before this dance is through.

prompt: Winter Journey by Alexander Pushkin | characters: Gabrielle and familiar.

paperthickets.

trick.

prompt: "when i woke up on the train..." | character: Katherine.

...yes, the lamp is still following me.

...Hello, my name is Kat and I'm a smartass :D

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Oh my Lord, crazy day. Packing and preparing to go home and running around and walking around the seawall without a camera (IAMANIDIOTKTHXBAI) and I still need to finish the background for the monthly prompt for paperthickets and we need to be out the door at 6.30 for an 8.30 flight and I hate packing just fyi happy almost new year's eve guys! *runs off*

PS. Got the Beatles Remastered collection :DDD
PSS. Got Kumi Koda's "feel my mind" and "Trick" FROM JAPAN.

all things beautiful.

prompt: All Things Beautiful, by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis | characters: Herself.
_{textures by hibbary and ghostbones.}

Paper Thickets.

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Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

deck the halls.

Hope everyone's holidays are going well so far with as little stress as possible. (hahaha.) As it is, I already have my Mom here and my Dad's coming in tomorrow. They are staying at my place over holidays -- meaning I am sacrificing my bed for the couch XD

But anyways. Arting timez!!

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Paper Thickets = another art community. Gives out weekly and monthly prompts for writers and/or artists. It's pretty spiffy and brand new and needs more people :D


prompt: comfort/home | characters: Taken, Katherine.


prompt: this picture by Rune Guneriussen | character: myself.

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Still got to do this week's weekly prompt and the monthly prompt. But that will happen between entertaining parents, practicing my guitar, last minute shopping, helping my sister at her office, and Christmas itself.

artings.

Mass post of works from Jams are Important, an art forum I joined recently. It hasn't been active for about a month, but I'm hoping the moderator will start it up again after winter exams and stuffu :D

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prompt: faint | character: Minate.


prompt: Halloween | character: Tatsuya.


prompt: draw a self portrait that also includes your biggest fears.


prompt: spiral | character: Madame Hypnos.

===

the two below are both inspired by the same prompt: to draw your version of a familiar fairytale.

characters: Little Red and Wolf Boy.


character: Snow White.

I'm planning on doing a few more fairytale girls. Next up will probably be Sleeping Beauty.

Still Alive (really.)

Hi, my name is Kat and I should update my journals more often.

Timeline of my life for the last few months:
- my sister got engaged at the end of July
- I went home for a weekend in August for an anime convention and my mom's birthday
- my sister moved into a new place with her fiance (beginning of September)
- I moved into a new place by myself (mid-September)
- my parents came out to visit over Thanksgiving.
- I turned 21 (mid-November)
- I started guitar lessons (end of November)

My fingers hurt.
(Still getting used to the strings.)

I have also been writing fairly obsessively. I try to get in two thousand words a day. Nothing concrete, mostly just rambling short pieces.
Talking to myself.
Talking to the voices in my head.
(I'm not crazy, I swear.)
I've been following the NaNoWriMo formula for a couple of months now. It's been working pretty well.

October wordcount = 50,143
November wordcount = 52,081

I don't know. I need to do little things to keep myself busy.

The only New Years resolutions I do every year are: read more, write more, draw more.
I've read almost fifty books this year, so that's covered.
My writing quota has been getting better (see above stats). Who really cares if it's just rambling? "Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self." Cyril Connelly.
I'm trying to get more arting stuff done. I have lots of ideas for typography posters. And I've joined a couple of artjam forums. I need to find my camera and start taking pictures again.

I apologize for my rambling.
Coherency is not something I worry about anymore.

burn it up on this hypnotic dancefloor.

Anime Conventions.
I go to them :D

did you see it in my heart?

It has been a while, I know. I’m working on creating a regular blogging schedule as I balance internships and personal work.

And now, even though it has been out for a while, I’m pimping one of my favorite Asian artists—say hello to BoA, and her self-titled English-debut CD!!

BoA – BoA (at Amazon.ca)

For a preview, here are the music videos for the first two singles:





For those who know me, they know I have this massive celebrity-crush on BoA :D
Therefore, this CD has been on rather constant repeat. My other favorites from the CD are “Scream” and “Hypnotic Dancefloor”

inner voice: that’s nice. Now back to work!

…k.

let's get WILD.

On the Rise Artist Collective

//pimpage

(in other random news, I have a couple of internship gigs that will be keeping me busy until I go home. Yay experience!!)

clap if you believe in faeries.

Randy Pausch "The Last Lecture"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

I highly suggest clicking the link.
It cannot hurt, it can only help.

In other news, I am intensely enjoying the end of my schooling, doubly so as my sister is in Montreal and I have the apartment all to myself. :D
There have been many trips to the library. And many hours spent reading. And many hours of not feeling guilty for spending many hours reading.
I have, so far, read ten books this year (I am not counting the number of graphic novels, as I consider them appetizers compared to the main courses regular novels offer.), and while I do not know how many books I had read at this point last year, I find it safe to say that it is a considerably larger number. Today I just finished reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams (yes, i know, finally)

Other books I am currently engrossed in (yes, all at once, and in no particular order):
World War Z Max Brooks
To Be Continued... Michele Karlsberg & Karen X. Tulchinsky (eds.)
To Be Continued...Take Two Michele Karlsberg & Karen X. Tulchinsky (eds.)
A Girl's Guide to Taking Over the World: Writings from the Girl Zine Revolution Karen Green & Tristan Taorimo (eds.)

I have been contemplating starting my own zine. Because zines are cool.
Mine would be a rambling affair punctuated by nonsensical/nonlinear prose, poetry, and illustration, and probably more haiku than most people have ever seen since high school English (or something). I would reach out to all the creative people I have ever met (of which there are many, going by my Youthwrite network alone).
There is also the question of print or digital. Because I am painfully lacking in funds by the second, I am thinking that digital = practical. And would also help me flex my web design muscles that have been growing rather flabby lately.

My plans over the next few weeks include tackling a commissions list I've been ignoring for years (yes, years.), and putting together a website for a friend of the family from back home.
And then I will be going back home, at the beginning of May. (Gods, I miss everyone so much.)

I am not sure how the whole graphic-design-employment thing is going to go. I'm choosing to stay positive and not worry about it too much until I get back. I know I have the skills, and I know I have talent, and I've gotten a lot of good feedback on my portfolio and my website (//pimp).
I'll be okay. :)

(Gods, I never meant for this entry to be that long, it was only going to be the link and that's it 0_o oh, well. Later, dudes.)

you're on candid camera (not.)

http://www.vancouveriam.com/videos/5c77e0441b94

Dear GOD, why has no one ever told me how annoying my voice is??

i just wanna run and lose control.

So. Yesterday?
Yesterday, I was happy.
Like, criminally happy.
If you know me, you know that that doesn't happen a whole lot, especially in the last year-and-a-half.
Why was I so spontaneously happy, you ask?
Because I got my book printed yesterday, and it looks SO FREAKING COOL.

I am totally allowed to be spastic about this.
I mean, it's 136 pages of my soul and psychosis spilled out on the page.
It's a BIT of a big deal. Just a little.
(And the dude at the printer's seemed VERY impressed that I did everything by myself) :D

The other reason for much happiness was that I got my website up :D
The Angel's U-turn
(I hear it's got some pretty cool stuff on it.)

I was SO HAPPY I actually called my parents to let them know just how happy I was.
Because my mother worries. A lot. Which makes my dad worry. A lot.
(On the upside, I haven't called them while threatening to burst into tears since fourth quarter. Yes. This is an accomplishment.)

So then TODAY. TODAY I make the trek to North Vancouver. By myself. When I've never been farther than Lonsdale Quay by seabus, or if I have, I was in a car.
I got to Lonsdale just fine. The seabus is cool.
Then I got on the right bus. Going in the wrong direction ;_;
Then I got on the right bus, going in the right direction. But I went too far and ended up at Capilano College (way way the hell North Van).
So I started to double back on foot and--this is so freaking dramatic--the Gods were like "CUE THE RAIN"
And it was raining and kind of sleeting and windy and I almost lost my umbrella and I was lost in a huge friggin' city.
I wanted to cry. Seriously.

But EVENTUALLY I found the place (Centennial Book Binding <3)and the owner-guy is SO nice and Irish and I love his accent (PS: Happy Saint Patty's Day :D) and everything else went very smoothly and I should be getting my finished book on Friday :D
(pictures are forth-coming. see illustrations here.)

So now I am back at school (I got back to Lonsdale Quay and then back to Vancouver proper via seabus all well and fine) and it stopped raining a while ago and the sun is SHINING. And I got a fairly good critique on my final portfolio project (which is the only reason I came back to school anyways).
And I bought myself a mocha latte and a muffin to feel better.
(lol, I am so hardcore.)

Moral of the story: when getting on a strange bus, ALWAYS harass the bus driver so you know EXACTLY where to get on/off. ;_;
The only thing that makes me feel better about all the time I wasted is that I did this today, rather than trying to do it all yesterday when the book got finished printing, because I never would have gotten back to school on time to finish my website and make it to class.
And now I have a clearer idea of what the hell I'm doing, so I should be able to get there faster on Friday <3

So NOW, instead of staying at school and working on my portfolio HERE, I am going to go home and work THERE. Because I am sick of this cave and my apartment will be nice and sunny and I can blare Linkin Park or Breaking Benjamin or Batman Begins or The Dark Knight and be HAPPY again. :D
...while working on portfolio. (lol, maybe not.)

