I'm about half-way through OUTLIERS and I've probably spent more time thinking about what Malcolm Gladwell wrote than actually reading. First off, my family has adored this book, and I must admit the writing is suburb. I've read a whole lotta non-fiction and this reads a trillion times better than most. The concept is very, very interesting, too, and goes right along with what I've been discussing with my students lately. (Actually, I kinda wish I'd read this book before last week's lecture, which might have made a difference...yeah.)

Despite all the good, I'm still not sure I buy in to what he says. I mean, I get that the environment plays a HUGE roll in how we turn out. I mean, duh. But, so far he's managed to pretty much discount much of any genetic influence. Now, I'm probably a little biased here due to my background, but I do see the genetic make-up of an individual playing a substantial roll in how the turn out, too. The two parts, nature and nurture, are very much intertwined, but still, genetics does play SOME part. I look at my husband's family and see this very clearly: there are six kids, and although a couple of them have some musical ability (and a few don't *ahem, my husband, ahem*), one of them managed to get the bulk of it. My brother-in-law is freaking amazing when it comes to music and blows the rest of them out of the water. Was this purely environmental? Nope, they were all given lessons, and his slightly older sister the exact same lessons as him, and the result is the same. She can play okay, and he rocks the piano. There's something there that made him better, and I'm positive it was genetic.

And now, my other issue. If the environment does play such a huge roll, and some people really just get lucky with that, it's a seriously depressing thought. The same goes for complete genetic predestination. Gladwell argues that there are really no "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" situations, and that there's a whole lot more at play. More stuff that's out of our control. Yeah, that's a bummer and a half. For those of us who haven't had all pieces come together, it basically means we're screwed. Pardon me, but I don't like to think like that.

Now, 10,000 hours. Apparently the "magical" number that leads to true mastery of a task/ability. Interesting. I'm still puzzling over how this then fits into the fact that so many external, environmental factors also play into success. If I write for 10,000 hours it certanly isn't going to mean I'll get a book deal. It may mean I'm a good writer, but not that the pieces are going to come together. Maybe this is explained in the rest of the book :)

Is it bad that I really just want this holiday to be over?

Yeah, probably.

Now, it's not that I'm not grateful. I love my family, my husband, and most things are going okay, and the quarter is almost over (yay!), but honestly, the holidays are not exactly the relaxing, idyllic events that I wish they were. My family has a hard enough time getting together without the added stress of cooking a giant feast. I'm not looking forward to spending the rest of the day at my grandparent's house, dealing the with underlying stress of my family attempting to be nice to one another while they stock up on insinuated insult-ammo like they're the Taliban waiting to start WWIII.

Okay, that's a little extreme, but you get the idea. I'm also sure that I'll have the gov't checking out my blog :)

I do hope everyone else's holiday is a little more fun, and a little less stressful.

Twitter account has been deleted.

Blog will now be focused on anthropological stuff, and grad school related fun.

All manuscript files have been carefully found on my computer, and backup, and are now resting peacefully in blank data.

Now I just wish there were a way to go back and retrieve all those wasted hours I've spent writing... Someone needs to invent a time machine. (I'll have to tell hubby to get on that!)

Why? Because I am DONE. Sick of this game. I don't need the added stress in my life, nor do I need the distraction from my real work. So, after the past 16 years, I'm dumping writing.

Please excuse me while I go cry in the bathroom for a while longer.

Today's Friday Five brought to you by the fact I'm too lazy to go look over my lesson plan for later today.

(Wait, I have to come up with five things to write about?)

1.I had the most disturbing dream, wherein I ate my acrylamide gels in the UV hood. I'd really like to know what that means, other than the fact that I've been in the lab WAY too much lately.

2. There are very few things that bug me more than arriving to class, dropping off your assignment, and then leaving. Please, if you showed up to drop off your stuff, stay for the lecture!

