Hello everyone. I haven't updated in a while so I'm going to give you a rundown of what is going on with my life, as well as my views on the art portal, and the status of my upcoming projects.

My personal lifehas seemed to be improving since April's little collapse, and while it has improved, it seems as though some things just can't stay leveled. Like my job, for one thing, my employers are really tight-assed about everything really, and keep in mind this is a really entry-level job involving customer surveys that pays 7 dollars an hour, and yet they expect you to do your job like you are being paid 15 or 20 bucks an hour. Even when you do that, you can still get written up, in trouble, or get a supervisor bitching at you for making a really small mistake. My nerves are completely shot from my job 3 months in, and while I've been thinking of quitting, I'm not going to do such a thing unless a very bad situation presents itself.

Another great example that this job is too over-the-top: there is a client coming in this Monday, and they want everyone to dress up in business clothes, instead of casual, so basically they want to project the image that they never allow employees to wear casual clothing to work, which is not the case. And basically, they want me to wear a business dress suit that I don't have (I probably would have something close if I was still attending a church or part of some stupid religion), and they want me to buy it out of my own paycheck that they pay me, whilst paying me 7 dollars an hour, and did I mention that they are not going to pay me more while dressed up in business attire? Did I also mention that the building I work in has no air conditioning? And yesterday it was just as hot as it was inside as it was outside (which is pretty damn hot)? Let's not forget, they also severely docked my paycheck 2 weeks ago for writing me up for something silly. It involved their computers being slow pieces of shit, but let's just leave it at that, I was written up for something that was not my fault.

I don't get paid enough to look like a god at my job. While I may do my job with my very best effort (and I make myself sound so polite I actually sound like a female switchboard operator), I would rather prefer to be comfortable doing it. Being all sweaty, hot, and in business attire is not something I get paid 7 dollars an hour for. If I got paid 14, I'd be fine with it. But 7? Forget it.

Thankfully, I have avoided this situation because I'm set to be out of town until Monday, so I'm already scheduled to have the day off. Unless my manager tells me that my request for the day off has been rejected. In which case, I'll probably just straight up quit, because I've never had a sick day while working there, and I've only taken 1 scheduled day off in my time of being there, and I've only been late once, and I'm usually early for my shift. If another job comes along that I like, I'm going to quit this one in a snap. Although, I must admit I'm too nice to just do that. I'll probably give them a weeks notice or something.

Now, concerning the Art Portal.

I thought the "Art Portal" was an inside joke between NG users, but I guess I was way wrong. It was actually a forthcoming feature that has now been implemented into the site. It's nice that NG's art portal isn't a complete rip off of DeviantArt, for photography is not allowed, and the art portal's purpose can be mainly for artists to use other people's contributed artwork it in their flash movies, which is a very nice feature.

However, the execution of the Art Portal is really mundane. In fact, you're way more likely to get recognized and receive more recognition on DeviantArt. I don't get much notice on DeviantArt, but it's way more than I get here, and I already have 3 original submissions on the Art Portal. I know exactly what is to blame as well, and it's because of one stupid feature.

Whoever thought of the "Scouting" feature for the Art Portal should really have a thorough cat-scan. How the feature works, from what I hear, is that for you to scout work, your work has to be scouted first, by someone else who has already had their work scouted by someone else who became a scout by being scouted. Which means, the first scouters have to be mods or administrators, stepping down to popular artists, which are probably too self-centered to scout lower ranked user's works, or just don't care. Your work will also not be visible on the Art Portal until you are scouted. Which is just...annoying.

I don't know how else I can prove that my artwork is my own. The 3 submissions I uploaded to NG are on DeviantArt as well (and in FULL resolution, I might add, i.e. 6000x3000 pixels), and that is the only way I can provide proof that the artwork is mine really, unless you want me to hold up the original drawing and take a picture with my digital camera. But hey, I could of just printed that out on a piece of paper, right? They should of thought of something more original and more tolerable for users submitting artwork to NG that didn't involve "scouting". Unless I am scouted within the next 2 weeks, you can expect my first 3 submissions in the art portal to also be my last.

Here are the original DeviantArt links to my Art Portal submissions I have uploaded to NG:
http://mistac87.deviantart.com/art/Smi le-2003-114729409
http://mistac87.deviantart.com/art/Smi le-Big-123947597
http://mistac87.deviantart.com/art/Ohh h-Gurl-123947887

Full resolution download is still enabled. If you are smart, you will not download these images, and upload them to the art portal as your own. Doing so would be very foolish...

Now about my upcoming projects.

I want to have Crap Os X2 finished by the end of this year, and that is currently my intentions. My other projects are currently at a halt, for I have no desire to finish them at this current time, not even Sheindlin's Reign 2. I'd really like to finish the remake of 8th Vacation (a submission I originally made in 2001), and if I finish Crap Os X2 by the end of this year, I'll have 8th Vacation done by the 1st half of 2010. And for now, you might as well rename "Sheindlin's Reign 2" to "Judge Judy Forever", because like "Duke Nukem Forever", I might not finish it for a few years, and it will be released "when it's done", or who knows, maybe I will "go out of business" and the animation will be canceled for good after years of development.

That is all from me for now, thanks for reading.