In Which I Spazz About Three Things

Contrary to popular belief, I am not dead. I've just lost my motivation for blogging. In fact, I've lost my motivation for a lot of things right now. A quick hint: tags help me blog more often. *wise nod* Very inspiring.

In other new: YC ALBERTA 2011 STARTS IN LESS THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I'm excited about this. Since I can't be there this year (and there's only three reasons to be there anyway) I guess I'll have to take the next best thing: watching it live on the website, where they'll be streaming it all weekend. I'll post the link either tomorrow morning or afternoon.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN A YEAR SINCE WE WERE IN ALBERTA!!!!!!!      Creepy...

Leauphaun's line of the day: You know you have too many drawings when you forget you have some.

I did this the other day with my writing. I went back and read the half-completed short story-turned-novella I've had on the go for several months and read the second half again (as I can't stand the first half). I was pleasantly surprised at my writing, even to the point where I'd completely forgotten that I'd written several thousand words. It made my, uh, night.

Several months ago, I got an idea for another story, the summery of which sounded something like this:

Two characters (Eldra and Daymond?) must protect a family from a corrupt government that is persecuting them for their faith.

Okay, so the entire summery was a bit longer than that, but you get the idea. Two weeks ago, I woke up one morning and had huge chunks of plot fall into place. I wrote almost half the plot and four character bios on my iPod before I even got out of bed. As of today, the basic outline is over five hundred words, and I'm about half way through the plot. I've decided to cut Eldra from the entire story, as I'm more interested in Daymond right now. (And once more I fall for the bad boy.)

The unusual thing about this story is I'm hoping to focus more attention on character development and the spiritual aspect than the crazy action/fight scenes that I seem to be so fond of.

Two songs in particular seem to be inspiring me: Fades Away's "Right Now (We'll Stand), Skillet's "Hero". If you listen to the lyrics in both songs, the first one is talking about not being a hero, while Skillet's song is about being a hero. That's the direction I want to take with Daymond in this story (and his overall life). Plot details for this new novella will emerge soon.

Also, I have received an award from Barriss!!! Thanks!

To accept the award I need to list seven interesting things about myself.

1. I CAN'T WAIT for the new RED music video to come out. (clip #1 here and #2 here)

2. If rock music wasn't invented, LOTR music would be my favorite, specifically Concerning Hobbits.

3. I've seen Skillet in person one time and twice online, all before Ben Kasica left. *teardrop*

4. I've discovered that Daymond (my anti-hero with heroic qualities) is a more complex character than I'd ever dreamed, even surpassing Eldra (my main character and protagonist).

5. I could live with snakes, if only I never had to see another spider again in my life!

6. I prefer supper foods for breakfast. Leauphaun is the exact opposite.

7. CLU has officially become my favorite TRON: Legacy character, surpassing Sam by miles.

I must pass this award onto 15 other people. I won't list anyone in particular, but if you haven't received this award yet, you are free to take it, as long as you comment with a link to your post.

And speaking of CLU, Leauphaun completed another music video yesterday to Skillet's remixed song "Monster, now titled "Monster: Unleash The Beast". Check the video out below.

This song fits CLU perfectly. I dare you argue that point with me. *disarming grin*

~God Bless~

Long Promised Drawings & Some Sad News

I've been meaning to post some of my artwork up here for at least a month, but either haven't found the time or the inspiration to lug my huge sketchbook upstairs and scan it into the computer. Well, I'm finally bored enough (and have a big enough headache) to do just that. So here's a piece from April somethingorother 2005.

A bit frightening, although I remember being very proud of the saddle when I first drew it. This wasn't drawn fully freehand, as I traced the very basic outline of the horse.


This one's from December 2005. Once again, it wasn't completely freehand. I always did like it, though, especially the unusual way in which I did the bridle.
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Oops. How did this get in here? Haha. Anakin Skywalker, from when I could actually draw better than Leauphaun. Not a chance of that happening now.

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This is probably my favorite drawing of a (race)horse I've ever done. Not sure why. Probably because it was the first freehand horse I actually liked. As you can probably tell, I removed the jockey, 1) because she was WAY too small, and 2) she was only half finished. Only the boot and the hand remain now.

The only thing I don't like about this drawing is where the saddle is positioned, as it's too far positioned on the back, plus the girth curves the wrong way -- toward the front of the horse instead of the back. This was done in August of 2008.
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And finally, I'd like you to meet Zorro, my masked Arabian. I did him in late 2008, and was probably the last horse drawing I actually completed. I couldn't get his cannon bones (the leg bone directly beneath the knee) right to save my life, so I cut his legs off at the knee.
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The second part of my post is about Skillet. I'm sure that some of you have heard by now that Ben Kasica, their guitarist of ten years, has left the band to pursue other interests. That's sad news, especially since Leauphaun didn't get a chance for him to sign the drawing she did of him.

I'm sad to see Ben leave Skillet, but I'm also glad that I got to see him last May. Ben, you were amazing. I wish I could play guitar even half as well as you. (Or even play guitar at all. . .) God bless you with your clothing line, recording studio and whatever else you decide to do.

So in honor of Ben Judah Kasica, I thought I'd sign off with my four favorite Skillet songs of all time. (That isn't true, my favorite songs are always changing order, as anyone who loves music knows.)

A Sonic the Hedgehog AMV, as Shadow rules.

Savior, one of my all-time favorite Skillet songs. Epic guitar, Ben.

I've watched this music video far too many times already, and it never seems to get old. Sorry for the subtitles; couldn't find one without them.

And, of course, I have to end out with Monster, which has some of the coolest guitar ever in the chorus, but you need to have your volume set really loud to catch it..

I always laugh when I see this video because John Cooper hates bare feet, yet he runs around in bare feet the entire video. Strange.

This is the behind the scenes from the filming of Monster. Pretty cool.

Now I have to wonder who their next lead guitarist is going to be. Maybe Ty Dietzler. . .? Now that wouldn't be cool at all.

NOTE: I couldn't get the formatting right to save my life, so I apologize if it looks weird. It looks great on one computer but horrible on the laptop. I've tried several times to fix it, but it hasn't worked, so I'm just going to leave it. Sorry if it looks strange.

~God Bless~

Quorra Drawing & A Video

Leauphaun did this drawing of Quorra (from TRON: Legacy) last night and filmed the creation of it.

Check out the video on either her blog or on her Acid Planet/Sony Music page. I recommend the Acid Planet page, due to that video being a much higher quality than the Blogger video.

Comments have to be left on her blog, as you need an account to comment on Acid Planet.

Warning: MAC computers seem to have a hard time with the Acid Planet page due to the page's MP3 formatting, and chances are if that's what computer you use, you won't be able to watch the video.

~God Bless~

Beware Low Flying Cucumbers, Er, Pickles

My blog says that I last posted on the 13th, but that isn't right. It was, what, four or five days ago? Ah, well. No matter. I'm posting again, and that's what counts.

After getting home from church last night, I was hungry, but it was nearing ten and I didn't want something really filling (even though I ended up staying awake until after two). I took a quick look in the fridge and, noticing the large jar of dill pickles and sour cream, both sitting there with suspiciously innocent expressions, I was abruptly dragged down memory lane. . .

We spent this past New Years Eve with our friends of, oh, I don't know, FOREVER. Their dad is an excellent cook, so there were tons of yummy snacks throughout the evening/morning.

After playing Apples To Apples, my best friend and I went over to the snack table. As I was explaining something about my writing, she picked up a slice of cucumber, then suddenly burst out laughing. Between fits of giggles, she said she saw herself in her mind's eye throwing the cucumber at me.

After recovering from another fit of giggles, she took a small pickle and dipped it in the sour cream. I gave her a look something along the lines of "what on Parthaya are you doing?" She somehow convinced me to try it, therefore introducing me to my new favorite snack.

You heard right: dill pickles dipped in sour cream.

I normally don't like dill pickles, preferring to munch on garlic pickles, but now I know what to do with that huge jar of dill pickles taking up space in the back of the fridge.

My dad gave me an entirely odd look -- it may have been disgust -- last night when he saw me with pickles and sour cream. But it's good! I got Leauphaun to try it and now she's hooked too! Go ask her if you don't believe me.

And it seems that the sour cream lessens the hyperness that comes with eating pickles. . . wait. Consider this: Epic Pictures Equals Puddle Lose.

Maybe not.

Please tell me I'm not the only one that likes weird combinations of food.

Taking a lateral step from weird to writing (I've come to the conclusion that they're actually related), I've somehow manipulated myself to write about thirty-six hundred words in the last seventy-six hours. Sadly, they have no relation whatsoever to my short story, which is approaching four thousand words, but hasn't been touched in at least four days.

In case I've never mentioned this before, I am not a fast writer. I get giddy if I can write over five hundred words in one day. And here I am, getting more than 800 for three days in a row. *snickers* And more than half of those words have come between 12:00-2:30 in the morning.


I wanted to end this with ForthAngel's song "Confidence" but could only find live versions. This one is the best I could find, but none of them have the incredible vocals the studio version has. So instead here's This Fires Embrace's "Art Of War." It's my goal to see this band in the next two years. Them and ForthAngel. And RED.


~God Bless~

Another Blog To Follow!

Just to let everyone know, Leauphaun has started a fifth blog, A Day in the Life of an Artist. As the name suggests, she's going to be blogging more about her daily life, not just artsy stuff. Go check it out! (Please, I don't want to be her only follower!)

~God Bless~

Revenge Of The Characters

I know, I promised a character interview. Unfortunately, as the title states, my characters have taken revenge on me by not complying with anything -- ANYTHING -- that I want them to do. Especially this enigma right here.

I can't figure out for the life of me what exactly he is. Oh, I know that he's human (that much is obvious) but other then that, I'm drawing a blank. Leauphaun and I can't even figure out what exactly he's supposed to look like, much less what his personality is. I'm thinking something like Kearn from The Door Within Trilogy, aka, the "bad boy" of the story. The specifics are mysteriously elusive, however.


On a happier note, I can't believe I forgot to mention this in my last post! On November 11, I officially (and finally) broke 200,000 words in my journal. That's writing anywhere from 1 to 700 words every day since September 1, 2007. Actually, I missed one day since then. But that's it. I was going to hold a party to celebrate, but I think I may just buy myself a new hat as a reward. Sounds lame, doesn't it? Chocolate might be a better idea. . .


Sorry for the shortness of this post, but it's getting late. Wait. What am I talking about? I have another three-four hours before I go to bed. Maybe I should just keep on writing. . . Then again, I don't have a clue what I'm saying. It would probably be safest if I stopped right here.

~God Bless~