chimney_swipe | Recent Entries

Hey and welcome to my journal! Let's see, what can I say about myself? Firstly, I'm very interested in meeting other people who journal. Sounds vague, I know. I just really appreciate journals, both reading them and writing them. I find journals to be some of the most authentic and beautiful of written forms! Haha. I kinda miss the days when I used a journal regularly online and I had journals to read. I dunno, man. I just like journals! I'll try to stay updated, here. Subject matter here will likely include: my own stresses and anxieties, mundane details, gardening, farming, music, travel, maybe art or writing.

As for me, personally. I'm an artist, a writer, a musician, a gardener, a traveler. i dunno, what else, a whittler? haha. jack of all trades. I have my own worlds and characters and a few comic projects/stories in the works. this stuff will probably be "in the works" for my entire life and, who knows, I might even post some of it here. I play old-time and folk music (banjo, guitar, fiddle) and I do a little messing around with music production on the computer.

If I've added you randomly I probably found you during a search for active users with similar interests. No obligation to follow me back or grant me access of course!

Feel free to subscribe, comment, etc!

If you want to visit me in other places, here are some links:
my home page: http://showquestlog.unsatisfiedjalapeno.com/
twitter: https://twitter.com/r_kioti
tumblr general: https://chimneyswipe.tumblr.com/
tumblr art: https://wardarts.tumblr.com/
discord: showquestlog#6642

I'll talk to pretty much anyone about anything if I'm available.

I wanted to share this here because, why not! I feel like a lot of people who joined the Midnight Coffee forum saw the link here, so I'll post the link to the discord server here, as well. It's low pressure, of course. No one has to feel obligated to talk in there, lurking is fine, haha. But yeah, you certainly SHOULD feel free to talk in there, about anything! I'll respond to stuff people say for sure even if the overall server isn't super active. Anyhow, go for it if you use discord:

discord.gg/TrVf8Kb4cW

I tried to put this under a cut but no matter what I do it doesn't seem to want to do it...? Not sure why. So, NO CUT! Unless you all see a cut that I don't see...

Here is the initial block that I cut to a vaguely dog-like shape with the band saw. The band saw!! My previous carvings took hours because I wasn't using it. I didn't even know I could use it. I knew that carving would be a learning curve because I don't know how to use the tools efficiently, yet. Adding the band saw really shaved (no pun intended) a lot of time off of this process. I'm not great with it yet, though, and I accidentally shaved too much of a concave shape for the chest,front legs. I decided I didn't care and I would move forward with it anyway:

Here is the first stage of smoothing the shape into something more organic:

Second round:

Third pass of smoothing/shaping. I accidentally almost cut off the dog's back leg, heh. I gues that is a risk with carving. Put in a lot of time and then accidentally destroy it at the last minute. I guess painting and drawing can be that way, too... haha.

I'll probably work on it a little more, get the ear shapes more organic, etc. I'm overall happy with it despite the weird shape of the chest/front legs. If I hadn't shaved off too much of that area I bet I'd be happy with it! The band saw has given me some new confidence, I think. It was much faster getting to this point and easier on the burrs and knives. I'm going to paint it to look like my friend's dog, heh.

I really want to carve a kitsune, heee. And I might try to replicate a few stuffed animals I have, using them as reference.

If anyone is a gamer, this week's free game at epic game store is a really beautiful and peaceful game called "Spirit of the North" where you're a realistic little red fox exploring the world with the help of a fox spirit, and you slowly but surely putting vaguely conceptual wrongs to right. like, you find staffs on the ground and return them to human skeletons in the area and their spirits come out of the skeleton, express gratitude, and fade away. sometimes they do cool things for you like open doors. anyhow, it's very peaceful and meditative and pretty. :>

Day 01 – Introduce yourself
Day 02 – Your first love, in great detail
Day 03 – Your parents, in great detail
Day 04 – What you ate today, in great detail
Day 05 – Your definition of love, in great detail
Day 06 – Your day, in great detail
Day 07 – Your best friend, in great detail
Day 08 – A moment, in great detail
Day 09 – Your beliefs, in great detail
Day 10 – What you wore today, in great detail
Day 11 – Your siblings, in great detail
Day 12 – What’s in your bag, in great detail
Day 13 – This week, in great detail
Day 14 – What you wore today, in great detail
Day 15 – Your dreams, in great detail
Day 16 – Your first kiss, in great detail
Day 17 – Your favorite memory, in great detail
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 – Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 – This month, in great detail
Day 21 – Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 – Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 – A first, in great detail
Day 26 – Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 – Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 – Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 – Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 – One last moment, in great detail

My week in great detail.

