After some consideration, tinkering, and general messing about, I’m pleased to confirm that Niceferatu.net is real! It’s just a place for my comic posts. It’s not a very good comic—but hey, at least I’m trying.
This project is mainly to help me improve my drawing skills, with the hope of one day creating something more longform (like The Denouement novel, but as a comic).
Anyway, this should keep dandelion-utilitarian.com safe from being overrun by badly drawn and very dry vampire comics.
I’ve transitioned both Dandelion-utilitarian.com and hexdsl.com to the Dandelion-utilitarian.net platform, powered by Micro.blog. This may sound a bit complex, but simply put, I’m a huge fan of Micro.blog and believe it’s the ideal platform for consolidating my content. While those of you who enjoyed the WordPress site might have mixed feelings about this change, I think it’s a better fit given my reduced focus on videos and other online activities. Micro.
I remember watching a Batman movie and hearing Alfred say something that stuck with me. It wasn’t even a good Batman movie—if I recall correctly, it was the 1997 offering, Batman & Robin. The film itself doesn’t matter, but the words did. I remember them as: “A gentleman never discusses his health or finances.”
I’m almost certain this wasn’t an original Alfred-ism but rather a phrase with Edwardian roots. Still, it resonated with me, and over the years, it became something of a guideline—not with close friends or family, but in everyday interactions.
hmmmm link between dandelion-utilitarian dot come and dot net seems to have broken. Can’t actually remember how that works. i think friend Wing did something to fix it but honestly, don’t recall. Though, I’m getting on so well with micro blog, I may just switch the whole site over to it.
I think I’m warming to StageManager on MacOS, I’m going to give it another spin in iPadOS, see if I can embrace that life. 😄
I Had an excellent evening of writing. It’s been about a week since I have managed to gather the focus required but I am starting to feel more like myself and generally returning to my usual Zen-like state. I will likely feel more equipped to return to usual activities in a few days.
Also, drafted a blog about health, moods, and personal goals. I’ll proofread it tomorrow and post it. If I think its worthwhile once I go through it again
The ghost sat alone in his chair as it slowly spun in the ambient draft of the cold office. He was contemplating the wasted hours spent playing video games, making videos, and trying to build a community. The ghost was alone because the body he had once been attached to was currently out in the world. He didn’t care where—it could have been anywhere, really. The ghost gave no thought to where the body had gone, only that it was absent.
The ghost dragged the mouse around the desk like a caveman dragging a rock along the wall of a cave to make rudimentary artistic etchings. The ghost had far less lofty goals; he simply scrolled through Reddit for a bit and then checked in on some of the more problematic social networks. After a while, feeling ghastly, the ghost decided to check the comments on his ghost-ship of a YouTube channel. The ghost still cared about the channel—the remnants of things that could have been. He reflected on the fact that he had once been a quadruple-Z-list internet person of interest. He wanted to feel good about that, to reclaim some of the faded glory and paint it onto his ghostly form in hopes of using it to become a body of his own—maybe even become somebody.
When I was a kid, chess appeared to be a game of magic. The mere concept of it captivated me. However, I must admit that this fascination was partly because of my limited exposure to the game, as I had primarily learned about chess through cartoon magicians, old fantasy movies, and this one artefact in my home.
The artefact in question was a small table, far too short to be useful. It was crafted from dark brown wood and had ornate, wavey legs. The top was so shiny that it resembled glass to me—it was a glossy, polished wooden chessboard. I distinctly remember that it lifted up to reveal a green felt lining that held the delicate chess pieces safe.
I have since been assured by my mother that the chess table was an ugly old thing with a loose leg and plastic chess pieces. It wasn’t highly polished at all; it was just slightly shiny because it was plastic on the top.
My dad taught me the basics of the game, although I don’t recall him ever having any interest in it. From what I understand, the table was more of a common early eighties home decoration than a sign of enthusiasm for the game. I had a feeling it was more often used to hold wine glasses it was than used to play on.
I have no idea what happened to that old table. It might be somewhere in the spider-infested loft of my home, but I’m not brave enough to embark on that quest.
LumaFusion is a video editing application, and in my experience, it’s pretty good. But what really blows me away is that it’s an example of a truly platform-agnostic app—at least within the Apple ecosystem.
I purchased it on my iPad (a 13 inch M2 iPad Air) for around £30. My main use case is editing short animation clips and using a proper video editor to manage transitions and link them together.
Humans make things. Whether this creative urge is unique to us or a common trait among all species that reach our level of social and technological development remains a mystery. It is also worth noting that the creative urge does not exist in all members of our species. Many people are perfectly content watching Netflix and eating cereal out of a box. Strangely, there has never been societal pressure to be creative. There is pressure to get a job and pay bills, get an education, and shower from time to time. But failing to find motivation to create does not cause any social issues at all.
Most of my friends create things. I know artists, coders, tinkerers, and writers. Most people in my life are working on a “project” or some other general creative task. I enjoy getting updates on their creations, even when I don’t entirely follow what they’re working on. There is something absolutely wonderful about listening to someone talk about what they are making. There’s an intimate passion that oozes from them when they speak of their “work.”
I have never thought of myself as creative—which is strange, considering my major pastime is writing fiction. I have published books, novellas, blogs, and even videos, and I have been doing so for years. I love storytelling. Writing has been the best way for me to do it.
