From the Depths of the Camera Phone

The in-progress longbow that's being built and should be done by the weekend so I can go and bond with it. Walnut limbs with an elm core and a walnut riser with a maple accent stripe.

This was from back in January when I felt like annoying one of the more arrogant compound shooters. Now if I could do this more consistently at both IKAC and the more official spot-shoots!

NFAA 300 and FITA 600

Click on the title for the pictures. And no, I don't have any (non-embarrassing) pictures of myself -- apparently the photographer caught me as I was about to sneeze. Still, though, there were some good pictures (I think at any rate). I shot my personal best NFAA 300 round (blue and white target) and my first ever FITA 600 round. It was supposed to be a FITA 450 round but we were moving along so fast that it turned into a 600 round (15 more shots total).

I finished the 300 with a 218 and the 600 with a 376. The 600 round was much more difficult but I shot very well considering that the small rainbow targets combined with bad fluorescent do make me slightly nauseous. I like the blue and white NFAA targets more, but I'm hoping that I can raise my IKAC / Royal Round scores by practicing on the 40 cm FITA faces instead of the standard 60 cm FITA faces.

First 2010 Long Hammock

Double Ouch!

As of this writing, I never thought the combination of garlic, habaneros and lots of squats and lunges would hurt so much. The squats and lunges do feel good in their own sick way and I'm starting to see a bit more definition in my legs ever since I started incorporating them more aggressively in my workouts the past month or so. And why garlic and habaneros? They, along with zinc supplements and citrus fruits, make for a great way to either avoid or nip colds and just about anything else non-digestive in the bud nicely.

In other news, things are slowing down a bit in the Morgenstern epic but let's just say right now, I'm standing alongside a bewildered mechanical engineer who's faced with the choice of either staying imprisoned with a bunch of corrupt officials or escape with a bunch of heroes who are more likely to get into trouble than get out of it. I'm also following along a master archer who's walking the fine line between honorable but merciless vengeance and blood-crazed savagery... and she's being targeted by the Clawed Fury even more than before.

Hoggetowne Part 2

Click on the title to see the rest of the pictures although I didn't really get to take too many pictures the second week. Let's just say I've had more than my fair share of yelling, heckling, and bending over to pick up arrows.

Last Day of Hoggetowne

My pics will be up later once I get my camera back... Someone got tired of running around as a monk but I thought I'd keep up with the garb. Courtesy of my friend Aesa.

A Flicker of Cerebral Activity

First, I was just pretty much blown away by Creek Mary's Blood from Nightwish's End of an Era. Click on the title to see/hear it.

In other news... I'm in the midst of running sensitivity tests on my CART and ANN models and now finally have a real validation data set to work with. What can I say? Research oozes forward like a pudding (sorry, NetHack reference), which beats being sessile like a fungus!

As far as the Morgenstern epic goes, let's just say I'm standing alongside an impulsively curious youth who's trying to stay focused on her spying mission...

Courtesy of Aesa...

This was from a friend's camera. Hope we'll have more pictures rolling in!

Hoggetowne Medieval Faire 2010, 1/2

Survived week 1 of Hoggetowne Medieval Faire. One more weekend to go! Saturday was buggery weather -- lots of rain and wind, but Sunday was gorgeous, albeit cold. As always, click on the title for the full suite of pictures.

TBoF Charity Shoot 2010

I shot my personal best in 3D with my Chek-Mate Crusader and wooden arrows. I finished in 3rd place with a 345/400. I actually tied for second, but we had a shoot-off and the other second placer made a perfect shot in what would've been the ASA 12 ring. I made an anatomical kill in the neck and also knocked the target over, my proudest moment all day because of the amusement factor involved.

Click on the title or here for the pictures. For some reason my upload rates are sluggish so I'm just gonna do the link thingy.

And now time to try and fight off the cold that kinda started kicking in after the shoot...

Part 2 is Up...

The absolute first draft, the electrons are still hot and shoving each other around. This is tentatively titled Shadowhawk and continues the (mis)adventures of the Five that began in Morgenstern. I suspect that this will be a 4 part epic, although there's no telling how things will develop. It's on my Caltech website by the way. As always, it's a work in progress and constantly evolving.

Wickerman 2009

As always, click on the title for the pictures from the Wickerman party. It was a real blast closing 2009 and now it's 2010!

In other news... time for a new semester and hopefully I'll be able to get through cleanup on Shadowhawk and keep pushing on Part 3.

Thoughts on Characters 4/n

Just in one of those random moods because I just finished the absolute first draft of Shadowhawk (at least that's the tentative title...) It's still in the post-writing cleanup 1 stage but Part 3 (tentative title either Abendstern or Two Souls) is also coming together. Let's just say right now, I'm standing in combat with a brave hero whose hatred of the spindly grey alien-like shape-shifting creatures known as the S'vartalf is so strong that it might eventually rival her undying love for her fiancee...

