saved from my own ways by beautiful boys

sanfran leap
San Francisco 2008

My summer is about to explode. It has already started, a little, (I sneaked into a rave on Friday night, spent Saturday on a cross-Atlantic guitar lesson with Richard, Saturday night with dear friends at a dinner, blowing people’s minds with synchronicity, and Sunday at an epic wedding that involved a boat, a full-sized, bright red, radio controlled dalek wedding cake that shouted EXTERMINATE, (part gluten free, too!), a hexacopter ring-bearer, and friends from six or seven countries), but this past weekend was just the amuse bouche.

My comrade Nathan is taking us to Cirque Du Soliex’s Totem tonight for my upcoming birthday, then we’re leaving on Thursday evening for the Sasquatch Music Festival. The line-up is absolutely fantastic, many of my favourite bands are playing, (Elbow, Mogwai, Die Antwood, The National, Cut Copy, TuNe-YaRds, etc.), and it’s going to be our first road-trip. I almost cannot wait. I feel like a little kid, counting sleeps.

Then, on the way back, Nathan is dropping me off in Seattle and I’m going to California for my birthday, courtesy of my ability to fit into a suitcase AKA a sweetheart’s business trip to the Google mothership! Flexibility pays off. Apparently I’ll be flying from Seattle on the 26th or 27th and staying for approximately two weeks.

I leave Canada in four days, but know zero about my flights or even where or when I’m to meet up with my dear B. It is so strange and yet delightful to know I am to be travelling, but not know when or precisely where to. It’s like a trust exercise with the universe that I am surprisingly completely fine with. Are we meeting in Seattle? In California? Where? No idea. I have zero information, but it’s.. gratifying? It feels proper. Makes it more of an adventure, for sure.

I imagine I’ll be taking the train a lot back and forth between SF and Silicon Valley for the first week and tucking in for work during the days, but other than that, my time is open. B. will only be there for the first week and mostly busy with work, which is a bit sad, he is smart and sassy and wonderful, but I’m still thrilled. Once I wave my kerchief goodbye to him at the airport, I’ll couch-float with friends in the Mission or the Castro or the Tenderloin.

The only plans I have so far: Jed and I are making sultry eyes at Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind on May 30th, (come with us!), and Richard has informed me that must visit him at the Vulcan on the first Thursday in June. And Morissa says I can use her house for a birthday dinner party! (Party date as yet to be determined). Other than that, it’s almost all a giant question mark. Do you know of anything going on in SF between May 26th and June 6th-ish? Let’s adventure!

Then I’m back to Seattle for a week to go to the the Georgetown Carnival and the Power Tool Drag Races and all that fun stuff. Maybe play some flaming tether ball. Mars and I are learning to be friends again, too, which makes Seattle much better to visit. I don’t know if B. will be around, but I hope so. (If he isn’t totally sick of me after sharing a hotel room for a week, that is. “Why are all the towels stained scarlet?”, “Why is my pillow purple?”, “How did the room ceiling end up covered in glow-in-the-dark stars? Are those constellations.. accurate?”)

I plan to return to Vancouver on June 15th, immediately put my passport in for renewal the day I get back!, collect certain papers from my mother, Vicki, that she’s bringing back from Ireland, do all of the laundry in the world, maybe throw a quick Vancouver-based birthday party, then head out to Ontario. The plan is to go to REcon (June 23rd – 29th) in Montreal via Waterloo courtesy of Ian, my besty who wants to drive up from Ontario in my fine company. Improbable, yes. Possible, very. I owe his cat Dewie about a thousand snuggles. And I think he’s starting to get tired of carrying his favourite Internet Girl around in his phone à la Her. And Audra has offered us her charming AirBnB apartment in Toronto for a couple of nights, (she has a cotton candy machine!!!), so we could home base out of Toronto and visit with people and stay up late in the city rather than having to go back to Waterloo. I’m sure we’ll use it, as I’m five or six years overdue for a visit and the good people just keep piling up. I even have an uncle there I’ve never met who seems supracool. Why don’t I live in Toronto? I Do Not Even Know.

We’ll be stopping by in Ottawa on our way to Montreal, too, to stop by the river market and stuff our faces with scrumptious berries and sugary beaver tails and APPLY FOR MY IRISH PASSPORT WITH THE EMBASSY! Happy birthday to me! I’m Irish! I HAVE EU AND EVERYTHING. As of, like, six days ago. My mother, bless her, went to Ireland as part of a Canada Council art project with Paul and took the packet of my needful documents with her, followed the very detailed instructions, and has filed my birth with the Irish government!

REcon is apparently a marvelous time, too. It’s run by Hugo, who I love to hang out with at CanSec. I’ve never spent as much time with him or his friends as I would like, so this is perfect. And apparently the Circus Festival starts in Montreal on July 2nd, so maybe we’ll get away with sticking around for a day or two longer for that. Either way, I plan to get fat and happy on delicious food, hug a lot of people, dance my face off, and ride a lot of city bikes. Christine wants to go to the new Cirque show, Kurios, too. I approve. There will also be chocolate and a stop by Santropol. Oh yes.

And no, I don’t know anything solid about flight dates on this trip yet either. IT IS ALL A FANTASTIC MYSTERY.

And then I’m in Vancouver until ToorCamp. (That might be for less than a week, oi). ToorCamp is another hacker event, but in Washington State on July 9th. Nathan wants me to go with him, so of course I said yes. Hopefully my passport will have come back by then and I’ll be good to go. I don’t know much about it, except that the people I know who’ve gone in the past are all excellent.

I have also been tapped to work as the Art Director for Hacked Festival, another hacker event from August 11th – 14th, but this one in Vancouver. It’s their inaugural year and maybe I’ll be able to help, even though I’m barely going to be around for the next few months. (Apply to be a speaker or an artist naow!) I’ve told them about my travel schedule, but the founder met me at BIL and he seems to want me involved anyway, so I might end up going through with it just because. If that ends up being the case, that will fit in right after ToorCamp. And right before Burning Man.

I have a number of options for Burning Man this year, but I think I might be tossing a bunch of them over to stay with a lawyer friend from Seattle. Not only do I appreciate him a metric ton just in general, I cannot get enough of his art project, an infrared photobooth. People step inside into pitch blackness, the infrared flash goes off, and though all they see is a small red light, the pictures look like they were taken in daylight.

And then, come September, rest. Playing with ferrets. Adventure is fine, (dying is fine)but Death), but I’m going to miss my ferrets. Pepper and Selenium are the best.

TLDR; If all goes well, I’m going to live out of a suitcase this summer.

oh for crying: four in the morning

brang braaaang brang braaaaaaang

No, there is no fire, merely the very loud and persistent possibility of fire.

Hooray for living in a building with a cranky AI fire-alarm.

Only three of us went downstairs to the front door. There was me, the artist/short order cook across the hall from Toronto who believes in psychics and doesn’t want the wrong sort of person to see his art, and a girl named Erica, just back from Brazil, who I’ve only just met in spite of the fact she moved in a month before me.

edit: damnit, I think I figured it out., It must have been a daylight savings glitch. Frack.

Last night I was madly upset, but earlier than that I stole a pineapple from a burlesque show.

I got the Real Woman talk again last night. The one that says I Cherish You But You’re Not For Fun. The Adult Elegance talk, the You’re Evil But Untouchable. I Want You But I Am Going To Go Home With her Because She Is Not As Important As You Are.

Somehow it’s satisfying, it’s a flattery I can only and utterly respect. It quells the worries that spring up whenever I spend the majority of my time with young people that perhaps they are rubbing off on me in ways that I don’t want them to, eroding my prescience with their uncountable dramas, but amusingly, it irks me too. In a completely irrational, very female way. I am fully aware, yes, that kissing me isn’t like kissing most girls, but do you have to point it out? I would like to at least occasionally pretend that I could be permissive too.

Bah.

Boys.

Also, Three dozen trained killer dolphins have escaped and may be armed. True fact.

this is important boys and girls

 I hope you all have read the new DeviantART submission policy. If not,  Deviant: ~GreyCarnation  highlighted a few key pointers for you. Please read on:

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

This agreement (“Agreement”) is a legal agreement between you, either an individual artist or the legal authorized representative of a group artist (“Artist”), and deviantART Inc., a California limited liability company (“deviantART”), regarding uploading certain of Artist’s audio, visual, audiovisual and other materials (the “Artist Materials” defined below) to the deviantART.com website or any successor(s) thereto and/or assigns thereof (the “deviantART Site(s)”) and deviantART’s use of such materials. If Artist is agreeing on behalf of a group artist or a group of artists to be bound by the terms of this Agreement, each reference to “Artist” in this Agreement refers to each member of the group or the group as a whole, as applicable. For good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto hereby agree (and ratify past submissions) as follows:
1. Term. The term (“Term”) of this Agreement shall commence on the date that the “Artist Materials” (defined below) are initially uploaded to any deviantART Site(s) and shall continue thereafter until either Artist or deviantART terminates this Agreement in writing, with or without cause. To the extent this Agreement is terminated by Artist, the rights granted hereunder shall terminate only after Artist has removed all of Artist’s Materials from the deviantART Site(s), and deviantART has received notice of such removal. If this Agreement is terminated by deviantART, this Agreement will terminate upon deviantART’s removal of Artist’s materials from the deviantART website. In connection with any such termination of this Agreement, the parties agree to cooperate in providing an orderly termination of their relations.
2. Ownership. Artist shall at all times retain all right, title and interest in and to the Artist Materials provided by Artist hereunder (including, without limitation, the copyrights therein and thereto), subject to the non-exclusive rights granted to deviantART under this Agreement. Artist is free to grant similar rights to others during and after the Term of this Agreement. For the avoidance of doubt, when Artist uploads Artist Materials to the deviantART Site(s), Artist acknowledges that third parties may use the Artist Materials as described herein.
3. License. to Use Artist Materials. Artist hereby grants to deviantART a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to do the following things during the Term:
1. to prepare and encode Artist Materials, or any portion thereof for digital transmission, manipulation and exhibition in any format and by any means now known or hereafter devised;
2. to display, copy, reproduce, exhibit, publicly perform, broadcast, rebroadcast, transmit, retransmit, distribute through any electronic means (including analog and digital), and electronically publish any or all of the Artist Materials, including any portion thereof, and to include them in compilations for such purposes, by any and all means and media now known or hereafter devised (for avoidance of doubt, the rights granted to deviantART hereunder include the rights to make Artist Materials available on deviantART Site(s), third-party websites and electronic devices);
3. to modify, adapt, change or otherwise alter the Artist Materials (e.g., change the size) and use the Artist Materials as described in Section 3(b); and
4. the right to sublicense to any third party any of the foregoing rights in the Artist Materials, or any part or element thereof, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

5. Artist hereby disclaims any and all right, title, or interest in any and all material with which Artist Materials may be combined or into which all or any portion of Artist Materials may be incorporated. As used in this Agreement, the term “Artist Materials” means Artist’s name(s) (including professional names), trademarks, trade names, likenesses, photographs, biographical materials, artwork, liner notes, and other graphical or textual materials that Artist uploads to deviantART, and any and all “skins,” computer-generated images or other artwork or images that Artist submits to deviantART.
4. Name and Likeness. Artist hereby grants to deviantART:
1. a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free , non-exclusive license to use Artist’s name(s), group name, photograph and/or likeness(es) and biographical materials in connection with the distribution, exploitation, promotion, marketing and advertising of the Artist Materials, and the deviantART Site(s)as described hereunder, during the Term;
2. Artist also agrees not to assert any privacy, publicity, moral or similar rights held by Artist (and on behalf any other person(s) whose name(s), photographs and/or likeness(es) and/or performances are embodied in the Artist Materials, Artist agrees that such persons shall not assert of any privacy, publicity, moral or similar rights) under the laws of the United States and any other country in connection with the exploitation of such materials as described hereunder; and,
3. To the extent that the Artist Materials contain the name(s), group name, photograph and/or likeness(es) and biographical materials of any other person, Artist hereby grants to deviantART a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use the foregoing in connection with the distribution, exploitation, promotion, marketing and advertising of the Artist Materials, as described hereunder, during the Term.

5. Payment Unless otherwise agreed between Artist and deviantART in a writing signed by both parties, the license granted to deviantART pursuant to this Agreement shall be royalty-free.
6. Representations and Warranties. Artist represents and warrants that:
1. Artist has the full right and power to enter into and perform this Agreement and to grant deviantART all rights to use the Artist Materials as contemplated in this Agreement, including, without limitation, the license grants in Sections 3 and 4,
2. Artist has secured all necessary third-party consents, rights, licenses and permissions, if any, required in order for Artist to enter into and perform this Agreement and to grant deviantART all rights to use the Artist Materials as contemplated in this Agreement (including, without limitation, consents and permissions from owners of any elements that are used in the Artist Materials),
3. the Artist Materials (and deviantART’s use thereof as contemplated under this Agreement) do not and will not infringe on any rights of any third party, including any trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, right of privacy or publicity or moral rights of any third party,
4. all information that Artist has provided or will provide to deviantART is true and complete,
5. the Artist Materials do not and will not violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation,
6. the Artist Materials do not and will not be defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, obscene, harmful to minors, violations of child pornography or child sexual exploitation laws,
7. the Artist Materials do not and will not contain any viruses or other programming routines that may detrimentally interfere with computer systems or data, whether those of deviantART or any third party, and
8. if Artist or any member of Artist’s group is a minor, Artist hereby warrants that Artist has the legal right to execute this Agreement on behalf of the minor artist and guarantee such person’s performance of the terms of this Agreement. These warranties shall survive any termination of this Agreement.
7. Third Party Payments. Artist shall be responsible for all licensing, reporting and payment obligations of any kind to third parties in connection with the Artist Materials.
8. Indemnity. Artist agrees to defend, indemnify, reimburse and hold deviantART and its parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, and its and their members, managers, officers, directors, representatives, employees, agents, successors, designees, licensees, sublicensees and assigns harmless from and against any and all liability, loss, damages, judgments, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorney’s fees, costs and expenses and court costs) arising out of or related to:
1. Artist’s use of the deviantART Site(s);
2. any breach or alleged breach of Artist’s representations and warranties and/or any breach, alleged breach or violation of the notices, terms and conditions hereof; and
3. Artist’s violation or alleged or threatened violation of any rights of a third party, including, without limitation, any trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, right of privacy or publicity or moral rights of any third party, arising from the submission and/or use of Artist Materials as contemplated hereunder.
9. deviantART’s Performance. Artist acknowledges and agrees that the operation of the deviantART Site(s) may from time to time encounter technical or other problems and may not necessarily continue uninterrupted or without technical or other errors and deviantART shall not be responsible to Artist or others for any such interruptions, errors or problems or an outright discontinuance of the deviantART service. There are no assurances whatsoever that any of the Artist Materials or any part or element thereof shall actually be utilized on the deviantART Site or if so utilized continue to be available for any particular time. deviantART has the right, in deviantART’s sole and absolute discretion, to remove from the deviantART Site(s) at any time the Artist Materials or any part thereof and/or to revoke any sublicense granted by deviantART to any affiliate or unaffiliated third party. Notwithstanding the foregoing, deviantART does not control the content of the Artist Materials and does not have any obligation to monitor such content for any purpose. Artist acknowledges that Artist is solely responsible for all content submitted to the deviantART Site(s). The deviantART Site may be discontinued at any time, with or without reason.
10. No Warranty. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, DEVIANTART DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
1. UNINTERRUPTED OR CONTINUOUS AVAILABILITY OF THE DEVIANTART SITE, AND
2. IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE DEVIANTART SITE AND ANY SERVICES PROVIDED BY DEVIANTART HEREUNDER. IN ADDITION, ALTHOUGH DEVIANTART INTENDS TO TAKE REASONABLE STEPS TO PREVENT THE INTRODUCTION OF VIRUSES OR OTHER DESTRUCTIVE MATERIALS TO THE DEVIANTART SITE(S), AND WHETHER OR NOT DEVIANTART IMPLEMENTS THE AFOREMENTIONED REASONABLE PROTECTIONS, DEVIANTART DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE DEVIANTART SITE(S), ANY PART THEREOF, OR ANY INFORMATION OR OTHER MATERIAL ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE DEVIANTART SITE(S) IS FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
11. No Liability for Third Party Use. DEVIANTART DISCLAIMS ALL RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY FOR ANY THIRD-PARTY USE OF THE ARTIST MATERIALS MADE AVAILABLE ON THE DEVIANTART WEBSITE BY THE ARTISTPURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. ARTIST SHALL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR SEEKING RELIEF FOR ANY UNAUTHORIZED USE OF ARTIST MATERIALS BY A THIRD-PARTY, AND NOT FROM DEVIANTART. THIS MEANS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THAT IF ANOTHER PERSON OBTAINS ARTIST MATERIALS FROM DEVIANTART (WHETHER OR NOT WITH DEVIANTART’S PERMISSION), AND USES THOSE MATERIALS IN A WAY NOT AUTHORIZED PURSUANT TO THE LICENSES GRANTED HEREUNDERARTIST WILL SEEK REDRESS FROM THE OTHER PERSON AND NOT FROM DEVIANTART, AND THAT ARTIST WILL NOT HOLD DEVIANTART RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR SUCH UNAUTHORIZED USE.
