State of the Neko address: week 28

song+ Amnesia- Brotney Spears- Singles Collection
book+ all 7 Narnia books
scent+ cookies
quest+ getting Carina
upper+ i'm slowly making progress on most efforts
downer+ i am pitifully poor
attire+ work clothes
drink+ juice

this weekend was pretty fun. i spent entirely too much time at the comic shop though. xD Kyu was running a Warhammer Fantasy tournament preliminary so Friday night i was up there while he set it up. Saturday i was there from 8:30 to 10 something for running it and cleanup, then Sunday i was there again for socializing since most of our friends didn’t enter Ard Boyz and we hadn’t seen them all weekend. xD i got another unit painted (my Corsairs), and bought some of the things i need to fill out other units, but i still have a good bit to go. this week i think i’ll be painting my smallest remaining units- 10 Harpies, 7 Shades, and 3 Assassins. then the 32 Warriors that have been sitting off to the side for about 2 weeks. xD

it’s the end of the month and Moose still hasn’t finished moving out. kinda annoying since it was just this morning that she decided to actively start looking for a friend with a truck.. instead of waiting for serendipity, which has apparently been her methodology thus far. *sigh* i’m ready to space my stuff out! i even bought a small shelving thingy for doll-stuff storage (to free up the bookcase they’re currently lounging in for actual books) but can’t set it up yet since there’s currently no space for it.

the top of the small shelf thing will also serve well as a place to atand the dolls for photos. it’s been a while since i had anything like that. xD i don’t think everyone will fit in the new cubby thing, but the reclusive ones should be fine there, and if need be a second can be bought for the bigger ones that don’t moosh as well. xD it wasn’t a super-pricey cubby/shelf or anything like that, it’s a WalMart assemble-it-yourself thing. xD i think i can afford a second one if it turns out one isn’t enough.

i did look up more appropriately Mid Eastern names for my future belly dancer, after a day or two Talia seemed wrong. the options i like best are (at this point) Arielle, Soraya, and Lamia. i'm not sure that i'll know her name for certain until she’s been ordered, or possibly even until she’s arrived, but now i'm most inclined to go with Soraya. xD I’m very excited about her, my new computer background is three of the promo shots of her removing her veil, side-by-side like a storyboard. it looks fantastic, even my anti-doll friends think she's stunning, and that's quite an accomplishment. xD

side note: it’s Kyu’s 24th birthday today, happy birthday to him! i think tonight we’ll be celebrating by not having cake, he insisted he didn’t want one. instead we’ll be submitting the pile of stuff that i've been meaning to get to for months. xD it’s loads of comics, and a few trades too, so it should easily be enough to cover at least the first half of the Wonder Woman gauntlet/lasso/tiara set i have coming in soon, which will cost me somewhere between 230 and 300 bucks. that’ll depend on how much of my employee discount will apply to it. my agreement with Kyu was i couldn’t pay for it with my paycheck, so it has to be store credit, and i need it pretty quickly since the thing is due to arrive early October. xD i’ll need to get back to doing combos to earn the rest of what i’ll need, and to possibly fund the rest of my army while i save for Carina. so much to buy, so little income! *spazzes*

my wifey successfully managed to achieve employment in the Ft Worth store of the company Kyu, Moose and i work for. we’re all really excited that she has a job again, it means we can pick back up on our regular outings to Cheesecake Factory with our dolls. xD and since it’s a job so linked with mine, we can see each other at company activities too. the Christmas party this year should be pretty epic now that most of my (local) friends work with me. it’d be more awesome for me if she worked at Central, but living in Ft Worth that one’s more convenient for her, so i guess it’s cool. i can be less selfish this once, i guess. xD

it’s probably a common enough thought, but more often than is probably healthy lately I’ve had the following ‘epiphany’: "you know what would make pretty much EVERYTHING easier? having more money". not exactly a brilliant discovery, right? xD if having more money was as easy as thinking about having more money, there would be a whole different set of problems. i think finding a job that paid me what i deserve would be a step in the right direction, but i fear change, and can’t quite push myself hard enough to really look at anything else just yet.

going to school is something i’m interested in too, but i think i fear debt more than i fear change-i-can't-control, failure, grass, and horses combined (those are kinda my biggest fears) and in my experience, debt is something that comes with college, no matter the planning and preparation beforehand. X.x i have very little money, but i have no debt, so i'm okay with the having very little money. in my mind it’s far better to have a little than to owe a lot. in the interest of actually getting somewhere in my life though, i fully intend to do what it takes to start taking college classes once i can drive and have a car. driving is another thing that scares me, because so much is beyond my control. it’s easier to be a passenger and KNOW i control nothing than to drive and know i control a lot while still at the mercy of anyone else on the road. of course going for Carina will delay the acquisition of a vehicle by a little bit, but it’s still being saved for, just slower. i'll get to that point though, i'm certain of it. i really want to take art classes again, i miss them very much and i figure if i'm going to be taking them i may as well throw in the core ones too and actually go for some kind of FineArts degree. the hard part will be figuring out what type of art class i want to specialize in. most aspects of the creative process excite me, so i can see myself dabbling in a little of everything. xD

