gaiverruksia

Inktober tuli taas! Kuten aina, kun on lokakuu... Käytin taas tämän piirustushaasteen virallista vinkkilistaa, joka löytyy täältä . Viime vuonna tein Inktobern Star Wars -teemalla, ja tänä vuonna herra Brony ehdotti, että ottaisin teemaksi lohikäärmeet. Katsotaan, miten tämä onnistuu... It's Inktober again! Just like in every October... I again used this drawing challenge's official propt list that can be found here . Last year my Inktober had a Star Wars theme, and this time Mr Brony suggested that I'd take dragons as my theme. We'll see how that one turns out... Älä unohda pakata lohikäärmettäsi, kun lähdet vaelluksille. Don't forget to pack your dragon when going on hikes. "Tutkimuspäiväkirja, 2.10. Tänään löysin viimein seuraamani lohikäärmeen pesän! Yritän huomenna viedä sinne kameran, kun emo on saalistamassa." "Research diary, October 2nd: Today I finally found the nest of the dragon I've been following! I'll try to take a camera there tomorrow when the mother is out hunting." Näihin otin mallia yksistä omista kengistäni, joita minun pitäisi käyttää paljon enemmän kuin käytänköön, ne ovat nimittäin kivat kengät. Lohikäärme on mukana... suunnilleen. I had my own shoes - which I should wear way more than I do - as a reference for this. There's a dragon, too... kinda. Tämä sai inspiraationsa paratiisilinnuista. This was inspired by birds of paradise. Tiedän aivan hyvin, ettei kiikareilla katsoessa oikeasti muodostu tuollaista "kiikarikuviota", mutta se on niin klassinen visuaali sarjakuvissa, etten voinut vastustaa. I very well know that there's actually no "binocular framing" when using binoculars but it is such a comic book icon that I couldn't resist. "Kapteeni, tämä olento muistuttaa ulkonäöltään kovasti sitä, mitä vanhat Maan tekstit kuvaavat nimellä 'lohikäärme'." "Captain, this creature's appearance is very similar to that what ancient Earth texts describe as a 'dragon'." "Tarkistetaan vielä matkaliput ja passi ennen kyytiin nousua..." "We'll just check tickets and passports before boarding..." Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry

"You know... as your best man I have many responsibilities, such as giving a speech." "Yes." // "But the most important one - to me, personally - is making sure you don't run away from your own wedding." "How so?" // "Well. Back in the day, it was the best man't job to see that nothing would happen to the groom. However, if something DID happen, it was the best man's duty to marry the now 'widowed' bride." // "And since your other best men are married (to each other!) the law does not allow them to marry your bride. I, on the other hand, would not have a legal obstacle in this matter." // "And even though your bride is a very lovely person, I'm simply not leaning that way. So I'm just trying not to get married here." // "...so that would explain the snipers on the roof..." "Yes." // "Well, Mr Brony didn't try to run away before the wedding. So congratulations to him and his bride - I mean WIFE!" // "And those snipers only had tranquilizer darts. And excellent aim."

Inktober jatkuu, lohikäärmeitä on. Mitä enemmän niitä piirsi, sitä helpommaksi kävi ajatella asiaa ja vinkkisanaa vuoden teeman kautta. Joka nyt taitaa tosiaan olla lohikäärmeet. Inktober continues, there are dragons. The more I drew these, the easier it got to think about this and the prompt words through this year's theme. Which, indeed, now seems to be dragons. Vaelluksella ruoan laittaa se, jolla on peukalot, ja nuotion sytyttää se, joka on käytännössä lentävä tulitikkulaatikko. On a hike the food is prepared by the one with thumbs and the fire is lit by the one who is practically a flying match box. Kuvittelisin, että lohikäärmeet tykkäävät lojua lämpimissä paikoissa, kuten auringon lämmittämillä kivillä. Etsin tähän mallikuviksi kuvia venyttelevistä kissoista. I'd imagine that dragons like to lay down in warm places, such as on sun-warmed rocks. I searched pictures of stretching cats as references for this one. Ajattelin dromedaareja kun piirsin tämän. I was thinking about dromedaries when drawing this one. Vaelluksella herkut pitää pakata huolellisesti niin, etteivät villieläimet löydä niitä. On a hike you should pack your snacks so that wild animals cannot find them. "Kaukana siellä, missä maailma alkaa, on sumu, joka ei koskaan haihdu. Kukaan ei tiedä, mitä sen alla on, mutta sumun keskeltä kohoaa kivipilareita, joiden päällä lohikäärmeet pitävät vahtia..." "Far away, where the world begins there is a mist that never rises. No one knows what lies underneath it, yet in the mist there stand stone pillars on top of which dragons keep guard..." "Horisontti" sai minut ajattelemaan laivoja ja purjelaivojen keulakuvia. "Horizon" made me think of ships and the figureheads of sailing ships. Lokakuun puoliväli on paras aika lohikäärmeiden syysmuuton seuraamiseen. Mid-October is the best time to watch the autumn migration of dragons.

