Lone Star Liberal

Oooooh another entry!

2010-10-25T23:52:00.006-05:00

Only about one month later, too, huh?

Still I'm giving myself a gold star, not for blogging, but for painting. Since the Toxic Political Landscape painting (which sold at the Texas Freedom Network auction, to the lovely Deborah, after a little bidding war) I have finished three new 8" x 10" paintings. Although they are smaller than I am used to painting, it has been fun to try the small size, and I am as devoted to them as I am to the big paintings. In fact, if I ever hear from the Austin Art Garage, or rather when I make that happen, I'll be sad to see this trio of paintings go.

Further, I have many great sketches and the mind has been rekindled with more and more images, some even coming to me out of the blue as has not happened in some time. It's an exciting time to be Gabriel!

In fact, it seems many good things are happening. I'm actually looking forward to winter, and I am not usually that way. I bought some fingerless gloves at Urban Outfitters. I love the way they look, in truth, regardless of whether they work, but Junie and Matteo assure me they do. I just sort of want to go around pretending they are part of a super hero costume. No, they are not the reason I'm looking forward to winter, silly.

Many good things to report as they develop, but I'll keep them closer to me and enjoy them on my own for a bit. Well, other than the fact that currently Eden is in the shop, as an idiot parked next to her crunched her rear passenger wheel well. My rental? A Chrysler Town and Country mini van, which, inapposite to my existence as it is, has caused not a little mirth.

But at least it gets me from point A to point B for now, and these days, I'm thinking about points C through Z in ways I have not in a long time.

Jay Jay and the Housewives of Cedar Park

Reduce Reuse Recycle

The Moon, the Stars and Me

It has been a while.

2010-09-23T01:35:00.003-05:00

I haven't even been over to this realm for a while, even though my website has the big button coaxing any (dear readers) here. But I need to write more, to unwind my late night mind with better things. So much has changed since I was last tilting and out of sorts. It's a cyclical thing with me, and I'm currently there of course, but always I hope it's a tilt a whirl of progress.

I promise myself to write and show more here. Hope I listen to my own promise.

Meanwhile here's my latest painting, going up for a silent auction on October 7th at the Texas Freedom Network's annual celebration. So I give you: Toxic Political Landscape...

Tilting

2009-02-25T23:54:00.001-06:00

I've been a bit out of sorts, I guess it's just one of those weeks, one of those weeks that fits into a lifetime of doubt. That business, the doubt business, it goes with you wherever you are, that's just a fact. But some places are better at helping you to overcome it.

So sayeth chai wallah.

VDay

2009-02-14T13:01:00.002-06:00

Because it's fun, and things are better, I thought I'd revisit last year's Valentine's Day, one of the most memorable ones on record, but of course not for the right reasons.

I had been in LA since the beginning of November. At some point there, and unbeknownst to me, a wisdom tooth had decided it was time to decay. I think it was later in December that I noticed a pain, nagging but not sharp. Advil every once in a while made it go away. But by February, I was in single dose, every prescribed period of time, Advil taking mode most of the day. Eventually it was getting worse, I realized it had to be a problem without self resolution despite my resolute self, so I made the decision to drive back to Midland and see what was up. I drove back to be around family, in case I needed a ride and such, as unfortunately Benny, great friend that he was (I miss that guy!) couldn't drive me around, or make soup for me.

Anyhow, long drive back to Midland and a dentist appointment later...one look in my mouth "oh that wisdom tooth is decaying, you'll have to have it extracted, but you'll have to see an oral surgeon." Yay, my exact diagnosis, I'm good! The receptionist offered to make an appointment for me with some group or oral surgeouns, but when she called me back later, this collective of oral health surgeons couldn't see me until March. Never mind that I needed to get back to LA so I could finalize the deposit to get my name on the John Baldessari house rental agreement. (Never mind also that the fates were then in motion to have all our monies almost tied up whilst John B., or his people, or both, decided it was time for them to take the house back, which was the final straw allowing me to admit how much I despised Los Angeles as a place to live.)

Continuing...never mind also that I was in pain, and it wasn't going to improve magically until March. So Mom told me to call some other places, and I found a Dr. Cummings who could see me that Thursday, which was Valentine's Day. In the schema of the universe, I guess it was actually a pretty good way to spend the day, given that it lead to a relief from pain.

Of course, from then it wouldn't be too long until I had moved back to Midland, and had the remaining wisdom teefies removed on or very close to my birthday.

Fun stuff.

Have I said how much I adore Austin, Texas?

Spring Cleaning?

2009-02-12T15:08:00.002-06:00

With the days we've been having, it doth seem like Spring is just around the corner, and I suppose in a way it is. Yesterday we went to have a late lunch (I had already lunched, though, so had tea) before heading out to see Duncan Sheik. For that lunch we sat outside at Shady Grove, basking in the sun.

Oft stated, but I can't wait until the same (basking) happens with everything bursting into green and bloom.

Meanwhile the blog is still so dusty, since I don't come here often enough.

Ill...try to do better?

So behind!

2009-01-22T14:26:00.002-06:00

No New Year's reminiscing post, no Inaugural post, no recent things to do and see in Austin post. I just have to admit I'm really behind on the blogging business. I don't even have a proper excuse, and writing this is hardly ameliorating the circumstance, because I'm not even going to write much more.

To sum:

New Year: good
New President: good
recent things to do and see in Austin: good

It's all good!

Obligatory Christmas Posting

2008-12-25T15:29:00.005-06:00

Let's face it, if you are not that X marks the mas centered, today is just a little odd. I feel a bit confined. I don't really know what's open or closed, and I just assume almost everything is closed. Except the dreaded Walmart perhaps, though maybe even they close for Jesus' birthday, at least for a while. So I feel like a prisoner of the holiday, as I don't really care that much for it this year, and elected to stay in Austin for the day rather than fly or drive home, which wouldn't have worked out so well anyhow, as my sister and the kiddos went to Tennessee to visit Jr's grandmother for good reason, but that's too complicated to explain here.

Here I am, then, having a lazy day. I opened a few presents my family had sent, but otherwise there's not a lot of Christmasness going on. I have fired up the music, my rather large collection of iTunes and other Christmas/Winter gems. That started a couple of years ago when I forced through an unhappy October/November combo with my Hard Candy Christmas self, and it worked. Seems like it was another lifetime, and since it also seems like I've had about five or so different lifetimes so far, I guess I can reflect.

Last year...yikes. Last Christmas...click that link and have a look see! I had just gotten over strep throat, which had been inflicted on me in Los Angeles, where I knew of not a single doctor and very few people, so I had to face that one mostly alone, isolated in the damn garage where the cold wind would blow and the heater worked only if I faced the interior wall. Sometimes I feel like such an idiot for trying to stay there in that room, afraid of offending someone by leaving (like it didn't happen anyhow) and afraid of leaving for a different room because that would have forced me to commit to a longer time frame. Things worked out for the best, though. I was alone last year as this year, but, then, I felt alone.

This year I don't feel alone, and overall there's a base of happiness I'm using as a foundation, as opposed to a sense of desolation. I'll admit the past week hasn't had me doing cartwheels, with the cold and worse cloudy weather, without much rain, and no sun. At least here it's more expected, though apparently it's not that usual in Austin for the bitter cold to hang about so much. But I'm working on thawing my inner bitter cold, and it's a lot easier to do here. So that makes me happy.

Even if I do feel like a prisoner of the holiday today, well, it's just one day, and a better excuse to be lazy than I've had lately. I'm just going to go with it, watch a few movies, unwrap myself from the last strains of Christmas music, and look forward to the New Year. After all, unlike last year, when the one I wanted to spend New Year's with was not available and indeed that lack of availability was a small but not insignificant part of the reason I left LA, well, this year I've already made plans.

Living the Gabriel Style

2008-12-15T19:10:00.016-06:00

That title sounds a little bolder, or perhaps more pretentious, than it really is. (So, why don't I go back and change it? I don't know. I'm an enigma unto myself even.)

I thought since things on the apartment front are progressing well, I'd post some pictures, at least of my bedroom and my living room. Both are incomplete, but past the halfway point, lacking mostly new paintings for wall space (which I am to provide, and need to get cracking) and a few details here or there. My office is probably past the halfway point as well, but lacks curtains, an essential element, and I'm close to solving the curtain question (posed to me by myself) so then I'll post some pics.

Until that time, and until I've finished it all, here's a glimpse of my living spaces for now:

The living room, fairly self explanatory.

My bedroom is inspired by the films of Wong Kar Wai, specifically but not limited to In the Mood for Love. The color scheme, use of patterns and textures, and the whimsy, were all the original ideal for my loft room (that is, garage) in Venice, Los Angeles.

Originally I had also planned to throw in a number of industrial elements, taking a cue from the Mood for Love/2046 combo, as that meshed with the whole notion of a garage door being part of a room. For my current apartment's style, and also since the original IKEA bed I planned wasn't available, I left out the industrial elements, so here there is a softer Wong Kar Wai feel, especially in person.

What's interesting is that, taking these pictures without the flash, the room looks very much like a set for one of his films. My good friend Deborah, who knows the films I'm talking about, immediately picked up the vibe, so I was very happy. She's been the best test of what I was hoping to portray. The wall color is less green, more of a blue/green, dusty, but more in the blue than green realm. The way it photographs here, playing against the oranges and pinks, is fun though.

That's all for now, as I've said, as soon as I get the curtain puzzle for my office solved, I'll post pictures of it.

Pa and the Coffee Cup

2008-12-10T13:21:00.004-06:00

I bought this coffee cup yesterday at World Market. It's like one my grandfather on my Mom's side, Pa, always drank from, and so it's a great memory, particularly since he died when I was about 5 and I have only a few recollections of him.

I do have a pink knit cover of his, though. It's in fine shape, though the color has faded a bit, and the satin-like edge on top is gone, and on bottom is headed there. But it's a perfect cover, good in the summer to let air in and out but be enough weight to feel comfy (I need some feeling of cover even in the hot summer). And in winter, as an under layer, it's perfect for keeping me toasty warm (as in last night, when it snowed a bit here in Austin). That cover went with me to LA and back, and there's a wonderful feeling that I'm protected with the warm energy of someone I barely knew, but someone who meant a lot to me.

Some of my recollections are wrong, though. For example, I love snap front western shirts with all kinds of tiny floral patterns on them, largely because I always think "that's a shirt Pa would wear." But one day, while in the store and looking at just such a shirt with my Mom, and making just such a comment, she told me he never would have worn a shirt like that. So I wonder what type of inversion my mind did. But it doesn't matter, because those shirts will always make me think of him.

So, whether or not he actually drank from a coffee cup like this, matters not. The warm thought is what matters.

Photo Challenge

2008-12-05T14:39:00.003-06:00

I was looking at Becky's flickr postings and came across a challenge, so here's my pic:

The rules: Take a picture of yourself right now. Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture. Post that picture with NO editing. Post these instructions with your picture.

Anyone who sees this pic has to do the same thing! Remember Santa's watching! :D

Toys R Oz

2008-12-05T13:54:00.005-06:00

Continuing the Black Friday saga, finally, with the note that I'm not referring to the Dorothy type Oz, but the Showtime type Oz.

After the Denny's Breakfast Fiasco we drove back to Mom and Dad's house, because Dad hadn't eaten lunch, though apparently was able to make his own lunch, though it was a SPAM sandwich, so I don't know if it really counts as nutrition. Everyone in my family except, you guessed it, me, loves SPAM and fried bologna. Yeah, fried bologna, which, after I read Fall On Your Knees I learned is actually Cape Breton Steak. Not sure I needed that knowledge, as it's not one of my faves, but it's fun to refer to it as that.

We got to Mom and Dad's after collecting one of Armanae's friends, and, after a brief respite (bathroom, etc.) we set back out on the journey. Eventually the journey would involve the dreaded Walmart (note that they are taking the hyphen away, I guess because it looks classier?). I also hate Walmart, and I think everyone in my family does as well, but it seems to be easy for them to go to. Or else it's just routine. I don't know. Maybe if I had five kids it would make a difference, and my attitude would do a 180 degree happy face turnaround. Maybe not.

BUT the real treasure of the trip was Toys R Us. It really wasn't that busy, though there were enough people with carts full of stuff that it did look Black Friday-ish. As we wandered around looking I noticed blue arrows taped on the floor, but there were no signs indicating what they meant. In fact, there were lots of reasonably clueless employees who didn't bother to make much effort regarding their personal appearance. Basically it looked like they just rolled out of bed.

Now before you think I'm being horribly elitist again, or that I'm a spoiled brat (only my Mom can call me that) let me remind you that I worked at BEALL'S, America's Small Town Specialty Retailer, for five years. And in those five years, I had a few early Black Fridays. How did I look? Spiffy. Polished. Sometimes I'd have raging sinus infections (Midland does that to me) or flat out colds, and I might be cranky to everyone right before the doors opened. But when the doors opened and those glorious customers came looking for the cheap ass jr girls watches prominently featured in the ad, of which we maybe had 10, I was a pretty boy for them and loving, caring and considerate of their needs. It may have been 5 years of acting (not always, I do like some people!) but it was a damn good acting job!

Ok, so, back to Toys R Us. I found some Cars cars for Mom, who is still collecting the new ones, and then she found a black baby doll and fell in love with it, because it reminded her of a baby doll from her childhood. (Another aside...my sister has always been multicultural in her approach to baby dolls, both girls and also the boys have had dolls of various ethnicities, which of course still turns heads in Midland, Texas.)

Anyhow...we rolled up to the front to get in what didn't look to be horrible lines. Well, while there, another just rolled out of bed employee, a woman with a walkie talkie, pretty much accosted us "what are you doing?" and we're like "going to buy these" and she's like "well you have to get in line" we were like "we're going to the registers, the line" and she's like "no you have to get in the line" and my Mom's like "where is the line?" and the just out of bed walkie talkie empowered employee says "you have to get in the line back in the children's department" at which point we sort of all look at each other incredulously, because there were not enough people shopping to justify this lock down, and I tossed the merchandise on the nearest table.

This too is against all my training, I typically make anyone I'm with go and put something back where it belongs, because I also know how it is to find a woman's bra hanging with track pants for young men. But in this case, because of the lock down, and the rudeness, and the sheer Alice in Wonderland Queen of Hearts stupidity, I didn't mind.

Then we were just going to leave, and we all seriously thought she was going to frisk us or something. I've been through LAX a few times, and didn't feel that intimidated!

I don't know what it was all about, but, seriously gang, it's a TOY STORE. You can't make it hell for people. You can't put them in solitary. And, again, a good attitude will go a looooong way, no matter what the situation. Also it helps if employees look professional. But, above all, don't act like you're security for the president-elect.

It's just a toy store, dammit!

:)

Thanksgiving Catch Up

2008-12-01T10:47:00.012-06:00

I got back from my Thanksgiving trip to Midland yesterday at about 2:40 pm or so. The return drive was mostly, well actually wholly, uneventful, which is always a good thing. I made a straight shot, other than stopping in Llano to pee at the Dairy Queen, and while I intended to buy some fries or an ice cream to tide me over for the next hour drive back home, let's just say Llano was a happening little town on Sunday and the DQ order counter was backed up. They are not super fast there, either, so I just mentally noted that next time I stopped I'd buy a little more than usual. So maybe I'll get a Dilly Bar to make up for my peeing and running.

Beyond that, Llano's a little scary on Sunday, with hunters galore. Which reminds me, I can't remember which town it is, maybe Eden?, that has a large banner over the street as you pass which says "Camouflage Cotillion." It makes me imagine large flowing dresses with camo tulle and tree bark tiaras.

Anyhow, I left Llano and whilst driving through Burnet called David to let him know I was less than an hour away. Keith had driven up on Saturday and, surprise for me, they were looking at apartments and indeed filling out an application for rental! Best of all, they stuck to the plan I had made for them, and if all goes well will be very close to South Congress and just a short taxi ride to downtown. Later I'll fill in the reason for this plan, but I want to get to my Thanksgiving Holiday and the following days first.

I'd have to say it's hard to detail Thanksgiving itself, because it's warmth and family, and all the tastes we've known through the years, headlined with Nene's stuffing, Dad's Mom's fruit salad (which is almost an excuse just to eat cream) and the other delights. Suffice to say that, barring any family drama (has happened a few times, but not too many) and my absence (has only happened once so far, not a good thing for all) Thanksgiving at the Lewis Home is uniformly excellent.

The following Friday, that Blackest of Fridays, I cannot say the same about, and that's the real adventure of my trip. I decided, this time, to get up early (6:00 am) and go with Mom, Chan, Simon and Armanae on the trek to Retail Hell. Why? Well, more time to spend with them really, and, while my sister is the shopaholic (OCD is dealt with in many different ways, shopping part of her way) in the family, and though I will admit I do enjoy shopping though I'm good at looking and not buying, I wanted to go just to see all the crazy people.

We went to KOHL'S first, as did, apparently, the other half of Midland that wasn't camped out at Best Buy. The line at KOHL'S stretched, lines I should say, all the way to the back of the store, each line almost meeting the other at the end. I thought, well, we will look, but no, my sister decided to buy stuff. Had I known that going in, I would have parked in line and waited for her to bring me things,. Instead after her shopping she and I got in line with her selections, then I told her to go look more and just bring things to me. That worked well enough, though we were probably in line for 45 minutes, maybe more. The nice thing was that everyone in the store seemed friendly and not cut throat. All in all KOHL'S was mildly amusing, a long wait, but a fuss free start to the day (a day that started way too early, anyhow).

Next we went to Target, where there was only a crowd in the electronic and toy sections, but no overwhelming lines at the registers. We looked a bit, bought a few things, left uneventfully, but of course that was three hours into the day, and we had planned on meeting the rest of the kids, my Dad and Jr for breakfast at IHOP.

Well, everyone who stayed at home basically decided to stay at home, so we went to IHOP as assembled, and there was a wait, of course, 45 minutes or more, so we thought why not make the drive over to Denny's, where surely no one else would have such big ideas?

Yeah, well, they didn't, but, Denny's had about 3 people working the restaurant. After I walked past a purple clad bitch troll from hell woman, trying to see if there was a list and not appear to be cutting in front of her, I asked her "I'm seeing if there's a list" to which she replied with a scowl and no Christmas glee "we're waiting in line" to which I replied "well, yes, obviously, but is there a list?" and she scowl growled "no" again and at that point my faith in humanity began to wane.

My faith didn't increase as we waited with only a few people in front of us, but hey, this is Midland, right? Not enough employees, this is how it's done. We finally got seated, after a scowl from the waitress and some unintelligible "uhhhhh" from her, and ordered coffee, which eventually came. At this point I realized, well we realized, being a big sugar and cream in coffee family, that there were no sugar packets on the table. Rather than ask for them, I decided to go on a hunt myself, knowing it would be faster. And yet across all the empty tables, of which there were many, and still a line backed out the door to get a table, no sugar packets were to be found.

I came back from this hunt unsuccessful, having spied the condiment station and having seen no sugar packets there. I had to announce that I believed they were out of sugar. This made our coffee selections moot. Hey, if I'm tasting coffee at one of Becky's tastings, I will drink it sans sugar and cream. But if it's me, for joy and not snobbishness ;) drinking it, it will have sugar, cream and only a little coffee. :)

(Oh, wait, I'm still a coffee snob, David sneaked Folger's into the house and when I realized it, there was the solution to the mystery of the icky smelling morning coffee. I had to call him out on it.)

However, I saw our waitress bring a small bowl of sugar to another table, so thought, perhaps, not all is lost. We asked for sugar after we finally got to order our Grand Slam Variations, and eventually she brought us some (not enough for a heavily sugar/cream/coffee oriented family of five) and as that resource was depleted I noticed what looked like hardened chocolate pudding near the bottom of the bowl. Fun.

Simon's food came first, and ours followed 5 or 10 minutes later. My hash browns were cold, but otherwise, it was a tasty for what you expect from Denny's breakfast. (I must interject that for Midland's fine restaurant choices, there are not a whole lot of good breakfast places.) But still, having asked for more sugar in a not tainted bowl, none arrived. I drank a little coffee creamed with no sugar, but I didn't like it. Or didn't love it, like I love sweet, creamy coffee (you've probably gotten that point by now).

It's clear to me, by this point, no sugar for us. It was also looking like the check wasn't going to arrive either, so I went up to the serving station again and waited for the check there, and when she gave it to me, I politely said that, since we had little then no sugar, the bowl was dirty, my hash browns were cold and the food arrived at different times, she should do something about making the coffee charge disappear. She didn't argue, though she turned to a guy just emerging from the back with four sacks of purchased sugar and told him never mind "they're already pissed." Well, probably mind, because other people throughout the day might accidentally want sugar, so the purchase was well made.

Still, I wasn't caustic or anything, and she noted that they were short handed and I noted that I was aware of it, and my sister intoned that it wasn't our fault, and of course that's true, no matter the situation we don't go to restaurants expecting to be wholly inconvenienced by the experience. But I told the woman that even without a full staff, a positive attitude goes a long way in helping the situation. Which is to say, had she just been friendly at the start, and told us there was a sugar shortage which was close to becoming and became a sugar outage, we could have amended our plans (Mom had also ordered grits, and won't eat them without sugar) and went without the coffee that we barely drank and so forth.

All in all, though, she wasn't rude about taking off the coffee, and it was an equitable solution, as the breakfast wasn't horrid, or even bad, as far as the food went. Of course, we were quite hungry by then, so cardboard with ketchup might have been tasty.

