NaNoWriMo Preparation

When I jump into my writing, chaptered or short story; I always have a somewhat plan. I know what the story is about; I know relatively what will go into each chapter etc. Often the characters will decide to change things taking the story into new directions, but the main objective almost always remains the same and the general idea of what will go into each chapter is always there. And then there is my novel. 

The idea, came to me…so long ago, I don’t even know when; I do believe I was still in High School, which means that it’s been at least ten years. I did not act on it too much, so many ideas coming into my head, characters forming, and changing…a lot. I would write little pieces of things down but they would never feel completely right.

In the last few months my Novel, or really I should say novels; as this has grown so big it will take at least three books to tell, has began to solidify. My characters have become a lot clearer, now with full names and a lot more personalities. The places there journeying will take them has become a little more clear as well, with societies, histories and new supporting characters to help and hinder my main characters adventures.

The main plot remains the same, but now the enemy is more then just the evil villain, there is a life behind him, a story and a great mystery. Meanwhile sub-plots are beginning to form, and build.
And yet with all this knowledge, I know nothing! In all my stories I always start at the beginning and I let my characters lead me one chapter at a time. But with my novel, all attempts to start at chapter one has ended poorly. I don’t know my characters well enough yet to start at the very emotional beginning. But then where do I start? The end? It’s a thought! But then, I only know tiny portion of the end, I can hardly close opened doors if I don’t know where the doors are or what is in them.

The challenge of NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words in the month of November. My own challenge will be to write as much of this story as I can, which means I need some kind of plan, right? Maybe not! With so many pieces of the puzzle that is this novel running ramped in my head perhaps I should just write. Everything currently in my head out onto my computer and backed up on my external hard drive. Then later I will just have to put the pieces together and keep writing.

So now that I know what I am going to do, I need to be ready if I am going to make the word count and win this challenge. I need to begin to focus on the main scenes that like to play and re-play in my head, begin to notice the details, and figure out why the things that are happening, are in fact happening. How did they get to this point? Maybe after this November Exercise is complete I will know my characters enough to be able to go back to the beginning and just write like I do all my stories.

My fingers are crossed.

I wish everyone participating in this years NaNoWriMo great luck, and I will see you on the other side!

Lauren

My NaNoWriMo Page

Destination: Unknown – 2 – Hello Alien Planet

I was born on a Monday, November 15th 1982 at 7:30 AM.  I came into this world wondering whose bright idea it was to have me so early in the morning. 11 AM or better yet noon would have been a little more humane, let a girl sleep in on what will be her first day out of the protected cocoon of her mother’s womb.

But alas, at the ungodly hour that is 7:30 AM, there I was, looking a lot more like E.T. then a baby as I stretched my neck out to look around this strange new headache giving, complicated world. Hello alien plant, after a long journey I have landed at last, now for the love of God, let me go back to sleep.

Destination: Unknown Project – 1 – Introduction

I’m at a point in my life where I am trying to figure out who I am, how I got here and what in the world am I to do with my life?

Life is scary, hard and amazing.

How did I get to where I am right now? How did my life end up so off course that I am still working in a Cafe located in a grocery store? What sequence of events left me living in a tiny bedroom with my bipolar landlord and her emo daughter who has her hateful boyfriend over all the time? How did I end up in so much dept that I won’t be able to move on until some of it is somehow paid off? Where did I go wrong? Or maybe I am exactly where I am supposed to be… Maybe God has a plan for me and this is where I am supposed to be right now. These are lessons I have to learn in order for me to maybe deal with even harder things later in life. (I shudder at just the thought.)

In this series, I want to look back and track my life thus far to try and find out exactly how I got here. And maybe, just maybe I can find a hint as to where I am supposed to go from here. Who knows, maybe 20 years after this project is completed I’ll do this again starting here, and get to see if I managed to get it right.

Welcome to the Destination: Unknown Project, I hope you enjoy the ride.

Lauren

The Morning Workout

Wake up. That’s always the best first step to any morning workout. 

The next step and probably the hardest would be getting out of bed. You lay in bed, eyes tightly shut going through every single reason why you need and want to get up and workout.

‘I want to loose weight.’

‘I want to fit into smaller clothes.’

‘I want to feel better about myself.’

‘I need to be healthy.’

‘I have to get out of bed sometime before work.’ Etc.

After a good half hour to an hour you roll over, open your eyes and groan. You can do this! No I can’t! Yes I can…groan. 

You sit up then growl, loudly. Hair goes up in a ponytail, then you dig out your workout clothes from the place you hid them hoping to never see them again. Finally after putting them on, and thinking of every excuse why you should not do this; ‘it’s way to hot outside!’ you roll out your yoga mat and do a warm up before grabbing your phone and music and hitting the pavement. 

Ten minutes later your already wanting to turn around and are thinking of all the roads that will take you right back to your front door long before your chosen route has been completed. But with every fiber of will in your body you keep going straight when said shortcuts make there appearance as they always do.

‘I got out of bed and am already out here might as well finish this!’

You pass your landmarks silently screaming with joy that you made it this far, got to keep going.

You reach the last shortcut. Your only a mile from finishing your route, but your hot, thirsty, exhausted and you realize you haven’t actually finished your route is months, you always take that last short cut. So maybe this is not a shortcut, it is the route now. You know that’s a lie you tell yourself to try and make it right. You need to do the whole route eventually. That shortcut is coming; you have to make a decision. Finally you decide to just pretend you never saw the shortcut, opps you missed it! Have to finish the full thing now, there is NO turning back. 

Suddenly there it is: home, Gatorade, air conditioning, a cold shower, a bottle of water and my bed, that of course is when you realize… you’re starving.

Numb & Tingly

Aug 3 2010

               I try to give blood every two months and it’s not uncommon for my arm to either get tingly and hurt while it happens or for my arm to hurt and my fingers to feel tingly for a few days afterward. It always goes away, I can deal with it with the knowledge that my blood might have helped save someone’s life.

                I gave blood July 29 2010 it was very quick as always. The phlebotomist who originally had me could not find a vain with her fingers so she called the phlebotomist who I normally have, over. She said she could find a vain in my right arm right away and quickly marked it then put the needle in, one shot, worked immediately, I barely felt a thing. I did not experience any of the normal numbness or tingling in my fingers while it happened or right after for that matter. I remember thinking, ‘man she’s good!’  It was my day off so I rested the rest of the day.

