Project updates
- Christmas – Once I got to Texas Sunday night, most of my time was spent sitting around the house and conversing, interrupted by airports, restaurants, and decorating.
- Projects – Now that Christmas is over, I can tell you about these. One was a journal of relationship questions called Between Me and You (the brother edition) that Abbie gave me last year at Christmas to fill out and give back to her this year, and I answered them on the computer (a lot of work! half of which I did on the plane ride from North Carolina) and then wrote the answers into the journal by hand. The other project was this year’s creative Christmas present labels, for which I stayed up super late a couple of nights to paint a portrait (example) of each person with coffee (which at first, because I’d made it so concentrated, people guessed was things like maple syrup and chocolate sauce) on watercolor paper (translucent Yupo paper so I could just trace photos I printed from Facebook, after desaturating and posterizing them in GIMP). Each year I try to pick a theme that fits whatever I’m into at the time that other people can also appreciate, and this year thinking about coffee reminded me of Giulia Bernulia’s coffee paintings on Instagram.
- Presents – I got a bunch of books on creative topics, a bar of scented soap from Kimberly’s trip to India, a sloth t-shirt from Abbie (kind of an inside joke), a lamp to represent my mom’s current Narnia theme, and a Google Cardboard viewer (a DODOcase SMARTvr) to whet my appetite for whatever full VR headset I’ll get myself at the end of my Common Core math studies. I gave my mom a couple of fiction ebooks, my dad a CD of Chocktaw hymns, Michael a book on team problem solving, Abbie the board game CV, and Kimberly the book Hillbilly Elegy, which I’ve also been wanting to read in connection with the election.
- Media
- Movies – On Monday I went with my mom to see Doctor Strange, which was the first 3D feature film she’s seen, and we both liked it and thought the 3D was a good idea.
- Music – While we were driving through a Christmas lights neighborhood, I rode in Kimberly’s car, where she was playing Hamilton, so I’ve finally listened to some of that soundtrack. I was avoiding it for some reason, partly because it was getting so much hype that I felt I needed some amount of ceremony to listen to it myself. I’m looking forward to listening to the rest of it and then eventually listening more closely to pick up some composition and improvisation pointers.
- Bookmarks – Once I get back to Chicago, I think getting the reboot of my Firefox bookmarks out of the way will be my main project.
- Project map – Finishing my project map will be my next main project.
- Dusk – I managed to take some more dusk pictures here in Texas last week.
Another #watertower friend, this one in Texas.
A photo posted by Andy Culbertson (@thinkulum) on
Wait, what? The sun… the sun disappeared where you went?
Also, I am impressed by your coffee-portraits.
Yes. We lost it. 🙁
And thank you. 🙂
Nice tags. No Christmas is complete without a Rorschach blot test. It would keep them guessing at least.
That’s the goal! To make Abbie work. She’s the one who passes out the presents, so she has to figure out who they’re for. 😉 I was cruel last year and made puzzles. Solving those turned into a group effort, and I was pleased.