It's been.. I guess 12 years now?

I haven't written much, music or text, because I was pretending to be a salaryman and sucking at it.

I'm... back in school again, somehow, trying to actually -finish- the music degree.

I'm still with my boo!

FA is still ridden with errors and somehow the interface got uglier and less usable?

If not coming back here: Where would I go?

...but it's not really nice work.

I've been noodling through stories from the eyes of a character who's very sexually self-destructive, so I've written a series of vignettes from his life that contain extremely strong themes including anonymous, unsafe, and highly public sex, and what would best qualify as grim to entirely black emotion.

Would any of you read these things?

Been kicking around in one form or another since January of 2006... and now, finally... a freaking avatar. :)

Nearly 10 years and I still have nefarious tricks with which to rock the worlds of fox.

Life is good.

Not labtop, you fucking dumbshits.

Sorry. Had a cool introspective and meaningful post to start the year, but it was doomed not to last. I had to get back to my inner jerk, or he gets angry.

Figured I'd get it out here, instead of commenting in the 40,000 threads where I see this pet misspelling.

31 December, 1999 - 31 December, 2009.

Everyone else is doing their little retrospectives, and I tried to do one like Beachfox's, only mine came out different.

Was too too long for a journal entry, so I figured I'd just post a link.

Thank you for being part of my reality, and for sharing parts of your reality, be it the real parts, the pretend parts, or the just-plain-fucked-up parts also.


http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3209186/

Does anyone know the address of the EA office or of the developers responsible for the game that alleges itself to be "Dante's Inferno"?

Because I want to drop the deuce on their doorstep, and send them a whole big bag of rabies.

Vaffunculo, signori! Rot in literary hell...

...also, completely psychadelic Chinese-made Esperanto children's stories.

And back to the grindstone. Organization will be had.

Working on butchery-porn. Works for others, why not me?

1) First, list all your OCs by first name so we can see your list of all your wonderful OCs:

Are you freaking kidding me? Alllll your wonderful OCs? I don't think I could even begin to list -all- of them. So, like  Beachfox, I'll just drop the first eight that come to mind. Or maybe nine. Or twelve. I'm leaving some of the better ones, but dead giveaways, off the list:

1. JD (your friendly neighborhood rottweiler/pitbull sadist and fox aficionado)
2. DP (AKA, the daddy puma)
3. Doctor Tokorov (your friendly neighborhood homicidal experimental physician-vulpine)
4. Ambrose (medieval equine Milanese merchant/notary)
5. Jordan (AKA the fratshark)
6. Feliks (the bomb-throwing 1930s-vintage samizdat-writing anarchist otter)
7. Sequins (gay unicorn heeeeyyyyy)
8. Vasuki (a different college naga)
9. Jed (raccoon garbage collector)
10. Wendell (frenetic 1970s-vintage jaguar teen)

2) Who is your favorite OC?

That's a tough one. They're all my babies, all my creations, so I love them all. I think Doctor Tokorov is the most terrifying one to try to put my head into, because he's abjectly sociopathic. JD is fun just because he's so gleefully lustful and mean in a way that's... harmonious maybe? Ambrose is trippy because he's really erudite, and I try for him to feel "witty", though that's hard to do with constructs. If I had to pick one of them to hang out with, it'd be either Sequins or Jed, though. Sequins is a walking party, and Jed understands the value of a good beer.

3) Who is your least favorite?

Vasuki. Because nagas who're extra naga-ey are lame. If you can powergame putting people under with your very eyes you're pushing perilously close to "fuck you, I'm a dragon" territory.

4) Who is your most developed?

By definition, if I bother to create a character, it'll end up with a name, a milieu, some family members, some friends, some likes and dislikes, some idiosyncrasies, some deviations, and maybe a boyfriend or three. I think they're all pretty much well-developed... if I can't feel what a character feels, can't think of what they'd want to do, or what they'd eat, or where they'd like to hang out, then by definition, they won't end up developed as a character. That said, I've had JD around the longest, and it's because of him and some other fortuitous circumstances that I ended up with my fox, so I'd guess if I -had- to pick one, it'd be him.

5) How many girl OCs do you have? Boy OCs? It OCs?

Three girls, who aren't on the list above. Boy OCs? Probably fifty, sixty. If you've kicked around on Tapestries, you've probably run into me in one form or another. It OCs? None. Hermaphroditic things suck. Androgynous or tomboyish characters are cool, and so also are sexless things, but when I think "It", I think hermaphroditic, and thus furries who need therapy.

