Tulip Exhibit + Misc.
Goodbye, Humans. Hello, Tulip!
It’s up! Truly grateful for the help of Atrium 916 staff for helping me put up artwork during a heatwave (thanks, Laurel!) and handling sales, etc.
Please note that Atrium 916 closes early during extreme heat! There’s no AC!
This is my second-ever solo art gallery exhibit! I unfortunately do not have any photographic evidence of the first one, but I assure you it was very cool.
And no photos or video yet… I got distracted GETTING A PARKING TICKET lmao I had set an alarm for when parking enforcement hours began, but I almost never hear or feel the alarm even if my phone is in my pocket -_-;;;
Things that I’ve learned during the Tulip series:
Tulips aren’t native to North America, but they’re not invasive either.
Tulips were at one point bred to be DISEASED for their fashionable appearances.
One of my best friend’s favorite flowers is the tulip.
There is a huge tulip festival in Ottawa, Canada every year to commemorate when Canadians helped liberate the Netherlands from fascists and Nazis during WWII.
One of my district councilmember’s staffers has some of my tulip art in her office!
One of local radio station K-ZAP’s DJ’s (who is also in the neighborhood) has some of my tulip art as well!
Also, two of my friends have made Tulip fanart and I LOVE IT.
Misc.
Currently listening to: Melissa Carper, Bob Vylan, The Globs
Currently reading: The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Vol. One (by Kent Monkman & Gisèle Gordon), The Hero of Ages (by Brandon Sanderson)
I try to send out letters to friends about once a month (I’m extremely avoidant when it comes to actually putting mail in a mailbox).
The whole process of writing (I do a bulk letter that I print out and sometimes write additional notes on), selecting and cutting out stickers (fun!), sealing, stamping, and addressing them takes roughly 3 hours in total! I hate the sealing, stamping, and addressing part, but I really enjoy the whole process. I like that it’s tactile and I’m not looking at a screen.
It’s extremely rare for me to get any letters back (｡•́︿•̀｡), but I know that people always appreciate getting cool, unexpected things in the mail and I feel a sense of satisfaction and determination from this small act of kindness😎
It’s also satisfying to know that no company is directly profiting off of manipulating or selling the content contained in my letters… so I think.
Anyway, I think the postal service and public library systems are some of the greatest government-run programs and I will USE THEM to prove they are useful.
Bird news: Several years ago we adopted Walter the parakeet, and then a year later we adopted Karl the cockatiel. Karl was hand-raised, so he’s more familiar with humans and tamer (but ultimately a teenager and a dingus). Walter is straight up a wild parrot and is filled with natural bird survival anxiety.
[Adopt, don’t shop. And don’t breed!!! Let parrots live in the wild, not contained in your home. They should be free to fly miles upon miles in their natural habitats and socialize with their own species.]
Anyway, when we brought Karl home, we were hoping having another bird around might help Walter “come out of his cage.” Well, it took several years and he’s hopefully got several more years in him, but Walter has achieved the following in the last year or so:
Sometimes comes out of the cage of his own volition if we leave it open for him.
Will try to interact with Karl, but neither of them know how to interact with each other. Karl is larger than Walter, but much more scared of Walter. Karl’s reaction to fear is to attack. Walter sometimes defends, but he also will go straight up to Karl anyway.
Walter is smart enough to keep his beak shut if we’re trying to administer meds directly to his mouth lol
Walter will now at least eat food from a spoon or plate that we hold up to him. This is HUGE. He’s still terrified when he does it, but it’s a step.
Walter will actually play with his toys sometimes. I believe he learned how to do this from Karl because before he would just sit there and not touch anything or explore.
Walter has also become very good at imitating Karl’s sounds. Fortunately, he hasn’t imitated any human speech. Parakeets imitating human speech is kind of terrifying and spooky.
Social media news
It’s STILL really excellent to not be on social media. Several of the people I know have been off social media for a while or at least starting this year and we’re all extremely satisfied.
It felt very lonely to be on social media. I would know everything about what friends and family were doing, but never actually know them. Now I’m hanging out more with people (still a little perilous during eternal pandemic, but I’ll task the risk), doing more art with people, and overall my quality of life is much better. All of my previous social media dopamine/seratonin needs are fulfilled by learning languages in Duolingo, reading books, doing art, spending quality time with people, and listening to music.
Highly recommend getting tf off social media (AT LEAST delete the apps from your phone if you don’t delete or deactivate your accounts).
However, the one thing I do miss is my neighborhood FB group (it was very wholesome, but also sometimes the drama was funny)~~~~