Questing

This weekend was lovely. Friday night book reading was small, but intimate, and relaxing, over at Andy’s place.

Saturday, I played lots of Zelda: Wind Waker, and I’m sadly getting close to the end. There was a point where I was afraid it would end too early, before I finished exploring and playing, but things kept moving. The game just continues to be entertaining. And so pleasant to play with the wavebird, in the bedroom, where I can snuggle down in my blankets and be comfortable, and not shoved in the corner of the office.

We also did some Comic Stuff on Saturday, which was fun. We got a good deal done with page 4, I finished my clean up of the panels, and Kim did the initial lettering and panel boxes. It’s soo much fun to see things come together. I’m sure I’m going to finish page 4 tonight, and Art night is at our place! Carlo came with me to K&M’s house too, where the kitties molested him, and I overheard him talking about scripts and Indesign from where I was chained to the computer.

Sunday was sweet and relaxing. More Zelda, mostly due to some crossed wires, as we thought we were doing brunch with the Father in Law, but couldn’t get a hold of him. It was nice to laze around though, I was busy with the little green capped hero, while my husband was in the other room rolling more hours into our Xbox copy of Morrowind.

Then later, Cafe und Kuken with Andy, Mike and the usual suspects. Eating lovely strudels and chocolates, and coffee with daubs of real hand whipped cream, while we looked at Andy and Mike’s photos from their Austria trip. Looks like their trip was amazing. I had to leave too soon, but left at the right time, with a large sugar buzz, to get home in time for some Gaming with the Dalelands Crew.

Life, she is good.

Things I wish today’s paycheck could go to
Endless Nights
Dancing Barefoot
Lion King DVD
Copic Markers
Comics and Manga
Fall Clothes
Ibook

Things today’s paycheck will go to.
Bills.
Food.

Dry-cleaning.

But soon, soon soon… It will be time for toys, when paychecks hit.

And I’m happy without those things too, which is a good place to be.

And, I’ve lost a total of 8lbs since I started eating better, and that feels marvelous.
If I get out for a couple walks I bet I can make 10lbs lost by next week.

(We all gotta start considering costumes for Haloween, after all.)

‘Oh, look at the birds,’ I heard from the window office behind me. I wandered into my boss’s office to see a sea of redwing blackbirds all over the fields and trees behind our building.

I went out the door in the cafeteria, and they all leapt into the air.

Yes, each and every black mark in this photos are birds, creating tiny cuneiforms in the overcast sky. Their red patches kept flashing here and there as they banked.
(each photo is a link to a 640×480 view of the same pic, so you can see a bit more detail. )

Moments before I startled them, they had been gliding and landing in the field and trees, hoping up and down in the short grass, the height of it enough to hide them.

A bit creepy in general… though the adults around mentioned the movie ‘The Birds’ more than once.

um. I told myself I wouldn’t do Nanowrimo this year… but I think I will anyway. Somehow.

Argh, Why can’t I resist the call of an actual novel in 30 days.

But… a lot of things I didn’t know were possible, I’ve been doing, this year. Who knows?

I even have a story idea…

I had an outstanding weekend.

I saw my husband briefly when he picked me up from work on Friday, and he handed me toys! A brand new Ruby Red Game Boy SP! And a Todd McFarlane version of Ivy from Soul Calibur 2!! He traded in my pink GBA on the SP, but I think he’s right, I won’t miss it too much. It’s such a luxury to play the SP without having to twist and turn and sit under the lamp just right.

Friday night I had a sleepover with Jess(with her faboo new haircut), where we discovered the joys of adult sleepovers! Booze AND Mario Golf. Heh. And some fun Snow Fairy Sugar(the first dvd) till past midnight. Waffo! Then, played with the kitties, while I slept. (Momeji, stop licking my nose) weee!

We got up on Saturday to help her pick out some sexy glasses, (her first ever!) and I wandered about the mall with a fairly exhausted brain dead Ace_Roqs. Poor guy, extremely overworked on a massive deadline recently.

Then, I hightailed it over to the Smuga-Otto’s for some super intensive comic schtuff. Woo! Not only did we learn lots of things about gutters and layout, I actually finished a grand total of 4 panels in one day/night. Page 4 is going to be the BEST PAGE EVER… until page 5, I’m sure. I’m getting more comfortable with the characters, which is very nice.

I slept late on Sunday, while my hubby went off to prep for work for this week. Then in the Afternoon we had an extra session of girly gaming! Ooh! Related Art link.

The hubby is away on biz, which is sad and lonely, but my loverly friends are all about me, which helps.

Very cool, I was stuck at a point in Zelda: Wind Waker, and starting to get seriously frustrated, when out of the blue last night, Adam, (an ex-sonic-coworker of mine) called me up outta the blue, and told me how to continue. He rocks. He wants very much for me to put a character based on him in Tabloid Roulette. Heh. It was very nice to hear from him, and hear what’s going on with him. It’s nice to get call’s outta the blue.

Oh, and I lost 6 lbs last week! oooh!

I got another call from the car guys, we took the Jeep into the shop last night.

It is a problem with the ring gear.
the Pinion has a broken tooth (teeth?) and it somehow cracked/chipped the
casing. They are looking at reconditioning the rear axel, eee, they are
trying to get parts ‘ring/pinion/bearing/case’ rough estimate $1700-1800.

I asked if this was covered under warranty and the guy said he didn’t realize we had one, I told him Gold Package - Car America. But I don’t have any info!!!!! I can’t get a hold of my husband. The car guy said he will try to call a couple places… fidelity? to see if we do have the warranty. I think my husband did all this calling last week and came up with the info. but, I don’t have that info!!! grr

Ok, husband called, we do have a warranty and he gave me the info.

Called the car place, and they found that we do have a warranty, but they have to wait for the warranty insurance people to send out an inspector before they can look at it. Car Tech says it *should* be covered, but… he can’t guarantee anything, he says it’s pretty obvious that things are missing from the pinion though….

It will be so nice to have a second car again.

You have not been wasting your time.

When I was in junior high I wanted to be a writer, badly, and I did a lot of research, reading books on how to submit, where, what format, and also reading articles by authors, looking for that *secret* that would make me a real author.

More recently, I’ve become more focused on visual stories, comics, manga, and have been researching how to do that, how to break in, learning things like better visual storytelling, layout, design, techniques, and reading articles by authors and artists, looking for that *secret* that will make me a real artist.

And they all say the same thing. The most important thing is… to do it. If possible, every day, if you want to write, write, if you want to be an illustrator, draw. Over and over, focus on your passion. Shine it, hone it, sharpen it.

The work is never wasted. Ever. Every word you write, and every line I draw is a step, in a series of steps to the goals we aspire to. Many other people feel the same way you do sometimes, I certainly do, but several things keep me going.

1. I am not the best artist around, I know this, but, a simple google search shows I’m not the worst.
2. more importantly than comparison to other artists, compared to my earlier work, my recent works are better. Progress! Hey, how did that happen. What makes me excited isn’t where I am now, but wondering where I’ll be in three years!
3. An aside, I seem to learn more by doing, than reading all these books and articles, and am coming to a point where I just have to experiment, and teach myself these techniques I’m lusting after.
4. There is always a Golden Child. Someone who is better, more prolific, more noticed, or just more aware of their own talent. I remember the one I knew in high school, she was an amazing artist, very encouraged by the staff. I was very jealous… but… looking back, I can see that she was the one putting in all the extra work for her pieces that were often displayed. So, she started a bit earlier, she had more encouragement. She was still working through the same process we are, the hard way. There is no substitution for pure insane stubbornness in pursuit of your art.

That said, you can learn lots working on short stories/exercises/koan’s that your prof sets up for you. His job is likely to push you and your art in directions you may not have thought of before, and you can bet he’s going to try challenging Golden Child as well.

I know you can do it, and do it well. Now it’s up to you to show the world what the rest of us already know about you.

originally a response to a post by Gamerchick.

Ok, I just want to share this, because it’s odd.

I had a dream the other night, that I was in the Buffy Universe. I’m not sure if I was Buffy, or some random slayer, but most of the gang were there, and it was all apocolypsy and I remember 3 things fairly vividly.

• There was a pool, with a ghost in it, I believe she was wearing a red dress, and if you looked too closely she would rise up out of the water, in a creepy fashion. She (or another pool ghost) kept throwing a child’s toy ball out of the water, onto the around the darkly lit pool room. I know this because I had to run around the pool chasing/being chased, several times, and had to avoid touching the ball, because somehow she’d be able to get me. I remember being wary of the rolling ball and the wet tiles.

• At the end of the dream I think I killed something, and opened up a huge portal, (like 3 story huge) and it looked like a long tunnel up, with this huge golden green mechanical snakes, kinda swirling with a sense of movement like an elevator gives you. I don’t know what I’d done but I remember the ghost lady in red thanking me.
• I kissed Giles… twice.
  Ok, I don’t dream Buffy all that often, and usually those feature certain Blonde vampire, and not Giles

  It was near the beginning of the dream, and I was about to jet outta the library with the usual Scooby assortment. Before I leave I turn, and kiss Giles. Then I realize my lips had been a bit dry, so I moisten them, and return to a shocked Giles a much more passionate kiss.
  I think he took off his glasses and asked ‘What was that for?’ and I think I answered ‘ to show you I mean it’.

um. so. yeah. Dreams are strange. I’m sure it has to do with mainline-ing Season 3 dvd’s over the labor day weekend, and reading some strange Giles/Harry Potter crossover fiction(not slash)

In other news, having a good day at work, lots of good things getting done, and good meetings.

oooh, I had a great birthday week. I got to go to Anime Iowa, and then got soul caliber 2 and dinner at red lobster with my husband who also got me flowers! And then, on Friday, my grandma and grandpa had us over for a really nice dinner, candles and every thing place set and beautiful, with balloons on their mailbox for me. And oh! everyone gave me really nice gifts.

‘Sisterhood of the OSS’, and ‘Geisha’ books from Mom and Dad, Mario ware for the GBA from my hubby. Buffy Season 3 from my hubby! Victoria’s Secret 50$ certificate woo! from Mom. CD from my bro. A check from grandma and grandpa, and a pretty candle with a little copper bee that will keep moving on it’s spring for a long time after you flick it, hee.

The walking sushi are a big hit at work, too.

We’ve been mainlining Buffy season 3 , and highlander season one DVD’s all weekend.

Also been working hard on a piece of art based on my Tiefling from my girly gaming. It’ll be up on Metahari.com when it’s done.