My dogs are local porch-hoppers. They love to go visit our neighbors; at some houses, they even get treats but usually attention and rubs suffice.
At the time of this writing, it already feels like summer. But we had some beautiful spring weather in April!
Not every idea is a winner.
I am so baffled by the sudden omnipresence and cultural acceptance of AI. I think the whole thing is a misnomer, anyway, because it is not “intelligence” so much as amalgamated and regurgitated data. It’s run using exploited labor and is killing the environment. So, why is everyone acting like it’s mandatory that we all use it?
Here’s my take: if the technocrat billionaire ruling class is pushing it, you can guarantee that it’s not actually going to make our lives easier, but make THEIR lives easier. Having a populace that has outsourced all their critical thinking skills to chat bots is beneficial to them. That means we can be even more easily manipulated and controlled. In a world of rapidly diminishing resources, a populace that is docile will be delayed in dismantling these systems.
Anyway. Here are some drawings I made about AI.
April 10th was my 100th day of making comics. Well, not cumulatively, but in a row. For some reason, I got it into my head that I would be rewarded for this.
But, making comics is its own reward. I am so happy to have kept this up. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had plenty of doubts along the way. There are comics that I look back on that I do not like. There are days when I feel like this is a pointless exercise. Selfish, wasteful, even. But, it’s a tool I’m using to better understand myself and the world; that makes it worthwhile to me.
I’m enjoying playing in this magical adventure world that I’ve created as a visual language to better understand my feelings.
Because who wants to experience existential dread when you could, instead, be scrawling in a leather-bound tome by candlelight in front of the moonlit window?
Neighbors help neighbors by picking the little oak flowers out of their hair.
This is all just a blip, right?
…right???
by Matthew Olzmann
—Southern Pines, NC
Tell me what it’s like to live without
curiosity, without awe. To sail
on clear water, rolling your eyes
at the kelp reefs swaying
beneath you, ignoring the flicker
of mermaid scales in the mist,
looking at the world and feeling
only boredom. To stand
on the precipice of some wild valley,
the eagles circling, a herd of caribou
booming below, and to yawn
with indifference. To discover
something primordial and holy.
To have the smell of the earth
welcome you to everywhere.
To take it all in, and then,
to reach for your knife.
Another comics about things not quite turning out the way I imagined.
Thank goodness the yellow pollen is done now. For a while, a 25% yellow gradient was coating everything like a bad filter.
I was wrestling with a few different annoying creatures in these comics.
At least Felix can be bribed.
See, I have just been practically swimming in a pool of nostalgia.
I am not religious in an organized way these days. But, I find that connecting to nature helps me tap into these memories, feelings, and reflections. To me, that’s the holy spirit.
Now, I’m back in my comfort-zone palette.
Trying to find strength in my emotions, in my depth of feeling. Allowing myself to cruise around in my memories. I have a lot of visualisations for memories; I do really like this H.G. Wells-inspired gold time machine. I imagine you pick a card out of the catalog and feed it into the machinery before it takes you zooming off into time and space. Okay, zipping off to my next decade!
This comic was inspired by a very teary conversation with a friend in a coffee shop.
<3
Here’s another example of me trying to use different colors, only to end up with a ketchup and mustard effect. I wanted these colors to represent ENERGY! Let’s take a moment to appreciate that I attempted to draw a herd of running horses AND someone riding a bike in the same comic.
I’m going to be totally honest: this is not one of my favorite pages from my journal comics sketchbook. I was trying to push myself to use colors that I don’t typically use and the result is a mish-mash of clashing hues.
I do like the reds here— I was thinking about the importance of red in the tarot and how it represents passion, energy, and action. I do like the way these drawings turned out.
These are fine. Part of this project of accountability is that not every page will be perfect and I own that. More about the last part later.
I think this was the most wintery winter we’d had in a while. It was also a very challenging time just personally and emotionally. I felt a little skeptical that spring would ever actually arrive. But it did!
I started meeting with two of my very dear friends for equinox gatherings last year. We do tarot and manifest and do rituals— it is truly a gift! I love tracking our dreams together and having this through-line to mark the changing of the seasons together.
The same weekend, I also got to celebrate with my neighbor, Miss Kay. A true Aries, she is fiery and funny and fierce! She turned 84 this year. Her daughter and son-in-law planned a surprise dinner for her. It was so full of laughter and love! What a joy and privilege to be included!
Felix and I have a working relationship.
I’m his concierge! He’s the Baudelaire orphan and I’m the distant relative put in charge of him. I would say it works for us, but I’m not sure he’s satisfied with the quality of my work.
Charlie, on the other hand, is my sweet little baby! Thank goodness for Charlie.
My dad was discharged from the rehab facility he stayed in for about a month and into at-home hospice on March 19. Meanwhile, my peers are working through daycare complications and babies with their first colds! I know that there’s no timeline for life, but I just feel like I leapfrogged past where I thought I would be.
We picked up my dad from St. Joseph’s at 9:00 a.m. and then met with the hospice care team at 10:00 a.m. at my parents’ house.
Every time we visited my dad at rehab, he asked when we were going to take him home. It’s not a restful place; the staff are overworked and, I’m sure, underpaid. The result is a lot of noise, beeping, and very little attention. I stood with him, waiting for my mom to pull the car around and just took in the moment. The small, fleeting moment between the last phase and the next step. A moment of freedom.
I cried a lot the day we brought my dad home and I felt like it was evident the day after. We’d been through a little bit of a marathon for the previous six weeks with him in the hospital and then rehab. Now, at home with hospice in place and caregivers coming daily, I think we could finally all catch our breath. I have no issues crying, and I never have. I have learned not to bother with mascara for right now.
I’ve made the time and space to make a comic every day. I think I could carve out time to write a book someday, too.
I think of this as my training. Inviting creativity back into my life, one comic at a time.
Ever since the panemic, I am not really part of the nightlife ecosystem anymore but I do roam the streets as a researcher or investigator, observing the aftermath.
I love finding money on the ground… consider it the townie tax. A tourist and his money are easily parted!
I repotted this monstera a few years ago and its temperament has been mercurial since then.
Maybe I was going through a dormant period this week, too.
I think everything was getting to me… the time change, the full moon, stress in every sphere of life. But it’s all manageable. I can handle it all, especially after a nap.