Hullo Neopia.
My, don't you look fine today! Anyway, this, as I'm sure you can tell, is my new blog site. It has been set up to house a painstakingly organized collection of empirical observations and notes concerning the vastly different members of the greater Neopian populace — by which I mean, of course, that I've been spying on you. About time you figured it out.Oh, don't be like that, I've been spying on everyone.
So let's talk about you.
*cracks knuckles* Right, so, let's bring up the file on guest, shall we?...Oh.
Er.
Whoops. Sorry about that. I just reread my design notes and apparently I'm not supposed to be sharing your details yet. Something about a potential breach of global privacy or something? I could do it though, you know. I've got your file right here, and I've got it built into the programming of the page so that it instantly detects the identity of the reader and matches it with the appropriate file, and...
Yeah, okay, should probably go along with the Neopia Central authorities on this one. For now. But I do have one file I can share with you, at least, and this time the friendly neighbourhood Chias in blue can't hold it against me because technically the subject doesn't exist.
I know. Cool, right? I've got some theories on parallel dimensions, guided in part by the experiences of a certain green Alien, but that's a lecture for another time. For now, let's just sit back, and I'll tell you what I've learned about tamia_silverwing.
The Short Version.
Neomail: always open.Neofriends: open to people she's talked to, but she ignores random requests.
Guilds: closed, as she is apparently the (rather poor) leader of her own guild.
Pets: none are or will ever be up for adoption or trade.*
Battledome Challenges: maybe, but only with Rinna.
Freebies: unlikely, but she is amused that anyone would ask.
Help: given gladly.
Art Requests: closed.
Art Trades: generally closed, but there may be exceptions.
NT Collaborations: unless she know you pretty well, probably not.
Cream and Sugar: doesn't like coffee.
*I've tried to interpret this curious use of language over and over again. What "pets" are we talking about here? What exactly is meant by "trading"? Tamia_silverwing's world seems to work very differently from ours — a dark place where pets can apparently be treated as mere bargaining chips to further some anonymous group's goals. Bears further research.
The Long Version.
Statements left in tamia_silverwing's own words, to reduce the risk of mistranslation. My own comments will be marked by [TM:].Why didn't I get a reply from you?
First of all, if you were expecting one and didn't get one, sorry! There are a number of reasons this might have happened. For one thing, there are only so many things I can say in response to "lol" or ":D". In this case, the number of things I can think of is 0. I usually only reply if I can think of something useful to say. Sometimes, however, I get busy and/or I start procrastinating and neomails get forgotten. IIf you think this may have happened and that the message you sent really deserved a reply, I'm really sorry, and I promise it's nothing against you! My memory is notoriously patchy (sometimes I forget to reply to neomails from my own mother *cough*). If I leave it for more than a few days and you were really hoping for a reply, feel free to send the message again if it was a short one, or remind me to go and reply to the original if it wasn't. I won't report you, and I won't be angry at all, I promise. xD
Want to be my neofriend?
This... isn't exactly what I meant by neofriend requests being open to people I've talked to. It's a step in the right direction, but we're not quite there yet. If you want us to be neofriends, we should probably get to know each other first, right? Let's start with a conversation where we actually talk about things. I like talking about things, and I'd be glad to talk about them with you. =D
Can I join your guild?
I'm honestly surprised how many times I get this. Of course you can join; Tuvic is a public guild with no requirements (you don't even need to have watched Star Trek xD). You don't need to ask; feel free to jump in and make yourself at home.
Is Tuvic dead...?
Okay, here's where I need to admit to something: I am very inactive in my guild, and I actually passed down the reins of leadership years ago. This doesn't necessarily mean that the guild is dead; it may very well be, but I wouldn't know. I'm the captain in title only at this point. I think it's more likely that Tuvic has kind of grown inactive over the years as its members have aged and gotten busier with university and work (it's been around since 2004!); but, that being said, nothing will ever stop Tuvic from being open to new members who want to stir things up themselves. I will never delete Tuvic, nor will I ever stop loving it — as inactive as it may be.
I love the Silverwing books too!
Yay! ^__^ Much love for Kenneth Oppel. I highly recommend his books if you're into bats or steampunk or high-flying adventure stories. I've probably absorbed more of my writing style from him than I'd care to admit, actually. xP
What about the rest of your username — why "tamia"?
When this account was first made, it was the first look my sister and I had ever had into Neopets, and we chose the username together. Half the username was chosen by me (hence the "silverwing"), and half by her (hence the "tamia"). Tamia comes from the species name for Red Squirrel, a tribute to my sister's then obsession with squirrels. Don't get me started about the R&B singer; I'd already been on Neopets for half a year before I learned about her. xD ...And no, I don't know any of her songs.
What's your real name?
C'mon, with all the fun words you can get from my username, plus the nicknames I've inherited over the years, do you really need to know that? Feel free to call me Tamia, Silverwing, Silver, BLT, Hey You, or whatever strikes your fancy — they're all cooler names than plain-old-boring-real-life ones anyway. And please don't ask over and over again to know my real name; this happened once and it was a mite unsettlin'.
Where do you live?
I live in Alberta, Canada. I live in the city during the school year so that I can go to university, but my real home is still in the country on a little ex-farm, fifteen minutes away from the nearest villages (which are only inhabited by a couple hundred people each). It's a nice place.
University?
Yes! It's where people go to get smart.
I mean, what's your major...?
