I'm taking another risk here.

I thought I'd healed all the old wounds with time and striving on.

I'm applying for a job at Radio Shack again - and they're interested in hiring me.

And I'm scared shitless. Half afraid I'll come off as a worthless hobo who can't get any other work, so he asks for his old job back.

Half afraid that my teeth will do more damage to my appearance than all my technical knowledge.

Half afraid that Joe will be like my father and see me as I was eight years ago when he hired me in the first place.

But I have trust that because he was willing enough to at least interview me for a rehire, that he will see me as a different man. I worked with him as a sheltered, frenetic geek at first. Now only one of those words still applies.


I did get Part-Time Salesman of the Month, September 2000. Joe taught me how to work a sales floor and make the customer your friend. That went on to help me in my music career as well, and in life altogether.

But I still have to walk up to Joe Cortina and tell him that I am worth hiring again.
Joe Cortina can smell bullshit from a mile away, so every word I say must be true and honest.

And the true and honest words are, Working at RadioShack is a natural fit for me, and it made me a better person.

FUCK YES

Oh my fucking god EPIC WIN AWAITS ON JUNE 14, 2008

I am SO there.

Uff. I've been NASTY sick the past couple days. I think it was a bad case of food poisoning - couldn't keep anything down, and the tummyache was murderous. I spent most of the days trying to keep from hurting too badly.
At least late today I managed to eat something, drink something. It gets scary when you're literally shaking due to dehydration and low blood sugar, but you can't even keep a glass of water in your system long enough to absorb.
Spent most of today in bed, took several hot showers to ease the aching abs, and now I can have some computer time.


I was supposed to go help with the Renaissance Faire on Saturday, but obviously that didn't happen. I feel a little bad about skipping out, but there was NO way I was making it up there.

Uff. I think I'm going to take some more aspirin or whatnot and go back to bed with some soft music playing.

"Proof that, since politicians and pundits feel free to ignore the questions put to them and reply to other questions, you can, too."

- ( from caption text )

---

( And now, a bit of beauty with the Glass Armonica and Ben Franklin... )

---

THIS IS SO COOL

From what I'm getting, this guy has a keyboard of surgical plastic tubing running his water jets. When he blocks the holes, the increase in water pressure pops open an air valve for the pipe organ.
Suite for Hydraulophone, if you would like to hear more of this unique instrument.

---

.... I wanted to stop at three, but this thing is ( SO AWESOME I have to share. )
A grad student makes a new electronic instrument that, when you press a key, instead of giving you a fixed note, moves the current note up or down via MIDI controllers.

Hrm. Conflicting plans for Saturday.

May 10 will be the next Anonymous protest of Scientology in Chicago. Milennium Park, 11:00 AM until whenever, likely four-ish or six-ish depending on how the crowd's feeling. All are welcome to attend. Wear a scarf/shades or something to obscure the face, and bring something to drink. Open-air protests are often long and sunny.


However, Ren Faire season approacheth! The Guilde of Saint Lawrence is moving. The Dirty Duck Inn, long a staple in the center of town, is finally falling to pieces. We're moving across the grass yard to where Thistlecroft was last year, across from the Cheshire Chase Theater. Thistlecroft, the crafting guild, is being disbanded, and we're absorbing what members of their guild will help us cook and feed the residents of Bristol.

Yes, we're moving everything... This Saturday. Same day as the protest.
Well, there will be another protest each month, and I can be more help to a smaller group moving the soul of the Duck into a new carcass.


Which reminds me... I sent the petition to Rick Astley to write a protest song for us. No response, but in March someone filked the theme to the Mickey Mouse Club, with great success. I plan to do more filking to help out.



Quiet side note:
I miss zerocreature. She was a very close friend for several years. A couple months ago, she explained that my constant ups and downs were straining her, and she gets anxiety attacks when her stress levels rise. She had to cut contact for her own good.
I love her, and miss her, but I know what she meant. I don't exactly live a quiet, stable life.

