Birthday.

I haven't drawn a picture since August. Last week was Rowan's birthday and I drew him a picture of Bacon and Furry-Bob having a tea party.
I am going to draw more once I have sorted out myself.



And here is Bacon sitting on Furry-Bob. She is very pretty.

A bit of a ketchup.

Hello, I am here.
In the past few months lots of things have happened. I have moved away from Manchester and back to York, I lived back in my Mama's house for a while but then moved into my own house.
I live in the city centre now, it's very nice. My new house is Georgian and very creaky and has an excellent staircase.
From my front door I can see the city walls, the railway station and the Minster and the tops of hundreds of really old buildings.

I have also made the nasty decision to take on more hours at work, thus I now work 5 days a week in a pet shop. It's brutal, but it had to happen.
It has taken me 8 weeks to finally get my new room set up, I now have a studio. An attic studio. Very special. It still isn't fully complete, there are some things I need to get for it, but hopefully by Halloween sort of time everything will be running smoothly.

Much more exciting is that I've remembered how to draw. On Monday I tried to draw but got really frustrated and so I went go-karting and everything was okay in the end.
Today I set about drawing and I have drawn a sad and confused vampire. I will be doing more with him tomorrow.



Here are some photos of my new home and my studio. There will probably also be a picture of my new cat.



This is far as decorating our kitchen has gone. Rowan's mum gave these lovely tea towels, my favourite is the orange one, I think it is very good.



Here is Rowan's room, this is where I sleep, it has a really top fireplace but does seem to attract moths which is a little troublesome.


This here is the back wall of my studio, as far as I've got with decorating it, I have some framed things to go up too but when I hammered a nail into the wall, lots of the wall fell down. I've put off sorting that for now.

Here are more pictures of my studio, somewhat dark but equally endearing. I have a good amount of stuff, but a bad amount for moving with twice in one month.










These chimneys are what can be seen from my window, they are very old and I really enjoy them, often there are pigeons on top.




Here is my new friend, Bacon. I adopted her from the RSPCA and her name was Sophie, but that name is rubbish, so I changed it, she has been run over and is also deaf, she is quite disabled and walks funny. She also shouts an awful lot and wears a bow tie. I love her very much but as of yet, we have not bonded enough to share a spoon.

Lights.

Summer will hopefully start up properly next week, so far I've moved home and worked and gotten a little sick, so I'm hoping by Tuesday the holidays will start properly.

Monday is, I hope, going to lead to me completing the re-arrangement of my bedroom, having a second rat cage here has led to so many space issues, I'm actually considering just getting a hammock. Once I've re-arranged the room I'll be able to actually reach my desk and therefore can start on my list of things I want to get done this Summer by way of illustration/dissertation and also personal projects.

I really can't wait to get started on my dissertation, I think I'm going to really enjoy writing it, I even kind of want to make a journal as well.

Maybe tomorrow I should also make some new tapes for in my car, I'm quite tired of my current one, it's very wintry and melancholy.

Leisure plans for this week involve mainly doing more of this:


Me and Rowan have already been to the university and we haven't even been home a week, so if that's anything to go by, it will be happening lots this year and will be documented too.

All the animals are for me.

Today I went with Rowan to the farm, it's becoming something of a tradition around my birthday to go to the farm, we like it a lot. We saw some lambs being fed, goats on pigs, a fantastic sheep, a beautiful cow and even some deer.


This was my favourite goat, he was real friendly and he had a black tongue. I do like goats.


This is Rowan with his favourite goat, he liked this one a lot and spoiled it with much food and pettings. It is also the goat that ripped open my bag of food, thus forcing me to give it all to them as it spilled everywhere. Pesky goat.


This is the very nice big man deer. I think antlers are the best things to ever have, I wouldn't mind a pair myself, everything looks more dignified with antlers. This guy could get away with asking any lady deer out for a spot of tea and they wouldn't refuse. Even a human wouldn't turn down his offer of tea. He's beautiful.


One of my favourite features of the farm is this big old log because it looks like a big old alligator. Usually I climb on it, today I didn't, I had muddy feet and if I slipped I would have fallen and possibly hurt myself, or worse, impaled myself, or worse still, died.

I'LL EAT YOU UP!

Friday was my birthday and I had a very busy day. The first half involved a spot of Ian hunting at college, followed by the slowest bus ride ever.
Upon arriving home, I packed up my things and opened the first birthday gifts of the day.
From Nawor, I received numerous things, most notably: a latex Mr Burns mask, which was particularly strange but very much appreciated, I LOVE Mr Burns! And also a signed cd which stirred a reaction not dissimilar to Sheldon's upon receiving the napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy.
After speedy gift giving we almost missed our train back to York, very stressful, and by the time we reached York, after a particularly weird journey, I felt very sick.

I got home and was piled with cards and gifts, lots of very nice things were given to me.
I got most excited about the wolfsuit my mum made me, check this out:

It's real good, and warm, I'm wearing it right now, my kittens like it a lot too.

Because I was at home and didn't have to be at work the next day and had no work to do, I went over to my dad's house with 2 of my sisters and hung out with my brother, he's the coolest kid I know, although he was very snotty as he has a cold.

We had a nice time playing hide and seek, building block towers, playing with Thomas the Tank Engine and chasing each other.

Later on one of my best friends in the whole world, Jamie, posted me a lovely birthday treat on his blog, involving these pictures of me hanging with Wild Things.


I love them!
If you go visit Jamie's blog, you can see the wonderful drawing of Alexander close up, you can see a very naughty cat, some very ugly cats, some beautiful bears AND you can request a day of the year and he will illustrate it for you, what a treat!

I will close this post with a rather beautiful birthday treat I got in the early hours of my birthday, courtesy of my housemates, my most favourite bit is Tom from 4:02 to 4:09, classic.

Dantheooon.

It was my brother's birthday on Tuesday and I made him this card, the stuff coming out of the hoover is poo and the stuff coming out of my mouth is copious amounts of sick.

It went down very well, apparently even my grandma liked it.



My brother made a second blog post yesterday, which is a cause for celebration as his first one was in May last year. It's one of the things that makes me really happy to read, partly because it's incredibly funny, partly because I can hear him saying it when I read it and partly because it entertains me for a while, he posts essays. Mostly I like it because it's a treat, like going to Flamingo Land when you're 9, it's a rare occasion, but it makes for a fun time.

Another cat.

More cat pictures, this is Rowan's cat, Timothy. He has a very good facial structure.

Cats and rats.

Today is essay writing day. I have been up for 4 hours and have still yet to pick up the brief. I hope I can finish it before tomorrow.
Tomorrow is project day. Or so I hope. But it might not be.

Christmas has been nice, I've missed York a lot, I've been doing some exploring and I've found Max, I just have to find a way to get him. I will.

I've also been having a go on my new kittens, I like those. One of them in particular is very good. For a very long time I wanted a ginger cat whom I would name Chester. We now have a ginger kitten called Chester. He is very beautiful. All of the other cats in my house and all of the other ones in our street are going to be very jealous of Chester, when he grows up, he is going to be a very pretty cat. I hope he is going to grow big. I enjoy big cats.

This is Chester doing his best moves.


On the subject of animals, MotherRat is becoming friendly, after 7 months of biting and squealing, we may become friends. I'm working on her.

Snow.

It snowed so hard in York that a sweeping brush was required to clear the cars but the entire task of snow removal proved futile, the snow won.

This design dictates the requirements of my new mobile telephone.

Correct. For the past few days I've been pondering two subjects.
1) My phone contract is due to expire sometime soon, thus I will soon be acquiring a new contract/phone/communications plan.
2)I really need a new bag.

I need a good bag, with lots of pockets but I'm dissatisfied with what the internet has to offer, so I've designed my own, am in the process of placing a materials order, and have established my mum as chief bag manufacturer.

This has solved the bag problem, now I need to work on the phone issue. Until I get the bag and have used it for a week, I won't know what I'm doing about a phone. I'm definitely getting a new one but the bag will decide whether I get a pay monthly one or a call-making super basic pay as you go masterpiece. Essentially, the bag needs to be in construction as soon as possible, I'm drawing up plans tomorrow, finalising them with mother and placing a bulk order of zips and webbings to create a beautiful, fully functioning piece of transportation wizardry with plenty of pockets.

This is a fraction of the premature designs:

Day Two of Photo Project and problems are arising.

It's day two! Today I took my camera with me to Jamie's house where myself, Rowan, Jamie and Harry spent the day playing Guitar Hero, Bop It Extreme, Helicopter, Cheat and Happy Families. The day was finished off with a trip to the cinema. We saw Yes Man. It was not the best.

Anyhow, a problem has come to my attention. It really isn't going to be possible to put up a photo everyday, there are too many variables. For example, if I was to get home very late one evening and was too tired to move or if I was at work all day or just didn't actually see anything good to take a picture of. To solve this, I've decided to post a picture daily, if possible, if not, there will be at least one picture a week, that way I'm not filling up this whole thing with pictures that I took because I had to, but with ones that I wanted to take. Nice.

Also, there needs to be a name for my project, I'm currently thinking of it.

Today there are 2 photos. I've excelled at my task.


This is Jamie's newest cat, Boris, with his ears turned inside out. He likes it.


And this is Jamie demonstrating his awesome yoyo-ing skills.

So this is the New Year....

...And I don't feel any different.

Two thousand and nine. I think this is the point where I'm meant to start rattling out new year resolutions and reflecting deeply on the past 12 months. NO!

All I will say is that last night was probably (definately) the best new year. Lots of nice happenings and nice people. Mickey Heater was invisible but I think he was quite confused. I know I was.

New Years resolutions. Pictures. Lots of them. In the form of photographs. At least one per week should find it's way here, possibly more if I get any good ones. I'm also going to buy a BMX and start putting money into the bank account newly titled "Savings for a trek around America." That is all.


