How to: Easy homemade spice fragrance and flavor oleoresin collection with Wisesorb Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals.

 I’ve come across a novel concept, in extending the use case scenario, in my studies and observations regarding chaparral plants of California, in the case of implementing Wisesorb’s Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals - not only as a desiccant, yet I’ve found that it seems to bind spice | herb oleoresins to the structure of the silica particles.

Wisesorb Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals, image courtesy of Amazon and Wisesorbent Technologies.

What does this mean, in particular?

Within the world of spices, I imagine that I would update this blog article, in days and weeks to come (I started on this project idea at the end of February, 2023) with exciting developments in detailing a rather simple and relatively labor and machinery-free method of processing fresh plant material in to an accessible pure oleoresin, which can be observed as in the image below:

A closeup of Wisesorb Silica Gel crystals with some fresh spice herb material and bits of oleoresin.

What an exciting thing to observe, for a fragrance and flavor enthusiast, perhaps with the added feature of bearing an artisanal crafting aspiration, in manufacturing ingredient concentrates from scratch. Imaginably, from this point, I could keep loading the silica gel crystals up with fresh spice herb materials until a satisfactory amount of oleoresin had built up in the crystals, at which point, I could perform a simple solvent extraction, of my choosing, of such, dependent, perhaps, upon the plant’s best reputed solvent, determined per species of harvested plant. In this instance, I came across a fresh, minty, mesquite-smelling chaparral plant in my local commonplace whereabouts.

Update: my backpack with this project, started, in it, had been stolen from me, so I can not currently continue this blog article. Hopefully, some day, I’ll be able to come back to it.

iPigeon.institute 2023 classroom and activity ideas.

• Musicianship and Introductory Piano - learning to sing, and rhythmic training. Learning to sight read music.
• Illustration - Ink brush coloring and illustrations. Color theory, rudimentary figure (animals, nature) drawings.
• Track and Field - Running / jogging exercises. Stretching techniques. Physical health routines.
• Nutrition - Demonstrate how to barbecue. How to cook rice and egg. Nutrition lessons - 4 food groups, nutrition theory. Alternative diets (raw). 
• Journaling - Scrapbooking, Typography / handwriting - choosing a font. Bullet Journaling. Page layout and Design.
• Botany - Learning to plant seeds in pots. Plant identification. (Fruit or Flower tree planting?) / community garden. Preserving flowers and leaves (press-method).
• Agriculture lessons - Chicken egg incubator. Animal care - livestock feeding techniques. Genealogy of Poultry and Game Birds.
• Computer Skills - Hand / eye coordination and identification / discernment training. Keyboard navigation on desktop / laptop computer. 
• Sustainability - Compost heap. Community service (leadership) and the ecology. Accessibility - pedestrian safety. Noise and light pollution.

Christmas lights wire art, powered by USB, for example. Available on Amazon. An unexpectedly “way” to dry clothes up, a bit, wow! - USB wired Christmas lights. Who would have thought?

My latest (February) 2023 art release(s) - 🏝️ Tropical effect! (Updating)

 

What a great effect, right? It’s a 2-part composite image, essentially, with an Adobe Photoshop Kaleidoscope effect (I think), with a white background ink brush illustration with glitch effect, as a separate top layer, with luminosity layer effect applied, in Adobe Illustrator, and then I played around with the opacity, a bit, and maybe some work with Vectorization of the top layer, to achieve layer and vector-bits independence, from the underlying kaleidoscope (or Collider, maybe) background layer. 

It’s got the same glitchy effect that we all know and love, from recent years’ popularization, on mobile devices, and in marketing imagery, as well as pop culture uses of the glitch effect, such as in effect-sy music videos. 

Here’s Adobe’s informational and instructional page on the various ways to make the Glitch effect happen. 

I call it “Tropical,” I guess, if I had to name it, and it’s got all the features of glitch (color aberration version) about it, with the color palette blown out, in full glory, and some organic variety, given the collider / kaleidoscope background. Here’s the background image I used, in case you don’t have access to Adobe Photoshop on a Desktop or Laptop computer, and you want to recreate this effect. You will need (I think) Adobe Illustrator, in some form - I made this happen on an iPad Pro (2022 model). 

