pfarley

I love the goofy video we worked on all day to wish CJ a Merry Christmas in Afghanistan. We got most of his friends and our family to say whatever they wanted to say on video all week...and then many of us danced to his favorite goofy Christmas song. Unfortunately, my brother made me swear that I'd never upload it to the internet or he wouldn't dance, but I bet after he sees the dance number he'll let me.

And dammit, I would've loved to have iLife '09 instead of '08 for this, but I waited 'til last night to download it only to discover it's not downloadable. And, of course, no stores were open today. Drat.

Because I'm honestly curious about something now. And never learn. XD

And no, despite the icon... what I'm curious about is not what you think it is.

【ANOTHER ANON MEME】

These days, I feel torn about Thanksgiving. I've been trying to find out exactly what the story of how the celebration got started is. I've heard everything from the standard story told to children in school, that it's a celebration of a short peace between the European settlers and the Native Americans, to a story that suggests that the Native Americans were threatened and offered food to placate the settlers, to a story that claims that the settlers were actually celebrating having massacred large numbers of Native Americans and threw a victory party for themselves. I'm not entirely certain which of those is the truth, or how to determine which is true.

The people in the blogoverse that I used to hang out with most often talked a lot about white privilege. And while I'm sort of fatigued by endless discussions of societal "class" these days, even about "axes" on which I'm "oppressed" (I do talk about those things, but I'm rather tired of the academic phrasing, as I'm no longer sure it convinces anyone who isn't already on board with the theory), if the massacre story is the true one, then surely it's a mark of my social standing that I get to have fun at a harvest festival while Native Americans get to seethe in the knowledge that everyone else is told lies and partying while they remember what happened to their ancestors.

But it's weird. Thanksgiving was never my favorite holiday -- that was always Christmas, which delights me even now that I've left the religion behind. But I'm not the type usually to think about the things I'm thankful for, and there's always been a part of me that liked the annual reminder. It's pleasant to see all of one's friends talking about what's good in their lives and what they appreciate, and it's healing to remember the good in yours. Especially this time of year for me, when the cold and the dark make me more prone to brooding than usual.

So I don't know. When I was being all political, I hated the day by default, sure I'd uncovered its true history and that was all that mattered. But now I'm not so sure. I'm not certain how to verify what story is real, for one. For another, I do believe a harvest festival is only sensible, and though I'd like to purge ours of weird, twee cutesiness hiding possible atrocity, I personally cannot, and as the years go by I'm less and less convinced that the great We will ever do so either.

So. It's often taken as yet another sign of privilege that the privileged feel stuck and guilty. But, well, then here I am, as an anon put it, "defensive in privileged ways." As always, I'd rather be honest than proper. So, the truth: I feel weird. I miss celebrating harvest time with my family without wondering what I say to the family kids, as they repeat their Pilgrim stories proudly, sure what they learned is the truth. I don't even know what the truth is, and I have no right to recite one of the other truths to them to redress the wrong.

So: I'm thankful for my friends and the good people in my family. I'm thankful for a job, and one that means I can give back to the community and help other people with disabilities who are having problems or in trouble. I'm thankful for the chance to advocate, to allow my voice to be heard. And I'm thankful for the love of a puppy and two cats. I'm thankful for the Internet, as much as I hate it sometimes.

Warm dry home; helpful, hot husband who smells good; fat black cat; swimmy blue fish; wonderful editors; a marvelous agent; amazing publishers; super-cool boss; the Eden Moore books earning out; Boneshaker continuing to do well; distant family having a good time without me in better weather than I’m presently experiencing; a secret clubhouse that serves the world; friends who swing by with goodies today; friends who would totally swing by with goodies today if they were in town; friends who are in town but have other plans; friends who express the wish that I were back in their town; Trader Joe’s meat selection and “wine country” chicken salad; Tofurkey (shut up, I love it); candy-colored hair; shiny black boots; a big brick tower; reading recommendations; independent booksellers; chain booksellers; libraries; book-loaners; book readers; new wool coat with a hood; having about 1/3 of my holiday shopping finished already; fuzzy hats; too much work because it’s far better than not enough work; one vehicle which works and is fun to drive; Etsy; novelty tee shirts; The Gap’s revamped selection of jeans; Christmas travel plans; new work-out music; CuteOverload.com; McKay faux-chicken seasoning; Advil; pixelated socks; leg-warmers (even though I didn’t appreciate them the first time they came around; Coke Zero; six different styles of goggles; out-of-town conventions; in-town conventions; tights on sale at Nordstrom Rack; new headphones that keep my ears warm; uncommonly good cover karma; fingerless gloves; plastic cutlery and paper plates; sorted, itemized receipts for everything; hand sanitizer that smells like lavender and chamomile; footie pajamas; Google; cheap red wine; thrift shopping; PBS; good reviews of my books from people I don’t know (and to whom I am not related); my paper shredder; a pack of wild cards; and cheese.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

I have to give thanks for the people who have become part of my life over the past year. It's been a reminder of how friendship should be: full of freedom and sharing and support. It has brought me a sense of caring and comfort during difficult times.

