2015: A Summary

This was a tag from Bella back in the beginning of January, which I'm not finally getting to. (Congratulate me, friend! Two blog posts in March!) It was supposed to be a New Year's Tag, but since I'm so late, it's going to be a "2015: A Summary" tag. So whatever.


1. What was the single best thing that happened last year?

Um, let's see. Honestly, probably going to Carmel and visiting a couple of the missions. That was such a wonderful and epic trip. My older sister and I went for three days and it was just really lovely. Plus, the ocean was gorgeous! (I think I might love the ocean.)

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?

I had a two-day jury summons, waiting while the judge and attorneys tried to decide on jurors.

3. What was the most memorable thing?

Christmas. Christmas was definitely the most memorable thing about last year.

4. What did you get really, really excited about?

'Kay, I was able to go to this thing called WordWave, where I got to meet an agent from Fuse Literary. That was really cool and exciting and SO helpful for my query and synopsis.

I was also excited to hear that Prison Break is getting a new season. YAY! :-)

5. What song/album will always remind you of 2015?
Josh Groban's STAGES CD. Especially "What I Did For Love" and "Dulcinea."

6. How did you spend your Christmas?
Epicly! (Epically?) We had Midnight Mass privately up near where we live, and we got some pretty awesome snow Christmas Eve, so we had these huge soft drifts everywhere, and there was a full moon that night, so I wished on it.
Christmas is always glorious in our house. We light the Christ Candle first thing and sing Joy to the World, and put Baby Jesus in the manger. My dad always gets a fire going and makes sausage rolls and puts down a pot of coffee, and we open stockings and eat food and drink mimosa and/or orange juice and coffee and pass out gifts and get really, really loud. We had a lot of people over that day, too. We have a friend who moved to Tahoe from Wyoming, and her brothers came for dinner, which was our traditional gnocchi and ham. We also had a snowball fight later that night, and it was pretty freakishly cold out there, which probably wasn't good for all of us with our wicked chest colds. We were all:

 7. What was a hardest thing you to face in 2015?

I don't even know. Maybe... That one time... Or perhaps... Nope, I got nuthin'.

8. What were the best movies you saw in 2015?

Antman, Age of Ultron, and The Scorch Trials, because Marvel, because AVENGERS, and obviously because Dylan O'Brien. 

9.What were the best books you read in 2015?
What Came From The Stars by Gary Schmidt; The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski.

10. Was there any awesome/fun TV show you discovered in 2015?

I was briefly hooked on Person Of Interest, then a female character was introduced who sort of usurped my boys, Reese and Finch, and I later discovered she was having a relationship with another female and I lost interest. I restarted 24, though. (Still adore Jack.)

11. Did you discover any new musicals?

Yes! Finding Neverland, and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.

12. Did you write any new books?
I am mostly revising books I've already written - namely, DragonFire and Fulcrum. I had been kicking around an idea concerning nightmares, and that one has really taken off this month. I've been actively writing it a few hours each night. I'm pretty excited about it. :-)

13. Did you make any new friends?

14. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?

15. Is there some change you will have to go through in 2016?
Gosh, I hope not. Well, I'd like to move. But otherwise... Gosh, I hope not.

16. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?

Pinterest.

17. What was biggest thing you learned this past year?
Life is hard, but trust in God. Worry gives you insomnia.

18. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"He will always hate me / No matter what I say / And there is no mistaking the love is gone."
(This is actually a man's song, so I had to change the "she" in the original lyrics to "he".)

19. What are five things you want to do in 2016?
a.) Land an agent. (That makes me sound like I'm hooking a fish. Sorry, agents!)
b.) Buy a piano and start composing music again.
c.) Go to one of the two SCBWI Annual Conferences in either LA or New York (though since I didn't get tax returns this year, that's probably not going to happen this year).
d.) Get a better job.
e.) Move.

