hooky day

I have an atypical Tuesday off today. The college is having an "in-service" gathering - sort of a pep rally to incite excitement for the beginning of fall semester next Monday.  And since we're currently between semesters, the tutor calendar is empty empty.

Full timers are "expected" to attend, part-timers can if we want to, but are not obligated. Suffice to say, none of us part-timers are at the in-service. They tried to entice us with "There'll be food! You'll get paid!", but they lost us at "You hafta stay all day".

We're part-timers for a reason.

I'm sure Boss and Assistant Boss will give us the CliffsNotes. Besides, I'm working all the rest of the week, including Saturday. Star is going on another of her adventures, so I'm filling in for her while also covering for the ready-to-give-birth-any-day Kitty.

As predicted, we got our few glorious days of cold and damp late last week. I, for one, was not climatized and had to break out a fleece.

The sun and heat are back, but not as full on as it was. I sketched this fire ant in response.

I'm at the library under the guise of, "I need to return a book", but really, I just wanted to indulge in a bike ride. 

I dunno, I feel a bit guilty doodling in a sketchbook and going for a joyride on a weekday.

But it beats obligingly attending an in-service for the food and hourly wage.

mystery machine

I walked out of work today, and there was a helicopter hovering above the campus. I honestly didn't think much of it, didn't even look up, because helicopters are a thing. It's fire season, it's HVAC installation season. 

So I went about doing what I'd planned to do, which was eat a sandwich at the student center. I came back out about 20 minutes later to head home, and the helicopter was still there. This time, I looked up to see it hovering, just hovering above campus. Weird.

I fiddled getting my bicycle unlocked and got my act together. The whole time, the helicopter remained in one spot, pointed in one direction. I figured if there was a dangerous armed fugitive in the area, we'd have been put on lockdown, which we weren't, so I was outta there.

Once at home, I checked my main sources for local news: reddit and facebook. We don't really have a local up-to-date news source, and I don't have a twitter X account, so those would have to do. All I learned was that there'd been a bomb threat at a nearby transit center (bus station). Who / why threaten to bomb a bus station?

Otherwise an uneventful ride home. 

I played with my new pen. I've always liked comic book drawing style, even though I've never been that interested in the comics themselves. I recall "studying" the style in the Sunday funny pages when I was a kid. Now I'm kind of an old lady, and still appreciate it.

So I drew this chibi (short and stubby with a big face) version of Black Widow. I know nothing of her origin story, or her current story for that matter.

She's part of Marvel Comics, but I only know that because I looked it up. 

In other news, we Coloradoans are anticipating a coming cold front. Highs in the 70s, and rain for a couple of days. Sounds glorious. I don't mean to complain but, I am rather sick of the heat.

dress real neat from our hats to our feet

I took a day off from work at the testing center yesterday. I'd looked at the schedule, and it was going to be a light day. We were fully staffed, so I took one for the team and waived my shift. I figured I could get caught up on some responsibilities have a play day. I ended up taking a nice long bike ride, despite the heat, stopped by the library and picked up an indulgent, light-read paperback.

I did have a tutor sesh in the afternoon, so it wasn't a day of total sloth. My high schooler (rising senior) was freshly back from a 2-week summer architecture program hosted by a rather posh out-of-state univeristy.  

We were meeting online, so she showed me the models she'd made and talked about how (surprisingly!) grueling the program was. Seems they really put those kids to work! To me, she seemed to have noticeably matured in those two weeks away, like it's hitting her that she has just one more year left of high school before she goes out into the big world. 

When I was her age, I'd thought about architecture school. It seemed it would be a fun combination of artsy and mathy, but I ended up not going that route and became an engineer instead. As an engineer, I had dealings with industrial designers, which to me, are similar to architects. Instead of designing buildings to be aesthetically pleasing, industrial designers design consumer products to be aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing. 

On one hand, we had design engineers who designed a thing to perform certain functions. On the other hand were the industrial designers who designed the thing to look and feel good. My job was to tweak their combined efforts into a thing that functioned, looked and felt nice, and could also be mass produced at an affordable cost. Oh boo!

The industrial designers had their own building. It was stylish and artsy like the industrial designers themselves. They didn't care to talk about manufacturing costs - too constraining! Who were these nerds (my cohorts, me) anyway!?

Honestly, I enjoyed that job. I don't know if I'm minimal and practical now because I enjoyed the job, or if I enjoyed the job because I was already minimal and practical. Chickens. Eggs.

After our tutor session ended, I was remembering those cool, stylish, industrial designers. Their fashionable clothes, their edgy haircuts, their fancy furniture... jealous much? Maybe. Would I have fit in had I gone that route?

I sketched a Tesla Cybertruck I've seen around town lately. Or it's possibly multiple Tesla Cybertrucks around town - they all look alike, don't they?

Did Elon himself design it? And no one told him , "no"?

bricks and mud

[Brickies (don't call it Lego™ even though it's all actual Legos™) Creation Fest] happened once again in downtown Fort Collins this weekend. Once again, my PEO chapter volunteered to run various activity booths and will receive a nice donation from the organizers. 

Sure beats a bake sale, I say!

I rather enjoy this particular volunteer duty. Fun activities, cute families, downtown Fort Collins... What's not to like? Well, the heat, for one thing. But, what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger.

My duty featured a *Lego* horse race, but I won't bore with the rules. Suffice to say it was enjoyed by many a fest goer, and I somehow managed to make about a 0.4 second appearance in the [instagram promo video] enticing people to come on down.

As with the previous two years I've volunteered, it featured much wholesomeness - attentive parents, cute kids, friendly teens. I particularly liked seeing older kids actually trying to lose the horse race with their younger siblings/ cousins/ friends. One older brother actually confessed, "I'm sorry, I wanted you to win", to his little sis. But it all hinged on the roll of the dice, no real skill involved. He won, fair and square. 

Good times.

Later, last evening, we were absolutely DELUGED  by an aggressive unpredicted thunderstorm. Oh sure, after the thing already moved through, we got alerts for severe weather warnings. 

This morning I went for an absolutely lovely bike ride, and there was a lot of post-storm trash - limbs, mud, guck - around town. Many an underpass was still under a good amount of water along with heaps of "flood mud". 

I confess to actually getting off the bicycle and gingerly making my way through one particularly muddy underpass because it was too spooky to attempt with my skinny tires. That stuff is slippery!

But it's been so hot and dry lately, and this was a nice break from the heat bringing much needed moisture. Everyone I encountered while on my ride seemed to be in a good mood - cheerful greetings all around! Let's not think about politics for a minute!

And all this creation happening reminded me that I've not felt/been very creative lately. 

Feeling heroic from my nearly three whole hours of volunteering, I pulled out the sketchbook.

like a shadow on me all of the time

I had a work anniversary this week. Three years at the college. I didn't really know the date I started, just remember it was summer of '21. But a higher up, who is three rungs above me on the org chart, started emailing out work anniversary announcements as they occur. 

I think most feel these anniversary emails are kind of lame, and don't we get enough emails? No doubt, the higher up thinks it's morale building or such. Anyway, my work anniversary happened to fall on the same date as Boss's. Three years for me, TWENTY-FRICK'N-FOUR for Boss. 

We marveled at his working there for 24 years, in different capacities anyway. 

"I was in 5th grade when you started", commenced Kitty.

After that, we all pondered and chimed in

"I'd just gotten my Associates degree", from Sarge.

"I was home with three little kids - one of them a newborn", my contribution.

"I wasn't born yet..."

Yeah, that would be Mango. Not even born yet! Well, she was at least a fetus.

I streamed "Baby Reindeer" on Netflix while doing boring tasks around the house, and finished this week. Seen it? Party Girl recommended it to me, and it turned out to be different than I expected. Got pretty deep and dark, but kept me interested. 

Now the real-life "Martha" is suing Netflix, but that's another story.

