Tweed Ballrest

Last night we played Raft on Steam with our neighbors. Was lots of fun, but I realized afterward that I curse SO. MUCH!! It's kind of incredible how densely my speech is littered with swear words.

So...yeah. If anyone has any tips to... stop that... I'm listening.

#Pottymouth

I did it. I added some Keystone Cops music to this:

Mass shootings in the US, per Gun Violence Archive:

2015: 332
2016: 383
2017: 347
2018: 335
2019: 414
2020: 611
2021: 689
2022: 644
2023: 659
2024: 503

So far in 2025...324 mass shootings in just 272 days.

We do not have to keep living like this.

Turns out I’m the moron. Woken up by the sound of beeping construction equipment. Apparently they put up “No Parking” signs Sunday - we didn’t leave the house at all. Got dressed in a panic, ran out to move the car — just in time. Tow truck literally parked behind me. 😬😱

Visited our local library for the 1st time today. Lived here for 2.5 years. 😬

I love libraries & I’d forgotten how much. This one is small—one large room packed with wooden shelves—colorful books & plants all over. 100% safe space.

Lovely mural w/ native animals & city skyline in the distance. ❤️

Signs on the street since last week: No parking, paving 9/21-9/26. Days go by, pavers don’t come.

Some morons stop waiting, park anyway, thinking it won’t happen.

Today pavers are here, trying to work around the cars. “Tow them!” the pedant in me cries.

I am an old man yelling at clouds.

A few projects right now. Halloween decorations need to be put up and making memorial/shrine for my cat. Spending too much $. Hypomanic since she died a month ago—need to keep busy.

Eager to get back to my digital art stuff—have inspiration but no bandwidth rn.

40-hr work week can kiss my ass.

Been lying to my psych for years. Omitting truth. Whatever.

No combo of Rx’s reduce my depression. Years pass. That’s my lot in life.

Tired of trying. Tired of being sad. What to do? Leave me alone. I’m fine, really. Don’t make a fuss.

#bipolar #depression #mentalhealth

Huh. Imagine that.

'We're shutting this thing down': 8 shot at Minneapolis homeless encampment hosted by landlord, Frey pledges action That shooting came less than 12 hours after another shooting just two miles away that left five others injured.

FOX news host suggests we euthanize the homeless, someone goes into two encampments and starts shooting.

13 people shot and Jacob Frey and the media are just talking about it as the new best reason to clear the encampments

A screenshot with text: After your comments immediately following Charlie's death I hardly think you are qualified to comment on the timing or appropriateness of anyone's comments. I've been in such a funk of disbelief what you posted regarding that incident that it's literally undone the great progress I've made mentally the past few months. I've decided I can't be a part of these conversations anymore. When one side thinks they are better than the other and refuses to consider any other viewpoint...well, that's not healthy for me anyways. Good luck in this channel, nobody speaks in it other than when they think they have a gotcha to bash me with. Regardless of how vile in (my partner’s) case. I truly wish you well, my side is not your enemy. Your SIDE (notice I didn't say any of you), your SIDE is without a doubt the side of bigotry and anger. Not mine.

Charlie Kirk on gun-violence: “I think it’s worth it—I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe.”

Behold, my MAGA brother’s reaction when it was mentioned in the group chat that Charlie Kirk’s murder was ironic given his statements about gun deaths.

And my partner is the “vile” one for bringing up the irony. 🙄

Thanksgiving is gonna be real fun this year.

#CharlieKirk #MAGA #CrocodileTears

Took a trip to the coast today to set my eyes on that big mass of salty liquid that separates us from our European brothren. Got some nice cloud shots while on the road and after we stopped for dinner on the way back.

#roadtrip
#clouds
#sunset
#looktothesky

This is 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, killed in the horrific violence at the Annunciation Catholic Church. We must honor their memories and hold their families close as we come together to heal.

Same. Drives me bonkers.

A vibrant picture overlooking the colorful residential district of Le Perla in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. On the right side of the picture are the sloping, almost tiered shanties. Each house has its own colored facade - blue, teal, green, yellow, orange, terracotta, red. The buildings slant down to meet the coast. The left side of the picture is the deep blue ocean. The sky is perfectly blue with fluffy white clouds on the horizon. In the foreground are green bushes and vegetation.

#ThrowbackThursday

My favorite picture from our 2023 trip to #PuertoRico. This is La Perla in Old San Juan.

I honestly thought there was no way he could win, or even continue his candidacy, when this came out. That was back when I was naive and thought people (MY people!) actually cared about decency. What a fucking wake up call this was. Broke my heart and my brain.

He is Christian American Evangelical. From my experience (birth-18 years of age), Evangelicals (and probably other denominations) kind of pick and choose and even make up doctrine to suit their own ideas.

My cherished cat died unexpectedly yesterday. I am devastated. My dad, trying to comfort me, said, “We will be reunited with our animal friends in heaven.”

My own beliefs about death are not comforting at all to someone who is grieving.

I wish I were delusional.

#grief #atheism #exvangelical

Me: I get my car inspected at a garage 0.25 mi. away from home, so I can
walk home if they need to keep the car.

My 70 year old dad who has not once visited me since I moved to Philly 2.5 yrs ago, even though I live in a nice-ish area on the outskirts: Aren’t you worried about your safety?

Sigh.

Some neat cloud photos I’ve taken this year. Taken on an iPhone 13 Mini.
#clouds
#looktothesky

Grandpa and grandma playing the card game Go Fish at the kitchen table. The picture has been edited with Photoshop to make it look like the are underwater, and there is a collage of clipart of underwater plants, fish, rocks, and a turtle at the bottom of the picture. They look like they are playing cards under water in a lake.

Very pleased with how this edit turned out on this photo for my family’s summer 2025 highlight reel.

#photoshop
#amateurphotoshop
#gofish

What scent? They are lovely!

A family with many children posing for a family photo beside a car. The photo is black and white, probably from the late 1950s.

#ThrowbackThursday

My paternal grandparents and some of their children (others are not born yet). This is probably around 1957. My dad is the baby being held in his father’s arms. He is the middle boy in the family, with two older and two younger brothers. He also has four sisters.

A hay field stretches into the distance. On the horizon is a small country church with a red roof. Beyond that lies a forest.

Over the summer my nephew was staying with my parents and sent me this photo. The church is surrounded by hay fields.

Our neighbors used to punish their foster kids by making them sit out there for hours and hours, even into the night when the coyotes were howling.

#memories
#exvangelical

A country church with a red roof. It sits roadside. It is surrounded by trees and has an attached graveyard dating back to the Civil War. The sky is brilliant and blue with dramatic clouds passing above.

Haneyville Baptist Church circa 1998. Digital.

I grew up in this church. Dad was its pastor.

They shunned my dad when I was 16, but even before then I’d lost my faith.

Dad never lost his, though. Now he believes God speaks to him directly.

#nostalgia
#religion
#exvangelical
#digitalart

A person lays in bed with covers pulled up to her chin. The room is dark. Behind her you see a dark closet, and a doorway that shows a warm light coming from outside the room. In the doorway is the silhouette of someone standing and looking in to the room. There is a cat curled up with the person on the bed and many dark hands are reaching up from below the bed.

#selfportrait from several months ago during a depressive episode. When I wasn’t working I could only lay in bed, sometimes sleeping but mostly wide awake. Mind racing. Feeling myself getting pulled deeper into depression.

Here, my partner is peering in, waiting for me to come back to the light.