Happy Thanksgiving Nerdwriters!
This will be a very short post as I am minutes away from being rushed off to have insane family adventures.
I think I may have mentioned once or twice that my family on my mothers side is a bit huge. Totaling over 50 people. Most of which will be in town and over at my aunts house today. Trust that I will come back with stories! I'm looking forward to to seeing everyone again and the general madness that usually ensues, but I'm also really really looking forward to pie. I freaking love pie. And I hardly ever get it save for this day. My family is so very good at making food. And now I'm starving. Ok I think i'm going to wrap this up now. But I may write a post later in the day about what I'm thankful for. (hint:If you're reading this it's probably you!)
Hope you all have a great day!

1. What are you thankful for? (I think I have to ask, like the what's your favorite color thing on online personality quizzes)
2.What's your favorite color?
3.Favorite kind of pie?
4. How big are your family gatherings?

YAY! If anyone hasn't heard via twitter, the paperback of "Let it Snow" is on the New York Times bestseller list, which is awesome! I haven't read it yet, but I might buy it before Christmas, since it's that time of year again! I also love how I'm following a few other YA authors on twitter, and they've been congratulating John, Maureen and Lauren on "Let it Snow" :).

This next bit is a slight rant, sorry!

Ok so a couple of days ago Neil Gaiman posted this article on twitter about the proposed "Digital Economy Bill" for Britain, and it has made me incredibly angry. Basically, if they catch a household/ip address illegally downloading they will issue three warnings and then give them a huge fine. The worst thing is that internet service providers who don't agree to spy on their customers get given a huge fine for refusing. It's so incredibly "big brother".

That's not what makes me angriest though, it's the fact that they are painting everyone with the same brush. I don't know if those in the US have an advert at the beginning of dvds warning against piracy, but we have one that says "you wouldn't steal a handbag, you wouldn't steal a car ... piracy, it's a crime". Which in my opinion is failing to understand the basic ideas of laws, that different crimes have different severities.

I totally disagree with people illegally downloading music/films to sell for profit, there's no need to do that, it's just greedy. However, people who are occasionally downloading music because they can't afford to buy the cd is a completely different matter. To like music people must have heard it from somewhere, and presumably that somewhere was free, whether it's on the radio, or from a friend's ipod, or on a mix CD someone has made.

I believe in humankind, and that most people care about their music and want to support artists they enjoy and give back to them when they can. I think labelling everyone as a criminal is a morally wrong idea, and it disappoints me that my country could even consider it.

Anyways! I've spent today avoiding writing an essay on Catullus and watching the X Files, which has been fun, if not very productive :).

Comment Questions
1. How has your day been?/ How is your day going?
2. What are your thoughts on the downloading situation in Britain? I don't mind if you disagree with me, I think the most important thing to do is open up discussion about topics like this and hear every side of the argument!
3. One month till Christmas! Are you feeling Christmassy? I'm really not :P.

Going off of my post from last week, and seeing how Thanksgiving is only 2 days away (how is that possible?), I thought this week I would talk about some of my favourite things.

I learned from a great lady once that when you're feeling bad you should think of your favourite things. Like raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens! Only...I don't like any of those, so a different list is in order.

I like and am thankful for (in no particular order)... Sundays, not having to get out of a warm bed on a cold day, a hot shower, that first sip of a cold drink that you can feel spreading through your chest, an unexpected surprise, hugs, skypecalls, snailmail, UglyDolls, Kurt Halsey art, my best friend, the Nerdwriters, writing, reading, the internet, twitter, music, Seabird, finding a good deal, seeing someone you haven't seen in a long time, cheesy pickup lines, driving on a sunny day with the windows down, children's movies, apples, pasta, making someone smile, a good laugh, jellybeans, butterflies, root beer, plaid, flip flops, Grey's Anatomy, brushing my teeth, bubble gum, hot apple cider, hot chocolate (from Starbucks preferably), finally understanding that hard assignment, comments on a blog, a long email about nothing, Jamie Madrox, Harry Potter books & movies, pizza, gummies, action movies, X-Men, lists, Spongebob Squarepants quotes, Doctor Who discussions, talking with an author (I got to talk to Lauren Myracle again the other day!), writing something worthwhile, and sleeping.

And if you have yet to read it, I would appreciate it if you checked out my blog from yesterday & left comments there for me to read! Girls & Breaking Out of Boxes

Comment Questions!
1. What makes you happy? (list at least 3 please)
2. What was the last movie you saw?
3. What are you listening to now?
4. When was the last time you drew something? What was it?

Hullo there, girls, it's Monday and I've got things to do that I'm neglecting. (You know, for a change.)

Lately I've been in the mindset that I love old people. I've had to deal with them a lot more thanks to working at Dunkin. While I've never really disliked old people, I think pretty much everyone can agree that some older folk can be a pain in the ass just for the sake of being one. Like this old woman a couple weeks ago who came in and made me remake her coffee four times, and then proceeded to yell at me for not automatically knowing what her coupon said. Or the old guy from this weekend whose order I had to cash out three times because he didn't tell me he was buying coffee and then proceeded to not tell me he had a coupon. Apparently I'm expected to know what every single coupon says and I'm supposed to have x-ray vision so I can see it when it's hiding under two pounds of coffee. Gah.

Anyway, besides those two cases, for the most part, I love old people. I feel like I used to assume that they were always slow or maybe I was intimidated by them because I had only met people like my aforementioned coupon disasters, but now I really like them. They always surprise me when they say something funny. Like this old couple that came in a week or two ago. The man said he had a headache and the woman asked him why he hadn't taken the aspirin when she had offered it three hours ago. When he said he hadn't needed it then, she said "You have to take the drugs when they're offered or the next time the guy walks down the street, he won't ask you." =]

At my volunteering gig at the local theatre, I was working The 39 Steps (amazing play, by the way, really funny) when this old man just came back out my door heading towards the concession stand. Normally, people ask when they leave just to check if it's okay, but this guy did not. The really animated guy who was with him checked with me before following me and when they came back, the one who talked to me came first and reminded me of who they were. I nodded and as the second guy passed by me, he gave me a look and told me as if confiding in me: "I'm sneaking in!" x]

Also a good time as far as senior citizens go are Tony and Phyllis. They're this...pair of old people (we're not sure if they're married or siblings or friends or what) who come into Dunkin ever day, sometimes twice a day. They get their coffees free and I go and hang out with them when I go on break. They're adorable and they always ask how everyone's doing. Tony was funny on Sunday. I had just taught him how to use the calculator on his phone and when Vin passes by he said "Look, there's a computer on my phone!" It was too funny.

Comment Questions:
1. Which do you prefer: old people or kids? Sarah is obviously a kid person, but I consider myself to be a little of both.
2. Hot chocolate, tea, or coffee?
3. What are your plans for this Thanksgiving?

Happy Thanksgiving and Jez, we'll see you tomorrow!

Hello everyone, from my house. MY HOUSE.

Excuse me as I go jump on MY BED.

Yes, I am home for Thanksgiving break. AND I AM SO EXCITED. I have not been home in three months, and after four hours in the car (1.5 to my roommate's house, then 2.5 back to my house), I am home, back with my family, my dog, and my double bed. Being back home is so nice, I don't think you guys fully understand how awesome it is. I know you all live at home, but being away from my small dorm room and crappy dining hall food is the greatest thing ever. REAL FOOD IS AWESOME. Except for the fact that my mom made me lasagna... which has meat in it... and I''ve been a vegetarian since college... this will be interesting. I'm just excited it's not from Port Sky. And my dog. I missed my fuzzy friend who will wait at the door from me.

Anyways, I don't really have much going on, since I'm on break and my family is basically leaving me all weekend and none of my friends are home from school until Tuesday. And Gingerbread Boy lives 1.5 hours away instead of on the floor above me... And I've got mounds of homework to do.

I've just been told Friday has been family game night in my house? This is weird... but my mum and I are going to see New Moon tonight. I have no hope for this movie. None at all. Ooooh, I should wear my... DAMMIT. I left my Harry Potter shirt at school.

Comment Questions.
1. Will you go jump on your bed right now?
2. Seeing New Moon this weekend?
3. How awesome is non-dining hall food?
4. Why did I leave my Harry Potter shirt at school?! WHY?!

Hello girls (and guys), it’s Thursday again! I am not a fan of this Thursday. This Thursday kind of sucked. I’ve been a bit antisocial lately. It happens sometimes when I just need to limit my amount of socialization. Makes sense as a couple weeks ago I was doing a lot, going out with friends, talking to a lot of people. This week I felt like I needed a bit of recharge. So I haven’t checked twitter or tumblr or been talking to people on skype as much as I should have. Well, there’s the antisocial thing and the fact that I’ve been busy setting up gmail, twitter and myspace accounts for Monsters Anonymous Characters. That’s actually been pretty fun. I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to do with them yet….but it’s probably going to be really awesome….and stuff.
Anyway I was going to write about how surprised I was that I seemed to be doing okay as far as managing my depression goes, but I think I jinxed myself, because right in the middle of a really busy shift I started feeling upset and icky for no real reason. Not to mention that we were super busy, my register locked up on me like a thousand times, and I had a customer whose mission in life seemed to be to annoy the hell out of me. It sucked, because I was stuck at work and had to pretend to be happy. I’m not very good at that. I know because I had a few customers tell me they hoped my day got better. Some of my customers are so very sweet. They make my night. Like this one old lady I had. She brought up a bag full of stuff from the bakery so I asked her what was in the bag. She looked at me smiled and said, “Oh, just a little pot.” She was awesome.
When I got off work I decided that I deserved some ice cream to cheer myself up. I bought pumpkin pie and egg nog ice cream. It totally made everything better. Joe helped cheer me up too. :) AANND if the egg nog is out then it can’t be long until the chestnuts come out too. Oooo I love chestnuts.

hmm I feel somewhat bad about this post. It's all whiny and sad and stuff....Quick watch this video!
Comment Questions
1) What kind of seasonal food do you like?
2) Have you ever had a customer or someone brighten your day?
3) What do you do to cheer yourself up after a bad day?
4) Is your hair style a strength or a weakness?

Why have I called this userpic "yellow flower"? It is obviously a sunflower rather than just an unspecified yellow flower! *facepalm*.

Today I literally had to run to get the bus, I saw it coming round the corner past the bus stop, thought "oh crap I've missed the bus, ah well". And then my brother started running. And my brother can run fast. So by the time I got to the bus I thought I was going faint, but I did get the bus!

I recently changed buses (if I get the 16 rather than the 525, I pay the same price, but get to go home early on a Wednesday and a Thursday since it's a public bus rather than a school bus) and now I sit on the top deck of a double decker bus, which shouldn't freak me out, but does. Since, once the 525 literally drove into a tree, luckily no one was hurt, but I've been scared of the top deck of buses ever since.

So yes, I had a quite weird day, which consisted of me spending about 30 minutes walking around town trying to by a) some glitter and b) a drink, but nowhere sold what I wanted and so I gave up.

Ok, in less bizarre news, I sent off my university form today, about a month after I wanted to, but oh well. I ended up getting my best friend to send it off for me, since I wasn't in school in the afternoon and she was. Now I just wait for universities get back to me!

Also, if you haven't seen the latest episode of Doctor Who "The Waters of Mars" you really really should. I won't discuss it here, because of spoilers, but I thought it was excellent.

*Hugs* to those who are having bad days, I hope today improves soon!

Comment Questions
1. Do you take the bus a lot?
2. What is the weather like where you are? Here it's been raining loads.
3. If you've read them, what's your favourite John Green book? I've been rereading LFA and enjoying it!
4. Do you watch Doctor Who?

Hello everyone, it's Tuesday! Last night I tweeted that today would be good, and it was! Now I must spread the good news to all you kind folks.

