Obligatory birthday journal, I guess. It's odd, I used to get kind of fired up about my birthday, but this year feels different. Maybe because I'm moving up in age, or a lot of the things that I loved growing is practically 35+ years old now, I don't know. I guess the only real thing I can say about this one is I'm happy I've made it this far without too much complication in life, guess I just gotta keep going.

Another year older today it seems. As I take time to reflect on what 2020 was like for me, I'd personally say it wasn't so bad, especially being as introverted as I've become over the years. I'm happy to say that I'll be debt free next month, so this it's an exciting time for me. Maybe it's time to return to my artwork.

So once again I have dinged in this wretched game we call life, only this time, I hit the 40 year landmark. It's strange getting older, must of things I loved and/or grew up with are now 30+ years in age. It's even stranger to think that 20 years ago, I was only 20. Well, I made it this far, only thing to do is to keep moving forward. What will the road to 50 bring? Who can say, but I hope to make the journey with my good friends and family. Have a good day everyone.

Today I'm 39 and I've come to realize how quickly time seems to be going the older I get. A lot of the things that I loved, or remember having are starting to be become 30+ years old. For example, this year Nintendo's Game Boy became 30 years old. I still I have my old battery eater, in fact, I was one of the first kids in my school to ever own one. I got it for my birthday 30 years ago and brought it to school to show it off to everyone. (I also remember being escorted by a teacher because they were afraid someone might steal it). I'm getting old, dammit!

The funny thing though is that I don't even look my age. I don't look it, I don't feel it, I sure as hell don't act like it. The other day, I had to prove to a former coworker that I was becoming the age I was by showing them my driver's license. While I feel good about that, at the same time, it kind of worries me. I'd like to live a full life, but I really don't want to live an exceptionally long time, not with the way things are going in the world.

That all being said, thank you for my close friends who continue to stick by me all these years. Time to make that trek to 40.

So many may (or not) have noticed that I've grown rather quiet as of late. It's been a long time since I've done anything new and this attributes to a few reasons.

First and foremost, I work a full time job in a leadership role for a chain company. It's often very challenging and very stressful especially as of late. More often than I care to admit, I come home burnt out not really wanting to much of anything so I waste my evenings on the computer. Trying to break from this repetitive cycle proves to be a bit of a challenge as it's really hard to get motivated to do anything day after day of dealing with a world of stress.

Secondly, I'm a very low tech kind of artist, in which I produce all my work traditionally and transfer them via an old scanner that barely works anymore and when it does, I can only produce works in black and white, or color them via computer program. This also adds a lot to the time consumption that I just do not want to deal with if I'm lucky enough to have it. I don't have a tablet, I've never felt the need to get one.

Third and lastly, I've been falling prey to brief spells of depression, probably most likely brought on by the stressful nature of my job. When they hit, I don't feel like I'm worth anything. I don't feel I matter to anybody. I don't feel anything I do, or have done has had any meaningful impact. Some may have caught me in these moments and if I've lashed out to any of you, then I apologize.

I don't like to think I've given up on doing new works, but with my current lifestyle, it's just the way it is, very difficult. In time, I'd like to break this monotony, but until then, any updates from me are going to be very few and far between.

So rain continues to fall in the area and now a lot of towns and areas around where I live are beginning to flood. Tried getting to work today, but the bridges leading into where I needed to go were all closed off and later on in the day, the store I work at was shut down due to evacuations in the town. I'm not in any immediate danger but unless the rain slows down, the lake next door could swell and potentially become a problem.

For those that may not know, I live near the bay area of SE Texas a little north of Houston. This weekend the coast was hit by Hurricane Harvey and the city of Houston has suffered severe storms and steadily rising flood waters that has put a lot of the roadways underwater. As of right now, I'm safe and okay, though the rain has been a constant downpour since last evening and it doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon so I will not be taking to the roads. Hopefully, I will not lose power either, but as it stands I'm alright for time being.

Just reached that magical age of 37 today. I continue to impress myself by beating my personal best at the number of consecutive years I've been alive. Wait a minute, what's so magical about 37 anyway? It doesn't feel any different than 36, 35, or...really any number down til about mid 20's to me anyway. I don't look it, I feel it, I sure as hell don't act like it. You know what? I'm happy, I'm healthy, it is what it is, that's all I can really ask for.

That being said, here's Rarity shredding on a two string guitar. RANDOMNESS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTI1MUKKK00

Details here! Put me to work!

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6420849/

So I decided to get myself back on a drawing track by doing something a little different. Similar to tumblr questions asked to other artists' characters, I decided to let anyone interested in asking a question to any of my key characters (that I also call the Ethleram) to ask away! For those not familiar with my Ethleram characters, here's a few links to each one of them:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/451893/ Calindra
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/451875/ Sydonia
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/450520/ Valtrinity
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/450324/ Altria
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14587/ Sivaras
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15067/ Kilana

You may ask any question to any one, or any number of them, but please one question at a time. I'll try to be as prompt as I can in having them answer. As I don't really have a tumblr account, or anything, to ask a question, simply respond to this journal, send me a note, or you can reach me at my email address: AnsLOD[at]yahoo.com Unless you wish to keep your identity hidden, I will be posting who asked the question as well.

Eventually, I'd like to do the same with my WTTF characters, but I want to see how well this goes over. And go.