So. Good things.

Electric got sorted. Need to call about PIPP in regards to that, as well.
Insurance get for the car. We were going to wait, but it was both a necessity and cheap.
Rent paid...tomorrow. At least, the remainder of last month's.
Internet paid on. Need to pay the rest of the bill when we get our refund.

I'm back at work. Forty-five hours this week, which will mean a nice paycheck the week after next. It's running me ragged, but I'm surviving. The biggest issue was I was entirely nocturnal for a long time there, so having to flip my schedule so quickly means I'm almost nothing but tired now. I've been sleeping a lot because of it, to make up for lost time.

I have to do my art final, as well as catch up on any of the discussion boards I missed, which I think is just two of them. The internet has been a raging cunt the last couple days. It just doesn't want to stay up for more than twenty minutes or so - probably less. I'll need to have someone come up, but until then I'll probably have to take my laptop up to campus to finish up my work.

Potentially Bad Things.

Something on the car is making a clanking/grinding noise. We're pretty sure it has to do with the drive shaft or the axle or something in that vein due to the noise only happening when we have to turn the wheels heavily. Like backing out of the driveway or stuff like that. We're not sure exactly WHAT the issue is, but we're worried what a repair is going to run us.

We had to do our interm report for our food stamps this month. It's generally every six months so they can update your case and see if anything has changed (like a move or new household members). We got it at the beginning of the month and I set it on my desk to take care of ASAP, but between all the stuff that happened, it slipped under the radar. I was walking back from Walgreens a few days ago when it dawned on me that it never got sent out before the deadline. So I rushed to get it filled out and mailed off, even sending an explanation along with it.

Worst case scenario with it: we have to re-apply for food stamps. Best case scenario: we don't have to do anything. I'm currently unsure if our EBT card will be getting loaded on the 3rd, however. There's a load authorization on it already, from the 20th, but things could have changed... I guess we'll find out at midnight on the 3rd.

---

Tony bought me flowers today~ Also, two McMuffins, which was pretty awesome and probably the reason I wanted to crawl under a counter and fall asleep at work all day today.

Also, I have a Statigram, if folks want to look at my dumb attempts at ~~photography~~ and stupid pictures of my cats.

Recently, I discovered Dry The River (I recommend Weights and Measures and Bible Belt) and Walk The Moon (reccomendations are Anna Sun and Next In Line). The former via Spotify and the latter from Flashfest a few weeks ago. I also saw Third Eye Blind at Flashfest and, while I was hoping for a few more of their older songs, they did play Jumper and that was pretty awesome. Flashfest is always fun when they do the free outdoor concert deal.



We saw Rasputina and Daniel Knox (who is also an awesome musician) back around my birthday. It wasn't as enthralling of a concert as my first one lat year, but Rasputina never fails to play a good show. The reason the night was a bit of a disappointment were some of the people there. Specifically, this girl who kept stomping ridiculously loud on the wood floors of the ballroom. It was so distracting because she was standing RIGHT NEXT to us and flailing around wildly. I had to keep an side eye on her just because she was so goddamn obnoxious.

Rasputina also didn't play as many of my favorites as they did the first time, but I can't expect all the songs I love every time I see a band I like. But they did Holocaust of Giants, Hunter's Kiss, a cover of I Want You To Want Me, and In Old Yellowcake.

---

I've gotta get down sketches for some commissions. I haven't been drawing or writing much in the last month. April was just brutal all around, unfortunately.

Now, however, I should take the garbage out and get some sleep before work.

Everyday I am, basically, living in fear and anxiety.

I am stealing electricity from the other side of the house. I have to sleep all day, then wait and make sure no one is working on the house over there. Then sneak over through the basement to plug in a ridiculous extension cord so that we can have heat and light in one room upstairs and have a fridge that runs for half of the day.

I stole hot water from the other side of the house, as well. I carried it, bucket by bucket, upstairs to the tub so Tony and I could bathe in the comfort of our own home. Sink baths are only good for so long, and we both needed to wash our hair.

We have to pay the electric company $640 from Tony's account before they'll even set up service in my name. Setting up service in my name only requires a $100 security deposit. But, because Tony is still on the lease and we can't exactly ask our landlord to lie about something like that, we're going to be forced to pay the amount in full before the power company will even think about setting up service in another name. They even went so far as to require the landlord to contact them so they knew who was living here.

We do not have that amount of money. We have barely any money, actually. In fact, we're waiting on the $100 security deposit to be REFUNDED to us because the electric company took it AND THEN informed us they couldn't set up service in my name. They didn't even bother to let us know it would or wouldn't be refunded, I had to call back when I went to buy a little bit of food and had my card declined.

Phil was over today, working on the other side of the house, and I heard him talking to Scott (our landlord) about the power meters. Telling him one had a red tag. This is probably nothing, up until a few days ago, our upstairs power pulled from the other side of the house anyhow, die to weird wiring. An electrician came out the other day to re-wire things properly and that's what's caused us to be in the situation we are now. More than likely, something got mis-wired again due to this being such an old place and the wires being strange anyhow. I highly doubt it'd be apparent we're pulling anything more than what we were before now.

Still, the entire time he was here, we had to creep around the house because I don't know what to tell him about our power being turned off. I'm too ashamed to say that we don't have enough money to get it turned back on because that's such a fucking shitty thing.

Oh, sure, I can probably get it all sorted whenever I get my financial aid refund. But I don't know for sure what day that's going to be. I can get an advance on the 30th, but that's only $500. Half has to go to the rest of this month's rent, and I told the landlord I'd pay half of next month's. Either way, even if I do have that spare $250, I can't get the electricity turned back on with just that.

The electric company won't accept help from any outside agencies for this, either. Despite both Salvation Army and HEAP saying they would be able to help with $250 each. Do you know how much of a weight that would take off of us? We'd only have to shell out around $240 (rest of the old account, $100 for the security deposit). But the electric company refuses to take any outside money.

It's such enraging bullshit, dealing with this. I have no one I can ask for this sum of money and, honestly, I wouldn't want to ask one person for that much anyhow. I can offer commissions until I go blue in the face, but people just aren't interested. There's no temporary labor places I can go to, like Labor Ready, and I couldn't even get to a job if I did get sent out to one, because we have no insurance on the car right now.

And that's my life right now.

I'm trying really hard to keep my head up about things right now, but it's really difficult. I have two weeks of art homework to do still, I've pretty much bailed on my music class. My art final is next week (well, now through the end of finals week, it's not a difficult exam, same as the midterm, really). I work tomorrow for four hours and then nine hours a day all next week.

I get to wake up in the cold, wash up with cold water, pack my bookbag and leave early so I can stop in the nice bathroom on campus and make my hair look presentable. I get to not be able to eat anything unless someone at work has baked cookies or something.

This is my life right now:

No electricity.
Cannot get electricity in my name.
Have to pay $700 bill in full before electricity can be turned back on.
Do not have $700 in full.
Landlord finally rewired the upstairs fuse that gave us upstairs power.
Essentially, no power at all in the house now.
Electric company won't take any payment from any utility assistance organizations.
Food in fridge going bad as we speak.
Stealing power from the other side of the basement at night just so we'll have some heat in the bedroom.
Want to cry.
Don't know what the fuck to do.
No financial aid money until the 30th.
Have to finish paying rent with that.
Have to pay part of next months rent with that.
Won't have rest of financial aid money until mid-May.
See above about wanting to cry.

In essence, I am a failure as a human being.

Things have been generally frustrating over the last week.

Like.

Really generally frustrating. Exorbitantly generally frustrating.

Last week, we got a certified letter from the insurance agency Tony and his mom go through. It was a letter from his mother, saying that she's taking him off the insurance as of the 18th because of 'lack of contact'. Or something like that. Not returning calls, something stupid and untrue.

We haven't heard from his mom in over a month. We think what happened was, when I called to thank her for the money she sent us awhile back, I was in the basement on campus when we didn't have internet - the place that gets crap reception. I, in all likelihood, I got to the voicemail, and it crapped out mid-message. She likely assumes we're unappreciative assholes, which we are not.

So she's cancelling Tony's insurance. Which means we'll be without until summer money comes in May. This isn't the end of the world, but it means we have to go in to Warren before the 18th and get his title and shit, since Al kept the original title and, naturally, lost it. This is, of course, going to be done with the whole zero money we have currently. Which is awesome. My mom's sending me birthday money, which is basically going into the gas tank so we can go to the Rasputina concert on Wednesday (which tickets were bought months ago for) and a trip into Warren. Hurrah.

I actually don't mind my birthday money going into the gas tank, I just mind having to go in and deal with Warren.

So there's that, right? Pretty big inconvenience, but we can talk this out, right?

Wrong.

I called Tony's mom the day we got the letter, asking to talk and explain what it was about. We get a call back the next day, they hang up when Tony answers. I call back, Al answers the phone. Says Tony's mom isn't around, asks to take a message. I say it's nothing in particular, just to call us when she gets the chance. He asks if it's about the insurance, I promptly tell him I would prefer to talk to Karen about that. He hangs up on me.

THESE ARE SIXTY+ YEAR OLD ADULTS.

Karen, of course, never calls back. This morning, I call her to ask her to call me back, again. She calls back, Tony answers. She hangs up. Calls back again, leaves a message (I was on the phone dealing with something else, which I'll get to in a moment). THREE MESSAGES saying to call Violet (the insurance agent) and she'll explain everything to us.

NO. THAT'S NOT WHY I'M CALLING. I KNOW HOW INSURANCE WORKS. I'M CALLING TO SEE WHAT CRAWLED UP YOUR ASS TO CAUSE YOU TO TAKE THIS COURSE OF ACTION.

But these people can't work outside of this childish mindset, apparently.

THEN.

The cell phones.

We discovered we could upgrade our phones in March, instead of August, like we originally thought. Awesome, we think, why don't we see what phones are free. You know, because we're broke and don't want to add anything to the bill. So we check out what's free and settle on Droid Incredible 2's. Nothing added to the bill, nothing changed on the bill. We place the order - as I have access to the online account, so we could see how much data usage and everything that we use. You know, so we don't get charged anything extra.

The day after I place the order, I send Karen a text - which I know she can receive - telling her not to freak out if anything with the phones is changed, nothing's been charged to the account, we just upgraded our devices for new ones, since the old ones have been butts lately. In short, don't worry about the phones, but that's what's going on, so you know.

Phones get shipped out, supposedly two day shipping. Weekened and holiday turn it into four. Whatever.

The bill gets paid on the 6th and, apparently, SO DOES THE RECEIPENT ADDRESS. The original order had them coming to us, in Kent, obviously. We were like hawks over the FedEx tracking page to see when it would be out for delivery, since we had an appointment this morning and didn't want to miss it, as it needed a signature. The FedEx page updates at 7:35AM with a failed delivery message, which cannot be possible, as they don't start delivering until 8AM - AT THE EARLIEST.

So we wait a tic, after calling FedEx to get clarification (where we're told someone changed the address it's going to), to see if it updates with out for delivery. It never updates.

Cue at least two hours of phone tag with Verizon and FedEx, trying to make sure the box is either going to be held there, if I'm able to pick it up, if I'm able to change the address, etc., etc. It was ridiculous.

Eventually, I was able to set myself as an account manager on the Verizon account, so I could get the address changed. Something which was, between this afternoon and now, undone by certain parties in Warren. Whatever, I got what I wanted, so I don't need that level on the account anymore.

But I know they're sitting there in Warren having a conniption because they probably think we're doing stupid shit with the account, despite telling them otherwise and them not even being adult enough to give us a call.

Eventually, we were able to drive out to the FedEx location and pick up the package just fine. But good lord.

On top of all this, we discovered the Salvation Army can't help us because of the wrong bank account issue on the electric. Since it counts as a bounced check. I don't know what the fuck to do about that. I think HEAP should be able to help, but that's still $275 we have to find for electric, plus $525 for rent. I start work in about two weeks (around the 22nd), but I won't have a paycheck until May. It's so frustrating.

---

I'm just really pissed my birthday has been overshadowed by all this bullshit. Not that I need/want it to be some spectacular thing, but it's frustrating and enraging when I'm so stressed out over things that I can't enjoy one day. My mom's been really sensitive/weird on Facebook lately, too. Just taking things out of context and telling me she thinks I'm 'mean' 'on purpose' because I don't thank her for every little thing she does for me. UGH. Just frustrating.

BUT GOOD THINGS, YEAH?

Game night was awesome. Angie invited her friend Ryan (so now there's two Ryan's at game night), which was a good move. There's six of us now, which makes the games we play pretty interesting. Bang! still takes forever, for some reason, though...

Our phones are really nice! It's going to take a long time to get used to the virtual keyboard over the old physical keyboard on the Pixi, though. I have fatty fat fingers, so they don't take well to it. I want to root it, but I don't know if I'm going to yet. I modded the Pixi's and they were just fine (bricking's hard to accomplish unless you're fundamentally retarded). There's just SO MANY useless apps and stuff on the phone that I was gone. So I'll mull it over, but I'll likely end up doing it anyhow.

I've been drawing! I know, big occassion.




Sahariel; Terrance, Emily, Sahariel; Sitara; Sahariel; Poe

It feels good to be drawing again, even if they're just little art cards and headshots. It's a start, right? Also trying to accomplish faces. It's hard. Like, math hard. But I'm trying.

That sketch one, I'm working on coloring, but Terrance and Emily don't even have their designs down, so that's a fun little adventure in and of itself.

I've been posting stuff like this regularly on my artblog, too: http://obliviousally.tumblr.com/

---

I've got an Instagram now! (of course I do) My username is, of course, 'obliviousally'. I take lots of pictures of my cats. Naturally. But it's just SO. NICE. to have a phone with a good camera again. the Pixi's camera sucked so hard, but the Droid cameras are really nice. It's easier to whip my phone out and take a picture of something, than make sure i have camera batteries, make sure they're charged, make sure I have the camera with me, dig it out of my bag, take photo, wait to come home and transfer it to the computer and upload it wherever. I love my camera, but it can be a hassle.



Sam, Finnick, Snickers, Dean, Finnick, and my wall.

I also installed Words With Friends and Draw Something, but I haven't done anything with them yet, since they're both Zynga and connected to Facebook. I don't want that cluttering up my feed, so I'll probably do those a little later so I can set proper permissions.

So! Anyone with a Droid phone have any app suggestions? Should I absolutely root my phone? Anything I should know of/avoid doing? :O

Also! If anyone wants to throw me their number, feel free to message me (here, Facebook, wherever). I don't tend to import my old contacts to new phones, it's one of the few things I 'start fresh' on so I don't have a lot of clutter and all.

We upgraded our phones today. We thought we'd have to wait until August to do so, but our contract was up in March. So we ended up going with the Droid Incredible 2 for the both of us, since they were free online and had no shipping charges. Since, you know, we're broke and all.

I love my Pixi, but it'll be nice to have a phone that's still supported and updated, y'know?

