So it's been a heck of a long time since I wrote an actual journal with any substance. Beware that this is a pretty long journal. Please feel free to skip to the TL;DR version below. Things have just been such a whirlwind lately I wanted to ensure things we settled before I made any "official" announcement. First off I 'spose I should start with the largest change, my new $ymbol. It's been 3 months now that I have joined the ranks of the deviantART staff. The typical work environment usually requires a new employee to work 3 months on probation just to see how well they fit in to the new environment and if they have a place in the company. deviantART is far from a 'typical' company but this is something they share in common. My three months are up and it would appear that I have passed! My $ wont be going anywhere any time soon if I can help it!

People seem to be really curious as to how I got the job... I've been asked this over and over since I came on staff so I think it warrants an open response. I never really applied for the position. I was approached late last year by the lovely $fourteenthstar asking me if I thought this would be something I could get behind. She approached me, not the other way around. There are a few out there that seem to think I only ever became a Gallery Mod to further my dA career. I can assure you that is not the case. I became a Gallery Mod because I was tired of taking so much from deviantART and not giving anything back to the community. I became a Gallery Mod to earn my senior status; something I still never got :S but I 'spose I'm still working towards that goal. So what is it I do you ask? I'm a "Customer Service Rep". I work in the +help desk answering questions and testing buggies. It doesn't sound like much but I can assure you it's magical. I can't remember the last time I woke up and wanted to go to work in the morning and at the end of the day felt a sense of accomplishment. As a volunteer I helped deviants all the time but nothing like this. They're two totally different beasts. Without the volunteer position however I think I might have gone crazy the first few weeks XD If you're looking for more info check out $fourteenthstar's inside Comm Ops Vol.1. I know I've been a bit M.I.A. recently but I wanted to focus on my work and get settled before I did anything else. Now that I've passed my 3 months and things are semi-permanent I can branch out and get more involved. Doubt it'll be as forward as I once was, but I do plan to make a comeback artistically... soon. If you've got any questions about my new title please feel free to ask, I'm more than happy to discuss it!


I've moved! o/ At the beginning of the month I took a huge step forward and moved out of my parent house! It was a great day indeed. I had lived on my own for 4 years while I was away in school, but when that ended I was too broke to do anything else but move back in with my rents when I returned to the bahamas. Thanks to new jobs and some serious saving I was finally able to take the plunge and get a nice little apartment. It's not without it's flaws but I'm on my own again, and loving it. Now if only a certain someone would come home so I don't have to be all alone at night >.>


A close few of you know about a brush with my own stupidity a few weeks ago on Easter Monday, but for those of you who don't here goes. Earlier that day I was at a family bbq at my rents house. Some of my family members were there and they brought some amazing shrimp and crawfish tails that I just couldn't resist. What's the problem you ask? Well... I'm allergic to shellfish :B I had a piece of shrimp and it was so delicious. Now normally I can take a small amount without having much of a reaction, usually some slight throat discomfort but popping a benadryl usually make me all better. This time however... nothing... Nothing happened when I first ate the little bugger. I thought it must by my lucky day! I made it through the rest of the afternoon without so much as an itch. When however I made it home and sat down to my computer I started sneezing. Then the itching hit me. I wanted to scratch out my eyeballs I was in so much pain. I thought maybe something got in my eyes so I tried to take a shower to flush them out and cool off because by this time I felt like I was on fire. It didn't occur to me that it was an allergic reaction to the shrimp until I started swelling like a balloon. Luckily I've got my mom on speed dial cause I could barely see out of the puff that was now my eyes. I had asked her to bring me some benadryl tablets since I had just recently moved I didn't get all the necessary precautions. By the time she got there I couldn't breath and it was far too late to self medicate. She quickly took me to the E.R. which by the time I got there I had started going into anaphylactic shock and I looked like this minus the pustules and extreme discolouration. It was really quite terrifying. They pumped me full of drugs and a few hours later I was released into my moms care. Here I am a week into freedom and I find myself staying with my mom... again... Anyway, I got over it pretty quickly but spent the next few days waiting for the swelling to subside so I could be seen in public again. I guess that's lesson learned, no more shellfish for me. Which depresses me even further cause it's crawfish season here and conch season is just around the corner! :<


Not really sure how many of you watch both `shuttermonkey and I but if you do then you know he's graduating from university the first week in May! I couldn't be more proud! Next week friday I'm headed to Orlando for a full week so spend some time with him before his graduation so you probably won't see much of me until after that. I don't technically qualify for vacation, but the best thing about working from home is I can make up my hours before I go so I can be free to a short amount of time. If you need me you are free to poke me, it tickles but I usually answer. If you need anything right away though, you're probably out of luck unless you schedule it with me before hand.


For those of you who couldn't be bothered to read my long journal just know... I Love my new job on deviantART and I passed my probation so it's 'official'. I moved out into a new apartment! I nearly died, but I'm okay now. And `shuttermonkey is graduating university in 2 weeks so I'm off for a visit, I'll probably be m.i.a. during the week I'm in Orlando.


The Babes over at #CSS-Babes had a contest recently and I promised a feature to the winners so here goes!