 

 

Product Review - Maison Margiela “Replica:” Jazz Club - Eau de Toilette.

This time, I tried out an unexpected “newcomer” fragrance. 

I hadn’t heard of Maison Margiela, prior to showing up at Nordstrom, out at the Del Amo Fashion Center, where I’d intended to show up to purchase Jo Malone’s Myrrh and Tonka - Cologne Intense (currently $160-$220 USD), as a departure from men’s fragrances I’d already tried, and loved, such as Dior Homme ($95-$175 USD - 1.7-6.7 oz.) or Viktor and Rolf Spicebomb ($134, 3.04 oz.). Prior to showing up, I’d tried to pore over exactly what I was trying to get at, here and there, in maintaining a fragranced personal profile, for people (not really) - the thought had come up, in my mind, as a suggestion, after all. Sure, Myrrh and Tonka smells great, but was it beyond something I could reasonably mix up, myself, somewhat, if I’d just purchased various component ingredients, myself? On one hand, Tonka bean is a bit of a contentious ingredient, being that it is potentially toxic. After the fact (of my purchase), I got some feedback on things. Supposedly, the toxins had been painstakingly researched and studied, as far as the end product fragrance composition, in question, and they’d duly been removed, from the consumer fragrance product - not all that far-fetched, to suppose. 

Then, at the men’s fragrance rack, at Nordstrom, the merchandising display winds up being a different story. I chose to do retail, at a department store, for one thing, for the sake of the fact that they have an on-site testing and auditioning space and capability, as far as product offerings, in fragrance - it’s something that e-commerce solutions, as far as branching out, in to something new, can - at times, be lacking in, resulting in purchases that lead to buyer’s remorse, perhaps, or a lack of diversification, which can wear down on things; concepts such as innovation. On the bottom of the fragrance rack, there were these products, named Replica, as a brand, which I had never heard of, before. I figured - “hmm… Replica? As though they might, somewhat, be fairly high-end aiming, (somewhat) bargain alternatives (at $150 USD, for 3.4 fl. oz.) to the more high-end and more well-established luxury lines, such as Jo Malone - in this case, I’d say that this brand is a bit of a newcomer, at Nordstrom, out here, whereas Creed products, far more expensive, which were placed at the top of the same section, on the same part of the fragrance rack, Jo Malone, right below, and some other brand, next one down, with Replica products seated at the bottom of the rack. My analytical mind had me supposing that perhaps these ones were a viable knock-off sort of thing, or otherwise cheaper alternative product, leading me astray from fulfilling my initial intention, in procuring a new fragrance for myself - so I don’t smell, while I’m out and about, in public, feeding the birds, and such. I do routinely become sweaty, and oh - what a travesty, if I end up smelling bad, as a known pigeon-feeding bum.

This is the product, similarly, as I’d encountered it, as a sample bottle, in-store, at Nordstrom. Maison Margiela’s Replica fragrance line touts itself as a rendition, if you would, upon a notable theme, or experience, per se. I found “Jazz Club” to be a suitable attention-grabbing alternative, given my initial intention to purchase Jo Malone’s Myrrh and Tonka cologne, for a fair sum of money more, on this instance of purchasing a bottle of cologne.

As it turns out, the general field of relevance, contextually - in a sensory sort of consideration, given the two top competitors, here - Myrrh and Tonka versus Jazz Club, I found my choice to wind up being reasonably within a similar olfactory ballpark, with Myrrh and Tonka’s lavender top notes becoming a citrusy and floral theme, with primofiore lemon and neroli, in Jazz Club. In addition, I’d also recently - by turn of fate, been interested in Rum, as a fragrance ingredient - quite expensive, as it turns out, and I feel that it’s a sophisticated ode to myrrh, on one hand, with its complexity and breadth, in a fragrance composition. The unifying features, between either one of them, were the sweet base notes of either one - Tonka bean versus vanilla bean: similar, in an olfactory sense, yet, upon sampling both fragrances in the store, I found Myrrh and Tonka to have a bit, perhaps, too much richness, in the bottom notes, and I felt that I would, at some point, measuring out a use-case scenario, of me being out and about, and sweating, and stuff - of that I’d develop a viciously rich musk about myself - easily offensive, if I ever got lazy, and I’d wind up “not realizing,” so to speak, how I smell, to other people, whereas I found Jazz Club’s features to accommodate the same general aesthetic, while remaining a bit bright, I’d say, as far as the overall effect, of the fragrance, whereas I could layer it with some still-there citrus and woodsy fragrances I have, in small amounts - Eau d’orange verte, by Hermes, and Dior Homme. Together, the trio of the three fragrances is deliciously elegant, like a luxuriantly-enveloped citrus rind, upon close examination, with the middle and base notes becoming more evident, with diffusion, starting at a slight distance, perhaps, with a slighter sniff of the nose. In my fragrance-wearing oeuvre and repertoire, of purchases-past, I’d enjoyed having what I’d say, would amount to a similar citrus-led layering of colognes, such as that the Hermes botanicals line of products would be most suitable - for instance: Eau de Citron Noir had been a recent favorite, with Dior Homme and Spicebomb as my layering choices - quite complex, in that instance. 

