I got home from work today and fell asleeeeeeep. Then woke up, had a beer and some popcorn, and now it's time for bed! Whuuuut

This makes me giggle, though. X3

No pets!

I had a great time on my trip to Ohio! The trip there was kinda' dull for the most part, but it wasn't bad. The hotel we stayed in is probably the ritziest hotel I've ever been in. It was a 2-room suit and we had a little kitchenette and stuff. It was really confusing getting around, especially 'cause they had a couple roads shut down for construction, Anyway, the convention was awesome! There were lots of neat old toys! I got a few. I got two Rock Lords figures for Eric:

Rock Lords rock mode
Rock Lords bipedal mode

and I got a target exclusive G1 repaint of the '07 movie deluxe Jazz (MIB), a Pepsi Optimus Prime (MIB), and a loose G1 Optimus Prime figure. X3

Jazz
Pepsi Prime
G1 Prime vehicle mode
G1 Prime robot mode

There were some other toys I was tempted to get, but I talked myself out of it. For example, someone had a G1 Wheeljack figure! I wanted it, but I couldn't bring myself to pay $48 for him when he was all faded and missing half of his spoiler. u_u I also got a few artist cards from Sean Forney. I got one for Jess (top right), one for Holly (bottom right), one for Ellen (bottom left), and one for myself (top left).

Artist Cards

There were also some really nice cosplays walking around the convention. Most of 'em were from Star Wars, but there was also a really good Predator!

Cosplayers
Moar Cosplayers

But the highlight of the convention for me was when, while I was walking around, absorbed in checking out the awesome toys, I heard someone say "Hey, look, she's got me on her shirt! Hey, you wanna' get a picture with me?" and I turn around to see a rather attractive Wolverine cosplayer standing there, and he was talking to me. In that moment, I couldn't be happier that I'd chosen to wear my Wolverine shirt instead of my Optimus Prime for President shirt that day. So, he posed with me while his friend and Jess took pictures of us. It was funny, 'cause he seemed to be just as excited to get his picture with me as I was to get my picture with him! ^_^;;

Me 'n' Wolverine!

He had really good claws! I wish I had a pair! X3 Anyway, after the convention we went to a mall for lunch, and then when we were heading back to the hotel we passed a Toys R Us! I asked to stop, since we don't have a Toys R Us in our town, so we went in and they had Titanium series Prowl and Grimlock! So I got them!! XD They're pretty awesome! X3

Prowl vehicle mode
Prowl robot mode
Grimlock vehicle mode
Grimlock robot mode

After that we tried to go to a sidewalk painting festival they were having, but we drove around forever trying to find a place to park. X_x Eventually we gave up because the weather was being weird. The wind was really kicking up, and blowing debris everywhere, so we went back to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, the lights were out in the lobby. I thought that was kinda' weird, but the elevator worked, so we went to our room to relax a bit and figure out what we were gonna' do for dinner. Mom turned on the TV and all we got was static, so she called downstairs and found out that the power was out, and everything was on auxiliary power. So we decided to break out the phone book and fine a place to have dinner, but every place we called either didn't answer their phone, or they told us that they were closed due to power outage. Apparently 95% of the state of Ohio had lost electricity. O_o We didn't even have any rain, it was just the freakin' wind! It was pretty harsh, though. I saw trashcans and outdoor furniture and stuff rolling down the street. I managed to get some video that should give you an idea, but I'll post those later, since they take freakin' forever for me to upload them. >_O;

Soooo....we went back up to our room and nibbled on popcorn and fruit and other snacks we'd purchased earlier. Mom was bored, though, so she asked Jess and I if we had any movies on our laptops. Jess had brought Labyrinth, so we watched that because all I had were piles of Transformers cartoons on my hard drive, and mom flatly refused to watch those. Luckily the power came back almost exactly as the movie ended. A lot of places were still closed due to power outage by the time we left to come back home. But now we're home, and the weather is better. It's all good, and I had a great time. X3

And now, here are some other interesting things I got pics of in Ohio.
Sculpture 1
Sculpture 2
Sculpture 2 again
Propaganda Truck
Electric Signs! 8O!

Street Signs:
Confusing Parking Restrictions
One way...but you can't go that way. This one isn't very clear, but it made me laugh.
No turn plz
No turn plz (some more)
Moar turning restrictions These things where EVERYWHERE! Made driving confusing. o_o;
LOLwhut...

I felt a little sick to my stomach when I got up on Thursday. It only got worse as the day went on, and it progressed from being a general ache in my abdomen to a sharp pain in my left side. The same symptoms as my mysterious and as-yet undiagnosed abdominal ailment, only this time it was on the left side instead of the right, so no one could possibly confuse it for appendicitis like they always have before. Since it obviously wasn’t appendicitis, I didn’t bother going to the doctor. However, I did get sent home early from work, and then I called in sick Friday because my condition hadn’t improved. Mom just gave me some ultram that was left over from the last onset of my mysterious illness and put me to work. I don’t blame her. Eric and Crystal were getting married Saturday and there was still a bunch of stuff to do, so I helped her finish and deliver Eric’s groom’s cake and various other little things that needed to be done. Also, I finished the miniature replicas of Eric’s guitars to go on the top of his cake.

The Cake!
Close-up Bass
Close-up Epiphone Acoustic
Close-up Banjo

I think they turned out okay...not perfect by any means, but I did the best I could. They’re made of sculpey, painted with tempura paints and nail polish, and then the strings are actual tiny wires. W00t. Eric liked them, so that’s all that really matters. ^_^

W00t! Been a while since I updated. Kind of a lot happened, but I’m not going to get into all the little bits and details. I should get back into doing small, more frequent updates so I won’t have to try to cram a bunch of crap all into one update. ^_^;;

Eric finally moved home from Tucson! I’m happy to have him back. I missed my big brother. Once he got into town, we drove to Kentucky to visit daddy. The 3 1/2-hour drive was kind-of nice ‘cause it gave me a chance to catch up with Eric. He said some really nice things about how it’s really important that I not give up on my dreams, and that he thinks I really need to find something that I love to do and pursue it, and that I shouldn’t just give up and settle for some job that I hate just because I need money and insurance. It was a nice talk, and he was so positive and supportive that for once in a very long time I actually feel like I have some hope for the future instead of feeling like I should just give up and accept my place as nothing more than another cog in a great machine, doing my repetitive menial task day after day.

Anyway, we visited daddy, and it was nice to see him. He didn’t look very well, though. He looked like he’d aged several years since I last saw him at Christmas. He was constantly coughing and wheezing, and he couldn’t get around very well. He was happy to see us, though. I was glad to spend a little time with him, and I hope I’ll get to visit him again some time soon.

We got to visit with Grandpa, too. He’s 92 now. He still seems to be in pretty good shape, though, considering his age. It was nice to get to show him my artwork, since he’s an artist. He does paintings and caricatures mostly. He seemed really impressed by my line-work. He said it was so detailed and precise that I should be a draftsman. ^_^;;

Over all it was a nice visit. The only part I didn’t like was puking my guts out on Sunday night. We went out to eat at a restaurant, and I made the mistake of drinking 3 glasses of tap water with my lunch. I always forget how sensitive my stomach is. I don’t think it’s that there was anything wrong with the water there, but my stomach is so sensitive that un-filtered out-of-town tap water always makes me at least a little sick. I just need to remember to drink only bottled water when I go out of town. XP

Okay, I’m gonna’ make this quick, cause it’s after midnight and I have to be at work early. I really should be in bed already. ^_^;; First off I want to start with another serious bit. Jess’s grandma is in the hospital after a heart attack. Jess visited her today while I was at work and apparently she seems to be doing pretty well, but still she’s in a frail state. If anyone who reads this is inclined toward prayer, we’d really appreciate it if you’d pray for her (and, or course, I’d still appreciate it if you prayed for my dad, too.)

In less serious news: I got my new revoltech figures!! I’ve already taken a few pics with them, but they aren’t re-sized and stuff yet so I’m not posting them at the moment. I am extremely pleased with Starscream, though. Very awesome figure. X3

Also I’ve posted some things on deviantart recently. Here are all my recent posted works:
Revoltech Pics:
Reflection 1 - Optimus: Megatron (I redid the reflection pics...but better.)
Reflection 2 - Megatron
Reflection 3 - Magnus
Reflection 4 - Optimus: Magnus
Twins!?

Easter Eggs:
Cherry Blossom Easter Egg
Winged Heart with Cross
Transform-egg

Comic:
Siblings (A li’l comic about me and my big brother Eric. ~ <3 )

Unfinished/Line-art:
Disembodied Robot Head - Prime (My first real attempt at drawing a robot. W00t.)
Cookie Frenzy (my most recent line-art. Chibi Martian Manhunter = yay. ^_^ )

Okay. I sleep now. Laterz~

Weee. Forgive me if this post is unorganized and sloppy. I happen to be drunk at the moment. I just got back from The Player’s Pub, where I went to see the The Swing Rays. It was awesome. Click that link to go to their myspace. They have a few of their songs on there if you wanna’ check ‘em out. They played the Yuppie song just for us. I don’t know why exactly but I really like that song. It makes-a me giggle.


