Dunes

eegh i'm alive, but seem to be getting hammered with every respiratory malady that can be thrown at me. i got over a wicked sinus infection only to get what feels like strep? D: anyway I am going to try my best to post tomorrow or the day after. I wish I got paid sick days.

According to this thing and my most recent post, I write like Neil Gaiman. (Presumably they left out the part where it says, "... but nowhere near as good.") Next to Terry Pratchett, his are the books I re-read the most.

Sapphire had to stop in her tracks at the sound of the simulated violin. She brought her hooves up to her mouth, like a giddy schoolfilly. In one subconscious thread of thought, she identified the note and thought of a few chords to build off of it. It was nearly drowned out by every other thought, however, which were nothing but wordless glee. She managed to contain herself when she saw Enos wipe his forehead and wobble a little. Had her requests tired him? Sapphire had no magic; she assumed it was all effortless. It was magic, after all. She put her front hooves back on the ground, trying to uncoil the wound-up excitement she felt. Sapphire nodded. She knew about starting from the bottom, well enough. Life had been a series of unpaid open-mic nights and barely-paid dive bars for a few years. It was a story she loved to tell. After all, if she could do it, anypony could, given enough work, inexhaustible enthusiasm, and tolerance of poverty. It was inspirational, right? She inhaled to launch into her mini-biography, when Enos continued. A puff of air escaped her nose as she bit down on her words. She wasn’t used to this kind of pace at all. She shifted a hoof, not sure what to do with all her nervous energy. Sapphire smiled, nodding enthusiastically. “[colour=#000080]You should! Not that I’m biased, but singing is the best thing ever.[/colour]” The breeze shifted and she perked up as she caught scent of baked goods. She looked around and spotted the source. Easing into a trot, she motioned at it with her head. “[colour=#000080]If you like, I could give you a bit of a lesson! I haven’t taught before, but since you haven’t sung before, maybe it’ll work out.[/colour]” She put her hooves up on the baker’s stall, looking at the pastries with wide, hungry eyes. [colour=#000080]Food! [/colour]“[colour=#000080]I’ll have that one, aaand is that an apple fritter? Whatever it is, I’ll eat it.[/colour]” She motioned at Enos. “[colour=#000080]And whatever he wants[/colour],” she turned and grinned at him. “[colour=#000080]My treat![/colour]”

Crystal stood and stared at lack of a fire, defeated. Each word hit her, right in the guilt. She looked up. Oh, look, said a nagging voice in the back of her head. Somepony you’d be utterly incapable of protecting. The filly’s round, shiny eyes were little mirrors, and she could see her own incompetence reflected in them. “[colour=#800080]The fire’s mostly for… not-dying purposes. Ask Milky.[/colour]” She sighed. Crystal stared at Arrow. The little filly was running around, asking rapid-fire questions, and Crystal had trouble processing them all. She was deliberately trying to avoid a glazed expression, keeping her eyes as wide-open as possible. As exhausted as she was, the effect was probably unsettling. And it dried out her eyes. She blinked, grunting, and let her expression fall. “[colour=#800080]Yeah, I’m going back. I obviously can’t hack it here.[/colour]” She made a noise, sounding suspiciously like choking back a sob. “[colour=#800080]But uh. There is a… magic school for unicorns, I think. I don’t know if you can magic yourselves to fly or whatever, but they might know.[/colour]” There was a catch in her voice. She swallowed in an attempt to get rid of it. “[colour=#800080]There’s definitely more than rattlesnakes and coyotes, and there are definitely pegasi. The dirt, uh,[/colour]” her voice caught again, “[colour=#800080]it depends on what street you’re on. Mostly it’s alright. Same thing for the snobs. Mostly it’s… alright.[/colour]” Crystal looked on morosely as Milky set about actual, useful preparations for the night. Crystal nodded, and got up to slink over to the place she’d be sleeping. Passing Milky, she looked at her, feeling the prickle of tears beginning to well up. Crystal slung her arms around Milky, feeling the weight of the day. This pony had saved her life this afternoon, and hadn’t stopped. “[colour=#800080]Thank you.[/colour]”

WORKPOCALYPSE IS OVER! Just in time for the real one, oh noooooo. But yes! Partly to let y'all know, and partly to get my butt back in gear, I'm letting you guys know I will be back and posting tonight after work, and at least getting started on some of that there request art!

Hey guys, just want to apologize for how long the rest of the list is taking. Death in the family threw off my work schedule, which I had to then catch up with, and once I did I got saddled with priority projects. I'm going to try to be able to get to these once this work week is finished!

Siigh. I was caught up at work after my uncle's passing, then my bosses want me to finish a new website for Monday, so I'm working serious overtime this weekend. Sorry Canterlot. I am hoping to be back on Monday.

Okay, I've dealt with family stuff, but I will need a couple more days to finish getting caught up on work things. Sorry y'all. I should be back for realsies this weekend.

My uncle Mike passed away this morning. I will be away for a few days.

