Cribbing this idea from =DuncanJBerry - the first 20 people to comment on this journal entry will have a small selection of their work featured. Feel free to copy-paste this to your own journals.

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Hi guys! Still putting the finishing touches to my business website, but I'm popping in here to give a plug to a Kickstarter project that I recently helped out with.

is raising money to create a new photographic series combining ideas and themes from her drawings and illustrations with the modelling, costuming and make-up talents of herself and several friends. It's a way to get much more exposure for their work and be able to pursue their dreams.

Kassandra put out a call on Facebook for help creating a promo video for the Kickstarter project, and I offered my services. I took her video ramblings plus a load of her illustrations and photos and edited them all together in Premiere Pro.

You can see the finished result on the Kickstarter project page here. I'm pleased to say that the project has met its initial target but anything over and above that will allow Kassandra to create more works for the series and more books and prints too.

---

In other news, I'm thinking of uploading some of my work portfolio here as well as on Behance. Got the artwork and screenshots all set, but it will require a bit more work to link them all together if I'm uploading the images separately. I will probably combine some of them into one upload if it will make more sense having them together on-screen.

(Bonus Point if you read the title in Prof. Farnworth's voice. )

Business plan is finally done! Had a lot of help and encouragement from my business mentor over at Wenta, which enabled me to finally overcome the mental blocks and get the damn thing written out, along with my survival budget and sales and cash-flow forecasts.

Went to the Jobcentre yesterday - they're already aware that I'm now getting ready to start up my own business. Will see an advisor in a fortnight's time, to go through the process of coming off of Job-seeker's Allowance and going onto New Enterprise Allowance, as well as applying for a £1000 loan to help cover my operating costs.

I've now started getting my finances ready - need a current account, a credit card for business purchases, and a savings account to store excess cash and ensure I'm able to pay my taxes when they're due. Savings account is already sorted, and I've applied for a credit card with cash back on it, just need to fill out an application for a business current account.

Still need to finish my website off, and prepare various documents for contract, confidentiality and copyright agreements, but I've got plenty of time now.

Feels great to not be knotted up inside with anxiety about whether I can pull this off. Everything is starting to fall into place, just need to keep positive, work on all the contacts I can rustle up, and promote myself as far and wide as I can. I should be able to cover my costs with just a few jobs a month, so anything over that is mostly profit.

I'll post again once the website is up and running.

Guess this journal is due an update.

Saw a business mentor at Wenta on the 22nd August about my business ideas. That part seems sound enough, the tricky part is going to be marketing myself and finding customers. So I will definitely need to reach out to people I've done work for in the past, to try and get the ball rolling, as well as doing networking and looking up local businesses who might be interested in my services.

Saw my personal adviser again last Friday at the JobCentre, and has referred me back to Wenta to join their New Enterprise scheme. That will give me up to 8 weeks of free workshop sessions to help me get my business plan ready and learn about marketing, finances and other matters. Assuming all goes well, and I can get up and running with my consultancy business, I will then come off Jobseeker's Allowance and qualify for New Enterprise Allowance, as well as Tax Credits, to help me through the startup period.

Other than that, I've been doing some research for my business plan, particularly around suppliers and services I can make use of. Blu-ray authoring is definitely out, at least for the time being - I would need to be licenced by both the Blu-ray Disc Association and AACS before I could have any discs replicated, and that would be at least £4000 for a service where I'm not sure how much business I'd be able to generate. VHS conversion is within my reach financially, although I'll be limited to PAL or NTSC formats, and only the main variants of those - true multi-region, multi-format playback equipment is rare and expensive. There are firms that do professional video conversions, so I might end up using them for anything I need to do in that department.

Currently doing some more training. I've now got a working grasp of Javascript, and will be boning up on AJAX, jQuery and other Web 2.0 stuff in the future - but my priority now is to get up to speed with Wordpress, both setting it up and customising it, as I'll need that for my business website and as a service to offer in the long term.