Excerpt from Yuppie Song:

I can’t wait to be a yuppie
I can’t wait to be a square
I can’t wait to be a yuppie
Start wearin’ styling jell
And get this grease out of my hair

I can’t wait to be a yuppie
I can’t wait, I think you know what I mean
I can’t wait to be a yuppie
Take off this leather jacket
And buy my clothes at L.L. Bean


It was all kinds of fun. And I had many beers. Hence the drunkness.

Last night I chatted with Holly and that was fun. ^_^ Holly has a knack for cheering me up when I’m feeling kinda’ down or stressed. Also, I got all kinds a’ ideas for li’l drawings and comics I wanna’ do. I won’t specify right now, because I plan to draw them at some point and I don’t want to give ‘em all away.

Also, I posted a few old drawings (and my two most recent ones) in my scraps on deviantart last night. Here are the links for anyone interested:

Old pics:
Old Piccolo Sketch 1
Old Piccolo Sketch 2
Old Piccolo Sketch 3 (I particularly like this one.)
Piccolo in a towel

New pics:
Marvin the Martian Sketch
New Piccolo Sketch

Okay. That’s it for tonight. Gots to get to bed so I can get up for church tomorrow (and hopefully not fall asleep during the sermon, as I am wont to do -_-; Yes, Amy freely admits that she is an imperfect being.) I’m going to see about getting my dad put on the prayer list. Still no news about his situation yet. I’m just hoping and praying for the best.

Off to bed now. (If I can make it. ^_^;; I need some water first, though, or I’ll have a hangover. >_>;;)
Laterz
*staggers off*

Whoops! It’s been a while since I’ve updated. ^_^;; Well, first things first. Autumn-sama tagged me, so I’ll get that out of the way:


TAGGED by mzanthropy!
- list five habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
- tag five people to do the same.

1. I’ve only ever had 1 boyfriend, and that was for like a year way back in my late-freshman early-sophomore days in highschool. I’ve had guys hit on (or stalk) me and stuff, but I’ve just been too busy with other crap to go pursuing a relationship or whatever.

2. I collect things. A LOT of things. (Ex: Comic books, key chains, action figures, t-shirts, plushies, sunglasses, etc...)

3. I’m kind-of obsessive-compulsive about organization. Particularly with my collections. Practically anything I have more than one of, I’ll try to organize it by color, size, shape, title, genre, creation/release date, publisher, author, series, or some combination of two or more of those.

4. Out of EVERYONE I know, I have the lamest, most pointless menial labor-type job.

5. My dream all through early grade school was to become a marine biologist and PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF THE LOCH NESS MONSTER! However, in highschool my dream evolved into becoming a voice actor and/or creating my own (web)comic or (flash) cartoon series.

As for tagging people...I don’t want to obligate anyone, but anyone on my friend who feels willing to post five habits/quirks/facts about themselves can consider themselves tagged. ^_^


Anyway, on to updates in my life. I’ve noticed that the yellow bug across the street has been joined by an entourage of other suspiciously distinctive models of car. Namely a khaki Jeep, a silver Pontiac Fireo, a red Dodge Rampage, some red SUV of which I’ve yet to identify the make and model, and something hidden under a tarp.
*Click for Pic*
I’ve been keeping an eye on them. How many people live there!? Do they really need that many cars!? I swear, if a Semi pulls up across the street, I’m going over there!

In other news, Autumn-sama asked me to design a medieval-style dress for her wedding. Here are the designs I came up with:
*Click for Pic*
There are colored versions, too, but the colors suck, so I’m not posting them. Autumn said she likes them, so I’m pleased with them. The real challenge, however, is to find someone to MAKE the dress before her wedding in April. Mom said she’d make it for her, but we’d have to find a pattern similar to the dress for her to modify. I guess we’ll see what we can do...

Jess’s birthday was on Wednesday (the 23rd). We were both off work, so we just hung out all day. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant that we like. The food there absolutely RULES, and it’s nice and spicy! Spicy food = yay! After that we went to the comic book store (since it was Wednesday, a.k.a. New Comic Book Day) and I got the new Blaster Spotlight comic. Blaster is awesome. X3 It was a fun day. I got a bunch of other comics the next day, too. Now the only Spotlight I’m missing is Soundwave, and I’m missing #5 of Escalation and #3 of Devastation. I’ll have to order those ones online, ‘cause I can’t find them anywhere in town. XP

Thursday we went to The Players Pub to hear The Swing Rays. It was great! I knew most of the songs, and I couldn’t help but sing along. There was this guy sitting right in front of me who looked EXACTLY like Santa Claus, and he kept looking back at me. I think he wanted me to shut up so he could hear the band better, but hey, nobody MADE him sit right in front of me, and there were plenty of other seats around so...meh. By the time he sat down, I’d already put away a couple beers so I was a little too tipsy to care. (I might mention that I’m a serious lightweight. Like 2 beers makes me tipsy. ^_^;; )

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Jess. I made her a cake. She likes conversation hearts, so I used those and cordial cherries to decorate it. I flipped them over and painted custom messages on them with food coloring.
*Pics of the cake: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10*
We had some friends over, had pizza and cake (and beer), and we watched Harry Potter with the rifftrax. It was hilarious. Makes me miss the good old days of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Good times. Anyway, that’s about it as far as what I’ve been up to. W00t.

I am about two steps away from completely giving up on drawing all together. I haven’t been able to draw anything but chibis for like 5 years, and I’ve only done like 3 of those in the past 4 years. I tried to start a drawing last night, but I got fed-up with how much it sucked and erased the whole thing. I can’t draw anymore. Even back when I could sorta’-kinda’ draw I could only draw in pencil. I suck at coloring all together, and I can’t draw anything for crap on the computer. Now that I think about it, drawing’s not the only thing I suck at. I’m not really all that good at anything. I can’t write because I can’t come up with any kind of original plot line, and my poetry is all cheesy and stupid. I can’t code because I only know the most basic HTML and CSS.

I don’t even want to go to Tae Kwon Do anymore, because since I took that stupid year off I got all fat(er than usual) and out of shape, and now I can’t even keep up through the freaking warm up without having to bow out and take a break because I can’t breath and I feel like my heart’s going to explode. I never should have taken that year off, but I couldn’t afford to pay for it. If I hadn’t taken that year off, I’d have my black belt by now and be training for 2nd dan. As it is, it’ll probably be a year before I get back into shape and finish up training for my temp-belt test. If I even manage to make myself keep going back. I hate going now, because I feel so slow and sloppy compared to how I was before. I feel like I should be busted back down to yellow belt for getting so out of practice and letting myself forget half the forms and get so out of shape. I’m supposed to go today, but I’m not sure if I will. If I do, I don’t think I’ll wear my uniform, because I feel like I’m a disgrace to my rank, and I don’t want lower belts looking at me for examples of proper technique. And now I feel even more like a stupid wuss, because just typing about this is making me cry and it’s a stupid thing to cry about.

I’m just gonna’ stop typing now, ‘cause I’m just getting more pissed at myself the more I type. I’m just whining about my stupid petty little problems when there are people out there with REAL problems, like they’re starving to death or their children are dying. I just need to suck it up and stop bitching.

I'm so tired. So far this month has not gone well. I don't even want to recall the events for this journal, I've alredy done it once, and I'm in to condition to do it again. If anyone cares, I wrote it all on my Purple Devil DJ account. I just thought I'd post all the new artwork I've done since my last post.

Chibi J'Onn
A frighteningly cute chibi Martian Manhunter.

Chibi Me
Myself as a chibi. Much cuter than in real life.

Chibi Jess
My friend/roommate Jess as a chibi, complete with her trusty "J-cup" and sketchbook.

Chibi Holly
My friend Holly, A.K.A. Green Angel, as a chibi, complete with wings and halo.

Chibi Ellen
My friend Ellen as a chibi, complete with kitty-ears and tail.

Well, now I'm going to bed. Laterz.

Well, my week was uneventful. So far I've made it through two weeks of college. I don't have alot of time to draw lately, so I've created a chibi style. So, I have five new chibi pics, instead of one pic that took me all week. Here they are...

Chibi Vash
My first Chibi in my new style.

Chibi SSJ Vegeta
My second Chibi.

Chibi Vegeta
It's an "old school" Chibi Vegeta, complete with tail and scouter!

Chibi Piccolo Meditating
Yeah, I know his hands look like a blob, but I couldn't think of a good way to add more detail and stay in the style.

