I can't believe we have made it this far.....
Ten years I ago I submitted a work just like this reflecting on an entire decade worth of art.
And now here it is; the year 2019 coming to an end and a new decade of art beginning. So much happened back in 2000-2009. But now it all seems like a distant memory. The nostalgia of simpler times despite not being so simple come and go as I say goodbye to that decade and now focus on the last decade I had been through.
It is now time to reflect on the years 2010-2019 and see how far my artwork has come since then. You might not notice too much of an improvement as we near 2020. Or maybe you have. It's purely objective. But all I know is if 2000-2010 marked new beginnings for me; then 2010-2019 further showed what those new beginnings were and how far it elevated me. I don't think there's ever been a down year when I didn't submit a single piece of art at least once a month. Maybe in 2010 but that's just the very beginning of my journey.
So let us embark before we turn another page in history and see what another ten years of artwork had done for me.
2010 - Although this marks a huge beginning for me, that didn't happen until later this year. During this year life was going completely nowhere for me. As my last Decade of Art ended in 2009, a new one began in 2010. And I can say without hesitation that both those years were the absolute worst of my life. I was working two jobs and both were barely enough to pay my rent. I had been living for at least two years on my own and it wasn't easy. One job was steady but the pay wasn't big. The other was also not big on pay and was very uneasy on keeping me. I felt my days were numbered at my second job and that life would prove to get more difficult. Such as it was though I continued drawing. I still was active in the Ratchet and Clank fandom with my OC Sin; and God of War 3 came out this year so I combined him with Kratos. I also was still big in the Sly fandom; even creating a Sly 4 poster saying "....Believe..." Sure enough....but we'll talk about that later. As I expected, I was let go towards the end of the year from my second job. It was both a relief and a struggle. I knew soon I would have to find more work the next year. But before that year hit; something extraordinary happened. My friend
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and I were chatting one night and he introduced me to this new show by Butch Hartman. The show was 'TUFF Puppy.' Immediately the anthro character designs in Hartman's style resonated with me. So I created a new character as is my habit in fandoms. This gave birth to perhaps my most popular character ever created. On December 27th 2010; Lady Malmsteen first made her debut. And while she wasn't exactly popular yet; I knew starting this early in the fandom with a lovely lady villain was a great way to stick my toe into it. So it was that TUFF Puppy would be my newest fandom, and Lady Malmsteen replacing Sin as my most well known OC. The new chapter in the next phase of my artwork had begun.
2011 - Wasting no time with Lady Malmsteen's growing popularity within the TUFF fandom; I quickly capitalized and made a series of pictures featuring her. Among them are some of the best works still to this day I've made of her. There's the one where she's the main female villainess at the villains get-together and another where she traps Kitty and Dudley in an arena and forces them to fight three baddies which were cameos from a Danny Phantom episode. This also paid tribute to the main source of inspiration for her: Castlevania Symphony of the Night. (I also listened to Yngwie Malmsteen while creating her.) In another pic I did here I drew her seducing the main star of the show Dudley Puppy and turning him into a vampire named Count Dud-Ula. Yes I was enjoying her growing popularity as she was among the most recognized TUFF fan characters during the show's heyday. But even more so I created other TUFF OCs around this time. Lizzy McDinga and her debut comic 'The Most Dangerous Blame' first started this year. I only got halfway through it before resuming and finishing it in 2012; but it also introduced another well known OC of mine. And at the bottom was General Blitz and his team of canid elemental agents The Angels. This year really did showcase my main order of TUFF villains. Though...I still have yet to do anything with the cobra King Hissan. But during the time I was establishing them, something else monumental has happened. A career path I have chosen and am still following to this day. 2011 is the year I decided to sign up and join the Air Force. I drew a pic commemorating my leave for basic training that would go on for well over six weeks. So I went through basic, graduated and became an Airman First Class. This unfortunately meant saying goodbye to my friends in California; including a friend I've not seen or heard from in the longest time. But he and I were big fans of two awesome animated movies that came out that year: Rango and Kung Fu Panda 2. I even draw a pic of a potential scenario where Mast Shen invades and destroys Rome. That pic I drew of the Roman surrendering to him I still consider among my best. Even so; I had no choice but to join. A decision I have no regrets on.
2012 - Now THIS was a huge year of firsts. It was my first year as active duty in the Air Force. I began work right after New Year's day. WOW!! XD Whatta year to start. If I'm not mistaken this was the year the Mayan calendar said the world would end. Wellll.....let's just say that coulda meant a lot of things. But as far as complete and utter destruction that didn't happen. But as there was no end; there was only beginnings for me. As I mentioned it was my first year as Active Duty in the Air Force. Not an easy start and I definitely made mistakes. But you know we all learn from them. Another first came in the form of my artwork. Lady Malmsteen and other TUFF and Sly characters of mine were gaining more recognition. I think this was the year many of my female characters were recognized as attractive and becoming somewhat potent sex symbols. So a new yearly (almost) tradition began that summer with 'The Queen of Summer' contest. This contest featured lady characters my watchers would vote on to see who would ultimately advance to the final round. The winner of the first one was surprisingly not Lady Malmsteen. It was my Sly Cooper OC Mai Ling. Lady Malmsteen would win the following year. Also depicted are the two other girls who have since won future Queen of Summer contests: Lizzy McDinga and Sarah Brendhart. And each of them was given a sculpt I commissioned
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to create commemorating them. So far I have four made. Ruth Campbell who won the fifth one has yet to be realized. But there will be one of her too. ;3 Another art first was establishing a yearly tradition I have stuck to ever since. I established 'Doghouse of Horror' inspired by Simpsons 'Tree house of Horror' for the TUFF Fandom. Although these weren't comics or fully written stories, they nevertheless had images and plot synopses as well as pun-filled titles to give people a visual on what it would be like. Even a memorable quite from the...ahem..."Show" made it in there. And finally in terms of art, I FINALLY completed my first fan-made comic. I finished up 'The Most Dangerous Blame'; the TUFF fan comic featuring my other TUFF character next to Lady Malmsteen. That being Lizzy McDinga of course. It's not the cleanest looking thing I made but at least I can say I finished a comic for once. I started a few in the past that went nowhere because they were overly ambitious. Trying it out with TUFF Puppy I think was a smarter choice; but it was still a lot of work. XD But getting back to my job in the Air Force, another first happened. Near the end of the year I experienced my first deployment. Yep, towards the end of 2012 they shipped me out. I went to Qatar; notta bad place to start honestly. But for the remainder of the year and for the first time ever, I was stationed in the Middle East. To say 2012 was an eventful year for me is clearly an understatement.
2013 - At the beginning of the year I was still stationed in Qatar. You could say this was the first time spending both Christmas and New Year's outside the United States. Well my fear and uneasiness being stationed in the Middle East was quickly substituted with boredom and claustrophobia. Being crammed into a tiny bedroom sharing it with another airman as well as working in a tiny work trailer wasn't exactly easy to adjust to. Well at least it taught me some good lessons in resiliency; if my earlier experience at my home base of Whiteman didn't already. It also taught me how to cope with trying to get artwork done while sacrificing my privacy. Only in publicly used kiosks could I continue drawing. And let's just say in some instances, I had to be VERY discrete about it. XD So if 2012 was a year of firsts, 2013 was about adapting to radical shifts in environment and living spaces. But while in Qatar, another radical thing had occurred. Though i still focused primarily on TUFF art (especially of Lady Malmsteen like the Edward Gorey version seen here); I never forgot about my Sly Cooper fan characters. And just as I had "believed" in a Sly 4 in 2010; sure enough 'Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time' was released for the PS3 this year. To much....mixed reviews. Yeah; to this day A LOT of Sly Cooper fans do not like how it turned out. I can see why. Even more disappointingly, it's sales numbers did not bring the series to super stardom like we hoped. Nevertheless, I DID make more Sly Cooper fan art featuring Sly, Carmelita and my fan characters since it's release. You can see my most recognized Sly CO Mai Ling dancing and a picture of Rioichi Cooper wandering. Yeah no doubt Rioichi Cooper and his redesign were largely influential from the game. I still continued with other TUFF-related projects; like an updated shot of Blitz and the Angels and creating this Team Katswell poster for
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. I still think of how I drew Kitty as one of my better demonstrations of perspective. Sly Cooper wasn't the only game I anticipated coming out this year. Pokemon X and Y arrived not long after my deployment ended and I returned home to Whiteman AFB in the United States. The emphasis on prehistoric Pokemon drove me to create a caveman version of Pokemon trainers. With a few spooky pics like a ghostly skeleton and Minerva Mink dressed as Samus Aran, it looks like settling back into the States I was settling back into my usual art routines. We still had a Queen of Summer and Doghouse of Horror this year too. But what would next year bring?
