Crafty Dragons

Today’s been a good day, I actually feel like I’ve got a lot done and I’m pretty happy
My essays and exams are starting to pile up on me. Unfortunately it’s inevitable, but this morning I literally spent half an hour in bed staring across at the wall-poster-calender across from me, looking at all the circles and zig-zagged dates all too close together. I wondered what the hell I was going to do.
But in the end I have no choice, so i’m facing it with a two-pronged attack: organisatation and multitasking. Hopefully i’ll get a lot done this easter holiday. I plan to finish off and rewrite one essay while writing and reading for another, while reading for the next one at my own pace and getting a headstart. Work work work, but it’ll be ok. I’m just glad to be going home, it’s been a long time and I really miss my family and home-friends.
Once I tootled off to my (pleasantly non stressful) seminar on king David the Scotland’s Deathbed, and my lecture on East-Germany’s Stasi, I headed off to get out a buttload of books to read on West Germany in preparation for an essay after easter. Hopefully i can gradually make some notes while I write the Death essay – i’ve been working hard to get most Death notes written before the holiday, which has given me a bit of a headstart.
After getting my library boos it was off to post Margo’s parcel. The post office is a long way down this huge straight road I rarely go down, so It was nice having a walk down and looking in all the shop windows. Plus the postage was cheaper than I thought (I’ve never posted a parcel to America before) so that was cool. If I ever get an etsy up and running it’s good to know I can easily post stuff of whatever size anywhere I like.
On the leisurely walk back I continued window shopping and found the yarn shop I’d spied when i was up this street last. As ever with me, I was too scared to go in because it was little. Today I was supposed to be checking out a local meditation centre, but to be honest I chickened out and didn’t really have time anyway. I’m saving it til after easter when there’s a new start. So, feeling a bit bad about that, I decided that I was going to take a leap somehow and forced myself to go in.
Huzzah! I have now found my LYS (little/local yarn shop!) The lady inside couldn’t have been nicer – she had a warm smile and was really helpful and when i chose my wool she showed me what it looked like knitted up and even advised me on what size needles to use. The shop was so small she didn’t have room for a till, so she went into the back to sort out the money and receipt lol.
It’s funny how little jumps and goals can make you happy, i had a big smile on my face when I left.
Deciding that i was on a roll, on the walk back home I also decided I’d go into the vintage/2nd hand shop I’ve been looking at all year but (again) was too scared to go into. Sure enough it was cool though a little awkwad) and the shop assistant was nice again. I found a cool silky scar for £3 and some white shoes I want to paint up for £6 – you can’t argue with that!
Even bigger grin on my face, feeling like some sort of explorer coming back with prizes of a hunt, I headed home and set about doing more work.
I tell you, the little things make all the difference. I don’t know if ayone else is like me, but if you are you’ll know what I mean for how it’s a significant goal to get over these little stumps in your confidence. Little victories.
Anyway, I decided i’d give Margo’s ‘Purple Monkey dishwater socks’ a go, and try out cabling. I had a chat to her and adjusted the sizes so that it would fit with my aran-sized yarn (as she uses worsted). Hopefully it’ll turn out the right size-haha

Anyways, I’ve got a 9.15 seminar tmrw, which means I’ll have to haul my arse out of bed at 7.30 if I want to have a shower and breakfast. So i’m off to bed soon i think.

‘night!

It’s late, I’ve just spent maybe 3 or 4 hours inking and colouring my newest sdl entry agaisnt Agent-ayu , not to mention the hour or so I spent drawing the thing.
Heck, why do the shoddy looking things take so long?
There’s elements I like in it definately, but…meh.
I don’t think I’ll be doing another chibi duel in a while, they don’t really excite me. In small doeses they’re cute and very cool.

Still one SDL down and now I’ve got another splash page to do (long deadline *phew*) and the 2 month duel with Dieman .
I’ve got two pages sitting and scanned in ready to put up, but it’s laaaaaate and I’m tired and cranky -haha
i need to attempt to screentone them, but I’m trying to make a quick job of ‘em so I can carry on.
In fact, I might just screentone the one that looks horrifyingly plain withouyt it. The second page fo teh two is my favourite. I let it in pencils (but touched up the pencils) because I’m fragging sick of my inks at the mo -haha. Anyways i’ll go back to that to screentone, but I’m moving forwards and keeping forwards. Got a LOT of pages still to to :3

So- I leave you to depart to bed. But One thought before I go:

Do all my characters have mullets?

Haha I was looking atpiccys fo Adam and Tyran and Okurina and the like, and it’s all pretty mullet-y. But i like ‘em and think they look good damnit. Juts not on REAL LIFE people lol
What do you think?

*snicker* Ah well, if so i’ll dub myself queen of the bad haircuts and deal with it graciously *waves septre*

booyah!

‘nighty night,

luv Lea

Hiya, I just thought I’d pop in again, before my laptop battery dies. As ever, it’s very late at nighta dn I’m not asleep yet, with my music happily playing
Been a decent day today. Though my essay on greek and roman technology if going terribly. I thought that it would go really well – I know a lot bout it- but the writing of it is a bitch.
But i got a little bit done, I guess that’s all you can ask.
Most importantly: I finished a beautiful hat Margo gave me the pattern for, that doens’t require you to be able to knit on the round in order to make. You can barely see the seam too, which rocks. I’m finally out of my knitting slump! The yarn is what Margo gave me and is sooooo soft.
I don’t exactly suit hats, but nevermind. Ugh terrible pic of me, but hey ho :p

I love lace knitting. I love fairisle stuff too. Things with detail.

Anyways, also today I went to go see Jimmy Carr today at the town hall. No-one else wanted to go with me, but i heard about him coming to Hull through a friend in my history class, so at least there wa someone i knew there. I’ve decided that I’m saying ‘screw it’ to having people with me. If theres something i really want to do i’m not going to be chicken and I’m just going to do it. Heck, i’m a proper adult now – I can do what i like. For example, Margo said that she might one day come to visit Ireland, which means she’s in Britain and I’d love to go meet her in person. The thing is I know my parents/friends/etc would be iffy – they don’t really get the penpal/internet friend thing. But I’ve known her for bloody ages. Now I’ve realised – you know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m old enough to make my own decisions (and take my own ‘risks’) so frankly, if she comes over and I decide to go say hi, i’m doing it. I’d be scared shitless (hell, I always am when i meet people XD) but it’s be awesome. Now me actually getting to Ireland under my won steam is a whole different level of shit-inducing-terror. It’ll involve timetables: trains, ferries or planes and hotels…ugh I can’t handle that. But i’ve got to figure it out one day, so why not?
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah – Jimmy Carr. He was awesome – very funny and the venue was small so while I was right at the back (I got the tickets late) i still got a great view and could hear everything. The downer was that apparently jade Goody’s died. We haven’t heard anything, but he knows/knew her. Guess we wait for the news tomorrow morning. Depressing, but inevitable I suppose.
Also, while I was wasting time because my bus got me into town early (the admitted disadvantage of being on your own is having no-one to procrastinate with), I headed off to the open-air shopping center for a wander round. I was amazed that the shops were still open! Now today (after maybe 5 years + of looking) I finally found a nice union Jack top! somehow managed to stuff it into the little bag I was carrying afterwards, so didn’t walk around the town hall with a bright pink shopping bag -tee hee.
It’s a lovely punky design and is knee length so I thought i could use it as a summer dress. On further inspection, it’s pretty see through at the back, so everyone would be able to see my pants, so i’ll have to wear it with leggings or little shorts.
Also, *omg yay!* it’s an off-the shoulder design! *dreamy sigh*. Seriously hard to find these types of things. Looks great with a waist belt too.

Very happy -haha

Also, next Friday I get to finally go home! I’ve been missing home so bad these last couple of months since I’ve been away so long. I can’t wiat to see my family and home-friends again
On Wednesday (if I can summon up the courage) I wnat to check out a local meditation centre. I’m shit-scared though! It should be interesting…i can pretend i’m an explorer or something. Haha
I need to do some SDl art too. I’ve got some ‘duel’ deadlines in for it, which means I need the art completed. Oi vey.
Ah well, I really should head off to bed.
Later, peeps ^_~

Name: Preacher – Gone to Texas (vol 1)
Type:Graphic Novel (West) – DC Comics ‘Vertigo’
Author/artists: Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon (with cover art by Glenn Fabry)
Certificate: 18 – (very adult with language and graphic violence )
Genre: Supernatural/ horror / ‘modern western’ / crime/thriller
DT’s Rating: 8/10 ~ {but looks very promising}

Review:
Recently I’ve been determined to get back into western comics. I used to read Spiderman very infrequently as a kid (I watched the cartoon mainly and got the comic-form stories via the yearly annuals), but since I moved into manga I haven’t looked back, since I was a little sick of common cheesy superhero stuff. But then someone on deviantart recommended Preacher, and then the new watchmen film came out, so i promptly decided to check them both out and ordered the graphic novels off amazon.
The first to arrive was Preacher, and I wasn’t disappointed.
The art is ,admittedly, as I had expected – your classic western Marvel/DC comics type stuff, so it’ll hardly inspire me to throw my love of the asian style to the wind – but it’s good nonetheless and particularily decent at dealing with the grotesque. The volume I got also had the great bonus of many cover pages done by the excellent artist Glenn Fabry – a comic artist you should defiantly check out for great style and use of colour. Yet again often gritty and grotesque, but brilliant.
And gritty and grotesque go with the plot. This is 100% an adult comic, with gratuitous and over-the-top violence, unsettling serial killers, more F-words than you can shake a stick at and (since this is set in deep texas) and good few of the big ‘N’s in there too. If you’re unused to it it [i]could[/i] put you off, but once you get used to it it still manages to shock without sending you snapping the pages shut. Plus it has the excellent prop of a great story and characters.
Now ‘gone to texas’ is the first in what I think is a 7 part series, so there’s only so much you can say about the plot and character at this early stage, but i will say that they’re defiantly a good read. The story blends very gritty realism and dark humanity with supernatural stories of Heaven, a demon-angel creature named ‘Genesis’ and a God gone missing. Humor is firmly laced thought, be it in the form of a jet black chuckle, a visually slapstick surprise or an ironic smirk. The script writing between the three protegonists -(jesse the fallen preacher and receptacle of ‘genesis’, tulip his ex-girlfriend and Cassidy the Irish vampire) – is excellent, and even the minor characters are well rounded and engaging. None of them are heroes, but they can be heroic, and the villains are truly scary.

This volume opens up many questions still to be answered, while having its own smaller plots that rise and conclude also.

It meshes various genres and storylines together into a compelling and entertaining read, and is defiantly worth a look if you’re looking for a more ‘grown up’ graphic novel. The more I re-read it the more it engages to me, and I’m looking forwards to when I save up my pennies to buy the next volume

8/10