After purchasing, I tried on some of my choice, in purchasing, and I found it to have a delightful olfactory sense of that the fragrance imparted a notion of having taken a shower - ostensibly due to an addition of C-12 (I’d sensed - both Lauric Alcohol, as well as Aldehyde C-12; fairly bitter), with Alcohol C-12 (Lauric Alcohol) being the characteristic “just-showered” scent, of all scents, I’d say, and C-12 Aldehyde being a bit controversial for me, since I’m allergic to drinking alcohol, and overall, I found that this fragrance easily affects me with a notable depressive and sedated effect. It was my choice, though, in trying this one out, and perhaps it’s not all that much, to my detriment, overall. I’m trying to do life as representatively (as much as possible) not overly, or obviously, stimulated - it’s simply too cheaply and easily a topic of controversy, and I strive to be an honest role model of sustainability in my enterprise model, so I don’t get thrown out of town - quite literally, that, which could wind up, being the case, for me. I figure - if I take the bottle out, with me, on a walk, and with my ionic mineral carry-along profile, and with my travels equating to some form of milling, further, of the product, the fragrance would, ostensibly, mill out the aldehyde, or I could throw some other stuff in there, since the bottle actually allows for the entire spray top, and “cap” of the bottle, to be removed - allowing for additions, or refills, for example, another ingredient, or entire fragrance, could be put in to this bottle of Jazz Club, thus transforming the presence of this contentious (for me, being allergic to “drinking” alcohol) Aldehyde C-12 ingredient in to something altogether unexpected, and far-removed, sensory-wise, in the fragrance composition, in my experience with aldehyde C-12.

A nice touch, that the bottle’s top is removable, allowing for refills. 

I’ll leave this review, at that, for the time being. Thanks for reading :)

(Abandoned, and cannot update): Analyzing and Comparing the Efficacy of Two Common Learning Methods - Immersion Versus Self-Quizzing.

 Originally published: 09/21/2021

Every now and then, I get quizzed on knowledge base, perceptual acuity , memory tasks of contexts pertaining to occurrences and developments in my life, and of “seemingly” random tidbits of learning, taxonomy, culture, or lore (otherwise), in my remote-sensing environments which happen upon me.

This sort of thing happens on a regular basis. The remote-sensing quorums are attended by various classes and types of individuals, yet commonly, the topic basis is one of a civil complaint against me, and I find myself chronically stressed out, in life, of various sorts of consequences. The pursuit of an ever more leisurely outlook and disposition, in life, is an obvious lure for me, and unfortunately, I find myself deprecating in to former and legacy modes of behaviors, such as seeking novel or imprudent sorts of entertainment online, for example, rather than using my strengths, and building upon gainful and productive aspirations in life. 

 The app I have in mind, in this instance, is a simplistic one, although I would strongly presume that the merits are founded, and sure. 

Why an app? 

Mobile development is an industry that had a significant heyday leading up to the time of the Pandemic, and by all means, it’s an industry that will see growth, to come, as various demographics see a rise and fall in their social and class status underpinnings; I’d suppose that would happen, based on much of the “conjectural” (perceptual?) confessionals and Freudian Slips that I’d been privy to, as we’re all under interrogation by the higher authority, until we become the highest authority, when it comes to a remote sensing tech and lifestyle sort of, uh, lifestyle. 