State of the Neko address: week 27, part 2

song+ Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride- Disneymania
book+ American On Purpose
scent+ pasta
quest+ gsaving up enough to get this girl
upper+ it shouldn't set me back too much
downer+ i get paid SO little.. *sigh*
attire+ work clothes
drink+ milk

i haven't made new progress on my army, but i have managed to make myself a liar since Monday. xD i swore off dolly purchases for the rest of 2010 a while back. i'm like 98% sure i'm buying Iplehouse's belly-dancer for their Noctarcana Circus line. her name is Carina and she's a gorgeous Indian-looking sculpt with full pouty lips and gorgeous light brown resin. her order period ends Sept 16 so i'm thinking it's safe to assume i can pull together (at least) a third of her cost to start a layaway by then. i'd prefer to pay all at once, but that's unlikely, so i'm aiming for layaway. she's absolutely stunning and one of the first Limiteds where i'm in love with the faceup as much as the doll, even if it does cost extra.

as lovely as the sculpt name (Carina) is, i think i'm leaning toward Talia as her name. i thought of using Corrina, or Corryn, but neither sounds authentically eastern to me, they're too urban south. xD so Kyu suggested Talia (working in a comic shop it was an easy suggestion) and i realized how perfect it is for her.while i still plan not to do further doll purchases this year, i'm thinking that this girl will be my birthday gift to myself. i'm thinking so far i'll do no blushing, different wig, faceup, outfit, no mobility joint, and the medium bust. i'm not 100% sure on all that, but it's what feels most correct right now. i'm also not absolutely settled on the name. in spite of being entirely different in culture, i also like the name Lamia, and some of the biblical ones too, so i'll probably do some research to find the perfect name for her. i want her to be just perfect. she's already put stars in my eyes, see? *_*

State of the Neko address: week 27

song+ My Heart- Paramore- All We Know Is Falling
book+ Black Hills
scent+ pasta
quest+ getting my army purchased and painted
upper+ i'm doing well so far
downer+ even with my discount, Warhammer is expensive!
attire+ pajamas
drink+ milk

i’ve made some progress on my army. Morathi & Sulephet, my War Hydra and Beastmasters, and my Sorceress are completely painted and based. my Corsairs have brown crossbows, that’s all the progress i made this weekend, but with the level of detail i went for, it’s an impressive rate of progression. pictures when my computer stops being stupid-stubborn.

i did convince James and Naku to come over Sunday for some non-hobby-based socializing. it’s been a while, last time i saw Naku was at Scarbie this summer when i took Suzy. the hormone therapy is progressing pretty quickly for Naku. i noticed a few inches of extra height, and also a much deeper voice that sounds vaguely cold-ravaged. xD i know my voice gets deeper when i’m sick and Naku sounded kinda like that deep post-cough scratchiness. i think when it settles at a deeper register the scratchiness will probably vanish. the height surprised me though, we used to be the same height, and now i'm just barely shorter. since i'm absolutely positive i haven’t shrunk, that really only leaves Naku getting taller. xD in an effort to be inclusive by not homing in on any divisive hobbies, we ended up playing some of year one on Lego Harry Potter in co-op play.. most of which time was spent with me saying "hey, go there to that pink sparkly thing so we can do this thing and move on. no not there, over here, where i’m jumping!" xD it was a spazzy good time.

i'm really hoping Moose gets the rest of her stuff out soon. she said by the end of this month, but she still has LOADS of stuff in the room. like she’s really only moved her clothes and her laptop. she’s slowly packing up the rest, like for the hour in the morning before she takes us to work, she’ll be over early and pack a box or two. she still has a week to get it all before she’s a liar, but i’m getting impatient with the seeming lack of effort at all. i know i've had moves where i was still doing packing at the last minute, but that’s cause i own a LOT and every moment up until then was also packing desperately. it’s kinda frustrating to feel like an afterthought in my own home, to my own family no less. *sigh*

speaking of frustrating, we’re still having the same issues we had when we moved into this apartment last August. our A/C is perpetually broken (and we do the only repairs ourselves since our maintenance man is a moron) and nothing has been done at all about our pest control issues. it’s honestly to the point where i think if they can’t fix both problems (and the bug issue is because there’s holes in the walls and ceiling that they live in) they need to pay for us to switch to another unit that doesn’t have these problems. a year is WAY too long to have to deal with either problem, much less both. ugh. whether it’s to a new apartment or just within this one, a rearranging is imminent.

we decided to clean our apartment from the bottom up this weekend, to prepare for said pending rearrangement. in doing so, i noticed that some of my movies and stuff aren’t there.. it’s strange because i can only think of possible locations for a small part of it. like, i know i loaned specific things to Tiff, but there’s other stuff that i haven’t seen in months at all. like my Ace of Cakes DVDs, i know i loaned them to mom, but she returned them MONTHS ago, and now they’re nowhere to be found. *sigh* i’m hoping they turn up soon, like "oh! how did these get here? this is random!" and i can put them away where they go. i'm hoping for it, but not expecting it.

i guess nothing’s really happening with me lately that anyone else will find interesting. xD i mean, i know people that are thrilled i'm taking up Warhammer, but they’re other players that are excited about more options than the same three people they always play against. xD there’s also a hope that if i play, the other girlfriends are more likely to also. i dunno about that, but i know my weekends are already far more social than they had been. in fact, there’s a (short) road trip planned for this weekend to the Games Workshop store in the Grapevine Mall. it’s not much of a road trip, but there’ll be like 6 of us going, so it counts, in my opinion. xD it’s a road trip in my book if there’s three or more people in the car and it takes more than 30 minutes in good traffic to get there.

this judgment bias really goes to show exactly how entrenched i am in my big city living. i can’t do spacious country living without noise/ air/ light pollution. i totally freak out all "jeez! why is it so bright during the day? holy cow! i can see stars, but nothing on the ground! i CAN’T SEE what’s making that terrifying noise! the air’s too clean, it hurts to breathe it!" plus a gazillion allergens lurking in wait, ready to do their best to kill me. xD that’s what i sound like every time i go out to Nowheresville to visit Kyu’s biological dad’s side of the family. along with the occasional demand of a piggyback ride of the grass is too tall and will touch my skin if i try to walk through it.. don’t judge me! i’m entitled to my neuroses and phobias! xD

State of the Neko address: week 26, part 2

song+ Garbage Truck- Sex BobOmb- Scott Pilgrim vs the World
book+ Warhammer Dark Elves codex
scent+ pasta
quest+ getting my army purchased and painted
upper+ i'm doing well so far
downer+ even with my discount, Warhammer is expensive!
attire+ work clothes
drink+ milk

i’ve made pretty good progress assembling my fantasy army. i've got everything i’ve purchased so far put together, and soon i’ll start painting it. i’ve discovered the part that takes me longest is picking which option parts to give everyone. xD the models that are specific and only come with one way to do it can be put together effortlessly, but the ones with options are killing me since i take for freakin ever to decide which helmet matches which breastplate best. it’s kinda pathetic, really. tonight I should be ready to do the spray paint base coat on everything I have, then it’s detail work. i’m looking forward to doing it, but i'm also a bit terrified because there’s a LOT of painting to get done. xD most of it will be unique though, so i don’t have to worry about maintaining integrity throughout repeating patterns or motifs.

in less nerdy talk, i think i’m ready to take a break from the dolly hobby. i still want to own Vesuvia, so i’ll still be saving for her (slowly) but there’s other stuff going on and it’s taking too much time and effort to try to keep up with it all. a hobby is supposed to be relaxing, so this careful distance thing i'm trying is an experiment. if i feel less stressed then i’ll step back further, if not i’ll see what else i can manage to step away from. i'm already being careful to pace myself with the new hobby. i don’t wanna make myself bored of it before ie even play a game. xD so last night i didn’t do anything related to it, instead Blue Dragon got played for an hour or two, and i read a book and went to sleep. it left me excited to work on it today, so i think it’ll be a good thing to force breaks every so often. keep myself calm and somewhat distanced.

it’s been a week since my first viewing of Scott Pilgrim, and i find myself wanting to watch it again already. xD it was just SO GOOD! Kyu’s totally in the same boat. as we were trying to decide what to watch Tuesday while we worked on our armies, he was like “SP needs to be on DVD already cause i wanna see it again!” so cute. xD i guess it’s a good thing it’s not performing as well as it should? in theory that means a DVD release sooner since the theatrical release could be cut short.. possibly at least. if the numbers are too far from what they’d hoped they could figure there’s no immediate demand and hold off on it, which would totally suck! :O

so i'm not absolutely sure, but i think i've convinced James to come over for a Warhammer painting party. xD he still has plenty that needs to get painted, and Kyu and i are in the “no playing until it’s done” camp, so it could be a fun day. if James decides against it, it’s not a big deal, but he admitted that he means to paint his stuff and just keeps falling asleep when he gets home. xD that’s my (not really) narcoleptic brother! *thumbs up* i’m actually quite used to hearing “yeah, sorry, i meant to but i fell asleep” and believing it.