I thought it was well acted, particularly the actress who portrayed Martha, but I can't really say if I liked the series or would recommend it. It gets dark and creepy, and the main character - who played himself, as it's a true story about him - was so often stupid. Do I like him? Feel empathy? Mmmm, dunno. 

The story is more than about Martha, the stalker. It goes back to "Donny" being groomed and sexually assaulted by an older man Donny thought was trying to help with his career, and how that messed Donny up for, maybe, ever.

Make smart decisions, people!

Oh well. Played in the sketchbook some this week. Fat bird and a face.

summer daze

I was out running this morning. It's getting noticeably hot, and we're expected to hit close to 90 F tomorrow, I think. Anyway, I was out there while it was still relatively cool, determining that the top I wore was not as cool as I'd hoped.

My phone rang and I had a sneaking suspicion it was Boss calling. Sure enough, we're a bit short staffed today, could I come in (on my day off)? Yeah, why not. These are the lazy days of summer. So I'll go in later this afternoon.

Assistant Boss, Mango, has taken a lot of sick days, today included. We've had our suspicions that maybe she's slacking, but I do think her symptoms are legit. Monday, she had a couple of "appointments" that I hope are to investigate her health issues. 

I'm no professional, but I suspect she may have undiagnosed endometriosis - or maybe it's diagnosed already.

Speaking of "female issues", I've worked a bit more with Kitty now that she's transferred and works primarily at our campus. Recall that she's pregnant, due in late August. She'd rightfully earned the reputation as a slacker, and continues to demonstrate that level of work ethic.

On one hand, I kinda like how "easy going" she is and just know that I will be carrying most of the load when working with her. She just goes with the flow and will be shotgunned wedded to her baby daddy in a couple of weeks.

I was asking about her upcoming nuptials, and she forwarded me an invitation, so now I guess I'm invited?

 It's a little confusing to me. She's late 30's, with a degree from a decent university, but hasn't done much career-wise. Now she's starting a family. Part of me wonders if marriage and motherhood will jump start the adulting... but I have a tough time seeing that happen.

Not my biz, and maybe since I'm used to working with goal-oriented college students, Kitty's go-with-the-flow vibe feels strange.

On that go-with-the-flow note, although it's been dry recently, we did have some uncharacteristic humidity a while back. I got out my sketchbook and pens.

This owl. My spirit animal?

My hair in humidity.

distraction

Since the semester's winding down, I've been able to indulge in more playtime/ escapism/ however to categorize it. When I'm playing with my art toys, I typically stream a movie to keep me entertained. Perhaps, more importantly, it gives me a time limit, so I don't get lost and totally neglect my adult responsibilities.

Recently, I watched the movie [Waiting], which was a silly movie I'd never seen but had heard of. It's about a staff of young restaurant workers, and pretty realistic (been there, done that) Ryan Reynolds comedy. I kept that in mind and had low expectations, so it worked out and I drew some apples.

Magnum and I have been watching the [Shogun] miniseries on Hulu. Or I should say, Magnum's been watching it. I'd taken to doodling while it's on, and I've got big gaps in my following along because it's mostly in Japanese, and I don't speak Japanese. I understand it's quite good. I'll vouch for the cinematography and costuming being well done, and I got a spider kid drawing out of it. 

Yesterday, I streamed [Border], which is Swedish, but I'd seen it before while not distracted, so I was able to follow along even though I don't speak Swedish. 

"Border" is an interesting story for lack of a better word. Have you seen it? It's realistic fantasy? If that's even a thing. It pulled me in, having me wondering where the heck it's going. Then it goes somewhere, and I was all, "What??", and it goes somewhere again to where I was all, "WHAAATT??"  Add a few more "WHAA-HAAAAATT??", and that's the movie Border.

I can't even really explain the plot, and I think it's best to watch it, not knowing a thing. I will say that I did not watch the final one third or so during this second viewing.  The subject matter becomes too disturbing for my taste at that point. I still recommend attentively watching it, though.

Anyway, I got a Bucee Beaver statue out of it.

starter pack

I was at work yesterday, and it wasn't very busy. We are in finals week right now at the college, so we're expecting lots of busy-ness in the testing center, but so far, it's been quite mild. This implies a calm before the storm, because they're all going to hit us Monday - the last day of finals. 

So we were hanging about being not too busy, and somebody jokingly suggests that Sarge go and reclaim something that had been "borrowed" from us and not returned. This was eluding to the fact that Sarge had spent some time in his younger days as a Repo Man. 

So Sarge looks to me and says he'll go get the thing if I get our little espresso machine to work and make him a coffee. Yes, there is a small espresso machine in our breakroom that nobody's figured out how to work. 

"I don't even drink those fancy coffees", I revealed, "why me?"

It's true. I've mentioned that Magnum and I take regular "coffee walks" on the weekends. We visit various coffee shops around town, but we are so boring - coupla drip coffees with cream, please. That's it. No mocha latte macchiato dolce blah blah blah. Sometimes I wonder if we're the only ones who order basic drip.

And then Sarge reminded me, "I used to be a repo man, you used to be a barista".

Omigosh, that's right. I had such a short-lived time as a barista, I'd practically forgot about it. 

Back when covid hit the US, shortly after we'd moved here, I was working at a quaint cafe inside a small local hospital. I enjoyed that job. The schedule was perfect, the team was wonderful, including the bosses. I had a list of items I prepared each shift, under no stress of the ticket machine, and my only customers were other staff in the kitchen. Plus it was a lovely bicycle commute.

Who knows how long I would've stayed on if not for a freaking global pandemic?

But then covid hit, the hospital stopped all elective surgeries, and even shut down the maternity ward. The cafe was shut down, and we provided a few to-go items for the lean staff on site. The kitchen had to be open for patients who were allowed solid food - usually 5 or less. The front counter stayed open for hospital staffers coming to quickly grab a coffee or snack and get out.

Management did what they could so that we all had at least a few hours each week. This meant that we would all become jacks of ALL trades rather than master of our specific job descriptions.

So I still prepared a few items, also delivered trays to patients, did what I could on the line, and... made and served those specialty beverages - tamping, steaming, frothing, and whatnot. There is surprisingly a lot to it, or so it seemed to cuppa-drip-with-cream me.

Daunting piece of equipment, even as I look at it  now

I ended up leaving that job because the pandemic wasn't going anywhere soon. But I suppose yes, I can say I was once a barista. 

Maybe after finals, when things quiet down, I'll figure out that little espresso machine in the breakroom. It's a kitten next to that lion of a machine at the hospital. How hard can it be? *famous last words*

In related news, I had my last tutoring session of the semester yesterday afternoon. They're on their own now. 

I tucked the math part of my brain away for a while and drew a Spider-Verse dude because...

I don't know.

Bunny, Trixie, Raul, Jerry, Penny

One more week of semester left. Is it obvious I'm counting the days? It's been a good semester, I'm just ready to have a short break from all the meth math. I was talking with one of my fellow tutors, "Bunny", last week. She was speaking of one of her students who is often late or no shows. On that particular day, the student had actually texted Bunny in advance to let her know she was running late.

"Maybe I taught her more than math this semester", Bunny observed. 

I'll remember to do that.

This past week was a good one, feels like it was productive enough

• Magnum and I had some documents we needed to have notarized for our lawyer in Colorado Springs. No, we're not getting a divorce, we have a will and such that we'd recently updated. We went to our credit union to sign the papers with a Notary Public there.

Our wills include a clause, which the lawyer refers somewhat jokingly to as "The Raul and Trixie Clause". It says that, for example, if I keel over and Magnum runs off with a stripper, our kids remain the beneficiaries and the stripper has no claim to anything when Magnum keels over. So "Trixie" refers to the stripper scenario, and "Raul" to some equally distasteful hook up of my own. 

