2016!!!

Happy New Year!

So, I know I haven't been posting for a while – I've been so creatively busy with writing (dude. I've, like written something with actual plot? and an actual ENDING?? and... plot? 8| ) but I'm slowly getting back into this. I'm hoping that I'll blog more in the new year.

And actually, more changes to the blog have been happening behind the scenes of all the new funky colors. XP So... things are still in flux, but I'm really enjoying the whole process. I also can't decide at ALL on a color palette, but this is what my rapidly-switching mind likes at the moment: kind of a mustardy-yellow with darker-and-lighter grays.

Eh? Yeah? No?

Anyways, have a great year, everybody! Farewell, 2015 (and thanks for all the fish! the memories) and hello 2016!

Meet Gamma!

First things first: by gosh golly goodness, where have I BEEN all this time?? XD

Wait a sec, I know how to jazz up the ordinary snores of life a bit...
Okay, I haven't blogged in forever because I have been scaling mountains of bountiful knowledge! (Read: homework) I have been taming wild beasts that roam the Carpetlands! (Read: Playing with my two cats) I have been on a wild untamed adventure with imaginary friends to slay a dragon! (Read: reading the Hobbit) I have been creating a Dalek out of styrofoam and cardboard! (Read: No, actually, that is what I've been doing!)

Ladies and gents, meet Gamma.

YAAY! :D He's my little Dalek that I've been working on for ... oh boy, I can't remember... but a LOT of weeks now. He's constructed entirely of craft items (wire, styrofoam, polymer clay, cardboard)

Here's a breakdown of his crafty anatomy:

Also, I forgot to get a picture of this, but he has a clay stick in his neck piece and a hole in the bottom of his head dome that allows his head to swing around.

Hmm, let's try a rough blueprint in Seashore...

Hopefully that made sense? Ah, well.

I really like him. :)

Good thing is, Gamma isn't all gung-ho with the 'Exterminate!' business. He's a rather polite Dalek, for a Dalek.

Before I go: Shout to Kate, who inspired me to make Gamma. Kate, I wish I could meet your levels of crafting brilliance. Truly. The Doctor himself would be inspired by you.

Thanks for reading! Gamma is anxious to hear your thoughts on him. :)

>>Your friendly neighborhood Embers<<

One of My Favorite Things – Tag

So, I just made up this tag called One of My Favorite Things, because I thought it would be really fun. :D

Here are the rules:

• Link back to the blogger who tagged you

• Take some pictures of your favorite thing in your room

• Explain why that certain thing is so special to you

• Tag five other bloggers

Here's mine. Introduuccccinnnnnggg... Phil!

Phil is my dragon skull. :) (He's made of resin, sadly. XD)

He's actually a trinket box, so his jaws can open up to reveal a tiny little compartment. 

But the DETAIL on this little guy is incredible. I couldn't help going all paparazzi on him because every angle just gets cooler and cooler.

Even a section at the back where the spine would connect!

Right, anyway, the reason Phil is so special to me is because I had been drooling over his Amazon page (by the way, yes, you can buy your own Phil if you want! Link to Amazon here) for weeks, and I was planning to buy him myself. One day, though, my mom handed me a cardboard box and casually mentioned that it was a new lightbulb for the piano lamp (Haha, smooth lie, Mum. Our piano lamp-light hasn't worked for years. XD) and that I should open it. I was suspicious but barely dared to hope until I slid out the styrofoam packing and saw him look up at me.

He now resides on my bookshelf, sandwiched between Doctor Who DVDs and Fox Bowl.

...Poor Fox Bowl. S/He doesn't have a name nearly as unique as Phil's.

Now, I tag:

• Lady Emily

• Clara

• Becca Whitlock

• Caroline Fiol

• Storyteller Fiol

Hope you guys have fun with this! I know I certainly did. X]

SUCCESS

YAAASSSSSS

Finally, finally, I am starting to like my blog again! Oh boy, the emotional stress of such a thing... is ridiculous, let me tell you. I'm so happy to finally be inspired enough to write out a post! Oh, just wait for me to change the entire thing in less than a week probably... but oh well. :) I love it as it is now, so we'll see how long this sticks! Thanks for bearing with me so far! I am so fickle-minded, huh?

