Today was a long day. I went in early for a staff meeting and stayed late to make up some hours I’ll miss on Friday when I go to a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. I was at the office for a total of 10 hours, excluding lunch!

I’m happy to see that dolls I’ve sent out are starting to be received by their owners. Therese received her Eleuthera (Estella mod) and MW received her Frank (Bella Auden/Yukinojo hybrid)… I really enjoyed working on both. Unfortunately, Frank has made me think of possibilities I’d never considered for Knife. I think Yukinojo would be a fantastic, more realistic version of Knife. Knife isn’t supposed to be as “girly” as his Shiwoo can be at times. He is a tall, muscular man with broad shoulders and a narrow waist… also a rather ample nose. He’s got long hair and wears makeup, but he’s still the type you’re supposed to look at and go “Wow. He’s pretty. But… um… why? He’s a MAN.” If money grew on trees, I’d consider buying a Yukinojo to test him out as Knife (after I solved the problem of world hunger). I don’t think it would necessarily work, though, because Yukinojo kinda looks like Mac.

Lately I’ve been into the idea of collecting pictures of Mac and Knife as drawn by other artists. I’ve commissioned two pics over the last few months, and I’m in the process of commissioning a third. I’ve also received a couple of gift pics from friends. I’ll have to post them soon. Maybe I’ll make a little mini subgallery on Exquisite Gallery. :) Anyone want to draw me pics? *big eyes* I’ll draw you one too…

To do tonight:

• Sculpt onto the back of Nightengale’s right ear
• Work on sole of right Unoa shoe
• Put the lace on left Unoa shoe
• Polish up F-5 again (it’s so bizarrely yellowed. I want it all clean!)
• Work on original head
• Work on sekrit project #3
• Answer emails (How did I get so behind?)

Kinda feeling apathetic tonight, so I don’t know how much will actually get done. We’ll see! Hopefully a lot, I wanna ship off a few things this week.

Ordered this for Knife.  Now to wait the typically long Dollheart wait.

Well, yesterday the registration for the Volks Tea opened up. I registered, and I hope that I get picked to go. I’m going to look into cheap flights and hotels for NYC… and I think I might go to NYC even if I don’t go to the Tea Party. I haven’t been to NYC since I was 16 or 17. It’s a great opportunity to go to the city and also to see other people from that area. The Volks Tea is only 3 hours anyway, so I could hang out with other people who were going to the Tea even if I’m not invited myself. Maybe I’ll see if anyone’s planning a “post tea” or “Alternative Tea” meet-up for that day. That would be cool!

The modding progress is going great… I’ve gotten so much done in the last few days! I feel like I’m finally past my artist block. I mailed out one package yesterday, I’ll mail another today, and hopefully another tomorrow. I’ll also send progress pics to three people tonight! Hurrah!

To do list for tonight:

• Match F-5’s resin
• Send pics of F-5
• Send pics of Unoa shoe
• Use my psychic powers to get MW online to give me approval to mail Frank
• Refine Nightengale’s ears
• Send progress pics of Nightengale’s ears
• Take some pictures of CH body?
• Scan designs so Therese doesn’t kill me

I just can’t figure out if I’m sick or just suffering seasonal allergies. Either way, at the moment I sort of want to die. I haven’t ventured out of bed yet, but already I’ve sneezed about thirty times, gone through about fifteen tissues, and have a horrific headache. There’s no pollen in my room, though… maybe I AM sick?

The list below isn’t reflecting it, but I’ve actually gotten a lot done! I’m so excited. I’m hoping to be able to get a couple things out the door on Monday and Tuesday. I’m especially excited abou Twingling’s Estella. DT Estella is an interesting head, but not one that I really appreciate. After modding and faceup, I’m surprised by how much I actually REALLY like her. Of course, she’s also had major facial surgery to reduce her nose and eyes, close her mouth and reposition her ears. She’s so different. I’m dying to post pictures, but I won’t until after Therese has had the opportunity to take her own pics and post them. I can’t wait to see her on her new body.
I’m feeling much better about my modding commissions. Less bogged down. I think that after this stuff is mailed out, I’ll just feel so relieved. Still not sure about June’s commission list. I know I’ve unofficially accepted on commission, but I really want to finish almost everything I have before I take on more. Especially if I’m gonna mod the hell out of this CH body for my own amusement as well.

I should probably get up and get to work!

I don’t feel good. Either my allergies are kicking in hardcore, or I’m coming down with what the little children were all passing around when they were visiting. I want to die. And I already agreed to do something with a friend tonight. ;_;
To do this weekend:

• Buff Frank
• Match Frank’s Resin
• String Frank! Photos!
• Finish Estella’s faceup
• Buff Lion’s ears
• Match Lion’s resin
• Faceup Lion
• Finish sanding F-5
• Build S-hook holder for F-5
• Match resin for F-5
• Add embellishments to Unoa shoe
• Send shoe pics for approval
• Rough in Nightengale’s ears (Left and Right)
• Continue on other shoe
• Take pics of 1/6th surferboy and eBay I’m going to paint his girlfriend before I photograph him.

I do have one item of very good news! It’s not set in stone, but it looks like I’m going to get to do some joint modding tutorials for a magazine! Wheeee! :D Now I just need to find time to take the photos and do the mods, then write it up. Gosh, when will that be…?

I’m trying to do something… if it works, I’ll be super happy! :D  I’m not going to say anything about it, though, unless I hear back.

The house is so empty again with my brother and his family back in California.  It was nice having them here… and I will miss them a lot.  But I’m not very good with little kids, so it’s also sort of nice to get back to my usual (boring) routine.  Also, chasing around the two year old was a little stressing.
I’m on to color matching now on a couple of commissions, so those will go out soon!  YAY!  Tomorrow night Therese and I have a daaaaa-aaate to paint her Estella.  I’m so excited!  I’ve been working on her so long that I’m just dying to see what she looks like with paint and a wig and all.  And then she’ll get shipped back to Australia and put on the gorgeous, long-limbed body that Therese made. (Therese has mad skillz.) Woot!  And Dezarii’s Unoa shoes are looking like shoes, and Frank’s neck is looking nice and thick and appropriately sized, and the F-5 just needs a bit of sanding… and the Milliput is in so I can go pick that up so I can start on Brightfires’ Nightengale!  Yeah!

I still haven’t decided on how many commissions I’m willing to take next month.  I’ve already privately agreed to one, but I still feel like I’m going to need to be catching up.  I want to sit down and REALLY finish everything perfectly.  I guess I’ll see where I am after this weekend.  Then I’ll decide on an official number.  I think it’ll be a maximum of 3.

*kicks DoA* Looooooooooooooad.

Damn, it’s running slow. Why is the forum choking lately, even off of peak hours when there are only like, 50 people on! It’s driving me insane. It makes doing moderator things (like moving stuff) take forever! I can’t wait till we move to the dedicated server.

Well, my brother and his entourage were supposed to come tonight, but they’ve decided to wait and come in the morning. I’m disappointed because I would like to see them, but part of me is secretly pleased because it means that I don’t have to entertain tonight. I’m tired and I hurt – the weather is changing and horrible, so my hands and back are just being horrible. I worked on mods for a bit tonight, but my middle finger on my right hand is locking up (sort of comically, actually) and getting stabbing pains where I chipped it a few years ago.  Unfortunately, with my family visiting I won’t be able to work on commissions.  Just as a matter of dolly-preservation, any commissions (and probably my own dolls) will be packed up until next week.

I did a bit of painting tonight. I worked on a faceup that I’m working on for someone, and I also worked for about a half hour on Archive. Archive is a really long-term project. I’m not sure how I feel about him right now. See, his character has red, rune-marks from head to toe. There are areas that are unfinished and more sparse, but really, he’s just covered in them so that from a distance he practically looks red. I decided not to chicken out when I started his doll… so Archive’s doll will have the same tattoos. The problem is that in writing, an individual covered with red marks is fine and cool. But in actuality… um. Less so. The word “overkill” comes to mind. Still, it’s a vitally important part of his character and his personality, so I’m going to do it.

I have jury duty this week… but with a number in the low 600’s, I didn’t think I’d actually get called.  However, today I have to report in to the Hall of Justice…. which has conveniently closed off its biggest parking lot for the week.  What the hell.

I’m not greeting my civic duty with much gusto, especially since I don’t think I’ll even get picked for a trial because of my age.  In good news, I get to dress grungy because it doesn’t matter. :D

I upgraded my Coppermine galleries (Exquisite Gallery, the one of Japan photos) and now they’re prompting visitors with a log-in. It says they can’t view the galleries without logging in. Being web-savvy, I went into the configuration and changed it so that it’s accessible to people who aren’t logged in… but it won’t save my changes! So I clicked to restore the factory defaults.  And now the dolly pics gallery is not even letting ME log in. If anyone can help me with Coppermine stuff, I would be VERY VERY thankful. -_-;;;

EDIT:  

Apparently, this is a problem that happens if you upgrade using Fantastico.  It’s better to manually upgrade by running:

http://www.yourdomain.com/yourgalleryaddress/update.php

If you’ve already done what I did, then you should go here for the instructions to fix it:
http://coppermine-gallery.net/forum/index.php?topic=24516.msg112788#msg112788