This morning at work I had a really fabulous client who told me that if she were my age again she would do it all over again, and wished that she had known that she really could have done anything with her life. She told me that no matter what anyone else said, I could do whatever I wanted in life. I told her that no one has told me that since kindergarten and she said people should say it more often. I agree completely. If you really want something, go for it. Don't let the world tell you that you can't. What do all those people know about loving life anyway? What do they know about you? Ignore them, just do it.
She also told me that if I really had a passion for something, like writing, that I was made to do it. I really feel that way too. :)

And don't forget to think about the good things in life. Every night before I go to bed I replay the day in my head, but I only think of the good things, never the bad. Who wants to remember the bad? So sometimes the list is short, and sometimes it's long, but there's always something to be thankful for. I always start off with people that I've talked to, because that's generally the best part of my day. Today that list will be (so far), Mike, Gaby, Toni, Korianne, Casye, & Kayla (my sister, 1 hour skype video chat haha). And maybe all it takes to make your day is a warm blanket or a smile or a text message. Maybe it's hearing someone's voice or having a great meal or reaching your goal. Or finding out that you are the same height as someone, or making plans to visit! There is always something good.

Also, don't forget to smile! It could be all those things listed above or it could just be something that makes you smile a little. Or laughing! Laughing is fun! Anyway, I've spent waaaaaaay too much time today/last night reading Because It Makes Me Smile and it was the best way to spend the day today. It was all rainy & windy & gross outside today, so once I got home* I curled up in a blanket & I'm something like 300 entries back on that site now.
*I finally got my emissions test & sticker for my license, btw! Third time's the charm!

This reads like a Hallmark card, but I mean it. SMILE OR ELSE. Okay, that's it. Jenny, we'll hear from you tomorrow! Also, I love you all.

Comment Questions
1. What makes you happy?
2. Who can cheer you up, no matter what?
3. How tall are you?
4. What did your parents want to name you? Korianne & I are talking about this now, and she has a very funny story for hers. My dad wanted to name me Crystal, and my mom said no, that's the extent of my story, really.

[[Totally unrelated, but I feel like I should use the sexy things tag. So, a quote from Gaby, on this picture "He is so sexy, it's illegal. For me anyway"]]

Hey girls, it's Monday and my best friend got accepted into college! She applied early decision (or maybe just early action?) to LeMoyne and she was accepted. I'm super proud of her (not to imply that I didn't think she'd get into college, but still). Congratulations, Pea! (just one of her 5000 nicknames. Nicknames happen, yo.)

So I have been working on my NaNoWriMo novel all afternoon. For some reason I only do that on Mondays. They must be magical. What's different from this week is that I actually have motivation.
Joanne and I are notoriously good at getting distracted. Even worse, we procrastinate like professionals. We're up there with the best of them. So for NaNoWriMo, we told our English teacher that if we hit 25K, we each get a gold star. (Yes, my writer's workshop class has a sticker chart. Yes, we are seniors in high school. Feel free to be jealous, I won't stop you.) If we finish, we get 2 gold stars. This is probably what is most encouraging me to finish. I freaking want that star.
In other news, this is the first blog I write from my laptop. We got wifi last week, so I finally get to use it. Unfortunatley, this means my time on youtube has skyrocketed, so sorry if I start dropping communitychannel-like phrases into conversation. I can't help it.

Yesterday, Sarah sent me a text around 5 saying she was on MLIA. (Keep in mind that this is a kid who doesn't even have a facebook. I was so proud. [I may have been more proud of her for being on MLIA than I was when we got into college. Sorry, Rah!]) We started texting each other our favorites for the next hour. At 9, I get another MLIA text from her. 4 hours later, we were both still on the site. We're such losers! And in English today, I told her I read 31 pages of MLIA and she said "Ha! I beat you! I read 40!" Best. Friend.

And speaking of best friends, I'm talking to my other one on Skype. Stupid friends having fun at college. Jerk. Even if he is a jerk, I still took all of Thanksgiving weekend off to anticipate his being back in town. I know I don't shut up about it, but I haven't seen him since August. I'm hella excited.

It seems that we are all in general agreement regarding our one year mark. I'm very excited about this. I can't wait to have another year of blogging with you guys. =]

I should probably get back to writing. I haven't done anything but write all day, but pshhh, screw homework. I've got novels to write. ...Or, you know, one novel to write.

Comment Questions:
1. What are you listening to right now? (My dog barking. He gets nervous at night.)
2. What did you eat for breakfast this morning? (Baguette with butter. Same as always.)
3. What do you want for Christmas? (An ipod. I love Burke, but there's no space what so ever.)
4. Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin? (Frank, hands down. I love Dean, but Frank owns.)

