Month: September 2019

A song that I think is very fitting for Aurora’s event on the 12th… I think I might end the party with this.

“As Lights Fall”

I set out to make my mark
To forge a road despite the dark
Though clouds of doubt have grayed the path
I followed through and faced the wrath

My sword was cast in songs of light
In sparks and waves – enchanted nights
Crafting tales and magic spells
Clever sounds in silent realms

When I find my way to that peaceful glen
There will be no regrets left on that road
Though the burden is great, every now and then
I would still go back and carry that load

Meet me there as lights fall
This will be my curtain call
Meet me there as lights fall

A humble bow to close the show
My heartfelt thanks before I go
When the curtain falls I’ll fade away
We’ll meet again in a magic glade

When I find my way to that peaceful glen
There will be no regrets left on that road
Though the burden is great, every now and then
I would still go back and carry that load

Meet me there as lights fall
This will be my curtain call
Meet me there as lights fall

Oh for one more trip around the sun
One more dance behind the moon
When my final feat is done
I’ll share the moment here with you

Meet me there as lights fall
This will be my curtain call
Meet me there as lights fall
This will be my last call

On Saturday the 12th of October, the last three episodes of the current generation of My Little Pony will air on Discovery Family — and bring a nine year adventure to a close.

I got involved with this current incarnation of the fandom on October 10th, 2010 when episode one of season one aired… Several of us in an animation forum I frequent had been looking forward to it from when it was announced that Lauren Faust would helm the reboot.

And it was actually really good; tons of world building and far more ‘adult’ than we had been anticipating for the franchise.

It was about six months later that I started pondering building something Gen-4-esque in Secondlife…

Through the rise and fall of “Roanoak”, the several sims for “Fallout: Roanoak“, and the other various pony-like enterprises I’ve undertaken in SL, I’ve made so many friendships, been to a half dozen conventions, and met so many great people… 

All because of a cartoon about tiny talking horses.

It’s a bittersweet end for me, as so much of the last nine years for me has been wrapped up in all of this ‘horseplay’. But it’s best that the show end strong with its legion of fans.

In secondlife I will be hosting a bit of a wake on the 12th on the sim Trotsdale — the sim I created over eight years ago to support the pony fandom in SL. I’m trying to get all of my old admin and players together for a final bow on that day as well.

And, because of this, I’ve had to re-create the Empress for the event.

The original avatar for the Empress was lost in the passage of time, but she deserves to be updated anyway — so after a dozen hours of work she wanders the realm once more. Her outfit has been updated to reflect the passage of time as well; a modern yet stylish look referencing more of the 30’s than the Victorian era.

A few of the old-timers from the last nine years have asked about continuing Roanoak a bit — so it’s possible that there will be another chapter over the holidays. But this is just a thought currently. 🙂

A couple of years ago I bought into a Kickstarter for a couple of things.

I found out about this particular Kickstarter project from the art lead, who dropped me a PM on Deviant Art asking about a couple of the artists who did some of my unicorn commissions…

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the items I helped bring into the world finally arrived!

Let’s take a look!

Yes, it is the “The Last Unicorn” tarot card set!

While I’m not a big tarot card user, I do know they are really big (70mm x 120mm) and there’s a lot of them — so there’s a lot of potentially neat art involved. Which meant I simply had to help make it a reality.

So, here’s a small sample of the cards:

These are really gorgeous and the pictures simply don’t do them justice. But that’s not all I got!

The best part about this kickstarter though was that a portion of the proceeds went directly to Peter S. Beagle, the author of “The Last Unicorn” and possibly the sweetest person on the planet. I’ve met him in person several times, and he’s just the kindest, funniest, and most story-filled person I’ve ever encountered.

And that brings me to the coolest part of the post today:

If you would like a set of these cards, pins, or stickers for yourself, you can now get them at Geekify. 

Be sure to tell them a unicorn sent you. 😉

I’ve recently discovered that there’s a musical genera out there called “Retro Wave”, which is essentially the synth-pop stylings that were so popular in the fluorescent and neon soaked 80’s.

And, as someone who was essentially a synth-pop styling of the 80’s, back in the 80’s, I thought I should give this ‘Retro Wave’ a try — for science of course.

For a few days now I’ve had some of these albums in the car, and they definitely work as advertised. It’s amazing to me how sound can be so deeply involved in memory, because I can put on these albums and be instantly transported to my High School era of ’82 — ’84; hanging out at the Cinderella City Mall, cruising nights on Colfax, the campus of Golden High School, and evenings spent toying with the fledgling computers of the era.

I sat in my Murano with its 15 speaker sound system, half dozen cameras and computers, radar systems and laser guidance, and multiple LCD screens — and smiled. I recalled sitting in my 1969 Toyota Corona and imagining what cars would be like in the future based on things like KITT from the tv show ‘Knight Rider’…

I can honestly say the future is way cooler than I ever could have imagined. 🙂

When I feel overwhelmed I like to pause and take a moment to think about all the stuff I gotta do, how little time I have to do it, and how my best efforts will ultimately achieve nothing.

Then I feel WAY more overwhelmed, let out a big scream, and then keep going.

It’s a system that works for me. 😀

I’ve been playing a bit of “classic” World of Warcraft for the last couple of weeks — and it’s been great!

Back in late 2004 I started playing the game with a bunch of folks here at work, and we hit it pretty hard all the way through the original raids, and it was great fun.

As the years progressed though, Blizzard kept chasing the lowest common denominator; the game got easier and more hand-holdy, and more homogenized… Class identity was winnowed out, along with any real option to make a character uniquely yours. And I lost interest near the end of the ‘Wrath of the Lich King’ expansion.

I’ve returned briefly — a month or two — for each expansion, but I’ve not really been hooked like I was in the original game.

Now, sure, there have been some strong expansions; Legion for example was really good, and got me to stick around for about six months… Which is about as long as it took for me to see the conclusion to the story started in “Burning Crusade”.

Anyway, I’m back in the original world with about a million other people, and having an absolute blast!

I play a shaman named “Mishakawe” in a guild called “Hand of Lordaeron” on the Grobbulous ‘RP-PvP’ server.

The guild is really interesting as it’s primarily a Forsaken guild (the playable undead race in the game), but they do allow black-furred Tauren of the Grimtotem tribe to join. See, the back-story for the Forsaken is that Magatha Grimtotem was the one who argued for their inclusion into the Horde in the first place. There are also several quests in the game that hint that the Grimtotem are working with the Forsaken for nefarious reasons.

The guild also spans both factions, meaning that there is a couple hundred Alliance members as well — so we stage a lot of role-played skirmishes. 🙂

It’s been a ton of fun.