(no subject) +10

So after waking up (much earlier than three in the afternoon) I fed the dogs, then put a tiny cardstock surfboard in the mail, addressed to Alaska (c/o Sarah Palin). Shortly thereafter I took a couple of choice wizards for a walk - specifically, Prodigal Sorcerer and Zuran Spellcaster. The dogs came too.



I goofed off for a bit after that, including posting to a web forum I'm a regular on. I posted my own telling of a fairy tale that's been passed down in my family, about a dragon with a rubber nose who causes a great deal of trouble by erasing all the signs; in the version as posted, I played up the throwaway detail about how one of the problems this caused was people not being told what to buy because all the billboards were blank - a topic which is inherently a deconstruction of modern consumerist society. (I would include the full text of that post here, but I'm not going to inflict that much uninterrupted text on you guys just for level zero.)

Next, a bit of Lost. Because it was to plan for Sutro Tower Day, I decided to re-watch the season three finale, which has the first appearance of the radio tower. It reminded me both of why I stopped watching sometime in season four (because I didn't like how they changed the rules partway through the show, primarily by adding time travel in season three) and of what I liked about it (the fact that even as they answer many of the big questions they keep the sense of mystery alive and, after the time travel shows up, how they have one of the most interesting takes on time travel, prophecy, and the connection between them I have ever seen). Great show, even if I'm not still following it. Hm. Maybe I should again. Maybe I need to make up a date for Sutro Tower Day (it's the holiday I invented to wish people a good one of at C2BK) that gives me time to catch up on Lost before it rolls around.

Next, shortly after noon, I decided to do some woodworking. Now this was a tricky requirement for the mad lib to give me, because I don't have the supplies to do it currently and don't feel like spending the money on getting them just for a single detail of a level zero task. So I picked a project I could do with just a jackknife and materials I could find. I decidet to make an atlatl, based on these directions, using a branch I cut in my neighborhood. Unfortunately I couldn't find my jackknife. So I promised myself that atlatl-making and atlatl tasking would be in my future, and moved on to the next step. For now, that promise would have to be my day's movement in the direction of woodworking.

It was afternoon, so it was time to compose. Now I am trained in music theory only insofar as it relates to jazz improvisation, and the only instrument I'm good enough at to improvise on at all well is the trumpet. And my trumpet was stolen about a year ago and I haven't yet found a suitable replacement (in part because I haven't looked very hard), but insurance will pay for it. So I don't currently have a good choice of instrument to mess around with and try to produce a decent tune - but I'm not completely lacking. The recording is me on a wooden recorder-like instrument made and decorated in allegedly traditional Hopi fashion, a souvenir from a trip to the four corners area as a child. First I attempted to play a melody by 16th-century composer Luis Milan, by ear; you can tell that I failed, partly due to difficulty playing the instrument without overblowing. Partly this is because with age the two pieces of wood (one hollow, one which acts as a plug in one end of it to help form the mouthpiece) have come to be less than entirely attached everywhere they should be, meaning that air can leak out - or in - easily.

Clicky - the horror of me sucking at an unfamiliar instrument

That was how I familiarized myself with the instrument. Then I tried to compose a new melody. This started out as a bit of improvising that deliberately strayed further and further from any resemblance to a theme (originally, it was based on the above) until I created a new melody. The recording that resulted had terrible tone quality, and the occasional unexpected very high note, but the tune was nice - not bad, for about ten minutes' work on a busy day of tasking. Here you go!

Clicky - Theme song from "Mad Lives Level Zero", played horribly.

And then I realized I had a problem. My day so far had involved there being windows, and wasn't at all slimy. I covered up the windows in my bedroom with butcher paper; that was straightforward. As for the slime - that would have to wait. I had plans for the evening that involved sliminess.



Next I ate lunch and prepared for the Tunguska Event. This latter part is easier than it sounds, since I've actually been working on an idea for an RPG scenario that the event has relevance to; I did a lot of productive brainstorming for that and have taken it from the germ of an idea to something approaching a playable scenario. (Hey Skype team! You may get a chance to play it sometime! But not quite yet; it still isn't done.)

By the way, while I was in the kitchen I found that toaster.



After that Darkaardvark and I wasted time on the website he suggested. Then just after three, I went to take a very short nap. Just as I was falling asleep, it got to be 3:14 PM and I woke up. Then we kept messing around with the puzzle for a while before I ultimately decided to take a break and read the wikipedia article on string theory. (I still have no idea what it's talking about.)

Now for some tasking. I have plans for Storm Isengard, but that task will take close to a full 24 hours to do and is almost impossible to fit into a day of Mad Lives. So I decided to prepare a bit. My plans make use of a certain apparatus which has sat in my bedroom unused for about two years, so in preparation for the tasking I decided to refamiliarize myself with the basic principles of its operation.



A little after five I went on another walk. I decided that while carrying two Magic cards in your pocket is a good enough way to take the wizards out first thing in the morning, I needed to do something more interesting for the afternoon and evening outings. My first more interesting option, therefore, involved going on a walk with a backpack full of Terry Pratchett novels. (Ones about wizards, of course.) So that is what I did.

Then I wasted more time playing Funny Farm.

The last mandatory piece of my day was the evening outing, and I'd been lame enough about the required tasking work and the woodworking that I simply had to do something a bit more epic for this part. And, of course, a bit slimier. My plan: walk the dogs while dressed as a wizard.

Of course just being a generic wizard would never do. I had to pick a specific one. Based on having done so successfully in the past, I chose Remus J. Lupin. I gave myself some fake scars across the face. The technique I like to use involves optionally drawing the scars in with white eyeliner pencil, then applying a 3:2 mix of warm water and unflavored gelatin, ideally with a splash of red food coloring in it, over the lines and waiting for it to dry. It comes out a little shiny, but other than that quite realistic for long-healed scars. You have to keep the gelatin layer thin, though - but not too thin, or the color won't show up at all. See? I told you the day would get properly slimy.

We were out of gelatin, so I had to make do with some isinglass I had among my brewing supplies. Obtained from fish, isinglass is a gelatin-like compound sold to brewers as a fining agent. Isinglass, as it turns out, doesn't come out as clear as gelatin when it's that concentrated in the water - which would be a good thing if it weren't for the fact that it thus doesn't blend with the skin at the edges, leading to a very fake-looking fake scar. Also, for reasons unknown to me, a little red food dye turns isinglass a rather brighter shade of red than it does gelatin. The result was unfortunate.



Once the isinglass scars had dried, I went to get dressed. And then I discovered that my wizard robe (AKA my high school graduation gown) was in storage, and I had nothing good on hand to substitute for it. Suddenly, all my work with foul-smelling slimy things on my face was for naught. Time to pick a different approach to walking the wizards. I washed my face, and gave thanks for the one advantage of isinglass over gelatin for cosmetic purposes - it comes off far more easily.

So I whipped up a first level wizard character, in D&D 4th edition. Then I washed my face, and took my character sheet and dogs out for a walk. Two copies of the character, actually - with different names. I maintain that they are different people who happen to be like each other in every way. So there.

And when I got back, I gave Bob Dylan a cannon.



So that was my day. Slimy as advertised.

(no subject) +1

Wow. Reading an excellent completion of a task you've created is always a great feeling. Reading an excellent Level-Zero completion of a task you've created is even better.

Thanks, Dok! You made my day.