Chibi Piccolo
Regular ol' Chibi Piccolo.

Well, that's all for now. LATERZ!

HEY! Lookit that! I'm actually updating my LJ for once! It's been so long that I thought I'd drop a line to everyone who either doesn't know about my DJ, or doesn't read it. Anyway, I actually made it into college. I just finished my first week of it....and it's pretty exhausting. Anyway, I found a site called MediaMiner.org where I post all of my art work, but just so you don't have to put too muc effort into it, I'll go ahead and post links of everything I've done since my last update here.

Piccolo bust: Front View, Profile
A sculpture I did of Piccolo.

Pastel Piccolo
A pic I did of Piccolo in pastels.

Piccolo Sweatdrop
Pic I colored in Photoshop.

Vash Spaz
Vash tweakin' out.

Sad Marvin
A tribute to Chuck Jones.

G.I.R.
G.I.R. from Invader Zim.

Puppy G.I.R.
G.I.R. in his puppy disguise.

Zim
Invader Zim.

Human Zim
Zim in his human Disguise.

J'Onn J'Onzz
J'Onn J'Onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

Slacker J'Onn
J'Onn being totally out of character, watching T.V. in his boxers.

J'Onn again
Another face shot of J'Onn. This one's a bit better.

J'Onn's True Form
J'Onn in his Martian form.

The One Ring
Hand practice. A hand holding the One Ring of Power.

Eye 1
Eye practice.

Eye 2
Another eye practice.

Mouth
Mouth Practice.

Butterfly
A stippled butterfly I did in drawing class.

Lily
A blended lily I did for drawing class.

Ben
My Ben kitty.

Anime Ben
Ben as an anime character.

Falling Angel
An injured angel falling.

Super Chick
A character sketch for one of my comic book characters. I havn't decided on a name for her yet.

Piccolo in a Towel
Just what it says. Piccolo in a towel...a rather small towel.

Anime Zim....Kinda'
My first attempt at an anime-style Zim.

Chibi Kitty-Thing
A disgruntled chibi-kitty-thing I drew when I was bored.

Angel-Vash
A depressed, injured angel-Vash. This one took me a while.

Well, that's it for now. I'm off to bed now. Laterz!

I am so...bored. I shouldn't be, 'cause I haave about 10,000,000 things to do, but...we, I am anyway. I havn't drawn anything for...um...about 3 weeks, 'cause I've got all this other crap to do for school. *sigh* Oh-bloody-well. I'll deal. I'm working on creating an original story, which, I hope, will one day be a series of comic books. I still need a lot more drawing practice, though. Uh...okay, the bell just rang, I suppose that means I should go. o.O

So....I drew some new pics. Nothing to great, but they don't exactly suck. Have a look.


Marvie!!


The only truely original character I've ever made. I actually didn't rip off ANYTHING to make him, and I used NO reference pictures. I don't know what to call him, though, or even what the heck he is.


Vash with wet hair...he's so pretty. X3

Okies! Sleep now! Church tomorrow! Bai-bai!

DJ

Weeee!! I got 4 hours of sleep last night, because I stayed up to finish my chemistry project! I hope I did it right. I made a comic about chemicals that make foods taste good. It was fun 'n' everything, I just hope that I included all of the information that the teacher wanted. I've got a brand new blister under the callus on my right middle finger now 'cause I was gripping my pencil too hard while I was drawing the blasted thing. Fun fun!

I'm sitting here in Computer programing again. The teacher told us to find some online pre-school level games and use them as examples to create our own. Whoopty-doo. It's bloody cold in here. My hands are freezing off XP. I have drawing next, and I really don't want to go. I am so far behind in that class. I've only gotten one project done, and the teacher took it away from me and said I wouldn't be seeing it for a while. I really hope she's not going to put it on display. I hate it when teachers display my artwork, 'cause it's usually the worst one on display. It's like, it's good enough to be displayed, but not as good as the rest >_< .

The projects the teacher gives us in that class intimidate me. I don't really have a problem with the black-and-white things, but one project that she gave us is supposed to be in color. I'm supposed to color-shade a bird using the cool color sequence, and I'm afraid to make a mark on the bloody paper. I'm so sure that I'll screw it up, so I skipped that one for now. Right now I'm working on a stippled picture, which is black-and-white, so I'm cool with it. It's taking a helluva long time to do though. ^_^; Well! I'm off to design a pre-school computer program! Bai for now!