My brother called me yesterday to say our mom passed away at the hospital.

There's not much I can say at the moment, other than wish some things could have been different. I will be away for some time, naturally.

Thanks.

So much that I could put here, so I will make this brief.

I had the misfortune of becoming a victim of a pickpocket, losing some cash. Thankfully,  Hamakei and myself noticed that it happened very quickly, so we rushed to cancel all the affected cards, Unfortunately, this made our main credit card unusable, so we had to rely on the cash we had to make it to the end of the trip. I also lost my UK residence card, and its replacement will cost quite a bit. ☹️ So I will be planning on making adopts and other things to cover that expense, but not in the immediate future, because...

I caught some type of flu near the end of the trip, and right now I am in bed, waiting for it to pass -- coughing, headaches and restless sleep (when I do fall asleep).

Despite this, the trip was mostly good. Upon arrival we started seeing ads everywhere (and I mean *everywhere*) to a place called "Loro Parque", which is a zoo with several live shows (parrots, dolphins, orcas and sea lions). We crossed the island to see the "Teide" volcano, and in one of the spots we came across some rather daring lizards that climbed over our bags, clearly waiting for something. There are signs saying not to feed the wildlife, but clearly people are not obeying the rule. No, we didn't feed the lizards, even when we wanted to.

That's it for now.

Vacation for USA folks. But yeah,  Hamakei and me are heading to Tenerife this Sunday the 26th, and will be back in the UK on April 4th. While I will have my phone and laptop with me, I won't have much to post regarding art, unless I get to dig some old files I may not have posted here.

After our return we will hopefully be completing paperwork regarding our next home and a car, so it will be a very busy time for us.

Okay, first of all, this is a rather pointless journal. No big change in my life, no big loss or anything of the sort. Call it a "first world problem" if you will. I just want to vent out a bit, and maybe in the process show how my mind tends to do things.

Also, don't leave any comments about how my choices are bad and that I should instead be using some other system because it is superior or whatever, or the "evils" of corporation X. I am very stubborn, and it will take some *REALLY* big event for me to change. So any attempts to make me think otherwise will currently be a wasted effort.

Anyhoo... my current (6th gen Core i7) desktop PC is set up to boot between Windows 11, Windows 10 and Kubuntu (Linux). Until earlier this year, Windows 10 was the main OS, with me using Win11 to test a few things (via a trick to remove the CPU check; I have both Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 active), everything works fine and performance is hardly any different from using Windows 10. I have Kubuntu to test Steam games and other things (as to why that distro, because I do like KDE, and I've found other distros like Mint lacking, but that is my personal opinion). Earlier this year I decided to switch the main OS to Win11 because whether we like it or not, that's where things will go for Windows, and things like my Huion tablet, the scanner and my Logitech gaming keyboards have no drivers for Linux, so that precludes it from ever being my main OS.

The OS was installed in a SATA SSD with Win10 in an nVME drive, but after deciding to switch the main OS, I cloned the installs to effectively switch their locations. And last week I replaced the 256GB nVME with a 2TB drive, which also allowed me to remove two other small drives (where I kept my Steam games and 3D models) by creating separate partitions for those. So again, the install gets cloned to that particular drive. I've done similar clones in the past with no problems at all, and I don't have reasons to believe my problem was related to the latest one, but it could be possible.

So yesterday I restarted the computer from hibernation without any problems (I do when I have a lot of Firefox tabs open). Later on I noticed that my Signal desktop messenger refused to open. No error or anything, it just would not open. So I rebooted, and that is when things started to go south. Upon log in, OneDrive spits an error. Trying to launch Signal resulted in several errors. Windows told me I had notifications pending, but also refused to open them. And my sound card failed to work at all. Not good. I turned off the PC, then back again after a minute, just to make sure. Same problems. I rebooted into Windows 10 to make sure it was not a hardware issue; everything checked out fine. So I rebooted again, and it should have taken me back to Windows 11. Nope; computer goes back to 10. Apparently there was something that made the motherboard think that Win11 install was not good.

At this point I felt I didn't want to troubleshoot the problem, possibly spending hours only to eventually decide I needed to reinstall anyway, which is what happened when a Windows 8 install (I keep the previous version of the main Windows install for checking things out) crapped out and no amount of restore or reset would fix it. So I went ahead and backed up my data and big game installs -- I keep those in separate drives so an OS install only wipes out programs I would need to reinstall anyway, plus I know which files and folders in my C:\ drive I need to copy to preserve things like the mod order of my Skyrim install. And I only need to point Steam to the drives where I keep the games and they are available in less than a minute after first log in. The backup was just for a worst case scenario.

So after reinstalling Windows 11, all that is left is the rather tedious task of putting back all the programs I use. Again, first world problem. I guess one day I will actually go to the trouble of imaging the partitions needed for Windows, but at least I got rid of some crud from programs I was not going to reinstall.

Could it have been that my technically unsupported install corrupted itself? I'm not going to think there is some "evil plan" to slowly degrade unsupported installs; that sounds like some loony "tinfoil hat" or "conspiracy theory" material. I would think it was mostly a result of the cloning, or even a first indication that something in the motherboard is starting to show signs of failing (it is 7 years old at this point).

And if you read all this, I guess you are bored enough that this seemed interesting. :)

Occasionally I will see one or a few pics with a central theme for some project that different people have contributed to, and distributed as a free PDF.

I would like to submit pics as well but I never hear of anything until after the projects are finished. Does anyone know which folks organize them, deadlines, and all that sort?

Thanks beforehand.

I've been thinking about doing translations to some of my short stories, mainly to Spanish, which is my native language. Never got around to do so before because rewriting them would take away from my time to do other things. I also didn't think of letting someone else do it because I am rather protective of my "babies" (so to speak), plus with the various differences between Spanish-speaking countries, I wanted it to be a neutral translation rather than one incorporating vocabulary only used in some countries.

I now have a version of Word that can translate whole documents, which I have tried. It is certainly not perfect, but the results are very promising, and would need some rather minor tweaks to the text, so I guess it could work quite well, except for one big detail. In Spanish, dialogue is denoted by large dashes (--- text ---) while English uses double quotes ("text"). MS Word leaves the quotes intact, although it changes all opening and closing quotes ("curly quotes) to straight quotes. And to be honest, I rather use quotes for dialogue; I find it more appealing to my eyes, more so when writers can use dashes to separate parts of a sentence to make a distinct separation (like drama or surprise). Maybe it's because I am now used to reading news and stories in English, but I can't stand dashes for dialogue, so quotes will be used.

Obviously, many of my followers won't be interested in (or won't be able to read) the translations, so for those who could, would that sound like something they may be interested in? I rather not go to the trouble if hardly anyone wants to, as stories seem to garner so little interest in this fandom. Yes, I know about one particular guy, but I find the style extremely hard to digest so I can't see the appeal in those books.

And before anyone asks, I'm not interested in any other translations as I won't be able to understand them.

Barely 7 months after moving into the UK, I found my hand forced into going to court. No, I didn't get into any legal problems, but had to file a complaint in small claims court to get back £1098 that were wrongly taken from me and Hamakei's funds.

After selling my home in Colorado, I contacted some company through a website called Shiply.com, which is some marketplace for people trying to contract others to ship goods. I managed to fit all the goods I wanted to transport into several boxes totaling 225 cubic feet, which I rounded up to 240 to provide a bit of a leeway. We received a quote from someone in the UK who said it would be $6000, with no hidden or additional fees. On more than one occasion we stated that the goods were not in pallets, and even provided photos to show it. We still were told that it was okay and the quote was correct, which led us to go with it. (Plus, I was running out of time to vacate my apartment in Denver.) The boxes were collected on April 26th by a third party, and I arrived in the UK in May.

One month later, the boxes arrived at the docks in the UK, and we were then told we owed money because the volume was supposedly bigger than we declared (275 cu ft, which later somehow became 266 cu ft), and thus we had to pay a hefty surcharge, and my goods would not only be not delivered until I paid it, but I would receive a daily storage fee if I didn't pay before a deadline. I'm not going to go into all the details about the email and other correspondence, other than these points:

* We asked for details and proof of this supposed excess volume. We only got one photo that showed nothing.
* We were told we could measure the goods upon arrival and dispute the charge. We did so -- around 246 cu ft in pallets. They refused to accept the dispute and the proof.
* We never received any invoice that detailed how they arrived with the charge of £1098, other than one that looked suspiciously from themselves. (It wasn't until some time later that we got some nearly useless papers, including one from the third party, dated and paid the day *before* they actually arrived to collect, with all amounts crossed out.)
* They requested mediation. We were willing to settle for a lower amount; they even refused to follow the rules of the mediation they requested.

So all was set for a small claims case last December 16th. Hamakei spent considerable time gathering all our evidence and going over all the points to make sure we would make our case clear. Despite this, I was not looking forward to the day -- courts make me uneasy, and since the contract was in my name, I would be the one that had to present the case from our side. I have had difficulties with expressing myself sometimes when I was in the USA, as English is not my native language, and stress often made it harder. I stated this to the judge, and she was willing to let Hamakei clarify a few things for me. (No offense to my British fans, but some accents here make it a bit of harder to understand you folks.)

However, as the proceedings continued, most of my anxiety seemed to go away. Not only I presented my case fairly well, but the defendant was not able to provide solid responses to some of the judge's questions. After an hour in court, the judge asked for a few minutes to come to a decision. And she ruled in my favor -- not only asking the defendant to pay back the fee, but our legal fees as well. The judge even had praise on how well organized Hamakei and I were when we presented our case.

I was happy, of course, but left the courthouse feeling numb. I did not want to go through that, but I was glad that I was able to speak for myself well enough when the time came. We left the courthouse to have lunch at Nando's (yummy chicken for this Carno).


On an unrelated note, that same day I got an email from Google that allowed me to finally recover my "bakensobek" account, after being unable to use it for several months (I forgot to update the recovery phone, and my password was lost when I forgot the password to the password manager -- messy). Amazing how many apps and Android services were waiting to be updated in my phone since they were still tied to that Google account.

Overall, a good day. Thanks for reading.

I have made new accounts in two other sites in case of Twitter implosion:

Itaku -- https://itaku.ee/profile/carnotaurus

Inkblot -- https://inkblot.art/profile/carnotaurus

It will be a while before I can begin reuploading many of my pics to both sites. And yes, I know some don't like keeping track of "yet another site", but putting all eggs in one basket is not a good thing. And it is not like FA doesn't have its own history, share of problems and finicky mods.

Just a quick message to say that  hamakei and myself will be away for just over a week to visit my brother, starting tomorrow. I will have my phone and laptop, but online access will be limited to when I have access to Wifi.

I should be back in the UK on the 11th this month.

Stay safe.

Yesterday I received a call from my brother to let me know that our mom was admitted to a nursing home for her to live her final years.

Not sure how many would object to anyone having to take such a move, but it was something that had to be done. She had already started suffering from dementia, and getting progressively worse. My brother was the only one that took care of her, since I have been living out of my homeland for many years, and nobody else in our family even wanted to give a hand (despite some of them being well to do). My brother was unable to leave her alone for anything other than brief periods, so this made him unable to have a job. And the stress of the situation was beginning to affect his own health. So we were simply left with no other option.

He will need some support from me, I'm sure. How much and how long, I don't know at the moment. My plan for now is to hopefully increase my output so I can take on commissions, as well as do YCHs or "adopts" occasionally as well. I don't want to have a long queue of commissions as the idea of having many people waiting just makes my mind get huge creative blocks. And I certainly want to work on my own ideas and stories as well. Plus,  Hamakei and myself will be looking into getting our own place hopefully later this year, so that will mean some expenses and needing to take time off for moving and settling down in a new place.

So we will see how things go. Thanks for reading.

Hello,

There were 9 entries here plus one on Twitter.

The five (lucky?) people for this round:
eldrikke
Tabra
Arrankhar
Wolfpug
BoingGoat

Again, no need to submit payment until I request it.

Apologies for some missed info; I added it to an older submission instead of the latest one

£35 -- Single character bust. -- https://www.furaffinity.net/view/46937516/ (no additional characters for this option)
£50 -- More detailed inking, flat coloring. -- https://www.furaffinity.net/view/37307089/ (+£25 for one additional character)
£75 -- Same as previous, with shading added. --https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36185159/ (+£35 for one additional character)
£100+ -- More detailed characters. --https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34583060/ (+£50+ for one additional character -- the price will vary and is based on level of detail.)

I know some (many?) of you have been waiting for an opportunity to have something drawn by me for quite some time, so here is the chance. A few things to note (please read all of it):

-- Five openings, for one or two characters each.

-- Slots are *NOT* in a first come, first served basis. I want to leave this open for at least a week to give everyone a fair chance. I will choose among all the requests I receive, which will be a mix of both random and personal selection.

-- I will reply to those I choose. It could take a few days, so please be patient. How many? Hard to tell at this time; I certainly need to make some income, but I don't want to feel overwhelmed.

-- To be counted, you must reply here with your selected rate and references, whether one or two chars (if applicable), and references for characters.

-- While I used portrait-like images for the pricing, you can request an action pose if you prefer.

-- Please read my previous journal -- https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9515906/ -- for what I will or will not draw, and other information about how transactions will be handled. But no rule 34 submissions at this time, please.

-- While I do have a preference for males and reptiles, I am willing to draw females and other species as well, so don't feel intimidated by my biases. ;)

-- Prices are per my recent submission; The fourth will kick in if you have/want a very detailed character. However, I will communicate if that is the case, and you can either accept or go to a lower tier with the understanding it will not be as detailed.

Feel free to ask questions here or in notes if you need more details.

Check out this video from a recent flyby of the spacecraft Juno, doing a flyby of Ganymede before doing one of Jupiter. Flashes of lightning can be seen in Jupiter's atmosphere -- the likes of which would incinerate a whole city on Earth.

https://www.space.com/jupiter-whirl.....cecraft-images

I can imagine my raptor taking in the view, never ceasing to be fascinated by it.

I meant to say a few more things to the previous journal but I forgot at the time...

I sure will miss the warm summers of Colorado. Having been born in the tropics, I love warm days, and the dry heat in Colorado felt great to me -- 105 degrees F? Bring it on! I will also miss the vast, open stretches of roads when going down the Interstates. There's something to be said about being on the road for hours and you've covered only two or three states -- give me the open roads, and I will drive to the end of the world, if possible. Also will miss the variety of sodas and other food items. And some of the people I got to meet while living there. And stores like MicroCenter (a tech geek's paradise, that's for sure).

Of course, some things won't be missed. The miserable, cold days of Colorado winters, with inches of snow that will stay on the ground for days or weeks, and temps going well below freezing. The constant noise from the prairie dogs in the field next to my home, and the constant inflow of dirt into my home because the darned things keep eating the grass that would keep the soil in place. Nor will I miss the idiotic neighbors in the surrounding apartments.

But there's things to be gained. The UK is not without its great things, which I have seen in previous trips. There's also yummy treats to have (Mr. Kipling!). And places to revisit. And color me weird, but I like using the Underground while in London. And there's also... Nando's (yes, I'm aware they exist in some places in the US).

I will end this (and apologies if this sounds vindictive to some of you) with a big middle finger to someone who moved into the state some years after I did, who later told me I didn't deserve to be his friend because I was bothered about something, when he himself failed to come through on a promise (because I feel he was pretty much incapable of doing what was asked yet did not want to admit his inability to do so nor apologize for this failure). He once complained about supposedly feeling forced to move from Europe back into the USA after being prohibited from doing some... things there. All I can say for now is -- hey, Mr. P, I'm (technically) here in Europe and you aren't. As Nelson from "The Simpsons" would say... "Ha ha!"

This last Tuesday, May 10th, was my final day living in Colorado.

Moving was quite the experience. After selling my apartment, the next step was having almost 70 boxes of different sizes and weights shipped, while dealing with different shippers due to one pulling some "bait and switch" move and wanting more for the quote. And then the selected one had difficulties getting a company in the US come and pick up the boxes. Then there was the process of giving away/donating/recycling/trashing my remaining possessions, which I will not go into details here, other than apologize to my beloved  Hamakei for it. :(

I handed the keys to the new owner of the apartment on Thursday (May 6th), after which Hamakei and I went on a short road trip to South Dakota and Wyoming to have Hamakei see Mount Rushmore, Reptile Gardens and Devil's Tower (I had not seen the last one in that list, either). Arriving back in Denver metro the following Sunday, the time came to sell my car. The current chip shortage meant used cars go for a higher resell value, so I got a fairly decent deal on a 6-year old car. However, it didn't make the process easier. By good luck, the buying company was able to pick it up Tuesday morning, before Hamakei and I were to head out to the airport. I didn't look back to see the representative drive away with it, as it painful to sell it -- of all my former belongings, I will miss my car the most. But shipping it to the UK would have meant several thousand dollars that I can ill afford. Not to mention driving an American SUV-type in the UK (that makes 30mpg at best) would have been prohibitively expensive (and I don't want to imagine maintenance costs).

