New Year's Eve

Happy New Year's Eve!


I've never been big into doing much for New Year's Eve.  Christmas is the big December holiday for me, and while it's great to move into a new year and try to remember it when you write the date on a check, I never found the actual moment to be all that exciting.  I also never did New Year's Resolutions.  Until last year.

I made some New Year's Resolutions on my arts and faith blog at the beginning of 2014.  Let's see how I did.


1. To get back to building up that arts and faith blog, with a goal to update it monthly.

Didn't exactly happen.  I did continue with the blog - I did update it several times.  But rather than building it up into a main blog, I created this one, choosing to keep that one as a once-in-a-while, more serious venture.  So, I sort of kept the spirit of the resolution, but certainly not the letter.


2. To self-publish my poetry collection, with a goal of having it out by the end of February.

Did that one, though not until mid-December, lol.  But February was just a goal - the resolution itself was to self-publish some time in 2014, and I did manage that.


3. Be more disciplined.

Hmmm.  I didn't quantify that one at all, so it's hard to assess now.  I would say that, over the course of the year, all told, I was no more disciplined than I was in 2013, although I certainly had some very good disciplined spurts.  In my defense, 2014 was full of things like getting out of the Air Force, selling my house, moving, and so forth.  2013 was just business as usual, so I should certainly hope I was as productive then as I was this year.  Anyway...


4. To move forward into the unknown, trusting God.

Done.  And really, that was the most important one.  It's easy to get distracted, of course, and it's easy to get discouraged.  I tend to get in my own way quite a lot, as well.  But with God's help, that resolution was kept.  And thanks to the pastor at my new church, I was reminded of all that just a few days ago.  A very good way to end one year and move into a new one.


I don't know if I'll do any New Year's Resolutions this year.  Last year was an anomaly, but I did more or less sort of keep them.  I'll think about it.

In the meantime, Happy New Year's Eve.

Advertising

Step right up, folks!  Step right up!

Sigh

Do you have any idea how strange it is to be marketing your own book?  Seriously, I'm not a salesman.  It's completely unnatural to me.

But here I am, trying to make a marketing plan and all that.  It's not so bad planning - it's kind of fun, really.  I mean, I enjoy organizing, making lists, and planning things, so developing an amateur marketing strategy for my poetry book is kind of fun.  Sometimes, it's even exciting.  But actually carrying it out?  Whole other story.


So what's the problem?

It's very awkward to self-promote.  At least, it's very awkward for me to self-promote.  Some people are very good at it.  Some people can even do it without being arrogant.  And then there's me.  I fail at this.

For instance, I should be using this very blog post to put up a sample or two of the poems in the book, to give you an idea of what they're like and try to entice you to buy a copy.*  But do you know how weird it feels to do that?  That's the whole reason I've written everything I've written up to this point in the post - because I feel like I have to apologize for using my blog as a platform to sell my book.  Sigh.


So here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to create a new page at the top of the blog.  That page will be all about the book.  That way, you don't have to worry about me giving a sales pitch here on the blog, I don't have to worry about integrating a sales pitch here on the blog, and yet there's still a place for you to go and get information about the book in case you are interested, and for me to advertise it.


Whew.  Thank goodness.  I literally thought of that as I was typing that paragraph.  Fantastic.

I'll build the page later today.  I hope you swing by some time to check it out, if only because I am sparing you from blatant and unclassy advertising here on my main blog page.

Have a great week, and see you Wednesday!



*See what I did there?

Christmas Overview

Well, with Christmas over, it's always nice to look back and think about how we spent the time.


We had a nice week in Sunriver with the whole family.  Some of us got sick, but not terribly sick like four years ago.  We had a tree, of course, and exchanged gifts, although we kept it simple this year.  It was nice.

And then, of course, everyone went home.  I got to spend some extra time with Steven and Ezekiel, and with my brother Ben, who stayed until today, and with my parents (I beat Dad at a game of chess).  I took the Sunriver tree to my place and eventually re-decorated it.  I spent Christmas Day at Mom and Dad's.  We relaxed, coughed, and make/ate turkey curry.*  And I got my poetry book in the mail, which was very satisfying.**


Now it's two days after Christmas and all the visiting family are gone.  I'm looking forward to school starting up soon, and to watching the new Doctor Who Christmas Special^ with J and her family, who recorded it to watch later.

In the meantime, I got some book money for Christmas, so I have plenty to read.  :)  I also need to decide my next writing project and start actually marketing my poetry book a little.  Lots to do.


So Merry Christmas, everyone.  I hope you're having a wonderful day today.



*Usually eaten after Thanksgiving and/or Christmas.  Great way to use turkey leftovers.

