Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 51

Comicbooks and Cars

When I was five years old and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered with the pat and expected response, "A lawyer or a doctor." Even at five I knew that these were professions that were valued by our society. Of course, this was also the mid-1970s so the idea that a girl would even dream of such things was worth a pat on the head of approval.

But, what I really wanted to be when I grew up was a comic book artist.

I loved superhero comic books as a kid. I still do. I stopped reading some time during college because I couldn't afford all the titles I wanted to read. My cousin Laun was the big collector. He had the classic basement full of titles and we used to pretend to be Superman (him) and Aquaman (yeah, whatever--in the 70s he had cool hair;) Cyclops (him) and Angel (me); Captain America (him) and Hawkeye (me); and Spider-Man (him) and Johnny Storm/Human Torch (me.) I kind of had the sassy side-kick/BFF thing down. I did ocassionally branch out and play more tough-guys like Mon-El and Lightning Lad (from the Legion of Superheroes) but I tended to fall for secondary characters with good hair and attitude.

Hmmmm, a trend?

At any rate, at age five... and frankly, at age forty-five, I had no idea how a person even went about BECOMING a professional comicbook artist (or, now that I've discovered a secondary talent for writing, which overtook my first,) a comicbook writer. Even at an early age, my cousin and I realized that PEOPLE did this work. We knew because there were always letters in the back of comicbooks that were answered by Stan Lee himself or whomever was writing or writing/drawing a particular arc/series. We even had some early favorites Jack Kirby (of course, though Laun was a far bigger fan of Kirby's blocky style), Mike Grell, John Byrne, etc.

But, like with writing, there's no clear career path for a comic book artist. Probably I could have found one. I did, eventually, figure out how to sell my writing. But, I was lucky in that, in the Twin Cities, there's this place called the Loft where a person can take classes on the how-tos of not only CRAFT, but also the business of writing. I entirely credit the Loft class in science fiction/fantasy for my first sale. John Hartnett, my instructor, was exceedingly useful in showing us how to find markets and how to submit to them. All that seemed hidden behind a cloak of invisiblity when I was first starting out. That's part of why, even now, I ALWAYS include a how-to sell-that-stuff-you-just-wrote section in my class.

So, you know how, for a lot of people, published authors are rockstars?

Well, for me, comic book artists/writers are the REAL rockstars!

Which brings us to the story I want to tell. Last year when I was a guest at CONvergence, there was a Marvel movie panel that rocked the house. One of the people on it was Christopher Jones. I just remember walking off that panel feeling almost HIGH, because we were all just in-tune and the audience seemed likewise and it was just, just... AWESOME. Recently, I got a chance to reconnect with Chris at MarsCON when we were on the "Women in Comicbook Fandom" panel. To say we hit it off would be... one of those understatement things. We hung out in the downstairs bar/lounge with a few of my other friends and I think several times I looked around to see glazed over eyes when Chris and I would be still going on in loud, excited voices (he tells me we weren't "yelling,") about super-geeky comicbook moments and/or references.

At any rate, the con ended with the traditional exchange of business cards and a promise to try to connect outside of con. I thought, possibly, that that would be the end of it. I'd have a new Facebook/Twitter friend and lah-tee-dah. But, no! Chris actually got ahold of me and we MADE PLANS!

In fact, he offered to show me his studio and to share some ACTUAL SCRIPTS written by REAL comic book writers.

I pretty much thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Because do you even KNOW that Chris has DRAWN NOT ONLY FOR MARVEL BUT FOR THE AVENGERS????!!!!

He's probably better known for his work on DC's Young Justice and his four year long stint on the Batman title... and locally, you're likely know Chris as the designer and artist of Connie, the robotic interface of CONvergence. But STILL... How f*cking awesome is he??

Answer: SUPER-f*cking awesome.

Here he is, in situ, in the "Riker pose" (he will probably hate me for having chosen this one, claiming the pose is not flattering, but I think he looks cute.)


