Hello world!

I think I've overcome my disillusionment. It was as much with my art as with this site. It is my hope I'll get back into the swing of things, reacquire some of my lost skills, and so forth.

I am very willing to receive suggestions on technique! Particularly life drawing. Particularly trying to draw a log cabin from a picture (an important gift that has me a little fazed... I took on a rather large project after being out of the art arena so long. )

I'm going to try to re-post most, if not all, of the images I took down. The problem is that when my computer crashed, it took most of them away with it. And I don't have all the originals or a scanner right now. So for any of you who may have a copy on your computer (or an original!), and you know who you are, would you please, PLEASE send them my way? I would appreciate it immensely!

Anyway, have a devious day!

I decided another update was needed, since I've been to the doctor.

Easter is turning out to be special, as my mother is mad at my sister and I. And even more illogically, I gave my nephew some toys for his birthday to keep at my place, and his mother freaked. Special.

All and all tho, things are going well. I spent the last two days baking and chasing Critter. I am going to try to make hummus and rice buns with taco mix in the center, and that should be about it for the day. I've adapted a good cupcake recipe so that it is gluten free and 2.5 points for a single iced cupcake. (Not bad, I think )

Work is busy busy busy which is nice. Unfortunately my brain was lost somewhere in the haze of allergic reactions. Hopefully I have all the nasty allergens cleared out of my food supply, and my brain will finally consider my body fit to be lived in, and return. My non-supervisor submitted my 3 month review last week- so I expect to have a sit down with a higher up soon. Will let everyone know how ~that~ goes.

My neck has been doing really poorly (big surprise), but it had been approving. Since Thursday, tho, after I cut out all restaurant food, Teriyaki, salad dressings and artificial flavourings, it's been doing better. So I am inclined to think part of the instability was due to the whole gluten thing. I'll probably be having more Xrays tho.

I saw the doctor, and he said gluten sensitivity, and that there is probably a dose of gluten I ~can~ handle, but since the rheumatoid arthritis persists despite cutting out all products with "wheat" "starch" and the like in their ingredient list, there is probably some small amount of gluten left somewhere in my diet. Chewing gum. Sauces of any kind. So forth. So, the end result- whatever amount of gluten I can tolerate is pathetic as I can't even handle the little bit included under the label "artifical flavouring" or the soya sauce, with its touch of wheat from fermentation that is included in Teriyaki, or the possible contamination of bulk goods by wheat products.

So where does this leave me? Paranoid and baking up a storm. Because I'm going to get sick of eating the same plain, unflavoured vegetables, meat and grains for the rest of my life. Actually, in 2 or 3 weeks, I can try flavoured rice cakes, and the experiment should tell me whether ~their~ artificial flavours includes gluten. But yea. Am desperate for suggestions!! Can't even use soup boullion.

I'm not writing much, and drawing even less. I lack drawing inspiration, a place to draw, and the basic ability to COLOUR. I swear I am colouring incapable because my one attempt in 2006 was a complete, unequivocal flop. Not sure where to go, what to do, but must learn to colour, either that or have some black and white inspiration.

I go see the orthodontist on... the 20th I believe. The beginnings of the world of braces!! Huzzah!! I also need to get my taxes in... a little too much going on, what with month end at work, and my 0 stamina. Oh well.

I hope everyone is doing well, and I'm sorry I'm not keeping in touch with anyone!!

It has been a long time since I’ve written a journal here. But, I’ve been thinking about getting drawing again, and posting some stuff… we will see. I’m also incredibly lazy, and don’t want to write emails (I know, I’m terrible) so I thought I would write one journal, and let everyone (on DA, at least) know the current state of my life.

So… new things before the updates. I joined Weight Watchers. Week 1, and I lost 4.2 pounds. I was quite surprised. Pleasantly so, and I’m hoping this is going to work out well for me… If I ever get my Ralph bucks, I’ll actually be able to afford to go.

Sadly, between my various therapies, I am spending about 280 or so a month… which is a lot of money, even for a working stiff. And the braces are coming soon. I’ll let ppl know how that works out- but my dentist predicts it’ll run me about 10 000 to 12 000 dollars.

I was thinking about buying a house in Inglewood, since it’s quickly being rejuvenated, and even when the bust comes, it will retain its property value because of its location. Unfortunately, I can’t afford it alone, and the sister doesn’t want to move. Also, there is some question whether I can afford it with the current medical expenses, so I may have to wait. If I move around, I should be able to double my salary in the next 5 to 7 years, and then I could probably afford the increased house prices. Or so I tell myself.

Oops… cookies done.

