My wife is out of town this week for a training conference and that
means I have the house (and my evenings to myself). In the past, I'd set
up a stressful agenda of things to watch and do. I'd plan it out
like:
Monday: Clean kitchen, take out trash, watch two movies
Tuesday: Laundry, clean out clothes, watch one movie
and so on. It was a bit ridiculous, but I just wanted to maximize
my free time.
This time around, I'm trying to do things a
bit differently. I'm not scheduling anything, outside of my normal
nightly twenty minutes of meditation. I'm going to clean the house as I
feel compelled to and as far as a television agenda is concerned, there
is none. I will watch TV when I have time or play video games as I
desire, and I'm going to try and take it as easy possible.
One of the things I've struggled with is a sort of completionism. I'd
see an opportunity like this, where I have all of my evenings free and
I'd say, "What movie series do I need to watch? What television show do
I need to get through?" then I'd charge forward, not because I wanted to
watch it but because I felt like it was necessary. I needed to watch the
latest horror sequel so I could chat with friends, or I needed to finish
up the latest Netflix series so I could chime in on the conversation.
That's a terrible way to live and it's a terrible way to prioritize
things that don't truly matter.
So, now, I'm a bit more
free. I watch whatever I feel like watching and when I'm tired of it, I
stop, and ya know what? I'm way more relaxed and I enjoy my free time so
much more.
I'm a terrible artist. I mean, I used to know my way around Paint Shop
Pro back in the day, but I usually rely on CoolText, the same site I've been relying
on since the 90s for my website graphics.
When I moved over
to Scribbles, I wanted to take advantage of the logo element of the
page, but I struggled. I tried CoolText, then Adobe's logo maker, before
settling in something from Canva out of desperation. I wasn't happy with
it, but I figured I'd address that sometime down the road.
Around the same time, I committed to Scribbles, I noticed Ning, from Ning's Narrative,
was showing off some graphics she was creating using lettering. I
thought they looked incredible. They were nice to look at and were
different from what I usually saw online for blogs. Her designs really
stood out and I made a mental note to reach out and see if she might be
interested in creating something for my site.
Before I got
around to sending that email, she began a daily challenge to create a
new piece of work featuring some of her favorite lyrics each day. I
noticed at the bottom of her first post, she had link that said, "Get
Your Own Lettering." So, I sent her an email.
Over the past
week, Ning and I have
gone back and forth regarding the creation of a logo, and I cannot
express what a wonderful experience it has been. Ning was excited about
the opportunity, she jumped right in, was super quick to respond, and I
had rough drafts to choose from within hours. While I'm not a demanding
client, I really didn't know what I wanted, outside of it looking good
in my little circle on Scribbles.
Ning prepared a variety of
designs, offered color choices, and whatever little feedback or requests
I made, she was super accommodating. In less than a day, she had pretty
much exactly what I wanted, but she wanted to perfect it, so I let the
artist work.
Now, I haven't ever really engaged in a
collaborative artistic endeavor like this outside of ordering some stuff
on Fiverr years ago, but my experiences on Fiverr were always terrible.
The designs came late, were expensive, didn't pay attention to my
requests, and so forth. Ultimately, I got what I wanted, but one time it
took six weeks. My experience with Ning has been the exact opposite. I'm
still blown away by the great service.
So, let me tell you a little about this logo and how we got here. I wanted something that would look good on the site, but also had a bit of a throwback retro look. However, I wanted it to be unique since all the Scribbles pages look the same, I thought a unique logo would really make my page feel like it was my own.
I'm not a fan of labels, but I study some Daoism at times, so I'm a fan of the yin and yang design, so when Ning created something that offered the conflicting colors across a unique curvy line, I instantly felt a connection. I doubt most people will even recognize that, but Ning was able to merge my love of the past with my interests in living well into my logo.
As for the colors, I was at a loss, and I took whatever suggestion Ning had to offer. I had a few choices to choose from, but I credit Ning 100% for pretty much this entire design. I didn't give her much to work with. :)
I remember getting my first computer sometime around 1994-1995. Once my
dad got done fumbling around with it, I had a few moments alone with the
keyboard and the mouse. We had the internet, and I was excited to
explore more, but in this moment of silence I chose to open up Notepad
(or maybe WordPad) and I just stared at the screen. Finally... I had
what I really wanted.