**Even though I found a typo, after all that proofing.  Arg.

^And very happy to hear Jenna Coleman will be returning as Clara in season 9.  Seriously, although they did some really cool stuff with her character in season 8, they also did some stupid stuff, so I'm glad she gets another season to (hopefully)* be just plain awesome.  And Jenna Coleman is a fabulous actress.  And she and Peter Capaldi as the Doctor do really well together.

     *Come on, Moffat...*

          *Yes.  I am now using footnotes within footnotes (within footnotes!).  Footnotes are cool...  ;)

Wednesday Review: Christmas Movies

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's the most wonderful time of year (when you're not sick), and I have the movies to prove it!

I actually have what I consider to be quite a few Christmas movies (and TV episodes).

I've got some classics:

-How the Grinch Stole Christmas

-Frosty the Snowman

-A Charlie Brown Christmas

-Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

-It's a Wonderful Life

-Holiday Inn

Always liked this film as a kid.

I've got a couple more obscure TV Christmas shows for the nostalgia factor:

-The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (The Waltons, with a different mom!)

-Christmas at Plum Creek (Little House on the Prairie)

-A Christmas They Never Forgot (Little House on the Prairie)

And then there are these more modern classics:

-Home Alone

-Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

-While You Were Sleeping (a movie you can love all year round)

Favorite RomCom.

And the newbies:

-Arthur Christmas

-Frozen (because winter)

This one is very inventive.

I don't care.  I like it.

But Rachel!  You mentioned TV episodes, and you even listed a few in the 'obscure nostalgia' category.  What about -

Family Ties?  The one with the 'A Christmas Carol Plot'?  Nope.  Don't have it.  Want it.  Will probably get it, at some point.  But I currently just don't have it.

No, no!  Not Family Ties!  Doctor Who!!!!

Ah.  Yes.  Well, naturally I have all the modern Doctor Who Christmas specials.

-Christmas Invasion

-The Runaway Bride

-Voyage of the Damned

-The Next Doctor

-A Christmas Carol*

-The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe**

-The Snowmen

-The Time of the Doctor

Looking forward to this year's special...

So there you go!  I'm set.

Of course, I am missing some films that I really ought to have.  Like White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street.  And I've never even seen others, like Polar Express.  And then there are the ones I very vaguely remember from my childhood: Prancer, The Year Without a Santa Claus, The Night They Saved Christmas...

But you can't have everything, and you can't do it all!  Especially when you're sick.  :)

So that's my list of Christmas movies (and TV episodes).  Good times.

*Starting with this one, the DW Christmas Specials become more directly about Christmas.  Before, they were just sort of extra long episodes that happened to take place at Christmas-time.  Now, the holiday is more fully integrated as part of the plot.  I like it.

**My favorite.

I know.

I'm Back (Sort Of)

It's been a long week.  Very very very long.

A trip to Sunriver with family should be perfect, and because it's Sunriver, it was still nice,* but my goodness.  Five out of the eight of us were sick all or most of the week.  And with varying illnesses.  I caught the cold Dad had mostly recovered from just a few days before we left.  Dad relapsed.  (We both partially lost our voices at one point.) Mom got a bad cough. Four-year-old Ezekiel got an ear infection, fever, etc, and Steven had a virus.  That left only Ben, Meredith and 2-year-old Nehemiah still standing.  Ugh.

Me?  I'm still sick, but feeling quite a bit better today.  Saturday and Sunday were pretty rough.


But hey! Despite all the sickness, we still had some fun.  A few of us played cribbage during breaks from all the chaos.  We went to Goody's,** of course, which was awesome.  I had a Turtle Sunday (the best!) before I got sick, and a scoop of some amazingly delicious pumpkin pie ice cream one day when I was feeling better.

And of course we went over to the lodge (the Resort) to show Ezekiel and Nehemiah the gingerbread houses!

Here are a few:

That one's pretty cool.

It's a Hobbit Hole!

Classic style house.

Camp Abbot!

And the reindeer corral and shed.

Good times.


We had some good fun before everyone got really sick, too.  The drive up was nice.

We went over Mount Hood.

And the boys got to explore a little, Sunriver style.

Nehemiah got to climb a rock at Fort Rock Park.

Ezekiel braved an icy wooden bridge.

And then we left the playground behind.

Ah, lava rock.  So much fun to climb.

Nehemiah got to explore quite a bit, too.

We also had a tree!

Like my new TARDIS ornament?

So, even though it was not the best trip, health-wise, we still had fun.


Because Central Oregon.^



*I know Disneyland/world says it's the 'happiest place on earth', but they are wrong.  Sunriver is the happiest place on earth.

**The best Ice Cream, Chocolate and Candy store ever.  The Sunriver store was the first.

^Part of the Seven Wonders of Oregon.  Best advertising campaign ever.  Watch all the videos!