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9.6.2024: Queer Zest Zine Fest
Over the summer, I got involved as an organizer for the Queer Zest Zine Fest, a virtual zine fest that originally happened in 2021 and has been trying to make it back into the world ever since. This has been a big learning experience for me, since all my event planning experience is on the "setting up sound equipment" side of things. I'm getting to add lots of new skills to my resume, like writing press releases and newsletters, and social media marketing.
I'm very happy to announce that all our work over the past couple of months to revive the Fest is coming to fruition. The Queer Zest Zine Fest 2024 will take place virtually from November 9-17, 2024. Applications for tablers, workshops, and meetups can be found on the carrd. I am planning on participating as a tabler, and I may try to throw together a workshop on digital comics or neocities.
If you follow my blog and you also make comics and zines, I strongly recommend you apply for QZZF. There's a very small table fee and workshop hosts will be paid $25/hr. You can contact me directly if you have any questions.
8.18.2024: Web 1.0
This past week, I've been working on putting together a webring for Comix Accountability Club members. You can see a list of all the member websites here. If you don't know, a webring is a way of linking similar sites together, so visitors can go from one site on the ring to the next, kind of like a subway line (thanks gus for the analogy). It's something that was a lot more popular in the beginning of the internet, before social media and search engines became big. They're seeing something of a resurgence recently, especially among neocities communities, as it becomes harder to get your website seen on search engines and search engines become enshttified. In the case of CAC, we wanted to put this webring together so people who find the club or find one of our member's sites have an easy way to get to other members' sites.
Working on this project has me thinking a lot about how I got into webcomics as a kid. While webrings were not involved, the main way I found new comics was through links on the websites of the comics I was already reading (I mainly found those through recommendations from my sister or friends). It was a very good way to navigate the internet- the webcomic websites felt like friends or colleagues, whose links were recommendations I could trust on a human level. These days, most webcomics are on Tapas or Webtoons, and the comics linked on their pages are fed to you by an algorithm. Not to say the algorithm isn't good at what it does, but it adds a level of remove between the reader and the artist, and a degree of uncertainty to the recommendations.
I think allowing algorithms decide what content we consume on the internet destroys the communal aspect of the internet as an environment. Instead of sitting at tables in a restaurant, eating what we like off a common menu it puts us all in individual cells, eating only what is served to us. I guess ultimately what I am trying to communicate is this: It is important to engage with the internet intentionally, seek out communities, and where none exist, create them. Corporations create algorithms, not to provide you with interesting stories that are important or enjoyable, but to keep you on their websites as long as possible, and to sell your data to advertisers. Rebel! Make your own website! build a webring with your friends. Have fun with it, and publish whatever you want without fear of censorship.
7.25.2024: Back to School
I'll be starting up classes in the fall at the local community college. I'm pretty excited about it, since community college is very affordable, and I've missed being in school. This time around, I'm hoping to do a little better at eating well and staying on top of the workload. I will be working full time at the same time, but my current job has much more regular hours than my last job so I think I should be able to balance everything. It's an exciting time in my life, and I'm hoping everything goes well.
On the topic of community college, I had a good conversation with a friend of mine recently. Now that I'm going back to school, this time at a community college, I'm flabbergasted by the amount of money I was spending at the private college I attended before I dropped out. And that was with scholarships, and a relatively cheaper school. I could have been spending $3k a semester without financial aid? That's an amazing rate! And watching so many people in my age group drop out or change majors a dozen times because they rushed into school with huge loan packages without a solid goal in mind, I'm becoming convinced that High school counselors are running some kind of scam. What other reason is there for pushing kids to apply to and attend overpriced private institutions right away at 18, when most of them have never even been responsible for washing their own clothes?
I think it's a great idea for kids to spend a year or three working and taking community college classes before going to a 4 year school. There's so many choices out there, and I think it's hard to make an informed decision about how you want to start off your career when you're in high school, having every aspect of your life down to when you pee managed by your teachers and parents. I've been working full time for three years, and I feel like I'm in a much better place to decide what I want to do. And to make a decision that isn't just based on whatever you like at the time, and is instead based on what's sustainable both as a course of study and as a career is much easier once you've had a chance to try some things out at an institution that isn't going to bankrupt you or your family.
And I know a big reason that people go to expensive private schools is the prestige and name recognition that comes with that. But there's nothing stopping you from transfering somewhere more prestigious after you've had time to try some stuff out and figure out more or less how to be a person when you're not being told what to do all the time. Sure, some kids come out of high school knowing how to take care of themselves and feeling dead certain that they want to be a dentist or a developer or a data analyst (I really did know a kid who planned to go to school to become a data analyst in high school. I don't know how he even found out that was a job). But for everyone else, who isn't quite sure, why not play around at community college before taking on 100k in debt to get a degree you don't even like? That's just my take on things.
