Conscious Thought Stream

Someone FINALLY responded to my staff search for the RP I run! Better yet, someone else finally gave me a critique on the RP I run!

Oh and I'm seeing that Star Wars symphony concert thing today as well (Link).

On the downside I have a pretty terrible stomachache, but otherwise life is still good.

Our family got a coffee pot! Now I can drink coffee whenever I want!

I also got a scholarship worth a minimum of 16k a year to a college I don't really want to attend but I might because hey 16k a year!

NaNoWriMo is almost over and I'll get back my life pretty soon!

Life is good!

Today I was working through some new game applications on a roleplay forum I basically run (the original admin vanished). And while I was going through that, there were a lot of little things that these applications did that I wanted to rant about. So this is a guide to anyone who may ever want to apply to a new game. While it's mostly friendly, it's also a rant. So, here we go!

( Super happy fun guide go! )

Now, I hope you enjoyed reading that. Off to reject a few more sloppy profiles. =P

Today, my mom almost went to the local fitness center, but she ended up too busy to fit it into her schedule.

Today, a shooting occurred at that same local fitness center. I think six are dead right now; about nine more are wounded.

You hear about these random acts of violence all the time, but they seem so much more real and horrible when they could have changed your life.

AND MORE INAPPROPRIATE USE OF THIS ICON I FIND HILARIOUS FOR VAGUE REASONS

So, via tacster002, a meme where a friend lists five words/phrases they think of when they think of you, and you have to explain them YAY

( I have no idea why there's so much caps in this post. )
If you want me to list words for you, just leave a comment saying so.

Now, another one of those character surveys for the hero of the steampunk story I mentioned above. Before we begin, I will mention that his themesong and Sydney's happen to be performed by the same artist. This was entirely unintentional.

( Still long. )

First up: New icon. Fact: Chick Tracts are best read at midnight for maximum lulz. Also, Chick's art is very easy to icon in its awfulness.

Found this meme a while ago and liked how comprehensive it was. So I filled it out for Sydney. I'm filling this out for another character (and will probably have that up soon), but I at least wanted to share this with you before then.

( Warning: It's very long. )

Sorry I've been posting every day. This is just something that really frustrates me whenever I see it and I saw it so MINI-RANT.

Japanese culture is pretty rich. When you base a story in Japan, there's a whole lot you can write about based on culture and setting alone.

So why is it that in 98% of stories written by people my age based in Japan include at least one character who is completely addicted to anime and/or one character who aspires to be a pop artist and is totally into visual kei?

I know the answer myself: they did not do the research, and thus created some weird pseudo-Japan where everyone loves ANIME and MANGA and GIRUGAMESH.

Grr.

(It's not just stories based in Japan, either; usually any Japanese character who shows up anywhere is going to be like this.)

Went to the eye doctor today. Got out at 1:30, but my pupils are still fully dilated. I can't see anything with or without my glasses. So, the only two things I can do are play console games and watch movies. So much for getting anything done today.

So I played a little Pokemon Colosseum today. I'm hoping to beat it 100% so I can transfer all the important 'mons to my Diamond game. So far, I have one Pokemon at level 60; the rest are 55 and above (although I'll admit I made some very poor team choices, like Noctowl). Here's hoping I can beat Mt. Battle!

On an interesting note: I'm trying to redesign Carbon, and in trying to come up with an idea I cracked open some high/alternative fashion books last night. In particular, I turned to this one for help- and boy, did it help. Not only were the pretty pictures inspiring, but I sat down and read the essays within the book for the first time. They really enlightened me about some aspects of the superhero costume. If you're interested in high fashion or superhero design, I highly recommend it.

-The reason that my ratio of male to female characters is insanely large is because I can't write female characters that are not emotionally secure. I just realized this today.

-I seem to have come down with insomnia lately. I'm lucky if I get four hours a night.

-I wish I had more friends I could really talk to about my writing.

-I'm paranoid that no one's really interested in my creative works.

-Especially ones that aren't about a colorblind mute.

-This journal wasn't supposed to be angsty, but I guess it kind of is.

-I need to cheer up.

I haven't been drawing a lot of existing characters of mine as of late, but I've been designing characters like crazy.

This is Bolt. He's a 12-foot tall automaton built by Maxwell Light. He has limited sentience. Although he's very strong and can easily rip other automatons apart, he prefers honing his fine motor skills so he can do things like write. Oh yeah, he can't talk or even make strange robotic noises to alert people how he's feeling. So he's got the "silence cuteness" thing working for him.

I've had Bolt as a character for some time, but this is my first time drawing him. It's not great and highly derivative of Steam Detectives' Goriki, but it's pretty good IMO considering I don't really draw robots (and considering I drew this up in ten minutes). He kind of reminds me of Alien Hominid, though. Huh.

EDIT: The image is at a higher resolution now.
Warning: this post may contain spoilers for Guardian. But they'll contain a lot less than the character bios.

In boring news, Facebook is made of stupid and can't even differentiate between "aim.com" and "aol.com" addresses, apparently. So much for getting my account back.

In not-so-boring news, tacster002 often draws casts of characters from her various stories and then puts them all side-by-side. When I talked to her, she said it was a good way of finding out whether your characters look too similar to one another or appreciate their differences. Seeing as I just finished the last super reference today, I thought I'd make one of these for you to enjoy.

It's over 2000 pixels wide, but only 800 pixels tall, so I hope you can handle it. Linked because it's far too wide for my blog.

