just made no god damn sense, a few minutes before she was fine. They gave her some anesthesia at the hospital earlier in the day that had left her shaky. Like she was cold, even though she wasn't cold.

I don't know what's going on. I'm at the house with Lindsey, waiting to hear from my Dad (who rushed her off to the hospital). No one will take my calls--not Leah, not Amber, not my Dad. I'm kinda freaking out.

I just want to go on record and say that this is all a doctor's fault. Fuck those people. We found out today that following an initial surgery one of her "important tubes" has been "transected." How did that happen doc? This entire episode is NOT helping me get over my fear of doctors.

Novelist

What a long, strange trip it's been. If you'd have told me back in November 2007 that it would take this long to finish my first novel--I'd have laughed. After all, NaNoWriMo was challenging, but I met the 50,000 word quota. Surely it would only take a few weeks in December to wrap things up, right?

Well it wasn't that easy. I took some time off (which was a mistake) after the marathon writing session that was November 2007. Then I went back and read some of what I wrote--and I loved some parts, but didn't like others. I was too scared to cut what needed to go, because I knew I'd be losing a lot of what I had (and after all I was trying to ADD to the thing, not have LESS). So I put it away, and six months slipped by.Eventually, it was time to get married, and I felt my life start to pass me by. I realized that if I didn't finish the book soon, I might never finish it.

I had tried to start something new, but I couldn't go forward until I finished THE MOSQUITO VINE. So, the week after the wedding, I started editing and writing again. I finished the first draft the week of Thanksgiving 2008. During the second round of edits, I did what needed to be done, I killed the secondary--weaker, plot thread. Thus killing my ending. Once the editing was done, I sat down and over a period of one week wrote a new ending.

Yesterday, I sat next to my mothers bed and edited those final pages. And today, a day that will forever be historic in my own personal life, April 15, 2009 I went and printed off the second (and very-readable) draft of my first complete novel:



I want to thank everyone for encouraging me, but special thanks to Leah who put up with me shutting the door and working every night for a month (November 2008). Thank god you like playing solitaire so much. Beyond just tolerating me working though, she's also a key reason the book is finished. I was totally prepared to give up many times, and she never let me.

One down, eleven to go baby.

100% Done

This morning, after I made my mother breakfast, I got to work editing the new ending for my novel. It took about an hour and a half to read through it and make a few changes. Then I spent about twenty minutes transferring those corrections to the digital copy (which always sucks and is tedious).

And now, I AM 100% done with the second draft of my novel.

I know that it's not "finished." There's nothing written that's ever really finished. I'm sure there are a few kinks and what have-you that need to be worked out...but for the first time I have something I am comfortable showing people.

Once my sisters come home later today I'm planning on running to Kinkos and printing this thing off--I can't do it at home or here on my sisters printer, because this thing WOULD KILL a printer.

Anyway, once it's been read by Leah and my family I'll be in need of a few volunteer readers to help me with the third/fourth draft.

In KC all this Week

I haven't really mentioned this, but my mother is having a lot of medical issues right now. I've felt bad that I wasn't able to be there for the first surgery(s) but I told myself that my Dad and my sisters had everything covered.

And they did.

But my dad works two jobs and my older sister lives in Kansas now (damn that state)...so this week my mom was going to be home all alone--and I didn't find that acceptable. So I'm going to go home and take care of her, until her next big surgery on Thursday.

I feel really shitty for abandoning my post at the "ye olde pallet yard," because I know that despite everything, I am useful there...but this is something that I feel I must do. My parents took care of me when I was a helpless infant, so I feel that it's ones duty to kinda pay them back.

99.99999999999999999% DONE!

After a week of hard work (with one day, Friday, off) I sat down this morning and completed work on the "new" ending of my novel. I am now, as they say--finished writing my first book.

The second draft is 328 pages and 85,000 words exactly.

Whereas before I was only so-so about my ending I am not 100% behind it. I feel like I didn't pussy out but didn't end on a totally depressing note. It's the best of both worlds. I'm going to print the last 28 pages and edit them this week.

Then I'm going to Kinkos and I'm going to run 3 or 4 copies off. I'm going home to KC next week sometime for a funeral/emergency visit (which I'll probably explain later this week). While I'm out there I'm going to leave a copy for my folks and Amber to read.

Which by the way, last night Amber called me and told me SHE'S GETTING MARRIED! I am so happy right now, for her and for me. As I write this I'm listening to Queen, and I feel like a fucking Champion! I feel like I just got laid, scored a touch-down, and won the lottery.

Basically I feel good right now.

Banana Babies

Yesterday me and Leah were at the store, picking up a few things and we ended up in the ice cream section (as one does when they go to the store with Leah). While she was hunting for something that would be okay for her to eat during Passover, I happened upon these delicious "Banana Babies."

Now, as a rule, I tend to make purchases solely on the packaging. Banana babies has everything I look for:

Cartoon animals--Check
Monkeys--Check
Are the monkeys smiling/having fun?--yes, they are. Check







It's a fairly simple treat (one that I'm sure I could easily make at home). It's half a banana, frozen with a wooden stick, covered in chocolate. They have 3 varieties: milk chocolate, milk chocolate with peanuts, and dark chocolate. I got the dark chocolate, but I'm sure the other two are great too (I'll probably pick up the peanut encrusted ones next time I'm out).They're quite good (excellent breakfast food). If you like fruit and chocolate, and you see these things you should pick them up--they're good.

CAT SHIT ONE

...more like "bat-shit crazy." I saw this posted on Kanye West's blog. It's a weird, all-animal CGI war cartoon.

Needless to say, it's messed up.



I love anything with bunny-rabbit snipers! Happy Easter folks!