Ok, this is actually going to be difficult. I should have looked ahead to see this was coming and maybe taken some notes on my week, but, uh, I did not do that. I think maybe I can sum it up in as much detail as possible.

The mornings have been spent in much the same way each day. I got up between 7:30 and 8:30, mostly because the pups are on an early schedule and they start milling around and trying to get me up at that hour. It's fine, I like getting up early. I have my coffee with the pups in the yard, in my hammock, and read my wolf books! It's a great way to wake up. slowly getting to the end of "reign of wolf 21". i think i'm drawing it out purposely because i don't want it to end. but all things end! i just really love my morning ritual of getting coffee and reading my wolf books in the hammock with the pups playing in the yard around me. it's been great.

On Sunday I was drawing. I've been really into the band Los Incas' early recordings and listening to the old albums a lot. It's been a nice resurgence of interest in Peruvian music. I've been a nerd for Peruvian/Inca music for years and years, maybe even since I was in high school. Mom bought a CD from a flute band she saw at a mall and since it was one of the few CDs I owned I listened to it a lot. I didn't just listen to it out of desperation, I actually really liked it. Anyhow... I've also been stewing with the idea of drawing animal characters. Maybe somewhere between human-ish anthros and actual realism. I drew a South American animal called a Zorro (it's not a fox and it's not a dog, but it's somewhere in between. they only exist in south america). So anyhow, I drew that on Sunday which was fun. I also painted the little Cassidy carving, heh.

Monday was amazing weather. Overcast, thundery, yet it didn't rain. I remember thinking this was one of the most beautiful late summer weather days I could imagine. I walked around taking some photos, here are the chickens:

Otherwise we worked on a rush project, trying to get a gutter up on the house before it rained, which was complicated for various construction reasons... heh. I'm too exasperated by it to type to type it all up, but yes.

Tuesday was spent working on the sunroom of the house. Cutting lots of wood for trim, using the router table, preparing areas for trim. I think I worked on the doors, mostly. I don't remember too many other details of this day, augh! I cut the grass with the riding mower which is actually kinda fun and I don't mind doing it. Listened to music in my old noise-canceling headphones which was nice. It's good to have a use for those old things. Also been using them while carving.

Wednesday morning I called my mom, it just felt like a good time and I hadn't talked to her in a week. It was a good conversation. Wednesday was also a catch up day for my music review job. They've been having issues and I don't know if the business is failing or amping up. They shut down the contract for a while, meanwhile music was coming in. They had the radio show shut down and everything. They opened the contract back up on UPwork and I caught up on all the work. The contract was then shut down again, so... I'm suspicious. We'll see what happens.

Thursday I spent time working on my van, actually. I've been half-ass dreading it because, well, if it doesn't work out I'll be fucked? But it actually did work out, at least... the part I did. I haven't finished working on it. I took off the compressor, which should have been easy but for one bolt that was stuck as shit. I was pretty scared it was going to break. But it didn't... finally got it out... and underneath the compressor I found the missing electrical connector! Fuck yes. So that means part of the mystery is solved. Now I just need to find the right sensor online, buy it, and fuck with getting the old one out... which might actually be really hard. WEgh. At least I've gotten started and the first part of the repair has gone well.

Friday was another day spent entirely on the trim in the sunroom. Floor trim, and caulking. It all takes quite a while to do. At this point we are down to the details and I am the one doing most of it. Next I will have to finish up some details and paint. One of these days I went to town for groceries and such, also got me a new pop-socket which I mentioned already, hell yeah. And a pint of pumpkin spice ice cream, which I already ate all of by the time I've written this. But it was good. I need all the autumn shit I can get my hands on.

Today was work in the room and cooking a large vegetable stew for the next few days. I think the trim is pretty much done, now, and the next part will be painting the trim and touching up the walls. Ok, I kinda lied. I still have to do two pieces of crown molding and a little bit around one window. But I've put it off because it's weird and I have to plan it out more than a typical situation. But I'm getting there. I also have to cut all of the wood from raw strips using a circular saw and table saw, and this is annoying. I just want someone to hand me some trim so I can slap it up, why do I have to MAKE it?? arrh. On the other hand it is cool that I CAN make it... so there's that.

Otherwise I've been using my free time to draw, play ESO, read, listen to music, and play with my pups. made a new character in ESO. yes, another wolf themed character, haha. a high elf with a white mohawk and yellow eyes. he's a necromancer and two-handed tank. probably the most fun build i've done, yet. he is named "virden" after one of the great outlaw wolves of american history. the virden wolf evaded and tormented trappers during the massacre of wolves in the mid 1800's to early 1900's. but yeah, no, i'm not a nerd or anything.

there are THREE members in the forum!! (；ﾟДﾟ)
Ok, two if I don't count myself.
joooiinnnn noowwwww..... ヾ(*❦ω❦)ノ

Quick post here as a question to anyone who is reading this:

Are there any good writing prompt communities out there? Or drawing/art prompt communities for that matter.

I realize that I do really well with prompts. It won't often occur to me to write or draw anything out of the blue, but I think it would be cool if I joined a community that provides prompts every so often. I'll keep looking, myself. I feel like it's been hard to find one that isn't fandom specific or just drabble prompts, but I haven't spent that much time looking yet. Just thought I'd ask. :>

done gone stole it cause it seemed fun, heh.

Put your music player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty songs.
Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-first song is the title.

"I can see that lone star from a thousand miles away"

you can put all your faith in me
all along the river
Dear dirty London in the pouring rain
Boys workin' on empty
Cam Ye O'Er Frae France

Green grows the lily, oh
It's gone cold, it's horrible weather
Well, I see ya standing there like a rabid dog
Hang on for the ride
Clear your tears and dry your eyes

Shining light
Sometimes I wonder why god put me on this earth
Like in a dream we once had
It happened one summer, it happened one time
My name is Joe Roberts

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Laughing vampires dance
all have seen foreboding nights
I just can't get you out of my head
Sleep bonnie barn within the castle

I mean... it actually kinda works? I dunno, haha. The last line confuses me. I wonder if that's actually what the song says... I can't hear it very clearly and all the internet sources say "barn", hmm. she could be saying "bard" which sounds way cooler... Ok, I've clearly put too much time into this when I have other things to do, hahah. But that was fun.

This morning I dreamed of a curly haired woman. We were talking. I thought she reminded me of that singer, LP. When I woke up I immediately thought it was Ellie, and then I sat around with my coffee wondering if I should just leave her hair as it was. Lately I've experimented with drawing her hair more wavy or straight and even buzzed. For years it was tightly curled and short. Well, if that was her, and that's how she showed herself... maybe I should just keep her hair curly??? Shit. Augh. The pressure. She doesn't show up for two more pages, so I guess I have some time to think about it.

As for the site... there are a few sections with nothing posted, yet, but... it exists! I have three pages up. The fourth is mostly done, I just have to edit it. There are rough sketches for a few pages going forward. Any feedback is appreciated, be it constructive or positive or negative!

X-Circuit !!!

I was thinking yesterday, while tilling in the garden, that I should get back to just casually sharing things that I like. Appreciation posts, I guess. I dunno. This was a thing I used to do all the time back in the day. I guess the internet felt different then, somehow or another. These days it feels like throwing a pebble into a raging river. There's a small chance that anything you share will be seen at all, and even if it is, it will disappear immediately. I mean, I actually kinda enjoy that, I do. I love anonymity and having the freedom to not exist. But I guess I've lost interest in sharing things online for that reason, too. There's an apathetic "what's the point" approach to the internet, for me, these days. I don't know if that's really a bad thing or not, but it is what it is. Anyhow, that is the reason I created a Dreamwidth account, anyway. To slow down, take time with posts, and take time to write posts I want to share. Even if no one really sees it except for a handful, that's decent!

ANYHOW after that long rant... I was thinking about Lior Shoov and Anne Kaempf in the garden yesterday. Their artistic and inspirational companionship, shrouded in mystery, and long since ended. I was really into everything they made, back in 2016 I think. Thereabouts. I dunno. Anyhow, I still get into their videos sometimes and feel the need to share them. So here is an appreciation post!

Watch on YouTube

I really do wonder what happened between them. I wonder why they don't really create together anymore. I like to imagine that they grew a lot together. At first it was a magical whirlwind of music, affection, exploration, love. Perhaps that whirlwind died down and their dynamic began to feel somewhat troubled. Maybe one or both of them felt as if they weren't growing as artists anymore and needed personal space. They parted ways for a time with the intent to come together again. They actually did come together again for a while. But I suppose maybe they had changed too much in that time apart, growing freely and wildly in different directions. Finally they decided, for now, we will have no plans of coming together again. I imagine they had their disagreements, differences, and even heated arguments. maybe they grew to feel annoyed with each other's expressions and affectations. Who knows. It's all a mystery and most of what I know about them is imagined.There are no tabloids about Lior and Anne. Only the art.