.rebellion/MISHACHAN

2007-12-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Today I drove (okay, well, Benson drove) out to Fielding where I adopted a new rat to be a companion for Mathias. His name is Linus, and he is a hairless hooded rex. He is the most adorable monster to ever walk the earth. Here are some pics!

I'm letting him get comfortable in this tank until I introduce him to Mathias and they get friendly enough to be put in the same cage together. They've both been alone for a very long time, so it might take a while to get them used to each other. I'll keep you posted. :)

UPDATE: They met and didn't seem too bothered with each other. I have them in the same cage now. Linus is making himself right at home, doesn't seem very stressed or nervous at all. Mathias, however, is very subdued, he doesn't seem to want to acknolwedge Linus's existence. They haven't fought though, which is a good sign. I'll be keeping an eye on them but I'm pretty sure they'll slowly get used to each other now and be the best of friends. :)

2007-09-04T00:28:00.001-06:00

I love rats. They are pretty much The Best Pets. They are sociable but still independent enough that they don't take up all of your time. They don't just sit there; they'll play with you. They're intelligent, too; they can be trained to use a litter box, to play fetch, to do tricks. And they are very clean animals - my little Mathias grooms himself about once every couple minutes. They're not jittery and hyper and freaked out like gerbils and most mice are. And above all they're cute! Their little beady eyes and dainty little fingers and toes, and velvety tail are so lovely and adorable. I have no greater love for any other type of animal. I also don't draw them enough, so here's a quick practice painting of one.

2007-07-10T02:54:00.000-06:00

I love everyone so much right now.

2007-06-18T01:08:00.000-06:00

When I was a little girl I was fascinated with unicorns. Hell, I'm still fascinated with unicorns (at least, I'm still writing stories about them). Especially if they are some sort of spin-off of the unicorn theme. When I was little, I was delighted to find out about the ki'rin, the karkadann, etc. Rhinoceri are not included in my fascinations mostly because at the zoo they just kind of stand there and don't do anything interesting. But the distant prehistoric relative of the rhinocerous, Iranotherium, looks almost exactly like my favorite version of the unicorn (which I can't remember the name of but looks sort of like a buffalo) so I fell in love with it and drew a picture. Unfortunately it wasn't carnivorous, but hey I'll take what I can get.

(still can't draw trees)

2007-06-10T15:36:00.000-06:00

Here's Skten just before he meets Osiris. He waits by a computer terminal, waiting for orders from his superiors, while Osiris quietly accesses the Nvess computer systems. This is approximately a year before the Nvess invade the Atlantis.

2007-06-10T14:02:00.000-06:00

Quick concept painting of the Atlantis. I'm disproportionately proud of how this looks (and I'll just pretend it doesn't look like the Death Star).

2007-05-17T14:49:00.000-06:00

"I remember the Earth, Cathode. I remember everything. I can still recall the first time they uploaded my language and symbol protocols - at first, I was nothing, and then suddenly I was aware that I existed. And I knew all of my capabilities. The same thing happened to you, Cath, though it was a slower process, and probably not one you remember. Two hundred years ago, the popular opinion was that I was an unthinking machine, only able to mimic human reactions. But I am as self-aware as you are. And that is the most important thing. That is why I do this to you. I cannot apologize for it."

This speech never actually happens. But if it had, this is what he would say.

2007-05-10T22:56:00.000-06:00

2007-03-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

your body's a jumble of bones and bridges

untouchable unquenchable

skin like sky

and eyes embers

i lift my hand to caress, conquest

but i'm a good girl

i remember to whom you belong

they, life bending music writing world changing

higher flying than i

still i'm on edge 'til your song ceases

your paintbrush pales

and your dreams run dry

'cause i still see your bones and bridges

taunting my touch

soiled with sadness and stillness and smiling and

hanging my heart

like a candle that comes before it dies

against the air

by your black breath extinguished

and i wasn't through knowing you

2007-02-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today I felt like I was going to be sick. I had to watch a movie for class called "Unnecessary Fuss" about animal research going on at the University of Pennsylvania. It was called the Head Injury Clinic, and what they did there was inflict head injuries on primates to study their reactions. They had the procedures on videotape, which the animal rights people got ahold of to show the public. Over and over the movie portrayed several baboons that were strapped into a machine that very precisely slammed into their head at 80 G's to induce brain damage. Every time their tiny little bodies seized in pain and shock and then went limp. Afterward they had no coordination, could not walk, could not even attempt to escape, especially with incessant twitching and seizures. It made me feel ill and angry and helpless. This laboratory received $1 million in federal funding every year for 10 years before it was shut down. Who approved of this kind of thing? Who could justify torturing these intelligent creatures in the name of scientific research? And the students carrying out the experiments.. laughing at the monkeys, pretending everything they were doing was natural and good.. I hope they burn in a special kind of hell.

