Thoughts on Scout Volunteering

I am very active in my Cub Scout Pack.  I am the Bear Den Leader (Grade 3).  I am Membership Chairman and Pack Trainer and Scout Parent Liaison.  I've also been chipping in on the Treasurer duties.  I have enjoyed doing all of these jobs.  A healthy Pack Committee spreads the duties around so one person doesn't become overwhelmed.  Right now I'm overwhelmed.

This is changing.

I'm going to stay a Den Leader.  That's the fun part!

My term as Membership Chairman ends after tomorrow night.  I'm not a big fan of paperwork and there is a bunch of it.  Filing our charter has been a challenge this year with lots of technical issues and things popping up only after I had irreversibly closed the Charter paperwork.  Tomorrow night I turn everything in at the Tillikum District meeting.  I currently don't have a volunteer to take my place.  The job is not hard for most of the year and only challenging in November if you aren't already overwhelmed with other jobs.

My term as Pack Trainer also ends tomorrow night.  This is a very easy job all year with a ton of nagging, pleading and begging for leaders to get their training complete in time for Charter paperwork to be turned in.  I am less than 24 hours away from having to finalize them and I'm still waiting for people to take their online classes.  I have someone to take this job from me.

The Scout Parent Liaison is mostly because I make myself the most visible (some might say obnoxious) member of the Pack. Everyone knows me.  Not hard.  I keep this one by default.

Treasurer duties are technically over.  My wife has been the Treasurer for the last year but work overwhelmed her and I took over balancing the checkbook.  Good news!  It balances!  The new Treasurer is in the process of taking it over.

In January I will be teaching two classes at the University of Scouting.  Both are about using songs and music.  One is for Cub Scouts and the other is for Boy Scouts/Varsity/Venturing.

I have also taken the helm of the Silver Lake Day Camp next summer.  There will be hundreds of hours of work involved in THAT one.  It should be a ton of fun though!

New Drawings, Getting Organized, and Catching Up

It has been a long, tiring summer so packed with activity that I've let the house fall apart a bit.  I'm putting the pieces back together now that the busy levels have gone down somewhat.  The house is getting cleaned room by room.  Paperwork is being organized.  Even my stamp collection is finally getting into its album.

I have a few weeks with little Cub Scout responsibility beyond the norm so I'm taking this time to make sure the pack records are all up to date and setting in place systems so that I can give the Membership Chairman job to someone else.

I've also been invited to teach at the University of Scouting/Program and Training Conference in January.  My Wood Badge patrol did an awesome presentation about recruitment and I would love to work with them to expand it and teach it to a different audience.  It has also been heavily suggested that I teach a class about using music in Cub Scouts since I'm most often known outside my own pack as the music guy.  Not bad for someone who can't play an instrument and can barely carry a tune.

My art is progressing rather well.  I've been doing a lot of work with ballpoint pens and am thrilled that things are coming out so well.  I started out with that media oh so many years ago and am returning to it.

I've also been participating in a weekly figure drawing workshop at Arts Umbrella in Bothell with live nude models.  I think this, more than anything, has propelled my art forward.  I've done a lot of artistic nude and a few erotic artist trading cards but drawing from life while surrounded by amazing artists to draw inspiration from has been invaluable.  In order to keep them off my blog where kids and the morally outraged can see them I have put all of my NSFW drawings on their own tumblr.  Please take a gander if you like.    Comments are welcome.  http://brassduckstudio.tumblr.com/

Here are some of the other drawings I've been working on.

I love the Cowardly Lion

The following cards were made to represent the 7 Wood Badge Patrols at my recent course.

Bear

Beaver

Bobwhite Quail

Buffalo

Eagle.  The drawing is older but is one of my favorites and I shrank it to ATC size as a print.

Fox!  My awesome patrol!

Owl

Political Memes, A Better Way

I have Internet friends who are chain posting images this morning either slamming Obama or the Republicans or Congress in general.  You are angry and it seems to you that sending out a dozen photos of quotes, half truths, and general "rabble rabble rabble" will somehow bring attention to your point-of-view.  My feed is so full of all of these that it is getting tricky to find things people actually write.

I know that people are passionate about politics.  I am too.  I would like to offer you a couple of suggestions before you send out that next meme.

1.  Do a quick search to make sure the sentiment you are reposting is actually true.  I've seen 3 this morning already that a simple search of any of a half dozen de-bunking sites would show you are just Internet lies.  Just because it is on the Internet and you agree with it doesn't make it true.  No matter HOW much you want it to be true/have faith that it is true/"my faith in God is stronger than fact so shut up!"  Yeah, I've heard all of those.

2.  Instead of posting a half dozen meme like blurbs from other people take a few minutes and actually write your thoughts down and print that.  Make it personal.  Don't just spout anger aimlessly into the ether.  Direct it and start a conversation.  You will come across as far more intelligent, and people may actually learn something.  Until we actually engage our brains (which batch cross posting meme pictures does not do) we will never move past the anger stage and start working on a solution to our problems.

3.  If you are discussing Obamacare, do be aware that it is a nickname for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and not a different law.  You look like an idiot when you say how evil Obamacare is and wish we could just pass the ACA instead.  Even polls show people don't realize they are the same thing.  The ACA is way more popular, showing that a good name is worth a lot.

4.  Politeness will get you more people paying attention to your views than cursing and vitriol.  You don't have to reply to every comment someone makes telling you that your opinion is garbage.  Don't feed the trolls.  It only encourages them to breed.

Wood Badge

I spent the last 3 days at Fire Mountain Scout Camp near Mt. Vernon, Washington doing advanced Boy Scouts leadership training in a program called Wood Badge.  35 adult Scout leaders from Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts and Venturing Scouts were all divided into patrols (Woo Fox Patrol!) and given many challenges and lectures to increase our leadership skills and give us ideas on how to make Scouting even better.

We started off day one joining the Cub Scouts.  We played Cub Scout games and our Den Leaders directed everything we did.  Eventually we graduated to Boy Scouts and our den became a patrol.  Our Den Leader became our Troop Guide.  He acted as our advisor and taught several sections of the course.  As a patrol we elected a patrol leader, scribe, chaplain's aide, and assistant patrol leader and we rotated through the roles.  As the weekend went on our Troop Guide pulled back in increments until the patrol was pretty much doing its own thing while he sat back and nudged us when we needed it.  Just like a real Boy Scout Patrol.

We had team building exercises and had to write reports and make plans for a group project and listened to many speakers.  Through it all were songs, games, skits, stunts, contests, and the occasional flag thievery by mischievous Foxes.

We began at 7 am and went until 9 pm with only very short breaks.  To say it was intense is an understatement.  By the time we left late Saturday afternoon we were all exhausted but enthusiasm was high.  I somehow managed to injure my shoulder and it has been bugging me all day today.  Hopefully that will go away soon.

We go back in October for another 3 day weekend.  The difference with this one is that we will be hiking to a campground at the Scout Reservation and will be doing everything as a patrol including our own cooking.  We will be running a campfire service and an interfaith worship service.

One of the big aspects of Wood Badge is that each person must complete a major problem, called a ticket sometime in the next 18 months.  These projects are supposed to impact the Scouts around us and many consider them on par with some Eagle Scout projects as far as time invested and work completed.  It is one of the most challenging parts of the program.

I decided to make Cub Scout Day Camp my ticket.  Our outgoing Day Camp Director, Rosina, put over 600 hours into planning and implementing this year's program and since I'm already signed up to do it I figured there was no point putting in a couple hundred hours on a separate project when I could use my ticket to make this year's even better.  Thankfully Rosina was able to sit down and help me has out the multiple goals that the Ticket requires.  There is still some work to do on these but they are:

1.  To complete additional advanced training at BSA National Camp School in March.
2.  To implement an overview the "Leave No Trace/Outdoor Ethics" program into the nature study station including training the station leader.
3.  To implement the Boy Scout Slogan, "Do a Good Turn Daily" as part of the Citizenship station, including training the station leader.
4.  To implement the theme of "Community Service" throughout the Camp, culminating in a "Scouting For Food" food drive for local food banks.
5.  To successfully complete the 2014 Silver Lake Day Camp.

This will be a lot of work but I think it will impact a lot of kids (150-200) as well as the community.

So while I am so tired I can barely move, I am excited for the coming months as the second weekend of Wood Badge comes and goes and I move into the Day Camp process.

Before that though, Tuesday is the first Bear Den Meeting of the new year!!!

This is a photo of the Fox patrol's rocket.  Ours outflew the other 6 patrols and won most creative use of materials award.  It was modeled to look like our totem but most of the decorations were inside the bottle to minimize air resistance in flight.

Professional Volunteerism

I am a stay-at-home dad.  My wife makes a good income as an accountant and it allows me to stay home and raise our son.  A few years ago I decided that if I was going to stay on this route I needed to give back to the community and I chose Cub Scouts as the means to that end.

Cub Scouts offers so much for young boys.  Aside from the many useful skills (knots, camping, building pinewood derby cars) they also learn how to grow up in a positive way.  One of my fellow Scouters says "We are raising men."  We teach boys how to protect themselves in a very dangerous world of online predators, and predators at home and at school.  Bullying is dealt with firmly but with an attitude of instruction to make both the bully and the bullied better people.  We teach that to live in a community one must give back to it through service.  Our Pack has many community service projects throughout the year that give the boys a foundation of giving that will last throughout their lives.

When I sat as a parent in my son's first Pack meeting and they put out a call for a Tiger Den Leader, I jumped at the opportunity.  I determined then and there that I was going to embrace Cub Scouts, not just for my son, but for my own betterment as well.  I'm going into my third year as Den Leader and also am an aggressive voice on the Pack Committee.  Our Pack has a phenomenal program with unbelievably dedicated leaders and I'm so thrilled to be working with them.

Last year I decided it was time to move to the next step of service.  That would start with training.  The Boy Scouts have a leadership program called Wood Badge.  It is an intensive series of meetings and a series of personal, pack, and community betterment projects.  I will be attending the first 3 day session at Camp Fire Mountain in a couple of weeks.  I am both excited and a bit intimidated.  This is a big step up because it moves me out of the Pack level of Scouts and into a larger one.

Just as I was getting my head wrapped around Wood Badge, I was approached to be Camp Director of the 2014 Silver Lake Day Camp. I had told myself a month earlier, inspired by the movie, "Yes Man," that I would accept any job that Cub Scouts offered.  Wow, was I not expecting this!  Day Camp is held over 4 days and can have up to 200 kids and dozens of adults and Boy Scout helpers.  Together with the Program Director and other key staff I will be responsible for organizing fun and exciting programs for kids going into 1st through 5th grades.

Part of taking the job as Camp Director is that I must attend National Camping School.  So this is the year that I move up in my volunteering level and take on more responsibilities than ever before.  I know I am capable.  I know the cause is awesome.  There is some trepidation, but overwhelmed by excitement.

Remember to do something good for someone else every day.

New Art Challenge And Adult Nude Art

My Wonder Woman drawing should be ready to post tomorrow.  I know I've said that before but I'm being a perfectionist.

In the next 4 weeks I have 25 artist trading cards to complete.  My goal is to have them all done a week before my September 20th birthday.

1 Naughty card for a "Play It Forward" swap.
3 Ocean critters (I'm hosting)
3 Super Women (I'm hosting)
6 Naughty Nudes (I'm hosting)
4 People Practice (face, hand, body)
4 Landscapes created en plein air
4 Lions

Goal:  By 5pm tomorrow (8/15) 1 Naughty card, 2 Ocean critters card, 1 Wonder Woman drawing.

The swaps I am hosting end next week so I really need to focus on those.  The tricky part is that I have Cub Scout Day Camp all next week so it is going to cut into my time a lot.  I may have to take a sketchbook with me for the non-naughty cards.

A fan asked me what I do with all the nude cards I have.  I have hosted several swaps and have a lot of cards.  I'm still learning figure drawing and it helps me to draw nudes.  On a shelf in my den are two notebooks.  One is labeled "Artist Trading Cards" and has all of my safe for children cards.  I will be starting a second one soon as this one is out of room.

Next to it is one titled "Nude Artist Trading Cards" on the spine  It has all of my not safe for children cards.  They are are high enough to be avoided by small children. I don't allow kids other than my son in the den anyway.  Right now nudes, even artistic ones, are icky to Caleb.  Once he gets old enough to be curious he is welcome to explore them if he wants.  None of it is pornographic.  I don't hide them because I think it does more harm to hide.  Nudity and body image and sexuality are things we all deal with and hiding them makes them taboo.  Only negative things come from that.

I don't post my nude cards on this blog but you can see them in my gallery at http://www.atcsforall.com/forum/gallery/index.php?u=2980 or on deviant art at http://sasjhwa.deviantart.com/.  For both sites you will need to create an account.  At ATCsForAll you will need to request access to the adult gallery.  At DeviantArt you will need to turn off the mature filter.  At both sites you can see my non-adult cards without membership.  If you stop in feel free to leave a comment so I know you were hanging out.

If you are interested in joining any of the 3 swaps I'm hosting, cards have to be to me by August 22.  Folks in the Pacific Northwest should be able to do that.  Hand delivery is okay if you contact me first.

New Art Cards, and Project Reports

I have been drawing a lot lately.  I've been forcing myself to draw at least a half hour a day.  Part of that involves the 30 minute timed session on http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/.  In 30 minutes I have to draw ten 30 second sketches, four 1 minute sketches, two 5 minutes 45 second sketches and one 11 1/2 minutes sketches.  All are of nude models, both male and female.  What I am finding is that by the time I get to the final sketch I'm warmed up and ready to put in a lot of detail and even managed to get some shading done today.

In July I had a lot of projects to do.  Some succeeded while others did not.

The 50,000 word novel - Fail.  I got close but decided victory by typing out something that didn't fit the plot wasn't true victory.

24 page zine.  Done.  I will have it in a printable form soon.

Wonder Woman drawing.  It vexes me.  It may be that perfection is the enemy of the good in this case.  I plan to do one final version and that is it.  I want it delivered as soon as possible.

1 Undersea Critter art card.  Not Done.

4 Flora/Fauna art cards. Done.  The seagull is older but was submitted for the swap anyway.

I am a fairly private person.  My wife is about the only person that I share the deeper parts of myself with.  This week I shared something with another person that I trust.  I won't go into details (you can't get my secrets that easily!) but sharing something that I have not voiced for so many years to an understanding soul is liberating.  Parts of it I have held onto since I was a teenager and saying it to my confidante has liberated part of myself that has been blocking my creativity for decades.  I am finding myself reflecting heavily on it in my sketch diary.  No, you don't get to see those drawings!  Stop trying to figure my stuff out!  

I've also been listening to a lot of Willie Nelson so that may be contributing to a shift in my mental state.  :-)

An Open Letter to Lynnwood, Washington

Dear Drivers in Lynnwood, Washington,

I love your fine city and I enjoy coming to visit.  I love coming to your mall.  I enjoy swimming in your pool.  I don't enjoy standing outside Games Workshop once again disappointed that they are not open in the morning but that's not your fault.

I love that your pedestrian signals all say "Please Wait" and then beep excitedly when it is time for me to cross.  I like using your crosswalks and I take advantage of these wonderful amenities many times each day when I visit your fair city.

A problem has arisen that you need to be aware of.  When it is my turn to cross the street and the alarm is gleefully encouraging me on; after I have looked both ways and also back to the turn lane to make sure it is safe; after I have taken my young son's hand and taken my first five steps into your crosswalks ...

...this is not the time to race up to the light and make that right hand turn without slowing down!  Maybe if you slowed down you would see that there are happy visitors to your town right where you want to be.  You could then have enough time to stop and let us have the right of way that our laws grant us.

What has happened five times in the last week is that you have not observed this civil courtesy.  Instead I have to violently pull myself and my son out of the reach of your two ton death machine while you wave "oops" at me while speeding on your way.

Perhaps  you are the one driver who actually on his brakes, leaving tire marks on the pavement in a friendly manner as you realized you could not accelerate fast enough to keep my innards off your bumper?  Flipping me off for stopping your speed record is not friendly behavior and will not get your car moving any faster.

I want to continue to enjoy Lynnwood for many years to come.  When you want to turn across a crosswalk, slow down.  Stop even.  Look for the vulnerable visitors who love to visit but don't want to be buried in your beautiful town.

Sincerely,

Michael Dyer
Mill Creek, Washington

My Story In Brief

This has been a lazy weekend but a lot has gotten done.  I've found that napping in the afternoon and then staying up until 2 am writing has made for some good productivity.

I've finished a ton of laundry and mowed the lawn.  I weeded the garden with Jill and picked another quart of strawberries that we traded to our neighbors for raspberries from their yard.

I've managed to get some random sketching done as well as 5 pages of the zine.  It looks like the first 12 pages are going to be a comic.  I'm not sure what the last 12 are going to be yet.

I'm about 1000 words behind on my Nanowrimo book.  That is not too bad and will likely be made up tonight.  I quit early last night because I hit a natural stopping point before the story went off in a different direction.  I'm not saying the story is any good but so far it isn't gibberish and that is progress.  :-)

I'm pretty happy with some of the superhero names I've come up with.  Justice Force, the JLA or Avengers of this world, is led by Mystery Woman.  Other members include the Titan from Titan, Clubber, Rocket Girl, Douglas Fir, and Pepper Jack.  There is also King Atlantis and his sidekick Kid Poseidon.  In the first chapter they fought the Under Lord and his Under Men, subterranean creatures intent on conquering Cliff City. The story is told from the point of view of Darlene Vogel, a reporter for the local TV station.

Sometime during the battle King Atlantis is murdered and Kid Poseidon blames the Justice Force.  So does the massive Oceanic fleet that shows up off the coast demand Justice Force surrender themselves.  Complicating things are the facts that no one actually saw what happened to King Atlantis and the body was dumped into the sea where it was recovered by the Oceanics so no autopsy can be done on land.  The Justice Force all claim innocence, naturally.  Darlene Vogel is put in the position of trying to solve the crime to prevent all out war between Cliff City and the Oceanic Kingdom.

Camp Nanowrimo

Today was so busy.  I started off taking Caleb to his swim lesson on the bus.  His pass ran out of money so we walked from

the pool to the pharmacy to pick up some meds and then down to the park and ride to add money to our ORCA cards.  

The heat took it out of me and I ended up laying on the couch listening to podcasts all afternoon.  I finally got some writing done

since today is the first day of Camp Nanowrimo.  

Here are my revised goals.  

1 Wonder Woman drawing for my sister-in-law, Kathy. 
I finished the first draft and have some ideas for refining it in the second.  I picked up a number of graphic novels at the library so I can compare poses to get the issues I have with mine worked out.

50,000 words:  Camp Nanowrimo - Goal is July 31
I have started the story and am 1,700 words in.  It is flowing pretty nicely.  It is a super hero mystery story told from the POV of the plucky girl reporter.  

24 page zine for the 24 Hour Zine Thing.  Goal is July 24
There is no realistic way I can get a whole zine done in one day.  So I'm spreading it out and getting 1 page done a day.  Page 1 is complete.

Lower Priorities

Kid Power Role Playing Game.  
4 Favorite Flora/Fauna art cards for a swap.  

1 Undersea critter art card for a swap.  

Projects Progress

A recent post outlined the many creative projects I'm working on over the summer.  Here is what is left on the list and what is left to do.


1 Wonder Woman drawing for my sister-in-law, Kathy.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 30
I'm running behind so I revised the goal date.  I finished the first draft and have some ideas for refining it in the second.

1 Undersea critter art card for a swap. Goal is June 30
I haven't figured out what I'm doing on this one yet.

24 page zine for the 24 Hour Zine Thing.  Goal is July 1
With the pages ready to go all I need to do is come up with a theme for it.

Kid Power Role Playing Game.  Goal is July 7.
I have been in a writing frenzy on this one and have the skeleton draft of the book almost done.  A skeleton draft means that the skills and powers are listed with brief descriptions, for example, but the actual meat of the rules haven't been applied yet.

50,000 words:  Camp Nanowrimo - Goal is July 31
I have a story in mind.  I just need to outline it.

4 Favorite Flora/Fauna art cards for a swap.  Goal is July 25.  
I haven't gotten to this one yet.  After Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman Draft #1

I've been working on Wonder Woman for a couple of hours this evening and have reached the point I need to set it aside for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes.  This is the first of probably 3 or 4 drafts.  If you have any constructive critique, let me know.  I'm trying to make it as good as my talent allows.

I decided to use the Justice League cartoon costume because it is a bit simpler and since this is being transferred onto a quilt I wanted the detail to remain.  I had no idea until today there there have been so many variations on the costume.

There is a lot of line tightening to do, I'll be doing a proper face, and probably adjusting the pose a bit.  Your thoughts?

This is one of the few times you will see a work in progress from me so consider yourself privileged.  :-p  The final work will be 5x7 inches.

Project Updates

A recent post outlined the many creative projects I'm working on over the summer.  Here is an update, mostly for my own joy at getting something done.

1 Male Nude art card for a swap.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 26.
I'm a little late on this but it will be ready to mail before I go to bed tonight.  Edit:  Completed!

1 Wonder Woman drawing for my sister-in-law, Kathy.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 28
I'm on track to have this finished tomorrow.  I picked up a new Bristol pad yesterday to make sure it gone done right.

1 Female superhero art card for a swap.  Goal is June 30
I decided that I'm going to draw Harley Quinn.  That is a little progress.
  Edit:  Completed!

1 Undersea critter art card for a swap. Goal is June 30
I haven't figured out what I'm doing on this one yet.

24 page zine for the 24 Hour Zine Thing.  Goal is July 1
I actually got a lot of work done on this today.  Per the rules of the event I can't actually start the project until July 1.  However, since I'm drawing the zine rather than using collage or something I figured I had better get prepared so I wouldn't waste time on the 1st.  I am using 1/4 page sized pages (approx. 4 x 5 inches) so I drew out the borders of 6 panels per page of Bristol paper on 4 pages.  This will allow me to draw them all together and then assemble them on the computer for printing.  I also un-buried my drawing table, which is going to be essential.

Kid Power Role Playing Game.  Goal is July 7.
I have been in a writing frenzy on this one and have the skeleton draft of the book almost done.  A skeleton draft means that the skills and powers are listed with brief descriptions, for example, but the actual meat of the rules haven't been applied yet.

50,000 words:  Camp Nanowrimo - Goal is July 31
I haven't thought about it yet.

4 Favorite Flora/Fauna art cards for a swap.  Goal is July 25.  
I haven't gotten to this one yet.  After Wonder Woman.

Come Join My Art Card Swaps

I am hosting a couple of Artist Trading Card swaps at atcsforall.com.  If you are interested in joining one of them, let me know.  

Super Women – - HandDrawn/HandPainted - Due August 22

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Swap Due Date – August 22
Signup/withdraw date - August 15
Number of Cards - 3 for 3
Number of participants - Unlimited
Medium- Hand drawn/painted

Super Women! The comic books and cartoons are full of them! Wonder Woman, Rogue, Catwoman, She Hulk, Harley Quinn, the Powerpuff Girls, Hit Girl, Black Widow, Raven! If she dresses in a snazzy costume and fights for the good or the bad they are open game for this thread. No original characters please.

All skill levels are welcome to join but please put in your best effort and do not copy or trace another artist's work. Be creative.

Back to the Sea – - HandDrawn/HandPainted - Due August 22

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Swap Due Date – August 22
Signup/withdraw date - August 15
Contact me by the withdraw date if you must withdraw or you will receive a neutral iTrader.
Number of Cards - 3 for 3
Number of participants - Unlimited
Medium- Hand drawn/painted

This swap is for realistic representations of whales, dolphins, crabs, sea lions, fish, plants, and anything else that lives in the sea. It is not for cartoons, sorry.

All skill levels are welcome to join but please put in your best effort. 

Both Swaps Information

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If you have questions, just ask.  This is my normal info.  Local players can hand deliver cards and don't need the SASE.

PLEASE READ THESE DETAILS:
--cards must be standard ATC size, 2.5x3.5in
--include your username, real name, and location on the back of each card.
--hand drawn or painted only, please. Do your best work: Something you would be proud to give and to receive.
--US players: include a self addressed business sized stamped envelope with enough postage to get your cards back to you OR loose postage and a large address label.
--Internationals: Please send a self addressed business sized envelope OR large address label. I will cover the postage cost for all international traders. I collect postage stamps though so if you want to include a loose stamp from your country for my collection, that would be awesome.
--ALL PLAYERS write your user name on the back of your return envelope and put cards in plastic sleeves.
--when your returns arrive, remember to leave iTrader for me and rep points for those whose cards you received. Part of the fun of the trade is finding out where in the world our cards ended up.
--if you need to drop the swap you must communicate with me or you will receive a neutral iTrader rating.

--If I have multiple swaps ending on the same day and you want to play in more than one you may give me one SASE with enough postage to cover everything if you prefer.

--When your cards are finished and ready to send, please PM me for address information.

--Host cards are not necessary but always treasured.

Creating or Over Committing?

Well, the next month or so is going to be interesting.  I have a LOT of creative work to do.  I usually do this once a year and get a lot done.  Normally it isn't quite this much but I think I can handle it.

June

1 Male Nude art card for a swap.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 26.
1 Wonder Woman drawing for my sister-in-law, Kathy.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 28
1 Female superhero art card for a swap.  Goal is June 30
1 Undersea critter art card for a swap. Goal is June 30

July

24 page zine for the 24 Hour Zine Thing. I am cheating a bit because I must have a plan in place before I start or I will be starting off the month behind and that isn't acceptable.  This will likely be either a series of kid craft tutorials or a 24 page comic.  I'm not sure yet.  Goal is July 1

Kid Power:  I need to get my kid friendly role playing game into playtest condition.  I'm about 1/4 of the way done adapting it from a home brew Star Wars game we played last summer and Citizen Squad, a kid friendly zombie apocalypse table top miniatures game I've been tooling around with for years.  With my luck I'll get done and someone will say, "Oh, that is exactly the rule system they use in THIS game!"  Goal is July 6.  If I got off my butt I could use this for the 24 hour zine.  Hmm.  I could get the writing done in advance and then add art and formatting and cool stuff to make the zine.  So many choices.

50,000 words:  Camp Nanowrimo - The summer version of National Novel Writing Month.  The idea of writing a novel while dodging holidays is just too daunting to do again.  I've completed Nanowrimo 3 times but none of the novels are really readable.  This one probably won't be either and that is okay.  I know I'm not really a novelist.  I haven't settled on a story yet, but it might be set in the Kid Power RPG universe.

4 Favorite Flora/Fauna art cards for a swap.  The cards need to be in San Francisco on August 1 so my goal is July 25.  I may try to get them done in June just to get them off my plate.

It has been a while since I updated the blog with my art.  Here are some recent art cards I made.  They are for a swap that entailed mixing Star Trek with a favorite cartoon.  Here are Captain Lisa Janeway, Captain Raphael Picard, General Daffy Chang, and Hello Nurse Chapel!  I used thinner paper than my normal Bristol (need to buy more tomorrow!) and the scanner picked up on a few colors and shades that aren't in the original cards.  Oh well.

If you link to my art please credit Michael Sean Dyer and link back to this page.  Thank you.

Scouting Fallout and the Future

I am a Cub Scout Den Leader.  The following are my opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Pack 31, the Knights of Columbus (our Charter Organization), or the Boy Scouts of America.

So Boy Scouts of America has decided that gay youth may be permitted to join but not adults yet.  The result of this that some churches are withdrawing their sponsorship of the BSA.

For those not in the know, the BSA doesn't actually own each individual troop and pack.  They are sponsored by Charter Organizations: churches, businesses, and civic groups that help provide space and resources so the Scouts can succeed.  Many of them are religious.  The Mormon and Catholic churches are the largest religious Charter Organizations.  They have agreed to the new inclusive rules.

I believe that in the next 4 months there will be an exodus (pun!) of churches from the BSA.  The media will portray this as a crisis.  Come September, when most troops and packs start their year, a large bunch of non-religious groups will step up and replace the departing churches.  By the end of the year the churches will have diminished in power within the BSA.

It is my opinion that the BSA knew this would happen.  They also knew they had to  do the changeover slowly so the organization didn't fall apart in the process.  That is why I think they chose not to endorse gay adults.  If the LDS church pulled its sponsorship it would be a critical blow to the organization.  So they start with the youth and let the fallout come as it will.  Then there will be a secular rebuilding for a couple of years.  Then they will vote in gay adults as well.  They will have systems in place to protect them at that point should the LDS church decide to withdraw.

All of this is adult politics at its best.  But let us not forget that children are affected by this.  Last night a dad came to me before the den meeting and thanked me for helping run an amazing organization.  He then told me the policy was against his religious beliefs and he was pulling his son from Scouts.  His son was very upset by this because he LOVES Cub Scouts.  The den was upset because one of their friends suddenly was made to quit without any explanation.  I left it to the parents to explain what is going on.  I'm not dumb enough to approach that subject with the kids.

Camping, Cooking, Cottonwood, Catching Up

Camping

Last weekend I went camping with the Cub Scouts.  It was 3 days and 2 nights of fun and excitement that Caleb will long remember.  He caught his first, second and third fish; rainbow trout in Lake Challenge.  We hiked up to Crystal Falls and perilously crossed streams trying to keep our feet dry.

To say that it rained a lot would be an understatement.  The first day was fantastic.  The second day the kids happily allowed themselves to be soaked to the skin as they ran and played all day.  Conflict was low and I think everyone had a great time.

Cooking

I used a dutch oven for the first time.  I made a bbq bean chili the first night.  It got rave reviews, although I only got one bite.  10 people arrived right before dinner bringing the total for that meal to 66.  There was plenty of other food but I will make a bit more next time.  One of the Scout parents is a chef and prepared a dozen and a half trout.

My next meal was actually dessert on the last night.  It was an orange pineapple cobbler surprise.  Wow!  It was fantastic!  I enjoyed cooking and learned lots of time saving tips and cooking techniques.

We were picked up from camp on Monday and headed right down to Buckley to decorate the Bagnall family graves, an annual tradition.  By the time we got home I was beat.  Caleb was too.

Cottonwood

We arrived to the cottonwood trees in full blossom.  The air has been thick with while fluff all week.  I grew up with terrible, even debilitating sinus infections caused by pollen and pollution.  I outgrew much of it and for several years my 4 seasonal colds per year disappeared.  Then we moved to Mill Creek where we are surrounded by cottonwood trees.  They have kicked my butt.  I have prescription meds which help with most of the symptoms but the headaches are terrible and my eyes both itch and ache.  I've been staying off the computer as much as possible.

Catching Up

As a result of that I am playing catch up.  I got a lot done today and will finish tomorrow.  I owe Cub Scouts several emails and need to finish my ATC swap.

Camping on Mt. Insanity!!!

The Cub Scouts are going camping this weekend.  Saturday night we are expecting 65-70 people to be staying overnight.  If that weren't a logistical nightmare by itself, several on the Pack Committee are going to buy the food for this massive 3 day 2 night affair in the morning.  Wow, this is going to be a big one.  I hope we have enough ice chests!

Thankfully we will be using the Adirondack cabins and will only need to pitch a couple of tents for the overflow.

I may be out of my mind by the end of this weekend.  Jill won't be able to go because her hand can't handle the cold and her patience can't handle that many people in such a small area.  :D

Sick Kid and Big Paper

Caleb stayed home from school with a sick stomach.  He's taking a nap now which is how I know he isn't faking it.  He hasn't willingly taken a nap in years.

Last night I rearranged my den slightly so my drawing table is next to my computer desk.  This will let me draw while watching TV on the computer.  Normally I can draw on my lap but I've been trying to use a larger drawing pad and it doesn't work well on my lap.

Because I had to stay home with Caleb I wasn't able to go to the figure drawing session in Bothell today.  I'll try again next week.

Live Figure Drawing

Once again I find myself facing one of those social situations that makes me incredibly uncomfortable.  Before, it was going to the artist trading card gathering in Seattle.  I pushed on and had a great time in spite of my nerves.

This time it is a live drawing session in Bothell on Friday.  It is at an art studio and has live nude and clothed models for people to draw and paint.  I'm apprehensive, as I always am, about being around other artists.  I know nobody is judging me but that is always sitting in the back of my head.  It is magnified whenever I have to be around people I don't know.  I realize that just like the SeARTle gathering my nerves will calm after only a few minutes and then I will be too busy drawing to care.

Most people who know me don't realize how much I struggle with groups of people.  I can get in front of a crowd and make a silly fool of myself and be fine, but put me in a small group of adults or a party and I fold in on myself.  If I could blend into the wallpaper I would sometimes try.  Only by forcing myself to do it am I able to overcome that anxiety though.

There is also some nervousness about drawing a nude model.  I haven't done it before and therefore it is scary.  Once the pencil touches the paper all that will go away though and there will only be the drawing.

Why I left Royal Rangers and How It Affected Me

I've written my reasons for leaving Royal Rangers several times but many are interested.  Now that I have a blog I'm going to write it all out for posterity.  I will add Scout friendly terms in parentheses for clarity.

First, for those not in the know, Royal Rangers is (or at least was) a Christian scouting organization. It is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts but it was modeled very heavily on it.  It is one of the official youth programs of the Assemblies of God denomination.

I joined in 1985 when I was about 16 years old.  For reasons I don't fully understand to this day my mom wouldn't let me join Boy Scouts, which was what I really wanted to do.  When we discovered Rangers this seemed a great compromise.  I went camping, canoeing, and had many adventures.  I earned the Gold Medal of Achievement in 1988, an award with requirements very close to Eagle Scout.  I transitioned quickly into leadership, taking active roles in three Outposts (troops) and learned a lot from many good leaders.  I joined the frontier cos-play group, the Frontiersman Camping Fraternity (later Fellowship) and advanced through the ranks.  I tried to start a Chi Omega Rho group but the program was cancelled before it could grow.  I served on staff at statewide camps and was a leader of our Outpost at the 1990 International Camporama in Missouri.  In all I was active for eleven years.

My problems began in college.  I became more active in District (state) level programs such as our annual Pow Wow (Jamboree).  I served on staff a couple of years.  The Assemblies of God is an Evangelical church.  Praying out loud, raising hands, shouting, and speaking in tongues are all encouraged and expected.  I'm a quiet and reserved person and never felt comfortable with the outward expressions of piety and generally did not participate, but I recognized others had different needs and never said anything.

