I just don't know anymore...

[Drtooth]

Right, I mean I never really went to college. I don't know math well. Im just saying you should use this opportunity to raze the old and erect the new. Trust me, I was right where you were with self frustration.

Can I just tell you I absolutely hate my younger cousin that used to be my best friend because he almost dropped out of High School and was shotgun married to a girl from a Catholic family and his life is better than mine? And he was addicted to alcohol for a while? I can't even touch the stuff.

Not to his face, mind you. I still consider him a friend, but...I dunno

I know it shouldn't vex me, I know I should be happy... but when you do the right thing and what everyone tells you you're supposed to do and it turns out bad, it makes a person angry.

Heh... this is no reflection on you, my good man. You had the common knowledge to skip being forced to pay thousands for a few animation classes I liked and a bunch of idiotic fundamental stuff I didn't. Though, my artistic style did improve a bit.

Anyway, I'm trying to list a bunch of other options. I wanna try and see about getting a kid's book together, maybe looking into changing an idea I have into a comic book (but I have to find out about publishing, and I don't want to jump on a crash like the big indie Black and White comics crash of the 80's)... and I kinda need someone to assist me with backgrounds and inking who won't completely take credit for the creation... but that costs MONEY that I don't have, and I've been trying to get to step one of my life for the past 8 years.

As for the bullying... I've always strongly hated it. I DIDN'T seek any retaliation, legal (which I should have) or violently (where's my medal for that?). To put it in perspective, a certain school shooting happened just around my last year of High School. As despicable an act that was, there was nothing but Monday Morning Quarterbacking that nothing came out of. No lessons were learned. No thoughtful discussions on maybe the fact that this was caused by bullying and how those are the people sick enough to turn a decent person into a crazed murderer or a blubbering suicidal wreck. It took some pedo-tail tart, who did the same thing back in Ireland, to blow her miniscule brains out to even discuss this. That's disgusting. If something bad happens to someone good looking, it's a crime. if it's anyone else, it's...eh...whatever..we'll look into it.

I'm not the kind to blame media or video games... but the internet and anonymity turn people into the biggest jerks on the planet. You can't do anything about anyone.

 

[newsmanfan]

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As I don't know the details of what you're going through, I won't presume to give advice...however. Seems to me several people here have said good things. From what I've seen of your art, it's very very good (not typically my taste, but so what? talent is talent no matter the genre); and from what I've seen from your posts on MC, you have an intellect which shouldn't be wasted worrying about or stressing over snerts/spammers/idiots/the general great Unwashed, hoi polloi. **** them. If what you're doing, to please yourself, artistically, doesn't make you happy anymore, then step away from it. Do something completely different. I've been through burnt-out periods several times; completely ignoring that side of my brain for a few months usually sparks some even better idea and renewed enthusiasm for doing it.

Okay, yeah, so maybe this IS a little advice. Just do what feels best for you, professionally, creatively, personally. I'd hate to see your wonderfully barbed wit vanish from this forum, but I do understand sabbaticals, especially interweb ones. If you split, hope you do return.

I'd offer the sugary foodstuff of your choice to console you if we knew one another IRL. As it is...er...accept this virtual tea and chocolate? It's bittersweet...the best kind.

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[beaker]

Can I just tell you I absolutely hate my younger cousin that used to be my best friend because he almost dropped out of High School and was shotgun married to a girl from a Catholic family and his life is better than mine? And he was addicted to alcohol for a while? I can't even touch the stuff.

Not to his face, mind you. I still consider him a friend, but...I dunno

I know it shouldn't vex me, I know I should be happy... but when you do the right thing and what everyone tells you you're supposed to do and it turns out bad, it makes a person angry.

Heh... this is no reflection on you, my good man. You had the common knowledge to skip being forced to pay thousands for a few animation classes I liked and a bunch of idiotic fundamental stuff I didn't. Though, my artistic style did improve a bit.

Anyway, I'm trying to list a bunch of other options. I wanna try and see about getting a kid's book together, maybe looking into changing an idea I have into a comic book (but I have to find out about publishing, and I don't want to jump on a crash like the big indie Black and White comics crash of the 80's)... and I kinda need someone to assist me with backgrounds and inking who won't completely take credit for the creation... but that costs MONEY that I don't have, and I've been trying to get to step one of my life for the past 8 years.

As for the bullying... I've always strongly hated it. I DIDN'T seek any retaliation, legal (which I should have) or violently (where's my medal for that?). To put it in perspective, a certain school shooting happened just around my last year of High School. As despicable an act that was, there was nothing but Monday Morning Quarterbacking that nothing came out of. No lessons were learned. No thoughtful discussions on maybe the fact that this was caused by bullying and how those are the people sick enough to turn a decent person into a crazed murderer or a blubbering suicidal wreck. It took some pedo-tail tart, who did the same thing back in Ireland, to blow her miniscule brains out to even discuss this. That's disgusting. If something bad happens to someone good looking, it's a crime. if it's anyone else, it's...eh...whatever..we'll look into it.

I'm not the kind to blame media or video games... but the internet and anonymity turn people into the biggest jerks on the planet. You can't do anything about anyone.

