Home from Anthrocon - We made excellent time on both legs of the trip, and it was overall a very good trip. roho is excellent traveling company (indeed, excellent company all around), and we giggled at each other through most of the trip.

Got to meet some long-admired artists, and more than that, I kept finding them in our room! Was most excellent to hang out with ninjahijinx outside of the business transaction setting, and I believe that Louvelex has the most adorable fursuit ever.

Today's agenda is liberating the fluffernutter from the kennel, then maybe working on pencils from some of my takehome work from the con. I have alot of painting to do, I'll be busy for the rest of the summer, I think. Good times.

Oh-em-gee. I made foccacia bread to go with the beef and barley soup I had on the menu for dinner tonight. The bread requires an 18 hour rise, but wow, it was worth it! It's soft and chewy and oh-so-yummy with the kosher salt and fennel seeds on the top. Num! The soup was good, and a little frustrating, as after 2 hours of cooking on the stove, the carrots are still on the wrong side of al dente, and even the celery still had some crunch. I prefer my vegetables to be on the soft side in soups, so when I do the leftovers, I'll probably cook it a bit longer. The soup itself is delightfully velvety and tomato-y, and the little barley bits reminded me of spaghettios, of all things. I will definitely make it again. :9

Dinner tonight was homemade pierogis in a garlic butter sauce with jalepeno corn muffins. The muffins didn't really go with the rest of the meal, but... wow. For as labor intensive as the pierogis were, they came out really tasty, and I have a bunch in the freezer now for some evening I don't feel like cooking. :9

( Recipe below! )

Hmm. When looking at food processors... Do we go with the 3 1/2 cup size, or the 9 cup? I'm not sure we'd really use the full capacity of the 9c model, and it's over $100 more expensive... Hm.

I've been making more of an effort to cook in the evenings lately, and I think it's really starting to pay off. Last Friday, I made chicken tikka masala (with homemade naan), and tonight was stuffed chicken breasts and roasted potatoes.

( Clicky for recipes! )

New userpic from the wonderfully talented ninjahijinx! :D

Test results came back negative. The doctor is putting me on drug therapy, with blood tests again in 2 months. Very very good news. He said it can take up to a year, but they generally have good results with growths like this going away with the drug regimen.

Either way, I'm pleased, as the drug he prescribed is a product of roho's employer, so we get it for free.

Biopsy done. I will find out the results next week. It hurt alot more than they tried to lead me to believe. I'm glad it's over, and hope that I don't have to go back for another one.

Woo, my kindle(2) is here and thus far I am really enjoying it. Purchased a couple of books online and raided all the freebies I could find. I need to figure out how to convert some of the .pdb files into something the kindle can read, but for now, I have lots of things to enjoy.

On the flip side... (because everything happy needs something annoying to balance it) I have to go to the hospital next week for a thyroid biopsy. Last year they located a tumor between the lobes of my thyroid and... it's bigger now, sooooo, needle time. From what I understand the likelihood of it being malignant is very low, and the procedure itself is uncomfortable, but not painful. This is my happy face, really. (As an aside, I'm finding the terminology medical professionals use to describe a biological something that is living where it shouldn't be rather fascinating. 'It's a nodule. It's a growth. It's a tumor. It's a benign cancer.' Then we get on into Other Things like cysts, fibroids and... heaven only knows what else. Why not just say 'Look, there's a lump, it shouldn't be there, we recommend you get it checked.'?)

I apologize for the sporadic postings.. I've been enamored of Twitter and its 'here's something quick' short attention span functionality. I'll try to post more, and hopefully.. art soon.

Any of our local buddies interested in a lecture from a shaman's apprentice?

I can get free tickets, and I get extra credit for my Anthropology class for every person I bring. Let me know!

(Performance is Tuesday, 3/10 in Grayslake)

haikujaguar nudged me and said I needed to the whole '25 things about me' meme after we had a discussion about amusement parks.

So! ( Shall we...? )

Moto looks like an interesting Chicago eatery (was featured on Food Network) but... I really don't think I want to pay $115-175 just for the novelty. (although their dessert nachos look quite yummy)

Home at last. Very tired. Had a good holiday... was awkward in spots, and there are things I'm still chewing on. More of an update later.

I am apparently now a twit. I signed up for Twitter, so if you'd like to get the short little updates (or if I watched you and you have no idea who I am), I'm cheekitty there, as 'genet' was taken.

I will not be dumping tweets to my LJ, sorry guys. :)

We're probably going to be heading home from Boston today. We want to meet up with shadowstalkerw for lunch, and spend a little time visiting with him, then we'll hit the road.

Lydia Dunn
Fall 2008 > Academic > College of Lake County

Class Grades - Fall 2008


Class Description Units Grade Grade Points
ART 124 Basic Drawing 3.00 A 12.000
ENG 121 English Composition I 3.00 A 12.000
FRN 121 Beg Conver French I 4.00 A 16.000
HST 121 History of Western Civ 3.00 A 12.000


Graded units towards GPA 13.000 13.000 13.000
Graded units not for GPA
In progress units

GPA** 4.000 4.000 4.000

Yeah, know how I said I hoped we'd get nice weather? HA.

9.5 HOURS of blizzard. I have never seen a storm that could stretch from Rochester to Boston. :P

We're safe in Boston, ensconced in a cozy apartment watching traffic go by that does not include us.

'The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...'

in-DEED.

Apparently we left the Chicagoland area just in time! We're on our way east to Boston for the holidays, and I just checked our local forcast. -7 (-34 with windchill) and snow for the next 3 days. Yikes, I'm glad we're on the road!

Buffalo was surprisingly clear for once, and we ended up stopping for the night in Rochester. We should hit Boston early this afternoon, and have plans for dinner with friends. Hoping for good weather!

I'm working on getting some merch together for Anthrocon, as for the first time ever, I have a dealer's table. So, I ask you, my readers... what do you generally like, so I know what to stock?

This poll is open to everyone, and it will help me figure out where to spend my money, so... please, take a moment and help me out! :D

Poll #1318177 Merchandise
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What do you consider an impulse buy?

When making an impulse buy, what do you pick up?

What kind of art do you like on your trinkets?

Commissions now open!

Full Commission [example]

1.


Badges [example 1, example 2]

(If you do not want a badge for convention wearing, but would like a piece of 4x5 original artwork, I can do livejournal icons just as easily, or another size. Email me or comment below, and we can work something out!)

1. Steelhelix
2.
3.
4.
5.

Per request, more samples! B&W Example 1, ink example 2, graphite example, etc.

Full sized commission starts at $30 for a single character, ranges depending on detail.

Badges begin at $20, and can be completed in time for FC or FWA or the convention of choice.

I'll open more slots as these are completed.

As of 9:30 this evening, I am officially done with my first semester of college. I should get my grades sometime after Christmas. I already know what I got in two classes, just completed the finals for the other two. PHEW. I am -tired-!

I'm opening up commissions now that the semester is over, details in a separate post. And now, drunky time!