Ramblings of the insane, and a few reviews.

Last night Mother of Mine and I watched Australia.

I must admit, that when I originally saw the trailers for it... I thought "hmmm looks like something I want to see.. but it looks like something I'd need to be in the mood for"

Which is why it hadn't been watched until now.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of Baz Luhrman. I do in fact own the Red Curtain Collection, and Strictly Ballroom has been one of my all time favorite movies.
I'm also a huge fan of Hugh Jackman. I mean, heck... I once recorded a PBS showing of Oklahoma! because he was in it. (I managed to somehow not watch it before I accidentally recorded over it, but you still get the point.)

Now, one of the reasons I was meh about watching it, was because I just have to be in a mood to watch one of her movies. I'm not saying she's a bad actress... I'm just saying I tend to have to be in a mood.

But Australia finally came in last night at the library.

Now, the first thing I will say... is if the trailers had actually shown what most of the movie was about... I would have watched it a LONG time ago.

The trailers made it seem that the movie was ONLY about War coming to Australia.
And also, that it was because of the war that Lady Ashely (Nicole Kidman's character) goes to Australia for.

Without giving away the movie.. I'll say, that only about the last half to last quarter of the movie has anything to actually do with the war.

Ironically, I'm glad that I've watched McLeod's Daughters a bit prior to watching Australia, because if I hadn't... I think all the Droving, would have just made me think of City Slickers (you know... Billy Crystal). Which, though there were a few times I snorted thinking about that movie... I was glad my mind was flicking more back and forth between what was on the screen and the droving of McLeod's Daughters. (Mostly, I was just thinking about the "Station House" and how something can in fact have been around for over 100 years, and doing the exact same thing as it was built for originally.)

The movie, very much had Baz's signature flair. OR at least, the very beginning did. There was no doubt in my mind watching the first 30 minutes of the movie that this was in fact a Baz Luhrman film.

The music was very gorgeous, and of course I ended up going to bed having "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in my head. Which, if you see the movie, you'll understand.

The cinematography was absolutely without a doubt breath takingly gorgeous. And they did such a great job with the Green Screen, that you can only tell it was employed in very few scenes. I don't know how many it was actually used in, but there are some where you could tell. Which, there were obvious reasons for it.

Wicked's vote: I'll own this someday. (And thats saying something!)

Moving along...
I quickly read over the weekend, the latest book by Joanne Fluke.
Cream Puff Murder.



I have to admit, though this book was slightly annoying in the aspect that it was mostly centered around Hannah's waistline and the need to loose a few pounds.
The person who died in this one... I, like others am very glad to see dead.
Mike, one of Hannah's two boyfriends... I have decided I do not like. Originally, I used to be more Team Mike rather than Team Norman. I mean.. who wouldn't want the hot police detective as opposed to the slightly normal looking dentist. Dentists have the highest rate of suicidal tendencies per year. Perhaps I'm the only who thinks about that in the grand scheme of things when it comes to choosing a partner.
Yes, Mike has more danger when it comes to his profession, but is less likely to kill himself when it comes down to it.

Right now, I'm definitely more in the Team Norman camp. I'd kill for his house. lol.

Almost through with Sandman Volume 3 by Neil Gaiman.
Started reading Summer Knight again by Jim Butcher. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it this time before it's due back at the library or one of my other "gotta read this now because there is a waiting list a mile long" books comes in.
That means Sookie has been put down for the moment.


Oh, on completely random news. I got something really cool, and I don't recall if I had talked about it yet or not.

Leslie over at Dv'yne Writes, has a contest every month for those who subscribe to her news letter. As I have known Leslie for years thanks to the Colorado Ren Faire... and I've owned at least one of her notebooks, and have lusted over many more of them.. I of course would be a subscriber to her latest news. I mean, I never would have known about her awesome leather covers for say.. Harry Potter, or the other books she has.. I mean amazing work.
Well, I happened to win this months free journal give away.
It arrived quickly, as well.. she lives only about 70 miles away from me. Ironically, the journal via the post office, would have traveled more than that, because though she lives in Littleton, I'm willing to bet it had to go to Denver (north), then back south to me.
I opened up the box, and was BLOWN away. I mean absolutely blown away by what I found.
I was expecting one of the little soft sided refillable notebooks.. (like the one I have) I mean, it's one of the less expensive books she sells (which is why I have it. I mean I bought mine at least 10 years ago, and I could never afford any of the more expensive ones), and one generally figures that for a free give away, it would not be an expensive one.

Well, the journal I got was a 60$ slightly hardsided non refillable journal.


Sad news is that Leslie will not be at CRF anymore. She officially sold her booth, and is moving on to other things. I wish her luck though, and I don't blame her for wanting to move along. CRF was not a money maker for her in the recent years (I know this due to having a friend who worked her booth for a few seasons) I'm sure she also has other reasons for moving along. She will be missed.

Moving along...

Yesterday.. or was it the day before? I got an idea into my head. This is always dangerous. As I should have been writing or knitting. Not painstakingly editing a photo so that I can maybe make it work in a chart, and then attempt to knit it up.

If this works, it will be FREAKING AWESOME.
If it doesn't work... I will be once again reminded why I do not like socks. lol.

I won't really say what I'm working on yet... but I will say this.. "Wuv... True Wuv"

Hmmm I wonder if this can count as part of my Read/Knit Along? I'll have to see.

Alright. I guess I'm done rambling for now. I guess I should try to write.
Oh, and I must say.. .even though I put down Alex and her world of vamps... they are still talking in my head. Constantly.

Which recently has come up a lot it seems. Marissa commented on her blog, how writing is an acceptable form of schizophrenia. I agree with that statement. (Mind you, I was paraphrasing) It reminded me of the introduction in the first volume of "Comedity", where Garth talks about his friend's experience when it came to being a writer.
His friend had a high paying job (he delivered payroll in his own car, through nasty parts of town.. so he was really really well paid due to the danger involved). He quit his job to become a writer and work on his novel. Well, of course when Tax time came around, he went from reporting a lot of income to reporting 0 income for the year. He of course was audited. He went in sweating and freaking out, and having everything he could possibly have ready to explain his expenses for the last year, and when the taxman asked "so... why did you go from reporting _____ much, to reporting nothing"
Friend: "Well sir. I quit my job to write"
Taxman: "Oh." *scribble and rubber stamp* "We're done."
Friend: "What?"
Taxman: "You are crazy. And this crazy is explainable. Have a good day."

Apparently, per the IRS, writers are insane, as we will willingly go from having high paid careers (ha i wish) to having zero income for a year or more.

(Again, paraphrasing.. but the words crazy, and insane were actually used, and the convo was that short. I'm not willing to dig out my copy of Comedity right now as it is upstairs)

So not only are we schizophrenic, but we per the taxman are also insane.
This makes sense to me. As I remember sitting in my 2nd period class my Sophomore year of highschool working on a play I was writing.. my first one "Just an ordinary day... like no other", and my friend Nikki (not the crazy Irish one, but slightly Hispanic one) asked me how I could write what I was writing. I mean, 70 pages of dialogue? She wanted to know where it came from. I couldn't explain it other than "I just hear them talking." And it's true. It's also the reason I only wrote plays for the longest time.. Because I could hear the voices, but I sucked at the "The color of the mountains at dawn reminded me of a glass of sherry held up to the light coming in from the window." That kind of stuff.. I sucked at it back then. I wrote poems and plays. That was me.
I'm partly still sucky at it, I have to force myself to do description, and thats partly why I end up putting down somethings I'm working on. Actually, that is one of the reasons I had to put Alex down, Denver and it's descriptions were kicking my ass lol. I digress..

Is it insanity, when I clearly hear entire conversations of people who do not exist? If I never put my pen to paper, and I only just spoke of the convos... would I have been forced to undergo meeting with psychiatrists? No, I don't think so. Mostly because I come from a family where we tend to embrace our creativity in all it's forms. (or at least we do now)
I was never a child who had "imaginary friends" or at least none that I remember. I don't consider the voices I've always heard my imaginary friends. Though, these voices in my head tend to be best friends. So, I guess in fact they are the epitome of what one would call an imaginary friend.

Well.. I'm rambling.. so I guess I'll leave it here. But yes, I guess I just confirmed what all of you have thought of me for years. I'm absolutely bonkers. ;-)

I think the only thing that really drives me crazy, is not only do I have Alex, Daniel and Kit talking in my head right now, but I've got my people from my new novel chattering as well. It can get confusing at times lol.

Oh and the final note. My gods... homemade chocolate chip cream cheese rolls.. are just still so wonderful.. no matter how many times I make them.

Motivation in all it's forms...

Alright, so right now I'm having odd motivations.

This morning, I was very motivated to sleep in. - I did not follow this motivation though.
Instead at 4:30am when my first (yes, first out of 4) alarm went off. I realized that the cat box very much needs to be done, and if I risked not doing it till I got home from work today, I quite possibly would want to strangle my cat for his.. ahem, misadventures and outright snippish attitude (meaning, I'd once again be cleaning up someplace other than his litter box.) So I hauled my ass out of bed, cleaned his cat box, and then promptly went back to bed. Odd motivation, non?
For the next 15-20 minutes, I was in a quasi state of sleep/awake. I thought about my writing and the motivations of it.
A Hard Day's Bite has been officially put down for now. As I've quietly spoken about in recent posts, it needed to be changed. It just wasn't gelling.
I no longer had motivation to write a story set in Denver.
I have motivation to write about a story set in London. But due to the setting change, a lot of the little things will have to change. This is not a bad thing, but it just means I have to think about things in a different way. I also need to do more research. I am okay with this. Mother of Mine was very supportive of the idea when I was pitching it to her with all my "hows and whys".
When I move, pretty much I'll be stuck with not much to do for the first 6 months. Yes, I have things that I can keep myself busy with. (I write this as if I won't be going to school, because honestly... who knows if we'll be able to afford me to not be working, and also be enrolled in school.)
I will possibly be trying to launch an Indy Dyeing business.
So, I am quite sure that I can and will always be able to find something to keep me occupied.
But, not working for 6 months, will also mean that I can:
1)Wander around London for hours upon hours "discovering / researching"
2)Spend a day with the police force learning their procedures.

