Until the Stars Are All Alight

Finally realized that Google Reader was eating up way, way, way too much of my time, so I unsubscribed from quite a few pointless timewasters (I do not need I Can Haz Cheezburger delivered to me daily; if I need a kitten fix I can go visit the site, or, you know, just GOOGLE "kittens! =D" and I'm sure I'll be fine).

Tonight: coloring, maybe getting to bed early enough to read for a bit.

YES COLORING.



(Except I doubt he's working on Klaine fanart.)

I love snow. I don't love cleaning off my car in the mornings, or missing work. =(


( Memes. )


The website is just about half-built--I have one last piece of writing to put up, and I'm putting it off because it's epic long and I'm rereading everything as I post it. (I quite enjoyed reading one particular Digimon fanfic that I flat forgot I wrote. I remembered the story as having two chapters, but I thought the events of the first chapter were just split in half between them. Nope. Chapter two was three years later. Totally forgot about everything that had happened in chapter two. Kinda remembered as I was going along.)

Then to tackle art. I think there will be some sorting done; I'm not entirely sure I even want to post anything that's a colored-pencil drawing on paper, but that means I'll have precious little art to post until I, well, make more. On the other hand I could have a "this is really old and sucky don't look" page and then have more emphasis on newer stuff. (I have tinkered around with my colored pencil pics and it wouldn't be impossible to recolor, where the lineart is good, and I may with some of the ones that still mean a lot to me.)

Not sure when the site will actually go live; I have to buy a domain, yet, and frankly we're broke. I had been thinking I'd be able to do it this payday but this damn snow has screwed us out of several days of wages because neither of us can drive on it. Blergh.

On the creative front, I've committed myself to helping research an Animorphs-themed infographic--they've asked people to reread books and take down the number of times different things pop up, and I was rereading some of the end-of-series books anyway because I'm also wanting to write an alternate-ending fanfic. I've also committed to writing a character in a sort of Round-Robin kind of fic, also based on Animorphs--I've gotten fairly involved in the animorphs community here and I see these awesome projects being proposed. =D Oh, and they just announced the second fanart/fanfic competition and I'm going to try and enter that, but not sure if the inspiration is striking. (Yet? I don't even know if I'd rather write or draw...) And there's actually one other fanfic idea brewing but it would involve even more rereading and I think I want to get some of this other stuff out of the way before I think about it too much.

Also I've been sketching a lot, at work on my breaks instead of reading. Mostly trying to hash out a new character design--I finally got one I liked--for some original stuff, but the whole thing has a long way to go, so I don't want to say too much. Long story short, I'm taking a character I originally created for RP purposes and since she's the only thing that's really mine I'm having to recreate everything else around her. Not sure how much of the plot I want/will be able to reuse, but not sure yet where else, exactly, she'll make sense. (This also renders my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel--I won, thankyouverymuch--so many pages of wasted effort. But I'm going to try again this year.)

And I was looking at a couple of fanfics I had in-progress (trying to keep everything backed up, considering that the computer-grinding has gotten worse) and am now considering the idea that maybe some of these plotlines needn't be tied to a fandom--ie, it's a good idea by itself and I could probably execute it with all original characters. Needs moar mulling over, though.

TL;DR--going through creative upheaval, which kind of sucks, but is also kind of great considering how long it's been since I've really been creative.

In other news, I found out how one goes about making non-square-based tiled images, and I kind of did a mental facepalm when I read it. Then I proceeded to make myself a tiling desktop wallpaper. =)

Ugh. Just checked the road conditions map of Arkansas, and there's not a single piece in the entire state showing "clear." Epic.

Okay then. Going to bed.

Cody and I have been saving--we want to get him a new MacBook Pro, and then I would get his MacBook. We've been discussing it for a long, long time.

My computer's hard drive has been intermittently making some very scary, slightly grindy noises here lately. I've recently backed up EVERYTHING and have taken to saving new pictures to my external drive and cutting out the middleman. Cody has assured me that if it does just go kaput out of nowhere, he'll have me an internet machine up and running quickly. (Likely a desktop, though, which kind of sucks. But I would still have my iBook--which WOULD be my main computer if it could handle the internet. Alas!)

So now my computing habits are kind of shifting. When we last reformatted my computer he put a very stripped-down version of Windows on here and it's lacking things like a huge assortment of fonts (I forgot to back up my collection before the reformat, but it's okay, there's a kajillion free ones on the internet if I need them) and screensavers, but I haven't really wanted to replace them--I'll need different ones when I switch to Mac. I never reinstalled the Sims since I don't want to start things just to have to scrap them when I reinstall on a Mac.

And of course, OF COURSE, while this is going on is when my drive to write is kicking in and going "REMEMBER ME???"

And a website. I'm seriously considering shutting down my deviantArt/FFN/Freedom of Speech fanfiction accounts and just opening my own gosh-darn website. Toying with that, yet; I'd likely have to work on some sort of subdomain system (ie, mywebsite.bigcompanywebsite.com) because I don't think I care enough to pay for it. And I guess there's a chance I could make pennies a day from ads.

It's all so beautiful and perfectly organized in my head. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Oh, and I want to post makeup tutorials on YouTube. The trick is going to be getting the video to be high-enough quality to see what you need to see without having a huge filesize. Grah. I'll probably need Cody's help; or I could just wait until the MacBook is mine. Then it'd be easy-peasy because the webcam is built in.

It all comes back to this: as well as this computer has served me (and we've had some so-so times), it's time to move on.

Why is it that even though I have no job and finances are...strained, at best, I feel like I'm accomplishing more and am more on top of things than ever before?

I think NaNo is helping (hey, look, I got behind but managed to pull myself up by my bootstraps and catch up, so I can do that in other areas of life), and I'm not gonna lie--I think being in a healthy, committed relationship is doing wonders for me.

I just kind of wish I had some freaking money. I HAAAAAAAAAAATE being in debt. And my credit score went down, because my WaMu card is new. D=

But seriously. Creativity is jump-started, and right at the start of winter, when I tend to be more creatively productive anyway since the weather makes me happier.

I don't know, I guess I really don't have a point here, other than to mention that NaNo is rolling along nicely, even if I am behind. I think I can finish in four or so hardcore sessions (ie 5,000 words), and I have a week of catsitting during which I think I'll be able to cram those in. I'm almost going to HAVE to finish a day early, since the last day to work is a Sunday and I'll surely be with Cody one way or another. If I go see him, I will more than likely not be home until after the midnight deadline.

The nice thing is I started with something that could be expanded on, rather than something with major plot holes, so I'm just rechronicling, and expanding things where they feel natural. (I now have a background romance in the past, and a better-clarified backstory, though it's a bit clunky in the beginning.) There's more description in it than in the original RPG, lol. The world is a bit more fleshed out, and the mystery is unravelling (one l, Firefox? Really? I like it with two, thanks--maybe I should switch to British English spellcheck) more slowly for the characters--ie, events are taking place further apart, at a more realistic speed.

I still think the plot may fall short of the word count, and I'll have to have an epic epilogue--not that I can't manage that. (If J.K. Rowling can do it, SO CAN I.) I could also, I'm sure, go in and add bits here and there, but honestly I don't think I'll have the time to find where they'd fit best. Easier to keep writing forward than to add in the middle, at least when time is of the essence.

Forgive any incoherence. I should be asleep. Cody's going to be here in three hours and fifteen minutes, give or take. I WOULD be asleep but I'm flatironing. Won't have time tomorrow, catsitting starts at noon!

And I just realized I haven't really mentioned this--I'm catsitting all next week, starting tomorrow. $15 a day, plus I get the run of the house while I'm there. =D Seriously--I can have friends over, come and go as I please, use their interwebs, watch their cable, wash my clothes in their washing machine, cook on their gas stove (something I've never done!--and may not bother trying, lol), anything. Just so long as the precious kitties get fed on time. Personally I think these cats are SPOILLLLLLLLED, but hey, I'm making $105, so who am I to judge? If I lived in a house like that I'd probably spoil my cats, too. (I told my sister how much they were paying me, and she was all "Oh my GOD, some people are stupid." And I was like, "Yeah, but I'm getting paid for it!" Lol.)

