steady rollin'

If you never see me again, it is because there is now a ps3 in the house.

With Soul Calibur IV.

I even have the next two days off.

*_*

I'm up past my bedtime, but it was worth it. I have no justification for this, except I think DP is hot and a Joker sandwich only makes it more hot. Also knives. Which I will explore more thoroughly next time I draw Jokerporn. Promise.



( [NC-17] - Batman - Batman/Joker x 2 - When the Mind is Free )

So, J draws me these little doodles and then leaves them for me to discover when I wake up and get ready for work. I made an icon out of one of my favourites. It's of our LOTRO characters! My poor elf is not so happy to be in a dress as his cute little hobbit. The important thing is that everytime I look at it, I die from the adorable.

I had three days off, which has let me get a ton of things done. Felt better enough to not only bike downtown and do some unfortunately fruitless searching for pants but also to go for a ride down near the water that completely kicked my ass in the omg-my-quads sort of way. Stopped briefly at the pull-up bar and managed 2.8 chin-ups and made a passing attempt at a pull-up. Roar. My current goal is five pull-ups, but I'll probably stick with the chin-ups for a bit until I'm rid of my lovely lingering cough.

We went down to my mom's on Tuesday and helped with a few more things around the house. It looks so different after all the remodeling, and sounds different as well, which trips me out a little. ^^ J painted the front bathroom all by himself (since it was late enough that I was too wiped out to help!) and he did such a good job, especially considering he'd hardly gotten any sleep the night before finishing up a site conversion.

I've managed to get some drawing done during my time off as well. Finishing the colour on a comic this evening and the lines for a couple commissions. I also have some more batman porn waiting to be coloured, so hopefully I'll get to that soon. It's completely shameless.

In cosplay news, I've got my glove-armour all painted and lacquered up and half of it secured to my glove-base. I need to rebuild the thumb tip and then get the wires affixed to the brace that'll run medially along the forearm. Hopefully everything else I'll need will arrive shortly! I'll take pictures soon, since I'd promised a couple people that I would.

J and I went to see Tropic Thunder. Hilarious. Further hilarity came from paying attention to our fellow audience members' reactions. Some of them were absolutely priceless. At one point the girl in front of us absolutely started howling with laughter. Hee.

( kinda spoilery? )

Also, we saw the trailer for Scorpion King II which absolutely kills me. J had just told me the other day that they had made a second one. As much as I love the first one for being wonderfully terrible, this one is uh, going to be a pass. :p

I want to do a bit more drawing today, but I think I'm just going to curl in bed since I had a productive morning. Can't believe my "weekend" is practically over already. I never even got the laundry done!

I still never made myself a Bleach icon, so this post gets Snape. I make this relevant in part because oh man, I just saw the notice for Azkatraz. I shouldn't be this excited about something an entire year in advance. Rewatching all the movies recently is probably fueling my Potterglee. I've got another piece slotted for the Lupin/Snape Fantasy Fest that's currently running, so maybe tomorrow I'll actually have a chance to work on that. :D

This pic, however, was commissioned by white_cross_b.



( [PG] - Bleach - Ichigo/Ishida - Runaway Wind [commission] )

I've fallen behind on email (and comments!) again thanks to the sick, so if you're waiting on me, chances are I've got your message, I just haven't had the time or energy to reply. Expect responses to ages old things at some point between now and next Wednesday. ^^;

I am so amazingly tired! I had a 9+ hour workday today (voluntarily) and I'm going in a half hour early tomorrow morning (also voluntarily) to help with a catering order. My days off are looking more and more shiny by the minute. Next week I get three days off, and oh man, I'm going to draw my little fingers off. Yay! I am reminded suddenly about how I helped fill a catering order the other day where I rolled hors d'ouvres. One of them was grilled nectarines and pesto wrapped in sliced skirt steak. I got to taste one and holy crap, I don't really eat a lot of meat these days, but that was the most delicious thing I've ever put in my mouth. The nectarine was so cold and sweet and juicy and everything was so flavourful. I'm still thinking about it.

