Scraps (n. ,fem., singular)

The valiant attempt that was my 24hour Comics Day was made all the better by a very supportive Spectrum who, along with frequent hugs and back rubs, brought me yummies from the Greek Food Festival both Friday and Saturday. What a guy!

I managed to script, lay out and letter all 24 pages but only pencilled the first 6. Still, that’s a really good head start for November and December so I can’t really complain.

What I _can_ complain about is the noise coming from the upstairs apartment. Ugh. It’s after 11 pm and there have been screaming, running, jumping girls for the last couple of hours up there and now there’s a car blasting in the parking lot that I have a feeling is somehow connected. Ugh, I just went out there are there are two cars that seem to be “competing”. There are a couple of kids in the backseat of one (the one without the illegal tinting on the windows) but they wouldn’t respond to my request to turn it down.

Come on, people. It’s a school/work night, after a11pm and not everyone shares your penchant for base-thumping slow jams.

Tags: 24hourComics day, irritating neighbors

It was a choice between the meeting, tonight, or productivity. Let’s face it: on meeting nights my time gets chopped up and I can’t find a rhythm. By the time I get home (and this would have likely been another long one) I’m usually wiped and/or flighty. So, knowing that I’m still constantly exhausted, had a headache, and still had work on two articles for the 15th, I opted for productivity, slow as it was.

Now I have two articles drafted, a third begun, a closet of clean towels and a tidied living and dining rooms. Not bad for having to bribe myself with several games of WordTwist in between the more ornery parts. Last night I started on an idea for some paper doll scenery and I think it’s going well. Got the basic shape and construction issues on paper, now for a few more details, ink, color, and the accessories which will go on a separate sheet. This is so much fun, I’m going to have to be careful not to get carried away with it

And I am tired. It’s nice to know that I can move 90% of my furniture on my own, but still… I think a new bookcase is definitely in order, though. In moving stuff around it became painfully obvious that I have a bunch of books that have no shelf space to speak of. Now they are mostly stacked on, under and around my bedside tables and while that’s all well and good, it’s not a permanent solution. So this weekend, I think I shall go look for another 5-shelf bookcase and put it along the dining room wall where the current 2-shelf one sits between a three and the bar. That 2-shelf will then, I think, get moved underneath the framed painting on the opposite wall. There’s enough clearance there to still have enough room to move through to the kitchen and it’ll balance the area nicely, I think. Limits my options for party flow, but not entirely as that flat surface can be utilized as necessary.

I think I sprained my toes. This is what comes of rushing from one room to another while simultaneously scanning comics and moving furniture to make way for the carpet cleaners that are coming tomorrow. I’d have been fine if that folding stool hadn’t been moved. But it was. And then were my toes. It’s not horrible, it’s just one of those things. And I think I’ll definitely be wearing flats tomorrow just in case.

Managed to get this week’s comics finished this evening in totality which is good because I really should spend some quality time on the print submission this week to get back on track for the July 1 due date plus draft the next article tomorrow night. Thursday is Mom’s birthday so that’ll be another SCA meeting missed in favor of the birthday dinner. (Note to self: call and order her birthday cake tomorrow!)

So I engaged in a bit of retail therapy last week and I was really surprised that my ring from ice.com came in so soon. Isn’t it pretty? It’s almost too pretty, but not quite, lol.

Anyway, aside from admiring the new pretty I managed to get two of this week’s comics completed and the third about half-way there. Which is good because I need to pick up non essential items from the living room and dining room tomorrow night because the carpet cleaners are coming Wednesday! Lovely two day warning, huh? But, hey, it’s a freebie due to renewing my lease, so who am I to really argue. I figure I’ll stash the dining room table (thank goodness its lightweight) and chairs on the bed and roll up the rug so they can cover the most area. The Abyss is still off limits and I’ll probably just close both bedroom doors just to avoid the headache. It’s the high-traffic areas that need it anyway.

Two nights in a row of major productivity. Tonight I managed dinner, cleaning the bathroom, another 4 miles on the stationery bike, inking Thursday’s comic, drafting an article, and scanning examples for another article. Whew! Granted, I was up a bit later than intended but, you know, it’s no biggie. The rest of the week and through the weekend is likely to be just like this.

Holy cow on a snowboard! So, last night as I was attempting to fall asleep it occurred to me that I have 7 days to finish up my eHow articles for this month. Why does this always feel like it sneaks up on me? After momentary panic I reminded myself that not only do I have all three remaining articles titled and planned out, I have the weekend to wrap things up as needed so really there’s no cause for worry.

Of course, when I then add in the two comics that needed doing for this week and the three for next week, plus the banner revamp the site conversion to the new theme, various housework and, oh yes, Script Frenzy which ends in 9 days and which I totally intend to win, well, okay– things start to get a little hinkey. What do I do? I make a list. Because, really, what better motivation is there than being able to cross things off said list with a tremendous flourish? None, that’s what.

Tonight, after dinner, I managed to detail tomorrow’s comic, sketch most of Thursday’s while palmie came over and chatted for a bit, clean the kitchen and take out the trash after she left, do an entire series of in-progress pictures for one of the eHow articles (the most labor intensive, I assure you), chat with Spec about his impending moving schedule and spend some time on the stationery bike (though that was earlier in time than it appears on the list). Now I am determined to finish the sketch for Thursday before turning in. I won’t let myself cross it off early! One more panel to figure out the angle for the backgrounds and I’ll be good.

Tomorrow is looking just as hectic.

Got another 2 pages in on the script (that puts me, um, 5 behind schedule, I’ll catch up this weekend). Sigh… Spectrum went back to Louisiana today so I guess I just needed an evening to adjust to the apartment being so empty again.

Little bit of a happy dance at the mail box, though: my personalized plate came in the mail today! Woot! Will have to put the tag on this weekend and take a picture of Electra with her colorful ‘R4ND0M’ license plate. Yes, I am just that much more of a dork now.

Too sleepy to be witty.

Good news: January articles in the can and invoice submitted. Black boots dropped off for heel repair, apparently ‘no problem’, and will be ready Wednesday afternoon. Tomorrow’s comic was finished on Friday.

Not-so-good news: Accidental Florist was probably the least satisfying Jill Churchill novel I’ve ever read; where was the actual story? the mystery Jane and Shelley were supposed to solve? how in the hell did all that get pushed to the side for a wedding and such? and she referenced herself point-blank which just totally turned me off. I made the point of finishing this book during/after dinner and now I’m too sleepy to concentrate on Thursday’s comic. There is nothing on television and I actually resorted to the easy listening music channel for background, non-distracting music.

zzzzzzzz

Oh, apparently the property inspection went well? No further notice on my door so I guess I’m good. *shrug*

Some nights you just have to recognize when you’ve been beat. Tonight was one of those nights.

The plan had been to head somewhere after work for dinner and some clickety-clack on the laptop, draft out an article or two, before the SCA meeting. But after having the Worker’s Comp audit pushed back almost two hours and the ever-present exhaustion and the return of the stabbity headache what I really wanted to do was go home and go to bed until, oh, Monday. Instead, I compromised: I went home, had soup for dinner, and took a one-hour nap. Then the nap became extended another hour. Oh, well, I figure I needed it, right?

Anyway, the other part of the compromise with myself was that I would get up and write after the nap. Well. One of the compelling arguments for not writing away from home tonight was my idea that doing the visuals before I wrote the article would streamline the process more and prevent the pictures from holding up the works. Ergo, I’d stage some photos tonight and be on the right track. Sigh…

I turn on the dining room light and it goes out. Drat. Plus I still needed to clear the New Year’s decorations away from the prime photographing spot (the dining room table) so I took care of all of that and then climbed up to get the globe off the ceiling fan. Man, I hate that, I’m always afraid I’m going to drop it. Anyway, I get it safely off and go in search of spare bulbs. Now, being the good little do-bee I decide that I need to use one of the CFLs that I picked up at IKEA last April. Ta-Daa! It works (after having to search for them) so then I go to replace the cover. Yup. The CFL? Is too long. Not compact enough, apparently, so I have to go get one of the not-as-earth-friendly incandescents. Bother.

But now the stage is set, as it were, to shoot some pixels on practicing calligraphy. Except I recall from Monday night that the camera batteries are caput (I had to take the holiday pictures with TheQ). I go to the box for a refill and there are two. The camera? She takes four. Oh, yes, she’s a greedy little bitch like that, total prima donna. And right about there is where I pressed the ‘fuckit’ button and decided that particular task could wait until tomorrow.

So, instead of writing or photoging and the like, I’m going to swap nights and chart out another chapter of Wedding Tarot. Take that, plan, I call bullshit on your ass.

So, I really need to download a more amusing game for the Q than solitaire even if it did come in handy standing in line at Best Buy. But now the tv is swapped out and so far, so good. Since J had an early day, I left work at 3:30 to meet him here so we could box up the defective set and go exchange it but BB was such a mad-house that it was still 5pm when we left there. Sigh…

Then I went and had my nails done and got them trimmed to a much more workable level (I won’t say what palmie calls this length) and decided to have my eyebrows done while there. Um, yeah, see, I’ve waxed at home and all but it was nothing like this. I suppose it’s worth the temporary discomfort to have them done right for once and I should be able to keep them up myself now but WOW did that sting!