Oh, the journal title? Boogey on down!

Got off my arse last weekend and set up a Facebook page to promote my art, alongside work by other artists that I admire. [link] Sorely in need of more fans.

I've spent most of this week learning how to write iOS apps. Unfortunately, the training material I had was based on an earlier version of iOS, the Xcode development environment and the Objective-C language, and eventually I had to give up on trying to work out to make their code work with the latest versions. I'm now resorting to the method I've used in the past to learn new stuff - have the Friendly Manual open alongside the development tools, and consult Mr Google when I have trouble figuring something out. That has actually yielded results - I got a simple iPhone app up and running to let you scroll and zoom around a picture on the iOS Simulator. (Need to pay to join the Apple Developer Program before I can test apps on actual devices) I'm going to work on some test apps to try out various ways to present information on the iPad. My goal is to be in a position where I'm able to offer my services to convert existing educational material and other resources to utilise the capabilities of the iPad. There seems to be a dearth of UK apps right now, and evidently the main education software providers haven't done much yet - will see if I can help them out.

Other than that, brainstorming ideas and gathering information for my business plan. I'm also looking at creating digital books and magazines with interactive content - again, an area where there hasn't been much movement so far. I already have InDesign plus other tools that I can use to create content, and there are some paid services available to assist in the publishing process - I need to work out some costings to see if this is something that I could offer to people producing specialist publications.

Exciting times...

As some of you may have spotted, I've started submitting updated versions of my artwork to dA - and making them available to buy as Prints (and in some cases coasters, magnets and mouse mats too). I have to say, dA's print setup front-end is pretty good. I had some feedback from friends on Facebook that they thought dA's print quality had gone downhill, but the last batch of small prints I ordered earlier this year all seemed good to me.

I've also been trying out other art sites, with varying degrees of success. Shadowness seems to be the liveliest after dA, although there they don't have any printing or buying facility there. Redbubble is quieter, although they have some options such as t-shirts and gelaskins that I want to explore. I've looked at a few other sites, but haven't been nearly as impressed with their service - will have to decide whether to keep those or delete them.

Once I've got a decent number of new artworks up, I'm going to set up a portfolio site for them, and also a Facebook Page, so I can start pimping my art properly.

---

As far as the work situation goes, I've pretty much given up on trying to get permanent work - still no response from anyone I've applied to. So I'm concentrating my efforts now on making plans for freelance & consultancy work and doing training to boost my skills. The latter is going well at the moment - I've done Objective-C programming, in the process of learning about developing for iPhone and iPad, and will shortly complete a course on Javascript, plus I've signed on for a free crash course in HTML5.

I saw my personal advisor at the Jobcentre the other day, and the good news is that if I can get a viable business plan together, I will be eligible for New Enterprise Allowance from next month. I've gotten myself an appointment to see a business mentor who can hopefully help me get my business plan into shape. Currently doing some market research to see what things I can profitably pursue - educational apps for tablets is one of those, and possibly mobile web development and helping people take existing content online. Then I need to think of how I can stand out in the market and persuade clients that they should spend their money with me rather than try to get the work done dirt-cheap elsewhere. (I've been to some of the 'crowd-sourcing' design websites, so I've an idea of what I'm potentially up against...)

In the meantime, please spread the word about my new Prints!

Oh, one more thing, I'm on Pinterest now as well, and will be using that for promoting my own work plus others. [link] Still working out my social media strategy, and how to make the best use of them...

Journal title is my homage to the late great !radioPooh - I hope he's having fun, wherever he is now. Been thinking about dA a bit lately, as I've peeled off more stuff from here. All of my work except the fractal stuff is in storage now - I will have to go through and have a proper sorting out in the near future, before my subscription runs out.

I've started uploading some of my old fractal artwork over on Shadowness [link] - stop by and say hi if you're over there. I've also added it to my portfolio on Behance [link] to show I'm not all work and no play.