Work was really busy today in spurts, which gave me just enough time to run around and do some of the prep work that didn't get done the day prior by the closer. At one point, which amazingly was a slow point, the owner of the coffee bar/restaurant across the street from my current workplace came in and bought some stuff from me. He told me if things didn't work out where I was to talk to him and he'd give me a job. That was flattering, if a teensy bit skeevy what with the poaching. I like my boss a lot though, as he obviously cares about the people who work for him, and oh man, it makes me feel good that he also cares about things like keeping the front cafe lights off if there's a lot of sun to save on power. The general ethics of my workplace makes me happy to be there. ^_^ On that note, Berkeley area folks, if you know of any charitable organisations that might like donations of day-old breads or pastries, talk to me.

I put in my request for days off around y-con, so I'm hoping I get at least three days, if not four. I'm still not sure what the heck I'm going to do the whole time since I won't have a table. J feels the same way. :p

I'm doing some drawing now, in the hopes of finishing up a commission that I'd intended to do on my previous days off that I instead spent dying in bed from the minor plague. I'm liking my latest batch of commissions, probably because they're all turning out how I want them to! They're nicely diverse too, and letting me play with a few different styles.

Not counting catching up on sleep, I've been a little too unfocused to do much drawing lately. I've been playing mostly LOTRO in my spare time. Almost hit 50 with my hunter, although I've got an alt up to 25 as well. I'll probably hit up the PVP soon since that'll keep me in for the long haul when it comes to end game. Still liking it a lot more than WoW for everything /except/ PVP, so we'll see how I feel about that aspect once I give it a try. I love the instances, and the game is just so amazingly pretty it blows my mind. We've got a nice core group of us playing now too, which makes it even more fun. With the new update they added a ton of stuff, including new dyes for the armour, so I can't wait to compile a nice set and colour it to my liking. I'll be the most dashing elf in middle earth. :D

Early yesterday morning I had those preliminary throat hurties that made me suck down emer-gen-c like nobodies business in the worry that I'd caught a cold. It was tough to tell at first since I hadn't drunk much water the night before and was otherwise feeling fine. Made it through most of yesterday before the majority of the symptoms hit, but the last few hours of work I was a little spaced out and rather glad I wasn't handling food. Luckily I was off today and have tomorrow off as well, and I'm already feeling better than I had last night (enough to pick up my pen and draw even!) so I'm hoping I'll have the most of my energy back by tomorrow so I can at least enjoy a teensy bit of my days off!

I think I like drawing Two-Face more. Mostly because he's easier, hah. Either that or I really, really, shouldn't even be /trying/ to draw movie!canon Batman. I went ahead and put all the suit details in my sketch and then gave up during the colouring stage since I am a little too delirious to care. While contemplating what to work on tonight, I found some of the Batman fanart that I was working on during my illustration class. I'm thinking about finishing them up. Looking at them now I'm more forgiving of some of the flaws that had been cropping up. Anyway, I drew some porn today to make myself feel better. Next time maybe more crossdressing. Eheh. >_> Or maybe the Batman/Gordon that I have been not-so-sekritly dying for.



( [R] - Batman - Batman/Joker - Magic Trick )

Sketched this last night so I could spend my full day off today as productively as possible. I was going to go for the suit this time, but I am a weak-willed individual. Finishing up some commissions too. :D Artstuffs, yay!



( [PG-13] - Batman - Joker/Two-face - Break You to Make You )

Quicky SPN thing. Consider it a celebration of the evil twin having vacation time! :3



( [PG-13] - Supernatural - Sam/Dean - We Are Nowhere )

Work started off super slow this morning, enough so that I managed to write some Batman/Joker porn in my moleskine, but then it was like fits and bursts of busy. Usually we're pretty steady, but today it was slow/fast slow/fast and then just fast. I'm working a lot this coming week, which is good for paying rent and all, but on one of my days off I have to go in for a few hours to train for closing, so that kinda blows. Am still very much liking the morning shift despite the waking up early. I suspect it's because I'm nailing those latte hearts these days, but since I've got closing shift next Friday and Saturday, so that'll give me a better idea of if I /actually/ have a preference.

Am sitting down now to get some art done before having nekofreak over for foods and chilling out. :3 Working on some commission things, but also a new SPN pic since I haven't drawn them in a bit. Am itching to do more Joker though as I am still painfully in love omg.

zomg.



