Radio Updated, Shop Updated, Site Updated. Weeeeeeeeee!
on a side note, I ditched my stock iPod Earbuds the other day in favor of a set of Sony MDR-EX71's. NIGHT AND DAY I TELL YOU! The sony's have so much better sound quality, it's like having all new music, I swear!

Two new prints in the store, both a little different than my usual style. I've been working with a number of 3d applications lately for various things, and these are some 'side projects' that spawned out of that.

The first (Desolate Sunset) is a landscape of sorts, probably not the kind of place you'd want to visit. Rendered in a program called TerraGen, with some cleanup work in PSP. The second (Mein), is the culmination of Rammstein's new album, work, the fact that I have to go through another retail holiday season, and a few more Guinness' than I should have had (yay, I can drink again! no more meds). Rendered in Poser5, alot of post work in PSP.

It's official. At least 50% of voting Americans are dumber than a block of sod. We have re-elected a warmongering, unbalanced religious fanatic who believes he was ordained by god to free the world of evil. America had a huge responsibility this election year. We could have proven to the world that despite W's actions since 2001, we really were a competent, peace driven people, capable of creating lasting friendships around the world, but instead, we decided to go on attacking random countries, setting up little pieces of "freedom" all over the world through military action. Very disappointing.

The general dislike towards the US felt the world over was not originally a hatred for the American people, but now that we've re-elected him, who's to say how far the lines between American government and American Citizens will blur for the rest of the world.

Even scarier than the presidential race, many states modified their constitutions yesterday, my own Ohio one of them. The adjustments made would make non-traditional (I.E. Religious based traditions) unions illegal, and in some states, mandate PRISON TIME for anyone performing these ceremonies. Why didn't I just say gay marriages? Because here in Ohio, that's not all we banned. We also did away with civil unions, "single parent" benefits and any other form of benefit for involving legal unions that is not 1 man, and 1 woman.

So much for that Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness thing we tout here. Thank god the law in Ohio is being challenges, I didn't much like the idea that religious and faith based doctrine could become set in stone law. What would be next? Racial segregation again, slavery? Maybe we should make it illegal to not go to an approved church. Or we could tattoo numbers on the inside of people's wrists, just for "identification" purposes.

The one bright spot of the elections was California (I take back all those bad things I said about Arnold being elected) approving law that makes human stem cell research legal, and provides government funding for it. What a huge step in the right direction.

Last Monday, I had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled. really, the experience wasn't all that bad. I went in early (like 830AM) so I was already tired to begin with, they probably could have turned off the lights and I would have went to sleep instead of gassing me out.

There's just something nifty about how they stick in an IV, and the next thing you remember is 2 hours later, in a car, halfway home 4 teeth the lesser. Whatever they gave me to put me out must have been some great stuff, because from what I'm told, when I came to in the recovery room, I was singing, groovin around trying to dance a bit.

The technical parts of the operation are actually the oposite of what they initially expected them to be. The top, right tooth (the problem one) popped right out basicly, and it's top/left counterpart was just as simple. the lower teeth were sneaky, like ninjas. The hid certain aspects of themselves from the X ray, like the fact that they were buried in solid bone...completely. The ninja teeth were removed in something like 20+ pieces, and unfourtunately for me, a lot of bone had to be removed to get them all out.

So I get home, chew on some guaze and sleep on and off for a day or so. really, the pain wasn't that bad. The taste of blood? eh, much worse. Day two was pretty much the same as day 1, but with the addition of some wonderful Vicoden. Something pretty decent happened on day 3, as I was lying around watching TV, I saw an infomercial for a "new" music group. Usually, I ignore these things, because the music usually playing is some 4 horsemen of queer junk, but this caught my ear.

12 Girls Band. Ever hear of them? Nor had I. Apparently (after digging around the web) they are 12 music conserbitory students from china, of the extrordinarily gifted set. They perform traditional chinese instruments in a style that really could be classified as anything from ambient to jazz to pop. I hopped online, used found some files on some of the various file sharing nets, and started to listen. I was impressed. VERY impressed. Also, I was on drugs...but even if I wasn't, I'd still be impressed :) next thing I know, I've logged into iTunes MS and grabbed the 2 disc "Freedom" album (2004) for $20. Seriously, check these girls out, not only do they sound good, the look good!

Anyways, back to my teeth. It's been about a week now, and frankly, my jaw hurts. The swelling is down, I can eat a good bit of normal food, I've started to see the sutures disolve (lower left may be some concern still, says doc on followup). The pain of bone starting to re-grow is downright nasty... it's this deep, throbbing dull pain that never really goes away. Thank god for the vic's, because that's what allows me to go to work and play nice with others hehe.