http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:cougashika&section=today deviantART RSS for by:cougashika en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:59:20 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28774044/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28774044/ Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:44:03 PST
How about the flip side of the vampire craze: lycanthropes. Wolfmen (odd that wolf-women don't get as much press as the guys). Again borne of Euro-fear, this legend attacks the unfamiliar, the alien. You know: gypsies, refugees, Semites. In more modern times we Euro-trash included Native Americans, carnies, true geeks, mentally ill and the occaisional "mad" scientist (to Americans, all scientists are "mad"). Notice that Silicon Valley techs, computer geeks, cosplayers and dopers are essentially harmless, so only worthy of disgust and contempt.

Lycanthropes, like vampires, feed on humans, with an occaisional sheep or cow. They have the decency to eat more than just the blood, so are only slightly less wasteful than their vampiric foes. And foes the vampires are; both are competitors for the same resource: humans. From Lon Chaney being in thrall to Bela Lugosi to now, lycanthropes have been the slaves (since, as a Euro-American, I have no right to use another, more oppressive adjective) to vampires; the wolves would fight themselves free, only to be enslaved by the aristocrats at a later time. A cycle of serfdom. A good source of anger, resentment, superiority complexes and plot complications, but hardly good examples of developing independence, which is the goal of many of the Twilight crowd. And both sides use the same techniques to dominate their opponent; brutality, deceit, the shameless use of people as tools and the occaisional shield. This is the methodology of survival being taught to today's impressionable, malable young adults, but with a critical twist.

You see, in previous tellings of the vampire/lycanthrope tales, in the end these monsters, though at war for centuries, were defeated locally, by plain folks. Yes, sometimes the brutality of the plain folks rivaled the monster's; remember, the plain folks were fighting for survival against inhuman forces. But in the last twenty years, it seems that the monsters not only survive, but are somehow transformed into "plain folks," who just happen to feed on their neighbors. They're protected, nurtured, emulated. The monster has become the role model. The monster's techniques, their consideration of their neighbors as tools to be used up and then discarded, that has become the prefered way of dealing with others today. There's no silver bullet, no Van Helsing to protect our culture; only the forlorn hope that, this time, the monsters will go after someone else.

The problem? we are all "someone else."

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28662534/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28662534/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:27:47 PST
Sound familiar? Take away the lace shirts, gothic trappings, and nocturnal work habits, and they're just plain folks; the very same plain folks PETA, FOE and other eco-protestors are targeting. Talk about hypocrisy....

Those are the rabid; and like rabies, short of radical innoculation of sanity nothing can save such a ravaged mind. Then there are the "wannabes," those who dress the dress, talk the talk, and celebrate Hallowe'en their entire lives. Some call themselves "vampires," though the closest they get to consuming blood is an under-cooked Whopper with strawberry shake (unless you want to count sucking their parents fiscally dry). Others find colors either intruding on their self-absorbed depression or just too confusing, so they wear the same non-colors as their fellow mental cripples. As a clinical depressive I find these people contemptable, and as to their garb I would like to point out another group who wears similar drab clothing, body mutilations (as opposed to true piercing and tatoo art), and complete lack of anger management. I of course refer to the skinheads, the un-Aryan Aryans, the neo-Nazis that not just live in enclaves in Idaho but small sports communes in Tukwila, Salem, Petaluma, and Riverside, to mention some West Coast hang-outs. The Nazis express their desire for violence better, but then, they aren't as tied to the family wallet as the neo-Goths and Edward Scissorhands clones. In that they are more honest about their anti-humanism, though regretably more crippled in their choice of role models, choosing a syphillitic Austrian war veteran and vehement anti-Semitic (yes, that includes you Arabs, too, sons of Abraham).

Still more to come....

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28639024/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28639024/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:57:01 PST
Well, 'New Moon' is out, 'The Wolfman' is lurking in the wings, and the annual lame excuse of a spending orgy is about to get this decade's worth of vampire worship. Yes, roughly every ten years some incredibly clever and intelligent author finds a new way to express one of the oldest methods of aristocrat bashing known to humanity. Vampires have been endemic in story-telling for centuries, possibly millenia, but all revolve around a basic premise: undead who feed off the living. To some vampires sound like capitalists, except capitalists produce (albeit with ulterior motives that are vampiric). But since the introduction of hired national armies feudalism, and its bastard child aristocracy, have been more of a drain on national coffers than they're worth. Now before you point out "Sirs" Paul McCartney and Elton John, et al., remember that they are entertainers; in other words, pretending to be like plain folks to get their money. Sounds like undead living off the living to me. Not to mention that in an older era entertainers were the feeble-minded bastard children of the local aristocrat.

