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I used to think I was just MS Word stupid or a jinx, but after doing some net research I have come across many a message board with people ranting and raving about how MS Word sucks.

It is very hard to submit a manuscript in the format an agent asks for when MS Word has trouble even putting the manuscript in normal format.  My documents end up with these huge paragraph sized gaps at the end of the page, because MS word doesn’t want to break up paragraphs, and I end up having the manually drag the ruler down on each page.  I know some sites say: Oh easy fix, take off word wrap, make sure Widows and Orphans is on.  Well it’s off, and it’s on, and MS Word still sucks. 

Now, MS Word has decided that it’s forgotten how to measure margins.  I set it for 1 inch margins on all sides and it gives me insanity.  I am going to have to get a real ruler and stick it up to my monitor to measure my own margins to make sure MS Word is behaving.  I just don’t get it.  There’s nothing like getting 50 pages into a document only to notice… WTF… that margin doesn’t look 1 inch.  Highlight everything, check it, it says it’s one inch… BUT IT’S NOT! 

I miss Word Perfect.  That was my favorite word program, but nowadays they make it MS Word or nothing.  I used to take Word Perfect files and convert them to MS Word, but it ends up putting funny formatting into the document and I’d have to go through and manually edit them.  

Okay, enough of the MS Word rant… but hey, the reason why I’m ranting is because I’m… WRITING.  Yes, that’s right.  I have actually come up with the rationale behind the sequel to my first book, and am ready to outline the plot.  Funny thing about me, I usually get well into the bowels of a piece before I decide to outline, lol.  I know I’m backward, but writing the chapters inspire the outlines for me, not the other way around.  I used to write my papers like that, too.  I never outlined anything, and if teachers required for us to turn in an outline of our papers, I’d take my already written paper and use it to make the outline.

Well, wish me luck. 

Oh, and if the agent that requested my manuscript really only takes a month, then I should be hearing something about if she likes or hates my manuscript soon.  I’ll keep you posted!

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Literally.  Okay, so my new apartment is starting to look like someone lives here.  There are clear walkways, and I have a desk and chair.  I built them this evening.  (Yes, I have a tool box with real tools in them.  Okay, so the tool kit is pink and so are the tools, but hey, they’re awesome! And for your information I paid 10 extra dollars for those tools to be pink 😛 ) Anyway, as I built my complicated Office Max desk, I noticed that the screws and holes they were meant to go into weren’t quite the same size.  Meaning my hand drill vibrated and grunted while the screws said: Haha, sucker, I’m not going any deeper into this hole.  May your desk wobble!  And to top off the screws not all fitting in the holes, there were several screws missing.  I used substitiute screws… and there’s still one mysterious hole with no screw to go in it and no extra joint.  Hmm.   (The finished product looks good, though, and is still standing, even with my computer on it.  Now… it may fall down in the night, but I’m about to knock on wood).  

Tomorrow, I’m building my home entertainment center to put my itty-bitty TV on.  Everyone laughs at my 19 inch TV, but I think he’s cute.  Hmph. 

I’m starting to like it here in Florida.  I think I really just needed the weather to lighten up.  It had rained every day since I moved in on Saturday.  I went on a little walk to the store across the street, careful not to walk in the grass.  I’m still afraid of the Florida critters, and it might be a while before I’m brave enough to walk on the trails. 

Also, the people at my apartment complex might actually come in and fix my foyer light and give me new dishwasher racks (after coming in twice and doing nothing).  I also discovered that a cheap Bissel vaccuum cleaner that I bought for 20 bucks, works better than a Dirt Devil I bought for 49. Grr!

Er… and as for writing… hey, I thought about doing some today :D.  I have been brainstorming like crazy, and I think after my apartment is all put together, and I’m totally moved out of my apartment in Texas (I fly back this weekend to get the rest of my stuff), I’ll start cranking out chapters again.  I was on a writing roll right before I moved. 

 

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Cartoons are misleading. In cartoons raccoons are cute, and sweet. Now, I know that image can’t be too reflective of real life because those cute, sweet raccoons usually wore clothing. Real raccoons are not cute, are not sweet, are naked…. and are HUGE!  I had a classmate who had a raccoon phobia.  I laughed at him… now I take it back.

I pulled into my apartment after work a night ago. It’s nice and dark and my headlights shine on something strolling across the grass in front of the bushes. I think: Oh, someone’s dog is out. Beady little eyes catch the light and my own eyes widen. It’s a German Shepard-sized raccoon.

I sit in the car, hoping it will go away. Instead, it strolls over to the stairs–the stairs I need to take to get to my apartment. I wait a little longer, then get my stuff out of the car. I peep to see if the racoon is still there, and see that he’s ducked into the bushes… right by the stairs. I creep toward the stairs, stop, eye the raccoon, count to three, and break into a run.

**Shudder**

Anyone else here born in the 80’s? You guys remember the Care Bear Cousins? One of my favorite Cousins was Bright Heart Raccoon.

Not A Raccoon

A Raccoon

**Shaking my head**

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Yes!  I have cable, phone and… INTERNET!  I will never take having internet in my home for granted again.  I don’t know how other people do it.  I felt so disconnected.  Getting online at work is just not the same :(. 

My apartment feels a little home-like now.  Maybe I’ll be more comfortable once the rest of my stuff gets here, I build the furniture I bought for the office, get something for the living room, and maintenance comes to wash the smell of urine from my carpets.  I was so embarrassed when the technician from Comcast had to sit in the living room with that pee-pee smell trying to get my internet to work correctly.  I had to tell him that the previous tenant must have had an animal that peed everywhere and didn’t report it to the apartment, so he wouldn’t think that I was nasty and I had peed on the rug.  And I was glad I did, because once I did, his expression changed.  Oh, man… lol.

So… just wanted to give that update.  Today is my day off from work, but I have lots of errands, and maybe even handiwork to do.  By the end of the month, I’m hoping I will settled in and less homesick.  I never thought I’d say this when I finally got out of the Lonestar State, but… I miss Texas with its cleanliness regulations, normal streetlight configuratons, HEB’s, and Krogers….  I miss real suburbs where police officers don’t get into shoot-outs with their neighbors and gated communities meant rich people didn’t want you on their grass.  Here, it means the neighborhood is bad and manned gate is to keep the thugs from getting in… or getting out, without being seen. 

Oh well, I’m sure in a month, I’ll be singing about loving the Sunshine State… though there sure hasn’t been much sunshine since I’ve been here.  Oh, and the horror stories.  Florida has CREATURES.  Hurricane Andrew blew down a serpent zoo and released boa constrictors that eat alligators in the swamps.  There are iguanas the size of dogs that live in trees.  Hares, not rabbits, that attack, and raccooons that play in your swimming pools.  There are lizards that look like little alligators with curly tails and child-sized opossums.  Oh, and we can’t forget if you go out in the Sticks, they’ve got people who keep lions and tigers and ostriches as pets and let them roam the land, checked only by fences that they can easily leap. 

We’ll talk about yellow water next time :).

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So… my new apartment is nice.  I love my new bed and awesome memory foam mattresses.  I love my view of the swamp…er…lake and those freakishly large ducks.  And I love the raccoon that lurks in the bushes by the stairs that I have to go up.  (Please sense my sarcasm on this one).

I also love that now that I’ve turned the air conditioner up to 78, the apartment complex had it set on 72, the carpet has developed a very seasoned aroma… of urine.  I also noticed crayon on the white plastic blinds.  So… did the previous tenant have a naughty, un-potty trained child… or a naughty child and a nasty dog?

I now get to fill out work orders about nasty carpets… oh, and a few other things.  I’m sure maintenance loves me :).

Oh well, other than that things are great.  Love the job.  I am going to be busy-busy, but my boss is cool, my co-workers are nice, and once the rest of my stuff gets here from Texas, I can start decorating my office.  Best news ever: I get internet and cable and modernity in my apartment on FRIDAY 😀 😀

Okay, and some writing news (since this is a writers blog): I have been okayed to teach teen writing workshops and to host adult and teen writing critique groups every Saturday at the library I work at :).

Overall Mood: Good Time!  (Now I just need pee-free carpets)

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Okay, so I am IN Florida.  My new apartment is nice.  There are some flaws, but I can overlook them.  (Just hope the neighbors don’t start shooting at each other, :D) 

My task now is plan ninja strike of getting the rest of my stuff to my new apartment, and getting furniture.  But hey, I’ve got great news.  I do have bedroom furniture now.  It looks like I will be building my office myself.  I know, yikes, but hey, I got my little pink tool kit and I’ve had a little practice at building book shelves at my old apartment.  So, they had a bit of a gangsta lean, they never fell down :). 

After the office, I’ll think on the living room.  I think I’m going to forgo having a dining area and make that little area my workout space.  I mean, I don’t cook, I don’t have anyone to entertain, and I just don’t eat at the table.  And also, I’ve got a bar, so barstools can work, too.

Anyways, I don’t have internet at my apartment yet, so I jump online when I can.  Right now, I’m in Burger King after dropping The Nicest Friend in the World off at the Ft Lauderdale Int Airport.  Geez… let’s not discuss that GPS made us get on the Florida Turnpike and how much the stinkin’ Turnpike costs.  I am taking I-95 back, thank you GPS.  You owe me 10 bucks, by the way.

Take care guys.  Maybe I’ll have a post about, I don’t know, WRITING (teehee), soon.  I have been itching to write for a few days now.  I always want to write when I can’t it seems.

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Okay, so I just realized that I have the best friends ever.  They always want to help me when and if they can, and I always feel like I never do enough in return.  It is weird and nice having people offer to do things for you out of the kindess of their heart.  I just don’t know many people who would put themselves out to help you, when there’s nothing to be gained… and those few people I do know who’d do it, I’m lucky enough to call friends.

So, I’m in the middle of moving to Florida.  My job starts the June 5th, I am driving out on May 31st.  I contracted with a moving company that says, hey yeah, we’ll come get your stuff on the 30th and come between 12 pm and 4 pm.  On the 30th, time comes and goes.  I call them and they say: Oh, we don’t pick up at the end of the month.  Your pick-up date was rescheduled to the 5th, is that okay with you?

WTF????  No, it’s not okay. I will no longer be in Texas on the 5th.  I will be at work on the 5th.  I hired you guys because you said you could pick up before the 1st.  If you had said what you just did now, I would have said: Thank you for your time.  Goodbye. 

The guy I’m talking to gets an attitude and eventually we work it out to where I have to buy an expensive plane ticket to fly back in two weeks on my days off, so that I can let them into my apartment (which I was supposed to completely check out of today, but couldn’t because my stuff is still in there). 

 I say, OK… I have to catch a plane on Monday afternoon to go back to be in time for work. 

The mover says: We can only come on Monday, but we will come at 7:30 am.  

I say: that’s great.  Get the stuff out, then I can clean and check out of my apartment. 

The guys says: Great, I’ll send you e-mail confirmation.

Next day: No e-mail confirmation.  I call and play phone tag for 30 minutes, finally get someone on the phone who tells me, she’ll tell the guy to e-mail me.  Later, no e-mail.  I call to ask if I’m on the schedule even. 

Guy who answers says: Uh yeah. 

I ask: At 7:30? 

Guy: Oh… there’s no time written on here.  Do you need 7:30?  Uh, we can do 8?  Uh… what do you need us to do anyway?

I say: Cancel my entire order.  This is ridiculous.  I don’t even trust you guys to come anymore.  I’ll figure something else out.  Give me my 600 dollar deposit back. 

Guy: Well we have you here as VIP.  We were going to make sure you were first on our delivery and pick up route, but not trusting us and cancelling your order is your perogative. 

WTF???

Do not use All My Sons Moving Company EVER.

Grrrrrrr….. but hey, remember I got the best friends ever, so I did end up working something out that works much better and may save me a little money… though I’d wished we’d thought of it sooner so I wouldn’t have spend money on that plane ticket back!

 

Anyways, going to bed.  Gotta be up at 3:45 to finish driving to Florida.  In Alabama, now!

 

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Okay, I think this is absolutely hilarious.  I’ve been noticing the phenoma for a while.  Every afternoon when driving home, I see a bunch of young teenagers, probably about 14, piled 6 deep in a golf cart, just cruising the sidewalks.  I think, hmm… Well, I suppose when you don’t have a car cruising around in a golf cart could be cool if you’re a kid.  So, I pass them and snicker every day.

Well, on Sunday, there was a charity concert near my apartment.  I walked over to check it out and was nearly mowed down by I swear like 20 golf carts containing teenagers.  All of them decked out in their Abercrombie and Hollister with their big sunglasses, hot hair-dos and mp3 speakers going as they sing along to the music and cruised the sidewalks and parking lots surrounding the concert event.

It was like the “in” thing to show off your golf cart.  I was waiting to see one with rims, and I was just gonna go home if I saw one with a Lexus logo.  As it was, I could hardly wait to get home and laugh.

Now, I know good and well if I was 14, I would be flossing a golf cart, too, or riding in one with my friends thinking I looked cool.  But since I’m not…

PWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAhehehehehehehhehehee!!!HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

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Don’t ask me how many times I’ve seen it.

Okay, ask.

Twice, and might be going for time number three.  (Hey, I’m not THAT lame, I saw it with different people each time 😀 ).

But you know what, the movie is worth seeing more than once.  Thor is sexy, Captain America is hot, and Tony Stark cracks me up (though not as much as the Hulk when he rag-dolled Loki, HAHAHAHAHAAAA!)

 

Favorite quote from movie: “Does mother know thou wearest her drapes?”–Tony Stark.

 

 

(image borrowed from: http://www.literaturereviewhq.com/avengers-literature-review/)

And okay, I’ll admit it.  I’m a comic nerd, so I actually knew who the Avengers were BEFORE the movies, lol.  😉

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Now you know this is late, because I read this book as soon as it came out.  It didn’t end on the cliffhanger City of Fallen Angels did, but wow.  I didn’t see that coming.

I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone who hasn’t read it or isn’t done with it yet, but: WHY-EE, MAGNUS, WHY-EE????

 

Now I can’t wait for the last one… or for the next in the Infernal Devices series.  Though, they will be the last books in the series, and I don’t know if I’m ready to say goodbye to Jace, Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Jordan yet.  And heck, I know I’m not ready to say goodbye to Jem and Will.

 

I know there’s gonna be a new spin-off series out with characters I’ll probably like just as much but: WHY-EE, CASSANDRA, WHY-EE???

If anyone reads these series, message me so we can talk!  I love book discussions and I want to know what you think about Magnus and Alec at the end of this last one.

 

Okay, I suppose I should find some work to do now….