I haven't posted a journal in quite some time. My new job and other aspects of life have kept me pretty busy. Let's change that.

I moved to western NY, which has been a vast improvement over Bumfuck PA. I moved into a new home with my dog, Connor, and  dietereign and a mutual friend of ours. The waff has been great for me in a lot of ways. He makes me go out an do things with people, but manages to do it in a way that I don't feel like I'm being forced into things. When I ask for feed back on a work in progress, he gives me useful feedback. He's awesome. Even my grumpy little pitmix has taken to him. The first person hes been affectionate towards, aside from myself, since we left Florida.

I got a new job. I now work in a hospital as a sterilization processing technician. I clean and sterilize surgical instruments to make sure they're fit for use. It's job that I don't hate. A job where the people there, for the most part, are more than simply bearable to work with. I dare say I even like some of them. As an added bonus, it actually pays an OK wage. I'm never gonna be rich working it, but at the same time, real food is no longer a "once and a while" treat. Hell, I can even afford to be the one to treat others to a meal. Something that, as someone who takes pleasure in feeding others, always bothered me.

Part of starting the new job was going through a rather erratic schedule to learn each of the nine stations, then going through certification classes. I had legitimate homework for the first time in fourteen years. It was kind of a weird feeling. But now I'm a level two certified tech, the highest that I know of being level four. I'm half way there. I'm no longer embarrassed to tell people how I make a living. It feels really good.

All that being said, I haven't had much drive in terms of getting art done. I've made a few attempts over the last few months, but they proved pretty fruitless over all. But the last few days, after much banging my head against my desk, I finally put at least a crack in the creativity dam. I'm hoping to bust it wide open, but the future will tell in that regard.

Which brings me to the topic of commissions. I'm no longer going to accept them. I know there are some I owe, and I intend to follow through on them. But once they're done, my art is going to be for me. So expect a lot more weird, slimy, tentacly, transformation stuff to be popping up in the future. I may occasionally do something with a friend as a gift, but that will be solely left to my discretion. The thought of that, drawing what is in my mind, instead of trying to suss ideas from others leaves me feeling excited to draw again.

Life is looking up. I don't feel like I'm struggling just below the surface of the waters of life anymore. I'm not riding a yacht, but I'm not drowning anymore.