slr2moons. Entries tagged with trip

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.

Mood thoughtful

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As the subject says, I survived.

I've been sleeping a great deal this weekend, no doubt to make up for the continuous stress I've been under for the month before the trip, and the work-week immediately after, when I had three deadlines due on the 26th. Speaking of, Seraph vol 4 is completely finished, Skip vol 34's first draft is done, and so is the first volume of Requiem.

( Lots of words and some pics! below the cut )

Mood accomplished

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I lost two days of my life this weekend to an incredible HP fic epic...and to the heat. I've officially lived in the Pacific NW long enough to have lost my tolerance for hot humid days. Wheee! Anyway, that fic was amazing and I loved every minute of the entire 330,000 word experience, and I regret nothing! My only disappointment is that the fic never became Harry/Draco, but danced alll around it. Harry with long hair...and Draco tending it!! Pardon me while I swoon. *swoons* I am such a sucker for pretty men with pretty long hair!! X3 I must save the fic and its sequel to my hard drive so they WILL BE MINE FOREVER and eternally hope that the author decides to write more and tackle her fanon's version of Voldie's defeat...and maybe give me more litle tidbits of allllmost Drarry to flail over. *gazes up beseechingly at the fic gods* PLEEEZE!!!

If anyone is interested in experiencing the fic for themselves, be my guest: Blood Magic by GatewayGirl. *paws at her screen* I WANT MOAAAARRRRR...

Ahem. Yes, that fic and the all-too-short sequel (which at 26,00 words is still longer than my own longest fic) are both shoo-ins for my recs page. :D

Last Wednesday I headed across the river to hang out for several hours with fellow HP fans, though amusingly enough we barely talked about HP. ^^ I had tons of fun with

saladbats,

snottygirl,

winnett, and met a new friend in

katelinmr. I also had whiskey in my coffee, and pear juice with brandy! Both were very tasty. Would drink again! :9

Before the HP fangirl meetup, I tried to stalk the Goose Hollow Portland neighborhood with my digital camera, for background reference picture taking. Only my already low batteries finally died, and ALL THREE of my extra batteries died, too! O.o WTH? I've decided there must have been a ghost that sucked the juice dry. I think I took about 10 pics before the battery crisis. I'll have to buy a new package of AAs and give it a try again. :P

( Non-fandom stuff: an upcoming trip, exercising, and some new art I'm making. )

Tired and woozy slr2moons is also kinda prone to rambling in her LJ posts. Hmm. I'd better sign off now. Quit while I'm ahead!

Mood tired

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I am one more home in Oregon! I do love visiting with my family and good old friends...I just wish I didn't have to go back to TX to do it. :P I don't think I'll be able to return over the holidaze this year. Money is somewhat short, and Shoujo Editor 2 said the next volumes of Natsume and Skip will probably be rushed over the next few months. (Still can't start on either, no raw pages from Japan. Alas!)

I was wrong in my previous post: the pregnant cat wasn't left behind by one of my sister's former tenants, but one of the neighbors nearby her rental place. In a curious case of circumstance, her longtime friend Dr. H also lives nearby in her own house. Dr. H was the one who took in the pregnant cat. I'm not sure how I ended up mixing things, but now I've got it right. :B

( More about the saga of Kakashi the Kitten! )

I took today off work, and must resume Naruto 57 tomorrow. Tonight I am finishing up my first pic for the het bigbang. I could have sworn I blogged about it, but if I did I can't find it. I think I'll save the big explanation for when I actually post the art. In a nutshell: I'm drawing two pics for someone who is writing a crossover Buffy/Supernatural fic starring Buffy and Dean. I rather like how the first one has turned out! Here's hopin' the second is as good.

And now, back to work. Oh, and I do plan to post kitty pics! Just not tonight. :P

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On Friday night, I uploaded the final pages of Saiunkoku vol 5. This is actually the last volume I will be lettering. The new letterer has the font list and the Photoshop file I made of ganked royal palace screen tones that the mangaka loves to use in her backgrounds. He's ready to go whenever it's time for vol 6! If you've been reading Saiun up to now, I do hope you'll continue to do so. I know I'll be picking up vol 6+ myself, for both the story and lovely art. :3

Skip 27 and Natsume 11 are proceeding nicely, if a bit behind schedule. 5 pages a day of each will bring me in under deadline with some comfortable padding. ^^

I should be receiving three more Naruto chapters in the next couple weeks! I wonder if Naruto will actually be in the pages this time, as in the last set of 3 he was only in a couple of flashback panels. I didn't even have any Sakura or Sasuke, it was all supporting cast! *finds that amusing* There was this one really pretty pic of Gaara-sama that made me happy, though. Heeeee! <3

I've allllmost bought my tickets for my trip to visit the hometown this summer. I'm waiting for some frequent flier miles I purchased to go through, then I can officially buy my tickets. (They're currently on hold.) And it worked out thanks to limited options and the quirks of my airline's frequent fliers program that I'll be flying first-class when I return to Oregon. I've...never done that before. O.o I feel like I need to dress up. =O Heels and a nice blouse and slacks. Makeup, too. *gulp*

I always manage to forget SOMETHING when I'm booking a flight because there are so many variables, and I managed it this time. My return flight is on the 2nd Tuesday of September...which is Book Club Night. Oops. T.T I will be literally flying in the air for the hour of Book Club. T.T How could I have forgotten??! There goes my perfect attendance record. It had to end eventually, I suppose. I'm glad it's for something fun like a trip to the hometown, rather than me being sick. And September is a fantasy book month...I already have the book, too. *wilts* Damn it...

( For anyone interested, I figured out why Hoth was leaking. )

Mood Buh?

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( Yes, I have returned to the land of rain, hippies, and flaming liberals. )

I also took Tsuksuhi's tower outside and used some canned air to clean out all the dust. And there was a lot of it, since I've never cleaned her guts before. ^^;; I have her all plugged in again, but I have yet to turn her on. *gulp* I'm afraid she won't restart...um....*turns her on and holds her breath* Looks good so far...success! I do believe she survived being turned off after an entire year of constant running, and my inexperienced cleaning today! Yay!! I have given myself the day off, but working even a little bit will help me relax. ^^ Natsume 8 awaits!

Upcoming in a later post: pics!! XD Possibly flocked, I haven't decided yet. :D

Mood genki

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I turned off Tsukushi last night, which I haven't done since my last airplane trip. A year ago. *gulp* I did back up all my complete pages, shortcut files, and ganked screen tones on Clare, my external hard drive, I'm paranoid about turning off Tsukushi, I've had too many computers and pieces of electronics die after being turned back on. Tsukushi has made it clear she prefers to run constantly, just like Utena 2 has made it clear she prefers to be turned off every night. I guess I'll find out if Tsukushi survives rebooting sometime on Monday. *gulp again*

I'll start my journey in about an hour. It's always fun to drag my rolling carry-on suitcase all the way to the train station, as its wheels on pavement are rather noisy! But a little noise and a longish walk while carting luggage is worth not having to pay for airport parking or deal with traffic. I love how the train places you RIGHT at the airport. Sweet!

I will be taking my cell phone with me, but be advised reception at my parents' house is not reliable at all. You are welcome to text me if needed, but I will probably not receive your text until I drive out of the river valley and back to ~~civilization~~ town again. Such is the price for living in the country!

I just checked the weather for my hometown. Or more specifically, my parents' zip code, since they live several miles outside of the hometown. It's currently 2 degrees colder there. Oh, and it's supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow! I only hear thunder once or twice a year in Oregon! I hope it DOES storm while I'm in TX!!! That would be awesome. :D

Time for breakfast. See you guys later. I'll try to post from TX!!

Mood genki, mostly

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trip

This time next week, I'll be visiting my parents back in Texas. It's always a shock for me to study the architecture when I first travel through DFW. Portland is very vertical when it comes to buildings, due to lack of space. Dallas/Fort Worth is quite horizontal by comparison. Curious, no?

Work is progressing slowly, if steadily. Clay 18 is due on the 21st, and I intend to finish Saiun 3 on the same day, which is actually a week before deadline. Looks like I'll finish both without too much trouble, though I can't let myself slack off. I haven't touched Natsume 8 aside from one page done a couple weeks ago so I could focus on Clay and Saiun. Once those two are done, I won't have anything to letter except Natsume 8 until script for Saiun 4 arrives, probably sometime in late January. I'll have to scramble to finish Natsume 8, but with only that one title to letter, it shouldn't be a problem. *knocks on wood*

I've already started laying down extra bowls of food and water for Spicer-kitty. I'll leave him with 3 water bowls and 5 food bowls, and I slowly build up to that number over about 3 weeks, so he won't come to associate extra bowls with me leaving him alone for days on end. *wince* I do feel guilty about that, of course, but it's "only" 3 days and change this time. I need to find a local female friend to visit him while I'm gone. I'm not ~~that~~ paranoid about guys, but Spicer-kitty IS, and he definitely handles strange women better than strange men.

I'm growing bored with my default icon (see this post). I don't know what I want to draw to replace it, though. Something from my original manga? Hmmmm.

Mood meh

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I'm back in Oregon. ^^ My trip to the hometown was very enjoyable, it even snowed there for me! Heh! Every day was awesome. Thanks to my mom and some lovely restaurants I was able to eat almost all of my favorite foods that are only available there, and I received some great presents. XD

( Presents, the movies I watched, snow, IRL friends, and cats! )
Yesterday I turned on Tsukushii (work computer) and everything was fine. I started Photoshop--and it froze. :\ I closed it, restarted Photoshop--froze again in the same place. Restarted entire computer, started Photoshop--yep. Reinstalled Photoshop from CD--also didn't work. asdfghjkl;!! I googled the phrase on the startup screen where it kept freezing plus the proggie name "Photoshop reading text global resources" and ended up with a ton of actual search results. Apparently freezing at that point is a common thing! First suggestion to fix it didn't work, the 2nd one did. Whew! Now I live in fear of having to restart Photoshop and encountering this problem again. What if none of the fixes work that 2nd time? *has wide eyes*

And now, the work front! I did manage to finish two whole pages of Naruto 48 while in my parents' house. *laughs* Now that I'm back, I have to letter 6 pages a day to make my deadline of the 10th. Yesterday I did 12, so I'm not worried. Can't slack off, but not worried! Natsume 3 is in good shape, though I also have to stay on it. I fully expect to have script for Skip 22 or Nana 21.2 today or tomorrow. No news on New Title 5 yet, but it's coming. At least I know I have about four months before Clay 17 hits! Heh!

