Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Quick Update...

Blogger is also on the list of websites not allowed on Navy computers, apparently; at least, when I tried to log in to remedy the odd HTML-like code e-mailing the last entry in added to it, not to mention all the random extra line breaks, I got the dreaded Webwasher page. Sigh… looks like e-mail will be my only means of blogging (not, I confess, that I do so as often as I should) until I can either reach an internet cafĂ© again, or – more likely, given our schedule – get home, and back to my own internet connection.

So, now you know.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

It's an angry sea but there is no doubt...

That the lighthouse will keep shining out
To warn the lonely sailor –
The lightning strikes and the wind cuts cold
Through the sailor's bones, to the sailor's soul
'Till there's nothing left that he can hold
Except the roaring ocean

But I am ready for the storm, yes oh ready I'm
I'm ready for the storm, I'm ready for the storm

So here we are, week two of NaNoWriMo. I've been falling a bit behind lately – I was consistently ahead of schedule the first few days, and then we stopped in Djibouti, Africa, and I got a bit delayed. No chance to write that day; working cargo all day long, quite a bit of pallets to load and not much space on the tiny, dirty pier to load it in; and then went out that night, to see if the town really was as bad as everyone had been saying. It was dirty, stinking, and full of people asking for money or aggressively trying to sell you things, but no worse than Marmaris, Turkey had been – or for that matter Tijuana, Mexico. Just goes to show, no matter where you go… there you are.

That said, I was still rather happy to leave Africa; the humidity, dust, and malaria prophylaxis were hell on me, and I was still fighting a pretty vicious head cold. I’m also not particularly happy to learn that we’re going back. Bah.

But getting back to NaNo, I’m about 14,000 words to the good – still about 2,000 behind schedule, despite taking today off and having little time but to write. Truthfully, I’ve had little to do all week but write – there’s a great picture on my Flickr account of Madb and I getting our wordcount on at flight quarters, helicopter taking off in the background. That pictures is also featured in the NaNoWriMo blog at blog.nanowrimo.org . I’d love to post it in here, but Blogger’s refusing to load for me again, and I’m actually mailing this entry in off from my ship’s e-mail account. I really hope this works properly…

Speaking of e-mail, the Navy finally got around to fulfilling their dire warning of no more commercial e-mail access on government computers; I haven’t been able to access my Gmail, AOL, or even Facebook inboxes for some time now. I have other e-mail to keep in contact with home and friends, but if you’re on Facebook and are tempted to send me a message… write on my wall instead, I’ll be able to read that sometime before December.

Speaking of, still looks like I’ll be home sometime between the first week of December, and the third. This is good… I’m definitely hoping for the first, despite the inconvenience involved in flying home, and despite the fact that getting paid off in Earle would actually pay me better – being overdue for relief nets you $25 per diem for every day overdue, and were I to be paid off in Earle, I’d also get about $300 travel money to get me back to Norfolk, VA. Still, every day on here seems to drag just a little bit longer, wear on my nerves just a little bit further, and make me miss home just that little bit more. It’s time to go.

So, that looks like about all the latest from me; merrily writing away on my novel, out of Africa, soon to go back to. Which, unfortunately, means that I’m going to be taking this freaking malaria pills that much longer… ;_; My dreams, never ‘normal’ even in the best of times, have taken on all kinds of freakiness. I was dreaming about WarMachine last night… well, amongst other things.

Where I stand with Toy Soldier’s War: our hero Chase has just been shot down on the pavement by the cruel alien invaders, after bravely fighting in defense of his school and city. I was originally planning on starting Act 2 with him waking up in his cryogenic tube, but I think instead I’m going to cut to the Lancer squadron he will soon be joining, as a routine day goes ugly for them – and they discover the laboratory Chase is in. After that, we’ll cut to the Ranger squadron that finds Chase, and our Hero in a Bottle… and carry on from there

Ja ne!