Decapitating Shadows

Movin' on Up

2004-09-05T13:16:00.000-05:00

Hi folks. Things are a-changin' around the old blog. There's a new blog in town. Please update your bookmarks, and I'll see you there...

Decapitating Shadows

Finally, I finished something

2004-08-29T18:05:00.000-05:00

I started these pillows waaaaay back in December. It's now August. September almost. At least I didn't forget about them. I think I am going a little bit pillow-happy, as I now have plans for more, bigger, and better pillows.

I also wanted to say a word of apology about the commenting thing. I didn't know that the blogger comment form wouldn't prompt for a name. We have a couple of options here (and since blogger now supports polls, I could do an actual survey). I could go back to the old system, in which I have no control over people spamming my blog; or I could disallow anonymous comments, which means you would all have to sign up (free) with blogger to be able to comment. Neither option is particularly great. There is another, third option that may come into existence, but I'll keep that a secret until later.

In the meantime, if you could kindly just type your handle at the end of your comment, I would really appreciate it. Otherwise I'll have to randomly guess what idiocy came out of whose mouth. You've got no incentive to be civil if it's just anonymous anarchy.

First, the Good News...

2004-08-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

Blogger has added commenting as a feature for us cheapskate free bloggers, so hopefully I'll have that working shortly. The bad news is that all the comments on old posts will disappear (it was a third party bit of code hosted elsewhere). I hope you can all come to terms with it. But now at least I can prevent things like the recent ad-spamming to my precious blog. Or if not prevent, at least retaliate.

Time

2004-08-24T20:54:00.000-05:00

What is my favorite time of day? Why?

My favorite time of day is probably first thing in the morning, before the rest of the world is up, before the heat of the day, when it is still rife with possibilities and energy. I was up at 4:45 a.m. today, as I had to leave for a client meeting for work at 6 a.m. It's getting harder and harder for me to get myself up quite that early in the morning, but when I do manage it, it's very enjoyable. There's something nice about either getting lots done around the house, or getting that first cup of coffee and hitting the road for somewhere interesting before rush hour.

My other favorite time of day is mid-afternoon on a day when I don't have to work. I usually take a break from whatever I'm doing and have a snack and a cup of coffee. It's a time of day I keep just for me.

Enjoyment

2004-08-24T20:52:00.000-05:00

What do I enjoy?

There are so many things I enjoy that I get frustrated at not having enough time for them. I do not enjoy working 12 1/2 hour days, that much I can tell you. Why not tell me what you enjoy in the comments section? (Yes Steve, I know that you are the master of the interactive blog post, and I bow to you now.)

Outrageous Art News Update

2004-08-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

article

A tempera version of 'The Scream' has been stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Sweden. At gunpoint and in broad daylight. I have never understood art heists; you can't sell stolen paintings on the open market. You can sell them to unscrupulous private collectors, but what kind of wacko would want to collect things they could never, ever let anyone know they had? It's all just very odd. The value of art is so nebulous and really depends on the pieces being available in the open market. Very strange indeed.

Waste

2004-08-23T06:44:00.000-05:00

Where am I wasting time, energy, or money?

It's hard for me to come up with an area where I honestly feel I'm wasting anyything. Strangely, painting still feels like a waste of time to me. I guess because I'm not doing enough of it, or not selling it/showing it. I make things that sit in a closet. Why?? I waste a lot of energy on worry. I'd like to focus more on where I waste money, seeing as we may have to do with less down the road a little. When I go over my personal expenditures, I find I spend a huge amount on food and entertainment, but a lot of this is for "dates" with A. I certainly don't consider that a waste, though I suppose we could find less expensive alternatives to sushi and martinis. I've heard people who are living on one income go on and on about how society is bad and wrong to convince us we must be "productive" so that we can have two cars and nice things. This kind of pissed me off (partly because it was directed at me, as a working woman), mainly because a lot of what we do with our two incomes is save for the future. It's not wrong to want to own your own house instead of paying the Man every month. I also like to travel and see the world (and in so doing, hopefully avoid being a narrow-minded provincial), and I'd like to be able to enjoy my retirement years. Maybe these things are all a part of the system, and as such wrong-headed too, but I'm just not ready to move back to the farm. I also wish I could figure out where I waste time, because I often get frustrated at not having enough time for all of the many things I enjoy doing. I have to force myself to sit and relax for a couple of hours on Sunday morning. Sad, I know.

Competency

2004-08-18T21:11:00.000-05:00

What in my life makes me feel competent?

The things in my life that make me feel competent are my work life, which thankfully is moving more and more towards artistic pursuits. My marriage makes me feel competent; having been through so much together and knowing that we can accomplish so much together. Other more mundane things that make me feel competent are money management(though not today, as A is balancing the checkbook and finding several math errors in my handwriting), and probably cooking.

A little substance for a change

2004-08-17T06:31:00.000-05:00

I am currently reading The Mother Trip by the fabulous Ariel Gore. It's a book of essays about feminism, motherhood, and the creative life. In one of her essays, Gore poses a series of questions that she asks the reader to ponder. These are questions about being truly happy, keeping onesself centered, and generally creating a little peace in one's life. Hoepfully this isn't way too serious for my dear readers, but I thought I should think about them honestly and have decided to use them as a device to keep up a little better with my blog.

Where am I feeling burdened, restricted, and limited in my life?

The things that make me feel burdened are the "oughts" in my life--financial, social, etc. The things I know I "should" do to get where I'd like to be. I feel sometimes I don't have enough time to relax, enjoy myself, and I fear not reaching my goals because of some of the other personal decisions I am making at this time.

I don't know that I'd use the word "restricted" to describe how any of these things make me feel; I have always reached the goals I have set for myself, but I do fee a lot of time pressure now (fast approaching the big 3-0.) The timeline for many of my long-term goals is getting shorter and shorter. I have developed this sort of schizophrenic consciousness of the passage of time--feeling too old to keep starting things over, but conversely having the wisdom to see that many things are built in little pieces over a long stretch of time.

Knee-Deep

2004-08-10T22:12:00.000-05:00

Well, folks, I really hoped to be better about this whole blogging thing, but since at my day job we were just informed that 60 hour weeks are expected until further notice and I also have about 20 hours of freelance work left undone, I shall attempt to console my loyal readers with the occasional Photograph of Interest. First in this series, one of the treasures of my recent trip to Las Vegas. I give you: The Cowboy.

I'm Bona Fide!

2004-08-06T22:40:00.000-05:00

Just had to share a little good news. I was notified today that two of my collages have been accepted into a juried show at The Parkland Art Gallery at Parkland College. When it rains, it pours. Well, I don't have to have my pieces there for a couple months yet, but it has come at a time when I'm super busy with some web design stuff and the usual ten thousand other things. I'm pretty excited, since it's my first juried show.

In other news, there are people falling from the sky all around our apartment. Literally. Our humble town is the site of Free Fall, which is a big-deal skydiving gathering that happens every year. Apparently they usually lose a few participants (one story had something to do with a helicopter rotor. Ouch.) It was a gorgeous, clear day today, and every time I went outside there were half a dozen people parachuting down over the airfield. Who says life in rural Illinois is dull?

M. Night Shyamalan is a One Trick Pony

2004-08-01T20:55:00.000-05:00

The Sixth Sense was scary. And cool. And well-done.
Unbreakable was interesting and kinda cool. Very original story, and fairly well done.
Signs started out scary, but got kinda dumb and I left feeling a little cheated.

If you sense a pattern here, you know what's coming.

The Village had some cool/scary moments, but the acting was horrible and the plot twists were too... I don't know. Twisty. It's fun to have the rug pulled out from under you once, but when it keeps happening you get a little numb to it I suppose. I really can't say anything about this movie that you haven't seen in the previews (There's a village. It looks to be about 1805. There are monsters in the woods, everyone running about with cloaks on, scary scary and so forth) without ruining it, so I won't. It was a really interesting idea, but somehow it just came off as corny/poorly acted. Which is surprising, with heavy hitters such as Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, and Adrien Brody. But on to Adrien Brody. Why is he so hot? I mean, he's not Brad Pitt handsome, but I think I'd let him do things to me I wouldn't let Brad do. And I haven't even seen The Piano. Interesting.

In any case, The Village wasn't "I want those two hours back" bad (See Event Horizon and/or Eye of the Beholder for that level of suck), but I was thoroughly disappointed. It did make me jump in my seat once or twice, which is a good thing, but not enough to carry the movie.

At least I'm not hearing voices...

2004-07-29T21:23:00.000-05:00

I bought a new room fan, convinced that the 15+ year old box fan we've been using forever had developed an electrical problem. I was awakened by a loud clicking/popping noise one night last week-- just one click/pop, then nothing for a few minutes, then one click again. I unplugged the fan, went back to sleep, and heard nothing for a few days. OK, old fan, short circuit, I thought. However, after having used the new fan for a couple of days, once again yesterday morning, I heard the same sound, but now it seemed to be coming from near the window rather than over where the fan is plugged in. Since the house has not yet burned down due to short circuits in the wiring, my next avenue of investigation was the insect world. I discovered that there is in fact a bug known as the click beetle, and one of its defense mechanisms is to snap its head back, emitting a loud clicking noise. This somehow convinces birds not to eat it. In my quest for the mythical beast, I searched high and low, under dressers and in windowsills with a flashlight. Man, I need to move the furniture and clean those floors. I did find one small spider, summarily smashed, and a small beetle that the spider had recently eaten. Unfortunately, it did not fit the profile of the click beetle. I'll let you know what turns up in the Wild Kingdom of my bedroom. Other theories, provided they do not involve extra-terrestrials, are welcome.

Viva Las Vegas!

2004-07-23T17:26:00.000-05:00

Well, at the risk of duplicating efforts elsewhere, I am posting about Vegas. It was a fabulous trip, to be sure. I thought I would really dislike it. That I'd go, see the spectacle, and be done with it. But no, it was really fun. I guess I wasn't expecting that. We did all the usual tourist stuff on the strip, gambled too much money, ate so-so food, but it was still great.

Highlights were a chi-chi dinner in the rotating restaurant 800 feet high in the Stratosphere tower (despite a stuck-up waiter who decided we weren't worth his time because we weren't ordering the $150 five-course dinner. I should *not* have to move my own bread-and-butter plate when my salad arrives, nor should a woman come to my table asking me if I want a photo. Not at a restaurant pretending to be this exclusive. I've had better service at the Olive Garden, I swear!), fabulous massage at the hotel spa, lounging by the pool, Penn and Teller, and exploring Fremont Street. Fremont is old-town Vegas. In some sense it is more touristy than the Strip, but at the same time it's kind of neat to go in all those old hotels and see the old neon signs that have been restored. We hung out in Binion's Horseshoe, which has cool touches like the original brown velvet wallpaper. The real trip was watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas last night, because Hunter and Dr. Gonzo stay at the Horseshoe, and though the story is set in the 70s, it's the same wallpaper and carpet we saw last weekend. WILD!

One other thing I have to mention is The Attic, a fabulous vintage clothing and "stuff" store located on Main Street about a mile from the Strip. It was worth the walk in the 110 degree heat.

I have pictures, but frankly don't have the time or energy to post them at the moment. To sum up, Las Vegas is kinda like Disney World for grownups. I liked the honesty of it. So many things are completely dishonest about being designed to do nothing more than take our money away. Vegas does the same thing, but doesn't lie about what it's doing, and does give you quite a lot of bang for the buck. I just realized that I could be very very dangerous around lots of legalized gambling, though. My craps plan did not pan out too well. After making a fool of myself at a (luckily) empty table, and losing $40 in about ten minutes, I said 'to hell with this' and played only blackjack and pai gow poker for the remainder of the weekend. Apparently I have a thing for rolling sevens.

And people do win. They tell you never to play the slot machines in the airport, convenience stores, etc. because they have a much lower payout than the casino machines. On our return trip, we watched someone hit the maximum jackpot on an airport slot machine. Someone's got to win once and a while, I suppose, or people wouldn't keep going back there.

The Only Joy in My Life This Week

2004-07-15T18:53:00.000-05:00

Off to Vegas. Catch you later.

Isn't Twenty-Seven Enough?

2004-07-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

Don't Tread on Me (or on my brothers and sisters in commited, long-term, same-sex relationships)

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Full text of the U.S. Constitution

Amendments to the Constitution
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PROPOSED BY CONGRESS, AND RATIFIED BY THE LEGISLATURES OF THE SEVERAL STATES, PURSUANT TO THE FIFTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION (See Note 12)

Article [I.] (See Note 13)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Article [II.]

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Article [III.]

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Article [IV.]

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Article [V.]

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Article [VI.]

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Article [VII.]

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Article [VIII.]

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Article [IX.]

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Article [X.]

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

[Article XI.]

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

[Article XII.]

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President... (abridged by flygrrl)

Article XIII.

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Article XIV.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2.... (abridged by flygrrl)

Article XV.

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Article XVI.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

[Article XVII.]

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

Article [XVIII].(See Note 16)

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section. 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Article [XIX].

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Article [XX.]

Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Section. 2... (abridged by flygrrl)

Article [XXI.]

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Amendment XXII

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

Section 2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.

Amendment XXIII

Section 1. The District constituting the seat of government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:

A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the states, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a state; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXIV

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXV

Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2... (abridged by flygrrl)

Amendment XXVI

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XXVII

No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

Who knew there was still an AM radio?

2004-07-10T09:10:00.000-05:00

A finally found the real NPR station locally. It's an AM station, which I find kinda weird. I know, I know, AM radio never went away. It's part of what has catapulted Rush Limbaugh's career. I just figured people were listening to him because they were so behind the times that they hadn't caught up on that whole new-fangled FM radio thing. The nice thing about AM is that it seems to carry a little further, so we can actually listen up here in the corn fields. It's just like old times; all my friends are there, Robert Siegel, Nina Totenberg, Carl Kasle, etc. Ahhh... relief.

And now that my severe news drought has ended, I can't pretend I'm not upset about the world in general. I know it may elicit hate mail from people I don't know, but I saw 'Fahrenheit 9/11' the other night. I have some problems with Michael Moore, and I expected to come out of that movie feeling maybe somewhat annoyed, but it actually made me quite emotional. I do not agree with some of Moore's larger conclusions about American society, but aside from the little bit of b.s. at the beginning and the little bit of b.s. at the end, I thought it was really well done. It brought back to me all the reasons I have been against this war from day one. And now with the release of the results of the Senate report on pre-Iraq War intelligence, I just don't know how people can be behind it. I understand that there are no absolutes and that intelligence is fuzzy and that people have to make tough decisions blah blah blah, but we have been fed so much propaganda to justify this war. And it's not so much about what the government did do as what they didn't do. Moore, in 'F911,' acts as if the lines one can draw from the Bush family to other wealthy and powerful people and to the bin Laden family are remarkable. I think the highest echelons of wealth and power in the world are a very small club, and that you could draw those lines for just about any of our leaders, but what is remarkable is that these connections were all veiled. When I was taught ethics, both in law classes and in nonprofit management courses, it was impressed up on us that one must not only avoid impropriety, but one must avoid the appearance of impropriety. Even if you are the most ethical person in the world, if someone can look at you and question your motives or your conflicts of interest, those things must be disclosed and made transparent. I wasn't a big Clinton fan either, but impeachment over a shady land deal out west and a blowjob seems pretty petty compared to some of what is happening in the world right now.

Distraction

2004-07-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

Wow, has it really been a whole week since my last post (she asks rhetorically to noone in particular and not even out loud)?

I guess I feel I can slack off since Ennui Central is offline for the summer. I know the esteemed author claimed work overload, but since he's been spotted sitting on my couch munching tortilla chips and playing video games rather often, I am starting to wonder. In all fairness, he probably just needs to blow off steam after all that number crunching.

I apologize. I haven't seen any movies, heard any new music, or really been anywhere in a few weeks. I'm saving up my energy for Las Vegas. I promise to report thoroughly upon my triumphant return. I am teaching myself to play Craps, which is pretty interesting. I know it's a complicated game, but I figure if I can focus on learning two or three bets pretty well and not making any of the side bets I don't understand, I'll be ok. What I like about Craps is that there is very long game play. Nothing makes you feel worse about yourself than betting on something that is over in 10-20 seconds. I just don't understand how people can get excited about flushing one quarter after another down a slot machine or a video poker machine. In craps, you put your money on the table and it generally stays out there for a little while, and you can add to it, place side bets, etc.