I LOVE TODD IN THE SHADOWS. Aaa! My brothers and I will crowd around a computer and watch Todd and Nostalgia Chick and it's one of the ways we all bond (besides ponies). He's the reason I know even half of what I do about pop music. I've been checking out Rap Critic's stuff too, hoping to find some more substantive rap music. He's been pretty cool so far, too!

Pretty much. Especially if you're focused on collecting only one or two kinds of things, it doesn't matter much so long as you're collecting because it's fun, not because you're trying to desperately fill an emotional void in your life. I think that's where people start heading to Hoarders territory. I have a couple of Shelves of Pony, as well as the bedsheet/comforter set and a blanket. I set my own bounds (I'm not really interested in Fashion Style ponies or the playsets themselves, f'rinstance) and don't let it eat up too much of my budget. I room with a couple of fellow Bronies, and my collection puts theirs to shame. Shame, I say!

Applejack! Applejack! I was new to the show, got to episode four - Applebuck Season. This was while I was going to school full-time and working two part-time jobs to make rent. I felt like exhausted Applejack got me, y'know? And she has this huge, friendly family she mostly sees at reunions (like me), has an accent as Southern as sweet potato pie (like me, despite attempts to the contrary in my teenage years), is sweet and stubborn... She acts a lot like I do in her episodes. And any time she interacts with Pinkie Pie, it is like someone filmed my roommate and I. And turned us into ponies? Something. Then I saw this video and it somehow made her even more endearing, to the point of Favorite Pony Forever.

I used to be unable to stand rap at all. All I ever heard or saw was incredibly degrading. Even as a lady fond of other ladies, the booty-shaking videos made me really uncomfortable. But I wanted to like rap, because I liked the idea of flowing wordplay and all that. There's a lot of really, unfathomably stupid rap out there, but I've recently been coming across some artists who seem to have more depth to them. That said, I've only been dabbling in the genre for maybe a month. I'm pretty sure these don't count as gangsta rap, just regular rap, since violent themes and rivalry seems to be an integral part of the 'gangsta' bit. But you're not the only person who's said rap so far, so! Clueless white chick here, forgive my misclassification. Lupe Fiasco has been really impressing me so far. does have some NSFW language in it (and apologies if it's out of bounds to even link to it - if so and it needs to be unlinked, the video is Around My Way by Lupe Fiasco).I've read Kid Cudi described as "alternative hip hop" and I don't know if that's a thing. This seems less straight-up rap (maybe?), but I love it anyway. I'm sure I'm probably too clueless to come in with any suggestions about rap, though. If anyone else knows of some good rap music they'd like to share I am all ears! EDIT: While I'm at it, opera. I have heard exactly one opera aria that I like at all, and every time I hear the real version I think, "That was better when the blue chick in Fifth Element sang it." Is there opera that doesn't sound like someone's attacking your eardrums with a chicken?

I've got my "ponysona" or whatever, whose design changes as I see fit. (I dye my hair a completely different colour every couple of weeks! It's hard to base a design around that.) I don't RP with her at all though. She is just there to be a pony-proxy. My RP ponies tend to have a personality/concept first, cutie mark later. "Ooh, it'd be interesting to have a charlatan fortune teller; what would her life be like to bring her to that point?" or "Pony missing a leg, what happened to her and how is she different after?" That kinda thing. So none of my ponies' natures are based on me, so much, but it's hard for my personality not to bleed through in RP. It's a challenge for me to play jerk/evil characters because I'm about as confrontational as a bunny-rabbit with social anxiety.

Sapphire must've looked like a filly on Hearth's Warming Eve. She was often appreciative, occasionally enchanted by the talents of her peers, but it was rare that she was so amazed. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to have magic, much less a horn... she could make noise with. Actually, it seemed a little easier to imagine that than other magic. It'd be like singing with her hoof, or something. [colour=#000080]Sweet, I could accompany myself! That would be so fantastic. [/colour] [/colour]“[colour=#000080]That is, and I do mean this in the original sense of the word, awesome. It takes enough work to get the sound that comes outta a pony's mouth to sound good, much less sound comin' out of a horn[/colour][colour=#000080]![/colour]” She winked. “[colour=#000080]And I [/colour][colour=#000080]do [/colour][colour=#000080]thank you for the compliment, sugar.[/colour]” Her stomach rumbled. Right. Breakfast. Or lunch? Whatever time it was now, there needed to be food. She motioned with her head towards the tasty smell she'd picked up and started trotting in a foodwardly direction. “[colour=#000080]Violin, huh? I have [/colour][colour=#000080]to hear that![/colour]” She grinned again. It seemed a very grinny sort of morning/afternoon/whatever. Birds were singing, possibly, or somepony was really good at whistling, and there was food to be had. “[colour=#000080]Never tried to sing with it, though? Not even once?[/colour]” It seemed such an awful shame. Singing was the best! She thought for a moment, tilting her head. “[colour=#000080]Do [/colour][colour=#000080]you [/colour][colour=#000080]sing? Even a little, in the shower or something? Maybe it'd make it easier to make your horn did it if your mouth knew how![/colour]” She furrowed her brow a little. “[colour=#000080]Though it's not like you know how to, er, violin with your mouth, so, maybe not.[/colour]”

I'm caught up at work and am ready to pony it up once more!

