tea0box

I have been re-reading The Shoebox Project, the most epic Marauders-era Harry Potter fanfiction ever, and first-reading the bits that I never got to initially. I'm currently up to the part where Remus Lupin and Sirius Black are finally, FINALLY doing That Which We Do Not Speak About on an alarmingly regular basis, and I am all tingly inside.

I'm kind of sad, too, though, because I've realized that I sort of AM Remus, only I'm female and don't go to Hogwarts and it sort of complicates things. I will also never be even half as endearing. :(

Nevertheless, the whole thing is just full of ridiculous witticisms and it's pretty uplifting, even the sad parts and the angst-ridden and tension-full parts, so I'm going to do homework now. Really! And then maybe get help for this idiotic mental block. Maybe.

To Read, in something resembling an order:

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
Ash - Malinda Lo
Indigo Springs - A.M. Dellamonica
Havemercy - Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennet
Much more of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series
Shadow Queen - Deborah Kalin
Starship Troopers
Grass - Sherri S. Tepper
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Ender's Game (re-read) - Orson Scott Card
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Most of the books posted here: http://community.livejournal.com/bookish/2011317.html

I am SO TIRED, and still rather full of turkey and yet also craving pumpkin pie. It's pretty awesome to be back at school, but having a feels-totally-impossible paper to write (for bio, so I can't BS it) and knowing it'll likely involve another all-nighter is not improving my overall view of the world at this point.

At least my little brother and I thought up the BEST webcomic idea EVER the other day. Seriously people, this thing will be epic if it ever gets done. Which it won't. But still!

Sadly, I just realized that my purdiful speshul customized copy of Kagerou probably won't reach me before Christmas break. SAD PANDAAAAAAAA. Still completely stoked about it, though.

What's with all the old-school catchphrases lately? SHEESH.

Kagerou, the incredible webcomic written and drawn by the one and only Luka Delaney, is now officially on pre-order and I just officially pre-ordered my copy.

I'm valiantly resisting squeeing my stupid little brains out, I mean oh my sweet potatoes and peas.

I've been reading this comic for years now, since the early chapters, and it's seen me through some of the less spectacular parts of my life. Its author has always been something of an inspiration to me, too, since we both have to manage pretty quirky gray matter. I always said that if the comics were published I'd buy 'em in an instant, and actually getting to is doubly awesome--first because I get a paper copy of a favorite story in my hot little hands, and second because it's the realization of Luka's dream. I know it's silly fangirlism, but I'm pretty jazzed that I get to be a part of that.

GO BUY SOME COMICS, O DENIZENS OF THE INTERWEBS. They're good for you, I swear.



On the doll front, Mel still has no body and probably won't for a damn long time. Poor boy needs some expensive parts, and with Christmas right around the corner I really can't afford to so much as save up for his bits. Ah well. That's the way it goes when one is in college and jobless.

Doll Crap I Want:
- NS Delf boy body (version 3 if all my dreams come true)
- SoulDoll P52 eyes
- Emo little choppy white wig
- MiniFee Miyu
- More clothes for Alicia (or a +12 bonus to my Sewing skill)

As I've been saying so often lately, of so many things--so much wanting, so little having. Still, I'm a damn lucky kid all told, and life is good overall. :)

The cool kids with money are all doing MSC.

Including me, apparently. I got my can of Mr. Super Clear today, and even though I have a mild headache from the fumes and definitely freaked out a couple kids walking up to my dorm, I think I managed to not completely dork up the layers of sealant I applied. He looks pretty good, considering--still kinda scratched, a touch discolored and DAMN the inside of his lips are dirty, but the MSC gave him a nice matte finish that looks quite a bit like skin. Once the inside of his ears are dry I'll start on shading with pastels.

In other news, I am sick and haven't been getting my work done and have been ducking out of rugby because of it. I get to miss our hugely important game against Longwood this weekend, too. I feel like a total and complete pussy, and not the fun kind. :/ Eh, whatever. I can't play a sport if I can't get the rest of my life together, and that's not working out so well as of now.

Crap. Now I feel guilty for playing around with Mel's faceup. BAWWWWW.

There's a can of MSC UV cut with my name on it sitting somewhere in the good ole US of A right now, and should be on its way to me soon. I can't WAIT to attempt my first faceup, though I'm sure I won't be even remotely happy with it. Such is life, I suppose, and it'll give me something artsy to do until I get it right. Sucks that I probably won't be able to get a body for the poor boy until after Christmas, though. I'm really looking forward to creating keloid scars. :)

I dreamed about Shadow last night. We'd bought two other chinchillas, twins, I think, to replace the chin who'd died (odd, because I knew it was Shadow who had died) and for whatever reason Shadow was sick and sad and angry. Bit me a few times. You know those dreams where you really want to cry and your throat gets all tight and painful but you can't cry because it's a dream? Yeah. Shadow NEVER bit me. Maybe he was trying to tell me that it was better for him to go off to Chinchilla Heaven? I dunno. Whatever it was, it was sad.

Oh, and we lost our rugby game against William&Mary yesterday. We played like utter badasses, though, and only lost by a small margin, so it was pretty good even if it sucked to lose.

So my chinchilla died yesterday.

I cried a lot. Not so much today. I feel like I should be crying more, but I guess not being there to see him go (I'm away at school) and not having to see his cage, with just one fuzzy dumbass in it instead of two, makes it seem more distant.

I miss him, though. Shadow was such a part of my family--of all of us. I really, really miss him.

Woke up to Womanly Issues at six AM, went back to sleep, missed class that I had to turn in a paper for, and am now pretty damn panicky. Plus it's cold and rainy and I have a lot of work to do, which means I can't work on Mel today.

Just.... poop. I am not fond of days like this.

Boys and girls, the one and only, beautiful and stunning **MEL** has finally arrived in my mailbox!

Well, his head has, anyway.

The seller billed him as a "ruined head," and I managed to snag it for $50, shipping included, which is a steal for a Migidoll Ryu. That said, the pictures the seller took make him look SO much worse than he actually is in person, and I did spend about $60 on art supplies and MSC for him, so I guess I'm not saving that much. Still, I cannot get over the fact that he is here, in my hands, after falling in love with the sculpt almost a year ago. Managed to clean him up with some Winsor and Newton and a metric ton of Q-tips (and one spectacular noob moment when I freaked over a layer of MSC coming off, heh), as well as sand down the worst of the gouges on his nose. Sadly I don't have a respirator, so even with wet sanding I probably inhaled some Evil Toxic Resin Dust. If I'm still alive tomorrow, I'll finish sanding his slightly uneven coloring and scratchy face outside my dorm.

Here's the weird part, though--I am not a freaky dolly lady. I don't believe that dolls have souls, don't consider them "kids" or anything of the sort. They're a creative outlet and have a lot of sentimental value, sure, but that's about it. Even so, as I was cleaning him up I felt this wave of affection for the little thing, you know? Granted, Mel's character is one that has become extremely dear to me; I consider him a direct reflection of my "self," and if I could bring one of my crazy brainchildren to life, he's the one I'd pick every time (even over my dragons. Yup). So maybe that explains it.

Amusingly, I felt like Mel was directing my music choices tonight. I have discovered that he really hates Japanese pop. XD


Okay. So maybe I am a crazy dolly lady. *sigh* I guess that means I'll have to give up those plans for a house with a million cats...

So I'm back at school after our (two day long) fall break. OY.

It was a little hectic. Shadow, our 7-ish-year-old chinchilla, had to go in for emergency dental surgery on Monday to shave down his molars because they'd grown so long that it hurt him to eat, so, naturally, he wasn't. When I left this morning he was still looking like a drowned rat at the end of nine miles of bad road. I really hope he'll be okay. :(

In other (doll related) news, I got a TON of art supplies at Michaels, including Windsor&Newton Brush cleaner/restorer, which is probably the wrong solution for cleaning dolly heads. :P Stupid me. I just saw the W&N logo, the cheaper price tag and thought, "BOOYAH! This'll work!" I still need to check the ingredient list to make sure. I also got new brushes, chalk pastels and brought all of my acrylics from home.

That said, Mel's head (a damaged, discolored and poorly-modded Migidoll Ryu) STILL hasn't arrived. It shipped from Australia on the 2nd, and it's now the 13th. That's 11 days. I'm getting kind of worried...

For the record, if I ever, EVER say I don't want delivery confirmation to "save on shipping" EVER again, please smack me. PLEASE.

Blugh.
~muse

muse/tea0box here. This LJ thing is strange, but everybody on Den of Angels does it, and there's a cool community called PS:Delicious that makes pretty photostories. So. I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon.

Problem is, I still have a paper to write and a test to study for. Poor Alicia--maybe I'll do her birthday photoshoot at home. :/