- 12:22 Docket: 1. D&D. 2. Pounce, evening phase after D&D. That's pretty much it actually. :) #
Today I was combing through my collection, trying to assemble my 90s era Warhammer Chaos Dwarfs (the ones with the ridiculously enormous helmets). I haven't touched them in like 10 years, so I thought I'd see if I could trade them. I found the infantry without a problem, but after that it didn't go as smoothly. I could not find the Death Rocket or my Bull Centaurs, but I know they must be in my office somewhere.
The trouble is my minis collection long ago got out of hand. At some point, probably four or five moves ago, I labeled most of my boxes with the contents. Over time things have gotten moved around a bit, so the labels aren't always accurate. Also, I've acquired a lot of stuff since then and it's scattered about. So today I opened a box for a tank and found it stuffed with Heroclix instead, discovered the WWII Chindit minis I had totally forgotten about, and unearthed a box of Battletech minis that date back to my college years. It's getting harder and harder to find things, which makes me not want to bother looking sometimes. And if I'm not going to use the minis I've collected for the past 30 years, why do I have them in the first place?
I think what I need to do is a massive reorganization of my minis. Pull everything out and just start sorting. It would be easiest to do on a big floor, but we don't have a good area in the house. Kate suggested her school's gym, which was sweet, but I can only imagine what he principal would say if I asked to use the school's facilities to sort my toy soldiers. July is shaping up to be a crazy month and then I'll be gone for half of August, so realistically this can't happen until September at the earliest. I'm itching to tackle it tomorrow, but I have writing that I need to do instead. Work now, minis later; that always seems to be the way.
- Music:Desmond Dekker "007 (Shanty Town)"
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scrivenette journal. It was time to get rolling again. We will now return to the regularly scheduled minifiction.Per our previous agreement I was allowed to sleep if I thoroughly exhausted myself. I have met my half of the terms of our agreement today. Why am I being ousted after an hour and a half of down-time?
I suppose I will have to request an intervention on my behalf by the SleepyTime Counsul. It seems that previous adjudication by the Sheep Counting Guild Master and the 1999 Act of Eyelid Reading is no longer holding enough weight in your opinion.
Thank you for taking the time out to consider this matter. "My people" will be in touch with "your people."
No Love,
-Jeff
- Location:Not in bed
- Mood:
awake
Comparing core rules to core rules, 4E devotes more proportional attention to RP, characterization, and non-combat skill use than 3E does.
Yes, 4E removed "background" skills, and perhaps that was a mistake. (I agree that they shouldn't draw on the same pool as "useful" skills, but an optional, additional system would have been nice.) I'm in no way claiming it's perfect in all respects, and I'm not claiming it's the right game for all people. But the notion that it's any more combat-focused than prior editions would be laughable, if it hadn't reached the point of making me cry in frustration.
(And no, this is not directed at any specific post. It's a reaction to an aggregate of several.)
- Mood:
frustrated
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This Thursday and the next (July 10 and 17), I’m teaching a pair of classes about “Story Writing for Video Games” at the Loves Park, IL, branch of the North Suburban District Library. Each is for ages 12–18, and it’s free, free, free!
If you or a teenager you know might be interested in hearing me blather on about writing for computer games for an hour at a stretch, just give the library a call (815-633-4247 x. 4) to register for the classes. (They’re free, but you still have to sign up.) I’m told that the 20 slots may already be spoken for, but it’s worth a phone call if you’re interested.
I also see that Will Pfeifer will be teaching a pair of class on comic-book writing the following two weeks. I don’t know Will at all, but he’s taking over from John Rogers for a two-issue fill-in on Blue Beetle, among many other things. That alone would get me to sign up if I could possibly pass for 18.
#30 Quicksilver, the Baroque Cycle #1, by Neil Stephenson. I really enjoyed this. I am not sure why a work of historical recreation, fleshed out with some modern words contrasted next to three hundred year old usage, and enhanced by a thoroughly enjoyable fictional protagonist, would hold my interest so much. The book has no predictable break points, making it hard to guage where I stop reading it on the bus. Yet it is compelling. Stephenson brings the 17th and early 18th centuries to life in a vivid manner. I found myself researching more than one historical person and event because of this novel.
As it happens, I'm reading this in paperback, which is eight volumes, as opposed to hardcover, which was three oversized volumes apparently. I wasn't sure in the middle if I would go for a second volume. Now I'm sure. The only question is whether I pause to read Stephenson's Cryptonomicon first. It's mentioned in the book, and other friends noted it was excellent.
