"What the funk; you found my DA archive!"

Okay, so if you *really* want to view my artwork, writings, ramblings and all that this is the place for you. Expect a madcap Brit on a rampage!

Man, I can't believe I left this journal alone for so long. I need to recap what's happened since March.

Apparently the whole "featured journal" thing had only resulted in me getting five. I'm going to feature them in the next journal though, but I needed to make an update most importantly.

I finally got through University at long last. I cleared my last semester, cleared my coursework and done all outstanding work I had going. And the result? An Upper Second Class degree, which I was happy to receive at a graduation ceremony last Wednesday. There were 600 of us there claiming our certificates from the vice-chancellor, and considering I'm near the end of the list it was a bloody long wait! But I'm proud of what happened though. I really hope it contributes well towards a job.

While I've been home, a lot of my time was spent trying to get in contact with the Job Center and finding a first step into employment. That added with some voluntary work has also made the aspect of free time really difficult.

In whatever free time I made I tried to build my music setup from scratch; it's almost done, just that we're missing a keyboard now. And in the time outside of that I tried to mess around with the equipment that I had for that aspect (though input had to be done by mouse) to work on some modern symphonic arrangements of some Spyro the Dragon tracks as well as a fanfic for the same franchise at FF.net (I actually finished Theoropolis there, just need to put the remaining chapters here.)

Videogaming was also pretty sparce, though I feel proud to mention that I have become a proud owner of the following games since my last journal in March -

* Okami (PS2) - possibly the last PS2 game I'll ever play at this rate, and it looks beautiful and plays epically as well. I don't care if it's like Zelda, I still love it
* The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (DS) - I know I had the console version but I was happy to get the DS version cheap Regardless, it seemed to be a fun addition to the DS set, though I personally wish for an entire game based on those ever-so-awesome gem puzzles littered around, heh.
* Starfox Command (DS) - didn't start playing this until six months after I got it (d'oh!) but I actually liked the way it went in terms of gameplay control and stuff. Got four endings already, just that the missile chases and some of the motherships at Venom have been trying to stump me o_O
* Me and My Katamari (PSP) - I don't actually OWN a PSP yet but my brother allowed me to get a couple of games before being able to get my own. And for a first it was just as fun as any old Katamari game I came across in the past, though a little on the easy side. Oh well...
* Loco Roco (PSP) - Love this quirky new puzzle addition as well. It may look cute to you, but I gotta hand it to you, the later levels tried to OWN me so much! Still pretty cool though, the MuiMui hunting has got me on the go.
* Elite Beat Agents (DS) - Man, I got that on the same day as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and I swear NEVER TO GET TWO ANTICIPATED THINGS AT THE SAME TIME. Though I cleared the Breezin' and Cruisin' modes, I find it awesome that I'm wrestling my way through to get the higher scores; even my brother likes it, trying to beat my score on the YMCA stage at every single difficulty available, lol.

Additionally I want to mention something else - I'm turning 21 next Tuesday, and I really hope it goes down okay. But I'm just worried if I'll end up having one of those "loner birthdays" like I faced last year, when I barely asked for much and got little in return. What big event that will happen though is asking for a music keyboard to plug into my computer, so that will be sweet in its own right.

Whichever happens, I'm proud to have got something up here to confirm that I'm still alive and kicking. Whether people would take notice after so long is a completely different story, lol.

"What the funk; you found my DA archive!"

Okay, so if you *really* want to view my artwork, writings, ramblings and all that this is the place for you. Expect a madcap Brit on a rampage!

*raygirl did this in her journal, so it's only fair that I FINALLY get to do this in return -

The first ten people who reply to this journal get put up here, along with three of my favourite deviations by them.

The catch is: You have to put this in your journal as well, so no cheating.

Please have something in your gallery (photos and/or drawings), or else I'll disregard the comment.

Trust me to copy her statement word for word -_- oh well. I'm just wondering if I'll even get five, let alone ten XD but I'm having a shot anyway.

"What the funk; you found my DA archive!"

Okay, so if you *really* want to view my artwork, writings, ramblings and all that this is the place for you. Expect a madcap Brit on a rampage!