I'm thankful that my family feels a little more like family each time I see them. I'm glad that things feel more positive when we're together. I'm looking forward to Christmas this year.

I'm also thankful that I'm learning how to deal. With everything. Even if it *is* a slow process.

Stay warm and happy, all of you. You're in my thoughts today. :)

dear lj:

i am thankful for my family and friends. you all brighten my life in many ways. i am thankful for yura whom i love with all my heart. i am thankful for san francisco, my house, which i am so homesick for i could cry. i am thankful for evan, zoe, and zane who bring endless joy to my life by simply growing and becoming themselves. i am thankful that my grep kitty is all well and no longer a headtube cat. i am thankful for awk even in her awkwardness. i am thankful for ak who has given yura a whole new appreciation of pets. i am thankful for zorya who even tho she can't help pulling like a draft horse, is otherwise the most wellbehaved of big dogs. i am thankful for our chickens who let us eat their babies, even tho they are taking the winter off. i am thankful for my jobs, which even tho they often feel like stupid work to me, is a dream job and the one i dreamed of as a child. i am thankful for the rest of our menagerie of pets who share our lives. i am thankful that tho my health slowly fails, i am healthy enough to continue to enjoy life. i am thankful every day, for every day, but today i take the time to stop my busy life and reflect on how thankful i am for it. happy kthxgiving everyone!!

love, hep

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my dear American friends.

My Zicam finally gave in to a cough that pitched a tent in my lungs. I've been napping a lot the last couple of days to try and get this over with asap. And that means the days I would be writing like a maniac to catch up I've only been scribbling a few notes here and there and falling further behind. I caught up a bit tonight after midnight (sleeping is all wonky) and I'm at almost 29k words when I should be at about 42k. It's totally possible to catch up if my lungs will cooperate by not making my eyes water and my brain feel like crapola.

Merely the Table Of Contents functionality of Apple's Pages app makes it worth its price. Pull down menu: Insert Table of Contents and BLAMMO, it's in there. When I update a section heading it's auto-updated in the TOC, with links back to the pages. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner for when I'm trying to get a 50,000 foot view of how this is shaping up without scrolling up and down pages to find stuff. It's a thing of beauty.

I'm sure Word could do this (right?) but I don't like Word's convoluted bloatedness to accomplish what I'm doing simply and (somewhat) intuitively in Pages.

That said, the numbered list has me baffled as I can't put a numbered list in somewhere and then yet another numbered list elsewhere without it picking up where the last one left off. I'm sure there's a way (there HAS to be) - I just haven't figured it out yet.

I figured I'd be able to download the '09 iLife just like I bought iWork - but no. I have to order a boxed DVD version or stop by a store. And I need it as we'll be editing CJ's Christmas video tomorrow and it has some great new functionality that I think we'll need. So. Trip to the Apple store it is.

And I'm SERIOUSLY considering a 4gb RAM upgrade (up from 2gb - WHAT WAS I THINKING?). When I calculate all the time I spend looking at a spiraling rainbow because I insist on having far too many apps and tabs open, it's well worth the $200 in productivity savings.

Today I went to deposit a check from a client and discovered that a bill I hadn't known would auto-deduct had over-drafted our account (by a lot) AND that the back window of our car is leaking for some reason. So now we are back to not being able to pay our rent, even if we overdrafted all our accounts to the maximum.

Jordan offered to sell his autographed Neil Gaiman and Robin McKinley books and that made me bawl.

I listed a bunch of things in yarny_bits and a strange assortment of stuff on ebay: http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/thescorchcake

I have way more I should list, but I'm so very very tired.

Philostratus the Younger, Imagines 2 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) :
“[Ostensibly a description of an ancient Greek painting :] Marsyas. The Phrygian has been overcome; at any rate his glance is that of a man already perished, since he knows what he is to suffer, and he realizes that he has played the flute for the last time, inasmuch as inopportunely he acted with effrontery toward [Apollon] the son of Leto. His flute has been thrown away, condemned never to be played again, since just now it has been convicted of playing out of tune. And he stands near the pine tree from which he knows he will be suspended, he himself having named this penalty for himself–to be skinned for a wine-sack. He glances furtively at the barbarian yonder who is whetting the edge of the knife to be applied to him; for you see, I am sure, that the man’s hands are on the whetstone and the iron, but that he looks up at Marsyas with glaring eyes, his wild and squalid hair all bristling. The red on his cheek betokens, I think, a man thirsty for blood, and his eyebrow overhands the eye, all contracted as it faces the light and giving a certain stamp to his anger; nay, he grins, too, a savage grin in anticipation of what he is about to do–I am not sure whether because he is glad or because his mind swells in pride as he looks forward to the slaughter. But Apollon is painted as resting upon a rock; the lyre which lies on his left arm is still being struck by his left hand in gentle fashion, as though playing a tune. You see the relaxed form of the god and the smile lighting up his face; his right hand rests on his lap, gently grasping the plectrum, relaxed because of his joy in the victory. Here also is the river which is to change its name to that of Marsyas. And look, please, at the band of Satyroi, how they are represented as bewailing Marsyas, but as displaying, along with their grief, their playful spirit and their disposition to leap about.”

