This is not the Blog you're looking for...

I may start blogging again. Inconsistently. But Let's be honest, all the cool kids are on Facebook or Twitter, and those interfaces are too limiting for a full blown rant...

Also, I was considering customizing it again (graphically) but said, "aw, fuck it. just not worth it." I concur with myself.

Happy Birthday, Cleo!

Okay, I'm a couple of days late (I was out of town this weekend), and missed my "little girl"'s birthday on saturday, but she's a cat, and doesn't know the difference :p Seriously though, 2 years old already...

I still have 5 rolls of undeveloped film with newer pics (although those are already more than 6 months old!)

Happy Birthday, Pepper!

Yep, my puppyhead is 10 years old today!


(are you starting to notice a pattern? Yes, it seems all our pets have August birthdays).




Unfortunately, right now, she's having a bad skin problem (she always had dry, flaky/itchy skin, but it's really bothering her badly. I tried bathing her in all natural oatmeal dog shampoo designed to soothe irritated skin, but she's taking some pretty nasty chunks of hair out of her tail and from each of her flanks. If anybody has any suggestions, feel free to share).

Happy Birthday, Shadoe!

Yeah, I know, it can seem a little corny at times. But heck, not all cats live to be 16 years old! So happy birthday, old lady ;)

A Warning (I know it's been awhile)

I just felt the need to warn you all (if anybody still even checks this out occasionally): I used to have "Are You Drawing At Me?", an art blog. I deleted it last year because I had lost scanner access and couldn't update the blog. Well, at some point, apparently a spammer grabbed the url/blog address, and is now using it for spam bait. I have little doubt I'm the only person this has happened to, so a fair warning: even if you have no intention of using a blog again, don't delete the blog if you can avoid it. Keep it, at least to prevent spammers from using it and sullying your own good name and reputation.

April 10, 2007:

Update. It seems my email to Blogger did not go unheeded. "Are You Drawing At Me?" (the ripped off/spam version) has been removed. If Blogger allows me, I'll try to re-capture it, just so it doesn't happen again.

Tis The Season...

Happy um... whatever it is you celebrate this time of year, everybody!

I'm not normally a preachy person...

I've been having a really bad go of it recently. REALLY bad. I won't go into details, but Friday night, my comp died. It was a bios issue. Those who have any computer knowledge, knows that that's a really bad thing. But to everything that's been going on, it's just another kick in the pants. Granted, it hurt a bit more, because the computer is really my only outlet. I do just about everything with it. Socialize online, art, writing, etc. So I've been spending the last day (on and off) talking to God about what's going on in my life, and what the "dealio" is with Him and myself. It just seems sometimes, to me, that even though I accept that shit happens, sometimes too much shit happens, and He can stop it, or at least make it clearer what He intends for me to learn from it. Neither was happening. I asked last night, for some kind of sign that He doesn't hate me, and that He's still with me.

Earlier today, both my sister and nephew tried turning on the computer, and got the same thing I was getting after the incident friday, the light was amber instead of green, and their was no power going to the mouse or keyboard, and aside from the light, the computer was totally unresponsive. So they went out to dinner with my sister's new boyfriend, and I intended to call Dell to explain the situation and hopefully have him talk me through a bios reset. So I got the dell stuff (the account info, the service tag, etc) ready, and I opened up the computer (so that I would be ready). I saw some lights on inside the computer (although nothing was activated), and before I called, I pressed the power switch.

It was green.

The computer started up like normal, as if nothing had happened. I know my sister and nephew didn't do anything (they can barely start it normally, but definitely wouldn't have the slightest clue how to fix it if anything went wrong). I also know that merely opening the case didn't do anything (especially since the lights inside were already on when I opened it).
You may not believe in signs, but I have no doubt God was telling me, "Hey, I'm still here. I'm still with you."

Amen.

I know it's a bit early, but hey, at least it's not August.

Isn't the very concept of "Santa Claus" counter to what Christmas is about? And I'm not even talking the religious/spiritual aspect of Christmas.

Think about it; If the spirit of the holiday is the spirit of giving, and of 'humanity', what is it saying that basically, ONE man is the only one doing the giving while the rest of us sit on our asses and do all the taking? (in concept, that is)

Even the fact that hey, just write a list and if you've been good, Santa will bring you all the crap on the list. How is that going to make destitute people feel? I think personally, Santa is one of the worst concepts that has ever been foisted upon mankind. I'd be more for it if was more along the lines of, "Santa knows if you've been bad or good, and he makes the toys, and then tells your parents what to get you" or something like that, but in this modern day and age of "gimmeegimmeegimmee" and "taketaketake", isn't the concept of Santa just totally overindulging (even justifying) that selfish attitude? At a time when the idea is to love your fellow man, and give openly and freely, why on earth would we fall back on the concept of ONE man giving everything away for free? Should we not openly encourage people to give under the guise that, "hey, you're my fellow man, and I care about you. So this is from me to you" ? IOW, people (especially children, IMO) should understand and be aware of just where these presents are coming from, and not take it for granted that some immortal hippy with thousand year old fashion sense is doing all the "good will" so the rest of us don't have to be bothered?

Eww, I actually ate that!

Today, I mashed up some canned salmon (I love salmon), added some of the Starkist marinated "Sweet and Spicy" tuna, put some salt, pepper and onion powder into it, some miracle whip (low fat) because I choke on it dry, and some chinese hot mustard. It wasn't bad. Then I um... well, we didn't have much bread. Just that Pepperidge farm Cinnamon swirl bread. I took a couple of slices of american cheese, and was going to make some grilled cheese (yes, with the cinnamon bread), and had a thought... what if I made sort of a Tuna melt? So I um... tried it... Yeah. I did. Just thought you all oughta know.

One Year Anniversary

Just wanted to take this opportunity to share. This is the one year anniversary of when we found/adopted my little girl, Cleo (you know, the queen ).

I doubt I'll be posting here for awhile, so this small celebration seems an appropriate 'sign off'.

You have questions, I have answers

Well, I figured a week was long enough. I'm greatful to the three of you who did ask (and appologize to Sheri for not answering hers, but I was chatting with a friend of mine about some of this the other day and realized that even 3 pages would barely be the tip of the iceberg):

Interestingly enough, apparently I can copy and quote from comments directly (who knew?) so I'll answer them from such:


1. You are heading off to an island.. alone, oh yeah, for FOREVER- you can bring 3 things - what are they?

Answer: a gun and two bullets

2. On that island, you can only eat 3 foods for the rest of your life - what are they?

Answer: assuming you mean any foods, and not just "what can you find on an island", I'd have to go with sushi (philadelphia roll and tekka maki specifically), bananas (because as far as fruit goes, I never tire of bananas :) and... asparagus. It's a well balanced menu, and flavorful to boot!

3. On the "Island of 3" you hava a DVD player BUT, you guess it, only 3 dvd's for the rest of your life. What are they?

Answer: Yay! Let's hear it for magical portable self-charging DVD player :Þ
Let's see... "Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children" (even the music is great, I can just listen to it sometimes, w/o even watching the movie), "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and... it's a toss up between "Godzilla X Mechagodzilla" and "Godzilla: Tokyo SOS" (SOS is actually the sequel to X Mechagodzilla, but they are two of the best Godzilla movies made, IMO).

debby | Homepage |

---

hmmm...

if you can be a superhero, what superpower would you have?

Answer: this line of questioning is almost unfair. I've already thought about this stuff (even attempting to create a comic along these lines :)
The answer is simple: Super Strength. Sure, flying is great, but it's a "selfish power", it only benefits oneself. Super strength can be put to many uses, not just ones own.


would you be a hero, or a villain? would you have a sidekick? a cool car?

Answer: If I had to choose, I'd be a hero of course, but ultimately, I'd rather just be a "normal guy with super abilities". Sidekick? No way. I refuse to take responsibility for someone elses life in dangerous situations like that. If they go on their own volition, that's one thing, but a "sidekick" implies someone that I'm dragging along myself. Car? Heck, any car would be "cool" at this point :) But no, it wouldn't be defining of my "alter ego", although a specially designed only-one-exists vehicle would probably be necessary, since anything mass produced can be traced.

and what would your costume be like?

Answer: Chrome plated shorts, and a comfortable shirt. And leather gloves (I hate touching icky stuff).

shrewness | Homepage |


Thanks again, for the questions. I hope I can be more "interactive" in the future.

Just a quick question...

I urge you all to keep up with the post below this (the question challenge), but in the meantime, I have a question for those of you using the AdSense feature:

Does anybody actually make any money off this? Is it even worth cluttering my blog for? Thanks.

I guess questions are in order? As are answers, maybe...

Obviously, I don't feel much like posting, but I don't feel like cutting off this blog altogether. So I guess I'll cop out, and do one or two of those "ask me anything" type memes, where I'll answer as honestly as I can. It doesn't have to be about other recent posts (it can be if you're really curious, but chances are a totally honest answer will take up a few pages), it can be about anything really (even not about me. I'm nerdly enough to be able to answer or at least theorize on a bunch of things).

Also, another reason I didn't want to give this up too quickly, is I just signed on to Bloggers new beta program, so I want to test out all the new features they're working on.

Edit: I felt the need to edit (as shown via the strike through text). I didn't really expect anyone to ask, and to be honest, I don't feel I could give a complete answer, and frankly, nor do I want to. Some of it is a little too personal (upon introspection), so I'm going to null and void that as a topic. Sorry.

8 Degrees of Instigation

I got tagged by Shrew (The Taming --> ). It's been awhile since I've posted (ironically, the most stuff going on in my life, the *less* I am inclined to blog about it, at least in the past year or two), so here goes, 8 things you probably didn't know about me:

• I own a large pair of very sharp, industrial strength scissors I affectionately call, "The Castrator"


• Sometimes I'm watching something (like a Godzilla movie, or anime), or listening to certain types of music, and I get this "non-specific inspiration". It affects me so hard sometimes, that I am often on the verge of crying


• Despite my recent need of them, and my own desire to see them due to said need, I'm growing increasingly annoyed with doctors. Mainly, because some of them are f***ing know-it-alls who make grand assumptions (which are totally WRONG) and even when corrected, they don't change their diagnosis/instructions, despite the fact that it could potentially hurt me


• For every piece of art that I show publically (on various websites), there's probably EASILY about 30 or 40 pieces that I hated, threw out, or just stopped working on because of disappointment


• I drink soy milk. 8th Continent is by FAR the best. I also collect the plastic tops, because each one I send in they will donate 50 cents for breast cancer research. I have about 8 dollars worth (donation wise) waiting to be mailed in next week


• If I suddenly gained the miraculous/magical ability to create fully realized (effects and all) movies/videos, I have at any given time, about 8 of them in my head that I would create within the first 10 minutes


• I have several very ambitious projects that I've wanted to do for many, many years, that I will likely never get to do. Among them are a pen and paper role playing game, and an RPG video game


• My last living grandparent passed away when I was 3 months old. I have never known any of them. I have only seen a couple of brief photos of my grandmother on my mom's side (the last one who passed away). I have never seen any photos of any of the parents on my fathers side, and my dad passed away almost 12 years ago, so it's unlikely I will ever know what they look like

There's only one semi-regular reader to my blog who *might* do this if I tag them, so I'll leave it up to her discretion, and not obligate her. Anyone else is welcome to do this, I only ask you leave a comment here letting me know you did it.

Note/Request: Someone who knows more about Blogger and CSS than I do (which is a lot of folks); obviously I was able to get it to display the custom bullet icons I made, however, I don't know how to get it to NOT show the normal browser created bullets, like in the sidebars. If you can help me, I'd appreciate it.

I need a little fun...

I don't know about the rest of you, but my day is turning out shitty. I found this over on 'Chelle's blog (My Escape -->). I've actually seen the face recognition part before, but the collage is neat.

EDIT: I took out the pictures because they were too wide, and messing up the layout of the page.


I tried taking a new shot with my crappy webcam (bad lighting, and you can see on my face just how bad my day is going).

isn't it odd now none of my pictures has the same celebrity twice? And many are old pictures. Do I have a more "classical" face? Or do my pictures just come off as pre-1960's? ;Þ

My Condolences to Many of You

I don't know what's going on, but something wierd is. This month, I celebrate the birthdays of my 3 fur-babies. Yet, so many people I know (I think the count is up to about 6 now) have lost their babies in the past month. What's more, is many of them have gone from what can only be called, "extreme old age", that is, they passed on from natural causes, and well beyond the average lifespan of their breeds (more than a couple were 16 year old dogs, which is about 25% longer than dogs average lifespans. To put it in human terms, it'd be a human living to be about 100 years old).

So, I want to express my sympathies to all of you who've lost a furry loved one recently. I also hope that my own revelry in my babies hasn't upset anyone...

Someone is celebrating their VERY FIRST BIRTHDAY today!

This is Cleo. She bypassed, "princess" and went straight to, "Queen". She's also my little girl, and always will be, no matter how old she gets.

There Ain't No Cure for the Summer Time Blues...

Although I've been out of school for nearly half my life (ack!), it seems the STblues still come around. Actually, it's not just me. I see it in a lot of people (especially the bloggers who's blogs I frequent).

Just so you all know, I'm commenting sporadically, but I still visit your blogs almost everyday.

August Birthday Number 2...

It's... Pepper!

My puppyhead. She turns 9 today.