Saturday, January 7, 2006

   Ugh. X_x
I was up 'till 11:30 last night doing my 20 questions on the Civics and Economics Study-guide I told you about yesterday.
Those questions are HARD as CRAP!!! And I didn't even finish all of them! -_-'
On top of that, I e-mailed my work last night to my work-partners, and it didn't go through! Grrrr, I hate exams!!!!!

Allrightie, now that I got that out of my system, I can move on.
I'd like to apologize to everyone for yesterday's post. I know that it's true that every once in a while you need to vent how you feel, but I honestly think I do it too often. Most of you visiting almost never use your posts to vent, despite the fact that I have it waaaaaaaaay easier then you do. I'll try to count my blessings and quit whining.
It was just the fact that the stress from my upcoming exams was...well, is really starting to get to me. It'll probably take me all weekend to get that one Civ. & Econ. study-guide finished, and that's just one exam preparation. I still gotta' study for every other class (see yesterday's exam schedule)!

Anywho, now I'll stop ranting. (Sorry my apology for ranting turned into another rant. ^_^')
I'd also really like to thank you all for your wonderful comments on my 2 latest pieces of artwork. Thank you so much following my vague example of what kind of comments help me improve, because by doing so I learned so much more then I do on the critiques I'm used to.
In particular, I'd really like to thank ElvesAteMyRamen and Living Doll for their comments. Elves made me realize I was forgetting something on my zombie-clothing: Wrinkles.
>< Ahhh!!! How could I be so absent-minded!? *smacks fore-head* As soon as EAMR suggested doing more wrinkles, I realized that I hadn't done any wrinkles on most of my zombies!
I seriously cannot believe I forgot something so obvious. Believe it or not, I started on a new zombie pic right before I received any comments on those two pieces, and ya' know what I said to myself while I was doing it? "I think I'll add some wrinkles to this one".
Duh, Logan. You shoulda' added wrinkles to all of them!
Anyway, thanks for the comments on how to improve my hands as well. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have ever noticed that it was the wrists that needed work.

I do have some comments in response to your comments on those pieces, but since this post is already running long, I'll save those for next time, OK? ^_^

So, do you guys like my new Quote of the Week? It's been a while since I've done one.
So, is anybody else here a fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force? That show has always amazed me with how if you sit and watch it, it makes total sense, but afterwards if you think back to it and actually reconsider the events, it's the weirdest and craziest thing you've ever seen!
And I've always loved the way it sort of parodies things that happen in Sci-Fi and Horror movies and such. The episode I took the quote from is one of my favorites, and is about how after repeated cloning, the Aqua Teens suddenly have an evil TV (duh-duh-DUH!!!). The TV starts showing things like the Aqua Teens killing each other in an attempt to turn them against one another, demented kid-show programs, and all sorts of other evil twisted things.
I even took a picture to illustrate a particularly funny moment from the episode. Check it out.

Meatwad: "Something's wrong with that TV!"

Frylock: "There's nothing wrong with the TV."

TV: *starts doing what's shown in the below photo*


Frylock: "OK, something's wrong with the TV..."

XD I found that part hilarious!

I'll leave you today with a fantastic piece of artwork by an artist who goes by "Arehandora".

I was positively floored that this is fan-art and not professional art. As you may have guessed, the title is "Kagome In Wonderland".
The technical aspects of this piece are stunning. The lines are unbelievably clean, the proportions are spot-on, and the style of the Inuyasha anime is mimicked perfectly.
But I find the artistic aspects of this piece even more impressive. The idea of translating the Inuyasha characters into Alice In Wonderland roles is priceless. The choice, flow, color and accuracy of the clothing and costumes is flawless yet inventive (if I were to have drawn this, I would have had no idea where to begin on drawing the clothing). Each character's expression is well done and lively, particularly that of Sango. XD Plus, all the little details on the objects and characters themselves really makes the pic. The appearance of Inuyasha's dog-ears and his bunny-ears, the price-tag on Miroku's top-hat and the crack in the tea cup, the choice of a playing-card background, all of it is the mark of a true artist in my opinion.
On an interesting note, it took me a few glances at this piece to realize just what Shippo was supposed to be. At first I thought the cards were an actual piece of scenery rather then a background, and that he was stuck half-way through a card for some reason.
But then all of the sudden it hits me, and I go, "Ooooh, he's the Chesire Cat!!!". You all remember how the Chesire Cat would fade in and out every time he appeared, right? (and did I spell “Chesire” right?) On that note, the artist did a brilliant job of choosing which character would parallel which character, taking into account stature, appearance, personality and interactions with others.
I think this is a masterpiece of anime art. What do you think?

