This is one of those "I'm not dead - yet" updates, so feel free to ignore.

So, I pretty much fell off the (thing) last month: no art, not much conversation, a whole lot of nothing. If you follow my tweeter or discord, you know I was having some dental issues and then there was MFM (yes, I went to a con during a pandemic - more further down).

So dental stuff: so, I had this cavity in the side of my tooth for a while. (And when I say a while, I mean about 20 years as I first noticed it after my braces came off.) And while I have tried pointing it out to dentists in the past, it was on the side of the tooth, so it didn't show on x-rays and it was the rear most top molar with the cavity facing the cheek, so hard to find under the best of situations and the dentists just weren't seeing was I was feeling when I rubbed my tongue across the tooth. So for the past year or so, I've been taking tylenol in the morning to help manage general pain. Unfortunately, early August the pain just got to be too much - like wake you up in the middle of the night too much - so I called in to work one day, called six different dental offices until I found a dentist that could see me that morning and took my face in to get fixed. So, after spending a few hours waiting in my car (waiting room was full) and finally getting in the Dentist, started having the same problem - doesn't show on x-rays, not seeing it on first glance. However, when I tell him exactly where to look, he takes one look and says "Your need a root canal - let me refer you to someone that does it", got prescribed some painkillers and some antibiotics. Well, given that the antibiotics really helped with the pain, it's no big surprise to figure out I may have had a little bit of an infection in the tooth (understatement here is heavy). And while I did schedule an appointment for a root canal, the first available appointment was three weeks on the last day of the month (also two days before MFM - so tying this all together). So, while I really didn't want to have my very first root canal (mainly because it's something I've been dreading given my dental history and dental anatomy - seriously, I cried and called my sister: I was very upset) I was reeeeeeally looking forward to it. The actual root canal is probably the most pleasant dental experience I've ever had - but damn was it expensive. But I can't really begrudge them as I have special teeth and they did a really good job and I am just so relieved to not be in constant pain all the time. I do need to schedule an appoint for a crown, though.

Then there was MFM: MFM is a pretty small, laid back con. Has been for a while now. The Con had to happen, or it was going to have to fold - the State of Mississippi was not going to issue a lock down this year despite current surge of Covid cases and that meant the contract with the Hotel was not going to allow the con to post-pone another year. Typical registration numbers are around 500- give or take. Masks were mandatory. Tim and I are both full vaxxed. And physical attendance was noticeably down this year. (It was a personal decision, we weighed the factors, took personal precautions and so did the con, and we made our decision to attend. There were a lot of folks that didn't attend because either they or a loved one are particularly susceptible to the virus or other reasons and they made the right decision(s) for themselves.) They did a few things differently to discourage unnecessary clumping of guests: electronic registration line, online charity auction, etc. I rather liked the concept of the electronic registration line - it could have been implemented better but it was a good idea and with a few logistical tweaks it would be a model other cons might benefit from. I also enjoyed the online auction - it was a lot less stressful for me as a participant and gave me time to look at the items and decide what I wanted to bid on. Do I wish they'd posted items as they came in? Yes. But I was really excited about the online auction and I kinda hope they do it again (though, the folks running it were discussing how they prefer the live auction, but I do hope they do the online auction or a hybrid/combo online/live one in the future). I did not run the artshow this year - which was the result of a number and factors, and spent most of my time in the gaming room. So, I got to spend some time with friends I don't really get to see save maybe this one time a year. It was nice. It was relaxing. I needed a day off after to recover.

So yeah, things have been happening with me. I have been back at the art, starting earlier this week, so after more than a month's hiatus I'm trying to work through my project queue again. I'm still a flake and still have other things I'm dealing with, but I'm feeling well enough and have time and energy to pour back into arting so I'm doing the thing. If you're on my discord, you've seen me posting WIPs again. ^_^ Thank you for sticking with me and being patient.

As always: thank you for reading this and you're awesome!