☆❀☆

So, I ordered a set of watercolours from Beam Paints back in November, and it just arrived today. Two shades of green, two yellow, one red, and one dark blue. It's actually bundled with a Kaweco Sport fountain pen, and comes in the pen tin along with a travel paintbrush. It's quite a nice little set and I can hardly wait to try it out.

The Kaweco pen (plastic, medium nib) is very different from the Pilot Metropolitan (metal, extra fine nib) that my pen-enthusiast acquaintance loaned me. It's quite small; narrower than the Pilot pen, and when capped it's roughly 10 cm; with the cap off and stuck on the back, it's roughly 13cm. VS the Pilot, which is 13.5 capped and roughly 15 uncapped. The Kaweco pen is much, much lighter, which I appreciate because honestly, my hands are rather weak and I've always had issues with heavy pens. I would never write anything extensive (such as fic) with the Pilot pen, but I could potentially see myself doing so with the Kaweco pen. Mind you, I'm not about to give up the cheapass Bic rollerballs that I use as my main fic-writing medium.

The Kaweco pen came with one cartridge tucked backward inside of it; apparently this is standard for this pen. Probably due to shifting in transit, there was a godawful mess; ink everywhere. I had to clean things out a bit before using. Since there was spillage, I'm not quite sure how long that cartridge will last, but I'm going to eventually buy a converter regardless, so it doesn't matter so much.

The travel brush is quite nice; good weight, feels like good quality. It's a really versatile size and I can see myself using it a lot.

...Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to actually use any of the paints, which were the entire reason I bought this set. But hopefully I will get to it within the next few days. I'm super looking forward to trying it out. :V

+ An acquaintance loaned me a fountain pen so I could try it out. I was interested but a little hesitant, because my experience with Fancypants Pens up to this point hasn't been great (though admittedly previous experience was limited to glass dip pens. And also calligraphy pens in elementary school art class). This one's quite nice, though. It's a Pilot Metropolitan and I might end up getting one for myself. Though, will need more practice - my writing is even uglier and more illegible with this thing than it was with the cheap-ass Bic rollerballs I use most of the time. If I get one of my own, it'll probably be something I use for both writing and drawing. Maybe. Probably not for fic though.

+ I will confess though, part of my interest in fountain pens (aside from this acquaintance's enthusiasm about them, which is kind of cute) is the wide variety of fancy inks out there. So pretty! So stylish! You can even get shimmery purple ones! Amazing.

+ It was absolutely miserable out yesterday. I took a look at the weather in the morning and it was -38C after windchill. Eew. A lot of events in town were cancelled because it was so cold - though that isn't just us, apparently several other cities had to cancel their Santa Claus parades and whatnot as well. Looks like we'll be dealing with this for a while. The transit stop that I use after work doesn't have a bus shelter any more, so it's going to be a very cold week.

+ The faucet on my sink has a crack in it and is going to need to be replaced. This is a terrible time for it, partly because this time of year is busy in general and also because I will not be able to take any time off work until mid-January because my coworker is leaving very soon for a month (there are only two of us in my department), so if I have to get somebody in to change it out it could be an issue. A cursory search tells me that this kind of thing can theoretically be handled as a DIY; my father is coming over this afternoon to take a look at it. Hopefully he can fix it (or maybe he knows a guy who can). Aughhh.

+ Wood Buffalo Pride is hosting another letter-writing session later this week in response to the UCP's Bill 9. I'm 50/50 on whether I'll go. I already wrote to Danielle Smith and my MLA, and I doubt a second letter to either of them would have an effect. But I've been kind of considering writing to other MLAs, not from my area, who have been objecting to Bill 9, thanking them for that and encouraging them to continue. I'm thinking mainly of Janis Irwin, who has been very outspoken against it and has been getting so much shit in response (though she tends to piss off conservatives on the regular no matter what, on account of being 1. an NDP representative 2. a member of the LGBT community 3. a woman who speaks her mind, is articulate, and doesn't look like a Barbie doll). I dunno, we'll see - depends on whether I feel like hauling ass to go out again immediately after coming home from work, I guess.

