_My Results:

It took me a while to get a grasp on Inkscape's UI after years of Illustrator but this is the end product. I wouldn't call it refined, certainly not good enough for professional design work but it'll do. So with that in mind, I'd say we're ready to move onto another logo, one of greater complexity.

This logo made use of the Bezier tool, elipse, text, and gradients. I'll need to look more into Inkscape's index of features to figure out what to do next but I say it's an ok start. My assessment of the program is that it's almost an inverse of Illustrator, being more keyboard dominant than working more with a mouse. Old habits die hard, too. A lot of keyboard shortcuts I need to unlearn. Actually, instead of a logo, let's work on revising the .SVG of the personal data sheets, see if we can get them to fit a proper 6x4 format more precisely.

_For Tomorrow:

Up next is shitposting. Seems like that's what I'll be doing a lot with GIMP but I'd still like to learn not so much for photo-editing but more for making thumbnails, book covers and the like. Heck, why not start today?

_Recapping the Previous Sessions:

Last night I tried my hand at programming. Got the machine to say Hello World!, not hard. Just a simple

>>>print("Hello World!") and hit enter.

They say if you can do that then you can program anything. Don't quote me on that. Needed ChatGPT to do a lot of heavy lifting but I'm using it to teach me so that I know every inch of that code and then one day I can do it on my own. It's a good teacher so far.

They coffee mug still needs finishing before I finally render it, that'll be a fun experiment. Other than that, just dealing with personal problems. A good project or two will keep you out of your own head when it's necessary.

_Final Thoughts:

Happy with my progress so far. I'll continue to use ChatGPT to help guide me through problems and with enough time, I'll be able to coast through the projects on my own. Getting to a point where I'm comfortable enough using the list of software is good enough for me.

-Errant out

_On The State of Things:

Sunday I got busy working on the Coffee Mug project for Blender. So far I'd say it's complete but I still want to use this as an opportunity to learn texturing, shading, rendering. Things like that. While I have the general shape of it ready-subdivision surface modifier included-there's more I can do to go the extra mile. Next week, though.

Today I tried booting up the PyCharm and made the sad realization that while I have and IDE, I don't have python installed. Wanted to build a house, bought the land, forgot to buy lumber. Using public WiFi right now so I'm not gonna download anything here. A vampire can only enter your house when invited as the legend goes. However, I did some talking with ChatGPT to get a bit of a crash course on python and learning programming as a whole. Together, we came up with a lesson plan to move forward:

🚀 1️⃣ Python Fundamentals (You're Here)

✅ Variables & Data Types → int, float, str, bool, list, dict

✅ User Input & Printing → input(), print()

✅ Control Flow (Logic) → if, elif, else

✅ Loops → for, while

✅ Functions → def my_function():

✅ Importing Modules → import random, import math

🔹 Project Idea:

• Make a simple dice roller 🎲
• Build a basic logging system for tracking activities

🔹 2️⃣ Working with Data

✅ Lists & Tuples → Storing multiple values ([1, 2, 3])

✅ Dictionaries → Key-value pairs ({"name": "Dusk", "age": 21})

✅ File Handling → Reading/Writing files (open("file.txt", "r"))

✅ String Manipulation → Formatting text dynamically

🔹 Project Idea:

• Create an RPG-style inventory system 🏹
• Track Project: Winfield gear, mileage, and spending

🔹 3️⃣ Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)

✅ Classes & Objects → Creating reusable code structures

✅ Methods & Attributes → Functions inside classes

✅ Inheritance → Creating specialized versions of existing code

🔹 Project Idea:

• Build a character class system for an RPG
• Organize data tracking for art progress or travel logs

🔹 4️⃣ Modules, APIs & Automation

✅ Using External Libraries → (pandas, matplotlib, requests)

✅ APIs & Web Scraping → Accessing online data

✅ GUI Programming → Creating visual interfaces

🔹 Project Idea:

• Automate art tracking with graphs 📊
• Weather API integration for Project: Winfield ☀️🌧️
• Build a simple desktop app to log your daily progress

🔹 5️⃣ Advanced Topics (Your Choice)

🛠 Game Development → pygame

🤖 Machine Learning & AI → TensorFlow, scikit-learn

🔧 Cybersecurity & Hacking → socket, hashlib

📡 Networking & Automation → selenium, beautifulsoup

This structure will guide future projects once I get the basics down.

