Keep the Customer Satisfied

I know that when I go to a blog and all too often there is no new post, I become more sporadic in checking that blog. That being said, even though the following post may be lame, I'm trying to keep something fresh up here just to keep my ever-so-loyal fan base returning.

"Theorizing that one could travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the quantum leap accelerator...and vanished....

He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror-images that are not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, and observer from his own time who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear.

And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home."

Believe it or not, this was all recalled by memory on Sunday morning during church. I was thinking about this during church because on the way to church, I heard the song "His Eye is On the Sparrow." I love this song, and the first memory I have of this song is from an episode where Sam leaps into an African American congregation where the father/pastor is feuding with his daughter/singer who wants to go mainstream. At the end, they reconcile and she sings, beautifully and full of emotion, with both of them weeping, "His Eye is on the Sparrow." It struck me how amazing it is that a simple thing like a TV show can shape your life at an early age. Other beloved bits and pieces of me, while not totally due to QL, have strong links to the show as well. There's the song "Imagine," by John Lennon. I swore I'd never listen to any indivual stuff from John or Paul (or Ringo or George, but really, who listens to them anyway?) post-Beatles just because it seemed so wrong. They should only be remember in the sum total of their brilliance. Or so I thought in a young, misguidedly-idealistic way. Then I saw Sam singing to his sister on "The Leap Home" (where he had to play No-Nose Pruitt in the championship game) and he played "Imagine" to his sister to prove he was from the future. He said it was one of his favorites. I listened. It became one of my favorites too. And although I owe my love of Don Quixote to my dad and early viewings of "Man of LaMancha," I can recall Sam and Al walking off-stage at the end of a production of the play (in which Sam was the star) and, just prior to leaping, applying the dialogue between Sancho and Quixote to their situation: "More misadventures?" "Adventures, old friend."

If you're looking for something profound I could fake it. I could say that you should be careful what you watch on TV, or what you let your kids watch. But really I'm just reminiscing...and planning on watching all 5 seasons on DVD in the very near future.

A Better View

Superpowers

BIFF!
WHAMO!!
ZOCK!!
POW!!

Okay, so I grew up wearing Thing t-shirts, Superman underwear and watching "Batman." It may be ingrained in my thinking, but as I was climbing in bed last night, I asked my wife what super power she would want most. She is very wise, and responded, "Teleportation. Then I could go anywhere and not pay to travel." I did not have the heart to tell her that teleportation usually requires the power holder to have visited the place previously. Listen to me...talking authoritatively about fantasy; the next thing you know I'll be giving you all updates about the upcoming comicon.

All this to say, I played basketball last night (poorly), which I've been doing a lot lately, and enjoying it. But that has ended for now, because I sprained my ankle. Now those of you who were with me on my last sprain, I am proud to say I learned something from the experience. I did not go out and clean my garage. I did not continue playing on the ankle (oh yeah...same ankle as June). Instead I stopped immediately, went home, popped some meds, dunked my foot in a bucket of ice water, and kept it elevated the whole night. Sorry John, that meant no drawing. I am pleased to say the treatment worked. Little swelling/bruising, little limitation to range of motion. Either the sprain wasn't as bad, or I did something right afterwards.

Back to superpowers I have always loved Superman, but I am no longer fanatical about him. I have always dreamed of flying. But last night, I switched my preference. I would rather be like Wolverine and have rapid healing/restorative power. That can mean only one thing: I'm getting old.

But Heather tried to tell me it was a good choice. And just as she would grab me in her arms and teleport me with her (which is, of course, possible...comically speaking), I could touch her and others and heal them. This time I did have to correct his naivete, because that simply is impossible; healing doesn't work that way. Silly woman.

To A Mouse

Thank God for Robert Burns:

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

I had intended to draw tonight, but I find that my schemes of becoming an artist at times go awry and leave me nothing but grief and pain when I expected joy. For instance, I finished my skull drawing last week. You can see some semblance of what it looks like above. I'll explain the crappiness in just a bit. Well, you would think I'd be pretty pleased, having produced a satisfactory drawing. But then I went out to Jon's studio to draw from life and it was revealed to me that I am a far cry from an outstanding artist. It was intensely frustrating and bothersome, and I walked away feeling like I couldn't draw, nor did I want to draw.

So instead of drawing, I played basketball at the gym until the kids' bedtime tonight. Then, I figured I wouldn't draw, but would post a picture of the skull. Then my digital camera was out of batteries. Then the house was out of batteries. No...not out. We had some D's and some A's; just out of AA's. Now I had intended to post quickly, then eat some dinner, play a little guitar, read a bit...enjoy some of the things I normally crowd out in my pursuit of artistic perfection. But no. My plans went all screwy because I had it in my obsessive little head that I had to post a picture and it had to be tonight. So I take the world's most ridiculous digital camera into the studio: my laptop with a web cam tacked to it. And with this unsightly monstrosity, I snapped the pictures you see above. They look so butt because the web cam is tugging atthe cord and being held sideways at full extension of the arm, etc. etc. So I'd better quit ranting so I have just enough time to choke down one bite, strum one chord, read one sentence...and then go to bed.

To Eric

I can't figure out why I didn't root for the Bears last night. I actually remember the '85 team, and their glorious Superbowl Shuffle (though after seeing Sweetness and Funky QB, I lost steam and cut out with 2 more minutes to go in the video). I can see in my mind the Fridge rumbling over those red Pats jerseys. And then, of course, there was going to see the Bears train in Plattville, WI. But those fond memories couldn't pull my support to their side. Maybe it was all those years of rooting for the Vikings...which necessitates hating the Bears and Packers. Still, I think it was mostly the fact that I wanted Manning to get his ring.

Regardless, that is not why I post. I was glad to read today that I was not watching the game alone, though I may have been the only one drinking a certain beverage (and while I do enjoy a good brew now and again, it's not what it looks like, folks). Still, I wanted to send my well-wishes and say cheers. I missed you this year.

The Death of Me

I am home sick from school today. This is nice, in a way, because it allows me to sleep and get better, but it also allows me to work on my "Memento Mori" project (which must be completed by tomorrow).
Now, fortunately the skull does not look as it does in this picture. I've worked on it a bunch since taking this picture, but the thing that's killing me is that there's something wrong with the lower jaw. I say "something" because I spent a bunch of time trying to fix it last night, and I couldn't come up with the right way to do it. So that will be part of my labor today: to figure out the problem and find the correct solution. From there it's just straight rendering until this puppy is finished. Here's to finishing inside 3 months!!