Pro Obama, Anti Raptor

My household is a pro Obama, anti raptor household, and we are announcing such this Halloween!

(Don't get the raptor? See comics Velociraptors, Substitute, Search History, and the xkcd store. :))

Magic or a Body, Take Your Pick

For NaNoWriMo, I was going to write about some story set on Cresaea again this year. But I couldn't think of a story I really wanted to do right now — I'm feeling more like a magic-related story, and there's no magic on Cresaea.

Then, last weekend while falling asleep, my brain thought, "What if anyone could have magic, so it's not only 'special' or 'talented' people, but in order to get magic, you have to give up your body?" So that's the premise behind the world I'm writing about this November.

I'm still exploring the implications this premise of magic would have on a society. Many things are still in flux or undecided. I have a very draft-y plot outline and world-building notes, but mostly I'm going into NaNo less prepared than I'd like. Hopefully it works out anyhow! Wish me luck. :)

NaNoWriMo, Attempt 3

My first year of participating in NaNoWriMo was in 2004. I got to 19,292 words by the end of that November. In 2005, I made some character notes and had an idea for the story, and I even blogged that I wrote something like 4,000 words, but that text file is nowhere to be found now. :( I didn't even try to participate in 2006 or 2007, after the dismal failures that were 2004 and 2005.

So this morning, I got an email from my best friend from high school, asking if I was going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I hadn't really thought about it, and I didn't have a story idea, but this year it sounds like a fun and silly challenge again. I spent the day at Barnes & Noble, reading books on writing. I'm still not sure what I'll write about, but I have two more weeks to come up with something...

JIT Mochas

JIT Mocha

I like mochas; just ask my wallet. But I get free coffee at work, so I'm not buying as many mochas as I used to. Yet I miss my mochas...

So, I tried to come up with a way to satisfy my mocha cravings while still taking advantage of free corporate coffee (which tastes better than the Kool-Aid here). I really don't care for ghetto mochas. Instead, I came up with something that I still find tasty, even if it's not quite the same as a real mocha.

I present to you the JIT mocha! (JIT stands for "just in time," if you're not in computer science.) You've got the coffee in the mug, and the chocolate Hershey's Kisses in your mouth, and they mix "just in time" as you sip the coffee. If the coffee's hot enough, the Kiss melts right away, making it a very rich, chocolately experience.

So now you know. :)