Just woke up again. The dentist checked the other teeth and everything else is fine. As soon as the antibiotic kicks in the pain will lessen a lot. The first time I took the narcotic today it killed the pain great. The second time I took it today nothing happened, again. The dentist said if I needed more meds he will be home so to just call and he would call in more. He confessed he did not sleep well last night because he was concerned about me. That's different, and kinda nice!
Will still go to the specialist Tuesday.
Bad news - my insurance only allows two visits a year so since I have been twice I am now going to have to shell out money initially and try to recover the costs with rat's insurance.
homework
This has really cut into my homework project time. I haven't been able to do ANYTHING on it, which is not good since it will take a while to do it right.
I think I will check up on everyone as long as I can stay sitting up.
Sorry, haven't read anyone else's blog this morning.
I had a miserable night because the painkiller wasn't doing anything and every 10 minutes or so the pain would surge up to an unbearable level. Crockett called the dentist about midnight and woke him up to get advise. I am now taking two painkillers at a time. I only feel a little relief when I am lying down and literally pressing my face into the pillow. The entire right side of my face is affected by this acute surging pain, from the jawline all the way up to my temple.
We are going to meet with the dentist this morning before hours. The specialist's appt was scheduled for Tuesday at 9:30am but we hope the dentist will be able to pull some strings and get me in earlier, today being the best day.
And you didn't ask your onna to help with your blog, Talon?
*looks pathetic, holds side of face and quivers lower lip, winces*
Dasia, let me know if you need any help!
The Tooth Saga
Just woke up again, took some drugs and thought I would fill everyone in.
This bottom tooth has been bothersome for about 20 years. Past dentists have just shoved more metal into it. Haven't been able to chew on that side because if I do and I bite down at a certain angle the pain is horrible, not only on the tooth itself but on the tooth above it and the surrounding area. Basically the right side of my face goes into severe pain, sorta like it is now but not for an extended period of time like now. No, this just started to hurt last night all on it's own.
Went to the dentist and he confirmed the tooth is cracked (duh!) but he could not do the root canal because the tooth canals angle in a way he cannot do (this does not make sense to me) so I have to go to a specialist. I got Tylenol with Codeine and an oral antibiotic to take, both needing food when taking them. Been eating a LOT of fruit cups. The antibiotic is strange because I cannot lie down until 30 minutes after taking it. The Tylenol is not really working well yet. I hope it does soon. Regular Tylenol does jack for me. I have to take aspirin to get any pain relief from headaches. I hold Noni juice in my mouth and slowly 'wash' that side of the mouth until everything goes dead (it's a natural painkiller), then I let the juice 'sit' on that side of my mouth as long as I can take it without swallowing.
A weird little thing, when I am chewing the pain lessens. But I have to be chewing something, not just chewing air.
Called the specialist and made the appointment, but nothing available until Tuesday morning, 9:30am. I have two dental plans but the specialist is not a member of either so that means out of pocket expenses up front. When I was told it was going to cost almost $1000 to have the procedure done I almost tied a string to my tooth, the other end of the string to a doorknob and slammed the door. The front desk folks checked on the insurance and it looks like I will have to do a $50 deductable. They recommend a $200 initial payment then they do the insurance battle with the two companies. Mine pays 50% after deductable and ratling's dental insurance with me also covered supposedly pays something like 60%. So we are crossing our fingers about it.
The pain killers will NOT last until Tuesday (I only got 12 and have already taken 2) so I am going to have to call the dentist and ask (beg, plea) for more.
I left the office at 3pm today because the pain was getting bad, filled my prescriptions, came home and fell asleep until rat got home. Been falling asleep on and off all evening.
Plan to go to work tomorrow but there is no quarantee I will feel up to it. My right side of my face hurts and all my teeth on my right side, top and bottom, hurt and ache. My cheek feels hot, my jaw aches and my temple throbs. Pulling my jaw forward gives me a bit of relief but all these little bits of relief are still not enough to provide real relief.
*sigh*
Good thing I am female and used to constant pain. If I was male I would be a big pile of ultra-whine weenie.... (rat says, that's right! Guys are wimps!)
So brats in the bed, keep it down or I might morph into something really ugly, and hungry...
Mushy!!!
Got book 12 of the original Gravitation manga! Ooh! So wonderful! Don't need to know Japanese to enjoy the bits of Eiri/Syuichi mushiness! Yes, MUSHINESS from Eiri!!! ratling goes, "awwwwwwww!!! How sweet!!!!" and looks at me with these gooey, shiny chibi eyes.
off I go
Think I am going to try and read some before passing out.
You can find quite a few canon anime pics at this site. (http://www.atpictures.com/anime/)
One of my student assistants was looking at this site so I got the URL.
Emergency Dental Appointment
Get to go to the dentist today because the right side of my face is killing me and it all radiates from one tooth, the one I have had trouble with FOR YEARS and no dentist has done anything for it but stuff it full of more metal. I suspect a major crack and either a crown or a root canal will be the order of the day.
Luckily the ratling has me on his dental plan and I have my own as well, so I am hoping I am not going to be too broke after all is said and done.
I am really getting tired of all these health issues hitting at one time...
...is just draining me on Wednesdays. Bezer curves, UGH!
More about work
Let's see if I can get some of this down:
Not just our district but state-wide, meaning all state colleges, the budget is being cut.
We had to change our two-day-a-week Summer Long classes to four-day-a-week Summer I classes. No classes on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. So no Multimedia lab available on the weekend. Teaching a four-hour-a-day four days a week would absolutely kill me! I am NOT teaching and was not even considered, yay!
We had to cut all classes except the bare essentials, the ones we KNOW will fill up. And our rooms are NOT filled for Summer I. We actually have some space to put classes, but we will not be allowed to do so.
Summer II they want to completely shut down some buildings (ours will not be affected) and the people who are housed in the buildings to be shut down must either move to other buildings (where?) or take vacation.
Effective immediately, all student assistants are to be terminated until Fall 2003, which affects me since I supervise them. My boss is still trying to figure out a way to find some dollars to keep some people on for a while so we have not told them yet. This also means the full-time staff will have to take up the slack to help the students, which I know will fall to me exclusively because I am so conveniently located and usually in the office, unlike most people, who are teaching, running errands around campus or fixing computers/equipment in the various rooms.
*sigh*
I am going to bed now. I am SO dead....
Jeeze, there's a brat-whore/saiya-jin puppy puddle in the middle of the bed....
You are Skids! The cute, naive, silly and huggable boy from the gang. you might not know it but many people looks at you and licks their lips. you're YUMMY! you are in tune with your inner child. okay, tuned is understatement, your inner child has possesed you. You have a thing for play-doh, watercolors and coloring books, but that naive look you have hides a wise guy. Sex? man that's a secret, are you bi, straight or gay? who cares, everybody wants you!
This just kicked me in the butt Community colleges cut classes for budget
Shortfall spurs DCCCD to cancel May mini-term, one summer session
01/29/2003
By LINDA K. WERTHEIMER / The Dallas Morning News
Thousands of Dallas County Community College District students won't get to take classes this summer or during a mini-semester this spring because of state budget cuts.
The seven-college system plans to cancel one of two summer sessions and eliminate a popular three-week mini-semester in May in response to state leaders' orders to cut 7 percent from its budget, said William Wenrich, the chancellor.
"I understand the state has a fiscal problem," Dr. Wenrich said. "Not to fund the kind of programs we offer is like eating your seed corn. If you want a prosperous economy, you have to have trained people. We're the people who do that."
