Tournament of Roses Parade (Part 3)

(If you linked right here, don't miss Part 2 - which also has a link to Part 1)
Alright enough of me talking about the parade. This is going to be all pictures! Enjoy!

Lisa & Tony - 2008 Tournament of Roses Parade

The Evidence

I'm sure lots of you already knew, but here's the official results:

60% Geek

Happy Birthday, Andy

And sometimes Christmas carols just bring tears to your eyes:

Through the years we all will be together,
If the fates allow...

Still miss you, man.
Always will.

Save the Vocabulary, Save the World

I'll be short so that you can spend more time saving the world... and building brain power. Check out this site:

http://www.freerice.com

Enjoy!

Coming up Roses

Since NaNoWriMo is over and yesterday brought fabulous news from the world of college football, I thought I'd try my hand at poetry:

Roses Are Orange,

Violets Are Blue,

I'm going to California to see the Illini in the Rose Bowl!!!

How about you?

*HAPPY DANCE!!*

LisaWriMo: I Won!

I officially won NaNoWriMo by writing my 50,000th word at 5:01 pm yesterday! *Happy dance!* Even more exciting though was that at 8:43 this morning, I finished my novel. *Happy Dance! Happy Dance! Happy Dance!* My final word count is 51,200 though I'm sure that will be altered with the quantity of editing the story requires. Lots of people have asked me "So, what's it about?" And it's a simple question with a not so simple answer. When I mention that it's about a girl working in research lab they assume it's based on real life experiences. Maybe it is a little but it's also entirely fiction. I like what author Katherine Patterson said,

"Thus, in a real sense, I am constantly writing autobiography but I have to turn it into fiction to give it credibility."

Some characters started off as patterns of people I know but many of them took on their own unique personalities throughout the story and ended up looking nowhere close to who I imagined them as. In a few scenes I found myself unintentionally paying homage to authors I admire - towards the end I found I had written shades of Edward Cullen and Boo Radley into two of my players. I borrowed some names from old friends, and have since reconnected with a few while offering my thanks (you rock, Tonya). Most of them are common enough to never be traced back to individuals but one of my challenges was creating believable names for the cast - though Clarissa and Pablo really had to be Clarissa and Pablo. And I butchered science. I didn't intend to, and I feel a little bad about doing so, but it made for a much more exciting story. That's why it's fiction, right? I'll be curious to see if the minor flubs are caught or if it's only through close technical knowledge that things appear ridiculously fake. I'm still pretty genre-less. I classified myself as Mainstream Fiction because there was no listing for Scificklysterymance (that's sci-fi meets chick-lit meets mystery meets romance. It's no coincidence that that describes my reading tastes too.

But the bottom line is - it's done! I finished! I wrote a novel! I won! As part of the NaNo celebration, once I validated my word count I got a pdf file of a winner's certificate. I like the description they give on it (emphases theirs):

This literary honor is bestowed but once a year upon the bravest, most dedicated, and GIFTED of writers who have achieved their creative potential in ONE absurdly challenging month. The bearer of this certificate shall forever occupy a revered place in the firmament of HIGH-VELOCITY NOVELISTS, and his or her work shall stand as an INSPIRING testament to what can happen when one courageous writer triumphs over the naysaying and self-critical voices that stymie the flow of ART AND MERRIMENT in the universe. Congratulations, novelist. The Office of Letters and Light salutes you.

Of course, I almost wish I had been able to read that piece of encouragement before I started. "absurdly challenging month...."; "Revered place in the firmament...."; "stymie the flow of art and merriment...."; those are some great noveling words... I might have to keep them in mind for November '08!

LisaWriMo: Progress Tracking

Here's a Word Count Widget if anyone wants to track my progress to the end. Sorry I didn't get it up here sooner!

LisaWriMo: Almost finished!!! (...Sort of?)