And I need to pick up energy drinks, cuz for the next few days?
Yeah, all together now: ALL NIGHTERZ. X_x
Hmm, although maybe that's giving into hyperbole. I think I'm actually doing quite well, but I find that I am a firm believer in expecting the worst, and thriving in the relief when the worst doesn't happen :D

Hey, it WORKS. *FLEES*

i have changed, just like you.

OKAY. JUST BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN ON CONSTANT REPEAT FOR THE PAST THREE DAYS.

The theme from Mirror's Edge "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovsky:


AND. AND. AND. JUST BECAUSE IT MAKES MY BRAIN EXPLODE:

In-game footage from Mirror's Edge:

It looks so freaking amazing. SO FREAKING AMAZING. But I would probably die if I tried playing it. A lot. A LOT. And get really worked up as I tried not to die. A lot. And curse at the TV and the game consol and the characters shooting at me. A lot.

//fangirl

A Text Conversation.

Akki: It is Silent Hill at the back of the store...
Me: Decomposing nurses and barbed wire?
Akki: Halogen lights and metal wiring with eerie ghost creaks and a haunted tap.
Me: That was going to be my next guess.
Akki: It scares meeee... :<
Me: Don't you have your cross?
Akki: 10.30 shift. I forgot it in a state of sleepiness.
Me: Baka. Sometimes I wear my pentacle, my ankh, and my cross, just to have all my bases covered.
Akki: Pft, in case you run into a demonic Celtic mummy?
Me: But of course.

<3

everything's so blurry

Maybe it's because so many of my friends are gamers (just calling it like it is, dudes), but I found the video massively amusing and true. I really like how the art director used a man for the "main character". And some of the avatars are just so cute!

And in other things that have caught my attention (like it's so hard):
http://feltron.com/
Imagine being so together that you can create an annual report for yourself :D
I want to do this. One day. Year. Whatever. Because, as we have said before, I am a graphic design NERD.
Nerd in general, graphic designer on the side.

(and, if you're a nerd like me:
http://daytum.com/
here's something to get you started on your own annual report recordings.)

Midterms are next week. Look forward to angst-filled posts starting...in the next few days. Although by going to school on my days off, I have been able to effectively brainwash myself into thinking I've accomplished a lot. (hahaha, seriously? I know, right?)

Inner Voice: Go draw stuff, bitch.

...Inner Voice is right. Going to work on illlustrations for Senior Project now (gah, I need to start posting those and spread the...messed-up-ness of my mind).
Later, later later. (procrastinators of the world unite!...Tomorrow.)

Ah, on an ending note, I have no idea where I saw this (either in a magazine, on a stamp on devART, or an icon on livejournal):

1. social life
2. sufficient sleep
3. good grades

Pick any two. Welcome to college.

(LOL)

The minor fall, the major lift.

One-month-late-New-Year's-resolution: actually update this blog and turn it into my professional one. :|

...there seems to be something slightly contradictory about the phrase "professional blog". It's probably the word "blog". It sounds very...teenage. But that's just me. 

Other "resolutions" *cough cough* are to read more, write more, draw more. 

Yes, I will do all of this, plus graduate with honors. 

I am freaking superwoman. 

So I have this rather retarded little digital diary that is no more than a word document. When I'm not demonstrating my ADD through disjointed drabble, I also drop in quotes and interesting links I come across. 

Inner voice: When you should be working.

...

*shoots inner voice*

I also like doing horrible things to the voices in my head, but that's sort of connected to the disjointed drabble. Writing. It is good to keep the mind sane. 

Anyways. 

Let's go back in time for a week or so and rediscover some of the good little tidbits I have discovered. 

Note: most of the links will have to do with design and artsy-type things. Because I am a huge nerd. HUGE. 

Links:

http://diinterviews.com

http://www.mattsoncreative.com

http://www.ilovetypography.com

http://www.idrawgirls.com

...Hell. My cell phone just went off while I am sitting in on a class. Very loudly, I might add.  Can I sink into the floor now, please? And why is my cell not on vibrate when I need it to be, and yet it is always on vibrate when I am expecting a call and no where near it? This is the second time it's gone off during a class gaaaah... (I will stop obsessing now. Like, right now.)

Time for quotes:

“Oh God, that’s good.” —Mythra, my Professional Development teacher, after taking a sip of her coffee.

“Are you going by Kat or do you have a real name?”—Drew, classmate, to me.

“No, no, I’m not calling you gay, I’m calling you a queer-ass faggot.” random drunk girl, to Chris.

(That last one is my personal favorite.)

PS--I now have a Twitter :D