[ 5/4/14 ]

Posted on by April 6, 2014
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Well, was today a full day or what!

Maria arrived at noon, I picked her up at the train station and we had coffee. Then we went home to leave her stuff, and on the way we picked some stuff to cook tomorrow (Diced Chicken, sweet chili rice and sauce, peppers and some other stuff. I will learn to create chicken! Exciting!

After that, we went downtown again, whereupon we feasted on some delicious McDonalds. I was wondering, a really nice course there for me costs around 4.20 pounds, is that more expensive than cooking home? It feels quite cheap. Anyway. After than , the plan initially was to go and see the Museum of Science and Industry and then have a walk near the canals, but instead we went to a cosplay (oh comeon spellchecker, cosplay is a word, get on with the times) sketchoff. There we met other artists, did 10 minute sketches of cosplayers, forced Maria to draw (muahaha) and had an all round good time.

Cosplay Sketchoff Sketches

Cosplay Sketchoff Sketches


I quite enjoyed the live quick-sketching, it is something I really don’t do as often as I would like and I am glad to find excuses to do so.
It would seem like Manchester is the place to be, whatever it is you want to do.

After that we went for beers at a loud “quiet place” with two artists we met there, both seem like cool people, one of them is a girl that has lived literally all over the World, Venezuela, China (or as the map I have over my bed informs me, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó) and of course the UK. Then we headed to an Asian dessert place where we had… stuff. Honestly I have no idea what I ate there. It looked like Jelly and Calamari, it tasted like mango and pineapple, there was Tea Ice cream and poppy things. Afterthat we had another beer and then headed home.

Tomorrow is a cooking day, a museum day and WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE, NOT ME.

~Garret

[ 4/4/14 ]

Posted on by April 5, 2014
4
Sustenance

Sustenance

Today I cooked.
Well, heated a can of beans. I know how it looks to anyone who can make anything more complicated than a sandwich, but I felt like I was a Master Chef. And the cleanup was relatively easy too!

That being said, I am a bit disappointed in how little work I’ve done to a) get a job and b) do any progress on the university front. I caught myself checking some cheap ways to buy some Warhammer 40k miniatures and then it hit me. Instead of looking ways to “save” money by ordering that stuff cheaply, I should be focusing more on getting a job. I know I have been doing baby-steps towards it, but this is not the time for baby-steps.

Now, I hear you say, quit pointing out what is wrong and do something about it!
I am trying, okay?

In other news, I saw Fargo today, it was quite a bleak… thriller of errors, is a description that feels apt.
Maria is also coming to visit tomorrow! I am already sorry about how cool she will find Manchester in comparison to Birmingham.

Should I be posting these at the main page?
Actually, I am the Supreme Ruler of this site, I can do what I gosh darn please. This is going to the main page as well!

~GArret

[ The Mancunian Garret ]

Posted on by March 27, 2014
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It is raining as I type this.
I am sitting on my desk, in my new house.
In Manchester.

The trip was way less trouble than I thought it would be (I sure hope that sets the tone for the rest of my endeavor in general). The flight was smooth, had a seat by the window, at the emergency exit (more legroom). A couple of interesting stuff that happened while I was above the clouds: I was listening to the second part of Blueprint for Armageddon (a simply amazing episode from the simply amazing podcast Hardcore History), which is about World War I, anyway, now call me a sidewalk spitting rebel, but I don’t put my iPad on airplane mode so I can watch my location on the map. The moment the Battle of Mons was being described on the podcast, I was flying over Mons. (I miss-typed podcast as pordcast and chuckled a bit)
The other interesting thing was my water bottle. As we were descending, it started to get squeezed by the dropping increasing air pressure. I thought it was neat.

The cab driver that brought me here, turned out to be married to a half-Greek girl, he has been in Vari and in Glifada. Small World.

Upon my arrival here I was greeted by a tasty orange muffin with the following message.
“Καλωσορίζω στο σπίτι!” I thought it was a very touching gesture.

So here is my room.

