Oookay. Sorry I haven't been around lately. Responsibilities suck. XD

Anyway. I have a list of works I'm trying to get around to, so this is pretty much all this journal is here for.

-fanart for Sentia Shinou
-a lovey-dovey "couple piece"
-MSD page 59
-at LEAST two pages of Cry Havoc

I was making life more difficult for myself by trying to do a prologue for Cry Havoc... it would see Lucky picking up a naieve passenger and arguing about the government, thus explaining the state of the world she lives in. But it was so freaking hard to do and so boring that I just decided to throw everyone right into the story and explain along the way. This means I'll be able to get right on into the story and introduce 'Leven (one of my favorite scenes). So of course, now I'm really excited to get started on it! I want to get a few pages done before I officially release them, though. That way I'll be able to have a regular upate pattern for a while before I run out of pages. So it might be awhile before anyone gets to see what the crap I'm talking about.

But I promise (I think) it will be an exciting ride. I hope everyone will be patient with me until I set everything in motion.

Oh. Wow.

I just got this killer fanart from Sentia Shinou. I, mean. WOW. It's so awesome I can't help but giggle with glee everytime I look at it!!

She drew LuckyVIII, and she captured her *perfectly* even though I've never posted a single page of Cry Havoc for her to know the character. What a brilliant artist!

I'm just overwhelmed. Two awesome fanarts from such a great artist and a great person in general. I really really really need to get started on a piece of fanart for her. I want to give her the first piece of fanart for World of Serrynia. But I have a problem...

Her picture of my Lucky hacker has me all pumped up to make pages for Cry Havoc!!

At any rate, it's time to churn out some art. Yay, art art art artartartart....

This is one very large angsty rant for the sake of catharsis. Read only if you have lots of time to blow.


"Tell me I'm not spending too much time on happy endings..."

Classes start again tomorrow. *sigh* I know I get no sympathy from you guys, since most of you who would read this have long since started back...

But still...

This semester I have Spanish, two honors Englishes, ecology, advanced genetics, and college algebra. 19 hours at this point. I'm probably going to drop one. I hope so, since books for those six classes will cost a total of almost $1000. The worst part of all this is not the price, though--well, it is the price. The price of my time, you could say. Between problem sets for genetics and algebra, papers to write and books to read for the Englishes, and vocabulary and general memorization for ecology and Spanish... I'm not sure I'll have very much time for all those things I love and hold dear. Most prominently my comics... all my lovely stories. I don't want them to lie dormant in my mind. I thoroughly enjoy sharing them.

But they're just stories.

I can't spend my days making up stories and coming up with clever ways to convey them. I can't make money doing that, and that's all that matters.

I'm cynical these days. I think I'm finally starting to believe the phrase "it's all about the money." I think I'm finally caving in. They're just stories. Just made-up tales to treasure and delight in--in my spare time. Classes and studying come first.

It wouldn't be that bad, except that this winter break will be my last break spent in neglect of my studies. This summer I will have to take two more Spanish classes and two general chem classes with lab. Next winter break I have to prepare my thesis proposal. Next summer, more classes and thesis work, probably along with a job to help me look better to the optometry school. Next winter, probably a few last-minute classes (I will have defended my thesis that semester, hopefully, though it may have to wait until early spring semester). That summer, I will be free for a bit... then, with any luck, I'll be admitted into the optometry college for lots of 20- and 25-hour quarters of intense coursework.

I see little to look forward to... well, maybe a fat paycheck at the end of the road. Woo.

But I know I have to do it. Steven and I suck up money like it was water. We couldn't live on an artist's salary, and I must admit I doubt Steven alone could make enough to satisfy our lust for money. Life is expensive, after all, and we want it supersized....

I do worry about that thesis, though. I had a great idea for it, a sweeping epic focused on the characters of MSD to be made into a huge thick comic book. It would have philosophical themes galore, making it perfect for the honors college. For example, in it we would see Relden take a man's life for the first time, in defense. Under Nangani tradition, the death of one's first enemy requires that an elder fix the blood to the blade, so it's permanently stained with the sin of your first kill. Thus the Nangani remind themselves of the sacredness of life, and that one must not kill except in defense of family, home, and freedom. Relden is not in the presence of a Nangani elder, so he must go to the woods alone and perform the ceremony. It was going to be an emotionally charged scene, horrifying, touching, thought-provoking. Perfect for the honors college. The rest of the tale would deal with loyalty to those who raised you, blood ties, slavery... it was going to be epic.

But I am not an art major. I am a biology major.

I must conduct some form of research with my advisor and write a scientific paper on it, then defend my results in front of a group of professors. Bleh. I can defend a story that's been churning in my head for a year and a half or so. But defend results from a study I care nothing about? That will be trying, to say the least.


Sorry for the long post. These things have been running through my head for the past few days...

We did our Christmas celebration a day early for my sister's sake. I had a very good year. :3

Among the goodies was, to my joy, a brand new tablet. A beatiful new Wacom Intuos3 that I've been clamouring after for years. It's finally time to set aside my eight-year-old Graphire. My Christmas gift for Emolsifier was the last thing I'll ever do with that tablet. It's almost sad, but not really. XD

I'm not really sure what I'll do with the old girl now. She doesn't work that well, but I hate to trash her after we've grown up together. I guess she'll go up on the shelf with my old printer. *shrug*

I also got a new PSP, so you might not see me for a while. I've had my eye on Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology for a while now as well. I am a huge huge fan of the Tales series. :woot:

I hope Ghost and Emolsifier like their gifts from me! ^^ Merry Christmas, everybody.

In a random accident, I cut my left pinky finger and had to go to the emergency room to get two stiches. O_o I'll probably make a series of AQB comics about the experience, once I get done with Christmas stuff.

And did you know that as of now, My Sister the Dragon is one year old? *preens* I should really make a nifty little picture for it. Or at least update it. XP



Unngh. Typing bad. *dies*