rhienelleth | Entries tagged with stuff

~ I am not officially doing Nano.

I am, however, pushing to finish the fourth rewrite of Nemesis. I'd like to get it sent off before the holiday dead zone of the publishing industry, just for the sake of going into Christmas knowing it's done. Also, recently ~~one~~, no four of my beta readers have sent me notes basically stating "Hey, now I have a kindle, the better to read this on when you're done. So, no pressure, but...I'm waiting!"

No, really. That's pretty much word for word from all of the above. I did ask my beta readers to give me a push awhile back, so they're just complying. :D

~ In other news, we had house guests all weekend. I have taken a step up from offering them stale girl scout cookies this time, to making french toast for breakfast, with homemade bread, and offering fresh from the oven homemade rolls with our crockpot soup last night. I feel I've made great strides as a hostess!

~ Over the weekend,

kistha helped me get past the world's worst game glitch to finally finish Dragon Age: Awakenings. Well, I'm still not finished, but at least now I'm no longer stuck trying to reload the same damn battle fifteen times to get past the one animated dead bad guy who stands still, does nothing, can't be killed, and basically keeps your game from being able to advance. I'd given up after trying three times to get past him.

(I'm not normally one to whine, but seriously, Bioware - this is a known glitch for the Xbox 360. Why the hell hasn't it been patched yet???)

I think I've actually come to the conclusion that, as much as I might love, adore, and worship at the feet of an awesomely made RPG (ie, Dragon Age and Mass Effect, et al), the DLC that comes as add ons later is universally disappointing. Even that which is officially labeled an "expansion". In the future, I may just replay the original game to get my fix, rather than spend money on add on content that is glitchy, feels like a "meh" effort on the part of the game company, and is just generally disappointing.

However, the trailer for Dragon Age II looks awesome, and March cannot get here quickly enough! Hopefully Mass Effect 3 will not be far behind.

~ Also, increasing rumors of a Verizon iphone come January - I am so there! A couple of months ago, my ENV Touch died, and I spent as little as possible on a cheap replacement phone because I refused to use my New Every 2 upgrade when I knew the iphone was coming so soon. For the first time, the Verizon people did not deny this possibility when mentioned, so I feel pretty secure in the knowledge that it is indeed happening. I despise my new phone, and cannot wait to finally get what I've been wanting for six years - an iphone on the Verizon network. I don't know what coverage is like elsewhere, but where I live, AT&T is such a dreck of suckitude, people who switched for the iphone will frequently pay the early out fee to switch back to Verizon. Really. I can think of two unrelated people I personally know who have done this, because it really is that bad. So...hopefully I'll have a shiny new phone come January!

I'll close by saying, I hope everyone is having an awesome Nano! I am still around, lurking, even if I am not posting as frequently as I once did. School takes up a good portion of writing time, and the rest is being pouring into Nemesis. But I still love my f-list. :) {{HUGS}}

It seems I've gone so long without a general post, I have too many things to talk about.

Well, first the sad news. I have managed to fry something on my espresso machine. :( I apparently left the steam button on all day and overnight all unknowing, and have likely burnt out the heating coil or possibly the thermal fuse. Either are beyond my skill to repair, and so I'm calling espresso repair places to see what can be done. In the meantime, I am managing with inferior coffee. The horror!!

I finished the lastest Dresden files book by Jim Butcher, and as last year's entry in the series, this one will make my top five books of the year list. Wow. Jim wasn't kidding when he entitled the book Changes. I am very unhappy that we now must wait a whole entire year to find out WTH happens after that season finale-esque cliffhanger ending.

But the book was excellent. Probably my favorite so far in the series, which is saying something.

One of my crit partners got a full manuscript request from the Donald Maass agency, which is pretty nifty stuff. I don't have any exact figures or anything, but they're probably the oldest, most prestigious literary agency representing genre fiction out there. That's not to say other agencies are any better or worse, but when the client list is as large and full as theirs is bound to be, getting a request for a full is pretty awesome, even if that's as far as it goes. (Which I hope it won't be. This particular writer is long overdue for such things as landing an agent and getting published. He often says it's anybody's game in our little crit circle for who will succeed in that area first, but I feel strongly that I'd rather he get there before me. Of the five or so novels of his I've read, I would buy any one of them off the shelf, and then buy everything else he ever wrote.)