2014 - Like 2010, the biggest changes in living wouldn't occur until later this year. Firstly I was getting more involved with
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and creating submissions for their many drawing challenges. Drawing Vertigo from Primal Rage Amingo from Marvel vs Capcom 2 and a tribute to Crash Bandicoot 1 for three different projects of the group all are what I consider still some of my finest works to this day. When I draw for groups I tend to put my all into it. Even simple pictures like Dingodile hugging
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's Niles and my own Lizzy McDinga took effort to make it look right and heart-warming. Upon making more Crash-related art I also reflected on what it was like when I first started doing artwork since my first 'Decade of Art' reflection piece. Crash Bandicoot was my first fandom, and I figured most people forgot about him a this point and he had no chance of making a comeback. If there was one thing the coming years would teach me, it was expect the unexpected. And brace yourself; cause it'll hit harder than you think. XD But meanwhile I still focused mostly on my favorite art subjects: TUFF Puppy and Sly Cooper. Especially Kitty Katswell and Carmelita Montoya Fox. For Halloween I drew Kitty as Shanoa from Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia and Carmelita Fox as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. Does the coloration on these look a bit different from my more darker colored pics? Well that's because around this time I just moved out of the base dorms and into my new home. Well it's relatively a home. It was a small trailer apartment just twenty minutes away from Whiteman. But it had shelter, more free space and more privacy than my dorm room. So I was much more comfortable calling it my own. And I no longer worked on a laptop while living here. I bought a PC and worked from that. Basically he costumed character pics (including a Christmas pic of my own Xu Chan) and a pic featuring monsters from the first Legend of Zelda game were all created on my PC. I also believe this was the year I made Senior Airman. So from moving out of the base dorms and up a rank things were still looking very up for me. I also got my Playstation 4 this year; so good deal. =^^=
2015 - Wouldn't you know it? As soon as 2015 hits guess what? It's time to deploy again. Oh joy!! XD This time I was going off to the United Arab Emirates. But in all honesty, it was a huge improvement over my first deployment. More room, more privacy, better wifi and a great gym to work out in. This year I dedicated to bettering my body and losing a considerable amount of weight and being physically fit. I can safely say 2015 was a very optimistic year for me. I was adjusted nicely to the military lifestyle and I was getting used to living in deployed places. Prior to my deployment I submitted one of the biggest pics I ever created for this entire decade. It was a picture of Bentley and Carmelita Montoya Fox reflecting on their lost loves. Sly Thieves in Time had been out for over two years and even to this day we never saw a resolution to those momentous cliffhangers: Sly being lost in time and Penelope turning evil. I don't know if we'll ever truly see a game tying up the loose ends. But we got another decade ahead of us. Never say never. I also drew Penelope turning evil in a pic inspired by 'Age of Ultron' that vaguely shows Clockwerk in the background. Somehow I like to think there is a connection. But so many years have passed since Sly 4; it's hard to say what they'll do with a fifth game...if any. Also looking back on it I SORT OF completed another TUFF fan comic. A mini fan comic. Jurassic Park was coming back as a franchise this year with Jurassic World; so I did a mini comic of Dudley, Kitty, Keswick and The Chief parodying the characters from the original Jurassic Park movie all set to Weird Al Yankovic's parody song 'Jurassic Park.' It was a mini comic but I can safely say it was finished. This was also the year Star Wars came back with 'The Force Awakens'; but I got another pic coming up to discuss all that. Other artwork I drew here was what I created after I returned home from deployment. The Legend of Zelda and Castlevania 64 tributes were drawn right when I got back. And there's no greater feeling in the world coming home to a well earned rest and freely drawing in a familiar setting again. But I included another important piece in here that was setting the stage for things to come. I drew a picture of Sheriff Toothpick from Sly 4 with
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's Abigail the Squirrel dressed as Zeke and Josephine Clench from Samurai Jack. She is a huge fan of both franchises. Well; primarily of Aku and Toothpick. ;D I bring this up now because up until this point we both considered each other best friends. We didn't really know what would happen until next year. 2015 was the lull before the coming wild and crazy year of 2016. You could say life going it's normal pace for me was going to end when this year ended.
