Nightwing and the Library

 Ok, so the two have nothing to do with each other.  Maybe.  We'll see how this post goes.

DC Collectible Batman Black & White Nightwing by Jim Lee (image source:  comicbook.com)

When I'm stressed, overstimulated, or overwhelmed--good or bad--I stress shop.  The other night, I was "writing" and ended up falling madly in love with 2 Nightwing statues/figures.  Obviously, if I was falling madly in love with Nightwing, I wasn't writing.  ;)

Although, technically, I opened the browser to research materials used for men's summer suits and formal attire, so it started out book-related.  How I got to Nightwing, I have no idea.  He looks nice in a suit, though.

Dick Grayson in a suit.  (image source:  Book Riot)

And how did I fall madly in love with Nightwing anyway?  I was already madly in love with him.  Queue Janis.  "Oh.  My.  God."  I mean, have you seen him?  And then to find one based on the legendary Jim Lee's art??  (Confession:  I love LOVE love Jim Lee's art.  Give that man a sharpy and he'll draw something awesome on the spot, no errors.  Perfection.)

So . . . the Black and White Nightwing (#736/5000) arrived yesterday and is guarding my mantle (or enjoying being eye candy, who knows).

The other Nightwing figure?  Queue bloody nose and extreme Janis.  "OH.  MY. GAAAAAAWD!"  Enter Kotobukiya's Ikemen Series.  This lone picture doesn't do him justice.  Check out Kotobukiya's website for photos from every angle, and good luck finding one in stock anywhere.  Most sold out in during the 2017 pre-order window.

Kotobukiya's Ikemen Series, kicked off with nightwing.  Stock photo.

The Ikemen figure comes with three faces and a separate mask so you can have Nightwing in full costume or flashing those baby blues with or without his lips parted and holding his mask.  (I'm dying here Kotobukiya.)  He hasn't arrived yet.  I.  Can't.  Wait.

When I first saw it, I was captivated.  It's gorgeous.  He's beautiful.  Black and White Nightwing is edgy.  Ikemen Nightwing is sensual.  And the more I stared at him, the more I realized he kind of looks similar to how I see Eric in my head.  A bit younger, but the hair and eyes . . . wow.

(Eric's appearance is supposedly 23-ish, but that's an 1864-65 version of 23, so I see him in his late 20s/early 30s.  Hardened by life.  More mature.  Battle worn.  For the longest time, I thought he'd look like Brandon Heat - with blue eyes - in Gungrave before he "died."  With Brandon's original eye color, if you visualized auburn hair and removed the glasses, you'd have an idea of how I see Jonathan, too. See below.)

Brandon Heat in Gungrave.  (Episode and image source unknown.)

Image above modified to look like Eric (blue eyes, no bags). 

I digress.  Prior to my Nightwing objectification, I already had the good news I wrote about in my previous post, plus, that day, I'd gone to the library and spoken with the librarian and her staff.  She wanted to put my books into circulation (in process!) and she's a cataloguing librarian, so both books will be catalogued with the Library of Congress!  I'm also looking forward to speaking engagements, readings, and/or workshops starting around mid-April.

Sidebar:  My MS is a bit of an odd duck.  I mean, ALL MS is different for each person, but generally, MS is sensitive to heat, so most MS Warriors hate summer.  Heat rarely bothers my MS as long as I'm careful with it.  However, COLD is another story.  I don't hate winter, but it is downright mean to me.  I am super hypersensitive to cold and am suspected of having S.A.D., so usually by Christmas, I'm in bed for the rest of winter.  The colder and wetter it is, the worse I feel.  But, usually, I'm up and itching to get out around April, and slowly, but surely, I get out of bed and recuperate.

This is all very exciting.  Everything that's going on with my childhood dream, the upcoming Dark History and Horror Con, the library, the LOC, the Midwest Book Review, progress on book 3, the Dark Moon Press vampire anthology (release TBA), closing in on Con preparations and book freebie/goodies.  Plus, good looking medical scans, (mostly) good lab work, and a follow up consult upcoming, along with another round of regular check ups with all of my specialists.  Even good news can be overstimulating and stressful; hence, 2 Nightwings to drool over (plus a secret fun buddy for the kitchen that I haven't told Tim about yet).  Oh, and two books (The Peach Keeper and The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen - love her).  I think I'm just antsy.  Or my anxiety is acting up just enough to cause trouble.  Like Loki.  But anyway, stress shopping FTW.  ^_^   

(Well, just not for my wallet.)  Haha.

Random Stuff - What I'm Up To

That moment when you want to write something, but sit down and can't think?  That's what this is.  (laughs)  I feel like I have a zillion and a half (the half is important) thoughts zooming through my mind.  If I catch one, I'll jot it down and maybe this post will be somewhat cohesive.  Fingers crossed.

