I know that I have not posted a blog in a while. That is mostly because I wanted this blog to be purely about my art and funny observation of things that I see in every day life, like this:

But for the last couple of months I have been so wrapped up in political debate on facebook. Those political discussion turn me into someone that I'm not. Well, maybe I am, but I like to repress that side of me, but facebook won't let me. The most recent being the second amendment, Boston as a "Police State," what's wrong with the Republicans, West, Texas, CISPA, and other malduggery. Is that the word I'm trying to say? It just ruins me for artistic inspiration but I wrote nearly a novel's worth of comments and status updates voicing my opinion (facts :)).

In the mean time I HAVE been doing some creative things for school. Well, life goes on. I haven't written about them, but I still have assignments to do. I am working on an animation for my team production class. I have been entrusted with the last 4 seconds of the animation that my class is working on as a group. My professor pissed me off today because the 3 little drawings that he drew that I am supposed to go by do not give me any kind of detail as far as what the character is doing or which way she is facing. So basically I am just guessing at what he wants her to do. He wasn't happy. That's all I want to talk about on that subject. I am just so angry right now.

On a happier note, I am working on an animatic for a story that I have been working on for years. Well, I gave it a break and haven't really touched in a while. But I started it in 2003. I turned it into a 10 page script. After a couple of years I realized that not only was it too short for a script, the way it ended didn't make any sense. I kept the whole story but expanded it to something like an 86 pages along script with a full blown Conlang to go with it. All of that was completed in something like 2009. I haven't touched it since. Matter of fact, my full typed out script is on an external hard drive that crashed and I was quoted something like $1200 to retrieve my files. I will one day. But in the mean time, I still have the hand written story that I used to write the script. Currently, I am in my first portfolio class. In this class I am preparing to create an animation for my portfolio. This will be done over the course of 3 school quarters. 3 classes. This class, I am working on story development, storyboards and animatics, character design and modeling. I have taken characters and some of the storyline from my script and turned it into a approximately 3 minute short. And, while he had a few suggestions to make my story better, my animatic was well received by the aforementioned professor. 

Although he did not feel that I should be working on an "old" character/story. It's not like I have been obsessing over this constantly for years. I haven't touched this story since 2009. Unlike someone's story that I can't animate the way he wants me to that HE has been working on since like FOREVER!

I've also been reading a lot of stupid blog lists. Like 5 Horrifying Details Hidden in Classic Cartoons and 5 Recurring Movie Extras You Won't Believe You Never Noticed. Stupid but fun to waste your life reading. A nice reprieve, though, from the aweful, angry rants of people who think that the gubment is trying to take away their guns when really they are trying to take away their right to privacy (CISPA). It's so funny. 

Since we last spoke, I also added my twitter account to my website and I created another twitter account and added that, too. The second account is strictly for the funny stuff that I see and photograph. Well, that's what I use it for, mostly. And, while my first twitter account is for random stuff like my run tracker and getting birthday retweets from my favorite stars 

....my second...my God, it took me so long to log into this twitter account, zoom in on this tweet, print the screen, copy and paste it into paint, save it as a jpg and post it here, that I forgot what it was that I was going to say in this statement about my twitter accounts. So I said all of that because it was probably more fun and interesting then what I was going to say. Whatever it was. Oh, and then I followed myself. Is that pathetic? I don't know. But it can't be as pathetic as taking a Justin Tiberlake quiz because whoever posted it will follow you if you get 100% and then cheating on it! SMDH.

Shouldn't You Go To The Doctor For That?

So, I went to Home Depot today. I paint on wood. Either 2'X2' or 4'x2'. I almost always get it from HD. I may pick up some Gorilla glue and hanging hardware for my art. (I said that this is an art blog, didn't I?) Well, I was going down the plumbing aisle because apparently I need to do something about my toilet, and I found this. Do people really go to home depot for these issues? Shouldn't you go to the Doctor? I don't know...










So I was watching this video that a Facebook friend posted. And it got me all goosebumpy. It was awesome. I've seen other people do this. But this one has to be my favorite.

It is a video featuring a young man named Jon Cozart titled After Ever After. He has recorded himself in four part harmony singing various Disney Princess movie songs rewritten to illustrate what happens in the lives of the princesses after the Disney story is over. Not only is his singing beautifully arranged, but the writing is awesome and the timing is on point. He is also a very convincing actor. I'm not really good at writing critiques. I just wanted share this video.

Is anyone reading this from my original Down Off The Dragon blogspot webpage? If you have been around long enough to be aware when I add a new post to this blog, congratulations for sticking in there and thank you for following. That out of the way...because more than likely it is not the case...welcome to my new website.

 I decided to keep and post all of my old blog posts to my new website, despite the fact that it has not been updated in almost five years. I have also changed my theme. Previously, my blog was dedicated to talking about my writing and talking about things that I like to talk about, and talking about whatever came to my head randomly that I felt like talking about. Now...well... it's the same thing. Only this time I am adding my art. Talking about my art, writing about my art, posting my art...and whatever other random things come to mind.

 I will also likely post images of interesting things that I have found along the highway of my life. Because my blog is now linked to my webpage, most of my art will likely be posted there. My blog will likely involve making of videos, fun stuff I photographed along the way, video blog entries and whatever random stuff that comes to mind. Did I say that already?

 Oh, yeah. Also, the stuff that I won't put on Facebook because I have nosey relatives who will complain about the content not being appropriate for the eyes of older and younger relatives and everyone in between.

So, here is my WARNING: This is an art webpage/blog. There will be content created by a mind too creative to concern itself with censorship. What comes to paper is what has regurgitated itself from my head and heart and hands. There may be an occasional boobie, or penis or reference to such. There may be poop jokes and references to incontinence. I don not curse unless I'm mad so don't piss me off. And we will all get along just fine!!!

 So how has this all turned out for me so far? I mean, starting my website, that is. Let me tell you. It has been a big pain in the patootie. The website itself isn't the problem. It's been google and its products.

 A little while back I guess that all google products required a gmail log in, including youtube? Well, at the time, I did not have a gmail account and lost access to my youtube channel. Odd thing about it was that they did assign a gmail account to my youtube and my blogspot. But it was an account that I did not own so did not have access to. Somehow the phone number that they would send the reset code to was mine. WAS mine. So I had them send it. And then I called the number crossing my fingers, hoping and praying that who ever answered it wouldn't think that I was crazy and hang up on me. A woman answered. It was Saturday morning and she sounded as if she had been asleep. I told her that I needed the code that I had texted to her phone. She GAVE it to me!!!! I was very grateful, thanked her and hung up so that she may go back to sleep.

 I retrieved my account and prayed that who ever owns it does not change the pass word and turn me in to google. I checked the email, and it definitely is NOT my email. But it doesn't looked like it is used much at all. I am hoping that Mr. H (I have talked to the previous owner's sister. I promise that I am not lying about this account not being mine!) has abandoned the email and will never give me problems with it again. I am unable to change my primary account on blogger and I need to keep my good name!

WE WON!!

Uh, yeah, so Obama is the country's first black president. And that's great, but it occurs to me that South Africa which had been run by an Apartheid government since 1948 elected its first black president 14 years ago! And if you're not familiar with apartheid, it's basically the polar opposite of democracy! Why are we so backward?

All that doesn't matter now, because Barack kicked butt. Last I checked McCain was stuck at 156 votes and Obama rose from 280+ to 333! Seems to me that with these kind of numbers, not only did people who didn't vote before vote, but perhaps people that previously voted republican changed their minds this year! Either way, Oh, yeah, we kicked butt. And by WE I mean ANYONE that was hoping and praying for the change that Obama promised and more than likely will bring about in DC.

School

It is now almost official. I am going back to school in January. I sat down with an academic councilor to discuss which classes I will be taking. My major will be liberal arts. I will receive an Associates Degree in liberal arts and then transfer to Old Dominion University for a degree in English (creative writing emphasis) with a minor in communications. I will get at least a baccalaureate, but I'm hoping to get into the accelerated Master's program. It's not too bad. You just take 4 or 5 classes that are at the 400 level, but they can also be counted for 500 level. That way, when you've earned your bachelor's degree, you have less classes to take to earn you Master's.

I will be taking Math 240 (statistics), Bio 101, Public Speaking, and Psychology 201. I'm so excited. Not so much about the classes, but just going back in general. And I'm not taking any of these courses online. I'm going to go to a real class with real students and real teachers. Did you know that you can take Public speaking online? Does that make any sense to you?

Oh, yeah. I've also cut all of my hair off. I love my hair short. I haven't cut it all off since March of 2005. I was determined to grow it long, but all I managed to do was have a whole bunch of damaged hair from perming. It looked so aweful when I went to the hair dresser. Now most of the damaged hair is gone. I think that I might wear a mohawk like I did the last time I cut it this short!

Why Should I Vote For Your Man?

This election year I have recieved several pieces of mail from the Republican Party of Virginia. Not one piece of litterature mentions McCain or Palin except for their websites. All it does is say why we shouldn't vote for Obama. This is the message I sent RPV.org. I can'r wait to read the response I get if any.

"I would like to start by saying that, although I will not be voting republican this year, I do have a lot of respect for McCain and I believe that it is sad how poorly his supporters are representing him. Let's start with you. I have recieved my 3rd piece of mail from you. Not one item has his picture on it. Not on item lists his platforms, what he stands for, what he believes in. It all just bashes Obama. It's ok to have a stance against your opponent, but don't you have anything else to say? Growing up, I was always warned against friends/aquaintances that make them feel better about themselves by putting others down. Instead of highlighting your candadate's qualities you're focusing on your apponants problems. And it's not just you. I hear it on the radio and the tv, too. It's kind of childish. What's worse is that it reinforces the anti-American/anti-constitutional/anti-democratic activities of those that threaten and harass Obama and his supporters. Two young men were discovered having plotted to assassinate Obama and black people in general until they are caught and killed if they have to. Or the email saying that republicans are to vote on tuesday, and democrats are to vote on wednsday. This is reminiscent of countries where dictators rule. And people that partake in this kind of activity/thinking are anti-democracy. They are no better than the people in countries that we are historically at war with who kill the supporters of the opposing party. Is that the kind of country in which we live? When I've spoken to republicans, their first argument is Obama this and Obama that. "Obama is anti-gun." Ok, so what is McCain's stand? Better yet, what's his running mate's stand? We all know, she has no stand because she is utterly clueless. By sending me literature about why you think Obama should not be president, you have failed in convincing me that McCain should. At the very least, you could send me something telling why Sarah Palin should be let anywhere near the White House if she couldn't even tell you what the Vice President does!"

Stupid People With Popcorn

When I was in Navy Electronics Technician School in Great Lakes, Illinois I lived in a large berthing with hundreds of other female sailors. I don't know if you know what it's like when hundreds of women required to live together in the not so optimal conditions. Four girls to a small room, marching to class in "Lake Effect Snow," bad food in the galley and annoying Barracks duty officers. Not to mention the multitude of backgrounds and cultures that must be transended to live together harmoniously.

But the greatest obstacle was the stupidity that many of us displayed when preparing food. Being a barracks for mainly E1-E3s there were no real cooking facilities. Just a couple of microwaves where the vending machines were located. So needless to say, there was a lot of popcorn being made.

Then, unfortunately, many a sailor would leave a bag of popcorn in the microwave unattended assuming that the directions on the bag would work on any microwave, despite the fact that the directions also say "microwave ovens may vary." Right?

So after several microwave fires they banned food from the barracks completely. Originally, it was only banned from the original berthings but ok in common areas. The result was many girls ouside in the Lake Effect Snow freezing their butts off eating delivery pizza at the picnic tables.

So, anyway, an hour ago I pulld up in front of the local 7-11 when I saw this lady writing down the name and phone number that you call when you have a complaint. I noticed that she had a Connecticut lisence plate. I was hoping that she was military and not really from CT because she had a stupid "Uncle Sam Wants You To Speak English" bumper sticker. I never found out.

I went inside and I heard the manager and the cashier talking with another customer about what had happened. Apparently this woman got a bag of popcorn, didn't pay for it, popped it in the store microwave, burned it and brought the bag to the counter wanting retribution of sorts. Apparently, the directions on the pack did not work with that paticular microwave. That's why anyone over the age of 14 aught know that you listen for the pops and you stop it when they only come one every five seconds or something like that, reguardless of the minutes it's been in there.

So of course the question was, did she expect her money back, or another bag of popcorn? She never paid for the pack she burned!! Isn't that theft? Is she going to call the number and say that she didn't get a refund or a replacement? Doesn't she realize that they will probably ask for a receipt number and when she can't produce one it will make her out to be a theif?

OK, that's all.