I HAS ANOTHER NIECE!

At 11:11am this morning, Olivia was brought into the world!

She weighs a mere 1 pound 10 ounces, but apparently she's already a screamer, has some fuzz, and "is a peanut". (I take it to mean that she's 'tall' for her size.) She's a good three months premature, as she wasn't due until June 25th, but the doctors say that everything went better than they expected, so her chances are looking really good.

My sister is doing good as well; it sounds like she's more relieved than anything. (Possibly partly because she saved money on pregnancy clothes that can now go to itty bitty baby clothes? Hehe!) She's going to be able to be released within a few days, but probably won't be able to get back to work for a couple of weeks; I'm just sad that she won't be able to spend that time with Olivia, since she'll be stuck in the hospital 'til her "Due Date".

I'm still pretty worried for them both, but I'll be giving them another call later tonight to see how things are going. I'm not religious, but it's times like these that make me appreciate the small miracles of skilled doctors, improved medicine, and a newborn's ability to fight and survive.

On a side note: I'm pretty sure she was just itching to get out early because she saw her cousin Sydney and was jealous and just said, "Screw this belly, I WANT OUT!"

I love both those little girls... I just wish I was near enough to meet them in person.

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The Return!

All in all, my trip down to Minneapolis was a blast. I'm glad to be home, but it was honestly good to get out for a while... I haven't left town since December, which isn't really that long, but still felt a bit like an eternity for someone who used to drive to a different town just to go to school!

In order to not boringly narrate my entire trip, I'll just say that I went down to the premiere weekend of the Avalanche tour (Art of Dying, Halestorm, Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, with Stone Sour as the headliner); not really my kind of music, but it was my first concert, so who cares!

Did lots of shopping (can you say Mall of America?), and went to the Melting Pot for dinner one night, which--besides leaving me practically dead broke--was possibly the best food I've ever had. 3 course fondue?! Heck yes!!

Aside from that, not too much to say. Lots of hanging out with my buds (at least, I hope they consider me their bud?), lots of eating (and drinking), and spending ridiculous amounts of money. Though, I think the most amount of money I spent was at a place called Pure Pleasure, which... You can just guess for yourself what kind of store that is. Teeheehee.

And, despite how much of his money I spent, I still come home to find that not only did my husband buy groceries for our seriously empty fridge, he bought me new speakers for my computer.

All in all... a fantastic weekend.

Almost.

My sister was officially diagnosed with preeclempsia this weekend. She had to be airlifted to a different hospital to get better treatment, and it's looking very likely she'll have to have a C-section in a week or two. They're pumping her full of steroids to try to make sure the baby's lungs are developed before they operate (I believe she's 5 months pregnant, now),  and mentally she's doing okay, but I don't think I'll be sleeping well until this ordeal is overwith. I love my sister dearly, and I'm very worried for her and her baby girl.

Iggy & I on her wedding day. <3

I love you, big sis.

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It Don't Take Long!

See, this is why it's stupid that I procrastinate, because if I had more time I could do a LOT better stuff. I mean, I whipped out this drawing in a few hours... Imagine if I'd worked on it several hours a day for even just two weeks?

I'm such a loser! Gah! Anyways. XD

My husband's best friend and his wife; they are an absolutely adorable couple, though he's actually probably about 5 inches taller than that... It's just hard to draw such a large height different in this kind of picture. ;D

Also, he seriously has a cheesy smile like that. I hope he doesn't mind me making fun of him for it, haha. XD

Alright, so now that that's done... I have to clean my house. I leave 9:30am tomorrow morning, and to be perfectly honest I'm probably going to have to sleep most of the trip because that is going to be BRUTAL considering how my sleep schedule is messed up right now...

Well, the terrible headache I have must because I haven't in like 24 hours, so I need to go do that and then get to work. I've been tempted to start working on the first episode of Desperate Sims before I leave, buuuttt... It's not looking like it's going to happen.

In any case, for now... Toodaloo!