So... in order to break the ice with this new font and blog layout, I will now make some weird sounds with my mouth (keyboard?) including wackity wong, blurpity blubbery, and wacky wonderfulness :D

Thanks, David Tennant for the inspiration of that particularly eloquent last line.

I'm so happy that I'm weird XD

Guess What?

Because sometimes, we need a reminder

:)

Go out there and be inspiring, yo.

14 Things That Stress Me Out For No Reason

1. You cannot imagine a new color. You can't. I swear. Try it.

2. Somewhere someone is making the most important decision of their life right at this moment.

3. I am well past the age that I should know how to spell decision correctly by now.

But nope. Sigh.

4. We're always trying so hard not to offend people I'm not sure what people really mean or really think anymore. O-0

!!5!! Sewer grates. I've always had this fear that if I step on them, they'll break and I will fall into the dark gross "water".

*shivers* via

6. Bread with gaping holes in it. THIS IS AN ATROCITY OF BREAKFAST OKAY

7. Taking medicine

8. Being stressed. Uhm... yah. I stress that my stress level should be lower. If that's not dumb, I don't know what is. XD

9. Weeping Angels (Doctor Who, Blink) because nOPE NOPE NOPE I CAN'T EVEN PUT UP A PICTURE OF THEM

10. Forgetting something halfway through writi

11. Number lists that halfway through are like 'Betcha didn't notice this list doesn't have a number 5!' and you are forced to scroll up the page just to check to confirm your ignorance of list numbers. Please note I spared you the stress.

12. When you finish writing a short story and –

– you're one adjective away from perfection.

13. Handling chopsticks

14. When your waitress comes over to your table but you haven't decided what you want to eat yet

So, now that my stress level has gone up considerably, I'm going to go listen to peaceful music or something. XD

What random things bother/stress you out?

Lugubrious Death Cookies

I have been challenged! XD This is a response to Lady Emily's story writing challenge. In a short story you had to include
1. A basket of cookies
2. A character who can breathe fire
3. An object that can talk (say, a clock, a sword, a carousel horse)
4. A death scene
5. The word "lugubrious"

My story turned out to be about a page and a half long. Hope you like it! :D

•       •       •

"AUGH! Hot hot hot hot!" I snap my lips closed to quench the fire burning my throat. I feel the flames extinguish in my mouth, and I spit out the Fire Stone that had been resting on my tongue. Fortunately, I had the foresight to leave a large glass of milk sitting on the stone table nearby. I snatch up the glass and drain it, the milk soothing the residual fire in my throat.

Learning to breath fire from a dragon master is difficult enough, but when you actually try to breathe fire, it's not unlike the experience of eating chili that has been spiced five hundred degrees too hot. My dragon master has told me to train every day with fire breathing, using the Fire Stone only as a helper. So far... close, but no embers.

"Draconian lessons hardly worth their weight in silver?" A wooden voice comes from the other room. Bernardo is hardly ever smug, but this is a rare occasion. He had warned me that Draconian lessons were not for me, but of course I didn't listen.

I finish the milk completely and wipe droplets from my lips, still warm from the attempted fire. "Don't need your opinion, thanks, Bernardo," I call mock-cheerfully to him. I start wrapping the Fire Stone in its silk fireproof wrapping. I'll practice more with my fire later ... probably.

"My dear, I remain stolidly under the impression that my opinion is indeed worthy. Whoever else could you depend on to tell you that a quick individual has just deposited a basket before your door?"

"By the stars, I really hope it's not another witch orphan," I say with a crinkle in my brow, creeping quietly toward the door. "They're so common these days and it's really hard to keep them from making spells. You would definitely remember the last one I had to raise – Greta. She was a disaster – and you know I couldn't control her sentient spells."

"The product of Greta's childhood was a sound one, wouldn't you say?" Bernardo watches me creep toward the door. He stands seven feet, literally a grandfather clock, up against the northernmost wall of the house.

You might have guessed, but the whole orphan-witch incident was the reason I now have a talking sentient grandfather clock who sits in my living room and who can judge my life decisions.

Fortunately, I open the door to reveal not another squirming green orphan (whew) but instead a wicker basket filled with cookies. Sugar-scented steam winds lazily upwards into the rainy afternoon.

"Cool!" I pick up the basket and whisk it inside out of the rain.

"A cheap attempt to inject sunshine into an otherwise lugubrious morning, I'm sure," Bernardo states matter-of-factly. He does so love being right.

I grin. I do love teasing the old clock. "Mmmm!" I hum loudly, licking cookie crumbs from my lips. "Oh man, these cookies are SO GOOD. I'm so glad that I have a MOUTH and a TONGUE to eat cookies. YUM."

"A timekeeper of my position and status hardly needs sweets to keep my cogs running, beg your ruffian pardon," he says, pulling himself haughtily up so his wood creaks against the legs of the clock.

"No," I swing my legs over the side of the chair and look and the old clock with, for once, a serious considering expression. "But you do need oiling and a regular checkup, and the Clock Doc hasn't been in for over a moon."

"I do wish you wouldn't address Dr. Flint with such coarse slang," he says. "Clock Doc indeed." He continues to mutter lowly, the sound falling into the steady grind of his gears.

His old-timey rant falls to a stutter, however, when his cogs begin to churn to a halt. His 2 and 10 digits, that act as his eyes, widen and enlarge. "I – I-n-n-n –"
I brush crumbs off my fingers and leap up form the chair. The large golden pendulum swinging in his glass chest cavity is slowing to an unsteady wobble – a sad, but temporary, death for a clock. The Clock Doc will have to rewind him.

I fondly pat the top of the clock, my hand puffing up some dust. "Don't you worry about it, old friend. The Clock D – Doctor Flint will help you."

In the meantime – I look toward the lump of silk that hides the Fire Stone and sigh.

Bernardo would probably tell me to practice.

Army of One – HTTYD Art

Hey, what do you know, this is my very first colored art piece of How To Train Your Dragon! I know – I have actually completed an art piece?! Yesh. Yesh I have. For the past few days I've been working on this drawing of Toothless.  Click the 'read more' to see the whole thing!

So I've been watching too much House recently (started season 1 about two weeks ago) and thEN THIS PART CAME UP AND I ALMOST SPAT MY WATER OUT I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD

Lately and Coming Soon

>> I am going to try all sorts of funky blog layouts and weird color palettes because I am not happy with how my blog looks right now. PREPARE FOR THINGS TO LOOK EXTREMELY HILARIOUS BEFORE THEY GET BETTER.

>> These kind of random one-picture posts:

>> Lately: Still reading Fellowship of the Ring. I have finished Fahrenheit 451, so we have that!

>> I think I might do more fandom-related things on this blog (like Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Avengers). Like so:

Oh yeah, I totally timed it.

>> I think that's all I was going to say? I just wanted to give you all a warning that my blog will be going through a major regeneration process. So please bear with me, all you awesome people reading this. XD

Til next time,
Ze Embers

My Clockwork Wings

First of all, I've been making some major changes to my blog recently! (You probably noticed X) I'm still fiddling with bits of the layout and trying to get things to work and look nice, but so far I'm liking the new changes.

A few days ago I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. Ahh, what a fantastic book! It's so different, and the story is rich and exciting. Inspired by Hugo's inventive mind and (well, frankly, the windup mouse), I wanted to try making a small wing model that could open and close just by one turning a knob at one end.

Naturally, I pulled out my parchment (paper stained with tea ;) and doodled some blueprints. I still have a LOT of bugs to work out, but it's fun tackling each problem.

Aaaand random song lyrics. You may ignore those.

If you see a way for improvement, let me know in comments! Hope you like them.

Rose Tyler, I –

Just close your eyes

The sun is going down

You'll be all right

No one can hurt you now

The hospital smelled of antiseptic.

The Doctor walked slowly, past oxygen carts and defibrillators. Eyes flicking past one machine on to the next, he realized the bitter irony of hospitals. Places of healing, and yet so many came to die.

His head stayed low, hands hidden deep in the pockets of his trench coat.

How long had it been? Fifty, sixty? Seventy? Surely it couldn't have been seventy.

And yet. Here he was. Here she was, 2076, still fighting. . .

His red plimsoll squeaked against the flecked tile, and he flinched at the sound.

She was still fighting, but time was winning.