Within the gold rush timespan, leading up to the era of high-powered mobile device hardware, we saw many shining stars emerge in app development, which fulfilled many of the needed purposes to be seen through in app development in an ever-increasingly more compact, more large if need be; more graphics, higher data throughput and storage capability expectation and demand, on our devices. Activities and pursuits of merit, once confined, largely, to the classroom environment and to libraries, were suitably accommodated and made much more accessible to the layperson of an aspirational creed, who would shrug off the influence of pirating goods (and jailbreaking,, etc.), and go with the program, as far as discovering what was available and being offered through mainstream big tech app stores, offered by Google, Apple, and now Amazon (does Microsoft do an App Store for their mobile devices? I don’t know, off-hand, but I’d assume so). 

The point is,

is that many developers and programmers had staked their worth and product offerings, early on, and they’d established themselves, app-wise, as the go-to solution that people would come to discover, and support, for menial scrum pay - that many App Store offerings were given to people as, with archetypes such as the iTunes Store’s $0.99 offerings of parted-out pieces of what could, would, or had been full albums, previously; many of such apps, themselves, offering a similarly compartmentalized concept of what productivity and development, or “work,” on mobile devices could, and ought be, as it was envisioned and carried out. 

My go-to app, for learning about neural networks, all learning and literature (mostly) aside, came to be Neuronify. Was it free? Did I pay for it? I don’t quite remember, but if it cost anything, it was a couple, or several dollars, or so. It seemed to do the job, as imaginable as it might be, for a dilettante entry in to app-attainment goals, for my arrays, choices, and learning-basis inclusions on to my mobile devices, and for that matter, SSD hard drive space, on an iPad, even more so than on a mobile phone device - it goes a lot further than on a desktop environment (as well as better than phones can offer). I’ve currently (September 2021) got 569 apps, 6020 photos, 346 videos, 168 songs, on my device, which features 256 GB of SSD storage, and I’m only down to about 161 GB remaining. I do anywhere from a 4+ hour to 8-hour screen time daily average, given a week, on my iPad Pro device, particularly now that I’d lost my Google Android Pixel 4a 5G, which is part of a great series of mobile phones, for the cost, by the way. For that matter, the Google Store also features the Neuronify DIY neural networks mapping (doing) app, as well. 

The premise of a neural network is fairly basic, in essence. There aren’t all that many parameters and objects that would be featured in Neuronify, but the significant feature of having development and productivity, on mobile, playing out, at the speed of whatever measure of achievement that could be wrought out of the device and app, through the user’s input, as a moving visual image: interactive, and engaging that it is, playing out on the screen, is part of an attainment, in mobile device development, particularly on the iPad (Pro), which would have formerly only existed in richly-resourced study and research learning and development environments, and tracing even further back, in static image renders, of the calculations involved, and even further than that, in people’s imaginations. At some point, the technology falls back in time, in to philosophical codices, with the basis and need for the science of neurology being a pursuit, study, and investigation of what comprises the mind, itself, and it’s functioning, at the most critical points of investigation and discovery that could be had. What works? What doesn’t? What is the most effective cause and effect cycle and premise? Which types of decisions and behaviors are harmful, or wasteful? These sorts of questions could be proven, to as best the researcher could prove, to the scientific community, whom, in turn, would be capable of producing the same results, in a lab setting, thus validating the discovery. 

Within the app itself, as I’d mentioned earlier, there are only several parameter objects and icon type tools, or actions and feedback mechanisms, in other words, of the interface. The interface, in and of itself, is a node-based class of workflow environment.

The Neuronify app interface, on a 2020 model iPad Pro.

Here, then are the various user interface tools of the app:

Leaky excitatory neuron

Adaptive excitatory neuron

Leaky inhibitory neuron

Adaptive inhibitory neuron

Voltmeter

Spike detector

Firing rate plot

Loudspeaker

DC current source

AC current source

Irregular spike generator

Regular spike generator

Visual input 

Touch activator

Note

My hypotheses:

Premise 1: innovative skills arise out of need, as well as out of rote. 

Some findings and observations, upon that basis:

• Needful skills could only possibly attend to the problem which arises. In this case, I’m choosing productivity as the title of merit. Takin time to discern and decipher, as well as determine that the problem is resolved, and move forth, is hampered by products of neural activity that could rely on lesser or greater electrical pulses, at a more accommodating timing, if the problem at hand were capably handled by a more singular and fluid, unique mind, rather than a mind of more randomness. Electrical efficiency is the requisite object of attainment.
• My preference, for deciphering that engaged and interactive learning, for example, is the superior backdrop to a greater productivity, is that the problems are being resolved in an engaging, real-time environment. Calculations happen quicker through methods gained in using hand-eye coordination types of skill sets - gestural and procedural industriousness, of various other enterprises of life, which pertain to economics, could be translated over in to the argument for an active learning environment basis to a more capable and effective problem-solving style, compared to a “flash card” setting, of completely randomized data sets, this being the cards. 
• The goal of this hypothesis would be to employ certain scientific control environments of my own study, ask individuals for their input, and analyze their statements and claims, as well as their preferences, and discover, within the control environment, whether or not they find similarity, or comparability, in their input received, when calculated against my personal findings. On one hand, it takes a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) to discern valid mathematical truths about a visual environment, of an insightful nature, yet - I would assert that we, as intelligent and rational creatures, would pursue and develop upon gainful, rational, formal structures, rather than something more founded upon chance, randomness, (even within a finite series of choices), memory - which would alter the resonant section, even, of the brain, itself - a costly transformation; I would say more so, than if the knowledge were understood by an actively engaged mind, of rote discipline, and familiarity, set about in a workflow and industrious setting and environment. 

I’ll pause here, in writing, because I’ve arrived at my destination, of where I’m going, for this part of the day.

Update: 02/09/2023

Hello, I apologize for the abandoned blog article, here - ha ha… a silly way for me to appear, in front of others in the scientific community, but I had abandoned this blog article, due to ongoing challenges in my personal life, which still persist. Aside from that, the app no longer loads on my device; I believe that the app is no longer available for iPadOS, for that matter.

Sticker Time Giveaway! (Active) - mophie charger (found - USC)

I found this mophie charger, while out and about

yesterday. I hear various theories, such as that ditching this charger was a clever marketing student’s ploy, to get the USB-powered Christmas lights giveaway to happen, of my Twitter account’s fabled lore. Actually, that was the only theory I heard. Prior to that, I assumed that someone somehow lost or dropped the thing, in between the time in which it was raining, in the early morning, until the time in which I found it, which was around noon, or so. I guess I ought to return the thing, since I feel like I should frequent the local Target, there, for their cheap bread prices, easily accessible, for me, while racking up Target Circle rewards, at the same time (bread has recently been marked up about $1.00, or so, at different locations). I just started this routine, yesterday. 

  

Lifestyles of the group home (transitional) transients - freon-huffing, post-cloudz 🤯

 Man, oh, man, these housemates of mine really pop off, for the start of a day - a workweek Monday, for that matter.

Having spent some years in transitional living homes, after doing some time, immemorable, of some form, around the time I was evicted from my Section 8 apartment, for excessive crumbs and knickknacks crumbs and knickknacks awrr rawr rawr, I’d (fearfully so) had become acquainted with some transient group home types, much more down to home and in-my-face, err, (some other) mental health detriment, some other personality disorder. 

That being said, I do have some reasonably good and well-read psychology chops, so I commonly moonlight as a public health operative, out in the field, or, at home, much the same - that is, to say, that these demographics are much like common folk who are out and about, and I hear that many of them are equitably to be found in sober living home settings; it’s a certain branch off-shoot of that lifestyle and placement, by public and mental health, as well as social service and local government organizations. 

This is transitional living.

I’ll keep it short, and to the point - these folks share their knowledge base and resources, however well-resourced, somewhat fairly freely, amongst each other, and, in my case, they find me the “gay” one - the one to pick on, for being well-groomed, well-dressed, clean cut, etc., so they direct a significant amount of inappropriate attention towards me, once I leave home, to head out, and feed the pigeons, for my work day, or, perhaps, they do it somewhere off in the periphery. 

But anyways, this is the memo. The drama, of an ongoing nature, I’ve come to (re-)discover, through “hearing” stuff - something along these lines, I’ll say, tantamount to a strong air-pressure leakage, from a holding tank, perhaps of a commercial, rather than personal, -sized tank, such as for Freon tank refilling, or installation. 