That's all for now. Jez, we'll see you tomorrow!

Okay, this is going to be a very short, very fast post. Sorry, but I really have no time.

In about an hour and a half, I'll be on my way to the University of Pittsburgh for CAACURH, which is a six-state Resident Hall Association Conference. So yes, it's sorta big deal. And it will be crazy. I'm getting slightly more excited, but I'm still dreading it. It's just going to be a very long weekend. So me, another girl, and m advisor are the representatives for my school. There's a swap shop and Opening Ceremonies tonight, tomorrow is all program stuff and a case study (which we are doing in the car...), then tomorrow night is closing Ceremonies and gone by Sunday. Oh, and I have to deal with schools yelling/cheering at each other all weekend. Oy.

That is it. I need to shower and finish packing. Have a great weekend.

Comment Questions
1. Fancy plans for the weekend?
2. Are you classes all scheduled for next semester? (I did mine last month, I will die next semester)
3. Finish the sentence: To stop the cheering, I will ___________.

DFTBA, see you Monday Gabs!

RAWR! IT’S THURSDAY AND I’M A TONI MONSTER!
….that was weird. Sorry. Ugh, I had such a long day yesterday. I had class and studying and a horrible test from 11-6 and then work from 6-12. The day sucked a lot and then quickly got boring because no one comes in past ten and no other checkers work either. Lately when I’ve been bored at work I’ve been doodling on these bags we have for cards. I can’t help it; they leave me up there with sharpies and brown paper bags. What did they expect to happen? Would you guys like to see some of them? No? I’m showing you anyway. Not that you deserve it jerks!


There would be more but my phone's not cooperating with me atm. Maybe it's still mad at me. I'm sorry phone!

Spiffy huh? I also wrote things like, “Hey, you’re awesome.” and “You look lovely today,” And then slid them back in with the rest.
The reason why was doing this and not texting? …I didn’t know where my phone was… again. Gina found it for me today. It was in the yard at the bottom of a large pile of leaves. Apparently, it fell out of my pocket when I jumped in it the other day. I regret nothing.
OH! One last thing before I go! I want to tell you all what I’m doing for my Mass Comm project. I’ve decided that I’m going to design and ad campaign for Monsters Anonymous. My plan thus far includes:
1.Creating ads and then sliding them into books at Borders and Barns and Noble.
2.Creating Myspace accounts for all the characters and posting as them on people’s pages.
3.Creating a Facebook fanpage.
4.Possibly creating and updating twitter accounts for the characters as well.
My goal is to increase the amount of unique visitors to Mintypineapple.com by 60 (I think that’s what we decided on.) and get at least one person to become a fan. I’m going to email this to my teacher tonight so if you have any ideas to add or change let me know!

COMMENT QUESTIONS!
1.What’s the oddest place you ever left your phone?
2.Leaves: Did you jump in them today? If not go do it now!
3.Any ideas for the Monanon thing? Think I can do it?
4.How awesome are sharpies?

Last week I watched a few episodes of the second season of X Files lately, and they're so creepy! The dvds I was watching were really fuzzy and dark, which made them seem so much more scary. Plus, the way it's filmed is just generally eerier...

I cannot concentrate on anything today, it's so frustrating. I tried to do some Latin, learn some driving theory and do some English earlier and just couldn't focus. Now I've been writing this post for about half an hour now, but Alan's on BlogTV which keeps distracting me.

As of this morning I've aaallmost finished my university application, which is very very nervewracking. My teachers all wrote nice things about me in my reference which was lovely :). However, as soon as I send it off I know I will start worrying about getting replies from universities, so I'm not looking forward to that.

Sorry this post was so short! I'm going to bed now...

Comment Questions
1. Will you watch Hank live tonight? I won't, because I'll be sleeping!
2. Is applying to university/college scary?
3. Don't headaches suck :(?
4. Have you seen any X Files episodes? Is it just me being strange for finding them really scary?

It's just going to be random stuff related to Harry Potter, BECAUSE I CAN.

