OK, so this is really just an Update Just to Update (UJTU) in disguise. So sue me.
1. Psych me up.
Fact: for going on three years now, I've been wanting to get down to Blue Moon Camera, preferably with at least one typewriter-needing-help in tow. This is the time of year when I come closest to actually making the venture, but so far I've never quite talked myself into stepping out the door. Fact: statistically, I probably will *not* be instantly squished the second I drive out of Lewis County. Fact: this Saturday, the weather is supposed to be cloudy, but not raining, which is a rare occurance this time of year. I'm also not on call. The chance of both of these items coinciding is going to become less and less probable as time goes on. Fact: the SG-1 has several issues that I cannot fix on my own, but would be an amazing thing indeed if those were fixed.
So...lie to me. Tell me I can do this, and why I should. Tell me there will magically be a HUGE empty parking space with bright shiny arrows to guide me when I arrive at the end. Tell me I can get there in one straight shot without getting lost, despite my miserable sense of direction. I know, I'm not giving you much time to get me riled up, but if I wait too long, I'm afraid I'll lose my nerve again.
2. NaNoWriMo dreaming
We now come to that antsy stage where we have some idea of what we're going to write (even the pantsers like me), and have been conversing with our characters, feeling 'em out. I keep imagining whole scenes, the dialog, the way people are standing and moving and the state of their clothing, and not being able to write them down instantly is killing me. Urgh! I also need to come up with working names for characters. Right now I have names like bassist-who-is-off-visiting-Aunt-Somebody, accidental-children's-writer-who-hates-kids, Thump, and sister-of-Joey. Also, the whole thing revolves around people living in an apartment building, and a lot depends on shared walls/floors/stairwells, and I haven't yet decided on a final map. I need Legos or wooden blocks or something.
3. Computers are evil
On my birthday, my friends introduced me to the Bejeweled game on Facebook, which is, essentially, crack in game form. You have to slide little colored gems into rows in order to make them explode. Sounds so innocent and dull, doesn't it? But oh, it will suck your life away. I spent about an hour last night saying to myself, "Just one more game, and then I'll quit. OK, just *one* more...." I love and loathe it. It is yet another reason I'd be far better off avoiding the computer for most of November.
19 comments:
1. The odds of you being hit by an asteroid or being eaten by a chupacabra while on the road are relatively low. In fact, people drive places all the times and the large majority of them are never bent, torn, mutilated, or pushed through a fine mesh screen. You should just go for the rest of us who cannot easily drive to cool typewriter repair places.
2. I KNOW. Not being able to start on this thing is killing me. I don't want to offend anyone, but it's seriously like being sex-deprived. I feel all twitchy and nothing quite erases that anticipatory feeling.
3. Video games are evil. Last year Fallout 3 came out right during NaNo, and this year Borderlands will be out during the same period. The universe is cruel.
1) You have a chance to get your standard machine in and serviced before NaNo starts, and you're not taking it?
My God woman, do I need to drive up there myself and doink you on the head with your own carriage?
Never mind: I'd pass Blue Moon on the way and get hopelessly, wonderfully distracted.
(Go already!)
2) Plot's ready, outline (of sorts) is ready, sparkling dialog and brilliant narration: ready ready ready. COME ON TIME... MOVE FASTER! (And then slow down in November again.)
3) Oh, sweet Bejeweled... I'm still in a 12-step program for that.
LOL Mike, a Chupacabra!!! LFP, go get that SG1 fixed, I know you want to. If only I had one... Hopefully soon, real soon... like before christmas would be nice... *Opens new tab on ebay*
I have been doing tons of planning as well and am eager as anyone to start. Just waiting for the bull horn to blow and I am off.
Bejewled... Try having it on a ipod... oh man, it's evil. There was a while where instead of reading a book or something before bed it was Bejewled. Bewjeled in bed is a bad combo.
In my own defense, it *is* a good couple hours away, plus I have a near-pathological fear of driving (and parking!!) in unfamiliar places, to the point where at one time in my life I was all but convinced that I'd never be capable of living anywhere but my own tiny Vermont town. It's more than just an "I don't like city driving" discomfort. It's completely illogical. I'm not afraid of any definite, tangible circumstances, but the whole idea of driving in strange places--particularly in traffic--makes my mouth go dry and my feet go cold and my stomach do somersaults. It ticks me off. I've made great strides in some ways--I'm here, after all, and I drove across the country to get here--but still get a mild version of that sick feeling every day merging onto the interstate here, even on familiar ground. So it's not just a matter of setting time aside. Hence the need for psyching up....
Clemens--I'd only be going to Blue Moon if I do this. Ace is closed on weekends. Bummer, that.
Go. It'll be fun. Put on some music on the car stereo. Road trips are great to do, while the weather's agreeable- and this sounds like a short trip.
If the traffic bugs you, just hang to the right. Put the typewriter on the passenger seat; you'll have a travelling companion! Go forth, to ponder and type!
