Haven’t gotten around to writing anything in the past three weeks as there were just too many things on my plate—grading tons of term projects and level design submissions and end-of-term tests and second attempt BAs; interminable meetings; appointments and planning for a pending kitchen floor renewal; an exhaustive basement clean-up; seeing to it that the little pigeon baby raised on our balcony had all it needed; and, sadly, the death and funeral of an old friend. Add to that some lower back pain that keeps haunting me since my late twenties about once every two years, which enforced a one week sports break (that I should have taken anyway). Sunday last week, finally, the pigeon nest was empty—the little pigeon had learned to fly and left the nest, and that was great but also a bit sad. Two years ago, there had been a nest with two pigeon babies right in front of our bedroom window, and there we had been incredibly lucky, one morning, to actually watch the little pigeons learn to fly, under parental supervision, and leave the nest. That had been wonderful, but a bit sad too, and the abandoned nest made us sentimental for weeks until it slowly broke down and was finally gone after a few days of particularly harsh weather. This time, however, sentimentality is tempered by the balcony looking quite literally like shit. As soon as my back pain period is over for good, I need to clean up the mess, and that will also require replacing many if not all of the balcony’s wood deck tiles. Pigeon shit, I tell you, is the real-world equivalent to xenomorph blood.

All of which doesn’t mean I wasn’t going out—there are several new micro-reviews at my blog between drafts (even though some are still missing). Plus, during the last week, I managed to upload new albums from cave temples and historical sites in Perak (Drive-by Snaps | Sam Poh Tong | Kek Lok Tong | Gua Tempurung) and Melaka (Drive-by Snaps | Church of St. Peter | Christ Church | Riverside Road), respectively, alongside new images for my Düsseldorf and Neighborhoods buckets and my daily vintage travel squaries at Pixelfed.

For the Sunday Funnies, here’s a hilarious-but-true variation of the “Moe tossing Barney Out” meme and a diagram for the perks you can expect if you want to become an artist.

Enjoy!
J.