Memes that will send you straight to hell

I have been very careful to stay away from social media during the past week because I'm terrified I will accidentally "like" something terrible in public.

Meanwhile I am liking all sorts of terrible things privately inside my heart.

This is the best one probably:
https://hellsite-yano.tumblr.com/post/689398285466730496/itshighjuniper-supreme-leader-stoat

At some point during the pandemic I completely lost my political grounding. Buying a house helped me learn about the politics behind real estate and taxes and insurance, which pushed me in an even stranger direction. Also, since I now teach at UPenn, I've been having a lot of interesting conversations with Wharton students (ie, business school students, most of whom take my classes because they like anime). I'm still very much on the side of equity and social justice, but I'm so far off the political spectrum that I'm not sure what to call myself anymore.

Memes about Shinzo Abe will always be funny, though. Always.

If that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, here's a wholesome photoset about Sri Lanka:
https://tehtariks.tumblr.com/post/689346611035455488/sri-lankan-protestors-throwing-a-pool-party-at

Houseplant Postcard

One of the creative projects I've been working on for an embarrassing amount of time is a houseplant-themed design for a postcard. I just finished it and posted it on Tumblr (here). It didn't turn out the way I expected, so I don't think I'm going to print it.

I recently read something on Tumblr to the effect of "you don't need to work on personal projects that don't spark joy." And I understand what this person is trying to say, but "what sparks joy" is a complicated issue for me, especially when it comes to visual art. Like, my houseplant postcard design does not spark joy. The concept sparked joy at one point, but the actual process of creating it took a long time. Finishing it was entirely a matter of discipline. More joy would have been sparked if the final image were more pleasing to my eyes.

In the end, that's what it comes down to: I would be happier with my art if it looked better. So I decided to drop $100 on an online class:

Illustrating Florals with Libby Frame
https://class101.co/products/62b4c49d48f2a4001598ffc4

I tend to think online art classes are maybe a bit of a scam. This especially holds true for this service, whose classes are only available for a limited period of time - meaning that you more or less have to follow the class in real time before the videos are taken offline. That being said, I really like this artist (who drew some fantastic Nintendo princess fan art for me back in the day), and at this point I'm willing to try anything to get better.