Personally, I love my desktop computer and it is one machine that can keep up with me. But I have been using a tablet since September of last year and overall it as helped me stay more organized. I carry it around everywhere because it is much lighter than my laptop. The touch screen keyboard is pretty legit–and reading webcomics on a tablet is an unparalleled experience because of the scrolling option. I believe they are worth the investment.

I was uncertain about getting a tablet so i bought a cheap 7“ one. does what i need it to just fine but doesn't get much use to be honest. But the idea of getting a 10” samsung and having cintiq like capabilities… that IS tempting. i have one to play with at work and the touch screen is impressive but havent tried doing any art on it, perhps i should.
I've been quiet on the comickign front recently, mostly due to the breakdown of my marriage. nothing lasts for ever i suppose. Been a long time coming if i'm honest, have tried to make it work for the kids but i can't do it any longer. Moving out of the family home in a few days, that's going to be hard but the only way forwards i can see.
Also in other news I have a step cousin, or former step cousin as the marriage that made him part of the family has ong since ended… anyway he has the same name as me and took my family name then didn't change it back. Anyway there is a guy with the same name as me who has recently been convicted of pedophilia and he is a sort of relative. haven't seen him in over twenty years but still. Wouldn't be so bad if my name was john smith or something common but my surname is pretty uncommon. NOT COOL.

Do what is best for your own life. Do what you have to and take care of you. The kids know and can see the strain and staying together may be worse for all than seperating. My brother's kids have had to deal with a marraige that's been falling apart for ten years and still hasn't completely come apart because of various factors, money being the biggest one. It's a cluster f**k. Divorces are expensive.
My wife's sister is going through a divorce after a long marriage. It's messy, at times almost comical and her husband is a convicted sex offender. Those comical moments make it so much easier to get through because my brother-in-law is so self-absorbed he does really dumb things and you just have to laugh.

Genejoke, that is one WHOLE bunch of tragedy! -Especially having to move out of your house, since that was such a great find for you. That's a lot of awful stuff.
The last bit about the former step cousin is horrible too, but also has a tinge of humour too it, I'm ashamed to say I did find that a little funny. Sorry man.

If I were you I'd be using my middle name as well to help distinguish myself from that freak.
That all pretty horrible stuff man, I hope you come through it ok and I hope your kids are fine.

———-

Kawaii is right, tablets are way lighter than laptops which is a big advantage.
I was completely sceptical about the art capabilities of the Note Tablet though, it was only since I've had the Note II phone (and how well that works for drawing), that I considered it. Basically, that drawing ability is the main thing I have ALWAYS desired out of a tablet- as well as the attendant stuff like size, weight, usability, battery life, reliability, and enough power to handle what I need it for- But all that is only there to support the drawing ability (for me), with a real Wacom tech stylus.

Now if only they had even MORE power, more RAM, faster processor and GPU so you can work on pics the same size as you can on a full computer! The max size of a pic you can work on in Sketchbook pro is 2560px X 2560px, and only 3 layers at that size. Typical Pinky TA pages are 3000+ px by 4000+ px size, and many, many layers.

@Genejoke - pretty much what bravo Win XP > Vista; Win 7 > Win 8. I recently replaced “ol' Betsy” with a Win 8 laptop. As Hippy said, using the desktop option is like using Win 7, but it's inefficient to have to always take those extra steps to access. The music player and picture set-up annoys me - another example of Microsoft assuming (or telling me) it knows what I want better than I do. Like that stupid dancing paperclip. But I saved a couple $100s getting Win8 instead of 7 - and from that standpoint, it was worth it.

That's probably why my brain proposed that all convicted sex offenders must always wear a baby-blue bow tie. Always. Globally. (I KNOW! stupid!! but it was one of those instant thoughts)

They'd look like Whovians… as in doctor who fans.
As for your comment about ending up hollow, pretty much there.

Has anyone used Manga Studio 5, and if so how do you like it? I've had a hell of a time finding and artist, and I thought perhaps a program like this will help “I of oh so little talent” to create one of my own! I juuuuust need to know if it's all I require and desire. Thoughts?

Software, no matter how good will not make you an artist. That sad good tools can make it easier to stomach learning. Try some free software and practice, if you feel you're getting somewhere buy manga studio.

Finally a warmer day, so rokulily and I decided to take a walk in the woods. I found a nice walking stick.



rokulily found a deer skull.


she kept it.

Darnit… Rock has all the luck. When I was younger I found a wild pig skull. I wanted to keep it. My mother told me to throw it away (it might make me sick and put a curse on me too)…

Oh… and just something off the Star Trek Online forum… hehe…

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/exclusive-william-shatner-fights-old-star-trek-enemy-215155239.html

Might have to cut/paste that link…
I chucked at how he said they were too old for this… :)

Ah, just came home to my parents for my easter break, although I've been using it mostly to work on my thesis. Ah it's good to be around your closest, if only for a week or two. But I guess we're going for a small road trip to visit my father's side of the family tomorrow, only for a day but a day is a day I guess :.

Thanks Genejoke. I'll dig around and see what I can find.
^..^

Fans of the new Dr Who, Registered Sex Offenders… whut's the diff? ^_^

Great art programs…
Well photoshop is the king, very complex to use though. Get version CS2 here for free from Adobe, including serial numbers: http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/
-not pirated. Really and truly, you can get it fro them in FULL for free.

Wow, I might finally update from Photo shop 7 to CS2! Hmmm, looks the same, feels the same but new stuff! Wow! New Toys! Feels like Christmas.

But it won't take my pictures for me. What no little droid to do all my work for me? Where's my R2-CS2 droid? And my CS2-3PO? I've been cheated!

3 days of an on again off again migraine so bad I had to take 2 days off of work.
I'm beter at the moment so now I'll have to get the late feature together.

As I get older these migraines get worse and worse. >:(

I've been having the same. The weather has fluctuated 30 degrees over the past three days with rain. So in comes the sinus headache and the migraine wants to play too and I loose all feeling in my right hand.

And there is like this super hot Carrie Ann Moss lookalike hold some sai advertising Marital Arts Gear and it's really distracting.

It's probably not a lookalike, but the real actor, since it's an ad. Graphic designers are only as scrupulous with copyright as their bank balance allows unfortunately.

I develop extreme focus on irrelevant things I see or think about when I have a migraine, I know that's part of the condition and not the pills. Leads to crazy thoughts.

I'm also hypersensitive to smells… or my sense of smell becomes much stronger. Either is plausible since blood flow to that area of the brain is increased and the focus of the brain due to pain is altered so… could be both.
Most perfumes are like poison gas to me anyway. :(

I am definitely SCENTsitive. Almost everything I use needs to be unscented or smell extraordinarily pleasant. I am repulsed by the cheap frangrance that comes with most commercial lotions and expired products give off a rancid smell that lingers. I also can not take the high end perfumes like Angel for too long because after I rub it on my wrists, the musk undertones drive me crazy and I end up needing to wash it off with heavy soap.

I am not even going to go into detail of terrible odors, such as riding the metro at 3:00a in the morning when it is crowded by strangers that smell ripe with urine and BO. I used to carry a pack of face masks with me for that very reason.

As for the migraines–have you ever considered traditional Chinese medicine? Sure, I take a pill for the worst headaches. But the main culprit of a headache/migraine is a problem with the blood flow in the body so a neck massage can actually help with circulation. Migraines are the worst–it is the main reason I completely avoid MSG in my food and use natural lighting instead if flourescent lighting while doing work. Sometimes I wonder if staring at a computer screen for prolonged periods of time causes headaches.

For me I think the key causes are sinus issues and constriction of blood vessels in the neck area due to the tilt of the head and neck… So massage has the potential to work I suppose, but I think it'd have to be done before the headache took hold because that constriction thing only influences the initial conditions- once the head/neck have moved the headache is still here.

Smells - there are two women in my office that're making life tough there. One is a temp worker and her perfume is sickly, SICKLY sweet and strong, and she goes mad with the photocopier which produces literally choking fumes. The other is the cleaner that comes in once a week, she has bad cheap strong perfume (uses it instead of deodorant I think) and uses stinky strongly scented cleaning products.

I think both women have the opposite problem that we have Kawaii- Much less sensitive sense of smell. I read about that the other day, apparently it's pretty dangerous:
They have less sensitivity to dangerous odours, and the lack of sensitivity can be a sign of brain damage. o_O

Don't ever get married. My wife is allergic to almost eveything but she uses a few hypoallergetic things where the floors me. I've been in a gas chamber with CS (tear gas with balls!) but this stuff knocks me out. I should really invest in a surplus protective mask.

There are a few seniors where I work that I can smell them coming because of the perfume. The eyes tear and I grin and bear it. Once they're out of range I run outside and breathe deep.

I'm starting to make sure I have a tissue or a scarf handy to filter out their crap so I can breathe. The stuff the photocopier puts out is not safe.

