Michael Van Vleet (he/him)
@signalstation
Writing type person. TTRPG work: Ennie award-winning Wassailing of Claus Manor; Devil, Aim For Me; DIE, GRAVE ROBBER, DIE!, writer on Trophy, Brindlewood Bay, Public Access, Planet Raygun etc. etc. | signalstation.itch.io
Maybe somewhere around here I'll find the pretzel, the slushy, the nachos and the giant cookie with Happy Birthday! on it.
Came across AJ's original corndog illustration, as featured in Good Buy, Cruel World.
I did it once and forgot about it. So gross to see these, like turning over a log and looking each grub in the eye. They want to live, but should they?
One challenge I have is that AJ collected dolls for years. Lost interest a few years back so they filled closets and boxes. And now I want to find them a new home, but the most obvious path (document, photograph, post, sell) is a job. Ideally, doll fans descend like hyenas and just clear me out.
It almost didn't work. I saw the paper slip flutter out and onto the floor while she was reacting to the cute felt fortune cookie on its own. But it didn't ruin the overall effect, having to pick that "fortune" up off the floor. I mean, I got a yes.
Please don't mind the nonsense. It means the artist is comfortable in their habitat. They have food/water and access to their favorite music. Commissions open.
Providing a good home to artwork from @deadspiderhands.bsky.social and justifying the purchase to myself that somehow it's "research" for Step Right Up. These clown mask pins are research. Yeah. (If you want pins and cool art: deadspiderhands.bigcartel.com/products)
If they were hiring, I'd quit my job today to join the Bawan Meddling Association. [learn more about the BMA here: heycentaur.itch.io/kala-mandala...
2013 - Found the groom half of this salt and pepper set. Asked my mom which piece he was paired with. She brought out a bride. "They both would sit on a chair," she said, setting the bride on the edge of a fruit basket, from which it immediately fell, the bride's head snapping off.
It's okay. I've cooked for one before. It's not new. It's okay.
In a sweet gesture, the latest issue of Sprigs & Kindling is dedicated to AJ.
Flipping through some of AJ's old sketchbooks and found this Detective Yeti. This is based on some microfiction I wrote for a newsletter in 2016. Was trying to write more often and would email them to friends who never asked to be emailed microfiction. www.signalstation.com/lost-time-in...
If I disappear after August 29th, don't come looking for me. I'm with the frogs.
Also, shout out to Albany for being a cool enough neighborhood that someone slapped up a Charles Willeford sticker on an electric box. If you like mid-century hard-boiled literature, check out COCKFIGHTER or THE WOMAN CHASER (which has a film adaptation feat. Patrick Warburton).
Animated image by AJ Summers, who spent a chunk of time fixated on exploring security cams that were streaming to the internet, entirely unsecured, so anyone could view the feed. This liminal waiting room was one of her favorites to watch.
Watching the @plusoneexp.bsky.social stream and found out that my Troika! scenario Moon's Shot was picked to appear on the home page of @rpgtrader.bsky.social ! That @rapidpunches.itch.io cover catches eyes! (interview's still going if you move quick: www.twitch.tv/tonyplusone)
Doing an experiment to see fi buying and rewatching films with Yuen Woo Ping choreography helps with the grieving process. On the off chance it doesn't work, at least I'll still have copies of films with Yuen Woo Ping choreography.
Hey. You probably have a camera on your phone. Use it. Take more pictures of the people you love. Don't wait for an occasion. Because one day, a photo of them looking cute while eating mashed potatoes they got out of a vending machine might be something you need and you need to be ready.
Communed with the great Bee Spirit, as well. It told me I have to keep going. There's still too much to do.
My lovely friends are doing their best to keep me alive: straightening the apt., making me go outside, making sure I eat... offering me to the haunted ice cream truck to see if it will take me. (It didn't. Maybe next time.)
For everyone else: in the streets of Hayward I found a hat featuring the late, great Governor Alvarado (1809-1882). Washed it and then improved it by drawing on some robot arms. It's still here. I've been wearing it for Planet Raygun games recently.
Another photo of our first home together in Hayward. That's a college friend, @waxtadpole.bsky.social, hanging on AJ's shoulders. Must be circa 2000 because AJ's rockin' the Nader pin.
A few words about Amanda, as part of the most difficult newsletter update I've had to send to our little friends & family group. www.signalstation.com/the-hardest-...
Jan 2, 2003. Our first apartment in Hayward, CA. Books, dolls, art, films, each other. We had everything.
She was turning a guy from the cover of an Indian pulp paperback into a cat, plus added Christmas-y clothes to match the silly drawing and joke I put on the back of the postcard. Looks at that modification job. She was a wonder.