I'm not really sure why I don't really write in my livejournal anymore. It's kind of sad, really, when I look back at the older archives and how I chronicled my life journey over a time that was very meaningful to me, as well as being very painful and difficult, as well as joyful. I know I would benefit from journalling again. I sort of have a "manual" pen and paper journal going, but I'm sooo much faster at typing that I think I would probably do better with the LJ. I wonder what changed over the years where my desire to write here suddenly turned off? I mean, obviously much of the fandoms I used to be involved with on LJ have simmered down or my interest has waned, but I used to mostly journal about my life anyway. Huh. Maybe it's just getting older and struggling more to have enough energy to get through a day, let alone write about it.
So, let's see.... I am doing relatively well. I am hopefully going to change my hours at work within the next couple of weeks, to where I will be working during the day (for the first time in many years), and also fewer hours. I HATE working at the hospital with a firey passion, and realize that it is only holding me back. I have 4 ewes and a ram, and 2 does and a buck (soon to have a second buck, because my current buck isn't putting out, LOL... only once before have I seen a buck with such a low libido). I want to move forward with my livestock, and I want to milk the sheep and goats this spring and sell or butcher the boy lambs and kids. I want to start a poultry project, and try to make some money selling eggs and eventually meat. Working during the day will let me get to the pasture to milk them/check on them/feed them at decent hours, instead of at midnight, like is currently the situation. I want to do art more, and try to sell more of that, too. And my most creative time is after dinner, but currently working in the cubicle/office at that time stifles my creativity - on this scehdule, I only manage to draw on my weekends (which are already super busy) or else hope that I catch a manic surge of energy to draw late into the night after work, but then I always suffer for it the next day. So, I am very excited about making the change to working Monday through Friday, from around 9 to 3 or so. This will also enable me to have a social life with humans again, and maybe even try to date. We'll see, LOL... there are so many other things I want to do, first. I am currently taking a stained glass class, because the medium interests me. I've only gone to one so far, but I drew up a pattern of a portrait of Gabby, and am excited to try and make it. My health is still somewhat in the shitter. The doctors have been generally unhelpful, wanting only to put me on heavy immunosuppressants. I would rather exhaust my more benign options first, which includes reducing stress and doing what I believe I was put on earth to do (farm and art). I have been diagnosed with Celiac, so I am currently tackling my inflammation problems from the diet angle, and getting tested for food allergies and once my schedule changes, want to invest more time in eating well and experiementing with exclusion diets to try and find answers. The naturopath has been the most helpful clinician so far. I am feeling a bit better overall, though, since starting the gluten-free diet - my joint pain has reduced significantly, which is wonderful. Still feeling a lot more fatigue than I would like, but part of this is because I dont' sleep well. This is something I hope moving to a daytime schedule will correct. I am in the fortunate position to have family support, so it's time to really take that leap of faith and try and create the life that I want. I've taken crazy leaps of faith in the past to pursue a dream, so I just need to work up the guts to do it again.
In the meantime, here is the latest artwork I've done. It's a fan art of secret Psychonaut agents (and my OTP from that game) Milla Vodello and Sasha Nein, from the most excellent game Psychonauts. I drew one Psychonauts fan art a million years ago, and always meant to do more, but that was during my "moving all over the state of California and beyond, working on goat dairies and living out of my Toyota" days, so not much art was completed. I'm replaying the game and rediscovering my love for it, so here we go. I am super, SUPER pleased with this and have been posting it all over the place, from Tumblr to Facebook to Deviantart, haha! :)