3. The anthology I submitted to is supposed to have finalized their choices by Monday. I've given up on checking my email and am just leaving it up in the background. Now, if I could just get my stomach to stop twisting up at the thought of hearing back...

4. You know that point where you're so stressed that your body kicks your immune system into overdrive so that it doesn't get sick, despite the fact that you're probably exposed to every bug in the school-system universe? Yeah, I think I hit that point a few months ago.

5. I bought myself a bag of chocolate chips the other day, and I think I'm going to go eat some. And this weekend I will make pumpkin pie. Diet, what diet?

I'm really not a ranting kind of chica, despite my earlier post. I don't particularly like it, unless it's done with a fair amount of humor, which is something I'm not very good at. At any rate, yeah, I'm better now. It only took a couple of days :)

SO. Writing. I've heard so many times that it's like a roller-coaster, and I know this is true. Soooo true. And I'm slowly getting used to that, trying to take the momentum from the ups to carry me through the downs. And further downs, where you're getting slower and slower and are pretty sure you're going to stop, dead on the tracks. Yeah, I'm kinda sick of this ride. At any rate, I'm still sitting in my car, buckled in, and praying for that next stomach-drops-out free-fall of awesome. Because that's what I do. So when I open up LOST and realize that it's not all that bad, like last night, I realize that maybe I can do this. Even if I can't stand the thought of trunking this novel if it doesn't sell, I'll still take it on the ride.

If I can ever finish my revisions. But, that is a rant for another post :)

Honestly, like how many can I honestly meet in one day, month, year, lifetime? Because I really think I am hitting my quota. Especially the ones that I have to work with. My TA for the class I'm teaching could pretty much go to hades and leave the world a better place. I'm not trying to be mean by saying that, but I honestly think it's the truth. Some people are just mean. And quite frankly, mean people SUCK.

This rant brought to you by nasty emails send late at night that totally make me want to curl up into the fetal position for the rest of the quarter.

I've managed to survive my trip to New Mexico, and now if I can make it through the next three days without looking like a total idiot, I will consider my trip a success. Well, hopefully. I'm here to collect some samples, too, along with meet with two of the top archaeologist working the the Southwest, so looking like an idiot may be more of an obligatory outcome, but if I can get my hands on some good samples, it may be okay. Considering I'll be spending Halloween dealing with dead people (like, literally I will be carrying some home in my bag), I figure this is probably the most time-appropriate trip I've ever made :)

Although that might be hard to tell from the general lack of postage around here. I keep coming up with good post ideas and then totally forgetting them when I actually sit down at my computer. I need to start writing them down.

Anyhow, I'm not dead yet. This is really only because I managed to sleep last night, for a very looong time. It was wonderful! I am also nearly, nearly halfway done with this quarter. Thank heavens! The midterm is next week, and hopefully my students pull it together and don't think it's too hard. We'll see. Overall the class has been fun.

My new WIP is coming along nicely. I hit 7k the other night and have started planning out the real meat of the conflict. It's going to be sooo fun! And totally not YA. Well, I think. Since it deals with polyandry, I don't think it's going to be possible to keep it to that age level, even if my MC's only 18. At any rate, it's a fun little gothic, post-apocalyptic (sorta) story. :-)

And now, it's off to take my goat for a walk, then shoe shopping with DH. He's got to be the most picky shoe man on the face of the planet, so this shall be interesting!

In my internet meanderings I came across a great contest that I plan on entering. Interested in a query contest by Mary Kole? Check it out. So far, her blog has been very interesting, so it's one of those I'd suggest you add to your feed :)

In other news, I've started another WIP, in order to keep myself sane while this quarter ends. Also, it's about time I put all that anthropology to good use, right? Anyhow, I've been exploring Polyandry off and on ever since I took a Kinship class way back at the start of grad school. Interesting topic, and making for a very tense situation. Gotta love it!

