| SAN DIEGO: Off in 12 Hours |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|04:38 pm] |
I have to be at the airport @ 4effing30 for check in. Yay for pre-printed passes and no carry-on. Hoping a Starbucks will be open at 5:30 so I can get my meal replacement coffee.
I will be taking and posting pix throughout. Taking a cue from Cris Butcher, here's where to find them:
http://flickr.com/photos/divalea/
I hope no one expects awkwardly posed shots of me grinning next to Darwyn Cooke--I'm gunning for Steve Silver. I'm stoked about seeing Lauren Faust after ten years. (Well, I saw her three years ago, but, get this, I was shy about saying hello.)
For the last time before take-off, here's my signing schedule and fantastic sponsors:
FRIDAY:
Image 2729 for Comic Book Tattoo 1PM
Papercutz 2046, 2048 4PM
I'll be sitting with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kadymae and Ralph at the Eisners
SATURDAY
Image 2729 for Comic Book Tattoo 10AM
SUNDAY
Image 2729 for Comic Book Tattoo 10AM
I am the proud bearer of sponsorships from these folks:
Cartoon Frolics (NSFW)
Lene Taylor's I Read Comics podcast
Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls (Lauren Faust's awesome girl team!)
Christy Marx
InternetsCelebrities.com (see their social hack parody Ghetto Big Mac)
Pam Noles, We Shall March! (Freaking badass blogger.)
Kat Kan (bookiekat here on LJ)
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| Newest Painting |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|02:29 pm] |
I just finished one.
It's my best to date, I think. I can see where I still need (lots) of work, but, again, I see improvement. Of all my weaknesses, I still need to focus on doing washes properly.
This one was done on 6 x 4 auquaboard. I am beginning to like aquaboard quite a bit.
The paining is based off an excellent photo of chantrys.
For those of you who requested paintings, those are going in the mail this afternoon. |
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| The Monkey King... |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|01:11 pm] |
and his buddies are featured in this BBC promo for the Chinese Olympics. Music by Jamie Albarn and images by Jamie Hewlett, they of The Gorillaz.
Via. |
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| Wow |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|02:56 pm] |
After making about twelve phone calls to lawyers and the Sheriff's office, I finally got the City Inspector. We didn't discuss the idiocy of her conducting the inspection after the Sheriffs had been through; I'll save that for later. She protested that she had been totally clear in her explanations, but not according to M, she wasn't, who---hours later---was still shaking and angry.
At one point in the conversation, she snapped at me, "Well, where do you live?"
I had to laugh. "Are you going to harass me now?"
That conversation after that could best be described as uncomfortable. But I want to put that here, to show that they actually do that kind of thing.
If I get a notice from the city, you heard it here first. |
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| Dept. of "What a Pain in the Ass" |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|11:30 am] |
There is little so disconcerting, when attempting to prepare for an interview, than to discover that -- without your realizing it -- a cat has been in the closet and decided that one of your favorite skirts is his favorite skirt. I'm not talking about fur everywhere, though that is a problem. I'm talking about pulled threads all along one side of the skirt.
Happily, I have a couple of hours yet and I have a couple of options. But I really wanted to wear the skirt in question, and I'm just irritated by this. ::grumble:: |
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| In which Kate is mildly bad-tempered and vindictive |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|11:25 am] |
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I called someone scum the other day. ( Read more ) |
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| Watching Germany live ;> |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|10:55 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  Amazed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | MSNBC "b" roll | ] |
I watch a lot of "b" roll -- because of the kind of job I currently do, I listen to "noise" all day to help keep me focused. Sometimes that's music, but more often this season, it's whatever msnbc and cnn put up on their video logs (hence the "b" roll reference).
As much of this as I watch, watching an event live just absolutely fascinates me. I'm just enough of an historian that I'm amazed at the idea that I'm watching what's happening in *real time* 1/2 way around the world. 25 years ago that wasn't even conceivable!
That's just so very freaking cool!
oh -- and the speech was good too :>. |
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| Moments of Attention |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|09:41 am] |
Perhaps the biggest downside to writing fiction on my train commute is that it makes it hard to pull back to the here-and-now for my intermodal transfer. I realized today as I stood on the platform in the bus tunnel, submersed in a dreamy daze, spinning random bits of backstory for my main character, that my situational awareness was approaching nil.
