Watching “The Beatles: Get Back.” The most interesting thing so far is seeing whatever Yoko seems to be doing in the background to kill the time.

#EatingAnIceCreamBar
#ReadingANewspaper
#SortingHerMail

“I would like more pinches of your fish sandwich, please.”

I may have sprained or even broken my hand in a screaming rage. This reminder of a little “Ted Lasso” wisdom came along on Reddit at just the right time, though not at quite the right time to save my hand from injury. (In my case, just insert “dad” with “other relative who shall not be specified at this time.")

And now, time to plan to go to confession for all the horrible things I spouted off in my rage, though not actually at the person to whom those things were actually directed.

My list:

BBQ pork rinds
“Ted Lasso”
Fried chicken (Popeye’s or Jollibee)
Coke Zero Sugar

Once I stopped constantly and loudly virtue signaling my faith on social media, my faith deepened. Funny how it’s worked that way.

Hell is being force-fed local TV news at all hours of the day.

You know it’s fall in the Midwest when you see a guy walking down the street in a leather jacket and shorts.

Didn’t realize that it has been weeks since I’ve posted anything of substance here.

Been up late a lot with work and stuff. Have posted periodically on Twitter, less often on Insta/Facebook. The rest of the time, I’m either baking with F, watching “Ted Lasso” with C, or reading.

Haven’t missed the posting here, sad to say.

I stumbled onto “Ted Lasso” when the first 2 episodes were featured on the flight from my mom’s funeral in June. This show has been such a godsend these past few months, almost as if it was Mom’s parting gift to me or something.

The only reason I’m following the Emmys is “Ted Lasso.” I am reminded with each bad “comedy” bit and every tedious speech tonight why I avoid awards shows.

Always interesting to glance at a friend’s social media feed and remember why I don’t follow them anymore.

Today, I learned that our local high school has a bass fishing team. At last, something for F to aspire to next year.

Big mistake: Watching “Ted Lasso” at bedtime soon after it premieres. Now I’m wide awake and watching the Reddit back-and-forth about it.

Thoughts keeping me up at 1 a.m.:

  1. Doctor Sharon is the therapist I’ve always wanted.
  2. If I wasn’t married, I would want my very own Roy Kent.
  3. Nate is severely testing my belief that nobody is irredeemable.

My Twitter feed is speaking to me this morning.

This.

This applies to anyone pursuing a creative venture. It really hit me hard when I saw it.

A friend I actually know live and in person started following me yesterday on the gratuitous.art Insta. An actual artist. Someone who’s good at art and someone I personally like.

But honestly, I’m deeply uncomfortable with this, simply because I’d rather not be judged by someone I know, especially someone who knows what they’re doing.

Maybe it’s weird, but I don’t necessarily want my friends’ or colleagues’ approval about my artistic ventures. (Or even my websites, for that matter.) I don’t even want them to be aware of them. I simply would rather have this all be a thing that I do without being judged or critiqued by people I know.

(And yes, I realize that this space – and the Insta account – are public. If friends stumble upon them, fine, I guess. I just prefer not to make a big deal about it with them.)

Haven’t had time for any art over the past week; been up late with work most nights. Finally got to log off early this afternoon, and I fooled around with some Crayola Slick Stix that have fascinated and befuddled me for weeks. Been having a hard time figuring out what to do with them.

Still not sure what I’ll do with these black artist tiles with Slick Stix scribbles layered on them; gonna see if I can doodle or maybe collage over them.

Went to bed after the Dodgers broke the tie at the top of the 15th. Turns out the Padres tied it at the bottom of the 15th, only to have L.A. take back the game for good in the next inning.

“In the end,” writes A.J. Cassavell at MLB.com, “the Padres were left to rue another crushing defeat, a flurry of missed opportunities, and a small handful of decisions that got them there.”

Between the failure to shore up pitching and poor managing, the Padres are in free-fall mode.

When baseball is a key mode of self-care, and your team (or, in my case, one of your teams) takes a terrible turn, it drags down the rest of your life with it. And when your life is also on a downhill slide, it makes for a particularly horrific time.

I didn’t need to end one day and start the next this way.

Is it wrong that I’m starting to think about my friends and loved ones and sorting out which ones are more likely to die first so I reach out to them sooner?

A public service announcement (and personally, a lesson overdue), courtesy of XKCD.

Was up late last night after learning of Young’s passing. A lot has been weighing on me in the past week, and his death became a tipping point, of sorts. I ended up doodling on a blue index card, thinking about a zillion things hovering over my psyche.

Suffice it to say that I’m feeling beaten down and sick of life right now.

I had spouted off more in this space, but deleted the post. Some things are best left unblogged.

My friend Young died today. I’m crushed.

In your charity, please pray for his soul. Please pray for Jane, his dear wife, and their families. And please help Jane however you can through this GoFundMe campaign.

Young was 52 years old.

Art when you can

This piece took a bit more than 5 minutes.

Work and other concerns have kept me from the daily art habit I’ve been trying to cultivate. I’m stepping away from any art challenges for a while because I find myself feeling like a failure for not keeping up with it. (I never felt that way with ICAD, because its creator always made it a point to kept things low-pressure throughout, and I was grateful for that.) So, I’m simply trying to #makearteveryday — any kind of art, whatever I can do, as best I can. That’s as much as I can handle for a while.

As much as art has become a self-care instrument for me, the pressure I’ve put on myself to create despite the demands of daily life is sucking all the fun out of it. I’m just going to have to do what I can and not obsess about whether I’m diligent about making this a daily thing.

Anyway, when I find time, I’m trying to get back to the online doodling class I started a while back. Made this cityscape thing. I enjoyed it fine, but I think I have a lot more fun with flowing lines and spirals.