I have some posts I was going to publish soon, but I randomly decided to wait and make my own art for the thumbnails. I sometimes like to make digital art on my tablet using the Sketchbook app. I knew I wanted something with an eye, so I took a picture of mine.
I set the canvas dimensions to 1200 x 630 pixels and arranged my image how I wanted. Though now I realised I have all my blog thumbnails set to squares and next time I should do a square.
I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted, (I have a difficult time picturing things in my mind’s eye) so I just started tracing.
I added a few more lines and adjusted the face shape.
For fun I tried seeing what cross-hatching would look like (A skill I’m still working on)
I realised I wanted to keep it simple. I tried a black background with white lines, then settled on a coral pink instead. I changed my brush size to a 7, and started tracing over the lines I thought were most important in white.
I put a question mark in the pupil, which goes with the content of my post.
I added some dark grey in places.
After cleaning up some lines I finished! It was pretty fast and satisfying to make! I can see a lot of possible variations on this too.
Here we are again with 5 more paintings! The idea is to simply practice, not try for perfection (OCD I’m looking at you!). Like most of my other paintings, these are just small objects from around my room. I’m using Staedtler watercolour pencils and a fine tip Sharpie.
21. A small glass jar.
22. An old green leather book
23. A small felted pumpkin I made.
24. Scissors
25. A tealight candle. I think this is the hardest to make look right, because of the shades of white. I know how I’d try it with regular watercolours, but pencils I’m not sure. I did try adding some depth on the white part, but it doesn’t really show.
I’ve never used “the good” paints before. I used Crayola watercolours and Staedtler watercolour pencils, neither of which I loved. For my birthday I got this sweet little palette with all the basic colours. I tried it out painting a picture of a pond.
I haven’t used regular watercolours in a while, there’s definitely some things I would do differently. But overall I’m pleased
I used to watch a lot of videos of loose watercolour and ink. I decided not to add ink to this one. I wasn’t trying for realism, I just wanted to make the impression of the pond. I’m so happy with the plants! Though I think I need to watch some tutorials for trees…
I’m really excited to start painting more with this palette!
I take a lot of photos of my aquarium, like my phone is always running low on storage amount. I had a small bout of the burnout and didn’t keep up with maintenance besides the essentials. Now that I’ve caught up, I want to organize my photos and have a place where I can see my progress.
This is after I gave the plants a big trim, so I could see what I was doing. I want a wild jungle look, but first I want to direct the plants to grow in the places I want them to. Think organized chaos. I’ve been trying to grow plants out of the top, but I don’t have a good way to attach them. Especially since I keep the water level lower for my mystery snail Steve.
May 6
I started my testing my water parameters. I don’t do this often, my tank is very stable. I’ve checked these strips against the API freshwater test kit. I just want to check that the nitrates are low enough before I start.
I’m starting by moving this sword plant; it’s a little too crowded. Bob the Bladder is there too, overseeing the operation.
I’m working slowly and carefully to try and not kick up too much mulm.
Took a break to check on the snails; Bob is my first bladder, all the rest are their children. Steve is in the corner, safely out of the way waking up from a nap.
I went around and removed some algae. My java moss has always been covered in hair algae. I was getting tired of cleaning it, so I removed most of it. I accidentally uprooted some plants and switched to using my hands.
I wanted to make space for the sword plant so I removed some others.
And I put the Sword plant in.
This took me almost an hour. I was getting tired and my back sore. So I put in some food and called it a day. I popped the non-aquatic plants back in the aquarium, I was too brain tired to figure out where else to put them.
May 7
I want to move these plants to the middle. I’m going to start by propagating them.
I added root tabs. I like to break them up first; this time the floor did that for me.
Next thing I need to do is clean my pre-filter sponge.
As I took it out a bunch of stuff fell off…
After I rinsed it (I liberated any bladders, and used it to water my houseplants).
I took another break and now I can do some detailing. I used a toothbrush to scrub off the hard water build-up, picked up floating plant bits, and cleaned the inside glass with a magnetic algae scrubber.
After cleaning the outside glass with vinegar, topping up the water, and adding liquid fertilizer this is where I’m at
May 13
There’s some build up at the front that doesn’t look good. Normally, I leave mulm in as plant food, but I don’t have plants at the front to use it. I covered my aquarium turkey baster with a net to prevent bladder snail abductions
I pulled up the rest of the plants in the front, and moved the healthiest ones next to the Rotala indica and removed some new Vallisneria pups.
I rinsed my pre-filter sponge again, topped up the water, and added liquid fertilizer. Here’s the next day (the skewer is holding some spinach for the snails).
May 20
I’ve started researching what critters would fit nicely in this setup. I might get shrimp and some sort of small fish, I just need to find creatures that are all compatible together and with my tank parameters.
I’m really happy with how the java moss is growing on the wood. I didn’t do much today; just trimmed melting leaves.
My motor was making a grinding noise so I took it apart and clean it.
May 27
I came back from a small trip very tired. I wanted to clean the glass today, but I was too exhausted to. Here’s how it was when I got home (I left some spinach for them while I was gone)
I got set-up with my towels and tools, then I couldn’t find my plant trimmers anywhere! It was infuriating! I looked all over the room and even wondered if someone had borrowed them. I knew they were there earlier. Yes they were, I left them on top of the aquarium… to remind me to do maintenance (boy did that word need a spell checker!). But they’re black; black objects live in the void and no longer exist in this realm.
I gave some plants a little trim, to keep them from blocking the light from the neighbouring plants that I want to grow. I had a bag of river rocks, so I’m now experimenting with using them to keep the plants contained. Though I know it’s going to take me awhile to get the knack of hardscaping. I also pulled out some algae and more Vallisneria that was putting pups where I didn’t want them yet. I also added some more liquid fertilizer and added more water.
May 27
Here are some slideshows of the tank’s growth.
I’ve done a lot of research and I think I’m going to get some red cherry shrimp. Shrimp were the original special interest that led to this aquarium. I also think I’m going to look for a lid, because topping up the evaporated water all the time is starting to get old. My goal is to have as low maintenance an aquarium as possible.
I have OCD and in my experience it can show up as the weirdest things. I’m also Autistic and likely ADHD, so it can be hard to tease apart and categorize my behaviours. Not that everything needs to (or should) be pathologised and categorised; it just helps me find the words to express myself.
For a while I thought it might be a stim. For me, stimming is soothing. I feel my emotions very physically, and stimming helps me move them out of my body (if that makes sense). But stimming feels good and this teeth clicking doesn’t.
When I tried finding information on this compulsion, there wasn’t really much. Once I found out I likely had OCD, I tried asking about it in a forum. And yes! Other people have this compulsion too. Like me, they also didn’t know of anyone else with it.
I am not a doctor, therapist, or mental health professional. Everything in this post is based on my own personal experiences and opinions. It is not medical advice. If you think you’re struggling with OCD or any mental health issue, please speak to a qualified professional.
For at least a decade, I’ve had this overwhelming urge to click and grind my teeth. If I try not too, I end up biting my cheek, tongue or clenching my jaw. I feel very uncomfortable in my chest, around my collar bone, and in my arms (as said before, I feel emotions physically, and also have a difficult time identifying them). If I had to choose I’d say it makes me anxious and stressed.
For me, this is combined with a specific counting ritual. I am very aware of any squares and rectangles within my space. As a teen, my room had a wall which divided into a group of 6 squares. I followed this pattern:
I start from the largest square and I click each corner, starting bottom right, to top right, bottom right to left. (e.g. the entire wall)
I repeat the pattern going down 1 size of square. (e.g. the wall minus the base board, then minus the window frame)
I repeat this until I reach the smallest one, count that one twice, then work the pattern from smallest to biggest.
I repeat the whole process until it feels “right”.
The problem is the relief is temporary. If I mess up the pattern, I have to start all over again. Overtime the urge builds up again and it feels deeply unsettling not to do it.
There is a wall in my bedroom that currently has a set of 12. 12 x 4 is 48. Do that a minimum of 3 times (usually more) and that’s 144 clicks. Now think about the number of rectangles in your computer, tablet and phone screen.
Also road signs! I feel the urge to click every road sign I see (which sure makes road trips interesting!). I also click the tiles of my bathroom floor in rows of 7. At the end of the day I’ve clicked and gritted my teeth hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Sometimes I’m not really aware that I’m doing it until someone asks “What’s that clicking sound?”.
This wasn’t too problematic at first, but it got to the point of having tooth and jaw pain. I tried stopping on my own and I ended up biting my tongue, cheeks, and clenching my jaw all the time.
The good news is it has gotten much better. With medication and therapy, the urges have faded a lot. They’re still there, but the feeling is mostly tolerable. I still click my teeth, but not nearly as much.
In 2024 I got some cash as a Christmas gift and decided to spend it making an aquatic vase. I had been long developing an intense special interest in shrimp keeping. But, I had never had an aquarium before and read snails were more hardy, and easier to start with.
I spent hours watching videos, reading forums, and looking at setups of Walstad method tanks. I had a 1 gallon vase and decided to try it.
