Cat photo taken by the lovely kixies, apologies to those who have both of us friended for the repeat, but I think you will agree that it deserves to be distributed!!



Link to her original post: http://kixies.livejournal.com/416993.html

Was sick in January and just got sick again, wtf!!  I've n e v e r been sick twice in a 3 month period!!  Once every 2-3 years is the norm for me, but a coworker buddy local to the area said it's normal for him to get sick twice a year, when the weather does loopy shit during the transition months.  Seriously, East Coast fails!

... I get the impression I'm not supposed to take acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (for the monthly gut wringing... yes it came at the same time) together.  /facedesk x 3.  Man, I am SOL. 

2 weeks until I see my lovely Cali for a little bit again!  ;o;

Off topic: when did Condi Rice become faculty at Stanford?  o____o

Just FYI for everybody I was planning to see in Cali, I missed my flight this morning because the ground/roads out here are completely iced over.  Some freeways closed all lanes, cars in the ditch, tractor-trailers stuck/overturned etc.  Couldn't even get out of my apartment complex, the car slid almost all the way down the hilly street while doing a 180 and is currently stuck near the bottom.  Got out of the car, fell and slid a little further down the hill before I caught myself on a crack in the sidewalk and pulled myself over to the grass.  Made it back to the apartment by digging my stiletto heels into the dirt, lol.  Now back in the apt icing a big bruise that will probably become very angry.  Wish I hadn't forgotten to ship out my figure skates!  But I'm so glad I opted for a rental car instead of having my bebe shipped out.  I would have totally freaked out if my bebe had slid/spun and hit the curb like the rental car did.  The rental car's ok, but my bebe's too low to hit the curb without damage. 

As expected with the holiday rush, the flights seem to be totally booked for the day, so there would only be space from a last minute cancellation, and I'd have to be on standby at the airport to wait for those.  Will update if/when I'm able to get home.  I hope somebody on standby got my spot so it wasn't a wasted empty seat.  I think I don't like the East Coast.  ;(

Also, I'm not sure if my LJ account was somehow compromised (I changed the password just in case), but when I logged in this morning, 2 of my user icons had been changed.  Don't know if anything else was messed around with as of yet (LJ or other accounts), but let me know if you find anything odd!

Finished Crisis Core with dormando last night, and though such rare periods of complete fangirl squeeing and swooning have always given way to fan art in the past, I've been drawing an inspirational blank ever since the first Sephy FMV when it should have happened.  Time is not really the issue - although I've had much less of it to draw since starting work full time, I can still make time for the things I really want to do.

One of my reasons for drawing in the past was because I wanted to see the characters in more detail than the x-bit 2-dimensional representations they were given at the time.  Since rendering/gfx has now advanced to where it rivals any kind of illustration, that reason for drawing is out of the picture.  But it doesn't negate my other reason for drawing, which was the freedom to select subjects/settings, especially those not depicted in official media.  Even so, I can't seem to come up with any that I'd want to illustrate anymore.  Am I just growing out of / getting too old for this stuff?  I've seen a lot of TAC&friends grow out of fan art into original art, but I have even less inspiration for the latter, which kind of means total absence of drawing.  ;\  

I knew it would happen eventually, given my career goals, but I didn't think I'd lose it within 2 years of starting work.  Don't know if it's something that I should try to get back either, but at the moment it doesn't feel right - like something should be happening that's not happening anymore.  Work and life have been cruising pretty normally, so I doubt it's a result of anything obviously bad. 

Now that Christmas is over, I finally have time for myself! Caught up on some sleep, went on a whirlwind cleaning spree, and finished off a bunch of things that've been hanging on the to do list since before the holiday tornado hit. Also finally got to open up the Sephy statue!

I'll post pictures of the present I finished for kahochan after he gets the package. >:3

The tablet I have is the first and only one I've ever had... I got it in high school. (It's nearing 10 years old I think.) Even then it was a cheap Aiptek tablet, since I thought I was just going to mess around as a hobby. I think it's slowly starting to die as it's become somewhat quirky, so I've been thinking about getting a new tablet. I'm pretty sure I want to go for a Wacom this time, despite the comparatively steep price, as it's always had a good reputation within our artist friends circle and with many other CG artists. I will likely go for a 6x8 as the 4x5 feels noticeably small, but the larger sizes don't seem to make things THAT much easier for me (for the exponentially higher price, anyway).

The only question left is: can I settle for a Graphire, or is the Intuos worth the extra cost? Given:

• I am not and will never go pro. I only draw recreationally, and even then I don't devote that much time to it.
• I mainly use Photoshop and Painter.
• PC onry!

Please advise if you've had experience with one or both tablets!  And especially those of you who've known me since the days of TAC, since you'd be most familiar with my drawing style. :3

My Cingular contract is up, and I'm looking to switch to a prepaid plan.  I only use like 100 minutes max per month now, since I started working in a wireless black hole, and no nationwide monthly plan goes that low on minutes.  Anybody have any suggestions on providers?  I'd prefer a GSM provider, but am open to CDMA if there are enough reasons to switch.  I like my current phone and its ability to roam internationally.  

European friends:
Is there a single provider that covers the majority of Europe, or would I need to rent from a different provider in each country/area to avoid roaming charges?  Ideally I'd like to rent a SIM card from a provider that operates on the 1800 frequency and just pay for calls on the provider's home network.   If I have to roam, I might as well roam with my US provider. 

I stopped at the Safeway in Saratoga on the way to lorelai's place to pick up some stuff around 9:30pm, and stupidly left my wallet at the register.  Realized it about 11:30pm and went back to get it.  Wasn't too worried; it's Saratoga, where Asian engineers live in expensive homes.  Not New York City.  One of the cashiers had found it, but apparently she wasn't the first one.  Most of the cash was missing, but that wasn't a big deal, as all the important stuff was still there.  What was really weird was that my Victoria's Secret card was missing, but my ATM and Visa cards were still there.  wtf?  Must have been a female thief, but I didn't think anyone who lived in Saratoga would find it worthwhile to steal anything.  Well, I'll report all the cards in the morning, as the thief might have written down the info for the cards that were still there and attempt an internet purchase.  I'm annoyed and amused at the same time. Would be funny if this thief attempts to use the card after I report it stolen!  

Cupertino > Saratoga btw, I remember leaving my wallet either at a grocery store or post office once (like... 5 years ago) and nothing was stolen.  ♥ Cupertino!