*studies Norwegian diligently*
*learns alot*
*gets sick of describing vegetables*
*listens to too much Myslovitz*
*wishes she could pronounce the song titles*
*learns the Polish alphabet and letter combinations*
*feels mildly proud of herself*
*decides it would be fun to actually learn Polish*
*experiences grammar induced brain implosion*
*returns to her Norwegian lessons*
*has forgotten everything*

Fuck.

*gives up and starts playing the Sims*


And I thought I coud be so productive without the internet. *snort*

Hello everyone ! :)
I've finally finished my trip Paris for the famous japanese band "Abingdon Boys School". It was simply amazing, awesome, I lost my words. Well, I will try to do my best for writting my live-report, I say this because my english sucks sometimes, and I hope you will enjoy this.
I will put some pictures I've taken, but because I don't want to see people who steal my pictures, I've put a watermark on it, I've the right, I've taken myself these pictures after all, hahaha ! lol



( ~ Full live report behind the cut ! ~ )

I've not updated for a while, but lots has changed.
Namely, I've lost my Warlock :(
He died on 6th october, after becoming very tired and weak and just fading away in my arms. He was my absolute world, and I miss him every day. I was supposed to be going to london on the day he died, to meet Marco pierre white at a book signing, but I decided to stay with him instead.
It was a no-brainer.
I can't even put into words how upset I was, and still am, about his death.

So I'll just move on.

I've also lost my two old rescue girls who were dumped at Haven.
Siren developed a slight head tilt, and became a bit unsteady on her feet. The vet diagnosed her with a brain tumour, which I suspected anyway. After trying steroids and antibiotics, she made no improvement and continued to deteriorate, so I made the decision to have her pts.
Her supposed sister, Cythia, died a day later. She'd developed a tiny pea-sized bump in her groin, which presented as an abscess. I was convinced this was what it was, and treated it as such. However, one night I went out to see her and it had ruptured, and looked, to me, like a hernia. It had come out through her vagina and was generally very unpleasant. She died very soon after :( They were both elderly girls who had bad starts in life. I just hope I managed to make their last weeks happy ones.
These pictures are the last I took of them. Siren was just beginning to show signs of her brain tumour in these pics.

Bella, my lovely grey girl, developed a tiny pea-sized lump in her arm-pit which I had removed, and she recovered very well from her op. She is now fighting fit again, and just waiting for her fur to grow back!

Lenny, my old hairless boy, will be in december. He now lives indoors with me. His hind legs are weak, meaning he cannot make it up to the higher levels and needed to stay at the bottom. None of the other rats tended to sleep there, so he had to remain on his own in his waffle house all the time. With the weather getting colder, I didn't want him to be on his own, and cold, without any other rats to cuddle up to. Especially at his age.
So I brought him upstairs with me, and he loves it. He has a small cage, which is fine for him as he does not move around and tends to sleep all day, and at night he sleeps on my bed.
I guess he's kinda filling the hole Warlock has left, as Warlock used to sleep on my bed each night. I've tried bringing other rats up to see him, but he seems not to have any interest in them at all and completely ignores him.
So he will live out his days with me in the warm. I am convinced he would die if he were put outside now as he is quite frail.
But he's doing well and seems a happy little boy.

So, to pictures.
These pics are now about 6 weeks old.

( lets begin )

I feel like I'm coming of age. I feel like I'm coming into my own power - as an adult, as a person of substance. I feel confident, and self-assured, strong, powerful. I feel like I can get through anything, do anything, be anything. I feel like my world is made up of possibilities, endless opportunities and wonderful chances. I feel like the universe is sending good things my way - or perhaps it's me, my power, that's creating good things.

My life is good.

Nya... sorry guys for being this late, but I love long reports and it always takes me LONG time to write some.
Hope some of you would like to read some of my 'notes' ^^

( fake lj cut XD )

Today is my one day off this week before the craziness of the weekend. I am very tired, I fell asleep at half past 8 last night. Very tired. I was woken up this morning unexpectedly, given my determination to hibernate until lunchtime, by a piggie hovering in front of my face.

Frisky has an eye injury of some kind, her right eye has blood beneath the surface and she looks like the terminator. Knowing how serious all eye injuries can be, I shuffled on to my laptop, and had a mostly fruitless look around Guinea Lynx. Cloudy eye injuries are common, weepy eye injuries are also common, blood not so much. It could be anything from a minor irritation to a pre-rupture of the eyeball.

