Monday, December 05, 2011
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Twitter, Vid Casts
I have not figured out how people find out who to follow on the twitter. I figure that I could pick celebrities who interest me. Then I realised I do not really care what any famous people are doing. The only celebrity I am following if Neil Degrass Tyson. I think this of course make me a huge nerd. Well at least I am not following Willian Shatner. Oh and I am following John Cleese. Either way I hope they post funny stuff. Oh and I am going to follow Samuel L. Jackson just to see if he uses the f word on the twitter.
The next thing is the goal to have a lot of people following you? If it is I am up to three. I would tell you who the three of them are but they may not want the public know they are following some clown. If that is what you are supposed to do how are you supposed to get the people to follow you. Are you supposed to tell other people about the interesting people that you have found to follow?
On a side note. If you are reading this and you want me to ramble in shorter chunks of texts you can follow me on the twitter. I am Zeeppo on the twitter just like I am every where else.
I have to get one of those cords to get the pictures off my phone. Oh that reminds me. The Clown Brigade is thinking of starting up the vidcasts again. We would of course like to have the Yarn N'at vidcast going. That was a great and entertaining thing. Walt and I had a lot of fun doing that. We may have a couple of the young one from the Brigade as cohosts on that thing.
We also have to really rework Army Clowns. Being that we are no longer part of the The Salvation Army we should probably come up with a new name at least. We still have all the Salvo tradition just not the blue suits.
So if you have have any idea for the Title of a Clown Vidcast let me know. I would like to hear your ideas.
Well that is all i can ramble about. Keep your stick on the ice and be safe out there.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Blogging Failures
As some research I looked up text messageing on the internet. Apparently people use abbreviations so that they can put longer test into a smaller space. This is a fascinating thing. Apprently OMG mean Oh My God. that is an interesting thing. I am sure that everyone else on the planet already knew this stuff. Still it is something new to me.
Well I will be doing some research on the texting nomenclature. Perhapse I can find a book on all the abbreviations.
Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Random Stuff
We had a great day at the CMU Juggling yesterday. All of our folks were on the stilts and even one of the CMU students praved the aluminium legs. I have some pictures on my phone that I cano get off at the moment. I will have to have one of the young people in the group get them off for me.
On the subject of the young people they are off from school today as well. I will probably be heading over to Homestead if the weather hold to give some stilting lessons. They are really doing exceedingly well. We are thinking of having a stilter in our routine for the Christmas pagent at the church. I am not exactly sure if it is a pagent. It sound more like some kind of variety show. Which is better that is something that is right up out alley even we are a Brigade and not and Alley. The clown folk out there know what I mean.
Well everyone be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving
Well anyway that is one the reason we have our actual Thanksgiving at the Chinese Resteraunt. It is easy and there is no clean up. Also it is the only place that I can get Sushi and not bother those that are not into the eating of the fishy yuminess. This place also has the wifi so I can do the mobile blogging. Actually I can do the mobil blogging with the gizmo I bought from t mobile that does the internet. It is odd that the wireless internet is faster than the verizon at the house. Maybe that is why verizon tried to buy t-mobile recently, but I digress.
All of this does not have much to do with Thanksgiving though. My ancestors were of course thankful that they all didn't starve to death or the Natives didn't kill them for stealing from them. My thankfulness is more centered around my wife who has had a tough road the last couple years. She is past the cancer but still dealing with the bad heart. So I am thankful that she is still with us. I am also thankful for the prayers of all of those that have been praying for her. I am sure that has helped a great deal. Also on another note the hospital food locally has improved some over the last couple years. So sitting around in a hospital is not so bad if there is something to eat. Granted I am not the one being operated on so my wife might feel differently about it.
I hope that those who are reading this have something to be thankful for this year. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Nearing the End
I am also considering making a flower stick for the grab bag thing at the COAI. i have some material that is not the colors that we usually use. So it might be nice to encourage juggling there with a juggling present.