I've had some progress in my search for work. Starting to find jobs via LinkedIn and Behance - sent off applications to a few companies, waiting to see what happens. I've also made contact with a couple of recruitment agencies that might be able to help me - I've given them my CV. Actually got contacted by one of them via Behance, which is a good sign.

I've also being thinking about ways in which I could work for myself, should the need arise. I've got the beginnings of a business plan written up, and I'm doing market research to see who I might be able to sell my services to, who the competition is and how I can make myself stand out. I attended a free one-day course earlier this week for people looking to start their own business - I'm now a lot clearer on the legal and tax side of things. Not sure yet if I'd be able to pull it off financially though, so I'm carrying on with the search for full-time work for now.

I've decided to rejoin Twitter. It's the next biggest social network after Facebook, so I can't really ignore it any more. I'm @AlanSRalph on there - only signed up recently, so not much activity yet. Some things haven't changed - got my first few random followers and SEO / Social Media 'gurus' plus a spammer, and a Fail Whale.

The consolidation of my savings and investments is progressing. I've had to do some more form-filling for some of the accounts I'm transferring, which will delay things for a while longer, but I should have everything under one account, so less paperwork and a clearer picture of my finances.

The one thing I could really use right now is feedback - so far, only one of the firm I've applied to has given me any. In the meantime, I'm reviewing my CV and online profiles and looking for opportunities wherever they might be.

My 44th orbit around the Sun is nearly over. Trying not to thing about it too much - no time for introspection, need to push forward!

Been looking for full-time work, and it has been frustrating. All the jobs I've looked at either require skills / experience / qualifications that I don't currently have, or want to see a portfolio way larger than the one I've managed to produce, or else they're not within easy commuting range. I've tried applying to a few local firms - so far, only one has responded, and that was to say that their Managing Director is currently on vacation.

I'm now looking at studying part-time to improve my skills, do personal work projects to boost my portfolio, and try working freelance to raise money whilst doing the other two.

I'm due to attend a group session next Monday at the JobCentre to discuss job-hunting, interview technique, CVs, etc. This is a full month after I applied for Jobseeker's Allowance online - to be honest, apart from an initial interview with an adviser, it will be the first actual help I've received. They were very keen to tell me all the stuff *I* have to do in order to satisfy them that I'm still eligible for any money. Unless they're prepared to help me become self-employed, I'm seriously considering signing off again - I've enough on my plate already, without having to jump through additional hoops.

I know a few of my friends here have some experience of working for themselves - any advice? Help a brother out. I'm currently working on a business plan - what services I can offer right now, what I may need for doing business, how to charge for and take payment for work, etc. - but there are a few things I need to sort out, particularly on the legal and tax side.

Above all, I need my arse kicked into gear - it's way too easy at the moment to be pulled down by my fears and anxieties.

Sorry for such a downer journal, just need to get this stuff off of my chest.

UPDATE: After talking things over with my parents, I've decided to cut out dA completely from my professional profiles. As my mum pointed out, some people may get the wrong idea from the name of this site. That means I've also removed the mentions of #Circleoffriends and Screenphuck, which saddens me as I'm really proud of those, but I can't be taking chances with my job prospects in the current economic climate. I might have to curtail my Tumblr activity as well, and I will definitely need to tidy up that and some of my other online presences.

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Well, I'm getting back into the job market. Had a nice long break in which to sort myself out, but now I need to start earning money again - the redundancy money will help, but I need to keep that where it will earn me a decent rate of interest (easier said that done ).

To that end, I've signed on at the local JobCentre and applied for Job-Seeker's Allowance. Still as grim as I remember from the last time I had to go there, just slightly more modern IT. It won't be much, but it's something, and it will force me to budget and live within my means.

So now I have the Department of Work and Pensions breathing down my neck to ensure I'm actually looking for work. Probably a good thing, it gives me the impetus to actually do stuff and not procrastinate. Let's face it, it would be trivially easy to just browse dA or Facebook all day or play games. Actually, I did get some good advice from my interview with the personal adviser at the JobCentre, particularly about updating my CV (last touched 20 years ago, and oh boy did it show! ).