The characters are, from left to right:
-The Guardian/Sydney Johnson
-Carbon/Ruby Callaghan
-Seven/Arthur Branwell
-Tony/Antonio De Fiore
-Azrael/Michael Faraday
-Facsimile/Alice Jukes
-X/Logan Johnson

_{Yes, you're allowed to make fun of Tony for having the lamest alias ever.}

So, overall I'm pretty happy with the cast. Generally varying heights, outfits, faces and such. There's a lot of black and white in the outfits but if I ever get around to making Guardian 90% of it will be in black and white so this actually makes my life a lot easier. In other words, I did that on purpose.

There's a lot of blue in the cast. Originally I was going to color X's hooded cape green but that just reminded me too much of Dr. Doom. Even if he reads Fantastic Four on occasion it's too much for me. Hell, I still think Guardian looks too much like Spirit, even if all they have in common is a red tie and a similar mask, even though the color is off. Anyway--this blue thing is something I want to work out in the future.

I want to re-do the first four references I did. I was still developing my style when I drew those and I didn't really have a lot of fun with the poses. I'd also like to make Sydney look a little more girly (because he's supposed to be), and Tony and Michael should be more manly (because they're supposed to be, too. More Tony than Mike but still). In addition, I need to re-design Carbon's outfit so it doesn't look so much like pajamas.

I want to make Michael's and Facsimile's skin a little darker to add some variation there as well.

But, all in all, I'm happier with the final product than I thought I would be. The world is happy.

P.S. Notice that Logan's legs are actually in proportion to his body. Yes, I am proud.

It probably is, but I don't care. I am pumped for this movie. So pumped that I finally e-mailed Facebook about my randomly disabled account to hopefully clear that up and keep closer tabs on the 9 Scientist's Facebook. I'm such a nerd.

Trailer impressions?

5 is still my favorite. It's the whole one-eye thing.

The Guardian info ‘fest continues!

( Today: William Ferguson. )

( Click for a pic. )

As for the next Guardian character bio... it's coming. I can't tell you when but it's on the way. Stay tuned.

First, stuff you don't really want to know/don't really care about.

I need new underwear badly.
Also, I got a really bad stomachache this morning. It happened after I ate a bowl of cereal and went away as soon as I drank a glass of orange juice. It was probably the milk, I figured, and worried I had spontaneously developed lactose intolerance. Then I realized the milk was six days past the expiration date.

I should have gone with the skim. Weight-gaining bonuses of Vitamin D milk is sort of neutralized if it gives you really, really bad stomachaches.

Now, stuff you probably do care about.

( It's Guardian info time. )

I come home from Disney World, look at my friend's page, see their lives are all crazy-like, and suddenly feel horribly guilty for being upset over spilled hot cocoa.

I'm really bad with this empathy thing an I'm really busy tonight, but tomorrow I'll be on MSNIM and if you need to talk to someone, I'll be there, kay? ._.

Disney was good, but there's too much to talk about right now. Also I'm writing up another Guardian bio, so I haven't forgotten about those, but I must ask. Do you want to know about one of Sydney's rivals who you might remember, or Sydney's cohort who you probably don't know exists?

My situation from last post is mostly unchanged, but I'm in a better mood so I'll most some character info.

The Guardian, the story thread previously titled Zero, has been undergoing a large amount of development recently. So I’m going to be nice and talk a little about it here. There are major spoilers for the series below, so if you care about that sort of stuff do not read further.

( Spoilers start here. Today's topic: Sydney. )

Ohhh god. My stress levels are peaking out right about now. I'm completely emotionally burned out and everyone in my family is starting to get annoyed with it. Why is this?

Well.

I have to film a thirteen-minute video in which I talk about France non-stop. This would be less painful if my group members (it's part of a group presentation) trusted me about this. But they don't, for whatever ungodly reason, so they keep harping on me about it.
Then I have to film a two=minute video for physics. Two minutes may not seem like a lot, but the catch? It has to include no less than five demonstrations of physics principles. I don't care if physics surrounds us in our lives or whatever. That's ridiculous.
Then I have an AP test on Wednesday that I really, really, really, really don't want to take. I can't emphasize how much I don't want to take this test. I wouldn't have taken it but for some ungodly reason my school forces kids in AP classes to take this test. And then when I try to tell anyone my feelings about the test they preach to me how goddamn important it is. (But it really isn't.)
Then I have physics homework problems, which I haven't looked at yet but guessing from previous experience they are physics problems from the ninth circle of Hell.
And then, I have a presentation in English class to give. This would be worlds better if I knew when I was supposed to give it.

And the worst part?

I have to have all this done by Thursday.

Oh, and then I have to pack for "vacation."

I'm trying to get excited about Disney World, but I can't. I truly, honest can't get excited. If anything it feels more like a curse than a vacation.

I was going to post some character info today too, but I don't feel like it anymore. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe never. I don't care.

Sometimes, when I'm really bored, I force myself to draw. It gets me off time wasters like Cracked.com or tvTropes.org an keeps me doing something at least marginally productive. And sometimes, I have to ask myself "What should I draw?" Most of the time, I answer, "Well, maybe you should draw out that new character design X you came up with last week." But, sometimes- just sometimes- I tell myself, "I don't know. Just draw."
( Cut for large images. )

My sister told me that they came out with a clip of 9 quite a while ago, but I only got around to finding it today.

I eat up every little clip I see of this movie. They put me in my happy place.

I'm not eager for September to come, but this is one of two movies coming out this year that I'm genuinely excited to see. (The other being Up of course.)