Whew! It has been a busy two months! I've been rehearsing for three November concerts with three different groups and played the last one yesterday so I've no more musical obligations until next year! It's a good thing too cause I did something today I've never done before...slammed my finger in my car door! Got it good, too. It's my right index finger, which would have made holding a drumstick a bit tricky. Typing ain't easy either.

I'm not here for sympathy (but I'll take what I can get so go ahead) but to let y'all know that I am alive and well (except for the previously mentioned boo boo) and looking forward to participating in metamorfic_moon 's Christmas event. I hope it won't take me 6 months to finish my piece this time!

When I wasn't rehearsing, I was in my guest bathroom working on a complete redo. Had the tub removed and am installing a shower. I'll post pictures later but I've got most everything done and am just waiting on the people who are going to install the solid surface shower walls. Then I can put up the glass walls and install the shower head and faucet. I'm crossing my fingers that I can get it finished before Dec 19th when my best buddy Steve arrives for his Christmas stay. Otherwise, we'll have to share my shower (He's gay, so no comments from the peanut gallery.)

I can't say enough about gilpin25 , but I'll give it my best shot.

The author of some of my favorite (and best) Remus and Tonks (and Chalion) stories.
Amateur Tour Guide to the English countryside.
Rosie's mum.
Exceptional book recommender.
Endlessly supportive. Witty. Smart. Keen fashion sense.

Have a lovely day. I'd like to offer you some art. If you want to pick a favourite scene from the HP books featuring Remus with or/without Tonks, I'll see what I can do to get it done before your next birthday!

Happy Birthday!

 Jess,

If it wasn't for your Portal Verse, I would probably have gone postal on JKR for killing Remus and Tonks. So, a big ol' THANK YOU from me and Rowling and best wishes on your milestone of a birthday!

(Just in case you were concerned, I wouldn't really have gone into a murderous rage over fictional characters...really)

 Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.

I come bearing no fic nor nekkid Remus art with which to wish you a Happy Birthday but I have ducks. Not just any ducks, mind you, but Disneyland ducks.



Saw these guys and immediately thought to take some pictures for you. I wish I could have gotten a shot when they'd come flying in from the left and skim across the water. I imagine living at Disneyland's a pretty good gig for a duck.

Have a great birthday!

Hers was the first good Remus/Tonks fan fic I ever read. She coaxed me out of annonymity to get my own LJ. My first bit of fan art was based on one of her stories and she ships Spock/Uhura...well, nobody's perfect. ;) But! She also has one of the cutest cats ever and is just a warm and wonderful person.

She is mrstater  , hear her roar.

Happy Birthday, girl! Make it a great one!

Thought some of you might be interested in this column that was in my local paper this weekend. My maternal Grandfather is 101 and isn't planning on leaving this earth any time soon. I certainly hope I get his longevity genes.
( and going, and going, and going... )

 Two posts in a week? That must be some kind of record for me. I hope you won't be too disappointed but there will be no partial nudity in this one.

For those of you who have stuck around anyway, here's the results of the photo meme that's been going round. Makes it sound like a virus.


( more than just pictures of cats )

I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse into my life. Thank you for playing.
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 Photo meme coming along but I need to wash some windows before I can take pictures out said windows. It really shouldn't take a photo meme to get me to wash them but there you go. So, instead of pictures of sleeping cats, something they do a lot in this current heat wave, I give you Remus and Tonks art. 

There's no backstory to this. No prompts were used nor was it inspired by any particular fic. I supposed if I had to set it up, I'd just say that it takes place sometime after "the hospital scene" most likely not while they're still in the hospital, and involves R&T taking Minerva's words about "a little more love" to heart.  It's a bit risque so use appropriate caution if viewing at work or around husbands and/or small children.

( A Little More Love )

I'm beginning to realize that I should've gone wireless when I got the new Mac. The cats think the best place to sit is on my desk between me and the keyboard, forcing me to work around them. Now, non-cat owners will say "just toss 'em off!" but the rest of you know that's not an option. If I had a wireless keyboard and mouse, I could move to wherever the cat isn't.

