Thursday | 01. August 2024
It seems like everything that could possibly go wrong has been going wrong the last couple of weeks. Yes, the usual unemployment angst, but now the air conditioner has started leaking and flooding our living room again (maybe it’s just because we’re in the middle of a heatwave and the poor thing can’t keep up?) and we’ve added an (apparently continuing, but now confirmed) mouse infestation on top of that — whenever I tried to bring it up, she would just get mad at me or try to deny it: me: “I think we have mice. I’ve heard them scurrying in the walls for a while now. It keeps me up at night.” her: “Oh, I’m sure that could be anything! Branches scraping against the roof, squirrels playing outside, etc.” And then we found mouse droppings and shredding papers in a kitchen drawer. And then her official stance was that the cats would take care of it (if there was even a problem to begin with, that is) and to just ignore it until it goes away. Then, we actually saw a mouse running through the living room. She caught it and released it outside: “See, it’s gone, we have no problem anymore!” …That’s not how it works! I wonder if it is like Cabbage said a while ago, that it's an attempt to calm me down or something, but it's like… we very much do, literally, have a mouse problem. I was talking to the therapist about this and she said, “No, you can’t just live with mice. It’s sad, but you have to kill them. I recommend glue traps.” I told my mom this, and she just got mad at me, then insisted on using poison. And then got mad at me for being hesitant to put it out (…but we have three cats. Won't they die in the walls and cause more problems?? etc), saying I "wasn't taking it seriously." Meanwhile, my dad’s been telling me graphically how he’s killed mice before… I don’t want to kill them, but I’m terrified to open any drawers or cupboards, or to stand in my kitchen, or honestly to be in the house, in general. I haven’t slept well in months due to their scratching in the walls… but I don’t want to kill them and I don’t want anything bad to happen to them. They’re unsanitary and carry diseases, etc, but they’re awfully cute… There are other problems as well, that just compound all of this. I think my mom is at the end of her rope, and I don’t know what to do about any of it... Some of your regularly scheduled venting...
So, ArtFight has been a nice distraction from all of that! I made a page for it here (and also finally edited the sketchbook layout, so it's at least somewhat mobile-friendly). I tried to go out of my comfort zone quite a bit, drawing anthros and other species that I don't normally draw while also leaning heavily into subjects that make me happy, like forests. I think the aesthetic of the subject popping out of the frame is neat -- it's kinda influenced by art nouveau styles, but I didn't really go as hard as that. Overall, again, I think this was a nice distraction, and it was fun to experiment a bit with composition and poses and mediums.
Besides that, I've also been playing a Pokemon ROM Hack, Sovereign of the Skies. It has a fun little anime / rpg sort of plot and the sprite work is really lovely, somewhat like Tales of Phantasia, with Pokemon wandering around in the overworld, dappled light in forests, etc. I'm actually not that far in yet (ArtFighting, life, etc), but the assortment of Pokemon you get is really good, too -- like every area has different mons appear at different times of the day and it seems like they've added up to Alola.
Additionally, I've been working on and off on a couple of other little projects, like making a new journal, needlefelting a shiny furret, and more research for an upcoming essay. (Translation: basically, trying to keep busy and not think about certain problems altogether / avoid the urge to just curl up into a little ball on the floor and die…)
Oh, and this season's theme is based around the Wood mail from Pokemon gen III. I still just really love all the little mail designs!