                July 30^th was a normal day at work. I sold food, cleaned then went back to the dish room as it was my dish night. The dishes consist of near constant lifting of around 100-200 pans that weight in range of 5 pounds to 20 pounds. I do this 2-3 times a week, so it’s nothing new.  Nothing happened during dishes; I did not pull anything or bend awkwardly, nothing hurt afterward. 

                July 31^st, I woke up with my right arm numb, tingling and sore. I figured I must have slept on it in my sleep then rolled over onto my back just before I woke up and now I just had to wait a few minutes for my arm to wake up. It did for the most part. But the area around my elbow and the crook in my arm where the needle had been put in kept throbbing and my fingertips kept feeling tingly. I looked it up online and found that this seemed to be common with people who had given blood days before. I shrugged, and went on with my life. 

                Aug  1^st was a little worse. My elbow area still throbbed, my fingers still tingled but now my right arm and hand felt heavy and although I could still feel if I touched something, the sensation was very dull and it felt weird. Whenever I did something that required a little more work then say typing, my whole arm would hurt. When I got up from my bed that morning a very sharp pain ran down my right leg making me bend over gasping. It went away the moment I sat back down. Sporadically through out the day this would happen before it stopped all together that evening, however there was now tingling in my toes and general heaviness in my leg.

                Aug 2ed, my right arm was still heavy, my fingers tingly, but the general pain in my elbow area was gone. I was relieved until I picked up something light like a piece of paper and my entire arm and fingers throbbed.  My right knee was throbbing slightly, my leg felt a little heavier and my toes were full on tingling. What also caught me strange was my right side between my arm and leg felt a little heavy as well. I had dishes at work that night. It took me twice as long to do, though I didn’t feel out of rhythm. I went home tired, my feet were throbbing, my right arm hurting. 

                Today, I woke up and could only groan. My right arm, heavy and fingers tingling, was still sore. My right leg feels like my right arm. My right side is still heavy, only now so is the right side of my neck, face and even head. It feels like half of my brain is heavy and both my right half of my face and head tingling. To make it worse now my left arm is slightly heavy, throbbing and my left fingers are tingling too. I am also having a slight loss of sensation in my left fingers.  On my face, I can still see just fine, but my right eye does not feel like it’s in the right place. (I looked in the mirror, it’s in it’s proper spot on my face.) However my entire right side is slightly swollen now. 

I was planning on calling the donation center today but this is way beyond just my arm after giving blood. I don’t have a primary doctor anymore, I did not like the last one I tried and the waiting list to see a doctor anywhere it seems is astronomical. Seriously, two weeks before there is an opening? And that is at the doctor’s office I don’t like. Others have more like a months wait. Finally, I don’t want to go to the ER. It is so expensive even with insurance! A $100 up front, then a bill from every doctor that saw you. Furthermore I can’t go to the ER today, as I have work at 2pm, there is no way I would be out by then. I might not have even seen a doctor by then. I am however off tomorrow. But of course I have dishes again tonight.

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

Vegetarian for Four Months and my Weight Issues

Wow, didn’t know I had it in me. My dad was shocked when I came home for 4^th of July and was sill a Vegetarian, he fully expected me to have given it up by now. In fact I don’t remember hearing one meat or veggie joke the entire trip, well at least not from him.

                As time passes the easier it is to bypass the meat sections and head straight to the rest of the store. My problem now; after loosing 50 pounds, is getting off this weight loss plateau I entered upon becoming a vegetarian and start loosing again. All the people I know who became vegetarians gained lots of weight so when I decided to do this, I was very, very careful not to let that happen. I was successful in that aspect; I am still the same weight as I was when I started this journey.  

                It’s time to move forward. I have started a new exercise routine that I am going to stick to… even if I have to get up extra early to do it. This can’t be like all previous routines where I did it for awhile then one day did not feel like it and never did it again. 

                I need to incorporate a more vegetarian smart diet, that’s right Lauren, more vegetables! No, no…NO!!! AND dare I say it…less junk food… falls to the floor sobbing. 

                One step at a time I think. I’m afraid that if I try to do it all at once I may not make it…at all.

Wish me luck and a massive amount of will power!

Writing Update

July 7th 2010

Writing Update

The Senkrad Series – My Novels

                Slowly but surely things are coming together with my novel. Ideas are shifting, characters are gaining more personality and showing there true natures, and the major plot is coming together. With that said, I still have not written much. All of it is on paper right now as my computer is acting up, and a lot of the ideas and shorts bits of the story I have written out have been while I was at work. So my next step, I think; for this project will be to get what I have copied down into my computer where by backup drive can store it in case my computer decides to stop completely.

Sparks

                My Transformers fan fiction is coming close to its ending. After coming to the chapter where I had originally decided to finish it, I realized that there were a few other things that needed to happen. I have the next chapter completed; my next step is to edit it and post. In the meantime I have an idea for the next three chapters that will be the last for Sparks.

The Next Great Storm

                None of this story has been posted yet, it is a Thunderbirds Fan Fiction I have had floating around in my head for awhile now but did not want to start until I had finished Sparks. If you’re a writer you will understand how impossible that can be. For me once a good idea appears in my head, it begins to build, soon you feel like you’re going to explode if you don’t get it out somehow, somewhere and to top it off you can’t think of anything else you are writing until you do. So out on paper it came, and then quickly transferred onto my computer. It is growing much bigger (probably not longer though) then any story I have ever written. This one is going to be the one that will help me write my novel the most.

The majority of my writings are from only one characters point of view. If it shifts, it’s to another well known character. In Sparks I broke out of that and wrote from many POV’s, but I still knew those characters. For The Next Great Storm I have all these brand new characters appearing and making them selves known. I am writing from the POV of these unknown characters and it is amazing! I’m building these people’s little corners of the world and the other people in these corners. Then I get to tie them together with my main character, who is the center of the story but by all means has had his scenes cut dramatically.

 I am also bringing in my technical skills which I did not even know I had until my story Alone was written. Who knew I could think up exactly how the things I created for my stories worked and what all they can do, then describe it? I didn’t, that was never something I had tried to do before, at least not to that extent.  

Anyway, I am very excited about this story, I don’t have it divided into chapters yet, and I still have a little ways to go before it’s complete; but I have a good idea where it’s going now (something I struggled with more then I like) and am excited to see it move forward!

Writing a Novel: A Change of Thought

After much thought and a lot of talking to another writer here on VOX, I have decided that I am going to spend this year planning and mapping out my trio of books instead of full out writing. With creating new planets and all that entails, all the people on those planets my main characters will run into, I have found that I have a daunting amount of ground work to cover before I move forward in my writing. So with that in mind I will plan to begin writing the first draft of my story next year, which of course sounds like forever from now, but when I look at every thing that needs to be planned out...I might need more time then that. LOL!

So wish me luck and feel free to write your advice I can use all the help I can get.

Volunteering at the International Festival: Houston

IFEST 6

Day One – 4/18/10

This year’s theme highlighted the Caribbean. I of course signed up to volunteer before I knew this, not that it would have made a difference but perhaps I could have prepared a bit more. Then again I had no idea that I would be placed in the museum area on my first day volunteering.

My mom came up from her home in League City for a surprise visit I enjoyed completely. After a nice walk in the park we left early enough to get lost. Boy did we get lost. The map had me on two streets I really never traveled on, in all my adventures downtown before. Had I know a lot more familiar streets were merely a few blocks down we may have made it to our destination without running. When we finally found the parking lot we had free passes to, we then had to find the festival, and then the entrance dedicated to volunteers. I changed my shirt to the volunteer shirt in the cramped space of a smelly port-a-potty, before running out only to be called upon right away to head to the museum area. I looked at my mom with wide horror filled eyes, the museum area? I may have learned about the Caribbean in middle or high school, but I sure don’t remember what is there; Jamaica maybe? I think Cuba too… That’s the scary part of being on the flex team; you don’t know where you’re going to end up.

I decided to wing it, (not that I had a choice, lol.) and learn things from passerby-ers and redirect. I cheerfully told guests when they asked about different places in the Caribbean that there were areas dedicated to each place that would not only tell them about the area, but you would find vendors from the area ready to tell you first hand! Redirect, redirect, redirect. I learned that the plant beside me on the right was a Figgie fig tree from a guest and happily shared this information to the millions who asked. (No one ever figured out what the plant to the left was.) I enjoyed watching the fake and poorly acted pirate fight (with real swards!) in the replica pirate ship right in front of my station.

IFEST 5

Then finally our relief appeared and mom and I found our way back to the volunteer area were they were feeding us. I have volunteered at many, many events but never have the volunteers been so poorly fed; ball game nachos, popcorn and animal crackers??? And I am not listing the vegetarian dishes. This was ALL the food they had. After hours and hours outside baking in the very hot sun, that is what they put out in a buffet style area with other volunteers to dish it out for you? For drinks you had your selection of one of three cola products or water from one of those water tub things you find in offices and put your water in the cone type cups that can’t be set down, great. The water bottles were for the food only, as the staff would randomly yell at volunteers that even looked at the ice cold bottles. It was funny that all the staff seemed to have a bottle in hand and was drinking from them. Needless to say I was not impressed with the volunteer area.

IFEST 4

Mom and I covered every portion of the fest as guests having fun just talking and walking. Mom received a phone call from my aunts who said they were downtown for church and wanted to see us. So we left, got lost again trying to get into the parking entrance of Lakewood Church, before we finally pulling into the proper garage and joining my aunts to see Joel, his wife and there music group go to work. Even my mom, who is Jewish, liked the Saturday service.

From there we went to Starbucks to celebrate my aunt’s birthday, where we talked, caught up and had a great time.

Day Two – 4/24/10

IFEST 3

I was by myself this time, but since I knew what to expect getting there was a lot less nerve wrecking. Leaving however was a completely different story.

I parked in the parking garage this time, A/2; simple enough right?

I was early this time, so I had taken a walk to find someplace with real food to eat, why is everything downtown closed on the weekends? I think Houston is the only city I have ever been to that closes on the weekends, even when events are happening next door. I ended up spending $6 at an expensive hotel for two pancakes and a bagel. There was a buffet, with four hot food items on it, and the rest was stuff you would find on any Continental Breakfast. (Cereal, yogurt etc.) The cost for the buffet? $17 per person. Holy cow! I thought $7 was a horrible price for buffets with hundreds more items to choose from. Then they tried to charge me more for what little I got, in which I showed them on the menu where it clearly stated the cost. Nice. They did apologize several times, though.

IFest 2

I spent some time in the volunteer area just relaxing in the shade watching people come and go before my team was called up to take the place of the previous team. This time I was going someplace I had more experience in. Security/Ticket taker, which I can do! IFEST has rules to rival all US Airports. No liquids, no weapons etc. Everyone had to be checked before entering and before giving there ticket. People waited in the long line only to not have a ticket, thinking that the event was free. Most threw a huge fit when they found out they had to chug down there water or throw it away. I went out there several times and made told everyone that they needed to drink there water before they got to the front of the line, no liquids would be allowed, but apparently there were some that did not believe me or ignored me when I passed by them to tell everyone.

That job was fun, even with people yelling at you; telling you what a horrible person you are because obviously, me; a mere volunteer, created these rules just to piss you off. Read the signs, people! We had some really good laughs at your expense, wow people can make a full of themselves when they are angry over a small water bottle.

IFest 1

When my relief appeared, I stayed behind to make sure they were properly trained as this was a much harder job then the museums. They sent me a bunch of teenagers; I hope they survived the angry masses. There were a few places I wanted to go to that I somehow missed last time, before I headed back to the volunteer area, choked down some chips and cheese, was asked out by a guy that had sit across from me for awhile, then I went home.

Well I tried to go home at least. I think I spent a good hour looking for my car, did you know that there the parking garages are all hooked together and that they all have the same names and colors? So there was a LOT of green A/2 levels. Then I had to find my way out with all the roads that lead to 45 closed. After getting on several wrong roads in an attempt to get to the right road I eventually made it back to 45 south.

Over all, I had a great time!

Water...Safe to Drink?

What does it mean when a neighborhood sign has been posted that says they will no longer be filtering our water? Instead they will be adding chemicals to it that will make it no longer safe to drink if you have kidney problems? Also your not going to want to put it in you fish tanks.

I get a lot of kidney infections, no matter how much water I drink; does that equal kidney problems? It happens so ofter that it no longer stops me from working and doing the things I need to do.

I don't want to drink from bottles, for recycling reasons, but I don't have nor can I afford a filter at home. I can get 40 bottles for $3, which will last a long time. Also, this is not my house, I might be moving in the next upcoming months...and I need a filter that will take out whatever chemicals they will be putting into the tap water.

Or maybe I am over reacting... I usually am.

Writing - A Quick Post

I need to write! I have so many ideas in my head. I have a group of people waiting for me to post the next chapter of a story I have been writing for awhile now, I lost my notebook and what I had written in Word has disappeared. I have had Word open for over three hours now...with nothing but the words: Chapter Seventeen.