He stopped, glanced up. Here it was, Room 214. A heavy mahogany shield guarding him from the other side. He briefly wondered how many patients had ever been in this room – how many patients had left alive and lucky, and how many had suffered a different fate. His fists clenched inside the pockets.

Eighty-nine. 2076. Room 214. He had never hated numbers before.

He took in a breath, steeled himself to face the different world on the other side. With his hand resting on the handle, he considered that he could still walk away. He didn't have to mess with her life one more time.

He pushed on the handle and opened the door.

In a gray room, a gray figure lay on the bed.

A nurse dressed in pink fussed by the bedside, fiddling with the glowing mechanical snakes that kept her patient alive.

She looked up as he entered. "Can I help you?"

"I – I'm –" The Doctor couldn't stop staring at the figure on the bed. His Rose. "I was a friend."

"I'll give you two a minute," the nurse said, forcing a smile. The Doctor didn't hear her leave; he could only tell she shut the door as the column of light disappeared from the room.

"Oh, Rose," he whispered, holding back the tears, sliding down next to the bed.

Beneath thin lids, her eyes flickered. "Doctor?" Her voice was cracked and weary with age, a voice that time had beaten down.

Something broke, deep inside him. "Yeah, it's me," he said once he could control the emotion in his voice.

"What – what have you been doing all this time?"

"Oh, still mucking about in galaxies and timelines. Same old," he said with a forced smile.

"Galaxies," Rose sighed, with the breath of reminiscence. "I used to be able to see the universe stretch on forever. Now" – she waved a shuddering hand at the window, that tiny square of gray trees and concrete – "that's my infinity."

"I'll go back in time, when they were still building this place," the Doctor offered, feeling a stab of guilt as he looked at her world. "I'll make them build the biggest damn window for Room 214 Britain has ever seen –"

Rose let out her laugh in a soft sigh, tears slipping down her face in a silent river.

Staring out the window, Rose's bitterness and sorrow grew inside her. "Why couldn't you have come before – when I could still move, when I – when I needed you, when –" She broke off and succumbed to the tears, her shoulders shaking, her chest heaving, mourning seventy years. Swallowing hard, she closed her eyes.

"Why now?"

The Doctor felt a familiar ache, deep in his chest. The explanation of the crack in the parallel world seemed not worthy, irrelevant. "I didn't want you to – to go alone."

"Go. . . ." Rose's pale eyes refocused on him.

The beeping heart monitor, the hiss and sigh of the machines, filled the dry silence. The Doctor rubbed his hands and stared at the pale white floor.

"I lived a good life," Rose whispered. "I might even call it fantastic." A smile lifted her lips. "After. . . we last met, Mickey and I settled down. Two girls. Beautiful, strong. Ready to have adventures of their own."

"I'm glad," the Doctor said softly, but Rose was still talking.

"It's all because of you, Doctor." Rose gave a weak cough that shuddered her whole frame. "Thanks for all the adventures. . . for the memories and the good dreams. . . for the. . . for the. . . ."

Her eyes were starting to fade, moving listlessly up toward the ceiling. With a chill of fear, the Doctor realized it was now or never.

He leaned forward, lightly touched his forehead to hers. Her skin was growing cold.

"Since I never got a chance to say it," he whispered quietly, letting his eyes close, "Rose Tyler, I love you too."

The bright, unbroken scream of the heart rate monitor stretched forever into his mind.

Just

close

your

eyes

. . . .

The 777 Challenge

A thank you to the talented Becca at Sitting on Clouds for tagging me in the 777 challenge! Here are the rules:

• Share 7 lines from the 7th page of one of your manuscripts

• Tag 7 bloggers

I took an excerpt from my Agents of P.O.R.T.A.L. story, a fanfiction I started a while ago. It's a fanfic of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so I'm sorry if the characters are unfamiliar to you.

–––––   –––––

Skye breathed out a final time, a whisper in the air, as the very last light in her chest slowly faded to black.
"No!" Fitz curled around her, quivering with fear. His blood felt like it had frozen in his chest.
He sat there for a long time, holding tightly to Skye, in the last remaining moments of two old friends. The bright blood stains on his armor faded to brown in the small eternity that passed.
Looking at her face through watering eyes, he brushed gently at the blood on her cheek. "I'm sorry it's come to this," he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

–––––   –––––

Hope you enjoyed it!

Aaaand, once again, I'm going to leave this tag open for whoever wants to do it, because I'm a rebel >:D

Wedding Questions!

Recently the lovely Lady Emily at The Life and Times of Emily C. put up a post about weddings. The questions looked so fun I decided to join in. If you're interested, you can answer these questions as well!

1. Inside or outside? Why?

Inside, because walls are great at repelling bugs and air conditioning rocks. XD

2. What time of year do you want to have your wedding at?

Sometime in early autumn, maybe. When the hot breath of summer is fading away and the gold and red leaves will imprint in my memory forever. <3

3. What do you want your dress to look like?

It definitely has to have a HUGE poofy princess skirt (because, really, at what other point in your life can you truly get away with such poofy wonderfulness?), and a fitted bodice decorated with rhinestones and beads.

4. Will you follow the old tradition and try to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue?

Sure, why not?

5. Will you dance the first dance with your husband? What song would you like to dance for this?

Absolutely! This will probably change later, but currently I love the idea of dancing to 'For the Dancing and the Dreaming', Valka and Stoick's song from How To Train Your Dragon 2.

I want to have crazy dancing as well; fun songs like Walking on Sunshine, the Chicken Dance, the Macarena, YMCA, Get Up On Ya Feet, and ones that really get my guests up and dancing. :D

6. What music will you walk down the isle to?
GAh! I don't know! This is stressful actually xD Maybe to a track from HTTYD (How To Train Your Dragon). All of the Nordic/Icelandic tones are so gorgeous.

7. What do you want your wedding colors to be?
Light green and purple. I once went to a wedding with that palette. Lovely.

8. What will you have your bridesmaids wear?
Dresses with loose and flowy skirts that will poof out when they spin!

9. How about you groomsmen?
Tuxedos I guess? I never really thought about it before XD

10. What food do you want to have at your wedding?
A buffet for the main course, but mostly desserts. Definitely an ice cream bar with bowls of toppings to choose from!

11. Name any other random details about your wedding you have in mind.
Well, I did always think it would be cool to have a dog bring our wedding rings (attached to his collar) down the isle for us. Also, I think it would be so awesome to arrive at the ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage.

12. And finally, what character quality would you prize most in your husband?
God-loving, God-fearing. The most important thing of all.

Great questions, Lady Emily! I loved answering them. :)

All images via Public Domain Pictures. Public domain photo sites rock the world. :)

Feeding the Raptors!

Okay, so a few weeks ago my family and I visited a science center to look at their large birds of prey (which will be referred to as raptors, partly because that's what large birds of prey can be called, and mostly because I love to pretend we went to see dinosaurs being fed. Muahaha XD )

(Don't forget to click on the images to make them bigger!)

First we saw a peregrine falcon. He was an extremely cute little guy – he stood right up close to the bars staring back at me and my family. :)

Next up, a barred owl – one of my very favorite types of owls. Look at those beautiful silvery stripes! 

A sleepy Screech Owl.

I was so excited about this next one – a bald eagle!

Some interesting facts about bald eagles:

• Young juveniles (like this one) don't get their white heads until adulthood. Because of this, many people confuse golden eagles with young bald eagles.

• Bald eagles actually love playing in the water! (Hence, this eagle chillin' in a kiddie pool)

• The owning of eagle feathers is illegal in the United States. As our guide explained, if it were legal to own eagle feathers, it would encourage more people to poach eagles for their feathers. Any loose feathers that this eagle sheds, the science center has to collect and send to the government.

In the next cage, right beside the eagle, was a Saw-Whet Owl, one of the smallest owl types in North America. This was rather cute because the eagle was huge, and the Saw-Whet was a tiny stripey smudge in the back of his cage.

Our guide pulled out a stuffed claw of a vulture and an owl for the group to look at up close. I was so excited to be able to touch and hold a real owl talon! The claws on it were wickedly sharp.

A bit later, she also handed around a real owl wing. I was ecstatic at this! I've always wanted a close-up look of any bird's wing.

And, a shot of – I think it was a Spotted Owl? – eating a mouse. Sorry, squeamish readers, but it really was an interesting process watching it swallow its prey whole. X)

As we were leaving the center, I spotted a butterfly around the bushes near the front entrance. What a beautiful orange flame amidst a sea of green!