We talked for a couple of hours ostensibly about how a person becomes a comic book writer (because, hey, why not?) and how the process works from script to final product. He showed me the cool old way that people used to have to color individual panels and showed off some work of his. We looked through scripts and talked about what kinds of things a writer needs to think about when composing a panel in their head and other mechanics of his job. I'm pretty sure I sat there were stars in my eyes and only managed to make happy, babbly sounds, but did I meantion he DRAWS FOR MARVEL AND DC AND OMG, OMG!

Go check out his art here: http://gallery.christopherjonesart.com/

So, I don't know what I'm going to do with all this information. I'm not sure, at the moment, I have any ideas that would easily lend themselves to a comic book/graphic novel format, but, damn. I could hardly pass up an opportunity to hang out with a rockstar comic book artist and pick his brains.

I'm really hoping we'll have a chance to do it again, because, even without the rockstar cred, Chris is a nifty guy. In fact, we had a blast talking about the insider gossip on all the upcoming Marvel movies and fantasizing about various possible storylines.

This is all tempered by the fact that yesterday, as I was driving to pick up Mason at school, a really nice lady pulled up beside me and informed me I had a flat tire in the back. I thanked her profusely (and may have accidentally called her 'hon') and was able to pull into the gas station at the corner to see what was going on. I filled it up with air and listened for a massive blow-out, but, since it seemed to hold pressure, I drove both Mason and Shawn home on it (and took it to martial arts.) This morning, I went and checked. Sure enough, it was a slow leak and the sucker was flat again at 6:00 am this morning. I called AAA and they were out and filled it up for us by quarter to 7:00 am. I got everyone where they needed to go and had replaced the tire at Discount Tire by 9:00 am. Now, I'm taking a quick break before deciding if I need to deal with the clunking (which the AAA guy thought was probably struts) still TODAY or if I should just wait until tomorrow morning and take it to the shop first thing.

I was thinking of a compromise--that I'd go off to shop and see how busy they were today and ask them about how long they thought it would take, if it turns out to, indeed, be the struts. Probably that's what I'll do. Tonight is my writers' group and I'd like to go, and that'd be harder without a car. I'm sure one of the St. Paul Wyrdsmiths would offer a ride if I asked nicely, but I'd rather drive myself IF I CAN, you know?

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Until next time, True Believers!

Pinterest Fail

I'm old enough to know that the Interweb lies. But sometimes I'm still surprised. Shawn regularly collects recipies she wants us to try on Pinterest. One looked particularly promising (and easy to boot): oven baked mozerellla sticks.

This is what the pin looked like:


What we got:


Apparently, I really should have known. There is, in fact, several websites devoted to what they call Pinerest Fail. Including the very simple: http://www.pinterestfail.com/.

I wish I could tell you they were at least tasty, but all I can say was that they weren't nearly as bad as they LOOKED.

Blue Belt Blues

My instructors at Kuk Sool Wan were finally able to corner me and make me test. Damn their black belt, ninja skillz, anyway! Their evil trick was to offer to level up Mason at the same time, knowing full well that I'd show up if only to bring him to a test. Mason is now a blue belt, red stripe, and I'm a blue belt. For reference, in our local KSW dojon it goes: white, white/yellow stripe, yellow, yellow/blue stripe, blue, blue/red stripe, red.... (some don't award stripe promotions, we do.) Pictures will follow on promotion day. We don't have our belts and stripes yet because that part of testing always took ten times longer and it's already a gruelling two hours of sweaty hell.

This guy apparently thinks I'm ready:


I only listen to him because he scares me and reminds me of this guy:


The testing was weirdly fun for me this time and I'm entirely convinced it had to do with the "name game." One of the things about my dojon that I have always, ALWAYS adored is their fondness for games, even if some of the games really do flash me back in a post-traumatic stress way to 3rd grade gym class (aka "state sponsored terrorism," as Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes would say). One of the games we play in class is a version of bombariment, which I remember reducing me to tears in grade school. Seriously.

But, at tests, the head instructor (see above) goes down the ranks and expects that everyone there knows everyone else's name (first name only, thank fate!) However, this usually means that before the test, everyone--even people who have known each other for YEARS--suddenly freak out and start introducing themselves to everyone else. We were a large crowd, and so it was hillarious the various ways people tried to make sure you remembered their names. I know my name is unusual and hard to prounce even when you know it, so I told the very little kids to think of someone who tells a lot of LIES and add a DUH! Lie-DUH. For adults, I used ASL to spell out the letters--with the thought that if they were looking at me (which everyone is when it's your turn to be named,) I'd simply spell it out for them when the head instructor was looking at them. Cheating, yes, but it gets us out of crunches.

Of course, under pressure a lot of people forget even their very best friend...or their own names.

But, the head instructor noticed that we were all very dillegently introducing ourselves and giving each other surprise pop quizes on the names of people testing AND the instructors (because since we normally just refer to a lot of the instructors as ma'am or sir, it super easy to never learn their names.) So, he instituted a kind of horrifying "fun" thing we had to do that involved jumping down, doing a kind of push up, hopping back and jumping up in the air WHEN WE GOT IT RIGHT. Hard to describe, but... weirdly invigorating. The first time we did it, I found myself jumping in the air and shouting "Yay!" at the end which inspired everyone else to make similar happy noises. And, since we'd all done a pretty good job with the introductions, there was a lot of joyful jumping and yelling "Yay!" right before the test.

It put me in a good mood.

Which may have been the clever plan all along....

And we test with all ages, so it was really cute at one point because there was this TINY boy at the beginning of the white belt ranks who Sa Bum Nim (the head instructor) actually picked up and held over his head so people could see who needed to be named.

This is the other thing that keeps me coming back to my dojon. All the instructors clearly adore the little ones and they kind of dote on them in a super sweet way, given how F*CKING SCARY THEY ALL ARE.

As someone taking a belt test, I was also required to pass a written test. I know I got my name right and the name of my martial art, but a good indication of the rest would be my answer to "What is Community?" I answered, "An excellent TV show."

And yet they passed me.

I love them.

Natto Update

Brands matter. A lot. The other day, I thought, I'll have natto for breakfast again. I opened it, put it over some steamed rice and THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BARF. Holy crap! The difference could be summed up in one word: mucous.

Also, upon closer examination, the brand I preferred had something beyond soybeans in it. Something that looked, to my American eyes, like barley. Perhaps it was added to make the whole protein? To mellow the mucous? Whatever it was was ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL, HOLY CRAP.



So the one you want? The green package. It's still plenty slimy, but something about the extra ingredient mellows the whole experience. Because the other brand smelled... more rotten than fermented. Maybe I got a bad batch? How could you tell? At any rate, your milage may vary! Mine certainly did.

Not From Around Here

You know that social experiment where there's a bunch of grad students taking a test and the room starts to fill up with smoke, but the authority figure acts like there's nothing wrong? Supposedly only a small number of people will defy authority to say, "Hey, look, there's a problem. We need to get OUT."

Well, today St. Paul Public Schools robocalled our house to tell us that they were open despite the tremendous amount of snowfall. All of St. Paul's charter schools are closed, but the public ones are remaining open. I called them back (Crossroads, specifically,) to say, "Nope. Ain't doing it." Because, you know what? No. Some of the streets are very passalbe--I know, because Shawn decided she wanted to try to get to the History Center today and I took her--but the side streets are atrocious.

Also: screw them.

I don't know why St. Paul is being such obstinant morons about this. There's like seven inches on the ground and it's still falling -- fast and furious. The plows haven't gone out because they didn't call a snow emergency last night and the roads SUCK ROCKS. Forget it. I'm not risking taking Mason in to school today. Apparently I *am* willing to risk myself and my partner, but seriously, yeah, I think that's different. Though I did tell Shawn that history could WAIT, even for the State Archivist of Minnesota. But she's an authority I can NOT defy. Plus, she can take the public bus home if the roads get worse and I can also go fetch her at any point. ;-) St. Paul Schools also have the ridiculous policy of not closing early once they've made the decision to open.