My own writing, well now that Norwes is past and the sewing machine is packed away, I'm back to that third rewrite of Nemesis. I'll keep you all posted, and perhaps I'll even post a snippet soon.

I've had a couple of jewelry orders for the first time in...awhile. A sign of improving economic times? Perhaps. One can hope, as selling jewelry has become less a hobby and more a stay-home-and-work necessity of late. I'm contemplating how to make that a reality.

All my TV shows are headed toward season finales, and it seems like the seasons just started, somehow! I was less than impressed with the Criminal Minds spinoff set up episode of last week. It reminded me painfully of NCIS: LA, which was a crushing disappointment. I'm not sure I'll be tuning in if it gets the green light. Chuck continues to be awesome, as does The Vampire Diaries. I've been drawing out my watching of the last season of B5, to extend it just a little longer. I don't want it to be over! :(

I'm all caught up on the pretty trash that is Spartacus. The husband has even started watching, but he can't quite get past the overdone fight scenes. Although he says it's a lot like a train wreck - so bad you can't look away. We'll see if he continues past the first few eps. I doubt it. He is less drawn to all the pretty naked muscle decorating the screen, after all.

USA is apparently planning some sort of spy show, so you all know I'm there for that when it airs. I need another spy show in my life. :)

I'll close with some jewelry pics. First new stuff I've made in a really long time. Mixed metal earrings.

( Copper and garnet )

As usual, more pics and info at my Etsy store.

Current Mood: awake

Things I accomplished this past weekend:

~ Finished the corset! Yay! (I don't have pics yet

carmen_sandiego, but I will soon, I promise.) The good: it turned out gorgeous! So exciting! The bad: it is too big for me! *wails* I have no idea how this happened. I made two mock-ups for sizing, damn it. Two! Fortunately (I guess) it fits my friend L to absolute perfection. *is disgusted*. Probably pretty close to 30 hours of work, and it fits her! There's no justice, I tell you. So, I went to the fabric store yesterday and found some gorgeous brocade that's black with red flowers. Except Mark saw it and said "It's ok, but I liked your other fabric better."

Thanks, husband. For the record, you're supposed to say "Wow, that's beautiful! Your next corset will be even better!"

*wallows in self pity* I think I'm making the comforter cover for our bed first, though. I just don't have the energy to devote to starting another corset right this second.

~ Watched the movies The Holiday and The Covenant. What? Ok, so the two are vastly different from one another. The Holiday was so cute, and so a chick flick. I am normally not much of a Cameron Diaz fan, but I liked her in this movie, and OMG Jude Law was so good. ( spoilery comment ) Also, Jack Black does not get enough credit as a "serious" actor, as so often happens with comedians. He wasn't in the movie much, actually, but he should take more serious roles. He was very good in King Kong.

As for The Covenant, it had a cool concept, but even for the teen-supernatural-movie it was, it didn't bring it home. There were so many little character things they could have done to make it excellent, that they simply failed at. But good grief, those young men were built! Caleb (Steven Strait) and Pogue (Taylor Kitsch), damn. If I were a teenage girl, I would've seen this movie three times just for them. I'm just saying. And Steven is, as it turns out, five years younger than Tyler, but you wouldn't have guessed that seeing them side by side. *fans self* What? So I looked up their ages to make sure I wasn't being completely sad and/or disgusting to be, er, admiring them. They're legal. And an eleven year age gap isn't so terrible. Right? And besides, with Tyler it's only a six year gap.

Also, Henry from Blood Ties was in the movie. Heh. :)

~ Did a bunch of yard work yesterday. Ouch. But the ground was nice and soft for planting, so that helped. But I'm still sore. On the other hand, the yard looks much improved. :)

~ Ok, so why didn't Skiffy use last night's ep of The Dresden Files as their pilot?? HELLO, it's only Storm Front, the book that introduces us to Harry and all the other characters, and the world they operate in. As with the book, last night's ep would've done a great job. It introduced Susan, had Harry using more magic than he ever did in the "real" pilot, had him comment on his lack of compatibility w/technology, twice, gave us a glimpse of the Blue Beetle, even if Harry wasn't driving it...it was just so much better. In fact, if last night's ep had been the pilot, I would probably be watching the series regularly now. *is disgusted with Skiffy* <- not that that's in any way unusual by now.

Um, and that's pretty much my weekend in a nuthsell. I did no writing, but I'm back at it this morning. Weekends are harder for me to write on than during my work week. I have a schedule, and so far it works. :)

Current Mood: working
Current Music: Journey in the Dark, LOTR: FotR - Howard Shore

OMG! I officially have my very own cubicle walls! I knew this was coming. They wanted to divide our office space to fit more people. On some level, I'm even glad, because what with the conference calls and contractors that work out of here once a month, it can be a very distracting work environment.

But I also can't help but feel I've been sucked into some parallel Office Space -esque universe. Any minute now, Evil!Manager H is going to come by with his cup of coffee and stop by my cubicle...except he's gone on vacation for two weeks. Yay!

Anyway, in conclusion, cubicle. It's kinda weird.

Mark leaves for a week of hunting today. Their camp goes up to the Snake River and Hell's Canyon, near the border between Oregon and Utah (I think) and have a good time hiking up and down canyons, but only once in the past twenty-two years have they actually brought home an elk, and that was Mark's doing.

See, the same traits that make his Dad and Uncles workaholics make them not-so-good hunters. They move too fast, get impatient, etc. Yet, when they were growing up, hunting was often their only source of food (they were very poor). So they know how to hunt. The just....don't do it right unless they're dependant on it for putting food on the table. As Mark puts it, "They can hunt when they're hungry, but when they're not..."

Anyway, I'm sure they'll have all kinds of fun. I'm spending copious amounts of time with the girls, and w/L finishing up our Halloween costumes. Oh, and we're getting together to watch BSG tonight, which will be fun. I never get to watch it with them, just squee about it later. Well, with L, anyway. V irritates me whenever she opens her mouth. And yes, she's going to be there. Don't ask. It pretty much comes down to the fact that L works with her, and thus cannot completely cut her out of her life, and we're the only friends V has had in years, so it's all too easy to fall back into old habits of having her there pretty much all the frakkin' time, which annoys the hell out of me. But I'm not going to make the choice of losing L as a friend to get rid of V and her multitude of issues. But I'm also not putting up with any of her crap. She's on medication, she's been seeing a counselor, and so far, I'm not seeing an appreciable difference in her attitude. In fact, if anything the meds are allowing her "true selfish bitchy self" to shine through even more. So fun. Especially when she's all "I already feel so different, so much better." Um, no, you're freaking not.

Ok, how did this devolve into a rant about V? Sorry. *sigh*

Little warning: it probably won't be the only time this happens, as I spend time with her that I don't really want to. She'll be attending the masquerade next weekend, too, but I'm going to do my best not to be around her much.

Current Mood: cranky

*blinks bleerily at computer screen*

It's 10:30, I think my brain might finally be waking up.

See, I've started coming in to work earlier, hoping to build up 'comp' hours for over Christmas break, when Mark is off and his brother and family are (hopefully!) visiting from TX. I say hopefully, cause we just found out Michael is going to have to have reconstructive surgery on his knee after an injury in judo, and he doesn't yet know when the surgery is happening or what recovery entails. We should know by Friday if they're coming for sure. In the mean time, I'm working an extra half hour - and hour every day between now and December.

Somebody shoot me now, please. Getting up at 5:30 in the freaking morning is just...no. My brain doesn't even wake up for coherent thought until at least 9:00 on a really good day. As a result, I forgot my coffee, my cell phone, and the fabric I was supposed to drop by L's house at lunch today for my costume. *sigh* A stop by the drive by coffee stand fixed the coffee scenario, but I miss my cell phone, and the fabric thing really sucks. I might have to run it into town for her later tonight.

Plus, I'd much, MUCH rather be at home working on my mask than here at work. I tell you, I am consumed by jewelry making right now. I want to finish my mask, make L's crown (I have it all designed in my head) and then get back to some necklaces and bracelets. Maybe. If I don't make me a crown, too. What? Every girl wants to be a princess, right? Or, at our age, a Queen. :D

In personal medical news - I have my appointment either tomorrow or the next day to get poked with a needle to fix the problems I've been having, cause they didn't fix all on their own. I am so not looking forward to this, and I'm pretty sure it's tomorrow. They'll call and remind me today if it is. (I'm not going to f-lock this, I'm just going to assume that those of you who have read my f-locked posts about this situation awhile back will be able to put together what I'm talking about. That might be an erroneous assumption, but...I don't feel like making a separate post just for that.)

Things accomplished over the weekend:

~ Three and a half hours of getting my hair trimmed and colored. Because it's so fine, it doesn't look like I have thick hair, but I do, very thick. My stylist only remembers this once she gets started on weaving the color. And then for whatever reason, my hair takes twice as long to absorb the color as other people's. This is why I always bring a book to my appointments. Anyway, I'm blond again. It keeps me cheerful throughout the winter. :)

~ Finally finished painting the trim on our house that never got painted before we moved in. Yay! Now I can put our Halloween lights around the entry. :)

~ Went the three towns and four fabric stores in an attempt to find the exact fabric we wanted for the lining of my cloak, since we were about two yards short of what we needed. No dice. It was a depressing Saturday evening for L and I.

~ Cleaned my house.

~ Had dinner w/Mark's parents, twice. LOL. Good thing we get along well with them.

~ Finished the basic shape for my mask. Tried to work on it more, but once I get too tired, it's best if I put it aside and go to sleep. I've learned this the hard way with jewelry making. It's not like writing, where if what I did in my sleepy state makes no sense the next morning, I can simply delete it. Wasted wire is not to be taken lightly, especially gold fill.

~ Watched BSG. My brain is still not functioning quite coherently enough to really post about it, except to say it was good, I enjoyed it. Can't wait til next week. :)

Oh! I think I have cracked the 'how to make excellent Pumpkin Spice flavored latte's at home' code. I'm going to try the recipe tonight, and if indeed I have duplicated or bettered the Starbuck's nirvana known as the PS latte, expect a recipe here later this week.

Current Mood: blah

Apparently, I tried to burn our house down last night. We had corn on the cob, which I left on low to keep warm for Mark. Except after he ate his, I forgot it was on low and left the pan w/water on all night. And didn't notice it this morning as I got ready for work.

Mark got up about fifteen minutes ago and noticed the bottom of the pan scorched and smoking on the stove.

*sigh*

TGIF, right?

It's Friday and I don't want to be here. I want to be at home, making the earrings and bracelets in my mind's eye. I'm about halfway through a parallel chain for a bracelet, and I have plans for matching earrings. I also ordered some displays for more professional picture taking, and those have shipped as of yesterday (they were really inexpensive, too. Like $3 for the earring display, $8 for the the necklace, etc.)

And as I was going to sleep last night, another name variation came to me, and I like it just as much as Byzantium Lotus! Cause butterflies are pretty and each one is different, so it's kind of like my jewelry - even pieces done with the same pattern will not be exactly alike. Now I can't decide between the two:

Byzantium Lotus
Byzantium Butterfly

I like them both, they could both make for some cool banner images and logos. I think I need to do a poll ~ except LJ polls frelling hate me, and won't post correctly in an entry where I also have text, apparently. I've been trying for the past fifteen minutes to get one to appear correctly. Frelling LJ.

So just save me the aggaravation (or unreasoning LJ-rage) and drop me a comment with your opinion. Please. :) I can't start up a new journal for it until I have a name.

You know, this entry would have been entirely different if I had succeeded in accidentally burning down my house.