Life Robotic

Sometimes I wonder if being raised by two vicious dogs for the first few years of my life is the root of my social retardation. Really, I’m just glad I got over that whole run to the door barking thing.

By cab, by bus, by train — we ventured to Portland and back again. The Stumptown Comics Fest was aces, Steve (LJ) got a sweet new gig (lips sealed), we got a tour of Dark Horse, scoped the new Oni Press HQ, saw many comrades and enjoyed the hospitality of the family Jones. Steve talks about it more here. He also bought me an awesome tee by Joshua Ellingson featuring an android.

Lately I want to become a boxer. Or a folk singer. Or! Just bust mad flows. I had a dream a few weeks ago where I was spitting the rawest verses, exhaling the most profound truths. But that was just a dream. While shifting into the waking world I thought I should write it all down, but by the time I had fully arrived it was lost.

I’ve been dreaming a lot lately, it’s picked up in the past few months after a dry-spell. I think my spirit is waking up after a multi-year-coma. I still can’t get lucid though. My head keeps giving me the trigger, where I attempt to read something in dreamland (which is impossible) but every time I’m unable I accept it as my own failure. That probably means I’m still loaded with self-doubt, or something.

I figure it’ll pass.

Mostly, I think I want to learn how to play the guitar.

Sorry I’m behind on replying to comments, but I would like some input from anyone willing to offer it. Presently I have commenting active here on Life Robotic, and on the LiveJournal which syndicates my posts, user: robotgirl. Clearly, it would make more sense to keep all comments together and I’m leaning towards closing comments on the LJ, leaving a link to the on-site comment form. Does anyone object to this course of action or know of any reasons why I shouldn’t proceed in this way? Thanks in advance.

While avoiding the task at hand I discovered Cute Plush, a livejournal community for “handmade plush softies.” While posters vary in degree of skill and originality, two caught my attention off the bat:

• Kristin Tercek (LJ) has a collection of gloomy characters done in a SD-esque style, my favourite being the gimp (pictured above). Other notable characters include a zombie in a pinstripe suit, a mummy, and a tiki god (with some impressive stitching) which can be seen here.
• AndricronGirl (LJ) offers up something I thought I’d never see — pink crochet daleks, a melding of Hello Kitty and Doctor Who. She also boasts a pink, needle felted robot + a colorful crochet ant with bendable legs!

My charming 4GB black iPod nano¹ arrived Wednesday afternoon and I’m absolutely smitten! I knew it was small, but to actually see it and hold it — there are no words for the tactile experience. Despite it’s size and weight (or lack thereof), it would seem the wee nano will be able to handle my ruffian ways far better than my hard-drive based iPod² — the Ars Technica stress testing as an indicator. Oh, and the colour screen is aces.

Unfortunately, for the time being, I have no casing for the nano. I’m holding out on buying the nano Tubes (which I think are lackluster) in hopes that iSkin will come up with a silicone solution that keeps the device slim and trim. Until then, I’ll be using PDA screen protectors over the body of the nano and, time + skill permitting, attempt to stitch a little pouch like this (pictured right) out of some polar fleece scraps I have laying around.

It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve had some fresh technology to coddle!

1. Mum sold her condo, which explains the extra awesome birthday gift. huzzah!
2. Buki, my 3^rd generation iPod is pretty hefty, so I’ve dropped her a few times. A few months back it toppled from it’s perch on a stack of three comic boxes and then erased it’s entire contents — basically I lost all of my music (legally ripped, but from CDs in the East) except for my iTunes purchases. No internal moving parts is a big plus with the nano.

Pigs may not fly, but Junku’s cats sure do. This Tokyo based flickrer has a fabulous photo set of his cats leaping into the air, bouncing off walls and making wild grabs. If you’re feeling cranky or down, I highly recommend viewing the set as a slideshow while playing some goofy music.

The preliminary sketch for the design was done some months ago but it wasn’t until recently that Steve (LJ) and I pulled it out and started planning the actual execution. It looks like it’ll be a tight job, but I’m hopeful I can have the limited edition run of 10 completed before we head down to Portland for the Stumptown Comics Fest.

• 16^th : scan + flat stencil in photoshop
• 17^th : play around with colours in photoshop
• 18^th : cut out all stencil layers
• 19^th : mix paints + paint prototype
• 20^th/21^st : paint all ten pieces, three days required to dry
• 24^th : varnish pieces and let set for three days

Friend and foe warned me, months in advance, but I assumed their wisdom was nothing more than a Blink 182 lyric; Nobody likes you when you’re 23. In a few months time, after I had forgotten about the warnings, the prophecy rang true! Time and time again I was dismissed, disrespected, and accumulating an impressive collection of daggers between my shoulder blades. Looking from the outside in, it was a black comedy with insult added to injury and salt rubbed in every wound.

There was no wound so deep and festering as that caused by XXXX XXXXXXXX. That son of a bitch. We were chums for nearly seven years when he decided to use + abuse our friendship in order to fuck my cousin¹. I won’t go into details because that’s not the point, nor does it really matter anymore… On Sunday I turned 24² and by Monday I had gotten word that my cousin broke up with that worthless shit. Case fucking closed!

A new era is beginning in my life. Breakthrough, breakdown, repeat — that will no longer be my rhythm!

1. Yeah, it takes two to tango but the betrayal of a long trusted friend was a much greater blow.
2. Also happy birthday wishes to Jacob (LJ), Normal (LJ), Icis Machine + Jeremy (LJ)!

Personal archive: Listing of photoshop brushes to download and install from the 100×100 brushes community. Intended use is for LiveJournal icons which run a maximum size of 100 by 100 pixels.

• Grungy wall textures
• Dreamy space textures
• Soft pixelated fading edges
• Flourishes around small frames
• Dirty flourishes around box frames
• More dirty, flourishy box frames
• General whirling flourishes

I escaped the East, returning to my downtown hideaway in Vancouver last Friday. After a series of unfortunate events, such as the near demise of my uncle, I’ve become very backed-up with e-mails to reply to and have a folder of saved links to archive here or delete. If you’re waiting on a reply from me that’s pressing, please e-mail me to let me know of it’s priority, otherwise I should reply by the weekend. Expect some potentially “old” links and completely “random” posts to follow…

The lovely and talented Jocelyn, AKA Mister + Kisa’s photographer, has opened her tee-shop: Minties! Appealing to my recent obsession with super-soft tees, all Minties shirts are printed on American Apparel blanks and feature a variety of sass-mouth designs. I see the Devil’s Ether and perhaps a Narwhal in my future.
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If you’re anything like me you have technologically-deprived gas-attendant friends who occasionally need to mooch a mix CD from your library. More often than not, it will be a quick jobby with no fancy print-out labels for the bulk off-the-spindle CD that’s about to be thrown into a bag or pocket, lacking all manner of identification or track listings. Thankfully, there is a solution! I bookmarked Paper CD Case .com some months ago for exactly that desperate moment, and in the time it took to burn some of that Howl Howl Gaff Gaff business to the CD I had a handy little sleeve with track info all printed and folded. On the fly mix discs have never been more identifiable!

Recently I discovered Miwa Shirow’s DOGS, downloading scanlations of available stories from here. The art is hot, the stories are entertaining, but it’s the character Naoto that’s really caught my attention. As someone with more than a couple nasty scars it’s nice to see a heroine with a big X scar across her chest who’s hot as all hell and known as the blade maiden. I’m really quite taken with her + it looks like the next story to be pulled from Ultra Jump will focus on her story of revenge + mystery again.

• STRAYS: a small english fansite

Haggis had to be put down this morning after the tumor in her bladder started causing continuous discomfort and pain. She was roughly 13 years old and had a good life after being adopted by my aunt and grandmother, who gave her lots of love and spoiled her with little soft toys. That’s all I really want to say about that. She’s the biggest reason that I’ve remained in Halifax for all these extra weeks so I should be able to return home soon.

In other life-altering news: Mum and my aunt bought a house out near Bedford yesterday (which my brother and I think really fucking sucks) and my dad’s wife is knocked up with twins (which my brother and I think really fucking sucks). All of this is out of my control so I guess all I can really do is live with it. Or become an alcoholic. (I’m kidding.)

My captors have abandoned me for the time being but, with Canadian flights being backed up, I suspect an escape attempt would be futile. I have endured this long, surely I can manage another week or so. Surely I can. Until escape is possible I will continue to consume all manner of media and allow my eyes to glaze over during late night documentaries.

It’s definitely not my favourite drink, and was especially too strong for an afternoon lunch with mum, but when she pointed out the Jacques Cousteau on the martini list at Deco it felt like God’s Will. Drinking that martini was my destiny, and who was I to fight it?

Ingredients:
• 3 oz Van Gogh or Skyy Vodka
• 1 oz Blue Curacao
• ½ oz red grapefruit juice
• Garnish with lemon twist & cranberry

I feel I should work on the development of the Steve Zissou, the perfect martini for an overnight drunk.

I’m completely enamored with the current Dr. Pepper advertising campaign in Japan. They’ve introduced a line of stylish robotgirl characters, dubbed the Peppy 5, to adorn cans and other packaging for my favourite carbonated beverage. Though I cannot confirm the artist, there is a striking resemblance to Feebee’s works.

If anyone is able to translate the profiles of the Peppy 5, supply more information, provide photos or help me to add any of these items to my robotgirl collection I’d be ever so thankful / provide dollars.

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