“We were two of a kind
We were going through pictures
Of what we were like so
Unexpectedly
Always
In the right place
At the right time
On the right days
And the right signs”
Forest Blakk – I Remember
Happy Canada Day friends! (Yep I know I’m a day early, but if I wait I might forget and we don’t want that.)
I’ve been rummaging through the vault looking for hidden gems that I never used, and I have a few under consideration for future use. I chose to go with this one this time because I liked the simplicity of it, and it allows me to write about whatever I want. It does help that we’re coming up on Canada Day and these colors are 100% on point for that occasion.
This particular photo, in its original form never ended up on a blog post because it was legitimately a screenshot taken randomly while AFKing at home. I don’t even have the actual screenshot anymore, or if I do, I’ll be damned if I can find it. It was posted on June 25, 2016, so over 7 years ago now. I did have my first edit of it though and while it’s not -drastically- different, I did go back and rework certain aspects of it to bring it forward to today.
So why not just shoot something of myself and edit that, or pull the alt out and put something together instead? I could have done that, with enough time and an idea it would make sense. I didn’t have an idea though and to be honest, sometimes it’s just more fun to not edit yourself. I get bored editing Lucky after a while and need something to change it up and cleanse that boredom. I’ve always thought editing someone else was more fun because each person is different and what you do to one may not be what works on another one. That’s been my logic forever, I’ve never -loved- editing myself, I can do it, and I’m reasonably okay at it, but it gets dull.
In “These Desperate Prayers Of A Cursed Man” I wrote about the idea behind From The Vault, post styles, etc. So I won’t spend a bunch of time redoing that because you can read it there. But I did want to talk more about writing and responses to that writing. I mentioned in that same post receiving a comment directly in regards to a prior Vault post. It is always awesome to get feedback, critiques, comments, etc on anything written or edited up. I appreciate it much more than I probably express and probably way more than I show. Why do I say that?
Well, the comment I mentioned was extremely thoughtful, and in that moment, I would have sworn I responded to it because I wanted to. If someone takes the time to write out even a sentence, then I should give some effort to reply. Either I did and it never showed up in any log of communication I have or I flat out didn’t do it at all. I realized this last night when I was going through things, and for some reason, it caught my attention. Thinking I had replied, I looked at it and I’ll be damned but there was no reply from me. I did reply finally and I feel like an ass for thinking I had done so way back at that time.
Naturally, I’m sure by now the question in your head is, “What’s the point, Lucky?” I hear you, and I’m getting to the point now. I’ve never worried about the number of views a post receives, the number of favorites something gets, or comments. It’s not a matter of not caring about any of those, I do care about them, but they are not the metric that ultimately matters to me when a post is done. The metric that matters most to me when any photo or post is published is simple, “Do I like this?
“These Desperate Prayers Of A Cursed Man – November 11, 2022”
That right there is still true in case you weren’t sure. I’m not a metrics person and I don’t do the kind of work blog-wise that draws a ton of those metrics. Now let’s not confuse me not being a metrics person with me not appreciating favorites and all of that. I do, if you’ve taken the time to favorite a photo, comment anywhere, reply, or whatever you did, I appreciate it. That’s why my non-response to the comment I received bothered me last night. I have to do better with that and make sure if I think about it I actually do it. It’s going to be front of mind every time now so hopefully we don’t have a repeat of that. If you read this (you know who you are) and you did message me in world last October, I suck and replied finally (but I can’t find that name inworld anymore so you may not get it), if you don’t see it, let me know and I’ll make sure I get a response to you.
I definitely want to be better about being more responsive when I can be, and being more communicative if that’s what someone is looking for. I’ve always said I’m open to collaboration and I mean that, if you’ve got an idea and want to maybe mash up styles and do something together, shoot me a message on any of the platforms and I will 100% get back to you. I’m sure not every idea will work for me, but I’m open to hearing what someone’s thinking and if I can pull it off I would love to. I’ve seen a lot of amazing things over my Flickr feed and people blow me away every single day with their creativity and the limits they push. It’s inspiring to see and gives me ideas and motivation to do something most of the time.
Enjoy some Forest Blakk today, if you don’t know who he is you should find out, and there is no better time than now.
“I remember the moment it happened
When the words were as loud as an anthem
When I lost all control
Of my heart and my soul”
Forest Blakk – I Remember
Credits:
I love you guys and you know that but I’ve got little for this since it was just a snapshot but here’s what I can pull from around that same time.
Head: CATWA HEAD Annie 4.9 ~ Catwa Clip
Body: Maitreya Mesh Body – Lara ~ Onyx LeShelle
Eyes: IKON Hope Eyes – Quicksilver ~ Ikon Innovia
Ears: [MANDALA] STEKING_EARS_Season5 ~ Kikonosuke Eel
Skin Applier: Lara Hurley-Christy Rose Pale ~ Lara Hurley