This is the first of what may be 365 photos, but probably not.

01/01/2009 - Duncombe Place, 00:18am. Taken by my brother, with no warning.

A day of produce.

Today wood was bought for shelves. Three small shelves were built. By Sunday I should have 7 or 8 shelves up in my room and it will officially be finished. Nice nice nice.

My super productive day did not only consist of shelves. I rectified the big mess I'd made of my project. It took me all afternoon and cost me £5 in coloured card but it looks very pleasing, I'm impressed with it. I now just have to add the text and then that picture is complete. Then there's a sketchbook to be made and 4 more drawings to do but we don't talk about those.

My left hand feels mildly arthritic from holding a pen very tightly for the most part of the past 2 days.

Speaking of bodily concerns, I'm also concerned about the peeling of my trucker tan. My entire right arm seems to be wilting, it's horrendous. Maybe I'll get some moisturising stuff. Or a loofah.

Summer project.

My Summer project just went very wrong. It was going so very well. I spent 5 hours drawing the sea onto the paper with a biro and my hand currently feels crippled. However, tiredness got the better of me and I attempted to add the tennis ball into the image using biro and it is now very horrible.

Tomorrow I intend to go the paper shop and buy lots of paper and collage the bits where I've gone wrong. I hope it works.

Tomorrow is also the day that, in theory shelving might finally happen. It most probably won't. By the end of the weekend were the words offered to me today. Nice words.

Today I got a chair. So I can sit at my desk. A manager's chair. This title makes me want pie charts and a pointing stick. Unfortunately I have neither. But I DO have my documents box, which is a surefire sign that I'm due to receive a pie-chart pretty soon, I'd say.

I has a room.

YEAH! I finally have my own bedroom. And it's almost completed. The paint is very much on the walls and also very much green, almost like sitting in a plant. By chance, my bed is just the right height to sit underneath, so despite my room being the smallest room ever, it's also the coolest because I can hide under my bed! It also has an airvent which can be used as a fridge!

Today I acquired weird stuff.

I went to Travelling Man today and bought more stuff. While I was walking about the place gathering up things to buy while arguing with myself.."...if Tin was here, he would not allow you to spend this much.." but alas, Tin is unfortunately no longer with me so I spent an ungodly amount on books and comics and a keyring.

Among my items was a comic I plucked from the back issues box for 50p. I thought the cover looked nice and so I bought it. It was David Lapham's "Young Liars", issue 2, "Suicide Dreams".

It turns out it was weird.

When I got home and read it, it kind of made sense. Until the last few pages struck and I read them over and over but it made no sense. Why were they dead? Who killed them?
I was also unsuitably disturbed by the subtext. WHAT IS THAT?! WHY?!

Everyone should go read this comic. It's WEIRD!




Today's dose of Weird.

Yoghurt: Moist or Wet?

In a bizarre turn of events it would seem I am heading off to London tomorrow. Or at least it did a few hours ago, now it seems I have received no further information on this trip so....maybe I'm not?

Now for an argument and explanation. I was watching Loose Women today. That in itself is a fine thing to say. Normally if I watch this I quite enjoy it, it's a group of middle aged women ranting about life, it's somewhat entertaining.

However, today, they went too far. Basically they said that the youth of today who spend hours on the internet "doing social networking" have no social life and are unable to talk to real people because the people they speak to online are "faceless." My "I disagree" face came out of hiding and remained upon my head for the next 15 minutes as they went on and on about how socially void teenagers today are, in a more polite way of saying it.

I very much disagree with this and come Thursday there may be a letter on it's way to the Loose Women explaining the why I disagree with it. But probably not. Confrontation SUCKS!

But for now, a problem that came to me as I ate a yoghurt earlier. Whilst swallowing I noticed that although the yoghurt was wet, it left my mouth feeling quite dry. This is not what troubled me. The trouble came in the form of is yoghurt really wet? Or is it just moist? Or just cold? It's definitely not wet, you don't get the same feeling when you spill yoghurt on you that you get when you spill water. So what is it? More to the point is it solid or liquid? If it has lumps of fruit in, they are a solid and thus the yoghurt cannot be described as solid as compared to the lumps, it really isn't.

To end: What is a yoghurt?

The Moon is Down.

Last night I saw the best thing ever. As myself and Nawor were driving home, we looked out of the car window and saw the moon. It was exactly as it is in a child's mind. Huge, yellow, smiling and mesmerising. It was possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It wasn't full, it was a crescent, leaning back as though it was resting, poking out from around a cloud. I'm quite certain it had a nose and eyes as well.

The thing that struck me about the moon was the size of it. It was huge, incredibly low in the sky and glowing like a glow in the dark yoyo. As well as being quite awestruck by the moon, I was also quite scared. It was so big and seemed slightly threatening in the way it was hanging over us, but then the fear melted away when I reminded myself that the moon is actually a very friendly celestial body.

In conclusion, the past month has been quite full of fear but now all the fear is outweighed by my love of the moon and my need to visit it, I hope I can before I die.