Burtlederp Whumps

back then i made a bunch of these but by now i lost the pic and dont know how to find the original post anymore

so anyway here is the diagram for anyone else who is interested!!

this requires pretty big carboard pieces, if you have a really big box or something you can make it from one piece, but if you don't, you can also just make each of the pieces individually and then tape them together

and then in the end you put it together like this!!

and then when you make a bunch you can put them all next to each other and stack your books like crazy

Sketchbook stufffff

Managed to finish one more piece of animation before the new year! Part ?/??? of my Super Sons anim project, based on Superman #10 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason.

I realized the phrasing issue the moment I wrote it but it’s staying because MOMENTUM!

Anyway, as much as stepping away from the thing you’re struggling with to give your mind a chance to settle and process things in the background can be important, thinking about doing something is not doing that thing, and parts of your brain might not have the context they need to do what you want them to do.

Sometimes you need to get started, or need a break to end, before you feel ready because you need to be in the right place contextually to get those balls rolling.

Somehow sounded less dirty that time.

Fam, be careful with your time online. I highly recommend sinking some time and energy into offline pursuits.

Try: knitting or crochet; gentle movement, stretching, walking if you can; playing a musical instrument, whether it's piano or penny whistle; and especially reading.

I do not mean performative BookTok reading that we do for likes because our neurotransmitters have been nerfed by modern life.

I mean actual reading that we do for ourselves alone.

If reading is hard, if attention or energy or memory are operating at a deficit, I get it. Nevertheless, please try. If you notice you're skipping across big chunks of text like a river stone, if you can't finish a paragraph, slow down, pronounce the words out loud. Stop sometimes and ask yourself what you just read. Explain the story or article or poem to your blorbo or your cat or a stuffed animal.

If your head feels scrambled up, no judgment. We may have incredibly intractable neurochemical reasons that this is hard. Just tell the blorbo, "That's hilarious, I don't remember any of what I just read. Let's read it again, together."

(Please don't ask A.I. to do this for you. Please. It's your right to read and think about it your own way. A.I. doesn't actually understand anything. Please don't assume it will guide you safely through this next weird phase of our human culture.)

If reading longform, offline, makes you feel bored or anxious, be gentle and patient with yourself. Start with stories you remember well, reliable sources of well-being. But please know you will need to put some backbone into it in the long run.

I think we are going to need to rebuild our ability to think, to process experience. This will be an unsupported activity. In fact, most of the really powerful cultural forces are making it very hard for us to notice, feel, perceive, or think clearly.

Not sure what, but something's happened quite recently that is making this situation much worse, some kind of tipping point.

Please read something every day.

so where do you start? before you even pick up a book, it's probably a good idea to put some thought into how having to do this at all makes you feel, and why that might present another barrier. it's hard, and it's ok to admit it's hard, and that you maybe don't have the skills you want to have anymore. it's good to acknowledge your feelings surrounding this.

then try something small. offline, an actual piece of reading material like a physical book if you can. if it has to be digital, that's ok, too. it's more than ok to start with a book intended for children, even. after all, that's where you learnt these skills in the first place, and so many kids' books are intended to help build reading and comprehension ability. don't be ashamed of it; lots of well-funded groups like corporations and others have worked very hard to make sure this skill has eroded as much as possible.

do what greenjudy says and be gentle. take care of yourself. take breaks if it's hard, try not to get frustrated.

one of the best things you can do for yourself is to not be afraid if it's hard. it's not a sign you're doing it wrong. it's because you're building new roads in your brain, or maybe fixing the bad roads that already exist. if it helps, you can imagine little tiny construction guys in your mind repaving or smoothing out the land for something new, whatever floats your boat. it's not easy for the construction guys, either, but hey, these roads need to get built or fixed, right? they're doing something really worthwhile and so are you.

it's ok to read and think about easy things until you feel ready to take on more of a project. it's like scales at the piano; they're not meant to be hard, they're meant to support muscle memory and technique so that you can tackle bigger challenges. reading and thinking are no different.

reading is itself an act of revolution. being able to think on top of it is even more so. helping people can also mean helping ourselves, because we're people, too.