Nearly forgot to post this evening, I was so excited about hitting 34,280 words (did about 2,200 today, as well as translating over 2,000, so I'm pretty bug-eyed it has to be said).
Bullet points today, I'm afraid:
- L spent the afternoon with a friend and had fun, despite being tired and snarky all day. She really seems to feel that we're always telling her off; it's not true, but she will keep on doing the same stupid things (not sitting still at the table, not going for her bath even when she's been told about 15 times...), but still, she was so miserable this evening after D yelled at her for taking 25 minutes in the shower... Sometimes, she's just so little, my baby...
- C made me a beautiful "6-month-day" card to celebrate my half-birthday. It's really cute and I love it but oh, she put so much glue on it! I'm almost high from the fumes!
- Feel pretty crap today, don't know why. My tummy aches (though that might be from all the crap I eat) and I'm exhausted, but still have so much to do!
- Can feel my "novel" really taking shape, even though I'm pretty sure the writing's crap. But I'm still in awe of how much I've written already. I only have to write 1,300 words a day and I'll still be on target (I've been doing about 1,000 in 30 minutes recently). I'm very excited!
- Wish I could just find the time to get on with my Christmas preparations, though I'm glad I've already done a fair amount (though only for the girls, nothing for D, my father, my cousin and his wife or my MIL from hell...).
- Keep finding sad stories in the net and panicking. Empathy overload.
- Read Amalah's post for today and it made me feel old - I didn't understand the half of it! I've never "Twittered", I've only ever sent 2 SMS in my entire life, I barely understand the one mobile phone we have (D and I share it, though I rarely have it with me)... I'm not really a technophobe, but mobile phone stuff has totally passed me by...
- OK, that's it for tonight! Bedtime!
jeudi 19 novembre 2009
mardi 17 novembre 2009
Soup of the day
This evening, I feel very pleased with myself! I made soup tonight, "from scratch", using a recipe I found in December's "Glamour" magazine. And it was delicious!
Gently fry an onion till it goes transparent, then add 400 g of tinned tomatoes and mash it up a bit. When the mixture starts to simmer, add 250 ml of tepid water and 2 cooked chicken breasts (cut into smallish strips). Season with coriander and cumin (I had to use ready-to-use curry powder (it has coriander in it) as I had neither) and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Then add 400 g of rinsed and drained tinned chickpeas and simmer for a further 2 minutes.
Soooo good! And easy! And almost no effort! That's my kind of recipe!
The rest of the day was pretty dull - grey weather (though still unbelievably mild, it's hard to believe it's mid-November already), boring administrative crap, nothing of any interest.
My list of things to do is horribly long, and I'm seriously wondering why I got myself into the "novel" thing as it eats up a fair amount of time. But I'm enjoying it, my story is coming along nicely and I "only" have 18,000 words to do...
But even if you ignore all the rest of what I've written, go try the soup! It's healthy, nutritious and absolutely fucking fabulous!
Gently fry an onion till it goes transparent, then add 400 g of tinned tomatoes and mash it up a bit. When the mixture starts to simmer, add 250 ml of tepid water and 2 cooked chicken breasts (cut into smallish strips). Season with coriander and cumin (I had to use ready-to-use curry powder (it has coriander in it) as I had neither) and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Then add 400 g of rinsed and drained tinned chickpeas and simmer for a further 2 minutes.
Soooo good! And easy! And almost no effort! That's my kind of recipe!
The rest of the day was pretty dull - grey weather (though still unbelievably mild, it's hard to believe it's mid-November already), boring administrative crap, nothing of any interest.
My list of things to do is horribly long, and I'm seriously wondering why I got myself into the "novel" thing as it eats up a fair amount of time. But I'm enjoying it, my story is coming along nicely and I "only" have 18,000 words to do...
But even if you ignore all the rest of what I've written, go try the soup! It's healthy, nutritious and absolutely fucking fabulous!
One of those days
You know, the ones where you think you'd have been better off staying in bed (especially as I didn't get to bed till 1.45 am and had to be up at 6.30).
On Mondays (till 14 December only) I teach at the Economics University. They have a photocopy department and you have to submit your requests 5 days in advance. As I'm only there on Mondays, I always submit my stuff a whole week in advance. When I got there this morning, the stuff I submitted last week wasn't there. I teach from 8 till 12, on the 4th floor. The photocopy department is on the ground floor of the next building along, is open from "about 8 am" (I hung around till 8.10 but it was still closed) until 12... I was pretty mad!
Then, the students themselves, hadn't (for the most part) prepared what I asked them to, so all the activities planned for this morning, between the photocopied sheets and the spoken tasks based on what they'd prepared, were un-doable. It was a truly crappy 4 hours, I can tell you.
Things improved a little after that, but still, not a great start to the week. And I'm really tired, so I'm struggling to hit 30,000 words on my "novel" tonight - it's already 2.30 am but I'm determined, I need to bash out another 1,200 words and I'll be there...
How do I get myself into these ridiculous situations?!
On Mondays (till 14 December only) I teach at the Economics University. They have a photocopy department and you have to submit your requests 5 days in advance. As I'm only there on Mondays, I always submit my stuff a whole week in advance. When I got there this morning, the stuff I submitted last week wasn't there. I teach from 8 till 12, on the 4th floor. The photocopy department is on the ground floor of the next building along, is open from "about 8 am" (I hung around till 8.10 but it was still closed) until 12... I was pretty mad!
Then, the students themselves, hadn't (for the most part) prepared what I asked them to, so all the activities planned for this morning, between the photocopied sheets and the spoken tasks based on what they'd prepared, were un-doable. It was a truly crappy 4 hours, I can tell you.
Things improved a little after that, but still, not a great start to the week. And I'm really tired, so I'm struggling to hit 30,000 words on my "novel" tonight - it's already 2.30 am but I'm determined, I need to bash out another 1,200 words and I'll be there...
How do I get myself into these ridiculous situations?!
dimanche 15 novembre 2009
Wow
Busy day, so got almost no work done and only 550 words of my "novel" (but that's put me over 28,000 words - my target is 30,000 tomorrow night, which will have me 2 days ahead of schedule), but we did get to visit the new house of some very good friends of ours.
First of all, it should be known that the flat they lived in before was already considerably bigger than ours (and there are only 3 of them), and was always impeccably tidy (not in an uptight kind of way, just stylish and tidy).
The husband, S, has been talking about moving to somewhere "bigger" and "with a garden or something" for a couple of years. His wife, P, was more reluctant, but finally came round to the idea and so they bought their new place, not that far from their old and still quite close to us (years ago, before we moved, they were our neighbours, their son and C have known each other since they were 2 years old!). They moved in about 2 weeks ago, but today was our first visit.
Well. What can I say? They've only just moved in and already the place looks lived in (we, of course, had cardboard boxes everywhere - including right in the middle of the sitting room - for weeks, if not months). And it is HUGE! The main part has a surface area of 226 m², plus there's a further 80 m² in the attic (though it needs work done). The garage is 60 m² (you could fit 4 cars in it) and there's also a cellar and a two-room flat (50 m²). It's like something from a magazine, it really is.
And there's a small, but cute, garden, too.
Wow.
That said, they haven't sold their old flat so they have a bridging loan that is essentially costing them 1,200 Euros a month, their new place must have cost a fortune, the council taxes and stuff are monstruous and the two-room flat (which could if need be be rented out) isn't actually inhabitable (no kitchen, no bathroom, lots of bricked-up windows) and they have no means whatsoever to renovate it, so it's basically a white elephant. It wasn't initially included in the sale, and although I think they've made a good choice, I do believe the two-room flat was a mistake. They don't need the space, and they could probably do with the money...
But I'm happy for them, and they really do have a beautiful home. No, I'm not even jealous - it's beautiful, but it wouldn't be what I'd choose if I had that kind of money. What I am jealous of is the fact that they have that kind of money - my financial status is still dire beyond belief and there doesn't seem to be any respite in sight...
And oh, how I long to get this place looking truly presentable! If only D would show some enthusiasm for DIY and home improvements...
OK, enough. Back to work!
First of all, it should be known that the flat they lived in before was already considerably bigger than ours (and there are only 3 of them), and was always impeccably tidy (not in an uptight kind of way, just stylish and tidy).
The husband, S, has been talking about moving to somewhere "bigger" and "with a garden or something" for a couple of years. His wife, P, was more reluctant, but finally came round to the idea and so they bought their new place, not that far from their old and still quite close to us (years ago, before we moved, they were our neighbours, their son and C have known each other since they were 2 years old!). They moved in about 2 weeks ago, but today was our first visit.
Well. What can I say? They've only just moved in and already the place looks lived in (we, of course, had cardboard boxes everywhere - including right in the middle of the sitting room - for weeks, if not months). And it is HUGE! The main part has a surface area of 226 m², plus there's a further 80 m² in the attic (though it needs work done). The garage is 60 m² (you could fit 4 cars in it) and there's also a cellar and a two-room flat (50 m²). It's like something from a magazine, it really is.
