I understand that as far as signifiers go, time is a damn artibitrary way to track things. Even so, it was about ten years ago now that I first took up the keyboard and began writing out my thoughts on a little site called Livejournal. All the cool kids were doing it.

Eighteen years ago I first logged into AOL Online back when it was its own little siloh appart from the rest of the internet. I remember being amazed at downloading pictures from the net. It took me over 15 minutes to get that picture of Teri Hatcher wrapped up in Superman’s cape. And I spent well over and hour trying different login names hoping to get one that would impress the ladies but that didn’t have a number after it.

“How dark is your touch?” One woman would ask. Turning 36 this year, in the next couple of days even,  18 years ago was half my life ago. The woman in question would later be quite annoyed to find out I was only 18.

Now in the present day, Darktouch as a name is more of an artifact of a person that I once pretended to be. Someone I met recently though gameday mentioned that he was surprised I wasn’t a pretentious goth wannabe based on my name. My sister claims I really was a tortured emo soul but I’m not buying it. Makes me wonder about the assumptions people make about the man behind the green face.

I’ve though about letting it pass before but held on for the sake of nostalgia. This time, as my domain registration comes up towards expiration I feel like I’m in the right head space to let it go.

So 18 years of darktouch. 10 years of blogging. Nice solid runs both. It has been a lot of fun. Thank you all for that.

This isn’t to say darktouch is going away right away either. The domain doesn’t go away for a while but I want to get started on that now since archiving 7 years of email isn’t going to be a small task. There is going to be moving stuff around to various accounts and getting local copies of online only files.

This also isn’t goodbye. I follow a lot of great people with blogs of their own. I want to put more time into reading and supporting others, especially the gamer blogs. Maybe if I catch the right mood they’ll let me guest blog.

So thanks again for this wild ride. Darktouch will be going away but Bill will be around.

Growth

Sorry for the bad lighting.

After taking this picture I used a ruler to measure the distance. Exactly an inch in the course of two months. I don’t know how he does it.

You can definitely tell when he’s growing because the food demands become much more frequent. Good thing he likes broccolli.

Because of that I’ll be joining in the anti-SOPA blackouts on January 19th and January 23rd. You won’t find me on the internet during that time and I hope you take the time to read a book or something.

It isn’t much but I hope to add my voice to those who feel the same as I do. Please join.

Tiny Titans

Today I went to the Comic book store. I hadn’t gone since before the holidays so there was quite a stack. It also illustrated that my pull list had gotten a little out of control. So I reduced.

I’m not sure I had a strict plan as to what I was going to remove and what I was going to keep but it turns out I was keeping to an urban fantasy vibe.

Here’s the new list.

Non-Monthly:

• Empowered – Next Graphic novel doesn’t come out until June of 2012.
• Umbrella Academy – No one knows when we should expect Hotel Oblivion to come out.

Monthlys:

• Angel & Faith – I made another post on this.
• Animal Man – The surprise hit of the new 52.
• Batman: Brave and the Bold – For Caleb.
• Batwoman – Artsy Fartsy Batman in girl form
• Cartoon Network Action Pack – For Caleb
• Demon Knights – Like the Dungeons and Dragons comic.. see below.
• Dungeons and Dragons – The single best comic I’m reading.
• Justice League Dark – Magic and Mystery
• Resurrection Man – Basically ever RPG character I’ve ever played.
• Supernatural – From the TV Show.
• Tiny Titans – For Caleb
• Wonder Woman – The Queen of Superheros in a horror book.

The dream eaters come from Dream. When mortals sleep they dream. Just because the two share a name, don’t make the mistake of thinking they’re the same. Just because the two are different don’t make the mistake of assuming they’re unconnected. Especially don’t make the mistake of assuming that either of them are in anyway made up or imaginary. Mount Olympus was very much the home of the gods for a time, as was Asgard, as was Oz. Ok, not the last one. It was never safe enough to be considered a home. Don’t make the mistake of thinking anything you to in dream will ever be private. The two share a name for a reason and events in one have the tendency to exist in the other. Someone has a dream about the time you tricked a particularly insane queen of the dream eaters writes a book about it. Next thing you know everyone is buying that book up because it resonates with a dream they once had. It goes the other way as well. Robotic monsters and enlarged viruses that would put even mild hypocondriacs into a tizzy of hand washing manage to find their way out of Dream more and more often. That’s not to say the connection is all bad. Vampires have seen a marked personality shift in recent years, sliding from truely horrid monsters to dream guides and even guardian angels in recent years. Yeah, not every creature that lives in Dream is a dream eater per se though most live under the influence of powerful dream eaters and will do what they need to to survive. If you manage to befriend one, all the more power to you.

As diligent parents we have story time every night. He doesn’t always pay attention so it is nice to have some evidence that he’s interested in reading… not that he ‘reads’ but a good 20 minutes absorbed in a Sonic the Hedgehog comic book is good enough for me.

Back in the days of myth, the divinity keys would often seem to pass from owner to owner or else there we’re more of them back then. Or more of the better ones.

When Zeus threw a lightning bolt did he call upon the same powers that Thor did? Or were they two separate items? Were they even items or some inherent alien metabolism?

Gods can live for a long time but not forever. It is possible that the myth of Hekate as she moved from egypt to greece and onward was the travels of a single woman but more likely those changes in location and attitude reflect her divine key passing from owner to owner.

It is possible that the current gods hold those ancient artifacts and many claim to. Even so it is impossible to know for sure. Much better to save that energy for the dream eaters anyway.

Apostheosization

How did you become a god? No, it isn’t when a Mommy god and a Daddy god love each other very much. Remember that strange ring you inherited from your Uncle Bill? What about that odd fruit salad your wife ate when she was visiting her Aunt Fae?

Don’t worry, you’ve just come down with a small case of Divinity. It shouldn’t cause you too much problem. Except now the dream eaters can see you. Don’t worry, you’ve just become a god. A few goblins and imps shouldn’t cause you any problems and your aura much too dim for the wyrms to bother noticing you.

Anyway, being a god comes with some perks. Slower aging, you rarely get sick, really just general health and attractiveness. Plus your divine key comes with some special tricks. That ring lets you go invisible, even to the dream eaters. Sally will find that people just want to listen to what she has to say. Those tricks will come in handy for defeating dream eaters.

As time goes on and you absorb more divinity, your aura will brighten and you’ll get better control of your divine talents. That’s important. You’re going to need those for when the more powerful creatures that exist in dreams and shadows start to notice you. Also, pick up some additional keys if you can, you’re going to need to be flexible if you want to survive.

Don’t worry. You’ll pick it up. And remember that you’re just a god, you’re not immortal.

Happy Holidays

We wish you the utmost joy and contentment this holiday season while also retroactively sending back good wishes to last year as well. With two years to cover that should be twice the normal holiday cheer and believe me when I say I think we could all use some.

Caleb continues to grow and learn and be the handful that my mother likes to pretend is her revenge on me. In no way is he a little clone of either of his parents. He seems to have a growth spurt every other week and as of his last doctor’s visit both his height and weight were somewhere off the charts for his age. I am proud to say that he holds a superhero fanaticism that is notable even among other four year olds. Just last week he pinned Alyson into agreeing to teach him to sew, taking great pride in pushing the pedal as they sewed up a little stuffed heart together.

Last fall we also added Daisy to our family. She is now a 5ish year old Dalmatian/Pointer mix. As a rescue it can be difficult to tell specifics. What we do know is that she’s white with black splotches, picked up a terrible scrounging habit on the streets, and loves to snuggle. She’s not a face licker. Instead she shows her love by climbing on top of her family and falling asleep. Daisy and Caleb have bonded wonderfully though he’s not always pleased about being laid upon.

As for Alyson and I, we continue to do what we do. Since the last Christmas letter I’ve celebrated ten years with my company. Meanwhile Alyson has become a federal employee and is just now reaching the major milestone of one year which marks the end of her trial period. Beyond work we occasionally find time for our hobbies. Alyson recently set up an online store for selling some of her quilted items. Stockings, makeup bags, and even a few wall quilts, handmade of course. We have a deal: I give her a few quiet weekend afternoons in the sewing room and I get a few afternoons to roll dice and slay monsters with the guys.

And life just keeps on going. We had the pleasure of attending several weddings in the last two years with a least three more are on the horizon. At present I count five different couples among our friends who are expecting new additions to their families and several more born this year. We hope to be able to meet all the new additions soon and can’t wait to share your joy!

With that, I close and wish you a very, very happy holiday season and an amazing year to come.

With Love,
Alyson, Bill, Caleb & Daisy