GreyJedi

I feel like you all deserve a bit of an explanation as to what has happened with regards to why I seem to no longer submit drawings.

Here's the thing: I can't.

Submitting drawings and art is predicated on my actively creating it for submission. I'm not. I honestly have not completed a picture since May 2011. It's not that I don't want to draw, it's that I haven't had it in me to do so. It's like I've forgotten how.

It feels like the painting for ILackCreativity and his wife was a fluke.

I think this dry spell of art began in 2009, if anyone recalls that day that I submitted the entirety of my Miadhachain Legacy art from the DecemberTwentySixth account. That seems to be the beginning of this. Because that is around the time that my life went wonky and it hasn't seen fit to straighten out yet. Loads of stuff happened around then and life seems to have been one disrupting thing after another.

All in all, life has not been particularly conducive to finding the time/inspiration to draw. And then whenever I DO draw, the picture in progress always seems SO WRONG that I want to cry and wind up pretending I never made the attempt.

In short, it's not that I don't WANT to draw. It's that I've lost my nerve to. Something about it has me inherently scared and I haven't had the time to crack open what this block is so I can destroy it.

And that is why there have been no drawings in a painfully long time. Because apparently I have some sort of issues that I never used to.

...I miss drawing... I miss knowing that I was good at it...

ANYWAY. Maybe now that I'm heading into 3rd year university will let me do figure out how to get over this. We shall see. In the meantime, all you're probably going to see are snatches of writing and photographs.

I must be going to the only university in Canada that closes so routinely for snow. Maybe I'm not, but I recall when I was in elementary school we had the first snow day in a century in my home province. So perhaps that's why I find it so weird. Us prairie folk just suck up the cold and snow and get on with life, but the coasts... They're another kettle of fish entirely.

I lost count of the number of snow days I got last year.

But for the 2011-2012 year so far: 1.

Honestly I'm feeling a bit gipped that this happened on the day where my only class was going to consist of watching Pirates of the Caribbean though. I suppose I could just do it myself while I...do whatever I'm going to do on my day off. Possibly plan my final essay and work on my Religion final.
Just as likely though, I'm going to hook up my wii and play Fire Emblem for a few hours.

Or I'll waste my day online. Which may happen, since I fully intend to respond to the deviations and comments that have been collecting virtual dust on me for quite a while.

Oh, the possibilities.





_{I wonder if my cat would like to go out in the snow today... Probably not.}

Because I'm so diligent about the whole letting you people know what I'm up to thing.

Anyway, I came home for the summer, time passed, and now I'm heading back to school.
Tomorrow Mom and I are flying out to "The Rock" again. I think it's pretty accurate to say that I'm not at all sure what to make of the whole thing. I keep struggling the with the concept that I'm not going to be in the house I was in last year, that I won't have the bedroom I got used to over nine months, or my parents nearby.

I've spend the last couple of days packing...Well that's sort of a lie, I've spent the last week putting off packing. I only started yesterday. But now I've got it so that I can just throw everything left on my floor into a suitcase, toss my carry-on stuff into my backpack and I'm good to go. Which is kinda horrifying. Again, my entire life is being shunted into a couple of bags. For the third-ish time in just over a year. Fun times.

So after a summer of night/ungodly early morning shifts, family drama, brutal allergies, dislocated knees (), and sunburn, I'll be returning to the land of academia. I'll get to learn languages until they come out my ears and visit with friends that I haven't seen since the end of last semester.

But yeah. So... University. We'll see how this goes.

~GJ

So, I figured I should update sometime soon and a couple of my friends have done this. I was curious as to how I would score, so let's see.

[X] You've seen at least one anime.
[X] You've read at least one manga.
[ ] You watch anime/read manga on a regular basis.
[ ] You think that anime and western cartoons are two separate things. (I have honestly never really thought about this question before.)
[ ] You're in anime club. (Does it count if I never actually went? Like NEVER went? I'm saying no.)
[X] You've cosplayed at least once.
[ ] You counted Halloween costumes from when you were a kid as cosplay.
[ ] You cosplay in public. (Not unless I'm at a convention. And while out in the public, I don't think that's what this question is referring to. So I'm not checking the box.)
[X] You've been to at least one anime convention. (And honestly, I prefer the general amalgamation of all things geek conventions.)
[ ] You cosplayed there. (Not at the anime specific one. Ha!)
[ ] You traveled more than 200 miles to get there.
[ ] You like Japanese food.
[ ] You like any of the following in particular: sushi, pocky, cheap ramen, ramune.
[X] You know that sushi isn't just raw fish.
[ ] You've made bento lunch. (A what?)
[ ] You've made a charabento. (Bless you)
[ ] You go to the Asian shop on a regular basis.
[ ] You've actually been to Japan.
[ ] You've been to Japan solely for the anime, videogames or idols.
[ ] You're learning/know Japanese.
[ ] You're learning it to watch anime without subtitles.
[ ] You have Japanese blood.
[ ] You CLAIM to have Japanese blood.
[ ] You're in love with a fictional character made by Japanese people.
[ ] You claim you're married to said fictional character.
[ ] Anime is so much better than western cartoons.
[ ] You call all cartoons anime.
[ ] Anyone who hates anime is dead to you.
[ ] You call characters by their original Japanese names
[ ] You call characters by their romaji spelling
[ ] You defend Pearl Harbour. (Wait, wait, wait. STOP. People do this because of ANIME? I am appalled.)
[ ] You think Pearl Harbour's a new anime that just started airing in Japan.
[ ] You think Japan is the greatest country on Earth.
[ ] You think that just because they make the best media.
[ ] You listen to J-music.
[ ] Exclusively.
[ ] You know that it's pronounced "Gakuto" and not "Gackt".
[ ] You can name all the Vocaloids.
[ ] WITHOUT looking it up.
[ ] You like Hetalia. (Not at all. Sorry Jazz! )
[ ] You think Japan is the best character.
[X] You wear items of anime-related clothing in public.
[ ] You play only Japanese videogames/watch Japanese shows/eat Japanese food.
[X] You use Japanese honorifics. (I suppose calling my former piano teacher "Sensei" counts, huh?)
[ ] To refer to yourself.
[ ] Your entire room is full of anime merchandise.
[ ] You changed your name to something Japanese.
[ ] Legally.
[ ] You want to give your kid a Japanese name.
[ ] You want to name your kid after an anime character.
[ ] You've considered having surgery to look oriental.
[ ] You've had it done. (PEOPLE DO THIS?)
[ ] You stalk the Japanese exchange students.
[ ] You've been arrested for doing so.
[ ] You use memes in daily conversation.
[X] You watch abridged series. (Love Yugioh abridged)
[X] You get most of the jokes. (Um...I think so?)
[ ] You use tildes while typing
[ ] You use Japanese emoticons
[ ] You make attempt to Japanese sounding by the Engrish typing.
[ ] You claim you're Japanese on your dA/Facebook/Myspace/whatever.
[ ] You're not.
[ ] You're not even Asian.
[ ] If you're Asian, you think doing Japanese stuff helps you get in touch with your heritage.
[ ] And you're not even Japanese.
[ ] People call you a weeaboo.
[ ] You prefer the term otaku.
[ ] You break out into Caramelldansen in public.
[ ] You want to date a Japanese person.
[ ] No other nationality will do.
[ ] You watch Naruto.
[ ] You wear the headbands.
[ ] Every day.
[ ] You're bitching at me because they're properly called "forehead protectors
[ ] You bought said headban- erm FOREHEAD PROTECTOR at Hot Topic.
[ ] You act out scenes from the show.
[ ] FFVII is the best game ever.
[ ] Sephiroth is yours.
[ ] Kingdom Hearts is awesome.
[ ] AxelxRoxas is KAWAII DESU NE~~~!!1
[ ] You wish you owned a real Death Note.
[ ] Touhou rocks your life.
[ ] Anime dubs are the spawn of Satan. (You kidding? I LOVE dubs! ENGLISH! )
[ ] Vic Miginola is God. (Never heard of him. Vic MIGNOGNA on the other hand... Crap. I just proved that I pay too much attention by correcting the spelling of a MEME. Nuts. Nice guy that Mr. Mignogna. God though? No.)
[ ] It's seiyu, not voice actor.
[ ] You use Gratuitous Japanese all the time.
[ ] You add "desu" to the end of every sentence.
[ ] The only thing you draw is anime.
[ ] You're taking an art course, and all you submit is anime.
[ ] All your friends also like anime.
[ ] You want to become a mangaka.
[ ] In Japan.
[ ] Most of your manga/anime is hentai.
[ ] You know that "hentai" doesn't mean "porn"
[ ] You write fanfics for English class. (If I used to, do I have to check this? Or does this only apply to NOW?)
[ ] Yaoi fanfics. (Not for English class! D: I pity the teachers/profs who ever had to read THOSE)
[ ] You know nothing about Japanese culture except for anime, videogames, idols, music, porn and schoolgirls.
[ ] Everyone says you have no life.
[ ] And it's true.

Score: 9. "You probably hate Japan. You're not a weeaboo at all, not even close."
Interesting. I'm not going to deny that I'm actually kinda relieved that I get a low score, though that might be because a certain someone used to call me a freak for loving stuff.
I would like to go on record now saying that I do not "Hate Japan" but nor do I want to immerse myself so completely in the culture simply because I tend to like the occasional anime/manga. I like certain anime/manga, but simply being of the medium is not enough to make me like it, there's got to be some sort of substance to it. Were I ever to to visit Japan, I would likely want to go look at all the historical stuff, because history is COOL. And I find it sad that people seem to have come to associate Japan solely with the media produced by it.
I know if someone were to start defining my country through such a narrow scope, I'd be pretty darn offended with all of them. One cannot define a whole culture through one narrow aspect.

Score:
0-10: You probably hate Japan. You're not a weeaboo at all, not even close.
10-20: You like SOME Japanese things but, still not a weeaboo.
20-30: At this stage you probably still hate weeaboos. Good news- you're not one.
30-40: You keep your love of Japanese stuff sensible.
40-50: You're very likely a Japanophile, but you're not as annoying as a full-blown weeaboo.
50-60: You're not a weeaboo just yet, but try and moderate it.
60-70: Weeaboo.
70-80: Please stop it!!!!!!
80-90: STOP HUMPING THE MIKU LOVE PILLOW!!!!!!11
90-100: STOP!!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI-SAMA STOP!!!!!
101: Insane asylum tiems.

Right well, I reckon it's about high time I changed this thing again. Actually it was high time I changed it a few months ago, I just didn't care to. Also, I had nothing to report.
Well, I probably did, I just didn't feel like doing anything.

Now I DO have something to mention. I moved. Pretty much from one end of the country to the other. I'd have brought this up earlier, but it just didn't seem all that relevant to anyone on here, I mean, at most the only difference that it's going to make is that my hours on this site are a little different. But now I live on 'The Rock.' It's quarter after eight in the morning here and I've already heard a bunch of seagulls. How...stereotypical.

The move went pretty smoothly. Except for the whole nearly losing my cell phone in Ottawa. And my guitar going to Montreal. Which, for anyone unfamiliar with Canadian geography, is in the wrong province. Ordinarily I'd be rather ticked about this but, I just find it so darn FUNNY. Besides, my guitar should be arriving today, so no harm done.

I just realized that my new room looks exactly like I imagined one of my character's rooms looks like. I have had this image since I created him... A good couple years ago, before this move was even heard of. WEIRD. I can't believe I didn't notice that in February...

Anyway, that's what's new with me. You can go about your business.

~GreyJedi


It still hasn't exactly COMPUTED that I'm not going back to Alberta anytime soon. I'm gonna be one sad puppy when my brain figures that one out.