6) If you were stuck in a burning building, what do you think the third OC on your list would do?

Doctor Tokorov would've set the building on fire, and trapped me inside it, so he could see what effects the materials in the room in which I was locked would have on my skin, to determine what to use in his next experiment around grafting technology. Or he'd be enjoying a glass of Tokaj and watching the beauty of the play of flames on broken glass, and getting a feel for the tonality of the screams of the occupants. He's not a nice fellow, particularly.

7) Name one thing you regret about one of your OCs.

I regret never finishing the stories that Ambrose, Feliks, and Wendell were in. I'm hoping to finish Wendell's this month during vacation. It's just raw strokefic, but Wendell is adorable, and I think he deserves a little time on the stage.

8) Which of your OCs do you think would make the best father/mother/it parent out of your OCs and why?

Sequins, hands down. Sure, he's a stripper, and a sometimes rentguy, but he's got a heart of gold, and has enough money to do the job right, and he's all about opportunity, freedom, and love. He would MORTIFY YOU at parent/teacher conferences or open houses, but he would also beat a path to the ends of the earth to do anything to help a child in his care, and would be unfailingly, excessively supportive. He would be happiest if his got to be the best, biggest, most fabulous P-FLAG chapter in the lower-48, but even if he had a straight child, it wouldn't matter.

Which of course means his ungrateful shit of a child would probably ditch college and hate him and leave him in tears and sadness.. but that's okay... because he'd always know he'd done his best.

9) Which of your OCs do you think will most likely be put in jail?

Feliks will serve time in Siberia, repeatedly, before being executed by a Stalinist firing squad in 1952 after a 20 year run of chaos-causing. JD got "scared straight" as a youngster. He did two years in juvie for what he did to his old man, but that record is sealed now. All in the past. Doctor Tokorov is commandant of a medical facility in the Kazakh steppes; it doesn't count as being in jail, if you're experimenting on convicts.

10) The eighth of your OCs was put into the future! What will their job be?!

I'm going to strike "eighth" and substitute ninth. Jed will be a sanitation engineer, OF THE FUTURE! It's what he does.

11) Name the first OC's catch phrase!

JD: I figure we can do this one of two ways, homes: Either your blood on my knife, or your shit on my dick. ... ...That's what I thought.

12) Do all your OCs live together or are they separated?

All separated. Many of my OCs live in the Beachfoxverse as well. There's a fair amount of crossover.

13) Are there any pairings that are in your OC list?

Not really. DP and Wendell once were at Fire Island the same time in 1979, but were roaming through different bushes.

14) Your seventh OC switched bodies with you for a day! How will they react at the end of the day?

Sequins: Thank -GOD-. Boy! You gotta get your ass in the -gym-, sugar. I mean, really. Love yourself a little. Ain't nothin' wrong with a little belly, but boy, you got it goin' -on-. You can do better. C'mon now and give me some sugar, yeah?

15) Your fourth OC just became a fifteen year old. What do they do?

Ambrose: Signor Tedeschi needs the books closed and there are silks coming in that must be catalogued, and there's the Petrarch to be read and.. ... and... oh. Ooh. The duke's having one of those visits and.. I wonder whether castrati are as passionate as their tone?

16) Now randomly select a person on your OC list. Who was it?

From the Random Thingy Chooser at pocinc.net: 8. Vasuki. Fucking naga. I can't avoid the piece of shit.

17) That OC you just chose? Yeah they think they are superman (even if they are a girl) and are on the roof about to jump off.

Vasuki: No I'm not. Don't even fucking patronize me. If you want to jump off the building, that's fine mammal. I'm going to take the elevator.

18) Are any of your OCs bored of this meme?

JD's already gone. DP's just checking out your ass and nodding. Doctor Tokorov finds such discussions irrelevant, as they're fundamentally pointless, given that we are all naught but our biological composition. Just molecules. As such he's admiring the play of the blood vessels at your temples, and contemplating the handsome shape of your skull. Ambrose has things to do, but the inherent intellectual exercise of humanistic questions like this is potentially interesting. Jordan is just checking our your ass and nodding. Feliks doesn't believe that bourgeois pursuits like these have relevance. Sequins is hanging on your every word, though he won't admit that it's just to be courteous, since he'd rather dance. Vasuki is just checking out your ass and nodding. Also thinking about how your mammal fat will contribute to his superior naga physique. Jed's out in the truck, drinking a beer. He'll be waiting for you when you're done. Wendell: "What?"

