I thought it was high time to update my journal. It has been a few months since the previous entry, after all, and at least I was getting tired of seeing the same text every single time I looked at my dA page. So.

First off, a general apprisal of my life. As you can see, I have still not managed to perish in any of the number of woeful ways available and am, in fact, as healthy as an asthmatic girl with slight head issues can be - not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and happy days are slightly too rare for my liking, but I can safely say that most of the time I'm okay. I continue to be in possession of - or possessed by? - a rather volatile muse, meaning that the levels of my creativity fluctuate greatly. I'm not completely dry of inspiration, but the flow is never quite as smooth as I would like without a little bit of nudging involved. Apathy is a bitch, and it shows in just about every area of my life. University has not started at all well; I have acquired quite a few study points less than I should have during my freshman year. I will have to scramble madly in the next year to make up for it. There are a few re-examinations to sit, and at least one course to take all over again. I will have to write both the autumn and spring term papers for the Introduction to Literature in English course, along with making up for an absence from one of its small-group sessions. I just hope I can arrange that with the teachers. And I won't get to rest much during the summer, either: I'm taking five exams, three in June and two in August. Aside from the ever-important study points, doing this will give me the right to get student support for the summer months which I normally would not get. That way even if I'm left without a job I will be able to pay rent for my apartment. I don't fancy moving, you see. I am, however, living with my parents until the beginning of August in order to spend time with friends and family... which actually brings me to the second matter.

I know it's been a while since the last batch of (unfortunately quality-challenged) nude reference photos, and some of you have even made requests in the time that has passed since then. I regret to say that I won't be able to do anything about this before August unless I suddenly secure a decent photographer I trust enough to take pictures of me in the nude. I seriously doubt the probability, to be honest. Though I may not seem it in the pictures, I am still extremely self-conscious about my body and shy about displaying it to other people, especially in real life. Add to that the fear of being ridiculed or questioned about my modelling, and the fact that I don't want to give anyone any ideas by asking them to take nude shots of me... well. We'll see. Bottom line is, I'm not sure if I'll be able to provide any more stock or reference before the end of summer, or even then. Being limited to doing photoshoots in my own room, usually with poor lighting and not very much space puts a real damper on my inspiration to actually do them. I think I'd actually need that partner to continue doing this.

Oh bollocks, I'm depressing myself now. You have my apologies. Moving on.

Apart from the mad cramming I'll be doing for the exams, this summer will see me experimenting with my dad's old system camera. It's an Asahi Pentax SP with three different lenses and quite a few settings to fiddle with. I love my digital, but it will be a nice challenge to switch to film for a while. Besides, I've been drooling after SLRs for a while now - might as well start off with a traditional one. I expect I shall request digital versions of my best shots and put them up on both here and Elftown. I'm quite looking forward to it.
I will, of course, continue posting the occasional poem and vignette and maybe even try to update this journal every once in a while.
And read a whole lot of books. Summers should be all about finding a nice, sunny spot somewhere and delving into a good book. I think I might do that tomorrow.

Oh, one more thing. There is a cherry tree next to the local chapel, and as it is currently blooming, I decided to take a few shots and ended up going just a little bit click-happy. The relevance of this fact will become apparent with my next deviations. Sorry, but they're just so pretty.

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A few projects I support.