I still have yet to recover my sleep from those last insane days of school, but other than that, I'm feeling pretty good today. Yesterday, after almost forgetting that I had a lunch date with Eldygar, I managed to hoof it to Tokyo Sushi only about ten minutes late. We sat in there for something around two hours, eating and talking and laughing before window shopping our way back to my house. He met Willi and she made quite the impression on him, hussy that she is, and he looked at my sketch book and Alloisius' lip synch. He's a wonderful person and very entertainng... he's also very astute, though he'd probably look shocked and not believe me if I told him that. A very good fellow, indeed. I gave him a ride to Bathurst station around six o'clock, and then I drove down to Heretic for a final fitting of my coat. It's... amazing.

I drove all the way back up to Al and Carrie's at the top of the city for some D&D fun, and boy was it ! Gosh. Normally I'm not a big fan of straight up slash and hack, but we did a really good job of it. It's been a very entertaining campaign, so far, and I'm enjoying playing Velkyn as a young, fresh-on-the-surface, drow. She lacks the confidence in so many things, but her sense of self-preservation is already marked, as well the complexities of her beliefs... Because she never speaks about herself to anyone, even to the point of never telling someone her real name, she exudes a sort of typical stereotype: dangerous, angry drow. She's far more complicated than that, though, and now while she's younger and unable to school her responses as well as she can in maturity, some of it comes out. Most people just think she's got issues, but in fact, she has a very strong concept of herself and her place in life. Really, she has no issues at all. It's good stuff.

Tonight, Rick and I are picking up Mom's new computer, then driving out to Stoney Creek for dinner. I've got to go out and withdraw some money, then pick up a plant for the Wissenzes. I sort of feel lame bringing a plant, but I really can't afford to get into presents for the whole family, you know? Anyway, it will be nice to see them.

Tomorrow I'm going to work, which isn't terribly exciting, I suppose. It will probably be busy, it being the last full shopping day before Christmas. Well, there's the 24th, I guess, but many people work that day, and some stores aren't even open a full day, so anyway. I'll bring a book just in case, but a busy day is good for business. Then I'll come home, pack up my things, perhaps write one last weblog entry until after Christmas, then stuff Willi into a case and shlep her and my stuff off to the Petes.

In any case, since I may not be here to write tomorrow:

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night !" Also, drive carefully, be responsible, and remember, Christmas is a holiday of good cheer and peace. This should affect every-day life, but since we all forget that, at least for this season now, be at peace, and in good spirits.

Best wishes,
Maya

Okay. Things have gone from bad to worse. Nothing is working for me now, just when I feel like I'm on the cusp of functionality, something else fucks right up. I abandoned the advanced arms because they were screwing up, but now I can't even get my skeleton to work properly.

I've had it. HAD IT.

It's nearly 3:30 in the frickin' morning, and no one here can think of why my skeleton is screwing up. It's not because I'm duplicating things. I'm not. I get arm flipping regardless. If the hands don't flip when I attach the IK handles, then the arm flips when I attach the pole vector. THIS IS NOT supposed to happen. I've emailed Daniele about it, and hopefully he'll be able to help me, or maybe Nick can... regardless, I won't be able to get really down and dirty with this shite until January.

FUCK.

Okay, breathing.

Now, if only my CD would burn a little quicker so I can get home to spend some precious hours in bed with my stinky cat who will no doubt keep me up all night. I get to sleep in on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thank God. I'll get to sleep in the following Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, too. I'm taking a bunch of books and my miniatures home. Damn it, I'm going to have FUN.

Please let this come together... please, I don't want to fail. I want to do well so that I can have a real life and stop selling clothes and putting up with bullshit at the ROM. I want to be creative and be paid for it. Is that so much to ask for?

I want an appartment from which I won't be evicted... I want to be able to say, "Yes, after all this schooling, I'm finally doing something. I've arrived !"

That day cannot come soon enough.

In this moment of frustration, it seems fitting that I write a little in my weblog, just to keep any unwashed masses that might be reading it, something fresh. Alloisius is not coming along nicely. I fear I'm doomed. There seems only one solution, and that is doing him again, except that would mean doing his blendshapes and lip synch all over, too. But he's really not moving nicely. One way I could fix him, I think, is to stay very focused on his face in the final edit. His lip synch IS good. Really good. It made Daniele say, "Wow," which is special, especially since I had never done my own synch before. I think that will be the only solution, now that I think about it. I don't have the time to redo him. Period.

Last night, of course, "Fellowship of the Ring" opened, to much (and well deserved) aclaim. I was, of course, there - many of those who know me, might think it strange at my eagerness to see the film considering how late I came to read the book (this past year) and by my disdain for Tolkien's lack of worthwhile women. Anyway, I was there, semi-garbed, even. I wore one of my traditional puffy-sleeved shirts (the one with the soft sleeves), a velvet vest, my black dragon-spiked arm-greaves, and my cloak. The rest was just black pants and docs. The usual. I was sorry to note that in the whole theatre, I was the only one in garb. I guess people downtown are just too cool for that.