You'd think that would qualify as the worst Black Friday experience, but there's more, and worse, but I'll add it later. The breakfast fiasco is enough to digest, for now.

Back in Midland for Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T17:27:00.007-06:00

I haven't posted much lately, just poodle speculation and such. Things have been good if busy here. David makes me get outside of my shell and shelter, so it's good. I've probably seen more movies in the past month than the past couple of years. Keith was down a couple of weekends ago and we saw Dame Edna, which was hilarious. And we've definitely been sampling a lot of new restaurants, and in fact went to Kenobi's today for some Asian food and it was delicious. Didn't have sushi...I guess that's such a mood thing for me, I'm not always up to it.

As stated above I'm headed to Midland for Thanksgiving. It's our major holiday, since being Church of Christy as a kid we didn't do Christmas (it was a Catholic Holiday, Christ's Mass, Jesus wasn't born on that date, the tree was idolatry, etc., etc.). And though we recovered from that business, we're not that big on Christmas even now, mostly still, as a matter of habit (and overindulgence on the first one we had post C of C, and my five years of retail service for the season).

We still do stuff for the kids, and I did throw that legendary Christmas Cookie and Zabaglione Semifreddo party (was it two years ago?) when I was the Christmas Magic Man. The theme of course: "Hard Candy Christmas" which was just to say, buck up, push on through and make yourself happy. Interestingly enough, it worked.

I can't even remember if it's two or three or more years ago that Figgie died as well, very close to Thanksgiving. He wasn't there at the table shuffling his sweet feet around for scraps (knowing anyhow that he'd get a plate later for himself). But now he's busy exploring the stars (more on that eventually) and also, ironically enough, without realizing it I posted that picture of him lobbying for a poodle close to the anniversary of his death.

We don't really have pets, we have family members who happen to be considered pets, and each of them are remembered in different ways.

YAY though, it's time for Thanksgiving, Nene's stuffing (continued by Mom's memory, thus Nene's presence at the table is also always). It's a very warm, fuzzy time for me, and I love it.

Poodle Lobby

2008-11-21T13:37:00.003-06:00

First Pooch

2008-11-07T16:46:00.009-06:00

Currently all my political energy is going toward following what type of doggie the Obama's will get. So far I glean from internet rumors and perhaps semi-factoids that there's talk of a Golden Doodle, which I find to be an excellent choice, they are so darn cute and in fact, I want one as well.

Perhaps a Standard Poodle would be in order? I'd definitely recommend one. Hypo-allergenic and smart enough to help run the country--what am I saying, to run the country, period.

An aside--I remember back when 9/11 first happened and everyone wondered what was going to become of the world, Figaro, our black standard poodle, was trotting about and by. I looked at him and said "Figaro, why can't you run the world?" because I know he'd have made it the best possible place for everyone to exist side by side. A good memory from a bad time.

So Barack Obama's words from his press conference today are the best:

"With respect to the dog, this is a major issue," he joked. "I think it's generated more interest on our Web site than just about anything."

"We have two criteria that have to be reconciled," he said. "One is that Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic. There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic.

"On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. So whether we're going to be able to balance those two things I think is a pressing issue on the Obama household," he said.

Post Election Observations

2008-11-05T10:59:00.006-06:00

Well I stayed up until 4:30 last night/this morning. I had to make sure nothing was going to sneak on the radar, so that when I woke up this morning (after what was, I guess, a nap) I could hit the NYT app on my iPhone and there it would remain, the headline: President Elect Barack Obama.

It's still sinking in. There is so much mess in this country that Bush and Co. have made, it is no easy task to clean, but for now, I just want to note some of the fun stuff, and the positives. (Also I'm quite sober now, that drinking is "historic" for me, it doesn't and won't happen often.)

--Obama including all of America in his acceptance speech, but not by saying "my fellow Americans" but by listing, black, white, gay, straight, disabled, not disabled. Inclusion is the magic that happened here.

--Minority turn out making a difference. That's America!

--My nephew Paladin calling me to share the news, he was apparently transfixed by the process, with me saying "I know baby but we can't talk about it because I don't want to jinx it!" (Yeah, I was one of those superstitious lots.)

--Biggest smile of the night on my face, the wide eyed innocence of Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia (what beautiful names!) and especially the moment when he said "you have earned the puppy that's coming with us to the White House." I wonder what doggie will get to go? I'd say a standard poodle, but I'm biased that way. A rescued dog would be awesome, though. Or maybe Ted Kennedy will offer a Portugese Water Dog pup, those are also some beauties.

--Carol Keaton Rylander Strahorn, or whatever her name is now, pretty much gushing about Obama; this is Texas folks, but wasn't totally in the tank for McCain as the numbers bear out. In fact, if you look county by county, there's a blue invasion from the South and West, with a creamy Austin Blue center, and I think Dallas was blue or close to it. That's not unusual, but if you pair it with the large Hispanic turnout, and see where that went, there could be a promising pattern.

--The picture that will inevitably be painted in the media of Bush hosting the Obama family at the White House, where the Obamas can really start measuring the drapes.

--I probably should have bought some stock in paper shredders last night. Anyone else wonder if the Repugs might be a little jittery on that front? They've had no oversight for so long, the blank check of the Bush executive branch is over!

--Oprah in the sea of people last night. Not because it's Oprah, but because in that setting, she was just one of the people, one vote. That's the beauty of Democracy. I thought it a potent reminder of the power of the people together, not just one.

--I thought McCain's speech was gracious, save for the touting of Sarah Palin, which perhaps was deemed necessary to keep some hope alive, but that's not exactly the brightest beacon on the horizon I'd think, but ask the masked avengers (giggle). If we talk about shattering the glass ceiling, can I be honest and say that Ms. Palin seemed to hold more positions that indicated a caulking effect on those cracks. Maverick!

--Uh, I got off track on the last question, McCain's speech was gracious, so my question there is where was that man during the campaign? Is that the McCain people say is the real one? Or is the overly plump Nosferatu bloodsucker the real one?

--The Clintons. Maybe they did their part without media attention, I don't know, but they never seemed to have much enthusiasm. They are not royalty, and nothing should ever be considered as an inheritance in the United States. Hillary is brilliant, but she didn't run a brilliant campaign. I don't know if they would have thought to make an H app for the iPhone.

--Speaking of...what do I get to replace the O app? I'm going to miss seeing that...or will they keep it updated with post election stuff?

--Talking to my Mom today...during the Bush administration, my Mom's been putting the flag stamp upside down as a small protest. She told me today she mailed the taxes and turned the flag right side up! I thought that was beautiful, you know, because it is patriotic to pay taxes and now we can be proud of a huge milestone in American history, and the end of a millstone around the neck of American history. So her act was small but beautiful protest, but now is no longer needed. She also put up the battery of flags outside the house.

Alright, undoubtedly I'll muse on this stuff later, but for now, I think we're going to do some celebrating. Maybe I'll buy some star spangled underwear.

Oh My God!

2008-11-05T00:47:00.006-06:00

I think I'm going to be able to talk about this without jinxing it, particularly since I'll be up most of the night to make sure I'm not dreaming, and nothing shifty goes on.

Tonight we, the majority of Americans and the majority of the electoral college (whatever the hell that is), elected the first black president of the United States. I'm speechless, happy, tearful, and (to confess) was a little drunk earlier because it was the only way I could survive the night. I took a (large) shot of some pomegranate vodka when most stations called Pennsylvania (that was scaring me) and then another when they called Ohio, and then another when they called the race.

I never, never NEVER thought I would see this in my lifetime. I expected a woman to be elected, sometime in my life. I never, never NEVER thought I would see a black man in office. Why do I say this? Because I've seen racism from the ground up, in my life working with so many people during my laboring time who were so clearly, fully, completely racist. I think it's bigger than anyone realizes, except for those who've lived it (and I obviously haven't lived it, but I see it).

I did have an odd sense of hope when my Dad's Uncle, while my Mom and Dad were visiting him, called Obama the "n" word but, in the same breath (which could have been his last), hoped that he would live to vote for him. That amazed me and made me wonder...I guess I thought of it as the reverse Bradley effect (which, knowing what that means, illustrates how much time I've secretly given to this campaign, in my online research).

BUT (confession) I've been scared ever since that bitch Sarah Palin gave that fetid, nasty Republican Convention speech and everyone fawned over her. (Not everyone, but you get the gist.) Only Huffingtonpost.com has kept me sane (and tonight, liquor, but that's rare, and it was self medication, you can't believe how tightly wound I have been today, the bathroom is beyond spotless, ask David).

I didn't think I'd be feeling this good tonight. And, to mirror Michelle Obama's words, which I understood back when she said them, and though not for the first time, I am proud of my country. It's definitely one of the best prouds ever!

Even better because from what I hear and read, President Elect Barack Obama has not been elected with much relation to his status as the "black man," but because he was the best man, the best person for the job. Because he was steadfast and amazing, and God (that's not in vain) the man gives speeches I don't just hear, but feel (did you hear his acceptance speech, again, my God!), and I think when the world looks on him they will be stymied, STYMIED that we did this, we put a different face on the world map, one that reflects the best of who we can and should be. It's no longer just a long line up of white men! Now it's the America I want!

It's just amazing. And I'm sober now. And I've definitely had a lot of tears.

More later!

A Year Ago Today

2008-11-02T10:27:00.007-06:00

The first anniversary has arrived. Hard to believe, but, indeed one year ago today I was on the road and headed to Los Angeles for what I thought was going to be the new life there. As it's about 10:42 AM right now, I don't think I was even in El Paso at this time last year. If I'm totally honest, I have to confess that as I left Midland behind and made it past more state borders than I've ever driven in my life, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. But I needed to see if the feelings were going to be there, when I took the Lincoln exit, turning at the Tasty Goody shopping center and down Vernon Ave, and further on when I walked to the ocean and felt the salt air on my face. It was supposed to be transformational, but as I confessed a few sentences ago, for that whole drive and amidst teary eyed sentiment, I wondered often about that place LA and in tandem wondered about "Austin."

And one year later, having escaped the inverse of expectation, the chill of body, mind and heart, here I am in Austin, where in the past (almost) two months I already feel more at home than I ever did in the Golden State. (Note to self: Florida is the sunshine state.)

Now how about that for drama? I've probably logged over 10,000 miles, easily, in my year-long quest to figure out what I wanted and where I wanted it. Now I think I know where I want it, and I finally have some ideas about what I want, I just need to solidify them, steel my spinal cord, and go. Funny, for so long it was Go West, when East was the better West. ;)

Last year was also bustling with post-Halloween thoughts, at least on the first of November. Those goings on are well documented close to the beginning of this blog, when it was titled "Le Soleil est Pres de Moi," or the sun is near me, if I've translated loosely albeit correctly. There was the contest, the kids, the home spun carnival as created by my Mom's magic realism. The loading and the leave. Wistful much, Gabriel?

This year I spent Halloween away from the kids and my family, yet somehow closer to their hearts. They went as sideshow freaks, and my sister sent pics, I'll have to post them later. But I was here in Austin, where David and I decided to take in the 11:15 PM showing of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. While the theater wasn't packed, there were a good number of people there to appreciate the film. Also, PWK productions (headed by P. Kellach Waddle, a local bassist) presented new compositions and some film favorites by Mr. Waddle. He strives to bring "classical" music to unique locations and broaden the appeal, so it was great. Plus you can eat while you are watching the movie, and it doesn't really detract from the experience as I thought it might. I had a yummy root beer float, though I was done with it before the movie started.

We definitely enjoyed the movie, as did the appreciative audience, which I suspect would have been bigger on any other night, after all Baby Jane is not exactly a Halloween type movie, but plays beyond that genre. Still, it was great fun, and we didn't get home until about 3:30, the movie and music having finished at 2:45 or so, and the Garmin having directed me badly such that I wound up caught in post-club downtown Austin traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular.

That's how the weekend started, as we moved into November. A contrast of time and space for sure. I just returned to edit this post and add the finish, so, this time last year I was probably about to go to bed after a long drive from Midland to Phoenix, AZ (a place I'm not terribly fond of, preferring Tucson). The next day would find me in Los Angeles with a chill in the air and the beginning of a chill in me, despite a few warm people in my life, and they know who they are, and the others who added to the chill well, they know who they are. But, blame it on that lucky old sun, I guess, he hid too much.

In contrast, as I mentioned, today we had Sunday lunch outside, after a Universitarian outing (I'll have to blog about that later), and it was a beautiful day, warm with just a perfect cool breeze to keep it comfortable. I love the little bit of blue in a red state that I'm in.

Just Visiting

2008-10-28T11:04:00.005-05:00

I was back in Midland this past weekend. Before I went, and partially the reason I went was, one night while talking to my Mom on the phone she mentioned that my Dad said "wasn't it time for Gabe to visit?" Now, my Dad and I get along more now than we have in the past, but for anyone who might have read the old blog you would know we've had issues. Those issues include him wanting me to be a cowboy, listen to only Country and Western music, and wear Wranglers. Not exactly in that order, but close. Thankfully he never wanted me to be a Republican, because he's not, and seriously that has made my entire life a much, much easier journey. Whatever jokes the universe plays on us, collectively and individually, that was not one of them.

Anyhow, so I know all the family misses me even though it's been a short period of time, and I decided to visit for a bit, and it was good because I got to see the kiddos and spend a lot of time with them. We had a good time, doing nothing really, but talking, coloring, oh yeah and I drew my sister a rough draft for a house plan, and here's hoping her husband, who I won't talk about much at all because there's definitely nothing glowing to report in that history, gets it built for her. I told my Mom if I could win just enough money in the lottery for my sister a house, that would be perfection.

After the visit I drove back on Sunday, this time with David in tow, luring him to Austin and eventually Keith will follow (most likely sooner than he thinks, because I have a feeling when he sees the size of this apartment, and the totality of Austin once again, he'll want it to be sooner).

Of course, I didn't Svengali him. Everyone I know wants to move to Austin now, I think even my Mom wants to move to Austin! I also have to get Amy here eventually. Who can blame them. For me Austin combines all the best of Texas hospitality with almost all the best that LA had to offer (and there was some "bests" it offered) including a bunch of Obama voting bleeding heart liberals. There's no beach and ocean, and I do love that still, but, driving backhere, and passing Lake Buchanan, I got almost the same feeling, so apparently it's a large body of water thing for me. That's not even to mention Lake Travis, also nearby.

But the large body of water thing's not in the cards too soon--it's about 54 degrees now, as a cold front blew in on Sunday night. Supposedly there's a warming trend for the next few days though. Funny--I thought today that it was like LA with the chill this morning, if it were raining, in that odd inversion of expectation vs. reality.

Yesterday was also chilly, though not quite as bad. I took David around the Northwest Austin area, so he could get an idea of the everything surrounding my location. Of course (why do you even ask) I took him to the Church of IKEA. I needed to pick up some things for my Mom and sister, and of course found some other stuff for me. The best thing regarding my religious affiliation with IKEA is that David has a truck right now, so I can plan excursions that involve larger truckbed sized purchases, thus I made a mental note of the items I might need as I passed them yesterday (as if I haven't had a mental inventory already going). Saves the IKEA delivery charge.

I'm also happy to have a solid friend in Austin now, as David will make me cast off my shell, at least sometimes. I jokingly (or maybe not) told him that he and Keith cannot move into my complex or Northwest Austin, and that, indeed, I had already made plans for them to move to South Congress for us to be strategically located. In this way, when they want to come shop in the retail heaven that is my area, they can stay here after an exhausting day of shopping. And when I want to go downtown, I can stay with them on South Congress, and just take a taxi to and fro, not worrying about having to park my car.

Yes, I have it all planned.

Because I should be sleeping

2008-10-17T00:14:00.007-05:00

Instead I'll write something. I'm not sure the iPhone business was of tremendous import, but then again I've never really figured out who I'm writing this for, possibly just me, so, I'll write what arrives in my head.

Earlier I was thinking about the changes in my life, quite a few, with not even a year gone by since the "onset" of the changes. Eek...sounds like puberty. No, of course I'm referring to the fact that it still hasn't been a year since, after 3 or so years of plans, I took the plunge and moved to Los Angeles. Within the space of that not quite finished year I spent 6 months trying to make it work, alone and in tandem with others, but mostly alone. Then the Baldessari dropped and I decided yeah, that gnawing, dark, moody feeling really was unhappiness, and since I didn't have anything like a support group, and since LA wasn't the place I thought it would be, I made the decision to make Austin my new home.

So the LA move was November the 2nd, 2007. Around this time last year I was wrapping up my Halloween Saints contest, which went pretty well, though I think it's the first and only "annual" contest, I'm just not caught up enough with myself to do it again, and I don't know if I'd get any responses anyhow.

Also around this time last year, well, actually I couldn't even tell you if I'd committed to the "loft room" (GARAGE not even properly converted dearies) or not at that time. But by the 2nd I was there, gosh golly gee.

Come First of May, 2008, my stuff was headed back East to West (there's another story, the movers, urgh) and then so was I right behind. Hard to believe I did that LA move business to and fro, or that I made the move so quickly out from West to East to Austin as solidly and quickly as I did. I say that since I'm not Mr. Intrepid, and I can sit on an idea or plan for a long time.

In fact, confession here, lots of things in the world scare the hell out of me, more than they should. Undoubtedly I've got some neurons that misfire quite a bit, and they sometimes keep me safe, but too safe, and that fear is far from a crutch, it's a deadbolt on this side of the door, the one that keeps me in the beautiful room of my mind where I hide.

To be sure, this works to create some fantastic realms (at least to me) in my mind, that have been manifest physically. But still, I know the problem I need to solve is unlocking that deadbolt and getting those ideas out. I will say I don't believe LA was the place for them, as my creativity was zero...zero? (deer in headlights blink blink)...zero! Here's hoping Austin sees the better part of that raging creative madman, the one who kept Sarah, Nick and Becky guessing as to what in the world, or out of the world, he was gonna commit from his head, to paper, next.

3G

2008-10-16T18:33:00.008-05:00

I woke up yesterday and my iPhone was dead. It's happened at least once before...usually the push mail hangs up or something, and runs the battery down trying to get the new mail it thinks is out there. That had happened once back in Midland, on the Edge network.

The funny thing is I had thought that previous night (two nights ago as I write this) when I went to bed "hope that doesn't happen again." And it did. Uh-oh, is that "the Secret" looming it's ugly head? Meh.

But I didn't panic. Actually I don't panic much anymore. That's another story.

Didn't panic...just figured that it lost all its juice overnight, no big deal, I'd recharge it that morning. Well when I plugged it in and came back to check it, there was no green, the battery indicator was staying red. So I thought, well, the battery's not taking a charge. I tried it out in other places, and no luck.

So I made an apple store appointment to replace it with the new 3G iPhone, which I planned on getting a little further down the road, but since it was on the radar, I thought, go ahead. I'll wait a few weeks more on the iMac purchase. Then I thought, well, let's make sure that it's a real problem, and so I made a Genius Bar appointment for that day (my iPhone appointment was for today, which was not yesterday, at least yesterday it wasn't today). :)

Went to the Genius Bar at the apple store in the Domain at about 3:45. The Domain is a sort of retail/urban utopian trial concept or something. There are high end stores with apartments above and around them. In reality it looks like a movie set, a sort of excluded from reality slice of life. I saw those apartments online, and they were like $1500 for 300 or so square feet. Very LA I thought. Also very SIMON management, and that's another story, but suffice to say SIMON malls are very "Godly" for lack of a specific term, as we found out they don't usually let Hot Topics in their malls carry music or scary Living Dead Doll type things. I'm serious. An interesting inversion of Capitalism, really, sort of like the irony of a Republican administration moving to partially socialize banks. Welcome to Bizarro World, the world is a cube!

I don't know if this concept is catching on or not (the Domain stuff, not socialism and banking, that remains to be seen, it's usually a scary thing for Joe Six-Pack Plumber when progressives suggest degrees of socialism, ignorance being fear, but I don't know how it works when conservatives are planning it...can you tell I'm spending too much time in politics?)...but I do know if you can hear the canned music from below in your apartment, well, I'd jump out the window and land splat in front of something high end. I'm too susceptible to music I can't control, it messes with my mind (5 years at Bealls with their mush for music mostly--I'd learn the cycle--and had to listen to mind numbing country tunes about wife murderers escaping prison with the help of horny bloodhounds while the Dixie Chicks were banned for suggesting what we've all come to know, even those who pretend it's not so!). Whew.

Any-how, it's nice to have an apple store because they're better than AT&T at the service thing. And I have 2 choices in Austin, but the Domain is literally just down the street. The Genius Bar is where you go up and the apple-store-proclaimed geniuses sit with you and go over your device's problem. Well, it turns out that mine was a bug, it was charging, just not showing it. The Genius guy said he'd seen it once. I should have known--he just reset it and all was well--and I should have done that myself, but this bug wasn't on my radar (I do keep up with some of the news on the iPhone, never saw anything about this).

But I have to admit an ulterior motive: I had already decided to upgrade. In fact, I made the genius bar appointment mostly to see what I might have to do in case I wanted to keep the classic iPhone and use it mostly like the iPod touch (it still works, the apps and stuff, with a WiFi connection, just no phone capabilities). I also made that appointment because it got me there earlier (a genius bar appointment was available for yesterday, the iPhone purchase appointment was for today, don't ask me how that works).

So I upgraded, as I'm sure I had decided to the moment I thought the battery was gone, and as I had planned to eventually anyhow. Thus I'm up to date with the apple iPhone technology, and we'll see how the 3G network acts. It wasn't showing up at the Border's that's at the Domain, but maybe it's not strong in North Austin. Doesn't really matter, most of what I use in that realm I use here at home, and since everything connects to my wireless network now, I'm good to go.

Wonder Woman

2008-10-15T11:23:00.005-05:00

Wow! As if we (collectively I speak for all geeks of every walk of life) didn't already love Lynda Carter, the original (or new original, or whatever!) Wonder Woman of TV, whose Wonder Woman portrayal in an admittedly (now) campy series is still outstanding and casts a long shadow which any actress (should a Wonder Woman film ever be made) will have a hard time getting out of, now comes this:

Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman on television in the 1970s, slammed Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin as the "anti-Wonder Woman."

"In your satin tights...fighting for our rights!"

So as you might guess, this info just made my day!

The Apartment

2008-10-14T16:16:00.003-05:00

I've been busy of late getting my new space completely livable. That's a big deal for me, I know that part of getting my art going is also having a space that makes me happy, which is a happiness that's different for everyone (imagine that, diversity, and imagine that when you go vote, early voting starts October 20th I believe). Actually that happiness can be totally different for me each time I make a new space...or rework an old one. In fact, I'd say it's as much making art as anything else, because what you surround yourself with sends out the vibes that help with creativity.

Hmmm...looks like some clouds are rolling in again...it's really humid right now, one of those "drinkable atmosphere" days. I actually love it, though. I'd rather undress than layer, that's for sure. ;)

Sorry for the break. I was talking about the new apartment, and have already exhibited the couch and coffee table. The bedroom is just about done, I need to hang some things on the wall and make a new piece of art to go there. That's a challenge I set up for myself: I didn't bring anything I've drawdled or painted in the past, and, as I stare at bare walls, I realize I need to make some new things. I've already put color up on one bedroom wall (a color called "Emperor," which is about the same as "Meditation Blue" and works perfectly for the Wong Kar Wai In the Mood for Love ideal I have going there). I'll have to post some pics.

I also painted three(ish) walls in the living area, which is large in this apartment. I say three(ish) because the layout of the room is interesting in that it has lots of corners and angles jutting out, and a vaulted ceiling that slopes into crown molding. If I tried to compare this with any apartment that I've known in Midland, I couldn't. Unless those new ones they are building are better than the usual, this type of apartment I'm in now doesn't exist in Midland. Austin is another world.

In any event, I'm not big on crown molding, but obviously it wasn't a deal breaker. And while my dream is a loft, open type space with light hardwood floors, and this has carpet, well, it's perfect for right now, and I'm not living here (at this apartment) for the rest of my life. I am happy, very happy with it as a starting point.

So I've slapped "Sea Lavender" and "Limeade Green" on the three(ish) walls, and because of their location and construction it actually modernizes the place. As you might guess, I'm going with greens and purples, and all colors of wood in the living area. I was inspired long ago by the silver green-gray, vivid green and light to deep purple of sage in bloom. One thing I will say about Midland is that Loop 250 is well landscaped, and when those sages along it burst into bloom, it's pure magic. I often thought about that when I felt captive in LA. Texas Sage.

My parents also have sage in front of their house, and it's the same magic. When I was picking colors I actually used the leaves and open flowers. The lavender I painted with is a bit grayer, but as I plan to mix some metallics and grays for neutrality, it was a perfect transition.

So, isn't that thrilling. :)

For this evening I have in my sight the Red Room, otherwise to be known as the DogStar room. DogStar? Ah, yes, more on that later, when I get down to updating my website. I have some new, fun stuff, having immortalized my family's beloved but departed pets (I use "pets" for the specificity, but to us they are quite simpy family memebers).

I hope to get updates done soon--as soon as my space, or at least the basic foundation, is set.

Official Stuff

2008-10-09T23:40:00.002-05:00

Ok another way that this is quite different than my move to Los Angeles...I've already changed my driver's license. Yes indeed, it arrived in the mail yesterday. Same old picture with the bigger glasses and spikier hair, and Ares from Xena type chop/goatee combo, which is only about 10 or 15 years old (argh). BUT new address, and since I've also changed my voter registration (those were the first two things I did, this election is pretty damn important) I think I'm officially an Austinite!

Austin Realities

2008-10-08T13:55:00.004-05:00

This move is a lot different than the move to California. I feel like I have a long tale to tell, not a tall tell, just a lengthy discussion, and as is typical, I was about to let that get in the way of blogging. I'm such a control freak/perfectionist in that regard, thinking everything has to be staged and timed and calculated perfectly for maximum effect. So I end up procrastinating.

But instead of attempting to tell the lengthy tale and thereby not telling it, I'll just shut up and write.

Today my sofa and coffee table arrived. Yesterday I went on an all-out sofa hunt, determined not to leave some furniture store in Austin unless a sofa of some type, preferably one I loved, was going to be on the way for delivery soon. So I went to a place called Urban Living, very nice store, lots of sofa options, and it was also in a strip mall with four or so other furniture places. I checked out Urban Living for a while, and settled on a couple of couch ideas there, then went to another place and found another option (though the supposed selling feature of "any fabric you want on this sofa--in 5 to 6 weeks" was never going to work considering my determination to get one by this week).

Before I made the final choice I decided I'd drive to a place called motif furniture, which is off of I-35 just a little north of the San Marcus factory outlets. I'd been there once before and had a particular couch fixed in my head, and maybe even a coffee table. So I thought, since it was a mission, I'd use the gas and see about it once more. I checked out the couch again, and really liked it again, pulled out my paint chips (based on the colors of purple sage in bloom) and wouldn't you know it, this couch fit nicely with the two greens I had on hand. It seemed to be a sign. Plus I went to check out the coffee table, and I think I love it as much or almost more than the couch now that I get to live with them. At first it looked like that coffee table might not be in stock for delivery with the sofa, which was (yay!) available for next day delivery. But Stephen the co-manager pulled some strings and made it happen so I bought the couch and table, and indeed as you might guess, they are sitting out in the living room right now, just begging to be accessorized!

The sofa is both modern and mid-century to me, with a textured fabric I just love. The table is very modern but also a bit zen. (The photo kind of creates an optical illusion, as the table's not just a piece of wood on the floor, but has an edge and a base, though it is low to the ground, which I loved about it, even if it might cause me to trip should I be making cross-room jaunts in the middle of the night.)

Which brings us to why this move is different than LA. Well, lots of reasons, one being that I have signed a year lease, and won't be subject to and admittedly untethered by the whims of a lipstick lesbian whose pit bull tendencies exceed the dear Gov. Sarah Palin, even if both are really just that yapping shitzu you want to kick quiet but are too genteel to do so.

Oh man, I really just wrote that, and I mean it, haha.

Also I'm in full "urban outfitter" mode (not just that store, mind you, but you better believe it's well represented in my bedroom!). In just under a month I have almost finished the bedroom, (including paint and a West Elm platform bed), the dining area, part of the "red room" (my creative and computing space) and now I have the couch and table. Since I just unpacked my surround sound system and TV (and thus the definite need for a couch) I'm pretty close to having the major stuff taken care of, and now I can focus on the little details that will make my corner of Austin space my home, until I find a house and really settle down, and yeah, that's the plan.

Look!

2008-09-28T14:16:00.004-05:00

Wow, February 1st 2008 seems like another world, another place, another lifetime. Well, it was another place, seemed like a different world, and might as well have been another lifetime. Sometimes, especially in my life, getting to point B involves going through point C first, which maybe I thought was point B, but was indeed point C, and thus life moves in that non-linear fashion of which I am so fond.

It's September 28, 2008, and I am no longer in Los Angeles, California. I left there on May 2, 2008 and had been marking time in Midland for a while, regrouping. Those closest to me know this already. It's a long story, which starts where that trip out West begins, and ends with someone who looks a lot like Dr. Zaius. At least, I'll give him credit as the final straw, such as that cliche goes. To read through this blog, at least the LA part, is probably to realize that there was a downhill trajectory most of the way. Too much rain, not enough sun, to chilly for me, that's not sea mist over the ocean it's smog, no one says hello, oh yes and there were a few atomic lipstick bomb droppings along the way--well they all conspired to make me unhappy in LA. I do love the beach, still, but the trade off is not worth it, being too far from family and even, dare I say it, yes I do, Texas. For, though I might try to be something else for a while, I readily admit now, I am a Texan. I am, of course, a Blue Texan. I think there are more of us than maybe we think, just not in Midland.

I think that, therefore, I am in Austin, Texas.

Weird? Haha.

More later.

Contest

2008-02-01T13:42:00.000-06:00

So I left it up all through January. I got a whopping one reply from Becky, which I greatly appreciate. Looks like I'll just load up a bunch of goodies to send her way.

Saints and Stars

2008-01-06T01:59:00.001-06:00

Well, I thought I'd try something different with a new contest, given all the newness rampant this time of "year." This contest will require little effort, not a great deal of artistic skill really, no drawing or anything other than contemplation and maybe a little research.

So, since I'm in Los Angeles, and Hollywood is just a 20 minute or so drive away from where I'm at right now, I thought the new contest would involve Saints and Stars. Thus your task, should you choose to accept it, is simple: come up with a star whose voice or something about them you think would match any of the Super Saints or Infidels.

(We'll leave the Balloteers out, because I don't like them enough, given their subject matter.)

If you want to get creative and use the Left Wing Liberators, then you should come up with 40s and 50s stars to voice them, they need not be alive. But, for the Saints and Infidels, they should be living stars. Don't know the Saints or Infidels well enough to make a match? Well, go here and find out:

League of Super Saints and Infidels Inc.
Index

There are no real rules, and you can post as many stars with characters as you like. Each separate star/character combo you post will enter you in a random drawing I will conduct. The prize will be something cool, and if you're unsure what that might be like, just ask the Halloween 2007 contest winners.

I'll start off with one of my own, the very leader of the League of Super Saints...

Saint Catherine of Siena...Emma Thompson

Ok, easy enough, right? Post 'em in the comments section, and the deadline will be the end of January. Plenty of time for you to think of a few suggestions.

FINE TUNING EDITS: Ok, if you read the suggestions and someone already posted a character you wanted to use, don't worry, post your ideas. Even if they are/were the same. I'm just interested in seeing how people perceive a character and which voices they think would go with them, so for example, if you had an idea for St. Catherine of Siena go ahead and post that idea.

You can post once or many times, too, with a long list or just one at a time over numerous comments.

The Flea

2008-01-05T23:41:00.000-06:00

Not saying what it's for, I'll show it eventually, but I spent a large part of today designing a "cartoonish" yet still gross, but kind of cute, but not, flea.

Usually I'd sketch first, then use Trace to make it a vector in CorelDraw, but for some reason this time I just executed the whole thing on the computer. He/She/It, and where I put He/She/It, reminds me of John Donne.

Gatchaman and Battle of the Planets

2008-01-04T17:07:00.000-06:00

I have been on a nostalgia trip for the past few days. Blame it, partially on YouTube, but largely on my incessant memory.

When I was a kid I used to love watching the old Looney Tunes cartoons that came on at around 2:30 or 3:30. Maybe 4:30. I can't remember if they were after school, or if I wasn't in school yet. In any event, one day they replaced Porky and gang (well, Bugs and gang, but Porky Pig was my favorite back then) with something I had never heard of. Starblazers. Where, I thought, are my regular cartoons?

But, I got hooked on Starblazers. It was Japanese Animation, early anime, taken and "softened" for American kids, and obviously dubbed in English. The dubbing and editing allowed the "softened" tone. Still, it was really interesting, Space Opera type stuff.

That opening sort of sums up the subject of the show. Earth was doomed if the crew of the Argo didn't finish its mission in a year, to stop the Gamilon Empire, which had been bombarding Earth with radioactive meteors, which had decimated the surface of Earth and forced humans to live underground. Pretty heavy stuff for a kid. Never mind that they sanitized some aspects...revenge, etc.,...and that the Argo was originally named Yamato, after the WWII Japanese warship.

Here's the opening and another brief summation of the show, the original Space Battleship Yamato subtitled, and an introduction to Leader Desslok (or Desler here, it's confusing). He's a complicated character. By U.S. "W" standards he should be pure evil, dark as night. But he seems to have an odd honor code, and a refreshing lack of appreciation for vulgarity. What? On a world where everything is black and white?

The Argo had a Wave Motion Cannon, which, if it could get in range, would decimate most things in its path. This video on YouTube demonstrates:

"...we used too much power...such power is a great responsibility."

I have no way of knowing if those sentiments were changed or not. Certainly interesting to think about in light of the Atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and still definitely part of any US policy discussion currently. I often think it goes like this...we drop the bombs on Japan, they develop Godzilla, anime and some really amazing toys. But a lot of this stuff, if not most, I think directly deals with the psychology of what happened. For a more "adult" account of this idea, watch Akira Kurasawa's Dreams.

So I'm digressing from childhood, though perhaps not, since I remember as a child, for some period of time, thinking every low flying plane was the end of the world. I am, after all, the generation of The Day After and, more horrifying though thank God, seriously, I never watched the whole thing as a kid, Threads.

Anyhow...Wave Motion Gun...very powerful. Leader Desslok was the blue skinned megalomaniac (seemingly) in charge of the forces trying to obliterate Earth. He was terribly dramatic, partly, I'm sure, his voiceover, but also his personality. But apparently (and I don't remember this) there was a legitimate reason the Gamilon Empire did what it did.

After the Gamilon business, there was a Comet Empire for the Earth and the Argo to battle. Seems like the trouble never ended. Also the show had a Star Queen/Princess type, Trelena, who was mysterious and mystical. I don't remember all this stuff, but I'm sure it would be acceptable to use Wikipedia to find out. Fans of comics, anime, etc., are usually more diligent about making sure information is correct there than those who patrol the "real world" stuff.

Another show I loved got the same treatment, or actually, a little worse treatment. Battle of the Planets was originally Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, another bit of anime scaled down and toned down for American kiddos. Basically the American producers made cuts and added new animation with a dorky R2-D2 rip off, to assure viewers that, despite huge blasts, lots of razor sharp objects and guns, and even cities decimated, NO ONE was harmed.

To further confuse things, in the 90s (I think) the program was re-re-done, as G-Force, and 7-Zark-7 was removed. While the tone of the original Gatchaman was apparently restored, the dumb names, bad dubbing, and droning music really weren't appealing (at least to me). It was only a few years ago that I even found out all this remake stuff had been done, and I bought a couple of Rhino releases with the original Gatchaman and the Battle of the Planets, so I could compare. (Also had G-Force, but I never bothered to watch that). Here's the original Gatchaman opening, with a really catchy theme song!

From the couple of episodes I watched, basically the changes were lots of deaths; mass destruction; the fact that this stuff was all happening on a very Earth-like place; the kid was a kid and not a speech impaired robot; the bad guys really didn't care about anyone's life, not even little kids; and assorted other such things. Also apparently the original series had episodes dealing with some dark aspects of Condor Joe and the fact that Zoltar was transgender, or switched gender. I do remember a hint of that in the American version, because he (or she) was unmasked and looked very feminine, at least as far as the long blond hair revealed, I don't think we ever saw his or her face.

What this is all about, if I have a point other than having fun with my memory, is, aren't we all glad we were protected from complex themes and violence like that as kids? Nothing bad ever happens in the world, so why reflect that in your art or entertainment? I just find it slightly amusing or maybe a little scary. It reminds me of my art, always trying to find that innocent peace of childhood and realizing it didn't exactly exist like that.

Meanwhile...I ordered a large number of the Gatchaman original series with subtitles and redubs, to watch and research. Eventually I hope to have the whole series...it was a big part of my childhood, because if we weren't doing Logan's Run or Star Wars, we were playing Battle of the Planets. Transmute!

Memory Stick Purge

2008-01-02T17:31:00.000-06:00

I have about 6 months of photos on my memory stick right now, so, I thought I'd go through and post some of the random images while I decide which ones I'm keeping and which I don't need. Appropriately enough, given my last post, they start from the most recent and travel backwards.

Here is the computer desk I finally bought from IKEA, after stalking them for a couple of weeks. That's how I tend to make purchases, and while this wasn't a high end purchase (in fact, for the most part, I love IKEA for that reason) it still takes up room. I was sold on the fact that the white space was magnetic and is a dry erase board. So I have Saint stuff, in various planning stages, posted there.

Here's the first birthday gift I've given someone in Los Angeles. Pretty neat little package, huh? (not talking about Saint Sebastian!). It was well received...more on those developments later. ;) I printed the paper by using my Saint and Sinner symbols, from their monitor board and seen on their info cards on my website.

Here's Benny snoozing on my bed one afternoon. He's such a cute little dog, he really sometimes reminds me of Shaz, our first "dog" but really first adopted four legged furry family member. He particularly reminds me of her when he looks at me and remains immobile if I ask him to move. He loves the warmth and tracks the sunlight across the bed all the day. If I open the garage door, he gets very excited and basks in that sun as much as he can. But then again, so do I.
I took this picture as proof that iTunes offered this Cher song as a ringtone (hmm...there's a theme with Cher and songs going here), even though it disappeared when I bought it. Rather silly of me--I could have printed the screen I guess, but I was just mad because of the whole ringtones debacle. This image doesn't even prove my point, but it does go to my mental state, your honor.

Finally, this wasn't a photo, but I had put the file on the memory stick for some reason. It's a Joker card I made with Jack, which is a pun on his origin, since he was to be a totally insane character like the Joker, but, putting a homicidal madman in Infidels Inc. was antithetical to the overall arc, since no one member was or would be a "big time" villain. His name was always Jack though, and if he ended up more Virginia Woolf than Red Hood, it was a far better thing I had done. Haha.

The Standard New Year's Post

2008-01-01T21:10:00.000-06:00

If there's anyone out there reading (at all?) who happens to remember the blue bird's blog of old, you would also (possibly) recall that I'm not a huge fan of marking linear time the way we do. This year I'm celebrating the fact that the damn holidays are over rather that the fact that they exist. Not in a bah humbug way, I guess, I haven't been cranky or demanding. I've just been mellow and keen to see the crowds dissipate, as if somehow all the people in Los Angeles who are not supposed to be here, and some may think that includes me!, are somehow getting in the way of my forward momentum. Maybe I'm getting in the way of my forward momentum. I've definitely done that before.

Anyhow, you might imagine New Year's Eve/Day is one of the more annoying times for me, given the previous paragraph, and since I don't drink alcohol. I used to love New Year's Eve as a kid--we got to stay up late, there was still no school for a week or so, and my sister and I spent large amounts of time creating elaborate honey graham/cream cheese type delicacies, and cutting confetti, and arranging the dolls and stuffed animals for their optimal New Year's Eve enjoyment.

But as I grew older, and frankly the more Postmodern I've become thanks to literature and what not, I don't care for the linear marking of time. I'm not fond of the notion that, somehow, everything I do today bodes ill or well for the coming year, when in fact, the problems with any coming day, or any past day, are really in the windmills of my mind, which haven't been turning that quickly of late (that's a confession). They're not rusty or cobwebby, they're a bit apathetic. I guess I keep waiting for Don Quixote to rescue me, instead of rescuing myself, even though I don't need rescue.

Yikes. Sometimes you start writing something and it goes to new places. That just happened, me and Mr. Confessional.

The past two months are my focus of reflection. Some very good things have happened, some things I don't want to jinx just yet. But in other respects, I haven't made things happen. There's the rub...me making. It has nothing to do with external forces, I am alone responsible for my ennui in certain areas.

If there is a resolution this year, which I also hate, because perhaps I am cranky right now, and am always writing and re-writing and questioning and revising my goals almost weekly anyhow, but if there is a resolution, it's to move forward boldly. Sometimes I'm still fighting making this Western Expansion my new life, and I know I have to get to a place where I recognize myself in the mirror here and can get things moving in the direction I know they can go, successfully.

So, there. If you must know, today I slept late, worked out on muscle beach, dipped my toes in the freezing Pacific for the New Year, wandered on the beach, went on the Venice Pier, then walked around Venice thinking. If it foreshadows anything in the "coming year," it foreshadows (and aftshadows) my contemplation, and that's always going on, so that the time in my head is more of a spiral. If you looked at it from the top, you'd think it was a circle, but I'm convinced it's a spiral moving...up.

Dead Ringer for Love

2007-12-29T01:28:00.000-06:00

Not a dramatic new development, well, except to me. For some time, maybe a few years, I have been insisting that Cher did a duet with Meatloaf, and the urgency of my insistence has been compounded by how much my Mom likes Meatloaf's songs (well, the two she's heard). I was sure that at some point I had the CD in my hand and saw "Cher and Meatloaf." This certainty hath often been met with blank looks of "no, that was Beavis and Butthead and Cher."

But no, tonight I found and downloaded the song "Dead Ringer for Love," from Meatloaf's Dead Ringer CD.

My memory is, once again, vindicated. Don't question me! Haha.

Previously Stated, Posted Later

2007-12-24T14:04:00.000-06:00

Just for fun, and since you'll see if first if I post it now, here are the actual cards for the last three years. You can see how I snatched the body from last year's Hard Candy Christmas card for Saint Nicolas' "official" body template. It was fun modifying that costume back to the original state and making the Stealth Suit. This year's was actually the easiest in many ways since the bagginess ensured the fit could be...baggier. Haha. I contend this is a sight you wouldn't be terribly surprised to see on Venice Beach, after all!

Now scroll down and see this year's card.

Saint Nicolas 2007

2007-12-24T13:38:00.000-06:00

Every year Saint Nicolas, well my version of him, appears in a different outfit on my official Christmas card. For the first two years I just handed the cards out by hand, and I think only my close family got the 2005 version. But last year, during the Hard Candy Christmas Power Christmas, I made them in time to mail them out all across the country. A dangerous precedent to set. But, I managed to get the card made and sent out just before the strep business, so almost everyone I intended to get one got one except for a few notable slip ups or people whose addresses didn't get to me in time, or my roomie in Canada, because I didn't get them made and sent in time to go that far North.

Anyhow, this post is the official internet debut of this year's card, which I decided on last year, and had mostly done last year because it was fun, and only this year, with the introduction of the paper doll idea, did it fully gel.

This year I collected four different outfits for Saint Nicolas, from his standard attire to the Stealth Suit to Hard Candy Christmas to this year's debut outfit West Coast Christmas. So, here you go, for those who didn't get a card because I don't know you or didn't make it out in time or didn't have an address. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Hard Ricola Christmas

2007-12-20T23:55:00.001-06:00

Hey there. You remember me from last year, Mr. Hard Candy Christmas? At that time I was determined to push myself through a bad October and November and, since my family had decided to celebrate Christmas for Jr., I threw myself into the newly anticipated Holiday season with a gusto those who saw my apartment will remember well. In the immortal words of Dolly Parton, from the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, I'd be fine and dandy. It worked pretty well.

Well, flash forward a year, here I am in Venice, California, about to spend this Christmas alone, and praying that the sweat dripping off of my forehead is the damn fever from my strep throat breaking, and not just because the heat in this house distributes unevenly in the grotto. Yeah, that's right, strep throat. I blissfully awoke yesterday to the strain of a burning/cutting sensation in my right jaw and throat. In truth, I knew what it was, but, I told myself it couldn't be. It could. It was.

After a night of crystalline lattice dreamworks--honestly that's how the first full night's sleep works for me, lattices and endless mazes of light all night long--I decided I had to get this seen about, strep can be dangerous, and, I didn't want the second night features, in which the lattice dreams, confusing though they are, turn into blades, buzz saws and other such items, cutting into my jaw and arising from the bed. I'm not kidding. I had this last January and that's how it went.

But, and this is new, I'm here in Venice and I don't know a damn thing about the medical works. Where do I go? A quick iPhone search revealed any number of therapies from acupuncture to holistic healing to alcohol and drug treatment. Yeah, well, I can' risk it, strep's a bacteria and it has certain policies it adheres to, and as much as I believe acupuncture can help in certain situations, I need these strep buggers dead.

So I go online and research, and find a place that looks doable, attached to a hospital, no less. They even advertised "you'll feel better knowing you're just a 10 second wheelchair ride to the greatest hospital ever." I'm exaggerating about the greatest part, not about the wheelchair bit.

Anyhow this place was in Marina del Rey, and for some reason I can't explain, I like Marina del Rey, even though I haven't been there much. So I'm thinking this will do. But I'm also thorough in my research, so I got the yellow pages and did a few searches. And I wound up at a place a few yards away from the other one, but still in Marina del Rey, in fact facing the Marina. Not that I cared, it wasn't about the scenery, it was about ensuring my health. Also this place had the best ad. Or the biggest. I don't know. They had a downloadable patient form so I printed it, filled it out, and took a 5 minute drive to the Marina.

I expect to be there 6 or 7 hours of course, like Midland, but it was only about 2. They were friendly, even jovial. The aide took my blood pressure and then came to do a strep test swab, explaining to me that two double lines is positive for strep, like a pregnancy test, but I wouldn't know about that, but two double lines is positive for pregnancy. Yeah. So I'm thinking, should I be nervous about possibly being the first male to become pregnant? And who's the daddy/mommy?

Anyhow, back to waiting, until a slender Asian comes in, she's the doctor, and I swear she was so friendly that I was, at last, at ease in a doctor's office. Despite the fact that my throat felt like shards of glass were sifting about.

She looks at the test, checks my heart and lungs (A-OK) then feels my lymph nodes and I swear she winced with pain for me. Then she explained the whole say AAAHHH procedure (these people were awesome, seriously, so attentive) but we never got to the AAAHHH. She backed out into the hall to escape the towering inferno that was my tonsils. I'm kidding, but, I think she was across the room. It was that apparent.

She's pretty convinced it's strep throat, the test was positive to boot, so she tells me about antibiotics and I ask if I can just get a shot. She looks a bit taken aback, tells me that the shot doesn't increase recovery time, but I was thinking it sure would save the whole get to the pharmacy wait in line wait for it to be filled be extra sick while I have to wait syndrome. So, yeah, a little pain in the arse for a lot of time saved, I'm cool with that, I'm a tough guy after all.

So, another aide, or a nurse, comes and apologetically administers the shot. She tells me this is how she'd have gone about it as well, the shot instead of drugs, still apologizing for the imminent pain, then after we get everything situated she jabs it in and yep, it's a doozy, but I survive. She still apologizes, tells me to hold on to the cotton, and generally makes me feel really good. All these people were so nice. That or they somehow called my Mom and she told them what a big baby I can be.

I saunter back into the waiting room to pay, a little bit of limping because it was sore, my upper buttockal area, and the aide says "yay it was positive" and I say "yes I'm pregnant" and she laughed and then apologized about being happy that it was positive, but meant was glad a determination could be made and treatment pursued. I doubt she would have phrased it thusly, but we all know I'm verbose, so I just did.

Then I paid and drove home and drank some juices, forgetting that OJ is bad for strep since it digs into the pulpy flesh with citrus power. And it was raining when I left. I got to pay $6.00 to park of course. Then I crawled in bed and sort of slept, throat still hurting, but happy that the penicillin creatures were inside me gobbling away at the evil strep.

Which is great, because Christmas will be here soon, and everyone's gone. I'll be alone as I, for some brilliant reason, thought it would be equally brilliant to stay here for the Holidays. Yay brilliant me.

Other Updates

2007-12-15T02:10:00.000-06:00

So I spent my Friday night working on a few more website updates. Finally got animations of Hallowed Eve and her other incarnations up on the website, story and info still to follow. Maybe my Saturday night. Haha. I am a wild man.

Holiday Updates

2007-12-13T13:24:00.000-06:00

Well, not updates on my life per se, other than the fact that I finally got a good computer desk, and it has allowed me to get off my butt and update my website and work on some holiday treats for my friends.

Anyhow, check out Saint Nicolas online now. It is December, after all. ;)

And did he really go see the Spice Girls Reunion?

2007-12-08T17:16:00.000-06:00

The answer to that question is, yes, oh yes.

So, Friday night, December 7th, I went with Eric to the Staples Center and did indeed witness the Spice Girls Reunion tour. Now, my first film in Los Angeles was an esoteric, subtitled, French film, by gosh, so it seems appropriate that my first official concert in LA was a bit (just a little bit!) of cheesecakery.

Don't judge me.

The fact is, it was a lot of fun, a LOT of fun. The costumes and stage were great, very exciting, the dancers were great, and frankly, the Spice Girls put on one helluva show. It was like a great big sing along actually--you couldn't really hear much by way of singing with the continuous howls of approval from the audience, oh what am I saying, there were screams, thunderous screams if that's possible. But as I say, big sing along, because 99.99% of the audience was singing along with each and every song, every verse, on time and mostly in key. Probably one of the largest audience participation things ever. At least, that I've ever been to.

As I also said, the costumes were lovely, and the ladies were lovely, and so in character. It was a bit (okay, a LOT) theatrical, and, well, here are some pics from the evening, for a better visual understanding.

Here are all 5 ladies, dazzling in their gold designer outfits, coming up from the stage floor in front of their respective screens. The screens moved about during the concert and displayed many different things, starting first with "computer scans" of each Spice girl and ending with, well, you'll see.

Here's Ginger's (Geri's) solo number (one of them). She was splendid in a Union Jack sequined mini dress, with the Union Jack flags being waved beside her. Not sure why, but "PORTY" appears on the monitor here, it's obviously the truncated "SPORTY" and perhaps she had just left the stage or was about to leave. Look at Geri's rockin' pose there, though. I wish I had taken my Union Jack (sequined) tank top to wear, but I left it back in Midland.Here's Posh, Eric's favorite I think, considering the number of pictures he took of her. She wore a pissed off supermodel look most of the time, I'm guessing it's in her Posh character, she's just ALMOST above all this. ;) She told David she loved him, so maybe he was around somewhere. I'm not really into that drama much, though, pish Posh. ;)

Here are the girls in their final outfits, near the end of everything. They emerged from robes to these individualized and colorful outfits. Almost like the United Colors of Benetton, and, it definitely worked for the evening's nostalgia trip.

Finally, well, this one just says it all, so the perfect end:

One more important, BIG thing...yesterday was also Madeleine's 4th Birthday! It's the first birthday of hers that I have missed, so I'm considering the Spice Celebration as part of her birthday as well--after all, she's the definition of Girl Power!

Muscle Beach on Venice Beach

2007-12-05T02:14:00.000-06:00

There's a long history of Muscle Beach here along the coast. Without going into much detail, since frankly I don't know that much about it, I can report that the old Muscle Beach is near the Santa Monica Pier; just before you get to the Pier proper there are rings and bars, balance beams, all kinds of stuff to be gymnastic or just fit. But the new muscle beach, with an actual gym you can join, is on the Venice Boardwalk, at about the far southern end of it, before you reach the fantastic beach homes that culminate in Washington Avenue, at which point you are near the Venice Pier but in Marina del Rey. Whew.

Anyhow, add me to this mix, because there are sets of public rings, a balance beam, a rope, and bars behind the gym. I go there to do my Rocky Balboa style chin ups. A lot of them. I've found it's one of the best exercises for working everything upper body, and it gives me a good feeling when I'm done.

For the past few times I have been there, a homeless man (I assume he is homeless, he's always there and everyone knows him among the local homeless) has also been sitting on some concrete benches nearby. In this way, as he speaks to those around him, I know some aspects of his life. Apparently he keeps getting ticketed or arrested, then sent to hospitals. I don't know if this is due to mental illness or alcohol consumption.

Today I learned that someone had taken many of his things, including a blanket. I'm not sure if it was the police or some thief. I did notice a police officer going through a homeless person's cart today. I wonder if this is necessary, some real reason, or do they harass them, because, homelessness is unsightly. I mean, we all knew about homelessness in the 80s. It was a big issue, along with starving Ethiopians. There was a visibility.

Seems to be gone, that visibility. I confess, I come from a town where it's not really seen, as in , they're not on the streets as they are here. Of course, the land that spawned (sort of supposedly) W couldn't have that.

But the problem is clear here. Still exists. Sometimes I feel as if perhaps neglect pushed all the homeless to the West Coast. Most of them do seem to be mentally ill. So what's the story? So many lost stories. I don't know what to do, but, they need to be remembered.

Back to my particular homeless man's story...so he may or may not have noticed me the other times I've been doing my chin ups, but, clearly today he did. I had finished working out and was getting my shirt and boots. They were off because, well, I did move here partly to run around shirtless, and, I had been walking along the shores edge because it was a beautiful day, and hadn't put my boots back on.

The homeless man looked at me and asked if I was from Texas. I didn't freak out. I didn't act haughty. I did wonder a bit if he'd heard me talking on the phone or something, but otherwise I had no idea how he knew, so I just asked, "how'd you know?" He said "the boots." Then he looked at his flip flops and said "this is Venice Beach," motioning as if to say I needed some flip flops. Then he proceeded to tell me I needed some sun, too white, and by this time his homeless compatriots were chuckling and adding to it. "Get naked and get some sun." But I did get a nice compliment, as he said "you've got the build [for Venice Beach], just get some sun."

I just had to shake my head and laugh. In a funny sort of way, it made my day.

I hope he's okay tonight.

December Rain

2007-12-01T13:25:00.001-06:00

Actually it was November 3oth. I woke up yesterday morning (it's the first of December) to the sound of, or what I thought was the sound of, rain. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be so, but yes, indeed it was raining. It rained all morning and into the afternoon before it quit, though the clouds lingered all day.

So, while I like sunshine, I have to admit, if it's going to be cloudy, I like the rain. Cloudiness without rain seems like a promise unfulfilled, but when it rains, I know productive things will happen with the earth. Not that the birds of paradise, roses, bougainvilleas, and other tropical flowers are not in full force already. But I know they appreciate the rain, and it has been so dry around here, and given the wildfires, the rain's definitely a good thing.

However, it is not good for driving in, because, it seems the folks around here go a bit crazy driving in the rain. Oh, who am I kidding, the drivers here are mostly horrible any time. You either have to just push the gas and go, aggressively though not violently, or risk getting lost in a sea of indecision, counter-decision, and the like. Then there are the pedestrians and bikers.

But I attempted a venture in the rain. I was going to find some new places. It worked, marginally. I found a new place, but decided to go elsewhere, to get some groceries. Visibility was not the best, and I was honked at for yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk (hello, they always have the right of way, because flesh can't stand up to metal and engine). I wound up at a pretty nice Albertson's off of Washington, and found enough stuff to last me a few days if the rains continued.

Of course, they stopped, and the sun's out today. There's some other non weather related drama, but, it will pass. Otherwise I'm pessimistically optimistic about things. Or maybe optimistically pessimistic.

Oh yes, went to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly last night. My first film in LA was subtitled and French, and it was very moving, I have to say. The theater setting was interesting too. Some just out of his teens (if not still in them) kid stands up at the front to welcome you to a movie he knows nothing about, and remind you of theater etiquette (cell phones, etc.). But he wasn't totally convincing in the part, a little wet behind the ears. Mildly amusing.

I think I have plans for later today, but I don't know for sure.

10, 405, 101, 135, not 5, then 5, part 3

2007-11-29T00:44:00.001-06:00

Okay, last installment, I promise. It's not like this is a Flash Gordon serial or something, no one's particularly on the edge of his or her seat waiting for me to...pee. Haha.

It was sleep on Monday night then, to get rid of my icky feelings, and apparently I was cranky, speaking to Eric on the phone that night, so I definitely needed the sleep. Next day I woke up, still tired but a little more refreshed, and decided to go have lunch with Eric in Glendale. Now, that's a drive, but not much more than going to Odessa, for example. But it did require a little knowledge of highways and connections and best ways to go, which Eric supplied me with, and, along with the GPS Penelope Cruise, I managed to make it to the Glendale Galleria quite easily, and in fact, it was a really beautiful drive. As noted way back in part one, Eden got to have some highway time, and it was good for her. She handled it splendidly, and we didn't have to stop much at all for traffic.

So I waited for Eric's lunchtime by looking at stuff in the Glendale Galleria. They had a macy's where I could get in trouble buying Christmas presents for certain people. And a store called MetroPark where I found a $230 or so jacket that I really wanted and in fact, still really do.

But I didn't buy anything. Eric and I went to a Peruvian place for lunch, he being of Peruvian descent, and, because I've been having bad luck with restaurants and what I order, I let him order for me, so I ended up with a meat and potatoes combination, with rice, and an Inca Cola. It was all very good, the beef was excellent quality and I liked the spices. At first I wasn't sure about the meat/potato combo, but, it was yummy. Yummy is a fun work.

So we drove back to the Galleria and I was supposed to get the stuff I brought for Eric but I misunderstood and didn't do it, so we said goodbye and off I went to find Eden in the parking garage. But I have an innate sense of parking garage direction, which I tapped long ago when I worked near Christmas-time at the Fossil store in the Dallas Galleria, and I think I had to park in downtown Dallas (far from the Galleria) but, when the day was done, I managed to find Nemo, my truck at the time. So yesterday I found Eden far more easily than I first thought I would.

I exited the parking garage and was going to reverse engineer, as it were, the directions Eric gave me. But, I went, counter intuitively, in the wrong direction to start, and, decided to let Penelope get me home. Well, Penelope loves to take me through downtown LA, which is almost always a mess. So, we did that, and now I understand why I followed Eric's directions getting there, because downtown is always congested, and it has those fun left, right, right, left, left, left, quick right, quick left, right, quick left exit things going for it. Or, against it. Still, I made it back to Lincoln boulevard, and, in a move that perhaps proves I'm ready to be in LA at last, was texting, checking on an address, entering the new destination in Penelope and yes, driving, and not killing pedestrians. Hooray!

The point of that was to get myself to IKEA, which was my original Tuesday destination, though it was really just an excuse to visit with Eric. Still, I decided, since I was adventuring, to go to IKEA. Penelope got me there just fine, though at first she tried to turn me back to Burbank, until I got the exact address for Carson's IKEA, which is technically closer to the house on Venice, though Burbank's IKEA was probably closer to the place where I entered the address into Penelope. Anyhow, if this is confusing, trust me, yeah it is. Even more so when I explain that Daniel's stern voice, the British personality of Penelope, also ably assisted me in finally getting to IKEA in Carson, although this involved taking the 405 San Diego freeway which is, apparently, always congested and especially at around 4:00 pm when all this was transpiring.

But, I made it to IKEA and was in Wonderland. Claire had warned me to go to IKEA with a plan. She was right. It was way too overwhelming. I got really excited because I could outfit a room with really cool, modern stuff, and for not that much, and be really happy. I could even make this garage room work for me. But, there was too much to process, and I'm still not sure what's going on with living arrangements in the near but not immediate future. So, I just made some mental notes (excellent Christmas present ideas) and wandered about dazed.

And then there was a Target right beside the IKEA! A beautiful Target full of the wonderful and well arranged Target things beloved by me and others! AH! So I bought a new pillow, king size (it was on my list) and a pillow case for it (I'll be damned if pillow cases don't cost more than the pillows!) and that was all. I ate dinner at chili's because, for all the talk of loving new and different things, the fact is sometimes it's nice to be in a relatively familiar place. And at chili's I know I can get a good burger at a decent price, which I did, and it was nice. That doesn't mean I want only chains wherever I go, but I won't pretend that it's not good to go somewhere that makes you feel like you are somewhere you've been before. Not deja vu, but, well, I guess it makes me feel safer, especially since, right now, I'm dealing with this feeling of vulnerability.

After dinner (mushroom Swiss burger) I drove back home to the Venice house, stopping first at Ralph's (grocery store out there) to pick up a couple of items, and when I parked, I patted Eden for doing such a great job (yes, I talk to my car). Traffic was not bad at all on the way back, and I would have made it even without Penelope, which is the eventual goal, of course. It's not unlike driving in Dallas here, the stretches are just a bit longer. So, I will adjust.

Thus my Tuesday was filled with a lot of new things, which probably seem not that new in retrospect, but, this moving thing is definitely not the easiest thing I've done in my life, so, I take the small, medium and large victories.

Oh and, the title of these three posts? Well, the first four numbers are the highways/interstates I took that got me to Glendale (don't take the 5). Then, I took 5 to 10 to craziness on the way back. Easy enough.

10, 405, 101, 135, not 5, then 5, part 2

2007-11-28T21:25:00.000-06:00

Alright so where was I...Monday boarding the plane for Las Vegas. So this plane arrives from somewhere, probably Love Field in Dallas. I forget that this happens when you travel later and not from an originating flight, so, there are not a lot of seats to choose from. However, I find a window seat, right next to the engine, forcing a rather large man to get into the aisle so I can take the seat.

I like window seats. I don't mind the engine. I like to see the mechanical stuff in contrast to the land below (though for this flight it was mostly clouds, then dark). I also love to read all the little warnings and instructions that are stenciled onto the plane. "STAND CLEAR OF EXHAUST" (hmmm...seems obvious but go figure) or "OSCILLATE THE BUSSARD COLLECTOR TO ACHIEVE NOMINAL VARIANCE." I made that one up, but if I remember I'll put it on my designs for the sINjets (see League of Super Saints index).

So I was saying, I didn't have any real problem with this seat. Plus I thought, yeah, I'd get to have space. I wasn't in a talkative mood this flight. I did so well on the way Home to Midland, talking to strangers, even starting up a conversation with the lady in the Vegas airport, so I felt excused from the general company of humanity.

But no. Just as the Flight Attendant is about to close the plane door, a rather large, swarthy, inked, and extremely sweaty man lunges into the plane. He barely made it. And ran a lot. And was dripping with sweat. Guess where he sat? Yeah. In the empty space I was planning on enjoying. He filled the space with great gusto as well. But, not his fault, that he was sweaty. I guess, I mean, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt as to why he was so late.

Anyhow, 2 hours and 20 minutes later, with him coughing all the while, we land in Vegas. The flight was a bit bumpy, I hadn't eaten, and my stomach didn't really know much of what was going on with me. In Las Vegas the guy beside me deplaned. I knew better than to expect my space to remain unoccupied. The further you get from Midland to Los Angeles, the fuller any given plane will be on a stop. I didn't have to deplane at all, and contemplated going to the restroom, but thought, well, I can make it for the 40 minute LA flight. Bad idea.

Meanwhile a lady had lost her purse, so we all spent time looking for it. "Is that your bag?" this helpful woman asks regarding my computer case, as if yes, I were indeed sitting there, trapped in the aluminum tube of an airplane, and in broad planelight was holding this woman's purse under foot, as if I could get away with it. Boris and Natasha I am not. "Yes" I answer, and start looking in my vicinity for the lost purse. They found it somewhere, I think someone else had accidentally picked it up or something. There's no good end to the story because my involvement with it ended early on, since I had not stolen the purse and so wickedly stowed it right under my feet and thus everyone else's nose, so to speak.

