You Never Grow Out Of Wanting To Earn A Sticker

You never grow out of wanting to earn a sticker

When I was a TA for the freshman art class in senior year my students really adored me. It was so sweet. I’d had classes that were more ambivalent toward me but these guys were all about me.

I loved working with that teacher too. He was the kind of crunchy art nerd whose own kid didn’t know what candy was, who loved bird watching and wearing tweed. We’d chat while they worked and it was just a three hour pleasure rather than work.

When the class switched from charcoal to gouache a devil medium, the evilest watercolor, the students struggled. We’d have in class painting where they’d spend the whole time trying to mix one color instead of just accepting something as good enough and trying to practice other skills.

So one day I showed up to my shift and announced, “I have stickers. If you get color down for the whole composition, you get a sticker.”

They wanted. The stickers. So bad. Students who had agonized before about keeping lines neat and perfect plowed ahead. The first student to call me over I tsked at. “Putting grey on everything doesn’t count,” I chided, “I asked for colors on each object.”

The classroom worked in furious joy, young adults who had seen my bird and cactus stickers and gone feral. The teacher was flabbergasted. “Why do they want stickers? They could just buy stickers…”

I held up my water bottle and showed him a tiny 3D bubble sticker the program director had brought to my game teams space last week. “You never grow out of wanting to earn a sticker.”

By the end of class everyone had a sticker. There was more visible improvement in the work too, which surprised them since they’d been rushing. “Gouache looks terrible before it looks good. It’s okay to start messy and then refine.” The teacher had said the same thing but looking at their frantic sticker paintings they finally saw the truth of it.

The meds did help. Nausea was relieved and same with the cramping. Though I really wish I had taken my next dose sooner. The cramping is coming back and now I have a buffer period where the pain exists and the meds haven't kicked in yet. But. Hopefully it'll bring relief again here soon.

Run

like you guys have no idea. i need to thank her for her service

I want to get back into writing again.

My laptop got lost when when we moved about 4 years ago. We simply just, never found it.

I'm facing the concept of just getting a new one but I'm really overwhelmed by all the choices and conflicting reviews of the current market.

Does anyone here have any advice or suggestions on what laptop is best for primarily writing?

The only criteria really is I do well with the solid, larger laptops vs those small/travel/take apart ones. I have to be able to use my trackball mouse as well.

I've missed writing for years. So many books unfinished. I just... I cannot let them collect any more dust. Not to mention bursting with new material waiting to be written. I miss the creative outlet I once did every day if not every week. It's time. I just need to find the right equipment.

Throwback to all these Jesus comics I drew in 2012…

I am utterly captivated by this video series that Taryn Delanie and friends have been making on TikTok