Monday is here! Had a quiet weekend. Was a bit under the weather Saturday, so while I was sitting around taking care of myself I FINALLY finished the first draft of the novel. Done! Well, now the real work begins. Edit edit edit.
Then Sunday we went for a small hike. Good quiet sweet times.
I think everyone else was at San Diego Comic Con. Huh. That would explain why it’s been so quiet.
I have a headache. No bloggy blog tonight.
Not a lot new in the last two days. Just working. Hung out with some writer friends and ate apple cobbler. No complaints.
Been thinking a lot about a quote a friend of mine posted online.
“If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” —-Frederick Douglass
And I think there is a lot of truth in that, but also, it made me think about creating art. As an artist, I find the internal struggle similar. To keep learning and growing, you need to be willing to leave the familiar, to create things you don’t desire and which are out of your comfort zone, you need to avoid the the trap of repeating what you’re bored of simply because it is marketable. The limits of your craft are prescribed by the the endurance of the desire to cling to the familiar.
Anyhow. In my head a bit. Good times.
Oh, and don’t forget I have a PATREON site!
Gessoed 7 canvasses this weekend. An intimidating batch, knowing I’m going to have to cover them all with colorful paint in some kind of order so they look like pictures. With much less pressure or time investment, I then made cranberry maple muffins.
Not a lot else. Played racquetball, which I haven’t done for a while (mostly due to Minneapolis). OH! Oh-oh-oh! My sweetie and I went up to one of the gazillion Adirondack lakes and went swimming for the first time this summer. Very satisfying. Then I made caramel corn and we watched a movie.
And, as usual, I was called by the president, donned my cape, and saved the world again. It was kept hush-hush, so I’m sure you didn’t hear about it. But it was awesome.
So, yes. Minneapolis. There was this thing. Convergence. An annual SF/F convention in Minneapolis on 4th of July weekend. Four days of costumes, panels, movies, more costumes, strange drinks, music, House of Toast, Art Show, and of course where I was stationed most of the weekend: The Dealer’s Room. Since this is my third year there, I know a few people, and got to say hello which was quite nice. But mostly I worked hard, had some good conversations, and then walked around for a few hours after amongst the chaos of the convention before finding a tiny corner to hide in and putter on my laptop. Only after the weekend was over did I realize that Marina Sirtis had been a featured guest (Counselor Troy). I am not very good at these things. But, anyways, if you’re near the twin-cities, like SF/F, like costumes, you should find yourself a place like this. You will feel at home. Plus, toast.
After the weekend, I spent a couple days enjoying the twin cities (Minneapolis and St Paul). I first went there around 1990, and it’s one of my favorite cities in the US. If it weren’t for winters, I’d even consider it a place one could move to. Anyhow, my friend (who put me up) and I got good food, had food with family, and went to the sculpture garden and the art museum (the cherry spoon bridge is the sculpture garden’s signature piece, btw). A lovely time.
In the morning I’ll be traveling back to NY state. Going to go get some sleep now.
Minneapolis was great. And I still haven’t blogged about Convergence. Friday I will, along with some pics.
Spending a couple days in Minneapolis to enjoy the city. It’s the third time I’ve been here for this convention, and it’s the first time I gave myself an extra couple of days to go into the town, museums, etc. Haven’t done that since probably around 15 years ago when I was visiting friends out here.
Convergence-Con was great. Still recovering and cleaning up the mess, will blog more about it when I get a moment. In the meantime, here’s a picture I took of Hagrid’s Book Of Monsters enjoying Spacetrawler.
I am in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St Paul. Right off the plane my friend Hedge and Felix and I went to get food at the Seward Café. Nothing else is needed.
I’m tabling! In the Dealer’s Room. At Convergence Con! Come check it out. 🙂
I will be tabling in Minneapolis at Convergence SF/F Con this weekend! Come on by!
I am off to Minneapolis. I shouldn’t miss any strip updates, but please excuse me if any hiccups happen along the way.
My sweetie and I took a walk around Hovey Pond in town, and saw a bunch of frogs and red-winged blackbirds. Plus, baby birds! 🙂
I will be tabling in Minneapolis at Convergence SF/F Con this weekend! Come on by!
Weekend was filled with relaxing. Just kidding. It ended up being full of errands and cat number THREE really sick to the vet. I’ll be happy Wednesday when the Little Dee layout is to the printer and I get on a plane to Minneapolis. Finally relax. Maybe.
There was a discussion on Friday’s strip about relative time distortion issues, but, they are not actually an issue. There are no relativity effect. I should put that in the strip, but it was mentioned in the Higgs Drive description:
Further tests demonstrated that the HtNEI distorted the actual fabric of “dimension alpha” in such a way that the space in front of the HtNEI was pleated (for want of the actual mathematical term) in such a way that the clipper only interacted with a small fraction of the actual distance between origin and its terminus. FTL travel, without apparent relativity effects, was a side-effect of the function of the HtNEI.