Page Count: 426
*I may have lost count and missed on in here. Admittedly, it has been busy.
- Mood:accomplished
Harlan Ellison turned 74 years of age the other week. And so I dug out my copies of THE GLASS TEAT and THE OTHER GLASS TEAT, the collections of his columns on television written circa 1969-1971, and began to re-read them, as I do every couple of years. The thing you need to know about the GLASS TEAT books is that, for all the wrong reasons, they’re timeless. The states of American network tv, dissent and education have not notably changed since he wrote those columns in his mid-thirties. (I’ve been re-reading those books since I was 20 or so, and it’s a shock to realise I’m finally older than he was when he wrote them. And I don’t want to think about how long it’s been since I first picked up a volume of his short stories in Rayleigh Library. With my dad making approving noises behind me: "Harlan Ellison. Good writer.’’)
I met him once. I’d made a crack somewhere online about Harlan’s heart being held together with garden twine and Lego, I think as part of a larger piece about dealing with anger as a writer. One of his fans — not representative of his constituency as a whole, I think — suffered a major reading comprehension failure, fired a foul note off to me and put it in front of Harlan as a ’’let’s you and him fight’’ kind of deal. From which I received a very nice email from Harlan, assuring me that no gardening supplies were required to hold him together and actually addressing the substance of the piece rather than the misreading placed before him. It was nice, he said, that it turned out we each liked the other’s work.
There’s a peculiar artist’s fear, that rides very low in the gut and mostly goes unspoken. Though few of us would cop to having ’’heroes,’’ debased term that it is, the fear does run along the lines of ’’don’t meet your heroes.’’ The man or woman who wrote the things that helped form you as a creator is not necessarily as loveable as the work. This is something I’ve been lucky in, but I will admit to passing on meeting Hunter Thompson a couple of times, and friends of mine have not had my luck. I know writers who now cannot read their heroes’ work. The books are tainted by the experience.
I met Harlan some months later, at a convention. Our signing tables were side by side. Harlan arrived later than I did (I think the signings were staggered), spotted me and yelled "Warren Ellis! Let me give you a manly hug!’’ So I stood up. Harlan’s about five and a half feet tall. I’m six foot tall barefoot, and I was wearing heavy boots. He looked up at me and exclaimed, "Jesus, you’re HUGE!"
I don’t have "heroes," but there are writers I admire greatly, who were influential in my becoming a writer, and I am grateful to have met Harlan Ellison and remain able to take pleasure in his work. Better: now I can hear his voice, and recall the great personal warmth with which he welcomed me on every occasion we met during that convention.
All of which, wishing him a belated happy birthday and talking about how generations of writers deal with each other and so forth, is really just preface to my discovery last night that the fine ebook purveyor Webscription is now offering eight Harlan Ellison books.
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)Today, as a result, has been a lazy day. I've spent most of it, frankly, snoozing and watching DVDs. I have gotten out to walk a bit; exercise is a habit I need to build and sustain, especially as I head toward the end of my contract. Being a couch-potato wasn't my original plan, but I seem to have very little energy for much else. The plan this evening is to see "Hancock" with
ironymaiden.Surely I can accomplish something before then. Let me go and attempt it.
Originally published at Eventually Clever. Please leave any comments there.
When Ben and Naomi want to get my attention, they call “Daddy!” or, on a rare occasion, “Dad.” It’s adorable, frankly.
When they need something in a hurry, or they want me to answer right away, they holler “Steve!” Just like Dina does when she’s at the bottom of the stairs and realizes she’s forgotten her sunglasses/car keys/coffee mug.
They know the magic word.
The con is buzzing, a constant font of nerdjoy. There's a room with archery targets set up - archery! Guihelm (one of my hosts) and I were betting as to what got dinged first - the lights or the wall-mounted clock, but Douglas (the Uberhost) informed me that they've been doing it for six years with no mishaps. That being said, there was a conspicuously empty wall mount for a flatscreen TV in there.
The big stage is in the school's central courtyard. This morning, before the interviews started, it was hosting impromptu boffer scrums. Enthusiasm, yes. Technique, not so much, but then again it's been a long time since I swung foam in anger.
