Author: grasshopper

The Adventures of Double-Oh Awesome

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It’s been a while since I’ve shared a good ol’ military story!

Turkey – 2001
The shop I worked in was responsible for hooking buildings up to the base network (among many other things that have nothing to do with this story).  Agent Double-Oh Awesome entered the scene when we got word that they just finished building a new *drum roll* building that had to be wired up to the network.

We looked at the floor plans and decided that we would need to use the dusty, hardly ever used radios that sat in the corner in our shop in order to communicate with each other to get everything connected properly.

Two of us went out assuming that our dusty radios were just simple two way devices. When we got to the site and found that we were the only ones there, well…put two young adults with radios together, and you get the adventures of Double-Oh Awesome fighting the Taliban and their evil laser sheep.

I can’t remember exactly what was said, but our game went something like this:
“Qsssshhh! Qssssshhh! Double-Oh Awesome, I got a bad guy by the truck!”
“Roger! I’m on my way *fake fighting noises* Hold on, I’m busy kicking a**!”
“Ahhhh! They have wild sheep! Sheep with lasers!”
*Karate sounds*

And so forth….This went on for a good ten minutes until a third voice joined the foray:

“WHO IS USING THE SQUADRON RADIOS? I DEMAND YOUR NAMES.”

I remember exchanging expressions of horror and utter shock with my coworker. We had no idea the simple radios were connected to the rest of the squadron (they had always been turned off, and there were only two of them). After giving each other sheepish looks, we held our radios out at arm’s length, turned them off, put them in the bed of the truck, and continued our work.

How did we finish the job? We popped our heads out of the building’s windows to shout numbers and instructions to each other. When we got back to the shop, we said nothing of the radios and returned them to their corner. Not a word or a reprimand was spoken, and we decided to never mention Double-Oh Awesome. 

A Tribute to Leonard Nimoy

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This week’s post is a tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy.

Death is one of those things I’ve never been good at talking about. Leonard Nimoy was one of Star Trek’s most beloved actors and a world-wide icon. Millions have been deeply affected by his passing, and I am one of them.

I discovered Star Trek in 2000. I worked the 6 am – 3 pm shift back then and would rush home to watch the sci-fi channel because Star Trek would be on by the time I got to my TV. Mr. Spock was quite the looker; I will not lie. He evoked creativity and jump started my imagination (as cliche as the notion is). I wrote silly adventure stories on the Enterprise involving him and Kirk, which were stored on floppy discs long forgotten and long lost to many moves and deployments.

A friend and I would go to the local Italian fast food place because they had crayons and paper–the staff was all about not adulting when you didn’t have to adult. We drew the craziest things, but they always involved Kirk and Spock. The restaurant staff knew us by name, and we convinced them to post one of our silly pictures on the wall next to the children’s drawings they let parents pin on the wall. 

Mr. Nimoy, 
Your brought joy to millions in just as many ways. May you rest in peace.

~M.L. Crabb

Weekly Roundup: YouTube Documentaries of North Korea

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Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, citizens! This special segment is brought to you by

The image of Earth was taken from here: Earth. It is a public domain image from the Apollo 17 mission.
I am fascinated and curious by the reclusive nation of North Korea. I’ve read Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick and scour the Internet for images of NK when I’ve got spare time.
In fact, there are certain elements of the Empire in The Year is Now that are based off of what we know about the nation. Emperor Deigo Clinton’s cult like personality is one of them. 
I recently found a few decent documentaries by VICE News on YouTube. These are by far the best ones I have yet to see! If you are interested in North Korea, I’ve shared the videos below! To watch the next videos in the series, just type the title and next number in YouTube’s search feature. 
Reporter Shane Smith goes to North Korea:
Reporter Shane Smith goes to North Korea labor/logging camps in Russia:
VICE News: The Hermit Kingdom:
Three Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman go to North Korea and play basketball

Weekly Roundup: Set Your Hashtags to Fabulous!

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Happy Presidents’ Day!

I’d like to say that “OMGZ I GOT SO MUCH DONE ON OMG!ORCS!” in a super exciting font, but I didn’t. I have a hard time with the entire balancing work + hobbies thing. I should put on a giant t-shirt that says, “HOW DO I ADULT?” Said shirt would have a cat on it, of course. A bad case of insomnia didn’t help matters either.

An Awesome Discovery

What do you get when you hashtag FAILZ and can’t sleep? Discover shows on Netflix. I hate to say it, but I only had enough brain power for TV and graphic making.

I found an awesome anime, Sword Art Online. If you play MMOs and like sword fights, badass costumes, and fantasy, I highly recommend it!

A Proclamation of Goal Setting
Omg!Orcs deserves only the best
I hereby force myself to come up with a routine that will allow me to write, revise, and draw. There has to be a way to beat the after work brain shutdown (AWBS). I miss my Omg!Orcs characters! Even their shenanigans and tropes can’t defeat the AWBS right now!

V-Day Contest Winner!
*Drum roll*

Thank you for entering, D! 
You will get an email as soon as I finish this post.

Those Graphics I Mentioned
Set your hashtags to fabulous ~

Weekly Roundup: I Haz Contest and Catch-up Bowl MMXV

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After working 10 days in a row and fighting off a nasty cold, I am finally back to the random whims of what we call free time!
The painting used in this graphic is Daydreaming by Edward Harrison May.

Catch-up Bowl MMXV
I enjoy my job, but running a work marathon without a day off gets to you. The nasty cold didn’t help matters either! By the end of it, I was neckbearding my evenings away by binge watching trashy shows on Netflix.

Oh how I missed revising my “Omg, orcs!” book! I was too drained to even look at the thing
.

Now that everything seems normal with my schedule, *knock on wood* I’m hoping to jump back into my routine. I’ll tell you what though, today I’ve been that daydreaming woman in that painting! I slept in late and haven’t accomplished a thing except for this post.

I don’t have a catchy transition sentence to jump to the fact that I liked my OMG orcs! drawing so much that I did a Delenn (from Babylon 5) version and a special V-Day contest Star Trek red shirt edition.

[ Insert flashy transition sentence here ]
V-Day contest and giveaway!
I am giving away a signed copy of The Year is Now OR a free digital drawing* (winner’s choice) to the person who has the best caption for Red Shirt Girl!
How to Enter:
1. Message me on Facebook, through the contact form on the right, or email me (thecommanddeck [at] outlook [dot] com) with our dear Red Shirt’s caption.
2. Use V Day Contest as the subject
3. If you want to edit the image and insert your caption in the speech bubble, you are more than free to do so! Send the image as an attachment.
All entries must be received by 15 February, 2015!
Rules
1. Multiple entries by one person are okay.
2. International entries are okay.
3. The winner must choose between the signed copy or the drawing (see information).
4. No hate regards to race, religion, or orientation.
Information:
Drawing – The drawing will be of one person, character, or animal against a simple background. It may take me 3 weeks to complete the drawing depending on if I get scheduled a crazy 10 days in a row again or not.
Signed Book – Will be mailed off on my next day off after 15 Feb.