Living Every Day in June

As usual, here is a list of little, mostly good, things that made my days this month.

1. bike work w/dad, kung fu panda 2
2. jody's wedding
3. put things in boxes
4. bloggin'
5. shady trees
6. gave bathroom a good cleaning
7. peggy graduated
8. moving!
9. key turtle and receipt turtle
10. job prospects looking up
11. beans & rice
12. job!
13. long, trying day--glad it's nearly over
14. yomicon!
15. started job: stressful but it'll get better
16. screaming fish & tragic pet death stories
17. started reading Harry Potter
18. finished a book, enjoyed a day off
19. nice conversations
20. got printer set up
21. stayed up late writing
22. movies
23. thrift shopping!
24. cool night air
25. watched anime~
26. long ride home
27. pajamas all day
28. fresh chicken eggs
29. awesome cheesy spinach
30. DDR with bros

Summer Goals: End of June Checkup

When summer began, I made a lovely and illustrated list of the things I hoped to accomplish this summer. As the month draws sharply to a close, I thought I'd review.

get a job
Yay! Score! I got a job. I'm working in foodservice, which was definitely not my first choice, BUT it's literally a 5 minute walk from my apartment, which really feels great after work. Sometimes it's even shorter if someone's coming out the exit gate in a car and I can get in that way.
No cash register handling either, a lovely plus.

practice drawing everyday
oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I've been drawing and stuff, I don't know if it's as much as usual… but it definitely hasn't been working on perspective or proportion or anything important like that. And it DEFINITELY hasn't been every day.

blog 3 times a week
I'm just barely making this one. It's surprising how much less I seem to have to say to the Internet when the Internet is not right there in my face.
Plus my life is basically work and reading Harry Potter right now, so what am I to talk about? Well, maybe I could make an art update…

move to austin
A+ success! I was feeling some stress in the form of headaches and feeling generally under the weather at the beginning, but I adapted beautifully and the 45 minute commute to Elgin now feels pretty long.

webcomic 1-2 pages per week
ANOTHER FAILURE
Okay, I have a sort-of excuse. For the first couple weeks we had no scanner. However, I had an already scanned panel that I could have colored… and didn't.
And I drew no new ones. I storyboarded nothing. I did a lot less than I could have.

Let's hope my art goals are more on track for the rest of the summer. See y'all later in the day (or possibly tomorrow) for my monthly wrap-up post… once I'm back in contact with my journal-calendar.

My opinion on the recent political events

A quick recap of events: Republicans wanted a bill passed that would ban abortions in Texas after 20 weeks and hold abortion centers to higher standards, likely forcing many to shut down. Wendy Davis (democrat) performed a filibuster, speaking for 11 hours without breaks to keep the voting from happening. The voting happened, but finished after midnight. The bill did not pass this time.

My main reaction to this is a reaction to a reaction--tumblr's reaction.
I know many people on tumblr are extremely liberal. I think it's good for me to have exposure to that and be able to understand their points of view. (This isn't to say I'm staunchly conservative; to be honest I don't know what I am.) However, what I was seeing last night was seriously yanking my chain.

My feminist friends on tumblr were going on and on and ON about how this was a victory for feminism. A woman made herself heard and wouldn't take any of the dirt white cis male politicians were throwing at her etc etc.

But I take issue with this. Because tumblr, in your excitement about letting women speak, you're praising the continued exterminations of the voices of many women AND men who don't have the chance now to speak, or even cry.
Your victory is the embarrassment of the patriarchy at the cost of the lives of those who should be leading the country in the future. Who knows how many of those little girls would have joined in the revolution you want?
The feminism that you want focuses on YOU and other women who were already at least were given the decency of being allowed to live and form their opinions. You're not thinking of the good of humans or even the good of women wholly. You're not thinking about THEIR rights, only yours.

