Category: Real Life

A Lack of Creativity

I finished my cardigan just before the new year, and I absolutely love how it turned out. I wish I had filled 2022 with all sorts of knitting projects, but between our big move, the kids, buying our first house, etc. I just couldn’t fit that much in.

I’d like to make 2023 a more creative year, but finding the spoons to get everything/anything done has been difficult. I had grand goals of completing one knitting project a month, but I haven’t even really started on anything. I also wanted to do 52 digital drawings, but I’ve met up with some sort of artistic block where that is concerned.

For now, I’m at least keeping up with my bulletjournal. It’s a bit of creativity, and an attempt to organize my life. I can only hope that I find my muse before too long and I’m able to continue.

January 13, 2023 January 13, 2023 By stargrace In , 1 Comment

Resolutions (Goals) for 2023

Another year is almost done, and I’ve come up with a new list of things I want to work on for the next year. I don’t really consider these resolutions per say, everyone wants to be healthier and work on certain aspects of themselves, but my resolutions tend to be more like goals I schedule so that I actually make time for them. Last year I wanted to do more art, and I think I succeeded with that goal quite nicely. I didn’t hit the 52 pieces that I had in mind, but I came pretty close. Here’s my list for 2023.

  1. Learn Piano. For now I’ve got a small keyboard, I think it has 62 keys or something like that. It’s not great, but I plan on starting with it, and if I improve and get better and still enjoy it, at the end of the year I’d like to see about getting a full sized keyboard. Pricing them out the ‘good’ ones cost about $500-700 (and they go up from there) so it’s something I’d have to save / work towards and know for sure it’s an interest I want to pursue. In the meantime, the kids keyboard will do. I’m starting with a book called Adult Piano Adventures which is Faber, and highly recommended. I’m going to be aiming towards piano twice a week, two hours each time.
  2. Continue with my art. I did really great this year with my digital art, and I want to keep the momentum going. I’m so pleased with my progress. I plan on aiming on once a week for this one, which is the same amount of time I dedicated towards it this year. Some weeks I couldn’t (ipad broke, we moved across the country, I had an MS relapse, etc) but that’s the goal.
  3. Learn ASL. I’m not sure I can actually physically do this one due to my MS, but it has been a long time goal that I want to finally get around to. I plan on working on this goal once a week but it will really depend on how I’m feeling. A lot of the time my fingers and hands simply don’t want to work properly, or they’re in too much pain to work properly.

That’s it, my list of goals for 2023. There’s so much more I could add to that list, but I wanted this to be obtainable and realistic. That doesn’t mean I won’t do other things, I have plans on continuing with my ‘daily creative’ (except making it weekly, instead of daily), knitting, spinning, and of course my book goals. I want to be better about my blog (all of my blogs, actually) and update my book review site. These are little goals though that don’t really require a long term commitment so to speak.

I hope 2023 is a wonderful year, for everyone. We’ve had such a rough go of things for so long that I just want people to be able to relax a little bit, and not be in constant fight & flight mode. We’ll see how that works out.

Happy Holidays, everyone. See you in 2023.

December 26, 2022 December 26, 2022 By stargrace In No Comment

An Early Year in Review

It sure has been a very full year – though my blog doesn’t exactly demonstrate that. I’m hoping for 2023 I’ll get back into the swing of posting more frequently, but that’s never something I promise or count on. This year it didn’t feel like I accomplished very much but then I remembered we drove across Canada and moved from the far North to the Atlantic Coast as a family of four, and we bought our first house, and none of that was small potatoes.

What am I up to these days besides simply trying to get by?

When it comes to video games you will usually find me in World of Warcraft enjoying the Dragonflight expansion (I write about my gold making adventures over on my web site dedicated to that), or in Dwarf Fortress which FINALLY released for steam. It is absolutely everything I hoped it would be, and more. I have dedicated an absurd amount of hours to this game already, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. I would ideally also like to try to fit some Wurm Online in there, but there are only so many hours in the day.

Art! I had set a goal of completing 52 pieces of art this year, and right now I stand at 39 – considering the year we had, I’m OK with that. Next year I hope to challenge myself in the same way, and I hope to blow that challenge out of the water. Unfortunately with AI art and moral issues concerning both DeviantART and ArtStation I have no idea where to post my works any more. I’m contemplating setting up a Patreon, where people could subscribe to see my art process and my works without giant obnoxious watermarks on them. I’d like to get some prints of my pieces made, so I could give them away or maybe even sell them. I haven’t decided on anything yet.

Knitting – I did manage to finally complete my cardigan, but that was all I completed besides some wash cloths I knit before we moved. I also did a lot of spinning on my new Daedalus Starling e-spinner, which I adore. Knitting went into the “I wish I had time” pile, but I still managed to get that big cardigan project done (I am now living in it for the remainder of winter) so I’m pleased. I have to keep reminding myself I cannot do all of the things.

Speaking of all of the things! I made my way through 23 books this year – raising my original goal of 15, twice. I’m two books short, and I think I might still be able to make it.

I had more MS relapses than I care to admit, and homeschooling my 6 year old was both rewarding and exhausting, but overall 2022 has been alright. I’m hoping to settle in for a rewarding 2023. I plan on doing another reading goal, along with my art challenge, and maybe I’ll set something up for knitting so it doesn’t get forgotten about.

I hope everyone had a great year – thank you for reading my posts and keeping me company all this time.

December 18, 2022 December 18, 2022 By stargrace In , No Comment

How is it October..

It seems like I just blinked and September passed us by. On the 24th we got hit hard by hurricane Fiona, and it took until October 7th to be restored with power and internet. We had some damage to the house, and lost a bunch of trees – but we’re OK, and that’s what’s important.

In other news, I finally picked up a Steam Deck, and it should be here next week! I’m excited about this, I wanted to be able to use it for my xbox gaming pass along with my steam library. I imagine it will get a good amount of use, but we’ll see. I’m sure I’ll write about it when it shows up (late, since everyone else has already written about it).

I’m still spending the majority of my time playing Black Desert, and World of Warcraft (retail). I’m excited about Dragonflight, and I see that BDO also has an update coming out on October 12th – YAY! I can’t wait to see what they add.

I’ve also gotten a lot of knitting done, and even some reading (I’ll be doing updates on my book blog a bit later). Trying to organize my thoughts has been more of a trial than I thought it would be.

Remember if you’re looking for World of Warcraft posts (specifically centered around making gold) you can check out my other blog: Girlgoblin.ca – and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

October 9, 2022 October 9, 2022 By stargrace In , No Comment

An Update on Streaming

My return to streaming happened on June 27th, after over three years away (more like 6 years away, since the birth of my son). I have always wanted to stream, but I also have a lot of anxiety and health issues that prevent me from doing it smoothly. I decided to ease into it slowly, my streams are roughly an hour, and I only stream three days a week. They’re at (what I consider to be) an awkward time for others, but the best time for me (8pm EDT, mon/wed/fri). I stream a lot of World of Warcraft since that’s where I find myself playing these days, but on Wednesdays I stream alternative stuff depending on my mood. I’ve done fiber streams, RimWorld, and the latest Disney game.

It’s hard for me to measure growth, because every stream is different. Twitch uses an algorithm that I don’t quite agree with. Personally, I feel like the growth is there. I have a very dedicated small user base that returns each stream and supports me. They are honestly the reason I stream, they interact with me, ask questions, and are just a nice friendly bunch.

I’m streaming to help get past my crippling anxiety. Right now, I don’t use a cam, but eventually I’d like to muster up the confidence to stream with my cam on. I’m just not there yet. Of course I’d be lying if I didn’t mention the financial side of things, but that’s a smaller part. Since I homeschool and am stay at home parent, 99% of my day is filled with children and doing things for others. Streaming is for me. As much as it’s not supposed to, it makes me feel like I am doing something ‘more’.

I’m not sure why I’m making this rambling post except to say – I’m enjoying my time back. I’m pleased with the growth, and I can’t wait to see where I’m at in a year. I hope I can continue with it, I hope I continue to grow. If you’ve never caught my stream before, you can find me on twitch: twitch.com/stargrace – mon/wed/fri at 8pm EDT. Thank you everyone for the support. It is very appreciated.

September 10, 2022 September 10, 2022 By stargrace In No Comment

End of Month Update

Tomorrow is the first of September – where has the month gone?! I’ve managed to complete my Blaugust challenge (one post a day) for the month, and I’m pleased about that. I also managed to continue blogging on my two other sites (GirlGoblin which is a Warcraft gold making blog, and NomadicReader, which is a book review blog). I consider those sites extra credit. In total I made 51 posts between all three blogs. I didn’t get a lot of knitting done as far as doing my DailyCreative, but I did get a lot of spinning done on my new Daedalus spinning wheel. It has been a dream to use so far.

I stopped doing my bulletjournal in favour of just using a notepad in short form and making lists, then crossing off items as I completed them from my list. It’s not as fancy, but I’m more likely to see what is on the list that way. I found that some days I was completely ignoring my bulletjournal, and that was frustrating.

I didn’t do a lot of reading this month either, but I’ve still got some books I’m actively working through, just at a bit of a slower pace than usual for me. I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my depression and anxiety, so I’m trying to be gentle on myself.

I did manage a few art pieces this month, I even streamed some. My hands have been hurting this week so I haven’t been keeping up, but I’m confident that I can manage to get 52 pieces done this year, that is the goal. I think I have 32 at the time of this post.

I’m still gaming – but I’ve settled with being content with Warcraft as my main game of choice, and then a selection of smaller single player / co-op player games from my XBoX One Pass, and Steam. I wrote about how I was feeling FOMO regarding FFXIV, (and also GW2 these days) but I just don’t have the time to keep up with multiple games, and I *am* very happy in WoW. When it comes to streaming, I’m still working on establishing myself, my brand, and my schedule. I’ve almost done a complete schedule this week (mon/wed/fri are my stream days) and I want to continue that. Tonight I’m actually streaming fiber arts which is a change from my regular gaming / Warcraft streams. We’ll see how it goes, I still have to set up the cameras.

In any case, it has been a productive month. I can’t wait to see what September brings. Hopefully some cooler weather, because these heat waves have been difficult, to say the least. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

August 31, 2022 August 31, 2022 By stargrace In , , No Comment

What Gear do People use to Stream Wildlife 24/7?!

I have two hummingbird feeders set up outside, as well as a regular bird feeder, and I’d like to add them as cameras / independent streams on my own stream. Here’s where it gets tricky (for me). I have NO IDEA what gear people use to stream 24/7. I have good internet & access to wifi, are they using an entire laptop or computer set up with a camera to stream these wildlife streams, or are there some cameras that I should be looking at instead, like perhaps a house security camera? I have no idea. I tried to do a bunch of google searches but nothing really turned up exactly what I was looking for.

If you happen to stream 24/7 and have a feed for animals, or have some gear suggestions for me, please let me know in comments! I’d love to show off the wildlife that comes to our feeders, but I just don’t know what I need to get started, and it seems like I’m supposed to automatically realize what the right items are.

August 26, 2022 August 27, 2022 By stargrace In No Comment

That was Terrifying

At around 3am me and my husband heard the most awful screech coming from the backyard. I figured it was an animal, but I had no idea what sort of animal it was.

Turns out it was a barred owl – a baby one. They scream, and they’re terrifying. I knew we had owls around but when you ask me what sort of sounds I expect one to make, it’s more of a ‘hoo-hoo’ type sound, NOT a blood curdling scream.

At least now we know what it was. We have a rodent or something living nearby (found some holes in the yard dug up) so I imagine the parents must be out teaching it how to fend for itself. I hope to see more of them in the future, at least now I recognize the cries!

August 24, 2022 August 27, 2022 By stargrace In No Comment

Why I Blaugust

I’ve been participating in Blaugust for a number of years now – but I always do so on the outskirts. As much as I crave being social, I have a mixture of imposter syndrome, anxiety, and other issues that prevent me from ever REALLY feeling like I’m a part of the group. I lurk, I follow from a distance – and I write. I attempt to write every day, and those days where I don’t write, I backdate it and write extra. I love the feeling of accomplishment Blaugust gives me, and I love being even remotely connected to a group of people who don’t necessarily feel like blogging is on the out. I have three fairly active blogs. This one, my world of warcraft dedicated one (mostly about making gold), and a book blog. Writing my thoughts out lets me speak without interruption. It usually lets me vent without fear of being counseled in my area of expertise (especially when it comes to making gold). It lets me share some creative spark with the world in a process that only takes a few minutes. Sometimes I plan out a concept or idea that I want to talk about but that’s pretty rare.

Why do I Blaugust? Lots of reasons, but the main one is simply to be held accountable (even if it’s false accountability) to write. Making it become habit again in a year of posts that might have been quite sporadic. I thrive on that sort of motivation, and it’s wonderful. It may not be everyone else’ cup of tea, it may put undue pressure on you – which is absolutely not what I’d ever aim for, but for me it works. I’m so thankful to Belghast and others for continuing on with the tradition each year.

August 23, 2022 August 23, 2022 By stargrace In No Comment

Working on my ‘Battlestation’

There is an entire reddit (of course there is) dedicated to people showing off their ‘battlestations’ – their video game set ups. There’s another one dedicated to showing off work stations/computers. Both of these places are almost magical, there are some incredibly creative people out there. I love my little gaming area, but we’re still pretty new to the house, so I haven’t done a lot with it yet. One thing I wanted to do sooner rather than later was to dust off my Huion Pro 16 and have it actively set up on my desk. I do a lot of my drawing on the ipad, but my computer is (understandably) more powerful. I know Clip Studio is going through a shit storm right now with their newly announced PC subscriptions, but there are other alternatives (like Krita) and my usual ‘let’s just pull it out when I want to draw’ was not working. Out of sight, out of mind. I want to make use of the tablet (I just ordered some felt nibs for the pen) but I also hate a cluttered work area.

For now I’ve settled with the picture above. Things are neat and pretty tidy, the drawing tablet is out reminding me to use it, and my stream stuff works pretty well in the configuration I’ve decided on. I do want to mount the sound bar to the wall, and I’d love to get an arm for the monitors, or even wall mount those, but that’s a project for another time.

Now it’s time to learn Krita and see what it can do for me.

August 22, 2022 August 23, 2022 By stargrace In , No Comment
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