IT WAS A VERY LARGE STONE "Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for some 200 million years." // "Their reign suddenly ended when a large meteorite hit the Earth. It really was huge, 12 to 15 kilometers in diameter!" // "Like... when I come to work by bike it's 13 kilometers. So about that much." // If that whole meteorite was placed in the ocean, it would easily reach the surface. Even the deepest place of the oceans, the Mariana Trench, is 'only' 11 kilometers deep! // The highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest, would pale in comparison with this meteorite. (The plane on this picture is not to scale but...) Passenger planes would have to fly AROUND it! // "..." // "Excuse me, I will lay down for a while." // "These scales are a tad overwhelming."

Lohikäärmeily jatkuu! On with the dragons! "Euroopan ja Välimeren alueen lohikäärmeet" on alan parhaita kenttäoppaita. "The Dragons of Europe and the Mediterranian" is one of the best field guides in the market. Roskapönttöjen kannet on suljettava hyvin, tai herkkupalat voivat houkuttaa kutsumattomia vieraita. Trach can lids shoud be closed properly or the leftovers might attract uninvited guests. Rakas päiväkirja. En voinut kirjoittaa eilen, koska toinen lemmikkilohikäärmeistä nukahti päällesi. Dear diary. I couldn't write yesterday as one of my pet dragons fell asleep on top of you. Paimenlohikäärme on korvaamaton apu vuoriston lammastilallisille. A shepherd dragon is a great help to the sheep farmers of the mountain areas. Yhteen aikaan lohikäärmeaiheiset tuuliviirit olivat erittäin muodikkaita. There was a time when dragon-themed weather vanes were very popular. "Kuningas lupasi tuhannen kultarahan palkkion sille, joka kartoittaisi maareitin Lievovuorten koillispuolisten seutujen halki pohjoisiin siirtokuntiin. Vain kourallinen lähti yrittämään, eikä kukaan palannut noutamaan palkkiotaan..." "The King promised one thousand pieces of gold to the one who would map a route to the Northern Settlements through the areas on the north-east side of Wyvern Mountains. Only a handful tried, and none of them returned to claim the prize..." Tämä oli aika hauska piirtää. Luonnostelin ensin kuvan sarvikuonosta, jonka päälle sitten aloin lisäillä erilaisia sarvia ja muita lohikäärmeistyksiä. Olen tyytyväinen lopputulokseen, joka on selvästi lohikäärme, mutta sarvikuonomaisuus näkyy yhä vahvana. This one was fun to draw. I first sketched a rhinoceros, and on top of that I added more horns and other dragon-y things. I'm happy with this result as it is clearly a dragon yet the rhino is still strong with this design.

A VERY FAST ESCAPE CRASH! "?" // "?" // "??" // "Rana! The cover of Puru's terrarium has fallen off, and now I can't find Puru anywhere!" // "Look for slime. And remember they can go up the walls as well." "It's nearly midnight and we're searching for a mollusk..." // "Here! They're under this plant here." // "Luckily snails aren't too fast." "How about still attaching that cover properly?"