Essentially, it seems to allow for the users to become exotically more so euphorically intoxicated, with blissful renditions upon life, at a strange hour, in life, (comparatively), such as perhaps just prior to 8 a.m., through 9:30 a.m., or so. I did “similarly,” yet not “huffing” stuff(-ly) so, types of things, back in college, when I had a girlfriend, but I was, comparatively, embarrassed, when I realized that my neighbor could hear me, from across the way. 

The iPigeon last minute (or beyond) 2022 cool picks for holiday cheer. A web history best of.

Sometimes, I figure out slightly novel or ingenious little twists, when getting back to Google Web Searching. Their Top 100 Shopping Trends of 2022 splash page, which just reached me, the other day, saw some familiar favorites, and it inspired a mock shopping trip dive, which, ostensibly, I’d had had to have made a multi-part return to the topic, so I could report back to readers on some of my findings, of truly neat-o, new, or innovative products that seemed to have surfaced, in the retail online consumer market, over this past year, 2022, within my ad marketing serve, and which I hope finds you discovering inspiring and fruitful Google Shopping, etc., online marketplace searches.

As many of you know, I’m a long-time connoisseur of fine fragrance, both as a consumer and as a semi- or sometimes-moderate[novice] (developing) manufacturer, or perfume artist, of which I’d had some recent likable compositions and single ingredients made. I’d lost my perfume ingredients collection due to some circumstances, over the past year, yet I had a longing to return to this theme of a nice tropical fragrance, such as one that I’d made, called Southern Critter Skeet Skeet, which found itself multivariate uses, in practical terms, beyond personal fragrancing - the aroma seemed to stir the winds of an environment, at times, and it was a good cover, when put to use, in small environmental settings, where the air quality had taken a downturn, such as a dead animal’s smell, perhaps. 

I started out a new search - completely new, for me: island perfume ingredients. There was some talk about island nation people going on, earlier in the day, a day or two ago, and my thoughts turned to island fragrances, of the imagined richness and diversity potential of a fertile island’s vegetation, perhaps special care and cultivations of - particularly unique and perhaps fragrant aroma compounds, oils, or fruits, for example. The search - a limited and quick browse, through the various several pages that came up, on Google Shopping, found some quick and interesting links, such as fragrance ingredients suppliers, such as ChemWorld.com, new-to-me fragrance ingredients, along tropical-themes, such as Veratraldehyde, to investigate, and perhaps follow up on, at some point; a new index, of a highly astute and well-wrought out thorough-ability, of both common names of plants, as well as their associated constituent chemical and essential oil scientific names and chemistry signifiers, oxytocin spray, and, my personal fave - throwback classic island fragrances by Monoi | Tiki.

Remember these fragrances? I think that they’re pretty good, if I recall.

Another quick suggestion, fragrance-wise, is FragranceNet.com’s deal on Dior Homme - a fragrance suite which can be a little bit confusing - but don’t get confused - there’s vastly different “Dior Homme” fragrance varieties out there, several, perhaps, and I tried smelling the white label one - I definitely didn’t much like it. This is the one I like - the grey background with the black rectangle one. If you’re looking for a cheap holiday gift, 10 mL of Dior Homme, in a mini form, should suit somebody’s fragrance tastes just fine, perhaps for weeks, or a month, or two, perhaps, and it comes with shower gel. It’s a nice deal, at $20.99 (40% off, currently), and it smells great - reminiscent of a fine department store’s fragrancing, for example. 

* plus shipping

One deal that I commonly encounter, regardless of the time of year, although I had just come across it, right now, is the sidewalk vegetables and fruits vendors of Chinatown, neighboring downtown Los Angeles. They give out generous amounts of fruits and vegetables for characteristically one dollar, in most cases I’ve encountered. 

Pigeon Box Art and Pigeon-Related Art Commissions Around the Greater Los Angeles Area. [Updating: now, with Pigeons and Friends]

An ongoing online exhibition featuring visual odes to the pigeons that I've discovered, or happened upon, as a trekker of many streets and locales in and around the Greater Los Angeles area. 