A few months ago, chest pain took me to the ER twice in two weeks.  Abnormal EKGs and another doctor's concern had me held overnight the second time.  Since then, I've worn, and returned, a month-long heart event monitor and am awaiting the results.  At the moment, the issue remains unexplained.  Neurology and Cardiology are working together to figure out the cause:  my brain or my heart.  (Giggity)

Probably unsurprisingly so, I haven't felt that great lately.  I'm experiencing more issues with my arms, which, of course, causes issues with my hands and fingers.  Like last summer, I'm hitting extremely hard fatigue walls that knock me out for a few hours.  And I'm feeling a greater disconnect between myself and my brain.  I swear, I talk about my brain like we share a symbiotic relationship, and that's weird, I know, but it truly feels like it. 

This morning I was talking to my cats about finding Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card on Hulu last night, (there was a huge WHOO-HOO moment when I found the books on Rightstuf).  I couldn't get the words right.  I kept saying, "Cloudclaptor..."  I got frustrated and shut up.  (I think the cats were grateful.)  But this word slippage and other vocal issues have been getting worse.  I mumble now and don't realize it, I put the wrong consonants into words (like Funny instead of Money), and I randomly pick up an Irish or other foreign accent.  It's still at that super weird stage that makes us laugh when it happens. 

Speaking of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, I love it!  Sakura is one of the cutest and sweetest anime/manga characters, and the anime itself is always uplifting with positive interaction between Sakura and her friends.  Thankfully, there is no English dub to waste your time with (unlike the original season-don't, just don't).  I'm so used to watching the Sub that it'd be odd to hear other voices.  Since I am reading the manga, and am current, I'll eventually get to a point where I need to stop watching so I don't ruin the reading experience.  So far, it seems that several episodes fit into a book. 

I've also been reading the Sherlock manga that essentially takes the BBC show and puts it to paper.  It's pretty cool.  The lack of color pages does limit what the reader can deduce, which is my only complaint.  It's obvious from the first book:  A Study in Pink.  I missed quite a bit of the pink stuff since it's all in black or white.  Otherwise, it's cool to enjoy Sherlock in different mediums.  Like with Cardcaptor, I read the books first and then watch the show.  I realize this reveals that I'm a late comer to the BBC show, but oh well.  With only 3-4 episodes per season, I like the forced pacing.  I also enjoy Elementary and the Robert Downey Jr movies.  I have the Moriarty novel in my towering "to read" pile, and the collected works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  The game is a foot!

My newest obsession is watching (and listening to) the ISS live feed here:  http://www.n2yo.com/space-station/.  The first few days I watched, it was silent, so it scared the beejees out of me when I was in another part of the house and heard a man talking in the supposedly empty loft.  I hadn't noticed the other live feeds on the page and got to watch one of the astronauts (Alex) working in the air lock.  It's fascinating!  And watching the sun set from the ISS roughly every 20 minutes is otherworldly.

I picked up a book called "Civil War Front Pages" by John Wagman.  It is absorbing.  It's difficult to read since much of the news print is small.  I happened to flip to the day the war ended and was amazed by the headlines, huge and bolded, with giant eagles of victory.  I wonder what it was like for people to see that on their newspaper in 1865 after years of a nation torn apart.  The grandeur of the headlines spoke volumes.

I'm a bit behind on my comics, but I'm enjoying the Doomsday Clock comic and the Justice League Dark tradebacks - I'm almost done with them.  I can't believe Doomsday Clock won't finish its run until next summer!  AND!  I am so, SO thankful that Netflix picked up Lucifer for season 4!  A tv without Tom Ellis on it would be a sad tv.  The saddest tv if ever there was.  Now it can be happy.  ^_^  I'm into the fourth volume of the Lucifer run by Mike Carey (he was created by Neil Gaiman in his Sandman series).  It is vastly different from the show, but that's a good thing, I think.  Because they are so different, spotting Easter Eggs on the show is extra cool.  I'm also still working my way through the Hellblazer tradebacks from the original run.  I grew up in the 80s, so seeing it portrayed in comic form as an adult is eye-opening.  With few differences, you'd think it was modern day - racism, fear of war, violence, etc.  Aside from the supernatural aspects of the story, it's very real and sometimes that makes it hard to read.  Not hard in a literal sense - it's like watching the news these days.  You need a break from it.  Hence - moving slowly. 

I think we're going to watch a movie soon, so I need to post this and "run."  (I don't run; I hobble.)  BUT - we watched Annihilation the other night and it's amazing.  Gorgeous shots with a story that doesn't ram itself down your throat.  Anyone who's played The Last of Us - watch this.  So many of the mutations in the shimmer are reminiscent of scenes in The Last of Us and even from The Evil Within 2.  I would love for a game developer to base a game on this movie/book series.  It has potential for some really cool things. 

Ok, well, I smell popcorn.  Confessions is still in the works - I've just taken a small break while other folks are critiquing.  I think we'll be on track for a July release.  ^_^

PS - there's a promo video for Confessions on my Amazon author page.  Watch it!  amazon.com/author/kastiepavlik 

Totally Random with Generic Title

Time for random rambling.  My brain is all over the place, so why not?  What have I been up to?  Brain on the hamster wheel.  Not sleeping.  And, this week, Ignis made me cry twice in the new FFXV DLC Episode Ignis.  I heart Iggy.  :'(

However, my internet hiccuped when I earned the achievement for "Quick Recipeh" and it didn't port over to the main game.  Queue angry face.  I have yet to figure this one out.  I have over 400 hours logged into this game since January!  Grr.  So I spent time today in a "friendly" sparring match with Noct that wasn't as cathartic as I'd hoped it'd be.

I didn't get my nap today.  :(  And I still can't sleep.  :( 

I re-binged the anime K and watched the movie K:  Missing Kings.  Fingers crossed that Santa is bringing the 3rd K season!  I love the slick visuals and music.  And God knows I love Matthew Mercer's voice, so, yay.  Leon S. Kennedy!!  Captain Levi!!  [bloody nose, passed out]  I also binged Shiki on bluray and wasn't sure what to think at first.  The weird hair and over the top personalities nearly drowned the series early on, but once the story caught its grip, all the distractions fell away.  It wasn't the horror anime I was hoping for, but I enjoyed it.  I'm looking forward to the Steins:Gate movie.  The anime was amazing.  If you're a time travel buff and want a story with spot on science, check out Steins:Gate (the series first).  Just go with the confusion.  It levels out.

I've read quite a bit . . . um, I just finished Artemis by Andy Weir.  Excellent!  I loved the Martian - book and movie.  His sarcastic, witty tone is there in both books.  I remember a lot of math in the Martian, which makes sense, of course, but Artemis is more story driven, so while the science is there, it's not as forward facing as in the Martian.  I finished The Flash Rebirth tradeback #4 and Nightwing Rebirth tradeback #3 in which he faces off against a criminal James Gordon has been dealing with on Gotham.  Also finished The Flash/Batman Rebirth Lenticular Hard Cover edition for "The Button," which has a logical break in The Flash tradebacks between 3 & 4, but breaks in the middle of Batman Rebirth tradeback #3.  So, I picked up the Doomsday Clock #1 comic with lenticular cover, the Watchman tradeback omnibus, and Deadman #1 and #2 (rebirth).  Boston Brand can be really irritating, but I'm oddly fascinated by him, especially after reading the Blackest Night/Brightest Day event.  I read some manga and started a Japanese horror novel "Another" based on the anime (which I've seen).  

I've been trying to "work" on Confessions, but with my focus all over the place, it's never a good idea to force it.  I'm at a spot introducing new characters that requires exposition through tense conversation, and I know it can be done better.  I need a better brain to consolidate the scenes.

(Reading, gaming, doing puzzles, staring out the window . . . and so forth are all coping mechanisms to calm my brain down, ease stress, and help with physical and cognitive decompensation.  My MS has never gone into remission, so I always have some issues and pain, but it varies.  I've spent this year trying to work up to "cleaning and cooking and adding structure" on a gradual basis, but SO MUCH has happened that I'm at "struggle to get through day on idle" and basically try to keep my activities as mindless as possible and only tackle one task when I have a moment of clarity.  This pattern, for this time of year, developed several years before I had to stop working.  I'd get on "struggle" and stay on "struggle" through the end of the year, get through January on auto-pilot, and start pushing through "struggle" in February, completely forgetting January in the process, and being somewhat "structured" by April.  Long winded?  Yes.  Easy to see why I should NOT be touching Confessions?  Yes.) 

Ummmm . . . going long here (that's totally unexpected!), but I kind of diverted there (I promise my books don't read like my blog does.  Here I write like I talk.  It's cathartic.).  OK, we've established that I don't burn candles when I'm home alone, but I had one going the other day and Vash set himself on fire.  That was delightful.  Ha!  Vash is fine.  Just burnt a little fur off his pudgy belly.  I've cooked dinner twice this week - it's been a while - and managed to burn myself a few different ways all through completely avoidable, stupid actions last night.  I've been having trouble following written or oral instructions, which is funny in regard to food because we generally eat really healthily - so, give me some fresh salmon and produce and I'll whip up something really good, but give me a box of Stove Top Stuffing?  OMG!  My Thanksgiving Day guests can attest to my troubles with that 5-minute pot of stuff (pardon the pun).  Last night, I made pork tenderloins braised in a savory bourbon and brown sugar sauce w/potatoes, green beans, halved baby chick peas, quinoa, and cranberries.  You'd think the bourbon would offer clues about the burns, except I couldn't get the lighter to light and, tbh, my husband wasn't looking all that confident in my ability not to burn down the house, so he did that part.  Always a comedy of errors around here.  (But seriously, I'll dream up recipes and jot them down in the morning - must be an automatic creative outlet for my brain.  Maybe I should post a "recipeh" every now and then.  Oh Iggy!!)    

Speaking of Vash, I need to devote a post to Trigun.

And lastly, I am way too addicted to Rick and Morty.  I've watched all three seasons multiple times this week.  I quote it line for line when I watch it.  Yep, it irritates the hell out of my husband.  Probably the cats.  And our (not so) little dog, too.

"Um, my name is . . . (0 o 0) . . . Mr. Tophat . . . Jones . . . and God forbid anyone ever take my sner--little people snibbles . . . "

Gotta love those Strawberry Sniggles.  But don't get caught with eyeholes.  ;)