Hey... Why yes, I *AM* still alive, last I checked...
Errr... sorry for slipping off the radar livejournal-wise here; ever since they blocked us from accessing it at work, it's been much easier to justify reading the damned thing than writing in it when I manage to get online. **shamefaced look** But I'm still here, I haven't moved to Abu Dhabi or Las Cruces or anywhere else or joined a nunnery or whatever. Been doing a little writing, been doing a LOT of reading, been working like a freaking dog, been preparing for my trip to Florida.
Yep, Florida. I fly out on the 18th; I'll land eventually in Pensacola, where my little sister'll pick me up and haul my tired ass back to Panama City for a much-needed vacation of two weeks. I'm... of two minds about the whole trip. Two? Did I say 'two'? More like about sixteen... I mean, Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing my family-- but my older sister's dying, let's face it. So when I see her, somewhere in the back of my mind there's gonna be this little countdown going every time, and that's hard. And Yes, I'm looking forward to revisiting old haunts-- it's been, what, a year and a half? Two years? Something like that. Uh-- Christmas of 2004, mother-goddess on a handtruck that's a long time... and this is the place I'm thinking about moving back to, which means that I'm going to be giving it a pretty critical look. A decade and more of living in Tucson has citified me; I find myself horrified at the idea of moving to a one-Starbucks-town, which is all PC has in it (damn you, caffeine!). It also has less than a dozen bookstores and only a few sushi places, despite having some of the best seafood on the planet and Way Beautiful Beaches. And last but not least... I have a grand total of TWO friends that I've kept up with in PC, and that's all. Sad, isn't it? But I've built my life elsewhere.
Why do I want to move?
My job's burning me out. My family's drawing me back. And I've got this horrible itch to... just go somewhere. I've been here longer than anywhere else I've ever been save for my home-town, and I've come to really love it; in a year, I might be clawing to come back. But I miss the ocean, and I miss how it smells, and I miss being able to grow things so easily (in the Panhandle it's more of a fight to *keep* 'em from growing) and I miss my sisters and my brother and my nephews and my mom. I feel like I've dug a hole, and I'm the one who has to climb out-- nobody's going to pull me from it, no Prince Charmings or heros. It's got to be me that makes the move, and if it's a stupid move at least it's *my* stupid move.
Wow... Behold! Drama!Emo!Ysabet! It's not that bad, actually; I have a really good life and all-- I make excellent pay at my job and I deal with interesting stuff (hey, I did sixteen autopsy reports the other day! Processed 'em, I mean, I don't do autopsies, thank the gods, I'm a data-herder) and I'm paying my bills and I have GREAT friends and a fantastic if very weird flatmate (**waves at Icka**) who's also looking at the Deep South with interest (yay!), so what the hell am I emoing all over the landscape for? Dunno; just want to change, I guess. And maybe my big sister's situation is making me think about it a lot. Poor Icka's probably having to put up with more moodiness from me than usual (**Ysabet looks shamefaced**)-- hope she doesn't poison the ramen one of these days. Come to think of it, it did taste kind of funny... urk? Aaagh??!?? Urrrrrkk! **thud**
...just kidding...
So: why should I attempt this move (which won't happen 'til I have a job to go to, mind you, which is another reason-- job-hunting)? Ummmm... because I have this intrinsic trust that Change Is Usually Good? Because I've got itchy travel-feet? Because family's not always going to be here, and neither am I, so we'd better spend some more time in each other's company while we can? Because I don't want my work to turn me into a sour, shrieking harridan that'll one day end up in the history books as the first person to ever murder her co-workers with a staple-remover? Because I want to eat shrimp that's really fresh?? Could be.....
Okay, enough of that, I have reached my Emo Capacity for the day. Gods, I'm flighty.
Other stuff:
Heh; well... there's an announcement I'd like to make on here regarding an important event happening in a certain friend's life, but..... nahhhh; it's her privilege, I'll let her do it. Watch this space for further developments, though! ^______^
Writing... I've gotten more and more addicted lately to
domino_effect_ (a YuGiOh-character-based RPG, set in NY, NY, but with waaaaaaay AU characters, written by a group with seriously massive writing talent) and have put in my first sample-bit to attempt playing one of the characters; think I've mentioned this a time or two before in past lj entries. Still hoping to hear feedback on the sample; it's been looked over by the person that'd be my mentor and she seemed to like it (DAMN good writer; warped sense of humor), so I'm waiting with anticipation and in the meantime going over RPG entries. Every time I think I've read all of 'em I stumble onto a character lj-entry or a bit I didn't see-- it's somewhere around 380 files total so far, including the journal entries. Big Like Whoa. Fun reading, though... and in the stuff just posted there was mention of the character I'm hoping to write for, soooooo..... We'll see; I need to get a character-summary and some notes off via email to the mentor I mentioned, been meaning to do so for days now... You know, if the group ends up picking somebody else to do the writing for this character instead of me, I'll still read the stuff; it's a fantastic storyline building there, established characters, fun romances going on, extreme goofiness, freakish supernatural happenings, you name it. And Oh Yeah, nice visuals. **grins and thinks about Joey & Tristan** Somebody should do a calendar of Domino Effect art, dammit; wish I could draw.
More Writing: Much to my shock, Windfall reared its dusty head again today and I got a CHUNK done on chapter 23. It's past 12,000 words (roughly 19-20 pages); think I'll stop at about 13,000 maybe and post it-- it doesn't need much more editing at this point, I think. I didn't get it *quite* to the place where I wanted it to go, but I think it needs to break a little sooner than planned or I'm gonna have another 27,000-word chapter and I swore I wouldn't do that again. Rrrrgh! So... I'd like to post it before I head out on the trip; maybe if I really work on it this weekend?
Got a prezzie on its way to my mom for Saturday delivery, one day before Mother's Day: a bouquet of white-chocolate flowers plus a one-lb bar of dark chocolate. Thank you, www.proflowers.com! You saved my ass once again! Hope my mom likes it, but as I know her to be a major chocoholic I suspect that she will. ^___^ Don't y'all forget your mothers out there, okay? She spent hours on her back bringing you into this world! Uphill, in the snow! Both ways! XD
The cats and house!weasles continue to be their bizarre selves (Spot has taken to shooting rocket-like through the apartment as of late, endangering my life and limb since she seems to be aiming at my legs). Bel's officially 18 years old now-- old enough to drive; that's pretty ancient for a cat. The two weasle-boys seem to have developed a fetish for my aquarium even stronger than Kit's prior determination to bob for guppies, and now whenever they're out roaming, they both climb up onto the fishtank-lid and attempt to dig their way through it. Go figure... Oh, and speaking of Kit, do y'all know that, given the chance, particularly brain-dead ferrets will attempt to lick hot irons if they get right up to them? Only the fact that Icka saw him trying to do so saved my stupidest weasle from having a scalded tongue or worse. How did he get to it? By climbing at a speed that just defies all belief. Do weasles normally climb well? Hell no; but THIS one leaps, jumps, climbs, scales curtains, damn near flies. Silly beast-- I think his brother-ferret Tan must've sold his brain-cells one night on eBay.
Okay, must wander off bathwards. Will try to post more often, I promise! **waves**
EDIT, LATER SAME NIGHT ('cause I'm sitting up hemming a pair of jeans, dammit, and am bored):
...I have, for no particular reason, adopted a Virtual Pet. Ladies and Gentlemen, please allow me to introduce you to my purple pet bat Gil (I like bats; they're beautifully designed):
