I think I'm remembering most of my dreams this week because my alarm keeps going off before my REM cycle is over. Had more weird dreams last night; this time I was actually able to remember enough to do sketches...

Throughout it I was sort of in this steampunk word, all browns and wood and metal. And at first, I seemed to think I was in Germany...everyone was German, but was still speaking English to me. I was put in a very young kids' class for some reason. However, I didn't mind and seemed to get along with everyone. I was getting ready to graduate with the little kids, and I got interrupted by something and went outside the school building.

In the steampunk neighborhood there was a very rich lady with a huge, special manx cat...except it wasn't a manx cat since it definitely had a tail, so I don't know why everyone kept calling it manx. The cat was both important and really bad; it kept trashing everything. People were forced to endure this mean animal because the lady was so rich and influential, and she knew it.



Also, these dogs were everywhere around the city, hiding from the cat:



I somehow met up with my little bro and Rae, and we were pursuing something further into the city. We found the public transit area, the front of which was guarding by this thin, leafless trees. The trees would bend down, grab a person and then lift them up onto these platforms. They did so automatically; if you stood in the correct spot, the tree would always grab you.



The public transit were these long wooden planks suspended from a system of pulleys. You just had to sort of jump onto which one you wanted; they were constantly moving. Their destinations were represented by small objects, and we ended up jumping on one called "Old Dice."



The wooden planks were so unstable that often we had to balance them out to keep them from tipping over. Somewhere along the way we lost my little brother. We arrived at "Old Dice," the bad part of town, and I suddenly noticed that everyone in this area had missing or mutilated fingers. I tried to point this out to Rae, who told me not to mention it, but I felt like something in this area was obviously doing this to peoples' fingers.



We disembarked, and somehow through discovering someone had gotten ahold of a Tomorrowland pamphlet I made a long time ago, I had to go back and fix one more thing. I promised Rae I'd meet back up with her at a broken down fountain in an hour, and around then I woke up. o_Oa


Yeah, no clue what any of that means. I might do a better, color picture of that cat sometime, because it was very unique-looking.

Also, we just went down and took pictures of the sunset, it was soooooo beautiful today. *_*

Drawing: Charging through LG

Writing: Stuff when I can

There's a new Lunargyros page up today; read it here.

Holy crap, Re:Coded is out in a week! I'm totally not mentally ready...

Slept a little bit better last night; I had that issue the night before of being kept up by the wind and having nightmares. I'm a little worried that this has happened a couple times...like I'm developing some kind of Pavlovian reaction to the sound of strong wind at night. D: And I'd also rather stop having nightmares...I suppose last night's were more weird than actually nightmarish. At one point there was attempting to play a massive match-the-tiles game, only that turned into trying to make sugar cookies that matched, only the cookie dough being used felt like I was trying to work with dry play-dough.

Forgot what else I was gonna say. How's your year so far, flist?

Drawing: Okami board and looootsa LG

Writing: Next reindeer story stuff

I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that an antelope fell in love with me.

At least, I think it was an antelope...I also want to say bighorn sheep, but it wasn't as small or fluffy. It started with there being, like...a whole herd of zebras and antelope, and then somehow one got left behind and fell in love with me. It was a girl, named Monica, and could assume human form. (For some reason this wasn't unusual; all zebras and antelopes could do that.) And I found myself really depressed because I couldn't reciprocate the feelings, what with Monica being an antelope and all. I promised I would write to her, only to remember that she couldn't read. She kept trying to impress me with all of the human-y things she was learning to do, even though I knew she wasn't going to be staying here anyway because the herd would have to move on, and I was just really upset about it and no one else seemed to get why this was such a tragedy.

There was a lot more stuff involved, including a virtual reality version of the Mirage Arena and playing Majora's Mask, and a moment where my life drawing teacher was participating in a musical number. I wish I had been awake enough to write down details, because there was a lot more that I'm forgetting now.

Seriously, what the hell, subconscious? /o____O\


Sooo, in less weirdo news...there is only about a week left for Heartless Commission Month! If you want something, or if you asked for something and haven't paid yet, please do so ASAP!

Drawing: 10HAD, some LG, finished a sixth painting and some more on freelance stuff

Writing: RP, ficness

Aww man, I had a really awful nightmare last night...one of those layered, semi-lucid ones where some part of you knows that you're dreaming but most of you is unable to stop, so you confuse your wanting to stop dreaming with having actually woken up, but you haven't, and...yeah.