Yeah, if you've got an SG-1 that can be made ready for NaNo, you can't NOT go. You've got to get that baby fixed. That machine deserves to live again, and you deserve it's top-shelf awesomeness.
Call ahead and get directions. Ask about parking. Make them expect you, that way you can't chicken out. I'm a big-time call-ahead, check out the area, google it and mapquest it and do all sorts of before-hand research kind of guy. Look before you leap, I always say.
They have maps (at least, for Ohio they do - I'm looking at one right now) that show locations of sightings of bigfoot, chupacabra, phantom panthers (!), phantom kangaroos (!!) and the like. You might want to take one, just in case Speegle's wit has jinxed you.
P.S. I don't believe in Jinxes.
(But I do believe in chupacabras)
(and phantom kangaroos)
Ooh...good idea. Call ahead ad make them expect you. Otherwise one of us is going to have to spring for a planet ticket, fly down there, and drive you ourselves.
Phantom kangaroos sound scary.
Phantom kangaroos? Great. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. I believe Bigfoot is a more pertinent worry here in the Pacific Northwest, however.
Speculator, music makes everything a little easier, doesn't it? Good thought.
And I like Duffy's idea of essentially guilting myself into going by means of semi-commitment....
I did some poking around in Google maps this morning before work--they have satellite images of the whole area, so I can see which side of the street its on and all. There's a coffee shop right across from Blue Moon. I think I'll plan on going early, while traffic is light, maybe even aim on getting there before they're open--I can always grab a cup of coffee and recover for a few minutes before hauling the SG-1 in.
I-think-I-can-I-think-I-can-I-think-I-can
*breathe**breathe*
Road trips like this are made for a friend. Find someone trustworthy with a good back and invite them to coffee.
In Oregon.
At the moment, most of my friends are of the one-category-only types: music friends, for example, and work friends, and church friends.
I'm fresh out of typewriter/camera/early-morning-spur-of-the-moment-road-trip friends. Now I feel inadequate.
The thing is though, while I love Blue Moon, Ace Typewriter is AMAZING and right down the street-- if you're going to make this drive, you *have* to do it on an day Ace is open. Trust me. It's simply essential.
Totally share your lifelong driving phobia (and I don't use the term phobia lightly-- at all). Do you have a GPS device? GET ONE. That technology changed my life.
Maybe if I go down there in the next few months you could come along?
The parking is parallel street parking but the street is a pretty sleepy neighborhood type street-- not an intense downtown situation at all. I ***LOATHE*** driving in downtown areas.
I appreciate the thought--really appreciate it! It's hard for me to take a day off in the middle of the week, though, especially the next few months (lots of folks taking vacations in November and December). But I absolutely have to visit Ace at some point. Looks like they're closer to the Interstate, too. Easier to get to. Ugh...now I'm wavering, trying to convince myself to just put this off again.
But then, deep down I'm hoping that if I do the drive once, I'll magically feel completely capable of doing it repeatedly. I already know I'll have to go at least *one* more time, to pick up the SG-1 again, and eventually it'd be nice to get the Ambassador looked over, too, when I have more typewriter repairage funds available.
And yeah, I totally need a GPS. That's part of my problem--I inevitable make a wrong turn somewhere along the line and end up driving miles out of the way in a blind panic because finding a place to turn around is too scary, especially with all those local people whizzing by giving me dirty looks.
I've got a typewriter shop in comfortable driving distance, too, also open only during the week (and three days/week at that.) I'm considering trying to talk my lovely bride into giving me and a typewriter a day off as a birthday gift.
When roping in friends for a road trip, you need to pick a destination that might appeal to them as well.
A combined Strikethru/LFP journey to Blue Moon? My jealousy grows fivefold.
Want to know torture? One of my brothers lives in Berkeley, and when we were all down there for their wedding a few years ago, we stayed seven or eight blocks from that store. My dad and I went out walking a few times and went *right by it*, but they were always closed when we were around. I pressed my nose to the glass a few times, but that was the most I could do. *snif* Thus far, it's the only typewriter store I've seen in the flesh.
Oh, and Strikethru, at the very least we should grab a cup of coffee or something next time you're down this way, even if I can't get a day off! And looking at the calendar now I'm actually at work, there may be a few options toward the middle/end of next month. So...we'll see.
I think I may still try to get the SG-1 down there tomorrow. Strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. If the torrential rain stops, that is.
mpclemens: I know, right? If I had anablog friends here I would hang out with them all the time. Those Pacific Northwesterners have all the luck.
Okay, only one thing to do. We all need to converge on Ace at the same time. To do that, I'll have to leave...(*counting on fingers*) 76 hours before you. Let me know when you're ready.
(wait, I should probably factor in a bathroom break or two, don't you think?)
Wowsers, it's only an 18 hour drive for me. I smell a weekend trip.
*wonders if she should head out now to stake out a non-scary parking space before Duffy and Mike arrive*
Yahoo Maps is telling me its a 36-hour drive from my house...
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