"Don't text me to say Glee is on."

I was hanging out with a bunch of friends from Emmaus tonight, and eventually, briefly, the topic of my blog came up. I mentioned, half as a joke, that one of my friends could write a guest post for me whenever she wanted.

"Oh, no," she said, "I hate writing."

"What?" I asked.

"I can't stand writing. I avoid it. I'd much rather do math or science."

"Me too," another friend chimed in. "I'd rather do math or science than write."

I looked at the people seated around the table as if they were aliens.

I'm not against math or science, but both are hard for me. And I guess what surprised me most was that I forgot that writing doesn't come easily to everyone. So many of my friends are writers, love writing and talking about writing, that the concept of someone truly hating writing has become utterly foreign to me.

I don't love writing every minute of every day. Anyone who writes will tell you that there are times finding words, and not even the right ones, is like finding a needle in a haystack (to beat the phrase to death). Sometimes it's worse--even when you're searching for that needle in that haystack (and really, who has ever done that?), you know it's there. Writing sometimes feels like digging through the muck of the barn for something that might not even exist.

But when I do love writing, I love it in a way unique to everything else. Words slip out, pour out, burst out and the doors and windows are flung wide open, and the oxygen is new, the world is new and so am I.

Sounds overdramatic, and I know it. But then again, I have a tendency to be overdramatic, regardless of what my caustic nonchalance may seem to show at times.

So, it's ok if you don't love writing. If you're a part of the blogathon, or if you spend a fair amount of time reading blogs in general, you probably do love it. But if you don't, that's fine. There are plenty of other misguided, starry-eyed romantics, waiting with pen in hand.

Sorry, today's been quiet.

Here are the big discoveries of today:

I learned that I can STILL access my old Yahoo email account, and when I did that, it gave me access to this: http://inwalksgrace.livejournal.com/

I started using LiveJournal when I was in Ireland the first time, and used it off and on. As of today, I had not signed in for 95 weeks, though, so...

I've read through the oldest couple months of entries, and it's funny. Some things are different, and others... you just realize you are how you are.

For years, Robin has told me that the day we first met one another, we went to Shari's, and for years, I have claimed no memory of this. And then, I found this:

"Friday i went out with raina, mandee and robin to shari's. robin is a complete spaz--we're so alike, i don't know why we're not twins. we had fun, she spilled ice cream on herself, it was good times all around"

I love that girl. And I was her maid of honor. Amazing.

Tomorrow, Christina and I are watching this: http://www.hiddensecrets-themovie.com/ Netflix billed it as "A Christian version of 'The Big Chill'. I think there will be giggling.

Also, I stopped writing at midnight last night to get my NaNoWriMo count for the day, and then I wrote a little more. I have not touched it since. The count at this moment is 2,058, and yes, I will write tonight, and take another count at midnight. Only 47, 842 words to go!

"

"You took the toilet paper out of your hair."

Oh my, my friends. Another weekend very nearly done, and here is what I did:

*Watched "Medicine for Melancholy", which was neither as excellent as I hoped it would be, nor as disastrous as it certainly could have been. It may or may not come up again in the future.

*Remembered terribly late that November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), decided to take the "Why the heck not" approach and do it, or more aptly, attempt it.

*Watched "District 9" on the big screen. Didn't throw up or pass out, though I thought about doing both. Comments are likely to appear in a future blog.

* "Built" my own Halloween costume. Being neither crafty nor particularly handy, the "Basket Case" costume took a lot more effort and elbow grease than I had originally imagined.

*Attended a Halloween party with friends old and new, and at one point glanced around the room and thought, "These are some good people right here." It was nice.

*Began NaNoWriMo right around the time of the DST switch. Just over 600 words in half an hour. Mostly dialogue, like the rest of my life.

*Discovered an extensive NaNoWriMo community via Twitter and the official site, both in Portland proper and worldwide. It's an engaging crowd.

*Attended Emmaus after a one-week absence, and rediscovered my unreasonable love for the family there. Cole also rocked it, in a message that will be shared here soon.

*Discovered that November is also National Blog Posting Month, one post a day for 30 days. May attempt it, may not. Blogs may begin to look like this.

Life's alright. How are you?