For those of you who are not aware, my home network is being denied access to the DNS server with Brighthouse -

a.k.a

-I have no internet (at home).

At least, not until Tuesday afternoon, which is the earliest they can make it. Not that I'm too thrilled with them anyway. They installed our router in the laundry room, in the basement, when they first came out to set it up. The only problem with that is that we couldn't get a good enough signal upstairs, which is where most of the computers were. We had to move it. That, and the "tech" couldn't answer any of our technical questions either; which leaves me to wonder whether he's actually a networking tech or can just drill holes in the walls and pull wires through them.

I'm pretty sure I could do that...

In any case, it's still annoying having to wait so long just to get the internet back. At the moment, I'm using the local library's Wi-Fi connection and yesterday I used Panera Bread's connection. However, as you may have guessed, both of these connections are not secure connections and I don't feel too comfortable doing very much on them. That, and my IRC client dislikes it when I used an insecure connection. AIM doesn't care though, so maybe I'll get a chance to chat with some people in the meantime.

Of course, the places I hang out to get Wi-Fi close before 10pm, so no one is actually online. But, such is life, right?
Right??

Hmmm. So, tomorrows the last day at Officemax 907 and I feel a little sad. I really did enjoy working with the people there and learning things about desktop publishing and graphic design. The actual retail environment wasn't so bad either. Still, it was a retail job and I didn't want to keep it forever. People at work kept asking me why I quit so early. I'm not really sure. Part of it is stress; a stress that just sort of keeps building up and building up until it gets really annoying and makes me upset and irritable and unhappy and other such synonyms for "pissed off". Part of it may be that working was my link to having a social life, but we've lost so many of our employees over the past few months that it feels like the whole team-family aspect is just falling apart. That was one thing I really liked- the interaction with my co-workers. The customers...not so much, but my coworkers were and are pretty awesome people. And I think I will miss them a lot.

I've been having two types of dreams lately. One, is the kind where you can tell that you're making up a story in your head to amuse yourself because you are so damned bored being asleep that there's really nothing else left to do. You aren't actively involved in the dream, just watching. The second, is the kind of dream where you visit people you know (and sometimes, people you don't..?) and just sort of hang out. The first type of dream is really clear and defined- moment to moment- while the second is much more dream-like and things don't always make sense.

It occurs to me that the fact that I'm having the lattermost sort of dreams means that I'm...well, lonely. Not like crying to myself at night because I have no friends lonely, but lonely. I miss people- a lot of people. My friends from school totally spoiled me; I'm not used to not having anyone to hang out with. It's a bit of a bummer. Of course, come September 25, I will be living on a university campus, which will undoubtedly put me in contact with other human beings and therefore force me to make new friends. But, September 25 is a long way off- it seems like forever.

Waiting is hard.

Oh, I'm waiting for you too luv' - 15 days, is that right? Oh wait, does he even read this...? Oh well, whatever. I would get on AIM and babble to him myself, but I'm preventing myself from staying up all night by not doing that. Or talking to anyone for that matter. Hm. I'm being Internet-Anti-social. Ohhh, saaaaddddd. The internet is my only place to be social, and I'm being anti-social- Aka, WTF? X3

I had Handel's ice cream this evening and it was awesome. Man, I have got to remember to budget for icecream in college- it's important.

I did that weird thing at the library today where I check out books that I probably won't read because (a) I'll forget to read them at all before they are due (b) they are really boring/hard to read or (c) because I didn't really want to read them in the first place. These books are always non-fiction. Always. And 90% of the time they are technical or computer related. I check them out with the hope that I will have found something that I can actually understand for once and that it will answer a bunch of questions that I didn't even know I had to or wanted to ask. But that never really comes about. They are on topics that I am genuinely interested in, just not well-read enough to understand well enough for it to matter. This time it was two books on hacking and one on Cryptography- topics that, like I said before, I am genuinely interested in- I just don't know a thing about. Actually, I may sit down and read the book on Cryptography- that seems pretty interesting and fairly straight forward. The other two- I don't think so...I don't know yet. But, it's the library, so it's not like it cost me anything to give it a shot, right?

