The World Around Me

Still walking through German snow. Only one more day...

My Own Little World
Current plans and aspirations of the short-term.

Beyond the obvious (packing), I need to do all those fun things like passport checks, printing of itinerary, photocopying the informational sheet I got from the Standesamt for my own records, so on and so fourth. I forgot to do a thank you card for Tilly so I'll have to send one from America.

BLAZE: I changed my mind and I am going to take the sketchbooks back with me to America and then mail them from there. I assume the shipping costs anyway. It's just that today is a holiday and I can't use the post office and I don't like to leave it for Richard to do. The good news is that I'll have a few more days to keep adding to it. You have a new one if you hadn't seen it already. If you don't happen to see this I'll send you an email here in a little bit to this effect.

If I have time I'm going to finish writing Niev's character sheet. I almost want to refer to it as a "Character Cheat Sheet" because I tend to provide the kind of information on character sheets that no one in the story world could possibly know and therefore doesn't come up in the prose. For instance, in the part I've written I go into some detail about her genetics and WHY it is that a female bearing antlers cannot reproduce in the A'harei. It makes me wonder how relevant the information I tend to turn over in my brain is, but on the other hand at least knowing the mechanics behind things will help keep me consistent.

The World Wide Web
Links to interesting or lovely things going on elsewhere on the internet.

Today is a 'what's going on on live journal' themed day!

First of all, I invite you to watch the progression of one of Richard's 3D renderings with me. His 3D work tends to get less exposure than his other art firstly because he reserves it for subjects he really loves instead of making "crowd pleasers", and secondly because somehow people are of the assumption that something like this is easy to make because it uses computer programs. That's a bit like saying all digital art no matter how masterful is easy because it uses things like Photoshop.

My point is that watching the pieces come together is extremely fascinating for me and I get to watch it in more or less real time. I asked him to mark the progression shots of this image as public so I could offer that experience to other people. I will continue to post them as he goes along.

Due to familial obligations yesterday I missed out on ysabetwordsmith's Poetry Fishbowl this time around. It's a crowd funded event where she takes prompts from readers and publishes a selection of them based on her success in the funding part of crowd funding. These Two were my favorites this time around.

Quixotic Content
Any little thing that just doesn't fit in elsewhere or is still rattling around in my brain by the time I get this far.

What I'm Listening to:

A Lover's Prayer sung by Gillian Welch

Tags: daily post

Well, my one year hiatus is about over. Okay, so it wasn't a planned hiatus, it just happened. But I think it's about time to come back. Every now and again, at least. There's people here that I miss. There's also people here that I don't really remember. Sorry. :\

So what's been going on this past year for me? Hmm...some stuff that's happened:
-Had my first year wedding anniversary! Yay! Still happy and going strong! :D
-Moved out of our apartment and into my mother's house. My mother moved into my sister's house with her and now I'm renting her house. I LOVE this house! It was the house my father grew up in and my mother bought it from my dad after my grandpa passed on. Maybe I'll take some pics of it when I get the time.
-Got a dog. My husband and I got a Rottweiler puppy in June and now he's an 8 month old GIANT PUPPY! :D I loves him!
-Drew a sketch a day, every day, ALL YEAR, and then some! That turned out to be four whole sketchbooks I filled this year, and a third of another. It's been a trip!
-Started writing again. I've loved writing stories since I was in middle school, and I haven't really written much since high school. Now I'm writing again and it's invigorating! My husband is writing too, and I love it!
-More friends! I've made some great friends this year and gotten back in touch with some old friends who I enjoy being around. WTF, I have a social life!
-Lost 25 lbs in a month! Gained most of it back. Will be working on that again this year.

I think maybe there's been some other things that have happened, but I can't really think of them. It's been a pretty good year. There have been some things that have been less than awesome, but I get past them. Well, I'm trying to, anyways.

Coming up next post, discussing new years resolutions. How many did I live up to and how many am I continuing to work on this year. And what about new stuff? More boring details later! :D

I haven't been to one in so long, since I lost my job last year (*kicks 2009 in the balls again*), but since I am somewhat employed again, I am going to start off 2010 right by going to this:
http://ho12.blogspot.com
http://www.houseoftwelve.com/jam/
That's this Thursday! Come with tools to draw and a Sketchbook to pass around for your part of the jam!

I am feel optimistic. A lot got done yesterday, and I'm hoping the same for today.

I'm wearing really tight pants that make me feel like puking though...I guess maybe I should put on something more comfortable!

Also, slightly pissed that the "grey car" that my dad has "lent to me" for the past 2 years is now "lent to ariel". She's supposed to be getting rides to school from her friends, but she snatches it after my parents have left for work while I'm still asleep. I want to go to yoga tomorrow at 7am >:3 gosh am I gonna surprise her. kekeke.


I've made an addendum to my resolutions:

get my damn car fixed.
-battery
-tires
-inpection

jesus its not even THAT broken. /:< It could prob use an oil change at this point too I'm sure. I miss my car and its magnificent heating system and cassette tape player.

But for now, I will settle with changing my pants and SEWING.

The World Around Me

Snowy but far less cold resulting in a happier and more comfy Ally.

My Own Little World
Current plans, aspirations and goings-on of the short-term.

We're having the 'last moments with family' time today. I hate the end of a trip. I just get in my stride and then poof! it's time to change. Now that I feel close to Richard's family it's like I have even more people in my life to leave behind.

I'm not going to go into any great depth because it would basically be a paragraph or two of "Whine whine whine whine. Whine? WHINE! Whine whine whine." Suffice it to say that I'm even less happy than normal about returning to the states.

On today's docket (time allowing):

Sketch in Blaze's book

A character sheet for Niev

Read through the 10 pages or so of this story which I've dug out of my private archives.

Oh yes- title the story. I'll think about that during my shower. Showers are great naming times. Glottal stops sound better in showers just like singing does.

I find it very, very difficult to draw creatures that have animal features but are more human facially. I'm sure this is mostly due to my difficulties in drawing people period. I will work on that, but I'm not going to let the fact that I can't illustrate my own story hold me up anymore. I never used to before I learned to draw a bit.

The World Wide Web
Links to interesting or lovely things going on elsewhere on the internet.

WARNING: NSFW Chester 5000 Yes, this is porn. I admit it. But it is such creative, well drawn, interesting, silly, story driven, dramatic, humorous porn that was ever made for people who don't really like porn. I've never been as endeared to a character in adult artwork as I am to Chester.

Quixotic Content
Any little thing that just doesn't fit in elsewhere.

The closed Beta for Star Trek Online begins in just a few more days on Jan. 12th. If you pre order you get in on the Beta! I have to wait until I get back to America to do so because the sites stop me using my card or paypal because they are American and I'm in Europe. Pfft.

In honor of upcoming Star Trek Goodness, here's the official translation of the Klingon Propaganda Add. I'm sure most everyone's seen this, but some things are sufficiently neat to see more than once.

Tags: daily post

I am going to be more open with my drawings.
I am going to stop listening to the voice that tells me I'm not good enough.
I am going to make time for what I like to do.
(  I am going to draw more. [8] )

This is going to be a lovely month, just got a notice in the mail my Funeral Directors license will expire next month and I still need to get my required 16 hrs worth of continuing education in to qualify. This is going to hit the wallet hard. Cheapest I found was 125 dollars for the online credits and I'm still looking what the state is asking for I believe its 75 per licenses

I have recently become aware of a bad behavior pattern when I try to write. Instead of going with the story, I start trying to write in the latest least developed story world. I think it's because I hope that (somehow) this new story universe will be better than everything else I've ever come up with before. This is a terribly ineffective and self defeating way of doing things. Therefore, it's time to organize my three major story universes starting with the most developed.

The story of Niev is loosely based on a dream I had more than 5 years ago. The main story line panned itself out in my daydreams long ago, but I've only recently started filling in specifics. Tonight I finally started putting real definitive names to the people and the persons in this story.

The A'harei

The A'harei are an alien species possessing some deer-like features. Included in these are deer-like feet, a sleek, full-body covering of fur, antlers in the males, and side-facing nostrils. They stand upright and walk on the balls of their feet and their toes.

The comma in their name indicates a glottal stop. In English, a glottal stop is the middle pause in the word "Uh-oh".

1 male A'har
1 female A'hare (the 'e' being short as in 'bet'.)
A group of A'harei (the 'ei' being drawn out as in 'weigh')

There is no word for a group of only male or only female A'harei. There are other words that can serve this function, but these provide more information about the nature of the group in question. For instance, a 'Pumjem' is a group of females currently undergoing their monthly cycle. Sometimes such words are used metaphorically to describe a group of individuals. (e.g. "The Keketet (hunting party, male) are hiding from their teacher" would translate as "The boys are hiding from their teacher.")

Males possess bone antlers which shed once a year. Unlike deer the A'har begin to grow new antlers immediately and the growth is not connected to a specific mating season. They shed the antlers around the time of winter solstice. Antlers are kept and used and never discarded. A fully grown A'har will have a respectable 6-8 point set of antlers.

Females (except in extremely rare cases as we shall see) do not grow antlers. Those that do they are almost certainly infertile.

Males and females live together in family groups which in turn are a part of a clan. Clans range in size from a few family groups to several hundred. Most of these clans are stationary but there are some family groups that maintain a nomadic lifestyle. One male A'har will typically marry two females. Both males and females may journey from their home clan in search of partners but they will never do so together. A group of females making this trip is called an Erule. Clans may repel groups of journeying males if they are not interested in growing their population, but it is a hard and fast cultural rule that no clan may repel an Erule and MUST provide them shelter and provisioning.

The story I am going to tell is the story of the influential clan Erut A'harei and how its founding changed forever the history of the A'harei people.

sapphire_kun had a "Iron Chef" competition wherein everybody had to use the secret ingredient chili peppers, as chosen by clawed_my_face. I won with my famous grilled cheese. Here's the spin:

Iron Chef Grilled Cheese
Take 2 slices of any sort of artisan bread, cut thickly (in this case I used 3 Cheese bread), and spread on both slices a 2-to-1 mixture of pesto sauce and green chile (in the can, although fresh is also good!). Place cheese (a sharp Cheddar, or a mix that includes Cheddar is best) on sides with spread and two halves together. In frying pan, melt butter of desired amount (don't use margarine, it's just not the same) and add a dash of red pepper flakes to the melted butter and place the sandwich in the pan and cook on both sides until golden brown and the cheese has melted ( I will add a little bit of butter to the uncooked side before flipping, but if you want to use less butter, that is your prerogative.). Enjoy with a nice bowl of your favorite soup!

Also: awesome Eryshé icon from latinvixen02!