The move will affect students at the district's seven colleges, according to the college district. Typically, 4,800 students sign up each year for the so-called Maymester, a semester that offers a three-hour credit course over three weeks. About 15,000 sign up for the second of two five-week summer sessions. The mini-semester has been offered for more than a decade in some of the seven colleges.
Dr. Wenrich, who said he also will impose a hiring freeze of administrators and nonteaching employees and travel restrictions, delivered the news by e-mail to the staff and faculty late Monday. He, like other chancellors and university officials around the state, was told to submit a plan for budget cuts by Feb. 6.
The community college district has to cut $7.4 million of the $105 million it received from the state for fiscal 2003, which runs through Aug. 31.
District officials are still figuring out the numbers, but they think cutting the summer and May classes and other measures should add up to the required amount, Dr. Wenrich said. The district also will reduce certain purchases, he said.
Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick jointly ordered the budget cuts last week, saying their goal was to save an estimated $700 million in the remaining seven months of the fiscal year. The state faces an estimated $9.9 billion revenue shortfall during the next biennium.
Universities statewide, including the University of Texas System and Texas A&M University, have announced hiring freezes and travel restrictions this week. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, for example, the University of North Texas announced Tuesday that it would freeze nearly all vacant faculty and staff positions.
Like the community college district, UNT will curtail travel, President Norval Pohl announced in a letter on the school's Web site.
Community colleges appear to be the only institutions planning cuts that directly affect students, said Don Brown, the Texas higher education commissioner.
Dr. Brown said he is hearing from other community college leaders that they plan to reduce summer offerings.
"If they have to do that, that really hurts the education of our people," Dr. Brown said.
Students said summer and May classes help them juggle family and work with their education.
Raquel Gaines, 24, was planning to take courses during both summer sessions at El Centro College in downtown Dallas. Ms. Gaines, a single mother, has three children ages 3, 5 and 7. She works as a receptionist between classes. Her goal is to become a nurse.
"I'm trying to provide something better for my children. The quicker I get out, the quicker I get a career," she said.
Frank Gonzalez, who's in the radiology program at El Centro, said he had been counting on the Maymester and summer sessions this year. A pest-control salesman, his business is heavier during the fall. The 27-year-old Little Elm resident said he needs to take as many classes as possible during the summer and spring semesters.
"It's going to be a downer," he said. "I want to try to get everything out of the way I can."
Professors said they also are disappointed by the college district's decision, for the students and for themselves.
A professor making $50,000 can make $6,650 extra a year by teaching in the second summer session and the May session, said Ken Alfers, a Mountain View College professor and president of the Dallas County Community College Faculty Association.
Dr. Alfers planned to teach a U.S. history class in May.
"I'm disturbed, and the faculty as a whole are disturbed with what has led up to this cut," he said. "I lay a lot of this blame at the state level."
E-mail lwertheimer@dallasnews.com More later, when I get the chance... It is currently VERY frantic around here...
Okay, Dasia got her package. Now only Joules is being abused by the postal service. Hopefully the package will show up soon!
Who?
Okay, I recognise the red-haired brat-whore at the door, brandishing a super-deluxe pedicure kit and wearing a big smile and nothing else, but who, pray tell, are you, Kare? Turn around and let me take a gander at you. Okay, watch out for those calico sharks at the door and come on in.
I swear, I bet the neighbors think I am some kind of bishie pimp... what with these pretty boys showing up at all hours.
Oh, by the way, Sage, FOUND IT!!! Next time you come over I am going to have watch you more closely.
Joules, before I fell asleep the first time last night I did these. Kept having to move the eyes apart as I went.
If none of these work, that's fine, just let me know what parts work and what parts don't work and I will go from there. The noses and mouths are pretty lame but I was just sketching them in.
If you are impatient about your yaoi, like me, you cannot wait for the official Gravitation manga translations to be issued. So I found scanlations (and other stuff) at gravimanic's site, In the Moonlight.
Dead Dog Tired
By the end of the day I was utterly dead. Fell asleep right after dinner and I am going to go to sleep now right after this.
Sending me explicit HeeroXDuo doujinshi yaoi, with poses I wanna steal and use in my own drawings....
Check your box for a beta!
Kitties
Wanna draw cat faces but I have no energy at the moment. I am considering doing each portrait on separate pieces of paper then putting them together as one graphic later.
Oh, have another idea about the communications device hooking to the ear - perhaps an earring instead, with a less complicated headpiece for some of them, but someone like Dhar would have a more complicated piece as 'guard', as well as more maile as 'armour'.
Planning on doing some dirt sketches in PS of leather harness designs for consideration.
Ads
Got the second one done - will probably post after work today. Pretty damned boring but the requirements were met.
Now I need to read the homework chapter. *sigh* I think I will wait until later tonight.
agh...
Forgot to update the website this weekend. Oh well, I will do it tonight when I get home from work, if I am not bushed.
For Lutra, Talon and senoritafish, a kawaii piccie of Ryu-chan as a pic review thanks! Doncha just want to squeeze him in a big hug?
I 'think' I am starting to come out of feeling ill but I am not sure. I still find myself curling up and napping at a drop of a hat. Tomorrow will be the big test, attempting to function for a full day at work. The headache just sits in the back of my skull, lurking, waiting, grinning evilly, just waiting to jump out and bite me on the bridge of my nose.
Yesterday I thought I was was going to fall over from exhaustion and all I did was slowly walk around Lowe's with Becca for a hour, looking at countertop and paint chips while rat and Jacque shopped for home improvement items, then sat at a table at Cafe Brazil for about five hours, eating, chatting and laughing. I feel like a weeny weak wimp.
Oh, I did get one ad done, and I even used the grapes I did earlier. I used all but two of the requirements too. This ad is not very exciting, but at least the requirements are being met.
Oh yeah! Love that Harvey Birdman show, and Sealab 2021! Taking those cartoons and twisting them up into adult fare is what I really like. Forget the new non-anime stuff on Adult Swim, I do not find them funny in the least. I like the irreverent twisting of badly drawn cartoons from the Seventies and the spinoffs like the Zorak show and Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast. I even emailed Cartoon Network and complained about not enough anime and these twisted shows and stop airing those stupid new shows.
Out, Out, Damned Spot!
Kewl, Joules! The delegation is set! Now, since Hyou (leopard) is the main type like most of the primary party members the next question is, what types of leopards for the rest of the group? For those wanting a further 'type' breakdown of the Hyoujin party:
Lioness Taaqat - Raionu, the delegation leader and head diplomat; - (would it be appropriate to put her in a narrow but long Mohawk?)
Leopard Khiyal - Hyou, second in command, Taaqat's aide and cultural analyst;
Tiger Dhar - Torai, security expert on loan from the military and acting as nominal guard;
Leopard Chalak - Hyou, xenobiological researcher;
Leopard Taiz - Hyou, linguist;
Leopard (snow) Zaheen - Hyou, xenologist.
Now leopards come in various types, including the basic leopard with the black variation and the clouded leopard. Do you also want to include the jaguar and the cheetah spot shapes and the smaller spotted cat patterns like the ocelot?
Now that you are seeing spots swimming before your eyes.... let me know what floats your boat.
Jeeze, where is Manawolf when she is needed the most? She could do these drawings in an instant!
Sage strikes again!
I walk out to start the packing of a poster and comic for someone and the items are not where I left them. Sage has done it again, *sigh* And it is something I have been putting off for a month because the poster was creased, the seller would not return my emails because he was on vacation during the Xmas holiday (and still is), and now that the person I purchased these for in Japan says she will accept the creased poster I cannot find either item.
This is getting really annoying, brat! You are losing your allotment of chili dog cheese slowly but surely. I am eating it because I am stressed and any excuse to eat is good enough for me.
Hn, maybe I will hold you down and Miju can paint YOUR toenails pink!
And who gets to reap the benefits but sweetling Joules!
Okay, here are a couple of things to consider to use or not, dealing with Hyoujin 'clothing'.
This morning I was looking for some stuff and was throwing away paper trash while I was at it and came across a Playboy catalog in the box that had contained rat's latest calendar. While flipping through it looking for Hyoujin strap ideas I found a mesh bikini and almost slapped myself in the head (but didn't since it is still a bit sore). An answer was sitting right in front of me the whole time and I did not think about it - chain maile.
Chain maile does NOT get caught in hair or fur if the rings are fused together. I wear the stuff on my head when I go to faire and my hair is notorious for it's tangles. It never causes any tugging or pain. And I have worn large, medium and small links without any problems.
Now I am thinking of very small links, stuff that moves like fabric. If the genitalia is under the base of the tail a loincloth that has two flaps without any crotch 'fabric' may be just the ticket. And I do not think any races mentioned so far wear chain maile. It would be a bit interesting, having such a high-tech race wearing something so medieval. And it might work really well as a complement to the metal wire headpiece idea too. Cats in flexible metal.
So I begin telling my idea to rat and before I get to the actual idea he comes up with another idea to cover the groin, a sporan-type bag. Hee, even he is drawing from his faire experience! He says, and I quote, "all tool users need pockets".
I can see the headpiece housing recording devices too. I would think Zaheen would want to record everything for analysis later, both visuals as well as audio.
Next question, what types will be in the party for the first meeting? I was thinking a portrait of the Hyoujin contingent would be a nice illustration as long as they are all headshots. It just hit me today, something I had forgotten. I had pretty much concentrated on headshot portraits when I could during my formal schooling. Sure I did life drawing but when drawing for myself I pretty much avoided the body because of it's complexities. I HAD to have a photo to work from to get bodies to look halfway decent.
That's one of the things that I am finding a bit amazing right now. The latest pic I did, the one of Eiri and Syuichi, those bodies were out of my head. I referred to something to insure I got the head shapes and hair right, but from the chin down the bodies are from my pea brain. While these bodies are not really 'real', they do seem to look okay, at least to my eye right now. Wait a month (or less!) and I will know yet even more and I will be condemning the piece for it's crudeness in execution.
Okay, I woke up being nagged by both the headache and by the muse telling me to get this at least out here on the blog right now. (or it is Talon sending vibes from MI!) The big pic will be sent much later today, probably in the evening. The first pic is the thumbnail of the full drawing. Well, I did cut off the edges a little.
I had initially thought I would leave this plain and without shadows and colour it like the anime in Photoshop, but it seems the muses decided otherwise, hence the more realistic technique. This will probably not be coloured at all now.
It was interesting switching from the DBZ beefy boyz to long and lanky boyz. It was actually a bit of chore to purposefully elongate the charas in the original style. rat was even looking at it funny until I showed him one of my Gravitation anime reference books and he saw these charas are really drawn like this, in his words, fashion doll style.
The sheets were interesting to work with I must admit. Originally Eiri's body was getting a tan (rat's words) because of all the shading I was putting on it to contrast with Syuichi's body. Putting the boyz on dark sheets lightened their shading up visually. The sheets just got darker and darker as I worked them. Used a 5B, an 8B and my large and small stumps to work them.
Originally I was trying to hide actual genitalia but I just could not get the foreshortening to work on Eiri's leg so I gave up and said to hell with it. My audience will either love it, or will just have to get over it and look, or not look at all.
And this is the facial detail. Actually I am pretty darned pleased with the hands in this one too. They are still not perfect but I am learning a bit more about structure.
Hope this little offering is enough to make you smile while I go hold my aching head some more.
Just one of the pics Talon has been sending me lately. Aw, Heero loves Duo.... or he's just copping a feel.....
yet more blegh
Stayed home today, again with this fucking blasted headache. Ended up sleeping until 4pm today, so I guess I might have some kind of bug or something. I have zero appetite again too. In fact, I don't realize it is time to eat until I actually hear my stomach growl and I start feeling a bit light-headed. Something odd is going on. I am probably running some kind of low-grade something-or-another that will take a while to completely get over. Now if I can just keep this up for six months so I can lose some weight.
I am still having trouble staying upright without having the headache coming back so this is a bit rushed.
Thanks and acknowledgements all around -
Talon, got the chapter and glanced at it for a fleeting second.
Joules, got the chapters and will download after I finish with this.
Definitely looking forward to the treat of THREE pieces to read!
Lutra, Joules is doing ALL the work dealing with the Hyoujin. I am just making comments and raising questions. Those kitties are all hers.
And yes, you can nab the grapes if you want them! Just right-click away!
Blegh, gotta do homework this weekend. I think I will need to draw out some stuff before getting in front of this bright computer.
AND one last thing, the Eiri and Syuichi pic is for the most part completed. I worked on it last night and today after I woke up. When I get some energy I will scan it, post a thumbnail here and mail it to the usual suspects.
Woke up with a horrible headache this morning but had to go to work anyway because it is the beginning of the semester and I have so much crap to do. The pain is the kind that goes into the neck and the shoulders as well feeling like someone is trying to rip my face off. Barely functioned most of the day and finally bugged out at 3:30pm. Got home and slept until 6pm and it was down to a dull throb. It is attempting to creep back so I will need to get away from the computer soon.
A combo of factors including the weather change (again) back to frigging cold 30 degrees down from 65 the day before, crying and all the solvents and cleaners being used on the first floor of the new building where they are still building, installing, painting and such all factor in to cause my head to hurt.
I cannot walk down the cleaners aisle in a grocery store without having a violent reaction - instant headache, stomach churning, dizziness.
class
Have to make two ads using specific requirements for class by next Wednesday, using only vector tools in Fireworks. I played a little bit when I got home last night. These grapes are what I came up with. The tablet has been very helpful working on this. I may post them if they are any good, but I don't expect them to be worth much. If I meet the requirements I will be happy.
Strange Bedfellows!
Lully finally updated this great story and it was well worth the wait! Ooh, the images of Zarbon and Vejiita! The images I want to draw! Ugh! Why do I have to work??? So much drawing time is being lost!!! The images are slipping away!
GW pics?
I think Talon is sending me GW bishie pics with an ulterior motive. I think she is attempting to tempt me to draw something... Well, right now I have started something completely different - a Eiri and Syuichi snuggle pic. Don't know if I will ever finish it but I AM stretching myself again. Let me try to nail the Gravitation look first - totally different than the muscle DBZ boyz! - and by then I will have the tools to move to GW boyz.
Yep, here comes the headache, with my neck stiffening up too. Have more to say, as well as some emails to send out but it is not going to happen tonight. I am just going to have to retreat to my dark room and try to escape.
Not a problem about the eyes, Joules! The example was just a sketch I did in oekaki, not an actual Hyoujin. I can definitely make the purple larger and the white smaller. This crap sketch done directly in Photoshop is probably more of what you had in mind.
More from Joules' blog:
// I do like the idea of brow whiskers! But not so keen on cheek whiskers. I've come around to thinking a ruff along the jaw line would be very attractive: perhaps there could be some whiskers there? //
Okay another Photoshop crap sketch, showing whiskers. Looks like a cat Grinch!
I guess I really get one of those online AIM or ICQ or whatevers so these conversations and idea bouncing could happen in real time. I had ICQ many many moons ago when I would chat with Barbara in Egypt. They stopped using it after a while, I think because of incompatability issues with the IP and where they were, etc. etc. Barbara and her husband Todd are now in Japan.
