Activity Upon Activities!

First thing's first, New Flickr's up! Regretfully A bit late, I know, although I doubt anyone would notice/mind, but was HUGE and I had a birthday. Enjoy. The short encapsulation of the Month of October, 2009 which I have thusly photodocumented included: The Wedding of my Dear friends Bart an' Lina, Maynard Day (fireworks!), The Preparation/failure of a convention (APE), our Glorious Californian trip (exhaustively Documented Previously), Prototyping Projects (only a few of them I'm at liberty to discuss, though we ARE reasonably busy!), and Halloween! It's been a Whole lotta shit. It'll be Wonderful to finally slow down a bit, but we'll probably not be restin' easy 'till Christmas presents are procured for everyone. We plan to spend Xmas at home this year so it, at least, should be stressless and relaxing.

Birthday! I had one! I can never actually remember my precise age, but I hate looking as if I'm ashamed to tell people how old I am. 32, I think I hit, because I was born in '77. I think that's right. It doesn't goddamn matter. I finally got two dermal anchors put into my sternum (third one's going in as soon as these heal up and become cool), so that's exciting... Dermal Anchors are curious piercings. I certainly hope they last foreverish, but I'm SO used to the concept of surface piercings being temporary (though Dermal Anchors aren't "surface piercings" as such.) The pain wasn't especially annoying... Similar to getting my bellybutton done, if I recall correctly (though that was like, 11 years ago). I mean, it's a jab with a needle and a little bit of fiddling. The healing should be reasonably quick, so that's good, and I LOVE love love seein' shiny metal bits stuck to me. Anyway, more weekend recap:
I got Much good hanging-out with friends (new people! A rarity! *waves at Niki*), got some Burdick's Chocolate and a beeakfast at Zoes. Also, I enjoyed a Wonderful screening of the Extended version of Dune complete with Our friend Matt's Excellent Running "Dune Nerd" Commentary (which made the experience Much Much better). MAN do I love me some Brad Dourif. Kelli an' I were able to go out to dinner with Miz Ameranth, being that her birthday and mine are th' same day... That ruled, then on Sunday, we went to the Cake Wrecks Book signing! We presented a carving Kelli and I made (pictures comin' in th' November Flickr), had some cake, got our copy of the book signed, then Kelli's sickness overcame her and she came home to curl up and sleep. She's been Horrifically under the weather these past couple of days. I'm hoping intently that it'll break soon. Poor bird's been MISERABLE.

There's much more goin' on, I'm sure, but as a smooooth segue from the last paragraph, I reckon I might as well get off th' damned computerwebs and make sure Kelli's gettin' tucked in for some convalescence.

-343

Massive Trip! It was awesome!

I presume those that follow this follow Kelli as well, but since I don't read her journal, feel free to compare and contrast.

The trip started off at a reasonable time, which we're not used to. It's strange to have a bigass flight, but take off at 7PM. We had plenty of time to pack an' get ready, sleep in the day of, and go to work. Somewhat strange, since our bargain-hunting usually yields flights taking off at Jerk O'Clock inna morning. The flight was delayed a couple of hours, involved a stop-over in Salt Lake City for a re-fueling, and had some turbulence, but for a cross-country flight, it wasn't bad! The fact that it was JetBlue was a significant contribution here. Holy Crap does the phenomenon of "TVs in your seat" make the time pass. Kelli an' I also played some games on her netbook, and besides the fact that we rolled into San Francisco around 2 AM (Five, Boston-Time), we did okay. Mista Vespizzari was kind enough to meet us at th' airport and transport everyone's drooling, zombie-like carcass back to his place in th' woods north of Santa Cruz.

Chapter One: Felton (or thereabouts)
So our vacation began with us hangin' out at Vespizzari an' Sarah (his wife)'s joint in a densely forested neighborhood near to Felton, CA. Everything felt like the Smoky Mountains, but I think that's because it's the only massive mountainous foresty area I knew of. The hills looked right, the houses tucked into th' hollers felt right, but the trees were WAY too big, the architecture completely alien, and everything was just kinda off. I REALLY loved it there, because I feel at home in less thickly populous areas, and the misty forests TOTALLY reminded me of all nature of great childhood memories... It was jus' interesting to compare and contrast Completely familiar biomes with the totally alien. Our hosts' power had gone out due to a massive early-season rainstorm, but A) the power came on soon enough, B) they were Totally prepared with oil lanterns an' whatnots, and C) it made all the forests Insanely lush, despite the fact that they're usually dangerously dry this time of year. It was astonishingly beautiful to walk around th' old-growth forests, and havin' Sarah along was superbadass (th' lady has no end of arboreal/environmental knowlege). We breakfasted at a 24 hour mom-an'-pop diner that had Phở on the menu along with hash browns an' waffles... Just about every place we ate made us feel better about California. =D Much walking was done, through stunning forests an' downtown Santa Cruz, and it was just insanely cool to hang out with Vespizzari again. Inseparable in High school, I hadn't seen him since his wedding (living on separate costs will do that). There's a level of intimacy that presence provides thet you jus' can't get on th' Interwebs. An area Taqueria was visited. Delicious burritos were consumed. Man O Man. Also, Vesp took us to where he works, at Zero Motorcycles. I've never owned or desired a motorcycle, but HOLY crap these newfangled electic jobs are teh FANCY. The notion of silent dirtbikes is an appealing and strange one. Almost completely unrelated to anything, Vesp learned me the word "Inviscid", meaning "having no viscosity". Not something I can use in conversation much, but it's a Helluva scrabble word! As our time together neared towards an end, we putterred up the Pacific Coast highway to Half Moon Bay, which we reckoned was a nice halfway point for miss Sanspoof to come score us an' get us up to San Rafael. Incidentally, Half Moon Bay Coffee Company: Damn fine Mocha. And HMB is a pretty adorable little down for the walkabout anyway.

Chapter Two: San Rafael
Upon miss Sanspoof's arrival in Half Moon Bay, we all meandered around a bit, determined that the town essentially rolls up the sidewalks at 5 PM, and decided to part ways an' head up Northward-style. Along the way, there were beautiful cut-metal dinosaur sculptures, gorgeous hillsides, and delightful conversation including but not limited to the knowlege that THE PACKAGE had not arrived. Now, as much as Kelli and I were enjoying ourselves, the underlying POINT behind our visit West was the Alternative Press Expo. It's a lot of shit for us to go through to hit three 'cons in one year, but we reckoned that if we justify the trip with a convention visit, it might help pay for itself and make it easier for us! Alas, Just about everything we planned to sell we had sent ahead (in THE PACKAGE). Learning that the post office had consumed our entire table inventory was uncool. But the materials were insured and we'd been having an awesome time and it was great to see Sanspoof an' Chmmr again. We reckoned that if we could jus' get our table-money back, we'd claim insurance on THE PACKAGE, and fuckit. We were jus' gonna enjoy a vacation. Kelli and I almost NEVER actually take any kind of vacation, so the novelty of the concept almost immediately overwhelmed any concern about missing the 'con. The irreplaceable paintings... those suck to lose, and it sucks to not be able to get eyes on Kelli's work (she doesn't have a LOT of promotion opportunities), but Vacation! Hooboy. So after a slightly trafficky but uneventful trip up from HalfMoonBay, the three of us rolled up on Sol Food for our first dinner in-town. On review: That website is atrocious. But the FOOD! Holy lawd. 'Spoof joked that we'd eat there five times during our trip. I think we only ended up eatin' there four times, but it wasn't enough. It's hard to explain how goddamn good their food is, since it'd jus be "I dunno... Lime tea and a ham sammitch", but Man O Man. Ambrosial. I've advised that a bottle of their signature hot sauce be sent back to us. Everything there was Awesome. After immensely satisfying foodings, we rolled up to Chmmr's place of business, an' it was awesome to see where Bioshock 2 is gettin' made. I'm very pleased that they have placed my plaque in a position of honour! Cool though it was to see everything, we felt bad for Chmmr workin' so late. Nature of the beast, I suppose. Now comfortably stationed, we had a day of puttering around the city (some Berkeley, some of the Ferry Building, cool comics shop, Goodwill... All kindsa stuff), an evening of more delicious Sol Food, fraternization and joy. The day of the 'con was weird, because we didn't know we'd gotten the table cancelled 'till we arrived! Thankfully, all was in order, and we were able to explore the 'con as observers. I really like the small press conventions... I'm disappointed that Kelli wasn't able to show an' prove. That being said, it was nice to have a 'con over which we've stressed for MONTHS come and go in a span of hours and give us the rest of the day! More city-puttering, more hanging out, and more enjoying the beautiful food/weather/architecture/etc. Good times. We were pleased to experience Star Crash (which our hosts had never seen) and were exposed to the glory of SwatPaz Cartoons. So after several days of enjoying the opulent gorgeousness of San Rafael (including the most goddamn fantastic farmer's market EVAR), we arranged to meet Bart an' Lina at Sol Food. Not because it's especially convenient from Ingleside, where we were about to stay, but because SOL FOOD. Yee-ummers.

