Lately I've not been able to do much due to my health issues, so I've been playing games quite a bit. I have Dead Island, Minecraft 360, Gears of War, Shoot Many Robots, Halo 3 (no DLC, sadly) and 4 (as well as multiplayer from Halo Reach due to Halo: Anniversary), Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Serious Sam TFE and TSE. If you're interested in playing and have a Gold account, my gamertag is JamesDarkglint.

Just please be sure to comment here so I know where you got my tag. :)

My last journal was really tactless and I have to apologize. My life hasn't been easy lately, there's been an excess of stress and anger and I used the opportunity to vent. My opinion on the matter hasn't changed, but I should know better than to lash out like that, and I'm sincerely sorry.

I do not care about leaving, not leaving, or any of the bull**** dramatic crap has been going on here lately. If you take issue with this, I have to ask. Do you have nothing better to do? Grow up.

Hey folks. I know I haven't been the most active here, and this is more for people who know me on Skype or other such things... My dog Bear passed away unexpectedly last night, after battling a really bad infection for the last few days. The vets said that he would pull through, so none of us were prepared for this. It's hit me in particular because I was especially close to him, he'd sleep in my bed, he'd only take his pills from me, things like that. So, I'm sorry if I'm not all that cheerful or outgoing for a bit.

Well, time to face it, I'm in a writing slump. I haven't touched my novel in a couple of months, my pet projects are collecting dust, and I have two trades that have lost steam. I think I need small projects, something to rekindle my flame.

So here's the thing: I want to ask for suggestions. I only ask that you follow three rules:

1) Macro/micro only, preferably micro interactions with normal sized folk.
2) No destructive or violent themes.
3) No personal requests, no "My character doing this." sort of things. This isn't a request slot.

If I like your idea I may ask for input on it, as I'd hate for it to go in a direction the original idea's owner doesn't like. I know how it feels when someone takes something you like and twists it into something you don't like.

So  pixiefyre has shown me things that have made my jaw drop, and she needs money. So I'm gonna show you some of her stuff and you can see for yourself. At least spread the word if you don't and/or can't commission, please!

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11658200/

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11869104/

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11405158/

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s0odafoyl.....is%20magic.jpg

Prices:
Sketches 5$ and up depending on detail
Add. Characters are 3$
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11413824/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11413784/

Colored Sketches 10$ and up
Add. Characters are 7$
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11413280/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11787518/

Flat Color with Clean Lines 15$ and up
Add. Characters are 10$
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11405205/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11834917/

Shaded Color with Minimal BG 25$ and up
Add. Characters are 15$
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11405158/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11721025/

Shading with Full BG 50$ and up
Additional characters are 20$
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11647060/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11658200/

Do yourself a favor next time you’re out of the city; go outside and close your eyes, just for a moment, and let yourself go. Find yourself drifting in the currents of the world, pulled along by a breeze, a thought, a melody, a scent, perhaps even a soft touch. For once, the sunlight on your skin is almost tangible, or the rain on follows a slight shiver of anticipation along your skin. You know that the air filling your lungs is the same that has been passed along an untold number of times by anything and everything. Feel connected to life itself for once. For that moment, there are no schedules, no deadlines, no concerns, no obligations or worries. For once in this insane world, just be, and feel how precious that is.

Side note: Yes, it was kind of corny, but after two death affecting people close to me, one being a suicide, I figure it can't hurt to try and remind people that just being alive is something worth living for.

What the hell is up with people disabling access to their page? Here's an idea: if someone is troubling you BLOCK THEM. It is very annoying when I want to see what else someone has to offer by way of their gallery and I get that stupid freaking error message! What is the point being on a site like this if you don't want anyone to see your userpage? It's absolutely ridiculous!

That story bit I uploaded was for my other account, here: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/11763726/

I recently met a young artist whose talents keep impressing me, so I thought she deserved some promotion.  pixiefyre is a fantastic artist, not only in sketches and full color pieces, but I've seen her baked goods and charms, and I wouldn't be surprised if she has more tricks up her sleeves. Please check her out, give her a watch, maybe even throw some money at her if you want her to do a piece for you!

Hey, for the last few weeks the websites I frequent have been getting filled with ads. Ads imbedded in text, others at the top, side and bottom of the screen, still others would pop up when I'd hover my mouse over a thumbnail image. It took me a while, but I traced it to an add-on called Youtube HD plus. If you have this add-on, whether or not you installed it (because I sure didn't and it was there anyway), get rid of it. It's nothing but adware.

So I spent my night in a dwelling on their version of earth, woke up reciting a carefully prepared scout report, dealt with (read: ran from) an invading monster, and generally got the message that if I don't get it out on paper, it'll find other ways... Yeah, I'm tired right now.

I need to raise money to have my novel printed and such. How does Kickstarter work?

First of all, Benny the ant got uppity and wanted his own page, you can find him here:  bennybug Trouble is, I have one picture of him, that's it. I would really, really appreciate a few more of Benny. If you'd be so kind, this is what he looks like: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11567843/

I'd really appreciate a few pictures of him interacting with bigger folks. :3

Second of all, that page has a kiriban cycle, on which I will give away a short story with your character and Benny!

Thirdly, I will give a short story about their character in a macro/micro situation to the one who snaps a pic of my 10,000th view on this page. Good luck! <3

Moved to his account!  bennybug

Sorry about that! Follow his misadventures there :3

I made an alternate account for a character I love. Trouble is, I have one picture of him, that's it. I would really, really appreciate a few more of Benny. If you'd be so kind, this is what he looks like: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11567843/

I'd really appreciate a few pictures of him interacting with bigger folks. :3

Hit me up on skype, I don't bite, promise. :3

I'm still alive, I'm just not in the best of moods.

If you want to talk to me on messenger, that's fine. I'm not opposed to rp here and there, but there is one thing that bothers me in rp, aside from strictly sexual things.

If you are not a close friend of mine, do not, and I mean DO NOT randomly pick James up. It's one of the most discourteous things you can do to a micro and it is one of the quickest ways to tick me off.

Some other things to note about micros: Ask permission if you wish to pick them up, be gentle if you do. Do not loom over them, it is very scary for them. Talk quietly, do not shout. As a general rule, do not show them your soles or teeth unless they trust you to do so. Imagine yourself in their place, it's frightening to meet new people when they could easily kill you without effort, or by accident. I cannot stress this enough: gentle and careful are the keys.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pe.....-2013/LMzMVrQF

Apparently not. Spread the word, sign if you can, do whatever. BS laws like this need to be stopped.

I said I was unable to take any new commissions on, this is still true. I'm not in the best state to write, even my personal projects have been severely slowed due to illness and depression from it. I try to finish the one I have outstanding occasionally but when I read what I've written the next day it just looks like crap and gets tossed. That is still a priority, as well as my novel, but this is about something else.

I know a few people have been wanting to ask me to write something, and I am definitely willing to listen to your ideas. This is not a guarantee, by any means, but if I find myself in a rut I may use ideas people have requested to try and work past my block. So please don't be scared to ask, but don't abuse the privilege, because if you do I won't allow you to request or commission from me in the future.

Lately I've been playing Dark Souls in my down time again, it's medieval-ish so it's giving me a bit of inspiration for the combat aspects of my novel. For those of you who don't know, Dark Souls has a feature where you can invade other characters worlds, either cooperatively or to hunt them down. Well, one invaded mine and I thought he was going to kill me, but this is where it gets weird.

Instead of attacking me right away, he warned me of some enemies, showed me how to defeat one, then warned me when he was about to attack. When I'd very nearly killed him he knelt in submission, and when I didn't finish him off, and I tried to kill a tough enemy nearby, he sacrificed himself to save me as it was about to kill me!

I wish I knew his name because I would like to repay the favor, but I was looking away when the invasion notice came through. Never thought a Dark Souls player would be cool like that. I was actually so stunned that I ended up being killed anyway. *That* is how you behave online, aside from the sacrificing yourself. It's easy to forget that your opponent is a person, not just something you have to beat. If you behave honorably, chances are they'll respect you enough to help you someday.

EDIT: He could have wiped the floor with me, he was a pyromancer. He didn't use any magic during the fight, but I know he still had spells, he tossed one at the boar I was trying to kill after the fight.

Someday soon I'm going to pick an excerpt from my project and share it here, give you a taste of what I've been working on. I'm very excited about the world that's starting to form, it has more potential than anything I've ever dreamed up before. Stay tuned, and I really hope you like what I share!

For those of you who don't know my situation, here it is in a nutshell; I've had abdominal pain for over two years. It was very dull at first, and I believed that since I bent over a lot at work, most days almost the entire time I was there, that it was just muscle pains. However, as time went on, and the pain got worse, it started to affect other things. Nausea came first, then severe pain after eating certain foods. It has progressed to the point that I eat one meal a day if that, and I'm constantly throwing up in my mouth. Attractive, isn't it? >.>

Anyway, this update is to say that I've been to the best hospital in the state, and it turns out they're nothing more than very expensive idiots. The first thing the doctor, let's call her Dr. Moron, did was take me off the combination of non-narcotic pain killers that had been managing my pain fairly well. Then she prescribed Prilosec, because she believes I have ulcers. See, the trouble with that is that one of the first tests I had done was an endoscopy to check for them, and it came up empty. Nothing revealed on the visual exam, nor the biopsies.

The reason she justifies this is she says the pills I took for a while could cause them. Did I mention this will take a month to month and a half until I can get my test done and go back? Well now I have. Meanwhile, I've started having worse symptoms that I really don't want to go into. I'm scared, yes, but more than that I'm angry. If this is the highest standard of care in the state, I'd be scared to find out what the best in the country is like.

An old friend of mine has had a disaster in her house, and needs money in a bad way. She's accepting commissions due to this, so please give her a look. She's talented, and worth the time and money.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4830905/