Things I Did This Week

1. Ate fish sticks! I've never had fish before in my life. Seriously. XD

2. Started unloading trucks at Walmart. It's kinda fun. :D

3. Learned how to speedpaint from watching a very good tutorial.

4. Ran out of money from Target and tax returns.

5. Got my first Walmart paycheck to replenish that money.

6. Made chicken marinated in whiskey. It had lots of flavor.

7. Took nice portraits of Tim.

8. Tried Nutella. Not as tasty as everyone thinks it is, in my opinion.

9. Started eating bagels with peanut butter instead of plain.

10. Pulled super heavy pallets ALL OVER WALMART.

11. Made a meal schedule to incorporate more variety and healthiness into my diet and Tim's.

12. Spent minimal time on Facebook and maximum time being productive.

I guess this is a spring for getting in shape, getting healthier, and lots of food. :P

Art Features

I just found a whole ton of super crazy awesome art, and I want to share it, so here's a list of arts. :D Be sure to check out the artists' sites for the rest of the photos in the series.

Book Carvings by Guy Laramee

That's a bunch of books that have had the pages carved. 

See More -> 

Flower X-Rays by Brendan Fitzpatrick

See More ->

Finger-painted Charcoal Mural by Judith Braun

See More -> 

Ink in Water Photos by Alberto Seveso

See More -> 

Pinned Skin Collages by David Adley

All the pieces of paper used are cut from magazine photos of people and pinned to form a collage.

See More -> 

Daily Art - Closed Doors

An abandoned building at the baseball field across the street from my house.

Daily Art - Field Painting

Daily Art - Famine

Skyrim Love and Hate

I like lists, so let's take a moment to list some very good and very bad features of Skyrim.

Things I Love About Skyrim

1. The world.

I think Bethesda did a really great job building the landscape and scenery of Skyrim. It's not as sparse as previous games, and it's very uneven and mountainous.

2. The people.

The people look pretty great. I'm not super fond of the altmer, but otherwise, I think they did a great job - especially with the khajiit.

3. The Morrowind references.

My God, I'm so thrilled about all the Morrowind references. All the subtle references to things like Gnisis and House Telvanni, the mention of Red Mountain, and the things like draugr and werewolves that carried over from Bloodmoon.

4. Dual wielding.

The best. I kind-of-sort-of do it in Morrowind with a mod, but my off-hand sword just works like a shield, so not really. I love that I can use two weapons.

5. Chickens.

The farm animals in general. I was happy with the sheep in Oblivion, and I'm very happy that there are adorable little chickens and cows sitting around in towns.

6. Dragons.

I love how the dragons look. My only complaint is that I can't ride one, and I'm sure there is/will be a mod for that.

7. Smithing.

Why didn't they do this sooner? This is wonderful!

8. The soundtrack.

Best music so far compared to the other games. I'm also really happy about some of the Morrowind music being recycled. 

Things I Hate About Skyrim

1. It's glitchy as hell.

My graphics break all the time. There are tons of little bugs and things that break that they really should have caught before release.

2. The skill revamp.

No attributes? No birthsign? No more acrobatics and athletics? This is not okay. I miss the old skills.

3. Lydia.

She's always in my room eating my sweetrolls! Get out! >:O

4. Nighteye.

I liked it in previous games. I don't like it in this at all. It makes vision worse, not better.

5. The menu.

What is this mess? It's easier to use the keyboard arrows, and even then, it's a big pain to sort through lists instead of seeing a nice table or having a scroll bar. 

6. Buttons.

I don't understand why R is used for somethings, E for others, and F as a reject action button. I miss the days of Morrowind where space did everything. I also don't like that I can equip things while trying to put them in a chest. I'm in chest store mode, not inventory mode. That shouldn't be an option in my opinion. It seems like they couldn't decide which controls to use half the time. 

7. The alchemy downgrade.

I want my fourth item, damn it. 

8. One ring.

Two was most certainly not too many. I would like to wear one on each hand, please. 

Things I'm Mixed On

1. The cities.

Solitude is the best thing ever, but why the hell is Morthal even a city? It's, like, the same size as Riverwood. Some of the cities just really should have been bigger, being as important as they are.

