First, thanks to everyone who continues to follow me here. I know it sucks when creators arenāt putting out content. I hope you understand!
1. Iām still in school for Game Art. I promise Iāll do great things with my education in the future, and hopefully someday I can afford to go back and get a degree in 2D animation as well! Iāve maintained a 4.0 GPA for 3 semesters now.
2. I got a kitten! His name is Agent Jack Bauer. He gives me chin and nose smooches to wake me up every morning.
3. I had to quit Target (Iām currently unemployed, since Sunday). This was done with a lot of thought and support from my significant other and his family. I am super lucky to have the chance to get out of retail. My reason for quitting sucks a lot, though.
4. My accessory navicular syndrome got extremely bad. Working at Target for 3 years did permanent damage. I had to pay for a podiatrist appointment out of pocket to get permission to use a wheelchair at work. I wasnāt expecting it to be too terrible. The doctor diagnosed me with severe, chronic tendonitis in both of my feet. He ordered me to only 1-3 hours of walking and standing per day. The surgery to fix it is at least 30k, and it still canāt reverse tendonitis.
I kept trying to work with the wheelchair, since the middle of April. I was harassed by customers, specifically because of the wheelchair, a few times.Ā Some things about the job were easier, other things were much harder. Ultimately, I couldnāt do it because customers were ignoring me 70% of the time, or assuming I wouldnāt be able to help them.
I donāt mind the chair at all, though! I can get around pain-free. If any of you see me at future cons, Iāll probably be in my chair, unless Iām taking a short break from it. Iām also lucky to be able to put weight on my feet at all.
5. Iām not going to ask you guys to support my patreon yet. Because of everything going on, Iāve had a very long hiatus on there. However, I do want to try and get the ball rolling again, with baby steps. Instagram and Twitter are easiest for me to update. If you could follow me there to show me some support, I would really appreciate it. Itās the same username (zifelline -- itās āfelineā with two Lās and āziā in front, a lot of people struggle with it apparently). I plan on livestreaming some crafting things this Thursday evening! Probably from Periscope, but I want to experiment with Instagram live, too. Iām very determined to start updating those accounts with content more frequently. Iāll keep updating here as well, but probably just with finished work and answering questions. Iām open to suggestions for what youād like to see from me, either now or in the future. Cosplay is a little expensive for me at the moment, but Iāve picked up doll repainting/faceups. Would you like to see illustrations/character concepts? School work? Comics? Tattoo Designs? Fanart? Selfies with my kitten? A youtube channel? Let me know! I want all of my social media to be positive, starting now.
TL;DR a lot of things are going well, but I need to use a wheelchair now, which makes it hard to find a job with my retail work experience. Please follow me on Twitter and Instagram (zifelline), where I will be updating with content more frequently, and let me know what youād like to see!