Lisää lohikäärmeitä... Tämä kävi aina vain helpommaksi tämä lohikäärmeiden piirtäminen mitä enemmän sitä teki. More dragons... and the more I drew them, the easier it got. Tuskin on campimpaa tv-sarjaa olemassakaan kuin 60-luvun Batman. I don't think there is a more camp tv-series than the 60's Batman. Sotalohikäärmeiden haarniskat pitää öljytä huolellisesti, jotteivat ne pääse ruostumaan. The armor of war dragons must be carefully oiled so that they won't rust. Ensimmäinen Lievovuorille lähtenyt retkikunta havaittiin jo puolen mailin jälkeen... The first expedition to the Wyvernd Mountains was spotted after just half a mile... Möttösten uusi linnunpelätti ei pelottanut lintuja, eikä kyllä lohikäärmeitäkään. The Smith's new scarecrow didn't scare crows nor dragons. Ernesti oli yrittänyt saada täydellistä valokuvaa villeistä lohikäärmeistä jo 18 vuoden ajan. Vähänpä hän tiesi, että lohikäärmeetkin nauroivat hänelle. (Olin retkellä metsässä ja piirsin tämän teltassa illalla. Olin unohtanut mustepullon ulos rinkkaan enkä jaksanut mennä hakemaan, siksi tyyli on eri kuin muissa kuvissa. Mutta tulipa tehtyä.) Ernest had tried to get the perfect dragon photo for 18 years. Little did he know that even the dragons were laughing at him. (I was on a hike in the woods and drew this in the evening in a tent. I had forgotten my ink bottle in my backpack outside and didn't bother to go and get it, hence the style is different than in my other drawings. But I got it done.) "Tie vain jatkuu jatkumistaan / ovelta mistä sen alkavan näin Nyt se on kaukana edessäpäin / jos voin, sitä joudun seuraamaan..." - J.R.R. Tolkien: Hobitti Nopeasti kävi ilmi, etteivät metsätuhojen takana olleet hyönteiset tai kauriit... It was quickly very clear that the forest damage wasn't caused by insects or deer...

ILLUMINATING IDEAS I went hiking in the woods with Snowhorse. "I'd still need to go to the toilet." // "Same here." "But it's so dark in there! We barely found our tent when we came back from the camp fire." // "I have an idea that might work..." // "Okay... The toilet is easy to find as it is next to the camp fire, unlike this tent we hid in the forest." // ... "Then back to the tent... What is that?" "A reflector." // "I left my reflectors on tree branches on the way here. We can follow them back to the tent." "Alright!" This method is 100% MacGyver approved! Muistakaa heijastimet pimeällä. Remember to use a reflector when it is dark.

Viimeiset lohikäärmeet! The last dragons! Minä vain tykkään piirtää kompassiruusuja... I just like drawing compass roses... Legendan mukaan Lohikäärmeviulun soitto tuudittaa hurjimmankin lohikäärmeen uneen... According to the legend, music played with the Dragon Violin lulls even the fiercest dragon into sleep... "Kun löydät lohikäärmeen pään muotoisen kiven, olet puolimatkassa. Etsi joen sivu-uoma ja seuraa sitä..." "When you find a rock shaped like a dragon't head, you're half way there. Look for a side stream and follow it..." Ja siinä se tältä erää! Oli itse asiassa tosi hauskaa, kun oli teema mukana tässä Inktoberissa. Mitäköhän ensi vuonna? And that's it for now! It was actually really fun to have a theme in this Inktober. What will it be next year?

CREATURE Joskus on vain hauskaa piirtää ja värittää jänniä olentoja ilman mitään kummempaa suunnitelmaa. Sometimes it's just fun to draw and color weird creatures with no particular plan.

CONNECTIONS "I found a list of the worst jargon words. They were terrible. My favorite one was 'vertical upright connection'." // "Like... it's kinda a tautology in itself. 'Vertical' means upright!" // "And do you know what a 'vertical upright connection' means? An ELEVATOR." // "Would the opposite of that be something like a 'horizontal level connection'?" "You mean, like... a ROAD?" // "Or one of those moving walkways they have on airports?" "Yeah, that." // "And then there's of course a 'diagonal'... uhm..." "Slanted?" "Yes, a 'diagonal slanted connection'." // "And what would that be?" "STAIRS." "A master level in useless jargon achieved."

