Wow, look at that, it's been almost a year to the day since my last entry here. Time for the annual update!

Well, this year has been not so good. Things seemed like they were calming down and figuring themselves out after I finished college, but I guess new stress has to move in to fill the vacuum when old stress goes away, is that right? This year we've had lots of emotional drama, lots of medical drama, and lately, some drama with trying to find a bigger house to rent, and it's really, really frustrating.

Frustrating isn't even the word. I'm beat right now. Time out, okay, life, you win, I give up. One day I'll get up and try again, but for now I need a breather while I try to sort things out and make everything suck less.

The reason I haven't put anything new up here in so long is because... I haven't been DOING anything. I've been working for one of my teachers from college. First I was doing animation, and now I'm doing background painting. To add to the cash flow, I've also taken a part-time job at a retirement home. It's nice to have money. In fact we're doing the best financially now that we've ever been, and have actually managed to put together a little bit of savings for the first time.

But, it keeps me really busy. All my time off is spent trying to keep up with the housework and do interesting things with my daughter, and dealing with the frustrating problems that have been cropping up. A doodle in a sketchbook here and there, and that's the extent of my personal illustration career development.

And I guess that's okay. Lots of people find themselves taking breaks, and at least I still have a job doing something artistic, even if it's not the exciting freelance illustration career I had in mind, and taking care of my family is important. The problem is that I compare myself to people I know online and that went to ACAD with me, and I feel less like I'm taking a break, and more like I'm failing.

I don't know. I'm hoping that my luck will turn around soon, and I'll either fix my frustrating problems or else learn to not be so upset about them, and then I'll maybe be able to calm down a bit and find the drive again to do some more illustration.


And sorry to come on here and whine and complain. It was time for an update and I'm being honest, it's been a shitty year.


Oh. Here's another update. I also cut like 12 inches of my hair. It still counts as long I guess, going down to my shoulder blades, but for someone who had hair that was so long I could sit on it, that's a huge haircut. It looks much nicer shorter.