cycle success part ii

 mr smear was all about chatgpt today - i tried on multiple occasions to explain what an LLM is, but he doesn't really care. he's decided he wants to inform his therapist that if he ever needs to speak to someone, he should consider chatgpt.

good grief.

the big event of the day: i managed to drag mr smear away from his AI experience, i put on my blades* and helmet and we grabbed the new pump and we headed out with the intention of going to the park.

* after clearing the pads of mold. i kept finding more mold today, almost everywhere i looked. it's very hard not to feel defeated, and it's exhausting constantly having to wipe down new surfaces and items.

we didn't get anywhere near the park, but we didn't need to. a little over a month ago i took mr smear out and he pretty much got the hang of riding a bike downhill. today, he very quickly got back into the downhill thing again (in spite of an altercation with the imagined owner of a parked bike, it took patience to explain to him that it was actually mr smear's fault for hitting the bike and not the owner's for parking it where he did).

his second attempt at the downhill was even better! and then i informed him that he was about to level up, as we were going onto a flat path and that it's harder than going downhill. his first attempt was... unsuccessful. a very upset mr smear decided that he was done with bikes (again), and was going home. i told him he could go home, but that he had to at least ride back the way he'd come (about thirty / forty meters).

something clicked for him on the way back, he managed to get himself pedalling in spite of his insistence upon doing it his way (the hard way, really), and then he decided he wanted to give it one more go. he proceeded to demonstrate that he's now consistently capable of riding his bike, alone and with zero assistance, from a stationary position and without any assistance from gravity.

i'm very proud, very relieved, and very excited both at his progression and at the noticeable spike in confidence. i've explained to him that if he's consistently riding his bike and convinces me that he understands the "rules of the road", i'll be happy to "upgrade" him to rollerblades like his old man, just like he's been asking me for ^_^

we came home, and after another round of chatgpt we all sat down to watch mutant mayhem together. i'm a bit sad that i missed a chunk of it because i felt asleep, but we're going to watch it again for sure anyway. it's AMAZING.

during the course of the day we'd seen a video reviewing a bunch of open world games that are coming out this year, and were very excited about trying out the europa demo.

it's *gorgeous*.

finally, mr cat has completed the work on page 33 and is moving on to page 34. i realized today that this means that i actually need to start putting together the crowdfunding campaign to publish/market/launch the comic. this is great, but also scary. i'm wondering if chatgpt can give me a boost because i've tried crowdfunding before and the experience was... let's just say it's not really my forte.

half the tattoos, twice the stress!

we didn't have time to do sonnet 5 today, but i'm really happy with sonnet 4. i'd be even happier if there wasn't a good chance that i damaged it already due to misunderstanding the aftercare instructions - caring for a new tattoo is pretty straightforward, caring for a new tattoo that's right next to two week-old tattoos is another story altogether. it still looks amazing, i hope it's fine.

so my day went to a bit of work, lots of time being very present for the ink (i'm totally over youtube for live-streaming, though), posting about it on social media (i just want to attract people to my graphic novel project, and that's really hard), a long shopping trip, a few episodes of hunter x hunter with my boy (gods, i love chilling with him and he's happily learning the japanese songs), showering him, saying goodnight, and then fussing about at random and not really getting anything productive done. honestly, 'cause i just don't feel like it.

self-gifting

satellite reign's pre-alpha demo is up.

it's gorgeous! totally stoked to see what i'll be getting for christmas ^_^

the rush - part iii

[... continued]

---friday:

i woke up sleepy, gd had a migraine and the team was giving me a bit of a headache myself. i called up the laser hair clinic, and was annoyed by the receptionist's questioning of my judgement of whether or not i can tell if the line of my beard has changed in the manner i described. she then gave me a choice of seeing the same technician or a different one, when the latter would most obviously make things awkward and uncomfortable.

:S

i met up with the girlfriend of the guy who's taking over my lease; the presentation of their deposit and figuring out that we don't have any more paperwork to take care of took much longer than i would have anticipated. i can't say that i'm positively impressed by their inability to take more cash than my deposit is worth and return the change because their software won't allow it. that's just dumb.

in general friday was a disaster because i ran out of junk food. the only things in the vending machine were kind of alright, but nothing satisfying. although, in retrospect, i guess not much satisfies me when i'm spending all day staring at source code.

the success of the day was in killing bugs while trying to do other things. i was deadly tired and was trying to avoid another cup of coffee... suddenly it was 4.30pm and i was trying to keep focus with doof sounds when the manager pulled out the bottle of ouzo i'd brought and we all had a few sips. what timing!