I AM SO DISTRACTED! Every time I go back to Word, knowing exactly what goes there; I then promptly find something else to do. And don't say I don't want to write, I want to...NEED to...sigh...maybe tomorrow. But I am so busy!

Chapter seventeen...blah!

A Better Me

I have taken the next step in becoming a better me. The first starting to loose weight, which I have 80 pounds to go, and several steps still to get to.

I became a vegetarian and feel much better because as well.

I have begun to write again, releasing some of this weight on my mind.

Today I start the next step of trying to live a better much more healthier life. I start my yoga classes at DAHN YOGA, with the hopes to feel better about myself and move forward positively. Today was the personal session to find out what I need to work on. I learned a lot about myself and that I can still bend in ways I did not think possible at my current weight.

In the meantime I am budgeting. Trying to find things I can stop to save that little bit of money to take these classes. Anyone want to make a donation? :) I am cancelling my gym membership, that’s an extra $10 a month. I don’t use it, and I am probably going to be moving soon anyways.

Eating vegetarian can be very expensive. But it keeps me from eating out for the most part. And I really do feel good not eating meat. I need to really look at prices and make sure I am getting the best deals possible.

Stopping my massive Dr Pepper consumption is one of the things on my to do list in the weight loss department so I am going to start cutting back on that. If I stick to it, it will save me about $55 a month and when I quit all together it would save me around $70 a month!

I have already had my Netflix account on hold for quite awhile.

I’m already clocking in 16 minutes early everyday at work to try and make up the time I lose getting off early almost every night. Maybe I should start working slower to extend my hours, but by then I really, really want to go home and curl up in bed.

I don’t really go out and do things to much, when I see a movie it’s usually at the $1 Theater. I need to trade my half price books to going to the library. And I need to start charging people gas when they ask me to take them places because I am using way, way, WAY to much gas. Of course my car seems to drink it like I drink DP!

I need to see if I can get a better deal on auto insurance. Mine is charging me and arm and a leg it seems.

Any other ideas? I wonder what I have that can be sold on e-bay…

Fan Fiction - Thunderbirds - Alone

Alone

English - Drama/Angst - Alan T. - Published: 03-14-10 - Complete

Disclaimer: I do not own the Thunderbirds. No money was made from the writing of this short story.

A/N: This was actually supposed to be a comedy, from Alan's prospective only hearing his side of the conversations during rescues. Well that is until the huge portion of my brain that thrives in drama and angst took over, and although I think it does have its funny parts, it's mostly nothing like I had planned. But what is? It took everything in me not to make it a chapter fic. I can't handle another one right now, lol. So a one shot it is, have fun! All mistakes are mine. - Lauren

Alone

Lauren Freeman

Alan sat back in the comfortable, yellow, highly cushioned desk chair that rolled around the main office area of Thunderbird Five. Massive and small computer screens almost surrounded the young adult, monitoring everything his family and close friends could think would ever need to be monitored. Typing up a report on the green laptop in front of him while a red laptop to his right ran system diagnostics on the space station, was what kept him busy at the moment, though he had not been bored at all in the last thirty minutes. A minor system overload, not big enough to send alarms off back on earth but big enough to send the stations alarms blaring had occurred, waking him out of a dead sleep. Rubbing his forehead again from where he had smacked it on the top bunk…again Alan glanced over to the red laptops display.

Alan had not yet been trained in the electrical systems on five to the extent that he could automatically fix this kind of problem. By the time Alan had stumbled into the office the alarm was shutting off as the system went back to normal. Still, the station held an almost brand new electrical system after the Hood attacked it only three years previous. Since then Alan had spent at last a month up here during his summer vacations, and was now going to college from his computer so that he could spend extra time on the station, which he had come to love only a little less then John. He was currently in his second straight month on board Five, for the first time without his space-case brother. A small beep from the red computer told Alan that a problem had been found so he turned his whole attention to that monitor, as he pressed send to the report he had been writing. He would send another report as soon as he knew what the problem was so that he could get information on fixing said problem.

Frowning at the reading's he was receiving, massive power fluctuations had been happening since the last time he had run the major diagnostic, which he was required to run twice a week. Small checks were run everyday, but they would not have been able to see this. It was a wonder alarms had not been going off before this. The only reason the alarm went off in this case was because it had messed with the life support system for 0.05 seconds. Not enough time to be felt, but a massive problem none the less. Deciding to bypass the report for the moment and just call base for immediate help he was only slightly surprised when the video screen lit up indicating someone from base was calling him. At 3:32am, he wondered who was up at that hour, checking e-mails. His bet was between his dad and John, the latter probably had a small alarm attached to any e-mail that came from the station so that he always knew what was happening. Alan hit the green button and was surprised to see it was both.

"Hey, I was just about to call you… yes…a system alarm went off at roughly 3am indicating there was a problem, but had turned back off by the time I reached the office. I immediately began a major system diagnostic and it had just indicated that since my last major scan, yesterday morning; there have been some massive power fluctuations…No, nothing noticeable by me. As far as I could tell nothing was wrong, the lights haven't even dimmed. But…Right the reason the alarm went off is because for a tiny bit of a second, it affected life support…" Alan's brother and fathers explanations were drowned out by the sound of a different much more familiar alarm. International Rescue was being called to duty.

"Right, I understand, your sending Brains up to look at the problem and if need be evacuate the station do so. I will have the space suit and emergency escape pod powering up while I take this call. Five out." Alan spoke quickly before hitting the red button to hang up while at the same time hitting the transmission button to the radio signal the cry for help was being sent from.

"This is International Rescue, we received a call for help, is anyone reading?" There was a long pause before Alan heard anything. "Sir? Sir! Calm down please. I will be able to understand you if you can please calm down." Meanwhile Alan was tracing the call from a dozen different smaller satellites positioned around the world. A view of New Zealand appeared then zoomed down to a large boat miles from any land, slowly sinking.

"Captain, I need to know your coordinates"… Alan hit the emergency signal that would wake all of Tracy Island and send them rushing to the command center, he already had an open IM window up so that he could send all information he had to the command computer. At the same time he was already powering up Thunderbirds One and Two and setting the water pod up for Two to pick up. "And does the 'Pun Intended' have enough life boats for all three hundred passengers?... Sir, this is not the time to become defensive! I am not the law enforcement, I need to know how many lives need to be saved here…Sir, your boat is sinking, people could be dying, do you really want to argue over my tone right now?... An apology? Fine, I am sorry for my tone, now could you please give me straight answers without the stories and…Sir!" Alan was looking at screen that showed a clear picture of the ship with a look of disgust. The lights flickered around him.

