Friday, August 4, 2006

Quick Rant, YYH and Dead Rising (shorter than it looks! =D )
*sigh*
Hey everybody. How’s it going?
As for me, I’m in a rather depressed state at the moment.

It’s amazing that within only a few days of me re-establishing access to my online art-community, it’s already starting to go sour.
Don’t get me wrong, people, I love, love, LOVE being here amongst other artists and learning from one another. What I don’t love is the current state of this community. To put it bluntly, the attitude and status of the current community sucks balls. It’s sad when the first thing that happens when you reenter a community is something that reminds you of why you were thinking of leaving voluntarily.
I’m serious, everybody; I’m not completely sure how much longer I can continue to function here under these conditions. It’s gotten to the point where I’m loosing sleep and having fits of nausea when I log on here. I know it sounds fickle when I say that when just the other week I was in terror of losing contact with this community, but I’ve been dealing with that option for a long time now. A long, long time. It may also sound overly dramatic to say that The Otaku is affecting me on such a deep level, but this community is important to me, and it’s started to make me physically ill by seeing it degenerate.
Oh, and speaking of fits of nausea, I’m starting to go into one right now. Lovely.

I’m sure you remember my good friend Josh’s short-lived joining of The Otaku. He joined a little while after I did as “phantomlord882”, but left after not too long for the exact same reasons that are bothering me now (i.e., how fucked up the people here are getting). He finally got fed up with this place and said, “Fuck it. I’m smarter than this. I don’t need these pricks putting me in a foul mood and destroying anime”.
He later gave the community a second chance in June of last year (as “DrunkenMaster”, if you recall), but it was even worse for him that time. Now he’s left The Otaku for good. I hope this community’s proud of itself.
I’ve endured a bit longer than Josh (mainly because I at least thought I was amongst people who were enduring the same thing), but my tolerance is now wearing rather thin. And it’s honestly making me start to think that Josh and I are the only people here who haven’t completely lost our minds.

Let me just put it this way; some things are going to need to be straightened out. Probably not today, but fairly soon. And if they can’t get straightened out…well, then I can’t guarantee that I can remain a functioning member of this community.
The whole situation has me in a pretty depressed state at the moment. I’m tired of being in a constant state of anger and disappointment when I’m on here or deviantART. If that can’t change, then I may just have to do what Josh did. Josh is no longer a part of an online art-community, yet oddly enough he’s a Hell of a lot less depressed than I am. As much as I love (and need) the learning I can get from here, the idea of no longer being a slave to the stress a lot of the people here generate for me is a pretty tempting option. It’d be nice if I could use this community without it being ruined by perverts and idiots, but sadly enough that’s not possible.
So, I’m praying said things can get straightened out, because I really don’t like the other option…

Alright, sorry about that everyone. Just needed to get that off my chest. The bullshit’s been piling up for a while, and being in a highly volatile situation that makes you too scared to move one way or the other certainly doesn’t help.
OK, enough doom & gloom. Onto something more interesting….

I went on a manga-run yesterday (Thursday).
Something interesting happened the last time I went (Monday), but since this is already a long post I’ll save that story for next time.

I’ve recently started back up in reading the Yu Yu Hakusho manga (for what reason I don’t know). I’m currently about half-way through vol. 6, which means I just finished the “Rescue Yukina” story and am now starting the “Dark Tournament” saga. =D This has me excited, because anyone here familiar with Yu Yu Hakusho knows that the Dark Tournament is where my all-time favorite anime character; Juri, shows up in the story. =3 Lord knows I love Juri-chan…. I hope she’s included in the manga version of YYH.

And while on that note, I honestly don’t suggest trying out the Yu Yu Hakusho manga to anyone new to it. The anime is far, FAR better. The manga story moves extremely fast (i.e., too fast) meaning it lacks a lot of detail. The art is also not particularly spectacular. =P His faces often look weird, and he hasn’t quite gotten a handle on how to draw girls.
However, I do highly suggest checking out the anime. I was planning on doing a plug for it, but it made my post too long. So, I’ll save it for next time as well. =3

In other news, Dead Rising will be coming out on the 8th of this month (Tuesday)!
^o^ Woo-hoo! I can’t wait! That game looks like so much fun. Makes me wish I had an Xbox360. ToT

In case you don’t remember, Dead Rising was the new action/arcade-style Zombie game Capcom (the same people who brought us Resident Evil!) is coming out with for the Xbox360.
As you recall, I was talking about it earlier this year. It was expected to come out in late May, but got pushed back till August (I was an angry, angry gamer). But now the wait is over, and Dead Rising will hit the shelves in 4 days! ^o^
I even saw a commercial for it this morning! Has anybody else seen it? Be on the lookout for it next time you’re watching TV!

Dead Rising looks to be an extremely unique experience. One of the numerous factors contributing to that is the fact that Frank West is a photojournalist, meaning that part of his mission in the game is to not only save lives and help people, but also to get the scoop on the whole crisis and the reason behind it. Frank’s at Ground Zero for what could be a pivotal event in history, so he plans to document the whole ordeal and hopefully win a Pulitzer Prize for his story….if he survives.
Being a photojournalist, you can take pictures with Frank’s camera as you play the game. The cooler the photo, the more Experience Points you get. With those experience points, you can upgrade Frank’s health, stamina, attack, speed or any of another of other elements.
The whole photo concept is an awesome idea because it adds a creative aspect to the game, which artists like you and I are sure to enjoy. ;)
Another factor is that the story takes place in a Mall setting. Not only will you have access to tons of stuff that can be used as a weapon, but that also means that Dead Rising will be like a Dawn of the Dead you can play. (Dawn of the Dead also took place in a Shopping Mall.) Naturally, Josh and I are excited. =)

Alright everyone, my internet is really acting up at the moment, so I’m not completely sure if I can effectively get to your sites today. However, I’ll do my best, and will probably be able to comment sometime later tonight.

Rather then an Art-Feature, I’ll instead leave you today with these awesome, impressive screen-shots of the soon to be released Dead Rising. Here are some shots from various parts of the gameplay, of course including some of our Hero Frank West kicking zombie ass. Enjoy. ~_^




I’ll see you all tomorrow! ^o^
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Tuesday, August 1, 2006

   Hey everybody. How’s it going?

Meh, seems a lot of people are currently absent from The Otaku.
It also seems that 90% of the people here were gone through that whole ordeal with my computer last week (talked about in the post that’s currently at the bottom of my page).

Speaking of which, it was a shame I had to be absent from The Otaku on my birthday (of all things!). I even missed my Otaku-versary this year (July 17th)! <=( That’s a shame, because I think a lot of people were even offering me birthday presents before I left. Oh well, maybe their offer still stands…

Oh, and speaking of birthday presents, I need to get to work on my beloved Erin-chan’s birthday present!
Erin-chan asked for a birthday picture featuring her character Nanashi. As said in that post at the bottom of my page, I tried it while my computer was gone, but without access to all my reference artwork it turned out crappy.
But, now that I have my computer back, I’ll be able to get that drawn for her. ^_^ I just hope she doesn’t mind it being a tad late for her birthday (which was July 14th). Hopefully I’ll have Photoshop installed and running soon so I can have it nice and cleanly edited for her. My Erin-chan deserves nothing less. ~_^

Oh, and speaking of the Erin-chan and late celebration of her birthday, I think I’ll post a few more pics here on my site for her in belated commemoration. ;D
As you’ve seen, on several of my previous posts I’ve dedicated the Art Feature of that day to her. But, since I have a giant stack of pics I need to use as Art Features, and I can only do one Art Feature a day, I’ll instead just put the pics here in my post rather than as a daily Art Feature. ~_^

As said in my previous post, Erin-chan’s a big fan of L from Death Note.
Just like last post’s Art Feature, here’s another picture of L by the lovely pu-sama:

As previously explained, Erin’s always entertained by L’s habit of nibbling on something as he thinks. Here, L unknowingly makes a snack of one of pu-sama’s friends; Kristen. Kristen seems rather confused. XD

Erin-chan’s also a big fan of Axel from Kingdom Hearts II.
Unlike Erin and Josh, I’m not too big of an Axel fan, but even I couldn’t resist this picture, so I thought Erin and any other Axel fans out there might really enjoy this one:


This one’s by Majime; one of my favorite colored-pencil artists (she draws Nagas! =D ). As with any of her work, the colors here are spectacular, especially Axel’s hair. Though, just like any other artist has said after drawing Axel, she stated the hair was a bitch to do. XD

Hmmmm, it also appears that nobody has guessed that mystery show I mentioned 2 weeks or so ago.
Let me recap: Probably the only non-anime TV shows I can really enjoy now a days are Mythbusters and Mystery Science Theater 3000. But, there is a third show I’m a really big fan of that I’ve failed to mention to you all yet.
My friend Jess owns the complete DVD box-set, which he’s going to loan me next time I see him. ^o^
So, what is this show? I gave this hint to you before and no one got it, but I’ll give you a second try: Shopping-carts.
Yep, that’s right. Shopping-carts.
Anything coming to mind? I guess I could give you another hint: Though many haven’t heard of it yet, there’s going to be something related to this wonderful series released in movie theaters this fall. ^o^ I can’t wait!
So, can any of you guess what this show I love so much actually is? ~_^ If that’s not enough, I’ll give you a third hint next post.

Here’s today’s Art Feature:
“Life Down” by gnato:


As mentioned before, gnato is one of my most favorite photographers.
Here you can see why, with little explanation needed.

OK everybody, I’m off to visit your sites! ^_^
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Friday, July 28, 2006

   Back in Business!!!!
Hey everybody. How’s it going?

As you may have been hoping, I have some good news. =)
Guess what I’m typing on right now.
Yep, it appears I have my computer back. =D

Since Tuesday the 18th I had no access to my computer, but as of today I’m back in business. =)
If you read the post before this one from last Saturday, you’d know the whole story as to why my computer was gone and how rough that situation was for me (though it’s a shame that apparently only 2 people read it, though, considering how big a deal it was =/ ).
Meh, regardless, I’d really like to thank thelostsindar and Vankala 86 for their lovely comments that gave me support and hope during a time I really needed it. ;) You guys are the best….

But anyway, as you’d know by that previous post, I was facing some dark times in terms of my artistic and emotional development. But now it appears I’ve reached the light at the end of that tunnel, and that makes me extremely happy.

On top of getting my computer back, I also have a bit of what may be even better news.
My mom recently purchased a newer, more powerful computer, and as she was planning she’ll soon install that newer one in my room soon and move this computer into my little brother’s room. =)
Though, I must say, this change has me a bit worried. You see, the newer computer is not only more powerful, but it’s also designed to be a gaming computer (powerful graphics card, etc.). This is all well and good, but as I explained in my previous post, my main concern for the computer in my room is using it for my artwork as a drawing aid. I don’t play computer games at all really (aside from Rollercoaster Tycoon, I much prefer games on a videogame console), and it’s my brother and mom who play games. Having the new gaming computer in my room has me worried that it’ll mean I’ll be displaced from my desk more often than I already am. As I explained in that previous post, this desk and computer is where & how I study and draw. I’m contemplating suggesting I keep this computer and the new more powerful one go in my brother’s room. But Hell, maybe I should at least try out having the gaming one in my room. Maybe it’ll all work out, hopefully.
I’d appreciate any prayer you could send my way on that matter. =)

Anyway, in a related story, my birthday was earlier this week. ^_^
Tuesday to be exact (the 25th). My parents took me out to Applebee’s to buy me a small steak dinner and a chocolate milkshake (my favorites!) for my birthday Tuesday night.
For those curious, I got a 9 oz. sirloin with broccoli and fries (they didn’t have onion rings -_-‘ ), then for desert I got a chocolate milkshake and finished it off with Applebee’s complimentary Birthday Ice-cream. The employees came out and sang to our table and everything. ^_^
That night I was so full of steak and ice-cream! *o* I haven’t been that full in a good long while!

Oh, and now for what you’re probably most curious about; what I got for my birthday. ~_^
Well, they gave me my lovely presents after dinner while I was waiting for my shake (my brother and sister got an Oreo shake, by the way).
My little sister gave me two statues she had sculpted herself at a friend’s party she’d been to recently. Considering she’s only 8, it’s cute to receive stuff like that from her. ~_^
My brother presented me with a Beatles T-shirt. It’s an extremely nice one that’s white with a red profile logo. Gotta’ love The Beatles!
My parents then gave me a lovely long-sleeved shirt for this coming fall that was black with a green Metallica logo in the center! ^o^ I’ve been in desperate need of a Metallica shirt for a while now, so that was a nice present. (This shirt features the “Load” and “ReLoad” Metallica font, as well as the Metallica Ninja-Star. My mom says it was a choice between that and the ugly St. Anger T-shirt with the orange skull that has the hammer through it, so I’m glad she picked this one. ~_^ )

But the best of all was the last present my parents gave me that night.
For my final gift, my parents got me………..*drum-roll*
………Adobe Photoshop 9.0 CS!!!!!!!!!!!!.
^o^ AWESOME!!!!
Photoshop is what I asked for, so I’m ecstatic that I got it!
After getting the free trial for Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 a couple months ago, I’ve been lusting for another chance to use that awesome program. That software is a God-send for editing my scanned artwork, and my mom will have it up and running for me once she gets the newer computer installed in here.
^_^ It’s a good thing too, because I have a fair amount of art that I need to edit and submit here, a lot of which are various presents for people here on The Otaku. ~_^ I’m glad I have my computer back, because I have a lot of surprises to share with you guys now. Heh heh, you’ll just have to wait and see…..

As for other news, Josh is currently un-grounded again, so I spent Wednesday night over at his house for an overdue sleep-over (we haven’t had one for all of this year! *o* The last time I was over at his house was in 2005!).
If you’re in a hurry, you can probably skip this recap and save reading it ‘till you’ve got some extra time since it’s just a play-by-play of what went down during our sleep-over.
As for our sleep-over, Josh took the time to demonstrate the gameplay of his newest video-games for me. He showed me gameplay from Black and Kingdom Hearts II, both of which left me rather impressed (even though they’re not exactly new since Josh got em’ back in February and March when they came out. This was just my first chance to see them. @_@ ).
Josh’s mom made us her special Pineapple & Ham pizza (our favorite! *o*) and let us rent a movie. We rented Dawn of the Dead (the 2004 remake, by the way) and watched attentively while we ate pizza.
Dawn of the Dead was quite enjoyable. It’s good to get some well-made zombie movies under my belt, considering how much I love drawing zombies. ^_^
Anyway, the movie was great, and I highly, HIGHLY suggest it. I hate gory movies, but the violence in Dawn of the Dead was stylized in a way to not be gross or nauseating at all. No parts made me cringe at all. The head-shots were excellent, and the zombies themselves looked spectacular (though they were a tad too energetic for realistic zombies. But….that’s just a personal opinion).
The movie had a lot of good humor and a lot of sad parts, so it was a well-done flick. There was a lot of cussing, but unlike Kill Bill it wasn’t so much as to ruin the experience. The cinematography had its down-points, but it also had its ups such as use of color and lighting at different times of day (besides, not every director can be a Spielberg).
The film also did a nice job of creating that sense of emergency and crisis as you watch the world descend into chaos at the fault of a global plague (zombie movies are essentially disaster movies, but with
There’s unfortunately no happy ending (which I kinda’ prefer, like Shaun of the Dead), and a few parts are a little stupid, but it’s still definitely worth seeing if you’re interested.

Anyway, we finished that movie around 10:30, and then went down to the kitchen table to draw (we were going to watch Pulp Fiction, but we decided we’d rather use our time together for some drawing time). We ended up doing that through most of the night. I did a few doodles I might just scan sometime soon to show you guys. ~_^
We went back up to Josh’s room about 4:30 AM and slept ‘till 2:00 PM Thursday afternoon. I woke Josh up by balancing an empty Coke can on his head and then throwing coasters at him like ninja-stars. This made him laugh when he woke up.
We had to go to Josh’s school (which is the school I went to for kindergarten through 8th grade *sniff*) for Josh to work out this coming year’s class schedule with one of his teachers, which took nearly an hour.
We were finally able to get to Barne’s & Noble’s for super-short manga-run for about an hour before Josh’s mom drove me home around 6:30.

Josh has lent me his DVD containing the 3 Love Hina movies. I watched the Love Hina series on DVD last summer, but am only now being able to see the movies.
I watched the “Spring Movie” last night, which is basically the anime’s loose retelling of the group going to Parakelse Island in vol. 8.
Not surprisingly, it wasn’t very good. -_-‘ The anime seems to do everything it can to make seeing Love Hina animated a painful experience, all the while failing to make any sense at all plot-wise. It was clever for Akamatsu to feature himself as a guest character in the series, but it still fails to capture to magic and humor of the Love Hina manga. But what can you expect from TV Tokyo; the lovely people who brought us s-CRY-ed? *sigh*
Josh warned me before hand that there’d be singing involved, but even so it was still more than unpleasant. >_< If there’s anything I can’t stand in an anime, it’s when the characters awkwardly start singing out of nowhere. @_@ Nyamo was cute just as she was in the manga, but when she started singing I said out loud “Oh, sure, and while you’re at it why don’t you just go ahead and light my balls on fire?”. XD

I now have 2 features on the DVD left to watch: The Love Hina Christmas Special, and apparently an extra episode from the series; “Episode 25”. Hmmmm, I wonder what that’s about……

Allrightie everyone, I think I’ve bored you enough for one day.
Sorry this post was so long, but I had a lot to tell you guys about that happened in my week absence and the fact that I have my computer back is obviously big news as well.
Thanks for all your prayer and comments, and I’ll check back in with you guys tomorrow. ~_^

Here’s today’s Art-Feature.
“Donuts for All” by pu-sama:


Even though it was back on the 14th, I wanna’ dedicate this Art-Feature just like the previous one to Erin-chan’s birthday. I of course would have done this closer to her actual birthday, but I obviously couldn’t do so this previous week with my computer gone.
So, consider this a mildly late dedication to you and your recent birthday, Erin-chan. b^_^

The woman known as pu-sama has always been one of my favorite anime artists when it comes to a more refined approach (though this isn’t the best example of that, you’ll see it when I feature more artwork from her later).
She’s a big fan of Hellsing, and more recently, Death Note.
Here are some smooth sketches she did of L; one of Erin-chan’s most favorite characters. ^_^
Erin-chan mentioned how she enjoyed L’s demeanor in that he always seems to be nibbling something, most often doughnuts. Here we see exactly which quality she’s talking about.
L seems like a cool character and all, but if you ask me it looks like he could really use some sleep. Like a more docile form of A Real Dead One’s Eddie, he looks like he’s sleep-deprived and now running on sugar.

Anybody else here a fan of Death Note?
Would you suggest it as something I might like?
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Saturday, July 22, 2006

   Disconnection (PLEASE Read and Spread the Word!!!)
Hey everybody. I’ve got some bad news. Really bad news.

As I mentioned last time, Josh is grounded, so I went for a solo manga-run on Tuesday. Before I went, I let my brother on my computer to play his stupid free online RPG “Runescape” or whatever while I was gone. When I got back, he was screwing with my art-supplies (my ruler, to be exact), which I specifically asked him not to mess with before I left, and have specifically asked him not to touch every time I let him use the computer in my room. Naturally, despite this, he gets into my stuff every single time, and his only response is an un-heartfelt “oh, sorry”. Naturally, I got a little mad, just like I always do. But my mom came in and started ramping the argument up and up. I tried to leave the argument and say “fine, whatever, I give up”, but my mom wouldn’t let me leave it.
On top of that, she apparently decided to defend my brother’s right to mess with my stuff in my room while I’m gone. She’s the only woman on the planet who could defend that kind of action. Her favoritism is so obvious.

But that, unfortunately, is not the bad news.
For some unknown reason, she came to the conclusion that the solution was to take my computer out of my room. That’s the bad news.
She says that the computer’s been the source of so much strife between me & my brother (mainly that even when I’m nice enough to stop what I’m doing, let him in my room and use my desk to play his retarded little RPG, and then get mad when he continues to annoy me in my own room despite that showing of kindness), that it’s easier just to remove the source of that “strife”.
I have no idea where that came from. That was the most random incident for her to decide such a big thing on.
In case you’re wondering, by grace of God I’m currently posting using my Dad’s laptop.

Guys, I know it sounds pathetic, but I really, really don’t want to lose my computer.
I don’t use my computer for games. I don’t have a single game for it, and I don’t ever play Internet games.
I don’t use the computer for frivolous chatting with friends. I don’t have AIM, and I’ve never had it or used it in my life.

I use my computer for artwork. That’s all I use it for, and that’s all I’ll ever use it for. Here and on Deviant Art.
I need that satisfaction, that boost that comes from being able to look at other peoples’ artwork, and hear what they have to say about mine.
Being a part of an Art Community is why I turn down doing drugs. I get enough of a high from being here and talking with other artists about what makes us artists.
I don’t want to be cut-off from that. I know it sounds pathetic, but being here was what gave my life its day-to-day meaning. I was interacting, growing, learning, and preparing myself for bigger things in life that will revolve around my artwork. Lord knows I need the improvement.

This past week I’ve had to face the prospect that I might lose all connection with you guys here on The Otaku and all the artistic learning I receive by being here. Accordingly, this past week has been long, boring, depressing and downright miserable. I just learn so much by being here, and my mom wants to cut me off from that?

This was quite possibly the absolute worst thing she could have done to me: Cut me off from the learning, constructive environment here. Without access to my art community, my days feel empty and meaningless, merely because I’m no longer learning anything within them and instead have a day full of hollow boredom.
Don’t think that I can’t go a day or 2 without computer or something; that would be pathetic (besides, I kinda’ proved that when I spent a week in Williamsburg). It’s the fact that I’m now faced with the idea I may not be able to use the computer at all….indefinitely.
I’ve been too stressed out to read any in my Summer Reading, and that is not a good thing.

Another factor to consider is how vital my computer was to my artwork.
More than half of my memory on that computer was used up with my Picture Folder containing mountains upon mountains of reference-artwork, tutorials, learning materials, diagrams and many other things to aid me when I drew something I wasn’t familiar with.
That’s how I drew: sat back at my desk, quiet, drew with my folder of reference art in front of me, while happily listening to my music.
In addition to all my reference work and tutorials, my computer also had ALL of my music on it. Without it, I can’t listen to my music, nor can I any longer watch DVD’s, edit artwork or even scan artwork.

Erin asked me to draw a birthday-picture of her character Nanashi for her for her recent birthday. I tried drawing it for her yesterday despite my computer being gone.
But without the picture of him to look at so I know what he looks like, and no reference for pose or facial-expression, it came out looking like crap.

I’ve been in an art-rut ever since summer began, and I was just now getting out of it. But then, this has to happen….
This is very likely my last summer I’ll have to focus on my artwork, and it’s already slipping through my fingers. It’s mostly gone already, in fact. My parents were contemplating making me get a job this summer, and since they didn’t do it this summer, they’ll assuredly do it next summer. I know I sound like a total whiner saying that, but it honestly has me quite scared.

Guys, I know I sound pathetic, especially to those of you who are good enough to not need your computer and reference artwork to draw well, but using my computer meant a lot to me.
It’d be one thing if she was taking away a video-game or something, but my computer isn’t a hollow pleasure like it is for most kids my age. My art-community is a learning experience. It’s a spiritual experience.

I’m scared, everybody. I’m really scared. I may not be able to see you guys anymore. I may not be able to talk with you or learn from you anymore. I don’t want that to happen. That’s the last thing I want to happen. You’re some of the most wonderful people I know. I don’t want to lose you.
The idea of losing you people….it’s caused me to cry a few times in these past few days. That was the first time I’ve cried in a good, long time. I don’t want to be cut-off from these wonderful learning experiences and you wonderful people.

I could really, really use some prayer right now, everybody. In fact, this is probably the time I’ve needed prayer the most from you guys.
It’s probably turning some of your stomachs to hear “someone going to pieces over loosing their computer”, but like I said, having this computer meant a lot to me. Not only is it one of the very few things I thought my hard word in school and at home had earned me, but it’s also my connection to the art-world.
Faced with this prospect…I could just really use a hug or something right now.

Isn’t this a wonderful thing to have happen the week before my birthday (July 25th)?

I don’t know when I’ll be able to check in with you guys next, nor do I know how often (or how rarely) I’ll be able to visit. I can’t scan art, I can’t edit art, I can’t post art, I can’t view your art, and my ability to even create art has been dealt a blow (keep in mind that I’m still learning how to be an artist, and taking away my learning tool is just down-right savage).

Erin-chan….I don’t know when I’ll be able to finish your birthday picture. Even if I manage to get it done, I don’t know if and when I’d be able to scan it.

Everybody, please, please, PLEASE be praying for me throughout this. Pray that this bullshit will be over soon and that I’ll be able to get back to my fellow artists here on The Otaku. I don’t want to be separated from you guys or the art-community any more.

Please do me the favor of spreading this news around The Otaku to any of my friends who may not already know yet. Thank you. <=(

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Monday, July 17, 2006

Update (and a poll! ^o^ )
Hey everybody. How’s it going?

It seems I’m having to play an ever increasing game of “catch-up” with these posts. ^_^;
Though it looks like a few people saw by previous post, and thus the posts before it, if you haven’t already done so, please check out yesterday’s post. Thank you. ^_^

Anyway, onto today’s post.

For starters, I seem to have lightly stabbed myself in the top-portion (tip) of my left Index Finger with a small kitchen-knife. X_x Oww….
Nothing serious, though. So don’t worry.
I was opening the notoriously frustrating plastic-wrap on a cheese-stick (I haven’t eaten one since I was 7…..but my mom’s been buying them for my little sister who loves them, and I got curious and had to have one).
Dumb me was using a small kitchen-knife to poke through the binding of the wrapper and all the sudden….*POKE!*.
It’s a tiny little cut, but it’s comparatively deep (it’s a puncture/stab wound, after all). Plus, the tips of your fingers are very sensitive as you know. *o*
I’ve got a little band-aid on it now though, so no worries. ^_^

I did a major amount of drawing on Saturday.
What was I drawing? Well, you’ll have to wait and find out. ~_^

In other news, by brother is currently attending an acting class he received admittance to for his birthday this year. Meaning, he’s out of the house all of this week the whole time I’m baby-sitting. ^_^ It’s just me and my sister, which I love (my sister can be a pain sometimes, but Hell, she’s 8). Ahh…no obnoxious little jerk bugging me for a whole week….
For those wondering, the acting class is given by the local Play-House/Performing Arts Center for a play they’ll be doing in a week or 2 called “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”. Unfortunately, I have to go see it when he performs. :p *not looking forward to seeing “Peanuts” in live-performance version*
Meh, whatever, it’s the least I can do after he’s been out of the house for 2 weeks.
Oh, and my brother has been cast as Linus for those wondering. He looks nothing like Linus! XP

In one last bit of news, Josh was unable to go with me on that manga-run Saturday, or Sunday, or today. XE
He also says he won’t be able to do anything ‘till the end of this week!
He says he’s been lightly grounded and gave me the whole story last night over the phone, but I won’t go into details.
Meh, let’s just hope we can do something together this week. =/

Allrightie, now that I’m through updating you on my current status, I have a little something special for you. ^_^
Today I have a nice little Poll I’d just love to have you take. Any chance you’ll try it out? ^o^

This was originally one segment (the “Personal Questions” section) out of 3 from a larger poll I had typed up, but since this is long enough in itself I’ll save the other 2 segments (“Philosophy” and “Creative Thinking”) for some other time.

Here are the guidelines: These questions, as mentioned above, are “Personal Questions”. That means they’re designed to help me learn more about you as a person. ^_^
Some of these questions may be a bit too personal & emotional (you’ll know them when you get to them) and may make you feel uncomfortable about answering them. If you don’t want to talk about a certain issue, please feel free to skip it.
Those of you with sharp memory may remember a few of these questions from polls I’ve done several months or so ago. This is because often things for a person will change as time progresses, and you answer to the question now might be different from what it was 6 months or a year ago. ^_^

Please number you answers. If you want to, you can copy & paste this whole thing into MS Word and type you answers below each question (this often makes it easier when typing out your answers). This makes it a little easier for me to read, but it’s not necessary for you to include each question with each answer. Numbering them is just fine if you like.
DO NOT read anybody else’s responses to these questions until you’ve submitted your own (some questions that won’t matter on, but just to be safe don’t do it ^_^ ).
Be as elaborate or straight-forward as you want with each answer. Type however much you feel like typing.

Allright. You ready? Here we go. ^_^

1. What are you wearing at the moment?

2. What’s on your desk/computer-area at the moment?

3. When’s your birthday?

4. What’s your favorite color?

5. What color is your hair?

6. What length is your hair?

7. What color are your eyes?

8. What’s your favorite type of ice-cream?

9. You’re pulling into the McDonald’s drive-thru. What do you order?

10. How do you take your steak?

11. What’s your preferred pizza-topping(s)?

12. What’s your favorite candy-bar?

13. Do you like roller-coasters?

14. When’s the last time you cried in private?

15. When’s the last time you cried in public?

16. When’s the last time you felt lonely?

17. Have you ever had an immediate family member, very close relative or good friend die?

18. When’s the last time you felt true, cold, absolute terror?

19. When’s the last time you had your roots shaken?

20. Have you ever feared for your life?

21. What was the last movie you saw? How did you like it?

22. Name an author you like. (A non-anime/manga author. :p )

23. What’s your opinion on suicide?

24. Name 5 things you’re afraid of.

25. Name something you were afraid of as a child.

26. Do you enjoy daytime or nighttime more? Explain what you enjoy about each.

27. What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen? Any particular reason it was so scary?

28. Who are your favorite actors and actresses?

29. Who are your favorite directors?

30. What’s your favorite style of art?

31. Oh, and one more: How did you vote in the poll that’s currently at the top of my page regarding “what you’d like to see me draw next”? (This is an important one! ~_^ )


Allrightie everyone, thank you very much for taking the time to fill out that post. b~_^
I’ll see if I can’t fill out this poll myself and display my answers on my next post. Would you be interested in reading them?

Here’s today’s Art Feature.
“Chibi Duo” by Chicharon:


Consider this a minor gift in commemoration of Erin-chan’s recent birthday (see yesterday’s post). b^_^

OK everybody, I’m off to comment on your sites! See you tomorrow!

Oh, and by the way, my birthday’s coming up soon! July 25th, baby! ^o^

Comments (4) | Permalink

Friday, July 14, 2006

Boy, I have not had luck with how I’ve timed my posts….
It appears no one, save the lovely Vakala86, saw my previous post (upon return home), nor the one before it (the one I made while in Williamsburg). ^_^;

Allrightie, guess that means I have to reiterate what I said on the previous 2:
The previous 2 posts contain the recap of my vacation in Williamsburg.
Though I appreciate anyone reading through it, since it’s rather long you may feel free to save it for when you’re really bored or something.
^_^ So, unless you’re somehow really interested in reading about what happened during my vacation, you can just quickly read over those last 2 posts at whatever point you have the time and interest.

Okey-dokey, onto today’s post. ^o^

Hopefully I’ll be going on at least a manga-run tomorrow with Josh. He’s busy tomorrow night, so that prevents us from doing a sleep-over, but I think we’ll be doing that next week. ^_^ We’ve got a lot of movies to watch together (all of which he’s already seen, but wants to watch with me): Sin City, Shaun of the Dead (awesome!!!! *o* ), Fists of Furry, Kill Bill Vol. 2, all of which I already know I’ll like. =^^=

Moving on, I thought I’d give a special gift to you guys for being so patient with my long posts, and my zombie/karate movie fanboy-ishness.
So, I decided of something cute (not that I normally dislike cute stuff of anything =^^= ), and since most of you are Fruits Basket fans, I found the perfect piece of art to share.
Here’s a little something for all you Fruits Basket-cases; “Fruits Basket Card Group 1” by snow:


Though not appropriate for the month of July (*swelter*), I always love winter pics. Plus, despite the fan I’m not a Fruits Basket fan, I still find this adorable. =^^=
Winter coats add a sort of thickness to a character, and combining that with chibi-proportions only heightens that effect.

Speaking of Fruits Basket, Josh and I have a running joke about Fruits Basket being made into a high-budget Spanish action-movie. “Basketo de Frutas”. XD
We have these mental images of Yuki and Kyo jumping from train-cars and yelling at each other in Spanish. X3 Cracks us up every time.

Speaking of Josh, I need to upload the birthday picture I drew for him a few months ago. Like I said, I already showed it to him, and he was quite impressed. :3 Heh heh, I’m not surprised. X3 My first time drawing something like that…..
Regarding that pic, I’ve run into a bit of a snag in uploading it here. You see, the original is 1183 x 908, far too big for here. And down-sizing it makes it loose a lot of its quality. It’s probably even too big for Photobucket to carry without compressing it (did they recently tighten the size it can be before they compress it or something? A lot of the photos/pics I upload there to show you guys get ruthlessly compressed).

So, any ideas on what I should do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

And speaking of birthdays (and subsequent art-related gifts), Miyoko-chan’s birthday is today.
She didn’t warn me ahead of time!!!! ToT I wanted to draw something nice for her!!!
Man, I should have sawn this coming. Now I don’t have a nice birthday-picture ready for Erin-chan. T_T

Well, maybe she won’t mind a late piece of birthday-art. Hmmmmm, I’ll ask her when I visit her site today.
I already have a *secret* piece of art I did for Erin-chan almost ready to submit, but I don’t want to give that to her for her birthday (you’ll see why when you see the pic XD ). So, I gotta’ do something original for her! But what? :p Hmmm, maybe she’ll have a suggestion as to what she’d like to have me draw for her. I’ll be sure to ask her that too when I visit her. ~_’

Oh, and speaking of The Erin-chan, her dad’s now home from the hospital! ^o^
A big thank-you to everyone who prayed for him while he was in there. Thankfully, he’s now back with Erin and the rest of their family.
Congratulations on a full recovery! b^_^

Well everybody, I’m off to visit and comment on your sites.
I’ve been feelin’ really down recently (more on that some other time), but hopefully my manga-run with Josh tomorrow will clear that up.

OK everybody, I’ll see you tomorrow!

Here’s today’s Art-Feature.
“Authoritarianism” by varjag:


A powerful real-world political portrait. If only journalists could capture such artistic photographs when reporting on an issue.

Anyway, I find this piece extremely impressive. Such portrait-esque poses and positioning is hard to capture when taking a real-life on the spot photo.
Despite being an on the spot photo while on location, this piece still seems to carry serious political and societal significance in what it features, reminding us to always, always, be thankful for our freedoms….

Comments (3) | Permalink

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

   Back from Vacation! (continuation of recap!)
Hey everybody. How’s it going?

I was hoping more people would see my last post, mostly because it was long and you would have had a few days to slowly meander through it at your own pace.

Oh well, anyway, this post will be a continuation of my recap of my vacation in Williamsburg from where I left off on Friday.
Thusly, if you want to read this post, first check out the post before this.

If you’ve already checked it out, that post is just like this one: you can read through the recap at your leisure, saving it for when you’re bored or mildly interested.
If you wanna’ save reading the recap for later, skip down to the bottom (like last time, this one’s marked where the recap ends).

Friday Night (after my previous post):
After I finished typing & posting, my parents got home to the hotel room. We ate some dinner, than my parents drove us through a self-guided car-tour of the Williamsburg battlefields that night. The woods we got to drive through were fairly pretty (there were some cool-looking swamps as well), but aside from that it was just empty fields. 9_9
On an interesting note, that little nighttime-drive helped show how big a pussy my little brother is. He was nearly hyper-ventilating when we were driving through the woods, due merely to the fact that he “didn’t want us to get lost”. :P Even my parents thought he was pathetic. Heh, not only is he an obnoxious brat, but he’s not even tough enough to back it up.

Saturday:
For our last day in Williamsburg, we started the day by going to Colonial Jamestown. It was an extremely boring walk around a muggy, grassy outdoor area, with a scrawny tour-guide/park ranger talking her head off about this or that monument. =P Booooooooring.
For whatever reason, she had a massive dog (I have no idea what breed) named “King” on a leash with her. Normally I like dogs, but I had to sit and watch this one drool the entire time we listened to the guide. XP Yucky.

After the guard stopped talking, we wandered around following my mom and looking at the various monuments and archaeological excavations. That may sound interesting, but it wasn’t. >_< The “monuments” and “exhibits” were crumbling knee-high portions of brick that were the only remaining parts of buildings that existed in the original settlement. Wooooo, corner-stacks of brick. How interesting. =P
And let me tell you people; I have never in my life seen so much goose-crap in one place! DX It was everywhere!!!!! Ugh, it was disgusting! One would think they’d have a yard-worker or something to clean that stuff up! >o<

Anyway, after touring a mildly interesting indoor exhibit featuring Colonial artifacts they dug-up and then aimlessly following my mom as she led us past more crumbling knee-high brick remains, we finally blew that popsicle-stand.
From there, we spent about 45 minutes stopping to check out some of the 2 or 3 various mini-stops they have on the way out, including a glass-blowing workshop, which I actually enjoyed (I love glass-blowing and metal-working).

After that whole thing, we went a few miles across town to visit the Colonial Jamestown Museum. There was a lavish (but mostly barren) building with some exhibits on Colonial Jamestown, but the main focus was on the outdoor area. The outdoor exhibits were split into 3 main areas: The Indian Settlement, The Docks and The Fort. Each was full of reenactment-people you could talk to.
The Docks were especially cool, mainly because you were able to step onboard a genuine Colonial Ship and explore its different decks and rooms.
I got to see a black-smith at the fort (who was a cool-cool guy, by the way). And since they had Colonial metal helmets set out for people to try on, my brother and mom took the liberty of getting a picture of my brother hanging out a window and imitating the “Taunting Frenchman” from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (My mom and brother are obsessed with that movie).

After that, we went back to the hotel room at about 4.
We ate lunch and then went back to the water park for one last time before we left on Sunday. My mom stayed back at the hotel to pack for the trip back to Charlotte.
It was mildly crowded, but I got A LOT of sliding in before the park shut-down at 8 that night (I discovered a whole area of the water park I had previously missed).
We then scored some burgers at Wendy’s and came went back to the hotel for our last night in Williamsburg.

Sunday:
For Sunday we got up, ate breakfast and got the car packed.
We then decided to go for one last visit to Bush Gardens before we left.
We intended to get there when it opened at 10 AM (avoiding the lines) and leave for the 6 hour trip home at noon. But believe it or not, we managed to get lost again, going to the one place we thought we knew how to get to. >_<
We didn’t arrive till 11:30 or so, and by that time the park was crowded. >o<

However, surprisingly enough, lines didn’t interfere with what we planned to do. While my parents rode coasters, my little sister went with me to ride “The Curse of DarKastle” (which is described in detail in my previous post) one last time. Let me tell ya’, I was able to appreciate the ride’s 3D effects even better the second time, mainly because I was able to ride in the front seat of the car that time. *brain-gasem from remembering the ghost of “Mad King Ludwig” coming at him with a meat-cleaver*
After that, I took my sister to ride “Corkscrew Hill” (also described in detail in my previous post) one more time before we left.
Afterwards, we met up with my mom and went to see the “Jack Hanna Animal Exhibit” they had going. We caught a live show they were doing featuring trained animals (hoop-jumping dogs, a parrot that could do math, etc.), and then got to see some of the zoo-style exhibits they had (they had a bunch of parrots, as well as an awesome den of mountain wolves).

After that we finally left at quarter past 2 (over 2 hours later than we had intended @_@ ).
It was a long drive home, but my Gameboy Advanced and Symphony X CD’s kept me entertained the whole way through.
We didn’t get home till 8:30 Sunday night, and we were busy unpacking and settling back in until about 10:00.

****Start reading here if you skipped the above recap****

Meh, but it’s very nice to be back.
It’s great sleeping in my own bed again, and needless to say, I missed my friends here on The Otaku. ^_^
I was gonna’ post yesterday (Monday), but I kept putting it off and time just got away from me.

And on that note, how have my friends here on The Otaku been?
What did I miss while I was gone? I want you to update me on anything that happened here in my absence!
How was your July 4th? What did you do to celebrate? You can read about mine on the previous post! ~_^d

Anyway, this post has gone on long enough, and I’m not exactly in the most chipper of moods right now, so I’ll go ahead and get to the Art Feature.
“Soaring” by jamilla:


“Spirited Away”? Maybe. I’m not completely sure.
But weather it be original or fan-art, this is still an awesome painting of an oriental dragon.
The smooth strokes and silky colors & textures give this piece a lovely, soft feel, which is very hard to achieve with the subject-matter of a dragon.
The clouds for the sky background were done with spectacular expertise, and the lighting used here is of that same impressive quality.

Heh, and wouldn’t you know it, “In the Dragon’s Den” by Symphony X just started playing on my music list on Media-player. ^_^
Though the feel of the song is very different from the feel of this piece (“In the Dragon’s Den” is one of their harder and faster songs), it’s still an interesting coincidence.

OK everybody, I’ll see you tomorrow! Glad to be back on The Otaku! ^o^
(*sings along with Symphony X* “Silence fills the shrine, giving us the sign….
Forever lost, forever in the Dragon’s Den….”)
Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, July 7, 2006

Update Post from Williamsburg, VA! ^o^
Hey everybody. Guess who. ;)
Yep, it’s AD898 here to give you a process update on my vacation! ^o^
I’m currently barrowing my Daddy-O’s laptop to visit my fellow Otakus and update you while here in Williamsburg.

First off, I’d like to ask everyone how they’ve been.
Did I miss anything big?

Anyway, here’s the play-by-play of my week so far since I left on Sunday.
(This may take a while, so unless your either really interested in how my vacation’s going or just really bored, you may wanna’ save this for later and just skip past my day-by-day explanations.
Though I really, really appreciate anyone who has the kindness & interest to read through this whole thing, I don’t mind if you at least save it for a moment when you have the time to read it.)

Sunday:
We left at about 9 or so in the morning. We didn’t arrive here in Williamsburg Virginia until about 5 or 6, but the car-ride over here took a lot shorter than I expected, which was quite nice. =) I didn’t even have to whip-out my Gameboy Advance to keep me occupied. I just slept and listened to Symphony X on my CD-player (I’m stuck with only the “Twilight In Olympus” and “The Odyssey” albums though. =( I didn’t have any writeables to put the others on. But that’s OK, because I love those albums! *is listening to “The Odyssey” as I’m typing this* ^_^ ).
Anyway, after we got settled in we spent the rest of the evening at Busch Gardens. I had to baby-sit my sister as my parents rode the coasters. I didn’t mind that though, because I hate roller-coasters. =( Does that make me a wuss? The experience if riding roller-coasters are the things I have nightmares about (the flying, the speed, the height, etc.), so thus they kind of scare the sh** out of me. =/ Anybody else here in the same boat as me?

Anyway, Busch Gardens is doing a fireworks special each night leading up to July 4th. We got to see the fireworks, and I can safely say it was the most spectacular fireworks show I’ve ever seen. =D Fireworks really are more impressive up close. I wish you guys could have seen it. It was really pretty.

Monday:
Monday we woke up and went to our hotel’s complimentary breakfast. ^_^ They had lovely Danishes, as well as these neat little self-serve waffle irons so guests could make their own waffles.
We then spent the day at Busch Gardens. I hadn’t slept well the night before, mostly due to the fact my sister had to bunk in the bed me & my mom were sharing (we only have 2 beds in a room of 5 people), meaning her feet woke me up about 8 times. @_@
I mostly ended up watching over my sister while my parents rode coasters, but after a while we did things more as a family, such as the White Water Rapids ride and the train that circumvents the park.
We also rode an awesome ride called “Escape from Pompeii”, which is a rafting ride that tours you through about a minute of the remains of Pompeii as it’s being destroyed by a volcanic eruption. They did awesome effects with the fire (it was EVERYWHERE!), including a part where it erupted from the water and crawled across the ceiling. O.O It was so cool! *pyromaniac*
We then went back to the hotel to relax, and went back to the park later that night to see the fireworks and ride some more rides.

Tuesday (July 4th):
Since the park was anticipated to be most crowded on the 4th, we decided to spend that day at Yorktown. Though not my favorite part, it was still pretty interesting, mainly because my dad hung back with me on the tour and talked with me. =) My dad’s a very funny man.
Plus, I had slept well the previous night, mostly due to the fact my little sister is now sleeping on the floor in a comfy sleeping-bag. ^_^
It was pretty hot that day, but we didn’t stay very long, so my mom did us the favor of not making us stay there ‘till it got boring and stale.

Anyway, after that we went back to the hotel and relaxed again, and returned to Busch Gardens later that night to see the 4th of July finale of the fireworks.
We rode an awesome ride called “Corkscrew Hill” before the fireworks began. “Corkscrew Hill” is a part of the Ireland section of the park, and is a 3D Motion-simulator ride. For those who don’t know, my favorite kind of ride is the 3D, Special-effects simulation kind of ride, so I found it pretty enjoyable. =)
The basic story behind the ride is a Celtic themed adventure where your host shrinks the theater and everyone in it to the size of Coffee-grounds box. It starts with 2 Irish kids picking it up and trying to pawn-off the “box of little people” at the local pub. This eventually leads to you experiencing riding a Dark Pegasus, being flown and dropped by an unfriendly Griffin, and various other awesome things for the motion of the theater to simulate.
For those wondering, it was animated, and had lots of enjoyable humor to it. The 3D effects were also very impressive (at one point a witch who’s apparently planning to eat everyone in the theater “sticks” a fork into it trying to scrape us out. It was extremely impressive!), and was altogether very enjoyable!