( [PG-13] - Batman - Joker/Two-Face - You're Only King Once )

This is my squee condensed. Next maybe some Joker/Scarecrow, or Joker/Two Face, or Joker/ME OMG.



( [PG-13] - Batman - Batman/Joker - Prologue )

J and nekofreak came and visited me at work today and ordered brunch. And then after?

( DARK KNIGHT OMG. )

Occasionally I think about how I'd like to run a zine for fanwork that's akin to a literary journal. I want to read autobiographical essays as if written by a character because I can't get it out of my head wondering what sort of essay Sam Winchester would write, or Lee Adama. I want to preserve and promote solidly crafted meta essays on fandom itself, and cutting edge writing that pushes style and boundry. I want fandom to produce poetry that doesn't make me cringe, and representational works of art. I dream big, and yet I always talk myself down from the notion for fear that the idea would lose its lustre after wading through a round of submissions (if there even were enough interest to generate any!). Cautionary pessimism trumps idealism yet again.

From tomorrow, I work for six days in a row. It's a bit daunting, especially with a pile of laundry that really needs doing today. I remind myself of how I made over $30 in tips yesterday, which I hope is not a fluke, because there are several movie boyfriends who will be on screen shortly.

I've gotten back into the habit of reading the news again. Last night watching the Daily Show, I felt like I had come into it with a bunch of spoilers. I'm not quite sure what that says about me.

Except that the first post in the thread on Fark over the whole Iran photoshopping thing? Best making light of a terrible situation I've seen in a long time. Still makes me laugh.

Came home today with a loaf of Broccoli and Cheese bread and a round of Zapaton which I got to use the slicer on (fun!). Yesterday the Jalapeno loaf I brought home was gone about 10 minutes after I walked through the door. :3 Today was my last day with someone else on shift with me, so tomorrow I'll be opening on my own. I'll need to remember to turn on the sign and some of the "front" stuff which I haven't actually done myself yet, but otherwise I'm pretty confident on setting up all the displays and getting the coffee and such prepped. I'm still working on that microfoam, but I did pour a swirly pattern on the latte I made for J when he came in with Susan and visited me.

I didn't realise it until I had to start taking orders, but we serve a breakfast brunch on weekends. One of the items we had today was french toast made on two huge slices of fresh baked bread and oh god, it looked and smelled so delicious. I stuck to a roll and my banana though. Maybe next time J comes in on the weekend I can share a plate with him. Am still highly enjoying the work so far, and there was just enough time during a couple lulls for me to sketch out two upcoming comics. Woo. Also, I get to plug in my iPod for music on my side of the cafe, which is fantastic. Everyone got an earful of the Heartless Bastards, Wolf Parade, and the Decemberists today. I'll have to come up with a new mix for tomorrow since half the stuff I had on my iPod was techno or bands like Leftover Crack which uh, isn't really suited to the usual crowd at all. ^^

I'm working on inking a commission and doing the colour on a new comic right now. I'm hoping I'll finish up on both before we head out this afternoon to catch Hellboy II. We re-watched the first one last night, and for as much as I love it (oh Kroenen, my most favouritist clockwork Nazi) I can see all the places it's aged. I can't wait to see the new one. The character designs are so completely up my alley. I didn't get enough of that style at all from Pan's Labyrinthe. Unf.

Yesterday J's family came up to visit for his birthday. Sophie is a handful but was relatively well-behaved, and Natalie the baby is getting big so fast it's kinda crazy! I suspect she's going to end up tall like her daddy since all of Carlos's sisters are like 5'10". We had a fairly lazy day and mostly just hung out. We took a nice long walk, and at the end of the day J and I were glad that it wasn't us having to drive home for once.

I ate pie and ice cream on top of having had a delicious omg scone for breakfast earlier and a rockstar during the day. @_@ I've been horrible about the sugar the past week, so it's time to kick that all over again. It sucks when I forget just how crappy I end up feeling when I don't eat well. Not eating out a lot recently has been great, but I've been making enough bad food decisions that I need to up and stop with that so I actually have energy and feel, you know, good.

