- Kat -

I would! It doesn't get humid in Alaska, right? That's what really gets me, is humidity.

<3 thank you Horatio. It's been two weeks now, and thought I'm definitely not "used" to the idea that she's gone, I think most of the shock is wearing away and I'm starting to come to terms with what happened and how things have changed. Fa made friends all over the world; she had a magnetic personality and it was hard not to love her. We're all coming together to support each other and to just share the memories and love she left us. That's what she'd want us to do.

Thanks Horatio, all of her friends both in Australia and that met online are sticking together and keeping each other strong, and sending support to her dad and family. There's a lot of us, because Fa was really one of the most genuinely kind and engaging people I've ever met.

Ugh I know, today is our first real summery day, at least the first one I've experienced. Too hot :I

Mom saw Scoobie, and she's considering going to take a look. I haven't mentioned anything before because it was still too fresh and I didn't really want to talk about it, but it's been long enough now that I'll go ahead and say something. On May 25th, one of my best friends named Fa'licia was killed in a car accident. She lost control of her car on a dangerous stretch of road. I've been kind of distracted ever since, it's still a huge shock. She was only 23, I never expected to lose her. Every death I've dealt with through my life, there's been some warning, even if it was only a few days, but it was at least enough time to say goodbye and try to prepare myself. But there was no warning for Fa, and it still doesn't seem real. Her dad has many health issues of his own, and was in the car when it happened. I actually read an interview he gave with a local news site that came out with what exactly happened during the accident and it was...upsetting, to say the least. He's been through something that I cannot begin to fathom. All of my prayers and good thoughts are with him. Fa'licia lived in Australia, and I'd known her for 9 years. We called each other sisters, we're listed as sisters on FB. We'd talked on the phone multiple times and sent each other gifts for Christmas and birthdays. I still have a box of presents in my room that I hadn't been able to send her yet. She was so special to me and I miss her so much.

*awaits the arrival of my glorious gift with open arms* Hope it gets here soon, it's muggy out here.

FIREEEEEEEEEEEEEE *launches cake remains*

XD Your day plan looks a lot like mine!

Dang. Lemme get the Katapult, that should get it there in a more timely fashion.

I know it's possible for plants to drown when there's too much water, so some of them probably don't like it too much XD

If there are any poodles in the shelters around here, I'll tell mom and dad to check them out! We haven't checked any rescues because my mom doesn't like the way a lot of them are run in my area. Spamalot was excellent! They basically took Holy Grail and added songs, so it was hilarious. The actors had excellent comedic timing and what they did add for the musical was great. And I got an inflatable cow XD

So! It's been a short while since I last updated you all. Not too much has happened since Spectrum, I've mostly been working XD We've been getting a lot of rain and humidity so everybody is just doing as little as possible. With only one cat now, mom and dad have decided to start scoping out another dog. Mom always wanted a smaller dog that could actually sit in her lap, so we're looking for one that size with a good personality. A lot of toy dogs tend to attach to one person and hate everyone else and we want to avoid that, and we also need one that isn't too high-energy, as we are a very low-energy family XD I went with my dad, Kris, and her mom tonight to see Spamalot, it was lots of fun. Makes me wish we had a TV that actually worked with our DVD player so I could watch Holy Grail again .-. That's it from me!

Weather here has been all over the place, too. The last few days have been steamy and hot, then it stormed on and off for a few days, and tonight was quite cool.

Well scrape that sucker off and enjoy yourself some cake!

Aaaaand home! Today was the last day of the con. Most of it was spent at panels, but I did get to do a last round in the show room, and was able to congratulate David Petersen and Cory Godbey on their respective silver award in Comics and gold award in Unpublished illustration. The first panel of the day was a creature creation talk given by a creature designer for films and books, including Star Wars. She emphasized that the best way to create believable fantasy creatures is to draw on the shapes and musculature of real world animals. I was aware of this as a concept, but never was sure how to put it into practice, but the panel really helped show me how to consider an animal from the bones out and go from there, which I hope will help me in my own creature design. Michael Whalen had an interview/Q&A that I went to, and I just really loved hearing him talk about his creative process and how and why he gets ideas. He's a very interesting guy and I'm so glad that I was able to hear what he had to say. The last panel was on digital comic and illustration coloring tecniques using Photoshop, and I learned a good number of tricks that I think will assist and speed up my own artwork. I'm hoping, at least XD No way to know other than to test it! I already ranted myself into a big awkward hole last night but this really was one of the best experiences I could ask for as an aspiring fantasy/sci-fi artist. There was so much to learn just by being there, and all of the artists I talked to were so kind and willing to answer any question. I'm really, really glad I was able to go. I'm home now and my lack of real sleep is catching up with me XD And I gotta go to work early tomorrow morning, icky .-. at least I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get to sleep early.

I threw it towards you a few days ago! Kansas to Tenn. shouldn't take that long, I threw it pretty hard.

