Mantis Style!

okay, things need to be quick. so quick that i can't use the shift key. i'm leaving for 2 weeks to go camping and provide security in a town that is as we speak, burning to the ground. the pay is awesome and will allow me to buy a car. sorry shuu, i bought kotor for you, but won't be able to send it to you until i get back. sorry ryan, i will likely miss your birthday. i hope you enjoy the gift that we're all going in on for you. i have to go now, i will update in 2 weeks, if i am not burnt or dead.

posted by Tay @ 9:54 AM

Okay, so it didn't ACTUALLY work. It would seem that in order to upload images, I must subscribe to a pay-per-month fee that will allow me to do so. I think that before I jump into that, I will first create graphics and stuff to make my own unique website. Being very new to this, this may take some time.

posted by Tay @ 3:52 PM

Holy shit, it worked. I certainly wasn't expecting THAT to turn out as well as it did. This Webmonkey stuff kicks ass. Now all I need are recent pictures and stuff, and I can update those each time I update the post at this computer. I can only hope that everybody else can see this picture too, and not just me.

As a sidenote, I don't have a lazy eye, despite what this picture may indicate.

posted by Tay @ 7:09 AM

Alright, screwing around on this Mac is getting me nowhere. I've been trying to do some template changes to the site here, to no avail. The code is good, but the changes don't show up when I view the site.

Here's a cool idea that I want to implement onto the site. At the bottom of the latest newspost, I want to have a little box that will hold a small picture. The pic would likely be from my webcam, or any of my numerous spy cameras. I just think that it would make the site mcuh less boring, as well as provide incentive for people to return and generate repeat traffic.

I am hoping that this site will be the homepage for the webcomic, once we have enough stuff prepared. Thus, I want to be able to create a webpage that will be really cool, and not be like most of the scummy garbage that compromises most of the internet.

So I am off the Webmonkey to brush up on my html skillz.

posted by Tay @ 4:15 AM

I know that my friend Shuu would slap me if he wasn't halfway across the country, butI have to say it. Mac computers suck. The one at work that I've been using has crashed on me twice in the span of 5 minutes. I'm praying that it won't freeze again until after I've finished this post. I guess that besides their lack of dependabilty, they are fine computers. I mean, this one is very attractive, and blue.

I lost my money at poker. It was what I expected, so I am hardly dissapointed. The big winner was the bithday boy, to nobody's surprise. He's a good guy, and deserves what he can get.

I finished both books that I've been reading this weekend. I loved Hatsumi's book, and I can't wait to meet him. He's probably the only person in his age bracket that could make a Robocop reference in a book, and get away with it. What a guy.

After much pressure from several sources, I have decided that the next book that I must purchase it The Davinci Code. I've heard nothing but good things about it, and I tried to buy it before my shift tonite, but it's Sunday and the bookstore closes early.

Perusing the papers at the desk I am sitting at, I see that the person who works here is interested in media-related crime. There are reports printed off of murders and deaths that are imitations of those seen in movies and video games, almost all performed by teens or younger. All of your suspects are accounted for, Scream, Jackass, and Grand Theft Auto are all represented in these reports. I can't help but to think what kind of environment is necesarry to raise such kids. I would personally like to see a study that would attempt to show relations between media-related copycat crimes, and the demographic that these kids fit into. Are these all spoiled rich kids, that are raised to feel that rules and reality don't apply to them? Or are these poor kids, with both of their parents out working, leaving them to be taught reality by slasher films and video games? Or are they able to come from anywhere, breaking social stratification boundries to prove how stupid they are?

If you ask me, these killer kids forgot one very important aspect when they put on the ghost masks and killed their friends like in Scream: the killer got away with it, enough times to be in sequels. If you're going to imitate these slasher villains, go all the way and don't get caught. Then at least sick individuals like myself could take you seriously.

Not that these kids need to worry about the legal system. They don't receive any tangible punishment for their crimes, it's their parents who are made to suffer. And maybe they should. They obviously missed a large aspect of parenting if they forgot to teach their kids why it's not a great idea to kill people.

posted by Tay @ 3:57 AM

There are a lot of things that I wish I had time to joke about here on the site, but by the time I can get around to them, the topics are pretty outdated. The case in point would have to be the streaking ad stunt at the US Open. Well, I have time now, so I might as well crack wise while I still think that its a good idea.

I am gearing my education for a career in advertising, should the whole "superninja" gig fall through, so naturally I have some pretty heavy opinions when it comes to advertisements. First of all, what the hell is nudity doing in golf to begin with? Which advertising guru thought up this nugget o' wisdom? It would seem to me that if golfers were interested in any way shape or form in nudity, they wouldn't spend so much damn time playing golf. Have these people ever SEEN golf? There does not exist another sport so devoid of sexuality than golf, except for maybe cricket, which is just too weird to even count. Actually, this kind of stunt almost seems natural, were it not for the environment it was set in. Both gambling and pornographic spam has gotten so bad (both in taste and volume) that it would make sense that the two would merge, and mutate into a creature that could survive outside of the internet. It's the basic evolution of the internets primordial components. Really, this seems like the kind of stunt that would be better suited for a football game, wrestling match, or something else more working-class.

Also, the female in question that performed this stunt is somewhat interesting. In all of the articles I've seen on the story, she identifies herself as a "celebrity model". I know for a fact that she hasn't been in any GAP ads, and with a name like hers, I knew something was up. So I googled her ass. As it turns out, "celebrity model" is a euphamism for "hardcore porn actress". Disturbing. However, I can't help but wonder how much this stunt has done in advertising herself, or her videos or whatever it is she does. I don't care to find out myself. But out of the interest of the advertising gimmick itself, I can't help but ask questions. Does running around a golf course topless pay more than letting some greasy porn-stud stick his penis in your ear? Does the casino hope to get a share of the coveted 'blue-blooded rich white guys' demographic by flaunting porn-chicks in body paint.

Seriously though, the thing coudn't even be televised, it was so bad. The only people who will be really reached by this ad are the internet afficianados that have already received the casinos spam email dozens of times previous.

I could go on, but I don't care to. After the poker game (I lost bad), I had to go home for a quick nap, about 45 minutes, after which my 3rd wind kicked in. I need sleep bad, and so will try and update more later.

posted by Tay @ 6:48 AM

I am at a crucial point in my marathon of conciousness now. I have just finished my 12 hour shift at the stadium, which gave me plenty of time to read. I am in the middle of two books now, and I should be able to finish them by the end of the weekend.

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser is a much different book than I thought it would be when I picked it up, but it's not all that bad. When I read it, I can only imagine Michael Moore, except instead of bitching about gun culture, he's bitching about french fries. The book has the exact same feel of the loveable communist that Moore develops in his books and films, and I really can't say as it's a bad thing. It certainly doesn't change any of my attitudes towards fast food, all it does is paint some grizzly pictures of how evil the corporations behind the companies can be. Yeah, apperantly Ray Krock is the new Satan. Quoted in the book, the man says of his business practices, "if I find an opponent drowning, I'll likely stick a hose in his mouth".

It's not all that surprising to me that Sensei says something to the same effect when describing how our opponents should feel in combat.

The other book I'm reading is by Ninjutsu Grand Master Masaaki Hatsumi. It's a large collection of quotes from him, regarding any and all topics regarding the martial art. Largely, I had no idea that he could be so funny. I always thought of him as an stern little old man, but as it turns out, he almost embodies the stereotype of the old japanese pervert in so many cartoons. It really is hilarious to read how he compares a mans sword to parts of the anatomy, and even more hilarious to think about how the translator must have laboured to find a suitable translation that could be published. Great stuff, all in all. I can't wait to eventually meet the man in person. I expect that it will take a few years, but I intend to have my technique validated by him when I fell that I'm ready.

posted by Tay @ 10:35 AM

Let it be known that I am having a fantastic day. I can guarentee that my day is better than yours is so far. First off, while at work at this clothing store in southwest, i found a belt in the dumpster that has a perfect buckle to replace the broken one on my new backpack.

Then, after my shift, I went to the bank to see that my direct-deposit paycheque was deposited correctly. It was, and as it turns out, it was over $200 more than I expected it to be! This could not come at a better time, considering that there are many birthdays to consider this month. First up is Adam's, where there will be a poker tournament held in his honour.

I am no good at poker, and Adam largely makes a living at the game, but I figure it's the least I can do for his birthday.