Chapter Three: Ingleside.
Sol Food was Thorougly enjoyed by all (how could it NOT be!?), and on our first evening out with Bart an' Lina, we endeavoured to meet with mista Dathedix, with whom we had arranged to meet at the 'con, but y'know. Fate. Nonetheless, we were able to meet him for dinner in th' city. It was cool to see him again, VERY cool to get shots of his spectacular new tattoos (Flickr Forthcoming), and even cooler to check out his soon-to-be ex apartment, which he shares with Oddball film an' video. GREAT pad. Giant stacks of film cans, editing stations, Salvaged signage, curious ephemera, and dirty bathroom-stencils. Really neat joint. We talked more shop than we probably should have, but a good time was had by all. Thatnotwithstanding, we were given splendid accommodations. After a great night's sleep, Kelli an' I poked around the immediate surroundings for a bit (both of our hosts had work), enjoyed an area coffeehouse an' took Heaps of pictures. I LOVE LOVE LOVE walking around neighborhoods, especially in architecturally diverse areas. After she had returned from work, Lina offered to spend the time remaining before Bart got back with a whirlwind driving tour of San Francisco. Althought that sounded like a strange idea (how much can you get out of jus' driving by and pointing at something?), it RULED. Lina has an Intimate familiarity with th' city, and her trip was an incredibly enjoyable combination of places that were personally interesting to her (Sen. Diane Feinsteain's place, etc.) and touristy places (There's the Castro! There's Haight-Ashbury!). The trip culminated in a trip up to Twin Peaks at sunset. For a city that pretty much perpetually astonished us with its beauty, this was one hell of a punctuation mark. Dinner was enjoyed at the wonderful Pizza Orgasmica, and mista Bart was kind enough to provide us Airport transportation for our trip home. After the six-hour overnight flight, I went to work that day (little hard to focus, but not that bad), and it wasn't until this weekend that I've been able to totally and completely relax (which, naturally, I do by doing all kinds of work, but I've got obligations coming up!).

SADNESSES: Losing THE PACKAGE was kinda a mixed blessing. Like, it's NICE to not have the responsibility and timesink of the 'con, but it's also nice to not have the post office eat almost a thousand dollars worth of stuff that poor Kelli has spent a Buttmess of time and effort creating/assembling. Also, it's sad that we couldn't have met up with miss Pumapreysize, who I hear is back in th' area. We tried to call you! I promise! <=) Finally, It woulda been nice to jus' have MORE TIME. Like, I can't imagine ANYONE putting up with Kelli and myself for long, but we SO totally love an' miss everyone out there... It would have been great to be able to take like, a month off an' jus' hang out an' shoot shit with all these folks s'more. It sucks to have like, such a small number of good friends in the world when so many of 'em live across the country. <=) Finally, remember that cock tattoo I mentioned wanting to get? Well, I reckoned San Francisco would TOTALLY be a great place for such a thing, but means, motive, and opportunity didn't collide. THEN, after we get home, I see someone respond to a thread on Fetlife saying "Sure, we tattoo cocks. Do it all the time. Keep a dowel on-hand for stretchin' the thing over. No problem at all! Unfortunately, we're on the other side of the country. If you ever find yourself near the mission district of San Francisco, let me know! (this lady's studio is like, .3 miles from the aforementioned "Oddball film an' video". Guh.) Well, no worries. If I ever head back out there, and I don't have that particular tattoo taken care of, at least I've got a fine studio in mind. Finally, I had hoped to get high with sometime during the trip, since several of my Californian friends partake of such activities, but Kelli was uninterested and our time was limited, so I didn't feel like being exclusionary. Shame, tho. I'm not a "drug person" by any means, so I lack the desire/enthusiasm to persue contacts that engage in such practices back home.

Seriously, on the 100% Realy-real: THANK YOU to everyone who hosted us, hung out with us, and otherwise hospitalitied on this, our recent trip to the Left Coast. Kelli and I both had a Spectacularly enjoyable time and I know I'd be thrilled to peaches to get our asses back out there as soon as means, motive, and opportunity allow it. We're intensely indebted and openly welcome any and all of you back East (though mebbie it'd get a mite cozy if you all took advantage at once).

Speaking of body-mods, My super-awesome folks jus' hooked me up with some birthday cash, so (in addition to gettin' stuff from/for my friends), I'm TOTALLY gonna score one-a them Three point décolletage dermal anchor jobs! Prolly gonna wait 'till my actual birthday before I head in to get it done (I unnerstand Mista Sectaurs wants some new work, too), but I'm lookin' forward to it. My parents give AWESOME presents. In addition to the dough (which is always appreciated), they hooked me up with all their travel photos they've taken recently. This may sound incredibly lame, but I love seein' all the neat adventures they go on. Anyway, since I'm always buggin' 'em for pictures, they hooked me up with a tiny lil' portable hard drive stocked with their pix! It's great. They also sent a bigass card with a lenticular image of a line-dancing hamster which loudly plays a drum an' bass version of the Hamsterdance theme when opened. It's kinda sweet.

Okay! Too much Blahblah!
I'm off to investigate the phenomenon of "home waxing", with which I've never had any experience!

-343

Finally found the Jewelry I've been lookin' for for the ol' nippers, but goddamned if gettin' up to 0 gauge ain't bein' a pain. For whatever reason, going from 4 gauge to 2 gauge went relatively smoothly, so I assumed that the trip up to 0 would be smooth sailing. I dunno whether it's because I JUST stretched up about a month ago or what, but they don't feel ready. I was hopin' to have the tunnels in for APE, but I 'spect there's no rush (No-one's likely to see my nipples anyway. =) I'm excited to finally hit 0, tho... It's gonna be my stopping point, finalizing what's been in process since about may of 2007. I think that's aroundabout when I took out my original piercings and healed up in anticipation of re-piercing then re-stretching. Man. That's a long goddamn chunk of time. Now that I think about it, I reckon I can wait a little longer than a month between stretchings, especially if it means I'll finally be DONE.

ARC 3d Webservice! Saw this linked offa Makerbot or some such. Someone on my Tweets. Apparently, you take a bunch of photos of something, and their computer automagically stitches together a 3D Model! I've yet to get a satisfactory result from the stuff, but it's exciting tech. The faster they get this working, the sooner I'll be able to phtograph attractive sculpture an' print it out. =D

New Flickr's up, for them what cares... Not a whole lot goin' on this month, despite SPX, a Successful Robot - The Company gig (not pictured) an' a friend of ours gettin' her lip pierced. Hopefully next month will be more eventful, with a bigass California trip, a wedding, and perhaps a turtle.

Thus ends a jarringly dischordant spattering of news and thoughts.

-343

The other day, when I was at Wendy's, I was talking to Kelli about something as we waited in line, and I mentioned that I was in Noooooo rush, and that we had plenty of time. The dude in front of me in line said "Man. Must be nice, not being in a hurry." Ignoring my "Stranger Danger" lights, I dismissively respoded (without making eye contact) "Well, it's important! You need to relax." The dude, small and probably about my age, with a slightly unkemt look and several days of stubble, responded with this quiet-desperation look in his eyes: :"I can't afford to, man. I just can't. I've been stressed out and rushed for the past six months." (I had no idea how to react to that, so without eye contact or assurances, he continued) "I'm probably gonna be stressed and rushed 'till I die. 'Course, if I died, ALL of my troubles would be over." After this last bit, he laughed a little, weakly and dryly, as if to diffuse the immensity of his remark. I think I said "Yipe" or something in response. Then there was some silence, as he fiddled with what appeared to be a gallon ziplock bag full of stuff. Clothes? small packages? I don't know. Apparently, he made eye contact with Kelli, and she communicated that distress and fear that you might wish to communicate to crazy people. He then offered that we go ahead of him in line, and he proceeded behind the counter and walked into the back of the kitchen. Employees only took fleeting, casual notice of him. Upon receiving our food, we left the place and imagined a catastrophy about to happen.

-343

This is kind of disgusting, but kind of interesting. Lettin' ya know now.

I snore. This isn't news to anyone. Turns out, I'm genetically disposed to do it b'cause of my overbite, and how it positions my soft palate. Best thing that I've found to alleviate the symptoms is a "mandibular advancement splint", which I refer to as such because "mouth guard that juts my lower law forward" doesn't have anywhere near the appropriate panache. But that's all it is. I wear this weird rubbery mouth-guard an' it juts my jaw forward. good result is that I don't snore. Bad result is that I've got this bigass thing in my mouth and I can't close my mouth. So I slobber. a LOT. My fluid intake is usually quite significant, so by the time I go to bed, my body has NO trouble coming up with an insane amount of saliva in hopes of helping me digest this gigantic chewy food-thing that I've got in my mouth (additionally, I frequently have dreams wherein I'm tryin' to gnaw through some sort of foodstuff that fails to yield). Net result: if I'm able to fall asleep on my back, everything's fine. Failing that, I have to sleep with my head hanging off of the bottom of the pillow, because if I'm comfortably placed in the center of my pillow, I either end up waking up with my face and hair drenched or worse. "Worse" being once several months ago when I actually submerged my eye while I was sleeping, and my eye was bloodshot and blurry for several days. I have never once in my life heard of an instance of a human being doing this to themselves. It sucked.

Last night, however, I had a WHOLE nuther ramification manifest itself. This morning, I went to breakfast with my friends as Kelli and I are wont to do on Sundays, and on the way home, a headache I'd had all day got worse and worse. I felt almost nauseous as the headache intensified, and I realised it was exactly like being hung over. Though I had drank a lot at breakfast, it was all coffee, which seems to exacerbate dehydration, so I downed several large glasses of water and was fine. Being that nothing has changed from my normal fluid consumption rates, I'm presuming that A) I was, in fact, a bit dehydrated, and B) it was because all my body's liquid FELL OUT OF MY FOOL HEAD.

Despite the obvious probability that my malaise was, in fact, due to some alternate cause, I shall endeavour to stock up on fluids in the morning, at least until I can get me a stiltsuit that accounts for night-slobber.

In completely unrelated news, we got a couple of RTC orders recently! Incredible how much that lightens my mood to have th' gears turning.

-343

This weekend has been enjoyable and relaxing, and there's more weekend yet to come! On Saturday, Kelli and I were dragging our heels. She was busy working on paintings, I was uploading last month's flickr (which is up, btw)... We felt sluggish and annoyed at not enjoying the beautiful day. So, instead of enjoying the beautiful day, we headed out to have dinner, score coffee, buy a new Pokemans, and see Ponyo! Ponyo was enjoyable, although it felt like it was for very young children. Not in the annoying, Western kinda way... It was just... superficial? The dramatic push was never especially intense... no-one's character was particularly deep or complicated. It hit me as being somewhere between "Panda! Go Panda!" and "My Neighbor Totoro". It's not especially engaging, but it's very lovely and well-done. The American voice-acting was largely inoffensive and I consider it to be 100% worth seeing. Well, 90% worth seeing. LEAVE BEFORE THE CREDITS. Disney did a reasonable job of not shitting all in this movie's hair until the credit sequence began. Kelli and I, who tend to sit through credit sequences (especially for animation) Left the theater immediately. I don't wanna be all Animu-snob, but Seriously. How can you compare and contrast the original theme with that monstrosity and not despair? The evening having been otherwise enjoyable, Kelli and I returned home an' I beat Starcraft. Good times.

Today, we rolled out to our usual Sunday breakfast joint with a Mista Dan an' miss Ameranth in tow! The latter remained with us for the better part of the day as we took her through Harvard Square and Mount Auburn Cemetery. Delicious chocolates, cupcakes, comics, toys, and a lip piercing were the objects of our attention and purchase. The lip piercing was miss Ameranth's... Apparently, she'd gotten a lip-ring before, but the jewelry was excessively large and/or poorly done, and never behaved. Hopefully she'll have a better go of things this time around! The process was insanely uncomplicated. After paying, she was called in. Kelli went to the bathroom, and upon her return, all was done! No bleeding, no swelling, no nothing. She jus' looked as though she'd always had it. It looked nice! I don't think I could handle a lip-piercing (I'd chew that fucker out on day one, I'm sure), but the ease of the process DID get me wantin' to get SOMETHING. When th' money's looser, I was gonna get a series of dermal anchors... Mebbie I'll get those sooner than later. Sometime after returning home, Kelli an' I rendezvoused with mista Dan in order to play some The Beatles : Rock Band. Enjoyable! REALLY gorgeous cinematics in that. Reminded me thet I'm not anywhere near as hep to the Beatles as I ought to be.

"ITT: You Nostalgia, You Lose"... Was puttering around on Saint Simon's Island this afternoon in Google Street view. Goddamn weird to be on the interwebs tracing old paths I used to ride my bike along, seeing what's changed in my old neighborhood, what's stayed the same. Some things are obviously unchanged, but I didn't remember them right. The past is a funny thing.

-343

Some of this has been written about recently (even in the last journal entry!), but I wanted to get a couple lines on paper, as it were. Kelli jus' updated her website, and when I was reading through her weeklies, I got all reminiscent-style. It's like... when you look at photographs taken a long time ago and wish you had taken more. There's a lot of great shit to capture. So I wanted to sit down for a second and capture some.

