Psychosis Syndrome

Twitter has taken a hold of me, and I dare not risk escaping its intoxicating clutches. Rather, I have expanded my submergence into its culture, and created two new accounts, for Alex and Becky. Following them would be a lot more interesting than following me, and if you click on either of those links, you’ll quickly find out why.

Twitter allows you to follow others if you have an account, but even without an account, you can subscribe via RSS. I tried RSS before migrating to my own account, and it worked well enough, though I would tend to get bulk updates instead of regular ones. Before that, I would simply check back every now and again, and that seemed to work just as efficiently as anything else, given my relatively low interest in the site, and the equally low number of people I followed.

The characters of Alex and Becky are a lot more to me than just the comic. I am constantly searching for new ways to expand on them, and indulge myself through them. Both have blogs, of course, and those are fine, though I find myself with little motivation to actually write them, having not fleshed out enough of their existences to write blog entries. Twitter, on the other hand, being only short updates, will not only circumvent this issue, it will allow me to develop them further, and upon achieving a satisfactory level of this, I can return to their blogs triumphant, and set about blazing a new literary trail.

I drew both of them for the first time today. Pencil sketches, nothing impressive. And nothing that will ever see the light of day, nor fall under the scrutiny of another living being. It means that now they have very real physical images associated with them to me, and that brings them one step closer to being real. With a bit of refining, and a method of colouring that is both pleasing and relatively simple, I should be reasonably close to revealing their appearances to the world (read: you).

Speaking of colouring, I have decided to try my hand at old school inking, that is, colouring with actual ink. The commonplace MO today being, of course, through Photoshop. However, to colour in Photoshop (or in my case, free equivalent GIMP) also requires the inking of the lines to be done digitally. Without a graphics tablet, the process of inking the lines digitally is messy and imprecise, and not something I am up to the challenge of just yet. So instead, I’ll do everything by hand, and then scan the finished product. I think I’ll probably still to word balloons digitally though, if not just the text. We’ll see.

Beyond that, I think I’m finally ready to start writing RoB again. My main problem right now is that the weather (yes, the weather is a problem, stay with me) is quite warm (to my sensitive self, intolerable) and I write with my laptop on, shockingly, my lap. Since my laptop generates even more heat, I am left sweaty, uncomfortable, and hot. In such a condition, I cannot possibly feel motivated to write. I can’t write with the laptop on the desk (I’ve been too far converted to slothful, bed-ridden ways) and the more I put between my legs and my laptop, the more hot I get anyway. If anyone could suggest a solution, I’d be eternally grateful. Preferably, one that won’t cost me a lot of (or any) money. 

Regarding the blog story, I’ve decided that neither option services my needs perfectly, so I’m still in search of the perfect outlet. If only WordPress allowed for advertising! (Technically, they actually do, but it requires a VIP account, with a $600 set up fee and a $300 monthly fee. I know, great value, right?) Of course, if I were enough enough from it to cover a $300 monthly fee and still make a profit, I would be ecstatic. If only…

Money has become a critical factor in my life, and I am currently locked in a struggle to obtain it, without compromising my own ideals. I may be forced to do the unthinkable, and get a job I hate (Coles doesn’t count; I can’t quit because I need a stable source of income for my phone bill, if nothing else). I would personally sooner be poor, but I have commitments to other people that require to me have money, and at some point it becomes necessary to decide which is more important to me.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled long enough. Fuck I’m hungry…