Valley Visionary in the raw. ^^

Hello and a belated MERRY CHRIZZLEMAS to all of you!! :)

I had a wonderful X-mas time with my family and also received a gift from my dear friend Lilia*. So that was already something nice happening :). My sister*, Meian*, gave me a midi keyboard, which I did not happen to play on yet ... But it was really kind of her. *happy* :)

Okay, but I didn*t come along to only talk about X-mas. Recently, I have been up to writing music more, and so I happened to stumble into the world of MUSIC PRODUCTION once again. So, I wrote two songs I*d like to introduce you to :

Valley Visionary - "Is This Life A Real Song?"

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Valley Visionary - "Wenn Man Zu Viel Zeit Hat"

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I must admit the second one is rather a joke in itself ... I apologise to everybody for this *nods*. Anyways, since I told some people about this song, I couldn*t resist to upload it :P. As for the first one, that is a rather simple song ... And I accidentally made a lot of mistakes while recording it (Letting the music run in the background while I was recording the vocals so they are really quiet ... And recording it in MONO. Oô), but I hope you will like it nevertheless ...

Have a nice rest of the day!!

Taking breaks (announcement).

I think, with me at least, the thing that makes me most uncomfortable is that I spend so much time online that I hardly ever get around to working on creative projects. With this day, I have announced an indefinite hiatus on some places, meaning I will do my best to work on such projects as mentioned above more ^_^.

I am looking forward to that. It will be a more healthy lifestyle, after all. Doesn*t mean I won*t use the computer at all, but I want to spend less time doing nonsense there. Who needs to check his e*mails as often as I do, for example? (Believe me, it IS often.)

The things I am thinking of doing & making are, for example, songs, pictures, more written stuff (I have started working on a Fanfic, for example. BACK TO THE FUTURE FOR THE WIN!!), photos, sewing, knitting, etc. If you have any ideas or wishes, do not hesitate to ask for them :). Maybe this will lead to more inspiration!

Ah yes, and, I hope we*ll hear from each other before X-mas ... Have a nice time until the next update!! :)

Le Ciel (more or less a portrait)

Heyho. ^^

The past few days I have been working on various things, but mainly music. Today I thought it would be awesome to draw a little with my felt-tips, and since I did want to draw a certain person (Those who know me a bit better will know who :D ... Közi!!), I ended up searching for a good original picture & found one from the time when "Le Ciel" was recorded (or at least a photoshoot was done with the band Malice Mizer). I love drawing Közi, really :)!!

The picture itself is a *bit* minimalistic, but I still like it somehow! I actually wanted to call the picture "What does the artist want to tell us with this?", but I didn*t. Instead, I wrote some pseudo-French phrases in the upper right corner :

"Nous sommes dans le ciel.
Nous sommes dans l*air.
Il n*y a pas de peur."

(Then I wanted to find a word rhyming with this but granny* came in twice to ask for some wool to knit, so I couldn*t continue / think of anything ...)

I hope you like it nevertheless; here it is :

Looking forward to hearing from you guys soon!! ^___^

Der Strickdiktator will euch stricken seh*n ...

And here*s some bigger news : Two or three days ago, I learned how to knit. I cannot knit every single knitting style already of course, but I am so proud I can make the first row & the garter stitch :D.

I cannot post my knitting results as I still have some problems with knitting (The knittings (?) always tend to fall off my needles, nooo!!), but I still want to explain it a little here. I will make a video for this purpose then, most likely! It is pretty easy actually - however, I don*t know how to make left knittings (yet).

I wish I could post more about this (Actually I tried a moment ago, but it is hard to explain although it is easy to do :P). So I will leave you to that, will try to make a video this weekend or so to explain the knitting techniques ... :)

Ah yes, and if you end up buying wool for your first project, please have a look at the wool pack; mine said you*ll need 6-7mm needles. This way you*ll know what needles are needed. (You cannot knit every kind of wool with every kind of needle!!)

Ah yes #2, the magazine "Brigitte" released a knitting special this month, which actually is the mag lying below my needles :). I have two wool balls right now, both the same width -- one is pink, the other one is turquoise :D. These are two of my favourite colours after all.

And, by learning how to knit, a childhood dream of mine was fulfilled. I never learned knitting in school, and so, this is a beautiful opportunity :). My mum* and my granny* both helped me a lot and I want to thank them for their patience :).

