It's almost that time again. Honestly, though...I've noticed lately that I've been having a lot of trouble figuring out what I want to get or do on my birthday. I mean, there ARE things I want, but I usually have the means to get them, or I can do without them. It's not like when we were kids, and Christmas rolled around, luring us with all the shiny new toys and games we craved. Even back then, I wasn't really one of those kids that demanded stuff from their parents or got fussy if I didn't get something I really wanted. I dunno...

But in any case, for those that care, I figured I'd give a heads up if you wanted to give some well wishes and whatnot. Maybe you folks could give me some ideas for something to want, so my roommate doesn't feel too guilty about not getting me anything this year. X3

I was making a passing comment to my buddy today, jokingly referring to a character from a video game as "Red Shirt Kenny", and........now I'm struggling to remember/find the name of that "iconic" red shirt officer from the original Star Trek series that everyone "knows". Ya know, the one that almost everyone made/makes jokes about as the first red shirt to get killed on screen. (or so I thought)

fml

If ANYONE knows, or can direct me to the resources to find this information, PLEASE let me know.
....damn shit is gonna make it impossible to focus until I find out or forget. >x<




(edit: I think it was Ensign O'Herlihy that I was thinking of. Also, interesting to learn that he not only wasn't the first, but that I learned a few things about the show in general/)

There are still a few things I'm working on coloring and such before posting, but the majority of my available backlog has been uploaded. Now I can rest easier for a while, until new stuff comes in, or old stuff comes back to me. I've gotta say, it's been nice to unwind lately and actually start getting things done. I'll probably end up writing some more this week, since I have at least the time for it. Mostly, if I do, it'll either be things I owe or things I wanna do. I think that- no, I know that I took on a bit more than I was prepared for at the time, especially with life randomly taking a sharp turn on me... Now that I don't have to worry about work for a while, I can really focus on doing things the way I want to and getting shit done, whether it's for fun or meager profit. All in all, though, if I write, it'll only be for fun. That, of course, means I'm going to be selective in the commissions I may take on in the future. If I can't get a proper feel for the characters, the theme, or the content featured, I can't write it well... I do still want to try and expand upon what I can do, though, and inch out of my comfort zone when I can, but......well, anyways, yeah, it's all been said just now.

SO, with that out of the way, I bid welcome to the new month with open arms and eager anticipation!

Thank you all for supporting me, both personally and in my endeavors! I love you all!

Not much to report, sadly, but there are a few things I wanted to tell my friends and those whom take interest in things involving me. If you are neither, that's cool, too. Anyways, here's updates for everybody:

1. No longer have that tooth/bone fragment plaguing my gums. SO thankful for that, at least.
2. Foot, however, is more problematic. I'm certain now that it's fractured and needs medical attention; something I SHOULD have taken care of, weeks ago, but neglected to do so because of not wanting to burden my coworkers and also needing the most out of each paycheck. Still trying to see if I can file a proper claim on it, or goddess help me, this is probably gonna undo all that I've saved up for.
3. NEW COMPUTER! I'm still getting used to the setup with it, both the interface and comfortable seating arrangements, but...I like having a computer that can competently run ESO and stuff now.
4. Got a new headset, and hopefully I'll actually have Discord set up this week, which means I'll be able to chat more conveniently and more frequently with my buddies that have it, and just being able to chat with everyone I can in general.
5. Still rather busy and scatterbrained, what with all that's been happening at work and home, so uploads and new stories will still be delayed a bit longer. It annoys and stresses me so badly, having to push these things back like this, because I just wanna get back into a proper groove again and create, as well as post the lovely gifts others have gotten me. Lately, I feel undeserving of the friends I have and the kindness they show me, especially when I can't keep in touch with most of ya like I'd like to, or especially when I want to just shower you guys and gals with gifts and kindness, too. Burd, fenk, ratface, jackalbutt, catfox, all you meeces, buttmokey. potato; all you guys and more, for sure.

Anywho, uh...I suppose that's all, for now. Despite my problems, I'd like to think things are slowly picking up, at least. It's still kinda a mess, though. I miss you all, too.

This month has been bad.
Smashed my foot. Probably fractured. Hurts like hell.
Bone protruding from my gums. Don't know what the hell is up with it. Hurts like hell.
Cut my tongue near the front. Don't know how I did it. Hurts like hell.
Overworked at work lately, despite still "recovering". Busy and achy as hell.
Here's to you, tonight, St. Drunky. Buzzed as hell.

