Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: February 2024

  • Dust Updates

    The construction work happened three and a half months ago, and Gary still suffers from his dust allergy. This morning I was watching One Day on Netflix, and — and I don’t think this is a spoiler — a woman complains to her husband about “the construction and the noise and the dust. ” [Emphasis:…

  • TWIL: The Devil in Music, the Tritone, the Devil’s Interval, Beezulbub’s Bop

    I was hunting for the old 1970’s slumber party song D.O.A. by Bloodrock. I found it on a podcast titled I’m In Love With That Song. (If you got here looking for D.O.A., hey slumber party sister, I refer you to the October 15, 2023 episode.) One reason that song appeals to morbid 10-year-olds is…

  • Review: Heat

    I began an exercise program last fall to knock down my high respiration rate. One of the doctors recommended that if I find workouts dull, I should watch something exciting while exercising, preferably something with cliffhangers. That way, I’ll be motivated to return the next day. I remembered how workouts flew by when I biked…

  • Trial visit

    I went to get the second dose of antibodies for the clinical trial. The staff said one participant had an adverse event after the second dose, but frankly it was what I’d call baseline. Some skin flushing? Turning a bit pink for the greater good? I will make the sacrifice. First I needed a short…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 2/15

    Okay – this is going to be dubbed the AI Tongue photo, with its reliance on software for the tracing and color. This week, I did little to nothing. Instead, software deconstructed this image:

  • First try at the Lucida application

    Well, the iPad – or was it the iPhone — had to be elevated on soup cans to magnify c0rrectly. It was a bit awkward to use, but not too awkward. Next time I’ll be less detailed. Too many lines. Also somehow the eye on the right is down way too far. I bumped the…

  • Second try at the Lucida application

    I have found some tips for working with the Lucida app. Tape down your canvas. Don’t shift your feet. Don’t trust your eyes. I was convinced the drawing was hideous: … then I squared the corners, compared it in Photoshop, and it wasn’t that bad. (I don’t know how it ended up with the sparkly…

  • New Ancient Device

    When I start a painting, I have been shuffling the underlying drawing in and out of Photoshop. I have decided if I’m going to “cheat ” in that way I might as well cheat all out. The easiest way to cheat while drawing is to base things on a photo, print it out in sections,…

  • I Return to the Guitar

    Let us say that one can only play the guitar like a trained monkey, one has no ear, and no talent, but one has trained oneself to plink out tunes given sheet music without an excessive number of flats and sharps. How long would you say it would take that person to get back to…

  • Another Tuttle Sighting

    If you recall, I spotted the M*A*S*H reference to the name “Tuttle ” in For All Mankind. Here is a Judge Tuttle in the latest episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. And again, CuspBoomers are not giggling to each other as I would expect.