Something to Blog About

It seems strange to me that I never think I have anything worthwhile to blog about. School and life in general are mundane and routine, and for some reason I stop myself from sharing those aspects of my life because they seem quite boring. Well, I've started a new habit, and this is one I do want to talk about, because I really don't have anyone else to talk to it about. I'm writing a book.

I used to write a lot when I was younger. It was a daily habit that produced a lot of unfinished stories printed out in nondescript binders. Frankly the genre of my writing is too embarrassing to admit now at the wonderful age of 29, but irrespective of that it was great fun. Unfortunately that was eight years ago, way back when I was a recent high school graduate who was putting her way through community college. Obviously a lot has changed then.

I've had many ideas for stories along the way and oftentimes I would attempt to outline them to some degree of detail and then never get around to writing them. It seemed like what I thought I was supposed to do was the worst thing I actually could do. This new story has no outline. No draft. No game plan in general. In fact I don't know how it will end. Right now I have a general idea of where the story is going and a more concrete idea about what to write next. Other than that I'm completely blank.

But I find myself daydreaming into the world I've created, picturing the few characters I've made up and wondering what they will do next. I even think about them before I go to sleep at night, mostly because the majority of my writing is done at night before bedtime. Fooling around online in the morning, school work in the afternoon, writing at night. There's some Judge Judy and a few other shows interspersed throughout that timeline.

I have a good feeling about this story. Each time I finish a chapter I send it to my dear friend Julia and have Jeff read it on the iPad. Their notes give me life. They each have their own take on the story  and both of them contribute immensely to the process. Jeffrey is logical, practical and scientifically minded (which works because it's set in a fantasy world of science fiction) and Julia is a romantic, an optimist and an engaging reader (which works because there is a love story).

So far I've written over 31,000 words and 142 pages. I'm a little more than a third done. Again, I don't know what the ending will be, but I have a really good feeling I'll know I'm there when I write it.

To keep myself writing and blogging I'm putting a little widget on the side here where I can track my progress. Hopefully you'll see it completed one day!

Dental Woes

Woke up with a mild toothache yesterday morning. We went about our day though. Watched the first four episodes of Veep then went down to the pool. We were going to be having a community BBQ at the pool so we went upstairs to dry off (use the restroom) and then we were going to come back down and eat and socialize. Well suddenly the toothache got worse. Jeff sprang into action and around 3:45 ended up at a local dentist office to just get the pain taken care of before having an actual appointment on Monday.

Well the tooth was too far gone and needed to be taken out. Long story short, I haven't been to the dentist on a regular basis because I haven't had insurance for... well practically my whole life. So yes, I have a few bad teeth. It's actually something I'm deeply ashamed about, though I'm trying to reframe my perspective on that. Anyway, they ended up extracting the tooth which took about 45 minutes. I ended up with about three syringes of Novocain in my mouth and afterwards half my face was partially numb, like I'd had a stroke. Throughout the procedure I was trying to keep myself calm and my muscles ended up absorbing most of the tension. By the time the dentist finished my entire body was shaking.

But all went well and I've been given some generic Vicodin to help with the pain and soreness. I have a follow-up appointment next Friday to make sure it's looking good. The dentist has identified a few areas he can address with the rest of my teeth so I'm going to see how that can be arranged, what with payment plan options and whatnot. I'm probably going to get one other tooth extracted and I have two other teeth that I know need fillings pretty soon. Unfortunately I have a lot of cavities. Maybe it's time to adjust my diet to exclude some sugars. That may help in the longrun.

I'm pretty sore this morning, can't open my mouth all the way, and in general I feel like I've been through battle or something. Nothing the Vicodin can't handle, but I don't want to have to rely on it to feel better. I think my body will heal itself naturally quickly.

Lesson learned: I need to be more proactive about the health of my teeth.

Our Anniversary in Photos, Part 2

These elephants are 41 years old!

This gorilla did not want to put up with any zoo visitors. He only looked up at me occasionally after the noisy people had left the area.

Jeff, not purposely posing with a park bench in the background.

This giraffe seemed very interested in keeping me from her baby.

Twice she walked right up to me and stared me dead in the eyes. It was very strange!

She did it to another zoo visitor as well.

The giraffe on the right was very socially awkward and stayed by that tree in the corner of the area for the entirety of our visit.

This turtle was quite large in person. S/he came right over to me and posed for a picture. So cute!

One of two Gibbons, they were howling quite lasciviously at a woman taking video/photos of them. 

A young Amur Leopard. They're the most endangered of all the big cats. The last time we were at the Santa Barbara Zoo there were two. This is their offspring. 

Snow Leopard.

Our Anniversary in Photos, Part 1

Oooh Burn

So early this afternoon Jeffrey and I went down to the manager's office to sign an addendum to our lease (we're extending one year) and the pool looked so inviting! And the weather was actually very mild and pleasant. So we ended up spending about an hour laying out and in the pool. Unfortunately I didn't put on any sunblock and am now suffering from a slightly painful burn on my arms. Why is it my legs have no color on them whatsoever when they were just as exposed as my arms? So strange.

Moral of the story: wear sunblock... I wonder if I even own any. I should probably buy some!