How nifty! I just got a free subscription for a week! Basically, right now I'm just trying out some of the new features that go with it. I guess since I'm using up journal space, I might as well write about something interesting.

Personal stuff:
Y'all might be wondering about that "Played by a player!" thing that I wrote. Well, let me just say that there's this guy that I know, and he led me to believe that he liked me. I allowed myself to develop feelings for this guy. I gave him my phone number when he asked me for it, and at first, he called me fairly regularly. I thought to myself, "Maybe he really is sincere about this." Why would I doubt it? He has a tendancy to flirt with every girl that crosses his path. Being the forgiving person that I am, I chose to ignore this, and went out on a date with him anyway. We were supposed to hang out many times prior to that date, but he always bailed out on me and gave me a lame excuse for it, like "Uh...I fell asleep." He always tells me he's thinking about me, or that he absolutely has to see me, but he stands me up, time and time again. In fact, he just stood me up AGAIN today! His actions are simply not matching his words. Whether he's with another girl or out drinking isn't really an issue. The issue is that he didn't do something that he promised he would do, and it's starting to get old. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't stop associating with this guy a long time ago. I need to get over him, but it's hard to get over someone that you've shared a kiss with. Oh, well...

Art stuff:
Well, I've two big projects coming up. As of right now, I'm running low on my Prismacolors, which will be fixed shortly. I definitely don't want to miss any deadlines!

First on the agenda is some children's book illustrations that I've been comissioned to do. The author is ready to sign a contract for her first story, but she told me that she's not signing anything until my drawings are finished. So, needless to say, that is what I will be working on for now.

~Mermafied is having another exchange. This time, we have to turn our characters into human versions of themselves. Once again, I have the honor of working with one of ~zepheenia's characters, the deadly but beautiful sea snake mermaid Toxin.

Alright, so that's all for now. Like I said, I'm trying out this new subscription stuff. I don't normally blab about the mundane goings-on in my life on DA, but I had to write about something. Toodles!

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These are the clubs that I'm in:

About a month ago, my DA buddy frozengymnast and I decided to each illustrate half of the zodiac. I have finished my half, which can be seen in my DA gallery, but I had so much fun with it that I've decided to do the other half as well. I'm going to start doing some research to finish this series, and hopefully I'll have the finished products uploaded soon. What's refreshing about this series is that it's something different from the usual mermaids. Some of this stuff is not even tropical or marine in nature. I figure that I have to broaden my horizons every once in a while, hehe!

*May 21, 2006
Well, the entire zodiac is finished! The remaining six have been uploaded in the gallery for all to see. Overall, I am fairly happy with how the series turned out. If I had to pick my favorites, I would have to go with the animals: Aries, Leo, Capricorn, Cancer, etc. I'm also happy with Aquarius and I'm, of course, a little partial to Libra. So, go check 'em out, and let me know what y'all think.

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I'd like to indroduce y'all to my friends:



These are the clubs that I'm in:

Okay, it appears that I've been tagged, thanks to ~Atalaia-Leafsong.

Rules:The first person that starts the game or whatever starts the topic. 6 weird habits/secrets/things and then the tagged people have to write a journal entry about 6 weird habits/secrets/things.
And then the tagged person must choose six more people to be tagged and tell them to write 6 weird habits/secrets/things in their journal. And you must write them a comment in their deviantart user page saying they've been tagged and get them to read yours.

1. I'm directly related to a U.S. President, Benjamin Harrison. I know he's not one of the more well known Presidents, but he still counts.

2. I'm part Lebanese. There are a few celebrities who are also Lebanese, including Casey Kasem (the voice of Shaggy from "Scooby Doo" and the former DJ for the Weekly Top 40), Jamie Farr (the cross dresser from "M*A*S*H"), and Shakira.

3. I have a pet turtle named Amadeus, as in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

4. I'm deathly afraid of cockroaches. It's so bad that I'm even afraid of the fake rubber roaches. It figures that I live in South Louisiana, where the roaches are almost big enough to beat up small dogs.

5. I can't stand it when I'm eating a plate of food and one item is touching another. For example, if my green beans somehow end up in my mashed potatoes, I get really irritated.

6. I'm a diehard Parrothead! Jimmy Buffett is my musical hero! I have just about all of his albums and I'm a frequent shopper at the Margaritaville Store in the French Quarter.

Well, that was fun!

The following people can consider themselves tagged:

*frozengymnast
~enniroc
~jkbunny
~socalchika00
~Rurikokun
~faeriefaeria

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I'd like to indroduce y'all to my friends:



These are the clubs that I'm in:

I was sitting on my bedroom floor earlier today, staring down at a blank piece of sketch paper, with my pencils and Prismas by my side, ready to go. I was in the mood to draw, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. I figured I could do another mermaid, or maybe a nice underwater scene with some tropical fish, or perhaps a beach scene with a palm tree. Ugh...I've been there and I've done all of the above. I thought to myself, "I should do something different. I'm sure that everyone on DA is sick of seeing the same thing, over and over.

About an hour later, my Dad came in, and saw that I was drawing. I told him that he could look at the rest of my stuff, which was stacked up in a drawer in the corner of the room. He pulled out the heap of papers and leafed through them. "Well, we know you can draw mermaids.", he said as he flipped through the dozen or so variations of fish people, "Don't you think it's about time that you drew something else?" I told him that he was right, I should totally move on to different subject matter. He then asked me was I was drawing at the moment. I hesitated before I said, "Umm...another mermaid."


When I was in college, my art professors would tell me about this all the time. Everything I do is beach related or fish related or tropical in nature. They wanted me to do something else, something with meaning. "Meaning"? I'm sorry if my art doesn't make commentary on the current state of affairs. That might be what other people like to do, but not me. I see art as more of an escape, as a way of taking a break from day to day life. It's kind of like the difference between a dramatic film and a comedy. I don't want to go to the movies and leave depressed or angry. I want to walk out of the theater feeling uplifted and refreshed. I just want to go laugh out loud with my friends or cuddle up with my honey and munch on popcorn.


Now that I look through my DA gallery, I notice a pattern. Mermaids, fish, pirates, beaches...AHHHH! Must do something else! But what? Those are all the things that I love, and that I'm good at. Of course, the only way that I'll ever expand my horizons is to venture into new territory. So, what do you guys think? Do y'all think that I should do something else, or just stick with what I enjoy and do best?

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I'd like to indroduce y'all to my friends:



These are the clubs that I'm in:

When I decided to take up visual art as my major in college, my advisor gave me a list of all the classes that I was required to take. All of the usual things were on there: painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, and art history among others. My drawing requirements were broken down into two semesters of classes, one being strictly still-life drawing and the other being figure drawing. I did well in the still-life class and when it came time to start the figure drawing class I thought, Okay...I'm gonna draw people. Awesome!

On the first day of class, the teacher briefly went over what we would be doing. She mentioned that we would be drawing nude figures-both male and female. I thought to myself, Hmm...well, I guess we're all adults here. I've never seen a man in his birthday suit before, but I'm mature enough. I can handle it.

Two days later, the class met again with our supplies in tow, ready to get to work. We were setting up our sketch pads and lining up our charcoals and erasers when a 20-something year old guy walked in with a robe on. The teacher introduced him as our model for the day. He was a pretty good-looking guy and I thought, Oh my...this is gonna be interesting.

Once we were all ready to go, the model walked up onto a platform in the corner of the studio around which our easels were arranged. The teacher gave him the go-ahead, and he took off his robe, under which there was...well, NOTHING! I told myself silently not to blush or stare, but then again, I had to stare because I had to draw the guy. How can you draw something if you don't look at it?

I had to get over my shock quickly, because we launched straight into our drawing exercises. The teacher walked around the studio the whole time, looking at our work, and she stopped by me and scrutinized my drawing. She pointed at it and said "Draw EVERYTHING that you see!" Heh...I guess she noticed that I was trying to avoid drawing the you-know-what. After 45 minutes, it was time to take a break. As the class walked around to stretch their legs and talk, the model plopped down on the platform, still naked, and started talking with some of the students. The teacher noticed and said, "Umm...you can put your robe back on."

Once our break was over, we got back to our drawing exercises. As I worked on my drawing, I would look up to study the model's pose. His eyes met mine a few times, which was weird. It's a little creepy when you're fully clothed and there's a naked guy staring at you, especially when he's good-looking.

That particular model posed for us during many more classes after that. Even after the semester was over, he was still the prefered model amongst the girls...geez, do I really have to say why?

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I'd like to indroduce y'all to my friends:




These are the clubs that I'm in: