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I wish I could do as my icon says.

Ugh. OK, just had a complete meltdown about being in the US! I got to camp just before lunch today and had lunch, not knowing anyone really, and got put in a bunkhouse with a bunch of dudes who have been here a week at least already and they all know each other and are from the same country and don't know me and there's no Australians around and now that I'm here, the prospect of being stuck, at camp, for two months is just suffocating me! whine.

After calling Daniel about not being able to meet him in New York at all, I tried to get some sleep in the bunkhouse/cabin to make up for lost sleep. I ended up waking up sweating and panicked, and proceeded to come and bawwww my face off at the nice Australian camp leader person and told her I'm not prepared for this all. It's so ridiculous! I walked out of the cabin all composed and ready to say I can't do this and 100 metres later I walk in and choked up. God damn.

She's suggested I give it a couple days first - the kids don't arrive until July 2nd - but I don't think I can go through with this. It was fine when it was far away, I figured I'd slog through camp and enjoy the after, but camp is NINE FUGGIN WEEKS! How did I glaze over that. Also this camp is Jewish-friendly/kosher and caters to ADD/ADHD/Asperger's kids. Not prepared for this.

OK, so points against:
- I hate meeting new people.
- I don't like children.
- I can't deal with kids, let alone kids with learning disabilities.
- I don't have the skill set to cater to their needs.
- I don't like SUMMER WEATHER!
- I don't really have enough money to stretch across the travel after camp, even staying at cheap hostels and stuff. Especially going to Sweden at the end, which is super expensive.
- I have nobody familiar with me to talk to.
- As a result if I get stuck or in trouble or lost I have nobody to help me know what to do.


Points for:
- I want to try American foods?
- I thought it'd be cool to visit Jess/hang out with Daniel overseas.
- Souvenirs.
- Having foreign shirts so I could brag about having been to X place.
- Fancy Twitter posts.
- I like flying in planes.

Aughhhhh. I am so not at ease now. And I blubbered in front of strangers, what. Hhhhh. Guess I'll give it a couple days and decide but I don't think I can do it. I am not prepared to deal with this level of independence!

Oy.

Comments, suggestions, advice all welcome. Please.

Hello Livejournal! Long LONG time no post. I discontinued the LoudTwitter thing cos it just looked crap in my Recent Posts. Anyhoo!

Americans! As of this Friday I will be in your country, for four months! I'm working at summer camp for two months, but the rest of the time I'll be travelling around wherever I like. I would love to have any of the following:

- People to visit/show me around where they live!
- Places recommended to visit!
- Cheap accommodation tips oh god
- Travel companions or free accommodation! (I am barely financed for this trip)
- Any good conventions between July and the end of September?


I know I'll be in New York a while, and my trip ends by flying out of LAX so if anyone's in New York or LA and can show me round I'd be extremely grateful. Especially! I'm stuck in LAX on Friday the 19th, this Friday, from 10.30am till 10.30pm waiting for my next flight. Anybody willing to go to a movie/shopping/exploring to waste some of that time? Pleeease. Do no want sitting in airport for 12 hours.

Hints? Tips? Reccommendations? All welcome!

Hey! Americans!



This year I will be coming to America, to work at a summer camp! I don't know where yet, I should get my placement soon, but yeah. Either way I will be somewhere, and I might be able to have weekends off, or just a couple weeks to travel after camp's over, until my work visa expires.

So! I want to meet you! Does this sound like a fun thing? I would like to do that whole, locals' perspective thing. Also, drink. So yeah! Let me know if that sounds like fun!

OK so hey Journal, I do not show you enough love. Then again I don't feel like blogging as much anymore either! So that might have something to do with it too. Also apparently my typing has gotten a lot more shit? Lots of self-correcting here, Gawd.

So. Birthday! My birthday is coming up soon. As in about three weeks away (December 13), but yeah. Awesome. 21. I guess Ill be able to rent cars? That's... Really something. I am doing a Thing for my birthday though, which should be fun! Here is the plan.