Why so much sour grapes? Because supposedly intelligent and "emotioned" young people are lapping at the heels of these parasitic archetypes instead of finding real, positive role models to emulate. Their money, self-worth, and compassion are being sucked out of them by unfeeling, brutal semi-animal predators, teaching them to be just like them.

More to come....

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28494773/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/28494773/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:40:02 PST
Guess which is getting done?

I hope you like this Weekend Warrior series I started. It will be all CGI, mostly science fictional, and involve conflict in some form, as well as a smidgen of humor.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27968033/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27968033/ Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:18:49 PDT
]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27630222/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27630222/ Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:49:48 PDT
]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27478612/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27478612/ Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:35:59 PDT ! I'm back at work! All my sons will be living in the same area (south King County) by the middle of October. I'm still healthy (knock on plastic wood veneer)! I'm not saying everything's perfect, but it's a damn sight closer than it was this same time last year.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27181794/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/27181794/ Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:13:11 PDT
I rediscovered anime this summer! I used to be from the generation that first saw anime in black & white; Astro Boy, Gigantor, the Eighth Man, and even Speed Racer. When Harmony Gold butcher- er, ahem, altered three mecha-themed shows to create the Robotech saga, I drooled over every episode along with my sons. We also saw movie releases, like Captain Harlock, Appleseed, Dagger of Kamuri and others. This summer I was able to download Tenchi Muyo (both feature movies and series), Avatar: The Last Airbender (technically not exactly anime, but a ripping good series), and (surprise!) K-ON! They went with my Macross and Princess Mononoke downloads, and someday I'll burn them onto a disc for preservation.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/26343944/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/26343944/ Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:34:14 PDT
]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/26200748/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/26200748/ Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:31:14 PDT
See? It keeps me up until 2 am, and I STILL have no ideas!!!

At least the catgirl obsession was entertaining.

Oh, yeah; Team Sakuracon marched in the Seattle International District Parade this year, caramelldansen and handing out leaflets for Sakuracon 2010. If you are in the Seattle area around April 2 to 4 next year, think about droppin' by. I have one goal for next year.

Dakimakura!(Catgirl dakimakura!)

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25989817/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25989817/ Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:32:55 PDT
The war on terrorism won't be won, because we have already been invaded.
Their bases - colonies, in reality - lie buried in the deserts and wilderness.
Their technology is far superior to our own. Only their numbers prevent their overpowering us.
For now.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25827056/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25827056/ Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:14:52 PDT
There are other intelligent species on earth, and close genetic cousins to humans.
Vampires. Lycanthropes.
The world is divided among the breeds of non-humans; Africa is the realm of the undead, zombies and mummies, if you will. Northern Asia, from the Urals to Kamchatka Penninsula, are the realm of a breed of lycan, who has undisputed control of the wastes. South are other undead, often outnumbering the living humans in some places. North America is shared by the wendigo in the north and the garou, other cousins to the lycans, to the south. Meso- and South America are also the prime land for zombie undead, with a small enclave of vampires in central Mexico. Europe is an uneasy truce between vampires and lycans.
Then there are the prey: humans and other mammals.
Only Australia is free of zombies, vampires and lycanthropes (though there is a marsupial lycan enclave in Tasmania). The People, known to Europeans as Aboriginals, quietly made life intolerable for the others long before the arrival of Europeans, and continue their vigil. The rest of humanity tries to continue as if they were masters of the earth, but depending on where they are, they are either a source of food for the others, or a source of breeding material. For, although genetically different from humans, vampires and lycanthropes need human bodies to propigate their species. They are intelligent virus, copying us, using us, and then discarding our empty shells to become the undead.
This is the legacy of now....
Well, what do you think?

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25768145/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25768145/ Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:44:11 PDT
Lately, because of my separation from my wife and the growing up of the young-uns, it has happened less often than I liked; just as well, since I suffer from a mild PTSD that still makes me wince at fireworks (Desert Storm, SCUD attack, Patriot air defence missiles. 'Nuff said.)This year, to my surprise, I was contacted by my youngest, P-, who asked if I'd like to bring my new grandson, Dakota, to Ft. Lewis for the fireworks. Of course, i was delighted. It was the first time 'Kota had ever been in on this family tradition, and he loved it! He went on a ton of rides, played the carnival games (winning half!), and chowed down on curly fries and shaved ice. At night he watched the fireworks through holographic glasses, his toothy grin on a freckled, slightly sunburned face. I felt the usual twinges of anxiety, but once an a while P- would touch my arm and say, "Dad, you're home." Then all would be right.

