Dragonbones and Rusted Armor

(insert obligatory "it's been way too long" bit here)

I really do mean to post more, but then Life happens. I suppose that falls under the category of "good problems to have".

Anywhoozle - here's a brief wrap up to my recent past:

*Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson - This was a really fantastic experience. A long time ago, xtingu and I discussed the idea that I should get back into theater in some sense. Get back into is a very loose phrase here. Last time I did anything theater related was in high school, but I still had a hankerin for it every now and then.

I'm so very happy that I did.

The cast and crew were fantastic. What's more, they made me feel instantly welcomed and a part of the team. I don't know how (un)common that is, but it was really something I felt like I've been needing in a big way.

The show itself is... odd, but really fun. I reserved my judgement on how we did for a bit. I thought we were doing great, but I recognize the extreme bias that I had. That changed though, when I realised that review after review weren't just saying "Hey, this is fun - go see it!" or some equally generic, but positive message. Reviewers were using terms like 'game changer' and 'best' and other things that really bolstered my esteem.

By opening night, it seemed - well - fucking awesome.

I plan on doing more with City Theater . Possibly a lot more. The only question in my mind is: Am I now spoiled?

*Visiting w/ Family - This past weekend, I got a chance to spend some quality time with my family. Both of my brothers, their wives, and both of my nephews, and even Lucy were home for the weekend (at least in part) to celebrate Mother's Day. With that being the closing weekend of BBAJ, the visit was entirely too short (I was only able to come home for a few hours on Sunday) but it was another 'just what I needed' kind of thing. The kids were (as always) completely adorable, and Lucy shared her pen with me for a bit and let me snorgle her.

I was yet again reminded how phenominally lucky I am in the Family department. That's one of those things that never gets old, and I hope that I never, ever take it for granted.

*Jury Duty - Back on 4/18 I was selected for jury duty. I had a mixed reaction to the whole thing. One part of me was thrilled because I'd never gone through the process before and I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.

I know, I know. I'm nuts like that. But it's the truth. It's a huge part of our society, and the idea of 'innocent until proven guilty' via a trial of your peers. Well, that just means something to me, as I think that it should to all Americans.

The other part of me - the one that DIDN'T want to take part was frustrated mostly by the timing of things. We would be heading into the trial right as the show was opening. That made me useless to the gang when it came to the show and meant we would have to find a backup.

Anyway - I was selected for the jury, and they said we were going to trial. It would start the following Monday (4/23) but when I called on Sunday night as instructed for the final "are you absolutely sure we're going to trial - no ifs, ands, or buts..." check, I was informed that we need not report. I'm assuming that meant the case was settled.

So Poop... but Yay!

*The Tardis - A friend of mine has a father with an impressive set of skills in the maker department. He built a large Tardis and she wanted to put it in her yard as a decoration. I volunteered to help with the prep work to make space for the Tardis and the drop off. The prep work proved to be a bit of an eye opener.

It had been a very long time indeed since I've done any kind of seriously physical work. I helped my friend by ripping out some shrubbery (insert Monty Python jokes here), removing/replacing some chain link fence, and tilling some soil. Good, sweaty, labor work.

Best day I'd had in... a long damn time.

I really made me realise just how much I'd missed making/building something with my hands. I took careful note, and this was part of what pointed me to BBAJ. Now that the show has ended, I'm looking around and trying to figure out how I'm going to get my 'physical fix'.

*Arden Soirée Part II - While I wasn't able to attend personally, the second Arden Soirée went extremely well. Tickets sold were just under the sold old level, and I'm hearing good things. It's impressive to see how much more 'simplified' the process of preparing for this one was, but I'm fearful that I may be looking through rose collored glasses because of my reduced pressence for this one.

* Grandma - I put this one down here because I really do not want to talk about it, and I'm not looking for sympathy responses.

Here's the short version: My father's mother - an absolutely amazing woman - passed away on April 24th. I will simply say this: If I can live a life even half as full as she had by the time I'm ninety and one half years old? I will consider my life to have been one well lived. You will never find someone who was more honest, hard working, and generous. They just do not exist.

Let's take a look at today shall we?

Woke up late. Not so late that I felt like I missed out on my day, but late enough that I felt like I got to thumb my nose at the weekday schedule. Very satisfying.

Got up and took a shower. Headed to Angel's where I had myself a delicious sausage and provolone omelet, with a single blueberry pancake for my side. Om NOM NOM!

While I was at Angel's, I did some work on an image for an upcoming article at Nevermet Press. The girls at Angel's were trying to get the place closed up, and I didn't want to be that guy, so I headed out.

Made my way to the local library to sate my bibliophilic desires and continue work on the drawing for NMP. Found them closed (Boo!) but also found some kids LARPing (or BOFFing - I'm not sure what qualifies as what) in the next field over (YAY!).

Feeling only a little bit discouraged that the library was closed (did I mention BOO!) I moved on. Decided to hit my favorite local coffee shop as long as they weren't being to Delaware-esque and closed. They weren't, and I did. Hung out for a bit. Drank a cold chai latte. Yeah yeah - laugh it up. It was yummy. Got some more done on the drawing - in fact, I felt like it was ready to be scanned in and worked on digitally, so I got myself homeward bound.

En route to chez Lichenapper, I stopped at a tiny strip mall. This may seem strange if you know how close Brew Ha Ha is to our place, but when I saw the antique car show in some guy's front yard, I couldn't help myself. The cars were stunningly well maintained and I milled about for a bit until I fel like I had seen all I wanted to see and taken all the pictures I wanted to take. I went xtingu  style, and will post them at some point in the near future if anyone would like to see them.

Got myself home, scanned the artwork, and got to work on doing some digital editing / improvements. It took me a while, but I got that wrapped up and then I sat my lazy but on the couch and watched The Spirit. Don't bother. No really - as a guy who loves even really bad movies, I'm telling you - don't bother.

Lastly, I screwed around a bit online, checked out my next assignment for Nevermet Press, and now I'm here relaying my day to all of you.

All in all? I would say it was a rather fine day to be me.

I'm no scientist. Not in any real sense of the word. I am, however, not completely ignorant either. I listen to reason (most of the time).

Thus we come to the crux of a conflict that I've been waging in my daydreaming moments. I thought that I would open those thoughts to you, oh Great and Powerful Intarwebs, and seek your thoughts on the subject.

I've encountered a number of different articles over the years about different ways in which technology is replacing humans in the world of art. While this has been happening all over the world in a number of different industries, the world of art seems somehow different to me. Sure - robots can do dangerous jobs on an assembly line. Sure - they can provide recon on the battlefield. But I've worked on assembly lines. You don't need anything more creative or intellectual than a robot. I'm thankful that I've never had to step foot on a battlefield, but I understand the value of technology there.

When technology replaces us in the world of art? That's where I start to get really twitchy. People are creating robots that create 'graffiti'. Other robots are going to conduct a symphony.

I guess when it comes down to it, there's something in me that feels it's alright when an artist uses technology to create art, but a very large part of me feels like it's very not ok when technology 'creates' something and we allow it to be called art.

I know. I'm being a purist. I know that humans created the technology, so it could be argued that the final art is indirectly created by the real artist - the creator of the robot. It feels like watering down. It feels like the dissolution of what makes humanity something more than all the other creatures on the planet. It feels like we're willingly saying that there's no such thing as creativity.

And suddenly I feel like I know how those who are devoutly religious feel when confronted with the concept of Faith vs. Science.

I would really like to get some feedback here folks. How do you feel about this?

Got into work this morning at 8am.

By 9am I had finished reviewing my backlog of emails.

By 9:05am I was looking forward to my next vacation.

Speaking of which - more on the fun and frivolity of the past week(ish) soon - promise - there's just too much to get to at work right now.

Some brief plans for the week in case any of you care to join me:

Monday:
-Be there at 1100 when they come to pick up my old pick up. Make sure that the tow truck driver stays very far away from my motorcycle. If not? Break him - many times.
-Draw.
-Work on the new and improved Dragonbones.net. Shhhhh - it's a surprise.

Tuesday:
-Open Figure Drawing from Life at DCAD.

And the rest? Well, I haven't quite figured the rest out yet. I'll let you know when I do.

Tagged by boutell 

(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog."

So here's my 8 (I know you're dying of antici-pation).

1. I got lost within a 64 acre stretch of woods when I was about eight years old. I never really got scared and found my way out only a short while later.

2. Buying art supplies makes me feel like I'm somehow more of an artist. Consequently, I have a crapload of unused or partially used supplies.