On the morning of my birthday I will wake up and be showered in gifts by my family. This will be nice. After that, we drive out to the middle of nowhere probably and I get to do a skydive. Yes. This is from my parents so that is gonna be FKN AWESOME. I've always wanted to try skydiving, I imagine it's the closest I'll ever get to independent flight. I'd also love to do that thing where you go super high in a plane and experience weightlessness, but anyways.

After throwing myself out of the sky (you can come watch this if you like the idea of watching me land on the ground) I return to Adelaide. I will check into the hotel room I have taken in the city, dump my shit there and nejoy the feeling of being not at home. Then, it's off to the shooting range with Lachie! And anyone else who wants to shoot some guns too. We will make bullets fly at some targets, and bask in our masculinity a bit.

After this, it's back to the hotel room to putz around a bit (Internet, lolz) and maybe go shopping or whatever, before getting ready for a night out, and meeting People for dinner somewhere in the city. This is yet to be decided, suggestions for restaurants welcome! After dinner, it's off to the pubs and clubs to get myself thoroughly trashed! (Binge drinking is OK if you only do it rarely.) Afterwards it's off to Yianni's for a yiros probably, before heading back to the hotel room to either pass out, or make out if I pick up (ha ha ha). Maybe pass out with my Drunkest Friend if they have no hope of getting home.

Next morning it's wakeup time (probably early, I have a bad habit of doing this) and off for breakfast with sunglasses on. Then off home for recuperation! All in all I think it sounds like a Good Time and I am looking forward to it.

Who wants to come? I have sent invites on Myspace and Facebook but obviously that will not cover everyone I know. So, let me know!

Oh, GOD.

I had the Banana Ad song* stuck in my head for nearly my whole shift at work today. As I bagged up registers at the end of the night, I was counting to the tune.

Of course, I passed it on to others to alleviate my pain. Most Australians will recognise the tune after a few bars. One coworker, Krystle, told me she only got rid of the tune from her head by replacing it with Scissor Sisters (Krystle doe snot like Scissor Sisters).

"Good," Ellie says, "Then you fixed it!"
Krystle sprang back with, "No, that's like saying you cured cancer with AIDS."

Ahh. I love these friends of mine.



Make those bodies sing!

* Watch it. Seriously. Beware of children though, they carry the tune pretty easily.

OK, so HOW long has it been since I posted here properly? Wow. Well, anyway. I'm here to give it a shot.

So, let's see... I've been working at Woolies still. BIG SURPRISE OH GOD YOU GUYS. Nice change though, is that I finally got a supervision position! I've been running opens, mostly on Fridays and Saturdays. It's not too bad, getting up that early was a struggle at first, but it does make the day feel much brighter when I'm finishing work at 10, 11 in the morning. Also been doing liquor store shifts every Monday night... It's kind of a drag, but there's not a huge amount of work to do, so bludging yay. It's nice to be able to just... DO everything I need to at work. But with that being said, I'm desperate to leave at this point. I've widened my job search - A LOT - to include stuff like reception/admin work, PA could be good, data entry... I'm reluctant to go call centre work, ESPECIALLY telesales... I mean, I really dislike those folks when they call me, it'd feel contradictory. Something like a customer assistance line I could do, I think.

The main impetus behind this has been Edgar from work quitting. Originally it was because he was sure he was gonna get a job he'd applied for, but that fell through... Now he's just leaving for the sake of not working at Woolies anymore. It kinda made me feel bad - I've seen him arrive at the store, helped train him, taught him how to do stuff better, befriended him, and now he's leaving. Really, the Woolies job should've been over inside of a year for me, too... But I let it drag on. I just need to leave now. Now. Edgar was saying his friend could get him and I jobs at Hoyts, and hey! A change is as good as a holiday. I'd be willing to do that for a while, so long as the pay isn't a drop from Woolies - which'd be difficult as, from what I've seen, they pay a shit wage. So, might be moving to Hoyts. Who knows!

In other news, I am not single right now! It is pretty great. His name's Adam, I enjoy making kisses with him. I'm perpetually in that mindset where I constantly suddenly remember I'm not single anymore, and it always surprises me with a nice warm-fuzzy feeling. I made him my phone background so I would remember more often, and continue feeling happy.

Speaking of phone, I have an iPhone now! It's pretty sweet. I love downloading and trying all the stupid little apps people make for it, stuff like "iSaber" which makes lightsaber sounds when you swing it around, or Hangman, stuff like that. Plus it's a great change from the old crap-phone I had for years. It's a bit big, sure, but I don't mind cos it's still very flat. I love the interface, and now that I'm more used to typing on a touchscreen, SMS is just as easy as ever. It's also nice that I now have my iPod with me constantly... One less thing to carry!

Slowly getting back into drawing... I've had another decently big style shift since I started drawing again lately. Not anything huge, but it's just a slow process incorporating new ideas so they mesh properly. I like it, though! It's semi-realistic, with a bit of cartoon flair. I like to think I'm well away from 'anime' now.

And with the style change, comes another new change... I'm gonna reboot Shut Up (the comic this is all for, yes I know it's been a while. Maybe you didn't remember!) and start over at comic number one again. I mean, there's only seven, eight comics done? And it's been about two years for that. Every single comic, the style's changed heaps. There's no consistency. So, I'm gonna start over and do it right this time.

Not only restart, but I think I'll retool it a bit. The main reason comic production halted was that even though I had it planned out for maybe ten more strips, dialogue and posing and all, was that it was just going too slow. And maybe people like Jeph Jacques can work well in a four-panel setup, but I don't think I can. I'm gonna try my hand at a full-page style and see how that goes instead. It means more freedom - I can do four panels, or five, or sixteen if I want - plus I can have an adjustable pacing for jokes or storytelling. I think it'll work. Might take some practice doing page layouts that are dynamic and functional, but we'll see how we go. I'm actually kinda excited! I wanna change the setting a bit, maybe... I mean, I'm not in uni anymore so I don't think I can enthusiastically write about that so much, but I'll see how I go. Wanna re-prioritise who's in the main cast, maybe cut some extras I don't really need... It should be an adventure!

Alright, I think that's all I have to report. Hopefully I can keep a better handle on frequent updates from now on. In the meantime, any Twitter users reading this? If so, whilst I don't use it super-frequently, I'm more likely to Tweet before my next big post. Feel free to follow me on Twitter in the meantime.

Ughh. Gastro is not cool, guys.

On the upside, I think I lost, like, a kilo. In puke.

Ahhh man. I am so bored right now, you have no idea. I don't mean this minute - well, yes, this minute I guess - but in general as of late. I have nothing exciting to do! No uni to do. Work is uninteresting, because I don't get to work with the Cool Kids nearly as often these days it seems. I hunt for a new job, but in a way I don't want one? I dunno, I like doing design work, but the idea of doing design for forever now is kind of daunting, but being in limbo like this really isn't any better. I guess I'm just facing up to the concept that the rest of my life consists of working for a living. Shudder.

I try to draw, but it only turns out well half of the time. Without uni work to avoid, I don't seem to get as much artistic drive. I mean, a comic's been in the works on my hard drive here for about four months! I haven't finished it because, y'know, backgrounds aren't fun. I'm drawing them so they're reusable, but still.

I have been buying scratchies more often. I figure if I win, I can put off getting a job. In the last week, I've won a dollar.

I desperately want winter to show up. I want to wear layers again. Hell, I want a proper, full-blown, freezing winds and snow winter. I want to wear a scarf.

Also, I want to do things worth blogging about.

Aghhh. Somebody force me to go to the gym every day for a month, please. Except don't, because then I'll hate you so hard. I'll wait for that nagging, responsible voice in my head to start up about it.

I wish I hadn't gotten Easter chocolate. I don't need it.

Isn't there an easy solution?

Wow, this was disconnected and kind of whiny. Serves me right for blogging at 2:30 in the morning.

Man, it's only been like four days since he left, and I miss him. So lame.

I promised myself I'd wait for him to message me first. That's my mantra. Stick to the mantra. Message me already, jerk.



Make it the 20th, please.

I think
this year,




I'd like to have someone to celebrate Valentine's Day with.

All right, Jess has been posting on LJ - Jess! - so I feel the need to do an update. I don't think there'll be a huge amount of content here, but let's see how we go.