Keep an eye out for EAMR today. She may submit that new Kingdom Hearts pic!
Ooh, I can't wait!
For those who don't know already, she chose Atlantica as the world for her setting. I'm extremely happy about this choice, not only because it's one of Disney's most beautifully designed environments for a movie, but also because I'm a well known fan of mermaid characters, particularly those of the anime world. (Yes, I know. Go ahead and laugh it up, I know it sounds girly but I stand by it!)
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Friday, January 6, 2006

   Meh, sorry. You know what's coming with that emoticon...
Hey everybody. How are you feeling today?

School today and yesterday were seriously difficult (sorry for not posting). I haven't been sleeping that well, and Lord knows things have been a tad stressful over here.

Art yesterday was especially rough. You see, back in October we were assigned to take some photos. Then, in early November, we started painting one of the photos we took, as selected by the teacher.
To put it bluntly, it turned out to be one of my most poorly done and unsuccessful art projects ever, plus it was absolute monotony doing it. We spent all of November and all of December creating this boring piece o' crap.
So, once we're back from Christmas break, what does the teacher decide is going to be the next project?
The same thing, but on black paper, instead of white.
Oooooooh, watch out, serious creative mind at work here. (sarcasm)
Needless to say, I can't stand this woman. @_@
Worst of all, my art note-book has suddenly disappeared. This makes absolutely no sense, because my art note-book is only out of my back-pack during art class. I never (and have no reason to) take my art note-book out of my back-pack other then in that class, so there's no reason for it to be anywhere else.
So, this probably means some careless art-classmate put it in their back-pack, thinking they hadn't already packed theirs up, meaning I'll probably never see it again.
Heh, and wouldn't ya' know it: it was when the teacher decided to do a "note-book check", where a homework grade is passed or failed on weather we have all of our supplies & papers or not.
*shrug* Not surprisingly, I'll now have another lovely zero on my art midterm, and probably many more to come.

Though it hadn't set in before this week, I'm really starting to worry about my upcoming exams. I'm honestly not sure if I'll be prepared for them or not.
We took a practice-run through a study-guide in Algebra II this week, and I did miserably (it was even multiple choice! For Algebra!!!). I honestly thought I had remembered the material we learned earlier this year.

Civics and Economics worries me to. We have a massive study-guide due on Tuesday, where each of its 82 questions is a research-requiring conundrum.
We do get to work with 2 or 3 other people (we each do about 20 or 30, then e-mail the answers to each other), but Mr. Dickerson himself even said, and I quote; "The exam is going to be a bitch, the study-guide is going to be a bitch, suck it up and deal with it".
-_-' I swear the guy's a great teacher, but he can really piss a student off, ya' know?

Here's my exam schedule for next week:

Tuesday - Civics & Economics, then Sci. Vis.

Wednesday - Art, then English

Thursday - Algebra, then Principles of Business

Friday - Spanish and Chemistry

*sigh*, I got Dickerson first up. *shudder*

Thirdly, there's been a long-standing point of tension between me and other people that solely occurs here on The Otaku. Though it's great not to have it be an in-person problem, this is usually the one place I can get away from day-to-day stress.
I'm not going to tell you what the issue is and especially not who's involved, but every time I start thinking about it it absolutely makes me pissed-off to the point of killing someone.

I'm really sorry to be so negative and angsty today, especially when I have something to thank you for.
I'll tell you what: Now that I've gotten all that junk off my chest, my next post will be about all the positive things going on. Maybe it'll be compensation for making you sit through this boring, piss-ant post.
I'm really sorry you had to sit through this. I'll make it up to you next time, OK?

Do you guys think you could pray for me a little through the next couple of days? It would really help me out if you could. I'd really appreciate it.

I'll try and comment on your sites tonight, but I gotta' get some studying/homework done...and I gotta' vacuum tonight. *rolls eyes* We have a lovely Rainbow Vacuum circa 1962. XD To end on a lighter note, does anybody else have to deal with using an obsolete vacuum?

I'll see ya'll tomorrow!
Comments (4) | Permalink

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

   Art 4 U!
Hey everybody. How are you doing today?

Well, today was my first day back at school since leaving for Christmas Break, and boy was it a killer! X_x
I was tired as all Hell & fire this morning, mostly due to the fact that I didn't get to sleep until 2 last night (damn pseudo-insomnia).
It also didn't help that I was extremely depressed this morning, due to reasons other then going back to school.
But....I'm feeling better now. ^_^
Though, exams start next week. Ugh, can't wait for that fun-fest to begin. Do you guys remember the two bouts of exam-studying I had last year? I'm not sure if it showed up in my posts, but I became a complete social recluse for 2 weeks in January and 4 weeks in late May/early June earlier this year.
XP Well, here's hoping...*makes a toast*.

Anywho, guess what I have. ^^
A pink, fuzzy bunny-rabbit? No.
Pink-Eye? Certainly not.
Insane amounts of hubris and self-worship? Probably...

But what I'm referring to is that I have two new pieces of art up! ^o^
I'd really appreciate it if you viewed them and told me what you thought, especially since one is probably the best zombie-pic I ever drew! (Yes, I know you're tired of zombie pics, but I'm sure you'll like these. ^_^)
For those of you with dial-up, I understand that every click counts, causing your computer to waste more time loading, so, I'll give you a hyperlink to save an extra click! Here ya' go!: My scanner killed his face-muscles!
Just click "Next Picture" from there for Zombie 10 (my best zombie ever! ^o^).

I really enjoy hearing what you all have to say about my art, especially suggestions on things to keep and things to change. Just make sure to be specific when you suggest something I can improve on. It helps me out more when you tell me "you need to draw the third segment/second joint on your fingers", rather then just "you need to work on your hands".
Don't get me wrong, I'll appreciate any critiques you're willing to give, it's just the more specific you are in what I need to work on, the more improvement you'll see.
And for the record, that comment wasn't directed at Lindsey-chan. Lindsey has been suggesting that I need to work on my hands, but I was just using the hand-subject as an example because hands are a common topic among artistic critiques.
And by the way Lindsey, I have been working on my hands! Have I improved any? Please tell me what you think, Elvzy-chan!

Oh, and speaking of EAMR, she's currently working on another new piece! This one's gonna' be a Kingdom Hearts pic!
Though she won't spill the beans just yet on her choice for the setting of this pic, she's put a hint on her post today.
Anybody wanna' guess at which world she's chosen?

I'll leave you today with a very charming piece of art by a girl who goes by "Leena Erufu".
A big fan of both Resident Evil 4 and Final Fantasy VIII, she drew this comic of Chibi-Leon giving off a good rant to Chibi-Squall about the staleness of the Final Fantasy series...with unexpected results.
(Reads Left to Right, like in American format)

Cute, neh? ^_^ I really enjoyed this, even if my main-man Leon got barbequed.
As much as I adore the Final Fantasy characters, I have to agree with Leon's point: FF does get a bit stereotypical with its main characters sometimes. I find Leon's persona to be far more of an archetype, as well as the circumstances of the Resident Evil games more enjoyable due to their realism.
But, that's just me. ~_^
This is a fantastic piece of work considering it was done in MS Paint. All the facial-expressions are incredibly well done. I especially enjoy Leon's expressions in frames 1, 3 and 4, where we get to see all the detail put into the expressiveness (and chibi-cuteness) of his eyes.

OK everybody, I'll see you tomorrow! Peace-Out!
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Friday, December 30, 2005

   It's not as long as it looks.
Hey everybody! How are you tonight?

Time Spent Typing: 9:06 PM to 10:08 PM
Currently Listening To: "Over The Hills And Far Away", by Nightwish.
Ah, this song always makes me sad. Well...it would if it weren’t for one line that ruined the continuity of the mood for the whole song. *rolls eyes*

Man, I just finished 50 straight algebra problems. It's on a study-guide for our upcoming exam, and I've got 50 more to do by Monday. XP Stupid me and my procrastinating.
Meh, I at least got all my other assignments done early over Christmas Break (with the exception to just having to revise an essay I've already typed, which is no biggie).
I'm especially glad I got my chemistry assignment for over Christmas Break done the night it was assigned. We had to find 20 chemical compounds in house-hold products and write them down. Sounds fun, neh?

I recently found 2 new bands that I really like, and I highly suggest you try them out if you can.
As you may have guessed by my post-intro today, one of them is Nightwish. Nightwish is a group that specializes in rock/heavy metal with a deep and well done symphonic twist. Sort of like a backwards Trans-Siberian Orchestra. As you probably can surmise by that description, they're not your typical rock/metal group, and subsequently they don't sound like it either. Even more evident then that, they have a female vocalist, something no other metal band I know of has.
That wasn't meant to be a discriminatory statement, of course! I've seen a lot of people assign a sexist meaning to me saying that. The only reason having a female vocalist makes the band different is because metal usually works best with low or raspy voices (with the exception of Axel Rose, of course ;D). Women tend to lean more towards a higher, clearer pitch then men, which requires a unique style of metal to make it work. (What's that kind of pitch called anyway? "Soprano"? "Tenor"? I'm horribly in-adept with musical terms. Can anybody help me out?)
Anyway, I highly suggest them if you enjoy both rock and classical elements of music, and especially the combination of the two. Specifically, I suggest looking for "Phantom Of The Opera", "Over The Hills And Far Away", and maybe "Wish I Had An Angel" for good songs to get started on.

