Snow

Thanksgiving is over, my birthday is over, I've had my first peppermint mocha, and it snowed last night.

It finally feels like it's time to break out the Christmas music.

I've only got one more week of classes. The workload isn't quite as bad as I expected, mostly because two of the projects were much easier than I thought they'd be. Still got a couple of reports, some code to finish up, and a presentation, but it's almost the end.

I've been waiting for it to snow for at least a week or two now. Back home, they had the first "White Thanksgiving" since 1985. It just doesn't snow this early there. And I had to miss it.

Last night I went to bed early, noting that there was supposed to be snow by the time I woke up in the morning. But I'd barely slept an hour before I woke up to screaming outside. I pulled back the curtain and saw at least an inch of snow, with the big wet flakes coming down fast, and half the residence outside in it, throwing snowballs and squealing with happiness. I nearly went out and joined a few of my flatmates, but I was warm and comfortable and instead planned to go out in the morning. Needless to say it was hard to fall asleep after that. I really hope the snow will stay for a while.

Photo: Taken at the nearby park after the snowfall this morning.

The End Of The Beginning

Since I last posted, I feel like everything's happening at once.

I'm finally settled in. Friends, routines, steady coursework. I think connecting with people in my classes, outside my flat, has helped me the most. It's fun--I've never had this many geeky friends at once. That doesn't just come from small class sizes: almost everyone has the same classes. So we see a lot of each other. Especially since I'm going to be in Scotland for a while, it's good to find somewhere I feel like I belong.

The coursework will only get worse in the next two weeks, but if I stay on top of it I'll come out alright. I've mostly finished my mp3 player project, which isn't due for another week, and that will give me time to work on my other projects: modification of a simple compiler written in Haskell (sorry for you non-geeks, it's hard to explain), starting the user interface for an instant messenger program, writing a couple of reports on other projects, etc. Especially since I don't have any exams this term, everything's done in two weeks.

I also have a few other things to look forward to, and they're coming up fast. My 20th birthday is next Wednesday, which is insane (more on that later). I'm going to see HP7 this weekend, and the day after my birthday is Thanksgiving, which my two other American flatmates are very much interested in celebrating. And I'm flying home in three weeks for winter break.

In all honesty, I do feel like I'm 20. All this living-on-my-own business is making me have to deal with things I never have before, even more so than last year at UBC. And as I'm in Europe, I don't have to deal with the awkwardness of being 20 in America: able to drive and vote but not a true "adult" until 21. Here, I'm already considered an adult. That aside, it's still strange to call myself a 20-year-old. I won't ever again say that I'm "__-teen years old" or write a 1 at the beginning of my age. Maybe people feel this way every ten years of their life, but this jump, from the 10s to the 20s, seems especially significant.

Anyway, I better go sleep before this tickle in my throat turns into a cold.

How Do You Measure Success?

I just finished watching the Harry Potter 7 live premiere online, where they showed interviews with a lot of the actors, the main director, producer, and of course J.K. Rowling.

The whole thing always astounds me. All this started as just an idea in a woman's mind. She sat on a train, looked out the window, saw some cows, and it came to her. She chose to run with it, writing on napkins and eventually typing the final draft twice on a typewriter. Years later, her stories are a sensation.

What makes a story like that touch so many people? Is it the writing itself? I've heard people say no, that J.K. Rowling isn't necessarily a literary genius. Is it the story, the connections and similarities we feel with the characters? The excitement we had as kids, reading about a hidden magic world, and the possibility of it being real? I have to admit, when I was 11, I wished with all my heart I would get a letter from Hogwarts.

The truth of it all is, though, we can't go looking for this kind of impact or fame. Either a story has it or it doesn't, and it's not a strict formula. Despite my desire to be a part of something bigger, I have to write for myself or I won't find any sort of satisfaction. It's a ton of work, but I can't pin my hopes on touching so many lives. It's got to be for me. And it is, mostly. I just can't help wishing sometimes.

