"It could be raining!"

I hope Miyazaki-sensei will forgive me for using him in this post, but if there's an image that can perfectly describe my last 2 months, well, it's this one.

You've probably noticed my absence in the last few weeks, definitely not wanted or welcome, and you've probably wondered: where did Durgin go?

I'd love to tell you that I took a break to recharge my batteries or, even better, a relaxing vacation, but the truth is that for weeks, if not months, I've been oscillating between various flu-like/feverish states, a situation that I (fortunately) have never experienced before and that is putting my resilience to the test. From Monte San Savino onwards, when I returned home with a beautiful medal and many great memories, but also with Covid, I haven't been able to fully recover.

I recovered from the most media-covered virus ever just in time to go down to Liguria and celebrate Christmas with the family. Then, I left my two girls there and returned alone to Turin to catch up on a lot of accumulated work. Fortunately, my guardian angel protected me during the New Year's weeks, and I managed to prepare a lot of 3D prints of the Orcs for resin production, literally celebrating midnight while finishing removing the print supports from the Demolisher Orc (a bit overshadowed during the Kickstarter, but it's a really beautiful piece!).

With the new year, I hoped to finally be able to focus solely on my work, but someone up there apparently didn't think the same and decided to send me a late Christmas gift: another flu virus.

Now, the only explanation I've given myself is that I have inadvertently offended a particularly vindictive sorcerer because I have to confess that I've never been worse in my life, not even with Covid.

Two weeks of fever, pain in parts of my body that I didn't even think I had, a titanic amount of mucus that I could have filled a medium-sized swimming pool with, and that general feeling of being forcibly thrown into a centrifuge whose end I can't see. Add to that, my daughter is in the same situation, with all that it entails in terms of managing the few available forces.

In short, I'm reduced to a rag.

The kind of rags used to exhaustion, like those you see on the bar counters at gas stations on the highway, and you wonder, "after thirty years of honorable service, can't you buy a new one?" That kind of rag.

With extremely reduced stamina, meaning I'm like Goku when he does the Kaioken and has a minute to do everything, but I don't become 100 times stronger but I simply reach the vital energy level of a pillow, I had to make choices. I channeled all my energy into two things: pushing forward as much as possible with my Orcs of Inneath project and simultaneously setting up what will be a real revolution for Durgin Paint Forge. I would have liked to announce it a few days ago, but I admit it's such a big and important thing for me that I want to have the energy needed to present it properly.

In short, trust me.

All this has prevented me from communicating too much on social media; I've lost some emails that I promise to respond to as soon as I can, and I apologize in advance if you felt a bit abandoned by yours truly.

Thanks to everyone for the messages of support you've sent me; these last months have been tough for me, and this was certainly not the way I imagined starting the new year. But there will be time to make up for this decidedly negative period.

Thank you very much for your understanding. At the moment, I'm working with the Pledge Manager team to finalize preparations for the platform that will host the Late Pledge/Pledge Manager for the Orcs of Inneath. I hope to be able to open it as planned (end of January).

A hug to everyone, and I recommend: never let your daughter approach a child at the playground without first making sure that child is NOT looking like an extra from The Walking Dead.

I'm paying the price for such carelessness.

Ad astra, per aspera!