No, nothing bad happened. I was not mugged nor run down by a bus. I queued up for the 73 in the usual manner, and managed to get seated in the vehicle with my arms and legs intact. But it did strike me that if a juggernaut of disaster had been bearing down on me, it would have taken me quite unawares. I was too busy deciding whether Amy was a fan of her mother's taste in New Wave music, or not.
On the other hand, most of my morning routine doesn't require a lot of attention. For instance, I could tell without opening it that a pending Mailman list posting was spam. Subject Line: Britney Spears Pregnant with Anti-Christ. |
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| Car, car, C-A-R |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|08:07 am] |
As some of you may know, my brother has a very distinctive car, a Sterling kit car, built on a VW body. He's taken it to car shows and is a recognizable presence in the Long Island car scene. Well, I just got the following e-mail from him:
In the past my Sterling kit car has been in Newsday, in Which Kit Magazine (England), Long Island Car Magazine, on News 12 Long Island TV, WABC TV, it's the car shown on the Wikipedia listing and who knows what else... but now...
It will be featured in the NY Times Auto Column "Auto Ego" on Sunday August 3rd (Dave from Sterling Sports Cars should really be paying me for all this exposure...don't you think?...lol).
There's also to be an on-line component with a slide show and video. I did the photo shoot yesterday (7/23) at Coney Island's Amusement Park...so psyched.
Once I get a URL from him, I'll post it here so folks can see the car and my brother. Wish my dad were here to see this (today's his yahrzeit); he'd get such a kick out of it. |
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| I need a scorecard |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|02:15 am] |
Sarcasm works with kids.
C., however, needs something else.
She merrily took off today, saying something about going to church. She did this twice. It did not occur to me, however, to check and see if T had approved that. She couldn't be so brazen as to lie to me, could she? Just toddle off without telling either me or her mother? Without seeking approval? Just...."I'm going to church." The lady seems nice, by the way, just...kind of.....you know.....determined.
C had an 'accident' and left her shit-smeared underwear in the bathroom, along with her PJs. You know, one of these days instead of yelling out the door for the kid to come home, I'm going to take her ear and use that as a handle.
So, C is grounded tomorrow, which means somebody will have to stay with her. She took off without permission, whined about it besides----"But you said it was okay!"-----and then sulked so badly I sent her to her room. She's so passive that I have to check her every move. Sweep the kitchen floor? She does part of it and says there's 'stuff' there or that she can't find the dustpan. Clean her room? That means.....I'm not sure what it means, but there's shit all over the floor. "But it's not mine!"
"It's dust, it's in your room, congratulations."
K was really upset today over how C. 'gets away with shit all the time.' This was the first time I realized that C had taken off without any permission at all. Oh, and in doing so, she screwed up K's chance of getting to go to the lake, because---duh----she didn't check with anybody before she took off. This meant K was stuck at home in the humid neighborhood while her BFF's house got raided. So I can understand her point. K gets stuck with all the responsibilites, but gets few of the rewards. C seems to have no responsibilities and gets frankly spoiled. However, cries tonight that C 'gets to sleep over every night!' were not greeted well by me because what happened was that C had diarrhea, at which I throw up my inexperienced--and squeamish----hands.
So, before I go to bed---after showing K part of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (----like, is there some other R&J out there?)----I have to write down a conversation we just had.
"I heard a noise."
"Where?"
"In the bathroom."
"What did it sound like?"
"I don't know."
"OMG."
"Like a cat scratching?"
"In this house?"
"Oh, shut it."
"That's....twenty two seconds of my life I won't get back."
"C'mon, will you look?"
She followed behind me and I checked the window, the screen, and the tub. "Oh, God!"
"What?!"
"You didn't rinse out the tub."
She punched me, then kissed me goodnight. Ah, kids.
Tomorrow we'll be making water balloons out of condoms, and C will be finishing her chores and learning the difference between telling the truth and....not saying anything at all.
ARgh.
I've shaved down the evil seroquel to about one-thirty secondth of a pill. We'll see how it goes. Ugh. |
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| Daily Tweets |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|12:12 am] |
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Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter |
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| Civil rights issues |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|11:03 pm] |
My neighbors across the street were raided by the Sheriff's office. K came running up to me to ask me about warrants and stuff like that, and after a while the whole family came over. The cops raided her house based on the word of a guy who was a big guy in the coke foodchain.
They've raided her house or that of relatives at least three times.
1. In one raid, a five months pregnant woman was thrown to the ground on her stomach.
2. In the second raid, M's husband's ribs were broken.
3. In this raid, three exterior doors were left damaged---by which I mean, yanked out of their frames or hinges--and the home owner---M----and her daughter, R, were tossed to the ground and handcuffed.