And there's a small, but cute, garden, too.
Wow.
That said, they haven't sold their old flat so they have a bridging loan that is essentially costing them 1,200 Euros a month, their new place must have cost a fortune, the council taxes and stuff are monstruous and the two-room flat (which could if need be be rented out) isn't actually inhabitable (no kitchen, no bathroom, lots of bricked-up windows) and they have no means whatsoever to renovate it, so it's basically a white elephant. It wasn't initially included in the sale, and although I think they've made a good choice, I do believe the two-room flat was a mistake. They don't need the space, and they could probably do with the money...
But I'm happy for them, and they really do have a beautiful home. No, I'm not even jealous - it's beautiful, but it wouldn't be what I'd choose if I had that kind of money. What I am jealous of is the fact that they have that kind of money - my financial status is still dire beyond belief and there doesn't seem to be any respite in sight...
And oh, how I long to get this place looking truly presentable! If only D would show some enthusiasm for DIY and home improvements...
OK, enough. Back to work!
samedi 14 novembre 2009
Taking shape
I can't quite believe it, but not only am I actually ahead of schedule for NaNoWriMo, but I've already passed half way and am aiming for 27,000 words by tonight.
I'm getting quite excited, because the story is starting to take shape, I have quite a lot of ideas to include and am really starting to believe that I'm actually going to finish this thing. It's a delirious thought, to be honest. And I'm unbelievably proud of my achievement (even if I'm nowhere near finished in reality).
That said, I've been finding it hard to concentrate today. My thoughts keep going back to Claire and her family, and the reports of Charla Nash (the victim of a horrific chimpanzee attack that has left her with terrible, terrible injuries - no eyes, no hands, no nose, no mouth...) haunt me too. I've always found news items like this strangely fascinating, but afterwards, I can't stop thinking about them, empathising with the people involved. It's hard to move on...
Added in to that is the fact that L is not well at all today - at 3 this afternoon she said she was tired and went to bed OF HER OWN VOLITION and has been there ever since. This, if you remember, is the child who NEVER SLEEPS. She coughed all night and has been really peaky all day (no barfing, though, I'd like to point out). I'm concerned, but not (yet) in full-blown panic mode because she doesn't have a high temperature, so I'm hoping it'll just disappear like it came.
But the whole is not particularly conducive to writing reams of pages of my "novel".
However, just thinking about all these pages of text brings a smile to my face, I must admit!
If you haven't tried NaNoWriMo, I heartily recommend it - it's made me feel invincible (up to a point)!
I'm getting quite excited, because the story is starting to take shape, I have quite a lot of ideas to include and am really starting to believe that I'm actually going to finish this thing. It's a delirious thought, to be honest. And I'm unbelievably proud of my achievement (even if I'm nowhere near finished in reality).
That said, I've been finding it hard to concentrate today. My thoughts keep going back to Claire and her family, and the reports of Charla Nash (the victim of a horrific chimpanzee attack that has left her with terrible, terrible injuries - no eyes, no hands, no nose, no mouth...) haunt me too. I've always found news items like this strangely fascinating, but afterwards, I can't stop thinking about them, empathising with the people involved. It's hard to move on...
Added in to that is the fact that L is not well at all today - at 3 this afternoon she said she was tired and went to bed OF HER OWN VOLITION and has been there ever since. This, if you remember, is the child who NEVER SLEEPS. She coughed all night and has been really peaky all day (no barfing, though, I'd like to point out). I'm concerned, but not (yet) in full-blown panic mode because she doesn't have a high temperature, so I'm hoping it'll just disappear like it came.
But the whole is not particularly conducive to writing reams of pages of my "novel".
However, just thinking about all these pages of text brings a smile to my face, I must admit!
If you haven't tried NaNoWriMo, I heartily recommend it - it's made me feel invincible (up to a point)!
vendredi 13 novembre 2009
Life sucks
Not mine (though it has had its moments of suckitude), I hasten to add.
I'm a professional translator and, as such, I'm a member of a translation association that has an on-line discussion group. Today, I received a message from the group informing me (and everyone else) that one of our colleagues, Claire, a British translator living in Paris, died on Tuesday after complications during childbirth. Apart from her husband, she also leaves behind her a 4 year old boy, a 1 year old girl and a newborn baby girl.
I didn't know Claire, but her name was familiar to me through seeing it pop up every now and then on the discussion group.
