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| Random musings & tempting fate |
| 07.30.04 (12:49 pm) [edit] |
My student loan application for fall is away and I've already been accepted into my program, so now I just have to sit back and wonder if I'm really doing the right thing. I mean, it'd be a whole lot smarter on my part to simply continue on at the U of S with funding from my band. I'd even have enough money then to get my own place, and wouldn't have to worry about working for another three years. But, it'd mean putting my art on the back burner for another three years, and I've made up my mind that I'm not going to do that any more.
Besides, trying to find a job in the animation industry will be interesting. And anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for keeping things interesting.
Which, now that I think about it, is a philosophy that has probably led me into more odd, unlikely or uncomfortable situations than I care to remember. Like the other night, when I dragged my Mennonite friends out to the Overdrive to go dancing, and they won a free Vodka party. Now, I don't drink, and they -can't- drink. They thought it was a bit of a waste, but the absurdity of the situation was not lost on me.
That's one I didn't have any control over, thought it still makes a great story. (Or a bad joke. "Hey, have you heard the one about the Mennonites at the Vodka party?" )
However, even more interesting are those situations that you set up yourself, either directly or indirectly. Have you ever said or done something, just because you wanted to see what would happen? There's about a 90% chance that it'll come back to haunt you. So what makes one chose to do something with odds that stacked against them? Stupidity, curiosity, a perverse sense of humor?
I'd like to think it's a sense of adventure, a longing for something out of the ordinary, but I'll settle for just being able to laugh at myself once I've extracted myself from the mess I've made.
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| There's nothing quite like the smell of wet dog in the summertime... |
| 07.27.04 (10:14 am) [edit] |
Well, I made it to Duck Mountain easily enough, even though Freddi, my dog, decided to sleep on the map the entire way there. Getting back, however, proved to be more of a challenge. Just past Kamsack, my car started stinking like rotten eggs. By the time I reached the campsite, the smell was overpowering. Turns out that the cells in my battery had cooked themselves dry. Not good...We managed to get it running again by adding more water to the cells, but that was just a temporary fix, and I wasn't sure I could make it back to Saskatoon without ruining my alternator. Gah..
However, two days of canoing and fishing made me forget about my car troubles. There's nothing more I love than getting out on the water in a canoe. We found this little cove by an island where the water was knee-deep, warm, and very clear. I wandered around in the reeds for an hour or so, poking at crayfish shells and snails. Freddi even paddled around a bit, even though he hates getting wet.
At one point, just after we'd rented an extra canoe, Freddi decided to leap out of my brother's canoe to come and visit me. I was halfway across the bay at the time, so he had quite a swim. He looks funny when he swims, because his big floppy ears float out beside his head like wings, and he looks like some sort of strange muskrat. However, trying to haul a wet, wriggly dog out of the water without tipping over my canoe isn't as much fun, and neither is the smell of wet dog afterwards. He's lucky he's so cute.
By Sunday, I was ready to come home. I nursed my car back to Sasaktoon, though I had to refill the cells a few times. That battery was pretty burnt out, and I'm hoping I didn't damage my alternator. I took the morning off work yesterday to fix my car, and threw a new battery in last night. It ran alright today, but I'm still going to get my alternator checked after work, just in case.
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| Runnin' Down a Dream |
| 07.23.04 (2:51 pm) [edit] |
Fiddled around with my car last night and got it all tuned up and ready to go. Now I'm just sitting out the last twenty minutes of work on a Friday and waiting to hit the road. As soon as the clock hits five, I'm going to run home, throw some things in a bag, pick up my dog and head out of town.
Where am I going? I'm not entirely sure. Duck Mountain is in Manitoba, right? Gah, I don't care. It's east, at any rate. I love doing stuff like ths. Just me, my dog and a tent, off in the wilderness...Reminds me of my favorite Tom Petty song.
[i]It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was driving
Trees went by, Me and Del were singing
Little runaway, I was flying
Runnin' down a dream
It never would come to me
Working on a mystery
Going wherever it leads...[/i]
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| Hot time in the city... |
| 07.22.04 (9:56 am) [edit] |
Yet another week has passed where I've been too busy to update my blog. Time for another quick recap of my life!
The intern left on Friday, so my boss & I took her out for lunch, and then went joy-riding on the trails in the park's golf cart to celebrate. That was a nice way end to a fairly miserable week at work.
Afterwards, I picked up PJ & the twins, and we went over to my house to get fancied up. I rarely get to see them because we all go our separate ways in the fall, so we decided that we'd take this time to go out somewhere fancy and just talk. They even managed to get me into a skirt for the occasion, which suprised them far more than it did me.
We were going to go to Genesis for supper, but it was closed, so we ended up at the Samurai instead. Mmmm.... I'm so glad we decided to go there. The food was wonderful, the sake was warm, and we sat with a couple who were celebrating their anniversary. Turns out they they were from the SCA, and knew Rob, so we chatted about costuming for awhile. After supper, the girls & I went to Overdrive and danced. I haven't gone dancing for a long time, and even though I know I'd get really bored if I did it every weekend, I still enjoyed myself.
We held T & E's stag/stagette over the weekend. We were going to play paintball, groom's party vs. bridal party, but we decided that 37C was probably too hot to be running around in, so we went to Pike Lake. We swam for most of the day, and then watched a giant storm building as we cooked supper. There was a tornado watch out, plus the water had been shut off in the bathrooms and the stink was incredible, so we packed up and watched cheesy old Spiderman movies at Cherie's house instead. The next day, half of us went back to the lake, and I believe the other half went shoe shopping. Guess which group I was in. Hmm, looking at overpriced shoes that I won't be able to walk in, or trying to dunk Ratzlaff....Tough choice.
We regrouped around 4:00, and watched Troy at the cheap seats. It was a good watch, and the costumes were amazing. I like how they handled Achille's immortality. He wasn't some big godly guy, he simply was so skilled that he didn't get injured. (Well, until the whole arrow to the heel thing..) Then we went over to T's house and had a BBQ on the deck. By that time, I was more than ready to fall asleep where I stood, so I dropped everyone off and dragged myself to bed.
Monday was pretty uneventful at work, but Tuesday was Garage Sale day. I was up at 6:00 am, and to St. Mary's parking lot by 7:00 to help with set-up. There was a ton of stuff, and people started showing up as soon as we got there to look things over. I wasn't sure how many people would garage sale on a Tuesday, but it was fairly busy all day. It was really hot & muggy sitting in the middle of an asphalt parking lot, and I had a killer heat headache for most of the day. It was mostly gone by the time I went to Barry & Ginger's place for our side scene.
It went pretty good. I really had nothing in mind other than, "let's see what happens when we get all these characters together", but I think some interesting stuff went on. I loved the tension between Tabitha and Dina, and Evie's reaction to Valerina's little pet was priceless. I hope that it brought (some of) our characters closer together, and maybe it'll have an effect on things in the future. I know that it's already had a big impact on Mike...
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| The Journey |
| 07.15.04 (2:20 pm) [edit] |
On the night of the 13th, I had a really interesting dream. I was in a Japanese tea house in the middle of China, searching for my grandmother. I was wearing a red and white kimono, and my hair was slicked back. My friend Brier was one of the servers at the tea house, and I tried asking her if she had heard any news of my family. She hadn't, but directed me to a nearby bath house.
I wandered in the empty market square as it began to snow, though it wasn't cold. I was now dressed as a monk or a bard, and I carried a staff as well as a quiver of arrows slung over my back. Bits of garbage blew around the square, and the stone streets were filthy. A few people hurried around the edges of the square, but soon dissapeared into homes or stores. I knew that I wasn't going to find what I needed there, so I went out the cities' front gates.
Suddenly, I was in the middle of the prairies, wearing my usual jeans and t-shirt with a sweater tied around my waist. It was summer, and the wild grasses came up to my hip. I was following a deer trail through the grasses, and was struck by how vivid the contrast was between the blue of the sky and the gold and greens of the land around me. I came across an old truck in the middle of a field, close to a hill. I sat in the shade of the truck and took lunch out of my dirty canvas knapsack.
The clouds were bright against the vivid blue sky, and I watched them build up in fluffy masses. I could make out the faint outlines of a giant satellite in the sky. It was huge, bigger than the hill even at that distance, and shaped like a gyroscope. I looked harder, and something was suspended from the bottom spire, but I couldn't see what it was because it was hidden by the horizon. Whatever it was, it was massive! I got the impression that it was some sort of space station, but only for the wealthy space-dwellers. I was stuck firmly on earth.
Movement on the hill caught my attention. Two men and a young boy, all dressed in dirty coveralls, were going up the hill towards a small farm house. I crawled under the truck so that they wouldn't see me, but suddenly, I could see small feet from underneath the truck. The little boy peeked under the truck and invited me to come out and have lunch with them. The old man, obviously the grandfather, had a creased and weathered face that spoke of long years of farming. His son, in his late fourties, motioned for me to sit on the ground with them, and we ate cold turkey sandwiches with cucumber slices.
One journey, three distinct places and times. I'm not sure what it means, but the visuals were incredible. I'd love to do a digital painting of the farmyard & satellite once I get a Wacom tablet.
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| A quick recap of the past two weeks... |
| 07.15.04 (12:35 pm) [edit] |
Looking back on the past two weeks, it’s actually not surprising that I haven’t updated. I would just sit down to write something for my blog, and then something would come up and I’d have to save it for later. So, what follows is my little daily journal, condensed form, to serve as a mental reminder to myself never to do that much stuff again.
June 27 – A bunch of us headed out to Pike Lake for a BBQ. We roasted food, played Frisbee, hung out at the beach and then sat by the fire singing until late. It was so much fun!
June 28 – Election Day! I got an intern at work. That was strange enough in itself, but it turns out that she’s older than me, and fresh out of marketing school. I have no clue what I’m going to teach her (or supposed to teach her…), but the next few days will be busy as we get ready for Canada day. Luckily, I got off work a little early today to go vote, and then hung around home and drew while I watched the results.
