(Witty Title Apologizing for Being so Horribly Lax with Posts)

So... My  last post began with me welcoming in 2014. *twiddles forefingers* Oops. I'll just go down the list then... Behold! My year thusly passed:

One of the main reasons I stopped blogging was that I actually got a job! I landed a graphic designer position at a print... place that I will not name here. I had to pack up and move to a horrible little dingy share house bedroom with ZERO internet capabilities in less than a week and began work. It was hard to adjust from doing nothing all day to a 9 to 5 work-week. I also had to learn to feed myself. That resulted in way too much microwave macaroni cheese...

There was also the comedic moment when I went outside to do my laundry and the landlord accidentlly locked me out and drove away. *cue Mission Impossible theme as I climed in through the window*

I made an Enderfriend!

I managed to discover a new talent: I could stick Freddo Frogs to my forehead. I also, at some point, managed to drop the pointy end of a knife on the web between my toes. (I'm just pulling these snippets from my FB timeline XD) I also attended my graduation ceremony! Cap and acape and scroll and all! Woo!

After a few months in the dingy hole, I moved to one of my landlord's other share houses in the area. OMFG I loved that room. It was an old clapboard house that had been raised up on stilts. The ceilings were so incredibly high and the floor was polished wood and I had  FREAKING BAY WINDOW. It was amazing... The kitchen left much to be desired though - especially because it had a hot water tap that sounded like a jet engine taking off. That was in May sometime I think.

Then, comedy of all comedies; I was locked out out of the house AGAIN.That time it was the wind's fault. I had gone out to pay the pizza delivery gal and it slammed the front door shut behind me. Luckily there was an open window. Unluckily it was on the second storey. Luckily there was a ladder. Unluckily I had to set up the ladder precariously on the stairs. Luckily I could get into the window now. Unluckily my hips were too wide to fit. Luckily I was able to grab a chair inside and use it to twist around and get the rest of me through the window. Cue me feeling like a champion and an idiot at the same time.

By this point, I had spent a couple of months at *print place that shall forever be unnamed* and... well... I made some booboos. I learned a hard lesson, that was also incredibly costly, that 'ordinance' and 'ordnance' are two VERY different words... Also, that place was kinda dodgy. My boss could only use certain courier services, because they hadn't paid the bills for others... I still got my pay all and well, but I had a majorly hard time trying to get actual hard copy payslips out of them. The printer of 20 years up and quit, and the admin girl told me too that she was thinking of leaving, so I began looking around for a new job, and low and behold, I got a position at a much nicer, much more respectable sign company right down the street! ^_^ One that did not have mushrooms growing in the carpet of the storage room...

I am still with this new sign company. They're wonderful there; a much bigger team with much nicer facilities and ethics. And they have cake!

I turned 21! Woo! Did not really have a party though. Less woo. *shrug*

At the same time I got my new job, my brother transferred from a university down south to the one in my city. He was having quite a hard time doing the course he was, so decided to change paths and move closer to home. Because I was tired of sharing a house with people I didn't know, and of the grimy, awful kitchen, I agreed to find a place to rent with him. Our new place is really quite great. It has two bedrooms on the second floor, two and a half bathrooms, and a lovely kitchen and lounge area. There was some debate as to who would get which bedroom. Because my name was going on the lease and because I graciously agreed to give up my glorious bay window in the share house, I got to have the bigger room with the two (TWO!) built in cupboards. I did however let my little brother, who is in fact a giant, have the double bed. Which left me stuck with a single. AGAIN. Not once! Not once in my whole life have I had a bed larger than a single! *simmering rage* But it's cool here - that is when the bro does his share of the housework. And I'm just a block away from work, so I don't even need a car.

We have been on quite a few fishing trips! Here are some of the more eventful moments:

Yes. That is an octopus on a hook. O.O

Olive Seasnake right up next to our boat!

FREAKING HUMPBACK POD RIGHT NEXT TO BOAT! :D

We left off with me having written 10,000 words on Flare. I have since finished that novel. It's absolutely terrible still XD I haven't even gone back to do a rough edit yet.

I have since moved on to begin working on the sequel to my first novel, Soulless. It has recently acquired a name; Dreamless. I think I have a theme going here... Any-hoo, it is currently at 22,000-ish wordy-ma-jigs. Currently at a tricky part. Characters are being stubborn and... well, I can't think of a way to get past it yet. 

Getting Soulless published has gone nowhere. I think I've applied to three more agencies now and been rejected by all of them. I have actually run out of agencies to apply to within Australia, so I am now looking at international ones. I best get my butt moving on making up a new application soon. I just have been so caught up with work and TV and writing Dreamless though.