3. When I write, it tends to be almost entirely made up of clichés.

4. I bite my tongue when dealing with others far more often than I should.

5. I want the perks of success without the effort required to attain it.

6. I'm ridiculously fortunate in the family and friends department. Like in the "no one should be that lucky" sense.

7. I am sensitive to a fault, and I fight like hell to keep from showing it.

8. I almost always feel like I should 'be doing more', but I almost never do.

I don't generally tag, but I would love to see the response to this from a pretty large group of those of you who are reading this, so if you have the time...

Worst thing about a throat cold? I lose what little patience I normally have.

I'm here to tell you - that's not a lot to begin with. In fact, it's a safe thing to say that patience and I? We've never been friends.

Problem with that is that the normal work day seems to drag more than usual. My mind tends to stay relatively fast paced, but it's far more chaotic. Harder to focus.

Feels kinda like thrashing about in the water and just barely staying afloat.

I hope this doesn't come across as complaining. I'm really not all that unhappy or mopey about the whole thing - just a bit frustrated. I suppose that (in the grand scheme of things) if this is the worst that I have to deal with right now? I should be giving thanks to the gods.

Alrighty then - back to trying to focus.

Having a fairly productive morning. Already installed some memory, fixed a problem for one of the Help Desk folks (thanks to my coworker Jeff), noted that the solution might work for another problem, fixed that problem, and now I'm off to install more memory. I needed a productive morning to follow last night's foul up. I managed to erase every picture in my phone - including a bunch that hadn't been backed up. I found it terribly upsetting, but at least I learned some things. I'm using Bitpim and I was mucking around with the file structure of my phone. Live and learn I guess. 

And from the stupid people file: 
(What follows is a rough approximation of a small part of my day - Dilbert Style) 

Their Guy: "Quick Matt! We need to fix this problem right away! The people involved are only free for another 15 minutes! We're on the bridge - join us as quick as possible." 

Now I'm a pretty bright dude so I figure out fairly quickly that the 'bridge' being referenced is a conference call, not a physical structure. As the people involved don't even work for Da-bank, I have no knowledge of their conference call technologies whatsoever. 

Me: "Forgive me for this - but I don't know how to access the bridge." 

Their Guy: "Oh - no problem - just call this 800 number, then enter this 7 digit passcode when prompted."

I call.

And get muzak.

For longer than it took me to type this all out. Good thing that they were in such a hurry. 

Update: Finally Their Guy came on the line and said "Oh hey - I'm going to give you two phone numbers to call Our Other Guy directly." 

He does. 

I try both numbers and get voice mail on both. I reply all to everyone involved giving my direct line (for the second time) and ask Their Other Guy to call me directly. 

I'm still waiting for that call. 

Think that I will write a new song while I'm waiting - it goes like this: "Stuuuupid peeeeeeeeople - they irritate my
braaaaaaain." 

Update 2.0:
I finally got a call from Their Other Guy. I walked him through the 5 minutes worth of work that needed doing. He's going to reboot, test, and call me back.

All I can think is "Did it really need to be that hard?" I'm in a pretty good mood though, so I'm snickering rather than pull out my few remaining precious hairs.
 

The weekend thus far (rather than the weekend in review- for a change):

Friday:
Immediately following work, I rode to drop off a movie and pick up (rent) the DVD collection of Brisco County Jr.. I remember it being a fun series and Bruce Campbell s kinda a personal hero. What's more, it makes better sense than full blown movies for 'workout entertainment' as they're only one hour shows each episode, so I'm not working out for a half hour or an hour and then sitting for another hour to an hour and a half.

After picking up Bruce's misadventures, I headed back to the house where I met up with lotusanddragon  . We headed over to shellefly  's place to pick her up and than to Philly to assist in the celebrating of jeremym  's birthday at North Bowl. The place rocks - there's just no two ways about it. Great music, the drinks flow, and the lanes are clean and well maintained. That's one hell of a combination.

After bowling, the rest of the gang which included ms_violet  , boutell  , and many more (whose lj names I can't recall because I suck) headed somewhere for a drink, but lotusanddragon   and I headed back to the house since he still had to pack for his trip to Japan. We did that (I kept him company while he did it really) and got a chance for the first time in a long time to just shoot the shit. It was a grand time. We even had a mini-adventure taking a quick trip to his office for some forgotten info while K-T (who doesn't have LJ) read some of the end of the last Harry Potter book to us via my cell phone's speakerphone function. Then a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee, a moment where I broke his world a little by introducing him to the 'omg shoes' video, some chill time up on the deck, and the limo service was there to take him to the airport. It really kinda felt like the perfect way to send my bro off to another country. I sacked out afterward to some long overdue sleep.

