slr2moons

I stopped posting here and on FB both, when Spicer-kitty was gone. IDK. I just didn't feel like talking much. Life has been okay since then. This summer has yet to be a disaster like the previous three, though the ending is going to be a bit dicey thanks to work.

( Temporary kitty, flying back to TX for a wedding this weekend, work update for all my titles, and a developed tweak to my manga method. )

One page at a time. *deep breath in and out* And on that note, back to work for me.

These days it's all work-work-work for me, but in this bought of Work Hell, I gave myself two days off. The first was for book club, and the second was for queenie-mab's Halloween party. Which was last night!

( Party summary! )

I came home with full intentions to work (I did a pink Voice page before the party, actually!), and I sat in front of my computer monitors, checked my email, blinked, and 45 minutes had vanished. I was SO TIRED. I flopped in bed a good two hours early. ^^;;

This morning I only slept in a little, and made myself exercise for real. I did a loop through my residential neighborhood and walked one minute, jogged the next, walk, jog, etc. Half an hour long, and I didn't cheat! But OMG I am so out of shape. *wince*

I've been pretty much a zombie (and not in the fun costume way) all day. The running on top of exhausting myself yesterday at the party has really put a dent in my productivity. I'll finish my Clay daily quota tonight, but it's gonna be tight. At least the pink page for the day is done. Poor Voice has to wait until tomorrow. Again.

I signed up for Yuletide!!!! XD This is the one fanfic exchange I let myself participate in every year, and those of you who have been around a while know how much I LOVE IT. My letter has been public for about two weeks. You can find it here! I would not object to a treat or three...

I'm requesting the full six fandoms, as usual. Four manga (all which I've lettered!), one movie, and one short story. I've been stalking the sign-up stats so far, and only the movie, the short story, and one of the manga titles has anyone offering to write. It's early days yet, though! (But now I think about it, poor Clay didn't have any offers last year. That will probably be true again this year. I suppose I'm the only English-language Isley fan...T.T)

Last year I went crazy and offered to write for 28 different fandoms. This year, I'm keeping things under control. I've offered only 10 this year (7 anime or manga, 1 live-action, and 2 comics). But TBH I'm reconsidering the live action and one of the anime titles. I'd like to see the letters for those, first.

I've made a promise to write at least one treat in addition to my assignment, and I had a flaily fit of joy today when I read someone's letter and FOUND IT! The request I want to treat!! *flails more* I've been wanting to write a fic about that character for several years, and they were requested by someone whose fanfic wishes seem to mesh well with me!!! Ohhhhhhh!! XD

I am SO excited. I am offering this canon, though, so there's a slight chance I could be matched to this person anyway. Which would mean my treat would become my assignment, and I've have to find a 2nd person to write for. ^^;; But I'll deal with that if it happens, which it probably won't! This fandom is a Yuletide fave, and always has a ton of offers. That means low odds I'll be matched. *clutches her treat's notes file to her breast* I have another episode to take notes on, then find the corresponding manga chapters and read those, too. Heeeee! :3

YULETIDE! I LOVE THEE SO!!!!! But for now, back to work. I need to finish my daily Clay quota. (Alas, Isley I miss you. If only you were still alive...)

ETA: OMG, someone offered to write Clay!! *tears of joy* Thank you, kind writer, should you see this!! I am delighted by the possibility of receiving Isley fic this year! XDDDD

Went on a 6-mile hike on Sunday, in gorgeous 70 degree weather and a crisp wind to keep it from becoming too hot. C: I did better than I thought I did, considering how out of shape I am. Came home, showered, and then slept for 3 hours. Heh.

The next day, I joined snottygirl for dinner at a new-to-me restaurant in the Pearl. It was delicious! I definitely want to go back. :9 Lots of excellent conversation was had. I haven't seen snottygirl since my Yuletide write-ins, so it was wonderful to catch up IRL.

Work-wise, things are teetering on the edge of being under control. I'm trying not to think too much about deadlines, just focusing on finishing every page I can.

Mostly right now, I'm consumed with irritation. It's time for my lease to be renewed, and I learned my rent is going up $80 to $200, depending on how long I renew for. I did some quick internet searching and discovered the new rate is normal for similar complexes in my area. It took me about an hour, but I realized why:

( Inflation plus supply and demand makes for a frustrated s2m )

If I place a bag of money under my pillow, with the House Fairy leave me a lovely deed??

