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DTKinetic

REAL Imagination
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DTKinetic

May You Continue

3 min read

Okay, I confess, this journal is long overdue. I wrote this back in May of this year when Eclipse just launched, when the scale of the Coronavirus was just starting to sink in. But better late than never. Whenever someone replied back to me in the forums months after the fact, I always appreciated it even if I had long forgotten the subject.


Regarding Eclipse: I loathe it and no, after 3 months of use it has never grown on me. I had other criticisms about dA, but Eclipse alone has nearly killed my interest in this site. Though I figure the people who have wanted to leave are probably already gone, I'll still share this link for anyone contemplating a new art home:

Moving Away from Deviantart? (A Migration Guide)

On Coronavirus: I know the anxieties about the coronavirus are still alive and well, regardless of almost everything reopening. There’s not enough comfort to enjoy the amenities that are available, and those who do are probably met with forms of disdain and resentfulness by those who understandably want to minimize the risk of the spread. With that said, always take time to give thanks for everything that you have and enjoy and everyone that you know who loves and supports you. You never know when something as you know it might change, and you never want to wait until the day it’s gone to realize how much you appreciated it.

I'm working from home, which is a dream come true, but I've had cabin fever for about 2 months now. Still, I'm thankful I'm healthy and can support myself. And I do treat myself every now and then, I urge others to do the same, but with self-control and vigilance.


Art: I'm going to say something you'd probably never want to hear: but I'm taking a hiatus on art-- mostly due to low inspiration/art block. I have a couple of lingering ideas but I feel like an artist performs his best work when he's motivated and excited about his work, not pushing through it as a responsibility like a chore. I'll be happy to paint and go all out again once it comes back to me.


Writing: I AM working on writing though. My publishing deal mentioned previously fell through after some skepticism regarding the proposal and the lack of publicity. But, I'm still applying. With that said, I have opened a Wattpad account https://www.wattpad.com/user/prestoreads where the first 5 chapters of Jevoa the Adaptor are posted! (and I plan on releasing more in the future). If you could check it out it would be much appreciated =D


Anyway guys, may you continue on. Hope we can conquer this global pandemic together, and tolerate Eclipse together :lol: Hope you can still harness your inspirations and unleash them to the world with whichever media or sites you choose. Wish you all the best in the future.


~DTKinetic

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DTKinetic

Jevoa the Adaptor!

1 min read
Hey everyone-- Big News!

My book Jevoa the Adaptor was just accepted by a publisher and I have been offered my first contract :excited:

So I'm doing my due-diligence in reading the terms and conditions and looking towards hiring a lawyer/attorney so I can attain a complete understanding of the fine print. It's looking good so far! If there are no red flags revealed and I do decide to pursue this opportunity, I'll definitely be blogging about it here.


____________________


Oh, and I know you're all probably tired of hearing about this. But due to the outbreak, I now have the pleasure of getting to work from home for the first time. I love it :lol:



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The Tens

5 min read
Seeing how it's December 26th, I'll start by wishing everyone had a Merry Christmas! :dance:

It's double the major milestones being both the end of the year and the end of a decade, so I'm going to reflect on both.

2010('s):

Ahh, 2010. I think this decade (at least in America) has really signified the dominance and borderline monopolistic nature of technology across companies/businesses and everyday lives, as we push apps, convenience, automated services, and Artificial Intelligence to their extremes. Case and point: Facial Recognition Tech for your computers and phones, Amazon Key, Microchip Credit Card Implants, Alexa & Siri. (which, not to force my viewpoint, but) all of which are introducing new gateways for hackers, stalkers, and intruders, to violate your personal life and access your confidential information. The overshadowing notions that machines may be replacing everyday cashiers and customer service attendants is also present.

I think 2010 was at a point where we were on a high with technology, but not to excessive measures. I remember then, with all cars, you had to put a key in the ignition :lol: I still carried a flip-phone. Most people played console games locally without XBox Live Gold. There was no Uber, Grubhub, Lyft, AirBNB, (actually there was but their presence was almost nonexistent in my experience). Movies? I think 2010 was nearing the end of what I call one of the Golden Ages of post-millennium movies (2007-2010) -- where Marvel was just getting started and 2010 bringing us Toy Story 3, Inception, Book of Eli, and The Expendables. We still had Blockbuster and Toys R Us. I could still catch Danny Phantom on TV :love: and Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 would get stuck in our heads :X

Politics were also quieter. There was still hate and disagreement and (and political/economic issues too) going on when Obama was in office, but it wasn't as divisive or ubiquitous as it is today. I don't remember week after week upon mass shootings like it was closer to the middle and end of the decade.

2010 was my last year of high school, some of the best years of my life. I started this DeviantART account in 2010. I had my first date in 2010, and went off to college with my Golden Years continued for two years. And then the rest was a rollercoaster with the workplace, with some pretty depressing lows and you can refer to my other journals for that :lol: I also started arranging my own traveling plans which helped me to take trips to Texas, New York City and Vienna and got my own apartment in 2018 and became independent.

2019:

It was a year, marked by high points and middle ground. The highest of which was going out of the country for the first time...to Austria :w00t: On the other hand, one thing I noticed...was that I had to say goodbye to a lot of relationships over the past year and a half =( -- about 5 friends in total, 2 of them were best friends. Why? Most of them just moved separate ways, some to another city, others just naturally dropped/lost contact. One I had intentionally terminated. Of course, being in your upper 20's mean people get married and have children, and so as a single person you feel like a third wheel :worry:
But, I did gain one friend at a July 4th party, and one of my married friends has been reigniting our relationship, so that's a big surprise :thumbsup:

Oh! And one major milestone! Two days ago, I completed Jevoa the Adaptor :iconfinallyplz: It's 424 pages and 8 years in the making :faint: Now it's going to go through an editing process, and then I think I may move forward with publishing/posting it somewhere.