Next birthday on the list is my bestest buddy Shuu. He wants Knights of the Old Republic for XBOX, and I tried to pick it up this morning, but they were all sold out. Needless to say, I will simply pick it up at a later date, and ship it off to him, his abode in jolly-old Toronto.

Feeling giddy with financial power, I went to the bookstore nearby to peruse their wares. Seeing a book entitled "Fast Food Nation", I swooped it up on an impulse. Getting to the till, the lady took a surprise 30% off the title, as it was a New York Times Best Seller, which entitles it to be cheaper, I suppose. I will have to read this book on my next shift Friday. Lord knows that nobody loves fast food more than me, so I sure as heck wouldn't mind reading about it.

Stopping for gas before I got home, I just happened to get the cheapest gas that I've seen in a month.

Who knows, perhaps this string of good fortune will carry through to the poker game. I wouldn't mind that in the slightest. If anything, it would be worth the weird dreams as of late. This is to say that there was a sequel to the bizarre-ness that ensues in my REM time. Strong Bad might call it Bizzareness 2: This time, it's seriously bizzare!"

posted by Tay @ 10:17 AM

Yeah, so now that I've learned how to succesfully hypertext, this blog has taken a big step. Now I can lead you all to the sites that I frequent, or possibly let you know which videogames I am interested in. That's really it. Most of the stuff that I visit on the internet would not be appropriate for hypertexting.

I had a really weird dream last night. I'm not going to share what it was, but it just really had me shook up for the rest of the day. I'm sure that this has happened to everybody, it's just really kinda weird. I don't normally dream when I sleep, or at least I don't remember them. Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about.

Sensei showed us this demo video that was done by the manufacturers of the swords that he brought in. It displays the cutting power of the blade, which is awesome, to say the least. In one of the demonstrations, they use the sword to cut through hanging sides of beef. It made me think of what would happen if Rock Belboa was a samurai. Although the video was cool, it also doubled as a comedy, as the guy weilding the sword had laughably bad technique. I am suprised that there was no blooper footage on the DVD of the guy cutting his ear off accidentally. The man is actually the president of the company, so I guess he gets to star in his own movies. Still, if a man unskilled can still use the sword to cut through PVC pipe like a hot knife through butter, just imagine what a REAL ninja could do.

posted by Tay @ 12:12 AM

Just curious here, I am atempting to hypertext. Just random stuff, to see if it works. I guess that we will find out shortly. If this screws everything up, and the site crashes forever, then it's been nice bloggin' with ya.

posted by Tay @ 4:01 AM

I walk an awful lot. Seriously. Every day that I am coming home from the dojo, it has become ritual for me and Phil to meet at Tim Hortons with my friend Mike, and have our usual order (a large green tea with two sugars please!) Then Mike and Phil play chess, and afterwards we go for a walk around the neighborhood, and into the nearby park, and then back. This usually takes about 1-2 hours. I've never really thought about it that much, but it really adds up. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll just walk down to Las Vegas or something. It would probably take a while, as it's a 4 day drive, but given a month or so, give or take, I think that it could be done. Thinking about it just now, that sounds like a very bad idea, as I would be deprived of creature comforts such as Game Cube, money, and wall outlets. Also, I think that setting up a tent on the side of the road is generally frowned upon. I'm just saying that I would be up for the task, in case of a nuclear problem or something.

Ah, North Korea. Kim Jong Ill kicks ass, and well he should, what with him being the inventor of ass-kicking. He's out to make a name for himself, that's for sure. I really don't keep up on current events enough to say any more on the subject.

Sensei brought in a sword that he will be selling through the dojo. My, but what a fine piece of metal that was. Phil has his eye on it, and will likely buy one coming from the next shipment. Myself, I am more interested in buying a car, THEN perhaps a sword. For now, I am more than happy with the really big knife that was made by the same manufacturers. It's really big, and can apperantly cut through a car door. I have no need to test these claims yet, but I have no reason to disbelieve them. Disbelieve? Unbelieve? Hmmm, I believe them, with no reason to do otherwise. Yeah, that works.

posted by Tay @ 3:58 AM

I find that time spent here at the studio can get pretty dull, so you can expect more than one update here on satrday and sunday nights.

One of the more interesting aspects of this building is the in-house gym that is provided for employees. It's pretty fancy, with ecquipment ranging from this suitable for your average cripple to superman. I don't really go for all the fancy stuff when it comes to working out, I'll take plain ol' push-ups over the metal-and-wires crazy thingy any day.

This is not to say that I am in bad shape. I may have a fairly slim figure, but to more truthful, I am one skinny kid. But the situation is improving. Back in January I made my new years resolution to gain 20 pounds. Checking in on the scale in the gym, I have gained 14 pounds since. For some, this may seem trivial, but for me it is fairly monumentous, as I was unable to break 100 pounds until I was 16. So. bring on the Big-Macs, as I only have 5 months left. If my weight gaining trend keeps up, I may have to try for extra credit.

Who knows, I may be able to actually gain visible body fat by the end of the year! Wouldn't that be something?

posted by Tay @ 12:51 AM

Well, I'm back at that movie studio place with 30 computers, and they're all Macs. Sheesh. Oh well, it sure beats all the other places I've been working security for recently. This place gives me an oppurtunit to put down the gameboy, and pick up my pencil. The comic has been going pretty good lately. Mike is in a full swing of colouring now that his scanner is working again, and the results have been great for the most part. The process he uses is long and arduous, but for the most part the results are great. Sometimes the colours he chooses are just bad though. Still, it sure beats doing it myself! Lord knows the whole project would go nowhere if that were the case.

I'm glad that I need only provide security for this building, and not across the street. Looking out my window, there are a couple of quad bikes that are playing chicken in the empty lot across the street. As a precaution, I've dialed 9-1, and put the second 1 on speed dial. I can't wiat for those two idiots to kill each other. I hope that there's an explosion. I think that would be great.

posted by Tay @ 10:44 PM

Man, all of this stupid car shit happens whenever I'm the one driving! Me and my parents split the car 50/50, but I am always the one who must suffer when shit goes wrong. Back when I was working at the fish warehouse, guarding the lobster costume, the battery died, and I needed to get AMA to give me a boost. Before that, the damn thing broke down due to ignition problems. And tonite, I get a flat tire. I have no idea how long that I've had it. I assume that I just got it tonite, possible the nite before, but I don't know. I mean, how often do you check your tires? So I got towed home. Hooray. One of these days, AMA is gonna throw me a party. "Most frequent fuck-up!" The cake will read. I hope that it's chocolate.

posted by Tay @ 5:12 AM

I had a couple days off, and I've been enjoying them, which is to explain for the missing update. I'm working on some stop-motion stuff lately, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped. The wire frame that I fixed up for stop-motion wire-fu isn't as stable as I need it to be. That's fine though. If only I could work on stop-motion at work, were the most tedious tasks become a godsend. Otherwise I find that it's almost a waste of time. I got a 12 hour shift tonite working in a heated trailer, so I should be able to get a decent number of comics finished, that is of course unless something actually happens at work, but I doubt it.

Zelda has gotten to be a tough game to figure out. I promised myself that I wouldn't abuse Gamefaqs.com, but now I'm at the dungeon thingy that I just can't figure out for the life of me.

posted by Tay @ 1:04 PM

Well, I told you that the barbeque would be a painful experience, and it was. This can all be blamed on one of my many annoying uncles. This particular one has a habit of marrying motorcycle floozies, and he is on his fourth one now. This one sees fit to bring her brother along to gatherings. His name is Will. I can only think of him in my head as Toothless Willy. This man is insufferable. Not only does he have the need to start every exchange with the phrase "how's it goin', buddy?" but the guys chainsmokes, thinks everything said is more hilarious than the last, and steals a digital camera off of the table to take pictures of my shoes. Yeah, he's a bit weird. Also, he's a suspected drug-addict, who interupted me in my story of the bum peeing in the parking lot I was guarding last month to correct me, as appearently he found "bum" offensive. He prefers the term "homeless". I don't care. Hopefully, uncle will be divorced and onto some other floozy before christmas, because I do not want to have to deal with this loser again.

Day off today, which means that I sleep in. All day. What a waste.

posted by Tay @ 8:54 AM

Sorry for the lack of updates this past few days, I really have no excuse. Todays will be kinda long though, so I hope that it makes up for it. We'll start by having my review of "Pirates of the Carribean."

I must regretfully report that it was a good movie. This is ONLY because of Johnny Depp's fantastic performance. Were he not in the movie, it would not be worth renting. He was so good in this film, that no amount of pirates, or UNDEAD pirates for that matter could spoil it for me. Keep in mind how much I hate pirates and the undead, and you can understand how well Mr. Depp did.

Also starring in this movie is Super-hunk Orlando Bloom, of Lord of the Rings fame. Why he was in this movie, I have no idea. If it was for sex appeal to the teenage girl crowd, I would have to say that he largely failed in this aspect. He does nothing sexy of any sort in the movie, and just kinda doddles his way through in the shadow of Johnny Depp. It would have been totally feasible to just write him out of the picture entirely. But seriously, there was so many times during the film where it would have been plot-relevant to have him at least take off his shirt. What a dissapointment.

Also, I've been working pretty solid here, which is good for the bank. I just finished a shift at the Post-office, and I can honestly say that it's true what they say about postal workers. Disgruntled to the max. But they only showed up during the final hour of my shift. The other 11 hours consisted of me working alongside Maureen, a long-time security guard of the site. I've never worked alongside anybody at this job before, as all other sites have been one-man jobs, so this got kinda ackward.

Actually, it wasn't really that bad. I think that Maureen shares my distaste for small talk, so we silently agreed to do our jobs from seperate rooms, where such nonsense would be impossible. It's not that I don't like talking to strangers. It's just that I have nothing to say, for the most part. And honestly, who the hell cares what I think about the weather? So, unless I have something pertinent to talk about, I usually won't say anything. It's not like I'm socially retarded or anything, it just sometimes looks that way.

You may have noticed that I have not been talking much about the comic lately. Fret not, it is still in production, although somewhat slower than before. The sites that I have been working at lately have not presented a great drawing environment, and as such, I have had to stick to playing pac-man and staring at the wall to pass the time. Still, if Fat Mike is reading this, your ass had better be darn near finished colouring all those pages I gave you. On a side note, I am not a fan of that latest colouring technique you showed me, it makes my drawing look as though they were done in MS paint. Your initial style was much better. I don't care if it takes longer, I would rather release one comic a week with that style than 3 a week with the crappy style.

I have to go to some crappy barbeque at my aunt's house this afternoon, after I wake up. I hate most of my extended family with a passion, much to the dismay of my parents. But it's not my fault that they suck so bad! Luckily, I need only suffer for a couple of hours before I have to excuse myself to leave for work once again. If anything interesting happens, I'll be sure to fill you in!

posted by Tay @ 8:47 AM

I just finished doing 2 days of patient watch down at the hospital. It's definitly good money, and for the most part it's pretty easy, but last night was not fun at all. The patient was on suicide watch, and it was tempting for me to let him give it a go. To let you get a picture in your head of what the guy looked like, follow these steps:

1. Take accomplished actor/bug-eyed weirdo Steve Buscemi.

2. Starve him for 3 weeks.

3. Beat him visciously for 20 minutes with a lead pipe.

Yeah, and give him a nasty attitude too. This guy was spitting at me, and talking trash that would make a sailor blush. I still got to laugh though, because no matter how stupid and mean the guy tried to be, he was still hog-tied to the bed, and having to pee in a bottle. So there. The guy was going through detox for all kinds of drugs, and so he was pretty sketchy. But like all patients that I have watched before, once the nurse gives him the good sleepy-time drugs, they all get a bit more agreeable.

Money gets paid to me on Thursday. I can't wait. I'm thinking of taking my friends out to dinner to show how much I appreciate their generosity.

posted by Tay @ 7:37 AM

I'm a big dummy. The reason this is so this time is because I have been putting work before my ninja training for far too long now. I will have been absent from the dojo for nearly 3 weeks. I hate to think how rusty my skills will prove to be. I have my reasons for working this much though, money being the big one. I need it bad, after my trip to T.O. I have acrued quite the debt. If I don't clear this debt in time, I will have angry ninja masters after me, not to mention my parents and the credit card company. Oh well, I have been getting so many shifts lately, all these money probems should dissolve rather quickly.

In Pac-related news, I have hit a snag in my goal for 200K. I have gotten up to 185,180, which I am very proud of, but to continue forward, I will have to find a new strategy. The problem is that when you get to the 7th key and beyond, the power dots do nothing to deter the ghosts. At that point, you are flying without a safety net, and things get astronomically harder. I guess that I will just need to get more practice.

In closing for today, Ralph Klein got it with a pie. As my friend Shuu put it, "best stampede breakfast ever".

posted by Tay @ 7:05 AM

In the REALLY big post that I was gonna do on that Mac the other day, I had this whole big paragraph detailing why all of my friends are cooler than yours. It was long and extravagent, detailing most of the cool things that they have done for me lately.

It has come to my attention that none of those workds were even close to the truth, if anything they amounted to the understement of the centuries. Not only are my friends cooler than yours, but if you were to take all of the friends in the world and put them together and make some kind of Godzilla-friend with them, my friends would come and kick some ass. In the case of the Godzilla friend, I'm thinking that my friends would get together and combine their powers to defeat it in some flashy stylish way. I'm thinking kinda like the power rangers, except not as lame, and kinda like the wonder twins, except that there's more than two of them. So something in between, use your imagination.

The reason for this overspilling of praise is in lue of the fact that they all pitched in to buy me a gamecube for my birthday. Not only that, but they also included all of the necesarry accesories required to play the upcoming multiplayer Pac-Man game, which I await with baited breath. I did not deserve this gift in any way, yet they saw fir to combine their wonder-friend powers (read: monies) and do the coolest thing ever.

Also my party kicked ass. I'm running a bit late for work now, so I can't describe an overly elaborate metaphor to state exactly how much it kicked ass.

posted by Tay @ 10:29 PM

Goddam Mac computers. I had the longest post that I'd ever written all planned out, and then I tried to ctrl+c it all so that I wouldn't lose it. Apperantly, in the magaical world of the Mac, that command serves to delete all of your hard earned typing, and leave you a crying heap on the floor. At least I wan't doing anything important at the time. As my time on this computer is short, I wil sum up whatmy post was all about in point form.

-My friends are awesome, as they do things like let me stay in their homes while on vacation, or provide me with cool ninja equipment like grappling hooks.

-My party is this evening, and i hope that it is crazy go nuts.

-I am feeling largely conflicted with my plans to move out quickly versus my plans to get an education/black belt/lots of stuff.

-My job rocks, as I play gameboy and draw comics at a desk for a living.

So that's largely it, although I'm REALLY skimming over things. Anyway, I have to finish up things at work here, and then rest up for my party. Hope to see ya there!

posted by Tay @ 5:41 AM

posted by Tay @ 5:35 AM

I've been doing patient watch at the hospital the past couple of days, and I'm really tired right now, so I will just say this: For the last 8 hours, I was paid $10/h to play Pac-Man. To make it even better, I was able to beat my old high score. The new high score is now 168,410 points. I am working again tonite, and I hope to break 200,000. Time to pass out now.

posted by Tay @ 7:00 AM

Let it never be said that I don't carry with me legitimate super powers. They are indeed what kept me from updating any time last night. Sunday was the big shibaz, the parade, the parties, the whole enchilada. The pride parade itself was like any other parade, except that this one was actually fun, interesting, and worth acknowledging. After the parade, which was about 3-4 hours long, we walked about the streets, taking in the other festivities, of which there were many. We then proceeded to pack my things, and head out to this club, where there was an all-ages party going on. It was pretty fun, the music was good, the crowd was hot.So after that, we went straight to the airport shuttle, to get my ass back home. So when that was all said and done, I got home to hugs from the family, and the task of mowing our lawn. Hooray. In the middle of that bonanza, I got a call from my boss, saying that I had a job tonite if I so wished. It was at the hospital, doing a patient watch, and would last from 6-8pm. I am in desperate need of money, so I of course said yes. Getting to the hospital, it turned out that the job was from 6-6am, as in 12 hours as opposed to 2. More money for me, so I was quite happy. The patient I was watching was really screwed up in the head, but I guess that's a recquirement if you have a watcher assigned to you. After that, I came home, and began to update my blog, which you are reading now.

With all these events happening one after the other, there is one thing that should stand out as painfully missing. SLEEP. Didn't get none. Not a wink. It's my power. With that said, I need to go pass out now.

PS: Happy birthday to me!

posted by Tay @ 7:13 AM