I'll skip over the jerks who took some people's seats in the row behind us, because they only made us (being myself, Rick, Ryan, Al, and Carrie) mad, and finally after the management was called, they sorted things out. Or didn't, anyway, the fuss stopped and the lights went dark. I will now say what Nick said to me, because he was dead on: "They got it right." Sure, the film was not entirely true to the text. Okay, some purists might not like some things being left out, and other things being adapted, but... wow. They got it right. And it was... so... right. I might go see it again tomorrow with a MUD friend (Eldygar) after we do lunch, but perhaps not. He saw it today and wasn't entirely sure he loved it... I suppose he's a purist. Oh well.

Time for me to return to making do with Alloicius. *sigh*

It's one of those days, you know? The sort that might never end. I'm at school, I've just eaten a thing of Booger King french fries, and amazingly, they weren't soggy, but that doesn't mean they were delicious...

Anyway, I completed Alloisius' lip synch earlier today and it's EXCELLENT. Unfortunately, I did not adequately make sure his model would function once bound to the skeleton... and, well, it doesn't. I'm now learning the amazing skill of faking it. Not a useless skill, actually, quite the opposite, but still frustrating. Daniele and I calculated how many hours I will likely have to put into this project, and we figured around 20-25, which means I'll be here for several more hours tonight, and I'll probably put in a 16 hour day on Thursday, too. Crap.

I'd put in some good work time tomorrow evening, as well, but heck, it's "Fellowship of the Ring" ! Gosh, that's exciting.

Hey, and in other news, a week from today, it's going to be Christmas. Now THAT is crazy. I never believed, when I was a kid, how adults always lamented the speed at which time flies. I believe it now. Yessir, I sure do. It's a little scary.

I've been depressed today. All the snow melted and it drizzled all day. It was horrible. My mother sent me an email about SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which was fairly well timed to my malaise. Perhaps I need a light visor. All the kids'll want one.

Unfortunately, just at this moment, I looked up at Veronica (aka. Scabies) the palm tree that I rescued from Neil Young (a noctural architecture student at UofT) five years ago. It seems Scabies has been affected by SAD, as well. It's horrible. She's been dying and I couldn't see it. I fear she's rotted from the inside. One of her limbs seems to have collapsed in on itself and her still bushy head has flopped over. The other limb seems to be approaching the same fate. It makes me sad.

She was a good tree.

I just got back from doing things with Nick, and previous to Nick, with Rick. Naturally, after D&D (which was super fun - it's been a while since I played with less than seven people), Rick spent the night. It was good, though marred by my dreaming of pimples in my armpits. I. Don't. Know.

Nick met me at the eeval UofT bookstore, where I'd been searching for one, or ANY, of the books that David wanted for Christmas. *sigh* A bit frustrating, that search, but I will try again tomorrow, when I run a bunch of errands that I didn't get to today because I was seeking books. Anyway, we tried the World's Biggest Bookstore and Indigo, to no avail, but as I said, I will try once more tomorrow. Following that, we walked back to my place, where we are now, foot-sore and in good spirits. I haven't made it to school yet tonight, and as it's going, might not, now. Nick's brought out his CDs and I'm finally sitting down... and I like it.

On the way home, we ran into some Orthodox Jewish fellows who were standing outside their Campervan. I looked at Nick and my eyes lit up when I realised they were... Lubavitchers ! Naturally, they stopped us and asked us if we were Jewish, and Nick said yes, at which I must have looked fairly surprised - he IS, technically, well that and Lutheran, but since he's sort of an atheist, it's all a bunch of tasty foods to him. I said yes, too, and was presented with a box. A menorah, because, this is the last night of Hanukkah (a spelling I prefer because I like the letter K, rather than Chanukah). I accepted the box and offered up a donation (thanks Nick), and went on our way. Apparently there are actually TEN Mitzvah Mobiles in the area, but I'd never seen one in Toronto before. Yay for the Lubavitch Jews !

When we got to my house, I decided to open up the box and celebrate the last night of Hanukkah, as I ought to. The menorah looks NOTHING like the one on the box, not really surprising, for something technically free. Anyway, this one is much, much niftier ! It's so tacky and ... tin. It came with candles, though, which is a very nice touch on their part. I used my last match to light the shamesh candle... and then the match flickerd out. Bah. Being the sketchy poor student I am, on Nick's suggestion, I used the gas range in my kitchen to light the candles. Presently, due to the menorah being cheap and my having little on which to set it that would, a) not set something on fire and, b) not cause wax to drip everyhere, the whole thing's burning in my sink.

BURNING IN MY SINK. I think that out to be an album name.

Anyway, when I'd said the blessing over the candles and we'd set them into the sink, Nick said, "This is the BEST Christmas EVER !" And we were pleased.

The End.