Another group I found through a classmate was a band called Dragonforce.
Dragonforce is a speed-metal band, and they play FAST!!! I mean really, really fast!
However, though they're speed-metal they're not death-metal (I can't stand death-metal!). They're music sounds up-beat, happy and fun, rather then angry or depressing like most speed-metal bands.
I highly suggest "Black Fire", "Cry Of The Brave", "Fury Of The Storm" and "Soldiers Of The Wasteland" for songs to get started on.

Heh heh, did you know that Apocalyptica, Nightwish and Dragonforce are all from Finland? I gotta' hand it to em', those Finn's know their music, unlike their cousins the Swede’s, who gave us bands like Europe and Aqua. XP

Before I go, I've got something extra-special for you all!
South Park Studio Vr.2 allows you to create a little character of your choice in the world-famous chibi-ish style of South Park.
I've already taken full advantage of this and have been screwing with it for a few days now, and thus I have a couple things to show you!

You might not recognize this guy unless you're a Resident Evil fan like me:

For those who don't know, it's Wesker from Resident Evil, Code Veronica and Resident Evil 4. I unfortunately couldn't give him his classic spooky glowing eyes, but he's still a bad-ass anyway, even in South Park style.

Though I haven't drawn him a lot, hopefully you'll recognize this guy:

It's my buddy Josh (his anime form) from my manga, Ghost Hunter. He's in his zombie-defense outfit in this pick, thus the shotgun and zombie-blood on the shirt.

I also made these...
Hopefully you'll get a kick out of these, and I'm sure you will if you're a Resident Evil 4 fan:


"Agarello!!!"
XD It's the 'Los Ganados' from RE4! I love these guys!
Here, I made more then one, of course XD...


"Vasta den teevo de pupulto..."


"Un forestello!!!"
XD I'm sure if you've played RE4, you've had your position given away more then once by this lovely chap.


"Rada dienta, me talle!!!"


The only Ganado I was able to add a weapon to (no axes, hand-scythes or pitch-forks were available). I tried my hardest to make one of the female Ganados, but it never came out looking right.
I probably murdered their Spanish though, so don't go trying to translate it or anything. I suck at transcription.

Lastly, I've got one more piece I think you'll enjoy...

Guess who. XD
It's your favorite exorcist!
The hair was kind of a stretch, but it was the only thing vaguely similar to my hair (plus, this one looks slightly like my new longer and fluffier style). It took me a while to figure out how to add a background, so sorry to Josh, Wesker and the Ganados. X)

Feel free to play around with that South Park character generator via the previous hyper-link. Just don't select your skin/skin-color 'till you got your shirt and pants ready.

Whew! This one took a while to type to!
If you have the stamina, I'd love it if you checked out yesterday's post if you missed it.
I'm off to comment of the sites I missed the other night (that means you, Karen and Lindsey! I haven't forgotten about you!)

See you tomorrow!
Comments (3) | Permalink

Thursday, December 29, 2005

   More Pics! ^o^
Ugh, I had a really long and thought-out comment typed into the comment box for EAMR's post today, but right before I finished it I clicked the wrong button in Media Player (I was listening to music as I typed), and my genius computer changed the comment box window to some stupid promo for a CD. Naturally, I frantically right-clicked for the "back" command, but my typed comment was long-gone.
Grrrrrr! I hate when stuff like that happens! Anybody else ever have that happen to them?

Anyway, I'll re-type my comment later tonight for ya', Elvezy, and I'll also get to commenting on anybody else's site I'm yet to do so on (again, like my dumb self usually does, I've read your posts but just haven't commented ^_^').

So, are you guys liking the new song on my site? Or, maybe I should rephrase that: How many of you are actually able to listen to the song on my site? Is it working for anybody but me?
In case you were wondering, Apocalyptica is a group of classical cellists from Finland who do covers of classic metal songs (how's that for unique!? :D). At first they only covered Metallica songs, but they've also started covering Rammstein and Pantera (sp?), along with a few others.

OK everybody, since you said you wouldn't mind me showing you my work-space and room, I'll go ahead and show you those pictures!
(By the way, just so you know, I'd actually be very, VERY interested in seeing photos any of you took of your room or house. I know that makes me sound like a stalker, but I'd love to see what the day-to-day environments of the artists I love and respect are like.)

Here's my room (as you come in through the door):

It's pretty, ain't it? ~^_^~ I love my room. My parents actually designed the lay-out (and they did a damn good job to!).