Took a long nap after eating the wrap and smoothie I picked up for supper and now I’m finishing up Tuesday’s comic and going to start in on some editing of the graphic novel script. Yay for progress and double-yay for weekends. Aside from tidying up the apartment (still somewhat wrecked from the party/holiday craziness) and a load of laundry, I’m chillin’ this weekend as much as possible.

The nap took a 2-hour chunk out of my evening but I think it was worth it since concentration level prior to was next to nil. So only the comic and a smidge of editing got done, but that leaves tomorrow night free to finish up two articles for eHow, pack for the trip, and tidy up the apartment so I’m not coming home to chaos on Sunday night. While I was drawing I watched the first disc of the Disney Rarities set that Amazon delivered last night: oh the joy of Lambert and Ferdinand and the Adventures in Music shorts! Whee!!!

And yes, the leaky ceiling was fixed when I got home.

So, let’s see, tonight was the TGIO dinner after work. Tomorrow is Knit Night which I will attend after writing for an hour or two in the coffee shop first, and Thursday is the SCA meeting but first more coffeeshop writing. My goal is to get back into the groove of writing regularly. I also need to toss some exercise in there, so maybe Wednesday right after work I’ll go walk for a while before digging into Thursday’s comic and some miscellaneous web work. Provided I can keep it up, this week promises to be a very productive one.

Of course, then the challenge becomes not wanting to absolutely avoid all work next week. It defeats the point but is usually the way these things go. But I have to try and fight that inclination because next week is a short one for me, since I’m heading to New Orleans on Friday. Before that I have to get my desk packed up at work so the carpet guys can move everything the weekend I’m gone when we get our pretty new floors.

I got the tree put up this weekend, and a few things on the wall, but not much else done decoration wise. Did manage to finish watching TNG Season 1 and work on a small knitting project. Not much else since I woke up Saturday morning feeling ill so I took it mostly easy. Lots to do both before I go out of town and then before Christmas!

If I only managed to do one comic, tidy the living room and dining room, listen to a friend’s rant, and hang up all the clothes strewn about my bedroom but ordered dinner in instead of cooking? Oh, and I managed to do two sections of digital coloring, too, for the Secret Project.

Still, compared to the mad dash of the last couple of nights tonight almost felt like slacking. Of course, I couldn’t really allow myself to slack, but I oh so wanted to. Tomorrow won’t be much better, laundry list of things to do then as well. I’m looking forward to the weekend, though, maybe I can carve out some serious downtime then. It’s always good to hope!

Last night was absolutely crazy. I was so groggy after work (I blame the paint fumes, even with the long weekend my office stayed closed up so they had no place to go!) I ended up taking a nap after supper and then was up til after 2am wrapping up articles, the webcomic and some things for the Secret Project. Tonight I finished another article, tweaked the Secret Project and, gosh, I know I did something else but for the life of me cannot remember. See, that’s how balls-to-the-wall busy I’ve been these last two nights. Sigh…

So I’m seriously setting an intention for December to be much more organized. I did pretty good in October with balancing the exercise, the comic, and regular writing sessions. Then November went straight to hell but–always the silver lining–at least its almost over. I’ve barely started anything Chirstmassy yet, hopefully the holiday spirit will kick in this weekend, now if I could only find my John Denver/Muppets Christmas album. I found the case but you know CDs, they treat cases more like vacation homes than primary residences so I think it might be on the spindle o various media (cd condo) that seems to have been put somewhere mysterious. At least that’s my bet.

Because 11pm would actually be the 23rd hour, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. Suffice it to say, it’s rather late in the evening and I’m just now finishing up the stuff for the NaNo Kick-Off tomorrow night. Granted, I got a boat-load of stuff done tonight (tomorrow’s RA…, 4 laps at SLMP, a website, and now the kick-off tickets) but none of it was quick! Oh well, it’s all coming together. The resource page isn’t exactly pretty, but that can be done after the kick-off tomorrow (when I go add the write-in information as well… oops!); the important thing is that it’s up and all of the downloads seem to work (go me!).

Tomorrow is said kick-off, followed by more work on the resource page (change color schemes, add an icon or two, add the write-in information). Maybe try for the Ned-related bit of fluff that I really wanted to do last year but didn’t have time for. Start work on Thursday’s RA… if there’s time.

