Wow, it's really been a long time since I was on here. Rundown of the major news:

My grandmother passed away on April 3rd, which also happens to be my nephew's birthday. We got through the day but it was a rough time for everyone. She's the only one of my grandmothers I ever got to know - my mom's mom passed away when she was twelve. I know that she didn't mind going; she really hadn't wanted to stay after my grandpa passed away 2 years ago. I still remember her cussing at him after the funeral for going before her- it sounds odd, but it's a good memory, a kind of proof of how much they loved each other even after so many years.

The kicker is that it was the nursing home's fault that it happened. She was diabetic and was supposed to have her blood sugar tested everyday. After she went into the hospital in a coma, it came out that they'd only been testing her twice a week, if that, and that she hadn't eaten in two days. They did admit fault which is only good in that they didn't try to pretend that they didn't screw up and hopefully they'll clean up their act for the sakes of the other people there. And they're supposed one of the best nursing homes in this area, too.

On April 9th, the day before her 40th birthday, one of the women I work with everyday found out that the chronic pain she'd been having was uterine cancer and that she would have to have a complete hysterectomy. They did that and everything went well until they found something in her lymph nodes and stomach. She had to have chemo and radiation therapy but she's doing really well for all that. I'm so glad that she's doing better because she really is one of those genuinely nice people who's friendly to everyone and easy to get along with. She must be feeling pretty good because she'll be returning to work at the end of this month.

I, however, will not be there to see her. The company always has a two week shutdown in July but this year, they extended it to nine weeks in order to reorganize after shutting down one of their other locations. They didn't fire anyone; they'll all be coming to our building, hence the need to restructure. Only a skeleton crew will be working from June to August. I actually had the option to be one of them, but I turned it down. With the fact that I don't drive and everyone who gives me rides is planning vacations in that span, it really would be easier if I was off.

So I kind of get a summer vacation from work. I would be a little worried about not getting called back but my direct boss assured us that everyone is coming back in August. While I normally would take that with a grain of salt, the fact that the other location doesn't have a section that does my job reassures me that there isn't someone waiting to step into my spot. But if the worst happens, it happens. I have to admit, I'm still looking forward to the break. It'll be nice not having to get up at 5 for a while (we've been off overtime for the last two weeks).

I'm already lining up things to do in my upcoming free time. Besides the shelf of waiting to be watched anime and waiting to be read books, I'm hoping to get some writing done. Odds are, I'll be around here a lot more, too.

Till then.

It's been a while, yet again. I'm still at the new job and settling in pretty well. The actual work isn't hard but there are about a thousand little details to learn. I'm getting there. As far as I know, there are about four things out of twenty that I'm still really unsure of, the rest I can muddle through with minimum help.

The hours are good and bad at the same time. Apparently they decided sometime in the past to let the people who work there pick their hours and they decided they'd like to get out early. So I have to get up at 4 am and be at work by 5, although technically 5 to 6 is overtime and theoretically non-permanent. I get off at 2:30, which is nice because I then have the afternoon to do stuff if I'm not too tired. The people are nice, too, if a bit on the gossipy side for my tastes but I try to just ignore that part. All in all, I'm settling in well although I'm still getting used to the hours (I'm a morning person more than a night person; 4am is more night than morning in my opinion).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. I hope you're all having a good time and getting lots of gifts, too.

So I didn't post those chapters on Wednesday but I have a good excuse (and yes, I'll freely admit it's an excuse and not a reason). I got a call on Wednesday that the job I was hoping for is mine and I had to make several calls about paperwork and the drug test/physical I needed before I could start. The exam was on Thursday and took a lot more time than I expected and so I didn't do much more than try to contain my giddy and stop worrying about failing the drug test. The fact that I've never in my life done drugs (I'm lame, I know) didn't stop me from freaking out about mistakes in the lab and whatnot all weekend. First thing this morning I got another call and I have orientation on Wednesday and start full time on Thursday.

