The Cracked Mug v 2.0

[erikavonkaiser]

I finished my art! it's an updated reference for my son Merillian, who has every disease

Merillian Reference.png

I want to start working on some other updated references since this one actually turned out pretty well (imho) and is a huge improvement over my last one:

27Feb2023 Merillian Reference.png

They're about a year apart, too, so a good indicator for progress which feels nice. Next I may work on a Rex reference, because I've never actually made one for him.

Anyway, I wish I could just stay home and draw blorbos all day, but alas I must go to work soon. Today I kinda took it easy because, per my calendar and behavior, I am probably starting my period tonight or tomorrow and in general I am just a bit low energy. Later I need to poke the discord channel we're using to plan stuff for this weekend and figure out travel/airport pick-ups/etc, but it does generally look like I won't have to really be Doing Things until noonish on Thursday. It does also look like people might need to hang out in my apartment while we wait to check into the AirBnB though, so tomorrow on top of leaving a bit early for work to wash my car I need to make sure everything's tidied for guests. I'll probably try to get stuff packed, too, because ideally I want to load up the car kinda early. oh and I gotta do one more tiny run to the store for strawberries (Sophie and I are making strawberries and cream muffins!), strawberry jam, and probably a pack of adult beverages

I've mentioned it already but as excited as I am to have friends to do things with I am also kind of a hermit, these days, so I am lowkey looking forward to the weekend after this upcoming one when I can aggressively hide indoors and play video games I am super hype to see my friends, though, and to eat pizza and play D&D in person

[erikavonkaiser]

also I appreciate, on Merillian's behalf, that the gay man pride flag is sea colors

[erikavonkaiser]

I just realized Merillian got taller (accident but keeping it) and lost his nipples (on purpose, I feel like a fish man wouldn't have or need them) so with every reference I make the horrors for him truly increase

[erikavonkaiser]

welcome to being Erika's beloved blorbo where sometimes you get pulled taller like taffy and wake up with no nipples because I decided to draw you slightly differently

[erikavonkaiser]

watching Gab Smolders do playthroughs of indie horror has keyed me into the strong tendency people have to tell a spooky story via "someone did [extremely fucked-up and often deliberately painfully triggering things] to [children/women/etc] and now [location] is HAUNTED" which is.....................fine, I guess, but feels a little lazy after a while

[Fetian]

You know what, that's an extremely good point and I should consider if I want to change the house's origins in Something About a House

[erikavonkaiser]

I've been having the urge to play Minecraft again lately but that would require reinstalling all of my mods which is not difficult but requires enough mental effort that I bounce off it

[erikavonkaiser]

I have so many games to play and so little time which is the most privileged complaint ever but sometimes I'm like dear god I need to take a month off work and just, catch up

[erikavonkaiser]

People are traveling! Ultimately we will all converge on an AirBnB in Oak Park (or Lawn idk off the top of my head, I always mix up Oak Park and Oak Lawn) at around 4:00 PM today; as the local I get the privilege of being lazy for a few hours until I have to assist in this endeavor by picking up Sam from the airport. I do need to pack a little bit more (just hygiene stuff and clothes) and will probably engage in a bit of last minute anxiety tidying but for now!

I shall sit and drink my coffeedrank and maybe draw a lil bit

[erikavonkaiser]

I am back home!

On Thursday I: dooted around a little bit in the morning then went to pick Sam and Greggo both up from the airport; initially Masque was gonna pick up Greggo on their way in but some plane delays caused it to make more sense that I just nabbed 'em and we all met up at my apartment. We went on a little walk to stretch our legs then onto the AirBnB, at which point we played Mario Kart and ate pizza. Greggo and Masque also gave me and Sam surprise gifts!!!

Screenshot 2024-02-04 173828.png

They custom made us each Magic: the Gathering decks!!!

Neither me or Sam play so the gift was presented as "to learn to play if you want to" or "to just have because the art is nice and we lovingly selected the themes." Sam's deck was "summon lots of sexy demons" and mine is "shirtless elf himbos." We did play one or two games and the basic mechanics of playing are pretty fun although I am still extremely overstimulated by the minutiae and just make brain static noises when people start to read off the highly specialized things their cards do.

On Friday we: played more video games, went downtown to drop me off so I could sign important lawyer papers, and then celebrated that! Masque is now officially, legally, my next-of-kin, even if I am deceased or no longer able to make decisions for myself (disabled, injured, etc.). Sophie floated the term "kin-in-law" and, I dig it. We ate at Jake's (burgers/hot dogs, it's an Extremely Chicago kinda joint) then zipped back to the AirBnB for, you guessed it, more video games and board games, which included an in-person D&D session! After that it was time for me to pick Sophie up, then Sophie met my friends which was very important and special to me and ahhhhhhhhh

On Saturday we: more video games, more board games, nice long walk through the fancy neighborhood we were in, Greggo went to his NieR nerd concert, Masque made hot dish (a Midwestern monstrosity I've never eaten before; it was delicious, but still a monstrosity). I showed them Forbidden Island and we got SUPER into it and made new characters/backstories each time, which is not part of the game or rules but I just really love that I have people in my life who like to play pretend and tell little stories even when we're just playing a board game together.

And then today we meandered awake, played one last minute game of Forbidden Island, and went our separate ways! Masque left straight from the AirBnB to go back to Minneapolis and then I dropped Greggo and Sam back off at O'Hare before fleeing to my apartment w/ Sophie for a bit (we promptly took a nap) and I just got back from dropping her off at Union Station.

I am, expectedly, tired, but I just feel very happy and lucky and I miss my friends already