Halloween, take 2

Halloween comes but once a year, and it has been the one holiday that I have consistantly done something with on my webcomic Creature, mostly because Halloween is all about dressing up and pretending to be something your not and Creature is kind of about that (though not so much yet, despite the fact of being nearly 3 years old).

Well, Presidential Elections come once every four years, and I had to take advantage of that. I knew there was a reason why the election is held on the first Tuesday AFTER HALLOWEEN! Let's combine the two!

However, a good deal of my readership is liberal, and I'm definitely conservative. So to appease both of sides of the political spectrum (and the mantra that Politics and entertainment don't mix), I ripped on both major political candidates.

I don't know if I did it harshly enough or not, however. I cut out one scene of a bunch of trick or treaters dressing up as Kerry, Bush and Nader (with a punchline for Nader that I conveniantly forgot how I was going to do), but ended up cutting it because I didn't know how to get it into the flow of the comic. Balderdash.

Still, something about the timing is off, it needs something more and I don't know what. Ah well, I still think its funny. And maybe even an irregular reader of Creature will get it?

Halloween Update

Well, I mentioned before about my Halloween Costume, in all its righteous coolness. But myself, being the heavy procrastinator that I am, put it off and put it off until I was scraping to get it done the last minute.

Well, it will look cool, but I won't be able to use it this year. That, and I made an error.

See, I made the mask completely by hand, using Plaster Gauze and sculpty mold. The mask does look awesome so far, I just got a few more touch ups to do and then I can paint it, but I'm using a harness off of a protective mask to secure it to my head. I was supposed to leave plenty of room for my ears, but I screwed up and made the jaw straps a hair to high. My ears are covered.

Damn.

Well, I did learn a lot about mask making while making this mask. I was chronicalling the making of the mask through pictures, unfortunately my brother asked if he could borrow my camera and I let him, and therefore i didn't get the last part of the mask taken care of!

Why did I let him use my camera? I curse myself.

Anyway, some parts of the mask making turned out to be kind of fun. Well, I was going to make some ears to go with the mask (that is now pointless, becuase the mask harness goes over the ears now *growls* and I discovered Algenate, which is awesome awesome stuff.



I had to put on a dorky looking bald cap to cover my hair so I would still have some in tact. It was goopy and runny. Oh, it felt good. I love slimy substances. Like for instances, my foot throwing days.



Algenate makes a really nice mold. You have to wrap it in plaster gauze if you flop it on your head, but it comes out really nice.



I have no pictures of the result. My brother took my camera.



Plaster gauze masks. Yay! And back with the bald cap. Plaster is much harsher on your hair then algenate is.



And don't forget the lubricant, in this case, petroleum jelly. I would have stripped my eyebrows if I had forgotten it. And I'm kind of fond of my eyebrows, thank you very much.

So anyway, I had my base, my ear molds, and I just had to finish the damn thing.

And Now my mask is just in the final stages. Looking really cool, but rubbing against my ears (you can see where I put these little buttons on the mask picture, five of them to secure it to my face.) And unfortunately, my digital camera is somewhere in Utah at this time. I might just have to borrow my sisters.

I have to admit, that I owe a lot of this mask to my friend Ravyn, who inspired me to go this route. I've been wanting to do this for some time, but didn't know where to begin.

I think I'll pimp her skills, she made a wolf mask, which is kind of the same direction that I'm looking to go at this time.



The last picture I took, where I was getting somewhere, was halfway through the sculptamold stage.



It looks like, er, nothing.

GAAAHHH!!! I need my camera! (must call sister and hijack hers!)

UPDATE - I hijacked the sister's camera. Took some pictures of the current mask. It still needs some work, but coming along in my opinion.





Still not done, but will look very good once it's painted and smoothed out and all. It's still in a very rough form.

I'm trying to figure out exactly what I should do about covering the harness. That's still a mystery.

Update Numero Dos The ear molds, in their entirity. They got a bit banged up unfortunately.





Major coolness dude. I don't think I'll be able to use them as I had intended however.

Election Jitters

I've been feeling nervous for the last few weeks. Actually, I've been feeling nervous for the last few years. Not that I felt as nervous then as I do now, but this upcoming week has really gotten me down.

See, being swamped in usually liberal environments (mainly work and school, I'm an art major), I often am in full contact with the other political spectrum, being those people that lean to the left. Now, usually I don't have a problem with these people, I'm fairly open minded and I try to avoid talking politics with them. They know where I stand and i know where they stand, we agree to disagree and get on with our lives. Being in those environments, I get plenty of feeling on how these people feel about the current state of affairs and their true feeling about our President.

But I've been having a gut feeling for the last two years that Bush isn't going to be reelected. That didn't bother me so much before because I didn't know who was going to be the one to replace him. Well, I know now that if Bush loses, John Kerry's president.

Kerry as president terrifies me. I disagree with his foreign policy and his love affair with the UN. I also don't trust him in regards to the military. I trust Bush. One of the reasons I prefer Bush to Kerry is obviously my politics line up more with the former then the latter, that's one of the main reasons. But there are more reasons why I just don't trust Kerry. He's a proven liar, he'll literally say ANYTHING, and his record speaks against him. I can't see how anybody can vote for this guy unless they have a putrid disdain for our current president.

