The other morning I realized that there is a sub-theme that I sometimes encounter within the hotel dream. Once in a while I will come across a buffet or a cafeteria. The cafeteria is usually closed, having just shut down or making preparations to open for the day. If I do make it to the cafeteria or buffet while they are open, most of the food is already gone. And if there is something I’ve been craving, they are most certainly out of that dish. Sold the last one just before I got there.

Idea. Single point. Sounds a distant trumpet. Waveform. DJ scratches a marble disc across the needle treetips of  a dark forest, introducing mutations, bullet points, details. Extrude waveform on Z-axis to generate topographical map. Throbs to the beat. Nodes ignite, blooming flowcharts and hyper-links to extant research, tutorials, blog threads, possibilities. Superimpose standard template load-out. Aggregate a menu of unforeseen applications. Encapsulate entire structure. Planet. Tag it. Systems of relationship form. Zoom out. Galaxy. Zoom in. Molecules. Background process|despair. Foreground process|mania.

Here is a log I made for Jesse Averna, a fantastic video and film editor.   If you need an editing job done, he is the proverbial “The Man”.

This is his site: http://icutfilm.com/

I scarcely know how to hold a pen, so long has it been since I pressed one to parchment. My desk and all its contents were claimed by the waves, repurposed as a piscine mansion. Ink is dear, gleaned from a painstaking process involving the crushed seeds of a peculiar mango-shaped fruit we discovered. And I wonder if the letters will last.

Work on the ship continues apace. The command center and galley receive most of our attention and it is generally agreed that the day these rooms become a place of respite rather than labor will be sweet indeed.

My constitution continues its decline, constantly embattled from all sides by the heavy vapors enclosing us. The breathing apparatus and the seltzers have proven ineffective. I spend most days on the other side of the thick acrylic bubbles, overseeing the work, sparing an occasional glance out at the oppressive topography. But I have begun to feel it even in my cabin, lying on my bunk. Some spectre leeches my strength, so that I waken not refreshed, but burdened.

The daily job manifests from the investors blur together. Each site survey has become an iteration of the previous one, permutations of some ur-site unfolding through time and space, like hundreds of incrementally flawed daisies. I send the drones their orders, instructions sets I know by heart. I fear for the day when I see a colleague insert the control cards and my own legs lurch forward, watching helpless as my hands reach for the drill.

This started out as a post about PAX East 2010, but then I realized I had no interest or energy to recount that adventure. In summary: Geek cons are fun, exhausting and one day too long.

When I go to a convention, especially one in the realm of geekiness, I usually find myself fending off an encroaching wave of depression and estrangement. I think it is most prevalent at conventions because I feel like, of all social groups, I should find resonance with this one. But I don’t. It doesn’t happen with any group, anywhere, ever. I have no people. Read the rest of this entry »

Feeling restless again. Creatively aimless. I feel like I need more of a long range goal, but I haven’t been really inspired to move in any particular direction.

Have an idea for a story game. Might sketch it out so it stops scratching my brain. But that would just be a stopgap.

Today was my friend Amanda’s birthday and Nick had put together an awesome day for her and her friends. We had brunch at Chez Zee (Bed and Breakfast French Toast FTW) and then hung out at their place while Nick picked up the cake and Amanda got a massage. We played video games and party games and iphone games. And there was cake.

I’m not a big diggnation fan, but I am a fan of Alex Albrecht and since there wasn’t a live Totally Rad Show this year at SXSW, this was the closest thing.

The line to Stubb’s stretched from Red River down to I-35, but, being Stubb’s, we all got in. While there is a lot of overlap between a TRS and digg crowd, I got the impression that, like the actual site, diggnation had a broader appeal. The whole scene was more rock star 2.0 than a panel at a tech conference.

The whole show was really fun. Local celebrity Brian Brushwood warmed up the audience with magic tricks, Scam School style. We participated in a Twitter hoax, broadcasting the news that Conan O’Brien was joining Revision 3. The digg CEO came out and talked about some new features coming to the site. Then Alex and Kevin did the show, which was really funny and alcohol fueled. Leo Laporte showed up with his mobile webcasting rig and ended up crowdsurfing (while webcasting the whole experience). Surprise guest Robert Rodriguez came on stage to talk about Predators. And then Alex and Kevin did some crowdsurfing.

I hung out with my friend Kristina for a bit. I think I may be allergic to her cats.