So, it's certainly been a while since I've made a meaningful journal, and I figure with a bunch of the stuff happening around and to me right now, it's fitting to make a journal to address those things.

Let's start with the bad news: two weeks ago, me and my girlfriend of almost 5 years (2 days off... I felt horrible for it) have broken up on good terms. She's still a good and dear friend of mine, but some of the issues surrounding the relationship (notwithstanding the long distance, aka a collective four hour bus ride there and back) made it difficult to continue on that way. It's been hard, and I've been having emotional outbursts on things that normally wouldn't bother me, but it's alright. I expected this much.

The good news: I'm slated for publication in not one, but two different venues. Unfortunately, neither of them are of the furry persuasion, but it's still a step in the right direction; the first one that's being publish is slated for a limited release (alas, only people who have access to Trent University in Ontario can pick it up, unless I somehow manage to tuck away a few and start shilling them out on the side), and it is a literary anthology of Trent University student writing for which I was both an editor and a contributor. The other venue, also moderated by Trent University, is a peer reviewed journal showcasing undergraduate student research. I submitted an essay back in February about Slow Cinema, a form of art cinema that places a lot of emphasis on the duration of time.

Also, almost done my second year of university. There's just under a month left, and I am super excited to finally have a break from the grind.

Well, this is me, Gadreon/Dammyr, signing off.

Hope you're all doing well :)

Holy crap holy crap holy crap.
This thing is bloody gorgeous! Like, holy crap gorgeous.

But then I got thinking... there are animals on these planets... all procedurally generated... imagine what that could do in terms of the animal selection for the furry fandom? around 6 to 7 animals, each variably different on just over 18 quintillion planets... like... crazy right?
I've already found a species or two that would be able to make a nice fursona, considering.

But seriously, this game is wicked. Mix the survival and resource collection elements of Minecraft, mix it with some mid-level graphics and star trek, and you have one of the best, if not THE best space exploration game ever made up til now.

Yesterday I had the first of two university orientation sessions at my school. Needless to say, after the first, I feel completely at home, more at home than I do at HOME! It's such a smal intimate place (smaller than my highschool O.o) but with lots of energy and enthusiasm about studies and student life. It was an amazing experience.
So, I am now officially a University student

*silent cheers in the background*

Today I recieve via post, an order from hmv japan, containing manga that I asked for, for my birthday 5 days ago. I've been learning japanese grammar for the past month or two, and figured that I needed a tangible checkpoint for my studies.
So I went and asked for the first 5 volumes of よつばと！ (yotsuba?!). Well, I have them now, and my first foray into reading japanese will commence in the next month :3
Go me!

Doing some research for the book I'm writing, and I encounter some rather horrible tidbits of information:
It is legal to farm fox, mink and chinchillas for their fur, in Canada.
It is legal to trap, for the purpose of obtaining fur; beaver, muskrat, raccoon, coyote and fox, in Canada.
And they define their method of slaughtering the animals; carbon monoxide gas; as humane. Yeah, sure, it's quick and all, but seriously, if we started putting down humans like that, people would be in an uproar...

Is it just me, or does this seem despicable?...

Oh, and at least here in Canada, all acts and regulations dealing with these animals have little to do with the wellbeing of the animal itself; it's usually about licensing or record keeping...

urgh...

So, in sorting through my dropbox and folders on my pc, I have found a number of old projects I had affectionately started, but never got far into it. I want to be able to get back into any of them, but I'm not sure which one I will want to tackle. I seek a vote, and hopefully you'll be able to help ^_^

Bear it in mind, some of these starters aren't even finished

So, projects are:
Katsuro saga -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16933468/ .

Our legacy Saga (five individual projects) -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7172663/ , http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7178069/ , http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7186700/ , http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7192721/ , http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7198969/ .

The Soul Within (rewrite) -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7277413/

Dammyr's Chronicles -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5452089/

Joka's Saga -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13209319/

War Tails (unfinished first chapter) -> http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16933664/

Tada, haven't done one of those in a while, so I figured I could do one again.

 crazyzombie is having a 500 watcher raffle, here -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6839907/

Go there, join in and watch her, she deserves it :D

So, I'm making some serigraph aceo prints (atc sized inked pieces of work) and I'm just curious to see if anyone might be interested in these. They are going to be relatively non-objective (they will be, as most people term "abstract" ) and they will be on stonehenge paper (it's a heavy duty cardstock like paper). If people deem them worthy (i will have a set up by the end of next week) I'm hoping I'll be able to sell some of them off relatively inexpensively.

How many people would consider (given that I haven't posted any) the notion of purchasing these?

Yeah, yeah, no big surprise, right?
This time, it's a bit different, and I've put some tremendous thought into this, and bouced ideas off my friends and the like.
Designing an demi-scaley alien race.

So, here we have the rough gist of it:
Form:
Taur-oid - they possess two legs, two support appendages, and two arms. The two legs are flat footed, and are shaped like a robin foot just much thicker to support quite a bit of weight. The two support appendages can double as arms in the sense that they can grab things, and manipulate them to a minor degree. These are placed (by comparison to human) just above the hips, and can be clasped to the legs to walk bipedal. The two arms are just that, two long protrusions wtih hands on the end; four digits, one being opposable.
Long tail, used to counterbalance and mate, it has a cross shaped incision on the tip that unfurls when procreating (will get into that later)
Head is snake-like, but it has no mouth, and four lateral eyes (like a spider). There are ridges under the eyes that lead into horn-like protrusions that extend anywhere between 1/2 foot to 1 foot behind their head. Their neck is rather short, but thin by comparison to their shoulders.

Biology:
Nature of genders: there is one uniform sex. Procreation occurs when three entities create a coccoon like pod and insert their genetic material (they insert their tail ends into ports in the coccoon).
Subsistence: because their planet is desolate and barren, plant life is negligible. But, there are proteins floating about in the thick atmosphere that is absorbed (via osmosis: lesser concentration to greater concentration) into the body tissue, and the tissues replicate the necessary proteins and dispense with the unneccessary ones (expelled through nostrils)
Growth pattern.
Gestation - while gestating, the amount of proteins the pod is able to absorb determines the rate of growth the child will undergo. Upon reaching a certain size, all pods will burst, and leave a young alien in its wake, able to move around minimally, but rendered effectively blind and mute.
Aging - like gestation, the rate of growth is determined by the amount of proteins the child is exposed to. The size to which these creatures will grow, is also determined by protein concentrations. (Wars have been fought over high concentration zones, where children can be conceived and born in the same day)
Waste - the only waste product produced by this race is dead tissues and unused proteins. These are deposited in the blood stream and then shuttlec to hollow chambers in its upper chest cavity and expelled by exhaling.

Names are negligible. Individuals are identified by scale colours placed into the forehead in an inverted t shape, curving under their eyes.

Scales are ripped out and replaced by other coloured scales for body modification.

I'm working on some more physical aspects, and on social/tech structure currently.

So, I've been thinking pretty long and hard on this (well over 5 years, I'll tell you) about writing on commission, things like backstories for characters, ideas that people may want to express, but don't feel they have the skill necessary to do so, etc... I would love to do this, but unfortunately, I don't think there's much money to be made unless I establish myself first, but how can I establish myself without having any clientel? Dur, the stupidity of the system astounds me, but that's a different matter.

I'm thinking I might draft up a ToS for both requests and commissions just for the hell of it, and paste it somewhere, either in gallery or scraps. Simply put, the main difference I can see between commissions and requests for myself is the ability to put something into a portfolio or publication. Requests, I am given the full right to use the work as I see fit (submitting it to anthologies, creating my own, etc) while commissions are exclusively for the commissioner, and I can make no further money off that transaction.

What do you think?

So, now that I have a fair amount of money, I'm looking into getting a ref sheet of Gadreon, my c-boy fossa. I need a suggestion for an artist who does nsfw reference sheets that are reasonably priced $125 cad or less if possible, that doesn't look too cartoony. Anyone have suggestions?

So, today I leave for Europe at 7 p.m central time (I think), for 9 days. I won't be checking of on my fa during this time, so I hope the lot of you have a good week and enjoy yourselves.
Sayonara!

Well, there's a story i've been feeling to write this last week, about a world dominated by packs of canines, living amongst each other, vying for control. It centers around a child of a female breeding wolf, and a coyote, a coywolf, as it were (legit term, I tell you), who is treated as the child of the breeding male (or the alpha). When the coywolf reaches maturity, his brother, a child of the breeding pair usurps the title of breeding male, and casts out all the coywolves. (i should mention at this point, that all characters are anthropomorphic, until they are disbarred from a pack, when they become feral.) the main character wanders off, encountering a wandering tribe of exiles, and joins them. Meanwhile, his brother has turned the pack into a harem with him at its head. By the end of the story, the main character returns with his ragtag group of exiles, and his litter siblings and returns his pack to what it once was and more, but I feel like I'd want to do it as a comic rather than a novel, but I'm not a good enough artist, nor do I have the resources to be successful even if I was...

I am making one, or rather, am attempting to design one. It will take a while, and half a million alpha and beta tests before I can truly say it's finished. Right now, I have the main mechanic in place, and a pile of races (like, 40-50 of them), so I'm just working to refine all the little bits, and then refining them more, and more, and more... etc. wish me luck.

I have been lacking inspiration to write for too long. I need something to perk me up.
So, I implore you, my watchers to give me ideas.
You can give me a prompt, a character, or even a complete plot-line... I just need something.
PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE

Gone in a blink of an eye. I was thrust into this world and I have survived for 18 years. I'm alive, and i am thankful.
Today, my government sees me as an adult. What an amazingly arbitrary number 18 is? Isn't it? What significance does 18 have? Other than universal acceptance of an arbitrary denomination. Oh well, it's of no matter, I'm still one step closer to death.
So, happy trails to ye!

And on another note, there seems to be a problem with the content filter. I have it off, can see nsfw thumbnails, but can't view full images.

So, finally, may is over for me. I'm finally done with the surgery and in recovery now. At home, laying on my couch...
I am so thankful this hell May is over. I just can't believe it.
And hopefully I won't need these narcotics I was prescribed... I don't want to be addicted to codeine... But that's beside the point. All that matters is that I'm fine and well.

so, this is my final day with every bit of my body intact... tomorrow at noon, I have part of my skull removed for my greater good (don't want me to die in less than 5 years). this is the final calm before the stunning finale of may... I've lived through ap exams, large class projects, and life, and now may comes to a close...

So, I haven't done this, but I am going to offer complete and utter open suggestion month. All you need to do is to give me an idea (preferably in the form of a note, but a comment is fine too), character(s) and general tone of a story, and I'll try and do it for you.

This is primarily a de-stress technique for me; I need something to take my mind off my two AP exams within the next two weeks, and my surgery in a month.

So please! Don't leave me stressed and anxious XD

I have learned today that it will be necessary for me to have surgery performed on my ear to assure my existence.
You see, I have this issue in my ear that causes a pocket to form in my eardrum and constantly grow. This mass has also been known to eat away at bones; and it decided it wanted to grow upward, towards my brain... What an excellent choice, body. what an excellent choice...
Needless to say, unless I have this surgery, it will most likely continue growing upward; eating the bone mass until it reaches the brain. There have been cases where that happens, and they acquire a serious case of meningitis. Of course, meningitis could very well be, and is fatal if not treated promptly.
Right now, the bone mass separating the pocket and the brain is barely millimetres apart, so I'd have very little time on my hands, maybe 5 years at most if I didn't have this surgery...
Now; what may come with the surgery? It comes down to what happens; it could result in complete hearing loss in that ear, facial paralysis, and certain vertigo... What luck may I endure?
I have 4 months before I'm to go in... hopefully all will be fine...

I've been trying so hard these past few days to catch up to my necessary word count for NaNoWriMo, but I can't seem to catch up; whether it be caused by too much school work, or a lack of determination. Today I've worked my butt off, trying to do this, but I'm feeling the pressure overwhelming me, and I feel like I'm floating in a gelatinous ooze.

It's actually quite fun. You can do the fun bits, then degenerate into the least fun parts and spice them up to fit with what you wrote for later. This is what I'm doing right now to catch up with the NaNoWriMo running word count. I need to get back to speed, so I'm going into the most interesting chapter to beef it up until that point.
Well, back to writing.
Wish me Luck.

*said in creepy wicked witch of the west voice*

That being said, I will be starting my next novel TOMORROW (AKA NOVEMBER 1st) and will hopefully have it completed by the end of November. I'm definitely certain it will focus on Dammyr Junior and Terra's lives, and Dammyr Junior will be much unlike his father (rebellious, aggressive, and not quite so reserved).

So, are any of you looking forward to this? I know I am :3 another roller-coaster of emotion...

I had promised myself that I wouldn't do this, but I feel now that I can, and it might actually be good. The original As We Are did bring closure to the story, but I feel Junior can have his own story - possibly revolving about conformatism vs. Individualism, or maybe rebellion against society/family. I will make it every bit as emotional as the first :3

I really need someone to throw me a bone... I am lacking muse, and i'm lacking the mind to find one myself... Can't anyone just give me a short story concept that I can run with? Just request, and I shall do.