Oy. So work continues to eat up my spare time, and very heavily colors what little it leaves me. I've been told this situation improves as I get used to it, but so far that hasn't happened. Of course, one of the mitigating factors has been that my schedule keeps changing.

Case in point: My last day off was Thursday, June 5th. I won't get another until this Saturday, the 14th. Eight straight days. The light at the end of the tunnel is, for the first time since I've worked there, I'll have the whole weekend off. But in the meantime, my mind and body are rebelling against the notion of working in this labor marathon, especially since they'd just gotten used to working fulltime as it was. But, again, if I survive until Saturday, I'll have a full 48 hours to myself. Hopefully I'll be able to put something art-ish up here then.

But there's another impediment to art...DAZ|Studio recently "updated" their software, and it no longer functions the way I'm used to. Other than moving the camera, I can no longer select or manipulate objects within the 3D view. This is, for the most part, how I do my poses and select textures, so it's really dampened my enthusiasm for working in it. Even a recent "bug fix" didn't manage to solve my particular problem.

So I'm trying to upgrade my computer.

Problem is, my computer's reached that age where finding suitable upgrades for it is troublesome at best. I purchased a GeForce 7600 GS (replacing an ancient 440MX model) video card on Friday, installed it, installed all the latest drivers for both it and my motherboard. For awhile, things went smoothly. Was able to load up and max out all the settings on World of Warcraft. Even did a fairly successful run through a dungeon. But near the end of the run, my computer locked completely up. Had to hit the killswitch on the power supply. Then it started happening more frequently. Anytime I loaded up anything requiring the 3D card, it would lock up. Then it started locking up randomly even when the computer was just idling.

So after fiddling with it on and off for a weekend, trying to find a solution, downloading every driver I could think of, taking it out, dusting off the port, reinserting it, trying to find other drivers to download...I'm still screwed. Finally pulled it back out and returned the old 440 card to its throne. I think it smirked at me as it booted up.

Tuesday I'm going to try and call tech support. I'd like to give this every shot before I give up and try to get my money back on it.

UPDATE:
So I spent most of my day off on Tuesday on this thing. I called tech support, talked to a very unenthusiastic gentleman who, after we ran through all the possible options, determined that if I updated my chipset drivers and it still didn't work, the card was bad. I updated them, and it still didn't work. So back to Best Buy it went, and I exchanged it for a new one. The new one instilled me with some hope. Did some small renders, then started a game and played it for quite awhile before...yeah...it locked up again. I almost thought it might be the game, the new Penny Arcade Adventure. But then the computer locked up on reboot before Windows even loaded. So I finally gave up and got my money back. Looks like I'll be waiting awhile before my upgrades come.

Some bright spots in all of this: The tech support, while monotone and hardly what I'd call amiable, was as helpful as he could be. Also, I have memories of returns (especially of computer equipment) being needlessly painful affairs. To their credit, Best Buy gave me the second card with very few questions, and handed my money back (in cash) with even fewer questions. So kudos to them. Another oddity...I honestly don't think the card improved my render times any. The few I was able to do didn't seem the slightest bit faster. And that's what I really wanted it for. Perhaps more memory is the better answer? *shrugs*

I think what I'll be doing is saving up for the next couple of months and buying a decent low-to-midrange laptop. As strange as it is to say in this day and age, I've never had one. I'll enjoy the novelty of browsing the internet in bed, and I'll be able to afford to leave one computer busy with long renders while I do something else on the other. I think that will tide me over until I can afford my next badass desktop.

I'm now coming up on one month of having a real job, and will collect my second paycheck on Friday. I must say it is nice to have cashflow again. To be able to go and buy things I've needed or just wanted and not think "Well, if I buy this what am I gonna do about food for the rest of the week?" I do feel better about my lot in life, and that the end to being dependent on my parents...while not close...is at least on the horizon.

That said, it sure has played hell with my creative time.

As a Poser/DAZ Studio artist, time is damn near everything. I mean, if you're actually interested in setting up proper poses, lighting, shadows, and doing postwork, it takes time. And my computer is very close to slipping into "Dinosaur Status" if it hasn't already, so some things that I'm sure take a few minutes for my colleagues, take a half an hour or more for me. On the extreme side, I've had renders...and I mean just the renders, excluding set-up and tests, take more than 24 hours.

The point is, it's hard to string together that much time these days. And even if I can, I have to be really inspired to tie up my computer for that long. So, yeah, I'm being compensated for my time. But that's a small comfort in the face of the effect it has had on my far more important and rewarding creative life.

Hopefully these are difficulties that can be worked out. A faster computer could probably solve some of them. But I know all too well what happens when my creative side is pushed aside for too long, so I will have to take steps to prevent that from happening.

Finally, good luck and gambatene to ~Oppaiko, who is flying all the way across the country today and will face some temporary homelessness as she starts a new job and gears up to return to college. "Gambatene" means "have courage" in Japanese, and it's their version of "good luck." But in Oppaiko's case, I'm not sure "have courage" is really appropriate. As far as I'm concerned, she's got tons of it already.

Conclude the features will!

And finally, the green ribbon winner, First Place in the Emerald Lasses Contest, , a lovely young lady who won the whole thing with this gorgeous entry:



Here's nine other images from her delightful gallery:





Next week, my journal is mine again!

Continue the features will!

This week we move onto the winner of Second Place in the Emerald Lasses Contest, , who earned her prize with this entry:



Here's nine other images from her beautiful gallery:





Next week, our First Place winner, *xlouisax!