This snake family just acquired a home that they were desperately looking for as the rent for their old home was so astronomically high, that they couldn't afford to stay there and also pay for necessities such as food, water, cleaning supplies, etc. Ladies and gents; you're looking at a Serperior mother with her Servine son as they are now proud homeowners of this lovely 2-bedroom, 1-bath house, located in a nice, quiet neighborhood, where most businesses are local and they're only about 20 minutes away from the nearest major town, so if they need something from a major big brand store, it won't take an eternity to complete a round trip. Let's have a round of applause and congratulations to this wonderful, happy family!
This drawing is also going to serve as an update as to where I've been as it's been ~3 months since I drew anything new and a lot has happened during that time. Back in July of this year, the property we were living at for the past 10 years was bought out by another realtor company and we feared that our rent was going to increase as it has already done so at the beginning of this year by ~$250. After the acquisition, we received a letter from the new realtor company that our rent wasn't going up (right away. More on this in a little bit.) which was a huge relief. However, around mid-August, we received another letter from them informing us that the rent would be going up once more, starting in October 2023, by another ~$300! That's 2 rent increases for this year, which is really, really bad! For those wondering if companies can do that since in several states, there's a law that exists that makes it so there's a cap on how much rent can be raised per year. Sadly, Maine is not one of those states that has this law so, realtors can raise the rent as much as they want, whenever they want, so long as they inform their tenants at least 30 days in advance in writing. As a result of this new rent increase, we would not be able to afford the new rent amount as Mom and I live on monthly paychecks, which are used to pay for expenses such as bills, food, necessities, clothes, cleaning supplies, unexpected expenses, etc. So, we had to spend the last 2 months packing up our home while also searching for a new one that's not only within our price range of what we can afford for a monthly rent payment but also had to include heat as heating is very expensive here in Maine and it is required in order to survive Maine's harsh, hard winters. It also had to have enough storage to store as many of our belongings as possible, and it also had to have washer and dryer hookups. Towards the end of September, we were able to find a place that met most requirements for a much cheaper price. However, the place is a lot smaller than our old home and when we moved in, we had to get rid of/donate a lot of things as we don't have the room for them, which sucked as we had a lot of nice things that we had to give away. Despite that, Mom and I are thankful that we not only managed to find a place before October that included heat, plus most other amenities, including electricity which is a huge bonus as not a lot of places include electricity in the rent. We're also thankful that we have a roof over our heads so we're not out on the streets, which I was fearing was going to happen as there weren't too many places for rent that were within our price range and included what we needed. We managed to unpack most of the house, but there's still quite a bit of unpacking left to do, especially in Mom's room as her room is much smaller than mine. (I had to take the bigger bedroom due to my bed and furniture being so large.) Overall, the past 3 months have been the most stressful and scariest of my life as I was filled with fear, anxiety on top of what anxiety I had already, and uncertainty due to these events. We are slowly settling into our new home and thankfully, we're living in a nice, quiet neighborhood that isn't in the boonies and we're only an hour away from a major town, which is nice. I should be able to get back into drawing like I normally do, but who knows what life will throw at us next? Only one way to find out.
So. Deadman might be in a tiny bit of a bind. He may-have-might-have stumbled across a very tiny newly-dead ghost. Except they’re very much also not. That is somehow both a ghost and a realms being and a child and he has No Clue what to do. What does he do with a crying child who fell through a portal and into his arms? Oh. He can actually interact with them, that’s good. But uh, again, what does he do?
Soooo.... many things! At the moment, I've finally pulled myself somewhat out of the doldrums caused by lack-of-job + job-search-sucks and am making all the preparations for celebrating the end of this year and the start of a new one.
I think I've binged something like 30+ anime series in the last month or so, along with reading many many books.
Today, I've finally got some bots working in the Creator's Cave discord, to make things a bit easier there. There are more updates I still need to do, but it's a start.
My hope for this week, is that in addition to my preparations for New Year's, I'll be able to actually finish my project of turning some of my flower photos into TS3 art. No promises, but I'm hopeful.
Below the cut, for the curious or nosy, the menu and preparations for New Year's.
Before anyone starts to wonder... two of the friends coming to my place for New Year's are really really into Pumpkin, so this is reflected here.
Yes, this is probably too much food and drink for... 6 people, but hey... leftovers.
**Food**
1 frozen lasagna, family size
1 batch homemade mac&cheese (made by not me)
Cheeses! (Extra sharp white cheddar, brie, various spreadables, 3 varieties of goat cheese)
Crackers! (Ritz garlic butter, rosemary flatbread, 5 other assorted)
Meats! (Summer sausage, dry salame, fig salame)
Tea Sandwiches! (Cream cheese + smoke salmon or cucumber or jam)
Scones! (I plan to make at least 3 varieties, but haven't yet decided which.)
Oven ready appetizers! (Takoyaki, bagel bites, baked potato skins, loaded tater tots, mini quiches, mozzarella sticks, and more.)
Shrimp Cocktail platter
Veggie Platter
Sweet Maui Onion potato chips
Homemade snack mix (Corn Chex, Rice Chex, Pretzels, Cashews, Pistachios, white cheddar cheeze-its, white cheddar cheese puffs)
**Sweets**
Pumpkin Spice Twinkies
Iced Pumpkin Cupcakes (this is also hostess brand)
Yackwa Korean donuts (gift from a neighbor)
Assorted flavors of KitKats
Pumpkin Pie yogurt covered pretzels
Butter Rum Crunch popcorn
Bourbon Crunch popcorn
Milk Chocolate cherry cordials
Other assorted chocolates
**Non-Alcoholic Drinks**
Five different flavors of Martinellis sparkling cider
Pumpkin Spice cold brewed tea (caffeinated)
Pumpkin Creme Rooibos cold brew tea (herbal)
Pumpkin Pie cold brew tea (herbal)
Various Gatorade
**Alcoholic Drinks**
'Strong Mead' from a cider festival (gift from friend)
Expensive bottle of Sake 'Demon Slayer'
1 bottle Louis Perrier Champagne for ringing in the new year
Berenjaeger
Green Apple Sake
Peach Sake
Umeshu Plum Wine
Matcha Plum Wine (I'm really curious about this one)
Butterscotch Shnapps
Pumpkin hard Cider
Dark Chocolate Cherry Moonshine
Eggo Brunch Sippin' Cream
A cupboard full of other assorted things that probably won't be looked at.
discovered miah_pie on t*ktok (<- i don’t have one btw i just stumbled upon her bc someone i follow on ig talked abt her) and her videos make me want to cry so bad. 24 year old dependent moment
it's soooo fucked to think about how everything that's ever happened in your life is connected, no matter how mundane. what do you Mean my 5th grade teacher's seating arrangement is the reason i lived past the age of 13
My plan to escape homelessness. I need your help to get started before winter!
hello friends! i'm a homeless queer guy living in a tiny car. it's been like this for most of my adult life, and i'm trying to make a change! I want to convert a van into my new home! my plan involves these stages:
Stage 1: acquire a van.
while still living off donations in my car, i'm fundraising. as soon as i can afford one, i'll purchase a van. the market shows most used vans that would be suitable are around $3.5-4.5k give or take. we're already about halfway there!
I'm really hoping this stage can be complete before november, as my car is not suited to survive another winter and it could be devastating to attempt it.
Stage 2: survive winter
since winter is approaching, i'll need to quickly put insulated walls in the van and make sure i can live in it. at this point, it'll already be an upgrade to my car, but i won't be able to do much building in cold weather, so it'll just be the bare minimum i need to survive the winter.
during this time, i'll be taking measurements, drawing plans, researching appliances, and generally preparing for the build process. i'll continue fundraising to make sure i can afford all the materials and tools i'll need. i may also take care of any maintenence the van might need. i'll also clean and sell my car so i have some cash from that as well.
Stage 3: build my home!
when it gets warm enough, i'll start doing the actual build. i'll document this on video as much as i can, and post the process on my youtube channel for not only the people who helped me, but for anyone who's curious. i'll start with solar panels and an electricity system, i'll add countertops and kitchen appliances, a shower and sink with plumbing and warm water, a toilet, a real bed, lights, climate control. it'll be essentially a house on wheels, and just the right size for me!
Stage 4: whatever comes next
once i have my new home, i'll need an income. i may take a regular job to support myself at first, and that will actually be possible when i have a shower. but, i've been considering making content pretty much my whole life, and now i think i have a great chance to actually pursue that. i'll use some of the money from selling my car in stage 2 to get some basic equipment (laptop, mic, camera). i'll be posting my van build at first, and after that i'll probably start by telling stories about my time being homeless, but i'm also interested in streaming and video essays. thanks to all the generous support i've been getting from my followers and other people on the internet, i feel my opportunities are wide open!
Please consider donating to my fundraiser to help me change my life!