I haven't made a journal in a while, but I would imagine not many people have been reading my page anyway, considering my presumed-dead status. I felt I should at least put an update. Just 'cause.

I don't really have any. What I want to do, I can't afford to do at the moment, so I'm just trying to find inspiration to have some semblance of a life. Ultimately, my goal is to get myself a set of lights and set up a make-shift studio. Right now I haven't been actively pursuing anything. I'm not a very driven person, so I'm trying to change that. I think I'm going to start following one of those daily prompts for art and see where that goes, otherwise I might keep laying on the couch watching discovery channel in our cave-like apartment.

First, I got Lasik a week ago. Hurrah! My right eye is being retardedly slow compared to my left eye though, so there's no telling what the vision will end up being. Right now it's not sharp at any distance (probably still swollen enough to hinder vision) and is "special" when it comes to lights (things glow quite a bit due to my right eye and I get quite a bit of ghosting). From how things are going and my post-op, it looks like my right eye will settle maybe around 20/30 vision. Good thing I shoot with my left eye. Even with my right eye being more of a hindrance right now, it's amazing to see without corrective lenses. I go to bed and look at my alarm clock through the night just because I can see it.

We're also looking to buy a house. We should have actually bought a house by now, but that's what happens when listing agents and sellers are dishonest. Sales don't tend to go through when people lie. We discovered when we were supposed to close that it was a short sale (they'd even said it wasn't when asked) and the bank wanted more money than the house was appraised at. Now we're back to house hunting. I hate short sales. And when people lie to me. And when banks want more money than is reasonable. At least the seller is reimbursing us for the appraisal and inspection. Fortunately, unlike many people, we are buying our first property, so we didn't have to sell one to close on another, which means we don't need to sue (unless they back out of the promised reimbursement). I'd rather not be the one to set a precedent in Oregon law regarding what happens when a short sale is deliberately concealed until the closing date. You know, when they realize the bank isn't going to approve it and have no choice but to tell the truth.

Also got a new computer that should have no trouble with my 8-image 16bit panoramic photos. Mind you, my camera shoots 14bit images, so the original RAWs are kinda huge to begin with. I literally have photos that I just didn't have the patience to work on because, once stitched together, it could take a minute or more to load a single modification. If only I didn't have to calibrate the monitors...

Anyway... I think I'll try and be more out-going. I may not post that much more often on dA, but the important thing is that I'm actually moving forward instead of letting my life and talents go stagnant.