deviantART: by:JenniferStarling

Pimping an art contest for a friend

~JenniferStarling — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:09:58 PDT

A request to the people who read this journal- have a look at the visual art contest I will now proceed to link. [link] Chekkitout!

I can't do visual art nearly to the level that I know this would require, but I know some people who watch me can. So, probably, can some of the people who randomly wander onto my page, which seems to still happen every now and again.

Anyway, linking this because a friend of mine is involved in running Sidereus. I have yet to go to one of the events (because I'm lame, and because I'm not a gamer... but mostly because I'm lame), but they sound pretty fun.

NaPoWriMo '09

~JenniferStarling — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:00:10 PDT

I finally completed PoWriMo, albeit a bit late. I have a bad habit of demanding too much of myself, so I'm rather proud to say that I'm OK with being late in finishing- I've had a lot going on in my life besides the compulsion to meet PoWriMo's quota/deadline! I wanted to get my 30 poems in, though, especially given how much I had been looking forward to PoWriMo in the months preceding it.

Like last year, I found it therapeutic to dip into the intense experiences, memories, emotions, etc. that I did. Again, the time pressure of PoWriMo and the desire to come up with a poem worth a damn was not only motivating, but often disinhibiting. This is a good thing if you want good poetry, I think- it has to come from someplace real.

Since PoWriMo '08 I've rather clearly gone through some major heart-hurt, and (I hope) growing up as well. Some of the poems I wrote helped to process and pin down disconnected bits from the last year that liked to rattle their bones around in my psyche but hated to be succinctly looked at in full light. I know some things I'll never know, or see the same way from every angle. I've learned that for things like that, every faucet can be a poem. If life were linear, straightforward, coherent and cohesive, we wouldnÂt have had to invent poetry to describe it.

Last year, stylistically, I was experimenting with punctuation (overuse of that fun little "&" symbol especially). This year I started paying more attention to line breaks and spacing. I have realized (with a bit of amusement) that poems look far more poem-y when they contain artistic spacing and line breaks. Almost all the poems I did were open poetry, but I was often trying nevertheless to maintain some visual effect- line length, number of lines per stanza, placement of certain line openers, variety in line openers, etc. It's probably a duh-duh thing, but I had been, I think, getting kind of lazy about the visual aspects of my own poetry.

This year's 30 poems: NaPoWriMo, 2009

Last year's 30 poems (for comparison, if you're curious): : NaPoWriMo, 2008

Last year's wrap-up journal (also for comparison, if you're curious): Thoughts on NaPoWriMo, 2008

Another Update from the World of Jenn

~JenniferStarling — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:52:34 PDT

So, I just blasted through my inbox. 98 devs and like 24 messages (which multiplied as I went!), I'll have you know. Didn't comment on every single dev but I think I came pretty close. The people I watch are wonderful artists and writers and have collectively just gotten me *that* much closer to carpal tunnel.

I am at that wonderful point in grad school where I have school, a job where I get paid, and a job I pay to work at (i.e. internship). I am at that wonderful point in the semester where a clusterfuck of things are due at once in my classes and a separate but probably related clusterfuck of things have been assigned to me at work (the one I'm paid to be at). My internship is *always* a clusterfuck. It's a very educational clusterfuck that I consider to be a valuable learning experience, mind, but I also somehow managed to land myself (according to my practicum professor) just about the most difficult internship placement setting possible. Leave it to me to find a new way to make life as hard as possible for myself, lol. Also, did I use the word "clusterfuck" enough in this paragraph yet?

I want to do NaPoWriMo again this year. I don't know if a lot has *changed* or if a lot has just *happened,* but either way there are things I want to write about.

I don't think there's anything else I want to write about in this journal, though. Oh, right- happy spring!!!

How I've Been

~JenniferStarling — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:13:45 PST

So I'm takin' a break in the middle of workin' on a project for class (sanity break) and thought hey, why not update DevArt on the Life of Jen.

I am in a thing called Grad School. It's like high school except EVERYONE'S a nerd and we're all old enough to drink. So, many of us do. We also contemplate holding interventions and then chicken out.

Personally, I opt for other ways to drown out my troubles. Lately, my self-anesthetizing has included the Twilight series, dating, self-pity, and My Chemical Romance (the ultimate soundtrack for self-pity). I haven't been much for the creative writing lately. Too self-revealing, even if I did have the time. I have been grappling with the occasional desire to delete my entire gallery here because I worry about what my writing says about me that I don't want people to know. I wish I could go back to just worrying if people would like or dislike the STORIES. I am getting more neurotic by the day. Luckily, it's a minor character flaw that usually gets eclipsed by my general awesomeness.

