We're three-quarters to four-fifths of the way through this Chinese Lunar Year. I'm a Metal Rooster, and supposedly a Metal Rabbit year like this one is the worst possible for me. Well, the very beginning of it sure kicked my butt on a personal level... soon followed for more serious and impersonal reasons by the rest of Japan!

I hear that things have gotten better in the Tohoku region and also, more disconcertingly, that Japan's next big quake will probably be in my region. If I move, however, it will not be because of that risk. My new job has been good to me so far, for one thing.

On lighter notes! If you look on my favorites page
http://www.furaffinity.net/favorites/unilaocorn/
, you will see quite a number of pictures, mostly commissions, that are new as of the time I posted my last journal. Admittedly, most of them with blue or red borders. Some of them even form little sequential stories: worded comics, wordless comics, sometimes wordless comics formed across submissions by certain artists ^_^


Starting off: fellow Metal Rooster  auradeva has started a new job of her own, and I wish us both the best of luck. She's also resumed her long-running comic,  sandtodust , right here on FA. Recommended if you like cityscapes, cute facial expressions, and are OK with M/M.


The Known Kadath, as I have taken to calling  kadath , released a hardcopy comic of his own a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6472943/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6449524/
Despite being M/F, it brought back memories of ASB for me, with both sex and character development going on simultaneously in one's bedroom. He had a character-driven freebie comic going on for a little while,
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5432522/
tae
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5476542/
and I hope he resumes it ^_^


Also living in Boise (which I only lately learned is pronounced BOY-see), lives such interesting characters as, in alphabetical order: Angel; Doctor, The; Kampai Suchi; Mokusei no Kaze; and Technicandy (whose name I also only lately learned is not pronounced like that of your run-of-the-mill mill person).
 missangelab  thedoktor  kampaisuchi  mokusei_kaze  technicandy
They were very gracious hosts to me this summer, and even sucked me into a... metal rabbit hole?
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6535787/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6554444/
Red pill, blue pill, or Sheng-Ji Yang, they too are working on a comics project which is especially ambitious. (I've seen work for it live and on streams, but not on FA yet.) I got to sit in on some of the brainstorming sessions. While I don't think I personally contributed anything they're going to want to use, I look forward to seeing what comes of their project, and I hope you do, too.


During my summer trip, I also got to spend a little to a lot of time with Texas furs  alonira and  sailoranna . It was my bright idea to visit during an actual and even-longer-than-usual drought, but I hope they forgave me for the outdoor adventures I sometimes put each of them through. Together, the three of us at least got to play a game of Settlers of Catan in the air-conditioned indoors. (In the words of a knight who's also a sheep: "You want me to do what for wood?") To finish once again on a comics-related note, though, Sailor Anna has a long-running title up:
http://rayne.servehttp.com/
I unfortunately let myself fall out of touch with a number of folks here on FA, including  arianawolfmare and  ssninc . They are each taking commissions, so please take a look!


I've had fun watching Shane's streams when my schedule worked out. Same for the streams hosted by Sailor Anna, Mokusei no Kaze, and Technicandy. More recently, I've had the chance to enjoy  skidd 's and  phsuke 's, when I have the right day of the week off. Skidd is working on a comic... I think. I'm not too sure ^_^;


As for other reasons for journal entries, I've been thinking about sharing random things about Japan and the Japanese language. In addition, not necessarily related to Japan, I've been thinking about posting reviews of random old movies and things. What would you like to see, if I start posting journals more often here?