How is it already the 31st?? How is it already August? It feels like days drag on and then all of a sudden, the end of the year is smacking you in the face and you have to try and remember to change the dates on your forms! ^^;

As the title says, this month has been a rough one. It started with my work sitting me down for a meeting to tell me they have to cut back on my pay due to changes happening in the company, i.e. we treated our employees badly, which affected their work performance, which meant clients left and now they are left wondering how they got here. The change has officially taken effect this week, and I suspect I was one of the 'lucky' ones because I have suddenly had a lot more work hours thrown at me, which makes me think people either quit or were fired x_x SO! I am working more and getting paid less for it. In response, I started updating my CV (Just in case) and began applying to places again...and geez, did I forget how depressing it is to apply to jobs in the current market XD I have a degree and ten years experience in my field. Every response was Not Selected by Employer...like what does that mean? Did the AI bot just tell them Don't Sweat it, Bro, they ain't the one.

Now, understandably, this has caused some stress to arise. Enough stress that has had a noticeably negative impact on my health. I have been struggling, I have been getting ill, I've been having symptoms flare up, and some of my meds are just not working the way they used to, particularly my pain meds and sleeping meds. Today, after work and dinner, I laid down for a few minutes...woke up two hours later. I had no intention of taking a nap. I simply passed out.

The biggest downside to this is it is making things take longer to do. Cleaning my house. Running errands. And, of course, making art. Pieces are taking twice as long now, which I am very annoyed about, because we have some big holidays coming up here on NG - Clock Day, Robot Day and MADNESS DAY! D: I need to get some stuff dun in time for those!

It's why I haven't posted anything new this past week, I am trying to catch up ^^;

I have even had to take a step back from Mad Lad plots for now, as I just don't have the time needed to work on assets and game plots. We are still going to be producing projects soon! But not this month ^^;

So July was not that great. There were some good moments here and there, though.

I was really chuffed with how much people liked my Mask artwork :D That was such a nostalgic piece to work on ^-^

And I made a funny Undertale Meme animation, which was a great way to work on my animating skills and really did motivate me to want to try doing another in the future.

And for those who have commissioned me lately (looks at @53xy83457 in particular because he is very much an awesome dude), it really has made a big difference.

In crazy and stressful times, we have to try and focus on that positive and keep on keeping on. So that is what I am trying VERY HARD to do, despite everything July has put me though XD

I have an awesome piece planned for Robot Day. Got some cool Mad Plots for Madness Day. And am almost done with my Clock Day contribution. So getting there, one painful step at a time.

For anyone out there who has also had a difficult month: hang in there. It's hard. It's not what you wanna do. You may wanna throw yourself on the floor and have a full blown tantrum - I know I wanted to a few times - but you will survive this. And things will get better. Just hang in there.

That's all I got for now. I do have some things to report on if my plans for next week are accomplished, so will hopefully have a more positive update the next time I remember to write up one of these things XD

Wishing everyone a great month ahead, and I will see you all again soon!