"Captain Neptune! I don't care if you like me or not. My job is not to be liked, it's to make sure as many lives can be saved as possible. Now please tell me why I see all of your crew taking up all of the life boats, most are not even near full and evacuating? I don't think a single passenger has been evacuated!... Yes I can see you!...How, is not important… Violation of privacy?!?"The lights flickered again. Thankfully the fluctuation was not messing with communications or monitors yet, just the lighting. Alan glanced at the red computer which was showing the status of the emergency escape pod and space suit in a closet behind him. Both were powering up much slower then they were designed to. Alan shuddered at the thought that they might not be fully powered if he had to evacuate. He could do it manually but he needed to try and see this rescue through, no matter how much he wanted to hang up on the man. Normally he would have disconnected by now, but he needed the captain to start taking charge of what was happening on his boat. As of right now there were a dozen life boats sailing away only half full while two hundred and fifty people were stuck on a sinking ship.

"Captain, do you have enough life jackets for the people still on the boat?" Alan interrupted the ranting and raving man on the other end of the line. Alan shook his head in dismay, as the man did not even stop to answer the question. It was time to cut the man off and bring in some help from the ships closest to the sinking ship. Quickly contacting the ships with much more official and commanding captains, he arranged them to come in close enough so that the passengers could be ferried off from Two if needed, and if worse came to worse other passengers could just swim to the other boats. The lights shut off for a minute then came back on. Alan glanced at the red laptop which was not blinking a red warning sign; the last fluctuation had turned off life support completely. Alan cursed under his breath, knowing that, that would definitely send an alarm off to command. He knew he had ten minutes of good clean air before things would get stale really fast. His father appeared on screen, not even bothering to wait for him to answer the call.

"Dad, the fluctuations have stopped the set up of my emergency systems, I am sending this rescue down to you so that I can start manual set up. If possible don't have much communications with the ships captain... Yes well, I'm sure you will see what I mean. I have to…" Alan was cut off as the entire station went black. Alan groaned before turning directly around and feeling for the door handle of the emergency closet. Grabbing the small portable green oxygen tank he set it beside him, it would give him an extra hour of oxygen if he could not get the suit's oxygen up and running before then. He missed the old space suits; they were so much simpler, get in them and turn on the oxygen. The newest ones were all computer it seemed. They had to be started up, the battery was only kept half charged, so they had to finish charging in order to have full use. Normally this would not be a problem a full charge only took up to thirty seconds, except that the systems set to power it up were affected by the problem, and it had been charging like you used to have to charge a cell phone. At the rate it had been going, it would have taken a good two hours before it was of full use. Shaking his head, Alan stepped into the suit, the can of oxygen going in with him.

The suit was more like a pod itself then any kind of suit you would wear. Stepping in, meant you opened a small hatch then close it behind you. Then you sat on a small seat in a cramped box that used controls to move robotic arms and move the suit's wheels in any direction or if out in space move thrusters. But it was only designed for short distances, which is where the escape pod came in. The suit fit perfectly into the pod, and was set up to connect to all pod functions so that you never left the suit. If you had to escape without the suit, you could step in and pull out the seats folded into the floor board. The pod could take him all the way home if needed, but was meant to move far enough away from the station that should anything happen to it, the pod and its passenger would still be safe. Thunderbird Three was equipped to catch the pod if needed and bring it in to her haul.

Turning on the pod's power to seventy-five percent which is where the charge had been up to before the power cut off completely, Alan began to move the suit out of the closet. He knew immediately when atmosphere turned off in the station as the suit's space features turned on, and he had to carefully propel the suit with the suits lite thrusters designed to be used indoors without fire, so there would be no risk of starting a fire. As he began to feel the air become stale, Alan put on the portable oxygen tanks mask and turned it on. He did not want to use up the massive power it would take to turn on the oxygen system in the suit until he either had to or it was fully charged.

He moved into the escape pods small room where there was also several giant batteries set up to charge the pod, just in case something like this happened. Plugging in to the batteries, he turned them on and groaned at the read out. Some how the power fluctuations had depleted one and a half of the three batteries, shaking his head at his lucks sudden turn for the worst he began to calculate exactly how much power he would need to connect the suit to the pod, turn on the pod, merge the systems, run life support, and fly him off the station because it could take a very long time for Three to manually dock, lock, get the hatches open, start life support on Five, all so that Alan could just leave. No, emergency procedure clearly stated that he was to leave as soon as possible, he had no idea what was causing the problem or what it would do next. Shaking his head, Alan decided to send the rest of the power to the pod, and then carefully turn things on that would use the least amount of power possible. It was becoming very cold, and Alan could not help but think about the Apollo13 mission so long ago, so many years later and he was basically in the same boat. The moment the battery power transfer was completed, Alan began to move the suit into the pod, and was relieved when the pod did as he asked using a lot less power then what it was designed for.

Once all hatches were closed, Alan began the long process of manually turning the bare necessities on. Life support, hummed to life, along with the much loved heat, which he could not turn off, as it was coded in with the oxygen. Then using the only portions of the navigation system he had turned on he ejected himself out into space and watched as the hatch he had just come out of close off only half way before freezing in place. Alan shuddered again, he had not thought about the fact that the hatch was powered by the problem system, he had no idea how he had been able to eject out without power. Shaking his head he suddenly felt, very, very alone. Knowing he needed to keep busy he set the basic systems to keep him near the station before he began to write a program that would hopefully merge the battery system of the suit with the battery system of the pod to hopefully give him more power.

The moment the power systems merged the Pod turned on to full power and immediately began to turn on the most important parts of the system not already manually turned on. The display in front of him came to life showing what was going on around him, what was happening with the pods power and oxygen levels. And then the button of all buttons, the transmission button, quickly hitting the button that would contact base he was relieved to he his fathers face who looked just as relieved.

"Yes, I'm okay…No I could not contact you before now, this was the first time I have had enough power…No they did not charge fully and the emergency batteries had been half sucked dry…I had to change the systems a little to merge the batteries of...Really?...How is the rescue?...Seriously, the captain insisted on going down with the ship, despite there being plenty of time to be evacuated?... Well I'm glad Scott kept Gordon from letting him drown…Okay, so maybe glad is to strong of a statement…Okay, okay, I agree with Gordon, they should have just…Yes sir…Three should be here in an hour? Good…Well tell them all I am fine, no harm done, just waiting it out in my own life raft…No I probably should save the battery life just in case my bad luck continues off the station…Alright I will…Pod One out."