Sorry this is so long, but I love this time of year, even though I'm not substitute teaching. Can't you see why?

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25589146/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25589146/ Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:47:24 PDT
New picture; the only one that didn't have a picture of a naked Aiko in it. Her pics are for private viewing only! Except for "Bunkmates."

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25225027/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25225027/ Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:28:49 PDT
Don't be afraid to be sick; be afraid if you ignore it. This is the third congestive heart failure in five years (See why I call it a "blood pump?" That's barely what it does now!). All three times because I didn't see the signs.

Meds are given for a reason; this time don't argue. Yeah, certain combos made me sick as a goat, but that also encouraged me to NOT use them. Big mistake.

If you don't look right, and don't feel right, then you ain't right. Couldn't walk a block. Stomach distended like I was in my second trimester. Panting like Pedobear. Get right!

Thanks to my family and friends who decided my bloated Scots-Irish body didn't look good bloated, and to the doctors, nurses and hangers-on at Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA. Hooah!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25006426/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/25006426/ Thu, 28 May 2009 22:01:51 PDT
]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24848488/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24848488/ Tue, 19 May 2009 22:24:29 PDT
I was listening to "The Next Contestant" by Nickleback when a thought occured to me: this song would make a good theme for some new CG art.

Ego, of course, enters: "What?!? There's hardly enough room in here, what with those Good-n-Plenty commercials from the '50s and catgirls. Do you really need another project to feel guilty about this summer?"

Superego's response was more encouraging: "Hey, the programme's free, the images can be downloaded, freeing up room for your Aiko fetish. What are you worrying about? It works in your favour!"

Then the Monster From the Id chimes in: "Mmmm! Catgirls! *slurp* Judi Dench!" and starts humping Ego's leg. A red-haired girl from God-knows-where is asking for their orders. Id tries his moves on her; she knows Ti Kwan Leap ("Boot to the Head." *whump* "Aroooouuu!!").

Another halucination, dressed as I thought Falstaff should, shouts, "More Diet Dr. Pepper!" A general murmur of agreement is heard. Red grows cat ears and a tail. Ego complains about the new arrivals. Superego gives him the "STFU" look.

Mike and Aiko enter, look at each other, and say, "Now THIS is our kind of party!!!" Judi Dench pops her head in, shakes it; "Too old for this..." Superego says, "Bullshit!" grabs Judi and proceeds to the group grope forming in the corner by Mike, Aiko, Red and Falstaff ("I've been wanting to shed this codpiece since the London Fire!") Id feels left out, until some lolicon catgirls start purring and rubbing against him.

Judge Dredd (the Sly Stallone version) drops in, says, "I'll be the judge of this ... very not bad!" and then leaves (the cheers are deafening).

Then Semisonc's "Closing Time" comes out of my mind's quad stereo (hey, I can afford anything in my imagination!). The orgy leaves a pile of clothes in the corner, along with empty DPP bottles and empty cat treat packages.

Goodnight; dreams will be good!

PS: Why doesn't dA have camouflage skins?

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24574563/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24574563/ Sun, 03 May 2009 21:09:05 PDT Lame-oes.

Just a normal countdown to summer, with jobs to do, doctors to see, and old people crap to go to. By the end of the year Son #2 should have escaped Elkhart, Indiana, and returned to the land of his birth ... the Pacific Northwest. Now if an earthquake, tsunami or volcanic event destroys Seattle it'll take out me and my immediate family. Won't have to wait for the Big One down south, Ma!

New post in pictures. Still have a writer's block.

