Today, February 20th, 2012, is the 50th anniversary of Senator John Glenn's orbit around Earth. Which is kind of cool. It's also kind of depressing.
I am sitting here, on my super awesome computer with it's 12gigs of RAM, whatever blah blah blah processor and graphics card, etc etc. The super awesome computer that all I really do on it is play video games and write essentially useless blog entries. I use it to pretend I'm in space all the time (thanks SWTOR for making space missions so enjoyable). WHY AM I NOT ACTUALLY IN SPACE?! Not only am I not in space, I have no real chance in this lifetime of EVER being in space. Nor do my neighbors. Or old classmates. Or the creepy people I stalk online. And none of us are actively trying to be in space or even to help get more of our fellow man into space.
Nope. Not at all. Instead we are busy giving advertising companies all our time and money. Idolizing athletes and people who got chosen for whatever reality tv show is popular at the time. Making all the rich people famous for just being rich. Really, we are no better than the Romans were. Or any other society that preceded our current one.
Yes, we have the technology. We have assloads of technology. Some awesome geek created that tv with it's excellent and realistic picture quality so that those humans you idolize so much could seem closer to you. That same geek could have been designing displays for an orbital station. But you know, that wouldn't have paid his rent. Don't get me wrong, I love my 50-something inch LED/LCD/HDTV/WHATEVER tv. But I'd like the display quality much more from an orbital station or a space shuttle. The programming would probably be better. Watching asteroid belts is much more entertaining than watching some guy throw a ball.
So yeah, what am I doing to help future space colonization? Not a damn thing. I wanted to be an astrophysicist but am really terrible at math. Same goes for aerospace engineering. I guess I could try to help disseminate the awesomeness of space. Maybe list all the things all of us non-math geniuses could do to help move things along. I'll try to think of some things.
In the meantime I have a 7 month old son to educate and I'm going to try to teach myself all that really freaky math. Hopefully even such small steps can lead to a greater impact. In another 50 years, perhaps we can look back and say, "Oh wow, it's John Glenn's 100th anniversary of his Earth orbit", from our orbital station, as we too circle the Earth.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
SWTOR Fan Art Piece
I am a geek. I play Star Wars: The Old Republic. I love it so much I spent hours with an aching hand, using colored pencils to create fan art based upon my character and her romantic companion, Vector.
So alas, here is Parker Ripley, Master Conspirator and Vector Hyllis getting hitched on the um, lovely?, planet of Tatooine.
.JPG)
So alas, here is Parker Ripley, Master Conspirator and Vector Hyllis getting hitched on the um, lovely?, planet of Tatooine.
.JPG)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
EYES: messing around with different things
I got bored and wanted to try pastels for the first time. So I decided to do a comparison between how I use acrylics, colored pencil, ink, and pastel. Sigh, some things need more work than others, that's for sure. Keep in mind, this was just a quick doodle. The whole thing took me about 30 minutes.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Random Thoughts...
Taking the most basic, crazy, and fantastic childhood fears, then manipulating them into adult fears... that is what truly makes a great horror novel.
I realized that the other night when watching the Christmas episode of Haven (Silent Night). I won't mention what the actual "fear" was because if you get the chance to watch it you really should. But I can say that it is something I always was afraid of, usually buried in my subconscious, as a child. And it is brilliant.
I wish I could remember what I was scared of as a child. Besides clowns and spiders. Because that shit is just so overplayed. The really obscure things would make wonderful stories.
I realized that the other night when watching the Christmas episode of Haven (Silent Night). I won't mention what the actual "fear" was because if you get the chance to watch it you really should. But I can say that it is something I always was afraid of, usually buried in my subconscious, as a child. And it is brilliant.
I wish I could remember what I was scared of as a child. Besides clowns and spiders. Because that shit is just so overplayed. The really obscure things would make wonderful stories.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Carpe Noctem
She quivered as the cool caress of the water massaged her body. She was lying on the sand along the edge of an endless ocean, waiting for it to claim her. Wanting her suffering to cease. One such as her should never even have been made to exist, let alone this long. She should have been ostracized from life long, long ago. But here she was, centuries later, loathing herself and regretting every action that made her who she is.
The waves crashed around her once more yet none would take her. Even something so powerful and impartial as the ocean did not accept her. It did not want her to tarnish its foaming waters. First despair clouded her mind, and then anger. The anger blotted her vision, turning everything scarlet. The moon, the distant stars, the wave crests, all pulsed with red hues.
Before she could gather the strength to act upon her rage, a soft shift in the sand alerted her to another presence near. She slowly got to her feet and turned her back to the ocean. The moon cast a pale light on the man’s features, but they would still be barely discernible to any mortal. She, however, would have recognized him even in a night of impenetrable black. And it had been oh so long since she had last laid her ancient blue eyes upon him. Back then the same moon that shed its light now had still been shrouded in mystery. Worshipped even.