19) Would your second OC prefer the beach or the mountains?

DP: The beach, without question. He has houses in Miami and San Diego for that very reason.

20) Would your 5th OC battle a shark?

My fifth is a shark.

21) Which OCs hate each other?

They don't really exist in the same continuum, but if they did:
JD, hates them all, save for Jed, who's an okay fellah for a drink, Sequins, who's an easy hottie, and Wendell, who squeals.
DP is everyone's buddy. But especially Wendell's, because he squeals.
Doctor T. is clinically interested in everyone. Tissue is tissue.
Ambrose is amiable. Especially if you're up on your vulgar latin poetry, and commerce.
Jordan pretends to be everyone's buddy. But hates those he can't eat.
Feliks hates everyone who is not a comrade in his struggle for liberation of the individual.
Sequins is everyone's buddy. And knows that deep down, JD's got a -little- bottom in him.
Vasuki has grudging respect for Jordan, and desperate, terrified fear of Doctor T., because foxes shouldn't be that evil. Otherwise, the rest of them are food. Especially Wendell. Who squeals.
Jed's everybody's buddy. With beer.
Wendell: What!? Oh. Sorry.

22) Which OC did you create first? And last?

I created Berthold, who's not listed here, first. He belongs to the same continuum as Ambrose. I created Jed most recently.

23) If seven and three got into a fight, who would win?

Sequins and Doctor Tokorov. Mm. Tough one. If Doctor T. got the tranquilizer into Sequins first, it would be messy and bloody, but chances would still not be -entirely- in his favor. If Doctor T. didn't get the tranquilizer into Sequins first? He'd be a vulpine grease spot. There are some things you just don't _DO_ to other people, y'know?

24) What're your first 2 OC's favorite foods?

JD: Steak, extra rare. Thick cut steak fries and overcooked green beans.
DP: Protein shakes, brown rice, toast when he's watching himself. Sauteed foie gras with fresh greens, warm oysters with a tomato vinaigrette, toasted slices of baguette when he's treating himself. Braunschweiger on toast and coca-cola when he's angry with himself.

25) If your listed OCs were in a fight to the death, who would emerge victorious?

JD, DP, and Sequins would wipe the floor with the rest and go out for beer afterwards; of the three of them, if they had to fight, I'm not sure who would win. Jed would ditch before the fight started.

26) There's a zombie attack and your OCs are stranded. Who do they elect to be their leader?

Feliks would do something stupid and idealistic and get thrown to the zombies. Doctor T. would have even odds of finding a cure, or infecting the others. DP and JD are pretty practical. They'd probably end up running the show.

27) During said zombie attack, who's the first to die?

Feliks, if he's an ass. Vasuki, if he's an ass. Wendell, if he's in ADD mode again.

28) Which one of these OCs do you think would have the most fangirls/boys?

Sequins. Who doesn't love gay unicorn beef? Though knowing the shit for brains that most people have, probably Doctor T.

29) Okay, so does OC number four have any last thoughts?

...you.... you have books? ... Everywhere? All... knowledge? In a .... you.... *zips off to googlegasm* -- With an infinity of classics available, free of charge, he would be all too happy to bury himself in the Latin and Greek classics, and occasionally come up for air, and to ask for paper for his writings.

30) If possible, what're your characters' heights? (All for human-shaped forms)

1. JD: 6'2"
2. DP: 6'4"
3. Doctor Tokorov: 5'1"
4. Ambrose: 6' even (tall for his time period, but nothing special presently)
5. Jordan: 6'6"
6. Feliks: 5'7" - a little sickly
7. Sequins: 6'6"
8. Vasuki: He's an anaconda-naga. No good human equivalent.
9. Jed: 5'10"
10. Wendell: 5'9"

31) Can your characters dance?

1. JD: Yup.
2. DP: When the mood hits.
3. Doctor Tokorov: ...?
4. Ambrose: Any courtly gentleman can dance.
5. Jordan: Spring break, bitches! Yeah!
6. Feliks: ....
7. Sequins: Gay unicorn. Heeeey.
8. Vasuki: With a rocking body like mine? Yeah!
9. Jed: Nope.
10. Wendell: Hustle!

... some new writing, and maybe new music upcoming, though I've been in a weird pit with chorales and organ music lately, not really germane to the place.. Also, maybe doing that cool character meme thing. I need to pimp my characters more.

http://www.craigslist.org/about/bes.....272471632.html

Ponies.

