1142

Going for a walk every afternoon is really starting to do me some good.

This is basically the route I take around my street and the neighbouring one every afternoon:

I start at my driveway (which, in the picture, is situated around the middle of ‘Noble’), walk down to #8 (point A/D), cross the road to #41, walk up to the end of Digby Close (point B), down and around to #73 (point C), then back to my driveway. It’s about 0.7 kilometres according to Google Maps, but I think I’m going to need to buy a pedometer to find out exactly how far I walk in one circuit. In half an hour I can make 4 circuits of my route, so all up that’s around 2.8km a day. In a week, if I don’t miss any days, I walk 19.6km. Admittedly, it isn’t much, considering that when I was 10 I walked from Fitzroy Falls Conference Centre to Morton National Park and back in the one afternoon, and that’s a 9.4km round trip, but it’s pretty good when you take into account that I’ve done barely any exercise in the past six years.

But anyway. I don’t own a set of bathroom scales (though I’m rather tempted to fork out for a set – I’ll be buying some for my new house anyway), so I have no idea how much I weigh, but I think I’m already starting to lose a few kilos. 😀 I’m starting to look thinner, and I keep having to yank my favourite jeans up where they’re supposed to be because they keep falling down. Watching what I eat helps a lot too.

I think that if I keep this up, I’ll be somewhat thinner than I am now by my birthday. That’ll be a nice birthday pressie for myself.

And Simple Plan are currently on So You Think You Can Dance! 😀 I had no idea they were even in Australia…

1141

It is pissing down and storming outside – which means that I didn’t get to go for my walk today. Yesterday I didn’t go because I was busy with uni stuff. Hopefully it won’t be raining tomorrow, because I don’t have a raincoat and I don’t particularly want to get wet. 😐

I did go shopping, though. I wanted to buy a new pair of sandals and some singlet tops – didn’t manage either. I’m probably going to go to Warrawong sometime next week, though – I’m going to have a squiz around Big W while I’m there. And while I didn’t buy what I’d planned on, I did pick up a few other things:

• Futurama: Bender’s Big Score on DVD
• Pictures Of You by The Last Goodnight
• Dreaming Out Loud by OneRepublic

Plus I picked up a few things at Woolies on the way home (including a tub of yummy mango sorbet). Providing I spend my remaining couple hundred dollars wisely, and I withdraw the $130 I have left in my bank account in a bit more than a week, I’ll have a decent amount of spending money for the Easter Show. 😀 I already have $205 squirrelled away, and Mum reckons it’s more than enough, but I never know what I’m going to buy while I’m there. My showbags are going to cost me over $100 as it is…

1140

I think I’ve finally figured out what my main problem with my novel is. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I’ve been working on it for five years.

I never worked out an outline for it.

While I know what happens, because I’ve written so many drafts and off-shoots since 2003 that it’s easy to slot scenes into the general story, I’ve rewritten and reworked my novel so many times that I no longer have a concrete idea of the chapter in which each event takes place. It’s especially problematic because I have more or less written the last three chapters, but I don’t know their chapter numbers. I only know that the main plot concludes in December 2006 (it’s coming full circle, so to speak), with the epilogue to be taking place in March 2007.

So that’s what I’m doing now (and yes, I know I should be sleeping). I’m going through November Rain, October Grey, Angel and Never To Leave Me, figuring out where each event slots into the new storyline, and working up my outline. Hopefully, once I’m done at the end of this year, I’ll be able to write a workable synopsis. Emphasis on ‘hopefully’ – I’ve never been very good at synopses. It remains to be seen if I actually manage it…

Moving Post #1

So I’m finally starting to make a list of things I know I’m going to need for my new place. Moving out is more than 2 and a half years away – basically, I want to have found a place by the middle of December 2010 – but it’s best to get my act together early. I really don’t want to be in the position my brother and his fiancee were in when they moved in together – when they got their own place, they had nothing to begin with. If I start getting bits and pieces together now, I’ll likely have absolutely everything I could need by the time I up stumps.

I’ve also made a list of where I’d ideally like to live. I have my heart set on the Shoalhaven – it’s wonderful down there. My family used to go down there on holiday every summer up until a few years ago. Though that’s not the only reason I want to live there. The other, more practical reason is that there is a lot of work down there. Part of my agreement with Centrelink is that I look for ten jobs a fortnight, and I’ve seen many job ads for work down that way. It’s not viable for me to be working down there right now, as public transport past Kiama is very patchy. I’m going to need a car and my licence to be able to get a job down that way. I plan to be on my P-plates by Christmas this year – if I get moving on it, I can be off my L’s by October.

Following are various lists – why I want to leave home (although I’ve previously posted why), places I’d like to live, things I know I need to buy, things I already have, and things I’d like but aren’t absolutely essential.

1138

SUPERNATURAL GOT RENEWED! 😀

Evidently I am very excited right now. I get to gaze upon my favourite fictional brothers for at least another season. *is very happy*

I’m starting to put together a list of things I need for my ‘glory box’ (which will essentially be 3, maybe 4 big plastic storage containers that I’ll be filling with things like pots and pans), in preparation for making my big move. Basically, I want to have a place down the coast all ready to go by Christmas 2010, spend one last Christmas at home, and then in early January 2011 I’ll hopefully be gone. The fact that I’ll be 26 by the time I’ve left home is slightly depressing, considering my brother moved out when he was eighteen.

Uni is going well so far. I spent two full hours yesterday making my own notes about what I’ll be doing in my unit, and today I’m going to download and listen to this week’s lecture and make notes on that. Not to mention that there’s one more book I need to buy – Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. Murdoch’s bookshop has it for $36.95, which is pretty good for a 948-page academic dictionary. Dymocks wants $39.95 – again, pretty good.

Angus & Robertson wants $75.

No prizes for guessing who’ll be getting my money 😉 I’m going to email Dymocks Wollongong to ask if they have it in stock – if not, I’ll ask if I could place an order for it.

Speaking of Supernatural, it sort of freaked me out last night. I really felt for Sam – having to watch Dean die over and over again had to be horrible for him. I swear, though, when it cut to ‘six months later’, he was channelling John on his search for the Trickster. That Trickster is a sneaky bastard.

Mum watched SPN too, by the way. 😀 I think she liked it.

1137

I can’t fucking win. Honestly.

I went out to Fernwood this morning. Almost the first thing they did after I got there and had been sitting around reading for a little while was check my blood pressure – which is high. Not entirely surprising because I’m carrying more weight than what’s good for me, but still shocking. They want me to go see a doctor to make sure it’s safe for me to do gym workouts. It’s a catch-22, though – any decent doctor would tell me to lose weight if I want my blood pressure to drop, and yet that’s exactly what I’m trying to do!

I think I’m going to leave it for a little while. I doubt they’ll want me to come back until I’ve gotten myself checked out, and I’m not going anywhere near a doctor anytime soon. I’m going to start walking up and down my street for half an hour each day while I’m doing my uni stuff – the plan is to take a break after about an hour, go for a walk, then come back and hit the books again. Once I’ve lost a bit of weight I’ll try again.

1136

Today’s the big day. 😀

I start university today. And the one and only annoying thing about it is that my first unit’s exam is TWO DAYS BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY! Which means that while I’m celebrating turning 24, I’m going to be freaking out about how I did in my exam.

I’m also going to be going to Fernwood this morning for the first day of their beginner’s week. I went out to Shellharbour yesterday and bought some new workout clothes – if I decide not to sign up as a paying customer, at least I still have some decent clothes I can wear. And get this – the pants I bought are a size 16! 😀 I can’t remember the last time I could fit into a size 16.

