My art show was last Friday. 
It was an interesting experience. I had a hard time at first, with people staring and pointing at my art. I'm just not used to it.  Got a bit easier as the night went on and I just started talking about Whovian stuff with many of the guests.  No originals have been sold yet, so everything is still available if anyone is interested. They range from $200 to $330, depending on popularity of the character. I'll also be selling prints on my Etsy store soon. 

Sorry about the horrible cell phone pics....

Which leads me on to the real point....
I'm moving to Dallas in the coming month or so. I'm ready to be among my closest friends, a very special someone, and really get my career going. Kinda hard to network from the boondocks..... 

This trip makes Continent number 6. One left, and that would be Antarctica. We'll try and make it around Christmas.
My family tries to make one big trip a year. Dad wanted to see the Amazon. I convinced him that Machu Picchu would make for a much better trip. They plan on closing it in a few years anyway.
The trip began with a few flights that went through Dallas and Miami, with us landing in Lima at 6am. Now, I can't sleep on a plane, so that meant it was a really long night. To make matters worse, our rooms weren't ready till 8am. To pass the time, we got to sample a Peruvian breakfast. Very European. One thing that continually surprised me was how the nicest hotels were in the worst parts of town. If you weren't looking for them, you would walk right past them.

This fact also meant that some of the views were less than spectacular. But that didn't matter. I just wanted to sleep. After a good nap, we walked downtown and samples a Peruvian dessert that can only be described as sweet potato doughnuts. Very enjoyable.
The next day, we went back to the Lima airport to catch a plane to Juliaca via Cuzco. Flying over the mountains was amazing. Juliaca was...interesting to say the least. Lets just say that I can use the city for inspiration for post apocalyptic images. It was in horrible shape. Thankfully, we met up with our tour guide who drove us an hour south to Puno, the town on lake Titicaca.

We spent the night at yet another hidden hotel, then ventured downtown to grab some food. The tour to the Lake the next day began with a short bus ride to the harbor. There had to be at least 20 small boats in the area, all ready to carry passengers. After crusing for about 20 min, our first stop was the floating islands of Uros, created entirely out of reeds. They only last so long (I want to say 20 years? might be wrong), before they have to be reharvested and stuck back together. It was really fun to walk on the surfaces of the islands. Much like being on a water bed.

The guide said that there are a large amount of islands on the lake, the number escapes me at the moment. Might be around 800 to 1000.  They also use the reeds to construct their boats, huts and random animals shapes. Also in the lake, was an island called Tequile. It took an hours to sail there, then another 30 min to walk up the steps to get to the town. Being at such a high altitude, around 12,500 feet above sea level, it was really hard to climb those steps. We were greeted by an amazing lunch and lots of information regarding the culture of the island's people. The boat ride back took three hours. Seems we had boarded the slowest boat. Lucky us. I'm not very good with boat rides. Motion sickness is a problem of mine. And I was still dealing with altitude sickness. When I had first arrived in Peru, I drank some of the Coca tea. It's supposed to help you with altitude sickness. I should have drank more. That night was the worst headache of my life. I could feel my heart beat in my back. It didn't help that our hotel room didn't have any windows and was more like a tomb than anything else.

The next day, we boarded a large tour bus for a nine hour bus ride back to Cuzco. I was asleep for a good portion of the beginning. As stated before, I had a really bad night. To add to everything else, seems I had eatten something that wasn't agreeing with me. I awoke breifly to view the highest point in the Scared Valley before passing out again. Halfway through, we stopped at a large gathering of ruins. The picture shows what is thought to be a temple. The Inca trail passes right by it. The trail is a long path that transveresed the entire Inca empire. They had runners that went along it, taking censes. Unfortunitly, we only got to spend 40 min there before reboarding the bus. There were several more stops that day, including lunch, before we arrived at Cuzco.
Let me say something about driving in Peru. They don't seem to have any laws when it comes to driving. Each driver has his hands the horn at all times. There are no lane lines to really speak off. And pedestrains have no rights. None. I saw so many people almost get ran over. You couldn't pay me enough to drive in the courtry. Now you can imagine what is would be like sitting on a bus as it makes it way downtown Cuzco.
The next day was a city tour of Cuzco which ended with me riding on my back upon the laps of my family in a taxi, in Cuzco.... Not fun.

