Of All the Things I've Lost...
...I miss my mind the most?
Ozzy Osbourne!
...So, in other news, new profile pic. XD Introduced a girlfriend to Hollow-Art last night, and was pleased to find they had done some spreads for Hackers characters, including a rather nice one for Cereal Killer. Hackers is one of my favourite films, and as someone at least casually into that kind of thing (or at least passing knowledge of programming, l33t culture, and an occassionally channer) it holds a particular home in my heart. Plus, the characters are just fun. Yes, they're a little flat, but they hold much promise. Cereal Killer is the delightfully mad White Rabbit of the crew, and I enjoy watching him on screen very much.
...Yeah, I'll have to watch that today :P
So, life update. The Etsy is... cruising along at a nice pace. As usual, people make custom orders and then take two weeks to get back to me, and another two weeks to pay... It's rather frustrating, because I'd like that money, thank you very much. I've got way the hell too much yarn on hand, and intend to start just making scarves out of it, so I can kill the stash. My Doctor Who scarf in the works is about half-way done, and I've been kicking around ideas for a series of My Little Pony scarves. Sales are low, but I'm not terribly worried about it. It's all pocket money, really, and a lucrative hobby.
I've recently moved out of the house, and into an apartment. The new roommates are an easy-going sort - Sara sits at her computer and plays Star Wars all day when she's not at work, and Janine works at Wendy's on Hampton (where hopefully she'll get me an in on a decent wage slave job) and is a sharp witted little person with a wicked sense of humour and quite a collection of webcomics. I have to be careful, or she'll steal my attention for hours on end reading deviantArt comix XD . Steve is a military man that's in and out of the place, but also a published novelist, so I've been enlisted to badger him about writing on a daily basis (something Holleigh, a Facebook friend and writer, has also hired me to do). He seems to be the most outgoing of the crew, and is a sweet guy. There's a sparseness to the living room that rather amuses me - for a large room, there are couches on one end, and on the other an entertainment setup that's rather small, considering you're looking over the expanse of carpets to watch. There's a cat, too, named Ashes, who carries this place as his domain, although one must keep doors closed lest the feline gets himself into trouble.
My door is, conveniently, just across the hall from the bathroom (considering my recent acquisition of kidney problems, that's a nice thing) and the door to the apartment is facing the stairs, so moving in was fairly easy - trickiest part is taking the turn into the door. I've managed to get my four poster, king-sized bed back, although unfortunately the mattress was tossed out '6-8 months ago' when in the process of moving things, it was opened on accident and discovered to have been growing its own swamp. Silly thing. So I'm still using the queen from Troy's place - it leaves an odd foot or so of boxspring that at present I'm using as a bedside table, since it's the only furniture I have in here, as of yet. There is a black bookshelf, and a small bedside one that I need to bring over before I can unpack books, and also that damned collapsible desk that I've had for god-knows-how-long and still haven't managed to kill yet. Once those things have found a corner or summat to squeeze in to, I can commence with spreading my crap all over the room. To be honest, the bed takes up most of the space, but since I spend a lot of time lounging in bed with my laptop, I don't see this as a problem, heh... And my closet space is spectacular! I have rails for hanging clothes, and the thing has two sets of doors, despite it being one long closet. It's a delightful illusion of space, and I'm looking forward to hiding my crafts in there. There's a big, beautiful window, even if it only looks out on the street. The walls are white, but I shall cover them readily enough.
