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What's up? by keirajo
How are your lives? Are you holding up with the summer heat? Unfortunately, it seems as if we're going to be stuck with hotter and hotter summers as climate change becomes irreversible. There's some good intentions of wanting to fix it, but motivation may be what stops anyone from doing anything. And the situation of the world and the wars and strife that have erupted everywhere in the past decade. Just hang in there, citizens of Planet Earth--and endure the best that you can.
I'm trying to focus on getting fan-fiction done lately.........so, art posts may be tapering off for awhile. I did a handful of watercolor things and I'm going to try and do more until my supplies run out--at that point I'll have figured out whether trying to stay in the groove of painting will work for me or not. If you would like to read my Transformers fan-fiction, pop over to AO3 and read my stuff--I have huge epicness coming up soon. :)
Personal-wise.........I just had my credit card blocked for fraudulent activity. Used it last weekend, it was fine--my balance is relatively low and I JUST made a payment yesterday. Tried to use it today for an online purchase and it was denied--called the customer service line and was unfortunately referred to my financial institution for resolving the issue. Unfortunately, even more, my financial institution is closed on the weekend. So, I get to endure the "stomachaches of worry" until Monday. Though, I suppose with my credit card blocked--nobody else can try to use it fraudulently, right? :/ I think I feel more embarassed at having had to back out of ordering something and feel a bit cursed now........... @_@
The Summer Reading Program just wrapped up at the Library--we had record numbers this year that beat our pre-pandemic numbers, even. Kids go back to school soon, but homeschooling families are already coming in to get stuff to start homeschooling soon--even as most parents and kids attend orientation nights at schools to prep for it. Of course it's just going to be hotter through the rest of August--it's always hot when kids go back to school. Next year, I will probably get an air conditioner finally--as I get older, the summers are harder and harder to endure (at home) without it. sigh
So, what are you guys up to lately? Anything fun and exciting?
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Yeah…..it’s the drawback of “being an adult”. When things go wrong, you normally have to go through hoops to fix it. Hopefully I can pop into my credit union on Monday morning and get it dealt with—for now, it’s a good thing I have real money in my wallet. :)
Today is super-hot here. We’re under a heat advisory until later tonight…..it’s currently 93-but-feels-like-106. @_@
I think it’s great to work on achieving personal goals! I hope you can get through them without too much difficulty—because it’s always great when you can say you got something done! :D I hear ya on the health thing—it’s never easy, but stay strong and positive, then you can get through it. A positive outlook sometimes helps a lot more than people realize. :)
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Ugh, I have the biggest fear of my credit card being locked for 'suspicious activity' I've only recently started using that type of payment and it's really helpful for me.
So the past year hasn't been going great for me, but I'm close to getting my first paid job, which I'm very excited for.-
Yeah, I’ve had my card for many, many years and always worry about that. Especially when it comes to autopay bills that come from it. I just wonder if one of the autopay places tried to debit the card more than once and caused a scam red flag to pop up?
Oooh! New job! I hope it goes great for you! Best of luck! :D
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The heat was worse a couple of months ago compared to now. At least it not hitting in the triple digits and sucking all of my energy away. Summers in The southern part of the US is basically an oven to me. I'm hoping most of us can put forth the effort to solve the issue of climate change instead of fighting over politics.
I'm still doing world building, but it's going a lot faster as I found a couple of shortcuts. I guess after the basic stuff I can just go straight into my character's personalities and backstories, then finally start drawing them instead of letting the designs sit for months on end. I might even try doing a comic series if I can dedicate myself to such a large task.
As far as real world stuff, I've just got my Steam Deck a couple of days ago! So far, it's great in terms of performance. Battery life is ok, but 60FPS and AAA games take quite a bit of battery life unless you turn on FPS limiter. I've been downloading some of my games and trying them out. Most of them work except for one. I do plan on getting Stray very soon. Seems really fun! There was this other game I wanted to play called Feral Heart Unleashed, but everytime I install it, it breaks for some reason. I'll have to figure that out sometime.
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I would like to think that it “can’t get worse than this” next year, but I read an article that says global temperatures are going to rise a little every year. For us, in the Midwest—it’s the humidity that kills us. Even when it might be 85 on the thermometer…..it could be closer to 100 with humidity/heat index factored in. @_@
You know, sometimes you might find more inspiration for your world once you start building more around the characters. In the real world—the world shapes people, but in the creative world, I think characters can shape the world you’re building. :) I find it funny that I haven’t even colored the most recent ref sheet I did for Novablaze and I’ve already gotten a different growth-spurt look for him. :p Sometimes my characters grow faster than the art I can get out for them……. XD
That’s great that you got your Steam stuff set up, even if there’s small hiccups here and there. I hear a lot of good things about “Stray” and tons of people I know have looked forward to it. I hope you get to enjoy it soon, too! :D
Hopefully you’ll be able to get that other game in a more “playable” form eventually, too! :)
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Yeah, humidity hits hard down here too. 😖
I just want to go back north since it's cooler up there.You look what? That's exactly what I was starting to do recently. I'm working on 4 main concepts that correspond to what ability an oc has, then start working on my characters bios and personalities tied to that concept along with some of the sub consepts and locations.