The party this weekend was unbelievably fun. I mean, I really got lucky with the group that came: everyone really did mesh well together and the last four of us were going strong til just after eleven. I, of course, have enough Spanish Fork Chicken Stew to last me the entire week (good thing, because I go into a no-cooking zone after a party) and some treats and salads, too. But I also need to get the apartment back to normal because I’m going to have a houseguest this weekend and I’d rather the place be more than just presentable.

And, of course, NaNoWriMo 2007 starts in the wee hours of Thursday. How is it November already? I know I probably ask this every year, but seriously, folks, where did the year go??? Anyway, the holidays are in full-swing now that Halloween is almost here. I do love this time of year but I have absolutely no freaking clue how I’m going to survive until New Years! The next two months are looking exceedingly hectic in the best possible way, but still, folks. Come January 1 I think it’ll be time for a complete and total pass out. Seriously.

And a blog post to boot!

Let’s see, I’ve managed to shop (I really need to wrap up these party plans, y’all), pencil a comic and a half, do laundry, start decorating/arranging for the party, draft a NaNo email, create a survey, watch a movie uninterrupted while only knitting, upload two articles, and I’m not done yet! But I will be soon. Gotta get better at this whole bedtime thing before NaNo really rolls around so I can write in the mornings again.I think that really made the difference last year to getting me to 50K in fine form.

And the Abyss is still clean and totally blowing my mind.

I may have mentioned in the past the very real issue that my office/studio/craft room (aka the Abyss) is my nod to the universe’s need for entropy. Dude, today? The universe lost.

It’s not pristine mind you, there’s still a lot of organizing and debulking to do and under the computer desk is very messy but, the floor is clear, the desktops are visible (holy freaking cow, y’all!) and I’ve moved the workstation next to the computer desk so I can swivel between the drawing table and the computer (both computers, actually, since the desktop is clear enough to hold the laptop now!). It’s just a smidge surreal here right now and if I my proclamation that the world would likely end if I managed to clean the office comes true? I’m really sorry.

Friday night I started Tuesday’s RA strip and, uh, yeah… I’m still working on it. And we’re not talking standard procrastination, here. No, this is a full-on creative block. I know what needs to happen in this one panel but I cannot get it composed. The mental image is sketchy at best and ARGH! I had wanted to get the next 4 strips done this weekend and it’s just not happening. Granted, I have cleared some other items off the to-do list but that’s not the point! *beats head against the wall*

So I think I’ve stared at that blank panel enough for now, and at some point I need to write for a couple hours. Perhaps some totally non-creative manual labor will break the block? Off to tackle the laundry!

I <3 power tools.

I also now totally understand why construction workers prefer to work shirtless… that extra material just makes one that much hotter! Ick!

So. Today. Definitely productive! Two trips to the hardware store, one trip to Mom’s to borrow the cordless drill when I realized elbow grease just wasn’t going to cut it, and countless trips up and down my step-ladder have resulted in one hung curtain rod (that is still curtainless… what? it’s a work in progress… but I did add the tassels I bought a year ago) and two hung DIGNITET sets complete with their drapes. The room is far from finished, but it’s definitely getting there.

I was thinking about the whole process earlier tonight and I guess the transformation of the bedroom is going in stages. Bedroom 1.0 was the green and garden theme (using the term so very loosely here). Bedroom 2.0 is still not fully realized.

• 2.0.1: New linens, headboard cover and nightstands (not to mention the rearrangement of all the furniture therein. ~ March/April ‘07
• 2.0.2: New comforter (just in time for the impending chilly weather… please?), wall hangings, and paitings. ~ September ‘07
• 2.0.3: Lamps and additional furniture. ~ ??

It’ll take at least one more trip to the fabric store to finish the wall-hangings. Seeing as I’m making this up as I go along, the initial draping looks great but unfinished. It is my opinion that doing an upper tier at ceiling level (the gold fabric starts about 7″ from there) in a contrasting color (either a rust, orange, or burgandy) will fix the unfinished look of the base drapes and the once I add the paintings (the four of which I drew tonight, painting will be fit in as time and mood allow) with their falls of fabric (a third color, whichever one doesn’t get used for the border draping) will finish the walls off fairly well. The Le Kinff print I got on the cruise (while of completely different ethnic background as the room) will match the color and mood of the room and take up most of the wall above the vanity table (which is, right now, the only undraped wall)–I just need to frame it.

I think the cost so far for this makeover (long and drawn out though it may be) is around $175. That’s not really all that bad when you think about it. I figure with additional fabric, the eventual purchase of matching lamps and the low, long bookcases I want for the side wall(s) from IKEA (the 74″ LACK shelf) I’ll probably finish the redecorating project for $300 or less. That’s still not bad when I consider the vast difference between the old (boring, simple, bright) and the new (spicy, shadowy, sultry).