all made up with nowhere to go

# Parts of town flooded the other day while I was at work, thanks to snow melt and a storm passing over. Thankfully, I was able to make it home okay, but I was worried for a good couple of hours that I wouldn't.

# I finally moved the futon upstairs! \o/ I have swapped it for the wicker chair that was up there and the other rando dining table chair I have (there are two; they do not match). This means there is now more space in the living room and the front bedroom, and I am very happy. All I have to do now is another tip run, and I will be even happier.

# I watched a stationery haul from a website I've never heard of (Journalsay), so of course I had to go and look at it. But I was very good! I didn't actually buy anything! I wanted to, I really did. But I have lots of stickers and stuff, I don't need more! (I do)

So now I think I'm probably going to fall down the journalling video rabbit hole for a while. Possibly.

# And then the other rabbit hole I'm going to get myself in is art dolls. I have wanted to make some for a few years now, but been put off because a lot of the tutorials have specific looks to them. Anyway, tl;dr version is I can make the dolls look however I like, right? That's what makes them mine.

I think also I've been put off because I've tried to make dolls in the past (I have abandoned crocheted ones) and it's not always gone very well. But. I am trying to do the thing of, well, if it doesn't work, I don't have to show anyone!

What kicked this off was seeing one made from scraps of fabric. And oh boy do I have a lot of scraps. So. I'm going to muck about and see where this gets me.

# Finally, I have been thinking about rebooting my ko-fi! I have made next to no effort with it recently and that's frankly quite rubbish! As you probably know, I was very mentally unwell last year while trying to run it, and I know I didn't do a good job, and I think I used starting my job as an excuse to stop updating, even if I didn't realise it at the time.

Well, now I have a handle on my job, and I reckon I could manage monthly updates there at least. And overhaul the shop. I don't know when I will actually do it, possibly in the new year, maybe as late as my birthday. I need to do some research, and relaunching over Xmas seems like a bit of a daft idea. So. Yeah.

# I think that's all I've got for now!

I "accidentally" fell into watching journalling videos again, and omg that stuff is so soothing for my brain, and I have no idea why. Especially because most of the videos I see, the people making the spreads use things I would never consider using (doilies, lace, particular types of stickers or washi).

To which end, I have a book I made...forever ago...that I decided I would use as a collage spread book* (because, to me, those journal spreads look more scrapbooky or collage-y than they do what I would consider appropriate for a journal, but that's because I am an old man who yells at clouds). It's roughly the same size as a Traveller's Notebook, because you bet I thought about making inserts once upon a time. So it's not so big of a space to fill, and I don't have to do both sides at once if I don't want to.

And then I thought, "I need to sort some stuff out!", so now I have various folders full of various types of paper and card (supplemented from some general tidying I have been doing) that I can use for said collages.

I even categorised (some of) my sequins, because of seeing someone use some in one of their spreads. And came to the conclusion that I either need to sell or donate some, because I have a veritable mountain that I will never use. (Curse Poundland and that time they had massive bags of sequins in multiple colour sets! Like, it's nice having the different colour options, but oh boy, even if I encrusted every page in sequins, it would probably take me years to get through them all).

I also grabbed my mum's two seals out of writing sets she'd bought + the additional wax because IDK it looks cool when people on the internet do it. One has an interchangeable head, which is nice, and the other one doesn't, but that's okay. It's not like I have an alternate head for it at this point in time anyway.

I'm going to get one that is more "me", eventually. And one that has my constellation on it because I can! (hopefully; as constellations go, Aquarius isn't the most complicated, but it's also not the most simple).

...I just need to get everything a bit better organised in the living room so that I can access things when I need them, and not have to dig through layers upon layers of boxes (or whatever). And then I can collage to my heart's desire!

~

I don't think many of you follow me on twitter, but in case it does collapse in on itself, you can mainly find me in the following places online (as well as here, obvs):

wordpress: rootsandbonesart.wordpress.com

ko-fi: ko-fi.com/rootsandbones

society 6: society6.com/rootsandbones

my hilariously out of date website: rootsandbones.weebly.com

I am thinking about setting up a gumroad account for digital downloads at some point in the future! I will likely only put freebies up on ko-fi for reasons I'm not going into, because they are, quite frankly, really boring.

Also I figured out a way to film stuff at my desk, and it is not great, and I am not making any promises that that will happen, but hey! I finally figured it out!

~

*This is what I was wonkily talking about in the last entry, except sometimes I get carried away with myself, and also assume that because I know what's going on, so does everyone else.

I'm going to be getting new glasses! Technically, I have had new glasses with all my optician appointments, but the last three lots were reading glasses, so they don't count :q

But these ones are everyday ones, and I am very excite! According to my records, the last time I had new everyday glasses was 2016!! So we decided that yeah, maybe I was overdue a new pair. But also my eyesight has changed a little bit - my right eye, which is the worst one, has improved a little! The optician I saw said it's not by a lot, but because my eyesight is so bad anyway, it's more noticeable to me. (I am -10 in both eyes, whatever the heck that means). So it's probably better that I get new glasses.

Unfortunately, they will cost money, because the NHS help towards paying for stuff is minimal. I get £15 off the total price of the lenses, and that's it.

But new glasses, though! With seafoam green frames! Or some form of blue/green, anyway.

I also had the dentist the day before, and we will not talk about the shenanigans I had with the buses. Instead, we will mention that he was relatively pleased with the state of my mouth, which is a good thing. This doesn't always happen, so it's always good when it does.

~

In other news, at the beginning of the month, I finally remembered to look up how to do graffiti style writing, found a tutorial on youtube, and actually followed it!

And then I've been doing lettering stuff ever since (but not specifically any graffiti style, because that's not my ultimate goal here).

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it on here before, but I really like lettering, I just have next to no confidence in my skills. I've done more of it in the past few years than in my entire lifetime, so it is a thing I'm working on but, like I said, I don't really feel confident in my skills, so I'd like to improve them.

~

And, in news that is likely no surprise to anyone, I bought some Zebra mildliners. I got a set of three that has the blue-green, pink, and yellow pens. And...the pink and yellow are WAY harsher than I was expecting! My Stabilo pastel highlighters are milder than those two! The blue-green is okay, though, in comparison (and no, I'm not just saying that because I like that particular colour). I got them for cheaper than retail price (£4 for the set), so I'm not massively disappointed, and I will probably use them for arting anyway.

# I bought more notebooks and stickers, no-one is surprised.

BUT. They were bought with a purpose. Wilko sell stationery, and one of the things they sell is cheap exercise (composition) books. Obviously, they're not as chonky as my Pukka ones* (they're half the page count), and I don't expect them to play nicely with fountain pens, but I thought I'd try a couple out for comparison**.

And then I saw they had woodland themed stickers on a roll, so I had to buy them, because I'm weak and I like that particular theme for things. Also one of the designs is a bear in a sweater that says "bear with me" and IDK if you know, but I am very fond of terrible puns. So I am looking forward to using those!

EDIT: Hahahahaha OMG I'm in this post and I don't like it! (reddit link to the notebooks sub) [/ETA]


# I am FINALLY coming to the end of the notebook I am using for an analogue diary! It has 208 pages, and it has taken me almost a year to fill it! (I started on 31 March last year). I dare say if I had written in it every day, it may have taken me (slightly) less time to fill it, but I don't always know what to write about, or even feel like doing it, so I don't.

I am right now, though, because I want to fill that hecker and be done with it. Back to smaller notebooks for some time, I think! (I have another one that is 300+ pages, and I don't think I'll be using that as a diary any time soon).


# I discovered I can play the original version of Yume Nikki via Steam! I do have the original version on my external HD, but knowing I can access it via Steam is nice.

(Oh no, it's so sad that it's so long ago since I played it that I don't even have a tag for it on here :( until now, obvs).

I was looking for older games that my new computer can run (turns out the processor isn't as fast as it was supposed to be), and for some reason, I've been on a Yume Nikki vibe lately, and that was what made me think to look for it. So now I'm probably going to go back and see if games like .flow and Ib and similar stuff like that are still around. hashtag gaming like it's 2010 again

~

*Though I have bought chonky books in there in the past.

**THAT SAID, I got one from Home Bargains a couple of years ago, that I fully expected to be terrible with fountain pens, and it was actually great! So it just goes to show that you don't always need an expensive notebook, though obviously paper quality is choppier with cheaper ones.

It's currently very windy outside, and Do Not Want. I guess at least it's not raining as well, but ugh.

~

Anyway, in other news, I bought a new computer and external HD (4Tb)! I've been meaning to for some time, and I could afford a cheap one, so that's what I did!

I got a Dell Inspiron, which is a make I've had before (my first ever computer was Dell, so I know they're good/reliable). It's not the best Dell ever, but it will suffice for how/what I want to use it for.

It came with Windows 11, and I'm surprised to report that, at the moment, I don't hate it! It reminds me more of classic Windows than whatever the nonsense that was 8 did (screensavers are available, and that just threw me right back to 2002, y'all. Honestly surprised the maze and pipes ones aren't in there).

I have downloaded most of the things I think I will need thus far (I don't use my computer very much these days, except to do a bit of internet/image edit). I am about to download the Steam app, because eventually I want to buy Dorfromantik and probably Loop Hero (thanks, Johnny Chiodini!) and I am aware this is a terrible and dangerous thing and also they have a Lunar New Sale on right now oh my frogs.

But anyway, my question is this! What other things (not games) are good to download? I have a video editor/image editor/Libre Office/Firefox/Discord/VLC. What are your recs for antivirus programs? What are good add-ons for Firefox? I have an ad blocker and spell checker, and IDK what else I might need, since it's some time since I've done a fresh install like this (I haven't used Windows in EIGHT YEARS OMG. It will be so nice to see what I'm scanning as I'm scanning it, though).

I don't regret using Linux, but there were definitely a bunch of things I couldn't/didn't do because the means weren't available to me, or were too complicated for me to get my head around. It's great for some things, but not so much for others (imo). I am kind of sorry to see it go, but also I'd like to be able to know what I'm doing if someone asks me for help with their computer, heh.

~

Thanks to that bullet journalling video I linked the other day, I got out my Stabilo highlighters, and colour coded the days in my planner and...it's like a magic trick. Suddenly, everything stands out where it had all kind of blurred together before.

But because I only had six highlighters, and there are seven days in a week, I decided I needed more, so I went and bought six more, oops? Although now I have 12/14 of the current pastel range so yay? And I'll use them for other things besides highlighting, as that's the thing I use them for the least.

I also rearranged how the journal's laid out, as my current way wasn't cutting it, and it's nice to have a space to write any notes if I need to at the bottom right. Not that I write notes all that often, but it's nice to have the option?

I also sorted out all my stickers, in the hopes I will use them more. A lot of the videos about journalling/collaging I've been watching use stickers quite a lot, and ofc I want some of them (wouldn't be addicted to stationery if I didn't!), but I thought I should use up some of the ones I have. I thought it would be an absolute mission since there's a lot of stickers, but it only took around an hour to sort everything out into broad categories, so that wasn't so bad at all.

~

And that's everything I have for now! I'm still playing FXIII, but I might make a separate entry about that at a later date!

The other day, I made a Cult Pens order, and bought my first bottle of Waterman ink, because obviously I need more bottles of ink, I say, staring hard at the ones I already own, and the ones that were my mum's.

Anyway, it is in Tender Purple (not Intense Purple, as I erroneously said on twitter; I think that's a Diamine ink colour). And, as I also said on twitter, the German for Aquarius literally translates to Waterman, so I was astrologically compelled to buy some of their ink at some point ;)

I also got three refills for my Pentel Energel pen, which I was given by someone I work with about a month or so ago. I've really been enjoying drawing with it, so I got a black refill (as it's black anyway), and also sky blue and turquoise refills, because my colour choices are extremely predictable.

So now I'm tossing up whether this is just me spending money, or whether it can come off the Xmas money I was given (maybe the ink yes, but the refills no). I feel like the Xmas money should go on stuff I wouldn't normally buy. Like the hand-dyed sewing threads I have just spent some cash on!

~

When I haven't been watching Inscryption LPs/anything else that is a Let's Play of a game by Daniel Mullins, I have been watching a lady who is primarily a junk journaller. I found her through a sewing video she did, but I've been watching some of her other videos as well. I've discovered she has a two shops on Etsy - one of which she sells junk journalling supplies through, which includes lengths of yarn she chops up and bunches together.

Which is a thing I thought about doing almost two years ago, since I have some yarn I'd never knit or crochet with. But I never did, because I didn't think people would buy it. But they do! So mostly I'm mad at myself for never going through with that.

She also does a thing called Gelli Printing, which I have heard of, but I didn't know what it it was. It's basically monoprinting, but first you have to buy an expensive piece of synthetic gelatine*. (You can make your own, from actual gelatine, but obviously that isn't vegetarian/vegan friendly, and it only lasts around two weeks, and I know what my weasel brain is like). Websites say it's for printing without a press, which I am all for! However, I know the gel plate will give me textural issues, so I'm going to have a go at this and use a piece of glass as my plate instead.

It's interesting, because I've always wondered how people get these sorts of backgrounds (if you search for gelli printing on somewhere like pinterest, you'll see what I mean), but I am not interested enough in junk/art journalling to actually go and look it up, and I wouldn't have known what to search for until now.

So obviously, that is another thing my weasel brain has latched onto wanting to do - although I have wanted to do monoprinting for some time now, I just haven't got to it yet. Hopefully I will in the new year!

~

In other news, I am playing FFXIII on my PS3 and I:

1) forgot how loud the fan on the console is, and

2) forgot how fast the horizontal camera moves. I honestly can't remember if it's like that on the Xbox version, but there's no way to change the speed it moves at, which is annoying, because it's legit making me feel slightly nauseous.

Anyway, I feel like I'm not very far in - I'm at the end section of the Vile Peaks - but the recap text informs me I'm in chapter four, so really IDK!

~

Now to go and do something that is not internet related, I think!

~

*The smallest plate, for example, that Jackson's Art sells is 6x6", and costs £22. I realise 6x6" is quite a big size, but I don't want to be spending that much on something I might not use.

I bought a half price sketchbook and some cheap Pilot and Uni-ball pens because I absolutely need them, right? ;)

Other than that, I've just been at work the past few days, so not been up to much! Other than buying things I don't need, obviously.

So here's the questions I've missed off the Square-Enix meme!

11. What's your most memorable fight from a Square-Enix game?

The first thing that sprang to mind is fighting the Four Fiends in the Tower of Bab-Il in FFIV. The first time I did that, I was chronically underlevelled, and I think I did it so many times before I eventually got through it that I have Battle With The Four Fiends seared into my brain, and hearing it still brings me out in a cold sweat to this day.

12. Who's your favorite character from a Square-Enix game?

CAPTAIN BASCH FON RONSENBERG OF DALMASCA

Oh come on, did you really think I was going to say anyone else? I mean, really?

There are A LOT of characters across all of even just Final Fantasy that I like, but Basch is my favourite from my favourite game ever, so, uh, yeah.

13. What Square-Enix game has your favorite soundtrack?

Final Fantasy XII - it's my go-to to listen to when I don't know what else to put on. And also it just hecking kicks arse.

I love all the FF soundtracks, and I think they're all great (of the ones I've heard, because obviously there is stuff I haven't played), but XII is definitely my most favourite.

14. What Square-Enix game has your favorite character designs or visuals?

At the risk of being the most me I've ever been: FFXII.

I just really like Akihiko Yoshida's art, y'all. And the concept art for XII was the first time I'd ever seen any of his stuff.

And I love the environments, as well. I'm actually surprised I didn't take more screencaps when I was playing through Zodiac Age, because I just love everything about the design in this game! (Also after having seen some gameplay from Vagrant Story, I love how very similar the aesthetic/design is! Although I daresay that was done on purpose, and possibly more than for any other game set in Ivalice? I haven't played FFT, so I can't say for that).

I also think the Fal'Cie designs in the FFXIII games are awesome, but I couldn't tell you why (but I like the summon/god-type designs across all the games, so that's probably a part of it). And again, the environments!

15. How about control? What Square-Enix game do you think is the most fun to play?

What a good question! With regard to Final Fantasy, I prefer the turn based games, and then of those, the RPGs over the strategy games (I love you Tactics Advance, but I am very much No Good at you!)

