So I've decided to start a wee adventure to explore the origins of my surname, Atack, and perhaps do some kind of genealogy tomfoolery.

I think I was a little inspired by the latest Star Wars book I read, in which Han Solo finally decides to seriously look into the history of the Millennium Falcon. The guy has the ship for 45 years before he bothers to see who owned it before Lando? I guess he HAS been a little busy with all those galaxy-altering shenanigans that seem to crop up, but really. Let's get with the program.

Anyways, I figured that since I've lived for almost 25 years without really bothering to look into it, I'm going the same way as our fictional princess-marrying hero. I don't have all the details. When asked, I generally say something along the lines of "It's actually English, just a little obscure".

Actually, I do know one thing, which I've recently bothered to confirm. Many years ago, we went to Medieval Times. No, I don't have a Delorean. It's a show here in Toronto where these dudes ride horses and pretend to kill each other in the ways of olde.

We splurged on a printout detailing the history of our deliciously odd and often mispronounced surname, and it indicated to us that it was originally meant to label some English guy as living near an oak tree. That would make it a toponymic surname, one derived from features of the landscape in the area. Neat.

Today on a wild and crazy impulse (and also as an excuse to test out my new winter coat against temperatures like today's whatever-below-celsius) I ventured to the reference library and sought out some books on English surnames. The first five or so yielded no results, but the sixth! Oh, the sixth had a listing for Atack. It said only this: "variation of Attack".

Rolling my eyes, I went down the page to the entry for Attack, and found what I was looking for, along with several varations. Attack, Attoc, Attock, and Atack, all variations of a name meaning "dweller by the oak". It even listed the first known record of the name, one Geoffrey atte Ock, which is some serious Old or Middle English style awesomeness.

There was a date there too, for good old Geoffrey that is. The year of 1296. That's 713 years ago. Seven hundred and thirteen if you were to spell it out in letters forming words. Talk about keepin' on keepin' on.

Tracing my lineage all the way back that far will likely be very difficult, bordering on insanely impossible, but it's something to do at least. It would be pretty badass to even locate where this supposed oak tree was exactly. Then of course I'd have to trace the oak tree's lineage, which is a whole other ball of worms. Or something.

I'll keep ya posted.

Labels: live, muse

You know what? This is a load of bullhonkey. Seriously. Only 10 grand? And not even apiece, but TOGETHER? An insult!


Oh well. I guess we'll just have to hold up a few more stagecoaches, rob a few more trains, and commit a few more...acts?...against the U.S. to drive that up to a respectable number. Watch out, world.

(P.S. This website's probably under surveillance by the U.S. government now, for that last bit. Don't blame me, guys! Blame Canada's Wonderland and their olde timey photo booths!)

Labels: snap

The streetcar. The trolley. The rocket. Sometimes...the vomit comet. Nasty. A necessary evil, but it makes for some neat photos. Especially when you play around and try to be all artistic. OoooOOoooooh BEHOLD!

Labels: snap

This is little project I did for my Dad. It's a cartoon of his boss, Fred, who was retiring. They do....crane....stuff. With cranes. So here's Fred doing crane-type things whilst delivering what my Dad tells me is his catch phrase.


Craaaaaaaaaaanes. Craney crane. I dunno. Cranes, I suppose.

Labels: comics

Hehehe, I recently found this while rummaging around through old stuff in my file cabinet. Now you're wondering how a digital image ended up in a physical file cabinet. Well, wonder no further, foolish person! It was a birthday card for Amanda's 23rd ......cripes, that was forever ago. We're gonna be 25 soon! Madness.

Anyways, Amanda likes giraffes because they're so tall (like me!). She also used to say "do it up" a lot, but that's kinda disappeared in favour of things like "what is this?" when things are odd, and "did you see this?" when something is exciting. But I can discuss her mannerisms another time. For now, enjoy this giraffe picture!

I'll likely be posting some more drawings over the next bit. Might as well get all those shenanigans online, rather than hiding away in file cabinets!

Labels: comics