Karalee -- The Crash Course

*CRASH!!*



...What? I warned you in the title. 😊

Heyoooooo, Jammers, it's Karalee here!

I am extremely honored to be an author here, and as requested by our (amazing 😉) founder Crazcatlover, the first post I make here will be an introduction to moi. (Strapped in tight? Good.)



The first thing about who I am is, I'm a Christian.

Yeah, I know that sounds like it could be some kinda' snooty, "I'm-so-religious" bragging.

It's not.

Being a Christian is the biggest part of my identity. I say it because it matters the most to me out of anything in the whole world, not because it "looks good". Jesus has given me life, grace, and most importantly, a reason for living. Love is the purpose of life, and showing it through everything I do is my mission.

Now does this mean I am perfect? *snort* Yeah no. No, I will definitely mess up, and probably publicly, on this blog. I'll say something rude without thinking about the effects, or not be as accepting, generous, or clear-headed as I should. Apologies in advance, and here's my sincere intentions to avoid goofing up for as long as possible.



Next thing: ...Welp, I should probably warn ya' I'm a nut.

A nut for art, because I can't seem to go a single day without drawing.
A nut for Sherlock Holmes, and mysteries in general.
A nut for COFFEE, and anything with coffee in it.
And of course, a nut for Animal Jam!



Third thing....

Oh, right! I should probably say that I'm a girl. (Oops. 😋)

This is me.

Selfie time! *click*

I'm a Hyena on AJ, which I feel suits my personality. Hyenas are canine, but don't have the mainstream look of the Arctic Wolf, and without the "roleplaying" connotations that the Wolf sometimes carries. (Nothing against either of those animals, they're just not who I am.) Hyenas love to laugh, and they have a long mane down their backs, just like me! 😄



Fourth thing: I'm synesthetic.

This means I've got a condition. *dun-dun-DUN* 😨

😆 Just kidding. ...Sort of.

Synesthesia is a real condition. According to the dictionary, it's "the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body". This means that when someone has synesthesia, their senses are mixed up and connected together in some way. For one person, it could mean that they see numbers in their head as points closer or father away in space, and for another, that hearing the name Derek tastes like earwax!

I've got the two most common forms, grapheme-color synesthesia, and chromesthesia.

Grapheme-color synesthesia means that letters are sort of "overlayed" with colors. I associate each letter with a specific color, which means a sentence looks like this!

(No, seriously, it looks just like that, color-wise. Except the k is more of a rosy-pink-peach... text coloring didn't have the right shade. *shrug*)

Chromesthesia means sounds can trigger colors in the brain. Before I realized that I had this, I did think it was odd that I automatically told bright lights that I wanted to turn off to "Shhh!" (I guess the sight triggered a sound reaction, in that case.)

It also means listening to music is a blast, especially at night! Then I can just close my eyes and let the show play. 😊 Sometimes people with chromesthesia related to music will have perfect pitch because their ability to both see and hear colors helps them find notes/keys.

Unfortunately for my family's ears, I did NOT get that part of it.

The reason I'm mentioning this is because (and this is from Wikipedia), "Synesthetes are very likely to participate in creative activities. It has been suggested that individual development of perceptual and cognitive skills, in addition to one's cultural environment, produces the variety in awareness and practical use of synesthetic phenomena."

It's also true that "Synesthesia may also give a memory advantage. In one study conducted by Julia Simner of the University of Edinburgh it was found that spatial sequence synesthetes have a built-in and automatic mnemonic reference. So the nonsynesthete will need to create a mnemonic device to remember a sequence (like dates in a diary), but the synesthete can simply reference their spatial visualizations."

Didn't get that part either. Numbers are just colors, not places in space to me, and so doing/learning math is really confusing and frustrating. Math doesn't relate to colors at all.

But drawing does! Color and form are very important to me. They're in SO MUCH of what I do and think and remember and sense. Sometimes I can visualize and feel my thoughts physically going through me, like the yellowish-beige haze of a thought I don't like looping around my head and towards my mouth (which is weird because I have no intention of speaking that thought or idea aloud), or a blue-green, kind of cold feeling moving in my lungs and to the left of my stomach (or maybe it's where my liver is -- I need to learn more anatomy). Goldenrod threads running through my shoulders, light magenta flowing up my spine.

This isn't any type of synesthesia I've ever heard about. ...Maybe I'm just weird...? *sheepish laugh, shrug*

Nevertheless, color and form are in everything. And I think that's a big, big part of why I draw.

Animal Jam's color schemes and graphics are what originally attracted me to the game, and they're a lot of what keeps me obsessed. My favorite things to draw right now are Animal Jam avatars as humans! 😊 Here are some samples of my work. (Placed from oldest to latest.)





(Top to bottom, left to right) Coolcat89252, Lostfairy, Crazcatlover, Sarahkey8, Gfox0, Ja983, me, Graciepopstar91, and Swirlshine!



Ja983, and me again! Ever the adventurer, Ja is going to face off with a large creature (probably an Orc), and I, the Mom Friend, am warning her not to!



Swirlshine -- er, Squirrelshine! Cute chibi in a hoodie w/ears and tail.



Human version of my Hyena in an alternate outfit, sitting on what appears to be an invisible bench.



(Clockwise) AJkraft, Purplestarclub, and Nafaria9.



A buddy of mine on AJ, not a blogger as far as I know. This isn't a commission... I was itching to draw and needed a subject. 😝 Hope she doesn't mind!



Uh-oh, the post's coming to a close! TIME FOR THE LIGHTNING ROUND! 🗲🗱🗲

The last few things you need to know about Karalee:

• Often a late-in-the-day blog-poster (oops)
• A fan of Voltron: Legendary Defender, various Transformers shows, MacGyver, and much more
• The self-proclaimed Queen Of Tpyos
• **Typos
• Intrigued by the Victorian era and steampunk
• I wish I could live in a past time (but preferably one when flush toilets were common)
• Practically subsisting off cheese, apples, and coffee
• Constantly losing styluses
• Herbal Zap tea tastes like seventy fire ants in your mouth
• I know because I just tried some
• Those last two facts were not actually relevant

Well, that's about it! I hope you enjoyed Karalee -- The Crash Course!

*CRASH!!*

I still warned you.... 😋

(DXplorergirl)