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Epilogue: Sometimes the Universe Works

A Universe Within.   A year of blogging.  Five days a week.  The Power and Thrill of Naming Things.  Sketchtopia.  Clayland.  Comics.  Memes.  Creative Tools.  Writing Tools.  Work Tools.  Sundry items from dinosaurs to cartoon avatars. Lessons Learned Got better at drawing Came up with creative ideas that I still use I enjoyed revisiting past creativity (Clayland and Sketchtopia) Put ideas into reality, even if mildly Now, I'll be moving in a different direction.  I want to focus my free time on novel writing.  This may not be THE end to the blog, but it is AN end. Ideas Moving Forward Maybe a blog post once a week with a focus on bigger and more polished posts Or perhaps an e-newsletter along with the blog post Some of the blog content may be turned into short picture books The future lurks in the distance, ruminating on possibilities Thanks for joining.  Here's to paths trod and choices made. "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly."      -G. K. Chester
Recent posts

Adventures in Sketchtopia Part 47: We've Come So Far

Closing Sketchtopia.   The year inches closer to completion.  As I've already noted, I have decided to wrap up this phase of my blog.  Like I did for Clayland, for this last episode of Adventures in Sketchtopia, I've curated a sampling of what's left.  Enjoy. High tier threats:  Plasma Phoenixes (Top Left), Fusion Dragon (Middle Left), Avatar of Death (Middle), Avatar of Insanity (Bottom Middle), Avatar of Pathology (Middle Right), Avatar of Rage (Bottom Right) Sentient Plant Sketches:   Various aspects of an intelligent, ambulatory, alien plant species. Vampiric Assassins:  Base form (top page), Battle-ready forms (bottom page) Alternative Sketches: Hungernaut (top page), Shadow Ogre (bottom page) Mysterious Figure: Masked figure with tonfas.  Spined projectile and spinning blade weapons appear alongside. Exotic Enemies:   Space Demon Pikeman and Ragark Various Demons 1: (left to right) Pit Fiend, Ornithomockery, Battle Brute, Flanged Horror Various Demons 2: (left to rig

Playing with All Cards on the Table, Every Bullet Spent

All In.   "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines! Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!"       -Mark Twain "Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist.  Children already know that dragons exist.  Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."      -G. K. Chesterton "Might as well go after the dragon."       -Jordan B. Peterson Every wish you could do X?  Fill in  X with anything you like.   Do it.  Don't wait.  Try now.  Try poorly.  Don't wake up not having tried.  Fail.  Exhaust all options.  Go out swinging. Here's what I've tried already.  Write a book.  Publish a card game.  Release daily blog posts.  Release weekly YouTube videos.  Bible in a Year. Here's what I'm aiming at.  Publish a book.  Start a company.  Start a newsletter.  Catechism in a Year.  Continue rai

Life Tool: Build a Study Program

Leveraging Stockpiles of Knowledge...   Growth mindset is a bit trendy.  Likely means that it is overstated.  But that doesn't mean nothing about the concept is true.  Wishes and thoughts don't make for growth.  Design not default.  Plan. Bible-in-a-year was a success for me (first year, listened via podcast; second year, read family Bible).  I already learn in pieces across my days, but there are a few bigger ticket items I'd like to do.  Here are some scaffolds for 2023.  Study programs to keep the learning going. Astrophysics Textbook in a year (1000+ pages, so 3-4 pages a day) Exercises from book each week Reward myself with the top astronomy news every Saturday morning Bioinformatics Overview infographic Read wiki of all major topics Find and run open source exercises Put together a flash drive of software tools Create a training video  Writing (a la James Scott Bell) Reading a James Scott Bell book every month Write down major points from the book Practice the points

Explorations in Clayland Part 51: And Now We've Come to the End

Farewell to Clayland.   I've come to the end of the year and have decided to wrap up this phase of my blog.  I thought I'd make it all the way through my clay figures.  However, I kept on finding more.  So, for this last episode, I've curated a sampling of what's left.  Enjoy. Elemental Titans:  Nature (small), Nature, Lightning, Earth, Air, Fire, Fire (small) Swordsmen and Colossi: The Demon Hunter; Crystalsaw Swordsman; Enalgimation, Edge of the Unknown (Dawn Colossi); Oni Cyclops Faceless Fighters: Magmacloak Striker, Potion Master, Bone Walker Faceless Fighters II: Blade Dancer, Stoneward Defender, Tome Guardian, Sunrise Mage, Twisted Spell-sword, Orb Sorcerer, Archetype Mage Varied Defenders: Dust Ninja, Hero of Clayland, Interchangeable Stock Warrior, Unstoppable Avatar  Enemies of Interest:   Sandstone Blood Tornado (Fusion), Two-Headed Ogre, Lightning Brigade, Primal Minotaur Thousand Worlds: Bioforge abominations (top), Guroki Grunts (bottom)

Holiday Avatar

It's the most drawable time of the year... To close out 2022, I'm swinging back to my Summer 2022 Theme .  Avatars. Here are some runner-ups: Supergrinch Advent Advocate Light Brigade Elf-tastic Ghost of Christmas Past/Present/Future Twelve Days of Christmas Incarnate The winner?  Christmas Ninja.

Adventures in Sketchtopia Part 46: Armored and Angry

Suit up.   This is a semi-random collection of drawings from different projects.  The unifying factor is that most are well armored and expressing rage as a dominant emotion. Scrapmetal Bulk-zombie:  A large, undead monster with ragged pieces of metal attached to its body.  Hard to miss.  Harder to stop. Tactical Wights:  More intelligent than zombies.  Masks cover the rotting, lower halves of their faces.  They can strike at a distance or deal deadly damage up close.  A cleric's worst nightmare. Buring:  An alien species from the Thousand Worlds.  Vaguely amphibious, it rides a four-legged steed equipped with augmented senses and prefers to attack up close and personal with twin blades. Pteryx Guard:  Heavily armored in overlapping, lightweight plates and a crested helmet.  Depending on the guard, uses one of three styles of blade. Hungernaut:  Orgre-like monster whose power grows with his hunger.  Can break through a solid wall with one attempt if hungry enough.  Lives to fight a