With that Alan sat back in the tiny pod, turned off the screen with the setting to turn back on if anything changed, and began to watch the stars. He was half asleep, when he felt the Pod jerk violently. Looking up at the now active screen he noticed an unusual power drain from somewhere, which had caused the pod to go back to basic systems at some point, so he would not have gotten the message from Thunderbird Three that it was approaching or that it was going to pick him up. Just as he was set into Three and the hatch to the giant rocket was closed all power within the small machine turned off including life support. Hitting the exit button, he was dismayed to find that it would not work. He grabbed the large wheel to do it manually but suddenly found himself without any oxygen. Grabbing the small tank, he realized he had never turned it back off when the main power had come on and it was empty. He put all of his strength into turning the wheel, but it did not budge. Without oxygen, he could feel himself getting weaker and weaker, black spots took over his vision before everything went black.

When he became aware again, he noticed first that he could breath. A mask covering his face pumped precious oxygen to his lungs. The second thing he noticed was that he was no longer cramped in a tin can but stretched out on a warm soft bed with a light blanket covering him.

"Alan?" Alan moved his head slightly towards the noise. "Alan, I need you to o-o-open your eyes f-f-f-for me, please." Alan could only groan, he felt so weak and tired. "A-A-Alan, You-you-your eyes, please." Alan groaned again before forcing his incredibly heavy eyes to open. Each lid felt like they were taped closed. "G-g-g-good." A bright painful light shined into his eyes and he quickly surrendered himself back to the blissful darkness once more.

When Alan woke up again, he was much more awake, and dismayed to find himself back on the island under Virgil's watchful, worried eyes. No longer on a mask, he was free to turn his head and look around the large infirmary where his entire family was passed out in one awkward position or another. Alan looked back up at Virgil who was grinning having followed Alan's glance.

"At least they finally fell asleep. I thought I was going to have to sedate the lot of them." Virgil sighed. Alan just shook his head.

"What happened? I remember there being a problem on the station, a rescue, with a really annoying, crazy captain, having to escape, then nothing…"

"There was some kind of virus in the stations system, were not sure how it got there or what triggered it to turn on, but it did and it was also in the pod's systems. When Brains could not get you via transmission, he called an emergency and pulled you in. By the time he got down to you, you were passed out and not breathing for an unknown period of time. You still had a slight pulse however so we know it happened after he got you in. He resuscitated you, but had a very hard time waking you up, you were awake and seemingly aware for less then thirty seconds before you went out again. He quickly piloted you back here, where he and I have been watching you closely since. You must have been exhausted; well that and I'm sure the very slight concussion you somehow gave yourself judging from the giant bump on your forehead, made you sleep for over twenty-four hours. The entire house had been worried and hovering the whole time." Virgil told him, Alan could only shake his head and roll his eyes before giving off a small grin.

"Well, I'm glad it's over." Alan whispered, he was mainly just relieved in that moment to no longer be alone, then the lights went out.

A/N 2: This was a one shot, think what you want about the last line; I just could not help but put it in. LOL! Maybe the virus made it to the island? Or maybe Virgil flipped a switch so that Alan would rest some more. Shrugs and grins evilly. No, no, no, no, a one shot! I suppose with the fact that I made Alan stop breathing again; I could have put this as a third story in the Breath of Air series, but I didn't. :) Hope you all enjoyed, don't forget to review! - Lauren

Fan Fiction - Twilight - Bugs

Bugs

Lauren Freeman

A/N: So, I have never written, or shall I say, finished a Twilight fic before now. I have written this one twice, the first time was on paper, and unfortunately it disappeared before I could get it onto my computer. Not sure which one was longer, but this is supposed to be short so it does not really matter. I did this from Bella's prospective while she is very ill; there might be mistakes with the grammar because I don't normally write like this. This takes place between Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Hope everyone enjoys and remember to review! G - Lauren

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, nor do I own anything to do with Twilight. This story is making no money.

English - Hurt/Comfort/Angst - Bella & Edward - Published: 03-14-10

Bugs

The cold hard textured white tile of the bathroom floor feels like heaven on my extremely warm, burning even; cheeks. I don't understand what's happening; this tiny room with its annoyingly nauseating blue wall paper is all I know. I don't look at the wall if I can at all help it, but sometimes I forget. Little yellow flowers of different sizes crawl up and down the walls in single file lines, sometimes I wonder if any have ever broken formation and crawled over to me, crawling on me… I throw up again into the white bowl sitting on a white chair full of water which remains above me from my normal position on the floor. Not much comes out, what little bit of water I've managed to drink down.

I don't know where the cups of water are coming from; they just appear beside me randomly. I simply close my eyes and when I open them again, well sometimes things have changed. The first time I woke up, a pillow and blanket had appeared. Sometimes I hear a man's voice above me, but I don't understand what he is saying, and his voice is not the voice I want to hear.

Sweat soaks through my night clothes; the wet feels nice, cool; until I'm suddenly freezing. I know there is someone out there that can warm me up just by holding me, just as I know that there is someone out there that could cool me off the same way. The thought of the two sets of arms confuses me and the room launches to the side knocking me off my slightly sitting position back onto the floor. I am cold now, I grab the blanket and pillow I had shoved against the wall while I was drowning in sweat and curl up trying to warm up. It helps a little but not much it's like I am cold all the way down to my bones, I briefly wonder if bones can freeze; I think I used to know that answer, I suddenly don't care.

I want the warm arms, I need to warm up. The need punches me in the gut, the need to be held, the need to remember who the sets of arms belong to. The memory of those arms makes my heart throb, and I begin to cry, slightly hyperventilating. Where are my arms, I need to be held, I need to remember! I dry heave into the bowl again, the word toilet comes to mind, but the word has no meaning.

My stomach hurts so horribly, twisting painfully in every direction. The room begins to spin constantly again and I bury my head in my pillow, eyes tightly closed, it barely helps. My head is pounding, my entire body hurts, this is my entire life now and I know that those arms could help me. Please help me. I close my eyes and for a brief moment there is peace, but the moment ends very quickly. I wake to noise again, but it's a welcome noise, I am freezing again and this time I feel myself being moved slightly into the arms of one of my angels.

The warm arms cradle me and I can't help groan with a deep pleasure as I tuck my freezing face in his neck, my nose is stopped up, eyes watering, his arms feel so good. He is gentle as he rocks softly and talks to someone. I don't understand anything he says, so I just stare at the tan skin so close to my watering eyes. The name Jacob comes to mind and I know who this is but it makes no more connections. I can lie like this for eternity that is until I am suddenly unbearably hot.