So, I never discussed how I spent New Year's. I can't be bothered now, but it was good. Met buddhalator for the first time, and got along well with jazrajawbreaker, a5hl33t and domakesaytravis. Good times.

Hmm, what else. Well, I have been working, blah blah boring. I half want to get away ASAP into a design job, but I also don't want to leave, because it's easy and comfortable and I like most of the people. But I do need to get out there, get a real job. I haven't been trying much, so far. I think I'm gonna ry and apply myself harder.

The odd thing is, a bunch of people I know are all enrolling in uni courses for the year, and I feel... Left behind. Weird, considering that I am past uni, but it feels like I'm missing out. I've been trying not to think about the fact that the path of the rest of my life is now up to me. There's no more regimented education for me to follow, it's all up to me now. See, now that's a gaping chasm of OH GOD that I don't want to stare into. Sooner or later I'll just have to jump into it, though. Augh.

In less scarydepressing news, bike! Yesterday... Well, two days ago now, really, on Monday, I rode my bike from home to the city and back, with Edgar from work. I sorta dared him to do it last week, when he said he was already planning a ride along Linear Path - which goes from TTP to the city - but that plan ended up falling through. I messaged him about it Sunday evening, and we ended up going th next day. It was a good ride, about three hours all up including stopping for lunch in the city and a wander through UniSA, and the company was good too. We chatted a bit, so it was nice to hang out with someone new and all that junk. Edgar's a cool guy, I'm glad it wasn't all awkward and "uh, we have nothing to talk about except work" like I fear it would be with half the people at Woolies. Once we got home, he hung out here for a while and played the Wii - haha, sort of a bribe to keep him riding, but he said he'd never played one before, so. That was cool. I pity him, having to get up for work at 7am the next morning. Early morning post-exercise, nogh. I told him I'd be up for doing it again, hopefully he takes me up on it. Good exercise, good company, good combo.

Also, eBay has reclaimed me. Not just me selling stuff, but the buying, oh god the buying. I bought three PS2 games last week, which along with my IKEA bedside table - so pretty! - pretty much impoverished me. And then, just now, I bought Fahrenheit for PS2 from some UK seller. I had to get the Europe version! It has bits that were cut from the localised version. Stupid censors. Hopefully it doesn't take forever to get here, it looks like a good game.

So yeah, many games imminent. Tomorrow I go shopping for a DVD rack! I will move all my games to it, then use my current ones for movie DVDs. Being excited by this is totally not sad, at all. SHUT UP.

I've been trying to art a bit more lately, too. I used to do it as a pastime during uni, so I haven't really been into it lately. Have to force myself to do it for it's own sake again, to be honest. The New Year's picture was for that reason, and to try and indoctrinate myself into working digitally more. I think it turned out well, for what errors it did have, and it makes me want to do more. I'm trying to set a little time aside each day for art, and hope to get into comic production soon. I've got one half-done here, just a matter of inking it by hand to finish that off, and digging in with the colouring. Promises of comic work: Sound familiar?

I kinda wanna get out of being a member at Fitness First. I haven't gone in ages, and it really does cost a mint. Jess rejoined at Modbury, so it'd be good to have somebody to go with. Only problem would be that now that Amy has her P plates, we are sharing a car - woe! I would have to navigate around that, which is going to be annoying at the best of times. Good reason for getting full-time job: Buying own car.

Speaking of money-saving, I have a plan. Or rather, Mel and I have a plan. We both hope to get full-time jobs this year, and save up a bundle of money. At the moment she is on a whirlwind trip through Europe, Canada and the US with her sister and brother-in-law, and I am hella jealous. If we can save enough, we're gonna try and make our own trip to Europe at the end of this year. I really wanna do it, it would be a blast. Completely cliche, backpacking across Europe, but it would be awesome. Oh gosh you guys, you have no idea how much I want to go to Europe. It's so old, and I am hot for old countries. So much history. This is a serious reason for me to want to go job-hunting. The only thing cooler than a holiday would be moving to Europe - London, for preference - for a working year. Can you imagine? Ohhh man. Dream.

Speaking of which, I think it's time to go have some dreams. Aw man, I promised myself I'd start going to bed early, and I went one day before screwing it up. Way to go! Alright, I'm off. Go buy my stuff.

