I learned something very interesting recently, apparently Albert Einstein’s name wasn’t actually Einstein, that was just a nickname people gave him because he was really clever. He’d be going all, “I’ve got this theory about relativity” and his mates would be like, “alright leave it out Einstein”. I was thinking about that when we were watching that film Good Will Hunting the other night, which is a really good film that features a genius. It doesn’t feature Einstein, unlike the movie Oppenheimer, which is perhaps the most boring and overrated film of all time, or at least of last year. Oscar season is upon is isn’t it, and it will win a whole load more awards. Maybe it’s not meant for me. I’m never much of a fan of Oscar winners. We did watch ‘Shakespeare In Love’ last night though, funnily enough, that won the Oscar back in like 99 or something. It’s a fun film, but a lot more smoochy-smoochy-and-boobies than I remember, but I was a drama student at the time so it probably seemed tame. Funny thing though, and it’s not mentioned in the film, but William Shakespeare’s real name wasn’t actually Shakespeare. No apparently that was just a nickname people gave him because he wrote plays. He’d be like, “I just wrote this play about this Danish fella who can’t make his mind up,” and his mates would be all “yeah alright Shakespeare, give it a rest.” His other nickname that didn’t stick was actually “Quill.I.Am.” Anyway I was probably thinking about these things when I drew this sketch downtown, on the day before my birthday, a red Mini parked outside the Dresbach-Hunt-Boyer House. Now I know you are thinking, that’s a big Mini, and yes it is, everything is bigger in America, even the Minis. In New York the cars are as big as bars, so I heard. I was just happy to draw a car that didn’t look exactly like every single other car parked on the street. The sky was partly blue and grey, the leaves really blossoming now, it was very spring-like, by which I mean I was feeling pretty wound-up, mostly about having a birthday that I didn’t really want. I wish I could have a birthday at the time of my choice, maybe when I’m in England and can get my old friends out to celebrate like in the old days, not midweek in February when I’m knee-deep in work. It’s just a number changing from one to another, it happens every day anyway, if you count the days. Still the numbers keep piling on. Eighteen and a half years I’ve been in Davis. I remember there used to be this massive tree right here, way taller than any of the other trees on this block, and it was cut down a long time ago because it would definitely have fallen over sooner or later. I remember on the other side of this building there was the old Tank House, before they built Mishka’s (which moved form a block down 2nd Street) in about 2011 or whenever it was. They put the Tank House on this side temporarily (I sketched it, if you zoom back far enough), and now it’s out at Impossible Acres farm on the edge of Davis. I sketched it out there as well. I’ve drawn so many things in Davis multiple times. I wonder who will look at these all in decades to come, long after all the birthdays have stopped (this got dark suddenly), at the record of all the buildings and trees that used to be there or at least look differently. Maybe nobody. I just like to draw a lot, I’m not exactly Picasso. By the way did you know that Picasso’s name wasn’t really Picasso, etc.