I also checked out some graphic novels--they are all in the Young Adult section and I feel stupid being over there because- yes, I am just barely an adult (lol) but I always feel strange around kids in high school because I look like I'm in high school, so they don't care. It's the fact that it's not awkward for them that makes it somewhat awkward for me. I don't know, but I don't like it. That, and the people who look down their noses at me when I check out graphic novels- "Don't kids these days read real books anymore?"- someone said that to me once. I was astounded. I was like, "I have hundreds of books at home that I read all the time; can't I do something fun and exciting once in a while without the criticism?" Jeez lady, excuse me for living a life of artistic joy and freedom. Gawd. I love graphic novels, they are a whole new form of visual communication and turn "reading" into a totally different experience. Plus, they've been around for thousands of years (yes, sequential art- think Hyroglyphics). I would suggest that they all sit down and read Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics", but the fact that it is in fact in comic form would probably prevent them from doing so. Ignorant fools- they don't know what they are missing.

Goodness, I am on a roll tonight...typety-type-type-type~

I saw someone's password the other day. It was QWERTY. Why are people stupid? Seriously- why are people so stupid? People sit around and blame hackers for identity theft. True- they do steal identities (them, and social engineers- yeah?) but, it's not like people make it incrediblely hard or anything. I mean, picture this: I work in a copy center, right? People make copies of some really sensitive materials all the time. They rarely leave anything like passports or Sosh-cards, but damn, they will leave copies of their documents. The other day, I found a six page document laying on the output tray of Self Serve #1. Being a curious little kitty, I of course proceed to read and see what it was. It was some medical documentation requesting something from someone (I don't know exactly what), but the big thing was that on all six pages was this woman's social security number. Just, written in on the line, clear as day. That, along with her name, birthday, address, insurance card number, etc etc. I mean, if I had the initiative at the time I probably could have stolen her identity. That's crazy. Just crazy. People don't understand what they are throwing around here- your SSN is You. Without it, you are seriously f'ked. I don't know why, because personally, I think it's just weird being attached to a number so I can...what? Pay taxes? Shiiiit. Crazy.

I think that my random urge to do karaoke recordings of Japanese songs is over...for now. I've still got the lyrics taped up on my wall for "Love is War" in both English and Japanese, just because there's that last verse of the Japanese version I can't quite get...It's hard to judge proper pronounciation when your reference/sample is a voice synthesizing program too. Hah. Still, if you're ever up for hearing my (really crappy) version of Love is War, I posted it on my imeem account- my name is AKA-KVW there. Please, don't download it like 0dd0ne0ut did, that's just embarassing. I want to re-record it, just to replace the one he downloaded. Bah! The tricky part is when to record it. I recorded the original, at night, the week mom and dad were gone- so I could be as loud as I wanted (which is important, because evidently, I speak much softer that I hear myself speaking). It would also help if I could sing properly...heh. Some internet friends heard it, they were like 'it's not professional, but you sound good'. It's like, yeah...I don't know why I had you listen to it in the first place...I hate it. But, I guess I'm a little proud of myself too. After all, I do love to sing! I just hate my singing! XD

Have I really been at this for almost an hour? Jeez, there go my plans of going to bed really early. I need to wake up "early" tomorrow because I still haven't written my nice-letter for Officemax yet. I want to write two- one for Officemax persons in general and one of ImPress persons specifically. I actually sat down at the computer tonight to write it, but the only program I have to write it in on this machine (that I can save it in) is Wordpad. That, and I'm tired and don't feel like being particularly emotional at the moment. Well, besides the blogging thing I guess, but I don't have to be nice or professinal in my blog.

Anyway, the weirdest thing about realizing that I'm not going to be working anymore is realizing that I'm not going to have a cash-flow anymore. I don't buy a lot of stuff (and when I do slurge, I feel really, really guilty for some reason...) but I do buy stuff on ocassion. Every once in a while I buy a new manga or CD or art supply or whatever. Not huge purchases, but still money you know? As soon as I stop making money, I'm going to stop spending it as much- that's my goal. I'd rather not spend it at all, but I know I can't do that for long. Things get boring and new things need to happen to fix that. It's a Haruhi Suzumiya outlook on things. By the way, if you haven't watched The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya you are missing out on life. Seriously. Not that it hasn't been ages since I watched it and not that I've finished it or anything, but it was awesome. It really was.

BTW- the first two graphic novels I checked out from the library were Volume 4 of the Scott Pilgrim series (which is so kick-ass, go read it NOW) and Confessions of a Blabbermouth (which was told a little awkwardly, but was very fun to read).

It's comics like this that make me want to create a more simplified drawing style than the one I have now. Sometimes, I think that the "manga" style tries too hard to be detail oriented, to the point that you wonder whether it really is just masking a crappy plot line. Like, 85% of all Shoujo manga titles. My comic is NOT a shoujo title and the whole thing is supposed to be character-driven, not detail-driven, so I don't know why I put so much effort into making it look "pretty". It's not a "pretty" story, it's a techno-thriller dammit! And 8/12 of the characters are boys! It does not need to be pretty! IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE PRETTY!!

OK, I think I got all that out of my system...ahem.


Oh- today is my last day of work.

[copypasta]
Yeah. So, don't expect me online (except maybe a bit on Sunday) until next Thursday. I'm going to do my best to get online as much as possible, but I doubt I'll be on for very long when I do.

By the way, I'm not sick, but I am rather overworked, so pardon me if I'm in a somewhat tiresome mood all the time- I don't mean to be annoying really...


Oh-oh, between shifts yesterday I saw Hellboy II. Whee, fun times!

Anyway~ see you around...I guess.

[/copypasta]

I love this video! The animation is so simple and yet effective and even though the voices singing are not "real" I think that there is a lot of feeling in them anyway. The song is "sung" by the Vocaloid program Kaito (v.2 Japanese Male) and Miku (v.2 Japanese Female) sings one tiny part too.

Anyway, the weird thing is that from the many comments on YouTube people are saying that the song is about Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia in their (possibly) incestuous relationship, because the title of the song is "Canaterella" which is the poison (or one of the poisons) that the Borgia family used in their assassinations. I find that to be...strangely humorous! Of course, it's really...not funny. I mean, he's trying to take advantage of her via poison- that's not cool bro (lol-bro...). Still...weird!

Anyway~ I hope you enjoyed watching it! I'd like to animate something like this someday; do you think I could do it? ;)


~~~~~

Eh...I have my "unofficial" worktime in about 15 minutes (I think)...buu.

No, no- not you. Probably.

I'm ignoring the fact that I need to distract myself on purpose so that inspiration can come and whack me on the head with a large, heavy object and I can get the paneling for the next comic page done. I don't quite understand why I don't seem to get it. It's one of those things that I just can't quite understand how other people just get it, like that. Other comic artists on SJ, I don't even think they bother thinking about paneling, they just draw. I used to be like that, but for some reason, I'm just too aware of what it should look like and I can't get myself out of the mindset of being professional about it. Even though I'm not really trying to be professional about it - if I was, I would be putting a lot more work into the art!

Anyway, I don't know, it's just not coming to me this evening. Everything feels a bit off anyway. I told myself I was going to get the sketch for this next page done this week- and that ends at 12 tonight, so I'd better hurry. Maybe I'll just force myself to work on it, and see what I get. I'm such a lazyass though...Huuuu~mph.

By the way, not that anyone here cares- at all - but I did wind up naming the comic. It's called Reality.Hacked. Go me...

I seem to be popular this week. I wonder if I would have gotten salmoned again if I had gotten on last night?

I didn't get on the computer at all last night, too busy playing The World Ends With You. And thinking "Damn, it's just like Kingdom Hearts, except with better music and no Dis-crap". But the three main characters look exactly like the three from KHII in the fact that they seem to have the same hair and eyes. Neku = Sora ; Shiki = Kairi ; Yoshira = Riku. The personalities are totally different though. Neku is an ass. XD

I LIKE YOSHIRA- HE GIGGLES. XD

And how can you not like a game where the combo move battle cry is:

Yoshira: Follow my lead!
Neku: SCREW THAT!
*cars fall on enemies*

The gameplay with your partner though, is EXTREMELY COMPLEX. I mean, I heard people complain of it, but I had no idea it was this hard! basically, if you don't immediately set your partner's play to Autoplay: FAST then you will die a lot if you cannot do two things simultaneously. You are expected to control Neku on the bottom screen, using the stylus and play a sort-of DDR-esque thing with the C-Pad on the top screen for your partner's play. If you don't hit all the right combos, they do not attack or even really move. I just set my partner onto the Autoplay: FAST all the time, because I can't multitask like that. I mean, look at this:


(screenshot stolen from some game site)

It's not that the game isn't fun, because it is! Some of the extra things, like buying the right brandname clothing to wear in the correct part of Shibuya to increase your chances of winning, are WEIRD. And I have yet to bother with them. I think my favorite part of the whole game, besides getting to use flair to fight things, is the wonky dialogue. Seriously, translators: You tried too hard to sound cool. I like Neku though, he's a pottymouth for sure.

Oh, and I have to admit, it's always a little weird hearing one of the characters say "Neku" since it's so close to "Neko". Very weird.

There is A LOT of swearing in this, just to warn you. A LOT. Angry British game reviewer.

But, oh god, I love his voice for some bizarre reason...




Dude, we got stuck and stopped in the same place. I feel lame. D:

Ironic icon is Ironic.

Dude, I have TOTALLY jacked up my sleep schedule this past day or so.
I went to bed at 2am on Saturday
Woke up at 3pm on Sunday
Went to bed at 8pm on Sunday
Woke up at 3am on Monday

I am awake- like, for reals awake. I had breakfast for the first time in 2 weeks (usually, I sleep right through it). Hopefully, I'll nap around 10am and wake up for lunch and everything will be back to normal.

At least I don't have work tomorrow. Er...Today. :D

I'm really restless tonight.
Restless
Restless
Restless

Perhaps I'll try drawing something?
Doubt it will help, but whatever.
Restless.


The new layout I got is pretty awesome. It already matched the colors of my default icon and my new Gaia Online profile.
Pretty sweet coincidence, IMO. I love it when stuff matches. :3

Hope everyone's doing well~

So, I'm thinking of changing my username- not here, obviously, but on other sites. Art sites, specifically. I like the screen name Akuwaneko and I think it reflects my weird habits (since I spelled "aqua" a-k-u-w-a) and it uses the nickname that I was given by the first really close group of friends I've ever had. But, the whole Japanese screen name thing was awesome when I was 13, but six years later it just seems silly. I don't want to be called Neko anymore. I mean, I'm totally OK with my close friends continuing to call me that for old time's sake, but there are SO MANY nekos out there! I mean, google the word "neko" sometime and see how many freaking hits you get! It's crazy! So I want to drop the "neko" completely.

I do want to keep the "Akuwa" because that's just crazy-perfect for me. It's not Japanese, but it sounds cute and it's really just a misspelling of another word anyway, so why not? But, I don't want the name to be JUST Akuwa, because "aku wa..." is a Japanese phrase and people use it. It's not that unique. I might just drop the W and spell it "Akua" or drop the U and spell it "Akwa", I'm not sure yet. I may also just use "Aka" since that's the signature I use and it's gotta' make sense somehow.

But I've got to get the cat thing in there somewhere. I mean, I can't be anything but a cat guys, and I've got to let the world KNOW dammit!

Akuwakat
Akuakat
Akwakat
Akakat

They just look hard to say...And I'm really not a big fan of the letter C, so I don't want to spell it "cat" I'd rather spell it "kat" and look lame. XD

Akuamao
Akwamao
Akamao ("mao" being Chinese for cat in the first tone- I don't like this much)
Akafelinae (Species name)
Akafelidae (Genus name)
Akakatze (GER)
Akagatta (ITA)
Akakattus (variation on LATIN)
Akattus (variation on above)
Akatt (SWE)
Akakedi (TUR)

I dunno, none of them seem really appealing to me. What do you guys think? I'd like some input here, please.

WTF does that mean?
Ha-ha, what I thought was an appropriate title to babble about how much I hate copiers and various other "Print and Document Services" machines. So far, I have managed to have a job ruined by every single machine in the department. From the more dangerous ones, like the drill, to the tiny little pouch laminating machine. The large roll laminator and I have become mortal enemies and the Ream cutter isn't really on good terms with me either. So imagine my surprise when, of all things, a copier decides to ruin my day. Oh- not for the first time, that's for sure. But this time, it was a really pathetic jam. I mean, the piece of paper stuck in the inner-workings of Tray 4 (waaaaay in the back) was literally about 3mm wide and 7mm long. TINY little thing. And it clammed up the entire Self-Serve completely. All it did was sit there and beep occasionally. Poor, wicked beast- bested by a piece of 20# recycled paper the size of a stamp. XD

~
Other, more important crap, I'm too tired to write up. *sigh* I was really going to do a nice entry too- Oh well...

My paid account expired at last. I wasn't even paying attention! Oh well, it's not like I'm using a Paid Account layout anymore anyway.

But, my extended icon thing expired too (of course) and when I went to the icons page it said this:

Currently uploaded: 81 out of 6.

Ha-ha-ha-ha~WHAT? I assumed it would just delete all but the last 6 icons I used, but I think it picked random ones to save and then the others all say [inactive]. So, technically, it didn't delete any of them, which is kind of nice, except that it inactivated some of the ones I wanted to keep, so I have to go in and change that manually. :P

Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.


~~~~

As for the shit from yesterday, I haven't decided if I want to blog that or not...

(Posted with the permission of the other unintentional party):

Do you know this person?  Report IM Spam

Do you know this person?  Report IM Spam

WestwardSalmon (2:58:16 AM): http://youtube.com/watch?v=wv5A6LnIXz4
Akuwaneko (2:58:47 AM): Do I...know you?
WestwardSalmon (2:59:18 AM): ...Very doubtfully. Why did you IM me, that being asked? o_O
Akuwaneko (3:00:04 AM): I...did not.
Akuwaneko (3:00:26 AM): Honestly, I have no idea how this came about.
WestwardSalmon (3:00:29 AM): ...Youuu... sent me a Mass Effect youtube URL out of the blue?
WestwardSalmon (3:00:37 AM): Well, that makes two of us. o_o
Akuwaneko (3:00:38 AM): I sent you nothing.
WestwardSalmon (3:00:44 AM): 'k.
Akuwaneko (3:00:50 AM): I have no idea who you are. > w <
Akuwaneko (3:01:01 AM): Well, that was weird.
WestwardSalmon (3:01:05 AM): ...>n>
WestwardSalmon (3:01:10 AM): Are you sure?
Akuwaneko (3:01:25 AM): Am I sure of what?
WestwardSalmon (3:01:33 AM): That you  have no idea who I am.
WestwardSalmon (3:01:40 AM): Or that you didn't send me anything.
Akuwaneko (3:01:41 AM): Well, uh...
Akuwaneko (3:02:02 AM): I'm sure I didn't send you anything, since the link was in the IM box when I opened it.
WestwardSalmon (3:02:10 AM): ..?
WestwardSalmon (3:02:13 AM): I got this:
WestwardSalmon (3:02:16 AM): RestrainedSalmon: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wv5A6LnIXz4
queen anise: Er? Who's this?
RestrainedSalmon: Do I...know you?
Akuwaneko (3:02:36 AM): I got this:
Akuwaneko (3:02:37 AM): WestwardSalmon (2:58:16 AM): http://youtube.com/watch?v=wv5A6LnIXz4
Akuwaneko (2:58:47 AM): Do I...know you?
WestwardSalmon (3:02:54 AM): ...What the fuck, salmons!
Akuwaneko (3:02:56 AM): ...Wait
Akuwaneko (3:03:06 AM): That's...bizarre.
Akuwaneko (3:03:18 AM): And...well, possible.
WestwardSalmon (3:03:25 AM): ...It really is. o_O;;
WestwardSalmon (3:03:28 AM): Possible??
Akuwaneko (3:03:46 AM): I should think that hacking AIM would not be an amazingly hard task-
Akuwaneko (3:03:57 AM): the program has many flaws already. XP
WestwardSalmon (3:03:58 AM): Yeah, but to spread a mass effect video?
WestwardSalmon (3:04:01 AM): Yeah. XD
WestwardSalmon (3:04:09 AM): Well...fuck, that's...really weird.
Akuwaneko (3:04:28 AM): So, our own usernames aren't even showing up?
Akuwaneko (3:04:42 AM): Because yours says "Westward Salmon"
WestwardSalmon (3:04:57 AM): Nope. I didn't see Akuwaneko as your SN until you showed me what you got on your end. You're "Restrained Salmon" on my window.
WestwardSalmon (3:05:02 AM): My actual SN is "queen anise"
Akuwaneko (3:05:16 AM): That is so weird!
Akuwaneko (3:05:41 AM): And who names their little daemons "Salmon" anyway, that's dumb.
WestwardSalmon (3:06:05 AM): Seriously. I am not a fish, sir or ma'am behind this hacking.
Akuwaneko (3:06:14 AM): I'm not a fish either.
Akuwaneko (3:06:31 AM): I'm sure he/she is enjoying him/herself
Akuwaneko (3:06:42 AM): and I'm way too lazy to do anything about it...
Akuwaneko (3:06:45 AM): XD
WestwardSalmon (3:06:48 AM): Probably.
WestwardSalmon (3:06:55 AM): I'm way too ignorant to do anything about it.. XD
WestwardSalmon (3:07:01 AM): (That is I'd have no idea what to do.)
Akuwaneko (3:07:25 AM): Oh, right~ I understand.
WestwardSalmon (3:07:54 AM): Well, uh, for the record, nice to meet you 'pon this strange happenstance.
WestwardSalmon (3:07:57 AM): o_0
Akuwaneko (3:08:23 AM): Uh, yeah- it was...interesting!
WestwardSalmon (3:08:37 AM): Yeah, certainly!
Akuwaneko (3:08:49 AM): Would you mind if I blogged it?
Akuwaneko (3:09:04 AM): It wouldn't make much of a difference, and I would block out your username.
WestwardSalmon (3:09:04 AM): XD By all means, go ahead. Ahaha.
WestwardSalmon (3:09:17 AM): Oh, no, that's not required. I'm easy.
Akuwaneko (3:09:25 AM): Okay, then.
WestwardSalmon (3:09:27 AM):

LOL @ Salmon names. Evidently, to this user I appeared as "Restrained Salmon" while she was "Westward Salmon".

Hackers are funny creatures. No wonder I'm obsessed with them. XD

I really do.
I need to draw from life.
I need to do landscape sketches.
I need to work on my perspective, shading and composition.
I need to practice creating a more dynamic cartooning style.
I need to work on boring things like buildings and plain objects.
I need to study lighting and shading a little closer.
I need to practice getting away from bad habits like being too lazy to ink properly or use a ruler.
I need to practice creating cleaner lines and smoother inks and penciling.
I need to work on my comic in traditional media.

And, eventually, I need to get around to taking a whole buncha' art classes. Why? Because my major Visual Communications is an Art major and majoring in art at IUPUI means that you actually attend the Herron School of Art- which requires a portfolio. Which I don't have yet.

I've got a lot to do.  O w O()

I figure a quick LJ post would not throw me off my schedule too badly. lol.

So, tonight and tomorrow, mom is having a sleepover/art party with her ATC buddies here at the house. Which means the reason I haven't been online in like, two days is because I've been cleaning my room. It is...clean. "The floor is clean" is a more accurate statement, I think. You can make it from the door to the window without hurting yourself. I consider that an extreme improvement. My closet isn't too bad either- you can open it and nothing will fall out. The desk won't be so bad after I clear all the art books I have piled up (from the bathroom cabinet- they seem to have built up there over the past 4 months or so) and a few old binders and such. The latter of which will go into my "papers and stuff I might file later or might just pitch depending on my mood" box that I've created for just such a purpose. :D

I do have work today, which is why I scheduled my nap from 11:30 to 1:30, to give me time to rest before I eat dinner (at around 2). I need to be the polite sub-hostess and set up the Acer Demon to allow a Guest account for people who wish to check their e-mail. Mom set her laptop up, but in all honesty, the Acer Demon- in all it's crappy glory- kicks her laptop's ass in a cage fight. So, I figure setting mine up too would be nice. I also need to draw up a few little things, including instructions on how to turn on the shower in my bathroom so you don't SCALD yourself the first time (like I did). These are just curtesies, so mom doesn't have to explain everything.

Anyway, I feel really crappy today (thanks hormones) and so I don't want to go to work, but honestly don't want the social interaction of 6+ women I've never met before, so the lesser of two evils (for the time being) wins out. I work at 3 and stay until around 9:30. When I get back, doubtless everyone will still be awake and being art-y. Maybe by that time I'll feel better.

I want more caffeine, but don't need it- but I WANT it dammit. DO WANT.

Something random for you: Because I went out a purchased a new microphone for various reasons, I decided to record myself singing an anime theme song. I think it's...well, I hate the way I sound. But I find it REALLY FUNNY. I'd like you guys to hear it too--how would I go about posting it here? It's a .WAV file (legally, Audacity can't really save as anything else- though I think there's an outside program that can convert to MP3?). The recording is fairly terrible, because the only way I knew to pick up the song was to place the speakers very close to the mic. Also, I was trying to be very quiet because my parents were asleep next door, so I was singing/ whispering/ strangling myself to make it sound OK.

LOL~ I CAN'T SING WELL. DON'T YOU WANT TO HEAR? You can feel free to make fun of me for it. X3

Anyway- I gotta go and eat something soon and make up those signs for people, so I'm out yo. PEACE.

> Edit 2: Added the concept sketches for the male characters- they're pretty unimaginative compared to the girls though...

>Edit: I added the concept sketches and tentative color schemes for the female characters.

Actually, I'm hoping that the character, world and concept designs  will be interesting enough to work into my future Portfolio (which is completely empty yo).

The project is called R.A.I.N.B.O.W. Revolution and it takes place on an undefined world, much like our own earth, that has similar if not identical climates, but very different natural effects on its inhabitants. I never named the world, I just called it Gaia earth. The two celestial bodies are just called Solas and Lunas. The people in the Northern hemisphere worship Lunas and those in the South worship Solas. There's nothing really amazing there, but I wanted to keep it simple because the story doesn't involve religion as a main theme at all. In fact, the main idea is that the protagonists are trying to find Unity through diversity.

