The Dark Avalon Scrolls

Yeah, so I haven't been posting a whole helluva lot lately of substance. I know... I've had things to say, but just didn't know how to say them or have the wherewithal to say them for various reasons. I could try to get into the ramblings in my brain for reasons, but really, y'all probably just don't want to hear that shit anyway, so I'll just do my State of the AJ in bullet format, since that's the easiest way for me to actually make sure I get everything listed here...

• Health :: So I got pretty sick on Imbolc [2 February 2012] and was down for the count for the better part of 2 weeks. It's now the end of the month and I'm still having a few exhaustion issues, and the cough is still with me [not that this is any kind of surprise to me]. I've been fighting a series of low-grade migraines since I got home on the 16th of this month. The weather's been wonky as fuck, so I'm assuming that's been the impetus behind the migraine issues. Earlier this week, I had a NASTY aura for about an hour, but no migraine to go with it. I mean, I'll take the small blessing where I can, but it freaked me out. And I've been almost constantly smelling the cigarette smoke that is one of my early warning signals for migraines. But only once or twice has a migraine been strong enough to make my days a complete waste. I haven't taken many walks either since I've been home the last 2 weeks. Partially, it's been my health issues, partially it's been shatterpath's health issues, and partially it's been the weather. Not a great combination... I think we've done 2 walks tops. *sigh*
  
  
• Work/Oregon Family :: Well, I'm still doing childcare for the nephew. The fucked up weather of January ended up pushing my trip to Oregon back by a week, so I didn't get down there until the second last weekend of the month. I'll be heading down again this next weekend for a 3 week stint. The second quarter ended while I was down there, and I am proud to say that the nephew ended up with a B in math. For those who haven't been following the program since September, this is a HUGE deal for my nephew. His fourth grade teacher really fucked with his mind and was absolutely awful to him. To the point that he basically failed math and thought he was too stupid to do it. This is a big part of my going down to stay with him. And now, he's gone from a C first quarter to a B second quarter. And the last I checked his grades, his B was even higher than second quarter. I am so fucking proud of him, primarily because he did most of that math work by himself for the second quarter. I wasn't there a whole of of the quarter, particularly because of the weather issues from January. And his mom said that his study habits have gotten better since I've been staying down there. Seriously, I am so fucking proud of him, I really don't have the words...
  
  
• Pets :: When I got down to Oregon last month, I found out that Pickles had passed away a couple days earlier. We found a lovely place to bury him, where we can visit him when we're down there, which is awesome. I am bummed that he passed away, but he had a great life with us, and then with the nephew and his mom. The cats are being their normal selves. Though we've had a couple more mice in the house in the last couple of weeks. 1 was taken outside alive, 1 might have been alive, and 2 were definitely dead. All 4 were tiny, so clearly it's a case of a litter nearby again. And we think that Elphie is killing them when she "plays" with them in the bathroom, then Gabe batters them around when he plays with the dead ones like toys. At least none of our cats appear to want to eat the mice... And yes, every time we take one away [especially if they're alive], Elphie gets all pissed and races around the house, trying to find her toy. *shakes head* That's my little mouser...
  
  
• Politics :: No, I'm not going to get into the latest political fodder, including election shit. You're safe there... So the biggest political news lately is that Washington state has legalized gay marriage. We still have to wait to see if Ref. 74 is going to cause any sort of trouble for that, but we're hoping it won't. Provided there's not an issue, shatterpath and I have decided to get married legally on 21 December 2012. We'll be standing in front of a Justice of the Peace in the courthouse with our 2 required witnesses. Honestly, we won't even kiss. We're totally a queerplatonic couple, and have been living the "old married couple" life for nearly 11 years now [we'll hit 11 years on 1st March 2012], so this is literally just getting a piece of paper and whatever benefits we can and maybe some wedding gifts. Nothing will change in our relationship, other than possibly changing our last names. But that's not even 100% in stone right now.
  
  
• Fandom Ramblings :: This will be in a separate post, as it'll probably be long and rambly...
  
  
• Fannish Writing :: Yeah, this has been hit and miss. I did manage to get a bunch of stories written for the_fic_trader's Gen in January 2012 and fandom_stocking, which was pretty awesome. I've got several deadlines coming up in the next month. I'm not worried about meeting them. I just need to buckle down and get them done. And I tend to do better at that when I'm in Oregon, so booyah that I'm heading down there next weekend. I'm still working out my approach to getting all of my fic over onto AO3, as well. I'm debating if I'll go fandom by fandom, or just keep going backward in my journals to update, then cross-reference that against my fic folders when I'm done and finish up that way. That's probably what I'll do, to be completely honest...
  
  
• Professional Writing :: Not much has been happening with submissions, but I'm getting together some options to start working on and submitting. I've signed up with Duotrope, so am hoping to start finding more options to submit for publication. I am hoping to get at least one good sale before the end of the year.
  
  I've also been working on a new SSW [shared story world] with a few friends since FemSlash Con 2011. We'll be putting out more information soonish on that. Am really happy with it, particularly since I'm getting to learn new stuff, like working on a wiki. It's been a fascinating journey, and I really hope something wonderful comes of this. In the future, I'll probably start working on some ideas for various original fic challenges with this universe. I've gotta get some more writing done for the SSW launch, as well as getting some more wiki work done.
  
  
• Crowdfunding Efforts :: I've expanded beyond just doing the tarot readings. I'm now going to be doing Free Poem Days and Free Microfic Days, as well. Most likely, I'll be alternating months for the poems and the microfics, to be honest. Will be looking into different crowdfunding options for the poem and microfic days, as well. And I'll offer a warning here now. I'll be working in both the SSW universe and the Laikhostra universe, as well as any other new universes I come up with that involve original characters...
  
  
• Crafts :: I have signed up at swap-bot.com and am having a ball making and receiving stuff for the swaps! I've gotten some great ATCs already, a fabulous Valentine's Day card [which was what got me to sign up in the first place], and a couple of fun little flipbooks. And I'm working toward doing some more swaps. These are really great! I can sign up for what I like, and get something creative made to give to someone. If nothing else, I'm learning a few new techniques, especially with the ATCs.
  
  I've been crocheting some stuff for my cousin's baby girl that's due 20th April. I was hoping I could find the bag of stuff that I'd crocheted for my old sup P's baby girl a couple years ago, but never got to him because he never got back to me about getting the stuff in the first place. I'm going to look again this week, and hopefully will find it, so I can send the whole kit and kaboodle off to her.
  
  Am also trying to get all of my Pay It Forward gifts done, both for 2011 and for 2012. I'm working out details to get everything shipped off, as I left it in Oregon when I came home this last time. *is a dork*

I'm sure that there's something else I'm probably missing, but this is what you get for now...