This is where I bitch.

Some random thoughts from this week's episode of Cowry Catchers, the podcast by faunus. If you don't listen (and why is that, BTW?), you probably won't understand.

1. When voicing to Gerard list off the things he and Dakar need for survival, it sounded just like Ishmael Wong get ready for some obstacle in one of the Solat Clipper stories. But Nathan Lowell still adds so much more emotion to Gerard that was the first time I was reminded of the other character.

2. Big Ancklvich (form the Dunesteef podacst) did such an awesome job as that Hunti slaver. I was cracking up from the accent and I never thought that hyaena-esk giggle could come from him.

3. I'm wondering if Abbie went to some audio editing class between books, cause she has had nothing but cliffhangers for every episode this book. If I didn't know what was going to happen I'd be just as crazy as everyone else on her forums. She's doing great.


In non-podcast news, I'm hovering just under 160 lbs these days. I don't think I've been this thin since college (before the freshmen 15). The diet/lifestyle change Paul has us on is helping, I'm sure. Plus the fact that I'm still pretty active at the post office. When I do get a new job I have to figure out how to keep off the cubical weight. I wish I had more time for yoga.

Nothing from Quad yet... and the applications keep going out.

I'm really pleased with the number of gay characters in the podcasts I listen to this year. Drabblecast, Podcastle, EscapePod, Dunesteef, The Starter and, of course, Cowry Catchers. And this is just in the first two months of 2011. Good times. And a few of the stories have gay characters, but are not gay stories. Exactly what I like.

I don't have as much time to listen to podcasts as I used to. I can't really do it at the post office, since there are people I have to talk to all the time and customers come in for there mail through out the day. So I've started to listen when I can, walking JP, cleaning the house, driving (i.e. through my radio via a cradle for the iPhone). I'm caught up on the ones I really like, Cowry Catches and The Starter by Sigler (which just started and a new gay character was just introduced--a well done gay character).

I was listening to Escape Pod, the sci-fi short story podcast I like. The sci-fi can be hit or miss, though most of them I like. Sci-fi stories often has a political or social message, and I don't like that. I just want entertainment from my short fiction, if I want a social/political commentary I can listen to the news. But the story I just listened to, Conditional Love was just awesome. Good medical sci-fi, strong-twist ending. Just great. It's a good intro to the podcast.

Some good news and some bad news.

Bad news first, Perry Moore, the author of Hero, was found dead, apparently of a drug overdose. His book was great, very sad news.

http://www.afterelton.com/other/2011/02/perry-moore-hero-found-dead


In better news, another of the episodes for Abbie's Guild of the Cowry Catchers that I did episode art for was released. Which also means her podcast is starting up again.

I'm pretty proud of that piece, came out well I think.

Here is the test piece I did to try out the water color pencils. I think it looks pretty good and they work really slick. I think I need to use a lot more color before adding the water though. I'll be doing another piece soon (I hope), I owe faunus another piece for the third book. I'm not going to match Rah's, another of her artists style with watercolor, but it might fit in with the other styles better.

My managers at the post office seems to have figured out I can be trusted to think and understand directions. I'm being given more things to do without supervision. I ended up putting in 51 hours my first week (in only 5 days). The work weeks there start on Saturday, so yesterday was the beginning of a new week. Still going well.

We got the tree decorated, Paul did a great job. We even have a few presents under it already.

I was supposed to work at the mall today, but due to the cold and snow the entire mall was closed. So it was just me, Paul and the puppy hanging out today. Had to clear away the snow, of course, but otherwise it was relaxing.

The Christmas episode of Glee was great. Had me tearing up in parts.

Talking to Laura on Skype tomorrow. It will be nice to catch up. Mom and Dad fly out to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. We still need to work out the Skype plans for Christmas day so we can see them. We are booked to visit Paul's family for four days in January too. That will be a nice trip, I hope.

Apparently I'm pretty good at audio editing, at least that is what fanaus said. Or I did a good job for a beginner. I hope to work on more of that this month, during my "free time."

The trip half way to mom and dad's to get the Christmas tree went well. I drove with my cousin Nate, Paul had to work. Nate and I caught up on the hour and a half drive and then met mom, dad and grandma for lunch. My sister got my mom an awesome birthday gift that mom showed us. Sis's family and mom and dad went out west on a driving vacation last summer and had many adventures. Laura took the pictures and uploaded them to a site where she could arrange them and add captions, then have it printed out in full color, hard cover with a glossy cover sleeve. Laura wrote it like Jack was narrating. It was very cute and cool.

After I got home I had time to go play volleyball for a bit. I miss it. I had a lot of fun and am not too sore today.

Then while Paul met with some classmates to finalize a final project I did some audio editing for fenrah. I've never tired that before, and it was kind of fun. I used GarageBand, since it's free on my laptop. Some things seemed clunky, but that might be because I have an older copy, or I'm not doing it the best way yet. Hopefully I did a good enough job she will want more from me. Though I do worry about what kind of turnaround she wants.

First day at the post office tonight. I'll find out my schedule and what I will be doing. I'm a bit nervous, but not too much.

An episode of The Guild of the Cowry Catchers that I did the episode art for has been released. Go listen! Go subscribe!

Life is stressful. It kinda sucks.

In better news, one of the episodes of The Guild of the Cowry Catchers that I made art for has been released. This isn't the first piece I made, but this one comes before that one. If you aren't listening to the podcasts, you should be.

I'm not as thrilled with this piece as I am with the latest one (which is for book 3), my style is getting much better again.

Just finished (or got caught up with) Outcast a novel by Chris Hvidsten. Anamorphic cat people, with a feudal yet technologically advanced society. Very Klingon set up for the society, with an oriental feel to it. I had to roll my eyes at some of the romance parts, but all in all I liked his world and the story. The posting seems to have slowed down a lot, but I'm hopeful we will get the last 5 episodes eventually. I'd recommend it.

Score: -B



I've started helping Abbie with an exciting new project for her Cowry Catcher's podcast. More details as they develop.

And we have planned a 4 day vacation in the Twin Cities the end of July so we can see my sister and her family before they leave for Saudi for 2 years. It will be nice to see them, but will mark the beginning of a sad time.