21 Jul 2008 | 9:48am

SICK. I came down with a horrible head cold late on Friday. Imagine Pigpen, with a germ cloud instead of dirt, making the face of a cat with a hairball it can't quite expectorate. That is me! I got some heavy duty medication over the weekend, which is helping a little, but I still feel like warm death. BLARGH.

18 Jul 2008 | 9:44am

At first I was dreading having to take JSR to work for the next week or two (ref. his saga of woe) but now I've done it a few times - and am no longer petrified about the driving part - it's actually OK! Three of the four legs aren't overly congested, and we get to hang out and chat for an extra hour each day. This morning I even made a stop on the way home, and parked quite successfully indeed. Victory for Zim!

The World of Warcraft achievement system that's just been announced for the expansion is very appealing to me... I am not particularly interested in the "excelling at gameplay" achievements but the whimsical ones are totally my thing. I can collect vanity pets and tabards! I can fall from a great height! On the scale of WoW players I am super casual, but the game has held my attention for several years now, and I'm eager for fun new approaches. I'm hoping the expansion will hit in October/November-ish, though it's pure speculation at this stage...

I've been playing a little Kingdom Hearts this week as well. Traditionally I am awful at console games, and I haven't got very far into it yet, but it's proving quite fun! I think I need to level up Sora a bit before proceeding any further, so I don't get my ass kicked so much :O

Let's just make this a game-tastic post, because I don't think I've talked about WiiFit yet. Buying it was JSR's idea, and at first I thought it would probably be more fun-oriented than truly effective at increasing fitness, but it's actually working quite well. I've been doing a 30-40 minute session most days for the last month, and I've noticed a definite improvement in my endurance (and a little weight loss, and the start of some arm muscles). It certainly isn't as intensive as what you'd do in a real gym, but the aerobic activities raise my heart rate and provide a challenge at the longer durations, so for someone like me who is not otherwise going to "work out" or "go for a run" it's fairly ideal, and I'm sure that even light exercise will be very good for me if I can keep doing it regularly!

13 Jul 2008 | 2:03am

The Totoro Forest Project, a fundraising art exhibition to try and help save the area of forest outside Tokyo that inspired the movie My Neighbor Totoro, has so many amazing pieces! Some of the artists have referenced Totoro directly and others have interpreted the spirit of the movie.

( It's hard to choose, but I think my favourites are those by Bill Presing, Vera Brosgol, Scott Campbell and Richard Vander Wende. The pieces can't be linked directly, but I have been a little naughty and put screenshots of them under the cut... )

There is a lot more to see in the gallery! Highly recommended visiting. I hope they produce some prints as well, or an affordable catalogue, as I'd like to help the cause :) And Totoro stealing ladies' bathing suits is incredibly amusing to me.

10 Jul 2008 | 11:53am

* EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL DELIGHT letterset
* SQUIRT! write-on labels
* MONKEYROCKET write-on labels
* SWEET MIX C stickers
* TOOTHY, FLAMINGO, YELLOW DUCKLING and SUPER SWEET buttons/magnets

I didn't realise until I started updating my website that it has been a whole month since my last update! I suppose I lost almost a week with the stupid internet fault, and I have been staying in bed a lot because it's so dastardly cold - still, I must try and get the next one out a little sooner :)

08 Jul 2008 | 12:26pm

Pikaland, a website that profiles all kinds of illustrators and designers (with a focus on the entrepreneurial) has just launched their second PikaPackage event, this time including some Nut and Bee contributions!



They're currently running a contest where you can win a free PikaPackage, full of prints and stationery and buttons and whatnot. The packages are also for sale in their shop, and you can read about all the contributors here.

Forgive the blatant plug - Pikaland is one of my favourite websites :)

07 Jul 2008 | 6:35pm

( BPAL and other perfume oil sale post, compiled while I was internet-less! I'm posting it here so I can link to it from communities, so just ignore if you're not interested, though of course friends are more than welcome to browse as well! )

07 Jul 2008 | 6:26pm

OMG WE HAVE THE INTERNET AGAIN

I am still very angry about the whole thing, but at least it's back now.

I have been checking email occasionally (I am very grateful for JSR's cellphone facility), and posting orders as usual, but am behind on everything else. I hope to catch up as much as I can tonight, and sketch_sweeties will resume tomorrow!

04 Jul 2008 | 8:20am

We're back on the no-Internet train, until Telecom deigns to investigate our sudden lack of connectivity.

I've just picked up my email/orders using JSR's cellphone connection, so everything will be shipped as normal today, but I'm otherwise off the grid until further notice.

>:(

28 Jun 2008 | 7:27pm

It is astonishingly nerdy, but I'm really looking forward to hearing the Blizzard announcements at their Worldwide Invitational - it starts at 10pm tonight our time, and there will undoubtedly be live-blogging to disseminate the news almost instantly :) I hope there is some tasty information released about Wrath of the Lich King!

I was feeling a bit delicate when I went to the supermarket earlier, and thus the shop included chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, chocolate-chip cookies, chocolate-covered crystallised ginger and plain chocolate. Don't worry, we won't eat it all at once, but in future I should probably only purchase groceries when in a sturdy, rugged mood :O

26 Jun 2008 | 8:44pm

I want to play this game! After my recent purchases I believe I will wait for a sale, or even Christmas, but I'll definitely pick it up at some stage. I hear the puzzles are excellent, and I love a puzzle!