My 10,000 Hours

http://www.easydrawingtutorials.com/

Recently I decided that while I love being a stay-at-home-dad (and I really, really do) there needs to be a bit more to my life than just taking care of the little girl It just makes sense that I should use her nap times to clean the house have some fun and learn new things.

I've always wanted to learn how to draw and recently I asked my friends on Facebook how I should go about doing that.

Turns out the only way to learn how to draw is to just sit down and draw. Strange.

So, I sat down with a sketch pad, a mechanical pencil, and the internet. I Googled "Easy drawing tutorials" and strangely found http://www.easydrawingtutorials.com.

The tutorials were simple, short, and fun. It looks like it's just full of a bunch of kid's stuff but since I'm a big kid this was perfect.

I'm strangely satisfied with how this all came out. I learned a few things (like when you're drawing the framework you really barely need any pencil pressure at all) and laughed at myself a lot.

Drawing is my new project when I have time during the day. It's something I know I can have fun with and hopefully pick up fairly easily (the basics, anyway). If I use her nap times to draw (assuming the house is clean) I should be able to put in at least an hour or two per day on it.

If it takes 10,000 hours to master something and I take 2 hours per day to work on it that means it'll only take me about 14 years. I better get on that!

Also, I have no idea why Mario looks so angry but I'm really happy with my Luigi and Sonic. Harley Quinn? Well, let's just assume I was distracted by the Joker or something.

I voted for Epic Rap Battles of History to win Artist of the Year at the...

A New Direction

I've decided that my life is rockingly awesome and that instead of only using this when I go somewhere special, this blog title adequately describes my and my family's life. As such, I am turning this into my daily blog, for when what I have to say doesn't fit anywhere else. I'm sure there will be some cross-over between here and other places since those other blogs are part of my life but there's been plenty I want to say and I've had almost nowhere to say it.

Now I have somewhere!

I'm not going to shill out this blog; I'm going to let people come upon it on their own if they want to. I'm writing for me, not for other people, and I think that that's probably for the best. That way I can share all sorts of things and not feel like I have to spin it for anyone's enjoyment; I can write it exactly how I want to write it, say what I want to say, and damn the torpedoes. Erm. Consequences.

See? Like that. That was hilarious to me. If it wasn't to you then I don't care because I don't believe you're reading this.

The great Trash Heap has spoken. Nyah!

Here's a cat. Because I can.

Sweet Springs, WV

The walkway to what was Old Sweet Springs resort and spa.

The old bath house.

 Laura and I drove down with the little one to a little place called Sweet Springs, WV. We stopped along the way to see a little restaurant called the Swinging Bridge Restaurant on the way but didn't eat there; I just had to see the bridge inside the restaurant. Check out their website for a good look!

The real reason we went out there was to look at a place known as Old Sweet Springs resort and spa. It's been long-since defunct but the building was used as an old-folks home for many years and now lays completely empty.

Except for the ghosts.*

It's an amazingly gorgeous area. The lawns are still groomed, and one of the houses (that I did not take pictures of) is still lived in, probably by the caretaker. There was talk in 2010 of restoring this place to its former glory but judging by the dusty scaffolding, broken windows, and a few beer cans seen through windows I have a feeling that has fallen through.

Old Sweet Springs resort and spa (and sanitarium, and tuberculosis ward).

One of the old stairways outside.

 Truly, though, the scope of this old resort is amazing. The brick is still holding together fairly well on the facade, though they show some major bowing out at the bottom in the under-tunnels.

The whole area is beautiful and I'd like to go back some time with a picnic lunch, though the "No Trespassing" signs may suggest that I have the lunch somewhere nearby, rather than on the front porch.

One of the houses that used to be rented out at the resort.

The ivy was beautiful.

Locally known as "The Jefferson Building."

*I cannot confirm nor deny the presence of ghosts. All I know is that I kept expecting to see faces peering from the windows in my pictures but have not spotted one yet.