Hello again! Thank you for opening and reading this email. It is not part of a secret plot to convince you to change your views about … anything. I’ve given up on trying to change peoples minds. I’m a stubborn so and so. You probably are too.

These Days …

One of the things I’m less stubborn about these days is going to the doctor. My back decided to object to my current activities last Thursday (9/23) morning. I’d worked a thirteen hour day on Wednesday. I carried my route and a third of another route. Amazon sent us lots of large heavy parcels.I had come home tired and sore but not feeling injured. I felt quite different the next day. My back didn’t like it when I stood up. It didn’t like it when I walked around the house. It didn’t like it when I tried to bend over. If it hadn’t already been my scheduled day off I would have called in sick.

I did call in sick on Friday. And again on Saturday. The pain got less and my mobility improved but not enough for me to be willing to risk stressing it out again.I have a back brace and I wore it each day. I had Sunday off as usual. I called in sick on Monday and went to see a doctor. I know myself well enough to think maybe I was hurt worse than I thought I was.

The doctor told me that he doesn’t think I have any permanent damage but he recommended that I the rest of the week off. And do exercises to strengthen my back. I didn’t argue.The doctor’s office had given me L&I paperwork when I’d said my injury was job related. I took that paperwork to my station to get it more fully filled out and to start any other paperwork that was going to be expected. And. of course. there was more paperwork. I had to write out a statement describing how and where I got injured. I kept getting asked if I remembered a specific address where I’d started to feel pain.

“All of them,” would not have been a useful answer. “When I started having to deliver big bags of dog food and heavy boxes of cat litter on a daily basis”, would also not have been considered pertinent. Finally, after a couple of calls to HR they decided that the date of the injury was enough for the form I was filling out.

So this week I’ve been home. Today is the first day of one of the vacations I scheduled at the beginning of the year. I’m off until for another ten days. I mostly rested this week. Next week I’ve got to do those exercises so I’m ready when I go back to work.

Transmission 7

Wilhelmina Grace felt the quiet of this place differently than the quiet of her previous destination. The quiet, the stillness here, was one of passing. This place felt old and tired. It wasn’t lifeless but clearly life had slowed down.

She listened. There were sounds. She heard rustles in the debris near her feet. She heard something scamper through the foliage behind her. From far, far away came the rhythmic thud of a something gigantic taking a stroll. 

Schoolhouse Growl

I attended Analy High School in Sebastopol, California back in the 20th Century. Sebastopol was and is a small town. Apparently it’s either getting smaller or there just aren’t as many kids living there these days because enrollment at both Analy and its rival, El Molino, has fallen to the point that the two schools are being consolidated. Both schools will cease to exist and a new, joint temple of learning will rise from the ashes. That seems to have been the theory and intention of the current school board. In practice, a lot of current parents and alumni are pissed off. There have apparently angry school board meetings and recall attempts and shenanigans with Analy’s wikipedia page.

I had some good times at Analy. I met wonderful people who were and are still important in my life. A name change isn’t going to erase that. But people are upset so when a friend commissioned me to create unifying image for the schools I agreed. She asked for an illustration combining the mascots of El Molina (the Lion) and Analy (the Tiger). Below is my first, black and white stab at that.

I’ve gotten fond of circular designs. They work well for stickers and buttons and t-shirts so that was how I focused the next stage of the design.

My friend checked with actual El Molino and Analy students to get their imput. I’m generally wary of “design by committee” but I’m too distanced from the situation to have a strong opinion. I used those (and later) comments to shape the image. The response was that the first design looked too much like just a tiger.

Differentiating the stripe colors helped but still the commentary was, “it looks like a tiger. It needs a bigger mane.”

I abandoned the straight circular design. At my friend’s suggestion I gave the critter blue and red eyes. Blue and white are Analy’s colors. Red and black are El Molino’s.

We got commentary that the critter was still leaning too far toward tiger. I was asked to lengthen the mane and reduce the stripes in said mane. It took me a couple of passes to get what the kids were looking for. Below is the final version.

The above design is available on schtuff in my Redbubble store. The earlier circular version is also still available. I like it so I’m keeping it around.

Shop Talk

The above mascot is just one of the commissions I’ve been working on lately. I’ll showcase those that I can in future newsletters. I’m continuing to update older images and work on new designs for my shops, just at a slower pace. If you’re one of those folks who uses old school physical calendars please check out the Mighty Nizz calender at my Zazzle store. It’s fourteen images of a wild child and her furry hat. 

Thank you again for reading. I hope life in your part of the world is treating you well. Remember to drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep. See you next week!