My 2015

Last year was full of changes and sometimes things were quite overwhelming and intense but overall 2015 was awesome!

In no particular order...

☆

There was a lot of progress in art – fanart, animals, portraits. I'm now braver to try drawing challenging new things! It has always been my dream to become a professional artist, be it drawing or writing. And I feel I finally worked hard for that last year! I want to keep treating drawing as something serious and not just a fun hobby.

☆

In autumn we moved to a new place! It's bigger, has a sauna and now there's even more nature around us! ^u^ I can't wait to plant stuff in spring in our yard.

That's a pretty nice neighbourhood. ^p^

☆

I turned 30 and I hope to have even more silliness and fun in the next decade. ;p By the way, my father says he's 25, and I'm not yet sure what my real age is, but I definitely feel young, like he does.

☆

Growth in self-confidence happened and I've become stronger. : 3 I am now less meek, I've learned that it's okay to demand good things from life and to say no to uncomfortable situations. 2015 was the year of transformation.

☆

And also I completed my Goodreads challenge and read more than a hundred stories! ^u^/ (Please don't ask what my favourite book was XDD)

And I read a few new countries! Books and short stories from:

Belgium - Hergé

Taiwan - Wu Ming-Yi

Romania - Ana Blandiana

Singapore - JY Yang

Bangladesh - Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Sri Lanka - Sonali Deraniyagala

Philippines - Isabel Yap

Malaysia - Zen Cho
and
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan - Nightingale in Cage: The anthology of Central-Asian women writers

Every year I read tons of books but it always feels like not enough. Should have read more YA, more Asian novels, more space opera, I need snowy books and books with stars and arrrrrg!
><
#InsatiableBookwormCannotHandleTheAmountOfCoolBooksInTheWorld

#ItDoesntHelpThatICanKindaReadInFourLanguages

#TooManyBooksAaaaaaaah

#AlsoShortStoriesAreNiceButThereAreBillionsOfThemWelp

☆

I worked on my own stories too. I'm mostly focused on my first webcomic and a novel, both speculative fiction with LGBTQIA characters. And, after a lot of thinking, I switched to writing in English. At first it was a bit intimidating but now it's fuuuuun.

☆

I finally bought a new camera! Unfortunately I didn't give it enough attention. >u<;;;;; But I shall learn all the tricks one day!

☆

2015 was very metal in my ears, as you can see from my last.fm stats.

I'm one of those people for whom metal was never a rebellious teenager phase to be discarded later. Metal is with me forever. I need music that makes me feel things, and metal does it best. Bands like Chthonic, Madder Mortem and Tengger Cavalry offer complex and inspiring and dark musical landscapes that I cannot resist. I'm very lucky that my husband shares my passion for heavy music. We even got matching Amorphis t-shirts last year. ^^

I hope to find even more badass metal bands! Feel free to recommend. ;)

Just listen to it... A-m-a-z-i-n-g.

☆

Also, my favourite drummer, Mally of exist†trace, said my name! The band replied to fans' questions in two videos and they chose my question! It's right in the beginning and my name is misspelled in the subs lol. But Mally tried her best to pronounce this hard Greek/Slavic word! (I wrote it in katakana for them, by the way, as エカテリナ.)

Looks like they enjoyed my question! Victory! ^o^/

That smile tho... ♡

☆

My hair was half-green for a few months! I shall do it again this year too ^o^

(And I learned how to take selfies that don't make me wanna groan and remove them right away XD)

☆

As dessert, obligatory Babylon 5 bonus:

It's fitting! Almost!

…

Fine, fine, my year wasn't THAT dramatic. But! My sweetheart got the Ultimate Babylon 5 Collection for my birthday. ♡♡♡ I'm gonna rewatch it and fangirl sooooo much. DELENN! KOSH! *unintelligible fangirl noises fading away*

Why hello there, Marcus. I still have a crush on you.

(Lyta, don't stare at me so darkly, I love you too.)

((And dear G'Quan class heavy cruisers, you're cool too. It's just I'm in love with Sharlin warcruisers and White Stars, sorry!))

(((You know, Vorlon transport vessels are super awesome too... They sing to you! They are organic and probably have intelligence!)))

My precioussss.

☆

I want many things for 2016, more than I'll be able to accomplish as always. =D More writing and drawing, more travels and adventures! This January indeed felt like the beginning of a new part of my life, so let's hope I'll make the best out of 2016 ^^