gratefulI started the morning by reading the first couple dozen issues of Crossing Midnight by Mike Carey, about Japanese twins born on either side of midnight and the spiritual consequences of an offering made by their father. It was haunting and definitely an American writer's approach to Japanese interactions within a family. It's interesting to see the differences between it and what I'd expect of a Japanese manga. I'd highly recommend it as well.
I read all of Zombie Powder and really really enjoyed the various views of a younger Tite Kubo. I need to draw Gamma and C.T. Smith a few times. I have to admit it makes me think of an original fiction with the pairing of a flamboyant high-end razorgirl dressed in steel blues with a British researcher with glasses and excellent Read or Die paper magic skills... *laughter*. Yes,
incandescens, probably based off a far fetched incarnation of yourself.Carl then did me the huge favor of offering to sell me all four books. So I am taking him up on the offer and bringing them home with me.
I also read Bookhunter by Jason Shinga, who also drew and wrote Fleep, about a man in a phone booth. The bookbinding details were amazing. *laughter* Especially after having done some of it, it was cool to see the excellent detail in the book itself.
I slept in until 10am as well. This is pretty much Heaven. *laughter*
I slept in, I read, I had Greek style yogurt for breakfast, we then drove to Mountain View and hit Daiso, a $1.50 store, where pretty much everything was from Japan and was just $1.50, which looked, to Carl, a lot like a 100 Yen store. There was a *lot* of stuff, including Platinum refills for my Japanese brush pens. They're so much more expensive from other places, I had to buy them along with extra calligraphy brushes, toys for Jet and some hair ties that were extra long and looked very keen. There was a *lot* of stuff I wanted, and I bought all the things I really wanted and some extra origami paper for Jet.
I was really hungry when we were done, so Carl got me to an In and Out burger, which only exists in California. It was great, as usual, everything, even the fries, made to order, and the grilled onions were sweet against the beautifully toasted bun and cheeseburger. I actually had a Coke, and it was good.
From there we went to Earl and
neko_san's house. She showed me all her beautiful fiber arts stuff, she has a LOT of really excellent stuff and a beautiful wheel and she did the Sun/Moon sweater in red and black and in a beautiful blend that felt wonderful to the touch. I really liked seeing it and how it had turned out. I still want to do the Moon side for myself, as a slender woman's sweater rather than the bulky men's sweater, sometime. It would be so nice. After the dragon. After the ice dragon. But she gave me some wonderful ideas and a peek into a beautiful book on carpet designs. It was fun to talk with her about stuff as she's really good, and it's fun to get cool inspiration on what to do next...Then we went to the domicile of
tamago and chrisber and their happy, bouncing Teo. He is so CUTE and his smile is to just die for. And he seems to smile at everyone that really looks at him and sees him. I loved, loved, loved playing peekaboo with him. *laughter* That was so cool. I got to spend the afternoon and evening with him and them and aelfsciene for a good part of the afternoon and marith and space_parasite for dinner. We had coffee at a Sufi cultural center that served real Turkish coffee, and when they had no decaf I consciously decided to toss my Lenten no caffeinated coffee vow to the winds, as I would not get the chance again. I'm merely mortal. And I had the best, single mug of coffee that I've ever had in my life. It was as black as sin and twice as sweet, infused with the richness of cardamom, and so well infused there was the mirror sheen of oils on the surface. It was thick and rich and utterly gorgeous, and an experience I cannot regret. The grounds were an inch thick in the bottom, and I did not disturb them beyond what I could drink.
It's also probably why I'm so awake at the moment. There will be consequences as I have to be up at 9 tomorrow.
aelfsciene gave me a Hobbit-style birthday present as it was just her birthday and like the old Hobbits of the Shire, she decided that her birthday was the time to give gifts. She's bought one of the Tsubasa memory feathers at some convention or another in the last year, and wasn't that attached to either the manga or the anime. I, as most folks know, am deeply and utterly connected to that series. I even know that it's likely to hurt a lot as CLAMP follows their usual course in such series; but I'll go with it to the bitter end this time. But she'd bought the feather and found that Jet and I had watched the Sakura series together for so long, and thought that she didn't need the feather thing as much as we did. So she gave me the necklace. The memory feather pendant is now warm against my throat and compliments the feathers of my Phoenix sweater quite well.
Thank you,
aelfsciene. Happy birthday.Dinner was at Satsuma's a little sushi place in a strip mall. It was great, and I enjoyed it a great deal along with the company of everyone that was there. Everyone had fun looking through my sketchbook and seeing how I was progressing. Both
chrisber and tamago also draw, so it was great getting feedback from them. But it was fun to have marith just enjoy looking at all the pretty pictures.Baskin Robbins was dessert, and the drive home was filled with amazing conversations with Carl. I love his mind and how he goes in ten thousand directions and there's no need to explain things or slow down we jump between plots and authors and games and fun things to do and other possibilities and he's funny and fun and has that incredible voice and we can talk about everything and anything. Plus he's a great host and always so accommodating.
I love talking with Carl.
Oh! And the boys said that my fish bowl had made it into the art auction, so they could get pictures!! Yay! So I shall put up pictures when I get them, and, as usual, it was bought by the same woman that bought my previous bowls, so if I really want to visit the fish, I will be able to. *laughter* But I'll have pictures.
And I've realized that my brain is now aching to write again. Write the next chapter to get the cliff-hanger done with and Jyuushiro is aching for me to get to him (another reason I'm experiencing mild insomnia) and write the game up that has been haunting me and write a fic with C.T. Smith from Zombie Powder with a prompt from
shadowgirl1605 and write a Shuuhei/Izuru pairing that I promised calmingeffects and write with that feeling I got from the dreams from bellumina's works... the people in my head are just aching to get out again, and it's nearly painful for me to NOT WRITE now. I never thought I'd say that, but it's really hurting to not write with so much other stuff going on.