I started with plain potting soil and capped it with aquarium gravel. I went to the pet store and got some java moss and bought a small clip on USB light. I tried tying the moss with clear thread to a rock.
The vase is bigger then it looks because distortion.
I tested the water over the next month with test strips. They showed the tank had cycled, and my tap water parameters were great for keeping snails. After some research, I got some more plants and a Mystery Snail; a choice I later regretted. (Thatsounds way too ominous, no mystery snails were harmed in the making of this vase!)
“Steve The Poop Monster”, at only 2cm the little lad took over his new realm nicely. He hid for several days before exploring.
The vase stayed nice for the next few months, and I tried adding 3 shrimp. Unfortunately, within 2 weeks they had died. I also was reading a blog for aquatic snails, which I then found out they recommended a tank of at least 2-3 gallons per mystery snail. I immediately ordered a 3 gallon online to start over and fix several issues that were forming.
The Problems:
The plants started rotting at the base. Steve dug them up to eat the rot. The java fern developed galls and the growth stunted.
The proteins from the rotting plants and lack of water movement made scum build up on the surface.
The light I was using wasn’t powerful enough.
Plants kept floating away and they had a potassium deficiency.
My tap water had 0.40 ppm ammonia in it. I didn’t detect it when doing tests because the bacteria had cycled it. But these spikes probably caused the shrimp deaths.
Steve was growing quickly and I was worried the tank couldn’t handle his bioload, plus I think he was bored.
The Solutions:
I put a layer of sand before the gravel to help anchor the plants betters. I replaced the struggling plants and replaced them with different ones.
I used root tabs and liquid fertilizer to fix the potassium problem.
I got a stronger light.
I used a sponge filter to create surface flow and filter the scum.
I got a new water conditioner to bind the ammonia into a less harmful form until the bacteria could process it.
1/4 of the way through! (p.s. Actually 1/5; my math isn’t mathing.)
16. A pencil sharpener. I had the notion to try an underpainting of orange just to see what would happen. It gave me the shade of blue I wanted, but I regret putting it on the entire thing. I also overworked it a bit and wished I had left the table just white.
17. An amazon sword plant from my aquarium, I’m quite happy with this one! I let each leaf dry before wetting the next. I painted the shadows in purple.
18. This is my favorite one; a little mushroom stuffy I love.
19. After 16 I ran out of paper and the hobby merry-go-round rotated to cross stitching. Cutting paper isn’t the funnest thing. I kept wanting to paint, but not cut-up the paper. This one’s just a shell. I messed up and drew some of the pen lines in the wrong place. I randomly wanted to see what a blue background would look like.
20. Haha! Not my best work… but I didn’t say I was making 100 great tiny paintings! It’s supposed to be a Calathea leaf.
I. Hate. Thrips. I ended up chucking half of my plant collection, fortunately a lot of them were duplicates, because I was overwhelmed treating that many plants. Especially because I was dealing with autistic burnout. It truly was a full infestation. I’ve now got the hang of it though, and can recognize the thrip damage and treat them before they get too comfortable.
This thrip below I found on my zebra Haworthia succulent and caught on a piece of tape. It got stuck in a pipette for almost 30 minutes while I was trying to get it on the slide without wrecking it. It doesn’t look like much zoomed out, and it would have helped if I had noticed my camera wasn’t focused.
I think I smooshed it a a little bit by accident, it looked like a lot of air bubbles were coming out.
Eventually, I’d like to make some drawings and paintings of insects like this, be able to label the different parts, and maybe even identify the species.
I have had a 1 gallon, a 3 gallon, and finally a 10 gallon aquarium. It’s fascinating how microorganisms seem to spawn from thin air. I’m slowly looking at water samples and trying to identify and document all the types I find. I don’t have the best setup for microscopic photography; I’m just holding my phone up best I can. Some of these are also screenshots from slow-motion videos, because some of these critters move fast!
These photos are from November-December of 2024, when I didn’t have proper microscope slides or covers yet. I just put water samples on any clear plastic thing that would fit under the lens.
Nov. 26 2024 An ostracod, also known as a seed shrimpNov. 24 2024. I’m not sure what this is. Perhaps some type of small nematode? My aquarium has a bunch of these on the glass, they grow to only a millimeter or 2. Note that the dark spots are not eye spots. I think it’s food being digested; I watched it move all around the inside of the body.Dec 24. 2024. An unhatched leech inside of an egg sac. I found it on a piece of Vallisneria I brought home from the pet store. There were 3 leeches inside of it, I think they’re called snail leeches.Dec. 24. 2024. A baby bladder snail, the natural prey of the leech above.Dec 24. 2024 A cyclops copepod.
My Neurospicy Soup 