So... it's been 15 or 16 months since I've bothered to write a journal entry on here. I had a really bad experience with an asshole of a DA user early in 2009 and it really just put me off the whole experience for a while.

News, the first: I DON'T LIVE IN JAPAN ANYMORE.
This makes me sad. In fact, it makes me more broken-hearted than that time when my first love broke my heart. I didn't want to leave, but my company lost the bidding war for my contract, and I was given the option of moving really, really far away in Japan and starting all over again from zero OR moving back home. After much careful consideration (considering I was only given about 1-hour to consider...), I decided to take it as my sign to return to U.S. soil. So, I packed up, threw away, or donated nearly six years of my life in Japan, and on April 21st, I hopped a plane to make the 7,000-mile trek home - one way. And here I am.

News, the second: MY HOMECOMING GIFT WAS A CANON EOS REBEL 1000D
Yes. I have a "real" camera, now. I like to believe that my gallery serves as proof that a camera does not make a photographer - every photo in it was taken with a small, hand-held point and shoot 35mm. Several different ones over the past six years, actually, because I kept breaking them with my vigorous usage habits. However, I do believe that anyone's art can be helped along by having the proper tools. A true artist could paint masterpieces with her fingers, but paintbrushes do make life so much easier. Now, I have my paintbrushes. Expect more.

PS - 6,750 page views?! THANK YOU.