We left for the airport late morning on Tuesday, which meant hauling quite a lot of luggage to the train station (again, my apologies to Hamakei for putting him through it). Three more phone calls to cancel some services and to contact my brother, and we boarded the flight to London. The movie options on United made the trip seem shorter and more bearable since I cannot sleep in planes.

Then there was the long line to go through border control at Heathrow, and a train ride and a car ride to where we are now, until we can settle on a permanent home later this year, hopefully. The boxes still need to make their way here, though -- I believe they are in New York waiting to be loaded onto a ship at the time of this writing. Once here they will be put in storage until the time arrives to get our home.

It will be a few days before I settle and feel comfortable enough to work on making new drawings again. I do have some doodles and sketches that I could use as a basis for making more color arts, and several others that could be finished.

Thanks for reading.

I have so many fond memories of this game. My first MMO, even. Back when I started playing, after I was invited to join by some folks here (whom I unfortunately can't remember), it was a whole new experience for me. While the lore was weak, it was still a game I would play almost daily, as I would solo the areas around the world doing quests, and queue for the dungeons. I even bought a DVD of the game so I could have a "founder" account with a few perks.

I was always an Aman berserker. I tried other classes but that was my first and the one I played best. I was still far from being very good, but it didn't matter.

The game, IMO, reached it's peak during the "Wounded World" patch. Rift's Edge... that was a fun but sometimes frustrating dungeon for me. When the "Legend of Arun" patch was released, that's when it started to feel like the beginning of a downhill path. And later on the "Nexus" was removed -- my only regret with the Nexus was being afraid to join 19 other players, thinking I would suck at it. Once I had my first taste, I would stop everything in RL when it was time to join that raid. Good times.

But like many other games, the grind became unbearable, with so much RNG that I just could not justify to spend the time.

I tried other MMOs. Elder Scrolls Online is good, but it feels so much harder to do all the world quests and leveling on my own, and it made me miss the combat mechanics from TERA (not to mention some areas being available only with a monthly fee or being bought as DLCs). As for "Star Trek Online"... I never completed the tutorial. Trying to fight three enemy ships in a 3D environment made me rage quit in frustration and I never went back.

And now the end will finally arrive for TERA, on June 30th, at 9am UK time. I migrated my account when the NA servers were taken over by Gameforge, and never uninstalled it, on the faintest hope that maybe its glory days would come back (so many people requested a "classic" server to no avail). So I plan to be there on that day, in one of the locations where players waited for the Nexus to start, even if there will not be any other players around. Somehow, it seems fitting.

Hello,

I am suddenly facing some rather high expenses with some repair work that I need to do before moving. So I will definitely open for commissions next month at some point. I will need to revise the price scale to see how much it would be for anyone wanting a 2-char commission.

As before, it will not be first come, first serve. I will pick up both at random and ideas that may inspire me to work on.

Details will be forthcoming next month. Just watch for the journal -- feel free to ask questions, but no requests will be accepted here.

I have a 19" Philips monitor that needs to be rehomed as I am moving and can't have it shipped to my new place -- too bulky, heavy and certainly would not survive the trip. Because of it, I'm willing to part with it for $30.

It would need to be someone local to Denver metro area, or elsewhere in Colorado if you don't mind driving here to pick it up. (Or have a friend who can do so.) I will not ship this at all so only local people (or again, have someone who can get it for you).

It was working last time I used it. I may be able to connect it to an old laptop for testing, but it may take me a little while to dig the power cable for said laptop.

Same with a big 40" rear projection TV. That one will go for free if anyone wants it.

Send a note if interested; you can ask questions here.

Hello, everyone.

I returned home a week ago after a trip to the UK, mainly to collect my residency permit card as well as get other things done. Time was a bit scarce for most of the trip, so apologies for not making plans to meet anyone who may have wished to do so. Hopefully in the future.

As for now, all that is left is to pack all my things. Already in talks with a shipping company to hopefully come to pick up everything around the middle of this month. After that, I will have to get a few things done and fly again in early May, and this time to stay.

So I've been a bit busy to draw much lately. Probably will not get much done this month, and possibly part of May as well. :/

But once it is all over and done with, time will be something I will have lots of. Hopefully my output will increase substantially.

Thanks for reading, and for being fans of my work.

Hello, everyone.

A while back I got in contact with a real estate agent regarding the sale of my apartment. It was scheduled to be listed this past Friday, but I think the agent may have misunderstood and listed it before. Regardless, I already have one buyer interested who had the best offer. All that is left now is paperwork and setting a date for the actual closing. So sometime in April or May at the latest, I should have completed the move.

I had fears that I could be left waiting for months before it would sell. But that was not the case. And with my last day at work being this Friday the 25th, I will be using my time towards getting things ready.

For those still waiting for pics, I should have time to either start or continue them. I want to finish what I owe (and people can now see why I won't charge until I am ready to deliver) before I take the flight towards my new home. I want to start there with a clean slate.

Twice I have made a journal here to talk about happy events in my life, and both times some people have to descend upon it and leave nothing but rude, pessimistic comments. It's the kind of thing I would expect on some online places and social media.

For years I made some rather depressing sketches, of being alone, of not finding someone to share my life with. And now that things are finally moving onto a happier path, some have to project their anger and frustrations onto the discussion. It's as if they thought, "How dare you be happy! And do it in a different country!" If that is what some think, I have two words for them -- SOD. OFF. (Hey, if I'm moving to the UK, may as well start using the local slang.)

No matter how much they may rant... no matter how much they may try to paint a negative picture.... no matter how righteous they may feel.... they will NOT change my mind. So they may as well fucking give up and go pester someone else, because they will be wasting their time. I want to be nice to everyone, but from now on everyone who feels the need to drop their negativity onto my journals will find themselves blocked. I've simply have had enough.

I've been through it before -- back in 1997, when I moved to Colorado, I left everything that I was familiar with, and moved to a place I knew nothing about, much less had been in before. I left many things behind, including the sunny, warm days. Had to get used to very cold winters, and speaking a language that still trips me once in a while. (You probably may have guessed from the way I write things sometimes.) I know their will be uncertainties. I do have some apprehension -- I've discussed this with  Hamakei, and he understands that things may not be easy for me for a while.

Will I miss living here and some of the things I took for granted in the US? Yes.

Will there be things I won't miss? Absolutely. (Looking at you, Colorado winters.)

But just as I moved onto a different land in search of opportunities, I will now move to yet another different land to pursue happiness. And I thank the Good Mother for giving me the chance. If you find happiness, you go after it, not put it off because you are afraid of change.

May your road lead you to good things. Or tasty prey, Or warm sands, as the Khajits would say.

Peace.

After several weeks of waiting (and a few anxious hours after UPS left the envelope at my doorstep while I was at work), I came home to find that my UK resident visa was approved!

It will be a while before I do the final move, as I will need to do quite a few things on this side before I make the definitive jump. There will be some unknowns, just like when I moved to Colorado more than 20 years ago., so I guess it is okay to have a few moments of apprehension. These big changes are never easy.

EDIT: Disabling comments for now because obviously some people just can't congratulate someone but rather spout their venom in seemingly some agenda to spout their beliefs. I welcome discussion, but not when it starts going in uncivil discussions.

It's been about a month since  Hamakei and myself got married. So far we have gone to our usual routines, other than waiting for some approvals. Myself, I started the process to get my apartment listed for sale. With today's marketplace, it may not be in the market for long. I should have a visit from an agent later this week to start discussing options.

I've also packed several of my books and movies into boxes, yet I still have a lot more left to do. :/

Once all is said and done and move is over, I will be able to hopefully work on drawing full time, and use my time off to write.

 hamakei and his parents are on their way back to the UK. After the wedding we went on a road trip across Wyoming and towards the salt flats in Utah, then southwest to Arches national monument. We wish we could have done more, but time and other factors kept us from doing so. I took them all to see Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs as well the day after they arrived.

Once I get a visa approved I will travel there to have it activated, and then I will start the process of arranging for moving.

All pending art that I owe some folks will resume in a day or two after I catch up with a few things.

And thanks for all the nice comments on my previous journal. Hamakei and myself appreciate all the nice words you had.