Well, I can’t say the past two weeks have really flown by, but neither can I say they crawled. They seemed a mix of endless days and quick parts. I am now mostly settled into my new residence in Boston. In case you’ve missed the past two updates, I’m living with my aunt and uncle and watching my baby cousin during the day because they needed to go back to work.
Thus far, I love it. In fact, today might be the first day of real rain we’ve had since I arrived, and I find that I don’t mind it at all. The sound is actually pretty soothing as I write. I’ll be sharing a post about my adventures in the city probably sometime next week.
Watching the monkey, aka my cousin (who like myself and my uncle were born in the Year of the Monkey!) is actually pretty fun, though mostly only because I’m not on night duty, so I start each day with enough sleep and energy to keep up with him. It’s interesting to watch him develop and learn new things. So far, I’ve taught him how to do raspberries… which may have backfired in the form of me getting spit on every time we feed him solids. Oops. My Bad. But it is adorable to hear him practicing though the baby monitor when he first wakes up from a nap.
We celebrated my grandmother’s 80th birthday at the beginning of the month! She’s one of my favorite people in the world, and while my mom and I couldn’t attend the actual party, we both drove to Connecticut (my mom from NJ, I from Boston) and had our own party the next weekend. Any time I can spend with her is always well spent.
I’m headed to my parents this weekend for the first time since the move! Sometimes it’s weird to think that I don’t live there anymore, but to me it will always be home, whether I’m at college, living with my aunt and uncle, or living on my own. I’ll be home for a whole week, and I’m excited to get some quality family time in, as well as some quality writing time. NaNoWriMo is hard work! Hopefully, I’ll be able to pop down to the bridal shop to visit my old co-workers as well!
So far this month, I think I’m doing pretty okay with my goals. Let’s check them out:
TOTY 24 Goals:
Write Every Day – Almost! I’ve missed a total of three days, and I half-assed it for two more. So, I’ve basically written 10 of the first 14 days. Two-thirds isn’t bad, though!! I’m only down ~5,000 words from where I’m supposed to be word count wise for the month.
Apply to Full Time Jobs – COMPLETED!
Apply to Grad School – After attending the open house at Emerson, I really like their program. AND I found out that I don’t have to take the GRE! So, come December when NaNoWriMo ends, I can start on the essays, brushing up my professional/academic resume and speaking with contacts about recommendation letters.
November Goals: Write 50,000 words of the Everest Chronicles – I’ve just crossed 20,000 words yesterday! I’m on track for 40,000, but I’m still hoping to hit that goal of 50k! See my NaNoWriMo weekly updates for more information. Links will go live with the posts. NaNo Prep Week One (1-7) Week Two (8-15) Week Three (15-21) Week Four (22-30) + Wrap Up
Write 8 posts – This is number 3? I think? I have the first two weeks of NaNoWriMo updates posted already, and there should be 2-3 more of those, as well as 1-3 posts pertaining to my exploration of Boston. So far it is much smaller than I expected.
Walk 30 miles – Being in a new city means there are endless things for me to explore! I use a step counter app on my phone, and so far I’ve walked ~22 miles! It’s not much, but I’m getting there!
Read 5 books – So Far: 1. As in, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It took me a while, as you can see. And yet, it was the first 300 or so pages that took me the longest to read. I spent them curled up in the fetal position, waiting for the pain to start, rather than tearing through the plot like people sometimes rip off band-aids. I knew what was going to happen. I’ve read the book before. And yet… and yet trying to stop while you read that book is like wearing the Horcrux too long, or asking a dementor to please follow you around every minute of the day while you wait in agony to find out the fate of your favorite characters. Let’s just say there is a reason I finished the novel in 36 hours when it first came out. And yes, I still cry for every death, and yes, the first time I read about THE DEATH, I threw the whole book against the wall. Or, well, I would have, but at the last minute I aimed for my pillows because I had signed for the book when it came and hadn’t told the rest of my family it had arrived yet, and therefore didn’t want them coming in to find out what the noise was. I felt that I deserved to read it first after having to wait a solid week when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out before I could pry it away from my mother and my brother, who quite literally just passed it back and forth 24/7 until they finished it. Apparently, they thought I read too slowly.
I started Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, but that’s a whole other story I don’t need to get into right now. Basically, I had to stop because it was distracting me from NaNoWriMo. My brain simply could not process new Harry Potter information while trying to live in the made up world that I’m writing about.
I have a list of other books I want to read this month, but I have no idea how far I’m going to get with them, especially since I’m already behind on NaNoWriMo after spending two days travelling for my grandma’s birthday and another day that was devoted simply to reading the last 500 pages of Deathly Hallows. Not sorry about it. Not at all.
Updated November TBR: Definitely Reading: Harry Potter (7): Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Completed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – 25% finished FB&WTFT (1): Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Still on Pre-Order Big Magic – Just started 2016 Best American Travel Writing – This is my read-on-the-train book. Quite good so far! Ebenezer Scrooge Mysteries (1): The Humbug Murders
Hopefully Reading: You Are A Badass Present Over Perfect Pretty Happy
December TBR: Definitely Reading: Thrive The Boston Girl The Keepers (1): A Wizard Named Nell Lois Lane (1): Fallout TH&TC (1): The Hammer and the Cross TH&TC (2): One King’s Way
Hopefully Reading: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Manage Your Day-To-Day Explorer’s Guild G (1): A Passage to Shambala (~300 pages left!)
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