Important factors leading to breakthrough

Before I forget - these are the vitally important factors leading up to the breakthrough I'm experiencing:

• A few days ago Rob stopped by after about a year. This was the fateful visit where we were both on our best behavior unlike the last few years, and I told him I'm no longer a liberal. As a result we got along better than in many years.
• I showed him my fully-stocked bar and we did a few shots. 
• After his visit I decided I wanted to make prints of my best work so I can show it to him without admitting him into the studio, where I still don't trust him. So I finally put all those ink cartridges I had bought a few months ago into the printer and researched the best kind of paper (after making a lot of fuzzy crappy prints on regular so-called 'bright white' paper). 
• After making a few good prints and being amazed at how awesomely amazing they look I decided to punch up the color saturation and contrast in Bemused, the direct precursor to where I am now in my techniques...
• As a result I finally started to really bring in the darks, almost black, for the first time. Ironic considering I go by the name Darkmatters all over the web, and do night photographs consisting of lots of darkness..
• I also finally decided to download a bunch of pictures of bodybuilders and actually study the musculature. Immediately it added a whole new dimension to my anatomy book studies - I see now how necessary they both are to each other. Neither is sufficient by itself. 
• Last night (when I posted this update) and the night before, as I painted, I imbibed of the sweet libations. Coffee drinks both times. Not to get drunk at all, but to get a nice buzz going. I half suspect this was actually very instrumental in unlocking the old skills from the pencil drawing days of the 80's. 
• I studied a Conan painting by Ken Kelly which is actually extremely good, and I suspect Frank might have sketched it in for him or helped in some way - either that or Kelly just really knocked this one out of the park. Here's the image:

And of course vitally important is all the prep work documented on this blog beginning in November of last year, drawing drawing drawing and blowing the rust off the old skills.