A similar situation happened with my OC Zack. I ended up having to change his species because you can't have more that 2 Dutch ADs at a time from what I've heard. That was after I got two Dutch ADs back in 2020. I probably have like one drawing of him as a Dutchie before I switched him to another open species.Honestly I'm almost there with the settings and stuff, but my mobile hotspot can't handle downloading 100+ GB games, so I might have to go to Starbucks or something to finish up some of the installations. 🙄 I'm just glad I got the 512gb model as it has the most space. 👍
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Oh and about that card situation, I'm sorry that happened to you.
I've heard about various ways people try to get your info off you card. It really pisses me off on how some people are just steadily trying to be sneaky and slimy. 😡
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Yesterday was crazy humid--even though it rained all day long and it was only 79, it felt like it was in the 90's because there was so much humidity in the air. It was hard to breathe outside.
I know a lot of times, my universe(s) shape up more, based around the characters in them. I have an old fantasy world that I started in High School--all the "free writing" assignments I had in classes, even up through college, I would write in this universe. But it was interesting, because each new grade I went on to--the story universe would "evolve" more. It started more as a primitve sword-and-sorcery fantasy, but by college, the world had evolved into a more science-fiction/futuristic kind of world. :)
Being that I have a mobile hotspot for my home internet, too.....I know exactly how that works. Which is why I wait to do uploads when I'm at work and can use the Library wi-fi. nods
I did get the credit card thing resolved--and it was what I suspected (an autopay bill tried to debit my card multiple times and red-flagged it for fraud, so it got blocked). At least it wasn't legitimate fraud--it was likely somebody hitting the enter key too many times on their keyboard to process a payment. Or the internet was too slow and they couldn't wait for something to process before trying again.
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I think that same effect might be going on today. It just rained last night and while I was on my power walk this morning, I felt it kicking in.
Interesting! I'm kinda wondering if a similar situation happens with my world bc I kinda have a 2 in 1 situation at the moment. It's still pretty early, so I can't tell.
Honestly I wish I had my old ISP so I can be able to play reliably with my friends. But I've managed pretty good so far currently.
Thank God it wasn't too serious. I had a similar situation with Walmart when I was ordering from their online stores. They kept double charging me the day after ordering. I wasn't double clicking or anything like that, but after about 2 times of it happening, I just said screw it, and switched to Amazon.
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Yeah. We actually don't have humidity today, which is nice--it's mid-80's range today. So warmth WITHOUT the humidity, I'd forgotten what that was even like! XD
I'm sure you'll figure out your story universes soon. :)
It does help that you can go to places with free wi-fi to at least do updates and things like that. Our city has contracted with an internet provider to try and get some kind of public free wi-fi going.........though how many years it will take to get it installed and running, who knows?
I sometimes wonder if when people or services try to process a credit card transaction and there's a "technical hiccup".......instead of waiting a few minutes to see if it went through--they just instantly try again, like a phone call redial. That probably explains why there's so often multiple charges in "one order" like that--the general sense of impatience humanity has gained. chuckle I did try to use my credit card today and the transaction went through--so, I hope this is the end of it. Though in today's world, I may see it happen more often in the future........ XD
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I ordered an AC, and found out later that it's coming in from China. So, it's going to be a while yet @_@...
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Oh jeez, hope the card situation gets resolved with no issue!
Nothing much going on on my end aside from me trying to make that final push to get affiliate on twitch. Just 3 more followers @_@
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Me too. I’ve gone like 20 years without credit card problems—but I suppose at that point it was inevitable. I’m glad I’m one of those people who doesn’t rely on a card to feed and clothe me, I always have cash in my wallet for emergencies. :)
I’m sure you can get them soon! :D
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hope your card issues get resolved :). been getting back into drawing more just been on random breaks since my ribs on both sides has been iffy lately, slowly not feeling as bad for now :) and recently got some self care items like some bath salts to help with my ribs, lotion and a bath bomb ^_^
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It was easier than expected, but always so worrisome in today’s society of theft and fraud.
I hope the stuff helps soon—it doesn’t sound like what you’re going through is very comfortable, since ribs are a big part of the human body. :)
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i hope the stuff helps too :). it's been uncomfortable off and on lately luckly any time it acts up i take it easy and rest in bed when needed that way it wont be as bad ^_^ the plus side is my ribs don't feel as bad when ever i bend to pick stuff up etc thats a good start :D
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It does sound like you’re slowly starting to get “better”! :)
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Doing alright though the hot weather is wearing me down. I wish all global powers would just... realize that we need to fix shit like, yesterday, and get on it -seriously-. It's really unfortunate that some just aren't taking it seriously with all the evidence we've had for decades on this. The state of the world is not good on so many fronts. Though, I do hear a lot about new research in a lot of sectors to make things better, more sustainable, and less impact on the earth so on one hand, it's depressing and concerning and infuriating but on the other hand, there is also hope. The emotional rollercoaster can be pretty wild sometimes, and the existential dread is very real, but I'll stick to hope as much as I possibly can.
Yay writing! Sometimes it's really nice to switch things up between different creative endeavours~
Oh no! I hope your credit card can get investigated and fixed real soon for you. That stuff sucks, though i'm glad they were able to block whatever bad actor was trying to take advantage of your card. (Hopefully it wasn't a false alarm that just blocked you from your money.)
Wow, I hope the Summer Reading Program was good (and safe) with those numbers. I hope you're able to find an AC that suits you and your space and that you can stay cooler in future years. It's definitely getting hard to endure for sure.
I'm mostly doing big catchup after being away. Managing the heat as best I can. Got virtual events this month and CozyCon's virtual event next month so hopefully those will be good :)
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I hear ya! We’d have a far better world if everyone would just chill and work together. I worry that we won’t have much time left at the rate most societies are going in. @_@
I have so much excitement over the next story-arcs for my two main Transformers series of fan-fics…….I have to make myself finish the current stuff first, though! XD
It was everything I thought and easier than expected to get my card unblocked. The common mistake of an autopay place accidentally charging my card multiple times—it red-flagged the card for fraud. It happens, but it’s horribly inconvenient when it does. I suppose it was good to find out when trying to order something frivolous, rather than trying to buy something seriously important!
I imagine you’ve got tons to catch up on, too! Good luck! :D
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Muuuch agreed.
Haha, i totally understand this. Sometimes i'll have such fun ideas for things I want to work on, but gotta finish current stuff first! XD
I'm so glad it got unblocked quickly and easily and yes, glad it happened not for something like an emergency!!
I dooo. Augh. It feels like the catchup list never ends. Mark things off only to have just as many or more things replace it on the list.
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I know mostly people don’t want to deal with climate change, but if people can’t change their ways on carbon emissions—it’ll hurt us all in the end. :(
I’ve got so much planned out, I’ve created new characters and worked hard to get some plot for an old concept that isn’t going to tread where the same concept went in other media. I just hope my readers enjoy it as much as I’m going to enjoy writing it! XD
Me too. I just used my card today and it worked fine…….though, hilariously enough—I got a spam text a few hours afterwards that was coincidentally related to what I used my card for. Of course, I checked everything again and the text message is a common spam happening right now (my sister got the same message around the same time!). I tell ya—sometimes I wonder if we should rebuild technology from the ground up, with superior security for everyone……so we wouldn’t get hit with spam that looks like legit stuff! @_@
Yeah…..just take your time and work through it at a pace that’s not gonna hurt you in the end. You can do it! :D
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It's really true. Sticking our heads in the sand does nothing but make it worse in the long run. :/
I'm sure your readers will enjoy it!
I'm glad your card is working fine. Coincidental texts like that make me so paranoid but yeah, they are common. I always go and use official contacts for the thing they are claiming to be and check that it's legit. Dang scammers.
It's been so dang busy. (Sorry about not answering PMs XD ) I'm getting there though. Had a really big update with CozyCon that took a LOT of time and i've got an event this weekend and lot of other stuff on my list that need doing. X'D Busy, but good. The heat could calm down a few degrees though. Eesh.
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I'm currently shocked by our last couple weeks of mild weather--usually when school starts it's horribly hot. But it's been mild enough I've had to put a light windbreaker on when I leave for work earlier in the mornings. XD
I feel like technology "hears" you sometimes. I'll be talking to my co-workers about something and when I look at something like the Weather Channel site or something with an ad bar--suddenly what we were talking about is on the ad bar. @_@
Just take your time and don't stress out, for sure! :)
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We're just getting over another heat wave here. Yesterday was the first day it didn't completely suck. X'D So i'll take it.
Honestly i'd not be surprised if it does. There are tons of apps that listen for voice commands, wouldn't be hard to get more then that. (Ads will also generally show you stuff you've looked up, related things, and stuff people on your network has looked up, afaik? Like i'll visit family and start getting ads for products they buy but i've never searched for in my life. XD )
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We had a hot day today, but it’s supposed to be followed by a massive thunderstorm……no surprise there! XD
I take my laptop to work and use that on my breaks (not my work computer)……one day we were talking about funeral arrangements, because one co-worker had to do so and others of us have been through it—then on my laptop, I was seeing ads for funeral places! @_@ It really is bizarre that technology is “listening” to us in one way or another…..!
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Hopefully the rain will cool things down a little, and not just make it muggy! X'D
Oh gosh. Eeeeesh. yeah @.@
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It’s better when the sun goes down. The sun just cooked the rain and made it worse. @_@ We’re supposed to have another storm overnight tonight and then a couple days of cooler weather.
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Oh gosh. Yay for cooler weather though!
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Yeah, I'll take low-80's over nearly-100 (Fahrenheit--100 is melting-hot, trust me) any day! XD
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SumiInk
Hopefully the card cooperates soon. Sounds like a pain.
Weather is cooling down for a little bit thanks to rain, but it's still pretty unpleasant. Much better than 100+ temps at least.
Overall trying to slowly progress towards some personal goals and playing monster hunter. Scripting has been an interesting experience to tackle alone (besides edits), so it's taking longer than expected. Health certainly doesn't help even if there's finally some progress with that.