Bruce The Psychic Guy

gallo_de_pelea @ 1:03pm: Tonight: Java Curry
I'm sitting here feeling like I've just been through the emotional wringer - all these endorphins, mental exhaustion, eyes swollen and dry... when in reality, I just cut a really, REALLY strong onion about 20 minutes ago.

Pffffff silly human body.

the_boyfriend @ 11:59am: On the backside... running down.
 Heading back to Austin. I'm in San Fran now. 

Looks like it's going to be India, Cal. By tonight.. then El Paso, and Austin on Monday. 

Only one day late!

Pray for me in the Desert.

Kitty (My Jeep) has been a champ this whole time.

chriskewl @ 12:30pm: Looks...
So I was going through my old picture archive and saw an ASCII picture I made in HTML...
http://www.kkwow.com/chjournal/chrisascii.htm

I was thinking to myself "Wow, I wish I was that skinny again."

That was 2002-2003, about 6 years ago.  I bet back then I was 300lbs.  I looked fantastic.  I look at myself now and I really see age and weight.  It's sad.  I want to go back to looking like that.

Bethany kicked my butt again and even said today was our hardest we've ever worked out.  I could feel it.  I just wish my abs would stop complaining.  When I tried to tie my shoes they complained horribly.  Not a good feeling.  It'll take awhile before my abs are used to being used.

Anyways, I am tired and sore.  I didn't exactly sleep well last night so I am going to lay down and watch a little bit of Mythbusters and maybe get a few hours of kip.

lolotehe @ 2:42am: Writer's Block: Lights Out


I killed a guy. No one saw shit.

ichigo_babe @ 8:35pm: ahh Eminem.
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

telophase @ 7:35pm: Tokyo in Tulsa, day 1
Drove 5 hours to Tulsa today. Managed to find my hotel, no thanks to Google Maps who route you around downtown as if there weren't this GIANT NEW CONVENTION CENTER right on top of the streets they tell you to drive down. Was not expecting my hotel to be quite this nice, as I bid $50/night on Priceline and got it. :D I'm at the Crowne Plaza. After checking in, I went down to the (old) Convention Center where the con is being held, and checked in with no fuss. Stayed a couple of hours but between having found parking in a garage that was closing at 6:30 and being incredibly tired and hungry, I decided that cutting out early and heading for food and sleep was the better pat of valor, as if I ende dup with a migraine from lack of food and sleep, I wouldn't be able to sell on Saturday.

Sold 3 things right off the bat before I finished setting up, then ... nothing. Ah well. The person next to me said that last year, Friday was really busy, and it was very quiet today*. I suspect it's having the same problems as all cons are this year. We'll see how I do Sat and Sun - I'll decide later if I think it'll be worth coming back next year.

Just had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Was expecting the hotel prices. Was not expecting the amazingly good food. I had chicken piccata, and it was the best-cooked chicken piccata I have ever had in my entire life. And while I paid almost $10 for a glass of wine, it came in a little carafe that held a bit closer to 2 glasses than 1.** So while I paid hotel prices for the meal, I ended up with fine-dining quality. I may have dinner tomorrow here - there was a skirt steak on the menu that I decided not to get for fear of it not being cooked correctly (it's tough if you don't get it right), but now I have a lot more confidence.

The exhibit hall with the dealers' room and artist alley opens tomorrow at 10, but we can get in at 9. My entire goal for tonight is to stay awake until 9PM, then crash. I may even indulge in breakfast tomorrow down in the restaurant. :D



* Except for the guy who drove a motorcycle around the exhibit hall. The inside of the exhibit hall. There was, inexplicably, some sort of motorcycle display on the other side.

* My Washington, DC and NY readers are now laughing at me for thinking $10/glass of wine and $20/entree is extremely expensive, :D It is, down here in the heartland!

gallo_de_pelea @ 7:33pm: Thanks to halfassured
This one's for moonlightwish

Also: Year In Waiting subsite is up. No new content yet.

ETA: lol what is wrong with me:

[photo of Raphael Saadiq]
EK: oh, he's cute
[photo of Raphael Saadiq in geeky 1960s black rimmed glasses]
EK: HOLY SMOKIN JESUS HUMMANUMMA

ichigo_babe @ 4:00pm: OK...
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

lolotehe @ 3:25pm: Quote
The ability of the internet to link to additional information – information which might exist beyond the formal hierarchy of organizational structure or published material from such an organization – acts as a means of subverting, or bypassing, formal hierarchies.

--The Cluetrain Manifesto

gallo_de_pelea @ 12:02pm: illuminate the main streets and the cinema aisles
Building a subsite to house the Year In Waiting strips. Any idea for a slogan? It was "doodle comics about a graphic artist doing something completely different", but that sounds too egocentric...

Am v. much liking neighborhood bar for "need to work but oh god need to get out of the house" purposes. Walking distance, not too busy, service is OK but leaves me mostly alone, natural light through south window, good beer.

Rather poetic spam e-mail today: for instance, those from Rio appear to be preserved.  I have doubts whether herons do feed sometimes on illegible fruit; and grebes on seeds of turning much land into sea.  I do not go so far as that, but the case seems highly (high duck!), and I find the tame duck ought, according to scale, build its nest in holes, either in trees or the ground.