( get that cat outta here! )

Murphy got a little pissy with me for interrupting his nap. I told him that there were not-a-few rabid Remus/Tonks fans who might be interested in having me finish my current project and if he insists in getting in the way, I won't be responsible for the aforementioned rabid fans kicking his little furry butt! I may have to resort to opening a can of tuna, if I want to make any more progress tonight.

So, art. Kinda got inspired after the recent metamorfic_moon  challenge so I've resurrected some old ideas that I never got around to finishing due to one reason or other, and finishing them. The one I'm doing now is titled "A Little More Love" but could easily be "A Little Less Clothing". The next one has even less! But, always tastefully done and mostly work safe. ;) I hope to post this one before the month is out.

Until then, I thought I might play the photo meme if anyone's still interested in that sort of thing.

List up to three (3) things you would like me to take pictures of. Once I've gathered up all the requests, I'll make a post with the pictures I managed to take.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Imagine how much time could have been saved had Harry & Company been able to just push this button? 

Title: Kiss Her Already
Author: drumher 
Rating & Warnings: G, none
Prompt: Quote "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?"  It's a Wonderful Life
Summary: Sirius tries to speed things along.
Author’s Notes: Am I too late? ;) Originally intended for the metamorfic_moon Pink Christmas Advent event way back in December but family obligations, Musicals and computer problems conspired against me. So here it is, finally and now I must get started on my prompts for Midsummer Tales.

( merry christmas! )

Well...it has been ordered and should arrive next wednesday. Then I'll be crusin' on a 2.93GHz Duo Intel Core Processor. Just in time to finish the R/T art from the last Meta challenge before the next one starts!

Since my last post was just about two months ago and there's a new meme floating around, I thought it was high time I became an active participant round here! But first a quick update. Actually it's going to be a real slow update, as I'll explain in a mo..

When last I posted, my Mac had died. Fortunately, I've a friend who works at a University and he was able to hook me up with what would have been a better Mac than I had and it was free. Unfortunately, it turned out that this new Mac had some major issues like not recognizing any additional RAM you might install. Meaning, I'm running on 512MB. You can't do squat on 512MB. I am currently waiting for my new Apple credit card to come through so I can order my 2.93GHz Mac and have 12 months to pay it off without having to pay interest.

Things are slowing down, music-wise and I wasn't planning on doing Brigadoon in July but I just found out that the still-engaged Trombone player that'd I've got a crush on, is doing it so now I'm in. LOL. For a few shows, at least.

I've seen Star Trek six times. Needless to say, I loved it. As a long time Trekkie, I do have some problems with the alternate universe story basically saying "screw you" to the original Star Trek but damn, the movie is incredible. It's made Star Trek cool, something I'd never expect. At the risk of being labeled uncool , I thought I should share a picture of me, my best friend Karen and my little bro Scott at the last Star Trek convention we attended. Yes. We're wearing Next Generation uniform tops with hawaiian print fabric instead of solid colors. How cool is that?

 

and these are even cooler...

 

 My trusty Mac has died. It is no more. It has kicked the bucket and gone off to join the choir invisible. It is an ex-Mac.

It's timing sucks, too.

Last night I came home from work looking forward to a free evening, and indeed a week full of them. I did my cat-centric chores and then turned on the Mac. Everything looked fine until the pretty blue screen came up, with not-so-pretty little white lines going across. Hmmm, I thought. This doesn't look good. Reboot. Same thing. Reboot again with the same results. Called friend John, my personal MacGod and explained what was happening. Hmmm...he thought. Reboot. Nuthin'. So we went through some behind the scenes fixers and nothing worked so he suggested I bring it over, which I did. He messed about with it, opened it up, closed it up and gave me the bad news. 

