Old Age, Pain, and Grumpy Gorillas

Hello amazing followers. It is Sunday morning in Pennsylvania USA and it has been another rough and wasted weekend. I ended up helping cover a store on Friday that resulted in about six hours driving. My back was not happy about that so I have spent the weekend nursing it.

Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Because of my feet problems, which work into the legs and then the back after long amounts of time standing, I spend most weekends recovering enough to go back on Monday. As most of my older followers know, this just get more and more fun each year.

The harder part for me is the affect it has on my personality. I become a positively grumpy gorilla. It is an admixture of the pain, frustration at getting nothing done at home, and realization of my mortality. I get very resentful of work for demanding so much of me, leaving nothing for me personally. While I know it is not totally fair but when you live with intense chronic pain, it is hard not to want to blame something. Also, there really is some blame there.

So that is partially why the gorilla is so grumpy today and most weekends. Please don’t be afraid to interact with him, because he is fairly harmless for to most part and could use a little attention.

Mr. Crabbbbs

So, wonderful ones, I have had a lot of forced sedentariness so I decided to put some time into creating the characters for my story. This particular one is the second robot Tessa encounters. I like the back view better but both are just first drafts.

In God’s Name Why?

Hallo my surprising unexpected followers. I was hoping to have something artistic or story wise to post but I just needed some connection now so this is what you get.

I bet many of you have wondered from time to time why I write some of the blog posts I do that don’t pertain to my creative projects, mainly my views of subjects ranging from science, religion, and politics. What the hell are these life lessons? Well, the short answer is this is what I do.

Really! Yes! I have always liked sharing things I find interesting. I like helping people understand things, sometimes because it helps me understand something. I also love diving around ideas, sounding them out for all their nuaunces or feeling the change they cause in my landscape.

More germane to this topic is what you get from all of this. You get to see what I am made of and how I look at things. J.M. Straczinski talks in his book on writing how he researches areas and people he includes in his stories to add authenticity. I would also say that who he choses and what he focuses on, if he explained such things, would say a lot about his thinking processes. I am, of course, no where on his par but what I have is an insatiable curiosity and an observing nature. That is a strong part of what this blog was about before I focused more on my projects. Unfortunately, as work has sucked a large part of my time lately from creating, I have turned more to the behind the scenes.

Don’t worry though, there is much I want to do. I am just needing time. I have recently been craving to do something with different metals. I mean pure metals like copper, silver, and gold along with alloys like bronze and brass. I love the color of untarnished copper. I also like the contrasts between them. I like wood too. Who knows, I have been dying to do something with materials as opposed to computer work. So there you have it. This is me, all of it and that is want ends up in my work.

Hello from Sugarland

Good US afternoon wonderful followers. Yes, it has been a while because work has been abysmal, continuing to work six days a week 60 plus hours. Not much time for anything but sleep, get ready for work, and work.

Anyway, today is another post about the horrors of our medical insurance system and what it truly means to be diabetic. Well, after a few days struggle I finally picked up my next supply of insulin at the increased dose. $653 for a three month supply I was crying. This is what my employer assisted medical plan allows as part of my deductible.

I have an appointment this week with my doctor so I will see what options I have but I don’t have much hope. At least my HSA caught it this time but that is gone now. I need to sit down and see where my deductible is so I can see the rest of the damage ahead. This is what you have to prepare for if you don’t control you sugar. This may actually be the worst part, the cost. If you can’t afford what it costs to be healthy then you won’t be. It is a pay to play system.

Do not get me wrong, I understand that people need paid for their services; however, there are a lot of people making money off our system that are not really contributing to the health of the customers. In addition, they are making decisions based on profit instead of human lives. That is where profit as the sole motivator for our economic system fails morally and miserably.

So, just remember, if you don’t moderate your sugar intake, you can get diabetes and take a huge hit to your budget. Just sharing the lessons of caring for yourself in the American Dream. Stay safe and be kind.

Little White Lies

Hello wonderful followers. Tonight I am going to give you insight into my story telling style, which comes out in my stories and artwork.

Tonight I watched the HBO miniseries “Chernobyl” and was forcibly reminded of my view on people in power. I had seen documentaries on how the accident occured and some of the aftermath. But this miniseries, whether very accurate or mostly accurate, underscored the costs of lying to stay in power.

By stifling the flow of information between scientists and engineers, the Soviet Union signed its own death warrant along with thousands of humans and millions of animals and plants. Lies that had become so insitutionalized that they became invisible and deadly. It is the halmark of incompetent power hungry people to bully people into parroting their lies to cover up their lack of understanding.

Ohhhh, wait, that sounds familiar. I think there is another nation that repeatedly tells itself a lie about their economic system even though time and time again it has actually failed. It has failed quite spectacularly several times. Yes, yes. It is on the tip of my tongue. Starts with an A and involves a lot of flag waving and in some cases molestation by elected officials.

