I know I've been inactive for a while, and I realize that I've kept you all in the dark about it, so I owe you guys and girls an explanation on why I've been dead on here.
The pandemic has really brought out the worst in people, and us Westerners have done some pretty questionable things for the past year and a half, but everything that's transpired on Twitter, I suppose, is what brought me to my breaking point. Artists are being targeted on that platform simply because people don't agree with how certain characters are drawn, to the point that those artists have even received death threats, and not only is that behavior disgusting, but Twitter as a whole is disgusting to even allow this to happen. I don't like negativity, because of my Autism, I can't handle it that well... I thought about how eventually, if my art REALLY starts getting traction and draws more people in eventually, then how long will it take before I become a target of unjustified harassment on a platform that will do nothing about it? I've seen the lengths that people are willing to go to just to make somebody miserable too many times, and I can't help but think, "What the hell are we doing? We've become THIS technologically advanced, just for our mentality to start backpedaling to the stone age, and when people who do wrong, all they get as punishment is a slap on the wrist?" I've been doing art for 9, almost 10 years...and not one time have I ever felt relief from ridding myself of a social media platform, as I have felt from deleting my Twitter account. I still do enjoy doing art very much, but uploading any of it has been a turn-off for me because of these horrible people, so it's been mostly me doing art for fun.
Politics in general has become more of a bastard child lately as well. I used to not mind it at all, now I'm at the point where I hate it so much, that I would rather suffer from cancer than listen to another minute of it, and if I have friends that refuse to respect my wish to not discuss anything political, then yeah, that friendship is dead. It does nothing but divide people for completely asinine reasons, people don't know how to agree to disagree anymore.
So admittedly, I've been putting off writing this journal. A lot of things in my life happening right now that I'd prefer to focus on, including that in my last physical health check-up that I've had recently, my kidneys are a little damaged, I'm approaching my 30th birthday, my mom is getting ready to create her will (which has made me start to think about things that I'm probably not even prepared for), I'm probably going to end up getting a new job because I'm not learning anything new from my current one (that, and I can't be working at a restaurant forever). Teaching myself how to repair my own car, trying my hand at clay sculpting, growing pepper plants (which are turning out nicely so far, I have a habanero that's beginning to ripen), and I'm thinking of joining a gym and learning martial arts... in conclusion, I've steadily been more and more productive with my life, so take this as a lesson that you don't need social media to live, you don't need politics to live.
I'm not at all saying that I'm retiring from art. Eventually, I'll get around to uploading again, I just need some time from it. So with that being said, I'll see you all eventually. Again, I'm sorry for not saying anything, but I need a vacation, not just a break.