As if reading my mind, someone appears in the doorway of the room that is becoming smaller and smaller, white blissfully freezing arms take me out of my Jacobs hot arms and I sigh again. As sick as I know I am, my entire world fees right. Edward. He talks to me, but his words are just noises, I am unbearably exhausted, my eyes close of there own accord. I'm not sure if I fall asleep again or not but the next thing I am aware of is the fact that I am in a different room, a different place all together it seems, a place with books everywhere and a giant table looking…desk. I am still in the arms of my Edward angel, but another man, as white as my Edward is leaning over me talking. I can only stare silently. The man frowns, then I closed my eyes.

I wake up much more aware. I know where I am. Carlisle's office, lying on an unfamiliar bed, wrapped in a blanket with Edward lying on his side in front of me. A pressure on my right arm alerts me to the IV, no doubt bringing me out of my dehydrated state. The headache is gone, I feel almost normal except for the fact that my body feels very weak and sore.

"Hi…" I croak, my voice is rough and my throat is so dry. Edward smiles warmly before placing a straw up to my lips. I suck in the cool water greedily. He puts the empty cup on the desk next to him.

"Man, that flu hit me like a sledge hammer." I mumbled, to weak to do anything else but talk. I see my Edward wince, before nodding.

"You had been sick for two days before Jacob came to check on you having heard from his dad, who had talked to Charlie that you were sick and would not leave the houses one bathroom." Edward gave me the crooked grin I love so much. "When Jacob got there, you were shivering but so hot even he could tell. The family and I were away hunting, he called my cell phone from your phone and told me you were really, really sick and that I needed to come take care of my fiancé. I grabbed Carlisle and we ran back to Forks. I went to get you and Carlisle came here to set up for your arrival. Your fever was so high, you kept mumbling something no one could understand, and you didn't seem to understand anything anyone was saying. I'll admit I was scared." Edward whispered a faraway look on his face. I frowned; I do not really remember any of it, just a great longing for something…

Carlisle knocks on the door to announce his presents to me, being Edward would have known he was coming from Carlisle's thoughts let alone hearing the footsteps.

"Bella, it's good to see you awake and aware." Carlisle smiles warmly. I nodded. "Your temperature is back down to normal, the little bit of fluid that had started to collect in your lungs is gone, your going to be just fine with just a little more rest." I nodded content to rest anywhere where Edward was. I could feel my eyes growing heavy, I looked up into Edwards, smiled and told him I loved him, then fell into a healing sleep.

A Full Rough Draft in Just One Year?

This might not sound like a big deal to some, but for someone who has been just trying to figure out where and how to start, this sounds like an overwhelmingly major deal.

How do you take characters that have lived in your imagination for so many years and bring life to them on paper enough to do them justice? Then there are the blurry characters I know are there but have not shown themselves fully in my mind. These are the one’s I know will appear out of the blue while I am typing one day.

Is my story line original? I have never read a book like the one living in my head, but there are millions and millions of books out there… that thought alone is daunting. I just have to keep telling myself that because I have never read a book like mine, means that my characters will be original and mine, making this my book.

So where do I start? I have tried the beginning but have had little luck, perhaps a detailed outline? I have only written one before, it was for one of my fan fictions, the story was a sequel and I was having a lot of trouble, much like now. But then I also had a lot of readers waiting for each new chapter, I won’t with this one, I am not going to release the book until it’s published, though you might get small pieces as teasers and when I really need help with something.

So an outline it is, here is a very basic summery for you.

This is the first book in a trilogy about a small group of young adults in there first years of college. When they stumble across a chest in a dirty attic they find a mystery that will take them on an adventure no one ever thought possible. Science Fiction/Fantasy. Includes time travel, new planets, massive supernatural evil villains, and new friendships.

Wish me luck!

Life as a Vegetarian – One Month In

Wow, has it really been a month?!? In a way this has been both the quickest and longest month in history. And to further make this complicated, becoming a vegetarian cold turkey (great pun?) has been so much easier then I thought it would be, and yet so much harder then I thought possible. Confused? I am!

I have not had any meat in an entire month, though there have been several very close calls. From ordering what I have always ordered on a menu without a second thought, to going places with people and seeing things I have always really loved. Then there was the cravings, good God; the cravings. Thankfully there are a lot of fake meat substitutes! My latest meat craving was chicken strips, half a small box of fake chicken strips and a lot of ketchup later, craving fully satisfied.

On the other hand, I feel great! I feel almost…lighter? It’s a strange but good feeling. I have also taken to cooking when I can afford it. Finding the grocery store that has the best selection has been fun, and the winner is? HEB and Kroger! So far, HEB is the only place I have found the Smart foods. Oh but Randall’s has this brand called Eating Right that is awesome too.

On the other hand of the cooking thing, I have yet to find a recipe I really like. I have books and magazines, and nothing I have made has made me want to ever make it again. Anyone have any good vegetarian recipes? I am thinking about trying to doctor some of my favorite recipes.

Animals, some people seemed to think that I could care less about them. That is far from the truth! I want to try to change this misconception. I did not become a vegetarian because I was going PETA. I went vegetarian because the thought of eating meat repulsed me. Now having done all the research I could so that I would know how to make this big change, I read a lot about what animals go through. I am still not going to become a active PETA member, but I understand more on that aspect of things too.

I have never really liked eggs, so for the most part I use the powder vegan fake egg stuff that seems to work out fine. However when it comes to deviled eggs, all bets are off.

Thanks everyone who has supported me though out this, especially my Mom K who went out of her way to make me a portabella mushroom burger for Easter and decided to make the steaks after I left, because I have always loved steak, and I might have given up right then for one of hers.

I will endeavor to keep you updated on how my life as a vegetarian is going. Oh, and did I mention I could give blood the other day? I was afraid of what my IRON count would be, if it’s under 38 you can’t give blood. Mine was 39! Go multi-vitamin!

An Introduction

My name is Lauren Freeman, I am an aspiring writer, currently a vegetarian and I am doing well just to get by everyday. Welcome to my life, and the life of millions of other silent voices. Of course if no one ever reads this, then I guess my voice is still just as silent.

When I sat down to write this, I was thinking of making this blog dedicated to just my writing and the effort to becoming a published author. I would try to take you through my trials, questions and successes of the entire writing process. But I have more to say.

So then I thought I would have more then one blog, but I know myself; I would quit, quickly; if I had to log out and log in as a different user every time I had something to say on a different subject. I am great at starting things, planning things in detail; but finishing? Not so much, as I said before I know myself. So more then one blog is out, should I then make each subject a different entry? Or should each blog be like a news letter, with different parts? I suppose it would depend on the length of each subject and whether or not I want a certain subject to stand on its own or not.