The title may key you into the actual point:Reuniting And Integrating Nations (on the) Brink Of War. The actual word "rainbow" is an ancient word that no one uses anymore; the actual natural phenomenon is simply called an "arch".

A quick summary of the concepts regarding the people:
If you couldn't guess, the people belong to nations named after colors, but the dynamics are a little more complicated than that. You can imagine the various colors being races, or peoples, that are vastly different from one another, but are at the same time all human. All of the nations are constantly at war because they either consider themselves a superior nation, want more land or just fight because they can. Nations that are complimentary in color are the greatest enemies, those that are analogous are allies.

The entire story's concept is based around color theory. It gets much more complicated than what I've mentioned and it also goes into the ideas of additive and subtractive mixing and color harmony (harmony- get it? They strive for harmony). What does not get touched upon is the symbolism that we, as humans, tend to peg to various colors (especially concerning race, religion and politics).

There is also the whole being at war thing. These people have never created a need for weapons to harm one another. There are weapons that are designed to destroy the military vessels that they travel in, but they don't have swords, guns or any form of hand weapons (not even sharp cutlery, all food is prepared with spoons of varying types). Instead they rely on Inner Power. Inner Power is basically just a form of magic that is derived from the soul.


I think that's enough for now. I hope at least some of you are vaguely interested? I love colors, and I really wanted to practice creating and designing concepts around them that (I hope) haven't been done as much as others. I'm going to draw up lots of concept sketches, show the protagonists I've developed and hopefully find a style that fits it well. I want something simple and artsy, but still cartoonish and fun. I don't want anything to be unnecessarily complex, because that will take all the fun out of drawing them, and I'll lose interest so fast... XD

These pencils are the epitome of awesome for lazy artists like me. Why? Because they are still useful even though most photocopiers today are designed to pick them up anyway (just don't use a color copier, stupid) if they are not set for light grayscale photocopying. BUT, even if you're not photocopying and you're scanning, it's not too difficult to level out the image to erase the blue lines. And they are really great for light tables too.

So, why can't I find the damn things anywhere!? I realize that they are almost completely useless for editing purposes due to the new sensory technologies used in photocopiers today but artists use them for other reasons too and I haven't seen them anywhere but online. I really hate buying online if I can help it. It's true, you can get Prismacolor Non-Photo Blue (PC919) but honestly, I've used it and the wax tends to go on very thick and dark- which is lovely if you're coloring an image of the sky but not so lovely if you just want nice, light underdrawings. Also, if you try and ink directly over them, you get a total failure of a line density, since the pen cannot soak into the paper properly it takes forever to dry and looks really bad compared to the lines drawn that are not over the pencil.

In short, I basically hate having to erase my underdrawings because it's a very time consuming and boring process that can be avoided and leave me time for more important things, like actually doing stuff, but I cannot find these pencils anywhere anymore! (Not even at OM, I'm disappointed in you OM). D:

Have any of you seen them around? I've tried most hobby and craft stores as well as art-specific stores with no luck. The non-photo blue pencil is also known as Non-Copy, Non-Repro(ducing) and Drafting Blue pencil. If anyone sees them anywhere, let me know I'm tired of being unable to find them.

~~~

BTW, I saw the Indiana Jones movie with Thomas last night and it was awesome! (The movie! Not that Thomas isn't an awesome person, but I just wanted to make that clear.)  XD

HAPPY BIRTHDAY catkinisis!

What do you want on your birthday card~???

I CAN SEE THROUGH YOUR BONES~!

Uh *ahem* sorry a little too much ice tea for me this afternoon. Cookies passed around for those who catch the reference. Milk, or other delicious beverage, will also be provided for those who can quote something back to me. Readysetgo.

Ah~ uh, why am I posting again? Oh, to let you know I'm alive, especially after telling so many people I would be on Rappelz last night. Well...that didn't go through, mostly because I got ANOTHER tension headache after becoming so stressed from driving home from Clay Terrace last night. It's about the same distance as my work is from my house, but I took smaller roads instead of major thoroughfares. STILL, it was kind of an OH MY GOD THERE ARE OTHER CARS ON THE ROAD OH SHIT experience, but I guess I'll just have to get used to that. I didn't hit anything, I didn't run any lights or signs, and I only went 5 miles over the speed limit. Go me! XD

DUDE~ it's Spring and it's awesome. Too bad my sinuses act up so much here. I've figured out why: Things GROW here. Like flowers and leaves and such things. It's not just evergreens and marsh grass and grass. There's pollen in the air~it's pretty, but painful at times.

Anyway, I've got work in 45 minutes so I should get going. My Neko-senses are telling me I will most likely be driving myself to work today. D:

Oh hey guys, I totally play Rappelz with damaged_lilacs now. Totally addicted. Played from the time I got home at 10pm until 5am this morning. I just woke up at 12:30! Thank god for the second shift, I don't have work for another 3 hours.  O w O;

But yeah, Rappelz is fun! It's not the most amazing thing ever graphics wise, but it is easy to get caught up in all the actual gameplay to notice. Occasionally it will be like "Oh look, I walked through this rock/tree/mundane monster!" but whatever- it's awesome. And free. <3

That I do. :3

Totally sick. I don't know why or with what, all I know is that I've slept for probably well over 20 hours, taken multiple types of medicines, eaten, drank liquids and stayed home from work today and I still feel quite shitty. I wish I knew what was wrong, then I could at least figure out what to do for it. Mom says it's probably the flu, but I disagree. Here are the symptoms:

-fatigue
-headache
-muscle pain
-shaking
-inconsistent fever
-lack of appetite
-dizziness

Dizziness and shaking are usually caused by the headache and fever. And yes, I have been eating regularly, but it doesn't help. In fact, the problem is this damn headache; it won't go away! I've had it since Saturday night and it hasn't gotten better or worse since then. I've taken regular pain killers, sinus medicine, cold medicine and migraine medicine- to no avail. It doesn't matter how much I eat, drink or sleep it doesn't get any better. I just can't figure it out.

In the meantime, I can't do anything. Today was the first time I had the energy to go into the living room and watch some TV- and now is the first time I've been on the computer since Friday night. I'm just lucky that I don't have class anymore, but I do have work and this ailment- whatever it is- better go away soon because (1) it's annoying and (2) it's screwing up my sleep schedule even more than I screw it up normally.

Very upsetting. ):

Like, anywhere (for free)? I really wanted to start playing again, since I'll have all Summer to not be in school and therefore do fun things again! I have DOMO on the Acer Demon, but I got really tired of the rather icky way they programmed movement and the lack of ways to customize your character, oh, and the fact that the last time I played I could only pick ONE job class and so I'm a Swordmaster even though I wanted to be a Fencer. Yeah, I just don't think I'll play that anytime soon. ^__^()

BUT, I remember LOVING to play RO and how much fun it was to hang out with people and raise your job class and how the interface was just Point-and-click--so simple, even I  can still remember the controls-LOL. Also, the last time I played I never got all the way up to Assassin like I wanted *pouts* just up to Rogue(?). I did get to be a Gunslinger though, woo! Good times...gooood times.

Anyway, I played with catkinisis, 0dd0ne0utand Mora and DAMMIT I MISS YOU GUYS! TT__TT
(Well, I miss everyone, but I don't think anyone else played with me?? If you did and I forgot...eheh- Sorry!).

So? Anyone? :D

---

Aw crap, I've got work soon *runs off to take a hot bath* I'm still stiff from standing at the counter and hand collating 48 cookbooks...

SRSLY.

Weird, oh

Sittin' here writin' stories in my head
Wrote all the books too good to be read

Didn't write it for songs, but sing if you wish
I breathe chaos like water breathes fish

Better off sayin' things needn't be said
Better off livin' if not off dead

Just too lazy to find my own way
Can't run, won't run, let's just stay


---
Let's Start a Revolution!

Hey, let's start a revolution!

You go your way
I'll go my way
We'll pinch pennies
to the end of the day
And when it's all over
And blue turns to black
We'll laugh and we'll joke
And we'll never look back

Come, let's start a revolution!

You take your side
And I'll take mine
We'll take over the world
Just in time to dine
And when it's all over
And green turns to red
We'll think and we'll ponder
At secrets unsaid

Stand up man, let's start a revolution!

You lose your mind
And I'll lose my mind
We'll keep dancing
until we both find
reasons to keep being unkind
And when it's all over
And sun turns to moon
We'll wait and we'll wander
If things will end soon

Get up, let's go and start a revolution!
Let's all march off to die!
It's all the rage, it's chiq, it's hip,
To do and not ask why!


I'm so weeeeeiiiird! :D

BTW it's totally that TOTM! Ouch!