R.A.N.T

(No, this isn't about me ending the hiatus before time, NOR is it about me quitting the comic - really, you need to stop worrying about that so much, imaginary people in my head. It also isn't about Glarryg drawing the rest of the comic for me, though that would be most welcome. In fact, this might only be relevant to those few of you who're coming to J-popcon...)

Get this: I'M GETTING A TABLE AT J-POPCON! Yes, since I said I wasn't going to have one, of course I'm going to. -_-; Right after writing that post, I got an email from M-chan (one of the people who arrange the thing) trying to talk me into getting a table. Of course, I said no, because again, what on earth would I sell? Then she started sending me text messages. Then Skyen emailed me because he's gotten the same email. And then I was stuck my a sudden flash of insanity and said yes. ^_^; So, the deal is this: This weekend, I'll be at J-popcon sharing a table with Skyen (of Artist's Block fame) in the Artist's Alley right next to the dealer room, selling (hastilymade, but hopefully high-quality) prints, postcards, and even a brand-new A3 poster made especially for the event! (Incidentally, that poster sucked up all of my weekend. >.<) I probably won't be hanging around there all the time - after all, cons are for exploring! - but if any of are at the con and for some bizarre reason want to meet me IRL, chances are you can find me there. Or otherwise, you can find Skyen, and given the amount of fillers he's done for me so far, that's almost the same thing. ^_^; I hope to a least talk to some of you.

(BTW - the filler that went up today is far more awesome than I can ever be. Why? Well, first off, it's there. That's more than my updates are. Secondly, it's from G.L. Gillen/Glarryg, who has an awesome style and a comic which has approximately 300% the number of updates mine has, even though it's half a year younger. And finally, because it's presence here today is the final proof of how sucky I am. Y'see, I received this filler on October 26 (which, incidentally, is 6 days ago or 3 days after I posted my plea for filler art. The second part is awesome in itself.] and thusly, it would have been logical for it to go up this Monday. Only it didn't. Why? Well, would you believe that I was so caught up in con-preparations that I forgot that you need to upload a file for it to show up on the site? O_o I didn't forget that the image was there, or that it was supposed to go up on Monday - I just somehow forgot that for it to do that, I needed to actively upload it. -_-; Glarryg, please forgive me...)

All right, before you all start to freak out, no, this is NOT about me quitting the comic (though with the update schedule lately, I wouldn't blame you for believing that). It is, sadly, not about A.N.T getting officially printed by any major (or minor) publisher. Really, what are the odds for THAT?

No, what this is really about is this: Fall break is now over and I'm back to school with all the stress that comes with that. More importantly (or extraordinarily, if that's how you prefer it put), I'm ALSO back to two weeks that by some freaky coincidence constitute the final sprint not only for that back-breaking extracurricular Bio course I'm in, but also for cosplay-making and everything else that needs to be finished before J-popcon 2006. In other words, for the next two weeks, my life is basically a build-up to the climax of the weekend of November 2nd-5th (yes, that weekend includes a Thursday. Don't ask.) - and of course, that has a certain influence on my comic-making efficiency.

Really, the way things look right now (whatwith three major school tasks to be done for both this and the next Thursday as well as cosplay, an essay due the day after J-popcon [thank you, Britta, I love you], a coming weekend of various social obligations and parties AND the average tonnes of everyday homework), I just can't see myself getting a full-fledged page done for the 30th, muchless the 5th. So, instead of disappointing everyone with promises I can't fulfill and stressing up myself even more for no good, I'm going to take Skyen's advise (which he's ben trying to give me several times already - sorry for beingso stubborn) and officially call HIATUS until November 13th. Yeah, I know it's annoying, but it's the best I can do currently, and I've decided that I prefer it to promising stuff I can't live up to anyway. I'll still be around to chat in the shoutbox, of course, and maybe make a few updates to the blog as well, there just won't be any new pages for those three weeks. (Oh, and if anyone wants to make a filler for any of the two vacant updates, I'd be delighted! ^_^ I'd especially love somehing con-related for the weekend I'm at J-popcon... *hint hint*)

What I'll try to do for you in those weeks instead (and what Skyen REALLY advised me to do; he's not so evil that he just wants me to go on hiatus for no reason at all... I think) is fix up (some of) all those unfinished pages that are still lying around in the archives, as well as clean up said archives of all the (awesome!) birthday fillers, which, while great, DO distract a bit from the flow of the story when you're reading through the archives. ^_~ If there's time, I might touch up the links page as well... But remember, we're talking about me. There's NEVER time. ^_^;

