en_zoo

Book III Challenge II - Bread, Water and Drums

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Previously

 

Book III - Challenge II

Laesonar's Saga Episode 10 - Bread, Water and Drums

 

The wheel squeaked loudly as Laesonar turned it to pull up the bucket. Armin was in awe looking at the plants all around the well. 

'How does the vegetation grow back so quickly in this place,  Mr. von Jeff?' 

'It's the soil of great Avalonia, master Paladin, as you might've heard.' 

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'Well, I surely didn't expect such a quick growth! It hasn't been long that the water is back!' 

'Speaking of which, my Lords, I don't think I've thanked you enough yet for bringing the water back to the lake.' 

Having quenched his thirst, Laesonar pulled his face out of the bucket and some water dripped on his neck as he replied to the old man. 

'Actually, Mr. von Jeff, you have. Around a thousand times. And it wasn't even necessary, we're happy to help.' 

'That's right. We're happy to see the natural balance restored. We should now look into the fish disappearance and...' 

'My Lords!' A voice reached them suddenly. 

'Sir Humborth, good day. Any news from Albion on this fine day?' 

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'I do bring news actually, my Lords. Through Albion, directly from Cedrica. The Queen wishes for every Lord in Historica to organise an occasion, with all kind of celebrations. She'll reduce taxes to all those who do while having Avalonian grain brought to all those in need. The costs for the latter covered by the royal treasure.' 

The unexpected news brought a moment of silence. Jeffrey was the first to break it. 

"Well, we don't have much to celebrate with. Nor that many people. We've barely just got the water back and Laelariel doesn't even have a lord at the moment!' 

Armin thought out loud. 

'It sounds like a Bread and Circus strategy. It makes me wonder. What do you think, Laesonar?' 

The half-elf seemed dazed, his eyes closed. 

'Laesonar, is everything all right?' 

'Hhmmm... yes. I am... remembering something.' He paused. 'The Queen... the red haired, you mean?' 

Sir Humborth was taken aback by such question. 

'Oh, er... yes. That would be her. How do you...' 

Laesonar lightened up. 'Right. I remember now. What charm! We definitely can't ignore the polite request of such charming lady! Let us get ready for the feast, Gentlemen!' 

Again, a moment of silence. Again, Jeffrey broke it first. 

'Ahem... Master Half-elf, you met the Queen before?' 

'I certainly did. Sir Humborth's words brought back memories. I cannot tell how I got there and why, but I definitely remember having a drink with her. She wasn't interested, unfortunately.' 

This time the moment of silence lasted longer, everyone speechlessly looking at Laesonar, while he plunged his face back into the bucket to drink more.  

An uncertain smile slowly appeared on Armin's face. 

'Laesonar, you... chatted the Queen up?' 

'As I said, my friend. But you know my memories aren't exactly.. well.. chronological. But let us not waste any more time, shall we? Mr. von Jeff, isn't a lake full of water a good enough reason to celebrate?' 

'It certainly is, my Lord, but..' 

'And Sir Humborth, when exactly is that grain to arrive?' 

'Oh, er... a cargo from Albion with an escort from Cedrica should be here in two days, but..' 

Laesonar was walking fast towards the city centre. Everyone snapped out of their astonishment and followed him. 

'Where are you going now, my Lord?' 

'Back to the city hall. I'm pretty sure I spotted a drum there, the other day.' 

'A drum, my Lord?' 

'Yes, a drum. No drum, no party; am I not right? It'll be bread, water and drums.' 

 

TASK I – Bread 

 

'Well it looks like we got this grain and bread into the right place at the right time, the city was really in need!' 

'We did indeed. The Queen will be happy. But where's the captain? I haven't seen him for a while now...' 

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TASK II – Water and Drums 

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'What's with the facial painting?!' 

'I always do that when I drum. It gets me more into the rhythm, if you know what I mean.' 

'Oh.. Sure, I guess.' 

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TASK III – Plot? 

 

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'So, captain... Are you enjoying your new position?' 

'Yes m'Lord. Thank you, m'Lord.' 

'Now, let's see. You'll hand this one over to my man in Albion, while this one... This goes to you-know-who directly in Cedrica. Make no mistake.' 

'No m'Lord, of course not.' 

'You'll make sure not be seen.' 

'm'Lord, I've never been, m'Lord.'

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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesssss! First time ever I manage to meet a deadline here on GoH! I'm glad :sweet: So there are a couple of things I'm not satisfied with, I'll start with those. I hadn't planned those roofs from the beginning, they turned out to be much bigger than I wanted and almost exactly squared :sceptic: I chose dark tan for the 'beach' as I thought it'd go well with Rb, but it gives the lake a very murky aspect, which wasn't my intention. The water effect can't really be seen in the pic (there are actually 3 types of blue under the trans tiles), I guess I need something bigger for that. Finally, Rb legs aren't a good choice on a Rb terrain... With the rest I'm relatively satisfied with. I was interesting in seeing how I could go from cobblestone to dirt, the result is decent, I reckon.

As for the photography, I got myself a soft-light set, which enabled me to take nice shots with a low ISO. Unfortunately it also created quite a lot of shadows, which I didn't know how to avoid and which I had to eliminate manually when editing (it can be seen with a zoom in on the main pic :sceptic:). Yet I reckon it's been an improvement.

In case you're wondering what that link is, Laesonar actually met the Queen :laugh: It's offcial lore, as you can check here, in particular 'Part VII: At the Grand Griffon Tavern', pages 192-194. Credits to @Henjin_Quilones for the story and @TitusV for the full recap, as you probably already know.

C&C most welcome as usual, thanks for reading ^^ 

 

NOTE TO THE JUDGES: the build for Task I is on a 18x22 base. The one for Task III is a 16x30. Both are separable from the bigger one, which is 64x64 minus the base of Task III (see extra pic below). 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited by en_zoo

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Excellent MOC, I am also happy to see you make a deadline :wink: . The story is entertaining and that is a nice twist in the end, you do a great job matching the pics with the story and using them together cohesively!  Also those are wonderful builds, the roof and the foliage is best actually! Although you are right the roof is square, but the coloration looks sweet :thumbup: . Just angle the buildings more next time and that will help I think (or angle the whole build an don't take pictures so straight on).   

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Lovely build.  The well is nice and the landscaping is really good.  I like the grassy area with the flowers, looks fantastic.  The building is excellent, has some nice color variation on the walls and the door looks great.  The roof is what really stands out to me with the different colored tiles giving it a weathered mossy type look, I think that is the best part of the build.  The figs are great too, with a nice story to accompany the build.  

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Fantastic work on this one @en_zoo! I love how you've managed to incorporate the three tasks into one larger build, great idea, I hope the judges allow that to stand.

The house at the back looks great, I love the way you've blended the colours on the roof and the blue and tan panels stand out really nicely. The foliage and general vegetation looks really natural, I like the way there's a clear path to the well and that the trees overhang the well roof. The minifig action is great too, lots of nice little details.

And to continue our conversation about photography - this is a big improvement! The soft lights have worked well. With regards to shadows, how many did you buy? Sometimes what you can do to show sunshine on an outside scene like this is to use fluorescent soft lights to fill the scene and one more yellow incandescent/LED bulb to imitate the sun. Then what you do is set the white balance to match the soft lights and then the yellow bulb looks like the sun. Just a wee tip.

What I do notice when I zoom into the scene is that you badly need a new camera! The details are pretty washed out close up because the camera isn't very sharp. Might be something to ask as a birthday present?

Anyway, it's another great MOC from you!

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Great way to present your entries as modular parts of a larger scene!  I love the covered wagon in particular, great curve for the green and white section!  Real nice job on the larger build too, I like the use of dark green on the roofs (although I'm not sure about the med. dark flesh, it doesn't quite seem to go with the feel of the rest of the build) and the well is also really nicely done!

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Very nicely done. The way all three challenges are combined in one build is excellent and the general vibe is good. A simple celebration that the water is back works well with the wider story. I also like the callback to the previous meeting with the queen and the references to Avalonias fertile enchanted soil. The house in the background, wagon and well are my favorite bits.

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Neat story and great build! I love that roof, very nice use of colours. The blue in the wall however doesn’t work as well in my opinion. It gives of the DC vibes which I feel the rest of the build doesn’t match. The terrain is great apart from the big patch of brown. It’s just way too brown and no variation in texture. The trees are the best part though, they’re perfect.

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On 1/17/2019 at 2:24 AM, W Navarre said:

Excellent MOC, I am also happy to see you make a deadline :wink: . The story is entertaining and that is a nice twist in the end, you do a great job matching the pics with the story and using them together cohesively!  Also those are wonderful builds, the roof and the foliage is best actually! Although you are right the roof is square, but the coloration looks sweet :thumbup: . Just angle the buildings more next time and that will help I think (or angle the whole build an don't take pictures so straight on).   

hehe thanks, J. :sweet: I'm glad you got involved in the story, I awlays fear it's too long or boring for people to read. Good point about the angle, it came up to mind at some point of the building process, then I must've forgotten or something. I need to keep in mind for next time.