_Moving Forward:

Tomorrow starts work on the Coffee Shop Logo in Inkscape. Their website already has a library of tutorials ready and once I'm comfortable with the UI and features, then work can resume just as it did in Illustrator-only it won't cost me $25/mo. Then Thursday will have a similar work loop. I already have a few ideas for shitposts just don't expect them to be quality. I'm not a funny guy. On the topic of GIMP, I can see myself making a lot of book covers and such, anything to enhance work that can be done in Inkscape because I remember using PhotoShop and Illustrator a lot congruently.

_Final Thoughts:

I'll get back to work on the Dice Roller soon as I have a secure connection. For now, I'll touch on other things while this coffee bar is still open. I spoke to a friend of mine who's a Psychology Professor and he told me something about the brain. The gist of it is that the more you learn, the easier it is to learn more. Human beings are born with so many excess neurons that are lost by the age of ten. Our brains are truly a "use it or lose it" type of deals. My therapist also told me "What wires together, fires together" so I'd very much like to make a habit of learning these programs and making cool stuff with them.

-Errant out

2.16.25

_Until more work comes along, I can at least maintain structure in my week. As my GF said, the time's going to pass anyway. The days are moving by like a freight train and we have the choice of hopping on board or watching from the sidelines until it's over.

_Sun (Blender): Mug

_Mon (n/a): Free day

_Tue (PyCharm): Dice Roller

_Wed (Inkscape): Cafe Logo

_Thu (GIMP): Shitposting

_Fri (Krita): Alphabet + Basic Shapes

_Sat (Creality): Setup + Boat Print

Let's see if this iteration works. Maybe this'll be enough to bring back the Dev Logs post-reconstruction.

_And what of the other 3? To start, there's a nice old man who hangs out in a local coffee shop downtown and we met every Friday so he can teach me guitar. Takeover Tuesday gives me enough reason to publish a drawing every week. I suppose Proj_01 gives me enough direction for creative writing.

Just to get "Four Titles" off the ground, I'll be working with RPGs already in my possession: Death in Space, Cyberpunk: RED, Mork Borg, and Dungeons & Dragons. Was hesitant to roll with two fantasy titles but we need to move now.

_Nothing Happens Until Something Moves:

I purchased this laptop w/ intent to work efficiently and away from home and looking at the programs I downloaded, I have a pretty good sense on what my workflow would've looked like back then. All too quickly I forgot the promises made to myself in the New Year, falling back into old habits as soon as January ended. The problem here is a lack of movement then a failure to restart that movement once the ennui sets in again.

I am still a beginner. Change occurs on it's own, certainly. But w/o proper intervention, that change will likely promise worse things than the month prior.

Let's take inventory, shall we?:

1) Blender

2) PyCharm

3) Inkscape

4) GIMP

5) Krita

6) and lastly the software for my 3d Printer

Then there's an additional three more skills to master: Acoustic Guitar, Traditional Illustration, and Creative Writing. While I'm still in between jobs, I can hang onto these 9 avenues of study for as long as my savings hold out. I recognize the danger of spreading myself too thin again, moving forward I may need to structure this research tree into a monthly basis.

_How to Move Forward:

I suppose journaling might help. W/o a higher education to push things along, I'm up to my own devices to learn. YouTube, google searches, and plain old fashioned trial and error. Saves me a few grand at least. My dad's encouraging me to attend a vocational school and I'm on board with him. I don't foresee money being an issue because that's not the point when it comes to creativity.

One thing I'd like to demo is project-based learning, something simple and unimpressive to breed familiarity w/ each of the six programs.

1) Blender: Mug

2) PyCharm: Dice Roller

3) Inkscape: Coffee Shop Logo

4) GIMP: Mid-tier shitposts

5) Krita: Alphabet and simple shapes

6) Creality Slicer: Boat

The items in this index don't need a preface, however, I've been told that a simple boat is a great way to benchmark your printer and familiarize yourself w/ G-code. So what do we make of this? It's safe to say that the RPG Travel Kit has already seen completion in a limited form, "Four Titles" follows suit since I've accepted to run these campaigns with the barest of essentials.