BTW, if some of you are coming to J-popcon (and I know at least some of you are), by all means come and talk to me if you see me. I won't have a table this year (come to think of it, I NEVER had a table. Come to think of that, what would I sell, anyway? ^_~;), but I suppose I'll be pretty easy to recognise from, well, the tag with my name on it. Otherwise, look for a tall, bespectacled (and dazzling! Or not...) brunette who probably hangs around with a slightly shorter blonde and a hyper loligoth with neko ears (yes, that's you, UHC). Or look for a Mikuru cosplayer - I really doubt anyone else at the con dared... uhm, got that idea. ^_^;

Hmm, not much more to say except: Goodbye for now, and hopefully you'll all come back for the super-spectacular RELAUNCH of A.N.T on November 13th - with all-new content (as in "new updates") and similarily all-new features (as in "actually updates")! Enjoy the hiatus (hell maybe we can make an event out of it or something - as far as I remember, isn't this my first official hiatus?) - or at least enjoy the fact that it's only three weeks. Cheerios!


And until I'm back... Hamsters City will eat your soul! >:D

Yes, finally, it's up. Yes, I know it was really supposed to be up last night, but to cut a long story short, I did some pretty bad prioritizing between comic-work and cosplay, which resulted in none of them being finished, had to go to IKEA for most of today (yes, just like in Hamster's City. I'm proud.) AND for some reason seem to have morphed into a complete paz with a mouse during the last few weeks, which means shading was pain. I really want a tablet right now. -_- Still, this is an UPDATE. Yes, I live. ^_~

BTW, I have the feelingi'm getting graduallyworse at English ever since I stopped taking it at school - so if one of you spot a glaring grammatical error in one of the comics, by all means tell me! I won't bite, and I won't be offended.

...well, maybe a small bite...

Get this: I actually have an update ready. Yeah, update, as in honest-to-god A.N.T page 84 written, drawn and scanned (feel free to faint). But (and yes, there is always a but) my new computer and my good ol' scanner have decided not to be compatible. As in AT ALL. Sure, my own computer had the trouble of running an OS that the scanner didn't have a driver for (no, not something fancy, just Win2000), but THIS one not only does't have a driver (that I won't have to track down from some german IT geek's homepage) it also lacks A PLUG THAT FITS! Yeah, a plug. Apparently, my 2 years old scanner is so outdated it's plugs are archaic. I don't know quite what I'll do about this situation yet (my initial idea was to use it as a chance to get a new, more present day-compatible and higher resolution-capable scanner, but my mother doesn't seem so happy about that plans since she's, kinda, the one who bought the thing. 2 years ago. I hope I can get a converter cable or something) so for the time being, I'll have to rely on having my best friend scan the comics and sending them to me, which is why I haven't been able to update yet - she only just left. Hopefully, I'll have the scan tomorrow so I can get the coloring done during the day. (PSP works. Vicory!)

So, to sum all this up: Skyen, please don't kill me! ;_;

Yes, sorry, this is a filler. A late filler at that. BUT, a filler by me (amazing as it is), AND a filler that won 2nd place in a drawing competition, so it's gotta be good for SOMETHING, right? ^_~ As you'd probably guessed, this is the piece I competed with at Kodachicon last weekend, and as you've sadly just started to realize, yes, that intangible scribbe IS my real handwriting. -_-;
(BTW, there's a cookie for the first one who spots the BIG, GLARING ERROR in this one. I didn't notice before I got home from the con.)

Sorry for not a having an actual comic for you this week either - the biology course I've currently taking as an experiment at the university has proven to be a bit too much, workload-wise, and celebrating my family birthday this weekend took time away from comic-making as well. Something goodcame out of teh birthday as well, though (aside from purely egoist matters like 'OMG they likes me' and 'ZOMG PRESENTS!'): I'm getting a new laptop! And by that, I don't just mean a small one for schoolwork, no, I mean a fully functional, super-awesome laptop that can replace this old computer for good. The one I've decided on has an Intel processor (which I'm pretty sure this one never had), twice the harddisk space and 4x the RAM of this one, so hopefully, you'll hear me complain a LOT less about crashes and slowdowns during coloring in the future. ^____^ (I'll also, hopefully, be able to take better care of the new computer than I did of this one in it's neglectful first three years, so there will be less virus and spyware-caused bugs.)

As for the next comic: It's coming... well, hopefully soon, because I really want to work on A.N.T instead of describing the Carbon circle in soil. -_- I can't promise anything, but next week? Hopefully, that is - I've got another birthday celebration (a joint birthday with a friend for our mutual as well as non-mutual firends, and it's going to be a mess. A fun mess, but a mess nonetheless) coming up as well as some homework, which I'm currently trying to get out of the way long before it's due to have more time for comic and -gulp - that cosplay project that's due in five weeks. Okay, screw it, I'm going to suck until J-popcon. All that can vary is how MUCH I'll suck. ^_~

All right, I'm off to a school blockade - see y'all later, hopefully with a new update.