… and trying to make this thing work as i want it to work; making it look as i want it to look.

I have way too many things running around in my head at the same time. I need serious time management skillz to organize my ideas.

When was the last time i wrote something worth while? It seems like ages ago. (more…)

And… WE ARE BACK ON TRACK!

Not only does the site is working as it should once again, we are en route to publish a kick ass Webcomic for your enjoyment, and we are organizing great gigs… because that is what we are known for.

After a long and quite unnecessary hiatus year, we have prepared an amazing gig for you and only you! The BUTTERFEST is back, and this year it showcases 4 of the best bands you will find here in the umbilicus of this planet of ours.

We got old bands, new bands… and hell, even a few bands that don’t even exist!

If you find yourself in PTY, on December the 18th… stop by the 2nd Floor Bar, and catch the best show you will see this year… and RAWK YOUR PANTS OFF!

Excelsior!

Scottie Young's Dimwit

This is something i read in one of my favorite books, and i think it applies to what we are trying to accomplish here, so i want to share it with y’all:

“A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.”
from Manual of Muad’Dib by the Princess Irulan (Frank Herbert’s DUNE. 1965)

Personally, i would like to avoid over used cliches like posting a list of resolutions that will waver in the first 4 weeks of the new month, the new year, the new decade, the rest of our days.  Aside from having a Blue Moon today in New Year’s Eve (it happens only once every 20 years!), this is -in reality- quite a regular day.  The sun will set, the moon will rise as the distant stars sparkle… and -hopefully- the sun will rise tomorrow and so on and so forth ad nauseam ad infinitum. (Don’t believe me? Ask your dog/cat/pet why this day is different…)  There is something that sets this day apart for us humans.  There is a pervasive need to make a stop, sit down and look back at what we have done in the last 365 days we have lived; we stop and ponder about the decisions we took and the paths we threaded, gauge the completion -or lack of, in some cases- of the goals we set up for ourselves and we desperately try to organize our macrocosm so it fits within our own microcosm and vice versa.  We take the time to make sure that the balances are, indeed, correct.

Being an avid reader and a compulsive movie watcher ( i will watch and enjoy even the LAMEST of movies out there), i end up gathering little snippets of wisdom here and there.  And there is nothing i like more, than sharing this little snippets of enlightening with those willing to listen.  Recently i saw a movie that blew my mind, so to speak.  If you have the chance to see it, i totally recommend it, and if you have… well, either you agree with me or i would need you to go and see it again and try to see it with the point i am trying to put forth here, in mind.  Said movie is Zombieland, and it offers a set of rules, i would like to nominate as “The De-Facto New Year Resolution List” to be used henceforth:

1. Cardio
2. Double Tap
3. Beware of Bathrooms
4. Wear Seatbelts
6. Cast Iron Skillet
7. Travel Light
12. Bounty paper towels
15. Bowling Ball
17. (Don’t) Be a hero
18. Limber Up
22. When in doubt, know your way out
29. The Buddy System
31. Check the back seat
32. Enjoy the little things
33. Swiss Army knife
*Bonus: A little sunscreen never hurt anybody.

For a more in depth explanation of these rules, please CLICK HERE!

We are all trying to accomplish great things, in our own personal way… we look forward to accomplish our personal, laboral, sentimental, spiritual, economical, intellectual, <Insert your own here> goals.  The only thing i could say, regarding this matter is “KLAATU BARADA NICTA!”

Well, not really: that was just a little joke.  What i want to say is this: The Universe runs on ONE simple principle, and it is because of this ONE simple principle that the only constant out there is CHAOS.  It sounds kinda gloomy, i know, but bear with me.  We need to keep a level head, and deal with the chaos that is inside us, around us and through this, we will be achieving -or working towards achieving- that ONE simple principle the Universe runs upon: BALANCE.

So i dont want to bore you with a list of things i would like to achieve this year, or a list of things i am grateful for, or anything of the regular things people do this time of the year… like wearing yellow underwear and such.  All i want to do is wish you find that which helps you find the BALANCE you need to live a happy and fulfilled life.  A good step towards this, and it is a step i have taken myself and has worked quite well -ergo the recommendation here, is to let go of those things that would affect you in a negative manner.  Petty thoughts, revenge plots, hate and the such.  Focus your will power, overcome your inner fears and let go of those things that bring you down.  Find the BALANCE! and smile.  An d when in doubt? Do what you do -at least- once a year: stop, think, take a deep breath, and reorganize your ideas before moving on.

Well, enough of my ramblings.  I thank you for staying all the way here to the end, i really appreciate it! Remember: Find what helps you find your balance, and enjoy yourselves (See ZL rule #32!). After all we only have two more to go before 2012, no?

Happy New Year…

Let me tell you a story. A story of how I started this new year.  A nice and sweet story, for a change.

My New Year’s Eve began quite good. I got out of work early, and walked into the Firework Store right across the street. It was a gun powder based extravaganza that promised to ignite the skies with multi chromatic balls of fire, and I was like a kid in a candy store. Sadly, I only had $10 in my wallet and all my money was here at home. I cursed like a sailor on my way out, but not before buying a box of 100 SATURN ROCKETS for $5.

I came home, doodled a bit and hung out like any other regular day off. The truth was that I wanted to come home and go back to the Fireworks Store and purchase my weight in fireworks for the night, but getting a cab was a BITCH and that is the reason I lounged away the afternoon.

Around 8pm, my good friend Niko picked me up and we were on our way to the supermarket, when I decided to check if the store was still open… so we went there, and got in just in time! They were closing down for the night, but I walked in and got some amazing rockets, and some random doodas for the night: I got a pack of regular “voladores” or flyers -pure Chitrean Technology- a pack of HUMUNGOUS rockets called VIKINKI and the guy ended up throwing in a box of Dragon Eggs for kicks and laughs. I had my ammo for the night. All I needed was my supplies.

Onwards to the Supermarket and we boozed up on good beer, good Australian wine and ice, and we came back home. Niko went back to his house, as he had been cooking for his family all day long and I stayed in, hanging out in my back yard playing videogames with my nephew and having some wine with my mom.

Sad thing was, my Guitar Hero Mic died. It just wont work, and that kinda made me sad… but in the end it wouldn’t matter, wine was flowing, I was having fun and midnight was about to stroke.

And it did. Quickly I ran and got my ammo. By now Fernando had joined us and he brought some ammo of his own as well. We ran down to the beach behind my house and began hurling balls of multi colored fire to the sky!

“VIKINKI!” we would bellow every time we would set a rocket on its skyward demise, and cheer like 8 year olds when the night got illuminated by great balls of fire and smoke. My nephew was cackling! I was in a good place. Harold was waiting on our doorstep, but we were so caught up in our firecracking business we didn’t notice!

New Year Greetings were exchanged, hugs were freely given and best wishes were wished, followed by more rawking.

And as it is the case with Rawk and Rawl, the booze started to flow as well. Suffice to say, I got hammered and sang my heart out while playing GH in my back yard.

Here is a run down of what my new year was: dancing merengue with my mom in the kitchen, playing videogames with my nephew and my friends, good beer and good wine, 25 cents Cherry Coke, laughs, firecrackers, screaming VIKINKI!, seeing my good friend Lili run around the backyard with my nephew while in high heels, my mom playing GH, jamming at 6 am, Niko’s potato salad, Chinese breakfast and tea, and falling asleep at the table while we had breakfast and on the car on the way back home.

I woke up the 31^st at 7.30 in the morning, and I went to bed on the 1^st at 10am. Slept for about 6 hours, woke up and took two Tylenol and a chilled glass of fruit punch, and I am proud to say: No hangover.

How was your New Year’s?

This was a GREAT way to start my year… all I can say is: EXCELSIOR!

Last night, we had our first Drink & Draw night.  Some of us gathered at the local water hole, The ‘Buck, and amidst laughs and weird ass conversation we developed the two topics we had for the night.

Now, before “gettin’ it own” with the topics and what we did, let me elaborate a bit about the dynamics of the night.  The idea behind this is to flex your creative muscle, oftentimes bound by this or that.  It is not a competition at all, more along the lines of a good camaraderie and networking opportunity as well. So, if the topic for the night is, say “The Smurfs”, the idea would be to grab that -deconstruct it- and then work with that. So instead of doodling Papa Smurf or Smurfette or something like that i would do a Short, pot bellied midget… all painted in blue, while wearing white pants.  The main idea is to think outside the box, and push the boundaries of some concepts that are around us on a day to day basis.
(more…)

*I Found the Mythical BUCKET of METAL!*

I’m gonna go on a limb here and state that to me, the definition of a weekend, is when you stay up past your bedtime and/or sleep more than you usually do. By proxy i can assure you that last week, my weekend started on Monday.

Monday was the world release of God of War 3, and we had the chance to go and score a seat at the event. We hung out, got bloody popcorn, free soft drinks and took a shitload of pics. I ended up hitting the sack circa 2:00 AM.

Tuesday is the night we have our Dungeons & Dragons sessions. Somehow, Tuesdays have become the high point of my week. These statement alone must tell you tons more than what you need to know about my social life… or lack of. Anyhow, a group of us gather at my place and we play late into the night. I really enjoy this sessions; not only is the party well balanced, we as players each bring something unique and different to the table… and we drink like motherfuckers. If it is not a few bottles of wine, it is a case of “Heinies” and a few Energy Drinks to keep the creative and nerd levels high. Too bad they don’t sell Mountain Dew here anymore. If they did, it would be a DORK-A-THON of unheard proportions.