So, that was my weekend!

x x x

Because sometimes life can be simple.

A blog post can be a lovingly doodled doodle of a happy derfy velociraptor with some tiny insignificant text below it and that's okay.

> >   > >   > >   < <   < <   < <

I had a dream a few nights ago about this little runt velociraptor called Zappy. He's always a happy little guy, with a coincidental electric yellow stripe down his back. I love him. X]

Tag – I'm It!

All righty then! (Apologies for the cheesy title. ^.^)

Big thanks to Clara at Reasons to Smile for nominating me for this tag! See her lovely blog here.

Rules:
Thank and link to the blogger who tagged you
Answer the 11 questions 

Nominate 11 bloggers and ask them 11 questions

Now for my responses to her questions:

1. If you could ask your future self a question, what would it be?

YES DID YOU KNOW I FOUND THE TARDIS? THAT'S WHY I'M TALKING OT YOU RIGHT NOW

2. What is your middle name?

My middle name is Gabrielle. :)

3. What shoe size are you?

I'm a size seven for women's shoes.

4. What would your hero name be?

Dragonfriend! I bet you can't guess what my power would be... ;D

5. Do you like Nutella on toast?

I probably would! Honestly, I've never tried the combination. I've had Nutella once before and I really liked it. I must acquire some more hazelnutty goodness to try this out!

6. What is your favorite foreign accent?

Arrrgh, you just had to find the hardest question ever! XD It's a tie between British, Scottish and Australian. If I had to made a decision, however, I would probably pick Australian.

7. Describe this scene in 3-8 words:

Dusty light. Broken Family. Clinging sisters.

8. Have you ever taken a train?

Yes, I have taken a train before, a steam locomotive! Quick note, though – don't sit up near the front carriages or else the smoke from the engine exhaust gets in your face and lungs!

9. If you had to sing a solo for a concert, which song would you choose to sing?

I hope this contributes in the factor that if I could sing! Probably Into the West, from the last movie of Lord of the Rings. 

10. How do you do your hair on a busy morning?

Most likely a high ponytail with a few loose strands near my face. (Because me using heated tools on a busy morning would be the opposite of a good idea! xD )

11. If you could automatically obtain a skill which skill would it be?
The skill to cheer someone up and make them feel feel happy even when they're sad. Cheesy, but I love making people laugh!

Now, since I'm kind of new to Blogger, I don't know that many bloggers to tag! So instead I'll just leave these questions open for whoever wants to answer them. Thanks again to Clara for the tag! I had fun answering these :D

I nominate:
Anyone who wants to do these questions!

3-D Tinfoil Toothless DIY

Hey everybody! For the past few weeks I've been working on a project – the title sort of tells all, but I made a 3-dimensional Toothless! Toothless is a Night Fury breed of dragon of the movie How to Train Your Dragon, probably my favorite animated movie in the history of ever.

His core skeletal structure is made out of wire (his wing is a different piece of wire, secured to the main body with a mess of glue and tightly-wound thinner wire) and the rest of his body is built up using tinfoil. Masking tape covers his main body. His front paws, back legs, tail fins, and face nubbins are not covered in masking tape, as you can see below.

There are no pictures during the actual construction because it was a very frustrating process for me and frankly,  I couldn't be bothered taking pictures.

And, for any eagle-eyed HTTYD fans, yes, I know I left out his hip wing fins. I realized there was no good way to secure them to the main body without additional frustration.

Wibbly-wobbly taily-finny.

 And the painting begins! I'll admit, this part was a bit of a nightmare... as you can see, the masking tape on his wing was sticking up and the brush couldn't reach every nook and cranny from every angle. The bare tinfoil had the same problem.

I live. I learn. I'll never attempt a project like this again! xD

Aaand, here's the [somewhat] finished project! I still need to find some black tissue paper for his wing membrane. If anyone can think of a better membrane-like material I should use, please let me know in the comments.

Ta-da! Yeah, my little Toothless is pretty wonky looking and the proportions aren't exact and he's missing a pair of wings, but I love him anyway. :)

I'm planning to put him in a frame (glass removed of course!) against a parchment paper background and hang it up somewhere in my room. He will flaunt his tiny mighty power!

'Til next time,

~Ze Embers