Black Friday Shopping? NEVER AGAIN!

I promised my mother if she drove to NJ from PA that I would go Black Friday shopping with her. Well, I kept my promise...

Let me rewind a bit.

Two weeks ago, my sister needed to get an outfit for a Friday office meeting. She asked me to go with her. I complained, but in the end agreed to go. As we got into her car, I said, "This should prove how much I love you." She asked why. I said, "Three reasons. 1. It's Thursday (A ton of my shows are on Thursday night). 2. You're taking me shopping. 3. You're taking to the MALL to shop." She laughed and said she loved me too. Heh heh.

Yes, I am probably one of 1000 women who don't like to shop for clothes. Really, I hate it. Not because I was always heavy, just simply, I hate shopping for clothes. I hate it even more now that my body is three different sizes. Smaller sizes, yes, but still three different sizes. I would rather spend ten hours in Best Buy than twenty minutes in a clothing store.

Anyway, I digress.

I kept my promise to my mother and got up at 4:15 in the morning to go Black Friday shopping.

First, we drove to the Walmart near my house. OMG can I just tell you that the line was a quarter of a mile long? It was, honest. So, we sat in the car (it was COLD), and waited a few minutes. Then my mom thought that Walmart would open the opposite side doors (they usually have two sets), so we got out of the car and tried to sneak attack the other side. Didn't work, they didn't open it. I looked at my mom and told her that there was another Walmart about 10 minutes away. By the time this line got into the store, it would be almost 6am. We got back into the car, went to Target just to see the line, then decided to actually drive ten minutes to the other Walmart. No line. Woo! We go in, doesn't look too bad...get to the electronics section and it looks like a crowded New York City Subway station. Yuck!!!

Now mind you, the only thing my mom really wanted to get was a portable DVD player. I didn't see any in Walmart, but I remembered Target had the same size on sale. After mom picked up a couple of DVD's we left and headed back to Target. It was 6:15ish by then. No lines outside, didn't even seem like there were a lot of people there. Again, they were all packed into the electronics area. Ugh.

I'm half the size I used to be, so I darted and dashed through the people, ducking and weaving as I went. Found the DVD player she wanted and dragged my mom back to the registers. The chick rings it up...of course I picked up the WRONG player. So one of the Target Team Members (thank you!) went to check and actually brought the right one back for us. Sweet!!

As we walked out, I told my mother "NEVER AGAIN!" She laughed at me. Hey at least I kept my promise.

After Target we had breakfast. I pigged out, but it was SO good. Went back home and slept till 11am.

I think I have finally recovered from Black Friday. I have a feeling next year it won't be like this because of the problems that happened this year. I feel so bad that people got hurt and killed JUST for fucking shopping or working at a place with BF sales. That's horrible, tragic and just disgusting in my book. Maybe one day people will realize that common sense and decency goes a long way.

Okay, sorry to depress...

On a happier note, I watched Twilight. The movie was MUCH better than the book. The screenwriter and director took the plot from the END of the book and peppered it into the whole movie, making it mysterious and tying the characters to it WAY before the author did in the book. I think I spotted her in the movie too, but I'm not sure. *shrug*

It wasn't a great movie and I can sorta see how girls love Edward in the movie, but he really annoyed me in the book, actually both main characters did. Ah well. I probably won't buy the movie when it comes out on DVD, but I'll watch it again, maybe....

Other fun things:

I got rid of comcast and have FIOS now!

I have my desk, I can start writing again!

I didn't gain any weight over my little Thanksgiving break!

Whee!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Almost Thanksgiving...

I've been uber stressed. I have the rest of this week off work and go back for some cardio with my trainer on Friday. I hope that helps.

Since there's no point going over why I'm stressed--I don't have the time--I'll just do talk about fun stuff.

Let's start with Twilight.

A bit of background first. I'm not the type to get obsessed with things in general. I don't go all out fan girl either. I go through, what I like to call, phases. I get super interested in something--be it book, show, band, movie, writer, politics, etc--and I focus on it and it sometimes occupies all my time. Example: I watched 3 seasons of LOST in a row, over a weekend. Whew! So, when the Harry Potter books became popular in the US (my sister was reading them), I was like eh. I have more important things to geek out about. When I was in England in 2001, I had the chance to buy the first two British versions of the books. I didn't. Instead, I bought my sister a HP Beenie Baby. Then the movie came out. I loved it. Bought however many books were out at the time and read them back to back. Finished the series, and I can't wait for the other three movies...though I may boycott the last until both parts are out...

So, when Twilight started to make a big stink, I again ignored it. I heard mostly good things about it but never searched out reviews. Then the movie trailer comes out. I'm impressed. It looks good. I broke down and read the book. I kinda don't get it. Edward is not the perfect guy by any stretch of the imagination. I don't get their relationship at all. I'm not sure how the author got away with having ZERO plot 75% of the way through the book. I still plan on seeing the movie, eventually, but I'm disappointed and stunned. While I understand it's a YA book, that doesn't mean it's allowed to be crap. Ah well. Opinions are like ass holes, everyone has one, right?

Heroes is getting better. Seems like I say that every week.

24: Redemption was great. I did notice the camera guy in the woods scene. Funny. I'm glad Jack is back. I've missed him.

Gossip Girl still has my attention. I love Chuck Bass.

The Mentalist is a fantastic show. It's said to be the #1 new show. Good stuff.

Fringe is kick ass too. I love the whole weird science of the show.

You put those two shows together and you get Eleventh Hour. Also a good show. Yeah, yeah, I know I wasn't going to watch too many new shows, but they are canceling Pushing Daisies soon, so I have an opening.

I've forced my brother to start watching Criminal Minds and CSI with me. I'm surprised he's enjoying them. I tend to watch some depressing dramas. Like Smallville and Supernatural. They've both heading into some heavy territory and it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.

Biggest Loser and Survior, my reality bites of the week, are doing well. Last week's elimination on Survivor was freaking hilarious!!

I'm looking forward to BSG, 24 and LOST next year! I'm such a junkie. I think I need help.


I've added about 5500 words to Lucky #3. Not as much as I would have liked, but I'm still typing on my lap. I get my desk tomorrow!

I have four editors and two agents reading my work. Wow! Really. I must say, networking and writer's groups are worth their weight in diamonds!

I'm almost done with Christmas shopping and haven't been to one store yet. Whee!!

I'm having Thanksgiving at my house this year. I'm not cooking much but I'm hosting. That's good enough, right? LOL.

Even being as stressed as I am about things going on right now, I'm very thankful this year. I'm thankful I have a job, my family and friends are safe and healthy, I have a roof over my head and food in my fridge. I'm thankful there are people trying very hard to make this world a better place and actually seem to care. I'm thankful we have troops willing to sacrifice their lives to protect our country and other countries around the world, and I hope we can do more good in the future.

And I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

JennWriMore

I’m almost settled into the new place. I’ve decided I’m not going to unpack some of the boxes, no need, I’ll probably be moving again in 6 months. Bleh.

I’ve also decided to participate in JennWriMore, which is my personal version of NaNo. Since the “rules” state that you have to start something from scratch, I “can’t” do it this year. I REALLY need to finish Lucky 3 and I’ve given myself the month of November to do it.

Yeah.

Here is the current word count for Lucky 3: 56,670. Add another 50k to that and it’s roughly where book 1 and 2 are word count wise. So, it’s doable!

I’ll try to post an update every other day or so, more if I get the chance.

Right now I have:

1 full submission w/agent

2 partial submissions w/agents

2 partial submissions w/editors

Looking good so far. I don’t have a full update on my agent search, but I’m still keeping track. I’ll post the stats some time this week. It’s been a long process so far (Since January) and I’m not even done yet. I guess it says a little bit about my determination that I haven’t stopped yet!

I’ve also broken my weight loss plateau! Yay! I’m on track to hit my goal weight by my birthday! Woot. I can’t wait.

Tomorrow’s going to be an exciting day. I have to wait until after work to vote, but I’ll be there! Hope you’re voting too.