I have a looooooooooooooooong way to go before I'm ready to show there XD But I really hope I can someday. Seeing so much beautiful art really makes me want to make my own. Panels were today! Listened to guys from WETA talk about designing the dwarves from the Hobbit, and a bit about different Middle Earth races and cultures. That was one of my favorites of the day, the guys were very nice and there was a Q&A at the end. For anyone wondering: The ax in Bifur's head and the bird poo in Radagast's hair were Peter Jackson's ideas XD This one is tied for one of my favorite panels of the day. I got two amazing commissioned sketches from Jeremy Bastian and David Petersen. They're so amazing I just can't express ;u; The second panel was about the history of fantasy art. Well, it was actually basically just a slideshow of various artists with a little bit of background given towards their origins and what the picture was illustrating/made for. But it was interesting to see all the styles! There was a small Q&A at the end but by small I mean about one question. The whole thing only lasted about 40-50 mins of the 1.5 hours it was scheduled for. After that was a panel on creating horror images and stories. I've always had an interesting in creating some kind of horror-themed pictures, but I'm not much of a genre buff so it was very helpful to hear people who specialize in the genre to give ideas and an insight as to how they create what they do. They were also all very cool and also held a Q&A at the end. This was a close second for my favorite panel. Michael Whalen gave a presentation about his art career where he basically showed a bunch of his book covered and gallery work while talking about how and why he created them and what was going on in his life at the time. Michael Whalen's work is beyond description, and hearing him talk about his art both as a process and a career just fascinated me and really made me want to get into it too. This was the other panel tied for my favorite. Last panel of the day was in character creation. It was pretty cool, if a bit vague, but the guy hosting it was funny. There was an awards ceremony tonight, where a lot of my favorite artists were honored, including David Petersen, Cory Godbey, Virginie Ropars, and Brom, who won the Grand Master award (yay!). A dance group called Quixotic fusion also preformed, and they were pretty cool. They did four dances, three of which were alright, but one in particular just totally blew me away. One of the dancers was behind a projection screen (it wasn't just her shadow though, you could still see her clearly), and she was basically dancing with a projected partner. It was so cool and pretty and powerful and I almost cried. I almost cried like five times so far, I feel like a baby XD But art means so much to me, especially the fantastic art featured at this convention. I've spent my entire life in fantasy worlds. I could drown in fantasy, and that's what I've been doing at this convention, surrounding myself with beauty and power and emotion and mystery and hope and want until I ache. All I've ever wanted to do is make something that could bring me and maybe others the indescribable feelings of longing and love that I've felt for these stories, both written and drawn. Something that makes me feel as happy and entraced as what others have created. I can only hope that what I make affects anyone else in the tremendous way that this artwork effects me. I'm almost crying again XD I normally don't show too much of my emotions in real life. I don't know why, that's just how it's always been. There's just very few things that work me up enough that I can't keep it bottled in, and how I feel about artwork and storytelling is one of them. I would be lying if I said that being here hasn't majorly pushed me towards a career in art and illustration. I just hope that this buring desire lasts once I get back home to real life. It is unfortunate that my depression manifests itself most prominently in a strong apathy towards anything and everything, including things that I love doing. I would love to have the discipline to draw and write every day and practice and practice and learn and experience and use those experiences in my art until I have something worthy of a portfolio and can get a foot in the door somewhere. I feel like I betray myself and the people around me when all I can muster the energy and will to do is slump downstairs and sit on the couch. The apathy and lethargy turn to disappointment and anger at myself, which only makes me more convinced that anything I do wouldn't be worth the energy because I could never do it right or well enough. I hate that feeling, I wish I knew how to make it go away. It's kept me from so much, both personal goals and responsibilities I have to others. It's turned me into a person that I never wanted to become. Someone who doesn't really like themself but doesn't even have the motivation to become anything better because what's the use? Why try? Okay wow this turned into something not at all what I was going for when I started writing XD I should just stop now. It's late and I haven't slept a lot so I'm probably going to look at this later and wonder what the heck I was doing with this. TL;DR VERSION: The con is great! I love it and it's been both exciting and informative! sorry okay bye now

So I'm posting here from a hotel room right now, because I was surprised for my birthday with a weekend at a fantasy and sci-fi art convention. I've already loaded up on a lot of amazing art from the show room, and tomorrow and Sunday they're going to have amazing panels that I'm really looking forward to. Being surrounded by everyone who is so talented and makes a living creating such beautiful art makes me really want to join them! Today was pretty much entirely spent in the show room. Pictures of my swag to follow.

It is indeed homemade! With a good cream cheese icing~

*ships over a slice of red velvet cake*

The birthday shenanigans never stop! On Friday one of my friends gave me a red velvet cake with the most majestic topper of all: one of those rubber horse masks, only instead of a plain horse, it is a unicorn. It is the most beautiful of all creepy horse masks.

I feel like the most special now omg. I got a REAL LIFE HOOPS MESSAGE <3<3

No problem! that's always been one of my favorite pictures of him, even if it is super bright. But remembering him being curled up in front of the window on my bed is one of the strongest memories I've got.

Thanks! My birthday was most excellent, and the days following it have been pretty cool, too.

U8 woah it's a hoops. S'up?