One serving

Contrary to popular (German) belief, 500ml does not equal one serving of beer.

Mmm, beer. Germany has definitely turned me onto beer. I can finally start to understand frat boys and their obsession with beer. But only kind of. I don't understand the bit where they drink it upside down or from a tube . . . blurgh.

On a different note, I've just realized that this blog is going into its 5th month of operation. That's hugely impressive---for me, at least. And thank YOU for reading! I know the comics can be pretty lame but this is a great way for me to keep my friends up to date on what I'm doing and also to motivate myself to draw something everyday. So yes! Thanks, danke, merci, arigato!

Anywho, between October and now, my hair's grown out quite a bit. At a certain point I was actually able to pull in into a pathetic paintbrush-esque ponytail, but it also looked like a semi-girl-mullet so I cut that off.

But I've gotten used to the way I draw the hair, so I guess I'll just keep drawing it the same way. I like my hair short anyway.

Bis morgen!

Brainstorming

Back from 6 hours of brainstorming. I'm all brainstormed out. Blergh. And now. . . BEER! Yay! I've been looking forward to this all week.

I was teaching my mom the difference between the long and short o sounds in English the other day, and I'm not sure how exactly it happened, but she started saying "whore" to practice her long o's, and wouldn't stop.

Uncooperative but eager to learn.

Abaya fashion

The world of abaya fashion: another reason I kind of miss my abaya.

Though really, the fact that I can miss it is a luxury.

Nickelback

Morning entry. I'm procrastinating.

I don't pretend to have awesome taste in music (I don't), but if you're over 16 and you like Nickelback . . . I might judge you. More than a little bit.

Family and Pets

This crazy weekend of three 7-hour-a-day art classes is approaching. Urp. I'm kind of looking forward to it, and kind of not.

I particularly miss the cute little nieces and nephews. And the kittehs!

Not your mama

You know I'm avoiding work when I update my blog in the morning. Hmmmm.

I'm on an abaya streak. This happens a lot . . .

I've got a lot to do today, but so reluctant to start . . . blurgh.

Abayadvantage

More Saudi-related comics.

When I moved to Riyadh at the age of 13, I was horrified at the idea of wearing abayas and covering my head. I'd just discovered boys and spaghetti-strap tank tops (god, so 90s) and I was resentful of the oppressive Saudi laws that took my freedom away. But then, like all things, I got used to it. And once I got past the oppressiveness of the abaya, I started to notice its advantages.

I, for one, was a big fan of wearing my abaya over my pajamas, going to the mall, and walking into fancy shmancy stores for kicks.

Sometimes I miss wearing my abaya . . .

Inspired by a comic from the awesome Pigs in Maputo blog.

(Saudi friends: let me know if you remember any other funny Saudi stories that I've forgotten.)

Superpowers

Lingerie store clerks in Saudi develop the bizarre but impressive skill of determining bra sizes under abayas.

True story that K once told me back when we lived in Riyadh.

Jikkilicious

Happy Saturday!

I'm not sure what's going on, but I found myself unable to draw anything mildly interesting today. But yes. I do have exciting news to share! My superhot guitarist friend Jikki is about to release her first album Pop Metal Guitar Venus on March 4 (available at amazon.co.jp), and so I thought I'd share the news with you. The album consists of 3 original songs and 8 tracks of 80s metal covers. She's superhot, and yes, she does all the superhardcore shred riffing herself. I mean, seriously. It doesn't get much hotter than that.

Hardcore shredding? Check. Supercute vocals? Check. Gorgeous musician? Check.

Anyway. Probably best to hear it for yourself. Check out her video:

And check her out on her website or her facebook page.

Right. Time for bed now. I'm hoping for more inspiration tomorrow. I should also probably go do some still life drawings . . .

Fire Pig

The rasta dude in my art class is super friendly, and he's always bringing his artwork to class to show to us. He's actually not that great of an artist, but he's a supersweet guy who cooks his own lunch and brings it to class in a gigantic tupperware.

Anyway, today in class, he put a pile of his works in front of my seat and told me to take a look.

"Feuerschwein?"

Andre is full of mysteries . . . or possibly just high.

Meat is Romance

This isn't a comic, but I was perusing around Daily Portal Z, one of my favourite Japanese websites, and found a funny article about everything imaginable being valentinified for, well, Valentine's Day. Even if you can't read the Japanese, I recommend checking it out for pretty outrageous V-day decorations in Japanese supermarkets.

Ok, I get the wine. But V-day steak, salad, and bread?

Everything looks cuter when it's in a heart-shaped package.

So last night, after a day of translating and transcribing, I went to see a series of short films for the Berlinale with G. The last time I'd seen shorts in a theatre was at probably back in 2007 or 2008, so it was fun. I guess the biggest one they had was the 30-minute long Spike Jonze piece called Scenes from the Suburbs based on an Arcade Fire album. The others were also excellent, like the one from Iran called Untying the Knot by the currently imprisoned director Jafar Panahi about a brother and sister letting go of their family carpet to pay for a dowry. 

The theatre was packed but we managed to get good seats, and even got to hear brief Q&As with directors and other people involved. All in all an excellent evening.

and a comic to follow later!

