How to Deal with Creepy People: Blog

My friend, the shark.

2008-06-25T19:21:00.001-07:00

The above picture is of a very good friend of mine who also happens to be Rippy, the mascot for the LA Riptide.

While I've certainly seen mascots my entire life, I was unaware that being a mascot entails an enormous amount of dedication, responsibility, and . . . well, ability to deal with boiling hot temperatures in a very large suit.

First of all, there are no mascot "costumes." Apparently, they are always "suits" rather than "costumes," and using the term "costume" is actually a bit of an insult.

Secondly, training to spend hours on end in the suit is probably one of the most intense workouts that I can think of off-hand; my friend dons sweats, a sauna suit, more sweats, a wool beanie, and a hoodie, pulled up, to go running. This lets him prep for the temperatures in the mascot suit -- and he does this in Southern California when it's at least 80 degrees out. If you're not sure what a sauna suit is (I wasn't at first either), it's essentially vinyl or plastic so it traps all of your body heat in. It's often used by wrestlers, I believe.

Third, there are more aspects to being a mascot than I ever really thought of. When you're talking to someone with a giant head on, for example, rather than looking at them, you have to drop your head further down so the giant head that you're WEARING is looking at them. On top of that, you have to make sure you don't react to children jumping on you, punching you, berating you, yelling at you -- whatever, you have to be the stoic mascot, particularly if you're an animal mascot who can't, in theory, talk. Make sure you entertain the crowd, make sure you keep moving, make sure you hug all the little kids who want to hug you -- man, it's crazy when you think about all the stuff that he has to remember.

However, my favorite thing about his job is what he had to do today -- he went to another mascot's birthday party. See, apparently it was Rocky's birthday, Rocky being the Palm Springs Power mascot. Even though Rippy (my friend's character) is a lacrosse mascot and Rocky (the birthday boy) is a baseball mascot, it is apparently a tradition that all of the mascots try to attend the games that mark the mascot's theoretical birthday -- since Rocky's was today, apparently around 17 or so mascots all went to Palm Springs to celebrate it. I am highly hopeful that he will return with pictures; if he does, I'll put them up. Otherwise, you'll just have to remain content with the knowledge that watching someone you know walk around dressed up as a giant shark with a lacrosse stick in hand is a pretty amazingly fantastic experience.

Adventures in Stuff

2008-04-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

Life as Del's assistant keeps me rather insulated most of the time - I'm either on the phone with cops, or legal people, or sending emails to either one, or tracking down other people so they can talk on the phone and email back and forth with the cops and the legal people. That, combined with writing run-on sentences, keeps me pretty busy. On occasion, however, I'll look around long enough to see something that makes me . . . glad I stay home a lot.

I was on my way to the grocery store to pick up a good week's worth of sustenance (Stouffer's macaroni and cheese is ridiculously expensive now, by the way). I live in a pretty small town where things tend to look the exact same every time you drive by them. All the same kinds of cars, I pass probably twelve silver Toyotas per mile, pick-up trucks are a dime a dozen - so one tends to notice when someone's driving an old 60's VW Beetle.

Of course, I only noticed him because the light at the upcoming intersection turned green before I really had to slow down much, yet he was driving at a snail's pace, so I got a little too close for comfort. I slowed down and switched lanes, prepared to overtake him and be on my merry way.

However, the curiosity of a 60's Veedub was too strong to allow me to pass without a glance. Soccer moms in minivans? Not interesting. Joe-Hank in a Silverado? Yawn. The Beetle, on the other hand, had potential. I immediately guessed that its driver was either a very old hippie-type who never could part with such a relic, or a very young hippie-type whose choices were grandpa's Beetle, or a 1990's Ford Crappy.

Instead, I look over and see . . . a rather gaunt man, most likely in his 50's, wearing a disheveled security guard or police uniform shirt.

And he had no arms.

I normally think people who double-take are simply doing it for the theatrics, but I earnestly double-took. There he was, bopping along at what was probably 35 in a 45-mph zone, leaning far forward and balancing the spokes of his steering wheel with stumps that ended just below his elbows.

Lack of artistic ability = steering wheel that resembles the X-Men symbol.

Don't get me wrong; people with disabilities or differences in appearance or functionality are due every courtesy as are people without them. But I started wondering if that was even legal or, at the very least, wise. Blind people aren't licensed to drive because vision is an important aspect of negotiating roads. I'm pretty nearsighted and astigmatic myself, and I know driving without my glasses would not only be illegal, but dangerous. I can only imagine having no arms and a sudden need to make a hard turn, to avoid an accident or even a cute kitten in the road, like this one:

There isn't a story in the world that can't be improved with a kitten.

I am happy to report that there were not, in fact, any kittens on the road that day. But, my questions as to the mechanics of turning a steering wheel with no arms still stand.

Where have all the posts gone, long time passing . . .

2008-02-18T19:36:00.001-08:00

This site hasn't been updated in a while, but it's not because we've lost interest -- or our internet. We've been up to our ears (although not over our heads) with work on another site that we've now proudly debuted.

Called Resource for a Recourse, our new site is a compendium of legal statutes and resources for people who in the past or right now face issues with domestic violence, molestation, rape, or other types of abuse. At present, the information covers only the different states and territories of the United States; however, we plan to expand to other countries as soon as possible.

Currently the site is organized by state or territory because the laws can vary drastically depending on where you live. Click on a particular state or territory and you will find three sections of information relevant to that location: the statutes of limitation for rape, molestation, and sexual assault; a list of pro bono or reduced fee legal services; and information about obtaining an order of protection or restraining order. In addition, the site has a short list of links to other organizations that we've researched and believe offer valuable services to abuse survivors.

Why did we think there's a need for such a site? I have received a number of e-mails over the past four years from people asking questions about their state's laws governing abuse. Most were confused by the wording of the laws themselves or weren't sure what, if any, resources were available to help them. When I researched the issue, I discovered that there didn't appear to be one website that contained all of this information--so I decided that with the help of several Perverted-Justice volunteers, we would create one. My talented friend Audrey again offered to design the site, and she created a fantastic interface that's easy and intuitive to use. We've already received positive feedback about the site, and since some teenagers face issues with domestic violence and sexual abuse, we wanted to tell you about the site as well.

Now, How to Deal with Creepy People news: With this entry we're debuting our new blog system--one that will allow you to "interact," so to speak, with our entries and to ask questions. Please understand that there will be a lag time because we want to make sure your postings are as anonymous as possible before being made public.
I hope the new site is a help to those of you who need information about abuse, and I hope you all take advantage of this site's new interactive blog system. We now return you to your semi-regular updates.

Thanks!
Del

Santa & Del

2007-12-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

Fun with throwies

2007-10-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures I took while painting with light, using blue and white LEDs, with my friend Adam. Curious about this process and have a camera? Check out the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_painting.

I can has blog entry?

2007-10-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

2007-08-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

It was a toss-up between the T-Rex and Marzipan (AKA The Panzer), my one and half year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, for the website's logo.

The T-Rex won for one obvious reason: his front legs were shorter.

2007-07-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

I decided that since this was the first blog entry, it would make sense to talk about the people who I'll probably talk about the most in future blog entries. While I'm sure others will make appearances from time to time, I'll cover the four mainstays (including myself) first. We'll see what happens from there (and if someone else shows up, I'll make sure I explain who that person is, though you may not get a picture).

This is me. I'm Del. I generally like people unless they're pedophiles, and people generally like me unless they're pedophiles. I am 5'5, 105 pounds, have 8 gauge earrings, and two tattoos. My hair is a combination of colors that inevitably involve black, brown, purple, and blue, and I almost always wear a baseball cap, generally cocked slightly to the right. I take organization to new levels of compulsiveness. I like computers, gadgets, Diet Coke, webcomics, Range Rovers, longboarding, surfing, computers, books, music, and computers. I dislike walking vehemently. I have a song that I sing about how much I hate walking when I am forced to walk.

This is Audrey. Audrey is a genius at pretty much anything she does, and fortunately for me, she agreed to do the web design for this website (and a couple others that will be showing up later). She's 5'8 with long black hair that generally has streaks of pink, blue, turquoise, or green. She likes creating things, video games, comic books, puzzles (like Sudoku), gadgets, film festivals, NPR, Dutch design, and longboarding. She's generally involved in approximately five to ten projects simultaneously and singlehandedly does the work of at least three people on those projects. She's also going to be the other blogger on this website, though she may mostly post pictures.

This is Ben. He does not like having his picture taken. He is six feet tall and has long dyed black hair, many tattoos, many piercings, and rides a motorcycle. He has terrible hearing and a tendency to just nod and smile if he doesn't actually understand what you say. He likes longboarding, computer games, geocaching, remote-controlled helicopters, and walking. He has an amazing ability to wear through boots - even Doc Martens only last about a year before he splits them open in a few spots. He is a complete and utter sweetheart who frequently references both gnomes and aliens and has a penchant for making things explode. He also happens to be one of my two roommates. He has threatened to blog on this website, but since Audrey and I are the only two with upload powers, we'll see what happens.

This is JJ. JJ likes people and people like JJ. Not liking JJ is generally an indication that there is something wrong with you. She's 5'7 with constantly changing hair colors, three tattoos, and many piercings, including four in her bellybutton alone. She may be the nicest person you will ever meet, and joins me in discouraging Ben (gently) from making things explode. She likes walking, music, CSI, longboarding, movies, and messing around on my old laptop. She loves taking pictures, unfortunately for Ben. She is also, hands down, the biggest slob I've ever met. I'm pretty clean; Ben's a bit messy; JJ creates wastelands of slobdom. However, she keeps this tendency (mostly) to her bedroom. She is my other roommate.