~clockwork-zero

A friend of mine is one of hosts for a Good Cause. A fantastic reading series in NY NY. If you are a lover of Fantastic fiction - this Raffle is Incredible! There are prizes by Neil Gaimen, Elizabeth Hand, Michael Swanwick! Prizes like critiques from professionals: Ellen Datlow, Gardner Dozois and Nancy Kress. Holly Black signed advance copy of GOOD NEIGHBORS. Original art by Terri Windling.

and...
up for raffle is one of my Vacuum Tube pendants too
I think the odds are fairly good on the raffle for this item. It usually sells for around $55 on my etsy site plus the shipping. In this case I'm paying for the shipping... so basically you have a chance to win this pendent... for $1!

Whats super cool about the raffle is that I suspect things like my necklace won't get as many bids as say Gaimen's keyboard. So the odds are pretty good.

anyway,
KGB Fantastic Fiction is a monthly reading series held on the third Wednesday of every month at the famous KGB Bar in Manhattan. Money raised goes to support the reading series...
and you get a chance to WIN GREAT Stuff!

So here in Toronto this coming Sunday there's going to be a Goth/Steampunk/Cyberpunk Show Sale....
which means I've been so crazy busy that I've not had time to breathe.

This weekend I'm going to temporarily taking down my Etsy site and hoping to sell anything I have there now at the sale.

I'm doing some really new, really fun stuff. I got a few matching parts from 3 clocks. Matching parts = HURRAY!

So if you know anyone in Toronto, or the surround areas there is an evil Facebook link:
[link]

but the info is here:

Sunday, July 6, 2008
Time: 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Address: 115 Westmoreland Ave, Toronto, ON

The last 2 weeks have been pretty rough. I've been sicker than I've been in years and years. That says a lot since in the past 8 months i've had bronchitis 3 times. This time though was :: special ::

first my husband came down with near-bronchitis - or TheColdfromHell. Of course it was just too good to keep to himself so he shared. By the Tues before last I was getting sicker and sicker. I booked some vacation days and went and saw the Doctor.. who said (as i suspected): Bronchitis. again. So I staggered around doing things (rest? hell no!) until I nearly collapsed on Saturday. then i rested.

By this past Monday I figured out ThePrescriptionDrugs weren't doing anything useful... So back to the Doc's. New prescription... and CoughSyrup-of-Doom.

The CoughSyrup-of-Doom is great at stopping the nightly coughing fits... but OMG. Nightmares. Vivid, vivid dreams that feel real. Plus the first time I took it I swear I saw fireworks in pretty, hallucinogenic patterns. Then when it wore off at 4am...
I made the biggest mistake. I was coughing and coughing again.. so I took More.
(just a teaspoon... this is potent).

The CoughSyrup-of-Doom stopped me coughing... but with a change in the weather.. meant I got the worst migraine I've had in 10 years.

A migraine and bronchitis and the CoughSyrup-of-Doom = I've never been so sick in my life. Every time I coughed my head exploded. Then because my head was exploding I would get sick to my stomach.
That was just a wonderful 14 hours...
at one point I looked at myself and though: wow. I look dead. I was white (And i'm a light brown person). white as a ghost. But today I've got colour back, and I can eat again! Yay! food!

I'd managed to get online yesterday to try and catch up. I prob won't get caught up with DA though cause I have 500 plus deviations to look at. gods. So if i've missed anything super I'm sorry.

feeling almost human today. And I've only coughed twice! yay!

sigh.
big sigh
looks like they'll be locking down my work place and deviant art won't be accessible very often. This SUCKs. it means I'll be here even less than I have been for the last month - and miss even more.

I haven't been on DA since last Thurs... and whoa. I suspect I'm watching waaaaaaay too many people. 400 deviations? whoa. this should take me about 5 days to look through... so I probably am going to miss a LOT.

I'm hoping to still get on here once in a while. Maybe pick up a wireless connection at lunch - but there's no way I can comment very often, which makes me really sad. There is some incredible work here ... and i love getting on to DA. Unfortunately I share my connection at home with my husband... and one computer + 2 people = a bit of a struggle.

I'll try and get here at least once a week, but it still makes me sad.

I can't believe how busy I've been. Work has been so stressful I thought I was having a heart attack on Monday at noon. I have a bunch of Admins I work with that really don't care about our customers. It drives me crazy. Stuff blew up on Monday.. but now, finally its all fixed. My frustrations with them are compounded by the fact they seem to think they don't need to maintain our machines. grr.. grrr!

anyway, I've also been super busy after the gallery show. It went pretty well. I sold a few pieces.. which was really great. I'm probably going to end up signing with them - so I'll have a semi-permanent spot. Its a nice offer and their commission is only 30% so its really fair.

What else?
There's going to be a "Goth, Steampunk, Cyber, Artist etc Craft/Yard sale and Swapmeet" here in Toronto - that sounds really keen. There are about 8 crafters going to be there - and it looks like just a few jewelers. I might find some clothing I like and swap one or two of the Cyberpunk necklaces for something if I can find it in my size.

I realized because I'm on here so rarely I had about 200 messages plus to get through. I finally got all caught up today. Thats the good news. The bad news is that I'm going to be on here LESS when they firewall down our workplace - leaving us crippled.

do you ever think / dream of finding another job?
lol
My own personal job - tech support - has been lovely. I work with / am a geek. I love the people. Great bunch of guys. (90% guys - we do backbone support and I do webserver support). Love this job... but.. but ... its been getting stressful. And we're owned by a Big USA giant that is doing the lockdown of our stations, monitoring all calls and questioning why we spend 10 min on the phone. Its annoying. They have offered me a new position but it is not so technical... so we shall see. I hope I'll like it.

and what else...
I've not been writing so much lately. The editor poked me about getting him a short story for some new anthology but .. all my energies seem to be focused on the jewelry. Why can't i do 10 things well at once? why? sigh. Still I'm nearly 2/3rds through writing novel #2. And about.. 1/2way through novel #3. and editing 4 short stories to submit. And i've gotta book a week off really - to get novel #1 edited. Sure. I've been editing it for 2 yrs. Editing is my bane.
:: head desk::

--------
anyway
Toronto: Goth, Steampunk, Cyber, Artist etc Craft/Yard sale and Swapmeet Sunday May 11th

Time and PlaceDate:
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Time: 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: Fredericks Manor
Street: 115 Westmoreland Ave
City/Town: Toronto, ON

i didn't organize this though.. but i'm excited to meet others here in Toronto who are into Cyberpunk and Steampunk! Whoop! I've got a bunch of new things planned for it... earrings and cyber-ish stuff. I think it will be fun.