Enjoy!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24399145/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24399145/ Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:04:46 PDT FACT: I am an old guy. FACT: Judi Dench is a hottie; in the 60s she did some mild porn and even did Shakespeare in the near buff, and her latest, er, romp she plays a woman who runs a nude theatre in pre-WWII London. FACT: just because the plumbing is worn doesn't mean there's no flow; libido is not dependent on age. Healthy bodies can be found at age 80 as easily as 18.
This is my challenge to my comrade artists (or, at least, the ones who read my rantings): make old erotic, or at least sexy, without being cruel (pot bellies, bewbies below the belt, etc.).
Judi Dench as a catgirl is my dream; let's make her a (virtual) reality!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24260079/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24260079/ Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:22:01 PDT
I can't wait for Sakuracon 2010!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24084605/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/24084605/ Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:57:05 PDT
]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23918441/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23918441/ Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:43:10 PDT Yes, included! Not removed, not a string or anything more suggestive than colored (and some striped) panties. No sexual orifices, no breast shots, no severely spathic pictures. And no more revealing than the opening sequence of the show.
So why does the dA staff go Orwellian and pull Teruchan's work? Is there some secret group of (pardon the profiling) neo-Baptists looking at her work, with the "BANNED" stamp out and inked just at the mention of her name? Are they catering to a influential patron who just happens to hate panties AND rabbits in the same picture? Are we seeing the return of anti-Asian-creativity bias?
Of course not.
But the staff has been a little too quick to react to comments about Teruchan's Precure pieces. This has happened in the recent past; a print of her signature chara, complete with knee stockings and panties on her head, was banned. There was no exposed "naughty bits" (although some near-sighted clod might have mistaken her pink elbow for a nipple),the body was in profile, dressed (YES!!) in the signature bikini. At the same time there were no less than three PHOTOS on display of bare breasted, bare pubes women on display on the home page.
DA! Is the same complaint coming in, worded the same way, from the same source? Maybe the complaint isn't based on violations of policy, but a personal vendetta against Teruchan. Give her a break!!

BTW, I was baptized in the Baptist church.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23889246/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23889246/ Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:49:55 PDT Except one thing:
DON'T FEAR THE FUTURE!!!
Humans have been around for over 12,000 years; the Earth, over 3 billion. There have been cataclysms, both natural and man-made; asteroid impacts and mass extinctions, plague and economic collapse. Even drastic climatic change happened more than once in human history.
Many life-forms died in those times, but Life didn't. Earth abides. Life abides.
I know it looks bad at the individual level, but in a cataclysm it is the individual who can act immediately. Governments are too slow, corrupt, and just plain incompetent when disaster hits.
Ditto organized religions and corporations. But the local church, and the independently owned market, they can act, and often do. You will make it, if you want to. You might be uncomfortable, but even French royalty lived with fleas and rats.
Oh yeah; like our President said, expect change. And if you're impatient, make the changes.
Sorry; I lied about the politics.

Heartbreak will come. Rely on it. We make mistakes; sometimes big ones. At the beginning, during tough times, even when things seem to be perfect. You, or your loved one, will err. This creates an emotional minefield. then you have a choice. Stay apart, or risk the mines. At times like these I am reminded of a song by the dinosaur band Styx:
"I'm dancin' on a landmine, with one leg left,
and I can still crawl, but I'm not dead yet!"

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23597437/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23597437/ Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:05:50 PDT
The rest of you, a background; I volunteered for the Army in '73, during the height of the selfish masturbation that was the anti-war movement. I served for 20 years, first as an infantryman, then as a combat and reconnaisance helicopter crewchief. I didn't go to Korea, but I saw the walls fall in Europe. I didn't fight in Grenada, Panama or Somalia. My taste of war was the Hundred Hour War in Iraq and Kuwait during '90-'91; if you think that doesn't count as war, tell my four comrades that didn't return alive, or shut the fuck up.
Now the Army wants to pay me $1,000 if I send one of you to a recruiter, and you sign up. To a lesser extent, I consider that as blood money, and will have no part of it. But it is not the reason why I won't recruit you.
I won't recruit you because you're selfish, stupid, a danger to other soldiers and my Army; even if you DO want to join.
Selfish: you join because you want to be paid to play soldier. You don't care about the Iraqi, or the Afghani, or any "rag-heads" (more accurate to call YOU a backwards-hat paintywaist.). To join is to serve OTHERS, not yourself; no matter how undeserving, no matter how back-stabbing. Can you do that? Can the tatooed, body pierced addict you "trust?" You think a perfect score in Medal of Honor means you're the best sniper on Earth? GTFO
Stupid: a lot of soldiers, sailors, airmen (gender purists need not apply) and marines don't have a college education ... but they want one, even if it means losing an arm or leg to an IED. Meanwhile somebody lied to you and said you deserve a college education without sacrifice or payment on your part. Even if you did pay for it yourself, instead of attending class you smoke it up or have a kegger, and complain if the teacher gives you a well-deserved "D." Who is more stupid?
A danger: scenario #1 - you find out just how hard it is just to be a well-trained recruit, so you take a short tour, then become either a gang-banger or a rent-a-cop. Now you're an armed idiot.
Scenario #2 - Mr./Ms. Halo-3-Sniper-Wannabe decides to be too busy looking for targets to defend his/her sector of responsibility, and a boy 3/4 your age gets a lucky shot off at your team-mate, who was depending on you, then vanishes in a crowd. So what does Private Brave heart do? Goes rock-n'-roll on innocents, figuring that he/she got the kid just through sheer firepower. Now the medic will die, in a vengence bombing; the supply monkey will lose a hand to another IED; the entire unit, as well as the Army and the US, have another drop of paint added to the bull's eye painted on our backs.
And those of you, willing to serve, responsible, honorable; just the kind we need as members of the armed forces? You see the ones mentioned above out-ranking you because of three years of sucking up, passing the blame, and just not caring about you and those like you. I don't want to see you suffer either.
That's why.
Don't like it? Hit too close to home? Remember; you haven't seen it before. I have.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23523693/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23523693/ Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:40:29 PST Fast forward to 2008. Solar (photovoltaic) cells can achieve 40+% efficiency (9% in the 70s). Total collection area can be 20% of 70s goals (3x6 mile/4x10 kilometer array!), with a similar reduction in stabilization hardware. Construction can be in the form of inflatable solar panels (successfully tested in 1996) connected together by micro-robots (successfully tested in 2006). In 1993 transmission of energy from space was demonstrated.
Who's going to to pay for it? The US Department of Defense is willing to be an anchor customer if a powersat could deliver 5-50 megawatts to a receiver for less than a dollar per kilowatt hour (the current cost of power supplied to bases in Iraq and Afghanistan - and ten times the average cost of power Stateside). What could possibly stand in the way of such a lucrative source of renewable power?
Human stupidity. "...Explaining this to the public, which hears 'microwave' and thinks 'oven,' might require a large and costly education campaign." Forget that the fears over microwave transmission of energy were, and still are, unfounded. Forget that the FCC standard for microwave exposure is more likey exceeded by your cell phone than by a powersat.
Hey, that's it! Don't call it "microwave power transmission;" call it "wireless power transmission," or "Wi-fi power." It's more honest than frightening people with "microwaves," and most people understand the fundamentals and reliability of cell phones. No fossil fuels, no nukes, no shredding birds with windmills, and its unlikely that sunlight will be depleted anytime soon.
How about it? Wi-fi power is calling; will we answer?

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23332181/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/23332181/ Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:55:11 PST
I may have to eat one of the cats. Or their food.

My youngest, the first ITT student (his older brother is the second, followed by his eldest brother's fiance), showed me how to actually USE Photoshop, so I learned something (joy, joy!) this week. In exchange I allowed him to bogart some of my freebie Poser stuff, since he's trying out DAZ Studio (he's a wiz at 3ds Max).

Despite all the wisdom wizzed this week ("avoid aliteration, always"), I am looking forward to getting back to work; the students I work with are always good-natured and diligent for me, and I appreciate them so.

Now excuse me; yon Shadow has a lean and hungry look....

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/22814359/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/22814359/ Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:10:00 PST
Wonderful day, passing my way;
Knock on my door, and even the score
With your eyes!

Lovely to see you again, my friend!
Walk along with me to the next bend!

Dark cloud of fear, is blowing away;
Now that you're here, you're going to to stay
'Cause its-

Lovely to see you again, my friend!
Walk along with me to the next bend!

Tell us what you've seen,
In far away, forgotten land
Where empires have turned
Back to sand!

Wonderful day, passing my way;
Knock on my door, and even the score
With your eyes!

Lovely to see you again, my friend!
Walk along with me to the next bend!

Enjoy!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/22789780/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/22789780/ Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:40:16 PST
As a result, my utility bill is $122 this month, my ELECTRIC bill (separate entities) is $190, my Internet access is $175 and I had to borrow over $750 to make it to the end of January.

Keeping track, kiddies? That's $1237, and I haven't even been paid yet!

My flat has been an icebox this month; I'm afraid that one of the cats has caught pneumonia. The pantry is on its last crate of Rice-A-Roni. I have to drink generic diet cola (68 cents per 2-liter). My phone (oh, crap, another bill!)was shut off, so I depend on the Internet to get job offers.

If I wasn't immortal, I'd be worried....

Workin' on a picture of my baby Aiko, another poem and another installment of the adventures of Mike and Aiko. February is looking better and better.

And Uncle Sam owes me!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/22343850/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/22343850/ Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:38:38 PST
Let's just say I will try to produce more dA entries this year.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/21759475/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/21759475/ Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:56:48 PST Update: made it to Turkey Day. Talked shop with P- and watched my grandson drool on his mom and dad. Dinner was excellent, as usual (my estranged wife may not want me around, but she loves company she knows for the holidays). That and TV; no sports, just some forgetable shows. I wanted to video the event, but I am still stupid about this cam. Sine die.
New Deviation: not much of a deviation, more like a rehash of an old theme in a new medium.
Coming Soon: Studio put out a new spaceship design, the Vanguard, and I like it! I found the new UNCV Lancer. Pix outside and in as soon as I've toured the pig.