Like my father said last night, "just give me a good horse race." I don't know if it's the blueblood in me, or where I was raised, or what, but there is something about playing the ponies. Nevermind that I'm extremely allergic to horses. Once, in the fourth grade (yes kids, it is time for Flygrrl's Embarassing Childhood Trauma Stories again...) we went to visit the race track at Saratoga Springs on a field trip. I was feeling a little sniffly around the horses, but when we went into the indoor enclosure where the horses swim (yes, they actually swim the horses for exercise. It's pretty cool), my eyes began to swell shut and my chest tightened up and I just couldn't breathe. Luckily, my teacher was of the hypochondriac sort and had several types of pills on her. These were the days before Claritin, so I had to wait 30 minutes for the Benadryl to make me sleepy, and that was all anyone could do.

The moral of the story is that to this day, 50 yards is as close as I really care to get to a horse.

It's Not Easy Being PJ

2004-06-30T09:46:00.000-05:00

I picked up the new PJ Harvey CD, Uh Huh Her, last weekend. I've always been a big PJ Harvey fan, and I've enjoyed all the changes her style has gone through. The new release has been called inconsistent by some critics, and I do admit I find it a bit less cohesive than some of her other records. The CD is worth it just for track 2, Shame. It's one of those PJ songs that makes you think about people you've lost, love affairs gone wrong, and the darker yearnings that pull us under. The recent trend in her work has been toward the more poignant and less angry, but I would say she still has her edge. And the poetry of her lyrics is a nice antidote to most of the crap spewing out of the radio. I could write songs for Nickelback (not to self...) but PJ has this great lyrical metaphorical language of symbols all her own. I always find myself getting very rich visuals from both the lyrics and the music. I'm really hoping the new record grows on me as the others have. I haven't read a lot of reviews; I really don't follow music, per se, as my friend Steve pointed out so archly on a previous post. I just like to listen.

A Sucker for Marketing... or... Open Mouth, Insert Foot

2004-06-27T20:06:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago I was talking to A about another friend of ours who has a blog, and good-naturedly poking fun at the fact that cleaning products were the subject of one of her posts. I simply fancy myself soooo much more interesting than all that, now don't I. Well, and here's the 'open mouth, insert foot' part-- this post is (gasp!) about cleaning products.

I am a sucker for marketing. I know this. I adore pleasing design, and I will buy just about anything based on aesthetics, all other things being equal. But somehow I think myself wise because I make decisions based on clever packaging all the while fully aware that I am being manipulated. And hence, the subject of my post-- a brand of household cleaners called Method, which happened into my shopping cart during my last trip to Target. The cucumber bathroom cleaner:

Environmentally friendly. Biodegradable. Non-toxic. Pet-friendly. Smells nice. Works! Really works! The bane of my existence is those awful soap scum stains that collect in the tub. Being the neat-freak that I am, I am much saner if my bathroom is clean. I get mad when I scrub for hours with a toothbrush using those bleach-containing caustic white sprays and there's still... RESIDUE. Not to mention the fact that you get a pretty grim picture of what twenty years of snorting cocaine will do to your sinuses after fifteen minutes in a not-so-well-ventilated bathroom with the stuff. In anycase, Yay Target and Yay Method.

Now, my next post will be about PJ Harvey. I swear.

It's the Little Things

2004-06-23T22:36:00.000-05:00

I love eBay. I think I'm a junkie. I actually had a long dry spell there for a while, but just in the last couple of days I've made some finds. I'm trying to stock up on "eye candy"-- magazines, books, etc. having to do with graphic arts, design, illustration, etc. The magazine Communication Arts is a great rag, but rather expensive ($8 newsstand, then $16-24 for the various annuals). I just found eight issues (5 regular issues and 3 annuals) all from the last two years, for $16 including shipping. That was a steal. They showed up today and I am soooo happy. And today I bought lipstick-- Hard Candy is my new brand of choice in cosmetics, and since I'm actually off the reds and into the pinks, I am trying the aptly named 'Pixie'. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hector still hasn't turned up, and even worse, my viewing of spider photographs before bed last night led me to dream about spiders. There was an army of big yellow spiders (like those horrible banana spiders) crawling through the streets, and I wasn't sure how I could get away from them. Really horrible. I think that image also has to do with a co-worker telling me something about seeing tarantualas migrating in the Southwest. The story was probably bullshit, but frightening nonetheless...

It Just Goes to Show...

2004-06-22T21:52:00.000-05:00

That spiders can't be trusted. I hate spiders. Well, hate isn't quite the right word. I have a horrible, paralyzing, irrational fear of spiders. I don't even like looking at the word. Recently, a rather large spider took up residence just inside our front door. He was the kind with long, spindly legs and a rather small body, so he rated rather low on my 'scream and bat at the air' scale. I figured, ok, I'll try to get over this thing by letting a relatively non-threatening spider hang out for a few days. I named him Hector. We were gonna be great pals.

Nope. He disappeared. Just what I was afraid was going to happen. Hector is now probably hanging out in my shoes, hovering on a web in mid-air above my computer, or sitting on my toothbrush. I should have hit him with a shoe (while yelling like an enraged samurai) when I had the chance.

In an effort to inform and enlighten my dear readers, I was going to find a picture of whatever Hector's particular species of spider is, and post it here. Thought it might kill two birds with one stone to be forced to look at spider pictures, thus desensitizing me, in order to complete this research and identify dear Hector. It was not to be. After reading an account (and looking at gory pictures) of an Illinois man's bout with a brown recluse spider, and looking at a dozen pictures of juicy thoraxes, knobby legs, and sticky webs, I now need to go take a shower, wash my bedsheets, and sleep with the lights on. You see what I go through for you people?

This One's for Brian

2004-06-22T06:56:00.000-05:00

This chart shows the performance of Apple Computer, Inc., stock over the last three and a half years as compared to Microsoft, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq. We'll just keep a friendly eye on it for a while.

One other reason it's tough to compare Apple to Microsoft is that Apple makes both hardware and software, while Microsoft makes software only. Not exactly apples-to-apples (no pun intended.)

Rejuvenation

2004-06-20T20:09:00.000-05:00

I just got back from an amazing weekend in NY. Caught up with old friends, and had a chance to spend a day in the City-- Brooklyn, specifically, hanging out talking art with art friends who are really starting to get established. Did some of the Friday night gallery walk in Williamsburg. There is just so much energy there, such great people doing what they love. It was very revitalizing and energizing. Picked up a couple of books, including one that documents a collaborative art project between the owner of the tattoo shop where A is now going and a couple of artists in Belfast. I'm finally at a point in my life, and secure enough with my own humble artistic output, that I feel less intimidated and more inspired by those whose work I admire. Maybe part of it is just maturity, feeling more of them than I used to. I learned a great new term too... I'm not turning 30 this year, I'm turning 'twenty ten'... it's not all bad though.

If Friday was spent in the energizing company of new friends, Saturday was our wonderful day of catching up with old friends. Visited friends who just bought a new house and got to hang out with their two-year-old son. It's just so entertaining and fascinating and energizing in a whole different way. The wedding Saturday night was great, though we almost didn't make it. Who would have guessed that there's a Grant Street and a Grant Avenue in Poughkeepsie!?!?

Here are a few photos that I took on the drive down to Brooklyn. Many of these were actually bridges and structures in the Bronx. After six months of looking at the flatness of Illinois, I am really fascinated with the structures and landscape that are just so different from the one I currently inhabit. There is an age and a soul--a presence--to things in New York that you just don't find out here in the Prairie. There is a real beauty in the intricacy and the contrast of these man-made structures and the urban landscape they inhabit. I also shot some good polaroids in Greenpoint, the Polish neighborhood in Brooklyn where Cherry Bomb Tattoo is located. I'm incorporating those into another work, so I don't plan on posting them here.

The Nature of Things... well, People

2004-06-16T06:34:00.000-05:00

Have been so busy lately, so I apologize for the lack of posts. My website is all updated, and I painted a lot over the weekend. Now, unfortunately, the monitor on my mac has died, so I don't know exactly when I'll be working on any digital art in the near future (and Alan, I was all set to do some Sarah comps for you!!!)

Anyway, in other news, I have been debating online with a group of people about an issue that I am quite passionate about. One that many people are quite passionate about, in fact, which is why it is such a heated debate. But two things strike me. One, how people believe that their passion and convictions mean that they care deeply about the issue, while the passion and convictions of those on the other side of the debate are chalked up either to nefarious motives or complete ignorance of the consequences of their choices. Two, people never want to critically examine the evidence for their own beliefs as strongly as the evidence for opposing beliefs. I also find it interesting that sometimes people profess to tolerate and even embrace people from other cultures, races, religions, etc., yet they have a pointed intolerance for those with differing backgrounds/perspectives within their own group. How we define "difference" and "other" is always interesting.

Not to say that I am by any means an objective bystander. I wholeheartedly include myself in the above analysis. I just hope that I can recognize it in myself one in a while.

And on a lighter note, here are some new photos:

The Unbearable Flatness of Being

2004-06-11T20:33:00.000-05:00

I used to live in a decent-sized, tree-filled, hill-surrounded, Midwestern city. It was nice, as far as Midwestern cities go. Now I live in the rural Midwest. I have never seen such a bleak and desolate land. Corn and crows. That's it. Here it is, the unbearable flatness in which I live. Behold, and weep for me.

These photos were taken about half a mile from our apartment. It's pretty much the same in all directions. Kind of scary. I guess growing up in the mountains I'm kind of used to the idea of cover. Out here one feels as if a giant bird could just swoop down and pluck one from the prairie-- there's nowhere to hide. Quite unsettling.

Seeing Red

2004-06-08T06:39:00.000-05:00

Which Friend Are You?

2004-06-04T23:03:00.000-05:00

C'mon. Admit it. You've taken that goofy online test that tells you whether you're a Chandler, or a Phoebe, or a Rachel, or a Joey or, God forbid, a Ross. I didn't even have to take the damn test. Anyone who has known me for more than ten minutes knows that I'm a Monica. To the core. Case in point: we are having a cookout tomorrow. I convinced myself that a cookout would be less work than a cocktail party. Only if I'm not the one throwing it...

If you live anywhere near the Midwest, you'll be familiar with the megagrocerydepartmentstore that is Meijer. Their advertisements say "Meijer. A million reasons, one store." I think the slogan should be "A million hours, one store." I think I was there for three days. My greatest fear is having my culinary skills judged too harshly, or, even worse, running out of food. So at the last minute I always end up getting something extra and cooking up two extra desserts. Not only should one eat dessert first, one should cook dessert first, which is what I did tonight.

Don't worry. While typing this blog with one hand, I am still working on my website updates with the other... look for changes real soon.

6/7/04 update: Web updates are mostly complete, with the exception of a few buggy windows. And, just for fun, here's that Which Friend are You? test.

Completely Random Entry

2004-06-02T20:56:00.000-05:00

I have numerous unrelated things to pontificate on this evening. First is the fact that I am sick of writing Oz plot summaries. Don't get me wrong, I am still enjoying the show very much. It's just that it's difficult to feel obligated to write every time I'm watching, or to feel like I can't sit and watch three episodes in a row if I feel like it. So, I think I'm suspending the Oz posts.

Second, just an observation. If you are over the age of, oh, 35 or so, please please please don't wear little crop tops that show your belly button ring. Please.

And last, I have a Big Event to go to tomorrow night, which I'm really looking forward to, but due to poor planning on my part, I have nothing to wear. I know, I know, women are always saying that. I'm always saying that. But, my shape has changed since the last time I wore my one or two 'little black dresses', my shoes are horribly outdated. At least I have a pair of hose without runs in them (knock on wood; there's still almost 24 hours to go, and a lot can happen in 24 hours when you're a pair of virgin pantyhose...) So I'm crabby about all of this. I'm going to go paint my nails a horrid pink color. We'll see if that cheers me up.

Oz: Season Two

2004-05-31T20:54:00.000-05:00

Episode 3: Great Men

Where it is discovered that the judge who sent Augustus Hill to prison was accepting bribes in exchange for lighter sentences... Kareem Said takes up Hill's case; he has been studying law and is convinced that he can prove that Hill was not given a fair trial, because he was not offered the opportunity to bribe the judge and was therefore given a harsher sentence than others with similar crimes. Real lawyers laugh at Said.

Alvarez knows who attacked Glynn's daughter, but isn't talking, despite threats and much fist-shaking. Peter Schibetta continues to hold *something* over Warden Glynn's head.

O'Reilly shows his human side as he goes through a lumpectomy for his breast cancer and elicits much sympathy from Dr. Nathan. Ryan's mentally disabled brother Cyrill (Scott Winters) drops by for a visit, and Ryan tells him not to be bad any more.

Schillinger gets beat up, so in order to prove that the Aryan brotherhood is still a force to be reckoned with, he and his buddies kill a Jewish inmate, making sure that everyone knows it was them. Beecher, of course, is next on the list. Now that he's lost his shot at parole, he has nothing to lose and we find out that his good boy act was just an act...

Kenny Wangler, who was showing a lot of improvement in reading ability and social skills, takes a backslide when Adebesi starts giving him crap about it. McManus also seems to have convinced Poet (Mums) to start showing up for class.

And last but not least, Oz's first female inmate arrives. Shirley Bellinger (Kathryn Erbe), on death row for killing her daughter.

Promises, Promises

2004-05-30T09:31:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the lag in Oz posts. As a matter of fact, I am now three episodes behind, so forgive me if I forget what happened when. I may just write a group summary. Suffice to say things are degenerating into a real soap opera, but on the upside, Christopher Meloni (my main guy from Law and Order: SVU) has finally shown up. Hooray!

So, I promise to get back to posting ASAP. Right now I'm busy baking sour cream coffee cake and enjoying my loooong weekend.

Untitled

2004-05-27T22:07:00.000-05:00

While we're on the fish theme

2004-05-25T20:06:00.000-05:00

At work I tend to be surrounded by oddities from the natural world, including, often, brightly colored plastic representations of said oddities. This is one of the reasons I actually *like* my job.

Inspiration is Everywhere--Look for It

2004-05-24T21:51:00.000-05:00

One of my colleagues recently returned from the HOW Design Conference in CA, and brought back all kinds of inspirational info, samples, web sites, and transcripts. He met Sheperd Fairey and David Rees and got autographed stuff. I am suddenly inspired to start carrying my new digital camera around, as I keep spotting these kind of abstract moments, and thinking they'd be great to have around for inspiration. As of right now, I'm willing to share them. I'm not posting super high-res pics or anything, but I'll try to state that they're free for the sharing. Just try to credit me/my site if you're gonna borrow them.

Ah, to live in Ancient Greece

2004-05-23T08:55:00.000-05:00

Saw 'Troy' last night. For all the hype, I really enjoyed it. I did of course watch it with my summer blockbuster glasses on, but even so it kept my attention for a full 2 1/2 hours. Of course that may have had something to do with the large amounts of manflesh. I mean, finally one for the ladies and gay men. It should have been called 'Hottiefest'. If ever I doubted my sexuality, this film has laid those fears to rest. I heard some comparison to 'Gladiator' in a review. No. Don't even.

Seriously, I don't know how much it deviated from Greek mythology (and I'm sure it did); I had to read a little bit in Latin in high school, and if I remember correctly there was a bit more treachery involved, with the Trojans finding out Achilles' weakness through the deceipt of some woman or other, but the movie told a good story. The music was a little corny, and I did wonder where the Greeks were getting all their wood for funeral pyres on that sandy white beach, but other than that it worked. I just hope my hubby will forgive me if I'm not thinking of him for a few days...

A Math Lesson

2004-05-21T16:07:00.000-05:00

I'm sick of everyone bitching about the price of gas and "something must be done" and "won't someone puh-leease think of the children." I understand that regarding things like transportation prices, airline prices, etc. it is affecting the economy, but the idea that we must release our Strategic Oil Reserves (corrected 5/23; sorry, I repeated the term 'national emergency oil reserves' from a television news program; my mistake) because we don't like paying more to fill up our gas-guzzling SUV is ridiculous. What part of "emergency" don't people understand? In the 1970s there was an embargo in the Middle East. There was no gas at the pump sometimes. Cars would line up for hours to fill up. That's a little closer to an emergency. Now let's look at the numbers. The peak price for gasoline during the energy crisis, adjusted for today's dollars, occured in 1980 at a price of $2.78 (Thank you San Francisco Chronicle). And as another little reality check, gas prices here are, on average, about half of what they are in Europe. (They tax it more heavily and also put a bit more effort into finding fuel efficient ways to get the kids to school).

Now, how is the price of gas really impacting my wallet? Let's see. If my family has two cars, and we both drive an average of 40 miles per day (this includes driving to work, the store, the dog park, soccer practice, whatever), and my cars get, on average 20 miles to the gallon (ours actually average a bit better than that, but let's play conservative), I will spend a grand total of $8 per week more on gas at $2.00/gallon than at $1.50/gallon. Give up the half-caff double mocha latte in the morning, and you've actually got enough to cover the extra gas cost, plus extra change to buy yourself a new calculator!