It's dead. And it's not something that can be fixed with buying a new component. The only and most economical way is to get a new machine. Fortunately, MacGod works for a private University and has access to excess never-been-used Macs that are gathering dust in the storage closet and he'll be getting me one today. Hopefully I can pull the files off my old one cause my new Remus/Tonks art is on it and I don't know when the last time was that I backed it up.

So, my grand plans of using this week to make major progress on art have gone down in flames. Figures.

To add insult to injury, the Dodgers lost to the Giants.

How was your Monday?

How's everybody's Easter sunday going? It was a lovely day here in So Cal. Since my family gathered to celebrate it yesterday, I had the entire day to myself and the project for the day was framing up permanent shelves in the garage. It took most of the day with frequent treks outside with the cats and one to Lowes (without cats) and I'm feeling a bit sore but happy with the outcome. I'll primer and paint this week and then get plywood to finish the shelves on saturday. There will be a matching set against the opposite wall but those will have to wait until after I finish the next musical.


I'm still working on my R/T Meta piece. I'm at the coloring stage so I'm making progress. You must think I'm the slowest artist ever, and you'd be right! It's just been an unbelievably busy year for me, music wise. I start rehearsals for "Seussical" next week so there won't be a lot of free time until the last week of April. I know what you're saying...You had the whole day free and spent it building shelves instead of working on Remus and Tonks art?  Yeah, sorry.

Before I go, I could use some reading recommendations. I've just finished the second book in the Wicked series and could go on to the next or read something else, I just don't know what. So far, I've gotten some great leads from y'all (Time Travelers Wife, Curse of Chalion, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell, etc) so i trust your taste and judgement. What should I read next?

I'm not really hungry but I need to go make dinner for tonight and the rest of the week so I'm outta here. Have a super week!

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 Just a quick post to pimp a new piece of art I did for metamorfic_moon 's Spring is Sprung event. Just in time for Remus' birthday...

Well, LJ's sucking right now and won't let me set up a nice thumbnail that you can click on to take to to the full size piece so here's the direct link.

http://pics.livejournal.com/drumher/pic/000906ra/g3

And now to get back to my very late (but not lamented) metamorfic_moon  Advent Challenge piece. But first, to get a little dinner.

 I don't know if I've specifically been tagged by anyone but Sirius is giving me some trouble at the moment and I need something take me away from him for a bit, so here's the meme that's going around.

1. Make a list of 5 things you can see without getting up:
Fake rose used in recent production of Cabaret.
Fran and Murphy asleep on my bed.
Photos of the niece and nephews on the beach in Kauai.
My Doc Martin boots.
Yam Solo.

2. How do you style your hair?
Don't really so it's a crap shoot as to how it will look on any given day and I usually run my fingers through it too much, which makes it even worse!

3. What are you wearing now?
Blue plaid PJ bottoms, mustard pigment dye tee with company logo embroidered, slippers.

4. What's your occupation? 
Graphic Artist for Sportswear Company.

5. The best thing to happen to you as of late?
Met Brent Spiner (Data of Star Trek) last Sunday after seeing him as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha. Made him laugh, too.

6. What is one word you would use to describe yourself?
Creative.

7. What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?
Harry Potter, Curse of Chalion (Caz-era), Star Wars (Original Trio-era)

8. What was the last thing you ate today?
handful of Licorice Jelly Belly® jelly beans.

9. What was the last text message you received?
Umm...don't text. My cell phone lives in my car's glove compartment and is for emergencies only.

10. What websites do you always visit when you go online?
LJ, CNN, Comics.com, Amazon, Facebook, Bank of America, Pandora

11. What was the last thing you bought?
Charbroiled Chicken Club combo at Carl's Jr for diner.

12. What are you listening to right now?
Ken Burns' The Civil War.

13. What do you think about before you go to bed at night?
How many hours there are until I have to wake up for work.

14. What was the last CD you bought?
Blank. For some reason I've not been able to figure out, my Mac won't recognize my iPod and so I can't update it. No sense buying new music if I can't put it on the iPod.