On other knitting fronts i am trying to find a cable knit sweater pattern that i like. It has been a long time since i knit a sweater. It strikes me that i should knit one every once and while just so that i can keep up on them. I know there are folks out there that just love to knit sweaters. They scare me just a little.
On the sewing front it is time to make a new Apparatus bag. The current design is doing rather well except for the holes and the fading. There are also a couple folks in the Clown Brigade that are starting to juggle more items. So they are going to need bags as well.
Well that is it for now. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
A Title Before
Anyway the only published stuff that i have done is some clown text book type things. The only ting that I have not done is publish a work of fiction. It has been a long held aspiration of mine. Everything else I have wanted to do in life I have had the opportunity to do on one level or another.
Well anyway usually I start with a blank note book and write several chapters. As i mentioned a couple of entries ago I have been working on a series of books in a story arc that goes over a couple thousand years. Anyway the first book in the series revolved around James Booth's parents. His father is the General of The Salvation Army. I would say more but it really messes up the story if you know more. The major plot elements of this story all get mentioned by James as he recalls his young life in latter stories. So I have not done much with this story, actually nothing.
Then it comes to me that the book should be named The Last Great General. I have never had a good title for something before i have spent a couple month working on it. In fact I have several things that are simply numbered and do not have a title at all. Heck i don't even have a name for James Booth's father. Since he was talking about him he always called him Dad or Father.
Well for some reason that was all very impressive to me. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Various Random Things
On another note a long time absent person has popped up in a comment on the blog. I am pleased to hear from them. Jamie was a nice lady that knit with Walt and I back when we meeting at a local bookstore before it went under. The brigade an Church have been taking up a lot of my time so i have not had time to hang out in knitting groups. Sadly the only groups that I truly felt a part of were the ones that I started. bee Hive Knitting was great before the Bee Hive became a bar. And knitting at the Jo Beth's was also nice before it bit the dust. I have even considered starting a new knitting group here on the South Side. the only rub is coming up with a place to meet. the South Side has some nice restaurants but there are no longer any coffee shops other than the chain that does not need me to mention it's name for you to know who they are. Sadly I think that the chain that shall remain nameless is part of the reason there is not a coffee shop on the South Side. There
is a Caribou Coffee maybe I will call them about starting a knitting group. the other sad thing is that Walt will probably not have the time to come to the knitting group. He was always great fun at the knitting groups.Well on the clown front we have been working on stilts recently. This is also thanks to Walt because he acquired the stilts. This is Cadet Miller up on a set with Apprentice Brimage keeping an eye on her. In her first go she was able to stay up for 22 minutes before she got tired and she was able to walk on her own.
In another odd turn of events I was elected the President of our Church Choir. Granted I was the third choice, the other two refused. Still, I hope my keen sense of parlimentary procedure will carry the day. You would not think it so but I do have a way with rules and order. So that will be an interesting little adventure for 2012.
Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Bad Blogger Struggles
Anyway The knitting of a long scarf and the continued Adventure of the Booth and Jefferson Family have been occupying my time.
I will not go to much into the long scarf because it is going to be in the present swap at the COAI meeting. So I cannot go into color or pattern. I can say that it will e loved by the clown that ends up with it.
I am getting very close to finishing the book that I have been working on. It is early in the story arc for the series. I am even not horrified by my crummy grammer and spelling. I do have to admit that the computer is finally getting to the point where it can deal with my lousy spelling. it is even marginally helpful on the grammer front. And heck ebooks have come to the point where it might be an option to deal my obsesive need to keep all control over what i am writing.
The story is set around the young Evangeline Booth. She is ten years old in the story and had what looks like magical control over technology. She of course is a time traveler who has been altered by powerful alien technology. Her family and future Husband are fresh off their adventure with the ancient race. Her future husband has been the target of evil time traveler so her adult self has been protecting him. Her future husband has become enchanted by his future wife even though he is a nineteen at the time. Evangeline has always loved John, her future husband, this is complicated by their ages in the story.
In the story they must save a planet full of former slaves that have been hiding out from their former master. They are of course the modern descendant of the ancient race that the Booths and the Jefferson had lived among. the antient race has given the Booth and Jefferson and Booth families the military hardware to end the crimes against their future selves.
This is complicated by the fact that they cannot radically alter the time line because they are also fighting with the evil time travelers. James Booth , Evangeline's father, is the Chaplain on the Uss The Sullivans. The Sullivans senior staff is killed in battle leaving Booth the Captain of the ship. Booth has to get to save the alien colony. If he can he use the as a cover to aid in the abolitionist movement that is starting to gain traction.
If he can hold the colony for two weeks a relief fleet will be able to push the pirates and slave traders completely off the planet. Of course Evangeline does some rash things.
I very pleased with the story arc that I have laid out. I figure it will take around thirty books to write the multi generational tale. The issue is that i have not been very happy with any of the individual parts I have written thus far. This books is four or five books in and i am happy with it.
As I ponder the story arc I am reminded that I have never actually tried to write the first book in the series. Well there is a kettle of fish I probably do not want to kick over.
The continued warping of my cultural preferences continues. the young people in the group have got me listening to Selena Gomez. She can sing an there are no two ways about it.
Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Knitting and Other Relevant Things
The actual pattern it out of one of the Vogue Knitting Books. The knitters out there will know the ones that i am talking about. they might even know what book I am talking about. As I type this I looked across the room to see a pile of knitting books. They have been displaced by a
On other fronts the strange growing pattern of the Brigade continues. With the Brigade office half way put together we have around six cadet clowns here on the South Side Slopes and several more interested. They are mostly young people but it is a wider age range than the last couple time we had a membership jump. We have a couple seven year old a couple teens a a couple in between. There might even be a parent or two in there.
On another odd twist over everything I am starting to like Justine Beiber and Miranda Cosgrove. At least I think hat is how their names are spelled. The computer does not agree with me. In addition there are some Japanese band that Miss McBride from the internet has suggested. So not only do I have the musical tastes of a teenage girl they are the tastes of a Japanese teen age girl. Yep that is normal for a man of my age. I blame being exposed to Bob Dylan at a young age for my musical mental issues.
Well be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Juggling Clubs in Pittsburgh
It has gotten to the point that i am looking into starting a juggling club.
I have spent a couple days randomly looking for some kind of internet juggling network. Sadly i have found a couple websites that appear to be ignored by the people who made them. Apparently jugglers are the only people that do not like to talk to one another on the internet.
I will keep you posted if anything interesting happens. Don't hold your breath though.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Making Juggling Batons & Number 10
On an interesting note his favorite type was the kind that I use. This is the one that Walt and made three years ago. This has become the most popular stick that we have been making for ourselves. This will be the fourth or fifth one we have made for a member of the Brigade. I have also made a couple for people outside the Brigade.
The particular stick is your basic two foot long flower stick. Apprentice Brimage has requested that it be red and black. I think that it is going to be an attractive stick. The nice thing about making the same kind of stick is that you can be sure of the balance. One of the people in the Brigade wanted a rather special stick that was longer and had head that we had never used on a juggling baton before. The sad thing was that it took me three attempts to get something that had the right balance.
On another subject an interesting question as possed to me. If you could choose a handful of people to make immortal who would they be? I am pondering a list of ten people. For a place to start I think I am going to choose the Emperor Charlemagne.
He was an enlightened leader who believed in education in a time when the average King was a brutal dictator by modern standards. I think we would be living in a more enlightened and interesting world if the Holy Roman Empire had not fallen apart.
Well be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Slacking Off Again
Recently I have been trying to resurrect some part of my fire juggling act. Frankly I have had no need of it for the last five years. There is a group of folks that do various forms of fire performing in Frick Park Thursday Evening after dark. The last couple weeks i have been hopping on the bus right after choir practice and going over there.