This, excites me. This makes me look forward to writing again.

I was not able to really do either of those 2 things right now while living in CO, because it would generally require me to take off of work, which I just can't afford right now.

As I am going to keep the main character (Alex for those who know her), American, it means I can still incorporate Colorado. And I can still have some bit of storyline set in Colorado. I am okay with this compromise. (By the by... she's gonna be from Boulder, cause that just fits her.)

Another thing in my favor right now of switching the city, is that to my direct knowledge... I cannot recall any major Urban Paranormal Fantasy novels currently set in London.
Truth is, it's all set in cities around America, and well... America is gettin' rather full of the Vamps and wolfies. It seems like every city, weither it is a small town, or as large as gotham... they've all got the ones who go nibbly in the night.

So yes, I have currently put AHDB down for right now. I will not drop it entirely because I really feel good about this novel. But, I just am not at a point where I can do it justice. If you know me, I'm not one to really do things half assed. Wait.. let me clairify before Mother of Mine decides to chime in... If I care about something, I don't do it half assed.

But, putting AHDB down, has allowed me to pick up my other novel. The one I refused to start writing on until I had finished AHDB. This one, does not require the same amount of research as it is not set in the modern world, nor is it set in a time period that I have to adhear to specific rules on. This one, allows me to play. Woohoo!

I'm not far into it, only about a paragraph or so. It's a prologue really, and I'm quite happy with it.
Guy has read it, and promptly stated he wanted to read more. Which gives me confidence as always.

So this morning as I was half awake, and half asleep I was thinking on my new little novel. The main character is still nameless as of yet, but that will change. It's just a matter of finding his right name.


Right now I am sitting at work, and I am quite unmotivated to be here.
Yesterday was not a fun day, because certain people have decided to not show respect.
I will not give a person respect if they do not give me respect.
Though, I will for now, keep my mouth shut and simply not speak to them unless absolutely necessary. I need this job for 14 months, and after that, well it will be a moot point. So, I'm determined to just smile on the outside and inwardly squish their heads every time I see them.

I am sleepy. I want to go home. I want to write, I want to knit.

Update on Mother of Mine:
We have determined that her fevers over the weekend were related to a tooth issue. (Well, we are hoping- because it's not like she needs to be sick on top of the tooth issue)
Lets just say there was lots of pain, and just not being happy.
Yesterday we took her to the Er dentist, and shockingly it was not as painful on the wallet as we had been expecting.
For the most part, we figured we would need to just have the tooth pulled.
I've been down this road. The dentist will always try to sell you a root canal first.
But, that is at least 2300$ before even getting the crown put on.
The reason mom was in this much pain, was the crown she had broke off to begin with.

The tooth also we discovered had a big old crack in it. Hence all the pain.
My personal vote is and pretty much always will be right now (until I have money to get my teeth fixed) is to just pull it. You can always save to get an implant later. (or other dental item)
So, Mother of Mine got the tooth pulled.
She is also in the process of trying to get a Case by Case grant for dental work. And the dentist we went to is going to give a comprehensive list of everything she needs to get done (including the cost of getting a denture made.) so hopefully mom will get awarded the grant, and will be able to get her teeth fixed. The grant only goes to people in need, and my mom more than qualifies.

Moving along....
Knitting: I don't have anything on the needles right now. Mayhaps I'll actually finish my Wicked Verdigris... it's just a few sewing stitches, I don't know why I haven't done it yet other than lack of motivation.

Oooh oooh Oooh!
My first batch of Lucien arrived. Woohoo! He is absolutely gorgeous. I cannot wait to start playing with him.
This very much means, that I will need to buy the pattern I plan on using, and then finding out the appropriate guage. I know I wasn't planning on actually knitting up the waistcoat until I moved.. but he's just sooo gorgeous. And the name of the project, has now changed from "Steamy Alexandra" to "Clockwork Lucien"

I have lots of photos that I need to take, and if I don't loose the light today, then I will do that.
Must take photos of the Seaweed Shrug
Must take photos of Lucien
and I think there is something else I need to take a photo of.

I got another person for my Pay It Forward project, which makes me happy. As really I had been bummed that though I got people who thought it was neat, none of them actually paid it forward. And in the rules I said "maybe I'll send you something even if you just comment" but really.. I want people to pay it forward if I'm actually going to make you something.

I guess I am done rambling for now.
Gotta get back to work (gee it only took me an hour on and off typing this while getting work done)

Later peoples!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Dont want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I cant trace time


Come on, you all know you now have that song stuck in your head.

But, yes it rings true. I think I have finally given myself something serious to think about with the direction of my novel. It's something that a lot of authors end up doing. You get a really great story, but somethings not working.. so gotta change. For some, it means putting the idea on the back burner for 10 years (a la Jacqueline Carey, and her new Santa Olivia), for others it can just be as simple as changing the hair color of a character.

For me, it shall be a bit of a drastic change. But one I'm willing to embrace.
I think part of the reason I hadn't been able to write recently, was things were just feeling a bit off. My own fears about reality were creeping into my world too much.
Not to mention, one of the characters, just kept fading too much from my mind.
And yes, I consider the location a character as Denver, is quite the character unto it's self. Well, Denver and I have not been friends for a while. I have not hung out with Denver for about 4 years, other than the occasional drive through, or quick trip to say hello.
And in my novel, the backdrop of Colorado, and Denver specifically was kind of important.
Certainly it will adjust a future novel. (I mean come on... it makes total sense that there would be werewolves in Boulder.. right?)

But I think the change I'm making will be for the better. I was getting too bogged down trying to remember things. I've been meaning to take a trip to Denver, and it just hasn't happened, and all of this will only get worse after I move.

Then, here is the reality that kept trying to creep in.
If I were staying in the US, then as an author trying to pitch a story set in the city of Denver, wouldn't be a big deal. I can sell internationally even though it's a small US city (yes, Denver isn't that small, but compared to NY.. it is.. see my point?). Look at LKH, and KH, and even the tiny towns like SM, and CH proved.

I won't change my main character, she'll still be who she is. But just the backdrop will change, it opens up more possibilities, and actually tackles a few of the little problems I was having. (just little stuff I doubt any of you would have thought about.)

It'll be tough, because I won't be able to experience some things first hand until things in life settle down. But I think I can make it work. I am a woman who knows how to use her resources, and also who knows how to do her research.

For once, the fact that me being too brain dead to write has been a bonus.

So, I'm hoping that this will be a good change. I'm confident that it will be. And it will allow me to feel more stable in the world I'm creating.

Lots of updates..

Alright, I realize I haven’t blogged in a little bit. Or at least it might feel that way to me.

Mostly I have been brain-dead thanks to work, as it has been busy (at least for me).

We had a Bear sighting at the doors of my work. Nope, I didn’t see the bear, but I do have a photo.

Knitting:
I finished one project, the Seaweed Shrug (still need to take photos of the finished product), and discovered that it being narrower than the pattern suggested, was not a bad thing, but just didn’t quite work for me.
So, it was given to Mother of Mine, who absolutely loved the color. (Don’t blame her, I love the color too)
So one of the Pay It Forward projects has now been completed and handed off. (no, I hadn’t planned the project for her, but it worked out.)

I am now using the last of the yarn from that project to work on the next Pay It Forward.

Marissa’s project (the only one I had a plan on) is on the back burner till I buy the last of the yarn. I thought I had it all, apparently I was wrong. Oh well, another trip to Jo-Anns.


I have started a new project, which my mother has already blogged about…
But yes, I have been sucked into the world of socks.
I have my first sock on the needles right now, and I have to admit I’m quite proud of it.

Reading:
Currently, the only book I’m really reading is “White Witch, Black Curse” by Kim Harrison.
So far it’s not bugging me to much. Though honestly.. in a shocking reversal it’s Rachel’s whining that is annoying me, and Ivy is downright silent.

Writing:
Nope. Nada. But I did have a kick ass scary dream last night that everyone is telling me I should use for a novel someday. So it is tucked away in my “future unknown novels” folder.

Watching:
Just finished watching the first series of “A Touch of Frost”, what can I say, I enjoy British crime dramas. It was highly enjoyable, and for once felt very real. Most tv shows now a days make the mistake of having it be “1 episode, 1 crime” (unless it is an ensemble cast, then you get at least 2 crimes to solve), a real cops life, you have more than one case that you have to work. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a child abduction, or a hand found in the dirt. You have to work them both. So for me that made it quite enjoyable.

I also just finished watching season 1 of Pushing Daises.
Now, there was an irony to this.
We were eating fresh apple pie that Mother of Mine made, and of course as always knitting.
We pop in the episodes, not sure if we were going to watch past the first one.
There is pie… there is knitting.. there is dead people coming back to life.
Lets just say, we were absolutely hooked.
I’m sad to know that there is only one more season, but I’ll still watch it.

Health:
I finally bought a back brace. Just a 20$ one from walmart. I’m still undecided if it is helping. The reason for the unsure status is because all week long, even before I started wearing it, I would wake up in the morning with a stiff back. Then putting the brace on, on a stiff back meant my back never got a chance to relax before putting it on.
Yes, it makes me sit up straight at work, and at the end of the day I’m not so much in pain, but I am still in constant stiffness, and slight pain while at work (that’s nothing new)
So today, I am not wearing it. I will see how I feel at the end of the day.
Part of the factor, is I haven’t been sleeping well, Spring has finally Sprung, and my Dream Insomnia has started to kick in. Which might be why my back has been hurting me so much in the morning.

It’s been making me tired and cranky at work, which in my mind is not acceptable. I need to keep this job.
So yesterday when I went to Whole Foods to pick up something for dinner, I decided to get a little homeopathic remedy that is supposed to help with “Intellectual Fatigue or Overwork” which, describes me to a “t”. Basically, I’m taking Zincum Metallicum, which is supposed to help with 1) Mood, and 2) back pain (amongst other things)
So, hopefully I’ll get my irritability under check. Now, I’m supposed to take 5 of these little tic tacs (best way to describe them) 3 times a day. Nope, not going to do it. That’s the dose for a short term “ooh my back hurts” situation. Me, I’m in it for the long term. I took 2 of the little tic tacs today so far, and honestly.. yeah I’m tired… but I don’t feel crouchy.
My back is sore, of course like always, but I also lowered my chair in hopes of making a difference as well.

The truth is, right now I don’t care how much pain I’m in, as long as I keep my attitude in check. I can deal with the pain later as long as I can keep my job. The long term solutions, I can’t afford, so this is what I gotta do.

So here is everything I’m on:
Fish Oil – wow my skin is looking better and yeah I noticed a difference slightly in my back (skin is also being helped by Burts Bee’s Deep Pore Scrub.. love that stuff)

B-Complex – Stress formula - Yeah it’s helping, was able to stop taking Vit C by it’s self because this has it in it.

Zincum Metallicum – New, we’ll see how it does

Microgestin Fe- Yup, it’s Birth Control, which I don’t need right now.. But it’s keeping my hormones at a constant level as opposed to always in flux.

Jet Alert – yup, it’s caffeine pills, but only 200mg, once a day. Don’t look at me that way… you people who are addicted to your cups of coffee.

Random:
I bought tickets for Wicked for my birthday, yes.. I get to see Wicked again before I leave, and the show is actually ON my birthday. Katte Beth, Jenny (Jenna, but I’ll always call her Jenny), Curtis, Mother of Mine and myself shall go see the 3rd to last show whilst it is in town.
And that morning we girls are going to the Boulder Tea House for Brekkie/Brunch.
No excuse this time, since we will be driving to Denver rain/shine or snow… we are going to the tea house as well.

I’m excited.

Also, this Friday Mother of mine and I are getting a portrait taken of us.. for free thanks to our Real Estate company. Hmm I wonder if we’ll also get the free baseball game again this year, or if this is gonna be it for the “appreciation” stuff. If that’s the case.. man.. that’s kind of prejudiced against the men, as this gift was for “mothers day”.



I guess that’s all I got for now… I should get back to work…

Later people.

Frogged and A Hot Fairy Tale

I do feel like such a slacker for not having written any of AHDB recently, but the stress of normal life, was making me unable to write as my cathartic release.
I've been knitting instead.

I started to teach myself how to do Cables, so that I could get a leg up on the Alexandra coat that I've been talking about for months.

I'm very, very glad that I decided to give it a go with normal yarn as opposed to my Lucien. (Which, I know has been dyed, but I have not received due to the "club" nature of it. I'll get my first two skeins of it in the next few weeks)

I was banging my head against the wall trying to do the cable chart, and then I finally said screw it, and cast on the entire project, as if I'm doing it entirely.

Well, I discovered my first problem. I was counting the chart as 26 stitches, instead of the 25 it actually was. That was just my mind merging a symbol that looked like another symbol, hence getting 26 instead of 25.

But, once I got past that, I discovered other problems. I didn't get 7 rows before I ran into this problem.
After frogging and putting it back on at least half a dozen times, I gave up and started poking about online.

Thats when I made a significant discovery. Everyone (minus one person) has had extreme problems with the pattern. There are many bugs in it, and entire parts missing from the instructions.

Woohoo. This means it's not me messing it up! It means that it's just a bad pattern.

Well, one of the girls I was chatting with, talked about picking up the project again and completely rewriting the pattern, but she hadn't thought about that in forever (really not since she had put down the pattern in the first place)

But, me chatting with her reminded her how much she loved the sweater and how it looks, and thus is inspired to possibly pick it up again. If she does, she'll send me the pattern. Which at this point, I'd trust her pattern over the original author any day. (The author put errata up on the pattern site, only after the girl I was chatting with pointed out the mistakes, and it doesn't count all the mistakes)

I'm about to start Marissa's project, as I picked up the last skein of yarn I needed today.

This, most definitely might count as the "neat thing" & holiday gift, as it is quite a well.. it's a good project. I hope she'll like it.

Everyone else is just getting a little small item.

I am also, starting a "Princess Bride Read-Knit-Along"
I've never read the Princess Bride.. I remember starting it in the 5th grade, but that was the day before school was ending, and I couldn't borrow the book from my friend. So I read a total of 1 page before I had to give it back, and somehow it has managed to not make it in my reading pile all these years. So I have till June 21st to finish reading the book and knit something related to The Princess Bride.

I now have a copy of the book, as I finally checked out "Hooked on Books" which is not far from my house. I like it much more than The Book Rack. But still not as impressed. I guess I'm just spoiled thanks to The Bookworm (Boulder).

The version I have is amusing. I think it was a cover that was directed towards the adults rather than kids. It's got artwork from like the 80's. But the back... the back is amusing..

“What Happens-
When the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince in the world and he turns out to be a son of a bitch?”






I also picked up:
Death Du Jour by Kathy Reitchs, it's the next in the Bones books.
Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris, first in the Shakespeare series
Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris, 4th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series - mmm Eric. love him.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, woohoo.. finally gonna get to read it.

I was able to justify buying the books, because I only spend 23$ for all the books, and they are all books I plan on sending to Guy to read during the summer break and books to get him through exam times etc.

We ended up going to the bead store, and I'm honestly surprised how much I got for as little as I spent. Mother of Mine had a 5$ gift certificate, so with buying a bead for her, I only ended up spending 3$ (and 1.60$ of that was the bead for her)

Oh, random knitting note (sorry, typing past my bed time.. what do you expect?)

Having figured out how to DO cables, I have now accomplished one of my two main goals for the year. The next is to tackle simple socks. Woohoo.

Mother of Mine and I hunted slightly for Easter dinner. Which I can't recall if I've spoken of or not.

Now as you all know, I do not celebrate the christian holidays as I am not christian. But as Mother of Mine is connecting with her church and stuff like that, I am supportive of her. So I was sitting there thinking what we might want for Easter dinner, because she'll want to have something nice.
And really, the only thing that came to my mind was "Hmmm.. Rabbit would be nice."

Yes, I am that twisted.

Rabbit on Easter. bwhahahahaha

Unfortunately, the rabbit is not meant to be (this year). We left of inquiring about it till today, and the only kind we would be able to get would be whole (ugh) and frozen.

Nope, won't work for this year.

Oh, random jump.. sorry again..
I finally found the damn buttons. Remember the quest for the buttons? I hadn't gone to JoAnn's. Honesty I just should have looked there first. Perfect purple buttons, and I'm slick enough that they are the perfect size. Again, they were 50% off. SWEEET.
They are even stitched on to the leg warmers. So, as soon as Mother of Mine finishes weaving in the ends (i did the buttons, but it was her knitting project) i'll get to wear them, and will also post photos.
The purple was a grand choice and goes well with the blue. Woohoo!

Random: watching Alias season two.. and it is just always weird to see a Russian Cowboy bar and Russian cowboy songs it is not new, but it still amuses me (First time I ever saw it was of course James Bond, Goldeneye. But that was still in english)

Work: It was a rough beginning of the week just because things were changed and other things were in the spotlight. Nothing was my fault as I wasn't there. But it was blown out of proportion due to it being something that really NEVER happens. It just happened to happen and it bit us. (Mostly, the only reason it happened at all, is because one of our agents screwed up in the first place. Then things just slipped)
So that lead to meetings, and more meetings, and more meetings. Which just made it an unbelievably tiresome and hectic week, and made me freak out about my job. I really do just need to remember to take a deep breath and remember that I am a good worker, and I do my job, and that I'm not one of the people they want to let go.
It didn't help my mindset either to find out that another one of my Ravelry buddies ended up being let go this week as well. It was completely out of the blue, which is another reason everything that happened made me so freaked.

I should stop rambling about it. As I am rambling as I am quite tired.

Later peoples...

Oh, one last note:
Doctor Who season 4... FREAKING AWESOME!
We just finished watching it. And OH MY GODS.

I still don't like Catherine Tate, but I do like Donna a bit more.

And everything else... just... wow.. wow wow wow wow.

Another random note:
I have an entire rant to post soon, but I'm too tired to try to rant about it now, and when I first went to rant about it, Blogger didn't want to work on my work computer. So, I've got it sitting waiting for ranting.

Boring Tuesday..

I must say...

I am annoyed with Blogger. Le sigh. Mostly i am annoyed with not being able to respond to comments the proper way.

Mayhaps I'll have to slowly change things over to Wordpress as it has that option.

But don't worry my dear readers, I shant do anything crazy yet.

I might just suffer through blogger for the next 15 months, and then when i move to the UK, and Guy and I have made our own server and websites, I'll have my blog just how I want it and won't have to rely on silly little programs such as this one.

yeah mayhaps that is just the way to go for now.

I feel slightly bad, as when i bought my Flying Monkeys and they arrived, I was highly disappointed. Instead of emailing the person to inform them that the description was wrong, and that I had wanted Lobster Clasps. I simply stated in the feedback I left that the description was incorrect for the objects. Now, I did not leave neutral or negative feedback. I clicked that Positive button, because they did arrive quickly, and the transaction was painless. I just commented in my post of "i love them but.. "
Well, she emailed me today apologizing. So now I feel bad. Gee I'm glad I didn't hit that negative button.
But when it comes down to it, she should have checked her descriptions, since ALL her items that are stitch markers say that. Oh well, I still plan on buying more, and I'll just leave a glowing feedback on the next one.



Still plunking through Bride of Casa Dracula.

Here is a prediction: she's about to introduce werewolves.

Lets see if I'm right.



I did not get anything done on my vest last night. I just had no motivation. I'm in that final stretch. Tonight after I shower and feel more awake, I'll put it on. Check the pinning, then stitch it up and be done with it. Woohoo.
I do want to do it again, but out of different yarn, and I've learned a few things while doing this one. I know I need to lengthen the base without adding to the width.


