Date:	25-03-2008 13:08
Subject:	Sims 2 vs Vista - Vista's winning.
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

So, I installed Sims 2 on my new laptop, which runs Windows Vista. I installed the update patch. Moved my old family files over from my old computer so I wouldn't have to start from scratch. Ran Sims 2. It loaded! Yay! Clicked the neighbourhood. It loaded! Yay! Clicked the house I'd created previously (It was there! Yay!) It brought up all the information about the family I'd created previously (They were there! Yay!). So, I select 'enter house' ....loading ...loading ...loading ...loading ...loading ... CRASH. So I try again...all goes as before ...loading ...loading ...loading ...loading ...loading ... CRASH. Not 'yay'. Not 'yay' at all.

Date:	08-03-2008 20:52
Subject:	I'm famous! Well, no...not really.....
Security:	Public
Mood:	fangrrly
Music:	lots of Thea Gilmore, Goldfrapp, and Beirut

For anyone keeping up with the Neil Gaiman blog feed on LJ - officialgaiman, the 'Mary' who's question is answered in the recent post titled "I am sick of winter and would like some sunshine now please" is, indeed, me. I wasn't new to Neil Gaiman when I got a copy of The Absolute Sandman Vol. 1, but I had not previously read any of the Sandman comics. So, I'm still a bit new as to what I need to purchase separately and had the two volumes mentioned in my question in my Amazon wish-list, but hadn't purchased them yet because I didn't know what, if any, of the auxiliary bits would be part of the Absolute series.

I'm in a showing off mood! I've been learning to build things in Second Life, and my most ambitious project to date is a tiara. It's based on the 'Girls of Great Britain and Ireland' tiara owned by HRH Queen Elizabeth II, and in honour of Brigid and Renee especially, and all of us artsy chicks who are a part of Brythony, I'm calling it the 'Girls of Brythony and Caer Llyr Tiara':


(That's my Second Life self modelling it)

I know most all of you love animals, and there are some of us who are especially partial to wee birdies (and some of the big buggers as well). There is a couple who live about an hour and a half from us who have a tropical bird refuge. They are a nonprofit (501 (c) 3) organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and, in some cases, adoption of exotic birds (parrots of all species). They take in abandoned, injured, and otherwise 'damaged' birds when the owners grow tired of or can no longer care for them. It's just the wife and her husband, and various folks who volunteer time to help clean and care for the birds (Graham and I have been a few times).

They do valuable work towards caring for these creatures and educating people about them, and about the illegal pet trade, as well as unscrupulous breeders. Currently, they are in some financial straits, due to the fact that donations have flat-lined as of this month, and both have been ill (the husband hospitalized with a life-threatening illness) and had to curtail their usual fund-raising activities.

Please, if you can and are so inclined, visit their website and donate a few bucks. There aren't a lot of places like this for these birds, and as long as they're still being stolen from the wild and sold as pets we need folks like the Bradfords.

www.tropics.parrotrefuge.com

Date:	04-03-2008 16:18
Subject:	Finished!
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished
Music:	Beirut - After The Curtain

Click for larger version:
Queen of Hearts

Date:	29-02-2008 20:44
Subject:	OMG! GOLDFRAPP!!!!!11111oneoneonebbq!
Security:	Public
Mood:	grooving

This song is just GORGEOUS, and the video's neat, too. It's a bit melancholy lyric-wise, but I can't get enough of it!!!

Date:	26-02-2008 17:40
Subject:	Whoa.
Security:	Public
Mood:	gobsmacked
Music:	Last.fm

How surreal. I'd have never thought, back in '97 when I was reading 'Neverwhere', that one day 11 years later I'd be congratulating Neil Gaiman on winning a Henson Honor via his Last.fm profile page. o.O

More progress on the late Valentine's Day themed piece. I've started working on the fabric folds (gaaahhhh - what a challenge - thank goodness for good references!), and have finally decided what to do with the heart behind her. Pardon the smudges around the border - I'll clean it up once I've finished!

Right, I'm in!

Movie Meme
1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.

( MemetyMeme )

Date:	18-02-2008 16:52
Subject:	Can't it still be Valentine's Day?
Security:	Public
Mood:	artistic
Music:	Last.fm....still!

I'm still working on my Valentine's Day themed piece. OK, so it'll be late, but I'll get it finished eventually! So far, I've done a background wash in watercolour, and have started laying in skin tones in coloured pencil. It's still very rough at this stage, but milady is starting to take shape and come to life:

Date:	15-02-2008 20:38
Subject:	Quickie! (oo-er!)
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper
Music:	Last.fm

Just a quick fly-by posting on my way to Brythony (Second Life, you know)!

I've followed Brigid (brigidashwood) over to Twitter: http://twitter.com/Rhiamon

Last.fm is the coolest thing - I signed up sometime last year, but forgot about it until Neil Gaiman posted about it the other day - now I can't stop listening!

Last night's Lost: Holy Smeg!!! OMFG!!!111111OneOneOneEleventyAnalProbe!!!!

Date:	14-02-2008 11:46
Subject:	Oh, yeah....
Security:	Public
Mood:	busy
Music:	Last.fm

I nearly forgot the day! Happy Valentine's day, everyone! Here's one from last year:



Did I finish the one I posted as a sketch the other day? Did I bollocks. :P

Date:	11-02-2008 09:40
Subject:	Writer's Block: Repeat After Me...
Security:	Public
Mood:	awake
Music:	Neil Gaiman's Last.fm radio station

Date:	08-02-2008 20:40
Subject:	Buh-bye
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

Mitt Romney's speech announcing he was 'suspending' his campaign, for anyone who missed it:

Here's what I'm currently working on - I thought I'd post the sketch in progress as I'm not sure I'll actually finish it in time! Busy, busy, busy! The model is the lovely Lockstock, of course!

Date:	01-02-2008 16:56
Subject:	Gaia, anyone?
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused

OK - who else out there is on Gaia Online? I just joined and I needs friends! Needs them!!!
http://www.gaiaonline.com/profiles/12223193

Date:	24-12-2007 22:04
Subject:	Holiday Greetings
Security:	Public
Mood:	Festive

Good grief! I usually do well to get in 2 posts a month, and now here's 2 posts in one night!

I can't help it, though. I have to pimp my favourite place. Favourite Second Life place, that is! I LOVE Brythony! I'd love to see more of you there - it's really not a difficult journey. All you need is the Second Life client (which is a free download). Once you've downloaded that and entered the world, you can customize your avatar (a virtual representation of you - see my previous post for an example, or check my userpic). Then, come to Brythony (just type Brythony into the search function in world). The island (and it's companion residential isle, Caer Llyr) were designed and built by brigidashwood for the fantasy art community and the fans of fantasy art. There are virtual gallery shops (I have one, as do brigidashwood, autumngrove (Renee Biertempfel), jasminetoad (Jasmine Becket-Griffith), cynnalia (Deborah Grieves, selinafenech, thephoenixx (Ash Evans), watercolorwitch (Louise M Scott), Amy Brown, Jane Starr Weils, and more! Brigid has just recently added an additional marketplace on the isle, as the original square is fully rented.

A bit about renting - the shops are rented by the individual artists, but the fee is minimal - $5 to $12 per month, depending on what type of shop you have. Currently, the available spaces are a downstairs shop, an upstairs shop, an upstairs and downstairs shop, or a tent. The rental fees go directly toward the fees associated with maintaining property in Second Life (more details about what it takes to run the island can be found in the brythonyisle community group. Brigid collects the rents, but DOES NOT profit from the rents - all monies go directly back into Second Life for the fees associated with running an island on their servers. It is essentially a co-op of artists, and the more we have, the less the fees are. The fees have been reduced twice since I've been there, and this is because Brigid does not profit from them and reduces the fees so that the costs of running the island are distributed evenly and fairly. I think of it as a 24-hour international ad for my work at a nominal price. And, any money collected from sales of your artwork, or other SL creations is YOURS. The same goes for the residential isle rents - the more renters, the lower the monthly rentals.

Now, I've been snapping photos tonight, and I'll post them here ( behind the friendslist saving cut )

It's easy to be intimidated at first, but any of the Brythony folk are more than happy to help you get the hang of things. There are tonnes of tutorials available as well to get you started building things you can sell for real money!

Come visit! It's a wonderful world!

There are Second Life versions of my hubby and me:



Graham reckons his SL self looks more like a younger Patrick Stewart, but I'm fine with that - I like Patrick Stewart!

Date:	17-10-2007 15:31
Subject:	Return of the Dream King
Security:	Public
Mood:	enthralled
Music:	'Where's Neil When You Need Him?' - Various Artists

Today, my copy of Volume II of The Absolute Sandman arrived! I can't believe I managed to only read the first one and was able to put it down. When I got the first volume, I read and read and read and read...I did not want to stop it was so enthralling. But, I don't want to rush things this time...I just want to savour the Dreamy goodness! That Neil Gaiman...he's a treasure!

Date:	12-10-2007 22:56
Subject:	Winding me legs
Security:	Public
Mood:	accomplished
Music:	something by Elton John from G's 'office' across the hall

In addition to the recent acquisition of a new computer, we have another new toy in our house at the moment. We affectionately refer to it as 'the leg-winding machine'. It's actually a recumbent bike, recommended to me when I visited the Orthopaedic specialist to find out why my left knee doesn't bend as much as I'd like and both knees seem to hurt after brief walks, standing for a while, sitting for a while, and when I get up after sitting for a while, or a night's sleep. As it happens, I've got Osteoarthritis in both knees - thanks to my Mom and Grandmother, who both had it, and years of being heavier than necessary (ie, being a fatty). The prescription was cortisone injections (which seem to be helping), and no weight-bearing exercise (including walking for excercise). When our lovely Schwinn recumbent arrived, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, as the peddles were too long for me, and caused pain in the knee due to over-bending. After a call to the Schwinn folks who, although helpful, couldn't really help, we decided to go to a local cycling shop to see if we could purchase shorter crank arms (the technical term). What we found was even better. 'Crank Arm Shorteners' - primarily used by folks with kids and tandem bikes so that they can alter the stride length to suit a child's shorter legs, but also preferred by people with 'range of motion' issues (that's me!) who find the regular crank arm lengths to be too much. We did some research, and the crank arms installed on most home cycling equipment is designed for folks of an average height of 5'8" - 6" (I'm a 'petite' 5'4", Grahams is 6'3" - yeah, Mutt and Jeff :P ). So, now, I have found an exercise programme I can live with, because I'm not in pain before it's over! I just have a seat and wind me legs whilst I read the paper in the morning, and often, I'll have another go whilst watching telly in the evening. So, I'm averaging 30 - 60 minutes of exercise a day, with an occasional day off. I don't know if I've lost a vast amount of weight yet, although I can report that my trousers are feeling a bit roomier than normal, which I take to be a good sign. I suppose I'll need to start recording weight sooner or later, though; but for now, I'm just relishing the fact that I can do a good cardio workout without hurting during and afterwards!