As of this morning my word count stands at 47,441. On Monday I broke my record for a single day's word count with 2634 words. On Tuesday I broke Monday's record by plugging out 2990 words. (I almost wish I had written 10 more just to have a 3K day.) It's highly likely that I'm going to hit the coveted 50,000 tonight or tomorrow morning...but you'll notice that I'm not claiming to finish tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm going to revel in the success of "winning" NaNoWriMo very soon but an even bigger joy will be completing my novel - which will likely take an extra couple thousand words above the 50K mark. It would be awesome to complete the story by November 30th but I don't want to rush the ending too much. I posted another excerpt - there are several now if anyone's interested - but even cooler to read is the latest author pep talk by young adult and sci-fi writer Garth Nix. The full text isn't available online yet but as I did with the supremely awesome Neil Gaiman, here's my favorite highlight from the pep talk of Mr. Nix:

"...remember that being published is not a necessary validation or a path everyone wants to take with their work. Writing---and finishing---a novel is a great thing in itself, whether or not the book is published or becomes widely-read or not.

"Finally, I think it’s always best to write the story that is currently strongest inside you, the one that won’t go away, regardless of its genre or marketability. If you are true to your inner vision, believe in the reality of your story and write the book you want, you will bring it to life."

It really answered my inner doubts about whether or not my story had any "readability" and also acts as a nice little answer to those who want me to seek editors and publishers immediately. I might not be a great writer. I might not even be a good writer. But I have a story to tell and I think I've done a pretty fair job at bringing that story to life.

Stay tuned for copious amounts of celebration and a plethora of joyous salutations when I hit the big 50K!

LisaWriMo: The Final Countdown

I have written - I have HAND-written - over 42,000 words. That puts me a mere 8000 words shy of the goal. That's 84% done. *Insert squeals of delight.* For those of you that stuck with me through my "I-hate-my-novel" and excessive use of rubbish and it's synonyms in describing my writing phase, I thank you profusely. This is the downhill stretch and yet it's also the climactic rush that's providing some of the most dramatic and fun to write material so far. Wish me luck on the home stretch!

Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions, feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you only you can let it in

No one else, no one else can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

...Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten.

LisaWriMo: Overdue Update

I figure I'm well overdue for an update on here. I'm over 30,000 words into my novel. I know that should seem like I'm on the home stretch but I still feel like I'm heading "into" instead of out of this project. The last few days have been especially daunting - I dropped below the daily minimums for the first time all month - but after a few marathon writing sessions I'm back on pace to make it 50K in the next ten days. Thanks to all who have been wishing me well - from the encouraging friends to the emailed pep talks from famous authors that NaNoWriMo provides - I really couldn't persevere without my cheering team! I actually had an "I hate my novel" moment this weekend and a perfectly timed email arrived from Neil Gaiman - many know he's one of my favorite authors and you can read his appropriately suited for the moment words in their entirety here. My favorite part was:

You're in the middle, a little past the half-way point. The glamour has faded, the magic has gone.... You don't know why you started your novel, you no longer remember why you imagined that anyone would want to read it, and you're pretty sure that even if you finish it it won't have been worth the time or energy and every time you stop long enough to compare it to the thing that you had in your head when you began---a glittering, brilliant, wonderful novel, in which every word spits fire and burns, a book as good or better than the best book you ever read---it falls so painfully short that you're pretty sure that it would be a mercy simply to delete the whole thing.

Welcome to the club.

That's how novels get written.

I'm still on the fence as to how much sharing of my work will be done. More on that to be discussed later, I'm sure. Until then I'm over 60% done... here's to pushing through to the end!

LisaWriMo: First Milestone!

I hit 10,000 words on my novel this morning!

I sort of promised not to refer to it as my really crappy novel. I guess it's not entirely rubbish.... Sorry I haven't had more blogging time lately. Anyone craving lisa writing can follow the link above to my latest Novel Excerpt.

But in other news Pace Bus Services that were sure to be eliminated on November 4th are miraculously still running. The new threat is to eliminate them on January 1st, 2008. In the past month, many of you heard my passionate ranting on why many suburbs *coughcoughnapervillecoughcough* would be shooting themselves in the proverbial foot if these cuts were allowed. (And 400 extra drivers are supposed to park... ...WHERE?!?!) My new rant involves how annoying and distasteful I find the political pandering and scare tactics involved with approving budgets.

LisaWriMo: Hit the ground Running!

Okay well NaNoWriMo started today and though I wasn't in the group that began at midnight, I was scribbling away on the train this morning. I'm up to 1,053 words (goal is around 2000/day) so I'm feeling like that's a good start. Check in HERE throughout the month to see my progress. You'll find my current word count and you can also get a brief (*very brief*) excerpt of my writing that I'll try to update every day or so. Thanks to all who wished me luck, I really appreciate the encouragement. And super awesome thanks to my Official Writing Buddies - Laura (Starzgirl), Katy (kasjer2911), and Emily (Nekonezumi) - you guys rock my world!!!

Pine Cones

Saturday Tony and I took a day trip out to Starved Rock. It was a fun and relaxing time to be outdoors in beautiful weather with the fall colors all around us. If you've never been to Starved Rock I highly recommend taking a trip there - assuming you like hiking and outdoorsy stuff - especially this time of year. For me the most memorable part of the day was when we were hiking to my favorite spot in the park, LaSalle Canyon. As we walked along the sandstone path leading up to and behind the waterfall (there's a reason it's my favorite spot) I started to study the trail we were walking and noticed pine cones all over the path. Taking a look around I did a mental survey of the trees near by - Maples and Oaks and is that an Ash? I pointed out the pine cones to Tony who also looked all around us without seeing any conifers. We came up with various theories about dispersion by wind and animals to explain the presence of the pine evidence. As we proceeded through the cavern beneath the waterfall and emerged on the path opposite our initial trek, we reached higher ground and stared up at the sky. To our surprise, high on the top of the bluffs above our incoming path was a grove of white pines.

I had to share this story because it really made me think about God. Firstly because of the beauty in nature that I will ascribe only to His creation. There was something else though that really struck me. The pine cones on that path were a good analogy of God's presence in my life. So often I'm staring all around wondering where God is. Yet it's only when I slow down and reflect on my life (the path I'm walking) that I start to see evidence of Him all around (pine cones). I can get frustrated because I can't see Him (the pine trees). I'll even try to ascribe the good in my life to other things like luck or hard work (wind and animals). I can convince myself that God's far away and not really concerned with my everyday life, but like the trees high on the bluffs, He is always nearby. Just because I can't see Him directly doesn't mean that He's not surrounding me every step of the way.

Night at the Museum

A Long Time Ago in A Science and Industry Museum Not To Far Away....

C3P0, Princess Lisa, Tony-Wan Kenobi and R2D2

More on Dr. W (or maybe moron Dr. W?)

As cool as it was to meet and see a lecture by Dr. James Watson, I'm glad to have gone on the record as saying early on that as much as I admire his scientific research, I don't agree with his personal views. At his U of C lecture he made some very strong claims supporting atheism. Keeping in mind that U of C has one of the oldest, largest, and most prestigious divinity schools in the country this wasn't exactly a smart move, but few feathers were ruffled as it was not a University sanctioned lecture, but rather sponsored by a bookstore. I've since learned (as offal seems to have hit the proverbial fan) that Dr. Watson apparently enjoys making edgy, controversial and even inflammatory comments during his presentations. At Berkley a few years ago he angered audience members by giving a lecture that many students found offensive and sexist. And yesterday in the UK he topped that incident by delivering a talk that now has him labeled as a racist. It seems atheism is only one of his personal opinions that I find quite distasteful and I'm not the only one currently holding that view:

Berkeley genetics professor Thomas Cline said Watson's lecture "crossed over the line'' from being provocative to being irresponsible because the senior scientist failed to separate fact from conjecture.

"If he wants to give a talk like this in his living room, that's his business, but to give it in a setting where it's supposed to be scientific is wrong,'' Cline said, adding that listening to Watson at the podium was "more embarrassing than having a creation scientist up there.''

Ah yes, the creationist is not as embarrassing as a racist. Score one for Intelligent Design? I probably shouldn't joke about that, but the comment did amuse me. It just goes to show that there's more to being "smart" than just IQ and it seems even in the scientific world, intelligence stands for little without compassion, sensitivity and - you might go so far to say - the whisperings of the heart.