"You really want some duck a l'orange, huh? You know we can't afford to eat like that! Aren't you a duck anyways?"
Strong Bad (to The Cheat), lunch special (Strong Bad Email #102)

Man, another lengthy amount of time away from journals. And I didn't even find the time to start up a Livejournal page yet. I think I need to start explaining stuff a little bit more.

As far as my academic work is going, things are getting tighter. Learning 3D animation seems to be tougher than I thought when it comes down to adapting tutorials, though I can seem to make a few good chess pieces right about now. I still need to get some good sketchworks done of the Apple II's anatomy though, though it's hard considering most photos show the front part of the monitor.
I'm also expected to continue on with this giant web portfolio, and it's hard considering there's been more lectures than actual workshops this year. I'm sure that with the right amount of help I'll get stuff set in stone.
On top of that there's the development of the flash tour of the University campus. This will take more time than is necessary, unfortunately. But I'm still destined to put all heart and soul into it.
I got the Tom and Jerry video extraction that I needed for the music tech project to go through. I just hope we get through that okay.

It's a shame that today, even though it's Shrove Tuesday, didn't exactly go as planned. Here's what I planned to do -

* Do the laundry while doing stuff for the morning
* Submit work attachments to colleagues
* Shop for pancake stuff
* Clean room
* Get ready for a dining in night event with the rest of the dorm
* Order pancakes for the evening

I don't think many of those events went as planned. Maybe the laundry and the spring cleaning did, but not anything else. The email servers were down, which made things difficult in terms of productivity for this morning. And when shopping for pancake stuff, I couldn't seem to find much jif lemon left, so I went with chocolate syrup. (I regret that later...) Additionally, the dining in night was postponed until tomorrow night (didn't find out until the last second) and when I went to order the pancakes, the pros had none left.

I still had pancakes though - someone offered to help me make some mix with ingredients shared between us, and we split the set between us. I thought I could stomach six crepe-sized ones, but even with strong chocolate syrup, they were hard to digest near the end. By now I feel as if I need to crash out any minute, but that should never be of consideration given my duties these days.

Still, what can I say? This IS my last day of chocolate until Easter Sunday, as I usually do each year when going through lent. Man, I will miss that sweet sugary taste.

"What the funk; you found my DA archive!"

Okay, so if you *really* want to view my artwork, writings, ramblings and all that this is the place for you. Expect a madcap Brit on a rampage!

"I just felt like I had to hit (the crystal)... and when I did, the power of a thousand suns surged through my body."
"Right, okay. Well you know what? You should really sleep better. Y'know, I'm gonna stop buggin you. You really need to get eight hours."
Spyro and Sparx, The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning

Theoropolis OST gets an update! Grab it quick! ^_~

Ahem... yeah. Now that the self-pimpage is out of the way, it's time I made headway with a new journal.

It seems as if my college work is starting to get a little bit demanding. My music tech coursework wants me to put acousmatic sounds to a video selection, and that means getting a Tom and Jerry compilation video from Blockbuster and seeing what I can do with them. I haven't actually done that yet, but I will see if I can actually order one and see through it carefully.
On top of that, my IT classes require me to do some design briefs for the university campus tour, learning AJAX for the next big web assignment and learning about 3D MODELLING!! Unfortunately, unlike Shinragod who's modelling an anthro, I'm stuck modelling an Apple II computer. But I'm sure it'll come out well.

On top of that, I need to get back to the big 100 pics. I have more time for that now in spite of all this work that's going on, but the question is, will I even get it done??

Also, I'm thinking of getting a Live Journal. Will it be even possible? I mean, it's one thing to see Lioness's additional work on there if I get one, but I also want somewhere to make people appreciate the original music that I put down, especially in the link above. It's also going to be hard to build up a whole audience again, but still, I don't want to end up going there and finding out that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Either way, is it worth it?

All questions asked and past events explained, before I leave you all, I found this old quiz while rooting around ~turquoisephoenix's past journals (don't ask), and I thought I'd actually give it a go. Let's place it here while we can.

Choose twelve characters from fandoms, then answer the questions underneath. Do not look at the questions beforehand.

I like being diverse, so we'll do 12 chars from different fandoms, shall we? And crikey, they ALL had to be videogames! I am suck a geek.

1) Dr. Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot)
2) Beauty Queen Etna (Disgaea)
3) Yangus (Dragon Quest VIII)
4) Baron Praxis (Jak II)
5) King of All Cosmos (Katamari Damacy)
6) Axel (Kingdom Hearts)
7) Ratchet (Ratchet & Clank)
8) Rayman (series of the same name -__-)
9) Dimitri (Sly Cooper)
10) Miles "Tails" Prower (Sonic the Hedgehog)
11) Spyro the Dragon (again, series of the same name)
12) Peppy Hare (Starfox)

1. Who would make a better college professor, 6 or 11?

Okay, two guys that specialise in fire. Makes them well suited for cooking classes then!!

On one hand, Spyro could fit the criterion as his status as a purple dragon would make him able to pass the torch when it comes to controlling breath powers to other students, though given what we saw of him in the reboot title it can be hard for him to regulate his feelings enough to cope with an entire class. Axel, on the other hand, has an advantage as he has no emotions whatsoever, but he could terrorise people thanks to his wish to find Roxas again. I'd say Spyro would go down better with the college kids.

Do you think 4 is hot? How hot?

Great, Baron bleedin' Praxis. I think everyone knows the answer to that question.

3. 12 sends 8 on a mission. What is it, and does it succeed?

Peppy summons Rayman to counter against an infestation of ailens going around the Fairy Glade. Unfortunately, Rayman's expertise in flying arwings is poor and he has problems controlling it. He seemed to have no problem fighting them on foot with his own fists though. We can say it succeeded but because of the sluggish combat speed the Fairy Glade would have decaded slightly.

4. What is or would be 9's favourite book?

Tha Doggfather : The Times, Trials, And Hardcore Truths Of Snoop Dogg, or similar hip hop related autobiographies. You never can tell with Dimitri.

5. Would it make more sense for 2 to swear fealty to 6, or the other way around?

Etna and Axel. Course, it would be Etna as all that Axel wanted to do was work alone or with Roxas. Besides, once she'd sick her prinnies on him, that's the deal firmly secure.

For some reason, 5 is looking for a roommate. Should s/he share a studio apartment with 9 or with 10?

The King of All Cosmos would share a room with either Dimitri or Tails. Interesing.
Dimitri would have a bachelor pad doing his kinetic anaesthetic work, learning more English from hip hop music and inflating his own ego, not giving time for anyone else's. Tails would have a workshop where he'd tinker around with flying machines, and given his age he could surely be in bed for 11PM or something. So yes, Tails seems to be the better roommate to go with.

7. 2,7 and 12 have dinner together. Where do they go, and what do they discuss?

Etna, Ratchet and Peppy would go to Pizza Hut, because that has the better sweet pudding at the end for Etna to eat all she wants from (she would obviously use her prinnies to force everyone to go). While she's stuffing her face like a pig, Ratchet and Peppy would discuss mechanics-related topics together.

3 challenges 10 to a duel. What happens?

Yangus challenges Tails to a duel. Tails wouldn't want to fight at first, but after seeing him he quickly lures Yangus to his home and comes through with the Tornado. Yangus would react with his Underpants Dance, causing Tails to lose control and crash to the ground, before using whatever axe attacks he can to finish him off.

9. If 1 stole 8's most precious possession, how would he get it back?

Cortex steals something from Rayman. Not a problem - he would obviously journey across many worlds to get to the scientist and fight him in a mecha, in the similar fashion to Reflux from Rayman 3.

10. Suggest a title for a story in which 7 and 12 both attain what they most desire.

Ratchet and Peppy! How amusing.
"Deep Space Fuzzballs!"
Ratchet and Peppy share an apartment together, where Ratchet would come through with having a more successful TV career than Secret Agent Clank, and Peppy would climb his way to ranks in the Corneria Army beyond merely "General".

11. What kind of plot device would you use if you wanted 4 and 1 to work together?

Cortex and Praxis. Wait, I discussed that idea before in my Crash Blue Jak Orange pic from ages ago! Let me recap a potential storyline.

The basic storyline between them basically starts with Dr Neo Cortex plummeting his way towards Haven City from the sky, after entering a porthole discovered by his accomplice Dr Nefarious Tropy. Once down there, he soon ended up face to face with Baron Praxis, the ruler of the city. At that moment in time he was still in search for Mar's Tomb, still seeking for the deadly prize of the Precursor Stone.
Both characters then teamed up for their own purposes - while the Baron's intentions were for expanding upon Haven's territory using Cortex as his own puppet, Neo himself had plans of his own to use Praxis to find the stone and achieve enough power to rule the world himself. One word - ouch.

