Nanowrimo, Nunsense, and Halloween approach ...

... though not necessarily in that order.

Nanowrimo is just around the corner! (I know, still a week, but I can't wait!) I've got my novel outline ready for use on Scrivner. This will be my first time using this special program for writers on my Mac. Heard that it will be available for Windows soon, too, if it's not already. I've got a bunch of things saved in the Research folder so I can just glance at them quickly when I need them. The years before, I'd use a clipboard and just write a bunch of haphazard notes all over the paper. Not as easy to find the things I need that way.

Went to our Nanowrimo planning session at Pandemonium bookstore yesterday. I was late because of Nunsense II auditions, but I got to see all the new faces at our tables this year. The conference room was packed when I got there, but still enough room to squeeze myself in. I was way too tired to even order food by that point, but it was nice sitting in a room full of people about to embark on the same crazy adventure and listen to them talk.

Nunsense II auditions happened yesterday as well. I did a song I hadn't done before, and while I was very displeased with my singing performance, and while I always struggle with improv, I guess I did all right. I sang "Don't Rain on My Parade" from Funny Girl. Normally I don't have much trouble with belt songs, but I was so tired after teaching three exercise classes, I couldn't maintain control like I usually do and resorted to the kind of belt that I can only do for a few minutes. It sounds fine, but it's more like yelling than singing. Doesn't help that all the classes I teach require the use of my voice. Even though I use a head mic, I still get a little froggy after a long day.

For Halloween, I went through all the costumes I've made over the years: the sultry mummy and the country girl (both theatre costumes at one point), the renaissance wench, the southern belle (ding dong, ding dong!), and the goth/living dead girl dress. Much as I love the sumptuousness of the southern belle, I made it out of a fabric that turned out way too heavy, so I'll pass on that one. The mummy costume may be falling apart (it's hard to tell.) The country girl is too cold (short skirt and off the shoulder top.)

So I'm down to the wench and the goth girl. I think I'll go goth girl, since I can have some hair and makeup fun with that. I haven't worn that one since I lived in California, and I've only worn it once. I just have to make sure I can still wear it! If the temp gets real cold, I can wear long underwear and no one will be able to tell.

While I wait for the results of the Nunsense II casting, guess I'll go clean out the garage.

The temperature drops ...

... like cement shoes on the feet of a lawyer.

Sorry, bad joke.

The last week has shown a sharp change in the temperature, but this is rather typical. I always start thinking of doing ye olde tire swap around this time: mornings in the teens, frost so thick it doesn't melt before the sun goes down, that almost burning sensation of frigid air slicing down your throat. At least my nose hairs aren't crackling yet.

My body is starting to protest a bit this year. I'm usually fairly stiff if I sit still too long, like at the computer, and the cold air just makes it worse. I've added energy/protein bars to my diet. Most people use them as meal replacements. I use them as meal enhancements. I try to get organic ones whenever I can, but I also want ones that are edible. So I mix it up by getting several different kinds.

I've gone back to adding vitamin D to my regimen since my doc told me that my immune system was probably seriously depressed. So far it seems to be doing good. Now I just need to figure out the best diet to keep me moving.

Ah, the joys of living in Alaska!

Speaking of living in Alaska, today marks the third year anniversary of officially living here. It's been quite a ride, not always a pleasant one, but certainly a huge learning experience. I still haven't caught the local Alaska disease yet: that of complaining every time the weather turns cold. I'll admit, the summer sucked big time with all that rain. But there are good things to be said for winter. I like how the snow pack makes my road more tolerable for driving (no potholes.) I like the longer sunsets (since the sun never gets all the way up in the sky, the whole day is practically sunrise and sunset.) I like the fireworks on New Year's, the fact that we always have a white Christmas, the warm and comforting foods and drinks that are too warm for summer. I love watching my dogs playing in the snow.

And I can't wait to try out my new two handed snow shovel! (Okay, I'm stretching it a bit here.)

And, last but certainly not least, NANOWRIMO! Celebrating the art and science of writing for an entire month of literary abandon. Where you are free to write as crappy as you ever thought possible.

See, there are always good things about every kind of weather.

Another closing of another show ...

... and I'm down in the usual post-show dumps.

The word often used is bittersweet, but that always makes me think of food. It's not strong enough for the emotions one goes through at the closing of a performance run, especially one as amazing as the run "Pride and Prejudice" just had. Two weekends sold out, and at least one sold-out show each of the other two weekends. There were a bunch of people saying they came back a second time (and they weren't spouses or family.)

I think I'd lean more towards manic-depressive as a description? I have to put more thought into that.

I'm grateful to have my "life" back. There are many things that have been taking back seats as we got closer to opening the show and during the actual performances. I haven't been practicing my new exercise routines as much as I usually do. At the very least I was pretty distracted while practicing backstage in the green room almost every performance night. (And several of the other actors and crew would join me every once in a while. I had my own chorus line going!) I need to get the garage clean and organized for the dojo. I need to bug spray the house. The list goes on.

But I got rather attached to the group of people I spent so much time with the last couple of months. Many of them were strangers to me when we started. It took weeks to learn everyone's real name instead of their character name. And then last night most of us went out karaoke-ing and have a blast. We want to make it a regular thing (much like us "Spitties" did after "The Spitfire Grill" closed.)

I got to work with people I already knew, and with people I wanted to know better or hadn't had a chance to work with yet.

I got to prance around the stage in fancy dresses with my nose in the air and speaking in a British accent. (I even got a compliment from someone with a real British accent!)

So my mind and emotions are at war for dominance: relief at life returning or depression at the ending of something special. Eventually the depression will pass and I'll be content with the memories: my nickname for my onstage brother when he accidentally called me his daughter during a show ("Dad!"), our own secretly added lines whispered behind the curtains ("Consider it dropped"), songs sung on our karaoke night ("I Got You, Babe"), and so much more.

I better be happy with my life being returned to me. The auditions for "Nunsense II" are coming up real soon ... ;>

NaNoWriMo website relaunch!

The NaNoWriMo website has indeed relaunched, so I've been procrastinating from cleaning the house to update my info and add the counters and banners to my blog. You can see the new ones in the sidebar. >dancing in giddy circles<

If you've never done NaNoWriMo, but you've always wanted to write a book, jump right in! You've got a month to plan still. Just remember you can't write a word of the novel itself until November 1, 2010. Until then, you can plan, outline, fiddle, brainstorm, and draw idea bubble maps to your heart's content!

The Wonderful Weather of Wasilla

Apparently the Alaska Branch of Mother Nature Dot Org decided that "fall" had lasted long enough, and it was now time for "blow." Just when we were getting the intense gold color of the leaves along the road to our house, the wind rushed in to shake them all loose, knock down trees, and remove power from several homes for days.

I suppose I should be grateful that we were spared the looooooong power outage that affected many of my friends, and of course I am. I am also grateful that the theatre was spared having to reschedule a show when power was flickering Friday evening. (It never did go out, though it did flip off for a moment when I was curling my hair. I screamed, "Wait, just one more curl and I'm done!" Then the power came back on.)

However, I'm really peeved that I didn't get to take a picture of that fabulous gold tunnel along our road. The trees hug a place on the road that dips down, and when the sun shines just right, it gleams with an intensity that takes the breath away. I wanted to get a picture of it this year, but the wind robbed me of that by stripping the leaves before they reached that point. Grrrr.

A few days of wind, and then the real fun began: early winter. Yesterday snow appeared on the mountains, as well as making small flurried appearances in the valley. If a rainstorm had moved through, it would have been a snowstorm. At the end of September, for crying out loud. Thank the gods we've already bought that huge two-handed snow shovel for the driveway. We're not even allowed to put on snow tires yet, technically! (I guess that would change if it actually snowed that much, though.)

We escaped most of the problems that others have had: Our only casualty of the wind was our trash can (which wedged itself in such a way that nothing was coming out of it, so we left it where it was until the wind died down), and the fence along the back of the garage. We were going to take it down anyway, perhaps use it to line the outdoor dog kennel, so no real problem there. I think it was only there as a kind of view blocker for the lots behind us, but it was pretty pointless anyway.

So here's the million dollar question: if winter is already threatening to loose itself on us, does that mean it's going to be a long, mild winter, or a long, harsh one? Since it's winter either way, I suppose it doesn't really matter. >Sigh<

Alaskan Health Issues

I lived in one state for the first 30 years of my life. I've lived in Alaska for three years next month.