I remember, at the time of the lawyer's explanation, thinking to myself, "hmmm, I know some Raul's who are good guys. Maybe don't call it that", but whatever. So last week as we were tediously signing off on the updates, I noticed that our notary's name was actually Raul - stars aligning for further vindication. And I doubt he would care to run off with a widowed me anyway.

• There's a [cute art supply store] here in town that I'd never been to. I knew if I went in there, I'd buy something I didn't need. Well, yesterday I went in for the first time because I needed a specific sketchbook. Magnum and I were on a coffee walk, and it was right there.
  
  

I broke in the new sketchbook with them apples.

The little store was pretty much as I expected - well stocked with all sorts of toys and with a friendly staff. 

And I only bought the one item I'd gone in there for. 

Yes, I can do this.

And now a Penny update: recall that our dog, Penny, went from being her usual ball of energy to a lethargic old lady dog seemingly overnight. 

Well, she laid around for two days, and on the third day... well... she has risen. 

No clue as to what knocked her on her ass. It's nice to have her back

 

fancy pants in the wind

Like many across the country right now, we're fighting the wind wars. I trekked the one mile to the gym this morning and saw lots of tree trash and bowed fencing from yesterday and last night. It's predicted to taper off this afternoon and evening - something to look forward to.

I worked yesterday with Triple-D and [Chili], which I didn't mind since it was a good day to be stuck indoors. And it was a nice time.  Everyone seemed friendlier than usual, and I'm chalking that up to Chili's presence. 

Also as predicted, my stepfather-in-law did pass away late Thursday/ early Friday. I'm relieved for him as his quality of life was very low by that time. Thankfully, he was able to live with home hospice care with my mother-in-law until the final breath. I'm relieved for her too and hope she can relax some now.

So yesterday after work, while the wind was howling and rattling the windows, I stayed in and did some much needed cleaning. Seems like I could produce a whole dog out of the hair I vacuum up each time - the downside of dog ownership.

I also played with my sketchbook and pencilled another of these Akira Toriyama characters. 

This one is named Kid Buu and is apparently "pure evil".

I really know nothing about the whole Dragonball scene, just find the characters so expressive in their posturing.

Kid Buu or not, after the exercise, I think of him simply as "Mr. Fancy Pants"

We watched a movie - The Novice - about obsessive compulsive behavior and perfectionism (I guess). It got a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but I didn't care for it.  And it wasn't just because it was about womens collegiate rowing, I mean, the main character had to have something to obsess about to get the points across. I just didn't care about the character.

Yesterday, I learned that one of the nursing students who tests with us at the college had been a vet tech for years. She said the sick animals made her too sad, so she decided to switch to nursing people because she figures people won't have as much of an effect. Hmmm.

Today's agenda includes a coffee walk in the wind and a dog food and cat litter run. Excitement.

lead a snot into temptation

Did a bit more decluttering this weekend - I swear it never ends. Who knew I was such a packrat?!

This time I went through my art toys a second time and got rid of things I haven't used in *forever*. My art hobby is quite inexpensive. Pencils, pens, sketchbooks, etc. are so darn cheap.  It's easy to bring stuff home and let it sit. I swear they all get together at night and multiply.

Last weekend, Magnum and I were out for a walk and I wanted to walk passed a cute little art supply store I'd heard of but had never been to. So we walked on by and I caught a glimpse. Magnum noted that the store was open, did I want to go in?

NOPE! I'd end up bringing home something I don't need - like going to the animal shelter!

I drew this anime character on Friday during Snowday 2. I've never really drawn anime before, but I'd read that the creator of Dragonball books, show, and whatever else, died last week. 

I don't know the plot or characters of Dragonball, but I've seen them in the periphery - the weird hair, the baggy pants...

Anyways, good snowday fun.

We got a decent amount of heavy, wet snow, but not nearly as much as areas south of us. Ours was just a "normal" spring snow - about 7 inches - while I see friends to the south buried under 2+ feet. No thanks.