[Proj_00]: "RPG Travel Kit" completed

[Proj_01]: "Four Titles" in development

I'd hardly call what I'm doing a project on its own. Still, it needs a title. Call it the initial phase of a learning curve just to get started. I can showcase progress, share what I've learned, and reflect on the process as a whole. No, not a project in and of itself, just a phase in something bigger. Shut up, Mom! It's not a phase!

-[Phase_00]: "The First Compile"...Think it works?

I've been at this Starbucks for almost two hours now and would like something to show for it.

-Errant out

_On The State of Things:

I don't like how my News tab outweighs my Art tab but what can I say? Writing has always come to me more naturally than drawing though my progress today helps with that feeling. While in between jobs I'm going to use my open schedule to work on building up creative skills. I'm not sure what I'm expecting of myself or the future of my art but I know that my abilities are a long way off from all the big dreams I have. Better to move forward with an attitude of realism.

_On Evangelion:

Can't remember how it started but I got back into watching Neon Genesis: Evangelion. No matter what culture you're from, there's always that need for connectivity-the drive to be aware and present in the world despite the drawbacks. That's my interpretation of Shinji's journey at least. I can also appreciate media for its vibes, subtext and cultural relevance notwithstanding. It's just such a visually impressive anime to boot! Everything about NERV headquarters deserves praise. The checklists and protocols at the start of every EVA launch, the immeasurable scale of the geofront's superstructure. Masterful, all of it.

I started watching Evangelion and King of the Hill in the same timeframe with older cousins, so for the strangest reason those two animations occupy a similar nostalgic niche. N2 mines don't kill people, the government does!

Furthermore it's a story that helps cope with feelings of nihilism and isolation. What is most personal is most universal I presume. It's limited 26 episode run makes me think about the longevity of miniseries in the public eye. Generation: Kill, Band of Brothers, Highschool of the Dead. There's an aspect of finality that warrants respect and I didn't internalize that fact until recently.

I remember when writing stories and thinking of stories, I always wanted them to last forever and that's why keeping them going was so difficult. What has a beginning must have an end. My writing process suffered because I always struggled with the concept of finality. When you keep food past the expiration date it goes sour. Once I asked my dad if he ever thought that the Austin Powers movies should get a reboot. His response stands out in memory: It had its run.

Let things go gracefully...

Think about the situation with modern Star Wars and other IPs disney owns. It's not allowed to die, it's kept in a stasis of sorts. They're never gonna improve on the formula of (Ragtag band of rebels + Sand Planet) / Stuck in the fucking Empire Era. Disney will milk that cow until it's just as emaciated as a toothpaste tube squeezed well beyond the last drop.

Even Liam Neeson agrees that all the spin-offs and sequels drain the magic of a once beloved story. In a deleted rant about the current state of the Aliens franchise, I said Keep your fucking mouth shut and keep it interesting. Too bad Aliens is now disney property. How apropos.

Back to Evangelion, it honestly feels like the team at Gainax fired on all cylinders for each episode including EoE, and in doing so they created a series that outlived their own company. Everything will be forgotten eventually and that's alright. The fact that it was ever a thing is more important than monumentality. That goes for your drawings, your stories, late night snack runs with friends. Life truly is about the simple pleasures.

In the end, the passion behind your creative efforts far exceeds the output of finished products. Certainly finished is better than perfect. I'd rather have four quarters than a hundred pennies ya dig? But the hard part of that realization is that my skillset only allows for hundreds of pennies and not quarters.

Enough about that.

Finality is just as important to a story as its beginning. There's more I would like to say on the rebuilds of Evangelion but I'll have to get around to that later.

_Where To Go From Here:

I've written my characters and stories as if they're never meant to end. With that in mind, it's been very difficult to start. Of course, I do feature certain OCs in multiple different canons. They may continue but of course those particular narratives demand their own conclusions. Having plot has always served me better than just winging it.

_Final Thoughts:

I've stated my main point enough already. To quote this one eloquent gentleman on the One Piece anime, "I only keep up with [the show] because I've been watching it for 20 fucking years! Eight presidential terms and they haven't found ONE PIECE!".

-Errant out

_Update:

When you're in between jobs, you really can't say no to a favor for someone especially while you live in their house. I was all over the city running errands and didn't get the time for a study session while light out. To touch base, I'm moving forward with the plan to use vanilla character sheets for Project "Four Titles". I'd rather start writing something at all before I fall back into another pipeline of customization. Another thing, I got in touch with my mom and she's got a cricut she no longer uses happy days oh happy days!

_What Went On Today:

This is unrelated to my creative projects but I stopped by the county gun store and picked up 500 rounds of 9mm FMJ. I always appreciated the sleek, modern look of Beretta's 92 series of pistols and decided it was the appropriate handgun for Ms. April Lindemann.

Also this six-pack of beer is flatter than the midwest and I want my $10 back.

_Plans for February:

Man makes plans, god laughs at man...

So I'm in the market for a good zombie-apocalypse TTRPG. In the current lineup I got Death in Space, Mork Borg or DnD, Cyberpunk: RED, I would really love to round it off with zombies but there are several options to choose from. Tonight I'll print those character sheets and get some zero-drafts ready tomorrow.

Furthermore I'm gonna introduce concept diaries into the stream of blogs. Ideas gotta come from somewhere.

_Closing Thoughts:

Best use the night setting up for tomorrow. Not much to say this time.

-Errant out

_Intro:

It took me a while but I finally made the switch from adobe products to the free alternatives. Not only am I saving $50/mo but the character sheets transitioned to InkScape well enough, which brings me to my first problem moving forward: I took one look at the UI and it's like trying to read chinese upside down in the middle of a nighttime car ride. This is no attempt to disparage InkScape as a software or an assessment of its abilities. I'm simply belaboring the point that after two years of Illustrator fanboyism, I have no clue what I'm doing. Looks like I'm gonna have to lock in for another study session tomorrow.

After some tweaking with the settings, I managed produce a quality result. Definitely gonna put out some scratch on the 110 lb. cardstock from now on. Heavy duty is always preferable.

_Moving Forward:

My innermost perfectionist says there's still work to do. For the sake of quality control, I need portraits for each character (1.125" x 1.375" or 28.5mm x 35mm). Can you tell I got OCD from my mom? Anyway, nothing happens until I've learned InkScape's program. Then comes the portraits, then the minor revisions to the character sheets for a 1.1 version. I may have goofed an extra 1/8" (28.5mm) on the finished piece.

_Where Does This Leave Us?:

Weeellllll, there's always the vanilla character sheets. There's always more RPGs I downloaded from DriveThru. I can be proud of the first version of the character sheets but nothing happens until something moves. Fuck it, we ball!

_Project "Four Titles":

Just so we can focus on something, I'm revising Project "Four Titles". Instead of synchronously designing four separate RPG Maker games, let's use four separate games from my DriveThru library for story generation! The RPG element remains but we're going analog. Regarding the four TTRPG's we're focusing on: I have Cyberpunk: RED, Death in Space, Mork Borg, and the famous Dungeons & Dragons. I have yet to figure out how DnD works, shit's for nerds.

It's time to end the month by getting some momentum going. Tomorrow starts with some learning. Then designing the solo-campaigns which will serve as the catalysts for the project. February's gonna open up with getting familiarized on all my games, more story-design (characters, settings, other pertinent elements).

There's architecture-style writing and garden. I like to think I can do both throughout the new year.

_Closing Thoughts:

Finished is better than perfect. Let's take the L and use the vanilla character sheets for the four games in my selection. While "Four Titles" cooks starting February, I'll get cracking on some free-writes, fanfiction and the like. They have yet to call me back on the county job and if they do, I can get some serious funding going on-not my intention, but my art & writing aren't the only things I have to worry about. But, I'll be able to afford gas, grocery, and guns. 10mm ain't cheap, boy-o.

Furthermore, I want to save up for that cricut. And looking at the work ahead of me, gonna need a lot of dosh for ink and cardstock. We don't import those, do we? I looked it up, we import ink from every country the coppertone convict is putting tariffs on! fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

_How to end the night:

That Celsius really did its job. I feel at ease despite the state of things. Maybe you just run out of mental energy after so much thinking and there's nothing left to do but watch the news stories go on. How did it get like this? This account I mean. I'm not a political type nor do I entertain the thought that I'll use my platform for political endorsement. I'm just screaming into the ether. Writing has always come more easily to me than drawing and that's how my content ratio turns out the way it does. Whatever fires together wires together as my therapist says. The mental faculties I need for drawing certainly need revision because there are muscles up there I'm just not using as efficiently.

