[O&AM] Things I've inherited from my family

I've inherited a lot of things from my parents - Mum's green eyes, Dad's height. Oh, and this curly hair came at me from both directions. I also think I got my sarcasm from one of my aunties on Mum's side. But when I was little I was the spitting image of an aunty on my Dad's side, to the extent that Dad would often call me by her name. Oh, and my mum definitely loves to travel, but I think I got the "bug" from Dad.

There are also more bothersome things that run in my family:

• Skin cancer
• High cholesterol
• Arthritis

I already know I got hit with the cancer stick, though thankfully I've only had the "undeadly" kind so far. I also inherited that high cholesterol thing, so no matter how healthy I am my levels are probably going to be a little bit higher than most women my age. The arthritis may manifest itself later on in life, but for now I'm free of that.

There's one more thing I thank my family for passing onto me, and that's the creative genes that keep me busy and constantly inspired. So, I thank my family for the stuff they generously passed on to me. I'll even take the pesky health afflictions if it means I get to keep the rest. :)

Travel Series: ENGLAND

In the last installment of this series, I had just finished telling you guys about the epic trip I took across the U.S.A. in 1998. Today I'll talk about the next leg when we headed for England, the country where I was born. That's the main reason we were going to England, but there was also the fact that it's a groovy place to visit, and is a definite hub on the way to Europe!

Accidentally "art".

For the first two days in London, I didn't do much at all, just hung around relaxing (and getting a sore throat). I wrote letters home, and reading them again now it's pretty obvious I was getting worn out and a little fed up. Travelling with Dad is definitely an adventure, but it does tend to wear an ordinary mortal out.

On Day 3 I ventured out into London to visit the Tate gallery and others. This was where I got to see works of Dali and Epstein. In particular, Epstein's Rock Drill was a work I was fascinated to see, because I had studied it so much in high school for assignments. It was amazing seeing these works with my own eyes.

Real type art.

Then, on Day 4, it was time to leave the big city and end our R&R. We got a National Express bus from London Victoria Coach Station and went to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From there we hired a car and explored some of the English countryside. During this time, I saw the building I was born in. Unfortunately we couldn't go inside, but at least I got to get my photo taken outside it:

Yep, I was born here.

Ain't that beautiful?

Sheepies! I love da sheepies!

Next we went to Edinburgh for a (very) brief foray into Scotland (so brief it really didn't count for much). Here we saw the "huge old castle - my FAVOURITE!" I have vague recollections of some moments in Edinburgh, but I remember it far better from last year's return trip. Another place we visited was the little town where my mother's father was born, Douglas Water, which I'm pretty sure we've all visited by now.

Back in Newcastle we returned the car, and got the bus back to London. From there it was on to the White Cliffs of Dover to board a ferry for France! I'll write about that next time.

So bootipoo!

Travel Series: U.S.A. part 5 (final)

By the end of my last Globetrotters post, U.S.A. part 4, we were in Oregon with family after a long trip across the country (Washington D.C. to Salem, OR). I forgot to mention, though, that we had had to do a bit of hitch-hiking to get there.

To get to Salem we got rides from the following folks:

1. Two African American guys, one of whom asked, "You got black people in Australia?" We responded with, "Yes, the Aborigines! Ab-or-IJ-in-eez!"
2. David, a publisher and poet who drove like a maniac but took us all the way to Portland
3. "2 semi-weirdos", according to my travel diary, one of whom had emphysema (or maybe just sounded like it?). They took us right into Salem

A little bit of Salem, OR.

Once in Salem, Dad's fabulous Aunty Roma came to pick us up and that was the beginning of our brief stint of R&R. It was really nice hanging out with this part of my family I hadn't met before. I also learned some of my family history that I hadn't known before. Pretty soon though, it was time to get back on the road...

For yet more hitch-hiking.

It was kind of miserable for me as a 17-year-old, standing on the side of the road begging for a ride. It wasn't that I was scared of who would pick us up, though there was no doubt a vague element of that. It was more that I felt like a complete bum. Here is a little excerpt from my travel diary to illustrate how I was feeling:

"Hitchhiking. I imagine them saying, "Yeah right!" or "Fuck off!" or "Not on your nelly!" One guy up-yoursed me, and I felt like crying 'cos it was SO HUMILIATING." (April 8, 1998)

Dad is a born hitch-hiker! 

But we did meet some entertaining and generous people during our trek down the west coast of the U.S.A., for e.g.:

Me in the Christian truck.

1. A guy in the shittiest car known to man (passenger side window covered in plastic and taped up, flapping noisily at high speed) who had rather strong opinions about the Clinton/Lewinsky affair of the day. "I don't care who Bill sleeps with, as long as he doesn't want to sleep with me, you know?" He took us to Ashland where his girlfriend and eight children lived.
2. A born-again truck driver who played nothing but Christian music but also told funny stories. He said that when he was still a cop, his boss called him in one day and said, "Now look, you're really out of shape." He responded with, "Since when is 'round' not a shape?" He invited us to stay at his place, though when Dad asked if his wife would mind, he said, "I don't need to ask, it's MY house!"
3. A middle-aged man who looked a little red-eyed, who it turned out was on his way to a good friend's funeral (the friend had committed suicide I think). He had the nicest car out of anyone we had hitch-hiked with, until San Francisco at least
4. A young university student who took us all the way from Sacramento to the outskirts of San Francisco. He played good music and we thanked him for it as we parted ways.