So, recently, I ended up having something dropped onto the side of my foot. It was pretty swollen on night one, but thankfully, it's not as bloated or sore today. Still hurts, though. I can only hope nothing is broken...
To add to this, a fee days prior, I've been dealing with a sore and swollen spot on my gums, behind where my wisdom teeth were. I hadn't thought much of it at the time other than it was a unique, unusual pain. The swelling mostly went down back there today, as well, but...something very strange has me scared. I feel a firm, almost sharp protrusion, and I don't know what it means. I haven't gotten anything stuck in my gums or anything (and even so, it's a nearly impossible spot for a chip fragment or something to get lodged), and even though I don't brush my teeth and such twice daily, I still try to keep everything scrubbed and taken care of.

So...what could it be? And why is life throwing this crap at me this week?

...so I can get all my friends and the nice people I know so many gifts,
and so I can not worry about working so I can spend more time with them all,
and so I don't have to constantly stress about keeping a roof over my head,
and also so I don't have to feel the guilt of relying on others as much (though I do appreciate it, guys...)

Money, time, and energy are still limited on my end of things, and I'm sorry to all my friends and fans(?) that I have, once again, gone off the radar, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm doing better than before, and I hope to have my usual schedule of things organized and implemented soon. This does, of course, include writing, colorings, uploads, and generally being sociable and stuff. Regarding my writing, I think I'm always going to have trouble maintaining consistency with it, given all that goes on here at home and work, and the constant hassle of keeping myself focused, but I really want to strive to do more...and even go back and revise some of the stuff I've already written.
That being said, one of the things that has kept me from continuing VotF is the fact that there was more development that went on between Claude and Gene than I've presented, and I feel that others (if any really read it) won't see Gene as "enough" of a character to care about, at least as much as Claude did. Basically, it felt to me like I inadvertently rushed the story pace and glazed over something that was rather important at its core. I don't feel right letting it go as is, but I also don't want to just shove content between the chapters, either. I'm not sure what I'd want to do, or what is the best option for my dilemma, though. Worst case scenario, I'd have to rewrite the whole thing, and frankly, I'm not looking forward to that possibility.

Regarding new content, I'm having trouble choosing a single idea and sticking with it, because I want to do them all, and each one is, to me, kind of a big project to undertake. They're not ones I can easily do on my own, if at all. I'd really love if I could find people that would want to be part of a writing team, too, but then the issue of scheduling comes into play. Agh, I dunno... Maybe I'm overly stressing about this...

As for past owed/promised works, I am still whittling them down a little at a time. Most of my time, though, has been spent on work and recovery from work. This new job, though not the worst I've dealt with, can be very strenuous, both physically and mentally. I'm slowly getting adjusted to it, though...so hopefully that means I'll have more drive to write when I have time off.

Geez, I kinda feel a bit down now after writing this. Not what I was intending... Still, I wanted to put something out here, even if it's kinda the same as before. The past few months have been really crappy, save for a few heartwarming and fun moments, but it won't be that way forever. Past experiences taught me that. Anyways, I'll have some fun things to upload soon, and hopefully happier updates.

Oh, and if I don't get a chance to tell you all in time, I wanna wish all you lovelies a happy Valentine's Day. Skunkie hugs and nose boops for you all!

Just a quick holiday greeting to everyone, as I'm still very busy and trying to figure out solutions to a few unfortunate situations in my life. Uploads and replies will have to wait a bit longer, sadly, until I can get this taken care of, but I WILL get back to you folks soon. In the meantime, be safe, be loved, and have a merry Skunkmas.

I want a drawing of my skunk and that cute, awesome bird dog! *fangasm flails*
Such a cool looking game~ If I could have one gift for Christmas this year, it'd be a PS4, so I could play and enjoy this game on my own. So far as I've seen, though, it's been well worth the wait, and I want it so badly. >x<

...I honestly don't know why I'm still feeling like this, even after all this time.
Only recently have I started coming around, but these past few days were kind of a relapse. I hate that feeling, but I also hate suddenly going silent on a lot of you. I don't mean for it to happen, and I don't mean to seem like I'm ignoring you all. It's been tough clearing my head and clearing my "plate", so to speak, but...I'm trying. At this point, I'm probably rambling, so I'm sorry for that. I just kinda needed to get this out.

I'm coming around, though. Honest.
Thank you for your support, especially those that have kept in touch with me up until recently (when I went AWOL). I really appreciate everything you all do and have done.