Everyday feels like the last day of normalcy, like those few tense weeks before the pandemic-remember those? We never thought it could happen here no sir. I feel like Turkish in the opening to Snatch.

"I'm a boxing promoter. What do I know about diamonds?"

At the very least, I could be a smut-writer since my art isn't as prolific. These entries are just easier to write because the source material is so (how should I say?) plentiful. If you got it, flaunt it. I'm very grateful for my position despite everything. I get to be more worried for others than myself. I have job prospects, a place to live, enough free time to facilitate my degenerate ideas. And for that reason it is a failure on my part to not do anything with these privileges. That word really has a stink on it these days.

I can honestly say that there is no room in my heart for negativity because at this point I feel it like an acid dissolving my brain. And I-unlike so many others-have the option to tune out. It will end someday.

Of course I'm not truly exempt from the difficulties predicted to come. Everyone has to eat, everyone needs clean water. The southwest is especially vulnerable to drought and heat advisories despite our local economy dumping so much investment into pecans of all things. If you've ever driven past the orchards you'll see the little swamps that flood the ground surrounding the trees. Water-intensive crops. Golf courses. Water parks. Odd things to find in a desert.

I don't expect anyone to listen. If I didn't write these I'd just talk to myself throughout the day. Everything has to go somewhere. This year started with me telling myself that the only thing that matters is cultivating an online gallery of creative works. Drawings, stories, etc. Consider my aforementioned 'Screaming into The Ether' as a means of de-cluttering. It's like waste management, someone's got to take out the garbage. I'll settle for being a janitor again if my interview falls through tomorrow. The mass deportations are making such waves in the job market.

_Return to Form:

What do I know about diamonds? I'm a boxing promoter!

As stated, writing comes more naturally to me than drawing and that will continue to be the case if I keep up with this routine. With the character sheets now completed (save for a few adjustments I want to make tomorrow) I can finally use the Death in Space core rule book for story generation.

Why did it take me that long? I think I'm easily distracted but with the new year came a new adjustment to my workflow. You start to reassess your priorities when you sense things going to shit. It's all perspective really. Maladaptive daydreaming is just as much to blame. Chatter in the skull. It needs to stop.

I have to accept that I am not that good but w/ time and persistence I can match my skill level in drawing with that of writing; or at least my comfort with doing so. Drawing always felt like a chore and it has to do with expectation. If a drawing wasn't going well it would be frustrating. The legs would be too long or there was an issue with perspective and I'm erasing the face over and over again. A chore just to pad out my art portal here on Newgrounds.

Where does the heart of the issue lie? Expectations that I have to be as good of an artist as I want to be or else that daydreaming went to waste. Well, it did. Because now I'm rushing to put something out there and it lacks the same passion that goes into the Travel Kit-just draw a naked woman and call it a day. The solution lies in treating illustration with the same favor as writing. I never expect to anyone to read this. There is this one guy who leaves a little smiley face consistently on my blog posts. Thank you if you are taking the time to read these. I wish you well

That favor I'm talking about is how loosely I hold the idea. My therapist is a very mystical person. One day he handed me a little picture book and said open up to any page. The first picture I landed on: washoe baskets. Thematically, a washoe basket doesn't jealously hold onto its contents. They're light, impermanent, most of them don't even have lids. This was all on a discussion regarding my art blocks by the way. You see, a container that doesn't freely allow for the deposit and withdrawal of its contents doesn't make for a very good container. Imagine if your bank welded its vault shut with all your money in it-I know most currency is digital, bear with me here.

Every idea felt like it had to be the idea. It had to be perfect, executed to a level of precision long-range sharpshooters can only dream of. But that can't be true when you're a beginner artist and certainly not while you're an amateur.

Another thing that pushes me into rushing is the need to escape the rat race. Everyone wants to follow their passion. Be an artist, a singer/songwriter, make millions playing video games on Twitch, and I thought with enough grinding and momentum I could be independently wealthy using my stories. How unrealistic am I?