Martha Stewart: Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.
Real Women: Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake. You are probably lying on the couch, with your feet up eating it anyway.
Martha Stewart: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
Real Women: Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix and keep it in the pantry for up to a year.
Martha Stewart: When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
Real Women: Go to the bakery. They'll even decorate it for you.
Martha Stewart: If you accidentally over salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix me up."
Real Women: If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too damn bad. Please recite with me, The Real Women's motto: I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes.
Martha Stewart: Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
Real Women: Celery? Never heard of the stuff.
Martha Stewart: Brush some beaten egg white over piecrust before baking to yield abeautiful glossy finish.
Real Women: The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust so I just don't do it.
Martha Stewart: Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
Real Women: Take a lime, mix it with tequila, etc., chill and drink. You might still have the headache, but who cares?
Martha Stewart: If you have a problem opening jars: Try using latex dishwashinggloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
Real Women: Go ask the very cute neighbor to do it.
And finally the most important tip -
Martha Stewart: Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
///Six-pointed star shaped pupils that react to light as a normal cat's eyes do. ///
Is this what you had in mind when it comes to the pupils? Wondering if instead of conventional eyebrows a line of brow whiskers may be an interesting design. And any opinion about cheek whiskers?
///As to jewellery, beads in manes etc - please go ahead and play! ///
Got this idea of a headpiece which is actually a communications devise somewhat like those microphone headpieces singers who also dance wear. It would basically loop around the ears and on top of the head like a decorative headpiece but be practical as well, allowing the ears to move and the earpiece would move with the ear movements. The top would carry the hardware. Sorry, this sketch is pretty crude but it gives you a VERY general idea of what I am talking about. It is double-wired so it is not as thick as this drawing makes it look like. I am thinking the thickness about like thick wire and the design is doubled so bits of hardware can be attached. Nope, those are not beads but components. Ignore the muzzle - I know the facial features will be MUCH more humanoid. I just put it as reference.
/// I haven't sorted out the specifics of the anatomy yet - will get back to you on that. ///
Okay, some things to toss around: since the major races being portrayed in AC basically have sexual organ placement like humanoid do you plan on the same for the Hyoujin or do you want to do something different and stash the bits under the tail like terran felines? Having them relatively the same does make 'encounters' easier but vast differences may be interesting to explore as a writer. Your call.
That also brings up the idea of sex/heat cycles or not, determining if the race can be sexual all the time or only feels desire during cycle.
/// Ditto clothing, although I saw them only wearing clothing when required for warmth or protection. The rest of the time they'll wear a sort of soft leather harness with hooks and 'pockets' for carrying essentials. ///
Where the sex organs lie definitely determine coverage. If the Hyoujin have humanoid sexual organs would they cover their groins or not care? Could be an interesting first meeting, hee. At the same time, since they have been working in space and met various races they may wear skimpy yet servicable coverings so other races are not uncomfortable. In private they don't worry about it and may even get a bit huffy about it since they are in THEIR space and should be able to do whatever they please. *snicker* I keep drawing on my cat experiences for some of these attitudes.
/// Your ideas about the culture are great, and if you don't mind I'll adapt - or use them as a starting point - for the species. ///
Sure, you can fiddle with them all you wish!
/// As to whether Tane and Dari get to play... let's see how it goes... ///
Hee, they may get a buttful of claw pricks in the beginning...
Since the ISBNs have been assigned to the first two books I went out to Amazon, searched for them, found them and pre-ordered them! Yay! I also left two reviews, one for the Gravitation sound story I CD and one for the HTDM Couples book. Don't know if either will be approved for publishing because I was honest about the shounen-ai content of the CD and the same-sex pairings depicted in the drawing book.
I best shuffle off to bed so I don't sleep the day away like I have done the last two days. Even rat napped Sunday.
Okay, the usual suspects have the large version of this. rat doesn't like the pic at all but I still forced him to help me with balancing of the background tones. He thinks Sage is too static but the point of the pic is to show Sage is now dressed in good clothes, not Turles' cast-offs.
Schism
Well, I found the chapter an emotional rollercoaster, ladies! I think the duo-writing worked very well. You have me sympathizing with everyone and a bit pissed at everyone as well! Of course, except that sweetie-pie Zha'haarak!
*kitty nuzzles Zk and purrs*
And that ending! Jeeze! Didn't really expect THAT!
Blast it! You are taunting me with all these images I want to draw!!! And this is just one! -
/// Swiftly retrieving a thick fur from the shelf just inside the door, the big male settled it at one end of the balcony then dragged Hijau down to sit with him, between his legs, the smaller male's back against his chest, Radittsu's arms comforting around him, heavy mane pulled around them both to fend off the cool night air, sitting in silence until the dawn. ///
Mmmm, pretty men with nice hair, snuggling, yummy!
Eiri planted on the couch, how many times can you find him there in the anime? Hee! He probably has a permanent Eiri-butt indentation in the cushion.
Ken's Eyes
From Joules' blog:
// (At this point I should mention that Ken has perhaps the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They're bright summer morning blue, with the most incredible silver-outlined 'petal' shapes in the irises, looping around the pupils like silver paths in a formal maze. When the light hits them obliquely they're a pure turquoise, exactly the colour of Vash's eyes, quite stunning. I've spent a lot of time in the past just looking at them...) //
What absolutely gorgeous eyes! I knew they were lovely by the photo you posted before but they are definitely something to get up and personal to to truly appreciate them!
Laughs to self, thinking if we all get to rendevous in the future Ken would have a lapful of strange women looking into his eyes. And he would probably just "hate' that, right?
Becca
We did not get a chance to meet Jacque & Becca yesterday. We got a call from Jacque later in the evening. Seems she had just come back from taking Becca to the hospital. Yes, the pain got so great Becca finally let Jacque take her in. Jacque thinks the paperwork says costochondritus, just what we thought it was when we heard the symptoms, popping and grinding in Becca's chest when she picks up feedbags.
Costochondritis is an inflammation of the cartilage that attaches the ribs to the breastbone. The various info sites on the web say it can take six months to a year to completely heal. For me it is a chronic condition because I did not get the chance to just rest. I had to work in a horrible office space where twisting and turning to get to file cabinets and yanking on the cabinets doors constantly just aggravated it to the point of permanent damage. I cannot breathe deeply without paying a price.
I have already told Jacque I will pin down Becca and shake my finger at her if she does not take it easy and take the time to heal. And I have no qualms about getting in her no-good brother's face and tell him to get his lazy ass off the couch and work for a change, feeding all the beasties. This is the same brother I have threatened to kill and feed to the pigs so there is no evidence. As if I could really kill someone, I really don't think so, but the point is, the guy is just a waste of space and air stealer.
Homework
Got all but the last few pages of the reading done, when it wanted me to do a tutorial. *Sigh* Now I have to load the MX Studio.... I had been avoiding it for a while. Oh well, the last chapter will make more sense if I have the latest version of Fireworks in front of me while I am reading. Attempted to read the whole thing in bed and some of it was getting a bit confusing. Of course, the interface has been changed, just when I had gotten used to the prior version. Figures. That's one thing I can always rely upon, multimedia will always change.
Poor Talon!
Sure wish I could drop a good job on Jim!
You know, my mother had the same problem with jury duty after I was born. She finally was able to get out of it for a while because she said she had a child at home. Does your jury summons not have an exemption check box about having a young child at home? We do here.
Maybe I need to send YOU something to cheer you up!
Yes, it's little Ryuichi today! He does not play as much of a role in the manga, sadly. I am definitely looking forward to the manga book translations and having both the original Japanese and the translations in the library.
Snuggy
I believe a snuggy is where someone comes up behind you, grabs ahold of your underwear waistband and pulls up hard, causing the undies to go into your butt crack, and in the case of women, 'other', more delicate places. Let's just say the sensation is painful at worse and uncomfortable at least.
Oops!
Been in bed most of the day because mother nature hit this morning. Hence, missed a Gravitation keychain auction completing. Oh well, someone will post another soon. While the hormone therapy keeps my cramps to a minimum I still get the sleepys the first day and need to sleep or I feel horrible.
However...
I did ink a drawing today....
I am hoping I can get everything that is in the almost complete stage finished this weekend. We will see. I have to read three chapters for class too so my friend Roxie can borrow my book to read it Tuesday. I know we had instructor deskcopies of the book packed away but the boxes have disappeared so I could not find that particular book for her to borrow.
birthdays, etc.
Last night we did the birthday thing. Because my folks had a bad experience at the Mexican restaurant we love they chose another place to go instead. The food was pretty disappointing. The cheese sauce on the enchiladas tasted like that processed cheese food used for faux nachos. The chips tasted burned even though they were the right colour. The mild hot sauce tasted watered-down. The taco was good. rat's tamale had shredded beef inside instead of 'dog food' beef but he said it was not very savory. All in all, not good food.
Then we went to an art opening. My male boss's significant other had her one-woman show opening last night. Really cool-looking images. I love the work.
Then we did the gift thing at the house they haven't moved into yet. I got some more long-sleeved tee-shirts, yay!
uplighter?
Been attempting to envision what an uplighter lampshade is and I am still clueless. The room sound lovely, Joules!
Dominion
Xe has finished Dominion and it is great! So many images dance in my head, such nice descriptions! Hope she gets everything posted to her site soon so you can read the whole thing!
tonight
We may be meeting Jacque and Becca tonight if they can make it down this way to do their errands. A bit worried about Becca; her goat butted her in the torso and she has been having problems ever since. She gets a bit better then she goes out and lifts a 50lb bag of feed and hurts herself worse.
If they cannot make it we will spend another nice quiet night at home.
tutu
I have actually worn a real tutu, the kind that sticks out from your body at a 90 degree angle, and trust me, they are NOT very comfortable to function in.
// Damn onna.makes me realize how very much I've missed regular infusions of your artwork damnit... //
Ya know, I had been thinking about that myself recently. I think I was producing a drawing or a colouring about once a week for a while there. And yes, I have missed doing it too.
I DID begin colouring on the latest pic last night. Gad, Jeice's skin is making me bonkers! I just look at it as another challenge like Zh & Zk's skin. They drove me crazy at first too and the tones turned out okay in the end.
And I ended up layering some of the sections because of colour bleeding. It lets me erase with a crisp line and not accidentally erase something I worked hard on to get just right.
It is also letting know it has been a while since I DID do any illustration enhancing using the airbrush with the tablet in Photoshop....
Class
Hopefully I will be able to use the class I am taking to design the new interface for the website, complete with rollovers and 'new-fangled' shit like drop-down boxes. What I want it to look like is the interior of a spaceship or space station, looking down on the witzend planet. Or something high-tech on those lines. It may be something as simple as a slick-looking control panel. We shall see. Knowing me, everything will change.
One of my friends who plays a wench (femme) out the ren faire sent this to me. (Yes, our faire had a male wench at one time!)
When I Was A Kid
When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up;
What with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A average. Despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their family from starving to death!
I remember promising myself that when I grew up there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But....Now that I've reached the ripe old age of twenty-nine, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.You've got it so damn easy!
I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damned Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet-we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves!
And there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a pen!-- and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!
And there were no MP3s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or we had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and screw it all up!
You want to hear about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! It was either that or get your jollies looking at the lingerie section of the JC Penney catalog! Those were your options!
We didn't have fancy shit like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was it could be your boss,your mom, a collections agent, your drug dealer, you didn't know!!!You just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation videogames with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics terrible! Your guy was a little square! You had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win, the game just kept getting harder and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! A tall guy sat in front of you, you were out of luck! And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning... ...D'ya hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled little brats!
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy You're spoiled, I swear to God! You guys wouldn't last five minutes back in 1987! Ah, those were the days....
Had an interesting dream snippet last night. I was sitting in a restaurant at a large round table with a bunch of the Gravitation charas, Mr. Yuki opposite me, and we are all talking fine until the waiter comes up with other wait staff and announces someone at the table is having a birthday. I promptly stand up, get into the space of the waiter and say, "if you start singing I will kill you" and glare daggers at all wait staff. They back off.
Then I woke up and grinned.
I am feeling much better today! The appetite is still gone but that's fine.
Was lying about, bundled up in mis-matched sweats, doubled socks, slippers and two comforters, piles of Gravitation manga around me, noticing three almost naked males moving about me, and realized - one, I really was sick if I was feeling cold while everyone else wasn't and two, I needed to put out a cap for the group.
So here is Hiro, just finishing up doing something naughty to strawberry Pocky.
At least two other people in the office are sick with this too, one having to come in and work like I have had to this week and the other should have come in today but didn't.
Definitely looking forward to having a three-day weekend starting this Friday.
My mother's birthday is today, Crockett's is tomorrow and we have to do the official birthdays celebration tomorrow. Ugh, I would really prefer to stay home, hide in the bed and be cossetted by aproned Miju and chibi Sage.
FYI: The Gravitation manga is DEFINITELY different than the anime! A few tidbits: Eiri is much more flirtatious with everyone, more 'relationships' are implied, Eiri shuts Syu-chan up with sex at least four times, once after Eiri brings a big bouquet of flowers to Syu-chan's house to try to get him out of a funk and instead boinks him, with the chance Syu-chan's sister will pop into the room at any moment.
BTW: Saw this on one of my gravitation lists: The Gravitation manga was licensed!!!!!!! Not only that, but by Tokyopop!! The first book is due out in June.. and trust me, we can count on Tokyopop for good translations, and even better, fast releases!! The second book is the beginning of August!! They also have some other yaoi titles, like Fake..(wai!) ^___^
Here is their info page on it: http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?propertycode=GRA&categorycode=BMG I am interested in this because one continuing storyline deals with a giant metal panda wrecking havoc on the town and it can also fly like a plane. Yep, like I said, the manga is different. It will be interesting to see what they do with some of the scenes.
I think I am going to crawl back into bed now. Gotta get better soon so I can read/beta the next R&L chapter, get feedback to Joules about Zaheen and scribble some. Haven't finished one oekaki all week and every time I have tried one it has been crap. Also have homework, of course....
And today I can add a headache to the mix, wheeeeeee!
A Sue Berens Funny
An Israeli doctor says "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks."
A German doctor says "That is nothing, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks."
A Russian doctor says "In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them both
looking for work in two weeks."
The Texas doctor, not to be outdone, says "You guys are way behind, we recently took a man with no brain out of Texas, put him in the White House for 2 years, and now half the country is looking for work."
//ONNA!!!!! *GLOMP SMOOCH* hella good 'ditsu/Jeice pic...for this, you gets a foot-rub and chocolate cake! *sends Mijuku over in cut-off Daisy Dukes and a too-small Teletubbies T-shirt* How's that? *giggles* You are a goooood onna! //
I think I will pass on the cake at this time but I will DEFINITELY take you up on the foot rub as soon as I get home, and perhaps a soft tummy stroke from Mijuku. I am not surprised the Teletubby on the shirt is the one with the upside down triangle on it's head....
But why are you wearing clothes, Miju? Oh, yeah, you needed traveling attire. You can take that off now and dangle freely if you wish. We're easy and relaxed around the homestead!
If I go retreat into the bedroom don't be upset. Just need some sick time alone. You might find rat entertaining until I come back to the living.
Been feeling sick to my stomach all day and my stomach actually hurts, sorta strange in feeling. Also the joys of sinus drainage. Could only eat a couple of bites from my muffaletta, a couple of chips and a chunk of melon. What has kept me going is peppermint candy and Sprite. Both very soothing. It's the only time I eat peppermint. Nope, not even at Xmas.
Hope I am not coming down with anything. I suspect something I ate but I bet someone passed me something when they used my cel phone.
Class will only last about an hour tonight so I will go home, stop trying to hold on to not being sick and crash.
*Grin* I brought a clock to the office, a nice pic of Sess'sho-maru. At least I get some eye candy while I feel like crap...
Just got an email from Senoritafish saying she has received her Gravitation VCDs!
*rubs hands together and cackles with evil intent*
Gravitation Manga
I got the 11 mangas in the mail today. Very interesting. I have looked at four of them so far. Definitely a different total storyline but the things that happened in the anime have been represented so far, but not always in order and not always how the anime portrayed them. Remember Mika breaking in and 'stealing' Shu-chan kicking and screaming? In the manga she drags him out of his class at school!
Fuzzy Butt
Yep, Joules, that be a mouthful of name! I still have that email in the making on some background stuff and such.
Purple eyes sound yummy! I was thinking turquoise centers with kelly green rims, but purple will definitely be more striking, especially if a smoky grey fur has a lavender cast to it.
R&J pic
Before I get lynched I best send out to the 'usual suspects'. Talon, prepareth thy fainting couch!
Okay, for those who have NOT seen Ai no Kusabi, here is a little Raoul tidbit. I will be posting a few more in the future. Now you can see why Joules is willing to let him live in her head for a while.
Before I go off to work, where my computer monitor faces the lab so now I cannot look at anything I should not, and the utter madness of the move and the first week of classes will be lunacy, here is today's bishie, Ryuichi, looking surprisingly like Duo Maxwell in this image. Maybe that's why Talon likes him. Well, I like the little by-polar cutie myself!
Well, off I go, into the fray. I think I am crazy for purposely walking into the Hellmouth but I must.
Ye Gods, Joules! Did you just come up with all that background work in one day or did you wave a wand to get it magically? That is amazing!
Here are some snippets about it from Joules' blog, in blue (of course! *wink*) with my comments.
/// Onna, I'd like for your character to have the larger, heavier tail and markings of a terrestrial snow-leopard, colouring pale but not necessarily white. Do you have any preference? ///
Ooh, how did you know the snow leopard is my fave big cat? *purrs and bounces about, then falls on floor when wall is encountered*
Well, it's up to YOU and your universe whether or not the chara should be male or female. What would work better with interactions with the family, the Kings, the Council and the rest? The story is the most important thing. The gender of the chara needs to fit in with your storyline.
If the matriarchal society is not the best when it comes to the treatment of males this might be a way to have a male chara observe the various relationships of the family and reflect on his relationships, and perhaps introduce new ideas to his society while living with the monkeys. It could be many males just do not want to do more than eat, sleep and fuck. A few younger males have broken out of the mold but are still considered a little renegade and odd because of it.
If the chara is female the matriarchal society may dictate a certain placement of a person (pecking order) and it is difficult to rise above it or even move laterally within it.
Hee, if you make me male can my mate be a tiger-coloured kitty-girl I call ratling?
If you make me female can you bring my very renegade male tiger-coloured mate to the planet for a visit?
What kind of pale colourings do you have in mind for the snow leopard? *mental colour swatches are pulled out and thumbed through* I can think of a variety of pale creams, soft whites, very light taupes, the palest of blue-based & brown-based smoky greys, and perhaps grey-white tinged with a lavender tone. Of course, I lean toward smoky greys or the lavender undertoned grey-white, but that's just me.
/// I see her as not having any sort of mane, just slightly thicker fur over her head and neck, but I really don't mind if you want something longer and heavier (if she (I assume you want a female chara?) is from the colder lands she could quite legitimately have a luxurious mane). ///
Well, here are a few ideas to consider or not.
Perhaps a little bit of a ruff, just along the jawline maybe, a lot like the pics. The ruff is there on winter pics of snow leopards but it is short.
Hn, maybe a semi-short roach/mohawk starting at the top of the head behind the M and going to the nape of the neck might be an interesting look. It is not very thick in width and not too long so it looks like a horse's mane.
I am thinking of some beauty fashions for the cats in general, like thin beaded braids in manes and unique jewelry, if any.
I don't know, I think some kind of a mane would be something that could make her distinctive to the rest of her diplomatic contingent, which may help catch the eyes of the Kings and the family members.
And speaking of fashion, what kind of clothes, or lack of them do you have in mind, Mistress Leather Goddess?
And will the females have 'conventional' breasts or something more feline like eight? It might be interesting to design them with the typical pectoral muscles as a male but no nipples (so they dress bare-chested) and the actual mammary glands (set of two) being closer to the stomach. Definitely could make interesting images for unique lemons. Or, the pectorals may only become 'active' when breeding or pregnant.
/// She needs a name. Native language is soft and purring/mewing - do you want to devise one or shall I? ///
Found this resource and thought this might be a good place to begin finding names. This is what other countries call the snow leopard.
Ounce (English)
panthère des nieges, léopard des neiges, once (France)
Schneeleopard, Irbis (Germany)
leopardo nival, pantera, de las nieves (Spanish)
xue bao (Chinese)
bharal he, barfani chita (Hindi, Urdu: India, Pakistan)
palang-i-berfy (Dari: Afghanistan)
shan (Ladakhi: India)
hiun chituwa (Nepal)
Ikar (Pakistan)
snezhnai bars (Russian)
irbis, irvis (Russia, Central Asian republics, Mongolia)
sarken (Tibetan)
chen (Bhutan)
I kinda like Shan because of it's simplity, but Snezhnai might be interesting. Neither sound very purring or meowing, however. Let's see, Mhan, Phan, oh, I give up. I can meow well enough to sound like a cat but those sounds are like Prr-row, Maow or Purr-urt. So I think I will leave it up to you.
/// "...star shaped pupils in large eyes, ... ///
What shape star, four-points, five-points or more?
If someone can come up with a better "J" candy besides "jelly" to go with Joules' name for bishie eyecandy, please let me know. Until then, here is today's candy, a pic of Iason Mink from Ai no Kusabi, a divinely tasty yaoi anime.
Lots of chores done Saturday, including two trips to the office to do some work and I am pooped.
Joules, I made some screenshots for you but I will have to ship them over to you in the morning. About ready to keel over onto the keyboard. I haven't gotten my evening nap for three days now and I am suffering for it. I AM a neko, aren't I? Eat, nap, eat nap, ad nauseum.
Oh yeah, everyone, please send me stuff through the ourwitzend email, not hotmail. Hotmail has reached the max and I will probably not be able to get any story files there until I can gut the innards and pitch irrelevant mail and file on the hard drive.
IT IS the type of conduct that would have him expelled from Hogwarts in a flash. Boy wizard Harry Potter is being cast as a gay porn star on the internet.
The craze, which has attracted the attention of author JK Rowling’s lawyers, features the schoolboy sorcerer in explicit gay sex stories for the benefit of heterosexual women.
The so-called ‘slash’ fiction portrays Potter in uncompromising scenarios with other male characters from the hugely-successful books. These include Draco Malfoy, his arch enemy, and the sinister potions teacher Professor Severus Snape.
Lawyers for Rowling have now written to the internet firms which provide the websites asking for them to be shut down because they fear the explicit material could be read by children.
While most of the young fans of the fictional wizard are eagerly awaiting the publication of the fifth book in series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a steady stream of risqué and sometimes obscene material aimed at adults is being published on the internet.
On one website, Potter’s detention turns out to be much more unorthodox than writing a hundred lines: "Snape rolled his stool to where his student was sitting. He leaned closer until their faces were a centimetre apart. ‘Still answering back, Mr Potter! I think I should teach you a lesson.’
"Harry couldn’t suppress the grin that spread on his face. ‘I’m sure I’ll enjoy your lessons,’ he said seductively."
Another reads: "To Harry’s surprise Draco leaned over and kissed him on the lips, firmly yet gently ...
"Before Harry had a chance to react, Draco pulled away and took a step back. He surveyed Harry’s dazed look and Ron’s dismayed expression with a detached amusement…"
Other examples are far more explicit and too bawdy to be reproduced here.
Potter and his Hogwarts companions have fast become the most popular focus of the genre with more than 1,000 web sites devoted to material involving the youngster with supernatural powers.
The Potter pornography is written by, and is mainly for, straight women. The term ‘slash’ refers to the internet convention of using a stroke or slash to signify a same-sex relationship between two characters, such as Potter/Snape or Potter/Malfoy.
The most popular pairings are between characters who dislike each other and whose relationships are characterised by tension and suspicion. The scenarios vary widely, from light-hearted romances to hardcore sadomasochism.
Louise Hale, founder of Writers University, a guide to internet fan fiction, defended the slash fiction websites, arguing that they give budding authors the opportunity to explore themes that would not feature in the original books.
She said: "Many people can see some subtext between characters like Harry Potter and Draco: ‘Look. They tend to obsess over each other. They are enemies. That must be sexual tension.’
"It is doubtful that JK Rowling sees it that way, but fan fiction gives fans a chance to explore the ‘what if’ scenario."
Explaining the appeal of the craze, Hale added: "Many of the people writing slash are younger and some are unsure of their sexuality. Fan fiction is a way to explore their sexuality in a setting that is familiar and comfortable to them."
One slash writer, known as Savidana, said: "Slashers are not bent on corrupting the human soul, nor are they writing pornography about little boys.
"Very few of the authors will write anything that involves underage boys ."
The author of works including Do as the Prefect Says added: "It gives fans something to fill their heads with while people sit waiting desperately for the all too elusive Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to show its face."
Most slash fiction carries a content warning and a disclaimer, explaining who holds the copyright to the original work it is based on.
Savidana insisted the warnings were "adequate enough to deter the majority of any young Harry Potter fans from happening upon something that may not be suitable for them".
But last night Neil Blair, a lawyer at Christopher Little, Rowling’s literary agent condemned the craze, warning that it could corrupt "innocent fans", most of whom are children.
He said: "It is almost like running a porno bookshop in Soho and encouraging kids to come in through advertising with sweets."
Blair added that both his firm and lawyers from Warner Brothers, which owns the film rights to the Harry Potter series, had written to internet service providers (ISPs) asking for the websites to be shut down. He said: "Both we and Warner Brothers have been proactive in respect to inappropriate sites, writing to all the ISPs alerting them to the issue even before any material is spotted."
Blair added that ISPs had a "social responsibility" to protect children from pornographic stories involving Potter.
A spokesman for the Internet Service Providers Association said: "The difficulty is the issue of whether it’s illegal material. ISPs can’t act as judge and jury. The people who take responsibility for this material are the publishers. The ISPs can’t possibly keep tabs on everything of this nature."
The spokesman advised parents to use computer filters to prevent children accessing inappropriate websites. He added: "They should also choose an ISP that offers safety controls and ‘walled gardens’ where the content has been reviewed. Also, parents should take an interest in what their child is looking at, and they should spend time surfing together."
Fiona Nicolson, intellectual property and technology expert with the Glasgow-based law firm MacLay, Murray and Spens, explained that it is often difficult to take legal action against websites carrying slash fiction. She said: "Individual website owners or producers are the obvious targets.
"However, such individuals or organisations are often extremely difficult to trace and can move their sites quickly and easily. The problem is compounded somewhat by the fact that worldwide regulation varies from countries with rigid codes of practice or trust schemes to countries with no protections at all." Just another thing to look out for... the hunters, that is, NOT the slash.
Good News: We got our filing cabinets.
Bad News: They are larger than they thought so the one that was supposed to go behind the door cannot or it will block the thermostat and the light switch. So now it is front of the nice big window we had to look out into the student worker area and beyond that, the window to the lake view.
Good News: We got our filing cabinets.
Bad News: They are larger than they thought so the office looks really cramped. The bosses tried to give one of them away to another dept. and I just cannot get it into their heads we have ZERO storage for all the stuff they expect me to keep track of. There is a filing cabinet WAY back in the back of the place and I am supposed to use that one. Yeah, right, walk all the way back there to get a single form for someone.
Bad News: Since I am sharing an office a subtle war about who will be next to the inner wall has been going on. Since I stay in the office a lot and the other person is rarely around it made sense for me to be deeper in the office.
Worst News: I finally just gave up and let the other person have the space. Now the only wall I have is fully glass looking out on the lab and it is right where my chair is so I am 'on stage' even more than before. Before, I could at least push my chair back and hide between the two filing cabinets if I needed to blow my nose, now I am on display all the time. I think I will have the blinds down and half-way open if I can get away with it.
Really Bad News: The office chairs we have to use are crappy and kill my back sitting in them for only five minutes. We are going to have to figure out how to adjust them. I am already falling out of the chair as it is. Despite all my silliness I am not THAT large. So we are going up Sat and retrieving my current office chair which fits me and we are bringing it home. After a couple of years I can bring it back. And I alerted my doctor my back was giving me fits and the new chairs were horrible so he knows I may be calling him about getting a recommendation for a custom-made $$$ chair for my back.
"And so my crazy dream continues. I wish I could wake up from it." - Syuichi: Gravitation
Lyrics!
Joules! GREAT site for anime lyrics! I dropped in my new "Gravitation: Bad Luck - Shuichi Shindo Vocal Collection CD, pulled up the site and had a wonderful time hearing the song, seeing the Romaji so I could get a gist of the word and pronounciation structure and then looking at the English translation poetry. I really adore the song Glaring Dream even more now reading the English translation lyrics.
This SO calls up the image of Yuki Eiri and fits in with that last little bit of imagery at the end titles when Eiri looks at Syuichi with that little smile!
"When I woke up from the countless wishes, you are reflected in a shimmering illusion --
the silhouette whose faint smile leads me along."
Note, the fansub I have passed around has a DIFFERENT translation to this song! It says, "that vague silhouette that guides me." in today's Lolly pic. And yes, I had to show that faint smile, one of my fave images of Eiri from the anime because his face is so open, yet happy.
I am utterly mad....
Joined three new MLs today, The Yaoi Hotel (since they are switching servers and the regular site is pooka), Yaoi_and_Shounen_Ai_Animes, and just-gravitation. What the hell am I doing? As if I need any more to look at...
To quote Joules...
I think I am using the word right, I am chuffed. I got Lia my sensei a Live Journal code and look at oekaki board at number 120 and see what she did for me as a thank you! This is really a special piece since she vehemently swore off drawing dbz. I love that woman, she inspires me so!
Huh?
*glances at Talon's blog*
Joules has started the Ai no Kusabi story?
*crawls up in hybrid's lap with danglemate*
Can I watch too?
