TreatedAsThis

So I know I only ever post journals on here to say "sorry about never posting anything!" but here we are again! 
I haven't been active anywhere online lately, but I wanted to check in to let the few friends on here I have know that I'm still lurking silently (although my inbox is once again out of control, so I haven't been looking at enough stuff you've all been posting!). 
This year has been the absolute pits, ammirite?! Last time I posted a journal was last December. UGH. 
So I got a job working as a personal assistant to a lovely local jewelry designer, and have been having a blast learning about all the aspects of small business ownership and the hardships of the entrepreneurial life. I can't believe how much goes into something seemingly straight forward. But it's been an incredible experience, and I just adore my boss and it's really helped me open up a lot in my community (she's kind of a big deal haha).
Right before Halloween her husband passed away very, very suddenly from a very, very traumatic accident. So of course it's taken a huge toll on everyone (he was even more of a big deal- a huge pillar of this community, and just the nicest, most giving person). 
A lot of not being present online has been the adjustment of this job, obviously. I have been working on stuff throughout the year that's not the silly shit I've been posting, but a lot of my time is taken up with work. And now it's going to be even more taken up with work as we move into the holiday season, transition into a completely different time of her life, and even move our office so she can help take over her husband's businesses. 
I do, however, have some semi-decent photos of my inktober pieces from last year, and the few I managed to do this year, that I will be slowly doling out after I touch them up a little. I've been debating selling them, but logistically don't know how I'd do that yet, and don't have the time to set anything up - but I'll post about that if it does happen. I'm quite pleased with a few of them. I also have quite a few more I'd really like to do, because I did not even make a dent in my list this year. 
Also still working on my comic project, but more in a writing capacity than anything else - need to have a stock pile of stuff ready before I ever start sharing any of it (MUST. CONTAIN. SELF.). 
I also had a multimedia project I was conceptualizing for a while that has resurfaced as important in my mind of late - maybe it's just the resurgence of macabre and dark thoughts I've been having, but I think it's the perfect project for dealing with some of my current emotions. But again, it's in very early stages so nothing to really share from that. 
Mostly I'm just feeling a little desperate to collaborate, if not on art then on ideas. 

Is anyone on instagram? That's, sadly, the thing I've been using the most lately, social media wise. I'd love to follow devart people if they're there! I'm TreatedAsThis, so it's nice and convenient haha. Shoot me a dm there and let me know who you are! 

SO. Happy annual "look-i'm-not-dead" post! I hope everyone who's still here and active has been having an okay time in life and is somewhat safe from the (obviously) coming apocalypse. Miss y'all!

I have so much art stuff to share, but so much of it needs to be photographed or scanned (including my inktober stuff... There's not even 31 days of it, but there is a lot!). I have to go out of town for a funeral service from Christmas day (go figure) until New Year's Eve (go FIGURE), but once I get back hopefully I can get some photos up quick. I want to do SO MUCH FANART RIGHT NOW cause I'm SO STOKED over Star Wars and Apocalypse and and and so many cool things coming out and going on and I'm rewatching Tru Blood, so that's a thing in itself... Ugh! I'm hoping I can be making actual money again soon, but I really don't want to slack on my art stuff. I've been working on some traditional pieces as gifts for family, and I'm shocked at how good I am with graphite after so many years of not really using it... Hopefully I can get some photos of that stuff too before it's given away, even though it's not as exciting as the copious amounts of Kylo Ren fanart I want to be doing... must... control... urges...

I hope everyone is having/has a wonderful Holiday season, and I hope you all have something you're looking forward to! And don't let the holidays put unneeded stress on you, I'm a firm believer it should be a time to relax and enjoy ourselves :3

Over the past three days I managed to go from 1400+ messages here on deviantart, to... drumroll... 9! NINE. TOTAL. 

It was no easy feat, especially since I have some weird hoarder mentality about needing to look at every single thumbnail of every piece of art AT LEAST, if not actually full view. I had to berate myself a bit into letting some of them go without scrutinizing every detail, but I DID IT, and now my inbox is mostly squeaky clean! 

I'm trying really hard to be more active here and less active on Tumblr, as I've found that I genuinely prefer deviantart. It feels weird to say that, cause I see the problems and understand why so many people have left, but the community here is 10000% nicer than tumblr, and more active, and more interested in one another. Tumblr breeds this weird mentality of "me me ME" that's made me very uncomfortable... Especially since I'm trying so hard to make my art more professional, focused, and driven with actual purpose instead of just being a hobby, so on tumblr I feel like I'm part of the problem, whereas here I feel encouraged. Also sick of seeing people bash each other and say absurd things like "If you don't like SJWs you're a horrible person", to which I'm like... SJW's are not all good people? Like they live in a bubble of black and white with no grey area, and are incredibly unwilling to actually spread knowledge or help people grow, but instead seem to just berate anyone and everyone? And tumblr breeds them faster than rabbits. I digress, and no disrespect to SJWs. I've seen plenty of decent people who use the label, but like any community, they have some issues to deal with. 

Okay that was totally off subject. The point is I'm not leaving tumblr, but I'm also not inclined to spend so much time shouting into the void and trying so hard to be nice to every single person and make friends on a website that is filled with people who have no interest in doing the same. Deviantart is many things, but luckily one of them is "a nice place". At least in my experience. 

Aaaaanyways, I'm making more monster adopts cause they're so fun :3 The next batch is much darker than the first... I'm also still going to work on my Kingdom of Demons portraits, but I hit a bump with the main male character, and needed a break. I ALSO ALSO will still try to do the second batch of requests I got forever ago, but inspiration has been really hard to come by lately. And now I've got at least three traditional pieces to draw for my mom and stepmom for christmas, per their request. All of which are kind of out of my wheelhouse and will take a fair amount of work, and I don't want to half ass.... 

Phew. How's everyone doing? Hating the changing of seasons as much as I am?? It's shockingly cold here already. 

Hi guys! I wanted to do a quick update here before I forget, and just let everyone know exactly where I am with requests.

My boyfriend and I are going out of town tomorrow night for a week so he can meet some of my family (for the first time ever! 6 years and he barely knows anyone!) 

I was really hoping to get through the first half of requests before we left (and I'm not super far off, honestly) BUT last night some crazy person wandered into his work with a box of kittens that he had "found" and wanted to sell them in exchange for beer. One of bf's coworkers took one of them, but the guy was threatening to just abandon them in an empty lot, so we agreed to take the other two (and didn't give him anything in exchange, save for not calling the humane society or the cops on him, which he totally deserves). Now we have two wittle bitty babies that our big cat hates and can't be around, and we're taking them to the SPCA or an animal hospital tomorrow to get vaccines and check-ups, but since we're leaving tomorrow night we also have to coordinate with our roommates to take care of them while we're gone (and keep our cat away from them), while also trying to figure out what to do with them when we get back... 
TL;DR: These kittens and packing are going to be taking up the rest of my free time before we go on vacation.

I briefly thought about bringing my tablet with me on the trip, but I don't want to worry about transporting it, and I don't know how much free time I'm going to have, so for now I'm putting the requests on hold until I get back. 

SO as of now I have most of ppgrainbow's request done, I've got the sketch for TwilightWolfCourage's (although I think I'm going to rework it a little bit), and I've been planning out JornNightmare's but it's not quite a full sketch yet. I'm going to finish those up as soon as I get back from vacation, and hopefully have everyone from the first batch done by the time September rolls around.

I'll start the second batch of requests as soon as I've finished the first batch. The order for everyone else is as follows, although I've been doing a lot of the first batch simultaneously, and they might be submitted out of order when I finish them.

1. ScarecrowLullaby
2. VermX
3. AlySedai
4. Angel-soma
5. Cindypalomacp
6. Jagoman169
7. Aeluna

(I don't know why this journal isn't letting me "tag" people? I'll try again later but maybe that's one of those stupid features where you need a premium account uuuuggghhh)

I got tagged by to do 10 facts about myself and ten questions. Here goes!!

Rando Facts:
1. I looooove my kitty waaaay too much (wait, are these supposed to be things you don't know already?)

2. I don't really get into sports at all, but I LOVE the World Cup and I usually watch the Eurocup too. 

3. I drink coffee most days but I actually prefer hot tea

4. I have a black, black thumb when it comes to gardening. I have a little collection of succulents and it's a chore to even keep them alive. 

5. I really enjoy cleaning. I clean at my bf's work once or twice a week for extra money, but I often clean my house as a stress reliever. I worked at a cleaning agency in VA for a while but kept getting talked to for being "too slow", which mainly was because I can't RUSH PERFECTION OKAY?!

6. When I get homesick it's 50% for western NC, and 50% for the mountains of Panama. My mom lived in Panama from when I was 13/14 - 22/23, and I haven't been since I was 18. I miss it a lot, and quite often! My dream home is the housing style of the homes there -- pretty tile floors, open windows, big gates, lush gardens, views of Volcan Baru. Mmmm mm mmmm

7. Speaking of central and south America, my favorite food is Ceviche, and I've only found ONE place in USA that has good, proper Ceviche, although I eat it at every place that has it. There's this small weird place on the outskirts of Seattle that does Ceviche, and it is ON POINT. So good. I dream about it.

8. I have 4 1/2 tattoos. The half is from the two honeysuckle on my shoulders, which technically are seperate but were done at the same time, so...

9. One of the best live shows I've ever seen was Pattern is Movement at a bowling alley in Richmond, VA. Mostly because there were only a few people there, and the Pattern guys are soooo nice and friendly. 

10. My favorite movie (ish, it's so hard to choose just one!!) is Harold and Maude. I can't believe it's so under-appreciated. One of my most prized possessions is the novel version of the script, which was given to me by someone who had never met me, but thought I might like it based on what he had heard from my mother. 


And, Ten Questions!!:

1) What do you hold morally important in your life? Is there anything sacred which you WILL NOT allow exceptions to?
Yes, I suppose so... But I don't really know how to answer. I mean obviously killing, raping, etc. is bad and horrible. I mostly try to hold those around me to a level of expectation that I don't feel is unreasonable or high... Just be a decent person. A lot of people fail at that, though, so you know who to cut out of your life XD 

2) Any hopes, dreams or plans for the future, no matter how big?
I'd like to write either a book series, or graphic novel series. And obviously, eventually, do more film work, even on a small scale. 

3) Tell me four things you'd love to learn to do in life that you can't already!
I'd love to know some form of martial arts, particularly Wing Chun. 
I'd love to learn stop motion or animation. I've actually talked to a friend about this recently, we might play around with it soon.
Obviously art stuff... I'd like to get better at visual art and illustration. I'd also like more work in art department on feature film productions or music videos, especially any project that uses a lot of in-camera effects. Stan Winston is a huge inspiration to me, and Terry Gilliam's movies always get me so stoked about what can be done on a small budget. And obvs, Guillermo Del Toro is a GOD of special effects. 
Aaaaand I'd like to know how to travel better. And speak more languages. And learn more about biology and physics, and space. And... and.... so many things...

4) What's your favourite colour, why and how does it make you feel?
When I was younger, it was Periwinkle. Now it's probably dark, royal purple. It's just a really pleasing color. Also, acidy/olivey/mossy green. I like color combinations a lot more than any one particular color, I think. I like cool, dark colors, mixed with splashes of bright contrasts.

5) You're on a desert island, you can take one film, one set of clothes and eat one meal (it's being dropped from a plane in a box, cooked an ever'thin!) for the rest of your life. What do you choose?
Shit, one film. SHIT. Haha... Crap I have no idea. Can I have a box set of a tv series instead?! Aaaahhh.... clothes, probably something reasonable for the climate, like a bathing suit with a dress and leggings on top, and a sweater haha. Meal, drop that ceviche all day, preferably with a side of fruit and chips and salsa. Or steak and salad from Martin Fierro's in Panama city. But only on special occassions

6) What's your biggest day to day fear?
Probably wasting time. I always feel like I'm wasting time, and it often paralyzes me into doing just that.

7) Do you believe in fate?
Sort of, but not in an intangible way. I think fate is what we make for ourselves, and the accumulation of our actions leading to reactions. In terms of that fairy tale "fate" that is used as a "We met, it was fate!" kind of thing, no. Not really. I believe in personal responsibility, and the occasional happy coincidence, but fate implies some other force at work, leading our lives for us. 

8) Forget present flings and loves; how would your ideal fantasy date go, what would they be like? 
I agree with Kestrel's answer on this haha... It's beyond possible imaginings. I mean, fantasy is often better than reality, and building something up often leads to disappointment. And I'm shy to say it, but I think I've had my ideal fantasy date, and it was amazing at the time. But in retrospect, obviously the relationship was flawed and a bad idea overall. We were lucky to have what we had though, and I'm glad it happened. It involved looking at art and graffiti, drinking outside in the hot summer night, and ended on a rooftop sharing secrets. Good, good times.

9) If you could recreate yourself in a character in a world of you choice, who would they be and why?
Yeah this is impossible too.... I would never complain about being in Harry Potter. But also the Last Airbender world would be dope. Probably Harry Potter cause I'm a super nerd. And I'd be a super nerd there, and tight with Hermione haha

10) Describe a dream or nightmare you've had, maybe? 
When I was little I had a lot of recurring nightmares. One where a strange woman picked me up from school and held me hostage. One where I was at a house while my parents were having a party, and a disembodied hand was coming out of the sink downstairs. That one always sucked, because I knew what was coming, and if I tried to avoid going into the bathroom, the hand would get farther out. But if I went in right away, it would just be starting to crawl out. And I always woke up in a sweat as soon as I saw it, but it happened over and over again. Also, my personal favorite, I'd put on "The Mask" with Jim Carey, and one of the previews would be Jim Carey AS the mask guy laughing and saying there was a bomb in the house, and then it would go off, and I'd be "dead" and THEN wake up. I haven't watched the Mask in years because of that stupid dream hahaha



That was fun! Good procrastinating. I'm not gonna tag anyone because I don't know who would want to do it. But if you do, link to me! I'd love to see other people's answers.