Cozy Room

Room

A few things of note: I have a desk, next to the radiator, in front of a window that has a nearly vertical part ,allowing for maximum rain-viewing pleasure.
I have a plant, with a spoon planted next to it that reads “6”, I decided that that is the name of the plant, and that if my story ever becomes a major motion picture, it will be played by Patrick McGoohan.
There is a bookshelf filled with books, not my taste per se, one that caught my eye was City of Bones and for it’s tagline it read “A world I’d like” by Stephanie Meyer, of Twilight fame, smells like quality stuff.
Other random stuff include a yoyo, a Maths set, a handy first aid guide, a BUNCH of pennies, markers & pencils and a badass world map on the wall.

I think I am not as excited as I should be, things are going GREAT. Way better than what I expected.

Tomorrow I will have to get a bus pass and a cellphone contract.
Also, if I can find, Groucho Marks glasses.

~Garret

[ Ready ]

Posted on by March 26, 2014
2
Ready

Ready

That’s it, that is 99% of the stuff I am taking with me.
I am leaving tomorrow, off to the land of Albion. I feel excited and nervous.
It was a , relatively, sudden decision, a decision my parents were more than helpful and supportive for.
There are many things I want to accomplish there. Find a Job, pick up running, learn how to draw awesome miniatures, prepare for a Master’s degree and generally live a life different than the one I am currently living.
I think qb mentioned a quote from someone that went something like “Thinking you can change yourself by changing your environment is like thinking you can change your handwriting by changing pens”

I guess we’ll find out.

Stereotypes I think I will meet:

People drinking tea.
Horrible Dental Hygiene.
World War II bragging.
Upper lips stiffer than what I am used to.

I don’t know how well things will turn out. I don’t know if I will be able to “make it” there. Maybe I will disappoint myself and everyone, maybe this will be the best thing I ever do.
I’ll try and keep this blog up to date so we can all admire me or /sigh in disappointment.

I have a feeling this turned out way gloomier than I intended.

~Garret

[ Lillian Gish ]

Posted on by March 15, 2014
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Trying to stay I awake I took waaay too much time to sketch this, it is supposed to be Lillian Gish, an actress whos movies I really enjoy, and think she is looking fantastic. She is nearly 100 years older than me and had 75 year movie career.

Lillian

Lillian Gish, Actress Extraordinaire

~Garret

[ Change of the Change of Plans Plans ]

Posted on by February 21, 2014
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To say that today was an unexpectedly eventful day would be quite the understatement.

If you look a few posts earlier, you’ll see one with a nice blue painting of the fateful meeting of Cthulhu and a blue whale, today a Facebook group about Cthulhu shared my deviantArt post of it and boy did the likes and favourites come by the bucket load. At the time of writting this thing has 850 likes and 100 shares, it has roughly 4,676 views on deviantArt, 4,624 of which were made only today). All the other stuff I’ve posted together don’t add up to that many likes and shares. Had I known it would be seen by so many people I would have spent more time making it a bit more presentable. But it did serve as a lesson… promotion is paramount, if you wanna have any recognition on the web. I am not sure what to make out of it, this tiny morsel of fame came as a complete surprise, but I will try and take its lesson to heart. Must make more art, but keep in mind that quality and exposure are not necessarily cause and effect.

On a completely unrelated note come the other bit of news. but I got sidetracked with a couple of League games so I will probably furnish you with an update tomorrow. Since it’s quite a big chunk of news.

~Garret

[ Placeholder ]

Posted on by February 20, 2014
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For some reason I can’t update my Journal from my iPad, new WordPress app seems to be a bit, hmm, shaky. Anyway.

Have you seen John Carpenter’s The Fog? No, not The mist, although that would do in a pinch. Well today was like that. But without the zombie pirates.
So yea, the day started out as sunny as it can, nary a cloud in the sky. No one could have predicted what happened next.

Fog! Huge amounts of fog came rolling on the sea, soon the whole Saronikos Bay was covered in thick grey clouds. I will post photos soon.
Something else happened as well. But right now… It escapes me.

See ya!

~Garret

[ Outside his house of Rlyeh… ]

Posted on by February 15, 2014
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This started as a much… shallower picture inspired by a photo of someone diving. But after a bit of playing with the shadow and the depth, I started seeing shapes in the depths. And of course as I do everytime I see a big black mass underwater, I assume it is Cthulhu. The whale is a blue whale, I m quite happy with how she turned out.

A whale of a discovery

A whale of a discovery

~Garret