Writing: I throw off a draft, put it aside, and then forget about it. It sits in my wip folder (either physical or digital) for years until I do something with it.

Knitting: I knit up a thing, put it aside, and then forget to block it. It sits in a bag in my closet for years until I remember that it's there and block it.

Drawing/painting: I do a thing, and then shove it in a folder and forget about it. Maybe months later I'll remember to scan it. Maybe not.

The similarities. They sure are a thing.

Air quality this weekend was, to quote The Weather Channel, "Atrocious and unsafe". Wow. (It's smoke blowing in from Saskatchewan.) Anyway, I stayed inside for my stat holiday today, which is not how I wanted things to go.

Stuff that I did this past weekend:
+ Went to a coworker's birthday party
+ Went for a coffee meetup organized by the local pride group
+ Did some reading (but not as much as I'd have liked)
+ Hauled out my watercolours and did some paintings
+ Brainstormed some fic concepts (that I don't have time for at the moment but maybe at some future point), specifically some NL/DK/NO and also some NL/NO, the latter will probably require research but we'll see.
+ Had planned to do some writing for IIBB but found myself exhausted. So. That will have to be... later. (I'm in the "I hate this fic" editing stage.)

( Watercolour stuff )

I've been finding so much drawing paper in my room during all this cleaning, it's absolutely bonkers. I'm talking like... at least two unused sketchbooks, and then two more that have a few things in them. And there's probably more than that floating around. I should do something with that. If I had any artist friends nearby, I would just hand them over, but I am not paying postage to mail paper to somebody. No. SO... time for some fooling around.

I remembered the shrimp method, which is mostly just common-sense stuff in the form of "draw the thing from reference until you understand how to draw it". But what I really like about this silly little tutorial is that first you draw what you think the thing looks like, and then after you teach yourself how to actually draw it, you compare your final drawing to the first. (And then laugh at it, probably.) Sounds fun. And potentially hilarious. Except I'd probably do it with, like, an octopus instead of shrimp. Or maybe fantail goldfish, because they're one of the things I default to doodling anyway.

Anyway... it would give me something new to do while I'm cooped up inside. It's too cold to go out and do anything, so I can't use one of my main ways to kill time (walking outside, or on the treadmill in the garage). And since I still don't feel much like writing anything, well. Y'know.

I can't get over how fucking FREEZING it is here. Aughhhh.

☆ Looks like I've come down with a cold. Oh, goody. I wish I knew which motherfucker passed these germs to me. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

☆ Seems I'm going to be doing Yuletide Exchange this year, even though I thought I wouldn't. I was jotting down some fic ideas, and it turned out to be enough for a letter, so... why not! But aside from signups, I'm not going to worry about it much until ToT is over.

☆ Inktober starts tomorrow! *_* I have a pad of cheap scratch paper... somewhere... which I will be using for this. Going to try to mostly draw OCs, but if I get frustrated with that, I might just default to drawing objects again. (And knowing me, that'll mostly be coffee mugs). Since I'm going to be doing it in ballpoint on scraps, I'll hopefully be able to relax and have fun with it, and not take it too seriously.

☆ State of the Long Smutfic: just started the 15th handwritten page. Oh dear. Estimate is that it'll finish at 20. I'm going to hate revising this story so, so much. (But it'll be worth it.)

Writing poetry is fun, but it sure doesn't do much to help the CampNaNo wordcount. Heh. Oh, well. I finished a bunch of things this weekend, and worked on some other things, and I'm feeling pretty good about it, even if at the same time I feel like I hardly wrote anything.

