Finish what I start

March: -beading contest for Fire Mountain Gems. Currently working on it. If I win, the prize is enough gift certificate money for me to buy the last bits of equipment I need.- FAIL

May: -taking another crack at carving that stone pendant.- eh, forget it.

Meds have destroyed my will to practice. I’m kind of pissed off about that, but it means I likely won’t do the YTSO audition, or if I do, just the video part, not the concert bit.

Projects I will be squeezing in between transition time at work (projects to do after termination TBD):

January: -YTSO auditions. May involve a trip somewhere to record auditions with less ambient noise.- FAIL. Lost my will to practice while I was still on Zoloft.

February: -move out of the cottage. I’m going to need help taking care of myself going forward, so I’m moving in with L.- DONE. This is a decided win.

March: while I still have disposable income, will set up shop and buy any last major tools I need for jewelry. – still working on this!

April-June: will be making a goodbye present for someone.

Past June: I think in terms of getting side cash crafts may be my better bet, so I will probably start on making beads, and also revive the Lúthien costume and the Quenya songs for fun.

I got a little… ahem, derailed by a certain ELE music video. So here’s what I’m racing to finish in the last two months of the year:

• clean the goddamn cottage, god damn! I mean shit, look at this place… I’ve been getting better about dumping stuff that needs dumping, though, and people have said they’ve noticed a reduction in the clutter.

• -Na. No. Wri. Mo. Because I am a masochist. On the bright side, I’m doing my script as my NaNo project. Even if I don’t win, I don’t really lose, either, because I get more script done.- FAIL. But it was good to get a few thousand words done. So, not really fail.

• carve pendant for mom’s necklace – her Christmas present, if all goes well. I don’t have as much sentiment invested in this as might be implied. I wanted to try carving, slabs are cheaper than the finished product, and she made a necklace that she can’t find a matching pendant for (that doesn’t cost a bajillion dollars; nobody really carves emeralds anymore). Everybody wins.

• practice for the YouTube Symphony – why am I a sucker for punishment?

Yeeah. A little late and a few bucks short. Such is life, such is life. What do I have to start before the end of September?

- significant inroads on the state of the cottage. I’ve talked about this in other entries. It looks like I’m stuck here, and this is the work space I’m going to have to deal with for possibly another full year. At the very least, I want to have all the major furniture moved to where it needs to be, at the least. – some inroads made, not enough.

- MAKE. JEWELRY. I was supposed to start this months ago! Argh! I think I have almost everything I need to start cranking stuff out. The last few things should be easily had at InterGem. – still a FAIL.

- -start up a writing routine. Again. This may kill me. I keep trying to make more room for writing during my weekdays so that I can feel less pressure to produce on the weekends, then I crash and burn two weeks later and give up. Obviously I have not found a sustainable method and I am sort of afraid that there is none. How early can I get up, and will I be able to do it consistently?- One word: NaNoWriMo.

- -steampunk costume. It’s time to start preparing for Halloween too.- went as Captain Hammer groupie. Simple. Easy. No one recognized me. Who cares.

T-shirt design won. Hell. Yeah. Things have changed rapidly in only three months. Now I have the following on my plate:

- -finalize T-shirt designs. I haven’t touched them since the contest ended.- done and delivered to Scarface!

- -moving at the end of summer! I’ll have housemates and, Eru willing, my own studio space if we can manage it. The tough part is being able to find a place the minimizes our respective commutes, is pet-friendly, and within our budget. You know what they say about fast, cheap, and good. Thus far I have an idea of which neighborhoods to keep an eye on, so now we watch and wait.- he broke up with me. Aside from feeling like my heart’s been run over, I now have no idea what I’m going to do for housing in the next few months.

- -buy more jewelry supplies. And make stuff. I’m gonna give it a spin and see how productive I can be.- (okay, I’m putting a moratorium on buying stuff until I move into a new place. I know it’s a little early for packing, but my life is going to be hell in June and July, so moving out in August will happen faster than it feels like it will)

- -finish at least one LOTR costume before I move out. Last chance for photo ops next to greenery, and I can lug around a finished costume instead of a box full of materials. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I never know when I’m going to need something interesting to wear.- due to illness, I’m a month behind and this is definitely off the table.

- get rid of all the materials I will not need. I’m going to have to prune my project list to make moving easy. Chances are I’ll have to deal with family stuff around that time too, so the less hassle the actual moving process is, the better. (getting there…)

Funny how this always happens. A friend of mine is offering to sell my finished pieces through her business because her demand is growing. I really want to take her up on this, but I didn’t even get that pendant done this month because work has just about killed me and I got sick and the rest of the month is devoted to finishing that shirt design, which has ballooned into an epic montage of everything Coulton.

I can’t possibly, seriously think I have time for this. But I have so many beads and stones that really need to be used…

On my plate for the next two months:

Due in February:

- -squid hat (<1% completed) blame Jonathan Coulton! I'm doing a T-shirt design instead!- done with shirt design!

- silver pendant (still need to finish this)

- -flower brooch- (done!)

- -open ING account- (done!)

- harmony practice: vocal harmony practice on two songs (-2-50% completed)

Due in March:

- -buy all software needed for 2008 goals- (done!)

- have cottage completely organized (didn’t take long for that to fall apart)

- obtain all research sources needed for current list of events and characters in script (not done, argh)

- -make a dress for Death Guild XV? Really, really fast? Augh!- Done! Booyah!

I just told everyone I was going to make a fabulous hat in less than two months.

- four drawings for Drave

- twelve drawings for the LOLcat Bible

- put my savings into an ING account

ETA:

- finish my Faire garb