I WANT TO BE THIS GUY!!

Okay, I am a TOTAL HUGE ASSED GEEK!! I so badly want to return to the days when I could dress up for halloween and not be openly ridiculed. I could have dropped a couple thousand bucks on a complete, screen-accurate Boba Fett costume--assembled from various parts obtained from ebay. Mandy, my wife, seemed to think that the money would be better spent on, oh I don't know, stuff for the baby were expecting in three months. Still, who wouldn't want their own Fett costume?? I mean, come on. The guy's a total badass! The gun and the helmet and the ever-important jetpack!

I might just make my own costume. I could do it myself over several years and then christen it when our son is about 6. I am a little worried that by then I'll be too heavy and old to wear the thing. That would just be pathetic.

JUMP ON THAT BANDWAGON!

Inspired by my friends Ward and Andrea, I thought I would jump on the bandwagon and share a few things about myself that some of my faithful readers might not know... So, without further ado... And since I am 34 this past September, I have listed 34 little tidbits of info.

1. I talk to myself. Alot. Sometimes in funny accents and voices.
2. I played soccer in high school and had once toyed with the idea of walking on in college--until I played pick-up with some blokes who played for the college one day and was almost laughed off the field.
3. I am indeed, a cat person.
4. I whine. I can throw tantrums sometimes and I have been known to pout.
5. I fell in love with my wife Mandy the second I saw her.
6. I am terrified of going to the doctor.
7. I was a counselor at this camp for many years and I still think of this place as where I came of age...
8. I played an indian chief in an Ohio outdoor drama where I opend the show on horseback. One night, my loincloth snapped and, had it not been for the huge buckskin tunic I was wearing, I would have been showing the audience a little something extra.
9. My friend Wavy Davey used to make me pee in my pants in grammar school.
10. I had a horrid, awful case of acne in high school.
11. I have often thought of going to seminary.
12. I once sang "Sweet Transvestite" from the "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at an audition. I didn't get the part.
13. I have been known to tell some small, white lies...
14. I am a proud member of the ACLU--although, my membership has currently lapsed.
15. My toungue is tied.
16. I cried like a little girl during "The Fox and the Hound."
17. I like to pretend sometimes that I am Scottish, Irish or Australian.
18. I also like to pretend that I am more of a redneck than I actually am.
19. I once told someone that I used to hunt deer and ducks just to impress them. They didn't care.
20. I have kissed a man on the mouth. Don't ask.
21. I chewed Red Man tobacco one whole summer at camp. Everyone else was doing it. Needless to say, the habit didn't take.
22. I have never been to Europe--or for that matter, anywhere outside the continental US.
23. I love my dog like a part of my own body. Maggie is my second soul mate.
24. I once stopped up a toilet at a friend's house and then left without telling anyone. I guess I hoped they would think it was someone else.
25. I am worried about what kind of father I'll be...
26. I once ate cat food on a dare and it actually tasted pretty good.
27. I once prematurely ended a date with a girl because, well, she was infuriating to listen to and I wanted to watch Twin Peaks.
28. I'd pretty much always rather be fishing in the intracoastal waterway in South Carolina.
29. I love reading true crime/true drama novels about people lost in the wilderness and having to eat each other...
30. I have a really sick, SICK sense of humor. I laugh at some of the most inappropriate stuff.
31. Once, after smoking a wee bit of weed, I ate half a bag of chocolate chips only to throw them up fifteen minutes later.
32. I have never broken a bone.
33. In total, I have probably had about 36 stitches over the course of my life--most of them on my head. It's so freakishly huge that it just can't keep from hitting stuff!
34. When I die, I wasnt to be cremated. I want my ashes sprinkled 1) in the cul de sac at my parent's house in Clemson 2) on the dunes at Edisto Island 3) next to Francis Marion's tomb in Berkeley Co. SC.

That ought to do it for now. That should be enough dirt.

JOSHUA

Lately, I have been providing images for our church's early worship media presentation. Today's scripture was about Joshua gathering all of the Israelites together before finally settling in the land of "Milk and Honey." There, he challenges them to make the final choice to devote their lives to God. This after having wandered in the desert for, well, a long time. Apparently, the Israelites didn't have much in the way of a sense of direction--figuratively, not spiritually, speaking of course.

Anyway, this image was meant to portray Joshua blowing his mighty trumpet, or shofar, to bring down the great walls of the city of Jericho. I kind of portray him here as an almost "William Wallace-esque" figure--the mighty warrior of the people. One of my friends took issue with that portrayal. They were uncomfortable, I suppose, with the idea of someone in scripture being celebrated in such a heroic way. I guess it's open to interpretation. I mean, hey, it's the Old Testament. They did some fighting in the Old Testament.

Here is another image I cooked up of the Iraelites preparing to lay siege of the city of Jericho--but not before walking around the great city in silence several times just to mess with their heads... I have the Ark of the Covenant being hoisted and marched ahead of the throng. I was pushing for atmosphere here. Anyway, here endeth the lesson...

FUN WITH CLAY

Okay, so I have been terrible about updating my blog as often as I had hoped. I have been consumed with guilt over it but, hey, I am in no way perfect!! Having said that, I am enjoying a respite from a tense, deadline-driven schedule to explore some personal projects--like the above sculpture.

I love sculpting. There is a real zen thing that happens as you move the clay around. After a day of fighting deadlines and freaking out about the next freelance gig, it feels so nice to do something totally unrealated. This is a bust of, you guessed it, Francis Marion. I am continuing my journey into the American Revolution in South Carolina--for which Marion has been something of a muse.

This piece is done in sculpey. Sculpey is a polymer clay that polymerizes when baked into a hard plastic-like substance. The cool thing about sculpey is that you can bake it in stages--building up between bakings. You can also add some cool effects by using lighter fluid or alcohol as a solvent. After I finish this piece, I plan to make multiple castings of it in resin. We'll see... It's a lot of work and who knows if I'll have the time. Still, I am hoping to do more of this stuff... Stay tuned!