Shelly asked for pictures...

last modified: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 (8:24:10 AM CST)

And of course, I MUST obey the shellster. :)

Below is a link to the pictures I've posted on my main site. I hope to add new pictures each month of his first year. It's amazing how much he changes each week!! The little chunk has already gained close to three pounds and has outgrown most of his 0-3 month clothes.

http://www.dayoldsoup.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=gabe

Introducing baby Gabriel Logan!!

last modified: Thursday, June 12, 2008 (11:53:30 AM CST)

I'm a little late in announcing his arrival, but it's been QUITE an adjustment these past couple of weeks. :)

I am very proud to announce that baby Gabriel Logan was born on May 30, 2008 at 6:58 p.m. after 12 hours of labor. He was 8 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long. So far, aside from needing to be fed every few hours in the night, he's been a little angel. Shawn and I feel so incredibly blessed to have such a beautiful baby. He's pretty much taken away ALL of my internet time, but I think he's rather worth it.

I have pictures posted in my RS photo album if anyone would like to see. :) Thanks to all of my RS friends for their incredible support during my pregnancy. I really won't be around as much as I would like, but I do hope to keep in touch as much as I can!!

Last update for awhile...

last modified: Sunday, April 13, 2008 (10:54:19 AM CST)

With the preggo weeks ticking down and my steady job coming to a close, I present my last update for an indefinite period of time. But I doubt I'll be gone forever. For starters, there are three series I still actively look for (albeit not as fervently as I have in the past) and I'm an anime addict. It's hard to go completely cold turkey forever.

I'm definitely not saying goodbye; it's more of a see you later. Checking Rubberslug daily is one of my routine habits, and I doubt it will change. I always love looking at other people's updates and goodies!

Of course you know that after I type this, a steady at-home job will pop up and I'll still be collecting and updating as always. Here's to hoping! ^_^

My husband gets me

last modified: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 (2:11:42 PM CST)

A couple of nights ago, Shawn randomly asked me to call his cell phone even though he's just sitting on the other couch. I thought maybe he was just testing a new setting or something, so I obliged. He programmed his phone to play one of my favorite Naruto OPs as my ringtone. He totally gets what a little Narutard I am. It was so awesome, I almost had one of my preggo tearing up moments.

I can't wait to hear what his friends think when they hear Japanese singing coming from his pockets.

Who knew baking bread could be so exciting?

last modified: Sunday, February 03, 2008 (2:01:39 PM CST)

No, definitely not talking about me baking bread. ~_^

Glorff told me a year or so ago to watch Yakitate! Japan. He said if I liked Hikaru no Go, I'd like this show. Instead of kids becoming professional Go players, it has kids becoming bakers. As Glorff and I generally have the same tastes in anime, and he was quite right about HnG, I downloaded it. And then sat on it for over a year.

Due to my ever-growing abdomen, I've found myself spending more time at home as I have hardly enough energy to work 40 hours a week. >_< Shawn has been out of town or working 24/7, so I have total control of the TV as of late. Heh heh heh! This means I can watch any out of control anime I'd like. Both YJ and Gundam Seed Destiny were in my cue as next to watch, but due to my fun over the top mood swings, I decided that something comical would be better. I'm not saying that GSD doesn't have any humor, but it seems to swing emotionally on a FMA level, and I cry enough these days as it is. Really, it's quite pitiful.

ANYWAY. Yakitate! Japan did pass my three episode test, and it has kept me laughing hysterically since I pressed play. Like what HnG did for watching people play Go, YJ has definitely done for baking bread. Who knew that baking bread could be so competitive, creative, and flat out insane? I particularly enjoy the rather violent reactions everyone has to tasting Kazuma's bread. Also like HnG, you learn a lot, but about baking instead of playing Go of course. I think this anime is what Alton Brown would create if he created an anime on baking bread. (Apologies for the possibly obscure Food Network reference. This is really the first thing I thought when they broke down the scientific processes in baking bread.) I watched a couple of episodes while baking cheesecake cupcakes for a Super Bowl party tonight, and it made me think of exactly why I add certain ingredients to my recipe.

