Just got back...

Just got back from "camping" with the family. It wasn't actually camping, because no one is staying in a tent; they have a couple of hotel rooms. We did however set up a campsite at Mohawk state forest. We puttered around the river for a bit, I took a nap in the tent, then we had a good dinner at the Golden Eagle restaurant, and then I headed back. The rest of them are staying up there for a couple of days; I have to work. It was pretty fun, though.

There were a ton of tiny toads near the river :)

And here is a pic of the dam that Sarah and I built last year. The water was lower than it was last year, but the damn is still there (indicated by red arrow)

Chillin' on the porch...

It's been a long week. I haven't been sleeping well. I think I have only been getting 3 or 4 hours per night. Not good. I think it's a combination of the heat and anxiety that is getting to me. I feel like I am just fried. Everything is a bit on the fuzzy side.

I am beginning to think I may be going slightly insane-er.

Harry Potter was very decent. It was a zippity-quick read (less than 2 days). I won't ramble on about my theories until it's been out for another week or two just so I don't spoil it for anyone who happens to read this blog and hasn't read it yet. Th book really leaves it hanging at the end, and I hope she finishes up the last book quickly because I can't wait!

I read most of an interesting book in work today, Yes Man by Danny Wallace, and it was great. On a random bus ride, a total stranger tells him to "say yes more", and the author spends the next couple of months saying yes to every invitation, offer and just about everything else that comes his way. Wacky adventure ensues. I laughed out loud many times. I wish I could live like that.

I am going to get my passport. I don't have immediate plans on leaving the country, but I think I am going to take a trip somewhere this fall. I am almost 30 and I haven't really been anywhere. Places I am thinking of going; Ireland, New Zeland, England or Japan. Probably Ireland. Maybe just go through Europe. Might do the backpacking youth hostile thing. As cheap as possible. Possibly might go with a school trip - the SMFA seems to do these every once in a while. I'll see.

Looks like we are going to be playing D&D this Monday, and I am pretty psyched.

Going to try to go to sleep now, but it probably won't work.

Later.

I am Batman.

I saw the new Batman movie tonight. It was really good, a lot better than I expected. The movie took its subject seriously, which is refreshing after the last couple of Batman movies. Not that a guy dressing up as a bat to fight crime is a serious subject, mind.

Christian Bale played a good Batman, Liam Neeson was his usual excellent self, and Gary Oldman was a top notch Lt. Gordon. The villains, Ras' Al Ghul and the Scarecrow, were interesting and not as corny as they could have been. Katie Holmes as the love interst just seemed kind of wasted.

Decent plot, nonlinear narrative, good but not overblown visuals; this movie had a lot of good stuff. I think Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) was a great choice for director.

If they continue making Batman movies, I hope they keep the same cast and director for a while. If they change Batmans every movie, forget it.

I went to a 10:30 show at Revere and it was fairly empty at the theater. I smuggled in candy, but bought a coffee. I asked for a 'venti' coffee, and the girl looked at me like I had 3 heads. It's right there on thier menu 'grande' 'venti'. I should have just asked for a large. Ah, whatever.

I'm reading the new Harry Potter, but I haven't gotten too far yet. I'm experiencing a little bit of Potter overload, no surprise there. Going to read a bit before I go to sleep.

Later.

I am in a bad mood.

I am in a bad mood. No specific cause. Just feeling hostile. Here's a happy self portrait. Done with pen, ink, computer, and magic.

John M. O’Connor, at 103, artist, writer & humanitarian

John M. O’Connor, at 103, artist, writer & humanitarian

John Michael O’Connor, world famous artist, writer and humanitarian, died Friday at Mohawk trail state forest. He was struck by lightning and killed instantly.

Born in Malden, Massachusetts, Mr. O’Connor worked a series of meaningless jobs until he decided to attend college full time in his late 20s. He graduated from college in 2007, with degrees in computer science and art. He worked as an illustrator and a computer game designer, and founded his own successful computer game company at the age of 36. He also went on to write a series of moderately successful science-fiction novels (the Shiny Happy Future trilogy), and wrote the Oscar™-nominated screenplay for the movie Rad the Atomic Squirrel. Some of his paintings and sketches can be see in the Smithsonian, and the traveling show of his artworks is currently at the MFA in Boston. In later life, Mr. O’Connor taught art and computer programming to underprivileged youth.

A dedicated family man, Mr. O’Connor worked out of his home so he could spend as much time as possible with his family. He loved to travel, and had visited all 7 continents and had been to orbit several times.

A world renown humanitartian, Mr. O’Connor devoted much of his life to charitable causes, including strong support for public education, environmental advocacy, and the destruction of organized religion.

Mr. O’Connor is survived by his wife of 70 years, their four children, and 8 grandchildren, along with one brother and two sisters.

A private funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow, and some of Mr. O’Connor's ashes will be scattered into orbit from space station Universe.

I have seen it!

"It was nearing midnight..."

I have seen it. It exists.

D&D is fun!

Played D&D today with the old group. I really forgot how much fun D&D is. I had a really good time. Wasn't the most epic session ever, just cleared a couple of rooms in the Temple of Elemental Evil, but it was very fun.

Here's a pic of the folks (Left to Right: Rich, Nicole, and Jay)



And here is a pic of Rob the DM cackling at something:



And here is a pic of the final battle of the night:


Lion pig-pile on some skeletons! Hah!

It was a pretty crazy fight. We walked into this giant cavern, and there were 5 or 6 of these 9 foot tall skeletons with long whip-like claws. Forget what they were called, bone-somethings. Anyways, they took half damage from most of our attacks, they had 20 foot reach, and they had serious turn resistance. We finally managed to take them down, with a horde of summoned celestial lions, a couple of cure spells, some brilliant singing, a couple of magic missles, and some serious greatsword hacking. It probably took 2 hours to finish this battle, and by the time it was over we were all exhausted. It was a good time.

With any luck we'll play again next week.

More camera fun...

Here are some more pics...

Here are some blurry fireworks from the fourth:



It's really tough to hold the camera still without a tripod for long exposure shots, especially when you are drunk.

Here is an underexposed pic of the back of Jay's head and some folks from the party:



Left to right, not counting Jay's head. Rich's girlfriend Pam (Rich is off camera about a foot to the left, Nicole, Rob, and Golina(Sp?)

Was fun hanging out with those guys and Dave and Kev on the fourth. Probably would have been bored and depressed out of my skull staying home by myself.

Here is a great piece of sidewalk chalk I found on Washington Street:


It's a little blurry, but it reads "I hate my [blank] Can you guess what the missing word is. - Tanhay" Weird stuff.

Dashboard dino on a rainy day:


And fun with macro - Lord of the Rings Risk:


So I have nothing serious to say today, other than I have made some serious decisions regarding my future and/or current lack of a future.

Work still sucks.

What the hell!

What the hell!

So anyway, the new manager started today. She seems really nice, very friendly, seems to know what she's doing and she has a nice positive attitude. She was great, it was all cool, la dee da.

No, wait, that's not how it happened. Um, let me think. Oh, okay now I remember.

SHE DIDN'T SHOW UP!

Apparently after being offered and accepting the job she decided to fall off the planet. The DM hasn't heard from her in about a week after multiple contact attempts. So essentially, I am stuck running the place for the indefinite future. Ha ha ha ha ha ahahah....*gurgle**splort**choke**

Yep.

So anyways, Richard Cheese is the freakin' man. He is who I want to be when I grow up.

Rock on brothers and sisters. Rock. On.

Bought a new camera...

Well, my old digital camera up and died on me so I went out and bought a new one. My old camera was a good camera, I hope I get as much use out of this new one. It's a Canon A520. It is pretty cool, got a whole bunch of bells and whistles (literally. It can make bird noises). It has all kinds of manual controls, can take video, a decent zoom, fun stuff.

Here are a couple of pics I took today, of nothing in particular:

Weird orb near Kendall:



Flower with macro:



Random building for drawing reference:



Asphalt for a texture:



Hehe. I do like gadgets.

Buffy sketch...

Here is a color sketch of Buffy, based off a photograph.

It's been a weird week. Things look they may be coming to a head soon at work. They hired a new manager, who starts Tuesday. I have also decided I don't give a flying fuck about the job anyway. Not that I cared much before. But I care even less now.

Took a look at the spreadsheet for 1st quarter. They are always bitching about hours, hours, hours - don't use a lot of hours. But as it turns out, we are under payroll plan by a significant margin, most of which should be in my pocket for running the place. Bitter? Upset? What do you think?

I am redoubling my efforts to find a new job. My base requirements are - 15 minute commute if driving or 45 by subway, $9.50 per hour, 16-24 hours per week, no late nights and then early mornings. Those are my base standards. I am not looking for responsibility, or room for advancement. I am looking for a job that will help me pay for school, and put a couple of bucks in my pocket, and give me time to pursue my art and other personal projects. I am pretty flexible with what kind of job it actually is. If it could at least be vaguely associated with something I am interseted and allow me to learn some new things, that would rock. No bullshit, though.

I talked to Sarah earlier this week, and it was weird and I was weird and I am sorry. She seems sad and upset and I wonder if it's only when she's talking to me that she gets upset or if I am upset when I talk to her and that makes her upset or I don't even know. I'm just confused. I think we had a great connection not too long ago. I feel lately like I am walking on eggshells whenever I talk to her, and it wasn't like that before. She hasn't called me in a couple of days and I think she is pissed at me.

I am working most of this weekend. 4th of July weekend. Don't know if it's going to be busy.I think I may snap. My tolerance for humanity has worn a little thin.

I have some pages done from my comic, not all that I wanted to, but a couple. I am not too too happy with the way they came out, but it was good practice and fun to do them. I did 3 pages in about 6 hours, and I definately was rushing. I need to be able to take my time. I am still going to try to finish a full book. It think it takes a lot longer to draw and ink a good page than I thought. I figure I will need about 5 hours to pencil, 5 hours to ink, and 5 hours to color and letter each page. That's 15 hours per page, times 24 pages, equals about 15 days straight to finish a book, give or take. That is a lot of time. But it makes me happy :)

Here's page one (no words or colors yet) :



And here is page two: