iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The finished piece straight from the needles…

A picture of a freshly inked tattoo on a milky pale pectoral. The tattoo features a metallic science badge from TOS, with the original Enterprise beneath it, and behythem both a colorful nebula. Also, my left nipple :-)

John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

A sketch of an idea for a tattoo. I’m not sold on the design of the nebula background, but I’m confident a professional tattoo artist would come up with something better.

Colored pencil sketch showing the TOS Sciences badge rendered in chrome with a blue interior, the TOS Enterprise below the badge, both of them sitting over a colorful nebula.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Tried something a little different with this one. I’m not entirely satisfied with it, but it’s probably good enough for my current skill level.

A watercolor and ink sketch of a statue of Joan d’Arc that stands in front of a church named for her in Rouen, France

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Another ink and watercolor sketch, this time of Tower Bridge in London.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Under garage fluorescent lighting and in sunlight.

A photo of three sets of six sided dice, illuminated by the fluorescent lights in my garage

A photo of three sets of six sided dice, illuminated by direct sunlight

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Out of the polisher, and all washed. Now letting them air dry before pulling out the paint. The silver ones were last year’s edition, and you can see the numbers and max value symbol (crossed flintlock and dagger) on them.

A picture of approximately 36 six-sided handcrafted resin dice, slightly damp, sitting on a blue shop paper towel.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

Guess what time it is! If you’re thinking it’s dice-making time you’re right!

A picture of me wearing appropriate PPE: apron, nitrile gloves, and a respirator

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

My second watercolor painting, an attempt at coastal redwoods. It feels too luminous; I still have a ways to go to use color effectively. Still, not too shabby. I’m really enjoying exploring this medium.

A picture of a watercolor painting of several coastal redwood trees reaching into the sky.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

My first attempt at watercolor. Not too shabby, I’d say. At least the subject matter is relatively recognizable. :-)

Photo of a watercolor painting featuring a blue and purple hummingbird hovering in front of a spray of purple flowers

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Gas prices at my local station. Ouch!

Picture of a local-to-me Chevron gas station pricing sign.
Regular $5.999
Plus $6.199
Supreme $6.379
Diesel $7.699

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

QTP with a ship that’s not from Star Wars or Star Trek

A photo of the Liberator spaceship from the British sci-fi series “Blake’s 7”

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Accountability Post: I did a fairly good job getting out walking and closing my rings in February. A couple of days where I just didn’t have the spoons for it, but most days I found the mental wherewithal to get moving. March will be challenging due to vacation. Anyone want to help hold me to task?

The month of February in calendar form, showing completed Apple Watch rings for 26 of the 28 days.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

So the new range arrived and was quickly, professionally installed. Sadly, we lost the use of that small drawer to the left, as the fascia of the range extends too far, but we knew that was a risk. We also need to purchase new cookware as our current aluminum pots and pans don’t work with it.

A picture of a newly installed range (stove+oven). It’s stainless steel with a black glass cooktop, a digital control panel at the top of the front, and a large dark glass window on the pull-down door.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Yep, nothing so hateful as Christian love…

Six or so Christian protestors bearing the typical fundie signs protesting in from of First Unitarian Church of San Jose

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

I had a bit of a health scare early in the month (my Apple Watch said it saw signs of hypertension which my physician assured me was not the case) so I thought I’d finally get off my butt and start exercising. 23 consecutive days closing my rings (with two skipped days from illness). Not bad!

A screenshot from the Apple Fitness app showing 23 consecutive days of all three rings closed in January, with two skipped days due to illness.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

A new tool to try out in the pursuit of perfectly polished dice: a vibratory polisher filled with 3 mm ceramic balls. You can see some junk masters in the medium. It’s not quiet, and it’s not a fast process, but hand polishing takes a significant toll on my wrists. Here’s hoping it works!

A picture of a vibratory polisher, apparently designed to polish brass bullet casings. The base is black and the polishing chamber is orange and shaped kind of like a pumpkin. The lid is slatted and the contents are visible: small white ceramic spheres surrounding bluish gray dice-shaped objects.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

My artistic attempt of the day. I still feel I have a LOT to learn about how to mix colors, how to mute them appropriately, and how to see a bit more abstractly. But, I’m being creative, and I need to focus on that first.

A picture of a painting in progress alongside the reference “photo”. The subject is a sailboat in Morro Bay, California, in front of Morro Rock.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Today’s bounty… (Plant names in Alt text)

A photo of four houseplants sitting on a kitchen counter. From left to right: calathea “Freddie”, a baby rubber plant, a corn plant (but not really corn), and a ZZ plant.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

As I recall they didn’t really do much with the King aspect of it, just one scene where Joe bows down to him in the second series, which Kevin scoffs at.

A picture of me at a superhero theme party dressed up as Kevin Matchstick

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Our wall of art from around California is really coming together. This will be a source of comfort for me after the move.

A picture of six art pieces from around California hanging on an otherwise very boring wall.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Timeline cleanse from my backyard cam

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Gay powers restored, blah blah blah

Portrait photo of me sporting a fresh haircut. A face made for radio…

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

My sign for the No Kings Rally tomorrow…

A picture of a hand-made sign that reads:
We the People
not
He the Tyrant

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

It’s a great build. Nice and solid, much bigger than expected.

An image of a built Lego Batmobile model.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

I’m no George R. R. Martin, but I can still take inspiration from the @paulandstorm.bsky.social song… ;-)

A photo of my writing desk, with a lit-up mini movie marquee with the message “WRITE LIKE THE WIND! 😎”. Also visible in a notebook with a pair of computer glasses resting on it, and the lower half of a computer screen, along with a pair of plush kokopeli figures sitting back to back on the desk.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Today’s Enterprising moment, a view across the dish at the (sadly now defunct) Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico.

A screenshot of my lockscreen taken at 17:01, with a vacation photo of a large radar dish built into a small valley surrounded by jungle, with the transceiver module hanging above it.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Today’s Enterprising moment featuring an amazing view from Carcross, Yukon Territory, Canada

A screenshot of my lock screen taken at 17:01, showing a picture I took in Carcross, YT, CA, with a snowcapped mountain in the background, tall pine trees in the mid ground, and a rustic wood cabin surrounded by wood fencing in the foreground, with a brilliant blue sky, and clouds on the horizon.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Today’s enterprising moment featuring a touristy photo I took in Park Güell in Barcelona.

A screenshot of my phone’s Lock Screen at 17:01, featuring the aforementioned image as well as a Music widget showing that “A Town Called Malice” by the Jam was playing on my Library Pod.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

My new “toy” has arrived. My goodness it’s gorgeous!

A picture of a “working” model of the Tricorder from the original Star Trek tv show

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Timeline cleanse, hummingbird style…

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

To distract myself from worrying about the budget bill moving through the Senate, I decided it was a good time to polish a set of masters that I recently printed from my resin 3D printer. It’s a long tedious process that requires focus. It’s almost meditative. Details in the Alt text.

A photo of the first dice master polishing pass setup. On the lower left are dice masters I printed a week ago. Above them is a bowl of water. In the middle is 1200 grit sandpaper, dampened to keep dust down. To the right are the dice I’ve already sanded. This is the first grit pass of seven to try and get smooth, glass-like faces on each die before I use them to make a silicone mold in a couple weeks.

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John Kusters Jr @jkusters.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

Wow, this is the first time I’ve had a website REQUIRE I accept all of their cookies in order to use the site. Clicking Deny auto-navigates me to the Google homepage. This was for an organization I would have been interested in joining. This requirement gives me pause.

A typical cookie acceptance dialog from a website. Some of the text is highlighted: “Click Accept to consent and dismiss this message or Deny to leave this website.”

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