A few points I wish to argue:

Yes, the higher standards for abortion clinics would have caused many to shut down completely. Women might have had to drive for a long time to have their child killed. (Maybe they'd think about it the whole way and make a better decision, but that's beside my point.) But if these clinics are being held to higher standards, having the abortion doctors be qualified surgeons and all that, maybe the women you claim to want to protect could at least be safer.

I saw someone going on about how women have less rights than a corpse because their organs are used "without their permission."
Woman, when you decided to do the do, you gave permission for the baby-makin' to happen, whether you tried to prevent it or not. It's a package deal. (I know, I know, outside of that, there's the issue of rape, but let's save that for another time and another place as I don't want to get all into those kinds of topics on this blog.)

And what is so terrible about saying no abortions after 20 weeks? By that point, the fetus is CLEARLY a human, capable of feeling pain. The most sickening post I saw last night was titled "yay abortions!".
are you kidding me.

How blind has your feminism made you? This was not a victory!
Just because a woman is being heard does not mean that she is speaking the truth.

Thank you all for putting up with my rants. I just had to say some things.

Thrift Finds

Here's a quick post to show you guys some cute clothes I got the other day.

 I really like this skirt! It's a little big, but I can manage.

 The colors here don't work perfectly on me, but I love the cut of it. It will be so fun to wear in the distant future when it gets chillier.

And this one, I debated the purchase of for a while. It wasn't cheap, but it's super cozy, it's stripey, it's long, and it's got an A on it for Aki. c:

The sad part is that 2/3 of my shopping trip is useless until late fall.

Yomicon

So I didn't take many pictures at all at Yomicon, but I thought I'd talk about it anyway.

There's my cosplay, Applejack. Bethany was Pinkie Pie.

There's a picture of us with a Rainbow Dash we saw.

There was a bunch of crafts and some cool free stuff as usual. I now have a drawstring backpack (score!) that says "I read past my bedtime." I got to mess around with a tablet a little bit and make buttons out of cut up old comics. Pretty cool.

Well, I would have more to talk about if I had pictures of the buttons, for example, but I don't right now. I hope you are happy with this:

It is my post-wig hair (it was still damp when I had to put it in the wig cap).

Currently

Two currently posts in the same month?! Well, my situation is different now.

Watching:

I think the last thing I watched was the ending episodes of Doctor Who Series 3. Hermits united, awesome biblical metaphors and all that.

Reading:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I read over half of it yesterday, and I'm hoping to finish it today. The reason I'm only reading the Harry Potter series now, at age 18, is because of family rules. My mom has concerns, and I can understand those. Please listen to your parents, children. But now I am more independent. c:
I really actually like it a lot so far. It's much more goofy than I expected. The story is engaging and the plot is pretty cool... the way things work together so well. Anyway, it's an easy read and very entertaining.

Listening to:

random!

Whatever Bethany decides to play, really. She's the musical one. XD Other than that, I've been listening to Owl city and stuff as I go to sleep.

Writing:
...NOTHING. This is really sad and I should fix it.

Drawing:
Well, I have no picture to accompany this because no scanner. But we're getting that printer/scanner later today, I think. ;_; So grateful.
Anyway, I haven't been drawing as much as I should be. But one thing I did recently that I like was a picture of Raven from Teen Titans that I did all in Prismacolor pencil, no inking or anything. And I drew Lasergirl in the same manner.

Working:
In food service. It's hot and greasy and not my most ideal job, but who gets their ideal job on the first go anyway? The good parts are it's convenient and close and it's a job. I'm glad that they gave me the chance even though I have very little work experience.

Well, that may be all for now. If I remember, I'll update the "drawing" post after le scanner is received.

Photos used are not my property. If I upload the drawing later, that one IS my property. But as of now I own none of those pictures.

Short update.

I'm out here by the pool getting mosquito-bit and stuff. What to blog about, huh?

Well, let's see. Work has been getting easier. I'm learning some more about how everything works. But the grease and heat is making me break out, I fear.

We'll be getting a printer soon (THANKS, MOM AND DAD!!!), which means I can scan stuff and do comic art.

Without wifi, I've been doing some more things like art and reading just on the fly.

Speaking of reading, I started Harry Potter. I like it so far. But I think I'll write up a "currently" post tomorrow with more detail. I should probably leave the wifi soon.

Photos from the new place

 This is our wonderful refridgerator refrigerator! (fridge frige WHY ISN'T FRIDGE SPELLED LIKE IT'S SHORT FOR REFRIGERATOR? This is a catastrophe)
Anyway, we thought, why don't people put posters on their fridges? So we're starting a trend.

 Here is my moderny corner of the bedroom I share with Emma. Bright colors and geometric shapes abound.

 Here's Emma's rustic complement to all that new-timey stuff I have.

 Here is the geek wall where the two parties meet.

 Peggy has a simple space, referred to as her "third world corner."

 And Bethany's fun artsy bright colors.

 This is our dining room. A little mismatched, but it has tile floors which is really nice because other apartments have carpet in the eating areas. Weird.

 Here's our notice board with matching clock. We're color coordinated!

Finally, a long shot of the living room. We don't have any sort of lighting in there yet except for the lava lamp, so the light from the dining room kind of wafts in and it gets dim once the sun goes down. Before that, though, light comes in those windows full on in the afternoon.

Well, there's my new life! As I mentioned last post, we have no wifi. However, someone who lives near us has a wifi network named "Trogdor." Pretty radical.

General update

Let's see. I moved in with my three best friends. That's super awesome. We have no wifi, which is also really good for us. Right now, I'm sitting in the "clubhouse" area, which means public wifi and air conditioning during this heated part of the day.

I think I will like not having wifi. It means that if I come to the internet, I have to make an effort. It means I will have more time for reading, drawing, all that good stuff.

There is a public printer with a scanner in it, but I can't figure out how to connect... I don't think it's wireless. It's possible that I'll have to use one of their computers and a flash drive... In any case, I'll figure it out. I REALLY hope I can use the scanner.

The business center/clubhouse/office isn't open on Sundays, so if I want wifi I'll have to sit outside by the pool--which SOUNDS really nice. (but yesterday I was eaten by mosquitoes.)

But electronics aren't the biggest thing in the world!

Emma's and my room is pretty neat. As in clean. Which makes me happy. She has soooo many pictures up... I have a few.
The four of us have a table and chairs now. We don't have a lot of food, but I think at least a couple of 'em are going shopping this evening, and my mom is going to bring some stuff on Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday! Please pray for me because it's possible that I'll have two job interviews and be meeting a manager that day. Today was a really satisfying day in the job search, even though my bike tire deflated again. I'll need to change the inner tube. Thankfully, everything is still in walking distance... biking just cuts down on the time.
 There were bike lanes on a couple of the streets I used, but since I'm not used to city riding yet, I rode on the sidewalks and walked my bike across the crosswalks like a good citizen. c:

I need to take pictures of the apartment. I'll make another post for that, because to do so I'd need to go back there. I can't even use the pictures I've taken since I did not bring my iPod over here. You'll just have to wait. c:

I was the one who did the inspection so that they know what small damage was already in the apartment and can't make us pay for that. We'll try not to rough the place up, but who knows what will happen in a year... a few corners were bumped in moving and all that.

I may be experiencing allergies for the first time... very very mildly. I had a pressure headache sort of thing yesterday, and things just don't feel the same... well... it's not so bad.

We're all going to have to give each other a lotta grace. And make rules. Yep.

Well, sorry if I bored you, dear readers. But I'm sure some people (le family) are curious. This has been another long and rambly post.

A to Z

Hi hi hello. Usually I don't do "chain" things, but I've done a few of these style things on facebook before (ah, the young teenage years) and hey, what could it hurt?
No idea where this came from, but as for me, I got it from Kelli over at She Learns As She Goes.

Here we go!

A - - Available or married?
Whee, what an opener! What options! Let's just say I'm fictionally married to Mozilla Firefox (yes, the web browser) but when it comes to real life I'm happily single. 

