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monkey/pony monster
G: Didn't
get around to writing the news last week so I think I will just include
it here. I might not finish this week's news either, so please check
back...
On Friday March 23 we went to Cam's vegan potluck fund raising birthday party at the New Deal Cafe. She raised over $500 to buy oxygen masks for dogs, cats and other pets for local fire departments. Way to go, Cam! Happy Blappy! And we had a fabulous feast too!
The next day, Saturday, a bunch of us went to see Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton at Ram's Head in Annapolis (afternoon, 1pm show). Three cars of friends coming from their respective locations followed directions I had found on the Ram's Head website. Turns out there are a couple of places called Ram's Head, and I had gotten directions to the ROAD HOUSE and not the ON STAGE. I was upset and angry that we had all arrived at the wrong place, and a bit peeved that it was so easy to make that mistake on their website - having never been there before, how I was I supposed to know there was more than one place?
Renee knew the way from one to the other, maybe 8 miles away, and we all (me, John, Dave, Izolda, Kristin, Alison, Alex, and Renee) made it inside by the end of the first song ("Opening Band") by Paul & Storm and proceeded to have a great time, even though our seats were pretty bad (side view, kinda far away).
At the Jammin' Java show John and I had gone to two weeks previous, someone had brought a bunch of little stuffed animals, monkeys mostly, and asked people to pin dollars to them and throw them on stage when Coulton performed Code Monkey. From this we got the idea (John claims it was his, but I think I was thinking it too) to get a stuffed monkey and pony and make a half monkey half pony monster for him.
I went to the thrift store to look for various stuffed animals, thinking I would never find monkeys and ponies. They had mostly bunnies at the front (some holiday coming up) and I found a couple that would be appropriate toys for Katy (no button eyes). But in the back, I found several varieties of primate toys. I picked up a gorilla that was wearing a tie, vest, and a gold watch, and when you pressed his hand, said, "You're a genius," "That's an AWESOME idea," and various other compliments in a very enthusiastic but maybe slightly sarcastic tone. I thought it would be a good Code Monkey animal. Plus, it was like, two bucks!
And to my surprise
I also found some sort of neo-pet (?) that had a
body that could be construed to be a pony body in the right
circumstances, i.e., made into a monkey/pony monster. I found two
little monkeys of the same size and was set.
Anyway, when JoCo performed "Skullcrusher Mountain", I ran up to the stage and held it up into the light beside him, bobbed it up and down a few times, the audience laughed, JoCo looked over a smiled a bit but kept on singing of course, and then I dropped it on the stage and ran back to my seat. After the song he picked it up and talked about it. Among his comments that I remember - "Wow, the stitching on this is exquisite!" and, "You know, this is more like three quarters monkey, three quarters pony, so..."
Later, Paul and Storm came out to sing some back up. After one song, Paul picked up the toy and said, "Wow, this stitching is exquisite! No, really, not only is it stitched together, but then on top of that is fake stitching in big thick black thread like surgical stitches. (Pause) Your fans are AWESOME!"
They stayed on to sing back up for Code Monkey, and John just walked up and delivered the talking gorilla to Paul. After the song Paul gave it to JoCo, and he began to describe it. "Oh, it has a vest, and a tie, and a gold watch, and, oh, it says press here on his hand. Let's see what he says." He pressed the hand and the first thing out was the first thing I heard when I picked him up, and thought it would be perfect; "You're a genius!" JoCo nodded and said, "Why, yes. Yes I am." Or something like that. He pressed the hand a few more times, wondered where the sound was coming from and put the gorillas behind up to the mic. That didn't work. JoCo said, "It's a sycophant monkey. Everyone should have a sycophant monkey!" Paul said, "Hey, that's what we should call the band - okay that's the band's name now - the Sycophant Monkeys." He was referring to what they said earlier, that when they perform backup for JoCo they are not Paul & Storm but The Creepy Dolls. The audience was eating all this up.
It was fun to add some extra laughs to the show.
After the show I got my ticket autographed by P&S and JoCo. A woman took pictures of the stuffed animals and of us when she found out we made/brought them. I found out later by looking through some of JoCo's extensive website and blog that at least a large handful of other folks have made monkey/pony monsters, usually getting them signed by him or sending him photos. I'm sure some give them to him as well.
That night we hung out with bro Thom at the American Legion - we met him after he'd been attending a party there for ex-motorcycle cops. We were plied with free Budweiser from the bartender. After about an hour we went over to Peter May's house for a farewell party for John and Anja Bull who moved to Massachusetts. We will miss them, but hopefully not too much, as they plan to visit Greenbelt often. Then they will slowly visit less and less often and then we will never see them again, one day.
We got home reeeaaaal late. Thom slept on our couch for about 3 hours after John kept him up half the night listening to JoCo and Paul and Storm songs. Took him to his car early in the morning. I was sleeping like a sane person.
Sunday was yoga aaaaannnnddddd.... ????? I think I worked in my studio some. Or not, can't really recall now.
Chris came down from Philly Tuesday afternoon, and Kory flew in Tuesday night, I was off teaching a class while a hunk of Kory lovin' people went to dinner at Udupi Palace with him. When I came home there they all were in my living room talking about Kory's lung and Chris's girlfriend. There was Jake and Ingrid, Kristin M., Dave, TVTom, and of course Kory, Chris, and John. I ate Jake and Ingrid's leftover Indian food and it was yummy - they weren't the sort of dishes I would probably think to order but might now. I stayed up as long as I could stand it but had to get up early to take Katy to get some of her guts removed so she can't make puppies anymore. I'm pretty sure by the size of her nipples that she has made them before.
So I dropped Katy off at the vet in the morning, came home and took a nap, then worked the rest of the day. John took the day off and hung out with Chris and Kory. I don't know what they did. Chris went back to Philly that afternoon, and Jake had a big poker tournatment that night in honor of Kory's visit, so John and Kory went to that.
Thursday I had off from teaching, and I picked up Katy. She was pretty sleepy all day so I didn't feel too bad leaving her home a lot. When John came home for lunch we all went to the New Deal to meet up with Shaun, Mi Ae, and little Mina. We ran into John and Anja who were just about ready to roll for MA, with Dorian, Amethyst, and Cam having lunch. They'd been helping them get ready to leave. I'd brought my morning smoothie and everyone tried it except for Kory and Shaun. Everyone liked it and Kory and Shaun will never know. I had to email everyone else the recipe.
I hung out with the John and Anja crowd for a while and then joined the gang I came with. John had to go back to work but the rest of us stayed a while longer. Then Eryq stopped in for lunch - he was in the area and hoped to run into people he knew and he did. So that was nice!
When we finished up Kory and I went off on a secret mission. We weren't able to complete the secret mission just then so we went by Luisa's and visited with her for about an hour. Then we made another attempt at the secret mission and again were thwarted. We went for a walk around the lake. Then we stopped back at the New Deal because by then I was hungry. When I was done eating we again went to try our secret mission and this time it was successful. Secret Mission accomplished!
That night was gaming at the Looneys. Alison's birthday was the next day, so some people ate ice cream and pop tarts. People had fun.
Friday morning Kory went with Jake and Dave to Ohio for a secret game designer's convention. They will be back next week and we will have another day with the K man before he wings back to the left coast.
I can't recall anything exciting happening on Friday. I think John and I may have just watched our Netflix (series one of The (British) Office).
Saturday night was a celebration of Alex's birthday at RnA's house. I brought Wheel of Intoxication. Renee had JoCo playing, at times a few of us sang together on some of the songs. After a short while of just hanging out a lot of us played Wheel. Whether you drink alcohol or not, that game is pretty funny. One of the rules that comes up is that the person who draws the rule picks a word that you aren't allowed to say. You have to drink if you say it. The word chosen was "the". Around the same time was the rule that you had to speak with some sort of foreign or regional accent on your turn. I can't remember if Alex or I started it, but in order to not use the word "the," caveman became the preferred accent. As I said to Alex and his brother Dave, "Talk like caveman, no say bad word." Alex and Dave proceeded to talk like caveman the rest of the game, even when it wasn't necessary. It was hilarious and we had a blast.
On Sunday I was very busy. Somehow I made it to yoga again (10:15am), then at noon John attended a luncheon with me at the community center for the Artful Afternoon program, which won a county award for it's contribution to the community. Some of the city council members attended. Then I stayed in my studio for Artful Afternoon, and many of the council members came by. One of them admired my work and gave me a commission, which I started working on right away while they were still there. I was there all afternoon, briefly checking out the free show in the gym - A Fool Named O. Same show as at the Renn Faire, which is delightful all the same.
I went home briefly then John and I attended an art opening at the New Deal Cafe for our friend Laura, and also the Greenbelt Photo Club. Laura has beautiful work, and she also hung the painting that a whole bunch of people, including John and I, had contributed to at her birthday party. She sold two pieces right off!
We had to leave early to get in a short visit with Alice and Chris and their kids (new baby and 3 year old Zach) at Greykell's place. John played games with them and I hung out with Grey. I tried to turn her on to JoCo. We watched a couple of the videos. Then little Zach came over and hung out with us and acted adorable. It was getting late and we tried to leave, but Grey had to show us some videos which were strange and hilarious called "Look Around You".
On Friday March 23 we went to Cam's vegan potluck fund raising birthday party at the New Deal Cafe. She raised over $500 to buy oxygen masks for dogs, cats and other pets for local fire departments. Way to go, Cam! Happy Blappy! And we had a fabulous feast too!
The next day, Saturday, a bunch of us went to see Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton at Ram's Head in Annapolis (afternoon, 1pm show). Three cars of friends coming from their respective locations followed directions I had found on the Ram's Head website. Turns out there are a couple of places called Ram's Head, and I had gotten directions to the ROAD HOUSE and not the ON STAGE. I was upset and angry that we had all arrived at the wrong place, and a bit peeved that it was so easy to make that mistake on their website - having never been there before, how I was I supposed to know there was more than one place?
Renee knew the way from one to the other, maybe 8 miles away, and we all (me, John, Dave, Izolda, Kristin, Alison, Alex, and Renee) made it inside by the end of the first song ("Opening Band") by Paul & Storm and proceeded to have a great time, even though our seats were pretty bad (side view, kinda far away).
At the Jammin' Java show John and I had gone to two weeks previous, someone had brought a bunch of little stuffed animals, monkeys mostly, and asked people to pin dollars to them and throw them on stage when Coulton performed Code Monkey. From this we got the idea (John claims it was his, but I think I was thinking it too) to get a stuffed monkey and pony and make a half monkey half pony monster for him.
I went to the thrift store to look for various stuffed animals, thinking I would never find monkeys and ponies. They had mostly bunnies at the front (some holiday coming up) and I found a couple that would be appropriate toys for Katy (no button eyes). But in the back, I found several varieties of primate toys. I picked up a gorilla that was wearing a tie, vest, and a gold watch, and when you pressed his hand, said, "You're a genius," "That's an AWESOME idea," and various other compliments in a very enthusiastic but maybe slightly sarcastic tone. I thought it would be a good Code Monkey animal. Plus, it was like, two bucks!
And to my surprise
I also found some sort of neo-pet (?) that had a
body that could be construed to be a pony body in the right
circumstances, i.e., made into a monkey/pony monster. I found two
little monkeys of the same size and was set. Anyway, when JoCo performed "Skullcrusher Mountain", I ran up to the stage and held it up into the light beside him, bobbed it up and down a few times, the audience laughed, JoCo looked over a smiled a bit but kept on singing of course, and then I dropped it on the stage and ran back to my seat. After the song he picked it up and talked about it. Among his comments that I remember - "Wow, the stitching on this is exquisite!" and, "You know, this is more like three quarters monkey, three quarters pony, so..."
Later, Paul and Storm came out to sing some back up. After one song, Paul picked up the toy and said, "Wow, this stitching is exquisite! No, really, not only is it stitched together, but then on top of that is fake stitching in big thick black thread like surgical stitches. (Pause) Your fans are AWESOME!"
They stayed on to sing back up for Code Monkey, and John just walked up and delivered the talking gorilla to Paul. After the song Paul gave it to JoCo, and he began to describe it. "Oh, it has a vest, and a tie, and a gold watch, and, oh, it says press here on his hand. Let's see what he says." He pressed the hand and the first thing out was the first thing I heard when I picked him up, and thought it would be perfect; "You're a genius!" JoCo nodded and said, "Why, yes. Yes I am." Or something like that. He pressed the hand a few more times, wondered where the sound was coming from and put the gorillas behind up to the mic. That didn't work. JoCo said, "It's a sycophant monkey. Everyone should have a sycophant monkey!" Paul said, "Hey, that's what we should call the band - okay that's the band's name now - the Sycophant Monkeys." He was referring to what they said earlier, that when they perform backup for JoCo they are not Paul & Storm but The Creepy Dolls. The audience was eating all this up.
It was fun to add some extra laughs to the show.
After the show I got my ticket autographed by P&S and JoCo. A woman took pictures of the stuffed animals and of us when she found out we made/brought them. I found out later by looking through some of JoCo's extensive website and blog that at least a large handful of other folks have made monkey/pony monsters, usually getting them signed by him or sending him photos. I'm sure some give them to him as well.
That night we hung out with bro Thom at the American Legion - we met him after he'd been attending a party there for ex-motorcycle cops. We were plied with free Budweiser from the bartender. After about an hour we went over to Peter May's house for a farewell party for John and Anja Bull who moved to Massachusetts. We will miss them, but hopefully not too much, as they plan to visit Greenbelt often. Then they will slowly visit less and less often and then we will never see them again, one day.
We got home reeeaaaal late. Thom slept on our couch for about 3 hours after John kept him up half the night listening to JoCo and Paul and Storm songs. Took him to his car early in the morning. I was sleeping like a sane person.
Sunday was yoga aaaaannnnddddd.... ????? I think I worked in my studio some. Or not, can't really recall now.
Chris came down from Philly Tuesday afternoon, and Kory flew in Tuesday night, I was off teaching a class while a hunk of Kory lovin' people went to dinner at Udupi Palace with him. When I came home there they all were in my living room talking about Kory's lung and Chris's girlfriend. There was Jake and Ingrid, Kristin M., Dave, TVTom, and of course Kory, Chris, and John. I ate Jake and Ingrid's leftover Indian food and it was yummy - they weren't the sort of dishes I would probably think to order but might now. I stayed up as long as I could stand it but had to get up early to take Katy to get some of her guts removed so she can't make puppies anymore. I'm pretty sure by the size of her nipples that she has made them before.
So I dropped Katy off at the vet in the morning, came home and took a nap, then worked the rest of the day. John took the day off and hung out with Chris and Kory. I don't know what they did. Chris went back to Philly that afternoon, and Jake had a big poker tournatment that night in honor of Kory's visit, so John and Kory went to that.
Thursday I had off from teaching, and I picked up Katy. She was pretty sleepy all day so I didn't feel too bad leaving her home a lot. When John came home for lunch we all went to the New Deal to meet up with Shaun, Mi Ae, and little Mina. We ran into John and Anja who were just about ready to roll for MA, with Dorian, Amethyst, and Cam having lunch. They'd been helping them get ready to leave. I'd brought my morning smoothie and everyone tried it except for Kory and Shaun. Everyone liked it and Kory and Shaun will never know. I had to email everyone else the recipe.
I hung out with the John and Anja crowd for a while and then joined the gang I came with. John had to go back to work but the rest of us stayed a while longer. Then Eryq stopped in for lunch - he was in the area and hoped to run into people he knew and he did. So that was nice!
When we finished up Kory and I went off on a secret mission. We weren't able to complete the secret mission just then so we went by Luisa's and visited with her for about an hour. Then we made another attempt at the secret mission and again were thwarted. We went for a walk around the lake. Then we stopped back at the New Deal because by then I was hungry. When I was done eating we again went to try our secret mission and this time it was successful. Secret Mission accomplished!
That night was gaming at the Looneys. Alison's birthday was the next day, so some people ate ice cream and pop tarts. People had fun.
Friday morning Kory went with Jake and Dave to Ohio for a secret game designer's convention. They will be back next week and we will have another day with the K man before he wings back to the left coast.
I can't recall anything exciting happening on Friday. I think John and I may have just watched our Netflix (series one of The (British) Office).
Saturday night was a celebration of Alex's birthday at RnA's house. I brought Wheel of Intoxication. Renee had JoCo playing, at times a few of us sang together on some of the songs. After a short while of just hanging out a lot of us played Wheel. Whether you drink alcohol or not, that game is pretty funny. One of the rules that comes up is that the person who draws the rule picks a word that you aren't allowed to say. You have to drink if you say it. The word chosen was "the". Around the same time was the rule that you had to speak with some sort of foreign or regional accent on your turn. I can't remember if Alex or I started it, but in order to not use the word "the," caveman became the preferred accent. As I said to Alex and his brother Dave, "Talk like caveman, no say bad word." Alex and Dave proceeded to talk like caveman the rest of the game, even when it wasn't necessary. It was hilarious and we had a blast.
On Sunday I was very busy. Somehow I made it to yoga again (10:15am), then at noon John attended a luncheon with me at the community center for the Artful Afternoon program, which won a county award for it's contribution to the community. Some of the city council members attended. Then I stayed in my studio for Artful Afternoon, and many of the council members came by. One of them admired my work and gave me a commission, which I started working on right away while they were still there. I was there all afternoon, briefly checking out the free show in the gym - A Fool Named O. Same show as at the Renn Faire, which is delightful all the same.
I went home briefly then John and I attended an art opening at the New Deal Cafe for our friend Laura, and also the Greenbelt Photo Club. Laura has beautiful work, and she also hung the painting that a whole bunch of people, including John and I, had contributed to at her birthday party. She sold two pieces right off!
We had to leave early to get in a short visit with Alice and Chris and their kids (new baby and 3 year old Zach) at Greykell's place. John played games with them and I hung out with Grey. I tried to turn her on to JoCo. We watched a couple of the videos. Then little Zach came over and hung out with us and acted adorable. It was getting late and we tried to leave, but Grey had to show us some videos which were strange and hilarious called "Look Around You".