I have a thing called A Life. It's like having no life except less loneliness and sleep, and more good times and excruciating stress. Also like having a family you're a part of voluntarily and therefore sucks less than the one you're born into. It is also poorly compatible with Grad School. It's completely incompatible with posting stuff on DevArt, apparently. I miss the good ol' days of feeling active in this community though. I go through comment sprees when I can. I do try to comment on most of what comes my way. It just takes a month or more, sometimes, apparently.

Oh, and my family? SSDD; I'm neurotic and they're batshit crazy, we love each other and make each other miserable.

I have something of A Real Job. It's related to Grad School and makes it harder still to have A Life. Further, I am now wearing Work-Appropriate Attire on a regular basis. I am paid to sit at a desk and kill time in front of a computer four days a week. Sometimes I am provided entertainment such as data to enter into excel files. Other days I work on stuff for classes. On really good days I get to run stuff across campus (actually, honestly, I LOVE that). I'd write while I was at work but I don't want anyone reading over my shoulder.

I've revamped my views on morality. Lots. The closest thing to a religion I have is Pastafarianism. I'm kind of not kidding. Wiki it.

I've been on AIM a lot; I got through cycles with that. I know a bunch of people on here used to talk with me on MSM messenger but nobody's been on the few times I popped in. PM me if you want that info. I don't post stuff like that up for all the public to see any more and wish I never had; getting stalked last year changed my outlook on life.

Thank you America

~JenniferStarling — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:59:49 PST

...for opting to try and NOT fuck ourselves and the rest of the world for another four years.

NaPoWriMo- List and Reflections

~JenniferStarling — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:19:00 PDT

I have completed PoWriMo!!!

For some reason, they show up in a bizarre and non-sequential order in that gallery, so here's a full listing:

1. that girl I
2. makelove
3. my love and lack of promise
4. of hedonism in breathing
5. Crank up the music
6. that's why I thank you
7. Grad Classes in Limerick Form
8. NaPoWriMo Desperation
9. sense of power
10. Why I Love Adam Gontier
11. not a statistic but a lyric
12. Pride
13. fourth time ain't the charm
14. here is my anticlimax
15. not a student
16. how it should be
17. :D
18. that extra little breath
19. dog-eared
20. survivor
21. I said
22. PoWriMo.22
23. sweet and wise Delilahs
24. barrage of paradigm violation
25. Author's Comments
26. become the white noise
27. holy and a spiritual thing
28. only because you're paid
29. Found Poetry.Spam
30. that there is any moment

Shit man, the list in and of itself halfway reads like found poetry.

Comments:

I have discovered that I like to use:
-personal narrative about stuff that happened to me
-no overarching metaphors
-first, second, and third person, but mostly first
-the "&" sign
-open verse
-really long sentence-stanzas
-cool-sounding bits of the poem itself in the title of the poem

...and that for some reason, starting to write about how much and why I hate my ex-boyfriend basically guarantees a poem, and quite often a really, really long poem. Even if the poem ends up not having anything to do with him. Lol. Guess he was good for somethin', then.

I also did find that it could get really intense to dip into some of the things that I did. If I hadn't been on a deadline/time crunch, I would have been unwilling to post some of the poems that I ultimately did, not because of poor quality but because they were so personal. Actually (or maybe I should say "of course") some of the poems I would not have posted otherwise are actually some of my best.

I also got into the habit this last month of starting to take notice of what could go into poetry- stories, odd phrases, feelings, etc. I haven't done that in a long time, maybe even a year or more.

I als...

HP7

~JenniferStarling — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:24:53 PDT

So, has it been long enough that I can talk about it in the journal, or do I still need to not have spoilers on my page as a courtesy to those who come wandering? Right now, I won't post spoilers, but I'll post two extremely dirty non-spoiling quotes that are from the actual text- feel free to contribute others, with page numbers so I can double-check (honestly, I think the second quote I'll post is too dirty-sounding to be believed otherwise- I lolled).