i cleaned up a bit, chatted with my mother and left feeling relaxed and ready for a weekend!

the entry to the weekend would have been a little lighter had my walk home not been past an angry-looking asshole dragging his dog on a tight leash, and the aggression i felt reminded me of a drunk guy who'd awkwardly flirted with gd on wednesday night and upset both of us.

i love hurrying to wait twenty minutes... especially as i was exhausted, and desperate to shut my brain down. instead, i had a large cup of coffee and called gd (we hadn't had a chance to talk yet, so that was good), and when rabbit finally arrived we had a decidedly productive and positive poetry session.

it would have been that much more enjoyable had i not had to suppress my rage at finding some asshole's gum stuck to the TOP of my seat; and i'd only moved to that table to get away from the tinny noises from some kid's cellphone which were annoying the crap out of me. that's quite the generation i was loving just then.

i came home, poured myself a rum and we connected gd's apple tv to watch bill plympton's cheatin' on vimeo. i've been waiting to see it since i backed the kickstarter last february, and omg was it worth the wait! it's a wonderful movie, and if you're not sure why you should watch it then take a look at reel.

i ate too much ice cream. by the time i was ready to call it a night i'd been asleep at the wheel for a while and i was suffering a bad case of rls.

---saturday:

after a struggle to get up, i put on paul simon - graceland, grabbed a cup of coffee and got stuck into our team's indiegogo campaign. it's been the motivation i've needed to take my game to the next level. i think i mentioned that before but i'm too tired to check right now. i sent an email to vector explaining that i'm deeply disappointed and that we won't be continuing to work together - we'll be seeing each other on thursday at godmother's, i hope things will be cool with him.

it was a beautiful, sunny morning. i took my pants to the dry cleaner's but the woman shook her head sadly and refused. i did some shopping on my way back, and as i walked out the store i watched a tiny child doing the kiddies' drunken swagger to the exit, and as i turned around caught sight of someone searching amongst the cashiers. i managed to connect the two quickly enough that i didn't need to drop everything and launch myself after the little one, the thought of which made me uncomfortable primarily because i can't speak french well and communicating "danger" and "i'm not going to hurt you" are not even remotely accessible to me when i need them. the mortified look on the man's face tells me everything i need to know about how easily parents can fuck up regardless of whether or not they think they're immune.

[continued...]

still skew

... although i made it out to aux vivres to meet vfmp, his boyfriend and a friend of theirs. we've been talking about brunch there for months, and the blueberry pancakes truly are brilliant!

now if only i hadn't tripped up the steps at the metro in the middle of a bustling crowd. that was a bit embarrassing :$

...

gd has just discovered that one of her co-workers has been stealing her clients, and it looks like they're dealing with him. her stories really do make me question the locals' integrity - there're so many of them! and that's ignoring all the big stories about corruption etc.

---if our paving becomes a battle between kinetic rubber and solar roadways*, rollerbladers are going to lose out no matter who wins. but everything else will be awesome, so maybe we'd better figure out a way to make all-terrain rollerblades?

* they're most of the way there with a week to go! go on, put some cash in!

10 things that the people who love their lives are doing differently is on point.

here's a wonderful poem about english pronunciation. i learned a thing or two, actually.

holo-lambos??? SIIIIIIICK!!!

between the vulcans and dr who - part one

what i really need is one of those special grips to make all my muscles relax. and perhaps realign my spine? kthxbye.

---sunday:

the first news of the day was that wp is engaged, which doesn't evoke much in me simply because i've never met his fiancée; but i'm happy for him nonetheless.

it was a gorgeous, sunny morning and we went out to atwater market, which was fun until the wind came up. i couldn't find anything to eat there, though, even the sandwich place with a vegan employee couldn't produce anything that didn't have meat or cheese on it...

i was rather hungry by the time we got to midi 6, so much so that their off-menu vegan option that's usually too much for me was precisely the right amount. gd's ex rolled up (she was getting her hair cut) and we hit it off famously, but after lots of talking i needed a nap so that's what i did while gd did her thing. her ex is an anime freak, and her cut was modelled off a character she likes. i can't say i'm a huge fan of the style, but gd certainly captured the look!

one way to get gold in dragon coins is to watch ads, and i watched one for tales of honor. i haven't played enough yet to form a solid opinion, but the fact that it's such a huge game that can be played on a mobile is pretty damned impressive. and the concept is very battlestar galactica, which is just up my alley.

i almost, to use protoplasm's expression, saw my own arsehole as i helped gd take out the trash. i misjudged a concrete step and came scarily close to twisting my ankle. i'm very, very grateful to all the gods that that didn't happen.

we hit the supermarket and shopped until i almost dropped, then returned to my place to treat my suddenly bloated belly with beans. we watched an episode of canadian dragon's den, which was kinda interesting, then took a walk to the shell select to pick up something we'd forgotten earlier.

it was a fine walk and talk until i said something on our way back that was grossly misunderstood (granted, i knew as i was saying it that it wasn't the right way to say it) and that turned into a pretty major and decidedly unpleasant argument. once the main issue was resolved we then had to discuss how aggressive i'd been during the argument, so i got to feel like shit twice.

eventually we resolved everything, although finally closing the story would have to wait until the next morning. and then everything was awesome again.

---yesterday:

i slept well but had crazy, epic dreams that i totally forgot about when i got up. i'd have random flashes from them during the day but nothing i could grasp...

i still wasn't feeling 100%, but i was definitely better. the first note of the day was exciting: solar FREAKIN' roadways is an excellent video put together by a fellow supporter of the cause. you should watch it, if you haven't seen it, and then consider putting a little bit of your money into a shinier version of the future we're facing.

gd and i enjoyed a slow, chilled start to the day and then went down to godmother's, stopping at the florist on the way. the florist was so happy to see me with someone and so grateful for the little assistance gd gave him with a french customer that when we returned to pick up a plant she really liked he gave it to her for one dollar.

and that was after uncle hate indicated his approval, so we were on fire! the only awkward thing was that i have this habit of putting my hands together and bowing when i'm grateful, and i felt pretty foolish when i unthinkingly did that to an asian dude. but whatever.

rabbit and horseman had given me some pretty good ideas for a summer poetry slam series, and i figured out a way to make it marketable and charitable at the same time - i was quite pleased when everyone i spoke to agreed that it's a good plan.

godmother told me about a new place across the road from her that's recently opened, and we went to take a look. chimera: it's a game store / coffee shop, they have a great selection, great prices and a vegan-friendly menu. we'll be doing that, then :)

something from lunch was stuck between my teeth and aggravating me, and gd just happened to have floss in her bag. so i took it out and used it while we waited for the metro. that was a bit weird. but not as weird as the guy i saw once clipping his nails on the train.

i spoke to my mom when we got to gd's place; her car died and it's a decidedly inconvenient time for that. i mean, it's always an inconvenient time but this one is particularly uncomfortable :(
[at least the news from today seems relatively upbeat.]

i missioned to a park to sit and chill with newk'd and his girlfriend. we had a great time, but there was an incident when we parted that made me feel strange. i don't remember what inspired me to do it, and i think it was appreciated, but it nevertheless makes me uncomfortable that i always feel the urge to read poetry at people in inappropriate (to my mind) settings.

gd and i went on another interminable shopping mission, then returned to her place where she cooked up a storm while i absorbed myself in another case solved. the non-mission puzzles that you use to pay for real cases run out too quickly.

i introduced gd to how i met your mother and community: she seems to prefer the former. i find it most entertaining to watch these series again knowing what's coming.

[continued...]

antisocial gaming

or could i call it masturgaming?

---friday:

friday was not a very busy day for me. i've been feeling exhausted until today, and that was my second day of too-broken-to-move. i spent it playing dragon coins, and another case solved released a new series of cases so that's a thing again. i started reading the dr who comics i bought in the humble bundle, which is just like watching the series.

i also spent a large section of the day going through my inbox. i'm back to december, and have finally got less than 1000 unread emails in my inbox.

i can summarize my day with the question i asked myself as i walked out of my apartment on my way to gd's:
"did i shower today?"

---yesterday:

more rls suffering throughout the night. i got up twice in the middle of it, and was so wiped out that i almost passed out. that wasn't cool, especially considering that i'd been sleeping a bit.

i finally entered a deep slumber just an hour or two before we had to get up.

