This seems to be becoming ("be becoming"? what kind of messed up English is that? and I even wrote a book...)...let me rephrase. This is aparently my new pattern. I vanish for a month; I check in. Well, I'm checking in, and I will drop by and reply to comments and comment on other folks' stuff while I'm here, and then I'll probably vanish for a while again.

My life is just too jam-packed at the moment, but I do miss the time when I could finish a new piece of art to post every weekend and had big long conversations with folks on dA. But life changes, and there's a lot on my plate at the moment. For those curious (or reading this because they are bored):

--full-time job (provided I don't get laid-off any time soon--quick, knock on wood!)

--Japanese language class, weekly, including homework

--martial arts class, weekly (but I'll be quitting at the end of this year, it's the wrong style for me, I'm going back to my original style)

--making plans for my trip to Japan! I'm going in February of 2009

--regular chore stuff, paying bills, apartment upkeep, laundry, cleaning...

--editing, designing, and illustrating my second book, and writing my third book

--rebuilding my website (which is DONE! Finally, except for updating and touching up, anyone curious, go here [link]

--fun stuff, as possible: hanging out with my pals, watching anime, movies, Jdramas, reading, keeping up with dA

--sleeping

And that pretty much takes up 190 hours a week.

Whew. I'm tired already. Actually, today is the first day in a long time that I have had totally to myself, so I'm very happy about that. Of course I won't be spending the whole day doing purely fun stuff. There is a part of me that always insists on being productive. I don't know how I got it, exactly, and it hasn't always been there. When I was a teen I could waste whole days and not care, but now, sheesh, there's this feeling of obligation, like "my time is counting down. In fifty years I'll be dead, probably, so hurry up and make use of the time!"

Actually, I hope to live to be a hundred, at least, so fifty years is inaccurate. My great grandmother, for whom I was named, lived to 98, so I had better at least make it that far, so she'll be proud of me, but both my parents have had major health problems as young as fifty, so that makes me scared. When I truly realize that I could die at any moment, it makes me want to use my time meaningfully. And I always recall that saying "if you're still talking about what you did yesterday, you haven't done anything today."

Okay okay, enough rambling.

A few folks have asked about my book. It's fiction, fantasy-adventure with a love-story that is integral to the plot but not erotica, rated about PG-13 I'd estimate. Folks most likely to like it, I expect, are girls and open-minded guys (the lead is female, and for whatever reason, the majority of guys don't tend to read books where the lead is female, for those of you who do--thanks for recognizing women/girls/females as actual people and not just "the love interest") who like intelligent fantasy. I guess that means I'm calling my book intelligent...though a friend who read the book also said it was intelligent, specifically that the love-story was for girls who were inteligent, like she and I...but that's just her opinion. I know not everyone will like my book--that's impossible--but I hope some people might.

If anyone has questions about my book, feel free to leave them, or there's more info on my website, link above, including sample pages.

While I'm here, I've been wanting to do some fan art, and hope maybe I can find the time some time soon. Does anyone have any suggestions or requests? If so, feel free to leave them below and I'll look at them next time I'm on dA and see if anything spurs me to action.

I hope everyone's doing well!

Ja, ne,
--Katri