I think FFX is the most fun, because of the way you can see when an enemy's turn is coming up next, and the fact that you can disrupt that in a visible way, and then see how many turns you have until the next move by that enemy. It feels a lot more interactive to me than just smacking an enemy until it dies, which is what I usually do in video games.

Final Fantasy aside, probably Bust-A-Move! I just really like matching games because it pleases my brain.

~

I do like that of the people on my reading list doing this meme, while we have similar opinions about a lot of things, none of us have the same favourite FF game :D which is great! I love seeing y'all squeeing about the things you love about your favourite games! Which I guess is part of the point of the meme to begin with!

Yesterday, I only did the morning at work because I have to open up on Thursday morning, as my boss will not be in till a bit later. She had wanted me to swap the entire day, but I like doing half days, because it means I can spend the afternoon mooching about in town if I want to. Which is exactly what I did yesterday.

I went to explore Asda because I was going to buy some household stuff, as my sister in law says they're good for that (I think she is biased because she shops there a lot ;) ). Anyway, I also wanted to look for some Crayola pencils since, I don't know if you know, but I am addicted to buying pencil crayons. And I had seen this video by Doodle Date, where Steph had mentioned the Colours of the World sets that Crayola have released (there's a pic of the pencils, which is what I wanted, but it turns out Steph wanted the pens). So I thought I would like to have some, and I got them for almost half price! (£2.25 versus £4!)

I also bought a blank notebook, because I'm me. But also because it's a really nice size (7.5x10inches), and you don't tend to get blank notebooks smaller than A4*. I'm going to use it as a sketchbook**. It turns out, by weird coincidence, to be the same size as a notebook I already have, and that I used one of as a sketchbook many years ago! (But it has less pages) I am tempted to go back any buy a couple more but a) I don't know what the paper is like, and b) I already have the aforementioned other books.

And then the only other thing I bought that wasn't useful/food was a nail varnish that I've been wanting for about a year now, which is a blue one by Barry M called Blue Margarita. It's a lot darker than it looks on the picture in the link. Anyway, I'm really happy with it, and definitely glad I got it!

~

Meanwhile, in NEO: TWEWY, spoilers!

( Read more... ) And that's mostly where I am with that, at the moment.

~

I finished reading Equal Rites when I got home yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! 10/10, would absolutely recommend to anyone. I really liked Esk, she was amazing, and obviously Granny Weatherwax was also amazing. Also I made the mistake of looking through some of the bad reviews on Goodreads - usually I enjoy reading bad reviews, but these ones just made me sad that they didn't see what I did.

Reading it really reminded me what I love about Terry Pratchett's writing, and how amazing he was with words regardless of whether it's leading into a joke or not. And it made me sad that I've spent so long not reading Discworld, when they are evidently such enjoyable books (but problems with concentration/feeling sad about PTerry's death are contributors to that, as well as a layer of "but what if I don't like it any more?" on top). So obviously, I am going to rectify that, although I'm going to read a different author next, I think.

~

*At least, not in the UK/not round where I live/work.

**Yes, I know I already have all these others, including the ones I made [nervous laughter]

Not even back at work yet (that's tomorrow), and I'm already mad at my schedule. I will have to alternate between a four and a two day "week" (because it straddles the weekend). My manager knows I don't like switching days, and yet I have to work alternate Saturdays because we have no other paid staff (yet; I hope this changes soon, and not for selfish reasons). Hence the switching around. Which I don't like, because I am a creature of habit, and I like knowing I am working the exact same days every week.

Anyway, moaning aside, I woke up this morning to discover maybe two inches of snow everywhere! In April! I also discovered it had knocked my rose bush over, so as soon as I was able, I had to go out and fix that. The snow must have melted during the night, but then refroze, as there were clumps of ice on the rose bush, which made it top-heavy, and it fell over. It's really leggy because I am a bad gardener and have no idea how to look after it, and this also contributed to its falling over. I cleared what snow/ice off that I could, and the sun's taken care of the rest. It's looking more upright now, so hopefully it will be okay!

I have also bought myself another fountain pen. A Platinum Preppy, to be precise, and only because it cost less than £5. It is purple, and I bought some more purple cartridges for it. I'm going to syringe refill them with ink when they're empty, as a converter would cost more than the pen (although it's not the only Platinum I own - my friend Rosie gave me one of her extra fine nib drawing ones - so a converter would be worth it for either pen, but maybe when I've been back at work for a bit).

