Puritanical? Indeed

Apparently, this picture from MySpace was enough for this young woman's university to decide that she wasn't teacher material. The photo shows her wearing a pirate hat, drinking from a cup that says drunken pirate.

Y'know, I had a few nuns teaching me in high school that was so sloshed, we called one of them Rudolph cause of her shiny nose.

I'd rather have a drunken pirate than a drunken nun anyday.

Fictional Heroes

It's early still but I've been keeping an eye out on Democratic candidates for the '08 elections and so far, I've been watching Bill Richardson for possibilities. But this past weekend, it seems that Richardson's been saying stuff that leaves people like me wondering if this is for real.

More and more, it seems like Richardson, while having a great resume, won't be a standard-bearer for more leftist leaning voters like me. That's too bad because I really wanted someone in the White House who had diplomacy background since I think the next four years will require someone there who has some insight into world tensions. So now, I'll have to cast my eye towards the big three: Clinton, Obama and Edwards. And of these, I have to say I think Clinton's the one that can handle World Events. I just hope she can win.

Oh, the title of this post? I was just wishing that Josiah Bartlett was running.

It's the Little Things

It's really the little things in life that make me happy.

I just scored this Timex Ironman Watch and for some reason, everytime I catch a glimpse of it peeking out from under my sleeve, I just grin and grin. Then I'll walk to a dark spot in the office and light it up with the Indiglo and grin again.

I'm very easily amused.

Old Bait Still Works!

Sometimes, human nature just cracks me up.

For all our intelligence, sometimes it's amazing how some people get snookered in time and time again by the same bait. At some point, I think the fun I get from watching people open doors just to find a pie in their face will wear off, but after a year, I'm still tickled by the seemingly autonomous reactions of some.

I guess that's why Lucy kept playing football with Charlie Brown.

Marshall Rogers Died?!? Who Else?!?

I went with Bratworse to the dentist today and picked up a fairly recent Time magazine. Flippping through its pages, I stopped at Milestones (where the magazine recounts births, deaths and transitions) because there was an image of Batman at the bottom of the page.

(Note: Any self-respecting comic fan ALWAYS stops if there's a comic-related visual around)

The milestone was for Marshall Rogers' passing.

Last week, I read that Byron Preiss was killed in an auto accident in 2005.

There is a distinct sense in me, that time is passing.

Marshall Rogers (whom I've never met, but I've had the pleasure of working with his oft-partner in crime - Steve Englehart) drew THE Batman in the 70's (Steve wrote them, Marshall drew 'em). Marshall also gave the elongated look to Marvel's Iron Fist, Colleen Wing and Misty Knight. In the 80's, through Eclipse Comics, Marshall Rogers published his own Cap'n Quick and a Foozle, which I loved.

Rest in peace, Marshall Rogers. Thank you for giving comic book fans a great alternative to the campy Batman that was on TV.

Byron Preiss was a publisher I worked with A LOT in the 90's. In any given week, I had a client working for Byron Preiss Visual Publications. In fact, I considered his editor, Howard Zimmerman, a pretty decent friend - I always visited him and his wife when on business in New York. Byron was ALWAYS friendly to me at his office and at conventions. Every San Diego, he'd be there in his business suit, pressed at the beginning of the show, but showing rumples towards the end of the day. Byron'd always be grinning, wiping his forehead with his white hanky, pushing up his glasses, showing me their latest project and wondering which of my clients would be best for the project.

It was a true shock reading articles about his death. Byron was a nice man, who really wanted to make a mark in the comic book field. Byron, you did. Thanks for all the work you gave my clients. RIP, Byron. I'll miss you.

No More Limbo...

... but apparently, purgatory still exists.

The Catholic Church decided today that the concept of Limbo no longer belongs within the Catholic Faith.

However, should you wish to, you can now damn people through the web.

[Image from "Descent into Limbo" by Giovanni Bellini]

Proof!

Does Bratworse look like she's about to learn how to break her limbs snowboard?

She's a much braver soul than I, that's for sure. The closest I'll get to snowboarding is playing SSX on the Wii or the XBox.

Still, she looks way cool, doesn't she? That's my Bratworse!

Dyke Car

An old writing buddy just IM'd me and I told her I had just bought a new car and that's it's such a dyke car.

Her IMMEDIATE response?

"Subaru?"

ROFL

I guess ever since The L Word, Subaru's have been associated with dykes. But, my friend was wrong in one aspect. I got a Baja, not an Outback.

Jump to Conclusions Much?

Apparently, a couple of people (like Dr. Phil) decided with no evidence whatsoever, that the shooter in the Virginia Tech shootings HAD to have played video games.

After all, video games like the Grand Theft Auto series depicted above, must be the reason why someone would shoot 32 people dead, right?

WRONG!

No video games, not even something as innocuous as Tetris, NONE was found in the shooter's room.

Can we stop jumping to conclusions about gaming now? SHEESH!

New Look

Well, what do you all think? I changed the look of the blog partially because Bratworse had always hated the old design and mostly because I realized that the old template couldn't do what this new template can do.

I'm pretty happy with the changes, especially since the labels that contain more than 20 posts will have access to the older ones as well now. That was the big problem with the old design; if a label had more than 20 posts, it didn't give you access to the older ones.

This redesign is nice and clean with good colors. Hope you all enjoy the changes as well.

There is NOTHING like

being greeted by a one year old and a three year old just grinning their faces off at the sight of you.

Or hearing the three-year-old screaming "She's HERE!!!!!" over and over again.

Or seeing the one-year-old shiver with delight because you lifted her into your arms.

Or having the three-year-old realize it's you in the dark and she's so astonished and delighted that she's stunned into silence.

Or having the one-year-old yearn for Mom and yet let herself be persuaded by you that stickers are much more interesting than whining for Momma.

Can you tell I had a good time with my two pals?

Weather Permitting

Grandma,

What a hard week it's been, huh? I don't think it fully set it that you won't bring me soup, coloring book and new crayons, even though I have a ghastly cold right now. You won't be there to grab my arm and comment that I am wearing your clothes, even though they were way too small for an adult, they HAD to be mine! Yea, I'll wear your clothes grandma, but you're reading my books!

Remember how crazy we were? Our trips to Disney Land, Bush Gardens?

"Grandma, drive fast through the puddles so I can see the rain dance!"

Me hanging out at your office,
"Grandma, I'm so bored... what can I do?"
"Why don't you count to 1,000?" ... 1...2...
"Grandma, what comes after 100? 200? 500?"

Some how we managed to drive from Florida to North Carolina, or was it the other direction? It was the first time I got to drive through rain puddles for you. I can't tell you how happy it made me when you asked me to. Of course you'd follow that with, "I want a milkshake," and it was freezing rain outside!

I think I was in denial all of last week. And, now... now! with my final (test) on wednesday, and my final (project) due on Friday (April 7th), I find you sitting in front of me, knocking on my brain, "hey... hey... give me a minute, cause this is going to be hard and I know it." Of course it didn't help matters any when I decided to center my final project in memory of you. I've titled my short animation "Weather Permitting," in tribute to your wonderful life and... well... you know.

Even though I would be away for so long, every time I returned you remembered who I am. I will never forget the love and happiness you shared and gave to me, and still give to me, even though I'm currently crying 'cause of you.

I have to admit though, I hope you don't keep up your end of the bargain. I am not sure I'd be able to keep it together if I can't find my shoes one day. Ever since I heard of your passing, I find myself looking over, just to make sure they're are still there.

Love,
-w

Weather Permitting:

In Memory of

Lefteria "Tillie" Kneffler
March 14, 1929 to
March 28, 2007

Invasions

Just got a call from Bratworse asking about casinos nearby.