Speaking of breathing and stinks- the other day the air conditioning on the train was turned up way too high as usual, but something happened to it when we went through a tunnel, suddenly this smell of burning plastic and steel came through the carriage and got stronger and stronger. I couldn't take it, I got up and almost ran to the end of the next carriage. Even there I had to hold my collar over my nose and mouth to block out traces of the hot steel smell, but no plastic thankfully.

The thing is though that I noticed others in the first carriage could smell it too and were irritated by it, and yet they just stayed where they were like sacks of crap. Now I realise why so many people die stupidly in burning buildings or get so many types of acquired cancers and things- pig stupidity and ignoring the obvious.

——-

I've been listening to some podcasts while I've been sick: Skeptoid and A skeptics guide to the universe. Love them! Lessons my tolerance for idiots though.

I'm also scent-sensitive…I have to buy everything unscented, which stinks. (haha)
I once shaved my legs with scented shaving cream because I had bought it by accident. That was really terrible.
Oz, I read an article some time ago about how third-hand smoke (the stale smoke that clings to people's clothes and bodies) is bad for you. I guess if something smells terrible and poisonous it probably is.

—

I hate hate hate writing the last sentence of a paper. It never goes well.

Ha! I work in the food industry and the shiz we use to clean the grill would melt most faces…. we kitchen types are a hardy bunch…

I'm hyper sensitive in all senses and emotions, which is hellish. Too much sensory information is often ovewhelming.
Living alone for the first time in eleven years, it's hard. First few nights were pure hell. Fortunatley I'm getting into the swing of things, got some good friends being as supportive as they can. Money is tight as all our finances were tied so left her with most of the money. i have enough to scrp by on for the month, just. It'll get better soon.

One day at a time.

My specialty printer died so I lost a commission, probably two commissions. I loved doing work on that thing.

And I hate my comic.

Genejoke wrote:
I'm hyper sensitive in all senses and emotions, which is hellish. Too much sensory information is often ovewhelming.
Living alone for the first time in eleven years, it's hard. First few nights were pure hell. Fortunatley I'm getting into the swing of things, got some good friends being as supportive as they can. Money is tight as all our finances were tied so left her with most of the money. i have enough to scrp by on for the month, just. It'll get better soon.

I feel for you there, Genejoke. It was tough for us to adjust to living on half the salary after my mom moved out. Not to mention having to take out a mortgage for her half of the house, now worth more than the whole house was when my parents bought it.
It ended up being the best thing for our family, though. The period in my early teen years when my parents were together and not getting along was probably the worst part of my life. (Although to be fair, some of that can be blamed on other connected family issues and just plain adolescence.) My relationship with both of my parents is better now. Dealing with the awkwardness of trying not to bring up the topic of one parent in front of the other is a lot nicer than a constant atmosphere of unhappiness.

Time for me to do a litle bit of spam…

If you are not talking about the Drunk Duck Awards for this year, get into the forum. We have been discussiong categories and a couple of them went down without a fight. Now I am also trying to see what people liked and didn't liked from previous years. So if there is something sticking out to you please down to the forums so we know. This is the biggest yearly project on the site and I want make sure there is plenty of planning to make this one the best.

The quickest way to get to the discussion thread for the awards is to click the link in my sig.

Genejoke, that's awful. Hippie's experiences holds some hope though.
But there's nothing in the world that'd make me willing to go through the same thing. Even if someone paid me 10 million I don't think it'd be worth it. Heartbreak equals physical pain.
One thing though- you want to be kind and do the mainly thing with giving your partner more of a share to get by on, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. You need to provide for your children of course, but you also need to get by yourself and get ahead, not just scrape by starting again from scratch. I don't know if she'd really be thankful to you for having a bigger share.

bravo1102 wrote:
My specialty printer died so I lost a commission, probably two commissions. I loved doing work on that thing.

I've never had a colour printer. It's always been cheaper to go to some office supply place or pro printer and get the work done. As long as you have the right files, good res and colour, they have the expertise and the best materials.

Home printers are not a great thing. They're convenient and they can do a fantastic job, but just not cost effective and never will be.

I have a terrible tendancy to forget this place .__.
this stops now *drags to favorites tab* c'mon you!

I'm glad I switched completely to Google Chrome. I no longer use IE… too many errors with Drunkduck that caused it to shut down… what a headache.

Mass Effect 3: Omega was interesting. Going through the bowels of the place with none other than Aria herself. And depending on how you acted during the entire thing she either spares a life or takes it. Too bad Garrus couldn't tag along…

Now if only a certain madman would stop pointing those pointy nuclear fission things at my head…