---

Tomorrow, I get to play the 'call everywhere and beg for financial assistance' game because no one's interested in commissions and I don't start back at the bookstore until the end of the month. I have to, somehow, pay the rent ($525) for this month AND scrounge up probably $250 for the electricity, or it'll be cut off. GOOD MONEY MANAGEMENT ALL AROUND. Admittedly, I thought we'd paid up on the rent, or I thought we'd have our financial aid money by now, but summer aid doesn't come in until almost the end of the month.

It's even more frustrating because I've been putting lots of application in, on campus and off. I had an interview on campus, even, but it required a driver's license and I wish that would've been clarified when I submitted my resume so I didn't waste my time with it.

It's not as if I've been sitting around herp-derping the entire time. I've put applications in online only to get denial e-mails for a variety of reasons. It's so frustrating. I just was a steady job I can put up with that pays my bills. That's all I need.

It's even more frustrating when I offer cheap commissions and no one bats an eye. I mean, that probably has something to do with my lack of drawing lately, but I have a couple hundred watchers on both FA and DA, you'd think I'd get SOME interest.

So.

The Hunger Games was flawless.

Yes, a lot had to be packed into a two hour movie and yes that does take away from the introspection you receive in the book from Katniss, since it's told from her perspective, but it was still flawless.

( Read more... )

I've been feeling, I don't know, emotionally and mentally strung out, frustrated, drained lately.

I'm insanely, quietly stressed because rent is coming up soon and we have dwindling funds. I've been putting in applications all over the place, but nowhere is really, actually hiring. Oh, sure, everywhere will take an application, but nowhere has any positions to fill. Leads that seem promising just dry up and I won't hear from the bookstore until at least the end of next month.

My mother has been emotional and stressed, which has been making me such because I just don't know how to deal with her and what she's going through. I know this time of year is difficult for her. I know that. Birthdays of deceased loved ones, anniversary of deaths. But I don't process death the same way she does and I don't grieve the same way she does. There's only so long I can respond to her crying on the phone with 'uh-huh', 'yeah', 'that sucks'. It makes me feel awful, but at the same time, I just don't have the same brain processes when it comes to that.

I've been running away from things that I should be bringing to light because, honestly, I fear how they would turn out if I voiced my opinion. I fear the aftermath, the repercussions. I fear the whole scene I've built up in my head. I don't want the tension and I don't want the arguments. So I temporarily take myself out of the environment that I dislike, because that seems like the healthiest thing to do. It seems like the sanest thing to do. But I'm not actually escaping what I dislike and I'm not actually solving the thing that's upsetting me.

Which makes me more upset. Which makes me stress over how I can fix it without having to say it. It leads to me taking baths just to cry. To keeping myself busy however possible just to not think about it.

Overall, I'm not all that sad or upset, honestly. There's just one thing that's been digging at me for at least the last six months, if not closer to a year and I can't get a proper grasp on it to deal with it in a delicate manner.

---

That being sad, otherwise things have been really good.

I have still been job hunting, but I think I'm going to have to break down and do some commissions. At least try to maybe get half the rent, which is about $250. I've put in a lot of applications around town, trying to be mindful of the bus routes and how far I can bike and all that.

Speaking of biking, I've been doing about 10-15 miles a day when I go out to bike around. It's been refreshing. I don't know if it's doing much to help me lose weight, but my calves are fucking awesome, so I'm getting something out of it. I have to fix the brakes on Tony's bike and make him go out with me, too. I've been going out to Towner's Woods a lot, too, since it's only a few miles on the bike trail.

I need to buy a basket or saddle bags for the back rack of my bike at some point. I have a basket for the front and it's insanely useful, but I'd like something for the back when I go up to Save-A-Lot or Acme. Or even just to bike around and go to the library or something.

But it's been really nice to bike so much.

I was a hardcore cleaning machine yesterday. Getting visitors (or even potential visitors) makes me freak out and need the house clean for some reason. And the house had gotten pretty bad over the last few months. I would float from room to room and maybe clean two of them before sputtering out and saying 'fuckit'. Yesterday was not the case. I cleaned the living room, organized a bunch of stuff, moved old critter cages to the basement, Christmas and Halloween stuff to the basement. I scrubbed down doors and the bathtub and cleaned out the linen shelves (not that they actually hold any linen). WASHED DISHES and scrubbed the carpet in the kitchen. It was amazing and having the house clean feels amazing and does wonders for my mood. The cats love it too, since I moved the couch, they can tearass through the living room at their leisure now.

Angie came over today and we dug up some of the plot for my garden with Tony 'supervising'. Then we BBQ'd and bullshat for awhile. I miss the three of us hanging out and shenanigans~ But she's been coming to game night, which is pretty cool because we're all nerds who love board/card games. Tony and I picked up Lunch Money from Off The Wagon downtown, too. Week before last, we hung out in MSB on campus until, like, 4AM or something. It was pretty awesome.

---

So that project I had to do for Art as World Phenomenon?



I also managed to bullshit seven freaking pages about it and my artistic process. I don't have fuckall of an idea what I'll get on it, but whatever. It's done.



Also, a little Sahariel for good measure.

---

My Supernatural forum has been doing really good! Which is pretty awesome. Active players, folks applying for canons, all kinds of fun stuff.

I also joined CharaHub (user 1117), which I love and adore and can't wait for more features and stuff to be implemented. It's in beta right now and, if you want to join, the secret code/phrase is 'peacock'.

If anyone has Spotify, I do, as well. My username/account is 129989781, but my stuff is also find-able through my Facebook. I fucking love getting new music from folks and sharing music~

Speaking of music, Rasputina next month!!

So I've been seeing this...drama going around tumblr a lot lately and it's...really spectacular.

There are people who claim to be trans-abled (identify as disabled), trans-ethnic (identify as a race other than the one they were born), etcera.

This is really, seriously a thing.

And people defend it.

( Read more... )

I mean, this is an impressive level of stupid. Even for tumblr social justice asshat retards.

I don't update as much as I used to, which is kind of sad. It's not that I'm not doing stuff, I am, but I'm just a lazy ass, I guess. I suppose I don't feel like my roleplaying or fangirling is worth posting here, when I can dump that in the appropriate places (forums and tumblr, respectively).

Because of that, this is going to be really long. I'm not cutting it. Prepare yourselves.

School's been...going. My classes are so dreadfully boring this semester. I'd rather take web design classes forever, because at least I enjoy that and it's teaching me new things. I'm taking Art and Music as a World Phenomenon (two separate classes, same title, essentially). The art class is just boring. Easy, but boring. We have a project due in about three weeks where we have to make some kind of art thing, take progress shots of it, and write a FIVE TO EIGHT PAGE PAPER ON OUR PROCESS. I don't know how to get five to eight pages out of 'I sketched this, I inked it digitally, I colored it digitally, then I spent two hours finding the right textures to overlay'. I mean. That's my process. Maybe I'll get creative and write my paper like a story or something. Maybe that'll get my extra points.

My music class is just...forgettable. I rented the textbook in the form of an ebook from Chegg, but it turns out I don't even get the streaming option for the music CDs that I needed with it. So I can't even do the listening journals we're supposed to do and, essentially, I'm bullshitting my way through each discussion. We also have an essay due in that class, too. But I don't think it's due until the end of the semester.

Overall, I'm just un-enthused with school this semester. Which is sad because I really do love taking classes, but when they're boring, no one wins.

I'm done at the bookstore until the end of the semester. I keep thinking they want to keep me on. One of the ladies really likes me and they called me in at the beginning of the month to help with inventory, which was a surprise. Easy as hell, too. I've hear rumor swirling that a few people are planning on leaving at the end of the semester (graduating, moving on with careers, that kind of thing). So I'm hoping that's the case and they'll want to hire me in. Because, honestly, I really do love the job and I like everyone that works there.

I also don't think I mentioned, but I got secret shopped while I was working one morning after buybacks and I got 80/70 points. The only thing that was negative was that I didn't have my name badge on at the time. The secret shopper really gushed about how helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable I was about the textbooks and the rental process. I ended up getting pulled aside and congratulated by the store manager, the assistant manager, and the textbooks manager. So that really reflects well on me, which is awesome.

I'm job hunting now, though. Or trying to. It's tough. Since Kent is such a small town, jobs are gobbled up pretty quickly. It's near impossible to get out to Chapel Hill, as well. It involved taking the one lone Metro bus that comes into Stow out to the transit center in Akron, then paying for a bus to the mall. And that doesn't even guarantee my getting home, since the PARTA buses stop running around 11PM and I'm unsure when the last Metro Stow Express comes into Stow anyhow. So it's frustrating.

As an aside, I just discovered that if you hit CTRL and the <-- arrow, you can jump to the beginning of the word your cursor is closest to. Huh.

But other than that, I've been spending a lot of time trying to get active again, since the weather's been nice and all. We've had such a mild winter, it's a little scary. But I've been feeling awfully fat and I'm still carrying weight from when I was really depressed and stressed back in November. I ate. A lot. I got to the point, just the other day, where I was so sick of seeing my extra gut that I actually bought an item of shapewear. While I feel kind of ashamed about it, it does make me feel better and it does suck my stomach in. So I guess the trade off is worth it.

It's like, I don't mind being a little pudgy. But there's a line between being a little pudgy and catching a glimpse of your shadow and it looking like you're pregnant. I do not want anyone thinking the latter about me, nor do I want to see that image.

I suppose, if 80% of my diet didn't consist of sweets and junk food, I wouldn't be in this situation. When the weather's nice, I can balance it out, since I walk and bike everywhere in the warmer months. But once winter hits, I just want comfort food and to hibernate until the cold and snow is gone. But when the weather's warmer, I'm more apt to eat lighter stuff, like fruit and veggies and the like.

Anyhow.

We acquired a bunch of furniture from next door the other day.

So remember how our internet disappeared for about a month or so? Well, we'd been leeching off the neighbor's wifi connection because they'd never locked it. It was alright, we were able to do normal internet stuff and we didn't have to pay for it. Well, it disappeared one day and we thought they'd moved things around or something and hadn't re-connected it. Turns out, they moved out. Hallelujah! They were obnoxious anyhow and had a dog that just wasn't socialized and would run out into the driveway because they refused to shorten his leash.

They left a bunch of furniture. Phil (the landlord's assistant) was over cleaning the place out and asked if I wanted a peek inside. Absolutely, I said, because I wanted to see if the other side was nicer than ours, since it was bigger. It's not. They left it pretty ragged, holes in the walls, writing all over the place, it needs a lot of work. While looking around, I saw there was a lot of furniture left, including a dresser and nice wardrobe, which is something we'd been wanting to acquire, but didn't want to spend money on. So I asked what was going on with them, and Phil said he'd get back to me.

A few days later, Phil asks what we want from over there. We acquired: a small four-drawer dresser, a small wardrobe (though I think it's actually a cabinet television stand) with two drawers, a black three-piece set that includes a computer desk, a television stand, and a small nightstand. PLUS, a nice little desk with lots of drawers.

Beforehand, Phil had mentioned that the huge entertainment center in the living room was probably going to stay with the apartment. It's, like, six feet tall. It's immense. The day I was moving furniture, he said Scott (the landlord) wasn't sure what he was doing with it. So I told him if Scott doesn't want it, I'll break it down and take it off their hands.

Day after, I spend the morning breaking down this beast, moving it over to our side of the house, then cleaning the living room and rebuilding it. The floor in the living room is tilted, however, so the stand sits slightly askew, but it's well-secured, at least. It makes the living room look livable!

Considering we were going to spend $25 on a nice coffee table at Goodwill the same day, I think we made out much better in the end.

