Deep Thinking

I started laughing quietly to myself in Bible Study this morning because I just figured out after all these years that Deep Thought from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is supposed to be a mechanical version of John the Baptist. How slow am I?

A Twist for Who

I just saw the new Doctor Who episode Waters of Mars. Strange little twist. The story itself was nothing special for Who standards, but it also plays on the theme that the Doctor has a theory that there are some points in time that are fixed. It also sets up for the double episode grand finale. There's a teaser trailer at the end. All sorts of people from the previous episodes including John Simm with white hair.

Trailer for THE END OF TIME episode:

Happy Thanksgiving!

My first Thanksgiving in New York City!

Debbie's first turkey, which was awesome.

He's actually caught smiling on camera?!

The kids.

Birthday girls.

Birthday song

Blowing out candle

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!

ps. For anyone following my novel on National Novel Writing Month, you can read my chapter 7 if you click here.

New favorite show

Why have I not heard of Black Books? I went Christmas shopping and saw it on the discount rack. Three seasons of it. Reasons why I knew it would be good:

1. It's about people working in a bookshop
2. It's British.
3. It stars Bill Bailey.
4. It was created by (and stars) Dylan Moran.

Also, there are a lot of famous cameos like Simon Pegg, Martin Freeman, Nick Frost, Peter Serafinowicz etc. I've also seen the woman on Doctor Who.


I'm watching it on YouTube. You want to see the first episode?
Part One
Part Two
Part three

Commute from Hell

List of annoyances getting home Monday night:

1. Small delay at Howard Beach due to the bridge going up.

2. The bridge getting stuck. They had to send out mechanics. Longer delay.

3. The train giving up and going out of service, kicking everyone out.

4. Taxis cost $11 up front. Forget that. I wandered around until I found a bus stop.

5. Missed the bus by 30 seconds.

6. The bus was really crowded because all the people from the trains were getting on it.

7. Got home an hour late.

It was weird being stuck on that train with all those people calling their loved ones. One lady was screaming into the phone DON'T CALL ANYONE! DON'T CALL ANYONE 'TIL I GET HOME! and another guy was complaining about how he couldn't step out for a smoke. I high-tailed it to the bus stop, following hopstop on my phone in the dark (this was 7:30pm) until I found out I was by my church and got to the bus I take on Sundays. A lady showed up in a cab and recognized me from the train. We got to chatting and more and more people from the train started showing up. Finally the bus came. Thankfully, we fit even though we had to stand. After that, the bus went by tons of people without stopping because there was just no room.




I got three job rejections last night, just to top it off. But the good news is that I only had to work two days this week (even though I would have happily worked tomorrow for the extra money).

Friday in the city

This Friday, I got to hang out with Katie! She's my London flatmate who I haven't seen in over a year. She had an interview at her dream job, so I really hope she gets it. Plus, we could hang out more if she was working in New York.

We chatted at Starbucks for a couple hours and met her friend Brenna at a Dominican restaurant. Katie ordered first, then I ordered the seafood soup, then Brenna asked if their soups were any good. Our waiter said "The chicken, yes." And I was like "Wait! What about the seafood soup?" And he said, "No." Most honest waiter ever.

Then they gave me an empty bowl with a shell cracker in it. What kind of soup is this?!

It was a veggie brothy soup with a whole lobster hand in it that I had to crack open. Very weird. There were some other animals in it like snails and unidentifiable ones. But it tasted good. What a strange restaurant experience.

It was awesome catching up with Katie. I hope we can do it again soon. We are both looking for jobs in publishing, she in magazines and me in books.



Moon

I saw the episode of Carpool (llewtube.com) with Duncan Jones, David Bowie's kid, who directed Moon with Sam Rockwell. They showed a clip from the movie. I kind of want to see it now.







NaNoWriMo chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

10 randomz on thurzday

1. First off, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes.
And secondly, happy birthday to Uncle Mike while we're on the subject.

2. I was supposed to go to a meeting tonight, but I got lost so I went home. This is why I don't make friends in the city. I'm lazy and directionally challenged.

3. Chapter 5:
http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/40262.html

4. The book A Time For Everything came in today. This is an amazing book and you should read it if you have the patience for 500 pages and lots of tangents. But well worth it.

5. For my birthday, I went to work where I went to my favorite place, the post office, had Quiznos for lunch, and met Leonard Bernstein's daughter.

6. I don't know if this link will work, but I'll fix it later if it doesn't. Whoever came up with this idea is brilliant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H000bC3V5AU

I think I should do a post talking about all the wonderful things people are using YouTube for like saving lives through charity and creative little things like this and starting businesses. Granted most people just go to YouTube to watching things like David After the Dentist, but there are intelligent and creative people using it as well.

7. I now have loads of awesome new music thanks to Katie. Hopefully I will meet up with her in the city tomorrow. It's been over a year.

8. Anyone heard of Tim Dorsey? His books look funny. Maybe I ought to give it a try. Read the review for Nuclear Jellyfish. Apparently there's a whole series.

9. I have new ideas for stories, but I'm saving them until December when I'm done with my NaNoWriMo novel. Anyone besides Nicole read any? Impressions? The story ideas are exciting. Most seem to come from eavesdropping on people at work. One is bad b/c it was one of those dreams that sound brilliant at 2 in the morning until you try to read your scribbles after you get up.

10. Should my blog look more professional now that I'm applying to jobs? Does H R look at blogs? I hope they at least look at my website. I work hard to keep it updated. If you're a job recruiter, leave a note in comments.

J

22 Accomplishments

Today is my birthday, so I thought I'd look back on the previous year by listing 22 accomplishments of being 22.

1. I got a grant with which I hired an editor for my book.
2. I went to the most amazing retreat ever with JCV.
3. I put on 4 shows: Junebug, Gaelic Strom, Teada, and Ragamala
4. I became English Club VP and hosted open mic night
5. I completed a large scale art project about Ray Bradbury and presented it to my drawing class
6. I created the ENG Club tshirt.
7. I presented a story at Creative Writing Night.
8. I presented at a local and a national conference for undergard research.
9. I got paid to create a website for the band Senor Bop.
10. I started a fictional travel blog.
11. I recorded a couple episodes of a new podcast.
12. I graduated college
13. I wrote 8 short stories.
14. I moved to New York City.
15. I was accepted to and graduated from NYU. My group won second place in book publishing.
16. Found a place to live on the beach and made friends with great housemates.
17. Got 2 internships in publishing.
18. Found a new church and Bible study.
19. Went to Philadelphia.
20. Went to tons of great shows including Carnegie Hall.
21. Met lots of famous people including Spike Lee, Alan Tudyk, Loudon Wainwright, Augustana, to name a few.
22. Started a novel for NaNoWriMo.

J

Podcast and Ch. 4

Soon is a relative term, so don't get too excited just yet. I am busy writing a novel, after all. Not to mention job searching.

Speaking of the novel, check out chapter 4. Sorry, I don't know what's gone wrong with the formatting. Darn indents.

CHAPTER 4

NaNoWriMo Chapter 3

Chapter 3