July 1 – Worked the Canada Day celebrations at Wanuskewin, then ducked out a little early to make it to the Winnipeg scene for Dark Bridges. Valerie wasn’t much help, but she got a pretty sweet deal in the end. After, we went out for dinner at BP’s, and I got home just in time to watch the fireworks down by the river with my Mom. We had a really deep, philosophical discussion as the we waited for the show to start.
July 2 – No long weekend for me. Yup, I work today. Gah…
July 3 -
July 5 – Got put on the exhibit hall planning board at Wanuskewin. It sounds cool, but it means I have to sit around arguing over technicalities while the real design work gets pushed further and further back. Plus, I hate meetings. And I think I’m getting sick.
July 6 – Definitely sick. I hacked and coughed through most of the meeting, which was just as dry as yesterdays. Around 2, I started feeling feverish. By five, I was ready to collapse. I made it home, and fell asleep on the couch until 7:30. I was to sick to eat supper, so I just went back to bed.
July 7 – It was T & E’s grad this evening, but when I stopped to get gas on the way out to NM campus, I almost passed out. Back to bed for me…I spent most of the day on the couch, wheezing and drinking ginger tea. It’s a good cure-all, but it didn’t seem to help anything. My chest’s congested, and it’s pretty hard to breathe because of that. Plus, I’m still coughing like crazy. Blech… The only up side is that I don’t have to work the Inter Tribal at work, which is good, cause it’s raining like crazy, and even if I wasn’t sick, I would be after sleeping in a tipi on the damp ground.
July 8 – Wound up in hospital last night. I went to bed, hoping that my breathing would clear up, but it got worse as soon as I lay down. I wound up in the middle of the kitchen, gasping for breath as my dog licked my face. Luckily, that alerted my family, who hauled me off to the emergency room in the rain. The nurse immediately stuck a line in me, which made me wonder what their priorities were. I remember the ABC’s from First Aid, and if I recall correctly, ‘Airway’ and ‘Breathing’ come before ‘Circulation’. I had good circulation, (as they found when they stuck the needle in me…) but it was the first two I was having problems with.
They hooked me up to a mask, and I had to breathe the horrid steroid vapor that they use to control asthma. It works, but it’s a little disconcerting when you actually think about what you’re inhaling. I was fine after twenty minutes or so, so they sent me home by midnight. I got a good sleep, but my wheezing was back this morning when I woke up.
So this time I went to my family doctor, and she gave me a bunch of medication. Antibiotics for the chest infection, and an inhaler which made it possible for me to breathe normally until my inflamed airways calm down. Whee…
July 9 – Ok, so I’m officially a hardcore gamer…I was feeling way better after I saw my doctor yesterday, so I made it out to Layne’s place to plan our characters for the Dark Ages game. I even came to work today, but left early to set up a tipi over at STC. Actually, in retrospect, I should have just taken today off too.
July 11 – Went to Little Pine’s pow wow yesterday, and still made it home in time for the Sabbat game. Ahhh, life is good.
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| And the silence is broken! |
| 07.12.04 (8:49 pm) [edit] |
I haven't waxed philosophic about my characters in awhile, but reading other people's comments about theirs gave me the sudden urge to do so.
The Sabbat game was on Saturday night, and I enjoyed myself, even though there were some complaints about the turnout. There was enough people around to mingle with, and I got the chance to really ham up Valerie's more charming side. (And I got to imitate the Count from Sesame Street. I've been waiting for the chance to do that.)
Valerie's a really interesting character to play, because she's so different than me. Jakkal, from the old SbN game, sort of mirrored after my own personality, but with a lot more PMS thrown into the mix. She was also my first character, so a lot of her stats were just scribbled on in a hurry.
When I made Valerie, though, I tried to really think her through. It helped that I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to play when I started, unlike with Jakkal. Valerina's not a stat-heavy character by any means, which I did so that I'd force myself to have to think things through and rely on other characters. That is one of the advantages of having a pack. I don't think a character like her could last long in the Camarilla, clan aside. If [url=http://www.livejournal.com/us...]Dowell [/url] is the big fish in the pond, Valerina is most certainly just a small fry, but if I play her right, she's going to have a pretty big impact on some things. I just gotta be smart enough not to get too screwed over in the process.
Plus, her personal philosophy is so...unique...that there's some really interesting things I can do with her. There's a bunch of stuff in the Darwin Effect's forum that I wish everyone else could see, just for the sheer wierd Tzimisce-ness of it, but it'd reveal to many important things about her mindset. Don't worry, I will play it out more as she continues her evolution/rapid downward spiral.
The same goes for her background. As crazy as work is, a lot of the stuff I do is pretty mindless, so I have plently of opportunity to mull things over in my head. This is how I come up with most of the stuff for my comic plot lines, but it's also given me an opportunity to come up with a solid background that sort of explains why she is who she is. Hopefully I'll be able to leak a little bit of it into the game and see what other character's reactions will be.
This month, I think Valerina's going to stay with one of the other packs, which I hope will give me a not only some insight into how the other packs work, but also a wonderful opportunity for side scenes! I have to sympathize with [url=http://www.livejournal.com/us...]MB's[/url] addiction to Dark Bridges. You never really realize how long a month is until you find yourself waiting for the next game. Need...side...scenes to ease..pain...
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