What were your childhood dreams? What did you always want to learn? Maybe this is a good opportunity to make them come true at last ...

Rota Taro Orat Tora Ator

Aaand here*s the second entry (of three). I made this picture, which is related to the tarot as you may (or may not) see, around the same time as the "No Fear, No Sadness" one :

What I like about the picture in particular is that a subject I have created at some point in my teenage years was picked up again here.

What do you think (about it)?

No fear, no sadness!

Long time no see, but now you will be flooded with information, mwahaha!! :D

How is everybody? I am actually doing fine, have been working on a lot of stuff. I will dedicate one entry to each project, so that it looks like I made more so that I can explain everything in detail ;). Let*s start with a picture I have worked on this summer or late spring :

Probably I listened to Malice Mizer too much (not only because of the title). The text "My Memory Is A Liar" was put there because of a song Gackt sang once (and which was a cover I think?).

It is hard to explain the "subject" of the picture as it was basically created with the idea : "Let*s make something pleasant for the eye!!" There are clocks on a band (like rubber band), checkered blood stains, and mountains ... And some more stuff, too ("stuff" is a good description now, isn*t it?!).

AN ANNOUNCEMENT WHATSOEVER (Because I may forget to say it in the next entries!) : I*m able to film small videos now. I already made a video explaining the Lenormand but I am not sure when I can upload it. I might also make some in connection to being creative, so WATCH OUT :D!!

Papercutting? Calligraphy? Art? Music? Ohhh, the love!! :)

Recently I went to the dentist with my mum*, so we sat in the waiting room and I looked around and found some papercuttings on the walls, and now that my curiosity was awakened, I really have been thinking about ways to make them myself. This didn*t really help me, so I went to Wikihow instead and found this tutorial ... I really found the idea of using papercuts in all variations great, but I won*t tell you too much about my plans.

What I will tell you, however, is that i am totally in "construction mode" right now, which is good :). I really want to do calligraphy now, for real. I once made something calligraphy-like for my granny* for Christmas, but then again, she couldn*t read it ... I felt rather sorry then for confusing her, but that*s not the subject right now.

Also, I am currently - along with "Lost Souls" (Poppy Z. Brite) and "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon #6" (Naoko Takeuchi) - reading a book by Barbara Sher, called What Do I Do When I Want To Do Everything?, and it is very good. I followed the advice so far and really found some projects I could work on, for example, in my own room :). For example, I want to draw notes (Yes, yes, sheet-music-like!) onto the walls in the rehearsal room, and I want to make some furniture, or better said build something else out of them (Apart from the desk which I will really make myself ... With help, though ;)!), and I want to make, not a triptychon, but "one" image made of five (!) single pictures. And I want to have a corner with photographs & postcards & collages.

I need aaart~!! Also I started working on a new song on Friday. :) I hope I will be able to record it well & also to upload it.

What have you been up to? I really want to make an art journal, too, thanks go to Gala Darling & the person whose "Radical Self-Love Bible" she shared in her blog recently :). I am amazed because of this, so thanks for the inspiration!!

Bring me EVERYONE!!

Don*t you agree that actually this blog*s URL is a bit leading in a wrong direction? It is actually called "Rina wird kreativ", which translates as "Rina gets creative", but to me, the truth came to be : Everybody is creative in their own unique ways, and so I am asking you all to be PROUD of that :).

There*s this test called MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), which, after you answer several questions, puts you into one of sixteen types, and I wanted to say a few words on this right now. First of all, I tested and got the result "INFP", which stands for "Introverted INtuitive Feeling Perceiving". It is said to be one of the most creative types out there, and careers suggested mostly circle around the subject of being creative.

And despite LIKING my outcome, my type, I do have to say that it is a bit strange to think of other people as "different from myself", even though this sounds totally odd now maybe. Since the INFPs supposedly don*t make up a high percentage of the population (However, the forums for them are larger than those for the types that have a larger percentage Oô?), this is to say that several other types which don*t get identified as "creative" make up a larger number of the population.

However, my hypothesis is that everybody is creative, at all times, and that everybody holds the potential to also succeed in careers linked to the arts. After all, many people do use ways of communicating. They speak in a certain way, act in a certain way, behave in a certain way, all based on their own decisions, in order to create themselves in the eyes of the people they communicate with. After all the only way I can see to NOT be creative is to do and say and act, etc. ALWAYS in a way that others want you to. If somebody whispers what you are supposed to say, and you say it without changing anything, I assume that is not really creative, but the other person still is (Although he/she is not really nice in this moment, I guess).

But then again, we are not always in this position. In some way, EVERYBODY gets to be creative, and it is not always through the means of arts. You write letters to your friends, or e*mails, and what you say expresses what you feel ... You are being creative. You cook a meal, try it to see what it tastes like, and then add some spices or whatever you think is needed to create your "perfect" result, and maybe others won*t have the same taste - but you are still being creative. :) Whatever you decide right now, creates your own future. Whatever you think right now leads to what you will decide upon. And so on ...

So, really, how can anybody "get" to be creative. It is not like taking a chance to do something that will create an image others will see of you, and then again, sometimes deciding you don*t want to do that. You are always creating an image of yourself, so-to-say, so you are always being creative.

I will close this thought with a video for fellow INFPs, because, even though I do think the term "creative" needs to be re-defined, I DO think the test itself is awesome and it helped me realise what my potential is ... Where I stand ... What is good about me :). (Yeah, I am SUPER GREAT!!) I never had any test result so close to what I am. So close to who I am ... Enjoy :

Me singing! Me singing? ME singing. Me SINGING ... ;)

Mulan is an incredibly beautiful movie by Walt Disney (Yes, I am outing myself as a Disney fan :D) on a young woman who rescues her father*s life by joining the military, disguised as his son. Not only is it a pleasure to watch the movie and follow Mulan*s story, but also the songs are so incredibly beautiful, and I CERTAINLY cannot surpass the limit of ability that was set when the song "Reflection", or in German "Spiegelbild", was created, but I tried to do it nevertheless.

My version of the song can be downloaded here now. If you like to, that is. It was also one of the tests I ran with my new microphone, so ... I hope you will like it?

Battling the battle to battle the battle.

Now I don*t know what I was about to say with this subject line *lol* (but I nevertheless think it sounds funny). How have you all been? I hope you are all in the mood for an update~.

Today I wanted to tell you about me suffering from a buying frenzy of some kind. I bought several things, but mainly want to focus on the microphone bundle I got, as well as the sewing magazines I bought, but what should I start with?

The microphone bundle I got at a page called Thomann. I recommend it to anybody who is serious about pursuing his/her music career; and Thomann also offers videos and sound examples of the things they sell :). And no, they didn*t pay me for writing this now, even though it is the second time I ordered something there. *nods* Opening the boxes always feels like Crizzlemas, too!

So, the box contained the microphone "the t.bone SC 450 USB", and a pop killer (That is this net-like thing you put infront of the microphone in order to let it kill the popping sounds of several consonants, and I assume it helps with spitting, too :D ... That is, it helps prevent the microphone from being watered this way ...), and a microphone rack, and a 3-meter-long cable (USB), AND a software (Magix Samplitude11 Silver Sequencersoftware). And, let*s just say, I got all this for a really good price :3.

I shall try the microphone today, and have been wondering about what to sing then ;). I still am not sure ... But we will see; I am just happy to be able to record my singing now!!

As for the sewing magazines; I bought six of them. Now you may say, that*s quite a lot, but four of them came as a bundle, too (All those bundles!!! O___O). These four magazines are the same as a "book", so-to-say. It is called "Leichter Nähen" I think, and was released by Burda. Then I bought the new Burda Style, and another magazine that I forgot the name of (Oh laziness, you don*t allow me to look it up now, do you?!) D:. But the latter also has sewing patterns in it for larger sizes ;) (Well, and so does the Burda Style of course!).

So, now there shall be no more excuses. Except for one : I don*t have that much material to sew D: ... But there are ways of obtaining it really quickly.

And now that the Wave Gotik Treffen is happening and I am sitting at home ... I really want to be there right now!! ;) To everybody attending it : Have a great time!! & greet Leipzig from me~!!

Hand me the Binford 6000, dear.

Aaand another entry ;). Did NOT want to forget about this after all. HOME IMPROVEMENT. Maybe you have read it already. We were/are currently working on my sister*s room & my two rooms. Since there*s nothing really to look at, but since I love the following picture so much, I will share with you the result of HOME IMPROVEMENT (Yes, that has to be written in capital letters) in my bedroom. My rehearsal room*ll get some sheet music attached to the walls ;), so ... Not quite finished!!

Anyways, BEDROOM :

I bed bet you all like this one, don*t you? The colour of the walls is turquoise, self-mixed, and the chandelier was one I got from a shop called Xenos. Don*t know if they still have it, though, but maybe you*ll want to search E*bay for that and this*d help you searching. Anyways, I must say I love this so much. I am looking forward to putting all my stuff in there :D, and into my rehearsal room, too, of course!!

Also, some more words on inspiration, or more like, a question ... Do bucket lists and lists of creative things you*d like to do ENCOURAGE you to follow them, or do they just pull you down? After all, I guess there are a lot of people who feel empowered by such lists, and I won*t blame them. I, personally, need to find my own way, but let*s talk about this another time :).

Have a fun day!!

Industrial Whatever.

Here we go again :).

I don*t really know whether this is a re-upload or a new one now, BUT! I hope you will like it nevertheless ;D.

Valley Visionary - Industrial
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Valley Visionary - Whatever

This sounds really a lot industrial-influenced now (Well, partly), but actually I am planning on doing more stuff for this project that has nothing (or not much) to do with industrial whatsoever. And yes, that*s my voice at the end of "Industrial".

I guess I didn*t share them until now because of the working titles, but now I couldn*t care less :D. It*s nice to see some ideas coming back again (Haven*t been feeling that great lately - really tired/drained), and I think today will be super special awesome!!

Also thanks to the ones who subscribed to this blog. It means a lot to me, really!! :)

Night time? (Haiku called "Good Morning", and a little more babbling.)

Good Morning

A morning so pure
It deserts the life inside
All I see is calm

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It is kind of interesting to see what night time in general can do to my brain. It is so easy to produce something in terms of anything really then, but then again, I know it is very hard to play the guitar in rooms like this when knowing somebody is asleep in the same room after all. So I usually end up drawing or writing then ;).

Then again, I am in the mood to batik clothes (like t-shirts, pullovers, trousers, ...)/accessories (like shawls) and to practice window colour right now. Guess I have to give in ;D.

I think the best thing I can do now, despite feeling extraordinarily tired, is to use this moment of equally extraordinary creativity ;).

Dream interpretation.

This is my version of a dream interpretation for myself. I remember several weeks / months ago, I had a dream of wanting to get my first tattoo, and in the dream, I wanted to get an altered version of the above picture tattooed onto my left upper arm. It had the Finnish flag instead of the Japanese though, and it also featured lines that hinted at earthquakes in my holy opinion. The rest was pretty much the same.

The thing that broke away from the upper is a piece of the moon, the upper is the remaining part of the moon, of course. And there are people sitting on the piece that broke away ... I still don*t really know what this was supposed to mean, but since I am really planning on getting this tattooed, I need to find ways of getting the original picture for the copy I will get on my arm. Also, I wanted to continue practicing painting and drawing, and using my brand new oil pastels ;D.

I hope you like the picture now that you understand it a bit better ... Have a nice rest of the day!

Re-upload & some more words.

shrRî.ngAra karanA bleu - The Fallen Angel ~With Bleeding Wings~

Hello dears,

how are you all? I hope for massive happiness and excitement inside your hearts~. As you can see above, there*s a link to the song "The Fallen Angel ~With Bleeding Wings~". I uploaded it again since the old download link was deleted because it was too old, so click it, enjoy it, like it, comment to it, subscribe to it, and please teach me along the way that this is neither YT nor FB. ;P Nah, I really hope you like it. It is quite old actually!

I actually recently discovered that I really do need some encouragement every day - for many, this would*ve been something obvious actually. I came across a lot of motivating videos and words recently, and thought I should share them with you, so here we go :