Speaking of the apartment over there, we're crossing our fingers that they won't be done fixing it up for a few months (which is what's tentatively expected - they're thinking about gutting and remodeling the kitchen) so that Squeeji and Elliot can move in. Which would be crazy awesome and a huge step up from, you know, South Dakota. Especially since they're planning on coming down after the school year is over to look for places, it would certainly be better if the place was just right next door. So we're all crossing our fingers that they're going to remodel the kitchen, at the very least.

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I've been drawing again, which has been nice. It hasn't been much, but it's a start. My sleeping schedule's been all fucked up, so I'm usually up really early in the morning and I've been going down to the new coffee shop downtown (Tree City, if anyone's wondering) with just a sketchbook and my phone for music and just drawing as much as I can. It's been a good thing, I think.


Sahariel, my shiba inu angel guy; Magdalena, a pharaoh hound; Fern, for part of an art trade with starinthegutter/loadedpistol@FA

I've been trying to just...not care about specific shit in my art. Not get so hung up on all the nitpicky stuff and try to get back to drawing just for the sake of drawing. At least getting the idea and the sketch down. I can refine things later, after all. It's been hard.

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Um. What else has been going on?

I've been roleplaying a lot. On both my own boards and other places. I moved The Roadhouse from InvisionFree to Jcink and I'm so much happier with it. The latter just has so many more options for a roleplay forum.

I wish I could get some more interest in Manticore Rising. I moved it over to Jcink and activity just kind of...died. I've been advertising, but another Dark Angel board popped up recently, so I'm waiting to see how that one's received to see if it's just the obscure fandom or what. It's frustrating, that's for sure.

Furrality's been quiet, but I didn't expect it to get a lot of activity, though that would be nice. I'm a lot more lax with applications and stuff there, in comparison to my other two boards. Plus, it's a nice place to play furries/anthros without being barraged with sex and smut, unlike Tapestries or, well, anywhere else furry roleplay exists.

I also put together a board for Squeeji and Co.: Gargoyles Among Us, which is based on Disney's Gargoyles. There's been some interest, but not a lot of activity yet.

I've been trying to slowly...slowly categorize and do write-ups on my characters over on my personal board. It's...slow going, really, but it's something I do enjoy doing anyhow.

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So...that's about what's been going on lately. Herp derp.

I shall leave you with a blurry picture of me looking unamused in my new Bodyline skirt:



I'm sooooooooo happy I got this skirt, though. I'm doubly happy that the corset isn't attached (which I could have discovered if I'd read the page better), so I can wear the two separately, or the skirt just by itself. It's also a lot pinker than the picture (both here and on the actual website) makes it out to be, but not overwhelmingly pink. The stripes are pink, maroon, red, etc. I have to relocate the buttons for the corset to be comfortable, though.

Essentially, this is what I plan on wearing to see Rasputina for my birthday in two months~

It's incredibly frustrating when the person you've been with for well over a decade still can't tell you straight that they'd like some alone time. Doubly so when it's not as if you've been making a ruckus in the bedroom or doing anything obnoxious, just enjoying the peace and quiet together.

But when you get sniped at and have catty commentary towards you because you haven't read their mind to leave them alone is when I start to get pissed off. Especially when there was conversation just shortly before.

I don't appreciate getting an attitude thrown at me, when I did nothing to deserve it. It's bullshit.

I'm not 'punishing' your introverted nature by not reading your mind and leaving you alone. I'm not 'scolding' your introverted nature by sitting at my laptop on the bed and being quiet. I'm perfectly happy to re-locate myself, as long as I don't get snappy comments in my direction akin to 'aren't you going to finish cleaning your room' or 'did you want something? why are you in here?'. Then, yeah, I'm going to snap back defensively because it's MY room, as well, and I have as much of a right to be in there as you do.

More flies with honey than vinegar, they say.