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! The birthday was wonderfully low-key and surprisingly perfect. Spec and I had lunch at the park with the obligatory feeding of the ducks, followed by various shopping and then dinner with the family and Palmie. Afterwards, Palmie came over and played Disney Scene It (a birthday gift from Spec) and we watched a movie. As such, not much got done on the comic site revamp, but that’s okay, the comic went up as scheduled.
Thursday it was back to work, sluggishly, and then squeezing in Friday’s comic before and after the SCA meeting. Once again, it got done, but I really need to start working and working ahead now that I’ve got to 3x per week. But at least I have until Tuesday night to upload the first one of the week.
This evening I started revamping the site’s logo but was gratefully interrupted by Spec’s arrival to watch tv and hang out. Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day in the morning, followed by an SCA event in the afternoon for me. In deference to the comic and the need to start on my articles for the month, not to mention finishing the banner recreation, I’ll only be going out for the afternoon and court. Sunday I’m supposed to meet up with Books who is in town for her baby shower (which I will miss) before she heads back down to Tampa. Busy weekend!
Script Frenzy is done for me! Well, I crossed the 101 page mark around 1:30 am Monday morning (I was so close at midnight I decided to plow on through), validated and closed the file. I have about 10-15 pages yet to go to finish Act I but I’ll do those in the next week or so. No hurry. So tonight I finished up tomorrow’s comic (last one of Year 1! Woot!) and spent some time working on the site stuff for Random Acts. Hopefully I’ll get all I need to done tomorrow night so I can totally have my birthday off from everything. If not, I’ll spend Wednesday (which I took off from work) morning finishing all that up and playing hooky all that afternoon. Is anyone planning to join the fam and I for dinner Wednesday night? 6:30, El Jalisco on N Monroe. Just shoot me an email or comment so I know how big a table to ask for when I get there.
This puts me almost a day ahead (if I still consider that it’s Friday since _I_ haven’t gone to bed yet). Whew! Of course, tomorrow I’ll just be barely on track since I need to tackle things like estimated taxes for this year and get started on next week’s strips. But it’s all a part of the game. Getting those taxes figured and the first quarter’s installment paid will take a huge load off my mind, no question.
My birthday is coming up at the end of the month so it’s time, again, to put the word out on dinner plans. After some careful thought and a sudden flash of inspiration, I’ve decided that this year we’ll be meeting at El Jalisco on N. Monroe, Wednesday, April 30, at 6:30 pm. As always, presents are not necessary, I’d just like to have as many of my friends that can and want to come out and have a nice chatty dinner with me and my family. Just let me know if you plan to come so I know how big a table to get that evening.
K’s boyfriend managed to pull off an early surprise birthday dinner for her tonight that Mom and I went to. Quite, quite fun and I purposefully only ate half my steak and loaded potato so I’d have lunch for tomorrow. Such good birthday cake.
Before dinner we needed to kill some time and pick up K’s gift certificate for a pedicure so at the Mall I found something majorly surprising: a denim skirt, knee length, in a blue that doesn’t look dirty or stone washed. ON SALE. Rock on! There was also a funny moment when Mom and I picked up identical jackets from across the room. The hounds tooth pattern was too large to look right on anyone our size but still, that was a bit too freaky.
Palmie has also informed me that our travel plans for next year will preempt the Memphis road trip in favor of hostel-ing it in England for a week. Hey, who am I to argue?!?
Of the puzzle variety, doncha know.
So. The SuperSecret projects are all finished and went together brilliantly for Julie’s Pink and Blingy (3)7th Birthday Party! (name via palmie) Slumber parties are wasted on the young, you need to be older to really appreciate them. And we did! Lots of pink. Lots of Dr Who. Lots of pink Dr Whos and a Diva Dalek and kid foods (all from the brown food group) and girly movies and manicures and and and… We did actually get to sleep somewhere between 2 and 3 then had cookies and tarts mid-morningish for breakfast while playing a game before we cleaned up and went home. It was SO much fun!
All of that mean that by the time I got home Sunday (round about 2ish) all I was capable of doing was vegging out. I managed to make a decent supper (green veggies! woot!) but I really didn’t do much else. So tonight I was going to pick up a sub on the way home and be able to be productive! Uh, yeah, see, there were these pirates and I had to learn how to run the bilging station and, well, see, I was productive in that way. And then it was 8pm and I hadn’t uploaded the comic yet or done anything but eat supper and play a matching game for 2 hours. Hmmm. And since so much of the evening is done for (and I’ve scanned and uploaded the comic and made two blogposts) I think the bilge needs more pumping…. Arrrr!
Well, two if you consider that today is pretty much over and Thursday we leave to catch the boat, but since we don’t board until afternoon, maybe we’re dealing with more like 2 1/2 days. Or we could just cut the fuss and count down hours : 60 hours, 45 minutes or so. Whee!
I decided to repack my one big case into the two smaller ones, which both fit under the carry-on size (one just barely) and everything fits, except the goodie bags (hey, it’s a birthday cruise, we need goodie bags) so there will be my small shoulder-bag as well. I just have to make sure we’re not limited to a number of carryons if we choose to tote our own bags rather than risk a mix-up.
I finished the t-shirt design but I want Mom to go ahead and have a look before I commit iron to cotton and have her unhappy about something. I like the way they turned out, though, at least so far. And I still need to wash out the water bottles and put the names on them and such (oh, hush, this /is/ me and I am the ersatz host of this floating party–I want it to be memorable… for all the /right/ reasons).
I did write some tonight, got to about 4200+ on the screenplay so I’m a couple hundred short of goal but I’ll make it up tomorrow night, I hope. There are only so many hours in a day, and mine seem to be getting shorter and shorted despite the sun staying up longer.
Do you know I managed to get everything on today’s to-do list done, and then some? Because, wonder of wonders, I got puppy snuggles as well! lol
My boss has a new dog: a Yorkinese named Otis that he procured from two winos down in Carabelle. Best story beginning ever. But Otis is just the cutest bit of fluff ever to grace to optical nerves, very quiet, and very obedient, even at 10 weeks. It’ll be great fun having him around the office, I’m sure!
Dinner tonight was fabulous! There were nine in attendance and it really was exactly what I wanted: a group of friends all hanging out together, conversations flowing, swirling and occasionally intersecting into just the most wonderful evening I could have imagined. Granted, I had hoped a few more friends could have made it, but life happens and I am more than thankful for those that could make it. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!
1. Get up, shower, and dress in the very cute outfit purchased Sunday afternoon.
2. Make it to work on time if at all possible.
3. Do work while answering questions about why I am wearing a tiara.
4. Remember to put new registration sticker on license plate.
5. At 4:24pm turn 31.
6. Celebrate again at 5:24pm because I was actually born in the central time zone.
7. Refresh hair, makeup, etc.
8. Have fabulous dinner with friends and family at Rice Bowl.
9. Make it home in time for Heroes at 9pm (preferred but optional if merriment persists at dinner).
10. Fall into bed happy to have survived another year in fabulous style despite various road-bumps on the way.