That little adventure actually happened right after we had seen a dinner show. It was a buffet style setting. And they had Guinea Pig. Myself and several others tried to try it. Tried....
It was really chewy. Not very enjoyable. I Like Alpaca better.
Back to the show: every couple min, dancers dressed in amazing costumes came out and performed. One routine that was really amusing involved the dancers trying to light a scrap of paper a flame that hung from each other's belts. At the end, they invited people from the crowd to participate. As always, a loud, drunk American man got pulled up and made an ass of his self. It was horrible.

The last and most important portion of our trip began with a four hour train ride north. There is no other way to get to Machu Picchu. There are no roads really. The view was amazing. Just amazing. Snow capped mountians and rushing water on each side.

I was very surprised by the new town. Sure, Aqua Caliente is a tourist town. But it was the most beautiful part of the country. And the warmest. I was unprepared for the increase in temperature. It was actually jungle. While there I got a few bug bites. Here's hopping I don't have malaria, or even worse, a bot-fly. I've started a two week period of pills just in case.
This city stretched along the river. Halfway through town, the remnants of the recent flood were visible. Mud still coated portions. Our hotel was the second to the last in the town. The sound of river was a welcome distraction in the night.

No. This is not the Nat Geo picture. I took it myself. We got up early that morning and boarded a bus for the 20 min ride up the mountain. In a zip zag pattern. Remember how they drive? Yeah....
It was worth it. So worth it. We had an English speaking guide for the five of us. He took us all over the city, lasting for two hours. We didn't get to go to the tip of the mountain pictured in  the photo. Only 400 people are allowed a day and we missed the deadline.

To make up for that, my brother and I decided to climb the actual mountain Machu Picchu. The city is just called that becuase no one knows it's real name. The hike up began okay. After about 40 min, Carl had left me behind to race some other guys up the mountain top. He had our water too....
It got pretty hard. I run and swim and work out a lot. But this was one of the most physically exhausting things I've ever done. I had to stop for breath every 100 meters. Carl made it to the top in 56 min. It might have been an hour and 20 min for me. I lost count.

But I made it. There was a flag at the top, of which I got a picture. However, the most interesting sight was this guy, just chilling on the edge of the drop off. After snapping what I hope wasn't his last picture, I made my way back down. It was so much easier. I didn't run out of breath once. My legs are still sore though. We had to ride the train back to Cuzco right after that, spend another night in the same hotel, then get up early to catch a plane back to Lima. Where we had to wait 8 hours for our next flight. But we made it home. I have never been so happy to see the US. I really liked Peru, but it made me thankful to live in Texas. I have to say I missed milk the most.

And I'm okay with it.
Really.
Okay. I was a bit disapointed and mad when I first heard the news. What did these other girls have that I didn't? Were they chosen just because they lived in the area and didn't need plane tickets? Was it the boob size???
After half an hour of sulking, I've realized that I'm okay. The viewers made their opinions known and I just didn't fit the bill. This won't stop me from getting to E3. Hopefully, by next year, I'll be working at a game company and I'll be sent. As a legitimate game designer. And when I walk past the G4 booth, I will smirk and say that I tried out for that position, but didn't make it.
At least I'll have all next week to work on my school work and freelance concept art now.
Good luck to the final three!

