Happy birthday, temve!



I'm keeping my promise to spoil you with a good dinner on Saturday! Assuming of course that we actually leave the cinema while we're there :D

*sends tidal porn waves and love*

Current Mood: cheerful

Happy new year, guys!

I'm about to head to bed but while my mp3 player updates, here's a meme:

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really,
we know nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you
think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you
have no idea about. Ask away.

Sweet dreams!

P.S. Freya is now a holy terror on four oversized fluffy paws. She likes to play Tarzan on people's ankles when they get dressed. So far, mine are her favourite.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Take That - Rule The World

Having been without internet for a bit, a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to motetus and meletor_et_al! *sends ninjas in party hats to be your willing slaves for the day - you know, fetching cake, killing annoying relatives, that sort of thing*

Plus an on time HAPPY BIRTHDAY to mercurialmind. I'd send you ninjas, but you apparently have more gorgeous imaginary men hanging round you than you need already. Hope you're having a great day!

*throws streamers in the direction of the U.S*

I had a wonderful birthday - thanks to everyone who sent their wishes (and porn. And art. Seriously, you guys rock and I love you).

I had a yummy birthday dinner with the most decadent brie and cranberry sauce starter and chocolate-chunk-and-clotted-cream berry pie for dessert. Sparks gleefully kidnapped the Christmas helium balloons and entertained us with his best squeaky Irish accent on the way home. My parents bought me a new digital camera (something I've wanted for absolutely AGES) and Sparks bought me season one House. My haul also includes chocolate, funky zebra socks, two awesome Batman Begins fics, one painting of a sexy half naked Puck and one of some adorable ninja kittens :D.

There was one extra surprise waiting for me when we got back from dinner. Not a total surprise, mind you - we've known we were getting one of these for a couple of months now but as far as I knew, it wasn't happening until next week. However, Sparks and my parents conspired to surprise me by moving up the delivery date to yesterday.

Ladies and, er, ladies? *grins* I'd like you to meet Freya.



( Pictures of our new baby girl )

It's now officially Christmas Eve here, so Merry Christmas , Happy Holidays, and every variation thereof. Have a wonderful few days, guys. I'll check in soon.

Probably with about a hundred more kitty pics ;).

Current Mood: squeeeeee
Current Music: Rent - La Vie Boheme

I hab a cold.

That's what I get for working in a little office. We're all harbingers of disease this week :). At least I still have my voice, unlike one guy, and I don't have a hangover, unlike absolutely everyone else. Christmas night out was last night, and drinks were on the company credit card, soooo...Well, only three of us (out of eleven) have made it into work before noon. We're still waiting on the others to appear. I'm guessing it was a good night. I was an old lady and went home before midnight, since a combination of alcohol and stuffed sinuses made me extremely sleepy.

I am SO not ready for Christmas. I still have a few presents to get, and in any case I find it very hard to be ready for Christmas without also being ready for my birthday first, and I'm still in denial over that being on Saturday. That's the day after tomorrow. Crap. It's also the last day I can possibly get presents, so I'll have to be up early tomorrow to finish up the last bits and pieces.

The bastard is now out on bail, under curfew, which I'm hoping he's stupid enough to break. He has to be inside between the hours of six PM and six AM which, considering it gets dark at four o' clock in the afternoon and light at eight in the morning, is not exactly comforting. I'm taking the bus or getting a ride home when it's dark - but it's FAR too cold to walk in any case! The grit is freezing over. I'm thinking of investing in a pair of ice skates to get to work.

Now I shall go and buy a hot lunch and answer the three week old comments to my last post!

Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: Bagpipes from outside

I am employed.

Specifically, I am employed by Hunted Cow Studios which is a games developer located in - wait for it - Elgin. For those of you not in the know, Elgin is my home town (or as much of a home town as a RAF brat can claim) and where I am currently residing with my parents.

Basically, some sneaky goblin granted the wish I didn't even know I'd made and set up a games studio in a teeny middle-of-Scotland's-nowhere "city". Who weren't even officially hiring but called me up roughly twelve hours after I emailed them my CV and portfolio, interviewed me three days later and hired me on the spot (after, before the spot - they'd already ordered a desk and chair for me before I got there).

My job involves painting many, many pretties in all shapes and sizes (from web graphics and wallpapers to teeeeeny icons for spells and effects) for this game, and eventually helping to write quests and do the odd spot of 3D model work (which since the game is low poly, I can actually do without royally sucking). I started Monday and spent most of the day playing the game itself to get familiar with it (but I really only heard "play the game for money") and today I was working on a new background for the official website. I'm still getting back into the swing of sitting at a computer for such a long stretch without getting to move around much, but I already LOVE the job. The studio is small, only eight people besides myself, and so far I'm the only girl. It's quiet, but everyone is really helpful and friendly and did not mind when I got thoroughly confused by a combination of Windows Vista and the games editor. Plus, I can run Trillian and play my music and did I mention that I'm getting paid to paint pretty things?

As motetus helpfully pointed out, now I need to get a flat of my own. Which I cannot wait to do, but since I don't have to up and leave right away I'm going to stay here for a bit and squirrel away my wages into a savings account so I can rent and fully furnish somewhere nice. Commissions in the evenings/weekends, personal paintings once those are done, and some general happiness and enjoying of life for a while. Yes. That sounds like a good plan.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hound a few communities until the new House and Heroes seasons appear!

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Jars of Clay - Tea and Sympathy

So what have I been doing?

1) I went to Cyprus. Yes, I know I said it was going to be Greece. I THOUGHT it was going to be Greece. Let's just say that my parents are prone to changing their minds at the last minute and the flow of communication in this house is seriously flawed.

2) I got organised. I rewrote my CV and created a few totally new versions. I updated all my galleries with new work and personal details, created a new gallery at Epilogue (I actually got in! Whee!) and created a CGJobs profile. I also registered a new domain name, and will be launching an official website as soon as I can design one.

3) I learned how to type, surf the net, and paint with a kitty sprawled across my lap.

4) I hit the classifieds. I applied for a junior concept artist position down in Cambridge and one in Canada. I'm about to cold call a company in Bristol who are hiring, but for what they haven't specified. There's also an internship with EA in Germany that I'm considering, but I don't know if it's paid or not. I also looked for something short term around Elgin for some quick money. I did find a job, but after three days I discovered that the manager treats her staff like absolute shit. Now I think I'll be going to work with my mum, as the pre-school she's at is seriously understaffed and I've worked with kids before.

5) I got back to painting! whitemunin, look out for my email tonight or tomorrow :D.

Now, who wants to see holiday pictures?

( Paphos antics )

Current Mood: content
Current Music: Helen Trevillion - Ivory

I want to finish my coursework, but I also want to quit.

I want to finish my commissions but I can't take the time away from coursework.

I want to paint something, ANYTHING else, but I feel guilty about not working on commissions.

I love my family, but I also want to smack them and then run away. Anyone in the UK need a cook? A gardener?

(Disclaimer: phurie_dae cannot cook or garden.)

I want to move out and have my own place to live, but I don't have money coming into my bank.

I want money coming into my bank, but I don't have time to get a job yet.

...

Basically, I just want the world to stop and let me breathe for five seconds.

*curls up with Voyager reruns and hot chocolate*

(P.S. Major hugs to mercurialmind, shrieking_ell and meletor_et_al for distracting me with shinies and keeping me sane. I love you all)

Current Mood: nauseated

Ah, Supernatural. It was touch and go there for a while, but you redeemed yourself in the final episode. And now I love you again, Winchesters.

I like background noise when I'm painting and, having exhausted everything else, I started tearing through Supernatural. I finished two seasons in something like a week. Around the middle of season 2 I felt my interest slipping away. It was annoying. I WANTED to enjoy the show. It was much more addictive than I expected (the secret to getting me hooked is to have utterly lovable characters. Especially ones that look good when slippery and wet from the shower).

Then it had to go and get sick with Joss Whedon disease.

Disclaimer: I adore Joss Whedon. He is a genius (an EVIL genius, but a genius nonetheless) and he makes great shows. But I lost my taste for Buffy somewhere around season 6, and the first time I saw Serenity it left a bad taste in my mouth, because the man's idea of upping his game is to inject more and more Doom, Death, and Despair into his shows. Angel just plain crashed and burned at season 4 because I think it was trying to keep up with Buffy, and got way too heavy too soon. And so it looked like Supernatural was going in that same direction although, as I said, it redeemed itself with a really good season finale.

It's mainly the supernatural fantasy type shows, although I see it here and there in other genres too. New shows feel like they have to one-up everything that has gone before and so before you've even finished the first season, the bloody world is ending and our heroes are crying over each other's graves. And I'm sitting there thinking, "Waiter, this is NOT the fun, ass-kicking escapism that I ordered." I want to laugh, gloat and be happy while demons get their butts whipped. I want to unwind and feel cheered and uplifted. I don't want to feel so depressed it's like my soul has just been sucked out through my ribcage.

(And yes, enduring the fictional apolcalypse and watching much loved characters fall to pieces IS stressful and draining. Yes. It is. Shut up).

And you know, watching the end of Supernatural has helped me put my finger on where everything seems to be going wrong. See, once upon a time, when a Bigger Bad Than Before came to town, our heroes became bigger and badder too. They learned new skills. They found new weapons. They dredged up new information and twisted the bad guy's plan right around on him (and that, right there, is my favourite part of any battle for the world - the LOOK on the bad guy's face just as the heroes rise from near death and turn the tables on him). Every time something worse came along, our guys just got that little bit cooler.

Now the trend seems to be that in order to beat the bad guy, our heroes have to sacrifice something bigger. Their morality, their family, their friends, their souls, their lives, somebody else's life...By the time they're done sacrificing stuff in order to screw over the baddies, everybody is so depressed it almost wasn't worth it (this is usually where we get all the angst over the cost of being a hero. Anybody remember when being a hero was FUN?). You kind of wish the bad guys had won. I mean, at least THEY usually have a sense of humour.

Hell, much as I love the latest James Bond movie, even that wasn't immune.

So I'm going to cross my fingers for Supernatural, and pray to high heaven that the damn writers don't burn the poor Winchester boys out. There is PLENTY of angst to go around already. They don't need any more death and despair. Just bigger guns.

I'm serious. If they apocalypse this show to death before I get to see more of half-naked Dean, I am going to be pissed.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son

My poor mum is horribly sick. She came home from work a few days ago, shaking with chills and vomiting. A few hours later, she was sweating buckets. Then she was back to a normal temperature, then the cycle started up again. All the while her face from her throat to her ears were on fire, and she had a rancid taste in her mouth that wasn't caused by throwing up. We spent two days dosing her up with painkillers, then finally I caved and called up the NHS helpline, spoke to a lovely, helpful and concerned nurse and a dismissive, bored, unpleasant doctor. I took the advice of the former (get her seen by a doctor right away), ignored the latter (dismissed half her symptoms and wanted me to let her suffer for a few more days), booked her an appointment with the out of hours doc at the local hospital and took her in. The doctor there took one look at her and gave her a course of antibiotics. Her throat was badly infected.

We got her home and since then we've been running constant watch keeping her warm, cooling her down, giving her painkillers and the antibiotics every few hours, keeping her fluid levels up and making her eat so she can take the medicine. She can hardly lift her head, so one of us has to feed her or make sure we bring her something she can just pick up, and she can hardly swallow so we have to make sure all her food is liquid or chopped up very small - even mushy stuff like bananas have to be cut up small for her.

If we're not in the room and she needs us, we just get a text saying "Nurse!"

I'm absolutely shattered, but given that I called the NHS half convinced she had meningitis or something, I'm rather relieved. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in tomorrow. Until then, I know I owe emails and comments, but I am going to SLEEEEEEP so I can take her to her nurse's appointment tomorrow (she made it months ago - excellent timing. And when I say "take", I mean "sit beside her in the taxi", because I'm not insured for fishing the car out after I accidently drive it into the river).

Current Mood: sleepy

Me: *type type type*
*Loud thud* (Cleo jumping from kitchen windowsill)
Me: *type type type*
*Thunder thunder thunder thunder thunder thunder* (racing paws coming upstairs)
Door: *flies open*
Cleo: THUNDERCATS! HO! *rockets across room and takes a FLYING LEAP onto my windowsill*

Or rather, into the curtains.

Curtains which happen to be rather flimsy and slippery and not at all suitable for catching a flying cat, but which are excellent for sending said cat skidding straight into the window and then back off into a complicated twisted aerial maneuver (complete with ominous ripping sounds), during which she manages flip around and claw her way between the muslin onto the actual sill. Where she stays for all of two seconds, because the humilation of her little incident was apparently too much.

Do you know how much lap time and chin scratching I had to provide before she recovered from that?

(Not to mention how sharp a nipping my fingers got from having the audacity to close the curtains in the first place.)

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: Gavin Friday - Wig Wam Bam

I need to add a new camera to my huge list of Things I Need (but since item one is a place of my own, I'm not holding my breath). I dug it out, realised the batteries were dead, so plugged them into the recharger. The next morning, I managed to take precisely two photos before it died again, which either means the camera is broken or I've finally worn out the rechargable batteries.

(I can see you coming up with the dirty remarks. Yes, yes I can. Stop it. Yes, I DO mean you.)

So here are two rushed shots - one blurry, because I can't hold a camera straight to save my life.

( New hair )

Some friends of the family are having their daughter christened this weekend, so we sneakily collected some photos of her and I did a small black and white painting of her for a gift. It turned out remarkably well, and only took me a day (working from photos is so much faster than from imagination), but now the requests are pouring in, and apparently I need to revise my fees. My mum thinks I could charge a hundred pounds per portrait. I'm still boggling at that. I'm also getting a few commission requests from people who have seen my work online. I need to finish my coursework sharpish, I think. I already have a project for whitemunin as my top priority, but if I work out some set fees and hours per project (I've never kept track), I might be able to start scheduling some more work.

I'm dying to have a regular income again (preferably a larger one than I had as a student). I feel much too old to still be so dependent on my parents.