I know I've been really quiet here lately. I have this long post about my sister's visit and accompanying adventure in the works. I'm going to post it soon! But...things are only gonna get busier. ^^; In the next couple weeks I have to:

1. Finish Clay 23 (already done, OMGYAY)
2. bust my booty to finish Voice 1 early, b/c...
3. Stumptown (the indie comics convention is in two weeks. I have so much going on with work and IRL that I'd skip it completely this year, but an out-of-town friend will be exhibiting (not SE3, she has to pass this year T.T) and I'm looking forward to at least having dinner with her twice. I'm not going to a ton panels and hang around all weekend like I normally do. I have too much work, and it's boring hanging around unless you have people with you, and this year that isn't going to happen for both days. Thankfully the wonderful and kind saladbats plans to go for one day, and whichever day is better for her will be when I go to peruse the exhibition hall, too.
4. My sister is flying to Seattle for her own work--much longer and more complicated this time, and she wants me to visit. I'm aiming to ride the Amtrak train up for the 6th, and with Voice due on the 8th, I need to finish early.
5. The monthly hike with my book club cronies.
6. Clean off enough hard drive space on my laptop, Usagi, to reinstall Photoshop CS (yes, CS1. Shut up, I bought it years ago and Usagi is an XP machine!) and my slightly smaller 2nd drawing tablet, Anthy. This way I can do work outside of home again, such as on the train to Seattle, in my sister's hotel room, and even out and about if anyplace has plugs. (Note to self: check if any tablets are capable of running Photoshop. HAHAHAHA! I doubt it...) Also I really hope my old copy still works, b/c I've installed it around 8 times now on various machines, and IDK how many reinstalls the serial number is good for. I gotta find the discs, too. Oh dear.)
7. Iron Man 3 movie marathon on the 2nd. I think this one is a bust, though.
8. my original manga. I actually turned down another series in favor of working on it. I'm tired of doing nothing but paid work all day. I want to be an exhibitor at Stumptown, too! >< /whine
9. anime night, too much fun to miss
10. dinner with A-chan and knastymike, also too much fun to miss

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but those are the main points. FUN TIMES! But it's good to have so much work to complain about, because MONEY YAY. I think everyone understands that. ^^

Back to work for me! I'm gonna do a purple Voice page today. GRAAAH!! BANZAIII!!! XD

On March 2nd, 2013, I did my first flist trim. I removed people who haven't spoken to me in quite some time (years in three cases), those who deliberately cut me out of their life with no explanation, and communities in which I no longer have interest.

If you were removed and wish to protest or ask why, by all means leave a comment here. I would be delighted to add you back! Comments are screened.

I do not like un-friending anyone, and I thought about doing this for weeks before implementing it. I also gave a two-week notice to everyone who follows my blog, and those on my flist had the chance to leave a comment and let me know they wanted to stay. I'm sorry if you missed this post. If you do want to be back on my flist, leave a comment here! ^^

In light of what I observed about hometown friends from my 2012 retrospective post, and because I was feeling worse about life by the minute, I decided to be pro-active and called up a friend I haven't spoken to in months.

It was wonderful! X3 I love my friends, particularly the ones who have seen my at my worst and like me anyway. *hugs for everyone*

On a manga-esque note, I realized 2012 was The Year of Shounen Manga. Thanks to needing to catch up to the digital version of English Shonen Jump magazine, I had to marathon a LOT of shounen manga. I don't recall the exact numbers for all of the series, but here's a guesstimate: (OMG Chrome recognizes "guesstimate" as a word!)

Bakuman - 150 chapters
Bleach - 150 chapters
Naruto - 80 chapters
Nura - 180 chapters (the whole thing up to January '12...)
One Piece - 55 chapters
Toriko - 170 chapters (the whole thing up to January '12...)

And the above is why I haven't really tried any new webcomics this year. (Note: Chrome does NOT recognize "webcomic" as a word.) I've been so busy doing manga homework! Next on my list of webcomics to start is Gunnerkreigg Court. I read the hard copy of vol 1 last year (in the middle of all that shounen) and want to catch up. I'm still making my way through all those digital Jumps from last year, mostly because I DIDN'T keep up with reading every week, and am still in June '12 for Bleach, Nura, and One Piece. At least I've stayed caught up with Naruto and Toriko.

Though now I have to catch up to Nisekoi and Blue Exorcist, both of which started in digital Jump a few months ago...at chapter 50. *headdesk*

So far for 2012, I am doing better with reading less fic, more manga and comics, and working on my original manga, too. HEY YOU GUYS! I FIXED A PLOT HOLE AND FOUND MY FOCUS!! PLOTTING IS SO MUCH EASIER NOW!!! XD

Today is my birthday, as a delightfully large number of people here already knew. :3 Thank you, everyone, for the well-wishes, LJ gifts, and special posts just for me. *blushes*

All my celebrating is being saved for my three evenings out with friends! First up are my writer friends tomorrow night. Then my geeky friends Saturday night! And finally my comicking friends next Saturday night. Eeeeee! I feel so lucky to have found so many IRL friends here. Thank you so much, everyone, for wanting to help me celebrate my bday!!!

Today, the actual day, I've been taking it easy. I slept in, read some fanfic, had a lovely chat on the phone with my mom, and walked to the store to pick up some random things--including a piece of lovely red velvet cake. I finished the beta I promised my fanfic sempai, and am now working on that same sempai's rather late bday present: a piccy from the same fic. ^^

I also could finally open my birthday present to myself, bought back in August and imported via CD Japan. The Naruto anime themes CDs numbers 4 and 5!!! I've said it before, but I dearly love Naruto music, and of course these discs aren't letting me down at all. Even that ridiculously irritating "Bacchikoi" ed from a couple years ago (that only lasted about 5 eps, thank you, anime no kami) is actually enjoyable in full form. The 5th disc is a special edition, with lovely illustration booklet, slip sleeve, and three sheets of cel-like stickers of Naruto-kun. It also has a DVD of the opening and ending animation sequences without credits...but I can't watch them until I get a TV and hook up my region-disabled DVD player. :B Gotta do that! (The 2nd Naruto themes CD I bought was a similar special edition, complete with the same type of DVD.)

This means I am finally FINALLY caught up on my Naruto themes music CDs!! Truly a wonderful present to myself. Yay!

Back to working on the bday present for Star-chan! I hope you all are having enjoyable days, too!!!

Let me start this post by saying: I hate masonry. As in the stonework, not the sekrit society. You'll see why next week, when I will have finished my pic for this year's Het Big Bang. Working on it half an hour a day for the previous weeks wasn't enough. I need to put in a minimum of 2 hours a day in this final stretch to finish in time. Pic is due Sunday.

Thankfully, work is under control! Skip 30 is almost done, with only one medium and a handful of easy pages left. This is good because I now have script for Clay 22. Remember how I said that earlier volume last year was so full of fighting it was pretty much one big fight scene? Welp, 22 really IS one big fight scene! The same bad guy, the same scene, with a bunch of different women waving swords at it. FUN TIMES. *wonders if that counts as a spoiler*

I've had an eventful week. On Wednesday I was the chauffeur for a friend's day surgery. I'm still not comfortable driving downtown, and that make it extra-fun. Then on Saturday, I helped Chiz and Neeka move to their gorgeous new place. I'm still sore! Only a little bit in my forearms, though. Apparently I really did manage to lift with my legs. ^^

Wow, when I was thinking about making a post, I kept thinking of all these fun and chatty things to say. And now, when I'm here typing, I can't come up with anything. :P

I recently caught up reading the wonderful shoujo manga "We Were There" by Obata Yuki. I had to stop at 13, because I have yet to buy 14 (no one carries it in physical store, and I keep forgetting to order it online), and 15 isn't out yet. Unfortunately, this is another series that only gets one volume released here a year. *hugs WWT and Kaze Hikaru close* I still love you!! Anyway, I'm quite irritated with the female lead of that series. Ugh. I just want to smack her. And while I do like the male lead, at this point I've lost patience with him to the extreme and am rooting for the other guy.

But of course, given the Law of First Love Interest Introduced (namely that they always win) and that ALL the book covers feature female lead with male lead, the other guy doesn't stand a chance. *kicks the stupid leads*

This is proof it's a good series, though. If I didn't care about the characters, then it would be forgettable and a waste of time. Nrgh.

In fannish news, the first chapter of my next fanfic is with my beloved beta-reader and BFF, Star-chan. I've been typing this on and off since January, when I started plotting it as a direct opposite to the extremely dark fic I wrote for Yuletide. *wince* When Chapter One is ready to go up, I'll be posting it to my Dreamwidth account, FF.net, AO3, and Luna. Skyehawke too, though I think I'll wait a bit on that one. I'll be linking them all here. ^^ Oh, and this is the Summer Wars/Skip Beat! romantic comedy crossover fic I've mentioned earlier. :D

My first hour of Big Bang piccing is done, so it's time to get to paid work. Yes, Kyoko-chan, it's your turn!

Yesterday I went for my usual run at the more intense level I've been pushing for the past 2 weeks, then headed out for fun with snottygirl. I picked her up and we went to Shakespeare in the Park at the Laurelhurst Park in Portland.

The play was an informal almost improv version of As You Like It, one of the Bard's comedies, and one I'd never studied in school. (Which led me to realize in four years of high school, we never studied a single Shakespeare comedy. Huh.)

The show was put on by OPSfest, and was incredibly fun! Not like the stuffy Shakespeare reading I did in lit class at all. :P~~~ I would love to see the group again. ^^ This was also the first time I've ever seen Shakespeare in the Park in any form. I doubt any future shows could top this one. :D

After the play, Sno and I went off in search of food and chatted, then I came home. I had so much fun, I slept for an hour and a half, then barely hung on until my usual bed time. Even now as I type this the next day, I am half-asleep and very fatigued.

I think I overdid it yesterday. ^^;; But it was SO MUCH FUN! XD

I've been quite sociable the past two weeks! (Shocking, right?) Saturday the 19th I helped knastymike with the heavy lifting part of his move into a new apartment. It wasn't that bad...except the leather recliner. That thing was SO HEAVY OMG. >< I was sore for two days! Small price to pay for good company, though. And Mike boughtinkytwist (who tackled packing and unpacking the kitchen...YEEK!) and me food at Old Chicago Pizza (OM NOM NOM), and frozen yogurt after we saw the Avengers.

Speaking of which, fun film! Even with me not knowing much Avengers canon at all. :B I do know enough to want a Loki movie, where he can be badass and awesome and crack that smile and wear more tuxedos. :3

The next day, I drove down to Salem to meet up with one of my Sci-Fi book club buds, Acacia, and we went to see Battleship. It was fun! I liked it more than Avengers, too. *dodges tomatoes* It's true! Even if they killed off the actor we went to see the film for. :P~~~ At least he took his shirt off at one point. ^///^ And yes, he also appeared on-screen in uniform, which is what we bought our tickets for in the first place. This was Alexander Skaarsgard, BTW. Best-known as Eric Northman, sexy Viking vampire in True Blood. Rowr! We ate at an El Salvadorian place. It was very tasty. :9

After that, I scrambled like mad to finish Naruto 59 and Skip 29 on time, which I did manage. ^^ Skip is now completely in the can, still awaiting corrections on Naruto. Clay 21 is almost done, I'm waiting for either more corrections or the go-ahead to upload. Now I'm powering along with Natsume 13! And this volume is making my BL-loving heart just pitter-pat. *giggles like she's 14*

Then this weekend, I lost my beloved pocketknife on Friday morning, during my usual run. I didn't notice it was gone until I was emptying my pockets after finishing, and the knife wasn't there. I immediately retraced my entire 3.5 mile loop, and no knife. T.T As much foot traffic as this area has, it could have been on the ground as short as 20 seconds before someone scooped it up.

I've had that knife since 1998, when my Dad gave it to me before I headed off to art school. *cries* I keep telling myself it's just an object, and if someone decides to commit murder with it, that they'll wipe my fingerprints off it, too. >< My mom says Dad will have fun shopping for a replacement for me. This gives me something to anticipate, at least. I feel naked when I go outside without my knife. I alllways carried that knife with me everywhere. *sniffle*

On Friday evening, knastymike and inkytwist sent me an impromptu invite to Mongolian grill, after they finished cleaning up knastymike's old apartment. I'd just eaten dinner, so I had ice cream while they had real food. Good company and conversation!

And on Monday, it was saladbats' birthday! I headed out to a Doctor Who-themed room inside a fish-and-chips place in the NE of Portland. Only took me 15 minutes to drive! I could have ridden the Max, but by the time I realized how simple it would have been, it was already too late to make it that way. :P No matter, driving was fun! I made a new friend,winnett, sawsnottygirl again, and hope to hang out with all of them more, soon! We are all writers or appreciators of same, and the whole lot of us are complete geeks. FUN! XD Even if all the Doctor Who themed stuff was wasted on me. *makes flyby noise*

Oho, and I ordered a Scottish soda. "Irn Bru". Tastes like bubblegum. I liked it, though I couldn't drink it every day. Far too sweet!

One of the webcomics I enjoy every week, Candi, is asking for guest strips. I'm going for it! OMG SO EXCITING!! XD I'm going to try to finish it before the 1st. KYAAA!! It will be my first guest webcomic strip, the first of many I hope! :D

And finally, I have a dreamwidth account. Not sure how much I'll use it, but it's there if I need it! I'm slr2moons there too, of course. ^^