I'm 31 years, nine months and 21 days old. I'm working at the fifth real company I've worked for, in the fourth state I've lived in.

I don't feel as though I've been creatively productive enough (in my free time. Work's fine). I worry that Roböt - The Company isn't taking off as fast as I'd like. I feel like I'm squandering a wonderful opportunity by not printing new shit all the time, but it comforts me to hope thet that's probably how all our potential customers feel, while they deliberate over whether or not to send business our way. I'm fatter than I ought to be, but this is essentially a conscious decision, and not beyond my control. I haven't worn my corset in a while, though. That's unfortunate. I cut my bangs pretty short recently, since a friend of mine looked SO good with shorter bangs. Not especially sold on the result. Currently growing out a little more before I make a final call. Am dubious. Have been told it's "decidedly more feminine" this way, which is a plus. I still crossdress about as much as I ever have, although I don't wear any of my spiky heels hardly at all (I walk to work, and a mile and a half in stilettos ain't worth it). Life is generally wonderful these days. Finances are under control, I feel good about my current project, my current company, and the companies and projects of my friends. I'm hopeful and enthusiastic. I'm fat and happy.

We have a tomato plant outside. The summer's almost over, but there's still a couple of tomatoes left on 'im for us to enjoy in the coming days. His name is Chauncy. We've started keeping a tomato plant on our deck in the summer because last year, mista Sectaurs hooked us up with a little tomato plant as a present, and it yielded spectacularly delicious tomatoes. Also, for Kelli and myself, the taste of summer is that of a particularly fresh tomato. We don't prepare them in any sort of food, because they're rare enough to be eaten one by one, as ambrosial little candies.

I put together a Webpage recently that I'm proud of. It's the first personal site I've ever had, but I need to keep working on it. As much as undocumented projects bother me, I'm a little scared of documenting all my projects and not having anything new in the works.

The social networks I participate in include Fetlife, Livejournal, Flickr, Twitter, and LinkedIn. My Fetlife profile doesn't use "SevenCubed", making it one of the rare instances of me even mildly obfuscating my identity online.

I just upgraded my IM client. I'm now using Miranda IM, after almost a decade of ICQ and several years of concurrently running Trillian. When I made the changeover, I hadn't updated my privacy settings, and was randomly messaged a couple of times. Since I'm generally happy to converse with non-robots, I've "met" some new people. One of them is ostensibly a teenaged chick in Turkey. She likes death metal, hates her parents, and has an eating disorder. I've since updated my privacy settings to prevent people not in my contact list from messaging me.

The past week and some change, Kelli and I have gone over to mista Dan's place to look after his two kitties while he's off getting married. They're insanely shy, but tonight I was able to coax out both of them and play with them a little bit. MAN do they love drinking straws.

On weekdays, Kelli and I frequently watch TV together over dinner. "TV" being whatever show we've downloaded or otherwise subscribed to recently. We've burned through as much "House" as we can, watch lots of documentaries (recently watched Terry jones' "Barbarians" series), Mythbusters, Survivorman, and "Wolverine and the X-Men", which is impressing us by being much better than it needs to be.

On Wednesdays, Kelli and I make it a point to go out somewhere an' enjoy ourselves. Breaks up the week nicely.

On Saturdays, we get up in time to go have lunch at the Bean at noon. We usually see Dan, but sometimes run into any number of other friends. On Sundays, we've been heading out around noon, usually with Sectaurs an' Mista D'Arcangelo to Bickford's, for breakfasty fare. Afterwards, we've frequently come home and played Arkham Horror.

I'm playing through StarCraft again, while Kelli watches. We did that back when we were dating. That was a decade ago.
I just got a laptop from work. One of the nicest bonuses I've ever received from any job ever. No idea what I'll do with it, but Hopefully I'll use it when playing Starcraft 2 with Kelli. =)

I just stretched my nipples to 2 gauge. Might go to 0, but might stay put. Am shopping for tunnels that'll serve as the permanent jewelry, allowing me to change out whatever jewelry I want. I don't remember the year I originally got my nipples pierced, but I think it was 97? 96? They've been pierced for a long time. I have four tattoos (counting both my hand-arrows as one tattoo). I've gotten new work done every four years since I was eighteen, but I've got a design for a tattoo I want on my cock that I'll get whenever means, motive, and opportunity collide. I keep the design in my wallet, although it's a really simple one.

I'm uneasy about my relationship with my parents. I feel as though they're so tired of being offended by me, they'd prefer to simply keep their distance. We're still very cordial (I talk to them weekly), but any discussions involving actually being around each other are met with an almost dismissive "Yeah, that'd be nice" kind of reaction. We love each other, but I understand their position. There's a lot about me that they can't reconcile (my faith, my "lifestyle decisions", even the fact that I'd write shit like this on the internets). Distant or not, I hope they live forever.

That's all that comes to mind at th' moment.

-343

I had attempted to tweet the following anecdote, but my awkward editorializing rendered 140 characters of gibberish. I will endeavour for clarity.

On my way home this afternoon, I overheard some fella half a block behind me mumbleyell something about my skirt. Unclear as to whether he was actually referring to me or not, he followed it up with a "faggot!", which left me little doubt. I didn't turn or break stride or respond back in any way... I'm never sure what the appropriate response to such an affront is. I was pleased by it, though. First of all, one of Kelli's worries about my cross-dressing is the fear that someone will mistake me for a girl. Hilarious though I think that mistake would be, Kelli doesn't wanna be seen as datin' a chick, being that she's hetero an' all. Anyway, so the Boy part came across swimmingly, which is good. As for the skirt, I worried thet it kinda jus' looked like a kilt, 'specially since I was jus' wearing a normal shirt an' boots with it. Do dudes in kilts get "Nice skirt, faggot" thrown at 'em? Curious. I guess the juvenile part of me that enjoyed the event comes from the fact that, as a middle-class white boy, I don't really shake up the status quo much. I've got a good job, homeowner, loving wife, car in th' garage... 100% upper-middle average! I don't know whether it's my drive to appear as an individual or my drive to express my nature as an individual, but I've got a goddamn fierce streak in me that makes me wanna say "I'm not like you". I'm not worried about bein' laughed at or even yelled at (as long as I'm by myself. Bitches yellin' at me when I'm with Kelli gets under my skin), because I feel like I pushed a button. And the fact thet mista dingbat felt so strongly he needed to yell across a parking lot implies to me that I pushed a pretty good button. And all without actively doing Anything! Ah, obnoxious child. Please to think about your relationship an' attitudes re: Teh Gays.

In an almost completely unrelated note, a friend of mine recently quoted an article about Genesis P-Orridge. If unfamiliar with the man, he's worth a googlin'. Fascinating fella, although I'm pretty sure he'd annoy the shit out of me, were I to meet him personally. Upon reading about the surgeries he and his wife were receiving (they were trying to resemble each other as much as possible) I was pleased to be exposed to the notion of a dude getting breast implants for the lulz! I mean, yes, becoming a pandrogynous being with your misses is KINDA like gender-reassignment, but he didn't wanna become a woman. He didn't claim he was a woman! He was working towards an æsthetic goal, and in my book, that's as good as "for the lulz". I guess it struck me by surprise because I assumed that in order to get surgery, you had to go through all kinds of hurdles. Like, gender-dysphoria screening or shit like that. But yeah, I guess if you go to a cosmetic surgeon as a dude and say "I want tits", the cosmetic surgeon can provide same, for a fee. All this is academic, of course, but it's cool. Very difficult to find experiences of men who have gotten tits or taken hormones but have no interest in becoming women. Such experiences are in understandibly short supply.

Related to "Fascinating fella, although I'm pretty sure he'd annoy the shit out of me, were I to meet him personally.", I recently saw and rather enjoyed "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson". Made me wanna read more of his stuff, it did.

Roböt - The Company is slowly gettin' legs! We need to totally content up th' website and pimp it a lot more, but we finally got a GORGOUS print of Manuel Virks' "Otus" piece that we're using to good PR effect. Exciting!

Idea from random conversation with mista Sectaurs: If I were to ever involve myself with a "Gathering of the Juggalos", I could totally make bank with a "Set yourself on fire" tent. Not sure of the logistics, but it would involve people paying me for the opportunity to set themselves on fire. Really, there aren't TOO many logistics to work out! It's a MONEY FACTORY.

Y'know why Johnny 5 looked Badass? Because Syd Mead, that's why.

When naming a child after a punctuation glyph, one could do worse than "Interrobang" and/or "Octothorpe".

Man. I can't get three clear concepts to rub together. I'm gonna go get some coffee an' watch some telly with th' sweetie-pie.

-343

On my harddrive, I've got a directory of informative records in .txt format. Since the directory's small, it tends to stay on my drive after I've backed it up. As a consequence of this, I get a lot of strange, dusty .txt files from ages ago that I'd long since forgotten I'd written. One of them I just found whilst browsing through old ICQ histories and whatnot was a list of things to buy. Fun, trivial expenditures I was keeping my eyes on (I guess I didn't want to save them as bookmarks?). Standouts from that list included "Knee high Leather Ballet boots" and "Giant Horse Dildo". It's fun to think of me, five years ago, coming across some inane dirty thing like that and making a careful note so that one day, when th' money's doin' better, I can score me a giant horse dildo. Got me thinking about the portraits we paint of ourselves from the records and scraps we leave lying around. Terance McKenna decried "Self Definition through Thing Fetish" as an evil notion.

I've gotta go to bed before my mind gets drifty. Just noting.

-343

Watched JCVD the other night. Very surreal. Not especailly a super-awesome movie, but I'm glad I saw it. Wasn't what I expected, quite. Worth seeing.

Been an interesting weekend. Hastily fabricated a birthday present for a friend of mine (attended party commemorating same), Went Strawberry pickin' at an area farm, got to hit up the MFA AND was able to Rock out a very satisfying game of Arkham Horror with friends. An exceptionally fruitful weekend! I feel as though the time has been well spent. And I took pictures of many a wonderous thing, which I shall upload in reasonable time.

I just saw an article discussing "Ethics Training" for Unmanned Drones with Lethal Capability. The future is weird. As much as I love and embrace it, it kinda scares me sometimes.

Also, today, I talked to my paps a bit on the phone (being father's day and all that). It was weird. Mostly it was nice small-talky stuff, he wished Kelli a happy birthday, I wished him a happy father's day... But he was telling me about being in church today and how they were talking about Legacies. He was worried about how he raised me an' my brother, and how he tried so hard to be successful, he worried that he was too devoted to his career and should have focused on us more. Now, from MY perspective, this was completely unwarranted fuss. I remember paps bein' out on business trips from time to time, but he was always THERE for us. When I think back on my childhood, I don't remember any conspicuous, "you said you'd come watch me at little league" kinda absences. I hope I put him at ease by insisting as much, but he seemed despondent. Having my father be vulnerable with me is something I'm curiously ill prepared for. I don't have any delusions about his infallability or whatever... Obviously, he's a human, just like me. But there's a relationship we have, that we've always had, that doesn't involve vulnerability. It's not like he ruled with an iron fist or anything, he jus' didn't come to me with his problems, and I didn't go to him with mine. That might be a sad state of affairs, but that's how we've always been. So to see him doubt himself as a father, to second-guess how my brother and I turned out... It's sobering. Also, when he mentioned his "Legacy", he explicitly stated that he meant his example as a moral person living on in my brother and I. How we live and act, as a reflection of his example. He said he was proud of me for being successful, for maintaining a loving relationship with Kelli, and for living a good life. He never said so, never even HINTED it, but I couldn't help but think about my infertility when hearing the word "Legacy". I think it saddens my dad a lot that I have no intention of fathering kids, and I don't really know what to do about that. I don't want him sad, but the situation that saddens him isn't within my power to change. Anyway, we don't always have such heavy conversations... usually the small-talk is fast and loose. But sometimes he or mom open up to me a little like that, and I'm touched, confused, and completely out of my element when they do so. It's kind of terrible, but I think I'd rather we maintain the more distant parent/child relationship than to try to change the status quo after 32 years of pattern. I'm rambling. I'll change the subject.

Super-Congratulations to LeeDot for his lovely Tattoo progress! I don't know why such a thing cheers me as it does. I guess it's because I relate to the decision-making process? Tattoos are a weird thing, simultaneously life-changing permanent things and common, no-big-deal affairs. They're sometimes culturally polarizing, sometimes completely irrelavent. Anyway, when I see permanent change manifested upon dear old friends, it's noteworthy. When this is a voluntary, expressive purpose, it's good stuff. =)

Also Also Also, I started a company with Kelli an' Mista Sectaurs. We actually signed shit an' got the wheels turning. I'm a little bit scared and a little bit excited, but I'm going to be working very hard and providing updates as soon as such things are available. Affordable, Quality Rapid Prototyping, especially for the Game/Toy artist community. I think we can do this. Remember how I mentioned that watching a demonstration of the prototyping machine was somewhat life-affecting? The impact is still resonating.

I feel weirdly high-strung. I'm going to go watch something stupid, I think.

-343

New Flickr's up! Tiny smattering of snaps this month, but moving forward slowly is still moving forward. =)

So, I've got this carving machine, right? And this carving machine uses Depth maps, right? So it seemed reasonable to me that, since we're livin' in the year 2000, that someone would have made a Camera that'll jus' TAKE depthmaps. You can't jus' post-process a photo to get it... it's totally different information than a photograph contains. SO, in my researchings, I was happy to discover these folks. Sure, it's video, not still camera, but it was encouraging to see that the tech was being worked on. Unfortunately, any articles I saw on the tech were like, in 2008. After that, Media blackout. Y'know why? Because of This goddamn thing, that's why. Now, I'm sure Microsoft's gonna make themselves a tasty interface device, and if they wanna give the Wii a run for it's money, fine, whatever. But they bought up Pretty much any motherfucker doing ANYTHING with Depth-sensing imagery to make this such hotness, and in learning this fact, I'm much less optimistic about someone releasing a still camera inna near future that'll do what I want it to do. It's annoying. Hopefully, soon after this Natal nonsense comes out, it'll be easily hacked so's the end-user can take depth-video or something. Weasel sea.

-343

I, along with Kelli an' Sectaurs, was given a hands-on demonstration of the Dimension "uPrint" 3D Printer. In addition to getting a rundown of the machine and related hardware/software, we were provided a detailed explanation of the entire process, including a great table-full of prototyped objects. Saying it was life-changing would by hyperbolic, but Goddamn. I got an Art-Boner like you wouldn't believe. I don't have the 20 grand needed to get me one-a thems, and neither do my friends... But I've started trying to figure out how I could make this happen. Small business loan? Knocking over a bank? Something.

I was so excited by the possibilities that I had trouble sleeping. I know I should MAKE more and spend less (or at least try to get my current toys paying for themselves), But Man. I've been MAD excited about Rapid Prototyping since I first heard about it, and it's getting closer and closer to being a technology I can have at my disposal. Anyway, as far as machines go, this one's lovely.

Eep! It would appear as though Kelli wishes to go play video games, and she's tempting me with delicious cherries to boot. Sniff you jerks later!

-343

I just saw a news article regarding a fatal shooting at a party. Apparently, two people got in an argument, firearms were drawn, and one of them ended up dead. Now, this is horrible news. Without all the facts before me, I assume the odds are good that whatever was the source of the argument could have and SHOULD have been resolved without the loss of a life. The victor of the conflict should be punished within the criminal justice system, etc. etc. However, and this is what sticks in my craw... When I read the article, one of the first things that popped into my mind was respect for the people and their use of firearms. YES, this was probably trivial shit, and there's most likely NO goddamn justification for lethal force, etc. etc. It gives responsible gun users a bad name and paints a picture of obnoxious, reactionary macho types acting like petulant children. BUT. You should never draw a firearm unless you're prepared to render lethal force. And lethal force was rendered. So, y'know, at least they weren't jus' flashing the weapons around as if they were fashion pieces. Or mebbie they WERE, and the bearers were just idiots. Either way, one of 'em's dead, so I'm making up my own stories. I blame the media!

How to get rid of Possum Offal. <-- Big ups to my boy EOrr for finding/linking this'un.

I'm planning for a weird alternate life. The other day, I saw an article about a wireless hotspot thingy, and Kelli and I both immediately thought "Hey, that'd be great to take in an RV if we went on an interminably long road trip! For whatever reason, we're both quite interested in such an endeavour, even though it's pretty much completely incompatible with our current life. Not letting that stop us, I did some homework online and determined that This little fella is pretty much all th' camper we'd need for extended sojourns. So we got to thinking about options and way of life and how where we'd putter around to and how we'd do it. It was all very fun to think about, but kinda weird when we look at it in light of the fact that we can't really afford to leave the place for any extended period of time, I've got a decent Job I don't wanna leave, we don't have the money for such a thing, etc. etc. But it's a romantic notion alla same. =)

-343

Tonight's movie: "Damnation Alley". Post-apocalypse movie which is perhaps the most boring and suspenseless thing I could imagine. It's hard to find, but If you want it, I can send it to ya.

===================================================
SPOILERS (don't worry, the movie's crap) here's how it breaks down:
===================================================
Nuclear exchange happens;People in missile base live.
Two years have passed and weather has gone Nuts! The earth is off its axis, etc.
Giant Radscorpions make their only appearance, no-one gets hurt or is really menaced by them) Someone fucks up in missile base, Everyone in base dies, four folks live. Giant armoured trucks are produced George Peppard says "Let's go to Albany!" (they're in Southern California).
DRIVING. (each "Driving" segment constitutes a five minute or so wordless montage.)
Oops! It's a storm. Five Twisters! One truck Charges through, the other one "Sits it out". The sittin' truck flips over, one occupant dies. His entire truck is summarily scrapped, everyone's now in one truck.
DRIVING.
Las Vegas! Everyone enjoys slot machines that still work. They meet a Lady! Party back up to four members.
DRIVING.
Salt Lake City! Place is full of Madagascarian Hissing roaches (Killa Cockroaches, sez George Peppard), only Black guy in the film dies. (Note: Not referring to these as "RadRoaches" because they're normal-sized, even though they're bloodthirsty.
MORE DRIVING.
A mostly abandoned farm building is found. Timidly slinking about is a young Jackie Earl Haley, of Watchmen fame! He throws rocks very well. After some discussion and some wrasslin', he joins the party. Party back up to four.
DRIVING.
The party comes to a gas station (their motivation for stopping is unclear. They never seem to want for provisions, and mention weekly showers, shaving, etc.) Oh, Noes! Radiation sick wasteland hillbillies with shotguns! They're readily overcome / killed! The party resumes their trek.
DRIVING.
The party arrives in Detroit! Which is good, because the truck needs parts. They go to a junkyard to acquire same, and Oh, no! A Storm comes up! Everything's flooded!
FLOATING (another long montage sequence)
The truck comes out of water onto a grasy bank. The sky is blue and cloudy, everything's grassy and verdant (first non-desert environment in the film). Hey! We got a radio broadcast! We're 17 miles from Albany NY! Let's go see them!
ROLL CREDITS.
===================================================
END SPOILERS!
===================================================

Man. "Live the adventure, indeed. But it may have been the initial inspiration for both Radscorpions AND Radroaches in Fallout, so I'll give it those (and only those) props. Well, that, and George Peppard's Georgian drawl is somewhat enjoyable.

Unrelated but totally worth mentioning: Saw a legitimately GOOD movie recently. "Let The Right One In". Worth noting for several reasons. Don't plan a big writeup on this, but it's worth seeing. Advise that you see with subtitles, but that's kinda a given.

Completely changing gears, Kelli an' Sectaurs an' I were discussing this article, regarding a father attempting to elicit the services of a prostitute for the benefit of his son. Specifically, the virginity of his 14-year-old son. Both Ian and I thought that, although we would have found it incredibly awkward to have our parents take us to such a thing, we both would have appreciated SOMEONE hooking us up with a prostitute when we were 14, just to demystify the whole penis-vagina thing. We were discussing all KINDS of benefits: The fact that you don't have to worry about the complications of forming a relationship, you can go in with no expectations... Hopefully, if the prostitute's especially well-chosen for the task, she can teach the boy a couple of basics regarding safe sex, how to please a lady, basic bedroom courtesy, etc. It seems like a fine thing. Kelli, however, was looking at it from a girl's perspective: When she was growin' up, a non-virgin 14 year old was considered "Damaged Goods". Is that still the case? Anyway, the idea of dispensing with your first sexual contact in such a clinical and professional manner sat totally wrong with her. I dunno if there's anything especially wrong with my sexual development (I'd have prolly turned out as a pervy weirdo no matter what), but it'd have been nice, I think.

Completely changing gears again, I finally cut my bangs short an' even so's I've got a f'real "". I love it to death, but it's undeniably more femenine than the way I'd worn my hair previous. I know Kelli's not especially sold on it, but what worries me the most is the idea of it causin' trouble. Like, yesterday, two doods rolled up in a car behind us while Kelli an' I were checkin' out a stray cat. One of the dudes yelled out "FREAK" as loud as he could, and they jus' rolled off. They weren't laughing or anything, it was curiously intense. Thing is, that kinda shit pretty much ONLY happens when it's me an' Kelli together. She's worried thet folks see us holdin' hands or something and think we're dykes. This is possible, we've been called "dykes" before. It just infuriates me on several levels. Like, I recognize that I can't be making changes to my appearance without affecting Kelli, but come the fuck on. Can't the universe just pick its fights with ME and not give me shit ONLY when I'm hanging out with Kelli? I wanna shield her from that kinda shit because, as the attention whore, I understand what I'm getting myself into. On some level, I'm inviting it. At the very least, I accept the consequences of my actions. I guess I'm jus' squeamish about Kelli getting some of the consequence spillover (which is, obviously, one of the aforementioned consequences of my actions for me to consider). That being said, Marrying me carries with it some consequences of its own. <=)

Oh, people-who-yell-things-from-moving-cars. Society needs a cure against you.

-343

New Flickr's up!

