Run with the moon

Well, I’m sitting here at work. All the marketing muppets are off planning the next disaster, my motivation for the year is officially spent and I am left to look back at the last year and wonder if it can possibly get any worse?

Professionally, I stagnated this year because I was continually marginalized by people who lack real world experience as a 365 day pissing match ensued over who really gets to run things. Despite their best efforts, I still ‘won’, but it was a Pyrrhic victory. I got to keep my best in class platform and we’ll be revising it’s implementation to get it performing as it should. I did not get to choose the vendor I wished for, but my current vendor stepped up and started taking responsibility and making positive strides. I continue to be viewed as a black box, typical for technology professionals who have to deal with business folk who have no idea what we do, only that we need to be doing it. It bothers me to have spent over a decade honing the multidisciplinary skills necessary to work in eCommerce only to have a handful of nitwits barely old enough to even remember life before the internet take all the credit for work they could not have even begun to accomplish had I sat on my hands.

Daily, I am sickened more and more at the state of my nation and it’s inhabitants. Sloth, greed and avarice are combining ignorance & apathy to create a nation of simpering, self-important weaklings who think they somehow deserve anything they want without effort or cost. Even the tough-guys are candy-asses, experts at the physical beat-down because mommy didn’t love them enough as a child so as to teach them that strength and compassion are not incompatible. Drug industry and fast food combine to make a nation of sickos incapable of moderately taking care of themselves without dozens of prescriptions. I give greater credence to living abroad with each creature I pass on their way to the mall.

And yet, despite my angst, I still have much to be thankful for. A very beautiful and loving wife. A family I adore and look forward to holding each and every day when I arrive home from work. Friends I enjoy spending time with and hobbies which engage me and which I possess all the faculties, if not all of the time I wish, to participate to the fullest in. I’m broke, but not so broke that I don’t have a roof over my head and tasty victuals on my table.

I hope for so much in 2010, but so long as my wife is by my side it won’t matter how it turns out. We’ll be there to see it through, together. Of course, if I could knock a few muppets on the head and keep a few extra bucks in teh bank account, I wouldn’t argue with such largess. Farewell 2009, it has been… interesting.

Well, well, well. I have to be honest, in all of my years spent in liberal study, (history, political science, cultural anthropology, philosophy), I wanted to see a day like today happen, but I was afraid I might never see it in my lifetime. A majority female and a minority male ran competing campaigns for the president of the United States. Amazing in and of itself. As we all know now, President Barrack Obama, the first African-American/black/minority/whatever you want to call it, (I despise political correctness for it’s emasculation of the language and the manner in which it hides the truth of what people believe), has just been sworn in to office. It is a great and historic day. I should be proud and exhilarated.

From the break room at work I watched former president G.W. Bush walk away towards his waiting helicopter and end his time in our nation’s highest office. At this moment, I am simply happy to be employed. My wife is rumoured to be getting a pay cut. Many of my friends have already been cut 10%, but again should be thankful they even have jobs. In 8 years, the man who could barely form a coherent sentence has utterly and irrevocably ruined this nation. We have what was once the finest military mired in desert brush fire engagements where they do not belong, (and no, I’m no sappy liberal there. I believe in military service and it’s proper application). Our once powerful economy, (admittedly it was falsely powerful as it grew in ways it never should have), lays shattered and at the mercy of the worlds economic equivalent of hyenas and other carrion eaters. Education and the environment seem to have been set back twice as far as the two terms of office we have had to endure. I want to believe that there may be some hope for the future, but I look at my fellow Americans in shame and disgust as their waistlines grow, their intellects shrink and it becomes obvious that they are bereft of all notions of civic duty and common courtesy to the last.

While it is difficult to blame the woes of the world on a single person or group of people, it is still satisfying to have a scapegoat. While I hope that there is strength enough to pull this once proud nation and people back from the precipice of the abyss, I am at least happy in the knowledge that the Bush Crime Syndicate, that vile group of thugs & warmongers who extorted and raped the American people, economy and the very Constitution itself, is on it’s way out. In many ways, I am surprised. I almost thought they might find a way to increase the term limits or even make a bid to simply seize power like the fascists that they are. I suppose it should be said that for once losing popularity served a real purpose.

So, on that note, I just want to say one more thing.

Goodbye and good riddance George Bush. May you rot in whatever hell you think you believe in you piece of shit. Fuck off.

Just some images of cool female 28mm miniatures I’d like to get painted to honour my wife. Included are some sample images from real life to act as inspiration. If you have any other suggestions on female models in the witch, pirate or corset category, please feel free to pass them along. All will be considered. For some real work inspiration, my wife runs an eBay Goth Store, so peruse the wares if you dare. She got into it after realizing that it would be cheaper to sell the things she wears to others, so ideas on her likes are right there in plain view.

Some thoughts on the project as they pertain to color choices.

• Overall theme should be black, purple, dark red or any combination as such. Alternately, her husband’s favorite color is dark green. Using that as a complement or even as a base color should go over well, but only on one model. If you choose to do that, make sure the others know.
• Gold is absolutely forbidden. Any time I put gold on a mini, my wife asks why I didn’t use silver. I know it’s the complement for purple, but she hates it. She loves silver & platinum. You can probably get away with shading gold for depth and work up to a strong silver, but actually going for a warm gold will not be well received.
• She loves pink, I hate pink. She likes to torment me with pink things like hats, buttons, lunch boxes, etc. Hints of pink would be favorably received.
• Where appropriate, gemstones should be moonstone, amethyst or ruby. Complementary colors such as emerald, topaz or even amber/tourmaline would be acceptable as well.
• Hair should be black. However, she currently has dark raspberry streaks. She has done purple and even electric blue streaks, so feel free to indulge if you desire. One of you may also do a ‘crone’ or grey haired model if you wish. A powerful, silver mane, similar to Meryl Streep in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’.
• Leather may be natural or black, but preferably black. Still, if it fits well with the model, natural browns will be ok.
• The moon, bats or owls as accent will work if desired as those are her totems. I have dedicated an entire room to her with bats & owls I collect from around the globe. I have some spare Wood Elves owl bitz if you can make use of them.

I’m going to mount these on some kind of display base. If the group can decide on a basing theme, then I may make something with terrain/scenery. Otherwise it’ll be stained wood in some form of tier system to show everything off. Other than that, I think you can feel free to indulge yourselves. So long as you can ship then in enough time to arrive by May 9th, everything will be grand.

Finally, I’m planning on having a small, engraved plaque with the painter’s name and location on it to accompany the models. If you would like me to use your real name, just email or PM me. Otherwise, I’ll use your RelicNews psuedonym. In any case, your location on the map as you’d like it known would be helpful if it’s not in your RN profile.

Post a comment here to let all of us know which model you choose. I’d love to see a progress blog, but regular updates should be sufficient to make sure the work is progressing well. I cannot thank you enough for participating in this. I am honoured and thrilled to have the chance at commissioning what I know will be beautiful work from truly talented artists.

Regards.

UPDATE: 24 April (3 of 4 WiP available)

Ap0k: Epic Skarre (WiP - 23Apr)
misterjustin: Maria Roseblade (WiP 18Apr)
SilverTabby: Jolie (sent 15Mar)
Tinweasel: Alexia (WiP - 24Apr)

NOTE: Ap0k has suggested a bat tattoo or something of that nature to ties the pieces in together if the group is up for it or the model allows for it. Do we have any other suggestions on imagery or basing to tie the models in together?

Some info on how to use this. Let the page fully load before clicking on an image. Clicking on any image opens the slide show. You can control the viewing in several ways. To view the next image, either hover the mouse over the right border until you see a little right arrow appear. Clicking it will proceed to the next image. You can also use the right arrow on the keyboard or type ‘n’, (as in Next image). To view the previous image, mouse over the left board for until the arrow appears, use the left arrow on the keyboard or type ‘p’, (as in Previous image). You can quit the slide show at any time by clicking the Close X in the lower right or type ‘x’, (as in eXit).