**
okay. So not a comic, but here are some slices of lotus. Maybe I'll work on turning this into a wallpaper . . .

mmm, delicious lotus root.

Savages

So I was in Turkey last week visiting Z&M. There I learned that the Turkish word for foreigner (yabancı) sounds a lot like the Japanese word for savage (yabanjin 野蛮人). Thanks to that knowledge I found myself reacting hypersensitively whenever anyone mentioned that word.

Well, tourists can be savages . . .

Janglicism

It happens in every language, but the Japanese language is overflowing with anglicisms. And as much as I try to avoid them, I still get suckered into using them. But seriously though, I wish we could do something about our Engrish grammar (as much as I enjoy it) before we start flooding our vocabulary with complicated anglicisms that 70% of the people don't understand anyway.

rant rant.

**
Byakuyako (Into the White Night) last night was amaazing, by the way! It was the first time my mom had been to a movie theatre since mid 2009, and they really enjoyed it. But my poor dad sat next to some dude who apparently farted halfway through the movie. My mom told him that he should have made a scene and pretended to choke. Hmm. Anyway. The film was good. 

Roses are red

Valentines Shmalentines.

Going to see 白夜行 (Byakuyako) with my parents tonight. :)

Japanese bums

I thought she was joking . . . but she wasn't.

That being said, I am so installing a Washlet when I have my own apartment.

Ooh! Happy Sundog, it's Postsecret day!

Lautrec

I had my 7-hour art class on Friday. The class consists of five young girls, me, and a 21-year-old guy with dreads up to his waist.

Not your friend

I have been sketching and translating my CV into German today so diligently that I actually forgot to eat lunch. What is this world coming to? And for some reason I'm updating my blog instead. Weird!

Anyway. My mom was telling me about how she had never seen cockroaches until she moved from Hokkaido to Tokyo, so when she saw one for the first time, she actually caught it and put it in a cage, thinking it was a rhino beetle . . .

Ewie. One of the best reasons to live in relatively cockroach-free Berlin.

Back!

Back from terrific Turkey. I didn't have much energy to do anything at all yesterday. My body had absolutely refused to turn on my computer, so I lay reading the Amish Harlequin novel (yes, Amish!) that P sent me for my birthday until I fell asleep at around 10. But yes. I'm still snotty but I'm starting art classes at the community college tonight. Slightly...nervous. Yes. Anyway.

I'd hoped it was a sarcastic remark, but it wasn't.

**
It's 2am.
Dammit. I said I was going to bed two hours ago. How did this happen? Ok. BED. NOW!

PDA

Coming to you once again from Izmit, Turkey. I seem to have caught a cold on the airplane or something and so my entire face has been stuffy and I've been coughing on everybody (which I'm sure everyone has been enjoying). Ahem. But aside from that, Turkey has been amazing. I fulfilled my dream of seeing Hagia Sophia, which was really quite awesome. Ever since I answered the question about the Hagia Sophia incorrectly on my first year art history finals, I'd felt bad about it and have been meaning to see it in person. So yes. I won't mix you up for another Byzantine-church-turned-Catholic-church-turned-mosque anymore, HS.

Anyway. Here's another Facebook pet peeve:

I promise I'm not bitter. At all.

Izmit

I received the most amazing birthday present yesterday. I'll write you all individually to thank you properly, but I just wanted to say thank you and that I miss you all very much! And most of all, thank you to Mar and Zane who orchestrated the awesomeness. Thank you! You guys are amazing.

And onto the silly comic of the day.

Winter can be awesome. But why all the bodily hygiene comics lately? Hm.

Turkey-bound

A quickie before I take off to Turkey!

And with that, I'm off!

**

And I'm here in Z and M's castle of awesomeness! All is awesome. I'm very happy. If I were to draw a comic of how I'm feeling now, I would have flowers sprouting from my head. Happy is oozing out of every pore.

Word of the day: anathema

Mantisaurus

I'm a city slicker through and through, so as awesome as it would be to live somewhere like Cambodia, I'm probably too much of a wuss when it comes to ginormous insects. I've been like this for as long as I can remember--as a 3-year-old I could only turn the pages of my insect book by pinching the bottom corner of the page because I somehow thought that the bugginess would seep through the pages and onto my hands . . . or something. No idea. (Why was I looking through the book anyway?) Anyway, I think I've gotten better with smaller insects, but something tells me I'll probably never be able to coexist with giant cockroaches. Or tarantulas. Or mantises. Sigh.

Maybe there's a class that you can take to overcome your Insectophobia. I'm going to google that, but I'm going to make sure I don't hit Images...

Priorities

Good news!

In the process of looking into getting my high school diploma recognized by German unis, I found that the IB and AP diplomas are practically the only international secondary school diplomas considered an Abitur equivalent here. Meaning, I would have been screwed with just an American high school diploma. Thank goodness! I guess TOK with Mr. R was good for something . . .

Speaking of high school...

I'm so happy to be 25.

***
I'm so ridiculously impressed by how quickly the woman at the university wrote back (45 minutes later) and told me that all my certificates were okay. Yay!