Yes, I'm in Japan. Yes, I have been in Japan for the past 6 months without updating.

Why haven't I updated?

Because if I did it'd mostly be whining and because I don't have anything interesting to say. I could pimp my stuff, but I have practically nothing creative to show for the entire past 6 months. So...there's no point in updating, except to tell you that there's really no point in me updating.

And to let you know that I'm still alive and well.

And to say I'm going to Hong Kong on holiday tomorrow and that makes me happy.

And that I'm still obsessed with the X-Men.

Woot.

So now you know. Let's hope I update again soon. Or not, if this is all you're gonna get. :p

...In a few hours time I'll be on the plane. OMG I'm so freaking all over the place, I don't know what to think!

Wish me luck, guys!!!

xxxxxx

I was getting super-freaked the past couple of days over some stupid headache I had, which was probably caused by me sitting in bad light doing close quarter drawing for the entirety of Thursday. I never knew that drawing butterflies was such a bloody mind fuck. The symmetry... those tiny patterns on their wings... the tiny veins on their wings... I was poring over my encyclopaedia for the better part of Thursday evening trying to get the frikkin' creatures just right, and then on Thursday night I was sitting up in bed freaking out because I thought I had an aneurysm. Yesterday I couldn't even open my eyes without squinting and was seriously convinced I'd have to be taken to A&E, until Jeanne told me I probably had a drawing-headache. Hmm. I thought I'd got over my hypochondriac tendencies but obviously not. :/

Nevertheless, I got the Rogue/Gambit/butterflies picture finished. I'm so proud of this one. :)

And I posted the eleventh chapter of House of Cards. Remy's POV, Remy's turning point. How I love my Gambit... Heheheheheheheh...

The drawing mood is descending on me. About bloody time too, since I now have a tentative date of 17th October to leave England for Japan. i.e. nearly 2 months of nothing to do but bum and write and draw. Unfortunately, writer's/drawer's block always seems determined to thwart me during my periods of bum-dom. Ah-hah! But not this time!!! And lest I tempt fate I shall not ask drawer's block to kiss my ass by way of reparation. :p

I figured on doing some illustrations from House of Cards and maybe some other fics if I get the time and drive. A little peek at the cover sketch for HoC so far...

I guess it's about bloody time to show some pix. ( Yup, I finally managed to sort out some of the photos from Angy's trip to the UK. Take a look. :) )

If you want to view the whole thing with a commentary about the various locations, etc., click here

I may post more later... It's just so time-consuming to put everything up, so that's all for now. :p

And for all those interested, I posted the tenth chapter of House of Cards.

.I.

Angy left this morning. Very sad. T_T We had such a great time, and it was the coolest thing to finally meet her and just hang out. I'm going to miss her something rotten. :(

Photos shall be forthcoming, but they will be posted soon - I just have to sort through them first. There are an amazing number of amazing shots, but I have to ask Angy permission to post some of them first, since she might be tweaking them and turning them into proper art pieces. So gimme a couple of days or so and they'll be ready. :)

.II.

Something I nicked from luciademedici, lisacharly, katjenfic, and just about everyone on the fanfic circuit...

If you happen to be working on some creative writing project, fanfiction or NaNoWriMo or what have you, post exactly one sentence (or more) from each of your current work(s) in progress in your journal. It should probably be your favorite or most intriguing sentence so far, but what you choose is entirely your discretion. Mention the title (and genre) if you like, but don't mention anything else -- this is merely to whet the general appetite for your forthcoming work(s).

I posted the ninth chapter of House of Cards.

The past week has been kinda schizo. So Angy managed to get over despite severe delays, but I still happened to be working morning shifts in my last week of non-bum, employed status. Nevertheless we still managed to get to Hampton Court (that very house of Henry VIII and at least a few of his six wives), not to mention do the whole tourist thing in London (the Houses of Parliament, the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, the National Portrait Gallery, fish and chips and er, my old Uni). London, however, is going to need a couple more days to be fully appreciated. Next week we're going for Les Mis and karaoke. And shopping! Yay!

Angy, as you may or may not know, is something of a photographer. Naturally some snaps shall be uploaded in due course (when we have time to upload anything at all).

My last day at work was, in one word, crap. 'Nuff said. And not in the kind of weepy, I'm-going-to-miss-you kind of way. Lucky Angy was here in all her sweetness, because otherwise I would've been a total pain to be around the rest of the day.

Anyway, gotta dash 'cos now we're off to a Chinese feast! Will write more soon!

-Ludi x

After a huge palaver over flight delays and such, Angy finally arrived, albeit not particularly because of any terrorist threat in England's airports, but because the freakin' captain was sick and they had to find another pilot.

Still, we're expecting liberal amounts of delays and cancellations when she flies back, thus making up for lack of terrorist-induced inconvenience. Yay.

I updated the eighth chapter of House of Cards. Please don't hate me.

Sooooo tired. I slept about 5 hours last night and went out early today to meet my aunt in Guildford. Lots of shopping (mostly work clothes), too much food, and then watching Miyazaki's "Totoro" (thankfully not an English dub :p). Came back late and managed to finish up a little sketch that has served as some colouring cannon fodder on Photoshop. End product below. I'm so outta the drawing loop. :p



I found an amazingly funny X-Men Toybiz gag comic yesterday while I was tidying up my bombshelter of a bedroom. I shall have to scan it in at some point, because it is completely hilarious.

But for now, I'm gonna go sleep.

Laterz y'all,

-Ludi x

I posted my first foray into Resident Evil 4 fanfiction, A Conflict of Interests. Leon/Ada based, but nothing risque, just angst and thoughts.

Also got this from lisacharly. Post here, I interview you. Then, you post your answers in your journal and spread the meme.

1. What's one thing you've always secretly wanted to do, but would be embarassed to actually do?

I've always had this powerful urge to strip off and jump into the fountain at Trafalgar Square in London... But I'd never actually do it, for obvious reasons...

2. If you could switch places with one celebrity for a day, who would you choose?

I probably wouldn't. I think all the publicity and the paparazzi would probably freak me out completely. Although if I had to choose, it'd probably be Bjork. Because then I'd get to dress in wacky clothes, make cool music, and stick a finger up to the freakin' press.

3. Besides smell, which sense would you give up, if you had to?

Touch. I'm much more comfortable inside myself than reaching out for others.

4. If you ran a radio station, what would you call it and what would you play?

LOL. Y'know, I think Radio Ludi kinda has a ring to it. In the mornings I'd play rock and alternative. At lunch time I'd play retro. In the afternoons I'd play classical, musicals, and film and game soundtracks. In the early evening I'd play jazz and blues, and at night it'd have to be dance and techno all the way, man! ;)

5. If you could go meet a famous author or artist, of any time, who would it be?

I'd liked to have met Angela Carter before she died of cancer. Her works really inspired me and changed my writing style, and it would've been cool to find out what inspired her too.


And I will probably have to do that whole letter-writing fan characters too. ;)