1.365.2024
stargrace 
Painted in Procreate on my iPad with default brushes – my first one of the year, but hopefully not the last! Since I don’t like what DeviantART has become I’ve decided to post them here instead.
2024
Ohuhu Alcohol Markers
I’ve never used alcohol markers before, because the ‘good’ ones are *really* expensive. Then I saw a bunch of reviews for these Ohuhu ones, all of which are reasonably priced, along with some sketch books that they were selling, and I decided why not.
I’m not used to doing traditional art any more, but there’s just something about having your hands on a physical item (a book, a tool, etc) that feels GOOD to my brain, so when I can, I do like to try. Unfortunately my hands don’t always like to listen, but that’s OK. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Screenshot above is me practicing for the first time with these new markers. They’re fun!
Mabel the Chicken
I’m experimenting this year with parfait yarn and making plushies, in crochet. Here’s my very first one that I made back in January – a chicken named Mabel.
Too Hot
I am not a fan of summer, and this summer has been particularly brutal. There’s no air conditioning in my house, and while we have purchased a small window version for a single bedroom, it can’t keep up with the multiple 40C days we’ve had on end. The heat means it’s uncomfortable to be in front of my computer, and when I am there I have no energy to do much of anything.
With The War Within just a few weeks away from launching, and the pre-patch events in game, I have wandered my way back to World of Warcraft, comfort game of choice. I started placing auctions on the AH once a day on my two accounts, and have gotten some pretty nice sales. I am still absolutely convinced that mega servers are in the works for Warcraft and that we’ll see them before the end of TWW.
Last time I posted I was going on about the many glitches we had seen in the pre-patch, and a lot of those have been solved, but a few still linger. Players are unable to remove gold from their banks without using a weird work around (if the banks are full). Cross realm guilds are a thing – but you cannot use the guild bank at the moment if you’re not from that server. Uniques are not appearing properly in warband banks if you log in with a character who already has the unique on them. You still can’t apply azerite abilities to gear when you loot them.
Speaking of azerite, +speed (and longstrider) have been heavily nerfed, much to the disappointment of speed runners. The influx of raw gold from doing dungeons/raids was also moved down back to pre-pre-patch levels. I think we all knew that one wasn’t going to last and wasn’t intended.
Besides the pre-patch in retail, I’ve also been (slowly) working my way through the Pandaria remix. There’s no way I’ll obtain ‘all the things’ but I suppose it’s ‘fun’ and at least I’m collecting stuff. I just dislike the FOMO of the event. One sure way for me to NOT do an event is to make it temporary. The pressure and fear of missing out is just annoying to my gaming style.
There’s still some Wurm Online (Unlimited) EVE, and GW2 in the works, too, so you might see a post about that in the future. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
Blaugust – but not really
It’s that time of year where normally I would sign up for Blaugust and make a post for every day during the month of August – but this year, I didn’t sign up. I’m not interested in the added pressure of trying to make a post, or the temporary social aspect. I get that this is very much a ‘me’ thing, but I’ve been writing my blog for 18 years now, and if I’m not inspired to write then I just don’t write.
That being said, for those who are interested I think it’s a fantastic event, and a good time to get started. If you enjoy reading blogs it’s also a good time to find some new ones, and if the action on Mastodon is any indication, there’s a lot of participants this year. There’s an active discord for those who are into that, too.