wholewheattoast

Keeping a list of songs of the day. Did this off an on last year. Got discouraged any time I missed a day, and eventually gave it up. Trying again, not going to sweat it if I miss a day. I'm interested enough in how it changes the way I listen to music to get over my perfectionism.

Re-reading some Frederick Franck, two quotes I jotted down. The meaning of life is to see. Hui Neng, and The mystical of the world is that it exists. Ludwig Witgenstein.

Saw a pod of Harbor Porpoises in the channel on Thursday. At first wasn't even sure what I was looking at. The dorsal fin was noticeable and unusual. I had seen a seal a few minute before, was it that rolling on it's side as it dived? We're there sharks here? I didn't think so. After a few minutes it was apparent that there was a whole pod of porpoises, not just one.

A bit of sun over this long weekend.

Watercolor of a chair sitting in yard.

Reading Things Become Other Things, by Craig Mod. Now is the time to visit all the celebrated places in the country and fill our heads with what we have seen, so that when we become old and bald, we shall have something to talk about over our ... Shank's Mare by Ikku Jippensha, translated by Thomas Satchell

... the general area having a long and sordid history of slaughtering dolphins. But I was just noticing passing though without judgement (though I know that noticing itself is a form of judgement) p.172 Things Become Other Things, Craig Mod

Sunday a good bumper sticker on the car in front, "We'd rather be a province." Heavy frost today.

Last drawing of 2025.

Landscape drawing in a sketchbook.

Leafing through this sketchbook I noticed I had a drawing from the 31st last year too.

Landscape drawing with watercolor in a sketchbook.

Drawing of two men in conversation.

Hey it's a new year...

Took some time off at the end of December. Did as close to nothing as it's possible to do.

I had this notebook i got from Silvanie a couple of years ago, with great drawing paper in it. Unfortunately the binding was so tight it wasn't very good as a sketchbook. So I took it apart and rebound it. Making little pen and ink drawings with my morning coffee. Been using a Hunt 102 again. It's nice.

Drawing of a man painting a picture of a women. Two angry profiles at the bottom of the page.

Last year I started keeping a list of songs I heard throughout the day that really struck me. Songs I hadn't heard before or at least not in awhile. I thought I'd try to keep that up this year, so putting them all up on a page, Songs of the Day 2025.

Drawing of a man running, his stomache is a face with an open hungry mouth.

After the news today of facebook's bullshit, I've downloaded my insta archive and marked my account for deletion. Good riddance. It feels odd loosing a whole chunk of your life, just like that. Leaving twitter when Elon bought it felt similar. You're used to having this constant feed of information, whatever connections made with folks, your little garden of posts. Then it's gone. Poof.

Comic about candy thief getting ready for a busy day stealing candy.

Short Run was at the beginning of November, and I had printed 4 new zines. I just got around to putting them up on the site.

  • Candy Thief number one! Color printing is expensive so let's redraw it in black and white. Maybe I'll draw more? I think it came out nice.
  • Fax Simile 17, more thick line weirdo gag comics.
  • Isometric Tuna 9, little drawings from my pocket notebooks from 2024.
  • Object on Arrival, bigger drawings from bigger sketchbooks from this year.

Is it odd to separate the drawings by size or thickness of line? Who knows. It feels like I've run a lot of these ideas to ground. Maybe time to till some new fields? Winter is good for that.

A month ago I decided I needed a break from instagram. I was spending too much time on that app, doesn't feel healthy.

First few days felt like quitting smoking, twitchy fingers constantly wanting to open up the app and scroll. The FOMO's strong. It feels like insta is the only place that comics and art folks are posting stuff. I mean there's patreon, but that has it's own issues. While I miss seeing what everyone is doing, I don't miss generating content and clicks for zuck. Who needs it?

Originally was just going to take a break, but now it feels more or less permanent. We'll see.

ink drawing two people drawing comics together

Jeez, I'm bad at blogging. Meant to try and post something weekly, and it's been a month.

I've been drawing a lot of comics. Some colabs with Max and more Candy Thief. It's fun.

I just payed my table fee's for this years Short Run Comix Festival. It's November 2nd in Seattle, WA at the Fisher Pavilion. I'm excited to go again, it's by far my favorite zine/comix show to table at. Now to get to work!

Listening

The new Onidea album is good! Especially the first track.

Mandy's Forysthia is a jammer too.

Miami Review of Comics a new podcast from Drew Lerman. First episode was a nice conversation between Alex Graham (Dog Biscuits) and Ceder Van Tassel (Apple and Beefwood) about some of the nuances of online comics posting. I'm a big fan of Snake Creek and look forward to episode 2.

Reading

  • Stories Are Weapons, Annalee Newitz
  • Blackie and Co., Hockley Clarke
  • King Cat #83, John Porcellino
  • Bubbles #20 This issue of Bubbles is mostly interview transcriptions and photos from Bubbles Fest. I'd like every show to do this. There is something nice about being able to catch up on talks you missed when tabling, other then scrubbing through youtube.
  • Felder #1 and #2, Kevin Huizenga Also reread through my stack of Ganges comics I think Kevin's one of the best to be working now, and a bit under sung. The newest issue of Felder has been nominated for an Ignatz this year.