nablopomo

Wow, at the risk of sounding like I’m bragging, I am so happy about all of the nice birthday wishes I got yesterday, including comments on the blog, e-mails, Facebook messages, and phone calls. Oh wait, I didn’t get any phone calls, but that’s perfect because I kind of hate using the phone. (Although I suck it up to talk to some friends and family I don’t otherwise talk to / see enough.) Anyway, I would say that I got more happy birthday wishes this year than the last 3 or 4 years combined. Have I been a better friend this year? Did my sad story about not wanting to celebrate my birthday create enough pathos to make people pity me? I don’t know, but I liked it!

Another fun part about my birthday was my family is awesome, and Greta sang Happy Birthday to me at least a dozen times. Pat took care of dinner and even knew to get Cheesy Eddie’s carrot cake for dessert. Yay for observant husbands!

Um, I can’t believe we get to vote next week. I wish we could just do it now, now, now. First of all, I just want to see if we can breath a sign of relief or if we can expect at least 4 years with Grampy McSame. (I stole that nickname from someone else; I wish I were that clever.) Plus, I am SO SICK of watching political commercials, and I barely watch any TV. Don’t make me get DVR, people!

Random: I saw this story today and I kind of loved it. Merriman Street is very close to where we live. I love that I could throw a stone and hit at least one of the moldy mattresses. If I remember, I’ll go get a decent picture of the pile before it gets hauled away tomorrow. The photo in the article by no means does this mountain of disease-riddled mattresses justice.

Update: I don't know why I'm obsessed with these mattresses, but I did indeed stop by the eyesore this morning and got a shot before they were all trucked off to a landfill. Behold! (Not the best shot ever, but it was dark and I was far away and using a point-and-shoot camera.)

What else? I'm sick. For the third time this season, and IT'S ONLY OCTOBER. What is wrong with me? I wash my hands like a borderline fanatic, and I haven't, say, been hanging out at a clinic somewhere. I am really perplexed by the whole thing. That is all.

One last thing that seems to be on the minds of friends of mine who have done NaBloPoMo before is that it’s almost that time of year again. I regret to say that I think it’s going to be NoBloPoMo for me this year. I am really conflicted about it, but with working full time, having a captivating and time-consuming toddler, and being in a class that takes up a good 6-9 hours a week pretty much has me at max capacity. I feel like if I did it I would have to half-ass it, and then what is the point? But I get a little sad when I think about not doing it...I dunno, just thought it seemed worth mentioning.

Speaking of class, I have a test tomorrow on the cardiovascular, immune, and lymphatic systems and blood that may or may not make me cry. Gots to study!

PS - Snow tonight! Brrrr.

Fran

So, I was less than thrilled with my NaBloPoMo experience last year, but I think 99% of that had to do with me. Here’s why I didn’t enjoy myself:

Beef #1: I was somewhat frustrated by being generalized as a “mommy blogger.” I feel like this term has a negative connotation. Like, there are real websites and then there are mommy blogs. I know this term shouldn’t be a “dirty word,” (or is it “dirty term”?) but I feel like it is. Am I wrong here? Yes, I have a kid. Yes, I have a website. Yes, I like to post updates about said kid. But I feel like I talk about other things too.

My Resolution: I will continue to talk about Greta, of course, because how weird would that be if I didn’t? But, I will make a point to talk about other things, things that don’t involve having a uterus. I promise. Also, I will wear my “mommy blogger” label with pride (and a little big of sarcasm). I’m a mommy blogger; hear me roar.

Meow!

Beef #2: I didn’t make a single damn cyberfriend last year. Other friends who participated got a whole mess of comments from new people through the randomizer, and I got nothin’. That’s a crappy feeling. But you know what? I didn’t comment on a single other person’s website either. I also rarely perused other sites.

My Resolution: I am going to make a point to go to the randomizer every day and press F5 at least half a dozen times. I will also make a point to delurk myself daily. Watch my new eFriends start rolling in. Watch!

Beef #3: Writing is my favorite hobby, but having to update this site every day made writing feel not fun anymore. Trying to come up with topics to write about felt like a chore.

Resolution: Writing is fantastic. I realize I am not that great of a writer and other people are always going to write things that are funnier and smarter and more interesting than I am. Lots of people read this site, though, and some even enjoy it, I think. And those of you who aren’t serious, dumb, and boring are actually funny, smart, and interesting, so I will ask you when I need help.

Which brings me to my next topic: Uh, so what should my next topic be? What do you want to know about me? What do you want to know about grammar? What have you always wanted to know about toddlers or dermatologic diseases? If that doesn’t compel you to ask a question I don’t know what will.

Okay, time to check the randomizer and get my comment on. See you tomorrow.

Fran

NaBloPoMo is over tomorrow, and while I've submitted every day, I feel like I've kind of sucked out. I don't really think I stepped things up a notch, which was my goal. For that, I am sorry. To try and make it up to you, I am going to post something truly awful.

Many of you don't know this, but in high school I was a bit of a small celebrity in my hometown of Syracuse. (Unless you actually went to high school with me or remember reading this.) That's right, folks, I have already used up my 15 minutes of fame. I wrote for a weekly teen-based supplement in the Syracuse Herald Journal for two years. During that time I wrote a lot of drivel and was recognized a lot. I was reminiscing today with someone about our personal low points in our professional careers. I immediate thought of one horrible assignment for the paper, and tonight I unearthed my article. Behold! Crap meets crap. If you make it to the end of this piece of garbage, you should probably scold yourself. Shame on my editor, too, for not cutting this way down.

So, Have You Ever Dated an hj Writer?

How did I get myself into this? I’ve never tried to hit on anyone in my entire life. I’ve never even smiled at a member of the opposite sex in the mall. So how did I get into this mess? My big mouth. Although I’ve had a wonderful boyfriend for over a year, I opened my mouth at a meeting for hj writers and said I’d test pickup lines. I wasn’t serious at the time, but editor, Maria [Last Name omitted], held me to my word. Every time I tried to back out, Maria would psych me up again. Sometimes she had to call me twice a day. It was a good thing, too, because I may have left the country otherwise. One thing that helped ease my mind was knowing that Adam [Last Name omitted] and D.A. [Last Name omitted] would be right there with me. They are both very flamboyant, and I hoped their personalities would rub off on me.

Adam called me first to figure out the logistics of the evening. I immediately told him I was nervous and had never hit on anyone before. He said, “Don’t worry, I’ve never hit on anyone either – well, at least not for money.” Adam’s sense of humor helped ease my tension. In fact, after talking to him awhile, I even started to get excited about the whole thing. That night, dreams of pickup lines swirled through my head. In my dream there was a huge line of guys and I had to hit on each one, but the line kept getting longer and longer.

D.A. called me the next night, and we made our final plans. After talking to him I became more excited, but that nervous feeling didn’t go away.

Finally, it was the big day. Everyone I talked to about the assignment was very helpful to me by volunteering their favorite pickup lines. It amazes me that everyone seems to know at least one pickup line, and they are eager to share it. I met Adam and D.A. at the newspaper, where our editors psyched us up one more time before the big event. The first place we went was the mall. The mall, however, is a very cruel place. I suspected this before we went, and I was correct.

D.A. was the first to start, and he started strong. He is quite good at hitting on people. The first responses he got were the best. His ultimate, though, was a very friendly, very pregnant woman. An honorable mention goes to a mannequin at Bonwit Teller.

Adam was more nervous than I expected. It took him quite a while to start. He was selective in his choices, but he always got good responses.

I was the last one to start hitting on people. It would take me quite some time to mentally prepare, and, by that time I was ready, my prey would be long gone. I kept telling myself that I wouldn’t take any negative reactions personally. Even though I truly believed this, I found it very difficult to get that first encounter out of the way. I decided to break the ice by trying my lines on D.A.’s and Adam’s friends. That way, after I was done with my delivery, I could promptly explain my behavior. One of D.A.’s friends gave me some very constructive criticism. I tried different pickup lines on him three separate times, and he told me which ones were the most effective.

Things got much easier for me from there. The next guy I saw, I yelled, “Hey! I couldn’t help but notice me checking you out.” He just glared at me for a long time. I didn’t take the rejection to heart, but we all agreed the mall was a bad place to hit on people.

It was time to try someplace friendlier, so we headed to Taco Bell. There were only two patrons there – both guys, sitting at the same table – so it was my job. I tried a lame pickup line and then made eyes at both of the guys. One of the guys was very friendly, but the other simply said, “I didn’t want to hear that.” Yikes! Then, Adam and I each tried our skills on a respective Taco Bell employee. They were both very friendly, and they gave us free soda. The employee I talked to thought I was hitting on him because he’s in a band. To stay in character, I didn’t explain why I used a cheesy pickup line on him. I felt bad a couple days later when I went back, he recognized me, and I introduced him to my boyfriend. No more free soda for me.

That free soda ran through me pretty quickly, so we stopped at Nancy’s Coffee Café for a pit stop. After using the restroom, I noticed a cute guy behind the counter. I said, “Excuse me, but have you ever been arrested? Because it must be illegal to look that good.” He said, “Thanks,” and looked at me very closely, and then he said, “Hey, you’re that hj girl!” That was, by far, the highlight of my evening.

We were supposed to go to Styleen’s next because it was ‘70s night, but D.A. had to leave and Adam was afraid of the bouncer, so it didn’t work out. That was the part of the evening I was looking forward to the most. There’s just something about ‘70s clothing that decreases a person’s inhibitions. I don’t think it’s proven or anything, but it’s just a theory I have. Adam thought so too, so he was wearing a lime-green leisure suit to gather evidence for our experiment. Oh well. Maybe we can try again when Adam turns 18.

For anyone who’s thinking about trying out pickup lines, it’s great if you keep it on a fun level. If you don’t do well at first, don’t feel bad. Keep trying because, like anything, it takes practice. Oh, and take a hint from D.A. and avoid natural food shops. Trust me.

The End

PS - my picuture made the front page for this crap.

-Fran

There's a NaBloPoMo randomizer! What fun.

I clicked around a few times hoping to see this site, because I see that Kirsten keeps getting new visitors from the randomizer, but us, not so much. Or rather, not at all. The person who set up the randomizer said there are 1,125 blogs there, so it might take me a while to see good old PnF.com. If you get here via the randomizer and you'd be so kind, please leave a comment to say so.

I have to say, I'm pretty jazzed up by NaBloPoMo. Not that I'm writing greatness, but it's just cool to be part of something that so many people seem to be all a-twitter about. I saw on wikipedia, under NaNoWriMo that NaBloPoMo is mentioned.

One thing I found interesting by clicking through the randomizer a dozen times is how many people have already quit. How hard is it to post every day? It's not like you need to post anything genius every day. People are all, "Waaah, when I have to post every day, it becomes a chore. Waaah."

Oh, and a part of NaBloPoMo is that, if you aren't taking part by actually updating your blog every day, you should be making a point to comment on people's sites. Particularly, you should pick some people whose sites you've been lurking around and de-lurk yourself! Lately, our comments have been underwhelming in number. Part of that could be that I'm writing about the kid a lot. Maybe you're thinking, "Damn, Fran, I can't really comment about the 12th picture of Greta in a pink shirt." Fair enough. But a lot of people tell me they read the site but don't comment because they feel weird about it. People have said that they notice the same people commenting and feel like they can't, because they're not part of the commenting crowd or something like that. To that, I say "Don't be silly, silly! De-lurk yourself right now and say hi!"

In other news, for the last hour, Pat and I have been sitting side by side on the couch, dueling laptops (mine is bigger - hehe), not saying a word to each other. It's fun.

I'll give you some topics and you can pick one (or come up with your own) to comment on.

• The Exorcism of Emily Rose: horror film or court-room drama? (We just watched this Friday. I didn't like it!)
• Christopher Porko: guilty or innocent? (We just wached the 48 Hours special on this kid that went to U of R.)
• Neil Patrick Harris: I can't believe he's gay, or of course he's as gay as the day is long.
• I got an automated phone call today on my work phone from Pat Boone, encouraging seniors to get out and vote tomorrow. Did I get called randomly, or did someone find my name and assume that, since my name is Frances, I must be wearing Depends?

Okay, that's all I can come up with right at the moment. I'm really tired.

-Fran

It’s NaBloPoMo! Come again? It’s National Blog Posting Month, silly. Check it out here.

As if I don’t have enough on my plate, I’m going to attempt to post something new every day. I was debating doing this, wondering if it would make this site be more about quantity than quality, but then I remembered that there is not an awful lot of quality in this site either, so why the heck not?

How will this project unfold? Will Pat help me out at all? Will you be subjected to reading what I ate for lunch every day? Will I get desperate and start posting *eek* poetry? Will I fulfill my duty and post every day? Will I say anything of any substance whatsoever? Anyone want to take any bets on how many pictures of Greta will be posted?

This is the end of post #1. Sorry it wasn’t very exciting. I wanted to set the bar very low.

-Fran