#$!@.

as it flipped to summer, so it flipped back to winter. the rain accompanying me home was cold :(

...

the late morning was consumed by short napping and dragon coins and neil gaiman and charles vess - stardust. it's a great read, though i expected a graphic novel and not an illustrated text from comixology.

did i mention stumbling across the last halloween? i'd totally forgotten about abby's thing. the good thing about that is getting to read a whole lot of it at once ^_^

---horseman wanted to introduce me to an illustrator, and we agreed to meet at the starbucks near berri uqam. i arrived there and didn't see them, and they then told me that they were waiting for me at second cup. second cup is not starbucks, and it's much closer to the station so i'd actually walked past them. so i wasn't on the happiest or most relaxed of vibes when i finally did catch up to them.

introductions were a bit awkward, much like a professional interview, and i only learned later that one reason for this is that the two of them didn't know each other. i was loathe to share all the juicy details of the project without first gaining a sense of whether i actually wanted to work with her or not, but it quickly became clear that we're a fantastic fit. i'll call her "ff" for that.

her work's excellent, her attitude's perfectly matched to the job at hand and we're excitedly on our way. just as soon as she signs the nda, of course. now that i have one i'm going to use it.

---it was a stunning afternoon, and i headed off to meet gd at her place. due to a miscommunication i arrived an hour earlier than i should have, so i spent that hour on the front steps playing another case solved in the sun.

when she arrived we went to p.m., surprising ourselves by being hungry enough to finish everything we ordered. vfmp and his boyfriend were delayed, so we did some quick shopping and stopped at yeh! for sorbet that tastes far too good to be vegan (but i'm assured it is).

a cold wind had risen by the time we were on our way again and so we took a taxi to vfmp's. we enjoyed our hour or two there even though we didn't get much gaming done (vfmp and i played chess, he crushed me); gd really can't do weekend evenings so we're either going to have to figure out a good day for all of us or we're going to have to do gaming nights without her...

we left early, with me doing a chivalrous run from the metro to her place in just a shirt because she needed my jacket. it's not summer yet. oh, no.

the rest of the evening was consumed by iphone gaming and an episode or so of sherlock.

---we've had a perfectly groovy morning, i slept well last night and i'm feeling quite rested and relaxed. i even sorted out the last few issues with gd's ubuntu installation - everything's excellent now - and got my own installation on my netbook updated (it was causing trouble).

now to go Do Stuff. we're pretending to be productive if only for the excuse to go outside :)

---word lens works pretty well. i'm impressed.

please help out solar roadways if you can. they're making progress but the faster the better for all of us!

principles

so, like, wow. firstly, pulse: she sent me a long, obviously well thought-out missive explaining her position, the only real issue being a complete misunderstanding of my views regarding some fundamental things. i'm surprised and saddened by that, but not shocked because i realize precisely what the source of confusion is and i accept that it's my fault. which kinda sucks. so here's hoping for a redo...

secondly, i feel like i'm back in action regarding my training. i did muay thai and boxing this evening, it was tough but i powered through and feel totally solid. unfortunately, along the way i banged my ankle (not too seriously, but it's aggravating), managed to slam my wrist into somebody's elbow and i think that during the first (of two) impact training one of my ribs got slightly bruised :/

there was some serious weirdness with the girls; i think i made it clear to army brat that i'm only interested in her as a gym buddy but then the girl i gave the valentine's day chocolate to gave me a vega chocolate in return. anyway, they're both good for my french, and while we were talking i met a palestinian who runs a software house here and is looking for talent. cool :)

---i've now watched a couple of episodes of the good wife, and i'm enjoying it. it's kind of formulaic and kind of not? whatever.

i played a lot more tekken last night than i'd planned. shit's addictive.

...

i woke up from a dream in which i was watching tv outside in the rain, some kids came through and stole all sorts of shit... i caught them, beat them enough to get their attention and then lectured them.

i've been reading harry potter using the kindle app and not my actual kindle because the french / english dictionary i found was no good. but the kindle app's only french dictionary is french / french, so if you don't read french it's really tough to make heads or tails of things. i have a good french / english dictionary app as well, but switching between it and the kindle app causes a resync every - single - time, which is insane, so reading has been particularly slow going. and also not particularly good for my eyes, but anyway.
then i suddenly realized that i can read the book on my kindle and use the dictionary app simultaneously - that worked much better but was still far from comfortable. so this morning i decided to look again for a better dictionary for my kindle.

merriam-webster's french-english translation dictionary, kindle edition has some shitty reviews, but i couldn't find a better-looking option so i bit the $8 bullet... and lo! it's an excellent dictionary and now reading in french has become a pleasure. nice one!

so that's mostly what i was doing today. in the afternoon i took my kindle to starbucks for a change of scenery, but that's about it.

when i got home from training it was to a message from newk'd about an art evening at foufounes électriques, so i hurriedly gobbled down my super-salad and headed out there. they have a weekly competition to produce large pieces, and voting is done by placing sponsored beer cans into provided bins. very clever... out of about six or seven pieces, there were two really good ones and one had better finishing, so that's where my tin voice went. there were four of us and we all had a great evening :)

---be wary of unnecessary x-rays: i'm now even less happy with the trigger-happy dentist who fucked up my mouth, but at least i know better for next time!

the rekindle candle is absolutely brilliant. i want a couple of those.

there's a kickstarter happening for a kill shakespeare boardgame. i didn't know there was a third volume out, so i'm thinking of backing at the $15 level as i'll probably buy it anyway.

i believe in christmas

i'm sure i mentioned it way back when (while i was researching a seminar paper), but as soon as i read the sermon on the mount i thought "wait a minute... i must be a christian!". to be fair, i said the same thing when i read the communist manifesto, the fascist manifesto, and the futurist manifesto. the fact that i'm an ordained minister of the church of the flying spaghetti monster (in good standing, i might add) and am a non-practising jew who fully ascribes to jewish philosophy prior to the great rabbis (i'm like a jewish hipster) factors in there somewhere. anyway, all of this just to say that while i might not be a christian, and i certainly don't believe in a christian god (or trinity), i can now say that i do believe in christmas. mine was a wonderful, wonderful day, and a large part of it was being surrounded by the infectious goodwill and cheer that those who do believe adopt.

if they would be this merry all year around, the world would be a little better for it.

---christmas:

the other major factor in tuesday being as wonderful as it was was that i had a great day on the slopes and all the glories of saint sauveur were exposed when the sun came out. it's the first time i've been there without complete cloud cover, and words fail me in describing its beauty. from the icy tips of the trees with the sunlight behind them to the fresh snow contrasted against the varied soft blues of the sky, to the view of distant villages nestled in the mountains made possible by the intensely sharp clarity of the day's air, the experience was one of a seemingly endless series of moments caught in an artist's renderings of a dream of being on the slopes. it was fantastic and stupefying, and a little frustrating because i wanted to share the experience and capture the memories on camera but that would have put my camera at risk (most of the *really* crazy shots were from the ski lifts) or force me to remove my gloves (which wouldn't have been a good idea at a windy -10 celsius).

not that i didn't get any photos at all, but they're certainly not representative of what i could see. funnily enough, most of the time i was enjoying the views through my orange goggles and when i did compare, the tint experience was different but neither better nor worse. ah, and the hour or so that i had my ipod playing psychedelic rock from my jacket pocket might have added to the surreal nature of the day.

my new boots are definitely more responsive, and that made my performance improve dramatically. however, i learned the hard way that they're actually a little bit too small (meaning my shoe size is 10.75 US, and the quarter size in either direction isn't good), so if i tightened the laces properly my left foot would begin to hurt. a lot. like enough to pass out from the pain.

i discovered this because i was totally jamming when the pain started, and was so excited and was so thoroughly enjoying myself that i couldn't bring myself to take break until i absolutely had to. i didn't pass out, but i recognize when i'm on the verge. also an indication that they're too small: i landed off a small jump later on and stubbed my big toe :(

the good and bad that came out of needing to take breaks (fortunately i only got the lacing wrong twice) was that i stopped at avila for a beer and by the time i was finished and had heard enough christmas song covers by artists like enya and bon jovi the lift was closed and the whole place was being shut down. on the one hand, that meant that i had to grab my bag and boots from my locker and walk along the road until i got to one of the two saint sauveur lifts still operational. this was arduous and it was very uncomfortable to snowboard down a black diamond with boots in hand. on the other hand, if i hadn't taken that break i might have continued with my plan to return to avila just before the bus was scheduled to arrive, and by then i would have had a nasty surprise because there wouldn't have been any quick way to get back. and it would have been in complete darkness.

my last runs were excellent, and the walk to the village was pleasant. it was very, very cold, though, and the bus was quite late. the well-dressed local woman waiting with me kept complaining about the cold in french (in both senses), and i kept myself warm by dancing on the spot to dark psytrance.

but the bus did arrive, and we boarded. there weren't many seats available, and a girl towards the back of the bus removed her backpack from the seat for me. i sat down, and she asked me where the bus had stopped, and i told her. she began to talk, kind of arbitrarily, and at some point she said something that made me ask her where she was from.

well, if i didn't immediately switch to hebrew there and then! it took her a slow moment to realize what had happened, and we laughed and spent the rest of the ride talking non-stop. her fellow exchange student (ben gurion / mcgill) woke up after twenty minutes and sleepily asked if she was really hearing a conversation in hebrew; the chances of meeting an israeli on a night bus in quebec are probably pretty damn small. never mind that, she's studying computer science and philosophy, and has a friend who's studying computer science and literature who she can now tell isn't alone.

it was fun, and strange, and very interesting.

---boxing day:

in order to leave my aunt's house early with yang, i'd showered, dressed and picked up a toothbrush when i got home and then went to sleep over there. i was up at the time he'd told me to be, but he wasn't and his parents insisted that i not wake him. eventually, three hours later, yin woke up, woke him up, and he made a big noise about how i should've woken him up :/

we hit the salomon store first, and the purchase was pretty quick. i'm not sure who did a better job of selling me the boots, yang or the salesman, but they look good, they're super-comfortable and i'm assured that they'll keep my feet warm and dry and will last me enough years that the splurge will be worth it.

the rest of the day was spent discovering that yang is a serious shopper. although between stores was fun, when he wasn't chain-smoking, the shops themselves were a drag. and the people! it was nuts. we ran into a classmate of his with agoraphobia, who comes outside once a year on boxing day in an effort to exorcise it because the crowds freak him out more than his phobia so his related panic attacks are easier to control.

seems legit. those crowds and queues and that level of pushy-and-shoviness on the metro were something else...

we got back to my aunt's where my boots received approval, played guitar hero and rockstar table tennis until dinner, and afterwards yang dropped me and my gear back at home.

where i've eaten and done internet things. and prepared emotionally for getting up early again tomorrow.

---something positive in the news: in california, at least, the stigma attached to marijuana use appears to be fading. the war on drugs is more destructive and costly than any drug use ever was - ever - and this gives me hope.

speaking of crowd-funding: stick 'n find is a brilliant idea, but i wonder if some of their raging success can be attributed to reading "clean your mess" as "kick your lover out the side-door".

raspberry pi replacing expensive stuff: good for them! it's a noble goal.

reviewer's remorse?

kind of. someone involved in one of the projects i mentioned in my previous post contacted me to tell me that it's not cool to point them out like that, because it might hurt their chances. i feel that they've already hurt their chances, and i promised that if they'd fix the reward tiers i'd be only too happy to post an update applauding their efforts.

"well, i don't know how things are for other projects but we're not selling anything, we're just looking for donations."
ah, so don't use the rewards system, then. because the rewards system implies an investment and investments work when the investor gets something back for their money; unless the investors are feeling generous they're going to expect something at least of equal value to their investment.

i don't appreciate the attitude i got back, though, and either way i'm not going to retract my statement. on the one hand, i do understand why they're unhappy. but my point is still valid, it's still well illustrated by their example, and if they don't want to play in the same sandbox as everyone else then they shouldn't play in the same sandbox as everyone else.

---i forgot to mention something really big from yesterday: airplane shared a comic illustration that was absolutely brilliant, and i commented on it. he responded in a way that made me seriously reconsider collaborating with moonlighter and his friends: he's seen my partial script, liked what he saw, and will hopefully send me a couple of samples sometime soon.

in my excitement upon discovering moonlighter's other profession i dismissed a very important statement of his that sheds a lot of light on their level of professionalism: they don't want me to bring a script, because "the artist should be the one giving graphic direction". that's rubbish. not that the artist shouldn't have influence, but it should be a collaboration, not just pitching an overall concept. if someone of airplane's calibre can bring himself around to my visual concept, then these guys probably aren't a good fit for me.

...

which reminds me, i should get back to working on the script :P

---i suspect that my last two days' downer was due to loneliness. i joined my cousins for a jolly cup of coffee, and after much chatter and general amusement yang took me downtown to check out the stores. it was a great day and we found everything i was looking for - we know where to go on boxing day.

yin convinced me that it's better to get a nice card and gift late. so i'll do that.

now: another early night. if the buses are running then i'll be testing out my new boots tomorrow.

inflated ego

this is a shout-out to anyone who thinks of using crowd-funding to produce a book or a movie, from someone who's happily invested in a few projects. if the reward tiers don't make economic sense, sane people won't invest.

$25 for a digital copy of a movie? who the hell would pay that much to see it in the theatre?! $5 bucks is reasonable, $10 is understandable. but it doesn't matter how important or interesting you think your project is, that much is ridiculous!

and whoever thinks i'm going to pay $50 to get a chapter of an ebook or even more for the book itself is smoking some really, really good shit. again, even if the book does seem interesting, the reward tiers are totally unattractive.

more power to them if they succeed, but they could have done better, faster, and left a smaller chance for eventual investor dissatisfaction.