As predicted, yesterday was a killer. Our "Korean adventure" was pretty good (though the documentary - 10 interminable minutes, the whole film in Korean (!!) - and debate were pretty mindnumbing, it has to be said). The Koreans we met at the church place were great (except when they kept asking me about my faith - I don't want to lie, but I feel bad saying I'm a total non-believer, especially as they're all so enthusiastic) and our guest, Kan-won, was very nice: he seemed pleased to have been here and didn't make any horrified comments about the state of our flat (we did tidy up a fair amount, but it's still a terrible mess). The girls had fun, he taught C how to write her name in Korean, we took photos, exchanged addresses and stayed up far too late (2 am).
D and I had to be up at 7 to get breakfast ready so that D could get Kan-won back to the Theology University by 8.30. Of course, despite going to bed at midnight, C was up by 8, making it hard for me to go back to bed, but by 9.30 I couldn't take it any more, so D and I both went back to bed, where I slept heavily (and blissfully).
Spent the afternoon at the park with D and the girls, then supervised C doing her homework, then all the usual evening stuff.
All that to say that I got no work done till this evening, and am now very behind in my novel... And I'm still tired beyond belief.
But I'm really going to try and get my act together tomorrow night....
jeudi 12 novembre 2009
mardi 10 novembre 2009
Getting there
I feel like I've spent the whole day putting my coat and shoes on, rushing off somewhere, rushing back and repeating the whole shebang...
The "main event" hasn't actually happened yet - I'm just about to set off to pick up C and then take her all the way across the city for the buffet supper (that we'll have missed - D and L had better have saved us something to eat!) before bringing our Korean chum home.
Not very reassuring is the news on AOL UK today that North and South Korean warships have been firing at each other... War may be imminent and here we are, harbouring a Korean national in our midst... Sounds like something from a film...
Still, I got my administrative guff sorted out (more or less - still have one set to do, but I have until 18 November so I'm ignoring it for now) and we tidied up a little, so we're more or less done.
I even managed to get some of my novel done today, though not much, so I'm now behind again. I'm going to try and catch up tomorrow.
Wish me luck for the rest of this hectic, frenetic day!
The "main event" hasn't actually happened yet - I'm just about to set off to pick up C and then take her all the way across the city for the buffet supper (that we'll have missed - D and L had better have saved us something to eat!) before bringing our Korean chum home.
Not very reassuring is the news on AOL UK today that North and South Korean warships have been firing at each other... War may be imminent and here we are, harbouring a Korean national in our midst... Sounds like something from a film...
Still, I got my administrative guff sorted out (more or less - still have one set to do, but I have until 18 November so I'm ignoring it for now) and we tidied up a little, so we're more or less done.
I even managed to get some of my novel done today, though not much, so I'm now behind again. I'm going to try and catch up tomorrow.
Wish me luck for the rest of this hectic, frenetic day!
Tuesday
Let's just say, tomorrow promises to be a total zinger of a day. I have a lot on my plate:
I have to catch up with my NaNoWriMo word count which, given that I've done bugger all today, will be way behind. I also have invoices and stuff to do.
I have to go to my "local" tax office (which isn't the one near where I live - a ten minute walk - oh, no, that would be far too practical. My "local" tax office is right on the other side of town, about 45 minutes away by tramway, bearing in mind my nearest tramstation is already a ten minute walk, so in all, we're talking almost 2 hours just for the journey) to pick up a certificate that proves that I have to pay "professional tax". I need this for the mindless paperwork at the university where I teach and if I don't get it, and all the other guff that goes with it (photocopies of my last three tax returns, of my passport, my social security card, my bank details...), handed in before Thursday (which basically means tomorrow because Wednesday is a public holiday and the university will, of course, be closed) I won't get paid in March-April (for classes I teach between September and December) but in August. Crap system? You bet.
