Le Cirque des Rêves

Alright, time for updates! Sorta, lol. ʕ ● ᴥ ●ʔ Towards the end of February, I celebrated melodicmessage's birthday. It was a lot of fun & I'm glad I was able to make it. Her birthday bash had two themes, Squid Games & The Traitors, I was dressed for the latter despite having no idea as to what that entailed lol. ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭ I got to see both familiar & unfamiliar faces, which was pretty nice. We played games that were tied to these shows & it was a lot fun. I'm surprised I made it as far as I did for either of them. Overall, I had a great time with everyone.

The weekend after, I attended a performance for one of the local bands. I had a good time for the most part but the crowd was a bit off. There was an argument breaking out behind me & later in the 4th set a very intoxicated group of individuals nearly knocked me to the ground & almost hit me in the face with their Stanley cup. I moved eventually just to get away from them but yeah not cool. That's just rock shows I guess, but I would like to vibe to the music without sustaining injuries. (⌐▀͡ ̯ʖ▀) Hopefully it's not like that for the next show. Anyways, the band showcased one of their new singles & I freaking loved it. It had a very grunge sound & I was here for it! I love grunge! <3

I finally finished that last chapter for the SilverV weekend, my second completed work! ᕦʕ •`ᴥ•´ʔᕤ Now I'm just catching up on other entries, I'm almost finished with another one, hopefully I can wrap that up this weekend. I also made a few illustrations, I'm trying to improve on my rendering. I'm slowly getting there. I think. I finished reading Heaven Official's Blessings volume five & started volume 6. I'll probably tear through that very quickly. I'm also reading Luck in the Shadows & have been enjoying that as well.

Catch ya next time! (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

The weekend is almost over?! ᇂ_ᇂ It always goes too quickly, gah! This week was another busy week, Friday was spent at an all day meeting. Thankfully the meeting was rather engaging & informative. Definitely learned quite a bit. Now I just gotta catch up with my current workload. Feels like I'm constantly trying to catch up, hopefully this week I'll be given the chance to.

This weekend I practiced my fencing footwork & got familiar with the weight of the sword & its length. Next I should practice lunges & get familiar with my reach. I want to sprinkle more practices during the week even if it's short. I'm almost finished writing the last chapter for the SilverV weekend that has already past. _(┐「ε:)_ Hopefully I can finish tonight, and return to working on the bi-weekly submissions that I'm already behind on. @ _ @ I did catch up on playing Love & Deepsace, omg Caleb is intense & a bit haywire, but what a fun addition to the story. I can't wait for it to continue the drama & mystery were too good! ♡´･ᴗ･`♡

I also got to do some journaling & whipped out the stickers, multi-colored pens, washi tape, & markers. I went to town with that! I haven't drawn as much as of late, but sometimes my hobbies go on rotation, so I'm not worried about it. Usually when I write a lot, I don't draw as much & visa versa. (Although, I still haven't posted my more recent works lol, gotta do that.)

Also a buddy of mine got us NIN tickets for September, I'm so hyped!!! ＼ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ／ I'm super looking forward to it! I'm also looking forward to the con next weekend. I should do a make-up test, I want to try a new look since I revamped it a bit. I'm so excited to be cosplaying again, it's been a while. Been super into DPR Ian, again, his music just hits every single time.

Until next time! ☆～（ゝ。∂）

Happy New Year, Everybody! ᕕ(⌐■_■)ᕗ ♪♬

I hope y'all had a good one! This new year's eve I spent it doing archery & ended the night with a local performance. Archery was pretty cool, I really enjoyed it. Definitely took some time finding a comfortable "anchor" spot & I also had to switch to another bow, but I found a groove towards the end. Just need to practice more & get some beginner friendly archery equipment. The range does lend out its equipment but only at specific times which don't work with my current schedule. The volunteers there were super helpful & welcoming. I learned a lot! Then that evening, I went to a local performance & chatted to the singer/guitarist of the band. It was nice to briefly chat with him. (He wore a sick battle vest with some classic horror movie patches <3 ). They totally killed it last night! （☝ ՞ਊ ՞）☝ The band & the crowd were pretty high-energy. And I was able to meet with some really good friends there! (By the time she arrived I was able to snag some spots up front, lol) Overall, it was a great night! I had a blast! (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

