Naeolia

So Real, It's Surreal

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:10:00 +0100

What is truly frightening to me sometimes is how fast my literal timeline is flitting by, yet how slow my personal clock is ticking. There is so much to accomplish, so much to realize, and so much that is hinged upon what I do this summer that the metaphysical stress of it all is strangely, putting me into regression. This is bad. What I need to do for myself is…go through everything, one by one. The daunting part of this is that I know I won’t be finished until next year. I have probably lost most of you here; I will explain in a second (maybe not). The single importance that this period of my life as a student has, has been pummeled into me so many times, I am stuck on repeat and getting nowhere. I am also extremely tired of comparing myself and comparing numbers, just numbers, only numbers, those damn numbers. There are thousands of others in the same boat as me, just holding their gait differently. And just like life always is, there are many who happen to be luckier than me, and many who are less luckier than me. I personally know people from both pools. Then there are people, who are luckier than me, but by their own personal choices, have brought themselves to lose some of that luck, only to realize it now, and in the spirit of sudden regrets pour forth a string of denials. I know one person who is so. All I can do is focus on myself, and I hope I can sincerely do so, with minimal mistakes.
All right, so in the span of a month, I’ve been to Disneyland, gone to the beach twice, started grueling SAT prep (for which I am leaving in an hour and a half), went up to Santa Barbara, and possess a shitload of photographs of fireworks, from two different occasions. Right. I’ve hyperventilated about renewing my domain (naeolia.net) and my hosting, which is supposed to expire today. Which brings me to note, today is July 9^th, 2010. Last year, July 9, 2009, I bought this domain and set up Naeolia on its own platform. So happy domain anniversary. My host is going through some business issues, but the important thing is, for the time being of about a month, I’m hosted. I think you and I can both sense a S-H-I-T down the line. Deal with that as it comes. I was originally going to post some photography and an inkling of resources, but now I feel drained and slightly neurotic, so I’m going to leave you with the product of my last couple of days on Photoshop. Beautiful Tiiu Kuik in an experimental piece. Tell me what you think.

A Morsel of What I Have Been Up To

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:29:52 +0100

Sometimes I find myself sitting quietly, usually in the car, having my thoughts chase each other around, pondering my way through a map of the universe, stringing together what I can make of myself…and the world. It can be a frightening place, for after a while, when I land back to my senses (somewhat), I find myself on the brink of a void – void, and not the cliché abyss – where it is as if I really am in that moment the stardust we are all made of. The notion of nothing-ness, only I take it a step further and apply it to everything that matters to me most. I am finding now, maybe it is the fact that I am constantly “rediscovering” myself, it is the reason I am despairingly stuck in a rut that takes so much effort to remove myself from. I don’t doubt I am a romantic person, not the sense of warm, lovely candlelit auras and scented breezes through the shutters, but that unanchored, dreamy sort, with piles of images and thoughts flitting past in a perpetually nostalgic slideshow. And it is such a perplexing matter, when thinking about it afterwards, that in these moments, I am not really peering in at myself, or myself at all…they are really the most unselfish moments of my waking life – everything is strung on a quivering thread, as fragile as that golden string the Fates sever, without a thought. Without a thought. It is the strangest place, there, too. Once you leave, you cannot go back, for then you are caught up in trying to return, it is quite impossible to go back. Yet when you are there….are you really? Or is it just a moment’s peace, prolonged by the silence of the surroundings. Not silence in the literal sense, for that hardly ever matters. To me it doesn’t at least. There is nothing better than that particular silence.

Shakin' It Up

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:51:00 +0100

OMG. Spring break is over. School is back in session. My peers and I are now in constant panic mode for the next month. Mental alarm bells go off too often to ever settle down in calm. On the other hand, here are some things I have observed whilst driving along congested LA freeways (the 110 North for those who know). I noted odd things, tells you a lot about what you can catch—or miss—when you don’t live with your eyes open wide at the world.

I saw a man eating pizza, ravenously at that…how he kept his eyes on the road and hands on the wheel escapes me
I saw a man picking his nose, deeply at that…how he thought no one was watching him obviously turned out false
I saw a man who looked like he just got beat up, badly at that…how he can drive with black eyes (plural) and looking like he was in pain escapes me, too
I saw a man driving a yellow cab, smoking with his hand hanging out the window, with a pinkie nail that was Wolverine status in length (yechh)…creepy to the max, it didn’t help that he looked like a thoroughly unpleasant character

The shoe salespeople at Macy’s work like snails with Alzheimer’s and the woman who worked at See’s Candy wouldn’t have looked out of place in Willy Wonka’s factory. I love my box of soft centers…they are delicious.
My parents and I went to see the Renoir exhibit at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) last Monday and it was beautiful, as was to be expected. It was of his later works, centered around portraiture and his bathing nudes. I’m not much of a nudes savant, I love scenery (although landscape after landscape does get boring after a while), for example, I love the works of Monet. Renoir was a very talented old man, lucky, too. My mom brought up the fact of how Renoir lived a fairly pleasant and comfortable life as one of those rare successful artists in his own lifetime, whereas Van Gogh starved half of the time and painted pathos-ridden still lifes of sunflowers and his few meager potatoes. He became famous after his premature death (37 years old). I have to say, Renoir was good at drawing women the way they are, unlike the surreal artistic style of Picasso (I swear, sometimes his women look like hybrids of cows, pigs, and birds). Oh, for those pizza lovers out there, the King of New York pizzeria on Western has an absolutely delicious vegetarian pizza, oh my heavens, it is heavenly.
My choir concert went very well, I had so much fun. It was a lot of work and rehearsals, but there’s nothing like being on that stage, singing your heart out with people you love, and finishing off to ravishing applause for three bows. This concert was for fundraising, so it wasn’t the usual “choir” heavyweight repertoire—our show was very theatrical in order to attract a wider audience and so we could pull it off and have fun. Bel Canto (the top/oldest group I’m in) had three costume changes…at least there’s only thirteen of us, otherwise chaos in the dressing room.
Now I know I really need to get going on a new version, I’m getting tired of this now although I can never forget my roots, but I also need time to plan and design and right now I don’t have that! For Naeolia, as my main site, I always make a huge version change because my baby deserves it. I’m not one of those people who churn out layouts (though Lucy you are amazing and can do it fabulously) like new iPods—it’s always a fairly long process for me. I guess it’s just the way I work so bear with me. Wow, I think I’ve rambled long enough to put you all to a long and fitful sleep, so I’ll wrap it up with some new photography and retouches: Lady Gaga and Vera Farmiga. And by the way, for those interested, there is a new round at Erised, plug below.

Do you like going to museums? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen while on the road?

Confidante

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:07:06 +0100

Wow, the crazy March has drawn to an epic close. Whew. I’m happy to say our color guard team did really well for our first year of competing in WGASC, and we have the option of going to championships in April! My SAT scores are supposed to come out tomorrow…oh wow, I just realized that. Holy shit, okay now I’m nervous. It’s my first one and I don’t want to have a bomb ass score. My spring break starts at 12:05pm on Friday. I know I won’t have much of a break—consumed by choir tech rehearsal week & concert—but just the fact I won’t have to get up early and go to school for 9 sweet days sounds beautiful. The rest of the school year dawns closer and closer, a huge blinding abyss I know I’m going to have to brave eventually, what with AP exams, finals, and the end-of-the-school-year shitpile. Hope.
Resources: I have ten (10) new icon textures. I reformatted the page so I no longer have to manually update each new icon’s code. It is automatic now. Teasers of them are below. I have also added some new stocks to the stock & scans page. There have been 25 downloads of the mannequin scans so far; they’re so cute and versatile to use—if you play around with color balance, you can match the outfit to any color you want.
Art: I have two new colorizations, the older one was a challenge entry at FLR Blends and lovely Angelina Jolie was done on my own for my own sake. Funking around on Photoshop produced a weird looking kind of conceptual design that I ended up labeling Naeolia on. It’s supposed to be an abstract old-fashioned cap (if you have no fucking clue what I’m getting at, I won’t blame you) haha. I put it under vectors because it was mostly done with the Pen tool, and the texturing was made from scratch. I love the camouflage colors I ended up with. Believe it or not, the scratchy looking texture stuff is actually a macro stock I have of the plush cushion things the little jewelry boxes come with. I know, weird & cool, right? I’ve decided to post the macro jewelry photos I took of some of my favorite daily bling. I also have two new retouches of Emily Deschanel and Drew Barrymore.

Confidence. When a person is young, it is especially hard to struggle with and balance the level of confidence and self-esteem. Some adults struggle to find their confidence all throughout their lives. The earlier you find out for yourself and become comfortable, the more you are able to grow as an individual, and most importantly, become an objective human being. As young as I am, I am glad to be able to happily say that given my circumstances, I have no issues with self-esteem. Confidence is a different matter. Confidence can almost span a lifetime to master. But, just because you are nervous, does not mean you lack confidence. I could have practiced as much as I could for a piano recital, and I would still be nervous, not because I lacked confidence to pull my repertoire off, but that’s just the way my nerves are at this point. Boldness is not a quality I wish I could always have in myself either. I don’t think being a bold person is necessarily the best thing. Bold, after all, does not always mean polite, kind, wise, intelligent, beautiful—it just means you’re bold. Which can be good sometimes and bad in other times. People like to fool themselves into thinking they have confidence, self-esteem, boldness. The latter is much more temporary than the others. Boldness is usually a fleeting attitude. Faking the first two aren’t bad; the only problem is that, as human beings, it’s usually the unpleasant that surfaces, and not breezy self-confidence. What do you think about yourself in terms of self-confidence? Do you put on a facade most of the time, or no?