•  Maybe you have watched this video beforehand; I really love it ... It is well-made, and the message itself is very encouraging, in any way possible. And it is not even that long.
• There is a song by the band Santa Hates You which is called "Sexuelle Unordnung", and despite it seeming to be really about sex in the first place, I think the message of the song itself goes way deeper than just to this layer of reality. To me, it really means that you have to walk your own path in life, that you should not give a damn about other people*s version of a "perfect life", and that you have to create your own freedom, instead of waiting for others to free you from the imaginary chains you put around your body when listening to others.
• Then there is TinyBuddha of course. I think I linked to this site beforehand, but it really does help a great deal to read through the texts they published on the site. Actually, when in doubt, I check out TinyBuddha :).
• And most likely, you have heard of the movie "The Secret" beforehand, too. I must say I get the vibe many people misinterpret the messages delivered in this movie, and that it is important to pay attention to it in detail ... Basically the movie*s about the Law Of Attraction. I heard about this beforehand, and thought, "Why should my wishes come true?", but then tried it out and I must say -- So far so many things I really wished for were fulfilled. The most important thing in the video imho is that it is is said that if you get the feeling that you could do something this or that way in order to achieve your goal, and you are scared of that or too lazy, you have to push yourself to do whatever came into your mind! Let*s say for example, you wished for a new friend, because you are new in town. You do the wishing, you also started using your imagination as a power tool to visualise how it would be to meet that new friend and spend time with them, what you*d do together, what you*d tell them, how you*d treat each other, etc. Once you have done this, the wish itself is not fulfilled yet; of course you have to work on it (And, to be frank, the movie itself never says at any part that the wish is brought to you without any effort from your side!) ... Then you have the idea, "I could go into a park", but the weather seems not that sunny or you are scared that you might say something stupid once you are there ... And here the magic of blocking everything happens. So, first of all, express your wish (Mentally, by writing, by singing it, by drawing/painting it, by ... Whatever comes to your mind really!), believe that it is reachable for you, trust your gut feelings, put effort into getting it done, and the right circumstances and people will be "delivered". That*s how I came to understand it, and it really works, believe me. You only need to find the passion hidden inside & believe in its might.
• And there*s another movie that I find very encouraging, called "Yes Man" (Yesyesyes, the one featuring Jim Carrey & Zooey Deschanel). It is an awesome video about staying open to new possibilities and the adventure of life all in all. Say yes to the opportunities arising. Of course you needn*t say yes to your spam mails, but if you want to do something and wished for this, you need to say YES to it in order to make it happen :D!
• Also, other blogs can be a source of inspiration, happiness and excitement. Same goes for your friends and family ... :) And, in some cases, reading through interpretations of one*s horoscope, numeroscope, or palms* lines can help. Why? Because you get to think about yourself. Is this true? Is this not true? You have to decide all that for yourself, and once you get more insight into your abilities, you will feel better. :)

I also recently made a bucket list and have worked on achieving those goals ever since. It goes greatly so far, and it is real fun. :) After all, you maybe cannot reach all those goals within a short amount of time, but it is a good feeling to be sure you are getting closer to them.

How do you stay motivated?

Brave people*s lullaby?

Oh man, you may have thought I have left this place, never to return again. I haven*t. In fact, we have done a lot in this house, meaning PAINTING my rooms, for instance. I shall upload pictures as soon as I get around to taking them :P. One room is turquoise (the one with my bed), the other is orange (the one with the music instruments in it).

I got the idea for those colours because I like them (especially turquoise; it is my favourite colour!), but also because I read they are good feng-shui-wise. Now I don*t know much about feng shui; stating the opposite would be spreading a lie; BUT! I read that orange is good for creativity, and that turquoise and blueish colours in particular are good for bedrooms. That said, I want to try it out :). We mixed both colours ourselves, too. Turquoise contained two parts blue and one part green, mixed with a LOT of white (But not too much, since I didn*t want it to be that bright!), the orange was mixed with three parts orange and the rest of the white. It is not extremely bright either, yet the room looks bigger now. Same goes for the bedroom. Especially the turquoise turned out a little neon-like, which I definitely approve of! :)

Even though I did that, I didn*t do MUCH creative stuff lately. But on Monday, I bought myself oil pastels and two notebook-like things, and drew a friend of mine (Her name is Kei*). ^^ I already am planning on more "portraits", yet ... I need to learn to handle the oil pastels :D (It*s weird when not being used to using them).

I also FINALLY got around to adding some things to my wishlist, including a pack of 24 pieces of FIMO (in different colours), and also some fabric paints - both for light fabric, and for dark one. I *hope* that the dark one includes black t-shirts. The plan is now to buy some basic t-shirts & paint on them. Write on them. Draw on them. Whatever. I might even end up writing down musical notes for songs onto them if I don*t get anything else to use for this purpose.

As for the FIMO, I want to make some jewellery out of this. :) Mainly I am thinking of a pendant for a necklace; it should be inspired by somebody who I really, really, REALLY like a lot. Also, I want to start painting on flower cachepots! Since spring is approaching and such, haha.

So, after some winter sleep, I am finally getting back to normal!! And that*s it. The brave people*s lullaby. Sleep well, my dears~!