Tonight was a bit of a crapshoot. My upstairs neighbour’s mother came by my apartment today to let me know that he (the neighbour) is fighting for his life in the hospital. He was rushed to Pittsburgh a few days ago, as his kidneys have completely shut down. She asked my help in clearing out his apartment of all the garbage and dirty laundry (including sheets and such). Though I’m quite ill today, I agreed to help, feeling really bad, as it’s pretty clear they don’t think he’s going to make it.  Anyway, AFTER I’d handled all his half eaten food and dirty bedding, she mentioned that the reason he was dying was due to having contracted MRSA!! Yes, the DEADLY superbug!

Gah!  So I ran inside to wash myself down with as much disinfectant as possible. She couldn’t have told me that part BEFORE I came into contact with infected materials, could she?!

Anyway, I also went shopping today, finally getting some food. It’s good not to worry about starvation anymore. :D  I had a lovely dinner of fried chicken and stuffing. Mmm. Finger lickin’ good.

In my sickly state, I also had a time out in front of the telly where I partook of the movie Ratatouille. It was alright. I like clever animated films, so it was fun to watch. But I missed a lot of it as my sister wouldn’t stop calling me. Ah well. That’s what family’s for, eh!?

Tomorrow I’m going to my parents in the morning for my regular Sunday visit. Not staying long, though, as I have to be back in time to watch The X-Factor with Ross! Hehe. It’s our tradition for him to get his webcam out and point it at the TV so we can watch the program together, even though we are five hours apart. Simple things, eh?

I am completely wasted right now. Am sleepy. Was up until after 2 last night and then got up at 8 this morning. It made the day seem SOOOOO long, which was kind of nice. I mean, it was getting dark when I went to get groceries, which means it was about 5 o’clock… and now it’s not even 11, yet it feels like SOOO long ago!

Is it really stupid of me that I bought myself a tiny carton of egg nog? I mean… yes I am allergic to it and suffer for days after drinking it… but… it’s egg nog! It tastes so good!

Alright. I’d better go and continue vegging out. I am working on a self portrait at the morning, which could be interesting. Lol. We’ll see how it goes.

Good night, Moon.

How could I have missed my opportunity?! I am so ashamed. I mean, I could easily go back and change the clock for this post and show it as being posted the 14th, but really, I would only be cheating myself.

The whole point of my 101 in 1001 goals are to stretch myself. It’s not like anyone is checking on me. If I fail, I only answer to me.

Sadly, it has become apparent that I have in fact failed for this month. Which means I will have to go back and start again another month.

Blame it on me being sick as a dog this evening, feeling as though my brain is going to fall out of my eye-sockets. Yes, it really is that bad.

Drat.

Anyway, off I go to play some more with PHP and XHTML. :D

I finally got to meet my cousin Breanne’s boyfriend and “daughter” Jerry and Shanick. Both are lovely, and I was thrilled to bits to get a hug from Shanick at the end of the night.

Grandma seemed touched that we’d all made it out to help her celebrate the day. I’m glad I was there. There’s been so many missed events that have come from living abroad so long, and it’s nice to be back where I can easily meet up with family and friends.

Also got to see my cousin Aric, who I haven’t seen since early 2007, and then it was under terrible circumstances, as we all were visiting my grandpa in the hospital before he died.

Sadly, I made some big mistakes in ordering. Thinking to save money, as well as keep my meal light, I ordered the mysterious sounding, “Shrimp Mary” and some sweet potato fries.

Well, Shrimp Mary turned out to be four shrimp, each wrapped in bacon and then smothered in honey. I had one bite and then offered up the rest to my family. Grandma had one, with no real opinion, my dad had another, and he could take it or leave it. It left one and a half left, and no one else would try it. Not that I blame them. Pork and fish doesn’t seem to go together. Especially when you add honey. Meh.

The sweet potato fries were also a disappointment. They, too, were smothered in honey! Now, don’t get me wrong. I like honey. I do. But it does not belong on sweet potato fries. I guess the menu had said “Sweet potato fries with honey,” but I thought that meant it was COOKED in honey. Not that they added it afterward. Yick.

So my dad spent the evening sneaking me bites of his steak and fries. Yum. He couldn’t finish it all and gave me the rest to take home, and of all the luck, as I was getting out of my car at the end of the night, the doggy bag came lose and the steak wound up in a mud puddle in my driveway. GRRRR.

Ah well. I guess we can’t have everything.

Anyway, the night was a success.  But now I am beyond tired and needing some sleep.

Tomorrow is payday! HALLELUJAH!