This show does have one hankering drawback. I really want to eat some tasty, tasty bread! Or is that just Sprout finding a new craving?

Btw Rin, I would not recommend this show to you. Thus far, it fails your top three criteria for anime. To everyone else who likes really different shows like Hikaru no Go, I highly recommend this one so far. I'm smacking myself for not listening to Glorff sooner.

It's a...

last modified: Thursday, December 20, 2007 (8:17:08 PM CST)

BOY!!

We had our first sonogram and learned that not only is the embryo very healthy and has all the right organs and ten fingers and toes, we learned that it is a very active little boy. He was flailing his arms and legs all over the place. That's going to be so much FUN when he gets strong enough for me to feel it.

The whole experience was neat to watch. We were able to see the little heart beating, the stomach, the kidneys, the brain, and the entire spinal column. The tech asked me if I knew he was sitting on my bladder. I told her I had an idea as I've had to pee every 45 minutes today. She tried to encourage him to move up higher in the uterus, but he was stubbornly comfortable where he was.

Everyone rest assured that now that I know it's a boy, we will not be naming him Trunks, Miroku, Sephiroth, or anything animelicious.

If anyone wants to see pictures of the sonogram, I'll be posting them on my main site. ^_^

Hey Rin! You're half right! We'll see if he arrives when you have predicted as well.

I blame Wendy!!

last modified: Saturday, December 01, 2007 (9:22:39 AM CST)

The only time I look for DBZ cels is if I'm looking for specific wishlists. Nothing else ever intrigues me. A cel dealer recently updated the DBZ stock, and I looked around, just in case that wishlist was there. It wasn't, BUT... two cels were there that grabbed my attention like a shiny electronic device.

They are by no means intriguing. I could see them hanging out on YJ for weeks. The original owner probably sold them to this dealer without hesitation with the thought of, "What was I thinking?"

But they still grab me for strange reasons. So I put in the order, and now I'm waiting.

This is all Wendy's fault. Somehow her infectious enthusiasm for DBZ a few months back latched on to me and remained dormant for just the right moment.

So thanks a lot, you crazy artist. ~_^

It's a baby!

last modified: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 (7:16:35 AM CST)

I talked about this on my main blog, but I'm just so excited about it, it warrants further bloggage.

Yesterday I had my second doctor's appointment and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was probably the most surreal experience I've ever had, and I'm just really sad that Shawn couldn't be there to hear it. It was probably also the most reassuring sound I've ever heard as well. So nice to know that something is actually growing in there, and I'm not nauseous all day for nothing.

Still don't know the gender, but I have confirmation that it is a baby. ^_^

Something I haven't done in awhile - watch new anime

last modified: Sunday, October 28, 2007 (2:48:12 PM CST)

As strange as it probably sounds, I haven't watched any new anime in months. DT's blog got me intrigued about La Corda d'oro ~Primo Passo~, so I downloaded what I could and set myself up for a shut in weekend. Her suggestion couldn't have come at a better time. Shawn left for Egypt, so I really needed something to get my mind off of it, and my all-day morning sickness prevents me from playing video games for any extended period of time. Sitting on the couch and watching anime all weekend sounded perfect. And thanks to youtube, I was able to watch the entire series.

Even though I sat and watched the entire thing straight through, I can't say I'm a huge fan. My primary motivation in continuing to watch it was for the music. I know I could have gotten the same satisfaction from pulling out my CD collection, but I was curious if any of the guys would ever fess up to Kahoko that they liked her. >_< What I liked best about it was that each character really displayed the stereotypical personalities of musicians of those instruments. It cracked me up. Hihara totally reminded me of Shawn when I met him on the Baylor marching band field and exactly why we didn't get along at first. I never knew any guy flute players like Yunoki, as all the ones I knew weren't that good looking or as socially graceful. However, turn Yunoki into a girl and he'd fit the stereotype well. (That's one reason why most of my friends were in the brass and percussion sections.) Watching everyone's behavior took me back to memory lane on more than one occasion from all my years in band.

The anime also stirred another memory in me. I had never, ever wanted to play the violin during most of my musical "career," until I listed to "Pines of Rome" for the first time. The tears wouldn't stop during that piece. I was a senior in high school at that time and didn't see the point in pursuing a new instrument. So I thought of my first instrument I learned, and for the first time in years, I opened up my piano and tinkered around a bit. I learned that my Chow is rather sensitive to the noise. I know I'll never be as good as any of the musicians in the show, but I think I really would like to pick up piano again in some form or fashion. If nothing else, to bring more classical music to the house to influence little unborn nobody.

So while I can say I didn't really appreciate Primo Passo as one of my favorites in anime, I have to thank it for stirring up the old memories and reminding me how important music was to me in the past, and only I can make it that important again.

Signs you're moving towards cel retirement

last modified: Thursday, May 24, 2007 (10:16:22 AM CST)

$250 for a cel sounds as expensive as it did when you first got into collecting.

Your YJ daily checklist has gone down from ten series checks to three.

You only check one dealer site a day, and it's not Keep Track.

Selling really isn't that painful anymore.

You rarely think about visiting cel forums anymore, when it used to be part of your morning routine.

Ever notice that everything is always due at once?

last modified: Thursday, April 26, 2007 (9:05:41 AM CST)

Ever notice that when it comes to $$ that it's never spread out? It's always due at once and usually right now.

This morning I woke up to find that my Boston Terrier, Bond, damaged his eye (probably bumped into something) and now has a nasty looking eye infection. He's bumped his eye before, and as long as I give him Benadryl, it heals on its own. But this time he has a lovely divot in his cornea, and his eye almost completely milky white. And of course, he and Mufasa are both due for refills on the heartworm and flea prevention. Yeah, we all know how cheap it's going to be when I go to the vet today.

And then like an idiot, I check my e-mail. All of my outstanding preorders for Trinity Blood are ready. They are going to cost as much as my vet bill is sure to be. I'm just thankful that I haven't been on YJ in months and I don't have any other outstanding preorders for rilezu.

Why can't this stuff spread out? I hope Shawn doesn't mind eating ramen for a month or so. >_<

Nicest gesture from a cel stranger

last modified: Thursday, April 12, 2007 (9:34:18 AM CST)

This just makes me do back handsprings of joy to know that there are still so many wonderful and kind people in this community. Sometimes I feel so inundated with the ass-hats, that I unfortunately forget that they really and truly are the minority.

The other day I received an e-mail from a fellow collector saying she noticed that she had the matching sketch to my cel, and she would very much like to reunite the pair, so would I please send her my address so she could ship me the sketch. FOR FREE. She didn't even ask me to pay her for shipping.

She said it was no big deal, but it really was a big deal to me. So thanks again, Greymouser. I am very pleased to have the two back together again. ^_^

Horrible experience in shipping

last modified: Friday, March 02, 2007 (11:43:11 AM CST)

I recently sold a gorgeous Sasuke sketch set, and today I found this e-mail from the buyer:

Hi: The Sasuke sketches arrived today, unfortunately the cardboard outerbox was not well sealed,all of the sketches came out and were shoved back in after being shredded into several pieces, all of the sketches were ruined. I was very dissappointed and saddened to say the least, next time please don't trust just the sticky glue on the box flap, use tape also. I will try and piece some of them toegether but there is no value left to any of the sheets.Too bad because they appear to have been an awesome set.

I am just heartbroken. I am so incredibly anal about shipping. I always, always, always use packing tape on the outside of the priority mail boxes as I most definitely do not trust the packing glue. The only thing I can think of is that somehow the tape was torn and the glue popped open. Either way, I'm just sick. I hate that this happened to her, since she was such a great buyer, and I hate that such beautiful sketches were ruined.

