Cross-Country: Reblogged (Denver to Omaha)

We're moving back to CA in 2(ish) weeks. Yay!!! So in preparation for that event, I'm reposting the journey from CA to CT that took place 3+ years ago. Here's hoping that this trip goes a little more smoothly. We certainly learned a few tricks in the process! (thankfully, the crying kitty from this video has found a new home and will NOT be travelling with us this time)

May 29, 2010

This is a quick video of what our drive was like today.



NNK had to stay in her crate today. She was too noisy and unpredictable... at least in the crate we knew where she was the whole time. :)

Cross-country: Reblogged (Salt Lake to Denver)

We're moving back to CA in 2(ish) weeks. Yay!!! So in preparation for that event, I'm reposting the journey from CA to CT that took place 3+ years ago. Here's hoping that this trip goes a little more smoothly. We certainly learned a few tricks in the process!

We had a better day today. Nobody pooped in their crates. There was no hail... in fact it was sunny and warm the whole day of driving.

We are safe in Denver now, with a free upgrade to a suite... lovin' La Quinta!

Let me tell you a little bit about what it takes to get 4 cats and a dog into and out of a hotel every day. I'll start with packing the car...

Back of Subaruby: Bottom layer, a baby gate and a fold-able soft crate. Next suitcases and cat litters. 2 crates with cats on top of that, then litter boxes, food bowls, and a scratch post crammed in last.

Back seat: The Ark (food bin with supplies for all the pets), lock box, lap top, blankets, dog bed, dog.

Front seat: miscellaneous essentials... passenger, driver...





When we get to the hotel, we unload the crate and gate, the Ark, litter boxes, litter, scratch post, food bowls, crates with cats, and dog bed onto a hotel cart, and bring the dog with us up to the room. While Noah is unloading the cart, I put up the gate in the bathroom door and set up the litter boxes. We release the cats in the bathroom with the litter box to make sure they know where it is... they can explore from there... we use a gate so that Tag doesn't go digging for buried treasure.

While the cats are exploring, one of us goes back for the rest of our stuff (suitcases/laptop, etc.) and the other begins doling out pet food. Once everyone has eaten, Tag gets a walk and we start thinking about dinner.

In the morning, we do the whole thing in reverse, loading the cats last to make the torture as short as possible.

Today we tried something different. NNK spent the first hour or so wailing in the crate. I think she was protesting being put back in the same crate as Mr. Poopy (Bangs).

After a little while of this, we decided to pull over and let the cats loose from their crates. Bangs was still pretty drugged, so we put him in Noah's lap.



NNK needed to be re-drugged after a while before she calmed down... but then she was out like a light.



The kittens spent a while looking around and then crashed out on the back seat with Tag and we had the calmest, quietest day of travel yet.









Tomorrow we're off to the Iowa side of Omaha... another long day but without the mountains. I'll leave you with some pictures of the drive today.

Cross-country: Reblogged (Reno to Salt Lake)

We're moving back to CA in 2(ish) weeks. Yay!!! So in preparation for that event, I'm reposting the journey from CA to CT that took place 3+ years ago. Here's hoping that this trip goes a little more smoothly. We certainly learned a few tricks in the process!

May 27, 2010:

Everything started out well today. I woke up just before the alarm went off and got up to begin preparing to depart for Salt Lake City.

I fed everyone and took Tag for a walk... then Noah and I had breakfast. La Quinta is awesome by the way. SO pet friendly and free continental breakfast all for less than $100 a night!

When packing up the cats, Bangs was more grouchy than he has been the past couple days. He growled at NNK a lot and was pulling on the crate door trying to get out. I was hoping that wouldn't be a sign of things to come.

We got on the road a little past 7. Today we drove around 8 and a half hours to get from Reno to Salt Lake. Until further notice, our in-drive entertainment will be "The Silmarillion" complete and unabridged, written by J.R.R. Tolkein and read by Martin Shaw. Tag chose to sleep through it all.



Bangs and NNK received their tranquilizers as planned. I don't think the 1/4 tab has any effect on NNK, by the way... so we may not use it at all tomorrow and see how that goes... although we may use it anyhow.

