Journal Entry of Randomness ...

[texchan]

Random journal entry is random.

Been in a pissy mood for a while now. Writing is frustrating. Too many demands on my time. And thus, life has become frustrating, too.

Parents are visiting. My dad just went home yesterday, and my mom has another week left of her stay. We redid our dining room to convert it into a playroom of sorts. Installed cabinets and then topped them out so they ended up looking like built-ins. They hold a lot of toys, too ... so I am the happy over that.

Rearranged the living room furniture because I had to move this HUGE (~200 lb) armoire out of the dining room. We have an open floor plan for our house, but the actual living room is pretty small. And I really have too much furniture to go in there. But I think we managed to find a room arrangement that fits the space and makes it feel cozy and comfy as opposed to overstuffed.

I found some old color photographs that I took years ago (sometime around 1998 or 1999) -- back when I was still shooting with film. Including my favorite photograph, ever, which is an above-view shot of a Greyhound bus station at night. I so love that picture. I framed a few of those and mixed them in with some of my black and whites, and I think they look nice in the new living room. I want to frame out some more photos to hang in the house. I take enough of the stupid things ... I should probably use them here and there.

The dining room / playroom and living room took most of a week to get done. It was a LOT of work.

My dad also built a new set of bookshelves for me in the office. They tuck in nicely behind the door, and so use that dead space really well. I always need more room for books.

Now that my dad is gone, I'm pretty sure my mom has her eye on some open shelving I have in the kitchen, my daughter's closet, and the linen closet (and probably more that she hasn't mentioned)-- all of which she thinks need to be "cleaned out". They probably do, but I'm not much in the mood to do it. So I'm not confident we'll get to it at all. I haven't admitted this out loud yet, as I don't think it will go over well, but ...

Slowly pecking away at the new prologue for my book. The past few weeks, for the most part, have been the suck for writing. But Saturday was a pretty good day. I managed to close myself in the office and get a good amount of work done. And moved the prologue along pretty well, too. So I was happy about that.

I've become totally addicted to Merlin, this show on Sci-Fi Network. I randomly ran across a marathon of it showing last weekend and watched a few episodes. Didn't take me long to get hooked. So I just got the first season box set at Best Buy yesterday. Yay for BB gift cards!

I'm (slowly) working on setting up a new production art gallery site. I think it's going to take me forever, as I only work on it here and there, when I'm not busy writing or doing other things. But at least it gives me something creative to do with my existing art ... which helps keep me from wanting to buy a lot of new art (because I really don't have the funds for that right now >.O). I do have some things I need to scan and update, though. I used to be so good about doing that stuff right away. And now I have become the suck about it. *shame*

Comments

[animerei.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you need less parental visits. Or perhaps make sure that your mother leaves when your father does?

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

Well, the visits will be dwindling. We usually try to have them up 4 times a year, so they can see the kiddo and feel like they are involved in things. But we really can't afford to pay for the airfare that many times a year; it's just gotten too expensive. >.O

Twice a year is probably better, all around. Although I feel guilty about it. *sigh*

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should preemptively plan a lot of activities so your mom will be kept too busy to get a chance to try to reorganize things?

Hehe…we’ve been thinking along the same lines…you inspired me to make the effort to try and sort out episode numbers for things. And I’ve been very focused on that lately ‘cause it keeps me distracted from wanting to buy anything new.

How’s your new site going to be different from your current one? I’m intrigued!!

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

Ha! Preemptive planning! I love it! Although I doubt this would work, as I would have to undertake said activities with her. LOLz

Yay for you on searching for episode numbers and screencaps! It's kind of a daunting task, though, isn't it? I always feel a little overwhelmed when I first set out to grab caps and episode information. Once I get a few under my belt, I feel better about it, but it's a project that always seems too big to handle when I set out to do it. >.O

The new site probably isn't going to differ much from my RS gallery. A friend created some new gallery software, and I decided to set up a gallery on there. I've gotten a bit disenchanted with Rubberslug lately, just because of all the issues it's had -- which makes me sad. But it also made me think I might want something in the wings in case RS craters or something. >.O I've toyed with the idea of making a gallery just for my "obsessive" shows. I have about 5 or 6 that I really seem to collect obsessively. I might eventually turn my RS gallery into something along those lines ... but I'm not sure yet. (Yeah ... I have no plan. -.-")

PS: ICON LUV!!! That cracked me up! ♥

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

That’s a really good idea…I was impressed how quickly RS recovered from the hacking but there are still a lot of kinks that never got fixed and I honestly doubt ever will be. I wouldn’t be surprised if things continued to go downhill over there…I wish I had a backup site! I’ve recorded a lot of info there that I’ve never bothered to record elsewhere (like where I bought things, etc. Plus any image I scanned on a former computer I don’t have saved either.) Hmmmm I guess I really ought to transfer that info into my own records if nothing else. Blah!!

Hehehe…I never bothered to try and sort out spisodes before because I was waaaay too daunted. And now I have confirmed I was right in being daunted. Info searching snowballed badly. I’ve only made it through 4 or 5 episodes so far. It’ll probably take me a year to go through every one. It started with “I’ll just fast-forward to this bit where I’m pretty sure the scene is” to “better watch carefully the whole thing in case one I don’t know about is in there somewhere” to “hahaha LOL at that screen cap. I’ll take it even though it has nothing to do with anything.” Next thing I know I’m entertaining myself by making icons instead of doing anything relevant. :D

<3

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

Ha! The same thing happens to me when I sit down to do screencaps. Even if I know exactly which episode the cel is from, I end up thinking: "Oh, but I love this other episode so much ... it won't hurt to watch it, too. I have time." And then I end up watching the whole darn show again. And yes, LOL'ing over individual, random screencaps that I can't help but grab "just because". Such is the life of a fangirl, right? ^.~

If you want, I can let my friend know you might be interested in her gallery software. I'm not sure she's decided yet whether or not to open it up for everyone in general. I know it's a project she's been working on for a couple of years, so I'm not sure where she is regarding her comfort level and such.

(And again ... ICON WIN!!! You are so good at making them. I totally suck at the whole iconage thing. >.O)

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

I would be interested…assuming I can handle the skills required. The whole reason I am only on RS to date is because that’s about as far as my abilities go…if I had any webmaking skills myself I’d probably have made my own page by now like your separate Gecko Blue site… It’s totally fine though if your friend doesn’t want additional people joining or anything. I appreciate you asking. ^__^

Hehehe. I’m glad you like my icons! Although don’t go selling yourself short! You make incredibly good icons! And I’m too lazy to bother animating mine, haha (plus if you look back at earlier homemade icons I uploaded, you’ll see what a sad sight some of mine are…I really ought to delete a bunch now that I actually have Photoshop and don’t make them in MS Paint, haha.)

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

It does require some HTML and some CSS knowledge -- which, admittedly, I don't have. I know some HTML, but I'm not confident I could code a whole page or website with it. So far, though, my HTML skills (altho not mad ... heh) have been sufficient. CSS comes into play with creating the templates for the layout, but there is a good tutorial for it. I haven't tried it yet; I figured I would monkey around with that stuff once I had finished uploading things. (Which is probably going to take me a while; it sounds dumb, but I had no idea I had so much stuff in my cel gallery! >.O)

I used a program, set up similar to photoshop, to design my Gecko Blue site. And I still use it to maintain that site, too. So, I'm definitely no web pro or anything. *nervous laugh*

I'll pass along your interest. I think she had, at one time, planned on taking the site and software public. But I don't know if that's still in the cards for her or not.

LOLz on the iconnage! But I can't take credit for many of mine. The animated ones were all made by my friend bladedfan. And most of the other really "neat" (well, IMO, anyhow ... LOLz) ones were made by other people. So, I still think your mad mad icon skills RAWK!!

I know what you mean, though, about needing to delete icons from LJ. I was just looking through all of mine and thinking the same thing. =D

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

I only know enough html to format a chapter of fanfiction, heh. I pretty much always have to go look up code when I want to do anything more complex than italics... I don't know a thing about css. Which program did you use? I have dreamweaver already on my computer, and my friend just gave me a copy of frontpage...so I've been planning to work out how to make a page on my own hopefully....but haven't actually made any progress on that yet ^__^;;;;

Ah, sorry! I assumed you made them because you have so many that are most definitely unique to your journal. And I KNOW you have the skills to have made them because I've seen all those gallery layouts you make!!!

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

That's me, too, with the html. I always have to look it up when I need to do anything with it. Ditto with CSS ... which worries me a little with this new gallery endeavor. But I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. o_o

I used Dreamweaver for my Gecko Blue site. It took me a while to get comfortable with the program, but I really like it now. Of course, I think the one I'm using is two or three versions out of date by now. But I like what I like ... which is bad, when it comes to computer software. >.O I've heard good things about frontpage, too, but I've never used that one.

No apologies necessary! I'm flattered that you would think I could have made the icons. 'Cuz I definitely feel I don't have the mad skillz for that. (LOLz)

*GLOMS*

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

My friend who gave me Frontpage said it was the easier thing to use…however I’ve been leaning towards Dreamweaver anyway because I’m waaay more comfortable with Adobe products than Microsoft (I honestly think I have a better grasp of Photoshop than Word haha.) And Dreamweaver links me to lots of online tutorials which explain things like CSS (which helped me a lot when I tried to teach myself Flash.) Sooo…hm. Maybe I’ll get a book from the library and start fooling around with this more…

I have CS4…but I haven’t been comfortable at all with it (applied to Photoshop and Illustrator) yet, I find a lot of the ‘improvements’ over CS3 kind of awkward and annoying (although once I adjusted I did like the CS3 improvements over CS2 so maybe I just haven’t given it enough of a chance yet)….but I’d guess whatever version you have is probably easier to use. And the ‘improvements’ are usually things I find trivial anyway, like how anchor points appear, not something that actually affects what the software is capable of producing.

