Hey all - this could very well be my shortest journal ever but I really need to ask something of you.

Let me cut to the chase - I'm thinking of having a nose job done, and seeing how all the big artists on DA get tons of cash when they have a call to arms, I thought I'd try my luck. I'm just really not happy with the kink I have on my nose and I woke up this morning with a need to change it. So what do you think?

I'll tell you what I think...I'm getting more kicks than that obligatory coke can lying on the street with all that stuff I said above - I was totally kidding. I love my nose.

What I really meant to say is that I think I've hit a creative block. With alot of my time already being used for other responsibilities, the time I DO have to draw I sit and smile at my blank piece of paper. Then, when I do touch said paper with pencil - I end up not being happy with what I've sketched, which in turn seems to makes me more despondant.
SO - who better to ask then my fellow artists on DeviantArt? The ones who fill me with envy when they constantly seem to be able cram my Deviation Notice box full of tasty new art; the ones who always manage to get away with colouring or drawing stuff in matters of hours; you buggers who just seem to never have inspirational issues. C'mon - you must get them too.

Please - I need any tips or suggestions that you guys follow whenever you're in a creativity rut...I know artists and writer's blocks are just something people get, but now I need to find ways to speed up myself getting over it. Should I be doing some loose sketches, still lifes or portraits? Would perhaps doodling when I work help? Maybe I should change what music I listen to, or stop it totally? Any ideas you guys provide would be well appreciated.

Gah, its like I've got a tsunami of creative juices ready to spill forth and drown my paper, but theres this miniscule CORK stopping it from being unleashed. Dammit, what a bitch.

In other news - I need to make myself a new avatar...got pointed out to me by ~hackmachine that my current avatar can create false impressions

-----------MY OM NOM NOM NOMING GIRLFRIEND-----------


--------------OBLIGATORY AVATAR LOVE----------------



My apologies if you don't feature there...it doesn't mean I don't like you or appreciate what you do for me...I'm just low on caffiene

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Guess I missed the bandwagon go past :'(

Ah well - I hope you all had great a Christmas (if you don't do Christmas for whatever reason, then I hope you had a good December )

You could say that I'm back from my mental hiatus - I'm back at work again from a nice month long leave and I feel energized (for once) to strike back at my inspiration issues I was having since my last journal.
I swear, I didn't want to get up this morning, but by trying to do that, I instead woke up at 5:40 so I just lay around in bed. Now that I'm at work again, things are pretty chill although I wish the weather shared that same adjective Skin melting time!

Its also a New Year - fancy that! I almost forget where 2007 really went.

This is really just a journal to replace that less than positive one that used to be here and to get the ball rolling for the new art that I need to get out of my head.
My big one at the moment is a piece I'm doing for a Calendar for [link] . We're working on the theme of Asian Zodiac so there are animals to tie into each of the months. I got the Month of the Snake and unfortunately, I'm past deadline and I'm still working on it. No time for excuses for reasons why (since I'm been negative since last year), but since December I've been pouring molten soul into it to get it finished. Its semi new territory for me since the majority of my colour works have simple backgrounds (ie they are just really for backgrounds sake), whereas this one is part of the atmosphere the character is in.
I'm liking whats going on with it so far, now to finish it!

Then I'm off to friggin go wild with colouring new ideas in my head...as well as get around to fixing up those last 2 Marvel fanart pieces and submitting them (doh).

Thats it - no rants for now. In fact, I'm interested in knowing what YOU feel like ranting about. Tell me about it, maybe I'll rant about it too. Then we can all be happy about our cooperative rantings.

Until next time

-----------MY ILLUSTRIOUS GIRLFRIEND-----------


--------------OBLIGATORY AVATAR LOVE----------------



My apologies if you don't feature there...it doesn't mean I don't like you or appreciate what you do for me...I'm just low on caffiene

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Aren't you tired of the last journal? I know I was...its been there for way too many months now.

Just a quick journal to apologize for my absense of late...there has been so many things happening that I think I could fly around the world with my head spinning so much.

An extreme amount of things have occupied my mind and demand my attention I won't say all of them because it is not my place to say them (ie. see my girlfriend's journal)...I'm technically head of the house for 3 months so all responsibilities are effectively mine - which shouldn't be so bad, however, when you've got 2 other people in the house, it gets a lot trickier to manage around the social aspect of it. It really occupies most of any free time I usually get.

Heres a minor example: my doberman is getting old - occasionally she urinates a bit on the blankets she sleeps on, which are near the lounge because its cold nowadays. She needs a little medicine to help with the problem BUT my father goes and throws away the syringes for me to put the medicine in my dogs mouth. It smells vile so if its in her food she will not eat it. Consequence: Dog pees, my dad moans about it, I fight with him about it, I get to wash soiled blanket everyday which cannot dry since its raining so much.

Such a trivial thing really, but on top of everything else, it gets a bit much everyday.

