Christmas cheer!

song+ Mannequin- Britney Spears- Circus
book+ my Fairy books
scent+ Christmas cookies Steve brought in
quest+saving $400 in by next weekend
upper+ i totally think i can do it!
downer+ i won't have any me-money till spring X.x
attire+ jeans, old sneakers, and a pastel rainbow-ey striped tee
drink+ semi-flat dr pepper. yay that.

so christmas was awesome this year! xD Annie cleared customs today, she should be home early next week! i got exactly what i wanted for christmas: the pink and crimson volumes of Andrew Lang's fairy tale compilations, a Mitzi Gaynor DVD with Bob Mackie costume featurette, white SD knee-high boots for Larxene, a stuffed Boo (which is awesome!), and LEGO BATMAN for the x-box. xD i love it so much. i think it may be the single best videogame.. ever! also a variety of hershey kisses (special dark, cocoa, andes mint, and caramel) were in my stocking with a 24 pack of watercolour pencils from JesusMike, and chocolate covered cherries from Kyu, because he knows it's not christmas without them.

we got Suzy a Cycle of the Werewolf hardcover (she lost her autographed copy due to the negligence of kyu's biological dad), a few paperbacks she'd been eyeing, and a new game for Kyu's old DS. she'd been wanting one, and he never played his anymore, so it got bequeathed. standard stocking chocolates were also given.

we got Wolfie a rap CD he's been looking for for about a decade, a Bobby Flay cookbook, and since he can't have sugar, beef jerky/ slim jim things for his share of the stocking. xD i taped them together, wrapped them, then coated the whole thing in clear tape, and we told him he couldn't use scissors at all. xD good times.

i got moose a Runaways (series 1- Alex is on it) poster and a pair of antlers. xD she got me nothing, for she is a poor, broke moose. xD

i got Roro the Complete Batman: the Animated Series, she got me the doll boots and she's also making stockings to go with them, which is awesome! xD i can't wait to get the outfit they'll go with most. i'm ordering it next weekend.

i got Kyu two PVC statues of Darkstalkers characters, a Morrigan, and a Lilith (the only other one in the series is a Felicia). he got me the Lang Fairytale books and the DVD.. both of which were totally "psst, you should buy me this!" presents xD i also put Reese's holiday peanut butter chocolate bell candies in his stocking, because he loves Reese's peanut butter cups, but won't eat them due to my allergy. xD i figured if i gave them to him, he'd indulge for once. standard stocking chocolates were also given.

i got Naku a DVD of all Wierd Al's music videos up through the Saga Begins, from a few years ago. it does not in fact include the video for White and Nerdy. she got me the boo plushie. which is soo cute! i keep mooshing it against my face. xD i am a ginormous Mario dork (though i prefer Luigi), and Boos are the best! Kyu got her the Hellboy Companion book, and she gave him a Superman S shield wristband, which he really likes. standard stocking chocolates were also given, with a BPRD logo (from Hellboy) tee and a selection of brown pencils for sketching. brown is one of her signature colours, and she's a great artist, so we were being encouraging. go us! xD

i got James a set of Oh My Goddess figures in their Battlesuits, which he's been looking for for ages. he gave me LEGO Batman. i adore it beyond words. Kyu got him a movie. i dunno what movie, something with John Woo? anyhow, he seemed to like it. xD he got Kyu the Complete Blue Seed anime. awesometastic! standard stocking chocolates were also given, along with a bottle of scald-your-face-off hot sauce and a tee shirt with a dragon design on it.

poor mom got nothing but the joy of spending time with us.. and watching Roro be goofy all hopped up on cold medication. xD don't feel bad for her though, she knows what she's getting for her birthday, and it is super awesome! xD

tonight Kyu and i head off to his grandpa's for Christmas 2! xD i'm trying to convince him to let me bring the XBox so i can play more LEGO Batman, but i still need to do some convincing. xD i really wish our second controller worked so we could do co-op play. xD when we get to that point, it shall be EPIC WIN!! xD i may buy myself a pretty rechargable other-coloured controller soon and let Kyu play with his standard boring one. i bought an off-brand one with a cord so i wouldn't have to deal with batteries at all, but it died before too long. i'll go with the real thing this time, i think.

i'm totally thinking of Annie as my biggest present, half from Kyu and half from myself, and for me Christmas won't be over until i've opened her. xD i do think LEGO Batman may just be almost as awesome though. ..i'll likely rescind that opinion once i have her and i'm all "SOOOOOO PRETTY!!!" xD *ker-flaky* at this point the impatience has dulled my thrill to the drgree that a game can catch up to it.. when she's here, i won't be impatient anymore, so she will likely eclipse my LEGO Batman high and reign supreme as the ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS GIFT! i just can't wait to hold my baby!! *ker-whine*

Annie is coming home!

song+ none, my betteries are dead
book+ nothing
scent+ dust and comics
quest+saving $400 in 2 1/2 weeks
upper+ i totally think i can do it!
downer+ i won't have any me-money till spring X.x
attire+ jeans, old sneakers, WW volunteer tee, and a pilferd hoodie that used to be James'
drink+ nothing currently

so this morning i finally got my shipping notice from DOD! Annie is on her way home after a 12 week wait to the day. does anyone know how to use a korean tracking number on the usps site? xD i only have this: em 909 168 705kr to go on. and i can't get it to work, but i know there's a trick to use, since i used it years ago when we ordered the others.. i just can't remember the trick. xD

i'm just so happy she's finally coming home! there's no chance of her being here for CHristmas (unless the Post Elves work a 2-day miracle) but she should be here for New Year's, i think, and i can be happy with that. hopefully my clothes order for later this month will arrive with considerably more expediency. xD i'm expecting a slight delay for production of the limited Elf Sha heads, but otherwise i figure it should fall somewhere around the 1 month point.

i think i've figured out a semi-definitive wishlist purchase order plan. the timelines are a bit looser than i'd hoped, but that pesky reality thing keeps rearing it's head and delaying my saving. X.x my plan is now DOB Arie (shepherdess/sheep combo for mom) by the end of February, DOB Libra (ChibiNeko) +extra body(little Arisma for my boss) by the end of April, DOT Shall (Xavin!!) ordered with my tax refund as soon as it hits, and MiniFee Lishe (Irish Noelle) and Miyu (Klara Prast) -probably through Denverdoll- as soon as i can afford to do the layaway payments. i may buy them outright, but i think i'd rather do layaway so i can space it out a little. kyu wants to have his Narshe (Chloe) ordered by March 15th, so he's working out a saving plan for that.

but yeah, i'm pretty much over the moon that Anastasia is finally coming home to me! yay and a half! xD i'm gonna have to get fresh batteries for my camera so i can take a bunch of arrival photos! sometime in the new year i'll have to get together with my friend who ordered a matching Normal Skin Kalix (named Richter) so we can take 'aren't they cute together?' pics and fix their faceups and manicures. xD ..there's speculation that to get the orders out DOD skimped on the sealing they usually do. it's okay though, because it'll make it easier to do the small alterations we both wanted anyway. xD

insecurity, i suppose

song+ Wicked soundtrack
book+ the Pagan Stone
scent+ peach and soap and floral lotion
quest+saving $400 in 2 1/2 weeks
upper+ i totally think i can do it!
downer+ i won't have any me-money till spring X.x
attire+ jeans, old sneakers, and a black supergirl tee
drink+ nothing currently

it's been a while, i know. still no word on the shipping of my Delphine, i just want my Annie home. it's been about 3 months now. waiting this long really sucks.

i have my Christmas shopping all done and wrapped, sitting under the tree. it's a delightfully ghetto tree, but it's out first tree on our own, so we love it. James and Naku should be coming over for Christmas at our place, other than stocking stuffers to be purchased this weekend, we're done.

the bulk of my money for the next few weeks will go to trying to qualify for the DOD Christmas event. X.x that means my semi-secret not-so-stealthy project will have to wait a bit longer.. maybe the end of January or beginning of February. it's still next on my list, but other things came up. i think mom will understand though, since it's still gonna happen.

at this point i'm trying not to think about all the things that are making me excited or nervous, but i can't manage to completely clear my mind at any point in the day. X.x no wonder i'm not sleeping well. part of me is terrified that i'll never feel like a mature, responsible adult. X.x i don't want to feel old and boring, but i'd rather not feel like i'm only pretending to be in control of myself and my life.

i've been thinking about looking for another job. i still like my job a lot of the time, and i like a lot of the people i work with, but i know it's not the best place fer me, as it's way too easy to blow all my money on things i see here. i don't feel like i'm growing anymore and i want to be somewhere else before i feel like i'm stagnating. i'm not saying i'm gonna quit tomorrow or anything, i'm not even actively looking for anything else, just keeping myself open to possibilities. my biggest frustration with my current job is that i'm not paid anything near what i'm worth. i work too hard to make so little. i may be materialistic and needy, as i'm not having any trouble surviving, but i want a buffer of emergency spendability. i don't have that now.

i want to grow up a little, so i can have more fun. i want to do better, have better, be better. i think i want to look into what it would take to do costume design and have someone with some drive help me follow through. a good bit of my procrastinatory tendancies are rooted in my fear of failure, it's harder to fail if you never finish, and therefore can't be judged.

i want my wings. i know that getting a tattoo that will cover about a third of my back isn't exactly conducive to the growing up and possibly getting a better job, but it's something i've wanted almost all my life. something i've planned for for a long time. i think i'm ready to find a parlor that feels safe and look into getting it done already. i know that it's probably not something that most people would encourage me to do, but i'm gonna. i'd like to have it done by my birthday this year in fact. i'll probably get my star first as it'll be a good deal smaller and better for breaking through the fear of being jabbed repeatedly by a stranger. xD

i feel stagnant and disssatisfied, and logically i shouldn't when there's so much going on around me. X.x i want more. i'm not sure what of just yet, but i know i'll figure it out.

i'm happy living where i am, just me and Kyu. we needed it, we were ready, and it's done wonders for both of us. it's a little crowded, but getting about four rooms worth of stuff into a one bedroom loft isn't easy. xD we've both gotten rid of a lot of junk we were only keeping out of sentimentality, and we've done okay not-replacing it with new junk. i've even substantially cut back on my comics. they take up a ton of room, so i'm mostly switching to trades and hardcovers. cheaper in the long run and more space efficient, as i already have bookshelves. xD you can fit a lot more story on a shelf than in a comic longbox.

i'm anxous because i still feel like something big is coming up. it's right on the horizon, but i can't see what it is for the life of me. i've been saying that for months and bir things HAVE happened; Dad's strokes, moving to our own place, probably the best WWTx ever, ordering Annie, but none of those BIG things were THE big thing i've been sensing. every time i thought to myself "maybe this is it?" but i still feel it, something's coming and it's driving me crazy not-knowing, but being so close to it. i can tell i'm close.. almost there, but not enough, it sucks.

dollish rambling

song+ Gimme Gimme Gimme- Mamma Mia the Movie Soundtrack
book+ Fables Covers! it's so nice
scent+ cigarette smoke and kittens. X.x
quest+taking care of christmas shopping
upper+ only a few people to shop for this year
downer+ i need $300+ to spend on DOD this December to get the event head *waaaaaaant*
attire+ stripey pajamas and kyu's hoodie over it
drink+ nothing currently

still no word on Delphine's shipping. X.x i'm at 10 weeks on my wait, but i finally know what her name is! she is (Grand Duchess) Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, Annie to those that she loves and trusts. i am so beyond ready to have her come home to me! to keep from going too crazy while i wait, i've been thinking about who i'm getting next, and when, so i thought i'd share.

next up is the stealth project. i'd talk about it, but that wouldn't be very stealthy would it? xD on the upside there's a small chance that my stealthy-ness could get me great deals on other things due to DOD's Christmas event! whoo! here's hoping!

at or around the time i'm being stealthy, i'm hoping we can order Kyu's Narsha. at least, i'm hoping to have her ordered by then, his self-imposed deadline is March. for me, the earlier the better.

i'm ordering Shall to turn into Xavin with my tax refund no matter what. that'll be sometime between February and April. xD nice and vague, huh? i'm e-filing, and this year i plan to use the right information to hopefully get my money sooner.

as soon as my Christmas shopping is done, i'll be saving for my share of NY Dolpa registration and funds for spending at the con itself too. this is around all these other things, obviously.

worked in somewhere around the registration, but after Xavin, i'll tentatively be ordering myself and my boss a DOB Libra(girl) set, with two sets of magnetic kitty ears (one set for each of us) and an extra girl body. i'll be keeping the awake face, she'll be my ChibiNeko. Jacinda will get the sleepy face, we're gonna mod the eyes a bit more open and turn it into her FFIX character, who happens to be a kittyish person-thing. xD i'm gonna have lots of fun doing the facial markings and stuff. i plan on making her red mage costume, and maybe a few others too, and she's gonna dress it up and take pics for all her online friends. xD again, this isn't absolutely set in stone, but we're both really excited about it.

at some point i'd still like to do a FCS doll through Volks, but that's a long way away. in the dreaming department, i'm also looking for a smaller mini to turn into Klara from runaways to go with my Xavin. Bea is around 43cm, and i want Klara to be smaller, and to be able to pass for a young russian girl. i'm thinking someone about the size of Roro's little juniors, but i'll have to look and see if i like any of their girl faces. for now she's behind everyone else on the list, so i'm not looking too hard yet.