I am woefully behind in writing here (again), as I prepare to leave for Florida (again). It’s been an insanely busy but amazing couple of months. The downside of doing fun things is that I am not good at making to time to write about them. And when I have been writing, it’s been to work on a short story (tentatively titled “The Bear and the Cyborg”).

Mostly wanted to post some pictures taken two weekends ago at THE MAIN EVENT, a celebration/fundraiser I attended benefiting the newly-built main branch of the Dayton Metro Library. The library was done up to the nines, even if it is still unfinished inside, but that just it a little more flavor. There were various performances, musical and otherwise, live art, and other entertainment spread across three floors, along with a lot of hors d’oeuvres and booze. So much booze.

DML has a bunch of other photos documenting the festivities here. It was an excellent time spent with some of my favorite people. 5/5, would go again.

I’ve been trying to spend more time writing fiction-y things instead of blogging (like I already do so much, haha), since the creative energy expended here, while fun, does not further my longer-term goals, and I only have so much of it. Still, my memory is such shit that even though I take a lot of pictures when I do stuff, if I don’t contextualize them with some kind of narrative, however brief, I will find myself looking back on the photos with a foggy sense of, Well, that looked like a fun time, and that will be about the extent of it.

Anyhow, two Fridays ago I drove to St. Louis with Nate to see the Lillingtons and Even in Blackouts play. These are two bands whom I love but who both disbanded back in the Aughties, and got back together for this show. It was also billed as John Jughead Pierson’s — formerly of Screeching Weasel and sorta-currently of Even in Blackouts — 50th birthday shindig, but I am not 100% sure this was the main reason for the reunion. Regardless, the show was fantastic, and I’m so happy we made the trek. I saw the Lillingtons play, once, about 17 or 18 years ago in Dayton, at the long-defunct Club Safari, but it was great to see them again. This was my first time seeing Even in Blackouts perform, and I was not disappointed.

Here’s a shot of EiB performing. Not pictured: me sweating my ass off.

I got back from St. Louis Saturday afternoon, then flew out to Tampa on Sunday morning to visit friends, including my erstwhile travel copilot Kat. Did the beach one day, then drove over to Orlando to do Universal Studios for a day — and by “day” I mean “all fucking day” — then back home on Wednesday. It was a short but excellent trip. Couldn’t have asked for better weather or company, and I didn’t even get sunburnt. Lovely week all-around.

Above two photos were taken at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

On Saturday morning a “Nationwide Rally to Defund Planned Parenthood” was staged, so of course I had to attend the counter-protest being held at the same time.

Their opponents would paint them as solely being provider of abortions, which is why they want the organization “defunded.” Setting aside the moral argument for a woman’s right to choose what to do with her own body, along with the facts that federal dollars don’t go towards abortions, and that abortion isn’t even a service provided at the Dayton clinic, there is demonstrable evidence that the types of valuable preventive services and education Planned Parenthood offer leads to fewer abortions.

I have several friends who, without Planned Parenthood, would not have been able to get the routine services they needed. So I was happy to come out Saturday and support Planned Parenthood, even though I would much prefer that such a thing not be necessary.

Also, since I was near the front of the protest and was carrying a sign with a clearly visible, non-profane message, my smiling face showed up in the local news.

My immediate reaction upon seeing the picture was relief that I’d taken the time to make sure my sign’s kerning was decent.

I was out at lunch with friends yesterday, and the topic of Carrie Fisher and her very unexpected passing came up. That conversation reminded me of an obituary that was published, not for Fisher herself — who, in accordance with her wishes, was said to have drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra — but for a certain character she is famous for playing.

It’s a fitting tribute, I think, to Carrie Fisher, and honestly one of the more interesting STAR WARS-related things written in years.

Leia Organa: a Critical Obituary:

Leia Organa, the politician and revolutionary who led the defeat of the Galactic Empire, died after a short illness. She was 60 years old. Hers was a life laced with controversy concerning everything from her tactics to her very ancestry, but her intelligence, commitment to the Republican cause, and place at the heart of the Rebellion, and later the Resistance against Neo-Imperialism, remains the indisputable core of her legacy.

[…]

The Organa Doctrine identified the path to victory, but the woman herself remained on the front line, rarely pausing for conferences with Alliance intelligence droids. This may have contributed to the ambiguous reception she received in the post-Imperial era, as she didn’t emerge with the political influence accorded leaders like Mon Mothma . While they directed large scale operations (often per Organa’s theories and recommendations) she led covert operations on numerous worlds. She worked under deep cover as the bounty hunter Boussh, and during Galactic Concordance negotiations at the end of the war, admitted that during this period, she personally assassinated Hutt leader Jabba Desilijic Tiure. […]

We’re several days into the new year, but there’s still time for a little introspection on the year that was. And what a weird year it was.

