A Screencappin' Fool ...

last modified: Saturday, June 09, 2012 (11:00:14 PM CST)

Been doing a bit of gallery maintenance recently -- adding screen caps to some of the "darker" corners of my gallery. I managed to find and add caps and episode information for Mahou Tsukai Tai a couple of days ago. And today, I finished up working on Weiss Kreuz Gluhen. Considering how much I love Weiss, you wouldn't think Gluhen would be a "dark" corner around here. But, even though I like it, that show makes me sad. Which means it's tough to sit through the whole thing -- even if it is only 13 episodes long. The deed is done now, though. So ... yay?

I really like the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finally being able to look at a gallery section and realize that I've gotten all the information in there, with the relevant screen caps, too. It's such a "behind the scenes" kind of thing, and I know it's not as awesome as adding a new piece of art to my gallery. But still, I find it to be a lot of fun. Of course, it's a bit of a double-edged sword, as a "completed" section won't stay that way forever. As I add new things, I eventually get to the point where, particularly with some sections (I'm looking at you, Saiyuki!), I, once again, have a TON of difficult screen capping ahead of me. But I guess the hunt is still fun, in a way. Plus, it's always a kick to re-watch favorite animes.

I'm never sure about adding episode information, though. I don't know how much is "too much". I like to try and give visitors (if they read the commentary) a bit of background or a sense of the scene or episode where the cel or sketch is located. So I think I err on the side of providing too much info. This becomes painfully clear when I look at how long some of the episode "summaries" end up being! Ah well ... I figure people can just skip it if it's too long. Right?

*nervous laugh*

50K Hits! Woot!

last modified: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 (7:33:12 PM CST)

I'm a bit tardy in posting this. Life has been spectacularly busy, and things tend to get away from me now more than ever. But (!!) my gallery recently passed 50K hits! I'm absolutely astounded that this happened. I remember, when I first opened my gallery, visiting other sites on RS that I loved (and still love) and thinking to myself: "Wow, it would be incredible if my gallery could one day get that many hits." But I never expected it to happen for real. I feel like my gallery has managed to hit the one real goal I set for it back then.

Many, many thanks to everyone who has visited. And to all the wonderful friends I've made so far in this hobby: Love you guys! Thanks so much for everything!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

last modified: Wednesday, November 24, 2010 (10:45:03 PM CST)

Been a looong time since I blogged here on RS. Overall, this has been a difficult year in many ways. Struggling with who I want to be and where I want my life to go -- silly, as I thought I would have answered all these questions a long time ago. But I suppose part of being human is to continually reevaluate and question. Struggling with health problems and issues. Struggling with the extra stress brought on by a horrible economy, rising bills, and less and less time in which to get all those "necessary things" done every day.

And yet, I have so much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my family and friends. Thankful that I'm still able to find fun in this nutty hobby. Thankful that each day brings new promise and new chances. Thankful that I am alive to see those promises and chances develop.

Anyhow, I suppose I'm getting a bit too sappy there. The holidays do that to me, sometimes. Here's hoping my fellow, US-based cel collectors all have a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all have many things to be thankful for in your lives, too. =)

Happy May!! (And other stuff ...)

last modified: Saturday, May 02, 2009 (11:23:53 AM CST)

Happy May Day, everyone! (Well, a day late, but it's better than nothing -- lol.)

I decided to give my RS gallery a bit of a face-lift going from Easter into May (and springtime). It's been a while since the gallery wore dark colors, and I thought it would be kind of a funny play on the whole "spring flowers" idea. It makes me laugh. Then again, I have kind of a strange sense of humor. Still ... Bwahahahahahahahaha!

Hey, life is short and apparently full of swine flu, so you've gotta laugh where and when you can. =D

I just realized my gallery hit the 35K hits milestone. I never posted about it, so it passed as I think most milestones should: quietly and without much notice. I think this is a good thing, although I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone who has ever visited. It makes me really happy to have reached such a large milestone in terms of number of hits. I still remember first opening this gallery. Back then, I would visit so many amazing and gorgeous galleries here on RS and think it was impossible for my gallery ever to amass the amount of hits those beauties had. After all, I only had two cels at the time! I still don't think my gallery comes close to comparing to many of the amazing places you can find, both on RS and the internet at large. But my hit counter has racked up a few miles. For that I'm grateful.

And I passed a little milestone of my own last month: 5 years in this nutty hobby! Wow! How the time has flown. Again, I have to think about those early days, when I was still so new to the hobby. I never imagined I could last five minutes doing this, let alone five years. From those initial two cels, my collection has grown. And, more importantly, I have grown. I feel like I have learned what I love and what I don't. I've learned that my decisions with what to buy, what I want my collection and gallery to be and feel like ... well, those are my decisions, and no one else's. I've learned not to let others' opinions sway me as much, and I've learned to try and have more confidence in myself and my own choices. I'm happy with the things I have, and I think that's the most important lesson of all. For me, anyhow.

Here's wishing everyone a happy May, a wonderful spring, and many more years of celluloid joy.

