Yes, I know. I haven't updated like I promised. In my defense, I had an AP exam to study for, and plenty of Honors and AP classes to deal with.

Well, there's also the fact that I don't feel satisfied with anything I've been making lately. I have plenty of rough drafts of layouts (messy code, etc.) but I can't seem to stop tweaking them. That normally wouldn't be a bad thing, if it weren't for the facts that I'm not pleased after countless revisions. :[

In other news, new link exchange!
Please welcome Emily of Elysium Phoenix Designs! Check out her site. It's so pretty. :]

Also, been thinking of renaming the site. I know, I know. It seems like a hassle. But, I honestly feel I've... outgrown the name Kushou. :\
Suggestions for new names would be amazing! I want something catchy and, maybe, a bit weird. c: I was thinking retrocide (the name of my domain) but I don't think it suits the site).

I know this is dragging on, but I want to add one more thing.
You guys (those of you who still visit this site) have no doubt noticed the lack of activity and updates. The truth is, I'm busier than ever, and I'm trying to maintain so much stuff at once. It takes a lot of energy to keep this site afloat, and, honestly, it's energy I find myself reluctant to part with.
I'm planning on having more updates this summer. Despite my plan to get a job this summer, I think I'll have more time to update.

If anyone wants to help in any way with the site, let me know! I always appreciate help, and necessary credits would be, of course, provided. Anything you can think of that may be useful will help, be it little ideas to improve to becoming a staff member. :D


P.S. Will be going through and pruning "dead" sites from my affiliates and link exchange list. Just e-mail me if you want to apply to be an affiliate or link exchange! As always, it is open until I feel the list(s) are getting too long. E-mail:

Yes, I know. I'm terrible when it comes to updating. It's not because I don't do anything, it's because I'm far too busy/lazy to upload.

So, I have plenty of layouts designed and coded. All that's left for me to do is go through the code and clean it up, make sure it works in both I.E. and Firefox, then go through the process of getting it up on the site. Will be done this weekend, once I finish my commissions. I swear.

I just realized that I usually update on the 16^th of whatever month I'm in at the time. Interesting. :]
I am planning on becoming more active with the site. I've been planning a giant overhaul to clean up all the files and everything that's taking up room on my lovely host's server (whom I haven't talked to in ages :[ ).

Yes, I'm back. I've finished a layout, though it's giving me problems in I.E. so I have to fix that up.

So, new layout! It works in both I.E. and Firefox, but it looks kind of wonky in I.E. Nothing too major, but I'm tired of trying to fix every little thing. My suggestion, get Firefox. It's so much more customizable than I.E.

The title of this update is one of Good Charlotte's songs. All of my recent titles have been song titles.

I'm working on getting some wallpapers and avatars created. I haven't done any of those in quite some time, so it'll be interesting to see if I remember how to go about it.

Not too many updates because I've been working on creating a donation web site for my aunt. All proceeds collected from donations go towards buying my aunt a prosthetic leg, because her insurance doesn't cover it. I miss chatting with my affiliates and what not. A lot have been dissappearing from the online world, lately. Affiliation and link exchange is open. Just e-mail me at nonvideor[at]gmail.com with your site's URL, your name, and a brief comment as to why you'd like to affiliate/link exchange. You don't have to write me an essay, and there are no explicit requirements. If I like what I see, I'll accept you. If not, we can still keep in touch. :D

I am really, really sorry for not updating in over two months. Life just managed to completely consume every ounce of enthusiasm I had for art and designing.

I'll be cheap and copy & paste from my blog:

"Don't you just love it when your week has just started, and it's already going terribly?
So far this week (as of Sunday) I have:
- Been entirely unable to produce decent art.
- Gotten my "Monthly gift."
- Realized just how much I miss my cousin (who now lives in Romania).
- Discovered my dad may get laid off of work yet again.
Since I have not had any luck with people wanting to commission me, all I really want to do now is find a job. Too bad not many companies/stores hire 15 year olds, especially in Michigan. I just want to get enough money to be able to send some to my aunt (who needs a prosthetic leg because of a serious accident that happened recently) and to start saving up for college. Does anyone know of a company in the Michigan Sterling Height area that would be willing to hire a 15 year old?"

So, I'll be posting a new layout soon. I have it almost done, just got to work out a few navigation flaws.
I'm also offering commissions. Just to reduce the amount of scrolling, click here to view the commission guidelines and information. No prices are concrete, as they depend upon the complexity of whatever you want me to do. Just e-mail me at iuliarontu@retrocide.net with your commission, or any comments or concerns. I send you an estimate or price. NOTE: Because of the financial conditions I'm currently going through, I'll accomodate any budget.

Also, on this page there is a button to donate. If you'd like to help me raise money to buy my aunt a new prosthetic leg, please donate. It would mean the world to my entire family. (More info on my aunt's condition can be found here).

Thanks for taking the patience to read through this. If you'd like to help, and can, it would mean the world to me. If you donate towards the purchase of my aunt's prosthetic leg, I'll plug you and your website on all of my sites (just leave the name you'd like me to use and your web address in the comments when donating, or e-mail me).

Last update before I go camping. :]
I've pruned though the link exchanges and removed dead links. If you've just moved your site to a new URL, let me know and I'll add you in again. So, link exchange is open. Read the terms here and either send an e-mail to nonvideor[at]gmail.com or use the form found on my other site (just click on the contact me link). I know, shame on me that I'm redirecting you to another one of my sites to fill out a contact form. I just don't have time to figure out why my old form isn't working, and I don't have time to add in a new one at the moment.

I leave to go camping in three hours and I haven't even packed! I added another layout in a really quickly. Been working on it for three days, so I hope it's worth it. You can see it here. Despite it's simple appearance, it does have a fair amount of graphics (mostly PNGs for the transparency). I'm proud of the navigation on this layout. I'll be incorporating it into the site soon at the top right. It'll basically feature links to return to the main page, bookmark the site, access the terms, etc. Hopefully it'll be useful to the few people who still browse this site.

Does anybody have an idea for what I should create for the next downloadable layout? Images, color scheme, etc would help. Been thinking of creating a portfolio type of layout that can be used by artists. I've found that if I neglect deviantART a bit and instead post my doodles at my sketchblog, I actually feel motivated to update my sites! So, that's the plan from now on.