Spring Cleaning on DiS!

Recently, I decided to do some spring cleaning with my blog.  I wanted to bring it more in line with a professional feel, and removing much of my older posts has brought it closer to the feel I want for it.  For my own sake, my old posts have been backed up and archived, but they are no longer part of the overall blog.  It’s fine; a little cleaning now and then never hurt anyone!

Once upon a time, at the early years of social blogging and before modern social network sites, I utilized this blog as much to keep in touch with family, friends, and classmates as it was a creative outlet for writing, art, and articles.  Those random posts made the site feel cluttered and no longer served a purpose, so out they went.

I feel the blog will be much better for my decision.  I’m much happier with it on the whole.

Thanks to all who’ve stuck by me through the years.  Here’s to many, many more posts and updates, sharing and caring, and love all around!

A Link in the Long Line of the Terrorist Chain Has Ended

For a good number of people here in the United States and across the world, today marks a historic moment in mankind’s history as we collectively breathe a heavy sigh of relief.  An individual who has consistently terrorized innocent individuals and whole nations, committed mass murder, and waged a personal war in the name of a religion while polluting the tenants of that religion has died.  Osama bin Laden  and his tyranny has ended.

Barack Obama gave a presidential speech Sunday evening to announce that the al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, had been killed by heavy fire at a mansion in Pakistan, near Islamabad.  Following the announcement, the internet began to go viral with commentaries on Bin Laden’s death.  People began gathering to celebrate.  Crowds gathered en masse in front of the White House to chant and sing, as well as in other cities.

It’s an odd occasion to celebrate a man’s death so joyfully, but when that particular man has created such heinous acts and his death means then end of his personal sphere of influence, then it tends to become understandable.  The proverbial head of the snake has been cut.  For my own part, I’m relieved.  I would have rathered he stood trial, but I believe many knew that in the end, that would never happen.

While we may yet have difficult trials ahead of us in the future, I believe this is one step closer to bringing a resolution to those of us in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Just a few moar arts, yo~

Okay, so, I couldn’t resist going ahead and showing off a few of the projects sitting on my comp atm waiting to be finished.  They’re in varrying states and have been sitting for various amounts of time.  =sighs=  I fail, really I do… But I’m getting closed to being caught up!  I have two Iruka fanart pics in this batch, but unfortunately they still have to sit on the back burner until I’m caught up with art owed to peoples… T___T  Irrruuuukkaaaaaa-senseeiiiiii~~~

Continue reading “Just a few moar arts, yo~”

Wh00t! New Arts to POST to Yous!

Okay, quick post to show off the stuff I’ve been working on but haven’t uploaded to DA yet. Have a few more, then gonna spam DA with updates. Anyway, here we go! Oh… and I have tons of Ends of Fate profile pictures I sketched, but wanna quick color before I show them off. Those’ll come later! Now for the arts!

Time for an image cut! Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry >>

Yarrrr~!

Buwahahaha!  So I might be back sooner than expected!  Been away for mooooonths due to a computer going down.  Argh >_<  But, setting up tonight and hopefully should be back in action shortly.  Soooo far behind. ^_^;

NO oil for the 1st time in 3 mo.! Tent. good news!

It’s about friggin’ time, is all I can say.  Even though I continue to sit on pins and needles as I await the end of the testing phase, for the first time in three months I had something to be hopeful towards in regards to the Gulf oil spill.  In viewing an article earlier today about the Indian Rupee finally getting it’s own monetary symbol, I clicked to go to the home page and saw their newest article, updated a scant 11 minutes before I’d seen it.

I quickly began searching other news articles and turned on CNN to see, with my own eyes, that the camera trained on the oil spill was, for the first time, void of oil spewing forth.

I almost couldn’t believe it, and of course, sobered as I heard it could be a temporary situation as pressurization tests are underway.  Ah, but that’s alright.  I don’t think anyone expected such immediately positive results so quickly, especially since it’s an integrity test.  What’s important right now is that true, positive progress has been made in containing the situation.  I know my nerves will be on end over the next few days as I await the final results of the testing and capping of the spill and I can only hope that it remains continually positive.

Because, quite frankly, we need to be over the containment process and move on to the pressing need to turn more attention to the massive clean up and, eventually, helping more people be able to go back to work.

I know I haven’t written any journals on the issue before today, so it may seem strange with this article coming out of the blue, but just chalk it up to the fact that I suck at writing journals consistently, lol.  I and my family have been very affected by the oil spill and I feel no shame in admitting that I cried today just at the thought that the spill had, for the time being at least, stopped.

Awesome Stumblings.

Because I needed an update….

So, got behind in a few things again, but staying afloat fairly well.  Had to slow down on drawing because it started coming harder, but staying strong at least!  Should have a few art updates soonish.  The hardest has been catching up on old, promised arts, but I am getting there and HAVE gotten some drawn, which is sooooo friggin’ good!

The most important part, I think, is that I can say I actually drew something for myself!  I haven’t done that in a very, very long time.  It just feels wonderful!  Even if it was nothing special.  Even if it wasn’t a dear to my heart character.  It just felt wonderful and free!

So, expect some finished stuffs soonish.  Yoshi!  Anyway, now on to a few links to some awesome stuff while I have the chance.

I came across this in passing and was just amazed by the beauty of the layouts presented in this article.  I had been thinking lately of how “generic” most journals were becoming.  Mine own being subjected to this fault as well.  But I did want the freedom to change things up a bit, do something a little more than the norm.  These collected journals are beautiful and stunning and simply inspirational!  Magazine style FTW!

Go check them out @ Bringing the Magazine to the Web.

Also from NetTuts+, a wickedly awesome bit of coding that I’ve been waiting YEARS for!  A way to make one element have multiple borders.  No more needing to use background images for just a simple box section!  I’m planning on using this for the comments section here, for starters.  Since, apparently, I never coded it for the DiS v.15 layout.  Um… oops?

Anyway, you guys have to go check it out!  Quick Tip: Multiple Borders with Simple CSS

Mirrored from Dreaming in Shades.

And then there are those days….

When you come across something like this:  MMA Fighter Rips Out His Trainer Partner’s Heart.  Lol, heard about it on the radio this evening.  Here’s another article on it @ daily mail.  Beware, there’s a bit of gore involved in the news articles….

Also, still arting!  Which is beyond good.  Getting some older arts nearly finished to send out and show off.  I’m feeling a bit more and more relieved every day.  For the first time in nearly two years, I’m finally feeling a weight lifting from my shoulders!

And, on a lighter note, I’ll end with this beyond awesome vid!

YEEE HAW!!!! And we have MOAR ARTS!

So, I decided to participate in an event on Menewsha.  I offered freebies and ended up doing a total of about four of them.  They were supposed to be just sketches, I swear!  I don’t know how this happened… geez, but I ended up with fully inked pieces.  >_<  Oh well, so my idea to “do sketches as quickly as possible” backfired on me.  However, I DID end up with four very lovely portraits!  There are some anatomical issues with them, I know, but I kept telling myself that I wasn’t suppose to worry too much over them, just get them DONE!  Ah well….

Anyway… in order of first to last, here they are! (These are the smaller, sig sized ones I made available.)  Enjoy!

Continue reading “YEEE HAW!!!! And we have MOAR ARTS!”

Wh00t, art excepted at Epilogue!

So, something has happened that has never happened before!  lol!  My work got accepted at Epilogue!  =promptly dies=  I’ve been trying for, well, ever since I joined, but every work I submitted always got denied.  I can’t blame them.  I mean, they had their evident flaws… but at the time they were my best works.  The piece I submitted two days ago is actually about 3-4 years old now, but still one, if not THE best of my traditional art pieces… and it got the green check of acceptance!   For the first time ever, thar be art in my drawers!  er… gallery!  =spazzes=

Feel free to go check it out: TasiaChiba @ Epilogue.net