Cylinder Seals

 On the art front, last month I discovered a bunch of cylinder seals.  They are interesting to me because, in a way, they are like 3000 year old comics art.  Only without the word-bubbles. Historically, they were rolled onto clay documents to authenticate them.


They were used as jewelry and as amulets.


What I like about the artwork is that it's tiny; I would be hard pressed to create one without a 3D printer and CAD.


The scenes I like are the ones with praise or processions in them; I'm not overly fond of the ones that are hunting scenes or fierce animals eating herbivores... although there are a few griffon seals that have stunning detail of the wings and feathers.


Overlooking the fact that these were probably luxury goods of the elite, I like the romance behind taking something as mundane as sealing tax records or contracts with a beautiful work of art.


What if our cars' tires left impressions of processions in their tracks, or printed pictures of local animals?  Or--thinking back to the days when plastic credit cards embossed their numbers onto carbon paper -- if we could electronically sign documents with beautiful RFID rings?


I think the 3D printing revolution was supposed to usher in a new Arts And Crafts Movement, but I guess it hasn't done that, yet.


On the gym front:  Went to the gym Monday 8/26) and Wednesday (6/28).  I realized that since I've come back from New York, I've been doing the standing cable pull wrong because I've been gripping the pulls by the dowels and not by the webbing above them.  This explains why my wrists along the tops of my hands have been feeling sore.  I should have figured it out earlier, because doing the exercise felt wrong as I was doing it.   Wednesday, I felt tired and over-full from dinner, so I spent more time on the elliptical and less time doing bench presses and standing rows.


On the writing front, I've sent out nine submissions and received five rejections over the last week (since 8/23).  Some of the markets I've submitted to in the past have vastly reduced their response time, and I've been able to quickly re-submit a rejected story.  I've currently five manuscripts pending a response.  I've got my eye on one in particular (which is probably not healthy) and I'll know more about three of the submissions in about two weeks.