This week's theme: A Dream Come True

Technology. It's a fickle mistress. This week we'll be writing about dreams come true; those small (or big) moments of success that make us want to kick up our heels and shout with joy. These are things we've achieved off of wish lists past, and they help remind us that those lists are possible. But, thanks to technology (and a massive migraine), I will be adding my dream come true to this post tomorrow morning. See you then!

*SEGUE*

Okay. So. Now that my internet is cooperating again, I can actually write this post. YAY! 

I wanted to write about this because January was a rough month for me, yes, but it did have some good things happen, too. One of which was a dream come true. A tiny dream, but a dream, nonetheless.

A few years ago, my husband and I went to the zoo that I now work at and discovered how adorable wallabies are in person. I mean, I'd known they were cute. They're basically mini kangaroos. How can that not be adorable? (Note: I love any and all things miniature).

But in person, they were just so much more... special. We took lots of crappy pictures and forced everyone to look at them. Okay, maybe that was just me. But I couldn't get over how darn hilarious they were, and every time we went back we'd go see the wallabies first. I even included them in my sidebar description when we started the Archives.

After a couple years, I sort of settled down. I got hired at my current job and there were LOTS of cute animals there. Even mini ones. But wallabies always had a special place in my heart.

Where am I going with this?

Well, a couple months ago, I started volunteering at a local facility that has a wide range of exotic animals just to get some more diverse experience. They happen to have three wallabies there. I was excited, but trying not to get my hopes up. I had a lot of training to go through before I could get near them.

And then, last month-- it happened. During all the craptacular parts of January, two shining moments stuck out. I got to play with my wallabies. I gave them carrots, I petted that ADORABLE FUZZ BEHIND THEIR EARS OMG. I watched them hop around in the rain. I watched them do wallaby yoga. I just got to sit with them and soak up the fact that there were wallabies a few inches from me.

So yes, in January, a dream of mine did come true. It's not the first, and it won't be the last, but it's something to hold onto when life gets a little rough, right?

Have you had any dreams come true recently?

My Wisht Lisht

Welcome, beautiful new year! That started a month ago! Which is okay because I'm so behind on stuff that it's taken me this long to acknowledge the new year! I'm reminded of an OK Go (okay, originally by the Zombies) song that runs through my head every time I dare to start making resolutions.

Go on, this is worth a listen:


This will be our year, guys! And although it may have taken a while to get here, it's here and we're gonna LOVE it, right? Yes, love the ever livin' crap out of it. So here's my wisht lisht for 2012. If they happen or not is not the goal, but all that matters is that I'm working TOWARDS these goals. Any progress is success, right? Sure! Why not!

Ahem. Behold:

Be more proactive in my creative ventures, art and writing included: Sometimes I fall into the "I wish" stage of my artistic endeavors, like "I wish I could finish a book in a few months" or "I wish I had my illustration portfolio together." Well you know what? I CAN FIX THAT. There's so much we can't control in our lives, but there's a billion things more that we CAN. I aim to just PUSH myself, to get out there and DO those things I wish I could do, failure be noted and damned. Proactive: not just for acne anymore.

Completely ROCK the house at my new job: Teaching English composition to non-native speakers! Woot! Note to future students: I suggest not using as many exclamation points as I do.

Finish my 365 days of drawing with a bang (or a whimper, depending what I feel like drawing that day): I'm almost at 200 days now and despite the recent worker's strike my scanner is holding, I think I can do it. It was a tough goal to set and I've certainly stumbled here and there, but by and large I think my art is getting just a tad better. Fingers crossed for the next 175 days!

Learn some frigging Japanese: If I can't do it here, I won't ever do it. My inner 14 year old Sailor Senshi obsessed self would never forgive me.

Get into marathon running shape for the Nagasaki Marathon in October: I can do this! I did an 8 mile run today and despite not being able to feel anything above the knees now (the pain), it was rather nice (really?) Only 9 months (and 18 more miles) to go! (Oh dear.)

I have wishlists for things out of my control, too, like book deals and lottery wins, unlimited funds to travel and the like, but hopefully I can work hard enough on the things I can control to keep my mind off the things I CAN'T.

This will be our year, guys! Good luck and happy living!

Make a Wish

I think I've read too much of One Thousand and One Nights to throw wishes around lightly. Those tricksy Jinns love nothing better than to give people exactly what they asked for but not what they wanted. Like the poor gardener who wished he was a prince so he could marry the princess but when he went to woo her as a prince she said she was already in love with a young gardener who didn't know she existed. So I will do my best to wish for only what I actually want. Not what I think I will need to get it.

Hopefully that's enough.

