"Superman & Lois" was an excellent show. To elaborate, it's packed with family drama, and it definitely takes it seriously. I honestly do think these characters (Lois and Clark) are real parents, and the way they're written really makes me feel for them. It's cool seeing parent characters being treated not as infallible authority figures, but as human beings; people who make mistakes just like anyone else. The other characters are written with that same sense of reality, despite this being a show about Superman.
Dang, we're already close to the middle of November????? How does that happen??? I feel like things are moving on too fast, and I don't know if I can handle it anymore. Next Monday, my mom will leave the country for a week to visit her family, including her sister, who is very ill. I'm not quite sure what her issue is, but she has trouble doing many things by herself. She wasn't always like this.
I have nothing of note to say this morning except this, Death to all warmongers and those who profit from human misery.
November is finally here, meaning we're super close to the end of 2025. Wow. It feels like it was just yesterday when I got laid off from my grocery warehouse job back in 2024, and in March 2025, I got rehired at the same company, just a different warehouse. Maybe it's because I'm an adult and all, but it feels weird how fast time passed. I don't really know how I survived all that without losing my shit. I often fear when things go awry, and I think I just might not cope with it well this time around. But no, I often survive it like it's nothing. How? I still don't know. Perhaps it's child-like optimism, or its radical hope, or the fact I don't have it nearly as bad as many others who are less fortunate; whatever it may be, I still feel like I can go on despite everything. I have to.
The Halloween update from Corporate Clash finally happened, and with an interesting twist, too. That being said, the managerial cogs got costumes!! Neat, but some of them were fairly predictable. But still there was love & care put into these. I'm just happy that Witch Hunter's costume wasn't a witch. Funnily enough, I figured someone would predict he'd be a cat with ears and all.
Speaking of Witch Hunter, I knew they (the crew) would finally change the name of his hat from "Caddish. Chapeau" to "Contemptible Chapeau". To be honest, I'd go so far as to change "Chapeau" to "Capotain" since a Capotain is actually associated with the Puritans. Since the Witch Hunter's design has a similar-looking hat with a cape collar too (no doubt inspired by a stereotypical depiction of the Puritans), it'd honestly make sense since a Chapeau is not only a general term (simply a hat in French) but it also refers to a hat typically worn by clerics and some nobles. I've been looking at these clerical chapeaus, and they honestly don't resemble Prester's hat, lol. I'd stick with the theory that the writers just used "chapeau" as a synonym for "hat".
More importantly, MY MAN IS FREE!!!! Free from the malignant and insidious rumors of him being a misogynist rather than a hater across all boards. Maybe then people will learn not to read too deeply into a game's sparse lore and pull out things that were never really there... One of the crew members had to clarify that Prester's main "adversaries," being mostly women, were an unfortunate coincidence. There's been talk of revitalizing the writing in this game, thank goodness. I do have a suggestion for Prester: Perhaps work on the possible rivalry with his colleauge, The plutocrat. To give a short summary, the plutocrat is another manager cog, a cashbot whose speech mannerisms and general vibe is that of a mob boss. Many of Witch Hunter's cheats have to do with an ever-growing mob. See at what I'm hinting at??
Make them like mob rivals! Perhaps have a storyline of them and their respective crews squable over territory, have it affect the company's endeavours. How fun would that be?
I've been thinking about many things, whether it be work, my Toontown fan comic, my art in general, the current situation in my state (Illinois), my parents' financial situation, and everything else going on. I honestly don't know how I am expected to just handle it all. I've been thinking about doing art commissions for a long time now, but I still don't know what to do. In my family, scarcity, while not nearly as bad as how other people deal with it, is still a fear we have. I have been made aware that we never have enough money for as long as I can remember, but I'm sure things have gotten worse in the last five or six years. I can't help but think how unhappy my parents are, it's almost always because they simply don't make enough money, or risky financial decisions. Decisions like *checks notes* Renovating our attic into two bedrooms with a bathroom (because before, my sister and I didn't have a proper bedroom until we were 8 or 9?). I don't know about you, but trying to give your kids a better bedroom shouldn't take a dent out of our finances, but here we are. Whelp! I wish there was something else I could do. I wish grad school were cheaper, I wish AI wasn't a thing. I wish there weren't people who would scapegoat my parents and others like them. I am doing everything I can, and I don't need any guff. I need a vacation from life...
Whenever I feel worried, I try to keep myself occupied by doing... anything, really. Anything that won't make me want to say "Hmm... I could be doing anything else instead of this.". At this point, that could be anything; however, drawing never fails. I've been really trying to lock in with certain aspects of my comic and art.. I've been contemplating animating again , but then I remember how hard and time-consuming animation is. There is NO animation button or art button here, there, or anywhere, and there shouldn't be! The existence of AI "art" proves that. The very process of art is either taken for granted or just blatantly ignored, especially by those who don't do art. Perhaps it's capitalism that incentivizes this brazen lack of regard for the arts and anything else within that realm.
Unfortunately, I've been in a pretty foul mood in general. I don't know why I've been getting more miffed at stuff. I normally am able to just ignore things, but that's getting harder lately. That only vindicates my decision not to be as active as much, but I'm not handling things as well as I would like to. I'm pretty disappointed with myself. What the hell happened to me? I used to handle pressure pretty well, especially as a teenager. It seems like I totally lost that ability. Please don't tell me that's just growing up. That's just accepting mediocrity, and that's something I won't do. Try again.
As I stated a few days ago, I'm active on Bluesky and only on my private Twitter, posting WIPS of my comic and sharing stuff in general. For those who know me, I have a main Twitter account that was mainly dedicated to art and other related things, but I haven't been active there, or posting art there, since late 2024 (if memory serves). The general environment on that site had gotten worse in the past year, and I can't see myself officially coming back for the foreseeable future. Sorry, but I value my mental well-being over engagement and clicks.
Speaking of my comic, I've already finished setting up the panels for the next update! And I'm finally drawing Sour Gummy (Toontown oc) for his biopage, which is 85% complete! How exciting. I'm actually pretty excited for my comic and what I plan to do with it story-wise. I've been working on it since the summer of 2023, and so far, the reception has been positive. I'm still surprised that people even care about this comic at all.
Had to go to the Orthodontist today, it looks like we hit a snag and I'll have keep going with the treatment a little longer. On the brightside, no more rubber bands!! I've come to re-learn to enjoy taking public transit, especially after getting rehired. It kinda takes me back to my college days, where I went pretty much everywhere I could around my city, whether because of school or because I needed something. Why, I learned how to get around the city just by memorizing bus routes and transit lines. It was all fairly simple. I pity those who fear public transit & big cities.
I've been taking it easy these past few weeks: taking a break from Discord, keeping a low profile on twitter by posting on my private account, finishing up a webcomic page (Which I posted today on tumblr and comicfury :D) So far, my month has been pretty decent! Although I must confess, I left a mutual's server temporarily, not just to take a break. That's honestly part of the reason.
The other reason was that before September started, there was some drama over mischaracterizations and general pointless discourse, basically pointless fandom crap. But it ended up getting a mutual harassed over how they drew a character, and I witnessed the distress it caused. Not only that, it made the vibe/general environment of the server... not pleasant. It honestly didn't feel fun anymore, so around the 8th of September (I think?) I left that server. I don't know when I'll come back, but I DO plan on coming back someday. In fact, maybe in the next couple of months, I'll be less active everywhere else except tumblr (in order to maintain my Toontown-centric blog). I'm sure things are less tense now, but I don't feel ready yet...