Ushinatta Aki

2012

lostautumn — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:26:41 +0000

In the past on this blog I have written posts about my new year’s resolutions. Due to various circumstances, this last New Year’s Eve passed unmarked and uncelebrated, which was quite nice in a way. The transition from 2011 to 2012 didn’t feel like a definite date, more like a weeklong cross over.

Despite a rough start, 2012 is looking to be potentially quite a good one. Looking back on 2011, I realise now that it was not the best of years even though it had two very positive movements, both of which have resulted in the positive outlook of 2012.

The most exciting thing to happen this year is, of course, me buying an apartment and becoming a homeowner, a concept which is both thrilling and terrifying. I’m feeling more and more secure in my job as time goes by and my future in this position is starting to look like a certainty.

While I refuse to make resolutions anymore, there are a few things I would like to do this year. I would really like to get my bike license and buy a small bike instead of using the car. I would also like to resume my Japanese and French in preparation for the International Aquarium Congress which is happening in September. Apart from those things I’m just going to concentrate my spare time on making my new home as beautiful and comfortable as possible and find some time for my neglected hobbies.

-Aki

#ilovemyjob

lostautumn — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:13:50 +0000

Someone, I’m not naming names (my mum), was complaining the other day that I don’t update my personal blog enough. I responded by saying that nothing interesting happens to me often enough for my personal blog to be updated frequently. The response was to, predictably, point out my interesting job which I admit, is very interesting.

I always worry about blogging job related stuff for fear that the people I work with will find out about it and take offense. Since having this conversation with the totally unnamed individual (my mum), two things have occurred to me.

One is that the people I work with are pretty amiable and unlikely to take offense at anything (within surprisingly broad parameters too). The second is that the most interesting things that happen at my work have nothing to do with the people. Seeing as I work at an aquarium, they mostly involve animals.

This occurred to me when I thought about the animals I’ve had in my office (yes, in my actually office, sometimes even under my desk). These include:

• A penguin
• Another kind of penguin
• A seagull
• A snake
• A puppy
• The still beating heart of a dead carp (true story)
• A newly shed snake skin
• A leopard toad
• Children

And I’ve only been there 5 months.

-Aki

Obituary

lostautumn — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:24:59 +0000

You may have noticed that my drawing challenge has died an inevitable death. I saw this coming a few days ago when it occurred to me that the drawing challenge was forcing me draw very obscure and uninspiring things. Like my favourite TV show. Or my favourite candy. In a way, the challenge of interpreting the prompts was quite good but it wasn’t fun so naturally I just stopped.

Instead, I’m going to just sketch random things for NaNoDrawMo. I doubt I’ll reach 50 drawings in 15 days, but you never know.

-Aki

Drawing Challenge #5 – Best Friend

lostautumn — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:32:37 +0000

This is from a shot when we were in Goa together. I tried a bit of shading but stopped in case I ended up ruining it.

Edit: I should probably add that she is chilling in the afternoon sun and not dead. Or otherwise incapacitated. Just in case you were wondering.

-Aki

Drawing Challenge #4 – Favourite Place

lostautumn — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:10:32 +0000

Went with the obvious. There was no way I was going to draw the entire city.

-Aki

Drawing Challenge #3 – Favourite Food

lostautumn — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:05:13 +0000

Favourite food? Make it as hard as you can, why don’t you?

Okay, a bit of a cop out this one.

-Aki

Drawing Challenge #2 – Favourite Animal

lostautumn — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:59:28 +0000

Obvious this one. I didn’t go the whole hog though, just a bit of abstract-ish art:

-Aki

Drawing Challenge #1 – Yourself

lostautumn — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:57:15 +0000

Three days late, but I did sort of do this on the first day. I started it, didn’t like it, then realized the point is to post it anyway. So here it is. It does highlight, at least to me, that I’m quite out of practice:

-Aki

No Nano

lostautumn — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:42:37 +0000

For the past few years (3, if I’m not mistaken), I’ve attempted Nanowrimo every November. I say attempted because I have, to date, never quite managed to write a 50 000 word book in 30 days. Work inevitably gets in the way. This has never really bothered me because I’ve always had fun and some awesome story ideas have come out of the attempts.

Despite this, I’ve decided to sit out this year’s Nano. My work these days is much busier than it was during the previous Nanowrimos so I don’t see myself getting very far. I’ll just end up not doing it, then feeling guilty about not doing it.

Instead of writing, I’m going to turn my attention to drawing. I found a very interesting 30 day drawing challenge on the internet (Stumbleupon epitomises how something can be a blessing and a curse simultaneously) as seen below. I’ll post each drawing here on my blog, the first one being on 01 November, this Tuesday. All drawings will be done in pencil.

I will have to strict with myself.

-Aki

Staying Creative

lostautumn — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:49:49 +0000

I was looking back at some of my old art yesterday and was wondering how I found the time to do so much. The answer is obvious of course. As a student and/or slacker (sometimes it’s the same thing) I had copious amounts of time to just sit and draw, often late into the night. Now, the majority of my day is spent at work and when I get home in the evenings, I seldom feel like drawing.

In this situation it’s so easy to give up on your hobbies. I have an art table and light box in my room that I seldom use, but I also refuse to pack away. This would mean giving up on my art and I’m never going to do that. Making yourself practice your hobby (whatever it may be) is something you have to make a conscience effort to do when you’re an adult.

I know eventually I will get back into my art in a serious way but at the moment I’m in a strange place with drawing. I haven’t practiced enough to be happy with what I draw but I have to draw in order to get better. Once I can force myself to practice enough, and I’m happy with what I’m drawing, there’ll be no stopping me.

- Aki

The idea for this wallpaper was not mine but the design is. May it help you be and, more importantly, stay creative: