I've Been Doin' Stuff! ... Really!

As you've seen before, my Knight and I view ourselves and each other in ways that probably don't make much sense outside of our very skewed context.  

For example, he is my love potato:

And I am his little pizza roll: 

And, as you've seen by now on this blog, I just don't see the world in a completely sane way in general.  

...

I need to do more artwork to let this... whatever it is out.  I've been in school for too long and I'm getting restless.  The last semi-decent art things I've done were a painting for my housemate:

And a thing for my mom's nursery school class: 

...And some assorted commissions here and there.  Portraits for a friend's podcast were fun to do:

That podcast is the Shuadcast, by the way.  It'll be up at youtube.com/Shuadcast
For now, check it out here: Shuadcast!

So, I've been doing stuff.  

But I need more!  *makes greedy hands*  So I've got some painting ideas in the works, and once all this school related insanity is done, I'll be working on comics.  

www.deddrie.com is getting an overhaul, for example.  

Donna might actually go somewhere.  
The pages right now mostly look like this:

But should look like this: 

To give a better idea, this is what the page looks like with the background kinda in, but the foreground not yet colored:

Lastly, I'll be working on one fourth of a comic for someone else. Here is a preview of the kind of stuff that'll entail: 

Woo!

Almost New Apartment

 It's been a month or so since a couple friends and I moved into our apartment and I never updated this thing about that move.  Sooo...  Let's start over.

 And I often see the world in very interesting and horrifying ways.

So far, I've learned that when my Knight isn't in my room with me, the world is a horrible, freezing cold place.

 In our kitchen, we have one tile that isn't quite glued down.  This hasn't been a problem, except when we forget about it and it catches one of us by surprise.  This would be easily fixable... but we just haven't.

 The other problem is the heat.  Now that Spring is upon us, it shouldn't be an issue anymore.  However...  It was.  The radiator was a pretty interesting issue, in fact.

 These things have a mind of their own when you have no key.

I'd melt from the heat and then FREEZE due to my fan that wouldn't stop.  You read that right.  It wouldn't stop.  I could control the light by the cord, but not the fan itself.  There was no switch.  

I had my buddy rip the damn thing apart.  

Beyond that though, the apartment is really nice.  We will be able to see the fireworks from our living room on the Fourth of July.  It's cozy and I have a little hallway that curves into my room.  It's all very nice.  

My art supplies have been slowly taking over the world, and in trying to push it all back, sometimes my other crap gets in the way.  This leads to some moments that are less than good. 

...

Here's hoping. 

...

...

...

And that is about the state of things.  

I've been eating pretty well, between bouts of stress.  My Knight has been cooking for me.  I'm very pleased by this and I'm thankful to have him by my side.  

This Post Brought to You By: Collaboration!

My Knight and I went to a tiny con this past weekend.  BadCon at UAlbany.  It was not a "bad con" but there was hardly anyone there.  I'm hoping to help out with spreading the word next year.  Still, we sold some things and met some people and saw some friends.  Mostly, we sat around doodling together.  This was like a dream date for me, as it turns out.

My Knight, Rob, draws people as potatoes.  They show up in his webcomic on occasion here:   http://www.unmedicatedcomic.com/
and he'll draw people at cons as potatoes.  I was highly entertained by this, so I decided to draw him as a potato.  ...But it didn't wind up as cute as his do.

Also, everything scanned for this had gotten a little wet because A. it was raining afterwards and B. we had a spill.  The spill was entertaining in it's own right because while our drawings got a little wet, everything else on the table was saved by the tablecloth itself. 

Since part of that looked like a face, my Knight drew the spill:

...I need a better editing program for my scanner so you kids can see these better. 

To give you an idea of the kinds of stuff sold at these events, we sell art prints, sometimes T-shirts, key chains and assorted body parts:

"Give someone the finger!"  Get it??

At one point, we took two words, put them together and then saw what we each came up with.  First was fish-apple:

His:

Mine (Which I think wound up more frog-like than fish-like.  ...Or maybe just sick):

Then came centipede and barrel.
His:

Mine:

and another try:

I also attempted to show the difference between antennae and penises.  ...I don't remember why.  But here they are:

Now, to conclude, I'm going to express how head over heels I am for this guy.

I don't do outside.

I just don't.

I think of the outside world and I think of the "tweezers" my mom has handed me when I wanted to pluck my eyebrows, knowing those things are for plucking off bugs and out splinters and other horrible outside things.

Seriously.  The fuck are these things?


I'm allergic to outside.  Literally.  Grass makes me itchy and red.

YET I went out by his family's house so he could show me where he spent his childhood days, by rusty pieces of metal and now overgrown thorns... And even with a busted hip from before then and even while stressed out of my mind and ridden with silent panic attacks, I still managed to have a good time.

Why?

Because he was with me.

...Also some of the plants did neat things like this:

Twisty and there's that curl thing at the bottom. 

