Various Rambling

Well it's been a bit since I stopped writting NaNoWriMo ... No, the story isn't finished but I have worked on it a little (maybe 1000 words) just to keep things in my mind. Frankly I haven't felt like doing anything lately ... Part of it I think is coming off the intense presure of NaNo and back into 'normal' life (like my life is 'normal' to anyone but me....), part of it is the time of year, part of it is my current work schedule, and part of it is my overwhelming laziness.

[Ed. Note - I place most of the blame on the last item of that list.]

I had planned to do a few full blow rants over the last week or so ... but while I can get fired up, I can't seem to make myself actually TYPE words.... So here are some 'mini' rants that I've been steamed over lately ....

The Peace Wreath

Short story shorter (in case any of you missed it in the news, and no I don't have links ... feel free to post links to the story in comments; remember, I'm lazy) - Woman puts a holiday wreath in the shape of a peace symbol on her house. Homeowners association (I think you can see where this is going) demands that she take it down (after the head of the association FIRES 5 board members who vote to 'leave her alone') or pay $25/day in violation penalties stating that the symbol is offensive and that some have complained that it's satanic.

Okay ... Get your rules off my yard. The only reason people agree to these stupid Homeowners associations is that they have some whacked belief that someone sensible is going to be in charge. Unfortunately there seems to be an increasing LACK of sensible people in the world lately. She said that it's not an anti-war statement and that she supports the war and that she didn't want to offend anyone, but she wasn't going to take it down. GOOD ... even if it was an anti-war statement, while I may disagree with the sentiment it's HER yard, she's free to make such a statement. If it doesn't violate a city/state/federal law then it stays . As for the people saying that it was Satanic or demonic ... they're idiots or worse. [I'll leave you to descide what 'worse' is.]

The Homeowners Assoc. eventually withdrew the demand and appologised for the missunderstanding. Guess they decided that getting into a big conflict over a peace symbol was a tad too ironic.

Undocumented Workers and thier 'rights'

First I really really have to say how much I HATE political correct terminology. Yes, they may be 'undocumented workers' ... but that's a second law that they are breaking in addition to being in the country illegally. That's right ... their very act of being in, and staying in the country is a violation of immigration laws ... they broke these laws when they entered the country and they break them for every day that they remain here. They are Illegal Aliens (Illegal Immigrants if you prefer); I suppose that someone that shoplifts should be an 'undocumented purchaser' ... no they are a THIEF ... let's call a spade a spade.

Rights? Sure they have the inalienable human rights ... which means they should be treated fairly and humanely as they are arested and deported back to their country of origin. They aren't citizens so they can't get drivers licenses which means they don't have the right to drive, they don't have the right to work in this country, they don't have any right to housing (technically they don't have any 'right' to stay in this country), free speech ... I'll give them that, but that doesn't protect them from deportation.

So what 'right' is being violated when a county passes an ordinance that fines landlords that rent to illegal immigrants? They are here illegally ... anyone that helps them stay here is technically guilty of breaking the law as well and therefore subject to potential punishment. So, how are 'immigrant rights' being trampled on?

I guess they're saying that for fear of renting to illegals that landlords may discriminate against legal immigrants .. and that is a valid concern, but if they are, in fact, legal immigrants then there is already laws and procedures by which they can address that issue. It means that a landlord is likely to require proof that you are in the country legally before they will let you sign the lease; if you don't HAVE that proof then you aren't in the country legally and realistically not only should they not rent to you ... they should report you to INS.

[note - in those cases that an immigrant looses their paperwork, left it at home, etc, it should be easy enough for INS to verify, or for the immigrant to retreve or allow authorities to retreve the paperwork. Keep in mind that being in Mexico or most other foreign countries without the required paperwork ON you can get you into serious serious trouble. Besides most of the time signing a lease isn't something you do 'on the spot' ... at least all the rentals I did you were given a list of things to bring to the lease signing including the deposit check, etc.]

The other ordinance they passed made "English" the official language of the county government (meaning that the county would no longer pay to print government paperwork in english and spanish). Again the statement that it tramples on immigrant rights. What?! No ... I'm sorry ... just no. Legal immigrants that are pursuing citizenship to this country, last I knew, were required to learn english ... and most of those that came here legally WANT to learn english (if they don't already know it). If they are here on a temporary visa then, again I'm sorry, but I don't believe that we need to cater to them. This is America ... we speak English. Don't like it? There's the border. Want to stay here? Learn English.

Trust me folks ... if you're going to move to Italy you are going to be required to learn Italian, if you move to France you'll have to learn French. So if you want to move to the US ... L E A R N E N G L I S H.

Okay ... I'm done for now ....

Finished!

Well ... in the sense that November is over anyway. I finished NaNoWriMo officially with 50,077 words at around 18:30 eastern on 11/30/06 ... technically I could have written more (the story is not complete by any stretch of the imagination) but after a massive push to reach the finish line I was burned out and tired and opted to relax a bit before work instead.

The 50,077 word count does make me an official winner, however, and that makes me very happy. Sunday night I didn't think I'd make it ... but my wife and co-workers kept on me to keep me writing. Really I wouldn't have made it without the help of my family and friends keeping after me all along the way; thank you to all of you.

I had a lot of trouble due to work early in the month that really put me behind in my word count and that greatly discouraged me because I never managed to dig myself out of that hole until the last day. Part of that was just work in general ... changing me schedule around the day before the starting gun sounded really put a crimp in my plans ... killing both my time and energy ... of couse I added to my own problems by not focusing as much as I should have on weekends and particularly on the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Looking back over the month there were definately several things that I'll try to do different next year (and yes, I fully intend to go through this madness again next November) but, to me at least, that's a large part of what this is all about; exploring the creative process and finding ways to refine the way that I approach things and work.

As for the story ... how did it go? Pretty well ... I was able to keep tighter focus than I did in January, and I think that it helped over all since I had a better idea of where I was going. I was happy with my writing flow most of the time and, while I can unashamedly say that there are passages of utter garbage in it, I think that the general flow of the story feels better. On the other hand, I'm only maybe halfway through my planned story arc and that (to me) smudges my win to a degree (not that it will keep me from using my 'winner' icon ... it just gives me a little more room for improvement), whereas my 'unplanned' story in Janurary I managed to complete both the arc and wordcount in 31 days.

Anyway ... I'm at work so I'm going to cut this short. I'll have more to say here in the next few days so stay tuned (I know ... I've said THAT before... )

Feel free to pop over to my NaNoWriMo Profile and see my daily wordcount or read through the excerpt I posted there. Just click the winner icon below.