I believe I have been sick more times here in Alaska than I have the rest of my life. And those sicknesses have been longer, more miserable, and nearly piggyback to each other, especially this year.

In summer 2010, I've been significantly sick three times. The second time included strep throat and ear infections that caused some deafness. The first two each lasted a month long, give or take a few days. That means since May (the first illness of the summer), I've been sick every other month. The third one, I've been adding things back into my diet that may have curtailed it a bit, though it is still not gone.

So what's up? My doc mentioned a couple of things when I went in for the strep and ear infections:

One: We have a lot of tourists, people moving here from other countries, etc. They bring with them all manner of diseases that our bodies have never defended against previously. Even the most diligent of hand washers and antibacterial wipe users can still get sick if they haven't encountered certain bugs before.

Two: This summer was spectacularly awful. I still say the summer of 2008 (our first) was worse because we only saw the sun a handful of times; this summer started off with almost three weeks of gorgeous weather in May. I blamed my first illness this summer on the dust from the duplex building going on right next to our house. I've been more sensitive to dust since my first illness in Alaska (November 2007) was made quite severe by the extreme amounts of dust in the store I worked at.

But then it started raining. And raining. July was (I believe) the wettest July Wasilla has ever seen. And it kept on raining. The last couple of weeks here in September have been sunny, but fall is on the way and it's already getting cooler. First frost just a few mornings ago. Leaves are golden and starting to drop. Darkness is encroaching more and more.

My doc pointed out that Vitamin D is already hard to get the natural way here in Alaska, but a summer like we just had probably led to a seriously depressed immune system for me, judging by how many times I've been sick, and in such close succession. He told me to add a supplement to my diet, which I have.

I'm considering other options, too. One is a sun lamp, another is an air purifier. I wear a mask whenever I clean the house because my dog is a digger and brings tons of dirt into the house with her. I don't burn incense as much as I used to (though I do miss those sweet scents.) Since we've reached all our main purchase goals (house, vehicles, etc) we're considering what we want to add to our place to make winters more tolerable. I decided a sauna would be great, and fewer issues than a hot tub. Maybe we could put a sun lamp in the sauna for a little more "sun."

I'm trying to improve my diet, as well. Taking a multivitamin as well as extra D and calcium, but also trying to find good tasting fruits and veggies (that's kind of difficult in this state. Some of the fruit tastes like paper towels.) Adding lemon to my water helps me drink more water.

I admit that my fitness class schedule was probably a little much this summer, too: so many instructors going on vacations, and me not minding the extra money subbing for their classes, it was probably walking the line of too much. One eight-day period I taught 14 hours worth of exercise classes! I'm trying to curtail things a bit by learning to say "no" every once in a while.

I think the vitamin D has helped with this current cold: hardly any soreness, only one day of extreme mucus movement, and the last few days has just been an annoying cough that won't go away. It's still taking its own sweet time to stop, but the healing process is a little faster this round. It is my dearest hope that I reach a point that I experienced in California, only getting very minor colds that last no more than three days and happen once every couple of years. At the very least, I want to stop losing my voice every time I get sick.

No wonder most people who move here don't stay here. It's a very difficult place to live, for sure. Even my doc mentioned that everyone in Alaska should leave at least twice a year and stay somewhere warmer and sunnier, just for their health. I heartily agree. If only it weren't so expensive to do so!

Be Excellent To Each Other and Party On Dudes!

When comparing this year's Sportsman's Warehouse picnic with last year's, some similarities and some differences stand out.

The main difference that stands out is the weather. It was raining almost the whole time at last year's gig. But like true Alaskans, they didn't let that dampen their spirits. We just spent a little more time hanging around the fire, that's all.

Yesterday morning started out rainy, which is no surprise, since July may go down as the wettest one on record. I shouted my curses to the skies and demanded that the clouds take a hike by the afternoon or there would be heckity darn to pay.

To my surprise, they listened. The afternoon proved to be very nice. (Well, very nice by Alaska's standards, which means mostly cloudy and in the 60s.) A bit of a muggy feeling to the air, but at least I didn't once need the rain jacket I'd brought along just in case. I also wore my new Tilly hat to ward off the occasional sprinkles which didn't happen.

The other main difference was one of my own making: Since we lived about a 15 minute walk from the hay field where the party was held this year and last, I decided to walk my two monstrous mutts with me. I thought they'd love the chance to run around the huge field, maybe some kids would play with them, maybe some other dogs would be brought along as well. I wanted to keep their good socializing with others, though they spend a lot of time at home with just us. I worried that the owners of the place would not approve, or that they would be a huge annoyance to others.

They surprised me with remarkably good behavior! Bruno has a bad habit of jumping on people (Logan's fault), but he managed to keep his paws on the ground. They didn't put paws on tables or anything else. The only thing that was mentioned as being unfavorable was Uffda's drooling problem, but most people didn't seem to care (and by the end of the evening, drool was the least dirty issue.) So they got lots of attention and even started laying down near the fire after a couple of hours of excitement. Uffda didn't want to lay down, but you could see how tired she was by the dragging of her massive feet.

There was a little fight with a bulldog named Bubba that was brought to the party, but Bubba's owner nipped that little spat in the bud lightening quick. The three dogs were the best of friends after that. (I imagine a big unfixed male like Bruno, even being friendly, was a little intimidating at first for Bubba.)

When more people arrived and started breaking out the hot dogs and hamburgers for grilling, I decided I didn't want to see how far Bruno and Uffda's good behavior would stretch; they don't get people food at home, and they spend most of their time outdoors or in their kennels, so they don't get a lot of temptation to deal with. Logan had also arrived by then, so we tied their leashes to a tree in front of the Landcruiser. They laid right down and took a nap.

The party continued as parties do, eating, drinking, kids playing in the sandbox and with the various balls rolling around. The owner even gave a couple of hayrides with his tractor and a big flatbed filled with hay. There was one spot with a steep downhill where he gunned the engine and raced down. I felt like I was on a roller coaster!

There were raffles and games for all ages. A bunch of the games were taken from the "Minute to Win It" game show, like Junk in the Trunk, where you try to shake the ping pong balls out of a tissue box strapped to your rear end in under a minute. Fun to watch, I'll tell you!

Of course, the pinnacle of the evening came when employees could put up the "dollars" they earned for the privilege to pie a manager of their choice in the face. One of the girls had mentioned wanting to pie Logan, and people had been giving her money to do it. (Guess they didn't have the guts to do it themselves, eh?) When the time came, she had racked up over 70k, and each pie was worth 2k.

Logan came prepared, as he always does. he put on his Frog Togs and wouldn't even stand behind the board with the hole for the face in it. The girl wanted to line up a bunch of people all at once with pies. The Store Manager got behind the board, Logan stood out in front. The Fishing Manager cut a hole in a garbage bag to cover as much of him as possible.

For all the good it did them. Logan ended up only getting two pies to the face. (The pies were made of vanilla and chocolate pudding.) All it took was one employee to sneak behind the board. The Store Manager started running, and the great Pudding War began. Both the Store Manager and the Fishing Manager ended up covered in goo. Then the eggs that were being used for other games started flying. The Office Manager smashed two eggs on Logan's head. The kids couldn't resist the fun the adults were having getting messy, so they joined in.

I was one of the few people who managed to remain pudding and egg free. I was almost hit by a random egg long before the pudding war. A boy was goofing around with his dad behind me, and the egg whizzed right by my face to smash on the bench i was sitting on. Scared me out of a year's growth.

The exhaustion of the pudding stores led to the flinging of water balloons, so everyone got washed off after that fight. And there were spigots all over the property for people to rinse the pudding and egg slime off. And then the fire to dry off next to.

It was after 10 PM by that time, so the clean up began. Everyone pitched in to leave the place neater than we'd found it (well, as much as we could with pudding and egg shells everywhere.) The board was broken up and the pieces tossed into the fire. Logan and I were the last to leave, so we watched the fire while it burned down to embers.

Logan had obtained permission from the owner to check out the three old cabins along the edge of the property. One was built in 1931, the others in 1915, I believe. The 1931 cabin had been added on to at some point, and there were old fashioned cooking stoves in them. Logan and I got a lot of ideas as to how we can add on to our own cabin, and put in a cook stove of our own. Logan is even more excited about his new job because he will have the time to do such projects.

By the time we were done, the fire had died down enough, so we packed up and left. We were exhausted, but it had been a lot of fun. The Fishing Manager posted on Facebook that he would never eat pudding again. Can't say I blame him.