I may be exaggerating a bit. I don't know if the "helpful" woman (dark black hair, shoulder length bob, glasses, very white, red lipstick, yellow sweater) really thought my bag was the bag (it's a leather computer case, not a purse, by the way) or not. But I'm thinking now that I thought then that it was true. Because I was in a bit of a bad mood. Also I needed to go pee. Yeah...did I say I made a bad choice on the not going to the bathroom then thing? Wait, wait, don't get ahead of me, I did NOT pee in my pants. Yikes, nothing of the sort. I was just uncomfortable for the remainder of the flight.

Now, no one except we few, we happy (?) boarded from Midland going to LA few, was on the plane at this point. Lots of space. Then the Vegas folks begin to board. Please, let someone cool sit by me, someone attractive even, because I'm shallow that way. But, as the folks filtered in, well, some passengers were, I have to be honest and just say it, in desperate need of some deodorant. The offending party or parties were also very close to me. My stomach turned (no there is no vomit in this tale, it wasn't that bad) but between my bladder and my stomach let's just say it was a very long 40 minute flight. Luckily the fresh air from the vent helped things, but, not much.

I have to pause here and say when I got to LA, and I did get here, because here I am, I started to wonder if I was smelling myself. After all, I had been using some Axe body deodorant, and it doesn't always last long, but it was all I had at Mom and Dad's house. But no, I didn't smell it on the first leg of the flight, and otherwise what I smelled on me was APOLLO, the particular flavor of Axe body spray. (It makes me as sexy as the god Apollo, don't you know.)

Also of note on the flight was this Asian man and his blonde, flowerdy haired girlfriend. They had to sit separately on the plane, and this caused much alarm for them (she was loud and a bit obnoxious). When we were in the air he actually went to the bathroom and she followed suit. They went in together right under the flight attendant's nose, and I thought wow, they're joining the mile high club. But he promptly exited, and then stood at the front of the cabin where you're not supposed to stand because FAA restrictions prevent any passengers from congregating at the front of the plane (protect and survive). But the flight attendant caught this and told him about the rule, and then announced it to the whole plane.

So...he stepped a couple of steps back and waited there, still too close to the flight deck in my opinion. But when his girlfriend came out (ok, I assume that's what she was, I don't know for sure) then he went back into the restroom while she went back to occupy his seat. So I have no idea what they were truly up to, but I suspect drugs were involved. Perhaps I should have alerted the flight attendants, but, if I'm no Boris and Natasha, I am also no Inspector Clousseau.

So, after the longest, smelliest, drug/sex infested(est) (conjecture) 40 minute flight of my life (so far) we landed at LAX, my bladder full and acting very much like those animated bladder type things we see on TV, for bladder control medicines. Stomach was still turning. Of course, at LAX, when you land, it takes another bit of time to drive to the gate where you need to be. It's the whole, 1 hour, gate to gate thing the Captain tells you about early on in the flight, when you still think it might have been wise to save going to the bathroom until you were on the ground. (Again, a mistake!) But at least on the ground you know you will get somewhere at LAX, and that there are restrooms, so I just stared back at the lines of planes, all at different levels, headed for the same runway. It's an amazing thing, all the planes stacked and scurrying to get out of the way for the next plane that's landing in the exact same spot.

Eventually we found our gate. Then of course, deplaning is another thing, waiting for everyone to squeeze out, and getting one last whiff of the body odor from...wherever. But hooray, when I was able to walk I felt a little better, and found the first restroom, and the first available stall, and peed for like, 30 minutes, because of course after I waited to pee so long, I could no longer pee all at once. The human body is an amazing and totally confounding thing.

After that 30 minutes I then called my Mom to tell her I was on the ground, and proceeded to find a taxi. I found one, and told him where to go, and he said "how do I get there?" Lucky for him I wasn't a newbie from Texas just off the plane, but, had 2 weeks worth of LA time under my belt buckle. So I told him to how to get me home, and updated him along the way, and told him where to turn, and where to stop. I also still tipped him, even though I put way too much thought into the whole process of paying someone else to use my limited knowledge of the streets to get me back to Venice, CA.

But he dropped me off and I got home and ate some oatmeal when my stomach settled down. Then before too long I went to bed and crashed (bad word choice, but I'm on the ground).

Looks like I better cut this off and save the rest for part 3. Stay tuned!

10, 405, 101, 135, not 5, then 5, part 1

2007-11-27T21:44:00.000-06:00

If you've ever been to Los Angeles, you'll likely be able to decode the stuff on my title. Today was a day of exploration. I finally took my baby girl, Eden, out on the highway. She hasn't been out of city stop and go traffic since she moved here. Every day I look at her and apologize. It's just that I want to keep her safe. Since I often feel vulnerable here, I think she must feel that way, too. But she's a car, she's meant to stretch her legs on the the open road. She's a muscle car, in fact, and just driving a few blocks to the grocery store, or a few miles down the regular roads, is not her life. So, today I took her to Glendale (by and around Pasadena) and then down to Carson, finally, to the IKEA.

More on all that later, but, I really need to go back to Thanksgiving week and my return here, which is home but not yet Home, and as noted earlier, I'm working on that bit.

Anyhow, so Thanksgiving was, overall, really good this year. I got to meet up with almost everyone I wanted to see, though didn't get to see a few for various reasons, mostly the weather. Yes, it snowed Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Luckily not Monday, or else my flight might have been affected. This fact was good for me, not so good for my niece and nephews who go to school. Had it been icy/snowy, they wouldn't have gone to school, but, alas they did. I remember those days and why snow was so much "fun" then, yay, unexpected day off from school. But these days I can't say I'm in love with it, and the cold, hanging around for that long.

Still, Thanksgiving was great with my family, even if dinner out on Tuesday night was a production beyond the usual. For you see, a certain nephew, who will remain nameless, but had a bird themed cake, apparently threw a bit of a fit which involved, much to his surprise, punching his hand through the window at his house. We are all over it, and thankfully he was not hurt except for a minor scratch, but it did result in a late arrival for that part of my family, and otherwise a bit of a sober tone in all the kids. But it was great to see them, and Bram has now earned the name Fist Through Glass. I think it was all over a pair of Wrangler jeans, too.

The rest of the Holiday passed with the usual stuffing, both the edible kind and the fact that we all stuffed ourselves. Every Thanksgiving very nearly centers around my Nene's stuffing recipe anyhow. It's a perfect cornbread dressing, and I get to taste test for accuracy every year, well, since Nene died. No taste test was needed with her, she just knew how it should be. When she left us, we worried about Thanksgiving dressing without her, but, Mom picked up pretty quick and my judgement is usually pretty sound. The only potential wobble this year was salt, I kept tasting it and telling Mom it needed salt, odd for me because I do not usually request salt on things. Turns out the chicken broth was the low sodium variety, so there was the missing salt and the explanation. In any event it turned out perfectly. We were at the table eating and Madeleine didn't want any of the dressing and gravy. I turned to her and said "you don't want any stuffing, it's your recipe?" I say this because my sister, my Mom, and indeed, most of us in the family, are convinced Madeleine is Nene sent right back down to us.

I have to pause for a moment and note that Figaro, my Chewbacca, that mass of black curls and eternally youthful energy, standard poodle, died over a year ago just before Thanksgiving. Truth be told, he kept me in Midland longer. I knew I could never leave him behind, and couldn't take him with me to make him get accustomed to a new place. We all miss him so much, but he had the best life ever, example to me, as Dolly would sing, that "you better get to livin'" (and when is her new album out?).

I met up with Earl and Rice on Wednesday at Starbucks, so we had a chance to talk then. The following Friday I met up with the entire Starbucks gang. I got to see Sarah's sketchbook, brimming with new stuff since October, and always stunning. David, Keith, Becky and I talked about avocados. I will leave it at that because we were reprimanded (mostly David and I) for laughing and being merry. I had gone without a shot of David, Keith and Becky for two whole weeks, and I don't know when I will be back to have fun with them again. Hell, everyone knows if you get me around caffeine and David, I will laugh my arse off and then some. Thank goodness he wasn't drinking (oh wait, that was later, at Jorge's, and we got in trouble).

I am not exactly in the easiest place in my life right now. Granted I have saved some money so I can find my footing better than most, but I know very few people here and even fewer of those would I trust when in need. I'm 1,200 miles from everything I've known and loved, so, know what, I can be a little selfish and ask for help from the people back home who Love me (big L). All I'm saying is that the embrace of laughter works better than wallowing in despair. It's taken me a long time to learn that, but, it helps just to say that I will be fine and dandy, so I'm holding fast to my "Hard Candy Christmas" theme from last year and yes, I made two count 'em two references to Dolly Parton.

The snow kept me from seeing Deborah and Ester, because Odessa is much further away when you are not sure the roads will permit you to pass. I am sad about that, but, we will catch up sometime. Deborah promises she has a Southwest freebie ticket (frequent flyer miles) that's reserved for visiting me here in LA, so, she better know that I'm holding her to it. Ester I get to talk to online often enough, if she's not idle, and it's too bad she can't control herself on the webcam. Haha. ;) I don't actually know if she reads this or not, but I love to tease her.

Despite not seeing those friends, the Holiday break still energized me. I got to see Amy at Barnes and Noble twice, once with Meghan, and since David and Keith and Dan were there, they all got to to meet each other, finally, because it seems I can never connect Amy with my other circle of friends. But it worked this time and we had a great conversation and everyone liked everyone else. I also got to see Amy on Sunday, so that was great. I teased her about her Devil hoodie and also about being in LA. She's my favorite person to talk to on the phone when I'm on the beach because I tell her "you hear that, it's the ocean" and she usually responds "I was pretending it was something else." I do this because Amy lived in LA for 6 months or more (now I forget what she said) and also because, in my heart, I really wish she was here to be part of my LA experience, because we get along together so well.

Okay...it's possible that I'm being sappy but I don't care.

I even ran into Misty at Barnes and Noble as well. Seems we always run into each other there, so it was nice, nice, in a good nice way. Everything sort of changes and stays the same all at once.

Now on Monday I left at 5:30 PM, which was not the best planning, because now I realize if I leave so late in the day, the day's pretty much just spent waiting. But it was waiting with Mom, so, treasured waiting. I love my whole family so deeply, but, Mom is closest to me because she's one of the main reasons I react to beautiful things as I do. So, it's really hard to watch her drive off in Rowdy, the big red Ford truck, as I walk into the air terminal. But, it's easier than having her sit there in the terminal and progressively get more nervous about my departure, making me more nervous.

Also in the Monday mix, Dad and Simon got back from the ranch having found themselves snowed in on Sunday. They produced a videotape which documents the weather and the nature of their being stuck, so, I guess they are off the hook. Dad comes home whispering to Mom "when does he leave" "does he know he can come back if he's not happy" and such things, which, in that whispered way, makes me know I'm well loved, even if he and I don't always, or often, see eye to eye.

Thus went the Monday, slow and fast waiting. Mom dropped me off at about 4:00 and I made my way through security...I think the guy asked me if it was okay if he tested my laptop, while I was thinking, why is he asking me, it's his job, I can't really say no, can I? Haha.

Anyhow, so I sat at the desolate gate, because Midland's airport is much like Midland, lots of space and mildly empty. Eventually it filled up and, around 5:00 or so, we lined up to get on the plane. I'll end this post with that, and Part 2 will continue the flight and the return.

Home and Home

2007-11-25T23:44:00.000-06:00

I have been in Midland for the Holidays. Home in Midland. Tomorrow I fly home to LA, and I haven't quite reconciled the two homes. But I feel energized, and ready to continue building my life elsewhere. I even think I might accidentally have a good start on this new life thing.

Knock on wood.

I'm on the iphone so it limits my eloquence if you will, so bear with me. I've learned some stuff about myself and when I can sit and process I will share. In the meantime, it has, overall been a great Thanksgiving. I'm always thankful for my family, and the friends I have here now. They make it hard to leave even as they'd all kick my arse if I stayed!

Anyhow...back in LA at 7:30 tomorrow. Check later for further thoughts.

Cross Post Stitching and a Tease

2007-11-17T16:48:00.001-06:00

Well, here's another video in Ricë's great new start on YouTube. While I miss the uncontrollable laughter, this one's a little more concise, quite helpful, and we get a guest star, a very svelte, trim guest star he is, too.

Also, I'm thinking about a new idea for a contest. It won't require any drawing, sketching, photo bucketing, or any such thing. It would require just typing or writing some thoughts, and the assumption that you know a little bit about the League of Super Saints.

But I don't know if I want to do it or not. So I'm just teasing here to see what happens.

Catching Up

2007-11-17T16:00:00.000-06:00

So, yesterday the weather took a cloudy, chilly turn, no sun, but, all in all I dealt with it pretty well. Probably because, after four days of glorious sun and warmth, I do remember how beautiful it is here. The ocean just stuns me every time.

Now I'm waiting for someone to arrive and we're going out for a bit, so I thought I would upload some overdue photos, which I have promised (likely) more than a month ago. Since I'm playing hard and fast with linear time anyhow, just pretend they're all exactly where they should be temporally, in a specific post.

First up is the birthday cake I decorated for Bram this year (pre-Halloween). Bram was supposed to be an Edgar Allen Poe type, dark and mysterious baby, (it was my concept for him) but when he met the world it was with the lightest blond hair of all the kiddos, and blue eyes. Never mind, there is a demon that waits within the fair haired child. For that reason, and since his birthday is so close to Halloween, we do scary themes for him, and this year's choice was based on Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

Here's what I did with the theme, cake wise:

The next photos are from my room before I left for California. I took a couple of quick shots of the "mess" (little bits of cut out paper, dolls, etc.) from the Genesis of Darwin 665's paper doll form. That's Isaac, a Living Dead Doll scarecrow, sitting in the decorator's chair (which I found in miniature, but would love to have full sized) and watching over things.

At last I get around to posting the fantastic Love Gun Becky made for me, the one I mentioned with the extra blue heart for bluebird to give away to someone. I brought this with me to LA and it's on the platform bed right beside me as I sleep, with Binky (ah! have to get some shots of Binky!) and other items close to my heart.

The hearts fit down in the barrel. Not only is it such a cool thing, I mean, it's knitted, I just love the play on expectations, but Becky personalized it for me and it really has extra deep meaning for me for that reason.

Finally, here's my LA pal Benny, asleep on the bed in my room. He's such a sweetie and really smart. Rachel (his mom, my roommate) puts him out in the morning and if I'm a lazy bum and still in bed he wanders over to the garage door, where he always hangs out apparently, basking in the sun, but now he knows to whine a bit at me, and make me feel bad for not opening the garage door and letting him in.

There he is, just snoozing away.

So, just some photo catch up before I head out on the town.

Sometimes it's a Smile

2007-11-15T13:33:00.000-06:00

General update: the weather is gorgeous. I went for lunch and then decided to hit the beach again yesterday. While I'm working on finding my niche, I might as well, since I can, take advantage of the beauty around me. So I went to the water's edge (that's a song right?) and the waves were active, and I wound up walking from Venice Beach to the Santa Monica Pier, where I dawdled about some and did a little exercise, checked out the Pier. I still haven't been on the Pacific Wheel yet. I'm hoping for the right moment. Maybe at night.

I got more than my fair share of exercise no doubt. After all, when you walk one way, you typically (unless you get a cab, $$$) have to walk the other way. But there's so much to see. People on one side, ocean waves with people in the water (sometimes) on the other (the water is mighty chilly, but it was warm, and I'd probably dive in the water myself, so they're not insane, unless I'm insane, which is possible).

Now, because Claire (fabulous roommate from Calgary) said something about men in Speedos, and not wanting to see that, now I have to report back to her on my Speedo Spying. Yesterday the number was three. One guy was wearing a red Speedo and it looked like he could pull it off at least, in shape, but he was smoking a cigarette. Go figure. That was on the way to the Pier. On the way back, there was a guy, probably German, maybe Italian, who didn't need to be wearing a Speedo, as his belly was overhanging into Arizona. Finally there was a purple Speedo, and this guy had long curly Romance novel cover type hair, and I thought he must have been Greek or Italian (note how I'm trying to blame it on the Europeans) but he didn't sound foreign when he was talking to his family. His Speedo was ill fitting, baggy. So I figure the rule is, if you're gonna try to pull off the look, and maybe you can, make sure you get one that fits well at least.

That's the Speedo report. Haha.

Later I went to Staples. I was going to walk, as I've been doing, because it's really not a far walk, but after the Santa Monica Pier jog, and because it was close to dinner, I drove. Which, in a sense, probably takes longer than walking but expends less energy. So I waited in line for the employees to get what I needed from the back and then waited for a person to check me out. This gorgeous black woman with dreadlocks emerged, manager type, and kind of gruffly looked at me, saying "were you being helped" and I told her the guy said to wait here for check out, then I smiled and I think I twinkled my blue eyes, because that can be affective and effective here, and she shot back a great smile. It wasn't a big deal, but, it made my night, because, in this city that never sleeps (haha, I think that's New York, and the start of a movie, but I'm stealing it) you have to give and grab back the little moments like that.

I'm working on something else, too, but I don't want to say anything and possibly jinx it. Because I'm superstitious that way.

Now, because it made me laugh so much, and made me miss her, too, I'm going to post this little YouTube ditty for your pleasure:

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.

Go right to the source and ask the horse
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse.
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mr. Ed.

People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one'll talk 'til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?

Well listen to this. I am Mister Ed.

("Mister Ed" by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston)

Folks, that's the fabulous Rice (two dots over the e, can't do it on my laptop for some reason) teaching you how to heat-set, and cracking herself up, and if you're like me, it's cracking you up, too. The voice, James Earl Jones-esque behind the camera, is the Ever Gorgeous Earl, who is perhaps the only person on the planet who could film this woman doing this and not crack up with laughter, and that, gang, is LOVE!

Day One

2007-11-12T19:55:00.001-06:00

Yes, you read that right. Start it all over. Wind the clocks backward (who winds clocks much these days?), back up the sun, reverse the Earth (a la Superman, the first movie), turn back your odometers, take the moon back a few cycles, capture some extra sunsets in reverse and let the flowers have a few more days of newness, today is my first day in California.

Don't get confused, I'm not the ambassador of quantumly physical infinite parallel universe hopping. I'm not Dr. Who. I'm just starting it over today because I want to.

You see, I'm going to be completely honest. Despite meeting some cool new people who have shown me kindness (I have always depended on...let's not go there) I have to say that, until today, I have been regretting the decision to move here. It's not like that's a great secret, something I kept hidden on the blog. You don't even have to read between the lines. You can read the lines and see I wasn't doing cartwheels.

(Confession: in between looking at jobs, apartments and trying to find places to network in life and online, I was also scoping out the scene in Austin. Preparing a get away from my get away. Because the rule is, still is, should this feeling wane with the crescent moon, my happiness.)

So yeah. Now, what about today? Because today was friggin' gorgeous. The sun came out in its full glory and poured upon sand and sea. For my past beach encounters I've been sadly looking at my old lover blanketed in a chill of clouds. She looked forlorn. She was in a Thomas Hardy novel, the one I've been trying to live for too damn long.

But today, not a cloud in the sky, and the ocean mist only barely there as it should be. Today I went walking to a spot and had brunch, with myself and unconsumed by the self-ness of it. Then I went outside of my head and talked to a woman and her small daughter at a table near me (large portions started the conversation). She asked what I did and I said I was an artist and just moved here. And believe it or not, I gave her a moo card! (Note to self: order more, and make sure plenty are in your wallet.) But it doesn't matter if she never sees that card again or if she tossed it in the gutter, I gave it to her.

Now, for the socially adept, you may think what a goofball I am, and yes, I am a goofball, though charming, but still, it's a minor triumph. I am not known for stepping outside of my box, and my box is, trust me, a very tight fit (don't go there David). So yeah, good.

And then I went to the beach and saw the Pacific in her glory. I went and did my Rocky Balboa style "I don't need a gym" workout (next challenge: joining a gym). Then I took my shirt off! Yes! The reason I came here, not the only reason, but a good one, to wander around shirtless as much as possible. I walked along the surf and sand, where the freezing water lapped at my feet and made me catch my breath. This! This! (I'm motioning to the sand, the water, the blueness, the sun reflecting off the water, the people in the water, the--I think--Asians in Speedos, probably not needing to be in Speedos, the kids building sand castles, the surfer/boarder laying face down in the wet sand--resting I guess, he was alive though--all these things are why I moved here.)

So I walked up and down the surf, investigating the ephemeral sandbars, which I hadn't seen before. Shirtless, jeans legs rolled up, shades on, cool and warm, the sunshine on my shoulders making me happy, and the cool breeze keeping it from oppression.

Welcome to LA, Gabriel.

Just for kicks...today it rained.

2007-11-11T22:03:00.000-06:00

No joke. The sun didn't come out until about 4:30, and then was just barely a slip between clouds as it was setting. Yes indeed, moisture did rain forth from the heavens.

Today I went out though, I walked to meet someone for coffee then when had lunch. He's a theologian (graduate degree in theology) I met online, Damian, who is very intelligent and articulate. We talked so long that he got a ticket (they keep track on Sundays, because LA is godless so the police can't go to any Churches because they haven't got 'em, godless liberals in LA). We then went to lunch and talked more. I guess for anyone who knows about my strict, only white underwear wearing, women stay silent don't cut your hair or wear pants, don't go to the movies, one bread one cup o' grape juice church, you might imagine that I would have a lot to talk about with someone who has degrees in theology. You would be right. However, I can't really detail the conversations because they would be esoteric in the realm of my personal religion, and Rice's warned me about that, plus it might make her run away screaming, and make her head explode. I've done that before and Earl has to clean it up. Or up it has to clean. Or whatever.

After lunch, I went to Santa Monica with Kevin, who is also intelligent and what we call a "stand up guy." I looked at bikes, then we looked at books, comic book stores and a few other places. We were on the promenade in Santa Monica, so I stayed out of the clothes stores even though the Diesel store was right there beckoning me. I have plenty of clothes for now...well, except for hoodies. I need more freaking hoodies! Luckily they're a dime a dozen on Venice Beach.

Where was I...yeah, after we went for sushi, but the place we wound up was charging $32.50 for the sampler tray thingie, a bit overpriced, and I wanted a spicy tuna roll anyhow, and I'm not fond enough of sushi to pay THAT much, at least not yet, and everyone seems to think it's a bit overpriced at that price, so I ordered seared scallops and damn, they were good. As was the asparagus to go along with them (this reminds me I need to email Deborah).

So, then Kevin dropped by here for a bit, chatted about football with Rachel and friends, then I showed him the Saint stuff (paper dolls, packaged) and his mind started firing off some connections.

So, it's a start. And even if it rained today, well, it was a good day.

Dali Suite or, For the Love of Canada

2007-11-10T21:07:00.000-06:00

For the record, the sun came out again today, so, I think it's in the clear for now, the sun thing. Of course it has the whole "might not come out tomorrow" thing. This ain't Annie, after all.

Today after a groggy start I went with Claire, one of my new roommates, to see a Salvador Dali exhibit, "Dali: Painting and Film." It most definitely must have been the most LA art thing I could have gone to in my first art excursion. I have a love/hate thing going with Dali anyhow, but, let's face it, he's a rock star of the art world. Put his name on a billboard, and people will come to the show, no doubt. They'll flock to see the chaotic rumblings of a sexually charged earthquake, psychoshowings and so forth and so on. It's hard to take Dali out of the commercial context I'm familiar with, as in, when I worked framing prints and every college dude came in to buy a Dali poster for his wall. Either the Narcissus one or the whole Dog/Vase thing.

But there were a couple of smaller postcard type paintings, which, of his output, I prefer, and find them to be the more truly accurate at capturing the whole dreamscape psychobabble unconscious phootey-tootey, as opposed to the universal phootey tooteyness of god, per Wendy.

Following that we ate a late lunch at a Vegan place, where I had a Paninio Tuscaninio (all very special sounding) that approximated mostly barbeque. I don't think that was exactly what it was suppposed to do, I think it was supposed to taste like Italian meat stuff, but for me it was BBQ. Funny enough, since it was all vegetable, but did a really good job masquerading as meat. Undoubtedly this masquerade was so meat missing vegans could fill the void without any guilt. I also had an overpriced IZZE soda.

Yeah, that's another thing, and no it's not like I didn't realize it before now, but, yeah, everything's over priced. Over priced, and often tacky, I say remembering the sights in the stores outside the window as we rolled down Melrose. Anybody remember Melrose Place? Haha. Maybe I need Heather Locklear to come and rescue this show.

Enough, enough. That's the day so far. I'm not going out tonight, I'm still apparently not ready or just don't want to. I'm meeting a couple of people tomorrow--I hope. So far I'm learning you can't count on too many people here.

Except Canadians like Claire. She is awesome and I love Canadians!

The Move to LA

2007-11-09T01:08:00.001-06:00

Ever so shortly after all the Halloween crazy fun-ness, it was time for my departure, which tinged All Hallow's Eve with just a little bit of melancholy. Ok, well, David made me cry a few times, I'm man enough to admit.

Halloween night was more fun, though, and was like the really good punch served with the cake, because we don't want too much icing. The kids came out to the house and Mom had created yet another fabulous home made carnival for them. I mean really a carnival, with the dart/balloon thing, bobbing for pickles (witches nose), beanie ghoul toss, a few other things and even a cake walk. The cake walk was the biggest hit, and lasted the longest. I was in control of music and played, what else, but the official 2007 Gabriel Lewis Halloween mix. Eventually I was forced to tell the cake walkers "get your prize, no drama, get back in the circle" or something like it, as there was too much drama about prize picking to be sure. But it was fun.

Mom reminded me that last year Figaro was walking the cake walk with everyone else. It's such a good memory, but I still miss my Chewbacca so much. I can only imagine him in LA on the beach, romping around like the puppy he stayed for his whole life.

(Figaro was my black standard poodle, best dog ever, who I always told, in Virginia Woolfe/Orlando fashion, "never grow old." The truth is he really didn't, but he died less than a year ago, his body was just finally outpaced by his youthful spirit and mind.)

Anyhow...I have tons of memories and they're always so clear, but I need to get back on track.

Carnival over, I went to meet up with the gang at Carino's. Earl, Rice, David, Keith, Becky and this time Lynn from Starbucks came for the final outing with Gabriel. We had a blast of course, Brian the Flying Hawaiian, Manila Ice himself, was our waiter, so it was appropriate. David and Lynn, both coming from the same mold, made us laugh. When it was time for goodbye, though not goodbye, Rice stoically said "he'll be back, his family lives here and they love him" and mentioned "airplanes." And, she's right, I've already booked my Thanksgiving flight, but still, yeah.

I went home and slept. Next day I started getting things ready. I spent time with the family, hugged the kids who came by after school to say (not) goodbye but you know, goodbye, to me. Then I met Becky and Sarah at Barnes and Noble, after I washed Eden, so I spent some time with Sarah and got to say a proper (not) goodbye. Then Amy came up with Jade, so I got to see her and say goodbye.

Then I went home and we started packing Eden. She was stuffed for the first time in her life, suitcases, hats, jackets, my computer. I had to lay the back seats down to make room for everything, but we made it happen. She was ready. After all, moving to California is what Eden was born to do. Now, it doesn't mean she has to stay there, here rather, but she was made to make the journey.

Ok...bedtime for now and I'm running out of juice. More on this tomorrow.

Now it's tomorrow. I'm basically lollygagging about. It's hard to get started as the sun is still being held hostage by the clouds or the sea mist or whatever it is. Last night my roommates turned on the heater. I didn't think this was supposed to happen here. Years and years of sunny Los Angeles based television and cinema...lies, all lies. I mis-named my blog.

Pardon the Emo moment.

Back to the adventure...Eden was packed and I slept well that night. I spent the better part of a month getting my room in order as much as possible, and was quite happy with it. It's important for me to know everything is arranged well and that my room back home exists in a state of happiness.

So I got up about 6:30, which was the old usual for working as a laborer in the days that were not so long ago but seem so long ago. I dressed and ate breakfast, loaded the last remnants, hugged my Dad and my Mom, and hit the road. Mom tells me "you know how to get on I-20" and of course I said "yes" but I missed that exit. Very funny. And had to loop back to I-20. Silly me, I was arguing with Penelope Cruise and her personality Daniel (what I named the satellite navigator) and it happened.

But I was off. Odessa's not so pretty from I-20. The drive wasn't bad, some beautiful scenery all the way through. I arrived in Phoenix about 6:30 or so, and got stuck in traffic two miles from my hotel. Once I finished with traffic, turns out the hotel was barely accessible due to construction, so I detoured myself and finally found the entrance. I'm gonna have to say I'm not a big Phoenix fan. Looks like it's growing too fast for itself. There were five or six cranes working on high rises downtown. Lots of trendy lofts, and, joy for me, an outdoor concert that reverberated through the hotel windows. Never mind paper thin walls. I won't stay there again, and, Phoenix isn't too high up on my places to go list.

Still, I managed to sleep OK, and headed off about 8:30. This was a spectacular drive, the mountains are just so lovely, with lots of sun. I made good time and hit no traffic until around West Covina, where it became bumper to bumper. Even when the bottleneck cleared up there was pretty heavy traffic until downtown LA, where Daniel told me to go, even against my own intuition, and of course once ensnared there it wasn't so fun. So far I can say no one on the road here is too polite. Even when it would help traffic, they just won't let you in a lane, no space, so you pretty much have to make the space for yourself if you're forced into one of those "left exit" "right exit" "left exit" "south exit" thingys. Which I was.

But I finally arrived at the house here in Venice. I unloaded Eden and began thinking of how I could get the garage room in order. The fact is it's a bit gloomy, with no storage space. (Yes, I've already been to Target in Culver City to help alleviate this problem.) There's a clothes rack with (now) mostly my stuff, and on the end a few of Vanessa's clothes still hanging around (pardon, I had to pun) so it looks like I cross dress occasionally. I had to buy hangers and organize my clothes from no sleeve to long sleeve, color coded though not separately from sold to stripe to pattern because I don't have enough colors to make that look organized, and I've already run this by David and we're both ok with it.

I did go down to the Venice Pier my first day here, when the sun was shining, and took this picture to send to my sister and the family. Sunset on the Pacific. I ate Thai food, salmon and shrimp with a coconut curry sauce and some jasmine rice. It was very good.

Yeah, so, here I am. I haven't done much, and I'm sure to get in a great deal of trouble if I don't get my ass in gear and work it off soon (not hustling, art related work my ass off stuff). But so far I'll be quite honest and say I'm not extremely impressed. I put a down payment on sunshine and shirtless weather, and so far I'm getting gloom and chill.

I have to give it time, though. I know only about 6 people here, and not many of those I'd count on for anything. So, it's not like I can run around with the crowd here, since there's not one, as the six I know are spread thin. Still, I'll make my niche. But honestly, if it turns out I'm not happy here I'm gone. And right now I'm not thrilled, except when I'm by the ocean which is still so beautiful, but I'm giving it time, time time. It was just a week ago that I headed out, though it seems longer now. Ultimately though there's no reason to pursue a dream if it's making you feel bad. I'm lucky, I have time and no ties (as in wife and kids) so, I can figure out where I need to be. The only thing I have to prove is to myself, and the proof I need is that I can find the somewhere I belong and be happy.

Yeah. (And what do you know, it looks like the sun might come out today, I see patches of blue sky!)

The Big Halloween Post, Part 3 (and final); or, The True and Goodly Picture of the Rocky Horror Picture Show

2007-11-07T19:26:00.000-06:00

Final installment, finally! By the way, no, the sun is NOT out and am I happy about it? No. Can I do anything about it? No.

Where did I leave on the Halloween subject? I think I had everything down to Earl and Ricë’s house, her laughing until she couldn’t eat, pretending to be askeered of my ghost cowboy lips (whilst shortly after admonishing all Halloween participants if they were not something ghoulish or day of deadish, and heaven fofend if they were sexy-ish). David with his flight suit and helmet. Keith with his blond Johnny Depp pirateishness. Earl refusing to have any makeup come near his person. Before Night Falls with Javier Bardem, paused on the television, and according to reports not watched that night, possibly to due significant laughter.

Anyhow, Ricë filled David’s flight suit pockets with numerous things not usually found in flight suit pockets: chopsticks, some rubbery lip thing which was just slightly left of icky, a wooden animal and of all things a meat thermometer. Presumably this was to allow all manner of conversations to occur, with a spontaneous eruption whenever David pulled an item out of his…pocket. Get your minds out of the gutter.

We did then assemble, David Keith and I, at the Bar (that’s its name, yessir) along with a gaggle of Universitarians. This is a term I created for Universalist Unitarians, or Unitarian Universalists, precisely because I really cannot remember their exact title, and it’s long anyhow. They had been there a little before us, and many of the ladies were sort of drunkish. We laughed for a bit, and indeed David began producing items out of his pockets, much to the delight of all. And much to the delight of all, the meat thermometer was a big tit…er…hit.

Sorry, I’d never use that term but really it was a great pun. You see, it has been reported that David svengalied the women into placing the meat thermometer between their breast cleavage and declaring themselves “medium well” or “broiled beef” or “set oven,” all phrases gleaned from the thermometer itself. And David definitely could Svengali many, many people, he is that charming, so I don’t deny the possibility. But the fact is these UU women know how to party, and all David had to do was pull out the meat thermometer (yikes, it sounds so very dirty) and they were all over it (it doesn’t get any cleaner).

Having said that I was deemed “tender lamb.” It’s largely because I’m so shy and innocent. :)

So post The Bar we headed to the Yucca theatre in glorious downtown Midland to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. First up was the costume contest. We cheered loudly for the Universitarians, and generally managed to get those we wanted to win in the winners circle. Alas many of the flock seemed to be in the bathroom when Keith went up there, and only David and I were left to cheer and though we were loud, and even joined by the (mostly) cool people below, he did not make it to the final round.

I’d also like to point out that there was a sexy female contest but no sexy male contest. Ahem. So I had to stay seated.

Then the movie started and one of the UU Ladies whose name I’m protecting proceeded to uhhh…have a lot of fun. At some point she said something which just made me laugh in the high, unstoppable laugh which David refers to as my being broken, so he uttered “M____________ broke Gabriel!” It was then that a lady in her prom dress (that’s the story so it’s true to me) looked back and said “could you be quiet, seriously.”

Now, it’s well known that I’m not always the loudest in a crowd, being so shy and all, but that when I begin to unwind I will have fun and there’s no reason to think I should stop. I was taken aback. Apparently this creature in front of me thought she had arrived, despite the props bag, at a nice sit down showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, perhaps followed by a discussion of the postmodern and gender identification implications of said film. Oh, wait, not the latter, because I don’t think she’d understand what the hell postmodern and gender identification meant.

But she somehow did get the impression that I and I assume those around me should shut up and watch Tim Curry run around in a corset and fishnets. Oh wait, she didn’t make it there. You see, despite the fact that most of her entourage was cool and even dressed up, she didn’t have a clue. I also doubt she realized she was sitting behind the party hard Universitarians, who, in a protective move that fills me with glee, started making more noise in her specific direction, and pummeled her with bubbles (even before it was time for the bubbles in the movie).

Her boyfriend, who was well and ghouly clad, took her to the front to do the Time Warp again, where she stood, arms crossed, like a petulant Shirley Temple who got dropped off the Good Ship Lollipop in the middle of Amsterdam’s Red light district. Or at least Odessa’s red light district.

After we had all time warped, what happened? The dear little miss made her entire entourage leave. It was about three tables of people. Now, you know, I have to say, trying not to be horribly sexist, those were some hen pecked men.

(Perhaps not surprisingly, M_________ had asked the guy in makeup and a pink shirt, with fake breasts under it, if he was gay, to which he said no, to which she said “well you look gay,” to which he was a little freaked out, in his buzz cut and red lipstick. Not that she henpecked him, but, she did unsettle him.)

Okay, so, when they left I have to admit some of the energy left with them. But we still had fun. Occasionally I yelled out “Tim Curry is a hot bitch” which managed to shock David. It was fun and un-Midlandy. Let’s face it, prom night girl wouldn’t have made it through much more of the film even if it had been a regular, dignified screening.

So that’s the night, mostly. I got to talk with the UU ladies who are all very nice, we weighed in on our meat thermometer readings, I got to crack David up, we briefly tortured a future Woman of the Junior League, and we even had popcorn, which, as the popcorn Nazi told us, was for eating, not throwing.

(The Popcorn Nazi himself looked like a barber shop quartet reject, or else a street organist whose monkey was even too cool for his owner, so said monkey left for a job in the animal testing sector, hey at least it was more thrilling. I bet he (the Popcorn Nazi) spends all of Summer Mummers thinking “just wait until Rocky Horror comes around, then I’ll get them, slimy popcorn oiled bastards!”)

But, thanks to his officious orders, there was no slimy popcorn oiled bastard-dom. Just the cap, the decorative icing on the frosting as I referred to it earlier, on one of, if not the best, Halloweens ever.

Here comes the Sun

2007-11-07T00:49:00.001-06:00

Yes, I finally found the old header image, lurking under the links category on my (various) website files. So the sun is gonna shine anymore, and even did today, here in LA, which I thought it was always supposed to do, but apparently not, but today it was shining. In fact, I couldn't see the street names because it was shining. Catch 22.

I promise PROMISE there's a little bit more Halloween stuff coming, then I'll empty my brain of its travel contents and I'll muse about being here and the insulated world of my head.

The Big Halloween Post, Part 2

2007-11-04T00:41:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm in California. More on that later. I have some lingering Halloween stuff to commit to this sphere of influence. I can't find my old banner so I have to leave up this one until I find it (on my old computer, I'm wireless on the laptop right now).

Anyhow...Halloween 2007 was great. Well, we mostly celebrated on the Saturday before, as the kids actually had a Halloween Carnival at their school. Not just a Fall Festival mind you, but a "scary" carnival. Even though it was sort of halfway done, it nonetheless was a step in a positive (positively EVIL mwah-ha-ha) direction for Midland.

I knew the day would be a riot when the kids arrived in their spectacular costumes, all made by my sister this year. The theme was Ghoul School. Madeleine was a cheerleader witch, Bram was a cool kid Werewolf, Paladin was a nerd vampire, and Armanae was a demon bad girl. (Simon was out of town with his Granpa.) Of course, my sister was Ms. Stein, the Frankensteinesque headmistress, replete with her Wal-Mart ironwood ruler.

We loaded up and went to school, and the kids and Chan got lots of compliments on the outfits. Then we went to eat at Texas Roadhouse. Everyone was staring, of course, but not in a fun sort of way (well some) but most seemed like "why the hell are they dressed like that?" Seems odd since most people celebrate Halloween, often that is, on the weekend before if it falls on a non workable day of the week. But I guess that's just Midland.

Now I'm in LA. ;)

Onward and forward...we went to Cheddar's later that night, again in costume, and this time I had a see through spider web shirt on, with a cowboy hat. Seems as though the kids and Chan still got the odd stares, even odder I thought since it was at least NIGHT now on the Saturday before Halloween. Oh well. I spent the night drawing my favorites from the Nightmare Before Christmas on available napkins, with crayons, but the funniest part of the evening came when Bram was taken aback by my see through shirt. Apparently he asked my Mom if I was going to wear that out in public to which she responded he already is. ;). All that fun made it the Best Halloween ever (even if officially before Halloween).

We had a good dinner and then I left to catch up with David and Keith at Earl and Rice's, just to put a little more icing on the perfect Halloween cake. We proceeded to make Rice laugh so much that she couldn't finish her dinner, but she'd rather laugh than eat, as she says, so our job was well done. Keith had some make up and made me into a ghost cowboy, which I would have been earlier but no one had any make up so I couldn't wear it to Cheddar's. Actually I was going to be a vampire cowboy, but no teeth to be found.

After the make up session and much primping by the Pirate (hehe) we went to the Bar and to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Much fun was had, I lost my voice yelling, and oh the things you will hear when I'm not so sleepy eyed from two days of driving! Not only that, I still have the beginning of this adventure, the dream three years in the making, to detail.

Oh yeah, and before I forget, pictures!

The Big Halloween Post, Part I

2007-10-30T19:38:00.000-05:00

So, Saturday was a great day Halloween wise. I'll post more on it later, but for right now I'm going to finally post the winners for this year's Halloween contest. As noted, it was a fun experience for me, and there were many of the outfits I'd like to transform into Eve's wardrobe, but time and reality forced me to make a decision. So, here are Hallowed Eve's outfits for the 2007 Halloween season:

The first Halloween constume was designed by my middlest nephew Paladin, and in fact the title of this variation is Paladin Eve. It's hard to say exactly what drew me to the two outfits I chose, except that generally both challenged my perception of a character I had created. Paladin's original design was stunning in visual appeal, as I've already noted, recalling the great age of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, with a nod to the Charlton comic era as well (a dash of Blue Beetle here, some New Gods, a sprinkle of Black Orchid, some Nightshade) but ultimately arriving at a totally original design. The pumpkin drones were my embellishment on the theme, as is the Jack-O-Lantern (inspired by this year's other winner coming up next). Since I dropped the story requirement, I realized I could make up my own. So, on the surface, this Eve comes from the future, sending her cybernetic pumpkin drones out to destroy, seemingly in an indiscriminate manner, priests. The spirals on Paladin Eve's torso and legs represent one soul murdered, sort of like her medals of "honor." That's the front story, but, I guess you'll have to stay tuned for the back story. (Interestingly, even Darwin 665 knows of this legend, but what more he knows, who knows?)

Which brings us, inversely, to an Eve from the past, with the following winner:

This is Keith's winning design, which I've titled Moulin Scourge. She's a combination Louis XIV and Moulin Rouge stunner, replete with her revealing undercarriage (which I don't know how to spell, some French term I never learned), a detail that, along with the wig covering Eve's pumpkin head, put this one over the top for me and resulted in the outfits's selection. Keith provided a few details for Moulin Scourge, namely that she disables her adversaries with an array of coloured wig powders. I extended the concept to make Eve a protector and restorer of Doll Souls, indicated by the tiny doll skulls at her feet. According to legend the souls inhabit the wig powder until they are unleased on offending priests. What is the deal with Eve and priests? Time will tell, but this vision of Eve arrives from the past, a fitting bookend for Paladin Eve. Feared from the courts of Versailles to the streets of Victorian England, and even in the French Quarter of New Orleans, this scourge is one being best left un-encountered. Oh and one more thing...why does this Eve carry and revere a rag doll of Infidels Inc.'s Jack? Further, why does Paladin Eve still have the doll, sealed in a cybernetic pumpkin container, far into the future? Does even Jack know the reason?

Stay tuned, true believers. (Ok, I promise, no Pow! Biff! or Sock!) ;

Now, to sum up this year's contest, both of the winners this year made me think outside the box, well outside what I had envisioned for Eve, and when I reflect on this, I realize that was a big part of this sort of experiment for me. Plus they were so intricate as to drive me insane during the creative process, and of course, I love that sort of artistic torture. In the end, the devil's in the details.

Also, here's the template if you want to play with printing the dolls yourself. I don't know how the scale will work, because I don't know how the blog deals with that, but in the real world everything works, trust me I've spent hours refining the ideas, so I hope they work somehow here.

One more thing...Happy Halloween!

Halloween Contest

2007-10-23T18:15:00.001-05:00

Well here goes...I have two winners for the Halloween contest, and in fact, the images are finished and I'm getting them ready for display. But for now I'm posting all the entries. Thanks to everyone who entered my contest. I spent a lot of time working on the finished images, but it was a fun and informative process. I don't usually look outside of myself for inspiration this way, so it's been a great exploration for me. The outfits are fabulous and, I have no doubt, given more time, many of them will make their way into Eve's wardrobe. So, in no particular order...

Donna sends this sunset image of Hallowed Eve with the following explanation:

She steals the souls of all children that don't believe in goblins and the light from their life force omits an eerie glow that is often mistaken for the setting sun on a late October Eve.

Cool stuff!

Amy sent this stormy night picture of Hallowed Eve with a great description of the costume and Eve:

Hallowed Eve is best known as the spirit of vengeance! Luring men that have done the crime but not the time with her sexy outfit, and taking their souls for all eternity! You probably are wondering, “Where does she put all those souls she takes”, and “How does she find these so called forgotten criminals”? Well, they all get banished into her wicked ring, and when her nails start to glow as bright as the moon you know there’s trouble brewing in the air because the only reason that would happen is when a criminal is near by! As souls scream from the wicked ring, she counts how many she has. Once she has collected 31 unforgotten souls she will be notified. You probably are thinking, “Who notifies her”? Well, not who but what! Her ring counts each soul, and once 31 souls have been accounted for the wicked ring sends a burst of electricity up her arm, up into her neck until it reaches the side of her head, and her name magically appears! The scary thing is Hallowed Eve has done this so many times that she doesn't even need to look if her name is there; she can just feel it coming…. The good thing is that once she has collected 31 unforgotten souls she cannot collect any more but don't rejoice just yet! She will come back again next year, and she always first finds the ones that got away last time!!

Thanks for the great image Amy, and for writing down your concept for the costume!

Which leads me to confess that not many people sent stories like that. Or stories. I guess I could get all judgy and be annoyed, but I won't. What'd I expect from crazy creative people? I can't expect them to follow all the rules. In fact, I guess I was counting on it not happening, at least for some folks.

Next up is Sarah's outfit for Eve. No story, so, we'll have to make one up on our own. Eve's done up in garden style and looks ready to chow down on something...soon to be gory!

Becky gave me this image of Stepford Eve...and told me this is what happens to bad demons, they are consigned to Stepford existences. Can't you just hear the vacuum in the background?

My sister, Chantel, gave me a few images with no stories, so we'll have to make them up as well.

First off is a Black Widow ensemble:

Followed by a skull and crossbones ensemble:

Then a signature fairy costume!

Bram, my youngest nephew, sent in a few ideas, starting with this batty number:

Bram also sent this image, with lots of clarifying notes including "capri pants." Again, we can make up the story for this one.

One more from Bram, with Rainbow colors:

My youngest niece Madeleine sends this short skirted outfit for Eve, with the explanation that "I'm not scared of Uncle's contest." ;)

Armanae, my oldest niece, sent this colorful ensemble, with the notation "she shoots color from the tips of her nails":

My Mom gave me this vine inspired image of Eve wrapped up in the pumpkin patch:

Followed by this tendril ensemble with the note "A curse on my creator's mother, may she never draw again!" or something wry like that. Maybe I did get my wry sense of humor directly from her:

And finally she gave me her black and white Katy Keene Pumkin Queen Dress:

Keith gave me a Mermaid vision for one of his submissions. Funny when people say they don't know how to draw then they do something fabulous like this:

This outfit goes with Keith's first drawing (posted later), postulating Eve as a cross dresser in Louis XIV (or thereabout) style:

This is Keith's first submission...a sort of Louis XIV and Moulin Rouge combination:

This outfit comes to us via Paladin, one of my (three) nephews, technically the one in the middle. I think Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko would be quite proud of this vision for Eve! Paladin isn't even old enough to know who those artists are, but he definitely has the feel down perfectly in my opinion.

So those are all the entries I received and could open...I had one email with an image that wouldn't load, and I tried to find out what it was to no avail.

Now...honestly it's a real pain to post this many photos on blogger! Yikes! But it's done and soon I will post the winners for this year. Stay tuned!

Unwind and Wind

2007-10-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back. Yes, I'm at Starbucks, there's really no other acceptable solution to the at home lack of high speed internet. So, I've downloaded my songs for today on iTunes, checked my email, and I took care of financial things yesterday.

I was also admonished for not posting any blog update recently. It was Rice (argh the two dot thing's not working!!!! sorry) of course. My lack of connection seemed insufficient excuse for not posting, at least as conveyed by her eyes. Her cold certainly doesn't blunt that tone.

Now what do I write about? Do I update the past week or two? When's the last time I posted? Do I finally admit I often (often enough) write and speak like a Vulcan from Star Trek? (That one just came to me as I typed "insufficient.)

I dunno. What I really want to do is empty my brain out a bit, possibly making some sense in the process but not especially caring whether I do or not. Because right now things are tightly wound, in my head, I'm not really sleeping too well, at least not until 2 or so in the morning, and believe me I'm trying to get to bed earlier to attack the mornings with more gusto. Hum.

After all, I'm planning to depart sometime next weekish. Haven't set a date, though right now I should be researching places to stay, but I still see the pink orange and turquoise look of semi-scorn for not blogging. So I'm here.

Here is tightly wound. I was working on the paper dolls today. I finally found a paper I like, or even a few, that dry fast and promise archival qualities. They don't smudge either. Leave it to Kodak, of course, and then there's the Office Depot brand that's good too, and Rice brought me some Strathmore paper from Portland, and I hope to try it later as I'd love to have that brand work as the Saint cards are on Strathmore Illustration Board. So it would be a nice bit of continuity, circular coolness if you will, for that to work.

What is not working now is the scale issue, because the new HP printer, on the borderless 5 x 7 printing, wants to throw things off the edge of the page, or else just mess up clothes and doll proportions. Sheesh. And that was, originally, the least of my troubles once I figured out how to scale everything with ratio/proportaions (and let me tell you, I'm really glad that bit of math has stuck in my head!).

I'll figure it out, though. I probably need some time away. In the meantime of that time, there are about 30 print outs of Darwin 665 (he's really cute and I was amusing myself terribly on some of his "accessories"). So I think I'll start a journal with the journey of these paper dolls documented in earnest, pasted on the pages and interacting with the pages. At the very least, it will help me deal with all the extra print outs, and it should be fun.

Meanwhile...I just finished having what I'm calling the Willy Wonka virus, which is difficult to explain exactly, but basically was a quick lower intestinal stomach bug that afflicted David and me, and no one knows where it came from, but it hit hard and then left. I'll spare too many details. Suffice to say this past Sunday I slept most of the day. Little to no work was done.

Alright...just took a break to explain my cool shirt to April's Mom here at Starbucks. It's an orangish floral pattern. She just told me she bought a shirt at Dunlaps with the exact pattern...a woman's blouse. I got this shirt from Dillard's when they carried the Contigo line, but long gone now. I call it the couch shirt because it looks like some 70s couches I've seen or may have known. (If you combine the pattern of a green couch with the color of an orange couch my parents had, you'd have this shirt.) I really like it. If Rice shows up tonight she better comment on it, that's for damn sure. (She did.)

Okay. Apologies that I don't have pictures to post here. I planned on doing so, taking some catch up pictures to make the update ever so interesting, but the scale issue on the paper dolls got in the way.

One of the pictures I was going to post was of the Love Gun Becky Boone made for me. It made me cry, when she gave it to me, not just because it's so cool and awesome, but because she personalized it for me. She made it with two hearts (this is a knit "gun" with a barrel that holds the hearts) anyhow two red hearts and one blue heart (for bluebird) to give away when I fall in Love. I can't tell you how meaningful that is. I have some really great people in my life right now. Odd that I'm leaving soon, but, everyone supports me, knowing I need to stretch and put myself and my art out there. I expect they'll all stay in touch with me anyhow, so, when I'm sparklingly wealthy, they can come stay at my beach house. :)

Aha. Rice has just pulled up. Now I'm going to talk about her while she's in front of me. Mwah ha.

The iPhone is carrying a couple of Rice-isms right now. The most current, that is, fresher than the latest Starbucks brew, is Dick Havers. This refers to, well, basically, men with dicks, which includes almost all of us, at least the lucky ones who have managed to keep theirs. She used this term ever so succinctly in conversations, expecting that it would just roll by and remain effective but essentially unnoticed. Well, not with me around. I had a semi-guffaw over the term, and semi-guffaws are not easily obtained from me, oh what the hell, unless David's drinking, but anyhow, I pulled out the...iphone! get your mind out of the gutter!...and recorded it.

Since I'm unloading the Rice-isms, I'll post a very beautiful quote from one night at Abuelo's, where she was heard to say "It will cheer Gabriel to know there's beauty walking loose in the world." I think it's applicable to many situations, so, I'll leave it to you the reader to applicate it. ;)

Just under that quote on the same note is "Le cacti of love," uttered on a return trip from Johnny Carino's I believe. Honestly she does not drink that much, even if it might appear so.

Well, now I have someone to talk to, so I'll edit this and post it. I note that I have received no submissions for the contest as yet. Oh well, if no more show up I'll just make the two I know exist fully realized in the realm of Hallowed Eve.

So, that's it for now. Again, sorry for no photos. I'll have some soon.

Whew! An Update

2007-10-09T18:11:00.000-05:00

Well, the past week or so has been intense. I thought the hardest part of moving from point A to point B (to get to point C eventually) was the physically intense job of taking heavy furniture up and down stairs. Not to mention the washer and dryer, and sorry I didn't ask for the help offered, I'm a pain that way.

But no, the hardest part is rearranging things at point B once they are there. Having said that, I'm basically done with it. My room looks "well designed" yet again, the surround sound is up, and most of the action figures are on display, except for the Mini-Mates and the Mattel action figures, and a few of the DC that are now wrapped up and waiting for the future. This arrangement soothes my mental state a lot. I can't believe the angst it generated, even as I recover from the stress.

So, what else is up? No internet access at home. So I signed up for T-mobil, since I hang out at Starbucks enough (mostly every day except for the last few). Never mind the argument I had with the T-mobil (is there an e?) people since iTunes wasn't letting me download songs the first day I signed up for it. Never mind that it wasn't my computer or actually iTunes, since things worked fine down the block at the free McAlister's Wi-Fi hook-up.

Never mind since it is working now. I'm still a little a-bristled (like a cat) at the whole phone ordeal, and no one ever called me back as promised.

So here I am updating. Not that I haven't been able to check my email and perform other functions, thanks to the iPhone, which definitely has earned a few more stripes in my book. But, the iPhone's not really good for long winded posts, and of course, I can be and often am suited to long winded posts, so, there you have it.

What's been going on here, online? I don't know exactly EXCEPT (sorry to yell) that I haven't received a single submission for my contest, though I have seen one more fabulous design. That makes two I've seen, so far.

In other words, get to crackin'. I have other pumpkins to whip, after all!

Internet Fix

2007-09-29T18:07:00.001-05:00

Only a few years ago, though it seems much longer, and maybe it was much longer, perhaps it was five years ago or more, I swore I would never, never, never become addicted to the internet such that it very nearly ruled my life.

It very nearly rules my life. Tomorrow I leave the apartment here and will lose high speed internet whilst I stay with my parents temporarily. My options appear to be wireless air cards, some satellite hook up, or dial-up. Archaic, that last one, I must admit now, he who was not going to be attached to "on the line" (as my Mom says). The problem with any option is that I only need it for a month before I leave for LA, where I suspect nowhere is without high speed internet connections of some sort. I am mildly panicked. :/

In any event, I still have my laptop, and thank whatever you or I believe in for the iPhone, but website updates may be difficult. I'll figure it out.

Meanwhile I have to remove my current USB device (there's a connection right behind my left ear, seems to have grown in between not planning to go online and living there). Tonight my role is external memory device.

Update and Localized Geekiness

2007-09-27T21:13:00.000-05:00

Okay, so, first, I'm really excited because the iPhone of Gabriel just downloaded an update and it contains the first official new button, the iTunes button, so now when I'm out and about at a WiFi hotspot, I can go to the store on my phone and download songs. Yes, I'm that excited. Right now my battery is low, so I can't go shopping until I detach from the computer with a bit more juice. Plus, I can just shop online while connected, but, it's the idea.

(Originally this was to be posted as Generalized Geekiness but I realized since it was iPhone centric that was not correct.)

And...I realized while driving to Starbucks today that, for the contest, I will post all the entries soon after I receive them, so everyone can see the fun and glorious creations. I have seen a preview for one design already and it has me super excited!

Also those who nagged me, even though you can use Ricë as an excuse, well, I better see designs and stories from you, that's for sure! ;) I have all your names and, when it's time for Saint Nicolas to show up, you better believe I'll be forwarding those names to him, good or bad!

The Official 2007 Halloween Contest

2007-09-27T01:21:00.001-05:00

Now posted on the front page at gabriellewis.com. Follow the flickering pumpkin to find out what's been brewing in my head for this Halloween Season!

If you have any questions email me via the links provided there or on the front page of my website. But if you want any specifics about Eve, well, read the contest, you'll have to come up with them yourself! ;)

What KatyDid

2007-09-26T20:56:00.001-05:00

Ok, I'm normally a non violent person. Frankly I've never been in an actual fight, and even if I threaten sometimes to climb up larg(er) people and WHOMP! their heads, I really don't do it. Never have. (WHOMP! doesn't really approximate, even vaguely, the sound I make while demonstrating the potential climbing/punching scenario, I guess it's more like TOOOMP! but hard to translate really without demonstration.)

So, not violent. I even try to get along with insects. Not in the Buddhist sort of harm nothing way, which has been a theme for the past few days, but just because I often think, hey, they didn't ask me to move into their land and take over. Never mind that I don't know where humans, as a whole, are supposed to go. I guess we were here too, but, suppose that in reality we should collectively shirk civilization and go back to living naked in the woods or wherever where, yeah, the insects would then have a better chance of biting, stinging, foraging on us. Possibly in many, many places we don't want to be stung or foraged on/in, by insects at least.

In fact, in another incarnation, I labeled myself the Ant Messiah, because I often, at work, the labor job thingy, would dispense bits of Doritos and lard laced Little Debbie desserts to the ants underfoot, expecting that they were going home and talking about the first coming of this great being who gave them...well, essentially large doses of cholesterol. Guess they really didn't need to thank me too thoroughly.

I often wondered what would happen to them as we displaced their intricate worlds, pouring concrete and building a freaking massive house on their stable plains. I even recall going to great pains to be self critical when I obliterated and I mean ZAP! obliterated one of the ant minions for crawling up my pants leg and biting his or her messiah. I am an angry god.

As I said, I'm not typically violent, and try to be good to insects even. I don't kill the black spiders that live inside because they kill flies, and they're kind of cute. And I don't kill Daddy Long Legs because, sheesh, don't you know, that's bad luck, and besides, they're really cool, I think. Especially since they could kill you with their toxic selves but just can't because they're too small. I bet they made up the "bad luck to kill 'em" stuff just to fool us. Good for them.

Anyhow, a few days ago Earl and Ricë were over taking pictures of the swanky pad before I began taking it apart. (Sadly it is very apart now.) They were out on the balcony, and it's fairly well known amongst those I know that I had a pretty dang nice container garden there this year. I'd describe it, but a picture might be better (or a few pictures):

Those were earlier in the Spring. I remember when I went to LA and returned everything was blooming like mad. In fact my Mom had care of the garden right in its prime, and got to see all the blooms almost in perfect timing, which is nicely ironic since she seems to have a black thumb. Actually I think it's the oil companies having ruined the well water at her house, and given decent water, or vaguely decent water as Midland's water might be called, she could grow things.

So, everything growing in my garden grew well, in any event. I even raised the Bells of Ireland from seeds, and I've been waiting years to do that successfully. They are now gone, but they did well for a first try.

Point being, this was a nice container garden if I do say so myself. And one point of pride was a rose bush I bought, one which thrives, according to the info, in mild climates. We are not a mild climate, but this year has been mild, so the rose bush did well. While I love roses and rose bushes, I'm not mad about them continually, and they typically require their own set of rules. But this bush was named Rhapsody in Blue, and I've always been a sucker for that Gershwin piece, so I bought the plant, it grew, and it blossomed.

Okay...Earl and Ricë were over and seated near my purple basil plant, another point of pride, raised from seeds, and used in a number of culinary creations this year, from Mom's watermelon with feta and basil leaves, to Earl's perfect execution of my conceptual bread/tomato/basil/mozarella open faced toasted sandwiches.

Honestly I will try not to digress any more!

Earl and Ricë were seated by the basil and noticed a green grasshoppery thing on it. My immediate reaction was to grab the bug and smash it, like the ant, to oblivion. I thought I had knocked it lifeless a few days before. But Ricë wondered if it was not a benevolent, aphid eating creature. I wondered as well, despite the fact that the basil had holes spotted throughout the plant. After all, the bastard aphids had been attacking my oleander all summer long, and it has been a long battle.

Fair enough on the non katydidcide I thought. I also believed I had heard they were helpful, and that some other evil insect had trespassed and dined on my plant goodies. I let the katydid live.

Tonight, while watering the garden, as it is the last thing to go, I noticed the katydid was back. On the beloved rosebush. The mild climate rosebush that had rhapsodised in blue all summer. The katydid was munching away, not on leaves, but on the tender, as yet unopened flower buds. Exposed to the night sky were the chewed layers underneath the green sheath. What's worse is the katydid apparently needed to eat a few bites from every bud. Every bud! Like a greedy kid who takes one bite out of every sandwich on a serving plate so that his or her cooties can claim to own all the food.

The evidence.

So I grabbed at the katydid but it jumped away. It would have been a pulpish green mass otherwise. I went to get more water, and upon returning the katydid was back. Again I tried a grab and smash, and truthfully I don't know where the damn bug went this time.

It will likely return. Too tempting, no doubt, this green and bluish purple and white oasis in the vast wasteland of West Texas Apartment Balconies. Even better, its owner frets about potential past and post life consequences.

But why the rose bush, the fragile rose bush? So much other stuff to eat.

That katydid better enjoy the rest of its mealtime without running into me. Soon the garden will disperse to other homes, and the fine dining experience will end there at least. And if we cross paths again, Buddha or no Buddha (they can all turn their heads,) this is gonna be one slime patch of an insect.

Or else, the Ant Messiah might be resurrected, and call upon his ant worshippers to seek, attack and destroy the lone katydid.

Little Debbie snack cakes shall then rain upon my faithful!

Still moving.

2007-09-25T11:29:00.001-05:00

Don't have much time for art or writing right now, though I am making the Starbucks time, and getting ready to edit Keith's mermaid tattoo in Corel. I also have to do a logo for my sister and I want soooo much to continue on the paper doll trek.

But all is on hold until I get everything re situated. I have until Monday, so plenty of time, but that doesn't alleviate the frustration.

I was cleaning out the closet yesterday, me and closets don't you know. I realized I have amassed a rather extensive collection of shoes. Lots of boots. I posted some on my MySpace page before, but, last night I lined everyone up by the wall and...yeah.

Lotta shoes.

Then I was washing and folding shirts. Okay, okay, also picking them up from piles in the closet. I already explained the "theatrical" nature of closets in my mind, so leave me alone already.

Shirts and pants. It's possible that I am a clothes horse, especially if I confess that there are a ton more shirts, some suits, etc. still hanging in the closet.

Okay, stay tuned, I hope to announce something soon. A contest. There, I said it, so I may have to follow through.

Cutie Pie

2007-09-21T00:31:00.000-05:00

As noted in the comment, the beautiful cat in question was indeed Cutie Pie. I thought so, but wasn't completely sure, and I didn't want the other cats to read the blog and think I was a dolt.

Two-Faced (for Ricë)

2007-09-20T17:40:00.000-05:00

Re: Saying Goodbye to Gabe's Super Hero Action Figures

Your favorite is two face, Batman's foe. Once upon a time he was the stunningly handsome district attorney Harvey Dent. A horrible accident disfigured half of his body, and he's had two personalities since then. On the one hand, half of him is still the handsome D.A. (dapper suit and all). On the other hand, he is a horrible monster, and wears purple and acid green (I'm making no judgments there, actually in the comic he usually wears a plaid suit on that side, since plaid is evil).

When he is being villainous he can sometimes be talked back into the handsome Harvey Dent persona, and vice versa. He typically carries a coin with him, one side is flawless, the other scratched. Often he flips it to decide whether he'll do something horribly wicked (even more wicked than wearing plaid, mwah-haha) or something fairly decent.

In the first Batman film, directed by Tim Burton, Billy Dee Willians played Harvey Dent, and scuttlebut was that he had a contract to eventually play Two Face. But many cool rumory things like that--John Malkovich rumored as the Riddler, Patrick Stewart rumored as Mr. Freeze, a Catwoman feature with Michelle Pfeiffer reprising and continuing the role--never were to be after Tim Burton no longer helmed the franchise following Batman Returns. Seems that the ungodly amount of money Returns made was not commensurate with the ungodly amount of money the first film made, so they gave the third film to Joel Schumacher (sp?) who is not a favorite director of mine, and he put bat-nipples on the costumes. He also did really silly things with Batgirl, who is one of my favorite heroes on the feminine side of things, and very nearly my favorite given both genders.

They've already redone the franchise, with Batman Returns starring Christian Bale. Believe it or not, I still haven't seen it. But the sequel is coming soon enough, with Heath Ledger as a very scary Joker. And I don't think they're going to Brokeback Mountain.

Alas, though, Billy Dee Williams we may never see as Two-Face. We will have to settle for Lando Calrissian.

Moving Art, Moving Me

2007-09-19T23:29:00.001-05:00

Well, for the past few days I have been packing stuff in my apartment and getting ready to move back into my room at my parents' house for a few weeks while I get ready to head for Los Angeles. This move has been a long tine in the planning, though, to be sure, most of the action typically has occurred in my head.

A few years ago, I think three this past June, I went to LA to visit a friend, Vanessa, though it was also to have some time alone and to clear my head. I was still recovering from a sort of open heart extrication (the other L word, the Love one--that's another story for another time).

Back to the trip--I have a real problem with new things. Given that Vanessa's apartment was a few steps from Venice Beach, at the intersection of Ocean Drive and Speedway if I recall correctly, I told myself "you are the biggest chicken on the planet if you don't take advantage of this offer." So I booked the flight, made my way out west, and spent 7 days falling in a different type of love.

Something about the vibe. I didn't expect it. I expected to go, see the beach, then return home. But, the minute my feet hit the warm sand, and I heard the ocean surf, and I smelled that slightly raunchy, heady, raucous smell, I felt connected. Felt like home. Not to mention the Starry, Starry Night mural that always guided me to the right street and the right apartment.

When I returned, probably for a year I spent the days at work (mostly manual labor back then) looking into the sky whenever a plane would fly over, wondering where it was coming from and more importantly, if it was headed for LA. Movies with the beach would generate that all too infrequent rush of endorphins. The Lynda Carter Wonder Woman series came out around that time, and sure enough, the coastline of Paradise Island looked familiar...Malibu. Makes sense. I named my car Eden, partially because that was the direction I felt I was going.

I don't know what happened, I guess time, but the thought became more distant, the thought of moving there. Fears crept in. They usually do. I thought I might move back to Dallas, even though, visiting again after California, it didn't feel as right as I once thought it did.

I thought about Austin for a while. I still don't know about Austin, I visited it for the second (but first adult) time with a complete ass-hole, so perceptions are a bit warped.

Then this past June I visited San Diego then returned to LA. Things were a little different on this trip. I had a travelling companion. I was slightly exhausted as well. It was freakin' cold. Okay, not freakin' cold, it was a wee bit chilly. I wasn't expecting it, and besides, the sun kept hiding behind clouds. But the truth is, I still felt great there. I felt more secure. I wandered the streets and the almost entirely Bohemian Venice Boardwalk with no worry. It still fits. So far.

So, that's where I'm moving. I want to be happy there. I also want a better place for my art. I'm not sure exactly how to find where I need to be with that, but, there's part of the challenge.

I've often, in the past, boxed myself in. It's easy to do in West Texas, to create escapes. For example, an apartment almost overflowing with primary and secondary hued caped and uncaped crusaders in miniature, plastic hits of pure elation. (An apartment with cool decor as well, just ask around.) Hell, creating those escapes is essential to living anything close to a good, creative life here, and it is possible.

But the box has kept me limited. No matter what I put in the box, there are still defined limits, and, often in Midland, at least for me, when the Sky's the Limit is touted, I very often think the sky has an end, no matter how high, and you are (I am) limited.

Put the joint down, I'm not talking about getting high. What am I gonna do with you!?

Again the fear can keep me within those boundaries. Not that I think portions of the fear, and the self doubt, won't follow me to LA, I'm not that naive. What I think, though, is that I'll be better positioned to deal with them and use them while there. It's a sort of freedom I felt.

But if Los Angeles is not the place for me, I'll find another place, the right one. That's not a pre-emptive defeatist attitude, though. For the longest time I thought this was it, do or die, California, Los Angeles, the ocean and me, and if I failed (whatever failure is, I don't even know in this case) I'd have to jump off the pier and feed the fishies.

Nah. I like Aquaman but I can't breathe underwater, and breathing is good. :)

That's why all the tiny plastic heroes and villains are currently boxed and ready to go. We are temporarily trading places, they in the box, me out of the box.

Oh, but it's not temporary. They'll be out soon enough, in a new space, then maybe a newer, sunnier space. As for me, no matter where "outside the box" takes me, I'm not going to climb back inside.

Now, as a bonus, Becky gave me permission to post Sarah's picture, so, here she is cutting out paper dolls...

Sarah cuts out Jack, I think. I believe she chose one of the smaller pages to cut, always up for a challenge, and so talented, that one is. I can't remember which of the beautiful Freeman-Zachery cats is in her lap.

At the Car Wash

2007-09-14T19:37:00.000-05:00

No, get that song out of your head. It's fun, it's happenin' and stylish with a 70's sort of groove, good beat, non straight white boy rhythm, but it's not my story.

Today was supposed to be productive. The intent was to clear out some old furniture from my room at my parents' house, that was the manual labor part of the day, and it went fine. Well, the old mattress and box springs were deemed too worn out to donate to Salvation Army, lest they think we were merely using them in lieu of the dump. And the mattress was wiggly as all get out, and harder than it should have been to put in temporary storage. But, we managed to get all the large furniture pieces moved, Mom and I.

So I took a nap, while listening to a new "Songs of Almodovar" CD, because I'm overdosing on Almodovar lately (Live Flesh, Laws of Desire, The Matador, Volver, more on the way). Anyhow, light snooze followed by waking lethargy (naps: a good idea in theory, but not always well executed in reality).

Then it was off to wash Eden. Eden is my baby girl, 2005 (first year of one of the best redesigns ever in my opinion) Mustang, Redfire Metallic, for those who don't know. I love her. I feel extremely lucky to be driving the exact car, color, make, everything I wanted, and she even has a few more things that I didn't even feel the need to have, but she has 'em and it's cool. (I can change the back light colors on her gauges...I call it "Pacific Blue" right now.)

In other words I LOVE baby girl, and she usually gets a really good bath weekly. But the past weekend it rained, and I have to wait until the mud/caliche combo dries at my parents' before I wash her, otherwise it's pointless. So she went two weeks without a scrubbing, and today was catch up, with an extra good wash planned.

I drove up to the usual place, parked, locked Eden, and went to the bill changer. I inserted a couple of dollars and got the quarters in return. Then I inserted a brand new dollar bill, and the machine spit it back out, numerous times. I thought these machines loved crisp new dollars best of all, but maybe it thought "too clean, gotta be fake." Anyhow I put another, older dollar in and the changer ate it up and spit quarters at me. So I crumpled a couple of the newer dollars, flattened them again, and sure enough, the machine finally liked them. Well, mostly, it wasn't having one of them. But I thought at last I had enough quarters to thoroughly wash Eden.

So the washing went pretty well, but turns out I wanted one more "round" of rinsing. (In case it's not readily apparent, this is self washing, I don't let anyone else wash Eden, no drive throughs, mind you.) So I went back and tried the newish but crumpled a bit dollar, and the machine said "nope." So I crumpled it again, more wrinkles, and the machine said "yep, that's a real one" and yay, I got the quarters, finished with an extra good spot free rinse (almost spot free I should say) and was ready to go vacuum her interior.

But, at the place I usually wash her, the vacuum stalls are tiny. You can't open the door all the way, and I don't even think you could open it to the partial point without hitting the brick wall. And if you pull too far forward, you are in the 7-11 parking lot beside the car wash, and cars are there and you'd hem them in. Way too complicated.

So I back out, figuring I'd just head somewhere else, and it's good to drive and let the air dry Eden, and then I can spot clean when I get back home. However, as I was backing out, a small dust cloud, dust devil, something, blows right in her redfire metallic, wet, path. So I look out the passenger window and it's hazy, because as you guessed, a film of dust is covering said window, same for that entire side of the car.

Arrrrrrrrrr.

I pulled back into a washing stall, and used my vacuum quarters to rinse off this new round of instant dust. I thought it would work just to use the spot free, but as I drove off, I realized Eden's hood looked like a fiery Martian landscape, with rivulets of dusty mud all over. Grrr.

Fine, time to go somewhere that didn't have bedeviling dust devils. I went to the old place I used to wash Eden but had given up on since the various selections there rarely all work, and besides, it's more expensive, which doesn't bother me except I waste money waiting for the things to work and they don't and I swear then I'll never, ever go back there.

But I drive up, into a stall, and that bill changing machine loves my money it seems, especially loves a five dollar bill. This changer eats it readily "yummy, used five" it thinks, and spits out my change. (It does not always love my money, though).

Theory: money is like fine cheese to bill changers, better with age and if it's stinky?

I do a round of high pressure rinse, wax and then spot free rinse. All is well. Pavement is all around so dust devils be damned to your dust hell. Wait...this may be dust hell...that explains it.

Anyhow, I drove to the extra wide vacuuming berths, where I can open Eden's door all the way, and get in there with the vacuum. I drop a quarter in the slot. It gets stuck. Seems to be stuck in something that's like a pre-quarter slot, so I figure another quarter will send it down the shoot. Nope, the other quarter gets stuck. Great. I try to dislodge it with my key, in or out at this point I don't care where the quarter ends up as long as it's a credit or in my pocket, at which point the totality of this entire exercise made me think I'd better stop before my key got sucked in there or something.

I politely drive to the next stall, where that machine likes my quarters and my business, and I suck the dirt out of Eden's interior. Didn't take a lot of time or effort, only the driver's side had much debris. I finally finished my car wash adventure.

Clearly there's no song for that experience. If so you'd be annoyed with it and turn it off, you can't dance to that, it has an irregular beat and no rhythm. Beyond that, the song would have already cost about twenty bucks. That's a hefty mark up for an un-danceable single. Which reminds me of my iTunes story...

If I don't post these I'll be crucified...

2007-09-11T14:43:00.000-05:00

or maybe that was circumcised. I dunno. All I know is here are some pics from an afternoon of art and play, as Ricë, Sarah, Becky and I cut out some of the "things" I have mentioned earlier, so even if I'm not going to say what the things are yet, it will probably be apparent.

The following may contain brief nudity, and possibly briefs:

The start. No one is liberated from his or her white space prison, yet.

Here Ricë works on cutting one of Saint Clare's pages. Ricë would have cut out one of the male figures, but I didn't have a large, black male member...of the League or Infidels...to uh...play with. Make that "with which to play."

Becky works on Jack's page. Jack apparently really likes Starbucks coffee frappathings. Becky likes Jack, so I think they'd get along nicely. Both are slightly out of touch with reality, in a really good way. ;)

I would put a picture of Sarah here, but I didn't get her or her Mom's permission to post her pictures, and I'm sensitive about that, so I'll hold off for the moment. But I can't wait for said permission because I've already mentioned what will happen if these pictures aren't blogged soon.

Hammer, snip, hammer, snip.

Here are a few pictures as the afternoon progressed, and bits of cut paper, bodies and accessories were spread all over the table.

Becky and Sarah had to leave because Becky was meeting with the Knitting Guild, a rag tag group of knitters who gather with their needles periodically and fight crime in numerous ways. There's nothing quite like a member of the Knitting Guild, needles drawn, going after a ne'er do well. I'm sure if necessary, they could repair the fabric of society David and Keith ripped apart. But then again, we're quite happy with those rips. :)

(I'm kidding, you know. They don't really fight crime. But isn't it a great visual? And as David pointed out at the Universitarian Assembly in his "lay service" (hehe) the fabric of society didn't rip. I am, of course, referring to their legal marriage in Canda.)

I digress, but I already warned you about that back in the first post.

Anyhow, after Becky and Sarah left, Ricë continued cutting and I joined her.

Here Ricë continues to cut, and I join her, but you can't see me because I was taking the picture. No, I wasn't cutting and taking the picture. I can multi task, but multi tasking with sharp objects can be dangerous.

Then a bit of wickedness ensued, as Ricë forced, forced I say, me to put some of the cut outs in poses that happened to end up like the one to the left.

She's very wicked, after all, she wants the Wicked Wiccan tattooed on her arm, so you honestly don't think I would do this on my own, do you?

As if a mask could protect the identities of anyone involved.

So St. Clare had to come whip things into shape.

But, all silliness aside it was a productive exercise in creativity, because, I left with a number of good ideas, a number of problems to solve that would not have been readily apparent without a group dynamic (a test run if you will) and most importantly (though right now my head is swimming with too much info) 3,546 variations on the theme for present and future reference.

For now though, I have to figure out the best way to make the paper dolls (oh, I said it finally, that's what the things are) 1) with clothes on thinner paper, stands and bodies and accessories on thicker paper 2) on paper that is non smearing, bruising, archival yet retains brilliant color 3) with some sort of stands to allow maximum play. Oh and also so that accessories can be held and sometimes, whenever possible, shared.

Whew.

Jack Bits

2007-09-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

A tease. I didn't scan the naughty bits.

Laundered

2007-09-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

I needed to wash some stuff this morning, which invariably means finally emptying the dryer of its contents so the new wash can go in there and, if said new wash can stay without becoming wrinkly, it will stay in the dryer until the next wash, repeating the process. Not that it takes a long time to retrieve freshly dried items, I'm just usually headed somewhere by the time the drying process begins and, upon my return, I have forgotten about the stuff in the dryer. Or gone to bed. Or both.

Terribly exciting, I know, but whilst retrieving the dry stuff in preparation for the new wash-that-will-be-dried today I noticed something I thought was odd. The contents of the dryer was mostly socks, a few terrycloth rags, but mostly socks. As I pulled the socks from the dryer, only one sock was not turned inside out. Now, I don't remember taking the socks off like that because it would have annoyed me, I hate the feel of socks peeling off backwards, must be a childhood thing, plus it ruins the elastic at the top, I think. I also don't remember putting them in the wash like that. In fact, it would have annoyed me, I think, as I would have thought "you'll have to turn them all right side out while you're retrieving these socks seven days later when you need to wash something else." (My mind thinks in Jane Austen, stilted type dialogue, I guess.)

You bet it annoyed me. It added a few minutes to the task, minutes I should have been using to fix Saint Francis' toes, or give him something new to wear, or else minutes I should have been surfing around the Internet pretending something new was there to thrill me. But instead I wasted time turning socks right side out.

Thus I'm forced to conclude there was some odd cosmic conflagration which bent time and space, and, rather than enveloping my socks in that special dimension where missing socks go, instead managed to turn all but one of my socks wrong side out. Of this I am certain.

If only the conflagration would have returned my missing black socks, and I'm not talking about the odd pair here or there. I'm definitely talking about whole packages of black socks turning up missing, though gradually (they're insidious that way, of course). I don't know what it is, but, there must be yet another special dimension for them. Only the ancient black socks, those going threadbare, seem to stick around.

Now the new wash has finished and, since the dryer is empty at least for the moment, the contents, sheets, will go tumbling. They are too large and knowledgeable about theoretical quantum physics to turn up missing. So far.

New but Familiar Dialogue

2007-09-07T23:07:00.000-05:00

Earlier today I posted a new creative essay on the writing page. It deals with how some ideas start and where they end. Here's a direct link to "Tracking the Creative Impulse."

Tech Block

2007-09-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

Today and late last night into early today (linearity be damned) I've been working on some new things. They require the use of Corel Draw and images I have created some time ago, the full body Saints and Infidels seen on the animation pages. Now, that's quite a process, editing nodes on the vector drawings, changing shapes and colors, etc. But I find it very rewarding. I can turn my drawings into clean, clear forms and then, because they are vectors, I'm not limited to a particular size (as long as I make sure I scale correctly, etc.).

Ok, that's really technical. It doesn't seem like the most fun I could have in an evening, until I'm finished and I get to print them out, at which time the results are always just too much fun. However, last night some tech frustrations got in the way. I hate when that happens; I could go full steam ahead if some problems were just instantly solvable. But part of the process in creating something inevitably involves trial and error. Were it a large painting, it would be the continuous process of reinventing brush strokes to suit whatever you are feeling at the moment. Since it's intuitive and immediate, I never notice the frustration as much.

But in the case of what I'm working on now, the roadblocks aren't intuitive, they are real. As in, which photo paper prints best, won't fade, creates crisp colors, will be waterproof and sturdy enough, and won't smudge when I hold things to cut them. So, I thought some higher priced stuff that claimed not to fade would work splendidly. Well, the colors were great, but the print outs smudge. I consulted the packing info and it says something about not framing printed items for 7 days or so. Yikes, like after I print something I am just dying to see take life outside of computer pixels, I have enough patience to wait 7 days. It's not going to happen. At least not while I'm still playing.

So I tried another paper that Ricë gave me, and it's sturdier, but because I printed it on the "other papers" setting, I think the little hp Photosmart printer I'm using got haughty and decided "other papers" meant "do not put the rich tones on this one." So it's a little grayer than I'd like. Directly (my Nene always said "directly") I'll print one with this heavier paper using the premium paper settings. In any event, the figure I cut out from that duller printing did fantastically, no smudges, so if I can get the jewel tones printed on that, it may be the answer.

I think for many people the process of getting to the end of an idea, the paths taken and not taken, to borrow from Frost (and I'm no huge fan, but hey), are not so frustrating. I say that almost rhetorically. The brush stroke comparison works for me there, as I already noted, again the immediacy. But the things (don't you love the nebulous use of "things," but I'm being secretive) I'm working on at the moment are "hand made" items I am trying to make look as mass produced as possible. I realize many artists are trying to avoid the mass produced look at all costs. But I'm having too much fun making things look like unique items that can be picked up at the 5 and dimes (which no longer exist, yeah, I know, but bear with me, I am old enough to have gone to Woolsworth when it was downtown here in Midland).

So, if I can just get the technical aspects worked out, I'm going to be happy with the results. How could I not, they're so cute!?

Already an Update

2007-09-04T03:15:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe more of a fine tuning. It occurred to me that some of the Saints (and one evil doer of evil) appear only occasionally, or in a particular form only occasionally, so I added a Holiday section to the bonus pages. I even made the cute little present rollover animations myself, because of course I am insane.

Especially since it's 3:18 AM. I should be asleep. But I finished it.

The pages are just teasers of course. The hint of something cool is a wrap, but, not yet available, because I'm just so mysterious and such.

By the way, stay tuned to this blog for web updates as well as musings. Or rantings. Whatever you wanna call it.

Say Hello to Mr. Sunshine

2007-09-02T12:59:00.000-05:00

Originally I was going to put “the sun is gonna shine anymore” in the description box. The notion comes from a song by way of a movie, the song being “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Any More” the movie being Truly Madly Deeply. In that film the couple (I won’t give much away, but watch the movie, it’s great) sort of sickeningly sings the song to each other. At that point in the movie, if you are not in a syrupy, lovey dovey mode, you might want to turn it off and go back to self pity and weeping. After all, who wants to see happy people (actors) and then go to bed alone.

There's a really good reason for that scene, though, and probably for (my) reaction to it, a reason that’s clear by the movie’s brilliant and touching ending. Just watch it already, put it on your Netflix. What? You don’t have a Netflix account? All I can say is that it’s one of the best relationships I’ve ever had.

I digress, and I’m a little off the road I started anyhow, but that’s going to happen often, and I’m not going to apologize even though I guess saying that is a bit of an apology. Argh. My brain.

Back on the original path—the song, and my transposition of it. The lyrics start: “Loneliness is a cloak you wear / A deep shade of blue is always there,” then of course the eponymous refrain, “The sun ain’t gonna shine anymore.” So to me, the sun is gonna shine anymore makes sense. It turns the negative into a positive, sort of, with the caveat of "anymore," which might make the casual reader step back, asking, “Is it really going to shine?” (Even if you didn’t casually read and do that exactly, still, it works in my head.)

Notwithstanding the time I had wrapping my brain around the idea of “gonna,” and noting that I disposed of the “ain’t” right away, I couldn’t get past the potential for those same casual readers (droves of you) to think I didn’t know what the heck I was doing with language in that case, never mind the idea was to alter the lyrics to a particular song and make it more positive, with the aforementioned caveat.

Welcome to my world, then. I have a degree in English and a penchant for rearranging the rules and wondering if anyone gets the rearrangement, or if the joke's just mine and then just on me. Works the same for my art as my life and my writing. I seriously tend to be too—serious.

But, like the sun chasing the moon or vice versa, in some Mesoamerican mythical drama, the sun is gonna shine anymore. Without the caveat. Because frame of mind is important for how we perceive the world and, gasp, how the world perceives us. Not that we can exactly control the latter, though we can influence it, but the former, well, we have a handle on that.

It has been a long road for me, this realization, and lately I have been lucky to know a line of people in my life who are lined up to, for lack of more specific terms, kick my ass if I don’t quit Thomas Hardy-ing my existence. Happiness may indeed be the occasional episode in a general drama of pain, but, then again, we can string together the occasional episodes to make a continuous episode of mostly happy. Something like that.

At the very least, it's my newest social experiment. :)

So here, the new blog, the first post, the revamped website, Saints all in a row, room for more avenues of expression and I’ll be damned, not a single shirtless picture of me to be found!

Oh, one more thing. The title of the blog comes from the title of an Air song, reminding me to be a little more cheerful.

Now, go back and check out the website. I’d love to wake up one day and need to buy more bandwidth!