That bit of anime fun got me to declutter the stuff packed into my little art supply case after I discovered the cute graphic pencil I used to draw the weird-haired dude.

Now I'm just down to my faves, including the pencil. In celebration, I drew another anime weird-haired character

In the meantime, Magnum completed our 2023 tax return. I swear he has all the fun.

hanging around

Ready for the chocolate shortage? Got a strategy? Our stash of dark chocolate Hershey kisses may soon become a product for only the rich and famous. Eat them or sell on the black market... hmmm...

So my decluttering continues. Just when I think I've gotten so minimal, I find other junk. I just chucked some dry erase markers - emphasis on DRY. During my last sweep of my office/ studio/ cat bathroom, I found a nice pad of bristol paper that I bought years ago.

Bristol paper is stronger and stiffer than "regular" drawing paper. I think it's actually sheets of paper that are pressed together to make it thicker and stronger and smoother. Anyway, it's very fun to play with.

Also, I worked yesterday, so this is kind of a short weekend for me. While at work, one of our testers was the cute emo kid who has been taking his HiSET (High School Equivalency Test - very similar to the more well-known GED) modules with us. 

He's actually quite intelligent and has been eating through his modules like nobody's business. This was probably his 3rd or 4th visit with us, and I got his station all set up. I turned around to check his pockets, socks, and sleeves, and he was standing there with his big cargo pants already all rolled up, with pockets turned out, all *I know the drill*

Then he went in and aced another module, came out and put away his scratch paper and pencils like he owns the place. 

I'm gonna miss that kid when he's done. Today, while going through markers and things, I found a sharpie that works and did a quick sketch of "Miles".

And the decluttering doesn't end with the physical stuff. I opened my Pinterest account - OH the crap it contained. 

Still deleting

cows and foodies

I have a super foggy, super vague memory of meeting Elsie the cow "in-person". Anyone familiar with Elsie? She was the real-life cow mascot of Borden dairy back in the day. Apparently, she toured.

I seem to have been enamored with Elsie at a very young age, and I'm not sure if the enamoredness happened before I met her or after. So I can't say how it began, but I do know I had an Elsie the cow plush toy for a number of years - probably a souvenir from our fateful meeting. God only knows what became of that plush toy. I just remember she MOOO-ed when tipped. Cow tipping, ha!

*On a side note, cow-tipping is not a real thing. I think I blogged about my failed attempt at it previously...*

Anyway, my bff Elsie is likely the reason I stopped eating beef several years ago. This week, I finally got 'round to trying rice "milk" as a substitute for cow's milk, and by George, I can do it. Now... about that cheese...

Somewhat related, we got around to watching "The Menu" this weekend. Seen it? I enjoyed it, i.e. I didn't fall asleep.

It makes fun of prententious "foodies". I confess to enjoy watching behind-the-scenes videos of fancy pants restaurants I will likely never visit, and that interest is more from my days as a kitchen worker myself - one of the "shit shovelers" (reference from the movie), rather than a patron. "The Menu" clearly makes the we-vs.-them distinction.

I thought the movie was well done and well cast. Can Anya Taylor-Joy act badly in any role?

So, that's about it for this week's accomplishments: I scored a minor win in fighting my bovine oppression and stayed awake throughout an entire movie.

I also sketched a frog recently in an attempt to awaken my drawing slump since the end of Inktober.

numbers

Sick of inktober updates? Grab the barf bag... 

I'm still alive with it, four more prompts to go. I think a couple of my pens are running on fumes, but they'll have to hold on a little longer.

Aside from that nonsense, October has seemed to have flown by. We've got real snow forecast for the weekend, so time for everyone to demonstrate how they forgot their winter driving skills.

Halloween isn't looking too rough, weather-wise. It's difficult to gauge how much trick-or-treat activity we'll have in our neighborhood. The college had a Halloween event this past Wednesday for students and staff with young kids. I'm guessing they chose Wednesday since that was the day closest to actual Halloween with the most in-person classes going on? Before the snow comes?