As you may have noticed from the run on sentences and lack of order to my rambling, I'm extremely happy with this turn of events. I'm not sure when I'll get around to posting those chapters since I still have things to get ready before Wednesday. I also don't know how long it'll take me to acclimate to the new job and thus have the time or inclination to do some writing - I'm thinking 2 weeks is a safe bet so I probably won't be online much until then.

At the beginning of September, I put an application in at a company. It's not my dream job but it's close to my house, not extremely hard work, I know someone who works there, and it's decently related to one of my interests. Aside from a "Thank you for applying" postcard, I never heard anything from them and wrote it off. Last week they called out of the blue and asked me to go in. They gave me the tour, showed me the job that they were offering, and then I talked to the HR director. She said they'd go over everything and let me know in about a week. So, fingers crossed, I might have a new job in time for Christmas, yay!

On a writing note, I've been working on the Inuyasha AU and the first chapter is about 200 words from being finished. I'm not sure if I want to work on it (tentative, sort of cheesy but fitting title "Movie Star Moment") or another fic whose first chapter is finished and second chapter is started ("Deeper Pull"). I'm thinking about putting both first chapters on here and getting opinions about which one is more worth whatever free time I come by. In fact, I'm going to make it my goal to finish MSM by Wednesday (day off) and get them both up here.

Behind The Icon: The hand in my icon is actually mine. When I went on vacation in Ocean City this last summer, I got roped into doing one of those old time photos as a saloon girl in the Wild West, even though I hate having my picture taken. I lucked out and got a purple dress but still thought I'd hate seeing it when it was done. I was right, but when I looked at the picture, I thought "You know, the square inch of just my hand holding the fan actually looks kind of nice. I think I like it." It then became an icon and I haven't looked at the original photo since.

I just realized that I never mentioned that and people might wonder why someone would put a picture of a hand holding a fan on a post that relates to neither. It's probably the closest I'll ever get to posting a picture of me and so I use it when I'm just rambling about current life things. And there you go, the story behind the icon.

So, a lot of things have been going on lately. After the last post, my mother was diagnosed as borderline bipolar and also with having an iron defficiency so sever that she was on the verge of needing a transfusion to fix it. She's better now and things with her have calmed down. It seemed to set off a chain of illnesses and accidents in the family, though.

( Surgery, Surgery, Sneezes, and Toes )

On a lighter note, I decided to try and get out of yet another writing slump by paging through my old notebooks (I have 30 or so; stationary items -pens, notebooks, staplers, etc - are so my crack) looking for inspiration. What I found was a single scribbled line that caught my interest and so I'm going to be working on it as long as that holds. It's an Inuyasha AU and who knows, this one might actually see the light of day. I'm hoping it'll spark work on all my other in progress stories but I'm trying hard not to pressure myself. I miss writing a lot and I want to get back to where it's fun again.

Hopefully my next post will be to commemorate success. Till then!

I like a lot of things about summer - the warm weather, the get togethers, the long days. You know what I don't like about summer?

The bugs.

I went outside my house for literally five minutes yesterday and got bit three times. Three times. In five minutes. There seems to be something about me (and my sister, if I remember correctly) that bugs just really like. Years ago when we had several cats, we had a flea problem. My whole family could be in a room together and my sister and I would be slapping and scratching (ourselves, not each other - that came later) while everyone else was totally left alone. I had scars for years from that.

And now I'm changing the subject because I'm getting itchy just thinking about it. There's a few things going on - a new job soon. From what I understand, I'm pretty much guaranteed it; I just don't know when I'm starting. This is good and bad - while I'd like to get it over with, not knowing the exact day keeps me from getting myself too worked up over it.

So I'm basically just relaxing and waiting, keeping myself busy with another bunch of books. I got a couple of retellings of fairy tales, which is a favorite genre of mine, which led to a plot idea. It's sort of a combination of Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty and the Beast?) and it actually came to me almost totally complete. I know how it begins, most of what would fill in the middle, and how it would end. I even came up with the opening paragraphs, which are always the hardest part for me. I either can't think of how to begin or I get a great start and have no story to go with it. I'm a little embarrassed to admit to just how many documents I have saved on my computer that consist of a couple of lines or a paragraph that never went any farther.