March Madness...Literally

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:12:00 +0000

I (obviously) haven’t posted since last month, but I’ve been steadily alive and updating things. I’m reflecting on my schedule for this month and it’s so hectic I wonder if it’s possible for me to come out unscathed by April. I am completely in a mess regarding the next four Saturdays; all of them are full with overlapping events. Eek. Just to put it out there, I always have my Saturday mornings taken by my choir’s weekly rehearsals. I’ve already missed two, and well, surprise, this Saturday I have a winter guard competition (attendance pending ), on the 13^th I have my first SAT, the 20^th I have an optional Spanish mock AP exam which I should go to, and on the final 27^th I have another winter guard competition (& a mock APUSH exam which I cannot attend in this lifetime in any way). My director will freak if I miss ALL of those! Especially with our big fundraiser mega show in the 2^nd week of April—oh yeah, that’s another thing. My glorious week of spring break this year (1^st week of April) will be eaten alive by choir practice/tech week. I love you, I do, choir, but really…why must you torment a busy junior sooooo—I will have to make sacrifices this month, but just which ones?
I’ve started a new category of icons: 150×150 Large Icons. They’re more expressive and I don’t know how much of a use they could be, but they’re pretty at least. They all use my own photography except for the very 1^st one (on the bottom of the page). Here’s some teasers along with regulars from the Femme and Misc categories.

On the personal art front, I submitted an entry for a new type of challenge at Blend Planet which is to add a pattern to a plain B/W shoe (kind of like designing the shoe!). That’s the middle thumbnail, and the 2 surrounding are new retouches of Sandra Bullock and Zoe Saldana, both challenge entries. Can you believe I have still not watched Avatar?

I’ll try my best to update sometime within this ridiculous month, but until next time!

Brand new round at Erised!

Detail

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:55:00 +0000

First off, I want you to take a look at this:
The room was filled with bright morning sunlight, illuminating the tiny vibrant pieces of tissue paper falling through space. The confetti continuously sprinkled down, catching in the air, and frolicking its way to the floor. All through the day, confetti softly rained down. By nightfall, the ground was covered with the delicate debris. At dawn, a change could be sensed. The falling confetti was no longer leisurely nor light. The new kind had a purpose, along with a thicker texture, and with little leeway it streamed down, oppressing the colorful mosaic underneath. Glimpses of vibrant colors could still be seen, barely visible. At sunset, crimson and orange hues permeated the room, staining the falling confetti vermilion. By nightfall it was as if the floor was covered in bloody snow, and the room was cold.
At long last, morning came once more, a weak sunlight spreading across the motley assortment of colors. But the confetti that was now drifting down was once again small, vibrant, and sheer. Slowly, the red ground soaked below, making way for the new layer of the clean confetti. It was a new day.
If you took the time to read it, comment what you think the purpose of it is. Then, you may enlighten yourself here: Confetti.

What’s your favorite genre of music? Mine are classical, rock, alternative, pop, and electronic. One artist from each (not particularly the favorite but one of): Debussy, Eagles, Gorillaz, Rooney, and Crystal Castles. There’s definitely more and stuff in between the lines, but I’m being short and sweet.

I wrote a new icon tutorial: Icon Tutorial #2. Updated icon categories are Femme & Men.

I also have some new pieces of art to share with you! The first is of Robert Downey Jr. (which OMGOMG I forgot to blog about Sherlock Holmes!! shitscrap…do that next time ) and the second is of Marie Antoinette. The latter is quite random, yes, but both were challenge entries. I’m happy with the way they turned out, especially the RDJ one, but I definitely wouldn’t mind feedback! I also have three new retouches: Tom Felton, Uma Thurman, and Courteney Cox (Arquette).

Candor

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:40:18 +0000

Here I am, squeezing in one last post before the end of January. In any case, I’m not up to keeping y’all up-to-date on my design going-ons (and I call this a portfolio??) right now, as I’m feeling quite abstruse. :thinking:
Last week, I had my finals Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Pretty much a hell week. Except for the fact that it was pouring POURING rain here for once. Washing away the pollution and restoring dying weeds to lush greenery. Living right next to the ocean has its pros and cons, and for me, a notorious cloud/fog/rain lover, the scarcity of the heavenly tears is a bit of a problem. On the subject of finals, it was definitely one of my most difficult exams. I took on this year more than what I’m used to chewing, as it’s my first time taking AP (Advanced Placement, which are college-level courses) classes. And I leaped into taking three…I have never had grades this low before. Never more than 3 B’s, no less than 3 A’s. As of now from my teachers’ updates, I have 1 A, 4 B’s, and 1 C. Aarghh—this is really frustrating. I resolve to work much harder this new semester. Although the game is a little different this time, at least I know fully what I’m up against.
Although I haven’t done much art pieces for myself, I opened a challenge site at the beginning of this month. Some of you already are aware (*coughLUCYahem*) and have entered, too. I appreciate the support. I’m enjoying the current round’s layout —please check it out! And send me some fabulous entries. It’s called Erised Challenges. I reread the entire Harry Potter series again and my old burning passion for HP was inflamed. Aha.
Anyway, I hope I can update soon with some new art and resources.

Photo Flash: Blue Moon

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:57:45 +0000

Did anyone catch the Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve (December 31^st)? I read an article about it a couple days before and was planning to see it, but then totally forgot. It was only apparent in a couple continents—if I remember correctly, North America, Europe, South America, and Africa. Asia and Australia received the special event right on New Year’s Day. Blue moons are considered rare because it means two full moons in one month; that’s a lot of bright moonshine. They’re not actually blue or have even a bluish tinge. It’s just the sight of a beautiful and bright full moon. :thinking: Thank you, Moon, for giving us such a moony entrance into the new year.

Happy New Year!

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2010…a new decade into the 21^st century. Any one do anything extra special or simply care to share? My day (not quite over yet) has been quite simple but very enjoyable. My father’s making sushi for dinner, and when my mom comes home, it’ll be Good Eats for tonight! Haha. Anyway, I come bringing icons and plenty of heartfelt emotion. Last Sunday, I watched Gone With the Wind for the first time. It was fantastic! I fell in love with the film, although it left me quite hanging and a tad depressed. I’ve seen Vivien Leigh in other films (Waterloo Bridge, another wonderful film!)—she’s such a talented and beautiful woman. She seems quite a fox, yes, but nevertheless, I can’t help being attracted to her. Scarlett and Rhett are just irresistible, the ending left me quite heartbroken. I tried reading the novel a few years ago but it was much too boring for me (and I was younger so probably couldn’t understand the language as well) so I put it down. One of the rare occurrences for me, as I almost never put down books once I’ve started them. But the classics seem to bring that nasty turn out in me (The Odyssey, The Iliad, War and Peace… ). But I resolve to read the book this year! I have 365 more days, that’s plenty of time to settle down with it and give it a long, good read. So I’ve made a new set of Gone With the Wind icons as well as a new category for it. I’m not even close to done with the batch; what I have now is just the beginning of my flowering icon love for this movie. Teasers at the bottom of the post.
I also watched Sabrina again (twice this week!), for the umpteenth time, and I’m talking about the 1954 original film, not the remake. This time, I was inspired to make icons for it, so there’s another new set of Sabrina icons and its new category, respectively. Dear old Humphrey Bogart may have been three years away from his deathbed while making it, but I still am fond of the match between Bogey and Audrey Hepburn. But then, it’s so hard not to be fond of anything that has Audrey in it. But the chemistry between her and Bill Holden was so remarkable, too. I believe all the people who complain about the Bogey pair-up were predisposed to all the set “drama” they read up on the film before they even watched it—hence the overwhelming disapproval of the coupling and various other complaints. I’ll say, when I watched it for the first time with my mother, I sat down with no opinions at all, besides “You’ll love it!” And I did. I do. Like the other icon set, I’m no where near finished with the Sabrina batch either, so this is what we have to start with. Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely New Year’s, until next time!

We Bleed the Same

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:03:00 +0000

To: Matthew Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, Dominic Howard
The existence of Muse is a blessing in disguise from the stars.
Listening to “Map of the Problematique” is like being plugged into a drug directly powering my heart. “Knights of Cydonia” is just madness. Exogenesis is unbelievable. It’s actually a waste of time to be talking about your music because I’d rather be listening to it again and again and again.
Matt, your voice and general musical prowess is so goddamn sexy, it makes your giggling elf persona into a whole other sex god. Although I can’t make much excuse for your apparently unbearable stinky feet. But again, you are one of my Alternative King Sex Gods.
Chris, your slap bass alone in “Undisclosed Desires” is the secret underlying sex appeal of the whole song (and who said it’s just Undisclosed Desires??). And your constant headbanging makes me fear for the strings in your neck come old age, but bang it away!
Dom, you are the backbone. The lovable balding Spiderman of Muse. Man, I could die from laughing because the combination of your Slipknot impression and yelling “SIT THE FUCK DOWNNN!” and Matt absolutely cackling in the background is just the epitome of WIN.
And boys, your cover of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” is just so fucking sexy, it’s the only love song I can listen to over and over again. Matt’s voice is contagiously sexy and Dom, your little vocal riff is much appreciated. And Chris, you’re just all the time fantastic, need I say more?
You inspire me in my creative ventures and as a band, have given me two gifts: inspiration and your music.

That was my love letter to Muse. I didn’t want to put any negativity in there, so here’s one qualm. There’s the fact that I can’t enjoy “Supermassive Black Hole” as much anymore because I’ve heard it so many times because of it’s exposure in fucking Twilight. Oh what the fuck. And apparently there’s another Muse song in the New Moon soundtrack, too—the name escapes me but there’s French in it. I have to say, the only reason why I can conceivably tolerate this and not go into a rampage on Twilight is because I secretly want Jasper Hale for myself. Alice can come, too, she seems chill. Everything else, MONOTONOUS GARBAGE. Now, moving on to more sitely matters…..

1 new premade layout.
1 new brushset.
Brand new stocks/scans page, with 3 light stocks and scan bundle.

{ Download 544 kb } { Preview }

That’s all for today lovelies. I might come back in and edit things later. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year!

