=avancna tagged me a while back with this thing - for the second time. As if the original eight random facts weren't enough... Now here are eight more. Heh.

1. I do not dance. I flwollop around my house in a manner vaguely reminiscent of a squirrel being electrocuted. This is an act which should not been witnessed by anyone, lest they collect any more blackmail material on me.

2. I am a patient artist. All that detailed stuff I do, though I don't draw and ink or color it all in one sitting, I do tend to work pretty steadily at it for several hours at a stretch. When I start to go cross-eyed, I stop for a while and find something else to do.

3. I love to read. Comics, novels, short story anthologies, fan fiction, English grammar guides... But I'm not a particularly patient reader! At any given moment I am probably in the middle of ten to fifteen different books and/or stories. I read as the mood strikes me: Some days I need horror and some days I need comics... And some days, darnit, I just need a Transformers fix.

4. I like my day job. I work as a mainframe computer technician. I find that many of the tasks I perform at work have to do with pattern recognition - I look at many different kinds of data and statistics on my monitoring tools, and based on memory, experience, and documented procedures, I must be able to identify and deal with system problems and user foul-ups. It's persnickety and dynamic; the rules change constantly. I find that this is a good way to keep both halves of my brain busy - but I strongly suspect that it is contributing to my lack of patience with the rest of the world.

5. I do not like to drive. I'm definitely not patient with the rest of the traffic, and I get distracted waaaaay too easily by blinky lights and other things. I never use my cell phone when I'm driving for that reason - I'd wind up as a wet, red statistic almost certainly. Whenever I can, I shanghai myself a chauffer.

6. What would I have been had I not decided on a carreer in Art way back in high school...? I had considered being a teacher, a genetic engineer, a percussionist, a meteorologist, or a fighter plane pilot. I still teach art workshops among friends and family, and at conventions occasionally. I gave up on genetic engineering when I realized that I couldn't *truly* make "mutant ninja" animals. I still love to study weather phenomenae; we didn't have a really good meteorology program in high school, so that idea was left by the wayside in favor of art. I didn't pursue percussion because I had to make a decision between music and art - the classes were held at the same time at my high school! And these days, I'd rather BE a fighter plane than pilot one. Yes, I know my geekdom is showing. ...And as for the computer technician thing? That was a lark. They wanted to see if someone who had never had any real computer experience could be taught to be a mainframer; I offered to be their guinea pig. That was nearly ten years ago. Now I LIKE it there.

7. I have never been stung by a bee or wasp, nor have I ever been bitten by a spider or a poisonous snake. I have been bitten rather badly by a vicious female hamster, though, and I still have scars on one arm from the back claws of a rabbit.

8. My belly button is an inny.

I now tag.... YOU! Yes, you! Hiding in the back of the room there! Eight Random Facts, GO! *mad cackle*



Upcoming art shows and conventions, in case y'all are interested (and to excuse myself when you don't see me for three or four weeks on end):

ConQuesT - North Kansas City, Memorial Day Weekend.
Union Station Creativity From the Cube - Downtown Kansas City, mid-July.
DragonCon - Atlanta, Georgia, Labor Day Weekend.
Archon - St. Louis vicinity, Illinois side of the line, first weekend of October.



I now have Commissioned Project and Print information posted if anyone is interested.



"Planning" means that I'm thinking about your project, but don't have anything on paper yet.

"Sketched" means that I have a rough doodle in my sketchbook. I don't always post these.

"In Progress" means that I've started the pencilwork, or that I'm inking the project, or that I'm coloring it.



Commissions: Open. Here's information.
Trades: Two of two slots filled currently.
Requests: Closed.
Kiribans: At 60,000 pageviews.



The Dastardly Project List

Kiribans
- A spiffy, colorful dragon. Planning.

Commissions and Trades

Commish: Tremorworks - aliens, demons, and assorted mythologicals. In progress.
Commish: Cover illo for the third Amazing Conroy chapbook. In progress.
Commish: Hive, Queen and Country monster bug designs. In progress.

Trade: Drawing of her vampiric characters. In progress.
Trade: TBD





Clubs of note:

Moderator of I've developed a book list and I have now posted a book review page for the club.

Active member of

Some days it just doesn't pay to deal with grown-up stuff. I'm boycotting adulthood today. Join me!

Be A Kid Again (yoinked from a friend's journal):

1. Do a cartwheel.
2. Sing into your hairbrush.
3. Walk barefoot in wet grass.
4. Play a song you like really loud, over and over.
5. Dot all your “i”’s with smiley faces.
6. Read the funnies. Throw the rest of the paper away.
7. Dunk your cookies.
8. Play a game where you make up the rules as you go along.
9. Step carefully over sidewalk cracks.
10. Change into some play clothes.
11. Try to get someone to trade you a better sandwich.
12. Eat ice cream for breakfast.
13. Kiss a frog, just in case.
14. Blow the wrapper off a straw.
15. Have someone read you a story.
16. Find some pretty stones and save them.
17. Wear your favorite shirt with you favorite pants even if they don’t match.
18. Take a running jump over a big puddle.
19. Get someone to buy you something you really don’t need.
20. Hide your vegetables under your napkin.
21. Stay up past your bedtime.
22. Eat dessert first.
23. Fuss a little, then take a nap.
24. Wear red gym shoes.
25. Put way too much sugar on your cereal.
26. Make cool screeching noises every time you turn a corner.
27. Giggle a lot for no reason.
28. Give yourself a gold star for everything you do today.



Upcoming art shows and conventions, in case y'all are interested (and to excuse myself when you don't see me for three or four weeks on end):

DST Creativity From the Cube - Downtown Kansas City, first three weeks of May.
ConQuesT - North Kansas City, Memorial Day Weekend.
LepreCon - Arizona, late May.
DragonCon - Atlanta, Georgia, Labor Day Weekend.
Archon - St. Louis vicinity, Illinois side of the line, first weekend of October.



I now have Commissioned Project and Print information posted if anyone is interested.



"Planning" means that I'm thinking about your project, but don't have anything on paper yet.

"Sketched" means that I have a rough doodle in my sketchbook. I don't always post these.

"In Progress" means that I've started the pencilwork, or that I'm inking the project, or that I'm coloring it.



Commissions: Open. Here's information.
Trades: Two of two slots filled currently.
Requests: Closed.
Kiribans: At 60,000 pageviews.



The Dastardly Project List

Kiribans
- A spiffy, colorful dragon. Planning.

Commissions and Trades

Commish: Tremorworks - aliens, demons, and assorted mythologicals. In progress.
Commish: Cover illo for the third Amazing Conroy chapbook. In progress.
Commish: Hive, Queen and Country monster bug designs. In progress.

Trade: Drawing of her vampiric characters. In progress.
Trade: TBD





Clubs of note:

Moderator of I've developed a book list and I have now posted a book review page for the club.

Active member of