Random Thoughts for January

We drove over to Blue Springs this weekend to check out the manatees and enjoy a warm Florida day in January.  We had a great time, and it didn’t cost us anything.  This is where I’ve been scuba diving a few times, as the water is crystal clear and a constant temperature all year long.  They’re closed to diving until March because of the Manatees moving in for the winter, but I can’t wait to go back.  The springs come out of a crack in the earth that you can swim down inside for about 65 feet and still look up and see the sunlight and trees above the water.  Trish got certified last year, but has never been to Blue Springs before, so I can’t wait for her to see it from under the water.  They also have some great camp sites there, so we’re planning a family trip where we can spend a few days out with nature, and it fits our budget, which is almost nothing.

I inked a few pages for a comic last month, and am hoping it will turn into more work.  I had great fun with it, but I was pretty rusty.  At the dayjob, they’re getting rid of all the old drawing tables from the art department, and I snagged one of them for free.  It’s huge, and very sturdy, so I’m very well off for doing more inking now.  After Kyle ships off to the Navy in July, the garage might become a studio room.  I’ve also been doing a lot of Photoshop tutorials and playing with Manga Studio to better myself with the web-comics.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my future in doing what I love, and really want to get back into inking while keeping some of my own material going on the web.

In World of Warcraft, I put my level 70 gnome warlock, Julep, in the new guild on the Runetotem server. This guild is made up of listeners to The Grind podcast, and it’s growing very fast. The Gardeners of Gilneas has about 80 members so far, including one 80 and a bunch of Death Knights on the rise.  Quite a few of us who came by to start an alt for the group have ended up making it our new main server.  Runetotem has no que, and a good economy.  I’ve met a lot of nice people in the last few weeks there.  Julep has been working on achievements and the Lunar Festival and will then turn more attention to leveling.  I’m just a sucker for achievements though, and I really love the new system they’ve implemented to track them.  I still play my horde toons on Steamwheedle Cartel a bit, but mostly only when Trish is playing.  A lot of people in the Gardeners are rolling death knights now that you can have one on any server.  I made another one, and she’s a little pink-haired gnome.  I have a strong gnome theme going on Runetotem.

I’m growing my hair back out.  I shaved my head back in June and was bald for a few weeks, but it’s starting to get long now, and I may just let it go.  It feels like it’s time to have a pony tail again.