riding the echo down

so the last time I posted here was at the beginning of the month, hm. well! hello, I still exist!

1.
I've been at a different work site for 2.5wks, which was a lovely break. Chill worksite, small job; just me and one journeyman who I enjoy working with. He was like "this is one of the best jobs I've ever worked" about it, which is a wild contrast to how the big job we'd both been working (and are returning to tomorrow) is one of the worst.

The little job isn't fully done, but we can't do anything else until they get all the remaining parts in. The hope is that when that happens (in a month, maybe...? nobody had estimates.) they'll call us back to finish it, since we know what's going on and what the plan was. This is especially pertinent because we were not given particularly detailed plans, and then proceeded to change a lot of it (memorably: one unit we were supposed to install couldn't be installed where they wanted it because of service requirements, so it had to be flipped and therefore everything coming from it had to be re-routed to accommodate that).

also, we just want to go back, since it was a nice job.

Back to the big job tomorrow, and...

well, not looking forward to it. In theory it'll wrap at some point this summer. idk when. But it's a job site where everyone always seems stressed and that trickles down and makes it so much harder than it needs to be.

(also, like, having lunch at 10:30am as the only break in the day is. not ideal? yes we get out at 2:30 but man the clock usually feels so slow between 11am-2pm...)


2.
I drew a cover for On the Lord's Estate the other week!

[Click to View Image]

Left to right: Mal, El, and Benny.

I've known more or less what I wanted to draw for bk2 since... mm, the halfway mark of writing it, maybe? Important to have all three of them together, important to show Mal happy, important to place it in the conservatory. I'm very happy with how it came out—especially Mal. <3 Mal turned out just as I was hoping as far as expression/vibe goes.

This also means that hafnia and I have started posting bk3! Of the Lord's Family is the happy ending. <3 featuring healthy communication, family feelings (if the title wasn't a giveaway), and everyone settling into their lives. It'll be the end of this trilogy, and then it'll be time for various stories about the kids.

(which means more thinking about what I want to do with Rhei, and also continuing to noodle about Tolly... many ideas, only so much time and energy, but also no rush beyond my own internal "BUT I WANNA HAVE THIS DONE SOONER" feelings. xD)


3.
I've been keeping up with the new Star Wars cartoon Maul: Shadow Lord, and it is such a funny example of Disney Star Wars Overconnected Bullshit in a few very specific ways.

a. No characters are really introduced. You are expected to simply already know who they are. Even as someone who has watched pretty much all the Star Wars cartoons, I was not aware of who some characters were because some of them were introduced in comics about Maul. (Additionally: the prequel comic series for this show has 2/5 issues out as of right now, as the show airs. I think this is hilarious.) HOWEVER.

b. Even the characters who were not previously introduced are given particularly in-depth introductions. This is mostly confusing because I expected them to be introduced somewhere, since it took until episode three for two major characters to have their names spoken on-screen. Their names have been known via promo material? But didn't show up in the show? This is fine if it's intentional but it's so weird when it's the same vibes as characters who were introduced in comics.

c. I mean this isn't a Disney problem specifically but it sure is very Star Wars: There is only one (1) prominent female character, one (1) prominent secondary female character, and one (1) tertiary female character allowed at a time. It was honestly really funny when the tertiary character got Sent Away and then a new tertiary female character showed up a couple scenes later?

anyway I like it well enough when it's not Fight Scenes, and sort of don't care when it's Fight Scenes, but since it's a show for like tweens I think it's forced to have Fight Scenes in every episode. Which, like, that's fine but I find it more fun to watch Maul attempt to seduce everyone into helping him than I do watching the flashy lights show of a combat sequence involving blasters and/or lightsabers.


4.
It is finally spring. Flowers are blooming, the trees are turning green with new leaves, and the weather is consistently above freezing! These are all good things!


5.
anyway while I'm thinking about it, right, I meant to post this (which I wrote like a month ago at least) and now I have! Mouse! :D

The Question of Crushes, 2.4k, gen, wherein a teenager is interrogated by a like eight year old about if they have a crush on the kid's oldest sibling.