Approaching 10,000 words and the stupidness of PC

I'm nearly there! Just got about another 70 to write, and I'll have hit my goal! Yay me! I am feeling quite satisfied with myself for getting this far. Now I have to set my goal for December.

December writing goal: 10,000 words @ 325 words per day.

I think I may better this, as I am sure I could get about 500 words per day on most days. Let's hope I haven't jinxed myself by saying that!

Well, enough of my self-praise (it's not often I get to do that though!). I ended up watching a program called 'This Week' just before I went to bed last night. I wish I hadn't, as it stopped me going to sleep. It set my mind off.

The section of the program that I caught had singer Katie Melua talking about immigration and integration. Some of what she said was quite true . The English government (not really the rest of the UK) are stupidly aggressively politically correct (PC), causing the identity of England to be pulled out from under us. Just because the government do not want to offend other cultures, England has had to relinquish its culture. How dumb is that? The Irish, Scots and Welsh are fiercely proud of their culture and heritage, and they make a point of how important it is to them, but recent years have seen practices of the English almost outlawed. We are allowed to openly celebrate St. Patrick's Day, the Irish Saint's day, but the English have to fight to celebrate St. George's Day. It's seen as an insult for us to put the flag of St. George up, as we might offend other cultures. I see that as an offence against our own culture.

I remember when I was younger; it was not a crime for a school to put on a Nativity play. But now schools, and even workplaces and churches, are seen to be causing offence to other religions. Okay, so I am not particularly religious, but the Nativity used to be a big part of Christmas tradition, and contributed to some of the magic of Christmas when I was a child. How wrong is it to steal that tradition from our younger generation? We also used to celebrate Mayday with dances around a Maypole. I haven’t seen that practice for a long time. I haven’t seen a school fete around here for ages, another part of the Mayday celebration.

How can people who come to this country be expected to integrate into the society if there is nothing there for them to use as a starting point. Afternoon tea and scones is not enough of a start. What is the point of pussyfooting around people who enter our country, by respecting their culture, if we haven’t got a culture for them to respect? This country, even for all its good points, is a farce thanks to the government.

(By the way, I do not support the BNP, too extreme for me. I sit and shout at the TV, and that’s as far as my politics go. Well, and now here too.)

Blah!

Day 28: 542 words
Day 29: 299 words
Day 30: 84 words (so far)

Birthday and Opera

It was my birthday yesterday. I spent most of it feeling quite low, but that's just the aging process for you ;)

I went to my favourite restaurant, Sapporo Teppanyaki, for a meal. Ooohh, yum yum! I really love the food there. I had Ika Tempura (battered, deep fried squid), Maki sushi, duck in raspberry sauce with fried rice, vegetables and potatoes, and ice cream for dessert. Kayte told them it was my birthday, so they came out with drums and tambourines and a special birthday ice-cream 'cake' singing happy birthday. Much fun was had by all (especially when drinking the sake/pimms/ginger ale cocktail.)

On Saturday night I went to see 'Carmen'. It was the first time I have been to watch an opera, and I was quite impressed. The sets were good, the costumes were fantastic (the flamenco skirts were amazing, I wanted one!), and the music was great. The only problem I had was that at some points the orchestra was much louder than the singers, and the woman playing Carmen didn't have a fantastic voice. In parts she almost sounded like a pre-pubescent boy when his voice is breaking. The surtitles also helped me a bit, not knowing the language. Someone said that the surtitles distracted from the opera, but I didn't think they did, in fact, there were times I was totally enraptured by what as going on on the stage that I completely forgot to read what was on the surtitle screen. I think I may have to go and see another opera soon (Madame Butterfly, hopefully!)

Principessa has been a funny one lately. I bought two teddies, one for her and one for me, and you can take the wheat bag stomach out of them and warm them in the microwave. Principessa was quite impressed by that last night, but over Friday and Saturday, she has just been playing with the teddy. She called her ted Jack, and I called mine Frax, after one of the characters in my story. Well, Principessa has decided that Frax is the more cuddly, and has robbed him! Cheeky monkey.

She was in the car when Grandand picked us up last night. She was having fun with Uncle Gaz playing with her Lunar Jim slippers when she turned to Gaz and said:

"Nanny said she would take the scissors to Jim!"

I couldn't help but laugh at that! I told Nanny, and Nanny said she was a fibber!

Hmmm, NaNo. Not been going too well. I have decided that my goal is to get 10,000 words before the end of the month. So far I have around 7800 words, so I have to do 2200 words in the next four days. That's 550 words per day. Hmm, that's some work to do. At least it seems to be going somewhere now!

Day 23: 538 words
Day 24: 429 words
Day 25: 0 words

World's Worst Book Title.

This article tickled me - World's Worst Book Title - as it reminded me of something that happened when Principessa was younger.

Uncle Gaz and Grandand had been fixing her cot, lowering the matress slats so that she couldn't climb out. When they were finished, Gaz shouted to me "Do you want me to put Pooh in the cot?" Well, my confusion at this question resulted in the answer "Why would I want pooh in the cot?" Then I realised, Gaz had meant the Winnie the Pooh lullaby and night-light toy. Duh! Silly me!

The writing didn't go according to plan last night. I did have it in my head that I would write after Principessa went to sleep. Unfortunately, I fell asleep too. Bugger! So now I have loads to catch up on today. But now the problems arise as I can't seem to get my head into writing mode (apart from writing this, however. Writing a blog post isn't a problem!), and the words are scratching themselves, like a metal glove down a blackboard, from my brain. Hmph!

Day 22: 82 words (said I didn't do too well yesterday.)

Run ragged!

Yawn. Feeling slightly tired today.

Principessa is being difficult this morning. She woke up so nicely, and we had a lovely 10 minute hug before things started going iffy. Then the computer rage began. I think she is slightly addicted. She is, at present, playing on the Night Garden game on the CBeebies website.

I had a letter from the hospital yesterday. I needed to make a follow-up appointment for the sleep tests. Eeps. I am hoping that it is just to say that things are still where they were last year, and that they will keep monitoring me on a yearly basis. Anyway, I called up to make the appointment, and the earliest date they had was April! I'm hoping that means I'm okay.

The NaNo writing is going quite well, if slowly. (Wow, that's not what I originally wanted to write! I think my muse took over there while I was yawning and typing at the same time!) I am still worried that what I am writing isn't good, but I am shutting down the inner critic and just putting one word after another.

Day 20: 283 words
Day 21: 429 words.

(Ooo, just found this band on the net. I quite like 'em. There is a kind of ethereal quality to their music. This song, however, is a cover. )

Moto

Valentino Rossi did ride in the Valencia GP, but had his hand strapped up in a big way as he has three fractured bones in his wrist. Ouch! Truthfully, I think they are completely silly to ride with injuries (another rider - can't remember who - was riding with suspected appendicitis), but I suppose it's up to them.

Anyway, Rossi was up for second place, but had to pull out of the race after his bike broke down (hmmm, just tried to spell broke 'browk'. For all intents and purposes, it still looks like a proper word!), so Dani Pedrosa ended up with the second place in the world rankings after finishing the race first.

Update on the NaNo:

Day 3: 337 words.
Day 4: 90 words (so far. Will do some more later.)