Mermaids

Its been a long while since I drew mermaids. Like most people, I drew and imagined mermaids to be human-looking women who happen to have a scaly fish tale.

But I came across a story by Kurt Cagle a few years back called "Voyage of the Canto". In this story, a female scientist has stumbled across a sound process that changes the physical structure of humans, into any mythical being you can name - angel, centaur, cat-woman, satyr, mermaid.

In "Voyage", he tells how the lead scientist turns her crew of mainly female cadets into mermaids. He explores how the transformation from human to mermaid occurs, what changes, and gives some plausible explanations on why, um… they always have big breasts and the myths always revolve around having sex with them.

This story is the inspiration of my current mermaid project. But I'm not going for the big breasted sex symbol. Following the line of thought that Kurt Cagle made, I am drawing my own conclusion on what a mermaid would probably look like if she never ever went on land (for goodness sake what does a mermaid need a butt like ours for? She'd have an anatomy more like otters or seals and other water-mammalian species like dolphins.)

I went back to where I first saw the story and linked back to other Kurt Cagle sites but the "Voyage" is no longer there. I have been searching the net for this story but find no trace of it But he does have other fascinating mermaid tales. You can find them here:

Fanarchive - Stories by Kurt Cagle
"Gina" and "Sea Change" - Transformation Archives
"Bells of Ys" at http://seatails.blogspot.com/

Kurt Cagle's site in the making: Seatails

Note: the picture above is a link from the Yahoo! Group: Mermaid Stories. Beautiful picture!

Bridges

by Sergio Mendez
Sung by Kevyn Lattau; Sung by Dianne Reeves

Angels on my mind

  With so many things that could go wrong around you…

with life pressing you down…

with all the expectations and responsibilities laid on your shoulders

– you begin to look around with despair in your eyes, and hope that somehow– some way, there's a way through all the hardships you are experiencing. When a miracle of relief happens, you somehow can't help but think that an angel helped you along.

Most people will openly scoff at the idea that there are angels, and yet in their hearts hope that they are proved wrong.

For me, angels are not visible nor tangible. I am not one of the lucky ones who can see them. All I know are their works and the feeling of relief I get when I make it through a difficult time I thought I would not be able to bear. But bear it I did.

One example that comes to mind is when I was in college. I was a nursing student then and I was failing my major subjects. It was depressing. The expectations to succeed and go abroad to work in the US or UK was big. The assumption that I would do well was there. It was horrible. There were times when doubt hit me so bad that it was all I could do to get myself out of bed and socialize with my family.

But I prayed hard to get through. I prayed for the courage to tell my father how I felt. I prayed for the strength to face the shame I was failing this course. When my father told me that he understood and that he would stand by any decision I would make regarding this, I prayed for the strength to overcome the shame at being happy. Happy that I did not have to go through a course that should have been a privilege but had become a burden.

I am not a spiritual person. I am not even a prayerful person. But since that day, my thoughts are never far away from God's angels who uplifted me from a depressing time when life didn't seem worth living anymore.

What Muse are You?

Your Inner Muse is Urania

You are most like this muse of astronomy.
Your head is in the stars, and you look to the future.
You give off a heavenly, mysterious vibe.
And you're not too bad at predicting the future.

What Muse Are You?

No Mes Ames

A beautiful song from Jennifer Lopez and her husband, Mark Anthony. What the song actually means, I don't really know but the liquid syllables sounds so romantic as they are sung in Spanish. I find that this song runs in my head a lot. 

No Mes Ames
duet by Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony