Christmas, London, 2013 and a special someone

Well, where do I start? It's the last month of 2013 already, and it's been quite an eventful one to say the least. For a start, it's been getting colder weather-wise, but not as cold as it was last year, and there hasn't been any significant snowfall...yet. I'm sure January and February will bring that.

As with most of this year, there's been ups and downs this month - I'm still getting pressure from those "certain quarters" I mentioned last month, and I worry that it's only gonna get worse in 2014 on that front. Unfortunately, all I can keep doing is jumping through all the hoops they throw at me, and just hope that I can get a job so that I won't have to deal with all of that anymore.

There have been plenty of great moments this month though - read on to hear all about them...

London

I took the train down to London on the 19th to see the sights there for the very first time, I'd only visited there once before in 2009, but only to pass through on my way to the South Coast. This time I was there to actually see the city itself, and it was just as huge and bustling as I imagined it would be. I wasn't alone for this sightseeing, either - I met up with one of my friends from deviantART, Mike (aka Dracorum-Order), who is from London, and he had quite the way with words and puns - he needs to work on his punctuality a little though, I had a right carry-on hunting him down at King's Cross!
First off, we headed to the South Bank and checked out the arts centre and Christmas market there, before checking out the sunlit views of the River Thames and the London skyline on the London Eye (aka the big ferris wheel where they set off the New Year's fireworks display on telly every year). After that, we took a walk along Westminster Bridge (complete with Pac-Man) and saw the Houses of Parliament, as well as hearing Big Ben's famous chimes. In Westminster we saw statues of famous figureheads, including Winston Churchill and the recently departed Nelson Mandela, whose statue was surrounded by many floral tributes from passers-by, and we also had a look at the famous Westminster Abbey.
Stopped for a bite to eat in the very picturesque St. James' Park, complete with geese and squirrels (one of which jumped on me), where I also got distracted watching the incoming air traffic on approach to Heathrow, before we made our way to the home of Her Majesty - Buckingham Palace of course. It looked grand indeed, with the equally as grand looking palace gates - and Her Majesty must've been at home, because the Union Jack was flying. The guards were doing their patrol march too, however there was no changing of the guard routine that day. Mike also let rip with a quite hilarious impression of Her Majesty and Prince Charles, too.
By this point the weather had taken a turn for the worse, so we made our way to Trafalgar Square, which seemed a lot smaller to me than what I'd seen in pictures and on telly - still, it was cool to see it, complete with fountains, the National Gallery, Nelson's Column, and a giant blue chicken. Aye, you read that right. A giant blue chicken.
No visit to London would be complete without having to take a ride on the Tube, which we did a few times - used it to get down to the riverside to get a night-time view of the City district, the ship HMS Belfast, the infamous Tower of London, and the one and only Tower Bridge. We also saw a more modern landmark, the oddly-shaped skyscraper known as the Shard.
Finally, we made our way to Greenwich, to the place formerly known as the Millennium Dome, now better known as the O2 Arena, where I met up with another deviantART friend - Scott, aka toonfreak8, who had flown in to the UK from the US for Christmas, along with his dad's wife. The four of us then took a walk around the O2, which admittedly wasn't really much to look at, there were mostly shops and bars, although I imagine that the actual concert venue is pretty spectacular when there's an event going on. Myself, Scott and Mike then had a doodle session in which we drew each others' characters, which was a blast. Sadly it seemed that the moment to say our goodbyes came far too soon, but it was great to meet both Mike and Scott and to see the sights of the capital. Hopefully I'll be able to take another London trip in the future, as there's still a lot there that I didn't get to see.

To see the video of my London trip, click right here: London - 19/12/2013

Christmas and Nicole's visit

Aye, it was that time of year again, were everything gets festive, merry and downright chaotic - I probably left most of my Christmas shopping till last minute as usual. 
Normally, I don't look forward to Christmas as much as did when I was a kid, for obvious reasons, although somehow I end up getting into the spirit anyway - however, this year I had much more reason to look forward to it, as my girlfriend Nicole flew in from the US on the 21st, to spend Christmas and New Year here with me.
As I type this, she still has a week of her trip to go - so far we've been around my hometown and met family and friends, been shopping in the pouring rain at Bishop Auckland and revisited a childhood beauty spot at Hill End up in Weardale. Best of all though was that we attended Christmas Eve mass together along with my grandma and brother, and of course we got to open presents together on Christmas Day. There was only one present I asked for (new pair of jeans from my mam), but as with every year I ended up getting quite a lot anyway, including clothes, a couple of CDs and a couple of sketchpads - and from Nicole, I got a Christmas card (complete with slushy writing, lol) and a festive Pocket Dragon ornament. I think the best present was that Nicole herself was here to spend Christmas with me, though. (You can go get your sickbuckets now.)

Here's what we got up to on Christmas Day: Christmas Day 2013

Looking back

So that's it - another year over, and as I said at the start, I don't know where to begin with what's happened this year...like most years, it's been eventful with ups and downs. The highlights are many though, and if I had to pick one absolute highlight of this past year, it would have to be my summer trip to the US, more specifically the moment when me and Nicole celebrated our 1st anniversary in front of Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World in Florida. (Again, you can go and get those sickbuckets.)
I don't know what 2014 is gonna bring, but I'm not making any resolutions, because it's easy to say "I'll do this, I'll do that this year", but it's difficult to follow through on them. That's why I'll do what I've done every year, and I'll wing it. To quote a famous saying, "what will be, will be".

Last but not least, I'll leave you with a festive piece of artwork (and there's been lots of artwork this year, too): 
Merry Christmas 2013 

Wishing you all the very best for 2014 and beyond. :)

No more November

I can safely say that I'm glad to see the back of November - and not just because the weather's getting colder. A number of things have been grinding my gears for most of this month.
First, a minor gripe - YouTube. In their infinite wisdom, Google, who own YouTube, decided that in order to be able to see or make comments on videos, every user must have their YouTube account linked to a Google+ account - they're basically forcing everyone to join their poor excuse of a Facebook rip-off, not to mention asking for everyone's real names to keep track of them, and to be able to force-feed unwanted adverts down everyone's throats. I'm not having it, so I refuse to bow to the pressure. However it means I can't make comments or see any comments that make on my videos, though the only plus side of this as that trolls can't make abusive comments either.
So Google Minus, have some sense and return YouTube to how it was, otherwise you will just drive everyone away from it.
I also recently found out that when I joined Blogger (also Google owned), any pictures that I post on here got posted into a Picasa web album, which I never signed up for or wanted, so I'm afraid from now on I won't be posting pictures on this blog anymore - instead I'll link you to them.

On a more important note, this month I've felt like I've been put under more pressure from certain quarters to find a job - I'm still looking, but nothing is happening still, what more do they want me to do, prance up and down the streets in a suit and tie in front of every potential employer like a sheep in wolf's clothes?
I also had a "progress review" at the work programme session I attend every fortnight, and when I mentioned about how I'd like to do something art-related, I got referred to a self-employment specialist, with a view to possibly becoming a self-employed cartoonist...however, after the first meeting with him, all I got from it was that I'd get no startup help, and I'd get taxed to death on my profits. I can see why so many businesses quickly fail now...and I'm not sure I want to go down this route now, but I'm worried that if I turn round and say so, there might be consequences. Why does there always have to be a string attached? 

There's also been stuff of a personal nature I've been worrying about too...but I'm not gonna discuss those here.


There. Rant over. Moving onto the positive stuff now.

I took a trip in the middle of the month to see the Lumiere Festival in Durham - it's an arts festival where all the exhibits are outdoors, and based around light, I first attended it back in 2011, the last time it was held before this year, and while there were some canny awesome exhibits, the event was marred by crowd control issues. This time however, those issues had been addressed, as they had a "ticketed zone" this time, meaning people had to buy a ticket if they wanted to enter the ticketed zone between a certain time; those without a ticket (me included) had to wait until after a certain time before they could go into that area.
There were some good exhibits - the highlights for me were "Keyframes" (rows of stickmen "dancing" across a building through a lit-up routine) and "Aquarium" (in which the red phone box in Durham Market Place got turned into a fish tank) - but on the whole this year's Lumiere seemed to have fewer exhibits than in 2011, and as a result was less memorable, I thought. However, if they hold Lumiere again in 2015, I'll be sure to attend.
If you'd like to see my pics from Lumiere, click right here.

Also on the subject of trips and holidays, there's a couple of things I'm looking forward to next month - I'm planning to take the train down to London to actually see the sights of our fair capital city. I've only ever been to London once to pass through it (my times transitting through Heathrow Airport don't count), so it's about time, really. I'm also hoping to meet up with two friends from deviantART, Dracorum-Order and toonfreak8 (who's visiting the UK from the US this Christmas). I just need to get the train tickets booked...

Secondly, and I may have mentioned this already, but my girlfriend Nicole is also flying over from the US to visit me again, like she did last year - she'll be spending Christmas and New Year with me, and it goes without saying that I can hardly wait for her to be here - so close now. :)

Last but not least, here's some fancy formal artwork I did for FAC-AgentC's recent "Part of the Hive" art jam on DA: "The Not-So Ugly Bug Ball"

And not forgetting...hope all my friends from the US had a good Thanksgiving.

Autumn's here, and the paintballs are flying

Well, if it didn't feel autumnal last month, it certainly has done this month - the leaves are falling, the temperatures are dropping, and the clocks have gone back - not forgetting Halloween, of course.

I'll be honest, I haven't really got a great deal to say about this month, as it's more or less been business as usual for the most part, to the point where some days have just felt dull and grey, and not just because of the weather - the only break from the old routine was a recent paintball session with my brother and a couple of friends, which was only the second time I'd ever been paintballing (the first time was 9 years ago as part of a Business Studies course at school). There were just six of us playing to begin with, but we ended up getting joined by a group from a stag party, who were a little bit hungover, one of them was suffering from whiplash from being in a car crash the day before, and the stag himself couldn't play as he'd had way too much the night before, so quite a bunch there!
Anyhow, it was all a good experience, even though I soon found out how much I really, really suck at paintballing, and those paintballs didn't half sting! It's the taking part that matters though, and the whole day out was much needed.

The paintballing wasn't the only thing that happened that day - I also had a first, attending a wedding via Skype - one of Nicole's friends was getting married, and she wanted me and my brother to be there. Obviously we couldn't be there in person because of the small matter of thousands of miles of ocean separating us, but we made the best of it, and the wedding was absolutely fine.

And that's pretty much it for October - if you're celebrating Halloween, with costumes or without, hope you have a blast.

I'll leave you with some Halloween artwork - Bob & Flyer looking a bit more ghostly than normal.

 

Summer to Autumn

September - that time of year when the sunshine slowly starts to give way to falling leaves and that ominous wintry chill. Back in the day it would be a month I never looked forward to, because of the start of a new school term - nowadays I still approach it with trepidation, because it's the ending of my favourite time of year, and also the changing weather can really mess with the old mood. And relating to moods, this month has been up and down a bit (what month isn't like that?) - I'll get the downs out of the way first.

There's been days where I've made that mistake of thinking too much and it's gotten me all worried - but a big part of that is being aware of the rut I'm stuck in as far as trying to find a job goes, and I'm just tired of having a certain place on my back all the time to find a job. I wish I didn't have to deal with their you-know-what (something beginning with B), but unfortunately it's the only way I can get any income without having a job, so I have no choice. Anyone who's in the same situation will know what I mean. I'm just glad I have my drawing to keep me from going nuts.
Also, at the end of August into the start of this month, my grandma had to be taken to hospital, because she was complaining of sharp pains in her left arm - those pains were the onset of a major heart attack. Thankfully, she was in the right place at the right time, so the doctors were able to treat her before it had a chance to happen, which was a huge relief. I just don't even want to imagine what could've happened if she hadn't been.

This brings me onto the ups now - since the hospital visit, grandma is doing much better, she's getting out walking again and her heart rate is improving, and I know she won't let something like that keep her down. I'm just relieved she's on the mend now.
I had an unexpected gift this month - it was from my brother's girlfriend Jodie, who arrived back home after her 3 month stint over in the US working at a summer camp. She bought my brother a brand new smartphone, but he'd already gone and bought himself one, so she said I could have it. Needless to say, I'm quite happy with it, and I appreciate the thought too. I had been planning to upgrade from my old phone to a smartphone eventually, so this was a nice surprise.
I'm saving the best till last though - on the 28th, me and Nicole reached a milestone in our relationship...we celebrated our 1st anniversary. Neither of us have ever been a relationship for that long before, so that made the anniversary even more special. Too bad we couldn't actually physically be together on the day, but we did get to vid-chat over Skype. 
As I mentioned recently, we did exchange anniversary gifts in person, two months early, back in July - here's what I received:

 My 1st anniversary present from Nicole - a wristwatch

I loved it when she gave it to me, and I still love it now, vice versa with Nicole and the ring that I bought her - and it's the thought behind the gift that counts. I don't know where this past year has gone, but I know that I made the right decision to start dating Nicole, and at the risk of descending into slushiness, I'm grateful that we met and that we love each other, because we both mean a great deal to each other.

Last but not least, a bit of artwork - and this month also happened to mark 10 years since I created my two bug characters Bob & Flyer, more about that here.

"Bob & Flyer - Then and Now"

And that's that for September - wrap up warm, everyone.

From US to UK

I can't even begin to describe this past month - it's been a case of both the extremes.

At the start of this month I was still in the US, coming to the end of my 6-week trip there. Most of it was covered in the previous blog, but it's about time I mentioned the rest - that special place I mentioned? It was a little place down in Florida, you might've heard it...Walt Disney World. 
This was at the end of July, both me and Nicole flew down there, and I just can't put into words how awesome of an experience it was...we were there for 3 days, and while that was nowhere near enough time to see absolutely everything in WDW, we still made the most of it. We saw many different animals, hit the African plains on a safari and took a walk in the jungles of Africa and Asia in Animal Kingdom; had a brief but splashing time at Blizzard Beach; saw a show about animation, walked through a fake New York street and witnessed a Monsters University party at Hollywood Studios; saw Spaceship Earth, walked around the World Showcase, rode on the Journey Into Imagination and had not one but two high speed thrills on the Test Track at Epcot.
Of course there's one part of the park that we couldn't not go to...the Magic Kingdom. We covered pretty much all of it - Adventureland with its treehouse and lively Tiki Room; Frontierland with a boat ride to Tom Sawyer's Island and a late night ride on Splash Mountain (three words: 50 foot drop) and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; Liberty Square with its fancy buildings, classic steamboat and the Haunted Mansion; Fantasyland with its fairytale/circus setting and the classic It's A Small World ride; the futuristic Tomorrowland with the PeopleMover, a rain-soaked Tomorrowland Raceway (still enjoyable though), monstrous laughs on the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and a close-up encounter with Stitch in his Great Escape; and last but not least, Main Street USA, with the classic American street and shops, plus that famous path leading up to the even more famous Cinderella's Castle, which was the backdrop for a spectacular projection and fireworks display, both were just amazing to watch.
It was my first time at any Disney park, and I'm glad I was able to get to visit one - the best part was that Nicole was there with me, and we got to spend our 10 month anniversary there too, which I marked by giving her a dragonfly pin as a present, in front of Cinderella's Castle. Guess there is a little bit of a romantic in me.
Say what you want about Disney, but at the end of the day, both me and Nicole thoroughly enjoyed our time there, and I would definitely go back again.

 Kilimanjaro Safari - Animal Kingdom

 Meeting Chip n Dale - Dale tried to hit on Nicky, while Chip raided my bag for nuts

 Adventureland - Magic Kingdom

 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Frontierland - Magic Kingdom

 Liberty Square - Magic Kingdom

 Tomorrowland - Magic Kingdom

 Fantasyland - Magic Kingdom

 Spaceship Earth - Epcot

 A taste of home - United Kingdom pavilion, World Showcase - Epcot

 Blizzard Beach

 Monsters University party - Hollywood Studios

 Not-quite New York - Hollywood Studios

 Main Street USA - Magic Kingdom

There was also another first a few days afterwards - I got to experience a live baseball game for the first time, the Bridgeport Bluefish vs the Sugarland Skeeters - the Bluefish lost, but regardless of the result I enjoyed the atmopshere of the game.
The last visit of my US trip was to Southwick's Zoo in Massachusetts - only the second zoo I've been to, and by far the biggest, with so many different animals, including a lot that I'd never seen up close before (e.g. kangaroos, lions, lemurs). The zoo also had some unique features - a chairlift that travelled over the exhibits, including an alligator pool; a forest where me and Nicole got up close to deer and were able to feed them; and a giraffe encounter, where we got to hold up tree branches for giraffes to feed on them, all of those were great experiences.

 The Bridgeport Bluefish and Sugarland Skeeters in action

 Skylift - Southwick's Zoo

Giraffe encounter - Southwick's Zoo

 Deer Forest - Southwick's Zoo

My last night in the US ended up in a hotel in Nicole's town, which me and her parents arranged on the sly without Nicole knowing, and needless to say she was very happy with the surprise. We spent the night taking a dip in the hotel pool, having a meal at an Italian restaurant, and some wine and snacks back at the hotel, and above all, spending some quality time together.

We were both dreading August 5, the day I had to fly back to the UK...and it was hard to let go, as anyone in that position will know all too well. My flights back home were a little on the bumpy side, but I made it back safely, mad dash for my flight back to Newcastle and all.
Arriving back at home felt alien to me, almost - even more so this time round, because it was the longest I'd been away from home. The jetlag had something to do with it as well, of course. It took me a little while to get back into the normal routine, but it all fell into place in time. I was happy to see my family again, and it was good to be back with my home comforts as well. I couldn't see out this summer without taking one last visit to my favourite beach at Tynemouth, either.
I can't say everything's been OK though...with being away there was bound to be issues regarding rent and finances, had to poke the council more than once about stuff, but I think it's all been sorted now. As well as that, the situation on the job front is the same as ever, absolutely no joy whatsoever. And something's also happened that makes me think that keeping my mouth shut is better for everyone - I don't want to go into it.
In the end, I just had the most amazing time in the US, it's something I will definitely not forget for a long time, and I'll miss being face to face with Nicole most of all.

Some summer themed artwork to leave you with:

Fyfe & Sparkplug: Summer Dragons

 

Summer in the States

Well, to say that this last month has been a break from the norm is putting it very lightly - as I type this, I've been in the US for over a month, and quite a lot has happened, which I won't be able to cover in huge detail here, so I'll try and give you the basics.
It's been great spending time with Nicole of course, and even though she's been at work most days we've still made the most of the free time that we've had with each other, and even though it probably won't hit me until the day I fly home, I'm gonna miss her being around. I think I'll keep the mushy stuff between me and her though, I'll spare you that.

 Me and Nicole

Been to quite a few places during this trip, some that I visited on my last trip in 2011, some that I hadn't been to before - Branford Point (mine and Nicole's favourite spot to hang out), Newport in Rhode Island with its beautiful beaches and coastline and an enjoyable cruise around the bay; Stony Creek - one of my favourite places from the last visit, still as picturesque as before, even more so as we got to take a cruise around the Thimble Islands there; the distinctive Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Casinos; saw a terrific fireworks display at the Sailfest in New London; the bustling Boston; the sprawling Long Island with its scenic towns and beautiful coastline, including the Montauk Point Lighthouse; not one but two aquariums, both with a great range of sealife on display, in Norwalk and Riverhead on Long Island; and also not one but two separate trips into New York City, which was still as hectic as it was adventurous just as it was 2 years ago.

 Montauk Point Lighthouse

 Stony Creek

 Thimble Islands

 Easton's Beach, Newport, Rhode Island

I also met up with a few friends, some I'd met on my last visit, others I hadn't - those I previously met included most of Nicole's friends, her parents, plus Shane and Paula (PierreAndAndre and youlittlemonkey from deviantART respectively), and Shane's family; those I didn't meet last time were Ryan, Dawnsy, Victor and Paul (friends of Nicole), Ben (a fellow Brit who is also friends with Shane) and another deviantART friend, Rich (FAC-AgentC) - it was great getting to meet them all.

 L to r: Nicole, Shane, Paula, Ben

Back (l to r): Alicia, Paul, Michael, Crystal

Front (l to r): Ryan, Dee, Kristin, Nicole, me

I also have to mention how the weather's been - I was definitely not prepared for the humidity, much higher temperatures than what I'm used to back in the UK, though it made for some good walking days out to Branford Point, although I nearly overdid it one day. However I got the opposite as well, I was able to witness a thunderstorm approaching on Long Island, it was actually very cool to see.
This trip is not over yet - myself and Nicole will be taking a trip to Massachusetts on the last weekend before I leave, and before that I'll be getting to experience my first ever baseball game, and before that we're going somewhere special, which I'm not going to reveal until it's been and gone, but we'll be celebrating our 10-month anniversary while we're at that place.
I honestly don't know where the last month has gone, I feel like I've been in the US much longer than I actually have, and I'm really not looking forward to the day I have to fly back home (August 5) - but I'll have the memories.

I managed to do some artwork during this trip, so I'll leave you with this pic of Bob & Flyer, but not as you know them:

"Stoopid Bugs" - my entry for Granitoons' "Super-Stoopid Art Jam" on deviantART

From UK to US

Well, in my last blog I did mention that in June I would be heading over to the US for the fourth time - as I type this, that's right where I am. I'm in Connecticut for the second time, staying with and visiting my girlfriend of 9 months ago today, Nicole. So far I'm having a great time, hoping to meet up with a few friends and see a few places, but most of all I get to spend time with Nicole. My first week of 6 is almost over, but there's still lots to come.

As for the rest of the month before I flew over, spent some of it going out walking as there was a bit of a heatwave back home (not as warm as in Connecticut though!), as well as preparing for the US trip, which involved a bit of worrying over nothing. I was a bit reluctant to say bye to my family, anyone who goes on holiday for a while, especially if they're going abroad, will know how that is, but I just had to remember it wasn't a goodbye, more like a "see you later".

Now for the getting there - I stayed overnight at the Doubletree hotel at Newcastle airport, it was spot on, had a nice room and bathroom, and I also had a good meal at the hotel's Italian restaurant, though I went and overdid it a little but I having a margherita pizza and a garlic bread pizza (I didn't realise it would be big!). Unfortunately, because of some noise outside and my excitement for the trip, I didn't get very much sleep at all.
Checked in just fine at the airport the next day, however my flight down to London Heathrow was delayed by about 20-30 minutes because of the sucky weather. The flight itself was a little choppy, but nice and quick all the same, and despite the delay I still got down to Heathrow with plenty of time to make my connecting flight to New York JFK, which was a canny long flight at 7 hours, and again that also was a bit choppy in places, but the seat-back entertainment and views of the sky, sea and land were worth it.

 The view from my seat on the Newcastle-Heathrow flight

 The view from my seat on the Heathrow-JFK flight

And then, the part I was dreading most of all, US customs - as far as the actual interrogation goes, it went better than last time, I showed the officer my documents to prove I had enough money to cover my time in the US, and she let me through, though not without barking at me for putting my fingers on the fingerprint scanner the wrong way. The only part that was worse than last time was the insanely long queue, because my flight arrived at the same time as two others, so you can imagine how chock-a-block it was. None of that mattered once I met up with Nicole in the terminal lobby though.
In short, it's great to be back in the US with Nicole, and hopefully in July's blog I'll have a lot of stories to tell about my time here, so stay tuned.

To finish things off, because the Wimbledon tennis has started, here's some tennis-themed artwork:

 "Bob & Flyer - Anyone for Tennis VI"

Some May flowers

As the famous saying goes, "April showers bring May flowers". Not completely true this time round.
The weather this month has been pretty much bi-polar - some beautiful warm days, but also some nasty wet days. It never stays settled for long in this country.
The same could also be said for my mood, pretty much - and the main reason for that is because of my fast-approaching US trip. I'm excited about it, but also anxious at the same time, because of worrying about money and whether or not I'll get any further than US customs. I really have to learn to stop letting stuff like this overwhelm me, because when I do I just shut myself off, lash out at people and say or do stupid things, and all it does is make the situation worse. I can't help how I feel though.
No need to say anything about the jobsearch front - same old story there. On a better note though, me and Nicole have now been in a relationship for 8 months, can't quite believe it's been that long already, they've just flown by, much like this whole year has so far. Needless to say, I really want the 6 weeks I'm in the US to drag.
Staying on the subject of the US trip (sorry I keep going on about it), my brother's girlfriend will also be going over to the US, but for a different reason - she'll be working at an AmeriCamp, looking after kids for three months. I wish her the best of luck with that, hopefully she'll enjoy it.

As always, I'll end this with some artwork, and a new character for you to check out:

Meet Dunston the dinosaur.

Spring at last

Well, it took a while to get here, but Spring has finally arrived, the weather's gotten that little bit warmer, and it's generally feeling a lot less Winter-like. Even the annoying April showers are a welcome relief compared to the endless deluge of snow in February and March.

Things on the jobsearch front aren't warmer though, in fact they're the same as always. I'll do what I keep doing though, and keep looking.
I can't seem to go through a month without some sort of problem with the house - this time some heavy winds decided it would be fun to try and rip the faring off the top of my bay window, half of it came undone - however as I type this it's being fixed.
On a much more sombre note, I'm sure most people will have heard about the events that took place at the Boston Marathon. I just can't begin to fathom what could've driven two people to try and inflict death and destruction on others. It's events like this that really make me wonder what this world's coming to.

Onto a brighter note now. My fears about all things finance-wise beyond this month proved to be unfounded. I'll just say that some things didn't go up by as much as I thought they would. Of course, this time next year that might be a different story, but that's a bridge to cross when the time comes.
There was a very significant date for me this month, April 23, for two reasons - it was my lovely Nicole's 25th birthday, and it also marked 2 months until I fly back to the US for 6 weeks to see her. It's getting closer, and it's now more or less at the point where I can say it's weeks away rather than months. I just can't wait for it.

As always, to finish off, some artwork:

 My entry for FAC-AgentC's "Wacky Races Revisited", Bob & Flyer with their Dune Bug.

  

That's that for April. Hope you all had a good Easter.

  
 

The Great Spring Whiteout

Happy Easter to all you readers, whether you had an Easter egg hunt or not.

Indeed, March has been and gone, and normally winter would go with it, except this year it's had other ideas. While this year isn't the first time there's been cold temperatures and snow in March, it's still took most people by surprise, especially considering that this time last year there was some great weather. And all things considered, in my area we were relatively lucky compared to other areas of the country - I saw pictures of 10 foot high snow drifts on the news, scenes normally associated with December, January and February. It can't last though, here's hoping that April will see some warmer temperatures (and more than likely lots of rain).

I'm still on that "work programme" that I started back in October, however there's been a change - instead of it being a drop-in and check up appointment, it's now a group training session for 2 hours on a Wednesday afternoon, once a fortnight. I've had to go on worse and longer such courses in the past, so it's really the best case scenario as far as that goes. Just wish one or two of the others on that course would quit reminding everyone constantly how much everything sucks.

Had some internet issues as well, me and my brother's internet router decided to give up the ghost, so we had to wait about a week for a new one to come through the post. We were still able to get online though, thanks to our next-door neighbours letting us use their internet, many thanks to them for that, we owe them one.

On a lighter note, I decided to take the plunge and get myself an eBay account, along with making my first purchase on it, a model plane (for the plane fans, it's a KLM McDonnell-Douglas MD-11). Whether or not I'll ever sell anything on eBay remains to be seen, though I do have a few things I want to get rid of.

My first eBay buy, a model KLM MD-11 plane

Another purchase I'll have to make is a new camcorder - my current one's record button no longer works, thanks to me dropping it one too many times.

Last but not least, me and Nicole have now been together for 6 months, can't believe those months have gone by so quick, let alone the 10-11 years that we've actually known each other for. Still looking forward to seeing her again in June, it needs to get here already.

As always, I'll leave you with some artwork, this commission piece I did for a cool cartoon artist and a recent new online buddy, Doctormetadragon on deviantART - go take a look at his works, especially his "The Show Goes On" comic:

"If We Should Spend the Night Out" - characters © Wiley Bottcher (doctormetadragon.deviantart.com)

February 2013

For me, February means two things for me: cold winter weather, and the yuck-fest that is Valentine's Day, which I've made my feelings very clear about in the past - however this year's Valentine's was ever so slightly different due to the fact that I actually had a Valentine for the first time in 4 years, the lovely Nicky of course. We both sent each other a box full of slushy romantic stuff, as you do. The dinner date will have to wait though. :P

My feelings on Valentine's are still the same though - it's all commercialised. You have all year to show someone you love them, why does it have to be that one day?

Aside from the slushy stuff, I also did something I normally don't do this month, I took a trip to the cinema, only my third time in total - the first time was in summer 2006, when I went to see "Cars", followed by summer 2011 when I went to see "Cars 2". (See a pattern here?) I think it's canny obvious that the only kind of films I'm interested in seeing at the flicks are those of the animated sort.
On this occasion it was "Wreck-It Ralph" I saw, just didn't want to wait for it to come out on DVD, and I'm glad I didn't, because it was a blast. If you get the chance, please go see it, especially if you like your gaming. My brother also saw it, and being a gamer himself, he loved it.

And now for the bad news - I mentioned that as part of my US trip this summer I was going to try and get Comic Con passes for myself and Nicky. Mission failure I'm afraid - I was in the right place at the right time on the sale day, but it seems the Comic Con site couldn't cope with the amount of people logging in to get passes, and loads of people got locked out of the queue, myself included, so I was unable to get passes. There will be a resale of returned passes at some point, but I've decided not to bother taking part, which means me and Nicky will not be going to Comic Con this summer. There is a reason for this, though - may be going somewhere else instead.

And now, time to leave you with some artwork - and it's a slushy one.

 My Valentine's pic for this year - dedicated to Nicky.

January 2013

Well, here we are in 2013 - new year indeed, but so far it's been more or less business as usual, apart from the recent deluge of snow here in the UK - last winter was much milder compared to this one, that's for sure.
I want to apologise for last month's blog, I was in a low place when I wrote it, thinking too much about stuff, which is a bad habit of mine. I won't lie though, I'm still worried about stuff, but I've tried my best to not dwell on it - those hurdles I'll have to deal with once I get to them.
January, of course, is my birthday month - turned 27 on the 7th, and so far it feels about the same. Then again, I say that pretty much every birthday. Me and my brother (who also turned 27 the same day) celebrated with our annual "Birthday Bowling" match at the Metrocentre - neither of us won, our friend Sean came from nowhere and took the match right at the death.
Bought a bit of music as well - the albums "www.pitchshifter.com" by Pitchshifter, "Dysfunction" by Staind, "Finelines" by My Vitriol and the much-awaited new album by Biffy Clyro, "Opposites" - however if I had to pick a favourite out of those, it would be "Finelines".
Aside from my birthday, another big thing happened for me this month - I booked my flights for this summer's trip to the US. They cost me £565, but it could have ended up more expensive than that. It'll be worth it though - I'll be flying out on June 23, and coming back on August 5. The next 5 months need to just fly by in a flash.

As always, here's a bit of artwork to end proceedings: 

"Cereal Killers: Nectar Nuggets" - my entry for TopperHay's art jam on deviantART.