https://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?58777-IJustMadeThatUp The largest classic literature discussion forum on the Internet. Read Write Teach Share. en Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:04:46 GMT vBulletin 10 https://www.online-literature.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg https://www.online-literature.com/forums/blog.php?58777-IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?15251-NaNoWriMo-Thoughts Sun, 22 Oct 2017 09:27:28 GMT November is coming up and that means so is NaNoWriMo. I'm thinking about doing it this year. For a good chunk of November, I will be residing in a small, holiday town. I'll be flying daily to a nearby island and picking up wildlife for translocation. They'll be flown to an in-land sanctuary and then I'll fly back to the town each day. This will leave me with free afternoons/evenings, and I was trying to decide what to do with myself besides walking, swimming, reading, watching movies and cooking dinner. A NaNoWriMo article popped up on my feed, and reminded me of this 'writing month' I had a vague understanding of. Looking into it further it seems a great Kickstarter for tragics like me that secretly would love to write something but are paralysed by self-doubt and fear of failure. From what I understand, it is meant to be crap, well not utter crap, but it's not meant to be perfect. It's all about getting the word count up so that you have something to come back and edit in December (or whenever you can bear to look at your own writing again).

Reading articles about it, there are critics, but the criticisms seem to be more about "authors" mismanaging their expectations i.e. thinking the end of November will find you with a publishable novel - not an ugly accumulation of words and ideas that may be shaped and honed into something passable (maybe even good?). There is a lot more praise for NaNoWriMo on the internet: as a great way for author-hopefuls to get started and develop their skills. And in my case to get my butt motivated, stop wondering and just give it a crack.

I've pulled out my books on writing and am planning to plan this novel - yes that's the kind of person I am, hah.

Has anybody attempted and/or completed this challenge? What was your experience? Do you think there is value in it, and why? And do you have any tips? ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?15251-NaNoWriMo-Thoughts https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?15248-Nostalgia Sat, 07 Oct 2017 15:00:40 GMT I miss spending time on these forums. Reading back over my blog entries makes me cringe, but also gives me a warm feeling of nostalgia. The people... I miss spending time on these forums. Reading back over my blog entries makes me cringe, but also gives me a warm feeling of nostalgia. The people and the upheaval in my life at the time made this a special place for retreat and reflection.

I don't know if there is any going back to recapture these moments. Sometimes it's best to fondly look back and reminisce every so often. Or start afresh.

I'm an ecologist now. I'm still getting used to saying that without the imposter complex. Regardless, I feel successful right now. I finished a degree with honours, completed an internship with an awesome not-for-profit who then hired me. I'd love to hear about what everyone else has been up to. Who still haunts these halls? ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?15248-Nostalgia https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13097-Baggage Thu, 05 Sep 2013 16:30:58 GMT We can't shoulder our packs and lug them around. You have to be sneaky, pretend it doesn't exist. They must be hidden, tucked away.

A bit in a pocket.

Some pushed into a sock.

No lumps allowed, the surface must be smooth and flawless.

Occasionally, a crumpled piece will fall out. God forbid. Pick it up before somebody sees, stuff it away again. Shoulders back, head erect, stand tall. Nobody can know the true weight of the burden, or you'll never be loved. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?13097-Baggage https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?11426-New-Avatar Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:10:25 GMT It's changed :D It's my friend and I at Southbound - a festival where we camped for four days in 40 degree heat (celcius).

I've been making the most of my summer, spent thousands on festival tickets, even more on booze, eaten great food, rekindled friendships, been to the beach a lot, got an amazing tan, lost weight and had possibly too much fun.. There's still a bit of loneliness that creeps in, but I guess everyone gets that.

I'm not working at the koala park unfortunately, I really miss it - but real life is a b***h like that. My current job isn't bad, I work in admissions for the English department at a university.. But at the moment it bores me to tears.

What else is new, I'm doing horse riding lessons, playing a lot of netball, reading, watching anime, playing video games... Oh and I started renting and paying bills for THE first time in my life! I feel quite grown up :D I'm sharing a house with my good friend and my dog Ziggy.

Uni is about to start again soon, I'm still doing Conservation and Wildlife Biology - so that will take up a lot of time.