After he died, the WWE had more than one tribute in his honor. One that sticks out in my mind was a video set to 3 Doors Down’s Here Without You. It is a beautiful song, which ironically I haven’t heard in quite a while, but which I heard again today on a CD that my husband made for me.

The song has always broken my heart because it reminded me of Eddie and the great talent we lost. But listening to it again today, I cried for a different reason. Being separated by thousands of miles of ocean can make for desperate unhappiness. I’m so far away, and I’m so confused as to what I want in my life, let alone in my marriage.

For now, here’s the best I can manage:

A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don’t think I can look at this the same
But all the miles that separate
Disappear now when I’m dreaming of your face

I’m here without you baby
But you’re still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still with me in my dreams
And tonight it’s only you and me

The miles just keep rollin’
As the people leave their way to say hello
I’ve heard this life is overrated
But I hope that it gets better as we go

I’m here without you baby
But you’re still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl its only you and me

Everything I know, and anywhere I go
It gets hard but it won’t take away my love
And when the last one falls
When it’s all said and done
It gets hard but it wont take away my love

I’m here without you baby
But you’re still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby
And I dream about you all the time
I’m here without you baby
But you’re still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl its only you and me

So, to sum up my day, I looked and felt good today, I am slightly worried about politics at work, I went to see my parents and they fed me pot roast which was good, and I miss waking up with someone beside me.

To bed I go before I become saturated in my own depression.

Pearl of Wisdom by =vyktoriah on deviantART

Autumn Wind by =vyktoriah on deviantART

So even though my Nano word count hasn’t gone up at all, I’ve at least not been idle. Today I have been painting! I’ve done two watercolor boards which are both absolutely adorable! In fact, I’ve tried a completely new, more cartoonish style, which to my mind looks phenomenal. :)

I’m very proud.

Tomorrow, I’m meant to go visit my parents, but I think I may skip that and work on my writing to try and get my word count up. I’m about 10000 words behind schedule! D’oh!

Right now I’m about to fall asleep at the keyboard, and I’ve got a terrible migraine, so I’m going to go veg out in front of the tv for a bit and hope to feel better soon!

I think I must have eaten too much dinner or too many chocolates or drank too much Dr Pepper tonight because I’ve spent the last two hours sick to my stomach, with no signs of it dissipating.

This is the first time this has happened in about two months, and it is horrendous. I’ve basically digested enough that there’s no chance of throwing up, but it’s not enough to have passed through my system completely, and I am now feeling like sticking a vaccuum through my belly button to suction out my innards!!

Let this serve as a reminder to myself NEVER to overindulge. It so is not worth the effects.

*sad*

And what, you ask, did I get to do???
SPORTS!

That’s right kids, complete with personal introduction (ie - This is Katie Williams with Sports, brought to you by Little Caesars, etc) I compiled and read out results from recent sports events! It was totally a last minute thing with my boss telling me he just wanted to see how I sounded. So I put it together (with a little help from the regular sports fella) and then I called my parents to tell them to listen. :)

They were so proud of me! Hell, *I* was so proud of me! :)

In the greater scheme of things, it isn’t that big a deal. It was likely forgotten five minutes after people heard it, but the fact of the matter is that I got to do it. :D

Also today, I got to interview a member of the Chamber of Commerce for a weekly special called Chamber Corner. That, too, got an introduction with my name, and I’m so frickin’ excited. Being honest, it was kind of awful. I was so nervous that I couldn’t think of anything to say, and since it’s an interview segment, it was kind of a problem. But luckily it doesn’t air until tomorrow afternoon, so I’m happily editing it so that I don’t seem quite so spastic. :)

Have I mentioned how much I love my job??
On the downside, however, I am sitting here at 10:30 PM suddenly conflicted about whether or not I prepared tomorrow’s community news for the morning… That could be a problem, as if I didn’t, then last Friday’s community news will play, and that means the folks in town will be mighty confused to hear a lot of stuff about Halloween! D’oh!

I honestly don’t know if I did it or not. I can’t remember having had the opportunity, but at the same time, I’m SURE I remember replacing October 31st with November 7th… I guess I’ll find out in the morning.

For now, I think I ought to get to bed. I’ve not been sleeping well, and I am pretty tired.

But I’m trying to update my blog every day for a month, as one of my 101 in 1001 goals, and I figured I’d better do it before midnight!

Since I measure myself monthly, I figured I should FINALLY use those measurements for something other than my own amusement. So I found a website on how to measure bra size, and I did an experiment.

First I looked at my measurements from earlier this year when I first started trying to lose weight. Checking it against the website, I discovered that at my heaviest, I should have been wearing a 48 D!!! So imagine my shock when I checked my old bra and found that I was squeezing into a 38 G!!! No wonder I have permanent indentations in my shoulders and back! A full TEN inches smaller than I should have. And the cup never supported me at all.