Some years earlier, I found myself
glued to the TV for a hit new show called Doogie Howser, MD.
I've only watched one episode (the pilot) since the 80's/early 90's, and
I don't recall much about the show outside of Doogie sitting down at his
PC to journal about his day. The soft beats of the theme song would rise
up as Doogie began to express himself, and I was just enamored. This is
the way to communicate. This is the way to work through your problems.
Doogie was my inspiration, and often he still comes to mind when I sit
down to just write. I think about the camera panning across the words as
they were read out loud and how much better Doogie seemed to feel after
writing out the lesson he learned that week.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if that's why I'm always trying to
find a lesson in things. Anyway, without Doogie, I'm sure I wouldn't
write as much as I do. Maybe it’s time to give that series a watch.
Sometime around 1994, my father's Navy buddy, a man by the name of Tom
Abbott, invited me to an Orlando Predators game, the local arena
football team. I had no idea what Arena football was, but as a
ten-year-old kid I was excited to find out. I'll never forget walking
into the O-Rena which was packed with people and seeing half a football
field surrounded by hockey-style boards. It was an amazing sight, and
the game was action packed.
Not a picture from that game but of the Orlando Predators
I remember they had mini blimps that dropped things from the sky and one
of the things they dropped was a mini football that remained on my shelf
for a decade as a reminder of this amazing evening.
I
wouldn't go as far as to say I was a huge fan of arena football, but I
definitely enjoyed the sport when I could. Back in the 90's and early
2000's, the premier league, the Arena Football League had games on
regular TV as well as cable. I was living near Memphis at the time, and
the Arena Football League 2 (their minor league) had a team, the Memphis
Xplorers, that I loved to attend games. It was good cheap fun, and the
game moved so much faster than normal football. I even made a trip out
to Nashville to see the Nashville Kats play one time.
The Arena Football League was popular enough that EA Sports put out two
video games.
They were stripped-down versions of Madden, and I remember being
disappointed with them, but I think it's a testament just to how popular
the sport was at one time.
But then the recession hit in 2008, and the Arena Football League
folded. In 2010, the Arena Football 2 league, bought the names and
trademarks and took over the Arena Football League, so basically the
minor league, became the major league overnight, but things were never
the same. The league struggled, teams closed up shop often, and in 2019
the league went bankrupt.
Even KISS had a team for a couple of seasons
Other leagues existed such as the Indoor Football League, but despite a
solid management it's never had the television exposure that the Arena
Football League had and thus has always been viewed as lesser than.
In 2023, a new ownership group emerged and purchased the rights (there
are now some reports that they only licensed the rights) to the Arena
Football League with a plan to launch a sixteen-team league in 2024.
Last week, the Arena Football League began play as I sat back and
watched the trainwreck.
The lack of social media, an updated
website, conflicting social media accounts (I guess some of the old AFL
accounts are still up) really showed how disorganized this league was.
Then just a few days before the league was to begin play, the NFL
Network (which had agreed to air weekly games) announced they would not
be airing any Arena Football League games that week. The league put
together a site where you could watch the streams, but what began as
eight possible streams, ended up as only three streams, with a fourth
being hosted on Vyre, a site I had
never heard of before.
I'm sure they'll be a documentary on
this in a year or two, but the league was clearly not organized or ready
for play. One team, the Philadelphia Soul (a popular team owned by Bon
Jovi back in the original AFL days) traveled to their game only to find
that the bus that was supposed to pick them up did not arrive. The Super
8 motel locked up their belongings after that the team's check bounced.
The team was disbanded, the players and staff not paid, while the AFL
got a semi-pro team from Dallas to step in and play as the Philadelphia
Soul.
Another team, the Iowa Rampage, were playing their
games inside a rodeo arena. The arena was not safe, looked terrible, and
the nets looked like they came off a fishing boat. The team ceased
operations this week after just one game. Although, another team claims
to still be playing this same team this weekend.
Apparently
three owners ran out of money before the season even started (this
league and its owners seem to have been mostly propped up by crypto),
but it's been absolute chaos from the get-go. The NFL Network announced
this week they would not be airing any games this season. From the
streams I watched last week, one stream was professional (Albany vs.
Orlando) while another stream (Iowa vs. Rapid City) looked to be put
together by a high school A/V club in the 90's.
The
commissioner was scheduled to give a live update Thursday night, but
never did. The Georgia Force, who were not paid for last weekends game,
nor do they have any travel vouchers, schedule was changed and now they
are supposed to play in Salem, Oregon, completely across the United
States.
The really sad part is the AFL management isn't
being transparent and because the league is a reboot none of the big
news organizations are picking it up. There are no articles on ESPN or
Fox Sports, instead they just want to keep running the same three
stories they run every day. However, the Philadelphia
Inquirer did a nice write up on the Soul and their issues.
A lot of the news is coming from the players themselves over social
media. It's a shame, because quite a few of the teams really seem to
have their stuff together such as the new Nashville Kats, Orlando
Predators, and Albany Firebirds. Those three teams (and towns) have had
established arena teams before, and I guess the people around them know
what they are doing.
The Nashville Kats are not playing in the Bridgestone Arena anymore but the Memorial Auditorium looks great
I'll be honest, I expected the entire league to fold this week, but it
hasn't. Most of the games will be aired on Vyre, so I'm interested in
watching some of that this weekend, but I must say, I'm disappointed. I
was really excited for the new launch of the Arena Football League, but
it's been a bit of a mess and if they somehow make it to the end of the
season I'll be really surprised.
The other night, I was lying in bed looking over some photos of Jupiter
when I noticed a little animal icon at the top of my photo. I assumed it
was Apple's way of tagging a specific animal to make it easier to find
photos of it, so I tapped the button and glanced at the settings. I was
intrigued because it listed Jupiter as a Snowshoe cat. I chuckled to
myself, "Oh, Apple and your stupid image scanning... you're so stupid.
She's a Siamese mix or something, not a snowshoe... whatever that is."
Then I did a quick search and I realized Apple wasn't the idiot, I
was.
I'm not the most versed in cat breeds, but I feel like I can hold my own
in a conversation. With that being said, I'd never heard of a snowshoe
cat before, but it only took a couple of pictures to see the
resemblance.
Boring Standard Picture of a Snowshoe Cat
So, what is a snowshoe cat? Well, it's a rare Siamese mix formerly known
as a Silver Lace. Wikipedia states, "the Snowshoe is a short-haired
bicolor colourpoint breed" which is fancy talk for it has two colors
that transition from light to dark across the cat's body. It was given
the name snowshoe, because the cats have little white paws.
My little bugger licking the double sided tape, because yea she doesn't care
The breed is rare, because it’s difficult to get the right markings and
patterns (due to a reliance on recessive genes) to conform to the breed
standards. Even Jupiter, who would be considered a "pet snowshoe"
wouldn't meet the criteria, because she has too much white on her back
legs.
So, my little gutter kitty is a rare snowshoe cat, how
cool is that?
Well, after a depressing post yesterday, I'm back with something a bit
more positive today: this is my 100th post!
When I rebooted my blog (I like to think of it as a sequel, same
character and continuation of the same storyline) in September 2023, I
was hoping it'd be for the last time. I don't typically keep track of
the number of posts I make, but Scribbles makes it really easy to see
what post number you are on.
I'm not sure what my largest
blog has ever been, but if I was to guess I'd say 300-400 posts. After
this month, I should be up to 131 posts, which is pretty wild. In one
month, I'm going to write a third of what I've written over the past
eight or nine months.
Of course, if I'm completely honest,
there have been four or five "From the Vault" style posts which were
actually old blog posts from different blogs that I brought over. So, I
haven't written 100 new posts, but I've published 100 posts.
Still, there is something that feels so good about reaching the number
one hundred. It's like you've transcended a normal acceptable number of
blog posts and have moved onto something more. I appreciate everyone
that has been on this ride with me, and I look forward to reaching 200
very soon. And while I have your attention, yesterday Chris
suggested bloggers start an Interests page. I
liked that idea so I whipped one up. It still needs some work but I
think this is a great way to find other folks with similar interests.