(Pssst! While you're here, check out the newest updates, too! There's some new Saiyuki I'm pretty excited about. Plus, a Cleao cel I've wanted for quite a long time. Acquiring it kind of makes me feel I've come full-circle, in a lot of ways. =D)

ZOMG! It's March -- FINALLY!!!

last modified: Sunday, March 01, 2009 (9:49:50 PM CST)

I dunno why, but February is always a hard month for me. Maybe it's because I insist on decking my RS gallery out in the vintage valentine tones of sepia and light pink. It always seems like a good idea at the beginning of the month, and, actually, I do like the V-day layout I use (especially the "Love Bites" lyrics =P). But, as the month of February progresses, pink comes to feel like less and less of a good idea and more and more like a bit of madness that must be overcome.

This year was no exception. I thought February was NEVER going to end. How can a month that contains only 28 days drag on into infinity -- and beyond? I have no idea, but February manages to do it.

But, at last, February has, once more, gone gently into that good night. Or whatever. I think I'll enjoy a moment of silence to commemorate its passing.

...

OK. Now that that's done ...

I decided to ring in March with a "White Day" layout. (Which, of course, is Weiss themed ... what else? ^.~) I've wanted to do one for a while, although the timing just hasn't been right. Until this year. I'm so happy I finally got to do this, as it was just begging to be done. No really -- the voices in my head have been insisting. O_O

Real life has been rather sucky. My daughter has been sick again. A virus this time -- only a month after she got over having pneumonia. Poor little kid. She is feeling somewhat better now, although it appears as if I caught her ick. Oh joy. I've also been in a pretty bad mood, overall. (Which is so not pretty. -.-)

Writing has been the pits lately. As in, I have been getting nothing done. I have been spending a lot of time volunteering at my daughter's school during the week. I enjoy doing it, but I think I'm going to have to cut back so that I can get moving on the next book I want to write. I don't want to let things sit for too long without any progress, mainly because it's just darn frustrating. >.O

On the plus side, February 15 marked one year since Fae the Pin-Headed dog came to live with us. She turned a year old in December, although she's still totally nuts. She is fitting in pretty well, though. I think we are all finally starting to get used to her, which is a blessing. She's funny and a lot of fun -- enough so that I sometimes don't miss Tex quite as much. This is a good thing.

I've had a few nice additions to my collection. (At least, I think they are nice, which works out pretty well -- lol.) And, I've managed to get lucky and land a couple of wishlists, too. That's always pretty exciting.

Hmmm ... I suppose that's about it from my corner of the universe. I hope you guys like the new layout. =)

Happy February!!

last modified: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 (9:28:14 AM CST)

February is such an odd month, isn't it? Even the way it's spelled: FebRUAry. Odd.

...

Anyhoo ...

Since it's once again time to be in love with luv (or not), I've uploaded my annual V-day layout. Kind of V-day, Weiss style, which is, of course, the best way to do it, right? ^.~

The basic layout and theme are the same. I changed up the banners a bit. And I created a new side banner for the front page and the about page. Hopefully, it all looks OK. I'm paranoid because I'm surfing in Safari this morning, and the layout looks like crap. But, I checked it in both IE and Firefox, and it looked fine. I'm putting the whole Safari thing off to some oddity in Safari, since the other browsers show things as being normal. >.O

I was going to add a few things into my gallery today, but it seems I may not have an internet connection at home. (I'm sitting at Panera right now, getting my interwebs fix and typing this.) If I manage to get the interwebs up and running at home, I may update. Otherwise, it'll be a few more days. (I know ... no big loss or anything. Really, I'm just nattering here. =P)

The Best Laid Plans ...

last modified: Monday, January 26, 2009 (2:58:29 PM CST)

Heh. Well, you know how the saying goes, right? About the best laid plans often going awry? That's exactly what happened to me with my gallery plans, although I have to admit it doesn't come as much of a surprise to me. (LOL)

Life is busy right now. I volunteer three days a week at my daughter's school. I'm working on a first edit of the novel I finished in October. I started the second novel in the series. I have various other projects -- art and writing -- going at any one time. Plus all the day-to-day minutae of keeping the house running: laundry, cleaning up after the family unit, cooking meals, straightening, more laundry. (There's always a LOT of laundry! o_O) So, I figured: "Hey, here's a great idea! I'll only update my cel gallery once a month. That way, I won't waste time with small updates, and I'll have a dedicated time to work on my websites." It sounded good in theory.

In practice, not so much. Today, I broke down and added in what was sitting around. And it ended up being A LOT. This isn't even counting the back-up work I had to do: scanning each image, fixing the scans, resizing, making the thumbnails and large images for my RS gallery. In all, I've been working almost three days on this project. Three days! On something that, if I had done it as each bit came in, would have taken me about a day and a half, at the most. Then, when I finally got to RS to upload everything I realized I had forgotten to scan and resize a couple of things because they had been sitting around for so long. Also, I had forgotten a lot of the private information I like to include in the gallery for my own record-keeping purposes. Frustrating!

I guess it was a good experiment. I needed to try it out, just to see how well it would work for me. But now, I have to say: lesson learned. I'm going back to my old habits of updating willy-nilly as things come in, or as I get the time to do them. I suppose another old adage fits here quite nicely. If something ain't broke, don't fix it!! =D

(As an aside: There's new stuff up today in Saiyuki, Rurouni Kenshin, and a HUGE wishlist cel in the Orphen section.)

Post-Christmas "Blues" ...

last modified: Saturday, December 27, 2008 (9:55:50 AM CST)

So, Christmas has come and gone once again. It seems like I spend so much time working up to the holiday: cookies to bake, dozens of presents to wrap, packages to mail, cards to make (and mail), shopping to finish, decorations to do, yadda, yadda, yadda. It never ends. Until, suddenly, Christmas is here. And, then, it seems like Christmas is "done" so quickly. Once my kiddo opens her presents and plays with her new toys, that's pretty much "it" for her holiday excitement. She's only five, and not old enough to appreciate the happiness/joy of being with her family. And, of course, by the time she is able to appreciate it, she'll be a teenager -- which means, of course, she won't appreciate it. Ah, such is the way of life. =P

My family and I had a quiet Christmas. Usually, we go to Texas to visit my extended family and my hubby's extended family. This year, that didn't work out for several reasons. I was a bit sad, as I really miss seeing my family. I don't have a large extended family, but we are pretty close. They are all getting together today at my mom's house for lunch and a day of visiting. I can picture everyone now -- telling all the stupid old stories about each other, talking way too loudly, and playing dominoes all day long. It makes me a bit sad thinking I won't be there. At the same time, I really enjoyed my quiet holiday at home. My hubby took some extra time off of work, so we have had several days to hang out and do things together. That would not have happened if we had traveled, since we would spend all of our time trying to please both sets of parents -- and, likely, not succeeding. Christmas does tend to come with a lot of emotional baggage. Everyone expects and wants everything to be "perfect". Well, their idea of "perfect".

Anyhow, it seems Christmas is over and done for another year. January looms with its forbidding promises of life introspection and resolutions I'll probably fail to keep. All of which leaves me feeling just a bit ... well, "eh". (For lack of a better word.) I decided to combat my own Christmas "blues" with a new RS layout. I had planned on loading it in January, but it seemed like I needed a mental breath of fresh air a bit sooner than expected.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I hope you were able to spend time with family and friends. And I hope the holidays brought special time and many blessings to each and every one of you. *hugs*

Holiday Greetings and That's a Wrap!!

last modified: Saturday, December 13, 2008 (9:28:35 AM CST)

A little holiday fun for all my RS cel-buds. (With a little help from my favorite bishie assassin boyz from Weiss Kreuz, of course!)

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c157/tex-chan/wk-christmas-card-2008-copy.jpg

I hope everyone has a wonderful and peaceful holiday season, surrounded by family, friends, and all that makes you happy.

Now for the "That's a Wrap!" part of the weblog.

A few days ago, I decided it was time to wrap up my collecting year for 2008. Pretty much everything I had outstanding was in, and I had managed to land something that ... well, I had never dreamed of owning it. Ever. It felt like a good time to end things on a high note for 2008.

I debated over doing this little retrospective -- for reasons detailed in the entry text showing at the head of the section. In the end, I decided I would go ahead with it because of all the positive vibes it gives me. I love being reminded of the positive things about this hobby. The things that keep me hanging around, in spite of all the negative ick: a few good friends, some fun and funny times, and, especially, how much I love this artwork. Creating this section reminds me I have so much to be thankful for -- something that I find it's all too easy to forget during the hustle and bustle of the year.

So ... my third annual "Year in Revue" section, for 2008:
http://texsbishieluv.rubberslug.com/gallery/master_query.asp?SeriesID=36014

Many, many thanks to all of my dear cel friends who helped make a great collecting year possible. And who helped give me the will to laugh off my hurt and continue on in the hobby, even through the negativity and cel community problems I had throughout the year. You all know who you are, and I hope you know how grateful I am for each and every one of you. *hugs*

My Jerry Springer Moment ...

last modified: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 (10:36:01 AM CST)

I've never actually watched the Jerry Springer Show. (Is it still on? I have no idea ...) But, I have seen clips of some of its more stellar moments. "Stellar" in that "Oh, here's a train wreck, and I can't seem to look away" manner such things have of sneaking up on you and grabbing your full attention. No matter how much you would like to pretend it wasn't true.

So, this morning, I had my own Jerry Springer moment, courtesy of Fae, the pin-headed dog.

Being, I suspect, more than a little bit hound, she is, without a doubt, one of the most willful, stubborn dogs I've ever owned. Actually, she may be the most willful, stubborn mutt that has ever lived with me, but I guess I'm just not ready to concede that title to her just yet. She also has that hound tendency to make a break for freedom whenever possible. So -- if the back gate is open, she is gone. If she makes it to the front door before I slam it in her face, she is gone. If she manages to climb or jump the fence (or tunnel underneath it) -- you guessed it: she is gone. Not really for a long time. And she doesn't go very far. But she bounds around outside like some overly large jackrabbit with a too-tiny head and too-small ears. She has the time of her life. I get stuck with the anxiety and the heart attack, because she doesn't have to get very far from our house before she hits an incredibly busy road. The kind of road that spells instant death to pin-headed dogs bounding joyfully through life without looking where they are going.

This would not be so bad if she would just come back when I call her. But, no. She gets all caught up in the bounding and the jumping and the chasing of -- whatever: sunbeams, dust motes, little bugs, stray leaves -- that she doesn't come when called. We've been working on improving that, but, so far, that's where we are.

And so, this morning, I went outside to look at something in the front yard. Fae managed to get the door open, and off she went -- heading right for the horribly busy street like a bounding, pin-headed moth drawn to the flame that spells its doom. I called her. She ignored me. She became happier and happier as I became more and more panicked. And, so, I ended up yelling at her to get her attention and get her headed into the house. (Actually, screaming at the top of my lungs, because that, at least, gets her interested enough to look in my direction and remember: "Oh! Yeah! The house! That's where I'm supposed to be!")

As Fae bounded past me back into the house, I looked up to find my neighbor out in the parking lot, standing next to his car and watching me. I smiled and waved, but he just stared with that perplexed expression normally reserved for idiots and crazy people.

Niiiiice.

Ah well, he would understand, if only he had a pin-headed dog, too. -.-"

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch ...

last modified: Sunday, November 30, 2008 (4:54:40 PM CST)

Today is gray and cold and rainy. In short, an icky, messy day all around. And, one of those days where you just feel cold when you look out the window. It doesn't matter that you're inside your warm house with the heater going -- you still feel cold.

At least, that's how I've felt for most of the day today. Perhaps it's the rainy weather alone. Or, perhaps, it's a bit of post-holiday let-down now that Thanksgiving has come and gone. I find myself staring at the lingering remains of the family feast (Seriously, how many ways can I re-serve left-over turkey? Turkey pie ... turkey sandwiches ... turkey omelettes ... yadda, yadda, yadda) and trying to recapture the warm feelings of being with people I love. Of knowing I had friends and family near, they were all safe, and they were all dear to my heart.

At the same time, Christmas looms like some big, dark beast of the future. There is a tree to put up and decorate, cards to complete and mail, gifts to purchase and wrap ... and, yes, mail. It feels a bit daunting, to say the least.

So, I decided to combat my little feeling of "bleh" with a nice cup of hot chocolate and a new Christmas layout for my RS gallery. It's a day earlier than I had planned, but rainy days call for drastic measures. I'm already feeling a bit more in the spirit of "ho, ho, ho" and mistletoe.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that the remainder of the holiday season brings lovely things for you all. *hugs*

Thankful For ...

last modified: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 (8:58:06 PM CST)

Kinda in keeping with my "Thank You" Blue T-day layout, I guess. But, on the eve of Thanksgiving, I can't help but sit and think a bit about what I'm truly thankful for.

I have some wonderful friends. (I also have some friends who are real stinkers, but I love them, too. ^.~)

I have a beautiful daughter, and every moment spent with her is a treasure. Sometimes, a torture, too, but always, always a precious treasure.

I have a wonderful hubby, who loves me and supports my dreams -- even when he doesn't quite understand them. And even though -- let's face it -- I'm kind of a weird chick.

I still have both my parents. Yes, they drive me crazy, but I love them so much. And can't imagine having to continue my life without them. I know it's coming one day -- but not today.

I have an extended family that falls into the category of "too much". Whenever we get together for holidays, we eat too much, talk too loudly, tell too many jokes and old stories, and play dominoes until the crack of dawn. And, every time, I realize that "too much" is usually just the right amount.

So, maybe the economy is in the toilet. Maybe I don't have a new car or the nicest house on the block. Maybe I can't travel in my own jet or rent out a whole hotel for a party ... or whatever it is that the monetarily rich folks do. Maybe I'm going to have to continue to worry about my tax bill in the coming year. But, I can't be bothered by all of that. Because I am blessed. This is my life: full of love and laughter and tears and joy and fear and inspiration and beauty and ugliness. I love each and every moment of it. And I am thankful.

Happiest of Thanksgiving wishes to all my fellow RubberSluggers. I hope you all find a few blessings to count each and every day. *hugs*

Teh Irony ...

last modified: Monday, November 10, 2008 (2:14:13 AM CST)

We took the child unit to see Playhouse Disney Live tonight. (Well, last night, technically, since it is now 2:30 in the blessed AM where I live. And, I ask myself: WHY AREN'T YOU SLEEPING?!?)

You know, if you had asked me just a few years ago, I would have said I would not be caught dead watching something like a Playhouse Disney Live show. I would have said it with feeling and vigor. And it would have been hella true, too. But times change. Becoming a mommy makes you go all soft and squishy inside. And suddenly, things that, before, seemed like hell on earth (literally) begin to feel like A Very Good Idea. Just because they make the one, important little person in your life smile and laugh with joy. And, yes, Playhouse Disney Live definitely falls into this category.

This, however, is not the irony.

Being Playhouse Disney Live, the stadium was, of course, packed with kids. And their parents. Their obnoxious parents, all of whom adore their children so much they are going to make DAMN SURE, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER their little darling has THE BEST TIME EVAH at the show. No matter who they have to maim or kill in the process.

This, though, is also not the irony.

A few rows down from us was a couple who had three kids. One child who was, maybe, a year or two younger than my child unit, and two babies -- possibly twins, since they looked close to the same age. Although, who can tell with babies? I mean seriously -- they all look pretty much the same. And I say this as someone who has had a baby of their own -- a baby, I might add, that I doted over and oohed and aaahed over, and, of course, would never admit looked pretty much like every other baby out there. Oh no, that baby was special because she was MY baby. Yeah -- it's a parental thing. It makes no sense in the real world.

And this, of course, is not the irony, either.

All during the show (when the lights were down in the stadium so the kids could see the stage), the father in this family took pictures. Not of the stage, which would have been entirely sane and rational. After all, he could sell those for big bucks on Ebay(!) ... or, well, wherever it is that people sell things now that Ebay has gone insane. Oh no, he was facing backward and taking pictures of his oldest child -- who, of course, was so enamored with the action on stage that he had no idea his father was taking pictures. Heck, let's be honest. This kid had no idea his father was even on the same planet as him.

But, you see, I knew this kid's father was there. I knew this because said father was facing me, and each blast of flashbulb from his camera seared itself onto my light-deprived retinas. I could see the picture taking each and every time I closed my eyes, and I would manage to get rid of the "flashy-light-thingy" in my brain only to open my eyes and find this kid's father taking yet another damn picture! I mean, seriously ... I am a parent. I would even go so far as to say I can be an obnoxious parent if the occasion presents itself. But, how many poorly-lit pictures of your kid hypnotized into a drooling mess of Disney-brained kid-goo does a person need? My best instincts say one, at the most. But, apparently, the answer to this universal mystery is at least five hundred and seventy eight.

Which brings us, at last, to the irony.

At the end of Playhouse Disney Live, all the Disney characters are on stage, having participated in a giant "Music Party" during which they shared their favorite songs with their friends. They are talking about how we can bring peace and love to the world with the universal language of music.

And all I can think about is how much I want to walk down two rows and smash that damn camera into little, itty, bitty pieces.

Ah ... memories. ♥

Gobble! Gobble!

last modified: Friday, October 31, 2008 (12:29:52 PM CST)

I switched out my gallery's Halloween "costume" for a new Turkey Day outfit. It's a day earlier than I had planned on uploading, but I had some free time this afternoon. I'm not sure I will have any tomorrow, seeing as how it's Saturday (which means about a million errands and some fun "family time" with my hubby and daughter). Plus, NaNo starts tomorrow. So, I figured I had better finish up my few remaining "housekeeping" duties.

Tonight, I'll head out with the kiddo for a Halloween party + trick-or-treating with some friends. It should be fun. My little one will be going as Super Girl -- very cute, considering she's still wearing her pink cast. =P

I don't know about you guys, but I can't believe how quickly October has come and gone. It seems like this month has flown by. o_o

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!! =)

Posting Happy News ...

last modified: Sunday, October 26, 2008 (1:34:03 AM CST)

First things first: I have to say my apologies to anyone who has already read about this on another site or on my LJ. I've been kind of "spamming" my happy news in a few places, just because doing so makes it seem just a little more real.

I'm not sure how many people knew this, although a few folks did. One of the reasons -- and probably the main reason -- I have basically dropped out of the cel community was that I was writing a book. A fantasy novel, and my first attempt at completing a project this huge. It ended up being a huge undertaking that ate up pretty much all of my free time. But, that was OK because I was spending that time creating something original for myself. It also ended up being both the most wonderful, euphoric experience I've ever had and the most frustrating, discouraging experience I've ever had. Odd how writing a novel could be both of those things. There were so many days when I felt so bad about my writing ... my in-progress book ... and my chances of finishing it.

I discovered (or, I should say rediscovered) what a lonely process writing is. I had to live in my head all the time. The characters and the story wouldn't let go of me -- ever. (Even when they did nothing but sit around in my head doing .. well, nothing.) There were so many nights when I couldn't sleep because the story was there, acting itself out in my head. And I felt like, if I just got up and wrote it down, I would be able to get some rest. But, I was too darn tired to get up and do that. So, the insomnia won. And, no matter how much I loved the idea for my book and/or my characters, it was difficult (if not impossible) to share them with anyone. I discovered that, pretty much, no one cares. Which makes sense. After all, the book is something that happens in my head. It's hard to convey that to anyone else. And, it's almost impossible for non-writers to understand that writing "process".

But, life lessons aside, I'm one happy, happy camper right now. Because I am finished. I finished my book early Friday afternoon.

Can you believe it? FINISHED!!!