My guides and partners in mayhem thus far are Guihelm and Rodrigo. G's from Sao Paulo but is studying abroad; R is from the country but knows the city better than G does, and together they have a great Now-look-what-you-made-me-do vibe that's a joy to behold. They've been teaching me Portuguese, both couth and otherwise, and have been beaming like proud papas when I get something right. Thus far, the vocabulary has been expanded to "I'm doing fine," "Thank you", and the Portuguese equivalent of badonkadonk.
I had some interviews scheduled for 1, but they started late due to the journalists in question having to travel a heck of a long way to get to the show. While we waited, we sat in the Green Room - manned by a ferociously solicitous woman who wants me to sample many things Brasilian and explain what each of them is in great detail - and I chatted with one of the women working the show. She wanted to be sure that I knew that Brasilian women were intelligent and strong-willed and Not At All Like What People Expect Based On Movies. Also, she wanted to practice her English on me, which is not a euphemism for anything, you filthy-minded brutes.
I did one interview with a couple of print guys, then got followed around by a cameraman/reporter from one of the music channels. He filmed part of my talk, then followed up with some questions, then asked me to record a promo.
I've never recorded a promo before. Based on my performance in this one, I may never introduce one again.
The talk was on worldbuilding in RPG design. It started with a half-full house that was pretty packed by the end of things, and it was a good audience. Most, but not all of the folks there spoke English, but there were enough folks who couldn't that I was assisted by a translator. I wish to apologize publicly to her in this space, as my writing style is syntactically tricky at the best of times, and that's without the bobbing, weaving, improvising, and anecdote-flinging I mixed into the talk. Most of the jokes got laughs, at least, and the response seemed to be good, which was a relief to me - most of my worldbuilding examples were from Wraith, and it turns out that Wraith was never released here.
Following that was an autographing session at the Official Richard Dansky table, which turned out to be loads of fun. There was a long line of folks there, and most of them had brought multiple books and wanted pictures taken. I tried to A)personalize everything B)tell stories on the books I was signing, including the hideous tale of KISS THE FISH and the rewrites on the Trinity adventure trilogy, and and C)get everyone's name. I was mostly successful, except on the later, but I did my best. A lot of folks wanted pictures, too.
This was followed up by another short television interview, and a few minutes chatting with the curator of the History of Game Consoles exhibit (Seriously. When was the last time you saw a Pippin?) at the show, and then the workshop. We pulled this together pretty much on the spot, with myself tag-teaming with a local game design professor named Roger Tavares. The audience seemed to dig it, which was all I was really hoping for.
And then back to the hotel room for a quiet night in. Tomorrow, there's another talk and another signing session, and then it'll be on to Rio on Monday.
- Mood:
giddy
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA — Saturday was the make or break day, attendance-wise. Would the unusually high preregistration numbers be matched with enough walk-in trade to make the show work? Looks like they did very well, with aisles bustling and a lobby full of folks heading through the purchase and badge queues.
The day began with Tracy and Laura Hickman’s signature event, the legendary Killer Breakfast, recalibrated for a stellar line-up of Aussie victims. They’ve been doing this at flagship Gen Con for years: a mass participation event in which players are given old school D&D characters and troop up on stage to sit on a table to be subjected to Tracy’s very funny and viciously adversarial DMing. The only certitude is that your character will hilariously die. If you can vamp entertainingly, you can postpone the inevitable for a while. Tracy and Laura unfurl the showmanship—there’s video, prizes, mini-games... They even sing! Normally I would run at maximum speed away from any threatened singing of well-known songs rewritten with parody fandom lyrics (sorry, filkers) but the Hickmans really sell it. Here at Gen Con Oz the event was spotlighted as a show highlight, literally center stage in the middle of the hall.
Both of my seminars today were old reliables, garnering the expected strong attendance. Late morning was Freelancing: the Next Step, along with Aussie writers Kyla Ward and Steve Darlington. As always, I tried to lay out the tough realities of the field without being completely discouraging.
Early afternoon was Peter Adkison and I for What’s Going On In Gaming, a.k.a. State Of the Gaming Industry. Naturally the debut of 4E and its effect on the cyclical RPG category gave us a natural starting point. Peter’s history as past and present game company CEO and Gen Con poobah gives him a wide perspective from which to prognosticate. His thoughts on the coming revolution in electronic game components were alone worth the price of admission. If there had been a price, that is.