BLERG. This weekend was going to be full of art and ponies! But the work server got hacked and now I've got to spend my weekend cleaning up the mess. So, that's fun. I will hopefully be able to be back on before Monday but my bosses want this fixed ASAP, so, I'm chugging coffee, cranking the tunes, and staring at my work laptop for a few days at least.

[/colour][colour=#000000]Sapphire looked around to see where Enos' voice was coming from, before staring at his horn. Her jaw dropped. She tried to make a sound, like what or how, but nothing was coming out of her mouth. She'd seen plenty of talented ponies in her life, but this was a new one on her.[/colour] [colour=#000000]For once in her life, she was speechless.[/colour] [colour=#000000]Briefly.[/colour] [colour=#000000]“[/colour][colour=#000080]Oh. My. Word! Sugar, how'd you do that?[/colour][colour=#000000]” She zipped over, pointing cautiously at his horn. “[/colour][colour=#000080]I mean, magic, right? I know plenty of unicorns but I ain't met nopony before who could do that![/colour][colour=#000000]” Sapphire thought about all of the things she would do with a power like that. Project it into other rooms! Use it as a bullhorn! Provide her own theme music wherever she went![/colour] [colour=#000000]These were all things she did just by yelling, though, and lack of magic never seemed to hold her back. [/colour] [colour=#000080]Plus,[/colour][colour=#000000] she thought, [/colour][colour=#000080]that'd only make the lip-syncing rumors worse[/colour][colour=#000000]. Maybe it was for the best she hadn't been granted that particular talent. [/colour] [colour=#000000]Sapphire clapped her hooves excitedly. “[/colour][colour=#000080]Can you do other voices or just yours? Can you sing with it? Does it have to be just a voice or can you do instruments?[/colour][colour=#000000]” She grinned at him, eyes gleaming. [/colour]

Sapphire Shores leaned across the judges' table, only showing her excitement in a coy smirk. She felt a familiar rush of adrenaline as the spotlight hit her. Showtime. She was only performing for a crowd of a few, but in this case the more impressive she could be, the better. If she managed to scare anypony off, there was no way they'd be able to withstand working for Photo Finish. In one smooth movement, she put both front hooves on the table and sat up, head held high. She let a beat of silence pass. “[colour=#000080]I'm Sapphire Shores, multiplatinum recording artist and fashionista. I got my first record deal four years ago, had my first photoshoot a month after that, and since then I've worked with Clothes Horse, Coutoure, Mane Style, and Mare Claire[/colour][colour=#000080]. I know fashion like I know pop.[/colour]” She held a high note for a moment, letting its decrescendo falling into a phrase. “[colour=#000080]A-A-a-aaaand[/colour][colour=#000080] do I know pop![/colour]” “[colour=#000080]So when Photo Finish invited me to help judge this competition, I knew I had [/colour][colour=#000080]to accept; it was an honor. Nobody knows fashion like Photo Finish.[/colour]” She winked. “[colour=#000080]But I do come pretty close.[/colour]” She sat back, her piece over. Now it was time for the next judge's introduction.

“[colour=#000080]It is a delight to meet you, then, Enos![/colour]” She grinned. Sapphire turned an ear towards the crowd, tilting her head. She listened, brow furrowed. It all sounded like the same old noise to her. “[colour=#000080]Heh, not enough cheering for my tastes, I guess![/colour]” A moment of silence passed, and she felt a twinge of panic as she searched for something to say. She always knew how to interact with ponies. Always. But she wasn't quite sure what to think of this pony. He seemed... what was the word? Introspective? You came across it in musicians often enough, just not the kind of musicians who ran in her social circles. Even then, all musicians have the drive to be seen or heard; every interaction with another musician is its own little performance. This pony gave off a different impression entirely. A trumpeter can play nicely with a flautist, but may be mystified when asked to accompany a bumblebee. Or she just needed to get out more. Her stomach rumbled. She felt relieved; she now had another mission! Gesturing to the market with a hoof, she said, “[colour=#000080]Well, I don't know about you, but I haven't had anything to eat yet, and [/colour][colour=#000080]something [/colour][colour=#000080]smells good here. Let's go find it![/colour]” She lead the way, casting a glance over her shoulder to make sure Enos was following. The myriad smells of the market twisted up in her nose, leaving her to pick out which ones promised food. Was it hay fries or fresh wicker furniture she was smelling? As hungry as she was, both sounded good. Glancing back again, she noticed her companion's cutie mark. “[colour=#000080]Hey, is that a tuning fork?[/colour]” Maybe he was a musician! “[colour=#000080]You a pianist?[/colour]”

Oh QuickLiiiiime o/~

Applebuck Season. I was watching them in order, from episode 1, and was thinking, "Huh! Okay, this is not bad at all, and I am definitely glad there's a show like this for little girls." And then I got to Applebuck Season and it was like the floodgates of brony opened. Applejack is still my favorite.

YOU GUYS. MY FACE IS LIKE 95% BLUSH RIGHT NOW. I CAN'T EVEN. Thank you so much! I am honored.