Things just seem to keep getting worse for me this week. My willpower has almost completely drained away, little by little, with all that has happened. It's not even the things that happened to me, personally... I try to stay strong for my friends and loved ones, but when it feels like there's nothing I can do to make even my closest ones smile, it... I dunno. And to make matters worse, I was just given more terrible news today.

Rest assured, this isn't anything about committing suicide, because I will never go down that road...and I'll be alright, eventually. I just figured that, in case anyone was wondering why I've been so quiet, that I should express at least a few of my thoughts and feelings here. I hate doing that, though. The last thing I wanna do is spread my problems to others or bring down someone's mood, but I just... I'm not doing so hot, folks. Not by a long shot.

I'm gonna hold off on most of my future commission plans until things get better, but current commission projects will be paid for and seen to (provided they haven't already been paid for, etc). So if I've talked to you about doing joint commissions at some point, please send me a note so we can discuss postponement and the reasons for them. As for stories, well...I'm still working on a few things, but right now, my heart's not in it to write at the moment, so I'm gonna take a break from that for the same reasons as above, but I won't be completely halting writing progress.

Anyways, um...I'm sorry, folks.

https://youtu.be/2CkAiqeWejE
Regarding election, and a lot of things, really...

https://www.gofundme.com/2s8j3avk

 konekowarrior, an old friend of mine, needs help moving out of the country. If you're able to pitch in even a little, or help spread the word, it'd be greatly appreciated. Please check out their GoFundMe if you can. Anything helps at this point.

...is pretty much this.

Uploads, Leafbiting, Return to Lordran, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, writing again... Things are kinda turning around this month, with the exception of work stiffing me on hours. As such, I'm open to answering any questions you folks may have for me, or even listening to some suggestions for future art and stuff of my characters. Short journal, I know, but I felt like putting something up here tonight in the hopes of hearing from you lovely people.

It's one of those things that irritates the hell out of me. Either they're trying to market something to me, or tell me that something is overdue, or even calling for survey stuff, but I never know because they never say. Often times, I can't pick up the phone as soon as I get a call, and I'm ALWAYS wary about calls from numbers I'm unfamiliar with (mostly because of the excess in survey-related calls I've gotten over the years, even after opting out). As such, I have a brief, to-the-point voicemail message.

"Leave a message, or I can't/won't return your call."

Even before I started doing that, most of the time, these companies or whatever refused to leave messages. Or rather, whenever they actually DID, it was often the ass-end of a pre-recorded message that gave me nothing to go off of.

When did the world become so impersonal and automated, especially regarding businesses? Rewind it all until we get back to the days where we can talk to actual people about our problems, and preferably not in broken English. I swear, that's the other thing that irritates me, too. I'm not a racist person or anything, but it always bugged me that whenever I've had to deal with LOCAL companies over the phone, it's almost always been someone NOT local that I end up talking to. And despite my best efforts to make communication mutually concise, it's usually a problem on their end of the call that makes me have to ask them to repeat themselves and, in turn, makes me look like the fool.

But I digress... 737, 918, 480, 281, 385- I'm nowhere near ANY of these codes, nor is anything I usually deal with. At least, nothing that I know of, because they DON'T LEAVE A FUCKING MESSAGE! >x<

So my buddy  raaru got me into playing this game, and even though I'm late to the party, I'm loving it! Well, you know, besides those rage moments where something stupid or unexpected happens and I lose a ton of progress or materials. Still, I never fell far from the Ankylo's saddle (so to speak) each time, and I managed to make it up and then some.

Now, I'd like to think I'm fairly high in level, but my overall progress is probably low to mid at best. I don't have a metal base yet (mostly because I haven't found the need for it), and I only have some basic dinos, but at least my place is fairly self-sufficient. I have a Dilo hunting party, a compost dino and a small garden, a stone collector, a metal harvester, a berry gatherer, and a raft fort complete with all the fixins. My house is kinda well-off, too, I guess. I'm kinda proud of it all, and I'm having lots of fun with the game now, which I guess is the most important thing. :3

There's still a lot I'm learning and experimenting with, and I have a few secret projects I'm aiming towards, too!
But beyond that, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing...

But I hope to offer a few more contributions and a bit more joy this month.
Things have been less than favorable these past two weeks, to say the least, but I'm getting back on track and getting my nerves calmed. For those of you who offered advice on my last journal, I thank you for your concern and such. Also, to those of you who have been keeping tabs on me and getting me to talk more, I REALLY appreciate it. When times get tough, I sometimes slink into solidarity, since it's something that has not only brought me comfort, but it's one of the only ways I find I can cope with excess stress when my usual methods are insufficient. I know it's not a healthy remedy, but...I dunno.

Anyways, that aside, I've got a few planned drawings coming soon, as well as a story or two, so here's hoping things will turn around for the better by the end of the month. Stay fluffy, you guys and gals~ And for you non-furred critters, stay cool~

Words can certainly be strange things at times. Sometimes they're like the colors in the sky, and sometimes they're like the falling rain. During stressful and emotional moments in life, I've often found the most difficult task is expressing the things I want to say in the way I want to say them. What do you folks do to help yourselves convey your words properly when you try to talk to people? For that matter, how many of you have this kind of difficulty, like when you're trying to explain or express something to your girlfriend and whatnot, for example?

I want to play it. I really do. I mean, I was able to play it for a while on my friend's phone. It was kinda neat for a while, but I'd really like to do it on my OWN phone. Problem is, even though my phone is technically compatible with it and can download the app without any issues, apparently the RAM requirements on it prevents my phone from loading up past the very first screen. I mean, hell...2GB RAM MINIMUM for playability? Sure, I've been looking to get a phone upgrade lately, as I've had mine for a year and even though it still works fine, I'm finding frustrations with it and need it to do more. Still, I don't think I'm going to shell out for an expensive phone that's capable of playing Go JUST to play Go. It's frustrating, though, because I REALLY want to play Go myself... I was gonna join Instinct and take over my whole town (or just be on Mystic and ensure their regional victory).

So, as promised, we've started up our FA page  papercut-studios for our comic works that we intend to build into something kickass! Managing pages is hard for me, but I'll try my best to keep it updated. Also, yes, the icon is merely a placeholder until we decide what actual logo we wanna go with. We're also going to look into starting up a Tumblr for posting random sketches and various updates to Tenma-sennin and such. Don't know what that is? We'll have something to show you in a little while, so keep an eye out for it! Basically, if you like manga-styled works that involve fighting, swords, silly and/or awesome characters, spaceships, bounty hunters, anime tropes, etc, then you'll probably like this! Maybe. Hopefully. Please? X3

As for the rest of the updates, I'm still hammering out a proper schedule for uploads and writing here, but I think I've got a handle on what I'd like to do. Uh...I'm not sure what else to say tonight, because I'm about to get to bed, but I'll keep you guys and gals informed when something new comes up!

This year has had many ups and downs, and though I cherish those things and moments that really brightened my spirits and lifted me up, the things that kept me down can't be ignored. From a combination of physical problems such as my increasingly bad back issues to a severe lack of motivation and focus, there have been numerous issues that have affected my writing ability as well as my way of living. I can't just keep saying "I'll get through this" or "I'll make things better" without really knowing how, but I'm going to be making some changes both online and offline in an attempt to really, finally, fucking do something about it. I owe it to myself, and to all my friends.

I guess that sounded a bit...overly glorified or whatever, but these are just the words that are coming to mind as I type, so please bare with me. My mind isn't really at peak performance tonight.

Anyways, for starters, I'm going to be refunding several people whom have commissioned me in the past and whom have been waiting for openings. I'll openly, albeit shamefully admit that I've been lax on getting commissioned works out for over a year, and it pisses me off. You guys deserve better. I think it'll also help matters if I can clear my mind by clearing my backlog. I really don't want to have to give up on these, but I also feel like I can't truly enjoy writing with these worries constantly on my mind. However, that isn't to say I won't be taking on commissions again (and actually completing them in a timely manner this time). I do still plan to take occasional commissions, but from here on out, I will be more selective in the projects I decide to undertake. I think one of my problems in the past has been my eagerness to take on more than I was ready for. I figured it'd be fun, and also good exercise to work on things that weren't directly involved with my main projects, but my management of both became cluttered and everything got locked up. So...yeah. I'm ashamed to admit it, but there it is.

Speaking of which, I'm also looking into making a proper schedule for not only my writing and coloring, but also my social time. I've neglected to keep in touch with many people lately, either because I was too busy or some other reason, and I want to put a stop to that once and for all. I have so many friends and acquaintances I loved talking to, and doing so used to put my mind and nerves at ease, in addition to just being fun and enjoyable. Even though my work week is, for lack of a better phrase..."random as fuck", I still want to set something up. I also want to consider including possible Twitch streams into said scheduling, if there's any interest in it. I have to first make sure my account and equipment both work like I intended, so that I actually CAN stream gameplay, but if it works, it's something I'd like to offer.

On a lighter note, I'm also going to focus more heavily on my comic work with my roommate Vinexia and really strive to push our projects in a direction that we can be happy with in these next few years. As such, I'll be creating a new FA account with which to post some of our content and hopefully get some feedback from potential fans so that we can figure out how to improve on our faults, nurture our strong points, and really make a comic that a lot of people can appreciate and enjoy. It's been something me and V have been talking about for a few years now, and it's one of the big reasons I worked as hard as I did to get a house for the lot of us to live in together, as a means of making a convenient and fun headquarters or sorts for us.

So um....y-yeah, that's how it is. I'd really appreciate some genuine feedback regarding...well, anything, really. Anything from reworking how I should charge for future commissions, scheduling and management, and anything you guys and gals can come up with. Like I said, I'm not really at peak mental performance, so my words might be really off, but...I hope my thoughts are at least being conveyed well enough. I kinda...don't know what else to say right now, but I'll be checking comments and notes while I finally sort this mess out. It kinda feels like spring cleaning in my head...






OH! Also, as stupid as this is to mention here, uh... I still need help with some Fallout: New Vegas stuff, and would really appreciate it if anyone can help me out. The info is here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7714060/

This is primarily a request for those with F:NV UE on PC.

I ran into the goddamn Loyal glitch while trying to finish Raul's companion quest, and I'm looking for anyone who has UE on Steam. I need my PS3 save converted to a PC one and loaded up there for the sole purpose of using console commands to get Loyal to spawn (or to move to Loyal), then converted back so that I can finish up Old Ghoul School and get the Old Vaqueiro perk (or however you spell it).

If anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated. The sooner, the better. It's driving me nuts having to deal with glitches like this again. I mean, I love New Vegas, but shit like this is infuriating.

http://kotaku.com/mighty-no-9-s-des.....ble-1782382706

It's often hard for me to find credible sources regarding gaming news and such, what with IGN usually getting more of the attention, but not always getting their facts straight. Still, Kotaku caught my interest with their more recent posting regarding Keiji Inafune's thoughts and words about his released project. Due to a mistranslation error (and a rather grievous one at that), the internet is all abuzz with "It's better than nothing, says Inafune" this and "4 million dollars wasted" that... Ultimately, it finally got on my nerves after watching several YouTube videos from some of my favorite channels.

As quoted from the article:
Inafune-san said “You know, I want to word this in a way to explain some of the issues that come with trying to make a game of this size on different platforms.” He’s like “I’m kind of loath to say this because it’s going to sound like an excuse and I don’t want to make any excuses. I own all the problems that came with this game and if you want to hurl insults at me, it’s totally my fault. I’m the key creator. I will own that responsibility.”
End quote.

I commend him for owning up to the mistakes made, whether they were all directly his fault or not. There were many factors that I hadn't even considered or fully understood during the game's development that ended up almost being blanketed over simply because of the more "popular" criticism at the time. Things like how not all of the proposed $4 million crowd funding was going towards the right aspects of the game, or the game itself, and how they didn't even have that much to work with to begin with. Things like how, in attempt to appeal to everyone, they split their IP into too many directions and tried making it work with the graphics engine they chose, having to sacrifice in the process to ensure the game could potentially be released onto all the consoles the fans requested/demanded. And let's not forget the pressure of heightened expectations and not being able to anticipate the true amount of work something like this would take. There were plenty of mistakes made, sure... Hell, the whole thing with Deep Silver was bad from the start, but the man tried...

As for the game itself, a lot of people give it bad reviews...and I don't really think it's fair to be as harsh with it as they've been. Even the damn Sonic Twitter posts and such are ridiculous. The bottom line is this:
Did Keiji Inafune create Mega Man? No. Did he try to recreate something with a similar spirit? Yes.
Is it a great game? No. Is it a terrible piece of trash, like the internet proclaims? Also no.
I mean, for fuck's sake...Mighty No. 9 is not as bad as Sonic Boom or Sonic '06, not as bad as Evergrace or Unlimited Saga, and definitely not as bad as many other games which had bigger budgets and larger teams. Even comparing it to the popularity of such indie titles as Shovel Knight or Undertale is rather unfair, in my opinion. That being said, Mighty No. 9 DOES have its drawbacks and HAS let much of its fanbase down, but it ALSO has some good points mixed in which many people seem to easily overlook.

Whether you love it or hate it, the important thing is to try and look at it from all sides; not just the side of the popular opinion. Go out there, research your facts, and please get off the "It's better than nothing" bandwagon, people...

If you have any comments regarding this, please keep them civil. I don't mind debates and discussions, but I won't condone simply hazing or trash talking on this topic.