I did notice that someone was taking pictures with a camera. this is video from one of my attempts with a fire stick that I just built. It is incredibly heavy and i am not in love with it yet. Still it is a thing and I have been giving it a shot.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Clowen Happening
Well there is not a lot going on here at the old Clown Cave. We are getting ready for some events which is always nice. We have a parade and a visit to a hospital that we have not visited before. That is always an interesting thing for me. I am not sure why I enjoy visiting a new hospital so much. Maybe they are like trophies for Humor Therapy.
I was doing the math and I figured that I have visited 97 Hospitals, Nursing Homes or rehab institutions as a clown. This new one will be the VA in Aspiwal which is just outside Pittsburgh to the north if you are keeping track. It is a nice hospital that is much larger than I thought it was. On Monday after the parade we are taking more than half the Brigade out to go and visit the folks there. Actually I think I will be the most clowns that we have had in face in a long while. We have mostly been doing small institution where we only need two or three clowns to cover the place.
Also on the up side of this show is that it will be the first show for two of the members of the brigade. this is an important first step for any clown. Also a Parade is a great first show for an inexperienced clown. You just walk around and wave at people. Also it gives you a good feel for having a large crowd watch. It is also one of the few kind of shows where you can interact with the public in a completely controlled way. People do not chase you around or demands balloons. So it is a nice low stress thing.
I have continued to work on the instructional booklettes for the clown brigade. I know that it needs done. Still it is a slow and painful thing. There is so much work that needs to be done. And it is going to take years to do. And being at the start of that endeavor is a daunting thing. Well it is something that needs done.
I am thinking of taking a few hours over the weekend and going on another musical safari on the Jpopasia site. Basically I start with one song and after I have listened to it I go to one of the recommended songs at the bottom of the page. A year or two ago I would spend hours a week going from one song to another. Well it is something t do.
Well just checking in You all have a good evening. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Some more Randomness
I have been watching a bunch of movies this weekend. I started off with Run Silent Run Deep a Cary Grant Movie. I then watched most of the Die Hard Movies. I really happen to like the new one where they are running all over the place to trying to stop a cyber terrorist. It is high implausible still it is entertaining to watch a bunch of stuff blow up. I think I am going to finish up by watching some of the Yamato Movies. They are on the internet so it should not be that hard to find them.
On other front I am still working on my singing. My Choir Director has told me that I have to work on my Phalsetto voice. I have been singing X Japan songs to practice this. My biggest problem is that I have a hard time changing back and fourth. It seams to be easier to go up rather than down. And apparently if you want to be half way decent at singing you have to be able to go up and down. Well it is a process. So the fat that I am incredibly bad at it right now might actually be a good thing.
The kittens are a week old and still squirming about. A couple of them are just starting to open their eyes. They mother is very protective of them and does not like letting us play with them. It is a wee bit annoying because they are incredibly cute at this stage in life. My other cat Maya is not liking the kitten very much. She is a runt and has been the baby in the house for the better part of the last year. Also Maya is my cat and the mama cat is my wife’s cat. So there is a strange bit of tension there.
I am still working on the basic booklets. I am expecting that will take the better part of six months to get them all into some kind of shape. On the up side of that I am ahead of most of the clowns in the Brigade on making these learning materials. So if I get these done that will give the more seniors clowns in the Brigade something to work on for a while. The nice thing about some of the more advanced proficiencies is that there is a lot off stuff that has been written on magic. So I am not reinventing the wheel here. I am just putting a few things together.
I think I also need to spend some time cleaning my desk. I had organized a couple weeks ago and it is full of junk again. Actually it would be easy if it was full of junk. I could just throw away the stuff that I did not need. It is full of all the stuff that I need to do these various projects. After the cleaning I am going to take a picture of my desk. There is a thread in the Forum of Jpopasia about what your desk top looks like. I think they are talking about something on the computer. I think It would be sarcastic and funny to go analog on them with a picture of my actual desk top.