*blinks heart eyes*
A snippet from Joules' blog
/// Dancing hippos, eh, onna? Well, if you insist, I can devise you a hippo-like alien species... >;-P ///
No no no. *snickers*
Well, I guess I could go Saiya-jin if you would like, but it may be interesting to go toward a type of Neko-jin, perhaps in a VERY general Pride of Chanur way. By the way, those kitties (known as hani) in the pic are ALL women! I loved this series of books when I read them!
So take the basics of the hani, the furry ears with earrings (in the books each earring stands for a successful voyage) and mutate the race from there. Maybe a mixture of hani and my Neko-jin pic and your own imagination.
I think I would make the nose and mouth more conducive to "ahem - you know...." Add a fluffy and semi-prehensile tail (hani have no tails) but I do not see the tails having any extra-sensitive features. The tails are pleasant to stroke and play with but not anything sexual. How about that small place between the shoulderblades where it is difficult for a person to scratch themselves? It would be an interesting place for a cat to have an erogenous zone and it is something I have been toying with as a story element.
I see their heads and tails fluffy and a thick but very short, double-cut velvet fur pelt on the rest of their bodies.
Change the fur colour to variations of grey tones with stripes or whatever base colour strikes your fancy, maybe purple or teal. The stripes could be contrasting colours, either traditional colours or rainbow tones, and the body colours and stripe colours and patterns could even designate certain specific ranks, professions, etc. I could even see the stripes starting super-dark at the back and moving into lighter tones of the same colour, or a different colour, as the colours move toward the front of the torso. The stripes can be thin or thick with various traditional tabby patterns. The stripes on my pic suck big time but I wasn't going for reality in that drawing.
Lutra's new fic!
Glad the pic inspired you! Now, finish the next AC chappie so you can write the inspiration and we can read the new universe!
New Bed!
Congrats on the new bed, Joules! We have the same problem for a different reason. My very old foam mattress (the only bed I can sleep on well) has slowly been shrinking, both in height and in length. We have problems keeping the sheets on the bed because they are now just a bit too big! rat keeps poking me about getting a new one but I am so hesitant because when we first moved in together we used his queen-sized bed and just could not sleep. I cannot sleep in hotel rooms the first night either. And people want to know why I am so cranky the first few days of a vacation....
Ah, danglemate!
Nicked from Talon's blog...
/// So, here's your birthday present:
*Hauls onna up into the lemon tree and gives her a lovely massage, with lemon scented oil, interspersing it with bites of yummy lemon pastry's, iced lemonade and lemon sherbet.* *carefully grooms onna's mane, getting every stick and leaf out of it and sets up a showcase of the "Best of" Lemon series from DBZ, InuYasha, Gravitation, Yu Yu, Gundam Wing (special attention paid to Zechs and Duo), Ai no Kusabi, Yami no Matsuei, Trigun and Fake*
Relaxed now danglemate? *purrs in her ear, Sage contentedly in her lap* ///
*nuzzles danglemate while watching yaoi goodness, noshing lemon treats and bouncing lightly on the branch*
Thanks for the birthday!
*cuddles chibi*
It's Here! It's Here!
The How to Draw Manga - Couples book was FINALLY published and arrived from Amazon today! AND not only do they have male/female couples in poses from holding hands to making love THEY HAVE m/m and f/f couples in the same positions too! This is just WAY TOO cool!
You are impossibly naive, rash and will not let anything get in your way. The exact opposite of him(except for the last one). Hey, don't worry, he won't have the heart to hurt you! Will you, sess-chan? ^_~
Good News: Just found out we can begin moving our stuff into the building.
Bad News: You need hard hats to get into and out of the buildings and they are all out so we are having to trade off and many of us are sitting around, twiddling our toes.
Good News: We get an email saying all the furniture is installed.
Bad News: I have stuff out of three filing cabinets to put into new furniture. No filing cabinets have arrived for Joe and I's shared office.
Good News: The new lab and classroom computers arrived and have been installed.
Bad News: The fiber optics are wrong so the first week the students will have no way to use the computers, not even a basic operating system.
Good News: We will be moved in to the new offices by the first day of class.
Bad News: We will have no phones, no internet access, no network access or anything else so we can do our jobs for about two weeks.
There is more, but my rampaging headache and Roxie needing help with Director calls me away.
As large as I am (pear-shaped), I can still dance pretty well. Not ballet or jazz or the like, but I can boogie if I am careful about how I move my feet and don't over-extend my legs so my knee goes flip-flop, and I can do some belly dance isolations just fine. I never learned belly dancing but my regular dance classes had us do isolation exercises so I can still, carefully, move my torso without moving my hips, which is hard to do for some people. If I just keep my feet under me and use slight bending of the knees and hips isolations to do the majority of the lower body movements I can dance.
Hmm, well, this wasn't planned. I was just going along in my train of thought and all of a sudden I got this twang in my brain - why do I feel like I have just given Zk some pointers for his dancing style?
*looks over at clock*
I REALLY must get to bed. Tomorrow is going to be hell because we still haven't moved and the boss says her plan is NOT for us to do the move this weekend. She seems to think the people in charge do not expect it, but I know for a fact my old area is going to have to move to the new building (first floor) over one weekend because they do not want student services to stop for one moment.
Jeeze, do ya think I am a bit scattered about here?
I Am A: Chaotic Good Half-Elf Ranger Bard
Alignment: Chaotic Good characters are independent types with a strong belief in the value of goodness. They have little use for governments and other forces of order, and will generally do their own things, without heed to such groups.
Race: Half-Elves are a cross between a human and an elf. They are smaller, like their elven ancestors, but have a much shorter lifespan. They are sometimes looked down upon as half-breeds, but this is rare. They have both the curious drive of humans and the patience of elves.
Primary Class: Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.
Secondary Class: Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit.
Deity: Solonor Thelandria is the Chaotic Good elven god of archery and the hunt. He is also known as the Keen Eye, the Great Archer, and the Forest Hunter. His followers respect nature, and only hunt when needed, but are quick to defend the forest from intruders. Their favorite weapon is the bow, and they tend to be extremely talented with it. Solonor Thelandria's symbol is an arrow with green fletchings.
This really does crack me up. The only time I ever played D&D I really did play a female half-elf fighter with a 17 strength to start. I was a tiny slicer.
Thanks: --> to Lia, my sensei, who has inspired me to draw again. I
wouldn't be doing this without your support, Domo Arigato!
--> to Talon, for sending me her fabulous fics, inspiring me with her writing to draw my first
illustration for a story and actually liking what I drew.
--> to Dasia, for her words of encouragement when drawing her original chara.
--> to Joules, a wonderful epic fic writer, for liking my art enough to want to post them with Talon's
and her own stories.
--> to Lutra, the other half of the epic team, for being so supportive.
--> to Jacque' & Becca Raddittzu, we met on eBay as bidder and sellers and now we are face-to-face
friends. You showed us the real DBZ with your fansubs. It's all your fault the house is full of
doujinshi! *LOL*
:: welcome to bakayaro onna's mindless ramblings, rants & raves :: 
Chibi Ryu-chan
Oh, I did get one ad done, and I even used the grapes I did earlier. I used all but two of the requirements too. This ad is not very exciting, but at least the requirements are being met.
K!
And this is the facial detail. Actually I am pretty darned pleased with the hands in this one too. They are still not perfect but I am learning a bit more about structure.
Today's tasty is one from Talon
class
Eyes
Comments back to Joules
Latest Sage Pic
A Lolly
A Talon Tasty
A Tasty
A Lolly
An Onna Ogle
What I have been up to...
A Joules Juicy
Talon's Tasty!
Finds mind down the hall, boggled
A Joules "Jawbreaker"
Lyrics!
