TMI

What a difference a year makes.

agentorange — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:45:12 GMT

Last year, I was so stressed out. I was facing the inevitability of putting down a foster dog, the results of poor planning and the vestiges of some heavy emotional turmoil. This year, I am fairly ready to go. I've got a day to pack my clothes and a tool kit, but most of the rest of the details have been taken care of. A lovely woman I've gotten to know over the last few months has agreed to house- and dog-sit for me, my house is straightened, my truck has been serviced, my groceries & booze have been bought... damn! I could actually get some sleep before the drive this time. I am taking off very early Thursday morning, so if you have anything to impart before then – you'd better do it now!

Drinking whiskey and bending steel

agentorange — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:19:20 GMT

Not a bad way to spend an August afternoon. My mutant vehicle, The Discorpion, is coming along nicely as I get to reverse-engineer a bunch of stuff from last year. I am finished with the tail, almost finished with the claws, have all the requisite lighting ordered and I can probably get to altering the nylon "skin" from last year pretty soon, probs by Wednesday. GET OFF MY PLAYA!!! I WILL FUCKING STING YOU!!!!! Unless Elaine has her bullhorn, in which case it will be much louder.

Beware of Moose

agentorange — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:20:17 GMT

This morning, I noticed some broken peonies and irises in the street in front of my house. It didn't register too much with me, since I was in a precaffeinated state. But later, I got to thinking about where they must have come from, and I found some trampled peony and iris plants as well as some tall grasses near the fence between my front and back yard. Then I remembered... Moose insistently asking to be let out late last night and barking his head off. Good boy, Moose. Earning your keep. The guy must have about shit his pants.

My sister, the famous one!

agentorange — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:03:39 GMT

My sister Nina is an art conservator, and recently she had the honor of doing the cleaning and restoration on a Van Gogh the Portland Art Museum has acquired. OPB did a piece on Oregon Art Beat on her, and it's airing tonight at 8 pm. I'm very proud of her! **EDIT** They have the story streaming from their website now: http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/videos/view/151-Van-Gogh-Restoration

This just in: character judgement continues to elude me

agentorange — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:34:15 GMT

A couple of incidents in the last 24 hours seem to suggest that two different people that I had been fairly confident appreciated and valued my role in their life... DON'T all that much. I certainly don't expect that everyone I meet thinks I'm great. But after developing a relationship of years (in one case) and several months (in the other), I had really come to believe their words about how important I was to them. Am I jumping at shadows? Or seeing the truth? It's so annoying to sift through my emotional reactions, trying to decide whether those little "red flags" are Telling Indicators of Alienation, or simply careless oversights that I'm reading waaaaay too much into. The whole self-confidence thing can seem like a dangerous game at times, lulling you into turning a blind eye to someone's indifference or writing off unreturned calls. And yet the other side of the coin is by far the more tiresome and unappealing: that you're just waiting for the inevitable rejection–the guarantee of sure failure. So, I usually choose to believe that the people I develop relationships with really do care for me. In all honesty, I think what makes the pill so bitter when I'm wrong has mostly to do with my big fat ego berating myself for not being smart enough to have sussed it earlier...