Replacing these shocks should be a one hour job, two hours tops –

I told myself, “Check the new parts to make sure they are good before starting,” but I didn’t do it. Can you see what the problem with that was?

The bushing on the lower shock is not installed correctly. I thought I could push it in, but I can’t. It squashes down, then rebounds to this position when pressure is taken off. So this whole shock is junk, and I’m buying a new pair of shocks to replace this new shock. What great quality control we have these days. I’ve gotten so many bad new parts now – maybe I will learn to check them before taking my car apart this time!

But it gets better –

That is what’s called a “speed nut.” It’s rusted onto the bolt. There’s a corresponding bottom half under the shock. The top and bottom parts of the nuts were only held together by two small tabs, which have broken off. So now the top half of the nut spins freely, when the bolt is turned, and there’s no good way to hold it. I haven’t been able to do it with vice grips. I’ve soaked it down good with WD-40 penetrating oil, but that hasn’t worked yet. Maybe it will. I got the other nut off.

I thought I would have this car back into service weeks ago. I’m really on a run of bad luck with it. These are easy jobs that I’ve done before, without issue, but it’s all a disaster this time.

The “Slow A.I.” psyop is infuriating. As an artist, I’ve been directly impacted by the push to demonize A.I. in the eyes of the masses. I used to host “Way of the Waifu” on Comic Fury, but, while I was dormant they decided to put a “No A.I.” policy in place. I was thinking of hiring some voice actors on Newgrounds, but, they had a “No A.I.” policy. Then there’s the broad demonization of A.I. that has people thinking Skynet will be able to launch the nukes because I created a song or an image. I wish the marketing people hadn’t adopted the term “Artificial Intelligence” for something that is not the least bit intelligent. It is just a dumb productivity tool that can do incredible things in the hands of a patient and determined human being. Which is why the “powers that be” are so scared of it. People like me can take away everything they used to hold on to power. I don’t know how long its been since I’ve “consumed their intellectual property.” I may be watching more A.I. generated mashups of their I.P. now, or original material. Maybe being a culture vandal wasn’t such a good idea after all? Perhaps they shouldn’t have intentionally destroyed Star Wars/Star Trek/Dr. Who/etc etc.? I’m still small but I grow a little more every month, despite the demonization of A.I. and all the time I have to put everywhere but the comic.

Now I’ve got to go fix my car again, but “I’ll be back!”

I’ve been thinking about the situation with Treblo. This is the second time I’ve been locked out of my account, or had my account limited, unless I agreed to a new “Terms of Service.” At least I wasn’t paying for Treblo, but I don’t have the time to go over a lengthy ToS and give it due legal consideration. For those who expect to be nobodies forever, maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m not a somebody, but the web traffic indicates that I may be, very slowly, getting somewhere. I don’t want to give Treblo the right to use my image in perpetuity, in whatever medium ever exists. Not that they have it, but would the ToS allow them to grab a pic of me from somewhere else? Can they create an A.I. avatar of me, and use it as their brand ambassador? Yeah, I think I’m moving on. ACE-Step 1.5 XL is free, open source, and can run natively –

My computer can’t run any of this stuff, and it will be a good long while before I can get a new one – but this is the direction I want to go in. No more “services,” no more subscriptions. As a general principle, it’s best not to be in any legal agreements with anyone, nor have recurring payments going out. Can’t help it with the power company, or water company, but I don’t need to make more music. I’d like to, but I’ve got plenty to release still, and there’s enough already posted. Most successful musicians of the past haven’t released as much. It’s not doing a lot for the comic anyway, although it is getting some listens. Not enough to sweat bullets over, if I can’t release any more.

In the meantime, the comic with Yaoi Hokkaido and the dwarf is an example of something that might be a good idea. I came up with the joke at work. The illustrations are A.I. variations of the familiar panel from Trekkee Muyo! Now the comic is becoming a technology demonstrator and social experiment. What strange times we live in. I can draw these pictures, but I can’t get paid to draw these pictures. I can get paid to do menial labor in a factory. Which doesn’t leave me time to draw my own drawings. I have to get the A.I. to do new drawings, based on what I drew years ago. Well, one foot in front of the other, and maybe we’ll get to a better place – but the rules of “supply and demand” are what they are. There is not enough demand for my “real artist drawings” for me to be able to supply them. The comic is still a personal indulgence which needs to be minimized, because it takes the place of work that has real value. But, it’s good for my mental health and perhaps it’s an investment that will pay off in the future. I’ll keep it going in some form.

I am totally swamped and it will be this way for another year, maybe a year and a half, if things go well. And I can’t say anymore because it is time to rush off to work again. I can’t even do a half decent blog, all I do is complain about work. But all I do is work, come home to eat my one meal of the day, and sleep four hours – than it’s back on the road again. The traffic has gotten worse lately, so I better get going.

I envision most of the video taking place at a Comic Con, with a bunch of photographers taking photos of the cosplayers. You can probably guess which ones get the most attention. Or maybe I can’t guess, because I’m thinking it’s the scantily clad young women. But it could be the guys in nine foot tall gundam mech costumes. That’s impressive too.

In other news, I made progress fixing the lyrics in the La-La Hoo-Di_Di song. It’s taking a while to do the whole thing, but the current Treblo model has been mostly successful at changing lyrics. I’m tired and drawing a blank on what the remaining lyrics should be, but it will come to me.

October’s traffic was mildly better than September’s. It will be cool if it keeps growing, despite all the problems I’m having.