This is my book-self and the door out of my room. If you look closely, you can see into my little sister's room (or as we like to call it, "The Pepto-Bismol Palace" XD).
Any who, here you can see my TV, my stylish office wall-clock, the bank I'll never use (because it doesn't work XP), and the Kirby mug I made in 7th grade art. (I am and always will be a fan of that loveable little pink trooper! *tear-drop*)



This is the particle-board I have behind my door. That ticket in the top-left corner is from when we got to go see President George W. Bush live and in person back in 7th grade (that's right, I saw the president speak in person!).
The goofy-looking poster in the top-right is a picture of "The Big Schwag" from Monster Garage, signed by "The Big Schwag" himself (I <3 Monster Garage!). Josh and I got to see him as well as some of the actual cars they built on that show when we went to the Auto-Show earlier this year.
The receipt in the bottom-left is from Cheap Joe's Art Supplies, and the artsy diagrams of black holes are things I saved from a National Geographic magazine from middle school when we were cuttin' em' up for collages (I'm such a nerd!).



Ah, my scanner. *caresses sweet Microtek ScanMaker 3600*



Here's my desk and computer. This is where I do most of my drawing (I ditch the blue thingy and skootch back the key-board).



The left-side of my desk. As you can see, I have a wireless router at my house. *smugly raises eye-brows*



The right-side of my desk. Kirby is good company when I'm on the computer, but he's usually too focused on riding his little Warp-Star. Do ya' like my model ship?



The top shelf of my desk. I love my little wooden drawing models, but they're a little tough to get into the positions I want (after all, ya' don't want to snap any of those delicate internal springs or hinges). The small one was given to me by Josh last Christmas along with my current set of colored pencils (I love ya', man!), and the big one my dad got for me at Cheap Joe's in May this year.



Here's the dresser in front of my window. It's mostly for holding all my sister's extra clothes, so I don't get much extra dresser-space. *rolls eyes*
I love my lava-lamp, though. My dad gave me that hat when he went to Nashville, by the way. ^_^



Here's my bed, and the 3 lovely Escher prints above it.
Ever since I was a little kid, M.C. Escher was probably my favorite artist. Those are probably my favorite prints by him (which are, from left to right, "Reptiles", "Concave & Convex", and "Relativity").



Here's my bed-side table.
Now I know that bottle of lotion looks really, really suspicious sitting there, especially since my tissue box is just slightly off-screen, but I can assure you that's not what it's there for! I have a perfectly reasonable explanation!
You see, my hands get really dry and ugly during the winter because they get dehydrated. So, I have to put some lotion on em' every once and a while to keep me from looking like zombie-hands.
Sheesh, you people and your dirty minds! ;P



The Gamecube, my TV, and the horribly unorganized space below it. I really need to clean that space out. It's mostly just my super-old archives of my art from elementary school and early middle-school (meaning it's mostly drawings of Poke'mon and super heroes).



Behold, THE CUBE.
*sigh*, sadly, I may have to say good-bye to Ol' Cubey soon, because my undeserving brother may be getting it back. Just when I was getting to enjoy RE4, to!

OK everyone, did you enjoy that? I hope I didn't bore you all to death with that. ^_^'

Before I go, I'd like to tell you that Miyoko-chan has also posted some pictures from her house, and though she doesn't have any kimono photos yet, she does have some lovely pictures of her adorable kitten Kiko! You can view the cuteness as well as Erin's impressive anime-slathered walls by clicking the proceeding hyperlink.
Ya' know, I may be imagining things but I don't remember Kiko being described as a calico kitty. I could have sworn that Erin said she was a gray kitten at one point. Kiko's full name, "Yukiko" means "Snow-Child" after all, doesn't it? I could have sworn I remembered Erin-chan explaining that a few weeks ago when Kiko first joined the house-hold.
Ah, whatever, this is going to be REALLY awkward if I'm wrong. ^_^''

Woooo! This post tool a WHILE to type! I think I set a new record!
OK everybody, I'll see you tomorrow!
Comments (7) | Permalink

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

   Christmas Wrap-Up (with Christmas pics!)
Hey everybody! How'd your Christmas go?

Sorry I haven't seen you guys since Christmas Eve, but I've just sort'a had my hands full with dealing with my family and what-not.

The question I see most people asking is "what did you get this holiday season?", so, I'll go ahead and answer that.
This year, I received:

-2 cool new T-shirts.
One is just a cool-looking advertisement for an instrument and equipment shop, and the other has the cover from the Beatle's album "Abby Road" printed on it! (I like the 2nd one the best! \^o^/ Go Beatles!)

-An MP3 player that plugs right in to my USB port!
It only holds 128 Megabytes (a 5-minute song is about 5 Megabytes, in my experience), so it's not as spacious as an i-pod, but I honestly find this more practical.

-A holder for said MP3 Player.

-A bunch of my favorite candy, which are (of course) Hot Tamales and Butter-Fingers! Anybody else love those?

-And last but certainly not least, my favorite gift this year was:
RESIDENT EVIL 4!!!!

That's right, bitches! My parents actually loosened up and got me this jewel of action/survival-horror gamming!
I couldn't believe it! My parents are usually sooooo strict (as you all of course have learned from my constant pissing and moaning) with video-games and TV, so it blew my doors off when I found out they got it for me!
My dad even came in and sat down and watched me as I played. He was cool about everything, even all the nasty, zombie-decap's that Resident Evil is so famous for!
I naturally returned Josh's copy to him when I saw him yesterday (Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell my parents I had RE4 before-hand! ~_'). Josh and I went to Boarder's (rather then B&N's, since they've been PICKED CLEAN) yesterday for our regular manga-run. I hope I can do one more with him before school starts again.
Ooh, and by the way, I got one extra gift this year! My mom finally removed the blocker for "TV-14" from my TV! 8-D Yes, that's right! I can finally watch Inuyasha, World's Wildest Police Videos and Fullmetal Alchemist without being told it's "restricted"!
Ugh! I haven't been able to see many of those great shows since the summer of '04!

OK everybody, I got some Christmas pics for ya'!
We took our tree and minimal decorations down yesterday, but on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I was able to take some sweet pics of my house!

Check these out and tell me what you think:

The base of our tree on Christmas Eve. It's so pretty!


Another one of our tree. ~^-^~


"The stockings were hung by the fire with care.."
The first 4 of those stockings were made by a friend of my mom's (my mom made the 5th one).
From left to right that's my dad's stocking, my mom's, my stocking, my brother's, and my sister's.


Another pretty picture of our living-room on Christmas Eve.


Waitin' for Santa!


A close-up of our tree. For some reason, the pretty Christmas lights didn't show-up in these. I love those Candy-Ribbon Ornaments, though.


Another close-up. I just love our tree!


We have a ribbon atop our tree, rather then the usual star.
I'm not sure weather that's OK or not, since there was no "Ribbon of Bethlehem" to guide the Magi. XD I'm so corny!


We have a gas-fireplace, by the way. Believe it or not, the fire was on when I took this photo...
o_o' Could my hose have a vampire gas-line? XD Sorry! I know, that one was corny to!


My mom got exactly what she wanted this Christmas: A "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" DVD! I've wanted to see it so badly!
My sister also got an eerily realistic robot-dog toy, as shown here taking a nap. His name is Scamp, by the way.


A stack of my loot on Christmas afternoon. I really want to get all those ugly stickers off my RE4 case! XP


This is my grand-pa who came over the other night. Since his name is "Warren", we've just called him "Pa-Pa" (pronounced "paw-paw, if you were wondering) since we were little.
Anybody here have a nick-name for a grand-parent that's carried over 'till now? Any "Mee-maw's", "Opa's" or "Gram Cracker’s" out there?
On an interesting note, my grand-pa served in the FBI when he was a young man! He's worked with many important cases, some of which included espionage!

I have some more photos to show you, but they're of the rest of my house, my room and what-not.
If you're interested in seeing what my work-space looks like, I'd be happy to show you, but I won't bore you to death if you don't.
I even took a picture of myself I could post, but I'm not sure if I'd want to put it up here. I'm not exactly the coolest-looking dude out there.

So anyway, tell me if you're interested in seeing what my room looks like. I'll get the photos up in a day or so if you are.

I'm gonna' go comment on your sites now (like my usual dumb self, I've already read your posts, but just haven't commented ^_^').

By the way, have any of you seen ElvesAteMyRamen's most recent submission?
Heh heh, Harley's such a cute doggy. I gotta' go do my art-review shpiel for that pic before I fall behind again!
Oh, and as soon as her wonderfully creative mom is finished, Erin-chan will hopefully be posting some pics of her new kimono! I can't wait! I'll betcha' Erin's gonna' look so pretty once it's done! ~^o^~ Maybe she'll even take some pictures of Yukiko as well!

OK everybody, I'll see you tomorrow!
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Saturday, December 24, 2005

   Have a nice Christmas Eve
Hey everybody. How's it going?

I just got back from church just a while ago (still waitin' for dinner! >:P).
At first I wasn't too happy about going, mainly because I was informed 5 minutes 'till we had to leave and seriously needed a shower (I had been on a bike-ride).
On top of that, I wasn't exactly ecstatic about going to go hear a story I've heard over and over and OVER again. I know the how, when, where and why of the birth of Jesus (just as most people do or should).
But, it actually went better then I thought it would. It was only an hour, and it was actually mostly music, so it was alright.

So how is your Christmas Eve going? Any special events or plans tonight?

I've been in an artistic dry-spell since we got out of school on Tuesday. It's sad, because I never have time for drawing during most of the school-year. On top of that, all my dad wants from me is a drawing (of him and myself, *rolls-eyes*) for him. So, unless I do it tonight, it won't be done on time.
Another problem is there were 2 pics I wanted to draw for this Christmas, each a present to the two of my most special friends here on The Otaku (I'm not tellin' who they are, though). It'll feel weird if I have it ready to submit for them after Christmas, so I need to work past this thing and get them done.
I really want to do these pieces, because these 2 people need to know how thankful I am for their generosity and friendship. Though their not the only people here that (more then) deserve at least some kind of showing of gratitude from me, these two in particular have gone above and beyond what's expected in a friend, and I need to show that I'm thankful for that.