This strikes me more then a lot of people becuase I'm in the military, and this man will have a direct impact on how the military runs. I'm in for another three years, at least. I wish I had the option of getting out in November, but I don't. I will be forced to serve under this guy. And it really scares me.

My only hope is that Bush wins the presidency for another four years, or Kerry proves that he isn't as bad as I think he'll be. I doubt it. I think the military will be going through a big shake-up here shortly, and I think if Kerry finds himself president he's in for a surprise.

I just wish that it was november 3rd already.

Latest Happenings

In two days, the Spokane Ski Swap takes place. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to buy more equipment for myself, as I will be taking every freakin' oppurtinity I can get to go up into the mountains come November/December to go Snowboarding, as after that time elapses there is a great possibility that I won't get another opportunity until next year. Which means I must take every opportunity I can get this year.

I have a barage of people that I can drag with me, the main one of course, being my niece Jasmine. She's a fifth grader this year, and they have a special program in this area where fifth graders get to ski free for the entire season. There is a reason behind the mountains' agreement to do this. If you get them while they're young, you got them for life. Which means more revenue in the coming years.

I am more then willing to encourage the corruption of my niece into the world of extreme winter sports. I wish I could have gotten in on the action at eleven myself. Instead, I had to wait until I was nineteen to get in on the action.

When January rolls around, I'll be stuck mainly in Seattle. Then Fort Lewis. Then I'll be on my way to Eastern Europe. Yes, that's right, this is does not have anything to do with Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war on Terror. I'm partaking in a peace keeping mission at the directive of the United Nations from the Clinton Administration. But that's ok, I'll take it. If it happens that is. See my post earlier about pending deployments and my luck with them.

This week, and next week, I'm working. A lot. I can't seem to be able to get out of working, and then Corporate mailed me a letter telling me that I'm working more then my Part Time Status allows. Yeah, that's great, I can't really help it when I'm basically the only one with completely open availability and everyone seems to call me first to see if I can work for them.

I'll be talking to my boss about this. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to try to get out of one of these shifts next week. I really need the time off. I'm going to be going nuts these next few weeks.

And Creature? Well, things are going to be extra tight about the comic.

Er, yeah, this should be fun. (and I haven't figured out when I'll be getting my top secret costume taken care of yet or not.) *sighs*

Deployment Possibility?

I had a fairly busy weekend. My news included a possibility of another deployment. I'm not holding my breath until I know for certain. But this one seems to have a strong air of a definite possibility.

But considering that in the last year alone, I've been told of several deployments, two of which were my unit, about going somewhere, at one point I had orders in my hand for Operation Iraqi Freedom. They were ammended with one word about three weeks later. Revoke.

That was a great feeling, let me tell you. (that's sarcasm by the way)

I'll know for certain about this next deployment sometime in the next three or four weeks. At least, I should know something. I already know where it is, roughly how long, and all of that other stuff, and to tell you the truth, considering where I am in my life and my position with the military, it's perfect. Can't wait.

But like I said, I'll cross my fingers, but I'm not holding my breath.

More later.

My Fahrenheit 9/11 'Obsession' Explained

I'm having a sudden desire to go out and rent Fahrenheit 9/11 and watch it.

More on this later.

Update: Ok, I might have to explain something, well, on top of the fact that right now my comment buttons won't let me for some reason reply to them.

I want to see Fahrenheit 9/11 now becuase I saw FahrenHYPE 9/11, and I want to see exactly what they rebutted. I want to see exactly how low Micheal Moore went, I want to see both sides of the issue really.

I can't stand Micheal Moore, but I'll admit the guys quite the spin doctor, a genius really, but a slick bastard that is going out of his way for his political agenda.

And when I get people talking to me about such a great movie Fahrenheit 9/11 is, I want to be able to say that I saw it, and I want to be able to tell them my honest opinion on the matter.

I never saw Bowling for Columbine, kind of wish I had for the same reason, but then again, I'm a card carrying NRA member with a .22 and an AK-47 (civilian version).

That said, can't wait to see Celcius 41.11, sounds like a riot to me.

I guess I'll have to wait until Monday night to rent it.

Debates, Halloween and Military Pet Peeves

So, I watched the debates (last night). Interesting, in that I wanted to fall asleep at one point with the droning on and on by Kerry.

Just two and a half more weeks and this misery will be over! Can I last that long?

Anyway, I'm in the middle of two projects. One, a final jab at politics in my traditional halloween post, which will be nonpartison and poke fun at both sides, and of course, my halloween costume, which I've wanted to put together for a long time and never got around to doing. Until now. It's a secret, I shall unveil it on October 31st. If it turns out alright. . . I hope.

What am I saying? It's going to kick ass!

Meanwhile, the military, in all their infinite wisdom and glory, has ordered me to yet another SRP, a soldier readiness briefing for reservists. They have the habit of having one every four months or so. I picked up my uniforms from the Supply Sergeant with the backwards flag on the sleeve and also my TA-50, which I will bring with me, show everyone that I have, and then turn it in as soon as I get back. Which will basically negate the reason for me having it in the first place.