Well everyone have fun out there and keep your stick on the ice.Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Lydia and her Kittens
This is Lydia and her five kittens. I had to turn up the flash so that you could see them all. Without the flash it looks like a really angry Russian hat.
Random Stuff
This evening we are having a Master Class here at Clown HQ. This is when we work on advanced skills such as walking on Stilts, unicycling or really hard balloons. Tonight we are going to working on Balloons and possibly the script for our next stage show. These are always fun and I enjoy them. Since it has not started yet i do not have pictures of the class. Maybe i will edit this thing and put them in latter.
On the Musical front i am stiff having my adventures with my church choir. I found a nice on line radio station that has been helping me out. http://www.live365.com/index.live It is mostly contemporary gospel music like our choir is doing.
This is a picture of my cat Maya. She is a adorable and always trying to type on the keyboard when am typing. She is not doing it right now. Still she usually does.
Also on the up side. the last installment of Monroe is on the internet. It is a British Medical Drama that i have been watching. That is one of the best things about the internet is that youcan watch television from other countries with out having to go there. I am not sure that i would go to another nation just to watch television. Still it is nice to know that i do not have to.
And of course the best British show is coming back Dr. Who. I cannot tell you how much i have enjoyed the restarted Doctor. I loved Sylvester McCoy and Tom Baker. i was always sad to see them go. But now the new series actually has money to do stuff. The writing is still good. Only now you do not have to imagine what the monster was supposed to look like. it is rather nice.
Well I have probably rambled on enough or now. If you love the Doctor Post.Hmmmmmm
Thursday, April 07, 2011
More Who
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The New Show
This year we have vowed that we will use on sixty percent recycled jokes. We have also vowed that we will make up at least three new jokes for this show.
Pictured to the left is our Brigades newest member Dave Jefferson taking a shot at making sense of the script that I have written. There was much groaning and he only broken down in tears once at how bad it is. Never the less any progress is good progress. Oliver the computer Squirrel even helped with a couple jokes. For those keeping track Oliver is the Squirrel that lives in my Tandy Color Computer Three. He runs on a little wheel that powers the computer instead of electricity because i could not find a new power supply to replace the old one when it burned out.
By the way bellow is some random Bagpipe rock and roll awesomeness
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
New Yamato Movie
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Movie Time
This made me very happy to find this little gem on line. This is an updated version of one of the Battle Ship yamato movies. It is really great. Sadly the goof ball that own the rights to this series in America will not dub this movie. And frankly if they did they would probably ruin it anyway
Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Rambling on
I am also hoping that the first 2011 Apparatus Bags will be done some time this week. The up side with them is that a smaller version of them has been tested with the younger members of our group. And since it has survived with them the larger version will be sound. I am hoping that this is the bag that we can all get in the next year or so. It would really be great if we all had the same bag.
Well this may not be exciting to you all. Still I am happy about it. Be safe out thee and keep your atick on the ice.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Hmmmmmm
I knew you all would be intererested in this so I had to share.
Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
True Grit
John Wayne's Cogburn was also lovable on some level. Maybe it is just bcause John Wayne never really played a bad guy. Even when he played the anti hero it was still like he was the hero.
Jeff Bridges played the anti hero in this one. There were times that you began to wonder if he was worse than the criminals he was chasing. I do not preffer a remake to the original very often. This may be one of those rare occassions though.
Juggling Clubs
I did read about something in the Post Gazette in Sewikly. I read about that the week end that it happened. I emailed the person who was supposedly running that and they never got back to me. There is also some kind of club that appears to be an after school activity in the middle school. So even if I wanted to trek out there strangers would probably not be welcome. It is little wonder that i cannot get some of the clown that i know to think that juggling is important. The juggling world does not appear to think that it is important.