...did I think that I would make it to the semi-finals of the G4 E3 Booth Babe contest. Me vs 15 other gamer girls for the chance to go to E3 as a booth babe..... Wow. My head is still spinning. When the commercial for the contest comes on G4, I feel odd.
When Kat and Nicole helped me film the entry last week, it was a quick job done with little thought as to what I was going to say. After reading some of the viewer's comments, I'm sure that I could have spoken more about other games. But Halo is one of my favorites, and that is what came to mind.  Some have even said that I didn't build my helmet ( which I wore in the video ). A lot of the comments are really nice and supportive, with a few that are just too mean to repeat.
I'll know next friday, the 6th, who has made it to the top three.
Fingers crossed everyone. 
Here's the link to the site if anyone wants to vote for me. You have to have a membership to vote, but it only takes a few seconds to get one. 
http://g4tv.com/e3boothbabe 

I love my friends.
I love them enough to dress up all in black and go dance the chorus to a K-pop song out in public with them. Several times.

Two full days of dancing in various locations. I was really surprised when Wal-Mart let us film. Through out the day, we had people come up and tell us about how entertaining we were. Uh, thanks? Guess I didn't suck as bad as I thought.

Next came to the editing, which fell to me. (damn you aid class for coming in handy, you win this round) Kat and Nicole were a big help here, making sure the sound lined up and giving me a lot of good suggestions. I can even see Kat getting into editing herself.
I had thought to use Premiere Pro, or even After Effects for the editing, but we ran into a snag with that. Seems those programs don't like to use MOD files, which is what came off the camcorder. I was looking for a program to convert them to a usable format, when I found a program that would change my life! Well, not that. But it was amazing still. I've always loved Corel programs, but they've really impressed me with Corel VideoStudio.
I downloaded the 30 day trail and went to work. The MOD files loaded in perfectly, and I even got the mp3s to work. I did not have to convert the files like I usually had to with the Adobe programs.
I know that I might have been using them wrong or missing something, oh well.
Anyway, the UI was simple and easy. Cropping was nice. Lots of layers for various sounds and music. I love this program. So much so that I might want to buy it later.
Back to the video. We rendered it in HD for youtube and submitted it last night. Now we just have to wait for a week to see the results. The winners get 5 autographed CDs and the group's performance outfits. (wonder if they wash them first?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd3Qx76cS_8

And so my spring break is ending...
With my eleven days off (yes eleven), I have managed to finish all of my homework and projects, do a bit of concept work, and hang with my friends. If only my spring break hadn't been a week early, than I would have been able to go with them to Vegas.
Oh well. I did get to go to Enchanted Rock yesterday. Got some nice new brusies from that.
But the most exciting part was that I got to fly today. Being the daughter of a pilot, I've always loved planes and helicoptors. Dad got a friend to take us all up for a few hours, even letting us control the plane during the take-off. The landing was a different story. I wouldn't have wanted to do that part anyway.
Carl is a natural at flying. I almost got sick during his session though. I blame it on sitting in the back. The bumps are worse there.
When it was my turn to control the plane, it took me a bit longer to get adjusted to the controls. But it became almost second nature by the time we landed.
One more note too: Got my hair cut. This seemingly unimportant note is important because the new cut is based off of Lightning from FFXII. I'm even tempted in the future to have my hair colored like her's.

Got some of the homework done. For illustration class, we had a project that involved type. I took the first letter of each season and illustrated it. I had fun drawing all the leaves and petals. It was drawn first by hand and colored in Painter with the Digital Watercolor brush.
Still no new intuos4 tablet. Still backordered. Oh well. At least it's coming.
Haven't gotten the chance to work on any personal stuff yesterday or today. The PBR tournament in Dallas yesterday took up all of my Saturday. But that was for my mom's birthday and so worth it. She really enjoyed it and I learned alot.
That tv was amazing! I found myself watching the tv most of the time. The detail was jaw-dropping.  The bulls were cute too. lol

My friends are obsessed with Suju to put it lightly. So, they have me learning one of their many dances. They plan on filming us all. I'm posting this video here so I can find it in the future. Youtube still won't work for me. My flash has gone retarded. No matter how many times I update it, or uninstall and reinstall, I get nothing...