Ha, Im no strange to alcohol. If Im posting on weekend nights, its probably not sober. But look, youre like me. Youre a kind person with nerdy interests and ambitions in a cruel harsh world. We have to get millitant! Zealous! Jihadist toward positive goals we want. I could sit on the pity pot about how I never had hardly girls into me, never had a good job, never had real success with things despite three plus decades of trying. But from within a low of the low, I had to say well darnit, Im worth it. I need to get vigilant about a sort of focus toward achievement. You sometimes have to reach that I guess. Reinvent yourself, cast away the new. I woulda laughed at what im saying as some new age 12 step baloney, but it's true.

Comics seem dead. Sure I go to comic conventions, but man...the days of comics being a beloved medium are gone. I turned to webcomics in 2002 but even that, I dont know. People want ADHD. The now...now now. I say just do what inspires you. Release, let go. In 1992 Id go around comic shops putting out freebie ashcan xeroxed comics and zines i made. 20 years later, i refuse to give up but yeah..im a little jealous of young kids who can make it.

Between you and me, I think we both could whip the pants off some of those muppet/fraggle comic artists. lol.

And I say who cares about cyber bullies. They're weak untermenschen plebians. I don't even recognize them. Just parasites, like respawn hordes from a video game to avoid

 

[RedPiggy]

I know it shouldn't vex me, I know I should be happy... but when you do the right thing and what everyone tells you you're supposed to do and it turns out bad, it makes a person angry.

Story of my life. I don't notice it as much anymore, but the majority of my life has been watching "morons" get rewarded while I try to be the good little girl and get screwed.
In fact, I've been repeatedly told I'm "too honest". I had been dragged through the mud at work, but one boss mentioned to me that it surprised them because the idea that someone honestly is trying to lead at least a halfway decent moral life even exists was almost unheard of.
I've noticed they talk to me differently than they do other people now.

Anyway, I'm trying to list a bunch of other options. I wanna try and see about getting a kid's book together, maybe looking into changing an idea I have into a comic book (but I have to find out about publishing, and I don't want to jump on a crash like the big indie Black and White comics crash of the 80's)

What about something like Nook or Kindle or whatever?

No thoughtful discussions on maybe the fact that this was caused by bullying and how those are the people sick enough to turn a decent person into a crazed murderer or a blubbering suicidal wreck.

It's why I can't watch shows like Intervention. "I can't understand why so-and-so drank!" Yeah? Well, I have some ideas, given what they have to live with.

Just do what feels best for you, professionally, creatively, personally.

My resume's a bit like Grover's ... I almost have to reinvent myself every few years. I've never known stability.

I could sit on the pity pot about how I never had hardly girls into me, never had a good job, never had real success with things despite three plus decades of trying. But from within a low of the low, I had to say well darnit, Im worth it.

I have a cousin who has absolutely no direction in life. Somehow my mother has gone through over 50 years without even acknowledging anything deeper than "playing house" like a 4-year-old. I feel a moral obligation to shove my mother into having a life, but I feel only God can throw a brick at my cousin's head. Life gave me yanks on my chain, and in my extended family tree, that's pretty much the only way things get done. I think, though, that part of the problem is how we define success. I'm an RN. My maternal grandfather wants me to be completely self-sufficient (since his two daughters most likely will be dependent until they die). There are times, though, where I resent being pushed into highly stressful situations all because a great income is the only measure of success. I mean, Grover can be seen as a failure for having "basic" jobs over and over. However, from another perspective, he keeps getting hired in a broad range of jobs. Charlie's will almost always take the guy back. Isn't resilience a measure of success? Isn't flexibility and adaptability a measure of success? I think sometimes success is too narrowly defined. No wonder everyone feels like they can't ever measure up.

 

[newsmanfan]

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Well frog yes. Success isn't about money (sure, it's nice, but there are more satisfying things) or social status (who besides the Repubs care?)...it's about being satisfied with who you are, where you are, what you do.

And having gone through a number of jobs and even careers which have zero to do with my tech theatre degree, I personally don't care what I do to make enough money to survive, as long as it gives me time to write. That's ALL that's important. I'm pretty much resigned to always having a Day Job...but so what? As long as it's not so stressful that it's affecting my private life, I don't care what it is -- just as you guys shouldn't care what yours are, in terms of social caste. A job should either A) be what you wanna do with your life, and happy at it, or B) support your struggles to do what you wanna do creatively.

I personally don't understand how anyone can be content being only one thing, be it housewife or banker or videogame junkie/fry cook at Mickey D's. How blah. Why NOT try a bunch of different things out? Resume' be frogged!

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[RedPiggy]

You can tell it bugged my maternal grandfather immensely that his descendants didn't have the kind of careers you could retire by. Even as nurses, my brother and I are lucky to stomach over a year in any one place. I tried to tell him that gone are the days where you'd be the same grunt for half a century and then retire and die. Now, it's adaptability and flexibility that means survival, and there's a big chance you'll have to work until you're 90.

 

[newsmanfan]

I tried to tell him that gone are the days where you'd be the same grunt for half a century and then retire and die. Now, it's adaptability and flexibility that means survival, and there's a big chance you'll have to work until you're 90.

Well, I plan on doing a Maude, so not 90...but yeah. I've noticed the older generation seems not to get that job security is never-never-land now.

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