Anyway, the bits I saw were pretty cute. The school's mascot is the Wolves, so the event was titled "We're Wolves!" *snort*

I have no costume, the house is not decorated. There are a few houses in the neighborhood decked out for Halloween - houses where young kids live. Our neighbors have a young daughter, and their front yard features a glowing skeletal unicorn in the style of My Little Pony that is both cute and creepy.

Here we are being lazy empty nesters.

I have to leave in a bit to go scribe a test for "Ben", the calculus student with cerebal palsy. Someone asked what would happen if I wasn't there to scribe, and I'm pretty sure that someone from the math department would be called upon to do it. I rather enjoy doing it, though, and I'm thankful to have time in the schedule. Apparently, disability services is trying out some software that can do voice-to-text for math, and I'm curious as to how good it is.

For now, it's me. From the college's point of view, I imagine I'm a pretty cheap option.

rock punks

 Magnum and I both had the day off yesterday, a beautiful fall day. He asked if I wanted to do "a hike or something". 

Recall that he got himself some trekking poles a few months back to aid in this "hike or something" business. He test drove them on a short hike to Horsetooth Falls, then we did a slightly more strenuous hike to Arthur's Rock. With both, the poles did their job, and Magnum and his knees survived.

So now he was ready for Horsetooth Rock, which is a prominent landmark here.

It sits watching over us from the west, and as can be imagined, many local businesses like to ride its coattails a la Horsetooth Dentistry, Horsetooth Plumbing, Horsetooth [fill in the blank]... It was so named by early wild west trapper types for looking like a you-know-what.

Getting to the tooth is a popular local hike. I went up solo shortly after we moved here, but Magnum had only been partway. He deemed yesterday the day of the tooth. We set off, us and his trusty poles. 

It was a nice day for it, maybe a little on the hot side. I'm glad to report we made it up, and (more importantly) back down without a hitch.

The trail was not crowded at all. We got to the summit, where there were a handful of others, in mid-morning and met more people coming up as we were headed back down. 

It was a nice way to end another somewhat busy week. The weather's great, but it will be blustery and snowy soon. 

And I managed to keep my inktober streak alive for the time being.

Ten more prompts to go.  Paper and pens are in ample supply, so it falls to me.

inks and perspective

October marches on! Leaves are in full fall mode around here now. Our young George (Maple in the front yard) is doing his thing along with the others. 

It's been a relatively busy month at work, but I'm still riding the inktober wagon. I'm surprised to have only missed one prompt so far.

I don't like that Instagram no longer allows sorting tags by "top" and "recent". Now the choices are "top" and "recent top". Bummer. I used to like sorting by "recent" to find other nobodies like myself who aren't trying to be influencers and snag a bajillion followers. 

But, I guess it has to be done to give the moderators time to weed out the bad apples. 

I was thinking that one of my tutees was going to drop his class, which would've opened one of my time slots for another who was waiting. I told Tutor Boss, "Jake's hanging by a thread" because when we met last week, he just wasn't into it. In fact, he'd brought a friend. Initially, I thought the friend wanted some help with the class too, but they told me she'd already dropped the class as she'd fallen too far behind. 

Anyway, that was fine as I figured she wanted to sit in to brush up for when she retakes the class. But after an unproductive time, we called it a day. Then, alas, Jake was back this week, all motivated. 

He apologized for his inattentiveness last week by sharing, "I was going through some family issues". Furthermore, "My friend, Corey, was having a rough day too."  

Then he elaborated, "We have relatives in Israel".

Hello!! Well, that put things a bit more into perspective, and I was thinking, what was he doing at the math center at all last week?! 

He didn't say more about the "family issues", and I see it as a good sign that he's coming to school and studying hard. 

And here I am playing with my ink pens. 

pump-kings and inkings

It definitely feels like fall now. I had to break out long pants and long sleeves this week - fleece even!

This morning, I was out enjoying a run around town with temperatures in the 40s.  I turned a corner and came upon this rival of Charlie Brown's legendary Great Pumpkin. 

 It was just sitting there next to someone's driveway in a residential neighborhood, and I thought maybe it was factory made? But no, upon further inspection, I saw it was an actual pumpkin. It had to be at least 3 feet in diameter. What sort of hoisting equipment got it up onto that wall?

I looked to the right and saw, lingering in a mess of foliage, the pumpking's possibly bigger brother laying about.

Such a massive mound of pumpkin, it seemed freakishly huge to me. What is in that soil?  Clearly, someone there knows how to  grow a squash. 

In other news of October, I've managed to keep my head above water with Inktober prompts so far this year, managing 6 ink drawings in the first 6 days. 

Birds, bugs, and rodents seem to be emerging themes. 

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Share something you made progress on.

Barbies and turtles

Happy October! Feels like it snuck up on us. 

October is typically one of my favorite months, weather-wise anyway. It also is the month of Inktober! 31 days, 31 ink drawings.

I've made it to the starting line at least. Today's prompt is "dream"

I always wanted one of these Barbie Dream campers, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe I'll have a real one when I'm an old(er) lady.

Speaking of starting lines and old ladies, this morning was also the first of the season for Tortoise and Hare races. It was a short and sweet 4K (2.5 miles). Big turnout because...

1. it's the first race of the season
2. it's the shortest race of the season
3. the weather was beaut

I managed to make it to the finish without succumbing to injury or death, so it was a win. I noticed another runner refer to the races as "Tortuga y Conejo", and I think I like that better. Maybe I'm getting bored with English.

knee-highs ftw

I don't think I was too much of a tortuga. I was slightly slower than my predicted pace as the algorithm is still adjusting to my post-covid self, but it was a fun time with the other weirdos. 

So a nice end to a decent week and a nice start to the month. See ya, summer.

furry function?

It's Labor Day, so a day off from the grind to extend the weekend. I'm going to try to be productive. 

I said I don't follow college football, but I did check in on the final score of the Colorado Buffaloes game on Saturday because of all the preseason hype. It looks as though Coach Prime and the team delivered and now sit at 1-0. All they need to do is win one more game this season to beat last year's record.

The hype and subsequent win inspired me to do this little drawing of the CU mascot, Chip. I haven't done much drawing aside from doodles since the end of last Inktober, so the football weekend was good for something.

And speaking of mascots, over the weekend, I learned that Amazon has a mascot. What? 

Its name is "Peccy" and is described as:

"He’s just a mascot, a symbol of the company’s belief in the power of being peculiar." 

from an article I stumbled upon, written in 2019.

Who knew?

The college where I work has a mascot even though we have no sports teams or intercollegiate competitions of any kind that I know of. 

I'm not sure what his function is, but he's a wolf.

He's a wolf who has the day off.

Stay peculiar.

next

Last weekend, we got together with all the guys for Meego's Birthday, Part II since Wolfgang was out of town the weekend before. Mexican food this time, no restaurant family drama as far as we were aware, thank goodness.

We have begun toying with the idea of purchasing some recreational land - some boonies to call our own. Nothing fancy. We're not fancy people, plus we can't afford fancy anyway.

Asked the kids if they would get use out of such a getaway, and the brainstorming began:

• solar-powered-bike-park-archery-range-cult-commune?
  
  

Me, I'm thinking Teletubby house 

In other playtime, I dusted off my drawing things yesterday. A neglectful doodler, I've been! Then I drew a quick boat. Why a boat? No idea.

I remember when I used to do at least ONE artwork a week. Illustration Friday was a website that hosted a weekly prompt and sometimes offered awards.  I would post my submissions here as well as with the Illustration Friday group over at deviantart.com. 

Alas, the website is no more, and I no longer had the proddings other than the annual Inktobers. 

How easy it is to slack when there's no rudder! I visited my deviantart page, which also lives among the dustbunnies these days. 

Yeah, I used to be quite a deviant. Did I have more time back then? Nah. Less distraction maybe.



Set a goal. Write it down.