Torrential Downpour

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:48:00 +0000

I am getting used to this! Being on break is what I mean. It’s so wonderful, I never want it to end. Today is Christmas Eve, and I’m going to suggest to my family that we do something, especially for my mom’s namesake; my lovely mother’s name is Eve. Anyway, I want to get into the sitely stuff so I can delve into the more interesting topic of today’s post.

12 new icons, categories Femme, Misc, and Music updated.
3 new icon textures.
8 new textures.
1 new art piece (yes!) and 3 retouches: Fergie, Amy Adams, & Mischa Barton

Teasers:

As another piece of news, I have also created a deviantART for Naeolia. naeolia @ deviantART. I want friends! heehee
In regards to this post’s icon, it is a marine flatworm. I think they are just about one of the most beautiful creatures I’ve seen. The way they move is entrancing, their colors, their form, everything is absolutely enchanting about them. But perhaps the most interesting piece of fact about them, is their sex life. Yes They reproduce by such a manner called “PENIS FENCING.” Penis fencing…hermmm…you can read all about that kinky stuff here on Wikipedia. And ooh! They have the same photo I used for this icon! Little cheats, it took me forever to find that photo. Anyway, it’s quite brutal, in the process the “losing” one gets all these holes all over the place, but perhaps this violent manner of reproduction makes way for such beautiful offspring. However, I’m glad humans don’t have to go through THAT. Well, the boys can with each other but not for us females! Hoo hoo, who knows, unbeknownst to us, maybe it’s a popular sleepover game for boys. :thinking:

P.S. Lovely new affiliate, Emilka!

And the holiday cheer...

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:49:50 +0000

Dear lovelies, I’ve returned from weeks of hibernation. And welcome to the new version; quite simple but it’s what I’m liking right now. Feedback please!
Only one more week of school and I’m going to be on winter break for two weeks! It’s a sorely needed vacation and I’ll be enjoying every second of it. I hope you all have some wonderful plans, and if not, make some! This holiday season feels extra special and I hope I get a chance to see some snow this year. I’ve been pretty overloaded with schoolwork, and although I’m still in way over my head, it’s time to lighten up a little.
I’ve never been one to get into New Year’s resolutions and goals, but I’d say after the given (get good grades, do some outstanding stuff, work hard ), I’d like to lose some weight. I’m currently 124 lbs, and that extra 4 just gives me the flubbery pudgery that prevents me from wearing whatever I want whenever I want. Ah, good luck to that. Why is it so ridiculously difficult to lose FOUR POUNDS?!? Anyway, off the sensitive weighty issue, do you have any goals you want to reach?
I’ll be doing my Christmas cards in a bit, and if you would like a personalized holiday lovenote from moi, feel free to e-mail me your mailing address. If I find myself with spare time on my hands, I might make a little digital gift for all my affies, but that’s a bigif.
To conclude, whether or not your winter is green or white, have a great December! I will definitely update at least one more time this month, so until then!

Blue Mascara

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:02:00 +0000

I hope you all had a very fun Halloween! Spookfest for sure. I was Alice Glass from the band Crystal Castles and then Maria from The Sound of Music.
I apologize for the lack of updates since school started—the load of schoolwork gets more ridiculous by the minute. I CANNOT WAIT for the Thanksgiving four day weekend. I am working on the new version but I keep getting mental blocks along the way as to what I want it to be. Hopefully I can just let my muse take over one day and churn something awesome out. Oh, one can hope…
I really just wanted to stop by so Naeolia doesn’t sit neglected until whenever the next time comes along where I have a packed update. So I figure I’ll just let a little out on what’s going on in my life. Might get boring, but it’s like therapy for myself so you can hitch a ride along.
I just took the SAT II Subject test in Korean this morning. I had to get up at 5:50 am! Ri-di-cu-lous. Grr…me not like getting up so early! I think I did pretty well, but send me telepathic well wishes, too! I want to get a good enough score so I don’t have to take it again next year. Tonight—I have to leave the house in approximately 1/2 an hour—I have a choir concert. If you want to be über stalker, it’s at the Marsee Auditorium at El Camino College at 8pm. It’s with the college’s symphony orchestra and it’s pretty exciting.
Tomorrow, I am going to have to be holed up in my room doing mountainous piles of homework. And possibly go collect phytoplankton from the ocean with my friend. Although that may be quite unlikely, since if I do that, somehow magically my whole day will while away (with Krystel) leaving me with no time to finish said shitload of homework. Aha, my life. Gloriously planned and executed. I leave you all now on this cynical note.

