anagram of brat

It's certainly coming along! With any luck (and hopefully a minimum of wrist breakage) hopefully I can get this done by next weekend? Maybe? We'll see.

Life has been... well. Pretty much this, and podcasts and TV and will likely be that until I finish this. Hence the lack of postings. The two kind of major bits being dealing with Moonbeam's recovery, since he spent the better part of the week shut in our bathroom, to no one's enjoyment - the other two cats were freaked out by their comrade being trapped in there, Moonbeam HATES being shut up away from people, plus the inconvenience of not really being able to use the bathroom effectively. But thankfully Moonbeam is on the mend, is once again continent (thank fuck) and there is no longer kitty litter all over the bathroom (yay) so there was that. He's still on antibiotics for another week and on the urinary tract food at least until we finish the bag/cans, but at least that bit's not quite as gross. As an added perk, his general smellycatness seems to have gone away as well, so maybe the hideous breath was a sign of something else going on that the medicine is taking care of. Either way win.

Not much else to report other than attending a lovely party at renegadethumper/deliriumdeva's new place in CT. Those two do love themselves old converted factory spaces. Also I have various home improvement/cat amusement projects in the works for when this thing is finished... they mostly at this stage involve lots of measuring and discovering that I have pretty much forgotten all of my middle school trig except for the Pythagorean theorem. >_< Meanwhile I am terrifying the husbeast with murmurings on twitter about possibly needing 1500 feet of sisal rope and a whole lot of PVC pipe. Hey, I said they were projects. :P

But... first things first. Let's finish this one first.

Tomorrow, much to my surprise, I have off for MLK day. I will mostly be spending it going in for my annual as well as making a crock of stew for the week, and maybe not pissing myself off with tumblr: land of social injustice, to mark the holiday? :/ And of course, the beading. All the beading.

Bead shopping is SUCH a royal pain in the ass.

There's only one company that makes the beads I work with: Miyuki. You would think this would make things simpler, but no. The main problem is that currently Miyuki has about 1500 distinct color/lining/finish combinations. The good thing about this is that you're pretty much guaranteed to find exactly the color/lining/finish you want. The bad news is that you have to really dig through that vast catalog in order to find what you need (which normally is fine but sucks balls if you're after something specific) and after several days of doing this, I can say with authority that there are no online catalogs out there that make this sort of search helpful or easy. Not even the actual company's website//sample materials. Don't get me started on the horror of disorganization Miyuki's sample cards are, I'll start foaming at the mouth.

There's also the problem that there really is no way to tell what a bead color is going to look like online. Honestly even when you have it in your hand, the only way to really tell if you've nailed the color in question is to actually work with it, especially if you've got transparent beads. Those colors change and shift depending on thread color and surrounding beads. So yeah, talk about fucked six ways from Sunday when trying to plan a project.

Anyway after about five days of grueling research, a trip and several phone calls to Northampton Beadery (pretty sure renegadethumper's sister now thinks I'm completely batshit insane), and maybe about a dozen online bead catalogs that have all made me want to punch their designers in the throat, I think I've got my four colors for the Game Boy Project. These selections have been duly sent off to both harinezumi (who is in Japan right now and did say he was heading down to Asakusa-bashi) and the Beadery. Whew.

The next thing to worry about is the time this damn project is going to take. While I was tempted to buy the next loom size up from the one I already had, I've decided against it for a couple of reasons; 1) the beads by themselves for this particular piece is going to run me about a C-note. (This is NOT a cheap hobby, y'all.) 2) Finishing loomed beadwork is a royal pain in the ass. You pretty much have to stitch each warp thread back through the beads, which is not only annoying, but I inevitably break a few beads towards the edges because there's too much thread going through them. Sigh. At least that's the problem going with The Witch. Also these pieces are going to be at least twice as big on both sides and... yeah no, thinking about doing that much casting off is making me die a little inside. So I'm going to go with square stitching the whole piece. The advantage to that is no warp threading, no big awkward loom to carry around, and since each bead is sewn in individually it means a stronger piece overall. The disadvantage? It's going to take fucking forever because again, each bead is sewn in individually. So what, big deal, right? Um yeah, a 160x144 pixel screen shot doesn't sound like much untill you actually do the math and realize that equals 23040 beads. My wrists and eye sockets are already aching just thinking about it. Also considering the nature of the project, much of this is going to be bloody boring to do, due to the limited color palette. Most of these are going to be interminable blocks of whichever shade of puke green is called for just because there isn't much going on graphics wise in any given screen shot:



That is a soul-withering amount of chartreuse I'm facing, no matter which game I start with.

Anyway, nothing to be done with any of it now except wait for the Beadery and harinezumi to get back to me regarding prices. Its not like I don't have Real Projects that need finishing in the meantime. *cough* *job search* *cough* *The Witch* *cough* *thank you cards* *cough* *wedding announcements* *cough* *writing* *cough* *sigh*

Cold has progressed southward. I now have a chokey, phlegm-y cough to contend with. Yay. At least it goes away if I'm warm, but the trip to work was miserable.

Mood seems to have broken for the time being. Not sure what changed, but not knocking it.

By request, I baked the cheese biscuits again last night for the monday night gamers, to much appreciation. Combat is funny when everyone including the GM has their mouths full. Again, the main pain in the butt with this recipe is grating the cheese. Also remembering to set our oven 25 degrees lower than directed. It runs hot.

Odd desire to pull out the sketchbook and start drawing again. Not that I was ever all that great at it, but sometimes I get this urge to sketch things and it's on me now. I kinda want to do a series of pictures of characters I've played in various games in the past year, especially since the last regular one I've been in seems to be going on indefinite hiatus. But yeah, I kinda want to sit and draw my favorites. Anita and Mare, definitely, and possibly also the De'ath girl (I forget her first name) I played in the steampunk adventure with Lori's gang. I liked her a lot. Hell, even Sara Morgan from the SODA Vampire run has been up and wandering through my head lately. I also want to draw out the characters for SQWRRL, since currently I've got other people's images up on the site and I want to fix that at some point.

Other things I want to draw if this mood stays with me - I need to find the original vector files for the chibi pirate and ninja in my icon and see if I can either update that picture or do another one in the series, possibly for use in save-the-date cards. (cell23 requested shooping in a wee TARDIS in the background of whatever picture we use. His random attacks of fanboy are pretty cute, ngl.) I also have a sketch of 11th_letter among my papers that I've meant to flesh out and finish up for a couple years going I should tend to.

Who am I kidding, between all the stuff that needs doing, when the hell am I gonna have time to fucking draw? lol. Why can't these things just manifest, fully finished, from my head?

Fehh speaking of creative imagery, I'm about a week behind on my 365. Need to get back on top of that.



Not much else going, in other news.

Picture post!

( Cut for large ass pictures )

Final dragcave treat tally 73/94. I'm good with that. Now it's all about letting the eggs I have hatch up and then pretty much done til christmas.

Rock Band 3 on all instruments is mind blowingly fun. And yes, we had enough people tonight to have all four instruments and 3 microphones going at once. I totally like wants me own, precious, mostly cause there's shit I want to play/download that I know will get my ass clowned if other people are in the vicinity. :) Maybe by the time RB4 happens I'll have enough money loosened up for such things.

No trick or treaters, but despite this I've managed to consume enough kit kat and snickers fun size bars to give me a raging headache and a need to stay awake FOREVER. Oh wait... that might also have to do with the half a bottle of Pepsi I motored through today.

Wellp, it's officially November, which means my birthday is officially over (lol) and candy corn is disgusting again as of about an hour ago. I'm not doing NaNo this year (not like I ever do NaNo for more than a week anyway) - instead, going to work on some other stuff this month. I still have a ton of web crap on my plate that I need to finish, both personal and not, need to do some Serious Work Shit, have one new web project I want to get underway (but still need to clear the rest of it before I do in earnest) and need to address various and sundry money stuff so I can get some stuff paid down and get Hanzo-san back on the road. I miss driving my baby.

Also I need to jack out some this month, as I've noticed I'm fading back into my usual patterns of avoiding the minatours roaring in my head (and they've been LOUD the past little while, hoo boy) by fading into the Internet as much as possible. I'll still be on LJ, but in the interest of noise reduction I'm not going to be on twitter or FB much, so if I miss something good, holler. I think this month I'm going to spend dealing with the real world - getting my money and brain unscrambled, and actually working on some things instead of staring at them and panicking about how they're never going to get done. Hopefully I'll have made enough progress so that when Cataclysm actually drops I'll be able to a) afford it (oh.... crap, do I also have to buy lich king too? crud.) b) be able to have a free enough plate both time and headnoise-wise to play it with impunity.

So yeah, if I get quieter in the next 30 days, chances are I'm okay and hopefully busy as hell instead of staring at the ceiling babbling the Russian lyrics to Tetris or something. Yes, that song has words and I know them. The first couple of verses anyway.

I guess here's to a productive and triumphant November?

Thinking of bringing back my weekly podcast after the move. Who'd be interested in listening if I did?

Reason this came up: I was brainstorming a list of a certain class of early 90s hip-hop that I can't really quantify... they have a certain sound to them, I guess is all. But so far what's on the list:

House of Pain - Jump Around
Onyx - Slam
Black Sheep - The Choice is Yours (this or that)
Cypress Hill - Insane in the Membrane
Snap - The Power
Rob Base/DJ E-Z Rock - It takes two
Public Enemy - 911 is a joke/fight the power

Any other ideas, fellow "we actually remember what was on the radio 20 years ago" people?

Kidzilla and Lovebug were playing Kitties this morning. This is an ongoing game where the two of them crawl around on the floor pretending to be cats.

At one point, the Lovebug comes up to me with Mrs. Kitty the stuffed cat and says "Take a picture of me with this in my MOUF!"

So I did.




It's been a super good, if super busy weekend. I've said goodbye to the kids already, as they're off to their other grandparents with cell23 and they're getting picked up from there. Last night's adventure with avalon616 was superfuntiems, and we got back way late, so I'm actually appreciating a bit of downtime right now, as I'm still not 100% digestion wise and I'm tired as hell. But I think after vegging for a little while I'm going to try to get a few productive things done.

January's almost over. Going to do a little reflection and tying up of loose ends, and make some lists and plans for February. Got some fairly large things in the works, so hopefully it'll be me making the most of a short month. January didn't go nearly as well as I expected due to emotional schmoo, but I'm still fairly pleased with what I did manage to accomplish so far - I haven't missed a day yet with 365, which I'm fairly astounded by (I usually never seem to stick with this sort of shit for that long), the plotbunny is still nibbling, my hair is cut and combed out and this weekend, settled into its new length and behaving, and I'm in a less dire place financially than I was four weeks ago. Still haven't gotten the car fixed, but I'm sure I can get that done soon. Looking forward to February.

I probably SHOULD be watching the Obama speech right now, but I so don't feel like it, so nyeh.

I'm about 85% unpacked right now, and my room feels like me. There is stuff up on the walls even. Really everything is more or less where it should be except for 12 Diamond boxes full of books and two piles of controlled chaos in my closet and by my dresser. But yeah, holy crap, I have a pretty good chunk of floor. Dancing might need to happen. Or Legos. I'm thinking next time Cara's Seth shows up we can talk about addressing the shelving situation, as I figured out if I shove my dresser about 90 degrees from where it is now I have a glorious bit of entire wall to devote to some insane shrine to literature, tchochkes and maybe even a nice high perch for The Vulture. Needless to say, as someone who hasn't had space for all her damn books since leaving high school, this appeals a lot to me.

Still have to get one last box and bit of furniture out of storage too. And start thinking about refinishing/painting the dresser.

Starting to scheme on a project idea... yeah I know, me? With a project idea? CLUTCH THE PEARLS lol.

Nice cool breeze outside... toying with the idea of having walkies. Feeling antsy.

It occurs to me that I want to be nowhere near the northeast the entire week after my birthday. (It would be just my luck that all three of my most recent exes have birthdays the same week. On the other hand, that's quite a bit less shopping to do.) Anyway, since I'm dreaming, I'm thinking of taking a trip that week. This all depends on things like serious money fu in the next couple months, but the thought is there. I have some possible destinations in mind.

Seattle, WA - Visit harinezumi, meet/visit kittikattie, and maybe even pop by Lydia if she's amenable. Will pick up Aeris from her summer vaca. Probably will get nommed. Mexicoke and beer have already been offered.

ETA: and apparently I'm an idiot, cause blueraccoon is out there too!

Austin, TX - meet austingoddess and possibly triplemare, athene would just about poop herself with excitement, see innostrantsa, who may also poop with glee. Investigate this Alamo Drafthouse thing. Considering lordaerith has already threatened to stuff me with burritos if I show up, be sure to show up hungry.

Lynchburg, VA - ...lets just say getting nommed on is a guarantee, not a possibility. I also have been tempted with candy and food. Will probably return home throughly exhausted.

Columbus/Cincinatti, OH - _kyri and bellarisa! There will be ORFing and tickling. Yes.

There are cons to each destination of course, but lets accentuate the positive as the song goes. Cost may be a factor. This trip may not happen at all considering I'm fantastically bad at planning things more than a week in advance. But the timeframe and the idea are out there. More ponderings and plannings are needed.