Wednesday, December 24, 2008

check this out

So, I was looking for a music box for Erin, and the first site I click on turns out to be some pretty trippy shit. check it out. http://www.tokyoplastic.com/musicbox.html

Monday, December 22, 2008

Small Crafting update.

I made some new earrings and a new bracelet. Actually I've made more than that but these are all I've taken pictures of.

This bracelet is made from an old piece of copper pipe. I flattened it and shaped it on an old piece of railroad track, then bent around and filed the ends to smooth out the opening. It's a prototype so I didn't really experiment with decorations.


These earrings are made out of electrical wire and a bead from the bead shop. I just shaped them a little and pressed the wire together to keep it lined up.

Friday, November 14, 2008

I have been crafty

I have been working a lot with copper lately, since I can get it for free. Mostly I have been making bracelets, but soon I will be working on earrings :)


Here are several shots of copper and steel chainmail bracelets I've made.

This one is thicker copper links, note my happy little hand made toggle on the left.


This one is made of the same copper paired with galvanized steel. I love the contrast of the shiny orange copper and the matte blue steel. And this picture was well placed too!


Here is a shot of these two side by side.


These next two are very similar to the previous two, except I used thinner copper and steel. The steel in this bracelet is stainless, so it is much shinier.


These next shots are of some braided copper bracelets I made.

As you can see one is a very loose braid and the other is pretty tight.


I bound the ends with smaller wire to give it character and to cover any sharp ends.


The loose braid reminds me of vines growing on a tree.


The tight braid is very round and happy.




In addition to the metal work, I have also been making some hats. I made a frog hat--which I forgot to get pictures of--and I've been developing an Ushanka type hat.

Here is my lovely assistant Bunny, showing off the prototype with the ear and neck flaps up and down.


Here I am, doing about the same thing, with my kettlebell for some added Rusky flair.



Finally, here is the kettlebell with its protective Ushanka

Wednesday, November 5, 2008


I hear a lot of people use the cliche, "Theres no reason to live if all you are doing is surviving." They're wrong. They would be a little less wrong if they said there's no reason to live if all you do is exist, but even that's not right. Surviving is living. Surviving is living life more than existing or even thriving. Nothing makes me realize this like the winter months. Durring the warm season I see or hear about people having fun in the sun, playing, laughing, thriving. Deep down I hate seeing that crap. Most would call me a mopey emo for spurning the sunny days and wishing for the gloom, but screw them. When you're happy and doing well may be when all your feel good chemicals are flowing and you feel content, but being content or even striving for new heights is a novelty, just a novelty. You don't care that you're alive, or even if you do you're probably just "glad to be alive", you're thankful for the pleasant feelings. Winter awakes the primal knowledge that just outside your comfy little house...you...could...die. Everything green is dying or dead, the cold can kill you sure as anything else, and if you happen to be on an icy road trying to bring your food and supplies home you know death could be just one tap of the breaks away. The cold months, make you struggle, make you try. They make you grateful, grateful to whatever, to be alive. Winter is the mother of gods. So you can keep your happy, sunshiny days, sitting in green fields and looking at clouds and crap. Give me the cold, give me the white frosty breath, the frozen branches, the chill in my bones. Give me something to remind me why I'm even trying, why I'm striving, why I'm surviving.

Friday, October 10, 2008



I am in the middle of a crafty cycle. My mind is overflowing with creative juices. I just want to make things and think up new things to make. Right now I am turning recycled copper wire into jewelry.

Monday, October 6, 2008

This month

Did I ever tell you that October is my favorite month? Well now you know. I love the way the weather always gets colder in October, even if it was already cold. I love the way the leaves start to fall in October. I love Halloween. I love the colors of autumn. I just can't get enough of it.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

WTF, Batman?

Ok, something weird just happened. Some random motherfucker from the interwebs just commented on an old blog of mine.

Asso~Di~Picche said...

Are you kidding me? The artist is actually very good. Your a hopeless critique Im sure. You honestly cant say anything if you havent read the comics or looked at other peices of the artits work. Im being honest, if You dont like what I've said then you have the right to be angry with me.

The art this guy/gal is referring to is EMOBOY an emo superhero. Aaaaaaaaand after reading this comment I'm utterly speechless. I did read all the comics, sure the artist is talented, but I still think it's the most depressing thing I've seen in quite some time. Glorifying these skinny whinny little shits, what could be more depressing than that. What leaves me even more distraught is that this commentor has no real user file, which means they are probably one of those limp dicked rodents who will freely criticise another persons opinion and cannot stand up to open criticism themselves. Ether that or this is someone I know playing a joke, because I just cant see any person with reason, taste, or a spine leaving an anonymous comment like this.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

A couple of short term~one week goals

Clean my home

Get bills together

Organize insurance for dentist visit

Make downpayment to school

Finish some craft projects
-obi
-sweater

Organize winter craft projects

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Remember the sculptures I was hunting down, well campus now has a brochure that points out all of the sculptures around town. These brochures are on stands that have labels for the sculptures on campus.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Wonders, large and small.

Over the past couple of months there have been sculptures popping up all around Laramie, particularly around campus. I decided to snap a few pics of these outdoor sculptures as I found them, so I could share them on my blog.

First I want to show you the brand new sculptures on campus.

This sculpture is done in concrete covered in rusted iron. It can be rotated on its base by several strong individuals, and is located on Prexy's pasture in front of Half Acre Gym.


This one is done using tree branches wrapped around a frame. The openings are large enough to walk through. This one is in front of the Education and Ag buildings on Prexy's.


This sculpture is located in front of the Ag building, on Prexy's. It is done with either galvanized steel or aluminum, I didn't check. It would be great to put someone in the middle and have them pose.


This is the main part of a two piece sculpture located in front of the A&S building. The other piece is just a stone column with a piece of metal through it, like the one on the right here.

In front of Ross Hall there is a long sculpture that is composed of many materials including steel, glass, plastic, and even dirt and grass. The middle is like a huge I-beam and the ends remind me of tractor troughs full of turf.


This sculpture looks like a rusted set of squiggly lines, but inside there is a little chair that you can get to by walking a small path through the innards of the sculpture.


Last but not least I wanted to point out a few sculptures that have been on UW since before I came to school. Starting at the the top--Ben Franklin, Trex, UW family, and the Puma Steel sculpture beside the Engineering building.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Good Handball Day

We were epic on the courts today. We had some of the best played rallies ever....and of course Linus almost got his left nut imploded by the ball, but other than that it was hella fun.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Today was pretty fun. Started off by going for a run with my sweetie. She had a bit of a tough time but she is a trooper, and it is quite a lot of fun to see her run. After the run we got ready for work and headed out. Work was unremarkable, I spent most of my time running around and answering questions. I spent an hour extra at work, yay for overtime, and then went home to get ready for a friend's wedding reception. The wedding reception was held at LaBonte Park and there were few guests. I spent most of my time avoiding this fat, skanky, bitch who was going to be our roommate, but backed out and left us in a tough spot. The rest of the time I chatted, ate little sandwiches, and swatted away a persistent hornet for a couple of hours. The reception ended and almost simultaneously I received invites to go work-out, go to a show at The Grounds, and go drinking. I decided to go home and work on y fiance's kimono. I got a fair bit done and then went to Flock Hall to work out. The workout was good, but reminded me of how weak my arms and back still are. I quite enjoy working out with Flock. They are, despite outward appearances, supportive and goodnatured. And unlike working out at the gym I can relax and have fun conversation, sometimes cake, with the Flock. After hanging out for a while with Flock I headed home by way of Mingles Bar. I wanted to see my brother, who works there, before heading home. After talking with him for a while went home and started blogging.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Feel like a kid again

It's been a while since I was in college full time, so I forgot how it feels to work on really tiny amounts of sleep. The heartburn, the achy feeling, the inability to concentrate, and the constant feeling of pain behind my eyes...all my old friends are back to visit. For no particular reason I have not been getting enough sleep lately, and the sleep I have been getting hasn't been that good. Tonight I hope to remedy that, but for now I feel like a college kid again, yay me.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Funny moment

Do you ever have one of those saturday morning cartoon moments? Have you ever slipped on a banana peel, or had a cream pie thrown in your face? Well, I had one of these looney toon moments just yesterday. While playing handball, I stretched out wide for a few shots and found myself wondering, did...did my underpants just rip at the seams? Sure enough, when I checked in the locker room there was a tear all the way from the bottom to the top of my boxers.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Today, I played handball doubles with Flynn, Linus, and Brendon. I was not pleased with my performance. Some of my por performance can be attributed to tired arms from yesterday's handball and pullup session, but the real problem is my lack of practice. Most of the elements of my game today that I'm ashamed of were errors I almost played appropriately. I was often in the right position, but maybe a foot off from where I should have been, or I got to the ball and hand-faulted. I felt I should have done a lot better, but in retrospect I really couldn't have. When I've had a few games a week for a couple of weeks I can play better, but I should have realized my limitations, how cold and out of practice I was today. I was a little rough on myself today.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

I proposed today

Just about half an hour ago I proposed marriage to my love Erin Colleen Anderson.

Here's how it went down. Erin was at CoalCreek Coffee, playing Go, when I came to see her. My pretense was that I would like to have lunch with her while she was there. While there I slipped a camera to my friend Will, who introduced Erin and I. I also pulled out my laptop and surfed a little, with the intent of leaving it open and suggesting she check out the newest Black Vatican. Little did she know that I had been conspiring with Flynn of the BV to have a version of me drawn up in comic form. The comic me is on my knee with ring in hand and a word bubble with a little question mark in it. As soon as she started looking up the comic I knelt down beside her and got the ring ready. As soon as she looked over the comic I held up the ring and asked her if she would marry me.

Here's what it looked like

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Vampire Princess

I bought Bunny a dress, and it just arrived today. The dress was labeled "Vampire Princess dress" and was originally about 93$ When I first looked at it the dress was on clearance for 43$ and I considered getting it then, but held off. On a whim, I looked at the sight later and the dress was marked down to 21$ and they still had Bunny's size. I thought to myself that I could not possibly pass this up and got it for her. Like I said it came in today and I'd say it was more than worth it, what do you think?

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

I've decided to learn how to play an instrument. I've never been that musically inclined so I decided to start easy. The easiest choice would be to take up the tambourine, but I think I can do a little better than that. So, on an impulse, I decided to look into Pennywhistles. I got the idea from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere book. A roguish and somewhat dodgy character pulls out a pennywhistle from his coat pocket and plays a tune on it. The fact that a passable pennywhistle can be purchased for under ten dollars is also a factor in my decision. After plenty of research I decided to go with a lovely starter whistle from the Walton company. Walton whistles are the top sellers in Ireland, and the particular whistle I bought is a Walton's Little Black Whistle. If anyone needs to ask, the answer is yes, the color did affect my choice of whistles. I almost went with the Guiness whistle from Walton, but I read in several places that there is no difference between the Guiness and the Little Black except color and 3 extra dollars for the Guiness version. So here it is, the Little Black whistle.



















I have found several places online to start my study of the instrument. One of the best seems to be this nice fellow, who just happens to be a Jesuit in training but I wont hold that against him.



Tuesday, June 24, 2008


So....I just bought an engagement ring.

Technically I bought a bridal set--the engagement ring and the wedding band. The whole shabang only set me back half a months wages, and was wholly worth it. The diamonds are not as big as the original ring we had been looking at, but Bunny really liked the look of this one so this is the one we got.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Today was the going away celebration for my fiance's little brother. Liam is going into the navy and he starts soon, so today he wanted to celebrate.