Fast Approaching

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:50:00 +0100

Hello there, stranger.
I’m sorry I’ve been off, and so has the website itself. My host has been changing servers, and the server had a mental breakdown, and all these shenanigans. I’ve also been gasping for breath, like a fish drowning in water, with this year’s schoolwork. It is crazy, how much there is. Anyway, I’m just glad I have the time to post this right now. I’m starting to think I should go back to my roots, in terms of the web, since these past few months I feel as if I’ve been working on Naeolia solely for other people. Not really visitors, since my content is pretty good, but as far as the network of other webbies. But I have all I need close to me, so I am going to do what suits myself for a while starting now.
Naeolia’s 2^nd anniversary is right around the corner! It’s the 22^nd, which will be Thursday. Wow, it feels like it’s been longer, but then maybe it’s because I’ve been around doing website stuff for 6 years now. Well, she’s still young yet and I know she has a lot to grow. I should get Naeolia a new outfit for the birthday, huh? This version has already been up since July. Hmm…I don’t think I’ll be able to make one on time, but hopefully before the end of October. I’ve had an idea festering in my mind since last month…
I’m drained. Don’t have much to blog about. Halloween’s in two weeks! (that’s supposed to be a vampire smiliey or something) It falls on a Saturday this year, but I wonder if my school will get decked out anyway. What a bother, and at the same time, not.
I’ve added four (4) new icon textures, check them out at the top of the page here. One (1) new brushset, Fashion Txt. I also have one new blend. Until next time!

Question: Have you thought up your Halloween costume yet? If so, what are you planning to be?

Tainted Talent

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:55:20 +0100

Whew, I am so glad I am updating within this month! School is crazy busy; this past Sunday I took a seminar with Krystel for the SAT. The presenter was funny in such an oddball nerdy way—here’s an example: “Let’s say when you got in trouble with your parents, you knew your butt was grass and someone else was the lawnmower.” Okay, maybe that’s only funny to me. Some crazy shit.
I’ve got some juicy oodle doodles, so I’ll start by presenting them. First up is a new colorization that I submitted for Red Heaven. I haven’t made any art for forever (I don’t count retouches as “art”, even though I put them on the same page), and I’m really happy with the way this color turned out. Then I have a pile of retouches, from neglect of updating about.

I’ve added the first premade layout to Naeolia! Give me some feedback (you don’t have to go download it, just from the preview). So far, one person has already downloaded it, but of course I don’t know who it is. Although I am positively itching to find out (which I probably won’t, unless he/she actually contacts me).

Sitely News: New (old) affiliate, Nadia! I have known her site forever, back when she ran The Butterfly, which Naeolia was also affiliated with. She decided to simplify her online life and set up house at Artphilia. Gorgeous.
And then, LUCY, I am so so so glad Paramour’s back. I was seriously worried about what would happen.
Now, I decided to list the top five downloads on Naeolia: 1. Small Text Brushet. 2. Weather Brushet. 3. Water Boxy Brushet. 4. Picture Frames. 5. Butterflies Brushet.
School has just been one long chain of avalanches. I like all my classes, but some of them are really hard to get through. I really hope I can come out of this year with good grades. Maybe it’s a little harsh to restrict myself to straight A’s, which I got last semester. AP’s really kick some busy ass. Here’s my schedule for those of you who are interested:

1^st period—Color Guard/Marching Band
2^nd period—AP English Language & Composition
3^rd period—AP United States History
4^th period—Spanish IV AP
5^th period—Marine Biology Honors
6^th period—Precalculus

On top of that, my choir is superrrrr active this year. I’m going to have to mold my schedule around really well, so as to avoid the least possible conflicts. I’m already missing two classes of the fall semester for sure to take the PSAT and a SAT. And to put the rotting, pruny, moldy cherry on top of Shitload Sundae, I need to get some major community service hours in to round myself out in applications and such. Ack, junior year really hits you hard! I desperately want to become a Teen Titan. Maybe I could get some Beast Girl powers, turn myself into an elephant, and pile the dung on top of some barely finished homework and hand it to the teacher (who obviously couldn’t accept it; hell, I don’t even want to transport it to school).

Question: What do you think of Lindsay Lohan? (she was the inspiration behind this post’s title)

Vote for Naeolia @ Aesthetic Intoxication!

Photo Flash: Crowded Nice Beach

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:39:00 +0100

Wooh, talk about beach bums! It’s like the entire country camped out…no wonder the water’s warm. I’m pretty sure this is in Nice, France—if I’m incorrect, please tell me! Since summer vacation is now totally over for me, I wanted to put up this photo flash as a memory of sweet, sweet summer. In terms of weather though, summer’s not over yet! Even down where I live (Southern California), the beach water was pretty good last week. I think it would be kind of gross to be at a beach this packed, however. The best thing I can envision is turning yourself over and landing in a hot guy’s lap. But most likely, his snooty topless girlfriend would be looking down at you with her Chloé sunglasses. Anyway, anyone else had a beach day this crazy before? Leave your funny, weird, sunburned beach anecdotes/escapades below!

Crimewave

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:22:00 +0100

It’s been over a month! I wasn’t walking along my street and fell into the gutter and got swept out into sea. Or just happened to have an anvil fall on me from a plane that was flying directly overhead. The first three weeks of August were just crazy: the 1^st week was birthdays galore (including mine!), and for the last two I was at color guard/band camp. I’ve had several moments of “I need to update!”, but they never turned into anything more. So sorry! Glad to be back, and with some serious content onslaught, too.
New Affiliate: b_13 at I My Me. She also runs that wonderful challenge site called Red Heaven…
New Brushset: Called Lines. You can see I used them in this layout at either sides of the main header image. Go click it out!
Twenty-three (23) new icons! In these categories, respectively: Femme, La Vie en Rose (new category!), and Men. Here’s some teasers:

Three (3) new textures! They’re all from stock photos I took.

