Relief can come in many forms. In my case, I am greatly relieved that Air Canada seems to have reached an agreement with the pilots. Whew. So our flight should still be leaving this week. Yippee!
Monday
I was at the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre for the Farmer’s Market because my daughter was picking up an embroidered image of our dog Cookie she had ordered from an artisan. While we were there, we went to see the Woven exhibit at the Museum featuring Setsuko Piroche. They are having a 92nd birthday party for the artist if you are in the area.
Tuesday
I keep thinking I ought to be doing more science related comics, but they are too much work making sure I get things right. At least this was fairly straightforward and it was kind of amazing, like Pinocchio in the whale. The video has dramatic music and actually shows the eel swimming around inside the the stomach of the fish. Grilled eel is popular in Japan, which is supposed to provide stamina. I don’t know about that, but this video suggests they are good symbols of perseverance and sneakiness.
Wednesday
Cartoonist Teresa Wong posted a video on Instagram about how she makes comics and mentioned how she scans her hand-drawn images into Procreate to add the text. I just started reading Teresa Wong’s moving memoir All Our Ordinary Stories. I have been using the Procreate app on my ipad for the last few years, but did not know it had a text function. To be honest, using text makes it more of a hassle to do these comics and I prefer to draw directly on the ipad because I can erase (even if it does not feel as nice), but now it gives me some options for doing some other things.
Thursday
I like to pick audiobooks from whatever is available from the Vancouver Public Library through the Libby app on my ipad so I can listen while I am doing the dishes. Murder on Black Swan Lane by Andrea Penrose mentioned science and drawing, so I figured it would be right up my alley, or down my lane, as the case may be. It was a little like Sherlock Holmes meets Lynn Johnston on the set of Bridgerton.
Friday
I have been looking forward to our trip to Japan. We are taking an interesting tour in the southern areas with an art curator with a small group. I was last in Japan about 35 years ago. This is the first time in twenty years are travelling without a kid. And we got a really good deal on seats. Then we came the possibility of a strike. Fortunately, just last night, they reached an agreement at the deadline. Now I just hope we don’t get sick during the latest wave of COVID. Stay healthy, folks.
Saturday
Once upon a time, I used to skim the headlines of a newspaper. Nowadays, I just pick things up by chance, while I am posting my comics to social media. I noticed myself watching comedians comment on the news. There must be something wrong with that, but I’m not sure what it is. Yeah, I know it’s Stephen Colbert, but I thought this was funny. And a lot of guys in these kinds of jobs do seem to have names that start with J.
Sunday
A few houses on my block are for sale right now. They often get torn down and rebuilt, even if they seem to be alright. This place does look like a hovel though, and all kinds of stuff has been appearing in their yard. Although I am often reluctant to get rid of stuff, at least I am also reluctant to get new things.
So that was my week. I hope you had a good one. I’ll be away from my desk for the next couple weeks, so no newsletter. Hope you can survive without this. In theory, I should be creatively reinvigorated.
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