Where'd Friday Go?

So, I had this really awesome post planned for Friday, and by planned I don't mean written, I mean I had thought about the topic of the post prior to last Friday. Yeah, I know that there are tons of bloggers out there that say to write out your posts at least a couple of days before posting and to have a few back up posts for when writing just doesn't happen. Those are the bloggers that probably have all their posts up on time and never miss a post. That's clearly not me. I've tried. It just isn't something that works for me. So, you'll be getting last week's awesome Sailor Moon post this Friday--the chances of this happening are actually fairly high. I'd give it maybe 90% chance?

I guess that brings me to why Friday's post never happened. Well I had another doula training workshop last weekend. This one was focused on postpartum support (it was excellent by the way--if you plan on having kids I highly recommend a doula to help). Anyways. I knew it was coming, so I thought, hey, I'll just write my blog post on Thursday--I decided this on Wednesday after finishing up the WIP post. I even wrote it down in my planner. And then it was Friday morning and I woke up with less than 20 minutes to get out the door. What? How'd that happen? I'm still not sure what happened to last Thursday... Oh yeah, I remember what happened to Thursday, or at least Thursday evening. I was trying to get a portfolio together for Katsucon's AA application and a description and all that jazz. This time it was a little more complicated because I was submitting a group application for myself and one other artist (Sempaiko--she's an amazing artist you should check out her stuff). This was my first time trying to do something like this. That app was supposed to go in Friday morning before I left, but that clearly didn't happen. I didn't even get my lunch put together that day. By the time I got home Friday evening, all I wanted was food (a diet Dr. Pepper and a tootsie roll pop do not count for much after a 12 hour day) and sleep. I did get the application in, and hopefully we'll still get in--they supposedly don't do first come first serve and base the choices off of variety, although I still imagine that if they're going to take x # of print artists, they're going to take the first x artists they like? Dunno. Whatever. If we get in, awesome. If not, there's always next year. Anyways. The application happend. The blog post did not. XD

Then I thought about writing the post Saturday morning and putting it up late. It wouldn't be the first time I'd done that. But then, I failed to get up early enough to write before leaving for the workshop, and after another very long day which did not actually end with the workshop--it ended after a shift selling popcorn at a Harris Teeter--I was again tired and hungry and not up for much of anything. I did at least have a sandwich and some chips for lunch this time, but when lunch is at noon and dinner was not until almost 9 that evening... You get the idea. So Saturday didn't happen either. =P Yep this is pretty much how my life is. XD

Wednesday WIP - Volume 48

Still don't see it... but there has been progress.

Finally getting back to the FF IV Buttons

Moon

Mercury

Jupiter

Fail at Sales

This might be obvious to anyone who's met me in Artist Alley (or it might not), but I am a horrible sales person. I feel like Fluttershy:

Me: "Hi." =)
Person: "I'm just looking."
Me: "Oh that's okay, I really don't mind. You don't have to buy anything. In fact, you probably don't want to buy anything from here. I mean you could if you wanted to, but there's really no pressure. Nevermind. I'm just going to shut up now and hide behind my table. Bye."

Actually, I really don't mind people looking at my stuff, laughing at the humor, and not buying something. I really am just happy that they enjoyed what I created. There are still lots of awkward embarrassed moments (at least for me) where I feel like just by saying hi, I'm trying to obligate people to buy, when really I'm just trying to be friendly (cause I like talking to people, but I'm incredibly shy and socially awkward, and my table is my comfort zone, so really I just want to say hi and I'd really just love it if you smiled and said hi back.) I only want people to buy my stuff if they really really really like it, and they still have enough money for food and for gas to get home. This is probably why I will never ever "make a living" off my art, but I actually prefer it to be this way. Maybe I'll only ever be an "amateur" artist, but for me that means I don't have as much pressure on me, and I can keep drawing whatever I want to with little consideration of trends.

So, why am I talking about sales today? Because for the last 2 weeks we have been selling popcorn like mad for Boy Scouts (and Cub Scouts). I hated doing fund raisers when I was younger. I hate doing them now, and I feel very horrible that I'm not independently wealthy enough to just fork over the $ my kids are supposed to make selling popcorn (there are minimum sales requirements for each scout) and not subject them to this torture.

Instead, we've been setting up tables in front of local grocery stores (our pack made an arrangement with them to allow the scouts in our pack to sell popcorn during certain hours). We've been going door to door harassing all the poor people of our community. Really, the boys have handled it better than I probably have (except for Luke, but then he's like me and he hates stuff like this too for many of the same reasons). Also, if I step back and look at it, they are learning life skills--things that will help them as adults. They are learning how to interact with people politely even when the people they talk to are rude. They are learning that their demeanor makes a difference (when Luke's grumpy and growling at people, they don't buy popcorn). They are learning to set reasonable goals and how to work toward them. These are lessons I should probably have learned when I was younger too, but my mom was a lot like I am now--she hated fund raisers (do we see a theme here?). She never encouraged me to go out, and because none of my school or band fund raisers had minimums, I never really had to do it. We'd buy a little bit for our own family, and that'd be it.

I'm still happy to not be good at sales. I feel like this way, I can know that people who buy my art do so because they like it not because they felt any pressure to do so against their better judgment. At least, I hope that's how it is.

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff

So, I've been watching Doctor Who (finally). I've finished up through season 3--I started with the newer stuff, so I think I got the 9th Doctor and Rose to start with. Do I really need to go into a series overview with this one? I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one on the planet who has not watched Doctor Who. The jist of the series is pretty simple: the Doctor travels through time and space frequently with a female companion (assistant?) saving humans from a variety of alien dangers. That's pretty much it, in a nutshell.

Now, I like the series. Really. I'm enjoying watching it. I'm not sure I'm going to join the throngs of raving Dr. Who fans though. While I will probably keep watching till the end of whatever's on Netflix and the idea behind the series is fascinating, I have trouble really getting attached to the Doctor himself. I maintained neutral feelings toward him for seasons 1 and 2. Maybe Rose brought out the best in him? Having finished season 3 (by the way, I liked Martha--way better than Rose), I've come to the conclusion that I really don't like the Doctor.

It's not the actor. David Tennant (and the guy before him, Chris Whoever--I can't spell his last name and I'm being too lazy today to go look it up) does just fine as the Doctor. I don't like the Doctor's personality. It just rubs me the wrong way. I especially don't like how he treats his companions. Yeah, it's super cool being able to travel around the universe and through time and all that, but he treats his companions like objects (or maybe pets is a better term) much of the time and like actual people only when it's convenient. I'm sure that's all because he's a Time Lord and that's what they're like. That may justify it, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. My general dislike of the Doctor makes it difficult to really 100% engage with the series.

I don't regret watching Doctor Who. I now get a lot of the Doctor Who related stuff I find floating around the internet and at conventions. I wouldn't mind having a T.A.R.D.I.S. as long as it came sans the Doctor. =P I do also like seeing how the series interprets different times--as a historian this fascinates me. In fact, that is probably the one thing that keeps me coming back--to see where they're going next and what it will look like. Some of the odd cultural references tossed in for flavor are entertaining as well. Some of the dialogue can be quite funny. There are definitely series out there I've enjoyed more; on the other hand, there's a lot more that's much worse than this on television and Netflix. I won't rate it fantastic, but I'd still say it's pretty good.

WIP Volume 47

Lame post is lame part 2. XD Progress has been minimal this week on the blanket project I'm working on and no drawing happened. Failsauce.

So, It doesn't look like that much was added to it. The bulk of what happened was disassembling some of what I had finished because I adjusted the pattern slightly. Hence why there's a random black strip and a couple of loose black squares. They'll get added back in later. Final blanket will be 14x14 blocks.