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See the world in a haze of smoke and filth.
(The killer washes his hands of the life of one victim in the blood of the next un-

Oh fuck this.

I was going to rewrite a poem I did many years ago, lyricise it to use for a new Orchids in January song, but then I realized that it's shit.

I don't write enough anymore. Too many things on my plate distracting my attention. Since it's my calling, my One True Skill if you will, it's irresponsible of me to not write.

I know I'm three months late, but I'll make it my new-years resolution to write something in here every day, even if it's just a blurb about my day, a laundry list of activities. Even though no one reads this I'll try to make it a bit interesting for posterity's sake at least.

So, what to post?...

We've all been sick, both at home and the office. It's like a damn plague factory around me. Missed work, pressurized skulls and blocked ears are the norm in my vicinity. Despite these tribble-ations, I've been soldiering through, working through VPN when I'm too sick to make it into work.

I don't think I've talked about Orchids in January on here yet. OiJ is my new band formed with an old friend and now-roomate, Mikael. I personally hate labeling music genres, but if I must, I'd call it Indie Rock. We've played a few shows now at the Red Eyed Fly, and every one is more and more kick-ass. Taking a little break for now, as we're trying to get a DIY recording done in time for our shows during SXSW. No, we're not actually playing at SXSW, but we're going to have shows in downtown during the festival, so we're hoping for a good turnout. For those rare ones who might stumble across this blog and are interested in merch, it's available on my CafePress page, but if there is enough advance interest, we can make them available for purchase at the shows for cheaper (also, we have Stickers! Go vandalize the town in support of the band!). CDs will be available as well, as soon as we get the mp3s uploaded.

On the visceral side of life, I've also started an airsoft team, The Murder of Crows. So far we've only got one fireteam established, but hopefully we can gain more members or meet up with other teams and get something really fun going. We're looking for opponents as well, so if you're interested, let us know. We're not going super-hardcore right now, mainly because high-end rifles are expensive. Entry-level weapons are good enough for what we're looking to do right now anyway, and a lot more in our collective price range. It's all about the fun right now, and if we got enough people in our own group (8-10), and found somewhere to play (park, undeveloped lot, etc) then we'd be set.

On the costuming and recreation front, I got to hang out with Adam (405th admin) other day, who showed me a new take on the weathering method, so I should finally get my CQB and Jill's Recon buckets done. I was attempting to make them look all nice and new, like in the game, but they look too fake like that, so I'm going with the battleworn style. Also, I was invited to help make some suits with Adam, and the implication was that I'd get at least part of a suit in exchange for my work, so that's pretty badass and I might have a wearable suit sooner than I thought. We'll see what happens though. Pics will be posted (at least of the helmet) once the weathering is done. I still need to get gold visors for both helmets, nice padding and trim, and electronics (fans, lights, switches, etc), but that's a bit down the road.

Anywho, I'm kinda outta steam at this point, this blog post has taken hours here at work (i've been typing on and off between working). So I'm gonna stop for now. I'll try to post some fiction later tonight or as my post tomorrow.