I discovered that there's a small space inside the town's community centre that's perfect for just chilling. It's farther back than I usually go, and it has pretty big tables, and really good lighting, and it's kind of quiet because it isn't close to the library entrance. I think I might take to going there to sit and sketch, maybe. Write. Or whatever. Did that for a bit yesterday, and it was nice. I took my sketchpad down with me, the one that was really cheap, so I don't feel uncomfortable about using it, and I scribbled for a little while there. Mostly messy crap, but it felt good. I did manage to do one scannable sketch of Vesa*, which is great because now I can get Kiraly to draw him for me.

Maybe next time, I'll take my coloured pencils and some random objects, and draw those. Drawing things is more fun than drawing people, and it's even better when it's in weird colours, like I did with these. I have a lot of packages of Prismas where I wore down all of the colours that I actually use, and was left with lots of weird-ass shit like light orange and magenta and neon green, so it's nice to find a use for those colours. No idea what I'll take with me for drawing when I do this, though. ...Hah, maybe I'll just draw my lunch before I eat it, that'd do.

I'm thinking about adding fic prompts to my Night on Fic Mountain signup/letter. I'm in a weird space where I like fic, but I don't feel like prompting for it. I'll have to think of something. Maybe just a general likes list would be enough? (General likes, then canon/pairing-specific general likes...) Ehhh I'll figure something out.

I planned to do so many things this evening, but I was so, so tired when I came home. Ugh...

And yet, it isn't as if I didn't do anything. So, I'm going to do that thing where I list all the things that I did, so that I can rub my own face in it and say "HAH, YOU WERE ACTUALLY PRODUCTIVE!"

( Like so )

It isn't really that much, but it's at least Something. It's more than I get done on some days, at least.

But ughhh I just. I don't know. I was planning to type up fic this evening, but. [/rubs eyes] OH WELL. Going to be an early night tonight, I think.

On a completely unrelated note, I've been thinking about drawing. I've been thinking about drawing a lot. And I kind of - well, I want to draw my OCs. Both the fandom ones and not. But drawing always makes me feel so... stressed and anxious and high-strung. I guess it's because, I like the idea of drawing, but whenever I actually do it, it isn't very enjoyable, and nothing ever looks right.

Contrast that with writing, which is sometimes really hard, but even when it's really difficult, I have fun doing it, and most of the time I'm satisfied with the result.

Yeahhh, I don't know. Maybe I'll... just... pull out some crayons and slap down some ideas so that I can at least get used to the way it feels to be putting things on a page. No reason to feel stressed out about it if I'm not "actually drawing" - if I'm just fooling around, it doesn't matter, right? Ugh, I used to draw all the time when I was a kid, and I kind of wish I'd never stopped. But I stopped when it wasn't fun any more, so... there we are, I guess.

...Anyway. Enough of that. Shower, then bed. Urghhh, I'm sooo tiiired....

Going to dump a backup for my SSSSona info here, just because the SSSS forum can be difficult to navigate, and I'd like to have everything in one place. I don't want to misplace this stuff, just in case I do more with it. It'll also make things easier to add to it if I keep it here.

I'm not accustomed to a project that is so self-indgulgent.

( Tl;dr character bio stuff and 2 drawings under cut )
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( Tarot information )
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( Other things )

Haven't been writing as much in the last week or so as I usually would. I would say it's due to being distracted by fandom, but that isn't exactly it. Actually, I've been working on a drawing, and it's been taking up every single extra moment I have.

Man. Now I remember why I don't draw. It's such a timesink. And I don't really enjoy the drawing part; it's the colouring that I like. Thankfully, that's the part I've been working on for the last few days. I've been having fun with it, but man... I am going to be so glad when this thing is finished.

My brain is all over the place and I've been listening to 2008's Eurovision entries on repeat and... man, that year had some super cracktastic songs. (And some good ones. Finland's entry, holy shit) -- I actually have a lot of thoughts about that year's entries, but jotting stuff down during lunch hour is probably not a good time. Anyway....

It's been damp and foggy out lately. Not exactly my favourite kind of weather. I don't mind a bit of chill, but damp is another thing. Blech. Do not want.