I can't stop thinking about her, her husband, her poor children. This should have been such a happy time for her and her family, welcoming a their third child.
I didn't know Claire, but my heart goes out to her and her loved ones, because she was a colleague of mine, because she was a mother and because really, life sucks.
I'm a professional translator and, as such, I'm a member of a translation association that has an on-line discussion group. Today, I received a message from the group informing me (and everyone else) that one of our colleagues, Claire, a British translator living in Paris, died on Tuesday after complications during childbirth. Apart from her husband, she also leaves behind her a 4 year old boy, a 1 year old girl and a newborn baby girl.
I didn't know Claire, but her name was familiar to me through seeing it pop up every now and then on the discussion group.
I can't stop thinking about her, her husband, her poor children. This should have been such a happy time for her and her family, welcoming a their third child.
I didn't know Claire, but my heart goes out to her and her loved ones, because she was a colleague of mine, because she was a mother and because really, life sucks.
Writing
I never thought "writing a novel" could be so exhilarating. I'm not quite confident enough to not put that in inverted commas, but the fact of the matter remains the same.
You have to remember that my work consists in typing lots of words. My own words up to a point, but words that are the translation in English of other people's words written in French or Spanish. In subjects I know little about (enough to translate, obviously, but I translate a lot of medical stuff and I'm no doctor, believe me), some in subjects I dislike quite intensely.
But this, this "novel" thing, is only my own words, my own ideas, my own story. It's thrilling to see the pages pile up, the word count leap forward so much quicker than when I'm translating. When I write, I can spin out 1,000 words in an hour, sometimes more, and always probably about twice as much as when I translate (and, modesty pushed aside, I pride myself on being a pretty quick translator).
I'm not saying this "novel" is any good - I'm pretty sure it's probably crap, in fact, and I'm also fairly sure I'll never show it to anyone. But I'm enjoying writing it much more than I thought I would...
Yeah, I'm falling behind in terms of getting to 50,000 words by 30 November, but I'm not (yet) hopelessly behind. That might still happen - I've had relatively little work this week and stupidly didn't take advantage of that to get ahead of myself. And now work is starting to flow back in, leaving me with even less time to write...
But I'm determined. I want to finish this challenge, just like I'm doing my best for NaBloPoMo, too (12 days down, only 18 to go! And already better than last November when I fucked up right at the start). If you succeed with the 50,000 words thing you get a "winner's certificate", and if I manage to get that I'll be unspeakably proud of myself, even if I haven't told a single person "in real life" that I'm doing this (which makes finding time to write even harder - it has to be when I'm on my own, which isn't often).
And maybe, maybe, just maybe, if I find the time to edit the finished thing, I'll try and get someone to look at it (though I don't have the first idea who - a friend? a publisher? how do you find a publisher?). Who knows?
You have to remember that my work consists in typing lots of words. My own words up to a point, but words that are the translation in English of other people's words written in French or Spanish. In subjects I know little about (enough to translate, obviously, but I translate a lot of medical stuff and I'm no doctor, believe me), some in subjects I dislike quite intensely.
But this, this "novel" thing, is only my own words, my own ideas, my own story. It's thrilling to see the pages pile up, the word count leap forward so much quicker than when I'm translating. When I write, I can spin out 1,000 words in an hour, sometimes more, and always probably about twice as much as when I translate (and, modesty pushed aside, I pride myself on being a pretty quick translator).
I'm not saying this "novel" is any good - I'm pretty sure it's probably crap, in fact, and I'm also fairly sure I'll never show it to anyone. But I'm enjoying writing it much more than I thought I would...
Yeah, I'm falling behind in terms of getting to 50,000 words by 30 November, but I'm not (yet) hopelessly behind. That might still happen - I've had relatively little work this week and stupidly didn't take advantage of that to get ahead of myself. And now work is starting to flow back in, leaving me with even less time to write...
But I'm determined. I want to finish this challenge, just like I'm doing my best for NaBloPoMo, too (12 days down, only 18 to go! And already better than last November when I fucked up right at the start). If you succeed with the 50,000 words thing you get a "winner's certificate", and if I manage to get that I'll be unspeakably proud of myself, even if I haven't told a single person "in real life" that I'm doing this (which makes finding time to write even harder - it has to be when I'm on my own, which isn't often).
And maybe, maybe, just maybe, if I find the time to edit the finished thing, I'll try and get someone to look at it (though I don't have the first idea who - a friend? a publisher? how do you find a publisher?). Who knows?
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