Writing was disatrous yesterday. Hmmm. Maybe "disastrous" was too strong of a word. Non-productive is more accurate.

I journaled. I edited chapter one. I cleared out the WIP of notes. I ended the session by writing notes for the latest chapter.

The above teaches me not to languish in my writing for more than a couple of days. (I didn't write for five days. Sigh.)

It's not my day.

Got a call from the accountant. Bad news. And it sounds like my screwup. I don't mind paying but I need to notify SO. That's the part I hate. Time for a divorce? Nah. But my lack of paying attention to details has caught up with me and hurt someone I love. It's my failing; I must learn to pay attention.

Well, as the cliche goes, no used crying over spilled milk. I'm a "doer" even when I decide not to do anything. In this case, start scheduling when to make regular payments, etc. Where's the checklist?

Work's has quieted down. Good. Give me time to create and go over that list.

No writing tonight even though it was originally scheduled. Time with SO. More anime? Oh! Gotta record Birds of Prey.

At work.

Well, yesterday evening did not end exactly how I planned.

RLI contacted me in the late afternoon. The IRS issue has flared up again. Thus, instead of going to the coffeeshop to write, I stayed home and assembled all the necessary material. I'll be dropping it off at the accountant's office later today.

Grrr. Very irritating. But there's a silver lining. My reaction indicates how important writing is to me. I know I'm going to need such near obsession in the future for this particular path. I've reschedule to write later today.

Did leg exercises yesterday. Even though the weight was minimal, both my calves and my butt hurt. And I'm planning to do hip hop tonight. Yes, I'm crazy.

Last night wasn't a total disaster. We continued to watch more anime. Wow!

Interesting:

GOD'S TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

God would like to thank you for your belief and patronage. In order to better serve your needs, He asks that you take a few moments to answer the following questions.

Please keep in mind that your responses will be kept completely confidential, and that you need not disclose your name or address unless you prefer a direct response to comments or suggestions.

1. How did you find out about God?

___ Newspaper
___ Bible
___ Torah
___ Book of Mormon
___ Koran
___ Other Book
___ Television
___ Divine Inspiration
___ Word of mouth
___ Dead Sea scrolls
___ My mama done tol' me
___ Near Death Experience
___ Near-life experience
___ National Public Radio
___ Tabloid
___ Burning Shrubbery
___ Who?
___ Other (specify): _____________


2. Which model God did you acquire?

___ Yahweh
___ Jehovah
___ Allah
___ Just plain God
___ Krishna
___ Father, Son & Holy Ghost (Trinity Pak)
___ Zeus and entourage (Olympus Pak)
___ Odin and entourage (Valhalla Pak)
___ Gaia/Mother Earth/Mother Nature
___ None of the above; I was taken in by a false god



3. Did your God come to you undamaged, with all parts in good working order and with no obvious breakage or missing attributes?

__ Yes __ No

If not, please describe the problems you initially encountered here. Please indicate all that apply:

___ Not eternal
___ Not omniscient
___ Not omnipotent
___ Finite in space/Does not occupy or inhabit the entire universe
___ Permits sex outside of marriage
___ Prohibits sex outside of marriage
___ Makes mistakes (Geraldo Rivera, Jesse Helms)
___ When beseeched, doesn't stay beseeched
___ Requires burnt offerings
___ Requires virgin sacrifices
___ Plays dice with the universe

4. What factors were relevant in your decision to acquire a God? Please check all that apply.

___ Indoctrinated by parents
___ Needed a reason to live
___ Indoctrinated by society
___ Needed target for rage
___ Imaginary friend grew up
___ Hate to think for self
___ Wanted to meet girls/boys
___ Fear of death
___ To piss off parents
___ Needed a day away from work
___ Enjoy organ music
___ Needed focus on whom to despise
___ Needed to feel morally superior
___ Graduated from the tooth fairy
___ My shrubbery caught fire and told me to do it

5. Are you currently using any other source of inspiration in addition to God? Please check all that apply.

__ Self-help books
__ Tarot, Astrology
__ Star Trek re-runs
__ Fortune cookies
__ Ann Landers
__ Psychic Friends Network
__ Dianetics
__ Playboy and/or Playgirl
__ Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll
__ Biorhythms
__ EST
__ Television
__ Mantras
__ Jimmy Swaggart
__ Crystals (not including Crystal Gayle)
__ Human Sacrifice
__ Wandering around in desert
__ Burning shrubbery
__ Other: _____________________

6. Have you ever worshiped a false God before? Is so, which false God were you fooled by? Please check all that apply.

___ Odin
___ Cthulhu
___ Lottery
___ Baal
___ Beelzebub
___ The Almighty Dollar
___ The Conservative Right
___ Mick Jagger
___ Bill Gates
___ The Great Pumpkin
___ Ronald Reagan
___ A burning cabbage
___ mushrooms
___ Other: ________________

7. God employs a limited degree of Divine Intervention to preserve the balanced level of felt presence and blind faith. Which would you prefer ... (circle one)?

a. More Divine Intervention
b. Less Divine Intervention
c. Current level of Divine Intervention is just right
d. Don't know - what's Divine Intervention?