Hmm, maybe that'll be my next post, a sort of failed beginnings compilation to shame me into getting back to work.

I just got back from a four day vacation to Ocean City, Maryland. This was the second time I've been and it was pretty fun. I had a good time except for the sunburn I managed to get on the one really nice day. I'm not sure I want to go back anytime soon but it was a nice trip.

I think I've mentioned that I go through kicks when it comes to my favorite things. I just finished a puppet kick and am currently in the midst of a book kick. It was great to find a nice big box of books waiting for me when I got home yesterday. Some of what I've been reading/will be reading:

I just read "The Mediator" series by Meg Cabot. It was better than I was expecting and so I'm glad I tried it. I'm so picky about my fantasy books that it's hard to find ones I like, especially when it comes to series. Aside from Harry Potter, Enchanted Forest, Dark is Rising, Young Wizards, EverWorld, Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, and Discworld, I haven't found many that remain on my shelves. I'm not sure this set will stay forever but it's probably going to last longer than others I've tried.

I caught a bit of "Howl's Moving Castle" on TV last month and really liked it. I did finally see the whole thing and then I bought the book and it's sequel, "Castle in the Air". They were both very good, as expected; Diana Wynne Jones hasn't let me down so far. I also got "Homeward Bounders" (liked it very much) and I'm looking forward to the third Chronicles of Chrestomanci book as well.

I finally got the complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy set, which I've been wanting for years but never got around to getting till now. I'm also trying "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and its sequel. I'm going through the Discworld books slowly; I know I'll like them and so I save them for when I can't find anything else to try. So far I've read "The Color of Magic", "Equal Rites", and "Night Watch" (not counting "Good Omens" and all three Johnny books, since they're not Discworld but were just as good). "Thief of Time" is waiting on my shelf for just the right moment, which, if it keeps raining here, will probably be soon.

That's all for now.

I finished this a while ago but kept forgetting to post the picture. Anyway, here's Allen, my favorite puppet so far. I like the detail on his uniform; the overskirt looks particularly nice. I wish I had used the same overlapping that I did on there for the gold trim on his shirt points, but I did the shirt first and didn't think of it until it was too late. As always, the face and hair are the weakest points - I was trying to do something to indicate his hair's substantial lift, hence the two tones. His face is okay although it seems to be hovering between puppet normal and puppet chibi. I think it's kind of cute but I've had two people tell me that for some reason, he creeps them out. It might be the large eyes but whatever.

( Allen Schezar from Escaflowne puppet )

I still need to redo Kagome's bangs since I do like the rest of her (I seem to be good at uniforms and I'm getting better at doing straight lines on really thin pieces). I'm also working on an evil reaper for my brother. I already have the face done and it's suitably evil-looking; I just need to get his hood to look a little less bonnet-like. The hard part is going to be making the body interesting since it's just a black robe.

Writing was going really well until I was almost finished with chapter four of "FW" and then realized that it didn't really work as a follower of chapter three. Luckily, all the work won't be wasted; I'll just move it to chapter five and it'll be fine. On the downside, I need to come up with a new fourth chapter and it's a lot harder than expected. At least I can look forward to having two finished chapters one right after the other.

I finished a Kagome (Inuyasha) puppet although I'm not at all happy with her bangs. I'm thinking of redoing her hair and so I won't be putting up a picture of her until I'm more satisfied with the results. Right now I'm working on an Allen (Escaflowne) puppet and it's looking like it'll be my best one yet. I'm attaching the overskirt part of his uniform right now and all that's left (for the front, anyway) is his face and hair.

After ages of being a sloth, I've decided to get back on a schedule with writing. I started on Monday and am already seeing results. I finally finished chapter 3 of "Forgotten Warrior", although it still needs read over and some editing. I also started what was supposed to be a drabble but quickly turned into a oneshot Sesshomaru and Rin thing. Depending on inspiration, I'll try to finish that, start "FW" 4, or get some work done on "Deeper Pull" 2. My goal is to have at least one more complete thing before the end of the week.