I spoke to my supervisor, who told me, based on CDC guidelines, I can return to work Sunday at the earliest. Since my workweek is Wed-Sun, and I have the office to myself on Wednesdays and Thursdays, I suggested returning Wednesday. It'll give me space to myself and time to sort through two weeks of emails. (Plus, we get a LOT of visitation on weekends and much less on weekdays.)

Good luck going back to work! :)

—————-

I cut my chin the other day shaving, worse than I've ever cut it shaving before. It turned out exactly like a graze from falling from a bike XD

I ONLY ever cut myself with brand new razors, the newer they are the more they slice. This one seems to have shaved a lot of the skin…
Old, dull razors can hurt but it's only because they yank and pull on hair, they don't tend to cut the skin.
New razors knick and give you razorburn. Can't win XD

Ouch! I've had one or two shaving incidents over the years. Trouble is you get used to that dull blade for a few shaves, then when you switch to a new one you tend to apply too much pressure. There's a very fine line between close shave and skin graft. On the plus side, it's a good clean wound and should heal well!

Yep, I've been there, too. The pain of a shave is what reminds me to change my blade - then I'm too rough with my next shave with the new razor!

–

Man oh man, I've spent lots of money lately. New computer, new fancy drawing program, and some other stuff. it's been an orgy of spending. It's all stuff I'm happy with, but it's time to switch into austerity mode for awhile. Luckily the things I've spent on have been worth it.

Instant noodles and soda crackers, here I come!

Ah, big expenses… It's certainly worth it man! Good on you!

Though I still recommend Samsung Tab S with a drawing program like Artflo or Sketchbook pro. So much cheaper than a computer, drawing programs, tablets etc. So much cheaper.
Back in the day before computers plateaued with processor power and ram it was VERY expensive to get a good art rig, cost more than a gaming machine. I spent many thousands to get computers to do what cheap paper, pens and paints could do just fine XD
But I felt it was worth it to develop my skills and the power it would give me to utilise the digital art. I think it was.

————————-

Hmmm… same headache for two days solid. Not an extreme pain migraine type, just a light annoying on in my right temple that wont go away. It's irritating!! Gets me down too.
I'll take an expensive antimigraine pill for it this afternoon.

Yeah, I should've talked to you first in hindsight. When you mentioned the much, much cheaper approach the other day, I'd already bought my rig. Ah, well.

This thing is a blast, though! Still getting used to Clip Studio, playing around with it and finding my way. The word balloons creation is especially easy and fun - though I'm still creating those the old way I did. Keep a little consistency until the next story starts. xD

There's a fun little tool in there called Paint 3D. I know it's been around for awhile, but I'd never heard of it. This thing is so much fun!

Sorry to hear about the headache. Hope it leaves soon. They're the worst!

Thanks man.
I'm looking forward to seeing how that changes your art :)

I'm taken with hand lettering now… I'm experimenting with not using word bubbles at all in Bottomless Waitress too.
-Though it's a pretty established thing in Pinky TA.

That ‘no word bubble’ look is neat - I see it here and there in various books. It gives a…I want to say a more ‘realistic’ or grounded feel, maybe?

I don't know if I'd do it in the stuff I draw. Maybe, but it could get complicated putting the text over backgrounds that can vary in color - I'm far too lazy to want to deal with that xD

It worked on the last page of BW because of the dark backgrounds and simple colours… But I don't know if it'll work on other pages XD

My rooster that was supposed to be a hen is driving me nuts. First, he started acting macho whenever I came to feed them, and he bit me. So I started picking him up and hugging him and calling him my silly puffy macho dude, and he stopped the bullshit for the most part.

But he also figured out how to crow. And he doesn't crow like my neighbor's rooster (a couple times in the morning, and then a few crows if something annoys him). Nope. Fred crows like a dog barking at squirrels. Over and over and over for twenty minutes straight.

I made a couple rooster collars last month (before he was even starting to make noise) just in case he drove me insane. Out of frustration (and with a splitting headache), I fitted him with one today. He is annoyed. But quiet. And he's eating and drinking and clucking, so I don't think it's too traumatizing for him.

Since the beginning, I'd had “get rid of the rooster” at the front of my mind. But instead, I keep accommodating him. My chicken-keeping friends tell me that they get better as adults. He's currently horrible because he's an adolescent and his hens are on the verge of laying.

@usedbooks, I am excited to hear how those farm fresh eggs will taste when you finally make an omelette.

Is it true that it is good to have one rooster to accompany the hens because it helps with production of eggs?

@kawaii

Nope. Hens produce eggs regardless of their living situation, for the same reason women have periods even if they live alone or with other women. I wanted only hens, but Fred was missexed and sold to me as a female. :P

However, I have learned that hens are dumb as rocks and generally incapable of defending themselves. Roosters keep flock order and prevent squabbling for pecking order. They also stay alert for predators. So roosters do serve a purpose. Egg production isn't it, though.

(It also means when my hens get older and I need more layers, I potentially have a source of free chicks.)

And my eggs will be fertilized, which isn't a huge deal (if you gather and refrigerate them asap). But grocery store eggs are not. There are no roosters on production farms/factories.

One of my hens laid an egg! On the ground, instead of in the expensive nest box I painstakingly attached to my homemade coop, and it's about half the size of a grocery store egg. Still, yay! An egg!

So you're not going to be eating any baby chickens? :D

ozoneocean wrote:
So you're not going to be eating any baby chickens? :D

Not much meat on a baby chicken. Fred looks pretty tasty, though.

(My fear is not finding eggs in time. Because one of my chickens ended up being a rooster, they are fertilized eggs, so they run the risk of developing if not gathered.)

Isn't that how chicken nuggets were invented?

usedbooks wrote:

ozoneocean wrote:
So you're not going to be eating any baby chickens? :D

Not much meat on a baby chicken. Fred looks pretty tasty, though.

(My fear is not finding eggs in time. Because one of my chickens ended up being a rooster, they are fertilized eggs, so they run the risk of developing if not gathered.)

That's what I meant XD
-Baby chickens in eggs… I think that'd be gross

ozoneocean wrote:

usedbooks wrote:

ozoneocean wrote:
So you're not going to be eating any baby chickens? :D

Not much meat on a baby chicken. Fred looks pretty tasty, though.

(My fear is not finding eggs in time. Because one of my chickens ended up being a rooster, they are fertilized eggs, so they run the risk of developing if not gathered.)

That's what I meant XD
-Baby chickens in eggs… I think that'd be gross

We (or, farmers of our ancestry) bred out the “broody” nature from egg-production breeds. They have no desire/instinct to sit on eggs. No incubation means no development.

I've been feeling pretty down recently, mainly thinking on my Ex-girlfriend… What triggered it was that a hat I bought for her birthday from Russia finally arrived. She loves Russia so it was supposed to be part of a whole bunch of Russian pressies. I bought the things months in advance but CoVid-19 hit and things closed down all over the globe, so that by the time the gifts got here it was well past her birthday and the span of the relationship itself ironically.

So the hat got here finally, and another little thing a few weeks before that. I messaged her a few times about them and talked about taking them over to her but then things just petered out and came to nothing. I've no more energy to keep reaching out…
I wanted to remain friends but that's not to be it seems.

Which is OK. But I'm allowed to feel down about that. So I'll just stew until that fades.

———-

My prescription monocle finally arrived from the UK. It works well for working on my comic while watching TV. It's not perfect, glasses give you better vision correction because they're on both eyes, but it's a very good compromise for my needs - my close up visions is great, I just need help to fix the blurriness in the distance… i.e. text on the TV screen.

ozoneocean wrote:
I've been feeling pretty down recently, mainly thinking on my Ex-girlfriend… What triggered it was that a hat I bought for her birthday from Russia finally arrived. She loves Russia so it was supposed to be part of a whole bunch of Russian pressies. I bought the things months in advance but CoVid-19 hit and things closed down all over the globe, so that by the time the gifts got here it was well past her birthday and the span of the relationship itself ironically.

So the hat got here finally, and another little thing a few weeks before that. I messaged her a few times about them and talked about taking them over to her but then things just petered out and came to nothing. I've no more energy to keep reaching out…
I wanted to remain friends but that's not to be it seems.

Which is OK. But I'm allowed to feel down about that. So I'll just stew until that fades.

———-

My prescription monocle finally arrived from the UK. It works well for working on my comic while watching TV. It's not perfect, glasses give you better vision correction because they're on both eyes, but it's a very good compromise for my needs - my close up visions is great, I just need help to fix the blurriness in the distance… i.e. text on the TV screen.

Well @ozoneocean, I'm far from being the one with the right advise. But I heard someone say “Whoever says ‘I love you’ first, is the one who loves the most” which clearly I see it's you my friend. And it's OK to feel down about it, some people needs more time than others.

You've done what it's in your hands, don't push yourself. If you want to keep that hat and other belongings from her it's OK, but you need to diferentiate if those things make you happy and brings great and joyful memories from you two togheter or, conversely, brings sad or hard memories.
In both cases, you should know what to do.

Take your time!

There's a lot of COVID19 fatigue going around. That on top of everything else is straining personal coping skills to the limit. Do the best you can and realize that you're not alone and that there are plenty of resources available if you need them.

Personally, I just came through a very dark period in the two months since my mother passed away. And I have come to the conclusion that my subconscious is persecuting me in my dreams. They're very vivid and I wake up very agitated and upset. So I dug out the positive affirmations and am taking on this subconscious that is seeking to undermine my ability to function.

Genejoke wrote:
Isn't that how chicken nuggets were invented?

I'm having a rough go too. Lost two pet rats this week (one I had euthanized yesterday because he stopped eating and had pain symptoms). My car is becoming much more “glitchy,” to a point it barely starts anymore. My brother traded with me to get it to a mechanic. If it needs $$$ of work, I might throw in the towel and buy a new car.

I miss my parents. They are on the opposite side of the planet. They were supposed to come home in April. I'm of mixed emotions because they are in one of the safest places atm (in terms of Covid), and if they were home, they would be in one of the more dangerous.

That must be awful UB.
I will sh I could go and see Tantz in Greece again…
_______

A few weeks ago I thought I had a bit of a belly coming on so I resolved to combat that and get to my ideal weight… So I limited myself to no lunch and no junkfood or treats. My only snack is one sweet biscuit and three savoury ones with vegimite.

And it worked! It's a slow weight loss, at a steady rate of 1kg every two weeks.
I'll be glad when I get to the right amount and I can have the occasional treat again! And start eating lunch.

It been a “HELL” of a year. The Mayans was off by 8 years. Still pretty close if you ask me.



I lose my pet Ruthie a day before my birthday, Jan,15th. One of the saddest birthdays I’ve ever had. And about a month later, my other pet Batman passed Away. He passed in my wife and I arms. Then the next month hit with COVID 19. My wife’s cousin’s boyfriend lost his arm due to Multi blood clots In his arm from the virus. Friends from work had family that died from it.


Being an essential worker don’t make it any easier. This “Corona-verse” is like a movie come to life. The first thing I thought was A bit of Planet of the Apes virus Mix with The Happening. This thing is Airborne AIDS. Living in Florida With cases all over the place is scary. lol, I even grow a beard just so the mask doesn’t give me a rash.



Really, the only things now keeping me sane is reading comics from DD and Webtoons, watching anime, and playing Warframe. Another year or so of this Shit here in the States because of the political nonsense About how we should protect ourselves when clearly other countries have close no cases of this virus when they declared martial law. Why couldn’t we do that from the beginning? Any how.



Stay safe Ducks.

Some form of migraine is hitting multiple times a week now. I lost feeling in my hand 14 hours ago, and it still isn't back to full function. Luckily, today's migraine was just personal torment and not a safety hazard. (Selective blindness and losing myemory and my ability to communicate are the scariest symptoms I get. Today it was just loss of tactile sensation, hypersensitivity to light and sound, and sharp head pain.)

I am irritated and fascinated at how my brain screws with me. It usually happens once a month, but it seems to be amping up to almost daily.

Not a good week… My mum fell ill from pneumonia - Bacterial rather than viral though, we don't have CoVid-19 in this state fortunately.
She's out of hospital now and getting better now, but still not felling well. She's depressed that she's not allowed to fly anymore for at least the rest of this year. She was meant to go and see my sister (in the same state- it's so big it takes many days to drive across it)

I've had to visit the hospital every day this week to look after her so I've not had time for anything much. AND I have a mysterious pain in my left foot, AND headaches all week… This week sucks.


——————

Oh dear, and the bullshit about Donald and his CoVid-19 infection. -_-
You'd think at least this ONE time he'd show one ounce of leadership instead of pretending like a little kid that it has no effect on him. Idiot should be leading by example and showing how a REAL man should handle a serious infectious disease: isolating, wearing a mask, distancing from others etc.
And yet he goes on like a puffed up baby, setting the worst example to a nation of people that are worst affected and who need a good example most. It's disgusting.
If Australia had a leader like that he wouldn't be one after that.

MegaRdaniels wrote:

Genejoke wrote:
Isn't that how chicken nuggets were invented?

I think if someone could describe me in one post, this would be it! Thanks for the lulz :)

ozoneocean wrote:
Not a good week… My mum fell ill from pneumonia - Bacterial rather than viral though, we don't have CoVid-19 in this state fortunately.
She's out of hospital now and getting better now, but still not felling well. She's depressed that she's not allowed to fly anymore for at least the rest of this year. She was meant to go and see my sister (in the same state- it's so big it takes many days to drive across it)

I've had to visit the hospital every day this week to look after her so I've not had time for anything much. AND I have a mysterious pain in my left foot, AND headaches all week… This week sucks.

@ozoneocean - I am terribly sorry for the unfortunate circumstances you have been facing this week. Regardless the source, Pneumonia is a terrible thing to face, especially since it impacts breathing.

===

Tomorrow is October 10, 2020, a date written as 10-10-2020, what an interesting date.

I hope we get a nice turnout for tomorrow’s big 500th Quackcast episode!! 💚