Exploitative is the word. How could I get anywhere in building talent if I'm already planning to build income off of what I haven't created? No, it's flawed. The entire workflow is flawed by doing that.

Where does that leave us? Well, the answer lies in several things: cease all expectations, hold onto ideas lightly, and just go with the flow. Remember that protocol? It was rooted in kindness, moving gently. Without negativity as a guiding force, there's nothing left but to plant a seed and let it grow. Minimal intervention, let nature take its course.

I'm gonna do something different for April this year. She's always been hard to draw, hard to write for, and that's because I held onto what I thought she should be as a character. Too much control. Too much rigidity. Remember when I said not to take things too seriously? Now's the time to try it. Mr. Alan Watts could have something to say about if he were still here. With his death goes a certain pattern in the water, he said something like that.

*Quick intermission: while this $3 walmart candle sets the tone for writing, it is not as potent as I thought it would be. My dad got back into pot and when he lights up he puts 90's rappers to shame. Never was a fan of grass. Drink is more my style.

_More gripes about art:

I asked myself where does that talent come from? That ability to draw, to program, just as easily as speaking your native language. It comes from years of habit. Personally, I'm a thinker. Not that I ponder so deeply about the world; I'm not that pretentious. But there's a lot of free time I fill in with just thinking. Together, the skull-chatter mixed with a negativity bias leads to a kind of brain rot that makes skibidi toilet look like Jacob Geller.

Maybe I could get somewhere in video essays. I always enjoyed Plague of Gripes' content when he does his monologues over a drawing. Just wish he did more animations, though. Those were better days when the Super Best Friends were still together. But things change...

Kill me or release me, parasite. But do not waste my time with talk!

I just have a lot to say and I'm tired of thinking it. After all, what fires together wires together.

_Moving Forward:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is easily one of my top 5 films. I have yet to finish the book but will likely do so with a reading of it on YouTube. When you think about it, what was Hunter S. doing out there with his Samoan attorney? Officially, he was covering a story on a motorcycle race, but being the drug-aficionado he was, got sidetracked. Then he wrote a book about it.

There's a meta-commentary to that whole narrative. At least when you watch the movie you pick up on the woes of this former hippy who outlived the highest point of American counter-culture. We're all wired into a survival trip now he writes near the movie's denouement.

Duke's narrations throughout appear more in mind than the crazy visuals, all the gags with the dwarves and hallucinations. The narrations are when he's his most lucid and likely depressed.

I can admire his adventure to Nevada and envy moments of it here and there. He was on a mission to find the American Dream the government promised him. Or what was left of it. Fact is, the whole experience was futile. There was no american dream. And all that's left to do with the space caused by its absence is to get high and think back on what could've been. The hippies: burnt out, displaced, spiritual refugees.

Who do you think is the modern day equivalent now that we're all so material and assimilated to order?

_Closing Thoughts:

I write because it's the easiest thing for me to do in this day and age. I've exhausted the option to ceaselessly day dream and now the only thing left to do is concede the loss of time and mental energy. Think lightly of yourself and deeply about the world Musashi writes. Because the world's a big place and could stand to lose a few pounds. I find the idea sobering.

I'd love to resume work on the character sheets, get them rendered, printed, and fill the blanks with everything pertaining to my lineup of characters. That's the way to move forward. It'll be better to not hold onto it so tightly as if it were my only anchor at sea. There's a reason Buddhists say attachment leads to suffering.

At the end of the day I learned that there is no big idea, no one-punch win that's gonna save me from my status in life. There's only the work in front of me and the tenacity to finish it.

Goodnight, have the day you deserve, tomorrow will bring more big news.

-Errant out

I almost forgot April's birthday's tomorrow! Gonna start work on her 5 year piece as soon as I come up w/ an idea. Also, the glue tape I got at Michael's was useless, gonna hit up walmart and get some more in addition to printer ink and cardstock.

A celsius doesn't sound so bad right now. It's been a day.

I can't change the world but I can help out my friends. This job'll be good for me. I can eat the rising cost of groceries if it means I can start making meals for everyone. A couple of easy recipes:

-French Toast

-Grilled Cheese

-Beef and Pasta

-Hamburgers (if you don't mind the clean up)

-Spamwiches (on toasted brioche it'll change your life)

My grandpa got me into tinned sardines. They're 80 cents a can. I have a weakness for the ones in Louisiana hot sauce.

