Just a Word of Warning

November 1st is the start of National Novel Writers Month, affectionately known as NaNoWriMo, or NaNo for short.

For reasons I believe have largely to do with being fairly confined to the couch/bedroom over the past week I've been antsy and a little bored. All I really need to get into mischief.

So when someone threw out information on a Weight Watchers Message Board about this annual event I was surely not in my right mind.

I signed up.

50,000 words in 30 days.

They advise at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ (a site that currently has a high crashibility factor so if it doesn't work for you keep trying) that authors just write. That they no go back and edit their work.

You can start with an outline, which I might have had I decided more than a hour before the event was to begin to actually do this, but you must write all of your prose fresh.

50,000 words in 30 days averages out to about 1700 words a day. No sweat. I thought. At my first 1400 yesterday I was thinking "what the heck have I gotten myself into?" and then it dawned on me...just write.

I hit my 10 percent mark this morning. It has become blatently obvious to me, however, that if I'm going to pay attention to this then a few things are going to suffer.

Noticing Life may be one of them.

So consider yourself warned.

Oh, and by the way, my "novel" starts out:

“It’s not about sex. It’s about feeling desired. As if, at that very moment in time, you and only you are his entire focus.”

I shared that on the NaNo Thread for the General Daily Thread board on Weightwatchers.com to which the response was "when you get stuck, write porn."

NL

Two Damn Weeks

Two weeks. Two funerals. Two thefts. Oh, and two headcolds which have taken up residence in my chest leaving me without a single good night's sleep in...yes...two weeks.

I lent my laptop to a colleague at work who had it in her car when she stopped for an errand in Alexandria. When she got back hers was one of many cars that had been broken in to (and one was stolen) and of course, my laptop was gone.

This was not her fault. The fact is, someone came along and decided to take something that did not belong to them. That is theft. The victim is not to blame and I believe this continued belief that victims "ask for it" should be stopped immediately. Another colleague blames the economy. I blame parents and bleeding heart liberals who have raised an entire society of "something for nothing" people.

So, two weeks of wrangling with the insurance company.

Enter first headcold. Shivering, shaking, 24 hours of head misery before it wandered down to my chest. Oh...sigh...I know what this means. Bronchitis.

Then my Aunt Elli died. While not technically my "aunt" she was the closest thing to a sister my mother ever had, and like every good southern family (with a Yankee mom) we grew up calling her "Aunt Elli." I took my parts to the funeral - thankful for a lovely day and owning a convertible. Screw bronchitis. And thank god for abuterol inhalers and halls cough drops.

So this past Monday Chris gets an email from his sister. Her mother-in-law has died and the funeral is Wednesday. Being a good Southerner I am well aware of the following critical decision making facts:

1. Angie is reportedly closer to her mother-in-law than to her own mother. That's family.

2. Chris is the only "blood" family Angie has on the East Coast that Angie has not birthed out.

3. It is less than a 7 hour drive from Arlington, VA to Middletown, CT.

4. It's autumn. It's the East Coast and it's Autumn. It's Connecticut, in autumn, arguably the most lovely place on earth right now.

5. Family is there for each other.

So Monday evening we decide to take Tuesday-Thursday and make a trip to Connecticut.

We're working through our checklist - which includes finding the GPS. Chris says "it's in the mini-van" and so we wander over to grab it. I am watching Chris stick his hand through the window, and trying to make sense of what I am seeing as he says "look at this!" And still I am like "what?" Finally I realize that the sparkly stuff all around is shattered window glass and there is no GPS.

I just can't deal. If ever there is a doubt that I am Southern, it is erased by my next action...which is to say exactly this "I can't deal with this right now. Just leave it and I'll deal with it when we get back."

Moments later we are sorting through our mail as we enter our apartment and I spot a letter from the Arlington County Police Department - which essentially reads "we're sorry for your loss. We understand being a victim is difficult. However, we aren't going to do anything about it."

I'm "blink, blink, blink" for a moment as I try to figure out how they already have a police report for a crime we only just discovered. Then I realize that the apartment complex must have known about this, reported it (and surely ours was not the only vehicle involved), and then never bothered to tell us.

So, for one brief moment, I had this thought..."you have to stay home and fix this."

But I am still Southern and those roots are there and there strong. Some things really can wait. (post-post note: it is not "they are" strong...which Chris doesn't understand.)

So we packed up and drove to Connecticut. Top down for much of the drive. Chris went to the funeral while I went shopping. Even after 2.5 years together, 2 of them together on the same coast in the same apartment, he is still uncomfortable about being a man with a girlfriend. Although, to be fair usually his ex and his kids refer to me as "the Devil's Spawn" so girlfriend is marked improvement.

His sister, whom I love more every time I spend time with her, called him an idiot when she'd learned he wanted me to not go to the funeral, and ordered him to correct the situation. So in the midst of a lovely shopping outing my phone rang and the message came in to please come to the reception. I found my way back, meandered in, and was promptly introduced to about 2 dozen people before Angie (have I mentioned that I really love this woman) sat down with me and we had a nice few minutes of girltalk.

We spent much of the rest of the day with Angie, her amazingly talented husband, handsome and equally talented son, and her delightful daughter who just happens to be nearly exactly 1 month older than my own daughter.

While we were there the insurance claim on my laptop was settled so on our way back home we stopped at Best Buy and bought a new laptop for me. And one for Chris.

Then we drove through Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey with the top down.

Now I am very sick. Fever, hacking awful cough, and kleenex piled up all around sick. But it was worth it because in all of this I realized the following things.

1. I have my priorities straight and Connecticut in the autumn SHOULD be enjoyed with the top down, no matter what it costs you later.

2. Chris has truly wonderful siblings who don't seem to want anything more from me than to know who I am and that I love him. Which I do.

3. Theft is committed by people who believe they should not have to work for what they have - victims are those who believe they should be free to expect better behavior out of society. Victims aren't stupid, they are Americans actually trying to BE Americans. Thieves, on the other hand, should be shot immediately.

Oh, and one huge "Thank you" to Chris for running out at 11:30 PM last night to get me cough medicine and then for holding me through the night as we waited for that stupid fever to break.



NL

A Hail to the Women Who Went Before Me

Last night I joined the American Red Cross as a volunteer.

Again.

Okay, technically I never left. I just changed chapters to reflect the fact that I don't live where I used to live.

I decided to start over, just like a brand spankin' new volunteer who has never before taken a CPR course, or taught a Disaster Education class, or led a committee. Or, for that matter, been up close an personal with chapter politics. (Hoping to avoid that this time around - what a waste of time.)

I love the Red Cross. These thousands of volunteers do amazing things in horrible circumstances every day somewhere in the world. No matter what, no matter who...if there is a need, the Red Cross is there. I love being a part of that.

So there I was, back in orientation being reminded of the honor of serving with these fine men and women when the woman leading the class made the following comment:

"75 years ago to the day that Hillary Clinton addressed the Democratic Convention in 2008, the suffragettes turned over this building to the American Red Cross. They no longer needed it...they'd won the fight."

They most certainly did win the fight. Not the war. But definitely the fight.

And so as I sat there, reflecting on those women who came before me I thought also of my daughter I made this solemn promise:

I will do everything in my power to make sure that their fight was not, and will never be, in vain.

NL

Open Season on Women

"More and more people are having babies simply for the love of german engineering." Brooke Shields in the new Volkswagen Routan ad campaign

This commercial just wigs me out. It took a bit for me to figure out why and frankly, it was the new Chevy Traverse commercial that closed the brain loop for me. You know the one...a woman driving a Traverse notices shoes falling from the sky, stops her car, and begins to scoop them up by the armful and shove them in the cargo hold of her car. Leaving me to wonder, 'how do you match the pairs?'

Maybe I'm just being sensitive here but just WHO is the target audience supposed to be for these two ads? Does Volkswagen really think that having Brooke Shields lecture in the mockumentary about the relationship between family planning and mini-vans is going to make women feel anything but stereotyped?

Does Chevy really think that the way you sell a car to a woman is to throw shoes at it?

Cadillac did this right with the fabulous Kate Walsh delivering the line "The question is, when you turn it on does it return the favor?" in a way that made it clear that it's not just a car for the boys club.

Just because a woman has children doesn't mean she wants to be classified as a "soccer" or "hockey" mom. Giving birth does NOT make a woman take leave of her senses or her sense of style. Nor does it create in her a wanton lustfullness for german engineering.

I love shoes, this is true. I also love gadgets. You wanna sell me on a car? Show me the amazing navigation system that connects me to all of my data on the go any time I need it. Treat me as smarter than a woman who, noticing shoes falling out of the sky, doesn't bother to ask "what is going on?" and instead hops out and scoops them up. That ad is just stupid on too many levels to mention.

It certainly seems to me that the advertising industry has picked up on the public sentiment that a woman who is strong, confident, and capable is nothing more than a woman who will have a child or stop for shoes all for a car. It makes me wonder where this came from and to be honest, I'm afraid much of it is flourishing in the political arena...on both sides.

William Shatner's character Denny Crane said, on Boston Legal this week, that sexism is alive and well in American and women are the ones perpetuating it.

You think?

Because when ads like these or politics like we've seen in the past 18 months succeed, we most certainly are perptuating it. And we should be deeply ashamed.


NL

Signs of the Times

So my father, in a bold political move, did something he has never done before.

He put a yard sign up in his yard. For John McCain.

My mother is not happy about this. My sister and brother-in-law (a cop), who share a pipestem driveway with my parents and are the first of the two houses, are not happy about this.

Their problem isn't that they disagree with my dad. Their problem is that they are worried about *other* people who disagree with him and feel that vandalization is an okay way to express an opinion.

I'd say they were crazy...if it were any other election. But while I was in Texas and in Pennsylvania, I heard a number of people say they had the same concerns when they were considering putting their support for Hillary Clinton in full view. We verified, in Texas, a number actual sign thefts and did hear reports of vandalism, so it's not a unique concern. In fact, there are *laws* around this sort of thing precisely. But it's hard to catch sneaks in the night.

A friend from work relayed the following story to me a few weeks back. She was driving to work with her "Hillary" sticker still proudly displayed. She and Hillary Clinton are actually personal friends so it seems reasonable that although Hillary is no longer in the race my friend is not so inclined to remove the sticker. An individual driving a car behind her honked his horn, sped up, and began to guesture rudely while pointing back and forth between her sticker and her as a driver. So she, this fairly well mannered southern lady, returned the favor.

Then he turned into the parking garage at work. Her work. My work.

We work for a consulting firm where supposedly we hire people who should know better.

I'm not a bumper sticker kind of girl. When we were campaigning for Hillary we did put signage on our 30 foot RV. And we did worry about having it up when we went to campgrounds. But campgrounds are kind of special and generally full of people, we've learned, who don't go around messing with your RV just because they disagree with you. We did generate a lot of conversation when we'd roll in - and most of it, I'm pleased to say, quite civil.

But I drive a Beetle convertible and my not being a bumper sticker kind of girl isn't why there is no support sticker for McCain on it. Because my brother-in-law, the cop, isn't worried about vandalism for no good reason.

I don't care who you support, but I do know this - you should be able to have a yard sign or bumper sticker and not have to worry about stupid people and what they might do to you.

Just a thought.

NL