Pictures! Here are photos of Pierre the hooded vulture taking my donation for the Future for Wildlife program. He took the money and put it into the donation box, for which he got a click and delicious treat.




( +1 )

I got a video of strawberryjeli giving him a donation as well.

And here are pictures of my new birdfeeder setup in the backyard. The hanging baskets are an awesome addition. I've seen a dozen butterflies feeding on the flowers, making it a butterfly feeding station as well, and the strawberries will be most delicious.



( +3, incl. closeup of birdbath )

So far, I haven't seen any birds on the feeders except Scrub Jays. Then yesterday I saw a baby Scrub Jay and realized that they'd nested in the big tree you see behind the feeders in the first pic again this year, so they're probably chasing off all the other birds from the yard. That's okay, I like Scrub Jays. :D And baaaaaaaaaby Scrub Jays especially!

And finally, here is a ceramic piece I did in the spring term. Unfortunately it cracked down the side, but the decoration is still awesome, so I plan on doing something in a series next term. Maybe a series of animal skeleton tiles -- and a Tser skeleton con badge! It'd be heavy, but awesome.



( +1 closeup )

This was done with the technique called mishima. I carved the design out of the dark-colored clay, then filled it with white slip, waited impatiently over a week for it to dry, and then scraped off the excess to reveal the design. Painstaking, but worth it.

For the short, intense summer term we're doing exclusively alternative firings. Friday, I made two pieces on the wheel (others cranked out four or five... I'm still getting the hang of it). They're being bisqued, and next class we'll be saggar firing them with a variety of materials like chicken manure, seaweed, copper sulfate, salts, string, and cedar branches. The results will be serendipitous! Other firings we're doing include wood fire, pit fire, salt fire, and naked raku (peel-away slip, horsehair/feather). I'm so excited. I hope my pieces come out!

The clay I got at the professor's recommendation is the groggiest clay I've ever encountered. It's so full of sand it looks like my sponge and other tools have been to the beach.

I cracked up.



Watch at 1:17. And best yet, ANYONE can use the Worx GT.

Even able-bodied young women.

1. You can ONLY answer 'Yes' or 'No'.

2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone comments you and asks— and, believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming. Nothing is exactly as it seems.

( Yes/No Meme )

Feel free to ask about any, as per rules.

OMG! Next week is finals! Stress will be (mostly) over. <3 <3 This weekend, I have to make a webpage that reviews kittens. (Unless you all can think of a better thing for me to review.)

Just got back from a trip to Pittsburgh. It was Zlato's cousin's wedding. The music was awesome, as expected. Flew all day Friday, wedding Saturday, a trip to the National Aviary on Sunday (Honah and I sketched birds) and then flying all day yesterday. It was fun, and I loved seeing Zlato's family, but I'm really tired. Honah and I came back (and I paid money to get my ticket changed so I could fly with her instead of alone! panic!) for school but Zlato's still in PA.

I really can't wait for the end of this term. Next term will be whirlwind but a much lighter load.

This is my favorite delicious sauce that I put on nachos, tacos and burritos. Don't expect it to taste like cheese, or you'll be disappointed, but it's delicious in its own right. I love it with refried beans, avocado, onion and tomato. I could nom so much of this stuff.

1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Water

In a medium saucepan, mix yeast, flour, paprika, and salt together. Add 1 cup water. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches desired thickness. (If you don't stir, it will get lumpy.)

You can use less garlic if you don't like it as much as I do; I use less salt than the recipe calls for. Also, you can stir in a tablespoon of vegan margarine at the end, after it has thickened up, if you'd like -- some people I know would be scandalized that I never do, say the fat is the best part, but I really can't tell the difference. Heh.

Tsercorn by =Indigo-Ocean on deviantART

Eeeeee. :D Indi drew my unicorn form.

Stolen from fareme.

( Girl Stuff )

I repotted my temperate carnivorous plants today. They're dormant right now so it's not really worth taking photos. I'm waiting for the parrot pitchers to be available from Sarracenia Northwest.

I want to make some planters in ceramics. Most ceramic planters at the store are unglazed on the inside, but carnivorous plants do better in planters that are glazed inside and out.

I made these in my beginning ceramic class. I can't wait to hang them up, I just need some chain!

The birdhouse is coil built. It is built to the size that wrens and chickadees prefer, 4 inches in diameter at the bottom, about 9 inches deep, with the 1 1/4 inch hole about 6 inches above the bottom. These little birds like cathedral ceilings!



It is stoneware clay, fired to cone 10. The glaze was complicated, despite it's look. The branches took four coats, plus a coat of wax resist. The body is glazed in a subtle celadon.

The inside is left unglazed, to give little baby birds a way to climb out when it's time to leave the nest!

( More photos, and matching birdfeeder, under the cut. )

Poll #1364014
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: All

Should I broadcast my Twitterings here via LoudTwitter?

Oh yeah. I'm tser on Twitter. Probably mentioned this before. Too tired to go look. -_-

Had a hoooooorrible day at school today. Oi. But, I bought myself an iPod touch. I've been wanting an iPod forever. Also, it's almost spring break. Two critiques and one exam left to go.

I am in serious sleep deficit.

This is long. If you just want the art, it's behind the cuts. XD

After FC I was busy at school, and then I got the stomach flu. Today I have tons of art homework, math homework, a paper for yoga, and the gryphon_xchange emails to do (last call for sign-ups!), but first I figured I'd scan the wonderful artwork I got at FC, and share with everyone.

zlatohrbitek and I went alone this year, and aaaamory decided to stay home so she wouldn't miss school and wouldn't catch con crud. It was very weird, not being a table bitch this year! We still managed to be insanely busy, somehow.

I started out the con *uber-way-over-the-top* shy. I've been much shyer and having more trouble with crowds and being alone since my mom died. A little afraid, but mostly just overwhelmed. It got better as the con went on, but I was still not as outgoing as I have been in the past.

I saw lots of wonderful people. More than I could ever acknowledge in my journal. I love going to conventions primarily for that reason... I get to connect with so many folks I don't get to see otherwise.

Ironically, some of them live something like less than five miles from me and we still rarely see them! That includes ayukawataur and ryokokitty. The last time we saw them was at our wedding. Zlato and I went out to dinner with them at FC one night to a little Mediterranean cafe just a short walk from the con hotel. It was really great to see them, we got to chat with ayukawataur quite a bit throughout the con despite running from place to place trying to get everything in.

The cafe opened just 3 months prior to the con, and it wasn't on any of the con restaurant lists or anything, which was unfortunate. We saw that several furs did find their way there, though. They were extremely nice and we ate there a bunch of times. Not too many vegan options around.

jaygryph was another local we saw there who we just don't see enough around here. However, I am going to bug him a great deal before Rainfurrest because I now have a goal -- make a Scram costume before the con. Those of you who know my Scram character know she's a decaying, diseased, barely-alive plague/sewer rat. Jaygryph knows his zombies, and he's good at building things, special effects, and technical aspects. I will pick his rotting brains for help in making Scram a good costume.

selasphorus and kynekh_amagire came to the con for one day. I went to the Art of Wings panel (I think that's what it was called, more on that later) and Lux was there too... we shared a crow wing and a dead sparrow. Kynekh made me a badge! First arts alert!

( Tserisa juxtaposed with Banana Slug )

Kynekh also made Zlato an absolutely adorable Pack Fox badge which he posted in his journal. (He carries my bag for me during cons because for some reason carrying a heavy bag for long gives me a headache. And because it's cute. He's my service animal.)

nambroth and eldarath were there, and it was fantastic to meet them in person. I got a watercolor sketch commission from Nam, and it was beyond my wildest dreams. I have a sketchbook with the theme "fantastic feathers" -- I'm just obsessed with feathers, so it's pretty much up to the artist what to put in there, as long as it has feathers. Feathered dragons, birds, gryphons, weasels with feathers, wings stuck on anything, phoenix, whatever. However, since I wanted the watercolor, it couldn't go in my sketchbook. Erm, next time I'll have to commission her for an ink sketch or something directly in the book. Heh. I need to ask her if I can post the pic I got from her, though.

Nam and Vantid ran the Art of Wings panel, which was fantastic. Not only extremely informative, but full of dead things. <3 Zlato seemed to enjoy it as well.

( I took what I learned and applied it to this drawing. )

I finally got to meet fishyboner! Zlato and I were so glad that she was there, not only because she's freaking awesome, but because we had been pondering what to get Honah as a gift from our trip. We were trying to think of an artist she had said she admired before, and one of those was Fishy. So we commissioned Fishy for a picture of Honah. When we told Honah, she said Fishy's art was "badass". That somes it up. Fishy herself is badass. The picture by Fishy is also in Zlato's journal.

Also, if anyone can tell me how to record to video from something recorded on TiVo, I would be eternally grateful. >_>


I also saw many people briefly, but did not get to spend much time with them, including tugrik, summer_jackel, countless artists I bebothered at their tables like digitalis and other people I simply passed by shyly, too meek to say hello, like rosequoll (whose ears turned out fantastic). (And, if I talked to you but didn't mention you here, it's probably because I'm too shy and wouldn't think you'd notice me anyway.)

I commissioned one other picture besides the watercolor sketch by Nam. That was a badge from Savannah Horrocks.

( Absolute fawning and delight here. )

Zlato also got another commission, from skulldog. It is absolutely gorgeous and I love the expressions it captured. It's so sweet. It has inspired me and now I want a whole sketchbook of drawings of Zlato the adventurer and his draconic mount, Tserisa, both clean and adult. (Very fantasy RP style.) It is NSFW but I am putting it here anyway!

( NSFW! Zlato and Tserisa after a long day of quests and stuff. )

Also, Clare Bell was at the con. I read the Ratha books over and over and ... over when I had was in Jr. High. I had a job in the school library, and during lulls in activity (shelving, scanning, laminating, checking books in and out) I would read. And the library had the Ratha books and also Clare Bell's book Tomorrow's Sphinx, and I fell in love with them. They're about prehistoric big cats, for those who haven't read them. Clare Bell was awesome. Not only is she an excellent animal-geeky author, she's a scientist, engineer, and high geek. She is on Twitter, RPs the Ratha world on her message board, loves fanfic, has been involved in scifi fandom for a long time, etc. So her reading and everything else was very cool.

She was also at the Furry Linguistics panel that Zlato and I went to, which was very fun. I've always been fascinated by conlangs, and had a bit of an interst in linguistics since that's what my dad's half of the family does (his brothers are/were all professors of language studies at various universities). I also was able to contribute a bit about animal sound anatomy that wasn't included, since the main linguistic expert running it, Linguisticat, I think? was an expert in how humans make sounds, which is very different than some animals, such as birds. Aspects of language such as body language, scent and so on were also discussed.

I think the hardest part of the con for me was that I kept thinking how much I wanted to share with my mom or show her.

And then the past week has been REALLY hard for me missing my mom. I've been crying a lot, and having absolutely horrible, graphic dreams. It's really tough.

And now I should go draw.

I would really like to be fed to vultures.

This is done by some religious groups in India (dogs can also consume the body). However, vulture populations have dramatically declined due to a painkiller fed to cows (now banned) that kills them if they eat the cattle's corpses, and this traditional rite is in danger even there. Obviously it would be hard to get permission to do that here.

I forgot to post about it! I'll be leaving for FC tomorrow. Anyone want to get together can reach me on my email, tserisa at gmail dot com, since I'll be taking my laptop. I'll be there from Thursday eve through Monday (I'll be flying back to Oregon Tuesday morning).

My sleep schedule is so so messed up. I only go to bed when I absolutely can't keep my eyes open anymore because I don't want to lie in bed and think.

Rules: For 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same.

Day 2: So much snow. I haven't seen this much snow here in the valley in all my 28 years.

Day 1: Watching The Neverending Story.

I tag whoever thinks this might be beneficial to them.

Thank you, everyone. Really. You've been so kind and supportive. Every single message I got meant so much.

I try to keep busy. When I stop, I start to think, and it gets bad. We went to see the Messiah last night and that was really hard for me and I kept crying, because we took my mom to see it before, at the same church. The hardest part right now, even if I keep busy, is I keep thinking I should show things to my mom or tell her things. And I'll never share anything with her again.

We have about a foot of snow with half an inch (or more by now) of ice over the top, and snow on top of that. Zlato has a plane to catch super early in the morning on the other side of Portland, and he doesn't own chains or traction tires. I'm really worried. I need him to be safe.

I'm starting over on my happy things every day meme because I kind of lost heart on it.

