Now that is cold

This morning when the family all got into the car to go to church we noticed that the temperature gauge said that it was –4 degrees. As we drove to church, it got down to –5. I will be so glad when winter here is over.

My Shipping Date

I finally heard from Sergeant Rouhoff, my recruiter, about when I’m leaving for basic training in Texas. I got the job I wanted, Cryptologic Linguistics and I’m leaving May 17th.
So, Graduation will be about July 15th, or the week after. Then I’ll be in California until October or November 2012 for language school (if I decide on Japanese.)
This date means I have to get a paying job until then. It also means I have to finish out the winter here, but that I’ll have plenty of time to work on my running and physical fitness. And I’ll have plenty of time to finish my novel (if I ever get my butt moving.)
So, when the time gets closer I’ll talk more about who’s going to take care of the blog while I’m gone, much like Shana did for Balgram (see blog titled AFK to the right).
Side Note: If you are interested in an online writing group, leave a note so I can get it started. Because I need the motivation.

The kitten who was secretly a puppy

Recently my family got two kittens. One is mine and the other is my mom’s. My kitten is a black and gray tiger with a few adorable orange spots, one in particular on the crown of her head. She’s pretty small, about the size of a loaf of bread when she’s laying down scrunched up, and I decided to name her Calico, because of her orange spots.
She is quite an adorable little thing, and recently I have notice some peculiar behavior that has led me to think that she is a puppy, rather than a kitten.
Exhibit 1: She loves to chase her tail. Almost every time she catches sight of her tail, unless she is busy washing, she tries to snare it with her paws, going so far as spinning around in circles after it. Usually she ends up falling over, then pretends that nothing untoward happened.
Exhibit 2: She knows her name, and sometimes comes when she’s called. Whenever she hears her name her ears perk up and she looks towards whoever said it. Usually she then goes back to whatever she was doing, but occasionally, when she’s in the mood for a good rub, she comes over and leaps up into your lap.
Exhibit 3: She knows the word ‘no’. There are a lot of things the cats aren’t allowed to do; don’t touch the curtains, don’t get on the table, stay out of the toilet, etc. The family has gotten into the habit of, whenever the cats do something they aren’t supposed to—Calico loves laying on the table—telling them ‘no’ firmly, then removing them from the incorrect behavior. So now, when Cali attempts to get on the table and someone tells her ‘no’, she gets down.
So you see? My kitten is really a puppy.

Animusic

A while back I was on youtube looking for some music that, when you heard it, made you think of magic. I stumbled upon a video called Magic Music, and I have to listen to it. It was by a—band? group?—called Animusic, and it was amazing. There was an animated—the good animation, not the bad kind—set of instruments, and using balls hitting the instruments, they created music.

So of course, I had to see more of their stuff. I looked up Animusic, and got a whole bunch. Not all of them were amazing, but all of them were really good. Here’s my favorite:

And another favorite:

I hope you all like these as much as I do.

Writing Group—I’m dying for one

Two posts in one day. What is this world coming to?
Back in 2009 I was part of a writing group. There was just four of us, including my best friend’s older brother, who became a good friend, his former missionary companion, who also became a good friend, and another young man who I didn’t know very well. We met every week at the University with good and bad things to say about each others writing. We were all required to write 4k a week—fairly easy—and read the other works submitted before the meetings. It was loads of fun, and I learned a lot about writing, being a writer, and being the friend of writers.
Then I moved away so I could no longer be a part of the group. At first I didn’t think I would miss it too much. I was still writing, I was still talking with said friends, what was there to miss? Boy, was I wrong.
Let me just say I love having people read my writing and tell me what is wrong with it so I can fix it. Mostly I just like people reading my stuff and telling me what they like about it. It makes me feel good, and reaffirms my whole life as a writer. Without a writing group, I just don’t have that. My parents—who I love dearly—don’t like reading what I love writing, and none of my brothers read or are old enough to be of any help.
I tried joining the big websites out there like Absolute Write and Protagonize, but I didn’t like it. I like small groups, where everyone knows everyone, and everyone reads and comments on everything. Meaning no more than ten people, and even that is pushing it.
This has left me with a problem.
If I felt people would join and stay active, I would create my own writing group website. But I’m really wary about that. I’ve created a lot of websites in the past—I had a phase where I created a new website about every other week—and none of them have lasted more than a couple of weeks. If I’m going to be a part of a writing group, I want it to last a long time. I want to still be a part of that group when I’m published. I want to have people to thank on the acknowledgement page, but as of right now, I don’t.
For the readers of this blog that write and want to someday be published, I have a question for you. If I created a small website for an online writing group, would you join? Would you be active? And please be honest, because I really, desperately need a writing group.

Cryptologic Linquistics

So yesterday morning I headed to the big city to take another test for going the Air Force. This time, it was to test what my aptitude for learning languages was. My recruiter told me about the language job in the Air Force, Crypologic Linguistics, and about the enlistment bonus, and I quickly decided that was what I wanted to do.
Because of my high ASVAB score, I qualified to take the test. Most people don’t qualify to take the test, and even fewer pass it, or so I’ve been told. Anyway, I went to take the test yesterday morning. There wasn’t anything I could study, because it was testing my ability to learn a new language.
It was seriously the HARDEST test I have ever taken. I’m not allowed to say anything about it other than just taking the test made me feel stupid. Thankfully I passed, but just barely. The lowest passing score you can get for other branches of the military is 90, but the Air Force, which is the branch with the smartest people, doesn’t accept any lower than 100. I got 108. The highest score you can get is 177. So you can see how close it was.
Anyway, now I’m almost definitely going to get the linguistic job, because so few people qualify for it they are always in need of new people. With this job, after basic training I’ll be going to the military language school in Monterey California. Depending on what language I’ll be learning,  I could be there for more than a year. But it will all be worth it.
I’ll have word on when I’m shipping out either next week or, more likely, the week after that. Fingers crossed!

Happy New Year

I hope you all had a good New Years Eve, and a good New Years Day. My family had a Pride and Prejudice marathon and watched the entire 5 1/2 hour movie. We also had an English tea party with finger sandwiches and 'crisps' and pressed cookies. It was loads of fun, though we were up finishing the movie until past one in the morning.

Here are my New Years Resolutions:

1.) Train three times a week in running so that I can run for twenty five minutes straight before I leave for basic training (pathetic compared to what some of my other friends can run, but to each her own)

2.) Finish one short story before basic training

3.) Finish one novel before my next birthday (finish, meaning ready to send to an agent)

4.) Survive basic training, language training, and tech school

Edit: As of Sunday, I have signed up for MilWordY, so one of my resolutions is now to write a million words before December 31st next year.