Saturday:
Saturday morning I woke late (figured I earned it) and headed to jafosmite  's concert with X-Fusion at the 100th Annual Arden Fair. I took the Yamaha, and it was a damn good thing - the place was mobbed. I managed to find a completely illegal convenient parking space, locked up the scoot, and headed straight for where I hear the boys getting ready. The show rocked hard, though there's little surprise there. It was fun watching an all new batch of folks rockin out to X-Fusion's music. I was a little disappointed by the fact that the fair closed supah early, so I only had time to do a quick 'fly through' after the show, but I'm betting that's a good thing in the long run as I need to keep all the cash I can these days.

After the fair, I headed to good ol' Barnes and Noble for some time to do some writing, screw around, and browse the newest batch of 'how to draw' books and magazines. This is something that I haven't done in a while, and I missed it. It's something that I enjoy both with friends or alone. When I'm by myself, it's almost like meditation. I can people watch, get my thoughts in order, and often be inspired. I was impressed by my ability to not buy any of the new art books/magazines. Almost, but I managed to put them back. Really, it's not like I would use them - not in any real way. Most art books are great, but they wind up being more or less inspiration sources and that's about it. While I was sitting and parusing my latest batch of books and magazines, I got a phone call from xtingu  . Being a spaz, I went instantly into high alert mode - she was supposed to be out on the playa, and that would mean without cell phone reception of any kind at all. She assured me that nothing was wrong but that she 'just wasn't feeling it' this year and that she was homeward bound and would keep me posted on her travel plans. She said she missed me. I'm a lucky bastard like that. I stayed at B&N pretty late and went home. Once back at the house, I started working on one of the images that I got stuck in my head while at the bookstore and when I realized that it was almost 2am I hit the sack - I had a big day coming up.

Sunday:
Woke up fairly early, but not early enough. I had planned to ride with burningkirby  , Lee (sans lj), and Ballz (also sans lj). However, as I am the planning master, I didn't have any of their phone numbers and I was having net connectivity issues (I had Ballz's street address in my email account). I did finally get connected, but the whole process delayed me enough that I got to Ballz's place about 15 minutes later than planned and I hate being the limiting factor. We made our way via back roads to burningkirby  's compound where we gathered up burningkirby   and Lee and after some very minor repairs to burningkirby  's bike, we headed out. It was the perfect morning for a ride. Cool but not cold. Bright and sunny and just... frickin... gorgeous. miles melted past under our wheels as we rolled west into PA. If I can convince Ballz to send me a copy of our route, maybe I'll post it later. What a great run. I broke the 600 mile mark since buying the Yamaha with ease.

After our ride we stopped back at burningkirby  's place and had some snackages. Then off to Lee's and then I headed back to B&N. Yes, back to B&N. I've decided that I'm a creature of habit. Once I find something I like, I tend to stick with it until I find the next thing that I like. While there I got some more stuff done both in the writing and the creativity departments.

While I was at B&N, xtingu   called to let me know that she had landed and asked if I could meet her at her apartment. I said sure, packed up my gear, and headed over. We arrived at almost identical times, and commenced a good old fashioned 're-connect' kind of night. We were visited albeit briefly by theseitz   who showed us his supah sexy new iPhone. We sacked out shortly thereafter.

Monday:
We woke up a bit late and had some more really amazing reconnect time. It had been a while since xtingu   and I had the chance to talk more than "Hi - how's the weather?" Okay - I'm exagerating, but you get the point. We'd let our 'life stuff' kinda keep us so focussed that we hadn't spent much time just talking. We'd both missed it terribly and this time (Sunday night and Monday morning) really scratched that itch.

Next, we hopped on the bike and headed up to swingchickie  's place for the afternoon and got some more hang time with the good peeps. swingchickie   and Jack, jeremym   (and the always awesome JD), boutell   and Jenny, opadit   and Steve, ms_violet   and Vince, and of course xtingu   and myself. Jack manned the grill and xtingu   brought some corn salsa that was muy muy yummy.

Then, of course, there were donuts.

Now, xtingu   and I have come back to her place, she's on the phone with her folks and I'm wrapping up what was started as a "weekend up to this post" but has become a "weekend in review".

Hope you had a weekend as awesome as mine!

The "golden hour" with live music on the Riverfront along with good friends, good food, and good drink. Not a bad Sunday night.