We also went to a movie they were showing called “Pirates 4D”. It was also 3D, but lacked the motion-simulation, meaning it was basically a standard movie-theater. We went because my brother wanted to see it, mostly because it starred Eric Idol.

Anyway, we noticed that after the fireworks most people empty out of the park, meaning short wait-time for rides. =)
Thusly, my dad, mom, little sister and I were able to get in line early for a new ride here called “The Curse of DarKastle”.
Like “Corkscrew Hill”, DarKastle was another 3D ride, but this one wasn’t as much a motion-simulator since you actually rode in an individual car that traveled along a track.
Anyway, the premise of the ride was basically a haunted-house (there’s supposed to be a story behind it, but I didn’t get to hear it. =/ ). I was kind of nervous going in, because normally I hate haunted-houses due to the fact that they normally rely on cheap scares or nauseating gore. However, I really enjoyed DarKastle. The spooky vibe was similar to the kind of stuff I draw, without being too scary or gross. The stone-wolves at the entrance of the castle jump on the hood of your car, ghost-knights hurl spears and daggers at you, and the ghost-dude that’s the main bad guy presents his severed head on a platter (like a Hawaiian pig) when you enter the kitchen, cracking some joke about “getting ahead” or “being a head” or something like that. All these segments had very high-quality 3D animation, which makes tech-head Logan very happy. =D
At the finale of the ride, the bad-guy ghost turns into a wolf-thing and chases you out of his collapsing castle. This portion includes tumbling through the air in a free-fall from the highest tower. I mention this part because unlike most 3D rides that have a simulated “free-fall”, this one actually made me loose my sense of direction. I forgot I was on a ride sitting upright with a screen that was trying to make it look like we were falling, and actually felt we were really tumbling through the air. Such high-quality 3D animation leaves me quite impressed.

Anyway, after that I baby-sat my little sister as my parents rode an inverted-coaster called “Alpengeist” 3 or 4 times. We stayed until the park closed.

Wednesday:
Just as I had been waiting for, we finally went to the water park on Wednesday. “Water Country USA”. =)
Though it required a lot of waiting in line, I spent the whole morning riding slide after slide after slide while my parents looked after my little sister (I may be deathly afraid of coasters and haunted-houses, but Logan-kun fears no waterslide). I can tell you, Water Country USA has a lot of quality waterslides. ^_^

Anyway, we rode all morning and then went back to chill at the hotel.
After a while, my dad, sister and brother all wanted to go back to the water park a little more. Since they were calling for thunderstorms that afternoon, my mom and I wanted to stay home, so my dad, sister and brother went alone. Mom and I stayed here and enjoyed the quiet. ^_^
Later that day the storms hit as was predicted, but these were some severe storms. Rather than close the park, they had to evacuate it. O_o According to my dad and siblings there were people running like mad to their cars, driving over the rock parking-lot medians, nearly running over people as lighting struck all around the park. Glad they made it out OK. O.O I’m also glad I decided to stay here.

That night I started reading the first of my summer-reading books; “The Things They Carried” (which I mentioned a few posts ago).
Surprisingly enough, I’m liking it! O_o;
I think I have an interest in books about war (as I said before, TTTC is about Vietnam). I’ll have to post a few quotes from the book for you guys once I’m back home on Sunday.

Thursday (yesterday):
Against what I thought was a good idea, we went to the water park again while it was all cloudy, drizzly and cold. -.- I was a bit bummed at first, but riding some great slides made me all better.
Plus, due to the weather that day, there was almost nobody at the park, meaning almost no waiting in line! ^o^ I didn’t wait more than 5 minutes for anything!
One big slide they have called “The Aquazoid” usually requires a 45 minute wait or longer. I rode it 7 or 8 times in a row without having to wait once. =^_^= How awesome is that?

We got back from the water park around 5 or so. We ordered Chinese, and I got a burger from Wendy’s (I hate Chinese food XP ).
Heh, while picking up the food at the restaurant, my dad and I saw an Asian businessman in suit and tie taking a nap on the waiting-couch. He had his head tilted back and his mouth open. XD he looked really silly. Poor guy must’ve been traveling and gotten really tired.

Friday (today):
Well, we got up, went to our hotel’s breakfast, and then went to Colonial Williamsburg. XP That was pretty boring I must say, and my father agrees.
*sigh*, my mom loves history, especially Colonial stuff, but the rest of us were bored stiff. My sister did nothing but complain the whole time. :p

We got back from there around 2 or 3 and had lunch. Around 4 my mom decided she wanted to go back, so she decided she, dad and my little brother would go back and I’d stay here at the hotel and baby-sit my little sister (they took my brother with them, because there’s no way they’d leave me here having to baby-sit both of the little demons O_o ).

So, I’m using the quiet to use my dad’s laptop again and finish typing this post, so here I am. ^_^
*whew*, a big thank-you to all those who took the time to read that whole thing.

****Start reading here if you skipped the above part****

Anyway, here are some summarizations of my trip so far that you all should know about:
-We’re packed into a single room, 2 to a bed (me with my mom, my brother with my dad, and my sister now on the floor), and the lack of privacy and quiet is starting to wear on everyone’s nerves (my parents are perfectly fine with me, but my brother and sister are another story. *rolls eyes*).

-My little brother, as usual, is doing everything to be as big an ass as he can. He’s just so friggen’ obnoxious!
*sigh*, but don’t worry, he’ll get his just desserts eventually, or just stop being obnoxious, so it’s a win-win situation. ^o^

-All through Sunday, Monday and July the 4th, The Sci-Fi Channel ran a marathon of “The Twilight Zone”; one of me and my dad’s favorite shows! ^_^ So in the earlier part of this week we got to watch a lot of The Twilight Zone when we were back at the hotel.
Is anybody else here a fan of The Twilight Zone?

-Despite being here nearly a week, we’re constantly getting lost here in Williamsburg. @_@ We’ve spent about one half of our total driving time just finding our way to our destination or finding our way back to the hotel.
Naturally, cracking jokes about us being in a Twilight Zone plot was common between me and my dad, ranging from gnomes constantly changing the road-signs every time we pass to being in the village of the Nowhere-people. XD

-Our hotel room seems to have a bug problem. DX Aside from the occasional wasp or twitch-bug, we seem to have a constant stream of ants coming from the main sink and bathroom.
But the owners sprayed for em’ while we were out the other day, and for the most part they seem to have stopped.

Allrigtie everybody, I really appreciate reading through that whole thing!
I’m gonna’ post this and try to visit some sites on this clunky old laptop.

Expect me back on Sunday night. I’ve only got one full day left up here at Williamsburg. I’ll be eager to see you guys. ^_^

On the positive side of things, Josh and I are going to have a slew of sleep-overs and manga-runs once I get back (we haven’t been able to do anything together for the first 4 weeks of summer! ToT ).
Plus, my buddy Jess is going to loan me the complete DVD box-set for a show I really like once I get back. ^o^
What show is that you ask? Well it’s one I haven’t told you guys I like yet. I think I’ll save telling you exactly which show it is until I’m back home. ^_^

Well, maybe just a hint…..

Um….. shopping-carts.
Yep, that’s right: Shopping-carts. The kind they have at your local grocery-store.

Let’s see if anyone can figure this on out by Sunday! ^_^

OK everybody, I’ll see you Sunday night! Pray for my safe return!

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Saturday, July 1, 2006

   Vacation Time! (and the Convention!)
Hey everybody. How’s it going?

Well, I leave for Williamsburg tomorrow. Ah, like I said, I’m not too excited about going (I’ll definitely enjoy Bush Gardens, but Colonial Williamsburg is going to suck major ass).
I more than likely won’t be able to visit The Otaku until I get back next Sunday, so hold the fort down for me while I’m gone, neh? I’ll miss you guys while I’m up there. Please pray for my safety, and possibly some surprise interest in what Colonial Williamsburg has to offer if you can spare a prayer.

In other news, Josh and I spent the day at the Comics Convention yesterday just as we planned. ^_^
Sadly, it wasn’t nearly as impressive as it was last year. There was nobody in costume (unlike last year where I met several cat-girls, Poison Ivy, Auron, Sasuke, The Ghostbusters, Cid, Predator, Boba Fhet, Sepiroth, Commander Wharf, Spiderman, several Storm-Troopers, Mew Ichigo and Kakashi), so it lacked one of the finest and most interesting elements.
Accordingly, Josh and I didn’t take any pictures (save for 3 or 4), merely because there was nothing interesting for us to show you. -_-;
There was also hardly any manga on sale. ToT I was planning on buying the next couple volumes of Chrono Crusade and Love Hina!

Oh well, there was some cool stuff.
I ended up being able to buy the first comic-book for “The Walking Dead” (which I mentioned a while back as an AWESOME zombie story) as well as Immortal Rain vol. 3 (I love that volume, and there’s plenty of great reference art in it).

But you know what the best part was?
Later in the convention, I was able to get my copy of “The Walking Dead” signed by its co-author: Tony Moore.
*star-struck* So awesome!!!! I can’t believe I got my copy signed by Tony Moore; a guy who’s so awesome at drawing zombies!!!! *zombie-fanboy squeal*
Ahem, anyway, Tony Moore is an awesome artist, so I highly suggest checking out “The Walking Dead” next time you visit your local bookstore. *o* It’s really, really good.

Josh bought Naruto vol. 10, as well as a build-able figurine of Unit 01 from Evangelion. He was swooning over it the entire time, the loveable EVA-obsessed oaf. :p

Since things weren’t exactly hopping around lunchtime, we took our sweet-ass pimp time having a lovely lunch at a pizza-place Josh was familiar with that was right across the street. The pizza there was GOOD. And the give you massive slices, too!
We ate outside and chit-chatted about everything from deep politics to anime. It was especially nice since the weather was so beautiful. <3

I’ll be posting one of the few pictures we did take when I get back next week and Josh has a chance to send it to me (we took it on his camera).

Let’s see, what else?
Hmmmmmmmm…. I helped catch another art-thief yesterday.
Yep, that makes 2 this week.
What’s this site coming to? *shakes head*

I just wanted to take a quick moment to share this lovely piece of artwork.
It’s not what you’d call professional quality, but considering the artist’s age it’s extremely well executed:


Isn’t that cute!? XD
Anyway, I love the faces in this piece, especially Sakura’s eyes and Sasuke’s facial-expression.
I also love that the author chose to use something other than their “normal” outfits. Exactly where in the series do the characters start wearing this?

In other news, I received the loveliest piece of hate-mail the other day.
Despite the fact it was less than on paragraph (if you can call it that), it took me a while to read due to the fact that the sender’s crappy typing was nearly illegible. I could barely even make out what she was bitching about.
Don’t worry, I didn’t respond. My intellectual (and in my humble opinion, bullet-proof =D ) response would be totally wasted on her. If she can’t even type legibly than she couldn’t be smart enough to even understand my vocabulary or my argument.

Rather than write a response to such ignorance, I was planning to instead post he message here for everyone to read and humiliate her in front of you all.
But on second thought, I’ll save that little option for the next time this happens.
Don’t you just love dealing with retarded anime psycho-bitches?

OK everybody, I’m off to visit your sites.

By the way, could you please be praying for ElvesAteMyRamen?
She had an extremely crappy day earlier this week, and that was on top of a lot of other crap she’s currently dealing with.
Please pray for her, and give her some *snuggle*’s and *chu*’s next time you visit her.
Nobody likes it when The Lindsey-chan is sad. =(

Please also continue to pray for the ever-snuggleable Erin-chan and her family as her dad recovers in the hospital.
Apparently, he has something called “Cellulitis” in his leg, and by Erin’s description, it’s not a fun or pretty thing to have.
It also doesn’t help that Erin’s employers aren’t exactly going easy on her at the moment.
Please pray for Erin-chan, her family and her dad’s health, and likewise also give her extra *snuggle*’s and *chu*’s when you visit her.

Here’s today’s Art Feature.
Oh, and in case you missed it, check out the Art Feature currently at the bottom of my page. I don’t think many people saw it, and it was one of my favorites. ^_^

“BOOOOM” by NataliaTaffarel:


A simple and extremely well-executed example of photo-manipulation.
Don’t dig too deeply into this piece looking for themes about suicide or anger; it’s merely a clever visual joke illustrating the meaning of a common gesture.

The model’s position, look and expression all perfectly fit together to give this piece an edge.
The choice of background color was well-done as to be in contrast with the subject’s skin-tone and add focus to the piece.
The artist/manipulator also did an excellent job of creating a sense of motion and speed with this piece, not only in the bullet itself but also with the slight movement of the subject involved in actually making the gesture.
The exiting of the bullet was also well done, looking synthetic in nature rather than trailing blood & brains. This adds to the sense of matter of this piece, as well as the mild humor.

Whew, long post.
Sorry about that. ^_^; But I’m not gonna’ be here for a week, so I had to get everything out that I needed to.
So anyway, now I’m off to visit your sites!

See you next week! ^o^

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

   Hey everybody. How’s it going?

I just got done talking to Josh. We’re going to the anime-convention this Friday. =)
We’re going at 11 AM right when it first opens, because as you remember they sell tons of manga and stuff for super cheap at the convention, so we wanna’ be able to browse and buy what we want before it gets all picked-over by the other guests.
Woo-hoo! Cheap manga for me! ^o^

I went to work-out Tuesday, and I’ll be doing so again today.
Just as I promised, now that school’s not in the way I have time to go and work-out and get back on my schedule. Lord knows I need to build a little muscle. *looks and sighs at wiry, tooth-pick body*

My parents spent pretty much the whole day driving my sister up to her Sunday School Camp (She’ll be there ‘till Saturday) and then driving back down again. 2 hours each way plus traffic, stops and drop-off, it ended up being almost a 9 hour drive for them. @_@ Thank goodness I didn’t have to come.
That left me and my brother here alone from 1 ‘till 8 today (Wednesday, I mean), and it was surprisingly painless. They must have medicated him or something, because he wasn’t doing his normal obnoxious stuff to me. I played on his Gamecube (“The Four Swords Adventure” Zelda game, which is by the way a stellar game ~_^ ) while he watched movies. Then while I kept playin’ on the cube I let him on my computer for a good long while as appreciation for being peaceful with me all day.
I sure as Hell hope his behavior’s this mature and passive on our week-long vacation next week. @_@

I’m not all that excited about it, to be honest. -_-;
Miyoko-chan’s been to both the places I’ll be going, and she confirmed just as I suspected & feared: Colonial Williamsburg is 9 hours of boring Hell. -_-;
I hate Colonial stuff anyway, so that’s gonna’ suck pretty bad, especially with how hot it’ll be. Keep me in your prayers as I go on my vacation.

Well, as you remember in my last post I finished the EVA series the other night.
As for last night I watched the movie (“The End of Evangelion”), which is known as the “real” end of the series as opposed to the last 2 episodes in the series.

Too be honest…..I’m still really confused. =/ Thank goodness Josh was there beforehand a few weeks ago explaining the concept of the premise and whatnot, ‘cause otherwise I would have been completely clueless rather than just confused.
Meh, more on that to come.

Here’s today’s Art-Feature.
“Twisted Reality” by garrit:



Though I think the title’s a bit strong for the surreality of the subject-matter, it’s still relatively fitting. Plus, you’ve gotta’ love the colors and the use of lighting.

OK everybody, I’m off to visit your sites.
Oh, and make sure to check out yesterday’s post if you haven’t already.
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