NAILED IT.

Finished my first year of college, that is.

IT WAS AWESOME.

I averaged six hours of sleep a night (the six hours between 2 and 8 am.) I survived three grueling semesters of Great Con. I got used to having a roommate and living in a tiny space. I slung bacon at people for money (hehe, that sounded dirty.) I introduced Mistborn to people. I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time and discovered that psyonic is always the right choice. I got deeply involved in an online roleplay, which I hadn't done since my first year of high school with the Picnic Club. Speaking of which, I made several fast friends that I will probably keep in touch with for the rest of my life. I got intellectually married to a lovely young lady, with whom I will also be rooming next year. I went streaking through the prairie in the middle of the night with aforesaid intellectual wife. I gained a few little brothers, all of whom are bigger than me and have already agreed to be the crazy/eccentric uncles of my future children. I rode in a five-passenger car with six other people. I finally watched Sherlock, and Avatar, and Korra, and most of Downton Abbey. I played in the leaves. I went sledding and managed to avoid serious injury. I passed my classes. I only slept through music theory a couple times. I refrained from drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and sleeping around. I voted. I did my own laundry. I started dating a sweet, nerdy, clever saxophone player. We kissed in the rain. I cried when we said goodbye for the summer.

So now I'm sitting in my house listening to Radioactive by Imagine Dragons on infinite repeat because it reminds me of school. And while it is nice to see my family, and have my own room for a change, and enough space in the closet for all of my clothes, I can't wait to it to be September so I can go back. I miss my friends, and my boyfriend, and my wife. I miss them so much it hurts.

But in any case, I thoroughly enjoyed my first year, and I'm looking forward to three more equally wonderful years.

Now I shall go drown my sorrows in the Internet.



Commander Kip
"That's Lin Beifong. She is the baddest of asses."
Normal is overrated!

Time for finals!

That means it's time for doodle procrastination. Woot!

I've been drawing lots of Angeli lately because figuring out how six wings fit on one back is quite an ordeal.

See, another one. It could be Consolata, Memoria's sister.

Speaking of Birthright, I attempted to draw the scene where Andra and the boys are trying to escape the warehouse where Fabello's thugs have them trapped. I don't like the composition, but I do like Andra and Matteo's faces.

And now, Mistborn. 

Because Vin is one of my favorite badass lady heroines ever.

Also, she and Elend are so adorable together. (I gave up on drawing Vin's clothes becase mistcloak is more important than clothes.)

And now, change of pace. I've been thinking about my teenage spies lately. It would be so fun to make their story more original and actually use them for things. The lovely Baeli with her sexy messy bun.

Timo and Baeli flirting their heads off. "No. I'm not fixing it again." "But I broke it!" "Your point?" "You're morally obligated to fix it now." "Am not either."

And there they are doing homework together. Because in addition to being hot together, they are also best friends. It's pretty great. Also, I gave up on Timo's legs, in case you couldn't tell.

 Not to switch topics abruptly or anything, but let's have some Magical Steampunk Gypsies now. Specifically, my sassy gypsy viper and her garroting wire. (Gave up on her hands. Surprise.)

And here is Katia's new sky pirate character, Gideon the ship's boy. He's like whoa adorable.

And then there was Drama with a D between Erik and Suvoi, and there was angst and sexual tension  and they just need to bang already but they can't because he killed her family but she doesn't know that yet and just gaaaaaaaaah drama. It's awful, but I love it so much.

And switching again, here's a jaguar-centaur lady I made up for my treasure hunters to hang out with. She's a sihiri dawa and yes, I realize her boobs are showing. Get over it.

And here's a random faerie, which means it's prolly time to make another faerie door. I think I shall name her Speckle.

And here's the Marquis de Cabaras, the slimy git himself. Actually, I like him lots, but he is pretty slimy. (Neverwhere is so fantastic. I'm still not done reading it, but I love Neil Gaiman's style.)

Tenth Doctah! I still can't draw David Tennant, but whatever, he's still frickin' awesome. I'm watching Ten's seasons again with Matt because he hasn't seem them yet, and it's so fantastic, I can't even gah.

And lastly, Laini Taylor announced the title of her last book, Dreams of Gods and Monsters! I might just die of excitement. Anyway, to celebrate/procrastinate, I drew Akiva and Madrigal makin' out. Because they're sexy beasts.

So yep, that's what's been happening in the margins of my notes for the semester. More doodles later, perhaps.

But first, finals. Yeah.

Commander Kip
"Am I the only one who sees the foamy white stuff flying everywhere?"
Normal is overrated!

Neverwhere

So right before break, Matt told me that Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere had been turned into a BBC radio show. I hadn't read Neverwhere, but I listened to it over break anyway, and it was so friggen incredible. So many sexy accents, I can't even. James McAfriggenvoy, you guys. Oh God. 

Anyway, I drawled these pictures while I was listening, because apparently I am incapable of sitting still and doing nothing with my hands. First impressions of Richard and Door:

Richard:

Door:

And then I went and purchased a used paperback copy of the book for less than five dollars and drew Door again. The part at the very beginning where she's running from Croup and Vandimar in the sewers.

I know the book says she has short hair, but I keep picturing her with some longer tendrils. Dunno why.

And then, on a completely different subject, our Teen Titans extended marathon is going swimmingly, and by swimmingly I mean very very slowly. But it is going. And I just want to say that every episode I see is further re-convincing me that Robin and Raven are seriously a thing. I mean, in Switched, I was so pissed because at the end when they swapped bodies back, Raven was the one who saved Robin from falling to his death, but since she was in Starfire's body at the time, Star got all the credit. Gosh darn it. Also, Raven has actual hand-to-hand combat skills. Because she's that badass.