I must admit... I'm not ready for 2020 =( Mentally, I always felt like I was behind my actual age, now I really have the desire to stop the clock so I can catch up. But, not much to do but to keep going and hope for the best.

Oh, and I also gained 10 pounds. Goal achieved :rofl:
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Austria!

4 min read
Something I've always been fascinated with is the notion of traveling somewhere by random chance. The military, site-specific companies, and the in-laws of the spouse you've married all carry that chance to travel to and associate with locations you've had no connection to :XD:

Well turns out in this case, it wasn't an in-laws family, it was my own! I've been united for the first time with family I discovered I had living in Austria =D

We flew out of Chicago, landed in Sweden for a layover, and then flew over to Vienna!
We took two sightseeing tours around the city, visiting various churches, like the Karlsplatz and Stephansdom; and got to see various other landmarks like the Schonbrunn, Hofburg Wien, Opera House, and Stadtpark; we took a day of shopping, a day of jet lag :lol: And a day of just chilling with our cousins :aww:

Beautiful city. (Link)  Borderline idyllic. Immersed in beautiful art-nouveau architecture, rich history of multiple empires, clean/safe/friendly streets, multiple options for mass transit, and affordable prices for everyday commodities! I mean, I bought an ice cream cone for $1.60?! :wow: I spend like $3-4 going to Dairy Queen, or $4-6 going to Smoothie King or Orange Leaf for similar sweet treats.
Speaking of food: Austrians sure believe in dessert! Or that was the impression my cousins gave anyway :XD: I probably ate more dessert in that one week than I have in the past six months. Sachertorte (chocolate cake), Apfelstrudel, cherry/plum crumb cake, ice cream, and multiple servings in one day! That and coffee. :drool:
I tried new foods, like Wiener Schnitzel (fried veal), Tafelspitz (roasted beef served with apple-horseradish, sauerkraut, potatoes and soup), Kasekrainer (sausage) and others.

The hospitality I had by my family was among the best I've ever had in my life. They really opened their home to us, really enlightened us with a wealth of information about the country, and fed us really well. One of the rare vacations where I could've stayed longer and have been more than willing to go back! (Link)

It's interesting, and mind-opening. You never know what you might experience in your life.
All my life I wanted to go overseas. And I have made steps to make it a reality in the past, but I was terrified of flying over the ocean, the language barrier, getting sick, etc. I'd have recurring dreams of being somewhere like Italy, then waking up and being disappointed. But oftentimes those same dreams make that reality feel more distant than it really is, because it's a dream, which we understand as the complete opposite of reality. I was walking the streets and I was like "I'm actually here..."...and I've spent months thinking about those who travel and thought I would be one of those people. :no:

So, I'm back home, obviously. And what a better way to be welcomed back into the U.S. than with a missed flight, a cold and a broken laptop :X

It's all good though, all of those problems have resolved ^^; Now it's back to living life how life is typically lived I guess =D
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New Frontiers

3 min read
Hello faithfuls!

Wow. Almost a year since my previous journal. :O_o: Just goes to show how quiet it's been.

Let me pick up where my last journal left off. So, I had talked about getting another site for my artwork. Well, there's a reason for the delay. Do you know how they say the older you get, the more you get set in your ways? Well, I may have moved too late. I think this would've better worked back in my teenage years when I was fascinated by the Internet and loved exploring it. But when I was in high school, my parents prohibited me from getting Facebook and disapproved of social media due to the breaches of security and privacy. Nowadays, I have the independence to think and decide for myself, but I've just come to conclude that social media is just frankly going to mean more time idling in front of the Internet, while I try to build up mostly from scratch. This is not to frown upon the networkers, artists or the platforms themselves, it's just, I've grown so accustomed to DeviantART (and my mostly incognito Youtube) that I can't really see spending hours upon hours to settle down elsewhere...and just for what really amounts to likes and maybe comments. :hmm:

With that said, I did get an Instagram. I don't like it :lol: But I will be building it up...gradually .www.instagram.com/dtkinetic/

Instead, I found something better! I've always wanted to take my art into the physical realm and what a better way than to start selling T-Shirts! =)
So I've opened up a Spreadshirt account! shop.spreadshirt.com/dtkinetic So I'm going to be converting some icons from my art into shirts. Please give the shop a look, see if you like any shirts! And If you have any advice, feedback or recommendations, please let me know!

__________

Alright. Onto real life updates! :w00t:

Later this summer, I'm going to go on my first overseas trip :eager: I am flying to Austria =D
Turns out that when my late uncle was stationed in Germany when he was in the military, he left behind a daughter. Obviously this was 30-some years ago and all contact was lost after that point. Well, thanks to...the rise of social media... :lol: My cousin was able to reconnect with my mother and invite us over to visit! Turns out that she and a man she met over there moved to Austria and have two daughters. I have a blood relative who's white with blonde hair! How cool is that? =)

With practicing a new language, I'm also trying to get myself active again. Got a gym membership. Now my goal is to gain ten pounds :strong:

Other than that, things have been quiet. I'll have to let you know how the trip goes. But thanks for reading. Have a good one :peace:
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May You Continue by DTKinetic, journal

Jevoa the Adaptor! by DTKinetic, journal

The Tens by DTKinetic, journal

Austria! by DTKinetic, journal

New Frontiers by DTKinetic, journal