Month: Aug 2020

Geeky Television Day

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I’ll be back to work later this week, so I’m savouring this last couple of days off with Lady M. We had a nice walk round the block earlier, and now we’re just enjoying finishing up Stargirl on Amazon. There’s a lightness to it that makes a fun contrast with the more po-faced Arrowverse. As a long-time fan of the JSA and comicbooks in general I’m finding it a joy to see a superhero show that absolutely leans into its roots and source material. Even better, even the most mustache-twiddling villain has nuanced and sympathetic writing. Like the best JSA stories of the last decade or two, it’s concerned with family and legacies – and is all the better for it.

It’s all enough to make my geeky heart glow.

Artwork Updates

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I’m mostly creating images based on my line art at the moment for inclusion in the shop rather than the more abstract items. Its partly the joy of seeing something complete the transition from page to screen to physical object; and partly a good excuse to get more practice with transparencies and therefore with more varied backgrounds.

To whom it may concern…

Indeed, some of the most entertaining moments have come from settling on a range of colours for each form, whether it is a throw cushion, a clock, or a metal print. Yes, my life really is that slow sometimes.

I’m back to work in the library next week, so I’m enjoying the quiet before my return. Hush.

Sleepy Day

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I was up at about eight or so this morning, mostly because I could hear Lady M moving around having breakfast so I got up too and got on with putting out the washing and similar household essentials. So far so normal, but its not been without feeling sleepy.

Thats probably as much to do with the journey to Portsmouth and back as anything else along with spending a little more than planned in the process, which always sets the nervous twitch going. I don’t regret spending the money, and it was within budget, but deciding to have a quiet day of not spending much has helped to settle the worry brain.

And so when Lady M was tired and wanted a nap it was no big deal to curl up for a couple of hours too. And there went the afternoon. My only regret is that I didn’t take a photo to send to myr s – which is what Lady M did to me before I got up yesterday.

Hmm, maybe thats why I woke up early today, just in case.

Random Wandering

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Just for the hell of it I went down to Portsmouth today to gather up myr s, the cub, Ladies J and B and go grab some food, drink, and relative normalcy out on the town. And it feels so good to have done so.

It says so much about the disruption that that has happened this year that it was, for some of us, the first time for eating out. There was a palpable sense of relief and accomplishment in just being around a table in public.

To round out the afternoon, we had a lazy afternoon where we enjoyed each others company. We did some shopping, and went back to Lady B’s flat to talk and pass some time – and it has been a tonic for the spirits for us all.

And then I came home to find that my order of one of my t-shirts had arrived from Amazon. Lady M immediately grabbed it to twirl and model and I very nearly lost it to her before ever wearing it myself.

Wet and Windy Morning

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Its all looking and sounding a bit blustery out there today, so I’m staying under the duvet with a coffee provided by Lady M and appreciating the new plump pillows I bought the other day.

I’d forgotten the difference new pillows can make. We keep saying how much better we’re suddenly sleeping with notes of wonder in our voices.

Its restoked the thought of replacing our bed. We’ve had it a few years and its still comfortable but every now and then we do wake up aching, and not in a good way.

Adding to the sense of urgency on that front is that myr s and the cub may be moving in, and if so we’ll need to upgrade to a king size if we’re to have any hope of sleeping entirely peacefully without someone having to take turns on the sofa.

There are worse problems in life, I know. For now I’m just going to recline here, play some games on my phone for a while before I get up and do some more designs for the redbubble store.

Started Walking Again

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I realised the other day that lockdown put a massive crimp on my routine of trying to walk between 6000-10000 steps a day as a baseline level of exercise. Like many of us at the height of it all I was too worried to really leave the house barring some careful walking around the estate and as a result there is certainly a bit of extra meat on my bones at the moment

Going back to work as a front line library bod certainly underlined how fitness had dropped off as I was shattered at the end of each day at first.

Fortunately my most recent blood checks for managing my diabetes have come back with levels being fine, but between that and having managed to finally heal from whatever I did to the nerves and muscles in my leg over the lockdown, I’ve been doing my best to start back on being more active.

Sunbury Riverside

My first big walk was a couple of days ago, and my legs and hips certainly complained about it the next day, but even if its just a small walk round the block to get me out of the flat I’m determined to do it. If nothing else its good for my mental health to get out and feel the wind and hear the outside world. I’m lucky to have a lot of green spaces and the river Thames within walking distance, so I’m doing myself a disservice not to explore them.

It’ll Pass By

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I was having lunch with Lady G the other day, sitting under shelter in a pub garden and watching the storm clouds gather. An older gentleman at the next table said “Oh I think that’ll miss us and pass by” – which of course meant that no less than three minutes later the heavens opened and we watched a young family sprinting to cover back inside, clutching their lunches and trying not to drown their drinks.

As we were in a sturdy wooden shelter, the three of us watched this without comment until a loud thunder and lightning crack detonated directly overhead. As we had just been talking about the book Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, I couldn’t resist looking up at the skies and saying “missed us!” Several more lightning strikes and rolls of thunder followed as the storm surged past.

We may have teased the gentleman about how the storm had indeed passed by…

Supporting Endeavours

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I’ve been keeping busy doing some graphic work for myr s as they establish their Twitch gaming channel, and it has been a fun exercise in designing to order and continuing to work out how to do things I used to routinely do in older versions of the software available.

As a Twitch Affiliate, there are bonus graphics and emojis available to subscribers, so I’ve been helping design those to add a bit of flair. They’ve been playing a lot of Alien: Isolation, so a theme of chibi graphics referring to that has emerged, and I’m really pleased at how the transparencies work to simplify the graphics, even at smaller sizes.

Compared to the complex work I normally do, there’s a challenge to keep the simplicity so that the image is still clear.

I may even be feeling a bit pleased with the results

Gaming Occurred

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So yesterday I was able to escape the curse of the eternal DM and take part in a game of dungeons and dragons as a player for the first time in years. After some initial tech fiddling to run Teams privately on one of my laptops and my phone, and to link Roll20 and DnD Beyond on the other via a chromium browser it all went very smoothly in a five hour session from about 6.30

As a setting, it took place in a slightly tongue-in-cheek Pirates of the Caribbean style environment as I joined a group consisting of many people I’d never met before.

I’d been invited by the Ladies H, and had met our DM once at MCM London last year, but everyone else was an unknown; so my anxious disaster-brain fretted in the hours leading up to getting started. If you’ve ever played with a new group, you’ll know the feeling, and therefore also the relief of a friendly inclusion.

My usual name blindness means I’ve already forgotten most people’s real names, let alone their characters, but I did at least remember to take a few notes:

And I still forgot who everyone is

We shall resume the game sometime around the middle of next month.

This has been a positive thing, and I’ll thank my brain to remember it.

Oh that’s better…

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It is so much cooler today. There’s been a bit of rain over the last couple of days, but the temperature didn’t really break until this morning. Much more comfortable. My body promptly decided enough was enough and I slept most of this afternoon. I suspect the sleepless nights were finally catching up.

We were due to be flying off to Disney today in that parallel universe where Covid didn’t rampage round the world. Instead today brought the news that we can’t really do much with the time available at the moment because Lady M’s staff member has their new arrival at last.

Well, its a week to payday, so I will have to have a quiet few days and then try and organise things to do when there’s some money in the bank. Slowing down is probably something I need to do if this afternoon’s catnapping is any indication.

At least there’s dungeons and dragons lined up over the next few days, so thats a good distraction.