josie

Thanks for sharing. That's one of those events that'll always stay with you. I wasn't yet a twinkle in my mum's eye, but my sister was a little one. I've held a lifelong fascination with that and other space disasters. Unfortunately, it hit pretty close to home, as I had been fortunate enough to meet Dave Brown at a summer aviation/space camp I went to in Dayton. We were doing a simulated shuttle launch, and he talked to us via instant video (which was the most futuristic amazing thing ever). He was aboard the Columbia when it was lost on re-entry. In relation to Challenger, Reagan's speech concerning the event always gives me chills: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/speeches/reagan_challenger.html

Watching my best friend at work get raked over the coals by a project manager. She stood up for herself, and long story short, sexism reared its ugly head. She was given the position of lead developer on this major project by the head bosses. It is a very male themed project traditionally, and from day one she's been treated like crap by this pm, being informed that her opinion isn't that useful since she doesn't understand "games geared towards guys". We're blessed to work in a game studio that has a lot of women and forward thinking people in general. This sort of attitude is unheard of in our office. Since the prototyping of this game with the client, it was agreed to have a male and a female character. He's delayed the female char the entire 4 months thus far, despite having models and art and mocap (done by yours truly) available, and an enthusiastic crew. Now the game is nearing completion and he's trying to get rid of it period, throwing every excuse in the book. My friend is fighting tooth and nail to keep it in. It's a small thing effort wise, it really is. But it means a lot to those of us who play/make games. Everyone else on the project is on her side. They're offering to do more overtime to make it happen. I'm powerless to do anything but listen and calm her down when it reaches critical b.s. levels. It sickens me. I've had it happen to some extent on other games (I generally request the male themed games. I love me some Power Rangers and TMNT) but never like this. Usually the pm's and higher ups go out of their way to promote female characters/equality. A company of our kind, creativity fueling each project, cannot stand if it becomes a toxic environment where disagreeing is treated as treason. And no professional should result to name calling.

Skills competition is stupid and fun. The game is always skippable. I always try to catch the skills competition for great moments like last year: The Gaudreau bit just kills me.

I believe they call it a helicockter. Just don't be in the same room.

I read his book, A Matter of Inches. Amazing story, and a difficult read. I do recommend it- that's a man dealing with demons. I recommend Derek Sanderson's autobiography and the biography of Derek Boogaard, too. Addiction and lack of help/ability to talk lead to rough roads.

Yeah it's a good thing. I babble too much on twitter and it has resulted in "friends" all over the place, usually through hockey. This day has created a bit of a safety net of sorts with some of the people on there. It seems the funniest folks I know on there carry the hardest burdens. It's kinda good to be able to reach out, or get a message from time to time.

We had a vote between Clinton and Dole when I was in second grade. Most of us voted for Clinton, he was already President. A few voted for Dole because they thought they'd get fruit cups.

ohhh I like this. Reminds me of Electric Wizard, one of my favs. Saw High on Fire a couple years back. They were openers but I loved 'em.

Absolutely. D4rk is driving home from a hockey game as fast as possible. 20 minutes! I sat on my fat bum and doodled some vintage mulder/scully.

No worries. I came out really lucky in the end when it comes to loans- I made it out debt free thanks to scholarships. I turned down 8 free rides to go to RIT out of state, but it worked out in the end. I can't complain about debt. I think you can become a shill in any industry. "do what you love and never work a day in your life" is the biggest bullsh!t line out there. D4rk can tell you how sick he is of hearing me kvetch about how I should never have been an artist, how I should've been a doc/engineer/scientist like everyone expected me to. Money and respect are my two big reasons. Doing a lot of freelance, teaching at a private university, and working full time in my field for almost 5 years, I'm earning 15k less than most of the entry level engineers I know who half-a$$ed college. I did everything right, worked hard... But who cares if you paint pretty pictures. I get it, what I do isn't that important in the grand scheme of things- my work will never save a life, or power a nation, or build a city. I could die tomorrow, never produce another piece of art again, and what would it matter? It wouldn't. No ships would sink, no economies would fail. My sister is a translator, speaks 4 languages, has a master's degree. Without her, a major Japanese car company would be having some problems. She makes less than I do. Ridiculous. Just look at the life VFX artists are forced to lead.. horrible stuff. Downright unfair. These people have revolutionized an industry, are immensely talented and well schooled... no insurance, no job security, treated like dirt. I think lib art people are supposed to be happy teaching for pennies and living in a yurt. The raw talent I have isn't something you teach. Knowledge is something you gain and invest in. What's worth more? I don't know. I feel cheated but remember I'm "just an artist" and shut up. Sometimes I wish I had gone into the sciences and made everyone proud. I'd have respect, I'd do something that mattered and was worthy of compensation, and I'd still draw for fun as a hobby. Whine all you want, little art girl, should've done something useful with your life. I guess I don't think it should be that way. Sorry for the rant, this is my identity crisis. Not really presidential or political, just societal I suppose.

Go have a drink with the man! The cat and I can hold down the fort ;)

Got a sizeable raise this week, and the money they owed me from last year (they paid me 2k less than they had promised). RIT gave me a raise too... I'm actually making a pretty decent living for myself, and for once, I don't have to tack "for an artist" on the end of that. But honestly, I'm most excited for the role I convinced my bosses to let me take on- I'm developing an onboarding training program for new designers at our company. We need it so badly, and it gives me something to excel at and bring up in the next review :angel:

Yeah. I try not to hold a lot of stock in internet sleuthing, reddit IS the place that misidentified the Boston Bomber a couple years back. But if people are considering all possible avenues, read your heart out. I doubt we'll ever know for sure. I'll leave it at that unless/until more information surfaces.

Sure thing. https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/421nyr/announcement_regarding_patrick_kane_allegations/

It reads like fanfiction. Creepy fanfiction, but fanfiction nonetheless. There's a lot of people on reddit and such searching up ATC records to prove whether the team left that night or not. There are discrepancies. I sure hope it isn't true. And if it is... just yick.

I stopped drinking soda about 2 years ago. Admittedly, all I drank was diet, which many think is actually worse for you. I've struggled with horrible stomach problems my whole life. I stopped drinking that crap and everything improved drastically. My family convinced me it was good for me. Half a can of the sugary stuff will give me a migraine. Therefore, diet was the answer to everything (they're all diabetic). Only water, coffee, beer or wine and the occasional ginger ale for me these days.

All the talk of Winter Storm Jonas has this stuck firmly in my brain.

Actually had a somewhat harrowing drive in today in Rochester. Wasn't expecting that.

I bet it is an amazing feeling, playing for your school. The Wings have a lot of Michigan natives/locals on their team right now. Blame the local schools or homerism, but it is kinda neat. Sometimes I wonder if they'd have a better team if there weren't so many locals, if there is some local favoritism happening in the Griffins/Red Wings franchise... I like these articles. I like humanizing these famous giants of the sport I love.

At the rink I broke my leg at, a guy snapped his leg last night playing my old team. Same leg, same kind of weird break, just worse- he snapped both fibula and tibia. Dude I am never playing there again... I'm way too superstitious. Hell, I'm terrified to play again period at the moment.

My own mother has been sending me Trump/Palin true love memes. When she was running, my hometown was absolutely bonkers about her. She came to speak and drew record crowds. Girls were getting haircuts like her, buying glasses to look like her. Red coats sold out. It was terrifying. Then again, my hometown is also the origin of Joe the Plumber. God bless WNY. It has its problems, but it ain't bumfu$# Ohio.

She's a middle schooler's dream. But she was kind of the original batsh!t crazy yet attractive villain sextoy I guess. Juggalette ftw I'm hoping Margot can give her some teeth. I'm ok with her being a bit stereotypical if she can just be absolutely smash-the-sh!t-out-of-everything evil. But if we go Suckerpunch route with it, I'm out. Angrily out. Just t&a shots of "bada$$ babe action" and giggles and stupid one liners... gtfo. Sick of it. I'm excited for Enchantress and Katana. And Common's in it- I thought him very good in Hell on Wheels, be interesting to see what he does in this one. Also, just get ready for every girl ever to cosplay Harley (more than they already do). Results may vary.

Is really Cereal

I didn't believe you. I looked. They really are. Thanks for making my morning that much more ridiculous. Wow.

Oh man, remember the days when 3D animated films basically HAD to be amazing? Wasn't that long ago... Now it's the awful cheap movie medium du jour... The crown turd jewel of such being Food Fight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf85ZaAfixM A friend of mine was a lead animator on that movie with Woody Harrelson as a turkey... Free Birds I think. He mentioned several times how bummed out he was that his first major project was such a dud (through no fault of his own). The art in some of these movies is still amazing, but that doesn't cut it anymore. His most recent project was Book Of Life, which I've heard was lovely, but I haven't seen. Gotta do that. Norm of the North didn't even look particularly good, from the trailers I've seen.