I've been revisiting Halo again recently because a good friend wanted to play them for the first time and it's amazing how powerful nostalgia can be. I originally played these games with my dad when I was around 5-6 years old (and revisiting them multiple times over the years) and I still feel like they have the same power over me that they did when I was small. The story and characters aren't anything groundbreaking by today's standards but I remember how much it all meant to me when I was younger. I still feel that childhood emotion come back when I just hear the soundtrack.

I've been so pumped up this time around that I've decided to attend the Halo WCS in October. It's silly and I haven't been to a convention in a long time now, but even if I just bum around for a few hours and take pictures of cosplayers I think it will have been worth it for me.

I've had some ideas for a Halo painting I've wanted to do for years so maybe now I'll finally feel inspired to finish it. I started working on some thumbnails this week, but my PC had to go in for repairs so I won't have access to my tablet for a while. Hopefully when I get it back I'll still have the spark.

My parents' dog, Master Chief, as a puppy.

A couple months ago I made it my mission to befriend some crows in my neighborhood. I intially expected that I would just feed these guys peanuts on my walks and maybe see the same ones occasionally, but to my surprise, after doing this maybe twice, a bonded pair of crows started to visit my house regularly. They had followed me home from my walks and would start showing up in my yard begging for food. Before long, they started to figure out my work schedule and would show up in the mornings right when I was leaving for work to beg for more food.

They started visiting so often I eventually started calling them Bauble and Trinket. I'm not sure if there's a way to tell a crow's gender from a distance, but I've been operating from under the assumption that Bauble is male because he's bigger and less flighty, while Trinket is probably female. I've had so much fun learning their preferences and seeing them each day. I started by feeding them only unshelled peanuts because they seemed to like the game that provided, but I started researching what other foods they might enjoy to keep it interesting for them. I've learned they also enjoy quality dog food and hard-boiled chicken eggs (these are probably their favorite).

Intially I would wait for them to show up, and then play games with them by tossing food near them. They liked this for a while, but the more they started to hang out, the more I felt like I should set up something more permanent. They recently graduated to a little feeder basket I was able to attach to a trellis in the yard which they now love.

Trinket and Bauble sitting at their new feeder