So here I am, a week later. My CV is polished, now down to one page. I've built a portfolio over at Behance containing examples of the projects I've undertaken over the years. I've linked it to my LinkedIn profile, and fleshed that out to include more of my work experience as well as other stuff I've done - I've mentioned #Circleoffriends and my contributions over at Screenphuck. I've done some research on graphic design work here in Watford, and managed to find some firms in my neighbourhood who are hiring. So now I've polished up covering letters, and will be sending my applications this weekend. There are a few others local to me who I'll introduce myself to and enquire if they might have need of my services in the future. Wish me luck!

I've also reworked my About.me profile page with my artwork as background and links to all my social contacts. I'll be getting business cards printed up pointing to About.me (thanks to Moo.com) so I'll have something eye-catching to give to people.

In between all of that stuff, I also managed to flog my old monitor and PC on eBay - the first time I've used the site to sell things. So that's some extra cash in my pocket.

Anyway, as part of my overall makeover, I'm making some changed to how I use dA. I've already cleaned up my profile and journal pages here, removing most of the clutter and distractions so that (hopefully) my artwork gets the attention it deserves from visitors. I've also done a few cosmetic changes to go with my new look as an independent (for now) professional graphic / web designer. I will also being going through my gallery in the next few days to put some non-artwork stuff into storage. In the future, I will be revamping some of my fractal and digital artwork, although that will be mainly so I've got a record of ownership - any prints that I make available will be for sale outside of dA.

Unfortunately, this also means that I not only won't be doing my social rounds here as frequently, but I'll be dispensing with my more frivolous and opinionated commentary. I could get away with that in the past, because my dA page wasn't publicised much, but in the future I expect to have more public attention so I want to give a good impression. Don't worry, I will still be holding forth over on Facebook and (occasionally) Google+, where I can control who sees what I post.

Just over a fortnight ago, my desktop PC started acting up, giving me blue screens and restarting. Took a while to get Windows stabilised again, but I managed it in the end. I had a backup of my data onto an external hard disk, but I was unable to update the backup as Windows Backup gave me errors, then insisted that it was running when it was doing nothing. At this point, I decided to invest in a network hard disk, and started copying my data off onto that. That took several more days, partly due to the amount of data, but also because of interruptions due to more Windows instability. I was running with just basic video drivers and no drivers for my Wacom tablet.

Once I'd gotten all of my data off onto the network drive and was happy to proceed, I set about doing a fresh install of Windows 7. That seemed to be OK, but then the PC started taking ages to boot from a cold-start, and I realised something was seriously wrong. Turned out that the hard disk and memory were both working OK, but the BIOS settings were screwed up. I tried resetting everything back to fail-safe defaults, but the errors kept appearing, and now I wasn't even able to reinstall Windows. Eventually, it got to a point where the PC wouldn't even get past the hard disk and CD/DVD drive detection. My 16-month old machine was a brick.

Since I'd been planning on getting a Mac of some description in the near future to do iOS development on, I made the fateful decision to kill two birds with one stone. So the following day, I arranged to pick up a brand new 27" iMac from my local John Lewis store. Fortunately, for me, I'd recently purchased an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, which has the added benefit of allowing you to install and use both Mac and PC versions of their software, and I've been able to download the Mac equivalents of most of the other software that I use. I've since gotten a copy of Parallels Desktop, which allowed me to install a retail copy of Windows 7 inside of OS X so that I can run the few Windows applications that I still need. (Xenodream, in particular, is not available in a Mac version).

The learning curve for me has been pretty shallow - I've had a lot of experience of Macs and OS X, albeit older versions, at work - and thankfully there is Mac support for my all-in-one printer/scanner/copier (Canon Pixma MP610) and my Wacom Intuos2 tablet. I've repurposed my external hard disk for Time Machine, so I've got my Mac backed up in case of trouble. I'm in the process of copying back data from the network drive, and doing some reorganising as I go along. It turns out that I have a lot of stuff lying around that it mostly redundant - old installer files for old software that I either don't need or cannot run anymore, along with receipts and documents relating to stuff I don't even own anymore - the consequence of religiously backing up data over several PC purchases in the last decade. As well as sorting out all of the junk on my hard disks, I'm also going though the stuff that had accumulated in my GMail mailbox over *gulp* 9 years. (I actually imported stuff into there from my old mail accounts which predate GMail).

My name is Alan, and I'm a digital pack-rat. They say the first step to solving your problem is admitting that you have one, don't they?

Unfortunately, my progress has been impeded by my coming down with a bad case of diarrhoea last week. :shit: Not fun at all, and left me feeling pretty run down for several days. Thankfully, all cleared up now - not something I want to repeat any time soon!

Still working on sorting my life out, even as life tries to sort me out.

It seems like the wheels of the cosmos are turning in my favour lately.

Escaping from my old job.

Getting my life reorganised.

And taking on every new opportunity that arises.


My original username here (MonTemplar) dates back to my earliest days posting on the Usenet newsgroup alt.callahans - back before the Word Wide Web existed outside of Tim Berners-Lee's office at CERN. I've used variations of it over the years on the websites that I've chosen to frequent as a registered user. But increasingly now, I am known much more by my actual name online, and likewise I know more people online by their actual names. Don't get me wrong, pseudonyms are OK in my book. It's just that I've grown over the years to become more confident of myself and express my views, interests, opinions and wit. And in the future, I want to become respected as a successful person in my own right.


In related news, I am now on LinkedIn! It's already proving to be a very useful move, as I'm getting a LOT of pointers to information and resources on freelancing, training and other matters, and I'm kicking myself a bit for not jumping in a lot sooner.


I've been spending the last few weeks clearing out all of the junk from my room, filing all of my financial paperwork away, and reorganising thinks so that I stay organised and in control in future. This has been hard for me to do, as I'm such a procrastinator and hate having to think about organisation. But I think I've finally cracked it. I'm also disposing a load of old books that I have lying around here. Some of them I can trade in for extra cash, the rest will most likely go to Oxfam. I've already said goodbye to all of my Marvel and DC Comics stuff - I no longer buy the trade paperbacks, and to be honest I've not re-read any in ages. (On a sidenote, I've also gone through my Amazon wish-list and removed a lot of stuff that I will not be buying, and replacing physical books with Kindle versions if they are available) I can actually see the backs of my bookshelves now! Needless to say, I've also had to do a LOT of dusting! Many dust bunnies made a run for it as a result. I still need to go through the small shelf unit containing my CD and DVD collection - I have a storage bag ready to take most of them for safe keeping (once they are all ripped to MP3).


Next on my to-do list is to consolidate all of my finances. Not looking forward to this, as I have an aversion to thinking about money. But it has to be done, if I'm to keep my spending under control & make what I currently have saved away earn something decent for me.


One other major change is that I've now got my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription up and running. Not only will this save me a ton of money going forward, but it also means that I can now learn to use InDesign and Premiere Pro / After Effects and add to my skills.


Onwards and upwards!

Two weeks to go until I take voluntary redundancy.

Work is alternately stressful as heck, then deadly dull and boring. To be honest, it will be a weight off my shoulders when I do leave on the 20th.

There was one bright spot, though. A lady came in to see us about getting a CD made up at short notice with a video, audio and a PDF on to tout an upcoming business club meeting. We were able to get the CDs created and printed up for her, and she was very relieved. Best part, though, is that she's now going to put more work our way - and I was able to convince her that I could take care of setting up future artwork for her. (She had been dealing with another graphic designer, but he wasn't very reliable). Boost for my confidence, just need to work on translating that into more successful leads in future...

Making the most of the extended weekend over Easter, and recharging my batteries. No Easter eggs this year - I already take a little bit of dark chocolate and a brazil nut every evening, so don't need any more.

[BTW, journal title this time is from "I Gotta" by Masta Ace [link]

...the option to turn off this year's dA April Fool.

The problem with dA's annual April 1st shenanigans is that you have to deal with it for the whole 24 hours. Not so funny after the umpteenth viewing.

---

On a more positive note, I spotted a hedgehog in our garden the other night. We've not seen or heard any around here for several years, so this is good news, as they help to keep the slugs, snails and other plant-attacking critters under control.

First off, thanks to the mystery person who bought me an extra 3 months of dA subscription. Not sure what brought that on, since I've not been around here that much of late.

If you've been following me on here for a while, you'll know that the firm I work for has been through some rough patches lately, and I've had two stints of working short hours while they worked to get the finances back on track. Anyway, we were all called to a meeting the other week to be given the bad news that they're once again unable to bring in enough money to keep on top of all the bills, and that a more drastic solution is required. So they are going to have to radically downsize the business, and that will necessitate some redundancies.

To be honest, I had been considering my positions there for a while now. I just wasn't enjoying the job any more, thanks to the combination of more work and responsibility being thrust onto me, plus a less pleasant environment as everyone watched their backs and tried to keep costs to a minimum. So I offered to take voluntary redundancy, and my boss has accepted it. I've got 12 weeks notice to serve before I get my redundancy package, and I'm going to try and work as much of that as I can.

My plans for the future involve setting myself up to do freelance work for the short term, whilst also looking into getting additional training and qualifications so that I can (hopefully) eventually secure a good full-time job. I am also going to use the opportunity to take a good look at my current situation, try and get rid of some bad habits and cultivate some good ones in their place.

My current mood is a mixture of fear and exhilaration. I'm under no illusion about how much money I can bring in working freelance, and I will have to work pretty hard at it. But on the plus side, I already have a lot of the tools and skills that I'll need, and my boss has offered to help me out with references and possible future work. And I've got the support of my parents and my sister too.

---

In other news, I've deactivated all of my Prints here on dA, and will be setting up a new print store elsewhere. Will let you know when it's up and ready.

Still logging into dA most days, but I probably won't be visible that much. I'm no longer feeling the love for this site that I had before. I still come here for the art and my friends, but lately the art is becoming a lot harder to get to, and a lot of my old friends are no longer on dA.

This will probably be my last Journal Entry of this year, unless something major happens between now and New Year's Day (like winning the lottery ).

Not much new to report. Work situation has improved a bit, we're not dead quiet, and hopefully things will pick up more next year. But the worry about work and the economy has been eating at me for months now, and that has probably come out in my comments here and elsewhere. I don't have much faith in politicians of any stripe these days, nor in the supposed great and the good - they all seem to be only interested in their own short-term gain, not the long-term prosperity of everyone. And the press (with only a few exceptions) is more interested in hyping up talentless nonentities and vilifying the most vulnerable in society than holding our leaders to account. I only hope that the winds of change keep blowing in 2012 and beyond, and eventually bring about a fundamental shift in how we are ALL governed.

On a more positive note, I've finally gotten my online life back in balance. One thing that has struck me as I went through all of the accounts and services I used is how pervasive Facebook and Twitter are - not just for sharing, but for logging into and commenting on other sites. I was toying with the idea of deactivating my Facebook profile altogether in the New Year, but it would have meant losing touch with a lot of people who are not as active elsewhere nowadays. As it is, I've pruned back my social circles to primarily my friends and people whose opinions I value. Everything else I might want to read now comes either via e-mail or through Google Reader - I can then skim through, read and act on anything interesting, and clear away. The goal is to have more time free to do other things - in particular, making art and polishing up my skills.

I am still going to be active here on dA, although I'm not sure if I will be submitting new art here in the near future - I may well start using other sites to showcase my art as well as this one, and already have a few lined up to use in the New Year.

Apart from dA, I am also active on these networks :

Facebook - [link]
Google+ - [link]
Tumblr - [link]
Shadowness - [link] (currently lurking, will be adding stuff soon)
RedBubble - [link] (currently inactive, will be adding stuff soon)
500px - [link] (currently lurking)

If you're a friend, and we've not hooked up on any of the above, do come say hi!

Contrary to the title of this Journal Entry, my New Year's celebration will be pretty quiet, once again. I will be thankful for my health, my family and my friends, at least.

Well, now I know what it's like getting a Daily Deviation!

For those who missed it, my piece 'Nodes V2' [link] was selected for November 5th's Fractal DD by `SuicideBySafetyPin



I'm flattered by all the interest that has been shown in my old gallery the last day-and-a-bit. Unfortunately, I don't have time to respond to everyone. Sorry!

In light of this renewed interest, I'm thinking that it might be time to get the old tools out of storage and start trying to get back into the art groove, even if it's only to make more stuff available in larger sizes or as wallpapers or prints.

Please check out the latest poll on my page, and let me know your thoughts!

---

In other news, I had my latest consultant appointment in London a few weeks ago. News is all good so far - still in remission from Wegener's Syndrome, blood results are all good and so are my lungs. I'll be having a CT scan done later this month just to make sure that there's nothing lurking in my chest, and will see my GP to make sure she's up-to-date with my medical data. Best news is that I'm now down to 100mg of Azathioprine a day, and I'll be reviewed again in January. So far, I've not had any bad effects since reducing the dosage.

Work has gotten quiet again, which isn't so good. Hopefully, things will pick up in the next few weeks as Christmas looms.

Hello! No, I've not abandoned dA, although I'm not spending as much time here as I used to.

Had some time off in July to recuperate a bit - work has been stressful through the springtime. Ironically, things went a bit quiet on the orders front whilst I was off, and has still not fully picked up yet. The business cycle has been getting less and less predictable the last few years, which doesn't help much. At least I made good use of the free time to do some organising, making sure old artwork was filed for safe keeping and doing some maintenance on work PCs.

Belated thanks to everyone who stopped by with birthday wishes. Thankfully, still in fairly good health.

Finished Duke Nukem Forever - after finding and installing a trainer program to help me get through the game without getting killed so many times. Ironically, one of the rewards for completing the time is a load of extras including videos of the previous versions of the game whilst it was in Development Hell. I say ironic, because I think I would have enjoyed the version from, say, 2004, a *lot* more that I did the one that has been released now. Don't get me wrong, the 2011 game looks stunning visually, but the idea of having a bigger, more varied world to play in, with more variety of enemies to face and the addition of some extra sidekicks really appeals to me. (Yeah, I've been spoilt by playing the Half-Life 2 games).

Found a neat little indie game called Fotonica a week or so back - it's a 2D platform running game extended into 3D, with literally one control to use, and somewhat addictive. It's free to download and play (on PC and Mac), but they ask for you to pay whatever you can afford if you like it.

I've also been spending time on Google+, the new social network that is currently being field-tested and tweaked before being opened to the public. It feels a lot cleaner, in my opinion, than Facebook, and certainly easier to control than Twitter. If you want to have a look, I've got some invites available - click this link [link] On that note, I've been doing some spring-cleaning of my over social network, particularly on Facebook. Even with apps on my phone and iPad, I couldn't keep up any more, and I want to stay in touch with my friends as much as I can. I'm going to have to do the same here on dA, I've already pruned out a lot of dead or abandoned accounts.

The good news is that I'm planning on making more time to get down to creating some new art, as well as revamping some of my older works. I'm also going to make more Prints available in the near future. Not sure if that will be here, or if I'll sell them elsewhere - possibly both, depending on what makes me the most profit. Since I'm not in danger of getting a pay-rise any time soon, I guess I need to start making extra money in other ways.