The November jitters...

They're starting. Im my stomach, I feel the queasy, not-quite-comfortable murmurs that November begins soon. They weren't there yesterday. Yesterday, I was prepared, ready to take on anything. But today? Well, today's a different story.

For one, I am beginning to realize today how much I have to do this month. Sure, I had more last year, but last year I also had greater motivation. This year I have just enough classes that I need to work hard, but not enough hard classes that the classes themselves provide sufficient motivation. It's gotta come from within, and I feel like I've forgotten how to do that.

Also, I just realized that I have resolutions due by Friday for one of the two MUN conferences I'll be attending during the upcoming month. I obviously won't have time to write them once the month starts, so I'd like to get them done today. However, they are one of many things that I should probably complete today (if I want them to get done at all), and I don't want to write them because only one covers a topic I have discussed before. The other two will require something like actual research -- ew...

And I guess I'm nervous. Last year on the edge of November, I didn't know what I was getting into. This year, I most certainly do, and it's starting to scare me. I keep telling myself that it shouldn't, but it still does.

It's not that I don't want to do NaNoWriMo -- I've been looking forward to it for months! It's just that I'm a little afraid of how it will go for me this year, and there will be no assurances until the month is over.

Less nervous

Well, I managed to get two of the three resolutions for Tustin done. I actually found this awesome old resolution from a different conference 2 years ago on one of the same topics, and I ended up just using it as my resolution -- I'd totally forgotten I had it! And here I thought I'd have to go and do real research. I still have to spend some time on the third resolution, but thankfully it'll be less time than I thought.

Luke mentioned something a while ago about me always writing "sad lists" instead of happy ones. Well, Luke, hope these balance out all right for you.

Things I Have to Do:
--finish the last resolution for Tustin
--read Unit 2 of American Government by ?
--read Chemistry book Ch. 8 & 9
--do Chemistry lab
--make Chemistry flashcards on Ch. 8
--print out Ch. 8 homework answers (still Chem)
--do crumpled paper sketch for art
--perfect Spanish essay
--read more Faust
--perfect "emotion vs. reason" essay
--annotate 2 more articles for the election
--print out election notes
--write final essay for Princeton
--write final essay for UCs

Things I Want to Do:
--plan out more aliens for Kes to run into
--spiff up the cover picture I drew to the point where I actually feel it looks decent
--go to the library
--check out Beauty by Robin McKinley
--read the new John Moore book
--finish reading that one book about Maid Marian
--eat In 'N' Out
--teach Corinne how to use Dad's old Pocket PC
--browse around on the nanowrimo.org forums
--write my Christmas list
--put the finishing touches on my costume
--try on my new dress
--listen to Switchfoot's first album
--run in the rain (if the weather obliges)

See, Luke -- they're even.

Now I'm off to alternate between the lists until they're both done.

To those of you who know Mr. Vargish

Okay, so I'm getting together my costume for tomorrow, and it feels almost right...but there's something missing, and I don't know what. I'm pretty sure I've told most of you, but I'm dressing up as Mr. Vargish for this year. So far, my costume consists of:

--jeans that don't go quite long enough and therefore show my ankles
--a collared shirt
--a crew-neck sweatshirt worn over the collared shirt, so that the shirt collar sticks up
--brown socks (to match the shirt collar)
--Teva sandals
--white shell necklace
--pocket Constitution
--hippie glasses (unfortunately with purple lenses)

The sweatshirt's a Stanford one, so I have to fix that...I'll end up making a sign for it that says "Saddleback," if I find time tonight. But somehow, what with all the Vargishy things, I'm worried that no one will know who I'm supposed to be.

Help is greatly appreciated!

Noveling assistance?

With November creeping ever closer every day, I still need a little help with my story -- but it's help that you can give! Mostly, I have a few things that still need names and descriptions. To be precise, three alien species of mine are missing data, and I need to know the names of the colleges Kes applies to.

The Aliens

Feel free to fill in any of the blank stuff! If you happen to know of any alien friends who would be willing to lend their physiologies to my book, I would be highly grateful.


Name:
Planet:
Appearance: dragon-like; come in blue-green colors; not really big, but not really small, either (not McCaffrey dragons but not fire lizards)
Other: can’t communicate without vox (short for voicebox) implants; don’t breathe fire and get mad when people expect them to; carnivorous and predatory on their homeworld, though civilized enough when around other species; capable of flight, but not for sustained distances

Name:
Planet:
Appearance: these beings are created entirely out of energy (which does have mass, according to Einstein, so this is possible); they have transcended physical form (Web Shifters much?) and mostly keep to themselves; they are ridiculously intelligent and their homeworld is a technological dream, but their lack of a form means that they have a hard time communicating with other beings and thus their scientific discoveries are rarely shared with others.

Name: Daryyli
Planet: Bbek in the Daryyl System
Appearance:
Other: their native language makes use of lots and lots of consonant sounds and few vowels (doubled consonants indicate emphasis)

The Schools

Kes applies to 5 schools: a reach school, 3 mid-range schools, and an ultimate safety school (which happens to be her father's alma mater). All 5 schools need names currently. Also, I'm toying with Andromeda Academy as the name of her high school (it's a pretty prestigious prep school), but would it serve better as the name of one of the colleges? Input, input!

And Anything Else

Um...if you have any names to donate, I'd be appreciative. Also, if you were an 18-year-old girl who decided to run away because you didn't want to go to college, and you lived in a universe populated by all sorts of aliens, where would you want to go first?

Other than that, I'm going to start planning and wait for the words to start pouring down on me like the droplets of an all-too-welcome rain...