"He met Hermoine, also on her hands and knees, at Ron's head." - p. 269

"Harry pressed his mouth again to the Snitch, kissing it, nearly swallowing it, but the cold metal did not yield..." -p. 434

Friends

~6-Simplicity-9 !adamguest1985 *anextraordinarygirl ~ArcHammer2 *CrustyMuffin ~DeviantDragonStills ~EmoVamp =Enpu2 ~evilabnormalvamp *Idrils ~jerzchick16 ~Kissui =lateralsnowflake ~make-no-mistakes ~Mikasi-Tala ~myskran ~once-upon-a-time =obsidian-nightfire ~Night-Cry ~parachutecity *Phirebrand ~PMElfman ~ProsePetals ~Pyro-gold ~RavensTear !Robsonnet ~Sipowicz ~SlayerChick17 *Snakeskii ~SunRunnerGraphics ~Sunyavadin ~thedastardfunk ~Vhojre ~Wombatchar ~YamaTheSpaceFish

Stock Accounts I Am Part Of

~Cats-Stock ~Sky-Stock

Clubs I Am In

~Emotionless-Asylum ~PenWieldingPoets ~poetrycafe *PoetryPlease ~PoetryPleaseWorkshop *Prose-R-Us *ProsePlease ~

...yeah. No joke.

I'm actually doing quite well, and hope he is doing as well as possible.

Friends

Stock Accounts I Am Part Of

~Cats-Stock ~Sky-Stock

Clubs I Am In

~Emotionless-Asylum ~PenWieldingPoets ~poetrycafe *PoetryPlease ~PoetryPleaseWorkshop *Prose-R-Us *ProsePlease ~TheOmenPoets ~writersdA

Some of the Icons I Made For Other Deviants

Tagged by

List 6 weird habits/things about yourself. Then tag 6 other people.

1. If I'm awake past 8:30 p.m. or so and out with friends, I get craaaaaaazy. (Even more so than usual.)

2. I usually kill bugs by sucking them up in my vacuum cleaner.

3. I can carry on a conversation in my sleep.

4. I own three pairs of sunglasses- all men's.

5. I've decided that if I ever get a tattoo, I'd want the Psi Chi symbol.

6. When I'm taking notes in class, sometimes I'll write something down before the teacher says it.

I tag whoever reads this.

Friends

Stock Accounts I Am Part Of

~Cats-Stock ~Sky-Stock

Clubs I Am In

~Emotionless-Asylum ~PenWieldingPoets ~poetrycafe *PoetryPlease ~PoetryPleaseWorkshop *

Tagged by

List 6 weird habits/things about yourself. Then tag 6 other people.

1. I enjoy public speaking.

2. One crazy night in California, I danced with the professor who taught me abnormal psychology, three other psychology majors, and my mom. (We had all been flown in from Massachusetts for a professional conference.)

3. I will actually cite psychology studies in discussions- even occasionally going so far as to drag out my old textbooks.

4. I've picked three people up in my arms at this point. (It's still not quite even- I've had four people do it to me, and counting. It may be a bit uneven in part because I'm kind of small, and in part because I'm female and females seem more inclined to ask permission to pick you up in their arms than males, who just kind of do it.)

5. I have a stuffed Peep that's been sitting on top of my TV for over a year, a plastic one that I keep on my purse, and another plastic one on a keychain. Why? Because I'm awesome.

6. I've worn the apathy and despair wristbands this set for about a year and a half straight virtually nonstop. In all that time I'd be surprised if there's been more than a week total where I wasn't wearing them.

I tag =obsidian-nightfire, *anextraordinarygirl, ~evilabnormalvamp, *Idrils, ~ProsePetals, and =lateralsnowflake, and anyone who reads this jounal.

Old but (very) good news...

~JenniferStarling — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 08:26:14 PDT

OK, I've been putting off posting this forever because I've been kind of superstitious (as well as lazy) about it, like I might made it untrue by posting it, but: I am accepted to the school I just got my B.S. from for the MA in psychology program in the fall. I've actually known since the interview. Two of the professors (one of whom has had me in two of her classes; the other had "heard of" me) asked me some questions and I answered as best I could, and they asked if I had any questions, and I asked when I could expect to know if I was in or not. said, "That's a fair question" and asked me to leave the room. Two minutes later they asked me back in and said: "You're in."

This school is indeed my school of choice, and has been all along. It's not only a good education (it meets licensure requirements which is dirt cheap for a Master's program), but it feels like home. I don't know how else to explain it. I've never lived in one place very long; never made and kept a social network this long; never loved a place like I love this school.

Three more years there, and then I'll (hopefully) be out in the world, making a living and a life for myself as an LMHC (once I've completed the necessary post-grad certification process). As I said in the interview, I don't have delusions of changing the world, but I'd like to do some good in it, and change some people's lives for the better. I think that's a reasonable goal. I'm certain that the job will be demanding, and I'm certain that there will be times when I feel pretty unsure of myself and my decision. I know I won't be able to help every client who comes my way, and I know that's going to be hard for me. However, I also think it will ultimately give me the kind of happiness that comes from doing what you know is right for you to be doing.

I graduated...

~JenniferStarling — Sun, 20 May 2007 15:47:13 PDT

...I have officially graduated college as of yesterday. Psychology major, no minor, magna cum laude, commonwealth and departmental honors. More to come on my future plans when I am more motivated to blog.

I picked a print!

~JenniferStarling — Thu, 17 May 2007 09:39:09 PDT

So, I won a print in this contest: [link] and I don't even have a wishlist because I'm afraid of ambush gifts. What I'm going to have to do is put a print on the wishlist and take it right back off when I get it, unless my getting it removes it automatically, which would be good.

Anyway, I'd like it if you guys could recommend some prints to me. They can be anyone's, including stuff of yours; just please, please don't be offended if I don't actually pick your stuff. Mostly what I'd like is something that's humorous, and preferably not involving a cat photo. I have too damn many cat posters; my apartment looks like I'm still prepubescent, FFS. Parodies of famous paintings are good, funny is good. Peep-themed prints would be awesome (I'm psycho, yeah); I'm just unable to find prints that look of high enough quality of peeps. Or whatever the hell you think I'd like.

I might just order a print of this: [link] Not sure yet though.

EDIT: I ignored everyone's advice and asked for this: [link] Typical of me, eh? Thanks though; I actually did look at everything and they were good selections; I just really like Escher-type stuff.

Love Yer Body Revolution

~JenniferStarling — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:46:51 PDT

Check it out! Here is the journal entry by ~shesbiketuff for the love yer body campaign. Please give it a look, please participate.

The Alanis fan in me had to share...

~JenniferStarling — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 18:41:46 PDT

Alanis performs "My Humps."

Oh, man, it's great. You HAVE to see it.

Journal Feature: Sethness

~JenniferStarling — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:07:04 PDT

Journal Feature: Ayrine

~JenniferStarling — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 05:35:50 PST

NOTE: I'm not going to feature people on my friends list at the time of the feature, but if I'm watching someone, make the assumption their gallery is worth seeing. So when you're done reading this, go to my most recent journal; my friends list is at the bottom Clicky clicky!

OK, so, I don't plan on doing journal features regularly, but every so often I do hit an artist in my browsing where I think, "Dude. That's awesome." So, when I'm not too lazy, I'm going to share these artists with you.

This journal feature goes to ~Ayrine. She's only 16 years old, but (as you can tell if you browse DA enough), age doesn't have to have anything to do with talent. Believe me, this girl has LOADS of talent. (Good taste, too- don't just check out her stuff. Check out her favorites gallery as well. That's tangential, though.)

Down to business. What brought me to her gallery was seeing the following on the recent devs page:

Maybe it's the Rain Man in me that made me click it, but it's more than just a bunch of pins. The focus is crisp, the colors are rich, and the framing is bloody awesome. She makes a bunch of ordinary pins look glamorous. In fact, there are many "pin" photos in her gallery; this one is my favorite of them, but you should go and decide for yourself.

Moving on, this is one of the most gorgeous photos of a morning sky I've ever seen in my life. too busy every morning waiting for the caffeine to kick in to think to grab a camera, but if I had a sunrise like this every morning outside my window I might wake up even before the Pepsi hits:

The colors are just spectacular.

Now for the mundane. Most of us are familiar with the generic potted plants that you see in waiting rooms. I suppose they get put there to cheer the place up a bit, but, really, how cheerful can a potted plant in the corner of a room make you? Not very, unless...

...there's a gigantic purple butterfly in it.

I could go on and on, but I think I'll leave the burden of exploring her gallery to you. There's plenty of variety; some macro-esque stuff, and lots of people and portraits photos as well. Worth a good browse. So go. NOW!

My first journal feature: Jiko!

~JenniferStarling — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 17:01:53 PST

Amazing Literary Feats!

~JenniferStarling — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:50:27 PST

Ever hear of lipograms? Well, if you want to get a headache, read Gadsby. If you want to get a migrane, contemplate writing something like that. If you want to have a heart attack, try duplicating the feat. It killed Ernest Vincent Wright, anyway- he died the day Gadsby got published. I don't know quite how but I'm assuming it wasn't suicide becasue that would have occured after the first few pages if it was going to happen at all.