So I checked out the bra I am currently wearing. A 40 DD. It feels fairly secure, though slightly uncomfortable.  But I could tell it isn’t a perfect fit because the top of the cups is loose from my chest. Epic fail!

Once more, I checked measurements against the website and found out that I SHOULD be wearing a 42 D. Amazing!

BUT - I am still a plus sized girl (though I am no longer in an obsese category - merely overweight), so I had to go one step further and check out a size chart for plus sized women . Luckily even in this category, I am a 42 D, unless I want a Miss Mary of Sweden brand bra, in which case I am apparently a C cup. :D

So there you have it. What they say about most women wearing the wrong size is apparently true! I’m one of them!

- Barack Obama 11/4/08

For the first time in my own history, after two elections have passed me by, I finally stood in line at my local polling point and cast my ballot for President of the United States.

I am proud.

I’m three chapters in, and I’m loving it. Yes, I’m going slowly, which is a shame. But I think I’ve already surpassed my previous personal best as far as NaNoWriMo goes. :)

I’ve read the first chapter to my husband, and he’s been very encouraging, telling me how good it really is. I worry that my excitement about writing will have made for a good first chapter and a mediocre rest of the novel. BUT, I am quite happy that I am at least WRITING.

It’s been so long, and I’ve done so badly. For me, writing used to be life. I wrote my first story in first grade, though I was telling stories long before that.

My mother loves to regale strangers with anecdotes about how I used to tell stories before I could talk. She or my father would say, “Katie, tell me a story,” and I would babble incoherently, refusing to stop until they’d let me off the hook by saying, “Okay, that’s enough.” Then I’d creep away, happy that I’d entertained them for a while.

I have a trophy that I won in Texas when I was 8. The UISD (United Intermediate School District) in Laredo had a bunch of talent programs. There was everything from poetry recitation to math skills to storytelling to spelling. All students were encouraged to participate, and you could enter as many categories as you wished.

While my little brother won an Honorable Mention for reciting Shel Silverstein’s “The World’s Dirtiest Man” at age 6, I won first place in the county for reciting a story called “The Crooked Mouth Family.” In my category, the contestants were all read a story of some sort, and then, one at a time, we went before a panel of judges and had to re-tell the story in our own words and in our own way. My father was exceptionally pleased when I won first place, as I got my storytelling abilities from him.

I wanted to be a writer all my life. I still do, though writing has been put to the wayside as I have pursued a love of painting/drawing. Still, my greatest hope would be to make a living by writing books. It is my only TRUE talent, if indeed I have a talent at all.

I hope that this year I will finish my project and do something with it. I think this story is special, and I have already put a lot of effort into the planning of it. If I can end up with a book that I am proud of, I can’t ask for anything else.

Here’s hoping. :)

*heart racing*

*stomach churning*

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!

Yes, this is the process I go through each and every time I watch the final scene from Bridget Jones’s Diary. One of the all time most romantic scenes in movie history, in my humble opinion!

I saw it for the first time as I was crossing the Atlantic ocean on my way to spend New Year with my then-boyfriend and now husband. I remember my heart leaping into my throat as I thought about kissing my British love in the London winter.

Of course, I thought there’d be snow, but sadly that’s only in the movies. ;)

Anyway, I’ve seen it 100 times since, and I still get that same excited feeling each and every time. I caught the second half of the movie on TV tonight, and I still can’t help wanting to RIP Colin Firth’s clothes off every time I see it. Good god, my palms are sweaty just thinking of it!

I couldn’t find just the end scene on Youtube, but I did find one video which I’m embedding below. The first 25 seconds are from a separate scene (though just as squee-worthy!), and then it goes into the final minutes of the film.

If you are female and don’t curl your toes in utter devotion when you watch this, I can only assume you’re gay or frigid. ;)

Enjoy!

As mentioned in my last post, I started a new job on the 20th of October as a radio producer for our local radio stations (WNAE/WRRN/WKNB). I just finished my first two weeks, and I am KNACKERED.

But my overwhelming feeling is one of absolute adoration for my job. I’ve NEVER felt that way before. I enjoy getting up in the mornings, I enjoy going in to work, I enjoy being busy, and I am so thankful for how well it’s going.

Though I am still new at all of this, I think (and my managers have validated this) that I am doing a great job. I never really realised how much work goes in to radio production. Not just what DJs do, but exact timings, producing commercials, voice over work, recording people, putting together promos and liners, etc. I do so much every day, and I am amazed at how much work it takes.

