Hey all, this is gonna be a long one.

I guess I should start off by saying, I'm sorry.
What am I sorry for? Well, the sorry state that my commissions queue is in at the moment. This journal is meant to explain what's been going on in my life as well as possibly give reason to why I've been so slow. Okay so, here goes. Let's go back to December 2020 to start--

Okay, December 3, 2020. I quit my retail job and decide to take on art full-time. I knew it would be a challenge, but it wasn't anything I had quite handled before. I took 10 slots, and thankfully was able to pay for rent and comfortably afford groceries and pay my bills. However, and I am ashamed to admit this, but I was not prepared to take on such a huge project. I was used to the rigidity of the rules at my retail job, not even realizing that having people dictating what to do every day actively led me to do my work while at that job. It was a routine, one that I did not have before dropping it all and taking on a bunch of commissions to make ends meet.

Over the course of a few months, I'm struggling through my queue at a snail's pace, falling into bad habit after bad habit. I move back to my home state of California, hoping that a change of scenery and some familial support would help me get through everything. Well, things did not go as well as I would have hoped to. My roommate and I were trapped in an emotionally draining, if not abusive, situation. We were not allowed privacy in our rooms nor regular showers, for example, while also being required to pay rent for a space we were actively being told we were not welcome in.

Eventually, despite being able to pay the rent, I was forced to find a job by my relatives. This set me back greatly because they would not settle for anything but a full-time position. I ended up working security for a retailer, which I'm pretty sure has given me some form of PTSD given how many threats of violence I had to deal with on a daily basis. I was able to find a new place to live with this income, however, and opened a donation pool to help me get out of the situation as quickly as I could. I was able to get out Jan 2022. By the end of the year, I was at a new job.

I guess that brings us to the present? My new job is so much better than the last; I actually feel like I found my niche and have been so much happier overall thanks to it. I actually have energy to do stuff now! The last 7 posts were all done in a short period of time, for the most part, and signifies something amazing... I actually have energy to do ART!!

So, yeah. For those who made it this far, thank you for reading. It means the world to me that you've taken the time for it.

TL;DR-- I bit off more than I could chew, and I'm not afraid to admit that at this point. I'm sorry for all the frustration and waiting I've put people through. I will be contacting every person on my queue as I come to their commission. PLEASE be patient with me, I'm only one person. Thank you all so much. I'm sorry, love you all. You'll be seeing me be more active on this site, hopefully.

--Pix