Now to rewind a bit, lol. Last week, I stayed with my parents & while I was there I met up with a friend. He upgraded my Steamdeck & while we were waiting for things to load I accompanied him for some last minute Christmas shopping. The outlet mall we went to was packed, parking was a mess but I gave him some tips since I was familiar with the area & those tips still held true. But it definitely brought back crazy holiday memories from wayyy back lol. ૮ ⚆ﻌ⚆ა He also helped me with some last minute shopping as well. We had fun despite the holiday madness! Noche Buena was pretty chill this year, usually we'd be at my grandparents but my grandfather wasn't feeling well that day. Christmas day he was feeling better and we were able to spend time together that day. My aunt, uncle, & cousins also swung by. It was a pretty tranquil gathering. d(･∀･○)

I was also able to watch Sonic 3, (I binged watched the other 2 the day before lol). OMG Shadow was wonderful! He's one of my faves! Keanu's voice fit his edgelord vibes. <333 I was pretty content with the film. ♡´･ᴗ･`♡ Then I returned to my place, tidied up & did chores. Went to fencing class the following day, I've got a lot to practice but once again the folks are so kind & informative, I don't feel discouraged. We had a nice dinner that night. And the following day was archery, so now we're back full circle lol. Yay!

I have been working on my fic, I'm almost done with the chapter! Whoot! Hopefully I can finish either tonight or tomorrow. And the community I was part of is doing bi-weekly events. So I'd like to get started on that & participate! It's so much fun to read what other people wrote using the same prompt. I've also been drawing quite a bit this winter break. I completed a few digital pieces & some traditional ones. Using those POSCA markers have been a treat! ´･ᴗ･` I've also been playing quite a bit of Love & Deepspace, omg their anniversary banner is soo swoonworthy! (｡♥‿♥｡)

I hope everyone's been having a great holiday season! Until next time! (^_-)-☆

I'm on break! Haza! ♡´･ᴗ･`♡ Freedom to be even more artsy! Since I wasn't traveling far for break, I decided to take advantage & try to do some things that I usually can't do. One of them was fencing! Omg, I loved it! (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤ It was so much fun & the people there were really nice & welcoming. I learned a lot, there was definitely lots of information overload moments. But there are two weapon/styles I want to learn, Foil & Sabre. Those looked really cool. They gave me some homework, practice footwork, which yeah I definitely need to work on that because it's not how I would intuitively move. (Kinda different from some of the martial arts I learned, but there are overlaps that I can tap into.) The only drawback is that I can only attend the club meetings when I'm on break since I work during the week. (And the gear can get rather pricey, but they said they would hook me up with second hand stuff). So I'm glad I was able to try that! I also signed up for archery lessons but that won't be until next month. But I'm also looking forward to that. （☝ ՞ਊ ՞）☝

Aside from getting into fencing & signing up for archery, I've been working on one of my fics & drawing. Definitely feels like my art style (volatile it may be) is going through a change. Kinda curious as to where that journey will take me. But I'm liking the direction thus far, feels closer to my traditional stuff. Speaking of traditional, I was gifted POSCA markers. /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\ So I'm really excited to try those out. I just hope the paper holds the ink/ paint well. I'm also almost done with a journal/sketchbook so that's really exciting (to me at least, lol.) ᕕ (ᐛ) ᕗ I'm looking forward to drawing/writing in a new sketchbook.

As for writing, I feel like I may have to break the current chapter. What a surprise lol. I've got a few ideas that will add drama! Which will be fun to write, fersure. I also decided to participate in a community creative holiday gift exchange. I've never done one of those but always wanted to try. So haza! Now's my chance! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ In terms of reading, I read Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey. I loved it but it was also rather depressing, I still want to read the next two installments. I just hope things improve for the protagonist, he's such a cool dude but also a tortured soul. (˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

I saw a few performances/ concerts this month. It was fun seeing Smash Mouth again & I got to catch a few local gigs. The weather has been extremely nice as of late. I got word from a friend that I may be able to see Alice in Chains live next year. I'm sooooo hyped for that! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ So we've been coordinating that together. Just gotta save up for it, lol. I've also been jamming out to Type O Negative a lot as of late, something about the weather & the season just feels right.

Until next time! Happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrate! ☆～（ゝ。∂）

Whooot! Jerry Cantrell's new album dropped yesterday! I checked out a few songs, haven't listened to the whole album just yet but I do like "Vilified" & "Let it Lie". He also announced his tour dates & ughhhhh it's soo tricky! ╥﹏╥ He's not stopping by my state at all! And he's touring early in the year which is much sooner than I had anticipated. I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch him. Again.(T⌓T) Drat! Why must you do this to me?! lol.

Other than that, I was able mostly catch up on work stuff & settle into the new position. Haza! ʕง•ᴥ•ʔง Kinda found my rhythm and I'm able to return to writing & drawing. It's a slow return but I'm finally getting there. I missed writing & I'll be able to return before NaNoWriMo, which gives me some time to plan lol. I don't think I'll be able to hit that word count but I hope to get more chapters of my fic in. /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\ Find a new writing rhythm that fits this new schedule. This month I was able to work on the SilverV fic & I'm on the last chapter so yay! I hope I can finish that this weekend. That would be nice. ヽ(•‿•)ノ

This week the weather finally cooled down. It was cool & breezy, even chilly at times. I got to see a performance during the week & not feel gross after lol. They played a few new songs so that was nice to hear. Spent most of day outside just enjoying the nice weather. Ate ice-cream, I decided to experiment and tried Irish Cream Brownie. Ohhh it was so good! ♡´･ᴗ･`♡ Wish I could have it again.

Been re-reading Interview With a Vampire. It's part of my spooky season immersion, lol. 🕷 Still haven't been able to stop by a craft store to repair it. But I definitely will, at some point. ( ͡° ل͜ ͡°) I'm pretty excited about Halloween even though I have no set plan. I do know there's gonna be a performance nearby from a local band I like. I feel like I'm leaning towards that unless something more appealing pops up. It'll be nice to wear a costume again! Honestly, I just love any opportunity to just dress up lol. (✿╹◡╹)

Hasta la vista, baby~ (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿)

Baaack! ⸂⸂⸜(രᴗര๑)⸝⸃⸃ Hopefully, I can start posting here more regularly in the near future, once things settle down a bit more I suppose. Still dealing with the move. Things are still in boxes but that's mostly because I don't have anyplace to put them, lol. Once, I get furniture perhaps. Still figuring out where I want things placed and what makes sense to me. Things will fall in place eventually. ╮ (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) ╭

Almost done with SilverV week, I'm wrapping up the second-to-last prompt. Hopefully I can edit and post it this week. Then I can write the final prompt and voila, I would have completed my first work. Whoot! And after that, I play catch-up on the weekly group prompts I was a part of. I think I have about ten prompts to catch up on. (ಥ ͜ʖಥ) I can do it! lol. Eventually. I also gotta return to my other sequential work. So much to write lol. ໒(⊙ᴗ⊙)७✎▤

Finished the Rogue piece! I made a background I was kinda content with. I ended up scrapping the AiC boys head shot piece. I wasn't content with it after tweaking it a few times. I'll revisit it again, I definitely want to draw them. Their music helped me write so much. I drew another Kerry portrait, I'm actually pretty content with how this turned out. I was experimenting with a few brushes and kinda liked how that turned out. I think my art style is changing/evolving again so we'll see where it goes. ┐(´•_•`)┌