2016 had some high points, but it had a lot more low points, and one really, really low point.

From a “me” perspective, though, I can’t complain. (And I realize how fortunate I am to be able to say that.) I’m still working out on a regular basis, which at this point is just habit. I still have a job that I enjoy, and that enables me to be able to travel and see friends and family. I spent time in New Orleans, Kansas City, England, France, and Austin, and probably somewhere else I’m forgetting. A major highlight was visiting England. I could easily have spent several more weeks (or months) there.

I wasn’t going to talk about the election, but it’d be hard to reflect on 2016 without mentioning it. Especially since my personal reaction to the outcome was not great, a reaction which honestly caught me off-guard. I think it was a combination of politics fatigue leading up to the election, and then legitimate surprise that CASE NIGHTMARE ORANGE actually happened. Also throw in the onset of the cold and sunless days, and, well, things were a little bleak for a while. What helped get me to the other side was taking some small, concrete steps to help support civil liberties, adding Mike Turner’s phone number to my contacts, and using Chrome’s Word Replacer extension in a possibly immature but amusing fashion.

Looking ahead: I’m not really a fan of New Year’s Resolutions, since I think trying to effect major lifestyle changes on an arbitrary date is not a great way to set one’s self up for success. That said, I do have some general goals this year. Fine-tune my fitness, specifically focusing on stretching, so my muscles don’t one day get so tight that they snap like an overburdened tree branch. Travel more, even though I will likely remain stateside this year. There are friends that need a-visiting. Though I can feel my passport getting restless already, so who knows. I slacked off on writing this last year, so I’d like to renew that effort. I have a couple of short story ideas that have been marinating for a few months, and the Thing That Threatens to Become a Novel has been crying out for more attention.

2017 will not be a boring year. It won’t be easy, either, but then it never is. Be kind to yourself, and to others, in the year ahead. I’ll see you on the other side.

Merry Christmas — or whatever your particular flavor of culturally appropriate holiday greeting may be — from my Skull Cave to yours.

Just hum the words to “Beauty and the Beast” to yourself while you watch this gif of a Russian hockey player and a figure skater together at Russian hockey league all-star game a couple of years ago.

Beauty and the Beast – Kovalchuk and Morozov Figure Skating for the KHL All Star game

[via Wil Wheaton]

I did the No-Shave November thing this year, mostly by accident. I didn’t shave for the first week of November, not because of the event, but because by nature I am a lazy man. Then someone asked if I was doing the event, so, at that point, I figured: why not? I convinced a work friend to join me, also badgering him into agreeing to shave off our beards at the end of the month, so that on the last day of November we’d go into work with only our moustaches. I’ve never had just a moustache before, but again I figured: why not? I’d either end up looking like Burt Reynolds or Kip Dynamite. I was willing to roll the dice.

My former work friend was unable to complete the journey with me, but I made it to the end. Off went the beard on 11/29, and on 11/30 I swaggered into work, thoroughly moustachioed.

I don’t know about you, but I think I’d call that an unqualified success.

For a day that started out fairly unpleasantly (hurrah, migraines), this one turned out to be pretty good.

My ACLU membership card came!

You too can be cool and support the ACLU, if you’re interested. But you don’t just have to take my word for it.

Then tonight I went with friends to see the Rubi Girls present The Show Must Go On! It was funny and risque, and wasn’t at all outside like I had originally feared. The photo below is from the finale of their “year in review” number, which, while very entertaining, reinforced just how many crappy things 2016 has bestowed upon us.

Still, it’s day three of what’s been an excellent four-day holiday weekend, and tomorrow I get to eat delicious pizza and breadsticks, so for now all is right in my little slice of the world.

Over on Facebook, the “On This Day” thing did its job and reminded me of one of my favorite photos.

It was taken by the inestimable Bill Cunningham a couple of years ago at a lavishly decorated post-Apocalyptic-themed party. I love everything about this photo: from the atmospheric setting and the costumes, to the composition of the photo; as well as the fact that my sister and I are, amazingly enough, not making stupid faces. This photo actually hung in my parents’ living room for a long while.

Then, once we sold the script for our pilot — a show about a brother-sister team of demon slayers, which in no way bears any resemblance to SUPERNATURAL — to the WB, Bill turned the photo into the slick-looking piece of concept art you see below.

BALEFUL has been in development hell for a while now, but I still hold out hope that one day it will finally air, so people can illegally download it, and it gets canceled after the first 13 episodes, FIREFLY-style.