I'm a third-year Arts student (even though I rarely feel like it) with a major in anthropology and a minor in English. I've gone through a lot of really different ideas as to what I might want to be one day, ranging from a paleontologist to a a print editor to a tour guide, but now that I've had a few years to explore, I'm finding myself fairly settled on archaeology. It's ancient detective work and a cool blend of the physical sciences and the arts — right up my alley.
How old are you?
I used to refuse to answer this question, but hey, it's hardly a secret among most of the people I know already anyway. I'm 21. =D
Lol you're old.
Come at me, bro.
Can you give me some writing/art/coding tips?
Yep, I'd be glad to! Obviously I can only do this if I know what you want tips for, so I'm not going to go into details about it here. xD I'll warn you, though, that unless your coding question is extremely basic, I probably won't be much help to you in that area. Most of my coding knowledge came from the Neopets HTML guide and a lot of hours of staring at petpages. xP
Can you rate/review/critique this thing I did?
I don't rate (never really understood how those x/10 "ratings" could ever be helpful), but under most circumstances I'd be glad to review or critique your writing or art if you want me to, and if you ask politely. Especially if it's art, because art is quick — I'm an extremely slow reader, so it might be harder to convince me to set aside the time to read a longer written piece like a series for the NT or something. I'll do my best, though.
Do you use a Mac or a PC?
I use a Mac, usually my Macbook.
How do you draw your art?
I start by drinking a gallon of toad spit, sacrificing three goats and dancing under the light of the full moon, then I use the raw power of my mind to bend the pixels to my will..
You are a hilarious individual. I meant what programs you use.
Well in that case, I mostly use Photoshop Elements 6.0. For those of you who aren't familiar with Elements, which is probably most of you, it's sort of a simplified, toned-down version of the full Photoshop or Photoshop CS2. I got a copy of Elements 3.0 with my tablet a million years ago, and I've just upgraded the software since then because honestly, I've never felt like I needed anything more advanced. Plus, Elements is super cheap compared to the other Photoshops. I also use a program called Manga Studio for lineart sometimes, because I like the pen tool. And I've got GIMP too, but I don't really use it for anything other than the occasional animated gif.
What kind of tablet do you have?
My tablet is a Wacom Graphire4, 4x5 inches. It's tiny and six years old already, but it still works fine (the grip on the pen has all but decomposed, but hey) and the size has never bothered me. You can't buy it anymore, but if you're scoping out your first tablet, I'd recommend the Wacom Bamboo. It's cheap (the small one runs about $100-120, I believe, but you can probably find it even cheaper if you look around online_ , most are slightly bigger than mine, and I've heard nothing but good things about it. It'll probably be my next tablet when the one I have finally conks out.
Can I use your art on my userlookup/shop/petpage/application?
I'm generally cool with this, but I do have a few conditions:
1. You don't remove my username/any other identifying markers on the image itself,
2. If the image doesn't have my username on it, you credit me elsewhere on the page,
3. You do not try to pass off the image as your own work (eg. entering it in a site competition, using it to gain favour in any other type of competition, official or not, onsite or off),
4. You do not use images which contain my own personal characters (Kiyoshi, Jeri, Tyra, etc.).
If you're not sure who counts as my own character and who doesn't, feel free to ask. Similarly, if you're unclear on what would constitute theft and what wouldn't, please talk to me about it! I believe that the vast majority of art theft cases involve users who simply don't know that what they're doing is wrong. Always always always double check if you're not sure! I'll never report someone just for asking, but art theft is serious business and it pays to know for sure that you're within the rules.
Are you planning to make more comics someday?
Ha, you have no idea.
Will there be more Ghostchasers stories?
Yes, probably. I'm currently putting something else together for those characters that will take quite a while, but if nothing else, there will be some more short stories eventually.
Can I use your characters in a story/comic I'm making for the NT?
My answer will probably be yes, unless you're planning on doing something really invasive and/or offensive. If you'd like to use them for anything, please ask me first just to let me know what you've got in mind. =D
Are all of your characters real Neopets that I can actually find on the site?
No, but lots of them are. My ultimate goal is to eventually find a way of working every one of my pets into my overarching storyline (even if not every one of them is a first-degree connection to, say, Kiyoshi).
Is Jeri Australian?
Don't be silly, there is no Australia in Neopia.
Is Kiyoshi's name from Avatar: The Last Airbender?
It is not even spelled the same why do people keep asking me this.
*insert neomail here which refers to my NT series as "Ghostbusters"*
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY OF YOU
Do you roleplay?
Not through neomail. Sorry. ;__;
Can my pet like your pet?
Your pet can like my pet all they want; who am I to decide upon the inner workings of their mind? Feel free to link or whatever you want to do. Just don't expect my pets to necessarily return the feeling. xD I've probably got enough friendships and miscellaneous relationships worked out already to last me a lifetime.
MY PET IS IN LUV WITH YOUR PET
...Dude just no.
Favourite neopet species?
Bori.
Favourite Colour?
Alien.
Converted or UC?
Doesn't really matter to me, but I think customisation is fun.
RW, RN, or made-up names?
Made-up names are the cleverest, I think. RW names don't hold much appeal for me.
Ninjas or pirates?
Pirates.
Meridell or Darigan?
Meridell.
Cats or dogs?
Both.
Cream or sugar?
I told you, I don't like coffee.
You're crazy.
Thanks muchly!
You use made-up words.
I know.
You're really mean!!!
I'm sorry.
Done yet?
I think so.