State of the Neko address: week 26

song+ Black Sheep- the Clash at Demonhead- Scott Pilgrim vs the World
book+ Warhammer Dark Elves codex
scent+ pasta
quest+ rgetting my srmy purchased and painted
upper+ i'm doing well so far
downer+ even with my discount, Warhammer is expensive!
attire+ work clothes
drink+ milk

this weekend was great! our costumes came out nicely, though at the last minute we decided against Roxy for Moose and went with Demon Hipster Chick instead. it was awesome and i totally forgot to take any pictures at all, but as soon as i can find someone else’s i’ll share them. xD it was so enjoyable that i saw it a second time (Saturday morning) with Kyu and James.. and also got the soundtrack. it’s awesome.

my Dollmore order for Eve arrived and i took pictures, but my computer is being stubborn and won’t recognize my SD card. it does this from time to time. as soon as it’s cooperating again i’ll share the pictures.

i suppose the other big news from this weekend is that i’m starting a Warhammer (fantasy) army. i bought some Dark Elves and their codex this weekend, and worked up an army list so i know what i wanna buy next so i don’t waste my money on pointless units. xD so far i’ve got two boxes of Warriors and one of Corsairs, all front line cannon fodder (each box a separate unit), a War Hydra and its Beastmasters (another unit), and a Sorceress (who stands pretty much alone). i still have a good bit to buy, but i don’t mind taking it slow and learning by watching other people’s games before i try playing. xD i also get to get them all painted up, and that part is very exciting. i got my War Hydra unit assembled last night, so painting on it should start pretty soon. i’ll take pictures as things get completed though. knowing my limitations (painting speed and likelihood of distraction) i figure by the time the stuff i have is painted, i’ll be able to afford the next things i need. xD next up is likely to be my Harpy units, and possibly Morathi & Sulephet (the Witch Queen on her Dark Pegasus), leaving my Witch Elves, Blood Cauldron, and Assassins for last. well, Kyu’s actually buying me Morathi this weekend, but for all the rest i’ll be buying new units as i finish painting the ones i have. i don’t want to end up with an army of ugly, unpainted models. xD Kyu has that happen time and again.. he regularly builds up his army and gets too lazy to paint it since he decides it’d be more fun to play a different army entirely.

i suppose that since i’m getting into a third absurdly expensive hobby (the first being dolls, the second comics) i should get back to doing combos for store credit. xD store credit could cover the last two hobbies, leaving me enough actual money for day-to-day expenses and the occasional indulgence for the first hobby. even though i’ve put myself on doll-buying hiatus, i still find myself buying doll clothes, shoes, and jewelry. really though, i’m far from the worst offender when it comes to unbudgeted dolly spending. most of the time my control is phenomenal. xD

State of the Neko address: week 25, part 2

song+ the (Shipped) Gold Standard- Fall Out Boy- Folie a Deux
book+ Scott Pilgrim
scent+ shampoo
quest+ pulling together my Ramona costume
upper+ tonight's gonna be AWESOME!
downer+ Kyu's in a kinda bratty mood and being pouty-aggressive
attire+ half a costume
drink+ Dublin Dr Pepper

i’ve made pretty good progress on Eve’s dress. it’s still not quite ready for photos to be taken of it yet, but maybe tomorrow. hopefully my Dollmore order will be here by then too so i can do all the showing-off-the-wardrobe (part 2) pictures at once. there’s a pretty good chance it maybe got delivered today. just in case, i left out my "deliveries can be made to main office" sign. it really doesn’t ever occur to me to have things shipped to me at work. xD i’m possibly the only person who perpetually forgets it's a possibility. Tiff even had her copy of Rock Band delivered here a few years ago.. it was pretty funny actually. whether it's delivered today or tomorrow, it doesn't effect when the pictures will go up. xD

today i got to wrap up my Thursday/Friday tasks as quickly as possible so tomorrow’s worry-free and painless for everyone. the latest excitement concerning my weekend is that i’m going (with Moose) to the midnight relase party/screening Lone Star is hosting for Scott Pilgrim at Studio Movie Grill tonight. xD we’re gonna dress up as Ramona (me) & Roxy (Moose) and enter the costume contest. should be totally awesome! i've been super excited about this movie for a while, and all reports so far (it was advance-screened at ComicCon) say it's supremely awesome.

i’ve found that while for the most part the computer upgrade at work has made things easier and quicker, it has necessitated the re-formatting of several large documents i use on a regular basis. being the positive-minded person i like to pretend i am, i’ve taken the opportunity to take a few extra minutes and make them all prettier. xD i doubt anyone’s gonna be like "oh wow, this center-aligned 12-point font sure looks classy!" but it makes me feel better so whatever. :P

i'm just glad i get to sleep in tomorrow and have a nice restful long weekend. *happy dance* those don't come around for me terribly often. when i do get long weekends the heavy workload before and after negates any resting achieved. most long weekends come with increased weekend orders, so there's more for everyone to do to catch up. having two normal weeks broken up by a three-day weekend is pretty much unheard of, so i'm determined to enjoy it and be as lazy as possible. xD