She had been worshipped then as well. And he had been by her side. She had loved him then- still did. It was that love that had driven her to kill him. To make him part of her. She had promised him eternal life with the sacrifice of his eternal salvation. She had neglected to mention that there were ways they could be killed and that mistake had cost them both dearly.
But now he was here before her. A task she would have thought impossible. A single tear escaped her eye. It traveled down her cheek, its rusty color leaving a thin, shining trail.
“How are you here?”, she asked. Her normally strong voice was trembling slightly. “I thought you were lost to me forever.”
“When things die they sometimes come back. If there is something worth coming back for”, he said softly. She almost collapsed with the weight of the memories that voice brought back to her. Once she was over the shock of hearing that same voice that had whispered countless ‘I love yous’ over the centuries, it took her a few seconds to comprehend what he had said.
“Are you here to reclaim the night with me? To once again be my partner amongst the shadows?”, she asked, half afraid of the answer.
“No, my love, I am not.”
She shuddered and her warring fears and desires caused her once strong legs to give out. Her knees sank into the cool sand.
“I am sorry”, he continued, “but the night is not right to reclaim. Instead of joining you, I want you to join me. To seize the daylight and rescue your salvation. To be redeemed.”
All of her instincts told her this was impossible. That her kind could never be redeemed. But here he was before her, against all odds, proof that something existed for them after death. She stared in wonder at the soul before her. A light surrounded him, greater than that of the receding moon. She knew, in that instant, that she would do anything, anything, for him.
“OK”, she said.
He reached out and intertwined their fingers, lifting her up from the sand. She enjoyed the way his hand felt against hers and the way the grains of sand stubbornly clung to her legs. The sun would be peaking over the horizon soon and she wanted to savor this moment, to be able to recall every detail.
“Are you ready”, he asked.
“I hope so.”
As the words left her lips, a soft white and yellow glow began glimmering across the water, steadily getting closer to where they were standing. A faint pink mixed with the dark blue of the night sky and she knew she only had seconds more.
“I love you”, she told him.
The gentle light of dawn exploded over the ocean and she finally found the peace she had been so desperately seeking.
The waves crashed around her once more yet none would take her. Even something so powerful and impartial as the ocean did not accept her. It did not want her to tarnish its foaming waters. First despair clouded her mind, and then anger. The anger blotted her vision, turning everything scarlet. The moon, the distant stars, the wave crests, all pulsed with red hues.
Before she could gather the strength to act upon her rage, a soft shift in the sand alerted her to another presence near. She slowly got to her feet and turned her back to the ocean. The moon cast a pale light on the man’s features, but they would still be barely discernible to any mortal. She, however, would have recognized him even in a night of impenetrable black. And it had been oh so long since she had last laid her ancient blue eyes upon him. Back then the same moon that shed its light now had still been shrouded in mystery. Worshipped even.
She had been worshipped then as well. And he had been by her side. She had loved him then- still did. It was that love that had driven her to kill him. To make him part of her. She had promised him eternal life with the sacrifice of his eternal salvation. She had neglected to mention that there were ways they could be killed and that mistake had cost them both dearly.
But now he was here before her. A task she would have thought impossible. A single tear escaped her eye. It traveled down her cheek, its rusty color leaving a thin, shining trail.
“How are you here?”, she asked. Her normally strong voice was trembling slightly. “I thought you were lost to me forever.”
“When things die they sometimes come back. If there is something worth coming back for”, he said softly. She almost collapsed with the weight of the memories that voice brought back to her. Once she was over the shock of hearing that same voice that had whispered countless ‘I love yous’ over the centuries, it took her a few seconds to comprehend what he had said.
“Are you here to reclaim the night with me? To once again be my partner amongst the shadows?”, she asked, half afraid of the answer.
“No, my love, I am not.”
She shuddered and her warring fears and desires caused her once strong legs to give out. Her knees sank into the cool sand.
“I am sorry”, he continued, “but the night is not right to reclaim. Instead of joining you, I want you to join me. To seize the daylight and rescue your salvation. To be redeemed.”
All of her instincts told her this was impossible. That her kind could never be redeemed. But here he was before her, against all odds, proof that something existed for them after death. She stared in wonder at the soul before her. A light surrounded him, greater than that of the receding moon. She knew, in that instant, that she would do anything, anything, for him.
“OK”, she said.
He reached out and intertwined their fingers, lifting her up from the sand. She enjoyed the way his hand felt against hers and the way the grains of sand stubbornly clung to her legs. The sun would be peaking over the horizon soon and she wanted to savor this moment, to be able to recall every detail.
“Are you ready”, he asked.
“I hope so.”
As the words left her lips, a soft white and yellow glow began glimmering across the water, steadily getting closer to where they were standing. A faint pink mixed with the dark blue of the night sky and she knew she only had seconds more.
“I love you”, she told him.
The gentle light of dawn exploded over the ocean and she finally found the peace she had been so desperately seeking.
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