12. If 7 visisted you for the weekend, how would you get along?

Ratchet, huh? We should get along pretty well given we have good workable ordeals, though I wouldn't like it if his temper shows when Secret Agent Clank shows on TV.

13. If you could command 3 to perform any one task or service for you, what would it be?

I'd get Yangus to steal the stereo from my next door neighbour and sell it in the black market. Nuff said.

14. Does anyone on your friends list write or draw 11?

A LOT of people on my friends list draw Spyro! Though, now that I think of dragons, I miss ~Fenrina a heck of a lot

15. If 2 had to choose sides between 4 and 5, which would it be?

Etna would choose between Praxis or the King of All Cosmos. Trying to take sides with the King meant that she would have to follow his orders or else his laser eyes would completely smite her. So yes, odds are she'd get on better with Praxis because they seem to think more alike when it comes to power and control.

16. What might 10 shout while charging into battle?

Tails would shout something uber-cheesy, like "Fly like the wind" or something.

17. If you chose a song to represent 8, which song would it be?

Groove Armada - "Madder". It's the only mainstream song I think can associate with Rayman! Oh, and I haven't heard it in a while... o.o

18. 1, 6, and 12 are having dim sum at a Chinese restaurant. There is only one scallion pancake left, and they all reach for it at the same time. Who gets to eat it?

Cortex, Axel and Peppy fighting over food. ohok. All would race for it but Axel's more potent fire power would leave him to be the guy who would take it in the end.

19. What might be a good pick-up line for 2 to use on 10?

Etna and Tails sitting in a tree... o_O;

"So, foxy, do you want to share my pudding with me?"

Obviously, Tails, being too young for that sort of thing, would fly off into the distance before it would get from rough to weird.

20. What would 5 most likely be arrested for?

Demolishing various buildings thanks to being about 3000m tall. You never know what can happen if the King of All Cosmos has a wine glass too many.

21. What is 6's secret?

Before Axel went into Organisation XIII, he was a chef working at MacDonalds. He only got in the club because he somehow knew Vexen from the early stages of his job and wants a better

salary.

22. If 11 and 9 were racing to a destination, who would get there first?

Spyro vs Dimitri. I bet Spyro would go far with his charge technique anyway, but I don't think he'd need that when fending against a guy who only likes to show off and has little-to-no running skill whatsoever (though he can swim pretty well) but has nice breakdancing/hiphop/capoeira (?) moves.

23. 3 and 7 tell conflicting versions of events. Which is more reliable?

Trusting either Yangus or Ratchet. Both of them are pretty honest, but Ratchet has the better English and can help out with more detailed portions of that event.

24. 1 (Cortex) and 9 (Dimitri) reluctantly team up to save the world from the threat posed by 4 (Baron Praxis)'s sinister secret organization. 11 (Spyro) volunteers to help them, but it is later discovered that 11 (Spyro) is actually a spy for 4 (Baron Praxis). Meanwhile, 4(Baron Praxis) has kidnapped 12 (Peppy), in an attempt to force their surrender. Following the wise advice of 5 (King of All Cosmos), they seek out 3 (Yangus), who gives them what they need to complete their quest. What title would you give this fic? Name three people on your friends list who might read it. Name one person who should write it.

OMG!!
So, we have something like that Cortex game Travellers' Tales were planning to make but that idea got put on hold. And to think he would team up with an innocent-ish Dragon for a spy, an egoistic lounge lizard to get through it all, and the occasional master of outer space (praying to stars?) and a thief wanting to become straight in due time.

"The Two Lab Rats - Purity of Scientific Showoffs"

Three people who would read it?
~turquoisephoenix, =lionessb (if she even has time?), *silversister

A person who should write it?
Might even be me, though TP could do a better job O.o


And now, I leave you all while I start watching Tom and Jerry cartoons. A LOT.

"What the funk; you found my DA archive!"

Okay, so if you *really* want to view my artwork, writings, ramblings and all that this is the place for you. Expect a madcap Brit on a rampage!