If you commute, and your average weekly mileage is more like, say, 160 miles, then the increase from $1.50 gas to $2.00 gas is more like $28/week. That starts to hurt a little more, but if you are commuting to work I'd hope to Heaven that you bought a Saturn or something. That'll save you some dollars right there.

So please stop forwarding me that email about how we should all boycott gasoline for a day to ruin the oil industry (yeah, 'cause that'll bring gas prices down). I don't want it.

Anything for a Friend

2004-05-20T20:56:00.000-05:00

Some of you may be following Hang on to Your Ego, my friend Steve's blog. Well, much of his blog revolves around the book This Book Will Change Your Life, which instructs the reader to perform some act each day, ranging from the empowering to the inane. Today's task was to tie up the phone lines at national Ku Klux Klan headquarters, and he has asked his friends to help him. If you'd like to participate, the number is 870-427-3414. I say, why stop with today?

I have some strange feeling we'll all be receiving Cease and Desist orders from the Klan's lawyers sometime soon.

I Got Chocolate Today

2004-05-20T20:49:00.000-05:00

... and you probably didn't.

Oz: Season Two

2004-05-20T09:44:00.000-05:00

Episode 2: Ancient Tribes

Well, ten months later, Em city rises from the ashes. McManus, recovered from his gunshot wound, announces to the prisoners that he's sorted them all into groups (Muslim Brotherhood, Aryan Brotherhood, Homeboys, Latinos, Gays, Italians, Irish, and the Others), each of which will have four members at a time in Em City. Each group will have one member at a time serve on a sort of council and meet regularly with prison staff. The Muslims refuse to participate, as they see this as a group with no real power (um, they're in prison). GED classes are made mandatory, and McManus begins bribing inmates to attend. Hill is pissed because he's grouped with 'the others,' which is presumably due to his handicap. He protests that on the outside, he was a drug dealer and shot a cop. I just have never been able to take him seriously as a bad guy. His character is a decent guy, or at least he's made out to be very human, he's bright enough to be our faithful narrator, and Harold Perrineau was just such a sweetie in the Matrix Reloaded. But back to the plot:

Schillinger's plans to get out on parole are folied when Beecher gets him so mad that he offers just about everyone in Em City, including Officer Wittlesley, money to kill Beecher.

And what is up with Warden Glynn owing the Schibetta family a favor?!?!? He hands over control of the kitchen to Nino's son Peter with barely a fight. He also finds out this episode that his daughter is in the hospital, having been beaten and raped by a Latino gang. He takes his anger out on Alvarez, who is pretty much behaving like a jerk anyway.

Touching Moment: Finding out that Kenny Wangler is the little Jordan Catalano of our happy cast. He only attacked the teacher because he couldn't read.

Lesson(s) Learned: If you're young, attractive, and blonde, working in a maximum security prison where the inmates are allowed to run around unchaperoned might be a little scary. Also, men get breast cancer.

Oz: Season Two

2004-05-18T06:40:00.000-05:00

Episode 1: The Tip

Ha! I just got the little double entendre there! Anyway, back for a fresh season, Oz has crashed and burned. I think the body count from the riots is nine-- seven prisoners and two officers. The riot "council" are all in solitary. Among the dead prisoners is Scott Ross, and Officer Whittlesley gets fingered for his murder. Ross wasn't killed by a bullet from the SORT team, but by three bullets from a CO issue pistol-- one to the head, one to the heart, and one to the naughty bits. The governor appoints Alvah Case (Charles Dutton), a law school Dean, to investigate the riot and both the prison and the governor's handling of it. It is clear that the Governor expects a very specific answer, one Case isn't prepared to give. McManus survives a bullet to the chest, and has a renewed committment to getting Oz back on its feet.

In the end, it's officially decided that, to quote Homer Simpson, "It's just a bunch of stuff that happened." Indeed.

Lesson learned this episode: The mean get meaner. Tobias Beecher sends a clear message to his roomie in Genpop that he's nobody's prag anymore (see episode title for clever pun). Judging from the preview of the next episode, we have clever facial hair to look forward to.

Origins

2004-05-15T15:17:00.000-05:00

It has come to my attention that a lot of people have been stumbling onto my blog by doing internet searches on the term 'Decapitating.' I'll get back to that in a moment, but first a word about the title of my blog and how it came to be. It is a paraphrasing of a passage from Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before. Roberto, the protagonist of the story, spends his days aboard an abandoned ship below deck because of a sensitivity to the sun. Towards the beginning of the book, due to the coming dawn and also his fear of rats on board:

Like a Resurgent of Hungary he ran along the deck to regain the aftercastle, he entered the cabin that was now his, barred the door, closed the accesses to the gallery, placed his weapons within reach, and prepared to sleep so as not to see the Sun, that executioner who with the axe of his rays severs the necks of shadows.

I just found this descriptive metaphor of the sun to be particularly beautiful, and feel that it works on several levels, alluding to intellectual illumination as well (though when that is going to happen here, I've no idea).

Now back to these internet searches. Nicholas Berg was a human being, with a life and a family. Maybe you were looking for news about his execution. But maybe you were just looking for the video footage, with no thought of its implications. On the one hand I understand the curiosity and desire to experience whatever remote sense of the reality of that horror via a grainy internet video, but on the other hand, shame on you for participating in the voyeurism of this gruesome, dehumanizing spectacle for your own sick thrills. I know that War is Hell, but I also cannot get past the fact that we as a country are coming up with all kinds of mitigating, backpedaling excuses for the tortures and killings of people at American hands while dismissing Berg's killing as being perpetrated by "animals." Us and them. That is the only reason we can view the two things differently. End of political rant.

Obsession (A Video Game Review)

2004-05-14T07:35:00.000-05:00

Adam bought me the Nintendo Gamecube game 'Animal Crossing' last week. I have gotten nothing done since that fateful day. I started playing this game when visiting family over the holidays-- my 15-year-old sister was really into it, and I got sucked in. "But what could be fun about a game where you pick weeds and pay debts?" my doubtful husband inquired. But now he's got his own character too, who regularly sends my character letters with little trinkets enclosed.

This game was probably designed for younger kids, but my understanding is that many adults (including a lot of game-writer folks) have been really fascinated with it. It works on real time, so if you're playing after 11pm and need new wallpaper for your house, too bad, the store is closed. It also changes with the seasons and allows players endless options in actions, interactions with other characters, and appearance/accessories both for your character and house. I find it much more soothing than games where I have to do the same thing over and over and over to try to get it right. I get easily bored.

So, Bettina arrived in the big town of Qwertyiop last week, only to be taken advantage of by Nook the raccoon (he told me those pictures were artistic and that he wouldn't show anyone!). No, seriously, you start the game off in debt for your house, and spend the first few hours working it off. This is actually desinged to force you to learn many of the features of the game. But, Bettina has since put on an addition, decorated her house in a lovely Asian style, and found a cool umbrella with flames that matches her favorite outfit.

I'll keep you posted, because I'm sure you care.

Oops, you're a Hippie!

2004-05-11T20:37:00.000-05:00

Adam and I ended up joining a food co-op recently. This might make us hippies, I don't know. I kinda feel like Bart Simpson when he woke up after a squishee bender to find himself dressed in a Junior Camper uniform. We used to shop occasionally at a local food co-op in Bloomington, but that was an actual brick and mortar store. This co-op is comprised of about 20 couples who order direct from the distributor; we all go and unload the truck and sort our bags of unbleached wheat flour, clean up, and go on our way. I'm pretty happy about it, though it has been a lot of work; keeping up with the message board posting, dealing with the order database, etc.

So, at the moment, I am exhausted from my day of running around and dealing with the delivery. Most months I will be spared from this due to my work schedule. Adam gets to cope with it, which seems somehow unfair. And funny, since there seem to be no men at the bagging-- most of the women are pregnant, nursing, or otherwise tending to kids and the husbands show up to carry stuff to the car. The upside is good food that we'd pay a lot more for at the store (to be fair, this is a function of the truck coming in the mid-afternoon and everyone being at that stage in life where they're home with kids). The 'bagging' wasn't so bad, except for the occasional moments where all ten four-year-olds present decided to all start screeching in unison. I'm even meeting some neat people.

I'm gonna go have a mango spritzer now.

Oz: Season One

2004-05-09T11:30:00.000-05:00

Episode 7: A Game of Checkers

RIOT!

And thus endeth season One.

Skillz

2004-05-07T18:45:00.000-05:00

I spent all day today at an intensive Adobe Illustrator CS workshop at the university. It was really good, got lots of hands-on time (which is my biggest problem in becoming proficient in Illustrator-- not enough hours), and learned a few new things.

However, there was a certain cruel twist to the day. As some of you know, I've been trying to cut waaaay back on caffeine, even going so far as to buy decaf quite often. It's been really hard, especially this past week. After arriving at the class, with only a cup of decaf in my bloodstream, we proceeded to work on a poster for a coffee company for the entire day.

Cruel twist of fate, indeed.

Oz: Season One

2004-05-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

Episode 7: Plan B

The thing about Oz is that it suddenly makes your moral values completely relative. You're rooting for fairness for people who have lived their whole lives murdering, raping, stealing, etc. You feel a little bit sorry for Huseni Mershah (Roger Guenever Smith) who offs himself upon realizing how hopeless his whole situation is, despite the fact that it is his choices and disregard for others is what put him there.

In any case, this episode finds things continuing to go quite poorly in Oz. Random beatings of inmates by the COs are de rigeur. McManus is keeping his pants on this week, which is a decidedly good thing. Augustus Hill finds that his hero, newly incarcerated basketball star Jackson Vahue, is really just a man, and one with a terrible attitude at that. Some long-haired classical musician shows up out of nowhere, only to have his cello smashed to bits by Vahue and friends. Donald Groves decides that he's impressed by Kareem Said, and that life in Oz is bad because of Warden Glynn. He sets out to murder Glynn, killing a CO instead and earning himself a date with the firing squad. The officers gleefully sign up to be on the squad, only to find afterwards that it doesn't quite fill them with the warm fuzzy they had hoped for.

Father Mukada (B.D. Wong, who I have decided is even hotter as a priest than as a shrink; I know I know, he's gay, but I can't help it.) spends a lot of time looking distraught. Nino Schibetta is in the infirmary, finally feeling the effects of the ground glass Adebesi and O'Reilly have been feeding him (I read not too long ago that this doesn't actually work-- the glass is either ground too fine to do much harm or it is coarse and would be detected in the course of eating.) Tobias Beecher finally decides he's not gonna take it any more, when Schillinger returns, one-eyed and more pissed off than ever.

Touching moment: Tobias Beecher relieving himself on Schillinger's face after braining him with a dumbell. This young man is going to go far.

Disturbing Moment: Vahue smashing sensitive-guy (well, as sensitive as one can be after murdering someone with the business end of a musical instrument) Eugene Dobbins' cello for no apparent reason.

Lesson learned: There is honor, even among inmates. Oh, and apparently a toothbrush can be fashioned into a nice shiv.

Deluge

2004-05-02T18:31:00.000-05:00

Well, we had planned to go hiking this weekend (turns out there are several good spots within a half hour's drive); but, it proceeded to be rainy and miserable all weekend. I'm not a hike-in-the-rain sort, so...

I did get some artwork done; tried a few new "experimental" ideas-- Gouache Abuse and Fun With Laminate Chips. As far as gouache abuse, I have been mixing it with acrylic; partly out of irreverance and partly out of necessity (I was out of crimson). The results, too, have been mixed. If anything comes of it, I'll post the results on my web page. The 'fun with laminates' refers to a box of business-card sized laminate surface samples I scored at work. They are a perfect backing for collages, and have interesting surfaces that I can incorporate into the image. Again, stay tuned to my main website.

Hope to get back to the Oz posts this week. Oh, and instead of listing my current itunes list, since I tend to listen to mixes more than straight albums, I'm just posting my desert island picks (I know you were all waiting on the edge of your seats for that info). Cheers.

Oz: Season One

2004-04-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

Episode 6: To Your Health

Oops. I realize in watching several episodes at once and not posting for a couple of days, I have mixed up my episodes. Disturbing Moment, Episode 5, is actually Disturbing Moment, Episode 6. I expect Schillinger will be back with an eye patch and an even worse attitude soon...

In any case, this episode focuses on the failing health of older inmates, and the fragile health of some others. Kareem Said, after refusing to take medication for high blood pressure, suffers a heart attack. His new bunkmate, a fellow follower of Islam, declares that it is the "Will of Allah" and walks away. But we know he's just jealous of Said, and here he makes it clear that his is a character we are really going to loathe. Bob Rebadow, after being beaten up by a young punk who steals his brownies, vows to escape, but manages only to fall down a flight of stairs. Nino Schibetta, still sporting a nifty Players Only jacket, suffers from being fed ground glass by the vengeful Simon Adebesi (of course, having his strings pulled by Ryan O'Reilly.) Miguel Alvarez's grandfather is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. The prison staff grapples with the fact that they are not equipped to deal with aging imnmates. The staff votes to establish a geriatric ward in Oz, but the idea is vetoed by the Commissioner.

I didn't really distill a lot of handy tips or plot highlights from this episode, but it has left me hungry for the last three episodes of Season One. I'll post 'em as I see 'em...

The Latest Outrage

2004-04-29T19:16:00.000-05:00

Well, the trash situation as chronicled here and at Ennui Central has improved somewhat, though as Adam stated before, it may just be a function of the trash being chopped into tiny bits by the mowers. Less helpful of the lawncare staff is the destruction of the one decent-looking piece of landscaping we had:

This pot, with a rather attractive little plant with purple and white flowers, was probably installed by the previous tenants. It added a little bit of color and coziness to an otherwise bleak apartment building facade. However, the mowers not only chopped the thing to the ground, they managed to smash the terra cotta pot into little bits, like so much trash...

Oz: Season One

2004-04-28T21:17:00.000-05:00

Episode 5: The Straight Life

Plot summary: An look inside Oz's ubiquitous drug trade. Nino Schibetta is one of the main drug importers, and cozies up to Simon Adebesi (Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje) and Paul Markstrom after his current right hand man, Peter, is put in the infirmary by "accidentally" hitting himself over the head with several heavy objects and falling into the dishwasher in the kitchen. Schibetta's motives appear to be along the lines of 'Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.' True enough, and when he feeds the pair just enough information to let them leak it, Markstrom ends up hanging from the rafters. Unbeknownst to McManus, Markstrom was an undercover cop. In despair over even more messed up stuff happening, everyone is hitting the drugs pretty hard.

McManus continues to be creepy, continuing to push himself on officer Diane Wittlesly (Edie Falco), a single mother stressed out over governor Devlin's mandate that officers can no longer work double shifts. She gets talked into supplying inmates with cigarettes for some extra money by a new prisoner--an old buddy of her ex husband's. We see how easy it is for officers to be tempted, but are still filled with glee when the slimy guard responsible for both Dino Ortolani's death and Keene's set-up gets busted for abetting the drug trade.

In other news, Said is suffering from hypertension, Augustus Hill succumbs to the siren song of heroin, and Toby cracks under the strain. Why can't the man learn to just say NO??

And I haven't even mentioned two other minor characters who are beginning to come to the forefront-- Bob Rebadow (George Morfogen), an elderly inmate who "talks to God" and Donald Groves, convicted for killing and eating his parents. These two offer some of the more lighthearted moments in Oz, and I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of them.

Disturbing Moment: Schillinger with glass shards in his eye. But he deserved it.

Lesson Learned: Prison talent shows are even worse than high school ones.

I also have to give props here to HBO.com for helping me keep my characters and actors straight.

Oz: Season One

2004-04-27T07:08:00.000-05:00

Episode 4: Capital I

(4/27/04 *note: The online Oz episode guide titles this episode 'Capital I,' but the DVD titles it 'Capital P'. I'm going to stick with my original post and just note the discrepancy here...)

Thank goodness no tv week is over so that I could get back to catching up on the now-defunct HBO series. Oz

As predicted after watching episode 3, things have quickly gone south in Oz. Jefferson Keene becomes the first prisoner executed in the state in something like 65 years, though under pressure from the Bishop, the governor grants a temporary stay of execution so that Keene can donate a kidney to his ill sister. We really are rooting for him by the end, as his repentance, though a day late and a dollar short, seems genuine. This episode felt kind of manipulative. It dealt somewhat too briefly with the complexity of the issue of capital punishment. Sister Pete (Rita Moreno) is fired (but later reinstated) when she states that she will be standing with the anti-death penalty protesters. We don't want Keene to die, but in the next cell is Richard L'italien (Eric Roberts), a man who is scheduled to die for the brutal suffocation of a woman (well, more like 20 women, we find out).

This episode we also get into the pathology of the staff. Tim McManus begins to give us the creeps. He's supposedly the softie who is running Oz for the betterment of the inmates, but he starts sleeping with all the female employees in some desperate attempt at human connection. It's obvious that he's pretty stressed out. Everyone's drinking on the job.

Ryan O'Reilly continues to be irritating, and poor Tobias Beecher is starting to resort to drugs to get through his days as Schillinger's 'Prag' (prison bitch, for those of you not down with the lingo.) The inmates are also getting a whiff of the guards' involvement with all of the recent murder and mayhem. But will Keene's death really stop the violence??

Touching Moment: Keene donating a kidney to his ailing sister.

Disturbing Moment: Too many to count this episode.

Lesson Learned: Don't date co-workers, especially if you work in a prison. There's bound to be some tension there.

One Thing Leads to Another

2004-04-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

I just found out that PJ Harvey will be releasing a new album on June 8 (May 31 on the other side of the pond), and I am quite excited. "Stories from the City" is pretty much in my top 5 desert island picks, and is the whole reason I ever started listening to Radiohead. They had always been kinda under the radar for me, but Thom Yorke does vocals on one of the tracks on "Stories" and his voice just got to me so much that I had to give that whole Radiohead thing a try. Now "Kid A" is also in my top 5 desert island picks.

Which leads me to another funny story, which is that when Radiohead's "Hail to the Thief" (another very favorite album) came out, this article popped up, which is a very sort of surrealist take on the whole thing. To sum up, someone had a class of pretty young children listen to Radiohead and talk about what they heard and draw pictures about it. Young children have some very weird ideas, but the whole point of the article was that everyone has heard so damn much about Radiohead that it's difficult to listen to them in any sort of pure way and not be influenced by the hype. Unless you're eight years old. Well, I consider myself to be sitting among those children because I have done a pretty good job of ignoring mainstream radio for a long time and for some reason knew nothing about Radiohead other than "Creep" and that they existed, somewhere in England.

Perhaps one of these days I'll post my Desert Island picks in their entirety. You could play a fun game at home and try and guess what they'll be before I post them!!

Announcing...

2004-04-24T14:21:00.000-05:00

After much toil for the backbreaking slavemaster that is Dreamweaver 3 (yes, you heard me right... and for the PC, no less...), I have finally got some semblance of a webpage up and running. Come visit. Please.

Melissa Washburn Art and Design

You can buy monkey notecards.

Time

2004-04-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

...there's just not enough of it. Umberto Eco, in The Island of the Day Before, describes his protagonist Roberto, walking on the deck of the marooned ship at night, tripping over numerous clocks he has set out to startle the Intruder he believes to be on board:

Having set out those innocuous snares, he was their first victim. As night fell over a calm sea, he went from one to another of those metal mosquitoes, to listen to their buzz of lifeless essence, to watch those drops of eternity suffer one by one, and fear those terminal termites toothless but gluttonous...those cogged wheels that shredded the day into bits of instants and consumed life in a music of death.

Having lately set out to do too many things simultaneously, I found that this line really resonated with me. It's an incredibly beautiful way of describing 'the grind'. I go back and forth between being elated at the creative energy I have going on right now, and being exhausted by it. And the big question-- will anything come of it? And if not, have I wasted my time? Those very questions speak to the fact that we tend to feed our Time, Moment by Moment, into the cogged wheels.... rather than enjoying those scraps while we still have them to hold on to. Easier said than done.

More notes from my subconscious

2004-04-22T06:46:00.000-05:00

The lack of television in my life seems to have left me wide open for more bizarre and disturbing dreams. Tuesday night was one that ended with me sitting in a restaurant with Adam, eating a sandwich. Suddenly I realize there are rather large spider legs hanging out of the sandwich. I take off the top piece of bread to find a squashed spider, probably about an inch long. It didn't freak me out in the dream nearly as much as it would in real life, though.

Last night my dream was not so much bizarre as realistic and upsetting. There was a whole long part that is rather foggy now, having to do with moving to a townhouse in some major city or another. This dream was so boring that it had us doing our usual morning routine, only the office was in the basement rather than upstairs-- I was sitting talking to Adam while he organized his work for the day. I went back upstairs to get ready for work, only to find the front door wide open and my purse (with iPod inside!!!) and Adam's laptop missing. I was shaking as I dialed the phone to call work and tell them I'd be late.

This dream is interesting because it deals with attachment to material things, rather than bodily harm, which is what my nightmares are usually about. In the end, yes, I love my stuff, but I realize that it's just stuff. I'd rather not do without it if I don't have to, and I'd rather not have someone else waltz along and take it, but if it were a choice between that and some physical harm to me or my family, it would be an easy choice. The worst part about the scenario in the dream is that it's not so much about the stuff, per se, it's about the hassle involved when something like that happens. I had my backpack stolen once in college (didnt' carry a purse back in my neo-hippie days), and just dealing with the small amount of loss there-- credit card, bank card, checkbook, phone card, driver's license, etc., was a major headache. I'm still sore about it, honestly.

Anyway, when I'm not posting Oz plot summaries I will probably continue to post my dream life (provided it stays PG rated), so any budding Freuds out there are welcome to take a metaphorical stab at my subconscious.

No Beer and No T.V. Make Homer Something-Something

2004-04-20T20:50:00.000-05:00

Go Crazy?

Well, no, the household T.V. ban hasn't been that bad. I've frogged around with my website (patience patience; not done yet), joined a food co-op, and, um... well, am really missing Queer Eye tonight.

In other news, it's officially Tornado Season in the midwest...

Oh boy.

Oz: Season One

2004-04-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

Episode 3: God's Chillin'

I'm too tired tonight to go with the usual format, so I'll just connect some dots. Indeed, my predictions of violence were realized. Jefferson Keene, who is stuck in the middle of the web of murder and intrigue associated with Dino Ortolani's murder, finally has a breakdown and joins Kareem Said in the Muslim brotherhood, only to be renounced by his gang brothers. His younger brother, put in the hospital by Ortolani, is back, being put in Block 3 with the other gay inmates.

Ryan O'Reily is still Teflon Boy. He has some mysterious pull with the guards, and we now see that he is pulling a lot of the strings, playing each of the groups off each other. What I can't figure out is whether Schibetta knows O'Reily was behind the hit on Ortolani. Schibetta has taken care of Johnny Post, who actually lit the match that killed Ortolani, but O'Reily is the one who got Post and Keene access in the first place. Schibetta allows O'Reily to arrange to have Keene taken care of, but also makes a comment to the effect that this means the gangs will take care of O'Reily. Poor Keene (whom we do feel sorry for by this point), is left by O'Reily, with the help of the guard in his pocket, in a cage match with two of the Latinos (yet another wrinkle in this multi-cultural mess). He emerges victorious, but at the cost of a prison lockdown and the governor calling for him to be put on trial and presumably going to the electric chair.

Miguel Alvarez gets to be at the hospital when his baby is born, but then cries to Father Mukada that God is punishing him when he finds out the baby has liver problems and may die. Then he admits that, oh, yeah, maybe it was all the blow he and his girlfriend were doing before they were arrested.

Lesson Learned this Week: The Governor is a dick.

Very Strange and Disturbing...

2004-04-17T09:31:00.000-05:00

So Adam has started having comments posted by people with names like "penis enlargement pills" and "cialis", and if you click to view the email address associated with the poster, it takes you to a website for... surprise... penis enlargement pills or generic Viagra. I find this really disturbing. Is this being done by actual human beings being paid to do this? Or is it being done by bots? How long will it take before it happens to me? To YOU? How do we fight it? Stuff like that really gets my panties in a bunch, so if you have any ideas on how to fight back, please share. Unless your name is Penis Enlargement Pills...

OZ: Season One

2004-04-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

Episode 2: Visits, Conjugal and Otherwise

In this episode, we get to know a few more of the characters, both inmates and staff, and find out more about how they came to Oz. This episode really deals more with people's relationships with those left on the outside--wives, lovers, children. Nino Schibetta, an old mob boss played by Tony Musante, finds out that his wife is dying of cancer. Jefferson Keene gets married, by Father Ray Mukada (B.D. Wong, in another appearance by a Law & Order alum). Also continuing is the back story of Dino Ortolani's murder, with both Schibetta and the prison staff frantically trying to find out the culprit. Schibetta gets to the bottom of it first, and teaches us that prison utility closets are not frequented by the guards. More troubling is the fact that some of the prison staff must have been in on Ortolani's murder, as there would have been no other way for Ortolani's killer to have access to him in the Hole.

Touching Moment: Miguel Alvarez (Kirk Acevedo), a third-generation inmate, meeting his incarcerated Grandfather for the first time. Grandpa smacks him one, then the two embrace.

Disturbing Moment:Hmmm. Either Tobias screaming for permission to "fuck his wife" from Herr Schillinger, who has continued to assert his ownership of Tobias' ass; or, Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau, more recently of Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions fame...) being thrown naked off a rooftop by police, landing him in Oz as a paraplegic. OK, well, he did shoot two cops dead before they caught him.

Self-defense Tactic: There really wasn't a lot of fighting this episode; just a lot of sex. Due to the new state-imposed bans on smoking and conjugal visits, I expect we'll have a lot of violence, if not riots, come next episode.

Episode Lesson: If your bunkmate is a NeoNazi with obedient teenage NeoNazi sons, best to keep photos of your wife and daughters well-hidden unless you are prepared to deal with being psychologically terrorized to an even greater extent than is probably already bound to happen.

OZ: Season One, Disc One

2004-04-15T19:35:00.000-05:00

[OZ is a series by the creators of "Homicide" that ran for six seasons on HBO. But YOU probably know this already. We've never had HBO, so I've just started catching up, as it were, on DVD. I shall provide here a brief encapsulation of each episode.]

Episode I: The Routine

Plot summary: Introduction to Oswald Penitentiary ("Oz") and "Emerald City" (or "Em"), an experimental wing run by Tim McManus (Terry Kinney), where inmates have more freedoms than the general population, but also higher expectations and greater surveillance. We are introduced to the various subgroups within the prison; Italians, Irish, Black gangs, Muslims, and NeoNazis, as well as Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergesen), a lawyer who had one too many martinis one night and killed a girl on a bicycle on his drive home. As you can imagine, life in Oz won't be very pleasant for poor Tobias.

Touching Moment: Dino's (John Seda) mercy killing of a dying inmate on the AIDS ward after his own existential crisis upon realizing the meaning of "Life Without the Possibility of Parole." As it happens, Dino doesn't have a very long wait either, thanks to a night in the Hole, some lighter fluid, a match, and an angry new inmate who he didn't quite manage to kill on the outside.

Disturbing Moment: Vern Schillinger, a scary, aging NeoNazi played by J.K. Simmons, branding a swastika on newbie Tobias' rear end one night. This is all the more chilling because we have grown to love and trust Simmons as court psychiatrist Emil Skoda on Law & Order.

Self-Defense Tactic Learned: When confronted by someone who wants to fight you, talk one of your friends into punching you repeatedly in the face. This convinces your would-be attacker that you are cracked in the head, and he will eventually turn away in disgust.

Episode Lesson: If ever in jail, examine a man's tattoos closely before accepting favors from him.

The Power of the Mind

2004-04-14T20:12:00.000-05:00

Shortly after we moved into this dump, Adam figured out the distance of one loop around the outer perimeter of the complex. My foggy memory recalled it as being ~.8 miles. So, I set out for the first serious outdoor run of the season on Sunday, the gym being closed due to there being many small rabbits about. So, after running four laps, I thought 'huh, my time is worse than I thought.'

Today, Adam informed me that the outer loop is, in fact, approximately 1.1 miles. So I have actually set a new record for myself. Well, I don't have an exact time for my 4.4 mile run, but it is the farthest I have gone on an outdoor jog in recent memory.

It's a wonder that I jog at all, considering the hardships I suffered during a brief stint on the high school track team. Those fond memories include our coach, an out-of-shape, ex-football type, following us in his Bronco as we sprinted up the steep hill by the high school; and the track team coach, a real gung-ho bastard with a very unpleasant name, yelling at us that if we weren't puking, we weren't working out hard enough. Then there was the day either my blood sugar or my blood pressure (I'm not a doctor, dammit) dropped so low that my vision blacked out when I stopped running. And my first track meet, where I ran the quarter mile (the most difficult race-- long, but at a sprint pace)--after all the other runners finished, the announcer had to ask people to get off the track because I was still huffing and puffing trying to finish the race.

I think I keep running out of spite. Many high school atheletes seem to just blow up like balloons after high school or college. In my little black heart (the extra one I keep next to my actual heart), I feel that cosmic justice has been served.

SurReality

2004-04-12T20:17:00.000-05:00

I had a dream last night that I was in my pajamas, chatting with my brothers in a large house devoid of furniture and curtains, with the exception of a bare mattress and bedframe in the room we were in. It was as if we were moving either in or out. After finishing up some conversation or other, I decided to head upstairs. During our conversation we had been hearing a loud noise, and as I ascended the staircase to the third floor, I realized there were army helicopters outside.

I passed a large window to see a helicopter hovering between the houses, and just kind of froze. The soldier flying the helicopter then grabbed his walkie-talkie thing and said "I can see her!" (How I could hear him through walls, windows, and helicopter noise I don't know). Anyway, I was terrified, and ran into the closest room, and opened the closet door to try to block his line of sight into the room. I knew he could still see me, as the view into the room wasn't completely obscured, and for some reason I had this image in my head of the helicopter's machine guns being aimed at me, and I knew they would go right through the window and the closet door I was hiding behind. I just remember wondering why they were looking for me, what I had done, and where I was going to hide.

My co-workers think this dream means I'm hiding something.

The Sobriety Experiment, Day 36

2004-04-11T10:24:00.000-05:00

So, after a family wedding marked by particularly unpleasant encounters with drunk family members, I woke up the next morning with the crazy idea that I would see what it would be like to just stop drinking. So far, I don't miss it at all. I had my first sober partygoing experience on Friday night, and it was nice to wake up the next day feeling refreshed and able to go rock climbing without dizziness or nausea. The nice thing about our group of friends is that they really don't give a fig whether you're drinking or not. I still laughed all night long and managed to remember what I was laughing about the next day. I even kept my clothes on. I also had enough wits about me to debate religion. Although when intoxicated I often feel up to this challenge, somehow I doubt my arguments are as cogent.

How long will this experiment last? I have no idea. I think I should be forced to go back to drinking if I ever get condescending or preachy to any of my imbibing friends though...

Return of The Trash Chronicles

2004-04-08T20:45:00.000-05:00

And so it continues. The constant landscape of trash in our lovely hometown of R. Starting from my front door:


and walking the approximately half a block to my car:

I recorded the following bits of trash:

Mind you, this is the day after they picked up the trash.

I'm not sure what I find more unacceptable, the fact that the people we are paying (yes, they charge us a separate trash fee) to pick up the trash drop more than they remove, or the fact that none of our neighbors seem to notice or care.

We Have Visuals! or, Sorry Folks, but it's probably gonna get uglier before it gets prettier...

2004-04-05T21:42:00.000-05:00

I am not a programmer. GEEK not spoken here. Sorry. So, until I can escape from this dreaded pit of HTML, things are gonna look pretty ugly 'round the old blog.

I have tentatively started posting images (duh, flygrrl, we see them). But please don't bug me about my margins or the width of my images or whatever tortured thing my page does to your browser. I know, believe me, I know. Give me a few more days to be up and running and I'm sure I'll be posting my witty observations just like the well-oiled machine that is EC.

Over and out.

A Little Daily Inspiration

2004-04-03T13:28:00.000-06:00

Now for a (non-shameless) plug. I've just added to my links at the right a site called 'Another Girl At Play'. It's a fantastic site contributed to by women who work in the arts-- illustration, graphic design, etc.-- who have successfully started their own businesses. It's got a lot of great info and great work, and is very motivating if you're even considering striking out on your own.

The Two Towers

2004-04-02T10:42:00.000-06:00

Well, today begins the struggle of getting my new (old) Mac set up. I scored a PowerMac G3 cheap from some stuff they were getting rid of at work, but of course it's missing cables, keyboard, etc. I am so impatient and always think this things are going to be instantaneous, but they never are. My whole point is having a 'play' machine for graphic design, as I have decided that I want to be a Graphic Designer when I grow up. If that ever happens. I've got space cleared at the computer desk, got my copy of Adobe Illustrator Classroom in a Book.

I'm working on being able to post images, so perhaps I will entertain my tiny audience with some work samples down the road...

Debut

2004-04-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

When you were growing up, did you ever read the Sweet Pickles series of childrens' books? If so, you may remember a fine tome titled Me Too Iguana. If you have read this book, you will understand why I now have a blog. Although my personal favorite of the Sweet Pickles gang was that crazy unicorn that rode a skateboard, each and every day as I read the blogs of friends and loved ones, a little part of my soul cries "Me Too! Me Too!"

So here we are.