8. God also attempts to maintain a balanced level of disasters and miracles. Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5 God's handling of the following: (1 unsatisfactory, 5 excellent):

Disaster:

1 2 3 4 5 flood
1 2 3 4 5 famine
1 2 3 4 5 earthquake
1 2 3 4 5 war
1 2 3 4 5 pestilence
1 2 3 4 5 plague
1 2 3 4 5 AOL
1 2 3 4 5 Republican Congress
1 2 3 4 5 Jerry Lewis
1 2 3 4 5 Dubya
1 2 3 4 5 my last relationship

Miracles:

1 2 3 4 5 rescues
1 2 3 4 5 spontaneous remissions
1 2 3 4 5 crying statues
1 2 3 4 5 water changing to wine
1 2 3 4 5 walking on water
1 2 3 4 5 stars hovering over towns
1 2 3 4 5 VCRs that set their own clocks
1 2 3 4 5 clear and competent statements by the President
1 2 3 4 5 my present relationship

9. Please rate the following on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 unsatisfactory, 5 excellent):

1 2 3 4 5 God's Courtesy
1 2 3 4 5 Answers to your prayers
1 2 3 4 5 Are your spiritual needs being met?
1 2 3 4 5 How are your shrubs doing?

10. Do you have any additional comments or suggestions for improving the quality of God's services? (Attach an additional sheet(s)if necessary.)

At work.

Very interesting. After I foward articles from my Hotmail account to my work account (so I can read them later during breaks or lunch), I've received e-mails stating that the message was deleted due to "sensitvie" material. But I still get the message. I wonder if the company's servers automatically generate such messages in hopes to discourage future ones. I am now considering that, for the future, to just save the articles.

Yesterday (Sunday) we woke a bit earlier (around noon). We grabbed lunch down at the Irvine Spectrum, then hit the B&N in the complex and Huntington Beach. Oh! Also checked out the Bookman II. It had been a while since we'd been to either place. We both purchased some nice stuff.

Stopped by Starbucks for chatting. Spent the rest of the evening watching anime (Trigun is AWESOME) and doing housework. Not a bad weekend.

Oh! Finished up Russell's Sea Without A Shore late last week and started City of Bones by Martha Wells. Though I enjoyed the former, I find I like Ms Wells' style better.

Plans for this week.

"Official" writing days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm going to the coffeeshop straight after work today to see if there's any space. If there is, I'll write for a couple of hours and spend the rest of the evening relaxing (if you call limited housework relaxing!).

May do the same for the other two sessions if Monday works out. Otherwise, I'll resort to my regular schedule.

I'm working a split shift on Thursday so I'll be going straight to the coffeeshop to write.

Workout schedule is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. On Tuesday, I plan to attend the free hip hop class at Ballys down near South Coast Plaza. The class starts at 1900. It should be fun.

We'll have to plan when to go out for dinner. Maybe Thursday?

Well, I'm going to try again and copy / paste journal entries into my blogger. Hopefully converting the document from .wpd to .rtf format will have solved the issue. Otherwise, I'll have to create my blogger anew:

Saturday, October 5, 2002

Time's 21:47:35.

At the coffeeshop.

We crawled out of bed around 15:00 today. That is the latest we have ever stayed in the house. Grabbed dinner around 18:00. Checked out the local B&N, then went home to watch an episode of Trigun.

Now I'm here. I hope the staff made my vente iced soy chai with soy milk this time. They have made the mistake a few times and I pay with gas later in the evening. I saw an open soy milk box, though. I will presume they did not and careful drink the vente. I usually feel the effect within a half-hour: if I don't, I know I'm safe.

Time's 21:51:00. I'll start work on my WIP either at 2200 or 2215.

The lobby is virtually empty. I count eight people in here excluding myself. Half that number staff the store. I see two couples (friends); a family (mother, father, and daughter); and a solo guy. The latter is one of the regulars: he's definitely into drug-enhanced body-building.

Time's 21:59:34. The family of three have left and one of two couples is now leaving. New customers-two kids-have entered and are ordering at the counter.

I'll start work on my WIP at 22:15.

I love coming to the shop on Fridays and Saturdays. It's quiet. The worst time to come is on Tuesday nights. There's absolutely no chairs at that time. Fortunately I'm schedule to write Monday, Wednesday, and Friday next week.

What shall my workout schedule be next week? Here the muscle groups:

Legs
Back
Chest
Abs
Shoulders
Arms

Hmmm. Let's see....

Monday:
Legs, abs at 1100
Write at 2100

Tuesday:
back, abs at 1100; "dance" at the Santa Ana Ballys at 2000

Wednesday:
chest, abs @ 1130 (after conference call)
Write at 2100

Thursday:
No workout.
Activations in the evening.

Friday:
shoulders, arms @1100; step class at 1200.
Write at 2100.

Saturday:
Workouts (cardio) optional.
No writing.
Sunday:
Step class at 0900.
Write sometime in the day or evening for at least two hours.

Time's 22:14:20. Time to get ready to write.

Time's 22:55:55. Wrote 398 words. That's more than a page and a half (375 words) written in a half an hour.

Description, or lack of, definitely impacts the word count. But I am writing and the story continues forward. I may be able to finish the current scene and chapter tonight. We'll see.

Break. Start again at 23:15.

23:15:32. Back to work.

Time's 23:52:56.
Yeah! Words total tonight is 782. That's more than three pages (750 words.) AND finished another chapter. I'm very, very pleased.

Earlier I did a calculation of how many words I have averaged per session since I started in early September. Came up with five pages a session. Though I started with over 1300 words, I am progressing and writing between two to three new pages on the average. And I still continue to maintain my enthusiasm with WIP.

It's almost midnight. The coffeeshop closes in a few minutes. A late night rush of people have come in and wait for their drinks. Time to pack up.