Squinting a bit suspiciously, I ask "Why, your dad thinking of moving here?"

"Yup!" came the joyous and bouncy answer.

"Hmm" I grunt into the phone. "So is your cousin?"

"Uh-huh!"

I think the Right's idea of painting California/San Francisco (see Nancy Pelosi being demonized as the representative of [ick] San Francisco) as icky liberal places is working: everyone now wants to move here.

And She Wonders Why...

So I'm watching Bratworse pack for her upcoming trip to see her family back in Florida and what do I spy?

Bratworse is packing a six-pack of water in her luggage.

Sniggers start emanating from my closed mouth. Bratworse cocks an eyebrow backed with an accusatory squint. To hear the protests start, I mutter, "And you wonder why they think you've become elitist."

A gasp is the retort I get. "But.... they don't buy water there! If I don't bring the water, I have to drink tap!"

"Exactly! And you wonder..."

"But TAP! I can't get this water out there!"

"Then don't wonder anymore why they think you've become 'cultured' and 'elitist'."

"It's freakin' water!"

I suppress the urge to point out so is tap water. I have too much fun picking on Bratworse sometimes.

Throwing Up Builds Abs

Last week, I caught a minor cold. Since my late 30's, my body has been rejecting mucus so the only way to get rid of it is by throwing up. Well, Saturday and Sunday I felt better but Bratworse got sick. Monday, I went into work, only to find the office FREEZING! When I left, the office was still at 60° but was warming up. Well, the temperature made me worse.

I started feeling really ill again on Monday night, and by Tuesday, the cold had descended into my chest.

Well, with the mold around (yes, almost a year later and the mold's still here) and my asthma acting up, I've spent the last two days throwing up.

Poor Bratworse had to deal with being sick herself, having finals this week, AND being woken up multiple times a nigh due to my hacking and subsequent vomiting.

BUT! Want to hear the good news (aside from me feeling MUCH better due to a generic Mucinex type medicine)?

My abs are SO sore and it feels like I did about 75 crunches.

Oh, that photo above? It's Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) from Xena - I spent seasons 3, 4, 5 & 6 staring at those abs. A girl can dream, can't she?

Otters Holding Hands

Just found this on Boingboing and it's just so cute that I had to put it up here.

More Evidence

More evidence that the Nintendo Wii has hit mainstream. Norwegian Cruise Line has partnered with Nintendo to provide Wiis on all their cruise ships. Now instead of building tennis courts and bowling alleys, etc. on their cruise ships, they just plop in a Wii and people can have the same fun.

I must admit that I NEVER expected video games to hit the mainstream the way Nintendo Wii has. To see it around retirement homes and seeing the joy in seniors as they remember what it's like to move and have fun without fear of straining oneself... 'Tis a real heartwarmer

H/T Joystiq

One Out of Three...

...comments that ring true, ain't bad for Microsoft (considering their track record with me).

“Today’s games-and-entertainment enthusiast has an insatiable appetite for digital high-definition content,” said Peter Moore, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business, in Redmond, Wash.

FALSE! I just bought Bratworse Animal Crossing which is a Gamecube game, and boy is she hooked. Graphics isn't high def and yet the fun quotient is extremely high.

John Rodman, group product manager for the Xbox platform and Xbox Live, said

“We don’t feel like the Wii customer and the Xbox customer are the same thing,”

TRUE! Since getting the Wii, we haven't spent ANY money on the XBox or the PS2, nor do we plan on spending money on their next-gen consoles. I will admit that I'm contemplating renting Fight Night Round 3 for the PS3 in two weeks simply because I will be spending some time with gamers that have the 360 and PS3, but we're bringing our Wii too. Wonder which system will win out at that geek party.

John Rodman also said

“We think that as soon as the Wii customer turns 14 they want something else.”

Again, FALSE! Well, it might be true of testosterone filled boys but this gamer who is 42 years old and is willing to spend oh, a thousand or so a year on my gaming habits doesn't seen anything on the high def line-up that appeals to me even remotely.

Now that I have Cooking Mama: Cook Off, it's Wii Music Orchestra I'm eagerly anticipating, despite the scant information about it.

R.I.P. Ben

Oh That Ben! died this past week of a heart attack. He was 44 years old. Some of our friends have known Ben since Jr. High. Some of us, like me, got to know him during the college years.

Benjamin Ferrer was easily the most artistic of us all. I had the good fortune to represent him as a story board artist when HBO produced Spawn the animation. Three years, I repped him and always his employers were eager to hire him back the following year.

Ben was also easily the most obnoxious of us all (but some will attest that I was more obnoxious). But Ben had a wonderful and giving heart despite his ability to gross you out. I am very sorry to hear about his death.

Rest in Peace, Ben. And make sure to draw teeth in everyone you see in your next life without teeth, okay?

[Edited] Just found his website - lots of good art there.

Monk Lives

According to neighbors, someone in the building put in hardwood floors AND then compulsively vacuums the hardwood floors. FOR. HOURS. AND. DAYS.

I think Monk has moved into the building. Snickers can be heard above, below and around the unit.

We Have It!

Meet Dreamcatcher. She's a beaut, ain't she? I've been wanting her since the Bajas came out in 2003. And since they've now discontinued the line, it was pretty much now or never. Thank karma the timing was just right for her to join our family.

With her, we'll be able to catch our dreams and release our hopes into the world.

Invaders = Whom?

For all you conservatives out there praising 300 and Battlestar Galactica as an allegory of today's war in Iraq, I only have one question. Since WE invaded Iraq, doesn't that mean WE represent the invading Persians in 300 AND that WE represent the invading forces of the Cylons?

Think about it, idiots.

Doing It Again

At one point, when I was holding Ayla as she was dying in my arms, as tears were streaming down my face, Bratworse says to me, "You want to experience this all over?" meaning how could I get another pet?

I turned to her and said, "16 years of companionship isn't worth this?"

Death happens. To EVERYONE. To EVERYTHING. One day, Mt. Everest will no longer be there, having been worn down by the weather. The end has to come.

For me to give Death enough power over my life to exclude experiencing... well, that's just giving Death a tad too much power in my eyes. Death already has power over everything, we don't need to attribute more to her. (Yes, I view Death as feminine - blame DC Comics/Vertigo/Neil Gaiman).

I'm already looking at new kittens.

Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cat

I put down Ayla yesterday. She had gone from being a fatso to all skin and bones within a matter of weeks and she's already had 16 lazy and fattening years so we decided that before she got so weak she couldn't walk (like how Ashley got) we'd take care of it now.

I got Ayla when I first moved up here from L.A. 16 years ago. She was a tax baby, and I got her in June 1991. For the first year, because I didn't have the money to fix her, I viewed her as the most annoying cat. When I got her fixed, my outlook on her changed. She was the sweetest cat, NEVER getting upset at anything, even when Ashley was being a total bitch to her.

Ayla and I never bonded the way Ashley and I did, but I think there was a feral quality to Ayla. She NEVER became a lap cat - whenever her legs left the ground NOT of her own volition, they automatically became splayed and her claws out. And if she land in your lap, she'd hop off within microseconds.

She was the first cat that I knew fetched. And it's because of her that we taught Gizi to fetch. Yesterday at the vets, they kept calling a sweet old lady and I just wanted to yell out, she's not a sweet old lady, she's my little one. Only she wasn't anymore. They were right. She did grow into a sweet old lady and now she's with her pal Ashley. I just hope Ashley won't pick on her too much.

Barbara Lee

Have I said how much I admire Barbara Lee, my congress-woman?

More and more, my respect for her grows. She is not afraid to say to her peers, what you're doing is pure rhetoric. And she IS working for the majority of us here in Oakland. Most of us here want the Iraq war to end. Now. Keeping it funded will just enable the war to limp along towards an amorphous end.

The House Appropriations Committee Thursday approved, largely along party lines, the Iraq supplemental spending bill.
Democrats prevailed with their plan of attaching a withdrawal timetable for U.S. troops to the measure, which passed 36-28.

Rep. Barbara Lee (Calif.) was the sole Democrat voting against the bill, but she agreed not to offer a fast-withdrawal amendment, which Democratic leaders considered troubling, to the underlying bill.

"I don't think the president deserves another chance," Lee said.

Thank you Ms. Lee. I have NEVER regretted voting for you.

Know Thy Bible

Through Hullabaloo I see that people are blaming lack of knowledge about religion and religious history on schools not being able to teach religions.

Me, I blame the churches and the families.

I personally have a pretty decent knowledge of the stories in the bible (having been sick most of my childhood and having nothing but bible stories and comic books to keep me company). The bible itself, not so much. But I know enough stories to give even religious teachers a run for their money (or tithes, so to speak).

For example, I was at a restaurant recently and the waitress said that the day's soup was Lentil soup. So I quipped, "do I have to give up my birthright to drink it?" Puzzled looks and a polite laugh greeted this. I then had to tell the story of Jacob and Esau and how Esau was willing to give up his birthright to Jacob all for lentil soup.

To be honest, if I hadn't been bedridden most of my childhood, I probably would've never learned this story through my many years of sunday school. But, should public school have taught me this? I much rather public school have taught me about French History instead. (My french history is appallingly lacking - I think over the next few years, I'll teach myself about it.)

CBC Non-Partisan?

So today I read in a post that the CBC (Congressional Black Caucus) is non-partisan.

[rolls on the floor laughing]

That may be true, but name the last Black REPUBLICAN Congressman you remember. Since the foundation of the CBC, only THREE black republicans have been elected. Oh yes, and don't forget, the Republicans are the party of inclusion.

Attorney Purge Sports Analogy

It's really like this: Let's just say that the AFC can appoint referees. At the beginning of the season (when the new administration takes over after elections), referees can be fired, changed, shifted, whatever.

In the middle of the season, if the AFC fires some of the referees because they weren't perceivd to be calling enough penalties against the NFC OR if they are perceived to be calling too many penalties against the AFC, then that shit just don't fly .

The refs (in this case, the US Attorney) are supposed to be UNBIASED AND NON-PARTISAN.

It's really that simple. Comprende?

Hooked

Whenever I have a bit of extra money, I go to EBay and browse through their offerings of Shaw Brothers movies, usually starring my two favorite actors from the 1970s - David Chiang and Ti Lung. Last month while I was shifting through various SB titles, an idea hit - why don't I look for series from TVB from Hong Kong?

In Hong Kong, there aren't any seasons like in America. The dramas are usually set up like maxi-series, running between 25 episodes to 150 episodes. FYI, Chow Yun Fat got his start in a TVB series called Man without a Net. According to the Singapore newspaper, when Chow Yun Fat finally kissed on that series, all of Singapore swooned. This was back in the late 1970s.

I much prefer the serials set in old China, with kung-fu action and much melodrama and usually one or two women in drag. So when I saw the series New Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre had english subtitles, I bought it. 40 episodes of pure joy.

Bratworse is also hooked on it. I can't believe it but that was the main reason I got English subtitles (the secondary reason being my Chinese is so-so and I personally read subtitles to get more or less the full gist of what's going on).

This morning, when I woke up, I realized all the men in my dream had hair buns on top of their heads, just like in this TV series. Can you say, Hooked?

So Typical

On Sunday, a bunch of us went to Dim Sum. We were talking about typing and how some people use the two fingered approach and how men our fathers' age had to learn how to type.

So I pipe up with, "You know what I hate? I spent two summers of my life learning about rules for the typewriter and now they're all thrown out the door."

"Example?" someone asked.

"There are TWO SPACES after a period and a colon. TWO!"

Around the table, women my age all nodded and agreed. "That's right, I hate that Word edits out my two spaces."

Writerboy chimes in with, "Well, you know, they program the two spaces in. You don't NEED the two spaces."

And EVERYONE disagreed with him. "No they don't!" "You NEED to type in the two spaces."

Despite the chorus of disagreements, Writerboy just shook his head and went on believing he's right. So typical of him LOL.

Astounding, Really

I'm a firm believer in Groucho Marx's addage: I won't join any club that wants me.

Therefore, I look at posts like this from My Left Wing and wonder why all this venom towards the "cool kids" in the left blogosphere exists.

I write here because if I keep some of these things I write about bottled up inside me, I'd explode. I write here because there are some people who do enjoy my writing (unbelievable!). But do I have to be on a blogroll for me to continue writing? Then I'm not writing for me, I'm writing for fame.

My blog is, first and foremost, a forum for me. Secondly, it is a vehicle for me to change some peoples' minds. If I can prove to you that John McCain is a hypocrite through my writings, then it will have served its purpose. Thirdly, it is an experiment and exercise for me, for my writing abilities. I couldn't care if Atrios or Digby or DKos or BoingBoing links to me; it would be nice if they did, but that will probably the day California falls into the ocean so I'd rather that day not come.

Giuliani No Respect for Dead?

We all know who the heroes of 9/11 were - the New York Fire Department, the firefighters.

And a lot of us think that the man who led them all that day and afterwards was Rudy Giuliani.

Well, the firefighters union don't think so. In fact, they think so little of Rudy Giuliani that they're holding a BIPARTISAN presidential debate AND they're not inviting him.

John Edwards, John McCain, Barack Obama, Chuck Hagel, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Duncan Hunter and seven other candidates are invited. Rudy Giuliani is SO not invited that the Firefighters' Union wrote an open letter to Giuliani explaining why.

This is the crux of their reasoning:

Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill.

This mayor would rather expedite the removal of the debris for appearance's sake, rather than let the families of the heroes have some closure.

Kind of explains why Rudy Giuliani would choose to tell Donna Hanover about their impending divorce on television instead of in person, doesn't it. Different scale but same M.O.

This is the man Republicans want as their candidate? Someone the Firefighters Union would publically diss like this. Guess they can't do much better.

Repeating History?

The GDC (Game Developers' Conference) is going on right now and it's something I like to read about and perhaps, one day attend either as a fan or a professional. Instead, I read accounts from sites like Joystiq and Gizmodo. Earlier today, I blogged about a comment made by someone from Maxis/EA about how the Wii was basically two Gamecubes duct taped together.

Now I read about how Mark Rein basically scoffs at Wii's computing powers and claims that the Unreal Tournament 3's engine won't make it to the Wii due to the lack of power.

All these comments are reminding me of American automakers when Toyota and Honda started selling in America.

'Nuff said?

Our household is looking to purchase probably about 2-3 more casual games for the Mac this next year. Probably 2-3 serious games for the PC and Mac - maybe more if I hit the lotto. We're looking to buy about 6-15 more games for the Wii in the next twelve months, depending on which titles are released. On March 20th, we're hoping to score Cooking Mama: Cookoff, Tiger Woods, and maybe Prince of Persia: three very different games. (Okay, truth be told, I'M the one hoping to score. Bratworse's happy with Wii Sports and wants a drumming game.)

Notice the lack of games for PS2 or Xbox, much less games for the next-gen consoles? You guys can have your graphics. I'll stick to fun games that I can play with a group of people AND by myself.

Gaming as an Art Form?