I hate to be such a downer of Christmas Eve, so I'll try to cheer up for you guys.
So, what are you hoping for as a Christmas present?
I sorta' doubt my parents will give me the only thing I wanted this year (an internet connection for the computer in my brother's room, so he'll never have to bother me again). But, here's hopin', neh? ^_^'

Before I go, I'll give you a special Christmas treat: I've found a spectacular artist on Deviant Art (a site I only recently gained access to, thanks to my mom finally un-blocking it :P), and I think you'll be particularly interested in her most recent artwork submissions.
Her name is "risachantag", and ever since last Wednesday she's been submitting a piece of artwork each day for a series called "The 12 Days of Fandom".
Each piece is an anime equivalent of a verse from the carol "The 12 Days of Christmas".
So far, she's got days 1 through 11, and will submit the final piece tomorrow on Christmas Day.
You can take a look at this wonderful Christmas-themed series of anime art-pieces here.

Have a nice Christmas, everyone.
I'm off to visit your sites now.
See ya' tomorrow.
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Friday, December 23, 2005

   Hey everybody. How's it going?

I spent most of today at Barne's & Noble's today (well, B&N's and the general area around it).
In fact, I was there from 2 PM 'till 6:30 PM.
My brother was in my room on the computer doing "Runescape" for all the time I was gone (he was even on and annoying the crap out of me for 2 hours before I left!).

For those unfamiliar, "Runescape" is a free online fantasy RPG where nerds waste their life away.
It's basically "Dungeons & Dragons" online.

What do I do online?
I learn from other artists how to improve my talents, as well as manage a Prayer Group for me and other Christian anime-fans.
And yet, my mother seems to value my brother's activities more then mine.
Must be livin' in Topsy-Turvy world over here or something.
I mean, come on! Most kids my age use the internet for porn and mind-numbing amounts of I.M.! What better use could I have for my computer!?

*sigh*, sorry about that rant there.
Like I always say, lets get to the fun stuff:

While at B&N’s, I read the recently released 1st volume of the Kingdom Hearts manga.
I’ve never played Kingdom Hearts (I don’t play any RPG’s, really. I love the characters, art-style and so on, but I just don’t like the game-play, ESPECIALLY turn-based fighting), but the manga was very fun to read.
I personally think the idea of combining Final Fantasy Characters from previous games and classic Disney characters and settings we’re almost all familiar with was both a smart and innovative move on the part of Square-Enix. I never would have thought that scenario would work for a successful game (it probably wouldn’t have if the FF characters hadn’t been included as well).
Though I’ll definitely admit that the old animated Disney movies aren’t exactly the most Metal thing on the planet, Disney’s animated features of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were all extremely artistic and well-done. The animation style was smooth and colorful, and the voice-acting and facial-expressions always spoke volumes of emotion. Unfortunately, Disney’s company has run itself into the ground through the past 15 years with crappy production quality and juvenile scripting, but with a precious few exceptions (such as Pirates of the Caribbean, for example ~_’).
I also looked through a catalogue of National Geographic’s best photos. Is anyone else here a big fan of NG’s photos? They photograph some of the most beautiful and charming things I’ve ever seen! I’ve never gotten (or, even read) the magazine, but they have some of the best photographers working for them!

Before I go, I want to ask you guys something. Do I make my posts too long? People here like Lindsey-chan and Erin-chan make posts half the size of mine and still say that theirs run too long. If there’s anything I hate, it’s an idiot pittering on endlessly about something I don’t care about, so I want to make sure I’m not a hypocrite by becoming exactly that to you. If my posts are becoming a chore to read through, then I’ll start trimming the fat from them.

I’m having some issues with my parents right now (what am I talking about? I’ve always got some petty issue with my parents…), but I’ll try to stop by tomorrow anyway.
I’ll see you all later.

Here's a beautiful Christmas pic by the artist Tasuki no Miko.
Some of you may remember me showing you this pic a while back, but even so, it's pretty and charming enough to be worth a second look. ^_^

Awwwwwww. ^.^
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Wednesday, December 21, 2005

   Whoo-Hoo!
X_x' Oh boy.
I just spent a good, long time typing.
Most of it was to comment on all the work ElvesAteMyRamen submitted that I hadn't commented on.
With the exception of "Peaceful Yuki And Kyou" (which I had already commented on), I posted a long, in-depth comment on all of EAMR's most recent submissions since her Sasuke portrait. I also commented on some additional art from various artists.
Lord knows I have a habit of making my comments really detailed, so you can see why it took so long to do. ^_^

Speaking of art comments; If you haven't already, I'd love to hear what you have to say about the pieces I submitted back on the 3rd: "Zombie 7" and "Zombie 8".
(I know that sounded like I was saying "I commented on your work, now you comment on mine", but please know that's not at all what I meant. I'd just like to get your thoughts on my artwork, and I only mentioned it because it looked like very few people had seen it.)

