Random

I'm finding it hard to blog lately, don't know why. I guess that's what I get for taking so many days off for the holidays, now it's not a daily habit anymore. Got to get back to it!

So, recent goings-on... Last night we went and saw a movie called Red Cliff, which was based on a famous battle from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. At times it was very good, and at times it was not, and at times I was like "Huh, what just happened?" Then I looked at IMDB and saw that it had been two movies, which they spliced together into one for Western audiences. I for one feel shorted.

Our gym started a new schedule, where you have a "home class" on certain days at a certain time, and that's when you go to the gym. No more 2:30 one day, 5pm another. On the other hand, no more having to keep each and every trainer in the loop as to just how bad I am at squats, so I guess that's good. Plus the trainer for the class I chose is the same one who has been doing Chris's personal training while his thumb heals, and he said that Chris could just come to the same class as me.

Speaking of the broken thumb, tomorrow the doctor will have another look at it and see if it's healed yet. If not, Chris may be able to just have a soft cast, instead of the ugly, smelly hard one that gets in the way of everything.

I haven't beaded or danced yet this year, and I definitely need to change that.

Well, that's about all for now...

Stupid Post Office

As I've mentioned, this has been a somewhat crummy week. As such, I was really looking forward to receiving my package o' beads and using them to make beautiful things. Today I went out to the mailbox, certain that my beads would be there. And what did I find instead? An orange "sorry we missed you" slip. I would like to point out four problems with this:

1: The package would probably fit in my mailbox.
2: If not, there are two boxes for packages, and they were not in use.
3: It's a beautiful day and it's not very far to walk from the mailbox to my apartment and give me my package!
4: I was home all day, so they can't claim they missed me.

So now, instead of having fun beads to play with, I get to go to the PO tomorrow -- 11 days before Christmas -- and wait in line to get my package. This means that I will not be able to include anything with these new beads in tomorrow's update. Maybe I'll just update on Sunday and have a super last-minute buy these now for the holidays post. How does that sound?

Speaking of Last Minute, you can use code lastmin for 15% off your order until December 16th. It's not too late to shop! All items will be mailed by Dec 17th, and I will upgrade them to Priority to try to make sure they arrive on time.

Gotta leave for my Chinese final in 1 1/2 hours. I'm unsure on how well I'll do -- it all depends on what words are on the test. There are some that I know as well as English now, and some which just won't stick in my head. However, my grade so far is really high, so I can afford to miss a few things and still get an A. As such, I refuse to stress about this test... I'm stressing about too many other things!

Street Fair and Studying.

It wasn't raining today, so we went to the Street Fair. It looked like a couple of vendors had packed it up and left after yesterday's bad weather, but most were still there. It was a cold, overcast day, but the walking kept it bearable until the end, when a chill wind started to blow.

I was sad to see that a few vendors who I like to shop with weren't there, but there were still a lot of nice things. I kept myself on a tight reign and only made a couple of purchases this time! I found someone selling stained glass bracelets for 3/$20, so Chris helped me pick out three really pretty ones. And I bought some simple blue-green niobium earrings. When I was a teen I found I could no longer wear earrings. Many people had recommended that I try niobium, so today I finally decided to. These earrings were pretty, but affordable enough that I wouldn't feel bad if I couldn't wear them, and the vendor had enough cool stuff to make me really want to wear earrings again! Anyway, I've been wearing these all afternoon and though it hurt at first, I can barely feel them now. Yay! Earrings, how I've missed thee!

My favorite thing that I saw, but did not buy (because it was $550!) was a painted woodblock image of a medusa's head. The snakes were all different colors, and layered and intertwined. It was seriously awesome. Although I'm afraid of snakes, I really love medusae and it can be hard to find good artistic interpretations of them.

Anyway, prior to popping on to blog I was busy studying for my Chinese final. I'm just worried that all of the words that I've forgotten will be on the test! Seriously, when am I going to need to say dorm?

Crammity Cram Cram!

I was under the mistaken impression that the skit that we'd slaved over for the past couple months was our final for Chinese... As it turns out, we have a test that serves as our final in a week. So I'm going to need to study a lot for that. Gotta make myself remember all those odd words that I learned near the start of the semester and haven't used since. After that, though, it's over a month until Chinese 102 starts. I fully intend to use most, if not all, of that free time to bead like a madwoman.

Last night I unfortunately did not bead. An annoying thing happened to me. You may remember that sometime back, I wanted to make a necklace with a pendant that I'd purchased at the Sept show, but I didn't have the right shade of orange seed bead. So when I ordered seeds a couple weeks ago, I picked up several likely oranges. Thus, last night I went to get all of the beads for that project together. I was ready to finally complete something that had been floating in my mind for months. Guess what? I can't find the pendant ANYWHERE! I looked everyplace that it should be, could be, and probably wouldn't be, but I was there so I looked anyway. I'm so frustrated! I have no idea where it is! By the time I gave up I didn't have time to pick out another project, so I just spent the night being annoyed and practicing Chinese instead. At least that helped me do good on today's test...

Flappity-flappity!

Just taking a little break from working on Phoenix Feathers. Those of you reading this who are beaders know the importance of resting your eyes and shoulders to avoid straining them both. The rest of you probably know that it's easy to find an excuse to go update your blog... LOL.

As I'm working on this necklace, I keep thinking of the story Sunbird by Neil Gaiman, and how I should really make Chris read all of the good stories in Fragile Things. And how I really ought to read more in general. Other than bead magazines, I haven't read anything since my dog-sitting weekend.

Memorization of the Chinese skit is coming along pretty well. I'll be glad to have that done so I can move on to worrying about getting ready for the holidays. Today we had some fun and got silly, reading it "with feeling." It's kind of hard to act in Chinese, since it's a tonal language, you have to be careful not to use the same sort of tone that you would to emphasize something in English. Also, it's hard to act when you're just trying to remember what you're supposed to be saying -- as has been proven by numerous movie and TV show outtakes where the actors flub their lines and totally fall out of character.

My Topher-cat is sitting in my beading spot. I suppose I should go ruin his night by making him move. He looks so cute and content!

Finals are evil!

Whew. We just put the finishing touches on the second draft of our skit for Chinese. This is the first time in my life that I've ever had to do a final project, and I have to say... man, these things are a lot of work! I have so much more respect for college students now. We have to do the last draft of the skit over Thanksgiving break. No rest for the weary!

Today was super-busy, and I haven't had a chance to find batteries or an AC adapter for my camera yet, so I did not update the site. Shame on me, I know. But on the bright side, I also didn't have time to wrestle with PayPal -- don't get me started on them -- so the free shipping sale is still going on! And you can still get an ornament with every $50 purchase just by asking nicely! There should be new jewelry this week. I'm thinking Wednesday. How does Wednesday sound to you?

I am happy to announce that all three items which I sent to Anime NebrasKon sold this weekend! Hurray! Dylan-the-con-organizer said that they received much attention and drooling, which was a happy boost to my ego. I wasn't sure how my jewelry would go over at an anime convention, but now that I know, I'll have to consider exhibiting at one of the ones we have here in AZ.

Speaking of anime, I'm going to go veg out and watch some Mushishi. It's some freaky-weird show that our friends Alex and Casey insisted that we watched. I'd been burned out on anime for a bit, but this series is different enough that it piqued my interest. Afterwards it will be time to bead a bit -- I've sold 3 spiral bracelets in the past week, gotta start restocking!

Sale Continues!

I'm not going to have time to wrestle with PayPal's cart until after class tonight, so I am going to say that the Accidental Free Shipping Sale will run until at least 11pm EST tonight. That's right, there's still time to buy jewelry and get FREE shipping!

The above image is the bracelet Gloaming, which I added to the site yesterday. I don't think the image came out quite as well as Galactic Beauty did, but it's still very nice. The colors are dark, but the detail on the crystals and amethyst is superb.

I'm almost done with my secret beading project. I'm going to hopefully finish it tonight, and I'll post it on Thursday. Now I just need to think about what to pack for my dog-sitting adventure this weekend. Maybe a strand collage... I haven't done one of those in a while. I'd like to do one in purple, or maybe red. Possibly black and red.

In the meantime, I've got to study for tonight's Chinese test, print up the first draft of my skit, and take an exciting trip to the PO. I get to have all the fun!

Ornaments!

As promised last week, here's an image of the ornaments involved in the 2007 Holiday Ornament Give-Away! Remember, any purchase of $50 or more made before December 15th 2007 is eligible to receive one of these beauties. Just say "Ornament me!" in the comments section of my shopping cart. This offer is good while supplies last, of course. Also, I will be giving away a larger, more ornate ornament, drawing to be held December 16th. All orders, regardless of size, will be placed into that drawing. You may also enter the drawing by posting about the Give-Away in your own blog, and contacting me with a blog link!

I updated the site today with a necklace called Eternity. You may recognize the Czech rectangles as being part of my September gem show haul. I really love how they look with the rectangular carving.

I'm not quite sure when the next website update will be. I may go back to Sundays, since I no longer run errands on Sunday, or I may stick with Monday, or I may go back to Friday... I'm having a little trouble adjusting my schedule to having Chris home all the time, on top of having class 2 nights a week, and gaming two times a week. I may fiddle around with the update schedule for the next few weeks until I find a day that I'm really happy with, but no matter what there will be jewelry every week.

One last thing: I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA! :D