By the time #4 dropped us off, we only had $20.00 left (still suffering from expired card/not-working-Visa problems), and…this is what happened next. Since I've written about it before, I figured I would just link back to that past entry. I'm pretty sure I've never showed off the moldy cheese photo before, though, so here it is:

Dad and the moldy cheese.

So, after that mighty adventure in San Fran, a member of my U.S. family flew me back to L.A. (SO. GRATEFUL.), while Dad hitch-hiked his way back down the Pacific Coast Highway (his preference). I spent my last few days in the U.S. relaxing, and one day I visited Disneyland. I also enjoyed the letters that had been waiting for me, including the one containing my shiny new NON-expired keycard!

Back in L.A., chillaxing.

Disneyland.

With that, the mighty U.S.A. leg of the journey draws to a close. It really was an incredible experience, criss-crossing such an amazing country, and someday I wouldn't mind retracing my steps just to refresh my memory. No doubt things have changed since 1998, but wow, I'm sure it'd still be an incredible journey.

Next time I post for Globetrotters, I'll write about the next leg of the journey…England!

Flying out of L.A.

A pantser in Plottingland

I am, generally speaking, a pantser. I don't like to be tied down, or to set too much in stone when working on a project. It stifles my creativity somehow. Makes it all way less fun. I planned my 2012 NaNo novel, NAUSICAA, and while it made the writing experience a lot more smooth, I also found it a huge struggle to keep going after I'd hit 50k. I guess you could say I was bored. Even if the story isn't particularly boring (I don't think it is, anyway).

Most of my other novels have been pantsed to high heaven. And most of them have been written during November, for NaNoWriMo. Then again, most of my novels in the "SUNDOWN" series were written post-NaNo. None of them were particularly planned.

This month with my BuNoWriMo novel, IVY NIGHT, I found that missing out on a day's writing really interrupted my flow. Reluctantly I decided to write out a rough plan. It was pretty easy to do, because my book involves a prophecy that spans nine days. So basically the plot of the novel spans nine days. I was able to jot down notes about what happens on each of the days for each of my main characters. They're not hugely restrictive notes, i.e. "This happens, then this happens, then Ivy says this, then so and so does that". More like, "Ivy gets here and this happens." And as a fellow BuNo participant pointed out, just 'cause I have plotted, does not mean I must stick to the plot.

In other news, yesterday my brother and his new family arrived back home for a holiday, and I met my super cute niece in person and had my first cuddle. I also found out the meaning of her name, Mya - she's named after a beach down in the south-west of our state, Myalup Beach, not far from where my brother and his wife lived for three years. My brother being a surfer, it's only natural a beach would mean so much to him. :) Anyway, I think that is just way too cool! A Canadian baby with a Western Australian-inspired name.

Goal update, random pics, and some music

Rain is my friend, and I
am fascinated by raindrops.

Another week has come to a close. In general, I've been rather busy. My weekend was a little crazy, and I'm glad it's over, even if it had many fun moments. I caught up with lots of different groups of friends and family. In my family we've had two babies born in May (both on May 1st, actually! And both of them girls!), so I got to meet the locally-born baby on Saturday for the first time. In June I'll meet the other baby, who is my niece. Can't wait for that! Anyway, I hope you all have had great weekends too, and are continuing in that vein for the remainder of your Sundays.

This was a recent sky. There
are a lot of skies around here.

Now time for a creative update! What have I been up to lately? Well, I've got many varied goals for this year, one of which includes writing a new song each week. I had fallen behind with that during my recent travels, but I'm all caught up now (or I was last weekend, anyway...). I'm also well ahead of schedule with two of my other goals - the photo sorting and the revision of one WIP chapter per week. In most other areas, though, I'm either only just keeping up or am well behind. I'm not worried, as I know I can catch up. It's just not ideal being so far behind in some areas.

This is one of my weirdo cats,
drinking out of a sink...

In other news, it's Sunday, and time for another Sunday Session! This last week, the song I've apparently listened to most has been the Smashing Pumpkins' b-side "French Movie Theme", a 1:51 song whose lyrics mainly consist of "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah..." with the occasional "Bonjour!" thrown in. Genius lyrics, I tell you, but it's a pretty song and I love the bassline. Unfortunately there aren't any videos on YouTube of the proper version, only a demo in which somebody messes up the chords and Billy Corgan then proceeds to tell that person off for getting the chords wrong. "I can't believe you messed that up...!" Anyway, I think this week's results in the music listening game go to show that one can never tell what song is going to come out on top!

I'll bid you all good night now, and wish you a good rest of the weekend if you aren't at the very end of it, like I am. And happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! Including mamas who are just kitty or doggy or other pet-ty mamas, like me. ;) I got felines, and they sure can be sooky!

Can it be...a non-A to Z post?!

On May 7th a bunch of us are going to be reflecting on our A-Z experiences this year, so I won't talk about my experience again until then! For now, I will say it's quite a relief to be able to post about something other than what I've got scheduled for the A-Z. :)

I was going to write about my Goals and how they've kind of taken a bit of a slide, for various reasons (A-Z, travelling for a month), but maybe I'll save that for another day. Today I just want to mention that I have just become an aunty for the first time! Three hours ago my brother and his gorgeous wife welcomed a little girl into the world (as they're in Canada it was a May 1st birthday, yay for May Day babies! And both her parents have May birthdays too). It's very strange to think of my mother as a grandmother, and my father as a grandfather, 'cause they are both so youthful and groovy, but there you have it! It's even weirder to know that my tiny little 6'4" brother is now a daddy (he really was tiny at one point in his life!).

Anyway...I am going to go now, but will say "Yay!" first. There. Said it. :)