Fund in the Clown Cave

Monday Night Knitting was all about making our room pretty. Here I am on stilts working on the banner with out name painted on the wall.

We have the white background painted on the wall for the White Shield Logo for the Brigade. Walt and I were talking about what to do with it.

His suggestion is to cut the main peices of the logo out of plywood to give it depth. It is a really good idea and we are going to do it.

The technical bit of this I sill leave up to him because he is better at all of this than I am .

The next thing that we have to look into is getting our stuff organized. Our equipment is in fairly good shape. Out office area it a bit messy. We currently do not have the furniture to get this dealt with at the moment.

Well we will see how all of this going. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Practice and Such

We had a good practice today. We went through a whole bunch of balloon and got a great deal of juggling done. My wife and Sergeant Arasen got all of the new Cadets up on their paper work.

Just for yucks here is an out take from the videos we take.



You can see the progress we are making on our decorating. We also have the first picture of two new Cadets.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

I had to Kill Prince Rue

The thing I am doing most on the book these days is trying to close up the plot hole and making sure that everything is set up for the rest of the series.

To that end there was one nagging problem, Prince Rue. Prince Rue is a royal that was saved in the first book of the third series. This series actually begins after the first book in the third series for Mason and the crew of the Tojo Maru. Most of the rest of the character in the book this is the beginning of their part in the over all story arch of all the series.

It really does not make much sense to talk about it out of context. Still, in order for the first series to work out the focus has to be only the interaction between Mason, Yuin and their relationship with General Damon Booth {He is a future ficticous General of The Savlation Army}. If Prince Rue is there is make everything much to messy. In reality the story between these three character is not the main story in the first series. So I killed him today.

It was the easist way to deal with the issue that arise from him being aorund. Of course being sci fi you can always bring dead people bcak wehn you need them with some phoney balony story.

On the up side I did find the Jpop song Dr. my Nani Amuro. It is a song that Mason is listening to int he first book somewhere. At one point I wanted her to use the name from the Dr in the song as an assumed identity. The song is about a Dr. that is fixing the future by sending a super warrior into the past. It is not really like my story. Still there are people going into the past trying to fix the future. And really how many song are about that sort of thing.

As far as I can tell there are only three. And of the three I have found it is the only one with a mefale time lord type character. As far as I can tell the super warrior's main power is turning evil into clowers. So it is not a direct corelation. Still, it is closer than anyone else.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

New Internet Discovery

For those that do not know I am a big Jpop and Kpop fan. This is the popular music of Japan. It started out several years ago with Morning Musume. I am not sure what it is about it. I don't understand the lyrics and have to find translation on line if I want to know what they are saying. Still, the tunes are upbeat and chipper.

I have been able to find some places to get a couple tunes here and there. Still my beloved launchcast station does not have Jpop. Well I came across www.jpopasia.com.

This site had every song that I could imagine. It can set up play lists and has other interesting stuff I do not understand. That is the way that I can tell if a site is well put together. The more a site has stuff I don't understand the cooler the site must be. The fact that i don't understand something means everything thinks it is cool

Trying to stay on the subject this is a really nice site. In addition fi you want to go with the premium service it is only five bucks. That is nice when it does not cost an arm and a leg. I suppose that the music is hosted by sites like youtubes and just linker there. Still, they have everything.

What few sites Ihave found thus far are fan site for an individual band. This has not served me well because my taste is all over the place on the Jpop front.

In Pittsburgh there are several store that sell Jpop CD. the only problem is not reading Japaneese I cannot decide what to buy. This makes like difficult. I suppose I do not know the names of the bands and such.

Still a couple month listening to music on this site and I should be able to fix my ignorance in this area.

On other front I am still working on the book of course. I have no idea how many pages this thing is going to be. I do think I am going to loose my mind writting this book. Still,, once this book is done the rest of the books in the series will be easier.

Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.

Iornside

This is great episode of Iornside with Ricardo Mantoban and Alan Alda dad who's name I forget.

Music Awesomeness

The new U2 song is great. I suppose it is a short at America's war mongering. We probably deserve it.



I also just discovered there is a music act out there named Rihanna. I supposed everyone else figured this out a couple years ago. Well I am slow.



I also figured out that Miley Cyrus is the Daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus. I was so happy to hear this. For a while I was thinking that she was dating a really creepy older guy. I suppose it is alright if it is her father.

Writting on the Walls

Today at Monday knitting we did a bit more decorating. Here is a picture of me writing on the walls. We are going to write the clown brigade name on the wall along with a large version of the brigade logo.

We are going to paint the banner on the wall. We picked up some letter from a craft store. We will paint them and glue them to the wall.

The Clown Cave had become an interesting thing at our Corps. The space was neglected for so many years. When my wife and I joined the corps the space was full of junk. The walls needed painted and it did not have any type of lighting in the main room. The storage room is still in need of spackling and painting. The storage room was once the kitchen of the Quarters at the Corps. Since them the counters and equipment have been removed.

Over the last couple years the junk has been removed. The Brigade painted the walls and I put in some lighting. Now we have a television and stero in the space. We are going to install an air conditioner and the ugliest space in the Corps is now one of the most desirable.

I suppose there is a parable in there somewhere. There was a bit of knitting done. JC Thurman is working on chemo caps. She is just about finished with her first one. Sergeant Wilson almost has her riffle shuffle down. It is really hard for someone with small hands to do magic. Still she is doing it.

Walt and I have been looking into building some stage effect. This should be a nice addition to the show. I will let you know what we pick when we do.

Be saafe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Still Typing

I am still typing stuff in the book. It is amazing that I keep finding plot holes that need. At this rate I should be finished some time right before I drop dead.

We are also looking to do some some more decorating in the clown cave. we would like to get it ready for our seminar in may. We have letter to put our name on the wall that should be fun. I will put up some pictures when i have them.

In brigade news we made Apprentice Wilson a Sergeant on the Brigaede Council. We also made JC Stewart and assistance ballon sergeant. That is interesting and impressive if you are into clowning. And if you are not well that is the third subject of this entry.

The Young Salvos website continued to do well. They are improving the layout and items that they have on the site. They have several things that I have no idea what they do. That means that they are popular and hip. I find that the less I understand something the more popular it is. That explains Hillary Duff and Larry the cable guy.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Chemo Cap - Pink

This may not be extremely original. Still, it is pink and it is what I have been working on. The kids in the knitting group are on their first scarves. Some have learned to purl and increase and decrease. So after their first scarves they will need another project. This one is probably a good candidate for a second project.

Anyway it is pink made of an acrylic yarn. It is a baby soft yarn and will make a nice summer chemo cap. It is being made on number 8 US circular needles.


Being that none of us need a chemo cap we do not have any of them laying around. So I needed to make one as an example.

Well there you go your basic Chemo cap. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Random Music Stuff - Well sort of

For those in the Army they know of the great musical tradition that we have. Well that music tradition is alive and not so well at the Steel Valley Corps. One of the thing sthat we have been working on is some kind of band for the Clown Brigade. What we have come up with is accordions. This is an old video clip that we have have not used. So here it is.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Knitting at the Cult Meeting & Another Clown Hat

Fun was had at the Friday Night Knitting Group at The Boarders in The South Hills. There was a of course knitting and some crochet. My wife and I have also decided to start taking a couple young people from the Clown Brigade every week.
This week we took Sergeant Prioleau and Sergeant Thurman. So The Brigade's ruling council was there except for two members. Perhaps, we should not have us all concentrated at one place in public at one time. Much in the same way you do not see the Vice President and the President at one time. Above is Sergeant Prioleau reading a book.

Sergeant Thurman is here working on a Chemo Cap.
This is a Clown Hat that I am working on. It is made of Red Heart Hokey Pokey. This hat feature two ruffle at the base of the hat.
Here is Sereant Thurman modeling the hat. The hat will have pom poms between the two ruffles. We will get to the pom poms at the next Brigade Knitting Practice on Monday



Well than you all for checking in. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Leatherman

Last Monday at our knitting group we were looking at some material other than yarn. Walt picked up a peice of leather to make seat for his motocycle. It is red and pretty.

On the leather front this is known as a full hide. That means that it is the better part of a cow hide. picture to the left is Walt with his new acquisition.

Currently his bike has pleather seats that have seen better days.

He just had the bike painted and this leather is a nice match for it.

It had bee a long time since I actually appolstered something. The neat this about this project is that it is a collection of relatively small pillows. So it is a great deal easier than doing a couch.

This is the piece of leather stretched out on a table. I will keep you posted. Be safe out there.