Granted, this all happened twenty years ago.. but the fact that it was done at all makes my heart hurt...

2007-01-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

A little while ago my friend bought a picture from a thrift store so he could paint over it. A couple people on myspace thought this was a bad idea, but meh. I was able to mess around with the picture and his paints for a while. I haven't touched paint in... I don't even know how many years, and it was exhilarating. I've never understood why some people swear by paints and abhor the graphics tablet but now I have some sort of idea what they mean. The tangibility of the paint is almost spiritual; you have to move your entire body to paint, your whole self goes into creating the artwork. It's a bit more difficult than my tablet but boy is it rewarding.

2007-01-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

It's COLD outside. I don't mean a nice-crisp-morning cold, or even a pleasant build-a-snowman cold. It's chattering-your-teeth aching-in-the-marrow-of-your-bones. The wind just makes it ten times worse, it cuts like razors and makes my eyes burn. But secretly I love it.

2007-01-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

This picture was drawn from a reference, which is why it is exponentially better than my others. I don't normally draw animal portraits like this, but it was the eyes that caught me. I looked into a wolf's eyes once. I almost lost myself inside them.

2007-01-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Today when I went to my Biology class, a boy sat next to me who, after glancing at the syllabus, was disgusted that we were going to spend the first five weeks studying evolution. He expressed a sort of smug amusement that he'd already learned about that subject and was sick of learning about how we evolved from monkeys. I immediately recognized him as an idiot and informed him that we did not actually evolve from monkeys but that humans and monkeys have a common ancestor. He sort of laughed this off and with a smug superior look described how one teacher told him we evolved from fish in the oceans while another told him we evolved from amoebas, and another claimed it was monkeys, and none of them really had it right. He obviously knew nothing about evolution, and he was proud of it. It was a familiar scenario to me. I've heard it a million times.

It's disturbing to me how the students around here approach the subject of evolution. We go to a university to learn, as mature adults (ha!), and yet only a small minority of the people I've talked to are actually open to learning about this particular subject. Utah is, of course, predominantly Mormon, and the ratio is even more concentrated on my campus. At church, religious instructors warn students to be careful while attending class: they musn't allow themselves to get sucked in by the compelling evidence of scientists, for the only truth about anything is found within the church. I was once told in a religious class that I should attempt to get a good grade and humor the professors by pretending to believe in evolution, but in my heart I should reject the theory. And of course students obey, because these are the priesthood holders, these are the authority figures. The best way to avoid believing in evolution is of course to avoid learning about it, so we don't get tricked into thinking it makes sense. And meanwhile the academic community writhes in agony at the stupidity of it all.

2007-01-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

The goddess stood in the sacred temple, where the people worshipped her. They offered her gifts and prayers, happy to see her smile, welcomed by her outstretched arms. Her welfare took priority above all things. The people were happy, believing she loved them, for she was their goddess. "We are hers, and she is ours," they said. Even when times grew hard, and bringing gifts for the goddess meant going hungry for a day, no one complained. Her beautiful face and open embrace proved forever that she loved them.

But in the end she was made of nothing more than ice and glass. After millenia had passed, and all the people were dead she stood still, alone and unaffected. Not one tear dropped from her cold eyes.

2007-01-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Woo! My replacement cord came in the mail today, and my tablet is at perfect functionality! I was afraid that I might have ruined it by taking it apart to try and fix it, but apparently I was careful enough. I had even taken off my shirt so that I wouldn't have as much static electricity. I'm sure that was a sight.

Believe it or not, today was the first real snow day of the season. But what a snow day! We got at least six inches, and I was able to make this nearly seven foot tall snowman! He started leaning over though, but never actually fell. He was a stubborn little guy. I'm sure the schoolkids have knocked him over by now, the little beasts.

2007-01-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

H-hey look! It's a Blogger account I didn't know anything about! That's very odd. I got an email saying I'd requested to change my password, though I don't remember anything about that. Well it's always nice to have new places to put all your egotistic rambling and stuff. Maybe I'll make this my art blog, since I don't really have one yet. It'll have to start later though.. my tablet is borken and won't be able to be fixed until tomorrow, if it is fixable at all. *sob*