I started thinking about what I do during the week when I'm not working, cooking, or cleaning house, and this is what I came up with:

Writing: I'm averaging 2-3 posts a week at my new collaborative writing board. This is a huge difference from the old days when I'd do 2-3 posts "per day." Right now, I'm very happy with the slower pace.

Art: About 1 to 2 hours of drawing practice, or playing around in paint shop pro, 2 to 3 times a week. I'd like to spend more time on this.

Reading: About 1 hour each day. Wow, I used to read a book in 2-3 days. Seems to take me forever now.

Internet time: About 2-3 hours a day. (sometimes more) This includes reading my LJ friend's list and leaving comments when I have something to say, lurking, and messing around with my web pages. Gone are the days when I'd pass away many hours each morning by chatting on yahoo IM.


I finally finished my Booklist. When I get some extra time I want to tweak the page since it looks a bit blah at the moment. But at least the info is there.

Tonight's TV: Reaper. My favorite new show!

Last week I tossed up a few character profiles on my new collaborative writing board. (or play by post board as some would call it) I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can't seem to get into the writing yet. Maybe I'm still recuperating from the fast yaoi rpg I was in for over a year that had me glued to my computer every damn day for hours on end. The way it ended left a bad taste in my mouth too so maybe it's going to take more time for me to get over that.

Before that yaoi rpg I was heavily involved in collaborative writing for 7 years. I watched a lot of people come and go and wrote with just about all of them. A few left me teary eyed when they had to stop writing with me due to real life busyness. There were also times when silly arguments would develop between the writers that left me feeling upset for days. I guess that's bound to happen when you put a bunch of creative people together. I hated those times because as the creator of the forums I had to hear it from all sides and then somehow try to smooth things out. One of my biggest mistakes was letting one or two people influence me and that might have led me to unconsciously push away others. To this day I regret some of my actions. Hopefully, I've learned from the past and will not make the same mistakes again. Thoughts like this floating around in the back of my mind might be making me a tad reluctant to hope that things will turn out better this time around and therefore my exuberance is somewhat lacking at the moment.

Or...it could be the weather. It's still too nice to be cooped up inside. The time that I should spend on writing is now spent puttering around in my yard, playing with my dogs and cats, or walking around the neighborhood letting my mind wander. All is not lost though because I DID feel the old spark when I finally got around to adding a couple of reply posts to my board. I keep hoping that spark will soon ignite into a roaring flame, bringing back my old desire to write up a storm and think up all kinds of interesting plots. I also hope that the new writers on the forum will be patient with me while I try to get my groove back. :D

I'm going to be busy for the next few days, adding my character profiles to the new collaborative writing board I started. My old writing partner Dee seems anxious to start things up again and got a couple of her friends to join already. How cool is that?

One of my biggest problems is totally diving into something I love, and I LOVE collaborative writing above all else. But this time around I'm going to try NOT to let this forum consume my life because I have other creative outlets I'll like to pursue too at this time like drawing and painting. Wish me luck. lol

Last night, we watched several hours of "Live Earth." Bon Jovi did another fantastic performance. The band is tight. They make live performances look easy. And they really know how to work the crowd. Bravo to them for an excellent job. I was bouncing around in my chair and wilding flapping my arms around to their music. Hey, at least I got a little exercise! *laughs*

It looks like it's going to be another day spend indoors since the temperature is suppose to hit 95. Ugh! Too hot for me. I guess we could catch up on watching the anime we put on hold yesterday.

This week I'd like to get back to practicing my drawing. I've been at a loss for what to work on but before I fell asleep last night I started thinking about trying to draw pictures of all the characters I created for my old storyboards. So, yeah, that's what I might do.

I'm been feeling quite bored when I come online lately. I guess it's because I don't have anyone to talk with or write with like I did in the past. It was fun to turn on Yahoo IM and yak with my writing partners about plot lines and just any old thing. The hours would fly by. Now I spend most of my time looking at web sites and yawning. Plus there aren't many people around during the day when I'm available to sit in front of the pc. I really miss that, but I suppose it's a good thing since my house is now cleaner and I'm getting a lot more reading done. Speaking of reading, I just started on book one of the Dresden Files. So far, so good. If things keep up this way I should get through the pile of books stacked up on my table in no time.

Hot, hot, hot! It's way too hot here so I'm cooped up in the air-conditioned house instead of roaming around outdoors. Sheesh, I couldn't wait for summer because I wanted to get out and walk more but I never expected this degree of heat to hit us so soon. I have to wonder what it's going to be like around here in July and August. *sweatdrop*

Okay, so I still don't know what the hell I want to do with myself. I really miss the collaborative writing I used to do in the past before my message board changed into a fast paced role-playing board and would like to get back into it again. But there's still a part of me that wants to take a break from writing and all the plot thinking and character creation that goes with it. I guess that's the reason I haven't been actively hunting for fellow writers who might be interested in joining me. *sigh*

I did start working on a new message board though, over at Yuku. At first I couldn't figure out how to set the forums up then slowly but surely I figured it out. I like it much better than the forums I started working on at the Activeboard site. Now I'm happy. At least it'll give me something to mess around with until I get out of this funk I seem to be in.

Tomorrow we're going over to my daughter's house to celebrate my grandson's graduation from kindergarten. Whoot! I still can't believe he'll be starting 1st grade in August.

The hubby is out cutting grass now. When he finishes we're off to the mall for a bit. Later it's pizza and anime time. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I finally scanned in the pictures I drew a couple months ago of Ed Elric (Full Metal Alchemist), and Yusuke Urameshi (Yu Yu Hakusho). It's funny that they both wear a similar angry expression on their faces. I can't remember what I used as a reference for these drawings. It was probably Newtype, Anime Insider, or screen caps. Yes, 98% of the time I need references since I'm still a newbie when it comes to drawing. Hopefully, once I feel more confident about what I'm doing, my inner creativity will ignite and I will then be able to draw something from pure imagination.

I haven't drawn anything of interest lately because I've been trying my best to follow along with a couple of those "how to draw anime" books. Most of my work at the moment consists of circles and other shapes. And, I've been devoting quite a bit of time on trying to get body proportions correct.

Today I realized that I've been spending way too much time in front of the pc, perusing various LJ communities and checking out profiles, looking for people who share some of my interests. I'm in a mixed up place right now. A part of me is eager to find a writing partner since I do my best writing when I collaborate with another. But another part of me wants to simply chill out this summer and not have to worry about characters and plot lines. *deep sigh* At times like this I'd like to give myself a good kick in the ass while screaming, "Make up your damn mind!"

I'm going to try to get a 20 minute walk in now before the thunderstorms roll in.

( Drawings )

I watched Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" this weekend and enjoyed it immensely. Leonardo DiCaprio did a fantastic job as "Billy." I really felt for the character and found myself sitting on the edge of my seat during several scenes. There's something about gangster/mob movies that tugs at my heart. Sometimes I wonder if I lived during the roaring 20s in a past reincarnation. I even stop everything to listen to a lovely torch song.

I also spent quite a bit of time reworking some of my web pages, and plan to do more today. It's taking longer since I haven't worked with html for a couple of years. Amazing how much you forget when you don't touch something for so long. Most of my online writing was done with writing partners. It's splattered on several message boards so I'd like to save some of it in case those message boards vanish from the net world. At the moment I don't know if I'll ever return to writing in the fantasy world I created for interested parties to write and role play in, but just in case, I want to get all my world map pages back together. I tore them apart in a rare fit of anger a couple of weeks ago. It was silly of me to tear things down while I was upset. Normally I don't do such things but I guess I was blinded by how much I was hurting at the time.

On a lighter note...the weather is beautiful. I managed to get a 25 minute walk in this morning. My legs are feeling it now. lol Hopefully, I'll get out there again this afternoon for a stroll around a park located a few blocks from my house. First I better get down to the business of doing laundry. Maybe I can get a little drawing practice in too.