In the mix of work and packing/unpacking, I went out several times. (~‾⌣‾)~ Checked out a local farmer's market, picked up some honey and tried shaved ice flavored "Tiger's Blood". Kinda tasted like strawberry and vanilla. It was delicious and very much needed under the blazing sun. Saw an 80s cover band. Ate at a Scottish pub, the decor was superb and the curry was great (was craving curry, so it hit the spot). ʕ♡˙ᴥ˙♡ʔ Went to another theme park, it was surprisingly not as packed as we expected so that was rather nice. Saw an acquaintance's performance. Got sick with Covid but recovered pretty quickly. (T⌓T) And started playing Love and Deep Space. Omg, I love Rafayel & Sylus! Xavier is also cute. (๑♡3♡๑) This game is sooooo pretty. And their photo mode is great for drawing references, definitely taking advantage of that, lol.

Been jamming to some of the new Magdalena Bay stuff, ugh sooo good! Find myself dancing and singing along. <3 Also excited that Jerry will be dropping another song this Thursday. What a treat!

Peace out! (>‿◠)✌

I gravely miscalculated how long it would take me to complete writing these short stories for SilverV week. OTL I thought I could try writing two a week. Perhaps I was a bit too optimistic, lol. I'm also a bit behind, I still haven't completed the second fic, it's turning out a bit longer than I had anticipated. It's not a bad thing but it does "slow" down my progress. I guess I may not be able to complete them on the intended deadline. ಥ‿ಥ But that's ok, as long as the work gets done, because I really want to participate in the event. Another thing that's also taking up my time is a prospective move in the near future. So much to get done.

I finally drew that Rogue piece I've been wanting to do. I finished the line art last night and I'm ready to block in colors. I love her mohawk. <3 I'm also close to finishing that SAMURAI band piece, I think. ʅ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʃ We'll see how I feel about it towards the end lol. I kinda want to draw Kaye in order to accompany Roiben, it's been a while since I last drew her as well. I'm kinda in the mood to draw line-heavy dark fantasy works. Been pretty inspired for that kind of stuff.

I'm also hoping I can draw some new overlays for my stream set up. I want to emphasize the circus set-up. I'm hoping I can get it all completed before my anniversary in November, still several months away but I want to make a note of it. I want to make it more eye-catching and whimsical. I've already written notes on what I want to include. I just need to sketch it. I feel like I've improved quite a bit and that I can pull off what I want to achieve or get really close. (=ↀωↀ=) Hopefully, I can stream a little bit tonight. My schedule's been a bit bonkers because of the move.

Also still really obsessed with listening to Alice in Chains. Even looked up a few interviews and stuff, they are so hilarious.

Hasta la vista, baby~ (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿)

Had a pretty fun weekend! ⸂⸂⸜(രᴗര๑)⸝⸃⸃ On Sunday, I went out with a friend. We ate musubi and drank boba. (It's been far too long since I last had boba, lol.) Then we went to a record store, ate taiyaki, and picked up a few comics. I picked up Tokyo Ghost and Pretty Deadly. The art is so stunning! Tokyo Ghost is a cyberpunk dystopia and Pretty Deadly is a Western fantasy. I definitely enjoyed reading them and admiring the pages. ´･ᴗ･` I finished reading Swordspoint and found it pretty enjoyable overall. Now I'm reading Sabriel and I've been enjoying that as well. I'm currently about halfway through the book. It's so fun reading a fantasy book centering a necromancer.

Writing has been going pretty well. I posted chapter nine on AO3 and turned in my weekly submission. I have to think of something to write for this week's submission. The song is pretty aggressive and I already wrote something aggressive last week and I'm a bit stumped but I'll think of something. ఠ _ ఠ I'm currently writing chapter ten and I think this is the club scene chapter I've been dying to write! Whoot! I also came upon a SilverV week long prompt list that I want to participate in. I missed out on the SilverV weekend but I don't want to miss this. The trick is figuring out how I'm going to juggle all that. I'm gonna try and get an early start because the deadlines are listed in August and around that time, I'll be experiencing a lot of changes. So I gotta complete them in July. ᕙ(▀̿̿ĺ̯̿̿▀̿ ̿) ᕗ I got this! Somehow, lol.