Me and Mozy

B - - Book?
If this is asking for my favorite book... Probably the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books by Douglas Adams.

C - - Cake or pie?
I'm a cake sort of person. I'd rather have my sugar mixed into breads than fruits, I guess? Though chocolate-pecan pie is pretty good, too.

D - - Drink of choice?
Water. A close second is tea. Hot or cold. But probably unsweetened.

E - - Essential item?
Um, gotta have blankets. That's probably it. I'd start to despair if I had to sleep without blankets for a long time.

F - - Favorite color?
I WONDER. HMM.

G - - Game to play or watch?
Dance Dance Revolution is super awesome. As for non-video games: Telephone Pictionary, Raging Oceans, and Apples to Apples are pretty cool.

H - - Hometown?
Good ol' Elgin, TX. A small city with two sausage factories and only just now getting a Walmart. 

I - - Indulgence?
Nachos and pretending fictional characters are real.

J - - Job?
Sadly, none yet. Still searching. I did weekly childcare for a while, but that's monthly now, and I help moderate TWIG, but that's an unpaid position. 

K - - Kids and names?
Assuming the fictional family tree, Mozilla's and my children are named Mutt, Triss, and Strifey. Assuming the real lifes... I am of course childless.

L - - Life is incomplete without...?
Art. (And God, of course, but He put art so deep inside of me that I would feel a great loss to not have it)

M - - Music group or singer?
That's such a hard questiOWL CITY

N - - Number of siblings?
Please count for yourself. (Some are cousins but that doesn't matter; they are siblings)

the three on the left are me and my parents, so don't count them

O - - Oranges or apples?
Aw, come on, you guys know the answer.
Did you answer oranges? Congratulations, you've been fooled. Apples all the way. Oranges are too messy to eat. More fun design and color-wise though. c:

P - - Phobias and fears?
I used to be really scared that all my drawings would burn in a fire or my computer would get left behind in a disaster along with all my files, but I think now that I could go on without them. I'd be pretty sad, still, though.
Oh, and I can get nervous when it comes to heights. Even if the railing is adequate, I avoid putting weight on it as I imagine myself somehow flipping over it and falling to my injury or worse.

Q - - Quote?
I don't collect favorites, usually. Let me just grab (read: scroll for a while to find) the last one that I shared on twitter.

There are in me the makings of a very fine loafer and also of a pretty spry sort of fellow. --Sherlock Holmes

R - - Reason to smile?
Thinking of terrible jokes?

S - - Season?
Autuuuuuuummmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

T - - Tattoos?
I couldn't stand to get wounds from injecting permanent colors into myself. I'll stick to drawing on myself sometimes. Then I can start over whenever, and it won't hurt.

U - - Unknown fact?
I'm more insecure about my writing than it may seem. I like what I come up with initially, but if I'm trying to revise for something important or serious, it's hardly ever good enough.

V - - Vegetables you love?
All. Pretty much all. From seaweed to carrots to spinach. Oh boy do I love spinach.

W - - Worst habit?
Spending loads of time on the computer.

X - - X-rays you've had?
I think I had one or two for checking on my slight scoliosis. I wasn't happy about it, though.

Y - - Your favorite food?
Do you even have to ask?

(it is le pasta)

Z - - Zodiac?
Pisces (I didn't even know how to spell it, so look how much I care). The only reason I really know is because of Homestuck. My Chinese zodiac is the boar (yuck). Aaaaand I remember that mostly because of Fruits Basket.

Well, there ya go! Now it's time for me to go to sleep. Big day tomorrow!

Currently

Here's another "current" post!

Doing:

Packing. WHY DO I HAVE SO MUCH STUFF??? (This picture does not include my bed, the two dish bins plus a smaller box of dishes, and it also does not include my bathroom stuff. Or my clothes. If you look behind the closet door you will see a large box and a smaller box. The large box (big enough for me to fit into) is SOME of my bedding. I really love blankets, okay? The bookshelf that you can see part of is also coming.

