Soul-Stray

Recently I've had strong thoughts regarding a friend I had a couple of years ago (or maybe just a year and a half?) We had a bit of a love/hate relationship going on, but eventually I completely dropped him as a friend because he betrayed my trust and said some things about me to someone he KNEW he shouldn't have. That was a long time ago.

Well, in the past couple of weeks I have been flirting with the idea of reconciling with him, having acknowledged that he was a very good friend of mine for a brief period of time, which is something. Yesterday I decided I  would unblock him on skype. Today I did so, but when he didn't accept my request within a few minutes (he is never too far away from his computer) I actually felt concern. I e-stalked all of his online accounts, many of which no longer exist, and eventually stumbled across a thread his girlfriend posted on a forum about coping with a boyfriend's death.

After a bit of digging I found the obituary. He died on the 17th of January. His funeral was yesterday.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Growing up, before I became lost, I had a dream to become an artist/animator for cartoons on television. I mean, there was no doubt it my mind that it was going to happen. It was my first passion.
In recent years (many of them) the desire has faded, as an existence in this society tends to instill doubt about one's more "impossible" dreams, plus, as much as I *hate* to admit it, I have always felt a little ashamed of being an adult that loves "cartoons," and this definitely played a role in my abandoning my passion.

Well, for the first time in years upon years I feel that drive again. The thought pleases me beyond all else, and I know I would be genuinely happy with a career in illustration/animation. I haven't actively drawn in over seven years, so naturally I am incredibly rusty and have no confidence in my artwork. I really want to get myself up to par, though, and I think I will be using this DeviantArt account to post my sketches in addition to my photography and crafts.

So. Along with this revitalization of my childhood dream, I have also decided to attempt to restore all of my childhood My Little Pony toys. Up until yesterday I was going to throw them away because they smell of mildew, as many of them are older than myself. Well, on a whim I searched "restoring My Little Ponies" and found that there are a ton of articles online dedicated to the topic--- regarding just about any issue you can think of.

Yesterday I spent hours cleaning them. Popping heads off. cutting heads off. Removing tails. Dawn soap soaks. Vinegar soaks. Scrubbing. Shampooing. Conditioning. Combing. (I don't care what anyone says, enough conditioner and a bit of patience will get ANY tangle out!) Trimming.
They look amazing, and smell a significant amount better. Still a noticeable smell, though, so after they finish drying I will use some baking soda on them. I thought I was going to have to replace a number of their tails, but they actually cleaned up nicely (that's not to say I won't replace the tails in the future. *grin*).

I am going to start looking around for a small display case for them and then they can chill on my Predator/Anime/Sonic the Hedgehog/other-nerdy-action-figures shelf.

Vintage toy collections yay<3