And a little something less heavy, I shall leave you with. I have a very adorkable friend, and this is more or less her profile.
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Tales of Woe.
On the subject of “real” vacations (…and me baring a little of my pruned up, crotchety soul, please be patient!)…
There is a certain stigma to being unemployed and disabled, sometimes people say without thinking “It must be nice to have so much free time!” Certainly I have a lot of down time, but that isn’t really the same thing at all. Actual vacations I have had in recent memory: In 2004 Dove’s parents took us to Disney World. In 2006, Dove’s parents took us to Vegas. Both of these trips were specifically vacations – getting away, spending free time, and having fun, but also came along with the obligations of a family trip – great fun, but vacationing with your parents, you know? I ended up in Vegas again in 2007 for work, but spending all day working and then going out at night isn’t really the exact same thing as a vacation. When I was a kid we went to Maine for a few days, as a pre-teen I went on a class trip to Boston, as a teen I went with family to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, and as an adult I’ve visited loved ones in Virginia, Florida, California, and Oregon… But you know, structured class trips and family vacations. Fun, yes, (I know, some people haven’t even had these chances, etc.*) but not really the kind of freedom one might look for – and many of those trips are now at 10 – 20 years behind me.
Going to shows locally is a great thing. While they do not match up to a good vacation, they are such welcome and refreshing respites from the daily struggles. I’m sitting here watching John Roderick on YouTube for the kajillionth time, and lamenting not knowing of him or The Long Winters sooner. I missed some clearly amazing shows (Time Machine Task #2, Task #1 is reserved for going back and making me not so much of an idiot). There’s also something else I realize as I sit here moved to tears, love, laughter, and a ton of other emotions – I love going to live shows because it is a rare time to feel connected. Not just to the performers, but to the music, the comedy, the storytelling, the whatever it is. Connecting in a real and tangible way to ideas, inspiration, other people, and all of the things inside that come alive when a piece of art really grabs you.
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Kind of a short post today! Sorry, I just have a lot to do right now. July is busy, busy, busy!
I contributed 3 illustrations to this book of steampunk imagery (for other purchasing sources, check here.)!
Speaking of books, I’m trying to figure out what to do about digital versions of “Pour Morir“, it looks terrible on Kindle (duh), barely passable on a Sony reader, and I have not year heard a peep about iPad (I’m not looking to re-create it for Kindle, it is meant for print, or something capable of decent resolution). For now I’ve dropped the Lulu e-book price to a buck fifty! One dollar and fifty cents. Ideally, I want to get it down to .99 – which technically I CAN do with Lulu, but I would make zero profit. I’m not sure what an easy way would be for digital distribution, PayPal won’t allow “adult content”, and while there isn’t anything pornographic in this comic, it has adult themes, so I can’t trust PayPal not to ban me or be nonsensical about it. Suggestions?
The Doubleclicks will be opening for Marian Call in Seattle in 2 weeks! I am excite! My favorites of theirs are “This Fantasy World (Dungeons and Dragons)” and “Ironically”.
Tim Minchin Concert
I will apologize right off the bat for my wording, grammar and spelling. I am up way past bedtime!
I won tickets from The Stranger (they gave them away while promoting the recent interview) to see Tim Minchin!
I was pretty excited when the Neptune converted from a movie theater to a live show venue. I mean, for years it has been overrun with the most ridiculous and poorly behaved frat boys, so I stopped going there completely. As a live venue, I have to say – fantastic! A decent size, decent sound (the crowd kind of reached new levels of decibels, but it felt like a much more cozy venue than it is, I found it reasonably immersive), and sure the seating is a bit odd, but that’s not supposed to be permanent – I found it pretty comfortable in comparison to some other venues. Fun note: I was apparently sitting just a little bit behind Neil Gaiman. Whut.
Anyhow… I’d first heard about Minchin from a friend, but rather quickly I came across the doughnut debacle and decided to avoid him. I gave him a chance again, seeing him on ye olde tee-vee a couple of times. I was still a little dubious, but after this bit re: retiring the doughnut thing from the interview:
“You’re not putting people in a room and then trapping them there while you abuse them.”
Understanding more about him now, and his ability to be responsible and thoughtful about his material, I was willing to give him a bit more of my attention.
I am so glad I did! The show was amazing! It was so much fun, Minchin’s piano playing was wondrously beastly, and not only did we get an encore – we got TWO. The second was – be still my heart – a cover of “Hallelujah”. I managed to stifle a girlish scream.
I was able to make a brief detour post-show to give Molly Lewis some art. She’s so nice! :D I will hang on to hopes that she’ll be doing a show I can get to sometime soon.
So yep, I am completely amused and moved and it was a great time. I’m going to go hit the hay before I faceplant into my keyboard.
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This was my contribution to Captain Picard Day.
Alton Brown had a challenge for potential Twitter Avatars, this was my effort.
A portrait of Jess Fink, just because she is amazing and makes many awesome things.
Jeri Ryan was recently on Ken Plume’s A Bit of a Chat. She is amazing and fascinating, and a fan of gardening!
Fan art of Paul and Storm’s song “Frogger! The Musical“, which I finally got around to creating after having heard about it being Paul and Mrs. Paul’s anniversary recently.
I designed a bunch of new fabrics and put them up for sale on Spoonflower. I wanted to try some large, bright florals and some kind of coordinating designs. I’m sorry I didn’t get around to posting sooner, but today (June 20th) they’re doing free shipping. You’ll have to hurry!
That’s all I got for now! Except this one thing…
I’ll be visiting family in Vegas in 2 weeks and I am dead broke. I will likely be fed for most meals, but I’d like to have pocket money just in case, and to cover unexpected medical needs (and crazy amounts of water, I mean… Vegas in JULY), transportation, etc. If you might like to make a donation, you can try me on PayPal, or check out the Revolution Money Exchange link in the menu. I have far too many needs on my “OMGHALP” list, but this one in coming up a lot more quickly than the others. I promise not to gamble any of it! I did a little of that my first trip years ago, and it is sooo not me. I’ve been since, and I’d really rather not. I’m more interested in a Hoover Dam postcard/souvenir of some kind. OH! I can do that! If you donate 10 bucks or more, I will send you a postcard with a doodle on it! How does that sound?
Man, I can’t wait to get out of the house. Most of May was pretty bad, and incapacitating in new and horrible ways. June has been better, but I’ve been too broke to do much – and strolls around the U District tend to be ill advised. I do love sight seeing! Particularly of the expansive vista variety.
Also, I just realized… this was a very Star Trek-y art post! Huh.
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Fan art of Doug Benson. I very much enjoy the Doug Loves Movies podcast, and found “Super High Me” very entertaining. I also really enjoyed him guesting on Joe Rogan’s podcast (which I don’t usually listen to…).
If you’ve been following the Toe Shoe saga on Molly Lewis’ episodes of Ken Plume’s A Bit of a Chat podcast, this will make sense to you. Otherwise, please enjoy the randomness.
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Oh yes, a new and giddy fan of Doctor Who am I. I am, save the older seasons, caught up to the current (well, minus the newest, I’m not synced up yet with airings).
And somehow, I’d neglected to post this before. This is also Doctor Who fan art. I love Donna Noble SO MUCH.
Hard to explain, but here I am as a Twitter, Duck, Queen.
Whoa, you guyz. It has been AGES since I drew the sexy. Weird.
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Vetruvian Dan
I just got back a little bit ago from seeing Dan Telfer live (You may know him best from this YouTube clip) at the Cafe Venus and Mars Bar.
What a fun show! Dan is hilarious and nerdy, and angry and vulgar. My kind of show! Before it began, Dove leaned in and whispered to me, pointing out that the two opening comics and Mr. Telfer were behind us talking shop. Silent comedy nerd-girl squee! The bar was pretty great, everything (including the menu) was SPACE themed. So very excellent.
To those ardently following me (HAHAHA ha ha… ha….), this may all be familiar, so just bear with me!
I am a fan of comedy, I always have been. That is a long story for another time and place. I have not, however, managed to choose to go to a stand-up show. Sure, some elements of w00tstock are very stand-up centric, depending on guest, but I’d not been able to attend on my own something purely stand-up oriented. I chaperoned a Kate Clinton show with a buncha students from the college I was attending. While she’s great fun and I’d loved what I’d seen of her on Comedy Central, I wouldn’t have known about the show or been able to afford it otherwise. I was once visiting a friend at her college, and to make up for her forgetting to tell me that Henry Rollins had been doing a show on campus for free, she took me to… to… Alright, no matter how many times I try to remember who it was, I cannot. It was either Elaine Boosler or Rita Rudner. While I know clearly who each person is, I just can’t remember which one we saw.
Anyway, so that is the story of how Dan Telfer took my stand-up show cherry.
Ba-dum-tch.
Activism
I made a blog post elsewhere, and have updated it periodically, and it seemed time to put it here as well. It focuses on activism, and my views on a lot of issues, including links to support my points (be it actual credible source or opinion pieces). Comments are off because mostly I’m just expressing my views, and cataloging them for future reference. SOrry if some of the links don’t work, I’ll try to figure that out eventually.
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A Bit of a Chat with Ken Plume is a mighty fine podcast!
I saw a meme going around where you’d collect self portraits you’ve done over the years. I didn’t include stuff from the webcomic, stuff not really suitable for public release, etc. I wish I had more than this!
So I went through what photos I have of myself, and tried to draw new Self Portraits that represent myself from birth to present. It isn’t completely accurate, and I feel like some years maybe got mixed up, but it’ll do. Some notes: Age 5 1st day of school, Age 14, yes really, Age 15 wedding guest, Age 18 my wedding, Age 23 1st RHPS, Age 28 and 32 Halloween, Age 31 1st Pride Parade. If you comment with an Age #, I will try to answer questions about ’em!
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