Angharradh Shadowhawk was originally a rebel hero my D&D party was supposed to help, but they ultimately decided to work against her and I thought the idea was so amusing that I just kept running it. One of the things the party wanted to do was to "un-mask" her because there were several likely candidates running around, all being described as being a holy crusader with an unusually strong bond with nature. I enjoyed this semi-invisible nemesis so much that I thought a story involving her in some form another was well worth it. She draws upon many sources of inspiration, including the Knights of Solamnia (especially Sturm Brightblade) in Dragonlance, Nausicaa from Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, random tidbits of Native American and Celtic folklore, Robin Hood, Moses from the Ten Commandments, and Prince Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. Despite her outlaw status, she always maintains a sense of honor and follows her ideals and urges her followers to do the same. In the Morgenstern epic, she comes back to life after thousands of years of being trapped in a cave as a sentient statue and she's ready to leave a pretty good claymore-sized mark in history again...

Firianna Celethorn, the Champion of the Clawed Fury, was once an MIT alum who majored in physics and has no real D&D analogue, although a few of my fellow D&D players were convinced that the "postal half-elf archer with the hawk mask and feather cloak that turned into wings and the twin scimitars" who kept plaguing them semi-randomly in the chaparral could've been her. Although she rarely shows up for long, her influence does show up from other characters talking about her and seeing the aftermath of her decisive leadership and fierce fighting abilities. Originally she was a warrior-priest for Cylithera, but she was the first to follow Iliiryana when disagreements grew between the former high priestess and the Eternal Huntress herself. At this point, she's the main leader of the Clawed Fury's forces in the "mortal" world and is usually the brains behind most operations, although her two lieutenants, also former students who fell under her sway, are also very intelligent and capable fighters. The earliest incarnation of her was more of that of a quiet soldier of above-average combat ability who only gets attention when she achieves things even her superiors would never be expected to pull off. It is rumored that one day, she will fall at the hands of someone she had defeated in combat previously. Inspirations for creating her include various evil drow characters (eg. Malice Do'Urden and Triel Baenre) in R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf novels, Darth Vader, the Baroness from the G.I. Joe series, and Kushana from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

And now... time to make sure dinner hasn't over-cooked. Whoever coined the phrase that a watched pot never boils is right. My corollary: an un-watched pot will always boil over or worse.

Thoughts on Characters 3/n

My brain is being unusually rebellious but then again it *is* that dead time immediately after dinner... so what the heck..

Iliiryana N'Shad-Daermon was originally Cylithera and Ilithara's half-sister, with her sharing fathers (an elven wizard of noble and somewhat inbred ancestry) with Cylithera and mothers (a dark elven enchantress) with Ilithara, and originally Iliiryana was a figure who was torn between being a wilderness vigilante like Cylithera or embracing a more light-hearted way of life like Ilithara. Over the years, Iliiryana took on a more feral aspect and became more and more ambitious. In her current incarnation, she is still Ilithara's half-sister with a dark elven enchantress as her mother (Tanilthara N'Shad-Daermon) and a human wizard as her father (Baelnorn Clawstaff). She also grew up alongside Cylithera and is slightly more "mature" because of her human blood. I had wanted a "High Priestess" of the Eternal Huntress (prior to Cylithera taking that mantle) and decided that Cylithera was too focused on her archery to really dedicate any time to being a priestess. So Iliiryana was created to fulfill that role and to serve as a foil to Cylithera despite their outward similarity. I always saw Iliiryana as the type to claw her way to the top and given her family history (Clawstaff trying to be a god but failing miserably), it seemed to make sense that she'd try to attempt the same... and succeed in becoming the Clawed Fury and creating her own race who embody her very ideals. I can honestly say she's one of my favorite villains because of the combination of noble intentions, strong convictions, raw fury, and willingness to do whatever it takes, even more so than Cylithera.

Baelnorn Clawstaff is another long-time character, having first originated alongside Killer Parakeet as "the evil brother" but gradually evolving into more than just "the evil brother who must be killed to save the world". In the earliest (and unfortunately lost) of stories, he was more of a comical villain with brainpower comparable to his twin, but gradually he became a much more powerful figure. He starts off as a sickly mutant parakeet like Killer, but in the same D&D campaign that Killer Parakeet was first shown to have once been human, we find out that he is Killer's twin brother. Unlike the parakeet, though, he never becomes a parakeet, having escaped being turned into a (were)parakeet. Among the other sources of inspiration for developing Clawstaff's character were Raistlin Majere from the Dragonlance series and Elminster from various Forgotten Realms books as well as certain professors I've had over the years. He still maintains a bit of his comical roots with his numerous ailments, which were the result of a spell he had cast on himself to prolong his life and his attempt to reach godhood (and failing by his own choice). Like Killer, he is the butt of many fart jokes, mostly because I couldn't resist them and I wanted a powerful figure who still had his own set of problems. I'm hoping to eventually flesh out Clawstaff's story, some of which came about from the D&D campaign with my friends that led to the creation of the Shadowhawk legend. In fact, I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, the next project after Morgenstern will revolve around Clawstaff now that I'm feeling more comfortable with a strong leading male character.

And now back to work...

Thoughts on Characters 2/n

Another blurb while my brain is rebelling against me and NOT wanting to do simulations or ecotourism stuff...

Ilithara N'Shad-Daermon was originally a character named Storm and was more of a gung-ho but flirtatious type. Then somehow, I decided that Storm wasn't an exotic enough of a name of a dark elf and the name Ilithara came up. She gradually became more of a flirty character who used it to her advantage in combat and was a bit of a gadget type. Somehow, though, in the last five or six years, she became more of a reckless, impulsively curious explorer who still carries many gadgets. Throughout her development, she's remained a character who shows no fear and rarely feels it and is a creature of action who generally would rather outwit her foes than hurting or killing them. A lot of her current characteristics have been inspired by several characters including Peter Pan, kenders from the Dragonlance series, Batgirl, and Fred & George Weasley from Rowling's Harry Potter series. At first, she was just an extra, but once she took on a more playful and curious aspect, I started enjoying writing about her (mis)adventures, mostly stemming from her tendency to have to take a closer look at something or wondering what lays beyond the door. She is also a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, having learned things pretty haphazardly, leading to the D&D version of her being nicknamed "The most useless NPC ever" after repeated failed attempts to do anything remotely useful despite her ability to soak up heavy damage. Her favored weapons are twin rapiers, although pranks and flashy (but otherwise useless) spells work even better. Along with her friends Killer Parakeet and Tindariel, she's one of my favorite comic relief characters, often providing a foil to her muscle-bound companions. The words "Oops" and "Uh-oh" are the two nobody EVER wants to hear from her...

Tindariel Il-Kanan, or more properly, Alhanthra Tindariel Il-Kanan Toel-Thorondarien, started off as a D&D character I made in late 2001 in a friend's campaign. The original Tindariel was a rather stern law enforcement type of character who favored dealing with her problems with the longbow, although her claymore wasn't very far. Then over the course of the game, she became more and more hill-billy, using battle-cries such as "Frontier Justice!" and taking up stereotypical redneck habits such as drinking moonshine or whiskey and dipping into tobacco. She hasn't changed much over the years in her love for administerin' Frontier Justice, although we do find out that her roots are a bit weird, even by noble standards, where inbreeding is still pretty standard to keep blood "purity". Despite her tendency to be crude and quick to solve her problems with her weapons or fists, she is extremely protective of those she considers her friends and is eager to set things right. She does appear in my friend's story (which I hope will eventually be published!) but I don't see it as any conflict to my version of her because she does live a pretty long time and it's not completely out of the question for her to travel to other worlds to get away from some of the trouble she gets herself into. Along with Killer Parakeet and Ilithara, she's another fun comic relief character, but she also has much more potential for epicness because of her strange roots.

Thoughts on Characters... 1/n

In between academic brain-bursts and workouts thought I'd throw in a bit of stuff on the various characters in my stories, particularly the Dunheasa series with a mixture of (mostly) human characters from an alternate version of this world and epic long-standing heroes.

Killer Parakeet is one of the oldest characters I've had -- the first stories I recall writing about him were about 20 years ago. Explosive tempered but otherwise well-meaning, Killer is also probably one of the characters who's changed the least over the years. Over the years he's grown much more martially inclined and flatulent as well as having a bit more of a detailed background than "an oversized mutant anthropomorphic parakeet". He's easily one of my favorite characters, especially in the more light-hearted, comedic stories. I don't know what the post-Swan-Song timeline will hold for him but considering he lived at least 3000 years in my stories, there's plenty of time for many, many stories where he's either a star or a co-star. The typical Killer Parakeet story tends to revolve around him getting into trouble for any (or all) of the following: getting drunk, excessive flatulence, or chewing on something inappropriate like a real parrot.

Black Swan is another long-standing character, her origins sometime in my early teens under several different names. Originally she was an amoral mercenary who was motivated by power and took delight in double-crossing anyone who wasn't a friend of hers (ie, anyone other than Killer Parakeet and a few others). Later she became a character haunted by past atrocities and her attempt to escape from the heroic destiny held for her because she knew she would end up either dying or being stuck in a lifestyle she despised. Like many other characters, there were many other characters in other books that inspired her: Kitiara uth Matar from the Dragonlance series and Artemis Entreri from R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf books, just to name a few. Her True Name is Gilrain, which hasn't changed in all these years, and her use-name, Black Swan, hasn't gone too far from her original use-name, Night-Swan. I don't know what it is but something about black swans and dragons fitting well with her, hence her symbol, use-name, and her "true" form. Her sword also was an early part of her character development, complete with it only coming back to life when she redeems herself from her past dark deeds.

Cylithera Eaglestrike's first known incarnation prior to her creation in D&D was in my late teens. The original character was named Cylithera Falconhand and she was more of a swordswoman, inspired by R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden and the Caltech fencing team. Later on as I started sketching stories and poetry around her character, she somehow took on the role of an archer, albeit a rather postal one (just ask anyone who's played D&D with me). Somehow, I thought an eagle fit her better once she took on more to the vigilante archer aspect, having also gotten a bit of inspiration from San from Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. I love one person's description of her at that stage: San crossed with Robin Hood gone completely postal. Later on though she became more than just a vigilante, but someone who would eventually embody the ideals of archery and hunting before I really knew what was going on. She has gone through many different incarnations over the years, ranging from crazed vigilante to staunch wilderness defender determined to destroy civilization to a cruel goddess of archery and celibacy to a protective archery goddess who does whatever it takes to protect the wilderness and her followers. Of all the deities, she is by far the one I'm most closely bonded to. She is also the character I see as one of the closest to my own voice, although her views start to diverge from mine a bit after the events in Swan-Song.

I'll probably start sprinkling more of these over time but I thought I'd just post bits and pieces pretty erratically.

A Long Shot or So I'm Told

I shot her from about 150 yards (the other half thinks it was closer to 200 yards) with my rifle. I saw her leap up and kick when I fired, which usually means a hit, although we couldn't tell where I hit. We blood-trailed her about 40 yards into the woods and at first there wasn't too much blood but eventually we started seeing tons of blood and there she was laying on the ground in a small clearing. Towards the end of the trail we saw a lot of frothy blood, which is from her lungs that she coughed up. I got her pretty good in the lungs -- aimed for the pocket right behind the shoulder and got her about 2" below that. I did have a stick to put my rifle on to steady it. I was going to get her on Thursday or Friday but we were worried that some other dude was going to be in the line of fire so I had to hold off, although I think I could've gotten her free-handing the shot, just that I was more likely to gut-shoot her than heart/lung shoot her.

Some Additional Sources of Inspiration...

In other news, Shadowhawk is moving along at a pretty good clip thanks to random dead moments and having my pen & notebook nearby. I still have no idea how certain plot elements will play out, but I'm having way too much fun with some of the characters, especially Tindariel, who not only runs around administering Frontier Justice but also goes into Rebel Yell mode.

Feuer Frei (Fire Free! or Fire at Will!) -- More of just a fun one to watch with the pyrotechnics. If I only had orthodontic devices like that when I had to wear orthodontic braces!

Adios -- Actually I think it already did influence a bit of my writing. I'll let you figure out how/where.

Nebel (Fog) -- One of my all-around favorite "soft" songs. I think the translation is pretty self-explanatory about how it might influence certain things in this current Morgenstern/Shadowhawk epic.

Leave Me Alone, I'm Dead!

No kills this weekend but saw a really beautiful rat-snake. It was a rather large one, probably about 4 feet long. At first we thought it was dead because it was laying there on the road despite the threat of a truck turning it into rat-snake jelly. Then we saw it stick its tongue out a handful of times after we stepped away and it slithered off to mind its business. I can imagine what's going on the snake's mind...

Rat-Snake: Oh crap! *plays dead*
Me: Wonder if it's alive... *approach it*
Rat-Snake: I'm dead! I won't taste very good!
R: Poke it with the barrel of your gun, it's harmless.
Me: *pokes the tail with barrel*
Rat-Snake: Seriously, I'm dead! See the rigor mortis?
Me: Still pretty. *takes pictures, flash goes off*
Rat-Snake: I'm really dead! *tongue goes in and out with each flash* See?
*R and I get back in the truck and leave. We see the snake slither off in our mirrors.*

Belated Pictures from the Suwannee

Pictures courtesy of Dr. Stein. This was from the Suwannee canoeing trip that cost me the first weekend of hunting season. It was very much worth it though. Yikes, got some serious guttage going in that picture, but that was from some intestinal inflation from too many granola bars.



In other randomness, I've acquired a taste for a band called Eisbrecher... here's some samples of their songs:
Vergissmeinnicht (Forget-Me-Not)
Schwarze Witwe (Black Widow)

I've got a real soft spot for the German language it seems.