Attempted to start a new project for National Novel Writing Month. It was a recent idea, a sci-fi, alt-hist, adventure, steampunk-ish story set in WWII-era Ohio.  It is a glorious idea, and I’m excited about it, but my 3,200 word count for this month is my worst record ever.  I think this failed for several reasons:

1) I didn’t outline. Other than an initial scene idea, I didn’t have a clear concept of  the central plot or conflict, so I had trouble figuring out where to take the story.

2) I didn’t know my characters. Especially the POV character, a 13-year-old girl. I knew what I wanted her to become, but not who she was starting out. So I struggled with her voice in every sentence.

3) Research, research, research. I had no idea how difficult it was to write even somewhat-accurate recent historical fiction.  Even knowing I could iron out the details later, I kept getting bogged down with critical concepts. Would the girl’s mother be working after the war ended, or would all the returning soldiers have taken the jobs back?  Could the kids take a bus from point A to point B? And can I even progress the story without knowing?

I’m not good at research, and with the point of NaNo being to crank out as many words as possible in a short amount of time, every web search for info took me out of the story and killed the flow of words.  So I think I’ll reverse the order of things and try collecting research and outlining before I try to write the story.

In the meantime, it’s back to the boys to (still, continuously, eternally) try to get this first one finished up.

Getting two boys to look in the same directions and smile is….

a real challenge.

Actually, it might not be bad luck as much as bad parenting. Our seventh nanny in less than two years has just quit. This time because she’s sick of Lachlan’s bad behaviour. He’s being a real little shit at the moment and lashing out whenever he’s angry or doesn’t want to do something. And he never wants to do what you want him to do. I’m hoping  and praying it’s just a phase he’s going through and am wondering if he’s frustrated by his inability to talk, but we’ve obviously got a lot of work ahead of us to try and combat this behaviour. I really don’t want to go down the path of physical discipline – how could I justify trying to teach him not to hit by hitting him? I guess in an ideal world a nanny would accept bad behaviour as part of the job and as something to work on in conjuction with the parents. But not in this world. It’s our problem and we’ll get no help with it.

Thankfully, I’ve contacted a couple of childcare centres and there are two down the road with vacancies (or soon to have vacancies). They say they can cope with children with special needs so I guess we’re going to find out. We were thinking about putting Lachlan into childcare anyway, but it’s a pain that it’s happening so quickly and at a time when he’s going through some problems. We simply cannot afford to continue to use nannies as they’re far too unreliable and costly to replace. I just have to hope that Dan responds positively to childcare and that they’re really able to accommodate him like they say.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned before, but Lachlan has been referred for a hearing test at the WCH by his speech therapist. She thinks that by this time he should be making talking type noises, and he’s really not. She’s wondering if his middle ear has closed, muffling his hearing. If so, this can be easily fixed with gromits, but we’re thinking it’s pretty unlikely. He seems to hear just fine to me. Anyway, I think she passed on the sob story about how his twin is autistic in an attempt to get us in for the test a little earlier. We haven’t heard anything from the hospital yet though.

Finally, some good news. Dan’s communication skills are improving all the time and his interest in language is also increasing. He’s making all the babbling/talking noises that the therapist is expecting from Lachlan and is using quite few words as well as some signs. He’s started pointing at pictures in books and takes great delight when you tell him what he’s pointing at. He’s also developed a love of numbers and enjoys pointing to the numbers as you count to ten. He even attempts to say five, six and eight. The therapist has said that the fact that he seems to drop the first consonant (ive, ix and eight) is pretty normal as far a speech development goes.  The downside is that Lachlan is very possessive about ‘his’ numbers and fights are starting to break out over a couple of jigsaw puzzles we have.

Any advice on how to deal with toddler violence would be much appreciated.

The boys have formed a band.

A drum band.

They grabbed some empty containers (which I could be using, by the way) and a couple of lincoln logs. They convinced Grandma to sing a tune while they banged wildly played.

They’ll practice for a while, then come get me for their concert. Matthew thoughtfully puts out a chair for me. And then they play with wild abandon.

Happiness is a drum band.

thank God for giving me this peace of mind. given the fact that my physics has been really screwed since the beginning of the year, paper 3 is tmr morning [which is a chance for me to redeem my paper 2 lol] and i still have loads of things left to revise, i’m not freaking out . praise God for that yes?

i think i blog more than usual during the period of exams haha. i’m pretty lazy to get out of my house to buy food and i’m super hungry now. my stomach is growling. true, i slept through breakfast and skipped lunch. basically nothing in my stomach now -_-.  i can’t skip dinner unless i want my gastric pain to come back haunting me lol. shall lift myself up from this chair to cook sth then. i’ve been enjoying cooking lately. just hate the part of cleaning up and washing dishes. i personally like my egg-tomato soup lol! well, it sounds kinda weird but it tastes good. *self-praises* LOL.

i heard that the 2009 MNET Asian Music Award is over. i’m thinking of download the full show after A’s lol. 3GB for the full show and 1GB for the red carpet part. high quality kills. i just wanna watch special performances and see how the stage looks like cuz surely they would make the stage awesomely and extravagantly beautiful. well, i don’t wanna give a damn about winners and losers. corruption and bribing have been a gossipy issue for Mnet every year i’d say LOL. however, whoever singers and bands that received their awards deserve what they got. man, look how their companies milk the best of them! =/ that’s really an ugly side of Korean showbiz.

sms-ing with Limin this afternoon was fun. she seems to like the boys more and more HAHAHAH. she’s posted the boys’ videos recently also. and i’m thinking of buying their Tour Live at Tokyo Dome DVD. well, see my budget first. i’m trying not to fantasize alright? 

i really pray that God will work a miracle bringing them through the crises they are having now.

An Damaris <3 Jesus

my external HDD is such an addiction to me now. i’ve been watching all the entertainment i’ve downloaded and accumulated for years lol. but i think my dream in marketing was rejuvenated again! lol.

don’t say i’m blindly a fan of Korea-related stuffs but… ohmygosh, how awesome Korean CFs are! no wonder Korean’s industries grew so fast due to high comsumption [high quality of course helped too!]. even companies making school uniforms invest in advertising their brands. i adore Korean students’ uniforms <3.

*hates the watermark*

okay, i’m biased. i chose Minnie’s picture LOL. that was 4 years ago i think? and the boys were endorsing SMART which is a famous school-uniform-making company . basically there are 3 such companies: SMART, Ivy and elite’. their uniforms are very pretty. okay, think about it! even uniforms are advertised like crazy, given the fact that they ask celebs to endorse for both winter and summer designs :|. lol, no such strategy here please!

i admire Korean chaebols! Samsung is always number 1 on my list x). i really hope that i’ll get a chance to work for Samsung’s headquarter in Seoul LOL.

their CFs are the most awesome~

off i should go now.

I’m going to write this out in point form so it is understandable.  Basically…

• I had breakfast with Maia and her boyfriend, Funny Frat Alumni, the morning after Crush.  I mentioned that my night had turned out miserably.  I also asked if they knew anything about what Fiona had said about Nice Neighbor and Kaela.  They looked at each other… And I found out this:
• Cute Neighbor (who likes Fiona) asked Funny Frat Alumni if they could talk about the newfound awkwardness between our house and The Boys.  He confidentially told Emmett that Kaela and Nice Neighbor were secretly hooking up, and absolutely no one knew about it.  Keep in mind: Kaela is also hooking up with Trendy Neighbor.  I liked Trendy Neighbor first, but gave that up after she spent the night with him.
• Kaela told Trendy Neighbor that, because I was the “queen bee” of our social group, I would punish whoever decided to pursue Nice Neighbor
• She also told him that I had said that unless Nice Neighbor came to Crush with me, he couldn’t come at all.  All of The Boys were originally going to come as setups, and then bailed.  I didn’t know why, but apparently they were boycotting me
• Kaela also told Trendy Neighbor that Maia and Fiona were mad at Nice Neighbor for not liking me

Basically, she made us out to look like crazy bitches while she pitted two best friends against each other.  This had been going on for weeks.  She had also completely gone behind my back, and encouraged me to pursue someone knowing fully well that I will only receive rejection from them.

I go home, call Fiona down to my room, and sob for obvious reasons.  I was humiliated by the fact that all of The Boys had thought I was a horrible person for weeks.  That my feelings about Nice Neighbor had been thrown back in my face publicly.  I had been made out to be a crazy individual, and I couldn’t stand it.

I text Kaela a message saying that I knew about her and Nice Neighbor, and how I felt betrayed and humiliated.  I said that I couldn’t believe that she would ruin my reputation and backstab me like that when I am such a wonderful friend to her.  I said that she didn’t deserve Nice or Trendy Neighbor.  That she was not my friend.

Following that, I knew that I had to set things straight.  Nice Neighbor was out of town, but I messaged him to let me know when he got back (in a couple hours) because I wanted to sort some stuff out.

Nice Neighbor came over right away.  I explained everything.  How I had been made to look like a complete psycho bitch, that Kaela was hooking up with Trendy Neighbor as well… Everything.  It was a mess.  Needless to say, Nice Neighbor was devastated.  Kaela had completely played him.  He had to sneak out at night to go to her house and come back at night before any of his housemates were awake.  Then out of nowhere, she ends it with him.  Heartbroken.

Once hearing my story, Nice Neighbor realized that I was obviously really upset and that this dramatic situation was the truth.  He mentioned that right after receiving my text, he got one from Kaela saying to “deny everything”.  He called The Boys together and told them was happened.  My reputation is now cleared, and Kaela’s isn’t.  Oh joy.

Lesson 13 song: Liar by Stars

I was sat around the other day spinning various records and I decided to put on the No Thanks! The 70s Punk Rebellion box set as I hadn’t listened to it all the way through and I’ve had it for over a year. There’s some obvious mentions in there; The Adverts – Gary Gilmore’s Eyes, New York Dolls – Personality Crisis and Ramones – Blitzkrieg Bop to name a few. However once I reached disc two I discovered a fantastic song by seemingly unsung heroes of the 70s punk movement, the song is called First Time and is by The Boys.

It’s a real get up and go punk song, filled with crowd pleasing “oh’s” to sing along to and a really catchy beat. Give it a listen below!

When doing some research on The Boys it seemed they were just victims of poor fortune. They were slowly rising to success until Elvis Presley died when their distrubutor switched all their resources to fulfilling the demand for Presley LPs – thus leaving The Boys without a distributor for their music. They did however manage to release four studio albums through various record labels throughout the 70s but disbanded in 1981. They have since reunited and tour from time to time. So if you see them on a bill at a festival go check ‘em out!

Donna and Jim had an informal post wedding party at their house Saturday night.

Given that Erin is an orchestra and band teacher, and Phil plays with the Army band, it should not be a surprise that the evening was filled with music.

Or, in our case, filled with banging on the piano.

Sam brought out his guitar, to the delight of all, and played a few of his own tunes.

David loved it.

Of course, no evening at Donna and Jim’s is complete unless the boys take a ride on Grandma Joyce’s chair lift.

At the very end of the evening we were treated to a very special duet.

Donna got her own guitar and she and Sam played two songs together. It was a fabulous way to end a day full of joy.

PS – When we left, Matthew hugged Sam and said, “I love you,” which just made me melt. Who wouldn’t be a fan of Sam after getting all this attention?

I’ve wanted to start my blogging for about 2 years. Last week was just another one of those moments I should be blogging about. Wednesday was my birthday, Thursday Kara and I went to the hospital so she could be induced into labor, Friday afternoon my second son was born. What a week huh? Jayce Allen Coryn was born Nov 6th, 2009 @ 2:00pm. He was 7 lbs. 12 oz and 19″ long. All of us came home Sunday night and for the most part everyone’s doing great. Mama is still very sore but the doc says that will pass soon. I sure hope so. She is an amazing and brave woman.

):

why is everyone saying that the boys are gonna disband?

not reading their updates makes me so restless.

but God, may You pull them through this trough!

An Damaris <3 Jesus

Yesterday was my Mom’s birthday!  Happy Birthday, Mom   So in the morning I called to wish her a happy birthday, and the boys got creative with their less-supervised time.  They crack me up!  Even the crummy dark pictures show such personality, I had to share them all.

Unbelievable as it might seem, Daniel and Lachlan just ate icecream for the first time – and liked it. (Every other time I’ve tried to introduce it they’ve been horrified.)