Spaceship

just made my final run to the hardware store
found those last few pieces i was looking for
soon everyone will see why i was working so hard
i'm building a spaceship in my backyard

can we overlook the typos on my resume?
when you see my spaceship you'll be blown away
a few more paychecks and i'm outta this place
google my name when i'm in outer space

the neighbors are laughing but i really don't mind
i'm doing this for you, your friends - all of mankind
though many have tried and many have failed
i figured this thing out – i know i'll prevail

i'm going to fly in and out of weeks, maybe a year
stare monsters in the face, show them no fear
to bring back truth, justice, and a better way
and prove i'm not crazy, i told you i'm ok

don't wait up for me, this may take a while
to find hope for a world living in denial
to restore faith in the light of things unseen
and sell a few articles to the travel magazines

my spaceship's almost ready, red letters spell my name
and yes i'll wear a seatbelt, i told you i'm not insane
better stand back while i light this and burn up the sky
remember this day
and that a departure's not a goodbye

Ringing in 2019

We rang in the new year hanging out with the Von Thuns and playing trivia and card games, including the non-computer version of The Oregon Trail. It was a blast! Then on the morning of the 2nd I flew out to Boston for a few days:

The company celebrated their 50th anniversary in the old Boston Plaza Hotel. It's weird how many new people they've hired, I hardly know anybody anymore. When I started 9 years ago there were just over 100 employees and now there are almost 900. Only a few of the people who were there when I started still remain, so I guess that makes me a dinosaur. Anyway, there was a cocktail party after the company meeting:

The hotel was super cool; it was built in the 1920s and had retained its old timey appearance:

It snowed twice while I was in Boston, but I returned to a very brown Iowa. That's OK, I don't mind the unusually warm January. Hello again, 380:

In mid-January it finally snowed and we got to do all the winter stuff you're supposed to do. Like sledding:

Meet Mortimer the snowman:

As we sat outside around the fire one night, I'm pretty sure the snowman was closer to us than he was when I looked earlier...

Then all of a sudden Rose turned 14! I'm pretty sure no one saw that coming. She had lots of friends over for her birthday and had cake, ice cream, and a snow storm:

Her birthday celebration on her actual birthday:

And her birthday celebration with friends on Saturday:

Lily hates our good time:

The girls split into two teams and went to Lindale Mall to do a photo scavenger hunt. They were a little hyper and got yelled at by a mall cop, but they checked almost everything off the list and the team that won only had one item that they couldn't find. I don't think they had very much fun:

Also, Rose is studying for her permit, so lock your doors and stay off the streets.

Cynthia and I went to Riverside to see Everclear on a frigid Friday night. The temp without the windchill was -4. Thanks a lot, January. It was an awesome show, though, and cool to see Art still rockin' in his own weird way:

January ended with temperatures around -24 and a wind chill of -49, thank goodness. Can't wait to see what February brings us.

I'll Be Right Here

Another paper cutout project completed! I ordered a moon poster online and then I drew and cut out the bicycle and the trees and taped them to the poster. This one doesn't make use of silhouettes the way I usually do with these, but that wasn't possible with the moon poster. I tried positioning the bicycle and trees out in front of the poster, but lighting the moon to match the movie still and keeping unwanted shadows out proved to be an insane balancing act and in the end this looked better, anyway:

I figured the bicycle/Elliot/E.T. would be the trickiest part, but it actually wasn't too bad and I got it right after two or three attempts:

The trees were really tedious and took quite a while to complete. Originally, I planned to make four or five, but then decided it would look too crowded with that many trees. Plus, they are a pain to cut out:

I used two studio lights; one to the left with a blue filter and a second one to the right with no filter that I set to fire at the lowest power. I taped the poster to a black bedsheet and then taped the bicycle and trees in place:

This blue filter cast a strong blue hue to the shot, which helped match the color seen in the movie. Using two lights – one without a filter – made the lighter areas of the moon appear white, instead of everything looking like shades of blue. I rarely use these things, but this time it came in handy:

Coming up next: Mad Max...