And finally, one new icon tutorial. It’s the first Photoshop tutorial on Naeolia. Check it out here.
I’m SO GLAD foto decadent is back! Splendid, splendid. It’s like Disneyland for the hobbyist web designer. School starts up again on Tuesday. Oh joy. Summer sped by entirely too fast. I wonder if your summers get shorter the older you get? That’s an interesting thought. I am still really interested in seeing The Time Traveler’s Wife—has anyone seen it? I’ve heard a lot of negative comments but they’re not fazing me much. I am also enjoying reading The Scarlet Letter. I wonder if our society employed the same idea, the world would be covered with the letter ‘B’ on a million womens’ chests. Bitch.

new photography

Azarath Metrion Zinthos

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:29:00 +0100

Abracadabra—Brown Eyed Girls (Korean)
I made 50 bucks last night babysitting the 5 year old daughter of my neighbor’s girlfriend. I babysat his two boys and their friend a couple months ago (my neighbor’s a single dad/divorcee) and they’re all good kids. This was the first time I met the little girl (Anya) and the girlfriend/mother. Jeff, my neighbor, came to get me around 8pm, so I grabbed my cell phone and walked over. Turns out, Anya would be going to bed around 8:30, so I would only have to babysit her for 1/2 an hour. But then sit around until “around 11:30, is that all right?” they came back from their date, or whatever. At least I would have the TV and the girlfriend’s huge dog, Willy, for company. She was watching Alvin and the Chipmunks when I came in, and was fairly peaceful until I said bedtime at 8:30. Up until then, she’d been quiet and I guess a little shy of me, but then I saw the feistier/bossier side her mom had told me about before they left. So after she went pee-pee, changed into PJ’s, and brushed her teeth, we played Spongebob Life (her decision) for 15 minutes. She actually went to bed @ 8:55. I’m such a bad sitter, I let her play hooky for twenty-five minutes. She was a sweet kid though (in fact, I said the word “precocious” to Jeff, what the hell does that mean? oh *looks at dictionary*), and considering how long I took care of her for, I totally did not deserve the two Jacksons and a Hamilton on my desk right now.
As for the song on this post, if you’re open to international music, take a listen. BEG is my favorite South Korean girl group and they actually possess vocal talent (although it’s not really apparent in this song b/c of the vocoders and synths) both in the studio and performing live. They’ve really done a 360 with their image for this song and the music video. If you’d like, check out the MV for Abracadabra here: YouTube. They’ve never gone for the sexy steamy look before, but I have to say, they work it waaaay better than the adolescent teen girl groups (of which Korea has too many).
Yesterday, I think I watched the most TV I have for a long time. I was alone in the house in the afternoon since my dad went swimming so I flicked on the tube and clicked around for a while. I’m mostly a TBS person because it’s sitcoms galore and I enjoy those. I don’t watch TV very much, so I don’t really know what’s on that’s good at what time. I used to frequent Cartoon Network but then CN got all crappy. I say it started with Camp Lazlo. Relatively, I’ve grown up cartoon-wise on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Totally Spies, Ed Edd n Eddy, Teen Titans, and cool stuff like that. Then Foster’s started airing (which isn’t that bad but not my taste), and Camp Lazlo, and now I don’t even know. Everytime I go to CN, I swear, it’s the same freaking show. It’s these weird-looking monster things that’s stupid and they barely talk. Well, maybe they do, but I only stay for about 2 secs then go back to TBS. But yesterday, Teen Titans was actually on! Yeahhhh…I watched The End, parts II and III. Raven is so frickin awesome, she’s my favorite Titan. And although I’ve never been against the Robin and Starfire pairing, I’ve always wanted Robin and Raven to hook up. I mean, look at their names, too! I just realized that, it totally matches! They’re both birds. While I was waiting to go babysit and my parents were beachwalking, Total Drama Action (WTF?!?) came on. I think it’s some sort of “reality” cartoon show (which is a complete contradiction) that if you win the Fear-Factor like obstacles, you become famous or something. Whatevs, ridick. And then, while I waited for Jeff and his girlfriend to come back, I watched Disney Channel. Sue me, but there was nothing better on. I got all excited because Spiderman was on, but it was dubbed in Spanish so lost that. Prisoner of Azkaban was on but somehow I didn’t feel like watching it, and TBS was playing Kicking and Screaming. So, I turned to Hannah Montana and That’s So Raven for comfort.
Well, if you’ve been a somewhat avid Naeolia follower, you might have picked up that my family has a lot of gatherings. Guess what? My parents and I are going to my aunt’s house for another gathering tonight. My uncle went on a fishing trip to Mexico so I guess we’re all going to have a fishy surprise.

The Consistency of Squirrel Droppings

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:29:00 +0100

Thanks for all your lovely comments on the new version. I’m glad you all like it. I actually have quite a few things to update about today, so here I am! I’ll do first things first, so first let’s unveil the new art! I’ve made one new art piece. It’s a bit deviated from my entry for Love in Japan’s layout challenge. I was browsing foto decadent (sadly which seems to have been deleted by livejournal) and found these exquisite photos and it was just an, “Aha!” moment for me to decide to make the underlying theme “flying away.” It’s the 1^st thumbnail. Then my colorization for Serendipity Blends. It should just slightly freak you out (I hope ). Then technically, although they can’t really be considered “art”, I have 4 new retouches. Four because I forgot to blog about two of them last time. I won a Platinum award from PSPassion for the Megan Fox retouch! I never considered it to be even close to that good. My favorite out of this quartet batch is the Heidi Klum. Maybe because I didn’t do it for a challenge, but just for the heck of it. I’ll stop talking now and actually show them.

I seem to be on a challenge roll. I just keep entering different ones! The icon for this post and one more in the Femme category were also challenge entries. You like?
On the resources side of things, it’s not the conventional stuff like brushes or textures. I wrote up one new tutorial on those neat little customized scrollbars I used in the last version. It’s called jScrollPane. Clicky clicky. The download is included, with permission from the author. Secondly, I’ve updated the Other Downloads page, and added the flash music player I used in the last update. I didn’t make it, just found the code lying around somewhere and figured out how to use it. So mp3 it up! Okay, now my head is spinning from all the mental calculations I had to do for all the new additions.
I finished the subdomain hosting website for Naeolia! So check it out here and apply if you’re interested: Hosting @ Naeolia.net. If you’re competent and accepted, you start off w/500 megs of space, which I think is pretty sweet for subdomains. What do you think of the layout? Too flashy? I’m going to revamp Naeolis Designs next, which leads me to the next topic.
I downloaded Wordpress to use with the design site; it was sheer hell for the first couple hours. I hated it, was wondering why everyone else LOVES it so much, and was seething in front of the comp. I figured it out, could vaguely tell why people might like it, and am on okay terms with WP now. But it still kind of pisses me off. I think FanUpdate is the top of the glorious mountain so… I think it’s because I’m so used to hand-coding every detail myself, that not seeing where everything is the way I put it kind of bothers me. If only my math brain was as large and helpful as my HTML data bank.
If you’re wondering about this post’s title, I’m referring to Gimli’s quote in The Two Towers when they’re in Fangorn. Ooh, almost forgot! I have a lovely new affiliate, Gwen! *hugs* We are proof that barging into someone’s blog (me) and striking up a conversation (all these months) works! Anyway, by now I’ve lost all my bearings for what I originally wanted to talk about, and this is already so long and I’m sure most of you aren’t even reading this last sentence right now. So toodly-doo for now!

Euphoria

nicole@naeolia.net (Naeolia) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:35:00 +0100

Cake—Short Skirt, Long Jacket
It’s moved! It’s all done! It’s gleamingly, shiningly, new. I think this is actually the shortest amount of time I’ve ever spent on putting up a new version, and this time it included the extra lag in buying the domain and setting up things. Woohoo!
I know how this layout looks in a 1280×800 screen res, and in the latest versions of Firefox, Safari, and IE. Please tell me if something, anything, looks off to you! And of course, I want to hear feedback. This is somewhat radically different from any of my previous layouts so I did a lot of experimenting. By the way, this layout should be centered; if it’s not on your screen, well, then, we have a problem.
Affiliates, please change my link to naeolia.net.
If you find a broken link/download, please tell me immediately. I’m not sure if the site is 100% up.
I was supposed to go to the beach yesterday, but I didn’t. I feel kind of bad for my friend, who planned the whole thing (and I’d been saying that I was definitely going). I just made an excuse about how “I’d rather not say…[why I probably won’t end up there].” In truth, I was working on Naeolia like crazy and I wanted to finish it all by today. She’s super tight so she would’ve understood if I told her that I’m on this roll designing my website (she knows). But then again, I live five minutes away from the beach so I could’ve popped in for an hour or two and tell my dad to snooze in the parking lot or something. Oh well, we’re thinking about going to see My Sister’s Keeper sometime soon (Krystel, this is a date for the three of us!) so I guess it’s okay.
I know I should really get cracking on that shitload of AP summer homework but I’m not even in the same magnetic field as the books (there’s four! Four textbooks!). Ah, just for bores, I’ll tell you the classes: English 3 AP (Language & Composition), US History AP, Spanish 4 AP. I’ve never had summer homework before! I’ve only done summer school once, in 3^rd grade. All the trials to get into a good university…
Who’s watched The Proposal? I thought it was pretty funny. I haven’t seen a romcom for a while and it was nice. I have to say there’s just something about Sandra Bullock’s face that throws me off, but overall she’s good. Ryan Reynolds was so cute. I just watched his 2005 movie Waiting… recently and it was really funny. It’s R and anyone who likes a good laugh (derived from the use of endless profanity, crude humor, etc.) should watch it. I strongly recommend.
Leave me lots of