The crux of the issue? My dilemma. I want to go Active Duty. I have to get out of here. I need my independence (ironically, with the military). And I have to wait for my Higher Headquarters to pull their head out of their fourth point of contact and release me from my reserve contract so I can even talk to a recruiter. Ok, so I put in the paperwork, and sat back expecting to hear from them anywhere from two to four weeks.

Nope, wrong, two weeks to three months, minimum. Some people, apparently, are still waiting five months to go active.

Um, hello people. If you have me in the military and keep threatening to send me somewhere, SEND ME SOMEWHERE!!! I'm more then willing to go! Hell, I'll go in the heart of the Sunni Triangle if it means that you will actually utilize me in the crux of the mission. I want to do my part, I've volunteered about a half dozen or so times and the army keeps telling me no, or tells my unit to stand down, or some other crap. Now they're saying my unit will go NEXT year. That's what they said LAST year. I am sick of this! If they are going to keep putting my life on hold and telling me that they are going to send me somewhere, then I demand to be put on active duty and getting paid to be stood up and stood down. Hey, at least I can guarantee that I have a job. Meanwhile, I'm working retail in a dead end job waiting for the army to pull there head out of there ass.

As you can see, I'm a bit sour on the subject.

How can you take one person willing to serve and keep them on the backburner for three years, while other people are on their second or third rotations? Talk about an axe to the morale.

In an ever increasingly rabid election year, I have tried to make sense of why people vote the way they do. I mean, most people seem to be getting increasingly more and more angry and upset about the results if the "other guy" gets elected.

Kerry Spot an interesting thought on this subject.

"Liberals appear to believe that George W. Bush and his supporters are evil warmongers who relish killing innocent Iraqis to add to Halliburton’s profits. They sincerely believe that another four years of this administration will mean the end of all that is good in America.

Conservatives increasingly believe that the election of John Kerry will mean a rhetorical and tactical retreat in the war on terror, a decision that will cost American lives as al-Qaeda goes back on the offensive. They suspect that the wrong decision in the election of 2004 will mean many of us won’t be around to correct the decision in 2008."

Basically, who ever wins this election is going to have a mess on their hands, one way or the other. How did a nation get so divided? I can honestly admit that it was a lot of things, gearing up from what I call a Moral Decline that has been prevailent over the last twenty or thirty years. The liberals are getting more liberal, the conservatives are getting more conservative, and both are getting more defensive on their stance. A lot of bickering and backlash takes place. Chaos insues.

Two things you never discuss with friends. Religion and Politics. Very true statement, but one that I sometimes can't seem to avoid.

Ourtsourcing Bush's thing? Not really.

If I hear John Kerry mutter about outsourced jobs one more time, I'm going to vomit.

Here's a story from personal experience in regards to outsourcing.

When my family first moved to Spokane, my dad got a job at Kaiser Aluminum. One of the largest Aluminum manufacturing plants in the country. He was part of the Steel Workers Labor Union. Yeah, that's right, it's a union job.

Two years after we moved here, the Steel Workers went on strike. The strike went on for well over two years. The result of the strike? Kaiser filed Chapter 11, many union workers lost their jobs, and miraculously, my dad was kept on.

The origin for this strike was the outsourcing of jobs. When did it happen?

Between 1998-2000. While Clinton was in office.

This did not start with Bush. To understand where outsourcing came from, you need to look back at Clinton.

That's right, when a Democrat was in office.

It all goes back to the economy stupid.

Here We Go Again

Ok, while I was fiddling with my webpage last week, an unexpected thing happened. My website practically crashed. Crashing websites aren't really that much fun.

I resolved this by completely wiping the memory of my website off the face of the internet and waiting for my server to get their act together and reformat my space. Which they did. Though I'm still not exactly certain what happened to my space before. It kind of sucks to tell you the truth, I don't know what happened so I don't know what to do to make sure it doesn't happen again.

But what I do know is this. Blogger was involved. Grr. . . And because Blogger was involved, I have to be careful when dealing with old blog posts. What does this mean?

For one, you might notice that this blog is brand spanking new. In that this is the only post here. That's right, I started over, from Scratch. Again. Everything and anything that had to do with the blog previously has been removed. What I can do is dig up old posts from long ago that I think are cool and are worth saving and plugging them on here with a backdate, which is something i may yet do. But that will be a ways down the road. Regardless, I'm now starting off fresh and new, and I am going to make this worth while darn it!

I've also decided that this is going to be my one and only blog. I had an idea to start another called Musings that i've been musing about for the last few months, but then I changed my mind. Hmm.

But, well, I do have another idea as to what I'm going to do with a format like Blogger. I've got a lot of plans, and right now my website is in need of a face lift. No, I'm going to leave the format and template largely as it stands, mainly because I like it. But I've got other things I can do with a template such as this.

Eh, we'll see how it goes. Just as long as my website doesn't suck away my already non-existent life. That wouldn't be good. Yes, this should be fun.