2025 winds to an end and I am done with shows for the year. Wasn't a bad year.
Main difference was adding out-of-state shows, 1 in Tennessee, 6 in Georgia. Tennessee was like sailing around the Horn of Good Hope with shit weather, Georgia mostly sold more (shooing away several large never-sell paintings) but costing more too as two-day venues + hotel, except when I watched foosbaw with @baboso Good way to move old stock and make future previous customers.
(There are several similar-sized shows nearer to home that I avoided because they were put on by Mean Old Lady art clubs and I figured they'd draw a stuffy crowd, but I'm wrong all the time so maybe I'll just do them next year instead of all but the best Atlanta shows.)
My unreliable little car is no longer unreliable, because it is dead. Now I have a big warm Toyota 4Runner that could hold double the gear I take to shows. It has made driving a joy and maybe in 2026 I'll find out what Florida has to offer.
For now, I draw and paint. Several categories flat sold out.
Nice bit of boredom around here. Had the ECHO tech telling me her life story (I asked) as she scanned all up in my heart. She never stopped and said "OH MY GOD."
Continued my quest to use every MRI machine in the UAB area. Sometimes you get a vintage one out in the county where it takes extra time for them to shovel coal underneath the boiler, but in this case I was in the Imperial Headquarters and the unit still had that new MRI machine smell. More importantly, the techno concert lasted ten minutes less than average.
Doc hemmed and hummed a little, but bottom line was there may be things out there (I am certain they are, because the sneaky little bastards are made out of me) but nothing's getting anywhere near big enough to cause trouble. We agree to sit behind our cotton bales and not say a thing.
Oh, and I was taking my blood pressure the wrong way. Instead of high BP, I have low pressure and can make myself dizzy by standing up fast, if I'm like, bored.
I'll be asking the questions in today's Inquisition, thank you.
Never went full Norse, but when I was fencing, Mrs. Canecutter would buy a bottle of mead that could only be opened if I medalled in a tournament. Thirsty? Best get to stabbin'.
Sitrep: Scam resolved. Got the money back. Took maybe a month extra because I sent them a photo of the CUNA Affidavit of Forgery form in the wrong format.
(They probably called me to tell me that but I ain't been answerin shit.) It was draggin on about a month longer than I expected, so I called them and the person in charge walked me through resending what they needed, then boom the money came back.
This has pretty much spazzed out all my banking habits. Instead of having various apps feed money into my credit union checking acct, I keep them mostly isolated from each other like stand-alone buildings at a fireworks factory. I am now Gen Z as far as checks go-- I would use them to pay taxes at shows, now I'll just dump coins into the envelopes. I pay all the bills with a credit card that has no connection to my credit union.
Yep.
My main Missouri experience was a youth church trip there. Learned 4 guitar chords on a bus through the Arkansas Delta. Failed to impress girls in SW Missouri after 3 days practice. Switched back to art and was doing pastel live drawings while other kids would talk about Jesus. Would time it so that I hacked in 3 crosses on a hilltop as they finished the last sentence. Little blonde Lutheran girls on vacation from Minnesota would cry. I had a future in the American Evangelical Emotional Manipulation business but I let it slide.
I don't remember seeing you there but I'll take your word for it.
Pretty reasonable stance by Mexico considering their past and present. If you can barely control los indios/bandidos/carteles/whatever-they-call-em-next-year, you don't need to encourage extra filibusteros and other pirates trying to peel off new strips of land.
Oh right. He "forget."
JDVance has come incredibly far for a kid with several identities who managed to pass enough Marine PT tests to become Poguey bait. That alone tells me he has the willpower of a Mesopotamian Sand Demon.
You gotta know Cruz feels cheated that he can't tour the country doing Lincoln-Douglas debates with Trump, whom he'd shred with the chainsaw of his HighschoolDebate2000SyllablesPerMinute technique.
That's not a problem that's an opportunity!
Encourage it to spread to about a city block across, at least 40' deep. Line the inner sides of it with 3 stories of studio apartments stacked like Lego blocks to stabilize it. Green community space down in the middle, birds flying through waterfall mist under suspended bridges.
Of course more will sink at some point. Just save what you can, keep chiseling out more home space, call the lowest level "DwarvenHeim" and let the gamer dudes bid for it.
signed,
RDCanecutter
Resident of area riddled with sink holes so won't he feel real "funny" one day, ha.