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i thought i would sleep lousy last night. anxiety coupled with watching such a horrific film before bed. but even though i didn't sleep great, i slept better than i had the night before. prolly just exhaustion.
so the netflix experiment begins. i return the movie today. let's see how fast i get another one (i'll make sure it's something less dark ~ like bergman maybe).
: o p
~ * ~
i looked into getting student insurance. it's cheap ~ only $860 a year, but it also doesn't really cover squat. so i'm opting to wing it once again. the health center on campus is apparently really good and i can get all the basic services there for a not-too-exorbitant price. next week i have to go get all my vaccinations. minnesota law calls for all these shots that i never had to take in texas. i'd've gotten the insurance if it had a dental plan, but it doesn't. that's what i really need (and bad!). i wish all my teeth would fall out and i could replace them with fake implants that never needed maintenance. i think i have permanent dental trauma from when i had braces ~ hahahaha.
it makes it all the more peculiar that my main character is a dentist. but i contend that's a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer hold over (Hermie the elf, anyone? "I want to be a dentist!")
and speaking of character occupations. i wonder what it says about a writer, what occupation they give their characters. mine are all soldiers, priests, doctors (one dentist), and one architect/engineer who is really just a playboy.
very few of my soldiers are career soldiers (mostly secondary characters), all of my priests are Jesuits, all of my doctors (and my dentist) are surgeons.
an overwhelming percentage of my characters are either literally orphans or psychologically orphans (though only one ~ Marithé ~ was asopted from an orphanage in the true Dickensian sense). in fact the only main characters i have whose parents are alive and still on good terms with their children is Doctor Beasely (whose mother is Emmaline's sister), and Peg and Gwen's parents, Tom and Colleen Roan. most of the rest of the characters have mothers who are: insane, vicious, or dead (and usually before they are 14 years old). fathers are notoriously absent, weak, or also dead. Morse's mother was buried alive seven months pregnant. Sid's mother committed suicide. Amy's mother is the sole victim of death in childbirth (where you would think that might be more common).
so, in turn, what sort of parents are my main characters?
only four of my main characters have children of their own (two couples ~ so that's a pretty poor percentage!). the roans have 4 sons and 3 daughters. three sons are killed in the war. one loses an arm. the fletchers have 4 daughters and 1 son. one daughter is killed horrendously and the son dies as an infant. (technically Marithé also had a family once, but they were are all killed from inception ~ i invented them already dead ~ wife and two children). four other of my main characters wind up adopting other orphans. of the orphans, one has a rabbit-head, one is soon-after killed in an accident, one is rescued from a sexually abusive father, and the other is semi-retarded, rescued from prostitution. (note to self: i'm not counting Mad Collie in this yet because i don't know whether i can ever actually write his story, so i am assuming for the moment that he's a minor and not a main).
children live perilously in my stories (and many don't live at all). in fact, my books are littered with absent parents, dead children, sexual assaults on children, severe head injuries, and dismembermemts.
ahhh cheerful morning ruminations.
and now i guess i should get to work.
: o p
so the netflix experiment begins. i return the movie today. let's see how fast i get another one (i'll make sure it's something less dark ~ like bergman maybe).
: o p
~ * ~
i looked into getting student insurance. it's cheap ~ only $860 a year, but it also doesn't really cover squat. so i'm opting to wing it once again. the health center on campus is apparently really good and i can get all the basic services there for a not-too-exorbitant price. next week i have to go get all my vaccinations. minnesota law calls for all these shots that i never had to take in texas. i'd've gotten the insurance if it had a dental plan, but it doesn't. that's what i really need (and bad!). i wish all my teeth would fall out and i could replace them with fake implants that never needed maintenance. i think i have permanent dental trauma from when i had braces ~ hahahaha.
it makes it all the more peculiar that my main character is a dentist. but i contend that's a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer hold over (Hermie the elf, anyone? "I want to be a dentist!")
and speaking of character occupations. i wonder what it says about a writer, what occupation they give their characters. mine are all soldiers, priests, doctors (one dentist), and one architect/engineer who is really just a playboy.
very few of my soldiers are career soldiers (mostly secondary characters), all of my priests are Jesuits, all of my doctors (and my dentist) are surgeons.
an overwhelming percentage of my characters are either literally orphans or psychologically orphans (though only one ~ Marithé ~ was asopted from an orphanage in the true Dickensian sense). in fact the only main characters i have whose parents are alive and still on good terms with their children is Doctor Beasely (whose mother is Emmaline's sister), and Peg and Gwen's parents, Tom and Colleen Roan. most of the rest of the characters have mothers who are: insane, vicious, or dead (and usually before they are 14 years old). fathers are notoriously absent, weak, or also dead. Morse's mother was buried alive seven months pregnant. Sid's mother committed suicide. Amy's mother is the sole victim of death in childbirth (where you would think that might be more common).
so, in turn, what sort of parents are my main characters?
only four of my main characters have children of their own (two couples ~ so that's a pretty poor percentage!). the roans have 4 sons and 3 daughters. three sons are killed in the war. one loses an arm. the fletchers have 4 daughters and 1 son. one daughter is killed horrendously and the son dies as an infant. (technically Marithé also had a family once, but they were are all killed from inception ~ i invented them already dead ~ wife and two children). four other of my main characters wind up adopting other orphans. of the orphans, one has a rabbit-head, one is soon-after killed in an accident, one is rescued from a sexually abusive father, and the other is semi-retarded, rescued from prostitution. (note to self: i'm not counting Mad Collie in this yet because i don't know whether i can ever actually write his story, so i am assuming for the moment that he's a minor and not a main).
children live perilously in my stories (and many don't live at all). in fact, my books are littered with absent parents, dead children, sexual assaults on children, severe head injuries, and dismembermemts.
ahhh cheerful morning ruminations.
and now i guess i should get to work.
: o p
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i've tried really hard not to give my characters bad childhoods (and have actually succeeded for the most part) ~ and yet there's so much other trauma!
: D
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that has me even more worried about myself!
but i do think it's true that we write about professions that capture our imaginations and when you get down to it, there's a certain nobility and self-sacrifice in soldiers, priests, and doctors ~ and i think that's what attracts me.
: D