Wow, I've got a lot of things to cover in this journal entry in particular. And I needed to do that now that I have escaped from the Christmas rush all in one piece. This time, I'm doing my college work as carefully as possible for this semester. You hear me

Anyway, I might as well do a few things while I'm here. Starting off with two little news-related things.

Theoropolis gets a Soundtrack?
It may not be something that I could publish, but this is something that I've been willing to do for a long time - try and score various scenes from The Theoropolis Saga into a musical format. The result is the plan to do a 40+ track set of cues to correspond with various scenes throughout the tale. Obviously with various influences on canon characters, there will be arrangements of other themes mixed in with some originals, but still, I needed to make sure that my final semester here at Uni goes out with a bang.

It's something that has been worked upon since last week but I'm steadily getting there. The songs may not necessarily be epics, but one or two of them will be once I get around to them. Here's the link to what's been done so far.

Art makes the wedding so pretty
I don't think I mentioned this up until now, but two weeks ago, I was commissioned with a job from my eldest cousin. She is going to get married at the end of the year, and from what I've seen from her fiancé I think she's made a great move.

I wouldn't want to be a bridesmaid as it's just too much about standing there looking pretty, which isn't as good on a practical person like myself. However, she came up with a really good idea. She wants me to be her illustrator at the wedding!

She wants me to draw her and her husband-to-be at the altar as they go through the ceremony. With that in mind I need to start practicing some reference shots, namely various church furniture like the pews and pulpits and whatnot. I hope everything goes down well

Facing the Hospital Blues
After just under two years of pain (maybe a little more?), my dad went into hospital as soon as I returned to campus. It's nothing major - he was to get an operation to strenghen his decaying leg, which went down a success. He did end up staying behind in hospital to recover, obviously.

I sent him a get well card on Thursday and found out that he received it today. Hearing everything from my mother down the phone, I heard that his staying in hospital is a painful experience due to the anaesthetics he needed for the healing process. Though it will help in the long run, I feel really sorry for him and at some extent is hurting me a little bit inside too. I didn't feel it at the time, but my father is a very close figure to me. We share birthdays, have similar character traits, enjoy listening to Queen, often help each other out on the Spyro titles (obviously the Insomniac ones, ohok), and all that.

So with that in mind, I want to draw him a picture to cheer him up during his time in there. But I'm stumped on what to do. I want to do something uplifting, but not to the point that he would not break down at the sight of it (i.e. a dancing gorilla won't do any good at a time like this, LoL!!). I think I need some advice on how to approach it, so I hope by asking you guys you might provide some nice ideas. That's unless I may need to think for myself again.

Weird stuff?
~Siera tagged me to do this, so it's only fair that I get this out of the way. I just state six weird facts about myself, and then tag this along to six different deviants. Chained messages aren't something I'd usually favor, but it looks fun, I guess.

* When I eat Chile Con Carne, I always eat the kidney beans first, usually two at a time. When I was a kid, I used to count them all too!

* You may know me as quite the lover for villains in fiction. The first passion I faced with that kind of character in particular was Lord Zedd from the second season of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers TV show. There was something about that guy that would send chills, maybe a good combination of his actions and his purely chaotic attitude (loved it when he glowed red with anger for some reason). Then they decided to get him to marry Rita Repulsa, and then it all had to change from there @.@

* My first childhood memory, aside from the claim of seeing pink and a female body, was sitting in a highchair watching Countdown and being spoonfed alphabet soup. Richard Whiteley, we miss you

* I may be quite the Crash fan, but it was my brother who ended up being in charge of the first three titles. We got the first game bundled with the PS1 in 1997, and the other two were shelled out with his own money. Eventually, he thought that Crash Team Racing wasn't going to be all too impressive in his point of view, so he gave ME permission to collect Crash games from then onwards. And a good move it was too!

* On the subject of PS1 games, I logged a list of every PlayStation 1 game that we ever earned whether it be through buying or receiving it as a gift. I think I'll need to keep a good hold on it in case I forget about certain games that kept me entertained in the past.

* The most exciting birthday I ever had was when I turned 18, on vacation at a resort near Barcelona. I wrote an entire DA journal about it if you're interested on how it went down. Word of caution - an entry from 30 months ago would show how much I've matured since then, heh.

I'll find some people to tag later. It gets hard to find out certain people have done this already...