2016 - Yeah once I returned home from deployment things seemed to be going normally. I was still creating more game-related artwork. I participated in
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's big Pokemon Art Collaborations; taking select Pokemon and drawing them performing different abilities. I also drew a poster for Lady Malmsteen thinking I would FINALLY get that comic I had planned for her done. But as far as I can tell that hasn't happened yet; and it has sadly been postponed. Although I introduced her at the beginning of the decade and she remains my most famous character: unlike Lizzy McDinga she has yet to have her debut comic. Quite honestly the ship has kind of sailed. TUFF Puppy at this point had been off the year for a good couple of years now and it didn't generate a huge following. The fandom thankfully was still active and continues to remain active. The Sly Cooper fandom I partook in also remained active. EXTREMELY active. I definitely drew a lot of Carmelita this year. One showing her as a Playstation Move character with a Sarah Brendhart minion. the other showing her and Sly participating in Day of the Dead. The biggest one though had to be the one "commemorating" Ghostbusters 2016. It shows all-female ghostbusters just like the movie...only it's Kitty Katswell, Judy Hopps, Coco Bandicoot and Carmelita Fox in the roles being eyed by the spirit of Ghost Neyla. Oh yes; this was also the year Zootopia came out. I might not be as active in that but it is still fun to draw Judy now and then. And it really made a furry film a huge success. I also produced my biggest Castlevania drawing comemmorating my all-time favorite game Symphony of the Night. I was definitely beginning to put more detail in my work. Years of experience was really giving me the ability to create highly elaborate and detailed drawings. But there was one VERY important event that happened to me this year. Well two; this was also the year I made Staff Sergeant. But it was an event has changed my life since and continues to shape it for years to come. After many years of being friends; me and
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entered a relationship. A relationship that still remains strong to this day. <3333 Not long after I got into it with her, I visited her near the end of the year in the Netherlands. I admit, it was a bit awkward at first. Well these things can be awkward at first with all the uncertainty. But at the end of it all we knew we couldn't live without each other. So I went home from the Netherlands knowing our relationship would continue and flourish. The picture of Samurai Jack/Sly and my own Chris Fuzz and Verona's Abigail making weird Pokemon faces (Sun and Moon did come out this year) helps to commemorate our relationship. A lot of commemorative pics made this year. (Theyearpriortoeveryonelosingtheirminds.....)
2017 - My relationship with
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was reaching new heights when during the Christmas season of 2016 she came over to the United States for the first time to spend the holidays with me. And soon after returning to Netherlands, she came back again. And not a moment too season. Something amazing happened on Cartoon Network this year. After over twelve years or so had passed; the final season of Samurai Jack aired. Just as we are still waiting to see the end of the Sly Cooper story; me and Verona were both awaiting to see the end of Samurai Jack's story. We never thought we'd see it in our lifetime. But if there is one thing 2015 and beyond taught me; it was never say never. I mean it; ANYTHING can happen. And at least before the decade ended we got to see the conclusion to the saga of Samurai Jack. And what a conclusion it was. Me and Verona felt it was really special watching this series finale together for all ten episodes. We grew to love Ashi and appreciate Aku's voice actor Greg Baldwin staying true to Mako's original voice as best he could. We even met Phil Lamar the voice of Jack at a local Comic Con. Whatta great guy he is! From beginning to end, from one surprise turn to another: Samurai Jack concluded with a bittersweet ending but still one that made the whole saga feel complete. So I drew a few pics to commemorate it. One being Jack nearly doing Aku in; but demon Verona silencing him with a huge mallet. XD My girl loves Aku too much to let Jack do him in. ;3 The other is Ashi dressed in her leaves outfit; while the head of Scaramouche reminds everyone of one of the final season's most infamous sidegags. XD (The one that really pushed that M rating on the show.) But while Samurai Jack had a satisfying ending, another franchise I really like was starting to show me it was going towards an unsatisfying one. After the fun we had with Force Awakens and the greatness that was Rogue One; I drew a pic for May the Fourth Day showing Sarah as Rey (Jesus she must be overpowered by now XD) with BB-8 having Mai Ling in a Princess Leia slave outfit with R2-D2. It was funny at the time and I had hopes that Star Wars was heading in the right direction. Then later that year 'The Last Jedi' happened...and my hopes were crushed.
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(It hasn't gotten any better now that the sequel trilogy concluded.) But even more surprisingly was the return of an icon I once did a great deal of fandom for. Crash Bandicoot came back in the N .Sane Trilogy with a graphical update. And it was a huge HUGE success!! The Bandicoot was back!! What better way to celebrate than to show Coco playing while ignoring Pura. It was appropriate since she was selectable next to her brother Crash as a player. The year also brought me bringing two fan characters together further;
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's Kei Fox and my own Lady Malmsteen. Drawing her as Morticia and him as Gomez Addams is always a favorite past-time of mine. And
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is such a very close friend of mine as well. X3 For Christmas I drew this picture I drew of some of
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's favorite birds (chickadees, cardinals and sparrows) reinnacting the Nativity scene. You can definitely tell this year was me paying tribute to me and the relationship Verona started and continue to this day. ;3
2018 - This year I was deployed yet again. It was my last deployment to the Middle East so far. I actually was almost gonna go to Afghanistan. But instead; they sent me to Jordan. As far as deployments go it wasn't bad. Except now as a Staff Sergeant I had to lead a different group of Airmen. And that definitely wasn't easy One or two Airmen really gave me attitude and I admit I wasn't the best at handling this. It was a learning experience though. And otherwise it wasn't a bad deployment at all. It was just a slightly longer one than the previous ones. All deployments thus far had been the same: work six days a weeks and twelve hours a shift. As such, drawings can become a bit scarce. This year seemed to have been sparse in terms of artwork. I did manage to continue queen of Summer again this year thankfully; but that dragged into 2019 before Ruth Campbell won it. To date she is the last Queen of Summer to have won before the next decade. There are five queens and I started this in 2012. Yes I admit I missed a few years due to a busy schedule and sporadic changes. I admit when it comes to making a themed series of artworks; I do tend to slow down a bit. Queen of Summer wasn't the only one to suffer from this. I started a series of Smash Bros. characters once I found King K Rool joined the fray. Soon I included other fights such as Isabelle and Richter Belmont seen here. But to date this series is ongoing and I haven't even covered all the new ones yet. And that list still keeps growing. XD Me and
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also decided to co-op on a pic we submitted for a contest featuring Japanese characters. We chose a dog man and a cat girl. The dog is getting revenge on the cat girl for killing his sparrow; who is seen hovering over her as a spirit. Don't mess with cutie.
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And no...we sadly did not win. Hey...kitty had it coming. >
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Throw in another detailed Castlevania pic (Castlevania 3 as the Netflix series entered it's third amazing season) anda pic featuring my four gals Ruth Campbell, Lola Henderson, Xu Chan and Valerie Quinn and you got a pretty stagnant year as far as artwork is concerned. I was in Jordan for the majority of it. Thankfully when I returned in November, my lovely girlfriend came over with me for Christmas and we had a blast together. X3 And yet my time living at Whiteman in the place of familiarity was nearing it's swift end.
2019 - The final year of the decade. And the final year I would be stationed at Whiteman AFB. I found out while stationed in Jordan that I was being assigned to Korea. I was to report there no later than March 2019. So it was when I arrived back to Whiteman it was time to prepare to leave. I had grown accustomed to Whiteman ever since I lived there after arriving in 2012; with only deployments being the time I lived far off it. And also living off base in 2014 in a nice affordable place I called home. Now it was time to say goodbye to all that. I left for Korea in March of this year and am still living there. And when my tour ends come 2020; I will be going to my next assigned base. Hickam AB Hawaii!! WOW!! Talk about an upgrade. But yeah; until then as I make this commemorative Decade of Art I am still in a dorm in Korea. That hasn't slowed me down art-wise though. In fact compared to 2018 I did a lot. I did a calendar project marking off each month with a character of mine dressed as a certain game character. The two examples of mine being my two favorites: Jenti as Sol Calibur's Taki and Sharon Nicole Ken as Castlevania's Maria Renard. I managed to successfully create one for the beginning of each month. So I actually managed to pull that off. X3 Another big project I managed to pull off was Ink-Tober. For the first time ever I managed to do an ink for all 31 days of October. Two of my faves are here: Tawna turning the CTR girls into creatures and the Ancient Leshen from the Witcher III. Speaking of Tawna; the animal of particular note here is Liz as an armadillo. This is due to her taunt "Your mum's an armadillo!" Now SHE is an armadillo. And this actually created a bit of a mini meme on Twitter brought to my attention. How cool is that? X3 I also like that like the N Sane Trilogy in 2017; CTR: Nitro Fueled made it's debut in 2019. And it was a humongous success with all sorts of new racers still being added to this day. Bringing back to mind of my Crashcorner days from the very beginning of my previous Decade of Art. Now we're kinda running full circle. XD How about that? I drew it while I was visiting my sweetheart
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as well as the PUFF pic I made showing the opposition to Lady Malmsteen. (The spooky themed versions of the TUFF crew.) And finally I drew two tributes to the Mega Man games: the Classic and the X Series. There was so much more I did this year too: the soccer themed pics and the Christmas pics. And I am still continuing the Smash Bros. individual pics. So as far as I am concerned; my artwork is still galvanized. And it will be for years to come.
So that's another Decade of Art coming to an end. And what a momentous decade it was. So many new beginnings and improvements.
So many life changes too. Air Force. Verona my love. And traveling around the world in spades. It's been an exciting time quite honestly.
Now 2020 sets in. I know for a fact the very beginning of the new decade is going to be VERY busy for me. I have a lot of things I need to do in 2020. Not so much resolutions as actual plans.
The moving to another base os a big one for sure. But I got so much more big plans for the beginning of the new decade some of you might not be ready for it.
But I will be. ;3 I will be. ;3
And when another ten years has passed; who knows what another decade of art on my behalf will be presented once I do this again at the end of 2029.
In 2009 I was doing this in my flat in California.
In 2019 I'm doing this in my dorm room in Korea.
As I look at it; in my lifetime I will do at least five or six more of these. Each showing improvements and reflections of what I did through each decade inspite of every hardship and challenge.
So if any of you still watching me still do in 2029; I gotta feeling you haven't seen anything yet. ;3
Thank you for supporting me all these years. I look forward to another decade with you all.
.
And no...we sadly did not win. Hey...kitty had it coming. >
Throw in another detailed Castlevania pic (Castlevania 3 as the Netflix series entered it's third amazing season) anda pic featuring my four gals Ruth Campbell, Lola Henderson, Xu Chan and Valerie Quinn and you got a pretty stagnant year as far as artwork is concerned. I was in Jordan for the majority of it. Thankfully when I returned in November, my lovely girlfriend came over with me for Christmas and we had a blast together. X3 And yet my time living at Whiteman in the place of familiarity was nearing it's swift end.
