Boldly Going Nowhere

These days, I have the attention span of a gnat. It's ridiculous. I don't read, unless I am skimming. I take that back. I do read internet message boards with intensity. Ugh. Ridiculous.

However, in an attempt to get back into being a regular reader, I did check out The Okinawan Program from the library. I also bought the Okinawan Diet Plan. The former is about the lifestyle of the Okinawans, and this includes their diet. The later, the Okinawan Diet Plan, is solely about the diet.

I actually prefer the "Program", because it mentions other things in the lives of the Okinawans that keep them slim and healthy. Martial arts was one of them. Many Okinawans practice martial arts. Martial arts, even Tai Chi, are healthy for us because they have the ability to work the whole body.

Personally, I like cycling and jumping on a mini trampoline. but I realize that those activities only work the lower body muscles (the legs). However, I do try to throw in yoga as much as possible in order to work my whole self. Yogilates is another one that I like to do, because it really works your core.\

The other things the book mentions are their low stress lifestyle, strong social supports, spirituality, etc. Their are many factors that make a person healthy. And all of these factors have given the Okinawans long lives, low cancer rates, and low heart attack rates. I'm horrible with numbers, but they are the healthiest people on the planet. Wish I could cite some percentages. But I'm lazy. You can all do that yourselves.

I will close with this piece of wisdom. The Okinawans believe that you can't call it a meal unless there is rice. So eat lots of brown rice! White rice is fine, but eating brown rice regularly packs plenty of fiber and other nutrients. Brown rice used to be a staple in Okinawa before they could all afford the nice, sticky white stuff. But that sticky white stuff is not nearly as good for us. So go brown.

Dream Comes True

My typewriter arrived today! I am so excited. Now I just have to figure out how it works. It comes with correcting tape and a daisy wheel. I will have to call the typewriter company to ask how exactly I am supposed to put this typing machine together and get it up and running. I heard a horrible grinding sound when I tried to start it up. The instructions say that is a sign that the insides are pushed up against packing material. Didn't see any packing material, but I am sure that this mystery will be resolved.  It won't be long before I am hammering out quite a novel :) So happy.

Prologue and Chapter 1 of The Spellman Files

So far, I find the book to be fast paced and very friendly to any reader with attention issues (it shifts topics very quickly, and the first chapter is actually divided up into parts.) It actually reminds me of Catch-22, because it has a lot of different characters, settings, and it is very much an ensemble performance made by the every one of these fictional characters. It is also very funny and has over the top scenarios. It even has the same publisher: Simon and Schuster. However, Catch-22 is told from the perspective of an omniscient third party, and this story is told from the perspective of 28 year old Isabelle Spellman.

Isabelle starts us off with a prologue featuring a very unusual car chase that involves a twist at the end, so I do not feel comfortable getting into too many details about it. 72 hours later she is being interrogated by an inspector. She needs to start her story from the beginning for the inspector, and so that is exactly what she does for the readers. She goes all the way back to the beginning. She discusses her parents and how they first met, she describes her perfect older brother David, her younger sister Rae, her New Uncle Ray, and herself and her friend Petra. I actually really enjoyed that setup, because of how much character development there was. I really feel like I got to know her family and its dynamics.

The dynamic of her family nearly destroys her as a child and even as an adult. She really doesn't "grow up" until she's 23. From the time she is a little girl, she is very jealous of her older brother David. He is perfect in every way and she cannot live up to that. She styles herself the troublemaker in the family and gets progressively worse as she ages. As a child she is only guilty of pranks. But as she becomes a teen, she is committing crimes, not doing homework, drinking, trying to sell blow...You get the picture. Her parents cannot understand what is wrong with her. But her brother David seems to instinctively know what the problem is. The problem is him. She cannot live up to him and so she acts out. Out of guilt, David becomes even more perfect. He does everything to cover for her and be the best older brother a younger sister ever had. It isn't until she is 23, and sees how much her behavior is affecting David, that she really starts to change and become a mature adult.