The thing that bugs me is... there's no FOOD here. I mean, there's a small stash of raviolis and stuff, baking stuff, and oatmeal. Yes, can of oats, oatmeal. I'm going to need to get a collection of things to flavour my oatmeal with, because that's a common foodstuff here. Also, ramen, but not much to put in it. I get the feeling they buy veggies and meat as they eat them, because it disappears quickly. I don't know how well a stash of frozen things for ramen and chilis will work out if that's the case... a lot of time the meals are out of boxes. Granted, Janine made something really scrumptious yesterday - it was a biscuits and grave with chicken box meal, that she tossed some corn in. It was really hearty, a hot, stick-to-your-bones kind of meal, but I feel a little frustrated with how little there is to actually really cook with. I hope I get that job, or at least sort out the PayPal debacle with Etsy, because I need to buy some good foodstuffs before I go nuts. There's no snackfood to speak of, and I seriously went foraging in my boxes for a granola bar so I didn't feel like I was starving. I have another one, and a box of wheat thins, but... I really need to go to the dollar store Monday (or tomorrow, really) and get some snax and things. I also want to get a toilet scrubber, because the bathroom is irking me, and I want to clean it to be useful, but they have some... magic wand Clorox thing that I don't now how to work. Call me old fashioned, but I do things with Scrubbing Bubbles, a scrubber, and a wipe cloth. And it smells like an apothecary in there - it was nice at first, but it's a little overpowering. Hopefully I'll get used to it. Or my nose will stop noticing it. T^T Which is kind of the same thing. There's also an odd dishes rule, but I intend to maximise my usefulness there, as well.
Tabi is actually just next door. I was... a little wary of this, because we don't really mesh terribly well, but I think after a small fiasco involving lack-of-communication and stress in which I actually had a small break down (which surprised me, honestly) she seems to have turned into more of a helpful godmother than an annoyed friend, which is pretty awesome (and what I need, right now) - she's dogsitting Gabriel until we can get his affairs in order, and she's got him signed up on her vet system, getting him shots, and eventually fixed, since we need him fixed before I can move him in, or Ashes might slaughter him. I've started a courtship between them, so hopefully by the time he's ready to move in (in two months) they will be tolerant of each other. Janine and Sara both cooed quite a bit over the fluffer, and it turns out Sara's more of a dog person (Ashes is Janine's cat), and seems to be ready for another canine in the house, heh. I've been going over to hang out with Gabriel (and, resultingly, everyone else) and was even enlisted to dog-sit yesterday when they had to take Vikki to an appointment, so things are going smoothly for now. For as much as we don't get along, she's proving herself a valuable friend, and I'm trying my best not to screw things up with her - I honestly need her, and truthfully, I do enjoy hanging out there, with the crafting and jokes - I just have to manage not to step on her tail. Not doing too bad, quite yet, but... we'll see how long that lasts. XD With my fat mouth, I'll screw it up eventually, heheh...
There is a convenience store in walking distance, but Brown, the proprietor, is a pretty clever, dirty businessman. $4 boxes of Pop-Tarts! Faygo that's more expensive than Pepsi and Coke! It's rather ridiculous. I think it's worth walking all the way down to 7-11 to save a little money -- and that's a good amount of walking. I'm really going to have to look into getting a bike, or seeing if my parents still have mine. (Actually, let me do that...) Plus, there's the grocery store and dollar store at the other end of First View, which is even CHEAPER. Trick is, my money's a bit tied up right now with PayPal being a twerp, and I need to get that fixed asap - and that'll take a while. So I might have to dip into the Home Fund to do the things I need to do T^T And I hate doing that...
Oh, the Home Fund. Well, this whole 'hey, I'm moving... and you might not be able to come with me. Just a heads up' thing, and Rich's 'Hey, Rich, I just got a really SWEET live-in nurse gig. I'll be moving out, you need a new place. Just a heads up' thing, I got really frakking fed up with the fact that neither of us have a stable home in which to live. Plus, there's the fact that he's just lousy with his finances (reminds me - grabs receipts) but is the only one with a solid(-ish?) income. The plan is to set aside money every paycheck and save up for a home. A mobile home, actually, which can be bought outright for $15k, or more or less, depending on if we get a sale and what we want, but still is ridiculously inexpensive. The trick is the lot fee, which can vary from $350-800 a month. If we can buy the home outright, we could just pay rent on the lot, which would be manageable plenty on his present budget. And they say you should try to live off of one paycheck alone - so anything I would make with Etsy or my own job is just bonus, and that's the best way to do things. If he sets aside $100 a paycheck, for five years (assuming his biweekly paychecks) that is $15k. If he sets aside $50, that's still $7.5k. And I've seen smaller homes at $8k. I even found a neighborhood in Norfolk I like, too! But we'll see about that. The thing is, I'll be contributing, as well. So we should - SHOULD - have plenty by the end of the five years. >.> Thing is, I've started trying to collect receipts from him, but it's a hard habit to instill. I have started the miserable nagging/guilt trip thing, and much as I hate doing it... you know how nagging works. You ask him to do something, he doesn't, you nag. Eventually, the nagging will be such a stress, he'll do it to AVOID the nagging - which is what he's supposed to be doing in the first place. It's a miserable training exercise for everyone involved, but the important thing is the thing gets done.
Mind... someone recently installed the Circus Dream in his head again. Since both of us are kind of not that well established where we are, it would be a very good time to do Circus. ALTHOUGH, I told him if he does run off with the circus he HAS to take me with him, so... Meh. Maybe that will happen. XD But they won't be here until April, so we have to make do until then. (If nothing else, I can take my Etsy with me and do it on the road! Plus whatever we make doing circus. Which isn't much, but when your room and board is covered so cheaply, it works.)
So... maybe circus? I dunno. That would be pretty frakkin' awesome if it worked. As a crafter and writer, I can really do my work almost anywhere, so I'd have nothing against it. It's on my bucket list between 'college' and 'kids', and since I have no money for college at present, but am working on a five year plan to getting a home (and married), the kids would follow, so the timing is right. I think that'd be pretty cool, but I'm trying to make it more of an idea, than a game plan? Just in case it falls through. Y'know? XD It's just my luck to get my hopes up... Plus we'd have to both go, so that's a whole room we're hoping they have for us to share. (That would be amazing for the finances, as I could keep better track of his money by hounding him about it until he gets in the habit, and we'd see how well we REALLY do living together in tight, confined spaces, heh...)
As it is... we shall see. I'm going to get a movie going and work on my Doctor Who scarf. XD I could reaaally use the money.
Ozzy Osbourne!
...So, in other news, new profile pic. XD Introduced a girlfriend to Hollow-Art last night, and was pleased to find they had done some spreads for Hackers characters, including a rather nice one for Cereal Killer. Hackers is one of my favourite films, and as someone at least casually into that kind of thing (or at least passing knowledge of programming, l33t culture, and an occassionally channer) it holds a particular home in my heart. Plus, the characters are just fun. Yes, they're a little flat, but they hold much promise. Cereal Killer is the delightfully mad White Rabbit of the crew, and I enjoy watching him on screen very much.
...Yeah, I'll have to watch that today :P
So, life update. The Etsy is... cruising along at a nice pace. As usual, people make custom orders and then take two weeks to get back to me, and another two weeks to pay... It's rather frustrating, because I'd like that money, thank you very much. I've got way the hell too much yarn on hand, and intend to start just making scarves out of it, so I can kill the stash. My Doctor Who scarf in the works is about half-way done, and I've been kicking around ideas for a series of My Little Pony scarves. Sales are low, but I'm not terribly worried about it. It's all pocket money, really, and a lucrative hobby.
I've recently moved out of the house, and into an apartment. The new roommates are an easy-going sort - Sara sits at her computer and plays Star Wars all day when she's not at work, and Janine works at Wendy's on Hampton (where hopefully she'll get me an in on a decent wage slave job) and is a sharp witted little person with a wicked sense of humour and quite a collection of webcomics. I have to be careful, or she'll steal my attention for hours on end reading deviantArt comix XD . Steve is a military man that's in and out of the place, but also a published novelist, so I've been enlisted to badger him about writing on a daily basis (something Holleigh, a Facebook friend and writer, has also hired me to do). He seems to be the most outgoing of the crew, and is a sweet guy. There's a sparseness to the living room that rather amuses me - for a large room, there are couches on one end, and on the other an entertainment setup that's rather small, considering you're looking over the expanse of carpets to watch. There's a cat, too, named Ashes, who carries this place as his domain, although one must keep doors closed lest the feline gets himself into trouble.