With instructions to get an eye stain, antibiotic eye drops and some pain meds, Jon scrambled out the door to the vets with Frisky and Rosie (for company and calm) in the large carrier. Being half asleep and in my pyjamas I wasn't quite ready for the appointment made for 15 minutes in the future. So now I get to sit here and worry about my baby pig :/

At least when it comes to animals and vets an eye injury is treated the same with most species, meaning that although the local vets are not the best when it comes to guinea pigs they can at least treat eye injuries as well as anywhere else. When Gracie had a hay poke eye injury they knew just what to do and her eye cleared up nicely after a course of eye drops.

It's a good job Jonny always checks the piggies in the morning and gives them their hay and pellets as I wouldn't have been up for hours yet.

I'm really hoping this isn't anything serious, eye injuries are horrible and very worrying.

ETA: the vet thinks it is down to blunt trauma, there are no scratches on the surface of her eye, it's all behind the surface. Probably she whacked her head off of something in the night. We have tiacil ophthalmic solution (antibiotic to stop swelling) at one drop three times a day, along with some metacam at 0.3ml a day for any pain (eye injuries are painful even if the pig doesn't display any signs of being in pain).

We've got to keep a really close watch on her eye for any signs of swelling, if that happens she needs rushed back in. Swelling leads to rupture of the eye. Hopefully we caught it in time and the eye drops will keep any swelling in check. Jon is going to take a photo later for Guinea Lynx, he's taken the day off in case we need to rush back in.

Just goes to show how important it is to get eye injuries attended to as soon as possible!

Does anyone join a.b.s. live in Munich?

I am from Holland and not so familiar of  Munich city and location.
If you see small (12years old sized) Japanese lost around kult fabrik, it's me!!!
In that case, please take me to right place together with you....
I am going alone so I hope I can make some friends over there.
  

I think I've mentioned a couple times before that of late, I listen to audio books more than music when I draw these days. Having a story told to you makes sitting still for 4-8 hours much less of a chore! As my budget for audio books is not huge, I've been taking advantage of some of the free podcasts to listen to as well. I thought I'd link a few of the ones I've enjoyed for anyone who's also looking for some listening material.

Writing Excuses - Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy author), Howard Tayler (Web comics), Dan Wells (Horror author)

I highly recommend writing excuses for anyone who's ever wanted to write their own novel or web comic. The podcasts are 15 minutes each and every week they cover a different subject. I found them very entertaining and they give you a lot to think about when writing. Coming from someone who produced 200 page failed web comic out of high school with no plan at all for what was going to happen more than 3 pages down the line, I can safely say that the importance of thinking your story through is something everyone who wants to do a comic (print or web) or novel (I think preplanning is a given there, haha) should consider. You can listen to seasons 1 and two through the archives, as there are too many episodes to have on itunes at once.

12 Byzantine Rulers - Lars Brownworth

A series of podcasts about the eastern roman empire. My friend Erich recommended these to me. The podcast covers the history of the Byzantine Empire by giving you the life stories of 12 key rulers. These probably won't be for everyone, as it is very much like having a (very good) history teacher lecture to you. But if you're in the mood for some learning, they're a good listen.


If anyone has any podcasts they favor and would like to recommend them, I'm all ears. I'm finished with Byzantine and halfway through season two of writing excuses and my stockpile is dwindling fast: Honoes! D=

---------------------------------------

Patch Together - Eurukatt's Butterfly Cobra
Eurukatt recently submitted a rather spiffy butterfly cobra to patch together. Stop on by and comment / vote if you enjoy it and would like to see this made into something fancy and tangible.

http://www.aabbss.com/

( +1 )

kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

*dies*

that was THE best concert I've ever been to. But lemme start at the beginning.

As some of you know, I'm from the Netherlands, so had to leave early to be in Bochum on time. My sis and I arrived at 'Die Zeche' where the signing and concert was gonna be an hour too early. We weren't even the first in the line! We waited...and waited...and waited... damn, it was cold. About 5 past 3 the doors were opened, and groups of 5-6 people could enter. They got their stuff signed, and then the next 5-6 people could go.
Some ppl skipped in line (made me annoyed... we're all fan of ABS >.> but o well).

While inside, we got the opportunity to buy a poster and the cd Teaching Materials to get signed, but I totally skipped it, and went straight in the line to get my own Abingdon Boys School cd signed.
First in line was Hiroshi, who, unfortunately I don't have a decent photo of cause he just moved as my sis was making the picture >.< Second was Kishi... omg, he's soooo cute. His smile is so... *kyaaa* kawaii. Third in line was Sunao, who seemed to be really 'cool and relaxed', smiling as some girl in front of me went insane as she got a hug from Takanori.
Reaching the end of the line with Takanori was just... the best moment in my life (xD) my heart was beating, my hands shaking.
Takanori is so tiny! But aaah, I don't even know where to start. He signed the front of my little ABS photobucket. He asked for my name, and was surprised that I had my name in Kanji ready for him :P (Yay for having studied Japanese for a year and having a friend who translated my name).
The best part though was when I said: "Kore ha yume desu! Watashi no imouto to watashi ha Oranda kara kita!" and his reply was an uuuuber cute: 'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeh? Oranda?! Sugoi na!"
My heart melted. His eyes..and his voice.. and kyaa... his everything! *heart melts again*
My sis and I got the chance to take a picture with Takanori! (He really is small, I had to bend through my knees a little to make it not look too awkward on the photo xD)

Well, after the signing we had more or less two an a half hours left till the concert would start, so my sis and I went into Bochum to find a place to eat something. I hit another car while parking (oops ^^") but really, German roads are horrible >.<

The doors opened at 6, or a little after, and the concert started at 7.
My best guess on how many people were there... about 300-400ish? I'd expected a bit more to be honest, but even though there were so 'few' people, ABS gave it their all.

The songs they played (in order)
Strenght
Freedom
Howling
Nephilim
Dress
Valkery
Freak Show
Jap
Innocent Sorrow
Kimi no Tame Uta (aaah >< can't believe I got that wrong, sorry!)
From Dusk till Dawn
Stay Away
Atena

The concert... it really was amazing. It took about an hour and 45 minutes. Tried to make a couple of recordings, but some guy was walking through the crowd, mentioning all who were making a movie that we weren't allowed to, D:. Photo's were allowed, but it was too dark in there to make a decent photo without blurr. Actually, there's only one during the concert that's not blurred, and I got a couple at the end where the whole band were together on the stage, bowing.

The songs.. the talks Takanori did in between. It was just so awesome.
You could hear he'd really studied his German, being able to say the following (and more I'm sure I forgot)
Wir Lieben euch! (we love you)
Ihr sind Geil! (you are cool)
Es ist ein Freu (something, 'freude' or so) das wir hier sind (something along the way: we're happy/honored to be here)
Proost! (Cheers!) which lead to my sis and me yelling 'Kanpai!'. Takanori didn't hear it unfortunately, but Sunao did! so the band cheered back in unison: Kanpai!

He also really tried his best to tell us in German that he'd been to the German Wall in Berlin (20 years commemoration a couple of days ago) and that he'd also seen the Brandenburger Tor (http://www.travel-destination-pictures.com/data/media/29/brandenburger-tor-berlin_344.jpg ). It was epic fun to see how he tried to use his hands to try and make it clear to us what he meant. He eventually told Sunao to bend over (:o, he then said: Sunao's my horse! (mentioning the statue on top of the Brandenburger Tor of course :P).

In the end, you could see that they didn't wanna leave, didn't wanna stop. We loved them, they loved us!

I really don't know what to say else other than I love them, the concert was awesome, and I lost my voice XD Those who have seen Takanori (and/or ABS) live probably know the feeling. If you ever have the opportunity to see him live.. take it! You'll regret it if you don't.

Photos!!!
http://s905.photobucket.com/albums/ac254/chainedxwings/?albumview=slideshow

(cross posted in TMRevolutionist)

Warning: Shameless self promotion

I opened up a NeonDragonArt.com etsy shop for discontinued or limited quantity items. Etsy is very easy to use, and I am very excited about it. In the etsy store you will find some con-only items, discontinued (and thus discounted) items, and some popular items from the neondragonart store.
( Etsy photos and more info under the cut )

( Ramble about crafts, glass pendant necklaces, and handmade soap. Probably rather dull, and thus I cut to save your flist! )

I geek out over dumb things. It's 4AM. I wonder if I'll still be geeking out about soap in the morning; everything's cool at 4AM.

