Fun Times

Although my birthday isn't officially until tomorrow, well, I guess officially, now, I started celebrating early!  Why not, right?  I had so much fun celebrating with my family and friends.  I even got ridiculously delicious cupcakes out of the ordeal!  Now, it is time to inspect my eyes for a few hours before I go out and celebrate some more!  I mean, you only turn a quarter of a century once, right?

Tuesdays With Morrie

I am currently reading Tuesdays With Morrie.  I have read the book several times.  I don't mind reading it again, though.  It is probably one of my favorite books.  I like mine more, of course!  It has such great messages in it.  One of my favorite is to detach yourself from emotions.  Morrie says to feel that emotion, and then detach yourself from it and move on.  That's nearly impossible for me, but something I definitely need to work on.  He also says that life isn't about social status, money, fame, nice cars, etc.  You need to do something you love.  You don't need to be in a rush and always moving on to your next activity.  Slow down, live life, and enjoy the precious moments.  We need to be more reflective.  I can't imagine slowing down the pace of my life.  I love keeping busy.  Speaking of that, I found out I start working again doing more computer aide like things on Tuesday.  I am sad because I have loved my two weeks off.  However, I need the money.  I know Morrie, it's not about the money!  Obviously I am not working my job for the money.  I want to be a teacher, we don't make much.  Then again, I am an author trying to get noticed, if I do get noticed, I can potentially make money.  I had a fun time bowling with friends tonight.  I found a deal where we all bowled 2 games, shoe rentals, and had a soda for $5 a person.  You can't beat that!  My birthday is Sunday.  The festivities begin tomorrow.  I can't wait!  See ya!

Trying to give myself a deadline

I think I mentioned before that I obviously don't have the problem of having a deadline to finish my sequel.  I wish I had that problem.  That would mean I have a publisher.  Unfortunately, I do not.  However, I am hoping to finish writing my book by August 1.  There is no specific reason for that deadline.  I just want to finish it and get it out there.  I still have 20 chapters to write.  Obviously, I will have to do some extreme editing when I am done.  Naturally, my mom told me not to rush it.  I'm not, I'm just trying to be productive.  We will see what happens.

Fireworks

Remember that adventure I took a few weeks ago to get fireworks?  Of course you do.  Tonight, we set them off.  It took almost two hours to light them all up because my friends bought so many.  The bugs ate me alive since it was so hot and sticky out.  Luckily, I didn't burn myself while lighting any of the fireworks.  Overall, a very enjoyable 4th of July.  I ate way too much.  I did not, however, eat 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes like I watched Joey Chestnut do today.  So I guess I didn't eat that much then.  Later!

$18 million

Yes, that's how much money I made today.  Okay, maybe not.  I was just watching the World Series of Poker $1 million buy in event.  First place in that tournament received $18 million.  $18 million!  I can't even begin to imagine how much money that is!  If I had that much money, I would gladly quit my job at the grocery store.  I would keep my job at school and continue writing.  I would not be able to "retire" because I would be too bored.  I would definitely travel all over the world.  I might take a few years off of work to do that.  Maybe by then, teaching jobs will be easier to find, haha, right!  Anyways, it has been my dream for the past several years to play in the WSOP main event.  It is a $10,000 buy in.  Unfortunately, I don't quite have that much money laying around the house.  I wonder if saving all of my change and bottle deposits would ever bring me anywhere near $10,000.  Probably not.  Maybe one day, I will get to enter that event... One day...

I finally continued to write my sequel!

I hoped to write several chapters today.  However, when I started, I edited the first three chapters again.  Then, I got interrupted several times with the phone ringing, my brother showing me cars, and my mom needing help with the groceries.  They all don't realize that I need alone time to focus and write.  Before I went outside to lay in the sun today, I was able to write one chapter.  It was only slightly over 4 pages.  You would think it wouldn't take that long to write it.  It actually took well over an hour.  At this rate, it will take me over 40 hours to finish the book.  As I have said many times though, when the weather is nice, I'd be wasting my day if I didn't spend it outside.  I plan to write another chapter (or more) tomorrow before I go outside again.

Sometimes it's good to write about nothing

Do you remember over a month ago when I started this?  Well, I will refresh your memory.  I said that I want my students to write in a journal everyday.  They can write about anything they want to write about.  Lately, I have been having trouble thinking about what to write in this blog.  I think it is completely fine to write about nothing.  At least you are writing, right?  Wait, don't they have a show about nothing?  Oh yes, Seinfeld.  I think that show did alright.  However, I found something to write about.  Right before I started writing this, I checked out how many sales I have so far on Amazon.  Yesterday, I was at 8.  Today, I hit 10!  Yes, it isn't much.  However, overall, I have sold 15 books between online and at the book store.  Once again, I know it is not a lot.  It's a great start, though!  Once the kindle version comes out later this month, I am only charging $.99 for it.  I really think it will sell at such a low price.  We will have to wait and see!