Odds and Ends

Bed Time
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

Oh I have so much to talk about and so little to write. This will be a segue-less entry.

The 100 Artists Project is going along fine. I lost someone art the other day and it's killing me. I know exactly what happened to it, but it doesn't bring it back. Aside from that we're up to 50 pieces and 4 people have done the big sketchbook. At this rate we'll be done when LMA graduates college. But it's going so I can't complain.

Austin was recently given the dubious honor of having the worst drivers in Texas. The study was based on number of claims, so it's just as possible we have good drivers that are more responsible about reporting accidents and more drivers with insurance. There could be a lot of ne'er-do-wells in Houston leaving the scene.

But driving on the roads here, I can appreciate the sentiment. It's not the 3 accidents I see on the way home that clinches it for me, it's the lack of turn signal usage or the following too closely or the merging with traffic across the double line and then not letting anyone else in. In general, and this may be world wide, there's a definite lack of courtesy in our driving. We're in too much of a rush to get where we're going. I wonder if anyone takes the time to understand that it doesn't matter if you pass that one guy or go 75 instead of 70, over about 10 miles, on average, you're not going to get to your destination any quicker when compared to the risk you take by driving like a fucking idiot. You giant F-150 type pick up truck drivers are the worst of the lot and can suck my left nut. I'm pretty sure signals are installed on those behemoths just the same. You must be rushing to a gas station.

I want to thank my brother and sister in law for buying a shirt, that was neat. I'll still be putting up more playground games shirts so if you see one, let me know if you like it. I'm pretty sure you can customize any image you see for any shirt they have.

Mrs. A had her first wedding in a month last Sunday. There's been a dry spell in weddings so far this year. She's taken a hit on advertising and has been able to do much of it, so she's relying on word of mouth. Next year she wants to get back on the circuit. It's good money as long as it's constant, like everything else.

So we were watching the Closer last night and there was a whole underlying story of the detectives having to sign out and there was no over time and budget cuts and what not. Which got me thinking, do detectives get paid hourly? I'd think a job that requires you to be available almost all the time would by default be a salaried position. I mean, if I were running a police department, I'd make all my detectives salary and bump their pay to just under what they'd make in a given year of time plus time and a half. It'd save me money and make my people feel good for having a raise. I don't get why television shows like that aren't smarter and feel they have to force something like this. Unless of course detectives DO get hourly pay, in which case I'm sad for our men and women in plain clothes uniforms.

It's been raining here for almost two weeks, and it's going to rain all week. This is fun. My hair has exploded, I look like a circus performer.

Lil' Miss Austin's been eating bowls of powdered sugar, playing computer games, staying up late and sleeping in. She's saying "duh" and rolling her eyes a lot. She's acting more like a teenager than a six year old. I'm wondering what happened in the last year. I blame the slew of teenage soap operas she watches on Discovery Kids.

I'm going up to see my brother on the 4th and go see Transformers with him. LMA is going with me and we'll be seeing most of my family, but the main purpose is to see this flick. We grew up on Transformers and both our birthdays are coming up so I thought it'd be cool to reminisce together.

Oh, and thanks to all none of you who commented on the cartoon thing. That was helpful. I'll just do whatever whenever I have time, which I don't have so it doesn't matter. Yes I need to draw more. I'm working on a faeire portrait for an old friend, but I've some how stopped everything else. (By stopped I mean for this week, I'm sure next week I'll be complaining about something else.)

I've started doing my Production Manager duties over at the Awesome Storm Justice 41 web comic. I'm basically a target asshole. My job is to push people until they either get the job done or quit because they hate me. It's a glamorous job. I hope to gain many online friends that I'll never meet and will never order a shirt or by any art. Like always.

I've been reading Wampters, Foma & Granfalloons by Vonnegut. Mrs. A got me the book. She did a bit of research and thought I should read more classic stuff and Vonnegut did write science fiction so she thought it would be a big hit. Well, it was. I mean, Wampters is a collection of speeches and interviews and essays and the closest thing to science fiction he gets to is a few comments on sci-fi writers and how they are an admirable but weird group of self congratulatory optimists. He doesn't know why he's considered a sci-fi writer. He basically says all you have to do to be a sci-fi writer is write a comedy or a drama or horror or suspense story and throw in some technology. It's a good read, I'll be getting more by him. It's sad finding good work by a dead author, you know the pool of reading is limited.

I think that's it for now. Honestly, not a lots happening around the house with the kids. They're cute and smart and devious and growing up too fast. Like kids do.

Carry on.