A Very Important Question

So this weekend is Wondercon, a gathering place for the people that do cool stuff. A place of magic and... I have no idea... Just like any of the other "con's" like ComiCon or Dragon*Con. What I do know is that Trish from Adult Swim Central will be there to check out, among other things, the Radical Axis of Evil people and their stuff. Of particular significance to me, and the hundreds of millions of fans of 12 Oz. Mouse, is that Matt Maiellaro, the creator of the show, will be there. I have asked Trish to ask a very important question, one that I feel only Mr. Maiellaro has the answer to. When I close my eyes this how I see this play out:

Trish (abruptly running into the room and looking nervously over her shoulder as if she is trying to elude security: In 12 Oz. Mouse, in the second scene of Episode 2 - "Signals", when the room floods with water, what did Shark say to Fitz?

Todd Redner: Matt, you don't have to answer that. How did she get in here... Security!

Matt Maiellaro: I'll answer the question! You want answers?

Trish: I think the fans are entitled.

Security Guard: There she is! GRAB HER!

Matt Maiellaro: YOU WANT ANSWERS?

Trish (as security is dragging her out): I WANT THE TRUTH!

Matt Maiellaro: YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
(Dramatic pause... Everyone falls silent... All eyes on Matt... Security releases Trish...)
Woman, we live in a world that has cartoons, and those cartoons have to be drawn by men with beer. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Bobo? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Skillet, and you curse the Rectangular Business Man. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what Eye knows. That Skillet's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And 12 Oz. Mouse, while grotesque and incomprehensible to some people, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about on internet forums and chat rooms, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like gunkenschlanger, fortmeiser, reticulous. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent creating something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to people who rise and sleep under the blanket of the very cartoons that I provide, and then question the things they say when they are under water. I would rather you just laughed, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up twelve pack, and make your own cartoons. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think the fans are entitled to.

I miss my iPhone.

My iPhone decided to die on me new year's eve, and I have been feeling a little down about it. From what I can tell through my research the battery burned up. I pulled it out of my pocket to fiddle with it as I always did, and when I turned it on the screen went white and it started to get burning hot, then wouldn't turn on. It continued to get hotter and hotter to the point I thought the battery was going to explode. When it finally cooled down I tried to plug it in, and nothing.

I stopped to think just how much of an impact my iPhone had on my life. That old saying, "you don't know what you have until it is gone" has never struck so close to bulls-eye with me for any posession. I knew the moment I picked up an iPhone for the first time at the AT&T store to see what all the hype was about that I didn't just want one, I needed one. Over time it became like an extension of me, not just a phone or a gadget that I had at my disposal to kill time, but something I just used without much thought like walking, talking, breathing... It was like in Avatar when the Jake of the Jarhead Clan chose his Ikran and it chose him.

I estimate that I used my iPhone for about 8 hours a day on average for the two years I had it, close to a third of my life for the past couple years. The first year usage was about 12 hours a day. That first year I had a job where I had about six hours a day with nothing better to do than play with my iPhone, added to that our computer was in storage at that time and my iPhone was the only way to keep in touch with the friends I made online over the years. The second year I would say average daily usage dropped to about 4 hours a day on average due to the new job and having our computer again.

My most recent obsession was the Brushes app, which is an amazing art app. I was doing a drawing, painting, or at least a sketch every day. Some can be seen on my Flickr account (link to the right), but sadly most are gone forever.

All hope is not lost though! It was the original 4gb iPhone, and it lasted all that time which is amazing considering the amount of use I got out of it. I had planned on getting a new 3GS 16gb iPhone soon anyway. And I have a new appreciation for just how much that little thing can do for me.