Look what I got yesterday — the 6th — at Chapters. The audiobook for Robert Kirkman’s Walking Dead: The Rise Of the Governor! Why am I excited, besides being a fan of the comic (and show) in general? Well, because neither the book nor the audiobook gets officially released until the 11th. Additionally, it hasn’t been leaked onto the torrent sites, and the lack of reviews on Amazon makes me assume it’s not in the hands of the public yet. So how did I get it? Well, I can only assume that some numbskull at Chapters messed up and put these on the shelf a week early (and their website confirms that the Canadian release date is the 11th). Yay me!
If I wasn’t such a fan I’d leak these onto torrent sites, but because it’s not for sale yet (or shouldn’t be anyway), I’m not going to screw them over. In general I don’t think that piracy hurts sales, and am willing to believe that used properly “free” distribution can paradoxically help sales, but I can’t imagine that releasing this at a time when someone can’t even go pay for it even if they want to, is not going to be helpful. That said, it won’t stop me from enjoying it! Hopefully I don’t get stopped at the border for it being contraband of some sort, haha.
It’s not my fault officer, Chapters did it!
PS. This was at their Runnymede location if anyone is jonesing for a copy!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Today I finished making the molds I started yesterday and they turned out perfectly. I haven’t had time to cast much, just a single proof-of-mold (and these are all signed and numbered runs of 12), but I’m happy to say that everything turned out perfectly — getting a vacuum chamber was a perfect investment — so I now have six new designs of zombie rings, a new skull ring, and I’ve also put the Nibbler (of Futurama fame) ring into production as well. Here’s a teaser, but you’ve already seen the sculptures so it’s no surprise for regular readers:
I can’t believe it’s only a couple days before we leave for the Cayman Islands. I’m very excited. It’s been a long time — a very long time — since Caitlin and I have taken a vacation like this together, just us, so on that level it’s a very special treat for both of us. I’m also hugely looking forward to snorkeling and the submarine ride. As much as I can feel myself ticking toward “the end”, I am really looking forward to the next few months and I hope I live long enough to do everything that’s planned. And I’m looking forward to the food on this trip — on our Cozumel trip (which Nefarious is coming on as well) we’re at an inclusive resort, but for this trip we’ll be eating in the community. That said, the muscles of my face have just started being affected and a couple times now it’s been surprisingly painful to eat because of what a difficult process chewing becomes…
Shane spent a few hours this afternoon tattooing me and I couldn’t resist taking a peek under the bandage to show you the work that was done on the robot. Next will be the partially ruined buildings, ground troops, and UFOs — with any luck fitting a session somewhere into November. Hopefully this is healed enough by the time we hit the beaches in the Cayman Islands. I’m sure it will be. The last few times I’ve been tattooed I haven’t gotten a scab or even much peeling. I don’t know if that’s a remarkable recommendation for Shane or if it has to do with the changes in my body. I don’t know if I like or dislike that it doesn’t really hurt much to get tattooed. I shouldn’t say that it doesn’t hurt, because it hurts plenty in a way, but it is so much less than the pain from walking or sculpting that it’s almost not worth noticing. In a way that’s nice and in a way it is horrifying because it gives an objective reference point (rather than the overused and reality-disconnected “rate your pain on a scale of 1 through 10, 1 being the least…”) that contextualizes with real world reference points exactly how unpleasant things are.
Other than that, I have some new ring designs that I want to get the molds started for (or finished) tomrrow, and I have some shipping to do (I’ve been staying on top of shipping jewelry, getting it out within the day in general), then I’ll go and cast my election vote early, I have to get a doctor’s letter for traveling with my medication, and… Let’s see… Other than that I’m very excitedly waiting for my 3D Printer/Router to come in the mail. I was one of the early crowd-funders on the Sumpod project so I’m quite eager now that it’s finally been shipped — it’s sort of like a much prettier RepRap. It can do dual head plastic printing (as in two color) and also has mounting for a Dremel so you can use it as a simple 3D milling machine. I’m looking forward to not just being able to create plastic objects, but also carve down wax for jewelry making.
It’s been fun selling some rings via Etsy — surprising to me as well which rings sold first by the way — and getting to see them in traditional ring gift boxes (that’s how all the jewelry ships — in a nice box suitable for gifting or long-term storage, not just a cardboard box). I have a decent number of new designs on the way as well. The stuff below are clay and in various stages of designs. The skull ring (bottom center), which is sort of a “low bulk” version of the Brainiac design has just been started and I haven’t had a chance to do anything but rough out some teeth and squeeze out the general shape. The zombies (seven new ones, two half-face and five full-face) are much complete and I’ll probably mold them in the next couple of days, and the Nibbler (FUTURAMA, middle right) ring is pretty much good to cast.
On Monday I had an appointment with a neuromuscular and myopathy expert — in a way a follow-up because it was the same doctor that first figured out my diagnosis, which was good because it meant he didn’t have to re-familiarize himself with a rare disease (and he’s a nice guy that seems compassionate). He did order some bloodwork looking for some long-shot protein abnormalities which could give us a few unexpected treatment options, but unsurprisingly, he’s seconding the opinion that we are out of treatment options. I don’t really like the idea that it’s all downhill from here without repreive. Feels like a difficult thing to be optimistic about. Carving the stuff above has been a slow process because my hands hurt when I work on them (assuming they’re strong enough in the first place). Hopefully there’s something positive on the medical horizon that I’m not seeing yet.
But I do have positive stuff on the non-medical horizon. I’m trying to fill as much of my calender with excitement as I can. It goes a long way to helping convince my doctor that I’m not about to pull the plug on my life-support machines (and maybe convince me too) — I’m always paranoid of the consequences of speaking candidly, because I have a profound dislike of being licked up, even “for my own good”. Anyway…
That picture of a shipwreck was taken from a submarine at 100ft depth. It’s one of the many fun things (and something I’ve never done before) that Caitlin and I might be doing next week in the Cayman Islands. I haven’t been there in years — which reminds me, I’m finally getting tattooed again tomorrow (reminds me because last time I was in the Carribbean, so was my tattoo artist Shane who joined us) — and I can’t wait. I read that it’s one of the best place in the world for snorkeling (which I love doing and is one of the last physical activities that I can still enjoy) so I’m really eager to go. We leave in just under a week!!! Woo woo! And then after that I’m going to go visit Nefarious again, and then all of us are going to Cozumel in November… Christmas vacation isn’t planned yet but it might be another visit to Costa Rica. Anyway, there is still a lot of nice stuff on the horizon, and I do hope we get to enjoy it.
Oh and I seem to be cursed with transformer problems lately — the USB/charging cable for my tablet blew up on my way home from visiting Virginia (a big burn marrk on the tablet side of the cable, but luckily only the cable and transformer seemed destroyed with the tablet surviving). I got it replaced after checking at the tenth possible store… A while back I lost the batterly charger for my Canon Rebel SLR, which even though it’s very old at this point still takes far better pictures than most modern mini cameras, so I went to Future Shop where they offered to sell me a generic for $80. I declined after looking on Amazon and seeing that I could buy a charger and an extra battery for under $10. I checked Henry’s (a bigger camera shop here in town) and they wanted $80 (and no free battery), so I did the online order, which came today. Fifteen minutes later I heard a loud pop and smelled burning plastic. Argh. It’s dead. The battery still works, but I have no way of charging it. It was so cheap that it’s not worth the expense of mailing it back, but still, I don’t like getting ripped off, so I hope I can just convince them to replace it.
