All Better (and Better and Better!)

Hello everyone!

So now, I'm almost completely over my sickiness. I feel way better than I did, and throughout the healing process I uncovered a lot of exciting news, and did some exciting things.

I'm tempted to list these from mundane to most exhilarating, but sorting them thusly would be...difficult. So I'll just shove them off of the diving board in my brain however they happen to line up.

I've finally made some more progress in Ze Book. I was having a bit of trouble for a while there, for reasons that sprouted entirely from my own issues. You know; go a few days without being able to make any progress, initiating a freak-out that maybe you can't do this after all, proceed to a few days of self-loathing for giving up so easily, and finally snap out of it after a cleansing venting session with a friend at work (Thanks, Roberta!)

So, progress is being made. Slowly but surely. Will I reach my goal of having a publishable book before the end of the year? Definitely. Will I reach my goal of "" before I start school in the summer? Eh...we'll see.

In a different creative vein, I've made these:

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is Agatha Helmsley. She is the unbelievably efficient secretary to Counselor Jasper South:

who is a lawyer in a 1940's Southern town. He's very good at what he does, and sees justice and fair play as ways of life rather than just ideals. He often runs into:

Edgar Rhodes, an officer in the Homicide Division, and the long-time off/on/off/on/off/on/off paramour of:

Phillipa 'Phil' Innis, the southern private detective who is hired by Jasper, friends with Agatha, and the lead of 'The Phil Innis Adventures,' an audio drama which will hopefully be coming 'soon.' Meaning, of course, whenever I can get a few shows recorded and mixed, which is not happening with any amount of ease because my actors all have very conflicting schedules :)

The pictures I created with a vector program (my sister says I use the term 'vector' in a weird way, and maybe I do, in which case I apologize but don't really care) to be used as decorations on the eventual hosting website. They're not quite finished yet, but I wanted to show what I've been working on so it doesn't just feel like I've been futzing around on the computer :) I have plans. Oh, how I have plans. But step by step, yes?

So that's the news on my creative front.

In other news, I was driven to squealing like an idiot schoolgirl pig by this news: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, my ultimate of ultimate favorite bands, is going to be playing in my state. The day after my birthday, at the end of this year.

SQUEALZMGEEEK!!!

So, I know where I'll be on December 15th. I've often said I'd give an arm and a leg (maybe not mine, but someone's) to see them live. Problem, is they usually play more in the Southern region (is that irony, considering my earlier southern-related stuff?). But now, here we are. They'll be just a five-to-six hour drive away. And no one need lose their limbs! YAY!

And, finally, the family vacation is coming up. Have I mentioned this? My dad and stepmom decided to round up the entire gang (that's...that's a lot of people, let me tell you) and foot the bill to get us all on a cruise to Mexico.

My jaw hit the floor. Did anybody else's?

I'm really excited about this. We have never, literally never, done anything as an entire unit. That includes: Mom, Dad, Stepmomster (loving nickname she came up with herself, by the way), Big sister, Broinlaw, Big brother, Me, Little brother, Little sister, Little stepbrother, Little sister.2, Little Halfsis, Niecey, Nephewpoo.

That's a lot of Brown/Henderson/Matelich, right there.

And between school, and work, and living very long distances away...this is quite possibly the only shot we'll have to spend this much time together. On a big fancy boat.

Coming this April!

Getting Acquainted with the Grindstone

Hello, readers!

It has been a while since I posted, which perhaps left some of you wondering whether I'd died happy in Europe.

I didn't.

Despite the best efforts of Mother Nature and mechanical errors, I made it back to Missoula in one piece and in a somewhat timely manner. I could perhaps go back and give you a few more journal entries from the trip, but I think for now I'll simply give you a summary:

(A) Paranoid people exist everywhere, so be careful about taking pictures into crowds.
(B) There are few things as fascinating as the unknown, and no better way to exercise your imagination than coming up with your own solutions to real-world mysteries.
(3) Lamb stew is yummy.
(IV) Everything has a story; if you're passionate enough about it, you can even make it interesting to others.
(Echo) I'm a lot more chill about being lost in foreign countries and not knowing entirely where I am or what I'm doing than I would have ever thought. Also, I'm a lot more brash than is perhaps conducive to a long life.
(F) Speaking a foreign language is fabulous! It means that when you're in the middle of the other side's camp, you never run out of people who want to hang out with you! Until you get sick and completely lose your voice.
(Lucky#) There's nothing better to inspire you than to literally see the world that the past masters saw; as close to seeing through their eyes as you can get.

And that's what I've come away from the trip with! And a new host of magnets. I've got some really cool ones; buildings and sites, a pirate ship, a magnetic cook book...Now all I need is a fridge to put them on!

So, now I'm back in Missoula. I start working back at the bakery soon (or so I've been told), and need to get my final assignments in before July. I've got more work done on the first Phil Innis adventure, and have started work on a second. I want to get back to getting solid work done on 'First Time's a Charm,' too. As far as writing goes, I'm chomping at the bit.

Which means, as far as you lovely half-handful of folks goes, that I shall be here far more often.

Thank you, and goodnight!