( This got a little long... )

...You know for once I would really like to remember a nice dream. 8(((

( Day 29 - Rope )

Okay, let's end with something a little happier:

( Jiminy Cricket form changes )

Drawing: More practice, but also some LG covers...

Writing: Nothin'

Days until BBS release: 9 (DOWN TO SINGLE DIGITS AAAH)

First things first: Happy Birthday, fairytaledreams!! \:D/


Oyyy, it's been ridiculously hot today, and I've had a stress/heat headache most of the day as a result. T_T What's more, this morning I had a really disturbing nightmare. I've forgotten most of it by this point, but I actually managed to scribble down a few things, including drawings from it. This is only like the second time I've managed to draw something from a dream (or rather nightmare) I had.

( Nightmary sketches )

( And more )

Finally finally: a new Lunargyros page was up yesterday, it's over here!

Drawing: Anything and everything I can, including this stuff.

Writing: Still sporking and endgaming!

Bad things:

I had a nightmare-like situation last night. I brought the dog up to my room because I was alone and I didn't want her to sleep downstairs. Usually she never comes up to my room 'cause it's too many stairs for her to bother. But last night at about four in the morning and I couldn't hear her making any noise, and because of some nightmare-feeling, I suddenly got this impression that she was dead. So I got up and started shaking her, but she was just fine. I didn't get back to sleep again until she started snoring. It ended up being nothing, but it was an absolutely horrible feeling all the same. 8(

Good things:

I bought myself some pizza from Spruzzo's, which is always really good. Mmmmm delishus! Also got myself a box of Trix since I never have Trix unless I buy it myself.

Meme things:

PICK ONE OF MY CHARACTERS AND I WILL TELL YOU:
→ why I decided to play this character
→ my favorite scene or bit of interaction concerning this character to date
→ my favorite original aspect about this character (world-building for ocs or head-canon for fcs)
→ the last thing they did "off screen"
→ what their last words would be if they died tomorrow
→ what the next thing I'm doing for them is (narrative, post, shelving, whatever)

BONUS ROUND:
» I will tell you what character of yours I'd like to play mine against ♥

Drawing: Not much

Writing: More copypasta

It's 8:00 AM, I'm at work, I got up at 6:30, and I had a crapton of nightmares last night. :< Anyone feel like chatting on IM with me at this ungodly hour?

In news related to nightmares, I want to see this movie:

Has anyone ever had a dream where they meet someone...like anyone, someone you know or who's famous or you've never even met before, and you're doing all this crazy stuff with them? And you know it's not actually happening because you're doing things or going places that couldn't possibly exist in real life, so it has to be a dream? And you're talking to the person, wanting to spend more time with them but knowing you never will be able to again because they just exist in your head. And they sort of...realize this and give you something to remember them by, are all encouraging and "sure, I'll see you again."

And then you wake up and you're expecting that thing they gave you to be in your hand or pocket because of course they just gave it to you for the express purpose of remembering them with, and then it's just...not there, because that was just part of the dream, too? 'Cause yeah, that happened to me.


Also, I watched a Portal playthrough all the way through (because I've still never been able to play it myself). And I've seen all that art with GLaDOS as a creepy loli human, and now I kind of really want to draw GLaDOS as a mechanical dragon. I'm pretty sure that constitutes some kind of mortal sin in the world of nerdom, and should be punished accordingly. :/a

Drawing: Lunargyros pages, and even more board revisions. Feel like I'm making some progress, at least! But I'm just really really itching to have some kind of massive huge project to work on. I want someone to assign me something and preferably provide a payment along with it.

Writing: Back at the sporking!

yamikonumber7 and I went to Disneyland yesterday and had a time of awesome! :D The traffic getting up there was a bit of a pain, but it was a beautiful day and the lines were manageable. We did many rides including Pirates, Indiana, Space Mountain, Matterhorn, and more! We wound up at Pirates first, and our boat was named Giselle, which amused me waaaaaay more than it should have. 8D; We ended up being right in front of a family with two young boys who were crying their hearts out throughout most of the ride. Poor kids! Hopefully the pirates will only traumatize them for a few years!

We talked KH (and bemoaned the lack of merchandise) and RP (aaaah plot with Mia!) and Disney-ness in general, and it was all around enjoyable! We actually went all the way up to Toontown, and during a rest there I did some quick gesture sketches. Forgot to bring my sketchbook, so you get lined paper:

( Under the cut )

Later in the evening we went and did the Roger Rabbit ride, which I'd only done once when I was little. HOLY CRAP THAT RIDE IS ON SO. MUCH. CRACK. You'd never guess so, tucked back into the "kiddie" section of Disneyland, but aaaaaaah my brain. D: Oh, and we did Astro Blasters twice in an effort to get our picture, but it never came out, WTF. That ride seems to favor being on the left side of the car. Oh, and Kia introduced me to the concept of pin trading, as we stopped often to do some trading. Holy crap I can see how pin trading can fast become addicting.

We ended up eating a very late dinner at House of Blues. Expensive, but the wait was shortest, plus they had that deliiicious rosemary cornbread, yum. o_o And I got salmon, which is always delicious. Of course, snagged myself some Disneyland fudge before leaving, too. :3

Thank you for going with me, Kia, it was tons of fun and we should do it again soon! :D


And Saturday was cool, but last night I had a weird and rather disturbing nightmare. It started out with me helping this detective pull a dead body out of this fancy, rich pool...I was helping bring him tools and stuff. And I was oddly detached from the whole thing. Then, it somehow ended up that I was staying at this same house with the couple that lived there as part of some kind of internship...something that would help me get into a career I wanted. But UGH, it was a miserable and aggravating experience! The house itself was more than a little bizarre. In the upper floors and attic, it looked like there were these agonized human forms carved into the walls and ceiling. And the house wasn't proportionate...the couple who lived in it often seemed doll-sized in comparison to how big the house was. Sometimes I'd be unnaturally small, and sometime I'd be the right size, but I always FELT small.

The couple were fighting all the time, and in fact both were cheating on the other. Somehow they thought I didn't know, even though it was painfully obvious, as they'd be having their respective cheating-partners over all the time. At night the wife would invite in all these animals, like opossums, badgers and foxes, but they were strange colors, and it would make the husband angry. The house was really lavish but filthy, and there was just STUFF strewn everywhere or gunk collecting in places. I was supposed to take care of everything, especially run baths for the couple because I could reach the faucet at proper size, but I was sleeping on this matted carpet and I wasn't eating. And then some friends stopped by (Lauren from school, and Ona and Olanda?) and I wanted to say what a horrible situation this was, but I couldn't because it meant that I'd be ruining my future career by messing up this internship.

By the end, I was pulling the wife out of that moldy pool (was she the dead body?) where she'd been trying to drown herself to get her cheating husband's attention. And I had just about reached the point where I wanted to scream and yell and kick them both in the TEETH for being such whiny, filthy, spoiled, selfish, rotten children...but then I woke up. D: ...*shudder*


Ohhh man, classes start back up again tomorrow. XO And rechecking my schedule, I've discovered I have to drive in EVERY day except Wednesday, and I have night classes on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Maybe I can work my way out of going in Thursday, because it's just for a lab, and damned if I wanna spend the gas just to drive in for a lab. :/ But either way, AAAAAAAHHH tomorrow! Starting off with gesture drawing! This should be an interesting last term!

Drawing: Much of the same stuff.

Writing: RP. AAAAH PLOTTINESS.

Alba's The Happening review must've stuck in my brain harder than I anticipated, because I've never even SEEN the movie and last night/this morning I had a really weird nightmare about ( Spoiler that everyone already knows )

Yeeeeeah. I spent about EIGHT hours yesterday just UVing that frigging wolf spider, much of it was redoing stuff over again because programs would crap out on me or something else would go wrong. No wonder I had nightmares last night. X( But at least that is DONE.

All of our classes are canceled today, but I'm going to go into school anyway and work because this term already has so much work that I need to use the free labs while I can. Maybe I'll come on Meebo in the evening for company...I hope all the United Statians have a really fun and safe Fourth today; enjoy your local fireworks!

Drawing: I need to draw an interior setup for Digital Sets.

Writing: The same

While it's not finalized (at least for me) they've finally passed out our schedules for the summer term! :O So my weeks starting at the end of June will look like this:

Monday
3D Body Paint - 4:00-7:00

Tuesday
Labtime - 1:00-4:00
(???) Character Animation for Games - 4:00-7:00

Thursday
Labtime - 1:00-4:00
Digital Sets - 7:00-10:00

Friday
Career Realities - 12:00-3:00 (assuming?)
ZBrush Texturing/Anatomy - 7:00-10:00

Maya Mods: Hair, Paint and Fur - ?!?!?!?!


Good Things:
- OMG I HAVE A WEEKEND AGAIN, YAAAY. I think this is the first time I've ever had a Saturday OR a Sunday off since...I started this program. XD; Man, that's almost going to be weird getting used to.
- OMG THREE DAYS OFF, YAAAAY. I get Wednesday off as well as the weekend! Who knows if I'll have to use one of those days to come in anyway just to get work done, but if I can manage my time effectively enough then maybe I can save the gas for that day.
- No morning classes, which means no getting up at 6:00! YAAAY.
- We had one digital elective this term, so I asked for the second ZBrush class, just because I enjoyed it and it probably relates the closest to what I want to do. I'm also attempting to switch out my Dynamics 2 class, just because I'm not really all that interested in it, but I don't know if I got my second choice yet, which is why the Character Animation for Games class is (???). I really want to switch it out with figure drawing gesture drawing, but apparently I CAN'T. Ghhhhkkkk.

Bad Things:
- We have another online class, this one being the Hair, Paint and Fur one. I've barely learned a thing from Lighting 2 this term as it is, so I'm wary of another online class. D: I'm hoping that actually having a personal project (the Wolf Spider) will keep me interested enough in it.
- I predict struggling in the Digital Sets and Hair, Paint, Fur classes, and there's nothing really analog or concept-related to offset them, bleh. :P But I'll get through them.
- Our Career Realities class is TBA on the teacher, but I actually hope it's R.T., since he made History of Visual Effects really interesting and knew so much about the industry...but I somehow doubt he will be. :P

So! We'll see how the term goes! o_O Obviously more good things than bad things (which aren't even that bad) is a good start.


I had the absolute creepiest dream last night. D: I dreamed there was some kind of unnatural heat wave all over my neighborhood (even though it didn't look anything like my actual neighborhood) and peoples' skin was being blistered red and burned off everywhere I looked. But everyone was still alive while this was happening, just in terrible pain and exhaustion. And I'd gotten ahold of a water hose and was trying to provide water to this wide variety of heat-burned animals in a garden, which was helping a little, but not much. It was just...really unsettling.


Oh! A little bit of good news: my mom went to see the surgeon today, and he said it wasn't actually a snapped tendon, but it was instead a tear in part of her muscle that was causing the pain. It'll still take a long time to recover from, and she'll have to get a different kind of cast, but at least it doesn't require surgery. So, slightly better! o_o

Drawing: Inked another LG page yesterday, some sketching, but need to get to other stuff...

Writing: RP doom, mwah!

gaelic_bohemian and corrielle, I've registered for Comic Con now and you're both under my name. I'll forward you the email with your confirmation numbers and such; they'll need to be printed out and brought with you. I also think you need to be with me when you register? Em, you owe me money for your ticket in particular. I don't know how much the normal passes are, but it may not have been as discounted as you hoped. :/ Anyways! Got that settled for this July, woot! And I am planning to attend all four days and preview night; I'm just going to end up skipping whatever school then.

Completely unrelated: Does anyone out there have audio clips of all the various lawyers' versions of "OBJECTION!" from Phoenix Wright, or do you know where those could be downloaded? (Preferably not in a Windows-exclusive file type, but I can deal with it.) I wanted to try a bit of dialogue animation just for fun, and thought it'd be fun to do see what character I can get from PW's various OBJECTION!s. Probably would not do it for characters like Apollo and Klavier, though, since I haven't played Apollo Justice and don't really know their characters well.

Even more completely unrelated: I had a disturbing dream last night, but while I was having it, I kind of felt like I was participating in an old 80's horror movie and therefore somehow knew what was going to happen next, yet I couldn't stop it. D: Something about a stilted neighbor wanting to kill off all of my friends and family through various methods, but at the same time providing each person with one tool or object they could supposedly use to thwart their death, but only if they were smart enough to recognize when and how to use it. Case in point: I received snake venom antidote, but was also delivered this big poisonous snake that I was trying to wrestle into submission. DX I guess an antidote is kind of cheating, but apparently the killer liked me best. Either way, the whole feel and look to the dream was really unsettling.

Actually related: It's really sad when GOOGLE makes a better spellcheck than Microsoft Word does.

There's a PAR-TAY going on in the new Lunargyros page! And you're invited?!

I had the most bizarre dream last night. Or rather, it wasn't actually a dream...it was just this really strange working in my brain. I kept waking up in the middle of the night (which sucked) and checking my clock to see what time it was, but at the same time, I wasn't viewing time in a linear sense...like 2:30 comes after 2:00 and all that. I kept perceiving time as three-dimensional. It's kind of hard to explain...it was like time was existing in chunks filling out a sphere, and I kept looping back on hours I'd already woken up on or skipping ahead to hours that shouldn't have come yet, because the chunks of time I was filling in were at random. It wasn't until my alarm went off at 6:00 that time became linear again, and I somehow knew that as soon as it hit 6:00 and I had to get up that everything would sort itself out.

Is there an explanation for that kind of phenomenon? Is it due to some kind of waking-sleep state? I've just never had this feeling of experiencing time itself differently, and it was...a little weird. D:a


Otherwise...something really cool! Ecojak/Ladychimera made me a trailer for 'The 11th Hour', using a bunch of different KH clips! It is awesome, and I am so flattered! &hearts♥ (It also makes me wish I could play RE: CoM, 'cause holy crap, I haven't seen some of these scenes from Reverse/Rebirth and they're made of pretty. Just...yes, squee! ♥

Urk, guess I should get to doing that panorama homework for Lighting now, even though class was cancelled and all. We have to create a reflection map for a CG UFO and insert it into a photo we take. We were totally going to go to Hollywood Blvd. and get the reflection map and backplate photo of the Scientology building, because LOLOLOLOLOL UFOs COMIN FOR THE SCIENTOLOGISTS, but then realized that all the traffic would screw up the panorama shot. And we might get sued by internets lawyers for, I dunno, taking pictures of the building for a school assignment and infringing on some imaginary copyright. D:

Drawing: Need to ink the next LG page and, I dunno...practice more stuff.

Writing: Teensy more script.

I had a bunch of strange dreams last night, but there's only one in particular I can remember now...there was some strange time paradox affecting the world, and I was in a huge building complex (those pop up frequently in dreams...) with a ton of other people, like at a school. This time paradox was basically "redoing" a particular day in time, and was giving each person one chance, and one chance only, to fix one particular thing that had gone wrong that day. And the date was 9/11.
Except I was clearly not in New York, but someplace like Los Angeles instead, and while my brain was connecting 9/11 = terrorist attack, the disaster was more like a huge fire or bombing, possibly both. Which I suppose would be appropriate for LA. -_- So everyone was running around trying to find and fix the One Thing that they could while the time paradox allowed it, like saving their loved ones and such. Somehow, I missed my One Chance to fix whatever it was that needed fixing...like, I saw a huge door swing open for me, and I just knew it was meant for me to walk through and change something outside...but I went out and couldn't figure out what it was that I had to do, so I just went back inside because it was all fire and smoke. But somehow I wasn't worried, because I knew this day had already taken place and I'd already told my family where to meet them and stuff. So even though I was trapped in this building with hundreds of yelling people and fire outside, I wasn't worried because this was just part of the time paradox and I knew I had already survived it.
...And then I found a submarine somewhere in the building, which helped me get away. And it made perfect sense for there to be a submarine there because I knew it would be there because it already happened so I was able to...guh...

Yeah, WTF, brain. D: I woke up feeling very confused and kind of disturbed. What would that kind of thing even mean?

Err, yeah, the rest of my week...

So, I've had most of my classes so far...sculpture got canceled on Monday, so we'll have to have our first class for that tomorrow. We have Jeremy again for Lighting and Rendering 1, and he's a nice guy, but I can tell I'm gonna have to do a lot of work in that class. At least this stuff I can apply most everywhere...

My Character Animation teacher seems like a fun guy, although like our first Animation teacher, he tends to kinda get excited and ramble on about all kinds of different things before actually getting to the teaching part. But what's cool? He's worked as a cleanup artist on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Enchanted. 8D *amaaaazed*

And we also had Character Skinning yesterday, which also looks like it's going to be quite a bit of work...but maybe now I can get lion!Sora working for an animation. Our teacher somehow looks like a member of a boy band, I swear. Except he talks very quietly and quickly, and the subject matter includes a lot of technobabble...not a very good combination.

So today we have ZBrush all together...we'll see how that goes!


And finally, I intend to go buy PW: Trials and Tribulations on Tuesday. XD

Drawing: I've been in the middle of this huge art funk lately...I start all kinds of projects, yet it's very difficult for me to finish them. I can't tell what's holding me back, but I've just been feeling so artistically constipated and frustrated lately. Like I'm not learning and growing fast enough. I don't know what to do...

Writing: Nothing really.

Chapter three of Lunargyros has begun! There's a new cover image and the first page of it posted here.

Sooo...got the news back on fixing my car. At first we suspected it was just a belt that snapped in the heat. But it turns out that the things that needed fixing/replacement included:
- the radiator had blown out
- a gasket was close to blowing
- the air conditioner was busted
- three of the tires needed replacing (but not the one that was fixed after going flat at Disneyland! :Db)
- and for that matter, an axle needed to be replaced, which was what was producing that clunking noise every time I made a sharp turn.
- something else about fluids leaking, oh, and brakes needed work.

And that would've been all to the tune of $4000. More than twice the amount I would get from selling the car. In other words, the car is literally not worth the money it would take to fix it...about the best it can be hoped for now is to find a kind soul who's willing to take it off our hands for a few hundred bucks, or calling a truck that can tow it to a junkyard for cheap. The heat wave has literally killed my car. :(

I feel just awful about it! I know it's not really my fault, that the car was over a decade old, had already had significant repairs, and that it just couldn't hold up in the heat...but at the same time, I feel like I just forced a horse with two broken legs to run a race across the Sahara until it literally collapsed from exhaustion. D: My poor car! You have served me faithfully throughout the past five years, and I'm sorry it had to end this way! I hope you are happy in car heaven! ;_;

Soooo this means...time to get a new car! I suppose I would be more thrilled about this if a) I actually had the money to afford a car, and b) it wasn't under such dire circumstances and with the need to get it so quickly. Apparently the 'rents have located a small dealership with a 2002 Prius for sale with about 80,000 miles on it already. Whatever we get, it'll have to be less than $8000 or so, and I'll have to figure out how I'm going to pay for it in the long run... Either way, looks like Friday will be car-shopping day. And I have to make sure and treat whatever new car I get with much care! Oil changes on time, and listening carefully for weird noises! It's not worth it to avoid problem signs.

One good thing? At least the heat wave seems to be dying off, as it no longer feels like I'm living in a furnace on the sun with my head on fire. GOODBYE HEAT WAVE, WE WILL NOT MISS YOU. XP

Geekery time:
- So friends and I were playing many rounds of SSBM last night, as we got out of Texture II early. And apparently, there is a possibility that Sora may be a playable fighter in Smash Bros. Brawl! Supposedly one of the composers brought on for the music was the KH composer, and thusfar all of the composers they've hired have been those for their original games, for the purposes of writing new "fighting music" versions of their games' themes. And hell, they've already brought in Konami and SEGA characters, and supposedly they're really reaching out for third party properties this time around. :D So it is not completely outside the realm of possibility!
And if Sora's a fighter in SSBB...DFASDJASKDJASKLDJALSKR(W$*)( GLEEEEEEE. Brawl is basically my main (or only!) reason for wanting to get a Wii anyway, as I love kicking ass with Yoshi. But if Sora's a character? That pretty much seals the deal for me. XDDD

I had the most bizarre dream last night/this morning. It started out as a KH dream, taking place in the game but faaaaast deviating from that when the characters got caught in a flash flood and then were trekking across the desert on a single broken-down donkey without food or water. And then that somehow turned from KH characters to my extended family, where we finally found water under a dry river bed like they did in "Dinosaur."

And then HTML attacked us. Apparently in real life, HTML really is a series of tubes! Very very thin ones, anyway, that liked to take the shape of big spindly spiders.

I told you it was bizarre!

Drawing: Various things, but mostly the usual comics.

Writing: Occasional sporkage.