Cleaning Up The Slop

Back in the summer, Rish and I were talking about action figures...who have thought, right?...and Rish mentioned the ferry droid they had in the last episode of season one of the Mandalorian. They took an artoo unit, and added arms and legs to it so that it could row its way along in a boat. As we talked about it, Rish suddenly decided that he wanted that figure. He searched on eBay for a listing, but was discouraged to find that you could only find it available in the four-pack that they sold it in.

"I want to get it, but I don't want to get all the other droids that it comes with," he said.

Well, we left it at that and moved on with life, but then I got the idea that I should get Rish the droid for Christmas. He seemed really excited about it, but only became discouraged when there was no way to get it for a good price. However, I have these goofy aspirations of creating a space station populated with Star Wars figures, particularly droids. I'd love to have the other three droids. I'd love to have the ferry droid too, but the other three are fine. I could get the whole pack, send Rish the ferry droid, and keep the others. I could eat the leftovers, so to speak. I could clean up the slop.

So, that's what I did. I sent it to Rish, but by that time it was about six months later. I think his interest in the figure might have waned. He sent me this text when he got the package with the figure in it.

"Oh, no!" I thought. Does he not even remember that he wanted that figure? Does he not even remember that the figure exists? I wasn't sure how to answer his question.

Well, I don't know if it turned out to be a good present or not. At least he got it. That's better than it has been in other years. It's the thought that counts, right?

Anyway, due to that present idea, I now have several droids that I didn't have before. The first one is Goldy here:

He's got a good look. I like this one. Then there's this pastel-looking, Miami Dolphins fan one:

He's got a good look too. He'll be great on Ankletown. Lastly, there's this one:

This is R1. It's a security droid, I believe. This one is pretty big. He's as tall as a figure. Apparently, this robot flies. It comes with that stand, but when I photograph it, I'll have to use Photoshop to remove it so that it looks like it's flying.

Anyway, here are the three new droids that now roam the hypothetical hallways of Ankletown Station.

The Mad Titan Comes To Ankletown

When I was out with Rish last week, I got two things while we were out hitting toy stores. One was the rover Lego set that I talked about yesterday, the other one was this:

That's Thanos, the Mad Titan. He typically falls into a category of what they call the Cosmic Marvel characters, so he's exactly the kind of guy that should be on an inter-dimensional space station.

Here's what he looks like standing beside the regular figures of Ankletown.

He's taller, but the biggest difference is the fact that he's something like twice as wide as those guys. They look pretty good together if you ask me.

The glove comes off.

So, I could use the Infinity Gauntlet in some other way if I'd like.

I don't have any ideas for it, but who knows. Maybe I could just put it in the window of a pawn shop or something. Could be fun. Having a pawn shop, now that I think of it, could be a really fun idea, actually. I could constantly change out the item in the window, using the accessories of various figures. I'll have to see if I can't make that one of my first building I make.

Red Rover, Red Rover

While I was out of town to see my stepmother's funeral, I had a chance to hang out with Rish Outfield for a few hours. We did what we used to do all the time. We ate some breakfast together and then went around to a few Rosses, Walmarts, and Targets.

I have been avoiding that kind of stuff recently, staying far away from any Ross. I swore that I wouldn't buy anything further for Ankletown Station unless I first created a building for it. Of course, I broke that vow, but not too many times. It was mostly my wife's idea that we should start paying off all of our debts so that we could save up some money instead of just living as debt slaves for the rest of our lives that really got me to start eschewing the Rosses...that and the fact that Ross never had anything good anyway.

While out with Rish, I was still in that mode. I did get convinced to try a few things, though...and by convinced, I'm not talking about Rish doing the convincing, it was just my mind doing that. I only spent about six bucks, but I think they were good purchases. The first one was this:

This thing was a Lego set...one of those tiny Lego sets that they charge $3.99—actually, considering inflation, it's probably $4.99 now—however, it was on the clearance rack, and I got it for $2.50. I thought that it might be cool on Ankletown Station. Having some kind of rover as one of the droids that wanders the station seems great.

It doesn't look particularly Lego-ish. It looks more like an erector set, which is basically what the real rovers look like if you ask me. I like it. I think I'll name it Fred Rover. Fred Rover, Fred Rover, send Artoo right over. 

The real question was, how would this thing scale with the figures that I have for Ankletown Station? Well, once I got it assembled, I checked that. Here you go:

It's perfect, right? Just the right size. This thing is gonna be good...once I build something for it to populate. I'll get there someday. Someday, Jennifer. Someday.

Automat

My wife got tired of the cats waking us up at 6:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday morning. She gets up pretty early on weekdays, and feeds the cats on her way out the door. This managed to get them on a schedule...a schedule that didn't abate on weekends. We haven't had a decent night's sleep on the weekend in months.

She found an automatic feeder that you can set to dispense food at certain times of the day, and ordered that. We just got it set up the other day for the first time.

Jupiter was really hungry that day, and was begging for us to feed her early for hours. She didn't know that it was out of our hands now. She just kept rubbing against our legs, walking in front of us everywhere we tried to go, running to her food bowl each time we seemed to have noticed her presence, and meowing the most pitiful whining meow you've ever heard.

We were determined to be strong, however. It was set to dispense food when the time came, and we were going to let that thing take over. Then, on Saturday mornings, the cats could whine at it if they wanted to be fed early.

It did finally fill the bowl with food, and Jupiter was startled and worried about it. She stared nervously at it as it put more and more kibble into the bowl. When at last it seemed to be done, she ventured forward to figure out what had happened. There was food here, and she was hungry as hell, so she dug in. The feeder wasn't even quite done, and ejected another batch of kibble onto her nose, but she didn't care. She kept on scarfing. 

I'm hoping that my wife is right, and this thing is the answer. Maybe next Saturday, I won't awaken miserable and tired because of cats for once. Crossing my fingers.

The Sardine Fast Gets Subverted | Carnivore | Week 83 & 84 Roundup

I started out the week with a sardine fast. It was difficult, but I got some good results. Then came news I wasn't expecting. Things had changed significantly, and this week's report suddenly became a two-week report.

Anklecast 74 - The Elephant in the Room (Part 1)

I present to you "The Elephant in the Room." 

Louis trips and falls while trying to get ready for school in the morning. Instead of just hitting the carpet, he lands on something that until that moment was invisible to his eyes. It's an alien egg. Where did it come from? What is it doing here? Why can't anyone else see it? The answers will change his life forever.

As always, thanks to Kevin McCleod at incompetech.com for the music.

Find it on the podcast feed now. To download the episode, right click HERE. Or just click the play button below.

And, here are the links to the Amazon listings that I mentioned that I would post in the show notes:

Sunny - Sunny & Gray, Book One

Kingdom of Flies and Fireflies: The Short Fiction Collection, Volume One

A Battalion of Ideas: The Short Fiction Collection, Volume Two

Three Vampire Weekend: The Short Fiction Collection, Volume Three (the collection that contains "The Elephant in the Room").

Wizards and Angels: The Short Fiction Collection, Volume Four

Christmas Creatures: A Twisted Christmas Story Collection

The Elephant in the Room short story version

Clean Up Crew

It's well past New Year's Day, and I've still got all these Christmas decorations up in my study. To be fair, I had something come up, but I don't have that excuse anymore. It's time to clean them up and put them away.

Sadly, just the thought of it makes me want to never decorate for Christmas or any other holiday again.

How much do you think I could get for this stuff if I sold it on eBay?