Inktober 2020 Recap

First entry for Inktober 2020: Flight! I’ve decided to stick with the PMD theme again, as that was a lot of fun last year. Plus, after a few years, it might turn into a larger project…The Dictionary of PMD or something…
Anyway, the inspiration for this was, of course, Superman. I tried a different pose at first, but decided to look up images of the iconic, late, Christopher Reeve during his turn in the cape. Many actors have played Superman over the years, but he is the one I always envision when I think of the character.
I also brought back The Masked Plunger, this time with a cape, though. He made an appearance on one of last year’s xmas card envelopes, and I really liked that twist on PMD.
During this illustration, I discovered yet another thing I need to work on: rendering atmosphere, space, and planets.

Inktober 2020 Day 1, take 2: Fish. I realized after the fact that in my original Day 1 Inktober illustration I used the Inktober 52 prompt list, so I have now corrected that. This one took a lot longer than expected. It’s been a long time since I’ve drawn Fishy McFishington of the Cloudsworth Fishingtons, I had almost forgotten that there’s a lot of little details to account for.
I tried out some Rotring felt tip pens that my wife had given me a while back and I forgot about. I used the smallest one, the .01, but even that was too big for all the little details. I used it for the outlines and adding some line weight in areas, but I had to use a Prismacolor .005 for everything else. Very tedious and time consuming. My eyes started watering.

Inktober Day #2: Wisp. I’m not super thrilled with this one. The only thing I could think of were the wispy annoying hairs that tickle my face and I’m constantly blowing or brushing aside. The drawing turned out okay, though.
I used some kind of Japanese Pilot dual tip marker, one side being a medium thickness felt brush, and the other side being a thinner tip that appears to be a flexible plastic and felt mix. It was interesting. The ink was fairly wet and smooth, compared to some of the other brush pens I use. I did some detail work with the Rotring cartridge pens, all of which my wife researches and supplies me periodically. I’m going to use these for a few Inktober illustrations to see what I think of them.

Inktober 2020 Day #3: Bulky. For those who have been long-time readers of It’s Plunger Monkey Dynamo Time, you may recall this variation of Plunger Monkey: Gorilla Monkey Dynamo. It’s basically PMD’s Hulk form, and it was the first thing I thought of when I read the day 3 prompt. And yes, he is crammed inside Fishy McFishington’s steampunk cargo top hat. Originally I was just going to draw Gorilla Monkey Dynamo all jacked up, but thought stuffing him into a confined space would accentuate the word bulky. I tossed around a few ideas, and then I realized he needed to be in the hat, particularly since PMD was in Fishy’s hat for the day 1 prompt.

Inktober 2020 Day #4: Radio. I don’t care who you are, this right here is funny. I wasn’t sure what to do for radio at first (I try to look at the prompts a little in advance so I can let my subconsciousness, also referred to as my Brain, work things out), so I decided to look up the definition and some pictures. I immediately gravitated towards the notion of a ham radio, as opposed to a car radio, found a sweet picture of an old one, and came up with this idea. For the record, drawing and inking that radio was intensely tedious! Lots of details. I loved it.

Inktober 2020 Day #5: Blade. I had two ideas for this prompt, but went for the slightly more obscure. The first was a take on the Marvel vampire slayer Blade, the other was the manga Blade of the Immortal, which I love (and got my oldest son hooked on). The main character is named Manji, which happens to be the name for both the weapon known as a sai to most westerners as well as the name for the swastika. The swastika was a symbol of well-being in Hinduism and Buddhism before it became corrupted, and the main character has one on the back of his kimono. Manji is a rogue warrior, infected with a parasitic worm that causes him to regenerate from injuries and thus be immortal. The story tracks his journey out of his life of killing to one of…well, still killing, but killing bad guys and helping a young girl avenge the murder of her family by a rival sword school. Manji’s kimon is also half black, half white, with the symbol the opposite in the middle of his back. Not wanting to cause a stir, and because it made sense to me, I replaced the manji on the kimono with a banana for PMD, as well as gave him a plunger-tsuba (the guard plate on a katana) on the sword. The funky weapon in his left hand is one invented by the creator Hiroaki Samura, and it’s one of Manji’s favorites.
I had a ton of fun with this one, though I had my doubts at first. I really enjoyed the kimono, both crafting the folds (especially the way his tail pokes out and lifts the cloth to reveal his signature purple with yellow flowers shorts) as well as trying to create the local color for half of it. It’s a bit tricky to have it not read flat and to have the details (like the folds) still stand out, but I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Inktober 2020 Day 6: Rodent. Hey, I’m sort of caught up now (technically I’m posting this at 1am on the 7th, but whatever)! Kapibaras are the original ROUSs (Rodents of Unusual Size, for The Princess Bride fans out there), so of course they would be the perfect steed for Plunger Monkey.
This one went a lot quicker than expected, especially since I had a hard time coming up with anything, but it was still a lot of fun to draw. I’m really loving the way all these ideas for these prompts evolve on the page. I don’t do any thumbnailing first, I just come up with the general idea and start drawing, and invariably all kinds of little details and “gags” and Easter eggs pop into my mind. If someone would pay me handsomely to spend my days doing these wacky illustrations of Plunger Monkey, I’d be a happy camper (and I do have an idea to do a Plunger Monkey Dictionary…a PMD…which would just be things like this. Although, most likely not a COMPLETE dictionary…even at one a day, I don’t know that I have that many days left in this lifetime).

Inktober 2020 Day #7: Fancy. I wasn’t sure quite how to tackle this one. I figured I’d go with PMD and bowtie ready to eat a banana off a fancy plate, but as I was going along, I kept adding things: the tuxedo, the top hat, the bowtie on his tail, the utensils, the glass, the placemat…I also decided to take another crack at creating a local “color” with some parallel hatchmarks. I’m not sure it turned out as well as it did in the “blade” illustration. Something to keep playing with.

Inktober Day #8: Teeth. This is yet another one that I wasn’t quite sure where it was going to go. My initial idea was just to draw Plunger Monkey with his trademarked toothy grin, but that seemed too simple and not fun. I started thinking about dentures and wind up teeth and dentist’s offices, and suddenly my Brain showed me this image. I find it amusing and much more fun that just a toothy grin.

Inktober Day #9: Throw. I had two ideas for this one. The one I didn’t got with was PMD throwing something, either a sign that said “YEET” (that’s a thing all the kids are saying these days when they throw stuff…comes from a meme or something I think) or a squid. The other idea, being a martial artist, was a Judo throw. I looked up some reference to get a cool pose, but I struggled with what he should be hip-throwing. A big teddy bear? A squid? Then it dawned on me: Mokujin. Mokujin was the living wooden training dummy in the Tekken fighting game franchise that I have loved and played since it’s first incarnation over 20 years ago (egads…). One would have almost thought drawing a simple wooden dummy that’s basically just a bunch of cylinders would be straight forward and quick. Not so much. In addition to the texturing (which I’m not entirely thrilled with, but it is what it is), I had forgotten Mokujin has all these chains hanging off him…those were tedious.
Anyway, I’m crowning Plunger Monkey the King of the Iron Fist Tournament (actually, it would be pretty dang cool if he appeared in the franchise some day…it wouldn’t even be out of character for the game, considering there was Roger the kangaroo-with baby in pouch-Gon the dinosaur, Kuma the bear, Panda…)

Inktober 2020 Day #10: (A New) Hope. There were a couple of different, iconic scenes from Episode IV I contemplated using (like Luke staring at the binary sunset on Tatooine), but ultimately went with this one, and I’m happy I did. I may have to turn this one into a shirt, too. I find the addition of the Multi Purpose Novelty Squid and Cuppy fun and hilarious. It’s no secret that the whole Star Wars franchise is the single biggest creative influence on me. It completely absorbed me in my youth and fueled my imagination and desire to create my own worlds, characters, and stories, which continues to this day.

Inktober 2020 Day #11: Disgusting. I had a hard time with the idea for this one. I kind of wanted to draw PMD reacting to something disgusting, a la Calvin and a plate of his mom’s cooking, but I did something like that for the “ripe” prompt on the last day of Inktober last year. I couldn’t quite come up with something that PMD would find disgusting, either. I’m sure there’s something, I just haven’t encountered it yet. The best I came up with was him burping, and chunks spewing out. I thought it would be pretty hilarious if he was holding up signs that said “burp” too, instead of making noise. There was still some loose Calvin and Hobbes inspiration here, as there were a series of strips with Calvin burping at the dinner table and having amusing answers for his mom when she would ask him “what do you say?”. Not a super creative image, but fun to draw none-the-less.

Inktober 2020 Day #12: Slippery. I didn’t have a strong idea for this one, so I figured “squids are slippery…probably.” Can’t say I’ve ever actually touched a squid. I think I could have pushed the gesture of this image a bit more, but, it is what it is. If I can come up with a good idea for today’s prompt and work on it tonight, I’ll be caught back up on my Inktobering.

Inktober 2020 Day #13: Dune. This one is weird to me. It kind of didn’t take too long, on account of all the negative space, which is fine, I guess. But, it almost feels wrong if it doesn’t take me forever. Anyway, with the upcoming new Dune movie (or series? I don’t know what it is, I just know it’s on the edges of my radar. I did read some of the Dune books. They got…weird…), my first thought for this prompt was related to that. Then I realized that’s too obvious, so I decided to pay homage to Star Wars again. That Krayt Dragon skeleton was a challenge, lots of details, but it’s in the distance, so I had to control myself otherwise the sense of depth would get wonky. Plus, the images I could find of it weren’t high enough resolution for me to zoom in enough to see the level of detail I wanted for reference. The images also suffer from some flat lighting, making it tough to spot shapes and shadows. It was tough to decide how to render the sand, too. Not super thrilled with what I came up with, but it’s passable, I guess.

Inktober 2020 Day #14: Armor. If one is to draw armor, one might as well draw squid armor. I’ve had a concept kicking around the back of my Brain for many years now for different animal and elemental themed armor designs, with squid being one of the more prominent ones. It could still use some development, but it’s heading in the right direction. One of the big design elements in my head was the gauntlets, which have the classic diamond shaped squid “hand” as a hand guard, as well as suction cups on the inside of the forearm, because why not? The legs could use some further designing, and I originally had some different thoughts about the chest and shoulder armor, but decided to go with simple for the chest and nautilus shells for the shoulders. The sword could use some more brainstorming, too. I like the idea of a squid body or tentacles as the guard, but didn’t get to develop it in this image due to the pose.
I’m still reeling a bit from the tragedy last week. We’ve got a candlelight vigil on Thursday and memorial service on Saturday, which are going to be tough. Hopefully they will bring some closure to everyone’s grief and I’ll be able to get my head back to where it was earlier last Tuesday. I probably won’t be able to make a big push to catch up on Inktober prompts until next week, but I’m going to try to get at least one done a day this week.

Inktober 2020 Day #15: Outpost. Yup. That’s THREE Star Wars references so far this Inktober. Lot’s of fun details in this one, had to hunt down some good reference images to get the clothing right. This image also harkens back to one of the earlier It’s Plunger Monkey Dynamo Time comic strips.

Inktober 2020 Day #20: Rocket (Squid). Who doesn’t think of a squid when they hear the word “rocket”? Anyone? Just me? Well, they ARE essentially naturally rocket-propelled…I realized while planning this one out and looking up reference images that I’ve never drawn the separation for the mantle area on any of the squids I’ve drawn, but most glaringly on the Multi-Purpose Novelty Squid. Not sure this is the final look, but I’ll be working on that. Seems like a critical oversight on my part.
I had originally envisioned a more dramatic/dynamic camera angle, but I couldn’t get all the distinct squidly features into it, which is a bit frustrating because I settled for a pretty boring shot. Not my strongest offering, but I got two prompts done today, so there’s that, at least…

Inktober 2020 Day #17: Storm. I really struggled with my idea for this one. I kept thinking about the X-Men character Storm and doing some kind of PMD take on her, but thought it would be too common an idea. Then I thought about bringing back my random superhero from Inktober 2018, Thunder Cactus, and having him team up with The Electric Plunger on sort of a comic book cover thing, but couldn’t get it to work itself out (though I was happy with some aspects of the sketch, I just wasn’t feeling it overall).
I gave up for a while, rand some errands, then came back to the prompt after everyone went to bed. My rough idea was PMD using a squid as an umbrella, and I didn’t exactly deviate much from that. I could have developed it a bit more, done a little more with the tentacles perhaps, and the way they function as a rain shield (or not), could have worked more on the way I drew the rain to convey the whole “storm” idea better. In the end though, I kind of half stumbled into an idea for yet another project (which I kinda sorta already thought about at one point): uses and modes for your Multi-Purpose Novelty Squid. Its in the same vein as my Totally Reasonable Uses for Plunger book idea I came up with last xmas, so I’ll probably be jotting ideas down as they come to me, much like I have been for the other idea. No timetable yet for serious work on that project, but it should be a fun one when I get to it.

Inktober 2020 Day #18: Trap. What’s this, my fourth Star Wars reference this Inktober? When I saw trap, I knew it was going to have something to do with this. I pulled up a screenshot as reference. Ackbar is tough to draw, lots of weird shapes and volumes. The most tedious part was the black space backdrop. I almost left it blank, but decided that would be wrong. A normal person may have just filled it with solid black, which would have been smart and efficient. But I was too concerned about losing my contour lines, and I didn’t want to leave a white outline around the figures, so hatching it was. Now my hand hurts.

Intober 2020 Day #19: Dizzy. So, this prompt showed up last year, too, and I paid homage to one of my art heroes, Bill Watterson then. I was referencing a strip where Hobbes is stumbling around for 3 panels, and in the last panel, Calvin comments about him being loopy after coming out of the dryer. My illustration last year was based on the first panel of that strip, so this time I looked to the second panel. If the prompt shows up again, you can guess what I’ll be doing.

Inktober 2020 Day #20: Coral. I guess I should dedicate this one to my wife, not only because she puts up with me sometimes drawing when she’d rather be doing stuff together, but also because she used to be an avid diver…until she met me. My fear of being shark food pretty much killed her favorite hobby/past time, and I think about that a lot.
This illustration took a loooooong time. I had a hard time coming up with the idea, but then found some reference pictures with divers in them that pushed me in this direction. Coral is tough to draw, its very intricate. So many details and textures in this, and I probably could have kept going (but my hand and neck are saying “NO”).
As for PMD’s sign, that’s a reference only people who have watched Spongebob Squarepants enough will get…

Inktober 2020 Day #21: Sleep. My arch-nemesis. I’ve always struggled to sleep, because my Brain goes into overdrive. I’ve also always felt like I was wasting time when I slept, probably because I wasn’t sleeping well at night so I nod off at odd times sometimes. The only time I really like sleeping is when my dreams are crazy.
This illustration became deeply personal on a level I didn’t entirely plan for or expect. I tried to come up with something funny, but then started thinking about Calvin and Hobbes again, and I found one of Bill Watterson’s beautiful watercolor paintings of Calvin and Hobbes napping under a big tree in full fall foliage. I decided I’d do PMD napping in a pose similar to Hobbes, but there’s no corresponding Calvin character, other than me. For some reason, I thought of having PMD dreaming about hanging out with me as a Calvin-aged kid. Now, I hadn’t dreamed up Plunger Monkey back then, so this quickly turned into something…weird. It made me incredibly nostalgic and sad, thinking about how much life has changed, how much I miss the people that are gone and the simpler times, like sitting and reading comics at the beach, being with family. I started thinking about how different life is now due to the pandemic, but also how there are some huge changes right around the corner for us with our oldest in his senior year of high school, and how different things like family trips are going to be and how weird it’s going to be to not have him around. Which got me thinking about parenting and whether or not I’ve prepared him for the rest of his life, what teaching opportunities did I miss, am I too overbearing about certain things, have I helped or hindered him?
Then I got to thinking more about why PMD was dreaming this. Was it because he wished he had been around for me when I was an awkward kid, getting bullied and retreating into my daydream worlds? Was he always there and I didn’t realize it yet? Or maybe I’m gone, and he’s dreaming about the good old days.
I can’t believe I’m actually getting a little teary eyed about all this. The power of and the reason for art, I guess.

Inktober 2020 Day #22: Chef. I knew when I looked ahead and saw this prompt that I had to incorporate the Swedish Chef somehow. He was fond of putting “der chicken in der poot” on The Muppet Show, so I figured if PMD was involved, it would be the Chicken Squid/Squid Chicken “in der poot”. I had fun with this one, though I see areas that could have used some better planning or texturing (there’s a jumble of elements where the chicken squid, the cleaver it’s holding, and the Chef’s hand come together. Not very clear there). I do enjoy PMD’s ready-to-help expression and stance, and of course the “BORK BORK BORK!” on his sign.

Inktober 2020 Day #23: Rip. Verily, hath any living now or in time ancient ever witnessed a display of might so great as ripping a banana peel in twain whilst still attached to the banana flesh? Me thinketh not.
This one was fun. Simple, and quick, but fun. Not much studio time today, probably not any tonight, but I at least got this prompt done. Just 8 left for Inktober 2020…I’m definitely going to be spilling into November this year, but I will get all 31 done.

Inktober 2020 Day #24: Dig. Yes, it’s now “Inkvember”. Some “life” stuff got in the way and side tracked my Inktobering this year, so I’m a bit behind. I will finish all the prompts, if not this week, then next.
It’s going to be a toss up as to whether I pay homage to Star Wars or Calvin and Hobbes more this Inktober. This one harkens to the cover of the There’s Treasure Everywhere collection. Calvin has dug a hole and is showing Hobbes the worm he found. PMD doesn’t have a Hobbes (he’s kind of MY Hobbes), and obviously he’d dig up a squid and not a worm. And yes, he used a plunger as a shovel (which is another entry for the eventual Totally Legitimate Uses for Plunger book I’ll be doing at some point). This one went relatively quickly, I guess it’s a lot simpler than some of the other illustrations I’ve done this month. It’s still weird that if it doesn’t take a bajillion years I feel like I cheated or half-assed it. I need to get over that.

Inktober 2020 Day #25: Buddy. And yet another Calvin and Hobbes reference…with a subtle Star Wars reference to boot. I’ve always loved Watterson’s image of Calvin and Hobbes crossing a stream on a log, not only because it’s beautifully rendered, but also because it captures the essence of the characters. This is another personally nostalgic illustration, reflecting on my youth and simpler times (because the adults did all the hard stuff and the worrying). I had a very happy childhood with my family, and I cherish all my memories of those days.
I’ve mentioned many times that Bill Watterson is one of my greatest artistic influences. I can’t hold a candle to him, but I still have a lot of fun paying homage to his art using my own character that likely wouldn’t exist without the heavy influence of Calvin and Hobbes in my younger years.

Inktober Day #26: Hide. Also, current mood. I sat and stared off into space in my studio for a few hours yesterday, unable to get my Brain working. There has been a lot going on in “real life”, tragedy, struggles, concerns, nostalgic day dreams, current state of the world…add to that having my Brain generally overflowing with ideas of things I want to do-comic projects, shirt designs, video game ideas, 3D printing ideas, sewing projects, book ideas-and I was just paralyzed, unable to put pencil to paper. It’s only mildly better today, but at least I was able to get a little drawing in (I hope to get some more tonight…if my Brain is ready to cooperate). It just so happened that the prompt I was working on kind of reflected how I was currently feeling.
On another note, I should probably make some PMD hoodies…(add that to the list of overflowing ideas…).

Inktober 2020 Day #27: Music. Okay, it’s simple, but it’s amusing, especially the sign with the notes on it. And the plunger trumpet. Or maybe I’m just sleep deprived and scatter-brained.
I’ve never really been particularly musically inclined. I tried learning how to play the guitar at one point, but never had much time for it (I still tell myself I’ll give it another crack one of these days). I always thought it would be cool to be musical in some way, whether it was singing or playing the drums or guitar. I certainly have some musical genes in my family. My dad played bass and drums, his dad sang and played flute, my uncle still plays bass in a band, I’ve got other uncles or second cousins that are great singers, my mom used to sing all the time (and as kids we would always tell her to stop, which I regret as an adult), one of my cousins teaches and is a concert cellist, and my oldest son plays a variety of instruments (started with flute, moved on to baritone sax as well as tenor, plays a little guitar and piano, and only recently stopped singing in choir)…I’ve probably left some out. So, maybe it’s in there somewhere, but I haven’t found it.