The day started off with a trip to Cheyenne. I had to register for a CPR course and since it was on the way we stopped by LCCC. After that it was a quick jaunt over to Fort Collins. The first 45 minutes there were spent looking, in vain, for Play it Again Sports. I was hoping to acquire a kettlebell of my own, but google maps gave me bad directions. So I resigned myself to getting it another day. After that we went on over to Seuhiro for some sushi. Holy cow, it was good. I often forget how mediocre the sushi here in Laramie is until I go back and eat in FoCo. Once lunch was over Erin and I drove on down to Denver--Thornton really but who cares. There we went to WaterWorld. WaterWorld didn't start out too well for me. I was a little pissy after not finding the kettlebell, and then Erin wanted to go on a particular ride which had a long line and was high in the air. Long lines and heights are two things which make me less than happy. After getting through that though the rest of the day was a blast. We went on many fun rides like the Journey To the Center of the Earth, the big wave pool, the racing slides and many others. We had met up with Erin's brothers shortly after the first ride and we all had a blast there. After WaterWorld closed, we headed to Casa Bonita for dinner. At first, we were following Erin's brother, who claimed to have a gps thingy on his phone. He got us totally lost and so we all stopped, talked about it, and he decided to try his gps again, while Erin and I went over to the nearest gas station to ask directions. Erin and I arrived a full 20 minutes before they did. At the restaurant we had some so so food, and a blast walking around the place. If none of you have ever been, you should at least try it once, so long as you are not expecting wonderful food. The place took us nearly 2 hours to explore and during that time Erin and I got our picture taken in old west clothes, saw several cliff diving performances, and watched a crazy fellow in a Gorilla suit run around the restaurant. All in all it was pretty darn fun.

After all that, Erin and I went home. We were both pretty exhausted and she conked out right away. I decided to stay up a little while and chill on the interwebs and soon here I will join her in worn out slumber.

Monday, June 16, 2008

ding

I'm gonna get married.

Here in the near future I'm going to put an engagement ring on the finger of my love. Erin Coleen Anderson will become my fiance and future wife. I'm very excited about that thought.

That is the big news for now.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

sometimes I feel sad.
sometimes I feel the kerosene burning at the bottom of my skull.
I want to let it slide down my spine.
I imagine it flowing through my muscles.
I feel them tense and pull themselves apart.
I fight back, imagining myself becoming stronger, becoming harder.
then when the pain goes away, and everything feels lighter.
The kerosene still burns at the bottom of my brain.
I cant bring myself to smother the burning.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I have not posted for quite a while so I will start up again with something light.

Here we have photos of my now Orange hair.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Recently, Bunny Rabbit and myself acquired new games for the Wii. Metroid Prime Corruption and Super Smash Brothers Brawl. For anyone who has played these games you know their kung fu is strong. For anyone who has not played them, well you should and that's that.

In crafting news I'm currently working on cuffs for Teh Flynn's favorite sweater.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Much with the Crafting

I have been a busy little lad.

Here are some pictures of a penguin hat I did as a commission. It turned out alright on the first try. There are some things I'd alter just a tad if I did it over again, but the person buying it is happy with the pictures Bunny showed her so I suppose it is good enough for now.


These are pics of some knots/weaves I've been doing with paracord.

This first set is the snake knot, and the doubled snake knot.


These are examples of the cobra knot. The first two are examples of the cobra knot when you start off with two colors side by side. This version is reversible-the colors look different on either side.
This is the cobra knot if you have one color for the core and another for the outside.
When you double up the cobra knot you get the king cobra knot. The first two are the front and back shot of the knot when the outer colors are alternated from the core set of cobra knots.

These two are the front and back of king cobra knots where the inner and outer colors are matched.

This last one is an example of the king cobra knot where the core cobra knot is one color and the outer knot is another.

In addition to making these nifty little knots I also had fun putting a better grip on Linus' little battle axe. The next project on my list is Tessa's kitty hat. I have all but perfected the basic template for hats now, allowing for a smooth transitioning earflap.

In other fun news, Bunny gets her braces of tomorrow. I'm sure she's ecstatic, I can't rightly imagine how much of a hassle braces have been for her.