I saw someone made a namebadge that said "Voldemo He Who Cannot Be Named" and I was all "You did not." So, grammar lesson time! "Cannot" refers that you physically are unable to say his name. Should not means that you can speak his name, but it's just a very bad idea. "Must not" infers urgency and makes it more dire, which is the actual situation. Unless you're Harry & just like to tick off Dark Lords & make it really easy for them to find you by saying their name left & right.

Why is it that in all of the pictures of Daniel Radcliffe that don't relate to Harry Potter, he looks like he's on drugs?

Neville Longbottom listens to mandrake cries on his iPod for entertainment.
Muggles don't know about Lord Voldemort, but they do know about Neville Longbottom.
They were going to release a Neville Longbottom edition of clue but the answer always turned out to be "Neville Longbottom, in the courtyard with a sword."

I'm in a new Harry Potter roleplay on twitter, as both Flitwick & McGonagall, and I found their actors on twitter. Would it be weird to have the characters follow them?
On that note, I am convinced that Flitwick plays tricks on students. This will be fun, once we get rolling.

My aunt is getting me the Half-Blood Prince dvd for Christmas! I'm very happy about this. :D

Weasley is our king!!

There was no point to this, other than liking Harry Potter. I hope you enjoyed it.

1. Which book in the series was your favourite?
2. Which movie?
3. Please use this space to provide a Neville Longbottom joke.
4. Is today soporific for you too?

Hullo there, it's Monday, and I wrote 4,000 words today!

I FINALLY made some decent progress on my NaNoWriMo novel, which is absolutely thrilling. I mean, 4,000 words really isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, but it was the first day I actually sat down and wrote for a long time. I came home, made my friend's birthday present, wrote, did my physics homework, and then wrote again.

It's going well so far and I don't have school on Wednesday, so I should make a lot of progress this week. I have to because I just know that I'm not going to get anything done when AJ gets home for Thanksgiving. My best friend is back and I finally have someone to drive me around? That's two awesome things in one so I'm already certain that I won't accomplish much that week.

I just found out today that my friend Joanne is doing NaNoWriMo as well, which is excellent because now we can pester each other every day, twice a day for the rest of November. She's doing a series of short stories or something and I'm finally writing the novel I sketched out, outlined, and basically freaked out over all summer (but never actually got around to writing).

So I've been a really bad nerdwriter lately and I apologize. I owe you guys a punishment from months ago and I haven't commented on anything in ages, so my project in December is to go back and make sure I commented on every single blog. I shall leave no comment questions unanswered.

And while I'm on the topic of nerdwriting in general, I'm thinking that it's close enough to our one-year mark to bring up the fact that we're going to have a one-year mark in the first place. This is amazingly awesome and in 2 short months we'll have hit a huge milestone. So what're we going to do after it? This has been bothering me for months. The VlogBrothers clearly still vlog even after 2 years. The 5AGirls still vlog (sometimes). The 5AGuys just stopped completely. What do we want to do?

Comment Questions:
1. Do you use Farmville on facebook? Lexa asked me to ask this because she's addicted to it. She told her friend that she's addicted to it and when she mentioned that she'd only been on it for 2 weeks, Kayla yelled "2 weeks?!? You're on level 56!" which I thought was hysterical.
2. What is your NaNoWriMo novel about (if you're writing one)? How far along are you (if you're writing one)?
3. What is your favorite kind of muffin? (Pumpkin from DD! I have one almost every time I'm there. They're so good.)
4. What should we do when we hit one year?

You guys are awesome and Jez, we'll hear from you tomorrow!

Happy Friday!

Alright, so I'm sitting here, in my dorm room, listening to my boyfriend and my suitemate/best friend (well, the one at college anyways) singing "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. I also have to mention that they want to form a band with two of Gingerbread Boy's roommates. Me and the other roommate get to be co-managers. Welcome to college life. Wait, now they're listening to the song on youtube.

One of the weirdest things, in my opinion, here on campus is when families bring their kids and dogs to just walk around campus. Now I know you may think this is fine, but it's just odd to me. Yes, it is a nice "park" like place, with the pond and the safeness, but I mean, this is a COLLEGE campus. It's really awkward to be walking to class and seeing old people and small children sitting on the benches. I live on campus, 900 some people LIVE here. We go to SCHOOL here. So it's weird to see people passing by like it's a park, when it's not. 

