it's been a year

eventful past few days

past few days were somewhat eventful, so i thought i will try to note it down. the weather outside has been odd. mostly really windy and raining often, but also sometimes changing back to sunny. yesterday it changed about five times throughout the day, which felt very weird, but it is what it is.

i keep missing crocheting stuff, so this week i finally started a blanket for a couple alters in my partner system. it will have some white and pastel blue too if everything goes okay, and this yarn is very soft and nice to the touch. it grows really fast though, i'm a bit nervous about how big it'll get when it's done. i only really worry about the size because of storage issues though, and the fact that at this point in time we are not allowed to send packages to the US, so my only option is to hold on to it until my partner visits. and even then, if it's so big and somewhat heavy, how can xe take it with xem? it will take up so much space. it almost makes me wish i knew how to vacuum seal things, but i'm not sure if that would be good to do to a crocheted thing anyway.

photo of a small crochet rectangle
photo of how the blanket started out. it is much bigger now!

this tuesday i also attended my first ever odd orange drawing session! i tested the waters with joining the free one they hold at the start of the month, even though i already paid for the full time one later in april as well. i was just curious about how it goes, and i wasn't disappointed. the free meetings last only 40 minutes, but it's perfect, and was also just a lot of fun to participate in. the theme this time was bikes, and i thought we'd just be drawing those, but they had people! which really complicated things, as we needed to sketch our stuff in 5 to 10 minutes tops. definitely not the most impressive studies i've done, and i should use a less fancy sketchbook next time, but it was still lots of fun! i am looking forward to the next, longer session at the end of the month. what i noticed is i ended up cutting off these poor people's heads a few times, because i was focusing more on the bikes than on them, to be honest. but it's okay, that was what i came for after all.

sketches of a grandpa on a bike and a lady on a scooter sketches of an old man on a bike and a man with a dog together on a scooter sketches of a person on a penny farthing and a guy chilling on a bike sketch of a lady on a bike with a small dog in the front basket

i've also started a few things! i finally started reading a new book, and this time it's the buffalo hunter by stephen graham jones. i'm only two chapters in so far, but i really enjoy the writing style and am already hooked on whatever is going on and curious to learn more, even if reading is hard for me. i do feel a bit challenged, as i notice a lot of words i don't recognize or know, so i've been noting them down to look up later and write those meanings down. will it help me get a little smarter? probably isn't enough work to. but the only other option is to not study those at all, which probably would be worse. i want to get at least a little better with my vocabulary, maybe my writing and knowledge in general will improve even a little as well.

photo of the mentioned book, on a pillow
it rests on an extra pillow in my bed, by my side. very convenient with how often i tend to lay down to rest.

i've also finally started reading witch hat atelier last week, as i wanted to read at least some of it before the anime started airing, and i managed to get a few volumes in. it is genuinely such a beautiful manga both art-wise and writing-wise, and maybe it is because i get emotional over media easily, but it has made me feel things or even tear up or cry a bit quite a few times throughout it already. and i'm not even that far! i think i am currently on the 7th volume.

speaking of, of course it means i checked out the episodes that came out this monday. i was really surprised it wasn't just one, but two, what a treat! i haven't been keeping up with anime that comes out, so i am unsure how common of a practice it might be these days, so to me it was something unusual. that meant we get to see the opening and ending on the very first day, though! and those are some of my most favourite things about anime, i absolutely adore seeing how these are made to represent the characters, the world, the story, both through song/music and the visuals. and what beautiful opening, ending and episodes they were! i absolutely recommend it. i am unsure if the budget for the rest of the animation was as much, so maybe it won't be as incredibly stunning as the first couple of episodes, but that is understandable, so i won't mind. you, however, can tell how much of a labor of love this animation has been, it is done truly beautifully and honors the original very well.

i think that is almost all i have got to talk about, i have one more exciting thing i want to write down though, and that is that yesterday i finally got the package my fiancée sent me that i've been really looking forward to (as i always do. my partner system spoils me rotten).

as expected, it was full of a lot of fun and lovely and wonderful gifts, so many that i won't be able to show off all of them here, but i'll share pictures of at least some of them! these packages always make me so happy.

this time it had a few really lovely clothing items for summer that i am excited to wash and try on when i'm able to; some outfits for my build-a-bear baby cinnamon, too! and some pins for his current outfit that i immediately put on him. i'm obsessed. there were a few other cinnamoroll things in the package, and matching smaller build-a-bear plushies of chococat and baby cinnamon :) they are adorable as is, but especially so together. there were also a couple of bladies i've been waiting on, especially his nendoroid that i am so happy about! and then an aventurine stand, and some stuff with takumi. i am especially excited about the nui, he is my little chudling. i did not expect him to be so soft to the touch! there was also a drawing-related book i am really excited to get to eventually, and some fun art supplies! i am especially curious about the wax pastel crayons from caran d'ache, although unfortunately this time the post really beat them up, so they sadly came really broken. i hope i can still make good use of them, but they were expensive! so this kind of treatment sucks. and of course the package also had a bunch of treats and snacks for me to try, which i have already been trying out, since i'm so impatient.

instant banana hot choco from hershey's. it was so yummy!
photo of the figuring of blade riding a car, the blade nendoroid, acrylic stand of young aventurine and a small figurine of tartaglia
my pookie bears. i made blade hug his sword because i really love that idle of his. his arms don't hold together very well though, but that is okay.
photo of some merch with takumi from hundred line
my chudlings. the charm takumi i'm holding up is backwards because he was easier to hold this way, sorry.
photo of an acrylic cinnamoroll keychain, and two plush cinnamoroll keychains photo of a medium cinnamoroll plushie as an angel holding a plush heart, and the smaller build-a-bear chococat and cinnamoroll plushies on the sides
aren't these just the cutest? baby cinnamon i love you dearly.
photo of build-a-bear cinnamoroll plushie in a pink t-shirt and cute blue overalls, wearing various pins
BEHOLD his feminist agenda!
photo of caran d'ache neocolors I set
so very pretty! but a lot of them quite broken up :(

i am missing some stuff from this current list, as i mention all this off the top of my head, but the point is, i am so spoiled! always so spoiled rotten. i feel so loved and cared about. i just wish shipping these hasn't gotten so awfully expensive, or that i had an income to help paying for them, and i wish we were allowed to send packages to the US. there isn't a lot here that my partner cannot get easier and better in the US, but i still want to spoil my beloved in return, even if only a little bit. i really want things in the world to be okay so we could have at least this way of connecting through the painful long distance. i am so far away.

and i think that is all for now! this has gotten really long while i just rambled about mostly nothing, but this is exactly what i missed so much about having a "diary" sort of blog space. making my long, chatty posts about small things and maybe-nothings. but hopefully some good memories and thoughts to be able to look back on.

#art #life #personal