I wanted to update my journal because the one I had up was a bit depressing for me. (I'm taking a while to phase out of Hiems, but working on it. Slowly. Reluctantly.)

How is everyone? Summer is coming up! I'm certainly looking forward to it. Mostly my plans are work, work-events, hanging with friends, trying to be a bit more active with art and pursue style changes and fun stuff. Maybe even write a bit more, I have one or two projects I put on hold that I'm eyeballing...

What are you guys planning on? Anything neat? Travelling, perhaps? (For example, my friends and I are going to spend a few days in the mountains in a cabin during the summer. Let's hope we're not all ax-murdered..) I'm going to be going to the San Diego Comic-con in July, and hanging around the downtown area when I'm not actually in the con or working. I'd love to visit and say hello to anyone who's by!

Mmm, besides that sort of stuff, I've just had a lot of time to think. Of life, of friends, of being single. I'm kind of an aggressive person! Whoops. But I wanted to list a few things I use to try and rule my life, i.e. different snippets of advice, and I'd love your thoughts on them. Or maybe a few rules / advice you live your life by? It's interesting to see how different people are.

For me, here are a few things I try to follow!
Make time for what you want to do, and who you want to hang with. Your friends are hanging out, but it's after work or school and you're tired? Well. Have some coffee or something, and indulge in being around people you love doing things you like. Friendships can be fleeting, people can be fickle, so take the good times that you can get.

Use the passion of your anger, contemplation of your sorrow, and calmness of your content. Try to harness the best part of your feelings, at least for the moment. If you don't have the courage to do a certain thing normally, but when you're pissed off you get reckless, use that to your advantage! Might you mess up and make some mistakes? Sure, yeah, but you could've done that anyways, regardless.

It can be a waste of your time to try and make some people happy. It's important, I think, to be there for your friends... But some people will never accept your apologies. Some people will never be happy with you. A lot of the times, people just aren't happy with themselves. Sometimes all you can do is make sure that you're happy (or at least at peace with yourself) and offer your support to people who might need it.

Art for yourself. It's really neat to make other people happy if you draw something for them, or get compliments on your style or something, or work to improve your style... But in the end, that's your work, and it might not be as important to anyone else than to you. You should be happy with it, or happy that you did it. Don't waste your time, do what makes you happy if you can!

Try not to half-ass things (at least important things.) I don't mean sloppily shade a drawing or rushing a homework assignment or something, but if you make a promise to someone, or are working on an important project, or something like that, why not give it your all? Make something amazing, and be proud of it!

Remember how powerful words can be. This applies to compliments, insults, and everything in between. Though these things might not be a big deal to you--maybe you're using some sort of slur ironically, or you think that the person you're talking to knows they're beautiful so you're nonchalant about complimenting them--you can make or break someone's day. Week. Life. You're not necessarily responsible for the way other people feel, but I think it's important to be aware of it?

Okay I'm just kinda ranting and lecturing. Mostly to myself. Did anyone even read all the way through this? Heh, sorry!
Anyways, I hope you all are doing well (even those brief few people I dislike, you too), and leave a comment if you have any responses or would like to converse.

Ciao~!
-Chris

P.S. To people from the USA on DA, I just wanted to say, have a nice Memorial Day weekend. To everyone that has served or is serving for our country, thank you! I'm glad that I'm lucky enough to be in a place where military service isn't mandatory and that there are people willing to volunteer to fight and die. Regardless or not of your political view points, please keep that in mind while you're having a good time. (: