Ever since my son bought RockBand (at my urging), I have been occupied. He and I don’t usually play vdieo games together. RockBand is different. We spent five hours playing on Tuesday when we got it, and another two hours on Wednesday. He was never fond of GuitarHero, although at this point I’m hoping that the drums, guitar and mic will work when GuitarHero World Tour comes out. The only drawback to RockBand is the music. We have downloaded (bought) other songs that we like better. I’m hoping that they come out with more music. It’s from MTV and EA. I don’t expect it would be that big of a deal to expand the game. It does have online play, but we’re too chicken…

I have learned that I play left-handed guitar. I’m completely worthless playing right-handed.

I think the goal of blogging every day is gone. I missed 5 days while my computer was down, and now with my son here, I’m missing more days. He has his ACT this Saturday, and we have to go out of town for him to take it. Hard to believe that there were no seats locally. That’s what happens when you postpone signing up for weeks and weeks. He didn’t see the importance in signing up right away. But it will give me a chance to spend some time taking photos in a new area. I have to catch some sunset photos on the ocean. I’ll be posting the photos when I get back.

I think I’m finally over my holiday procrastination. I had put off getting my nephews their gifts until today. Gifts are in the mail! I don’t know why I kept putting it off really. I finally got my hairdresser a gfit, but I will have to drop that off later. tomorrow I will be there to get my hair done.

My son arrived on Friday, nearly on time. The plane was about thirty minutes late. I’m still writing. I am past 36,000 words today.

I have spent more time these past few days either shopping or connecting gaming electronics than I care to. I bought a lot of chocolate before my son got here. By Sunday, he had eaten one and half pounds of chocolate, which meant another trip to See’s.

My blog is taking a beating with NaNoWriMo going on. I’m writing like crazy. I spend an hour to 90 minutes a day to write 2,000 words or more. I’m actually impressed with my productivity. I am currently at 12,132 words. I still have very little idea where my story is going. I just introduced four new characters today. Two were mentioned and given names. Two others have a bit more development and will be developed further tomorrow and after.

In addition to writing, I am working the leadership program and managing the measures I have to meet. I am getting closer all the time. I have been decorating for the holidays. My son arrives on November 16. It’s not too far away. My biggest concern right now is getting See’s chocolate balls before he gets here. I went to the store on Monday, but they were out of chocolate balls. I can hardly believe that the holidays are so close. I have lots of grocery shopping to do also.

The weekend provided a gigantic release of anger and pain. I was so caught up in getting everything done yesterday that I didn’t get to over the weekend that I forgot to post here. Lots of things have happened in my life–mostly a different view.  I can really be with people now, but sometimes that means that people are putting meaning on the interaction that isn’t there. If you’re interested in a different view of life (enthusiastic, fun, playful), check this out (this will begin a video). Let me know what you think. I would like to hear about it.

In other news…

My cat Hamlet looks very sick right now. He eats, but he’s nearly a skeleton. It’s sad to watch him waste away. He’s not the only pet either. My sister’s dog has liver problems, and he’s wasting away. He’s young too. My mother’s dog is having chemotherapy to prevent cancerous lumps from returning.

While I’m still getting over the disappointment of not being able to tryout for the Tahitian group, I have been busy getting the rest of my life in order. I have the leadership program beginning in late August. It’s our first chance to see who is in the program locally and meet our coaches. Coming up next week I have the first seminar of a series on sex and intimacy. Everyone’s favorite topic. It should be a very interesting seminar if only to see how everyone else reacts to the topic. I have to make time for dance practice and especially conditioning. I never work as hard on my own as I do in class. I suppose everyone is like that. I certainly like the results from just three hours of conditioning and practice–trimmer arms, tigher abs.

The other part of my life to get in order is work, of course, but also dating. I put that on hold over the summer while my son was here. It’s not easy to meet someone new while he’s here, and I would rather spend most of my free time with my son. Actually, I don’t like the dating part…the meeting, the wasted time. It can be fun to get to know someone, but you have to go through so much effort to find one worthwhile.

Life has been so exciting this summer. How muchfun can I have watching video games or listening to the guns in video games. Othwrwise I have spent some of my time chatting with friends, finishing up seminars and the project. I’m still not done with the project. I get closer every day though. Today was an excursion to Walmart (ick) and the mall. There sure are a lot of moms with strollers at the mall. I remember when my son was that small. I hardly went. It was nearly impossible to get myself ready and keep him out of trouble. As he got a little older, I was in graduate school. There were very few trips to the mall unless I needed something from some store. Today was like that. Needed to go to one store to buy something for him. With all the large SUVs and the drivers who can’t park these monsters and strollers, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Are the blahs contagious? If so, we have an epidemic at my house. I’m wondering if all the reading I have been doing on the internet is the cause. I don’t watch the mainstream news on television, so I get my news from multiple sources on the Net. Frankly, it’s depressing. There are lots of “problems” and few working on the solutions. One person can’t possibly do everything or work on every “problem” even though one person can make a difference.

Anyone else looking forward to Harry Potter? It’s a bonus summer. First a new movie and just over a week later–the book. I know we will be seeing the movie the first day it comes out. I already have the books on order set to arrive the day they come out.

I’m not a crazy HP fan, but I do enjoy the books and movies. My son does as well. Actually it was Harry Potter that got him interested in reading. Before that he just couldn’t find anything that he wanted to read. Then came Harry Potter. He was too young at first, so he had to catch up on the story. Before long he got caught up and couldn’t wait for the next book. I will be sorry to see the series end. They have been fun.

And let’s admit it…we would all like to be able to do the things in the book. Who wouldn’t like to turn someone into a toad, rat or other appropriate object perfectly suited to their personality? Who wouldn’t like to be invisible?