Let's raise a glass, all, to those we've had to leave behind, even though we still love them.
Skål!

eyeswideshut344 (3:04:30 PM): Someone I know called me pretentious for liking it. .-.
InfintySquared (3:04:51 PM): And you are, and you should revel in it, you pretentious slut.
eyeswideshut344 (3:05:12 PM): *headdesk and whimpers/grumbles*
InfintySquared (3:05:24 PM): It's pedantic.
InfintySquared (3:05:34 PM): And we love it that way.
InfintySquared (3:05:58 PM): Dude. It's okay to enjoy being what you are.
eyeswideshut344 (3:06:00 PM): I thought it was bad to be a pretentious pedant.... ;~;
InfintySquared (3:06:42 PM): Sir, if it's what you do well, and you're not an asshole about it, then revel in the fact that you are elite.
InfintySquared (3:07:02 PM): It's OKAY to be SO AWESOME THEY CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!
InfintySquared (3:07:03 PM): lol
eyeswideshut344 (3:07:12 PM): *blush*

Also: This is SO subtle. Insaniquarium on Yahoo Games has all sorts of little in-jokes and references, but one that's SO obscure that only the true indie geeks would catch it...

The background music on the fishtank, at least in the download trial version, is a cheesed-out Muzak version of The Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else But You.

Ahhhh, God ye god den ye gentles, you are in the PRESENCE of what we calls Bardic Amusementations. I mysewf aim cawwed Robert Williams as by those what likes me, and called all manner of narsty fingummies by those what doesn't.

Now, you may ask me many a question, and I may be wont unto awrnsering. That is, if the mood striketh me wiv a fancy, and it just may this morning dags.

The lovely lady a'ringin' her bell, she telleth me the FAIRE season approacheth, and if mine eyen earen and all me sodden boots come walking me out of the muck of winter unto spring, nay, SUMMER, then perhaps I shall find meself a role within the walls of fair Bristol once more.

Thus, I am becoming back unto character again and readying the wondrous amusementifications that may come wiff part an' parcel of Robert Williams, eh?

In the mood for something completely random and somewhat educational, though you'd be hard put to explain exactly how?

A side of beef, fully rotational and zoomable like in CAD. Complete with instructional tags per muscle, and behind-the-scenes Howjadooit? factor.

I am SO easily amused, it worries me sometimes.

Hey, cool. I'm rediscovering one of my lesser talents. I've enjoyed carving and sculpting, but never really had much in the way of tools to work with, so I never got far.

Well, andromeda77 got me a pack of multicolored Sculpey for Christmas, and with that I've made cat and dog head ornaments for my cousin's tree, two hamsters, a miniature Japanese dish, and now I'm working on a change jar emblazoned with my personal glyph.
I may not have an expert hand with clay, but I ain't half bad with it considering what little experience I've got.

The woodcarving knife I picked up a couple weeks ago has proven its worth already. My staff is just about done, and the wooden knife I'm making for Carrie with the scrap wood is also nearly finished. But yeah, there's only so much a knife can do, even with my strength... So I borrowed my dad's Dremel. GodDAMN but this is the tool I've been looking for. Tossed in a coarse sanding bit, and the wood suddenly starts taking shape like I've been wanting all along.

I'm leaving most of the nubs on my staff, I'm just rounding them off close to the core. I only have a couple bits to cut where there was dead wood embedded instead of the nice fresh blonde beechwood.

Also, I found the two chunks of soapstone I've had sitting around! Half an hour's work with the sanding and grooving bits on the Dremel, and my 3"x1"x1" block of soft grey is now a very nice pedestal column for the stone squirrel Emily got me from the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art.

The other block of soapstone, a 3" cube, I've got plans, but it will take much longer and be a more delicate operation. I want to try making one of those balls inside the one-piece cage that's too large to actually slip through the bars.

I'll be damned. Amazing what I can do if I'm given the proper tools. Kind of like how I found out how much better I actually sound once I got a GOOD viola, and started composing seriously once I picked up Finale.


I'll have to try my hand at other unexpected arts and crafts. Now I'm curious to see just what I CAN do, that I hadn't given half a thought.

I was outside enjoying the weather and listening to Gogol Bordello when one song hit me like a mace to the solar plexus.

God-like manages to sum up everything I love about Gogol Bordello in one song.

Why do I like this guy? His voice sounds like he MUST sing out this overwhelming passion, or else he will collapse in tears. He NEEDS to tell you his story, or else he will be alone in his shame.

The lyrics as I see them: If you allow that you yourself are not perfect, and accept that the ones you love are not perfect, then maybe you can learn how to be better people altogether. Perhaps you might even wind up being a better person than the perfectionist God characters in your own life.

This epiphany links heavily to my father and this past weekend. And I now acknowledge that. Going through the storytelling helped put my emotions into words, and thus clarify and recognize them. But do listen to the song, and please understand why I love this gypsy punk.

I'm just about finished with my wooden staff. I'm not exactly sure which wood it is, I'll have to ask the next-door neighbor from whom I got the tree limb. The bark was ashen grey and smooth, and the inner wood is a light honey blonde and very soft. Wikipedia seems to confirm my guess that it's probably beech.

I've rounded off what knobs are left, now I just need to stain and wax/oil it. I don't want to varnish this, I want to leave the natural smooth wood texture. After stain, mink oil perhaps, like for leather?

I don't know yet what I'll do to cap the bottom. Just the wear from when I've been whittling it has already shown me that the wood is too soft to leave as-is. Does anyone reading know if dipping it in pewter might work? If so, I can cap the bottom and work it with a hammer, then do a quick dip for the upper tip which has a crotch and two nubs.


Carrie has laid claim to the piece I had to chop off the top of the staff. It had been over seven feet high, now down to a touch past six foot. I was whittling the smaller branch as a test piece, and she decided that it will make a very nice wooden knife.

Maybe if I get the pewter to dip the staff, I'll do a pewter handle on the knife. I am getting downright creative in this new endeavour!

I've been bicycling wherever I go, throughout winter and salted roads especially nasty. My glasses have been getting downright pitted with road wear.

I sent off an e-mail to parents and brother, knowing that my family are misers to the core and already dreading trying to wring a few bucks out of them for new spectacles. "Oh, honey, can't they just buff out the lenses?" No. I called, and they can't. "Well, aren't you still under warranty?" No, mom, it's definitely been over a year.

Except... HOORAY INTERNETS!

brownkitty popped up with a link to Zenni Optical.

We're talking glasses—frames AND lenses—starting at eight bucks a pair.

Sounds like bullshit, right? So I go checking up.

Holy shit, this thing is for real!


So yeah, I thought I should pass on the word. I know a LOT of you folks wear glasses, and could probably do with a new set. Mine will probably run about fifty bucks after upgrading to high-index lenses and getting sunglasses. I have never been able to get sunglasses due to my bad eyes, and prescription shades would just be too expensive, or the dorky clip-n-flip ones that my dad likes.

Word o' mouth, y'all.



EDIT:
Hey, badass! They got me on video from Operation Reconnect! I'm the fat bastard in the surgical mask and hoodie ranting from the factsheet at about two minutes in.

For all you younglings who might not understand how keyboard and synthesizer parts got their names, or what they do, this is a short series that explains how electronic music works.

Here are links to the rest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sun-mb_qZYc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm9yp6gWm-c

Documentary on how Bob Moog changed the world? We got it right here.


And for the obligatory nonsequitur: Educational film, people-monkeys on bicycles!

Comment and I'll...
1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ.

Lotsa bullshit flying around about Orphan Works. Mostly bullshit 'cause people panic and don't read the articles.

In a nutshell: The government is NOT out to STEAL UR ART OMG.

I could explain it, but Meredith pops your panic bubbles much better than I could.

Go. Read. Be edjumacated.

I did my tax returns just about on time.

On the little boxes to check for nonprofit research, that I usually just skip over and ask for my money back... This year I checked the one that said Alzheimer's Research, and my state refund went full into that.

And I cried a little.

And that's okay.

This is the music that I chose for her memorial service.

We begin with the geek's tendency to take a childhood toy and turn it into something mindbogglingly cool. 20x20 Rubik's Cube.


We proceed with the ubergeek's idiocy in making an awesome magic stunt risk his life. Kockov's Russian Roulette.


And I fuck with your emotions by suddenly grabbing you with the sincerity and integrity of the third, "A is for Allah," Yusuf Islam.

Grabbed from flutterbychild.

I'm going to describe myself in 6 words. Please respond to this message with your own 6 word description of me. Then post this in your own LJ and see if people can cram the awesome that is you into ONLY 6 words.

Strange but beautiful, always starting over.

Also, I started a short story last night. Concept: Alien Abolitionists.
They buy slaves' freedom by replacing them with zombie drones. I was pondering how the one Voudon priestess used to drug men into zombified states to work her plantation, and it clicked that zombie slaves are a perfect replacement for uppity negroes!
Ethically sound, at least to me, because you are freeing beings who have self-consciousness and self-interest, while enabling the work that does need to be done with drone beings who don't think for themselves and thus are not sentient. My happy ending is that the slaves are freed, the plantation owners get drone labor, and benevolent aliens make life better for all of us.