Does this count as "fanart"? I guess it does :D...

Hello dears!!

Happy new year to all of you!! :) I hope you had a safe and happy start into 2016...

I personally haven't made any resolutions for this year, even though I do plan to do some things and make an effort to do some things more often, in order to keep myself sane / get myself back from feeling utterly depressed, which unfortunately happened to be the way I was until maybe two or three days ago... I won't be going into that right now, though, but today I have already done two things:

1. I have started writing a song... It just really came to me so-to-say, and I must say, I already love the chord changes... :) What the text was about, I probably have more of an idea of than I think right now, but most of the time I do write lyrics / poetry, at least several years back, it was like "automatic writing" rather than anything else... This time again. I like it thus far, even though it is not finished yet!! :) 

2. I have listened to a song on heavy rotation for about an hour now, which is "Love's Not For Me" by Graham Gouldman, which was featured on the soundtrack to the animation movie "Animalympics". And somehow especially the line "And if you lose it's your mistake" always stuck out to me... I recommend you give this song a listen, and the movie is highly recommended, too!! :)

So, the latter really got very close to me... I eventually got out a piece of paper and drew the characters of René Fromage (a French goat) and Kit Mambo (an African lioness), but not in the usual picture shown of them doing what happens at the end of the movie (No spoilers intended!), but rather of them running towards each other behind the goal line... Behind them, they had left the running track which was also covered with and surrounded by barbed wire... And carried some wounds from this...

I must also admit, I have never really drawn a fanart of characters from an animated movie... Except for e. g. Sailor Moon and such, but never animals. I think you can say it like that. :D I hope you like it despite my non-apparent drawing skills...

Have a lovely rest of the day, dears! I really hope you will!!

Something's Fishy

Hello!

I could not really sleep last night, so I decided to paint something with felt-tip pens again :P... And somehow I have to add, I didn't know AT ALL what I was going to paint, but it was FUN, I can tell you :)!!

Something's Fishy

Oh dear. :) I will not explain everything you will see in this picture, though. It reminds me of my "ideal X-mas", although, yes, although I am NOT a fish. Also, I like the other fish doing striptease XD.

Below the X-mas tree, you can even read the words "Something's Fishy", and something REALLY is fishy about this picture. On the TV screen, you can see Kevin screaming because he is home alone... It is available on DVD in 3D now. With subtitles! And extras! Buy it! Buy! BUY!

Also, the fireplace reminds me of Harry Potter for some odd reason (Although I didn't want it to look like this, but it still does... Damnit!!).

I hope you had a night filled with sleep and/or filled with something you liked doing, dears! Have a lovely day and see you again soon!! 

MAYBE...

Am thinking about how to phrase this. Would anybody here would be up for a collaboration on a musical project? I must say, I'd LOVE to participate in FAWM, but then again - Why should I want to wait so long (until February)?

My personal downside right now is that I have no real means to record my singing / my guitar playing. Mainly I write music using a certain program on my PC. I'd love to really work on music with others, no matter if "in person" or "online"...

The mere thought of this just brings joy to my heart. I don't care much about YOUR level of playing your instrument / singing, I think the fun should be the most important point... I must say, I tried installing Audacity quite often and always had trouble with that (The speakers wouldn't work anymore afterwards. D:), but maybe... I can find a solution?

Any instrument would be welcome :D. Genre-wise I am not really focused on "one genre"; it depends on what you guys want to play / what your influences are and I'd just try to mix them together with mine, so that we'd have a totally unique style (In my eyes, probably the best way to go about it!)...

So, all you people, who'd like to participate? :) Please send me a message if you do want to: senor_rina [at] gmx [dot] net (Without the spaces and such!)... Have a lovely day everybody & keep rocking!! ^_^

何の花開いた・・・・・・?

Hello again.

I hope everybody is fine...

Does anybody here know of a challenge based on creative projects I could participate in? It can be anything from drawing / painting, to writing, to composing music, to taking photographs, to sewing, to knitting, to whatever... I just want to share more with you, and I figure a challenge is always welcome nowadays :D. It would enable me to share more of the progress and results I came up with...

Beside that, I really feel more like sharing stuff in tutorials recently. Not just posting the results of what I have done but really sharing how one can come up with their own version? :)

I thought I could share anything from "How to compose a song?" to "How do I make my own tarot spread?" to anything... I must admit, though, I don't really like thinking in boundaries. Even with making music, I have the feeling that e. g. studying harmony doesn't always help you, as there are also exceptional pieces of musical art out there which are e. g. atonal or that use more than just one rhythmic pattern. I have experienced the latter, for example, at the discotheque from time to time, when trying to dance to some songs, and then there were sudden changes of rhythm (e. g. 4/4 became 3/4), and I had trouble keeping up with the dancing...

However, if anybody wants to start writing their own music, I really would love to help. I am by no means a professional teacher, I am more self-taught in music theory than I have ever learned while studying musicology (Which I did at some point in my life, for only one year though.). And I do think harmony can help you with this, even though in the course of time, you maybe will recognise that you are much more free than you maybe have thought :).

So, I am off to search for a good challenge now :D. And think about some tutorials to write for you. If anybody knows of anything, tell me~.

Spellbound...

Hey-dee-ho my dears!

How have you all been doing? I have got some news for you... Maybe not really intriguing, but still NEWS.

At first, I participated in this years NaNoWriMo. I made it through the first days, and wrote most likely about half the words expected (Currently, I am unsure, but I wrote more than 25,000 words). I hope if anybody of you guys participated, that you had a great time; it was surely great for me. There were various reasons I didn't write more, though. I felt like a real failure afterwards, because I didn't make it, but I really had a hard time coming up with much else. I felt that the story I wrote was finished after these 25,000+ words I wrote, too. All in all, it was a dilemma, but I loved getting to write that much :)... Now I am thinking about really revisiting the story, working on it more, and still, well, finishing it? And that is probably the best outcome I could have gotten from NaNoWriMo.

Also, one of the personal conclusions I got off the challenge was that it is not a bad thing to be "not in control" of one's life that much, that, in fact, it is the best way to re-kindle with all kinds of passions one has in life. :) Maybe some of you felt the same, especially since i did not really have a "guideline" for my story, which may also have been a bit tough in the end, but still!

Has anybody of you participated? Did you learn anything from participating (now or beforehand)? I'd really love to hear about that.

Then, I finished one more item off my 101/1001 list (writing 10 poems). That poem which got me there, is the following (translation below as always!):
 

Ein Schritt zurück

Fuß um Fuß setz' ich nach vorne
Dennoch gehe leer ich aus
Ich sage, spreche, rede immer
Doch geh'n mir nie die Wörter aus

Ich sage "nein", will nicht verletzen
Beleidigt geht er nur nach haus
Ich sage "ja", will niemand töten
Weinend reißt sie sich heraus

Ich tue nichts und tue alles
Und sehe jeden Fehler ein
Ich wünschte nur, da wären keine
Ich fühl' mich nutzlos und so klein

Fuß um Fuß setz' ich nach vorne
Schwöre mir, nie steh'n zu bleiben
Die Warnung überhör' ich wirklich
Will keine Sorg' mir einverleiben

Fuß um Fuß, die Strecke lang
Wie lang muss ich noch gehen?
Jeder Schritt ein Schritt zurück
Wann seh' ich Fahnen wehen?

Fuß um Fuß, Leben geht weiter
Die Angst ist ein beliebter Gast
Fuß um Fuß, hinab die Leiter
Solange bis man sich selbst hasst

Jeder Schritt ein Schritt zurück
Ins Land, in dem ich noch Mut hatte
In dem die Fehler mich nicht störten
Wann ich eintreffe, wär mir Latte

Doch leider geht das Leben rund
Ich steh' daneben, am Abgrund
Ich will doch leben, eine Stund
Keine Fehler und kein Mund

***

Translation (rough!):

A step back

Step by step I'm walking onwards
But I am walking empty-handed nevertheless
I am saying, speaking, talking always
But never I am short of words

I'm saying "no", don't want to harm
He's returning home offendedly
I'm saying "yes", don't want to murder
She's removing herself, crying

I'm doing nothing and doing it all
And admitting every mistake (I make)
I only wish there wouldn't be any
I'm feeling useless and so small

Step by step I'm walking onwards
Swearing to myself not to come to a stop
I'm really ignoring the warning
Don't want to swallow any sorrow

Step by step, the path long
How long do I have to walk on?
Every step a step back
When will I see flags waving?

Step by step, life goes on
The fear is a popular guest
Step by step, down the ladder
Until one hates oneself

Every step a step back
Into the land where I had courage
Where the mistakes didn't matter
The time of arrival wouldn't matter to me

However sadly, life goes round
I'm standing (somewhere) off, at the abyss
I just want to live, for an hour
No mistakes and no mouth

***

So, that's that for now. As X-mas is approaching, I wish each and everyone reading the best X-mas (whether you celebrate it or not) EVER :D.