Anyways, my post next week is probably going to be short. I have to go to the University of Pittsburg next weekend for a national conference for some resident hall thing. Basically, it's going to be a weekend of hell. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm leaving early on Friday and not having a computer until most likely Sunday again. Yep. 

Also, our big football game is tomorrow at 3.30pm with our rival, Ohio State. I'm pumped!

Questions that are answered in Comments. 
1. What should the name of their band be?
2. What should I get Gingerbread Boy for his birthday (which on Tuesday, the day after Mike's!)?
3. You're going to Denny's for breakfast tomorrow, what are you getting? (PANCAKES!)
4. Do people walk around your school/campus. 

Aaah, I had a really bad day today. Basically I tried to work on nanowrimo on my laptop on the bus, which made me travel sick, plus the bus got stuck for 20 minutes at the roundabout and then the school back gate was locked so I had to walk an extra five minutes, so by the time I got into my lesson I was feeling sick. Then the lesson only lasted 40 mins and my only other lesson of the day was cancelled, so it was incredibly pointless me going into school. Then I walked into town to get my bus and decided to buy some mint tea to make me feel less ill, but the person serving me accidentally gave me breakfast tea instead, which was too hot and burnt my mouth.

Anyways! I'm feeling much more headachy and feverish, but less sick, which is a slight improvement. However, I think I've got this flu thing that's going around all the people at the Boy's school, so that sucks :(.

Nanowrimo was going ok yesterday! At the moment I'm on 4586 and I think I'm going to go to bed as soon as I've written this, since I'm still feeling ill, however I only have one lesson tomorrow if I feel well enough to go in, so I'll be able to catch up then. I was only going to do a mini-nano, because I thought the story would benefit from only being novella length, rather than short-novel length. However, I've thought of lots more plot things to write about, and so I'm really enthusiastic!

Comment Questions
1. How often do you lose things? On Monday I lost both my keys and my bus pass within an afternoon (although it turned out my bus pass wasn't permanently lost!)
2. Do you have a spellchecker on whatever internet browser you use? I'm on the house computer rather than my laptop, and have just realised it doesn't have one!
3. Do you use icons depending on your mood? I always use this Kaylee one if I want to cheer myself or someone else up :).

First off, I should announce the winner of the Nerdwriters Trick-or-Treat contest! I didn't get nearly as many responses as I had hoped, but oh well, I am thankful to those who did participate. The winner is rolandflakfizer, our self-proclaimed #1 fan! Congrats Joe, you get to pick the punishment for Gaby. She was the one who did not post last week (for shame!).
The order was:
Monday - Hilary
Tuesday - Toni
Wednesday - Jenny (Yup, our little monkey wrench)
Thursday - Jez (Yeah, I got to impersonate Toni again, but I was scheduled to write Hilary's.)

So, Joe, once you figure out a punishment for Gabs, let us know! I think you, more than anyone, knows how to contact a nerdwriter, so take your pick of how you want to go about it.

Now, moving on. Today is the 3rd day of NaNoWriMo and I am sitting here at 5731 words. That sounds like a lot, especially considering the goal for today is 5000, but I have only written 318 words today. And I wrote less than 2000 yesterday. My first day was amazing, like, I was a rockstar. Yesterday and today have not been quite as fabulous, unfortunately. But I shall persevere! So, here's a little bit of advice that I have found helpful in my three years of NaNo, hopefully they will help you too.
This is not a first draft, this is your zero draft. This one comes to us from the lovely Justine Larbalestier* who tells us that your "first" draft is going to be absolute rubbish. It's going to suck, and you need to realize that going in. Don't think of it as a first draft, leave that for edits or rewrites (depending on your preference, mine lies in complete rewrites). This is just to get the ideas down, get the words out, and find a place to start from. John Green seems to echo this idea, by saying in this video on Sunday that this run-through is like digging the clay out of the ground, while the rest of the writing process is taking that clay and making something of it (I don't think he ever meant for someone to quote him on that, sorry John!). I know a few people doing NaNo this year who need to realize this if they are going to finish.
It's not about quality, it's about quantity This goes hand-in-hand with the above statement. Don't worry about whether or not it's bad, just write it. Keep writing & don't stop.
Keep at it This is the #1 thing, just keep writing, no matter what.
There is no tomorrow there is only now. If you keep putting it off until tomorrow, pretty soon it'll be 30 November and you'll still be sitting at 2000 words. NaNo doesn't work like that, you don't write an entire novel over night. It's an every day process, so make it one. Make it a habit. This, I think, is great for people who plan to write outside of NaNo because in December, they might still keep that habit. I'm going to try, anyway.
A little competition is healthy for you. That's what NaNo is, essentially, it's a competition. See who can reach 50,000 words by the end of the month and who can't. Now that isn't to say that you can't have smaller competitions either. Race each other (that's what I'm doing...I just haven't told my competitor yet), see who can write more words in a day, or better yet, have word wars. What's a word war? You set the clock for a specific amount of time and then you take off writing. Whoever has the most words at the end of that time wins. You might even consider making them themed, that was how a lot of my good ideas came out in my 2006 NaNo. Give the other writers a theme to write about, or an object/line/character to fit in somehow. You are allowed to ignore the theme, but sometimes they help you come up with ideas & avoid writer's block.
Stay on task this is not the same as keep at it. This one means no twitter, no tumblr, no LJ, no messengers (well, maybe messengers, it depends on the person), no tv, no constant checking of email, no watching a movie or The Guild** or Grey's Anatomy***, or vacuuming your cat. That doesn't put words on the page, and you have all of December for those.

Well, I need to get back to writing now, as today is my mostly free day. I somewhat look forward to this weekend because I will have so much free time, but then again, who knows how much I will be able to write after the surgery on my teeth? (Yup, that's Friday) Of course, I can't wait for that, my teeth are killing me. 3 more days!

Toni, GET WRITING YOUNG LADY.
Jenny, I am glad you decided to do the full NaNo after all! GOOD LUCK I know you can do this!

*who I really wish I were able to see tonight or tomorrow since she's in the area, but alas, I cannot.
** You know who you are :P
***Okay, that one is me.

1. What is your tip for those trying to stick to a habit (not just NaNo)?
2. What is your number one biggest distraction? Mine is twitter, followed by Grey's Anatomy season 4.
3. How many mentions does a potato really need?
4. How would you describe an airplane to someone who has never seen one before?
5. What's your view on the Eggo shortage?

Whoa, I love Sarah. She's so clever and witty. And she bringed me baking supplies. I'm just writing down what ever she tells me to write, and Kat hasn't said anything yet, so I haven't typed what she's saying.

So, hey nerdwriters, it's Monday, and I'm having a movie night/sleepover with Sarah and Kat because we don't have school tomorrow. Kat has never seen the Incredibles, so we had to fix that. We just watched the first half and we're taking a break to go bake cake and then we're coming back for the second half.

We're going to make cake! I'm very excited about this. I love chocolate cake. It's delicious.

So, in my humble opinion, The Incredibles is the best Pixar movie ever made. Sarah and I have both seen it loads of times, so we know it a little too well and can quote it word-for-word. It's amazing to me that Kat can have lived for 18 years and never seen this movie. It's the kind of movie that when I watch it, I keep remembering the awesome characters, so I can't decide on a favorite. Just when I'm thinking that Frozone is the best, Edna Mode designs some badass super suits and changes my mind. That's the mark of a good animated movie.

And now I'm being annoying by singing Glee songs. We're going to go make cake now. Don't forget to submit a guess for Trick-or-Treat week, and Jez, we'll see you tomorrow!

Comment Questions:
1. What is the best Pixar movie in your opinion?
2. What is your favorite kind of cake?
3. Do you watch Glee?
4. Do your friends bring you baking supplies, or is that just my friends?

Okay, if you read the tags you'll notice that in each of our posts this week we used "trick-or-treat" because this week is Trick or Treat Week for the Nerdwriters! What does this mean? It means we played a trick on you. We switched up days to post on and pretended to be each other. So where does the "treat" part come in? If you can correctly guess who posted on what day, and who didn't post, you get to choose the punishment for this week for the nerdwriter who failed to post.

So, you have until 11:59 CST on Monday night to get in your answers! Go, go, go!