Creeping Me Out

Tomorrow I start full time office/computer work. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never been great at separating work time from free time when I’ve just got my own projects and future development to work on. It takes some of the joy out of “play” when you feel you could be working, and it takes much of the joy out of working if you’re not raking in enough money to make it seem like work. Now anything I do at home will be bonus and not so critical seeming, hopefully things will be fun again.

I will miss having so much time with Elizabeth though, but there’s always time for that!

You’ll have noticed CMO hasn’t been updated in a timely manner in a while. Things have been simultaneously hectic and uneventful. We’ve been on lots of family trips out with Elizabeth – she loves animals! She’s also increasingly demanding (and bossy!). Today she had her first potty-training breakthrough. Obviously we’re proud.

Another big change has been in Ellie’s art. She’s begun drawing things which make (sort of) sense. lots of faces, and disembodied legs. She’s good with a graphics tablet already and I’ve started tentatively teaching her to use a mouse. They have a computer in her next room up at Nursery, so I’m sure the mouse skills will keep her in good stead. About nursery – she loves it there and is getting socially very good. She’s still really shy with new adults but is getting better with that. She’s starting her third day-per-week soon. Growing up so quickly!

I’m building her first PC, waiting on some of the components. I’ll post photos when it’s done. It’ll be a reasonably small HTPC. Anyone got any suggestions for pre-schooler applications? Sofar I’ve only heard Tuxpaint, which was a great idea (thanks Darryl).

Back to my projects though.. Here’s a zombie schoolgirl request I got from Phono Paul, for use on a clubnight poster. Meanwhile – CMO is still active, just slow! I have a new, much shinier version of my portfolio site up at MFDawes.com – A few tiny new things, but largely the same old stuff. Currently I’m concentrating on learning my various tools better, the results of which should be clear soon. I have quite a lot to learn about Cheetah3D and Zbrush. I have an iOS project in the very early stages using GameSalad – It’s very cute and hopefully has quite wide appeal. Obviously that’s what I’m most excited about, but it’s also one of the most terrifying things I’ve had to work on. Learning new systems is such a time investment and there’s always the looming fear that it’ll be time wasted. Lets hope not!