2. Marriage.

Sure, there are benefits, but it's sort of obnoxious having a guy in my house telling me to make myself at home and to let him know if he can be of any assistance. Also, someone really needs to get on making khajiit and bosmer marriable. I'm forcing bestiality on my poor dunmer husband.

3. Cooking 

I love that we can cook, but I'd love even more if the food items were also alchemy items. If I want to mix sweetrolls and daedra hearts, that's my business.

4. Kill cams.

Meh...? They're cool, but I generally don't like things that break the flow of the game like that. I'm iffy on them.

5. Equippable magic.

Seems like a step backwards to Morrowind from Oblivion. Morrowind required your hands to be in casting mode, and in Oblivion, they eliminated that by simply having a cast button, so you could use magic while using your sword and shield. I hate that I have to have magic on one of my hands instead of just casting it. Sure, you can cast with some things, but why not all? It seems kind of weird.

6. Nirnroot.

I like that it respawns, but it's really not supposed to, so I wonder if that was even intentional? If it is, doesn't that defeat the purpose of it being super rare and all that? 

Daily Art - Lelouch Trace

I traced a screenshot from Code Geass in an attempt to study all the layers of shading and how everything is put together. I learned that it's way more than it looks like. :P

Daily Art - "Sinew"

Daily Art - "Cloud Arcs"

Daily Art - "The Violet Hourglass"

Daily Art - "Dream Coil"

A New Job

Yesterday, I went to my orientation for my new job at Walmart. I'm going to be unloading trucks and stuff. I look forward to getting some extra money in my bank account.

I'm also dedicating a lot more time to important things and not as much to things like Skyrim. I love you, Skyrim, but you don't earn me real life money and vegetables. I have some more jewelry to make and lots of photographs to take. The weather is great right now, and I'd really like to get more in shape for once in my life. I'm even going to spend money on real shoes and start walking and running. Lifting 50 pound boxes at work will help build more muscle, and that's always nice, too.

I've just really got a lot of stuff I need to be doing and better time management will help get that stuff done. 

Seasonal Depression

There's a specific kind of depression known as SAD, or Seasonal Affected Disorder. Basically, certain seasons make you unreasonably sad, and it passes when the season passes. Usually it's winter. Anyway, I've never had it. I love the fall and spring for the colors and temperatures, the summer for the time outdoors, and the winter for the snow. All year round is great in my area, as far as I can see.

This year, though, winter just really got to me. We had temperatures that fluctuated on a weekly basis between 20 and 55 degrees, and any snow we got (which was not enough) was gone the next day. I've very much been ready for spring to come so I can at least have fun doing things outside.

Yesterday, I was pretty sure I wasn't feeling up to doing stuff, but I'd already made the commitment and had nothing better to do, so I was willing to go out. I went out onto the porch to see what kind of jacket I needed to wear. It was a wonderful 73 degrees outside. I ended up leaving my hoodie in the car because I was starting to get too hot. It was the best damn thing ever.

My bedroom window was open all night and my room is still warm. I can do things outside without my fingers going numb from the cold and the joints aching, and I can get ready for starting my veggie garden. Most importantly, it's about time I get back to doing things. I've been neglecting massive amounts of stuff, and that needs to stop. I have art to make and things to write. 

Neglect

A lot of my things are getting neglected lately. My DeviantART inbox is all sorts of overflowing, and my email still has messages from November that are untouched. My room is a little messier than normal, and now there's a broken microwave on my floor taking up space. I got halfway through dismantling the thing for parts and got tired of it.

I'm sort of living in this big sea of clutter. If Tim didn't live with me, I might just build a nest on my bed and spend all day there. I've been known to hoard things like that. I'd clean stuff, but I just haven't had the energy lately. I'm constantly tired or busy being really sad about doing things.

I know I really, really should be doing things. I have a big long to-do list and grandiose visions of me getting stuff done. All I'm actually doing is playing some Skyrim, eating, and watching '90s fantasy shows while telling myself and Tim that tomorrow is the day stuff really needs to get done.

It's all very sad and pathetic.