Armaments for the Dark Future Ahead

I haven't posted as much the last few weeks because I was waiting for something that still hasn't happened. I am kinda in the dark about the whole thing and nobody has yet answered my emails.

I also added a third tale to my repertoire of the type that begins with, "First of all, I don't drink... at all. Can't stand the taste of alcohol." But then is instantly followed by the opening, "Okay, so I was drunk..." During all that, I managed to loose both my bracelets. Well, not loose them, they both broke.

Just the other night my Lance Armstrong: LiveSTRONG bracelet broke. I bought it from the website when they first went up prior to them being in stores. I actually bought a pack of 10 and handed them out to friends and I think I still have another one from that batch but it with my stuff being shipped back from Australia. I got the LiveSTRONG Oakley sunglasses, but I am still going to need my bracelet for the upcoming Tour de France.

Prior to that my metal, kinda Celtic, dragon bracelet finally broke in two. Sorry, no pictures as I lost my camera during my trip to Brazil and related traveling awhile back. I bought the dragon bracelet back in 1994 at GenCon when it was still being held in Milwaukee. I remember there was another booth there with some really cool chess sets. My problem with them was that they all had identical pieces on both sides, just colored different. I tried to get the lady to sell me a set with pieces from two different sets, but she wouldn't go for it.

Anyway, the bracelet was actually the bane of several women that I've dated over the years and I would sometimes bonk them on the back of the head with it when putting my arm around them or something. But it was very unique and it got a lot of compliments. The bracelet had a makers inscription on the inside, but it was mostly worn away and all that was readable was that it was copyright 1994. After about an hour of searching online for it or one like it I gave up, but I did find some other stuff that I want.
I've always like the look of stuff from the Steam Punk, 1800's Space/Adventure, and Mystical Alchemy genres. Things that have that magical and/or retro brass-fitted fantasy look to them. Some Japanese anime has that look and feel, taking place in a retro-fitted history. Anyway, these pieces from Alchemy Gothic really caught my eye:

Spectrostatic Nocturnium Bracelet
Or, "Moonlight Destiny" Early scientific instrumental band for controlling moonlight wavelength emulations. A fascinating adjustable cuff bracelet etched with alchemical intricacies, Latin text, and mysterious English notations in antiqued pewter and solid brass. Cuff is ¾" wide.

Induction Ring
In pewter and solid brass, an authentic reproduction of Dr. Von Rosenstein's indispensable key to the induction matrix. A beautiful rendition of an ancient gothic pattern which may, or may not, mean more than it seems.
Nothing more than a popular tale of “Frankenstein”, Maximillian Von Rosenstein is a legacy from the devout servants of the Pandectes Philosopiae and accredited by his clandestine lover, Mary Shelly.

I don't think I could wear either of the following two necklaces as I think they would come off being a little too feminine. (Pictures of them on a female model can be found here.)

Quantum Displacer Control Necklace
An essential piece of equipment for any self-respecting, Victorian cyber-junkie, and the means by which they would calibrate the necessary compensation for entropic shift in matter when enabling transposition.






Laboratory Chaterlaine
A flamboyant and flouncing bijouterie comprising an assortment of retro hi-tech components for the femme technique.

But what I would like to do is to get both of them, take them apart and then make a necklace out of them by weaving the pieces and some of the different styles of the chain into a several loops of a thin black leather.

They have a Steam Punk wrist watch too, but I would rather stick to a pocket watch. My current one is a miniature, brass Mickey Mouse pocket watch that an ex-girlfriend bought me years ago. Actually, I had two of them prior to her buying me this one, lost one to the washing machine and then just plain lost the second one. Haven't seen them in the stores since, so I am trying to take careful of this final one.

Anyway, I can't really afford to buy any of this stuff till all the job related stuff sorts it self out or I take up armed robbery... Or hey, maybe cat-burglary! Less bullets and more ninja-like skills!

Traveling Man

I started working on this map last weekend, but I couldn't remember to use Paths in Photoshop to draw curves. I knew it had something to do with drawning the path, manipulating the handles and then using the stroke function, but I kept doing things wrong.

What can I say, I'm bad at stroking! Sorry, I realized that if I didn't do a "stroke" joke you probably would.

Anyway, something was going wrong, it would fill in the curve, or have the stroke option grayed out, etc. I asked Tim here at work and he said, oh that's easy but when he went to show me he realized he had forgotten as well. I finally went to Lisa, who in addition to having the power to make one last can of Diet Coke appear in the fridge when it looks like we've run out, also has mighty Photoshop powers and knew how to do it.

So finally here is a map of my recent travels.



Red: Perth to San Paulo
Perth - Sydney - Los Angles - Chicago for several days
Chicago - San Diego for a week
San Diego - Huston - Austin GCD for a few days
Austin - Las Vegas for a week and a half with family and friends
Las Vegas - Huston - São Paulo for about a month and a half

There was also a weekend in Rio right before we left.


Purple: São Paulo back to Perth
São Paulo - Huston - Chicago - Los Angles - Sydney - Perth

From the point I arrived in the São Paulo airport till I landed in Perth was 63.5 hours. Most of this was caused because my main ticket was a round trip flight from Perth to Chicago. There were a bunch of other separate tickets for the travel in between, for example I bought my own ticket from Austin to Las Vegas. This meant I had to fly back to Chicago first, then head back to Perth. Granted I also got to the São Paulo 8 hours before my flight, because Dan and Jack's flight was earlier than mine. There was also 10 hours between flights Chicago.

I was initially I had fun complaining that Dan and Jack were leaving 4 hours before me, but were getting back to Perth over a day before I did. But then while sitting in the Macaroni Grill in the Chicago Airport enjoying a nice bow-tie pasta, I learned their flight out of Santiago had been canceled and they were stuck. They still arrived in Perth a half a day before me.

At first I couldn't fathom how they appeared to be all nice and rested after the long trip while I was dead. Even noting that Jack went straight to São Paulo and Dan was with me to Chicago but then went to São Paulo from there; they were still too lively. Then I found out they got a night in a hotel in Santiago AND in Sydney because of the canceled flight.


Yellow: Perth to San Diego
Perth - Melbourne - Los Angeles - San Diego

Green: San Diego to Perth
San Diego - Los Angeles - Melbourne - Perth

This trip back to San Diego was a result of my work the previous trip. We arrived Tuesday morning and left on Thursday, spending about as much time in San Diego as we spent in transit. It appears to have gone well though, so that is all good.

Though I have to say Melbourne's airport sucks! When you get off an international flight you have to collect your bags and clear customs in that country. Normally, once you through customs there is a place where a guy will take your bags. Not in Melbourne. In Melbourne you have to go up as if you were checking in at the ticket counter and wait in a long line with the people who have used the new automatic check computers in to get their boarding pass.

So lets compare:

Normal - 1 or 2 people to collect your bags as you come out of customs, go right to your gate.

Melbourne - 6 overworked and stressed people at the counters, 1 person at the head of the line directing you to get into the line and 1 person walking up and down the line pulling out people who have been waiting so long that they have to be rushed to the front of the line so as not to miss their flight.