Certainly, in my own life, I can relate to Izzy. I also had a "perfect" older brother. Well...not as perfect as David. But he was generally considered better than me in every way possible. He was smarter, friendlier, more athletic, etc. And that is a very hard thing to live up to, especially if your parents don't like you as much as your older sibling. As an adult, it is something that I have to be aware of, and I need to realize that I am good enough as I am. As the low man on the totem pole in my own family, I need to recognize that I only need to live up to the standards that I set for myself. I saw myself as the bad one in my family, and it had consequences in other areas of my life. Izzy finds this out in the book. The more she sees herself as the darkness to her brother's light, the worse she becomes--more drunk, irresponsible, and setting a horrible example for her younger sister. Once she changes her perception of herself, that she does not have to be as bad as her brother isn't, she becomes a better person. I don't have to be the screwup in my family, and I hope that most people who are considered the screwup kid realize this as well. Valuing yourself can take you further than the value your family places on you ever will.

More goals

I believe it is time for a new goal while I await the arrival of my new typewriter...

I am going to read a book and then blog about it. I choose The Spellman Files. I am a fan of mystery books. I just checked it out from the library, and it is supposed to be a funny mystery. So my next post will be about the book. I don't think it will be like a book review. I will read some of the book, write about my thoughts on it, read some more, write about that, and so on...So it will be kind of a different formula from reading a book and then writing or discussing it. My thoughts and reactions will unfold over time. And maybe, just maybe, this exercise will help me to write my novel. It will help me to think of how novels are written, what the reader thinks while they are putting a novel together, and how novels are divided up and read over time.

So here I go! Off to read The Spellman Files and report on what I learn.

The typewriter and getting things done

So, my dreams are coming true! I have ordered an electronic typewriter :) I can't wait for it to arrive in the mail! My novel should be out of my brain and onto typed paper in no time.

In more news, my dream of a clean home is also on its way to coming true as well. I have a cleaning lady coming tomorrow. I'm only going to have her work on about half the house, but it's a start.

I have found that putting my thoughts to this blog actually helps me to accomplish things. It helps me to envision what I want and then make it come true. Is this like The Secret? Isn't The Secret where you envision what you want and then the universe helps to make it happen? Or maybe I have some higher power looking out for me? I like to think so.

I think I would like to encourage blogging in order to renew their intentions. I have found it to be very healthy.

A sound mind needs a sound environment

As I clean up little by little, I think I am proving to myself that my theory that a chaotic home breeds a chaotic mind is very true. I already feel like I have more energy and am more ambitious. I have been so tired lately, but today I finally went out and exercised for the first time in over a week. I did 20 minutes of light cycling at the gym, 10 minutes of weight lifting, and then I went home and jumped on my mini trampoline for 5 minutes. 35 minutes of exercise does a body good. And then I kept up the good work and swept up some more. I got a whole bunch of unnecessary papers (junk mail, etc) off the floor :-) By doing little by little, my home is starting to look less like the home of a hoarder and more like a real home--something that could be recognized as the domicile of a healthy, functioning human being.

I am not a hoarder because of any obsessive compulsive tendencies. I just can't execute a plan to pick things up and organize. That part of the brain doesn't work. But by just  dedicating a little bit of time to one thing and then another every single day, I find that I can execute just enough of a plan to get the ball rolling on getting this little place presentable.

I don't know how true it is that all people are a product of their environments, but I am certainly a product of mine. I thrive in certain environments and do horribly, both mentally and physically, in others. I don't think I thrive very well in my current environment. But maybe I can make things a little better just by getting my home in order.

Cleaning up...one step at a time

I am always a mess. And I think that is why my home is always such a mess. Allow me to explain.

I work so hard to clean up around here,I just barely make a dent in things. It sucks. I have so much trouble just executing a plan. My body is so physically tired that my brain becomes retarded and I cannot formulate a way to clean up.  

What's sad is that all the mess is probably just making me even more retarded. Everyone needs some sense of "feng shui"or whatever it is that makes people feel like the their homes (and their lives) are in balance.

I do have to wonder if there is a correlation between a home in turmoil and a life in turmoil. If my home was neat and orderly, would I maybe have a better life? I understand that correlation does not always equal causation. But I do sometimes wonder if some of my mental fog is caused by the disorder of my living situation.

The dream of a futon

One of the things that I wanted to go with my typewriter is a futon. Why? you might ask. Simple. It is so simple to lay on a floor typing on a typewriter. Who wants a typewriter in bed with them? A tiny futon with a small coffee table nearby to put the typewriter on is perfect. I love it. And it is perfect to accommodate my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Sometimes I just need to lay down for a bit, so this makes it easier for me to sit up, type, and then lay down for a bit when I'm too exhausted to continue sitting.

Also, I do not need a bed in my tiny studio. It looks so much nicer and less crowded to have that little futon instead of a bed.

Now, all I need is the typewriter. It's coming down the pipe.

The dream of a typewriter

I have a dream of a typewriter. I was lamenting how I simply cannot afford a laptop to type on while I am lounging in bed (I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome so that happens quite a lot). So, I went on my trusty computer and drooled over unaffordable laptops on Amazon.com. I simply don't have the cash for any extras. Even a decade old, dumb refurbished laptop would be too much.

But then, I typed in the search words "word processor." A word processor is something from my youth. They are dinosaurs that have since died out from the meteor showers of computers featuring awesome Word programs. Because these computers and their programs keep getting better and better, and keep coming faster and harder, the poor word processors have been pummeled into near oblivion.

However, a few of these dinosaurs still lurk in hidden corners of the planet (and on Amazon.com). They are now called electronic typewriters. In fact, if you type in word processor on Amazon, what you will find are a variety of Word programs for sale. There is also one real word processor device that has no ability to print, but that's not what I was interested in.

It was the electronic typewriters that caught my fancy. Everyone has seen the romantic images of a writer typing on a typewriter. It is such a heroic process. It i t sn'like on a computer where you can save and edit as you will. No. A typewriter takes a lot of love to work with. You type and it prints. Voila. No going back. You punch the keys with conviction and it gives you your words on white piece of paper.

Now, and electronic typewriter is not an old fashioned typewriter. They have tiny LCD screens that show a line of words words  before printing. They also have spell check and even a dictionary. But that whole idea of typing out my words and just having it instantly printed out for me was an exciting thought. Part of the problem with typing on a computer is that you cannot just read through your work like a book. Turning the pages is so essential to me when reviewing work that is more than just a page. For a whole novel, in order to make it work and edit appropriately, I really need to see the words in my hands. I think that is why I wrote my first novel at 17 by hand and then typed it up. I really need to just peruse it, flipping between the pages, editing as needed or coming up with new ideas.

Whoever thought that I would want a typewriter more than a laptop.

Writing a novel requires dedication

The title of my post says it all. I want to write a novel soooo badly, but I am not always good at persevering. And I do try to give myself a deadline. That deadline is the end of November. And what is so special about November? Natonal Novel Writing Month (NanoWriMo)! Yep. My way of doing it is beginning the story earlier in the year. Then, in November, I do some hardcore typing. I wrote one novel in this way. I wanted to do this again last year, but I just wasn't feeling well and my brain was drained. So, I am hoping that this year will be better.

I have already started the story, but sitting at a desk and typing is the hardest thing on the planet for me. I want to just lay in bed, get distracted, and then type as I will. It's just too bad that my laptop is busted. They are perfect for that kind of thing.

In the meantime, I will blog more. That will keep me in writing mode, and I will find it easier to commit the act of putting my thoughts to computer screen.

Of course I could always just write a novel the old fashioned way (pen to paper). But it's just so much easier to edit when you are typing.

Still, that is a different and slower way of doing things....The act of putting pen to paper and writing something by hand requires slower processing and--perhaps--could be better for my endeavor in the long run.

Maybe I shall try that.