El Clasico

At 2:55 the game cast started. The game is 90 minutes long with a 15 minute halftime. We had to leave at 4:30 to get to our chiropractor appointment. I would not be able to see the end of the game, but would it really matter?

Within the first 20 minutes, the home team was ahead. Within the next 20 minutes, although there were no more goals, there were four red cards and a tussle. By the end of the first half, things looked grim for the away team.

The second half didn't start much better for them. Two goals for the home team, and two yellow cards for the away team came within the next 20 minutes. Before I left around 74 minutes, the away team had three more bookings, all for hard tackles. And the home team was playing circles around them. They looked completely helpless. They were down 4-0 with no real promise for getting any better.

As I shut my computer, I was both dreading to look at it when we got back and anticipating the result. Although I was distracted by wondering the result of the game, I managed to enjoy our dinner at a local restaurant before going home. If the scoreline had been different before I left, I might have been slightly more anxious. It was entirely possible for the visitors to pull back a goal or two, but I feared it was more likely that the home team get at least one more goal.

Thomas watched the last 20 minutes of the game with me. If it had been terrible before, it only got worse. Another goal, another yellow card, tempers flared, and a red card was shown right at the end of the match. The away team had deserved everything they got, and after resting at the top of the league, had been severely beaten by their historic rivals.

I was bummed, but I was also reminded why I like my team, and why I don't like the other team, even if they are the best team in the world at the present moment. Maybe the team I support lost the game, and lost their tempers, but at least they don't rub their skills or their victory in their opponent's face. Although they are not on the top of the League, played terribly, and had plenty of moments that I am sure they will regret, I still say Hala Madrid!

I did it!

My story is not done yet, but I have completed the required amount of words. 50,000 words in one month, that is approximately 74 pages.

I will blog more about other things later.

Picture to celebrate the day

This day, five years ago, I was getting married to my amazing husband!

We were very young then, and very in love.

Fortunately that love just kept growing. 

It is nice to know that we love each other more now that we did when we first got married. 

After three years of courting/dating we decided to take the plunge, and fortunately didn't get cold feet.

But today doesn't celebrate that day as much about something we did five years ago, 

but what Thomas and I have been doing for the past five years. 

 

We have been learning to love each other, and learning to love others together. 

How to work together and how to coordinate our outfits.

And what a wonderful time it has been.

Words

Words, words, words, words.
We read them, write them
Hear them, say them,
Think them.

Words, words, words, words
Even sounds are turned into words,
Buzz, hum, rattle, pow
Slap

But a picture is worth
A thousand words
And music speaks to the soul
And sometimes words are better
Unsaid

Excellence

I want to create something beautiful. I am writing a novel, I sing, I altered a dress, I made delicious omelets, but I want to make something beautiful. Or perhaps I want to know the freedom of a job well done. One where when I am done, I am satisfied that it was all it was supposed to be and the best I could make it. It has been a long time since that has happened.

Recently it seems that I am just making it by. Things are good, but not as good as they could be or as good as I want them to be. I want excellence, beauty, perfection, but I just get good. It is like getting second place, or honorable mention. If I was just a little better, then I could have won...

I would really like to do something that was excellent and interesting. Maybe I should get out my camera, or take a break from my novel and sew something. Maybe I should get out my paints, or pick up Thomas' guitar.

Or maybe I should stick with the three goals for November - novel, exercise, and Spanish - and make them be excellent. I know if I work hard, I could do better. Perhaps the problem is not my task, but the amount of effort I am putting into my task. I get distracted or lazy and know that I can get by with less then the best, so why work harder. But then I get dissatisfied and frustrated because it wasn't as good as it could be.

All those Proverbs about laziness and sloth - Solomon knew what he was talking about. It feels good to work hard and know that it was done well, even if it isn't appreciated. (I don't know what to do about the times I, or my students, work hard, but the job isn't well done, or isn't good enough, but that is a ramble for another time.)

So I want to do something excellent. Why not? Is it really an impossibility? Am I unable to do things well or work hard at something? Of course not, let's get working!

NaNoWriMo

I feel like I wrote all day. I know I didn't. In fact I only wrote about 4 hours, if that. But the day was focused around those four hours. Now it is almost midnight and the number of words that I need to write will jump from 10000 to 11,669. And I will need to write again. No chance to really bask in the delight of reaching a word limit - at least not until the end of the month. Then it will be too overwhelming to even want to think about going back through and editing it. I am learning things though.

I am learning that writing a novel is a very different style of writing than short stories or descriptive paragraphs or reports or blogs.

I am learning that taking a break means getting away from the computer, and house cleaning is more than a job, it is a necessity to keep sanity.

I am learning that although it is crazy, this is fun. I am enjoying writing down the stories that go through my head and making them actually work, rather than getting stuck or never finishing them because they are just in my head.

I am learning that hot chocolate, tea, and other warm beverages are very inspiring, as are candles, blankets, and music. My current favorite writing music is "The New World" soundtrack. It isn't so busy that it distracts me, but it provides enough atmosphere that I can concentrate. However, my earbuds are about to drive me crazy. They are they type that are spring-loaded so they will wrap up and store nicely. Unfortunately, they like to wrap up while I am using them, which then either creates tension on my ears, or makes them pop out of my ears.

I am learning that it is time for bed and when one's brain shuts off, it is best to just let it, and go to sleep.

News

Last Friday a friend asked, why are you so busy? And I realized I don't know what has kept me so busy the past week, but it has felt really crazy. Now November is hear and I never got in my last October post.

1. NaNoWriMo has begun. This year, both Thomas and I are participating.

2. I have volunteered to oversee the a high school newspaper and it has been a lot of work. So we are reworking they way it is going to be done, which means more work, but of a different sort. I think it will be better for the kids though.

3. It takes time to learn a language, and practice. My Spanish is coming so slowly. But I was able to describe my family in Spanish to my friend.

4. We have been watching the World Series (except Game 3 because we went to a choral concert that night because my husband is a very sweet man). I am discovering that baseball isn't as boring as I previously thought. But I still like soccer better.

5. I missed watching all the soccer games I wanted to this weekend because of a missions conference at our church, a NaNoWriMo get-together, and the choral concert. But I did watch one of the MLS play-off games (LA Galaxy vs. Seattle Sounders) on my computer while watching the World Series on the TV. You'd think we are sports people, but I don't think I would quite put myself in that category yet. I think it was more like a last fling before we have to write 2,000 words everyday.

6. A week from today was my due date. It has been bumming me out the past few days. I guess one of the blessings of busyness is that there isn't much time to think. But then when I stop for a moment, it all comes back.

7. I am trying to train my inner critic to be charitable, especially toward others, but toward myself too. The thought of writing this month is scary because I "know" that I can't really write well or tell a good story. Others have always been better than me at that. I think in plays not in novels. But I am going to try all the same, and prove myself wrong.

8. Today I have laundry to finish, dishes to wash, a dress to alter, plants to get ready for winter, lesson plans to write, and journalism to research as well as my 2,000 words.

9. Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

10. I wish I lived more out of what was true and less out of what I feel. It is true that I am a new creation in Jesus Christ, but I feel like being lazy. It is true that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but I feel like I am unable to do those things I really want to be able to do. But what I feel doesn't change what is true. I guess that is what Faith is for - believe in what I do not see.