If I post this blog, with the hopes that I would gain readers, perhaps you can help me stay on track. Talk to me, ask me questions, make comments, challenge me, and hopefully I will inspire someone else to move forward as well.

With all of that said, let me introduce myself. At the age of 27, I have not really gone very far. Within an hours drive from my dad’s house, I live with several room mates of which I could probably write about in length, for years. That blog entry probably would not be very pretty, so I won’t go in to detail. Though I am sure you will hear all about them as life moves forward.

I have worked in the same café for four years now, before that I worked at a café with the exact same name, owned by the same people in a different location much closer to my dad’s.

I read, write go to work as the sales lead, come home, sleep and start all over again. That is my average day. But I am striving to live a much more out going life, much to my introverted self’s horror. In truth I started this journey in September of 2009. I joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training and began spending all of my time walking/running long distances, and volunteering during every spare moment I had. I sold hundreds of over priced beers at countless concerts, sold thousands of food and drinks in concession stands at Houston Astros games (baseball). Worked event after event volunteering over 180 hours. In the end, I STILL could not raise enough money to even think about continuing when the amount I still needed appeared half way through. So I dropped out, but tried to help the teammate (we became good friends) I always walked/ran with make it the rest of the way. She did, and I volunteered at her marathon seeing her off, worked my shift then helped her limp back to the car.

September 2009 was also when I decided I was going to lose weight, and I am proud to say that I have now lost 50 pounds, and am still loosing.

2010 has been a year of changes. I am wearing clothes that have never fit me before, I am wearing make up having decided to move forward completely after my break up with my now ex-fiancé, who out of nowhere, broke up with me; leaving me homeless.

I have also applied for a better job! The long application is in, approved. I took a hard computerized test, and passed. I am now waiting on a credit check, if that is approved I will move forward to medical. Keep in mind I have not even been interviewed yet. If I get this job however, I will be moving from the Houston area, (a place I have lived in and around my entire life!) to the Dallas/Fort Worth area, just a short distance from where my sister and aunt live. Though where in the world I will ever find the money for the move is a great mystery. But I really, really want this job, so I will make it happen. ..somehow…

The rest you will learn as I write, updating you on how events are going in my life. My weekends are currently booked with volunteer projects; you can get a much more up to date detail of what is happening, when it happens if you follow me on Twitter. My username is iniysa

Wal-Mart is not Faux Meat Friendly!

My local grocery store has some great Faux meat selections, but there are brands and faux foods, friends talk about so I decided that since I had to go to a building next door to my Wal-Mart today, I would step inside and see what selections they carried. I was highly disappointed. I found the fake burgers patties in the breakfast isle, next to waffles. It was two shelves with only two brands and they were just thrown in there. Of the two brands, there were only two choices of what you could buy.

So I moved on to try and find fake deli meats, I found nothing, every employee I asked looked at me like I had three heads. There would always be a very long, pregnant pause before I was asked to clarify what I was asking. By the third person, I gave up and went home.

So much for my Wal-Mart’s grocery section, I could not even find stuff to make guacamole with, (My latest craving.) I’m glad I didn’t though; I stopped by my grocery store on the way home and found my favorite guacamole mix on sale, marked down to $.50, I was so excited I actually let out a tiny squeal.

A Close Call

Just down the road from my home; within walking distance, there is a small Chinese restaurant standing alone in the parking lot of a crowded shopping strip on very busy street. I have often found myself coming here when I crave Chinese food and am short on cash, which of course is most of the time. For just under five dollars you can get a fairly large plate of food.

I always order the same thing when I go there, I don’t even think about it. “A-18 please.” I pay and go sit down with a pen and my notebook so that I can get some writing done. I am always distracted however, no matter where I sit; by the TV, normally set on a Chinese game show channel were the games always look just a little painful. And why are there always very young girls cheering in the background?

It’s not long before my food is brought out, I gab my fork, my eyes glued to the screen where the next vic…contestant is taking his or her place on the…well I have no idea what that is, but it looks like its going to hurt. The first bite is almost to my mouth when something tells me to look down, chicken. Crap! I groan rather loudly, but no one looks my way; my groan is downed out by the contestant on the TV who can probably never have children now.

I however stare down in horror at the plate of food in front of me, I just spent my last five dollars on a plate of food most of which I don’t want to eat. I shake my head, and begin eating the rice. My roommate loved the chicken when I brought it home to her. Oh well… live and learn. I’ll miss you A-18.

I’m Becoming a Vegetarian, I Must Be Crazy!

I woke up a week or so ago not hungry for meat, at all. As a matter of fact, I thought the sound of it was slightly disgusting. Having no idea where this is stemming from, I’ve decided that for now, at least; I am going to go with it.

Honestly I’ve always said I would not EVER become a vegetarian, I like meat WAY to much. I have a lot of friends who are Vegetarians and Vegans, and although I have respected there choices, I have also always thought they were crazy. Well I guess for now I am insane too.

I am not doing this because of an animal rights group, I firmly believe that we are carnivores whether we eat meat or not, it’s part of being human. So I have no problems with anyone who eats meat. Go for it and enjoy. I however will be joining this group of non-meat eaters for who knows how long, and we will see where it takes me.

My biggest worry is getting my vitamins in. I have now done quite a bit of research into this, and have a list of vegetarian friendly foods with the vitamins vegetarians are notoriously lacking. I have also changed my daily vitamin to one that supports more in those vitamin areas until I can get used to getting said vitamins out of my food by itself. I am an advocate of daily vitamins however so I will probably never stop taking them, but I like my normal vitamins so…

I am not giving up dairy, though I might slowly try more veggie friendly things like veggie cheese. I LOVE cheese, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! But with this, I am going to try and be healthier, and keep losing weight. I have lost 43 pounds as a meat eater, let’s see how being a vegetarian will help. I’m sure my cholesterol will thank me later. I also know I like soy, rice and almond milk’s (chocolate being my favorite.) I am going to endeavor to drink more milk products to bring in more calcium. Although I am fairly positive I have no problem with calcium right now, or in the past for that matter, I should think about my future as well, especially with such a radical change. (Never had any broken bones, my fingernails grow, fast, long and strong etc.)

So if anyone would like to come in with tips, or advice, please post away! But before you do, please remember, If you think I’m crazy, so do I, but I am not going to criticize anything your doing that might not be completely normal, so please don’t judge me negatively. Thank you!