Well, that's all for now, kids. Enjoy!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/21397326/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/21397326/ Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:15:15 PST . New Years/-Samhain (Halloween for all you non-Celts)was a bust, so bad karma for the next 11 months. Now I missed the Veteran's Day Parade in Auburn (one of the few west of the Rockies), and Turkey Day ain't looking too rosy. The only plus is I got to work with some good friends that happen to be students for the last 3 weeks. If this is what I have to put up with being old, screw this! Give me Alzheimer's; that way I don't care about missing the celebrations.... Oooh, cookies!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/20709525/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/20709525/ Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:14:57 PDT
So, maybe the sub should change/ To "eclectic artist?" Or "eclectic wannabe?" Or something more descriptive/amusing/vulgar?

I still consider myself a writer more than anything else; its just that written media, even in this enlightened company, takes a back seat to visual media. Except in chat rooms; as the "LOL Corner" indicates, many of us are creative when we're not quite at our peak. Then is when our Feudian slip shows, embarassing (and entertaining).

Oh, BTW, I went to my high school reunion (35 years); at $179 for the flight, $46 for registration and $.90 for bus fare, one of the more expensive meals I've had. None of my friends even bother to show. Still had fun. Saw a lot of my family, too, so it wasn't a loss.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19956035/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19956035/ Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:31:49 PDT I found an old cassette tape with country music on one side and pop on the other. It all dated from the 80s ( a little bleed-over from my last entry), and it was a slow afternoon. So I got out my Sony Walkman and played both sides.
There were the memories, all of my wife. And there was that something, reminding me that it had been thirteen years since those feelings were valid. The times since then we had been together were out of duty; duty to family, to care for one we mutually loved that needed us, even though we did not need each other. With some that would bring them closer together. With some.
I'd better stop listening to these strays, and bury them again so as not to revive either the memories, or that other voice.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19934173/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19934173/ Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:35:01 PDT
Next was the pilot episode for "Airwolf," another totally dated TV show. No use in going over the actors; nobody in this crowd would remember Jan Michael-Vincent, much less Ernest Borgnine. The show was about a high-tech attack helicopter designed by a CIA-like agency. It gets stolen by its designer, and Vincent's character must steal it back. Talk about no one to cheer for!

I think the next video I watch will be "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai." Consider the star, Peter Weller; compare how he looks to him as Robocop and the soldier in the movie "Screamers." Does he ever age?!? Lots of star power in BB, to; from John Lithgow to Yakov Smirnoff.

It hasn't been all oldies; Cpt. Tuong of the UN Survey Scouts made his appearance this week, and I'm finishing up another installment of the Adventures of Mike and Aiko that I intend on posting this week.

Hang on, Travellers!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19364173/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19364173/ Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:57:53 PDT
Then I'd have to kill myself. And I'd miss it all. Not good for contentment.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19031669/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/19031669/ Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:50:24 PDT
The subject came up when she made a deal with me: she would pose in one of her new outfits for public showing IF I stopped tweaking her - er - dimensions. I reluctantly agreed, but I was glad she chose to not pose in her work dungarees, or her pressure skin suit. She will also appear later this summer.

BTW, Am I the only one having trouble changing my mood emoticon for my journal? I am happy, damnit, not neutral!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/18614952/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/18614952/ Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:54:52 PDT
I'm still smouldering from the passage of the phoenix, but I was already numb, so no significant change. The local school district closes its doors for summer on June 20, so I should not starve until long after September.

I missed my adopted kids - Aiko and Mike - but they sent me some pix to hold me over until I can return to Studio.

Oh, yeah ... I'M NOT DEAD YET! I'm a wild card hidin' in the middle of the deck.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/17858355/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/17858355/ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:00:19 PDT
We are the Warriors from the Edge of Time.
We are Humanity's scythe, to sweep this way and that, and cut the Enemy down as weeds.
We are Humanity's fire to burn the waste to the finest ash; we are the wind, which will blow the ash away, as if it had never existed.
We will destroy our Enemies; but first we must know the Enemy, and the Enemy are the devils that hide inside our minds.
And make us thirst, and happy.
They make us thirst, and happy.
We are the Warriors from the Edge of Time.
We are the victims of a savage truce.
We are the Lost! We are the Past!
We are the Betrayed. We are the Betrayed! WE ARE THE BETRAYED!