About 2 hours into the trip, we were coming along a broad valley in Nevada. It was rainy off and on all morning. We could see a storm coming up a few miles away. Noah saw lightning a couple times. I was looking back at animals in the car both times and missed it. Oh well.

A few minutes passed and it started raining VERY hard. Noah turned on the wipers and we continued on. Just as we were passing a big rig cab that was hauling 3 other big rig cabs, things took a turn for the worse. The rain became hail that was piling up like snow on the road and we began to hydroplane. My life flashed before my eyes. The cats lives flashed before my eyes... Noah handled the whole thing very expertly and thank god we didn't slide off the road or careen into the big rig cab driving next to us. A minute after we regained control we drove out of the weather and the roads cleared up. Needless to say, we were a little shaken up by the whole event.

Around 4 hours I took over driving and Noah took some pictures.







I'd been driving about an hour when Bangs started rattling his cage and getting testy. We pulled over and I re-administered tranquilizers. Before we reached the next exit, Bangs had pooed all over himself and NNK. She did NOT appreciate this.

(side note: last time we moved across country we had the exact same issue with Bangs on the first day of driving)

We pulled off at the next exit and cleaned up on the side of the road.

Finally we were back in business. Bangs's tranquilizer kicked in and he slept the rest of the way there. And there was hardly a peep from NNK, who was not too keen on getting shoved back into the crate with Mr. Poopy.

The Great Salt Lake Desert is pretty interesting. It was pretty intensely dusty and my allergies kicked in even with medicine!







It's hot here in Salt Lake. And hazy. And dry. I don't really like it. But we're getting the hotel living routine down now... and we found a park to take Tag out to run around in.

We had greek food for dinner. And we're all relaxing.









It's another long day tomorrow... hopefully we're done with drama for this trip!

Cross-country: Reblogged (Davis to Reno)

We're moving back to CA in 2 1/2 weeks. Yay!!! So in preparation for that event, I'm reposting the journey from CA to CT that took place 3+ years ago. Here's hoping that this trip goes a little more smoothly. We certainly learned a few tricks in the process!

May 26, 2010:



Today did not entirely go as planned... but we made it to Reno!

The majority of our plans played out perfectly. The movers arrived early and loaded quickly... Noah swept out the house and played with the dog while I slipped drugs to the cats for our first day of driving.

While waiting for the tranquilizers to take effect, I noticed a traffic alert for the eastbound 80 (which we're taking pretty much the entire way across the country). It was closed before Truckee... a diesel truck turned over and was leaking all over the freeway. Bummer... Plus, it was snowing!!

We loaded up the car and headed out,





deciding to go across on 50 to Lake Tahoe and then cut up to Truckee and over to Reno...









Bangs took his tranquilizers quietly and slept most of the 4 hours it took us to get to Reno (we had some construction traffic, too). NNK (no name kitty) protested loudly every 20 minutes or so... but I think she was better for the tranquilizers than she was without. No one threw up on anyone. Jack and Gill quietly waited for us to let them out again and Tag... well Tag is the best ever.



The room here in Reno is gigantic and we love it.... We got in around 4:30 and room service just got here, so I'm going to go eat now :)

I'm tranquilizing the cats again tomorrow. I'm hopeful that it will make the traveling easier... our longest day of driving yet!

Hopefully pictures tomorrow, too!

IWSG: Taking the leap

Hey!!! It's the first Wednesday of the month and I'm actually prepared enough to offer up my piece of the Insecure Writer's Support Group today. Woohoo! Thanks to the amazing Alex Cavanaugh for launching this group that has been such a great... well... support to writers like me who need to be able to talk about our fears and know that someone out there hears us and that maybe they know what we're going through, too. You should really join us. You'll never regret it.

What I want to talk about today isn't necessarily something that's strictly related to writing... but it's something that I'm going through right now and I needed to share.

If you didn't know yet, my husband's job is being outsourced at the end of this month. That's a good thing, believe it or not. N has been struggling with stress and frustration over his career for years now, and most acutely in the past three years. It's time for a change, time for us both to leap out into the great unknown and let our dreams of what we've always wanted to do take flight.