AN ONION TRICK "Snif!" "?" // "Everything okay? Why are you crying?" // "It's nothing, just the onions." // "You should keep water in your mouth when you're cutting onions. It prevents your eyes from burning." // "A peculiar idea, but I can give it a try next time I'm cooking." "You do that!" // A couple of days later... "Oh yeah, the water-in-mouth thing!" // "Glug glug!" // "Okay, this feels dumb. And I don't know why but... this is working!"

TOGRUTA OR TWI'LEK? Lumppari näytti minulle @savvyart'in syyskuulle tekemän Star Wars -piirustushaasteen, johon muutoin en vaivautunut osallistumaan, mutta prompti "togruta vai twi'lek?" innosti minut piirtämään alla olevan. (Niille, jotka eivät tiedä: togrutat ja twi'lekit ovat molemmat humanoidilajeja Star Warsin maailmassa, ja tämä hahmo on kyseisten lajien risteymä. Oikeasti en tiedä, voivatko twi'lekit ja togrutat risteytyä, eikä tällä minun hahmollani ole nimeä tai taustatarinaa, mutta kuvan piirtäminen on hauskaa.) Snowhorse showed my a drawing challenge by @savvyart. I didn't bother participating otherwise but the prompt "togruta or twilek?" inspired me to draw this one. (For those not in the know: togrutas and twi'leks are humanoid species in the Star Wars galaxy, and this character is a mix between those two. I don't know is twi'leks and togrutas can mix and this character doesn't have a name or any story but it was fun to draw her regardless.)

NO SNOW INSIDE!

THE RULE OF ROCK "Brother Hurg, it is time to go hunt mammoths." "Who's turn is it to be the bait?" // "Let us decide by playing the rock game." "Good idea." // 1...2...3...now! // "Rock." "I've got rock as well. Let's try again." // 1...2...3...now! "Rock." "Rock." // 1...2...3...now! "Rock." "Rock." // 1...2...3...now! "Rock." "Argh, a tie again!" // "Brother Hurg, it seems our society still needs to achieve certain technological achievements before we can develop our democratic decision making." "What are you talkin' about, man?"

DARK AS MY SOUL Random lohikäärmeotus on random. Saatte sen kaupanpäällisiksi kun viime torstaina ei ollut päivitystä koska blogisysteemi bugasi. Random dragon creature is random. You get it as an extra since there wasn't anything on Thursday as the blog was not working. "We are making a customer study regarding food. Could we maybe interview you?" "Sure." // "What is your favorite type of chocolate?" "Dark." // "And your favorite candy?" "Salty liquoirice." // "What type of tea do you prefer to drink?" "Black." // "What kind of bread do you eat the most?" "Rye bread." // "Are you... just answering the darkest possible option every time?" "...not on purpose."

A MISTAKE IN THE WORLD "I watched The Fellowship of the Ring yesterday." "Okay?" // "And I noticed something I hadn't before: griffins." // "In the battle at the end, by those reins, there are griffin statues." // "Is it a problem? I thought you liked griffins." "Yes, but they don't belong to Middle-earth. You see..." // "...griffins, centaurs and fauns come from Greek mythology. Middle-earth with its dwarfs and dragons is based on Scandinavian folklore." // "I've even heard that Tolkien even criticized C.S.Lewis when he mixed griffins, dwarfs, fauns and dragons in his Narnia series. There surely are no griffins in Tolkien's Middle-earth!" // "Maybe the filmmakers just weren't as particular about this as you and J.R.R." "They SHOULD have been!"

Olen katsonut uudestaan alkuperäistä Star Trekia. Tämä kohtaus jaksosta The Naked Time on yksi suosikeistani. I've been re-watching the original Star Trek. This scene in the episode The Naked Time is one of my favorites.

DEFINITIONS "A coconut is a mammal." "..." // "Do explain." // "It's hairy and contains milk." "Accepted."

STUFF I'VE SCRIBBLED RECENTLY Ei selityksiä, vain kuvia. No context, just stuff.