So say we all.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/17048344/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/17048344/ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:56:09 PST Over in Kawaii High School, a site my son recommended. I created a student and lurked for a while, then got uncharacteristically bold (for me) and asked another to RP. She (I'll get to that) was very cooperative and made my first try as realistic an experience I haven't felt since my sophmore yeat in high school (in '73!). Soon it got a little too intense, as she broke it off, with a offer to RP some other time.
What does this have to do with the title? Patience, grasshpper.
I was curious, so I looked up my RP partner in DA. Imagine my surprise, then shock, when I found out SHE (not a guy playing one) was 14-ish. I won't reveal names or hometowns, except we are geographically as far apart as chronologically.
Should you decide to check out my journal out, mei-mei, I am 52 years old, married but separated, and a substitute teacher in a school district on the West Coast. I am not a pedophile; that would damage my professional life, and your life in general. I am not looking for romance, or relationships, or anything like that. I just want to play.
Your comments would be appreciated, and considered personal. Thank you again for playing with me.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16697450/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16697450/ Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:03:56 PST Ideas.
Them, and motivation. Art, like murder, needs motive, means and opportunity. The graphics and word processing programmes anxiously await their use, and my nooks and crannies in my flat are filled with pencils, pens and paper, so the means are available. As a substitute teacher, my time is pretty flexible, and my evenings aren't filled with lesson plans, dueling siblings or the sound of any media I didn't willfully turn on. That covers opportunity.
That leaves motive, more properly, motivation.
I'm a depressive, clinically so. Medicated, I can function, but something suppresses my creativity. It could be the meds, or the depression.
Or maybe I'm too old, and my brain's dried up.

If anyone sees any of my little darlings, send them home, so I may murder them properly.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16215426/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16215426/ Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:18:54 PST
When you're damn good and ready.

Oh, me? Who cares; I'll either achieve them or crash and burn. Won't affect no one but me, so why mention them?

You-all? Enjoy this year, one hour at a time. It's not the last (and since you're reading this, not your first, either).

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16059876/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16059876/ Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:07:11 PST
Now I have to pick up the trash and straighten up my living room, another Traveller adventure put to rest.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16019584/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/16019584/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:10:18 PST "Busy writing your journal again?" Shut up; this my story.
Nope, I'm resurecting a universe. Gotta make star data available, configure planetary ecologies, cultural information, military presence, the usual. A lot of dusting off things, fueling starships, making lists, restricting trade, and such.
In other words, set up a Traveller adventure.
For those of you who only know about ancient "paper, pencil and dice" RPGs from finding your parents' copies of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and laughing at them (reading BOOKS to play a GAME? That sounds more like SCHOOL WORK!), Traveller is a science fiction RPG of the "pp&d" variety. The original books (lovingly called LBBs -Little Black Books-by fans of the game) contained basic rules for dynamic encounters (combat), character creation, universe building, travel, trade, and interplanetary contact resolution (space combat). As time went on more books and gaming aids were added, though much of these additions restricted rather than expanded the original rules. By the late Eighties the game, as many other pp&d games, had reached its zenith. The sheer volume of games started to drown each other out, and the sophistication of computerized, and later on-line, games began to make the old-fashioned games requiring imagination rare. Brief resurgences kept some games alive, but many good and fun games breathed their last breath by the turn of the Millenium. You can find adherents to manyof these games all over the Internet; indeed, the sharing of adventures, equipment and ideas over the 'Web' have kept some of the more creative (or plain too onery to die) games going.
Including Traveller.
I turned my oldest son onto Traveller, who brought a friend in to play. My second son couldn't get any pleasure out of the game (his game is Texas Hold'em), but my youngest, now 20, not only enjoyed it but now wants some of his friends to experience this new/old game. So they'll be over to my place Saturday. There'll be sodas, chips, and pizza (many old gamers recognize the three basic food groups of gamers), and there'll be flexing of imaginations as a couple friends realize that, maybe, a trip to Mars with these yahoos isn't the good idea they talked about in the car. Some will meet new, alien people and shoot them. Another will slap Mr. Nukem in the head and try to swindle same aliens blind.
And maybe a couple of them will say, "I liked cosplay better," or "How come I can't have a light-sabre?" I will sigh, restrain my clutching fingers, and explain: "IT'S A MIND GAME, GORRAMIT (hey, I'm a Browncoat; what else could I say?)! USE YOUR IMAGINATION!"
Well, at least they can't complain about the pizza. Maybe.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/15828612/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/15828612/ Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:49:27 PST hone number moved with you. But the psychic vampire that was the move lies in state, in a cardboard box with the U-Haul logo on it, with a Magic Marker thrust through its blood-pump (that's a heart, for you sentimentalists). No longer in thrall, your friends and family have returned to their normal, undisrupted lives; next contact, christmas cards.
But we creative people, despite our disdain for notoreity, need the contact of other fleshies; for critiques, for inspiration, or for product sales. In my case, its the inspiration - I haven't been able to pick up a pen, or sit at the console, for longer than fifteen minutes since I moved, and it pisses me off.
"But you have your cat, Michael (why do all my closest people have trouble calling me 'Mike?'." A cat may sometimes be inspiring, but more often than not a lousy critic. That leaves the upright bipeds.
Work? That is a thing that needs doing, to get pictures of dead patriots (Hamilton and Franklin were never presidents). Especially if you job is transient, which substitute teacher is. The students, bless their little pointed heads, are aquaintances, while the regulars have their own cliques going.
Like interests ... hmm. Dead things (history), the unliving (computer graphics, anime), idolatry (stuffed penguins and GI Joe); not a whole lot in common with other old farts. This is gonna be harder as all my contemporaries die off. And the younger generation could be friends, if only people would get rid of the Lolita complex: "Its a book, dude, like the one that old rock dude sang about." I think that is why my kids, Mike and Aiko, exist.
Good night, sleep tight (glug, glug), don't let the space bugs bite (ah, Kaylee; young, cute, and mechanically inclined - my dream gurl).

