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Sunday, November 1, 2009

Chipotle > Nanowrimo > Halloween

This is what Court Street in Athens, Ohio looks like on Halloween. For one weekend every year, the population of an already big school more than doubles, and there's barely an inch of personal space in any direction. Once I'd finished my free Chipotle burrito (first and foremost, the most important day of the year, and by far the best part of Halloween), I head out with a group of friends to people-watch and try not to get knocked over by props.

My God-- I'd never seen so many creative outfits in my life. It was like a Lady Gaga clone convention. I had my picture taken with a guy wearing a paper-mache head to look like Hey Arnold, moved out of the way of a gaggle of cheering girls dressed up as a six pack of beer, and talked with a boy who was wearing a cardboard box with a hole through it, labeled BALLOON BOY. While not as recognizable as the boys in helmets with cups glued to the tops (Double Dare contestants) or as tantalizing as the girls in "sexy" versions of the Disney princess dresses, my homemade Bellatrix Lestrange costume held its own.

After perusing the streets for a couple of hours, I got a pretty bad stomach ache, which probably stemmed from the fact that I hadn't eaten before my burrito in hopes that I'd be able to save enough room to relive last year's disgusting triple-Chipotle fest. Bad plan. Instead, I suffered through one burrito and then felt like I was having a baby made of guacamole and black beans. Luckily (well... you know what I mean), Heather was also not feeling well, so, like total losers, we left the biggest, craziest party in the country really early to have Girly Giggle Time in her room. We popped a couple Pepto Bismol, laughed over a marathon of I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant, and got hyped up for NaNoWriMo. Heather and I counted eight separate ambulances rush past her room over the course of the night, people screamed and boozed and danced until all hours, and yet I worked on a novel until sunrise. Nerdfighters!

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, as of three in the afternoon on today, Day 1, I have nearly 7,000 words. I don't know if I've ever tirelessly written so much in such a short span of time, and I'm still going strong. My novel is about a thirteen-year-old girl named Gina, and it's one of those youthful insecurity stories that pretty much everyone can relate to, but will still probably be too controversial for a lot of people, because I'm trying to be as honest as possible. While I totally froze up with anxiety when Kristina asked me to send her an excerpt, I really like it so far. It's awesome that I didn't plan AT ALL, and wouldn't even allow my mind to wonder into the territory of plot before last night, and yet I've organically met this really fleshed-out character and I can already see where the story will probably go. I love writing, guys.

And now, finally, I am going to go shower and rid my arm of the Sharpie Dark Mark I drew to complete my costume, as well as cleanse my body and soul from a combination between too much fun and too much slaving away. College is exhilarating.

Sexy: Having handy writing buddies available at all times. I've been talking to Kristina on Skype for much of the morning, and we had a laugh about how, when my word count was up to 6,000, hers looked like this:
Unsexy: The condition of my physical appearance. Remnants of dark eyeshadow, hair in a floppy knot, big t-shirt and a pair of Heather's shorts. SHOWER TIME.

Chipotle burritos this year: 34
Bagel Street visits this school year: 4
Subscribers: Site maintenance. Will update next time.

Bye, guys! Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow. <3

30 comments:

Holly said...

Good luck for NaNoWriMo! I actually woke up on Nov.1 and decided I would do it, but I've only hit 1006 words so far. I'm using the plot and plan that my fourteen year old self came up about 4 christmases ago.
I can't believe I'm going to type this...uh oh...here it comes..so lame...WRITE ON!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your writing. I loved your costume.

allyson said...

I absolutely love going reading about your experiences, and being able to relate and go through them myself at the exact same time in life.
7,000? You inspire me, girl.

I Didn't Know I was Pregnant may just be the best comedy on television. =]]

Have a great day, dearie!

The Vagabond said...

I have definitely had a "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant" marathon with friends before. They are pretty hilarious.

I'm still deciding on whether or not I should do NaNoWriMo. I have a story idea, but I epically failed last year. I don't really want that to happen again and 50,000 words just seems like something I would fail at. Good luck with yours though. I can't wait to hear about it! : )

Caitlin said...

My first NaNoWriMo this year.
3,221 words so far. I'm kind of proud of this, because I mean, it's nearly double the amount I wanted to get done for the first day!
<3

-___- said...

I had my first Chipotle burrito yesterday after a forensics tournament. I was in shock.

I was proud of my 2000+ words, then saw your near 7,000. Insert an ellipsis here.

Good luck!! <3

Steve said...

when i saw that you were on 6000+ words, i said out loud to myself "holy crap hayley g hoover, you're too good at this"

I'm on just over 1000 words, but i've written less than 200 words since 2AM, i might be falling behind after only the first day!

to_thine_own_self said...

Last night right after the clock struck midnight I started my novel even though I was super tired and somewhat in a chocolate-induced coma.
I got to over 500 words before going to bed. So I started off pretty decently.
Then around noon today I wrote for about a half hour and got up to 1,989. I'm kind of proud of myself, even if you're like a machine and have gotten like six times my word count. XD
NaNoWriMo is fun. So far anyway.
I'm glad you made that video about it and talking on here about it.
That convinced me to give it a go. So thanks =D

And good luck! Though...I think you're doing just fine without my luck. Haha.

Eric Gomez said...

This is my first time doing NaNoWriMo, and I'm utterly pleased with my first day. I've got around 2,200 words. Although yours is... well, a lot more than mine, I feel accomplished :D

KaraDawlish said...

This is my frist nanowrimo year! I also didn't think about plot until I sat down to write it. I made one up randomly and so far have 2817 words

Anonymous said...

In the minutes counting down to midnight Nov. 1, hyped up on heath bars and peanut M&Ms, having killed hours editing essays and dying my sister's hair blue, I Facebook-updated every minute and FLIPPED OUT when the clock struck: "OMG IT'S NANOWRIMO AHHHH I DON'T BELIEVEITIGOTTAGOWRITE!"

Now I'm writing an essay.

...but I've already got 8,126 words. HA.

Jen N. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JustAGirl said...

I also dressed up as Bellatrix! You inspired me to wear the perfect cross of sexy/scary and nerdiness. Your costume was far more elaborate than mine. Mine consisted of wearing lots of black blowing out my already frizzy hair and tons of eyeliner to offset my pale skin.

Jen N. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kristina said...

Pffft. Way to immortalize my embarrassing word count forever on your blog. xD

B Francis said...

Funny thing about this photo, I might be in it.

Guy in all white, with a black bowler hat. I was a Droog from A Clockwork Orange. If that's not me, it's the same costume.

Anonymous said...

good luck with nanowrimo! i wish i could do it, but knowing me, i would probably only get about 3000 words done. hehe. but, if your willing to share, i (and im sure everybody else) would love to hear an excerpt of your story... your blog writing is so amazing, i could only imagine a full blown story by hayleyghoover herself. i cant wait until you become an author. =]

Michal Chinn said...

This is me not writing for NaNoWriMo. After I write this comment I will write a blog in which I also don't write for NaNoWriMo. I miss you. I didn't see you this weekend and I have things to tell you. Off to continue in my procrastination.

ALSO: You and PJ both looked adorable.

I looked drunk and slutty, as was expected.

bookmouse99 said...

Good luck getting the remnants of your costume off. I was the tooth fairy and still have glitter all over my eyes that just wont come off.

Good luck with NaNoWriMo! I'm sure you will be fabulous

Anonymous said...

FOUR FOR YOU HAYLEY COCO! YOU GO HAYLEY COCO!

Good luck with NaNoWriMo! Even though you seems to be kicking it's ass =)

Unknown said...

*shakes fist*

Nooooo I will never catch up to you now!

*dispairs*

Anonymous said...

at my school i saw hundreds of slutty firefighters, cops and construction workers. so what could i do to stand out and also be something i love? i dressed up as a chipotle burrito.

thought you might appreciate that.

kristie said...

i love your blog so friggin much! every post is such a funny story, and you always make ordinary life experiences really fun to read.

Tom said...

I wonder what Kristina's four words were. Perhaps "The bitch went nuts." That would've been a nice start.

I'm at just about 5,000 now. I keep feeling like it's the third day, since I started midnight on Sunday, so I'm pretty pumped that it's still only Nov. 2nd. Okay, gotta keep the momentum going, gotta keep the momentum going, gotta go back to writing now...

Alex Dahlberry said...

You're my idol. Seriously? The biggest college party in the country, and you're writing a story. I love you.
I only have 750 words because I've had WAY too much homework to find any time to write. But I WILL catchup. I hope.
My story is also sounding alittle too much like a journal. it's my life with different names. xD
-alex

Anonymous said...

Will we be able to read your novel once November's over? Or is this a strictly personal thing?

Nokorola said...

NANOWRIMO!

Another State of Mind said...

I Didn't Know I was Pregnant is probably one of the funniest shows ever. How do you not know that your pregnant? That question stumps me every time I think about it. :)

Another State of Mind said...

I Didn't Know I was Pregnant is probably one of the funniest shows ever. How do you not know that your pregnant? That question stumps me every time I think about it. :)

Jovi said...

Considering how your recent post referred to yourself when you first started blogging, I couldn't help but use some of my free time to go back and read through some of your old blog posts, realizing that these were written when you were about my age. I can't help but think about just how well they are written in a way that is generally interesting to read, especially during NaNo time, haha.

I don't know why I'm deciding to post a comment on a post around four years old, and I almost backed out of it before deciding to just go with it. You're fairly vocal about reading all your comments, right?

Getting to why I felt like commenting, I just thought about how much you like writing, and how you've done NaNo and all, before reaching the semi-conclusive thought about how exciting it'd be if I were to just see a video of yours pop up in my sub box about publishing a novel. And it just made me smile, sort of. Being someone who doesn't know you at all, this isn't really supposed to be anything more than me sharing a thought I had. You know, just a comment. ;)