Hi everyone, um I'm from Birmingham in the UK, and I was just wondering if anyone who's going up to London to watch the a.b.s concert on the 12th of November, and you're from Birmingham, and going in a group or with another person, or heck even by yourself, can you please let me know, because I would be really grateful if you would let me tag along, cause I have no one to go with and I dont know how to get there either, so please any one? :S 

I start to write because it would become a very long story so the pictures speaks for me




 

Penny Arcade has been grating on me more and more lately, and this kind of makes me want to stop reading there altogether. They are not PC gamers. Which is fine--if you want to play console games, play console games. But stop having idiotic opinions about PCs, okay?

You know what's wrong with Windows 7? It has to follow up on Vista. And you know what's wrong with Vista? NOTHING, GODDAMMIT. If you use it on a computer that doesn't struggle even to run XP, or a computer with decent components in general, Vista is a perfect freaking system. I upgraded to Windows 7 because we got a good deal on it and really, why not, because 7 is a perfect freaking system. So, after using Vista, what did I expect from Windows 7? Well, let's see. Functionality, security, smooth interface, fast response time... funny how I get exactly that!

While I'm ranting on the subject... let's watch Mac ads!

How do I not vomit while watching this? "I feel like I've heard this before, PC." Oh, so Macs never released OS X, then? OS 9 wasn't an improvement on system 8? System 8 didn't improve on 7? 7 was in no way an improvement on 6? You find fault with a company releasing new operating systems? Stop doing it, then. By the way, what about charging for point releases? That's a nice trick.

At least this one isn't an outright lie! Although it is just plain misleading. Customer satisfaction? You're not directly competing. Compare customer satisfaction of people buying a Mac from Apple to customer satisfaction of people buying a PC from Microsoft. What? You can't? Awwww. That's like saying a car is #1 in its class when its class is one car big. Oh, and backing up your stuff so that you can format your computer and install a fresh OS? You mean you wouldn't have to somehow get all your files from your old PC to your new Mac if you bought one? You... you would? But she just hands the guy her box! That's totally easier than installing a system that keeps all your old files for you and getting a fresh start with a system that's familiar to you! I especially like this user comment: "If you keep buying PC then your retarded."

And then for some reason they did they exact same ad again, with different people. Lazy, I guess. I understand that one of their points is, "as long as you have to make a fresh start, why not make it with Mac?" However, again, your files can be backed up for you. That's as easy as it gets.

Same old conclusion: If you like Macs, use Macs. If you like PCs, use PCs. But oh for the love of god, I wish Apple would stop making commercials based on lies and misdirection. Extol your virtues--don't make up shit about the other guy. But hey. I guess I'm overly idealistic. That's how I'd like politics to be run, too.

I was wondering if anyone knew of any art communities besides the ones listed below that may be a good place to share my current artwork. The gallery would have to be something that I am able to add to and delete on my own, not someone's personal web space where I e-mail them my images and they update the site. These are the only ones I know of at the moment.

ND @ Artspots
ND @ Artwanted
ND @ DeviantArt
ND @ FurAffinity
ND @ SheezyArt

Thank you!

Sigh. I've been delaying posting because my update is "there's nothing to update, boo-urns."

I talked to the apartment manager (she and her husband have lived here for over a decade, in another building), who told me several things.

First, hearing that much detail from the bedroom is normal. She regaled me with many stories of the things she can hear from her bed, which included "old woman farting in her sleep." Thrilling.

Second, she said that she is a bit wary of making noise in her own bedroom, too, because she knows how clearly sounds transmit. She is often shushing her husband, apparently.

Third, she said I shouldn't be paranoid of making noise in my own home and not to worry in the slightest.

After I headdesked a while, I gave up and am trying to get used to it. But late at night, the guy next door coughs and it still wakes me up. I'm still too self-conscious to do anything in the bed besides fall asleep, and that includes innocent things like reading. I don't know how, exactly, to get used to the fact that strangers could hear me fart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GPl3wbbztc

Hey, sorry for keeping you waiting!
Second part of V-ROCK FESTIVAL '09 photos just released!!
Check out it right now!

http://musicjapanplus.jp/specialfeatures/?action=detail&sf_id=1696

 

DragonArt DVDs
For those who keep inquiring when the video workshops I participated in would be available on DVD, the answer is now! I received an e-mail from Impact about a month ago regarding these DVD's, and here are the direct links where you can purchase them should you wish to.