Box Art is a trending artistic expression form that sprung up, several years ago, as a seemingly ordained vehicle of artists' aspirations for public recognition (I'm not sure of the origins or certifying agency behind the legality of painting on public sidewalk utility server boxes). 

The pigeons, being the endearing young explorers and ambassadors to the town that they are, have merited several works of art dedicated to them over the years, in the lives, works, and hearts of artists and art lovers all across several locales around the Los Angeles region. 

The South Pasadena Metro Station

Los Angeles Trade Tech College Murals

 

The Martin Luther King Blvd. at Harbor Freeway 110 Underpass Murals.

The Ernst and Young Plaza Poetry Pigeons; Curious Over a Fried Egg - Cast Metal Statue

Santa Monica Pier re-opening welcome banner.

Update: 01/24/2022: 

While out working on some more recent developments, of about a year-and-a-half since I’d last made inclusions and updates to this blog, I’ve come across a previously unknown, or previously non-existent - charming mural rendition of some of the Friends of the Pigeon: a sparrow, and what appears to be perhaps a baby seagull, with a characteristically youthful withdrawn stance, about the bust (breast, neck and head) of the bird, of which would suppose a more socially-shy and unsure fledgling addition to a flock, amongst adults, in a similar manner in which a puppy reserves it’s tail in between its legs, as an ostensible sign of submission to the elders and authorities of the pack, or family unit. This mural is located in the Playa Del Rey area, which is part of the expanse of public works projects that include a nature reserve designation, of sorts, that encompasses the Los Angeles River, which begins, winding further up the road, and around the bend, a bit, feeding in to channels that comprise the Venice Beach Canals (which are an upscale series of channeled waterways that mimic the Classical Canals of Italy’s Venice; thus Venice Beach, CA, is rightly named as, such that it would suppose a proper nod of the hat towards a facet of our Western heritage and culture, here in America; Venice Beach, largely known as a small, yet concentrated locality of the West Coast, in attracting many professionals and patrons of the Los Angeles, CA artistic culture and of progressive minds and lifestyles, and the area is, therefore, rich in diversity, arts, and spirituality. The Ballona Wetlands, as it is known, further up in to this current area, known as Del Rey, bordering on Culver City, in this instance, is a rehabilitated natural and native wetlands plants reserve, where the river flows inland, turning, at some point, several miles up the road from the beach, and winding its way through Los Angeles, as a large concrete ditch, perhaps anywhere from 20-30 feet deep, and, at times, anywhere from 30-75 feet wide, perhaps more, in some cases, as a watershed management development of the larger systems of society and government, and it is rumored that, at some point, the development project is projected to expand the entirety of the lateral expanse of the lower 48 states of America in coming decades.

Somewhere, 

at the edge of two localities, the river becomes a great wash basin, capable of handling a significant flow of water, perhaps, someday.

Hollywood, CA - YMCA building.

The Hollywood YMCA, in the heart of Hollywood, CA, features an external mural and protective wall (since there’s sometimes small civic uprisings that find their way in to Hollywood, lately, at times [mid-late 2022]) featuring black and white birds, perhaps pigeons, that they could be. 

What it feels like to suffer from agitated Lyme Disease.

Many a boneheaded parasitic critter-enthusiast has pondered the horizons ‘pon blood-drinking | blood-letting of a prized, unwitting victim - 

How does the victim feel? 

What if I abuse the parasites, then set them on him? 

etc. etc. - various other things, portending fantasies upon bloodletting - a psychological un-wellness, that we’d call it, these days, yet many a man (isn’t it usually a man? Or some problem subsequent to abuse that man hath wrought upon a person, and then…?), …

Well, okay. Not many a man, let’s not accommodate grandiosity, here. It’s a slight fetish, of a nominal crowd of people. Most people have never even come across ticks or bedbugs, and I did my best to fertilize the slight areas in town, in which they show up, seasonally, and now what? They’ve shown up in my room, and I’ve got a first-hand account of the trauma associated with this sort of affliction - Lyme Disease, as it were - in this instance, a fairly weak strain, yet potent enough, in how it affects me - to detail the nuances and tribulations it wreaks upon a victim, given that a young lady had recently died, in the news, following a Lyme Disease bout onset. 

