When a dog loves a ball. . . .

. . .can't keep her mind on nothin' else. Emily, in this photo, REALLY thinks we should be driving to the dog park.

I suspect that if she had opposable thumbs she'd be driving there herself by the time I got the camera out to document her expression. As you can see, she needs a haircut and resembles a Mongolian camel more than a standard poodle.

Lux While normal orders are slowing down a little (indicating I've finally raised my prices to reflect true market value), this allows me time to a)explore other areas of airbrushing and b)take time & really do unique or higher-quality RC work. These are both good things. Here are photos of Max's TT-01 (how serious can the racing be when the cars have hatchback bodies?) which he has dubbed "Little Lux Lightning" and of another recent TT-01 order. Max's uses really expensive, difficult to paint paints that I needed to experiment with. It gives a hard anodized metal look that you can see in the orange. The tree frog body is something I'd really like to do more of, it's totally outside-the-RC painting-box. Usually outside-the-box doesn't sell, but in this case I have a client who trusts me implicitly and says things like "just go wild, Chris".

Netflix I'm sorry, I couldn't get through Syriana. Like Eternal Sunshine, it took a great deal of faith in the middle of the film, at it's murkiest, that it would all tie together and make sense. I just don't have that kind of effort for a movie right now. Max and I watched "The Life of Mammals" series with David Attenborough (the original Croc Hunter) and Max just loved them. VERY good bit on the Naked Mole Rat, just in case any one reading this remembers anything about Naked Mole Rats. Just yesterday I watched a rare thing: an art flick that, in all of it's artsiness, long expressive headshots and slow pacing, actually manages to make you feel for it's characters and reflect on living in it's world. It's "You, Me and Everyone We Know". It touches on some themes that are taboo in the U.S., like puberty, so it seems to have never made it outside of the film festivals but it did well at those and I can see why. It's main theme, just under the surface (not deep under the surface, no faith or excessive cogitation necessary) is a non-judgemental look at how technology is affecting our relationships. We borrowed Madagascar from the PGMUFCPCC archives, and like many animated films it's better the more you watch it and pick up on the subtleties. Max has been moving around the house like an undercover Penguin operative for the past 3 days.

AK's BLOG has good leaf-raking photos. Our neighbors all curse this chore, and it is one heck of a chore, but it's going to take a few years before I hate it. It's a small price to pay, I figure, for the natural miracle that is Fall Colors. I can see how people take it for granted & I would too if I'd grown up anywhere but in CA, where trees just don't ever DO this. Seasons (which a lot of CA completely lacks) provide a wonderful sense of time and it's passing. Seasons teach us that change is good (this is why Hollywood cranks out sequels & more-of-the-same all the time, they don't have seasons to teach them). Seasons teach us that the passing of time is natural and beautiful (that's why they spend so much on plastic surgery out there, they can't see the beauty in age).

Carpet Racing started Friday night, & Max & I are going again today so he can smash the everloving life & daylights out of the pretty new body I made him. I'm not loving the carpet racing so far, but the indoor off-road track is SO far away. We'll see how the winter plays out. Max is jonesing to get going, I'd better get going.