CHRISTMAS EPISODE 2024 "Since the beginning of my blog it's been my Christmas Eve tradition to post something Doctor Who related." // "But the truth is..." // "...I haven't watched any Doctor Who this year." // "The last Who I've watched was the 2023 Christmas episode and the 60 year specials and they were... meh. At best." // "And to be honest... I did like Peter Capaldi as the Doctor but the scripts were all over the place. And during the Jodie Whittaker era there were, like, one and a half good episodes." // "I've been patient and followed the show for a long time. But the quality had dropped way too much. I don't have enough free time or stupidity to keep following a show that is just bad." // "So I guess it's time to say goodbye. And it is sad but, as it is in the show, a part of life." // "But there are still have a lot of old episodes you haven't seen! AND I'm a time traveler!" "?!" // "Wheee!!!"

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2024

JUST CHILLIN' Tapaninpäivänä en tee mitään vaan pötköttelen Orbit-saukon, velociraptor Jeanin ja torakkapoikieni Brucen, Tonyn ja Clintin kanssa. Ja juon teetä, tietenkin. It's Boxing Day so I don't go boxing but chill with Orbit the otter, Jean the velociraptor and the roach boys Bruce, Tony, and Clint. And drink tea, obviously.

LOOKING AT 2024... AND 2025 "Well, the year's coming to its end." // "The year 2024 was a pretty good year for me, but no more about that now. As some of you have already heard, the comic blog service this blog is on will be terminated and archived in March 2025." // "So you can still read this blog but you cannot leave comments. And I can't update anything." // "I am, however, planning to continue with Gaiverruksia somewhere else. Where, I haven't decided." // "This blog will not go to Instagram or anything like that, for the following reasons: 1. The algorithm is not a fan of this kind of content and I'm not going to play by its rules. 2. I want to keep the blog looking the way I like. 3. I want people to be able to read and comment on my comics without signing in or anything." // "So. The future of Gaiverruksia is still in the air but there will be a future. I'll tell you and post a link when that time comes." // "While we wait for that I wish you all a very good 2025! And greetings from a cabin in the woods where I spend the New Year's again!"

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER WOULD BE PROUD NOW "I thought we could bake Karelian pasties." "Wow! yeah!" // "My great-grandmother was an evacuee from Karelia. I've heard she made the best Karelian pasties." "My great-grandmother was also from Karelia!" // "I wonder if they could have known each other?" "I don't know." // Some math and geography later... "From Sortavala." "From Viipuri." // "So probably they didn't know each other." "That would have been quite the coincidence, though." // "But they might be proud of us now!" "I'm sure they would be!" // "That's our great-grandchildren!" "Go girls!"

SALAMAJÄRVI 1: ON RIGHT TRACKS "It would be fun to go somewhere to the woods around New Year's again." // "But I've organized the trip four times already so I don't want to anymore." "I can do it!" // "And Ilu said he'd help." "Yep!" "Okay! Where will we go to?" // "To Salamajärvi." "But I've already been there for a winter trip." // "But this is another hut. Which is actually inside the national park." "In that case!" // "Ah, a winter trip! And I don't even have to call the taxi myself!" Write write write // "Ah, a message from Snowhorse!" // "Hi, I'm sick so I can't come to the trip." "No!" // "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" // "Um... are you okay?" "My tumor has a flu and can't come skiing with me!" "?!?" "??" // "Toothbrush and paste, soap and a cup of water..." // "I go outside to brush my teeth and wash my face." "Okay." // Brush brush // Wash wash // "!" // "A towel would be nice..." "These are old alright but they are fox tracks." // "I was just wondering what animal leaves small, dot-like tracks..." // "...and then I realized." // "It is a Kati with skiing poles." Jatkuu // To be continued

SALAMAJÄRVI 2: SKIING ON A SWAMP "This is some... small, white polypore." "Polypores are funny in the way that..." // "...their habitat is not just 'forest' or even 'old spruce forest'." // "Rather, it's something like 'in an old spruce forest under the trunk of a spruce that fell 20 to 40 years ago'." // "You're right there. What's also good about polypores is that..." // "...they don't fly or run away when you're trying to identify them." "Haha, true!" "Z" // "Z -- ! I'm a bit cold." // "I wonder where my woolen socks are...?" // "Oh, no! They've probably fallen down on Ilu's face!" // "!" // "Thank you! And sorry." "No problem." A note for my non-Finnish readers: the Finnish proverb "suksi suolle" literally translates to "go ski on a swamp" and means pretty much the same as "get out of my sight". Skiing on a swamp is pretty nice, though. "When I was a kid I always wondered why they told you to take a sitting pad on a camp." // "I don't need a sitting pad!" // "I'll just sit here on this rock." // "Oh the sweet childhood summers! Then I started hiking and camping in other seasons as well." // "And I learned that you don't sit on a rock in the winter because your butt gets wet or freezes." // "Unless you have a sitting pad which is a great piece of equipment. Recommended for everyone." Jatkuu // To be continued

SALAMAJÄRVI 3: SIBERIAN JAYS AND PENGUINS "The people in the neighboring hut are way too loud." "Yeah. The wall isn't that thick." // "Which of the following is not a prime number: 419, 615 or 827?" // "I wouldn't necessarily want to listen to their quiz all nigh long." "Me neither." // "Besides, the answer is obviously 615!" "On last year's winter trip the temperature was around minus 30 degrees Celsius. Now it was only about minus ten." // "And I have now learned the most important difference between the two." // In -30 C going to the outdoor toilet is just plain terrible. // "I'm freezing!" // "I'm freezing!" // "I'm freezing!" // "In minus ten degrees going to the toilet is tolerable." // "Like -- I'm not sitting here for the fun of it but it's not that bad." "I often take my woolen cape along on hiking trips. It's very useful." // You can wear it indoors or when going to the toilet. // You can also wear it as a skirt. // When sleeping, you can use it as a blanket... // ...a pillow... // ...as well as a bed sheet. // You can use the cape to protect your hands from hot pots and heater lids. // Inside a proper cape you can fit a friend, too. "The taxi will be here in half an hour. Let's get going." "We have less than a kilometer to walk." // "Yes, but it's better to leave on time." // "Hey! Was that a Siberian jay?!" "?" // "Where?" "Over there?" "Can anyone see it?" // "It went that way!" "Could we see it again?" // "...and this is why we leave on time." Waiting for a taxi on a national park parking lot: "I'm a bit cold." "Shall we play the penguin game?" // "HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PENGUIN?!?" // Waiting for a bus at the bus stop of a small town: "I'm a bit cold." "Shall we play the penguin game?" // "Have you ever seen a penguin?" Loppu // The end

CABBAGE Omistettu kämppikselleni Ranalle, joka ilmeisesti on muusani, kun sarjisideat loppuvat. Dedicated to my flat mate Rana who, apparently, is my muse when I run out of comic ideas. "Why is there a cabbage with bite marks on it in the fridge?!" // "It is mine. This is how I eat cabbage when I don't bother cutting it." // "I take it out of the fridge and take a bite. Then I put it back." // "It is the morally right way of eating cabbage."

Olimme Lumihevosen kanssa hoitamassa erään ystävämme koiraa maalla hänen lomansa ajan. Snowhorse and I took care of our friend's dog on the countryside during her vacation. "I take Liinu out for a walk." "Okay." // "?" "!!" // "?!" "Glomp!" "Squick!" // "Liinu please don't eat all those voles." "Nomnomnom." "Dog in harness?" "Yep." // "Kati on skis?" "Yep." // "All right, Liinu, down the hill." // "Down -- !!" // "AAAAAHHHAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAH..." "Okay, that was fun!" // "!" // "?" "?" // "Liinu, Liinu, that's enough, thank you! I'm alive!" "Has Liinu eaten today?" "Hmm." // "Well. She has eaten half of what I gave her in the morning." // "Half?" // "Yeah. EXACTLY half."

QUIZ QUESTIONS "The Latin term 'funiculus umbilicalis' means which body part?" // "The - the - baby-attachment-line!" // "You mean... the umbilical cord?" "Yeah." // "I'd accept that." "Yes." "Sure." "Why not."

