Eric At Random

Almost a year.

2009-03-24T01:07:00.000-07:00

I should be in bed right now. Instead I find myself watching this. It's so hard to think a year has passed since my younger sister was taken by cancer. This song was all over the radio when Lynda was sick. I really hope there's more than just "dark", but sometimes I wonder.

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark"

In addition to the direct connection to Lynda, the scenes with the old man and little boy remind me of my dad and my sons. But the song is so sweet, and the video so beautifully done, I can't put either away forever.

I don't dwell on the people who have passed, and tomorrow when I wake up I'll be fine. But at times, yes, I revisit them, and sometimes it hurts almost as bad as when they first left.

The Actual List

2009-03-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

I know... been a month and a half... but here's the actual list M7 wrote up. I just thought it was that much better than the transcribed version.

Elements Of Life As Viewed By A 7-Year-Old Boy

2009-02-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

The following is a list compiled by my 7-year-old son about things in his life and how they rate. Rather entertaining, if I may say so myself. I've done my best to preserve the original spelling and punctuation.

Things To Do	Good Or Bad
music	no
science	yes
keroty	yes
art	no
fun	yes
boring	no
Thomas Edison	Great
xbox 3-60	Awsome
Wii	Awsome
GameCube	Awsome
Evry Game tation	Awsome
Work	Boring
baby shows	BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
x-box	Awesome
Evry thing that a 7 year old boy would want	Awesome ya
computer games	Awsome
School	boooooooo boring
homework	boooooooo boring
weekends	woooooooooooo ya Awsome
Barbie	boooooooooo boring
Girl stuff	terible boring boooooooooooo
People that kick my but	Scary not smart mean
people that get me in trouble	not smart
people that hog time	not nice
candy	wooooooo ya awsome
Hershy's	Woooooo ya Awsome
baby toys	booooooooo boring

Remember when it was all so simple to categorize? Hee!

It's So True!!

2009-01-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

I Love XKCD.com!!!

2008-12-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Eric's Flickr Mosaic Meme

2008-08-30T16:41:00.001-07:00

Eric's Flickr Mosaic Meme, originally uploaded by Eric And Michelle.

This is a meme created with fd's Flickr Toys which I got from some online friends (Dylan, Anverie, and Leila).

You type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search. Then, using only the first page, pick an image.
Then, copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into this mosaic maker fd's Flickr Toys.

1. What is your first name? Eric
2. What is your favorite food? Buffalo Chicken Wings
3. What high school did you go to? Archbishop Molloy
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Alicia Witt
6. Favorite drink? Coke
7. Dream vacation? Beachfront Spa
8. Favorite dessert? New York Cheesecake
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Older Than Dirt
10. What do you love most in life? Family and Friends
11. One Word to describe you. Quirky
12. Your flickr name. Eric And Michelle

If you're reading this, consider your self tagged. :)

Shaken, Not Stirred (much)

2008-07-30T00:08:00.000-07:00

Today we had an earthquake (technically yesterday by now). I'm going to consider it practice for the real thing, as no one got hurt (all I've heard thus far was two people were injured in the quake... both by banging their heads trying to get under a table).

The key thing I learned today was how quickly people plug up the cell phone circuits. I could not reach anyone, which is hard because that is the first instinct (after self preservation). We felt the shake in Hollywood, and had no way of knowing if we were at the distant edge of something huge or in the middle of something minor. Luckily, we had internet, and once the shaking stopped, I could tell home was not very much affected.

It's funny to watch. We've had a lot of construction going on near work. So a little shaking is not a surprise. Everyone just stopped and looked up. Then came the realization it was a quake. There wasn't room in a doorway, so I stayed near my desk and got ready to drop next to it (new guidelines suggest finding a space that would form a triangle if something falls). It was over before I could kneel. The overall mood was a big "oh well". Then we went outside for a bit.

So... should the big one come, I really don't know what I'll do. Make for a doorway before they fill up? Run outside? Or just get down beside my desk? But for now, no one was hurt, and I know that phone silence is to be expected. Oh well.

Catching Up

2008-06-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

I just posted about 200 pictures to Flickr. I could not believe just how much time had passed since I did that. Here's just a few... click through to see the rest!

Levitating Boy

Leaving Elementary School

Overly Happy Birthday Child

Mother's Day Family Picture

Messy Easter Egg Hunter

A book meme!

2008-06-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

ChatBrat gave me this meme. You know I'm a sucker for being tagged for these things. Haha!

The rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

OK, story here is I read this but couldn't reply right away. So I picked up the nearest book at the time, and chose that to be my book. I figured it counted more if I wasn't prepared when I read the instructions. Knowing the rules, I was afraid it would influence my choice later.

The closest book by a longshot was "Computer Animation: Theory and Practice". I packed this book in my backpack for laughs. It was printed in 1987 and was the textbook for a class I took while in college. Things were different then.

Here's the text:
"Sammie was designed in 1980 at the University of Nottingham. This is, so far, the best parameterized human model and it presents a choice of physical types: slim, fat, muscled, etc. The vision system is very developed and complex objects can be manipulated by Sammie, based on 21 rigid links with 17 joints."

Long sentences. Not the most exciting thing to share. haha The primary focus of the book was a video called "Dream Flight". I found it on YouTube. Prepare to be (retroactively) amazed!!!!

Who do I tag?
Rosa
Aynde
Jaycatt
Karys
Catholic Mom

Have fun folks!!! :D

Rest Well, Little Sister

2008-04-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

The rain won't come.
So I sit in the sun and
I stare into its light through closed eyes.
This is where I go for comfort
But there is none today.
You're not here, and yet you are.
Only yesterday I would have said the same,
And it would have meant something good.
But today I can't bring you closer
With an email
With a joke over the phone
With a trip to the east coast.
I could work through the Gone that
The miles created.
I could get past the distance.
Now I can only remember.
That will be good in time,
But now it just reminds me
That you should still be here.
My eyes are alight with brilliant red,
My mind with memories of you.

My "little" sister Lynda died on March 30th after a long battle with cancer. Ten years ago, the doctors would probably have given her less than a year to live. I am so glad they were wrong. Most of those years, you would never have known she was ill. Still, it doesn't do much to make it easier knowing she was only 38 years old and the mother of a young son when she finally passed.

I'll talk about her in a better light someday, I promise. Right now, I am just having a little trouble finding words to do her justice.

Roots -- 72750,1412

2008-03-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

Today, I put my oldest computer to bed. It was purchased in October 1996, and was running Windows 98. Technically, it was retired about 18 months ago, but it sat in a room waiting for data harvesting for all that time. Tonight I did that, and the harvest was good.

Once I had what I needed, I started destroying personal data, thinking I might donate it, but the big recipients don't seem interested in a machine over 5 years old. So I will locate a responsible recycling program and have it destroyed in a "green" fashion. The hard drive will suffer a rough end to ensure it can't be read, because the more data I destroyed, the more I found in "ini" files and registry entries (tax programs and financial programs I've used over the years).

Along the way, I found this...

Good ol' CompuServe. My entry into the world outside my home computer. This was my first account, started in 1983 on a 300bd modem and an Atari 130XE computer.

My first online experience dates back to 1982, when I was 15 years old. I was visiting a pen-pal, Holly, in upstate New York. Her dad took me into the office one day and set me off on CompuServe CB while he worked. "This is other people typing to me? Incredible!!!"

No one seemed interested in speaking to me, though. An old friend-of-the-family had stopped by recently and was telling us about his actual CB radio experiences. I was using his handle, which -- though I did not know it then -- was rather offensive. I learned that day, though, how offensive it was, as I CB'ed in the presence of Holly's dad. I sent a formal letter of apology for that, and he replied that he hadn't noticed. Kind of funny looking back, but terrifying at the time.

Later, on my own account, I made many friends, although I have a hard time remembering who they were. Daddio was from Long Island, my old haunts. I never learned where VirtualVixen originated, but she was on my channel all the time, too (the number of which, btw, I fail to recall -- 13 maybe?). Later on, I remember Peaches, who was pregnant and deathly afraid of giving birth. My name was EeeTee (all other variants were taken, and it was my pen-pals in upstate New York who gave me the nick "E.T." in the first place, so I chose to adapt and spell it the way E.T. said it). In time, a number of these folks migrated to IRC channels dedicated to the old CB channels. Eventually, I lost touch.

As the years went by, my number, "72750, 1412", proved to be very low. A 5-digit first part meant instant respect (i.e. - you were "mature" and not liable to spend the whole time trying to "hotchat" everyone on the channel). I maintained my low numbered CompuServe account until the advent of CompuServe2000. I had to convert the account to reactivate after a brief stint with AOL, and I ended up with a high 6-digit number -- a true sign of being a newbie. But that was alright. The web was alive, and really all CompuServe was for was getting to it. The number no longer mattered.

Looking today, I expected to see CompuServe gone. Last I saw, it was under AOL's reign. But, it's still there. Netscape is running it now. I wonder just how many people it hosts, if they still call it CB instead of "chat rooms", and what Daddio is up to today.

There Used To Be A Boardwalk

2008-02-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

I've posted about my hometown before, and you may or may not know that my feelings about it are not very positive. But I've finally drawn an analogy that left me feeling quite sympathetic. Far Rockaway is like a beautiful child who, through years of abuse has turned into an abusive parent. What drove this home is the following video, sent to me by my brother-in-law, Mike.

Thank you Ben Budick for this song, and Skip Weinstock for the slide/video show.

So, I'm going to let my thoughts on this town flow here for a bit.

Many years ago, The Rockaways were a beach paradise. They were in the shadow of Coney Island's attractions, perhaps, but beautiful nonetheless. I am reminded periodically of this, like when we were walking the halls of Disney's Boardwalk Resort and saw vintage pictures of Far Rockaway framed on the walls in the elevator lobby.

The problems came about when legislation was proposed to allow casinos in the area. A great deal of land became tied up waiting for casinos to come through, and eventually low-income housing projects were put up on that land. If I understand correctly, the Long Island Railroad line was split and the western link became the "A" train subway (elevated through the Rockaways). The local streets, at one time lined with beachfront bungalows, went abandoned. Houses were replaced by buildings.

When I was very little, I remember concession stands in Far Rockaway (furthest from NYC and Brooklyn) and Mom offering me a taste of a knish ("ewww!!" at the time). My memories of Rockaway's Playland amusement park are a bit more recent and clear. I may be combining two stories here, but I remember my mother talking about riding the roller coaster there repeatedly, as they were giving out free rides while filming a Cinerama film. The growing pain in her stomach was, unbeknownst to her, appendicitis. I grew up through Playland's downfall. As I got older, parts shut down, and I remember coming to realize it was "not a very nice place" as time went on. Still, when I heard it closed and another beachfront vintage rollercoaster was leveled, it saddened me.

My sister, when she was dating my brother-in-law, drove through "the crack capitol of the world" which lay between our area and his. One night, a cop approached her at a red light and told her not to wait for green lights anymore. "No cop would ticket you for running lights here."

There are still a lot of good neighborhoods in the Rockaways. And there are lots of good people holding on and working to keep it nice. I can see this by those who are still living in my old neighborhood when I go back. I am also certain that throughout those rough areas there are lots of good people just trying to get by. I take my hat off to all of you. But do not confuse my respect for optimism about the town's prospects.

The casinos never came. And the beaches are there for the residents, but not welcoming to outsiders. Many people who live there make the trek to Jones Beach instead of the short trip to the local beach.

A picture taken by my dad of a mural commemorating Rockaway's Playland.

I don't miss the place I grew up. But I miss the people, and I somehow miss a place I never knew. That I caught an occasional glimpse of as it faded away. That I see in memories of others, as recorded in the video above.

I Didn't Even Know The Earth Had A Face...

2008-01-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

... So How Did I Fall Off???

Once again, you may have wondered if I'd finally put my poor blog to sleep, and once again the answer is no. Well, yes, if you count a little winter hibernation. We are working on an absolutely wonderful project at work, but it's a doozy. The hours have been long and it's almost like I'm working away from home. But, as there's a small degree of anonymity to my blog, I have chosen not to share titles and such here.

However, we have had some time on the weekends to enjoy some of what California has to offer. We've discovered hiking and we LIKE it! Our first trip was to Vasquez Canyon. This is the site where westerns were filmed. Blazing Saddles was filmed here as well as everyone's favorite western, The Flintsones. Huh? Oh well. Earthquakes have caused huge rock formations to stick up at odd angles from the ground. We climbed quite high, but what looks like a 30-degree incline feels like a 60-degree incline when you reach about 150 feet above the ground (aka that very large, very hard thing that would not be disturbed in the least if you were to splatter up against it). The four stages of this incline were as follows. "S12, let's go up!", followed by "S12, it's getting a bit scary and dangerous". Next came, "I only climbed this far in case you get hurt and need help getting down", and finally, "Well, it was nice having ya while it lasted. Hope you make it down on your own." I will make it to the top one day, myself.

More recently, we went to the Hollyridge Trail. This is the path that takes you up as close as you can get to the Hollywood Sign. It also puts you on the pinnacle of the Hollywood Hills, where you can see both North Hollywood and Hollywood. During this trip, we spotted another special treat... snow capped mountains in the distance (which is a good place for ANYTHING covered in snow unless I'm wearing a lift pass).

So, the truth is, we're stretched, but we're getting by. Our back yard is under construction and coming along nicely. Pictures of that will come soon enough. The kids are doing well in school (M6's last paper came home with a comment, "Perfect, again." on it - haha). Michelle's work has been extremely understanding of the chaos in our house. We're very appreciative. We hope it calms down.. but not too much. Gotta be careful what you wish for when you freelance.

Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope I didn't lose too many of you in the rush.

What's really scary about this...

2007-12-14T12:13:00.000-08:00

... is not the fact that these are cloned, glow-in-the-dark cats.

It's the fact that my entire reaction was a mildly bemused "that's cool!". This is really the domain of "mad scientists!" Now... if they could just mount a laser on their heads.

Click here for the story.

From Here to There -- Wild Speculation

2007-12-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

I am about to let the sci fi geek in me slip out somewhat. Consider yourself forewarned.

Picture two states of human existence. The first is today. One source of intelligence in society... humans. Machine intelligence is on the rise, but simply not much of a threat. This is not about a "Matrix" or "Terminator" style threat. It's more Asimovian. It's about one potential reality and our path to it.

