Figure drawing went really well, even though there was some sort of model mix up and our teacher ended up posing for us.(shirtless, with pants )

It’s going to be a really great class, I can tell. This is our second class with the teacher, Mark. He’s really laid back, but also a really great artist. He’s good with constructive criticism. Also, we’re not so tightly wound about what to use as we were last year, so it generally enjoyable trying to master the forms.

It’s so nice to have time set aside to sit and draw and try to figure out the human object in front of us. I really enjoy taking art classes with Maciek, it really makes it a lot of fun, and we challenge each other, pushing ourselves forward. I don’t think we’ve lost any of what we learned last year during the same mini course. It looks like we’re moving forward and improving, which is way, way cool./p>

After class, we ended up at Chez Smuga-Otto, where Kim gave us yummy Cook’s illustrated Mac and Cheese, and we talked about manga, writing, and the last two pages of issue 1 of Tabloid Roulette. Just a really fabulous night, all around.< /p>

~~
I’m so excited about moving, if we’re luck we get the keys, TONIGHT!
I changed our address online, did you know you can change your postal address from the http://www.usps.com site? How useful is that!

I’m thinking of taking Monday off to unpack, and wait for the cable/internet people to come and get us set up.
~~
Oh, you HAVE to check this out! Dancing Robots
(via http://www.boingboing.com )
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2003/1218/sony_06.wmv

Lots more packing happened this weekend. My husband packed way more than I did, but we still got most of the kitchen packed up, and lots of the books. We’ve really impressed ourselves with how much we’ve got packed, verses the last move. It feels like we didn’t pack anything then. (which wasn’t true) But those final hours were no fun at all. We think we’re much better prepped this time.

Also, I have contacted: Power and Light, the Gas Company, and the Cable/Internet people. (I wonder if I should have asked if they had any specials for the cable/internet, but oh well) I paid the 12 bucks remaining for the cable at the current place. Any additional fees from the other two place will be figured when I get the bills.

Now to track down the phone co… Starting on April 1st, the best way to get a hold of us will be the cell phone, until we get things all figured out over the next couple weeks.

It’s soo odd to be thinking that next week this time, we’ll have everything moved out to the new place, our home will be different. Our landlord came by on Sunday to look at all the things that need to be fixed before he can sell it. (Many of them things that needed to be fixed while we were there, but oh well. No matter. )

I drove by the new place last week to check on the house number, and saw someone moving in to the front unit. I should have introduced myself, but they had truckloads of stuff, so I just waved and mentioned I’d be back this week. I’m sure we’ll meet everyone soon enough.

That’s over halfway! Woo! It’s really nice to visualize the progress. Keeps me on track.
I’m not going to worry too much about this week though, there is going to be so much chaos as we get the move going, so who knows what I’ll be able to find for food. (It’s already hilarious trying to cook with the dishes we have left that haven’t been packed.)

8 lbs! That feels great!

Anyway. I rarely check my Metahari mail. I get it, and check it once or twice a month. But, I’m still subscribed to some things with the addy so I check it out.

Today I got a message from a user on Gaia.

“i was surfing through gaia and i noticed that your avatar has a lot of items
that i really want need!!

O_O it would be great if u could maybe respond to this email with an answer
or respond to me through aim, on aim my screen name is Hav a Cooki, and if
im not on that sn i might be on my other one Bm44254. The thing is is that
your avitar has some reeeeeally cool items on it and since u obviously dont
get on gaia on your “Mohna” sn i guess that you wouldnt mond letting me have
ur items!!!! if you can you could just send me a private message on gaia my
sn is Fallen Martyr. Thank you please help me out the process would probably
only take about 5min!!!!