I just hit send on my anthology submission. It's out in the internets now, and out of my hands! I'm pretty pumped about it, really, though it's not like the world best story, but it's okay. I had fun writing it at least, and I'm counting that as a major accomplishment. I re-wrote the first chapters about ten times, so I hope they're catch someone's attention (in a good way!). Here's to hoping that someone at Samhain likes it!

Other than that, I'm somehow struggling to keep my head above water for the moment. School has been, well, school. I'm exhausted and should be at the lab right now, but that can wait til later. I think some celebratory food and TV/book time have been earned right now. I made out like a total bandit at the library book sale earlier today (then had to find a way to get all the books home on my bike, which made me feel REAL smart, let me tell ya). Anyhow, I've got some good reading on my hands.

Speaking of reading, I've been ripping through a lot of titles lately. This past week, alone, I read:

-IF I STAY (interesting, though a little more introspective than I like. Totally made me bawl like a baby though.)
-WINTERGIRLS (Holy Crap. Such a powerful book, and not just in the way that it made me feel like a total cow from start to finish :)
-WAKE (This was my fav this week, mainly because it's more to my taste. I can't wait to get my hands on FADE, and GONE, asap!)

There's been a lot more read that that, but I'm too lazy to write about them right now!

I'm staring down the second week this quarter and trying to muster the strength to get back in the classroom. This is my first foray into teaching an upper division class, during the normal school year (not summer school), and it's been pretty good so far. I'm exhausted beyond all belief, but I think that's normal. I hope. I'm also deeply impressed with my students. Teaching and TA'ing for freshman and those who generally take the lower division anthropology classes has managed, over the years, to freak me out when it comes to the future of our nation. Thank heavens this class doesn't seem like that (so far). I'm much more on my toes teaching, and I love that. Well, with the exception of getting those random questions I don't know how to answer. Hate that. But yeah, I'm feeling a little better about the future of humanity :)

I'm also attempting to pull together my novella for the Samhain submission window. I've got to get that in soon, and have to finish my query and synopsis. I have drafts that I've worked to death, but I worry they aren't quite "there" yet. Not quite sure how to solve that, but I'm handing it off to a crit budy in hopes she has some ideas. I need to get this outah here though, as it's hit the point of negative returns (as in, if they don't like it, then I'll really hate myself for all the time I spent on it, when there's not a whole lot I can do with the dang thing). It's been fun to write, though, so that's always good.

I also finished WINTERGIRLS this morning. Whoa. I'm still reeling a little. It was a fascinating read, but I kept getting that feeling of "oh good grief I am a COW" while I read. I know this isn't the intent of the author, but yeah, I'll admit that I'm looking at my food a little differently (well, after this past weekend with all the family dinners we had, it's probably a good thing!).

Okay, bed! Off to the classroom tomorrow, hopefully it's a good week!

Children's Books: An Angelic Autumn :

Vampire books may be getting pushed aside by, of all things, angels.

Yeah, it's just one of those days, trolling the web, and coming up with something like this. Gah, why must I always be a step behind??

Okay, back to my editing the translated paper. I need to find a better way to switch from English to Spanish, because right now trying to edit in English and chat in Spanish is totally giving me a headache.

So, I finally made it down here. Ostensibly, to pick up some samples, but also to help out a colleague and friend, and do the tourist thing. It's an amazing city and I'm glad I'm here for a while. As an anthropologist, I love just watching people and noting all the craziness, or at least differences I see around here. There will always be similarities between the states and here, as they're related, but there's a definite Mexican spin on things here. So far, my favorite things I've seen:

• The statue to the street dog. There are a bunch around here (though aparently less than before, as my friend pointed out there isn't as much dog poop all over the place). Someone took red paint to the statue and it's now bleeding all over the place. Very macabre.
• The stall selling random books at the university here. There was a book on fuel injection right next to a gilded bible, right next to a book on how to tell your kids about sex. Awesome.
• There are archaeology magazines for sale at the check-out at the grocery store. Love it!
• Driving. OMG. I've mentioned this before, but holy crap. I don't know how there aren't more wrecks. It's like crazy-taxi all the time.

Okay, there are a million more, but I'm due at dinner. Can't wait for the ruins!

So, I finally made it down here. Ostensibly, to pick up some samples, but also to help out a colleague and friend, and do the tourist thing. It's an amazing city and I'm glad I'm here for a while. As an anthropologist, I love just watching people and noting all the craziness, or at least differences I see around here. There will always be similarities between the states and here, as they're related, but there's a definite Mexican spin on things here. So far, my favorite things I've seen:

• The statue to the street dog. There are a bunch around here (though aparently less than before, as my friend pointed out there isn't as much dog poop all over the place). Someone took red paint to the statue and it's now bleeding all over the place. Very macabre.
• The stall selling random books at the university here. There was a book on fuel injection right next to a gilded bible, right next to a book on how to tell your kids about sex. Awesome.
• There are archaeology magazines for sale at the check-out at the grocery store. Love it!
• Driving. OMG. I've mentioned this before, but holy crap. I don't know how there aren't more wrecks. It's like crazy-taxi all the time.

Okay, there are a million more, but I'm due at dinner. Can't wait for the ruins!

And so starts the month of insanity. I'm not sure where to begin with all that I have to do this month. Tomorrow is the start of the in-law (*out-law*) family reunion. Then it's Mexico for sample collection. Then classes start and I have to teach an insanely difficult course that's going to kick my trash. What can I say? I'm not ready for this month!

Needless to say there will be minimal posts this month. I'm praying to keep my sanity somewhat intact, and that someone decides to pick up TRAVELERS before I run screaming from ever writing again. Okay, maybe not, but earlier this week I was totally feeling that way. I almost went though and deleted the book from my hard-drive and backup. Then I got a couple of super nice requests in the email and all was right with the world. Publishing: it's a roller-coaster!

Now, to go pack and try to get a couple of hours of sleep!

I had a great evening out with my friend, finally getting around to see The Time Travelers Wife. I adored this book, and the movie was pretty good. Thankfully I didn't bawl quite as much as I did at the end as I did while reading it. At any rate, while running afterward, I started thinking--if there were one thing (or more than one) that I could go back and tell my past self to avoid, what would it be? Would I win the lottery, like in the movie? Probably not (okay, only if I only had one shot, otherwise, yeah, I'll admit it, I would give myself the winning numbers and move to Tahiti).

Really, there are two things I might tell myself to do differently: not go to grad school, or to never start writing. The first because although grad school's all fine and dandy, it's been a long haul and often I wonder if it's worth it. I probably could have gotten my masters and taught at a junior college and been plenty happy. The other option, to stop writing, is something I think about from time to time. I love to write, and I know it's a big part of who I am, but it's also a massive time-sink and what do I have to show for it? Some lousy, not very original stories that I had a little fun writing while not tending to my husband or other school stuff? I tell myself that it should be about anything other than doing it for me, but I'll admit that some part of me wishes there was something more to it. Or that I just didn't suck.

Anyhow, in the world of regrets, these are my big ones. I'm not sure if they're really regrets, yet, but they certainly feel like it sometimes.

Of course, there's always that time I got stuck in the boy's locker room in junior high. I certainly could like without that!

(It would seem that I have used this title for a previous post. Hmm. Good to know.)

I really hate titles. I mean, I like reading them on other people's work, but I really have a hard time coming up with them for my own stuff. At any rate, I've been attempting to come up with something for my novella wip. I've spent the last hour going through my chapters, searching for tidbits, words, other stuff that might work. It all pretty much sucked. I have a nice list though, and reading through it now makes me want to laugh. I have to tell myself that it's all part of brainstorming, otherwise I'd never write anything down (though maybe that would be better than "the truth" because that just downright sucks). At any rate, the list has a few decent ones on it, and the one I like best:

The Chemistry of Fate

I have to write it all by itself like that to see how it looks :) Anyhow, I like it, and I think it may stick for a bit, at least until I realize how much it, too, must go the way of all the earth. Or I find that it's been used before (though searching on google and amazon didn't bring anything up).

(ever come up with a title and just have to write a post about it? Maybe it's just me...)

Have you ever noticed how much a family's profession can influence the kids? DH comes from a family of lawyers. They like to argue. A lot. This is all fine and dandy, except that, ya know, I don't. I come from a family of health-professionals. We tend to like to discuss science, and the crazy guy who somehow managed to get one of those long gummy lures used in fishing sucked inside his male-member (don't ask me how, but yeah. Imagine that one. Now, imagine this story being told at the dinner table when you have a date with you.) So, what does this have to do with goats? Well, there's been this little incident lately:

Occasionally on here I decide to share a little about what it's like to live on a ranch. At any rate, living in the country is what I love, and I also love my goats. Incidentally, I hate sheep (stupid, stinky, dirty animals!), so although we randomly have a sheep or two, it's my herd of pygmy goats that keeps my heart. DH got me a goat when we first moved back to my family's ranch to take care of the property, and he's been our "dog" for the past five years. Niels Bohr (yes, we are nerds, he's a Boer goat, and my husband couldn't resist the physics pun) follows us around, sleeps on our steps, and is overall the best goat on the planet.

Two months ago, we made The Move. Into town. UGH. I'm not a town person (which may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I enjoy keeping the blinds open a lot, which is something that's not so great when you have neighbors). But, this meant leaving Niels behind on the ranch, under the care of my mom. Well, as it always will happen, the day before we left, Neils got hurt. Somehow or another he ended up with a back injury. The vet said he'd probably gotten in a fight with another goat and had taken a horn the wrong way. Personally, I think it was an emu. Bed-rest and staying away from the other goats was what he needed.

That was two months ago. Today, Neils is doing better. His back legs don't wobble the way they did, and although he still has some problems walking in circles (yeah, try getting a goat to do that), he's looking pretty good. DH, however, does not think so. At all. Like he vehemently denies that Niels is even a little bit better. It's led to all sorts of really fun arguments, which I'm sure have led our neighbors to really wonder what is wrong with us.

And this, ladies and gents, is why we don't have children. In case you were wondering. If we can't even agree on what kind of treatment for our pet, I'm not going to put up with when it's a person. (And right about now, I'm liking goats a whole lot more than certain people!)

Somehow or another it's gotten to be Friday. Friday night, no less! What am I doing? Playing on the net. Because I'm a total nerd. At any rate, today's been a busy day and I did get out with my mom and sister to watch them get their nails done, then share yummy Mexican food and sit around laughing til we were crying. Fun times! At any rate, my five for today:

1. I finished my novella! Whohoo! I even typed in "the end" which is something that I never do. Now, I'm editing. I managed to get through the first page this morning, realized how much work this is going to be, and went out to breakfast :-) After writing this, I plan on tackling that all-important second page.
2. This week I managed to book my tickets to Mexico. I'll be heading down there for a chunk of September to collect some samples and visit a friend. I'll get to spend Independence Day down there, which should be awesome. I've got to start watching Spanish TV again (my fav way of making my Spanish brain start working again).
3. I haven't heard back on a single query this week. Gah! I keep telling myself "no news is good news" but it basically makes me start worrying my email has gone haywire. Still, no new rejections, and I need to get my partial request in the mail.
4. I spent a good chunk of today reading "Race is a 4-Letter Word" by C. Loring Brace. It's about the history of the concept of race, for the class I'll be teaching in the fall. I love this topic! Totally fascinating :-)
5. I've also been reading the Vampire Academy novels (thank you Davis library) and have been really enjoying them. There's a signing by Richelle Mead and Lili St. Crow in SF later this month and I hope I can talk my crit partner into going with me!

Hmm, those are seriously boring. At any rate, whatever, I'm off to revisions!