Three parts of the day

Started the morning at Jay Products picking up some new extra-large screens and ink. (I’m quite smitten with the orange and white dots on the 957 bottle up there on the shelf.)

Spent the rest of the day reminding myself how much exercise it is to print.

And when heading out of the studio exhausted, I realized the trees were beginning to bloom. Spring is coming.

Calories gladly consumed

I used to eschew lemon bars—too tart for my palate. But one of my ridiculous theories is that our tastebuds get worn out as we age and we seek different flavors to shock ’em back into consciousness. (Personal examples: beer, coffee, brussels sprouts, bourbon, artichokes, dried coconut, olives and dressings other than ranch.)

Tom’s lemon bars finally won me over to not only want, but crave them.
And they were just as good the next day.

Unrelated:

Dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s

Practice.
Funny how it’s just as relevant today as it was when 7 years old.

I feel like everything is process and refinement; be it scrawling your first letters on paper or pushing ink or pixels around, or knowing how to manage your days or when to say no (or yes!).

It’s all practice to make some experience.

Smurfs

My brother gave me these little fellas and they watch over me as I catch up with things at my desk.

Sidenote: I went down a rabbit hole to find out what smurfing meant and the most interesting version was the bank industry jargon that is a way to launder money.

A quiet lunch at Frisch’s

A day of balance, where I spent the Sunday hours doing little
but cursing Daylight Savings Time.

I did head out to Frisch’s by myself and read a book with actual pages.

Yeah, I’m that guy.

Don’t fret.
It’s nice to be quiet sometimes.

Unlucky Charms at Arnolds

Saturday was jam packed I tell ya.

After the bending workshop we joined some friends for fancy hot dogs and gluttony downtown, headed to Kentucky to kill a slice of time before our friend Russ and his bandmates performed some Irish music at Arnolds.

The Unlucky Charms were already in full swing when we walked into the courtyard. Turned out to be a perfectly rowdy way to close out the night.

Sorry this next photo is blurry. It’s kind of appropriate.

Circuit Bending at Hive13

On Saturday, Tom and I went to Hive13, a hackerspace here in Cincinnati, for a Bending Workshop.

Many different skill levels were represented, with me at the noob end of the spectrum having never
used a soldering iron before.

We made these Bending Buddies (pictured complete below) that allow you to patch and probe circuits for sounds.

Tom finished his in no time and went on to make a contact microphone.
(Both kits available here by the folks from GetLofi leading the class.)

I think I got the hang of it, but I realized what I really want to do is make things light up.

Back when I was a kid, I’d punch holes through cardboard and feed through colored Christmas tree lights
to make control panels for imaginary spaceships.

I’m one step closer to making really kick ass imaginary spaceship control panels now.

SIX MORE PHOTOS from the afternoon

The deserted Cincinnati Mall and No Strings Attached

Wendy had a night off and suggested catching a flick. The sad variable: there was nothing we really wanted to see, so we caught No Strings Attached at the discount theater.

It was awful.

The redeeming part of the evening was walking around the ghost town that is the almost-entirely-abandoned but still oddly all-lit-up Cincinnati Mall.

Websurfin’ revealed some hope to re-redevelop this behemoth into a hotel, ice rink and waterpark.

It’s a better option than the purpose it currently serves: Large appendage to discount theater and mall-walking track for those that like to walk in deserted malls.