America, that’s the place. They keep telling themselves capitalism is the best system in the world even though it has twice nearly ruined the world economy, as well as, its own. Yet they keep throwing wads of money at it hoping it will be great again. It has become one of those institutionalized lies that is just waiting to blow up inyour face. No, don’t look under the hood, I promise this baby is sound and a real steal at only a three trillion dollar stimulus plan. Then you get it home only to find you need another three trillion to keep it running.

You go back to the dealership only to find it has changed hands and they are sorry but the purchase contract was not with them although the same salesman is there. Well don’t mind me, I am just a cranky old man who happens to write stories about such things. So, this is one place my ideas come from. Watch some of the movies I have championed in this blog and you will see a lot of where my stories come from.

Fall from Grace

Hello wonderful followers, here is something a bit more fun to check out. This is where I stand so far with the Ram image. You will note that it is titled Banish God Fall, which means that I have had a crazy idea that means a lot of work and also a lot of fun.

I had the idea to render this image in different schemes, fall, winter, spring, and summer. I am really looking forward to seeing what I can do with winter and a ghostly white image on a dark background. I am hoping to add fall leaves and steam to enhance this one. I like the charred log with glowing cracks effect I have gotten so far on the horns. Let me know what you think of the entire plan. Cheers.

Who’s Got Your Goat

Next Project

Helloooo wonderful followers. Tonight was a good night for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I am still beat and hurt like hell, but I was able to get the dishes done, wash my clothes, and pack my lunch that I did not get done over the weekend.

In addition, as you can see, I managed to get enough drawing done on my halloween project that I felt I could post. I still need to clean it up a bit before I scan it in for painting but I am happy with it for now. Don’t expect this to look anything like a real sheep when I am done. This is destined for a dark place.

A God for All Seasons

Hello wonderful followers.  It has been a while because it is crazy time at Walmart.  The company I work for is tied into a lot of areas in the stores, so when all those areas have new modulars and major floor plan changes at the same time ( favorite habit of Walmart is to do entire depts in a week) we are usually promised to help. This year they are doing a major change in electronics meaning all the phone, music, movies, tv’s, and etc. have moves and modular changes.

The computers are a pain because you have to mess with all these brackets design with only one focus, theft deterent. If that means they are challenging to remove and set, oh well. Now add to that Frito Lay/chip aisle resets left from a week ago and now bread aisle resets.

I am also picking up the pieces from a less than helpful part timer that left me a lot of unfinished tasks in a store and I am beat. I start this week covering a bread reset in an another reps. store. Anyway, it can go without saying that I have not been getting much creative work done.

I did; however, start a drawing for a halloween mood I had a while back, which may turn into something more when I get the time. It is a sketch of a bighorn sheep ram that I want to do in a Dark God kinda style with glowing eyes and all. Hopefully, I will be able to post something soon.

Meeting Women is Hard

Hello wonderful followers. I am a little tired from crazy work, which should let up a little finally. However, I have managed to add a little bit to Mist and Memories bringing the word count to over 3,100 words. I am happy with that level for just the beginning of the Strange Inquisitor part of the story. Jack has just met the cargo chief and is smitten with her. Of course his over sized travel luggage could quickly put a damper on things. It is not much progress, but right now, I am happy for anything. Later.

My Thoughts on the Modern Presidency

Here are my thought on the modern Presidents of America.

Amageddon knocking on the door, “Hey Ron how is your monkey? Want to build some more nuclear missiles? Good times right?

Ronald Reagan ” Sure, if Oliver North can come.”

Armageddon knocking on the door, “Hey George, if you go into Iraq, let my buddy Hussein off the hook.”

George Bush “Sure thing because we don’t want any new taxes you know. No new taxes!”

Armageddon knocking on the door, “Hey Bill, you know this guy Jeffrey Epstein? I think you guys would get along real well.

Bill Clinton “Oh hey y’all, sounds fun!”

Armageddon pounding on the door, “Hey W, I know you are busy with this Afghan thing but I think we can have a lot of fun in Iraq. You up?

George W. Bush, “Are there WMD’s innvolved? Oh hell, nevermind, sure.”

Armageddon knocking on the door softly, “Hey Barrack, my Wallstreet friends feel real bad about what they did. Do you think they can still get their bonuses?”

Barrack Obama “Why yes, yes they can!”

Armageddon going all Jack Nicholson on the door sticks face through, “Hey Donald, want to destroy the W…Son of a bitch, you started without me!!!!”

Donald Trump “Just slow the testing dowwwwn, Lock her upppppp, Choke holds sound so innnnnocent, Fake mediaaaaaa, There are good people on both sidessssss.”