http://art.pro.tok2.com/V/Vedder/vedd008.jpg

Originally published at Unicorn Tea Party. You can comment here or there.

Don't miss a frickin' THING I SAY!

• 19:45 Lovely Hilo evening - perfectly warm and sweet-smelling breeze. Eating outside at Bueno Burrito, then off to EHCC for figure drawing! #

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Woo wrote my first freehand sql query today (I always used gui query interfaces before).

Here are today’s stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue — and yes, I’m making an early day of it:

Project: Bloodshot
New Words Written: 2594 (not great, not bad)
Present Total Word Count: 83,005 words
Goal: 95,000 words by December 12





Things Accomplished in Fiction: Argued extensively with a seeing-eye ghoul.

Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; went to the University Book Store and signed their stock as well as a few mail-order books; did more last-minute Thanksgiving shopping; beat head against wall.

Reason for Stopping: The apartment is not clean and people are coming over tomorrow. I need to change the litterbox, sort out food prep arrangements, vacuum and mop the (filthy) floors, and maybe even do some laundry, we’ll see.

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

For Sale on Etsy

I'm so embarassed I filled in BOTH her little booties with black! One's sposed to be red. I realized my mistake two seconds after I did the deed. I'm terrible Harley Quinn fan!

Rich (my housemate and studiomate) is working on a Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy illustration too, so I'm gunna draw another one so we post them on the same day and be fan art buddies.

Also, here are some other neat things to look at!

Dylan Meconis' Family Man has its very own super snazzy website now! Dang, it is lookin' hella classy. If you like the dick-n-fart-joke-filled hit TV show Family Guy, you'll mother fuckin' LOVE Family Man. I guarantee it.

Hope Larson has a completely delightful Etsy shop of her original drawings and comic pages! I absolutely adore her work and it is a real treat to see her original work before it gets cleaned up on the computer. It's so much fun to see how someone constructs her drawings, before the guidelines get erased.

I've set up an Etsy storefront to sell my comic pages and illustrations, and raise money for Drink & Draw Like a Lady. I'll be adding new Chiggers pages and other artwork indefinitely, so keep an eye on it if original comic art is your thing! Once Mercury comes out I'll list some pages from that, too.

If you aren't in a buying mood, it's still worth a look because I've uploaded high-res, uncorrected scans of all the art. Pencil lines, whiteout, patches, ink drips... It's all there. You can figure out my whole comics-drawing process by looking at the pages.

I give you stats for the dirigible/pony-express story with zombies, the Goodnight-Loving trail, and a 19-year-old Union veteran who’s stuck with a mechanical foot.

Project: “Reluctance”
New Words Written: 2885 (uh oh)
Present Total Word Count: 7525 words
Goal: 5000 words by November 29





Details: Aw, crap. Way too long. Will shelve it for now, and try to fix it next week.
[:: headdesk ::]

[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Chapter 3 of Family Man has begun!

…and there’s a new website!

Change your links, everybody!  Family Man now lives on one single website, and that’s http://www.lutherlevy.com.  It’ll update there every week, and all the notes and extra features you have come to love (or merely tolerate) live there with it, along with many new bells and whistles and an all-over shinyness.

And a new chapter is off and running, with yet more exciting bunny imagery.  Sorry, bunnies of the world; it’s nothing personal.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those of you in the U.S. of A!  Now go play.

{wp version}

It's finally sunk in that I'm employed.

And not only employed, but employed at a company that really cares about their employees.

So, while I will have a separate 'thankful' post... I just want to take a moment and say a HUGE thank you to Chelsea, and to everyone that helped me over the last six months of unemployment blues.

Oh, and if you're on Facebook, even if you don't LIKE social gaming applications, check out my company's game: Island Paradise. Hint hint, nudge nudge.

Title: I Belong to Nobody
Characters: Megatron, the Fallen, (briefly) whoever exactly make up that gaggle o' Decepticons who resurrect Megatron
Verse: Movie
Wordcount: 1,890+
Rating: PG
Summary: I never liked the way that Megatron, who was "pretty much the harbinger of death" in the first movie, was portrayed as a sycophantic servant of the Fallen in ROTF. So I decided to restore his dignity. Do not anger the Megatron fen, for our vengeance is swift and terrible.