I have at least 2 more pieces of artwork I'm ready to submit and have had ready to submit for some time now, but I doubt you dial-up users like having 4 pieces to comment on at a time ^_^'.
Though, I am really eager to submit these, since one is in my opinion the best zombie I ever drew! :D

Ugh, I am so tired of dealing with my little brother. I've had to baby-sit him all day, and he's absolutely pissed me off beyond all reason!
Grrrrr, I hate that little turd.
But worst of all, my mom's doing exactly what she did all summer long: "Talk to your father, I'm too stressed out to deal with it right now".
Well, my dad works 'till 6 instead of 2, AND goes to work on fixing up one of our rental properties right after that!
The man's tired, and he's in no mode to care about what my brother does either!

*sigh*, at least I'm off from school now. Hopefully I'll be able to get some drawing done now that I don't have to go to bed early for school.

Anywho, did anyone notice my new intro banner at the top of my page? If you've ever seen my art, you'd know that I just love zombies! ^_^
This is my third intro banner so far, the first being:

You only got the joke if you're a Guns N' Roses fan.

The second one was:

A play on the old slogan, "Melts In Your Mouth!" (I forget which candy that is, though). It's just a way of poking fun at myself by saying that my site isn't exactly good for your psyche. ^_^'

I like making them only subtly humorous, and I have several more planned.
I was inspired by the insanely creative tags and banners Living Doll makes for her site. My favorite was the ominously under-toned one that said "Welcome to the Doll House". Karen now has a new one for her Fruits Basket theme.
The key difference though is that hers are expertly rendered examples of concept and design, and mine are crappy JPEG tags made in MS Paint.
It's quite clear exactly who's the student and who's the master. XP

I'll leave you today with a charming piece of CG by an artist who goes by "Tasuki no Miko". Check it out:

X3
I'll see you all tomorrow!

P.S.: I’d like to wish ElvesAteMyRamen a happy Birth Day today, as well as congratulate Karen on her safe cruise and return home! \^.^/
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Sunday, December 18, 2005

   Meh, studying...

Heh, bet ya' didn’t see that coming. XD
More from this artist to come. ^_^

Began to type this post at: 6:27 PM
Finished typing it at: 6:52 PM
Currently Listening to: "Iron Man", by Ozzy Osborne. (*I, am, Iron Man, du-da-du-da-du-da-du-du-du-du*)

Heh, thought I'd try a new format for intros to my posts. (Let's see how long it lasts.)

Sorry for the ranty-styled post last time (located below this one). Stress from school AND family is never any good. Things still suck over here, but what can ya' do?

I just got home from running some lengthy and rather boring errands with my dad. Usually running errands with him is rather fun, but we barely accomplished anything in the 2 and 1/2 hours we were gone.
Not that I mind, though. My dad's cool about it and never makes me go, and plus my brother wasn't there. >=D

I've got a Spanish AND Chemistry test tomorrow. -_-'
I HATE tests on Monday!
I'm OK at both subjects, but I'm a little bit fuzzy on the material we're being tested on, and since tests usually deal a low-blow by asking exactly what you're vague on.

I'm also fully aware that most of you are off now, unlike me who has 2 more days to go. *grumble* 2 days is no big deal, but it really breaks-up the schedule.
The all-knowing deities of CMS (I'm being sarcastic, of course) decided that we should only have ONE week off for Christmas break, rather then the almost required 2.
Plus, we get to take exams as soon as we come back, so not only are we not refreshed, but we're a week out of practice.
I'm also expecting my family to make this Christmas a living Hell, just as they have been doing with every other vacation I get. I'm gonna' need a S.W.A.T. Team shield to protect me from all the BS. Hmmmm...do they sell "Anti-BS Coating" at Lowes or Home Depot?

*sigh*, I better get to studying.
I know I've fudged on it once or twice, but I mean it this time: I'll get to your posts tonight or tomorrow. In my usual quirky fashion, I've already read them, but just need to comment on them.

Before I go, I got a special mission for you.

Anyone who can tell me what upcoming game this character is from gets kudos, hugs and a cookie (I already know the answer, by the way, so I'm testing you, not asking for help):

Here's a hint: It's gonna' be on the X-Box 360. ~_'

OK everybody, I'll see you tomorrow!
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