The second state is where machines have reached or exceeded human intelligence. They're not taking over or controlling us for our own good. The only point I'm getting at here is that they can basically do any and all sorts of labor previously dominated by humans, including reparing each other. In my version of this state, there is no desire and there is no real need to understand their self awareness. They don't create a society. Desire and curiosity, in my opinion, were there long before human intelligence. The simplest of animals experiences emotion. The machines would be content to serve humans, as that was what they were made for. Their goals would be given to them by us, but they could think through them faster and more creatively.

Realistic or not, how the machines feel and think is not my question. What I am thinking about is this: Currency fails at some point. What are we exchanging? The only thing I can think of, when I think of exchanges, is real estate. Granted, someone may own the machines, facilities, and materials, but if there's no need for people to run them, where do the customers come from? With no one making money to purchase things, the values collapse.

Society kind of falls vaguely into the communist realm. The machines provide, the people consume. People are free to pursue what they want because those producing the goods just do it. There's no need for incentive. So, you may simply go to the store and get a lamp. Soon, another lamp will be there to replace it at no expense. You can go on a vacation where you want because the transport systems and hotels simply run. You may have to wait, though, because anyone else can do it too.

Now... there's today, where we earn and spend. Then there's the distant tomorrow, somewhere beyond the Singularity, where we don't need work to earn to enjoy life. What happens between now and then?

Machines have already taken certain jobs away. The most obvious to me being the welding bots on assembly lines. Soon, you'll be able to tell a machine to retrieve objects. Enhancements here will start to reduce the need for people in stores and warehouses. Continue onward, and jobs requiring more and more "human" skills will be replaced. We're seeing ads now in California for robotic surgical procedures (still entirely human orchestrated, but machines are doing the cutting/stitching while the surgeon works with joysticks and a video screen -- human hands have now been surpassed). What happens as machine intelligence progresses to a state above ours?

I have not figured out this scenario. It would seem to me that there will come some sort of economic collapse. Using the simplest expression I can think of, there will come a point where twenty percent of jobs are performed better by machines, or fifty, or eighty. You can't simply "turn off" money, because it's the whole incentive to do the remaining percentage of human work. But corporations won't pay a person twenty dollars per hour to do what a machine can do for eight. Those that try will be shut down by those that don't.

So, creative types, speculate with me. How do we get from a currency-based society to one with no currency? What happens to the rich and poor when the labor pool dissolves from the bottom up? What, in the more distant robotic labor society, prevents exhaustion of resources (I'm guessing anything you replace gets recycled by some process that human labor makes impractical today, mind you, and materials once mined are minimally needed again from the earth)? How would real estate work? If only one thing has value, how do you get it for the first time?

I've not seen this "middle state" addressed before. Is anyone aware of any novels or stories about this?

Eight Random Facts

2007-11-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by IT Catholic Mom to do the following meme. It's taken me forever to get to it, but here it is:

Here are the rules. (1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. (2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. (4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Fact one: I'm currently listening to Discworld by Terry Pratchett on MP3. The reason I included this is that so much of the book surrounds the number eight, which is reflected in the number of random facts.

Fact two: I look for patterns and numbers everywhere I go. Primarily they are 42's, but I also seek out 1138's (as in THX1138, George Lucas' first film which he and his buddy Steven Speilberg reference in most of their films) . I look for birthdays and numeric references to letters. Look hard enough, and you'll notice that 42 is in every Pixar movie somewhere, and also in the sequences of numbers presented in "Lost" and "Donnie Darko".

Fact three: I am completely a type-B personality. That is, unless you get me in the driver's seat. A magical transformation occurs and I'm suddenly type-A, prompting my wife to utter, "WHO...ARE...YOU?" when I am faced with an unpleasant driving situation.

Fact four: People generally cannot tell I was raised on Long Island by my accent. I lost my accent during four years of radio shows at college. Listening to my tapes, I could hear the accent, and it didn't fit in with what I heard from the other DJ's. I wasn't aware that what I worked on for the radio show would carry over into daily life, but I've been OK with that as I moved about the country. Still, if I've had a few to drink or am angry, it comes back out. I've been pegged for Poughkeepsie (quite accurately based on where I lost the LI accent) and Canada (I say "eh", and have picked up a slightly Canuck "ya" from friends on the ships).

Fact five: I am addicted to online socialization. There's no word shy of that which fits. It started with "CB" on CompuServe in 1983 (actually, it goes back to the less-technical pen-pals I had as a teen). It led into a brief stint on AOL chat rooms. Then to IRC. At this point, Second Life is my compulsion. There are two reasons for this. One is that I cannot get out to social venues much at this stage in life, and the other is that people like me frequent these places, so there is commonality. Of course, this blog is yet another outlet of this addiction, although it's suffered at the hands of SL and an exaggerated commute lately.

Fact six: In the early 1980's, I was given the nickname "ET". When the film first came out, I went to visit my pen-pals in upstate New York. Young teens, themselves, they had a very different view of my hometown than was reality (i.e. - "how can a little guy like you survive without a gang?"). One of them made the comment, "Wow, it's like you're all alone in a whole different world?" One thing led to another, and my fate was sealed. My first car, a Ford Torino Elite, was named "Eliot", and hanging from its rearview mirror was a plushy ET figure from a carnival. In college, I argued lightheartedly with a friend (another Eric) whose last name began with "T" as to who truly owned the nickname. It was never resolved.

Fact seven: I am not easily embarrassed. At work once, a friend got a botched up haircut and fixed it by buzzing his whole head with a #3 guard. My boss asked, "How much to get that buzzcut on purpose?" I suggested $100. He dropped 5 $20's on the table. I did it and got the money. My haircutter jokingly asked numerous times if I wanted that haircut again. At animation school, for some reason, I landed on 7 of the 12 students' demo reels interacting with CG robots. they said it was because they liked my acting. I attribute it to simply being willing to let loose in front of a recording device.

Fact eight: I require very little external stimulus. I can simply think for hours. When I left Florida for California, I had bunches of CD's in the car and an audiobook on MP3. Three days later, the Police best-of CD was still in its wrapper, and I'd only made it halfway through the 8-hour audio book. I listened to The Jam repeatedly and took in what passed by my windows. I don't really recall boredom the entire way. On our first driving trips, Michelle was worried about how I'd handle being on the road. Once I learned not to drink iced tea on the road (20 minutes between potty breaks?? no way!), we established a very zen mode of travel. Our kids have inherited this trait, thank God!

OK... eight other people... I'm going to start with my newest blogging friend, Karys, who was looking for a reason to restart blogging. Next, three others with whom I've been blogging buddies longest... Aynde, Cara, and Christy. Then, I'll move to friends from Second Life (of whom, Karys is one)... Rosa, Jaycatt, and Johan (who ASKED for contact and who might kill me for giving it in this form haha). I'm even going to go out on a limb and ask Dolmere to join in (fellow second-lifer and fellow poster of randomly found 42's!). Kinda hard to come up with eight people when your circles have already been tagged. :)

OK... time to walk away from the keyboard before the urge to socialize online overtakes me once again!

Maybe Just A Few Too Many Monkeys

2007-10-29T22:46:00.000-07:00

Fall Greetings Everyone!!

As I learned from my friend Anverie, even a mad scientist needs a love song once in a while. Jonathan Coulton was courteous enough to oblige ...

This is Anverie (in the tee). :) Her dance partner is Flippant.

And who better to represent the spirit of "Boo!" than Marvin? OK, well, will you accept "Boohoo!"?

Happy Halloween!!!

Could it be???

2007-10-24T22:11:00.001-07:00

Mocha Momma? Is that you??? (http://mochamomma.com)

(sorry for the quality -- cell phone was all I had)

Quick added note: Per Mocha's comment... yes, that says "Coffee and Fudge". I would not guess it was you based on chocolate alone. :)

Quickie Rant...

2007-10-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post in case that last one: a) hurt your brain or b) made you question mine.

Two little pet peeves I would like to set straight... (clears throat):

At Starbucks, a 16 ounce, medium coffee is called by the Italian "grande" -- pronounced "GRAHN day" -- and, Ms./Mr. Barista, you do a fine job pronouncing that. But, please don't take that pronunciation to the next level and call the 20 ounce, large, aka "venti" (Italian for 20, for anyone who didn't know), by the name "VEN tay". It's pronounced "VEN tee".
And the letter "Σ" (hope this shows for you) is a Greek "S", not "E". It always rubs me the wrong way to see the word "GRΣΣK".

OK... I'm done now. Back to my usual cheerful, optimistic view on life.

Just Thinking...

2007-10-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, a random chain of thoughts leads me to something really odd. I was thinking the other day about the flow of time, and the theory that at each deciding point, a parallel universe is spawned for each of the choices. Infinite numbers of universes varying in from one another on trivial things like whether you chose the minivan or the sports car. Whether you stepped on a bug or over it. Or bigger things, like "Did the politician push the button or choose not to?"

I am not speculating on whether or not this happens. I have a very solid answer to that question... I don't know.

But that means, that somewhere, another Eric might be driving a sports car or minivan (I picked the family sedan, so there!). Yet another may be living in the wake of nuclear holocaust. Oh, and the bug? The inconsequential bug? In my universe I stepped over it. Perhaps he flew into the window of a car, panicking the driver and causing a fatal accident? Or maybe he fertilized the flower that had the genetic aberration that spawned a cure for cancer? Or, some teenage girl swerves around it, and bumps into her male friend, spawning a "bumping game" that leads to a date.

I doubt any of this is new. But from this chain of thoughts, I came to another one. What if, in these forks in the time-space continuum, your consciousness picks one path. Or perhaps it is filtered into the paths where you continue to live. If this is the case, each of us would be immortal. Certainly with an infinite number of paths, one of them would lead to immortality, and you'd simply filter down to that path. It still works with existing reality, mind you, because on your path along this line, not everyone else would be.

Perhaps you know someone who passed away, but on some other path, they are still alive, and you may or may not be. On their path, though, you will either die eventually or benefit from the same choices and life-events that will make them immortal. On their path, they will live forever because that is the one to which their consciousness has been filtered down.

I'm neither a physicist or philosopher. So I'm sure there are a million holes in this. Also, I don't believe this is how consciousness works. I just enjoy thinking about perception and the tricks of perception that could be going on all around us. Others must enjoy this too, or we wouldn't have movies like The Matrix or Back to the Future II (I mention "II" because that's the one where they break/repair time).

Here's another one for though... is it possible there's only one consciousness in all the universe? That when you die, your soul jumps back in time to the point where the next baby is born and lives his/her life, and that this one soul is currently (from our perspective of time) inhabiting EVERY person you know? For the source leading to that thought, read Slaughterhouse Five.

The Punk Rock

2007-09-23T17:40:00.001-07:00

My friend Jaycatt posted an entry about his tendency to collect things based on their emotional value more than their financial value. I replied about this little guy.

In the year between college and moving to Florida, my friends Jimmy, Michael, and I hung out at a punk/alternative club called Paris/NY. There was a large group of regulars there, and you could go anytime and know there was someone to hang out with. Eventually, we made several other friends with whom we hung out with in general. Not just a "nightclub crowd".

One night, Michael and I were hanging out in the patio area, and he picked up a rock from this small rock-garden. He pitched it against the back of the garden, which was railroad ties. I joined in. After about four rocks apiece, a man we'd never seen before popped out of a door we'd never seen open. Angrily, and with an accent I can only describe as "B-movie Russian", he yelled, "What are you doooing?!?" We apologized, and he popped back in. We burst out laughing. It was like he was waiting there for MONTHS just for this moment. From then on, we'd relay that angry quote, and it spread within our crowd.

Eventually I moved to Florida with my job.

After a while, however, I came back to visit, only to find out Paris/NY was closing. It was different. Much less populated. I could see why it wasn't going to last. Out on the patio, I spotted the little rock garden and said, "What are you doooing!?!" My friends and I each grabbed a rock to keep as a souvenir. It wasn't long before I realized mine had an angry face, and I nicknamed it "Punk Rock". Everyone rolled their eyes. But then, that's the sign of a successful "Eric-like" joke, isn't it?

To this day, I can't see the rock without laughing. And remembering the old crowd. Sometimes, something of no financial value at all does carry great emotional value.

California-isms

2007-09-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

Every place has it's own lingo. Little colloquialisms that separate the locals from the newcomers. It's entertaining to learn to speak "Californian." The words are mostly the same, but the phrases stand out.

As the roads are a big thing here, I'll start with them. In New York, we called the roads by their names... "The Van Wyck Expressway", or "Long Island Expressway". If they only had a number they were "Route 684" or "Route 9" despite being interstates. In Florida, they just got numbers if they were roads. Sand Lake Road was just called "482". Interstates got "I" attached... "I-4" or "I-75". In California, they get "the". I drive to work on "The 101" or "The 5".

When you ask how far something is, you're answered with a question. "When are you going?". When you answer that, you get the answer in time, not distance. "At 3pm, that's about 35 minutes away." I think that's because if you found out that those 35 minutes would be spent travelling 3 miles, you might get a little down.

So... Los Angeles and Hollywood are considered SoCal. Kind of obvious. Makes total sense. But I got all sorts of laughs when I called San Francisco "NoCal". It's NorCal. Here in SoCal, we pronounce the street names in a way I didn't expect (pardon my makeshift phonetics)...
Tujunga - "ta HUN ga"
La Cienega - "la see EN iga" (I'd have said, "lah SEE in AY ga")
Sepulveda - "sip UL vidda" (not "SEP ul VEE da")
Cahuenga - "ca HUN ga" (you sure it's not "cah HWAYN ga"?)
Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, Historic Route 66 comes right through town and ends on Santa Monica Boulevard at the shore.

License plates are called license plates here. Not "tags" like in Florida. To me, a tag implies something flexible... paper or fabric. Pressed steel is a plate to me.

The train here is the "metro" (how Parisian!). In New York we had the subway and the railroad (i.e. Long Island Rail Road). Two distinct lines with two very distinct pricing structures. In Florida, we called commuter rails "wishful thinking".

In New York, you had "Kennedy", "LaGuardia", and "Newark" to choose from for airports. Long Islanders are lucky enough to have "Islip". In Florida, I'm pretty sure you have "the airport", as it's rare two are close enough for consideration. Recently, though, Orlando got the Sanford/Orlando airport. Here, it's not "Los Angeles", it's "LAX". And "Bob Hope" is simply called "Burbank." So, the airport names don't vary quite as much.

Northern Hollywood is undergoing "gentrification" at the moment. I always though of that word as "aging". But, if you take the root of the word, "gentry", and relate that back to the knights and chivalry and class, it makes sense that they use the word here to mean bringing culture and class back to the neighborhood.

I have yet to determine whether I live near mountains or hills. The best I've gotten from anyone was to say they are either huge hills or tiny mountains. I call them mountains. It's more impressive, and my ears pop going over them on the 405. Hills wouldn't cause ear-popping.

I'm sure there's loads more of these. There's probably a whole collection of things I don't even realize I'm saying that sound out of place here. In time, though, I'm sure I'll start to hear from my New York and Florida friends that I'm talking like a Californian. Oh well... when in Rome...!

My Turning Point

2007-09-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

"I don't know when that road
turned into the one I'm on."
Jackson Browne - Running on Empty

Well, that's not entirely true. As a matter of fact, I have a pretty definite point. I can narrow it down to roughly a two-month time period. June or July of 1982. I know this because I remember I was 15 and had not had my birthday yet. And because it happened at Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, NY.

Yes, there was a girl involved, and no, it doesn't involve romance (despite that being the initiative). The moment I gathered up all my teenage bravado and talked to Lynn in the beach club swimming pool is the point in my life when New York became a temporary home for me. Not the turning point you were expecting, eh?

Mom and Dad did their best and were wonderful parents, but I never did like my home in Far Rockaway. Cold winters and a town that was on a downslide were things I hated. Across the train tracks were the Redfern Welfare Projects. Our garage was broken into more times than I can count. I had five bicycles stolen in as many years -- three from that locked garage, one from my back yard while I went inside to use the bathroom, and one directly from me by three kids, one with a wrench poised over my head. But Far Rockaway was all I knew.

Our neighborhood, itself, was really great. Like a giant extended family. Standard New York City stereotypes like moms yelling out the front door for the kids to come home for dinner. If they called too many times, another mom would relay the call. We played tag or hide and seek on a grand scale. Three city blocks -- back yards, trees, and garage roofs (and a nursing home roof at times) were all part of the playing field. Large numbers of kids would swarm the ice cream truck whenever it came by (I don't know how old I was before I read the truck and realized it was the "Good Humor Man" and not the "Gujooma Man").

But there was the rest of the town. My younger sister needed our German Shepherd to go trick-or-treating on Halloween to avoid her bag being snatched. Friends' parents considered it "character building" when their kids were jumped between school and home. I don't know whether it was me or my parents who were more afraid of me going to public high school. I wasn't big, nor was I in anyway athletically inclined or a fighter. So I commuted about an hour each way to/from school.

But then I met this girl. We never dated. She lived in upstate New York and was just in town visiting a cousin (a friend of our family). So we started writing to each other (pre-internet, stamps, envelopes, and paper!). We had a great time writing back and forth, and for Christmas, she "gave me" to a friend of hers, Holly. So, I had two pen-pals in upstate New York.

Holly and Lynn were both in band at school. There was a big banquet coming up, and a friend of thiers wasn't dating anyone at the time, so Holly invited me to visit and be her date. I had such a great time. They had interesting preconceptions about city life (i.e. "The Warriors") which were quite exaggerated. And I had never met people as outwardly friendly and "unchallenging" as their crowd. Holly's dad took me into work, where I experienced CompuServe CB (chat) for the first time. Keep in mind, this wasn't rural. Just more suburban than I'd experienced. I came home with two more addresses and two more pen-pals.

But I had been outside the "fish bowl". I went into a really deep slump, knowing what else was out there. I wonder if my parents second-guessed their choice to permit me to go on that trip. Or if I ever expressed to them why that trip left me so unhappy. But I knew I was leaving the city when the means presented themselves.

Seven years later, I had stopped writing to all four girls except Lynn. I had graduated college, and had restricted my job search to companies in the San Diego area. I ended up working in Newark, NJ at a really great company in a very good job (that's another story). I was very happy at work. I was getting ready to find an apartment near home, and hopefully near the Long Island Railroad. But I was worried I was falling into a track that would delay my "escape" indefinitely.

Then the news came. Our department was moving to either Atlanta or Orlando. To show you how great our department was, they put it up to a majority vote as to which. Orlando it was. I was offered two choices... find another job (in or out of the company) or take a nice relocation package and move to Florida.

Since the turning point is the subject of all this, I'll simply relay the chain of events since then... I was in Florida 8 months before I met Michelle. We got married. My company split up and my job moved out of state. I chose to take a severance package and went to Disney. I had a wonderful time working for Disney, but started spotting TV ads for The DAVE School. Michelle and I tried to work out some plan for me to learn 3D animation but couldn't. If you've been reading for a while, you know the rest. My Dad, in passing, provided the means for me to follow that dream. That path took me to where I am today.

What strikes me about this is how impressed people are that I left. People still in my hometown have commented, and I quote, "We always knew you'd be the one to get out!" What was it, prison? Just about all of my family has since left that town for "The Island". Long Island does offer a lifestyle similar to what I experienced at age 15. But it also has winter. That was the other side of the equation for me.

