I ordered a new monitor yesterday and it came in the mail today (yay for Newegg's fast delivery). Oh...my...sweet-baby-jesus is it nice. And huge. And pretty. And huge. I hadn't realized just how horrible and blurry my old monitor had become until now. Unfortunately I can see all the many, many little things that suck abt all my drawings so much better now. I'm going to oogle my monitor for a while longer before going to sleep. Mmmmmmmmmmm...sexy monitor.

Monitor monitor monitor!
(felt like I hadn't quite said "monitor" enough yet)

You've earned your rest; your struggle is done. In eternity's embrace your memory lives on. So sleep and dream of sweet reward. Now take your bow and close your door.

Goodbye Grandpa. I love you.

If, by any strange coincidence, you happen to reside in the land of Germany...or will just BE there on October 9th...I instruct you to make your way to the Strychnine Gallery in Berlin. Upon entering you will be greeted by the works of one David Hochbaum whose exhibit thingy begins that night. In addition, and more importantly in my personal book, in the Vault part of Strychnine you will find the uber awesome sculptures of one Ver Mar. Go. Go now. They are freaking sweet. I unabashedly proclaim her awesomeness and sexiness from the mountains. So yes, go my friendly little imps and set your eyes upon the amazing sculpture works that Ver has been killing herself silly over in all of her non-work hours. Seriously, they are amazing; I've seen most of them in person in various stages of completeness and I don't mind telling you that you are missing out if you only ever behold them via photomograph. Don't touch them unless you has the funds to purchase one (or more) of said pieces though; but if you can afford one you will not be disappointed with such a purchase.

In reading news, I read the Golden Compass this morning. It was pretty good. Lord Asrael turned out to be the little bitch I suspected he would be though. Bastard. Took a few hours break and now I am starting The Subtle Knife. Also read the first book in the Book of The Long Sun tetralogy by Gene Wolfe; good so far, though I think I liked The Book of The Short Sun better. Severian was just a bit more interesting than Silk is, though that may change as the story progresses. **ponders** Maybe I'll squeeze in a quick Terry Pratchett book tomorrow to lighten the somber tones of the other two books I'm reading. **shrugs**

In new muzak news: The new Five Finger Death Punch album, "War is the Answer," is great. Just really great. More varied than their first outing (ie: he sings more) but still overall a very strong album. The new Dethklok album, "The Dethalbum II," is....ok. I feel like most of it was written to try and be a real band as opposed to a cartoonish mockery of a real band. It is not nearly as ridiculous as the first album and therefore less memorable and also the vocals are not as good (too many effects bcs he is trying to sing but it isn't pulled off as well as the guttural growls). The new Alice in Chains album is...forgettable. I don't know if it just lacks because Layne Stanly is no longer the vocalist (due to his unfortunate...well...death nearing a decade ago), or if Jerry Cantrell is just loosing his edge, but the songs are droning and hollow where once they were filled with a dirty and gloomy fire. The Dethklok album at least came with videos; the new Alice in Chains album just comes with disappointment.

Rounding back to my original point though...GO TO MY GIRLFRIEND'S FREAKING GALLERY EXHIBITION ALREADY!!! More info at [link]

Shit. I kinda want to go play more Symphony of the Night. Ahh killing vampires and demons...how fun you are. **dreamy, far-away look**

~fin

Am lazy these days with the drawing and the updating...so here is a quick rundown of life:

- Work goes well. I am a data entry wizzard.

- Girlfriend is awesome. I love getting to see her sculptures for her showing in Berlin that will be coming up in October. Damn I wish I could go see the instillation and all.

- Illustrated a children's book my aunt and cousin (both teachers) wrote. Then are starting to look for literary agents so hopefully something will come of that eventually (ie: it getting published in some fashion). There are some concept sketches in my scraps thingy on here.

- Haven't been burned alive by the CA wildfires thus far. Thankfully they would have to burn through most of LA to get to me as I am about as close to the ocean as one can get while still retaining a little pocket money.

- Tattoo is still awesome. *Badtaste rocks.

- Went for a week long trip to visit family and friends in Knoxville (best friend lives there now) and MI (family and rest of friends there). I just got back from that. It was awesome and it was great going to my friend Theresa's wedding and seeing everyone there too. Awww..

- Unfortunately, the wedding was the same day as my band getting to open for George Clinton...which meant that they played the show without me. Apparently it went pretty well though. Next time Adam, next time.

- My friend June's band CLANDESTINE if freaking amazing. Go listen to their stuff at this link [link]

- Posed for drawings for CREEPY #2. I'm the main character in the story drawn by Jason Shawn Alexander (it started off issue #1 and wraps up in issue #3). He's a pretty swell guy and good friends with my GF. Turns out she's pretty hip with all the awesomely talented folk in the art scene here in LA which is pretty damn cool. (I also got to be in DEAD IRONS #4 as a cultist who kills himself. It's pretty damn sweet).

- I MUST own the new Batman game. My computer is ballzy enough to handle it so why the hell not?

Screw re-reading what I wrote for errors. Sleep time. **zonk**

Fun times! Been a while folks. My apologies. Life has been veddy busy lately. I have an interesting story for you all though.

So I was listening to music, eating dinner, and chatting with my girlfriend on the computer when I heard a fire-truck "WHOOP!" I peaked out my bedroom window and saw lights reflecting off of my neighbor's house. I wandered out into the living room and there was a firetruck parked out front, an ambulance, and cops everywhere. Jordan wandered out of his room too (he had been practicing guitar) and we walked outside to see what was up. First thing I noticed was the tracks of blood down the sidewalk in front of our house leading to a group of people huddled around something. Then I noticed the larger puddle of blood and a bloody hand sticking out from between the gaggle of paramedics. Serious WTFM?!?!? Our neighbor came out and said that someone got shot and we chatted with her for a short bit while they got the guy on a gurney and into the ambulance. They threw a pile of bloody clothes (which they had cut off of him) into a plastic bag which afforded a really good view of the blood pools. In an attempt to not get too near the blood and/or evidence we did not cross the sidewalk to get a better view of things but just kinda looked over the bushes and all on our tip-toes. I went back inside to get shoes and a hoodie on (figured no need to accidentally step into anything without foot coverings)and then Jordan and I went and talked to our neighbor on the other side (who luckily had just sold his house this morning). He said that he heard a bang, though it wasn't like any gunshot he or his wife had heard before (she had grown up in the inner city of LA)and that then they heard someone yelling for an ambulance. Upon combing my memory I vaguely recall hearing someone shout something although I do not remember hearing a bang at all; either way, I must have just dismissed the yelling as someone being loud as one normally would if not paying too much attention.

Apparently there have been some weird things going on the past few days. Jordan says he got freaked out early this morning at around 4am bcs he thought he heard someone tap his window a few times and our neighbor found a used condom in his yard this morning. Anyways, the cops found two guys wandering about that didn't live around here and were questioning them in front of our house and so despite being massively interested, Jordan and I decided it would be a good idea to go in and lock the door just in case anyone decided to do something really stupid; basically I have no desire to get shot or accosted in any way and we all know people do stupid shit when they are scared. The cops have been combing the street and bushes looking for a weapon for a while now to no avail and one just came and asked us a few questions abt 10 minutes ago. We asked what happened and he said that it appears a group of guys were hanging out in front of our house by the street and a car drove up. Some words were exchanged and someone fired a gun into the victim. Everyone scattered and one of the neighbors called 911. From the blood on the sidewalk it looks like he got shot in front of our neighbor's house and ran past our house and our other neighbor's house. At that point he turned around and staggered back to where he had been shot and fell into the gutter at the side of the road. That is where he was being attended to when we came outside.

So yes, currently I am in a crime scene. They cordoned off a whole chunk of the street with "crime scene" tape (a part of the street that includes our house and both mine and Jordan's cars) and are trying to piece together exactly what happened. Such horrible excitement! That's life in the big city for ya! I suppose I'm just glad that I got home early today and that I didn't have to go anywhere tonight.

I wonder how much harder that will make it for the owner of this house to rent it out starting in June after we move out?

Thank you for visiting CRIME SCENE THEATER.