Yesterday Kate left for Maryland. We said our final goodbyes in the hallway of my building by the computer room. Her dad dropped her off, then circled the block a couple times. Then we went outside and waited for him to pick her up. The sky was getting greyer and the clouds were beginning to roll in across the sky. He arrived and we hugged, kissed and then she left. I stayed outside to smoke a cigarette and decompress. Then the rain came.

Optimistically speaking, it's going to be about a month before I can see her again. She's aiming for a long weekend visit to Chicago somewhere around the 20th. Now summer is a countdown, again, as it always seems to be. It's interesting, this time, because there's no semester of school looming in the future so there's no reason for me to NOT want the summer to end. I have nothing that I'm getting away from.

So what am I going to do now? Well - here's the plans for the next 3 months:
- Write 'Rock Spiders' - an original feature length screenplay.
- Write 'Branches' - a short animation project I'm working on with Kate.
- Design the Sociobots t-shirts. Yeah, that's right. Kate and I are going to silkscreen selected images of the Sociobot series. I'm probably just going to choose 2 or 3 of them to start out with and re-draw them at higher res in B&W. We're going to try to sell them at some local designer shops in Chicago - and of course online. We're printing to American Apparel T's.
- Work on "demo reel" DVD. Not so much a demo reel as just a collection of my work in various mediums to make me more attractive to potential employers... We'll see...
- Read some books.

So I've got a full plate, but I'm just not feeling the motivation to do this. I need to shake off this lonely slump thing I'm in and get to work. It'll happen. I'm not worried, or complaining.


The sun is setting outside now and it's bathing my apartment in a muted orange glow. And I wish Kate was here to see it with me. To lay next to me in a bed covered by white sheets, an ash tray between us and smoke spiraling above with rays from the sun illuminating thin strands of cancer lingering in the room, and watch the sun disappear behind the monoliths of the city.

ACen 2006 wrapped up a couple days ago and I'm slowly getting back into my routine of... not.. sleeping.. at night... ? Okay, so maybe ACen wasn't exactly a shock to my system. Actually, it's more like school and living a productive life is the shock.

Anyway, ACen was 'fun' as always. It was much mellower this year than it has been previously. Most notably we didn't actually see anyone carted off on stretchers. There were no girls ODing on exstacy, no drunk naked girls in pools, or people diving into empty bathtubs. That was kind of disappointing since watching the mayhem of Saturday night is usual a highlight of the convention. I guess the con admins via their IRT goons cracked down on the more extreme spectacles.

Well, onto the pics -


David exhibits the sophisticated humor that our group of friends is known for.


Then later declares that ACen is officially a "no pants" convention.


Of David's pantless theory, Alex said, "I admire his freedom."


Anime Central turned into a gun market at some point before anyone realized it. We happily welcomed this change, and invested in many firearms over the weekend. This lead to more phallic imagery and homoerotic dialogue than you could possible imagine ("The cock is broken." "I'm not good at cocking." "Check my barrel." "The tip of my barrel is red." etc.)


Pat rejected the guns on this basis, and instead opted for a big, long, smooth sword.


I'm an idiot.


A stranger asked us to sign his ball...


So we did...

Wait, what?


A man in suit talked Adrian into a hug with candy. I asked him what anime the costume was from and he replied, "What's an anime?"


Adrian later complained that "the bear touched me in my bad place." and became hostile to members of the female sex, maintaing they were "freaks" and that he "doesn't talk to freaks."


Alex pondered how to exlpain the difference between "good" and "bad" touching to his brother.


I have nothing to say about this photo.


ACen 2006 featured a new event of Otaku Speed Dating. In the period following the event, after having 'dated' 10 anime fans in the span of 30 minutes, Kate smoked 45 cigarettes in 12 minutes and 22 seconds.


Carl was late for the Evangelion panel, leaving me looking like a deer in headlights alone infront of a room filled with scary anime fans.


When Carl did arrive we demonstrated our favorit dance routines. Afterwards Carl looked at me and said, "You are teh suck." and I cried for a few minutes behind my caffeine drink.


David demonstrated his enthusiasm for the Eva panel, while Adrian continues to ponder the "bad touching."


A small child fell down, and I smiled.



The End.

(P.S. Missed you at ACen Sam - it was weird without seeing you for our yearly 30 min catch up :P)

Last night I woke up to Kate sitting up in bed crying, and of course I knew what it was about. After almost 6 months (in a day) of spending almost every minute together, Kate and I are going to seperate for a while. Not by choice, of course. Out of circumstance. She's going home for the summer, home to Maryland. And me? I'm going back to Aurora. My lease ends July 1st, and at that moment I am no longer a resident of Chicago.

I will be back in Chicago as soon as I possibly can, but at the moment I have no idea when that will be. I'm scared and sad. I don't want things to be put on pause and I don't want her to leave, and I don't want to leave. Everything's coming to an end, or at least changing, it seems. And at a time when I'm my most happy. For the first time since I've come to college, I'm making friends and have a steady and fulfilling love life. I've gained soem writing partners who want to create a "film factory" right out of Chicago. We're meeting together for the first time on Tuesday. But now, just as things are falling into place and I really have something to do this summer, I'm gone.

If that's not enough motivation to get my ass in gear and find a job and make something of myself so I can come back here and be happy, I don't know what is.

Aside from my family, whom I love dearly, there is nothing left for me in Aurora. I have no friends left there, aside from the Finiaks. I suspect that the majority of my summer is going to be spent working and writing. With no adventures or escapades to break it up. The only things I can look forward to this summer is Kate coming back to Chicago for a visit in June before I'm out of my apt, and visiting Kate in Maryland at some undetermined time.


What do I do now?