I don't know why, but it's true.

I just had 2 weeks of being around people that miss me/love me/appreciate me (for who I am, not just what I do)/think I'm sexy, and ended with a sci-fi convention. The emotional drop from the end of this vacation probably means I'm going to be crying on the plane the whole way home. I wish I could just bring all my people up to Seattle, so I could have *everything* I need. eating dinner alone tonight was starting to get me down, but then I noticed that the hotel bar had a couple of pool tables. I dropped a dollar to be able to screw around a bit and just be bad at pool for a while, and ended up having quite a good time at it. I really did start out being atrociously bad, as expected, but that made me laugh at myself, which made me feel loads better. And then I started actually making my shots. It was kind of weird. I ended up having to chase the next-to-last ball around the table a bit, but I got the 8-ball in on the first try. And I didn't scratch with the cue ball even once. I guess I'm not as out of practice as I thought.

For all of those of you that I missed seeing while here: apologies. I did try, but my schedule really got weird there for a while.

ok, here's the schedule as I have it. plz to be claiming days/evenings if you want them.

6/10-6/13 -- fly to DFW, fetched by Mom, 2 nights in the vicinity of Tyler
6/13 --Early train back to Dallas, Staying with lifeblender and luckyckljw.
6/14 --screwing around in Dallas, maybe dropping portfolio off with a few craft boutiques
6/15 -- dinner with forbiddensight.
6/16 -- Train to Austin, staying with clarkk.
6/17 -- Free
6/18 -- Family Stuff
6/19 -- Free
6/20 -- day free, evening date (may change)
6/21 -- Free
6/22 -- Free
6/23 --get to Houston somehow and check in to hotel
6/24-6/26 -- Apollocon
6/27 -- Fly back to Seattle

There's a bunch of you I haven't heard from yet....

so, the firebird in the last post was actually the first in a series of elemental spirits/creatures (element of fire, naturally).

Water is finished, and it wants to grab you. :)

From NightshadeRose Studio

This is actually the image where the reflective edges have been touched up for printing. Honestly though, the picture doesn't do it justice. the darker brown is actually a shippery metallic copper color, and the water has swirls of blue shimmers throughout.

Next up (hopefully by the end of the weekend): Earth

Just so y'all know...

From NightshadeRose Studio

Enamel cloisonne on 14g copper plate. 6"X6". Click for bigger image.

Took the better part of 2 weeks to do, mostly because I only had access to the kiln at school for 3 hours at a time, and one of those was spent on pre-heating. So, something like 6 firings later, this is what I've got. I've also got a decent scan of it and I think it will make a good print. Just in case though, I think the first edition will be limited to 20 prints.

according to the interweb, it's warmer here than it is at home in Texas, despite the fact that I currently have 3-4 inches of snow on everything.

first, yes, I made it back from Florida in one piece.

I am ill today (upper respiratory system in full rebellion, plus fever), so this entry may not be particularly coherent. Probably no more than random bits and pieces, anyway.

Also, it's been snowing, and I am mildly perturbed by this.

I was pointed at this article this morning. It's about relationship structure and a concept of "consent" that goes well beyond sexuality.

we are hosting new-years this year. I'm putting on a tex-mex buffet. it's requiring a certain amount of pre-planning, since I'm spending that afternoon with other friends, and won't have it to spend on cooking.

hopefully I'll be able to get more cleaning/organizing done over the next few days, so I can jump back in to work/school next week. Art Business, Drawing II, and some more jewelry. I'm kind of inclined to do a series of pieces on the theme of horns/antlers (yes, Herne is still looking over my shoulder. No, I haven't figured out what else he wants.).

just as a note, the jewelry web site is up and running (http://www.nightshaderose.com/studio) and the Etsy shop is being restocked (http://nightshaderose.etsy.com). Go take a look.

In other news, school starts today. I'm going 3/4-time with the 4th Jewelry class (we're supposed to be coming up with an exhibit-able body of work) and Computer Art, which hopefully won't be too hard. It's not like I'm new to photoshop or illustrator (or computers in general, like some folks I've seen take that class). Getting used to the Macs in the classroom might be an issue, but only a tiny one.

Does anybody know of a way to run a search on my past entries? I'm looking for one on particular subject matter form some years ago.

Also in travel news, DFW did not eat my luggage, for once. I think it's because I didn't hand the bag over until I was boarding the plane, but it still seems to have been a near thing. I only had to give up my bag at the gate because the agent made me try it in the bag size checker, and the fit was a little tight. This would not bother me except that a)that bag had fit just fine in the overhead bins of every airplane we'd been on so far, and b)I saw, with my own eyes, larger bags allowed on the plane. One was so stuffed that the expandy bit had been unzipped, but there it was. The best theory I can come up with is that I was discriminated against because I'd picked up a brain-sucker over the weekend and it was still attached to my head (though probably starving by that point in the trip).