*sobs*

Lenten Fast

last modified: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 (9:01:23 AM CST)

Today is Ash Wednesday and the start of my Lenten Fast. And yep, I'm giving up the usual: cels. Last year I thought it was incredibly hard but this year, with the start of a couple of incredibly, horribly, awfully expensive cels, I think I'm ready for a break. Last night (after I updated with what I purchased barely in time for the fasting) I deleted all of my bookmarks for YJ and cel dealers, and I may take a short vacation from Beta as well so I don't become tempted by the dreaded "For Sale" section. ^_^

Everyone wish me luck. This could be an interesting six weeks. I foresee a lot of video games and hopefully a fatter savings account in my future.

Echoing Jenn's Gift of Friendship

last modified: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 (8:53:02 AM CST)

It's my turn to ramble on about the gifts of friendship.

Birdie has been an instant messaging friend for the past three years. We've never met in person, and we really don't talk on the phone. She's just online everyday, keeping me entertained while I'm at work. As the months rolled by from our initial conversation, I began to depend on her being there. My day didn't feel right if she wasn't online making me laugh about something. We began to talk about our lives and not just about cels, auctions, and cel community gossip. She kept me strong when my last job was going horribly as every day some new drama flashed. She comforted me while my husband was stationed in New Orleans during Katrina, and I had no contact with him. She does so much for me every day, and I don't know if I do enough for her. And then yesterday, my Christmas present from her arrived.

http://allenschezar.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=191087

If there was one thing I wanted from Fruits Basket, it was a nice sketch of Hatsuharu. He is my favorite character, and he's notoriously difficult to obtain. I can't thank her enough. I can only hope that I am as good a friend to her as she is to me, and I hope that with everyone else that I've met through this hobby. I know I've lost contact with a few people, but I hope to change that this coming year.

To friendship, in 2007.

Well, I give up

last modified: Sunday, November 12, 2006 (2:51:42 PM CST)

I was so happy when I traded in my satellite dish for cable. I no longer have outages during rain or problems with overnight updating of the box software. However. I wish I had known how much of a difference DVR on cable and DVR on the dish were. On the dish, I could set up a Dish Pass and schedule to record all instances of any show I selected. With cable, I can only manually schedule the time. That shouldn't be a big problem, right?

Well.

Cartoon Network changed the scheduling of Trinity Blood a couple of weeks ago. So I accidentally recorded Eureka 7 instead. If I had the Dish Pass, that wouldn't have been a problem. And now I've noticed that if I don't delete what I've recorded before the next scheduled recording, it won't freaking record it! Since I didn't watch my recording of Bleach or Trinity Blood last week, last night's episodes were not recorded.

Grrrrrr.

I'm thankful I've already seen them. But I still wanted to hear the dubbed versions. I'm seriously thinking about ditching my DVR service with cable and ordering Tivo. At least then I shouldn't have this problem anymore.

Grumble grumble.

Most immature person ever

last modified: Friday, October 20, 2006 (8:37:45 AM CST)

I recently started Gakuen Heaven. For those who don't know anything about it, it's about a teenager who just transferred to an all boys school. I don't think it's a yaoi, but it's definitely a Shounen Ai. And it's hilarious. I live for the Ham-Ham Heaven after the end credits.

So why am I so immature? The dialogue between these guys has me in fits! Some of the dialogue is meant to be funny and over the top, but some of it is supposed to be sweet and I laugh just as hard. It reminds me of the time I was introduced to Loveless. A friend was staying at my house and went on and on about how wonderful Loveless was. She had me watch about four episodes. I couldn't stop laughing through the parts she said were the sweetest ones.

I really like Shounen Ai because they have the cutest love stories at times. But the dialogue... it makes me behave like a five year old.

How do I celebrate being sick? With an update!

last modified: Saturday, October 14, 2006 (10:08:55 PM CST)

I have been the latest victim to whatever crap has been floating around Dallas. Thursday was tolerable, but Friday I wished for death. And of course, I'm preparing for another trial, so there is no time to be sick. Yay for weekends to waste being sick. *grumble grumble* I really didn't feel like watching anime today (didn't want to read subtitles) so scanning it was. And napping. Then more scanning. So before I induce myself into a Benadryl stupor, I had to share my little productivity.

Updates include:
Trigun (I know that Nida wants to see these)
Tactics
CCS
Naruto
Inuyasha (from earlier in the week)

Here's to healthier days.

Totally blaming this on birdie

last modified: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 (9:03:27 AM CST)

I guess it was about a year ago that birdie got me into watching Trinity Blood after weekly cries of how good it was and poking me to download it and watch it. I finally did, and I watched the entire series in 48 hours. Yes, it is that good.

Then I learned about rilezu for it. Rilezu are my latest downfall. >_< Birdie and I submitted all of our screencaps around the same time, perhaps during the same IM session, and we're slowly getting our rilezu processed and completed. I think all of hers are done and I have one more on the way.

Sigh. Then Cartoon Network airs the show. We're getting back into it like we were last year. Yesterday she said that she was going to submit more preorders for her vampire loves. I then realize that I don't have all of the holies that I wanted. So last night, again over IM, we submit our preorders. Or at least I did, because someone lost her password. Twelve hours later, I get the e-mail from Stephen approved all of my preorders. All of them. At once. He's never done that before. So now I have to pay half of each rilezu as a downpayment... in a matter of days. I want to sob. I know it's my fault, but I'm blaming her anyway. She's the one who got me into the show and then talked about characters she forgot to preorder, which reminded me that I did the same. See? Totally all her fault. She practically made the screencaps and sent them in to Madoka herself.

What's the point of having a best cel friend if you can't blame them for your addiction?

Aernath's head will spin for me saying this, but...

last modified: Sunday, September 24, 2006 (3:41:40 PM CST)

Cartoon Network just started to air Bleach. I'm a huge fan of the first two arcs (before the awful filler... I don't hate filler just for being filler, but this stuff hurts my eyes and ears), so I decided to Tivo it and give it a shot. I'm always curious about English dubs for a show that I really like. I finally got around to watching it today and OMG! I'm squealing like a fangirl!!

Jonny Yong Bosch is the voice for Ichigo!!! Squeeeeeeeee! He to me is like Johnny Depp to Duotrouble... I'll watch anything this man does. I've been in love with his voice since Trigun. When I met him at AnimeFEST last year, it was like a dream come true. I handed him a Trigun DVD to sign and he thanked me for having him sign as Vash instead of the Black Ranger. He had been saying, "It's Morphin time!" all day and I think he was relieved that someone knew him from something else. Or that's just me being hopeful that he saw me in a different light.

But back to the topic at hand. As much as I love the original Bleach voices, Jonny Yong Bosch aside, they did a really good job picking the voices for the dub. Especially Chad. I can't wait to hear Ishida and the other Shinigami captains. I am so excited that Bosch is doing another anime, especially an anime I love!! Looks like I will be buying the DVDs with the dub after all. Ah I'm in love...

(See, I can write a non-controversial blog. :P)

Don't throw rotten tomatoes at me, Leah. I know you're in the states now and can easily do so...

I don't get it part 2

last modified: Monday, September 04, 2006 (10:56:55 PM CST)

First, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to this post: http://www.anime-beta.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=19279

I stayed away from the computer all weekend (and man that was harder than I thought it would be), and then this morning I decided to check out Midori's website to see if she had updated anything new over the weekend. She had. She had updated a seller beware page, very similar to what Nida posted on Beta. Words cannot describe the rage I experienced when I read Midori's page. If anybody deals with Midori, they know that once you do a lot of business with her, she begins to trust you and often ships your cels before she sends out an invoice, because she knows that you will pay like the good little trustworthy person that you are. Obviously she can't trust people anymore, because some people are low-lives such as this person and won't pay once they receive the goods.

Midori's announcement both saddened me and sickened me. It saddens me that someone as wonderful as Midori was taken advantage of in this manner. She is one of the nicest people I have met in this community, and she helps so many people with their collections. How someone could do this to her just makes me sad. Maybe she shouldn't have trusted him and shipped his cels before he paid, but how sad is it that she couldn't trust a frequent customer? What makes it worse is that now Midori might stop trusting the rest of us that are good customers. Another example of one jerkwad ruining it for everyone else.

It sickens me that someone actually believes that he has no responsibility whatsoever to pay her for cels that HE bought. He couldn't do this at a store without getting arrested for shoplifting. Soooo, just because this was done over the internet and the items were shipped before payment means that you don't have to pay for them? What world does he live in where you don't have to pay for the goods you buy? Can I visit there? I'll start buying all of my cels there. I'd love to buy cels and sketches and have no responsibility to pay for them. He even admits that he knows that it isn't right to not have paid her in full. Damn skippy! It's more than that, it's downright blatant THEFT. If you didn't want the cels, why didn't you send them back to her? Didn't anyone teach you that keeping things you didn't pay for is stealing? Sending partial payments doesn't absolve you of anything. It only further highlights that you know not paying her is wrong. If you really believed that you don't owe anything, then why did you pay anything at all? To make yourself feel less guilty about stealing from Midori?

Do people in other hobbies do this, or is this another instance of anonymity on the internet providing a gateway to be a completely awful person?

Whatever reasoning this person has, he's now higher on my oh-my-God-I-hate-you-list than people that back out of deals. He has no excuse for not paying Midori for these cels. She provided him a service and she deserves compensation, and that compensation should be CASH, not cels that Midori does not want that may or may not be valued at $200. And then to actually add these unpaid cels to your online gallery like you OWN them??? I guess he doesn't know that possession doesn't equal ownership. I'm not even going to talk about the fact that he's trying to sell these things that he doesn't own... it makes the blood boil too much. Also, who are these people that he mentioned in his e-mail who said that he shouldn't have to pay for these cels? More ass-hats? (To quote Ms. Poe.) Nothing he can say will change my opinion that he has no excuse and is fully responsible to pay for these cels. I will just add him to my seller beware and buyer beware lists (since if I can't trust him as a buyer, why should I trust him as a seller?), and I urge that the trustworthy people of RS do the same. We have enough problems around here. Let's do something to squash one of them.

I don't get it

last modified: Monday, August 14, 2006 (8:51:59 AM CST)

What has happened to the cel community?

When I started this hobby three years ago, everyone I met was so overly-friendly and helpful. They would help me with my collection, I would help them, and we were all happy to show off our collections.

Now I see it all collapsing into pettiness. I hear stories about people getting nasty feedback e-mails about their galleries, ranting and raving that it isn't fair that someone got a certain cel when it was their ultimate dream cel wishlist whatever. They scream it's not fair that someone helped another get a wishlist, when that person isn't helping them in the same way... never mind the fact that those two people might be really good friends and have been for years. People lower ratings on others' galleries for refusing to sell cels. So many good collectors have been leaving the online world, including rubberslug, due to this petty and hateful behavior.

And then last night I hear from a friend that a chat session from RS she was a part of was copied and pasted and sent to someone else. Why on earth would someone be so petty and hurtful? All it did was cause unnecessary strife between these two people, and as a result, my friend yanked her cel gallery from RS.

When did it get so cut-throat that we feel like we have to resort to such petty, petty things to get ahead in the cel world? When did everyone think that it's not fair that someone has great cels and they don't have them? It makes me incredibly sad that a community that embraced me and was so wonderful has spiraled into anger and hatred.