Future Lincoln Faces The Future

Steampunk Lincoln
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr

2009, The Year of the (Not Being A Fat) Bastard

It's a new year, and it's time for the traditional list of resolutions. Here goes:

• Achieve some semblance of fitness. My luck with that hasn't been great this past year; travel is the biggest excuse, of course, but there have also been the nagging issues with my ankle, and with my back (courtesy of trying to move heavy video arcade games). But it is my lingering back pain that makes it all the more important to get some exercise. More on this as we go along this year.


• Increase my creative output. I feel as though I'm not really producing anything worthwhile lately, and I intend to correct that. I miss writing and drawing, and I also want to start doing more with photography than my usual scattershot traveloguing. Let's face it, most of my blog posts from 2008 were pretty dull, and there are so many things that I just ended up not writing about at all.


• Increase my Internet "footprint", as it were. I've shied away from things like Facebook and Twitter, but I'm beginning to feel obligated to at least give them a try. I've started updating my Flickr gallery again (see Mr. Lincoln there, for example) and, as mentioned above, I intend to do some more writing here as well. Moving the websites I'm interested in into an RSS aggregator (Google Reader, in this case) has been an incredible time-saver AND time-waster; now I can cram my brain with even more information!


• Reclaim some "old" interests. Things like chess, and astronomy. In my copious free time, of course.


• On the practical side of things: Finish getting out of debt. I don't feel as though my life will ever be my own until I stop owing money on credit cards. A bit hyperbolic? Perhaps, but that's how I feel about it. Most other material considerations are secondary to that.


• More--and more interesting--travel. If nothing else, the fellow I worked with down in St. Kitts keeps asking when my girlfriend and I are going to come back for a vacation. And hey, Delta does direct flights out of Atlanta on the weekends... Let's face it, most of what I do is "bungee travel"; I plunge in, work, take a quick look around, and am yanked back out in a matter of days or hours. That's no way to really get a feel for a place.

Wow, that's enough for a couple of years. I'm not sure how I feel yet about 2009. The best we can do is push forward and say, "Let's make it up as we go."

It's That Time Again

December 5th, the International Day Of The Ninja is here again! For your amusement:

Promo Video

The Twelve Days of Ninja

How to, in emergency cases, make a ninja mask out of a t-shirt.

Past DotN posts here and here.

Quietly release your inner ninja and have a blood-drenched day of harmony and goodwill toward all. Except pirates. Filthy, filthy pirates.

Where I've Been, Part IV

Armor on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, 10/17/2008

Where I've Been, Part III

Watching Highland Game demos at the Chattanooga CultureFest, 9/27/2008. They seem to consist primarily of hurling heavy items of various shapes.

Send My Long Down The Drain

Engrish at the Met
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr

You find Engrish in the oddest places. Art museums, for example. I've been to New York City twice in the past three weeks; came back sick from the first trip, but at least I had time to do some sightseeing.

Where I've Been, Part II

The ruins of the Phillipeion, Olympia, Greece
April 2008

Where I've Been, Part I

Black Rocks lava formations, at the north end of the island of St. Kitts.

I've Been Away. Now I'm Back.

Iron Men and Women
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr

Last weekend was Dragon*Con 2008 in Atlanta, GA. A good time was had by all, despite my being quite ill for most of it. I got to meet some of my favorite writers, listened to some excellent music, got some books signed, made credible headway on an excellent bottle of Scotch, and got to spend time with my girlfriend. All of these put the con solidly in the plus column.

I'll be playing catch-up, briefly, on the places I've been and the places I'm going. Watch this space.

Not Constantinople

In about thirty minutes, I'll be getting on a plane bound for Istanbul, Turkey. Yes, I do have that song going through my head. Why do you ask?

Eleven hours or so in the air, six hours ahead of my normal time zone...yeah, I'm going to be lucky to walk and breathe at the same time. But what a trip, eh? I'll be meeting another NCL cruise ship there, and for the next 12 days, I'll be working and traveling the eastern Mediterranean. I promise regular updates, and pictures if I can manage it (oh, I think I can).

Be good while I'm gone.