It's funny because we were kind of talking about this at MarsCON this weekend, too. A bunch of us were hanging out after the Blog panel on Sunday--a large contingent of "transplants" (though haddayr and naomikritzer and I should hardly count any more, since we've lived in Minnesota now for a LONG time) and a few native Minnesotans. We were talking about how Minnesotans are particularly bad at speaking up for ourselves. This came up because, while on the panel about blogging, some guy got a phone call in the front row on his cell phone and... answered it. He actually sat twelve inches from us and talked on the phone. I have to admit that my usual, "Hello? What are you DOING?" did not come out. Sometimes, I'm so STUNNED by people's behavior that I can't to react right away. Haddayr was giving this dude a healthy stare down, but he was oblivious. Luckily, the conversation was quiet and short, but, damn. I can't believe I didn't say something. None of us did.

As was pointed out in the conversation afterwards, we really should have said something because Fandom allows a lot of strange behavior and, unless people get called on it, they tend to get the message that while it might not be okay to do "x" in the mundane world, it's okay to do it at con.

Shawn, in fact, argued that I should not tell Crossroad's attendance line that the reason I was keeping Mason out of school today was because of the snow. I said that if we don't tell them, they're going to keep thinking it's okay with us that they risk our children's lives. But, we compromised. I didn't say anything at all about why I was keeping Mason out today, other than that he should be considered an excused absence to the official school line. But, I did send a private email to the school saying that I found the snow policy moronic.

So I guess that's the best a Minnesotan can do. ;-)

Self-Conscious Blogger

My very last panel at MarsCON was "Good Blog, Bad Blog," which I signed up to be a part because I really, really wanted to be on a panel with haddayr and naomikritzer , but also because I feel sometimes like I FAIL Blogging 101.

And, yeah, that was pretty much confirmed.

I do all the things wrong. I'm boring, self-indulgent, and write when I don't really have anything to say. I don't link to anything interesting. I talk about the cute things my cat does and the goofy stuff my kid says. I don't drive people to my products with my witty repartie (though at least I don't talk ONLY about my books, which is apparently even a bigger sin than being boring--probably because it's boring AND narcassitic.)

So you can stop reading at any point now. I'm okay with that.

Thing is, I decided some time ago that when I TRY to do all that stuff you're supposed to do, blogging becomes this huge chore (and we did make that point too, so I *am* doing a few things right in my own weird way.) This is actually why I stopped posting as much on my Tate Hallaway blog and at Wyrdsmiths. I started feeling like I had to be clever there in a way that I don't feel like I have to here--because everyone has supposedly fled this platform years ago and I feel much more like I'm in a safe space among friends who already know how boring I am. I actually told my publicist at Penguin that guest blogs are really hard for me for this reason and that, if possible, I'd rather participate only in interviews. (Hmmmm, maybe that's why Penguin dumped me.) But, I really do SUCK when I try/feel compelled to write the pithy non-promotional, promotional blog. The funny/ironic part of all this is that IN-PERSON, I have no problem walking that line. "Just be yourself!" my PR person will bubble, perhaps not realizing that when I'm not at a con I REALLY AM THIS BORNG. As an extrovert, I can do all this stuff face-to-face, but trying to distill my dorky charm into a post...? Nope, can't do it.

And now I'll be thinking about all this every time I sit down to write a blog!!

But, the rest of the con was pretty good. I will admit I also started off on the wrong foot on my very first panel because it was called "Gender Limitations in SF/F" and I read the panel description and my knee-jerk reaction was, "WTF? Why are we still talking about this??" And THEN when I got there I realized that the only man on the panel was the MODERATOR. And I thought, "WTF? Why are we still dealing with THIS?" and the first thing out of my mouth during the introductions was a far too snarky, "Well, I think that whatever the rest of us think, we should simply defer to the male moderator," which I think MIGHT HAVE BEEN JUST A TINSY-WEENSY BIT AWKWARD.

It certainly wasn't the most constructive way to start off.

However, to the moderator's credit and the rest of the panelists, they managed to pull the panel out of the nosedive I sent it spiralling into and, ultimately, I think, we had a good discussion. But, yeah, I was an ass. I think, later, when I saw the moderator dude at the "Women in Comicbook Fandom" panel, he was really scared and nervous to see me there. That panel, however, was dominated by the wonderful Christopher Jones and I who mostly did what we did on the Avenger's Panel at CONvergence last year, which was to scream excitedly to one another about our Marvel fannishness. We talked more about DC Comics at this panel, though, and I had to be quiet because I really haven't read a DC title since junior high school (1979.) And DC has done a lot of damage to its female fanbase. So I shut up and listened, which is often a good thing for me to practice doing on a panel.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn't draw out Rebecca Marjesdatter a bit more on the Comic's panel, though because she, I think, represents where female fandom is going to stream into Marvel. She admitted in her intro that she's NEW to comics and that she came in via the Avenger's movie, partly to understand some of the referrences in Avengers fic. I noted that I've acted as a gateway to some friends who see all of comicbook canon and wonder where the hell to start if they want to get any sense of the rich history of what led up to the Marvel movies.

But maybe there wasn't much more to say to that, though I thought it was a fascinating entryway into comicbooks that no one really talks about, but which really makes sense for female readership...

I got a chance, though to hang out with Christoper Jones afterwards, which was awesome, because he's kind of a rockstar to me. He actually draws for both DC and Marvel and that was MY DREAM when I was ten years old. I ended up in a very similar place, but comicbooks were by FAR my first love in terms of what I wanted to be when I grew up (though I never told people that as an answer to that question because I never thought it was possilbe.) So I spent some time quietly squeeing at him about how awesome I imagine his life to be.

One of the other things I did at MarsCON was buy a tanuki:


Bryan Thoa Worra took this picture of me because I came out of the dealer's room super excited to have found a tanuki figurine while also being loudly and suitably HORRIFIED that Tanuki is missing his magical testicles. They are supposed to be super large, so much so that Tanuki is able to fly on them and beat people up with them. These have VERY OBVIOUSLY been cut off! Oh noz! He's been grounded!

I also spent a lot of time explaining to people that the reason I wanted a tanuki had a little less to with his drunken trickster god status as to his connection to my fan obsession, being one fourth of the composition of a nue. I also explained that he is not a racoon, but a dog--the only dog native to Japan. But mostly I made a nuisance of myself shouting about swollen magical balls.

I also spent money at the dealer's room on earrings for Shawn. As I also explained to anyone who would listen, I met my partner playing D&D, so when I found earrings made from 20-sided dice I HAD to have them. I also bought her a pair of Cthulu earrings, just because everyone should have a pair of Cthulu earrings.

There were other awesome panels, but they're quickly fading from memory, alas.

So, yeah, how was your con/weekend?

MarsCON Schedule

This weekend is MarsCON. I'll be in attendance all weekend and my schedule is (at least preliminarily) this:

Gender Limitations in SF/F
Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor)— Friday 06:00 pm
Discuss how strong female characters are frequently portrayed as abandoning most, if not all, things feminine. Also, male characters who take on what are considered traditionally female roles are being portrayed as emasculated. Can a powerful female character be warm and nurturing and can a house husband be more than a punch line?
With: W. Scott Patterson, mod.; Rachel Gold, Lyda Kimberly Long-Ewing, Lyda Morehouse, Kathryn Sullivan

Writing Comedy in Speculative Fiction
Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor)— Friday 09:00 pm
How can one blend comedy and speculative fiction to their mutual advantage? Do you have personal faves among those who do the blending?
With: Roy C. Booth, mod.; P M F Johnson, Lyda Morehouse