I found this post on the fountain pen subreddit, which feels absolutely like it's calling me out (if you don't want to click, it's basically Massive Pen Collection versus Tiny Amount of Writing, but with a picture, because it's a meme). Also it's not just my fountain pens, it's all my pens. I miss the days where I could just write for hours and hours. I don't know where that me has gone, but I hope they come back one day.

Finally, there was another huge Among Us stream! (this links to Ellen's POV) and they used the proximity chat on the last hour, and it was hilarious and chaotic, and I hope they use it again.

I went to the dentist yesterday. I hate going at the best of times, but this just felt straight up weird, and the entire time I was there, I kept apologising in my head for breathing on him.

And then I went food shopping and a) bought too much and b) as a consequence, spent too much. Although it's two weeks (exactly!) since I did a Big Shop, so I shouldn't feel too guilty, but I do, wheeeee! I also regretted it, as I didn't take my trolley with me (because dentist), so I had to carry everything and now I have very sore shoulders, as well as a bruise on my left shoulder. I could've got a taxi, I guess, but I already had a day bus ticket, and a taxi home would've cost as much as the bus ticket did. So I am sore instead. I spent a lot of yesterday once I got home not doing a lot because it was too much effort.

The reason I went a bit loopy with food shopping is because I think I have a wheat or gluten intolerance (I'm not going to say it's coeliac, because I don't think it is). I've thought for several years now that things with flour in make me bloated and, the other night, I realised that it may also be contributing to my migraines. Which started getting worse around a year ago. When we went into first lockdown, and I started baking more, didn't I. So yesterday, I was buying what gluten-free stuff I could find to try out (the answer is woefully little. Especially since there aren't gluten-free alternatives to a lot of things I like). Also gluten-free stuff is expensive! Which I kind of knew anyway, but now I have bought some, I know for definite.

So I'm going to try to eat less gluten-y stuff and see how it goes.

~

In other news, my pens came on Monday, as did a lamp I'd ordered from Ikea. All three things are great, however I will not be ordering from Ikea again ever. I booked my order to be delivered on Sunday, and they didn't even process it till that day! I mean, it at least did get delivered on Monday, but that wasn't the day I asked for, nor that I was offered! It is a good lamp - it's very energy efficient for starters - and it didn't cost much (because Ikea), but that whole palaver with the delivery has put me right off.

Anyway, my pens are amazing, and they both write really nicely, and feel nice to use. I don't think either nib is a fine point, as claimed, but I don't think that matters, really? I'm not that fussed. As long as they work, which they do, then I'm happy. Also they both came with converters, which I'm pleased about (basically I can put any colour or type of ink in*/it's better for the environment because I'm then not throwing small bits of plastic away).

Other than that, I rewatched Zoe and Aoife playing Dark Souls II. Because I suck at Dark Souls and wanted some tips (I did not get them, because they're doing a Let's Play, not a walkthrough).

And then I went back and am currently rewatching Aoife and Johnny playing Dark Souls III, which I could swear I remember nothing about, but I've kept going, "OH I REMEMBER THIS!" quite a lot. So evidently I remember more than I thought I did.

I've come to the conclusion that DS3 is the lovechild of Bloodborne and Demon's Souls. It feels very Bloodborne like, and the enemies remind me of the enemies in that, but also like, the Firelink Shrine is very like the Nexus in Demon's Souls. And there's a reference to Yuria, who's a character in that (which means absolutely nothing, really, it's just From referencing their older work). But you know me, I'll look for connections where there are none!

Also Resident Evil is TWENTY FIVE YEARS OLD THIS YEAR HOLY HECKINS. I wish I could pretend I wasn't aware of that, but I actually am. It's 23 years since I first played through RE2 with my BFF.

Talking of game anniversaries, FFXII was FIFTEEN not so long ago! It only feels like two minutes since I was saying I should've done something for the tenth anniversary and now...blimey. I was unprepared for that one.

And on that note, I think I'm done now!

~

*Except India ink. Don't ever put that in your fountain pen, because you will heck it up. Possibly for good.