[IMAGE] Spooky Corridor
All posts by Cullen M. M. Waters
[SITE INFORMATION] Twenty
I have been blogging for twenty years.
It’s hard to think I’m still doing this.
In some ways I’ve stopped. This site, which I pay good money for every year, doesn’t get updated more than sporadically.
The sister site hasn’t missed an update for over a year. I’ve come close, and will no doubt come close again now that my buffer is gone. But it’s doing well.
No one reads it, but it’s doing well.
I don’t think anyone reads this. Maybe Mom every now and then. Maybe the occasional passersby. But regulars?
Not anymore.
Too niche, I’m afraid.
Google has becoming an AI nightmare. The chance for success as a blogger has no doubt dropped to nil. Wise man would quit and move on. Focusing more on the other site, or other things.
I’m not wise.
This was more about improving my craft. And my craft has improved because of it.
It is a tool I don’t use as often as I should.
I find what I said on my tenth anniversary to be a germane now as it was then. Alas, it’s in the archives and not on this site, but that’s an easy fix. I’ll make it a page an put it here.
Rereading that, I find little I disagree with. What I said then, holds now. I’m older than those two Past Cullens. Not wiser, as I just said. But it’s possible I’ve learned a little since then.
It makes me a little sad, even though it shouldn’t.
I have a friend now I didn’t have then. One I talk with every week. It could be more than that. It could be just what it is. But its more than I had.
That’s enough.
I have a novel now. An honest to God novel. One that I’m trying (and failing) to rewrite. It might not come to more than that.
That’s enough.
I write more now than I did. I finish little, but when I finish, I finish strong. I like what I write still. I am my own number one fan.
That’s enough.
Twenty years. Things have changed so much since then. I have driven 15 hours straight, by myself, and survived intact. I have seen Texas, the Gulf of Mexico. I have met famous people, even eaten at their house.
That’s enough.
I don’t know if there’s another ten years of blogging, in this blog or in me. But I suspected it would die, completely die, long, long ago.
It hasn’t.
God willing and the creek don’t rise, it won’t.
That’s enough.
Now let’s see if something fun happens.
[SILLY STUFF] :-{ ?
You wanna talk about old, this post is almost twenty! All of these smilies are now called emojis. And I’m still waiting.
Oh, and the header image is AI. For the record.
I’ve yet to come across a smilie for Homicidal Rage While Holding a Cheese Grater and Thinking of My Ex-Girlfriend Who Said She Wanted Us to Be Just Friends But Went to All of My Real Friends and Started Telling Horrible Lies About Me and a Cockapoo Which Never Happened Because I Was In California at the Time Doing A Favor For Her No Good Brother Who Stole Thirty Bucks From My Wallet Then Gave It Back To Me As a Loan (With 20% Interest) A Week Before He Shoved Me Down A Cliff Into the Wrathful Sea From Which I Was Only Escaped Through the Fortuitous Aid of a Pod Of Passing Dolphins and A Beautiful Blonde Who Still Won’t Return My Phone Calls Damn It.
Which makes me feel really restricted in what I can say on-line. I mean, what if all of that happened to me? Am I supposed to write that out every time? I think not.
There’s got to be some way of doing it. Maybe with a hyphen and a couple of commas… Yeah… Yeah, maybe…
[THOUGHTS ON STORIES] Exploring Nero Wolfe Mysteries: A Deep Dive
There’s very little better than a Nero Wolfe mystery. They’re just something else. I’m reading Black Orchids right now. The only reason Wolfe is getting involved in the murder is so he can lay hands on the titular flower. That guy is so self centered, it’s hilarious. Book’s been fun so far, too.
[Sorry about the misleading title. Out of curiosity I asked WordPress’s AI to come up with one and this was its choice. With the post being only a paragraph at the time, how could I resist? The post header’s AI too, for the record.]
[Image] House
[IMAGE] Occult Library (Unfinished)
[IMAGE] Torso
This week we’re working on a full low polygon character. This involves not only videos from the course, but at least two hours of videos from ANOTHER series of lectures. This series I’ve never done; I pooped out on the basic course after the T Rex.
Well. The T Rex is what I wanted to do.
So.
My thought is that the basic work I’m doing here can be transferred over to the main project. I hope.
Fortunately for me, Target had cut my hours down to twenty. Giving me PLENTY of time.
But so little money.
I’d hoped to pick up a second monitor. They’re cheaper than I expected. One cost about $95 bucks, which compare to all the TVs I looked at is a steal. I’d go for a slightly more expensive model, one that matches the fella I got. The hours cut, though, makes me hesitant.
Actually, I fib. I’m always hesitant to spend any money over $50. Under, it’s more of a struggle NOT to buy.
Anyways, here is where I stand now.
Learning Something New (If Not Really That Useful)
I discovered today something shocking. This classic and ever so important post has not been restored to this site after the reboot. As you can see, I’ve strove to correct this gross state of affairs by reposting it now. I have also planned an equally important and vital follow-up for, say, tomorrow. Or so.
I’d heard of “symmetrical docking” before. Even seen an example of it. Such as this, below:
I thought I’d post this image a second time, but after drawing arrows to fully describe the “symmetrical docking”. So everyone could see and understand just where I was coming from. Maybe even blow up the proper section of the image. Deleting everything else. Save the “symmetrical docking”. And the arrows.
Then I remembered I wasn’t thirteen.
Really. This has been a problem of late.
In essence, symmetrical docking describes two anime females (or just plain ole females) standing so close that their boobs are smooshed together. As above.
Aren’t you glad you now know this? Isn’t your life more fulfilled?
Maybe if you’re thirteen…
Knowing the term, I began wondering just where it came from.
Because I’m that way.
The quickest to do this, I felt, was heading over to TV Trope. What with it being a veritable fount of useless knowledge, I figured I’d find it’s page in no time.
Actually it took a little more than that, but this silly little essay is already almost 200 words long, and that’s about 200x longer than it should be. To summarize, here’s what I learned, via this quote:
A phrase commonly used to describe a picture of two girls standing so close together their breasts are squished against each other. Originated from a Super Robot Wars Alpha 2 Yonkoma [4 panel comic] where, instead of showing Cho Ryu Jin’s [a giant robot’s] Symmetrical Docking Transformation Sequence, a picture of original characters (with huge breasts) Kushua Mizuha and Seolla Schweitzer are shown in [said] position.
Which looks like this:
It’s the “squish” onomatopoeia in the second panel that really sells this strip.
Anyways, that’s what I learned today. And now you know. And knowing is half the battle. Or a few cells of memory in your head that you’ll never use for important facts.
Honestly, I don’t see why I should be the only one to suffer.
[IMAGE] Shield
Another relatively easy project that I made harder than I had to. I’m only noting it here because it’s a completed project. Compared to yesterday’s work, it’s kinda boring.
I am about a day behind, but still plugging at it.
[IMAGE] Low Polygon Winter Scene
Well that took longer than intended. A lot of goofs, a lot of rewatching videos and searching through notes. Still, I think it came out pretty decent.