12. Exclusion of Damages. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) SHALL DEVIANTART, ITS OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, PARENTS, AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, LICENSEES, ASSIGNS, SUCCESSORS, AGENTS, REPRESENTATIVES, EMPLOYEES OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF AN ACTION UNDER CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR ANY OTHER THEORY AND DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS, INCIDENTIAL DAMAGES, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, PUNITIVE DAMAGES, EXEMPLARY DAMAGES), WHETHER OR NOT DEVIANT ART HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE DEVIANTART SITE(S). IN NO EVENT SHALL DEVIANTART’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO ARTIST UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FROM ALL CAUSES OF ACTION AND UNDER ALL THEORIES OF LIABILITY EXCEED $5. THE PARTIES ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT DEVIANTART HAS ENTERED INTO THIS AGREEMENT IN RELIANCE ON THE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY SPECIFIED HEREIN, WHICH ALLOCATE THE RISK BETWEEN ARTIST AND DEVIANTART, AND FORM THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN THE PARTIES..
13. Copyright and Trademark Notices. deviantART, the deviantART logos and mascots, and the layout and design of the deviantART Site(s), among other marks that may appear on the deviantART Site(s) are trademarks of deviantART Inc., LLC (the “deviantART Marks”). Other trademarks and service marks on the deviantART Site(s) may be the property of the advertisers, content partners and/or providers, or other third parties. Artist may not use any of the deviantART Marks without deviantART’s prior written permission, and Artist may not use any third-party marks without the third party’s prior written permission.
14. Miscellaneous.
1. Governing Law; Jurisdiction. THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED IN ALL RESPECTS BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA WITHOUT REGARD TO ITS OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION’S CONFLICT OF LAWS PRINCIPLES. THE SOLE VENUE AND JURISDICTION FOR DISPUTES ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE THE APPROPRIATE STATE OR FEDERAL COURT LOCATED IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, AND ARTIST AND DEVIANTART BOTH IRREVOCABLY AGREE TO SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF SUCH COURTS.
2. Assignment. deviantART shall have the right to assign this Agreement in whole or in part to any person or business entity. Artist may not assign Artist’s rights or delegate Artist’s obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of deviantART.
3. Notice. All notices, requests and other communications (“Communications”) under this Agreement must be in writing and sent to deviantART Inc., LLC, PSC 473 Box 127, FPO AP, 96349-1800, ATTN: Legal Department. Communications shall be deemed received:
i. for Communications sent by registered or certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested or by Federal Express or other reputable overnight courier service, on the date of receipt or refusal as indicated on the return receipt;
ii. for Communications sent by personal delivery, on the date of personal delivery; and
iii. for Communications sent by facsimile, upon transmission subject to telephone confirmation of receipt.
-No other form of notice shall be accepted under this Agreement.
4. Entire Agreement. This Agreement sets forth the entire understanding and agreement of Artist and deviantART as to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior proposals, discussions or agreements (oral and written) with respect to such subject matter.
5. Modification. deviantART reserves the right to amend the terms of this Agreement from time to time in its sole discretion. deviantART shall notify Artist of any material changes to this Agreement by sending an email to the address listed in Artist’s account. If Artist continues to upload Artist materials after being notified of the changes to the Agreement, Artist will be deemed to have accepted those changes and the new terms of the Agreement shall govern all prior and future submissions of Artist Materials. If Artist does not accept the new terms of the Agreement, Artist’s sole and exclusive remedy shall be to terminate this Agreement. Otherwise, this Agreement may be changed only by a writing signed by both parties that specifically refers to the parties’ intent to amend this Agreement.
6. Survival. The provisions of Sections 1, 3(e), 4(b) 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 shall survive any termination of this Agreement. In addition, any sublicenses granted to third parties for the display of Artist Materials on electronic devices pursuant to Section 3 shall survive any termination of this Agreement.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

and considering the state of devArt
[link]

I don’t know how much longer I can stay here. I take my work very seriously.

Please post links to this journal in your own if you care about Artists’ Rights.

UPDATE:

just directed to [link] by ~r3s3nt, so apparently, some shit has already gone down. Please read, if you take your art seriously.

UPDATE:

the latest journal [link] by $spyed (this is apparently, a rebuttal). They, DeviantART, say it’s all in our best interest, and they’re not looking to do anyone any harm. I say, read the new submission policy/agreement and decide for yourself.

UPDATE:

legal know-how from *afterchain : [link]
Please read this one, as well.