On other front i have sent another email to the Internation Jugglers' Association. They usually do not reply to me. Well this will be the thid person that I have contacted. Well we will see how that goes.
Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
2011 Type Apparatus Bag
The other thing that we redid was the Apprentice bag. The first generation of them was too small for our purposed. Also we started letting the apprentices use juggling sticks. So was had to put a juggling stick pouch on the new bags. because the bags were smaller we made the stick pouch part of the bag. In the past it had been a seperate pouch that was attached later.
Making these all parts of the bag has worked out very well. So i am going to give it a shot on the apparatus bag. At this point we have five folks that should be or are juggling clubs. So this means we have to get a bunch of these bags.
I know this all sounds like jibberish. Still rambling about things in the wee hours of the morning is an important part of the process. Eventually i will throw up some pictures. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
New Tron
Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
I have not felt Chatty
Frankly there has been a lot of the samestuff that I have been doing for the last couple months. We will have having Christmas parties this week so there will be pictures from that. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
New Knitting Group
Smart President
The old Joe Six Pack folk would have you think that reading a books makes you part of an intellectual cultural elite. It scares the hell out of me when a leader says that being too smart is a bad thing for the President. Mr. Obama's recent stiches aside it scares me when the leader of my nation cannot say simple words.
When the Legacy of this President is recalled the economic problems we are currently facing will be a foot note. In addition they will probably be blames on Bush anyway. What people will remeber is how he deals with internation relations and universal healthcare.
I recently had a conversation with someone about President Nixon. All we talked about was hishistoric trip to China and the creation of the EPA and Earth Day. I don't even Watergate got a mention during the conversation.
Well I know I don't normally go on about Polotics. Still, this something special to me and I though it needed mentioned.
Be safe out there ad keep your stick on the ice.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I am also happy about the new knitting group. I have to knit something for the COAI Christmas thing. Knitting with some of the Brigad mebers will be good inspiration for that.
I have also been working on updating the definitions section of this blog. I never did finish it. I figure that if i put in a couple definitions a day i will have it finished in a year or two.
Well just checking in be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Purple Baby Blanket
Since we are going to have a knitting group this week I will take some pictures. For some reason I rarely take pictures of my knitting unless i am at a knitting group. I am not sure why that is. i am sure it has something to do with being social.
It has been months since I have gone to a knitting group. There was one point in time when i would got to three or four a week. I suppose I have been busy with the Brigade. Well it will be nice to do some knitting in a group. Walkt has gotten rather good over the last year. he has made a sweater and if currently working on a stocking cap.
On the up side it is going to be a good week for knitting.
Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Kesha Likes my Beard - Chicken Knitting
i kids in our church grabbed my beard today. they said this it was springy. She wanted to know if i put hair gel in my beard to make it srpingy. I do not put anything in my beard. She also wanted to know why white people have beard that do not match their hair. I told her that i didnot know. i came home and did a picture seach of people with beard. And she is right black folks beard match their hair. And frequently that is not the case with white folks.
Well that is just another one of those things that i have not thought of before. So there you go.
Also the brigade is starting a new knitting group this week. We are going to knit at the Chik fil ay. I have no idea how to spell it. It is the place the sells chicken in the water front. If i were really paying attention i could google it or something. Anyway there should be four or five of us knitting at the water front Chicky place this wednesday at 5:30. there will be knitting fun for all. More importntly we can get a platter of chicken strips for 2o bucks. Any with our groupp food appears to be the most important thing.
Well just checking in. Besafe safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
My Cat
She also follow me around everywhere. Taking a shower this morning she jumped in thetub. We also found out that she is not a water cat. instead of running away she just tried to stay out of th water stream. I also found out that i am uncomfortable having a cat watch me shower.
WEll that is probably too much information. So i am glad you tunes in today. You might regret it. Anyway be safe out tehre and keep your stick on the ice.