No Charge for July - A Blog Tale (Patreon)

Hey Everybody,

How has summer been going? Business as usual for most I'd presume. This is my first summer back to work since 2020. All is well, but July didn't go as planned. It turns out summertime with kids on break from school doesn't make the best environment for getting raunchy pictures done on the regular. It's been a learning process. I plenty got done in June thanks to a summer program that was keeping one of my kids busy for most of the day, but that ended in July, and since then my attention has been scattered all over by distractions, personal matters, and... Elden Ring, O Elden Ring.

Character name: Punta = point or precipice. Only my non-existent therapist can explain why I named her that. I mostly wanted to cut through the character creation ASAP and just get to the game.

That's my build. I always tell myself I'll go mage in these Souls games, but NEVER do any spell craft beyond the basic "cast flashlight" spell to deal with caves and general gloom. This time I was determined to make magecraft a priority, thus, my character is a glimmering glintstone adherent decked out in the best armor she can handle. It's working out, though I must admit, relying heavily on ranged battle does feel like cheating most of the time. Still, the game presents more than enough challenge for my aging reflexes. Good times.

I've been at it with Elden Ring since late May. I'm currently 140+ hours into my first, and likely last play-thru. I find myself drawn to Ranni's nebulous cause. While I can't say I've fully reckoned with the implications of handing the world to a murderous Machiavellian moon maiden, she did speak nicely to me a couple of times and seems slightly less unhinged than many of the other denizens and demi-gods. Are these good justifications to side with her? Not really. Is this just motivated reasoning because she's kinda cute? Probably.

Ranni by Mina Cream (used with permission)

I can understand why some players might seek to preserve or augment the Golden Order, but personally I can't see the appeal of maintaining the status quo in the thoroughly broken Lands Between. That said, I'm also not a sadist who wants to see the world burn or devolve into a fetid shit stew. While Ranni's vague icy age of cosmic mystery, where fate is governed by the moon (???????) seems somewhat incomprehensible, I guess I'm onboard. Ultimately, I decided to pursue the sacred path that brings my avatar closer to the blue, doll-bodied woman, who seems genuinely appreciative of her colleague's dutiful sacrifices and my proclivity for Lord slaying. So, down the dark path I trod until Ranni is ready to dispose of me. Vaati, cue the Prepare to Cry episode. :..<

A Lack of Vision

Over the past few years I've noticed a decline in my near field vision, leaving me, among other things, unable to read microscopic sound effect translations on manga pages. But in broader terms, as someone who revels in the details, my inability to see anything close up has been bothering me. Rather than continuing to ignore the problem, I decided to finally go in for my first eye exam. The results are as follows: my eyes are in good shape, but I have a minor astigmatism related to aging. The optometrist recommended progressive glasses, which I promptly purchased. I get the new glasses, start wearing them, and everything in my world goes to shit.

What manga is starting to look like for me without glasses. Kuroki-chan, I can't read the SFX! Tasukete! The progressive glasses made everything nice and crisp and legible, but it came at a price.

As all the helpful information suggests, progressive lenses have a significant adjustment period. It takes anything from days to weeks for the brain to adapt to the visual anomalies and multiple regions of focus. However, what I found most vexing is that the lenses only have a tiny window of clarity at the 2-3 foot range, screen viewing range. When focusing there, every other part of the surrounding periphery is blurred and distorted. Chromatic aberration looks pretty cool when you consciously apply it to an image for artistic purposes, but it's less cool when 2/3rds of your vision field is warped and shimmering at all times.

Progressives: My sympathies to anyone who has to wear these types of glasses. I hope you're able to appreciate the visual splendor of reality. I found the experience abysmal.

What was once routine became a battle. A single word in an onscreen text passage would be in sharp focus while all surrounding text would be blurred and shimmering. It was the same with art. I couldn't scan the full scope of an image anymore. All was myopia. I tried working like this, diligently wearing the glasses all day, drawing and painting and constantly fighting to focus and finding myself going cross-eyed in the process. I was getting nowhere. Consciously, I understood the different fields and how to adjust my head for close or distant vision, but I hadn't found the promised land where simply looking at a screen felt natural. Eventually, rather than crack, I opted to step away from art and do something else while my mind magically adjusted to this augmented sense of sight.

Unwanted Diversions

I looked for other activities I could do that didn't require optimal vision. This led me to another round of trying to deal with storage containers filled with my deceased parent's stuff that line the rooms of my house. The end result is that somehow, by the 20th of the month, I was staring at a pile of vintage sports cards stretching across the floor of my studio space. I was sorting them by year and card type, and wondering what I was doing with my life. Now that the cards are sorted I face a new dilemma, what to do with them?

I've got Jordan, I've got Ken Griffy Jr., I've got Shaq rookie cards. I could care less, but I don't want to just dump them into the trash. I'm not overly sentimental or spiritual, but there is a part of me that sees these dumb cards as an extension of my father's hopes for the future, a future in which his son cashes out his cards and buys a new car or house or a college education for the grandkids. In reality, these cards are probably worth… IDK, somewhere between nothing, a PS5 game, and a PS5 system. Sorry Dad, everyone tried to game the collectables market back in the late 1980s to 1990s. Supply and demand. Turns out tens of thousands of people slid Shaq rookie cards into poly-sheaths, and housed them in climate controlled vaults, all in the hopes that one day, 50 years later, someone they love would crack the seal and have piles of $65,000 cards sitting before them.

As the month draws to a close and beyond, I'm still not sure what to do with the cards. I'll figure that out some other year. For now, they must slumber, perfectly organized, in a box. One day I'll discover the alchemical process that transforms paper adorned with sports stars into paper adorned with dead presidents.

The Lenses of Woe -- Reforged

It seemed that even after several weeks I still couldn't adjust to the progressive lenses. In my situation, the side effects far outweighed any benefits. My vision wasn't that bad to start with. I went back to the eye store, returned the glasses, and came out with a new prescription for computer reading glasses. I'm wearing them now. No adjustment period, just a single close-up focal range with a slight magnification. They work quite well.

Where are The Hot Sluts?

After getting the new glasses, right at the very end of July, I started putting effort back into art. I got a little further into Peachy's pics but not much else. I imagine as August comes and school restarts for the little ones, I'll be able to return to my craft uninhibited and undistracted. Until then, thank you for your continued patience. Just copy my goals post from the start of July and paste it here. We'll get back on track soon.

Take care,

Ecchi