And all through the condo I was breathing a sigh of relief over not taking part this year.
Honestly, I’m looking forward to having a bunch of free time for other stuff in November. There may be a cure for my writing ills, but the last few years suggest to me that the cure is not National Novel Writing Month.
It feels a bit weird sitting out for the first time in ten years (!), but it also feels right. And nice.
Now to maybe write something without the pressure of 1,667 words per day…
My first idea was a laundry hamper full of stinky socks. My second thought was a giant watermelon. Then a bunch of bananas.
Inexorably I ended up drawing a sweaty but athletic gum gum person.
Some personal Inktober Fun Facts™:
I often found little mistakes or things I didn’t like in sketches, but never went back to fix them over the course of the month, with one exception–the prompt for INJURED is different on this blog than the original posted to Instagram. I fixed the arms and head because it just ended up bugging me every time I looked at them.
Overall, this was a fun experience. Much like discovering outdoor photography last year thanks to a kidney infection, I chose to do this at the last minute and am pleasantly surprised to have stuck to it.
Now I have to decide if I keep drawing and if so, what do I draw? An endless parade of gum gum people? Possibly!
Originally he was going to catch a fish but I couldn’t draw a fish I liked and didn’t want to cheat with reference. So I made it a hand grenade instead. I swear the pin is still in.
Yes, it’s fair to say that October was more like Fatober, as I took up eating as a full-time hobby, while at the same time running less due to it getting dark by the time I got home from work and lacking super-spiffy night vision to allow me to run in the dark like a bat. If bats ran. Also, I think they use radar or something, anyway.
So yes, this past month was a disaster for weight loss, even allowing for the start of the month being unusually high, which should have given me an advantage. It did not.
In November I’m hoping we finish converting the spare bedroom into a combo computer/workout room with a treadmill. This will not only allow me to keep running through the winter, it will allow me to run any time at all, which might possibly encourage me to run a bit more. It could happen!
Also, I’m going to try a variation on the no-snacking rule: I can snack all I want on any given day, as long as I burn the same or greater amount of calories through exercise (not everyday activity, actual recorded exercise). We’ll see how well this goes come Fatvember. Er, November.
The lard-filled stats:
October 1: 165 pounds
October 31: 169.1 pounds (up 4.1 pounds) (note: ay caramba)
Year to date: From 167.5 to 169.1 pounds (up 1.6 pounds)
And the body fat:
October 1: 18.4% (30.3 pounds of fat)
October 31: 18.5% (31.2 pounds of fat) (up 0.9 pounds)
Headline from a CBC News story:
People are now literally dying for likes. Or confirming their affiliation with their favorite social media echo chamber before going splat.
But I refuse to believe that amusing cat images have resulted in road deaths. It’s too terrible to even contemplate.
Speaking of amusing cat images, here’s a bonus one:
Happy ‘n hurt.
I did not use reference for the skateboard and moved/adjusted the wheels approximately five million times. But gum gum people!
A red rose on the New Westminster Quay. I just like that these are still in bloom less than a week from November.
In which a paintbrush takes the job into its own, er, hand?
This one should have been easy, but stumped me so much I was a day late. In the end I started with an entirely black background (dark, get it?) then waited to see what I’d do next. Spooky eyes, as it turns out. If I had come up with this idea right away, it would have been my quickest sketch, by far.
Mmm, cake.
Still more gum gum people and I need lessons on how to draw shadows.
