Author Archives: Nuchtchas

About Nuchtchas

Self proclaimed Artist, Dreamer, RolePlayer, The Podcast NINJA!, Gamer, Klingon, Walking Corruption and Geek Queen, Nuchtchas is the owner and operator of NIMLAS Studios with the life goal of highlighting the awesome and good in the world and to spread the love of all things geek!

What ever happened to The WEIRD Show Contest?

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Remember I ran a contest this summer for The WEIRD Show?  Yeah well it was not forgotten, the winner was picked just after DragonCon, it was Zackmann. He and I corresponded back and forth so I could draw inspiration from him, and then I was able to create a painting for him.  I did this and finished it and actually mailed it just after Halloween.  I waited on updating the blog till I heard from him that he got it… then I just plum forgot to get back and update.  Mark the Encaffeinated ONE even remind me, and then I procrastinated and never updated the blog.  Tonight though, I remembered!

So here I give you, the prize that is now in Zackmann‘s home

TWScontestPaintingTa-Da!

All in all I have to say the whole contest experience was really nice, and personally it pushed me to get my act in gear and create.  I need to do that more often.  We all know the line “I should be writing,” but for me it is “I should be painting.” (Or drawing, or sketching, or shooting, or sculpting or something like that.)

Hey Four Eyes!

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Cheapo online frames

Cheapo online frames

I have bad vision, REALLY bad vision. I have been wearing glasses since Kindergarden and most likely should have been wearing earlier too. When I was in the tenth grade I had to start wearing contacts because my Rx was so bad that the weight of my thick glasses caused me massive headaches after wearing them for only an hour. It wasn’t until I was in college that I could again wear glasses. It was then that the eyeglass industry had come out with ultra thin lenses for people with high a prescription. It cost a pretty penny, around $500 dollars and the frames were only $100 of that (Ralph Lauren). Every time I have gotten glasses coverage or any information on buying new glasses it would cost me equally as much if not more to get new lenses for my prescription strength.

A year ago a friend of mine bought new frames from ebay and I envied her because she just had to take them in and get lenses, nice and cheap. Me, the frames are the cheapest part of new glasses so I have stayed with the old frames and glasses for over ten years.

My Old Ralph Lauren glasses

My Old Ralph Lauren glasses

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my old glasses, they look great on me and they are really durable. The Rx hasn’t changed or anything either it is just… well the anti-glare coating has worn off and there are some scratches, in spite of the anti-scratch coating (more then ten years of use it makes sense). Then when I drove down from Canada to the US for a four month trip and left my glasses at home I felt sunk. I wear contacts often but not having glasses to break up the wearing is frustrating. A few friends of mine gave me recommendations for online eyeglass dealers and links on research and everything pointed me to the same place. “zennioptical.com” I was running low on contacts too so when I went in to get my vision checked I had the doctor give me all the information I needed to order them online. (if you do this, make sure you get the PD, your doctor will not remember) Then it came to picking frames. I know the big complaint is “I have to try the frames on to know if they are good” Well I am the same way. So with my sister’s help I tried on the various frames at my doctor’s store, we decided square frames look best on me, and rimless thin frames don’t look good. (All the frames in his store were designer and hugely expensive.) I wanted something different from my old glasses, because I figured these frames would be a nice back up pair anyway, so I picked a set that looked kinda wild. Lime green and black. I placed the order and in two weeks they were shipped to me. Not only was I able to order glasses & frames for under $70 but I was also able to get anti-glare coating, anti-scratch and a polarized sunglasses shade custom for the lenses all included. Also, the site accidentally charged my card twice (I must have hit back, refresh or something) but rather then waiting for me to catch this mistake/problem the site caught it and refunded me automatically and emailed me to let me know. Most sites would wait for you to catch that.

Clip on Shades

Clip on Shades

Yesterday the frames arrived and I was very happy with them. They were not as wild and drastic as I thought they would be, the lime green is subtle, but they look nice. They came with a hard plastic case and a microfiber cleaning cloth that matched the green frames. Now the only draw back is not getting them custom fit to my head, but having worn glasses most of my life I knew how to adjust them myself. Plus, most eyeglass places will adjust for you, I bought my old frames ten years ago and have had two other places adjust them for me. No one cares where you bought them. :)

So all in all, my opinion of ordering glasses online is a thumbs up :)

Three of the best Podcasts you’re NOT listening to

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Weather you are a podcast fan/listener or not, there is some great audio podcasts our there for you to listen to that you’re completely missing. I have decided to inform you about three very different podcast and why you should be listening to them.

The first one I want to mention is SciFi Dig which isn’t new by any means. I have been listening to this podcast since I first discovered podcasts, years and years ago before iTunes was a podcatcher. (Sorry if I lost you non podcast listeners, keep reading I will try and speak lay.) It’s a show about Sci Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Comics and everything in between. Hosted by Aaron Macom (@acmacom on twitter) and normally he does the podcast solo. He starts with some chatter about his life which is always entertaining then reads off the recently released DVD list, then he plays some listener content if he has it and then rolls into either a Babylon 5 in depth review or an X-Files review. I was never a B5 fan, I just missed it, yet after these reviews I HAD to watch and now I am a huge B5 fan, I love the show. What I like about SciFi Dig mostly is that it isn’t just a podcast it is a community, and not like any other out there on the internet. Diggers (Fans of the podcast) are encouraged to participate with more then simply feedback and forums and after listening you can’t help but get involved somehow. Now I warn you, this is not a short podcast, an hour would be a short episode, but I promise it is well worth it and you will find yourself pushing it to the top of your podcast cue each week.

The next podcast I’m going to list (I am going in my personal subscription order here) is The Weird Show, or TWS for short. Now some of my readers may remember that I ran a contest for this show, so obviously I am a fan. TWS is about weird stories and the thoughts and conversation it can spark. Hosted by Mark the Encaffeinated One (@encaf1 on twitter). Who has a voice anyone will love listening to anything he says, but then he makes you think and that is always a good thing in my book. TWS is a Parsec winning podcast that when hosting an informal meet up at DragonCon had the room packed.

The last, but far from least is the Parsec award winning PodioBook FETIDUS. What’s a PodioBook? Well remember books on tape? Also known as Audio Books? Well Podiobooks are just that only deliverd in podcast form, at your desired speed if downloading from Podiobooks.com or as soon as the episodes are live directly from the Author. FETIDUS not only is a a book with a captivating story but Author James Durham (@jamesdurham on twitter) adds more then just spoken word, with guest voices and a soundtrack he composed himself it a a truly immersible experience. What is FETIDUS? What does that mean? FETIDUS is the Foundation for the Ethical Treatment of the Innocently Damned, Undead and Supernatural, and it only gets better from there on. This is a world with Zombies among us in a most every day sense. Not hooked yet? Listen to the first episode, you will be as you follow the trail of mystery with Art Blanchard.

Links:

Creative Non-Fiction Drabble: Clueless Concert Chicks

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Traffic was thick as usual as she directed her Saturn down Southern State Parkway.  Leaving later from work often meant the traffic was less but as it was summer there were just more cars heading out east towards the beaches.  It didn’t help that she lived in the same direction.

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, still on silent mode from work.  Popping in the hand’s free into her hear with one hand and flicking the cell open with the other before shifting down to second yet again due to the idiots who slowed down to a snails pace anytime they saw a cop on the side of the road.  Bonehead moves like that just added to the congestion.  “Hello,” She said into the handsfree not having looked at the caller ID, she needed her eyes on the road, needed to spot the sudden break lights ahead.

“Hey,” Her roommate said over the line,” So we’re going to the Sting concert tonight.”  Hearing the giggle of her roommate’s friend she knew who “we” referred to.  Originally the tickets were for the friend and her mother, something must have happened.  “So we’re on the train on our way and we realized something… we can’t think of a single song of his.  What does he sing?”

A shudder passed through her body, it burned that two people who had no appreciation for good music were not only going to see a musician she grew up listening to and loving but they were clueless.  Sting wasn’t just some musician, he was part of pop culture, how could anyone not know his music.  “Well you know he’s originally from The Police.”  She said rubbing her temples with one hand before shifting back up to third and then to fourth, thankful she was moving at least.  Her windows were down and the breeze was welcomed.

“Oh yeah?”  Her roommate asked and then there was a long pause.  “Yeah we don’t know any Police songs either.”

Rather then beat her head against the steering wheel she took a few deep breaths and smiled before bellowing at the top of her lungs “ROXANNE!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Immortality? Or the Couch?

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So I was listening to The WEIRD Show The feedback episode today on my drive up to CT, and it got me thinking. The question posed was, if we could cure death, if human beings would live forever baring freak accident or violence then would that mean people would be lazy and never strive to accomplish anything? If you knew you had forever, if you no longer feared mortality then would you work hard to leave something positive behind?

I don’t know.

What I do know is that my family has a long history of longevity, not only that but my family tends to have their faculties almost up till the end. I have known most of my life that my life expectancy is around 100 years. I am in no rush to have children, I never was in a rush to get married and I wonder if that has something to do with the fact that I have always known I have time to do all of that. I know a lot of people who complain to me that they are not married yet or have kids yet and I look at them thinking they are young, and I wonder now what if they just have less time then I do? Or worse yet, they think they have less time?

People think of 65 as the age to retire, my mother and father are that old and older and still going strong. My mother is trying for an executive director position and she would be perfect for it. She says her age might be a draw back to her getting the spot because people tend to retire around 65, yet my mother will be working till she no longer can. When you are good at what you do and like it why retire? What? Retire at 65 and have another 30 years to just sit around? What’s the point? My father works in a high stress field, most sea captains retire around 55 or younger, my father is 67? or so and is still going strong. He can work for quite a few more years. He keeps talking about retirement because all of his friends (who are younger then he) are retired but I know him, if he didn’t have work to return to not only would he be bored but he would be cranky as all get out.

So back to my point, does the fact that I expect to live longer make me live more for the moment? Because that is what I feel I do, I am living for the moment, I am very happy to be at the age I am at. When I was young I was concerned with making sure I had a good education and a degree that could support me. I knew I would be older longer then I would be young so I needed to take advantage while I could. Now that I am still young but older I am happy to enjoy myself now., To enjoy my freedom as an adult while slo enjoying my youth and not hurrying to get into the next stage of life, motherhood.

Now I am a married woman, not even a year married, I am almost 32 and loving where I am. I am happy to be here and not rushing to have kids. When I am ready to have kids I am sure I will want that stage of my life to last as long as it can, just as I would love this stage to last a good long while too. I’m in no rush, I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything.

Now, is that because I have a different mindset then most? Or because I feel I am on a different timeline? I don’t fear mortality? (Or is it just me being lazy?)