My Wondrous Year of the Dragon

 

Today I worked on campus because of a town hall meeting with the dean of our college. He is a straight shooter, and also an astronomer so he sees the big picture, and he was very honest about how he couldn't say how current events were going to affect us. We got to ask questions, and a lot of the questions were tough, but he didn't flinch. Then someone asked about new buildings, and he brightened and said, "I love talking about buildings!" He said they were ready to move some departments into a new building, so we should all show up with cardboard boxes, and his assistant said, "No, don't do that." Then he said he had to end promptly at noon because he was flying to DC to straighten things out, and we all applauded. Somehow we all felt like he really could straighten things out, since he is so good at "deaning," but he's black and not over six feet tall, so they would never listen to him, the fools.

The day after I last posted AI pictures of the blog monster, Travalon asked Chat GPT to draw a blog monster playing the pipe organ while wearing a stovepipe hat.

So the blog monster is still blue and furry, but now he's kind of scary. Also, where did his horns go? I asked Chat GPT to draw the blog monster drinking from a coconut while sitting under a palm tree, and I got that same blog monster, only not quite as scary. They look like muppets.

This gave me the idea to try to illustrate my wondrous Year of the Dragon using AI. The year started with us taking a fast boat over a turquoise sea to a tropical island. For some reason AI gave me two renditions of this and asked me to vote for which one I preferred.

They are very similar, but I voted for the first one because I just liked it slightly better. As you can see, AI renders "a man and a woman" as far younger and thinner than we are, so I should have specified that we are middle-aged and overweight. Our next adventure was seeing a flock of pink birds when we spotted a bird party in the Everglades that included roseate spoonbills.

I specified that we saw spoonbills, ibises, storks, and herons, and it did a really good job with that. This is what we saw, except we were looking at it from the road, not standing in the marsh ourselves. What's up with that, AI?

Our next adventure was boating on the Chicago River on St. Patrick's Day, when it was dyed green.

This one is really good. Other than the fact that we don't look like photogenic Millennials dressed up as leprechauns, this is pretty true to life. 

Today is the one-year anniversary of our next adventure: the total solar eclipse! 

So I obviously should have given more instructions here, like that we were in a town square, but whatever - it's the black sun to go with the pink birds and the green river. Also, Fake Travalon and Fake Famous Hat aren't even looking at the eclipse, so that's weird, and why are they sunlit during an eclipse? Whatever, AI.

Later in April, we got to pet four-horned sheep.

Hey! This is pretty good! But there were several sheep, not just one.

Hmm, now the sheep have shrunk in size. I think I like the first one better.

In the summer there was a spectacular bright orange sky with a double rainbow.

This is exactly what it looked like, but I forgot to ask for any background. My bad.

In October we hiked on the Ice Age Trail a lot.

We also saw the comet over Lake Monona from the yard of the East Side Club.

And we saw spectacular northern lights from our dock. 

I love how the birds from our Everglades trip joined us in Wisconsin. 

Now for our trip out west at the end of the calendar year. First, St. Louis.

I forgot to specify that it was winter, so oops. However, I object to Chat GPT deciding that, instead of the Gateway Arch and St. Louis Cathedral (which really are right near each other), it would give me the Arch and the Old Courthouse. It was stuck on the idea that St. Louis Cathedral is in New Orleans, as if there can only be one. So this one is kind of a fail. But the next one, where Travalon and I saw bison with the Rocky Mountains in the background, makes up for it.

Good job, AI! That is exactly what it looked like! And now, the New Year's Eve party in Des Moines:

Where's Fake Travalon's beard? Did he shave for the new year? And I love how we know it's Des Moines because some building mysteriously says DES MOINES, instead of showing the Capitol Building. Also, our party was more colorful, with Christmas lights on the ceiling, whereas this one is very gold-toned. Still, it gives you the general idea... and yes, we did have champagne. Thought I did not have a HAPPY NEW YEAR tiara, or really any tiara. I still have the one from my wedding... an idea for next New Year's Eve? 

As you are probably aware, the end of the calendar year isn't the end of the Lunar Year, but Chat GPT abruptly decided it had created enough images for me, and I couldn't request any more for seven hours. I'm not sure anything happened in January that was worth illustrating, anyway. 

Famous Hat