Apollymi ::||:: Dark Passion Play

I so suck at updates, I'm so sorry!

I've been fanficcing like a mofo. I think in the last two months I've done about two chapters of one series, one chapter of another one, and a preview to yet another one. In order, those would be Belladonna, Whoever Brings the Night, and Route 666. I've also been glancing over Third Chance for a chance to expand on it. I like that one; it needs to be finished. Vidi too for that matter.

Line-Editing is going well. I'm about a week ahead on most everything I need to get done for it. That's pretty nice -- and maybe a little surprising for me. Not that I was a procrastination monkey the first time I went through school, but I was certainly never ahead of the class.

As part of the class, I've managed to secure an editing project for a fellow student's novella. It's only about 61,000 words, and I've managed to secure a $20/hour rate on it. I'm hoping it'll take a while because...

...my home desktop is dying. When I bought it two years ago, I upgraded it within an inch of its life; it started out at 512mb RAM and 120GB hard drive, but now it's 2GB RAM and 220 HD with an external 500GB HD. Honestly, I've spent more on upgrading it than I did on buying it. And now, already the fucker is dying. The DVD-R drive is gone, so I can't even clear off stuff from it to disk. I can't run Word and Excel at the same time. Sometimes I can run Firefox and iTunes at once. And Photoshop? That requires closing everything else -- and sometimes going into the Task Manager and closing background programs.

Now, all I could scare up for Sir Saves A Lot (formerly Kaichan) when I bought him was $300. My sister had bankrupted my mum again, my grandparents already pay too much for me, I didn't feel right asking my friends for money (nevermind that half of them owe me money), and so Oyaji was my only source of the extra funds needed. The limit he said I could put on the card he loaned me was $300. Have you ever tried going to a computer store with only $300 and trying to find something worth half a damn? Especially when you're an Apple person?

So I settled on a Compaq. I should have known better. Compaq has been bought out by HP, you see, and I had an HP that both the fans quit working on and the harddrive caught on fire. You read that right: on fire. As in it melted. Yeah, I was none too happy on that, nor was I too happy having to make the Compaq worth half a damn. RAM ain't cheap, after all.

So anyway, now that it's giving me fits, I'm putting back for a new computer. This time, my money is going towards an Apple. I'm eying a refurbished one through the Apple store or the FSU computer store. Still, that's $1549, of which I have $150 set back. I'm living very paycheck to paycheck as it is, thanks to FSU's budget crisis. I'm doing more and more work, but getting absolutely no more pay. I won't start getting royalties off my books until at least March or April, and class, work, and writing leave me no time for a second job (or would that be 3rd or 4th job?). I could call in all the money I'm owed, but the people who owe it to me are even more broke than I am.

Therefore, I've set up a fundraiser for getting the money up, here on Fundable.com. Any assistance would be most appreciated. The thing with Fundable is that it's either all or nothing. If all the money is raised by the deadline of 03 March, then it gets sent on to me. If not all of it is raised, if it's even $5 short, it all gets refunded to the people who pledged it. So chances are, you could pledge however much you want and it'd probably end up getting refunded to you because I've only secured $50 in 3 days.

And in other news, I'm still waiting to hear back from Cacoethes about Verdant. We'll see what goes on there.

I still haven't gotten my check from Seven Seas Manga, so I had to send in the "have to get a lawyer" email. If it's not here by Wednesday, I guess that's what I'll have to do. That was the date I gave them, after all.

My laptop is still dead. Completely dead. It won't even give me anything more than a swirling Apple logo. I'm still begging for donations (to kbell@katherinebell.net) towards a new one, one where I can get a real warranty -- not the crappy SquareTrade warranty eBay offers. (60 days to take effect, indeed.) Anyway, donations link:

In spite of everything that's going on, I'm hoping to have a costume done by Dragon*Con -- and have Verdant sent to Carady and Denise by then as well. I'm up to Chapter 2 in editing it, so that's a strong possibility surprisingly. As for the costume, well, that's a bit up in the air. We'll see. We'll hope.

Honestly, the laptop, Dragon*Con, and editing are my main concerns right now... and that's more than enough for my plate right now.

So... I'm back online after the big move. I'm still waiting for the reality of finally being in a new place to sink in. Maybe it will when I pay the first month's rent on it. Spending money always has a way of driving such things home.

I still haven't been paid for my Seven Seas work. I now call the trip to the mailbox "my daily disappointment". If it isn't here by Friday, there will have to be the nasty "I'm going to get a lawyer" email.

Also... ¬_¬ My iBook gave up the ghost. Even my computer techie guy is telling me to get a new one at this point. So I started doing some pricing. The best I can get the next level up laptop is $2000. I have... $95.

Basically, I'm begging for donations. Every penny sent in will go towards a new MacBook (not Air or Pro, just a MacBook). Donations can be sent by Paypal to kbell@katherinbell.net or clicking the button below:

And that's it for me.

I'm about 3300 words from 50k for JulNo. However, I'm about 4700 from 90k for my total word count. I'm not exactly sure what orifice I'm supposed to pull these words from. I'm running out of story.

So... I got pissed just after dinner and called Adam... who immediately IMed Jason... who immediately IMed the accountant -- to find out that my check had never been mailed. Adam says he'll get it in the mail to me at the new address. At this rate, my Bobobie will actually be here before the check. At least it's actually in the mail. That's more than I can say for my check.

My other problem with writing is, the longer I keep staring at the screen, the more exhausted I feel. This doesn't happen with paper. It's no fair!

So I'm singing along with Edenbridge and Battlelore and Epica to stay awake as I type. I'm shooting for 2600 words before 2 a.m. I still have 1400 to go.

Wish me luck.

It's about 6 days till we move (Saturday) -- and I think we're already running behind. We ran out of tape yesterday and couldn't find any to fit our two tape dispensers. However, we did go blow some of my money: $56 for medicine, $18 for lunch, and another $38 for lunches for the week, as well as cold medicine and yogurt. And I still need to float a loan to katsuko so she doesn't overdraft on her doctor's visit tomorrow.

$25,300 a year doesn't cover all this...

Okay, enough whinging about money. I'm not sticking up a PayPal donation link here like I did on my LJ. That would be bad...

I would feel better, though, if Seven Seas Manga ever paid me for my last translation job for them -- back in fucking FEBRUARY. I'm getting "do another translation for us" emails -- and yet I still haven't been paid for the last one.

There's also 5 days left in JulNoWriMo. Yes, in the midst of all this packing -- and the first round of editing on Amaranth, I've also written about 43,000 words on Verdant. I'd say I'm about 6500 words from done. If I have another couple of nights like I did last night and the night before (2200 and 2500 respectively), I just might make it -- and maybe even have a night in there where I can get a normal amount of sleep before the move. I tell you: if I get my 50,000 words by the 30th, then I'll crash at about 8:00 on the 31st.

The plan is for Mum to come down on the 1st and help us with any last minute packing and, once we get the new key, maybe start moving some of the boxes over there. I'm probably gonna catch a wee bit of flak over how messy the place is. We've been letting clean slide while we got stuff packed. Speaking of cleaning, after the movers come (sometime between 10-6 on Saturday), we're going to do our cleaning of the old place on Sunday, 03 August, so that we can hand in our keys on Monday, 04 August.

Hopefully somewhere between 04 August and Wednesday, 06 August, my father and grandmother will arrive with the washer & dryer. Having to buy a new set is not on my fun time list of things I've always wanted to do. I'm also going to give them these two blue lamps to take back. I found some I like a lot better, though these were good for yard sale cheapies.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm tired of being mismatched all over the place. I want a place that looks nice. For this I'm going to buy new slipcovers for the loveseat and the recliner and new throw pillows for the loveseat. I'm getting lamps that match everything else, color-wise. And stuff like that.

And now for back to work.

This isn't a real update, since the most I have to report is that Paula doesn't seem very happy and I really hope I'm not part of the problem. But mostly, I want to say a few random things.

I have new icons! This is one of them (and cleverly relates to the rest of the post). Okay, they're all the Ninth Doctor, but what can I say? I have a favorite.

I asked katsuko the other day, if I was a Marauder, which one would I be? She was quiet for a while, long enough that I had to ask, "Not James, right?" Finally she responded, no, not James. Apparently, if I'm any of the Marauders, I'm Sirius. I can definitely live with this.

I'm 49 pages into the transliteration for Dance in the Vampire Bund. I need to do 40 pages a day, like I did Tuesday, a few more times, and I'll be finished. Then in three months, I can get paid. Hurray for getting paid. (I almost typed "laid" instead of "paid" there. Amusing typo.)

I have a headache. Chocolate and caffeine does not help it. This sucks.

I'm re-re-re-reading (probably a few more "re"'s on there, but I got tired of typing it) the movie tie-in book to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I like it. It ties in the first movie and the future, in addition to telling the story of the second movie.

My keyboard's left arrow key keeps sticking. It's very annoying.

We moved my desk at work. I am now in what I like to call the Seat of Power: the main desk in the Admin Office. Très spiffy.

And that's about it. Ciao.