We've known this change was coming for months now, so we've had time to strategize and prepare. That doesn't mean we're ready, though. As the moment of truth draws nearer, we lean forward and look over the edge of the Cliff of Doing What You Dream. That's a pretty steep drop! Our hearts flutter a little more anxiously with each passing day. Soon, we're going to be faced with the decision. Do we really jump and risk the possibility of failure (or wild success)? Or do we do the safe thing and go back to occupations that we hate, but that we know will meet our budget each month?

The best thing, and an important piece for those who wish to experiment with flying, is that we are moving back to California, to a place where we have a support network, people to encourage us along the way. Talking through your fears and frustrations makes them easier to overcome. It's one of the reasons I love the IWSG. Supporters help lessen the impact when you fail... and give you the courage you need to try again. Thanks!

I hope that we'll at least push ourselves over the edge and see what we're capable of. We have a safety net, if we need it... but we'll never know if we can fly if we don't take the leap.

A to Z Challenge: L is for Language

(I totally fell to pieces during April's A to Z Challenge... but I promised to follow through no matter how long it took to get to the end. So here's an installment, for your reading pleasure. Thanks for sticking with me!)

When drafting your piece, be it short fiction or long, it's important to remember that the words you choose carry weight and that consistency of voice will add depth to your characters just as much as the actions and thoughts and feelings that those words convey.

When I'm writing a first draft, basically I'm grabbing at whatever words will do to get my point across. They're like place holders. The first draft is a marathon and LANGUAGE doesn't matter as much as getting the ideas down on paper.

When I'm editing, word choice becomes much more significant. The language I choose to describe a scene will greatly enhance the experience of the reader. Words hold powerful influence over how we perceive a character or setting.

Consider the following three examples taken from the first pages of three incredible books. (By the by, I'm moving in a few weeks, so all my Harry Potter books are already packed. These three books were chosen from what has not been packed yet.)

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The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping.

I prop myself up on one elbow. There's enough light in the bedroom to see them. My little sister, Prim, curled up on her side, cocooned in my mother's body, their cheeks pressed together. In sleep, my mother looks younger, still worn but not so beaten-down. Prim's face is as fresh as a raindrop, as lovely as the primrose for which she was named. My mother was very beautiful once, too. Or so they tell me.

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
The family of Dashwood had been long settled in Sussex. Their estate was large and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner, as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his hoe; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old Gentleman's days were comfortably spent. His attachment to them all increased. The constant attention of r. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from interest, but from goodness of hear, gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the children added a relish to his existence.

The Book of Flying - Keith Miller
I am dreaming. I'm dreaming of a city, a white city in the sun by the sea, a city of bells and birdcages, boatswains and ballyhoo, where heart-faced wenches lean bare-breasted from balconies to dry their hair among geraniums and the air is salt and soft and in the harbor sailors swagger from ships that bear cargos of spices. In this city a thousand doves live in the hundred towers of a hundred bells and in the mornings when the bell ringers toll a summons to the sun the doves scatter like blown ash across the tile roofs and light under eaves whispering lulling words to sleepers, bidding them stay in bed a little longer. And on the silver sky other wings rise.
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In each case above, the language employed by the author paints a distinct picture. The narrative voice and the setting are solidified through the words chosen to describe the action. Imagine the picture you would get if the opening passage of the Hunger Games was written in the style that Keith Miller uses for the Book of Flying. You might not feel Katniss's discontent or sense of urgency at all. Miller is painting us a picture of a beautiful land of enchantment. We couldn't imagine otherwise after reading those opening words.

Jane Austen's prose, far from being just a portrait of the times in which she lived, is calculated to give you an idyllic impression of the situation of the social class she is writing about, just before she smashes it all to pieces (ever so subtly and wittily, of course).

When they say a picture paints a thousand words... remember that a word, that LANGUAGE paints pictures as well. Choose your images with care.

Conquering intimidation

Confession: "Ulysses" (James Joyce) intimidates me. I've started it I don't know how many times.

So I decided to read 3 pages a day. Conquer a little bit at a time, you know?

I just made it to page 12, which is further than I've ever gotten before. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Thus far I'm utterly bewildered.

Image from Wikibooks Annotations to James Joyce