Happy New Year!

Hi ya,

First off a very happy new year to you all!

So I made it home safe and sound. As always it feels weird being home. Even now almost a month later I still feel a bit out of place. But I’m working on readjusting. I’ve been having fun hanging out with my family. My older brother, Spencer, has been home since Christmas. So I’ve been doing a lot of hanging out and artsy things.

Am I still avoiding a “real job”? Yes I am. I’m babysitting 4 days a week for 2 families. So I have my own money to make my school loan payments and a credit card bill. I’ve got a good enough reason to be skipping a minimum wage job. I’m still hard at work on my manuscript.

I finished it last weekend. Then I was thinking more on what Sarah had told me at the SCBWI conference. It ended up falling short in the word count (only 120,000) for what most high fantasy books are. So I was thinking, I could have four shorter books and maybe some filler in there somewhere. Or 2 long books where shit moves along fast and keeps you wrapped up in the story. Obviously I opted for the two books. I have a bit more writing to do on this manuscript and I’ve been doing pretty good on it. I’m still giving myself a deadline of march to have the whole thing finished. That will put me at the one year mark from when I started this new version. Hopefully I’ll be done before.

Today though I’m taking a break from my manuscript. I’ve hit a rough patch with a character who’s a total jerk but I don’t want him to be an unlovable jerk. He needs to be loved because he has some very honorable things he does. I figured I needed a day to clear my head. So here I am about to cram up a bunch of blog posts.

Because let’s be honest it’s almost too late to be posting about last summer’s adventures but I promise they are really cool places. And I didn’t want to back log them, that’s too much effort (not really it’s like 2 clicks to change the post date). But I might not do a super thorough job for them all. I will do a super intense one for Yellowstone because that was such a wonderful trip. San Francisco might get a long one. You all will hear about my wallet story and Donner’s Pass will for sure get a crazy post! I’ll do my best not to bore you all too much.

Then we’ll see how far I get into my winter excursion!  That’s todays plan!

Cheers,

Eurotrip: Madrid

My adventure started on the 30th of December when I headed to the Newark Airport. My best friend Kelly drove me. It was out last chance to hang out as she was leaving to uni in North Carolina and would be gone before I got back. So off we went to the airport. 

I got there two hours early, waited in line and checked in. No checked baggage for me as I had my pack and a bag of presents for my Spanish sister, Ana. So after doing the shoes off, electronics out, empty pocket dance through security I found a nice seat by my gate and hunkered down for an hour and a half wait. I started reading A Game of Thrones. Then it was time to board my flight at 19h30. After dinner on board it was sleep time!

And when I woke up it was snack and coffee time before our final decent into Madrid. I arrived around 9h45 and I couldn’t meet up with my host till some time after noon. So I started doing a bit of wandering about in the city. I took a few photos…

Then headed to Dimitri’s place. After a quick shower we headed out to lunch. After walking around a bit we headed back to his place. He had just gotten back from Brussels (his home town) that afternoon from Christmas break. So since we were both tired it was nap time.


A three hour nap was just what I needed. I got up and got my glam on for New Years eve.  Dimitri had found a secret party on couch surfing that we were going to that night. I say secret because we had to give a password to get in. The password was “Gato llama Gata”. A funny password but it turned out to be a pretty cool place. It was an old house and was really cool looking, I would have lived there.

When midnight rolled around it was time to eat the grapes! You have 12 grapes you’re supposed to eat one with each stroke of midnight. Now let me tell you, as an American I’m used to our genetically modified seedless grapes so when I bit into my first one and ran into a big crunchy seed I almost gagged. But there was no time for gagging as I had to eat another one and so on… I failed miserably at eating them. I got them all in my mouth but it took a few minutes after midnight to clear my mouth and wish everyone a happy new years. Thank goodness I wasn’t the only dork who hadn’t mastered the grapes, a few other guests were struggling to finish them. 

Over all it was a pretty kick ass New years. I got to party and eat the grapes and for one night pretend like I was Spanish.

The next day we were up a bit late… er… sleeping off the night before. Plus we were out till 5h00 so I think a sleep in was called for. When we finally made it out for breakfast it was around 14h00 and we had sandwiches and wine for breakfast. Then Dimitri was nice enough to walk me around the city and I took a few photos. 

I didn’t take as many photos as I tend to because I knew I’d have one more day in Madrid at the end of my trip to be a real tourist and take a zillion pictures. This time I was just enjoying chatting with Dimitri about all things European. 

We Started by stopping by the Atocha train station…. 

There are palm trees inside! INSIDE!!

 AND TURTLES!!!

We walked around most of the day, took a turn through Parque De El Retiro. Last time I was in Madrid I couldn’t find the Crystal Palace in the park and I gave up because I was getting rained on and I wasn’t a happy camper because I didn’t have my rain jacket, silly me. This time though Dimitri took us right too it. Turns out last time I was in the park I was spitting distance from it.

My last day I slept in, since I was catching an afternoon bus to Murcia. So I packed up my stuff then headed off to the bus station! Next stop my sister’s house!!!!

But first I had to stand a 5 hour bus ride.. And that turned out to be a lot of fun actually…. But that’s next.

Cheers,

New Years Eve

On the eve of a new year I’ve decided to do some thinking. I’m 20 years old, I know it’s not old. But it’s also not young. It was strange when I turned 20 this year, I realized I was no longer a teenager. There’s something about being a teen that lets you be immature while still growing up. Now I feel I need to think seriously about everything. I graduate in 2 years and I have to be able to stand on my own. I know I’ll be able to but it’s still intimidating. It’s like looking up at a huge mountain and you know that you have to climb it or you’ll be stuck where you are forever. So I’ve started climbing my own mountain this year. Before I’d simply looked up at that mountain, never attempting to climb it, yet I was planning what I’d do till I was 30. I had planned to work with the NYPD in the Forensic Unit, get a studio apartment in the city, and not get married till I was well past 30. And now… now I’ve realized a few things. First off I don’t know if I’ll live to be 30 so why plan so far ahead? This life is short. Tomorrow might be my last day here. Or I’ll live another 50 years. Who knows? One thing I do know is that I want to live a full life, however long it is. I’ve had friends come and go. I’ve attended a funeral for a friend in high school and it’s only now that I realized what I leaned from Tucker. Live life. Just two simple words but there’s so much that goes behind that. I realized that things have changed and my future has changed too so I’ve given up on my old plans. I’ll live where I’m supposed to. Work where I’m supposed to. And marry when and who I’m supposed to. It might be six months or six years. Either way I’ll be happy. Another thing I learned from Tucker was to dream big. So I’m dreaming big and making those dreams happen. I leave for Ireland in 17 days. A new chapter of my life is starting. I have blank pages that need to be filled. But I know this chapter will be short, 4 months short. Because after I finish the semester I will get on a plane and come back to the states but I have no intentions of staying. I’ll be back on a plane for London. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I no longer have a future in New Jersey. Things have changed and my new life starts in London. Another new chapter that will last as long as I want it too. I will only end it when I see fit. Because tomorrow today will be history, this year will be history. History is in the past, it’s only purpose is to get you to your current point, once you get there it serves as nothing but a story. You can’t change it so just accept it. I realize that I used to be so concerned with time, with wanting to grow up faster, with wanting to finish school as fast as I could. Time is no longer important to me because I know that everything will happen at just the right time and I’ll be ready for it at that time. On this new years eve I would like to shed my old skin, shed old fears, and leave behind burden I’ve carried. I want a fresh start. And I want to live. I’ll live life and be happy with everything that comes my way. I’ll thank God everyday for giving me another day to live and breath in the sweet air. I’ll count my blessings and be thankful for my family and friends. I’ll be thankful knowing that there are things coming my way that I can’t even imagine and I’ll be happy when I finally receive them. I’d like everyone to know that at 20 years of age I have finally decided that I don’t care what other people think and that I will live my life how ever I want, I will ignore naysayer’s and skeptics, I will remember those I have lost and live as if I need to live for them too, but I will be me and only me. I might never come back to New Jersey for more then a few weeks, and I’m fine with that. I might never have these opportunities again so that’s why I’m grasping them and holding on tight. I’m going to live like tomorrow will be too late. After all I don’t know when my road will end but I do know that I will have zero regrets.

New Years Shinanagins

Hey,



So I saw that Laini Taylor had done a new years post so I thought that I would do a post like hers. You know the whole reflect on the year thingy ma gig. I’m totally going to agree with Ms. Taylor on a paragraph she wrote “I love a new year. I love a new week, even -- Mondays feel like a time for beginnings, for making new commitments, you know? So, a new year is like the emperor of Mondays, the perfect time to spiff up one's life and routines, make new routines, break some bad habits, start fresh.” I too have always been a fan of Monday’s. It annoys my friends sometimes when I’m all happy on a Monday and they just moan about having to go to classes. I enjoy learning so I just like to soak it all up and Mondays are always fun days to do that. This past year has seen to it that a lot of change has come about in my life. I got my novel published. I graduated high school. I completed a semester of college. I applied to NYU. And I’ve written over 150 pages. A fantastic year in my opinion. I can’t wait to see what this year has in store for me. I think I’m going to make a resolution right her, right now. and that will be to finish typing TSW and get it published. That’s pretty much the only thing in my life that I want drastically changed because everything else is perfectly fine with me. Any how I still have a few hours left in this year to up the page count. Haha. So enjoy the beginning your new beginnings. Start as fresh as you see fit. And have fun tonight!


Oh and Happy New Years!



Laters,


T.V.



P.S. I forgot check out this youtube video my brother’s friend showed him. Soooo funny.