The end is almost in sight...still haven't made it to the credits there, but I'm amazed at how little ground is left to cover...

Also, my shoulders and back are unbelievably itchy...sunburn's finally starting to peel I guess.

At the moment I'm taking a break on the flash, and right after this I'll get back to it. But in the meantime...

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Well, this weekend's been fun. The bike is running better than ever since I got the battery replaced, and I've been talking to long-time friends again whom I haven't seen in years.

I also, stupidly I'll admit, I thought it would be a good idea to go swimming for a couple of hours in the cloudless heat of the day. Not only is my face, chest, back, arms, and stomach completely red-pink, but I do believe I have tiny blisters dotted across my shoulder length.

It hurts to move.

Gotta work on the flash...I've neglected touching it up at all for the past four days, and I can already feel Poozy's glare on my charred hide.

It's the twelfth...soon it'll reach the two-month mark if it hasn't already.

Gotta Hustle. Film at Eleven.

Art Portal's up, and it's totally cool! It has a bit of a problematic system, what-with-the Jenga like Scouting system...and before they took it down, they had an option in the left of the art for you to jump to more artwork by the same artist...I kinda miss that...but I digress; I'm sure that in time it'll be tweaked and messed with until it's...at least better.

The bike run fine! In one weekend of driving from Farmers Branch to McKinney and back, I've overcome my pants-shitting fear of being dragged beneath a truck's front bumper, and I've become more confident in riding a motorcycle...can't let my guard down, though, so I gotta keep a little fear along for the ride.

Poozy isn't being secretive about the collaborated Dick Neck project anymore, so that indicates it's nearing go-time. Gotta work double-time on DNO, before the joke completely dies...at least squeeze this in while it's still warmish...Jesus, this should've been done weeks ago.

No more distractions. Sinitech and I were working towards creating an "Awesometech 2" song for the Audio Portal, but that'll definitely have to wait. I was also going to submit newer work specifically for the Art Portal, and that'll have to wait too.

I've had my fun...I've slacked off far too much. It's time to work.

Film at Eleven.

The beast will soon be born...just got a new talent on board for the project!

In other news, check out my bike!

Now that I've gotten acclimated to riding it, I can focus on the flash again.

FILM AT ELEVEN!

...and the beginning of a Texas summer over here. I'm not really looking forward to it; our last winter, I spent most of the time outside in a t-shirt. That should be a huge red-flag that this summer heat-wave is going to be nothing short of crispifying.

By this time, I should have been making the final touches on a brand new flash project, that seemed to have sprout out of the ground in-between my own to-do list of animations. I'm just saying, for the handful of people that know to expect it, it'll be a week or so late...

...but, due to the opportunity this project is presenting me, and the big names that are collaborating with it, I refuse to cut corners on it's development like I did numerous times with Zone of the Awesome. Also, it was my intention to introduce my own style of animation in "Testing the Headset" (which hasn't been worked on since I started with this new flash) but it's looking like you'll get to see how my style kinda looks like even sooner.

I'm very excited for this project's completion. So far, it's the best animation I've made!

Also, the reason WHY it's late...in the past week, all of a sudden coming out of FUCKING NOWHERE, my oldest brother Joey sold the title of his 2002 Yamaha V-Star Classic 650cc cruiser to me...and just like that, by the next day, we're looking into Rider Safety Courses, Bike insurance, the whole thing.

This. Is. AWESOME. (holy shit) :D

In addition, just yesterday I spent 12 hours in a classroom in DFW to finally get a concealed hand-guns license. All sorts of shit is happening at once, and they're all awesome!

...But it's making me cautious, for some reason. Not to say that it's too good to be true, (I'm only using my gun as a last resort, and I know for a fact the bike runs fine) but I'm just keeping my guard up in case something comes along that fucks up this huge streak of fortune...whether it's a big accident on the road now that I'm on a bike, or if it's something else with the family, or even a woman.

Now that I have a set of wheels again, animation school up at Quad C is looking more and more likely.

I can't fucking wait for the Fall. Somehow I knew this year would turn out alright...

Film at Eleven.

UPDATE: I made a decent rap song this time! Check out Wingman vs. Fat Friend, vote honestly, and drop a review!

Sinitech and I have the intention to make another rap song in the future. There's a rumor floating around that even Elios will partake with us...oooohh! But first thing's first; I gotta finish this flash project (which is overdue)

UPDATE UPDATE: OMFG, I won the 4th Annual NG Idol in Photoshop! Thanks judges! There were absurdly good Photoshops up against me, I was almost certain I couldn't win...I'm honestly surprised!

With my confidence kinda knocked up a notch, you can bet your ass I'll make it difficult to win next year, so let's get to practicing, Photoshoppers! ;D

Get to watchin' Operation Neptune 2 and leave constructive feedback for the Author! Double-Time!

But shhhh....it's a secret...

A lot of my dialogue is improvised while I'm recording...so although I've written a script for three projects coming up, no doubt I'm going to be adding a lot in-between as I gain momentum from working on the flash.

That's why I haven't even touched up on animating a single flash up until now. My dead car was sold for scrap on the 18th, I've had tests and homework, helping friend's move, and mostly been writing. It's because of this, and he understands this, that I've been laying low with 9volt and other users.

BUT, here's the kicker, I finally have a new microphone! it's a ZoomH2 handheld stereo microphone...all I really need is a fresh SD memory card, and that's not going to be hard to get at all.

With the new hardware, a bounce in my step, and refreshed motivation to get back into animation, the new flash is on the way!

You might not have heard the montage song, my only Audio Portal submission for "Testing the Headset." All I really have to do is re-record the vocals (again...I need to work on projecting, and I don't like how the middle-octave voice sounds so weak...that, and the final part needs to be redone.) and it's ready for the flash, but Testing the Headset is going to be my next submission. This will be the first submission I've done that features my likeness as the main character, and it'll be a great exercise in getting a feel as to what my style of animation will look like.

No choppy pink mannequin's. No "Early Egoraptorism." Me.

Also, completely unrelated, I sheered off all of hair except for the beard, and my friends and I have been playing a shit-ton of Armored Core 4A...that shits addicting.

April is going to be awesome. Film at Eleven.

1. 9volt's computer is back online and Operation Neptune 2 is intact! We're back in the game!

2. Thomas "F4c3fuck3r" Gardner's updated "Pure Hatred" track sounds amazing. There are little details all over it that make it truly stand out from the audio portal submitted demo. Character design concepts are completed, all that's left to do is story-board the action to the music.

3 & 4, progress on both the next original comedy sketch, "Working on the Foundation" and (the book trilogy) have been temporarily paused to lend myself some time to spend on upcoming math tests, and, dig this.

I've begun work on a minute long short, making fun of myself for having a shitty microphone. My brother, Chris, and I were talking about how busy he's been earlier today, and somehow or another we got to talking about an idea for a funny scene.

My friend Thomas and I made a song that'll be incorporated in a montage scene for the little monster. He did a great job, and my vocals kinda sucked, but whatever...it's supposed to be campy.

The flash shouldn't take long to make, but it'll be a nice little filler, and reminder to Newgrounds that I'm still actively animating.

The new microphone is coming soon.

5. After further discussion with Adam, it would appear "The Black and Blue Room" animation will be post-poned until after summer.

My position on the Zone of the Awesome/Blenders web-comic continuation is completely dependent on the release of the Art Portal, which, according to a leaked screen shot I have seen on one of Tom's posts on the Admin Forums, won't be until August.

We shall see. Film at Eleven!

1. Still waiting for news on 9volt's computer; it's broken, and he's still not sure if Operation Neptune 2 is still intact. He is currently the only user I'm collaborating with to-date, so far I've helped him with details, writing, eventually voice-acting, and real-time constructive criticism. Hang in there 9volt!

2. After consulting my good friend, Thomas Gardner, about animating a music video from one of his more popular songs, he volunteered to show me how he's brushed up the piece after submitting it to the Audio Portal. Currently I'm waiting for him to email the updated "Pure Hatred" track. The character designs for the music video flash are almost complete.

3. Dialogue and story-boarding for my next comedy short are also almost reaching finalization. I'm still trying to coordinate time with my older brother for the hook-up on a new microphone and interface. This is proving to be a little difficult, as we operate on completely different times of the day. Just as I came in from school today, he was out the door because he was needed at the studio for the Dallas Sound Lab. Go figure, right? I can't complain because he's much busier than I am...and this is hella busy for me!

4. The flash series that I've been working on is about to take a turn for a completely different direction; instead of running up and animating a series with a DVD movie at the end, I now have the intention to make the series into a three-part book trilogy. I will release NO details on it, as ideas are not copyrightable. I will begin writing the first novel soon. :P After the novels are completed, and I'm waiting on them being published, I will immediately begin designs for the animation, which I have the intention to make it perfectly clear this is something original that spawned from Newgrounds.

If there's one thing this site needs, desperately, is more originality. Less video-game parodies and less tributes...we need something new. I'm helping 9volt out with his Madness-themed flash because I see incredible potential in him. Once he's developed the confidence in himself after the success that ON2 will receive, I can pray he'll be motivated to press on with his own designs.

5. After considering the possibility of writing something in a novel form (active voice, pass-tense) I'm also motivated to animate the memoir that I wrote for English 1301 about myself, titled "The Doom Incident" It is my intention to begin work animating my memoir either before or after helping my other good friend,
Adam Holland, animate his poem, "The Black and Blue Room"

Busy. Busy. Busy. I neglected to study for my math test, due tomorrow, because I've been writing down details on this trilogy I've been working on. You'll receive more updates in a couple-of weeks!

I'm enthralled to start work on these projects right away. Also, that flash book that I've never gotten the chance to use to help earn a credit has been incredibly helpful. Hope you guys are as ready as I am! :D

Film at Eleven.

(Leo may never button-mash again. We'll see if by the time the Art Portal kicks up if I'll feel up to doing a "Zone of the Blenders" parody web-comic which would pick up right where "Zone of the Awesome" left off. That is a project that I'm only doing for the fans that liked ZOA. If it takes off, I'll keep on working on it. If it doesn't, I'll drop it completely, and never touch another "Zone of the Enders" parody ever again.)