I just got back from spending most of the day out at Rick's parents' place. It was a very nice day. The drive out was a little stifling since the blower on the air conditioner in Scarlette blew out last week. The air only works if she's moving faster than 50km (at the very least), so, when we hit the stop-and-go it was windows-down time. Very, very hot. The upside is that they have a pool out there, so the first thing we did was put on our suits and get in. It's amazing just how cold 84*F can feel, though, wow. I'm not so big a wimp at the cottage - I'll jump right into the half frigid lake without a second thought.

It was nice to just sort of hang out in the backyard with his parents, and Darlene made an amazing dinner that included devilled eggs (yum !) and lake trout caught by Rick's brother. Man, was it ever good. Even Anna, who has, more often than not, shown me the least pleasant side of her personality, was in good spirits. Heck, I even made her laugh. Shocking. It was very laid back and refreshing. We went to the other house that his parents have, a real, uh, handyman's specialty. They've put on a nice front to the place, but it's been completely gutted inside. I have never been in a house where only the basic frame remained. It's going to be lovely when they're done with it, sometime next year, or something. I think that this visit, more than any other, was the nicest visit I've ever had with his folks.

On the drive home, in Toronto, we got rear-ended at a red light. We pulled over, the offender pulled over, and we all (Rick and I, and the four guys in the other car) got out to see if there was damage. Nope, none ! So I said, "Hurray for old cars... no crumple zones !" And we all cheered. Then we went on our merry way. It's true, had either of our cars been a few years younger, one or both would have folded up at the impact. As it was, neither of us exhibited a scratch, despite it being a hard enough hit to lurch us forward almost into the car ahead of me even with my foot firmly pressed on the brake. It was exciting.

Yesterday at the store was excellent ! It was amazingly busy, with all these people in for Synth Pop Goes The World, a big electronica festival here in town, as well as all the Prideful out and about and being very gay. Tomorrow is, afterall, the Pride Parade. I will be there. Oh yes. Anyway, I had lots of things to say about work yesterday, but most of it has flown from my head. Probably for the best, it likely wasn't terribly interesting.

Man, I haven't updated this thing in a few days... things have happened. Well, not much, but some. I did see the Harry Potter stuff with Al and Carrie and it was MOST worthwhile. It was set up with some basic problem solving puzzles that unlock the deleted scenes. Carrie and I firmly agree that at least three of them should have been left intact as they added enormously to the story. It was worth it, especially for the scene in their first Potions class with Snape. That scene was halved, which was a big mistake. It sets Snape up as an even better character than he already is and is pretty much dead on for how it was in the book. Oh, Snape. So tasty.

Oh, and one final thing... I have a JOB INTERVIEW ! Yes, I actually got called for the ROM new media position. The interview, which I have to confirm on Wednesday (when the person comes back from holidays), will be on July 12. I am pretty excited. It's not an art job, or in games or film, but it is a creative job, and that counts for something. It really does look interesting (hence my application). Let's keep our fingers crossed.

So, Anhe, the Russian slash site owner, got back to me and was profusely appologetic for not having asked permission. It turns out the story was taken from the Official Russian Translation of the Sith Academy, so, theoretically, permission was sort of half-way granted. They said that they would take Emaul down if I asked them to. They also promised to link to my site, if I didn't. Anyway, I told them to go nuts and use my art from it, too, if they wanted. I'm still so dumb-founded as to have my fanfic slash translated into Russian. So wacky.

I'm going to Al & Carrie's for a while tonight to drop off some charcoal pencils I bought on request of Carrie (on behalf of someone at work, or something) and to show them my first invitation design. I don't know if it's appropriate, and I mean it when I say that I want to give them at least three distinct ideas to choose from. Also, maybe I'll get to see the Harry Potter special bits on the DVD. No hinting here, nosirree.

Oh, and I will officially be selling my artwork at the Sci-Fi expo taking place at the Metro Convention Centre on the weekend of August 23-25(my birthday, by the way). I'll be putting in some of the cost of Nicole's booth, and taking over a corner of it in order to sell miniatures and artwork. I have permission from Siubhan (of the SA) to make money off of my SA pieces, if I choose. Her policy is, "You did it, you own it." Yay ! I'm so excited. I've been trying to think of how much I can charge for what sort of things. I'll do some research at Toronto Trek and see what other artists are hawking their goods for.

The insanity ! Megs-in-Philly wrote me an email to tell me she couldn't find my website, but THAT isn't important... the other thing her email contained was... a link to my Sith Academy story, "Emaul".

Translated into Russian.

Imagine my surprise at being a translated author even before being published ! Anyway, sure enough, there it was. See it here, if you don't believe me. Unbelievable. The site owner was kind enough to supply the original title, in English, as well as my writing credit. So, while I jumped about in thrilled surprise, a little part of my brain said, "That's copyright infringement." Ah yes, indeed it is. But, since I have no real problem with having my work filtered around the web, I wasn't about to tell the owner (whose email took a bit of time to find as I surfed through the main site, highlighting intelligeable links to see what they were), so long as it goes un-altered (not sure how translation fits into that) and I get credit (which I did). I did ask that since no one had asked for my permission, it would only be fair to link to the original story at the SA as well as linking to my homepage. We'll see whether or not he (she?) listens. Also, because I am more dutiful than is healthy, I alerted the owner of the SA to the fact that there are a few other stories gleaned from her site.

Anyway, that's about all I feel the need to write about. I'm not managing to get much done tonight. I'm really tired. By the way, if you surf to the Sith Academy and click on the Art Gallery: Shockwave link, you will find two amusing animations. The bottom one is NOT something to be viewed at work, or at least not until your colleagues have gone home. :)

Okay, I'm getting complaints now for not updating my weblog. You know who you are. Yeesh. Anyway, my excuse is as follows: I didn't feel like it. Hah. Basically, I wasn't in the right head space to be writing and I was trying to use my time for more useful pursuits, such as doing the resume beat, seeing Rick, and working. Did I mention that I only got one day off between work weeks this time? Things at the store haven't been the greatest, and frankly, I have no intention of repeating the emotional crap. Suffice to say that Mark managed to say a log ot things that got me really upset and then the following day, Nicole made a special trip to the store to see if I was okay, and to find out if Mark's freaking out was warranted. Gah.

I ran into Sandra and John at Java House today, though, and they had a great time in New York, and Sandra got enough commission work to at the very least finance the trip. Good for them !

Here's a bit of news, I did some updating of my portfolio, fixing the broken stuff and whatnot, as well as getting an Elfwood site up and running. Elfwood is a massive repository of fantasy and sci-fi artwork that is used by both amateur and professional artists and is absolutely free. It's excellent. People are already commenting on my art ! Whee ! I look forward to the negative comments as well as the positive ones. I'm interested in improving, afterall. Anyway, this is it for the entry. Willi is yelling at me, even though it isn't snack time yet. Mostly, I think she feels she hasn't had enough quality time, which is probably true. I'm off again. I promise to write more soon.