Mike Dragon

I've already missed one stream this week and will have to miss another this Sunday and likely next week as well. Hell, likely for the rest of January. I pray it won't be long, but until further notice, I am forced to suspend all of my livestreams.

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

https://www.picarto.tv/MikeDragonArt

The new year has started looking rather good, didn't it!? And I am here with the first Chill Art Sunday of 2026, so come with me and let's art and chill!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/
https://www.picarto.tv/MikeDragonArt

They stole the game I bought, so I copied their sequel. And ironically, on the day I did so, they returned what they had stole from me and millions more. Join me now for some racing with a game I haven't played before! Also, f#@% Epic Games!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

Me: I'm just going to make a quick and short stream before 2025 ends to fix a little thing I made then head off.

Also me:

Most people surely are busy with their families today, as it is New Year's eve, but I'm trying to squeeze in one final livestream before the year ends anyway. So if you can and would like to, join me now for some chilling. I'm making some tweaks on a thing or two!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

The deed is done. They forced me to do this...

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/ 1 PM EST (probably. Maybe.)

With less than a handful of days left for the new year to arrive, I invite you for one last art stream on this year. 2025's last Chill Art Sunday begins now!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/
https://www.picarto.tv/MikeDragonArt

It's been too long. I really should be done with this game by now, but for several different reasons I missed several livestreams. I apologize and ask you to join me on this really hot Saturday for part 6 of Albion!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

I made my Linux distro green. I like green. :3

I won't write a text inviting you to watch today's stream, this time. Instead I'll just show you this really short video: https://youtu.be/wCj1ZfApGYA

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

Last week we checked out how possible it is for me to make my art on Linux and I was left quite impressed by the results (although heavily disappointed that Krita cannot make use of my Photoshop brushes ;-; )! Today I am going one step further and making actual use of those programs I tried last Sunday. Come and check the results with me!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/
https://www.picarto.tv/MikeDragonArt

Coming up on the next Chill Art Sunday: Pog, but derg! And an actual test drive of a couple new tools.

So pog me on Twitch to derg it!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

Curious. I just saw the hour on a digital clock through a mirror at random, and the mirrored display read: "MA 10:20" (02:10 AM). For some reason I immediately thought of Matthew 10:20, so I checked it: "...for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." I like it.

Last Sunday I tried some Linux programs to see if I can make my art on Linux yet and I was very happy to find that yes! It's now possible! For Paint, I have KolourPaint and Pinta. For CorelDRAW!, I have Inkscape. And for Photoshop, I have Krita, and I loved it! except...

I got very saddened and disappointed to find out that Krita cannot make use of my Photoshop brushes. It does have some wonderful brushes, but my PS brushes collection is fantastic, I dare say. It's stuff I collected for close to two decades. I'm not ready to abandon them. I have some very specific brushes for some very specific kinds of effects, a glorious dragon scales brush set (made by the wonderful SeaSaltShrimp) that I just started learning how to use (to great effect!) and some other brush packs that can no longer be found for download anywhere.

The little of Krita that I got to try out on last Sunday's Chill Art Sunday left me very impressed, but without my brushes, let Photoshop go on a possible/likely migration from Windows to Linux is not really an option as of yet. And although I can run Photoshop on Linux through Wine, the program's performance is awful and there is 0 pen pressure support, which makes using Photoshop on Linux an impossible and unbearable task.

I wish Krita can offer full .abr support in the future (the near this future, the better). But until then, I need to stick with Photoshop on Windows. ;-;

P.S: No. GIMP is not an option. It is alwful. I tried it in depth many times over the years, even the latest version, both off and on-stream and I only managed to prove time and time again that it is a terrible piece of software and that it does not serve as a replacement for Photoshop. It can't even do some of the simplest tasks Photoshop can! Don't make me prove it yet again. Because I will if I have to! And I can! To hell with GIMP!

GIMP Chill Art Sunday 1:

Today's Chill Art Sunday is highly experimental and may contain crashes. Today we are venturing into lands beyond our Windows, where free and open source Penguins reign supreme!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/
https://www.picarto.tv/MikeDragonArt

Going into the wilderness on part 5 of our Albion playthrough, to the sound of the most annoying crickets species right outside my window.

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

On some good (although irrelevant) news... The next Chill Art Sunday might be hosted from Penguinland.

Follow me on Twitch to catch it!

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

And just like that, out of the blue, I have just been fired from my job.

Here's another demo of one of my FREE game controller overlays for OBS Studio, which you can download from my KoFi shop, as well as other different controllers: https://ko-fi.com/mikedragon/shop

Video:

Me yesterday: I'll see you tomorrow on the Chill Art Sunday!

Me today when it was time to stream the Chill Art Sunday: 

I was going to stream part 5 of Albion today (in a few minutes, actually), but it's too hot to wear clothes on camera, there are bugs everywhere, I am tired and still a bit emotionally battered from my therapy session from yesterday, so I rather rest tonight. Plus, I am a bit too entertained with setting up and figuring out my Zorin OS install. Still haven't broken it. Right now I'm actually trying to set up OBS and TouchPortal so I can stream from it! So sorry for not streaming today, after all. But if God's willing, I'll see you tomorrow on the Chill Art Sunday!

Follow me on Twitch to catch it!
https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

Derg.

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/
https://www.picarto.tv/MikeDragonArt

Albion goes into part 4 tonight, even though it should have been nearing the ending by now.

https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/

Quick follow-up on my loss of brakes situation from yesterday (https://forum.truckersmp.com/index.php?/profile/666-mike-dragon/&status=364836&type=status)

I carefully drove to the repair shop very early in the morning and left the car there for repairs. The brakes were like... 97% completely gone. I had to drive no faster than 30 Km/h and in no higher gear than 3rd (and on the slow lane only, of course). Took me about half an hour to drive a route that under normal circumstances doesn't take any longer than 15 minutes, but eventually I made it there, safe and sound.

The rear wheels brake cylinders were leaking badly (one of them literally squirted a stream of brake fluid when activated manually from within the drum itself), the master cylinder also needed replacing as it too had a leak somewhere (last time it got replaced it was about 10 years ago).

One thing that was discovered and was unexpected is that the controller valve, a device responsible for preventing the rear wheels from locking up if braking hard (it's kinda like ABS but for the rear wheels only and it doesn't manage how much braking power should go to each wheel) was seized and had been seized for God knows how long. Because of that, only the front wheels had been doing any braking when I stepped on the brake pedal and only God knows for how long it's been like that.

This valve is no longer manufactured and hasn't been for several years, so find a replacement for it might be really hard. In the meantime (assuming I ever find a replacement), it will be bypassed. Worst case scenario the rear wheels will lock up if for whatever reason I need to slam hard on the brakes while at speed, which under normal circumstances is unlikely to happen.

I should be able to pick up the car tomorrow morning, still in time to make it to work without getting late. The cost? R$ 265 in parts, with the most expensive one being the master cylinder. I am still unaware of the labor cost. My mechanic suggested I wait for my next salary payment next month to pay him that as at the moment I have hardly any money to afford it all. My October bills alone will eat up almost of the little money I was left with after paying my rent. I'll likely not have any cash left for groceries throughout the month of November. Oh well.