State of the Neko address: week 25

song+ Self Inflicted- Katy Perry- One of the Boys
book+ Motor Mouth/ Quidditch Through the Ages
scent+ pizza
quest+ reading voraciously
upper+ i love my Kindle!
downer+ it's hot. dang summer
attire+ work clothes
drink+ milk

today’s been an interesting one so far. there’s a new computer at my workstation which has necessitated taking home many of my toys and action figures. said new tower also now eats up an additional 6 (or so) inches of space from the left side of the desk, so everything’s more compact now after being scootched to the right. i can understand the need to have my tower accessible, but my desk looks kinda naked now with so many of the toys gone. xD Elaine joked that i need wall-mounted shelving above my desk to house my toys so they don't have to go home. xD

this past weekend was our semi-annual trip out to the Stephenville area to visit the other side of Kyu’s family. it was hours of listening to ill-disguised condescension from teenage mothers and chain-smoking busybodies. three times i had to politely endure the "so are ya’ll married yet? well why not?" conversation. somehow the response of "because we’re not ready to start a family yet" was repeatedly met with "what does that have to do with marriage?" ugh. just ugh. the only upside to going out there is seriously the cheap access to Dublin Dr Pepper. we bought two cases to bring home. xD i haven’t touched mine yet, my lungs and throat are still funky from the perpetual cigarette smog- it makes the sugar taste almost rancid. yuck. :P soon though, i’ll be drinking my share, and savoring every drop.

i’m not sure who (besides myself and Jenni) has an eBook reader, but for anyone interested freekindlebooks.org has lots of classics (including Andrew Lang's color Fairy Books) for absolutely free. they don't have the Olive book actually, but they do have the other 11 of them. speaking from experience it’s hard to find them in decent condition for a reasonable price in an actual bound format, but this way i can still read them any time i’d like to. it's a site worth poking at if you're wanting an older book though.

Moose started actually moving out this past weekend. her new roommate’s current lease isn’t up until November, but she’s just putting her stuff in the dining room for now. when her friend-with-the-truck returns from parts Unknown (no one's told me where he is, i’ve just heard they’re waiting for him to return) the big stuff will get moved out and Kyu and i will finally have our StudiOffice! it’s a very exciting prospect, i’m looking forward to being able to do craft stuff without sitting on the bed or enduring whatever crap Kyu’s decided to watch downstairs. i’m waiting for the StudiOffice to unpack and mess with the serger (to keep it as clean as possible) but i’m really looking forward to being able to play with it for dolly endeavors. i’ve read up and have a few ideas for drafting patterns for hard-to-fit dolls like Eve and the Iple sisters (FaithAnn and Rosalie) but i’m gonna need space to try those techniques too, so they’re back-burnered. i have the supplies on hand though, so soon i’ll be attempting it from scratch.

i placed an order at Dollmore this weekend to get Eve some basics that i don't want to sew myself (2 stretchy black dresses, a loose pink sweater, and vinyl-and-suede boots). this morning it was just through Korean customs, so by the end of the week it should (hopefully) be here and the wearing-it-all pictures will be shared soon thereafter. i think Eve’s personality calls for color, pretty much any of them, but she looks so good in classic black that a lot of her stuff ends up that color. two of her three pairs of shoes are black, and her other pair is a creamy tan with black details. xD i really need to get her some in white or silver or something. maybe next time do an order somewhere they’ll be included.

i'm glad that (for me) this week is a short one at work. Kyu and i both have Friday off. in theory it's to go see Scott Pilgrim spoiler-free, but so far most of our usual rides are gonna be busy during the day. xD we're still canvassing for rides, and i'm sure we'll figure something out, but it'd be a lot easier if he'd be willing to try a midnight showing. he doesn't like them because he ends up sleepy and has trouble staying awake through them.. though he has no trouble staying up until i get home when i go to one. i think napping after work Thursday, going to the midnight showing (which we have the offer of a ride for), then sleeping in Friday morning would be the optimal solution, but he's not willing to even consider it. *sigh* whatever, we'll figure it out.