FOREST REINDEER Minulta tilattiin peura-aiheisia kuvituksia. Ostin niitä varten uutta paperia, joka toki vaati testaamista. Samalla tein vähän väri- ja materiaalikokeiluja. Ylempi kuva on ihan pelkkä lyijykynäluonnos, vesiväriä ja valkoista puuväriä (skanneri otti sinisen taivaan tosi huonosti) ja alemmassa näiden lisäksi mm. mustetta, valkoista geelikynää ja elintarvikeväriä. I was commissioned some forest reindeer illustrations. I bought new paper for it and it of course required some testing, and I tried out some colors and materials at the same time. The first painting is just a pencil sketch, water color and white pencil (the scanner did a lousy job with the blue sky) and the second one also includes ink,white gel pen and some food coloring.

This one does not translate.

DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT "Do come in and have a seat." "Thank you." // "So, what seems to be the matter?" "My neck hurts." // "Is it like neck tension or...?" "No, more like hurts-hurts." // "Like... Neck tension is, like, blunt pain. This is sharp." // "But not in a needle-stab-like way. More like slashing sort." // "This is somehow... purple... this pain." "Purple?" // "Yeah, like... blue-ish... purple. Like so." "..." // "Are you alright?" "No, my neck hurts!" Oikeasti en ole vielä käynyt lääkärillä, mutta niska on kipeä. In reality my neck does hurt but I haven't seen a doctor about it yet.

THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE EMPTY METRO "Good morning!" "Morning." // "How come you're always at work this early?" "Well, I'm more of a morning person, always have been." // "And secondly, coming here early means getting out of the metro before the morning rush hour." // Because the rush hour metro is terrible." // "Understandable." "And since I come here early, I also get to leave early." // "More free time in the evening, then." "Yes, and..." // ...I get to the metro before the afternoon rush hour!

THE EARLY BIKER CATCHES THE EARLY BIRD "Don't you often come to work by bike instead of metro?" "Yes, all summer long, Basically ever since there's no snow." // 13 kilometers in the morning and another 13 in the afternoon. // "You've probably had the time to listen to quite a few books while biking?" "Well..." // "I don't listen to books when I bike. Or to music or anything." // "What do you do while biking, then? Since it takes that long every day?" "Well. I concentrate on what I'm doing." // I observe the nature and the birds around me. // And, in the old-fashioned way, just think about whatever's in my mind. // "I think it's good to listen to one's own thoughts sometimes and not just everyone else's." "That's for sure!"

FROGS Kämppikseni Rana oli sitä mieltä, että mistä tahansa möntistä voi piirtää sammakon. Päätin kokeilla. Rana oli oikeassa. My flatmate Rana thought that any shape could be turned into a frog. I decided to try this. Rana was right. Nuo silmät? Niitä paperinpaloja, mitä jää kun reijittää paperia. Those eyes? Those little pieces of paper you get when using a paper puncher.

A WATER IN ANY OTHER STATE "It's so nice that there's snow now!" "Indeed it is!" // "Such a cute creek." "And beautiful ice patterns!" // "Haha, this steam rising from the glogg looks awesome." "Ooh!" // Dear diary, today I watched different states of water.

A SUPPORTING IDEA "I've been planning my own fantasy world a lot lately." // "I don't have giants there but four-meter-tall, four-armed frogs." // "I've also been developing a writing system for them but I can't decide if they would write horizontally or vertically." // "I think frogs would obviously write vertically." "Why?" // "We mammals have the atlas vertebra in our necks which allows for up-and-down movement of the head... and the axis vertebra that allows the head the move side-to-side." // "Frogs, however, lack the axis vertebra so they cannot move their heads from side to side. Therefore they would write vertically." // "Well, that solves it. Vertically it is." "I'm just wondering why THIS is what I remember from my fresher's year's animal anatomy class..."

ROOF LIZARDS "Mom... where do baby stegosaurs come from?" "My child..." // "...the time has come when I should tell you about the birds and the bees. However... bees have not evolved yet." // "True story. Bees only first appeared some 20 million years after stegosaurs went extinct. Makes you think." // "On the other hand, the way in which stegosaurs, well... did start the life of a new generation... is a bit of a mystery. Them being the shape that they are." Jaa mitkä "kattoliskot"? Nimi "Stegosaurus" tarkoittaa kattoliskoa, koska alun perin sen selkäkilpien ajateltiin olleen sen selän suojana kuin kattotiilet. Why "roof lizards"? The name "Stegosaurus" means roofed lizard because it was originally thought that their back plated would have been protecting their backs like roof tiles.

