"Imaginary Fiends"

written by samanthamay, Metaphorest, greymalkin, lovee_91, godofwine + Patrice_Michelle, wirrow & Major Tom [over @ hitRECord.org]
edited + art by val freire, my small s'elf.
with assistance from Crystal (age 15), Veronica (age 14), Grace (8), Vanessa (5) and especially Aria (age 8) whose hand-writing is now much improved.

Made in 7 days.

It's "Gratuitous Picture of Your Book Shelf Tuesday!"

The lovely curtain obscures the lovely section up-top that aught to be obscured, whilst giving the kidlings distracting tassels to play :D Everyone wins!

---

That 'Complete Works of Shakespeare' book-ended on its own, was a 134 years old when I first received it nearly ten years ago. I imagine it's a bit older now.

RE:CITIES

"Being born and raised in New York, but nowhere near Manhattan, gives a kid a skewed perspective of the term 'Hometown'. Things are still that "Larger Than Life" sort of big but never glamorous, still over-bright and siren-loud but somehow tuned to a different frequency, where the only constant is change. From that stems the weirdest sense of homesickness for a place you still live. But there is a bitter-sweetness to it. And there is an endlessness to it. Fast and fierce and furious as this town can be, you stick around long enough you learn 'keeping up' isn't the answer. Sometimes letting it overwhelm, just letting it flow is the only way to really be.

I left NY when I was 15. Sick to shit of it. Did the wanderlust tour of 30 homes in 3 years; London, London's much preferred bastard brother LIVERPOOL, Ballintoy, Paris, Montreal, San Francisco, Seattle, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, well,... I'll stop there cuz the list gets pretty effin' long.

But I missed New York, functioning anywhere else was work, New York just flows. I didn't mean to come back; I just stopped over from Los Angeles the morning of 9/11. It seemed the universe, the world, the city herself had grounded me.

For a year after 9/11, on my new queen-size bed in my new four-story walk up, I'd lay for hours, dangling my head back to look thru the window up at the broad hi-rise stapled sky and watch planes fly by, willing them to not fall.

Maybe we all did that, I don't know. I still travel, lots, but because the city needs me, I come home."

Day #30 - Favorite Outfit

Firstly; its not meant to be me in this drawing; W posed dramatically for me, hence the adorable weirdness of it.

And B;This outfit does not exist, because 1) it would cost a fortune and 2) only an idiot would wear it… and the day this idiot can afford to dress like an ‘Ostentatious Monochromatic Vagabond’ is the day I die, meaning I’d like to buried in this :D

And that, as they say, is All Folks! I’ve got a plane to catch.

x

Day #29.The Meaning of Your Name

Sometimes I feel I was aptly named considering how often I like to 'ninja in the night'. That and I have an overdeveloped sense of valor.
*no pun intended.

Also, go to [link] and make your own! It will never look as bad-ass as mine but its still crazy fun. While you're at it, if you haven't seen the movie go see it... and if you have seen the movie, Go See It Again!
I Challenge You!

Day #28.Your Zodiac Sign

I have the peculiar and apparently "inherently hard-headed" privilege of being born both 'Year of the Ram' as well as an Aries.

Day #27.Something w/ Sentimental Value

Newly 18, alone, jobless, homeless + soul-sick; I got on a bus with no destination. Several thousand miles + 14-days later this amethyst was gifted to me by an amazing someone who I'll never forget, I'll never really know + I'll never meet again.

That was a lifetime ago ...yet today, like any day I could be alone, jobless, homeless + aimless... never soul-sick. Well, never so much a good bout of wanderlust won't fix. And I never travel without this.

Day #26.Instrument

For musical themes, I like shapes more than accuracy, it's to do with rhythm I suspect but you can't do that with instruments. It's disrespectful, somehow. Since, I prefer things that are 'Exceptions to the Rule' I went with The Hornicator, because it's crazy Genius!

Day #25.Best Friend

The coveted position of "Besties" has been vacated as of late due to equal parts Deceit + Death. Lately, I've leaned in on ol' reliable, my hole-in-the-wall Local Library. Happiest place on earth, srsly. That or the bottom of a bottle, I swear its like being 15 all over again!

Day #24.Collage

I used ShapeCollage to put this together. I'm for Crap at Collages, always have been, always will be. But the I <3 MY ART theme is borrowed from the R.I.D. Girls. I ::heart:: them too.

Day #23.Actor/Actress

Bryce Dallas Howard (Actress) + Seth Gabel (Actor), married since 2006. I adore their works so much. They've more repute for stage than screen but anything they've been in is made better for them having been in it. They've only been in one film together (Good Dick) as the annoying 'kissing couple' in the video store, which this image is drawn from. She's so obviously pregnant in it, I'm endlessly charmed.

Day #22.Favorite Cartoon Character

Inexplicably New York. Smexy but not a Furry. "Metrosexual" before it was even a word. The exception that proves the rule... the friggen exception to every rule. Needs no introduction...

...accept no substitutes, Doc.

Day #21.Guilty Pleasure

I'm not big on guilt; I drink, I swear, I'm loud and I'm OK with these things, so this theme wasn't easy.

Coffee is all I got; I feel guilty it dehydrates me to the point that I shouldn't have more Coffee, but then I do anyway and feel better... right before I feel a whole lot worse.

Hence the "Guilt" :D

Day #20.Your Dream Job

@7 I wanted to be a firemen, but I knew I wasn't really up to the physicality of it.
@14 I wanted to be an architect, but I knew couldn't wrap my brain around the maths of it.
@21 I wanted to be able to walk again, properly, without braces or canes, which I since have done.

<--That sort of thing teaches you achievable dreams aren't really worth the time to dream them, in fact they're called "Goals". That's the sort of thing I wish I could unlearn.

Since then, myself, I don't dream anymore. But insomnia leaves me a lot of hours to be captured up in crazed thoughts; neither dreams nor goals, just ramblings of happy mad-bits tied together by couplets and limericks matched w/ phosphorescent images, some would call musings.

I think I've trained all my life to be suited to the task "Creating".

If I could have a dream job, it would probably be to make of "Job of Dreaming", make 'em bigger, better, broader. BOMBASTIC even. I reckon' I'd be quite good at that.

Day #19.Sea Creature

Our Ronnie (veronicakaitlyn) asked for Loch Ness, so this is for her. I never did much imagine Nessie was a Brontosaurus. I like to imagine she’s more magical than just that. Not that a Brontosaurus could really be ‘just’ anything.

Day #18.ZOMBIES

Beside my tablet, I keep a vial of Zombie!Cure I picked up sometime ago. I've got escape routes, weapons, back-up escape routes, back-up weapons, etc. Zombie Apocalypse comes & I'm all about the double-tap + heads-shots-only. I get that.
But today, I realized what I don't get is "Fan-Girls". If they ever up-rose... I'd just swallow my shotgun.

Appearance @ B+N [Union Square, NYC]

Speaking on things inherently New York; how 'bout a public Appearance;

"ZOMBIES" is tomorrow theme for 30 Day Drawing Challenge, so if you're going to be in NYC, come to The Infernal Devices; Clockwork Angel book release/announcement event, where I will probably ask you to make your bestest zombie face

Actually, ~SupeRsquiTo-PouF and I will be there, hiding in plain sight, while Cassie Clare says a thing, in the after glow of Holly Black & Maureen Johnson being awesome, plus Prizes and Revelry!

Barnes & Nobles in Store Event
Wednesday August 04, 2010 7:00 PM
Union Square
33 East 17th Street, New York, NY 10003, 212-253-0810

I would say, "If you can come, that'd be swell. If you can't... I hear someone will be someone will be live-streaming it, " . . . BUT as someone on DeviantArt pointed out this is very likely to be the only thing (in the foreseeable future) where Nic, Cassie + my small s'Elf will be under the same roof!

So, if you have your copy of FCBD: City of Bones Comic I suggest you make the effort to come out. I'd promise not to bite but that option feels subjective.

---

Wednesday’s [August 4th 2010, B+N Union Square affair] was a warm and memorable event (and not just because the humidity was about a billion). Thank you to everyone who turned up and made it awesomener!

We were all very grateful. Actually, grateful doesn’t begin to sum up…

Here’s a photo from our dinner, well fed and sated, three of my all-time favorite people (Honey Coated Casshat, Shiny Happy Holls hugged on by Our Crys ), being happy, together. I ♥/∞

[The pic links to an LJ!Scrapbook full of photos. If you’ve got some too, I’d love to see/share them!]

Now, you know, back to work-stuffs…

x

Day #17.A Delicious Food

(World Famous) Lindy's Cheesecake. There is nothing better... and if there is I'd never know since I've developed a crippling intolerance to lactose. Still, make a bee-line for there whenever I get near her, at least for Good Morning Coffee or Midday Long Island Ice-Teas :D

Day #16.Drawing With Eyes Closed

Another bit of a cheat, Collab effort with one of my wards, 8-year-old Grace. She wanted to draw the T.A.R.D.I.S. in the Time-Vortex. All the colors and crayons are hers. I kept my eyes closed all the while it was, freakishly intense for me...

Day #15.A Dinosaur

Bit of a cheat cuz this is NOT a dinosaur, but I was looking at the Dinosaurs on the toy-shelf, trying to pick just one, when I saw Retro!Godzilla giving Nu!Godzilla the stank eye. This just had to be done.