I think about this kind of thing whenever I watch movies or read books that are widely seen and read. It's hard for me not to compare. There is so much left to do with my book(s) that it's easy to get overwhelmed (perhaps I should start considering this a "series"...). But it's not something I plan to leave behind.

I'm strangely looking forward to getting home and being able to print out the entire first book again, so I can start Edit Number Three, where I start to fine-tune language and such. Not that it's going to be the last revision. But I've got three tough weeks ahead of me, schoolwork-wise, so who knows how much writing I'll get done.

Right. Back to computer programming mode and the homework I should be doing.

~

Photo: Especially after watching the premiere, I'm super excited for the new movie. I might just have to find a way to see it before I get home for Christmas. It'll be like a birthday present for myself...

Remember, Remember

As far as NaNoWriMo goes, I'm not sure I'm gonna make it. Wednesday and Thursday I did the daily amount, and it wasn't too bad. Friday I skipped it for an impromptu fireworks outing. And this weekend I realized I'm now three days behind, and it's not going to get any easier. I'm not going to have any time for fun things if I work this hard. So I'm considering the goal I had last summer, of 500 words a day, which is doable, but I'll get at most 15,000 words this month instead of 50,000. I hope to even stick to that, but who knows. At least from all this I've begun writing again. That's probably what I needed most. Also, I chose to start the sequel to my first book instead of a new story. So if the first book goes anywhere, at least I have some fodder for the second. I've also come up with a number of things I need to change in the first book, which I might not have noticed if I hadn't done this. Silver linings, you see.

The fireworks were good, but not amazing... the fireworks at Lake Union for July 4th were definitely better. The celebration was for Guy Fawkes day, but as no one in my flat is British, no one really knew more than that. Fireworks show? No matter why, let's go.

Excuse me while I go have a lazy weekend.

Photo: You can guess, right? I did take it myself, if you were wondering.

NaNoWriMo

It's already November. The second day, to be exact. I know I've said this before, but I feel like I haven't truly written anything for months. It really has been that long if you call "real writing" as content for my novel. Which isn't really fair, I suppose. This past summer was just editing (though in a way that means it was more difficult). But I'm not ready to write the sequel yet, and not ready to do a third draft either. I want to write something fresh, and not just a short story, because I feel like I'm bad at structuring shorter stories. I did the first part of a story on my other blog, but I haven't felt like writing the next part yet, though I have an idea for it.

I'm considering NaNoWriMo. For those of you who aren't in the loop, that's National Novel Writing Month. It's always November, as far as I know. The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month. Yup. You're not supposed to edit it, so it's definitely not publishable after that, but it's good fodder for later, and you can say to your friends and family, "I'm writing a novel!"

I've never done this before. If I did this, I have no idea what I'd write about. I suppose that's good though, because most people just go with the flow and have no plan whatsoever. The story tells itself. The other thing is, like I said, it's already the 2nd of November, and most people who do NaNoWriMo have already started and have a few thousand words by now. By no means do you have to get to the 50,000 word goal, but it's a goal. What's it worth if you don't keep it in mind?

The past few days I've gotten the hankering to play video games, and so far I've kept myself from it. I'm afraid that once I start, I'll slack off on schoolwork. Now, NaNoWriMo probably promises the same thing, but I know I'll get sick of writing, and schoolwork might actually be a relief. Besides, writing is a more productive way to spend my time than gaming, and I have time to slack off for that in December when I go home for Christmas. I've lately found that I have a few free hours in the evening, so maybe I do have the time for this. I know work is going to pile up in the next month, but seriously... if people with spouses and families and full-time jobs make time for this, I can't really complain being a university student, can I?

I'll think about it tonight, and consider what I might write about, and maybe I won't be too far behind if I start a couple days late. I think I'm going to do this. I know, I'm crazy. Wish me luck.

If you're interested, here's the NaNoWriMo website, and here is my profile page if you want me as a writing buddy, or want to see how far I've gotten.