After the family visit was done with, I finished up a new 1mr. Had fun in this one playing with the sort of art style that appeals to its star. I think I'd like to do something fannish in that style, but I'm not sure what fandom. ^^ The last time I posted a comic link laylah was nice enough to save me from my laziness and create a feed over here, so if you're interested, you can watch the comic on IJ. For you LJ folks, there is also a feed on LJ.

And now to get myself into gear and work on some more artsy things. :3

Okay, who has seen it and can squeal with me?

J and I just got back from seeing Hancock with nekofreak. omfg. I expected it to be a fairly standard summer blockbuster: a complete popcorn muncher with some feel-good character transformation, but wow, the whole thing was so much more than I expected! My mind is blown two nights in a row. The tone was interesting, and even if some of the scenes ran long or felt constructed entirely for a summer audience, a lot of the themes throughout were just fascinating.

It totally kept me wondering what was going to happen next in a very good way, and I'm so curious about some of the symbolism. For once I actually liked Charlize Theron rather than just feeling overly meh about her. This could be in part due to the fact that Jason Bateman's character is a Big Adorable Puppy and their relationship didn't at all feel contrived.

Need I bother to mention that Will Smith looks smoking hot in tight leather? Possibly I should, because he does, although there was a noticeable lack of gratuitous showering ala I Robot.

I totally need fic for this.

eta:There is possibly some meta bouncing around in my head, especially since there are some parallels that can be made to Iron Man, but that will need to stew in my brain for a bit since I don't make with journalling my metathoughts very often. :3

We watched Southland Tales last night. There are some movies which I find very hard to recommend, but that just blow my mind and give me a certain level of excitement for the future of film-making. It was fascinating on so many levels to me, visually obviously, but I particularly liked how much it made me think. Some of that I'm sure is due to how it's somewhat rambling and surreal so I couldn't just let a simple, linear plot wash over me, but it maintained this underlying current that managed to hold everything that seemed fantastical or bizarre together in such a way that I never felt that the most absurd things were actually absurd. The cast in and of itself was fascinating, since it made me keenly aware how much I mentally typecast so many of them. I'd love to let it sit in my head for a while and watch it again, which isn't something I really got from Donnie Darko. All in all, I adored it.

Also, someone should so write me Seann William Scott and Dwayne Johnson RPS or point me towards it if it exists. Everytime I see them together it makes me feel embarrassingly squealy. Seriously. I have such a massive crush on Dwayne Johnson, one which I can feel better about everytime he's in a movie I want to watch for the movie's sake and not just because I want to paw at his biceps and see him smile. I'm dying to go see Get Smart. Tomorrow hopefully. :x

het_challenge is still open for prompts until the 5th. This time it's a mix and match. I highly encourage people to drop by and leave some prompts so there are more fandoms and characters represented! Head over to this post and drop off a list of up to 5 pairings or moresomes of mixed gender and up to 5 scenarios for everyone to choose from!

Fic Rec:

Die Hard - Save As, John/Matt, by poisontaster for the Small Fandom Big Bang. I've hardly read in the fandom since John/Matt is not something I can see really easily, but she wins me over every time with the way she writes them. This is a fantastic story, with the sort of character development from beginning to end and the quality of writing that reminds me so thoroughly of everything I love about reading fanfic. The pacing and emotional intensity and omghotness had me ignoring everything this morning in favour of reading all the way to the end in a single sitting.

Work went well today. I was on my own about 90% of the time, and there wasn't the early lunch rush that there was yesterday so I had a lot more time to learn the register for all of that. I only screwed up twice on the complicated types of orders that I haven't been solidly trained for so I feel good about the day. I even got complimented for my latte making skills! Being the only person at counter means I'll need to learn to how to start the milk steaming while I'm busy getting pastries out of the case and then get back to it before it scalds. That's definitely where my major slowdown is as I'm getting better at snapping the bags open with one hand while half-crawling into the case to reach stuff. Hee.

When I got home, I was getting some old art back up on my site in the HP section and was struck with the want to draw Draco. The fabric is all over the place. I'm going to pretend his shirt is practically torn apart to explain this. It's a feature.



( [PG] - Harry Potter - Draco - Fallen Grace )