Rules: For 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same.

Day 1: Watching The Neverending Story.

I tag whoever thinks this might be beneficial to them.

My mom died today. Thank you everyone for being there.

My mom looks awful. They'd lightened her sedation and she was struggling. She's got terrible edema all over so they started her on a diuretic. My dad took me, we didn't stay long because the roads around my house are so bad with ice he wanted to get home before it got dark. On the way home we slid and he got stuck several times.

This Russian folk song is absolutely incredible. Listen to it with good speakers nice and loud. It's Аллилуя (Alleluyah) by the Karelian Folk Music Ensemble.

Also, dootchan tagged me:

Rules: For 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same.

Day 1: Listening to Russian folk music while looking out at the snow.

I tag whoever thinks this might be beneficial to them.

No change with mom. It snowed all day today, and even if it's not much snow, it was very slippery, there were many accidents, everything closed (including roads). Oregon doesn't use salt on roads, and we don't have equipment and so on to deal with it. I can't remember getting this much snow here in the valley in my life (doesn't mean it didn't happen, I just don't remember; we got it a lot in the Gorge though, visiting my grandparents in the Hood River area). It snowed from dusk to dawn. So I didn't go see my mom.

I'm a Dragon but I have a form that represents what I'd be as a Gryphon, and I've finally come up with my Unicorn form as well. I quickly sketched a character sheet today.



She's a Hyracotherium unicorn (better known as Eohippus, or "Dawn Horse", the likely ancestor of horses, tapirs, and rhinos). She retains Tser's prehensile tail, omega irises and long ears, because it's just not Tser without those! I don't know what colors or patterns she is yet but I have a few ideas.

I'm trying to keep busy, because if I stop I think.

I got my final grades for the term. I managed to get all "A"s despite a rather crappy end to the term. Whew.

Thanks everyone.

She's been heavily sedated for the past couple days. She looks a lot more comfortable than the night they intubated her -- that was really hard to watch. They seem to have gotten the sedation right. She's not responded to my presence but I've been playing her Christmas music. She always starts listening to Christmas music on Thanksgiving. She especially likes rock Christmas music like the Very Special Christmas CDs. I looked for them at my parents' house today and didn't see them though.

Tomorrow they'll do a breathing test to see if they can take the tubes out.

I finished my last final today, in Critical Thinking. I don't think I got as high a score as the midterm, but I did get an A on my ancient astronauts paper. I can't understand his comments on my paper though, his handwriting is ATROCIOUS.

Here are two of my projects from my first term of ceramics. Hopefully I'll get better, I'm taking it again next term.





I really really want a kiln. They're expensive though.

Also, I'll post my sign language paper that I did for my writing class as a friends-locked entry. Let me know if you want to read it and I don't have you friended (I just don't want it searchable, because it mentions family members and names and I don't know if they want the attention).

At the hospital. Mom took a turn for the worse. They had to intubate her again. When she found out, she said, "No fun," and also cried. It breaks my heart to see her so scared and sad. The pneumonia caused damage to her lungs. They don't think they can fix it. She's dying.

The doctor says my mom isn't out of the woods yet, but she has improved and there's a chance she'll pull through. She says she's going to get better. My mom is tough. She constantly amazes me. She's very, very sick, and has been for a long time. But she seems determined to hang on just a little bit longer.

Today, as soon as I got to the hospital, she said, "Have you talked to Mary Lou yet?" and sent me out of the room to find her.

My mom has been going to the hospital every week for paracentesis. The receptionist in the radiology center where they do the procedure has been giving my mom regular updates about her granddaughter -- a tiny preemie who weighs three pounds. This was a big milestone, as she weighed one pound at birth! Their goal is for her to come home for Christmas. My mom told me just a couple weeks ago that the baby was her hero, "If she can fight, I can fight." She was desperate for updates.

Mary Lou doesn't work on weekends, but the receptionist that was there told me how the baby was doing. She reached four pounds and was still doing great. My mom was so happy to hear.

She slept most of today, and I napped in the room.

One of her main worries right now, which she's mentioned several times, is, "How am I going to go Christmas shopping?" I told her the best gift she can give ANY of us is to be there, but that's not enough for her.

I have finals on Monday and Thursday. Hopefully some of my brains will be back by then.