So I’ve been informed that Roger Clyne will be appearing at this year’s Wakarusa Fest on one of the days between June 8th and June 11th. I’ve linked to the site but it’s a little malnourished, suffering from a ‘Vitamin Info’ deficiency. Ideally I’d buy a ticket for whatever day the Peacemakers will be there, hope that a few other bands I know and possibly love will be slated for that day as well, and have a blast amongst the stink of pot smoke and Patchouli. The site gives the impression that you can only buy a 4-day pass, the validity of which I’d like to confirm if anyone happens to know different.

Talks have begun to map out this year’s Puerto Penasco trip. Measures are being taken to avoid the tragedy of last year, which resulted in a physically broken car, a mentally broken Cat, and the loss of $200 that belonged to me despite the fact that I didn’t even go on the trip. I want to get my money’s worth. If anyone non-local would like to join us be sure to let me know (mandrake, I’m looking in your direction). Newcomers are always welcome.

Next weekend the Super Bowl will be taking place at Casa de Sully, unless popular vote demands otherwise. Start leaving your movie suggestions now so there are no more foul-ups like The Zodiac Killer, which taught me that old men liked to go bang strippers after looking at photos of mutilated corpses because sick things made them horny.

p.s. It takes a while to find the proper spelling of Patchouli when you don’t have a clue as to how it’s spelled. Searching on wikipedia for “hippy perfume” seemed to have the proper effect.

So I’ve come to a an uncomfortable agitated state over the last few days and have started to develop a foggy idea as to why. I feel that lately my interactions with people have started to lack overall substance, exchanging quips and laughter, but never doing more than scratching the surface of any subject that comes up. I know it’s not a failing in the people I hang out with as any one of them seems to be capable of dumping tomes of information on request, at which point I feel that I’m attending a lecture rather than having a talk with someone. This wouldn’t be a bad thing if it wasn’t for my attention slipping away after listening for a minute or so, missing parts of what was said, asking for it to be repeated, etc.

So naturally the ball would bounce to my court, where I take a stab at figuring out where things break down within myself. I think that about half of the time the information being conveyed is unfamiliar to me, so I have a difficult go at processing it on the fly and I also tend to not ask questions in order to better understand the parts that were over my head. The other half of the time turns into a self imposed mental trap, where someone is talking to me and my brain shifts into a panic mode out of a feeling of necessity to respond intelligently. I stop listening and try to figure out what to say, realize that I stopped listening and will possibly randomly change the subject. Conversations where I realize this has happened are not what I consider “quality,” and this becomes a problem only when I realize it happens in nearly all conversations I have.

The only discussions I have on a regular basis are with the same handful of people. Maybe the simplest way to start thinking on my feet again is to start talking to people whose conversational patterns differ from those I’m accustomed to. Break the monotony.

Option B would be to simply practice “good conversation” with the people I know, which would entail those of you I talk to on a normal basis making sure I’m paying attention and not staring at shinies. Don’t think of it as a chore so much as a chance to increase quality time while making me a better person.

Option C is that I’ve simply become uninteresting, resulting in these introspective self-help posts. I prefer to think that a combination of A and B will do the trick. So talk to me if you get a chance.

First off I’d like to point out that cleverninja.com will now serve as the home of the blog page, and the central hub of my web presence. Simpler for those who may have been going to the main page, never stumbling across the blog and subsequently missing the bulk of the site’s content. I strive to make things easy for you, the guest.

Aside from that, a question probably for the 3 or 4 people that might actually visit on a regular basis, but is open to any and all who have at least met me:

What word or words would you use if asked to summarize me, Jonathan Sullivan, as a person?

I’m interested in serious responses, and in no way fishing for compliments. You can give me words, whole sentences, maybe even complete thoughts, and only as much you feel comfortable with. But you’re welcome to let loose as I’m trying to deconstruct myself and need an objective viewpoint to aid in such ventures. And you can leave feedback in the comments or via email.

I believe this may have been used on someone else’s blog recently, but perhaps for a different purpose. So at the risk of being unoriginal, have at.

And the rough middle of the third Cow Defender image is available.

To tell the truth, I have very little idea of what I’m doing when it comes to action. I’ve been rather good at conveying action in single characters in a lot of my work, but was always afraid of the idea of adding another character. Some artist I am. Anyway, I think this little guy has the potential to be a fun image by the time I’m done with it.

Is the name of the band I’m planning on seeing Saturday night. Free mp3s are available for download on their site, as well as here. I haven’t the slightest idea if those sites have any overlap as far as the mp3 downloads are concerned. All who read are welcome to come along, but I suspect that most people I know will never see this. In any case, the concert is Saturday night (at 7:00pm?) at The Record Bar, formerly Malloy’s, very near if not in Westport.

On an unrelated note IE sucks. I come to realize this more and more each time Opera and Firefox automatically format a part of my page that I have to add more code to so that I can coax IE to conform as well. Doing so wastes a lot of my time.

And on another unrelated note, if you like Germans, forklifts, and hijinx, look no further than this little video. Certainly helps to add more of a visual to the chapter of Towing Jehova when Joe Spicer is running down his crewmates with his own dual-pronged death mobile.