Eventful Two Weeks...

I know, I need to keep up with this blog once a week, but the last two weeks have been very eventful.

First of all, the reunion was much better than I envisioned. I saw some old friends that I really didn't expect to see there, some of which live several states away. Everyone was friendly, even the people I didn't really hang out with in high school, and the food, drinks, and reception were very nice. About sixty people came, and when you're from a very small private school, that's actually a pretty good turn out. It did make me slightly nostalgic for "the old days" but like I said before, I'm happy with how things are turning out now. I wouldn't really want to go back to high school, but it did make me wish I had been just a little more outgoing during my time there so that I could have gotten to know everyone a little better. I'm not sure what I was expecting from the ten year reunion, but I didn't expect to have a great time. So, long story short, I was pleasantly surprised when I had so much fun that I stayed up until nearly one or two in the morning, talking, drinking, and reminiscing about old times with old friends. It actually makes me look forward to the next one, but no telling what will have happened by then. I'm hoping at least to have my first novel published, but we'll see. Still, I guessing after another ten years, I'll also have a child so many things will have changed.

Shortly after the reunion, I went on a beach trip to celebrate my five year anniversary with my husband. That is one of the best vacations I've had in a long time. We spent the first night celebrating alone, going to Carrabba's, watching a squishy romantic comedy, etc. The next day, one of our best friends came to visit and we spent the rest of the vacation together. The water was too cold for swimming, so we only visited the beach itself once or twice, walking on it at night mostly. We went shopping at Barefoot Landing and Broadway at the Beach, went to see, "How to Train Your Dragon" (I might write a review about that later), and went to Alligator Adventure. Still, of all things, some of the most fun we had was hanging around the house. We stayed up until about four in the morning playing Heroes V and drinking a little bit. During breaks in the game we watched at movies or read the books we brought with us. (I managed to nearly get to page five hundred in "The Stand" so I think I will be able to finish it before I start the Dresden Files. At least one of my friends promised to lend them to me now next time we see each other.)

The beach trip was so much fun that we might start planning more trips with friends for weekends. Just day trips or weekend trips that would be fun but wouldn't be too expensive. We were throwing around the idea of trying to get a group together to go ghost hunting in Charleston, something I've wanted to do for over a year. I'm hoping we'll be able to pull it off.

Speaking of other trips, I'm still hoping to go to Disney World and Universal in October. The problem is, we want to try to pay off as much debt as possible first. Still, we're on our way. We refinanced the mortgage so that we have a much lower payment each month and with the money we saved we'll be paying off credit cards. I wish there was something I could do to help, but I don't have the graphic design skills anymore to allow me to get another graphic design job, and jobs in general are very hard to find right now. Plus, me getting a job means we definitely won't be going on the trip and I think Joel wants to go as well. (I'd do something like waitressing, but I think given how clumsy I am and how bad my memory is, that would be a bad idea. I've looked for secretarial work but most of that is taken and temp agencies can't even find me a job, even though they said I was more qualified than most people they worked with...)

Still no word from T-shirt Hell, but I'm guessing they didn't like the ideas. I guess I'll keep submitting other ideas and working on my novels. One day I'll be able to make a career out of this. Even though I doubt it'll be a very lucrative career, just making a little money by doing something I love would be nice. It would make me feel like a professional to finally get paid with a professional rate. Who knows, maybe one day I'll even be able to join the Writer's Association.
I haven't written many short stories lately. I'm trying to finish working on "Everburn." I'm so close to the end I can taste it. (I didn't do much writing at the beach, but I did write a chapter or two.) I'm thinking three more weeks of writing at the maximum and I'll be finished. I'm excited about this one because I know it's better than my first trilogy. The character development is much better and the plot, to me, was more fun. Of course, I have been slightly obsessive over steampunk lately. When I finish this one, if I decide to "take a break" from steampunk fantasy, I might just pick up the regular steampunk story that I used as a writing sample here and expand it into a novella. That was, after all, my original plan before I picked up "Everburn" again.

Anyway, I guess that's about it. I'll keep you posted when I finish "Everburn" and I should be writing a review of "How to Train Your Dragon" soon, and eventually "The Stand" (if I ever finish reading it). Thanks for reading.