http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:blackhandruby&section=today deviantART RSS for by:blackhandruby en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:10:03 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/18850484/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/18850484/ Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:39:39 PDT
So busy lately that it's not even funny! When I'm not rehearsing or somewhere playing gigs, there's school stuff etc. But I did eventually get around to being a little devious.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/17435472/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/17435472/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:12:42 PDT
Because right now, after months of plotting and twisting and backwards-justifying of strange events, I have reached what feels like a dead end in my Work-in-Progress, and still I can't stop thinking about it. Which can really drive aynone nuts.

You go through the whole "Is it any good, though?" and "But, isn't the whole story so far, you know, crap...basically?" and then you listen to the chorus of reassuring voices you have tucked away somewhere in a dark corner of your mind for just such an occasion, but there remains, of course, that last bit of niggling doubt and self-consciousness. Which can be quite detrimental to the production of creative juices in the old cerebral juice factory.

So it is one of those circles, isn't it? Not just any kind of old circle, but a damn vicious one.

Well, I should have noticed things were going downhill when I went down to an average of maybe 500 words per day (as opposed to about 3000 - 4000 on average). But instead, I blamed it on slacker-ism. What a completely stupid conclusion! Of course, keeping at it requires some discipline, but once you're that far into the story, it becomes more like an urge, not a chore, to write and write and write.

So I'm stuck, lacking feedback, back to insecure and kind of clueless. And the bad thing is...I guess that's a quite normal state for a writer.

What to do, then? Come Saturday, I will be the proud owner of two brand-spanking-new books on writing I ordered from amazon. And a six-pack of beer. And then we'll see. If anyone happening to read this has any suggestions other than alcohol and tenacity, do tell me, okay? : )

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/16576841/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/16576841/ Sat, 26 Jan 2008 06:16:39 PST
Now I can delve into another hour or two of reading - The Dark Tower III (The Waste Lands). Yay! I got halfway through the book only last evening, so it's quite frightening to think that parts III and IV will probably not last till next weekend. I'm already dreading the day I read the last word on the last page in the last book. Then I'll be facing some kind of terrible void that nothing can fill. Nothing can ever recreate that magnificent feeling of reading it all for the first time. Knowing me, it will not have been the last time, but it still sucks.

...YES, I'm that much of a freak when it comes to books.

Then again I'm invited to a big party tonight, so fortunately I can reassure myself - in a pair of black leather high-heels - that I'm not too nerdy to be cool. *g*

PS: Day 8 of not smoking! I'm sooo good, they should almost make a movie about me.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/16227208/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/16227208/ Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:08:40 PST
It was a nice trip, and I have to say that although I have been to cities that fascinated me more with their _atmosphere_, Prague has a unique charm of a kind that I haven't encountered before. The architecture is definitely a sight to behold. Riding a packed sardine train through the Czech countryside and tiny, decayed villages does not prepare you for the beauty of most of Prague's buildings. Gracefully curved balconies, golden ornaments and majestic double doors, gargoyle-like things and statues, pillars and intricate patterns painted on the outside walls...I wish I had had the skill, equipment and time to document all of this photographically the way it most definitely deserves it. Even plain, rectangular blocks of buildings the purpose of which was unclear to me emanated a kind of awe-inspiring gothic presence at night that I find hard to describe.

Super street musicians on Charles Bridge! [link]
Had me glued to the spot, these two fellas.

The public transport is very practical and easy to understand (once you figure out where you need to go and manage to remember those absolutely hard-to-pronounce place names), but you don't really need it that much as it is quite simple (and worth the time!) to move through the city on foot.

Good food, too (There was even a Scandinavian place called Reykjavik that offered traditional Christmas food from the North, but I didn't get to check that one out! ). Not many bars or pubs that played any really cool music, though. Also, while beer and cigarettes are to be had for a cheap price, everything else is really quite pricy for what one might expect to find in the CR.

New Year's Eve...pardon my French, ladies, but TOTAL FUCKING MAYHEM in some places. I believe Wenceslav Square (not certain 'bout spelling, too lazy to google) was actually rather 'calm' compared to some other places, as there was also a cordoned-off official concert type of thing in the middle of the general brouhaha. People shooting fireworks up at balconies and Big Shit exploding left, right and centre. Quite fun, really. Not so much ooohing and aaahing at carefully orchestrated explosions in the sky, and more of the "Look out! There's another one of those loud things about to go off!!" kind of thing.

So yes, I will shut my trap now and stop rambling.

TL;DR: Go see Prague and bring a few days' time and some good shoes. It's worth it.

Prospero año nuevo, beeyotches.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/15770309/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/15770309/ Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:19:15 PST So long since I have actually done anything worthwhile on a computer. Only sifting through ads online, writing emails, crap.

Skipping school every once in a while, paying bills, drinking, Frankfurt, concerts, band with a big question mark, a rash, exams, sleepless, sleeping too much, trying to quit smoking, Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" (how awesome), movies, loathing christmas, chardonnay, frustration, accidents, empty fridge, longing.

Yes, that's my November. And that's how hard it is to speak coherently! What have I become...? ^^

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/15366635/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/15366635/ Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:05:20 PST If not, I shall come 'round your house and bombard you with rotten fruit and vegetables.

Detroit was way cool, I gotta tell you. My trip was blessed with perfect blue skies and sunshine all the time, and it was cool to see my Dad again. Also, being in the States is Great Fun.

I didn't even get rid of all my money, haHA!

Met some nice people indeed. Also, people did not mug me and were polite as hell. The only unfriendly people I met were airport people. It felt a bit like "Welcome to the USA, bitch. Now get the fuck outta here." But step outside and BLAM! It's all huge, gas-guzzling monster cars, friendly smiles and cheap stuff (for my standards). Good food, good fun, good everything, basically!

Also went for a day's trip to Chicago, which perfectly rocked my socks. I HAVE TO someday live in a city where the day's brightly glaring light is dimmed by the shadows of huge skyscrapers all over the place. How incredibly pleasant. But yeah, the Windy City was windy as hell. Went up on Sears Tower and saw all the way to Timbuktu, then dived into a huge helping of Häagen Dazs Rocky Road Dazzler. Happiest girl in the city, I believe.

Also, I was blown away by how interested and even _thrilled_ people are to hear an accent like mine, immediately inquiring where I'm from and wishing me a nice stay in the US. Like you're incredibly exotic even when you just sound English (to their ears anyways. My accent is probably better categorized as Weirdish).

I also worshipped the Gods of Fudge Sundae and Rock'n'Roll at the Detroit Hard Rock Cafe! Yay!

Bottom Line: MUST...GET...BACK...SOON.....;KRAUTLAND...NOT...GOOD.
And how are YOU?

Yours,

Ruby Blackhands


PS: I am SO skipping school tomorrow. Jetlag PLUS being nocturnal is a bitch indeed. Dammit.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/15211424/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/15211424/ Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:32:12 PDT
Finally, the excitement has sort of hit me as I sit here pondering what the contents of my suitcase shall be. I slept way too long today and now I have to do some serious packing and shopping and whatnot!

Of course the weather isn't the most promising from what I gathered from confusing forecasts given in Fahrenheit (those silly silly people...why base the temperature on the coldest day in some guy's village?), but heck, I'll find something to do. It's October after all, so what can you expect?

Halloween, of course (and Devil's Night...*g*)

Well, I shall go and pack. If anyone with a few good ideas on what to do in Detroit and surrounding area happens to read this, drop me a line with some info, ok?

Yay! Off I go.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14866713/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14866713/ Mon, 01 Oct 2007 06:59:02 PDT
Thing is, I'm wearing this stupid bandage around my left knee and I don't even know what's wrong with it. It just hurts like a motherfucker and I'm eating pain pills every day. I think it's an old thing coming back to torture me - kinda smashed it while moshing about 5 years ago and never went to a doctor about it. Didn't seem that bad.

But I'm still doing my thing, if a little hobblingly. School is boring a lot of the time, but still seems like a good idea to be going there. Not really much time for creative pastimes, but songs have been written recently and I even did a little bit of drawing the other night, for the first time in god knows how long.

And I have something to look forward to as well. I'll be going to Detroit in a couple of weeks together with my brother. It's only for about eight days, but I bet it's gonna be cool! Yay! (I know, most people don't view Detroit as the coolest place for a vacation, but well...screw that)

And how are YOU doing? (insert random variation of Uncle Sam poster here)

Many greetings from the blackhanded.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14558083/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14558083/ Sun, 09 Sep 2007 09:09:16 PDT

Okay, Bioshock is an insanely cool game, I have it now and if you don't, then you should be ashamed and go stand in a corner. The graphics are insane, the way the whole thing is designed and just the entire concept are great and the atmosphere...ooooh the atmosphere....*drool*

BUT I have to do the laundry now. And tidy up my goddamn apartment, since I happen to be cursed with being a very tidy person and I wouldn't be able to let everything be swallowed up by a big, ugly monster-heap of mess while mindlessly playing away in a much cooler world than....yuck....reality. Goddamn sense of responsibility.

I also haven't gotten around to working more on my next deviation, the concept of which has been floating in my mind for days on end. I also haven't gotten around to finally writing down the many fragments of lyrics/songs that have been running through my head for at least two weeks! That's poor indeed. I should slap myself. But I won't, cause it doesn't really help, does it.

But hey, what I did get around to is changing the batteries of my keyboard, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to write this. So it's not all bad.

Did any of this make sense? Don't think so.



]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14384139/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14384139/ Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:12:45 PDT
The whole effing world NEEDS the internet. Everything would collapse without it. I'm so glad to have it back! *hugs random pile of equipment*

Of course my life doesn't, you know, _revolve_ around it. No way. At least it's no longer Oh-God-I'm-gonna-die-hot here, so I don't have to hide behind closed blinds, which helps when it comes to living a fairly normal life. Ehm. Yes. Normal.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14158774/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/14158774/ Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:58:08 PDT
Seriously, why do so many things go wrong? I'm constantly working on getting them right, but that costs money, too.

No kitchen, no phone, no internet. BUT: an apartment that's beginning to look nice and to fulfill its purpose as a place to live. And also beginning to cost much. But hey, that's kinda good! Living somewhere, I mean.

My Dad, who moved to Detroit recently (we live in southern Germany...yuk) is experiencing similar problems, only worse, cause he's in it alone. Things aren't being delivered and stuff like that.

Still, that's the kinda crap everyone has to go through sooner or later, so I guess sooner is better than later, cause when you're done it all made sense.
Unlike this journal entry.

What I'm really trying to say is: I hope I'll be online soon. I really do. And people still suck (most of them). Love to any of my Norwegian (or semi-Norwegian) friends who happen to read this. Miss y'all!

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/13972208/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/13972208/ Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:45:52 PDT Thanks to the silliness of a moronic worker, who exchanged the crappy shower in my apartment and left all the effing doors wide open! All my stuff, including new white furniture, is covered in fine dust, while the twat still isn't done...was supposed to be done 6 days ago!!

So I can't move in. The worker hardly understands a word of German but for some reason seems to think he can _speak_ it, which results in unintelligible ranting, mixing all sorts of languages until you feel all you can do is nod.

So now the landlord has asked us to find some pros who can clean up the place quick and cheap...yeah right. From today on, we're paying quite a horrendous rent for a place we can't even enter without getting choked by masses of fine dust. No luck finding anyone to do it (like that's our responsibility when he hires unprofessional dimwits who can't close doors) and still not done painting etc. Prolly the bastard will keep working on one bloody shower for another month, too.

Staying at our mothers' places nowadays. Pretty fucked up stuff. I'm running out of patience. And clothes. Bah. People suck.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/13721053/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/13721053/ Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:13:50 PDT
Soon, I will be living in a NICE place. Finally. And not only that the apartment itself is quite purdy (once the walls and ceilings are done, that is), it's located in a great area full of restaurants, stores, bars and other convenient things on one side and green fields and meadows on the other. What more can one wish for?

Oh, yes, there is more. My boyfriend and I are musicians, and we live in this building with the only other person in it being an old lady of 84 or something, who is very hard of hearing! So bloody lucky.

I never knew I could actually take that much physical work in such a short time, but it sure as hell seems to be a good way to get in a better shape. So it's all good. ^^

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/13517554/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/13517554/ Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:59:11 PDT
Finally, I happen to see the video to Icky Thump, the album-titled new single by one of my all-time favourite bands, The White Stripes, on TV. Whoa, they have Spanish subtitles that go way too fast for me to read. But then again, Jack White sings faster than I can listen, too.

Last time I "saw" the video, my TV screen was preparing to cross Jordan, which resulted in lots of chopped-up images alternating with god-darned blackness. So I must have missed shit....like....DOES Meg White actually have red hair now? Whoa, freaky shit.

I know, I know. The kind of stuff EVERYONE in the world would probably sell several organs to find out about. But such is my shallow flu-ridden existence (yes, it says FLU, I'm not yet flea-ridden...yet), I guess.

BUT, before my digressions end up filling pages...I DIG THE SONG! I hope the entire album is that good.

So yeah. I guess I should shut up and sleep or else the boogeyperson might eat me for being an annoying insomniac.

Later, folks.

Ruby Blackhands

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/12676523/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/12676523/ Sat, 21 Apr 2007 06:14:19 PDT
]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/10277484/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/10277484/ Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:33:01 PDT
Is this a general deviantART problem or is it just me? Maybe I should get a life.

And I just saw I have a 100 pageviews! Weeh!

Ah. Tired drivel. Must sleeeep.

]]> ~blackhandruby http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/10233665/ http://blackhandruby.deviantart.com/journal/10233665/ Sat, 30 Sep 2006 06:49:02 PDT
But there's one issue that makes me feel like a horrible crybaby whimp, and that's spiders.
Last night, I was talking on the phone when I suddenly became aware of this preeetty large arachnid slowly crawling across the carpet only a meter or so away. My first reaction was to gasp and say something like "Oh my GOD! FUCK!!" and to jump up, staring at it in horror as it continued spidering along the floor.

Looking at it more closely, being disgusted and petrified, didn't make it any better, 'cause it turned out to be larger than I thought. (My best comparison is that it had the length of a standard lighter, but was of course wider than that). It was dark brown with weird patterns...ugh.

For the next 15 minutes at least, the person I was talking to on the phone had to listen to me exclaiming things like "Oh my god, it's huge....sweet lord, it's coming towards me!! Aaaah!!! It's so fast!!" and my helpless attempts at crushing it with a bottle of wine (it WAS fast, one of those hunting spiders that can run like nobody's business) and finally giving up when it ran off REAL high speed into some hard-to-access corner of the room. Whereupon I left that room in something close to a panic, since there is nothing worse than knowing it's there, but not knowing WHERE.

It took me AGES to calm down. And this only seems to get worse and worse the older I get. I've been to Africa and stayed in houses that were absolutely crowded with spiders so large that I wouldn't have thought it possible, and at least I didn't have a nervous breakdown. If I were to go back there now, I think I would.

So yeah. In that respect, I'm a real sissy, and that bugs me no end (pardon the bad pun....okay, yeah...spiders aren't bugs, but those freak me out too)


It's still somewhere nearby....*glances over her shoulder*

]]> ~blackhandruby