Love,

~R.

Work In Progress (WIP) - Beautifying my FOLDER ^_^ (pt. 1)

Hello,

how are you all? :)

I got to buy *some stuff* at a shop in our district town today [transparent paper in several colours for the lantern I am planning to make, AND stickers, a set of three different washi tapes, and 100 separator sheets (I think that's enough :D.).

AND I decided to sit down and make the first separator sheet for the folder (I decided it would be Japanese ^o^), opened a picture on my pc and drew the entire character free-handedly onto a piece of white paper, and then glued it to the separator sheet. It is NOT finished yet, as it will be more colourful and such, but as for "right now", I feel that is enough:

Anger from the Pixar movie "Inside Out"
defending my Japanese skills of doom!

He says: "Be careful, I can speak Japanese!!" ^^ Right now I wonder why I didn't let him speak one of the German dialects (Öcher Platt) ;). Ah well, either way, he is cute!!

This is for the Japanese section... There will come more and more and more :). Look forward to that!! ^.^

Have a nice rest of the day, you guys. I hope we'll see each other soon!!

"Aus Spiel wird Ernst", or: How I almost had the chance to win a contest...

Well, well, well, my little droogies! HELLO!

There was a contest taking place recently, and I wanted to send a poem for said contest. Only downside was: When I was done writing I noticed the deadline had been several weeks beforehand. So what to do, I asked myself? I didn't want to NOT share it after all, but I was scared... Scared of rejection, maybe. Or maybe even worse things.

Fact is, I personally don't think it is that bad. But judge for yourself, I guess. I will try to translate it, too, because it is in German.

*ahem* ;)

Aus Spiel wird Ernst

Nach dem Regen stieg die Sonne,
Langte zaghaft nach dem Grund,
Umtanzte selbst die kleinsten Tiere,
Verschlang die Nacht mit ihrem Mund.

Unendlich schien die Nacht zu währen,
Die Sonne schien zur Mittagsstund‘.
So tummelten sich in Wärme Schnecken,
Unentdeckt, ein schöner Fund!

Die Kinder spielten fleißig draußen,
Ließen sich nicht halten nun.
Das Leben brannte in den Kleinen,
Es gab so viel zu seh‘n und tun.

Die Füßchen rannten durch das Gras,
Unwissend von dem kleinen Schatz.
Der kleinste Junge, hoch gesprungen,
Landete auf diesem Platz.

„Huch, das wollte ich nicht tun;
Was ist denn bloß geschehen?
Habe ich in all dem Spiel
Die Schneckchen nicht gesehen?“

Und alle Kinder fingen an
Zu weinen und zu flehen,
Dass man ihnen vergebe nun
Fürs Schnecken-echt-nicht-sehen.

„Nein, das macht nichts - wirklich“,
Meinte der Vater zu den Kindern.
„Die Tiere spüren keine Schmerzen,
Sonst müsste man’s verhindern.“

* * *

Play gets serious

The sun rose after rain,

Carefully reached for the ground,

Danced around even the smallest animals,

Engulfed the night with her mouth.

The night seemed to last infinitely,

The sun shone at noon's hour.

So snails scrimmaged in warmth,

Unfound, a great discovery!

Diligently, the children played outside,

Now didn't let anybody hold them back.

Life burnt inside these little ones,

There was so much to see and do.

The little feet ran through the grass,

 Unknowing of the little treasure.
The smallest boy, who jumped high,

Landed on this place.

"Yikes, I did not want to do that;

 What is it that happened?

Didn't I notice the little snails

In all this playing?"

And all the children began

To cry and to beg,

That somebody'd forgive them

For really-not-seeing-the-snails.

"No, this doesn't matter - really",

The father told the children.

"The animals don't feel pain,

Otherwise one'd have to prevent it."

I know the sense behind this may be controversial, but just let me say that I wanted to make the reader think about this -- I, personally, don't think the father IS right, because I believe feelings are not something only appearing in humans.

I didn't want to write more, though. I have my reasons, and one reason is that I wouldn't want to raise my index finger and shake it because that won't lead anywhere in my opinion.

What do you think? I hope you won't be angry because I rarely ever update here... :( I hope I will be able to do this more often as of soon [I am planning something AWESOME with a folder I just bought, and may be posting WIPs in this case ^o~...].

Have a nice time, until the next time we meet again.

~R.