20. Describe 2015 in your own words.

Truly, not the best year I've ever had. It had it's ups and downs, and I was mostly very worried and stressed during it. I concentrated on trying to be a bit more trusting and take it one day at a time. I sometimes felt like I was doing good with that, but then someone would say, "Are you okay? You seem sad," and I so I guess I wasn't being as brave as I'd thought I was being.

2015 did have some epic moments - Carmel and WordWave and Christmas were three incredible highlights to the year and I want to go back to check out more of the missions in the very near future. That's a definite To-Do. I also got myself submitting to agents, which is an A+ for me in regards to my courage. (Submitting to agents is scary!)

However, I seem to have grown more antisocial. The best thing in my life is going to my little home and being alone, with no people other than my sisters. And Netflix. (Seriously, guys. NETFLIX.)

So that was my last year.

And this was my relationship with last year

HERE'S TO A BETTER THIS YEAR!!! :-) 

God bless. 

The Cat

Movies and Writing and Front Sight, Oh My!

Since I last posted (pretty much a month ago exactly) I have seen two movies in theaters, written about three quarters of the first half of a novel, remembered how much I enjoy baseball, started watching Avatar, and signed up for hand-to-hand combat classes at Front Sight.

What's... Front Sight, precious, eh? What's Front Sight?

For all y'all who don't know what Front Sight is, basically it's a gun school. You go there, they teach you how to safely use/carry firearms, so you don't go out literally half-cocked and accidentally cause mayhem rather than assistance.

That could be awkward.

It teaches you how to be a responsible gun owner. MmmHmmm.  Anyhoozle, so I'm signed up for the hand-to-hand combat part of it (because it is my first time and I'm a little intimidated at the idea of doing guns first) and I shall be heading down to Pahrump tomorrow - along with my sister Amanda, and our "sister/friend" Sammi. I am trying to figure out how to wear pants. As I am strictly a shirt and skirt kind of girl, pants are a whole 'nother kind of ballgame. But one simply cannot wear skirts to a martial arts type of setting. Awkward.

Unless, of course, you're Golden Sparrow.

I saw MINIONS and ANT-MAN.

I gotta say, I was a little disappointed with the Minion movie. I enjoyed the bits with the actual minions, but there was some stuff in there that I thought was totally unnecessary and inappropriate for kids - such as that disgustingly overweight sumo wrestler wearing next to nothing and leaving NOTHING to the imagination. The Cat did not approve. Also, I kind of would have preferred that the Minions met Gru earlier, and worked together to bring down the baddie Scarlet, even though Sandra Bullock voiced Scarlet and I could just "see" her getting into the role. I felt they could have done MORE with the movie, but instead relied on people being such fans of the minions they would overlook some loose plotting.

There really was some funny stuff, like Stuart and his fire hydrant:

But overall, I thought it could have been fabulous rather than just good.

ANT-MAN, however... yeah, I liked Ant-Man. Instead of being like the Avengers (WHICH I ADORE, BY THE WAY! IN CASE YOU THOUGHT I DIDN'T), Ant-Man sort of goes back to the "simple" Marvel movies, focusing on small but important bad guys, and instead of saving the world focusing more on just bringing down the single villain. Plus, Scott Lang (Ant-Man himself) was freakin' hilarious, and his stupid criminal friends were adorable idiots. The script was spot on, and I surprised myself by actually liking Michael Douglas. Normally, I don't like anything about him, but he was a really good character in the movie and I quite liked him. So, I would recommend you watch Ant-Man, but I would advise you to wait on Minions until it comes out on DVD. :-)

It was brilliant, you guys! I love Marvel.

As for my writing, I'm knocking out the first half of my novel quite rapidly. It's going to be told from two points-of-view, but since the timeline is a little "weird" for one character, I'm having a hard time switching back and forth, so I'm doing one character at a time, and I'll fit them together later. (All hail the revision process!) Besides, the second half will need a bit more research into the landscape, and mapping out the world being travelled. So, I'm procrastinating on the part. But the completed project will be great, I promise!

That's all for now. Hope y'all have a great day!

God bless!

The Cat

Byebyebyebyebyebyebyebye!!!!!!!!!!