• I suppose I’ve decided not to run the marathon in eight days from when I write this. Too much has gone wrong in the past four weeks that haven’t yet been righted, not in the least this nasty cold I caught two weeks ago and just keeps buggering on.
    πŸ€§πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ

  • Novel

    Tell me a story, one you haven’t told me before and can be read in a book or any medium stories are told in. Make it a good story I can get lost in.
    πŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of the concept of novel

  • Tire

    It delivers a cushioned ride after so much exhaustion that a towel was thrown.
    πŸ›žπŸ˜©πŸ˜ΌπŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch showing a tire, a tired kitten and a thrown towel

  • Rough ideas are perhaps wishy-washy, trite, or even dead wrong. The text is also in the alt attribute.

    To communicate clearly, what you show must be read, then understood. Simplicity, then, is of utmost importance, so anyone is able to get what you mean. Simplicity requires the creator to think before committing to their medium. What can be left out, should be left out. It won’t come easy, nor at first attempt. Unintended details will creep in, confusing the creator. Stepping back, often literally, is a useful tool to get back to that initial spark of inspiration. At a distance, details tend to get lost, the overall picture emerges, rough indeed, yet clearly visible. Art is a process of consideration and reconsideration, never done, always in flux. Planning, inspiration, clearness of vision. 17-11-2022 Rene van Belzen, after reading Drawn to Life by Walt Stanchfield, on Innovation pp 3-6.

  • Barrel

    Some people like to enter a scene unannounced for dramatic effect, to draw attention to themselves. It inevitably results in a lot of eye rolling and sighs. It all looks so natural on TV, but in real life, not so much.
    πŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of a barrel

  • Since this month I’m doing ballpoint sketches in my notebook, it makes only sense to upload a selfie in a similar style.
    🎨

    ballpoint sketch of caricature of author’s face

  • Telling a joke-no-joke

    An πŸ˜‡ child 😭ing after slipping over a 🍌 peel isn’t funny; it’s almost banal, if not 😱ing for πŸ‘¨β€πŸ‘©β€πŸ‘§β€πŸ‘¦ However, a famous πŸ€‘ bloke doing the same thing, now, that’s 🀣 ←the 😭ing. Unless, unless, you happen to be πŸ€‘ and ♂️
    ✍️

  • Franchise

    As the sole survivor of a planetary accident, you’ve gotta accessorize and establish a brand before expanding into broader ventures.
    πŸ˜†πŸŽ―β„’οΈπŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of the super family

  • Apple is actively maintaining two versions of their OSes, probably because the newest, 16, isn’t ready for general use I guess. So I’ll stick to version 15 in the meantime. Hope they in Cupertino have their stuff in order soon. πŸ“±

  • Aluminium

    Very energy intensive to make, cheap enough for 500 kg on average per person per year to be consumed in foil, cans, cars, airplanes, and what not. It’s so reactive, that it forms a dull layer of oxide on its surface almost immediately, in turn pretty inert.
    πŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of a 13 in aluminium foil, isotope 27 Al and the two accepted spellings of the element

  • If I look at two recent races, which were under very unfavorable circumstances (flu vaccination, partial recovery from previous race) common sense tells me to go for a marathon in four hours, however, my average pace and heart rate tells me to go for 3h:45'. I need a coach! πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ

  • Leave

    With all this financial brouhaha going on in my life, the urge to let go of my sanity is rising rapidly. So what to ditch and what to keep? Since I’m likely not the only one, lay-offs are inevitable. First-world problems, for certain. Why can’t that Russian idiot go?
    πŸ˜œπŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of a cartoon figure doing silly with a fountain pen in its hand

  • Adjust

    With the falling of the leaves I had to turn on the heat in my home. It wasn’t as carefree as in yesteryears, because fuel prices have risen spectacularly, especially of natural gas. I blame Russia.
    πŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of a hand adjusting a knob on a  radiator

  • Something I haven’t seen mentioned is that if microβˆ™blog isn’t big enough for you, you can go hunting for likeminded people in the Fediverse, so outside our community. The disadvantage is that the wider probably isn’t as well moderated as the Timeline of the blogging platform.

  • Suspicion

    Isn’t it rather odd that a well-dressed man has a third class train ticket in a first class compartment, lending money from a passenger for the surcharge? He obviously is not to be trusted…
    πŸŽ¨πŸŽ¬πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of initial scene with Gary Grant, with Alfred Hitchcock in the background

  • Cathode Ray Tube Display

    As Adrian Black often explains on his retro computer YouTube channel, cathode ray tubes are disposables, meaning they wear with use. Either they are dim or don’t work at all, but can be revived sometimes, making Adrian exclaim with enthusiasm.
    πŸŽ¨πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’»πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of man sitting in front of an Apple II computer with CRT display on top of it

  • The guys from the Connected Podcast seem to have made up their minds. Twitter is no longer fun, and if matters worsen even more than they’ve already in the past week, no Mastodon, no microβˆ™blog for them. They’ll just abandon social media altogether. We will see.

  • While I didn’t finish Inktober, I seem to do better with microblogvember, creating ballpoint sketches. Maybe it’s because the “owner” of Inktober is so onerous, claiming ownership (with copyright claims) over what was a community project to begin with.

  • Yes Minister

    A British political satire sitcom aired on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. It follows the ministerial career of Jim Hacker in his struggle to govern in opposition of a conservative civil service, personified by permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby.
    πŸŽ¨πŸ“ΊπŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint sketch of the main cast of Yes Minister

  • Certain

    There seem to be no absolutes in the world we inhabit.
    πŸŽ¨πŸ‚βœοΈ

    ballpoint illustration of sherlock holmes doubting certainties in life and death