My voice has been going out a LOT in the last two weeks. Not only have I recorded commercials for local stores and events, but we also have commercials we do for radio stations all over the country. So my voice has been going out on commercials, possibly even in your town! Yesterday, I even had to SING a jingle for a commercial. Crazy, eh?

I’ve also been producing a few segments every day, one called Community Calendar, and one called Ask Your Realtor. In both of these, I basically babble for a few minutes on pre-written events.  But as of next week, I’m going to be taking over a segment called “Chamber Corner” where I’ll be interviewing someone from the Chamber of Commerce each week on a specified topic. It’s a five minute spot, so I’m REALLY excited.

Other than that, I’ve just been learning a LOT. I have some great teachers who have been in radio for decades. It’s amazing to already know more than I thought I could possibly learn in 2 weeks. And I have given back all I can by teaching some of the older generation how to do certain computer tricks which have helped them save a lot of time.

To sum up, it’s going well!

I started NaNoWriMo today. So far I have 1882 words, which is a slow start, but I don’t plan on quitting. For once I have a solid story and am so very excited to be telling it. It’s a children’s book, and hopefully it will appeal to someone, somewhere. :)

Last night (Halloween) I went to my dad’s house to help him pass out candy to local kids. We only got about three visitors, which I know disappointed my dad. But he wouldn’t have missed those three for anything. He has such a big heart, and I know he was so happy to be able to be a part of it.

My neice also stopped by. She just turned three, and she’s so cute. She dressed up as a cute white cat, and she demanded candy. It was sweet.

Tomorrow we’re having a joint birthday party for her and for my other neice who turns a year old tomorrow. So I’m going down to my parents to see them. :) It should be good. :)

Anyway, not much else going on. I dont’ want to waste all my words for the day on a blog update, so back to NaNoWriMo I go!

Our local stations were hiring, and I applied on a whim. When I was in high school, I was Director of the school TV station, as well as Editor of the newspaper and yearbook. I went to college to pursue communications, but I wound up majoring in straight journalism, which I didn’t enjoy. But my dream has always been to work in broadcasting of some sort.

Anyway, I had my interview on Monday, and they were REALLY impressed. I read a commercial for them so they could hear my voice, and I talked to them for ages about my experience. I left the interview with a good feeling, but I knew they had other people to see.

I got a call later Monday, before they’d even finished seeing the rest of the applicants, and they told me in no uncertain terms that I was JUST what they were looking for, and I was asked to come in again today for further discussion.

So in I went this morning, and I was asked to join the team! I recorded a commercial for Sears, which will air soon, and I worked with one of the other producers for a couple of hours to learn a little about their production process. It was so interesting and amazing!

I am beyond excited about this!

I’m going to be doing most of the editing of commercials, promos, news, etc. This includes adding background music, recording some of the dialogue, and messing with audio levels, etc. I’ll have to write copy for some of the news reports, and I will fill in now and then on the air.

This is something I’ve wanted for YEARS but have never really pursued because I didn’t think I could get where I wanted to go without a college degree. But I GOT THE JOB!

This is the start of a career which excites and motivates me, and I cannot wait for the future to get here. :)

HUZZAH!

* Local folk: I’m working for Kibco Radio, WNAE/WRRN/WKNB. Listen out for me now and then! :)

The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.

Thos who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope.

They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.

The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium.

No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved.

No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.

No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.

Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art.

Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art.

From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor’s craft is the type.

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.

It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself.

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

~ Oscar Wilde from The Picture of Dorian Gray

So check it out, and if you love something, buy it! I’ve got so much more coming down the pipeline, but this’ll do for now. Check me out and if I can make you something amazing, I will!

Then, through careful observation, I noticed that the Family Video store two blocks away from me was hiring, so I went in there and have been offered a part time position starting next Saturday. It will move into full time in the coming weeks, which is great.  Then, in another piece of good fortune, I was offered a position at Pizza Hut! Obviously not ideal, but hey, it  pays! I am meant to start there next week.

Then, feeling very thankful to have found positions, I got a call from the local radio station asking me to interview for a Production Assistant role with possible on-air duties! How cool is that? It’s only 30 hours a week, during the day, so I would love to get it. I interview on Monday.

And today I had a message from the BIG company in our area, a company my brother works for, in fact, to set up an interview as a customer service telephone rep paying over a DOLLAR more than I am getting anywhere else.

So things are looking up. I’m just hoping that I get offered all the roles and can mix and match to find exactly the right amount of hours so I earn as much as possible. Right now I am flat broke, and I still need to find the money to buy Ross a plane ticket to come see me next month!

I know there is someone out there looking out for me.