Hey guys! Just so's you know, I'm selling some stuff on eBay. Nothing big - a couple manga volumes, some book I had. Putting up some vidjamagame strategy guides tomorrow, maybe other stuff if I find it. If you want, check it out at my Items for Sale page. PLEASE BUY MY STUFF.

Ohoho? More like, Nohoho. Nohoho more.

So, I had a good birthday.

I got some nifty presents, which I have enjoyed greatly, and had a pretty relaxing day. I even scored some overalls, so it's all good*.

Now, what did I get.... OK, from the parentals I got a DVD of Terry Pratchett's "The Hogfather", which was made into a telemovie a year or two back and which I found out about a week or two ago. Just finished watching it a few minutes ago - very well done. I'd love to find out if there's any plans to do other Discworld books this way. I hope so.
Also, they gifted me with not one, but two Wii games - finally, a reason to dust off and turn on the console. I haven't bought any games for it in a loooong time. Anyways, they were Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Rayman Raving Rabbids. Prime 3 is great, despite me not having played either of its predecessors, and although the control scheme took me an hour or so to settle into, it plays pretty well. The setup for looking around is a bit tedious, but eh. Raving Rabbids I don't really like, unfortunately... I thought it'd be a fun kind of party game, but it just doesn't play that well for me. I'll probably finish it and look at trading it in for something else... See if the parentals kept the receipt, if that doesn't offend them too much.

From the sister, I got a pair of thongs - those Havana ones, although I don't understand what all the fuss is about, even if they are a nice shade of blue - and a kinda cool t-shirt from JayJays. Interesting in that I didn't ask for either, although she herself has listed clothes and Havana things on her Christmas list. Coincidence? I think not. The shirt is a pretty nice one (she does have decent taste, no matter what I may say) and although it fits, it does expose the fact I'm not a washboard-stomached motocross surfer athletics champ swimmer, kind of distinctly. It really is time to punish that weight away, I think. And right before Christmas is perfect timing of course, nobody overeats then.

Aaanywho, from the friends, who I had round for drinks on Wednesday night, I got some more gems. From Jess, Lachie and Shane I got two bottles of fun - one of Passion Pop, which I think Jess drank at least half of, and another of something called Sour Monkey. I'd seen this stuff in passing but never thought of buying it. Turned out pretty nice actually - really sour by itself, but actually quite nice mixed with lemonade. By itself it tasted of green apples, followed by being punched in the mouth by a lemon.

Mel got me something rather pleasing too - a book I had on my Christmas list (Dork Geek Jew, by Danny Katz) that I saw in a bookshop and thought looked interesting, and a gift card for JB HiFi that will most certainly be used sooner rather than later. She also gave me a card that had the hottest guy ever on it, totally. He looked so good in that belly shirt, accentuating his beer gut. Thanks, Mel.

I spent part of today getting ready for Sarah's birthday on Saturday night, which should be interesting. Mel and I are going as Mario and Luigi, so that's where the overalls come in. She found some that her Dad had, so we put them to good use. Couldn't get two blue pairs - and buying some would've been dumb, considering they'd get only one use - so Mel will be Mario and I'll be Fire Flower Luigi. We may or may not have sprite-shaped props. Either way we'll totally be the most awesome ones at the party, even if the theme is "Movie Characters". There was a Mario Brothers movie, it's plausible!

I think that's about it, so I might wrap it up. I'll have a look at that book I got, see if it's as interesting as I though. Peace out... uh, homies. Yo.

* This will be explained later in the post**.
** Probably.

Whoop whoop. I have a journal? Hilarious! If I had a journal, I'd post in it. OBviously.

Well, I'll give it a go. Hello blogosphere! Since I last spoke to you, apparently you have been sold to the Russians. Neato.

What have I been up to? Well, uni is out forever, the exhibition was a big hit - but no employers hitting me up with job offers, le sigh - and now I have nothing to look forward to but the eternal job-hunt. ROCKIN'. I'm really tired all the time lately, I don't know why. I've been getting a majority of 8-10 hour sleep sessions, but no dice. Maybe I can only live comfortably on five to seven hours, like during uni? It is something to consider. For now I'm just getting on with monotony, woo. Work, drawing sporadically, being bored, wishing I had more money. Working again. And again. Hating Laura at work. The usual.

