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Time to Speak

There is so much to say. And even more, there is so much to act upon! Well, where to start? Wherever you decide, that is the right place. So begin in a direction and allow it to unfold before you. That’s how it’s always worked. There is no wrong answer if you can remember not to fight yourself or your intuition. Just let the moment be what it is. Let the space hold itself. I’ll brew another vat of tea tonight. The evening until dark will be spent in my greenhouse tending to the chores that should be chipped away at. I’ll call it just before the last light leaves the sky smelling of dirt and plant sap, then shower. Once in my new skin, I’ll take that fresh tea with me to my reading chair where I’ll exit the scene and return to this new state; the one with…

the human condition

Defeating Depression with some help from Poirot

I want to thank the life work of Agatha Christie and David Suchet for helping me escape from a post-Covid low.  I must state that I realize I’ve struggled for the past few years. I use to create and share my work with a sense of enthusiasm and purpose. I was effortlessly passionate about everything I did in life. But one small encounter at a time I began to feel that the fire I brought to the world had no value or worse yet, wasn’t needed. Somewhere in the mess of Covid-19, I forgot who I was. Or rather, I had to boot up in safe mode for a while, which required me to hang up some bits of myself… for the sake of healing old wounds. I’ve felt adrift for so long now that I began to fear I’d remain lost in a listless fog. But as they say,…

RP Gaming

…so roll the dice

Today, chilly and at the very end of January, I feel good again. My mind is clear and lite in a way it hasn’t been for a couple of years. Since I always wish that I would have done so when looking back, I will write about these feelings and try to describe the tiny things that are special to me right now, in this fleeting ephemeral state. Late last year we started a ritual of games. The table-top kind that you can’t find at big-name stores, but are popular amongst those who are in the know. Any time my friend Matt sampled something he enjoyed in one of his friend circles, he’d pick it up and give my partner Mark and I a safe, slow, introduction. Getting our toes wet while holding our hands. Game night has gone over so well that we’ve since found a local game store…

Demonology

Prayer Slips

I lost some beloved young tomato plants this summer and I want to honor their life in a way that will remind me of them and make me smile each time I remember.  I’ve always adored Japanese prayer slips,”ofuda”, for their spiritual function, and notable aesthetic. I also dig the concept of Chinese wish-trees, the bows of which are adorned with majestic clusters of fabric strips, each containing the written hopes and dreams of an individual who chose to add a piece of themselves to the branches. Both are sometimes found dancing within nature, just as all things in life swirl about and yield to the currents of circumstance. Like our wishes and prayers, these slips surf on the whim of chaos like ghosts. I see ofuda and talismans all the time in the media I consume, from movies to games (the gifs above were snagged from Monster Hunter Rise,…

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I don’t know what’s next

I haven’t posted here since the end of 2019. Back then, things were different. You could breathe public air without fearing for your life. Witnessing strangers didn’t leave you with a general feeling of disgust. World affairs didn’t suck the life from you on a minute to minute basis. Overall, existence still felt lite and fun. Innocence had not been lost. I have to move forward and come up with what’s next– even if I don’t have any solid goals or plans right now. My mental state is unstable at best. I don’t really know who I am. But hey! This chaotic (be it unpleasant) atmosphere might yield some distinctly new and exciting creations! (gasp) I’m not entirely sure why I stopped writing. Sharing my process in this blog format was once my favorite thing to do as a creator. I secretly blame more immediate and easy-to-consume formats like YouTube…

Carl el Robo Flamingo

Carl the Parasitic Hoverboard Driving Robot

Before the year wraps up, I decided to give a final shot at getting at least one of my robot children mobile. truly mobile. In a meaningful way. I’ve spent the majority of this year working on developing NoodleFeet’s new body, so it felt fair to show Carl a little attention and love. As a recap- “Carl” is one of my characters, a ball-balancing robot made from the body of a plastic lawn ornament. I set out to actually build him in-real-life four years ago, but the endeavor was just hard enough that it required I rely on Mark to do the majority of the coding. In the end, it was also too difficult for even Mark, the wizard of programming, to muscle through. ::sad sigh:: Someone in a conversation I had recently blurted out the concept of “exploiting” technology that has already solved the annoying part of the problem…

The Future We Dreamed Of

Faux Neon: Building a Fixture for EL Wire

Since I was a kid, my unspoken goal has been to manifest the cyberpunk world I come to adore from my favorite movies and games. This mindset acted as my magnetic north and has subtly influence my projects, writing, and philosophy. As you can image, I’m happy to see this loved stylistic motif explode in our popular culture with vigor as of late! 2019 is the year that so many of my favorite fictional dystopias are set in, like Blade Runner and Akira. Seeing as this year is somewhat of a spiritual homage to humanity’s impending and over-romanticized decline, I thought I should surround myself with more cyberpunk *feels*! I’m watching Love. Death. And Robots on Netflix to light my inspiration pilot. I’m sporting EL Wire as a casual bodily adornment when I go out at night. I’m listening to no small amount of moody gritty synth pared with upbeat ethnic…

she bon

April was the Month of Suck

SHE BON: the Suck Choker & Squeeze Choker This month, I began developing my first new SHE BON augment of the year! I haven’t really decided on a name for it yet, but for now I’ve been referring to it as the “Suck Choker”. As the title suggests, it is a device worn on the users neck which replicates the experience of someone’s lips tangent to the skin creating a small oscillating vacuum… but from many angles all at once! This all means I’ve been particularly obsessed with suction… and how to create the sensation of being sucked on! weeeeee! This particular device has presented three separate design questions to address: how it is driven: the manner in which suction is creation  suction cups: the surface body making contact with the skin sensing: what will this augment be acting in response to? Over the past month I’ve bounced around between…

she bon

Persistence of Vision Pasties

Propeller Pasties v.1 (July 2018 : a recap) Sometime early last summer, I decided to build the augment for the top half of my body: a device which addressed my breasts and nipples! I generally had an idea of how this device would manifest, and I knew from the start that it most certainly had to involve propellers…….. of course. Very early during the process of brainstorming, I knew I wanted to create something which somehow measured nipple diameter as its form of input, because really, what else is there to sense from a nipple? I was researching different sensors which might accurately do the trick, when my partner Mark unearthed some boards he had made from the bowels of the lab and suggested I play with them a bit. Short-Range IR Distance Sensors. I honestly wasn’t expecting them to work as well as they did. I designed a pastie…

Ox Milk Ranch

Introducing! Ox Milk Ranch

In the winter, I enjoy playing what I call “nesting games” After a long year of nonstop work on many projects at once, I check out from adult life and invest all of my time into a video game the likes of Minecraft, Terraria, or Star Bound. These games fulfill a need that my human-animal programming calls for that modern life has ceased to provide: the sensation of hunting, securing shelter, and protecting oneself from zombies. (not to say that isn’t what we’re achieve with our apartments and jobs as we do. It just doesn’t flip my bits in quite the same way) This particular winter, I tried to guide those strong desires into not only playing a game, but attempting to make one as well. In addition to buying Stardew Valley, the ultimate farming and gathering experience, I’ve been learning the game engine, Unity so that I can create…