these adventures in solitude

So this has been going around: Pick up the nearest book to you. Turn to page 45. The first sentence describes your sex life in 2012.

Aaand, I had Raina Telgemeier's Smile out from the library. So: "Ow!"

(Or if you want to consider the whole first tier of the page the first "line:" "Ow! Ow! Ow!")

Well, I mean to say, gosh. Anyway, hi! I'm sorry, guys; I fell right off that Snowflake bandwagon, didn't I? Only I got kind of caught up in this fannish project I've been working on ... it's coming along beautifully, if I do say so myself, and I'm pretty sure a bunch of you will like it. :D Eee, I am excited.

Of course, classes start next Tuesday, and I fully expect to disappear for a good two weeks into a Major Project of Doom (so the second-years and alums assure me). But I'm hoping to be a little more present after that!

I've spent the second half of my break largely on my own, chattering away with a few people on chat, expanding my ~artistic horizons, and demolishing the bottle of Baileys my mother got me for Christmas. And consuming media. I listened to the entirety of the Hunger Games trilogy on audiobook in a matter of days, which was ... ouch, okay? JFC, people have not been kidding about that. Also I went and watched all of Once Upon A Time so far, and and I am finally almost caught up on Parks & Rec. I have not touched Sherlock and am unlikely to do so in the future, but I have started listening to the Sherlock Holmes BBC radio dramatisations with Clive Merrison and Michael Williams. They're rather delightful.

So yeah, no big news from me (yet), but I have to say, the sheer quiet of these weeks has been immensely replenishing. I should go; I have half an hour left to my shift before I can go draw more naked ladies in stockings! And it's snowing!

I think I'm going to avoid the fannish year in review meme, because my year has been so oddly lopsided. ( However, here is a roundup of this year's fanart, if only to remind myself! )

I'm heading back north on Monday to hang out in my mostly-empty little town working four-hour shifts for a couple weeks! (And not before time; the statute of limitations on spending harmonious time with my parents is definitely running out.) Among other plans, I think I'm going to be participating in akamine_chan's Fandom Snowflake Challenge. Seems like the perfect way to celebrate fannish things a bit before grad school eats me again. :D

As for real-life reflections on the year, well ... honestly, there's just too much. I left my first for real adult job after three years (gratefully and with much rejoicing, though it was a perfectly good one), left the city, and went to the school of my dreams. Which ATE me. That's already more than enough, without feelings and identity crises and ~life lessons that I'm trying to learn and not dwell on (or ramble about).

(That said, yesterday I bought the cutest bra I have ever owned. Which was a small thing, but ... this year, I feel good about my body in a way that I never have before, and I am so immensely grateful for that. So that's one thing! And I am having this problem where I can't stop staring down at my own chest every five minutes. /o\ Um. Hi. Sorry. Anyway.)

Also, before I disappeared, I got to meet a whole bunch of you this year, and get to know a few more of you much better, and that has been one of the best things.

2012 is going to be amazing, okay? Let's get that done.

I'm planning to, you know, actually post here later? (I hope everyone's having a lovely holiday season!) But for now, this is a vintage, kink-themed picspam for the wonderful were_duck, posted publicly by request. ♥

Obviously, all the images under the cut are NSFW: ( gonna loosen me up )

I believe most of these photos were collected from vintage_sex or kinkyvintage. Enjoy!

Hey guys, so! As of a couple minutes ago it is Thanksgiving here in the States, and um, one thing I'm thankful for is definitely fandom. Particularly bandom, which remains the fandom of my heart after nearly three and a half years.

Also, really late and right before a holiday, nobody will pay attention when I post my super dorky contribution to the bandom voice meme! /o\ In which I talk for almost seventeen minutes (and don't even actually explain why bandom has been so important to me). Ahaha.

Bandommeme by reflectedeve

( The questions and a very lengthy transcript. )

Have a lovely holiday if you're here, and a lovely tomorrow if you're not! <3

This is very nearly belated, for which I'm very sorry! Graduate school takes almost everything I have just now, and certainly all of my time. But! For ataratah:



A better friend and art-beta than I think I really deserve, a good portion of the time. ♥ I'm very very happy you exist, lady!

Oh, man. :( I really wanted to spend this afternoon writing a big locked post about my pre-grad-school week (complete with pictures), and drawing, and maybe flailing a bit about the new episode of Doctor Who. But, after a long, amazing day of used furniture* shopping and hauling and wandering around a nearby college town discussing nontraditional relationships and artistic influences with my classmates, eating pretty excellent gelato ... I returned home last night mysteriously sans wallet. Today, in between running errands all over the local big box strip (Home Depot gives me such a headache), I was calling multiple shops, university & town police departments, and various offices of my bank (which, as it turned out, had fucked up my change of address), trying to get things sorted out. Bleurgh. Nobody has found my things (either to return them or attempt to make illicit use of my debit card); maybe they fell down a drain? But it's going to be a week or more until I have cash (I can buy groceries with my checkbook) or can make much in the way of online purchases, and I guess I'll have to carry my passport around for awhile.

I just finally got home and had lunch about half an hour ago. Oh, and also? The hot water wasn't working this morning, so I haven't showered. UGH.

But hey. I have internet in my apartment now, as well as actual chairs, and I'm more or less fully unpacked. Tomorrow's orientation! And the summer intern and I did conduct all those errands while rocking out to Ani DiFranco in her car (she is adorable and reminds me very much of home; I'm sad she's leaving this weekend). I still remember all of the lyrics.

Life is mostly awesome, but now I am going to take a shower.


*and clothing - I found this gorgeous vintage black brocade car coat in the basement of an antique store that I am splurging on because I look and feel amazing in it ... bad student.

Well. There's a loaded Uhaul out in my parents' driveway; in about eight hours I'll be on the road to the little town in Vermont where I'll live for the next two years. Finally. \o/

Of course, there's a hurricane which appears to be about to tear right up the coast after me, the day after that. Everyone's battening down their hatches, and I guess I'll do the same ... as soon as I've gotten myself (and all my possessions) into them. What even is this year.

I don't expect to have much in the way of internet this weekend, since I doubt we'll be able to set it up in the apartment until at least Monday (and if there's much storm damage in my area--not likely, but possible--who knows), so ... stay safe, everyone. ♥

I'll see you in the funny papers.

Yesterday, I was sitting in a cafe drawing with ataratah when some excited tweets led to us looking at Brendon Urie in a thong ... which I only just now realize, I did nothing to shield the establishment's other patrons from. Um. I've missed fandom? Hi! I've been pretty busy visiting with old friends and dancing at the wedding of my former epic adolescent infatuation, but I need a little more internet time.

Speaking of NSFW imagery ... I have been working on something to share with you guys! Way back in March, lucifuge5 won a two-page fancomic, which I have finally completed. The following is a scene from her Due South/Down With Love fusion, DONE With Love:

( 'Fraser,' Ray interrupted, 'Sorry. I won't be able to make it. I'm all tied up.' (NSFW) )

Thanks again to lucifuge5 for your generous bid on help_japan!

I feel like my juices are finally flowing again after a good month of art slump (all that transition just doesn't do anything for me creatively). I am ready to make ALL THE COMICS ... very very soon. :D

Now I need to go try and get things set up with my electrical company from a state away, since my new roommate is moving into the apartment a week ahead of me.

So, um, July swallowed me whole, apparently. Wow.

Tomorrow's my last day at work! I've been doing this academic administrative assistant job for three and a half years now, which has been ... pretty damn significant. It's the job I left home to take, in order to save for grad school and get some experience actually living ~out in the world. And while it hasn't exactly been doing anything I love (and has always, always been temporary) ... it's been a pretty great place to work, and I've grown up a lot while I've been here. So there's a bit of mixed emotion involved.

Still, ugh, freedom.

I'm off home to see the Decemberists with my brother this weekend, and then back for my very last week in Somerville; I'll be moving out on the seventh, and spending a few weeks in the Valley with my parents before heading north to start school. It's all a bit of a whirl at this point! I sort of wish I'd left myself more time between the end of my job and my departure, but at the same time, I'm already pretty bad at goodbyes ... I tend to either draw them out forever until it gets really tedious, or I sort of turn on my heel and go without a word. This is almost a happy medium! I should get a chance to spend time with most of my local people in between packing and financial stuff and my last couple of driving lessons. (Did I mention I'm learning to drive at last? And I picked the Boston area to do it in? Yeah, that ... hasn't been boring.)

There have been fun things going on, too! Most recently, I attended a Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight showing for my roommate's birthday, and showed up in terrifying vinyl platform-heeled boots that were originally purchased for a Brian Slade costume in college. (I did not fall over, even during the Time Warp, though there was some wobbling.) And tomorrow night, I've been invited to a Labyrinth viewing party; costumes are apparently encouraged. I just ... yes.

And I'm sure those of you who would be interested have already seen this, but the Legend of Korra trailer released at SDCC looks amazing, holy fuck.

There hasn't been nearly enough art, but the stuff I've done has been extra enjoyable, perhaps to make up for that.

Anyway, enough boring RL blather. I'll be back to post art, or ramble about composite-canon fandoms (oh, X-Men: First Class, I wish I had TIME for you), or rant about the relative lack of media with primarily female casts, probably after I get this moving thing done. (I'm looking forward to my mini vacation so much: time to do whatever art I like, before the assignments start rolling in!)

Also, ugh, this DDoS thing is dragging on and on ... and while I'm on that, if you know anyone who might like a Dreamwidth code, feel free to point them my way.

So ataratah and I have talked a lot about our early love for Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, and awhile back she suggested that we try doing some kind of related art project! This is my piece based on the first of a series of prompts she suggested: a panel from the manga, redrawn in my own style. It was ridiculously fun, hanging around in a cafe, working on these together.

( Oh Nostalgia, part one )

So that was fun! I can't wait to start the next prompt, though I have to space these things out with ... other fanart obligations, of course. (I am pretty much just going to do as much fanart as I can manage 'til I leave, I think.)

You seriously, SERIOUSLY have to go check out ataratah's answer to this part of our challenge, over here (or on LJ). It is drop-dead gorgeous. I cannot get over how fucking graceful her linework and gestures are; she's taken one of the simpler manga panels and just made it come alive. (Also, I don't know if any of you have ever watched PGSM--the live-action Sailor Moon--but I ship Rei/Minako like burning, and this is some of the best fanart of them I've seen.)

Just wait until you see what she has in store for the next two prompts!