Word Count: 2,062
On track with my word count so far, but getting up this morning wasn't any fun. I set my alarm for 9, but I hit snooze until 10:00, but then they are laying something in the in-construction house next door. It was a snooze time filled with strange crashes and confusion. I finally got ear plugs, but I wasn't coherent enough to use them. Then I was up long enough to make my coffee, but wimped out and slept for another half an hour--which made my coffee cold. How sad.
Yesterday I discovered a art/craft store in Unhaengdong. This was quite exciting, and I got two new markers... light blue, the Korean version of Prismacolor, I guess. 2,000 won (2 dollars) a piece, but I'm excited anyway, because they are going to work much better than my light blue highlighter. I've been meaning to do that for a long time. I also found little miniature wood hobby sets... haha, which might become my Korean obsession for the year--you know, minus turning my apartment into an indoor jungle.
Speaking of my jungle, I'm pretty sad because my beautiful pink flowers aren't doing so well. I have no idea what to do! I thought at first that I wasn't watering them enough, but now I think that I am watering them too much... they are getting sad and decrepit. But maybe they are getting cold? I don't know! It's terrible! I don't know the first thing about gardening, other than you need to put water in it. And it isn't as if I can ask the shop owner.
I went tooling around on my bike yesterday around 11. I love riding around at night. It's been one of my favorite experiences here so far. I put on my headphones, and I just ride through the streets. It feels so peaceful. Everything is dark. No one is around. For some reason here, it gets very humid at night, even though it is cold. The air is thick, and light reflects from it, so there are halos of yellow and white around everything.
Where I live is quite developed, as I'm sure you've seen by the photos, but it's a little cell of development. There is a small river/stream that runs along one edge, and then the other side is bordered by the small set of hills that I walk on. There is a huge, six lane road, but on one side of it is huge apartments, fifteen stories high, and on the other side it is rice paddies, farm fields, and the little river. It is such an abrupt change, and at night it is quite beautiful. Almost space age.
Yesterday I made it all the way to the Chungnam University area, which is a fun college town. The buildings are older, compressed, with wires sticking every which way. The houses are made from brick and look quite odd--Asian, but not Japanese or Chinese, of course. Distinct. The corners are dulled and everything is curvy, and the roofs almost look Ghanaian, flat with railings and places to dry clothes. I loved the neighborhood--especially since at 12:00 midnight there were still tons of people wandering around. In fact, I drove past a tiny cafe, and who did I see? Why, my coworker! How odd! I stopped in to say hi, but then I meandered off home. Small world, this. But I like it. It's good to get to know people.
I had a good weekend, but it was mostly Halloween partying and the like. Didn't see or do anything spectacular, but I'm excited because I'm heading into Seoul this weekend! And it's Nano, which means that I'm going to get my writing ON! Yay!
Showing posts with label nanowrimo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nanowrimo. Show all posts
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Nanowrimo is two days away!!
As some of my favorite students would say... "Oh--my--COD!!"
(In Korean language, the 'g' sound only comes in the center of a word, so forming words that BEGIN with 'g' is hard for them. They will often make the k sound instead, which makes it sound like they are calling upon the divine cod.)
So naturally this past week I have been working hard to get my chapter plans in order so that I can begin withe fury of a thousand suns on November 1!
For those of you who don't know what Nanowrimo is, it is short for National Novel Writing Month. In 2003, when I was a junior in high school, I heard from a friend that these crazy people had decided to challenge themselves to write a novel in a month. 50,000 words of novel in one month. Naturally I thought that was a genius idea, and I completed my 50,000 words--about halfway into a brilliant novel. After the end of the month, I barely looked at it again.
The world and the plot stayed in my head, though. Plus Nanowrimo is one amazing way to meet and chat with other writers. The craziness kind of infects everyone to be more supportive. I'm super excited to meet some of the novelists in Korea, too.
Also, I'm attempting to find a way to upload a short video post to share with friends and family. It was suggested to me because some family wants to hear what's up, but can't get on the internet to read the blog. It sounded kind of fun anyway, but sadly I discovered (after making the video) that YouTube has blocked video uploads from South Korea. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I am assuming that it is a copyright concern that the SK government enacted.
Anyway... I'm off to plan sommore stuff!!
(In Korean language, the 'g' sound only comes in the center of a word, so forming words that BEGIN with 'g' is hard for them. They will often make the k sound instead, which makes it sound like they are calling upon the divine cod.)
So naturally this past week I have been working hard to get my chapter plans in order so that I can begin withe fury of a thousand suns on November 1!