Here goes.

in 2012 I wish . . .

To finish White Hart. I'm pretty close to this one actually. I'm at about 170 pages and although I started it in January of 2011 70 of those pages I've written in the last month so I'm hoping to keep up this pace until I'm finished.

To query agents until one likes my writing enough to represent me. Yeah. Last year I said the same thing. I think I sent out maybe ten queries all year? I'm not sure if it's fear or laziness that's holding me back but I'm not going to let it anymore.

To publish at least one short story. I do actually have quite a few of those finished but I get so absorbed by my bigger writing projects that I forget to look for homes for them.

To move out of my mom's house. Right now there are so many things that would need to change for that to happen that I feel like I'm wishing for the moon but last year at this time I thought I would never own my own car. Or have a driver's license for that matter. Now I do. Maybe sometime in the not so distant future I will have what Virginia Woolf would call "A Room of One's Own." Besides. One of these days I'm going to own that moon.

To make a pumpkin roll that rolls instead of falls apart.


To go to ALA. Because there are free books! And it is in Anaheim. Anaheim. As in next to Disneyland!

To read a book that changes my life. I believe it was the introduction to Neil Gaiman's American Gods that made me worried about this. He said something to the effect of "back when a book could still change my life" I was horrified. Is it really possible to be such an experienced reader, fiction reviewer, or writer, that you can lose the ability to really be changed by a good book? To let it speak to you on some level deeper than you thought existed. I pray not. I always want a good book to come along and blow what I think of as my life out of the water and hang it up to dry.

To experience life. This is an important one for me. I can get really caught up in To-Do lists and goals and forget simple things like a cup of tea or a friend who's willing to talk to me or the gentle patter of the rain. Life is meant to be lived and I want to embrace every heart-breaking, soul-wrenching moment of it.

So those are my wishes. What are yours?

"Who says that every wish will be heard and answered,
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of it and someone believed it.
Look what it's done so far."
--Rainbow Connection by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher

My Wish List (Such As It Is)

It's Wednesday, and I suppose that means it comes down to me sharing what my 2012 wish-list is with all of you fine folks. Which is good because I nearly forgot I was supposed to post today. Whoops! Anywho, here's my wish-list for 2012:

• Make Doctor Fantastique's Show of Wonders magazine profitable. As you all know, I'm the Publisher/Executive Editor and Owner of that there website/magazine. It's been a challenge so far to make any sort of money off it, but I've got a lovely staff of volunteers who are sure to help the publication get there.
• Finish and query at least one novel. I've got one novel in pieces, one that needs to be rewritten, and a novella that needs to get finished. I want to be done with at least one of them this year. 
• Make a dent in the money I owe. I've got waaaay more consumer debt than I want, and part of my wish-list for 2012 is to have half of it gone by the time December rolls around. We'll see if that happens.
• Become the best I can be at my full-time job. I started a new job in the new year, and there's a decent learning curve. I've been assured I so far have the ropes figured out; now all I have to do is make sure I can go above and beyond ... which is important because I can directly impact the bottom line here.
• Try to keep in touch with friends better. Two of my good friends are getting married (to each other) in a few months, and Her Highness the Missus and I have sadly not spent time with them since our own wedding more than 2 years ago. We've become somewhat of a pair of hermits, and this isn't a good thing. 

That's pretty much all I've got for 2012 folks. Anything else you want to offer up? 

A 2012 Wish List

Hello! It's nice to see you in this shiny new year, full of magic and possibilities. Even though our adult years seem to run together (and I often have to think really hard to remember how old I am), each year is unique. So here is my list of things that I wish would happen in 2012 (in no particular order):

• Meet my new niece in June. - It's not necessarily a wish as much as a thing-I'm-really-excited-about. I have seven nephews, guys. SEVEN. This is the first niece and oh how I'm going to spoil her with princess outfits and sparkly ponies and girly stuff!! (She'll probably be a tomboy - which is OK too but not quite as fun for me.)
• Finish that novel I started a year ago. - Writing is hard, guys. But worth it. But also hard. I'm going to do it though! And when I do, I can start on the shiny idea that I put on hold because I was determined to finish that first idea.
• Finish replacing the grout in the kitchen. - I won't say how long our kitchen tile has been without grout (*cough cough* ... since May .... *COUGH*) but it's finally time we do something about it. It was cracked, so Hubs and I used a grinder to remove the defective grout. Now those spaces are filled with crumbs and I don't want to look at them but I've been too lazy to fix it. NOT ANYMORE.
• A career change for Hubs. - The economy was not very kind to Hubs when it took a nose dive. Because of that, he's been doing a job that really doesn't suit him for a long time. But this year it's going to change. (Fingers crossed for us, guys. This is a biggie.)
• Save for our dream vacation. - Hubs and I really, really want to visit Australia. Preferably before we have kids. But have you SEEN the cost of plane tickets to Australia? Yikes-a-rino. So we need to save, save, save! (Or make a ton more money - I'd really prefer this option.)
• Read as much as possible. - I have a ZILLION books. That is a real number, guys (999999999---------------98, 999999999---------------99, a zillion!). 2011 had so many good books that I never would have heard about if I wasn't part of this community. About 90% of the books I have are ones I haven't had time to read yet. But I just finished A Million Suns by Beth Revis (sequel to Across the Universe) last night in the wee hours. OH MY, it's awesomesauce. For reals. Go read it now so I have someone to talk to about it.
•  Get rich. - I figured while I was at it, I might as well throw this in. It can't hurt to dream.

