This has been a long three weeks for me. Not all bad, mind you. I've been out of town a few times to visit family and stay at hotels while doing so, but the real reason I've been so totally out of it as far as production or even making journal entries, is because I got bored enough to start playing Gems of War again. There are new achievements to earn since the last time I played, and new possibilities like upgrading weapons, as well as a whole lot more troops, and new weekly events. Intriguing as it was, I wanted to achieve as much as I could, and not having a job right now means that I can devote a lot of time to playing it. However, it turns out that competing in hundreds of battles, in all of which enemies try and fight back regardless of how much of a realistic chance they have, and some of which have advantages that can actually overwhelm your best efforts to the point where you don't even have a chance, and doing so for hours on end, really messes with your head after a while. Not only that, but if you're like me, you tend to be quite verbally hostile, as every impact against one of my troops felt like being punched. Both the hostility and the defensiveness in me, as well as my competitive drive were getting overloaded. I think I could have handled that, if not for how it affected my Mom who was often around me while I was playing. She always claimed that I was making too much noise for her even when she had earphones in. One time, while sharing a two-bed hotel room, (and I'm not making this up) I tried my best to suppress the noise, but couldn't suppress the gasping, deep breathing, sighing, or groaning, and Mom had earplugs in AND a white noise machine on, and she STILL said I was keeping her up. Basically, there's no way I could play Gems of War with her around and not have her hear it, and since I live with her, she's around a lot. So I decided to give up playing it again, for as long as I could. I've gone for months before, but there always seem to be more new developments. It's like trying to quit going to your favorite restaurant when they keep coming out with new recipes and dishes. Anyway, I've stopped playing again for a while, and I'm trying to cool my brain off here, but all of the tension and frustration of the game should have charged up my neurons enough to make some more art. (Sigh) I'm sorry for any watchers out there observing me that I've only got one picture to show for that three week period due to getting so wrapped up in my game. Also, I've only ever payed for commissions once before, but I think I can afford to do so again. I'm planning to commission an artist to do pictures of my characters once my check and my reimbursement arrive in the mail. It's not something I can afford to do too often, but I'm saving a lot of money by living with my mom and eating almost nothing but groceries, as well as being on a diet since the beginning of this year. Anyway, there are just plenty of artists with more practice and self-confidence than I have. Anyway, colored pencils may not achieve the best results as far as art...