Tucson and all the Rest

Hey all,

Today's post will be an update on what's been going on the last week or so, specifically going to Tuscon. First off, it was boring. Working on training for 10 hours a day or so makes for a long dry day, doing stuff that comes to you so easily, and watching other people struggle with it can get frustrating. Then to go back to a lonely motel doesn't help matters. The people I was training worked the late shifts, so I ended up pulling a lot of 12 to 10pm's to get everything done. We covered so many training items I am afraid that they won't retain everything I taught them.

I couldn't believe that so many of the businesses closed so early too, I ended up eating at the Cracker Barrel like 3 times in a 6 day period as it was the only place (non fast food) that I could get to before close. All in all I am glad to be back. I really wish that I could have gotten a laptop for the trip to keep writing. As soon as I do get that I am going to start doing some longer work in addition to what I post here.

As I mentioned yesterday I did write 3 poems down there, plus I still have 1 I wrote before I left. There should be plenty of poetry updates to come. I just wanted to get the one about the fire in California up while it was still in the public conscience.

I don't want to drone on about work to much anymore, but on Saturday I did get to do some fun stuff when I got home. Jason and me attended a Dunny trading party. I don't know if I have ever commented on Dunny's before. Right now the whole urban toy craze is in effect with me as a victim. Urban toys are usually a series of small plastic toys of a single design that many of today's more well known urban artists then design individually to be release in a series. Sites like Kid Robot, My Plastic Heart, and Rotofugi offer some great examples. They usually offer a wide assortment in different amounts, from commons to rares, all in a blind box so you don't know what you get. Pat of the fun is not knowing. There is a great little store in Phoenix called Red Hot Robot that sells them here, and they had a party where you can bring in your toys to trade. It was a pretty slow night and I didn't get to change out any of my duplicates, but there is always next time. It was worth attending just to get some info on a deluxe Dunny figure designed by Tara McPherson, a definate must own.

After the party, we hit the movies to see 30 Days of Night, vampire horror based on the graphic novel by Steven Niles. Overal, pretty unimpressed. A very typical horror concept, vampires invade town, but a slight twist is that in the winter this town has no sunlight for 30 days. There seemed to be a lot of hurry up and wait mentality to the film, with a burst of action followed but a spell of hiding. With all the downtime in the film, they certainly don't flesh out the characters that much. In the end, I didn't really care if they lived or died. I did like the makeup effects, I thought they did a good job of making vampires diffferent, along the lines of the books artist. When it was over however, I can't recommend it.

That about sums up the general update. Look tomorrow for another poem.

End of Line.
Gerrad!