Hi guys,

A week later find me feeling a lot better, but still seeking out closure after what the previous week consisted of. I won't go into too much detail, but my uncle went peacefully and without pain, surrounded by family and friends. Mom and I, at that time, were rushing home after landing in Halifax and hitting the highway for four more hours of driving. We were an hour and a half away from my hometown by the time we got the word of my uncle passing on. That night felt weird, up until we were informed.. things just didn't feel 'right', y'know?

I won't lie, it hurt like hell.. it was one of the most surreal, painful feelings to get word of one of my favorite uncles leaving this world. But after hearing about the manner of his death, hearing about what he would have been in for -- had he not been taken so peacefully and quickly -- it was a relief too. He was not meant to suffer so.

So here I sit, back on the West coast and very reflective, but fully aware of how family can heal. How important families are, big or small, and how everyone can be a pillar of support to one another when the going gets tough. Please, never take family for granted.

So yeah.. I hope to -- gasp -- get some art up soon. My muse has dried up, so it's hard for me to think of who to draw, let alone WHAT. It's been a bad year for art.. I really think I should go off and find a course, or something, to get myself out of this rut and get some new inspiration. Perhaps in the New Year, when I get a bit more time to myself after my second installment of school.

That said, everyone, hope you're all well. Sorry for all of those morose entries.. things will get better. Both in life, and art.

<3

Won't be much activity on this side of things for a little while, folks.

My uncle, noted in the previous entry, has taken a turn for the very worst and has been declared terminal. I am going to fly back East to be there for my family, for him. Very little net access, if any, so I am sorry if I am slow to respond to anything. If I need to be reached in the duration, send a line out to 'naefalia@hotmail.com'. Gone Tuesday, Nov 10th til' either the 16th or 17th.

Be well. Hug a loved one.

A little over a week ago, I found out that an uncle of mine was diagnosed with cancer, though caught early on and deemed 'level one'. He went for more testing. Four days ago, I heard an update that the cancer was pegged in his tonsil, and it has since begun to cause problems with his jaw and neck, and swallowing. He cannot eat properly. He has yet to get further scans, to see if the cancer has spread further. In the meantime, he can only drink nutrient and calorie-rich shakes to try building up his weight, for the aggressive treatment that he will soon have to endure.

I spent a lot of time with this uncle when I was little; was practically a stand-in 'daughter' for him and his then-wife, when they had no kids of their own. He took me to duck ponds, where we watched mallards and fed them bread. He took me on his runs with him, when he used to deliver milk to homes. He braved hours of Sesame Street and Yogi bear, when I wanted to watch it. He had, and still has, an amazing sense of humor and can make anyone laugh.

So guys, whatever your faith, your higher power.. please send a thought or prayer on his behalf. And cross your fingers for us.

Tagged by the fantastic ...! <3

The rules are:

1. Post these rules.
2. Each tagged person must post 10 things about themselves on their journal.
3. At the end, you have to choose and tag 10 people and post their icons on the same journal.
4. Go to their pages and send a message saying you tagged them.
5. No tag-backs.

1. I started out as the youngest in my family, born two months premature... was supposed to be born on August 17th, also my maternal gramma's birthday. My one biological brother was the oldest by seven years. These days, counting both sides of my wonderful blended family, I am now ONE of the oldest (third oldest, two younger than me). I don't see 'step' or 'half' as part of the equation, when it comes to family. To me, they are wholly my siblings. But it's interesting to go from being the 'baby' to someone that my younger siblings can hopefully look up to, even if they live across the country.

2. My all-time favorite teacher was my Grade 1 elementary teacher, Mrs. Kibyuk, in 1991. She was the one who would look at my scribbles and messed-up sketches that I'd do in class, and say they looked wonderful. I owe much of my progression in art to the kind words of that sweet woman. I have not seen her since 2001.

3. I've been drawing, and tremendously imaginative, since 1989/90. While my ideas nowadays are not so abstract, I use art and written work as a sort of escape from stress or tough times. Other than that, I am not a professional artist, and really have no problem with not being one. If anything, I'm a mutt-cartoonist. Art is stress relief, not a money-maker for me.

4. I am Catholic. As a follow-up to this fact, when I attended my First Confession as a little girl, I confessed to the priest about feeding cornflakes and toaster-strudel icing to my cat, Tigger. Not a word of lie.

5. My absolute favorite movie, and I have claimed this ever since I first witnessed it, happens to be the low-budget delight, "Drop Dead Fred". I can watch this, literally, over and over..

6. I was terrified to use contact lenses, sat in front of a mirror struggling and crying for hours. Yet, five years later, I laid placidly as my corneas were shaved off and a laserbeam was shot into each eyeball. (PRK surgery, another form of LASIK.)

7. Past, strange phobia that I had as a kid: was TERRIFIED of pinecones. Like, would be sent into a screaming, bawling, RUNNING terror at the sight of one. I was about three, four..

8. Again, when I was a really young child, I was petrified of Care Bears.. I kid you not. That "Shreeky" chick scared the sh*t out of me. But, I'd watch movies like Arachnophobia and Predator without flinching.

9. I love feathered, angelic wings; I love to draw them, to see them. This has been a fixation since childhood. When I was about five, my brother took one of my old sweaters and pinned wings made out of cardboard and tinfoil onto it. He hung it on knob, outside of my bedroom door, and I found them when I woke up that morning. On them, a 'note from God'. I will never forget that excitement; I wore them out, needless to say, lol.. and even wore it out in public. But c'mon.. I was five.

10. I am not a big drinker. I haven't touched alcohol up until the past four years or so. I prefer wine, specifically any sort of white wine. I am a lover of White Zinfandel.

--

I am horrible at tagging. Seriously. So if you read this wholly, you have been therefore tagged!!

(I'm too lazy and indecisive..)

C'mon, try this out.. I want to learn about you~

As an afterthought to my previous entry, I'm still in a Beast Wars mood. So, what better way to stoke the fire than to read old fanfiction..!!

... seriously?

Okay, meaning, my old fanfiction. I think I'm just masochistic, to be looking at these things. In doing so, it makes me want to type up something a bit better, in all honesty. ^^

These crusty old things are from 1997/98. I remember writing them; just this kid at a computer, lol. Had a GREAT time, which was what ultimately mattered. But. BUT. They're painful!!! So utterly, absolutely agonizing. The grammar, the cliches, the mary-sues and stus. I kid you not, the formatting is horrendous.

They're all typed up like this,no spaces between the commas,lots of................'s and NO SPACE BETWEEN COMMAS,and I used to go crazy with rambling sentences and I spelled 'you all' as 'yous',because my East Coast accent was so often integrated into the way I typed,isn't that scary?????!!!!!Did I mention that I used a lot of ??????s and !!!!!!!s????

Seriously, there are like four fanfics here, of phenomenal length, that are typed up JUST. LIKE. THAT.

But you and I both know that I cannot bring myself to get rid of them. It's kinda like watching Monty Python.

Ah, youth~