As I swept debris from the front deck this afternoon, a squirrel dropped 50 feet from a broken tree limb onto the forest floor nearby.  Plop!  It quickly scurried back up the bark of a large oak tree.  Somewhere between here and there, the shared space in which we exist, I mentally prepare my next performance piece.

Last time, the performance was spread across this blog and Facebook/Messenger posts, drawing in people I intended to entertain and those who were drawn in by the mesmerising word patterns of writing, speech and their own imaginations.  My closest friends knew I was performing. Those on the periphery drew their own conclusions and I didn’t stop them from doing so.  I mentally called it, “An Ode to Fake News,” learning more about myself and my longterm goals in the process.

This time, I draw on the past, remembering my fondness for the Quay Brothers, Eastern European satire, David Lynch, Edward Gorey, Ada Lovelace, Mary Shelley and E.A. Poe, building props for a comic music video, knowing I will not compete with Adult Swim (barely familiar with its comic tropes) but able to create something I want from my own imagination, for my entertainment as always.

My props will include a domestic dance partner, with computing interface of some sort, probably the Arduino stuff I have but perhaps, based on my budget, an Adafruit device.

I also have a Raspberry Pi setup with a 7-inch display that would perfectly fit the “face” of the domestic dance partner.

Of course, I give a nod to my friends who appear as characters in my stories, “Guin” and “Shelmi,” as well as the many dance partners who gladly give up all pretenses and personal space to share two-minute slices of paradise with me on the dance floor.  Inevitably, Erin Kennedy’s robotic work influences me in ways I never expect until I look back and go, “Wow!”

I’ve thought about incorporating music from friends, such as my first dance instructors, Jason and Danielle Knight, who are part of a group called the Harlequin Jazz Band.

This blog has run out of image space so I won’t post images here.  I may move over to Google+ and post updates there.  The final video will appear on Facebook.

I anticipate this will take a couple of weeks to set everything up but it can easily turn into months depending on my energy level, my attention span, and all the other projects I leave lying around unfinished that I may pick up on a whim.

Thanks to everyone, you know, family and friends, the cat, safe drivers on the road, spiders in the bathtub and tea harvesters.  Even the graveyard of empty birdfeeders in the backyard puts a smile on my face when I need it most!

And now, time to drive to that place where I put my life on the line to transport blood products from donors and to hospitals, helping to save the lives of unknown others!

UPDATE!

One idea for combining Raspberry Pi 3 and Arduino?: https://blog.adafruit.com/2017/05/26/portable-raspberry-pi-zero-arduino-programmer/