Just to let everyone know, I probably won't be responding to messages here anymore because I've scurried off to a new account. :3 I've been inactive for waaay too long, and feel like I need a fresh start~

So, if any watchers wonder where I've gone, you can now find me at ~cherry-skittle. It's empty as anything right now, since I've got to make a new avatar, ID, profile, and get the scanner working so I can upload some schtuff.. @o@

To all the people who've watched me or favourited my work while I was away; thank you so much! I'm sorry for not replying. ;_; I really appreciate you all for supporting me. And I'm sorry if the account change causes any inconvenience~!

Love! :3

I AM ALIVE. 8D Hellooo, Deviants. :3 T'has been a while! Cherry's sorry for not updating, things have been a little.. hectic. @_@; How've you all been? :3

Soo. Where to start. Um. In August, Cherry completed her Prince's Trust course! Yay~! ^0^ We had to do a big presentation at the end. So.. we all had to stand up in front of loads and loads of people (Including family members) and talk. ;_; Cherry was uber-nervous~

But Cherry got to meet Stephen Hughes! :3 ... *tumbleweed* Stephen Hughes = Leicester City player. >>; And Cherry met Martin Johnson, toos~ Got an autograph and a photo taken with him and everything~ x3 *Squee*

Cherry really misses all her friends from the course, though. They were awesome. u.u...

Cherry was offered a place in an Art & Design course at Leicester College back in July, and she started college on the 12th of this month. :3 Cherry was really nervous about it, but it's been really good so far~

The main downside to it is that the whole place is a little disorganized right now; rooms are being rebuilt and swapped around and re-named, resulting in Cherry's college map being a little... inaccurate. 8D; So nothing's where it actually should be, but Cherry's managing. xD And Cherry's tutors are all really nice. :3

So yesh, college = good. The place is nice, the people are nice, the work is fun, and Cherry's learnt a lot already~

Before we started college, each student had to complete a 'Summer assignment'~ This involved making two pieces of artwork based on something about myself and my life, and one written piece based on "How I see myself, and how I would like to be seen." o.o; Cherry thinks it turned out okay-ish~ >>;

Cherry apologizes for not uploading for aaaages~ x.x; Cherry's art is kind of all over the place right now; you know those stages where you decide to learn to draw new kinds of things and learn new techniques? :3 So Cherry's kind of doing a lot of sketches and experiments right now, rather than lots of proper pieces. Cherry can still upload the experiments into her Scrapbook if wanted, though~

Cherry hopes that you're all doing well~! :3 Cherry's comp doesn't really get along with this new DA layout, so if there's anything important that you tried to notify me of and I didn't see it, then I apologize!

Everyone take care, yesh? :3 Love!

*flops face first into puddle from exhaustion*

x-x

Papa's been prodding Cherry to update this for a while now, so here she is. 8D

Many big cherry-topped apologies for not updating since.. *checks* May 15th. O__O; Cherry's been very busy attending the Prince's Trust programme that she mentioned in her May 4th entry, and Cherry must say, the programe is bu-luh-dee brilliant. :3

Cherry's done so much over the past 6 weeks, she shall break it down into little bite-size pieces.

~Week 1~

The first week was mostly full of little activities and problem-solving games to get everyone to know eachother, learn eachother's names and backgrounds, etc. One of Cherry's favourites was building towers out of marshmellows and dry spaghetti. :3 Cherry learned most everyone's names, took loads of photos, met oodles of cool people and did lots of weird and fun activities. xD

~Week 2~

The bit that pretty much everyone on the course looks forward to the most, the residential week in Staffordshire. We were taken by minibus to Beaudesert camp in Cannock woods, and had to eat sleep, work and basically live together for four days. It should've been five days, but Monday was a holiday, so one day less. ;.;

We did abseiling, had an archery competition (Which Cherry sucked at xD), played sports like rounders and touch/tag rugby, went down a zip-line (FANTASTICNESS. O-O), and spent an afternoon rock-climbing. Cherry got all the way to the top of two walls! :3

The meal planning and shopping went a lot smoother than we expected; we ended up buying tons more food than we needed, even though we were under the given budget. And the team members were even kind enough to arrange vegetarian meals for me and another member. =3

But the beds, lord, I've never slept on such a wafer-thin mattress in my life. I could feel it even through meh thickly-padded sleeping bag. D:

So yesh, a very busy and exhausting week, but loads of fun. It helped us get to know eachother and taught us how to get along a little better and work together. :3

~Weeks 3 and 4~

These two weeks were spent mostly raising money for our community project. We sold raffle tickets and held sponsored events like a walk around Bradgate park (Great fun :3) and a boys leg-waxing session, which was extremely amusing. xD

We also sent out letters to businesses asking for donations that we could use as raffle prizes. We got some great stuff, like teddies, football tickets and t-shirts, gift sets and a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN. 8DD CHOCOLATE. FOUNTAIN. <3

~Weeks 5 and 6~

Weeks 5 and 6 were spent working on our community project, which was to clean, re-paint, tidy and generally revamp the garden and car park areas of a centre for deaf and hard of hearing people. :3 These weeks were very physical and a lot of hard work, but everyone got along well and the staff were all very generous, helpful and polite. ^__^

We cleaned and re-painted all the railings (Which hadn't been cleaned or painted for at least 24 years~ O_O), chopped away all the big overgrown trees, shrubbery, vines and weeds, cleared out all the rubbish and litter, leveled out the ground and covered it in bark to make it look much neater. ^0^ It looks so much better now~!

