Pending hegemony

I haven't really had much to write lately, my concentration being taken up with drawing, reading and spending time with friends. It's been a matter of enjoying what I'm doing enough that I haven't needed to write about it to convince myself that I'm doing something. Which is great (even if the description of it is a horrific, run-on sentence...).

On that note, I think I'm finally starting to reap the reward of actually doing some regular drawing. After numerous posts over the past fortnight bemoaning my inability to get a decent likeness of any of my chosen subjects, I think I've finally got things working, and have found a comfortable process, with acceptable results. Below is one example of today's efforts, but I'd recommend checking the others too, if you want to see where I start to feel that my pics aren't total crap and that I can actually draw a little :)

I still need to experiment a bit with getting the scans to best reflect my pencil sketches, as I think the originals definitely look better than what I've been able to upload in electronic form. Who'd have guessed I might be an analogue fan?

Yangtse furphy

More of my "pictures are lazier more poetic than words" schtick:

Tasty!

Blurry!

Futuristic!

Absentee megalomaniac

If you're wondering where I've been, when I should have been "entertaining" you with complaints and tales of repetitive action, my time has been taken up running my Media Empire.

Flippant excoriation

My DVD watching today, enumerated for your edification:

Gremlins - I haven't seen this since high school, so there were still some surprises. It's a weird mix of slapstick humour and gruesome death, along with still convincing puppetry. Plus Corey Feldman as a little kid!

16 Blocks - an excellent movie, once again showing the awesomeness of Bruce Willis, as well as another great character performance from Mos Def. Contained some genuinely surprising twists, and I'd definitely recommend this, if you want to see a variant on the world weary cop comes good genre.

The Break-Up - not really a feel good movie, I wouldn't say. Enjoyable enough, with a couple of funny patches, but probably darker than I like my romcoms (i.e. actually had moments of reality in it).

Venerable oddity

Tagged along with my Mum and sister this morning as they walked our dog Starr at Deek's Forest Park. Apparently it used to be wall to wall pine trees before the bushfires, but now there's very little to block the panoramic views.

Here's Starr waiting, amazingly patiently, for us to get going:

and my compulsory shot of Black Mountain Tower:

plus a fallen tree:

Immigration

In the absence of any semblance of a heart, and having played their part in making the world a more dangerous place for everyone, especially those least able to defend themselves, our fine government resorts to ridiculous, over-the-top grandstanding.

I think I'm going to have to stop reading any press releases, before I explode with fury :@ The price of staying "informed" is too damn high. This is why I can't watch the news...

Sleepy horizons

While I waited in the lakeside shade for a work lunch to start (that's right, I'll use up precious holiday time for a free feed!), I enjoyed the third straight perfect Canberra day:

I even had this guy to keep me company...

After lunch I went for a stroll, indulging my love of bridges...

before embarking on the short bus ride home.

All that activity before it even hit 3pm, giving me license to veg in front of Newsradio Season 5 DVDs for a while, before I go for another walk.

Deforestation

Sure this sounds like a good idea, but as usual indicates the "big brother", condescending attitude which our government takes on all matters, including its dealing with the states.

"However, a common element of any incentives is that they will be provided only on the achievement of pre-agreed forest sustainability milestones (e.g. agreed reductions in national deforestation rates). Measurement of achievement of these milestones will be underpinned by the investment in the technology and systems to robustly monitor forest resources."

In other words: Do what we tell you, or you get nothing from us. And you better believe we'll be watching...

The idea is a very late implementation of an approach apparently discussed 2 years ago at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

As Wayne Swan says:

"it’s a strategy for the election. It’s not a strategy to combat climate change. That’s what it is. He only ever gets on board when there’s an election around the corner... He doesn’t believe in the science and he doesn’t understand the required policy responses. He’s just playing politics. It’s John Howard being a clever politician."

Speaking for myself, I want leadership not politics.

Vivacious luminosity

I just noticed a weird disparity. The Flickr photos I tend to favourite are usually filled with bright colour, while my own shots are almost universally bland. I don't know if this is some unconscious yearning to escape the bounds of my drab imagination ... or an incomprehensible coincidence ... or neither...

Reflected success

When I started my walking routine last March, I had no idea I'd actually stick with it. I'd tried, and failed, a number of times before. What was different this time? A number of things - the need to have something to report to Em each Friday, coming good on at least one of the many plans I'd reported to Liv, the fact that my weight was continuing to escalate - but really, let's be honest, it's really all thanks to graphs, and plenty of 'em!

As reported earlier, my graphing ended yesterday. But the walking has not! In fact, I walked twice today, even without the impetus of a climbing line. My thought is that I may even walk more now, because I won't have the numbers to fall back on as I craftily calculate just how slack I can be without going backwards. This is illustrated by the decline and then reinvigoration in the below:

The fact that I would be ending the charting bonanza meant I wanted to end on a high note, which I managed by beating Feb by a single walk. And I just noticed how much better I've been in the second half of the measurement period than I was in the first.

Since I know my loyal audience will miss the graphs even more than I will, I'd like to leave you with the most action you've ever seen (from me), ADAC 4.74:

Thanks for keeping me company on my graph-fuelled ride!

Frazzled identity

Usually I forget to take a photo of my meal before I tuck in. Is that an excuse to not snap away? Apparently not...

Despite having walked over 1000km over the past 13 months, much of it over the same course, I still find a simple pleasure in the lights and sights along the way.