Yup.. That's about it for now. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?11426-New-Avatar https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?11410-G-Day Thu, 03 Feb 2011 07:16:11 GMT Hi All,

I'm going to attempt to work this little old site back into my life.

A

LOT

HAS

CHANGED.

I'll think about it and update more later. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?11410-G-Day https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?10054-Wakeboarding-Whiz-Alert Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:56:01 GMT Well, I have been hideously busy with work and uni stuff, it's super fun... Sort of.

I went out on a friend's boat yesterday, and tried wakeboarding for the first time. I managed to get up on my first attempt but was unsure what to do with myself once up, and kept falling over after standing for five seconds. Lots and lots of water went up my nose. On my last attempt I managed to turn the board around so it was facing the right way and stayed upright for about 100 metres. Then I face planted it into the water and it f***ing HURT! I think I concussed myself because I was dazed last night and this morning.

I'm glad I gave it a go, even if my head and arms hurts today. I'm a wuss when it comesto boats and things like that and I hate floating in the water waiting for them to come around and pick me up. I kept waiting for a shark to bite my butt.

Anyway, that's all for now. I should go and get some more study done and finish Hard Times for my lit unit. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?10054-Wakeboarding-Whiz-Alert https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9984-New-blog-v-old-blog Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:03:44 GMT Blog, I have a confession...


I'm cheating on you with my old blog *ducks for cover* So far, I've had a warm reception back into the site, we'll see if it lasts. I feel like I was more fun in my old blog.. Plus I could use swear words and say naughty things without repercussions :lol:

Anyway, the point of this is to tell you I've added some pics from my recent trip to my albums. Feel free to have a look and feel jealous :D ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9984-New-blog-v-old-blog https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9954-Note-To-Self Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:53:13 GMT Stop relying on other people to put meaning into your life. You'll only be let down. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9954-Note-To-Self https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9936-Back-to-the-Grindstone Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:51:47 GMT I've been back from holidays now for just over a week, and I've got a severe case of realityitis. Work is depressing and I'm sorely missing a certain someone. It's very hard to go back to text messages after having them in real life for two weeks.

My bad mood has meant that I'm making more effort to keep myself busy, so I don't dwell on my little miseries. I even went jogging tonight, after playing a netball Grand Final this morning - we lost - so you can tell I'm in dire straights when the exercise goes into overdrive.

Sigh.

Now I'm getting myself down, so we'll change the topic.

I've started my university studies for the Semester. My university starts at least two weeks before all of the other West Australian unis, which is ok, I just finish earlier. I have to get a student card for exams, so we'll see how this picture turns out. The pictures on my current staff card (I work at a uni) and my first student card make me look like I'm posing for a mug shot and have a bad attitude :lol: I'll try to keep the smug smirks to a minimum.

Anyway, I'm getting tired, so I think I'll sleep while I have the chance. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9936-Back-to-the-Grindstone https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9849-On-the-Other-Side-of-the-World Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:26:30 GMT It's funny what a powerful effect choices, and events can have on our lives. It makes me wonder how I came to be here, what specific events led me here..

Our life paths must be so intricate and convoluted with the constant cris-crossing of other people's paths across our own. It makes me dizzy to think of it, I feel tiny, yet huge and significant at the same time. Life didn't pick this for me. I made it happen... It makes you think what else is possible, doesn't it?

Now, as to my whereabouts: I'm in Colorado, visiting a good friend ;) I just wish time wasn't going by so fast :( ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9849-On-the-Other-Side-of-the-World https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9761-It-Rained Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:22:04 GMT It rained tonight after not raining for a long time. The air smelt sweet and heavy, like lanolin, as I drove home. I was expecting the oily, thick... It rained tonight after not raining for a long time. The air smelt sweet and heavy, like lanolin, as I drove home. I was expecting the oily, thick texture, and almost sour taste on my tongue that lanolin leaves.

I stopped next to a dark blue car at the traffic lights. The driver took off too fast and skidded on the slick road. The tires squealed, the car jerked sideways, the driver corrected the car's path and continued on their way.

I turned, then turned, then turned twice more and ended my journey in the carport. The dogs were excited to see me.

I'm pretty excited these days. I'm flying to the other side of the world in less than a week. I keep getting little bubbles of excitement that well up in my stomach, travel up my oesophagus and then burst in my throat with a tiny squeal, laugh or smile. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9761-It-Rained https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9690-Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!-!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:27:11 GMT I'm-a-singing the FREAK OUT song!

I wish I just had a wee bit of courage... Just enough to click a button and make my life perfect.

Can somebody lend me some? ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9690-Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!-!!!!!!!!!!!!! https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9661-Proving-my-indecisiveness-Or-am-I Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:44:13 GMT I've decided I'm never going to get that elusive degree, well, I'm at least well on my way to not getting my degree. After deciding for some reason or other that I would withdraw from all of my units last semester and then failing to submit my 'transfer to another degree' form, this semester I am doing:

• Intro to Literature
• Intro to Environmental Science
• Intro to Information Technology

I will not finish the English degree. I thought hard about it, I did really well in my high school English classes because I listened to the teachers, and regurgitated exactly what they wanted hear. The examiners wanted to hear the same things, because they gave me good scores on my essays.
To be honest, I just read because I like the stories. I think I'm going to stick to that. I feel kind of shallow and inferior when people talk about novels in depth, I can never think of things to add to the conversation. This gets embarrassing because everyone knows I'm a big reader, my book reviews consist of "Er, it was good. This character was funny, but I hated that character."

Environmental Science is what I'm meant to be changing to. I thought before I filled out all the paperwork, I'll see if I like the intro unit at least. We'll see how long this aim lasts, until I change to something else *sigh* I keep seeing adverts for Ranger and Zoo Keeper jobs, and I know that's what I want to do. I want it so badly. I can delude myself every now and again that I'm not a big kid that just wants to play with animals/hang out in the bush, but I always realise I'm kidding myself.

I'm doing the computer unit for two reasons:
1. It was recommended for the Env Sc degree.
2. I want to learn how to do exploding pie charts/graphs in Excel. Then, instead of filling up my personal disk drive at work with Napoleon Dynamite pictures from the posters I make for my workmates, I can fill it up with exploding pie charts/graphs for my friends.

I have a few plans for this year:

• Win Lotto
• Buy a car that I don't want to pay for
• Buy a house I don't want to pay for and that I can'tget a loan for because it is impossible for a single person to buy a house unless you earn a gazillion dollars a year or live in a shoe box and spend all your pay on baked beans, dogfood (for my dog!!) and your mortgage. I'm realising it really is a couples world.
• Buy an investment property with money the bank won't lend me while I continue to live with my parents.
• Have a mental breakdown because life seems so very daunting sometimes.

Sorry, you didn't have to read this. It was kind of me organising my thoughts... In a public place... ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9661-Proving-my-indecisiveness-Or-am-I https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9154-Token Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:07:43 GMT I was leaving work, nervous about a doctor's appointment I was going to. A car pulled up beside me and out hopped a girl I had helped out recently, a bunch of hand picked roses in her hands.

She said that when she had told her husband how nice I had been to her, he picked me the roses from their garden. It was a rather lovely gesture and made me forget my white coat syndrome for a while. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9154-Token https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9105-Terrific Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:53:41 GMT I feel like being a prolific blog writer of questionable quality. This is just my current mood, and with my track record, two blog entries, two days... I feel like being a prolific blog writer of questionable quality. This is just my current mood, and with my track record, two blog entries, two days in a row, is prolific for me. It's quite an easy achievement. Instant gratification is fun.

Anyway, I just lost about two hours of my life on an internet provider's support line, AND MY PROBLEM WASN'T FIXED! Do you think they'll laugh if I send them a bill for two hours of my life? You never know, those two hours might come in handy...

I could take that two hours to do plenty of things. If you had an extra two hours given to you on the brink of death, what would you do? I have some ideas:

There's the typical 'I'd tell everyone how much I love them. Yadda yadda yadda.' Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely thing to do, it's just so... Good... And right....

Maybe you could prank call all of your enemies? Tell them they smell like mouldy cheese?

Watch that movie you've always meant to watch, but haven't.

Write a limmerick (is that even spelt right?).

Go for a two hour world record of some kind.

Do something crazy like jump off a cliff or whatever, what's the worst that could happen? You die? :lol:

Write pointless blog entries :lol:

Anyway, I've wasted more time. I should go do something constructive. ]]> IJustMadeThatUp https://www.online-literature.com/forums/entry.php?9105-Terrific