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Sketchy Sketchy

The WIP of my next drawing-to-be:

I need to move the arms a bit (putting his right hand on her shoulder and her right hand on top of it), but other than that it's just straight shooting through the lines and onto the color, which'll be pretty easy, tomorrow.

Still feeling uber stressed out for some reason, though. Can't shake this weird chest pain and the BBoA screaming "YOU SUCK AT EVERY-TING!" in my ear. I swear, I'mma slay that beast one day. You'll see!

But until that day... I'm gonna have to come up with some strategy to at least lock him back in his cage.

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Tucker'd Out

I swear, sometimes it feels like the Black Beast of Aaargh has me by my ankles, and just keeps on wanting to drag me deeper. Despite how little I've had on my plate the last week--basically just one drawing I need to have done by the 1st--I feel... exhausted.

Pretty sure that's from sitting here too much. So! I have made a new resolution to myself! And, that is to get my butt out of my study and get some fresh air! Now that the Season 4 Synopsis is done (I don't particular care about getting 5 done anymore, it can wait a few weeks), there's one more thing I'm going to post (that some of my fellow bloggers will likely greatly appreciate), and then I am shutting off my computer! And I am leaving it off for a week!

Should be fairly easy. I leave Friday morning and return Monday evening from a concert down in Minnesota (it's to see some bands I've never even heard of before, but I don't really care), and then I'm going to come home, and I am going to ignore my computer for two or three days. It's not hard, Kaleeko. You can do eet!

Before that though, I really NEED to get this drawing done. Need, need, need. I told someone I'd have it done for their anniversary, and they gave me the option to do it for a birthday instead and I declined. Declined because I'm going to get it done. I'M GOING TO GET IT DONE. It's not even that hard, I just rock at procrastination!! GAAAH.

Also, I've got a little tutorial thing written/drawn up that's going to be appearing in the next issue of the TSS Insider, which is a little magazine thing that the forums I frequent are putting out as updates to what's going on on the site. If you guys have any ideas for tutorials, guides, or anything else of that nature that you'd be interested in seeing, lemme know so I can add it to my list of things to do in the future.

In any case... It's late but I'm gonna go shower, light some candles, do some yoga, and then maybe--just maybe--I'll get to sleep on time.

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10 Day Meme: Day Ten

This 'Ten Day Meme' has taken something more like... 60 days... But admittedly, most of that has just been because I've forgotten.

Except for this one.

Day Ten

One confession.

To be honest, there's a lot I could confess. While I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve a lot of the time, I still keep a lot of secrets--some I've never even told anyone. So, when debating what options I had to share, some seemed too miniscule, while others were just too great to share in the happenstance that someone I know--such as my family--running into this blog and discovering it.

That being said, there is one thing that I haven't told many people, but I'm not too ashamed of to admit, and probably wouldn't be the end of the world if my family found out. And that is, of course, that I'm bisexual.

Granted--these days, that's not as much of a big deal. I'm part of the "Whatever" generation: 21 years old, and everyone I know that's about my age is pretty okay with LGBTs--especially when they're female. It's more taboo for guys to be gay (which doesn't make sense to me), but still, it's not something I'd profess openly to everyone I know. Especially not my Bible-thumping family.

In any case, yeah. So, I like girls. In fact, I find women so much more attractive than men that I really find it hard to look at a guy and think, "Yeah, he's cute, I guess." I have to force myself to see what's appealing about them. I just don't find men physically attractive, really... Unless they look a particular way. There are some guys I find appealing.

Like, you know, my husband. ;)

There's the clincher, though: what attracts me to men is personality, not looks. The main reason I've never dated a girl (aside from never wanting my parents to find out) is the fact that finding a girl that's into girls in small-town Northwest America, that I could actually get along with long-term, just wasn't going to happen. Still, I admit that if there is one thing I regret about getting married so early in my life it's that I never got to experience half of who I am. The part that still has an absolutely gigantic crush on someone I used to go to school with, that's a brilliant, sexy, and amazing girl.

I guess that's part of the reason I incorporated Naomi/Amelia into Desperate Sims. Naomi's definitely a lesbian, but Amelia... Amelia isn't too sure about all of it. She's definitely bi, but she's always leaned towards guys because they're "safer", in her eyes. Which is how I always felt, until recently in my life.

And honestly, while I know that a lot of the Simming community feels more comfortable with very orderly legacy families with a boy, girl, and babies, it's incredibly important to me to express my beliefs and create characters that have something fundamentally in common with me--and I wanted the gay part of me to have somewhere to live in my story.

Which leads me to a tangent: How come there are so few lesbians in Sim stories I've read? I always seem to find a plethora of gay men stories, but none about lesbians? What is this fascination straight girls have with two guys getting it on?! Is it like... how straight guys like watching lesbians? Hm. I guess I just don't get it because I don't find guys that... enticing, sexually. Just makes me *shrug*. It's really strange, to me.

Anyways--I'm glad I took the plunge and introduced Naomi as a lesbian. (However, that has very little to do with why she's my favorite character, if you're curious.) It's too often I find stories about just straight people or just gay people, and I think it's about time that the world start recognizing that the two can coexist just fine.

Anyways, this went from a confession to a monologue, but it feels good to ramble, especially about something I feel passionately about. Still, there's something I should clear up very quickly before I wrap it up:

This was the happiest moment of my life. I love my husband more than I could possibly ever explain. I may have dreams about Samantha Carter every night (lesigh, <3!), but that guy above is the guy I want to wake up next to when I'm 60 and can't cover up my grays fast enough. And hopefully, he'll be the last guy--or girl--I'll ever feel that way about for the rest of my life.

And no girl, or guy--no matter how smart, sassy, educated, beautiful, or rich they may be--will ever make me feel differently about how I love my man.

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Nooshta, Zahnoo!

Pretty sure I've heard my Sims say that at some point or another.

In any case, haven't updated this blog in a bit for a variety of reasons; been working overtime getting this season of Desperate Sims finished, been trying (and failing) to get the house spring-cleaned, been stressing over the fact that I had to renew my Visitor's Visa...

... which is TERRIBLY ironic, because the day after I turn in the freaking paperwork, my friends ask if I want to go down to the States to go to a concert in three weeks. Which means, if I go, that's $70 bucks down the toilet. Oh, fate, how thou curses me!

So anways, I guess not a LOT else has been going on. Doing the "procrastination dance" on all the artwork I have to do--an anniversary picture for my husband's BFF, artwork for my guild's website, this thing I meant to do for Christmas for my friend--and doing a buttload of writing. You don't even want to know how many posts are in Draft on my Desperate Sims blog.

Which is great, actually. Once Season Five is done, I am turning those puppies to auto-post and I am taking a holiday from writing in order to a) do the stuff I NEED to do, and b) get as far ahead into Season Six as I can. I already have the thing outlined, so at least I know where it's headed. And it is going to be pure awesome. Because I said so.

I also have all the screenshots I need to finish off this Season, which means once I get the brainpower to sit down and finish those off, I am home-free for probably 1-2 weeks. That's a solid amount of time for a break.

I haven't a clue when SILC is going to be gearing up, but it appears like it'll be soon-ish, so I've also got that to start planning for and fitting into my schedule. ("What are you talking about Kaleeko, you haven't a job or a social life--so... no schedule.") Shoosh, Evil Me!

Which reminds me, I made this little PNG as my profile thingie for the Mods page on the SILC site:

Nothing to promote how much I love literature more than misspelling and over-using adjectives! Oh yeah, baby. (At least I finally ended up with a Simself that looks sorta like me. Sat in windowed mode with several pictures of myself for like half an hour trying to get it right. :P )

Anyways... Now that I've thoroughly rambled the Internet Ether's ear off, I'm gonna go find some chocolate.

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