Hello, dear friends! It's been a long time since we've talked, longer than a year. Life happens.

What have you all been up to? I am glad to see some of you still going very active here. `Lilyas in particular is going strong as ever, with a seemingly inexhaustible power to share her art, her wisdom and happiness around. Hi Lily!

To friends who were similarly taken away by the tidings of life: I hope it's all going well for you guys, wherever you are. ^_^

How to sum up the past 16 months in a few paragraphs? Lists and milestones!

1. Married life is great.
I don't know who invented that parody of couch-potato husbands and bickering housewives, but  luckily it did not happen to us at all. ^_^ Cherry and I love each other just as strongly as when we were dating a few years back.

2. From the mountain to the sea
After she finished her PhD, she became a lecturer at a university near the sea, so we left the northern mountains and got our little place here down south. Since I could not get a position as a researcher, my hobby of freelance webdesign/graphic design gradually turned into a full-time occupation. I enjoy it with all the ups and downs that comes with this lifestyle.

3. Art development    
When one does his hobby for money, one danger is that it might kill the fun aspect of it. Luckily, that didn't happen with me yet. I still enjoy doing art for art's sake, experimenting with different styles and programs. Fireworks is still my No.1 though. I've got third place on yet another Fireworks competition, one of whose prizes was a bit of cash that came in handy for a lil' DA subscription.

Just recently Cherry surprised me with a Wacom Bamboo tablet for Christmas, which is taking me to new, exciting possibilities I didn't know before. Hopefully I can post the results of this journey here.

4. New Year resolutions
I don't make a big deal out of such things, no formal stuff. But it's always a nice opportunity to take a look at how we live our lives and where we're heading with it.

One of the things I intend to do more is to be more active here on DA again. Reconnect with old friends and get to know new ones; share my visions and feelings with a wider world. I hope it will be as fun as I remember it used to be.

There is a lot more stuff I could write about, but that shall do for this time. Now it's time to head over to Deviations and look through all the wonderful little windows to your lives.

Until next time!

^_^