Artist Philosophy...

I am building & on the edge of expressing my personal Artistic Philosophy for portfolio.

In terms of all things ART I can so identify with this:

I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.
— Ayn Rand, Anthem

So...
A nod to - Ayn Rand (Feb 2, 1905 - Mar 6, 1982) today!

Paperwork...

Reminder to self: Get it done!!!

Ah... the Eternities...

We sang this Hymn Sunday.
It's one of my favorites and if I was to pass away tomorrow I'd want it sung at my grave side service - becasue it speaks of the mysteries of God and lists the things that have no end...
...and it just gives you an awesome vibe, when you stand and sing it with a friend...

It's called:

"If you Could Hie to Kolob "

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1. If you could hie to Kolob

In the twinkling of an eye,

And then continue onward

With that same speed to fly,

Do you think that you could ever,

Through all eternity,

Find out the generation

Where Gods began to be?

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2. Or see the grand beginning,

Where space did not extend?

Or view the last creation,

Where Gods and matter end?

Methinks the Spirit whispers,

"No man has found 'pure space,'

Nor seen the outside curtains,

Where nothing has a place."

.

3. The works of God continue,

And worlds and lives abound;

Improvement and progression

Have one eternal round.

There is no end to matter;

There is no end to space;

There is no end to spirit;

There is no end to race.

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4. There is no end to virtue;

There is no end to might;

There is no end to wisdom;

There is no end to light.

There is no end to union;

There is no end to youth;

There is no end to priesthood;

There is no end to truth.

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5. There is no end to glory;

There is no end to love;

There is no end to being;

There is no death above.

There is no end to glory;

There is no end to love;

There is no end to being;

There is no death above.

.
Text: William W. Phelps, 1792-1872

A Surprise, a Special DVD

Big smiles and hugs - some more - to Alekx and Burfica for sending that special DVD to me.
I was excitedly surprised.
I cried.
I laughed.
I cried (again).
I played it.
I paused it.
I rewound it for the "who was that?" factor... =)
and I'm fixin on playin' it again.
Maybe tonight.
Brought back so many memories.
Brought up a regret or 2...
But mostly brought up how very, very special your Mother was to me, right along with the 2 of YOU!
Thank you so very much - for all!
Love you,
all ways and always
D.~

Ball & jacks

Yep.
Changed the profile pix again!
lol
didja ever noticed the background...?
(whispers -> this scene was set in "the little freak's room")

Identity packages

We are building our identity packages in portfolio:
the letter head, business card, envelope design, resume... and yes... more.
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Our choices of basic design elements telling just as much, if not more about 'the symbolic self', as what any content of text ever could.
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At the same time Ethics and Moral Development are the topics in our on-line leadership classes.
... practically speaking, the 3 most important influences on character formation are:
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• Associations. Family, friends, and role models help shape our future lives. The example & encouragement of some people may improve us, while that of others may pull us down.
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• Books. The printed page and other media can poison us with wrong accounts and harmful thoughts, or can enlighten and lift up our lives with reason and spirit fundamental to a healthy person.
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• Self Concept. We do what we do to be consistent with who we think we are. Our primary motivation is not self-preservation, but preservation of the symbolic self. Whosoever considers him- or herself to be honest, brave, and worthy is likely to be so, s our oute lives are first decided in our inner hearts.
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1. Associations - Who in your life has influenced your character development?
2. Books - What books, films, and other media have helped you become a better person?
3. Self-Concept - What image of yourself has shaped your values and guided your life?

Ah.
Homework.
Happy weekend everyone!
=)

Love is...

Outside the scriptures this is the best quote I've ever seen on LOVE:

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained”
C.S. Lewis quotes (British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)

Happy Valentine's Day to all who pass this way...

Love and love some more!
D.~

Valentine recipe

Several people have asked me for this recipe.

Once upon a time ago - it was one of my Dad's favorites & since his birthday is the day before Valentine's Day I have a tendency to associate it with the holiday...

It is fairly cheap, fast & easy and has a big "yum" factor to it too...

Cherry Nut Bars

2 egg whites - slightly beaten
2 T Maraschino cherry juice
6 T Water
4 T Oil
1 Pkg. white cake mix
1/2 C sparsly chopped walnuts
1/2 C drained chopped Maraschino cherries

Combine ingredients in order listed.
Makes a thick batter
Spread in a 9x13 pan
Bake 350 15-20 minutes - until set

Frosting 1 -
butter
chopped cherries
cherry juice
powdered sugar
heavy whipping cream


Frosting 2 -
softened cream cheese
powdered sugar
cherry juice
whipped topping

(Sorry about the no measurements on the frosting choices, my family just does this by feel & to taste)

Baptizing a Miracle...

I felt the Holy Spirit very strongly in church today.
Yesterday, the elders baptized a Miracle.
=)
That was the boy’s family name. … but really… aren’t we all miracles?
He looked so very handsome dressed all in white.
I had the pleasure and the privilege of speaking at his service.
Today, he was confirmed a member where upon the brethren conferred upon him a blessing and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
We were also privileged to be witness to the blessing of a baby – so sweet.

It’s long been rumored among the faithful that when over come by emotion in the singing of a sacred hymn,

(…that heartfelt swelling of the breast that bares testimony of the Holy spirit drawing most near – that which sometimes renders humankind tearful & speechless…)

…it’s said that in those moments the angelic host can and does carry your part forward…

I thought I heard them singing with the congregation today – and this is the hymn:

Redeemer of Israel

Redeemer of Israel, Our only delight, On whom for a blessing we call,
Our shadow by day And our Pillar by night, Our King, our Deliverer, our all!

We know he is coming To gather his sheep And lead them to Zion in love,
For why in the valley Of death should they weep Or in the lone wilderness rove?

How long we have wandered As strangers in sin And cried in the dessert for thee!
Our foes have rejoiced When our sorrows they’ve seen, But Israel will shortly be free.

As children of Zion, Good tidings for us. The tokens already appear.
Fear not, and be just, For the kingdom is ours. The hour of redemption is near.

Restore, my dear Savior, The light of thy face; Thy soul-cheering comfort impart;
And let the sweet longing For thy holy place Bring hope to my desolate heart.

He looks! And ten thousands Of angels rejoice, And myriads wait for his word;
He speaks! And eternity, Filled with his voice, Re-echoes the praise of the Lord.

A very short story

Blame it on my little e-mail friends...


A Very Short Story



Man driving down road
Woman driving up same road
They pass each other.
The woman yells out the window, PIG!
Man yells out window, B * T C H!
Man rounds next curve.
Crashes into a HUGE PIG in middle of road and dies.

Thought For the Day: If only men would listen

Why I Need the Birds

I grabbed up the rare luxury of sleeping in this morning - hushing over the harpy voice in my head with its endless "to do" listings...
and I was blessed with this little treasure.
A poem by Lisel Mueller which was featured on today's Writer's Almanac, and given deep favor by Garrison Keillor's bartone reading.... you could listen to it here: The Writer's Almanac or just read it through, below...

Why I Need the Birds

When I hear them call
in the morning, before
I am quite awake,
my bed is already traveling
the daily rainbow,
the arc toward evening;
and the birds, leading
their own discreet lives
of hunger and watchfulness,
are with me all the way,
always a little ahead of me
in the long-practiced manner
of unobtrusive guides.

By the time I arrive at evening,
they have just settled down to rest;
already invisible, they are turning
into the dreamwork of trees;
and all of us together —
myself and the purple finches,
the rusty blackbirds,
the ruby cardinals,
and the white-throated sparrows
with their liquid voices —
ride the dark curve of the earth
toward daylight, which they announce
from their high lookouts
before dawn has quite broken for me.

Shapeshifter Burfica!

I was visiting Burfica's site this morning and saw this:
"...I pick teams I like the way girls do. If it's an animal I'll always cheer for it. If it's two animals I pick the cuter one. hehehehehee"
... and I wondered...
So, if Burfica was to magically become a shapeshifter... what animals would be her favorite ones to switch off to?
.
.
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You tell me yours I'll tell you mine!

QUOTATION:	A man’s character is his fate.
ATTRIBUTION:	Heraclitus (c. 535–c. 475 BC), Greek philosopher. . .On The Universe

- Oscar Wilde -

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
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.
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"The Great and Wonderful Love"
.
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;-)

From The Little Prince...

The Dean of Business and Community Education turned me on to a well loved children's book, (I'd been invited to her house to help her bake cake)
I took this book along with me the last time I'd gone on vacation.
(There were going to be some very, very, very long layovers in the travel plan)
Here's a bit of wisdom from it:

The Fox: It's only with the heart that one can see clearly. What's essential, is invisible to the eye. – from The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Weird thing #1 about me - I LOVE children's
literature and still read it, from time to time - I hope to never out grow it.

Weird thing #2 about me - A long time ago (& in what seems to be another life-time) I began to refer to the bathroom as, "The little freak's room". There's a multitude of reasons why. People, including yourself/myself do things in that room that they'd do no other place... Even people you scarcely know – may have occasion to come to your home and ask to privily use this room. Imagine: Strangers - securing themselves into this private and yet somehow public space. . . and they “do” things in there they’d never do if you were watching them. I’m not just talking about hygienic things… ;-) I’m also talking about snoopy things, like looking into your medicine cabinet, or poking through your vanity drawers – peeking into your linen closet. . . Never a good idea to stow “treasure” away in a bathroom, unless it’s truly a private, private bath…. (my sister lost a "friend" & a special Jade&Sliver ring once to this type of thievery friend asked to use the bathroom just before she ended her visit at the house and we never saw either one ever again! Queen of Panic was none too "happy" & I took note on what not to do with my special jewelery!)
Burfica may remember her sister and I hanging a Bull Whip over the door to the
bathroom in the apartment we shared. It made a handy reference for anyone in
need of answering to nature’s call… “Bathroom? Oh! You mean the little freak’s
room! It’s up the stairs and straight on, it’s the one with the whip over the
door.” Lol! (good times)

Weird thing #3 about
me – I am generally calm, collected and able to do whatever needs to be
done in a trama/drama situation. Drop to my knees, check vitals and begin CPR
til help arrives…, pull the broken bits of sewing needle out of the finger (that
the Singer just ran over) & then administer the first aid…, break loose from
my date and intervene, in a fight-scene-turned criminal assault… but, after the
fact, I’ll seek solace in solitude – I’ll honor the need to ‘defib’ a bit –
curl-up into that proverbial “fetal ball” and process the residuals….

I had to leave this yesterday with something lame like, "um, I gotta go to work!" I'm Fishin' up the rest of the list of 6 now.... which needs to be revised, because the Opie ... never mind!
Weird thing #4 about me - I'm not a big fan of finger pickin' noses, mine or anyone elses! :P I can Soooo identify with Burfica's not wanting anything icky on her hands. If I think it's gotta be picked (not just in need of a clean blow) it's off to the little freak's room we go... where I get down to business with a cotton swab. They do a much better job than any finger could ever do in nose duggery!

Weird thing #5 about me - I'm, I'm a crazy magnate? I am beginning to have this fear... Crazy people seek me out. Really. Some flippy characters have sought my acquaintance over the years and it seems to have gotten worse.... If there's someone in a crowd, who's a fry or 2 short of a full happy meal... they'll find me. I've actually entertained the thought of getting a degree in clinical psychology, figuring if the crazies are gonna keep dropping on by I might as well get the proper skill-sets to DEAL with 'em (as effectively as I positively can). Maybe some nice art theropy...? ***disclaimer! This weird thing is in NO WAY a commentary on anyone in the bloggosphere!!! So if you are reading this, #5!? -> IS NOT ABOUT YOU!!! LOL! ***

Weird thing #6 about me - thinking,,,thinking,,,, ok. okokok. I'm an 'organizer' - in a good way (no this has nothing to do with adult entertainment) My MOM is a pack-rat, terrible bad. I can hardly stand to visit her at her place for more than a few minutes because, well my mind starts to bend over the crap she's got piled every where. My place has gotten messy inbetween semesters because of the time factor -but that was the first thing I tackled at break. I like everything in handy sensible reach, logical storage, for where ever what ever I do in that room. Kitchen I can stand in one spot practically and reach, pull out, put away - neatly everything I have and need there etc.... all over the house. I have a well thought out system that makes sense to me...(& I mean I really think about these things - I don't suppose most people go through the steps I do to put 'abc' here because of this or that bla-bla reason. It's all about flow & usabilty! Like the Entertainment center needs to be close to an "exit" traffic lane from the house so I can easily shut it down on my way out. I try NOT to put the TV opposite windows because of daytime glare sometimes you can't help what you've got to work with in an apt. layout... I'm the dishwasher & right-handed so Glasses, plates, bowls need to be in an upper right-hand cabinet from the Kitchen sink... bla, bla, bla...

Bonus "#7"- I've said a "good-night" prayer every night of my life for as far back as I can remember... they've evolved over the years. I've also said a "good-morning" prayer every morning for the past 10 years - solid. (this one is always a 'gratitude' prayer - rarely asking anything, here, only listing things, places, people, situations, lessons, blessings... that I've especially noticed and that I'm especially grateful for.)

Cheerios 2 all of YOU!

D.~

The Lemonade Game

I just came from Entrepreneur class.
The fist 15-20 minutes of class were spent here: The Lemonade Game
Yes, yes! -> Playing the lemonade game.
This was both great fun & a hands on learning experience for the class.
Try it yourself and see how well you do!

I'll have to have another go at it myself. ... my 'notebook' computer I was using in class 'folded' up on me (unexpectedly shut down) so my first whack at this was lost. Not before a learned a couple tricks at scoring in the lemonade biz, though! (Ice melts , EVERYtime... so not good to stock up on that!)

Sunday night studies and up dates:
from one of my online classes...

The Art of Leadership

art (noun) 1. skill acquired by experience or study. 2. a system of rules to facilitate performance; the use of skill and imagination in applying such rules (the art of building, the art of persuasion). 3. endeavor requiring special knowledge and ability (fine arts, practical arts). 4. the product or result of artisitc faculty (body of work).

leadership (noun) 1. showing the way or direction; the course of action. 2. indluencing or causing to follow by words and deeds. 3. guiding the behaviour of others through ideas, strength, or heroic feats. 4. the position or function of one who leads (the king led his people). 5. the ability to lead (she displayed leadership skill).

