hoshizora

I have updated my userinfo with a big ol' chunk of tl;dr from one of my favorite books of all time.

That is all.

gallo_de_pelea (she of Less than Epic fame) did a round of sketch commissions, and I prevailed upon her to do one of my protagonist, Solar Mackenzie.

( And I love absolutely everything about it. )

The Windows version. I want to play it so bad, and thanks to luvcraft I have the hardware for it.

Does anybody have it? I will give you some money for it. Not, like, a lot. But some!

ONE: About 70 miles in, we were heading south through Corrales into a brutal headwind; I can normally cruise at 19-20 mph, but it was all I could do to maintain 13. Couple of miles into the stretch, a paceline of like 10 riders comes blazing up behind me, doing 20-21, and as they go by the rider at the back yells, "Hey, jump on!" So I stand and accelerate up behind them, get in the draft, and damned if I don't stay with them. Riding in a real paceline, maintaining a speed as a group none of us could maintain alone... guys, I felt so pro. It was badass.

TWO: My jersey, a gorgeous wool piece inherited from my father, was a huge hit. I must've gotten 10 or 15 comments on it from riders on the course. "Sweet jersey!" "That thing's gotta be older than you are!" "Oh man, they don't make 'em like that anymore!"

THREE: So during the pre-ride announcements, they mentioned that the post-ride lunch would be provided by Chick-Fil-A. Oh my god you guys I love Chick-Fil-A so much. The thought of post-century chicken with that peculiar heroin-flavored spice sustained me through many a painful mile at the end. When I finally pull into the finish line? They are all out. What is worse, I harbor dark suspicions that many of the tasty, tasty sandwiches were eaten by pantywaist layabouts who rode the shorter 50- or 65-mile courses. A pox on them, I say!

FOUR: ( Um... bagpipes? )

So it was good times, basically. It'd be cool to do another one soon.

112 miles: Ridden.

Sufffering: Endured.

Flat tires: 0 (!)

110 Percent: Given.

Despair: Conquered.

It all: Left on the road.

Day: Siezed.

Body: Very upset with me.

Went on a short ride Monday and of course I flatted. I know Albuquerque is roughly the worst place in the universe for punctures, but I appear to have especially bad luck, flatting maybe 40% of the rides above 10 miles I do. At least I'm good at fixing flats?

This century is going to be interesting; I have no idea what the median fitness in the group will be, but I suspect it will be high. I acquitted myself pretty well in the Honolulu century a couple of years ago, but the solo 100-mile ride I did on my birthday last year was pretty painful in sections. There are two 1000-ft climbs in this ride, the last one coming in at around the 80-miles mark; I'm good at suffering through climbs, but I'm still anticipating a lot of suffering.

I found a nice 70-mile ride that goes up into Cedar Crest and north of the city before looping back, and I think I'm going to try and make that a regular weekend thing. If I can do short, hard rides during the week and one 70-100 mile ride on the weekend, I think I'll have a fighting chance at having some reasonable form in the fall.

Blah blah blah anyway if anybody wants to meet up at the Embassy Suites Hotel on Saturday around 1, that should be about when I'll be finishing. Apparently there will be food and music? And I will be all gayed up in spandex and shit if you're into that.

Anybody going? Besides me?

EDIT: I think I need a costume of some kind.

Back in Albuquerque. Had a "good" time in Japan, if the definition of "good" can be plausibly extended to mean "emotionally complicated and frequently revelatory."

Did I miss anything?

I'm going to Japan tomorrow and I'm suddenly completely fucking nervous.

OH WELL HERE GOES NOTHIN'

See you guys on May 26th. Net access will be sporadic. I will update here or on twitter (@pts) when I can.

why's everybody lookin' at me all wierd it's like you've never seen woolen cycling knickers before

I would encourage you all to read my friend Fluffy's blog post on the matter before getting too angry.

That is all.

If wanting to see a video of Murasaki, Tamakazura, Ochiba, and Kumoi no Kari sassin' it up in juuni hitoe to "Single Ladies" is wrong

then I don't wanna be right

Here's Mark Singer (yes, the Beastmaster) as Petruchio in a 1976 production of The Taming of the Shrew.



The entire production is more or less this broad. I find it hilarious but I am a weirdo of dubious taste.

( EDIT: Here's another, marginally less gay clip. )

hay guys

I found this totally awesome image and it makes me super-happy, so here it is with NO EXPLANATIONS HA HA

( Nadia will always be my sentimental favorite Gainax show )

I AM GOING SKATING AT UNM NOW.

That is all.

So what we've established is that basically only bad guys are asian.

what the fffffffff

also Aasif Mandvi? god if this weren't already a parade of offensiveness at this point I would be TOTALLY HILARITIZED

It is said that during his liaisons with the Empress of the Second Ward, Ariwara no Narihira was known to call out, "Tare ya kimi no sadaijin nari," or, roughly...

"Who's your minister of the left?!"