Catch 22

I have a sketch that I started on Friday and would really like to work on, but I can't 'cause I'm working on Tough Breaks today.

On other words, I can't work on my furry art, 'cause I have to work on my furry art. 0.o

As problems go, this isn't a bad one to be having. :)

Oh, regarding the whole "Frienditto" thing, my only real reaction is as I responded to ionotter's post here:

It's true that furries are a popular target for bullies, because the furry fandom as a whole tends to be very thin-skinned. However, it's important to realize that there are plenty of mellow furries -- the problem is, nobody notices them because they aren't shrieking and waving their arms.

So, annoy an internet bully today: be happy!

-The Gneech

Slow Progress Is Better Than No Progress

It's been a less-than-productive day here. The good news is, I'm on page 33 of Tough Breaks. The bad news is, pages 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, and 31 have not been done, because the high-res strips are missing and have to be recreated.

See, the usual strip-creating process is, I draw it, I scan it at high-res and pour it into a template, then I upload a flattened version to katayamma's server, where he snags it, colors it, and shrinks down a web-sized copy for the site (usually after we haggle about using earthtones instead of funky dayglo colors, and he pesters me to run high-res versions instead). However, in late 2002/2003, there were several strips that, for various reasons, Hikaru didn't color, so the only high-res copies were on my secondary hard drive.

The one, you may remember, which unexpectedly died in 2003, with only partial backups.

So, for all of these strips that I colored, I will need to make a list of the ones that are missing, sift through all my old bristols to find the originals (hooray for me being too lazy to sell my old strips!), re-scan 'em, and post 'em up for Hikaru to re-color.

It'll keep him busy, anyhow! ;) But it means I haven't achieved as much as I would like to have.

Also, today, I decided I would go over to Game Parlor to take a look at Big Eyes, Small Mouth (the non-d20 original) to see if it would be a good medium for a slightly-less-simplistic version of Teenagers From Outer Space. No luck, they didn't have it. And hantamouse, who I'd hoped would lend me his, turns out didn't have a copy. So, nothing accomplished there, either.

Finally, since it was a bright, sunny, breezy March day, lythandra and I decided to take a break and try out some kites we bought a little while back. Once we got the complex contraptions assembled, we tried for about half an hour or 45 minutes to get them into the air ... alas, they're large and heavy kites, requiring minimum sustained winds of 7 m.p.h. or higher. While we did have some fairly high gusts, there were none that lasted long enough to get the kites above the 20' or so ceiling they'd need to stay in the air without assistance. So, that was another bust.

While we were out there, some moron riding past in a car yelled out at us, "Hey, you $&@%^#* niggers!" 0.o Given that Laurie and I are both ruddy-skinned, red-haired anglo-celtic types, this seemed a particularly bizarre taunt. I know the psychology behind it, of course -- it was some jerkoff trying to score points in front of his equally jerkoff coterie riding in the car with him by seeming daring, and it didn't matter who or what he was yelling at. He was just spouting the most offensive thing he could think of ... sorta like an internet troll, actually. 9.9

I had a friend -- briefly -- in high school who would pull this kind of idiotic stunt, and then get all huffy when I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of it. I'm sure that to this day, he thinks I have no sense of humor ... whereas I think he's a pathetic little prick. As I say, it was a short friendship. But I digress.

So anyway, it's been a less-than-fulfilling day ... but I still have a few hours of potential productivity left, so I'm going to do what I can in them. Wish me luck! And thank you for not being like that moron, I appreciate it. :)

-The Gneech

EDIT: Laurie says, "Were they yelling at us, or the other car?" I didn't see any other car, but I suppose if there was one, that might make it a little less nonsensical. No less obnoxious, tho.

Teenagers From Outer Space

I think I'll probably end up just making my own house rules, stealing the premise/setting and the Stat/Knack/Power structure from Teenagers From Outer Space, the skill resolution dice from Ironclaw/Jadeclaw, and Brownie Points and the Wild Die from Ghostbusters.

Frankengaming! My favorite! *groans like a monster*

Weird TFOS Trivia Item #1: The first ever TFOS game I ever ran was set at "Walter Mondale High School" and was run in 1986 -- well before Freakazoid was on the air.

Weird TFOS Trivia Item #2: I still have dilletante's character sheet from said game.

Weird TFOS Trivia Item #3: My all-time most successful TFOS scenario was called "The Texas Chicken-Gun Massacre" and the villain was a psycho in a rubber chicken mask, called "Feather Face." He carried a "chicken gun" that transformed everybody into giant chickens. I lifted this scenario out of the suggestions in the back of the book, as well as a drag race scenario, featuring the Rival Brothers as the villains. Being in Philosophy 101 at the time, the I named the individual Rival brothers themselves "Solitary," "Unpleasant," "Nasty," "Brutish," and "Short." That Thomas Hobbes had a way with words!

-The Gneech