I've let myself slip into a sort of depression again, which is generally no biggie - just another curve in the graph I say. I do feel however, that it is starting to affect the way I've been treating other people. I'm getting snappy, ubrupt, impulsive - stuff I can generally hold back...but even with my younger bro for example, who I get along with very well, has been having trouble with my attitude. Which in turn, makes me feel alot like crap.

I know there are still 3 more pictures that I promised to upload and I will do so as soon as possible when I get the chance. Even in regards to future art pieces, I've been struggling to find the inspiration to do any which is a rare thing for me to have. Even with some of the 10 ideas I have right now, I just can't seem to get ahold of that creative juice to spark me up.

I don't like discussing problems I have. At this time I should be the anchor in the storm and able to accept and perform tasks that have been handed unto me. And yet at the same time, I doubt whether I have even helped in any of the things I've done.

My teeth feel like they're falling out, the skin around my nails looks like its dying, and I've started talking to my exercise ball. Tommyknockersplz

Don't get me wrong - I'm not asking for sympathy here, I'm simply offering an explanation (and no, I'm not secretly fishing for sympathy by denying it either...I don't have time to be emo)

I bid you adieu until I come right which hopefully shouldn't be too long. Until then, I'll be happily driving my car with two wheels and knitting away with my one needle.
Anyone fancy a sweater?

-----------MY ILLUSTRIOUS GIRLFRIEND-----------


--------------OBLIGATORY AVATAR LOVE----------------


My apologies if you don't feature there...it doesn't mean I don't like you or appreciate what you do for me...I'm just low on caffiene

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NOTE: Stuff political correctness, I'm saying it like it is.

Spot question: Can you understand racism?

Why I ask...well lately I've been collectively getting the "You are white - you are inherently racist" Oh...I didn't know that...thats new.

No really now, I'm not going to pull the old "I'm not racist - I've got a black friend!" or "I'm not racist - I love everyone!" (or the "I'm not racist, I hate black people AND Apartheid ) . The fact remains, I'm not racist because I'm not racist (atleast in broad terms, but more on that later). However, being told I am out of some collective observation is pathetic, but *atleast* quite amusing.

Its not the first time we've heard of this before, and it serves nothing recite all of it since atleast someone has mentioned one of these before... Blacks are generally stereotyped as criminals, Indians are swindlers, Coloureds are drunkards, Asians eat domestic animals, and whites are racist etc. Nice eh? I suppose I should just accept the fact that I'm just a stereotype bound to my skin colour?

Wrong. Perhaps it just comes down to a common human aspect where many cannot speak in specifics and rather in collectiveness eg. Instead of saying "Bloody <insert race plural> they always hijack people", one could say "I hate that bastard for hijacking me, I want him to die a million deaths upon the blade of vengeance" .Maybe..less dramatic, but my point is still there. Make it personal - by all means, the bloke has done something criminal so curse his very existance - but keep it at that. The fact that he may be <insert race> only means that he's <insert race>

(EDIT:Some very observant readers will notice that I have changed something in the above paragraph. I have done so in order to cater for the fact that people may have an alternative perspective of what I said, and may have seen me as a hypocrite - where in fact, I should have thought more carefully about the words I used. Sorry!)

I've seen it on many scales for example, here are some gems.
1. Perhaps some will remember that illogical piece of propaganda passed around about a united movement by black people to run around killing all whites in South Africa, called something crap like URUHULUWULU (It sounded like that one glue). Now if that wasn't a slant against black people and provoking others to be suspicious, then slap my bum and call me your bitch.

2. The public are pissed off with officials telling us to drive carefully, yet they use their "Blue Light Brigades" (ie. convoys going INSANELY fast and pushing you off of the road) to get to their meetings. They speed because they are generally "on a tight schedule". One member of the public followed a convoy going at about ±160km/h and recorded it on his cellphone. The culprit was allegedly Minister of something or other, Bheki Cele who had this to say about the dude that busted him: "He is a self-made, arrogant, non-accountable individual who purports to be a good citizen and I will dare to argue that he is also a racist"
Boo hoo, how unimaginative. Then he confronts the papers to get his accusers name (infringement of media secrecy) and when they refuse, he calls the newspaper racist. Someone needs a lesson in decent comebacks.

3. I do it myself - every year, there are long weekends where the roads are FULL with holiday makers from Gauteng (another province). Not only do the roads come to a standstill, you can't even get parking at the damn malls, nevermind the beach. I've had altercations on the roads with them and I get all "Bloody Gautengers", where I should be practising what I preach (its being worked on)

As I said in my one journal about how pathetic it is to play the Victim, it does nothing and means very little to justify your insecurities and faults on the grounds of "Ooh waaah, they are all criminals/skelms/drunks/homos/emos/racists anyway!"

If you're going to insult someone...
Get CREATIVE! Get SPECIFIC! Man, I'd so rock as a motivational speaker.

LIFE
Been feeling somewhat down lately, and no, I love cold weather. As with most things like this, its difficult to put my finger on what it is, but I'm *feeling* like my feelings and the way I am are taken for granted...and I'm not even sure of the situations when I am...it just feels that way. I'll overcome as I always do, it just hurts at the moment.

MOVIES
I saw Spiderman 3 the other day...whilst I wasn't as disappointed as I was with Ghost Rider (...my hat, that was terrible), I still wasn't satisfied at all - no one friggin takes damn superhero movies seriously when you've got the damn character dancing through the streets like its some musical! To save my un-movie satisfied heart, I got tickets to the premier of Pirates of the Caribbean 3! Sequel or not, I enjoyed it a helluva lot and walked out again feeling like I needed to buckle some swashes. It also inspired me somewhat, so therefore I thought it was a good movie.

COLD WEATHER
Its....nice and cold! But...rain equals wet roads equals typical crap traffic jams. Plus with everyone unitedly turning on their heat producing tools equals high electricity usage equals power outages due to crap power plants. 'nuff said.

ART
The Hulk and Daredevil are done, will scan them somehow and update my gallery in good time. Working on Spiderman and then onto Wolverine. Yes, I know its taking long because I work all day and get very little time for art in the night...also got some other stuff on the good ol' drawing board for the future.

MIKA
I'll never say that I've got a broad taste in music - generally some things sound pretty damn good, and then theres the bad. Perhaps I'm a bit introverted in my music taste, who knows - but theres something about Mika that really gets me. He reaches right into my soul and annoyingly scratches it with ragged Lebonese nails. It irritates me so much that it gives my body in-grown hairs - and trust me, I got a lot of hair. And now this blasphemy that he thinks he's Freddy Mercury?...I think the hair on my head has just imploded into my brain.


OBSERVATIONS
Honestly now, is it true that some people have an inbred compulsion to kill things they don't understand, or is that also just a human thing!? Theres a tiny friggin spider walking on my desk, its cool to watch (guess who had no work). This other girl that works with me, checks this out and gets a ruler to squash it. It was a ruler away from me, it was just cruising about. Leave it. Perhaps some people are just brought up that way...


I'd be interested in hearing your opinions, but you know that already

Take it easy people, until next time!

-----------MY ILLUSTRIOUS GIRLFRIEND-----------


--------------OBLIGATORY AVATAR LOVE----------------


My apologies if you don't feature there...it doesn't mean I don't like you or appreciate what you do for me...I'm just low on caffiene

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Geez, I've had that last rant up on my page for too long now, and its looking more and more antique each time I look at it - always a good time for an update

I really don't have much to say at the moment, nor do I have that much time to do so either, so alas, no new rants from me...perhaps thats a good thing -who knows. I get enough entertainment just from writing them!

Been doing some pretty awesome things lately, whilst at the same time, doing some really crap things too.
I went with a couple of friends to go check out "300" last Saturday, and on a personal note - wooow. I've read the graphic novel (thanks coifman Kevin!) and when I watched the movie, I was sitting there waiting for things to happen just so I could see how they would have been portrayed, and I was NOT disappointed at all (but I'm not that hard to please either). Sure, there were a stack of things added that weren't originally there, but the movie would be alot shorter if it was just a direct transition from the novel-thing AND no Hollywood soft porn scenes = not popular to the masses.
So yeah - it made me a happy man and I will abstain from the usual 300 quoting thats been flying around lately - I'm sure everyones had enough of THAT already

Work is completely insane too now - with the Easter weekend nearing and with it being the beginning of the month, new jobs have reared their ugly head-like shapes and I have even less time to do them. Plus, we're understaffed. What a baaaaall, buuuut it seems that I'm on top of it all now.

I've been seeing some comments about me not putting any new pieces up and blah blah why not. Whilst I'm flattered with the enthusiasm, I've been pooling my time into finishing some pieces I'm doing for a teacher at the school I went to. Basically, he wants A3 renditions of my interpretations of 4 different comic characters - those being: The Hulk, Daredevil, Spiderman, and Wolverine...all done in a gritty dysutopian setting. Its been real fun, and he really dug the prelims I showed him. I'm finishing off the Hulk at the mo, and then its on to the other 3. I'll submit them once I've done them all.

Have an awesome Easter weekend all of you overworked and underpaid readers; and if you're still in school - savour it while it still lasts. (%#^&^ buggers get friggin 3 weeks holiday)

THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAAAA - the temptation has consumed me. I'm going through its large intestine as I write this.

Regardless of the comebacks I received last journal - I still see Macs as very overrated

And just to make my day any better - whilst eating lunch and paging through the newspaper, I stumbled upon a lovely article on maggot treatment on necrotic wounds...

In a spurt of desperation, I then spent 10 minutes worshipping the porcelain goddess.




-----------MY ILLUSTRIOUS GIRLFRIEND-----------


--------------OBLIGATORY AVATAR LOVE----------------


My apologies if you don't feature there...it doesn't mean I don't like you or appreciate what you do for me...I'm just low on caffiene

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