Thick Fingers

I have over the last 10 odd years, been feeling the effects of rheumatism and arthritis. Nothing too severe, mind you - mostly stiffness. Anyway, today I thought I'd try using the graphics pad to do an illustration for my web comic. Below's the result:

After a false start using Painter (I really need to read the manual!) I reverted back to Paint Shop Pro. The figure at front is done using my standard technique of scan and colour hand drawn line work. No problems there. The scene at rear is based on the photo at Nova Roma, and was mostly drawn using the tablet.

OK, it hurt! I was gripping the stylus to tightly and at the wrong point.

The tablet itself (A4 size) had to be braced on the fold-out keyboard tray with the keyboard sticking out for access to the SHIFT/CTRL/ALT keys, and the mouse on top of the scanner. Not an ideal arrangement. I found it hard to draw a close line, but I guess that's all a process of learning.

My index finger is stiff and achy - not good. I might have been in front of this bloody computer too much in the last week.

Time for bed

Too much coffee today (er yesterday?).

Might go visit Jenn tomorrow (this morning?).

Spent long sessions on Second Life Today, including two dance sessions (one was a toga party, so how could I resist?). I think I'll steer clear  of SL and maybe even the PC tomorrow. Haven't even fixed the throttle handle on the EazyRide yet.

Time for bed, and sleep.

But while I remember, I had an interesting waking dream yesterday. I dreamt that I was part of a community that was being invaded by Goa'uld type parasites, who left their hosts un-emotional husks. They were spreading but had one Achilles heel - alcohol. The solution was to take all of them down to the pub to get pissed!

Time for bed.

Zoloft Blob

I was in SL at a self-help group meeting (no, I didn't stay away from the PC today) and someone mentioned the "Zoloft Blob". I had no idea what this was so they sent a link to this:

Compare this to the MAD TV parody:

Was feeling a little depressed until I saw that. I guess the meeting worked, just not the way I'd expected.