On a pretty solid trip to Portland, for the Oregon Brewfest, we stopped off at Powell’s and went in search of literary treasures. Material for many “new comic book” days to come was supplied while looking in their assembled superhero collections, as I stumbled across a good deal of the Marvel Civil War collections. I realize these are not new comic books per say, but as I only actively follow one line of comic books, I tend to pick up new books on subject of interest rather than chronological imperative. Also, as I have not really gone over it before, a good deal of these Wednesday posts will be regarding the various Civil War pieces I’ve acquired, which hopefully will be all of them.

I suppose I should dedicate the first of these to establish what kind of comic book reader I am.  My knowledge of the various canons of comic books is not just from comics themselves, but from adaptations of classic IP that was rampant during the 90’s that almost universally included “The Animated Series” following a colon. As a child of those times I was acquainted with the majority of mutants, heroes, villains, and henchmen, but not intimately familiar. It was this way until the producers of the host of Saturday morning cartoons wisely re-targeted my demographic as we came into our independent years by creating the superhero blockbuster.  It was really Bryan Singer’s X-Men that found the key balance between what works on the silver screen, and what works inside the printed panel. Comics and their characters had been tugged out of their campy roots and into the mainstream.

It took a few summers of massive CGI and a move into independence for me to pick up comic books again. As it stands, I don’t have a massive selection of books, and I greatly desire to pick up completed story arcs rather than wait through a cliffhanger every month.  As it is, I have enough of a backlog to attempt to make this a weekly post as I go over a piece of my illustrated collection.  First up, Civil War: War Crimes

Nothing short of decimation. It was totally undrivable, and yet the vehicle that was our means of conveyance, some kind of toyota van, escaped nearly unscathed. I have a photo of that as well, but it’s not nearly as spectacular.  True to the reputation of the company, the operator of the machine is unharmed physically. After dealing with this debacle, provisions are readied and we made for the road up to Twin Springs for the event.  I spent most of the drive up re-reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, or sleeping in the back of aforementioned van.

It is hot in this place. More than I am used to, and at the verge of my comfort zone.  We erect the shade & shelter and are set in our camp for the weekend. Once I had established a basic layout of the area, I found that while I wanted to stick with the people in our little group, I was also totally comfortable with wandering off on my own, caught in my own musings. During the first day I managed to put faces to a good deal of names I’d heard my roommate use, which helps a good deal when relating to them. There was the usually drinking and eating until the music started. Both stages were pretty cool,  and the music was pretty solid. Much dancing was done, and right when I was starting to feel droopy, I was revitalized by the DJ that had just begun to play. I think it was Michael Manahan, and after listening for what seemed like an eternity, the thought of going to bed had flown from my head. I don’t think I’ve been pulled that far out of the desire for sleep by anything before, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. We finally passed out sometime around sunrise, and had about four hours of the least enjoyable sleep I’ve had in my life. Which brings us to Saturday.

Saturday was a lot like Friday, except Saturday afternoon we got to catch Odissi and Dylan Rhymes both playing not so secret sets on the Ganesh art car. Awesome. There was a flamethrower. I’m super excited to see them here in Seattle tomorrow. On the whole, the music Saturday was much better than Friday, and the only reason I didn’t make it to sunrise again was utter exhaustion. Sunday was low key, and a return to Seattle. The entire week up to today was a blur, and I was up way too early today. We’ll see what the weekend brings me this time, but if you want to get out, this Sunday at Contour is the place to be.

I’ve made this twice, and I realize it’s a lot of cheese & butter, but I make stir fry vegetables along with it, and watch my portions.  It makes a good lunch the next day as well. For the vegetables,  I’ve been working in this template to make a garlic sauce to add to the stir fry.  Tuesday I did the baked macaroni with soy milk and a stir fry of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and a mix of white & portobello mushrooms.  Served with some rice, it was a little spicier than I expected, and came out too early. Wednesday I made a version of the sauce without soy  & mixed it into snow peas and mushrooms, with cut corn over rice.  Thursday I made the baked Mac again, but this time with skim milk, and no stir fry, but guacamole with jalapeno & lime juices to go with corn chips before hand.  Lunches have all been leftovers, and have been very filling at work.

As far as the home environment goes,  we continue to get more and more settled. A couch and futon have manifested in our living room, allowing us to, in fact,  live in it without someone sitting on the floor.  I am sure this fact will lead to a party at some point. We’re picking up a futon mattress tonight which will allow people to sleep over at our place somewhere comfortable that is not WITH me or Becky. Perhaps we should reconsider that bit, no need to sabotage ourselves further.

I may have more later, but it’ll probably just be a new post.

I find myself with less and less motivation for things, I guess it’s just the beginning of the year funk that I always get in where I can’t catch a break. Oh well, everything will get sorted out. It’s tough.

I’m tired of having my laptop sit in the living room.  I want to play Mirror’s Edge. I need Assassin’s Creed II.  I also need a better keyboard, the one on this PC in the living room sucks.

I need more interesting things to blog about. Worldwake pre-release is this weekend. Playing in Bellevue on Friday, Seattle Center on Saturday.  Not sure what’s going on Saturday night.

It has just occurred to me that I really need a haircut.  I haven’t cut my hair since I shaved my head in July.

This has been a pretty terrible post. All the statements are abrupt, and there’s no thread that really binds it all. Oh well, continuing with the stream of thought.

I’ve been doing burpees to get in shape, starting with small sets, adding one level per day. I eventually want to get to a point where I’m doing 55 per day, but that’s going to take awhile.

New year seems to be going alright. The new apartment is finally starting to feel homey. We went to IKEA  and got a set of proprietary bulb that we lacked from the lamp that was picked up last year. A $15 lamp seems super-cheap untill you have to buy $10 bulbs.

Lots of changes in the last few months, biggest one is that my address has changed. If you need a new mailing address for me, please e-mail or telephone me, and I will provide the new one to you. Also, if you’d like to get in on the sweet housewarming party, let me know. We’re still getting the place all sorted out, but it should be more kickass by then

You never realize how much junk you have until you try and move it all  somewhere. Half of this crap was still packed from when I had to move here from Spokane, and a lot was packed from my near-move earlier this year. Right now most of it is piled up in my room and our spare bedroom, but it should be getting sorted out the first week of next year.

More later, when I get tired of MW2

White control – http://mtgurl.com/hOJy My main Standard format deck

Crypt Control – http://mtgurl.com/gXoj Project Standard Format

Grixis Zombies – http://mtgurl.com/oyRd Casual standard

Meeksword - http://mtgurl.com/AaAw Competetive Extended format

F your dudes -http://mtgurl.com/KQOg Standard format wipe-control

Nayaria – http://mtgurl.com/Yoqx Standard deck pre-zendikar, has since been adapted

Magistrate’s Collection – http://mtgurl.com/vi7J A project casual deck I’ve been toying with cause magistrate’s scepter is funnnn