What else... the Hapibeek mask project is annoying me. Still circling around exactly how I wanna do the final sculpt. I've carved like, five versions now. Mebbie Kelli'll be able to do something cool with some-a the ones I've cranked out. Still... No decent final sculpt: No Vacuform! It's maddening! I wanna make stuff with my new toy!

Kelli and I had a bigass conversation the other night about money. We pretty much perpetually exist in a constant state of imbalance, where I feel as though we've got plenty of money, we're responsible, and we can get what we want. We're fine. Her take: We need to be prepared, and it's goddamn hard to prepare the cash reserves when married to someone who thinks we have plenty and can buy what we want. =) Because she's so careful with the money, it's easierfor me to be looser with the spending, and voila: vicious circle. So we were discussing our attack-plan over dinner, and we ended up resolving a savings plan that allows for free spending, etc. Enough Liquid stupid-cash for me, enough responsible emergency planning to satisfy her. It was a good feeling. There's a lot of shit about having a relationship that's straightforward. Communication ain't mysterious.

Stretched my nipples today... Up to 4 gauge. Probably a bit soon (last time was a bit over a month ago), but I'll be careful with 'em. Don't plan to go up to 2 'till after San Diego.

So, I went looking for some new music today... I really loved the Three feet Deep track by Abstract an' Abdominal, right? Don't remember where I heard it first, but really duggit. Now, I've tracked down Abdominal's stuff, and I really like him, but had never looked up D-Sisive (the other MC on that track). REALLY really like that dood. Can't get enough of him. I then spent a good while tracking down other artists on D-Sisive's label (Urbnet). It's an interesting way to track down new artists, 'cuz of the different personalities that labels can have.

Fun fact: Prime Minister MC Pete Nice opened a Sports Bar in Boston. It's apparently good. Who knew?

Sleep-time.

Jen-

Hey Babe! How was Pennsylvania? I miss you already. Camp is great so far. I already know most of the people anyways. How is Ledyard? I am sure so many exciting things have happened. You better write back or I will never ever ever forgive you! Guess what? You know how I am about "Hot guys everywhere!" Well, I am so in love with this counselor named mike. He is so HOT! Too bad he has no idea who I am. Anyways, me and Wayne had an argument the night before I left. It was pretty much about how he ditched me for the baseball game. We made up and decided we still like eachother a lot! We decided that we have no relationship right now, and we will see how we feel when I get back. The guys here are okay, but I don't think I am going to go for any of them. Well, I still have millions of letters to write so I better get going. I miss you bunches. Don't forget to write.

Just in case you forgot!!! (name and addres of camp withheld) Love ya Lots, -Alissa

P.S. You better start looking around for a place to horse back ride. Remember... That is what you always wanted to do!

P.P.S. When I get back (Aug 8) we will have to make that $20.00 donation to Keith's family.

P.P.P.S. Have fun in New Jersey, and tell Diana to write. Also tell your mom I said hi!

Computer fun! We jus' had the motherboard in our Media server machine die. This sucks. So we found a nice little barebones kit into which we could cram all our guts into, and have had all kindsa fun getting everything working. Several Hardware swaps, the acquisition of a 4-Pin Molex to 6-Pin PCIe Power cable, addition and removal of several drives, and a three-hour file transfer later, we're good to go! I tell ya. Doing dumb computer shit sure is a lot easier when you've got four machines in the house and a dresser fulla bits. On a related note, I had to re-activate Windows. Whether or not I have a legit copy handy, I ALWAYS run pirated windows, because of bullshit hassles like this: This machine was one of the IronLore machines, so the Windows copy was Legit. When I moved the hard-drive to the new machine, I had to re-authenticate. The NIC hadn't been installed yet, so I had to do it over the phone. After I SPEAK a 48 digit number to a computer (I fucking Hate talking to automated phone systems), it fails. Five minutes later, I talked to a polite Indian dude who asked me to read back my original Windows Serial number (which Dell Thankfully prints on the cases). After reading him the 32 character code, I get a new 48 digit number from him. Once I type all that, I'm registered. Really? THIS is what I've been missing out on by only installing ill-gotten versions of Windows? Swear to God, dood. I'm not one for MicroSoft bashing, because I use their shit every day, and whatever. But That WinXP registration shit is Goofball-style.

COMPLETELY Unrelated: One-a the dudes from LHR (the Carvewright folks) got me in on the beta for their STL import feature! He actually called me up to chat with me... Apparently, most of the folks using the CarveWright are woodworking folks, but this guy (I think he's the art director for the company or something) is more interested in using the machine for rapid prototyping and whatnot. Since I'm a computer nerd and am more interested in sculpture and modeling and prototyping and whatnot, he zeroed in on me. Thing is, aside from asking me some googleable shit about how to make an .stl, he didn't really have anything to ask me. I got the impression he jus' wanted to hang out. Which is cool... it was jus' weird.

Today, I saw photos of prototypes of toys! Toys I modeled! I mean, okay, the Munch was mostly the model used on the site, but Kelli's toy I did all the modeling for! I'm not posting anything until we know the toys will ACTUALLY happen, but jus' seeing prototypes sculpted was a really exciting thing. I'm scared that the cost estimate's gonna come down the pipe and be CRAZY high, but I'm staying cautiously optimistic.

I used to have a big book of the solar system when I was a kid. loved that thing. It was a coffee-table kinda book, with massive lavish Illustrations all over th' place. Every planet had a bigass splash page with the planet's symbol, a blurb talking about why it has the name it has, and a lovely illustration of the god(ess) represented. Neat stuff. I think about it from time to time 'cuz it was where I learned some of th' astronomy facts I know... and it's weird how frequently I'm reminded that it's dated itself. I guess the big realization came when I was looking up Saturn's Moons recently (possibly connected to some news blurb about Cassini). Since I was born, we've found about 120 moons in our solar system, and several dwarf planets. I guess what messes me up is that when I learned about Jupiter's Nine moons or whatever, no one mentioned that there might be more. They jus' said "There's your information" and I jus' kinda thought that was it.

Mom had some kinda chestnut she mentioned once thet went something to the effect of: "When I was young, I thought I knew everything. Now, I know I know nothing".

-343

When Listening to Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Testarossa" recently, a line from it sparked a concept memory. The line was "Hit 'em with a maximum dis", which is a heady threat, indeed. Reminds me of a movie Idea I was batting around with Sectaurs. The idea is that there'd be some hip-battle sometime in the eighties, and it's going poorly for our protagonist MC, so in order to turn the tables, he brashly unleashes "The Ultimate Dis". This Dis is SO powerful, the MC he's battling with crumbles instantly. Not only does he lose the battle, but he loses the WAR. He throws away his chains, his Adidas, his Kangols... He's done. He never busts ill again. Our protagonist is shocked by this effect, and although he stays in the game, mentoring young hip-hop artists and whatnot, he never battles again. So there's a dude who's coming up in the ranks, battling MCs, and he comes across an opponent he can't defeat. There's a Massive MC battle coming up, and stakes is high. 10,000 dollars and a record deal (or some such predictable shit). So this young kid, he NEEDS this. His mother is sick, children hungry, whatever. Something. So he goes to his teacher, our protagonist, and he BEGS him to teach the secret of The Ultimate Dis. Naturally, this information Mustn't be shared. It's life-changing.