15. What is your favorite weather, and why?
Warm, summer days with a light ocean breeze and blue sky.

16. If you could play any musical instrument, which one would you play?
I play percussion and a little guitar (No. Not the ukulele) but would like to be able to play piano.

17. How are you?
Fine. Thanks for asking. How are you?

18. What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?
Oh for heavens sake, you've been engaged for two years. If you're not going to marry her, how about taking a chance on me?

19. What's one of your favorite movies?
Hot Fuzz

And now that that's out of the way, I think I'll get back to Sirius and see if I can't finish his sketch so I can scan him in and clean him up this week between rehearsals.

Have a super week, everyone!

For what seems like the first time in a month, I have an evening free. No rehearsals. No performances. No other obligations. So I've been doing dishes, sweeping floors and balancing my checkbook. Yes. My life is that exciting.

 

Don't know if I mentioned it, but I've been involved in a local production of Cabaret. Instead of taking my usual spot in the Pit percussion section, I am playing the drums for the Klub Kittens stage band. If you're unfamiliar with the play, the stage band members are played by guys dressed in drag. For obvious reasons, well I hope they're obvious, I'm doing the Victor/Victoria thing. That is, a women playing a man dressed as a women. I'm not doing any singing, but I do have to "act" a bit and I get to be tarty with the pit orchestra at the opening of Act 2. It's been fun but a lot of long days and nights with very little sleep in between. I don't know how the rest of the cast do it. They've been prepping since December and the Stage Band only got called in the second week of January.

 

We opened last Friday and it's been going really well. We've three more shows this weekend and then I move back in to the Pit for the next show, which is Hello Dolly. My skin sure will be glad as the makeup has not been playing nice. I don't care what my sister says...makeup and me just don't mix. I do, however, love my new Doc Martin boots which I got for the show.

 

You probably want to see some pictures but I must warn you...some are not pretty...
 

( even the orchestra is beautiful )

 

 

( Even the Orchestra is beautiful! )

 

 

 
Once the show is done and I can get back to my regular routine, I will finish my Meta Advent piece. And to prove that there actually is one, here's what I have at the moment...

 

Sirius will also be in the picture (I'm not tellin' where or why) and there will be color and background and all kinds of pretty shading and stuff. I'm liking it so far and have been bummed that I've had no time to work on it.

So now I'm off for a soak in the tub and a little reading before bed.
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 When choosing to make your own pie crust instead of buying the ready made ones from the store, first make sure that you own a pie pan. D'oh! Fortunately, I do have a cake pan which made a deep dish crust and actually worked better to keep the quiche mixture from flowing over the edge. Happy accident or part of the plan?

I will be buying a pie pan the next time I'm at Target, however.

 I failed. Apart from two rainy days sketching during my lunch hour, I had no time to work on my Meta piece this month. If I hadn't been making Christmas gifts this year and if my best friend hadn't stayed with me for two and a half weeks and if I didn't have to work through the holidays (including two days at the main shop 250 miles north in Paso Robles), I'd have stood a better chance at submitting something to join the other wonderful contributions. I even had the crazy notion of seeing what  could do in the five hours available to me tonight after working from 5am to 2pm and driving 4 hours to get home! Not surprisingly, I discovered that I'd rather soak in a hot bath and get some much needed sleep. The Meta piece has not been abandoned. It will just be posted to my journal later when its been given the attention it deserves. Soon, I hope.

I want to wish all of you the very happiest of New Years. A bit early from my time zone, but I'm going to bed. Tomorrow, I have lots of meta fic to read and art to drool over.

Oh, and speaking as a native Southern Californian (and UCLA fan)...Go Penn State!

Seeing snow on the San Gabriel mountains through clear blue skies.

Dinner with Steve at Macaroni grill and hearing all about his adventures at a gay resort in Palm Springs.

Robitussin DM MAX (in red, capital letters). Finally a cough suppressant that does what it's supposed to do. One dose before bed and I slept right though with nary a peep. Sigh.

I'm done. Now I can stop being so bloody happy every day. :)