First of all, 

It significantly upsets expectations. Not only is sleep disturbed, with the affliction, with external itching being the prominent feature of the bugs’ (or arachnids’, rather) bites - timespan expectations for healing of standard, daily athletic wear and tear on the body feels inexplicably hapless, and we feel useless - the sufferers of a bout of Lyme Disease, that it “may” be - it’s worse, without humic and fulvic ionic mineral supplementation. But still - even itching, in and of itself, is cruelty enough - there’s some phases of sleep that really just bum a person out, to be woken up out of. 

Granted - with experience, one learns the (supposedly) simple cure for the external suffering - a pumice stone, or lava rock - to abrade and scrape the irritated spot. But even then, repeated abuses hurt - it’s an abuse of a person’s morale, their well-being, their trust of individuals - especially once they come to understand that it wasn’t simple filth, and dirtiness - that caused the onset of bedbugs or ticks having appeared, in to one’s life - it was a secret malingerer, someone who just can’t stand something about the targeted victim, and the parasites are a viable mechanism for communicating and transmitting, reliably, and effectively - some form of the desired slight tortures that these critters inflict upon an individual. 

Personally, 

I’ve experienced, this time around, a significant depression, over the matter. I’ve found that, being bit in some places, ostensibly, the venom gets directed, unfettered, in to the bloodstream, and the sedating, irritating, and depressing features of the bites become part of the body’s whole. Now, for certain, I’ve written on Lyme Disease, previously, but it’s a subject worth an update, perennially, although, as I’ve said, I thought that I personally attended to the problem from forming, out in public. Bed bugs, which the current problem happens to be, happens to only show up in places such as seedy motels - I wasn’t quite expecting this type of thing to have shown up in my new group home setting - particularly not as an acute and chronic problem.

Anyways, be sure to check Amazon and Google for cheap humic and fulvic ionic minerals, or zeolite minerals, for external application and for relief - the stuff works. Permethrin can also be applied, and it can be had via perscription - it’s definitely an emergency room type of situation, should a parasitic affliction find you. 

How to rig a bum cart for success

Doing a bum cart life gig is a palpable common bum identity commonly flaunted in a metropolitan district such as DTLA (downtown Los Angeles, CA, USA). The benefits of doing bum cart life are manifold over other types of transitive bum personae such as the bicycling bum and the bag'ged bum, « on foot. »

This one is bum life at it's most flaunch; stylistically. A bum cart with all the trimmings - a unicorn cosplay costume head sticking out - to denote the playfulness and good humor of the bum's identity,

Along with needful trimmings, such as site-detoxification utilities, sweetened powdered milk jug for bread-feeding the pigeons, luxuriant toiletries from various boutique retailers of finery Los Angeles and beyond, hand sanitizer (useful in a post COVID-19 outbreak world), and a daily usage recyclables collecting bag, up top.

Many various-use bags can be tied alongside the ridges of the handles and top of the cart, for sorting the daily necessities of bum life. 

One thing to make sure of, though, is that you don't overload the bum personal tote cart too jaunted - the cart could potentially break down, at the axles, particularly going down a curb. 

Update: Sunday, August 14th, 2022:

I’ve discerned, lately, that a fair-enough degree of bum-looking-ness, for a cart, will earn a person “not” having their bum cart stolen, in downtown LA, while sleeping in certain areas, or, for leaving it outside of Ralph’s, while grocery shopping, at least, during certain hours, or days of the week, while out shopping. I’d stayed out, for the entire week, and thankfully, food stamps had come in, earlier today, so I went to the grocery store. 

Update: Thursday, September 8th, 6:56 a.m. - new incarnations on of bum cart aspirations - now, with a dolly. 

I’d tried out tote carting a whole plenty much, and the things always break, after several weeks, or less. For me, it’s tough on my budget, to try and replace these sorts of things, so I was fortunate to come across this sturdy-looking dolly | hand truck rendition of the similar notion; the bum tote cart. 

With this version, I’m capable of having a compact form, for the cart’s travel time, and I can fit it in to my food-carrying backpack (also pictured, since the cart can fold flat. All convenient features of this combo. I’m going to add some new noiseless wheels, so I can go about my tree-watering work by night, hauling jugs of water, and watering the trees; that’s my plan for this backpacking lifestyle aspiration. I can’t wait to try it out!