So ends my Giftmas and New Years holidaze. I am pleased with how they turned out! And now, back to our regularly scheduled work days.

Mood genki

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I haven't posted in quite some time, but we're all running around like crazy due to the Holidaze, so oh well. :B

Very early tomorrow (Monday) morning I fly to visit my parents and sister in Texas. Wheee! Back in the land of football worship and cowboys. Joy? It will be nice to see friends and family IRL, so it won't be bad or anything. Just some culture shock!! Heh.

( trip info, a very brief mention of work, Utena2, and my Giftmas Day summary )

I guess that's it for this post. I plan to post at least once from TX. I'll be keeping an eye on email and the flist.

Everyone have a Happy New Year!!! Kyaaa! XD

Mood genki

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I keep procrastinating b/c these things take so long to type up, but I'll never finish if I don't start, right? Right!

Okay. Here we go!

( click for day 3! )

Mood dizzy

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trip

Okay! We we last left our heroes, they were careening around downtown SanFran with the courageous SE #2 at the wheel, playing chicken with the rest of the traffic and dodging tourists right and left

( Click for day 2, part 3! )

Mood loved

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trip

So!

( Click for day 2, part 2! )

Mood giddy

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shigoto,
trip

Ahhh, gomen-ne, minna. I've been busy with work, and when I have spare moments to write, I've been typing away on my Clay fanfic. I really want to finish it soon. But here I am at last with day 2 of my trip. ^^

( Click for Day 2 part 1! )

Mood touristy

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trip

I've decided to divide the tale of my trip into several posts, one for each day, and probably one solely for Viz. So!!

( Click for Day 1! )

Mood pleased

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trip

To sum up, the icon and subject line say it all. Z_z

San Fran was awesome and challenging, Portland was challenging and awesome, Viz was WOW. And Shoujo editors 1 and 2 and Clay editor 1 are as fun and great to be with IRL as they are through email and phone. ^^ I definitely must go back to all three places.

More detail will follow, I don't know if it will be in one huge post or several little ones. I will say now that my favorite thing about Portland was Powell's Books. An entire city block....four floors high...of boooooooooks. *drools* My only regret was that I wasn't feeling well and thus didn't give the store the attention and squees it deserves. That place is like the Smithsonian. You can never see or know it all. O.o But I want to try. XD

So yes, I'm back in fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk Texas. Wheeeeeee. I was gone for so long I forgot what my home smells like. *sniffs* Been a long time since I managed that! And I've been awake since 3:30 AM, and on airplanes, in airports, and cars ever since then, so if you will excuse me. Time to crash! With my early copy of Love Com vol 2, courtesy of Shoujo editor #2. *evil laughter*

Mood exhausted

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trip

In a few hours, I'll be on my way to San Fran and PDX, aka Portland. Very very exciting!!! Unless I stop by an internet cafe or other public place I can access email and lj, I'll be completely internet-free until late next Tuesday, the 21st. *blink blink* Wow. That's kind of frightening, actually....

So until my return, I hope everyone is well, and you all write lots of posts for me to catch up on!! XD

Ja, minna! Matta ne!!!!!

Mood excited

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trip

I won't pretend that I'm not nervous and uneasy about my upcoming trip. I'll be wandering alone around San Fran for the majority of the time, as I can hardly expect my Viz cronies to sacrifice an entire work day to show me the sights. I've never been comfortable in the busy downtown atmosphere, added to the fact that I'll be alone in a place I've never been, and forced to deal with intimidating things like public transportation (which I've never used, aside from the free schoolbus and transports you find in airports) and taxicabs. What if I get lost? What if I make an ass of myself when I reveal I don't have the slightest clue how to use a city bus? What if the cab driver who takes me from the airport to my hotel takes the long way around? What if a group of scary, obnoxious men latch on to me and my Ice Queen persona doesn't give them the message to leave me alone? What if I can't find the right kind of food to eat and have to live in agony for several days?

But all of that has been put into perspective by a book which I learned about a few days ago. "Down the Nile", by Rosemary Mahoney. A non-fiction book where she describes her true adventure of rowing, alone, down the Nile River --yes, as in the African river--in 1998. This woman braved the fanatical and unrelenting Muslim ~~brainwashed~~ men, crocodile-infested waters, a horribly foreign and half-uncivilized culture, a host of 3rd world country diseases, and who knows what other trials...all this apparently without speaking barely a word of Arabic. And remember, she was completely alone. O.o

And here I am, freaking out about visiting San Francisco. Ha! And to think that I used to love to pretend I was Indiana Jones. *shakes head in wonderment*

So whenever I feel the nervousness returning, I just remember Ms. Mahoney, and I realize how completely ridiculous I'm being. I must read her book. I must.