Woah- Featured on WritersDA!

~JenniferStarling — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 09:20:00 PDT

[link]

Woah.

Suggesting DDs/DDs I've Suggested

~JenniferStarling — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 14:49:06 PST

I've suggested things for some of the people I watch, however, I don't just pimp my friends. If you look at what makes DDs you'll realize that it would be pointless to simply suggest what I personally like, but there comes a dev every now and then from you guys with more than a snowball's chance and I do notice.

I'm not asking anyone to pimp me but out of curiosity does anyone else suggest dev for DDs in general or am I just too devsessed to believe? ((OK, well, the latter is a definite yes, but how bout the former?)) It's kinda fun and it's really cool when you realize you suggested something that made it.

BTW, the devs I have suggested that had been made into a DD thus far are (in order of being featured):

La Nouvelle-Orléans by =Robsonnet
Fastest Turtle by ~SpookyDan
Seven Lovely Sins by ~myskran

OH MY GOD!!!!

~JenniferStarling — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 11:50:49 PST

So, the publisher I had written to who was interested in my story (Picking Locks, v. 2.0) hadn't responded in awhile and I was getting worried. I sent the following email:

I know this is a bit bothersome to ask, but do you know about when I could expect to know whether or not you have accepted my submission, or if your lack of response indicates that you are not accepting it? I apologize for asking again, I was almost afraid you had lost my contact information, and knowing when to expect a reply would ease my mind a bit. Thank you.

The response:

Thanks for your continued interest in "Underground." As you know, the magazine has been going through a difficult time and, currently, we are unsure about the time of publication for our next issue. With your permission, I would like to keep "Picking Locks" on file for one year--when your story is published, you will be notified. If you seek publication elsewhere, please notify "Underground" so we can properly discard your information.

My reply:

If you do think there is a good chance you are going to publish it when your magazine does come out, then you have my permission, however, if you are leaning strongly toward rejecting it, I would probably be wiser not to have you keep it on file and try to find a publisher who considers it a better fit. (You said "when," but this may be hypothetical language.) I don't mind waiting a year or more if I believe there is a good enough chance that I will indeed be published. I was just a bit concerned that you had lost my contact information, or that you had rejected it completely without letting me know; the actual speed of publication is not an issue, I just wanted to know what was going on, so thank you for replying.

I understand that, from what you've told me, your magainze has been subject to setbacks utterly beyond your control, and I wish you the best of luck in picking up the pieces whenever you are able regardless of whether or not my story is a part of it.

AND THE REPLY I JUST GOT:

In the instance that the magazine comes out, your story most assuredly will appear.

WHO GIVES A SHIT IF I HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR OR MORE??? I GOT A YES!!! I GOT A YES!!!!

New Poetry/Prose Cover

~JenniferStarling — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 17:17:27 PST

You MUST full-view it for it to look right. Just to let you know. It looks like crap on preview but really cool on full-view. Because of transparency.

List of My Metrical Poetry

~JenniferStarling — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 17:44:54 PDT

For ~PenWieldingPoets

My Metrical Poetry:

The Cruelest Thing
Duality Mentality
Freer
Freud, I Beg You
Golaith's Opponent
Hesitation Marks
Identity- Goofy Rap Song
It's the Damndest Thing
Life Is
Many People
Master of the Hypothetical
My Worst Fear
Personal God
The Portal
Rehab for a Masochist
The Second Biggest Loser
Verdict

My Parodies (borrowed meter, in other words):

21 Things I'd Hate in a Lover (21 Things I Want in a Lover- Alanis Morisette)
Analyst (Tourniquet- Evanescence)
Being Crazy (Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely- The Backstreet Boys)
Calculations (Boys of Summer- Numerous Artists)
Choosing My Submission (Losing My Religion- REM)
Cyber Sex (Everytime- Brittany Spears)
Everybody Mopes (Everybody hurts- REM)
Everybody's Favs (Everybody's Fool- Evanescence)
For Thedastardfunk (Welcome To My Life- Simle Plan)
It's Only Me (Ego of Angstyland) (It's Only Me (Wizard of Magicland)- The Barenaked Ladies)
I Wok Alone (Boulevard of Broken Dreams- Green Day)
Pieces Off Me (Pieces of Me- Ashlee Simpson)
Since You've Been Blonde (Since You Been Gone- Kelly Clarkson)
Throw Up (La La- Ashlee Simpson)
Under The Knife (Bring Me To Life- Evanescence)