Wednesday - February 28, 2001
[Piro] - 15:03:00 - [link here]
Ah, it's amazing. I finally am back online. Yes, as of 10:00 pm this evening, my cable modem is working like a charm. In typical 'my life is my best source of material for the comic' fashion, the hurdles that had to be cleared to GET me here is a story in and of itself.
Good to be back.
First off, let me cover a little business. I know that there have been a lot of guest strips, 'shirt guy dom' strips and 'piro bad art day - adventures of RL Piro and RL Seraphim' this month - if you've read my rants recently you will know that it is because I have been quite literally buried under work deadlines and the upheaval common with moving from one apartment to a (much smaller) new apartment. The movers moved the bulk of my possessions on Wednesday last week, when the sun was shining. The rest of my junk (the stuff i just wished would go away) i moved in the sleet and rain on Saturday, and the 50 mph windstorm on Sunday. It was so bad I started to feel as if it was some sort of cosmic joke. Yes, Seraphim did drop a dresser on me. Yes, i did recover, but I think that Seraphim's ribs still hurt from laughing so hard. In truth, I should be at the office tonight helping my crew finish up a set of construction documents. I'm a lousy boss. :(
As you have no doubt noticed, we have yet another 'Shirt Guy Dom' strip today. This was not my original plan - in fact, I am about halfway done with Wednesday's strip... I just can't finish it. I wasn't able to start drawing until 10:00 pm, and now that it is almost 1:00 am, i just don't have the energy to stay up till 3 am to finish it. Another thing, it's an important strip, and I want to do it right. Luckily, Dom, bless his trackball-biased soul, had given me another SGD strip to fill in next time I needed it. Well, tonight I need it.
I'm eager to get on with the story - in fact, i'm working to string in a few more threads and tug on a few others to slide them along more quickly - so the plethora of non-piro-drawn MT strips is as frustrating to me as it is to you (er, well, that's what i hear every time i use a guest strip). So, here's the deal: I'm going to spoil you folks - in addition to the SGD strip posted today, I will add post a new strip on Thursday, and yet another new strip on Friday. It will be like MT will have gone daily for three days in a row. Don't get used to it. ^_^
I won't prattle on much longer here - i'm very disappointed in myself for not getting the comic done for today, and I am tired and need to go to bed - but the effort required to get my cable installed in the apartment is worth telling...
As i mentioned last week, I was faced with the problem of having an apartment that was supposed to be wired for cable, but for some reason the cable in the wall itself was missing. Today's efforts involved one guy from Comcast/MediaOne and two of the maintenance guys from my new apartment complex.
To make a long story short, It took a good five hours before i was finally able to see things stream in thru my cable modem. Our first thought was that someone had just simply cut the cable and removed it from the wall. In the furnace closet, it was plain to see where the original cable had come down thru a hole in the ceiling, down to the floor, thru a hole, into the wall and down to the faceplate on the first floor. Even after cutting away a good part of the ceiling in the mechanical closet, they couldn't find a loose end of the cable to re-attach to.
You can imagine my surprise when the maintenance guys started cutting a 2 ft by 3 ft hole in the ceiling (you have no idea what a mess that can be ^_^) into which the cable guy clambered up to find where the end of the cable coming to my apartment was. It turns out that at some point in the past someone had yanked pretty hard on that cable that came down from the attic and quite literally yanked it out of it's crimp and termination. Once that was threaded thru and connected, my TV suddenly had more than 2 channels. After a quick replacement of the cable modem itself (i now have this real funky looking 3Com modem) and a run to Comp USA to pick up a 50 ft length of Cat 5 cable - i was online. It's was 10:00 pm. I hadn't even started to draw yet.
I'd just like to say 'thanks' to the Media One / Comcast guy, and to the two guys from the apartment complex here. You guys busted your asses to get me online, and I appreciate it. Thanks guys.
In March things should get back to normal... which doesn't really mean my life gets any easier, but hey - it all makes for good story material. :)
Friday - February 23, 2001
[Largo] - 00:30:11 - [link here]
First up, Gamespy has made some new chat rooms focused around the many online comics that grace the website. To access them, go download yourself the latest version of gamespy arcade, - like right now.
I received a large number of emails over the weekend regarding the 'napster' opinion I posted last week. While I did read them all, I have not replied to most them, instead I plan to address them in a future rant.
Initializing rant engine 3.0
You know, the world is really getting worse everyday. Yep, it's true - and I'll prove it.My friends down at Texas A&M University are little upset right now due to a new mandatory requirement that they take two additional courses in order to graduate. These new mandatory classes are 'culture diversity' oriented studies.
It turns out that in today's society the most evil of all crimes is no longer the taking of someone else's life, instead it is the villainous act of making other people feel uncomfortable.
For those of you in the states, take a good look at the cultural diversity courses already being taught to grade school level children. Such programs are meant to help our children … understand one another, but all they really do is brainwash children into believing the garbage that is political correctness. Granted I'm against the pro-lesbian messages taught in such classes since it may produce more lesbians - which mean fewer girls for me. I am however in favor of pro-gay teachings, since it will mean, more girls for me. [yes, im being facetious with my last few comments, yes it is a joke]
It's my feeling that people should be allowed to think however they want, because when it comes down to it, that is freedom. No matter how 'wrong' I may feel someone is, as a human being, it is his or her right to continue to think that way. Any attempt to control the natural thought process's is too Orwellian for me to digest without serious heartburn.
However, if a person's beliefs are so radical against the mainstream that they are made to feel shame, then so be it. That is the price paid sometimes for being an individual.
If you can't take the criticism, then don't make yourself a target by refusing to blend into the norm.
So what if people feel that they are being looked down on by others? So what if they walk around feeling uncomfortable because the guy next to them wasn't trained to understand their language, sexual orientation, or their culture? Personally I think people who worry that much about the opinions of other people they don't even know, has bigger issues - for instance, the fact that they being a self conscious ass clown.
Rather then simply allowing the world to judge them by their character, certain groups want us to understand 'where they came from' - as if knowing about their native countries' farming exports or the yearly goat-herding contest is going to enlighten us.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love the idea of people taking the time out to learn a foreign language, or even about a foreign culture. I think it can be an enriching experience that could have a profound effect on the life of the individual undertaking such things.
However, when you force someone to do something, such as learn. They are generally less receptive if not, bitter about it.
Well, this little rant was a bit more political then I normally get, but what the hell, writing about the level and stats of my mag in Phantasy Star Online would have been… boring.
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