A Hard Day's Bite: Been mulling a few things, but haven't made any decisions. I don't want to lean towards falling into the same lines as Charlaine Harris or Kim Harrison, or LKH for that matter. If you don't know what I'm talking about its the "Oh my god. She wrote about this. She's copying them!" Charlaine recently wrote a blog about that circumstance. Someone made the comment of "Charlaine added motorcycle gangs into her story! She's copying LKH."
Well.... people get over it. It's kind of hard to not incorporate things that are actually quite common in real life. Such as motor cycle groups. I have friends that are part of different motorcycle groups here in Colorado. Am I going to ignore a good plot because *gasp* it might involve a motorcycle?Also, it makes sense in the fact that Vamps and Werewolves tend to be part of the subculture. And what do you find in the sub culture? Gangs, adrenaline, and danger. No. Now, mind you I have nothing penned in that regard, but I'm using it as an example. Same goes for politics. Which is really what the whining was about. Yes, Sookie's world has gotten very Vampire Political, just like Antia's world.
But if your going to whine about that... well... Anne Rice kinda got the ball rolling on that. Remember The Theater of Vamps? Well, that was basically the start of the vampire political structure. Armand was in charge.

I'm rambling. Lets move on.
Umm...
Ummmm....
Cold snap here in Colorado? It's been freaking cold the past two days. Thank goodness I hadn't removed my heating blanket yet. Cause I'd never get to sleep otherwise.

It's a boring Tuesday thus far. Just sayin' .

Defying Gravity...

So just to make this even more themed...

Yes, I am going to Wicked in October. Wooohoooo! I can't wait.

now on to my Wicked Verdigris.

I am completely finished with section A and B. (Which are exactly the same)They are currently getting some light blocking done. Meaning they were made damp, and currently are pinned to the carpet to "form" them into the proper shapes.
I'm proud of myself, as my tension was pretty darn good and so they really don't need much blocking at all. Woohoo.

I am skipping ahead though, because your supposed to wait till it's all done to block and then put the pieces together.
But as I am modifying section C, I want to put section A and b together so that i can put it on, and see exactly how long i need and or want to make section C. The difference can be at least 40 rows of stitching, so I'd rather just try it out first then end up having to rip stitches out.

Last night I cast on section C (meaning I started it. for all you non knitting readers), and I got about 20 rows done before bedtime. Mind you, that was less than an hours worth of work on a very boring part. You know the boring parts I mentioned on the other sections? Well this entire section is that boring part 200 to 240 (or something like that) rows of nothing but garter stitch. BORING. gotta put it down every few rows.

On the reading front:
Currently reading The Bride of Casa Dracula. I'm about 50 pages in, and the entire time I've been debating it if I want to actually read it. But it's slightly a compulsion. Sigh. it's just... I don't know. Once again there is the whole "i dress like a slut, but why does think i'm a slut?!" aspect. Honestly. A plastic white mini skirt at least a size too small????
At least it hasn't dived into the "oh everyone hates me because i'm hispanic" aspect of it yet. And I say yet, as it will be inevitable.

I guess I read these books as reminders to myself of what I don't want to write like.

On the writing front:
Nope. nothing new. Sigh. Don't have time right now. but I got ideas percolating, and I'm still running high off the new chapters. woohoo for that.


On a random note:
So some of you have been hearing me whine for a while now (most likely in the previous blog on myspace) about how I want to get back into playing the piano.
Well, there was that bruahaha with a certain individual whom I was going to borrow a piano from.

Weeeeeeel... the person who was kindly storing the piano for the bitch in question has also had not fun times with bitch in question, and has decided to let me use the piano. When bitch in question asks for it back, they'll get it back obviously, but for now it's out of my friends house, and soon I shall actually have it set up and shall be reminding myself how horrible I am at playing piano.

Though, as I just discovered, there are some things one never forgets. My right hand has full muscle memory of the right hand intro for Tarantella. Woohoo. Ironically, it was that piece of music which facilitated my abrupt stop of playing music when I was a kid.

Tarantella was the piece I had to learn to move onto the next level. I informed my teacher I didn't want to compete. She didn't want to teach me anymore. And I was terrified of Tarantella because it was so beyond my skill. So it's the last piece I really "learned" and after at least 15 years, my right hand still knows how to play it. the left hand.. has half the memory, but it was confused the last time I attempted to play it.

On the work front:
Busy busy busy. They are messing with us greatly. Which is making more work for me. Which sucketh. To the point where my eye twitches when i'm at work. Almost non stop. I can't stand it.

The only thing that keeps me going is my constant mantra of "15 months, 15 months"

Speaking of that... Today is once again the monthly anniversary of meself and Guy. By the old counting system.. we have 1.39 years left.
The new counting system.. 15 months and a week and a half.

On the Vampire yarn front:
Poll ends tonight. But there might be some last minute changes. Such as I might only have 1 yarn to pick when it comes down to it.
As I said there is issue with the whole dying thing.
And now there is an issue with the whole Weight of yarn thing.

Jen is sending me one of her leftover balls of yarn, out of her "Silk Sock", which I can't remember the content right now but I think it's like 80% silk, 20% wool.. I think i can't recall. Which I might be able to stand, but she can only get it in whats known as Fingering Weight. Which is a lot lighter than the DK that I need to do the project in. So I have to do the math and figure out how much more I'm going to need so as to be 100% sure I have enough for the Alexandra. So I might need 9 skeins of the Lucien just to be on the safe side. And, that means with the 2 yummy Michael Corvins, that will leave only 1 spot open for a random color.

I will of course let ya'll know how it plays out. But I won't know till later.

Wicked Verdigris

So, yesterday was spent just put-putting around the house.

I got up. Took a shower. Watched the second episode of Ashes To Ashes. Which, I shouldn't be watching since I haven't seen season 2 of Life on Mars. But, screw it, if I don't watch A2A now, I won't get to until after I move to the UK. And comcast has A2A on demand for free. Woohoo.

After that I hopped in my car, and drove to Whole Foods. I knew I needed to buy cereal, and I really didn't want to go to Walmart. So, I splurged at Whole Foods.
Got a few things, including a bag of Jade Pearl rice.

It's rice... that is infused with Bamboo. Ooooh Ahhhhhh. And it's also short grain, which I like. I can't wait to try it.

Then, I came home.. changed back in to my jammies, and just chilled watching telly and knitting.
And I have mastered the art of knitting and typing. Okay, not so much mastered, but I'm getting the hang of it.

I was working on a particularly boring section of knitting, so after each row I would type something.

84 rows of 11 stitches of Knit.

Not even Knit/Purl. Just straight Knit on both sides all rows for 84 rows. BORING!!!!!!

But, it was a necessary part of the vest.

I am officially done with section A. woohoo!
Now on to section B, which is... sadly exactly the same as section A.
I spent at least 3 hours untangling my skein of yarn. This cotton yarn I'm using, every time I go to wind it into a ball, it catches on it's self and then tangles in an ungodly way. Thank goodness I'll need only to go through that process on one more skein.

I did cast on Section B last night. I'll most likely finish all of B tomorrow. Who knows, it depends on how much I knit tonight.

I have decided to call the vest "Wicked Verdigris" as it is quite a green color. And that just seemd to fit for now. Don't know if I'll change it or not..

I watched Kung Fu Panda yesterday, which was cute.
I watched a horribly dubbed Jackie Chan movie, which.. sucked because Jackie didn't even do the american dub for himself, so it was really... weird.

Oh, Saturday I watched one of the most horrible Vampire movies. The Vampire Kiss or whatever it's called. The one with Nicolas Cage.
I think I could have liked the movie if it wasn't for Nicolas Cage. He had this weird accent, like he was trying to just be an ass, but it was coming out pompish, feminine and just... creepy. If I had been in the movie iwth him, I wouldn't have been able to get through a scene without laughing at how ridiculous he was speaking. it was pointless, it did not add anything to the character.

Watched most all of BallyKissAngel season 6, and I gotta say.. I could really care less about this season. Most of the people I like are gone, and the people I like that are still left don't have that much of story in this season. Boooo.


I have to admit I'm very glad that on Ravelry I don't participate in any of the "value / belief" oriented groups, as there is a huge bruhahha going on right now to the point where legal action is being taken and people are getting banned in the crossfire.

It's about Knitting people. Everything else is besides the point. Get over it.

And on the writing note..
Got my chapters back from James, which I'm very happy about as there was nothing that was added or needed to be subtracted really. That means I'm on the right track, and that makes me happy. Woohoo!

Okay, well I guess I've slacked off enough. Back to work I go.

An impossible amount of sneezing.. .

So this weekend there was a goal to stay home and knit.

Yeah... that didn't happen

Friday night I wrote... got a good amount. Not a GREAT amount, but I like what I did get.

Then I started getting headachey. Mostly I think it was the end of the week "been doing too much" type headache. Along with staring at a computer screen for too long.
So I stopped early and went to bed.. it was after 8, which wasn't bad considering I normally go to bed at 8.

Saturday I had planned to write more.. But then when I woke up, I had a headache even worse than the night before. On top of that, I was sneezing non stop all morning. It took much application of Benedryl and nasal decongestants to get me in a semi functioning state. But, that unfortunately meant I was in no state to write. Sigh.

Seriously, there was a time there, where I was sneezing non stop for at least 20 minutes, then i spent the next 40 minutes in a state that felt like I was going to sneeze at any second. Highly annoying.

So, I decided to start knitting. Which shockingly I was able to do even doped up.
Woohoo, I have a project on the needles.

I put my previous project down as it will take much more trial and error before it's just right. And frankly, I wanted a completed project right now as opposed to many bits of "trial" laying about.

The current project will be a vest type sweater. And it's my very first "garment" woohoo!



Right now, I'm doing it in a bright green Aryan weight yarn, which is heavier than called for in the pattern, but I'm using my stash as it were. And I made sure that I adjusted my needle size for the correct gauge.

This is the yarn I'm using:


When I'm done with it, I'm going to over dye it with I think a blue. That way it's toned down.

I'm already about 20% done with the project. Woohoo. I am loving it.

Okay.. I'm off to go knit some more since the cat is no longer laying on it.

Much rambling...