The cops come with drug dogs and everything. They have never once found anything. The family does not know their rights and is afraid of further harassment. The cops call them 'illegal' but that's bullshit. M works her ass off.
The cops broke windows this time, broke doors entirely, ripped ceiling tiles down, and left the house insecure. They posted the house as 'unfit for human habitation'---but that was after they rampaged through it.
One cop's name keeps coming up. And like I said---they never find anything. Never. You'd thikn they'd question their informant's reliability by now, don't you think?
I have one feeling, too: this is what Iraq is like. You give the cops an anonymous tip, they do a raid, and then what? Do they check out if there's enmity between the tipper and the tippee? |
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| Denvention Schedule |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|04:06 pm] |
I was a bit late getting into programming at the upcoming Worldcon, so I'm only on one item. But it's a reading, which makes me happy. My reading is at 5:30 PM on Friday, August 8th. Come on by, I'll have treats!
Hmm, perhaps I can revise "Human Racing" in time. For those of you in my writing groups, that was the hamster-ball cities story. |
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| Travelling to far away places. |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|02:12 pm] |
Not in space, but in environment. Frantically getting ready for this year's WorldCon, for one thing. They're having a special focus on "The Technology of the Book" and I've offered to bring some of the more obscure examples of digital text readers for their exhibit, as well as participating on a number of panels: How do eBooks Change Writing; Choosing an eBook Format; Reading Matter Migration; and eBook Pitfalls.
And, lending ongoing support to my friend Mark's contention that I ought to write a book about game design, Denvention has also asked me to present my Golden Guidelines of Game Design presentation, so I need to make sure that's up and running and that I have appropriate handouts ready and such.
Plus the usual panic about having an adequate slate of art for the artshow ready in time.
That would be enough to keep me busy, but I'm also getting ready for Burning Man this year. BM happens about 3 weeks after WC, and involves even more preparation. I've never been before, and (since both BM and WC tend to happen right near Labor Day, this year being a notable exception) probably won't go again. So figuring out what I need to take, and what to wear, and how to get it, and preparing some costumes, and on and on.
I'd say more, but I have to go. I have too much to do. |
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| Timing is everything |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|03:18 pm] |
Dear God,
I know you and I chat a lot these days, but I just wanted to express my sincere appreciation that the sheriffs and the cops and the K9s didn't get here till after I helped that lady break into her car. Also, it's nice to know my skills are, uh, still skillful.
There's ten sheriffs over at R's house, the little girl who so torments K with her on-again, off-again friendship. These guys are all wearing plain clothes and bullet-proof vests and white latex gloves. IF they'd gotten here about five minutes earlier I'd have had to explain why I was fishing around in that lady's car door.
Looks like it's going to be a coke bust, too. Yikes. Still, could have been a lot worse.
Hey, wait a second. How come when that lady locked her keys in her car I was the first person she thought of?
Oh, and to complete my day, there's a creepy guy in the hood who's got cameras set up all around his perimeter. Except they're fixed in such a way that he's really looking into peoples' yards and windows.
Ah, my neighborhood. |
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[Jul. 23rd, 2008|10:04 am] |
Oh, God.
C is trying to convince me the house is haunted. "I keep seeing someone go out the door. And when I pass by a mirror, I see someone."
Oh, Gawd.
"You know that brush for the cats? Is there one for dogs?"
I asked her to unplug the computer cord and bring it over to me so I could plug it in to a closer outlet. "What's that?"
"What?"
"What's that?" She was pointing at the cord, acting like she'd never seen one before.
"Well, what do you think it is?" I held up the plug in end.
"I dunno," she said sullenly.
"Think."
"I dunno."
Gawd.
She's going to church with a friend of hers. I saw this friend. She's ten years old, wears stacked platform shoes, and walks a huge pitbull around. But---heels? Really? The hell?
In other news, ambitious_wench really sucks. Just so you know. |
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| Okay.... |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|08:37 am] |
There's a rooster crowing in my neighborhood. Er...huh? I hope the Hmong family that got foreclosed on didn't leave a rooster behind.
Oh, God, and Morgie is indulging his passion for plastic bags. God, what a weird cat.
The girls and I picked a whole bunch of pearl onions and lettuce last night and today I'm going to make meatloaf, which will become sandwiches. Yum. |
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busy