I have a few illustrations I'm working on. I'm experimenting with different brushes and line work. I got inspired after I read the comics. I kinda wanted to try something similar to their works so I guess I'll see how that turns out. It's been a pretty exciting process thus far! ʕ ● ᴥ ●ʔ Other than the arts, I've been playing WuWa it's so fun! And still jamming out to a lot of Alice in Chains & grunge in general. But they've been dominating my music thus far lol.

Catch ya l8ter! ᕕ(⌐■_■)ᕗ ♪♬

These past few days have been quite busy. But I'm catching a breather. Currently on my fourth week doing the weekly prompts, they've been pretty fun to write. I get to introduce a character I wanted to write for the sequel of my current fic and showcase his relationships. On the other hand, I'm still writing chapter eight, I'm nearing the end (I think ). This chapter has been kicking my ass. ´༎ຶ ͜ʖ ༎ຶ ` So much research was done as I was writing this, it was a bit of a learning curve for me. Action scenes with firearms and high speed motor-vehicle pursuits are all rather new to me, lol. ʘ‿ʘ But I'm looking forward to editing it and making it more coherent. And then finally, I can write chapter nine! Idk if this will be the club scene chapter but I'm just looking forward to moving on.

Still working on the SAMURAI band illustration but I have completed the other two I was working on alongside it. The two I completed were fun to work on. There are still areas to improve on but that's ok. I'm getting there. Been reading a bit more, I finally got my hands on Neuromancer again. Now I just need to complete it before the deadline. I think at my current pace I can complete that. I'm also hoping I can play a bit more Cyberpunk 2077 this week, we'll see as I also plan to try out Wuthering Waves with friends. ⸂⸂⸜(രᴗര๑)⸝⸃⸃

After watching the season finale for X-MEN '97, I decided I'd re-watch Evolution. It was one of my faves growing up. (I love goth Rogue, honestly I just love Rogue lol.) Gosh, it's such a hoot to watch. Miss stuff like this. Gotta read one of the comics I recently got for this but after my current reading list lol.

C'ya later!(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

Wow! It's the end of the month already?! (⚆ᗝ⚆) Time flew by so quickly, this month was a rather busy month for me artistically. I was able to complete a lot of the illustrations I set out to do. Some of them were definitely out of my comfort zone but I feel pretty good about them. I'm not always able to 100% capture what I envision but I'm still able to express myself accurately enough and that's still pretty great. It's gonna take me time to get where I want to go and that's okay. It's rather exciting. （☝ ՞ਊ ՞）☝ I like the challenge, lol.

Aside from drawing, I was finally able to complete chapter seven, lol. Gosh, that was a long one. I split the chapter but after I split it I decided to add a few more things that I felt would work well with the theme/content. So that took me a bit. But I feel like it was well worth it. I've also been working on chapter eight, the more challenging one I think. We'll see how it all goes down maybe it'll go smoother than what I initially anticipated. Who knows? lol. 乁( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ㄏ I also came up with a few more chapter ideas, thus making this fic longer. But I'm really excited to incorporate them.

On another note, the solar eclipse earlier in the month was really impressive to witness. I didn't get to see a total eclipse but I'm glad the weather was clear to see the astronomical event take place. I also went to a concert last week, an 80s cover band. It was really fun, I got to see them perform with my friend and the singer had recognized me and talked to me offstage. That was pretty cool! >///< I even snuck in a few Cyberpunk 2077 gaming sessions, gah it was so much fun to play still kinda wonky with the controls (they're not ones I normally use). I started reading Unteachable by Leah Raeder it's a little on the spicier side, I wasn't expecting that, but then again I kinda went in blind. I wanted to take a short break from reading cyberpunk novels. It's pretty enjoyable (the characters/plot more than the spice, not my kinda scene), it doesn't do anything groundbreaking but I really like the narrator's gritty and punk voice. I feel like that helps me with what I'm currently writing.

Peace out! (>‿◠)✌