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/14547504/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/14547504/ Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:02:36 PDT
Despite the cynicism of the world (and a lot of you), I feel that everyone should experience blushing, baby-step, almost laughingly innocent but sincere love, at least once. It doesn't even have to be associated with virginity; that's the delight of sloppily innocent love. That is the situation between Mike and Aiko.

Mike was married, in a stormy relationship that resulted in loss, and now is suspicious of any involvement. Aiko was sexually mature, but still a child when it came to real love. Then I put these two in a traumatic situation, which researchers will tell you isn't a good basis for a lasting relationship. Finally, I put my creativity on self-guidance and start writing.

In "Greater Love..." my protagonist is a confident, proud fighter pilot who is also an aristocrat in the Fredrick-the-Great tradition ('the prince is the first servant of the people"). His potential love interest is a physician/psychologist that comes from a culture that despises "nobility" for what they had done to her world. Now for vertex #3 in this love triangle: the Fully Integrated On-site Neural Network Assembly installed as a prototype in his aircraft. This is an AI, the first of its type, created to be the "ghost copilot" in single seat fighter craft. It knows what the pilot knows, even into the subconscious, reacts to the pilot, and begins to even develop a form of pseudo-emotions. Including love. All this in the setting of a war.

Sound good? Of course it doesn't matter to you; just another story to fill the Internet. Machts nichts to you, right? I've been working on this lost world, off and on, for over 15 years, longer than some of you have known your ABC's. Seven years ago I hit a brick wall (you know which one), and haven't been able to continue. Your passive reading, and even more interactive critique, may bring her back to life.

I'm hoping.

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/14490165/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/14490165/ Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:58:25 PDT
If there was ever a need for proof of a wrathful diety, see above. Bwahahaha!

Remember September 19: International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Arr!

]]> *cougashika http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/14312567/ http://cougashika.deviantart.com/journal/14312567/ Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:53:54 PDT Guess which one I picked?
A long time ago I wrote other short stories, all based roughly on the same universe> That universe got real comfortable, but I haven't bee there ina while. I was thinking of dump-, er, submitting them for your perusal:
- story of why smaller isn't better when creating faster-than-light drives...
- she see's this guy watching her dance, but he looks sad, and won't come near...
- little girl discovers the world of shadows, and it's not fun...
- ever wonder why things break or malfunction at the wrong time? Forget gremlins; think darker...
- a Seattle cop gets an alien partner, and investigates why alien corpses at Harbor View Hospital are disappearing...
- what if your species' only sane time is adolescence, and adults metamophose into something deadly...
- the cops are back, with a double homicide: human female, alien...well, they think it was male...
- the girl of his dreams has composite skin, flies at Mach 2.5, and is jealous of the woman he loves...
-Mom is a terraformer, and hates the military. Then her first-born son shows up at her door - in battle dress...
- the story of the Mowar do Ceal, and the religion of the Mother Tree...
- more cops, and an alien that knows when it will die: during Seattle's Seafair...
- two friends on holiday, in their starship...

...And someday, when I can get into my storage, I'll inflic-, er, include some poetry.

Uh oh, I feel a poem resurrecting itself...
Go to My Deviations.

]]> *cougashika