This drawing is now to be called a Mote of Dust on a Sunbeam.

I listened to Brian Cox today talking about why we need explorers, which makes sense really.
In it he quotes Carl Sagan talking about a photo taken of the Earth from….Saturn, or Mars, or somewhere far away.
And the image depicts the earth as a tiny spec in a cylindrical beam of light.
It reminds me of a childs’ toy, one of those coloured tubes you have to blow into, to keep a ping pong ball aloft.
I recommend a listen.

I don’t care much for people who talk all smiley, like Brian does.
But I do care for what he says about the environment, our beginnings, the start of the universe and his eagerness to portray science and discovery as wondrous rather than remote and nerdy.

While I was drawing today I listened to Neil Pasricha: The 3 A’s of awesome.
This guy had a series of negative events occur; suicide of his best friend, wife falling out of love with him.
So, as an antidote, he set up a website about all the positive things that happened to him.

I once thought that, like some people are born entertainers, I was born miserable.
In fact, one of my aunts used to refer to me as ‘you miserable bitch’.
However, I now find negativity very draining.
Negativity ‘smells’ bad.
Negativity leaves a kind of stinky film in the air.
Negativity is not cool.
In fact, I made a badge to try to ward it off.

Anyway, after this guy’s talk, I decided I will write here one good thing that happens each day.
It won’t be an ‘Awesome’ thing, because awesome, like ‘brilliant’ has been wrung dry of original meaning.
I hear people crying BRILLIANT when a waitress brings toast-
'You have any jam?'
'Yes. Strawberry?'
'BRILLIANT!'

So today’s good thing was that at the police station I bought a bag of very tasty chocolate covered peanuts for which the proceeds went to charity.

I think, I feel, I KNOW, that my less ‘weighty’ outlook on life is partly attributable to TED talks.
TED has, for me, the exact opposite effect that say…SKY news might have, or the BBC news, where the emphasis is on the relentless horror of modern life.
Because, really, a positive outcome is death to a news story.
Keep those chilean miners down the hole as long as possible because once they’re up, once we’ve learned that they’re safe, no one gives a shit about what they’ll be eating for breakfast tomorrow.
Unless it turns out one eats crack for breakfast.
Then it’s all ‘rescued miner is junky crack-eater!’

This picture isn’t about news, or crack, or TED.
I’m not sure what it’s about, but there aren’t any penises in it nor the word cunt!

Maybe ill call it For Everafter Happy Days to the Chilean miners!

70x100cm black ink on Fabriano

Listening to TED talks again today.
Listening to Ken Robinsons did it for me big time.
My mind went back to all those uptight teachers at High School trying to force geography down my throat.
Feeling humiliated in science because I couldn’t understand gravity.

This drawing might just be about gravity.