Last Tuesday we did a bit of Role Reversion and instead of being a player, I took the reins of the story and DM’ed the session. the rest of the Guild (Did i mention we also have a Guild?) seemed to like it, and enjoyed the session as much as I did. Here i sit, at work… itching for it to be Tuesday already so we can complete the session, as we had to cut it in half: It was already 2.45 when they reached the “save point”. Time i ended up hitting the hay? 3:30 AM.

Wednesday dawns upon me, and like the previous days, i wake up at 6.45 to get ready to work. Being a corporate monkey has a serious drawback to all these fun and games: you have to wake up early, and that sucks -regardless of the fact you just went to bed like 20 mins ago. After work, i hung out with a friend from work and ended up in the movies. By this point i was so sleep deprived that i dozed off a few times during the movie; the good thing is that i had seen it already, and i was just hanging out with my friend. She liked the movie, and i didn’t snore: it was a win-win situation. I ended up going to bed around 2:00 AM.

Thursday came and went without making even a tiny little bleep on the radar… cause i died. I woke up to come to work on time, and went home as usual. I got home, sat on the bed, took off my shirt and passed out. It was around 7:00 PM.

I woke up Friday, at 7:30 and came to work. After work I was trying to make my way to this Mexican Wrestling event they had going on… but since getting a cab here in PTY has become an epic adventure of insurmountable proportions, i decided against it. I went home and took a shower, and made my way instead to our local Shenanigans branch. I ended up having stale -and warm!- green beer in honor of it being St. Patrick’s somehwen during the week along with my spicy wings. After that, those of us who didn’t wanna call it a night went to the Isthmus Brewery and had us some REAL beer while GRENDEL played in the background. I am not too sure about this, but it seems i dozed off in the table at some point -nothing as hardcore as when i died during Chinese breakfast on new years, mind you!- and we called it a night circa 3:00 AM. I went to bed Circa 3:40 AM.

Saturday reared it’s sunny head and i came to work. Normal human interaction was possible thanks to the left over energy drink i found in my fridge that morning. As i went out i took a detour through the park, and ran into my old friend The Morinoko, and ended up getting hooked on slack-line. Let me tell you, it fucking rocks my socks off and then some! It was the first time i did this. Hell, it was the first time i SAW what slack line was! I thought it was something related to rock climbing. The truth is something altogether different. The sad news is that we had to cut that session short due to the rain. I made my way to the mall, and had some lunch and then headed over to the City’s Old Quarters, to check out the MACRO festival.

*Caution: When Fashion, you MUST look like the guy on the right.*

Now, the MACRO festival promised a few expos and what not’s… so we decided to make it over there early -circa 4:00 PM. As we got to the place, we got stuck in the most fucked up traffic jam i’ve been in in recent months, so we did a U turn and parked a GAJILLION miles away from the event and walked there. When we got to the actual place, there was no expos. The only “expo” was a bunch of pics hanging from a tree. That was it! to top it off beers were at $3.00 a can… i wanted to shoot myself in the eye with a wooden spoon.

After a while of walking around the Old Quarters with my friend, and running into Tepuy at the Festival Caribe -the Panamanian version of the Advertising world Oscars, or something like that- we made it back in time to see the start of the fashion runway.

“Let the Fagotry begin!” i shouted out loud, gathering irked looks from the nearby onlookers, as i was under-dressed from the fashion point of view. fuck, i think my friend and i were the only two people on that Plaza that were not “FASHION” that afternoon.

A few hours later, i ran into another friend, who supplied the info that in the other corner f the plaza they were selling $0.65 beers a can. So i proceeded to get wasted while the Dj spun some records and i hung out with the people that had gathered for the Sr. Loop gig later that night.

A shit load of beers later, and after mingling about the gig started and got stopped by the police. Apparently the whole thing should’ve blown off by 11 pm, and the band started playing @ 10.45 more or less. After realizing that they would have a RIOT in their hands, they let the band play a while longer… and we had a very cool gig. I went home and died circa 2 AM.

I was supposed to wake up early Sunday to do some laundry and meet my friends for some more Slackline. Like i stated before, i got hooked on it just the day before… but i was so sleep deprived, and tired that i was dead to the world untill about 2 pm, when i woke up and made my way to a friends house to get my NERD on, playing Mutants and Masterminds.

Closing off the night, i ended up at the movies, saw Shutter Island… liked it a lot and then stopped for some late night nom noms before hitting the hay at… circa 2:00 AM as well.

So i have been corrinchando way to much this last week. Have not done too much work on the greatly overdue comic -don’t worry… i am RETCONING it- and i am in serious need of some R&R.

So, how was YOUR weekend? Mine was fucking EXCELLENT.

*Thank you for playing! Come again!*