What did you all get for Xmas? (Or Hanukkah? Or Kwanzaa? Or...)

Aside from a long-needed vacation far away from the cold, I also got something else I've been needing for a really long time... a 500GB external hard drive! Now I can back up all my huge files without worry. There have been a few rare but tragic incidences this year where I lost some very large important files of my comic pages/posters due to computer crashes and negligence on my part for not backing up properly. Now I can spring into the New Year with confidence! >8D

I hope you all had an awesome holiday season. <3 Now get off the freaking computer and spend some time with real people, ok??

My family just got back from Hilo, the rainy side of the island. OH MAN I am so sleepy! It's good to be back at a hotel that has internet. I'm a serious addict...

First thing I see: Several submissions to the Sister Claire food contest I'm running! YAY! You guys are the best! I was starting to get seriously worried. I'm glad to know you didn't forget about it! <3 But a lot of you did forget to send me your address in your emails, lol. Please send me your address if you still want to get a personal postcard!

I have TONS of photos to post, and I need to figure out some way for people to see those texture photos without them getting that 404 error. I was even getting it sometimes, but then I thought I fixed it. Now I'm not really sure what the problem is. D: I uploaded them all, and the links are correct... It must have something to do with them being such big files. I hope I figure it out soon, because I have a lot more textures to upload.

And more photos of crazy Hawaiian stuff, too! We walked across a (cooled) lava flow to see the lava flowing right into the ocean. Of course, we were about a mile away, and couldn't ACTUALLY see the lava, but you could see huge billowing clouds of steam and smoke and gases rising out from behind the silhouetted black rocks, with the glowing making impressive orange light shows on the smokescreen. Sadly, with the nightfall and the added fact that the lava was over a mile away, I couldn't get any decent pictures. It was really a powerful experience that photos can't do justice to.

Speaking of impressive light shows, on the hour long drive back to Kona tonight, I saw the the big storm we'd been in in Hilo, only now it was behind a mountain. There were massive flashes of lightening every few seconds lightning up the sky and casting the mountain in silhouette. I couldn't believe how bright it was! It was almost as if a giant was waving a flashlight around behind the black mountain.

And the stars here are clearer than anywhere else on Earth! It's amazing how crisp they look, it's as if I've been looking at the night sky half-blind all my life and now I have corrective lenses to see the sky. I'm told it has something to do with atmospheric currents or something, there's no disruption to make the stars blink and look blurry. Another thing I have always tried to see but never managed to catch is the "green flash." Supposedly for the same atmospherics conditions, this is one of the best places in the world to see it.

All these naturally occurring phenomena combined really impressed on me what why the Native Hawaiians came up with all these colorful tales of gods and supernatural beings to explain these "supernatural" sights. Many of my readers have expressed a curiosity about what my religion is, or if I even follow one. I have to say that I don't follow any definite religion, but the idea of religion itself is something I find endlessly fascinating.

The legends we have created, the structures we have built, the explanations we find for all these inexplicable events- that amazes me. I don't deny that occasionally religion has also brought a lot of terrible things with it- wars, discrimination, extinction of some indigenous cultures... but I don't think we often dwell on the amazing creativity and art and mythology humans have made in the name of religion, either. It's really kind of mind-blowing, if you think about it.

..with fruits that looks like insect larva and rock-solid sea urchins that look like squishy blobs. Photos and more here: [link]

I made a post with new sketches, and another video of me practicing my ASL, this time on a noisy, bumpy plane ride. The media-filled post is here!

I made an update on my travels to Southern CA, and a video post showing me practicing some sign language! I think it's coming along! [link]

P.S. Dear ASL speakers, PLEASE tell me how to sign "comics." And I do mean visual comics, not "comic" like "comedian." Because that's all I can find, and it's not correct. XD; Until I learn this magical, extremely important sign, I'll have to keep finger spelling "C-O-M-I-C-S".