GOING TO MEET RELATIVES I traveled to Austria with my Big Brother for out Grandma's 90th birthday. // "I've got some chocolate, would you like some?" "Yeah, thanks!" // "Gnom!" // "This was like a feel-good chocolate. Not that I wasn't feeling good already..." // "...but it just made me feel BETTER nevertheless!" (My Little Brother's 2-year-old daughter) "Yellow!" "Good! What about this one?" "Blue!" "Correct." // "What's this color?" "Green!" "Um... try again." // "Green!" "No, it's... well, what color is THIS?" "Green!" "Yes!" // "And this is...?" "Green!" "No, that's RED." // "What have you been teaching to your kid?" "Hey, I'm color blind!" "Oh yeah right." "It was probably a good idea that you brought your four-month-old baby to Grandma's 90th birthday party." "How so?" // "Well', she's clearly the most popular person in this party! And you don't even have to hold her because everyone else wants to." // "And she's the best form of entertainment for elderly relatives. Keeps them happy and out of any mischievous acts for hours!" Last time I was in Austria my German was like a beat-up puppy. "No! I don't want to come out!" // This time it was much more active and brave. "Maybe it's not that bad after all." "I've heard that a human's memory system is closely linked to the sense of smell in the brain. That's why smells and tastes so easily trigger memories from childhood." // "I've noticed this to be true. At least when it comes to cumin bread." // "In Southern Austria they make this really good, dark cumin bread. I ate it every time I visited my grandparents as a kid." // My Grandfather (who is no more) used to buy those huge loaves of bread. We ate in the kitchen of their old house (it is no more, either). // I always remember my Grandfather sitting therein the kitchen, cutting that huge cumin loaf. There was a special technique for that. // "I think Grandfather would like that memory. And the cumin bread is still good."

ALL THE ORANGE THINGS "Haaa-tchuuu! Phew, what a flu! I still gotta go do my groceries." // "Oh, those are some good-looking tangerines! And blood oranges too!" // "I normally don't drink that much juice but I'm really craving for orange juice now. And for blackcurrant juice as well." // "My body seems to know I'm in the need of some vitamin C..."

AT THE MUSEUM AGAIN Mentiin töistä käymään Luonnontieteellisellä museolla. Kävin siellä usein opiskeluaikoinani piirtämässä eläimiä, joten piti tietenkin verestää muistoja siitäkin. I went to the Natural History Museum because of work. When I was studying, I often went there to draw, so I had to try that again.

Jaaha, palvelu bugasi taas viime viikon... no, tässä sentään tämän päivän sarjis. Well, the site was down again last week... at least here's today's comic. "Bruce the roach seems to have died." "Could you try CPR?" // "Well... Insects don't have lungs so mouth-to-mouth would be a bit challenging." // "And they don't really have circulatory system either. So that heart-compression part would be slightly difficult as well." // "So I think I'll just bury Bruce in the flower pot next to Steve." "RIP Bruce."

BRUCE'S FUNERAL "Do you know what is the only proper way of burying an insect?" "What?" // "Six feet under."

BYE, WORLD! "This is my last post in this blog." // "Not because I'd want to. But because this comic blog platform will be archived soon. On March 26th, 2025, that is." // "I set up this blog in September 2015 to be my 'official exchange blog'. After that it's continued as a comic journal and art gallery. Within these almost ten years I have posted 1147 comics and other artsy articles here. They'll remain here to be read but cannot be edited or commented anymore." "And because I like this way of publishing more than algorithm-based social media I'm going to continue writing a blog. I shall move to gaiverruksia.wordpress.com ." "It's been fun and educating to read all of your comments over the years and to know that I'm not doing this just for myself. Thank you for that." // "I hope I'll meet you in the new blog soon!" PS. Tietäjät tietää, mutta kun sarjakuvablogit.com:iin loi blogin, sen ensimmäinen, automaattisesti luotu postaus oli nimeltään "Moikka maailma!" Kaikki tietenkin poistivat sen ja laittoivat tilalle jotain muuta. Mutta ajattelin, että siihen on hyvä lopettaa. It's like poetry, it rhymes.