I think I'm gonna dig this study. Second page into the text has this question:

What is Leadership? - the answer is social influence. It means leaving a mark. It is initiating and guiding and the result is change. The product is a new character or direction that otherwise would never be... by their ideas and deeds, leaders show the way and influence the behavior of others.
Then, to show the importance of ideas, we are asked to consider the legend of King Arthur, who led the Knights of the Round Table with his vision of chivalry:

My teacher Merlyn, who always remembered things that haven't happened better
than things that have, told me once that a few hundred years from now it will be
discovered that the world is round - round like the table at which we sat with
such high hope and noble purpose. If you do what I ask, perhaps people will remember how we of Camelot went questing for right and honor and justice. Perhaps one day men will sit around this world as we did once at our table, and go questing once more... for right... honor... and justice.

Ok. That's like, page 2. (lol) and I'm lovin it - looking forward to more interesting toss-ins as we go merrily along our way! =)

Better get back "tuit"... wanna keep the grades up. I fished a letter out of the mailbox, yesterday, nominating me for something called the National Dean's List. No cost to send in a Biography and it automatically gives you some leveragible perks. ... (i.e.: scholarship info, etc...)

May you, yes, YOU!!! have a blessed week!

=) Cheerios,

D.~

Sillies from e-mail land...

Ok. I finally posted the answers to that news quiz - I'll post the links to that one later... right now I've Web Design II to attend to! =) yes. happy, happy, joy, joy... I am digging this! As part of "Portfolio" class we'll be creating our own web page to post our Art - cool beans, huh?
This means I'd better quit typing here and start paying attention to the lecture. hehehee

As You Slide Down the Banister of Life, Remember:

1. Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggert have written an impressive new book.
It's called "Ministers Do More Than Lay People."

2. Transvestite: A guy who likes to eat, drink and be Mary.

3. The difference between the Pope and your boss...
the Pope only expects you to kiss his ring.

4. My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash and it is gone.

5. The only time the world beats a path to your door is if you're in the bathroom.

6. I hate sex in the movies. Tried it once. The seat folded up, the drink spilled and that ice, well, it really chilled the mood.

7. It used to be only death and taxes were inevitable. Now, of course, there's shipping and handling, too.

8. A husband is someone who, after taking the trash out, gives the impression that he just cleaned the whole house.

9. My next house will have no kitchen - just vending machines and a large trash can.

10. A blonde said, "I was worried that my mechanic might try to rip me off. I was relieved when he told me all I needed was turn signal fluid."

11. I'm so depressed. My doctor refused to write me a prescription for Viagra. He said it would be like putting a new flagpole on a condemned building.

12. My neighbor was bitten by a stray rabid dog. I went to see how he was and found him writing frantically on a piece of paper. I told him rabies could be treated, and he didn't have to worry about a Will. He said, "Will? What Will? I'm making a list of the people I want to bite."

13. Definition of a teenager? God's punishment for enjoying sex.

14. As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.

Cheerios 2 all of YOU!!!

=)

D.~

Who's Who News Review

Sooo...
As promissed here's the quiz we used for "table topics" at our Holiday party for the Gazette gang. See if you can work through it without cheating and googling the answers. It's ok to make up answers if you just don't know, matter of fact that was a BIG part of the fun, we had with this thing!!! (No pressure - this is more about fun than facts!)
=)
I'll post the real answers, along with the site I got them from, in a couple days:

Working at a newspaper, we work in an information industry, during a time that's been labeled the 'information age' - how much do we really absorb / pay attention to?

Here are some personalities that may not have been universally famous before the year 2006, but which, nonetheless, became famous by making national and international headlines last year. (For an example: Barbaro - The 2006 Kentucky Derby winner who broke his leg in the Preakness)

Here are the names - what was the story?

1. Claude Allen: President Bush's fromer top domestic adviser, arrested in March - charged with stealing around $5000 worth of merchandise, (ranging from $2.50 items up to home-theater systems) from stores & then returning the products. Plead guilty (in August to a plea agreement) to a misdemeanor count of theft. Allen is to pay $500 fine and $850 restitution to Target.

2. Michelle Bachelet: Chilean doctor and public official, was elected president January 06, becoming Chile's first woman leader. She is a survivor of the Pinochet dictatorship, which was responsible for her father's death & subjected her to prison, torture, and exile.

3. Jill Carroll: Freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped at gun point in January in Baghdad, held for 82 days by a group demanding the United States release all Iraqi women prisoners. She was freed in late March.

4. Sacha Baron Cohen: Actor/Comedian - Best known as Comical fake TV interviewer "Borat". As Borat he starred in the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006).

5. Isabelle Dinoire: Frenchwoman who received the world's first place transplant, appeared at a news conference in February; answering questions about her injuries, explaining that after passing out from taking drugs, her dog chewed her lips, nose, and chin...

6. Taylor Hicks: Singer/Talent Show Contestant Best known as the "Soul Patrol" winner of American Idol 2006.

7. Rev. Ted Haggard: Evangelical minister from Colorado, resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November, after Michael Jones, a gay escort, said he had a 3 year affair with him and gave him drugs. Haggard, who has been a liaison to the White House, initally denied the allegations, but later said he had hired Jones ot give him a massage. He also said he bought methamphetamine from Jones, but never used the drug.

8. John Mark Karr: Schoolteacher, was arrested in Bangkok in August in connection with the 1996 murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. The case against Karr was dismissed 2 weeks later when test results revealed that his DNA did not match the sample taken from Ramsey.

9. Princess Kiko: Wife of the younger son of Japan's emperor, gave birth to a boy in September; sparing Japan a controversial debate over whether women should be allowed to ascend to the throne. The child is 3rd in line to become emperor.

10. Alexander Litvinenko: Former KGB spy, died in London in November after being contaminated with the radioactive isotope polonium 210.

11. Kaavya Viswanathan: College student, admitted in April that she copied several passages from 2 books by Megan McCafferty for her own novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. The Harvard sophomore received wide attention when she was paid $500,000 in a 2-book deal with publisher Little, Brown. Her star dimmed quickly as Little,Brown recalled all copies of the book. Viswanathan, said the plagiarism was "unitentional and unconscious."

12. Harry Whittington: Texas Lawyer, was accidentally shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in February during a hunting trip. His face, neck, and torso were sprayed with dozens of pellets. Cheney - and the entire Bush administration - faced resounding criticism for not publicizing the incidnet for nearly 24 hours, for placing the blame on Whittington rather than Cheney, and for joking about the accident. (after which time the rest of the nation, it seems, went on to joke about the incident as well!)

Bonus: Zinedine Zidane: Kicked out of Soccor's World Cup, for loosing his cool with 'the headbutt heard 'round the world'

Schooling again...

Classes stated up for the Spring semester this past Monday.
It's all coming together pretty darn fast now.
I've got to keep reminding myself about what is and what is not good for time management!!!
I love the blog-o-sphere so, I'll not abandon things here for too long...
Matter of fact I've started up several other blogs for specific things, few of which are or will be connected to this.

I put a beautiful quick post together earlier today - about catching up on movies while I was snowbound and off on Holiday break... and... and... dang. Blogger ATE it! : (

sooooo... here's m'list again... almost all of these are from the older, cheap isles, the keep 'em for 7 days rentals - because I don't frequent the video rental store like I used to. I don't know why. I LOVE a good movie and I'd never seen any of these before I picked up movies for each week I was on 'vacation':

Round 1:
Billy Elliot
Cinderella Man
Freda
Finding Neverland
The Garden State

Round 2:
X Men
The Matrix (which I still ahven't seen! It quit playing 1/4 to 1/2 into the movie. So I returned it. I found out it was the only copy the rental place had and it was scratched up... so I replaced it with...)
Bad Santa
Miracle
Spiderman
Diary of a Mad Black Woman

Round 3:
Prairie Home Companion
Nanny McPhee
Little Miss Sunshine (so disfunctional that I had to go to the 'sceens' selections just to get the thing to play! lol!)
The Break-up
Pink Panther

Round 4:
Devil Wares Prada
Leagally Blonde
The Work and The Glory
The Lord of the Rings:
•The Fellowship of the Rings
•The Two Towers
•Return of the King

I was impressed with the Lord of the Rings movies, I believe Peter Jackson got it as right as could be done. I had an extra appreciation for them after taking the multimedia class last semester - (we worked with Final Cut Pro... which is what movie makers are using now to edit film / sound) I had a bit of trouble with the sound on my rinky dinky tv some of the dialog was getting lost in the musical score & I noticed you could select sound opitons at the menu portion of the DVD. I settled on English subtitles and that smoothed everthing out plus, gave me some of the whisperings sprinkled here and there that I would have missed otherwise.
I remember I was encouraged to read those books (about 30 years ago) by a friend who looked and sometimes acted rather Hobbit-like, Scott Lorentz. (God rest his soul)

I got that 2006 news quiz with me but I think I'll make another post out of it for tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!
=)
D.~

Another Storm link...

Someone e-mailed this to me and I forwarded it on to a few others... I did want to post it here too. I liked the blogger commentary that the guy put up with the pictures. 'specially the one about the pet exercise sign...lol!
The Queen of Panic! ought to find some interest in these as there's some shots of the damage around Kenesaw (she weathered a few storms there herself!) =)
Anyways, here's the link: http://www.extremeinstability.com/06-12-31.htm... scroll down once you get there and follow along pages 1-4. as Storm Crazy Photoman takes you on a little journey.

In other news... I went to the holiday party for the Gazette Saturday night. If it hadn't been for the fact that they were holding a five dollar bill of mine hostage, I might have skipped the party and a whalloping good time, (as it was snowing again all day that day and into the next, you know? Just makes one want to snuggle up at home!) - the deal was you got your five bucks back when you got to the club house. We had the run of the Heritage Hills (golf course) club house and it was just the right size venue for the festivities. I had been inducted onto the planning committe and practically every idea I came up with got played out at the party- all the way down to the making of silly hats out of old gazettes, everyone there had to do this (at the tail end of the party) - each table sent their best effort forward for 'a fashion show' - and then the whole room picked 2 winners: as king & queen of the paper hats. This was such silly good fun! At one point I turned around to see one of the editors, (big guy) had gerry-rigged a pipe cleaner scaffolding/frameworks deal on top of his boxy little hat and had dangling from the center there, a shinny round silver christmas ornament. I'm hoping someone snapped a photo of that one - lol!
We also played: signature bingo, live body bingo, & "The 2006 who's who in the news" table topics, & there was a mini golf putting tournament... which not every one was immediately aware of, I saw a couple people nearly "taken out" by a put or 2 because they'd unknowingly 'wandered' onto the 'green' - well, my golly! They'd set that up right in front of the acess to the Men's and Women's restrooms hehehee.... you couldn't get there any other way.

We were served a wonderful, catered meal. And each found something very special at their place setting - a troy ounce of silver minted into a LARGE Liberty coin, (Indian head on the front, Bison on the back - ) especially for the Gazette. It's silver reclaimed from the lithographic plates used in the paper's runs by some sort of electro-magnetic process... "just one more example of how we do whatever we can to recycle and reclaim. We thought it'd be special if you each got one of these." ...is what we were told.

I love working with these people at the Gazette. I'm glad they called me back after Thanksgiving to fill a part-timer position in customer services. It's going to fit in great with this spring semester.

I don't have a copy with me, but I'll post that news quiz I dregged up - later on this week. I thought it was way fun... the publisher said they might decide to make that one a yearly event! =)

Love and hugs people!
D.~

Blizzard-shots

I captured some interesting photos on my 'spy-phone' however, I've been having troubles downloading from the dadgum phone off to the computer so I could post 'em up here.
Meanwhile the NTV people have gotten tons of pictures submitted to them under their community correspondent program.
Click here on nebraska.tv
There's some great shots from area viewers...
Meanwhile word is we have another storm moving in!
=)

2007 Spiritual theme - for the strength 0f our youth:

" ...let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly;

then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God... "

-- D&C 121:45

A throw back to New Year's

'Nebraska nation'
Human behavior...
Sportmania...
This is funny... at least it struck me that way! I laughed about it last Sunday night/Mondaymorning:
New Year's eve.... thousands and thousands and thousands of Nebraskans (25-26,000 or more) hunkered down, snowed in, no power, treacherous ice and blowing snow everywhere, down to only 1 TV station at my place.
...the 'NTV' news being broadcast by a couple cub reporters out of the Grand Island station due to serious damage to the main station and tower in Hastings (huge chunks of ice breaking free from the tower and crashing through the station roof!!!)
...and what's the lead story?
Get this! ->
Hundreds of phone calls in to the station from Nebraskans wondering how the hell they're going to be able to see the big Nebraska vs. Auburn game if the dadburn station that's subposed to air the match is disabled and not brought back up on line, by kick-off the next morning!!??? (New Year's Day.) lol, lol, lol.... gotta love these fellow Nebraskan's and their dedication to first things first! Right? Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see the Husker's get their butts-kicked, myself, because the original channel everyone was yelling about isn't one I normally get. Due to all the fuss, though, the one (and only one) I was pulling in got "special permission" to also broadcast the game. Whoo-Hoo!... too bad those Huskers went on to drop the ball - over and over again. *sighs*
In other, yet somewhat related news... I just thought I'd speculate a bit on market 'futures' here....
the President finally got around to declaring this state a Federal disaster area - which will help us, however, no power often times means 'no water' in these parts since alot of wells are electronically switched... this means plenty of live stock where not only near impossible to get to but, they've been 'OUT-there' in below freezing temps and below zero wind chill for days and days without feed & water... they've not counted this cost yet but more than likely there's a few million $$$$ frozen to the ground right now that won't be heading to any market - ever.
I'm thinking the cost of beef is about to go way up.
If you love it, now might be a good time to stock up on all things, beef.
Just a thought...

Update...

Turns out my unexpected bovine was a BULL.
Yes.
That makes it official bull-sh**, that was left behind...
and,
speaking of behinds,
I'm especially glad, now, that I did not run right out there and "check the rear" for this critter's station identification! lol! =)
.

Hello 2007!

Hello 2007!
...and helloooooooo...
(heart - skips a beat, for fleeting fright and 2 more measures, for sheer surprise!)
What is this strange, oddly BIG (and *gasp* moving!) shape standing on just the other flimsy side of my door?
Good Golly, It's barely 8 a.m. and dang it am I glad I'm not nakid right now... pulling on the teddy bear nightshirt - coming straight up out of bed was a good idea... why did I do it?
Ah, yes.
Intuition.
Whispered, "you may have an unexpected visitor" ... and now, coming up out of the basement, I find I - I have ... a ... (pulls the lovely lace curtain aside) COW??? (an unexpected visitor, indeed!) A rather nice looking brown cow ...in my carport.
Parked neatly in, next to the car.
A window peeping cow - apparently.
As close to the house as she could be - 'for warmth no doubt,' I thought.
There we stood.
Gazing at one another.
Looking through the large glass, a window through the door, really, and into each other's big brown eyes.
Humm.
I'll call Rick. It's probably his cow, even if it isn't, he's going to be much more ready, willing and able to deal with her... or is it him? Yes. I'm pathetic. Living in beef country and I'm 'zip' knowledgeable on how to tell the difference, nor do I care, to tell, mind you, between cow and steer. (If I had to lay money on it I'd go with steer though!) ;-)
Rick is a favorite of mine (even though I don't talk to him near enough these days)... and I'm not just saying that because he come along on his tractor Sunday morning - blading all the trails out here, along with a courtesy bumpout, in the driveway directly behind my car - Whoo-hoo! - God Love him! - he's a cousin, who operates the Well Drilling service just up the road from me. And, did I mention he keeps a few cows around the place?
So I call him up and get Lisa, his lovely wife - who asks me, before calling Rick herself, what color is the cow?
"Brown." I say. "It's a very nice, brown cow. In my carport. Staying nice and warm up near the house and out of the wind."
I got to thinking after we'd said goodbye that - that was a good question. The cows across the road are mostly black with an occasional white patch. I guess that's why I immediately thought this was Rick's cow. Because of it's beautiful coloring. Then I wondered if it was the same 0ne that was so watchful over my mowing last summer.
=)
Soooo watchful that it almost made me feel bad I wasn't bagging the clippings and dumping all that sweetness over the fenceline for that cow to savor for real - rather than just standing by - a watchin' and a wishin'.
.
.
.
Any who,
What does the 'Sign of the Bovine' mean exactly?
Especially at the beginning of a brave, new year?
Does this mean I'll have good luck for the rest of the year?
...meat (ahem) meet the 'beef-cake' of my dreams?
... I'm taking it as a good sign - no indication that I'm about to be slaughtered - heh. please!...
...How do I KNOW it's intended to be a good sign of things to come???
Simple.
That beautiful, brown cow left behind a little brown gift... lol...
Now, I'm ready for anything and everything!
Moooove it on over people.
Keep a wide shovel close by
And ...
Let the good times roll!
Love to all who pass this way!
Hugsss,
D.~

Pictures....

Something nice from Catchy Colors...

Try this link.
Should take you to a fun little Christmas 2006 assortment posted through the catchy colors photoblog...
=)
Merry Christmas!
D.~

P.S.- December Bills: paid in full...
.Carrollers at the door with a plate of goodies, too...
.My favorite nephews coming to visit with both their parents in tow...
.Next school day? -> January 15th.
.
Ooooh. I'm o, so, gonna enjoy my month "off"!
Cheerios to all of YOU!
All the best in 2007!!!

Owh! =)

After testing her baby language theory on more than 1,000 infants around the world, Priscilla says there are 5 words that every babies 0-3 months old say - regardless of race and culture:

• Neh="I'm hungry"
• Owh="I'm sleepy"
• Heh="I'm experiencing discomfort"
• Eair="I have lower gas"
• Eh="I need to burp"

These words are actually sound reflexes....

Check it out! Here's the link (to yesterday's Oprah Winfrey show) to read and or listen to this way cool revelation about baby-kind!

Cheerios!

D.~

Time for Another Prairie Home Joke...

Life is all about ass: You're either covering it,
laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it,
trying to get a piece of it, or behaving like one.

(This joke was credited to:
Barry Clark, Fredericksburg, Virginia)

Butt....
it SOooo reminds me of my last bf - I just had to paste it here.
.
Note:
"Jokes are democratic. Telling one right has nothing to do with having money or being educated. It's a knack, like hammering a nail straight. Anyone can learn it, and it's useful in all sorts of situations. You can go your whole life and not need math or physics for a minute, but the ability to tell a joke is always handy."
- Garrison Keillor

=)
Cheerios 2 all of you!
D.~

P.S.-(in rememberance of Pearl Harbor ... I'm being especially kind to any and all veterans today... which reminds me, I got a few cards I need to get out in the mail. God bless all our men and women in service to this sweet land of liberty!)

Ah...the Christmas HYMNS!

One of the special things about church services in the month of December are the Christmas Hymns.

Today's services were opened with this one:

Angels We Have Heard on High

Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o' er the plains,
And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains.

Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.
Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.
Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.

Shepherds, why this jubilee? Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be Which inspire your heav'nly song?

Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.
Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.
Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.

Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord, the new born King.

Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.
Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.

Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.

.

(yeah. If you're reeeeeally into music... you'll note from the way I factored in the 'Glorias' above here - that I take to the 'alto' line - thankful, too, of all the other voices which cover and out shine mine. heh.)

.

Today, being the first Sunday of the month, was also a fast and testimony service... those always bring the spirit close.

It's a blessing and a privilege to fast and pray for special purpose - all of which would be incomplete if it was not followed up by generous offerings.

A blessing and special privilege, also, to have the opportunity to either stand and bare personal testimony of the Gospel - as Christ exemplified through out His entire ministry - or, sit quietly by, listening to other's speak, through inspiration's power, of the deeply moving experiences, treasures really - that they've gained through exercising their faith in the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Awesome, uplifting, thought provoking, stuff.

.

I had a mini break with the grindstone last night...

I went with friends to the theater on campus and took in the closing night performance of 'Miracle on 34th Street'.

It was sweet.

I'd forgotten how cool and funny and sweetly touching small town community theater is. 'Cause you just 'know' a good portion of the cast, personally (in some form or fashion) - which only adds to the delight of seeing them carrying on 'in character'. (Big, cheesy grins!!! ha!)

It was the first time I'd been in that theater for anything (other than the induction ceremony to Phi Theta Kappa).

It's all pretty much 'black-box' and I wondered how they'd pull off something as complex as 'Miracle on 34th Street'.

Ingeniously, they used a projector to change backdrops for the scenes which meant the most elaborate set up they had overall, was the court room set - and for that - the actors individually carried their own props on and off the stage area during the fade-to-black in-between the scenes.

.

I'm thinking this was my big cozmic prompt to get out and do more in the name of FUN! Once the semester is over and I hit that luxurious Winter break... ahhhhh. (eyes glaze over...)

Ya know, I poo-pooed and put up a wee resistance...

I didn't wanna go.

(Listen! -> Hear that faint rattle of m' Marley chains connecting text books to brain. ???)

I sure did enjoy it, though once I got there and was in the mix and thick of it all.

Thankfully my friends wouldn't take "no" for the answer - your ticket will be at the door. .. . .. .

When I got there, a gracious man by the name of Tom told me, "You've been paid for."

&

I thought, 'Yes. So I have. Haven't we all?'

...reflecting on the Christmas season we are now entering into....

... haven't we all been paid for?

... by, Him whose birth the angels sing...'

Glo - ooo-o, ooo-o, ooo-o ri-a in excelsis Deo.

=)

D.~

Crunch time...

I may not be posting for a while...
Finals are hurling towards us.
Only 2 (2!!!???) weeks left for classes before finals week drains the living breath out of each and every surviving brain cell and nerve, that have not yet deserted me.
Plus...
I've a grand decision to ratify.
I'm thinking about pulling a double major.
For the equivalent of one more semester's work I can double degree.
One in graphic design
One in business
I'm 97% certain this is what I should do.
.
There was one consideration of special interest that I had been holding in reservation to taking this course and extending my time here at MCC.
.
After careful observations, prayers, and reflections over the questions I've asked and the answers (& non answers!) I've received - I'm pretty sure I know what the right pathway is here.
.
It's the one I'm already on!
.
...and that's a very good thing to carry into this finals week with me!
.
Cheerios to all of you!
=)
D.~

First Thanksgiving of All

Some thoughts from a favorite book of mine: PURE LOVE - readings on sixteen enduring virtues - selected with reflections, by Marilyn Arnold.........

"I do not know of any, excepting the unpardonable sin, that is greater than the sin of ingratitude," said Brigham Young, (Journal of Discourses 14:277) In the United States, and in other countries too, the idea of gratitude has been formalized bya national holiday. In the United states we typically observe the occasion by honoring the Pilgram fathers and mothers who gratefully made a feast from simple fare.

FIRST THANKSGIVING OF ALL

Peace and Mercy and Jonathan,
And Patience (very small),

Stood by the table giving thanks

The first Thanksgiving of all.
There was very little for them ot eat,

Nothing special and nothing sweet;

Only bread and a little broth,
And a bit of fruit (and no tablecloth);

But Peace and Mercy and Jonathan
And Patience, in a row,
Stood up and asked a blessing on
Thanksgiving, long ago.

Thankful they were their ship had come
Safely across the sea;
Thankful they were for hearth and home,
And kin and company;

They were glad of broth to go with their bread,
Glad their apples were round and red,
Glad of mayflowers they would bring
Out of the woods again next spring.

So Peace and Mercy and Jonathan,
And Patience (very small),
Stood up gratefully giving thanks
The first Thanksgiving of all.

--( Nancy Byrd Turner.)

cornucopia....

Anemae Jacks

That's right. The assignment for yesterday's class was to annimate 'something' and since I was working with the Jacks I did them. I was gonna post the little show here, 150 seconds.... however.... the 'Quick time movie" failed to load. Oh well. I wasn't that satisfied with the action in it... although I did like the way I was able to get the ball to bounce and spin and kinda flatten/flex a little, everytime it appeared to hit the counter top.

I wanna

Yes. I wanna animate everything we've done so far now... I've gone crazy for the Cinema4D program...
the toy train,
the 3D logo - I choose the Gazette name plate for that one. Having the 'newsboy' <-(airplane) come flying outta nowhere, barrel roll, and fly through that uppercase G would be a gas, I think. =)
then there's the tea pot & dishes you have not seen here yet, and of course,
the butterflies at the gazing ball.
I'm wondering if having the butterflies emerge from the gazing ball one by one would be a good effect?
I was thinking about replacing the art work on their wings with the faces of my lovely nieces and nephews... only problem is I'm not sure if I have the most up to date pix of all the little darlings.
There was a camera full of good shots from the 4th of July 'lost' sometime shortly there after.
*sighs*
Maybe I can capture some good ones on my 'spy phone' tomarrow. hehehee.

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

Guess I'll move along to wishing everyone a "Happy Thanksgiving" here's a sampler clip-art from Dover...
bless their hearts, they send me sampler clip art every Wednesday - the old style stuff - the stuff with no ties to copy right.
I like the old charm these have very well indeed, thank you very much.
See the next post up for some special Thanksgiving thoughts I'd like to keep journaled here.
.
.
.
I think that I, like a lot of people I know, have much to be thankful for.
We like to complain... it's a human frailty, hard to over come when it was such a successful strategy for survival, during the infancy / toddler years... and to this day how do you improve? Zero in on what could use some improvement? If you haven't the fortitude to register or receive the occasional honest complaint to or from someone deserving to do or have better?
Tomarrow, though, it's all about what is good and what we as individuals and as a nation have to be thankful for.
I'm thinking about starting a list. lol!
let it run on til next Thanksgiving.
That would be a whoot, no?
I'll start here:
1st I'm thankful for my testimony that Christ lives. I'm extremely thankful for the knowledge that there is a God, a loving heavenly Father, and I am thankful for my church - the best spirtiual school I've ever attended - It has worked miracles in my life.
2nd I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for the love they've shown to me.
3rd I'm thankful for the opportuity to return to school and study after my hearts desire... this business of Art.
and finally, I'm thankful for all the good people I've meet along the way thus far - many, many of you are truly remarkable human beings - nothing but the best wishes and blessings for each and everyone!

(What are you thankful for?)
Hugs,
D.~

Depth of Field

. As promised here's the assignment, cropped in tight with some depth of field added in. 1st front and back have the blur. 2nd a look with only the back in blur. 3rd no application of depth of field. Which do you like better?
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.
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.
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.
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.
.
Xs & Os people.
Xs & Os!
;-)

D.~

10 Jacks...

The assignment was to create a ball & jacks scene. This picture used to be a lip-stick, a perfume bottle, an ear-ring & an eyebrow pensil. I decided not to "reinvent the wheele" so I used the basic back ground and materials to create the new scene. the red ball used to be the lip stick. The jacks here, used to be 1 dangle ear ring. I'm also supposed to apply a "depth of field effect" - just haven't gotten that far yet....
When I do - I'll doc. it here.

Cheerios to all who pass this way!
and...
if I don't get back on before next Thursday...
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!!!
=)
D.

Move over Maxfield Parish... =)

Butterflies in the sky...

It's Greek to me...

Confession ('97)

It was 1997 (I think?) when I first heard his ‘confession’…

Thankfully it had nothing to do with me – at the least, I had nothing to do with scaring the boy. I liked him. There seemed to be an instant immediacy, a familiarity and trust between us – although I never talked about this feeling to him, to see if he’d felt it too, I just accepted it as is. I’d had enough confirmation in time past to verify this feeling, whenever it came, as generally being a mutual deal.

I was just a momentary supervisor in time to him… an 'on-the-job' training coach for pity’s sake…

One night the boy blurted out, “Love is a bad, bad thing. I don’t want anything to do with love.”

I don’t recollect now, why he’d say such a thing to me. Perhaps I’d asked, in passing, how his girlfriend was, or made some conspirator’s remark as in: ‘wouldn’t you love to be done with work, out of here, and off with your friends ….?’

It surprised me, what he’d said.
Had I heard right?
Was this young man on the edge of hating love and hardening his heart?
….. forever, maybe?

I do remember what I said to him:

I told him that I thought he'd had it wrong.
That to me, love - true, pure love - is a good thing. The very best thing you can ever cultivate in your own heart and the greatest gift one human being could ever bestow, sustain, and nurture in relationship to another.

I told him that one needed to keep in mind though, that just because you'd the best, heartfelt gift to give - it didn't necessarily mean the person you'd most like to give it to, would receive that gift. They may not be able to.

And…
Also…

Did he not know that there must-needs-be opposition in all things?

I told him I knew that there were a lot of wicked ‘things’ out in the world masquerading as love – all of which really had nothing, whatsoever to do with love - quite the opposite actually... those things, those pretentious, impersonating, imposters … were/are/and continue to be the bad thing, the scary thing, the stuff that’ll hurt you - for the very fact that they are not at all what they pretend to be, they are not LOVE.

I told him that:
Real love is the ‘balm’.
Love is good.
...
and
...
Good is good.

I’m not sure he heard me right. I wonder now if he’d thought I’d said, “REAL love is DA Bomb!”
lol
;-)

Isn't it amazing how, sometimes, trying to clairify something for someone else, helps us to better sort the subject for our own sakes?

For me, the scary thing was this thought of the young man ordering his world with the good thing as bad (and so very possibly giving bad things a status of gooood.) No decent coach EVER wants to see that!

hummm guess I'll roll over to Sunday on this note:

Hebrews 10:35 - Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

Love and love s'more...
D.

Roswell...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
I just finished handing out goodies to all the little children hitting up the campus for treats this year.
Dig it!

This picture takes advantage of a program aspect that even lets you pick what place, date, and time you'd like the "sky" in your scene to be. . . then automatically renders it in there for you!
Cool Beans?!
Yep.
Set this one to Roswell, NM - at just around midnight....
Have a sweet, safe night!
=)
D

P.S.-This is one that looks better if you double click on the pix and view it enlarged....

Porch Light On...

A run on the LAW...

That's right.
A run on the LAW...
feels somehow like I 'got away' with something.
I had 4 big test out of 5 classes last week.
The 1st one being in my Business Law class.
Over a half dozen chapters.
Thank God, - literally - and the teacher, for that one being an open book.
I hadn't read all the chapters.
I tried, but, not only is this book the biggest, heaviest, most cumbersome book I've got this semester - it could quantify as a major sleep aid, people.
I missed a class or two of lecture.
(Death, Illness...)
...and...
Here's the amazing part:
I managed to miss out on only 8 questions
and I still scored a 100%!!!
(insert beaming smile here.)

He (teacher), bless his heart <-(in the true Nebraskan sense of this phrase), graded on a curve & I managed to be one of the one's topping the curve!
Whew!

I was disgusted, for a minute, reviewing the test when I saw 2 questions that should have been logical gimmes - which I totally blew... but then I recalled that I'd missed 8 and still scored a 100%. By the Grace of God, I'm telling ya ...and... through the open-book, open-notes sensibilities of this teacher.
=)

Happy Wednesday / happy Hump-day everybody!

I've a great deal more to do so ...
Back2it.
D.

So I learned some more about applying textures, backgrounds and such...
and I applied what I learned to the Teapot exercise.
Here's my results...

Friday October 13th

~
They found your body
(& the corpus of your cat)
on a Friday, October 13th...

I'll never forget getting the call -
The one from your cousin...
Me in my Sunday dress -
curious over the strains of her small talking and then...
Her voice saying,
"Joe died."
.
.
.
.
The clarity and conviction with which I said to her,
"No."
"No!"
"I just talked to him!",
...made her second guess the finality of what she already knew to be true.
I know it did.
I could feel her hesitation...sifting through realities in her world
- up -
on the Holy alpine streches of a far-western, reaching sky...
She was considering the supernal, the supernatural -
worlds,
lives,
loves
without end.
I know she was...
Considering that you weren't "quite" gone yet...

...and...

in that instant...
realities in my world shifted too, to ........
I knew.
(NOT willing to believe it, yet...)
I knew.
You were.
&
She was - breaking - the news.

I couldn't make the funeral.
My veil would have been too thin

I've never been ground -
that deeply sad
in
all
my
days.

At least we'd talked
We'd said what we needed to say
maybe not all that we had to say
but, was it enough - ?
It mustneedsbe.
You.
So self-professedly bad at writing -
surprised me
NOT!
that you hadn't left a note...
...was I your note?
Nah.
You were never that planned.
More happenstance, perhaps...
I think...
... it seemed that way to your family...
that I was somewhat of a "Footenote" - from you...
you'd trusted me with pieces of mind, heart and soul
with shadows, doubts & fears which you'd not given over to them.

You joked with me that I knew you better than you knew yourself...

One year latter, I saw them for myself.
Your family.
I gave them every picture I ever had of you.
ok. I censured that sexy, fetching little-bathtub-one.
I figured your Momma didn't need to see that one.
=)
She was so agrieved...
Yet she was gracious and good to me.
They all were.
Laura told me of your later visit - your spiritual visit
The one to your Aunt, because her sister was too grieved for the loss of her son, for your spirit could not break through her thick tears to speak any sort of peace to her "Mother's broken heart"...
You'd plead for that to stop -
from the world of spirits -
you came, escorted no less,
a message,
a plea,
for your Momma to not grieve YOU, not so hard -
how her sad was holding you
somewhat tied...
... to her...
that...
She needed to know
that...
you were
FREE.

I tried you know,
to not grieve you so hard -
for the sudden end to your living possibilities
for "our world" minus you
I sent them a baloon for you -
that being a special thing between you and me
A blue baloon with a silver string...
and a peace rose.
and many, many prayers...
but you know all that by now, don't you?
I thought of the birthdays we'd shared...
I thought
a lot
of you.
I've stopped asking, "Why?"
I know.
You had to go, Joe.

Rest in Peace, Dear one.
It's good to know that you are free.
... I always wished you could be.
Only...
I never,
ever,
thought -
it would be like this.
Rest in Peace.
Rest in Peace.
Rest in Peace
D.~

Here's the cool thang...

Once you create a scene in Cinema 4D you can rotate, scale, move - it offers amazing flexibility in creative compositions.
Here's the Little Teapot & spoon exercise - with lights & from 3 different angles...
I even moved the spoon to the other side of the teapot and spun it around to a front view on the last example.
It's the same picture - but with this program you can spin it the way, almost anyway, you want to!!!
Before I "rendered" the scene I could even go down below the horizon line, & look at it, the teapot & the spoon, through the place mat... I mean to tell you this program is cool, cool, COOL!

Blue Gasssss

This was yet another class room exercise in lighting sceens from the Cinema 4D program.
The composition has 4 lights.
2 simulating jets
1 simulating a nebulean gaseous space cloud
1 "Omni" light, high & opposite the blue gas cloud to spring highligts off the ship.
Coolio - huh?
=)
D

A Red Planet

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2 "light sources" + 12 adjustment steps in Cinema 4D program turned this image out in a jiffy. Then, because I liked what I saw - I pulled it to photoshop for a background, side frillies, and a sig. just so I could jpeg it to the blog here. Cool Beans?!
No.
Not goofing off.
This was the assignment due.
Now on to a little exploring on my own.
=)
D.~

T-T-T-Testing!

I'm developing a nervous tick in my t-t-t-typing fingers. :P
I've got some HUGE testing coming on next week:

• Business Law
• Multi-media
• Marketing

SO... I maybe even harder pressed to post that ever before.

Back to the books for me.

You all have a woo-hoo weekend.

Seriously.

Run out and win the lottery.

Track down and phone up a long lost buddy.

Drink in the fall colors either on your own or with a loved one in tow.

Savor every breath of life....

Because you can.

Cheerios2U!

D~

Intro 3D

The text book is 3D Modeling with Cinema 4D R9
An Introduction to the Art & Technology of 3D Modeling with Maxon Cinema 4D
by Tony Alley
This is the first project the class has converted to psd (& I took it to jpeg here to share with ya'll).
It's a wooden toy train.
The book has it kept in entirely wood-finish renderings.
The class was allowed to play and choose whatever we would like.
I wanted the feeling of a well loved wooden toy coming alive.
(ok. I just re-read that... its an innocent, artistic thought. Have mercy. No Freudian, pysco-babble, wise-cracker remarks, please! lol...)
This is so fun.
I love my studies.
God help me to find a way to keep going with 'em and there after use what I've learned to good purpose.
Amen.

P.S. - As always you can double click on the image to enlarge your view if you'd like....

Detail of a Sea Shell

Been a while now since I posted any pencil sketching.

Here's an empty Shell...
Just for you...
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D.~

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes....

Friday was my "last" day at the daily Gazette. =(
I loved that job.
I loved the people I was working with.
I really learned a lot.
Wish it could have gone on trough this entire learning journey into the Graphic side of communications that I've got m'self on...tisk...*sighs*
Here's the LAST AD they tossed my way.
It was to be a message for the area Ministerial Association... and about the only other thing they'd written down, for me to "create" with was the phrases:
"Just say no" <-(to drugs) and "Say yes to God" Troubling when you consider the size - it was to be a "4x8" which in newspaper terms means a 4 column wide, 8 inch long advertisement. A wee bit less than a notebook or regular "copy-size" page of paper. Hummmm. What to do? Well, I googled - of course & the first image was the fried egg thang. lol. So done already.... then I found this site. Just as I've feared. Caffeine, my nemesis, is one of the worst and most highly socialized of the bunch!
I know some of you have you're own juries out as to weather or not there even is a God... for you I'd suggest substituting the word "Love" whenever the God reference comes up... that's assuming we can read it once I post it here. I had to make a jpeg out of it so... this posting may never see the light of day on this blog anyway... I didn't size it down any as I usually do. Thinking that if you'd like to read it - reading would be better if you could click it larger.
Hope all is well in your worlds
Cheerios 2 all who pass this way...
Hugs!
D.

Singles Ads...

I loved this e-mail...

This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in the Atlanta Journal.

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Daisy, I'll be waiting....
Please scroll down . .
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Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8-week-old black Labrador retriever.

Mmm...Racey stuff!

I'm a Porsche 911!

You have a classic style, but you're up-to-date with the latest technology. You're ambitious, competitive, and you love to win. Performance, precision, and prestige - you're one of the elite,and you know it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

United States Constitution...

“Let our government be like that of the solar system. Let the general government be like the sun and the states the planets, repelled yet attracted, and the whole moving regularly and harmoniously in several orbits.”— John Dickinson (Delaware Delegate), 1787

The United States Constitution is one of the most important documents our country has ever signed and put into effect. On September 17, 1787, 39 delegates signed the United States Constitution, creating the basis of the government that we know and still use today.

Quick Post Toastie

Doh!
I went to post here, to catch up the blog on what's been going on and Blogger ate it!

Post Toastie, indeed!!!

D'Cheerios 2U2, blogger! Heh.
=)Dorko

Subjects...

Marketing
Web Design
Business Law
3D Design & Animation
Multimedia
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=)
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+ working part-time in my field (Graphic Design) at the local daily Gazette.
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Homework already being assigned.
Gonna be a busy semester.
Lookin' for a way to finish up these portraits and maybe start a few more...
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Cheerios to all of you!

Promises kept...

I know.
I know, I know, I know. All this time - this summer time - and the woman's still not done with them yet. Plus I've got MORE! More projects in my head that I need to get down on paper - however these shown here need that all satisfying finish given to them, first! ;-)
The last 4 weeks have been gruling in terms of time management... Will be looking forward to this Friday with great thanksgiving - for it's payday, yes, but more importantly for being given an opportunity to do what I love to do... (sighs)
Today - all my household chores and the priority heir apparent, THE LAWN - in desperate need of a mow job, tomorrow... more service to my gainful employments. Next week? Semester 3 out of 4 ... getting there - priceless! =)
OK
Hope you enjoyed the brief update... I'll be back soon to post the finals on these and maybe some starts on some others.
Have a Grrreat week!
D.~

Peek-a-Boo...

Thought I'd look in on the old blog just to see if anything was going on... and maybe leave an update. I am looking forward to visiting you all after the semester starts... I definately have some catching up to do! =)
I'll be adjusting to this crazy schedule with the work I'm doing right now - just in time for it to end, and for me, to start school up again.
If I happen to be in town, at the paper tomorrow, (it may end up that way depending on how much work I get done for them tonight!?) I'll up date some art here... if not I promise, come Monday afternoon - updates.
Big smile and warm wishes for any and all who pass this way...
Hugs,
D ~

Whew! Hot Hot Hot Summer....

We like a little heat in our summers, now don't we?
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I'll let ya'll wonder if I'm 'just' talking about the weather... or... not? (heh)
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School will have to start for me to get a break in the action out here on the Prairielands.
I'm working here and here and while I'm not actually working at this place, I am working with these people...
There's a link to a recent, local news release, related to economic development, the center for enterprise, main-street development and this 21CSI on their Web Page (I'm being told that is scheduled for an up date in the near future)...
I'm enjoying a VERY minor roll in (human) resource development with the 21CSI people... hoping all goes well - would love to find a way to build and continue rather than work myself out of a great job... however... it'll be what it'll be, my focus right now is on the present.
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Reminds me of that old quote I love so well:
Yesterday is History
Tomorrow is a Mystery
Today is a Gift -
That's why we call it 'the Present'
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I promise to post an update on my drawings soon...
Just gotta make the rent ...and um, 'grab a little summer gusto' fer m'self while the getting's good! lol! ;-)
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Cheerios to all who pass this way...
D~