Tomorrow: mulch and compost in the early morning; work from the afternoon to the wee hours. Austin buddies, text me if you want to have lunch. :)

ETA: If you are in or near the Van Nuys area, please please read this post.

khyungbird @ 7:04am: The Strange High House in the Mist, page 4
Page 4 of The Strange High House in the Mist is now up! The next page will go up on July 17.

tohoscope @ 7:57am: 2 more

tohoscope @ 7:49am: Sketchamaday pen abuse

lolotehe @ 10:38pm: Picture
Simple happy thing.

lolotehe @ 10:01pm: Link
High five

khyungbird @ 5:22pm: New Manga Salad
I have a new "Manga Salad" article up on Comixology: Moe: The Cult of the Child. This one grew out of the "moe: pro-con debate" article for Otaku USA a few issues back.

chriskewl @ 6:47pm: Back from Doctor
Doctor said that my personal trainer is 100% on the ball. She's trying to get me in Ketosis.  So on the 20th I will start my new stage 2 diet.  That's when we can put carbs back in slowly.  So of course that's why the limited amount of calories and the lack of carbs.  It's kinda like the South Beach Diet, but Bethany said there are differences.

I am trying to think of what I want to do on the 16th.  Hrm...  That'll be my diet cheat day.

Anyways, that's all, that's the update.

rikkisimons @ 1:33pm: ShutterBox


Our attorney and friend, Ken Levin has confirmed for Tavisha and I that we own all of the rights to our entire ShutterBox series free and clear, including the copyrights, which we had never shared. As you may be aware, Tokyopop, the series' original publisher, went into "restructuring" last year and canceled publication of ShutterBox (along with many many of Tokyopop's other titles) just as we were about to turn in Book Five for early 2009 publication.



In answer to the numerous inquiries from some of the ShutterBox series' many fans: YES, we are now actively seeking a way to continue the series, both to publish the new volumes, and to republish the now out of print earlier volumes. We are open to and exploring both traditional publishing or through new methods. Interested publishers can e-mail me at rikki@rikkisimons.com and I'll forward any proposals to Ken, or can contact Ken directly at KenFLevin@gmail.com.



ShutterBox, the first American series published by Tokyopop (2003), is a high fantasy romance about a young lady named Megan Amano, who, when she dreams, is transported to an afterlife world where she attends school as the only living exchange student in a school for muses. Five volumes have been completed, with only four published thus far.



-Rikki

gallo_de_pelea @ 2:59pm: Can today just stop happening, please?

eta: Man, fuck this go-to-work-come-home routine. Gonna walk Dini-butt over to the neighborhood bar and have a sandwich and a beer and just draw till I'm tired. Maybe a small change of scene will kick my brain into "wanna draw" gear again.

telophase @ 2:47pm: Hotel near UT Austin?
I'll be in Austin on the 24th for a one-day workshop held on the UT campus, and want to know if any Texans here know of a decent hotel that's not hot and cold running roaches in the vicinity. I'm getting reimbursed for this by the school, so this isn't the time to be going for the nifty hotel that costs a bit more, otherwise I'll be frowned at Very Sternly by the admin assistant. :)

telophase @ 10:03am: To-do for con
( cut for boring )

telophase @ 9:28am: Oh, even better
Remember yesterday's momentary lapse of apathy about the Texas State School Board? They're at it again, now with social studies. (Dallas Morning News site, use bugmenot.com if it asks you to sign in.)

Highlights of the article:

"To have César Chávez listed next to Ben Franklin" -- as in the current standards -- "is ludicrous," wrote evangelical minister Peter Marshall, one of six experts advising the state as it develops new curriculum standards for social studies classes and textbooks. David Barton, president of Aledo-based WallBuilders, said in his review that Chávez, a Hispanic labor leader, "lacks the stature, impact and overall contributions of so many others."

Marshall also questioned whether Thurgood Marshall, who argued the landmark case that resulted in school desegregation and was the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice, should be presented to Texas students as an important historical figure. He wrote that the late justice is "not a strong enough example" of such a figure.

[...]

Barton, a former vice chairman of the Texas Republican Party, said that because the U.S. is a republic rather than a democracy, the proper adjective for identifying U.S. values and processes should be "republican" rather than "democratic." That means social studies books should discuss "republican" values in the U.S., his report said.

Both Barton and Marshall also singled out as overrated Anne Hutchinson, a New England pioneer and early advocate of women's rights and religious freedom, who was tried and banished from her Puritan colony in Massachusetts because of her nontraditional views.

"She was certainly not a significant colonial leader, and didn't accomplish anything except getting herself exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for making trouble," Marshall wrote.

Remember, non-Texans! These are the guys who will be making standards for YOUR TEXTBOOKS if they prevail! Texans: Contact the Texas governor. Contact your Texas state rep. Contact your Texas state senator.

telophase @ 8:08am: Aaaand another AutoShoujo entry, again with current YA novel cover sensibilities. Front. Back.

(Wow. How many billions of entries are we going to have by August 16th?)

tohoscope @ 8:02am: well that sucks

tohoscope @ 7:37am: Really?
http://tinyurl.com/km5gnb