So I've been meaning to blog for a little while now, but I have been distracted by a few things. Mostly work.
February was a very LONG month. Which is ironic since it is the shortest month of the year. January was busy, but it flew by. Feb was just miserable. I'm hoping March will be better. So far it is off to a good start. Pan actually LET me sleep in until 6. (My paranoia only needing to go so far as to slide his litter box contraption right against my bedroom door so as to prevent him... complaining in a physical way. (I say liter box contraption because what I've done, is taken a large moving box, cut it up, taped it back together and made a little outer box for his box. That way it's small attempt to have him not track litter all over my floor. I lost the battle on where his litter box was to be placed, but so far I'm wining the battle of the track. It also makes it easier if I need to slide the box side to side at all, as it just glides on the carpet easier than the plastic box it's self.)
6am came about, and I hop out of bed. Normally I would try to stay in bed till 7, but today has a mission.
Today is Vamp club sign up.
Yup, those previous posts about yarn colors etc, today is my chance to join up. The reason for the 6 am start time of me stalking my computer, is because poor overwhelmed Jen from Fresh From the Cauldron has decided for her sanity's sake to limit the club to 50 members. There are about over 40 confirmed people who want to be in the group, and about 10 or so lurkers who haven't made up their mind.
The club was supposed to go live last night at Midnight, but Jen's kids had softball so she pushed the start time back because she knew she wouldn't be up at midnight.

I do not blame her for wanting to save her sanity.
As I said, so far the month is starting off well. I was decadent and had a slice of home made apple pie for brekkie, and I am snuggled under a blanket on the couch currently watching "One Way Out" great show. The bloke on it is a crazy escapologist. But he isn't all "oooh it's magic" like Criss Angel. He's a english bloke in jeans, that has an engineer who creates crazy shit for him, and a friend with a camera that doesn't mind putting him in dangerous situations. I just watched him locked up in chains, 30 feet above the ground, with only mattresses to catch his fall if he didn't escape the chains and grab the "duct tape descent" contraption his engineer contrived for him. He did it by the way. It was close. Like last second close. But he did it. He glided down safely in a stream of duct tape. Now it's time to watch Top Gear. Love that show.

I do hope that March continues this well.

Yesterday was quite a productive day, and I was away from the computer for most all of it.
I got my bathroom cleaned up. (They are FINALLY coming to fix my sink, so I had to clean my bathroom so that they can get under the cabinet)
I got a ton of my bedroom cleaned up, and I even moved the mini dresser into my bedroom. Holy crap!
It still doesn't have it's drawers in it, but that will hopefully change tonight.
Once I secure or loose my spot in the vamp club, I plan on working on my closet as we convinced the management company to bring a ladder to change the light bulb in my closet. But since I haven't been able to have any light in my closet for like 3 months now, everything is kinda piled on the floor. Must move that so he can get the ladder in.
Got the floor mostly vacuumed and just lots of little things done in the upstairs region.
I also finished reading Castle in the Air by Diana Wynn Jones (I'll review later in this blog)
But the reason I was able to get most of that getting accomplished, was because I was *cough* umm... coping a few audio books to download onto my Zen replacement that I'll be getting in a week or so. - Speaking of, that was a funny story. And I don't recall if I already spoke of it, so screw it, I'm going to talk about it. The other day, I got an email from Overstock saying "We are sorry to hear about your Emmerson 4 head VCR (refurb) no longer working, and we will be refunding you your money, you have the choice either of having it refunded to your credit card, or store credit. If you choose store credit, you'll get an additional 10% increase refund."

Me: What The Hell?

Did you catch the mistake? Yeahhhhhhhhh my Creative Zen V is not a VCR, nor has it ever been.
So I emailed them back stating (mayhaps a bit shortly... mostly I just underlined a few key points, which can be construed as short, but I wanted to make sure that they got the point of my response) I would be happy for the refund back to my credit card for my _Creative Zen MP3_ player as long as I am refunded for the _right_ amount.
I told them they could call me or email me, and that night I got a phone call (mind you, i got the call at 8:20pm - which what freaking help desk ever calls that late?!)
The girl I spoke with apologized profusely for the email error of her coworker. And that it is of course the Create Zen V MP3 player that they will refund. As I had forgotten that my credit card had expired and been replaced since I had ordered my Creative originally, I just had to give them the new information, and in a few days I'll have my refund. Woohoo. The girl on the phone was very sweet and helpful. So other than the email snafu, the whole experience has been not too horrible.
I decided not to go the store credit route, because 1) Overstock didn't have any Creatives other than a few Refurbed Zen V Plus, which was exactly what I was returning.
Right now, I can get the new Creative Zen for 99.00$ from Creative 4gb. Which is a much better deal, as the Zen now has removable memory. yup, so I can pay 99$ and then later spend 30$ and buy a 16gb memory card or whatever. It no longer limits me to what I have on my mp3 player. I can have many cards and just interchange them. Ironically, Guy had just decided to buy the Zen as well because his grandmother gave him some "You better spend this on something frivolous- absolutely NO bills" money.

Great minds think alike as we were going to buy the same one. Woohoo.
As my refund from Overstock will be 109.99$, it means that I will also buy the 2 year protection plan from Creative, and end up spending a total of like 4$. How sweet is that? Totally upgraded and spent less than 10$ (Though, I'm going to actually buy a case for this one, as I don't want any scratches this time! But i'm not counting that as part of my upgrade, because well it's an accessory that I had planned on buying the last time and never got around to it.)
I shall also be knitting my new Zen a little cozy, but I haven't decided what I want to knit for it, or if I want to try my first Doctor Who kitting project. No one has a pattern out there for the Zen yet, cause apparently people are only obsessed about ipods. Which, considering how often those break, and are expensive to repair, I can understand their paranoia.

But this shall be my new baby:



This of course was my old one (only in the colors of Black/Blue)



The Zen is going to be the size of a credit card. Which will be neat. The V was about the size of an Ipod nano? possibly. I don't know since I avoid those at all possible.

Can you tell I'm excited? I can't wait. I'm holding off on actually buying the new one until the refund shows up, because I just know my luck too much. I'd get screwed somehow.
Okay, I'm done talking about my new future mp3 player.

Haven't done much knitting this week. I did a little. Printed off a lot of patterns for the future, and even came up with the idea for another Kushiel inspired sweater. Yup, I'm now up to 3 possible future sweaters.
But this week I was working on a swatch of Long Spirals. It's kind of neat. I haven't decided which side I like more, the write side or the wrong side. As usual I like to work in texture as opposed to color.

Awwww crap. I had a really good idea for something, but now I can't recall what it was. I think it was a sock. Hmm must ponder it and sketch it if it comes back to me.
I will of course post photos when the swatch is done.

Bookwise:
Finished Castle in the Air like I said. It was good, I did not enjoy it as much as Howl's Moving Castle, but I did enjoy it a lot. It relied heavily on The Arabian Nights. Howl, Sophie, and Calcifer made a cameo appearances, but you didn't 'see' them until the last quarter of the book. Howl was vain and cranky as ever. Still love that Welsh wizard.

Bed book: Torchwood "Another Life" - I am enjoying it thus far, but I have discovered a problem with reading books of Torchwood... what is that? Well, there are often welsh words interspersed in it. And when you are only reading the book prior to shutting of your light and going to sleep, it makes for much confusion. lol
And i just now realized that I was reading two books dealing with Wales at the same time. Granted Castle in the Air, it was only a casual mention of "Howl isn't from this world. He's from a place called Wales" but still.. it amuses me.

Purse Book: Still plunking along on Peshawar Lancers- meaning I haven't touched the book in prolly 2 weeks lol. Someday, I will switch the book to being a couch book, or hell, it will be a book I read on the plane moving to the UK. There is a very distinct possibility that will happen.

New Couch book: Yup, the new one shall be Kathy Reichs's "Déjà Dead" which is the first book of the Bones books, yup I'm finally reading the novels that inspired Bones. I know without a doubt that they are going to be highly different, but I still want to give them a go. And I know that the first one is the most painful to get through. And yes, it is quite a far cry from the books I have normally been reading for the last nearly 2 years, but I gotta say.. change is refreshing. Like reading the Bryant and May book "Full Dark House" it was just refreshing.

Oooooh I see Jen has just popped online. Woohoo. That means club any moment now hopefully!

In which one edits with an informed decision.

I finally made the decision that my most recent "official" chapter, meaning one of the ones I handed off to my minion for first edit. It going to get a re-write.
Most likely the entire chapter is just going to get thrown out the window.

I was not happy with it when I finished writing it, and upon letting it simmer in my mind, I decided it just wasn't working. It was also going to set the wrong first (well second) impression on a specific character. So out it goes!

But this is good. And after some discussion with my minion, and some spoiling of future plot to him on my part, we got at least the bare bones of a good way to make the chapter work.

I actually look forward to sitting down and writing it. I think it will fit more with the tone I want. Also it gives me a very needed excuse to go visit a certain location here in Colorado that I've been wanting to go to for years, and just haven't been able to go to yet. (Though, I had sort of planned at the very least that it would be one of the places Guy and I go to before we leave the state if nothing else. -heck it could still end up that way if this year goes like all the previous years where I've said "I'm gonna do it this year")

On the knitting front:
I actually do not have a project on the needles right now.
Okay thats a lie. I do have my purple and grey scarf that I've been working on for like 2 years now. But I just don't have the urge to work on it right now. Its one of those long term WIPs. I'm actually like nearly done with it though. But I've run into the problem of the fact that I think I am missing a few of my balls of yarn for it, and therefore it will not be the same length, nor have the fringe of it's companions. This is not necessarily a problem, but I really don't want to go out and buy more of the yarn. It's the cheap Red Heart stuff that I was using when I was a nooooob. I am beyond such horrid yarn. ;-) And I don't need much to finish which means I would have the majority of a skein left sitting around gathering dust. I guess I could use it for pattern swatches etc, but meh.

And to Marissa who commented on my last blog: As it will not let me figure out who you are or how I know you, I am having to respond here. Go try Entrelac! It's fun, it's addicting. And it is challenging. But it is worth it. I rather enjoyed my project. I already have ideas for another project in mind.

This weekend I will be throwing my hat into the Vampire Club from Fresh from the Cauldron. Sigh. And I have a decision to make. I need to figure out 2 colorways that I want.
I am going the 12 skein route for the club, as I need 8 of them to be the Lucien I've mentioned previously.

So 8 Lucien


2 Michael Corvin


And then two others of my choice, but I can't fully decide what I want.

These colors will not be avaiblie again until next year when the swap once again comes around.

There is:
Sonja


Viktor


Selene


Claudia


The Volturi


There are also a few she hasn't posted yet.

Now, not all of them are exactly my chosen taste, but at the same time, I do need to branch out sometimes and get somthing that isn't entirely what I normally go for. Thats how you end up with a wardobe of nothing but black clothes (actually, that was because I had no money when I first joined the corporate world, and my philosophy back then was "well, i can only afford to buy one. And so I should buy something that matches everything." before I knew it, I only had black work clothes)

Once I figure out how to do it, there shall be poll.

I can't decide if I want to do a poll or if I should just go random. But for now I might as well post a poll and see what you all think.

So go vote!

And I just had a horrible experience here at work, I'm not going to blog about it, but I do need to calm down from it. So I'm ending this hear before I start word vomitting it.

Seriously shocking

I am still in shock.

I just had a ... wait for it...

Pleasant experience calling Customer Service!

Brian at Overstock.com... whoever you are, you were a peach.
All it took was me giving my order number. Confirming my phone number and address. Giving him a brief run down of what the heck was going on with my Zen, and voila!
Within 24 hours, I will have my printable mailing label in my email box.
I already have my Zen and all the little bits of hardware that came with it (i'm missing just the silly little bag/pouch that came with it, and one of the software cd's. the tiny lanyard, I'm just gonna not worry about as it works very well attached to my mothers camera, and I doubt they will notice thats not in the box) back into it's box, and snugged inside a box fit for mailing. All I have to do, is tape the box up, slap the label on it and drop it in the mail.

The entire phone call took less than 10 minutes, honestly it took me longer to gather all the bits and pieces and do a half assed search for the software cd.

It sucks that my Zen died, but I'm glad that I had spent the 10$ for the 2 year warranty on it. Of course, that warranty will expire this up coming Nov, but I think I can renew it. I'll have to look into that. I just need my zen to last me 18 months. Yes, I say 18 months, because if it dies in 17 months, and I'm stuck on the plane to the UK (18 hour flight minimum) with no music, or having to deal with the old school of CD's. I'll most likely kill someone. So, in 18 months, after I've had a chance to settle into the UK, it can die. I'll get a new one. Because at that time, I should be able to afford the nice like... oh 40 gig one instead of the puny little 4 gig one I have now.

I don't care if they just fix mine, or replace it or give me credit for a new one. I honestly don't care, either way I'll have a new zen soon. If they just give me credit for a new one, I don't think they even have the 4gig ones on the website anymore, so I'd just spend a bit more and get one of the newer models. With more space on it.

But all in all, within the next 2 weeks, I'll have my music back. Woohoo.

I don't think there was any music on my music player that I can't replace.. I think I was smart and either have it all on cd or I've still got it zipped on my computer. It'll just require me to unzip the files again. I think I've even got my playlist for the "A Hard Day's Bite" Inspiration list.
Though, I don't think the version of the playlist I have on my laptop is up to date. Either way, thats no biggie.

Today I am home from work. Stupid Presidents day. Most likely there won't be any posts from me later this week, simply because I'll be working 10 hour days. Yup. Even friday. (Though, since I never do take lunch, I'll most likely still be able to leave after 8 hours instead of 10 hours on Friday...)

Reading update:
Just finished reading "Wolfsbane and Mistletoe" Which was a collection of werewolf novels, obviously set at Christmas. I only read it for the Charlaine Harris story of "Gift Wrap" (Sookie Stackhouse). None of the other stories grabbed my interest at all to even bother reading them, and I was more interested in getting back to my knitting. So eventually I'll own the book and go back and read all the other stories.

I also finished reading Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which I can't recall if I spoke about at all or not. I loved the book.

I also finished reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. Which I have to say, I enjoyed this one so much more than i've enjoyed any of the others in the series that are set in the "Americas". I am actually looking forward to the next one.

Couch book: How to Live on Mars by Robert Zubrin (haven't actually started it yet)
Bed book: Tale of Desperaux
Purse book: as always, it is still The Peshawar Lancers

Knitting update:
I am about halfway done with my project of Entrelac. It looks rather pretty.. I love it. Due to the colors, it is becoming a project for Guy, which I'm sure he will use. After all, the UK has been rather cold right now.

And on a completely random note... I just watched Labyrinth for the first time in a long time. Sigh. I love that movie. I giggle at all the goblins.

Valentines Day Vampires and insanity inducing knitting..

So, yesterday I finally did it!
I figured out how to do Entrelac. Which for you non knitters, it is a huge insanely cool looking thing, and for those who are knitters who haven't figured out how to do it, it is a huge daunting pain in the ass. For those knitters who have figured it out, it's a breeze.
But either way, I finally did it. An entire week of misery at work and misery coming home and beating my brain against the wall trying to figure it out. I finally did it.
I will of course post pictures, but not right now.

Moving along..

Today I finally got the house to myself for a while.
And this is why I think that I can actually be a writer when I put my mind to it.
I've had the house to myself for about 3 hours. An hour of that time was spent finishing up watching a movie, talking to Guy, finishing the baking that Mother of Mine was doing, and making myself some lunch, bathroom brakes etc.
The other 2 hours of time was spent writing.
And in those 2 hours, I wrote approximately 2,341 words, of fresh new and exciting plot and storyline. Woohoo. Now imagine what I could do with a full eight hours?
Page wise, it's not much. Story wise, it's a lot. One of the KEY bits has finally been written out, and another scene that I'm not fully sure about yet has also begun.
I shall be sending those chapters off to Minion for his review.
I am now officially up to Chapter Eight. Woohoo. I still need to go and add a little bit to Chapter 5, but meh, that's not going anywhere.
I am currently taking a break, as the next bit of writing has to be perfect, and that requires some time for it to simmer and stew.

Well, I am off to go eat a oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and call my Guy as since I have the house to myself, I can have a phone conversation without feeling the need to lock myself in my bedroom. And after all, it's Valentines day. I want to talk to my hunny.

Later people. The novel, is actually acting like a real novel. This is neat.

Today already is not a good day.

It technically started yesterday, and just hasn't gotten better at all.

My beloved mp3 player.. my Creative Zen, has died on me. It freezes, and will not charge due to the frozen status.
After much troubleshooting on my part and frustration, I submitted a "hey its broke" ticket to Creative, and this morning..
I got an email back from Creative saying "oh your past your 60 day email support, but if you want to pay out the butt we'll give you 30 minutes of support, after that, we charge you more."
Luckily, when I bought it, I bought the 2 year protection from Overstock.com, which means Overstock will take care of it. But I can't call them until after work.

Yesterday continued:
My knitting was making me frustrated beyond belief, but mostly it was a silly mistake on my part the last time, tonight I am hoping for better results and I think I am understanding the situation more and more. That is what is keeping me from being actually "insane" by Einstein's theory. I am learning each time I do it, therefore I am actually getting different results.

Mother of Mine made pork chops for dinner with Pacific Rose apples that I had picked up, it turned out really good. The apples stayed crisp and yummy. I can't wait to try them in a pie. That was the only highlight of the evening.

I went to bed.

I turned up my heating blanket, as it has been cold, and one of the blankets I normally have needs to be washed, therefore it's a tad chillier than normal.

Well, I woke up to my heating blanket being completely off, and me in serious pain due to shivering.

And a cat who decided to meow incessantly from 4:45 until 5:10 when it was time to go downstairs. I honestly wanted to kill him.

As I was driving to work I realized I had forgotten my scarf at home, which attributed even more to the cold factor.

I'm at work, I'm tired, I'm cranky, I'm still cold even after a cup of tea. I've been here for 2 and a half hours already and I am still not warm.

Thanks to the tea I had to use the ladies room prior to when I normally do, and of course ran into the cleaning guy who ALWAYS shows up to clean the bathroom when I absolutely need to use it. And it does not matter which of the 3 bathrooms I go to. He's always there. It's like he has a 6th sense about me having to pee desperately.

Work has been busy, and I sit here wanting to cry. It's just a craptastic day. Yelled at Guy for something that really I should have just kept to myself, but it had been nagging me for a while, so now I feel bad for snapping at him about it because he feels about the reason for what I had snapped at him about.

I wanted to tell a person to fuck off in Ravelry, because I had mentioned a neat idea I had and I wanted input.
Basically: Character in my novel is blind. Just due to old age, but because she had been going blind for many years, she learned how to read braille.
I had an idea that not only did she use her Minds Eye (as she's very witchy), she also had a deck of tarot cards in Braille.

Well someone asked me why i felt she "needed" to read braille.

Ummm.. practicality?

Just for the novel's sake, the way to make my world more believable is to have just enough "real world" in the fantastical world. That way when someone reads what I've written the sit there and go "yeah.. I can see that happening."

Not to mention, if I truly was going fully blind, and I knew it. I mean not just partial vision, I would learn to read braille. And as someone who throws the tarot at least once a month, I would want a deck that I could read.

I even think I might someday actually make a deck of tarot cards in braille, I think it's a neat idea.
But the way that person commented, after everything I've dealt with for the past two days, just made me want to tell them to fuck off.

I was polite and didn't do that, but it urked me.

I want to go home.
No.
I want to get on a plane and go to the UK. I don't want to be in this damn country anymore, I don't want to be in this job anymore, and I want to have something go right for once.

A Hard Days Bite, book reviews, and happy knitting.

So tonight, I did what I said I was going to do.
I sat down, without anyone around and worked a bit on the miscreant chapter 5.

Well, in truth I only worked on it a little. I worked on the end of it, which is where I was the most stuck.

