SciFi & Fantasy Artwork by Melly Sylvarian

Well, promised you to keep in touch. So here I am...with...absolutely...nothing to tell I’m so useless Well, I did manage to finish my crazy halloween contest pic, although it’s not really something to be all that proud about. Due to lack of time it’s in a weird anime/cartoon kind of style. But it was a nice excuse for getting away from my corpus research. For some inexplicable reason my dad is crazy about it though and has a A3 size colourprint of it up in his classroom now. Don’t ask me why. And also: managed to make a fool out of myself during salsa practice by slipping over a way too nicely polished piece of the floor. Had all the room staring at me. Go me. Hope you’re doing all right and that the weather is getting better.

Melly Sylvarian replies: "Hi! I’m glad to hear from you! I saw your halloween entry and it rocked my shocks! XD
No wonder your father loved it too!
I’m sorry about your slipping during the dancing lesson! I hope it didn’t hurt! Also, is Salsa difficult? My sister has been crazy about it since we watched the "When I Met Polly" movie.
And.....hell, yeah! GO NIKKI! You have no idea how often this occurs to me! I’ve tripped over my dog’s leash numerous times during his walking time and I’ve even fell out of my chair during a class once!...ok, that was embarrassing..... It’s not good but it’s not to die either! Though it does hurt sometimes..... _ (recalling the last time) Outch...
Well, I had a great time last wednesday! I was invited to a hair and styling catway event-a friend of mine was one of the models and her cousin was one of the hairdressers. The theme was: rock ’n’ roll music and edgy hairstyles-my favorite! ^_^ Lots of mohican-ed and black, red, blue, purple painted heads walking the catway like real rockstars! The fun part was that the models were ordinary people(usually the stylist’s family or friends). Furthermore, when the event was over, my friend’s cousin did my hair too and we just walked away with THIS kind of hair and of course we went out the same night with everyone staring at us in the subway! LOL, so embarrassing....and to die for! XD
The weather’s not changing though....It’s going to be raining like hell all the weekend. But! The temperature lowered like 20 degrees! So, it’s full winter now, and I’m happy that I get to wear my favorite coat and scarves!
"

Nah, Salsa isn’t too difficult. But it’s fun, and I was tired of not being able to dance due to university. I used to do classical ballet, jazz dance, funk and freestyle, so I sort of miss it nowadays. (btw, since you seem to like MJ, one of my dancing teachers actually was in a music clip of his, how cool is that?) Now I can drag my boyfriend with me to dancing class so I save time combining sports and boyfriend time. (I’m quite good at that, I forced him to learn to play tennis and learned him how to ski myself for the same reason *grins*) We also learn Mambo in the same class by the way. Though mambo has a tendency of making me dizzy after a while, there’s a lot of turns in it and it’s a lot faster than salsa as well.

As for the tripping accident, I have way worse examples than that. What about falling face down in the mud while hiking cause I tripped over a stone (I was seven so that me be something of an excuse), or dropping a chair on your ankle just before maths exam that was on the table still cause of the room having been cleaned recently, noticing your toenail is missing after you’ve been bleeding the whole house under for twenty minutes, cutting yourself and faint so you land with your head on a bookshelf or almost knocking out a doctor cause of reacting quite strangely to the stuff he just injected. And then I’m not even talking about tearing up my upper arm muscles by falling deliberately on a pile of ice in order to avoid collision with some jackass blocking the way in a dangerous spot. I can keep going on like this, I doubt you’ll win the contest


Melly Sylvarian replies: "WOW. Yeah, I don’t think I can win you over to this! My worst is falling off my school gym’s roof last winter! ......Well, that was awful because I hurt my leg so bad(you see, when I fell, I landed only on my left leg with all my body weight), my knee needed a surgeryO_O. I tried to find the medical term of that in english but it was futile! It’s something that happens mostly to football players-the tissue that connects the bones on the outer knee joint was ripped off and so I needed an implant to replace the damaged tissue. Though it was very painful, especially during the first two weeks, it’s okay now and I have recovered completely.
But, missing a toenail?!! God, that must have really hurt!! And about torn up muscles: I’ve never heard of it-can this really happen?

Anyway, you seem to like dancing very much! I’m a terrible dancer myself! I’m a little clumpsy... =_=

Hey, are you a university student? If so, what’s your subject of studies? I’m in classical studies’ modern Asian and Turkish department/eastern cultures and historical studies. I’m a first-year! ^_^ ...and really excited about it! LOL "

That catwalk event sounds so much fun! Wish I’d been there, I bet I’d loved it. *sniff* Reminds me of when I went a little over-the-top gothic to get into a party without entrance fee. And going out in crazy costumes, I know everything about it, when I had shows with my dance school I once went to buy snacks in the cinema next to the theatre in an outfit made up of nothing but flashy coloured panties. (it was decent, don’t worry, just very very flashy… And I’ve done the same in a man and black outfit (sun glasses included) the next day. As for the hair, mine reaches my butt and is quite thick and for ballet performances our teacher demanded we’d have a bun. I usually ended up with three people busy on my hair every single time. I have to admit, the attention was nice And when for my nephew’s wedding I’d had to get my hair in one of those intricate French braids I was pulling out rise till three days after the event

P.S. tried to read your answer to the comment above, but it seems ancient Greek is way different from modern Greek except for a word here and there, or it’s just that the old Greek isn’t that fresh anymore, that’s also more than three years ago now. Used to be good at it though…


Melly Sylvarian replies: "Hehehehehe!!! Flashy coloured panties?! Really now?! You got me laughing like crazy with that!
I like long hair...on others’ heads! Seriously now, I love these girls with long and straight/curly hair but I prefer mine short and wavy. My hair’s short and spiky and I’ve dyed them black/blue and ebony black with red highlights in the past! Now I’m trying to keep cool and not overdo it again...But I want to cut them really short...like Dolores R’ Ordian’s hair! Love her.

Well, of course they’re different. Ancient Greek is a difficult language and you have my full respect if you’ve taken any lessons! Here in Greece it’s obligatory to learn ancient Greek for 6 years...But anyway, the comment above is written in "greek-lish", that’s what we call writing greek with latin characters! Because MSN, Youtube etc don’t support greek characters, teenagers "invented" this....language. Plus, I didn’t use hyphens or double conforms as I should, so it’s only natural if you can’t understand them. It even took me some time to find out how to read them!"

Yia sou Eleuftheria-Melly. Ellinida oste?! Ts Ts Ts;-)

Sinexise na zografizeis,
Xairetismous apo Kypro
F.

Melly Sylvarian replies: "xixixi! Euxaristw polu! Anti-xairetismata! ^_^"

Well, think I’ll let you win with that leg injury. Man, does that sound painful. I’ve never actually had surgery except for having my ‘wisdom teeth’ as they’re often called taken out. (yes, with the usual hamster cheeks as a result, you’re allowed to laugh )Well, I’ll give you my worst then: When I was very little(2-3 years old) I’ve accidently placed my hand on the stove. The result was well, if I have to believe my parents, a very black little hand covered in blisters all over. As for muscles being torn, well, probably that was just a too literal translation from Dutch, it sounds worse than it is, though it does hurt badly and you can’t move your arm for a couple of weeks. (I needed help from my parents when getting dressed, felt pretty pathetic) I got lucky actually, I could have easily broken my arm on that ice, cause I go around 80 km/h easily. (it was a skiing accident, I forgot to mention that) Oh yes, and about the toenail, it was worse than gone actually, it was completely off, but because I landed on it (it happened when falling off the stairs)it went back in. Very strange injury. I could wait for it to come out for two weeks.

And since you we’re curious about it, I’m a master student Linguistics and Literature, specialized in Latin and English at Leuven university. And I’m sooo NOT excited about it I literally drown in work. Especially now we have several classes in which we have to actively participate (or lose 5 marks out of 20). That’s just too cruel, I mean, I can just handle staring apathetically in front of me, while occasionally pretending to listen, and scribble down everything in my typical barely legible way. The fact that I not only have to pay attention, but pretend to have something important to add to the class discussion as well is really too much to bear It’s also the reason why my gallery gets updated so rarely. Well, it’s a bit my own fault for wanting to try and see if I maybe will be allowed to go for a PHD, but that’s entirely beside the point Hope it’s better for you over there, the work pressure I mean. Your studies seem really interesting by the way. I only get a bit of Turkish/Japanese etc. stuff in my class comparative linguistics, but they’re just illustrative examples really, translation included. I’m such a cheater.


Melly Sylvarian replies: "This sounds so interesting! But I understand it is a difficult subject. I studied Roman Literature and Latin for 2 years as a "preference class"(it’s your option to take the class) at highschool and I admit it wasn’t a piece of cake!

As for some boring classes and attendance, I feel for you! It can be really boring during some classes-my worst is Greek-Turkish Political And Interpersonal Relations, sooooo lame! And when you think it can’t get any worse, you realize that the teacher has a speech disorder or sth! Srsly now: she can’t spell the letter "R" (she’s not replacing it with another letter, she just skips it!)..........I know it’s not actually funny, but there are times that I can’t understand what she asks for! She sounds like: <<All’ight, now tu’n to page fou’teen and ’ead the fi’st pa’ag’aph, then we a’e going to discuss the matte’>>. I tell you it’s unbearable! And if anyone decides to sit in the very back of the classroom, so as to avoid active participation, the teacher’ll be standing over his/her head for the rest of the class! >
"

I understand the hair thing. It must be a lot more handy having it short. But I think I’d look ridiculous with short hair, and aside from my metal nature begging me to keep it long, there’s also this deal I have with my boyfriend: I don’t cut it, he doesn’t cut it. We both like each other best with long hair. (He’s got this angel like hair really, it’s so beautiful, comes half-way his back, dark brown curls.) Btw, I tried to look up the haircut you were referring to, but google doesn’t seem to recognize her very well… Sorry.

Latin-Greek is a study option in Belgium in secondary school. You choose Latin in your first year and from the second year on you get Greek as well, so I’ve studied it for five years. As for the Greeklish as you call it, it’s not too hard to read, I mean, it’s pretty similar to what you type on a regular keyboard when using the Greek font in Word. I’ve had enough homework to remember how that went. It’s just the vocabulary and grammar that’s waaay gone.

P.S.: sorry about the looooong comments I think I get this ’sentence-knitting-problem’ as my dad always calls it, from translating too much Latin If I’m annoying you, can always say so

Melly Sylvarian replies: "Sorry, my bad-I spelled her name wrong! It’s Dolores O’ Riordan. The picture links below shows her current haircut(2009), that’s how I want my head to look like!
http://www.singingfool.com/photos/6406/269053_10_38063118001.- jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3516064027_1603d37ee7.jpg-

And I think your boyfriend isn’t demanding too much, there...Here, in Athens, everybody cuts his hair short, after highschool at least! There are very few that keep their hair long and pretty....(sigh) I love long-haired men, but in my country, joining the national army is obligatory at the age of 18 for 1 year and a half, or if they’re students, at the age of 25-26....So, my point is, everyone will be short-haired eventually! And most men decide to cut it sooner! CURSES! >
I wish my man’d have long, pretty, straight(or curly-I don’t mind!) hair.....He looks just boring with the usual short lengthed hair....at least he has a great personality! LOL!.....he’s gonna kill for this later

........Well, I’m talking too informal just like anyone does in everyday life, so it’s only normal that this kind of speech has many errors , wrong syntax and the vocabulary’s simplified.
And of course I don’t mind the long comments, as I do the same! on the contrary, I like our loooong(just kidding!) conversations! ^__^"

The really hard part about Latin is that all our professors have still had 9 hours of Latin a week during their six years of secondary school, while we now arrive at university having had only four hours a week and, let this be very clear, they don’t consider that a reason to lower their standards or expectations. Also they have recently reintroduced what we call ‘thema’ it means we have to be able to translate Dutch into Latin as well as the other way around. And though it’s cool to be able to write Latin yourself, and even handy when, like me, you have to try your hand at writing metal lyrics sometimes (Latin just sounds cool, you can’t deny that) it’s mostly just terribly difficult. Also, our grammar teacher, who is a great teacher by the way, no comments on that, has the irritating problem that he can’t time his exams in advance. Once, I think it was last year, but I’m not sure, I’ve had an exam of almost 5.5 hours, without a break in between. And then I mean you really needed the time just to finish, nobody’s had the time to check any of their answers. I was near crying afterwards, just because I was so dead-tired. My worst course in amount was definitely last year’s History of Rome. A course of 500 pages, small print, of the whole Roman history from the second millennium BC till Commodus. We had to know every single detail by heart. It was scary. I needed five full days to get through. My exam question was: discuss the whole Roman expansion from the second Punic war till Caesar. And discuss ‘trade’ in the whole Antonine empire. Think that says enough


Melly Sylvarian replies: "I understand the thing with the teachers and their "high expectations"! Isn’t that just irritating when they just expects you to be so damn scary specific in translating and accent-reading skills with only a maximum 5 hours a week(that was the case while I was at highschool)! It’s just tiring and not enough and so darn demanding!
Really now...Sometimes I have these strange(?) voices lurking inside my head telling me that it’s not quite necessary to pass the course in my first semester and that I could just alittle bit of...{(cheat)}.............But right after 5 depressing and blurry thinking I decide not to, and the ethical side of me stands its ground and I’m the usual geek I always tend to be when it comes to exams and studying! ^_^ oh what the heck, live and let die.
BTW, the exam you described seems really dreadful! I mean like, Marilyn Manson drunk wasted, during a hollywood premiere party, with his clothes off and his contacts on, dreadful!!!! LOL"

The speech disorder does indeed sound rather funny I have to admit. I haven’t come across such a teacher yet, although we do have a very interesting case of horse-like drooling going on. There’s one of our professors who has got these two little dots of yellowish drool in the corners of his mouth all the time. It really reminds me of the foam around a horse’s mouth after heavy practice, I can’t help it. It’s really hard not to focus on it when you’re doing an oral exam As for the active participation part, we had a Latin teacher who reacted the same way as yours does. He went standing next to you, staring at you, until you just HAD to answer. I found a way out though; I call it my ‘ostrich technique’. You see, this professor couldn’t remember our names, so he could only make you answer by looking at you, standing next/behind/in front of you, or a combination of both. So I just seated myself in the middle of all the other students and kept my head tucked in for the whole two hours. I didn’t need to answer a single time. (for the record, you didn’t lose marks for not participating in this class, I’m not stupid )


Melly Sylvarian replies: "L*O*L!!!! horse-like drooling?!! .......what the....?!
The "ostrich technique" rocks! I know it, I’ve used it LOTS of times while I was at school! It’s a trick that never fails right?....Too bad that at my significant class we are only like 25 people attending, so it’s inevitable....Furthermore, the teacher has a class plan(a paper where she’s written down where we usually sit with our names on it...just UH!), so there’s nothing more I can do than praying to lord that I won’t fall asleep or die of boredom during a class! ^_^"

Used the links and this indeed makes more sense. (when I typed in last time’s spelling, first image hit was a movie poster from Francis of Assisi, other hits being a manga poster, an American politician and a Muslims against sharia banner ) But it is a very lovely haircut, I can see why you’d like to have your hair like that.

Oh I see, obligatory army service has never been good for the long-haired males’ population in any country. Luckily we haven’t had that anymore in Belgium for a long time. But then again, do we really have an army in this tiny speck of land? Anyways, maybe I’ll have something to cheer you up in my gallery soon. I’m making a drawing of my werewolf Syl and he’s got, well, very long white hair. Which is all the more interesting cause he’s actually based on a person I once saw in real life: he had nearly white hair, braided, till his waist, and a bunch of red roses in his hand, very striking colour combination. It seemed like he’d almost done it on purpose. I was like: hey do they make elves for real now? And if it doesn’t help, I can always recommend Wacken, or my own Belgian GMM. Lots of choice over there!


Melly Sylvarian replies: "Wow, that’s so great...Elves in real life.......O_O (drooling in ecstasy..)
This guy must be truly HANDSOME! I’ve encountered a guy who looked exactly like Bill from Tokio Hotel(the lead vocalist). Not my type at all, but he had a veeeeery beautiful face. Like a girl. With much make-up on. Hope that didn’t sound offensive to mr Caulitz! "