Pow Wow had a pattern every year.  The first night of camp there would be an altar call and dozens of boys aged 9-18 would come down to the front of the crowd to have a leader pray with them for salvation.  I happily participated in this.

It was the second night that got me.  Boys were invited forward to be "baptized in the Holy Spirit."  Essentially this meant deep, verbal prayer until the boy spontaneously spoke in tongues.  I have never spoken in tongues.  It is a gift that God gave the Apostles in the book of Acts to allow them to communicate with people of different languages.  Nowadays it sounds a lot like gibberish and is a "prayer language" that only God understands.  So these boys would come up expecting some miraculous transformation and be told they couldn't leave until the Holy Spirit had blessed them with this gift.  The AG church teaches that it is the proof of the "baptism in the Holy Spirit."  I tried and could not bring myself to force a 9 year old boy to stand there for an hour (yes, sometimes it took that long) in the cold night air hoping God loved him enough to make him speak gibberish.  Meanwhile all he really wanted was to be back at camp drinking hot cocoa with his friends.  I had a boy in tears because he wasn't blessed by God because the whole meeting had built up a hot, religious fervor in him.

I brought up my concerns the next morning with the camp staff.  I was told in no uncertain terms to keep my opinions to myself.  Later, I was asked not to be on staff anymore.

So I went back to my church and continued teaching Outpost meetings with the older boys (12-15 years old).  Eventually the lesson plan called for teaching about the gift of Tongues and Baptism in the Holy Spirit.  I presented the lesson as written.  Then I told the boys that honestly they should not feel pressured and not to feel God didn't love them or that He would not work in their lives if they did not have that gift.  I told them the church's doctrine and my opinion that I wasn't convinced by it and that they should make up their own minds.  I was careful not to denigrate the church or say their teaching was wrong in any way, only that I didn't fully embrace it.

I was pulled into the pastor's office within a week with the Outpost Commander and told in no uncertain terms that if I did not tell the boys the doctrine was 100% true (need to be baptized in Holy Spirit and when you do you will speak in tongues as proof of it) I could find somewhere else to be.  Since I could not accept that doctrine I left Royal Rangers completely.

I do not speak in tongues.  I disagree completely with the interpretation of how it is used today vs. how it is used in Scripture.  I believe that if miracles exist this is certainly an awesome one to have.  I'm not convinced though.  I'm not going to get into the verse-by-verse back up of my position since I'm not trying to convince anyone of my beliefs, but merely presenting them.

I was very sad when I left Royal Rangers.  It changed how I look at religion completely, and not generally for the positive.  I have grown skeptical and suspicious of organizations that claim to interpret the Scriptures as the sole source of authority on God.  I have never recovered from that separation.  Being kicked out for daring to question and encouraging others to question as well was overwhelming and eventually led me to leave organized churches entirely.  I still have a spiritual life but I determine it, not a church.

So, for those who have been curious and always wanted to know, that is the reason I left Royal Rangers.  If someone were to ask me today if their son should join I would hand them a Cub Scout or Boy Scout application and warn them not to go anywhere near Royal Rangers unless they believe in the total separation of church and mind.

Baby Birds and Little Lambs

We have been watching a robin's nest on our back porch for several weeks.  We noticed it when the first few bits of grass were put in and have patiently waited with Mama Robin as she kept her eggs warmed.  We suspected that they hatched a few days ago as Mama is away from the nest a lot but still in for the night.  This morning 3 little heads popped up over the top of the nest to gulp breakfast from Mama.  The chirping is constant and beautiful.

In other news I finished my 4 art cards yesterday but fell asleep before I could post them.  All are done with Prismacolor markers except the black lamb which is done with Prismacolors, graphite, and charcoal.

Here are the last card from SeARTle that I haven't posted yet.

Art Update

I have been watching TV all morning while drawing.  I have finished 3 of the 4 sheep cards.  I have a big horn sheep to complete still to finish the set.  My goal is 2:30 when I have to pick up Caleb at school.  I'll scan pictures tonight.

Junior Art Brigade

Yesterday several neighborhood children became interested in my artist trading card collection.  They looked through my binder at hundreds of cards from around the world and asked a ton of questions.  One second grade girl finally got up the nerve to ask if I had any cards so she could make one.  That opened the rest of them too.  I gave away 15-20 card blanks and plastic sleeves to 3 of the kids and told them to go make art.

I'm excited to see if they will and what they will do with it.  It would be cool to have a junior ATC club forming in the neighborhood.

I need to break my ATC collection into 2 binders though.  The last few pages are filled with nude cards and I had to keep the kids out of that section while browsing.  None are sexual but I'm not letting anywhere near them.  Having a kid friendly book is a good idea.

My own ATCs need to get done too.  My goal for today is 4 cards with sheep on them for an organized swap.  My over-goal is to make 3 more cards to trade with the kids.

Handshake of Doom

When you go through very hard times in your life it is sometimes comforting to lash out at those around you, even if you barely know them.

There is a man that I am acquainted with.  Yes, in the real world, not just online.  He is not a friend or anyone I've spent any amount of time with but we have worked on a project or two together.

Out of the blue today he began sending me long notes criticizing how I write emails, what I write in emails, and daring to use the word "homosexuality" when asking the group in the email chain a question about homosexuality.  His emails were very polite but hard and filled with emotional subtext.  I think of it like a person shaking another person's hand but trying as hard as he can to break a bone in the process.

Clearly, this was misdirected at me.  I wasn't at fault in anything but he needed a target to vent his emotions on.  Something is going on in his life and somehow lashing out at me made him feel better.  I've done it before, I admit.  It feels good to feel like you are teaching someone something.  The sad part comes when you realize that it was really an attempt to feel better about yourself at another person's expense.

There was a time I was a terror when it came to email confrontation.  I trolled and tantrumed with the worst of them.  Hopefully I am better in my balding years.

If you are feeling small or inadequate, please take a few deep breaths, go for a walk, visit with a friend and stay off the keyboard for a while.  People will think better of you and not so many feelings will be hurt.

Thank you.

SeARTle Meet Up and Playing With the Big Girls

Today I went to the SeARTle art meet up in Seattle.  I didn't know anyone and nearly made an excuse not to go several times.  I'm still very shy in spite of my outgoing persona.  I have trouble meeting new people.  Once I do I'm fine but getting my foot in the door is sometimes the hardest thing.

I don't spend enough time with adults though.  I volunteer at the school and teach Cub Scouts and our house is the nexus of the neighborhood where all the kids come to play.  So I try to force myself into adult activities in order to maintain my tenuous link to the adult world and my own sanity.

The meet up was actually pretty fun.  I was greeted at the door by name.  People recognized me from my self portrait userpic.  I settled in at a table and finished working on an artist trading card (ATC) that I had started the night before.  Pretty soon conversations started and then people (almost all women) began pulling out their art media and showing me all the cool things they can do with them.  I learned all about beeswax and watercolor pencils and liquid graphite and gel press and shrink film and watched some amazing people make very awesome art.  I finished 3 cards while I was there.  I'll have to post them tomorrow since the pictures are on my phone.

I hung out with women the entire time.  There was one other man there and he was busy in another room mostly.  After an hour or so the wine bottles got opened and the gals got fun.  I don't drink but really enjoyed watching them get tipsy and silly and how it affected their art (pretty well actually).

It was a great time, over too quickly.  Here are some cards that I made over the last 2 days.  I'll post more tomorrow.  They are all 2.5 x 3.5 inches on bristol paper.  They are mostly Prismacolor markers with some acrylic painthighlights on a few.

A big brown bear

This was my name tag, hung on a ribbon around my neck

An orca pod

a seagull

the Space Needle

Lord of the Nerds

[Nerd Rant]  Over the last week I've been engaged by no less than 3 people, one of which was a stranger (the cook at Hot Iron Mongolian Grill) on the topic of eagles in the Lord of the Rings.  I don't start the conversations.  I don't join them when I hear them, yet somehow my opinion is always asked.  This is only the movies of course.  No one bothers with the books anymore.

Okay boys, here is the simple of it.  Gandalf did not let Frodo and Sam ride the eagles into Mordor and save the whole dangerous trip because Sauron was watching everything with his giant phallic eye.  At the end of the movie they have to have a massive suicidal battle in front of the Black Gate for the sole purpose of turning Sauron's eye away from the hobbits as they closed in on the lava.  So flying them in at the start of the movie would have resulted in an eagle or 2 being chow for the Lord of the Nazgul and his boy band.  Sauron could tell where the One Ring was when it was in the open.  Frodo could not have avoided him.

So the idea that it was a plothole is just silly.  There are so many better plotholes to foam at the mouth about.

"But they could have distracted Sauron just like they did at the end of the movie."  NO!  Bad Nerd!  Watch your movie.  They only way they could get to the gate at all to cause the distraction was by defeating the main orc army in Gondor.  Sauron wasn't paying close attention.    The orcs didn't give the heroes any choice in the battle either so don't pull some card about them avoiding the invading army.

"So why didn't the eagles get killed when they saved Frodo and Sam at the end of the movie?"  Oy!  Bad guy army crushed.  Sauron's tower went crashity crash.  No more giant eye looming over them.  Also Frodo no longer had the brilliant ring shaped magical strobe light strapped to his neck that kept getting the Big Bad's attention in the first place.

People of the world, please enjoy your movies how you want and rant and foam all you want.  Just stop randomly dragging me into your conversations.  Eventually I will stop nodding and being quiet and actually start talking.  Woe unto you.
[/end NERD RANT]

Home, Art, Cubs

HOME

My wife has been sick at home for the last week.  She finally dragged herself in yesterday.  I feel bad that she has been so miserable but I'm glad to have the house to myself again.  It seems small of me, I know.  I have just gotten so much more done  than most of the week.

ART

Saturday I am hoping to attend the SeaARTle meetup with many of the ATC folks that I trade with.  I enjoy making artist trading cards and it will be a good chance to see folks I have never met in real life before.

I want to get a bunch of drawings done in advance of the meetup for trading and showing.  I should probably get on that.

I've been doing a lot more figure drawing lately.  I'm also hosting a beginner nude art card swap.  New swappers are welcome.

CUB SCOUTS

I am excited that we are gearing up for our first Pack camping trip in May.  One of the big failings of our Pack is that they haven't been camping in about 5 years from what I've been told.  That all changes now.  The new leadership team is excited and motivated to get the kids into the outdoors as much as possible.

Our current year ends on June 15.  At that point Caleb will graduate from being a Wolf to a Bear.  I have begun planning the next year's worth of activities and it looks like it is going to be amazing.  There are a lot of fun achievements in the Bear Handbook.

Let the Boy Scouts Know Your Opinion

The Boy Scouts of America have a meeting coming up in a couple of months where they will (in theory) make the decision about inclusion or exclusion of homosexuals in the BSA.

You have a chance to have your voice heard.

If you are not currently a registered Scout you can send them a note here.  Don't forget to be polite.

If you are a registered Scout you can also complete the semi-annual survey.  The next one is going to be specifically about this topic.  The survey is not out yet but you can request it be emailed to you here.

From http://scouteradam.wordpress.com/2013/03/08/bsa-membership-survey/ :

"To participate, you will need your membership ID number (or if you are a parent, your Scout’s ID number). The survey will close on April 4th, so please request your copy right now and forward this information to other current BSA members.

To participate in this survey, which is conducted twice a year, you will need your membership ID number, also called a BSA ID number. This is the number which appears on your registration card; or which is displayed on your MyScouting profile page. If you are a registered youth or adult with no access to MyScouting or without a paper registration card, contact your unit leader or the local BSA Council to obtain your BSA ID number."