Just in time for my last journal to reach a year old! I don't know why I never update my FA journal like my DA one. So here's a copy/paste from DA!

Okay first thing's first, I got a twitter account. You can find it here http://twitter.com/VikoSaffron
Made it a few days ago but been a bit too busy to post. I plan on being more active in the future.

Aaaanyway, big thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! I swear to god I haven't had as many people wish me happy birthday as I did last sunday. In all honesty, best birthday of my life. In the end I didn't do too much drinking, I ended up going to a sushi bar. Accidentally left my ID at home, but the bartender there served me regardless! Ftw.

Anyhow, looks like this is my last day in Nevada. Moving back to SF for the next couple of weeks, then down to Santa Cruz. I regret not getting more done here, but I have a handful of projects that are currently halfway done.

There's a big concert stage area across the street from the tower I live at! But since I'm nocturnal, the recent hippie festival down there only means less sleep for me.

They set off fireworks yesterday! They exploded on level with the story I live on. I woke up thinking we were being shelled...

Anyway, this will be my last month in my apartment, my last month in this city, and I still don't know where I'll be living when I go to San Fransisco. But I'm determined to get my own space, maybe a studio, even if that means getting a job along with art school (Maybe commissions?).

What also sucks is that I don't use the kilns they have in the sculpture department to make my stuff. I use a home oven. I can't have this in my dorm. This means I wont be able to do any of the stuff I do now.

I'll figure something out, I'm sure. One way or another. I wouldn't mind getting a studio apartment away from the campus. I mean, last spring I had to make an hour and a half commute to my old college! (And that's with my city's sub-par public transportation system, SF has an amazing one).

So, still getting a lot done. I've recently acquired some fun electronic stuff that I'll be wiring into some sculptures I have coming up. Stuff for special effects B-)

As of last night, I have only one trade left on my list, and of course the contest prize. Aside from that, I'm doing whatever I feel like this summer...

Looking back, I noticed I've done one sculpture of Silver every year since I started sculpting regularly. So! I'll make a new one this year. It'll be my way of comparing my new stuff with my old stuff.


Anyhow, I went ahead and toured the University I'll be going to. I looked at the housing areas and, of course, the sculpture department. On top of having everything I'm interested in (Sculpting studios, welding workshops, etc.), they actually had a work area for creating neon lights. THAT'S definitely something I'll wanna look into later on...

The dorms were awesome, but I'm still iffy about sharing a small space with someone else. It'd be nice to live on campus, but I haven't ruled out getting my own studio somewhere...


And, one last thing; I got xbox live working for me again. My gamertag is Archaedin (Gasp). If you wanna add me, go ahead. But please at least say who you are, so you don't have me guessing ^^;
Right now, I'm playing Call of Duty: World at War. I plan on getting Modern Warfare 2 sometime soon. I also have some other stuff. If you wanna know, ask me

Salut!

It's my birthday in two days! I keep forgetting, it hasn't really been on my mind much. So I guess that means I have two days left of being a teenager.

Finally back from LA. It was nice there, but I get uncomfortable being away from my work for so so long. *shrug*
Also, I got accepted into the university! I got the news while I was visiting the Getty museum (which was excellent, by the way!). Very classy. So I've checked out the outline of what classes I would be taking for my degree, and everything I'm really interested in is there. So, good times!

Now to just find a place to live at in SF. Because of a few complications (and my own personal preference), I wont be living in a dorm. I hope. So now I dig for cheap places to live, or roommates.

Anyway, saw my bro's performance in LA, which was pretty awesome. Funny enough, this is one of the few shows I've seen him in where he doesn't die, lol. He was a comic relief guy, so that's cool.

Right-o, I'm gunna get back to work. Good to be back, getting stuff done again.

I'm just gettin stuff done like crazy.


Spring semester is almost over for me, one more week to go. It'll be my last semester in this city, and I'm definitely ready to leave. Sometime this summer (Wish I knew when), I'll be heading to the bay area!

And good timing for classes to end. I feel like I've turned over a new leaf, and have come out of one of my "lazy phases" where I don't get anything done for months on end. I'm getting stuff done faster, working longer, and doing more varied stuff. I recently completed the first metal sculpture that I'm proud of enough to submit to DA sometime! And I was up all night last night and since 7 AM this morning working on a mechanical mask, which I'll upload later.

Kinda sucks though, there's no way for me to do welding without renting out a workshop or taking classes. In order to get all the equipment I've been using for my project, I'd need to invest thousands of dollars for things that, although critical, I'd only use now and then. But welding is one thing I'll definitely stick with when I go to the university in San Fransisco. It's just a good skill to have, if the going gets tough as an artist, I can make money doing industrial welding.

Anyway, just an update. I'll be on tomorrow to submit that stuff, but I need to crash now.

Oh yea, I forgot to say bye. Heh.

Anyway, yeah I just got back last night. Was way too tired to write a journal about it. I was just down for a short time to look at places to live. Every time I move, I get closer/deeper into a city, and higher up in a tower. And I like being up here so much, I can't see myself living on the ground floor ever again xP. Sooooo, that narrows my choices!

I was looking at one particular big dual-tower complex, that looked amazing. But... It'd cost be "From 1.5 million" to move in. :P

Maybe someday. I'll find somewhere decent to rent eventually, but there are so many amazing skyline apartments here that I'd never be able to afford xP.

Anyway, I also went to the Mac expo. My dad got free tickets, no idea how. So yeah, this year was disappointing, unfortunately. I saw a few applications I could use for art and such, but not only was the whole thing about half the size as usual, but half the things there were for the freaking iPhone, heh.


I was scheduled to go home on a Greyhound bus at 6:15, San Francisco to Reno. But since I decided to go home a bit early, I left on the 4:15 one. In the end, we had so many delays that we arrived in Reno just moments before the 6:15 bus, lol.


So that's it. I'm also being pressured into picking up drawing by my Visual Arts instructor. But I'm thinking it will be a while before I draw anything that I think is good enough to put on DA.

Poor, neglected FA. I always forget to put my journals up here, lol. Here's my journal from DA.

At last! Took me a few months, but I'm back in the mood to work. It's been a long time since I've submitted more than a single full sculpture per month, much less three, and I plan to do a hell of a lot more this next month! I have a lot I need to put up here, so I'll try to keep it short since, for some reason, I want to post this up before it's officially February (At least on the west coast).

Anyway, as far as personal stuff goes (Not art trades), I'm going to be doing a lot less sonic-styled stuff. Aside from having several ideas for other things I want to work on, I want to be a lot more versatile before I make a portfolio to get into an art university in San Francisco. At least, that's where I'm aiming to go, and I don't see myself getting in with mainly Sonic/Mobian stuff, heh.


Right, Commissions. I've said before I'd make a journal about this sometime, so here it is. I've had a handful of people ask about this, but I don't think I'll be taking commissions any time soon. I can break down the exact costs if anyone is interested, but assuming I work for minimum wage ($7 here in Nevada), and considering the costs of shipping and clay, it would cost upwards of $100 for something with a simple base and pose ([link]), or a lot more for something with an elaborate base, props, and such ([link]). I'm sure I'd be able to lower prices a lot if I could manage to work more efficiently, but there you have it.

So, quite frankly, I'm not ready to go around charging that yet. But I also don't want to sell my work short and work for less than minimum wage. I don't think that's unreasonable, heh. Still, if you have an idea and want to talk to me about it, I'm always open for that. But commissions are officially closed for now, sorry.

I AM SO HAPPY.

Quick update. I got a new apartment. Pretty spacious, high up in a big tower, epic view of the city in all it's casino-infested glory. I don't have much of my furniture out from storage yet, so I don't have places to put stuff. Boxes everywhere still.

However, this place did not come with internet and I was on my own for that. I figured I would be able to hack into one of the dozen nearby wireless networks, but no dice. This is why I've been gone for a while. I called my internet provider and they said they could send a person out Tuesday morning (today), and it was Friday when I called.

I never really realized it, but I'm pretty much addicted to the internet. The first night was still good, happy to be in my new place. But as the days went on, I felt eerily empty inside. This left me with a lot of time to watch TV, mainly news channels. It was amusing at first, but after a while it got stale. Sex scandal this, celebrity drama that. I REALLY don't care about David Letterman's sex life.


