Hello, ladies, gentlemen, lady-gentlemen, gentlemen-ladies, androgynous aliens, asexual beings, and sentient forms of potato salad!

I have survived yet another semester of school and emerge several months older, wiser, and more sleep deprived. But it is winter break once more! Which means, at the very least, I will catch up on sleep (huzzah!). And, at the very most, I will actually post art, photos, and writings! We'll see how that goes.

I hope everyone is having a lovely, warm holiday season with friends and family. Happy Ramahannukwanzmastice and a Happy New Year!

....hiiiiiiiii.

Just another assurance that yes, I am alive, that alas, I am busy, and that no, I do not have new art to share because I am lame and lazy.

So ~elfwannabe88 got a fancy new laptop that has a screen you can write on. It's like a tablet, but it's her entire laptop screen. WHAT. Truly, we are living in the twenty-first century. I am wriggling with jealousy and my desire for a tablet has increased tenfold. RRGGGGGH WHY DO YOU TAUNT ME, TECHNOLOGY, WITH YOUR EXPENSIVENESS PROPORTIONATE TO YOUR AWESOMENESS?? You iPhones and tablets and...and...cyborg limbs!

"Cyborg limbs?" you scoff. "She's exaggerating."

O RLY? I bet by the time I post this, there will be something on the internet about cyborg limbs or something like them, if there isn't already. Such is the terrifying magic of PROGRESS!

I should probably go be productive now...not with art, sadly, but with that blasted homework.

Heeeeyyy, so...updates! Neat! I think maybe I suck slightly less with colored pencils now, so that's grand.

Sorry for the lack of June journal entries...I was studying abroad in Great Britain! Twas glorious. I got to see several plays, dozens of famous sites, a ton of museums, and gorgeous countryside. I got to be a groundling at the Globe theatre, went on a haunted tour in York, romped on the moors near Haworth, reenacted scenes from Highlander in Scotland, and became addicted to British chocolate. I'll see if I can find some fantastic pictures to share soon!

In other news:
I got the director's cut of Watchmen and the special edition DVD of Coraline! AWESOME.
I love the show Big Bang Theory.
I now own a volume of Shakespeare manga. <3
One of my cats had fleas and still has a patch of fur that hasn't completely grown back yet.
I am on the verge of becoming obsessed with Doctor Who and The Mighty Boosh.
The Sookie Stackhouse books are 314159269000 times better than the Twilight books.
Pixar's "Up" made me cry. Twice.
I love working with tweens!
The new Harry Potter movie was actually really good! Draco has metamorphosed into an interesting character, just as he did in the book. Hermione's hair had one brief shining moment of looking properly bushy. Dumbledore was a BAMF.
European chocolate is made with real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. You can taste the difference.


Until I ramble again!

Snatched from 's journal.

READING/BOOK MEME

1. What author do you own the most books of?
K.A. Applegate, probably. I still have all my old Animorphs books, and there are like thirty of them.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
The complete works of Shakespeare. I have two massive volumes. I have additional, individual copies of several plays as well (A Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and As You Like It).

3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Silas from "The Graveyard Book." Char from "Ella Enchanted." Wesley from "The Princess Bride." Mr. Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice." Mr. Knightley from "Emma." Erik from "The Phantom of the Opera." And these are only fictional character from BOOKS. Don't get me started on movies, TV, and graphic novels.

4. What book have you read more than any other?
When I was little, probably "If I Ran the Circus" by Dr. Seuss, though my dad did most of the reading then. When I was older, probably "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson or "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine. In junior high, I read those books, like, annually. Overall, though, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" wins. That book is still my favorite of the series.

5. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Hmmmmm I was more into book series than individual novels then, so probably one of the Animorphs or original Wizard of Oz books. Or maybe "A Wrinkle in Time."

6. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
"The Monk" by Matthew Gregory Lewis. It's definitely not poorly written, and it's a great study of Gothic literature, but it is LONG and SLOW and the characters are just tortured (in some cases literally). Not a fun read, but it was a good book, if that makes sense.

7. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
So far, the book I enjoyed the most was "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. The book that was the most beautifully written was my collection of Angela Carter short stories, but as it's a collection and not a novel, I guess it doesn't really count. The best book in terms of overall quality and literary value was probably "Beloved" by Toni Morrison.

8. If you could tell everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
"1984" by George Orwell. Beautifully written and mind-blowing.

9. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It wasn't as dense as some of the older lit I've read, but it was soooo hard to keep track of all the characters! Even the family tree in the back of the book only helped somewhat. An awesome story, though.

10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I haven't read much by the Russians yet, so I have to say the French.

11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?
Have to go with Billy Shakes, though Chaucer will always hold a special place in my heart for being one of the earliest writers whose work is cut from textbooks. Oh, Chaucer and your bawdy Miller's Tale! Milton is okay. Good but not my fave.

12. Austen or Eliot?
Haven't read much Eliot. Austen has always been a favorite of mine.

13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Mysteries. You'd think I would be all over those! I LOVE complex plots. I've hardly read any mysteries, for some reason.

14. What is your favorite novel?
Can't choose. Just telling you right now. If I were only allowed to bring one book with me onto a desert island or something, I guess I could narrow it down to American Gods and Good Omens, but choosing between the two would be excruciating.

15. Plays?
"Wit." It makes me cry every time.

16. Poem?
Gotta love Poe's "The Raven." And "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll is classic. There's just so much variation in poetry, there are a ton of poems I like.

17. Essay?
I can't remember the name of the essay or the author, but there's this one about procrastinating that is HILARIOUS. And Mark Twain has some awesome stuff as well.

18. Non Fiction
"The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston. Scary because it's REAL.

19. Graphic Novel?
WATCHMEN.

20. Science Fiction?
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams (I have all 5 books in one collection) or "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin. Short stories are a whole new list.

22. Fantasy?
Have to love good old Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. If I had to choose a book that's not part of a series, probably "Howl's Moving Castle."

23. Who is your favorite writer?
Definitely more than one! Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket, Jane Austen, Tolkien, Shakespeare, Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula K. Le Guin, Douglas Adams, Alan Moore...

24. What are you reading right now?
"Horseradish" by Lemony Snicket - not technically a story, but a book of quotes. Will be moving on to novels and plays shortly.

25. Favorite Genre:
Probably sci-fi/fantasy, when it comes down to it.

Just some reassurance that I am, in fact, living, breathing, typing, and procrastinating.

The Myth Real World project is presently on hold because the semester is proving busier as it proceeds, but we still plan on updating it at some point. So yay!

As for art and writing, they are indeed taking place, but 1) not at a very effective pace, and 2) I'm not sure if any of it's worth sharing here. Ah, well. We shall see.

As for random news about life, I love Google more every day, my newest obsession is Watchmen, I will definitely be studying abroad this summer (in Great Britain!), I watch Dollhouse every Friday, toy lightsabers are way cooler now than they were when I was a kid, and Indian food is DELICIOUS.

Ciao for now!