Spring Cleaning 2019 Updates

[June Scarlet]

Spring Cleaning has begun! This is the thread where you post updates and support as often as you like. Many people find once a week to be a good amount, though.

Have fun!

[Gelquie]

I'm going to update on Sundays.

So, given how the event started only a little earlier, and I ended up doing a lot of things not on the to-do list, I haven't actually done much. But I didn't want to leave my list at that, so I did one of my few easy tasks. Ended up doing it all in one go.

Task H1; finishing up that chart is now complete! It'll help me in personal things, and being caught up will help tremendously. I also made it easier to keep up on that so that it doesn't need to be a task in itself.

...Technically, I can say that I've worked on H4. I looked up tech, but still haven't quite narrowed anything down. And in one case, the prices started looking expensive, so I started hesitating. So that's still a work in progress.

Hopefully I can do more by next week. We'll see what my brain can accomplish. But at least I can technically say I've crossed off one task.

[June Scarlet]

Argh, so busy! I had Spring Break last week, but it wasn't much of a break, as I had stuff to do all four days of it, and the weekends I was still working at the bakery. And then college started right back up again, and tutoring was extra busy. Luckily I put work and school on my list, so that all still counts for something.

I also applied for a website designer job yesterday, and updated my portfolio, and added a project on there. And while trying to fall asleep one of these nights, I thought about my Faerielanders project some more.

Apparently there's already some designs for a Spring Cleaning forum badge out there, so I don't need to worry about that anymore, so that's one less thing to worry about.

So yeah, I did get some stuff done, so pretty good despite being busy.

[Lizica]

I was originally planning to make Wednesday my update day, but yesterday I felt so out of it that I've put it off until today. xD So I guess Thursday is my update day now!

I finally finished painting the bonsai show awards and mailed them off earlier this week! \ o / They can still be pretty frustrating to do at times because you end up having to completely restart a lot if one brushstroke comes out badly--but I feel like I'm actually improving? Still definitely not a master by any means, but I think the final ones and even my rejects pile look better overall this year, and I'm really proud of that. xD And I also feel like I treated the process with a bit more calm (and even enjoyment) this year, which probably helped all around.

SPOILER: Click to show

I took a photo of all the rejects and the six final ones before I drew on the labels.
((You may also notice a tiny Bek waving from one of the rejects-turned-scratchpaper.))

Hopefully they like them! I can relax a tiny bit more now that these are done.

I also finally washed my travel stuff, huzzahhh. xD


Good luck, everyone!! \ o / \ o /

[Killix]

I cleaned my desk.

*wild applause*

[Gelquie]

Oops, update.

A lot of tasks I did were ones not on my Spring Cleaning to-do list. But here's the ones that are.

-I finally started sewing belt loops onto pants. They don't look great, but they can work in the meantime. I have 1 of 4 done, and honestly, the only reason I didn't go all the way through with it is because other urgent things came up (like sewing a tear in my blanket before I need to go to bed myself) and time just ran out. I'll continue through the week.

-I picked out one tech thing to buy! Figured out what my heart is set on, figured things out with family, and used gift allowances to help pay for it. The other is trickier, but at least I have one down.

-R1: Categorize Science Literature - Complete! It was actually much shorter than expected. But then I did skim-read a lot to just get the basic idea of the thing. Though what I found in this task changes something about another task.

-R2: Read Science Literature - I realized that I'd been approaching that the wrong way. I realized that as I categorized my science literature and started writing key terms for them. I can't do it in all mass numbers because that just paralyzes me, especially since not all of it may be relevant at the moment. It's still a task, but how I'm going to do it instead is I'll focus on the ones that are more priority, like ones that help me with either research or the overall picture, as time permits. Doing it like that will decrease my anxiety about the whole thing, and maybe I'll be able to get to things faster.

[charming thievery]

So I'd like to say I made a lot of progress on my Meg card, but I only got as far as searching up references for it, ha.

But! I did make some good headway on tidying up my workspace! Still an ongoing process though. I definitely feel motivated to clear up more of it though!

[June Scarlet]

I'm going to update today since tomorrow will be busy for me.

Classes are going well, for my art class we're designing t-shirts, and we get to submit them to an actual company for consideration, which is fun. Might get to share that later on, if it gets accepted, or even if it doesn't.

Added redesign Nathan Clarke on the list. He's my blue kyrii who inspired Mathew Cavus to be a blue kyrii, and then when we had five pet slots, I made Matt into a real pet, and then I had two blue kyriis, which is a bit more. So I finally decided to zap Nathan since his character isn't as established. So I morphed him into a bori, and then his first color change zap was into Halloween, and I decided it both looked good, and was very fitting for a Neovian Gentleman. So now Nathan is a Halloween Bori. This week, I drew some sketches in my sketchbook, trying out different clothes and other details. Gotta keep his hair fabulous, though, as a holdover from his fabulous kyrii hair.

Decided I miss pen and ink from when I was doing Ink, so instead of making Crime Show entirely digital, I'll ink it and color it digitally. So I prepared the bristol board, and traced some panels, all ready to go.

There's a Technology Job Fair this Friday and Saturday I'm going to, so I need to prepare for that.

And that's the gist of it!

[Lizica]

Ah, yes. Thursday. *glances at week* *glances at project list* ...Uhhh, I started Montage. =D
...And I also did a little of Finish Logo today? (Before realizing that the new layout I wanted to try has a part that looks a lot like an existing company logo, blargh. Subconscious, why must you do this. I think I'll finish the draft anyway and see if it still looks too similar or not, and if so, if there's anything I can salvage from this idea, because I really like it.)

[Gelquie]

Sundaaaay!

Research:
Well, I didn't make much progress. But actually, a lot of my tasks tie into each other.
I read a few works a bit more thoroughly. Mainly in the course of trying to figure out one of my other tasks, but I got a few things from it.
Given the way my research is going and the book my advisor recommended for me, in order to solve one of the big-time issues, I'll need to perform some really complex math that I... am out of practice doing. So I might be doing some of that while figuring out how to apply the math to my data.

Personal:
So, you know me clearing out clothes?
...I bought two new clothes. ='D
BUT. I'd been severely lacking in black pants that I like wearing. And now I have a pair I do like wearing. (Though maybe I should've gotten a second one of the same color so that I have one to fall back on... Oh well.)
Maybe getting those will help me get rid of the pants that I just do not wear ever and don't really intend to because I just don't like them anymore.

Surface Tidying - I dusted the place! I think I missed a few spots, but I got most of them. I even got the top of the fridge! Which... I don't think I'd dusted since I moved into the place, and it was Bad. Especially bad because I was storing stuff up there, and it got to the point where whenever I wanted something there, I'd have to worry about dust flying on my face. I should probably find different places for those things.

I also did some minor tidying. And some more major one. Since my backpack broke and I've been unable to fix it, I've resorted to using my old backpack from high school, which was on a surface. Not a smart idea in hindsight, considering I could've put it in a less accessible place that just makes more sense. Once I realized this, I rearranged that surface to make a bunch more sense and have a lot of room. I could probably put more stuff there without feeling bad if I wanted. It's really nice now.

I did pick out tech to buy, and I have it now! And it's... a learning curve, and honestly a bit more technology than I wonder I should actually have? There are features I really love having, but I kind of miss being able to have an excuse to not be online All the Time. But then I can impose that myself. So I have the convenience to access those things on the go, and the willpower to keep myself on the lookout to life around me.
That tech to buy might be the only thing I do for the duration of this event. It's just a lot of money to dump at once, and I think I can survive a little longer like this. Plus, switching to new tech is hard. It's even harder at the tail end of a semester where I don't think things are going to let up for more than a month. I need a break from that kind of stress. So unless my laptop completely and utterly dies on me, I'll probably just keep using this and consider that task provisionally done.

Sewing belt loops onto other pants: I did one... But it's not a great job, to be honest, and I kind of want to take it into a tailor anyway, if possible? So I might consider that.

That's all on my list. I did a lot of other things this week, but I'm glad I was able to tackle a few of these.

[June Scarlet]

Finished up with the T-shirt, which you can find here: ntwriters.proboards.com/post/2719503/thread
And now we're working on our last project, which is hand lettering a quote digitally. Should be fun. In my other class we finished Access databases and are now working on Powerpoint. Instead of a test at the end of the quarter, we get to make a presentation on a subject of our choosing. I'm debating between comics and pet rats right now, but leaning towards pet rats. Comics are fascinating, but would be hard to fit into just three minutes. Pet rats are easier to explain, I think, and would be teaching people that they shouldn't be scared of them.

No NT last week, so I got a bit of a break from Ink. Which was good, because I was plenty busy with other things. I sketched Lisa Copper and Franklin Fuzz from Crime Show a good amount of times. I also sketched Nathan Clarke a bit more, filled up the sketchbook page, and scanned it in. I'll share it once I have a final art done for Nathan, go ahead and make it all into one post on my art thread.

Career was quite something this past week. Went to a Technology Job Fair, and got several leads. Applied to an internship with the county government on Friday, on Monday I revised my resume based on some feedback I got and sent it out to two recruiters, and also talked to one of those recruiters on the phone. Hopefully something pans out to a job.

[Lizica]

I mostly finished Montage last night, except that the last part doesn't quite measure up to the rest, and I still need to finish putting it together post-scanning. ...Which is to say that I still did not finish it. xD
I worked a tiny bit more on Finish Logo. I simplified a part of it, making it look a lot less like the vaguely similar logo, and probably much cleaner, too. (Though I'll run it by the person anyway to see what they think.)
And I finally started that last step of Soft Glow! It might take a while if what I've done so far is any indication, but! I think it's gonna look really good when it's done, I'm super psyched! =D My wrist is sore, though. xD

[Thorn]

Today I made progress, although not of my own choosing!

THORN AT NOON: Well what a nice morning! Time to go and meet my brother at the museum.
Oh? What is this- a text from my landlord?
LANDLORD: Hey I'm going to show someone your room tomorrow k cool.
THORN: ASHASEHwuhhh?

So I vacuumed, packed a bunch of stuff away, am actually about to go and wash ALL my dishes for once (I usually leave pieces a bit like the filthy creature I am), lost one of my fave dice, found said die, threw out/recycled a CRAZY amount of stuff, and then celebrated by playing the Dark Souls board game with my brother (we lost.)

[Gelquie]

Sunday Funday

...In that I had fun today, rather than doing any work.

As for the rest of the week... It was complicated.
I'll be upfront; I didn't get much on my list done. Kind of had my mind preoccupied on things. It wasn't for lack of trying or anything. Just sometimes time is wanting. And sometimes, well... I'll explain.

First, I had to finish off some homework for my class that wasn't on the list. But that's done.
And I had to prepare for some events I promised to help out with.
Plus other things I'd prefer not to mention here and is irrelevant anyway.

For Research... I triiiied. It's very hard when people make the workspace very active. Which is bad news for me this week, given I have to report back. Maybe I can make more progress tomorrow.
But I was pointed in the direction of a particular book that I have indeed looked at, though it feels a little beyond my level. But I have used that area as a jumping point to try and find other books. And sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't, I overall need to re-learn my statistics. The question I have is actually very simple, but sometimes it's a question of how to ask it. There's an easy way to do what I want, but it's a very reductive way that I don't think is appropriate for my research. I want to go about it in a way that I've seen others do it, but I don't actually know how to go about that, so that's a learning process, and it's difficult on top of school. (And plus, every aspect of life demanding something from me at approximately the same times.)

Finding a new apartment is starting to gain ground again. I was considering crossing it off the list and forgetting about it, and just staying here for my tenure. But I don't know. That apartment problem is still a problem. I could do it if I'm able to move to a different location, but some of the problems would still be there, just lessened. Plus, it'd be more expensive.
I did see one I like, I just need to make the phone call. But it might be unfurnished, so that might be challenging.
Plus, I should look at more anyway.


So that's what I have this week. Not that much.
It occurs to me that it might behoove me to add more tasks to the list, as there's really no need to keep my task list pure and simple and exactly as the beginning.
So I've added a few more things to the list. H7. Appointments, and R7. Big Meeting.

Hopefully, I'll finish making my calls for the appointments before the end of the week. Only one should be done quickly, the others just need appropriate scheduling.

For the Big Meeting, I started working on that this week. I just need to finish writing the report. I should hopefully be done with that by the end of this week, have the form ready, and have scheduling emails sent out. I should do the lattermost soon, given that relies working on others' schedule, and the sooner for that, the better. Especially close to final's week.
Since that's been retroactively added to my list, I'd say I did make some decent progress. I'll count it.

And that's what I got for now.

[June Scarlet]

I worked a lot on the Magical Girl Art Exchange, so I went ahead and added it to the list. I'm almost finished with coloring, and now I need to work on background and effects. Plus a one-panel bonus comic if I have time.

I'm also working on that lettering a quote project for art class. Finally moved past the endless sketches, and now am working on the finalized version. We have to make our own font for this, which is hard; I've never done it before. Also started working on the presentation; I decided to do it on pet rats.

Updated Ink's webpage and on dA. This Friday is Part 6, which I have accompanying art for featuring Starla, so I'll start previewing that next week for the Beauty Contest. Also thought some more about The Faerielanders, which is pretty much all I have time to do about it. Maybe I'll start properly working on it after the semester is over.

The store is closed on Sunday for the Holiday, and I'm off on Saturday. So instead of taking Saturday as a break day, I called my Grandma and offered to help set up for Easter. So I'm still busy, but it's really nice spending time with her, so it works out nicely.

I think I'll add a new section for what I will work on this coming week.

Upcoming Week:
Starla's BC entry
Art Class Lettering Project
Magical Girl
Pet Rats Presentation