You might have noticed my lack of updates for--well, over a year. I could give you the LAUNDRY LIST of reasons why, but instead I will just tell you that I have been busy (and yeah, I have!).

(...if you wanna know what happened with the anime store, scroll down to the bottom of the post.)


SCRAPPED!
I have scrapped all of my older work. (That is, everything I made prior to this update.) The reason being--I crawled into an artistic cave, but over the past couple of years I have been studying my ASS off 8D You should be able to notice an immediate difference in the new work that I am posting and the old work, which has all been moved to scraps. I still have lots to learn--the artist is constantly learning, and the day they stop learning is the day they give up--but I feel a lot more confident in myself, especially when it comes to selling. I used to feel shy about doing commissions for people or making prints because my work wasn't where I wanted it to be. Now I feel that selling it is justified.

Speaking of which brings me to my next blog topic!

New yaoi project: Yaoi Briefs
I've started a new project, the goal in mind being that I am going to publish my own comics. Yaoi manga, specifically. ...OH MY GOD IT'S SO MUCH WORK!! But the pay-off will be great, if I can pull it off.

I've started a website for it - [link] - the forums are up, and I added image sharing boards because they're cool (come join us if you like yaoi! Image sharing only works if we can get people in XD)


The anime store
So over a year ago, I blogged about the fact that Max and I were looking into opening an anime store, and then never updated about it. Well, as you might have guessed, the state of the US economy had EVERYTHING to do with it. We had gotten our business plan together--we put so much work into it, and market research, and planning, and budgeting--then we went to the bank to apply for the loan. We were told that basically, getting one would be insanely difficult (the federally-backed small business loan that we were applying for had been given so many restrictions that it was near impossible to get, and the amounts they were giving up were VERY small--not nearly enough for a start-up loan). We were told that we would have to re-write our budget and downsize our initial inventory. The banker told me this with tears in her eyes--you could tell that she knew how much work we had put into it and how discouraged we probably felt (....did feel). So we went home and started re-working the plan, and that's when it happened--the market plummeted. It took a dive, and took our aspirations with it. We knew then that there would be no way we could open a store, not anytime soon. And being as the "magic recovery" of the economy still hasn't happened yet, we have pretty much given up.

Maybe one day this will be a possibility again, but we are kind of resigned to the fact that it's not happening...not anytime soon. We still have our business plan tucked away--we had some really good ideas!! But we have both moved on to other things.



and because this wouldn't be a ScrumYummy post without something about bicycles.
Check out this photo of Lance Armstrong:
[link]

more photos of the bicycle:
[link]

motherfuck has YOSHITOMO NARA (favorite artist of mine) ITACHARI (bicycle decorations) on his MOTHERFUCKING BIKE.

....I am going to steal it. Just watch.
(yeah yeah, I know, it's being auctioned to raise funds for cancer research and all...but who cares. THAT BIKE IS MINE.)

My husband is looking at opening an anime store downtown (we have found a space for rent on the MAX line, at 14th and Morrison). So I was hoping to gather feedback from anyone living in the Portland/Vancouver area.

basically:

Would you travel downtown to go to an anime/manga/collectables/etc store? (keep in mind, it is on the MAX line, with a bike path and bus route on the same street; and Vancouver-ites, it would mean no sales tax 8D )


What we want to carry:
-anime (for to buy and rent, including imports)
-manga
-games (anime-centric, sims)
-used anime, manga, and games
-region-free dvd players
-plushies, figures, and other collectables
-apparel
-buttons, accessories, etc
-stationary
-manga supplies (copics, paper, tone, etc)
-random other things?
-hello kitty vibrators


We plan on offering 10% discount cards to anime club members at schools (PSU etc).

Ideally, we would also like to set up some sort of fanart gallery system, where local artists can sell their art in our store.

So what do you guys think? I was hoping to get some feedback from locals to kind of get a better feel for the area. So I would love to hear opinions and feedback.


By the way, none of this is set in stone yet, but this is what we want to do. We're seriously looking into it and drawing up a business plan (which we'll then have to take to a loan officer and attempt to get a small business loan). It's something that we've both always wanted to do, but it looks kind of feasible for the moment, so we're going to give it a shot.

Hey guys!!

Just updating to let everyone know that I am alive. Things have been really busy for me, and a lot of things have happened since I was last on DA. Haha, of course I had to wait to come back until after my subscription ran out >___> I don't know if I will be renewing it, that all depends on how active I can be.

Anyway, here are some updates on me, in a nutshell:
1. I got a new job last November--it was full-time, which was one reason why I wasn't on much.

2. I have a new job again, and will be starting in a few weeks--better position, better pay

3. I haven't been doing much artwork, except for a six-page comic that I did to practice drawing manga. I will upload it soon, and do a re-haul on my gallery.

4. I went vegan.

5. I have been doing more yoga and studying the dhammapada. I feel that both these things, combined with the veganism, have made me a happier person.

6. I've been really studying manga, and am getting more serious about it.

7. I miss you all.

That's about all! I have to wade through several thousand messages and updates >___> so please be patient with me as I catch up with my message center.

Love!
Scrummy

journal entry soundtracks
So one of my friends on MAL started sending me PMs with "soundtracks." I loved the idea, so I've decided to start doing it for journal entries. Just [right click > open in new tab] on the link up at the top of this journal entry; it will automatically play when opened.

mystery beer!
We were taking out the recycling the other night, the first step of which is pulling the bins around, and inside one of them someone had hidden a full, unopened MGD. The idea of mystery beer from a recycling bin kind of frightened me, but Jake thought it was awesome and stuck it in the fridge. O_O

Another mystery beer story: when I was in Atlanta, we were at a bar, and I asked the bartender to recommend a beer. She pulls out this bottle that was missing its label. "How 'bout a MYSTERY BEER?!" Me: "Hell yeah!" Later on that night I was "talking" to an ice bucket. X)!


HO GADS MY BIKE IS DONE!!
So the repairs on my motobecane are finished, and OH MY GOD I LOVE IT. (I will post pictures in the next journal entry; it's a beaut!) In celebration, I grabbed Max's helmet and pretended to be a Power Ranger:

<img src="http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/ScrumYummy/go_go_pr.jpg">

My t-shirt says "Food Fight" and has skulls on it 8D I loves it. Speaking of Food Fight, they just installed a vegan nacho cheese pump o___O the concept frightens me.

caption contest! sort of.
If you can come up with a caption for me to write on the polaroid above, and I like it, I will use it I'm going to use the picture as a spoke card on my bike. XD But the caption doesn't have to have anything to do with the picture.

for god's sake, f*ck this sh*t
This portion of the entry has been deleted. I feel it contained a lot of negativity that I don't want to be connected with me.

"weekly thumbs" changed to "features"
I have a feeling no one will care anyway XD But instead of only featuring unknown artists, I'm also going to feature art I like regardless of popularity. I'm still going to try to feature as much "unknown" art as possible, but I don't feel like constraining myself to that anymore. Basically, I'm throwing out the rules--HUZZAH!