I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, I'm not "done" done. The book will now sit for at least a month before I start to edit it. And, it will have to go through several edits before I can even think about doing anything with it. Eventually, I hope it will be publishable, but I'm a long, long way away from even finding that out. There's also a certain amount of disbelief over the thought that I'm done with the first draft. In some little corner of my mind -- no matter how determined I was to finish -- I believed I would not complete the book. There were just too many doubts, and too many things working against me. And, I have to admit, I feel a little bit sad to see the story come to an end. Tired, too -- as if I have been on a long journey with my characters. Which, really, I guess I have.

But, no matter what happens in the future. No matter what happens when I edit. No matter if the book sells or not. The plain and simple truth is that I am finished. I did it. I wrote a book, and no one can take that away from me. This makes me happy. Very, very happy. =)

I Hate Today ... And This Week, Too

last modified: Thursday, October 16, 2008 (9:21:26 PM CST)

Ugh. This has been some week. And, I don't mean that in a good way. Some things have been funny. Some, not-so-funny.

On Monday, my daughter wanted to make a Halloween gingerbread house. They come in a kit, and she totally fell in love with the idea of making one. I stupidly agreed to it. I mean, she wanted to do it soooo badly. We made one of these at Christmas, and I had forgotten what a total, freaking nightmare it was. The pieces all kind of look the same, except they shouldn't look the same. They are supposed to be different sizes, but it's impossible to tell which piece of the house goes where. You have to mix the icing yourself, which is no big deal. But it takes hours for the icing to dry in between assembly sessions. So, you put the walls together. Let the icing dry and harden. Put the roof on. Let the icing dry and harden. We're talking hours of work before the decorating (the only part my kiddo was interested in) happens. And, of course, every task has to be accomplished with the "assistance" of a loudly complaining and impatient five-year-old at my elbow. Total exercise in patience. But, I manged it. I got the first part of the house together ... convinced the kiddo to go upstairs and play until it dried ... and went off to check my neglected emails for the first time that day. I was upstairs when I realized Fae was not with me. And she was being horribly quiet. Kiss of Doom. I went downstairs to find her sitting on her bed, the picture of A Very Good Dog -- except for the "OMG, Mom, I did something horrible" expression on her face and the half-wall of gingerbread house hanging out of her mouth. Yeah. Back to the beginning on holiday hilarity hell.

Tuesday, I had to take the kiddo to the doctor for her yearly check up and vaccination boosters. It's a total energy drain because my kiddo is a drama queen in the making. I love her, but ... yeah ... "histrionic" is her middle name. We were running a bit late, but it wasn't a problem. The doc's office is near our house, so we got there with time to spare. Except ... parking was a nightmare. Thirty minutes waiting in line just to park. There were three parking attendants "assisting" people with parking. Except they didn't all seem to know each other. And, each guy didn't seem to know what the other guys were doing. Yadda, yadda, yadda. We ended up being late for the appointment, and that was just the beginning of the irritation.

Cut forward to today. My kiddo is upstairs, trying to pet the cat. Fae, being the pin-head she is, decides to chase the cat at the same time. But, she knocks the kiddo down. My poor daughter falls with all her weight on her hand. She was crying and very upset, but her hand wasn't swollen. And she could move her fingers. So, I sent her off to school. When I picked her up, her hand was swollen and bruised, and she couldn't move her fingers. Of course, the school didn't call me. -.-" Her doctor's office was closed already, so we had to go to an urgent care clinic. Hours later, it turns out her hand is broken in three places. Hubby and I have spent the past couple of hours on the phone trying to track down either a pediatric orthopedist or a hand specialist so that we can try to get her in tomorrow.

So, my question to the universe is this:

Can this week be over now? Pleeze? >.O

Boo to You!!

last modified: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 (9:04:24 AM CST)

Happy Halloween, everyone -- although a bit early. I guess it's not such a bad thing to dedicate the month of October to things that go "bump" in the night. =D

With that in mind, I uploaded a little Halloween layout last night. I did orange and black last year because I was feeling really "traditional". Sadly, I couldn't visit my RS gallery for the whole month because the orange grated on my nerves too much -- LOL. So, this year, I decided to go with basic black. With a little red, white, and gray tossed in.

I also added the last couple of new cels -- saving the best (for me, anyhow =D) for last, so to speak. Which means there's a new Weiss wishlist cel and a VHD cel of D that I'm super excited over. To me, it's about as close to perfect as I could get, which makes for one happy fangirl.

Otherwise, life has been keeping on keeping on. The book is still in progress. I finished chapter 28 last night, and I feel the end quickly approaching. Thank goodness! This project has pretty much eaten my brain. Hmmm ... maybe it's a zombie book? >.O

I hope everyone has a wonderful October and a fun and happy Halloween!!

A Bouncing Party and New Cels ...

last modified: Saturday, September 20, 2008 (10:32:37 PM CST)

My kiddo turned five this past week. Five! I can't believe that. *sigh* We had her b-day party at this really great party facility that specializes in those moon-bounce things. Almost two hours of running around like a maniac, playing in the bouncing rooms, followed by pizza, ice cream cake, balloons, and goodie bags. What more could a five-year-old want? And, it turned out to be a great party. I was so relieved, because my kiddo has been talking about having this party for over a year. Which is a LONG time for a little kid to focus on one thing.

The evening ended on a painful note for me, though. Hubby and I were straightening our living room after the mass hysteria of opening b-day gifts ... plus, we were looking for our missing remote control. I was on the floor, looking for the remote under a chair. Hubby picked up a fan (so he could put it away in the garage), and it slipped out of his hand. It ended up falling On My Head. >.O OUCH! Luckily, it wasn't a hard hit, but the fan is heavy. I have a knot where it hit me, and I still have a headache.

In gallery news, I recently got a bunch of new things in. I'm in the process of slowly uploading them. I did some over the past week, and will probably finish up the rest on Monday or Tuesday. For now, you can check out the new uploads here:

http://texsbishieluv.rubberslug.com/gallery/master_query.asp?SeriesID=19300

Everything there was added in this last round of updates. It's not often I have more than one or two cels to add at a time, so having a larger batch has been kind of fun for me.

To the End of the World ...

last modified: Sunday, August 24, 2008 (12:04:19 AM CST)

And back again.

Well, not really the "end" of the world, but I did manage to sneak in a small get-away to San Francisco recently. I've always wanted to visit that city, and when my hubster had a meeting there, it seemed like the perfect time. My parents came up to stay with our daughter, which meant I got to have an actual "all grownups" vacation for the first time in ... well, a long time.

Although it was a rather quick and busy trip -- and I was sick the whole time (argh!)-- it turned out to be a lot of fun. We managed to work in a bit of sightseeing and a few fun activities, while figuring out a lot of things we would love to do on a return trip one of these days.

I have to admit, though, it's great to be home. Vacations are fun and great, especially when they manage to be relaxing, like this one was. But one of the nicest things about vacationing, I think, is coming home to all my familiar things. It might be cluttered and lacking in closet and storage space, but home is where the heart is. ♥

Here's a linky-loo to some of my vacation pics, in case anyone is interested in taking a peek.

http://tex-chan.deviantart.com/gallery/#California-Trip-2008

A "Simple" Project ...

last modified: Thursday, July 17, 2008 (10:53:21 AM CST)

Why is it that things which seem as if they should be "simple" or "easy" so seldom are?

I'm right on the verge of the final arc of my novel. It's only a first draft, but I am surprised, really, at how far I've come with this project. Since the final arc needs some thinking and planning on my part, I decided to take a bit of a break and do something I haven't done in about forever: watch anime. And, I decided to watch an old favorite, which I haven't seen in ages: Flame of Recca.

As long as I was watching Flame of Recca, anyhow, I decided to tackle a gallery project I have long wanted to do. I would try and grab screencaps and episode info for as many of my cels as I could.

Easy, right? Yeah, well, when you factor in my rather obsessive nature, "easy" becomes anything but.

So, marathoned through the series over the July 4th weekend. 42 episodes of anime in three days. Plus, I made a list of all the episode names (for future reference) And a list of some helpful information (also for future reference), like which episodes contain outfit changes for certain charcters -- useful in a fighting anime, because the characters seldom change clothes -- as well as which teams fought in which rounds of the big tournament that takes up over half the show. And, I got episode information and screencaps for all but two of my cels. Huzzah!!

On the down side, I also discovered I really do have something of a "wish list" for this show. Boo! I need more cel "wishes" like I need a second hole in my head. *sigh* But, I grabbed caps for those, too.

Then, the rest of the project begins. Now that I have this information, I MUST update it NOW. Yeah, being the obsessive person I am, I can't just let it sit around for later, when I take another writing break. No, I must finish this project.

Long story just a bit longer: It is done. Finally. On my main website and here on RS, all (except for the two I didn't find) of my FoR cels now have episode information and screencaps. And, they are now in proper episode order. Yes, I know, this doesn't matter to anyone but me, but it makes me happy, so ...

The funny thing is that I put all this time and effort into a show that, pretty much, no one cares about. But that's OK. It's a show I dearly love, and watching it again reminded me of why and just how much. Revisiting an old love is always a good thing.

So, my "easy", "simple" project ended up taking about a week and a half, from start to finish. Good freaking grief. I hope I don't find anything else that's "easy" to do. >.O

Puppy Pics!!

last modified: Friday, July 04, 2008 (9:02:40 PM CST)

I finally managed to resize some pictures of Fae for posting in my photo album.

http://texsbishieluv.rubberslug.com/gallery/album.aspx?id=498

The top three pics are more recent, which is probably obvious because she is quite a bit bigger in them! In the top three photos, she is 5 months old. They were taken in May.

The bottom three pics are from a couple of days after we got her, in February. We went out to a farm in Chantilly, VA to pick her up the day after Valentine's Day, so she was a bit of a V-day sweetheart for us.

Hmmm ... what else to tell about her? She is quite funny and smart. It didn't take her any time at all to figure out how to open the baby gates on each floor and any closed doors keeping her from a room she wishes to visit. She likes to climb -- a lot. So, it's not too surprising for me to walk into a room and find her sitting on the back of the sofa or chair or on a tall stack of pillows. She's not too crazy about loud noises, and has only just begun to really bark. She still kind of has that whole puppy bark thing going on, though. She's quite tall. At only 6 months old, she's already taller than Tex was. And, she loves to run. I'm hoping to do obedience classes with her once my daughter starts school in the fall. Then, maybe I can get her into some kind of coursing classes or something.

I'm not sure what kind of dog she is. She was a rescue "mutt", but she was born at the foster home where we adopted her. Although she wasn't in an abusive situation, she came to us as a very timid, shy dog. She was very afraid of men and strangers, although she took to us right away. She has gotten over a lot of that, though, and socializes much better. From the look of her and the little yodel she has, I think she has some hound somewhere in her background.

Hopefully, I'll have more pics to post later on. As I said, she seldom sits still. Silly, pin-headed dog. =)

The Weblog About Nothing ...

last modified: Thursday, June 26, 2008 (7:47:49 PM CST)

This is the weblog entry in which Tex whines about ... well, nothing in particular. I just kind of felt like blogging and, well, there 'ya go.

Yep. Run for your lives!!!

I've been pretty much laying low, cel-wise. I've been adding things here and there, and purchasing a few new things. But, overall, I haven't been extremely talkative, as I mentioned in a previous weblog entry. Maybe this is my attempt at changing that for myself.

In the realm of purchases, I recently had a very exciting opportunity thanks to a wonderful cel bud who, through this goofy hobby, has also become a wonderful friend. *hugs Wendy* So, I'm anxiously awaiting something new -- something that definitely falls into the category of "never thought I would have one of these". I'm totally on pins and needles over it, too. Every day, I sit at my door and watch the mail person drive up. Will today be the day? Will she stop in my driveway and get out of her van, my much-longed-after EMS package tucked securely under her arm? So far, obviously, that hasn't happened. But, I keep watching. I do feel a little pathetic about it, but ... well, it keeps me off the streets, so to speak. =P

To burn off some of my nervous energy, I did a bit of a gallery re-do. It's kind of in celebration of my new, exciting purchase. And, also kind of a late "30K Hits" celebration. It's a goofy layout, although I was a bit nervous about it. It's been a long time since my gallery wasn't blue!! I've had a few days to get used to it, though, and I think I like it. ♥

Otherwise, life at my house is same old, same old. Summer is in full swing. The kiddo has been in camp for the past two weeks -- her second camp of the season. It ends tomorrow, and then I suppose we'll do playdates and such with her friends from pre-school. She will start kindergarten in the fall, which I can't believe. And, I'm not ready for it. At all. o_O

I'm still plugging away at my book. I think I'm getting closer to the end. I just finished up chapters 22 and 23 -- 22 a couple of days ago, and 23 yesterday. I started on Chapter 24 today. I'm soooo ready for this thing to be finished.

Our dog, Fae, just turned 6 months old. She has changed a lot since we got her. She is starting to mature, although she is still really playful. She's in that "obnoxious teenager" stage, as opposed to "obnoxious puppy" stage. But, she is fun, and we are all getting very used to her. She's a regular part of the family now, which is great. I wasn't sure I could love another dog after losing Tex. I still miss Tex horribly, but Fae is starting to fill that empty space very well.

Thanks for all the Fish!

last modified: Thursday, June 12, 2008 (8:53:14 AM CST)

Wow, it's been quite a while since my last weblog entry. I checked the date right before I deleted it, and it was back in March. Partly, I've had nothing to say that seemed relevant to RS and collecting. Partly, I've taken to blogging on LJ only. And, I've just been feeling not very talkative within the community, in general, of late.

But, I wanted to post a quick "thank you" blog. I'm so excited that my gallery reached 30K hits last night. Wow!! 30K hits -- I've watched so many other galleries I admire reach this goal over the last year or so, and I never thought my gallery could reach it, too. It's silly, but I'm really happy about it. And, I'd like to send a HUGE thank-you out to everyone who has visited. I'm grateful to all of you.

I feel I should probably do a new layout or something to celebrate, but I currently have no ideas for a new look. And, I kind of like my Bish Closet design. I guess it'll be hanging around for a while -- at least, until the next chance I get to upload a holiday-themed design. And, I don't have any special update, either. My buying and updating has slowed down quite a lot in recent months.

But!! I did post an update yesterday that I'm really excited about. I think my gallery actually managed to stay on the front page long enough for a few folks to see it. I have no idea why my updates shoot off so quickly while others' seem to stay up there forever ... and, in the end, it doesn't matter all that much. Just something that I ponder when I have nothing better to do -- LOL.

Anyhow, I'll include links to the new things. It wasn't a large update in quantity, but both of the new cels are incredibly special to me, and things I'm thrilled to have. I spent a lot of time giggling over them yesterday while I updated.

Clotho, from Five Star Stories: http://texsbishieluv.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=243795

Aya, from Weiss Kreuz: http://texsbishieluv.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=243793

Thanks again, everyone, for helping me to reach 30K hits! ^_^