Success!

This was a weekend full of successes, large and small.

1) Turned on the pilot light (with help). Now my apartment is toasty warm instead of chilly.

2) Cooked a Turkey breast (without hardly any help!). It turned out absolutely delicious, if I do say so myself -- the breast meat was tender enough that even I (a sworn dark-meat person) loved it. I still have some in my refrigerator. Sammiches? Yes. The rest of Thanksgiving dinner (challah, mashed potatoes, vegetables, apple crisp, gravy) was a riotous success as well. With the possible exception of the gravy, which was... very thick. In my defense, I had not made gravy before, and my father did say "equal parts drippings and flour". But, all in all, I need more excuses to make large meals and bake bread. Also the time to do so.

3) Fixed the light in the kitchen. This was, admittedly, in no part my doing. It was also in no part within my abilities, since it required someone to fix wiring somewhere inside the walls. But the landlord is fixing things in the apartment next to mine, and halfway through making the turkey, the light came on. Thanksgiving miracle!

4) Strung Patio Lights (they are not christmas lights if I leave them up after new year's). They are warm and welcoming.

5) Made a desk (w00!). It is just a shelf built into the wall, but since I hate powertools and this required using a power drill, I am proud of myself nonetheless. After all, I have a battle scar from when a power drill attacked me. The desk is pine, stained bright red, and sitting in the nook in my bedroom. I love it!

6) Finished this year's NaNoWriMo novel! All told, it is 76,440 words long and 156 pages. It is not my worst work, but not my best either, in my opinion. I think it is, however, a good sequel, so I am not ashamed. At least, I will not be ashamed once I have edited it.

7) Investigated another clue for the scavenger hunt. I now have 3 clues written and 4 more planned out. I can stop now, or come up with one more clue. Woo!

Hopefully, now that November is over, I will return to a more regular posting schedule. The plan is to go back to posting a word-of-the-day drabble every day. We'll see about that.

And, to inaugurate my return, a drabble! Inspired by the word "Incursion".

Professor Randolph knew that 150 people were registered for his class, but he also knew that only one quarter of those people ever attended lecture. So he was not prepared for a full classroom on that dreary Monday morning. Unless he was very much mistaken, there were more than two hundred students in the lecture hall.

Frankly, it distressed him.

He cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to be obtuse,” he said, “But you can’t all be registered for this course.”

A rolling laughter swept the audience, but there was no specific reply.

Professor Randolph, baffled, turned to the board.