Noel

Everything, absolutely freaking *everything* in public spaces and half the private ones reeked of smoke.

That suit sounds so much better than laid up and almost dead.

When the No Kings protests started my brain immediately replaced "Cats" with "Kings" and played this song in my head on loop for weeks while it tried and failed to retrofit the rest of it into a proper protest song.

This. If I can't manage the energy for the bare minimum of being polite to people (and there are very much days I can't) I figure I'm better off staying home.

I know a lot of people don't have that option, and I think it says nothing good about our society that we make them do so anyways.

At this point the real problem with small talk for me is that it requires energy, and I have so little energy that spending it on strangers has to be worth it. Some days it is, some days it very much is not.

Oof, I repainted a couple of those back in the day. They were brutal.

Given that my neighborhood was almost entirely empty by dark this year I'm not sure that second one achieves your intended goal.

When the game has so many innings I have to side scroll to see them all..

One of the reasons The Muppets were so amazing.

And because I'm a perfectionist I tweaked the shadows a bit to add a little bit more dimension. Want to keep it feeling flattish to mimic the original illustration, but still want it to feel internally consistent given how my art has diverged from the original.

I started putting together some dioramas made from flats. Unfortunately because of how shiny they are and the lack of depth it's very hard to get decent pictures of them at this stage.

(Yes I am also working on the Wyrd cats in the foreground which have taken way longer than I intended.)

My local FB groups all have people reaching out to ask who on SNAP they sponsor for the month. *Reaching out* to strangers, to do direct giving. I've never seen anything like it.

People *will* die, but it isn't going to happen without a fight, and I do not regret to inform you we are going to win.

But you know what? People see, and they care. A lot. We've hit the point where people who aren't normally politically active aren't just talking about it they are actually trying to do something about it.

I don't think the people in power know just how fucked they are.

We live in the richest country in the world and people are going to die. On purpose. With the Republican party in total control of the federal government intentionally holding back the emergency funds available for just this kind of eventuality.

It's infuriating, predictable and fucking insane.

60% of those people are children and seniors. 10% are so disabled that even the government is willing to admit it. People who literally cannot "get a job".

There are several really long massively angry rants inside me about the current shit show pretending to be our government, but the one I'm most viscerally livid about is food stamps.

42 million people in fucking NOVEMBER are about to lose access to the only thing they have keeping them fed.

As far as I can tell there's no stopping it at this point and even the normies know it. My FB buy nothing groups all have people reaching out to ask who is on SNAP that they can buy groceries for for the month. They are *reaching out* to do direct giving. I've never seen anything like it.

That's what we have color wheels for!

Hard core hard nope to both. My patience for finance bros who think they can surf the highs and lows is non existent on a moral basis at this point and I cannot abide gaming gambling above and beyond "I allow myself to spend X amount on things like fantasy football as an entertainment expense."

About half the active members of our Star Trek themed group that throws parties at Sci-Fi conventions are female. People very much under rate the popularity of Star Trek with women.

I'm gonna sound like a grumpy old person, but I remember when we taught that in school..

We're trying Tidal

I think we're going to try Tidal. I'll let you know how it goes.

*as* people. What is give for a freaking edit button.

I had been looking for a way to actively support the removal of Citizens United's treatment of corporations and people. I hadn't realized it was predicated on state laws. That seems an excellent place to start chipping away at it.

Reminder: look deeper into how to help with this in illinois 📌

Though I usually use, "please don't" to take the sting out of it. Unless some one is touching me or the chair at which point they straight up get yelled at.

"I was just trying to help" is one of the lamest excuses I'm English if it doesn't come with an "I'm sorry, what can I do then?"

I'm not sure I've ever had that feeling. People trying to help and making things worse *need* to be told not to or they will keep doing so in the future. Enforcing our boundaries helps those who can't enforce theirs for whatever reason.

Skywise is finished, which means I'll have at least two pieces for the MMSI show next weekend. Don't think I'm gonna get the still life done in time at this rate.

One more thing added to my list of reasons I detest the Salvation Army.

Getting a bit closer to something I'm happy with on the flowers l.