Uncle Caveman

I just got back from California, and a funeral held for my wife's grandmother. Is it okay to say you had fun at a service? I did.

Whenever I am around my wife's family, a couple of things always stand out:

1. There are a lot of them. I've never known anyone with a family as extensive as Mrs. h's. It was a bit intimidating the first time we went to Thanksgiving dinner together, and a hundred people showed up. They are all fun, loud, and all up in each other's business. It's the good kind of messy family you'd see in a feel good romantic comedy starring whoever is popular at the moment.

2. I am a grump. Being around people I haven't seen in a while (or haven't met at all) invariably leads to questions of the, "What are you studying/working on/accomplishing with your life?" variety; questions I don't always have an answer for, or am just not especially proud of answering. The anticipation of these questions, alone, is enough to put me on the defensive. I'm pretty sure her relatives think Mrs. h married a bear. What can I say? I'm a work in progress.

Some highlights of the trip:

Discovering Mr. C is scary good at manipulating his peers. Criminally good, even. By the end of the trip, he had organized his cousins into a syndicate of willing scapegoats, bruisers, and enforcers, and employed them in a scheme to ultimately control all the hot wheels in great grandma's house.

Bonding, while peeing on the side of the road with my boy in Death Valley.

Riding dirt bikes in the Lancaster desert.

Little miss O contentedly pooing on everything she could get her sick bum into, and ultimately bringing her and her brother to the burial in pj's, because everything else was dirty.

Getting beaten by a four year old at Mario Kart, and writing songs with Matt and Christy about how making babies like great grandma made babies never put her sexual orientation into question.

Stacking the favorites list in the rental's satellite radio with groups like "Mother Truckers," "Das Racist," and, "Kelly Clarkson," with K, just to bother the next renter.

After reading this list, I think I still have a bunch of growing up to do. Photos to come, later.

Working for the city

Here's a piece I did today in mypaint. It was inspired by cover art from The Flaming Lips/Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. In almost ten years, I still think it's one of the best albums my ears have ever listened to. Well played, sirs. Well played.

More art rage.

I've been playing some more in art rage. This is what I did today. I know the composition is a bit crap, but I was mostly just playing with the colors.