According to Joystiq who're attending this years Game Developer's Conference, Chris Hecker of Maxis/Electronic Arts' rant included the following:

"The Wii is a piece of shit!" Hecker said the Wii is two Gamecubes duct-taped together. He says developers make better games by having a platform with power, not for graphics, but using the CPU for computations. Through a slide he compared the Wii to an anorexic and malnourished man. better to reason about the world their inhabiting. He believes that Nintendo does not treat gaming as an art form, but simply a tool for fun. At the end Hecker had two demands of Nintendo: "Recognize and push games as a serious art form" and "Make a console that doesn't suck ass!"

Whoah!

I come from the world of comics, where it's been treated as a serious art form by the creators. And year after year, I watched prices go up and the amount of buyers go down.

And based on that, I ask, why can't it be both?

There's pop art, and there's fine art. Why can't there be pop games and fine games, or pop comics and fine comics? For that matter, why can't there be things in between?

I am a MAJOR consumer of games. I spend much more than the average gamer, having the disposable income to do so. And yet, I have ZERO interest in new games for the PS3 or Xbox360. My most anticipated game this year? Mama's Cookoff for the Wii. AND I DON'T COOK.

So, Mr. Hecker, do you want my business?

No Questions Asked

My cousin and I have been bonding over the Nintendo Wii recently. We IM each other when we get new games and try them out, making recommendations to each other. It's been nice since he's the cousin I was most jealous of when we were kids, because he usurped my throne as youngest of the cousins and because my sister had a much closer bond with him than she did with me.

What's been curious is, whenever I IM him about new games, I ALWAYS say something to the effect of "We bought..." or "We tried out..." I have never mentioned Bratworse to him except maybe to say I have a "roommate" nor have I ever come out to him because his older sister told me not to. (I'm still debating within myself the merit of that request but for now I'm respecting it.)

So, I've been waiting for him to be a tad more curious about my life and this mysterious "We" that I keep mentioning. To me, it's now become a fascinating experiment - one like the ones I used to conduct at parties: talk to someone and keep asking them about their lives and see how long it takes before they realize they know nothing about me. (For some people, it's never. Those people never get entered into my phone book.)

So far, my cousin has remained steadfastly uncurious.

What I See

When people say, "Why can't we just nuke them and take the oil?", what I see and hear is a man looking at a woman lustfully and saying "Why can't I just rape the woman?"

The answer to both questions are pretty much the same, the only difference is scale.

A Good Day

Scooter Libby convicted on 4 counts of perjury and obstruction of justice.

It's a good day for America.

Expectations and Burdens

Most likely, it was me feeling the burden of 4000 years of conformity. Most likely, it was me viewing myself through the lens of "normality" and feeling like I had to defend my decisions. Nonetheless, I walked away from a lunch with old friends feeling like I didn't add up.

My old friends wondered why I would disappear for years, never realizing I've done the same to others - I just cannot deal with my inner demons at times and the best thing for my friends and probably the worst thing for me, is for me to disappear. Since I HATE being a burden, I choose disappearance.

My old friends welcomed me with open arms, offering food gifts and laughs just like before. One, my best friend from my first two years of college, absolutely beamed when she saw me. We both fell into the old habits so swiftly that Bratworse was a little surprised.

But I don't belong there.

Trying on these old clothes, I felt restricted and tongue-tied. No, I can't talk of this because this person might get offended. I can't talk of that because that's just frowned upon here. Instead, I smiled and realized my mind has taken off, just like it used to in their presence when talk swung to food (one of my least favorite topics).

I miss my old friends. I truly miss them and our old camaderie and I am so happy for them that the group has remained basically intact since 1982 with a few missing members (like me and Goat).

But I don't belong there.

Yesterday, I managed to finish my errands a bit early and had enough time to go visit a friend and her two kids. When I called her to let her know I was coming over, she asked, "You playing hooky?" Technically I wasn't, but I said "Yeah," and her reply was, "Cool, baby, come on over!"

It was a simple acceptance that I was an adult, I made a decision, and I was willing to live with the consequences. I gave her a HUGE hug when I arrived.

My old friends would've clucked their collective tongues, held their tongues, but the questions that would hang in the air would've distracted me all day.

I don't belong there.

Democracy or Anarchy?

I was reading through Boingboing and came across this post about Republicans trashing the Second Life Headquarters of John Edward's campaign.

I smirked, thinking shit happens then giggled at my own pun and didn't think much else until I ran into this post in Pandagon. The shit's really starting to hit the fan now thought I, before devolving into a puddle of giggles again.

Then finally, I read the source of Boingboing's post, by John Brownlee of Wired and found myself nodding in agreement with him.

Basically, Edward's Second Life HQ got defaced with "a feces spewing obscenities" and other stuff. Brownlee's assessment of this is absolutely accurate: "This is the modern-day equivalent of hippies freaking out the squares."

I'm 40 something years old, and have been involved in the internet for about 20 years now. I went from BBS's to MUD's to MMORPGs to Blogs to whatnot. I've chatted with people from Greece, Texas, Malaysia and I love this messy thing we call the internet. Should there be rules? Probably. Do we take ourselves way too seriously in things like Second Life? Probably. Should events like what happened to Edwards' HQ be punishable? Probably, but not through conventional means. These guys who committed the defacing should probably be exposed to as many hours as it took to deprogram the assault, of say... Buddy Hackett's crooning.

That should count as an eye for an eye.

Social Engineering

So I tell a co-worker that Paris Hilton's hacker is going to jail. That led to reading about how they hacked into Paris Hilton's cell phone. Which leads to the topic of today's post.

Apparently, hackers use social engineering to get initial information, rather than high tech means. From there, they can do damage, but the first steps? They call up a service center and bluff their way into getting sensitive information.

Why am I bothering to write about this?

Somehow, in the past 15 years when cell phones became fairly ubiquitous, the line between personal and professional blurred. You have NO idea how many phone calls A DAY I get, WITHOUT a person identifying themselves, asking for someone's cell phone number.

"I'm trying to reach so and so, can you give me their cell number?"

"No."

"Umm, you don't understand, I really need to reach so-and-so. I used to have their cell phone number and I can't find it. What is it?"

"Sir, for all I know, you may be Max the Axe Murderer or worse, the IRS. I do not give out cell phone numbers."

"OH! Well, I'm so-and-so, working with so-and-so on this."

"Thank you for the clarification, sir, but I don't give out personal cell phone numbers. I can call him if you wish and have him call you, and HE can give you his cell phone number, but I don't."

*muttering*

"Fine, here is my number. Tell him to call me immediately."

Want to know what's funny? 9 times out of 10, I call the cell-phone and get voice mail.

I am NOT at all surprised that these service centers are so easily hoodwinked, if the above example is at all representative of the expectations of callers.

Find the Buffoonery!

So, Talking Points Memo is having a contest. Comb through Dick Cheney's quotes and find the one that best illustrates what a buffoon we have sitting in the Office of the Vice President.

Of course, EVERYONE remembers that Cheney said Iraq would be a cakewalk AND that we'd be greeted as liberators. But what else? He seems to have batted .0000 and yet people still fear this snarling old coot?

Join in the fun! Go to Talking Points Memo with YOUR favorite quote that shows just how out of touch with reality Cheney is.

Be Afraid, Straight People...

This PSA had me rolling on the ground laughing my head off... I have NEVER loved George Takei as much as I do now that he's come out.



All you straight boys... be afraid. One day, George Takei WILL make love to you.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Another One Bites the Wii

Woot!!!

Writerboy just informed me that he and the little missus scored a WIIIIIIIII!!!!!

That means that we'll have his avatars parading through our Wii and vice versa. This is so cool - Bratworse and I have been waiting for our friends to get Wiis as well so we can start playing games over the internet with them. We're hoping that we can play doubles tennis over the internet with our friends.

So far, we only have one Wii Buddy and that's my little cousin and his wife and kids' Wii. But one thing about having an Asian Wii buddy? All of our Miis start looking alike. No shit! Bratworse was cracking up about the fact that one of our Miis - the only blonde among the group totally stands out.

I'll have to try and put up pictures of some of our Mii avatars. Writerboy's avatar on our machine TOTALLY looks like him.

Can't Help Myself

So, I heard from an ex-client this week, Rafael Kayanan and of course, I do a google search on him. I check up on old clients occasionally and in fact, I had googled Raf a few weeks ago and found his old site which looked like it hadn't been updated in a while. I didn't look much further and now I'm kicking myself because I just found his artblog and found some really wonderful loose brush work that I had never seen him experiment on before in the 8-10 years I worked for him. So I'm stealing it to show off here, and give him some other exposure. Hope you don't mind, Raf!

Rafael Kayanan was one of my first 4 clients, and he was one of the ones I'd say I was closest to, in terms of friendships. We never ran out of things to talk about and I loved every moment we spent on the phone, and in person. I promoted the hell out of Raf because he was easily one of the most reliable and talented and nicest guys around, with one MAJOR plus: he understood the world of business and how it's run.

Head over there and be prepared to be overwhelmed a bit. Raf's like a modern-day Renaissance Man - he has to experiment with his artwork constantly and he is as deeply into his martial arts as ever plus he's forever trying to merge the two in his life.

OH! One further thing? That scene in Nobody where she's working out with the martial arts dummy? Raf and I had a HUGE discussion about that while I was writing it and though Charlie did an admirable job with his rendition, it looked NOTHING like what Raf and I were talking about.

And the title of this post? I just can't help myself... I LOVE my ex-clients' artwork and can't help promoting them still.

So, art directors, comic book editors, fight scene coordinators, stunt people, anyone who might want a talented artist with a strong style and MEETS DEADLINES, go to http://rafaelkayanan.blogstream.com/. Thank me later.

Deaths in the Building

I just found out yesterday that a neighbor of mine, a lady who lives on the 2nd floor with a small brown poodle, had a heart attack while she was walking the dog. A day later, she was pronounced dead at the hospital.

I remember when this lady moved in. She had moved in about a year or so after I did and usually, I don't pay much attention to people who live on the 2nd or 3rd floors since contact between floors occur on the rare side. This lady, however, greeted everyone with a hearty hello from the day she moved in.

We ALWAYS greeted each other in the hallways, whether it was on the way to work, or she was out walking her dog. She was a nice lady and I wish her family peace throughout this troubled times. I'll miss her, just like I miss Perriam from one of the penthouses and Jim who lived next door to me.

Out of Mainstream

Okay. I must admit that I could care less about Britney Spears nor what she did to garner such attention over the weekend, but this post in Gizmodo (of all places) brought her actions to my attention.

What got me ISN'T that she shaved her head. What got me is that the action of shaving one's head (especially if one is female) CONSTITUTES A MELTDOWN.

WTF?!?!? I mean, SERIOUSLY, WTF?!?

I had a mohawk in my 30's, not because of any political statement, nor because of punk music but because after TEN YEARS of thinking about it, my hairdresser said, if it's hideous, wear a hat for 6 months. With that one sentence, he quelled all of my doubts and all that was left was, "Why not?" Without a good answer, I finally said to my hairdresser, "Let's do it."

I loved it. And I looked good too. But after 9 months of being stared at and having no anonymity in the world at large, (because no matter what crowd you're in, be it S&M or punk, or what not, people WILL stare at a mohawk) I finally decided to give up the mohawk and the ONLY quick option out of a mohawk is to shave one's head.

In fact, one of my coworkers and I have decided that if one shaves his/her head, the the other will as well.

Bratworse shaves her head and she looks hot. I looked great with a shaved head too. NEITHER of us shaved our head because we were melting down. SHEESH!

Yes! Ignore Them Please!

Through Crooks & Liars, there comes news of a public radio station in Santa Fe, New Mexicon whose News Director has given instructions to ignore any press releases that quote unnamed sources.

HIP HIP HOORAY! This was always the question I couldn't understand - why news organizations would give credence to press releases quoting unnamed sources when it's been proved over and over again that these little nuggets contain a shit load of lies.

Memories of Chinese New Years' Past

The run up to Chinese New Years was always chaotic and bustling. Dad would start taking over the kitchen, to start preparing his Baat Boh Faan. Mom would buy outfit after outfit, to make sure everyone in the family had new clothes.

The phone would ring constantly, I think for friends and family to coordinate visits. For 14 days of the New Year, friends and family would take turns visiting each other which is called "Bai Neen." Gifts of food would be exchanged, packets of red envelopes would pass from the upper generation to the lower generation with wishes of good fortune spilling forth from every pair of lips.

The kids would disappear, and show up only to sneak candied fruit from dishes scattered around living rooms. The parents would sit around, gossiping, exchanging good wishes and hopeful dreams for the New Year. Sometimes, visits would overlap and we'd run into other friends of ours who were visiting the same friends. Or after an hour or so, we'd hop back into the car and go visit another.

After I came to America, I found out that Southern Chinese practiced not washing their hair on New Year's Eve and New Years Day for fear the good fortune would be washed out. I started practicing that along with all my pals from college, the only one in my own family to do so.

Also another practice which is common among most Chinese is gambling the night away. If you won, that would show that you'd have good luck/fortune for the next year. And if you lost, well, you'd hope that the new year would go by fast. I personally would like to practice this one but Bratworse hates gambling.

I do miss hearing the "pow chyung", the firecrackers - I miss smelling gunpowder. I also really miss the lion dances and the thump thump thump of the accompanying drums. Maybe one year, I'll bring Bratworse over to the Far East to see how Chinese New Year's is really celebrated.

Sister Talks

In my lifetime, I don't think I've EVER talked to my sister as much I have these past four weeks. It's been very nice.

So thanks Dad. Not sure if you can still hear us, but while we're dealing with the aftermath of your death, you actually brought my sister and I closer.

I'll come visit your grave next time I'm down in L.A.

How Did He Survive?

I sat, poised to close my eyes at any second, because I have a tremendous fear of heights.

But my eyes didn't blink, and I watched the entire video.

A man's main parachute AND backup parachute fails. His helmet video camera records the entire fall, AND his subsequent meeting of the earth. Furthermore, his friend falling behind him records the entire descent and more.

I can't believe the guy lived.

Turtle Memories

I'm not even sure how events transpired. I just remember someone telling me, "Oh you're into comics? You have to come meet Turtle then. He's from Singapore too and he's an artist who draws comics."

I remember meeting Johnny Lau then. He had scraggly hair, very artistic-like, all skin and bones, and he talked fast. It turned out that he knew some of my old friends from Singapore and we got to talking. For the first six months I knew Johnny, I was very nervous around him, because he was a published artist - he had a comic strip running in a Singapore newspaper called with a turtle main character, hence Johnny's nickname. But in time, I learned to relax and trust him like a brother.

Ideas would spill out of Johnny, with his hand movements slicing the air and penstrokes dicing up the page. Watching him draw was literally watching a scene unfold in seconds before your eyes. I had the wonderful opportunity during college to watch two of the fastest cartoonists around - Sergio Aragones and Johnny Lau.

Johnny moved back to Singapore after college and well, honestly? I've a poor sense of belonging - I rarely feel that I fit in anywhere and so I tend to drift away from people that I hang out with. It's all projections of mine and I know it, but sometimes fighting the feeling is hard, especially with months/years of separation so I just give into the feelings and let the friendships drift. We'd lose touch after a while (because I'd stop keeping in touch) but Johnny has always kept an eye out on my projects and every few years, we'd either email or see each other.

Johnny "Turtle" Lau is a good person and a good friend. I'm glad he's my friend.

As for that picture above? That's revenge for telling the entire Asian Animal House that I blogged about them. :)

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?

In this case, it's a resounding no. After years of hermitude, well, what passes for hermitude in the internet age, I've been found by my old college gang - the Asian Animal House. So Hi guys! Welcome to my blog and say hi to Bratworse.

Back in U.S.C. during the early 80's, most Chinese students (as is probably the case now) were either business students (so much so that there was a club called the Hong Kong Business Students Association), computer science students or electrical engineers. Well our group of pals consisted of mostly architectural students, two electrical engineers, one civil engineer, one business student and one communications student. (Guess who studied communications - yup, yours truly, the sore thumb that sticks out.)

Our group of friends liked to study hard (one exception was me), eat (hmm I didn't like to eat either but I loved the company), be silly (ooh oooh, now that's me!) and we LOVED to dance (Johnny, I can't remember the dance steps to that song from Footloose. Does anyone remember?). And in fact, we started dee-jaying for clubs' dances so that we could get in for free and dance all night long. And that's where the name Asian Animal House came from - it was our dee-jay moniker - AAH. And Animal House? Well, we started noticing that some members of our groups already had animal nicknames.

The two hearts of our group had the nicknames Chicken Egg and Turtle. We also had a Dead Dog and a Flee. Within a short time, animal names were assigned each one of us. To this day, I still get hippoes for my birthday and Christmas and yes, Hippo was my nickname. I kinda think resigned idealist is a little more suited, don't you? lol

I tend to drop out of sight for a few years - as all of my friends have found out over time. I think there was about 3 years in there where even my family couldn't get a hold of me.

So, thanks guys! Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and continuing to keep track of me. I think of you all often, even if I don't call or write or email.

And definitely, auld acquaintances and in this case, auld good friends should not be forgot.

Scotty from Brothers & Sisters

Bratworse got me hooked on Brothers & Sisters and last night, we watched the Valentines Day episode. Scotty makes an appearance again as a blind date set up for the gay brother.

Luke MacFarlane portrays Scotty and I am way impressed with this boy. There was a look he gave the brother when he left after a one-night stand. That look, that one look, managed to show longing, regrets, pain, love and sensitivity all rolled into one look.

Scotty, the character, acts and looks just like some of my gayboy friends, the ones I love so much and yet are just "hi" friends, the ones I used to bowl with on gay bowling leagues.

Watching the show last night, just made me miss the energy and fun of gay boys.

Easy

My co-workers and I were discussing this case of a cop ejaculating on a stripper after he pulled her over. We talked about the stripper's white BMW and one of my co-workers declared, "All strippers have white BMWs," and another then followed with, "Especially if they're kissing other strippers."

I just said then, "You guys are SO easy!" and one of them declared "I'd rather be easy than difficult." So I retorted, "Well, I prefer difficult," meaning I'd rather be with women than with a guy.

As he walked away, I started snickering to myself because I realized that these guys must all prefer difficult themselves, even though they might be easy. After all, these guys are straight and married AND they mock one of the ex-coworkers who did end up with a stripper.

Maserati - Model

This is a three quarter view of my vehicle model. It's a 1957 Maserati Gp. I'm really, really happy with it. I added a gearshift and pedals, which you can't view from this perspective.

Sound Site

Through Pharyngula, I found this cool sound site called freesounds. What I love is what Dr. Myers said:

One creepy thing, though, if you have squeaky mattress. You'll also discover that people are recording what their neighbors are doing late at night.

How to Cut Off Nose to Spite Face

I was just reading this article about Lutherans voting to expel a gay minister when this blurb caught my eye.

Parishioners at St. John's Lutheran Church, a 135-year-old congregation on the edge of Atlanta's historic Druid Hills neighborhood, have strongly supported Schmeling. Since he arrived as pastor in 2000, the congregation has grown steadily, while the ELCA as a whole has been shrinking.

Hmm let's see, the church is growing but due to a gay minister so of course! The minister has to go.

And people wonder why I left the church years ago and why I never went into ministry like I had wanted as a teenager.

No Friggin' Way!

CNN's breaking headlines is:

The head of Cartoon Network, Jim Samples, has submitted his resignation in the wake of the Boston bomb scare sparked by an advertising campaign.

ARGH!

Cartoon Network did NOTHING wrong. The Boston Mayor and its police force OVER-REACTED. There is NO reason for him to resign.

Dang it! How is this fair?

It's okay for Bush/Cheney to have NO repercussions for their misdeeds, yet the head of a network resigns because some idiots mistook a MOONINITE for a bomb?

I'll bet that the first time Jim Samples even heard of this publicity stunt was the morning that Boston overreacted, even though the stunt had been going on for TWO WHOLE WEEKS already.

I hate it when people responsible don't take responsibility and people who aren't responsible are left in the lurch. These people are called SCUMBAGS.

Naming People

So of course I got Burning Crusade for World of Warcraft. And of course, I created Blood Elves.

I named my guy Paladin, Gryssic, and I named my girl Paladin, Thiodra. (Short story as to why I created two blood-elves paladin is because I promised Bratworse I wouldn't play Gryssic without her and she's got no time to play, so I created Thiodra to play more.) BTW, Bratworse asked me how I came up with these names and y'know? I have no idea.

The thing is, I'm totally in love with both of these names. I'm now trying to find a story to revolve around Gryssic and Thiodra. Any ideas?

It Had to Happen Sooner or Later

Y'see, this is what you all get for making brown-skinned people and gay people sooooo very scary. Cartoon characters, even pixelated ones like this one

will start taking on proportions of a very very scary terrorist.

Don't believe me? Ask the city of Boston. They just shut down the whole city because LED lights were giving them the finger.

AND you want to know what's the topping to this absurdist theatre playing in the streets of Boston? A TV station decided that LED lights that imitate giving you the finger is soooooo very scary and so very real, that they had to PHOTOSHOP the finger out.

Yes, Virginia. America IS losing its collective mind.

Nurbs Anyone?

My first class working in Maya was last Friday. Our first assignment was to model a picnic table and various items on top of it, creating a scene. Friday I hated the program. Saturday I hated the program even more. Sunday, I started getting the hang of things and although I still hated the program, I was getting some where. On Monday, hours before class started I was able to crank out a decent chess set! The critiques went well, and because I had modelled all the screws that would be involved in putting a wooden picnic table together, my peers began teasing me with "if you were asked to model a city, you'd model the plumbing!" (which would be unneccessary since in the model you wouldn't necessarily see the plumbing)

Our next assignment was to model a robot, but we have until Friday (Feb. 2) to turn it in. Last night I was helping someone with concept art for his robot, and we were able to put together some really neat 'scout-type' robot. I didn't really think much about how my input was effecting the actual design, but when he was later asked about it, I overheard him comment that it was actually co-designed by me. Shortly after I overheard this, the person whom he was showing the design to came over and asked my advice on his design. We rambled on about a lot of possible reasons for what he wanted to design and by the end of the night he was telling the instructor that he was going to change his design, because he really liked some of the things that him and I came up with. If they are successful in modelling what was designed, they're going to have some really top-notch robots that'll possess the functionality and believability that some of the other robot designs in the class are lacking.

After aiding in the designs of their two robots, I am not as excited about mine, but as I've discovered modelling is HARD. I'm not sure I'd ever want to do it for a living. The three classes that I've had already have given me a new appreciation of all the 3D animation out there.

Last night I was prowling the 'best of' folder for my modelling class to get an idea of what can be done, and out of curiousity I also took a peek at the 'best of' folder for my previous class "Compositing." To my amazement, both my midterm and final for that class were in the folder!