I love visiting New York. I miss the city and the beaches -- I haven't found anything to compare with the Long Island beaches. My sisters' homes (and aunts' and uncles' homes) and their neighborhoods are wonderful, and they're not at all like the town surrounding our old home. While I kind of pulled at them to follow me when I left, I am sometimes glad they didn't because I wouldn't have such close family to draw me back.

Still, I'm glad that I had that glimpse outside my life and that it prompted me to act. It really opened up the door to changes that have put my life on a good track. If I'd chickened out that day (at least a 50/50 chance at that age), where would I be now?

SLCC - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and The Optimism

2007-09-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

This is an optimistic story. It has a happy ending, but it really had to work to get there... read on. The pictures are in this Flickr Set

The Good

I recently had the good fortune to take a trip to Chicago for the Second Life Community Convention. I've been a member of Second Life for a little over a year now, and have many friends whom I've wanted so badly to meet in person. Several of them, I can now say, I have met. The convention ran from Friday, August 24 through Sunday, August 26. For those unfamiliar, Second Life and "SL" are interchangeable terms.

I chose to arrive the evening of the 23rd so I wouldn't be in transit when the event began. This was highly unnecessary, I later found out, as registration began at 4pm on Friday. It was really great, though, as most of the people I'd sought to meet arrived at the same time and also had no event-related obligations. We just hung out at the hotel bar. It was precisely the kind of time I'd hoped to be spending. Beer, food, and great conversation. And a whole lot of "Oh my God!!! You're [insert avatar name here] in SL????" But I'm jumping ahead of myself.

I left Los Angeles at 6:15am on Thursday. By coincidence, my plane flew through Denver airport and my connecting flight was the same as my friends Jaycatt and Frogg. These guys are musical geniuses, and Jaycatt is one of my best friends online and in real life. Having met Frogg, I think he could easily be as well, time permitting. In any case, our strongest common ground is a slight(?) obsession with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Given that, what were the chances we'd all end up on flight 42 into Chicago?

In Chicago, we met up with Sumar at the airport. The four of us shared a shuttle to the hotel. We had a great time chatting away as the weather outside slowly went downhill. By the time we were downtown, parts of the city were blacked out. This is where the trouble begins.

The Bad

The bad started before the trip even began. Sporked was supposed to be my roommate. He's another dear friend I'd so wanted to cross over from online to real life. Much of our crowd was very disappointed when, after four months, his passport failed to arrive, and he could not cross into the U.S. from Canada.

Next in line was the weather. Four of us made it in, but Onionpencil's connecting flight was cancelled, as the Chicago control tower had to be evacuated and the airport shut down. The resulting delay trapped the poor woman midway between home and the event for a whopping 31 hours!

Finally, the first night there, someone stole Sumar's purse, charging up inordinate amounts of money on her credit cards.

The Ugly

The real challenge is a hard one to describe. I will leave it at this. I wound up spending a lot of time with a friend of a friend for whom circumstances took a negative turn. I didn't feel I could leave this person alone as in her state, and I gave up much of the little time I had left to making sure she was alright.

The Optimism

For all the challenges, I still got to spend quality time with some really great friends. I'm so afraid of leaving someone important out, I'm reluctant to list them, but I will anyway (in the order we met)... first were Jaycatt and Frogg, then Sumar on the way to Chicago. In the bar, I met Cylindrian (another musician whom I now consider a friend), Peter, and Adri. Rosa and Patrick appeared soon after. The following night I met Travis and, finally, Onionpencil. I made new friends with Yummie, FlipperPA, Ecocandle and Lofty (he's got a really long name I don't dare try to spell). I got to hear all the musicians play multiple times, and Jaycatt treated me to a semi-private (close friends only) performance of "Journey of the Sorcerer" (HHGG themesong).

We hung out in the lobby of the hotel, the musicians in our crowd using its grand piano in addition to their own instruments to practice. Travis, Sumar, Oni, and I chatted over pizza and beer until 3am on the night of Travis and Oni's arrival.

I had dinner with Sumar and Onionpencil on Saturday night. There was a masquerade ball, and while we didn't dress in costume, Sumar, Oni, and I went and threw "peas" at each other (throwing peas is a sign of affection started by Oni in Second Life). Oni threw one at a stranger at our table, and Sumar brought a second table into the mix.

We had a lot of issues on this trip. For all I know, I'm probably leaving some out (a lost memory card for one person's camera, and a failing flash in mine for example). Still, if I could choose to start the trip over or skip it knowing what I know now, I would stick solidly to my plans as is. I wouldn't give up these memories for anything.

The Next Big Thing...

2007-08-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Not much time for an entry tonight, but I had to let you know that I'm back in the workforce. I can't give much in the way of details, but I'm working on an effects team for a feature film that will be released next summer IN THEATERS!

WooHoo!!!