Everyone at the centre says we did a really good job. Cherry's team leader took oodles of photos from before and after the centre was revamped, so you can see the difference. Cherry shall see if she can upload some. :3

At the end of Week 6, the people at the centre held a barbecue to thank us for all our hard work. 8D They played music, let us play pool (Which Cherry was awful at~ Dx), got drinks, snacks, and even cooked veggie burgers and sausages~ x3 We all got certificates to show we'd done the project, too. :3

We also held the raffle, which was brilliant~ Cherry's aunt won a travel clock! 8D And one of Cherry's team members won the chocolate fountain~ Though she doesn't like chocolate, so she's planning to modify it and turn it into a booze fountain. xDD Bless~

~Week 7 (Current) ~

At the moment, we're preparing ourselves for our futures with things like practice interviews, advice for driving lessons, and practice at advertising a business. :3 It's quite challenging, and a lot of fun at the same time. We've dwindled a lot in numbers since we first started out (A maximum of only 6 or 7 people come in each day now. o.o), we all work hard and stick together to get things done. ^__^ Cherry shall keep attending everyday and work hard!

Cherry hopes that you're all doing okay~! And to Julie ( *astaldoia ), a biiiig happy early birthday~! x3 You didn't think I'd forget, did j00? :3

Cherry's still drawing everyday, even if she's not uploading, so she shall try and do something doubly-good to make up for never getting around to drawing anything for j00 last year~ ;.; Cherry-apologies! Hope you have a great day~!

One more thing, Cherry just accidentally deleted a huge chunk of her messages, including comments, so if there's something Cherry hasn't replied to, please poke Cherry and let her know. ^^'

Cherry must go now, but she shall try and update more often now. 8D Everyone take care~! Lurve!

~~Cherry~~

Cherry... cannot swim. x___x

Cherry, her brother, Papa and Steph (Close friend of Papa's~ She's great. x3) all went swimming. 8D Cherry hasn't been to a pool since she was six or so~

Then Cherry discovered that she can't swim. >_>; One valiant attempt resulted in Cherry going under. xD Oopsie~?

Papa and Steph were pretty much the only ones that could actually swim~ Cherry and her brother just kind of flailed around a lot. xD; But Cherry has gotten better at opening her eyes underwater. Still feels so weird, though~ @_@

We all had a great time. :3 We're hoping to go again sometime this week~

Does anyone here swim often~? Any tips for a frequently drowning Cherry~? xD;

*bounces*

Cherry just signed up for the Prince's Trust programme~! :33

Quoted from the ibformation leaflet, since Cherry ish no good at explaining things:

"The Peince's Trust helps young people develop confidence, learn new skills, get into work and start businesses.

Prince's Trust Team is a unique 12-week personal development programme. It is designed to help young people aged 16-25 improve their skills and attitudes to be better equipped for the world of employment.

The programme brings together a diverse mix of up to 15 young unemployed people with a wide range of abilities, personal circumstances and backgrounds. The programme is particularly suited to young people who face many barriers and lack the opportunites to reach their full potential, including the long-term unemployed, offenders and ex-offenders, young people in or leaving care and educational under-achievers, who are ready to move forward with their lives.

It is a programme that aims to re-engage young people, helping them to think about their futures.

Each Team member has the potential to gain qualifications for the skills they develop during the programme."

Week 1 - Induction, Health & Safety, First Aid, Food Hygiene & Team Building
Week 2 - Team Building Residential Week In Staffordshire
Weeks 3 & 4 - Getting resources for their chosen Community Project
Weeks 5 & 6 - Community Project
Weeks 7 & 8 - Work Placements
Week 9 - Next Steps
Weeks 10 & 11 - Final Team Challenge
Week 12 - Final Team Presentation

---

Cherry's brother completed the whole course (He got an iPod and his photo in the newspaper for being the 1000th person from our town to do it)~ x3 He worked really hard and did really well. ^0^

Cherry wants to do the course so she can be more conifdent around people~ Since Cherry's always been homeschooled, she's not really had much experience with communicating or working with people~ @O@ So hopefully this will help Cherry socialize a little bit. x3;

During the second week, Cherry will be away from home~ ;.; We'll be staying at a camp in Staffordshire~ Lots of outdoor activities, too. Cherry's brother did things like rock-climbing, abseiling and a zip-line, but Cherry's been told that since it's Summer now, the activites will probably be different; possibly swimming-related. 8D Eee~

There'll be lots of activites and projects throughout the course; most of them are planned and decided by the team members. *wonders what we'll be doing* @o@~

Cherry met the lady that will be leading the Team for this course, and she's really really nice~ x3 *huggles her*

The course starts on May 22nd, so~ 2 weeks on Monday. x3 Cherry's really excited~! :33

*flounces away*