Ten Tentacles - So many arms, so little time.

It’s not as though I don’t have enough to do these days, but outside of reading (which I enjoy tremendously), and MUSHing I don’t really have any hard and fast hobbies. I don’t count collecting and watching DVDs. Plopping yourself down infront of the boobtube can hardly be concidered a hobby. I also don’t count the woodworking and such I’ve been doing lately because it’s all been necessity type stuff. Woodworking is a hobby when you build an end table or a wine rack for the sake of building one, not because you need one. No, I need a true hobby. Something that combines some of the disciplines I already enjoy. So, I’ve settled on model ship building, specifically model sailing ships. It combines reading (for research), woodworking, and problem solving, all of which I enjoy a great deal.

I’ve decided I want to build a Xebec (pronounced: zeebeck) first. Here’s a picture of a finished model built by a Brazilian gentleman whose name I could not find:

Nice, huh? I’ve taken the first step and ordered some plans. I was originally going to buy a complete kit, including all the wood needed, rigging, outfitting, etc., but those kits are upwards of $200.00. I decided to go with just a set of plans. This will let me work it my own way, selecting what woods and materials to use, and experimenting with techniques for building. Since this sort of thing often takes years to complete (the Brazilian gentleman in question spent 1 1/2 years building his Xebec) I figure this will work out just fine. Plus, once I get to the outfitting stage I’ll actually be able to pick the cannons I want, make my own choices about rigging, sail materials, etc. Should be fun.

The plans wont even ship for another twenty days or so. Apparently the ship model people I’m ordering from in the UK take a company wide vacation around this time, plus it could then take upwards of a month to get to me because I picked the cheapo shipping method. Again, more time to ponder and plan. Wish me luck!

I was highly amused by this little exchange I had with my buddy Keith over my last post…

I do adore my friends.

Yeah, yeah. I still haven’t gotten around to posting pics in the gallery. Fooey on you all. I’ll get to it. I’m a busy guy!

Had a very nice chat with VASpider yesterday. It is so refreshing to talk to someone about work where I’m not compelled to explain every other word and acronym, because they know them. Good talk.

Work has had me busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, lately. As a result I’m fairly exhausted when I get home and pretty much only have the energy to park my wide-load in my chair and watch whatever episodes of Farscape, Futurama, Cowboy Bebop, and Witch Hunter Robin my TiVo box captured for me the night before. I don’t even have much energy for RP these days. The scenes I’ve managed to get in have all been great, but it’s the gearing up for it that seems to sap too much energy. I think it’s a combination of being tired from work and also being at the end of some big storylines and not having a real good grasp on where I want to go next with the characters. I’ve been spending my time wraping up loose ends on the previous plots and kind of feeling my way around. It’s a little frustrating, but I figure it’ll pass. Must. Find. Plot. Hooks. For. Evil. Nastiness.

What’s your Cowboy Bebop theme song?

See, this is what happens when you live in the boonies at the end of a quarter-of-a-mile long dirt driveway. You have to have a gravel truck come every now and then to gravel your road…but hey. It’s a dump truck! Cool!

Well, you know, I guess history doesn’t teach anyone anything. Prey animals run pampant in the south-east, eating crops, and people wonder what to do about it. I’ll tell you. Stop Killing The Only Natural Predator!

• Wolves Slaughtered In Alaska
• Kick up the Body Count

Boy, I tell ya…

Some of you may have noticed there’s a new link in the top menu, at the site, called Gallery. Just an FYI, the software is working but there’s only one picture in there. I’ll be adding some pics this weekend, to be sure, but for now it’s just the picture of the peeps.

< < END OF PSO >>

Awww, lookie! New LJ UserPic. Some of you may recognize that little face. I made him first in the Avatar Maker and then brought him into Photoshop for some further tweekage to make him more recognizable. I’ll probably only be using him for game related posts and such. Mostly it was just fun to make.

Weee!

Well, here they are.

Corrie Ann picked up five Barred Rocks and one White Leghorn from a local farm supply store. They are currently living in a large reptile tank I had and will probably graduate to a dog crate in a couple of weeks. We have to keep them indoors for the first several weeks, while they are small and delicate, which is fine because it gives me time to build a chicken coop.

In other news, we have a nightly visitor. Corrie Ann’s named him Floyd:

Floyd is a possum. Pictured up there, he’s enjoying some day-old dog food I threw out in a plastic bag on the deck. Floyd must like the stinky.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was enjoyable. I picked up the DVD yesterday, along with The Matrix: Revolutions, and watched it last night. I’m only on the third book of the series, but judging by the title I would guess the movie is based on the events in the 10th book, The Far Side of the World. The little blurb at that link sort of confirms this suspicion, but after watching the movie I can attest to the fact that elements from both the 1st and 3rd books were used as well. Russell Crowe also plays a darker, more brooding Jack Aubrey than is protrayed in the books I’ve read so far. As a stand alone piece the movie is fantastic and well deserving of the ten Academy Award nominations it received, but as a representation of Patrick O’Brian’s work I felt a touch cheated. There is so much material in the series. Why they couldn’t have tried to do a more faithful representation of a single book, I’ll never know. It’ll be interesting to see what comes of future installments, if there are to be any.

In other news, today is Picture Day at my son’s school. This was a day I always dreaded, but, as evidenced below, my son appears to be primed for it. It also appears he will be the goofy kid in class, having decided to go with the Hawaiian shirt.

Well, at least he got something from me. Heh.