Sincerely,

Gaia guy lol: Fallen Martyr”

~~~
First off, this guy didn’t even bother pming me from the site, and assumes I never go there. Secondly, he really likes my items, and thinks it’d be great if I just give them to him. And oh, he’s willing to make the process really easy.

He didn’t even offer me gaia gold or items in trade… According to his profile he’s only been on since last month. Somehow, though I’m pretty sure my nitemare scarf and mini nightmare wings should go for a lot more than free.

I don’t have a whole lot of items, but I’m pretty happy with the ones I have…
My GG Profile

Do you other Gaia people get these sort of emails?

And oh! his spelling. gah. Posts like the above email is one reason I don’t have a whole lot to say on Gaia. If anyone knows of guilds with older/mature users, I’d be more than happy to check them out.

First, some really good hand reference pictures.

http://wynd.teamanime2k.org/hands/photos_hands.htm

Secondly, yah! We actually did packing last night. My lovely Mother-in-law came over and helped us get organized, and we packed up practically all of the basement, and the extra bedroom. We’ve left the downstairs bathroom till this weekend, and there is a lot of stuff in the laundry room, thankfully most of it already boxed up. We feel like we’ve made a great deal of headway, and everything seems doable now.

Wee! moving!

extra bonus. Hawk’s Eye coloring tutorial

I really had a lovely weekend. Lots and lots of relaxing, we rented movies, played video games, did some role-playing, and generally did not pack. We were bad little monkies. bad. But it really was a nice weekend. I actually cooked on Sunday. Yahoo for Shake n Bake.

Heather and I took some time out from studying and packing to do chai and sit by the fire at my favorite coffee shop, Cool Beans. (Yes, home to the creation of many of my words and sentences from Nanowrimo). That girl gives me perspective like nobody’s biz. I had a general kick ass time. We also wandered into the new Barnes and Noble in the mall at the East Side, after a general tour around looking at the Maul’s new architecture(which I adore), and browsing past a couple stores. It was nice just to be out, with nothing particular in mind to buy, or have.

We wandered through BandN, pointing out where our books will live eventually, and thumbing through our favorite artists. Thankfully, my recent trips to the library have pretty much driven the new book buying frenzy outta me, but it sounds like I’m going to need to check out quite a few recommendations.

I came home utterly relaxed.

Pink Ipod progress
Woo! Almost halfway!

Dancies!

p.s. we are really really packing tonight. Moving on the 1st! big moving day is the 3rd!

I had a great day yesterday and today is looking to be a fine day as well. I’m motivated, positive and effective.

I feel clear. Haven’t had a lot of these days of late, and it feels glorious.

On Sunday we signed a lease to our new place! We are very much excited about it. I think it’s a tad smaller than what we have now, but I think we’ll be able to better utilize the space. I’m getting the corner bedroom for an Art Room! yah! The place has windows all over the place, and we opted for a southern exposure, so we’ll have pretty afternoon light coming in the windows when we are home.

The place is in a new neighborhood, many of the houses nearby are under construction, and the ground isn’t even broken in some plots. The buildings have a bit of a traditional look, with lots of porches and windows, but the colors are very attractive, deep blues, hip greens, our building has stucco, the one beside us is all in brick. It all seems very hip. I was even able to check out the development plan online at our local town website and it looks like they plan to put in a coffee house, bakery and deli nearby. Walking distance!

Also, as I saw in the plans, the whole area past our front door to the road is planned green space! So we’ll have a nice view and lots of grass to run around in, but not have to mow. There are sidewalks and bike paths that I plan on taking advantage of. (note to self: buy bike)

So, yes, very excited, and the move is coming up quick! (First weekend in April)

Other than that, have a great day, I’ve already got a good deal done, and just won my third Pepsi Itune.

With the internet and cable out, we spent most of the weekend watching DVD’s from blockbuster and cleaning the house.
We watched Spirited Away, The Cuckoo (Russian Film with English subtitles), The Sea is Watching (Kurosawa’s last film, about Geisha’s), The Legend of Ron Jeremy (Which was actually kinda depressing).

I cleaned the upstairs bathroom, even the tub, did a bit of laundry, and unloaded the dishwasher twice. My husband, brave soul, cleaned the refrigerator out and washed all the dishes that didn’t fit in the last load of the dishwasher.

I crock-potted twice on Sunday, a chicken dish that was pretty bland, and a dessert that kicked butt. I plan on making the hot fudge crock pot cake again. mmm.

Friday night I spent several hours working on the process of getting my mom set up with a new webhost. We have to take into account all sorts of things like add on domains, and making sure the biz email doesn’t get too lost in the process. I’ll have to finish that up this week.

Mom cooked dinner on Friday, yummy shrimp and pasta. In a strange unhappy dissonance, my father read his dire medical records while we ate.

Mom is worried that I am depressed. I am worried that I can’t emphatically deny that allegation. I’ve felt sad all last week, and this morning, (like close to tears sad), and I am often irritable. It’s possible I need more sleep/exercise, ect, but not fun, either which way.

I’ve really been digging into Joan Druett’s novel She Captains, and it’s really really fascinating. Lots of historical cited info on all sorts of hellions and heroines, and great inspirational fodder on life at sea for women. Very very cool. (No, not all of them are valorous, some are downright evil, but it’s still really intriguing, plus… educational)

So, our cable and internet got disconnected last night.
Ugh. I had totally thought I had it covered. …

Sure enough, I did. After some poking around, I remembered my bank had sent me a notice about having some issues with the biller address, and to call them if I had any problems.

I did, and they called the cable/internet people and waived the stupid reconnect fee, and the whole having to pay a month ahead fee, and I was able to just pay over the phone the amount I sent out last month on the 17th.

Yah! So, internet and TV might be on tonight, or Mon/Tue. So that’s good.

Also, I won an Itune today, which is nice, though I haven’t taken the time to grab something. I might get that Rohan dirge thing from ROTK. My first free Itune got me the Into the West from ROTK.

Page 6 of Tabloid Roulette is up.

We did check out that really cool place to live last night, and it is REALLY COOL. I really really really want to live there, so now we’re just at the mercy of the application process. If all goes well, we’ll be moving at the end of the month, just a few months to an awesome new subdivision
on the edge of Sun Prairie. /me crosses fingers.

whew.

I did it! I finished page six of Tabloid Roulette last night, and it feels grand. (The page will be up in the next couple days, after we get it all prepped for online) Just two more pages and the first volume will be complete. I’ll want to work on a cover and some additional things but it feels very nice to be getting close to that milestone.

Tonight we’re going to look at a place to live, because we need to move. I’m very excited about the outside of the place, and hope the inside is as cool as the outside. I’m so excited about it though, I can hardly sit still, and we’re not getting the tour until 6:30.