The Future of Fandom
Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor)— Friday 10:00 pm
Paul Valery wrote, “The future isn’t what it used to be.” What did SF fandom used to be, how has it changed, and how will it change? Will it thrive into the future?
With: Rick Gellman, mod.; Lyda Morehouse, Michael Lee

Female Fandom in Comics
Krushenko’s (13th Floor)— Saturday 02:00 pm
Women are becoming more involved with the comics industry, and this has brought female readers and comics to the forefront. However, we are still seeing sexism despite these facts. In some cases, misogyny has increased. How do readers face these situations and what can be done to rectify these problems?
With: W. Scott Patterson, mod.; Cynthia Booth, Christopher Jones, Rebecca Marjesdatter, Lyda Morehouse

How to Write a Good Fight Scene
Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor)— Saturday 03:00 pm
Writers trained in various fighting techniques offer tips on how to make a fight feel like it really happened.
With: Sarah Clemens, mod., S.N. Arly; Doug Hulick, P M F Johnson, Lyda Morehouse

Clone Rights, and Those of Other Genetically Engineered People
Re(a)d Mars/Taylor (2nd Floor)— Saturday 09:00 pm
Would current law allow the genetically engineered to be enslaved or discriminated against? Why is there such a gap between the way much of science fiction treats such people and how they would have to be treated in reality.
With: G. David Nordley, mod.; , Prof Tom Gardner, Naomi Kritzer, Kimberly Long-Ewing, Lyda Morehouse

Good Blog/Bad Blog: Modern Technology and Artists
Krushenko’s (13th Floor)— Sunday 10:00 am
What modern technology is available for artists (for self promotion, research, networking, other reasons)? Online research, boon or bane? What purpose can a blog serve? What things can go wrong? Discussion boards—good, bad, or dependent on how they’re used? Facebook? G+? Twitter? How can these be useful? When do they become a hindrance?
With: S.N. Arly, mod.; Haddayr Copley-Woods, Naomi Kritzer, Lyda Morehouse

---

A lot of great topics that I'm looking forward to exploring. I'm intrugued to be on "How to Write a Good Fight Scene" as I'm not sure I know that much about it, but it should be fun, regardless!

Hope to see some of you there. Full con report to follow.

Natto!

Natto, I think, it one of those things every Western otaku hears about at some point. I first heard it described at last year's CONvergence by someone who had been an exchange student in Japan and had it forced on her for breakfast in a way that made it impossible to refuse without being beyond rude. It's a Japanese breakfast food (often sold in convenience stores) of fermented soybeans. If you Google "weird Japanese food," natto usually makes any top 10 list.

Innocent looking packaging:


The reason it makes so many top ten lists is because it's... stringy. Something about the fermentation process makes a kind of "special sauce" for the soybeans that's very, VERY reminiscent of snot. It's kind of a transluscently yellow and sticky and mucous-like.

It is, I will not lie, GROSS looking as all get out:


Because I'm THAT fangrrl, I ended up watching videos on how to eat natto as part of my 'research' for my fanfic. While watching serveral different Japanese and Western people filming themselves eating this stringy-snot looking mess of beans, I was overwhelmed by a desire to find it and try it for myself. My first part of the quest: figure out if anyone sells this stuff in the U.S.

The Internet said I could order a packet from somewhere in SanFrancisco. It would cost me three dollars, but shipping, no surprise, sucked. I started asking around. I asked some folks at my dojon, but this is Japanese food, not Korean, so no joy there. My friend Naomi, who is much more adventurous a cook than I am, suggested that I try a place called United Noodle over in Minneapolis. She said, "If anyone in the Twin Cities has it, it would be them."

Mason and I took off on a grand adventure yesterday around noon. I had instructions on how to get there from their web site and a few half-remembered tips from Naomi. Of course, I got lost. Ironically, I used to live very near where it is, as it's within a stone's throw of Augsburg College campus. But, as I've explained many times before, once you leave Minneapolis, the fairies of the place abandon you. I once couldn't find the downtown Minneapolis library! So, I must have driven around half of South Minneapolis before I ended up on the right road (TBF, Minnehaha changes and switches its directions SEVERAL TIMES.) But, United Noodles is actually also hidden in a back lot, so once I was in the right place it still took several circles around the block before I found it.

Mason, meanwhile, found this whole thing HILARIOUS. He giggled in the backseat every time I muttered, 'crap!' and had to turn the car arond.

But, it turns out it was ALL WORTH IT. United Noodle was the motherload.

We stocked up on ALL THE CANDY:


And there was an entire CASE of natto to choose from. I got two kinds:


These represent packages of three. The containers are really quite small and always come with a packet of soy sauce and hot mustard:


You have to pull off a little film to get to the beans:


Then, I smelled it. I was told that most Americans found the smell of natto at best "funky." I'd read descriptions ranging from "like pungent cheese" to "someone's rank sweat socks at the bottom of a gym locker." I actually am disappointed to report that, to me, natto smelled like cheese--like fancy, expensive cheese.

I was told in all the instructional videos that you hardly ever eat natto plain. So, I dutifully mixed in both the soy sauce and the hot mustard (after testing the mustard's hotness, of course.) The mixing is where you really get to experience the stringy stickiness.

Then, I tasted it:


And...

Well, the most noticable thing is the texture. Little hard (chilled from the fridge) beans in a very mucous-like sauce. But... they really didn't taste like much beyond a litte cheesy. I can see why the thing is to add something because mostly I tasted soy sauce and mustard with an undertone of like an aged sharp cheese. Perhaps, tomorrow, I will taste them without pre-mixing first.

I can still, however, smell them on my hands. The sharp, pungent aged cheese really does describe it best.

Mason and I were deeply disappointed to not find them more disgusting. I will totally be eating the rest of them at breakfast.

Kuk Sool Olympics

Every year for the last four years, my dojon has an in-house competition that they've dubbed the Kuk Sool Olympics. Participants compete tournament-style in various categories: obsticle course, forms, techinques, sparring and mystery event.

Normally, both Mason and I compete, but this year for various reasons (mostly monetary,) only Mason did. I was invited to try out the obsticle course, but since I have been known to fall off the 'balance beam' (usually just a strip on the floor) I decided that while it looked like a blast, I wouldn't get very far, espeically since it was required at one point to be able to do a full bridge.

Here are some pictures of the tournament:



Highlights for Mason included: winning one out of two sparring matches (he'd never won any before), and the mystery event--which was a Angry Birds style game that involved flinging socceer balls at a pile of pads and orange cones with piggy faces on them. I think Mason really liked coming up with the team name--theirs was: Mighty Mustached Narwals. I tried to get some action shots, but my camera has been refusing to get anything but blurs when there's even the slightest motion.



And, then, just to prove just how much my head instructor looks like Ikkaku, I present the following evidence (I missed a good action shot with spear sparring, alas, otherwise it would have been even more evident.)



See!!?

Anyway, I was extremely disappointed that I didn't get action shots of fan form because it's my one and only total kuk sool squee. I just go all melty when I see super-buff men kicking a$$ with hot pink fans (and then fluttering them in front of their faces, which, btw, is PART OF THE FORM.)

The "Big" Zoo

Yesterday, despite the chill, Mason, Eleanor, and I went to the Minnesota Zoo (aka the "big" zoo, since we have Como Zoo, too, the "little" zoo.) At any rate, it was fun. We spent a lot of time in the warmer parts of the zoo--the Tropics Trail and Discovery Bay. But we did also venture outside to the Minnesota Trail to see the lynxes and wolverines and to Russia's Grizzly Coast to see the happy, playful otters and the lemur leopards.

I took a few pictures:

Alligator:




Gibbons:


Warthogs:


Amur Leopard: