As I write this the skies outside scream a piercing blue, the lawnmowers sing out in droves, the songbirds are chirruping (presumably) and you'd never guess that last week was thick socks and cardigan weather. I, for one, demand a refund. It's Autumn now, weather! Lock in and let me wear wool again!
To business!
*Slams briefcase on desk*
*Slams bigger drawnoutcase next to it*
As anticipated the highlight of this update is the fourth monthly instalment of my not-a-newsletter Newsletter! Curiously I also call these supplements despite them not supplementing anything. I pride myself in my consistent inaccuracies.
In this month's not-a-newsletter-nor-supplement newsletter supplement, we have a spotlight of the Calenders' designated adult December, new crossword and Sudokémon puzzles, a scribbly little travelogue of the curious sights from my sojourns, a gaggle of gags and of course comics!
I had intimated the production of a longer comic and/or out/indeed a video to accompany this release, and if you care to take a little look around... Go on... I'll wait, I don't mind... Over there too... Uhuh... yup, nada.
There are a few reasons for this: I've been trying to build structure in the processes I need to enact the work side of my, uh, work. You know, the bit where I earn money. Turns out that requires some administrative structure behind it, for both business and attention-retention purposes. This isn't helped by Patreon messing up its accounts of your donations, but I keep good enough records of my own to fix their mistakes. Remember kids, if you're not ready to suddenly lose it then don't keep it all online.
Bam! Surprise Nova!
I've also spent a nontrivial amount of time writing! It's very exciting writing, I assure you. Well, primarily if you're vision-impaired. Yes, alt-text for social media posts actually takes a not-inconsiderable time to write and - never one to remember that keeping up is easier than catching up - I just ploughed through a massive chunk of it over the last couple of weeks. Will it ever be read by something other than an AI scraper? I don't know! But it's nice to accommodate those hypothetical few who may find use in it. That and avoiding the wrath of the social media mafia who'll put you on a ban list for forgetting to do it once. People get really weird when they get a tiny bit of power.
I also made banana bread! It's was alright.
The primary distraction though, one that took almost exactly three days of my time, was my new productivity shiny: A digital corkboard!
This has been in the back of my mind for quite some time and is now manifest! A little corkboard program which allows you to manage multiple boards of colour-coded notes that can be arranged, sized and connected as desired, where every note comes connected to a bigger text document you can put all of the specific doesn't-fit-on-a-corkboard details.
This, I had long convinced myself, would be useful not only for organising my many, many potential projects but also for keeping track of plots in bigger stories, multi-stage processes in larger endeavours, to-do lists, forget-me-nots, timetables, you name it!
And by you name it, I mean you! That's right, this little three-day-doohickey is available to download from this not-at-all dodgy-looking google drive folder! If you have a Windows device, simply download all of the files to a location of your choice, run the .exe and get pinning! It worked for m'good friend Cheeb at least, and it only took two fatal errors to get running. I consider that a success.
Side note: I always forget how happy coding makes me when it goes well. When I had to completely overhaul the save/load system to accommodate the connecting strings and it inexplicably compiled on the first attempt I literally clapped like a seal. It's embarrassing, really.
Streams? Never heard of them. That said my Live Entertainment Broadcasts™ have been trundling along with gusto. We've been positively blasting through games, having pruned Strange Horticulture, honked out the SNES classic* Addams Family and allowed Do No Harm to succumb to its own due diligence! This leaves us free to flagellate ourselves on the flail of Dracula 3. Joy.
Our friendly social weekend LEB™s see us once again plundering the abandoned houses and supermarkets of Dying Light, with the looming threat of board / card game shenanigans once nothing pilferable remains. And finally Sunday doodlage continues unabated, undermined only by murmurs of a potential drawthrough looming to usurp its throne.
Next time on the Crispy Parsnips Fortnightly Update Update: A completed Dead Island Highlights Part 2 video! Oh yes, I'm making promises and everything. Internal and external demands impel the production of commission example drawings, and if time exists between them perhaps another glimpse into the lives of young January & February. Perhaps.
Thank you as ever for your support, steadier and more reliable than Patreon's accounting system. It really is the only reason I'm still able to be pratting around like this (you guys, not the accounting system), but the focus for the end of the year is to remove some of the weight from your shoulders. I want to appreciate you, not rely on you. As for yourselves, might I suggest do something that future you will appreciate present you having done this week? I might, you know.
Look after yourselves,
Crispy 💜