I am slowly getting the increasing urge to move out hardcore. I want to live on my own so bad. Well, not on my OWN, but outside of my family home. This is why I must get a Real Job. Yes. Then G-Mel and I can move out and create the FUCK-Shack. This is what our first house will be called, but it must be pronounced with a long F. Hilarity! The neighbours would not approve of a door plaque with this on it.

Also, it's my birthday this Thursday! PRAISE ME. I will be turning 20. This is an amazing achievement. Just having a few folks round for drinks, is the plan. The city is expensive and dumb and I left it too late to organise a real party. So, that's all. I'll save my energy and planning for my 21st next year. Ideas required, yess.

Hmm, what else. I want it to be winter again! I have a nice jacket I bought for cheap at Harbour Town due to the change of season and now I want to wear it. It is PRETTY but also hot.

I think Rhiann's influence is ruining my ability to type without capslock and sentence fragments.

Other than that, I dunno. Tired! Bedtime maybe. Talk to you later, intertron.

So, I was flicking through old files on my desktop PC the other day to see if there was anything to transfer onto the laptop. I ended up flicking through old art stuff, and found the Daily Journal Comic I did back in late 2004 here on LJ (they no longer show up in the entries, I think I was hosting them on Geocities or something). I found them hilarious! Well, funny in that they go nowhere and are really flippant or whatever. I think I might try and start doing them again. Well, I'll upload the old ones here first: ( Here we gooo! ) Ah, amusing. Anyways, here's the first new one, three years (almost exactly) later!



Yaaaaay. Art style has improved, yes?

Yes, that's right. Ohoho.

Watch this space for more info on a new idea that I am working on.

( Or read more now )

That is all.

This post is SPECIFICALLY TARGETED!

Hey, tvini! For uni, we have a "Negotiator" project where we dictated what the assignment would entail. For mine, I proposed to design an entire identity system for Wear With Style: logo, business and care cards, 'with compliments' slip, A5 brochure and website design/template. Are you okay with me posting this stuff here in the journal? I figure that you would be interested in seeing it regardless, but thought it best to check before publicly posting. It doesn't have any sensitive information in it like addresses or anything.

OK, enough of the random and sporadic updates with only a half dozen words. I will now proceed to tell all y'all what's been going on.

Hmm! Well, this week is the last for the term for uni. God, only a month or so of uni left. Fear! Been slogging away at uni stuff as always, but it's kinda nice that the end is within sight now. What's even nicer to see coming up is the VisCom pub crawl this Friday! Woo-woo. G-Mel and I shall be cutting a rug, yo. Well maybe, if we drink enough*. It'll just be good to get out and have fun, and with a bunch of uni dudes and ladies too.

In fact, this weekend is pretty busy - for my standards anyway. Pub crawl Friday night, recovering and then going out with Ohoho on Saturday, and then on Sunday... OtherMel is coming over! Hurrah! Can't wait to get our hang-out on. It's been a while, a long while, since we've just bummed around together. SLEEPOVER YAY.

Oh, I've switched gyms too. My membership expires at Modbury on the 20th this month, so I've signed up at Fitness First just down the road. It's close enough that I can ride there - and not the horrific kind of riding there I endured that one time I tried riding to Modbury - and the place is kind of huge. Lots more equipment and classes and stuff, and it's totally a coincidence that Ohoho just joined up there. TOTALLY SHUT UP

So, yes. Been collating all the comic strip scripts I've been finding scattered around the place in my sketchbook and uni notebooks, and discovered I've actually scripted at least half a dozen decent comics. Been collecting them together and hopefully over the uni break I'll be able to do a couple of them up to finished level. We shall see!

That's about it for now, I think. I can't think of anything else, anyway. Laters!

* Which we will.


Dom, looking nervous! Trying a slightly different style here... Slowly integrating the old and new. He's a bit short-loking, and he looks younger? I dunno. Also, yes I changed his hair again.
PS - I didn't mention before but you can click these for a larger version.