NaNoWriMo Eve!

Also, Exam Eve.

Kick-off today. Nervous. Worried people will end up at wrong venue. Must remember to take goodies. Will I have to buy snacks for whole table?

Tonight. Stay up till midnight to write first few words? I do like being the first person in the world to update their word count (first equal last year).

Must study. Exam tomorrow. Must study.

Want do NaNoWriMo. Want plan novel more.

Must study.

At some stage, attempt to re-locate ability to write sentences.

Also, attempt to lose nervousness.

I may not be updating blog again till after exams (Thursday).

I probably will, though. But I shouldn't.

Must study.

Story ideas abound! Study... doesn't.

Exams are horribly, hideously soon — and NaNoWriMo's still top-of-mind. I have a 120-point breakdown of what I'm going to write (with the number of words each point should take), and that's only for the first half of the story. I think the whole novel will probably end up being about that length; which isn't to say that I've decided to try for 100,000 words — I haven't — but just that that's how long it'll probably be in the end.

I have, however, decided that some minor character will die in the second half, so that they can have the burial, cos I thought of a cool way of burying someone due to my burial research a lil while ago. But when you know NaNoWriMo's coming up, everything starts turning into story ideas.

Oh, and in the shower the other day I came up with an idea for the sequel to this year's novel, assuming this one goes well. Which is irrelevant, but it does show how much I'm thinking about NaNoWriMo rather than exams. I have three exams in five days; so far, I've done about two hours' study.

I got another A+ for my last sub-editing assignment (I now have 47 out of a possible 50%), so I'm not too worried about failing that one.

The other two exams are far more real possibilities, and for some reason I'm not finding ancient Rome and revolutionary France as interesting as I should be. Although, it must be noted, I've got a couple of story ideas from studying both topics, and almost named my villain "Gaius" after Caligula.

Again, I think that shows just how focussed my mind is on exams.

My first exam is the day after tomorrow....

Maybe I should stop spending all my time on the NaNoWriMo forums.

...and on my blog.

Elections '08

First, the American one. Although I think Sarah Palin is pretty blonde, I like her recent Saturday Night Live skit — it wasn't hilarious, but it showed she has a sense of humour, can laugh at herself and isn't holding a grudge at SNL. Having said that, she's far too ditzy to really help run the country. The fact that, as per a recent poll, a third of American women are now more likely to vote for McCain because he has a female running candidate, is pathetic and sexist. Vote on the basis of capability, not gender.

Having said that, I'm much more interested in the New Zealand election.

I hate the two-horse race, and in previous elections I've always voted for a minor party, in the interests of coalitions. However, this election looks more like a two-horse race than ever — either National, or Labour with four minor parties backing it up to give it seats.

Now, my opinion of a good way to run elections consists of focussing on the benefits of your own policies. My opinion of a bad way is to focus your entire ad campaign on trying to diss the other guy.

This election, National's ads have been focussed on their policies. Labour's have been focussed on dissing on John Key (culminating in a shot of Helen Clark photoshopped beyond all recognition).

Are you serious? Your ads consist of bringing down your opponent? Let's hear some good positive work about your own policies! Labour's current ads just make me want to vote National.

And the one ad which Labour's cracked out not focussed on John Key wasn't actually engineered by them: it was good ol' CHAFF making an ad starring the future MUSA president, and regardless of the truthfulness of the statistics it quotes, it still rocks.