Listening to: 

Super Junior

Girls Generation

K-Pop. Getting my fill before I don't have wifi in my room for spontaneous dance parties. (I don't buy much music, so I have a kpop station on Pandora.) By the way, I'm getting much more than just Super Junior and Girls Generation on the station. I just chose those super famous bands to "represent" the genre. Some other artists that come up a lot: 2NE1, BoA, Sistar, Big Bang, and a couple Japanese artists, like Hikaru Utada.

Reading:
Um... I think the last book I finished was The Great Gatsby.

What with the movie coming out, Tumblr was buzzing, and that's one of those books I had felt I should read anyway.  It was okay, worth reading I guess. I'm probably not going to see the movie. 

As for what I'm reading right now, I've been slowly going through the book of Job. It's actually very interesting in the storytelling structure aspect, and I've been marking up my Bible, underlining and circling all the poetic lines and phrases that give me ideas.

Playing:

 The Legend of Zelda. I wonder if I'm going to beat it before I move? I'm not that great at video games, but as a Link cosplayer, I feel it's important to at least have played ONE of the games. And what's better than the classic? Okay, Ocarina of Time is probably the best one to play, but the bothers took all the save slots on that one.

Watching:

 I never watched this show as a kid, but I really like it! Why don't they make cartoons like this anymore? The characters are well developed and relatable, the situations are funny, and bad guy butts are kicked. Kim Possible is a classic.

Well, that's all for now. I think I'm going to go try to play Legend of Zelda again. I can't figure out how to move blocks that are blocking some stairs that I'm PRETTY SURE I need to go down.

Images are copyright of whoever owns them. I do not claim to be that person. Except for the picture of me with my stuff. It's pretty obvious that one is mine.

Paper Wallet: A Year later.

To be honest, I could have kept using it longer. It was still mostly staying together. (I took it apart to make sure there weren't any cards or sneaky dollars hiding between the folds). However, if you compare the "white" of the ace of hearts panel to the interior panel right above it, you can see how much wear it was getting.
My post from over a year ago when the wallet was new is right here: and it has a link to the pattern in case you want to make one yourself after hearing my rave reviews (you just might!)

This wallet is pretty much perfect for me--It's not any bigger than it needs to be, it holds plenty of dollar bills and a few cards (stacked up together in two interior pockets, so if you're one of those people who needs a separate pocket for each card... good luck on finding anything small.) There are two exterior pockets too, but I only have a gift card and a business card in those--I'd rather not risk having my debit card or drivers' license fall out. Plus, paper wallet means you can decorate it however you want! I still had the template I used before, so...

It pretty much looks the same as the old one...

With one difference...

IT'S SHINY!!!! Fabulous, Kaito!

That's right, I coated it with packing tape in an attempt to keep it nice longer. Because of the added weight of the tape, I didn't use cardstock, just regular paper. But now maybe it won't pick up foreign colors as easily, and be a little more resistant to water. Maybe this one will last two years!

So this is a really good wallet. Yeah, it gets a little beat up, but for something made of paper, it has a GREAT lifespan. And it's really easy to just make a new one. Not to mention cheap!
(Though if you cover it tape like I did, prepare to go through three sheets of paper instead of just one. It's so hard to keep the tape smooth!)

I hope this inspires you or at least amuses you. 

Intentionally Blank

On my fifteenth birthday, I received a sketchbook which Peggy had decorated and written a lovely letter in, and it was signed by a good bit of the youth group. I filled it up pretty quickly, as I do... except for the last page. And so it sat open to the last page on my side table for a long time... because it looked cool there. And I couldn't really bear to finish it and put it away.
As I was packing stuff up for my move, I knew I'd have to leave it behind. So I thought I should take a picture of how cool it looked on the green table.
The lighting was not that great, due to my room having no windows, so I probably tweaked it too much on the computer and it looks unnatural. But it has approximately the effect I wanted it to, and I felt like the words fit in the situation.

So enjoy an over-processed photograph.