Here's to an awesome 2012! I'm partial to even-numbered years. And heck yeah, the Olympics are this summer!

Pretending January didn't exist, and introducing: Theme Weeks!

January was a rough month for me. In the last thirty days, I have:

-Had a muscle spasm in my back. I couldn't turn my head for three days.

-Had my cat drop a laptop on my toes. It landed on its edge, by the way.

-Went to the more-than-urgent-care-but-not-quite-ER for some scary chest pains (apparently, the cartilage between your rib cage and sternum can swell and make you think you're having a heart attack. Who knew?)

-Gotten an interview for my DREAM-dream job.

-Not gotten my DREAM-dream job.

-Gotten food poisoning. Twice.

-Entered a much-beloved but long-shelved manuscript in a contest.

-Gotten a reprieve for a close animal friend at work

-Lost my close animal friend after all

-And jumped back into the query pool, feet first, eyes closed.

Having shown you this, dear friends, I hope you can understand exactly why the Archives have been a little delayed thus far this year. I don't really have an opinion on the whole "The world is ending in 2012!!" thing, but I have to say that I certainly hope it's just getting all the challenging/ difficult bits out of the way right off the bat. With that optimism in mind, I want to introduce you to two new concepts we're going to try out here at the Archives, hoping to advance our way further into the blogging world and interact with you all in a real-time, digital megaspace reality that's sure to innovate our fluxative capacity. (Okay, so that was actually my attempt at shoving as much nonsense jargon as I could into that sentence).

Our two new concepts?

The first:

NO WRITING ABOUT WRITING. (Well, except maybe a little).

Frankly, we're all sick of writing about writing. And I know I'm sick of READING about writing. I'd rather be writing! So while our blog will stay topical, and while we are still writers, we hope to include a lot more of ourselves in our blog posts, and a lot less of . . . well, you know.

And the second:

INTRODUCING: THEME WEEKS!!

You guys, I don't know if you've noticed, but it's HARD coming up with ideas for blog posts. Some weeks, we just give up out of sheer lack of motivation. Others, the well simply runneth dry. So we're going to try something new and fantastic: giving ourselves a theme to write to. Each week will have a theme, and you will get five different points of view about the topic at hand. We've already got a bunch of ideas, but if there's something you want to hear our thoughts on, leave it in the comments of this post!

Now, having waded through all of THAT business, we can move onto, er, business. This week's theme?

A wishlist.

It's been a new year twice now since the last time we really, really posted, and I'd like to celebrate and hallow the start of two new years by sending some wishes out into the universe. I'm genuinely hoping for some good things to happen this year! Here's my wishlist:

-Get another interview for my dream-dream job. Don't suck at it. Get the job.

-Have some small (or large) writing success-- find an agent, write another story that I can't stop thinking about, get past the first round in that contest.

-Continue to grow as a better friend, wife, relative, blogger, writer, critter mom, and employee.

-Get my gorgeous loveable stubborn spooky horse down to the Big Arena-- and ride her there. Safely.

-Learn. Learn more. Learn everything. Find more to learn once I've learned everything.

-Spend quality time with wallabies at least twice a month. (I'm happy to report that my profound love of wallabies can at last be satisfied on a weekly basis! And guess what: they're WAY softer and fuzzier than they look!)

-And while we're at it, I'm just going to go ahead and ask the universe to help me out a little financially.

Now, universe, I don't want any of these to be Backhanded Wishes. No killing anyone or anything or ruining lives to make it happen, ya hear?

Do you have a wishlist for 2012?

Erm, Maybe

So I may have lied. We're trying to come up with some new ideas for this here blog business, and as a result will need another week, folks! Maybe two. I'll keep you posted.

Hope everyone has a glorious, success-filled New Year!