As most of you know, I've been dating nitoria for quite a while now. Just over eight months, to be precise. We've had our ups and downs, and we've helped each other progress through a lot of our emotional baggage, and I've explored this whole new dimension of emotion - the Fatherhood Zone. Her two kids, Hunter and Aidan, are pretty much awesomesauce, except, of course, when they're not. Heh.

Okay, yes, I lifted that word from Wil Wheaton. *sigh*

I am in love with this woman, and I love her kids. They have made me a part of their family, fully and truly. Hell, I'm carrying around pictures of children in my wallet. Something changed for me on Father's Day. Rather, something changed -in- me. Something clicked. And I'm glad that it did.

What the crap am I rambling about? Okay, fine, I'll try to be succinct. (FAIL!)

If we can find a place in time, she and I and her children will be moving in together next month. My apartment complex apparently has a deluge of requests for apartments, and they're practically booting me out the door. If not, it'll be early November.

Secondly, and more importantly, when it comes to the 24/7 glowing and smiling that I've been doing, I'm going to be a father. She is in the family way, as they used to say (probably in the times of the Scarlet Letter, but I always liked that phrase). As far as we can tell, in about eight months from now, I'll be distributing George Burns sticks of doom to many people. :)!

The end of Steven isn't about Steven, shockingly enough. Well, the -very- end will be. I finished the fiction for Issue 23 on my lunch break today - Chen's Chinese FTW. I'm still kind of frustrated with the small number of words that are hitting the page, but at least I'm finally happy with their quality. I've not seen many comic books have defined endings that run much longer than six issues. This one, which is planned for 24, has time for a little bit of angst. The assassin discovers that he has killed his own brethren, but does it matter? Who has sent him? Does it matter?

I am very happy with how the end of this story is flowing into the beginning of the next. There never really is a beginning or an end, is there? :) One story always seems to flow into the next and into the next.

Issue Progress:

New Steven fiction on the web page. I've almost got the second-to-last issue finished. So close!

Linky Link McLinkerson

What smearing does McCain need to do, when an entire "news" network is doing it for him?

Trase: http://www.reason.com/UserFiles/Image/rbalko/baggypants.jpg
Trase: http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080708/NEWS06/307080009
Me: Ahhh, yes.
Me: The Flint Pants Fiasco
Me: The plumbers will finally get theirs.
Trase: *gags on popcorn whilst laughing*

Me: Steakhouse burger = pure ridiculousness
Ani: lol
Ani: true
Me: I was running late for work and hadn't eaten yet. They might as well call it "we don't have a bun big enough for this" burger
Me: *burp*
Ani: LOL
Me: With a side of "we will assemble it so that it falls apart whilst you eat"
Ani: so true
Me: I really just wanted to use the word whilst in a sentence.
Ani: understandablle

This is something that I've wanted to see for a while, after seeing it show up in rainar's journal, and then seeing how deep Hunter is into it. So, I added it to my queue. I mean, c'mon, I dig cartoons, even pseudo-Anime like this, right?

*blink*

So, I finish with the first DVD, and all I can think is, "How cool would Transformers have been if they'd paid that much attention to the quality of the animation? The frame rate? The art? The physics? The way bodies work? Just watching the benders go through their various katas (is that the correct word?), and start understanding what kind of motions are related to which element, and wow, that really -does- make sense.

It's difficult to let the next season make its progression through my queue. Four stars.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to Harper's Index, 97 percent of us believe that following our own conscience is a sign of a strong character. On the other hand, 92 percent of us think that obeying authorities shows strong character. What that apparently means is that most of us feel we can and should heed the dictates of our own conscience *and* please the people who control things. In the coming weeks, I think that might be possible for you to do once or twice. But most the time, I suspect you'll have to decide between being either an impeccable rebel or loyal devotee.

One of the rubrics for determining if a society is civilized is its art. From peculiaire, hungerf9, and skyfire1228:

The Big Ask or: Edinburgh is Expensive.

As many of you may know, I'm taking a little show that I wrote to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. We had great reviews in our first run at the Cincy Fringe, and now we're on our way to performing in the largest arts festival in the world: We will perform in Edinburgh from August 2-25, taking only the 13th off in an attempt to preserve our sanity.



We will be one of nearly 3,000 shows competing for audiences and attention. It's an incredible opportunity both for myself and the company; for two of our actors, this will be their first time out of the country. Period. They haven't even been to Canada.

But it's also incredibly expensive. Our actors are all providing their own transportation to the festival, but as a company, we (this is the editorial we, buy the way) are paying for our venue rental, housing, and all advertising costs. This would be pricey in the best of times, but with the weakness of the dollar, well...

These costs come to about $15,000.

We're expecting to make maybe $3,000 in ticket sales.

But! The Know Theatre of Cincinnati, where I am resident designer for most of the year, has generously agreed to act as co-producer, offering us the umbrella of their 501(c)3 status to allow us to accept tax deductible donations.

We've already received an amazing $5,000 contribution from some wonderful supporters in Cincinnati. Now if we could just get 200 people to donate 25 bucks each, we would be pretty much set.

So now, I pose this question to you: Do you pay taxes? Would you like to pay less in taxes? If so, please consider heading over to the convenient web donation page for the Know to throw a couple of bucks in the hat via credit card or bank transfer. If you do, be sure to write "Hunger Warrior Theatre - Anna the Slut" in the comment box so that the Know can tell it's meant for us.

Not only will you be helping a group of wide eyed young actors realize a late summer's dream, you'll be giving my career a big boost.

And you will also be ensuring that I don't have to eat Ramen for the rest of the year.

I understand the uncertainty and tightness of these economic times, so I certainly don't want to imply any sort of obligation. Any and all help, whether one dollar, twenty dollars, or simply emotional and moral support, is appreciated.

Thanks. We now return to our irregularly scheduled LJ.

Thanks to speedygeo for the link. :)

I've updated the writery website with the new issue count for Steven. Over 90%!



I can't believe that I'm so close to getting this fiction written. And, as promised, I have posted the first segment of the fiction behind Book 2. This story arc begins with Steven waking from the fogs after his most recent death. The next installment, Blood Rite, will bring back Blaize and the woman that barely escaped the fire in Steven's loft. As always, parental guidance is suggested, adult themes, etc., park bench. Input is appreciated and requested.

What's that? Cyan Worlds has retreived rights to Myst Online/URU Live from Game Tap? Oh yes.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/txt/archive/?postID=6114
http://www.massively.com/2008/07/01/cyan-aquires-myst-online-opens-game-development-to-fans/

Thanks to myst_library and deusinnomen for the links. :)

They'll be throwing open the doors for user-generated content, as well. I'm wondering what tools will be available for it... and then I realize that I don't have the art skillz needed. It's Myst, after all. It's got to be shiny.

In any case, I can't wait.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): In his song "Get Behind the Mule," Tom Waits tells us to "Never let the weeds get taller than the garden." That's advice you should heed in the coming weeks. But don't go overboard and become a fanatic who acts as if weeds are evil demons from the ninth level of hell. Keeping a few well-trimmed wild plants and a mushroom or two would be quite healthy. You need a bit of messy serendipity mixed in with your law and order.

I've finished the purple notebook, and started on the one that I got for Father's Day. I've sullied its beauty with ink, and it still looks magnificent.

Another issue worth of Steven is done.

The fiction behind Book 2 of Steven will be hitting the writery web page soon. Look out for that, if you dig Steven. Book 2 is where it -really- starts to get twisted.

Looks like there might just be copies of The Remembrance at ConClave this year. I'm going to see what I can do to slip in some badge ribbons and send some Goblin War bookmarks, too. More details will be forthcoming as October approaches.

Pushing through the self-doubt. Pushing through the inaction. Pushing through. :)

From Neil Gaiman's blog:

"I'm reading Samuel R. Delany's _About Writing_ right now....  _About
Writing_ is a wonderful book that should be read by anyone who wants
to be, or is already, a writer. It contains seven essays, four letters
and five interviews.

"I was just struck by this paragraph from one of the letters -- to
someone who wishes he or she was a writer, but probably isn't. And I
thought, I should put it up here for all the people who write to me
convinced that they would be happy if only they were writers.

    Writers are people who write. By and large, they are not happy
people. They're not good at relationships. Often they're drunks. And
writing -- good writing -- does not get easier and easier with
practice. It gets harder and harder -- so eventually the writer must
stall out into silence.The silence that waits for every writer and
that, inevitably, if only with death (if we're lucky the two may
happen at the same time: but they are still two, and their coincidence
is rare), the writer must fall into is angst-ridden and terrifying -
and often drives us mad. (In a letter to Allen Tate, the poet Hart
Crane once described writing as "dancing on dynamite.") So if you're
not a writer, consider yourself fortunate.

"(Hey, I thought when I read that, at least I'm not a drunk.)"

It's Friday. That means new FreakAngels.

Yoinked from hannunvaakuna:

• Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.
• See if anybody else responds with "I've done that." If they have, you need to add another! (2.b., 2.c., etc...)
• Have your friends cut & paste this into their journal to see what unique things they've done in their life.

1a. Earned the Eagle Scout rank from the Boy Scouts of America
1b. Ridden on a bullet train.
1c. Been married on Halloween.
2a. Self-published a novel
2b. Been to the Hiroshima Peace Park
3. Officiated a funeral

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Welcome to Part Two of your outlook for the second half of 2008, Taurus. We're checking up on how you're progressing with the challenges you were given near the end of last year. One of the tasks at the top of your to-do list, I hope, has been the expansion of your worldview. Whether it occurs by traveling to exotic places, hanging out with broad-minded lovers of life, or exposing yourself to intriguing ideas that activate your deep thoughts, you need to seek out breathtaking views of the big picture. Here are two tips about how to ensure that your inner pioneer is always itchy to investigate the unknown: 1. Shed inhibitions that serve no constructive purpose. 2. Declare your independence from trivial details.

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.