[deathcomes4u.livejournal.com]

Heh, I watched the first season of Merlin. I think Morgana is gorgeous but I love Arthur (and he and Merlin have an adorable relationship). Awesome show to get hookd on :)

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

Morgana is really pretty. Although, I can't decide if I like her as a character or not. Which, I suppose, is kind of the point, this being Morgana, after all. (LOLz)

I also love Arthur. I love how conflicted he is and how he acts like such a jerk while trying really hard to hide his feelings. There are a few moments here and there, even in the first season, when you can just see his loneliness and uncertainty breaking through. And then he tamps it back down. And I think Merlin is also totally adorable. Gawky and unsure of himself, which strikes such a great balance for a character with that kind of power at his fingertips. I totally agree -- the relationship between them is wonderful. I love that aspect of the show the most. For an odd little BBC series, I think the acting is pretty good. Oh, and I like the dragon a lot.

So, yeah ... overall, I'm totally hooked! Hee!

[deathcomes4u.livejournal.com]

I love her hair and eyes. -jealous- But yeah, haha, I can't decide if I like her or don't like her. Sometimes it varies, and while I roller coastered over Uther as a king (I mean,he's got to make some horrible decisions, right?) I HATED him when...er, I have no idea how far along you are o.o but just in case not far, I don't want to spoil. So it was the episode where Gwen's father helped that wizard guy do alchemy. I've found quite a few odd little BBC shows I like. Merlin is pretty awesome and you are DEAD ON in describing Arthur. I really like him. I think he's my favourite, but I do like adorably awkward and powerful Merlin. And the Dragon, heh, he's pretty cool, too. Love his accent.

[deathcomes4u.livejournal.com]

Although, admittedly, I rather like how she's confident and does what she feels is right, even in regards to the king. ^^; She's just a bit too abrasive and impulsive at times. But I prefer Arthur's sense of honor and strength and princely demeaning teasing attitude over compensating his loneliness...-snuggles him- Now I need to go watch the second season o.o

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

I like that about her, too -- that she is confident and does what she thinks is right. And I like how she obviously cares about Uther and yet can still disagree with him. I think that shows strength of character. Plus, she's nice to Gwen, who I think is adorable. But I'm with you: I get irritated at her sometimes because of how impulsive she is. Plus, her teasing often seems to have an unnecessary bite to it that makes me a bit uncomfortable and unsure of her character, overall.

Gah ... I pretty much dislike Uther. I haven't seen the episode you're talking about with Gwen's father, although I did see the one where Gwen was accused of sorcery b/c Merlin cured him of that weird, magical "disease" that had stricken Camelot through the water supply. That, plus the episode where he refused to let Arthur go find the plant that would cure Merlin from poisoning were pretty much enough to seal my dislike of him. Maybe he'll mellow on me as the show progresses, but I find him too set in his ways and too unwilling to listen to others, as a whole. Stubborn -- that's the word -- but not stubborn in a good way. I can kind of understand it because of what he's been through ... plus, like you said, as king he has to make some bad decisions ... but still, I feel like he goes too far.

I find it really interesting that Arthur presents a much different, open-minded, balanced view of the world compared to his father. Although he acts the part of a princely jerk, you can see, underneath it all, how he's a bit softer and willing to follow what his heart tells him honor demands.

Do you know if Season 2 is out on DVD? I think they just started with Season 3 this past Friday.

(And ... yay!! ... on the Merlin sqweeage. Thanks for fangirling over it with me! *huggles*)

[deathcomes4u.livejournal.com]

Gwen is a doll. Hahah, from the previews I've seen, she's got Merlin, Arthur, /and/ Lancelot all pining for her. But she's got a HUGE heart. I'm glad I didn't spoil the episode then! You'll see what I mean in why I HATE Uther then when you get to that episode. It hurt and infuriated me beyond words, but then that could just be my emotional over reaction. I still thought like you, earlier on, that he goes too far in his decisions, no leeway or room for compassion. I think in that episode he learned a lesson, but still went too far in my opinion.

I agree with ALL you just said on Arthur. I wonder, too how he turned out like he did with the honorable and softer side with his father the way he is. But I adore his character. -snuggles him- I really look forward to seeing season two now after fangirling with you!!!! No, well...season 2 is out in the region 2 (british version) DVDs, but not yet for region 1. I watched it on hulu.com, but until season 2 comes out there or for sale, I'll probably wait to watch it. <3

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I'll react the same way you did once I get to that episode. If I remember, I'll let you know what I thought of it. I got pretty mad at Uther when he refused to let Arthur go to save Merlin ... and, then, when Arthur came back, when he destroyed the only thing they could use to make the antidote to the poison. I'm sure he probably still went too far in the episode you're talking about. I think that's a basic trait of his character. Darn him. >.O

Oh! I've watched stuff on hulu.com before. I might have to check that out to see all of season 2, then. I've started taping season 3. (Well, "Tivo'ing" it, actually ... LOL) I got lucky and managed to get in at the very beginning of season 3 for taping it. Yay!

Heh ... the fangirling totally made me want to go watch more. In fact, I think that's exactly what I'm going to go do right now. Whee! =D

[deathcomes4u.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm so snagging that icon. I assume sevendials made it, but damn, haha, it's WIN.

[tex-chan.livejournal.com]

LOLz!!