Because I really never go outside, knowing that I do have some pretty amazingly bad allergies, when I do go outside, I feel a little like a kid in a bubble.  I'm stupefied by the beauty of it all, and TERRIFIED by any little prick of anything at all. 
I used to run into the woods as a kid and climb trees.  I'd walk over rocks and not complain when I got wet in a creek. 
Then 12 years old happened and the learned-the-hard-way-knowledge of what an allergen can do kind of ruined my life and ended what bit of a childhood I had. 

I'd like to go back to being that kid.  I'm not as brave as I used to be, but maybe with the help of my Knight, I'll get there. 

...that being said, I really DO have allergies, so it can't be all the time anyway. 
Still, worth a shot once in a while, yeah?

Knight in Pinstripes

I find myself dating someone who "gets it" and this is unique for me.
I'd mentioned him briefly in my last post.  We've been officially dating for a little over three weeks now.  We've known each other longer than that and we've known of each other much longer than that still.

It's been a while since a post because everything is so busy.  Cons, conferences, presentations…  And my knight. 
He doesn't stifle my creativity though.  Not at all.  He is my partner and a friend as well as a romantic interest.

…

Of course, I'm terrified. 
And then I am incredibly calm and everything is natural…
and then I'm terrified because I'm calm.
And thankfully, he is patient.  He is actually patient and kind.

I often want to bond with the wrong people, so I'm thankful that my Knight is actually a nice guy, while also having a brain in his head. 

This is what he looks like in my mind, and I think he looks this way to himself as well:

See, if you've been paying attention to this blog, you know a little about my not-really-love life over the past few years.  This had left me paranoid and afraid to let go.

My Knight just accepts this without question, which makes me let my guard down more easily. 
It's refreshing.

Generally, my intersections with people… 
Well, here is an example:

Today's youth. 
Keep in mind, I was actively drawing when Pant-ception showed up in my peripheral vision. 

"Do you draw?" He asked.
"What?" I responded, unsure if he was speaking to me.
"Sorry.  ….Do you draw?" He asked again.
"Uhhh…"  I looked at my drawing, trying to figure out what I had missed.  "Yes.  Yes I do draw."
"Cool," he said, "I draw too."
I put my pencil down, eager to be an inspiration to today's youth.  "Yeah?" I said, "What do you like to draw?"
He mumbled out, "People. … graffiti.  Lots of stuff."  He said nothing else.  I waited, but that was it.
"…" I blinked.  "That works."
That was the end of it.  This was oddly a typical conversation between strangers and myself. 

But my Knight is different. He is a fan of my work just as I am of his.  He is on my level in every way.  Well, he is more energetic than I am, and that is for the best.

That was all too sappy, so to end, El Chupacockbra:

Exams, Explanations and Excuses

You know how life tends to happen all at once? This week is that.

I started out last week as my normal sort of miserable but functioning self, and then I started to relax a bit because I started getting to know someone cool (a friend started calling him my Knight in Pinstripes), Xena, FATE and I were looking for a place to live, school was going well enough and I even had some commissions to do.

We found a place and the move in date is RIGHT NOW. I'll do a post all about our cute Russian landlord and the area itself... For now, I have no time.

I'm not even sure if I'm breathing.

Moving in is not the problem. We have the place, so I'm putting off packing and doing anything concerning that for at least a week.

No no. The problem is the everything else on top of the moving.

These are mostly good things. 

Like, I now have a bazillion commissions to do.  ...And requests.  This is awesome except that time is a thing.  Time is a thing that I don't have. 

Also, Genericon is this weekend. The fact that I'm entirely unprepared is my own fault.

I have a table in Artist's Alley.

...

I HAVE TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT NOW

and that is not something I can put off.

Genericon and talking to men actually sport the same problem for me these days.

I want physical contact, 

but I instantly talk myself out of it.

...And then I get upset with myself because just shutting off and changing my mind is a difficult thing to do.  

Sometimes, I force myself to accept things, and I'm really happy for a moment.

Like, super happy.

And then the allergy weirdness and paranoia sinks in.

And I over think and can't seem to shut it off.

I wind up feeling like I'm being hugged by cashews.

So, given all that, my interactions at this three day convention might be... interesting.

Still, I expect to have a small army of companions who already consistently put up with my shit by my side.

How does someone so reclusive, twitchy, and anti-social have so many friends? Whatever. I'm not gonna knock it.

Oh, and I have a midterm today.

...and one on Thursday.

Genericon is Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

...Wednesday is game. Game is fine. Game is good. ...I may bring things to sew at game.

...

*flails*

EDIT:  Genericon went really well, despite my poor assistant having a fever.  (Z, I love you)  
I have almost a desk in the apartment and we ...think?  ...my other shit will fit?  The problem is not the bedroom.  The problem is getting it through this tiny, curved hallway that leads into the room.  We'll see.
I have date today.  ...Tonight.  woo