Uff

Poop. Tonight is the brightest the moon will be this year (full, and closest point it will get to the earth) and of course it's raining out. At least it's a thunderstorm, so I at least get to listen to the pretty thunder instead. Not like I would have gotten any good pictures anyways. I tried some practices photos a couple days ago with my p&s but they didn't turn out real great (not that I was expecting anything good). Maybe next year. If I have a DSLR by then. One can only hope.

Met some folk at my new job, today, too. Seemed pretty cool. Very laid back job, so it won't be too bad I don't think.

Storm

As soon as I heard the tornado sirens going off last night I ran outside, haha. Cool cloud rotation, rain, wind. Wee bit of hail. Nothing too thrilling, not even much lightening, although there was a lot of thunder.
Spent a lot of today outside running around doing stuff; finally got some school stuff taken care of and switched my major to art. :) I'm so excited to take classes this fall. It's gunna be great. It was so hot out today, though. After I walked back from the Munsinger/Clemens Gardens to the transit center I was so toasty I could hardly stand it. Pretty sure I got sunburned, too. Nice square blotch on my chest from my tank top, hahaha. Although I much prefer the summer to the winter; picnics galore! Not too bad of a start to the summer I'd say.

Poor

Uff. At least I'm not hating my life at my old job anymore. Breaking down in tears everyday was not worth the money. Better to be poor and happy than rich and sad in my opinion. Although it would be nice to be able to get the next Y: The Last Man book from the comic store.......

Frankie. What a dork.

Cold

I stood around outside in the cold for about half an hour before I found out the bus stopped going by Good Earth on the weekends an hour before. At least I got a semi-decent photo. I think that's why I've been in such a bad mood lately; it's so damn cold out right now. I also got my blood pressure tested in one of those little machines at Coborn's. I is healthy. :P 

Blegh. I can't wait for it to be summer!!!!

'Tis my favorite season.

Macro Mountains??

Bah!! For the tag challenge on 365project I got macro and mountains. I got macro last time!! Guh, I don't know how I'm gunna do this one. The only idea I have would be perfect but I don't know how I'll do it.....and the deadline is Sunday! I should have time tomorrow.....maybe I'll go outside and make it work somehow......

Chipotle bird. They sure love burritos. :P

Picnics

Picnicked with my roommie today. Deviled eggs, watermelon, mango. Yum yum. Plus I made myself a bagel+goat feta cheese+kale+smoked salmon sandwich and he made spaghetti. Hahah, who brings spaghetti to a picnic?? It was a little chilly, but not too bad, so it was a good time. Gosh I love warm weather.

A Child

Imagine, if you would, you're a small child, and your parents decided they'd had enough. You color on the walls, play with your food at every opportunity, and even do some painful hair pulling when you're angry. They know they could teach you proper manners if they put the time and effort into it, but they're simply too busy, and let's be honest, that's a lot of work for an energy filled kid like you. So they take the easy route; they take you to the doctor, put you under some general anesthesia and they cut off a finger, right at the first knuckle. But they don't stop there. They decide to cut off all your fingers in such a way, leaving you with ten little nubs sticking out from your palms. Problem solved, no more stick figures on the bathroom wall.

You awaken from your troubled slumber in complete dismay; you're in horrible pain, and are horrified and confused as to what has just happened. You have a difficult time picking up food to feed yourself, and the pain of trying to button your pants after going to the bathroom is so horrid you avoid it as much as possible. Playing with your little mini piano and building sand castles a the beach are things of the past, at least for a great while until the pain subsides and they've healed, but they are not the only things you struggle with. Drawing, putting on clothes, even changing the channel and playing video games, all the normal activities you once did now present a challenge for losing such small bits of your hand. You experience the pain of phantom limbs, something as many as half the people who've had a body part amputated experience; a painful burning sensation or an itchiness that refuses to go away, distracting you and keeping you up at all hours of the night. One of the phalanges was not amputated correctly, resulting in painful regrowth which you had to get surgery on again, extending your healing time and amount of pain you must endure. You become distant and reclusive, wallowing in the loss of what you once took for granted.

As a child, you are hurt your parents would put you through such an experience; they are there to protect you, to love you and nurture you, and you trusted them to do that. They betrayed that trust, for their own convenience.


In our society today, amputation is regarded as either barbaric torture (as a form of punishment for stealing in many countries) or as a desperate medical procedure when a limb has become too damaged or diseased to keep. No one, other than the ones we would consider completely mental, would dare think of doing this type of procedure to a child to convenience ourselves, and would never do it except in the most dire of circumstances.

So why do so many in the United States continue to do this to their innocent feline friends? They either care more about their couches and carpets than the physical and mental health of their cats, or they are simply uneducated, not realizing declawing removes an important part of the cats foot. The only difference between cats and this story is that cats have it worse off. They don't receive as good of pain medication as a human would, and as many already know, their claws are their first line of defense. Yes, they can still catch food in most cases, and use their teeth to fend off predators. But cats walk mainly on their toes; by declawing them, they are forced to walk around on stumps for the entire healing process, and the rest of their lives, though you wouldn't know the pain they are going through. Cats are too manly; they don't show their pain.

My kitty Olivia.

It is a sad fate for such innocent and lovely creatures. It truly makes my heart break when I hear of people getting their pets declawed. If only they knew what it was really like. A couch or a bit of carpet can be replaced for a price. The life and happiness of a living creature cannot.

Shoulder cat.

I want to go swimming...

It's been soooo nice out lately. I always want to go swimming so bad this time of year, even though I know it's too cold. Pretty sure the last like three years in a row I've tried swimming in April and each time I'm like 'WTF THE WATERS COLD'. I just never learn my lesson...

Good news! Found out the apartment my friends and I were looking at will allow dogs, so we are good to go! I'm so pumped to move. We get the first months rent free (June), and our lease at the place I'm at now goes thru June, so I feel like we should have an easier time moving since we'll have more than just a day to get our shit packed in the cars. Plus we'll have more time to clean up, so hopefully we'll get more of our deposit back. Gosh, in less than two months I'll finally be outta this hole!

Waiting at the bus stop. It was hot as hell today!

I also saw today while grocery shopping they're hiring at the co-op. I'm thinkin' about applying; I'm assuming they get some kind of deal (which would be fantastic since I easily spend double when I shop there). And I feel like if I worked there it'd be great for me cuz I'd learn more about food and what not. I just wish it was closer!

Tired

Uff. I feel like I haven't done anything the last couple days except look at photography related stuff online. I haven't worked on my story in a week other than little notes here and there. I have come up with quite a few little photo ideas to work on this summer, though, which should be fun. Meh, time for bed.

I usually call my eyes green, even though if you look closely their not.

Joker

I literally just finished reading the graphic novel Joker, which I got at the comic book store downtown a couple days ago. I was actually intending to get the next Y: The Last Man book (I've only read the first two), but they didn't have it in. Kinda glad I got this one instead, though.  It was very interesting. It was told from the perspective of one of his henchmen just after he is released from Arkham Asylum. I loved the different view point; just about every other Gotham story is from that his perspective, Batman's.  He was barely in this story at all, until the very end. It was still a wonderful take on it, the author did a good job of getting the Joker's personality down, and of some of the other well-known Gotham villains (Harvey Dent for one). I'll definitely have to read it again. Often I have to read the same page a couple times because the first time around I don't get the right context without looking at what's actually happening. I guess I got too used to reading just text from all those years in middle school pouring over novels from the library. I'm getting better at it, though.

I loved Harley Quinn in this picture; I loved this whole scene, actually, with the Riddler and all.

365 Project

So about the same time I started this blog, I joined another site called 365 Project. Basically what it is is a site about photography, and you put up one picture you take each day to help you improve. There are little contests you can take part in (this week it's 'tiny things'), and I just found a tag-challenge, where you basically randomly click on two tags in the browse section and whatever you get that's you're challenge for the week, to try to take a picture combining those two things. I've actually learned a pretty decent amount from the like week and a half that I've been on the site (I finally figured out what ISO is haha!). It's nice because it's not so big you get lost in it, but big enough that there's still a ton of pictures to look at and little articles and what not in the forums to read. I quite enjoy it. It's almost kind of frustrating only being able to put up one picture a day, but at the same time it's nice. It's forcing me to be more critical of my work. Which one is my best? Which one, out of all them I've taken, do I want people to see? That and seeing the great work of so many other more experienced photographers is making me really try to step up my game and try to take some "wow" worthy shots. If anyone else is into photography, I'd totally recommend this site. It's simple and not overwhelming, and gives you just enough push to help you move those little baby steps forward.

Cleaned the Bathroom

I experimented a bit more with my pictures today. I cleaned the bathroom so people wouldn't see how gross it is, haha, so it was a perfect combo. It was actually real easy to do this, but I had some trouble getting my expressions down. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom trying to get those good shots. I think it was worth it, though. It was fun.

Bitchin' bar, dude.

Last night I went to a kid named Ryan's place with Mike, as we were very bored and had little else to do but wander around campus in the middle of the night. Ryan lives in a frat house, and they had a seriously bitchin' living area. Bar, two big mirrors, tons of black lights, and a giant projector. Looked like it would have been way too fun to party there, hah! Or just play some kinect on the projector. Maybe they'll let me celebrate my birthday there this year, I'll be twenty-one afterall.... :D

Bottle+highlighter+water+blacklight=supercoollooking

My favorite kicks. Backlight, bitches.

We were playin' with hats.

Finally got to celebrate Easter, today, too. Went to my dads, where my dog Frankie had a blast following around and bugging my dads dog Watson.

Frisbee Golfing

Today I had a blast frolfing with my roommate. I'm not that great though; I lost one of his frisbees in the river, and later almost hit him the face when my frisbee decided to go 90 degrees in a different direction than where I was trying to throw it.

We checked out the graffiti on the bridge for a while, too, and saw some pretty funny stuff. I always liked graffiti; even the profanity looks so much cooler when done up in a public place with all these doodles around it. It just tickles me.

We also found a used condom. Way to play safe, kids.

Dinner and guitar

Today I made a delish dinner. Noodles and zucchini, yum yum. Turned out pretty well.

I also practiced guitar for a couple hours learning Drive By by Train. I'm gettin' there...I know all the chords now, for the main part at least, I just gotta work on switching between them faster. And the bar chords are just killing me. Curse you little hands!!

Movies and Macrophotography

Finally saw the American version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo today. They didn't fuck it up like I thought they would, which was quite nice. Although they ended it a bit different than the Swedish version and the book (with Harriet living out of the country and all), but otherwise I thought it owned up pretty well. I feel like I'd still rather see the Swedish one, though. Something about the way American movies are filmed....especially that type of action-y drama, it's so....standardized.

Hah! Mugshot.

I recently watched a movie called Mesrine: Killer Instinct, which was way different than any American movie I've seen in a while (I think it's French, given it's about a French guy and it's all subtitled and what not). It kicks Dragon Tattoo's butt as far as filmmaking goes, in my opinion. It's on Netflix Instant Watch. Check it out. The split screen they used for some scenes just killed me (in a good way).

I also had a lot of fun taking pictures today. I went grocery shopping, and while waiting for my bus to come at the station on the way back I got a few good shots I thought. I like taking those real close up shots of stuff, I always thought they looked cool. I wish it were easier to focus how I want on my camera, though, hah! Someday I'll get one of those fancy ones.

One of my friends from back home has one of those old school cameras where you have to manually focus everything.  As annoying as it might sound, it's actually a lot of fun playing around with it. I wouldn't want to use it everyday, certainly, but it definitely gets you more involved in the process and focused on taking pictures, rather than just point and click. If only we had film...

Yolandi Vi$$er

Ninja, Yolandi, DJ Hi-Tek

For those who don't know who Yolandi is, she's a member of Die Antwoord (The Answer), a South African Zef rap group that became famous thanks to a magical thing called the internet.

Zef is a trashy and out-of-date style arising from South Africa that Yolandi describes as "associated with people who soup their cars up and rock gold and shit. Zef is you're poor but you're fancy. You're poor but you're sexy, you've got style."

Aside from all the other things that draw me in, from Ninja's strange tattoos or their weird music videos, Yolandi was one of the biggest reasons I started getting into Die Antwoord.

She was actually part of my inspiration for shaving my head a couple months ago; although I didn't do what she did with the bangs, the idea that she is so herself that she would come up with and wear a style as unique as that is brave to say the least.  A lot of people might not be into her ultra short bangs and almost mullet-like layered haircut, not to mention bleached eye brows, but that's what's so great about it. She took having a unique style to another level.

The vulgarity of it all just adds to my love of her. As shocking as it might be seeing her sitting, pants down, on the toilet in their Rich Bitch music video, or topless with mouths for nipples in Enter the Ninja, where else are you going to find that kind of thing? It's weird, it's surprising, and it fits.

 Her whole style inspires me. In a weird way, it reminds me to be myself.

Here's a couple of their music videos, in case anyone's interested.

Drove to the Hospital

I got to drive today! Not really that exciting, but since I haven't had a car in two years, it definitely added some spice to my day. What made my day extra spicy? Driving my roommate to the E.R.
He turned okay (just under a lot of stress), and we ended up having a pretty good evening, going to Applebees afterward.

Easter is for Friends

So I skipped out on Easter today. I'm not much of a holiday person, and family get together's usually aren't my thing, anyway. I was supposed to go my grandparents place with my mom, but as luck would have it, Michael came over last night. As far as hanging out with Mike goes, it's always a good time. Especially when alcohol is involved.

 
Unfortunately his shenanigans usually end up in something broken; this time, one of my favorite wine glasses. Not mention the state my apartment is in now (not that it was anything pretty to begin with).

Lucky me that I skipped out on Easter, though. Instead of spending Easter with family, I spent it with one of my favorite people ever, P-P-P-Peter. Walked to Arby's, walked back, movie time. I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend Easter than that. Absolutely lovely.

What a goof.

Why the hell...

Still trying to figure this blogger thing out. So weirrrrd.



I restarted my Facebook profile today. I was kinda bored and thought "Why not?" It gives me a good excuse to creep on people without their knowing. Baha!

On a different note, I finally made guacamole today (hence the picture. Messy work).  I also made a bean soup. It looked tasty, but I had to add a lot of nutritional yeast before it stopped tasting like bland shit. And I thought I put in so much cayenne pepper and chili powder! Lot's of work to do before I can say I can cook.

I feel like the soup and my dress were slightly color coordinating...if only a little. The bowl is the cardigan, the silverware is the jewelry. The cup and the banana are just there for amusement.