Figures people will avoid recipes including eggs or poultry. I guess we can say goodbye to coffee for a while too, don't affect me none too bad. I always preffered energy drinks for my caffeine fix. Tea's better for you anyway if it is a tad boring.

Times like this remind me of Frostpunk's endless mode; thoughts on the sequel later. In endless mode you get modifiers that up the difficulty in a variety of ways. Maybe your coal mines have 80% less output for a week or hunting parties bring back half as much food. Just ways to challenge the player on top of keeping their city aloft. I'm in no way trying to make light of the hardships people will go through these coming years but it's how I rationalize things. It will end someday.

Take care of yourself, take care of others. You get the idea. Maybe do yourself a favor and try tinned sardines w/ LA hot sauce if you can.

Now what do about April's drawing...

-Errant out

_Update:

Progress is a word I've used frequently but today it has weight to it. I've finished another successful draft of the custom character sheets post-reconstruction. Altogether I wanted a personalized version of the vanilla character sheets from the downloadables page on the Death in Space official site. https://deathinspace.com/downloads/.

My intent was to combine the visual aesthetics from Dead Space and apply those concepts to the vanilla format. It's minimalistic compared to the in-game menus, I also took inspiration from the core rulebook and a plane ticket to Phoenix. Once I get more ink, I can print the first copy. Aside from a few tweaks, I'm happy with the finished design. I think I'm gonna change the little kanji up there to mean something else.

This is the first step towards completing the RPG Travel kit. But with these character sheets, I can begin the bare minimum for story writing using Death in Space for random generation.

_Job Search:

As stated previously, I left my full-time position in waste management and used my open schedule to work on the character sheets. Today I finished the first draft and booked an interview with county utilities. My old boss told me that things line up the way they're supposed to. I guess he was right. Project funding wasn't my largest concern but I can hardly get by on a single part-time and the price of everything's gonna go up. Ain't that a bitch? I was starting to get used to my third places. At least the US has its own breweries, trade coffee shops for bars.

_Manufacturing:

Need ink, ideally more cardstock. I'll also have to run to Michael's for more papercrafting equipment, it's that glue tape I'm after. A distressing kit would be nice too. The travel kit will remain as one of three projects in my index. 3's a solid number to work with. Taught myself leathersmithing during the lockdowns so I can fashion a new pouch just in case the fabric ones don't work out. Returning the job search real quick, a Cricut would be nice but it's not important.

_Project Index:

>RPG Travel Kit:

1. Character Sheets (first draft complete)
2. Hub Sheet: similar to item 1. but for the spacecraft that serves as the main vehicle for the story
3. Cheat Sheet (Second Draft): needs a successful print since I started running out of ink.
4. Maps: I like the stratified map structure in RPG Maker (Overworld->Town->Interior), They won't be too detailed, more like working drawings, the kind you see in floorplans. Once I figure out how to design topographic maps they'll be featured too.
5. Tables: Everything will need a table-encounters, loot drops, etc.
6. Blanks: Spare sheets just in case

>Writing: I have the characters, plot structure, and settings to start with. Without revealing too much, I'll drip feed details through concept diaries.

>Drawing: Missed the takeover again. Had a couple of drawing of Lexine in my journal but that isn't the quality of art I want to display. Also not keen on ripping more pages out.

_Areas of Study:

In addition to the current projects, I've got studying to do. Santa gave me a 3D printer and that's a field I'd like to get more into. Miniatures may be far off from my index since it's only a simple PLA printer but at the very least I can make some elements to help out in other areas. PETG is what you want for heavy-duty projects (so I've been told).

The next thing to pick up is a programming language. Python's a good one and I hear you can make simple RPGs with it. Maybe it'll be a good start for game development since my Maker projects fell through. Problem is, I've had a lot of trouble even knowing where to start with learning a programming language. But I don't think you can learn it the same way you learn arithmetic, you need a project before anything else.

_Finishing Thoughts: Gonna take off in this direction and see where I go. How far I can get is even better. I'm happy to say that the most important part of the Travel Kit is finished and have something of a skeleton put together.