The other, other, other white meat.

...poor thing had a touch of the food poisoning. :)

Head on over to his page and slam him with "get well" shouts, could you guys? Spread the word and give him something fun to come back to.

 Beachfox

I've been super-sparsely available the last three weeks, but work is finally letting up....

...just in time for the semester to start on Monday.

I'm living proof, there is no rest for the wicked. I'll be back and responding on messengers late in the first week of September, once my machine is repaired, and the workload has subsided.

Have a good summer, boys and girls. ;)

.....so..... why is there a specific word for otter excrement?

And worse than that, why is it such a perky, catchy word?

Spraint seems more like the sort of noise a startled otter should make, not, well, you know.

....Discuss. :)

I am going to go write it now.

Back in a few hours.

If you like to roleplay the act of swallowing other creatures whole, without any consequences of any kind, justifying this behavior with magical resurrection or what have you, and eroticize this, and you eat burgers made from ground dead animal, and you condemn others killing certain specific animals, also for food....

....then what's wrong with you?

1) Why do you condemn people who point out the inherent sickness of removing consequence from a death-causing act?

2) On what moral principal can you condemn someone who is sexually attracted to those nasty consequences of the act, when you, yourself, are forced to whitewash the reality of the act to justify it?

3) Given that humans are animals too, that they are in fact higher-order, social primates, how can you, without hypocrisy, tar and feather those who slaughter animals like horses and whales for food, when you, in fact, are complicit in the murder of untold piles of "unimportant" animals to feed your triple-burger Wendy's habit?

For my part? I can understand soft vore as a "willing suspension of disbelief" act, and just eroticizing parts of the act. That makes sense to me.

If you do that, and also throw rocks at other people for their preferences and call them sick or twisted, then it appears to me that you're being pretty inherently immoral. If you have to take all of the reality out of the act in order to obtain sexual gratification from it, why not walk your talk about the importance of morality, and give up hurting other creatures, or at least, laying off people who're making animals into food, where an absolutely moral justification can be made for that behavior.

Think: Equine slaughterhouses.

....

Discuss.

Actually putting ink to paper, actually physically writing words on a page, is a great creative tool. A computer gives you the opportunity to second guess yourself and get caught up in editing before you have anything substantive complete.. ink and pen encourage you to get your writing done, and get moving with your story.. you can only scratch out so much with a pen, and if you do so, the paper eventually will fall apart. The act of getting something down and a story started and moving is way more important than editing in the first draft, anyhow. :)

To try this technique, the tools are universally available everywhere.. no excuses about power or networking.. you can do it anywhere you can have a flattish surface, and it's actually much lighter to carry, say, a pad, than even the smallest netbook or laptop. That being said, if you find the technique works well for you, in order to make it easier on yourself, you might want to invest some time and energy in the tools and method you use, such that your handwritten pages are legible and useful after the fact.

I use a variant on Spencerian Script, the prevalent cursive taught in the US prior to the 1920s. It's handsomer to look at than Palmer method cursive or block-printing taught presently, and much, much easier on the hands if you follow proper technique. The right tools also help.

I use vintage fountain pens from the 1950s and 60s- not as "correct" for Spencerian as a sharp, flexible-tipped dip pen, but very, very convenient. You don't lose the ability to be able to throw down work anytime, anywhere you are, and it's pretty easy to keep them filled with ink.

This combination of tools and methods force you to use a light touch on your paper. To properly master the script, you have to learn the proper motions to use, and those motions guarantee greater flexibility in your entire arm, and guard against cramped hands. If you make it a habit of using pen and paper to write over the long term, learning to do it well, and without stress, is an immense help.

Can I hand write 80 words a minute via this method? Nope. But I can continue hand writing indefinitely with next to nil fatigue, and I never lose a word to illegibility. As a lifelong crappy-handwriter, it was a great investment of time, with an even greater return: nothing keeps the family at bay better than a well-timed thank you note, or holiday card. ;)

I believe that he is secretly a werebear.

I have reasons to suspect this but I must not reveal them until I am safe.

That is all.

....also, if you haven't already, call your mother.

The subject says it all:

Many people whine and cry about how sex ruins the fandom and makes things weird.

I posit that, instead, sex is no more common as subject matter among fandoms than non-fandom groups. Among my many justifications for this stance are the following points:

All visual art.
Fragonard, any Renaissance or Mannerist painter or sculptor.. any impressionist.

All religious texts.
Song of Songs. Kama Sutra. Random passages from any religion's holy books. Wads and wads of sexual restrictions.

Most music.
Opera. Duh.

I further posit that the -perception- of more sexuality in fan-communities is a function of more exposure, and less tradition backing up suppressing and/or hiding this- we don't have tens of thousands of years of taboos in place.

Can anyone think of a good counterpoint to nullify this argument?

So, in the unending quest to maximize chances of an easy transfer to a 4-year music program from the 2-year one I'm almost finished with, I'm finding that many music programs require 1-2 years of a combination of Italian, French, or German.

I've got 4 years of Russian behind me, and a lost fluency there that's long gone... I can manage in Spanish in restaurants and well enough not to get beaten up if I go to the relevant part of town. I'm even still pretty fair at my old Latin. Yay church. :P

I can understand the reasons behind these requirements, but, versus say, Chinese or Japanese which would be useful, or more Spanish or Russian that would be fun and also useful, I'm having trouble deciding which to go for.

So: Of the three, which would you pick, and why?

I'm curious.

So far I'm thinking:
Italian:
PRO: Cool cuisine, cool poetry, cool opera, cool art. "Vaffunculo". Short journey from spanish.
CON: No one to speak it with. #20 in the world's top 30 languages by speakers.

French:
PRO: Cool cuisine, cool poetry, cool opera, cool art. Canadian immigration credits.
CON: No one to speak it with. Weird pronunciation issues. Difficulty of mastering accent in a way that's meaningful. #18 in the world's top 30 languages by speakers.

German:
PRO: Family heritage. Cool cuisine, cool poetry, coolest opera, and passable art. Important in the EU. #10 in the world's top 30 languages by speakers. Strong german-language furry community.
CON: Difficulty of mastering accent. Umlauts. No one to speak it with. More cases for nouns than either of the others.

...

Heehee. For the first time, I'm finally playing with a combo not connected to an educational institution, community band, or otherwise obligatory situation, nor, best of all, with somebody's shitty garage.

Today, I picked up my set of charts for it.

Three cheers for "Tiny Bubbles". ;)

I've got more Glen Miller and Lawrence Welk than you can shake a stick at. Can I get a 6-5000, anybody?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9PqjMSNfkU

Sorry.

Misery shared is misery diminished. :)

I've been criticized for being an idealist, with pretty stories, and empty encouragement... and a lack of knowledge about what the "real world" is about, but that really isn't so. I actually live my naive optimism to the best of my ability, and the pretty things I say, they're all things I actually believe and act upon. Hence:

The tea leaves have come down as they are wont to come down.

Many many years ago, I gave up the possibility of an education and career in the fine arts, despite immense promise in them- I managed to get admission to the performing arts high school in my hometown when I hit grade seven, and had the makings of a pretty talented violinist. Not your Mi Dori class scary child prodigy, or your Perlman-style older talent, but certainly enough to support a career teaching music, and maybe, with a little luck, a good job at the top end of a second tier metropolitan orchestra, or the bottom end of a top-tier one. The program at the performing arts high school, the location of which you can probably easily divine if you listen to my accent, and follow my, or Beachfox's travels, acknowledged that possibilities were pretty high: You'll end up stuck in music ed. As such, they pushed you to diversify. Learn other instruments. Make the sting of those musical techniques courses less onerous. I skipped out on brass entirely, but went for clarinet and bassoon. Not the best player on the block, but a good doubler, a good utilitarian player. A few musical theater gigs, and some orchestral experience.. all good stuff.. all pointing to a life with some truly interesting potential and possibility.

Then, there was the wonderful help: The parent who, meaning well, gives technically correct, though immoral, soul-poisoning advice.

"Sure, you can do it, but how will you eat?"

You can't really critique it: It's a valid point, and it's given in a spirit of well meaning. But it's probably not exactly "right" on a karmic, world-view level. Good on them for raising me right, and raising me honest, and good on them for trying their best. But, eh. Maybe stay away from the career advice.

***

Thus began, in association with a whole wad of other bad circumstances, a career in computing. I eat well, actually. Too well. But something's just always been missing.

So I made an appointment to go speak to our local college's advisors- Mostly of a mind to complete the CS degree I never finished due to ... big surprise... switching majors too often until the scholarship money ran out. It's strange though, how fated things go. Looking at all my credits: All the things that would have to be retaken because they'd "expired", and weren't current enough, and the level of mathematical bullshit requisite in the local school's program.. and then looking what would be accepted for transfer.. and the quality of my grades in the few music courses I've been taking, more on a lark than anything else... and lo and behold. Straight As in all of the performance and theory courses. Middling Bs at best in all of the old technology stuff. It would seem that the tea leaves have shown me the way back to my path.

Clarinet performance. Specializing in harmony clarinets: Alto, Bass, Contra-Alto, and Contra-Bass.

I've got a wad of reed blanks on order, have a new bass clarinet in the midst of overhaul for potential purchase, and have registered for classes that actually start in the morning. You college folk will know how much the 8 o' clock classes suck. I'm going to ride mine 3 days a week, with 5 hour performance classes Monday and Tuesday evenings besides.

So I'm finally, really, actually doing it. Following through, and doing the right thing, that I should've just done in the first place.

Thanks to my fox who has faith in me even though I'm a pretty vile individual, and beats me up to Do The Right Thing. Apologies in advance for the ordeal of living with a simultaneous full time worker, and full time student.

...

Any Bay Area, CA, or Santa Cruz area musicians out there? Classically or jazz-inclined? PM me. Would be fun to work on small-ensemble stuff.

Normal married people have the traditional anniversaries by gift-class, but at this stage of the game, due to legal challenges, it's highly unlikely we'll ever have something that lasts long enough for a "real" anniversary. As such, I've decided that instead of doing gifts by anniversary, we'll just do them by marriage attempt.

The first time in SF was the Paper one.
The second time, private, and religious, was the Cotton one.
The third time, the DP paperwork instead of the real deal, was the Leather one.

This one will be the Linen/Silk one.

I'm kind of disappointed. Leather would've been cooler. There's a certain amount of symmetry though: For the paper one, we got a certificate! Hooray!

For the cotton one, there was some general weepiness, hence handkerchiefs, hence, Hooray!

Never really got any leather in on the third one, unless you count the ludicrous quantity of shoe leather expended in the process of finding notaries, paperwork, and the right incantations to do it- also: lawyers, to make sure all the paperwork and arrangements were correct.

What would you -do- for a linen marriage? Maybe we can have the Klan protest it! They have muslin hoods. That's kind of linen-like, right?

Or I could wear a silken shift, and do an interpretive dance around the themes of redemption, love, and perhaps mansex.

Hmm.


Ideas.

So: Talented people. There are many of them. They usually operate, when selling their services, in one of two ways: Pay before delivery of goods or pay after delivery of goods.

For those who only take payment on delivery? Good on you. You can walk away and I get no harm. I wouldn't, and haven't ever walked away from such a deal myself, and it's gone really well.

Then there're the ones who take payment in advance... I eagerly pay in advance people who have a reputation and a proven track record for delivering amazing, eyebleedingly good results, on time. I've never been unhappy doing this. I could plug the delivered results of a good half-dozen here and as many offline.

But then there are the other kind of folk who take payment in advance...

What do you do with one who's not properly businesslike? More than five years ago I dropped just shy of 150 dollars on a commission that was supposed to be a christmas present... for 2002... for the Beachfox. He was a personal friend, a close personal friend of his, and I figured: Hey, this guy likes the fox, no way no how will he flake.

HA!

Christmas came and went. A deadline for FC after that came and went. All the promises came and went, and nothing.

I let the matter slide, because the talented individual in question had a bit of a bad run, and bad things happen sometimes.. but time has ticked on, and aforementioned individual has churned out piles of things for nonpaying folk, has pulled quad-figures easily in every art show I've seen his work posted in.. and has a reputation among his other would-be commissioners for being a scofflaw and not delivering work on time, if ever at all...


***

So here I am:


2002 dollars are worth substantially more than 2008 dollars. My time is valuable also. If I hadn't paid in advance.. I'd have no quibble, and I'd just walk away... but, well, I did pay in advance, to someone who's proven to be an extreme flake.. Stupid me, so now what do I do?


What do I want? I want to get my work completed, still. I don't want to make trouble for anyone.

But that being said, if there's zero chance of the work ever getting done, I want to inflict maximum financial pain and public humiliation on the individual involved. I figure given the inflation rate my cash in 2002 is probably worth a good 200 by now. It was also paid with PayPal, and we all know how they feel about fraud.

Any ideas? What do you do with someone who's swindled you?

Small claims? More patience?

I'm stumped.