Art News: Lots of new stuff is going to come your way, stuff that isn't my usual work. I'll let you guys find out on your own. I also have some new Super Mario Royal work (and yes, yes....I'm getting to the comic, it's just been difficult lately.) I also want to take a crack at writing a story out for Rivet and Candice. I've never written anything in my life like that, but..meh, no better time to start right? Luckily I have Thornqueen and some other friends to help me out with it. Bless them.^^

And the sculpture! Yes, I made a Rivet sculpture! It was a gift for my mother's birthday, since she fell in love with the sketches I did for him some time ago. And we both agreed, we wanted a Rivet for our own, sooo..I made one. And it turned out pretty good. I have another in the works, which will be slightly different, in that it will look newer than the one I gave her. She wanted the aged one just like the picture. The second one I'm making is smaller, and will be used as visual reference whenever I draw him. I also have another sculpture in the works, but I won't say what it is just yet...I'll simply give you this picture--> [link]

I'm sure *someone* knows what it is.

Holiday news:

My family doens't celebrate Halloween the traditional way, you know...the whole "giving out candy, and trick or treating" bit. Nah, on Halloween night, we're out on the town, prowling about for a few crowded parties in complete strangers' homes. What was that? Exactly what I mean! What amuses me most about this city is, that you can actually walk into someone's party at any time of the year, be it backyard, or rented hall...and not even be a friend or relative. No seriously, my mother and I have done this so many times, and not once has anyone batted an eyelash at us, as we helped ourselves to the various food and drink. Sometimes they even engage in friendly conversation as if they've known us all their life, they even go as far as hugging and kissing us. It's just amazing. I could never get away with that back home, where they practically bio-scan you upon entry, and throw you out if so much as one strand of DNA is out of place. This year, we hit four parties, and one had some really nice goodies. I'm talking pumpkin pie, and coconut layer cake! During that time, we befriend people and entice them into joining us for some real Halloween scares. That's when things get really fun!

My family's fourteen year old tradition is to go to the older and more abandoned parts of the city to look for ghosts. We don't do any seances or anything like that (that's taunting and disrespectful), we actually sit or walk about and let them come to us. Most times we are not disappointed. Being patient can yield interesting results. I've personally never "seen" any spirits, but I have seen what they do. Moving objects, or mists and orbs mostly. I have some photos of this activity. Our usual haunts are small counties like Hill, where there's an old church where mass is still held, but the patrons are no longer alive. Mesilla, where Billy the Kid was shot and still hangs around the Double Eagle for a drink, and Oakglen where there's an ungated and abandoned cemetery guarded by the spirits of dogs with no heads. All those places are steeped in history and superstition, and thee perfect places to find something freaky. It varies every year, but friends and family all come back with a story to tell, and keep adding new ones every time.


Mining news: Well I can honestly say that the meeting between our group and the Turtle group went amazingly well. Better than what I first expected. We must have read each other's minds somehow, because my group and theirs had a bucket of some of our best finds displayed as a kind of gift to each other, filled with Copper, Malachite, Azurite, Turquoise and Pyrite. They had a large bucket of Peridot, Obsidian, Jasper, iron and Garnet.

I wound up representing my group in Chris' absence, and he kind of took it that I was the one in charge. I had to explain that we don't have anything like that established, and he found that rather odd. Well yea I guess. XD He seemed to have a lot more field expertise in his vocab too, and spoke of what our meeting could mean for our groups to collaborate and exchange resources. That I understood, though when he spoke about the perimeters in which he was allowed to excavate...I got kind got lost. ^_^; What he meant was, which areas were marked with ribbons, that were off-limits and which ones were open to them. We have never used any ribbons to mark our areas though. I mentioned that I had a geological map he could look at, and I could give him GPS coordinates of the areas. He had never seen that done before, and was impressed. He asked if I had seen the area from the sky, and I said sort of, I climb on one of the high mountain peaks, and use that as a vantage point.

The afternoon pressed on, we showed him some of the sites open to them, warned them of pits (speaking from personal experience). They didn't really find too much, but they mentioned it was because they were unfamiliar with the minerals there. And with that, he left with the bucket of our gifts. He looked forward to our next meeting, which was hopefully going to be with the Jackrabbit group of Mesilla as well. He would also honor our requests for more Garnet and Peridot in exchange for Azurite and Copper.

Excavation news: Because I completely recovered from my last injuries from my fall in the mine, I went back to it again. The metal net we all pitched in to buy did it's duty, and I safely climbed inside. I admit, I was a bit scared to go back in there again. It was so dark and cold, and brought back bad memories. But now with flashlights, it was tolerable. I found an arrowhead inside, which is quite common in places known to harbor artifacts. But that didn't prepare me for what I found next. On the edge of the hole, I found this! *scroll down*

[link]

A pot! Not completely intact, but enough to know what it was. This is a picture of it taken out of the pit. There are designs on it, but so far, we don't know which tribe made them. Sadly, some of the pieces have now disengrated into black sand, and I had to quickly preserve it with a thin layer of resin at home. I attribute it being suddenly moved from it's moist environment and into the dry air above. Still, it's in very good condition, and I'm in the process of reconstructing it from the pieces I have. What intrigues me is the strange material it's made from. It's black through and through, and has an odd metallic-like shine, and here's the kicker...it's magnetic!. The only thing I can think of why it's like this, being a potter once myself, is the high amount of grog(sand) present in the clay. A few yards from the area, is a dry riverbed with magnetite (iron ore) that, when tumbled down the slope, create black metallic sand. Whoever made this, probably used that clay from the river.

Now what really intrigues me is, who made this pot and how did it end up so far below the earth? Was it dropped accidentally, or was it placed in there? For what reason? Also, what kind of scares me is, what if that pit was a kind of burial ground? Or maybe someone fell into it and couldn't get out? Kind of like how I fell inside it. What if there's a dead body down there? 0_o;;; *shiver* Damn, I'm scaring myself now. Maybe someone just discarded these items like a kind of dump. I hope it's the latter. This week I plan to send a piece of the pot to another lab within the city. I don't want to risk that someone will try to figure out where the pit is. If it is a burial spot, I don't want it to be disturbed anymore. When I'm near it, it makes me feel uneasy, like I'm stealing something. Despite what the group says, I don't want to take anything more from it. I'm all for the thrill of discovery, mind you...but I do have a high respect for the dead. Especially ones connected to my ancient ancestory.