Well, first update is that I've finally collected enough updates to stick my older ones on a separate page. I told myself in the beginning that once I got more than five updates for my update page that I would do that... I wasn't sure I'd be around long enough for that, though. Heh.

I've completed the finished version of my Artemis pic (this Artemis is a random super-type in a gameworld I used to run, not one of the millions of other Artemises out there. She is intentionally generic) and put it up in the Misc art section. An older sketch of Checkmate has also been all digitaled up and moved in with the other anthro pics.

Wooo! Check it out! I have artwork that isn't mine now, and I didn't steal it or anything! It seems that Jessica Sanders liked my story "Breaking Out Of The White" enough that she asked to draw a couple of the scenes. No promises, but so far she's done headshots for Tyrei and her mother and a full-body shot of Tyrei that I'm just thrilled with! As a side note, because the story is developing a life of its own, it is now getting its own page. I've also created a banner for this story which can be found on my links page.

I've reopened my Guestbook, despite the fact that they seem to be going out of style. Well, actually this is not the same as my old hack-job email-based Guestbook, but a bright and shiny new Bravenet Guestbook complete with ads. Well, I always was a bit behind the times on fashion...

I've added a photo gallery to my Miscellaneous section, because (a) it provides a way to share all sorts of neat photos of the many, many cool places I've visited and (b) it'll give me a section to add stuff too when I'm feeling too lazy to actually create new works myself. Right now I've only got pictures from Rome in there.

Because there's nothing near so much fun as wasting time on something that serves no purpose what-so-ever when you've got a million and one things on your to-do list, here's my new Animergif, "Sea Ya!"

Last (and most certainly least) I updated my FAQ to include a question a friend asked me, just in case anyone's been losing any sleep over the matter of my avatar mermaid's weight.

Don't kill me! No killing the web mistresses! I know I've been gone a long time, and I fear I have very little to show for it. In fact, I've actually taken things down! Specifically, my self-pitying little excuse is going away, and my hack-job guest book is vanishing. Anyone who wants to contact me will have to rely on standard email for now, and when I get back (because I'll be going away again for a couple of months) I'll sign up for a real guest book.

There are a few changes and new things around, though. First, I've added two new galleries to my art section: Scribbles and Anthro Art. Both galleries have some new stuff and some stuff moved from the Misc gallery (which, incidentally, has a new picture added as well).

New writings have been added. Mostly I'm being cheap and posting some of the work I did for my PACE college courses, just in the hopes of looking like I've been productive over the last few months. There is, however, a completely new and original piece of fantasy posted called "Breaking Out Of The White," of which I am very proud.

As you can also see, I've dumped the W3C icon. Right now I'll worry about getting this page up to speed again. Then I'll start with the code nitpicking.

The really big news: this may be my last update for months! If you care why, see my excuse, which I'm putting in my Writings section because it qualifies as a Rambling. Warning: This Rambling contains uncharacteristic seriousness on my part!

There are three new pictures in the Misc gallery, another new one in the Peter Pan gallery, and a new Animergif (of course!). As a minor side note, an icon has been added to complement the New icon. The New icon will now be used only when everything it links to is actually new, while Updated will get used if there's only a single new thing in a particular category.

Someone used my Guest Book! That means I get to add a new Browse The Guest Book page, and update my FAQ!

In an effort to be as random as possible, I've Adopted Starscream and put him on my Misc page.

Well, there have been a few behind the scenes changes. The first one you won't notice if you're an Internet Explorer user, but if you surf with Netscape Navigator, you should now find that my pages are actually linked! Yay! Additionally, I've changed every page name to 'index.html' just to make things more confusing. Other "structural" include my getting rid of the graphical link banners on my links page; they just didn't seem to blend with the rest of the page. My own link banner is still available for anyone who wants to use it.

I've changed the my standard capitalization for "MerBitch" to "Merbitch". That capital "B" in the middle of the word was starting to bug me; capitals don't belong in the middle of a word! Gawd, I'm anal.

There're new pictures in each of my galleries, including another Animergif that I call "Kiss My Tail Fin". Additionally, there is a new icon so folks can more quickly pick out pictures and areas that contain new content.

A new question has been added to my FAQ (just one).

At last! I have a Writings page! Granted, there's not much on there yet; just the first chapter of my Fox's Peter Pan-fic, Where Dreams Come True, but at least that's something. Now all I need is an RPG page to complete my "Front Page Billing" collection.

And finally... the Disclaimers page has been updated to reflect the new stuff on my pages that I do not own.

Well, I changed the background. Yeah, I've been playing around with Paint Shop again.

I added more artwork and rearranged the art gallery. I now have enough posted that I figure I can justify having separate galleries. Also, check out my Animergifs!

A FAQ has been added to answer those questions that have come pouring in since I opened my web site. Well, okay... I've been asked three questions. And one of them is, "So what was your web address again?" which doesn't count. But still... someday I might get asked something FAQ worthy!

A clumsy attempt at a Guest Book has been added. This method of contacting the Merwench has replaced the email links at the bottom of each page.

There's several added links, and I've created a link banner for those wanting to link to me.

The big update: I now have an updates page! This will become very important should someone actually decide to visit my site more than once. To accommodate the updates page, I've had to rearrange my site a little bit. The "About Me" page is no longer linked directly from the main page, and will instead fall off the "Miscellaneous" page. The "Miscellaneous" page is now a catchall, and will contain a link to my "Disclaimer", About Me, and anything else I decide isn't important enough to get "top billing" on the main page.

You may have noticed that my home page is now W3C validated for XHTML. This was harder then I expected, so now I'm celebrating by breaking my own Anti-Animation rule and doing the Merwench Happy Dance. Of course, I'm still only validating Transitional; I need to work on that Strict stuff...

You'll also find the links page rearranged a little. I'm adding a little menu at top to let you jump to the different categories, and they're no longer going to be divided based on Glitz Factor. They're still going to rated by GF, of course, but they're going to be divided based on what sort of site they lead to.