State of the Neko address: week 24, part 2

song+ Boots & Boys- Kesha- Animal
book+ Motor Mouth
scent+ pasta and cramy sauce
quest+ reading voraciously
upper+ i lovemy Kindle!
downer+ my body's been rather achey lately
attire+ work clothes
drink+ dr pepper

so i've had my Kindle since Tuesday, i've downloaded 33 books (most of them free) and finished reading four. xD i'm really enjoying the thing, though it's really not quite the same sensation as holding a book in my hands. it's nice to not have to walk to my bookshelf when i finish one and wanna start another.

some of what i have is new-to-me, but a lot of it is things i already loved and can't find/don't own. some things i sold to Half Price Books when i was unemployed, the color Fairy Books that i read growing up (but have only tracked down 5 of the 12 in actual book form), the Harry Potter books and tie-ins (which are packed away buried under everything else) and some other stuff too. xD yay books and stuff!

i think i've readjusted to being at work again. my first week back, i was all disconnected still, last week i was miserable for no conceivable reason. this week seems to be a more even keel. i'm getting things done at a respectable pace, and not spazzing when the minutiae are covered to death. the just-because-i-like you Kindle certainly doesn't hurt either though. xD

in other news, Kyu's paternal grandfather (Pop) is due to get some medical something (Angioplasty i think? maybe? i really should pay better attention) done Monday. since none of us (us= Wolfie, Suzy, Kyu and myself) can take the day off to be there, we're road tripping to Stephenville this weekend. i hope it goes well, but i'm more excited about the Dublin Dr Pepper we'll assuredly be picking up while there. xD it makes it worth fighting the carsickness for hours on end, and if we plan ahead, it could even last us through the next few weeks.. i wonder if i should write my name on mine so Kyu doesn't take them for himself.

Moose bought her new car last night, or at least put the down payment on it. she had Wolfie go with her to check it out and make sure she wasn't getting ripped off, so hopefully it's all good. i'm just glad i won't have to walk to work anymore. i'd forgotten how miserable it is walking on hot days with the sun in your eyes pretty much the whole way. i wonder if the new car has working a/c? at this point i still haven't seen it, so i couldn't even say what color it is or how many doors it has, much less what kind of car it is. *shrug* presumably it works though, Moose seems satisfied with it.

State of the Neko address: week 24

song+ Pavlove- Fall Out Boy- Folie a Deux
book+ You Have Killed Me
scent+ pepperoni pizza
quest+ dolly sewing
upper+ i'm feeling rather productive lately
downer+ working sucks lately
attire+ work clothes
drink+ milk

you know, it's crazy but some of my calmest most peaceful workdays are the ones where my boss isn't here and i have to do some of her job too. xD they shouldn't be more calming, but i can handle more to do (in less time even!) if it means less hovering-over-my-shoulder to see how efficiently i'm doing the same things i've done every week for about 3 years now. *sigh* on an unrelated note, but still pertaining to the awesome of a boss-free workday, i'm getting a Kindle for free tomorrow. xD the head buyer up here is kinda a technophile, and managed to accumulate 3 old Kindles she doesn't use, so she's just giving them away to people she likes, and i happen to be one of them. whoo! She's done similarly before with old iPods and such, but since she knew i'm a voracious reader, she came to me first to offer the travel-size one. awesome!

anyhow, today is the day for all the dolly photos i'd procrastinated posting. included are the tinies having a picnic, (only one- most of them were either dark-and-blurry or super overexposed) FaithAnn and Rosalie chilling with Ichigo and Sarabelle, and Eve showing off the various things i've sewn for her, including the still-in-progress brainstorm i had while visiting Roro. the collar piece on it was one of my Roro-bought souvenirs, and it's really worked out perfectly for what i'd had in mind. at this point i still need to make the dress that'll actually go under it.. i just have to find the material first. xD *fail* this collection is all Eve has to wear, since she's so crazy to sew for. she easily has the smallest wardrobe of any of my dolls, but she has the most custom stuff. odds are if i'm doing a new project, it's for Her Boobiness. xD i do plan to order some things for her from Iplehouse, but it'll have to wait until i have some money to spare. maybe i'll buy her some stuff for Christmas, for now she really loves her blue silk dress with the white sash/belt (the one serving as a temporary fix -sans belt- to the modesty of the pics of the current beaded draping project). kinda sad that the business wear inspired dress is her most casual.


Osaka's Lorelei and Roro's Sarabelle

with or without an underskirt, this dress makes her chest look even more massive

the Tedros staff is so cool! xD it makes her feel powerful..

she finds this pose remarkably comfortable xD falls into it more than any other sitting position

this is her favorite outfit presently

this one's still in-progress, it needs the shoulder snaps sewn in

this is the latest project though

i've been unable to find so much of my fabric lately.. i can't wait for Moose to move out (much as i love her i'm sick of living with her) so i can set up the office and unpack some of the gajillion shoved-aside Craft Stuff boxes that more likely than not have the fabric i've been seeking trapped within. it'll also give me a chance to really poke at the serger mom brought me away from Nosy Dog who like to chew things. i've opened it and looked a little, dusted off some of it, but there's still lots to do to clean it up before i dare to use it. once it's up and running again though, i'm gonna go to town on the dolly sewing. xD it'll be awesome. i have a few things i wanna do for other people, namely summer-y dresses for mom's bigger girls so they're not ALWAYS in sweaters, but some other things too. once i'm really comfortable with the serger, i'll look more seriously into manufacturing items for sale.

yesterday while dressing up Eve and taking the pictures of her wardrobe, i took off her flat feet and put on her high heel feet and you could see a difference in her posture and stringing, even in her sitting position. she'd been in her flat feet so i could do a EiD/JiD height comparison for some people on DoA. turns out Eve just isn't a flat-foot kinda girl. she's really stiff and hard to pose in her flat feet, she tumbled head first off the table twice (though once she was just surprised by Kyu making loud bizarre noises out of nowhere) and though i caught her both times, it's a harrowing experience. she won't sit normally, just with her legs straight out as if to say “i don't like these feet, may i have my others?” and when i waited too long to get to helping her she flopped onto her back like she was exhausted, but kept her legs at a straight 90 degree angle to her torso. i sat her up and the moment one of her flat feet was switched for her preferred tip-toes, the knee relaxed and she sat happily normal-ish.. with the other leg, still flat footed, remaining fully extended. xD i switched that foot too and she relaxed her leg and tipped her head as if to smile thankfully. she'd easily my most easygoing doll though. she'd put up with the wrong feet for almost 3 months before she decided to act out. she's so comfortable in heels, you can see in most of those pictures she's actually not standing in a normal both-feet-flat steady pose, she's on one leg with her hips cocked and her second foot barely touching the ground.. very confident in her femininity that one. the closest thing she does to shyness is that sometimes her bangs fall into her eyes since her wig's a bit loose.. at which point i just redo her hair clips. xD someone told me that her blue star clips don't go with her perceived age, that she looked too old for such “kiddy things”. whatever, i like them and she loves them, so they're staying. since when are stars a kid thing anyhow? they're cool , but in no way inherently only for young people. if i could find clips like this scaled for me, i'd totally wear them!



sometimes i find myself surprised by how easy it is to play with Eve in spite of her being SO heavy. even though she weighs more than anyone else i own (seriously- several pounds of heft to her), i find her such a joy that it's easy to spend hours on end with her and ignore the smaller, lighter ones that are more demanding and insistent when it comes to what they're willing to do and when. when you're not fighting against it, the weight doesn't seem as bad. for the most part my playing with Eve is having her sit up, stand up, and move her arms so i can reach whatever. she handles it all with grace though. when i sew for FaithAnn or even Xavin, there's a lot of floppy-arm “but i don't wanna” type flailing.. so i've pretty much stopped sewing for them. FaithAnn will sit through fittings, but not draping sessions, so clearly i need to work out patterns before i try to do anything for her again. xD Xavin appears to be content with what she has, so there's no real need to bother her for more. maybe i'll finish her space-suit at some point.. all that's left is the forearm part of the sleeves. currently she's rocking a purple pleather tube top over black slacks and a frilly men's shirt. xD it's a good look for her. it contrasts nicely with Larxene's pink-on-white southern belle frilliness: pink corset-tank over white sequined tee and super-lacy skirt. the two of them contrast really well, but they're kinda hard to photograph together. all i end up with most of the time is light blur and dark blob. *sigh* these are my best to date, and they're pretty old.



i really am working on doing a better job of balancing out my interests so i'm not obsessing over any one thing. it sounds like i am with all the doll talk, but i've also been working on DQ9 and Lego Harry Potter. DQ9 i've finished story mode and am now working on doing all the quests, alchemizing everything, and clearing all the legendary grottoes. It's slow-going, but i'm trudging through. Lego Harry Potter is going a little slower. i've cleared the story for the first three years. i have to get through year four before i have a decent chance at 100% completion through free play. i'll get there though, it'll just take a bit. like it did for Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, and Lego Indiana Jones (which actually, i'm also still working on. Lego Rock Band has a bit to go still too. xD i haven't played my copy since early June i think? i know i'll get back to it though, so i'm not worried. i spent a long time on gaming, so now i'm making an effort to read more and concentrate on creative efforts. said efforts appear to have focused themselves on doll-related endeavors. when there's space in the office, maybe i'll actually get around to doing any of the paintings i've been drafting out over the past year.

i sincerely hope Moose doesn't think she'll be taking any of my painting supplies with her when she leaves.. we haven't discussed it yet, but after the initial loan (presumably until she could buy her own) she never returned anything at all. not the paints, not the brushes.. it's kinda appalling how much she's taken for granted (or just taken for herself) in this rooming situation. It wasn't until i stopped and listed things that i realized exactly how much i spent on her in the past year. X.x i like buying people things i think they'll enjoy, she apparently likes to let people buy things for her. somehow in spite of her owing me money, i ended up paying her back for several small purchases. O.o how does that even work? i'm like the worst debt-repayment-enforcer ever! though i'm sure it'll be loads easier to get my money from her when we no longer live together, since i won't be tempted to buy her things, but we'll still be working together so i can still hound her for my money. xD including back rent, it's somewhere between 6 and 8 hundred bucks.. it all depends on when she moves out, we agreed she'd pay this month based on how much of it she was still rooming with us. she's asked about speeding up her moving-out process so she owes us less. i'm totally okay with that, it gives me my office/studio that much sooner. in my head i've taken to referring to it as The StudiOffice.. lame, i know.

i think once there's room to really work on what i wanna do in less cramped quarters, i may actually have more to show off more often. i'm looking forward to having space to do anything without having to keep everything piled in my lap. it's hard to juggle an open compartmentalized container full of beads, a 4 pound doll, thread, and a needle when the phone rings suddenly from across the room. it happened last night and Kyu ended up with a lap full of everything i'd been working on as i leapt to answer it. frankly, i'm amazed my beads didn't go flying everywhere. -_-; it was Poppa and it was nice to talk to him, but when i have more space it won't really be an issue leaping up at a moment's notice. all my supplies won't be held in my lap, but on actual table space. how novel!xD

i've been thinking of getting a glass-fronted book case and small plastic baskets to organize my craft stuff in The StudiOffice. like one basket for my glitters, one for pastels, one for brushes. one basket for people-size patterns, one for the doll-scale. distinct spaces for markers, colored pencils, and watercolor pencils. a place for everything and everything in its place. some things are big enough to just go on a shelf as is, like my big tubes of paint, and my sandpaper. my gloss, sealant and magic eraser chunks belong together as faceup supplies. i think organizing it by what it's used for i'll be able to find things easier and it'll be less of a hassle to clean up when i'm done. i think it may encourage Kyu to keep his half of the room neat too. he's REALLY BAD about just putting things wherever, then tearing up everything to find what he misplaced. i keep my movies and video games alphabetically organized, i always know where they are. a similar schematic for crafting should be simple to implement. the glass front would be to discourage him from just sticking something on a shelf 'temporarily'. xD i have all kinds of crap that's not mine sitting inexplicably on the edges of shelves otherwise organized and filled with my things. and my desk, the one with my computer, is piled with things i never put on it: junk mail (i don't even have a mail key) and receipts for utility/rent money orders.. we really need a filing cabinet or something so he stops putting it on my desk “for safekeeping”. i'd like to avoid a similar fate for anything in The StudiOffice. i know his workspace will be on the opposite side of the room from mine, but knowing Kyu for as long as i have, it's really just smart to take preventative measures to keep the spaces as separate as possible. xD i've been working on (slowly) convincing him that keeping his loose Warhammer model parts in compartmentalized containers makes putting this together easier for him. i'm having moderate success so far, he has three organized plastic bins, but he also had numerous boxes of loose parts scattered throughout the apartment. there's still a long way to go so far as organizing his hobbies.

my darling Kyu is kinda (totally) a slob. he's easily distracted and prone to piling things wherever is handiest at any given moment. this frequently winds up causing raging fits of “where the hell did insert-missing-item go??” but we're working on it. i've gotten him to the point where he (99% of the time) puts his keys in three particular places, not just anywhere. the dog's leash is always put the same place now after her walks. his wallet, glasses and phone are always the same place every night. sadly this is the only progress after about 3 years of working on it. xD i'd like to get his parts of the apartment looking neater, less like the aftermath of Hurricane Harley or Tropical Storm Turnip.

to be entirely honest, i pile things too, but not like he does. i have stacks of books sorted alphabetically and stacked on the shelves they need to be filed into, across multiple bookcases, but that's laziness. i don't want to shift whole shelves to fit a few books into the spaces where they technically belong. due entirely to lack of space, i have my craft boxes piled somewhat creatively. they're stacked kinda high, but at strange angles so i can still dig through them one handed if i contort enough. it's not enough to really search for anything, but if i know object A is definitely in box B, i can generally find it without having to move too much around.

i need some help, i've looked around some and honestly i'm not having any luck finding basic doll clothing patterns. there used to be several nice (free) patterns available on DoA, but when i looked this weekend they were all dead links. i have a pretty hefty selection of patterns for tinies. it was a PDF file and i printed the whole thing and cut them all out. these are safe in a labeled envelope upstairs with my dolls. i have a few MSD patterns (pajamas, sun dresses and such) packed away in one of my craft boxes somewhere, but not like i need. i have nothing whatsoever for any bigger sizes. what i need is a pattern for a simple fitted dress shirt and panties in both MSD and SD scale. with those i can make my 8 panel building-block superhero costume pattern pieces. if any of ya'll have something like that (even just a functional link to it) and could share, i'd very much appreciate it.