TV! Oh my gosh TV. Jut a rundown of everything I watch now:

Supernatural - It's been going for so long now! I'm not sure why I'm not tired of it. The storylines are getting a bit twisty.

Doctor Who: Oh gods, I love Capaldi as the 12th doctor! Some of the episodes though - and the Chrismas Special just recently... I dunno. They feel so try-hard. Other bits are genius though and make me have all the feels ^_^

Grimm: IS AMAZING. Fullstop.

Once Upon a Time: I got so pissed when I saw that the latest season would be Frozen inspired. I highly disliked the movie that so many people are now obsessed with. But, the season turned out okay. ALSO CAPTAIN SWAN. *swoons*

Brooklyn Nine Nine: Good comedy. I haven't been wathcing it lately though. Not sure why. *shrug*

Castle: So great still! Caskett is official and so completely adorable!

2 Broke Girls: Another that I haven't been keeping up with. *more shrugs*

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: Pretty great series. Been getting my Marvel hit to tide me over till the next Avengers.

The Vampire Diaries: I can't believe I ever bothered with True Blood (except for those bits where Alexander Skarsgard takes his shirt off). This is where it's at. And oh my giddy aunt, is Damon Salvatiore/Ian Somerhalder the TASTIEST thing in existence.

Sherlock: This show is the BOMB. It might only have three episodes to a season, but oh dear heaven, is it grippingly good.

Chuck: This show has been finished for a good number of years now and I have no idea why I never saw it and then resisted seeing it. It is so freaking funny and adorable and wonderful. My mother is now torn between me wanting to marry Munroe from Grimm and Chuck XD

Fairy Tail: A great anime. I am so excited now that I am getting to the dubbed seasons with the character voice by Michael Jones in it.

Gravity Falls: Dude. This is so not a kids show. AND IT'S AWESOME.

My brother bought an Xbox One. I played Destiny for about three days straight! Then he hid it away in his room and I haven't gotten to play it again... *grumble*

Art! I have been doing so much art! Mostly design at work, but it must have shaken something loose in me because I started doing a comic based on the retarded and hilarious stuff that goes down on the Minecraft server that I play on. The people on there love them and get annoyed when I don't post a new one in a while. It has certainly given me some experience and practice drawing people, which is fantastic.

The other art I have been doing is based around a fandom with which I am now completely obsessed. I am now, and extremely proud to call myself  Cockbite. I have nourished a liking for Roosterteeth for a while now, but now I am hard and fast in love with the whole kit and cockadoodle. I can't wait to get my Achievement Hunter fix each day and the Rooster Teeth Podcast is the highlight of my week. I have, since I began earning money, begun buying myself RT merch by the bucketload. These guys are my life. I am so psyched for August now, because in July last year, they had a campaign to fund thier first full-length feature film called Lazer Team. As part of that fundraiser, they sold 100 VIP tickets to thier convention RTX this year. I was one of the lucky few to grab one. I AM SO EXCITED. I haven't booked my plane tickets or asked for time off yet, but I still absolutely cannot wait to go.

These are the art pieces I have done:

The delicious Ryan Haywood in his GTAV costume

More Ryan!

Here, have some rude Geoff Ramsey too

(He retweeted this I NEARLY DIED)

And of course some lovely mingy Brit

aka: Gavin Free :P

This is a fanart of a fanfic... 

involving Ryan Haywood

Fic-ception!

More Ryan...

Not Rooster Teeth, but still video game inspired ^_^

From that same fanfiction...You may have noticed
that I am now a *tiny* bit obsesed with Ryan...

What's this? A craft project?

Painting finished!

A dog's breakfast...

But suddenly; a whole bag appears!

I call it... the Bag Shot.

It hasn't been all smiles and rainbows in the RT fandom of late though... Just last week, beloved animator and creator of the hit series RWBY, Monty Oum passed away. He was only thirty three, and slipped into a coma resulting from a server allergic reaction during a routine hospital procedure. It was a shock to everyone... I couldn't beleive what I was seeing when I woke up to the news that weekend, and then again a few days later when I started scrolling through Tumlr and saw 'RIP' posts... It was a crippling thought that someone so young and so vital could be snatched away from us... 

I saw the sweetest post on Tumblr about the whole sad situation. I can't remember what it was exactly, but, it was somehting along the lines of imagining that Monty would immediately be signed up to be a muse and instead of when you start on your next creative project and you expect your muse to be some ancient greek goddess with a robe to sit on your shoulder, you get this young asian man with tired eyes and a cheeky smile who dresses like an anime character and kicks ASS at DDR. So that is what I've been imagining lately; Monty on my shoulder, poking me in the face when I get distracted. I guess Monty will never die in that regard; he will live on through all of us, and all that we create from being inspired by him...

We'll miss you Monty; you were freaking amazing.

The only other news I can think of at the moment is my completely non-existent dating life. I have discovered that I live practically under a rock. I meet NO-ONE. I have been trying a few dating apps, but with very little results... I went on two dates with a bloke I could only really see as a mate. I seriously think that there are no men in my city. It's depressing and lonely... Ah well. I'll just have to finish writing these books, get them published, and become a rich, famous author. I should be able to go out then and meet other humans... right?

Feeling: Tired. Neck is sore from so much computer time. Also guilty that my weekend involved barely any writing.

Wearing: My Tower of Pimps tee! Also; pants are for bitches.

Listening to: The Nights by Avicii and Lovers on the Sun by David Guetta on repeat. SO GOOD.

Eating: I had KFC for dinner. That's porbably why my chest feels funny; all that cholestorol is getting to my heart :P

Flare; To Begin Burning Brightly

Good afternoon 2014!

Hah. Look. I spelled the date right.

So, following the trend a myriad of other online blogs, tumblrs, tweets and Facebook posts have, I will welcome the new year. Hi 2014! Nice to meet you. Do you take tea or coffee? Uh-huh, and how many sugars with that?

Honestly though, I don't think I'm as concerned with the change of the year as other people are. On Facebook I've seen posts saying things like "So sick of this year. Can't wait for it to be over. I hope things are better in the new year." I don't understand those people. You may as well say "So sick of this hour. Can't wait for the next one. Maybe it'll be better." There is literally no difference between 11:00pm on December the 31st and 1:00am on January the 1st. If you are trying to make things better in your life, why wait for an arbitrary human construct to give you permission to start? Why not just start right now?

This also means that I don't really make resolutions either. Sure, I have goals that I want to achieve but it doesn't matter to me what the date is. 

This might make me seem a bit like a cynic; I really do appreciate the celebration of bringing in the new year, but I just don't follow the hype as much as others do.

With that dry grumble out of the way, I have much news to announce! Many things have happened!

I finished my university degree! I am now qualified with a Bachelor of New Media Arts, majoring in Media Design.

I sold some art! Seriously, I keep accidentally selling art. I've logged onto DeviantART several times to find that people have just gone and bought prints of the same piece of Doctor Who fanart I did ages ago. I also sold a print of a painting in our graduate exhibition at uni. Go me!

I went fishing! All I caught was bait...

I applied for jobs! And was declined for them all. *sadface*

I'm thinking of making a Youtube channel! It will be a kind of vlog with me talking about all the weird and wonderful dreams I have. Also other things, like me being bad at games and good at writing. Go to The Ink Stained Brain to look at my as yet nonexistent videos and fancy channel art.

And finally, I accidentally wrote half a new book! Seriously. It's already half done. 42,000 words. Somehow, I wrote 10,000 words yesterday. It's boggling my brain a little bit. I suppose the reason it's been so fast and easy is because it's based on the first full novel I ever wrote, Sparks. 

I did a complete overhaul of the plot, deleted one character and added another. Some of the major themes are still there, but a lot of them have been trashed. And I started writing the whole thing from scratch. There has been no copy and paste, mainly because original Sparks was writing in first-person while the new edition, now called Flare is in third-person. I did enjoy writing first-person, but third-person gives a lot more freedom. It's more logical for if an when you want to switch between characters, or show a 'many years ago' style thing.

Which means I should probably update the Sparks info tab at the top of this blog.

Label for the file of notes for Sparks. I designed it to look like a laboratory
filing system label. All I need now is a 'TOP SECRET' stamp.

Now for a question for all you writerly types out there. How do you name your characters? Do you take names from people you already know and let the character take on aspects from them? Do you just pick names that you think sound cool? Do you research name meanings relating to the character's personality?

Personally, I prefer the latter method. I don't think people will ever pick up on looking up names to see what a character's true nature is like, but I like having those little in-jokes.

Feeling: Accomplished. 10,000 words in a day man!

Listening to: O Death sung by Jen Titus from the Supernatural soundtrack. Brr. Chilling. Also Short Change Hero by The Heavy, from the Borderlands 2 soundtrack. Delish.

Wearing: Grey shirt with pink printed tie and denim short shorts. It's an average day.

Eating: Had some Macca's for lunch. I have a miniature Boost bar sitting on my desk staring at me though...

15 Day Challenge No# 4

Challenge number four is to write about a favourite childhood memory. 

Now, I have quite a lot of good childhood memories but I've never really chosen a favourite one. I could write about going to the awesome theme parks on the Gold Coast but they're not really that unique. I can remember a lot about primary school. I had a lot of fantastic teachers and I practically used to live in the library because I liked it so much, but that's not very unique either. I think one of my favourite memories from childhood would have to be fishing for barramundi with my family.

We try to make an annual trip to Lakefield, an estuary river in central Queensland Australia. Sometimes the weather is just terrible or there aren't many fish around. This memory is the earliest trip I can remember going on. Fishing at Lakefield is usually wonderful. There are plenty of large barramundi just waiting to be caught. Our usual method is to catch yabbies (overly large shrimp) and attach them live to three pronged hooks, with a float. The bait will wander around on the river bottom just waiting for a hungry barras to suck them up. So there's me, my brother, Mum and Dad all packed into this tiny little tinny. Fishing was a little slow that day so we were going through our lunch rations. Corned beef and tomato sauce sandwiches, cans of soft drink, poppa juices and snack sized packets of chips. We had a theory about these small packets of chips. At one point someone had opened a packet of cheese Twisties, and the instant they did, one of our lines took off. So Mum picked up another packet of Twisties. She told my brother that when she opened them, his line would take off. The moment she pulled that little foil packet open, her own line whizzed through her fingers! We all laughed our guts out as Mum struggled and cursed at the fish that had taken her by surprise. We still talk about it nowadays.

Feeling: Disbelieving. When I had almost finished the flu I got at uni, I somehow caught the one my brother was carrying.

Wearing: Jeans, boots, a deliciously fluff-lined jacket and an old Mickey Mouse tee.

Listening to: From the Music - The Potbelleez

Eating: Nothing at the moment. Had some little pies and puffy cheese and spinach pastry things for breakfast. I got up rather late. Bad Raechel! :P

15 Day Challenge No# 1

The blogging world is a wonderful thing. You can get to know people through little the snippets of they relese into the world. Their blogs are linked to others, which are linked to others and so on and so forth. It still amazes me how there's this whole interconnected web of people who can communicate through blogs. I for one, follow a few blogs and in a recent post by Paul Hagan I discovered something that he was put onto by another blogger. It's a 15 Day Challenge with simple tasks meant to help with consistent blogging, but I think it's also a fun idea to tell more about me in this blog. So, here it goes:

15 Day Challenge No# 1 ~ 15 Fun Facts About Me

1. When I get to know people I like to tell them a story about how I was stabbed in the abdomen. I start by showing them the massive red scar on my belly and grin mischeviously. Upon demands for further details, I say simply, "I was stabbed." They usually press for more details, and when they do, I finally admit that it was with a knife, by a doctor, to remove my appendix. I can't usually fool med students though. They recongise the appendicitis scar pretty much immediately.

2.  I like collecting things. At the moment, I have a rather large collection of rocks and gems, an assortment of feathers and coins and I have recently begun collecting small, old glass bottles. I love these little bottles. I think they're so beautiful. The little ink wells with embossed brands, the ridged poison bottles with 'Not to Be Taken' written on the side, and all the tiny, oddly shaped ones. I love to imagine what they were once used for.

3. When I write on paper I do something rather odd occasionally. I'll have a really good idea and need to get it down immediately, and in my haste, I forget to write the first letter of every other word. It's quite strange to go back over what I've written and see the missing letters. I can really swear that I do write them down.

4. I wear zippers as earrings and there's nothing you can do about it.

5. I do not feel the need to wear make up. Sometimes it's fun to add a little colour, but usually I find putting on makeup to be a hassle and rather pointless as an everyday kind of thing. The only thing I carry around is a tube of deliciously flavoured lip balm for my lips chap rather easily. 

7. When I was younger I was required to wear hearing aids. It's a genetic trait in my family. My father is very deaf, as is my auntie - his sister, and their mother, my nana. When they realised I had a slight deficit, Australian Hearing sprung into action and got me fitted out with two hearing aids and I attended a few sessions of education on hearing loss and was even invited to attend the Special Children's Christmas Parties, celebrations held for all the disabled children in my area. I look back on those parties and realise I was probably the least disabled kid there lol. Anyway, the early treatment of my hearing loss seems to have helped. I no longer have to wear hearing aids, but still do have a small deficit in my hearing ability. I cannot hear the highest and lowest of frequencies and often have trouble hearing people when they are turned away or speak very softly.

8. I have a thing for colour. When I was younger and my mother bought me clothes, I would always end up wearing black. One day, I decided that I wanted colour. Lots of colour. Every colour. So, I now own such items as a fluorescent orange mini dress, orange, red and yellow shorts, a fire engine red trench coat and I have a plethora of multicoloured underwear. I still wear black, but as accents now.

 This is me being ridiculously colourful for a friend's fashion shoot.

Also seen here is one orange zipper earring lol

9. I am a considerable artist in some styles. I can do fair realism in painting drawing and digital art. I am extremely envious of people who can draw in cartoon or manga/anime styles though. I know I should be grateful for my skills, but I really can't help but admire and envy how others work.

10. I have a fishing hat that is also a checklist. On the brim I have drawn several types of fish that I wish to catch and small checkboxes beside each. So far I have only managed to check off two: Barramundi and Coral Trout. I am yet to get a huge Spanish Mackerel, and a Flathead. I may add more fish to this wishlist at a later date lol.

11. I keep a dream diary as well as a normal diary. My normal diary I find to be something very important. I like to look back and remember all the small details about my life and things I've done that I would have forgotten if I hadn't written them down. In my dream diary I jot down the incredibly bizzarre dreams that I have. I use them as ideas in stories generally.

12. I still have most of the stuffed toys from my childhood. They all have names and sometimes I take them out and they sleep in my bed with me. Two of my oldest toys are both dogs and puppets. Mr Wuzzles is brown and you can put your hand into the back of his head and move his mouth. The other, I re-named after my real dog, Aspro, who were both as white as the Aspro Clear tablet. He is almost like a ventriloquist's doll with a hand cavity up the back and in the mouth. He has extra long arms that can be velcroed around one's neck. I don't think I would ever part with any of these toys.

13. I can not, I repeat, can not do routine. I serverely suck at any sort of exercise regime, medication regime or routine of any kind besides breakfast lunch and dinner. 

14. I am so bad with names and faces it's not funny. If a person changes their hairstyle, colour, or get rid of/grow a beard I will not recognise them. And I have that horrible affliction of upon learning someone else's name, I promptly forget it.

15. Once, and more recently than you think, I tried to fly. I was on the trampoline, bouncing up and down, pondering what it would be like to fly. I decided that if I believed hard enough, I could do it. So I stopped bouncing, stood on the edge of the trampoline, spread my arms, looked to the sky and wishing as hard as I could, I leapt off. For the tiniest second, I thought I had done it. The I landed rather hard on the grass. It was dissapointing and embarrassing. I really do wish I could fly...

Well, that took longer than I expected. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these little tidbits about me in response tothe first in my 15 day challenge.

Eating: Mum ate all my bikkies... *scowl*

Listening to: Nothing, but I have the Once Upon a Time theme song stuck in my head.

Wearing: Track pants and a grey shirt patterned with black leopard spots.

Feeling: Like doggy doo. I did manage to catch the horrible flu my brother was carting around.

Shlump.

It's a fun word to say. Try it. Just once. Maybe twice. Shlump. Fun to say, but the meaning (even though I know it's not a real word) is less fun. It makes one think of a marked decrease in productivity and morale. And a sort of lazy, puddled sitting positing. Which is exactly how I feel right now. It's worse because this is my third or fourth post in which I have not been able to write due to such a shlump. Curse you motivation and your extended holiday! *Shakes fist at the sky*

In other news, I bruised a certain posterior area while out on a fishing trip last week. A lot of other areas were also very sore for a while. We got up nice an early anticipating a lovely calm day out on the reef, but it was terrible. The wind was gusting much above what they were predicting and as such, all of our energy was expended just holding onto the damned boat. We only managed to catch three just legal coral trout and an assortment of tiny trout and inedible reef fish. The one upside was the wildlife. There were three green sea turtles that swam lazily by, popping their heads occasianlly and I saw flying fish leap from the choppy water as we struggled home.

I actually managed to stay relatively dry, uninjured and non-insect bitten the whole trip - that was until we got back to land. The sandflies chewed me to death, I got hosed and I slipped while climbing down from the back of the boat once it was on the trailer. Overall, not the most successful or enjoyable fishing trip.

Anybody else have any fishing horror stories? Or maybe success stories?

Listening to: Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jephson. Yay! Popular generic pop!

Eating: Nothing... Though I wish I had a candy bar of some description.

Feeling: Much better than last post.

Wearing: Jeans, shirt, jumper and my Minecraft diamond necklace. Be jealous suckers!