I've got more I've got to work on in the middle of it, and bridge a few key areas, but the end is what was making me feel guilty- I just didn't have a good feel going on the end of the chapter.

I moved on to chapter Six, which was written months ago... Honestly months ago. Like I had this chapter started before I even finished chapter 1. I might have to tweak 5 a little bit more to make 6 work a little more smoothly, and there are a few kinks, but we'll see what James has to say about it.

It was a quiet evening in, which is what I needed.
Yesterday, I was stuck at the auto shop getting my car worked on. I was a good car mommy, and finally got the O2 sensor repaired. Gee... all in all, I've only got just over 800$ worth of work left on my car for it to be "spiffy". But thats all normal stuff, like I need a new battery as mine most likely won't last me to the summer. Or certainly not next winter. I need my coolant changed, as apparently it is Chocolate milk like right now. And a few other various things, but all in all no big deal. The expensive part is always the "labor" sigh.

Today I went out and bought myself a spiffy memory foam pillow, hopefully my neck won't feel broke in the morning.
Went to the dreaded Walmart to pick up some sinus meds to avoid getting sick *knock on wood* and had a most horrible interaction while there. Seriously, employees were called over, and end result was Mother of Mine speaking to one of the managers to
inform them of how upset we were. I'm not going to go into details, but it's all due to some crazy bitch who even went so far as to bust out and start screaming at me that she was going to "pray for me" WTF?! I didn't do anything other walk past her.
Again, not going into it, but it was just bad.

Came home after that, and just chilled. Started laundry, took a shower, and started watching a few flicks.

Mother of Mine borrowed my car and drove to Denver (Littleton actually), for a Blair supper night with some of the clan members. Which allowed me to work on my knitting, and also work on my chapters.

So, quick little reviews:

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke:
This one seemed a bit odd, as the story went everywhere but the investigation. Yes, there was investigating.. but it just seemed a bit scattered. You got to see more of the real Mike, and also more of Norman, and again I can't seem to want to choose between the two of them. For a while there, I was very Team Norman, but now Mike has shown a side of him that really makes me like him more. The recipes were a little meh... I certainly won't be frying candy bars any time soon, but the book was all in all enjoyable. Though one thing, yes the story seemed a bit scattered.. it didn't seem like "filler" like previous novels.

Midnight Brunch by Marta Acosta:
I had the same issues with this one as I had with the first one. It feels like "wah wah wah. Everyone thinks I'm a slut because I'm Latino." Where in truth, seriously.. if you dress like a slut.. what do you expect people to think?
The reason for her to stay at the spa was so plot contrived it was ridiculous. I don't care how desperate someone is to prove themselves in a working way, if I was being treated like a doormat by some egotistical actor, and practically being blackmailed.. well they could kiss my ass. And for the main character who is supposed to be some "strong female" she did absolutely nothing but cave and give into every whim and demand of every man around her. The story was passable. And I still really _want_ to like the books. I may or may not give the 3rd book a try. It all depends on my mood. To be honest, the only character I have really grown to love is Edna.

The Day I Swapped my Dad for two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman:
Absolutely adorable and fantastic a story.I cannot wait to own it and read it to my future children. Neil Gaiman is once again brilliant with his story, and it was a very endearing story on how sometimes what you have is better than what you think you want, and what you'll do to get what you want. Most certainly a brilliant read for both adults and children alike.


I know i have a few more books that I've read recently, but meh... just ask if you want to know about them.

I've also been watching a few things recently:
I just watched "The Incredible Hulk"
Okay, I actually enjoyed this one. Ed Norton is always meh in my opinion. But the fact that they had a cameo with Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark (Iron Man) was totally awesome. It wasn't nearly the garbage that they did a few years ago. Including a cameo with the original Hulk. Come on.. you gotta love that!
Tim Roth is like as always the best baddie in the world. I love him.

The Journey to the Center of the Earth:
I also enjoyed this one. I only saw it in 2D, but it was cute, and very family fun entertainment.

Get Smart:
Yes, the new one. It was.. surprisingly enjoyable. I was a huge fan of the telly show growing up (and i've got season 1 on my library queue), but honestly, this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Yes there were a few more fat jokes than necessary, but they were actually done in a tasteful way. Anne Hathaway as Agent 99 bothered me, as I didn't remember Agent 99 being such a bitch, or so competitive. So yeah, I was not fond of that.

Rescue Me season 4:
I was shocked at this season, so much happened, but at the same time not. It wasn't like previous seasons where they went for the shock value. It was more... "real" to me. The season finale was also unlike any season finale I've seen in a while as it was just quite, and yes there was something "drastic" but it wasn't the main character in a house fire for once.

Hu$tle season 3:
I love this show, and season 3 was just as good as previous seasons. Seriously if you have not seen Hustle go and see it. Great British tv.

Crap, there are a ton more things I've seen recently but I can't recall them at the moment.

I know I know I've promised a report on Repo. But I want to do it all justice when I type it up.

Knitting news:
I feel very accomplished!
I have successfully mastered Seed Stitch at the moment. YAY! Seeeeeee pretty huh???






I also, have successfully (today even!) completed a swatch of the Moorish Tile pattern. Woooooooot. It's a bitch of a pattern for a noob like me. But I was determined. I'll get photos up eventually.

The good news, is that SquibStitcher (or Pygstiches she's known as one of the blogs I follow here) over at Ravelry is being totally totally awesome for me. She's a dyer. And she's totally willing to play with Bamboo yarn for me to get the nifty colors that are not available in most shops. It's a battle. I guess people don't think that those of us who are allergic to wool and most yarns, actually you know.. LIKE colors, and cool looking yarn. But so she's totally awesome and is going to make me cool yarn. I foresee her getting a lot of my "splurge" money lol.

Well, I guess I'm done rambling for now. Kinda just enjoying watching Ranma 1/2 - I'm so glad they put that on DVD. I love that show.

holy crap. It's 10:10 at night. It's sooo past my bedtime. Sheesh. I'm pathetic. lol.

Well, wish me luck on getting more chapters written, or at least bridging the gap between the chapters I already have written. I do have quite a few chapters already done that fall after chapter 6.

Rambling again.. Sorry.

A Hard Day's Bite update.

So, as a writer.. I've been slacking. Thank goodness I don't yet do this professionally, as I would be well behind deadline etc.

The reason for lack of updates about the novel is because there hasn't been anything to update.

Due to work, work, and work... with a smidge of a life thrown in, I haven't had much chance to write.

I've been coming home brain dead and basically unable to do anything.

Also, I've been doing a 8 books in 8 weeks thing, and so if I'm home and awake, I've been reading.
I took one night off from reading so that I could work on a new kind of knitting stitch. Which lets just say once I figured out allllll the details, it went smoothly. Prior to that.. noo.. it was not going so well.

Well, I'm less than 100 pages away from being done with my 8N8 event, so i can go back to reading at my normal speed.

The only thing I've accomplished recently is I did in fact type up many of the pages I was lacking in digital format.
I need to once over my notebook and make sure I remove any pages I've typed up, and type up the ones I haven't.

Even with the lack of moving forward, I still feel there is progress. My brain is still constantly seeing the scenes, and on the drive into work, I realized I need to start writing down one of the important scenes. This is my next goal. write out that scene, and I'll feel accomplished.

Now, I haven't sent my pages off to anyone as of yet, because I still haven't finished chapter 5. Yes, I know.. I've been working on that chapter for far too long now.
But the truth is.. I haven't touched that chapter.
Maybe I just need to steal the laptop upstairs with me one night, lock myself in my bedroom, put on some of my inspiration music and just attack that chapter. Then I will send it off to James for first edit.

-Yes James, incase you were thinking I wasn't going to have you as my editor, thats not true. I just haven't had anything to say to you, even after I got over hurt feelings time.

Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I'm finally back to my normal schedule at work, I'm no longer working 12 hour days (hence the not being able to write when I get home and being brain dead), so tomorrow I'll be getting off of work at Noon. woohoo.

Reading update:
Bed Book: 100 pages away from being done with A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Couch Book: Less than 100 pages away from being done with Key Lime Pie Murder

I already have Carrot Cake Murder and Candy Cane Murder waiting for me at home, but I'll no longer be in a rush. I also need to hunker down and read the Hellblaser GN I have at home, as it's just gathering dust and needs to go back to the library soon.

Well, I'm avoiding work. I really shouldn't do that. We finally got caught up after a week of nightmarish work. So... look at me go.. this is me going back to work...

hmm I might have to check Ravelry one more time...

What would you sell your soul for?

Please forgive any spelling errors. I am on my work computer, therefore.. it sucks and I really don't want to deal with formatting issues by typing it up in a word doc first. Deal with it.

Isn't it funny how you can be talking to someone, and suddenly remember something from highschool?

Something that makes you giggle, and for me, something that I have decided needs to go somewhere in my Neverwas world.

(Umm for those just tuning in... Neverwas is what I am calling my vampy world. So, hopefully when my books are published, it will be the Neverwas Series or something along those lines)

Something so simple as selling ones soul.
Yes, this happened to me in highschool.
Someone decided they wanted to sell me their soul.
For Starbucks.

Here's the catch.. They had to drive to Starbucks, and bring me back a hot chocolate.

Now, I did not prompt this at all. But it really did happen.

Then a few months later, Bedazzled came out with Elizabeth Hurley and Brendan Fraser, and you see something quite similar only involving MacDonalds.

So no, I am not stealing the idea from that. I very much did have someone's soul sold to me for coffee.

So this has now become a little anticdote in my little written world.
After all, apparently I have had quite a humerous life at times.

This little trip down memory lane made 376 words of just quick jotting.
Of course thats not the entire chapter etc, but I just wanted to get that particular part down now. It will be incorporated somewhere later.

It amused me.
And look at that. I wrote something.
And as I wrote it at work, I forwent the notebook and just typed it straight into a digital copy. Woo hoo. Don't have to wait for this one to finally get typed up.

Repo! A night of selfish enjoyment.

