My wife and I attended the Halo World Championships in Seattle about 2 weeks ago on a whim and I really didn't know what to expect going into it. I've been to conventions in the past but I've never been all that into e-sports despite how long I've loved gaming (and FPS games). Felt like a bit of a poser going despite the teams not being my primary focus, but I think part of me has been missing the convention element and I was curious about the new game announcement as well as the props and cosplay show. Despite all that, we had a good time. I enjoyed seeing all the handiwork on display by other artists and it's refreshing to be an environment where everyone's passionate about the same thing. I'm not terribly excited about the new game announcement unfortunately, but it was exciting to be in the room I suppose. I am not a remake fan most of the time and tend to be overly skeptic in my approach. We'll see if I end up giving it a shot; no multiplayer is a huge letdown.

This was the first year in a while we've actually Done Something for Halloween. We decided to celebrate our 1 year marriage anniversary early since we unfortunately have other obligations over the weekend of the actual anniversary. We spent the weekend at a cute historic (potentially haunted) manor a la Resident Evil and had some fun weekend nights out. It's sad how quickly October ends as an adult. It's my favorite time of year and the atmosphere always feels like it's gone too soon but I'm trying to keep it alive in my heart.

A "spooky" sundae with pumpkin custard.

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