On another note, not really about classes: I'm doing much better now that I've been able to get some sleep. I don't know how people who suffer insomnia manage, although I'm not sure what was going on with me was insomnia. The worst thing about it, was that I was conscious of what was going on and could do nothing about it. I was extremely angry one minute than extremely depressed the next, nearly sobbing for want of sleep. A friend was telling me about this new genetic desease that causes people to suffer life without sleeping (it's not insomnia, it's related to prions (i think)). Of course they don't live very long, but while they are alive, there conscious of what's going on with their emotions, and yet can't do anything about it.

Time

Wow, if those noises were what I think it was, soft-boiled eggs take longer. Poor thing.

[Update] I was right. That kid was practicing the violin and s/he should've been practicing longer.

Well, Whaddya Know...

Turns out that something will make Republicans actually vote for cloture (that is, to end the filibuster) on minimum wage.

Quote from CNN:

A week after the GOP-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Senate Democrats on Tuesday vowed to block pay raises for members of Congress until the minimum wage is increased.

And lo and behold, "cloture suddenly passed by a vote of 87-10."

No, they haven't voted yet on the minimum wage. I'll say something here if they do.

BTW, I don't always agree with Harry Reid on issues, but hot damn, this guy knows how to grab the opposition's balls and make them listen.

Worse Than I Thought

Yesterday I listed 43 senators who voted AGAINST RAISING MINIMUM WAGE.

Today I found out that of those 43 senators, 28 of them ALSO voted TO ELIMINATE MINIMUM WAGE. Of these 28 esteemed people who apparently believe in SLAVE WAGES, about 14 of them are considering running for presidency.

And yes, John McCain voted against raising the minimum wage AND voted to eliminate minimum wage altogether.

I got the names through Atrios, who got them from BobGeiger.com but here's the names in case you didn't want to click through the link:
* Alexander (R-TN)
* Allard (R-CO)
* Bennett (R-UT)
* Bond (R-MO)
* Brownback (R-KS)
* Bunning (R-KY)
* Burr (R-NC)
* Chambliss (R-GA)
* Coburn (R-OK)
* Cochran (R-MS)
* Cornyn (R-TX)
* Craig (R-ID)
* Crapo (R-ID)
* DeMint (R-SC)
* Ensign (R-NV)
* Enzi (R-WY)
* Graham (R-SC)
* Gregg (R-NH)
* Hagel (R-NE)
* Hatch (R-UT)
* Inhofe (R-OK)
* Isakson (R-GA)
* Kyl (R-AZ)
* Lott (R-MS)
* McCain (R-AZ)
* McConnell (R-KY)
* Sununu (R-NH)
* Thomas (R-WY)

Remember these assholes y'all. These are people who don't believe in equality for all. (Wonder how many of them voted for the fence too).

Pavlov's Dog

Isn't it amazing that grown people could be made to react like Pavlov's dog? I've been watching this phenomenon happen with someone for almost a year, and it's unbelievable. Kind of pitiful, actually, especially since the person has no idea that the slobbering from the mouth was induced.

Still, I cannot help but be fascinated and wonder how long this could go on.

Pay Off

Last night was my final for Comp. 1

Basically we had three weeks to do our matte painting (midterm) and two weeks to do our animation (final). I spent two of the three weeks freaking out about my matte painting. I wasn't sure if I was doing it correctly and even had plans of doing two, just in case.

After our midterm the instructor put our grades up, and there were two people that got a 22/25 on the matte painting. To my surprise, I was one of the two! I really thought I had done the assignment incorrectly, but everyone ket telling me along the way that my painting looked really good, and they couldn't wait to see it finished. I'm glad I indulged them and finished it, I couldn't have been happier with my grade.

I spent two grueling weeks (well actually five hardly sleeping weeks) working on my final. Over the term I had gone in to school early, basically staying and working at the school over thirteen hours on some days. I was pretty happy with my final by the time it was done, and last night we critiqued everyone's final. Imagine my elation to discover that my animation was the best!!!

Throught this term I've been on a roller coaster about my abilities. There would be times when despair would hit and I would doubt myself too the point of a mini depression. I can't thank Idealist enough for her love and support. When I was in a downward spiral, she was there to point out how determined I am and how usually when I'm determined I'm successful. She calmed a lot of my fears, and often brightened my day. After the success I had this term, I'm hoping that she won't have to deal with me in that frame of mind again.

I wanted to be the best and I was the best last term!!!!

FYI Who Voted Against Raising Minimum Wage

Remember these assholes. Remember to vote them out of office as soon as you can. These are people who don't care about America and its people; they only care about corporations - why else would they hold up the vote unless a tax break for corporations was included in the bill?

NAYs ---43
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thomas (R-WY)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)

These people work for the corporations, not you. Remember this when it comes time to vote.

The Wandering Sleep-Deprived Mind

A while ago I was pondering, how does one know what truth is, when two people can view the same thing, and yet have two completely opposing interpretations. For instance, "The Colbert Report," some people who watch it actually believe he IS the character he's playing and agree wholeheartedly with his outlook, other people believe that he is an entertainer, doing just that, entertaining. Another example would be "Moral Oral." Although, in that show they're intention is extremely clear.

I've determined that it is much like the cave theory. You start out tied up in a cave facing a wall, on which shadows are presented, and that is what you know, and that is what you believe. You do not understand that what you are looking at are shadows on a wall until you find a way to free yourself from the restraints, turn around, and climb out of the cave. Hopefully, you'd attempt to help the other's that are in the cave with you, before you depart.

With this theory in viewing something and having two completely opposing opinions, there is possibility that one person is still believing in shadows and the other person is recognizing that something else is creating the shadows and has sought the source of those shadows.

When I was finally feeling comfortable with this as an acceptable answer for the time being, resigned pointed out to me that there is no law that says there is only one cave.

That started bothering me too much and since then I've moved on to a new philosophical dilemma. But before I get into that, I must say it is interesting to me, that the situations I find myself in can lead me on a journey through questions that have been pondered, probably even before Plato, and Socrates. This new dilemma, broken down to its simplest form is:

How does the person who strives to be virtuous deal with injustice?

You see, I'm worried that my wall of good-faith and positivity concerning something has started to crumble. The other day something was brought to my attention and my mind was able to produce lamentable answers to my query of whys, which caused an earthquake under my wall and definetly unhinged a few bricks.

Anger had struck resigned a lot earlier than me, and all the while I kept playing devil's advocate, trying to shove a different (more positive) perspective down her throat (which probably wasn't smart of me, but I hate thinking illy, especially about other people, we're all in this cave together), but now she has found serenity, and I'm nearly livid. I feel there is nothing I can do, short of immediate satisfaction (which will probably be regretted later down the line and make me feel like a nefarious person), and still feel good about myself.

I think, perhaps in typing this out my tired brain has shown me the answer to my question.

Now if I could have enough time to get some sleep! I'm working extremely hard to be valedictorian!

Five Adobe Training Weeks

I've been really, really... did I say REALLY busy, these past few months. I'm re-organizing a bunch of things in my life to try and see if I can create the illusion that there just might be more than twenty-four hours in a day. In the mean time, I've been wanting to put up a little of the stuff I've been working on so far.

Here's one of the websites I created. It has a lot of animation on it, and probably needs a pre-loader, so hopefully you have a semi-fast internet connection, if you're inclined to check it out. Sometimes the artwork on the artwork section doesn't load (I did mention I should put a pre-loader on it, sometimes this can be fixed by navigating away from the artwork page and then back to it again). This site was hand drawn and completely done in Macromedia Flash. The other site I made this term, in Adobe Photoshop isn't live, so no link for you.

This was an assignment for my compositing class that I thought turned out well. I'm putting it up as a link, because I don't have time to rescale things and make them pretty, maybe one day I'll come back to it. Anyway, the images you see on the left are what I was given, and the image on the right is what I created. The image was created entirely in adobe photoshop, including the rain! The hardest part for me to complete for this image was turning the lights on.

This was an assignment for my concept and imaging class, we had to colorize a line drawing. I decided to take this assignment a little further and put my character in a scene. The image was created entirely in adobe illustrator, aside from retracing the line drawing, all other aspects in the image where hand drawn (basically not traced). The hardest thing for me to complete for this image was adding perspective (the fence).

The next five weeks - Maya!!!

Karmic Reasons

I had to get a document notarized today, and then get it certified by the County Clerk's office, and then the Secretary of State's office. The document was notarized, then when I went to get it certified, the county clerk's office noticed the seal was missing. So I had to turn around, go back and get the seal, then back to the county clerk's office.

Bratworse and I were trying to figure out why the universe wanted things the way they were when at the Secretary of State's office, there was a guy there who didn't speak much English and had to get the same stuff done as I had, only his set of documents were incomplete.

Since I had the addresses of everyone, I spoke to him in Chinese, directing him to the Alameda County Clerk's office.

Then I turned to Bratworse and said, "That's why the Universe wanted us here later."

Karma, Fate, whatever you want to call her, is a tough mistress. You'll never know her reasons but you can spot when someone's about to make huge Karmic mistakes.

I feel really bad for someone I know who is about to make a huge Karmic mistake. The universe will end up making this person's life a living hell for years to come, and when the anguished cry of "Why me?" comes along, all it will get her is another kick in the teeth.

Isn't It Amazing...

How the opening strains of a song just immediately transports you to a different place and time?

My iTunes randomly selected The Carpenters' "Those Good Old Dreams" and I was at once in a smoky bar, looking around for a dance partner to two-step with. The DJ for Floyd's, a country western gay bar in Long Beach, LOVED The Carpenters and always played this song at least once a night.

I had a bad crush on one of the 6 Kim's that frequented Floyd's (yes, there really were six of them and my roommates had nicknames for all six - Kim the Clogger, Tonya's Kim, Pretty Kim, Kim the Cook, etc.) and I always sought this particular Kim out for this song. In some ways, those were the good ol' days, though I really don't miss the early morning hours of worshipping the porcelain goddess.

Reading over the lyrics, I'm struck by how optimistic this song is. I'm more used to their world-is-getting-me-down songs. Anyway, it's a very graceful song, and makes for a really graceful two-step, which most CW dancers don't really do - it IS much easier to stomp with a shitkicker than to dance smoothly and gracefully.

I miss Floyd's sometimes, especially when I hear this song, the Judd's Girls Night Out (Friday nights were dyke nights and of course the DJ played this song EVERY friday night), k.d. lang's Full Moon of Love, and K.T. Oslin's Hey Bobby.

Weird, I was able to find lyrics for everything except k.d. lang's song. Even now, she's being lesbocotted. *sigh*

I Crack Myself Up

The other day, I emailed a friend, offering our help to paint their house in time for their new baby.

I wrote, "How can you refuse help from two Wii-bodied lesbos offering to channel the Karate Kid?"

That line's been cracking me up for five days now.

Yes, I've been told by many that I'm easily amused. Thank you.

Call Him George

I know, judging from the title, I'm going to write about Bush again but you're wrong!

Bratworse loves loves loves our kitty so much that she reminds me of the old Warner Brothers cartoon where a girl just loves her pet soooo much, it keeps running away scared. The girl says "I want to love him, and squeeze him and pet him, and call him George!"

Our kitty Gizi will try and squeeze out of Bratworse's hold sometimes, as she smothers the furball with kisses. Gizi will come whenever I call her, because I usually reward her with tons of love when she does show up, but not overwhelming love. With Bratworse, Gizi never knows whether she's getting a snack, or getting asked to play, or getting smothered with love, or it's just Bratworse testing to see if Gizi will show up.

One day, I'll throw up a picture of Gizi getting inundated with hugs. You tell me if the Giz is trying to escape. LOL

Not Good

Too many blogs I'm reading are seeing signs of war against Iran - why else, they posit, would they put a Navy man in charge of a ground war unless the ground war escalates to encompass a naval war? And if so, where would the naval war take place? Hmm, which countries did Bush name last night?

Read The Washington Note, Hullabaloo, Talking Points Memo and others if you don't believe me.

And by the way, these are the SANE guys who thought before our invasion of Iraq, that ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda are tenuous at best, that there are no WMDs, that invading Iraq would unstablize the region and invite terrorism there.

And doesn't the timing of our seizure of the Iranian consulate in Iraq just a little too convenient after Bush's speech last night?

Starting Posts

I've started numerous posts in the past few days, without finishing a single one. Most of the time, the posts were interesting only to me, and knowing that, I nixed them. Some of them had no point, and therefore, rambled on, until sentences were neither here nor there nor had any direction. Nixed those too.

Writing has always been like this for me. My internal editor is really strong, and I can often look at writings fairly objectively meaning, I usually know when it sucks.

Do I have nothing to say? That's not it either.

I've comments on Billmon's leaving the blogworld and how it directly impacts me.

I've opinions on the White House's "surge" and the civilized world's (aka Charlie Brown) impulse to believe that Bush (Lucy) has a plan (won't take away the football) this time. Congress and voters, when will you start believing that this man-child we have in the Oval Office, is just a pouty man-child whose every move can be sussed out by basically asking two questions: "Is Poppy Bush for this?" and "Does Bush Jr. think he can outdo Poppy on this issue?" (The answers are: if Poppy's for it, Bush Jr's against it AND if Bush Jr thinks he has a shot at outdoing Poppy, he'll take the chance. Sheesh, didn't the past 6 years teach you anything about this idiot's psyche?)

Truth be told, most of my opinions and misgivings are voiced out there by better writers than I - Check out Digby at Hullabaloo if you don't believe me.

Therefore I am simply waiting for the Muse to come by and swing a bat at my head.

Swing away, Muse. I need a bit of inspiration right now.

[Updated] What did I tell ya about Digby's writing? As soon as I hit "Publish Post", I head over to read Digby and sure enough, today's entry is EXACTLY what I wanted to say about the administration - and that we are just fooling ourselves if we think we live in a Democracy.

This Past Christmas Didn't Feel Like It

Maybe it was because my mother was in Shanghai and it's the first time at my sister's without my mother. (My sister missed our mother too, as did the grandkids. My brother-in-law: not so much)

Maybe it was because Mom Wilson's dead and I could never spend another Christmas with her again.

Maybe it was because dumbass nephew was in rehab again.

Maybe it was because I was so sick I didn't have any energy for Christmas shopping.

Whatever it was, this past holidays didn't feel... festive.

However, I must say that I'm still filled with hope for the new year.

New Year's resolution: To create a sneaky and pitiable character for Escalating Descent named M.C. Didn't someone once say the pen is mightier than the sword?

Month of Dec. In Bed

Ugh!

I wish it was due to some hot and heavy going-ons between Bratworse and me, but it wasn't as sexy as all that. First I catch a cold on the airplane coming back from Vancouver. Then I pass it to Bratworse, who manages to pass it back to me. Two weeks and boxes of used-up tissue filled with yellow snot later, we come back from Christmas with the family(s) to land me in the hospital due to 6 hours of non-stop vomiting. One IV of fluids later, back to the house with an acutely infected sinus.

I still have the sinus infection but at least I don't have nearly crippling pain in my face anymore.

It's a New Year and I can't wait. 2007 seems like it's going to be a great year, with one and a half more years until Bratworse graduates and we can be a two-income family again. Hopefully, less health problems and many wonderful times to go.

I can't believe how much more in love Bratworse and I are. It's definitely looking better for 2007 even though many many parts of 2006 was great.