01-30-03 @ 3:03 am EST

Part 108 is finished, about 27kb. I need to finish proofreading it though. I got about a thousand words through and wanted to do more, but my brain stuck at this one point so I decided to copy and paste the proofed section into Works and see how many words it was. Like 1116. Yep. When I was having my concentration problem, some suggested that I try not to proofread so much at a time. I had already started trying to limit myself to hunks of about 1000 words, and resigned myself to the fact that it would thus take about two weeks for me to proofread a part of the Ameni Chronicles. My trouble eased up somewhat so now I can pretty much read through a paragraph without problems; it's just the last few words that always get me hung up. It's not as bad as before though. *shrug*

I notice that I don't seem to have to keep track of where I "should" leave off, because my brain clocks out at about 1000 words anyway. Like instinct or something. It kept doing that on Part 59 of the Chronicles, and it just did it on Part 108 of MI. I did a word count of the whole piece and it's about 4300 words, so I'm about a quarter of the way through, which I guess is okay considering it's only Thursday and I have the rest of the day in which to do it. Proofing Parts 60 and 61 of the AC can always wait, since that's my "informal" series anyway.

I've been thinking about how best to flesh out the earlier parts. It'd be simple to just go in and insert scenes where needed--for example, in Part 9 I think it is, there's a big gap before it takes place--HOW did Ameni and Thi'usa and the rest get found and saved by the East Tribe?--so in my head I see that it is Nehef and Ahai'ikh and their men (perhaps Djuta and Resikh, who in the current version don't show up until Part 10, and make a pretty nasty impression, for otherwise sympathetic characters) who come across the robber Kana and subdue them. They do this only as a joke, because these Kana have caused them problems before; but then they accidentally discover the stolen Moru. Cue Mahakhi. But if I did this I would likely have to go back and change whole sections of existing text to accommodate the new parts, as some events are currently summarized (like the incident above), and the summary would not be needed anymore if the scene was included. Oh this is so confusing. I honestly had no idea I'd make an actual STORY out of the thing. :/ Damn you plot!

Oh. We have a new thermostat, so hopefully it won't cause trouble anymore, though it DOES seem to take a while to kick in...I keep getting cold. :( I hate winter. My energy is so low, I never even feel like getting up to make myself something to eat even when I'm starving. The effort of boiling mere water to make rice just seems like too much to bear. I should have made two new pitchers of tea long ago but I just don't have it in me; I keep vowing to do it, in the morning. I love it; it makes me so happy when I have two full pitchers of fresh tea. I guess you'd have to be there. Dad got the idea last night to make me mixed eggs and potatoes and ham! It was GREAT! Like potato salad, but not. I'll have to have him make that again sometime. Because I'm so lazy. And I don't trust myself near the stove unless I'm boiling water. Which I don't feel like doing. Until summer. :P

I need a money order and some sleeping pills but I have neither. *sigh* And that MORON from eBay has yet to get back to me, even though about TWO WEEKS have passed since the auction ended! What measures should I take? I've already e-mailed them twice to request a total and shipping info. GGRRRRR!!!

Cozmeister is being unusually quiet tonight...hm...he sneaked (NOT SNUCK! THERE IS NO SUCH DAMN WORD!!!) into the basement while Dad was working on the thermostat yesterday and I had to go down and fetch him. That place reeks of Pepper, so of course he would be intrigued. He looked so CAUGHT and guilty when I found him. Cobwebs all over his whiskers, too. Ugh. We should stick him on a pole and use him to dust shelves.

Well, that's all for now. I have to eat some pretzels or something and stop thinking about that eBay dork. At this rate I will never get my Adiemus CD. Tar...