On a related note, there's an even SILLIER movie Idea that actually got made. This weekend, Kelli and I watched "On Deadly Ground", the classic Career-Obliterating Stephen Seagal trainwreck. This is the first in a series of one movie this guy directed as well as starred in, and Man. One can see why. It's inconsistent with its own fiction! There's a spiritual Epiphany Seagal has when he's being nursed to health by indians, right? He wrestles with a bear, overcomes his personal demons, and is reborn as the SAVIOUR OF THE INDIANS. Then he has a scene soon afterwards where he confides in worthless female Indian sidekick "This Spiritual shit isn't going to help people. I'm going to go blow up an oil refinery". He then goes about doing so. Seriously. He decides that setting off enough explosiives to level an oil derrick and refinery is going to be better for the environment than, I dunno, letting it run. So in the process of doing this, he goes about killing all kinds of motherfuckers who DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HIM and then R. Lee Earmey, after being a professional the entire movie, decides to start monologuing and he gets shot, and then John C McGinley gets thrown into a helicopter, and then Michael Cane gets dropped into a vat of oil and then Everything blows up and eveyone dies. THEN, we get End-Plus. For about 20 minutes, we get Seagal lecturing to us about how oil is killing mother nature and those poor, wet-eyed indians. THEN, Finally, we roll credits. Then the credits stop for a second, and we watch Seagal in a canoe with Worthless Indian Side-kick lady, and they're apparently romantic, and she's cool with the Cataclysmic Ecological Holocaust Seagal jus' wraught, because they kiss, then more credits. JESUS FUCK.

I was wondering this, myself! Oh, the things you don't know shit about when you're not a "drug people".

Million Dollar idea? Sitcom: Kinda like "The office", jus' deals with the relationships between everyday shlubs and the minutiæ of their lives. Thing is, it'd be a Star Trek spinoff series, so it's in that universe. Thing is, nothing happens. Not to these guys. They're just dudes. They KNOW about Kirk and the Enterprise and all of its game-changing exploits (Kelli thinks the show should take place during the original series, with similar production values/effects, etc.), but yeah. They don't do the fun stuff. They're jus' starfleet boners. I think there'd be potential!

This weekend, I've been working on another project for Volpin. I really like commission work. I jus' wish I had better command of my equipment (so tired of saying that)! Some of the carving turned out a little weird, so I carved some stuff in Foam, and I TRIED to use the Vacuum Former, but I kinda fucked up some plastic and didn't get a good pull. More learning required! Thankfully, I think I fulfilled the assignment. Anyway, I HOPE I did. I've already billed for it. =D Also this weekend, I've been doing a lot of sculpting. High-poly modeling ain't my strong suit, and I've really enjoyed the opportunity to flex at it a little more. I've been designing little vinyl toys that I hope I'll get made, and trying to develop a sculpture Idea with Kelli, too. Things have been good and productive!

The other day, some friends of mine accompanied me to the mall. When leaving, there was a posse of hoodlums clustered outside the exit doors we were using. Once we were past them, one of the bolder members of this pod loudly called out "Are you the Avatar?". None of us reacted at all, and we continued on to the car as if we didn't know the guy, which of course we didn't. Then I realised out loud "Oh, I guess he was referring to me!" which emboldened him, I suppose, because he followed up with the now-bellowing "What's wrong with your hands?". At this point, we're practically clean across the parking lot, and our conversation amongst ourselves turned to the concept of why people feel a need to accost strangers like that. Also, "Are you the Avatar?"? Really? Like, okay, you're not asking a question you want an answer to... It's framed as though you're trying to ridicule me. But doing so by comparing me to a (actually really good) Cartoon? Really? Do your friends agree thet that comparison yields a righteous burn? *sigh* children. I'm a fat boy with a shaved legs wearing maryjanes and capris. Surely you can do better at clowning me in front of my homies than to obliquely reference the Gigantic fucking arrows I have on both of my hands. REPLY HAZY PLEASE TRY LATER.

-343

I've been dickin' around with plasticene recently, for several reasons. One, I've got heaps of the stuff and I don't mess with it enough, and two, My VacuumFormer is up and running, and I jus' burned a hole through my carving machine, so if I want models, I've gotta make 'em. =) It's frustrating, not being able to just Manifest my ideas into form the way I can when Modeling something on the computer. It's hilariously naive of me to ignore the learning curve, but yeah. I guess I assumed that clay would behave as nicely as polygons. And although it certainly don't, at least I don't have to worry about vert count or normals. =D

So this hole I burned into my machine... It's reasonably small, and some tape should take care of the problem (and lots an' lots of lubricant. Preventative Maintenance, kids! It's Key!). Hopefully I'll be carving again, soon. REALLY excited about the possibilities with th' vacuformer. Been keeping up with th' likes of Vrogy an' Volpin online; Inspirational stuff.

New Flickr's up! That's worth mentionin'. Need to get some of th' new projects up on my Project Blog. Otter finish my backlog of projects, too. SO MUCH!

Took Friday off, this weekend. Noticed that I had some days saved up and decided to enjoy an extra day of weekend with no plans to go anywhere or do anything. Went nowhere, did nothing. It was pretty awesome. I highly reccommend that anyone occasionally take a day off for no damn reason.

Last night, I had a social anxiety nightmare. It was goddamn strange. There was a gigantic department store, kinda like Ikea. Goddamned amusement park that also sold things. Mebbie four story atrium interior, giant stuffed dinosaurs, colourful displays, everything. Well, after dreaming that I was in that store, looking around at things, my dreams had meandered off to other settings/scenarios. But later on that evening, I dreamed I was doing some internet search, but as soon as I looked up from my computer, I realized the computer was in that Ikea-oid store. I didn't know how I had gotten there, and I didn't know how to leave, and I got exceedingly embarassed. Like, the employees of this place were going to think I was an idiot if I asked for their help, and Oh, Shit! Some nice sales associate lady came around the corner, and I was horrified that I would disappoint her and was only mildly worried that she didn't have a face. But yeah. The social aspects were what freaked me out so much I wanted to scream, but only kinda made this loud hissing sound, thanks to the mouth guard I wear. Was goddamn weird. Didn't like it. No sir.

-343

Not THAT miraculously of a coincidence, Kelli and I have seen Donald Pleasence in an episode of Miss Marple AND an Episode of Columbo. We're staggering our viewership of the two shows, so it was weird to see him in the two shows, several days apart. Interestingly, He was competant in the Columbo episode (1974), a complete fucking Clown in Pumaman (1980), and was Really pretty awesome in the Miss Marple episode (1989). Pleasence! Give him a competant director!

Personal Paradox: I'm intensely social about lunch. If there's no-one to go to lunch with, I end up not having lunch at all. I very much value spending a little of my afternoon hanging out and socializing. That being said, pretty much any "social" function I eschew. This morning, my studio got us all breakfast, but I jus' ate it at my desk (and typed this, interestingly enough). Folks were talkin' with me when I was gettin' food and whatnot, but I didn't feel comfortable hanging out for whatever reason. Curious.

Vacuformer! It Arrives today! Am Stoked! Not sure what my first project is gonna be, but it's likely gonna be the Hapibeek mask I jus' carved (Choice C in this image, if anyone remembers). I carved a version of the fella thet was mebbie 5" tall or so, but I was unhappy with how some of the proportions turned out. I then carved an 11" tall version, but I totally hate it compared to the first one. Go figure! I'll prolly mold 'em both. =D Will report as soon as there's something to report!

Stretched my nipples up to 6 gauge this past weekend. Much better than last time. As annoying and time-consuming as it was to let 'em close up and heal back, then re-pierce and stretch back up, it really was the right thing to do. The lengths I'll go for nipple-handles. We're vain creatures.

Aww. The Pumelo I got was unripe. sad breakfast.

Enough updates for now!

-343