Inktober 2020 Day #28: Float. Okay, I had a LOT of fun with this one. For those that don’t know, this is PMD as Sun Wukong, The Monkey King from Chinese mythology. He was essentially an ancient superhero, known to be mischievous. He had such powers as incredible strength and speed, magical fur that he could use to create clones of himself, shape shifting, and the ability to travel using clouds…hence the inspiration for this image. He also had a staff that by some reports weighed tons, but could change sizes, all the way from tree trunk to a sewing needle. I’ve never read the mythologies he appears in (though I want to), but I’ve seen versions of him in movies and video games. Kung Fu, super powers, and monkeys, right up my alley and rather obvious why he’s a favorite of mine. I can’t believe I never hit upon the idea of making PMD the Monkey King before, definitely an idea and a design I need to play around with more.
I had intended to get to 2 prompts today, leaving me with just 2 to finish tomorrow to complete all 31 days of Inktober, but I got side tracked being an algebra tutor, then had to do other parent and scoutmaster things, so I ran out of time. Hopefully I’ll get 2 done tomorrow, and the last one Saturday night. We’ll see. I have some other “real life” things to tend to tomorrow. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Inktober once again, thanks to PMD, and I love the sense of accomplishment of getting 31 illustrations done in just about the same number of days, but it tends to consume all my art time, and I have lots of other projects I’ve been neglecting.

Inktober 2020 Day #29: Shoes. I thought this one was going to be boring, but with the potential for some humor. It turns out, I really enjoyed this one, and I’m happy with the end result. This is a take on a 90s basketball sneaker ad featuring “Penny” Hardaway (remember him?). I thought of this extreme camera angle first, then figured there must be sneaker ads, either photos or airbrushed art, with a similar viewpoint. That’s when I found the Hardaway ad. The shoe is the PMD take on Air Jordans, but instead of having PMD in silhouette flying through the air with a basketball, a la Michael Jordan, I thought referencing Frank Miller’s Dark Knight might be more appropriate (not that I don’t love me some basketball, though). Shoe design is clearly not more forte, especially since it’s basically one of those Vibram 5 Fingers (which I used to wear exclusively for years). I liked the “AIRPMD” logo and the swatch of PMD’s trademarked flowered shorts on the shoe. All in all, a lot of fun.
I’m down to my last two prompts, which is both a relief and a bit…unsettling. I love doing Inktober because there’s never any questioning what I’m going to be working on in my studio on a given day. I may have other projects going, but if I get stuck on what to work on, instead of losing a day waffling, I always have a prompt to get to. There’s also a big sense of accomplishment when it’s done, especially if I put a lot of time into each illustration. However, I have always struggled with the transition between projects, deciding what to focus on next. It often leads to a lack of productivity while I second guess myself, and not getting anything done brings me down. It’s this insane cycle that I have yet to successfully overcome, no matter how much planning I do or how many lists I make of my next projects. It’s a big high and then almost an emptiness. I get through it, but it has the bonus of making me feel like I wasted a bunch of time until I get rolling on the next thing. That transition time is always a dangerous time for other distractions to creep in, too, which prolongs that lack of productivity.
Anyway, time to plan out the last two prompts…

Inktober 2020 Day #30: Ominous. I wasn’t quite sure what direction I was going to go with this one, but settled on PMD looming over a banana. I tried out several different camera angles with some thumbnails, which I never do with my Inktober illustrations, but went with this one. It was missing something, though. PMD needed to be holding something, but there was no obvious banana eating or preparing tool I could come up with. That’s when my wife said he should be holding a Multi Purpose Novelty Squid, because of course that’s what one would use to properly prepare a banana. I find this whole thing absurd and hilarious, which means I love it.
This was supposed to be a relatively simple and shorter illustration. After all, I just had to draw a banana, which is a simple shape, and a silhouette, which should have far less detail than a full figure. Yeah. About that. This took over 5 hours, and it’s apparently after 3am now. My neck, hands, and elbows are killing me, and there’s about 32 pounds of hatchmarks on this page. Goodnight.

Inktober 2020 Day #31: Crawl. I wasn’t really feeling this one. I struggled with the idea. I thought about a Sand Crawler from Star Wars first, but couldn’t conjure a good image. I thought about a baby PMD crawling, but felt it was a little too obvious and it just didn’t interest me. I eventually landed on the swim stroke, which was at least a little interesting in terms of trying to get the gesture of the movement and the water effects, but overall, I’m still “meh” on this one. I’m also incredibly mentally distracted today.
Anyway, that’s a wrap on Inktober 2020 which I enjoyed overall. I’m still liking the idea of collecting these into a “PMD Dictionary” or something, but I don’t have a clear vision of what that will look like yet. For now, I think I need to make some progress on some of the other projects I’ve completely ignored for the last month and a half and hopefully scratch some things off my “to do” list.