WORDS / FICTION: My short story “First Storms” and article “The Fun-Suckers” are featured in the third First Storm Manga compilation, you can read both at the First Storm Manga website.
I attended the Distant Worlds II concert in Houston recently, and did a write up for original-gamer.com
PODCAST; After finally getting over the ‘space flu’ I get back in the saddle with two new episodes of 300 Seconds: “Those Steenking Badges!” and “Stories From San Japan 3”
Inspiration is a curious mistress. Much like her sister Lady Luck, she plays by her own rules and can strike without warning at the most odd circumstances.
This past New Year’s Eve weekend, I went with a friend to Ikkicon in Austin. It was something to do, and if nothing else, cosplayers always make for an interesting and fun time people-watching.
I had a feeling that the flavor of odd that is usually associated with anime conventions was going to be a little extra-spicy by virtue of the con’s location, and Austin did not disappoint. As I walked around enjoying the spectacle as it lay before me, I saw something that struck me as odd.
Okay, MORE odd…
It was a person wearing a full head-to-toe red animal/critter/Pokemon-looking-thing costume with what appeared to be a fox’s head and tail. That in itself isn’t unusual, but the kicker was that this person was WALKING AROUND ON THEIR HANDS AND KNEES like an animal. It threw me for a loop; crossing into that “dangerously geeky” territory that I try to avoid like most people avoid regular geeks. Sadly, I was too transfixed by the specacle to take a picture with my cell phone camera, but I did get a picture of that person some time later, this time on two feet, as they assumed some kind of “battle pose” while facing another cosplayer in full regalia.
Now, this is just one of those events that is just DYING to be posted to Facebook. Its nice to have something unique to report besides the usual “I’m having a good/bad day” or “work sucks” or “OMG my child just did something for the first time!” stuff.
Playing with words is something I like to do, and I pondered over how to report this person’s rather successful attempt to “Keep Austin Weird.” I thought I’d borrow a meme from Fark.com and go with a 1-2-3 type of post, showing how this individual went from “Geeky” to “Super Geeky” to “Dangerously Geeky.”
I liked the words, but the format looked ordinary to me. Granted, that may be an effect of spending too much time on Fark.com, but in any event, I thought I could do better. While riding that train of thought, I got the idea of putting it into a haiku style. That is, a three-line verse with the first line containing five syllables, the next, seven and the last, five. I came up with:
bright red furry suit
walking around on all fours
what the frak is this
It was even short enough to fit into a tweet, which delighted me to no end. I then decided that it would a fun to put my postings for the rest of the week into what I call “tweet-ku” format, which adds a 160-character limit to the haiku structure. Despite my tendency to get “wordy,” I don’t think the character limit ever came up, and I only goofed up once on syllable count, so it went well.
A pleasant side effect of the exercise is that those self-imposed limits forced me think creatively in order to stay within them. At times, I struggled to keep my syllables at the correct counts, and I would find myself reading aloud while counting syllables on my fingers. Luckily, I would usually be inside at the time, or in the presence of other like-minded geeks who didn’t ask me why I was counting on my fingers.
Stretching that creative muscle helped me to finish other things, and I think I might be onto something. I may take to writing tweet-kus whenever my muse is tired of the drudgery of my nine-to-five and needs a quick snack to get it going.
Needless to say, that won’t take long!
Another year has come and gone, and as I sit here bored at work, it seems as good a time as any to reflect on the end of what I like to call “the 2Ks.”
2009 was both a good and a bad year for me, personally. On the good side, I got off my rear and put the left side of my brain to work writing a few short stories and poems. I also started to pursue voice acting: taking lessons, getting into a studio for the first time, and doing some podcasting.
Interestingly enough, the shove that got my creative ball rolling again was Mizuumi-con, held on March 21st. There, I attended two panels; the first was a voice acting panel held by Kevin M. Connolly, which gave me an idea of what to expect going into the voice acting business. The second was Chris Holm’s “Inspiring Artists” panel. He and I had won the “My Cage” art and writing contests a while back, and it was my first time meeting him. At his panel, he told his story about (quite literally) where his art took him.
I started by going back through old ideas I had written down, thinking over which ones would be worth the effort to bring them to reality. I got started on a few things, and then a number of weeks later, Chris Holm emailed me. He wanted me to sit in on a meeting of an artists’ group that was starting up. I thought that it would be fun, and so I found myself at a coffee shop that Saturday afternoon. That group would eventually jell into First Storm Manga. My involvement with them has introduced me to some new friends, provided me with a creative outlet and led to some fun times spent at anime conventions.
Career-wise, the best I can say is that I had the same job at the end of the year as I did at the start of it. I was introduced to Military Flavored Baloney, as opposed to the Corporate Flavored Baloney I am used to having. At the end of the day, its still baloney, but the money’s good and the work isn’t too hard, so I’ll ride it out.
Moving on to the less-pleasant events of 2009, I lost two people that were important to me, namely Melinda Garcia, wife of my good friend Carlos Garcia, and my grandmother, Manuela Soliz. They are already sorely missed, and their passing has made me think about the direction I want to take my life in, but that is a topic for another time.
I had also hoped to have a house by the end of this year, but that got put aside due to the uncertainties of my job. Now that I feel more confident about my employment situation, I will start looking for a home in earnest, and my hope to have purchased one by summer.
In my opinion, 2009 was “The Year of the Attention Whore.” Maybe its just because we see them in the news more frequently, but I don’t recall the last time we had this many nutballs jumping up and down screaming “LOOK AT ME!” Just off the top of my head, we have Dick Cheney, Octomom, Joe Wilson, the Balloon Boy parents, Jon and Kate, the White House Gate Crashers, Lady Gaga, some prison escapee in England that has been taunting the cops via Facebook, and the various women that slept with Tiger Woods. Now, I’m not claiming any level of moral high ground, because I was admittedly watching and talking about them just like everyone else, so I guess I’m part of the problem.
It was bittersweet to have to say farewell to some folks in 2009, but new friends were also made. Thus, as a new year begins, I find myself a little more appreciative of my station in life and hopeful for the many possibilities that lay ahead in The New Year.
Here’s to you, 2009, don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!
U.S. Geological Survey Report: “Odem Flood”
It was 25 years ago. In my hometown of Odem, Texas somewhere between eighteen and twenty-five inches of rain fell in a matter of hours. To this day, it is simply referred to as “The Flood,” and nearly every Odemite I have ever spoken to still has memories of that night.
The memories I have of that night are those of a child. Two months prior, I had turned eleven years old, and a month after that, I started the sixth grade. The playgrounds of elementary school were gone, and the steady march to becoming a teenager had begun in earnest.
I remember Tia Maria was in town visiting us, as she would do every so often. It was a Friday; and the skies getting dark as the evening progressed. The rain was welcomed at first, because we were in a bad drought. I remember wading through my backyard in waist-deep water to get to an aunt’s house, where we would stay the night. The power went out at one point, I remember a bottle of cologne being used as an improvised lamp. The water rose to the steps of my aunt’s house; some parts of the floor were wet.
I remember waking up late, my parents had already gone to the house. The power was back, I was told I had to stay at my aunt’s house, so I watched the Smurfs with one of my cousins. Once I got home, I saw the line on the walls where the water had been. My brother and I slept in bunk beds at the time, I was on the bottom bunk and my bed had been ruined by the water. My mother was upset, we had lost nearly all of our pictures, I remember stacks of ruined Polaroids; seeing rainbows of plasticky color where family memories had once been. Dad had already pulled out the carpet from the living room, he was not upset, instead he was very busy around the house, and talking on the telephone.
I remember throwing out stacks of wet magazines, and wondering if my collection of Atari 2600 cartridges would still work. I remember the truck from the Red Cross that went through our neighborhood that evening, and going out to the curb to pick up peanut butter sandwiches and lemonade. I remember hearing about the bus full of kids that got stuck and the man down the street that had to make a hole in the ceiling and roof of his house to get his family out.
The furniture and carpet would eventually be replaced, the house repaired and life would return to normal, but I doubt that anyone who lived through it will ever forget that night. Even though my own memories are the scattered remembrances of an eleven-year old, I know I won’t.
The weekend started out well enough: I got out of work at 4, went home to take it easy for a bit, and then went to visit some old friends at a hotel they were staying at. We had some pizza and some laughs. I eventually left, and hit I-10 to go back to my apartment for another exciting Friday of grocery shopping and Guitar Hero.
Life was good, I was cruising on up the freeway, Phil Collins was on the radio and somewhere around West Avenue it hit me…I felt a numbing sensation on the left side of my body. I immediately suspected the worst…and next thing I know I am flying up the freeway towards the Medical Center trying to remember where the nearest ER was that wasn’t University Hospital.
(for the record, yes I have been there before, and yes, the waits are as long as people say)
In addition to the numbness, my heart felt like it was pounding a mile a minute, and yet I wasn’t breathing hard. Occasionally, for some odd reason, I would check my pulse, perhaps to make sure it was still there. I have been involved in medical emergencies before, but prior it was stuff that I either saw coming (appendix blowing up) or that weren’t life-threatening (broken wrist, pulled back). This one had me scared, I think I recited every prayer I could think of as I sped towards Methodist Specialst and Transplant Hospital.
I parked the Reliant, took an extra minute to place my Netbook in the trunk (old habits and all that) and waited in the Emergency Room frightened out of my wits. I preferred to stand up, I figured that if Something Bad occurred, the sound of my 275-pound body hitting the ground would garner more attention than me simply slumping over and going off into The Big Goodnight.
I called one of my brothers, whom I had just seen, and let him know what was going on. I asked him not to tell our parents, I didn’t want them to worry. About five minutes later, I called them beause I didn’t want them to be the last ones to know either.
I filled out a form saying what I was there for, handed it to the triage nurse, and watched the TV in the ER waiting room for a bit. The Simpsons were on, followed by Family Guy, and they temporarily distracted me from the more pressing issue at hand.
The triage nurse called me over, and I must have sounded very nervous as I rattled off my symptoms, meds, and other pertinent information. The nurse took my vitals and sent me to registration to get checked in so that she could start some tests.
The gal at the registration desk was cute, I remember thinking at the time that if my clock was to be punched tonight, this wouldn’t be a bad time for it. At least the last thing I would see on God’s Green Earth would be something pretty. I gave out more information; insurance, address, yadda yadda yadda, and sat back down briefly before the triage nurse called me over to do an EKG and take some blood samples.
After taking the EKG and before taking the blood, she got a phone call, and she started discussing “Mr. Soliz” and his “abnormal EKG” which didn’t help matters much. I was then told that the EKG did not appear to be a heart attack. To her credit, the nurse nailed the IV on the first shot, which is no mean feat, I am quite literally “thick skinned”. One nurse way back when actually TWISTED the needle while it was in my arm and had the effing nerve to ask if it hurt. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to kick someone’s ass so badly.
I phoned the family with an update, and I was soon whisked to a room in the ER, where I waited, and waited and waited. A new nurse peeked in on me about two hours in, remarking that they were quite busy. I didn’t let it bother me, hey, its Friday night, right?
Two hours and change after that, I finally saw the doctor. He gave the the usual once-over with the stethescope, and asked me a lot of questions about the day. Everything looked fine, he said, but he wanted to take a chest X-ray, so not 15 minutes later, another gal and the giant X-ray machine drop in. She also looked cute, so I tried to be Mr. Cool and failed miserably…my fly had been open the entire time. Story of my life, I tell you.
I sheepishly zipped up and awaited the doctor. He came about a half hour later and told me that everything had come up roses, blood, urine, x-ray, and vitals (don’t ask where the roses came from…Just. Don’t. Ask.). I have had odd unexplained things happen to me in the past that had no explanation (for example, I am allergic to something but don’t know what, I break out in hives every few years or so) and so we dismissed it as Just One Of Those Things, and I was sent home with instructions to return should it flare up again. The nurse then removed the IV and I was sent on my merry way.
As I got up I saw someone who didn’t make it being wheeled by, and it served as a reminder of the initial gravity of the situation.
I called the family again and assured them that all was well and then I hit the road. An hour later, here I am banging out a blog post about the whole experience, but at least I won’t be known as “that guy that sent tweets from the ER.”
I did consder it though.
I have an tendency to catch colds frequently, so it came as no surprise to me when I started coming down with something a few Tuesdays ago. I wasn’t running a fever, so I figured it was just a case of the sniffles that would go away after a few days.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case. The bug hung around, and by Thursday I was feeling pretty crappy. Not crappy enough to stay home from work, mind you, but certainly lousy enough to get the attention of my coworkers. Sharing the same floor with former and current healthcare providers means I can’t be sick at work. Coming in sick means getting no end of grief about how I should see a doctor, and questions about why am I at work instead of at home.
All that badgering usually results in me seeing a doctor and taking a day or two off from work. This most recent bout was spiced up by the hype over the swine flu. As I had been near the Mexican border recently for a family get-together, I figured that I should see the doctor and ensure I wouldn’t become San Antonio’s Patient Zero.
I had a feeling this visit was going to be extra fun when I shared the elevator ride with one of the nurses, and she made mention that they were all wearing masks at the doctor’s office. I signed in at the doctor’s office, and was given a mask since I had flu-like symptoms. It was a little uncomfortable, and started to smell kind of funky after a few sneezes and coughs, but hey, it was for the public good, so I rolled with it.
While waiting for the doctor, I got bored enough to snap a few pictures of myself with my cell phone camera, and was informed by the doctor that I had a sinus infection, and that I should take a few days off from work. I was mildly disappointed, but I quickly got over that feeling as I spent the next few days hacking and coughing my guts out at home in bed. Them’s the breaks, I guess!
Eduardo Soliz 