Unsolicited Advice From Rowyn on Where to Put Your Stuff

I had noticed this a long time ago, but I had never thought to smoosh the solution to my own problem with those of ring-wearing people, or other small bits people have on their bodies most of the time.

In my head, the rings I wear are purely functional splints, but they really are decorative rings too.  They ALSO brace my fingers for me, sure.  That doesn't change the fact that they aren't actually permanently fixed to my hands. 


They aren't some cybernetic attachment, as much as I treat them as such. 

 
That being said, I still FLIP OUT when one comes flying off or gets caught on something and gets pulled off. 

This is A: because my fingers really are very uncomfortable without them,
B: because I'm so used to them, so it's just jarring to remember that they CAN be removed and
C: They were really expensive. 

So, early on when I didn't know if I was going to wear them all the time, I went looking for a container to house them so they didn't just roll away or be stolen by goblins while I slept.

Eventually I found a cheap but cute contact lens case:

 
Now, I've seen people *coughMOMcough* who have rings they'd wear all the time but sometimes need to take off, yet have no place in their purse or wallet or jacket to keep them.  I've seen plastic baggies where some rings can get bent anyway or just thrown into purses to be lost or damaged. 

I'm guilty of that last one with earrings, I'll admit.

Using a small container, be it a lens case or not, is really a nice idea.  It doesn't take up too much space and then it's there if you need it.  I've seen little inch or so tall jars for travel purposes that would do the same thing.

The lens case was just handy for me because I have two hands and each has a set of rings.  This way, I can separate them between right and left.

Because I typically wear them as much as humanly possible, this particular case gets used for my "spare."  …I put spare in quotes here because it only became so when I lost it as I slept, questioning if I had somehow gone to the bathroom and flushed it in the middle of the night.  I found it long after I had reordered one.  It was hidden under my dresser and found when I moved.  

It's the farthest joint ring which FLIES OFF more than anything else, so I don't know that other people really have this issue.  Most rings sit much closer to the hand, and most rings are not worn at night anyway. 

For these rings, this is a handy tool for by the bed or on a desk or wherever you generally keep things you don't want to lose, while not shoving them into a jewelry box with all the everything else's ever.  

That being said, I don't know that any sane person should take advice from me about organization and not losing shit.

I am not the neatest person when it comes to my work space, until I get too fed up and clean until the walls bleed.  However, I like containers. 

An animal skull Xena got for me that I think was meant to be a paperweight or just art became a thing to hold papers on my desk:

Another skull which I bought from Claire's or someplace a thousand years ago was a cell phone holder.  It does not hold a smart phone in any possible way, so now it holds wipes for glasses or sometimes business cards.  Really, it would be great for anything small, like paper clips or safety pins... whatever: 

 
A mug that I don't want to use for drinking became a holder for pens, pencils, a voodoo doll and Satan:

A "critter bath" from a pet store holds whatever I damn well please because it's freaking adorable and shut up: 

I also have a lobster on my desk:  

…


I have no excuse for the lobster.

A-Lot-A-Con and Migraine Madness

I had the opportunity to go to A Lot A Con at Oneonta yesterday.  It was a one day, first time out convention and for a first go at it, it was very well organized.  Next year, I hope to spread the word a bit more and get more people to show.  It also unfortunately fell on Free Comic Book Day. 

I dragged my Knight, Rob with me to spread his comic and sell some prints.  
We looked like this: 

And this generally leaves everyone around us like this:

I learned that trick from my sickeningly cute parents.  Blame them. 

In any case, the con was going pretty well.  We met some nice people, I sold some things:

 

And Rob took commissions on site in the form of drawing people as potatoes or doing custom monsters. 

Here is my take on one of them: 

 

His were better. 

Now, to understand the oddity that I really have become, you have to realize that when I'm stressed, I'll respond the same way in public that I do at home.  This is generally fine, but it makes for some strange habits.  One has been rationalized as a positive thing, which makes it even worse.  

You see, if I'm drawing or sculpting or whatever and I am hungry and I don't want to get my food on everything, sometimes I'll just stick my head into whatever I'm eating, like I'm a horse: 

Of course, this also works in the opposite direction, as it prevents my hands from touching my food when I've been doing artwork and my hands look like this, regardless of washing: 

In any case, this certainly looks bizarre to the people around me, and because of the utter CRAP I've been ingesting lately, as well as how infrequently I eat, I've been getting headaches.

...

Duh.  

Having a migraine in a situation I can't really leave is usually something I can power through, but it makes it so I reeeaaallllly don't care what people think anymore.  I'll make strange faces in an attempt to ease the pain, for example.  After a while at this particular convention, I learned that if I closed my left eye, things were much better.  

If I had an eye-patch, I could have just cosplayed as a pirate:

Rob suggested I get a mask, like the Phantom of the Opera:

Instead, I wound up like this:

Still, we reached out to a few fans (both known and new) and we managed to have a good time, regardless of my turning into a pumpkin.  

Yay!

I've Been Doin' Stuff! ... Really!

As you've seen before, my Knight and I view ourselves and each other in ways that probably don't make much sense outside of our very skewed context.  

For example, he is my love potato:

And I am his little pizza roll: 

And, as you've seen by now on this blog, I just don't see the world in a completely sane way in general.  

...

I need to do more artwork to let this... whatever it is out.  I've been in school for too long and I'm getting restless.  The last semi-decent art things I've done were a painting for my housemate:

And a thing for my mom's nursery school class: 

...And some assorted commissions here and there.  Portraits for a friend's podcast were fun to do:

That podcast is the Shuadcast, by the way.  It'll be up at youtube.com/Shuadcast
For now, check it out here: Shuadcast!

So, I've been doing stuff.  

But I need more!  *makes greedy hands*  So I've got some painting ideas in the works, and once all this school related insanity is done, I'll be working on comics.  

www.deddrie.com is getting an overhaul, for example.  

Donna might actually go somewhere.  
The pages right now mostly look like this:

But should look like this: 

To give a better idea, this is what the page looks like with the background kinda in, but the foreground not yet colored:

Lastly, I'll be working on one fourth of a comic for someone else. Here is a preview of the kind of stuff that'll entail: 

Woo!

Almost New Apartment

 It's been a month or so since a couple friends and I moved into our apartment and I never updated this thing about that move.  Sooo...  Let's start over.

 And I often see the world in very interesting and horrifying ways.

So far, I've learned that when my Knight isn't in my room with me, the world is a horrible, freezing cold place.

 In our kitchen, we have one tile that isn't quite glued down.  This hasn't been a problem, except when we forget about it and it catches one of us by surprise.  This would be easily fixable... but we just haven't.

 The other problem is the heat.  Now that Spring is upon us, it shouldn't be an issue anymore.  However...  It was.  The radiator was a pretty interesting issue, in fact.

 These things have a mind of their own when you have no key.

I'd melt from the heat and then FREEZE due to my fan that wouldn't stop.  You read that right.  It wouldn't stop.  I could control the light by the cord, but not the fan itself.  There was no switch.  

I had my buddy rip the damn thing apart.  

Beyond that though, the apartment is really nice.  We will be able to see the fireworks from our living room on the Fourth of July.  It's cozy and I have a little hallway that curves into my room.  It's all very nice.  

My art supplies have been slowly taking over the world, and in trying to push it all back, sometimes my other crap gets in the way.  This leads to some moments that are less than good. 

...

Here's hoping. 

...

...

...

And that is about the state of things.  

I've been eating pretty well, between bouts of stress.  My Knight has been cooking for me.  I'm very pleased by this and I'm thankful to have him by my side.