inspired by … the Growing Up music video by The Linda Lindas. first posted 3 years ago … and which I have just watched for the first time. There is eyeshadow that is drawn to look like a sleeping cat. *breathe*

I tried out doing a drawing with NO planning. Haven’t done that in a long while. Feels like it’s only been reference drawings. I used to *never* draw from reference . . . then through the process of getting my 2nd BA, going to graduate school, and then working with kids at my first ‘salaried’ job, I realized that I could draw from reference, like, pretty much - exactly - At the elementary school one year, a new thing was that teachers could come up with an ‘enrichment club’, and I came up with “Cartoon and Anime club”. This was done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, in the process of showing the kids how to draw from a reference, I discovered I could draw characters from My Hero Academia or Little Witch Academia or Pokemon pretty much to exactly look like the reference. This was a surprise. So drawing this with no planning felt strange … I still had to kind of plan as I went, and try to fix mistakes or problems as they came up. I think the main issue is, this paper has too coarse of a texture. I think colored pencils would work better on finer-grain paper, like the ones from dollar store sketchbooks.

this is reminding me to try a smaller frame 🙂 View quoted note →

saw this explanation on reddit and found it to be very true. Federal governments put out so much violence.

Holy god this is such a good episode. I need to take notes on everything.

AI data centers, Bitcoin mining centers - summary of pollution View quoted note →

It’s always a slow realization after the Misfits Market delivery and the food shopping at an actual store that I need to start cooking something every day before it all starts to go bad. Today it was an eggplant that was turning light brown inside, a tomato and onion, finished the perilla leaves, and some leftover rice and 麻婆豆腐 （ma po tofu) from a takeout place. Also finished a cucumber. It was good! Next up is two types of zuchinni, one round, one regular … aaaaaand mustard greens and some miscellaneous things. This post sponsored by The Motivation Foundation, paid for by my brain, to propoganda myself into having a chipper attitude about the cooking chore.

The word ‘mind’ is constantly used in this book, including in the title. I like to remind myself that the original character used is 心 which is heart. In Chinese, to talk about 心 refers to both the mind and heart, and also other things … something like a mix of essence, soul, or spirit? Like the phrase, “用心学”, study or learn with your heart.

Started to feel kind of hopeless. Likely related to the increase of news relating to government-military violence. As well as other forms of violence. Often hearing about how everyone has trauma. Interesting since just a few days to a week ago (Christmas, New Year), things posted or shown in media were more positive … sometimes excessively positive. Feelings are valid, and it’s okay to feel hopeless and not have a solution or answer.

“From the beginning I played the poor, dumb, beast for you.” - Polyphêmus This episode was really good. The villains / antagonists were so tricky, in such a nuanced way. Verrrrrry tricky in their use of language and narration, deception and faking a personality, and using someone’s personality + identity + character to trap them. Sooooo creepy. At one point I yelled “OH MY GOD! ARE YOU KIDDING ME” so abruptly that my partner in the next room accidentally clicked the mouse. Circe (spelled Kirkê in the book), goddess / witch. Polyphêmus, the Cyclops (spelled Kyklops). The Sirens (Seirênês). I really like how the show has added so much visual detail, and also changed some things about the story - like de-emphasizing the whole meat-eating thing ha. One thing that got emphasized that I didn’t quite fully get while reading the book, was the = horror = of Kirkê changing Percy into a guinea pig. (A humorous change since originally the men were changed into pigs) It really showed the horror of losing the ability to speak or to use language … while stuck in a world of humans, and dependent on humans. (Although another funny new detail was that Percy as guinea pig could communicate with the other guinea pigs who used to be pirates.) It made me think about how humans really value verbal communication. There’s been a whole history of the development of communication technologies, including the current one of decentralized social media like nostr. So then the influence of that is it can be easy to be careless about the needs and feelings of non-speaking living beings. Fun elements to this situation was how Percy used his Poseidon powers, to use his emotions, to create a tornado / mini-maelstrom in the guinea pigs’ water bottle, which Annabeth noticed. Then, Annabeth had a container of magic vitamin pills from Hermês, that she threw into the guinea pigs’ cage. (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, ‘We Check in to C.C.’s Spa and Resort’ S2e5)

(@ablackgirlinthewoods, 12/26/2025, YouTube) <social media> “I get my fair share of critique on this platform, and I’d be lying if every now and then, I didn’t consider just logging off for good and returning to purely being a spectator on here. When you so meticulously build a meaningful life, it can feel counterproductive to willingly subject yourself to the unnecessary and usually misdirected negativity of the internet. But then I read Toni, Audre, Joanna, or I’ll come here, and watch a video from someone far, far away, admiring the trees against a sunset. In an instant, a human miles and miles from me, who thought to share a brief moment from their corner of the world, with whoever might stop to see it, has brought beauty to my life. Now that is power, and a whole lot of soul. We don’t have to be a renowned author or activist to change a life and build a new world. We just have to be human.”

“The change reveals new insights into how a safer, almost predator-free environment can allow animals to experiment and innovate, scientists say.” “The young birds are also behaving more boldly, mingling more, and trading songs. "What we see are all these fledglings hanging out together in mixed-species flocks, and they're learning from each other", and imitating each others' songs, Kleindorfer says. “

'After 200 years, we're seeing this species again': The lost birds making a comeback in the Galapagos Islands

Freed from the threat of invasive predators, Galapagos birds are performing astonishing feats of return and innovation – 200 years after Charles ...

This is the best article I have ever read. Hooray! Get rid of human-introduced predators (mice, rats, cats). Side note: it does seem cruel to poison the rats and cats … also, I wonder what type of insecticide they used - hopefully not one that will poison the plant-life along with the specific insect causing disease.

(@ablackgirlinthewoods, 12.26.2025, YouTube) “When modern western society does what it’s meant to, by adulthood, we find ourselves on a mostly predetermined, linear path, with any sense of self, any sense of knowing, all but beat from us. Without much thought, we learn to suppress or reject what isn’t logical and sensible. When I finally began to explore and articulate, even just for myself, the feelings my brain had dismissed, I couldn’t turn back. Deep down, I’d always known what did or didn’t feel right about this place. It’s a scary practice … until I realized the path I wanted to follow wasn’t a straight one. It was an arc, bending back towards a way of being that once was. A return to a world that honored our connectedness; that all life is constantly supporting the next. It made the path feel a little less lonely because we’ve walked it before.”

An ongoing theme in life … seems to be, let’s see how people can twist the act of communication. It’s *been* happening in politics, and toxic workplaces. Also noticing it on social media. … and some interpersonal relationships.