Tonight I said goodbye to my brother and father. They'll be catching an early plane tomorrow and head home.

This week I was reminded of a connection I could have with people I'd forgotten about. Now that they're gone it's back to loneliness and misunderstanding and the false sentiment I develop for imaginary characters and the rudimentary friendships I've been able to form despite my guarded nature.

I'm more alone in this country than I knew.

What will I do when I grow up and be by myself?

I'm gonna be insanely busy tomorrow, so I'm saying it now:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

YES, EVEN YOU PEOPLE WHO ARE ALL LIKE "I take offense in you saying that because I don't celebrate the holiday >(" I SEND YOU LOVE AND PEACE ANYWAY!! (because personally I believe that even if you don't celebrate Christmas, whether for religion or some other reason, nobody should have to say "no" to wishes of love and happiness when they're sincere)

Have a wonderful day tomorrow, regardless of who you are. Even if it's just a normal, every-day for you, have a great one!


---

in other news, I have reached a level of fatigue never before felt by humans. The past 3 days.. ..wait.. ..*counts* shit. Ok the past 4 days have been nothing but getting up at 9 and spending the ENTIRE day walking. Said walking only stopped by a quick bite to eat before its back to walking until about 10 at night. (Or, today I got up at 6 and walked until 11 at night)
My hips are strained, my right knee is actually siezing up in protest to the perpetual movement, my back is shot and my feet are bruised.. ..and tomorrow I get up to do it once again XDDDD

It hurts like hell, but for some reason its a proud kind of hurt. I have pride in the pain of traveling as far and as wide as I have in the past 4 days on my feet alone. but then I love to walk. I adore walking (its genetic I swear). Too bad my physical being is making it clear to me I can't go on like this much longer or I'm really gonna hurt myself XD;;;


And lastly, we went on a grand quest today where my brother and father, both bitterly wounded from strained backs and me limping from a strained knee and barely able to walk faster than a hobble, searched the length and breadth of Victoria city for the comic book store I'd only visited once before and didn't know how to find before it closed.
Our mission was a success when we found it before 5 pm and crawled inside and our quest completed when I found the shelf on the other side of the Star Wars comics desplay and slapped a copy of "Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 2" in my father's hands and yelled "BUY THIS!!" >DDDD
Truly, it was an epic and noble quest, and we left battle scarred but victorious to try and find China-Town.

I hope he'll like it. I think it's up his alley in terms of tone and pacing (He's a GIANT Tintin fan *cough like me cough*... I hope to get him addicted to the white rabbit as well >3

.....SERIOUS. How many people have I gotten to buy UY comics?? Show of hands?



guwaaaa.. ..sleeeeeeeep..... *falls over and passes out*

_{Go see Avatar in 3D}

..... Go see it.
Because nothing... ..absolutely NOTHING I write could do this film justice. (and hopefully you realise that... considering it's ME saying this.... that really means something.)

Go see it, and make sure to see it in 3D (Trust me. It's beyond worth an extra few dollars. The 3D isn't merely a gimmick. It truly is used how 3D is suppose to be used... to transport you to another world)

Awesome. Touching. Deeply meaningful and broke my ridiculously high expectations.
C-Puff's movie of the year.




_{Although the story itself is the crown jewel of the movie I still feel obligated to say; If this doesn't win an Oscar for best Visual Effects then there is something wrong with the world we live in.}

My Photoshop crashed!!!

I had completed the shading AND lighting and was busy applying a texture before I went to colour and it CRASHED!! And because I like to live on the edge the last time I saved was EXACTLY before I started the shading!! Now I'm gonna have to start ALL OVER AGAIN!!

And it's already 1 in the morning! D'X

.. ..LUCKILY it's not a super complicated picture and I can probably get the shading done in 2 - 3 hours. So I'm not going crazy or anything. It's just super annoying because there was a chance of me finishing this picture tonight, but now it's gonna have to wait. because I dislike staying up the ENTIRE night (I usually try and get into bed by 2 .. ..even though I have gone till 4 before, but that usually feels unpleasant)

My dad and brother's plane lands tomorrow (They've been in the air for just over a day now ... ...erm.. ..South Africa is very far away XD;; ) so I don't know if I'll have time to work on it tomorrow.

*sighs and rolls eyes* Oh well. My own fault for not saving frequently.

*cracks fingers and puts on her fandubbed copy of Bakshi's LotR*
Well.. ..Back to it I guess X'D *crying on the inside*

GUWAAAA! It's finally here! D| Thank GOODNESS. I don't think I could've survived on single day more without some kind of a break!

Well, I'm not super energetic today so this is gonna be a bit of a boring journal entry XD;; just some random things that are happening in life right now.

Yesterday at school we did a secret Santa thing. Justin had drawn my name. For my present he had MADE me a little Usagi plushie XDDD It's the funniest little thing I've ever seen and I love it so much X'33 I'll take a photo once I get a hold of my camera again (it's at school)
XDDD I love it so much

I joined a dA group a few days ago. I hesitated at first but now that I've joined I'm very glad I did. I've only contributed 1 picture to the group so far but in doing so it's gotten a LOT more recognition. However I don't want to bog down the group with my fanart, so what I'm going to do is I will only contribute pictures that I am very proud of and want to show to a wider audience. the rest will just be submitted regularly.


My dad and brother arrive on Monday! I need to do a test run to the airport today and see how to get there, as well as just make sure where their hotel is. I have an idea but I just want to make sure. I don't really want to leave the nice warm house but I also need to collect my PS3 from the college because I don't want it to stay there by itself for 2 weeks.
: I changed my mind XDD I'll do the test run tomorrow. It's too cold and I'm too lazy to do it today. I'll do things like the laundry and have a bath and stuff instead.

And lastly... do you know what I want to add to my Usagi collection???
THESE things!



But they're very expensive! they're $90 each and they're only scheduled for re-release on the 24th of February. *deep Mournful sigh* I want them so badly X'D Especially Jotaro.. .. ..and Usagi.. .. ..and Gen.. ...Tomoe.. .. .. ..Katsuichi... .. X'DDD *cries*
I don't know if Katsuichi is gonna be re-released though because I've only seen the others available for pre-order. Damn! >__<
Oh well... it's most likely not gonna happen anyway XDDD;; *dies a little inside*

I know what Vocaloid is. Personally I don't really care for it. I find it to sound very grating, pitchy and... for lack of a better word.. ..soulless. I don't HATE it or anything, I just dislike the sound the program produces. I think it DOES have the potential to be brilliant if used in the right way (For instance I've heard an AMAZING song where Miku was used as a back-up vocalist and not the main singer which sounded AWESOME) but I think the program needs to be used the right way for it to really sound good (at least, to me personally)

But I have a question to people out there who're closer to the anime scene than I am.

Why do so many artists like Vocaloid? Or more specifically why do they like drawing the vocaloid characters so much? There's no story behind them, they have no personality (That's not an insult. Each vocaloid is merely a different sounding program. They literally have no personality attached to them) and they're not part of any universe or canon at all. Like.. it literally doesn't exist. So why is the level of fanart hitting epidemic levels?

Is it because the Vocaloid designs are so nice? Is it just because they're appealing and fun? So that it's more fanart for the character design rather than the actual program?

Or is it because Miku and her fellow vocaloids are "blank slates". That is to say since they have no personality people develop their own ideas of who they are and what type of characters they may be? (Much in the same way Link from Legend of Zelda doesn't speak because Shigure Miyamoto wanted gamers to develop their own perception of the character)

Could some-one explain it to me please?

As a person who adores character psychology, who they are as people, how they react to situations and how they interact with each other, it's extremely difficult for me to understand why Vocaloid is as immensely popular as it is.

I'm not hating in the least. (I think Miku's design is very nice as well as the other vocaloids. Even if I really don't care for the sound) I'm just really trying to understand why it's as popular as it is. Because it's not just mildly popular... it's INSANELY popular.

Does any-one have any answers?