I'll probably also have to go to the other university too, which will need basically the same forms. *sigh*
Then, I have to make a quiche (or something similar), tidy the flat (again), change sheets (putting ours on the sofa, clean ones on our bed), bla, bla, go pick up L from her dance class at 6, bring her home, hang out together for half an hour and then drag her to C's circus class to pick her up and take them to the Paillade (where I have to go in the morning - so, 45 minutes away) for some Protestant thing for a South Korean delegation that's visiting. We'll probably arrive too late for the buffet supper (supposedly at 7, we won't be there till nearer 8) but will have time to sit through speeches, a documentary about Korean Protestants and a debate (this will be the BEST FUN with a tired 5 and a half year old and a tired nearly 8 year old) before coming home with D (in the car, thankfully) and one of the Korean delegation who'll be spending the night with us. Just to drive the point home: D and C and L are baptised Protestants. Me, I'm NOT. I'm pretty much agnostic. So this whole evening this sounds like torture to me. I've got nothing against welcoming the Korean guy, but I could do without having to drag the girls all the way across the city at night...
I am not looking forward to tomorrow. Especially as it's nearly 2 am and I still have a few hundred words to write on my "novel".
It's a hard life, it really is...
I have to catch up with my NaNoWriMo word count which, given that I've done bugger all today, will be way behind. I also have invoices and stuff to do.
I have to go to my "local" tax office (which isn't the one near where I live - a ten minute walk - oh, no, that would be far too practical. My "local" tax office is right on the other side of town, about 45 minutes away by tramway, bearing in mind my nearest tramstation is already a ten minute walk, so in all, we're talking almost 2 hours just for the journey) to pick up a certificate that proves that I have to pay "professional tax". I need this for the mindless paperwork at the university where I teach and if I don't get it, and all the other guff that goes with it (photocopies of my last three tax returns, of my passport, my social security card, my bank details...), handed in before Thursday (which basically means tomorrow because Wednesday is a public holiday and the university will, of course, be closed) I won't get paid in March-April (for classes I teach between September and December) but in August. Crap system? You bet.
I'll probably also have to go to the other university too, which will need basically the same forms. *sigh*
Then, I have to make a quiche (or something similar), tidy the flat (again), change sheets (putting ours on the sofa, clean ones on our bed), bla, bla, go pick up L from her dance class at 6, bring her home, hang out together for half an hour and then drag her to C's circus class to pick her up and take them to the Paillade (where I have to go in the morning - so, 45 minutes away) for some Protestant thing for a South Korean delegation that's visiting. We'll probably arrive too late for the buffet supper (supposedly at 7, we won't be there till nearer 8) but will have time to sit through speeches, a documentary about Korean Protestants and a debate (this will be the BEST FUN with a tired 5 and a half year old and a tired nearly 8 year old) before coming home with D (in the car, thankfully) and one of the Korean delegation who'll be spending the night with us. Just to drive the point home: D and C and L are baptised Protestants. Me, I'm NOT. I'm pretty much agnostic. So this whole evening this sounds like torture to me. I've got nothing against welcoming the Korean guy, but I could do without having to drag the girls all the way across the city at night...
I am not looking forward to tomorrow. Especially as it's nearly 2 am and I still have a few hundred words to write on my "novel".
It's a hard life, it really is...
dimanche 8 novembre 2009
Christmas is coming...
...And I just love buying Christmas presents! In fact, I enjoy buying them even more than I enjoy receiving them!
I love the whole thing: choosing, buying, hiding, wrapping, putting under the tree...
This year, despite dire finances, I've already done quite a bit and I know what I'm getting for just about everyone. This evening, I bought L's Playmobil vet's surgery and now have just about everything for both girls (just need to get High School Musical DVDs for C, a couple of really little things and, of course, her birthday present). I've got all my Christmas cards (though obviously I haven't actually written or sent any yet) and I'm itching to get the tree and Advent Calendars up...
It's weird, as a (biggish) kid, I hated Christmas because I was an only child, surrounded by adults who, in the main, didn't get on with each other very well.
Now, I really look forward to it, simply because my beautiful girls look forward to it so much! We've been listening to Christmas carols, too, so they can learn them (they don't seem to have such things here in France, apart from "Il est né le divin enfant...").
It's all so exciting, plus this year we're going away, which should be good! Is it silly or childish to be so excited?!
I love the whole thing: choosing, buying, hiding, wrapping, putting under the tree...
This year, despite dire finances, I've already done quite a bit and I know what I'm getting for just about everyone. This evening, I bought L's Playmobil vet's surgery and now have just about everything for both girls (just need to get High School Musical DVDs for C, a couple of really little things and, of course, her birthday present). I've got all my Christmas cards (though obviously I haven't actually written or sent any yet) and I'm itching to get the tree and Advent Calendars up...
It's weird, as a (biggish) kid, I hated Christmas because I was an only child, surrounded by adults who, in the main, didn't get on with each other very well.
Now, I really look forward to it, simply because my beautiful girls look forward to it so much! We've been listening to Christmas carols, too, so they can learn them (they don't seem to have such things here in France, apart from "Il est né le divin enfant...").
It's all so exciting, plus this year we're going away, which should be good! Is it silly or childish to be so excited?!
Progress
I've officially "caught up" with myself for NaNoWriMo - I'm slightly over the basic minimum wordcount (about 12,000 this evening, and after 7 days the minimum is 11,667). It's actually quite exhilarating, producing all these words and all of them being my own, not just the translation of someone else's.
I'm not saying my "novel" is any good, or anything (though who doesn't dream of writing the next best seller?), and I don't have the least idea what to do with it once I've finished it (assuming I do finish it, and I really am giving it my best shot), but if I manage to get this story down on paper in a way that satisfies me, I'll be unspeakably proud of myself.
Did pretty much bugger all today (apart from write my 3,000 words, but that didn't take long). Got up late, faffed around, played games with L all afternoon, went back to bed for an hour. I lead a fascinating life.
Did one of my favourite vegetables tonight though: roast parsnips (thank you Delia for the recipe, which of course worked perfectly, though sorry, can't find it on line: it's from her first, basic cook book and is dead easy). Oh, they were all crunchy and chewy and yummy. And, best of all, the girls wouldn't touch them, so all the more for me!
OK, I'm going to try and write a bit more tonight (I should be working, of course, but can't be arsed, and this "novel" is obsessing me!) and then try and be in bed before 4 am!
I'm not saying my "novel" is any good, or anything (though who doesn't dream of writing the next best seller?), and I don't have the least idea what to do with it once I've finished it (assuming I do finish it, and I really am giving it my best shot), but if I manage to get this story down on paper in a way that satisfies me, I'll be unspeakably proud of myself.
Did pretty much bugger all today (apart from write my 3,000 words, but that didn't take long). Got up late, faffed around, played games with L all afternoon, went back to bed for an hour. I lead a fascinating life.
Did one of my favourite vegetables tonight though: roast parsnips (thank you Delia for the recipe, which of course worked perfectly, though sorry, can't find it on line: it's from her first, basic cook book and is dead easy). Oh, they were all crunchy and chewy and yummy. And, best of all, the girls wouldn't touch them, so all the more for me!
OK, I'm going to try and write a bit more tonight (I should be working, of course, but can't be arsed, and this "novel" is obsessing me!) and then try and be in bed before 4 am!
samedi 7 novembre 2009
Novel-ty
Yeah, so NaNoWriMo. It's hard. It's hard to find the time (and the ideas) for 50,000 words, when your "real job" is... errrr... typing words (though other people's) all day. And yes, I'm pretty far behind already - the end of Day 6 is supposed to be at least 10,000 words and so far I'm at just under 7,000. I'm planning on adding a bit more tonight, but it's not going to be easy.
That said, I think the story's OK, and it isn't just "any old crap", it's a story that's been wandering around my brain for months now.
And can you imagine the pride I'll feel, assuming I do actually finish this thing? I'm having trouble imagining how I'm going to fill up the rest of the word count (43,000 words to go!), but I have my ideas. I don't have an ending yet, but I'm working on it. I'm even starting to dream about this "novel". Well, dream about this "novel" and Playmobils - L somehow got hold of the Playmobil catalogue and has been talking about how much she'd love the vet's surgery - or, no, the pirate treasure island, or, no, the circus set, or perhaps the Egyptian pyramid... At least I know sort of what to get her for Christmas now!
OK, back to the storytelling... Another 3,000 words tonight, and I'll be laughing...
vendredi 6 novembre 2009
Conundrum
I read a lot of blogs. Really, a lot. I probably have about 50 or 60 in my "Favourites" file, though I don't read all of them every day (for one thing, many people don't post every day). But still, I read a lot of blogs.
Most of these blogs are written by parents. They're not necessarily "mommy bloggers" or "daddy bloggers", but most are parents all the same. And most are also in North America somewhere - the US is well represented, from Alaska to Florida, from California to Vermont, via Kansas, Missouri and more. There's also Canada - Montreal, Toronto, Alberta. There are also a couple from Australia.
So what's the conundrum?
Well.
From what I can gather, North American kids seem to come down with "barfing flu" type things ALL. THE. TIME. Nearly every blogger has written about cleaning up their kids' barf (or their own, even). And they get these ghastly bugs with unbelievable regularity. One of my favourite bloggers, Linda, has two kids and they've been passing round some bug or other for weeks now.
I just don't get it. Apart from when C and L were babies (when they barfed - particularly L - every day, but that was a valve problem, not an illness), I can't remember a single time either of them has ever had anything that could be referred to as "barfing flu". And the same is true for their friends, most of the time. Kids in general around us are rarely off school, no one's warned me of any vicious bugs going round... It just doesn't seem to happen here.
Is there something "barfing flu-producing" in North American food, water, air? Is there something that protects us against it here in France? I really don't know. Obviously, I don't know these bloggers personally, but most of them seem to have pretty healthy lifestyles, so it's not like they spend their time eating fast food, lighting up cigarettes all day and knocking back litres of alcohol... (not as far as I can tell, anyway). But their kids seem to be ill horrendously often, whereas mine really aren't. We get the odd high temperature, the odd cold, the odd hacking cough, but it's rarely enough to stay off school or even call the doctor.
Maybe I'm just remarkably lucky (though, as I said, other kids I know aren't ill any more often as far as I can tell), maybe it was all that formula milk (ha! who sez brest-is-best?!!!), I don't know, and I can't explain it. Even more weird is the case of an American blogger, Betsy (and her English husband) who have moved to France for a year with their two little girls. Who have been ill virtually non stop (at least one of them, taking turns apparently) since September.
I just don't get it.
But boy, am I glad!
Most of these blogs are written by parents. They're not necessarily "mommy bloggers" or "daddy bloggers", but most are parents all the same. And most are also in North America somewhere - the US is well represented, from Alaska to Florida, from California to Vermont, via Kansas, Missouri and more. There's also Canada - Montreal, Toronto, Alberta. There are also a couple from Australia.
So what's the conundrum?
Well.
From what I can gather, North American kids seem to come down with "barfing flu" type things ALL. THE. TIME. Nearly every blogger has written about cleaning up their kids' barf (or their own, even). And they get these ghastly bugs with unbelievable regularity. One of my favourite bloggers, Linda, has two kids and they've been passing round some bug or other for weeks now.
I just don't get it. Apart from when C and L were babies (when they barfed - particularly L - every day, but that was a valve problem, not an illness), I can't remember a single time either of them has ever had anything that could be referred to as "barfing flu". And the same is true for their friends, most of the time. Kids in general around us are rarely off school, no one's warned me of any vicious bugs going round... It just doesn't seem to happen here.
Is there something "barfing flu-producing" in North American food, water, air? Is there something that protects us against it here in France? I really don't know. Obviously, I don't know these bloggers personally, but most of them seem to have pretty healthy lifestyles, so it's not like they spend their time eating fast food, lighting up cigarettes all day and knocking back litres of alcohol... (not as far as I can tell, anyway). But their kids seem to be ill horrendously often, whereas mine really aren't. We get the odd high temperature, the odd cold, the odd hacking cough, but it's rarely enough to stay off school or even call the doctor.
Maybe I'm just remarkably lucky (though, as I said, other kids I know aren't ill any more often as far as I can tell), maybe it was all that formula milk (ha! who sez brest-is-best?!!!), I don't know, and I can't explain it. Even more weird is the case of an American blogger, Betsy (and her English husband) who have moved to France for a year with their two little girls. Who have been ill virtually non stop (at least one of them, taking turns apparently) since September.
I just don't get it.
But boy, am I glad!
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