Yup. I said it. Entirely selfish of me to have a night out of enjoyment with a friend.

A friend I have not seen in honestly far too long. It is my Fernando.
It was the first time he and I got to spend time with no one else around. It was quite enjoyable. I didn't know what to expect, since though I've known him for a long time now, like I said, I've never been around him when it's just us.

We had a pleasant non date date. Two friends, having dinner and seeing a movie that we both were practically piddling ourselves in delight with the prospect of actually viewing.

I very much needed to go out. So much so that Mother of Mine would have forced me to go if I had decided to stay home. I had an absolute horrible day, where a 'discussion' with someone caused me to not only need to stop home on the way from work and get ice cream (which made me promptly ill), but also had me so distraught and upset, that I was bawling like a baby not once but twice. The first time having been alone, with an upset stomach, and just anger and tears and absolute sadness. I have not been that upset by someone in a long time. But, I am not going to go into that. I took a shower, got ready for the night, and went out because I knew it would be good for me, and I would have fun.

I picked Fernando up at his work, and we drove to Denver, and spent a few hours waiting for the midnight show of Repo! The Genetic Opera.

For those who don't know what I'm speaking of, please check out the website www.repo-opera.com


The entire drive up to Denver, we were talking about how excited we were to see the movie.
The theater was pretty much exactly where I remembered it. Which is funny, because I've never actually been to that theater and have only driven past it mayhaps once. It is out in the boonies of Littleton. The Elvis Cinema. Which that unto it's self made a certain someone (not me) nearly piddle with delight.

So of course we are there early. We arrived at 7 pm, show doesn't start till Midnight. There were a few other people waiting.. children for the most part. One girl who honestly should not have been wearing the nurses outfit she was wearing. It was entirely unflattering. Fernando and I were nearly having seizures being around that horrible "dress".
In truth the only individual in the group that was remotely appealing to talk to was actually "Gimpy" as he labeled himself. I honestly do not recall if he ever told us his real name. As far as the nickname was going, he was having issues with his leg which was requiring him to use a cane to have mobility. He was genuinely nice to talk to.

After a while, the man in charge of the show came around, and found my name on his clip board. I of course was one of the small number of people who had purchased my tickets, and therefore received a refund. But our names were on the list to get "preferential" treatment since well... we actually were the first to secure tickets long before it was ever announced that it was going to be a free show. Fernando had not bought his tickets online, but as he was with me, Mark the guy in charge gave him his ticket right away, and he also later got to enter the theater first with me.
Yup.. rockstar treatment *wink*

Prior to the show starting, Fernando and I got to speak with Mark the guy in charge, because we were curious what his role with the Repo world was. Turns out he just got to see the show in Atlanta, GA (the Road Tour- and if i'm not mistaken the same show a friend of mine got to go to. I'll have to ask her), well he just fell in love with it and decided that he was going to make it available to people in Colorado (I'm assuming he's from here, but we didn't get to speak for that long to be able to find out.) It was because of the excitement of the people like myself and Fernando is why he did it. (Again, I repeat myself, we were practically piddling ourselves in excitement)
I have been waiting for this show for nearly a year now.
Lets just say, it has been worth the wait, as in 1 month, I get the free show, the Dvd released and the Road Tour.

The Road Tour, for those who aren't in the know is where the director, and the co creator (and GraveRobber himself) Terrance Z, and Allison from Rocklove jewelery, all get in cars etc and pack up the movie and bring it to town. Sign autographs etc.

Again, the amount of excitement I am having over the Road Tour is very piddle worthy.

Apparently "Piddle" is my word of the day lol.

During the last very moments prior to the movie starting, I was called to speak so as to inform the crowd of what the deal is with Rocklove jewelry and that the proceeds from the Scalpel necklace designed specifically for Repo, goes to making the Road Tour happen.

Well, Em a friend of mine was also at the show. Which was nice. She came and sat with meself and Fernando as I was the only person there that she knew. It was good catching up with her. As hers is a friendship that mostly was lost due to me leaving the Rogues and also not being apart of the other group.

The movie it's self was orgasmic inducing sort of wonderful.
It very much is the Rocky Horror of the new generation. The film was frankly beautiful, it was dark, it was gory in some spots. And the acting... all of the acting, even I have to admit that Paris Hilton herself was passable. I cannot say she was good, as those words will never cross my lips, nor be typed from my fingers.

But everyone did amazing jobs. Anthony Stewart Head was absolutely.. just.. breath taking. He was brilliant. (And a bit creepy.. go see the movie, you'll understand)
Sarah Brightman was just amazing as always. And for me, the one who stole the show was the GraveRobber himself Terrance Z.
Unfortunately, I do know one of his songs did not make the cut, which disappointed me, as I would have liked to see him more. Oh well, I always have the soundtrack with his wonderful amazing voice.

For the Repo Road Tour in 2 weeks (if i can ever get tickets. The fucking Mayan Theater still hasn't updated the website- actually I just gave them a ring, and they are still having problems with the ticketing system but it SHOULD be fixed on Monday.) But anyways, Fernando and I will be going in costume.
I shall be going as the GraveRobber. For reasons being that I think he is the coolest character. My fave 3 of the show are GraveRobber, RepoMan, and Blind Mag. But for me the costumes for the last two would be too involved, and would have to find space in my boxes to ship to the UK. GraveRobber is a lot easier by the fact that I already have acceptable boots, I simply need a coat, a shirt of the right color, and I already have the right pants (or at least pants that will work- for once, Walmart came through, and they were even on sale. And hell I can even wear them to work). Walmart also came through on the little bits for my hair accessories. I had originally thought I would chop up a few of my wigs that I no longer really use at all, but this will be easier, and they are well.. damn perfect for 1.74$ After that it's just a matter of putting a little makeup on. It means I'm not freezing my ass off in a skimpy little outfit, and I get to be one of my fave characters. As Fernando will be making me the coat, it's all set. I cannot go out and purchase the proper coat, nor would I. And I cannot justify making it myself, as it breaks my "no more costuming rule" (see the whole packing for the UK situation), but... as Fernando is going to make the coat for me, I must accept the gift. Not to mention, I'm sure it will turn out beautiful, and I shall have a new winter coat. Not the traditional winter coat that I had been quasi looking for to replace my tatterd one. But, a coat none the less. It will also be a good chance to see what Fernando's skill is, as there is discussion that he will be making my wedding gown.

Fernando, shall be going as the RepoMan, which is perfect for him. He also can justify making the costume as he is not shipping things to the UK in 17 months lol.

We shall be happy little geeks at the show. Yes, there will be pictures.
I do know Em took a photo of us after the show, I will post that soon as she gives it to me.

Driving home, Fernando and I talked about writing. He is a writer as well, and I bounced some things off of him for my novel.
I hadn't spoken of my thoughts to anyone, as I am currently setting down the rules for my vampires.
Fernando loved my ideas. To him, they were plausible and original.
It was very refreshing talking to him about writing, it was part of what I needed. I ended the night in a state of calm, and utter excitement.

I got in the door after 3:30 am, which for me is a big deal. I'm generally in bed by 8. And yes, I was falling asleep prior to the movie starting, but after the movie started I was wide awake. Woot.
But so I take Pan to bed, and sleep with dreams and music of Organ repossession. Ideas for my Graverobber costume (see above), and also ideas for various Repo themed knitted stuff that I someday might design. And then in a brief moment (or at least it felt like that), my alarm went off telling me it was 5 am. Pan then wanted to be let out. So I drag myself out of bed and feed him. He apparently did not need to use the little kitties box, so we went back to bed. Where he spent a minimum of 20 minutes whining to be let out again. I wanted to kill him. I told him that a few times even. Finally he settled down and I got to on and off sleep until 9 am.
Finally I knew if I stayed in bed after that, I would end up with my headaches. So, I hauled my butt out of bed again. Stumbled downstairs, put in an episode of Six Feet Under, and just starting to check my email.
Mother of Mine woke up, and we decided to go out to get groceries as it was early. We went to breakfast at La Baguette. Which was very nummy. I currently have an Almond croissant and an Apple croissant waiting for me as a snack at some point.

On the way back after the expedition to walmart, we stopped at DSW, and I actually finally found a pair of shoes. I spent 45$ on a pair of mens shoes (the only womens shoes that fit the bill of what I wanted, I wasn't entirely thrilled with, and also they had nothing remotely close to my size). But I grabbed a size 8 mens, and it fit perfectly (ha. I haven't bought mens shoes for myself in over 10 years, but i got the conversion spot on on the first try!). Mother of Mine tried to tempt me with a pair of Dr. Martins that were absolutely gorgeous. They were I think 10 hole laceup, but with a side zipper. And they were on sale for 30%. I could not justify spending 70$ right then (after the 30% off), even though those were a freaking steal and I should have jumped on them. Oh well, there will be a time in my life where I won't have to worry about justifying a new pair of shoes.

On a random note, the new Doctor was announced last night. Everyone other than Guy appears to be bitching about how young he is. Honestly people.. get over it. It's called "demographics". A hot young leading man will bring in even more female viewers. Just as a hot young female will bring in the male viewers, along with the action etc. Due to Loosing David Tennant, I'm quite sure the producers and network went "Oooh crap. We need something to keep all those women DT brought in!"
Pretty much all the Doctors after William Hartnell were of the younger persuasion, generally in their 30s. Who cares if the new one is 26??? By the time he actually takes the mantel of the Doctor, he'll be 27, if not turning 28.
And also.. no one would accept seeing an old(er) man as the Doctor. No one anymore wants the Grandfather.
And you know what... if he auditioned.. and they decided that he had the chops that it would take to fill the Doctor's shoes, than I say give him a chance. I didn't like DT at first. Now I'm so very sad that he's gone.
9 was my first Doctor, but 10 was the one that I fell in love with.

I guess I have rambled enough for this blog. I do apologize for that. But it's been a busy 24 hours lol.
I've given up on Six Feet Under, and I have moved onto season 1 of The Unit.
I am in a contented place about the rules of my vampires in my world, as that had been bothering me, and I feel I might be able to move forward in my writing now.