And after I come home and have my lunch (and check email, of course), I’ll be hitting the books for a couple of hours. My first assessments are due on the 14th (i.e. next Friday) at 4pm Perth time (6pm my time), but there is no way I’m leaving them until the last minute. I’m not stupid. Besides, I want to get them done early so that all I need to do on Friday is submit them, in time for the footy to start 😉

I’ve also started saving up for the Easter Show. At the moment I have $200 saved – I only need $148 ($32 for my ticket, $116 for my showbags), but I usually end up doing a fair bit of shopping as well. Odds are I’ll end up with more than $300 (this is if I keep to my usual withdrawal ‘schedule’), so any money I don’t spend will go toward my new laptop. 🙂 I estimate that if I start saving on the third of April, I will have enough money for the laptop I want by the end of August. Let’s hope I have enough willpower to save up for it…

1135

Remember the video I recorded at my Formal? Well, here’s another one. 🙂 I figured it was about time I whored myself out on film. 😉

I probably ought to note that me saying I would make this video months ago is referring to a post of mine on another site that shall not be named (mostly because it’s private and I’m not really supposed to go spreading the link to it everywhere). So just ignore that bit. 🙂

The video

1134

I honestly never realised how difficult it is to find work. Especially when you don’t have experience. 😐

I have to put my forms in at Centrelink on Tuesday. This time two weeks ago, I’d already filled my job quota for my first fortnight. At the moment, I’ve only found four jobs that I can do. For everything else I’ve looked at, you need experience, a driver’s licence, to be a junior or to be ‘mature’. I need to apply for six more jobs by Sunday, otherwise I won’t be paid next week.

Not to mention that Centrelink sent me forms that apparently should have been put in nearly a month ago, and now I’m freaking out. When I went to finalise my claim (on February 4) I was told that I’d be paid on the 7th, no worries. I didn’t have to put any forms in or anything. I’m worried shitless that they’re going to demand that I pay back all the money I’ve been paid so far. I think I’m pretty damn justified in my worry – Mum is adamant that they’ve just made a mistake. So Mum and I are going to go into Shellharbour tomorrow, before my appointment at Fernwood, and ask what’s going on.

I’m starting to think that I’m going to need to move out a lot earlier than I originally planned to. There are so many jobs going down in the Shoalhaven that it’s not funny. ‘Course, my parents don’t want me to move down there, on account of all the ‘Abos’ in that area. Here’s what they don’t get. I’m not like them – I’m not racist. I don’t automatically think the worst of someone on the basis on their nationality or the colour of their skin. Personally, I think the only reason they don’t want me to leave the Illawarra is because they won’t have me around to show them how to work all the electronic gadgets we have in the house. They haven’t learned to work them because I’m still at home to show them how.

I think that, if I haven’t found a job by the end of this year, I’m going to make plans to shift down south. It’s so frustrating it’s unbelievable.

1132

Ashley has officially corrupted me beyond all help. 😀

I finally got to watch December Boys on Saturday. It was never released to cinemas in the Illawarra, which is so far beyond me it’s not funny. One would think that, Daniel Radcliffe being in HP and in December Boys, and there being fuckloads of HP fanatics in the Illawarra, cinema owners here would take advantage of it. So I had to rent it out. It’s pretty good – Dan’s Aussie accent isn’t very convincing at times, but overall I liked it.

However. It’s sparked off a Supernatural fic-bunny of sorts – wherein December Boys revolves around four boys, my fic would revolve around four girls. At this point, I’m considering girl!Sam (to be called Sami), human!Ruby, and Jessica – possibly Jo for the fourth girl. I’d borrow the same basic idea, but with a few tweaks. I’d set it in the US (probably in either the sixties or the seventies) for one. And for some reason, I want to call it Mayflowers – I know that Jessica was born in January, and Jo in April, but that’s the beauty of an AU. I can make up whatever the fuck I want! 😀 Therefore, all four girls would be born in May.

Why has corrupted me, you ask? Because this story would be quasi-Wincest. Dean and Sam would not be related, but it’s as close as I’m willing to get for now. I still baulk at the idea of writing Wincest, though I’m now quite happy to read it.

And speaking of Ashley, she wrote me a fucking fantastic SPN fic. Anyone who is interested can check it out here.

It’s far too late to be thinking about new stories now, though. I should be in bed…