And on another completely unrelated note, I drew another mug shot self-portrait and only liked this part, so this part's the only part you get to see.

The end. Have a nice day.

Commander Kip
"OH MY GOD HE'S SO SYMMETRICAL!!!" *hyperventilating*
Normal is overrated!

Thing of the Day: Steam Powered Giraffe

My friends are so cool. They showed me this song, and now I just want to listen to it over and over until I die.

THE FACE PAINT. AND THE MOVEMENTS. AND THE EVERYTHING. GAAH. Unfortunately, I listened to some other Steam Powered Giraffe songs and didn't like any of them as much as Honeybee. Darn. But Honeybee is fantastic, and also the Thing of the Day.

Speaking of robot face paint, we had free face painting the other day and I had this done to my face.

Pretty great, no? In other news, I went home for spring break and was greeted by a snowstorm.

A week later, by Easter Sunday, it was full-on springtime.

...And then I came back to school and it was cold and damp, gosh darn it. There's like three inches of wet, heavy snow on the ground right now. I like snow, but I'm not a huge fan of slush. Just saying.

We had our Bi-Dormal Formal dance last weekend, and I got some classy pictures of my friends. Here, have an Anna. She looks British. Probably because of the shawl. I am married to this, you guys. *winning*

Alex, my little brother, and Katia, my mistress. We're all related in Kildahl. It's fine.

Matt and I. Yes, I re-purpled my hair.

Darling Claire. We love her because she feeds us foods. Also because she's a delightful person.

 Anna again, looking sexy with a bow tie. Bow ties should always be worn with little black dresses, obviously.

I might post again tonight. Got some drawrings to showya.

Goin' to the monastery tomorrow for Great Con! Woot!

Commander Kip

"I want this because of reasons."

Normal is overrated!

Thing of the Day: SUNSHINE

You know what I was missing at college, that I didn't realize I was missing until I lived at home for a week?

Sunshine.

I missed it.

It was seventy degrees and sunny at home. I went outside without a parka. I wore a sleeveless dress on Easter and sunburnt my collarbones. It was wonderful. And although I didn't mind the snow before I left for break, coming back to more cold weather was hard.

So I dug through my files and pulled out some sunshiny pictures to console myself with. Sunshine, ladies and gents, is the Thing of the Day.

Ah. I feel better now. Back to work!

Oh, and I listened to the BBC Radio production of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, and it had James McAvoy and Benedict Cummerbatch and Christopher Lee in it, and hooboy it was awesome. Then I sallied forth and purchased a copy of the book forthwith. I really should read more Neil Gaiman. The dude's a brilliant genius. There will be Neverwhere art. It's inevitable.

But first, perhaps a shower.

Commander Kip
"Hey, guys! *bang bang bang* Stop having sex!"
Normal is overrated!

purple hairs!

Yes, a few weeks ago, I temporarily dyed my hair purple. 

I like it! And there's plenty of dye left in the bottle, so when I get back from spring break, I'm'a prolly do it again. We did the bottom layer of Anna's hair too.

The package said it was supposed to last three to six weeks, depending on how dark your hair is, but mine's only middling dark and it was largely faded inside of two weeks.

There's barely anything left of it now. Anna's is faring better; probably because she uses hippie shampoo. I should steal some, maybe.

My mom asked me whether I was going to go purple permanently, and I decided no, not at this stage in my life, because it might be hard to get hired for summer jobs if I look like a punk. Maybe if I ever become a published author who writes bestsellers in my basement. Then no one will care what color my hair is. And it will totally be purple. All the time.

Also, I'm home! Yaaay! And Lady Arin's spending the night tomorrow! And I saw Brenticus the other day, and we killed some zambies, and it was awesome. Also also, Anna lent me Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic to read over the break, and I basically plowed through it in one day. Avidly awaiting the next one. Never did get into the Tamora Pierce when I was younger. Pity. I was missing out.

Commander Kip
"You got replaced by a head whisk?"
Normal is overrated!

winning at procrastination

Yes, I am supposed to be studying for the Great Con midterm tomorrow, but eh. Doodles first.

An elfy with an eyebrow piercing for no reason.

Thinking about Birthright stuff during my Renaissance history class - here's a Cittadialian noblewoman.

More Renaissance doodles.

Scribbled this one on the back of my DnD character sheet. No idea who she is.

A concept for a crimefighting character. Probably won't do anything with her; just playing with the concept of a group of ordinary people who decide to stand up to a supervillain after all the superheroes have been killed off or captured. 

Sexy theory doodle. Check out those come-hither eyes. Because clearly, arpeggiations are Hot.

This is Serean, Ileana's father from my first campaign. He's very pretty, but we never get to meet him because she kills him before the start of the story. Hurray.

In other news, EHRMAHGEHRD, SHNEW! Also, there is now a layer of thin ice on the sledding hill. Matt and Anna and I went sledding the other day, and we all have fantastic bruises to show for it. If you go sledding and you don't come back bruised, you're not sledding hard enough.

Also, who did this. Wasn't me.

Now I should go clean up my clothes. When the weight of the pile starts tipping my chair over backwards, that's how I know it's time to put them away.

One more midterm, then spring break! Yaaaaaaay! I can't wait to go home and sleep for like eighteen hours and see Brenticus and Arin and hang out with the bro and not do stacks of homework!

Commander Kip
"My sensors indicate that your features are aesthetically pleasing."
Normal is overrated!