My door is, conveniently, just across the hall from the bathroom (considering my recent acquisition of kidney problems, that's a nice thing) and the door to the apartment is facing the stairs, so moving in was fairly easy - trickiest part is taking the turn into the door. I've managed to get my four poster, king-sized bed back, although unfortunately the mattress was tossed out '6-8 months ago' when in the process of moving things, it was opened on accident and discovered to have been growing its own swamp. Silly thing. So I'm still using the queen from Troy's place - it leaves an odd foot or so of boxspring that at present I'm using as a bedside table, since it's the only furniture I have in here, as of yet. There is a black bookshelf, and a small bedside one that I need to bring over before I can unpack books, and also that damned collapsible desk that I've had for god-knows-how-long and still haven't managed to kill yet. Once those things have found a corner or summat to squeeze in to, I can commence with spreading my crap all over the room. To be honest, the bed takes up most of the space, but since I spend a lot of time lounging in bed with my laptop, I don't see this as a problem, heh... And my closet space is spectacular! I have rails for hanging clothes, and the thing has two sets of doors, despite it being one long closet. It's a delightful illusion of space, and I'm looking forward to hiding my crafts in there. There's a big, beautiful window, even if it only looks out on the street. The walls are white, but I shall cover them readily enough.
The thing that bugs me is... there's no FOOD here. I mean, there's a small stash of raviolis and stuff, baking stuff, and oatmeal. Yes, can of oats, oatmeal. I'm going to need to get a collection of things to flavour my oatmeal with, because that's a common foodstuff here. Also, ramen, but not much to put in it. I get the feeling they buy veggies and meat as they eat them, because it disappears quickly. I don't know how well a stash of frozen things for ramen and chilis will work out if that's the case... a lot of time the meals are out of boxes. Granted, Janine made something really scrumptious yesterday - it was a biscuits and grave with chicken box meal, that she tossed some corn in. It was really hearty, a hot, stick-to-your-bones kind of meal, but I feel a little frustrated with how little there is to actually really cook with. I hope I get that job, or at least sort out the PayPal debacle with Etsy, because I need to buy some good foodstuffs before I go nuts. There's no snackfood to speak of, and I seriously went foraging in my boxes for a granola bar so I didn't feel like I was starving. I have another one, and a box of wheat thins, but... I really need to go to the dollar store Monday (or tomorrow, really) and get some snax and things. I also want to get a toilet scrubber, because the bathroom is irking me, and I want to clean it to be useful, but they have some... magic wand Clorox thing that I don't now how to work. Call me old fashioned, but I do things with Scrubbing Bubbles, a scrubber, and a wipe cloth. And it smells like an apothecary in there - it was nice at first, but it's a little overpowering. Hopefully I'll get used to it. Or my nose will stop noticing it. T^T Which is kind of the same thing. There's also an odd dishes rule, but I intend to maximise my usefulness there, as well.
Tabi is actually just next door. I was... a little wary of this, because we don't really mesh terribly well, but I think after a small fiasco involving lack-of-communication and stress in which I actually had a small break down (which surprised me, honestly) she seems to have turned into more of a helpful godmother than an annoyed friend, which is pretty awesome (and what I need, right now) - she's dogsitting Gabriel until we can get his affairs in order, and she's got him signed up on her vet system, getting him shots, and eventually fixed, since we need him fixed before I can move him in, or Ashes might slaughter him. I've started a courtship between them, so hopefully by the time he's ready to move in (in two months) they will be tolerant of each other. Janine and Sara both cooed quite a bit over the fluffer, and it turns out Sara's more of a dog person (Ashes is Janine's cat), and seems to be ready for another canine in the house, heh. I've been going over to hang out with Gabriel (and, resultingly, everyone else) and was even enlisted to dog-sit yesterday when they had to take Vikki to an appointment, so things are going smoothly for now. For as much as we don't get along, she's proving herself a valuable friend, and I'm trying my best not to screw things up with her - I honestly need her, and truthfully, I do enjoy hanging out there, with the crafting and jokes - I just have to manage not to step on her tail. Not doing too bad, quite yet, but... we'll see how long that lasts. XD With my fat mouth, I'll screw it up eventually, heheh...