About those cookies. They’re only two points for about a three inch diameter cookie (bigger than those in Chunks Ahoy and such by about an inch), without using either wheat or Splenda. No wheat, because I gave it up. Without wheat, the rashes cleared up, the nausea and cramping and other digestive ailments disappeared, the nasty raccoon eyes faded, and my nose runs less. And now it is extremely apparent when something ~does~ bother me- apparently artificial sweeteners do not agree with me (aka aspartame, sucralose), and neither do meat tenderizers. I had a rather nasty reaction, with hives, nausea, the works, from meat tenderizer… and a similar, more severe reaction from the donut I ate on Thursday. (Nausea and vomiting and throat tightening are ~not~ fun at work.) And yes, I do have an appointment to see the doctor. The fortunate thing is that if I avoid wheat, MSG and artificial sweeteners, I am a lot healthier than I have been in a long time.

Ok, right, but the cookies. They are soooo moist, because I used apple sauce to replace half the butter, and they are incredibly chocolatey. I made them with sourghum flour… which is a bit of an adventure, because without gluten, you don’t get a lot of toughness or strength in your cookies. Very soft, so much so that my first batch disintegrated when I tried to lift them from the cookie sheet. Then I figured out if I stuck them in the freezer for ten minutes, they solidified enough to be lifted. And they’re really, really good. If any wants the recipe, I’m willing to share!!

I got a job in Project Controls. Cost control, specifically, and running around like with a chicken with my head cut off, trying to resolve all the problems with the invoices dumped in my lap. See, Suncor (the client company) switched over one of their financial systems, and it didn’t work properly. Thus, they are only now sending me December and January invoices… and they have the due dates all screwed up, so even once I get them approved, AP doesn’t plan on cutting a check until the end of April. It’s idiocy. It’s bedlam. It’s actually surprisingly fun. I spent a long time without any work because my supervisor was running around, fighting fires, and couldn’t make time. My new supervisor is also running around, fighting fires, but he makes time. So hopefully things will improve, and I will remain satisfied making 50% less than I could if I moved companies. I also get a lot of grunt work from one of my roommates, which fills out my time, and now that my supervisor is explaining things, I’m actually starting to understand how all the different components of project control come together to say something ~intelligent~.

Wow, ok, enough about my job. In terms of my personal life, I don’t have one. I’m friendly with the people at work, which is good, but I don’t really know many people in Calgary any more. And even if I did, I can’t actually ~do~ anything, anyway. In terms of my longer standing ailments- the neck and teeth- things are still not so great. I have really good news, that I have started holding my alignment for a few days, instead of only a few hours. Unfortunately, that’s still pretty pathetic. But I have hopes- my dentist thinks that when my front teeth are shifted forward (to make me more “bucktoothed”) that things will start to improve. I will be seeing an orthodontist very, very soon.

In terms of drawing, I haven’t been. I hope to do some this weekend… although that isn’t strictly true- I have been drawing simple designs intended for my t-shirts. One of these days, I will actually paint/iron-on designs for myself. It’ll be fun.

I have been writing a little bit. Very little. Mostly slash, but that makes it fun. Kamali has been… interesting, as usual. He’s a very, very special man. The rest of my loveys are doing well- Dani, Gwydion, Seiko- talking occasionally, and one of these days I’ll get into writing mode again.

My life in a nutshell

I'm going to remove my art because, well, I can't remember why I posted it in the first place. I don't want to lose the comments, so I'll try to replace them with something else. I'll keep adding to scraps, tho, so I can share my odds and ends with my friends, just no more finished pieces.

Really, I do. Because I never really have anything to say when I'm writing these, so I just sort of put something in the subject line and go with it.

So, I guess this is an update.

Today I feel like I was hit by a semi. Which ain't so great, but I have hopes that given a few days, I will recover. Top on my list of priorities is actually getting something to eat. And taking my iron pills.

Ah, yes, apparently in the span of two months I have gone from dead-on normal iron to very low. And not low in the normal range, no, no... anemic. I am annoyed as I have never been low in all my years as a vegetarian, and don't like the only alternative... but that's ok. The good news is that I'll prolly feel better as soon as I start popping the pills.

My neck has been really acting up lately, which is not a good thing. I hope it is the trauma of the ill-fitting splint (going in and out) and will return to a semblance of normal when I get the bloody thing fixed.

Otherwise, I'm just peachy. Have my plans all worked out, a few things to do, but they can wait. I have decided to learn laziness this summer In other words, to take it off and drain my account to afford my last semester of school. Then take loans for my second degree. The number of appointments I have alone make it difficult to have a job, anyway.

Ummm... I have been rather lonely, and generally frustrated because with a few very notable exceptions everyone has forgotten me. Makes you feel loved, I can tell you, when all your "friends" drop off the radar when you need them most. But I have a few really good friends, and that's all I really need.

My characters have been doing all right. I have been up to a lot of scheming lately, so they haven't really come out to play... however, they have new companions to keep them busy, and the overwhelming depression of my currently most predominant character hasn't spread among them yet.

I haven't really drawn anything lately, but when thinking about new people, I have been getting the urge to put pencil to paper to help me figure out clothes and appearance and such. So maybe more to come soon.

Well, that is all I can think of for now. I'm gonna go scrounge for something to eat. Between toothaches and the flu, haven't been getting enough. The real question is- do we have anything remotely edible?