State of the Meerkat, Monday Morning

Weekend Catchup:

There's an Open Thread going on downstream - Ask Away!
January's Convention Schedule

As some of you may know/have heard, the weather in these parts has been pretty but ugly - not quite so bad as out in Illinois and Minnesota, but pretty damn cold. I've been using the stairs to exercise on (it's too cold and too icy to safely go outside) but I'm still twitchy as hell.

While curled up on the sofa, I've been doing that mainlining-tv-series-on-Netflix thing - most recently Ripper Street.  I'm just about through the first season, and while it's extremely good, I think I may enjoy my historical crime drama more in print form than visual. Need to think about why that is. I also rewatched GHOSTBUSTERS, which holds up pretty damn well.

I have not yet seen Sherlock (either ep) but people failing to tag on Tumblr have pretty much spoiled me for it.  Fortunately, I don't love the show for the plot twists, just the Feels.

I need to cut back on the obsessive binge tv watching, though - today the full workload kicks in: multiple projects, multiple deadlines.  It's going to be a busy-as-hell year (particularly now through July). Revising DOGHOUSE (G&T #3), promoting the new Kickstarter (more on that soon), working on the Can't Talk About It Yet Project.... this morning, I'm digging into the opening chapters of TAGGED (Gin & Tonic #4).

He’d worked all kind of places over the years, from trendy clubs to dives, and Mary’s was his favorite - a neighborhood joint, warm but not flashy, where you took someone you’d already kissed, and liked kissing, and planned to kiss again.

Oh hai characters, I've missed you!

asking the artists...

So, knitting as a get-off-the-computer hobby didn't work out for me - in addition to my (mild but annoying) learning disability making patterns a negative issue, knitting after an entire day spent at the keyboard was doing bad things to my wrists. So that's out, except as a very occasional pastime. And macrame, while something I can do, has a limited level of interest for me.

Photography, while a thing I love, these days also ties back to the computer. So that's a non-starter.

So my sister suggested art.

I am...about as unartistic as a creative can get. In short, I couldn't draw a respectable line if you gave me a ruler, and even my doodles are one-legged chicken-scratchings. But I do have an eye for colors and shapes. So...we're going to go with smudges. Which means pastels, things I can get messy with.

Which means I need suggestions of both pastels, and paper. Not too expensive, please (until I discover if this is something I enjoy) but not so cheap I won't be able to get full satisfaction out of them.

If you happen to know of any that actively smell do-not-eat-me to kittens, that would be awesome.