'Kay, really off-topic now. Anyway, I also managed to set up a makeshift work area and finish an art trade I've delayed for a while now. Still a few more to go. I really hope to pick up the pace with sculpting again.

Bleh. I was supposed to be moving into my new place soon, but the application I put in got turned down. I was kind of upset at first, but it turns out there wasn't anything wrong or undesirable with my application info. Apparently, from what I gather, the landlord just didn't want to rent it to a guy who was 19 and in college.

So looks like I'll be staying up at my parents' house by Lake Tahoe for now. It's a nice house, but I hate living here. Can't stand living anywhere but a city, small towns are just too lifeless and there's nothing to do. Plus, I lived here for the worst couple of years of my life, the place just seems tainted.

Anyway, not sculpting for this long has kinda made me depressed. My clay is in storage for the time being, which could potentially ruin it if the storage facility gets too hot. I'll be driving back down to the city tomorrow for Ceramics class and to get an application for a new place. Cool studio on the 15th floor of a tower, epic view of the city and all. Not as spacious as the one I planned to move in to originally, but just about as good.

I'll make a stop at the storage facility to see if I can find my clay and paints and such. God knows how long I could end up staying at my parents' house, so I'd like to get my art stuff to get back to work on my end of trades and other things I need to do.

This is my journal on DA, too. I figured I should post it here to tell people I wont be able to sculpt for a little while.

I'm putting all sculpting stuff on hold, since I just packed it all up today. Dunno where I'm moving, but wherever it is I'll be there in a week or so. I've found a few good places downtown up in the high rises, which is where I've always wanted to live. The closer I can get to the constant noise and flashing lights of the downtown casino area the better, I've always loved it there.

Shortly after I woke up yesterday, my friend Dan asked me if I wanted to go play Airsoft with him and the guys. I've wanted to play it for a while, so of course I went. After hanging out at his house for hours, then spending an hour or two at his youth group, it was midnight and we went to a public sports park. No one was around, so we proceeded to split into teams and begin. I did actually very well for my first time, taking out two of the three people on the other team by myself. I've never played airsoft before, but I know how to aim a gun. It was fun. It hurt a bit though, mainly if the pellets hit on the hands, and I had no gloves. I had a couple bloody knuckles when it was over.

Anyway, we were setting up for round two when we spotted a car pulling into the lot nearby. We ignored it for a while, but eventually me and Daniel pretended to walk back to the truck, to see if they were watching us. Halfway down the path to the parking lot, the car suddenly drove slightly into the path. It, along with several other police cars that were hidden, suddenly blared lights at us. A cop shouted that they had a canine ready to chase us if we ran.

This was an obvious misunderstanding, so we cooperated. They had us come to them one by one, walking backwards towards them. Dan went first, then they called me. They checked me for concealed weapons, and then told me to turn around and sit next to my friend. I turned around to see a cop behind the bright lights was holding one hell of a riot shotgun, aiming a bit too close to me.

Something about shotguns just makes them scarier than other guns. One twitch of a finger and I would've been blown to hell.

Anyway, as I sat down, an officer said they would explain in a moment, there was a particular reason for this. After taking our IDs, addresses, and such, they explained that there has been a lot of burglaries and vandalism in the area lately. And from a distance, they just saw five guys standing around a table full of guns.

There were several cars, but only two cops actually really talked to us. And although this was hardly an interrogation, it was almost like they were pulling the good cop/bad cop thing. One was very aggressive, to the point where it seemed like he just WANTED to arrest us. And the other was relatively softer-spoken and acted like he just wanted to make sure we weren't causing any trouble and leave.

Which is what they did. A guy walked back and looked over the guns, and everything was cool. Would've hit me and Daniel's college lives hard if we went to jail, lol. We talked with the cops for a little while, then they took off. They even said we could keep shooting there, but the whole ordeal had taken so long that the others wanted to go back at that point.

I think next time we'll go out into the desert or hills nearby. And I'll be getting my own gun to bring.

I think I'll get an Uzi.