On 1/17/2019 at 5:18 AM, zoth33 said:

Lovely build.  The well is nice and the landscaping is really good.  I like the grassy area with the flowers, looks fantastic.  The building is excellent, has some nice color variation on the walls and the door looks great.  The roof is what really stands out to me with the different colored tiles giving it a weathered mossy type look, I think that is the best part of the build.  The figs are great too, with a nice story to accompany the build.  

Thank you Zoth, I'm really glad you like the roof, as I wasn't sure at all about it. It's also very good to know you're reading the story along! :sweet:

On 1/17/2019 at 9:57 AM, Basiliscus said:

Fantastic work on this one @en_zoo! I love how you've managed to incorporate the three tasks into one larger build, great idea, I hope the judges allow that to stand.

The house at the back looks great, I love the way you've blended the colours on the roof and the blue and tan panels stand out really nicely. The foliage and general vegetation looks really natural, I like the way there's a clear path to the well and that the trees overhang the well roof. The minifig action is great too, lots of nice little details.

And to continue our conversation about photography - this is a big improvement! The soft lights have worked well. With regards to shadows, how many did you buy? Sometimes what you can do to show sunshine on an outside scene like this is to use fluorescent soft lights to fill the scene and one more yellow incandescent/LED bulb to imitate the sun. Then what you do is set the white balance to match the soft lights and then the yellow bulb looks like the sun. Just a wee tip.

What I do notice when I zoom into the scene is that you badly need a new camera! The details are pretty washed out close up because the camera isn't very sharp. Might be something to ask as a birthday present?

Anyway, it's another great MOC from you!

Thanks, Bas! I'm happy someone mentioned those little details about the figs! :wink::laugh: As fot the lightning, I've got 2 lights (the set I got is very similar to the one you sent me the link of); thanks for the tip about sunshine, it sounds really attractive. I do need to try out different combinations and stuff, so to increase the chances that I end up actually enjoying taking the pics, which for the moment it's miles away from reality.. :grin: As for the camera, I'm afraid I'm well past the age where I ask for a birthday present :blush: The good thing about it is that I can simply make myself such present. The bad thing about it is that my birthday was actually 3 days ago and I haven't done it :laugh: No, seriously, funny how this friend of mine said the same thing; he's off to Brasil for a while and offered to leave his Reflex to me - it may well be a good occasion to practice a bit with it, then maybe, who knows, I might look into finding a second-hand one. What you reckon? I thought as models get 'obsolete' that quickly, I might actually be able to find a good one (at least for my purposes) at a sexy price..

On 1/17/2019 at 1:11 PM, Kai NRG said:

Great way to present your entries as modular parts of a larger scene!  I love the covered wagon in particular, great curve for the green and white section!  Real nice job on the larger build too, I like the use of dark green on the roofs (although I'm not sure about the med. dark flesh, it doesn't quite seem to go with the feel of the rest of the build) and the well is also really nicely done!

Thanks Kai, good to hear you like that wagon - the design is very simple so I was a bit unsure; I reckon it worked well, apart from when it came to having that white stripe on a white background for the editing.. :hmpf: I see you point about that med.Df, I was expecting it to blend better with the rest, it needs more experimenting.

22 hours ago, Muakhah said:

Very nicely done. The way all three challenges are combined in one build is excellent and the general vibe is good. A simple celebration that the water is back works well with the wider story. I also like the callback to the previous meeting with the queen and the references to Avalonias fertile enchanted soil. The house in the background, wagon and well are my favorite bits.

Thanks Muakhah! I felt lucky this time to have the challenge fit perfectly with my story and I'm happy you noticed that! I'm also glad you mentioned the link to the official lore - I find it nice when people manage to weave their stories together and in fact, this was a good occasion for me, as dealing with a character who partially lost his memory isn't always easy.. :grin:

7 hours ago, ZlatanXVIGustaf said:

Neat story and great build! I love that roof, very nice use of colours. The blue in the wall however doesn’t work as well in my opinion. It gives of the DC vibes which I feel the rest of the build doesn’t match. The terrain is great apart from the big patch of brown. It’s just way too brown and no variation in texture. The trees are the best part though, they’re perfect.

Thank you, ZG. I assume by 'DC' you mean Derfel Cardan? Or am I completely misreading your comment? Good point about the patch of brown - I thought about it, but then left it as it was; I should've used some green or something..

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Really great work!  There are so many great details here: the person swimming in the water, the key and the saw above the doors denoting the shops, the detail of the doors, the awesome blues you use in your tudor designs, the wagon with supplies, the foliage near the well with some great flower work (which is color coordinated), and the minis being posed.  The roof texturing is awesome, too.  The only part I'm unconvinced of is the color choice on the roof.  The dark green seems unusual to me by comparison to the browns.  I don't know if it's meant to be like moss or something, but it's the only part I'm not totally in love with.  What a great build!   Keep up the great work!

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12 hours ago, en_zoo said:

Thanks, Bas! I'm happy someone mentioned those little details about the figs! :wink::laugh: As fot the lightning, I've got 2 lights (the set I got is very similar to the one you sent me the link of); thanks for the tip about sunshine, it sounds really attractive. I do need to try out different combinations and stuff, so to increase the chances that I end up actually enjoying taking the pics, which for the moment it's miles away from reality.. :grin: As for the camera, I'm afraid I'm well past the age where I ask for a birthday present :blush: The good thing about it is that I can simply make myself such present. The bad thing about it is that my birthday was actually 3 days ago and I haven't done it :laugh: No, seriously, funny how this friend of mine said the same thing; he's off to Brasil for a while and offered to leave his Reflex to me - it may well be a good occasion to practice a bit with it, then maybe, who knows, I might look into finding a second-hand one. What you reckon? I thought as models get 'obsolete' that quickly, I might actually be able to find a good one (at least for my purposes) at a sexy price..

Glad you got a set of two lights, that's pretty much mandatory to prevent horrendous shadows.

Belated happy birthday! Not sure about the age thing and birthday presents - I'm 32 and I still do not too badly! :grin:

Nothing wrong with buying a second hand camera, something like a Nikkon D3X00 series or Canon EOS 2000D/4000D might be a good starting point. The 18-55mm lens that normally comes as standard with these cameras should do you fine for now. You'll notice a huge improvement in photo quality compared to your phone.

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Great looking scene with lovely colours (and nice job with the photography on this one :wink:). The little carriage is my favuorite part though, great job!

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On 1/19/2019 at 3:40 PM, ZlatanXVIGustaf said:

Yeah, that’s what I meant.

Right. I never meant for it to have a 'DC  feel', but you're right: I went and checked and he also built some stuff in blue. Guess I'll have to keep that in mind...

On 1/19/2019 at 6:52 PM, Grover said:

Really great work!  There are so many great details here: the person swimming in the water, the key and the saw above the doors denoting the shops, the detail of the doors, the awesome blues you use in your tudor designs, the wagon with supplies, the foliage near the well with some great flower work (which is color coordinated), and the minis being posed.  The roof texturing is awesome, too.  The only part I'm unconvinced of is the color choice on the roof.  The dark green seems unusual to me by comparison to the browns.  I don't know if it's meant to be like moss or something, but it's the only part I'm not totally in love with.  What a great build!   Keep up the great work!

Thanks Grover, I'm glad you mentioned the key and the saw denoting the shops! :sweet: And yes, the dark green on the roof is meant to be moss.

On 1/20/2019 at 4:13 AM, Basiliscus said:

Glad you got a set of two lights, that's pretty much mandatory to prevent horrendous shadows.

Belated happy birthday! Not sure about the age thing and birthday presents - I'm 32 and I still do not too badly! :grin:

Nothing wrong with buying a second hand camera, something like a Nikkon D3X00 series or Canon EOS 2000D/4000D might be a good starting point. The 18-55mm lens that normally comes as standard with these cameras should do you fine for now. You'll notice a huge improvement in photo quality compared to your phone.

Hahaha! Well I've just turned 33, so almost no difference. I do live alone though and my family is far enough for such purpose, sadly :laugh: Thanks for the new tips on the camera, I'll look into it at some point, hopefully soon :classic:

On 1/21/2019 at 12:24 PM, adde51 said:

Great looking scene with lovely colours (and nice job with the photography on this one :wink:). The little carriage is my favuorite part though, great job!

Thanks Adde! I'm hoping to improve my photography even more - fingers crossed! ^^

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That carriage owns. Otherwise this is a great build and presentation as always, but I still have a hard time reading your stories with everything centered. Probably because I have a widescreen monitor!

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14 hours ago, mccoyed said:

That carriage owns. Otherwise this is a great build and presentation as always, but I still have a hard time reading your stories with everything centered. Probably because I have a widescreen monitor!

Thank you, McC! ^^ Oh I remember you said that before (about the centered position) :sadnew: I do find it cool though - but what do you mean exactly? I can read/see everything properly from both phone and laptop, what is it that bothers you exactly?

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On 1/29/2019 at 4:13 AM, en_zoo said:

Thank you, McC! ^^ Oh I remember you said that before (about the centered position) :sadnew: I do find it cool though - but what do you mean exactly? I can read/see everything properly from both phone and laptop, what is it that bothers you exactly?

It's just unnatural eye positioning. No book and few websites (articles) are constructed that way so it's like I have to adjust every time I look. If it was less rare, it'd probably be an easier adjustment. It's like when people can't figure out to read manga backwards, haha. It's just not the normal way text is presented. It's always left margin. You can consider it just a personal gripe of mine. You gotta do what you prefer and I don't think anyone else minds!

Edited by mccoyed

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Wow! Those blue highlights in the mocs are such a great feature! Nice to see that you keep using it!

 

The house have a great detail in the roof! Never seen that before! Well done!

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On 1/31/2019 at 7:00 PM, mccoyed said:

It's just unnatural eye positioning. No book and few websites (articles) are constructed that way so it's like I have to adjust every time I look. If it was less rare, it'd probably be an easier adjustment. It's like when people can't figure out to read manga backwards, haha. It's just not the normal way text is presented. It's always left margin. You can consider it just a personal gripe of mine. You gotta do what you prefer and I don't think anyone else minds!

Uhm yes, noone else mentioned it.. I could try and find some sort of compromise... Or you could figure out to read manga backwards! :poke:

On 1/31/2019 at 10:15 PM, de Gothia said:

Wow! Those blue highlights in the mocs are such a great feature! Nice to see that you keep using it!

The house have a great detail in the roof! Never seen that before! Well done!

Thank you, dG! Good to hear you like that blue, I do intend to keep on using it :classic:

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Excellent set of builds!  The carriage is excellent - the angled wood side combine well with the white and green awning.  The buildings are very well done - I like that the building on the left houses 2 trades.  I like the variety of colors on the roof, but I'm not sure about the more uniform transition as you go up.  The foliage and grounwork are very well done on these - Oh, I also love the well.  The story is entertaining as well, and a refilled water supply is a great reason to celebrate - especially in Avalonia.  Great job on the builds and completing all 3 categories!

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I really enjoy this, en_zoo! The color, the lushness of it all, the blue in the wall (with awesome gradients) and the roof all look wonderful. Good job clumping similar vegetation together, rather than making it too busy by being evenly dispersed. I also like your wagon in the corner. The only thing I don't love is the dark trans-blue for the water of the lake, but that's a minor thing. And hey, the guy on shore doesn't seem to have eyes for the water itself...I'm surprised the half-elf isn't there to sight-see, too.

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On 2/12/2019 at 11:00 PM, Rogue Angel said:

Excellent set of builds!  The carriage is excellent - the angled wood side combine well with the white and green awning.  The buildings are very well done - I like that the building on the left houses 2 trades.  I like the variety of colors on the roof, but I'm not sure about the more uniform transition as you go up.  The foliage and grounwork are very well done on these - Oh, I also love the well.  The story is entertaining as well, and a refilled water supply is a great reason to celebrate - especially in Avalonia.  Great job on the builds and completing all 3 categories!

Thank you, RA ^^ So, you'd have a more sudden transition on the roof on the higher part as well? Like again with medium flesh, is that what you mean?

16 hours ago, Henjin_Quilones said:

I really enjoy this, en_zoo! The color, the lushness of it all, the blue in the wall (with awesome gradients) and the roof all look wonderful. Good job clumping similar vegetation together, rather than making it too busy by being evenly dispersed. I also like your wagon in the corner. The only thing I don't love is the dark trans-blue for the water of the lake, but that's a minor thing. And hey, the guy on shore doesn't seem to have eyes for the water itself...I'm surprised the half-elf isn't there to sight-see, too.

haha thanks HQ :laugh: And yes, in this case the half-elf is busy drumming, that's why :laugh: Would you use light trans-blue instead? I'm not sure I like it that much. I do like the medium one, but as you probably know, the prive isn't that friendly and there are no tiles :sadnew: I've got more builds coming up with the dark one, just to try it up a bit.

Edited by en_zoo

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Lovely covered wagon design, and the buildings are top notch! Great use of color with the various flowers in the landscape :thumbup:
And that covered well setup is fabulous :wub:

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18 hours ago, soccerkid6 said:

Lovely covered wagon design, and the buildings are top notch! Great use of color with the various flowers in the landscape :thumbup:
And that covered well setup is fabulous :wub:

Thanks, SK. You're one of those who took the time to comment on my builds from the very beginning (my beginning, that is), which has always helped me to improve and pushed me to do so. Thank you! :thumbup: (I can't find any 'thanking emoji'...)

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