For those of you who don't know what Nanowrimo is, it is short for National Novel Writing Month. In 2003, when I was a junior in high school, I heard from a friend that these crazy people had decided to challenge themselves to write a novel in a month. 50,000 words of novel in one month. Naturally I thought that was a genius idea, and I completed my 50,000 words--about halfway into a brilliant novel. After the end of the month, I barely looked at it again.
The world and the plot stayed in my head, though. Plus Nanowrimo is one amazing way to meet and chat with other writers. The craziness kind of infects everyone to be more supportive. I'm super excited to meet some of the novelists in Korea, too.
Also, I'm attempting to find a way to upload a short video post to share with friends and family. It was suggested to me because some family wants to hear what's up, but can't get on the internet to read the blog. It sounded kind of fun anyway, but sadly I discovered (after making the video) that YouTube has blocked video uploads from South Korea. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I am assuming that it is a copyright concern that the SK government enacted.
Anyway... I'm off to plan sommore stuff!!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Friday is my favorite day!
My kids are good, the weekend is near, and life is just simpler. Energy is abundant, because I don't have to save it for anything else.
The online tv that I have been watching has too many love stories in it. I like the action and the adventure, but the love stories make me lonely. I mean, that makes sense of course. I should be lonely. I don't know anyone here very well. I was thinking yesterday about how badly I just wanted to talk to someone. It's funny because I didn't really notice how deeply I missed really hard core conversation until Stephanie came down, and we got to do some of that. Now I crave it.
But that's natural, I think. I mean, you can't move somewhere and expect to know everyone lickity split. Nor can you expect to having the kind of soul-wrenching discussions that seem to fuel us so well. It's natural. There's no reason to be concerned--but it does make me quite impatient. (As if I wasn't enough already.) And just because it's normal doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
Oddly enough, all I really need to be okay with it is to write it down. Share it a little. Then I feel better. I get it off my chest. I don't feel so isolated, because at least I know that it's normal.
Either way, I am REALLY looking forward to National Novel Writing Month this year. I skipped the last two years, but now with my new found time, I am 100% ready to dive back in, crank out some so-so work, and then really force myself back into the writing world. The best part is that there is a good sized Nano community here in Korea, with about 100 participants in Seoul and another 10 or so in Busan. Since I'm smack dab in the middle of those two cities, I can join people for writing parties in both cities! I think that will be a great way to form some good, deep relationships. People always bond better over the absurd things that they do. I mean, moving to Korea is a pretty absurd thing to do--but everyone I've met so far has been here for a while. Now moving to Korea and then attempting to write a novel in 1 month, that is 2x absurd, and only a very odd breed of people would even attempt it. So I'm pretty excited. :D
Anyway, my new goals for October are to get out a little bit more. Setting goals for the month is important, and this October I want to travel a little bit more. September was good--now I've been here for a month, and it's time to start breaking out of the ordinary. There's stuff to see in this country! And I intend to see it!
The online tv that I have been watching has too many love stories in it. I like the action and the adventure, but the love stories make me lonely. I mean, that makes sense of course. I should be lonely. I don't know anyone here very well. I was thinking yesterday about how badly I just wanted to talk to someone. It's funny because I didn't really notice how deeply I missed really hard core conversation until Stephanie came down, and we got to do some of that. Now I crave it.
But that's natural, I think. I mean, you can't move somewhere and expect to know everyone lickity split. Nor can you expect to having the kind of soul-wrenching discussions that seem to fuel us so well. It's natural. There's no reason to be concerned--but it does make me quite impatient. (As if I wasn't enough already.) And just because it's normal doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
Oddly enough, all I really need to be okay with it is to write it down. Share it a little. Then I feel better. I get it off my chest. I don't feel so isolated, because at least I know that it's normal.
Either way, I am REALLY looking forward to National Novel Writing Month this year. I skipped the last two years, but now with my new found time, I am 100% ready to dive back in, crank out some so-so work, and then really force myself back into the writing world. The best part is that there is a good sized Nano community here in Korea, with about 100 participants in Seoul and another 10 or so in Busan. Since I'm smack dab in the middle of those two cities, I can join people for writing parties in both cities! I think that will be a great way to form some good, deep relationships. People always bond better over the absurd things that they do. I mean, moving to Korea is a pretty absurd thing to do--but everyone I've met so far has been here for a while. Now moving to Korea and then attempting to write a novel in 1 month, that is 2x absurd, and only a very odd breed of people would even attempt it. So I'm pretty excited. :D
Anyway, my new goals for October are to get out a little bit more. Setting goals for the month is important, and this October I want to travel a little bit more. September was good--now I've been here for a month, and it's time to start breaking out of the ordinary. There's stuff to see in this country! And I intend to see it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)