Superman – Minimalism
- because I was looking for a creative project. It may not be truly minimalist, but it expresses where I was heading.
At-ST Halloween Costume
My kid's Halloween costume this year. Find a picture, project and measure, cut, glue, and paint. It was cool, but not nearly sturdy enough. It failed to survive the rigors of trick-or-treating.
Play Date – Friends & Family Weekend
This weekend, I'm running a "Friends & Family" (since those are essentially the only people who know about the story anyway) special for Play Date. You can pick it up for free this Saturday and Sunday. Honestly, this is just a push to get some reviews. Most kindle / ebook promotional sites require you to have several reviews before they will list you book with their other offerings. If you feel so inclined, please consider rating or reviewing the book on Amazon. I also added Play Date to Goodreads. If that's your thing, you can add add it to your queue or review it there.
Play Date
Finally finished my little novella Play Date. Here's the description or "back cover" info: "I would probably be considered a rotten babysitter. I can’t say I’d recommend me to your average mom in need of someone to keep their kid safe and nurtured. I don’t really do 'safe and nurturing.' On the other hand, nobody can say I don’t know how to show a kid a good time. I can pretty safely say that a kid entrusted to me would absolutely love me. And you know what? Every once in a while, a kid can be handy to have around." Max O’Donnell is a changeling, a faerie child raised by human parents. Neither fae nor human, he doesn't really fit in anywhere. It is a challenging life, but it…
On Shaving Your Head
The last couple of months have been a bit of a whirlwind - I left my day job, wrote a novella, went to camp with my kids, took a 20th anniversary cruise with my wife and some good friends, and did some freelance consulting and graphic design work. Needless to say, writing new essays became a lower priority for a while. Things have settled into a more predictable routine, so I can once again turn my attention to writing here. So, I shaved my head yesterday. Well, I didn't exactly shave it with shaving gel and a razor. It’s more of a buzz cut - a really, really short buzz cut. I used the 1/8 inch guard on my clippers and went crazy while the rest of the family was…
Another Stop Motion Project
My son begged me to set up my camera for him. I did that much, but left him entirely to his own devices. After a few hours, this was the result.
New Poster
There was some confusion about getting this done and it may not be the "official" poster for the latest production, but I was pleased with the result: I feel like I've still "got it."
Today I Am
Lately, I've been making some simple doodles to entertain myself and remind me of all the things I am and can choose to be. I was sort of inspired by those posters you see with different emotions all over them (Today I am happy, sad, angry, etc.). In the back of my mind, I think that I might eventually put them together into a little desk accessory for self-expression like this: In the meantime, I will continue to add new ones to this post and also put them on the Facebook Feed.
DIY Embossing
So, I have a thing about personalized stationery - notecards, specifically. I've made several of my own monograms and imprinted them on notecards. Over the years, I think I've had 3 different custom monograms ranging from abstract to fancy. None of them have really stuck. Lately, I've been in more of a what-you-see-is-what-you-get phase of life. It seems like just have stationery that says "Jay" is sufficient. I've had an idea about do-it-yourself embossing, and here are the results. The process and results aren't perfect, but I think the method has promise. Here is my personal embosser, Mark I: From: To the embosser - bent and glued paper clips on a walnut (very hard wood) base with the reverse carved by hand: Pressed into cardstock to get the final result: Voila! Custom…
Vocational Manifesto
Last week, I turned in my resignation from my day job. It was a good decision, allowing me to exit gracefully on my own terms rather than stay in a situation that would become more and more of a poor fit over time. At this point, it feels more like an opportunity - the kick in the pants we needed to move our family forward into the next adventure. However, it does mean that I have some serious work to do in order to find that next adventure. For the foreseeable future, my kids are going to continue to need shoes, daily meals, and an education, so a day job is probably a good thing to pursue. However, I have the luxury of a little bit of breathing room to…