Smarter Than the Average Squirrel

 angel_negra asked if doing this meme was a good idea. And overall, I'd have to say yes. It's given me the opportunity to think about and post about some interesting topics. And hey, if I somehow contributed to the existence of more Ji/Jayden's dad fic in the universe, that is an unexpected but welcome bonus.

I'm a bit annoyed with myself for not managing to post every day, but as I had mentioned before, there's been some recent medical weirdness that's rather nerfed my motivation on some of the days in question. 

(Relatedly, if you are prone to spine-related shenanigans, I would NOT recommend attempting Couch to 5k, as I'm pretty sure attempting to force my weirdly built body to run is how I have fucked up my neck. End PSA.)

But all whining aside, since I didn't get to all the topics this month, the only logical thing to do is continue. Maybe something like one post per week, or whenever I get bored. 

On a lark, I went back and re-read all the NaNo related posts I made back when I had my first go-round in 2008. And I discovered two things.

1) This is proving to be MUCH easier than last time.
2) Wow, I was a whiny bitch.

So yeah. As of the end of day 9, my total word count is sitting pretty at 17209. I participated in NaNoThon today with great success, coming in with a daily total of 3665 words. I have also realized that there is no possible way I'm going to get to the end of the plot by the end of this month. Not sure yet if I'm going to continue writing into December, or shelve it for a few months and write the rest come Camp NaNo time in the spring. I figure I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Highlights of the month so far include:
- A one-off line about a character's ratty old sandals which I suspect is going to turn into a running gag.
- My personal favorite character and resident giant woob rushing in to save his future boyfriend from certain death whilst wielding the infamous Traveling Shovel of Death.
- Throwing my protagonist off a building only to find out that, surprise, her super-suit has WINGS.
- Writing a scene and realizing after the fact that I have just unintentionally foreshadowed the end of the novel.

And low points:
- A day during which I wrote next to nothing due to working for over 14 straight hours. I love my second job, and I love the extra money, but I'm going to be ruing Mondays for the rest of the month.
- The constant, nagging feeling that 90 to 95% of everything that I've written thus far is complete and utter shit.

Two things learned from the weekend:

1) Don't go to gaming cons when you're not a gamer.
2) Nerds throw the best parties.

Basically, the entire reason this happened was because a very old and presently Boston-dwelling friend of mine decided to gift the Yeti and I PAX passes for Christmas and offered up her house for us to crash at. To make a long story short: Biggest fucking con ever. HORDES of nerds the likes of which I've never seen before. Custom-painting D&D minis and playing vintage arcade games = fun. Burning all my spoons by hustling through crowds and hanging around with a bunch of people I don't know = tiring. And as I said, I'm not a gamer, so a lot of what was going on didn't hold my interest. Xyc entered a Magic: The Gathering tournament and had a blast, though, so I suppose overall it was a worthwhile endeavor. And then there was a spectacularly bitchin' afterparty that involved a disco basement, the worst video games I've ever seen, horse masks, giant foam hands, cornhole, guys rubbing butts, obscure British drinking games, a booty-drop competition, and me being a classy mofo by not only killing an entire bottle of cheap terrible wine by myself, but also drinking said wine out of a red Solo cup.

Nerds definitely throw the best parties. And speaking of...next stop, COUCHCON!!!! Cannot freaking wait!

This didn't end up being quite the marathon I had hoped it would be, as today was for some reason a lot less pain and a lot more sleeping. So after nodding off a few times, I gave up on watching anything that needed my actual attention and put the Food Network on instead. Oh well. It's still much more of this series than I've ever seen before.

Pain Level: 2.5
Number of Hydrocodones Consumed: Only 1!
Overall Entertainment Level: 5.5

Comments: This is one of those shows in which I care a lot more about the characters than I do about the premise of the show itself. Chasing demons? Don't care. Wiseass banter? Yes please. I didn't get nearly far enough to see Castiel either, and I'd like to give that a shot just to see what all the fuss is about. So how about it, flist? What are some episodes with him in them that I can watch without being too hideously confused about what's going on?

Overall, still fairly baffled by the amount of enthusiasm people have for this show, but I can see the appeal of writing All The Fic about these characters.

TL;DR, surgery day went way better than I expected it would.

( But details are under the cut, if anyone cares )

So yeah, that's my story. Minus one nonvital organ, plus a few internal clips and officially on the mend. Next on the agenda: Amusing myself with some of the things people recced for me, likely to be followed by some "Pocky watches things on pain meds" review posts.