what's wrong with being confident?

song+ Confident -Demi Lovato -Confident
book+ Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer - Rick Riordan
quest+ living shiny!dex with Rory
upper+ good books to read
downer+ zombie!brain from poor sleeping
attire+ leggings, jean skirt and a Supergirl tee
drink+ Dr Pepper

ugh. mornings are hard, especially after getting distracted and reading until 1am. yesterday i fought most of the day with a headache cause by light sensitivity. my (moderately successful) solution was to go upstairs and lay in bed reading in just enough indirect light to make out the words on my kindle without squinting. i was gonna reread Percy Jackson so i could move on and (finally) finish Heroes of Olympus while accurately remembering events leading to it, but i got distracted by the short stories i'd downloaded that fill in gaps. they were entertaining, then i read the start of the newest series (the Norse one) instead. one book seemed a better undertaking than ten last night. i'll probably get back to it tonight after gaming, i've enjoyed talking them over with mom as she progresses through them.

i've read PJ before, i read them as they came out, and kept up with HoO about halfway, then i realized i get less frustrated if i wait one long time and binge everything than i do waiting multiple short times. the wait for the series to finish was enough that i can't recall if i read two HoO books and a preview for the third, or if i read three, or if it was two and the internet told me spoilers from the rest. so obviously the answer is to just start over from the beginning and read it all at once.. which unfortunately takes a little longer than i was up for last night.

i don't know why, but i've been (pleasantly) surprised every time i read one of his other-pantheon books and it finds a way to tie into the PJ/HoO narrative without depending on it like a crutch. Carter Kane (from the Egyptian series; the Kane Chronicles) looks out his window at one point and thinks he's hallucinating a flying horse, which is actually Percy's battle mount from the climax of one of his books. it was so subtle i didn't even realize what i was reading at first. in Sword of Summer, it took me until a third of the way through the book to realize that the cousin Annabeth that Magnus Chase was remembering in a childhood flashback was Percy's Annabeth, Annabeth Chase. same last name and i didn't even think of it because even though it's their mortal parents that were siblings, WHY would i default to thinking Greek and Norse demigods would be related in any way?

it hurts until it stops, we will love until it's not

song+ Victorious -Panic! At the Disco -Death of a Bachelor
book+ nothing, really
quest+ living shiny!dex with Rory
upper+ game night tonight with Wes and Didle!
downer+ random leg pain out of nowhere
attire+ black pants and a Wonder Woman tee
drink+ Sun Drop

today being a Sunday, i headed up for game day, but came home early. i was hungry, i knew Harley needed to go out, and i'm being picked up later for game night with some of my favorite employees from the store. i got in a few hours of conversation, and some solid work on the piece i'm doing for the February art contest, and i obviously made plans for tonight, so i'm pleased overall.

in a little while i'll take Harley out again, then i'll gather my Dice Masters stuff in case anyone else wants to play tonight. i dunno what the odds are for it, but preparation never hurts.

mostly, the last week has been spent working on the Pokemon project i'm doing for Rory. i've made some pretty solid progress, though i'm still a while from being done. i'll keep chipping away at it this week, and on until it's finally done.. or as close to done as i can get it.

i don't care what you say (don't have use for your words anyway)

song+ Carry You There -Hanson -Shout It Out
book+ nothing, really
quest+ living shiny!dex with Rory
upper+ progress on my Rory project
downer+ i don't like being cold
attire+ tights, jean skirt, black shirt, bamboo scarf
drink+ water

there's been progress on the Pokemon project i agreed to help Rory with, and i've started on next month's entry for Wild West's art contest. today it's going up with me and i'll start coloring the pencils i got done on Tuesday. it hasn't been touched since then because my at-home time has been pretty much dedicated to this Pokemon project. i'm two badges in on Pearl, seven in on White, and haven't gotten my pokedex yet but do have my starter on SoulSilver. that only leaves regional dex completion, transfer to W/B2, then playing to completion for gifted prior starters on HG/SS two more times for gifted gen one/three starters. or multiple resets of my actual GBA carts for them, i'm not sure yet which will be less work.

it's a big project, and it'll take a while to get it done, but i enjoy Pokemon, and it gives me a set goal to work toward. having a goal (even a self-imposed silly one) is part of how i motivate myself to do pretty much anything. that and bribery, i'm completely unashamed to say i have more than once been bribed to do dishes when it's not my turn. generally the offer of a toy or something yummy is enough.

this is the start of how it all ends

song+ Yellow Flicker Beat -Lorde -Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1
book+ nothing, really
quest+ living shiny!dex with Rory
upper+ fun project in the works
downer+ it got COLD this weekend
attire+ leggings, jean skirt, Schrodinger's cat tee
drink+ root beer

thanks to the yearly shift of meeting times, mom is now at church through half of game day, so this weekend i came home Saturday night instead of midday Sunday. i'm about to head up and play things, but i have time to post first.

last week i played my first game of Dice Masters, and i won! i still don't have enough dice to form a playable deck, but another player loaned me her deck while i played her husband, and while i made some glaring mistakes (as any first-time player is likely to) i still won. i had nine health left when i knocked him out. if i'd remembered a few rules (continuous effects mostly) i probably would have won a few turns sooner, actually. live and learn though, you know?

anyway, i'm sure as i play more (and with my own things) i'll get better, because learning is part of any hobby.

isn't this exactly where you'd like me?

song+ But It's better If You Do -Panic! At the Disco -A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
book+ the Dice Masters rulebook?
quest+ maintaining creative momentum
upper+ finished another project
downer+ sleep is still hard, thanks mania
attire+ leggings, jean skirt, Thor tee
drink+ water

mostly i wanted to share two pictures. the first is the painting i did yesterday for Wild West's January art contest. the theme is Pokemon, so i did Lapras in the subterranean lake where you caught it in early games.

the second was a quick project; i gave Kyu signature cupid for Christmas, with the open offer to fix her funky box-hair. he asked if instead i'd re-root her with pink yarn leftover from the last custom, he thought she'd look great with fluffy pigtails. so i did it, and she really does.

so that's all i did since my midweek post. short and sweet for this update, i guess.