There is a convenience store in walking distance, but Brown, the proprietor, is a pretty clever, dirty businessman. $4 boxes of Pop-Tarts! Faygo that's more expensive than Pepsi and Coke! It's rather ridiculous. I think it's worth walking all the way down to 7-11 to save a little money -- and that's a good amount of walking. I'm really going to have to look into getting a bike, or seeing if my parents still have mine. (Actually, let me do that...) Plus, there's the grocery store and dollar store at the other end of First View, which is even CHEAPER. Trick is, my money's a bit tied up right now with PayPal being a twerp, and I need to get that fixed asap - and that'll take a while. So I might have to dip into the Home Fund to do the things I need to do T^T And I hate doing that...
Oh, the Home Fund. Well, this whole 'hey, I'm moving... and you might not be able to come with me. Just a heads up' thing, and Rich's 'Hey, Rich, I just got a really SWEET live-in nurse gig. I'll be moving out, you need a new place. Just a heads up' thing, I got really frakking fed up with the fact that neither of us have a stable home in which to live. Plus, there's the fact that he's just lousy with his finances (reminds me - grabs receipts) but is the only one with a solid(-ish?) income. The plan is to set aside money every paycheck and save up for a home. A mobile home, actually, which can be bought outright for $15k, or more or less, depending on if we get a sale and what we want, but still is ridiculously inexpensive. The trick is the lot fee, which can vary from $350-800 a month. If we can buy the home outright, we could just pay rent on the lot, which would be manageable plenty on his present budget. And they say you should try to live off of one paycheck alone - so anything I would make with Etsy or my own job is just bonus, and that's the best way to do things. If he sets aside $100 a paycheck, for five years (assuming his biweekly paychecks) that is $15k. If he sets aside $50, that's still $7.5k. And I've seen smaller homes at $8k. I even found a neighborhood in Norfolk I like, too! But we'll see about that. The thing is, I'll be contributing, as well. So we should - SHOULD - have plenty by the end of the five years. >.> Thing is, I've started trying to collect receipts from him, but it's a hard habit to instill. I have started the miserable nagging/guilt trip thing, and much as I hate doing it... you know how nagging works. You ask him to do something, he doesn't, you nag. Eventually, the nagging will be such a stress, he'll do it to AVOID the nagging - which is what he's supposed to be doing in the first place. It's a miserable training exercise for everyone involved, but the important thing is the thing gets done.
Mind... someone recently installed the Circus Dream in his head again. Since both of us are kind of not that well established where we are, it would be a very good time to do Circus. ALTHOUGH, I told him if he does run off with the circus he HAS to take me with him, so... Meh. Maybe that will happen. XD But they won't be here until April, so we have to make do until then. (If nothing else, I can take my Etsy with me and do it on the road! Plus whatever we make doing circus. Which isn't much, but when your room and board is covered so cheaply, it works.)
So... maybe circus? I dunno. That would be pretty frakkin' awesome if it worked. As a crafter and writer, I can really do my work almost anywhere, so I'd have nothing against it. It's on my bucket list between 'college' and 'kids', and since I have no money for college at present, but am working on a five year plan to getting a home (and married), the kids would follow, so the timing is right. I think that'd be pretty cool, but I'm trying to make it more of an idea, than a game plan? Just in case it falls through. Y'know? XD It's just my luck to get my hopes up... Plus we'd have to both go, so that's a whole room we're hoping they have for us to share. (That would be amazing for the finances, as I could keep better track of his money by hounding him about it until he gets in the habit, and we'd see how well we REALLY do living together in tight, confined spaces, heh...)
As it is... we shall see. I'm going to get a movie going and work on my Doctor Who scarf. XD I could reaaally use the money.