It's a nice house, a REALLY nice house--according to Dad it was featured in some magazine once, Southern Living or some such. (Yes, I Googled, no, I can't link. =( ) The husband of the couple who owns it is a lawyer (I know him from Lions). I would like a house kind of like it someday, only with more colors--the palette is like...muted sage green, goldenrod, taupe, and ecru, with a splash of dark, muted red here and there. The most exciting color was the hunter green in the one office. I found out the other night, though, that it had been decorated by an interior decorator (another Lion, as is the man who owns the construction company that built it...lol), so that explains the nicey-nice-ness of it all.

So. Wow. Random tangent. Sleep nao.

Quote from the song I'm listening to: "Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly." Good advice.

I CAN has tablet!!

I looooooooooooves it.

I feel WEIRD.

Not as bad as I did last night.

But it's odd--lately I prefer TV (crappy reception and limited channel choice regardless) to the computer.

And when I do get on the computer...I'm getting back into The Sims. (Okay, okay...with help from Hobbity, I figured out how to extend life...so that A&A turn old at the same time--ie, fix my mistake of making one a teen and one an adult at the start of the game.)

I have an art meme to complete. I was TAGGED. And I wanna do this one.

*reads over the above and realizes how disjointed it sounds*

Ah, whatever. I think Family Guy might be on.

Setup: Snapesnogger, a girl I watch on DeviantArt (along with about a bazillion others) has this story/comic (not sure which as she hasn't actually posted it anywhere; not even sure if she's begun work on it or is still conceptualizing, but whatever, her main character is very pretty and she draws Harry Potter fanart too) in the works in which an angel falls in love with a human. She recently posted a picture of "angel smex." (Good picture, not too grapcic, cute facial expressions...etc.) She's been getting flamed for this being "wrong." I'm with the majority of the people posting; her story, her rules. Whatever.

But some idiot came along and said in a comment that, basically, since God created angels and sex, that neither could be evil.

O_O

Okay...if you're assuming there's a God, I would think that you would be assuming that said God created everything, right? And evil exists, therefore, some things that God created ARE evil. (With me so far?) So that argument is basically fallacious. And I politely told that person so.

So. Yeah. You can see the DA comment thread here. I'm RenaissanceGrrl, in case anyone couldn't put that together. XD

Thoughts? On either the issue (lol) at hand, or the pointlessness of internet debating?

I know that what you all probably want to hear about is how my new job is going, and I WILL post about it in the near future. In the meantime let me just say that it is going well and I like it, and if you want to know just exactly what it is that I'm selling (sorta, lol), here is the company's website. If you called the number and asked for me by name, you would, theoretically, be able to get a hold of me...I think, lol. But please don't. It might be kind of cool, but they probably wouldn't look too kindly on me taking personal calls of a non-emergency nature, especially as I am allowed to have my cell phone at work. (I asked. Ashley said so long as I wasn't ON it all day it was fine. And I've heard HER taking three or four personal calls a day, so their definition of "all the time" is pretty loose, lol. Though to be fair, she does keep the conversations well under five minutes.) I also have a work email address, but I'm not going to give that out. Also, the address listed is for the main office/tech support building, NOT the call center where I work.) The "Company" link is pretty cool, tells about how the place got started.

Anyway.

I was trying for a while there to find art reference pics--photos from which to draw pictures. I took eight years of art classes and that's how I learned my craft, with photos supplied from my teacher's vast collection. Well I've discovered that even with my anime, it looks better when I work from photos. (For example, this was based on a photo. Notice that the arms, hands, and positioning look RIGHT, lol.) Most of the time, I do without, though. However, a few days ago, Audries (the guy in this pic) was giving me fits--it took me fifty million redos to get his legs decent, and honestly I'm still not thrilled--it wasn't quite what I had in mind. Anyway, I tried searching for reference pics while I was drawing it. Google images was NO help, lol--it's great if you want, say, a specific character, but ref pics? Not so much. I poked around the stock photos on DA as well, but really, unless you're drawing medieval/fantasy art or nudes, you're probably NOT going to find what you need.

Well, I tried google images again tonight, looking for a pic of people holding hands. (Well, just the hands, really, the people were already drawn.) Anyway it was, once again, not really helping--until I noticed the watermark on one of the photos and clicked the link to the source site.

istockphoto.com

I knew SOMEWHERE out there, there had to be a free stock photo site that actually had helpful pics. I FINDED IT YAYZORZ!!! (I've saved about a million so far, lol...)