7.11.2024: Airport Adventures
Last week was the 4th of July, and while I am a non-practicing American, I had the 4th and 5th as paid holidays from work, giving me a free 4 day weekend. Naturally, I chose to spend that time visiting friends and family. I don't drive, so I booked the cheapest non-stop flight available (I'll be damned if I'll pay to make a 2 hour flight 6 hours with a layover). Unfortunately, somewhere in the festivities I lost my license. Now, I live in America, so this is something of a major concern for me. I'm not sure if other countries are as strict on domestic flights, but having an ID is kind of a requirement.
After very thoroughly searching the house where I was staying and the car of my host, I was forced to admit defeat: my license was nowhere to be found! I was also unable to find my mp3 player, which made the flight home somewhat less pleasant, but was not an urgent matter. So I did the only thing I could do: looked up on the internet what to do if you lose your ID while traveling domestically. I knew if you lose your passport abroad, you can bring a photocopy of your passport and whatever proof of your identity you can scrounge up to a US Embassy and get a replacement, so I assumed that there would be some beureaucratic contingency for my situation as well.
I must warn you, dear reader, that google is not as reliable as it used to be, and the articles I found were not complete in their information. I opted to treat the experience like going to the BMV, and printed out a copy of my ID, my social security card, and my internet bill (just in case). However, as it turns out, the TSA won't look at anything on paper. (I knew they wouldn't look at my phone from the articles I read, but they said nothing about paper). Not to worry, I hadn't lost my wallet, so I had other cards with my name on them, and my boarding pass. At the airport, I lined up to go through TSA, informed the agent I had lost my ID, and was directed to wait for a supervisor. The supevisor asked to see my credit card and insurance card, scanned my boarding pass, and directed me to a security line where my backpack was emptied and searched for about 10 minutes, and I was at my gate with a full 2 hours to spare.
All in all, the trip turned out okay. It likely helped that the only item of any intrigue in my bag was toothpaste, and everything else was just clothes and stationary. I also got a tattoo of a skateboarding rat and a new dip pen which I am excited to share with you all later, once I've gotten a chance to sit down and properly test it out with some drawing. I'll check back in later once I have that done.
6.26.2024: Dollar Tree Fountain Pen
Last week, I stopped by the dollar store to pick up a few things for another project I was working on. To my great surprise, in the arts and crafts section, the store was selling private label fountain pens. If you've been keeping up, I've written about my love for fountain pens before, so I of course picked one up. I was somewhat amused by the pen being labeled a "calligraphy pen" despite being a fairly standard fine tip nib, but other than that I have been quite pleased with the pen's performance.
I would never recommend a pen without putting it through some sort of testing first, but I'm happing to say that this $1.25 Jot fountain pen from Dollar Tree performed admirably for the price point. It is very light and poorly weighted, but I've seen worse pens sell for $20 (I'm looking at you, Kaweco x Moleskine) so I won't begrudge the pen for feeling like a dollar store pen when that's what it is. The nib and shape are obviously modeled after the LAMY Safari pen, which I can't recommend due to their quality control issues, but it is a very popular entry level fountain pen. The pen does use a standard universal ink cartridge, and it came with two. I used that ink to test the pen since I didn't have any spare converters around. The ink it came with was black, but never quite gets fully opaque without rewriting align. That said it is perfectly serviceable and after a day or two upside down in my backpack, none of the ink leaked out into a cap, so I'm calling that a win. It writes quite smoothly, with no burs on the nib. Overall, I am pretty happy with this pen.
In summary, if you are looking for a cheap starter pen that you won't feel bad about losing, breaking, or giving away to a small child, and also won't be frustrating to use, I can recommend this pen. My go-to for cheap fountain pens will still be the Jinhao 993 Shark fountain pen, which in addition to being well weighted and whimsically shaped, is $3.95 on the goulet pens website, but if you don't want to pay/wait for shipping, mosey on down to your local dollar tree.
6.12.2024: Learning PHP
Recently, my boss asked me to start learning PHP in my free time. Obviously I dabble in HTML/CSS since I'm here on neocities, and I started trying to learn python and javascript years ago, but I got bored pretty quickly because I didn't know where I was going with those languages. I also work on QA for the company's SAAS, which runs on PHP. Because of that I had some initial understanding of computer logic, and booleans and things like that, but otherwise I walked into this assignment blind.
It's been a month or two since I started working in earnest on learning PHP. I have codecademy pro so I'm going through the lessons there, and I've finally gotten through enough of the prerequisite logic and basic commands and documentation that I'm actually able to make some interesting things. I'm particularly pleased because I've just completed the project on creating a text based adventure game. I like writing, and I like games, and I am beginning to like PHP, so this is a very exciting milestone for me.
For work, I've already been given a project to work towards just as a goalpost to mark my skills, which is making a dashboard that uses the Jira API to display what cards are assigned to each team member. That sounds great for a work project, but I'm interested in doing something actually fun. I was inspired by the Codecademy project, so I have decided to convert a one-shot homebrew D&D campaign I ran last year into a text based game. As my skill progresses, I might also integrate visual aspects but right now that is beyond me. I am very excited about this project, which I will hopefully be able to integrate into this website at some point in the future.
Something that drives my excitement about this project is Robin Sloan's home cooking approach to programming. I grew up learning that if I needed a tool that I didn't have, I should try to make it before I went out and bought it. That's the same sort of approach the Robin Sloan takes to programming. I appreciate that mentality a lot, and I also don't want this skill to be something I only use to make money, and never to make anything I might actually enjoy. So I'm trying to prevent that from happening right from the start.
I will try to keep you all updated on this project as it progresses. I am also in the process of redesigning the UI on this website, so keep an eye out for that in 2-6 business months when I finally get around to fully implementing that design.
3.26.2024: On Fountain Pens
Those of you who know me personally know that I have a deep fondness for fountain pens, and indeed all varieties of antiquated stationary and writing implements. Typewriters not the least among that group. But I am writing about fountaint pens.
My collection of fountain pens is not particularly large and (due to my propensity for losing my pens) is not particularly expensive. My current favorite is my jinhao shark pen. It is a lovely whimsical little creature and it cost approximately $3. Since I have paid much more money for worse pens, I am quite pleased with this addition to my collection. I enjoy hand writing things. I keep physical notebooks where I journal and doodle and more or less commit to paper whatever strikes my mind, and I use my fountain pens for inking and lettering the comics I make. I quite enjoy this process, and find it to be much easier than working on my drawing tablet for whatever reason.
I am writing this on a keyboard, and I do most of my serious writing on my computer. But as much as I enjoy the convenience of computers I really do believe that writing on paper, with pen, fires different neurons in the brain than typing does. And I think that writing with a pen that you love, that writes smoothly and is pleasant to use, has a positive impact on the experience of writing. It is important to love your tools, and to take care of them. If you do, they will return the favor.
I suppose my main point here is that it is important to engage as much of yourself as possible in the task of writing in order to get the most out of the activity. And part of engaging the soul is loving the tools you use to write. I wrote my first short story on an olivetti journalist typewriter. I miss that machine dearly, as it was lost to wear and time and half a dozen moves. It was a light machine, for a typewriter, and ran smoothly until it broke. I was encouraged by my love for the machine to love writing more. I struggle to feel that level of affection for my laptop. But it is easy to summon for a fountain pen, and so I continue writing with them.
3.8.2024: Rambling about Analytics
I have started a new job recently for a digital marketing company. I don't have a lot of experience with the specific tools and software that they're using so I've decided to set up google analytics on this website, just for the index and the blog page. I don't have a great need for gathering the data of the people who look at my site here, since it isn't even the main platform for my art-I keep that over on my weebly site. But since I control this code more closely, I figure it will be more educational to set analytics up here than on weebly.
I have mixed feelings about the reliance on data like this in the marketing industry. I understand why Google analytics is such a ubiquitous tool and I understand the motivation behind the obsession with clicks-companies are all competing for an ever smaller disposable income pool and ever shorter attention spans. the less there is to get out of those resources, the more desperately they will struggle to hold onto their share. But even so. I feel it is not necessarily ethical to gather this sort of data. I do not think we were meant to know everytime someone thinks about a product.
That's all for today. I will try to post on this site more regularly, and also figure out a better way to format this blog page than just stacking each post on top of the next.
1.31.2024: Thoughts on the Hearth
When I was around 10 years old, I took on the responsibility of maintaining the fire through the winter. I would bring in firewood from the backyard, kindling from the barrel, and scavenge old newspapers and grocery flyers from the recycling to begin my preparation. I would arrange these materials in the way I had been taught by my father, creating a structure that would allow the flames from the newspaper to ignite the kindling and the wood from below. It is very satisfying to successfully light a fire. There is a clear point at which you have succeeded in your task. Many things are not like that.
Throughout the summer and fall, I was also preparing for the winter, when I would be maintaining the fire. I spent my time gathering wood and kindling, shoveling the old ash out of the fireplace. My father would guide my hands to the correct placement on his long handled ax. Even with my body being small and weak, I was able to help him with this task, of chopping the logs he brought home into quarters for firewood. The ax does most of the work for you, if you swing it right.
I have the sense now, looking back from my apartment in the city with no fireplace, and nowhere to cut and store wood even if I had a fireplace, that the act of tending to the preparations and the maintenance of the fire is a sacred ritual. To tame fire, that wild, destructive thing, and keep it inside the center of the home to bring warmth and light to your family is a sacred undertaking. It is no wonder that Hestia, goddess of the hearth, had her seat on Olympus with the gods of the sea and the sky. The hearth is truly the most sacred part of the home.