Nathan Russell, who took part in the indie panel on Day One, kindly slipped me a copy of his Space Rat: the Jack Cosmos Adventure Game. I’m tempted to describe it as the game for people who found Macho Women With Guns insufficiently ironic. The game presupposes a nonexistent entertainment property and then prompts you to emulate its tropes. Space Rat, a rodent analog of Futurama’s Zap Branigan and is an icon of cheesy 70s novels and a TV series. He is an NPC; you play the bevy of scantily-clad, pulchritudinous space girlfriends who, in competing for his shiftless affections, actually do all the work in successfully completing his assignments. With modest conceptual fiddling Space Rat looks like it could be serve as the basis for Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen Adventures: the Roleplaying Game.
In other news, I have been presented with several additional explanations of the difference between a latte and a flat white. Charmingly, no two of them seem to agree exactly, leading me to conclude that the Australians don’t know what they’re going to get when they order coffee, either.
A preliminary study of my friend Lenora Claire by Olivia Berardinis:
I had just messaged Leslie asking if it was cool to repost the statement she’s emailing around … when I saw that Cory beat me to it. Click that link for the full update, straight from the Clarion West folks.
"Man! I should have stayed HOME for lunch!"
It's been a heck of an afternoon. This hot, breaking doodle was drawn in the waiting lounge at a local tire center. You can read the whole story here.
I haven't done any grocery shopping in a while (having focused basically ALL my waking time on my freelance projects), but I COULD have cobbled together a decent lunch. I just CHOSE not to. Instead, I went out to spend money I really OUGHT to have saved on a meal that was larger and less healthy than I really NEEDED. But I enjoyed it.
It was the ride HOME that I didn't enjoy so much.
About halfway back to my place, I saw a helicopter in the distance. And a few seconds later I heard a rhythmic thumpa-thumpa-thumpa. A bit strange, I thought, the helicopter was pretty far off and didn't LOOK like a military model. But as it grew closer, the thumpas got louder. Then it passed ... and the thumpas KEPT getting louder ... and it suddenly dawned on me, "Oh crap! That's my CAR making that noise!"
So I pulled onto the shoulder, got carefully out, and sure enough ... my right rear tire was completely flat.
*sigh*
So I opened the trunk and pulled out the spare. Then I TRIED to pull out the jack. But, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to get it out of its storage spot.
*sigh*
So rather than do the manly thing and change my own tire ... I did the suburban thing and called AAA. Even in times when money is tight, I've always made room in my budget to keep my AAA membership current. Some years I don't use it ... but whenever I HAVE had car trouble, it's felt like a godsend.
About 10 minutes later a very helpful service guy pulled up in a AAA-sponsored tow truck, changed the tire in all of about 2.5 minutes, and gave me directions to a tire center that he was willing to recommend.
The guys at the tire center were ALSO very helpful. They assessed the the problem was the valve, not the treads (which were still pretty good). Showed me several choices for replacement and admitted that the cheapest one was just as good as the most expensive. Recommended I have ALL the valves changed to save myself similar problems in the relatively near future (my tires all looked good, but most of the valves were showing small cracks). And then did all the work in less than half an hour.
All in all, things could have been MUCH worse. In fact, if I hadn't gone out for lunch, the chances are that all this would have happened Sunday evening either going to or returning from karaoke. So maybe it IS a good thing that I went out for lunch.
Yeah. THAT'S how I'm going to choose to look at it!
Now I'm going to scan a doodle I did in the tire center's waiting lounge, post it as a Bonus Doodle over at Doodle-A-Day. com, and get back to my cartooning. I can still finish everything I wanted to today ... but I won't finish as early as I'd planned.
Originally published at Eventually Clever. Please leave any comments there.
Ben went on his first field trip today. His ABA therapists, Sarah & Nathalie, took him to visit the children’s exhibit at the Biosphere, along with another one of their clients. Ben brought his backpack, his swimsuit and a lunch, because this trip started at 9:30 and lasted until 4:00.
Ben took the bus and the metro, explored the museum, had lunch, and then played in the swimming pool. He came home very tired, but very excited. He promises to take us to the museum later and show us everything he did.
We can’t wait!
Naturally, Dina and I were thinking about him the whole time, wondering how he was doing, and keeping our cellphones close at hand. We wanted Ben to have his solo adventure, but we also wanted to spy on him! Sarah and Nathalie said that he did great - he followed directions, behaved himself and had fun.
Another step to independence. I’m so proud.
More pictures below the jump.
( Read the rest of this entry » )During the course of work, I walked to Pike Place Market for lunch with friends and back (further than I thought, and uphill there!) and then went in the afternoon to meet with my new trainer, Kirsten, at All Star Sports, my new gym. I also walked there, and it was further than I thought (and uphill!). By the time I'd started my fitness test, I'd walked 2.75 miles already that day, conservatively. I was a bit tired. It went pretty well, though, and I think we've got a good basis to build on. It's that kind of increase in activity, though, plus giving up sodas (most of the time) that has let me lose three pounds since I started working there. Go me.
After work, I rounded up Trey and went to The Triple Door downtown to meet up with
brannonb and his friend Ed (who was standing in for the lovely and remarkable Jana) and iamnikchick and freeport_pirate for Provacateur, the summer burlesque/dance extravaganza put on by the Can Can Castaways, the Heavenly Spies, Vince Mira and Baby Gramps. Vince Mira was truly amazing... no voice like that should come out of a Ritchie Valens look-alike who's only 16 freaking years old. The Castaways (and Stowaways, as the rest of the guest stars were called) were awesome as usual -- favorites include the large number to "Start Wearing Purple" by Gogol Bordello, the aerial on chains number to "Icky Thump," the drag number to "Automatic" by the Pointer Sisters, the 9 to 5 Dolly Parton strip number (really funny), the Miami Vice/80's dual strip number, the flamenco dance... just all of it. Baby Gramps was like a grampa muppet, a cross between Rolph the dog and ZZ Top. I can't decide how I felt about his performance, but it was definitely noteworthy. On Friday, I went to pick up the kids and took Trey to breakfast with David, Shawn and boys. That was ostensibly to give David and Trey a chance to catch up, but it was also a chane for me to work out some details with David face to face, which was good. The boys enjoyed having us all together, at least. Next Trey and boys and I went back to the house, where Trey introduced them to the mysteries of Mario Cart for the Wii and I got myself together again. That afternoon Brannon and Jana came by to take Trey to a barbeque at Mike Pondsmith's house, while the boys and I went to Will's little league coach's house (henceforth known as Lika and Bruce) to hang out with their kids, enjoy a barbeque, and watch the Renton fireworks from their deck.
The evening there was great. I got to know Lika and Bruce a lot better, along with Pam (the mom of two of the boys' friends from Kids Co who left for middle school this year) and... Lelani? I think that might have been her name. I didn't catch it, and I feel bad now for not remembering it. She was very nice too. Drinks were poured, food was had, kids played on the trampoline and swam in the pool and played video games, etc. The house overlooked the valley at the south end of Lake Washington, and as night fell, fireworks went off up and down the hillside, across the valley, and up the opposite side. With the Coulon Park official fireworks going off from the barge on the lake as well, it was truly lovely. Lika's older kids and their friends shot off a ton of fireworks as well, which was fun if a bit unnerving. I think I'll be doing a bit more with Lika in the future as well... she's a lot of fun. Misty, we should get you guys together sometime. :) Oh, and I met Brian again, who had kept score for the team and was Lika's ex, as it happened -- her oldest sons are his.
I broke my no cokes rule for Lika's house, as they brought in bottles of Mexican coke -- sugar base, no HFCS -- that were fabulous. I had the first rum and coke fixed for me that I've ever actually liked, and she made some salmon (along with pork and beef ribs, etc) that was absolutely fabulous. Actually, many things were fabulous. We ended up leaving at about 11:30, as Will was fading fast at that point and curled up on a chaise lounge on the deck with a blanket, but we were the first to go. It was just so awesome to be in a house that welcoming and full of life. I am not very good at that aspect of things, admittedly -- I try, but I know it's not my strong suit. My parents' house was that way, though, and it felt great to be in that environment again.
Anyway, I've rambled for a while. Today is spent with the kids while Trey is off seeing other friends, tonight we have dinner with my friend, Phil, and maybe go over to Brannon's afterward, and tomorrow Trey goes back to the airport. It's been really good to spend time with him again. I hope it happens again soon.
They 'sploded overhead. Over head. I squealed like a little girl!
And... do whistlin' petes sound like alien invaders? Jim thinks so.
Much fun, sound of waves and thunder of detonating fireworks, people laughing and screaming and being happy. Helicopters above. Brilliantly lit ships just off-shore. Not the BEST display I've ever seen, but a good one. The one for this year.
57) Red Seas Under a Red Sky: This is a sequel to something. It was the book I talked about the Mary Sue villains. Instead of thinking of them that way another way is to consider them high level NPC villains. It wasn't as good as the first one and the going between the now and 2 years ago didn't flow as well as it did in the first book.
58) Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: I'm not the target audience for this book. I already play D&D and I'm actually not a woman, no matter what my My Space profile might say. The book though should give gamers an new sound for when ever they use the magic missile spell.
59) 40 Years of Gen Con: It's a book so it goes on the list. This was very fascinating and since I've been going to Gen Con yearly for a while it really helps me understand the con. Plus the stories are really cool and sometimes funny.
60) Hobby Games the 100 Best: Also a very entertaining read. I haven't played most of them and there are plenty on here I'd like to one day try. THe essays on each game are short and easy to read. It was very cool.
61) No Future for you: THis is the second graphic novel of Buffy year 8. It is very interesting and I'm enjoying it.
"Hey, you don't have to live with him!" someone in the audience shouted.
"Neither do you," Ellison shot back.
But unfortunately, those of us who grew up partly or entirely in North Carolina did have to live with "Jesse," as haters and lovers alike called him, since we could never muster quite enough opposition to vote the old bastard out of office. He may not be burning in Hell today, because it seems to me that a person should be able to state and live* his fucked-up convictions without being condemned to eternal torment (if eternal torment there be), but if he did make it to Heaven, he is surely due for some surprises there.
*Short of slaughtering, interning, etc. the people you don't like, obviously, though I expect Jesse wouldn't have minded setting up a few concentration camps if he had been able to.
* Lots of people complaining about tonight’s DOCTOR WHO.
* Next Generation Comics Teaching.
* People talking about the first issue of my new X-Men comic.
* And the July edition of The Whitechapel Book Club.
(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)So here’s my Independance day in texts, sent <140 characters at a time
(11:09 AM July 04, 2008)
BhagwanX Happy anniversary, colonists. We the people thank you for you efforts to form a more perfect union, establish justice, and secure
BhagwanX Domestic tranquility. I for one am sercure in our common defense, and try to promote the general welfare.
(about 22 hours ago)
BhagwanX Friday afternoon baseball. Now with bonus seat upgrade!
BhagwanX I am apparently 3 inches too tall in the torso for my blue tooth headset to function ‘optimally’
BhagwanX Also, this impse buy popcorn is stale, not hot, and not possessed of buttery goodness
BhagwanX The rolling litany of mariners charitable programs based on team prformance is somewhat depressing
BhagwanX Popcorn update: an inch down, it haz a flavr
(about 20 hours ago)
BhagwanX Update: ballpark malteds tasted a lot better in the 70’s
(about 15 hours ago)
BhagwanX About to watch Hancock again. will decide after whether or not to see it again tomorrow
For the record, I’m seriously on the fence about it.
Originally published at Bhagwan @ Large. You can comment here or there.
Lee over at Comics And… Other Imaginary Tales gives Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #1 a great review. The money quote:
Don’t expect any redeeming qualities, just lots of pointless fun.
Games for Educators is a cool site to show teachers how to integrate tabletop games into the classroom. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the convergence of education and games lately. Dr. Jim Gee at the University of Wisconsin has a lot to say about how this works with video games, but it’s great to see some low-tech, lower-cost tools like this and GAMA’s Games in Education program too.
In all my hunting around for fireworks-related doodles, I completely forgot that I had a couple of other patriotic drawings waiting to be posted. Today's and tomorrow's doodles are from the preparatory work I did for the book I made in celebration of my father's 75th birthday last year.
Today I present a couple of George Washington sketches ... one based on a painting of the first president, and the other my interpretation of his younger, more rebellious self. In case I didn't ever say so, George Washington and the Mt. Vernon Four is the tale of the country's first rock band, which young George led.
Another reason this doodle would have been good for yesterday is that at the BBQ I went to we spent A LOT of time playing Rock Band. I even sang a few songs.
I still have some copies of that limited edition print run. And since I STILL haven't managed to set up an online store anywhere, I guess I'll CONTINUE to have them until I start getting display tables at conventions again. Hopefully that will happen later on this year and only increase in frequency next year. And MAYBE I'll finally get off my duff and MAKE that online store I've been talking about for so long.
Yeah ... maybe.