Figmentia.

I was up 'til 2:40 AM painting miniatures, just because I lost track of time. I just love doing it so much, and I get so focused on getting the details just right. Garrett's been giving me lots of minis to practice on, and once I'm done with his minis, Dennis has a ton already queued up for me. I don't mind, though. As I said, I love it. Stil working on getting my flesh tones right, and learning how much to thin the paints and do multiple layers. My skin tones still get a bit rough and/or chalky, but I think thinning the paint out a bit next time will fix that. Of course, this isn't science, it's art, and everyone has slightly different ways of doing it, so it's just a matter of finding a way that works for me.

And I'm surprised that there's no LiveJournal community for mini-painters. I may have to fix that some time.

I remember why I don't get on IRC much...

I decided to hop onto IRC today to chat with some friends I don't often talk to. Thought it would be a nice friendly conversation. I jokingly complained about my PC needing a faster motherboard and more HD space, and the conversation started taking some odd turns. Within 15 minutes...

• The person in question bragged about having a much faster computer with much more memory, and more just lying around...
• I was belittled for mentioning wanting an Intel processor (which was the first one that came to mind) rather than an AMD...
• I was insulted for being a web developer...
• and I was told to use a "real" language when I mentioned that I did occasional Java servlet work.

I won't name any names - it's all passed, and there's no need to keep dredging it up - but it's just attitudes like that that drives me away from online chat channels. More often than not, I find them to be filled with people who seem to have so little going for them that they take any little victory or bragging right they have and lord it over everyone else. It just sickens me, because it's like they're trying to drive people away with their sanctimonious bullshit, espousing their own greatness and/or their choice being the One True Way (tm) and belittling anyone who doesn't agree or who is less knowledgeable than they are.

Frankly, I don't have time for it.