Feeling Bloggy

Teddy Bear Logos

2011-12-09T10:18:00.004-07:00

Logos featuring Teddy Bears, that you can buy, and have your own business name put on. Find these, and many more at Stock Logos

Rainbow logos

2011-12-09T10:06:00.005-07:00

Rainbow colored logos you can buy! Lots more at StockLogos.

2011-12-09T09:54:00.003-07:00

Here's something to help new businesses. Stock logos. Just pick the one you want, at the price you like.

http://stocklogos.com/

2011-03-09T12:19:00.012-07:00

For this set, I took the flower out on the patio.

Here, I set it on the railing, to the left, facing the sun.

In this shot, I set the vase on the right end of the railing, with the sun directly behind it.

Here, I moved the vase a little to the left, so that the sun is behind and to the right. This lets the sunlight filtering through the petal light up the core of the flower for a more even exposure.

This is the one of this set I will probably work on and eventually submit.

All these pictures (including the first set) were taken only a minute or two apart. Taking just a little time to think about and look over your available lighting can make a big difference in your photo.

2011-03-09T12:01:00.009-07:00

All of the pictures in this tutorial were taken somewhere in this scene. I used the light exactly as you see it here. Not even reflectors. The changes in lighting were all done by simply moving my subject around.

Here is the "snapshot" version of the subject. A peace lily in a glass. (I know it's out of focus, this is about the lighting)

The only editing I have done in the following pictures is to crop them to similar scale, and paint the backgrounds black. I have done no other editing.

Here is the lily where it was sitting in the first picture.

Here it is rotated 90 degrees, and moved a few inches. this puts it under one of the little spotlights on the underside of the cabinets.

Here, I have rotated it another 90 degrees, and moved it two feet closer to the wall. Here, it is not only under a spotlight, it is getting some sunlight from the patio door.

Any of these could be improved with editing, but the last one is starting from a better place. It has a crisper focus because there was more light on the subject. The color is closer to correct, and the lighting is more even.

The second picture could be made nice, as well. The shadows are more interesting than in the third picture. But, it would be tricky to get the contrast adjusted well without bringing out the grain.

The first picture is hopeless, and not worth spending time doing further editing on. Adjusting the contrast for a lively appearance would produce grain, and the shallow depth of field would make it unacceptable for many stock sites.

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About scriptures in serial numbers on guns: A caution to Christians.

2010-01-24T11:31:00.001-07:00

I will start by pointing out that faith in the written word is not limited to Christianity. It is common in many faiths to write sacred words down, enclose them in some sort of special container, and wear or carry these objects. The purpose can be to protect the bearer from evil, to bring them closer to an understanding of the Divine, or to amplify their prayers.

The significant aspect here is that the bearer knows he is carrying a sacred talisman.

If you write "I will walk in the ways of the Lord all the days of my life." on a piece of paper, and put it in your shoe, you are observing a human custom that goes all the way back to the first written symbols.

This can be a wonderful tool for the Faithful, in developing their spirituality.

But, what if you don't know it's there? Does the scripture still have power?

Many people, Christian or otherwise, believe it does. To anyone who thinks it is a good idea to hide scriptures in things for general distribution, you should consider how a non-Christian might feel upon discovering it.

So, think about this. Suppose you opened your wallet, and on the back side of the little fabric label with the maker's name on it, you found an Islamic scripture, or even a Satanic symbol?

How would you feel? Would you keep the wallet?

Surely, you would feel as though you had been attacked. At the very least put upon.

As I understand it, as a Christian, your God has charged you with one mission, and one mission only. That is to spread the word of Jesus and Salvation, so that all may be saved.

The person must be aware of Jesus, and consciously accept him, and Salvation.

What happens when you sneak a scripture into their stuff? Will they become aware of Jesus, and accept salvation? Or are they more likely to throw the item away in disgust, and decide that Jesus is a sneaky, underhanded deceiver?

You have to think these things though. No one can be forced to accept Christ. It wouldn't be right to do so, even if it were possible. If you try to be sneaky about it, you are only going to drive people away.

People like me.

Positive thinking alone is toxic

2009-07-29T07:46:00.001-06:00

There's a fad philosophy going around right now, best represented by the book, "The Secret". It's a re-hash of the "positive thinking" fad of the 20th century.

The basic idea is that you can improve your life just by thinking the right way, and "attracting" positive things to yourself.

There is a small amount of truth to this. If you are not on the lookout for good things, you can easily miss them. A person with a defeatist attitude will just sit in misery, rather than take action to change it.

But, there are two really BAD things about this idea.

The first is that it encourages people to faith without action. If you can get what you want by sitting in your back yard and meditating, why go out and work for it? The truth is, if you want to be a Marine Biologist, visualizing it is all well and good, but you still need to get into the Ocean and study.
(Nearly twenty years ago, I wrote a rant on this very topic. It was called "God answers prayer; He does not grant wishes.")

The second, and worst bad thing about the idea is the unconscious way in which it blames people for bad things that happen to them. If you can attract things with your thoughts, and a tornado wipes out your house... well, you must have wanted to get rid of that house!

A friend of mine who thinks "The Secret" is something wonderful and new has a lot of trouble facing the more unpleasant aspects of reality. She was upset to hear news of the Virginia Tech shooting. So were most of us. The idea that you can be minding your own business and someone just wanders in and shoots you is not a happy one. However, it is a possibility. It's not likely, but it is possible. My friend simply could not accept that. She actually said to me, "I guess those people were ready to move on..." meaning that they were killed because they wanted to die.

THAT is the ultimate conclusion of all these "positive thoughts" philosophies.

It leads not only to blaming people for bad things that happen to them, but to believing that, because you don't want bad things to happen to you, they won't.

The world simply does not work that way.

If a meteor falls on your head, it is not because you didn't have the right thoughts. It's because meteors occasionally fall, and you happened to be standing where one fell. It's not personal, it's not your fault, it has no meaning. The important thing is what you DO about a rock falling on your head at random.

Once you have put your hands to your head to feel the knot, and said "ow!ow!ow!" you can react in several ways.

If you subscribe to "The Secret" philosophy, and you can go over and over your thinking to see how you attracted this negative event. Or you can puzzle over what great lesson the Universe has for you in this pain.

Or, you can look for the rock, find it, and think it's pretty cool that you got hit by a meteor, and show it off to your friends.

The great lesson is that, sometimes rocks fall from the sky, and if you happen to be standing under it at the time, you get a painful lump on your head.

Don't do meth

2009-03-26T10:12:00.002-06:00

Meth is poison.

It's nasty stuff. I was still doing drugs when it started showing up, and it scared the old-timers. Long time junkies and potheads saw what it did to people and wouldn't touch the stuff.

If junkies think it's bad shit...

The difficulty with controlling meth is that it is so easy to make. There are some organized manufacturers and dealers, but more than half of it is homebrew, a sort of twisted entrepeneurial venture.

The only cure I see for meth abuse is REAL drug education. The problem with current "official" drug education is that it calls all drugs equally bad. Using ANY illegal drug just once will "ruin your life!" Kids read that, and then they see their friends try pot, and NOT turn in to raving potheads. So, it's natural for them to assume that, if that part was a lie, it's all lies.

Part of the problem is also WHY people do drugs. Young people try things. They play dangerous games like "space monkey", and experiment with drugs because they are curious about the world, and about their own sensations. There's no real cure for that. The best that can be done is to keep young people from becoming bored, by keeping them challenged in positive ways.

Other people turn to drugs as self-medication. They don't feel good. Drugs make them feel better. (or at least, feel nothing for a while) The solution to that is to find young people who have emotional problems and get them some proper medical help before they discover the pleasures of illegal drugs.

The problem with meth is that, unlike other illegal drugs, meth really IS instantly, aggressively addictive. Most people who try pot don't turn into addicts. Most people who try meth, DO. It's orders of magnitude more dangerous to play with.

A lot of the victims of meth had no idea what they were getting into. They thought it would be like sneaking a drink or a cigarette, or smoking pot behind the gym. These things produce a sense of intoxication that most people find pleasant.

Meth does something quite different.

Endorphins are our bodies' pleasure hormones. If you ride a roller coaster, and feel "up" afterward, that's endorphins. After sex, which produces one set of endorphins, if you lay around just grinning and feeling good, that's more endorphins. That satisfied feeling after doing some really hard physical work is endorphins, too. They are our reward for taking risks, working hard, and procreating.

Meth causes the body to produce vast quantities of almost every endorphin. Researchers were flabbergasted by the amounts they found in the blood of users. They didn't think the body could produce that much. The effect is short lived, and afterward, hormone production, exhausted, shuts down completely. Blood levels drop below the levels found in most sufferers of clinical depression.

So, it takes you to heights you never knew before (and can't get to any other way), then dumps you in a pit.

A young person seeking sensation, or a poor person seeking a brief respite from life, stumbles into this pit, and can't get out. Even if, intellectually, you know that you just have to wait a while for your brain to get working again, it's hard to just let yourself stay miserable when there is someone there with a crystal that will make you feel all better again. And, you tell yourself, "I'll just do a little bit... just enough to feel better... that's all...then no more..."

This is the one drug where never trying it at all is really the truth. I wouldn't advise anyone to try drugs in general, but if you do decide to mess around... don't do this one.

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Scandal in the BDSM scene!

2009-01-30T10:01:00.003-07:00

Did you know that there is an international contest for Master and Slave?

http://www.internationalmasterandslave2008.com/
http://www.masterslaveconference.org/

Yup, kinky folk from around the world compete for who is the year's best, and title holders are as busy as Miss America during their year.

Well.... it seems that this year's Southwest Master is part of a budding scandal. A woman is accusing him of assault!

The reason she is accusing him of this is because, instead of using a whip, he used his fists.

To outsiders, that may seem bizarre, even silly, but it is a serious accusation. People who indulge in BDSM activities have strong social rules in place to prevent abuse. The biggest social rule is negotiation. Before anyone hits anyone else with anything, the two of them talk about what is "fun" and what is "not at all fun". This is different for everyone, so the negotiation is important.

A masochistic person may really enjoy being struck with various "toys". They may get a lot of sexual arousal, and even orgasm from it. BUT, a slap on the butt with a belt may recall childhood discipline too strongly, and change the whole situation into something way too freaky weird.

This sort of thing is known as an "emotional land mine". Everyone has them. We don't always know where they are, though. Sometimes, even with negotiation, they get stepped on. A sweet submissive woman who is happily moaning, "more, more.." turns into a slavering beast intent on ripping someone's throat out. There are ways of coping with these incidents, but it is best to avoid them in the first place.

How one avoids emotional land mines is by talking to people before doing anything kinky. An experienced person knows what they can do, and what they can't. As people get to know each other better, they can try new things, and stretch their boundaries. But, first time "playing" with each other, the rule is to not go outside what was originally discussed.

Where things get iffy is "in-scene" negotiation. This happens when someone gets an idea while playing, and suggests it at that time. This doesn't seem like a problem, after all, it's still negotiation, right? Not quite.

It's a problem of endorphins. Those hormones that we all produce in response to pain and physical stress. Someone who has produced a lot of endorphins is called "dorphed", and it is similar to being stoned or drunk. People who are dorphed may agree to things they would not when they were sober.

Beginners often make this mistake, and wind up doing a lot of apologizing and cleaning up.

A Titleholder is not a beginner. He should know better.

Apparently, the two people involved had negotiated for a "scene" with a short whip called a singletail. This was the first time they had played together, and they were not Master and Slave to each other. After using the whip for a while, the man allegedly leaned in and asked, "would you like to try some punching?" to which the woman replied, "uh.. sure... a little..." He then proceeded to use his fists on her until she went into shock.

Even that might have been something that could be worked out privately, but the woman claims that not only did the man NOT apologize, or try to figure out what went wrong, or see if she needed medical assistance, but he asked her to keep the incident a secret.

She's not keeping it a secret.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Players in the BDSM scene rarely file criminal charges on each other, because police involvement so easily gets out of hand. It is very difficult to explain to law enforcement, a prosecutor, judge, and jury, the difference between "play" and abuse. The mud winds up splashed on everybody.

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Understanding Beauty, part 1, Picture Frames

2009-01-07T07:57:00.004-07:00

It's happening right now, in a custom frame shop near you. A customer has brought in something they find beautiful, to be prepared for display in their home. After some time spent picking out the right frame, comes the PRICE. "$500? But the picture only cost me $25!"

Then the framer explains about the cost of the frame having nothing to do with the cost of the object being framed. About how you get what you pay for, and if you want nice wood with a pretty finish, it is going to cost more than gold-colored plastic. Eventually the customer catches on... usually.

The peculiar thing is that this kind of mental disconnect only seems to happen in areas of aesthetics. No one balks at the cost of tires based on the cost of the car, or the cost of a toner cartridge based on the cost of the printer. People correctly assess these things by their usefulness. How many miles one is going to get out of the tires, how much printing one will get from the toner cartridge.

So why do they get confused about the cost of a picture frame?

Perhaps it is because aesthetic enjoyment is not something that can be measured. How many miles of pleasure is this? Assessing the value of a works of art, and of frames for them, are purely subjective. An individual must look into themselves, and say, "How much do I like this?"

Perhaps part of the problem is that it is about pleasure. An awful lot of people in the world are taught that there is something wrong with seeking pleasure. Even if it is just the pleasure of looking at something pretty every day. If seeking pleasure isn't sinful, or selfish, it is at least wasteful of money.

Which is an incredibly wrong-headed idea.

Let me point out some examples of how important beauty is to us.

I'll start with cars. In a world where visual enjoyment really was of no consequence, cars would pretty much all look the same. There would be different types based on uses, such as sedans and trucks, and maybe variations on those based on performance. Body styles would all be the most efficient shape for the type. All would be painted with the most effective color, which is a sort of pale greenish grey. (they have to add pigment to make car paint white) Nothing would be chrome plated. Cars would be pretty ugly.

Even the Model A Ford, which was the most utilitarian automobile ever, had concessions to aesthetics. It was painted black. It had chrome.

We naturally try to make things pretty, rather than efficient. People have to study efficiency to overcome that natural tendency. The Model A just looked right, black. People pay good money to get nice paint jobs on their cars, and are willing to pay extra to get exactly the color they want.

Another example is lights in our homes. Bare light bulbs are rare. You see them in closets, or other out of the way places. Why? Diffused light is "better". We can see a little more efficiently with diffuse light. But there is even more to it than that. Even if you just want a simple "candy tray" frosted glass light cover for your ceiling, you will find many different styles at the hardware store. Even the simplest ones will have decorative touches. And we hardly ever look at our ceilings!

When it gets to lamps, style is even more important. These light fixtures are in our line of vision constantly, so their design gets a lot more attention. We pick a lamp based almost entirely on its looks. Does it look nice? Will it look good with the sofa? (do we still like that sofa?) We may pick up a lamp that appeals to us, look at the price, and say to ourselves, "I like it, but I don't like it that much." Or, pick up a particularly attractive one and say "ooh. That's more than I was thinking of spending. But it's soooo pretty! It looks like it will shed good light, too.... I'll get it!"

Which is the correct way to assess the value of a lamp. A quick evaluation of how it will light an area, but a lot of thought given to how it looks. We will bring home the expensive but very pretty lamp with a sense of pride, and look at it with pleasure every day for a long time.

Which brings us back to the picture frame. A proper assessment of the value of a frame is how much you like looking at it. The framer can assess its practicality, (that is, will it hold the picture, securely, and will it protect the picture from damage) but only the buyer can decide if it is pleasant for them to look at.

In part two, I will examine why some people have so much trouble deciding if they enjoy looking at something.

What's wrong with Kwanzaa

2009-01-04T08:49:00.003-07:00

This is another one of those things that just keep people separated. Declaring a special "African-American" winter holiday casts Christmas as a "white people" holiday.

While most of the imagery and traditions associated with Christmas grew out of northern Europe and England, the event that Christmas celebrates, the birth of Christ, happened in Palestine.

And the death of Christ, which is why we celebrate his birth, was supposed to save ALL PEOPLE. Not just northern Europeans.

Some Kwanzaa promoters see Christmas not only as a "white people" holiday, but as part of the religion of the oppressors.

Hardly.

Most American slaves were Christian, but not because their owners forced it upon them. They learned Christianity from missionaries and other slaves. For most of them, it was a source of deep strength, which allowed them to keep their humanity, even in the worst situations.

Their ancestors were not Christian, but then, neither were anyone else's if you go back far enough. How far back do you go to claim Heritage?

There is also a subtle difference in modern Christianity as practiced by white Americans and by black Americans. The megachurches, million dollar televangelists, and hatemongers are predominantly a "white people" enterprise. The black brand of Christianity is more focused on local community and family. It's about uplifting the individual spirit, rather than saving the masses.

So, asking people to celebrate Kwanzaa instead of Christmas is rejecting generations of strong, faithful Christians to claim an artificial heritage based on a culture that was willing to sell their ancestors.

The Kwanzaa celebration itself is nice. It celebrates noble attributes. Add it to Christmas, if it has meaning for you. But, don't reject Christmas as a "white" holiday. It isn't.

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Free Speech, and idiots.

2008-10-21T07:33:00.002-06:00

You people who keep using this as an example of when freedom of speech should be restricted please STOP using it!

Shouting "fire" in a crowded theater is not an example of using free speech. Free speech is about expressing opinions, sharing ideas, and telling stories.

This "example" is just trouble making. It is the same as setting off an alarm, only using one's voice instead of a device.

Saying "Somebody ought to burn this theater down." is using free speech.

Saying "I'll give you $500 to burn this place down." is conducting business, and the business is a crime.

That said, I remind you all the free speech is usually worth every penny...

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Freaking out about the end of the world

2008-10-12T11:40:00.002-06:00

I don't understand why you Revelationists are always freaking out about these being the "end times."

So, what if it is? What's to be afraid of?

I would think that God told you about all these things so that you wouldn't worry about them as they happen. Like a doctor telling you what to expect during a medical procedure. "These are the things that will happen, and it'll be okay, we're expecting that..."

So, signs of the end times should just be more evidence to you that God knows what he's doing, and has a handle on things.

You do believe that, don't you? That God knows what He's doing?

Then settle down! If you really DO believe in your Bible, as you say you do, there is no point in getting all het up about things. You can't stop things like Gay Marriage, because it's a sign of the end times, and it's inevitable.

If anything, instead of freaking out, you should be feeling pretty smug.

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The Meaning of Life.

2008-09-18T15:10:00.003-06:00

Life is a gift. You are not a body with a soul, you are soul with a body.

Life was given to us for the same reason you give a a gift to a friend. Because you think they will enjoy it, and use it. There is no other purpose or meaning to it.

Don't keep your life in the closet, wear it and use it. See what you can do with it. Taste, smell, see, hear and touch things. Talk to other souls in other bodies. Ride roller coasters, climb up on rocks. Paint pictures.

Every body comes with a slightly different "kit". Find out what your kit is. You might have the Mountain Climber kit, or the Philosopher's kit, or the Mother kit. There are millions of different kits. If you have the Philosopher kit, you will have great difficulty being a Mountain Climber.

The only way to figure out what kit you have is to try things. Some of us know what kit we have from an early age, some of us don't figure it out for a long time.

Figuring out your body's abilities, and developing new skills is fun! Using these abilities to see how much you can do with them is fun, too. Enjoy your life. When the body finally wears out, and we have to go back to wherever it was we came from, we can go to the Person who gave us the life, and say, "That was great! I really enjoyed that life!"

And the Person will smile.

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Jeffry Leonard harassed by the media: thoughts

2008-08-19T08:32:00.003-06:00

The one video clip I watched pissed me off so much, there were so many things wrong with it. It's a great example of the demonizing of pedophiles. He's not a frickkin demon, he' just a nasty old man. Probably a nasty old man who needs watching, but just a nasty old man.

I'm going to start with the thing that pissed me off the most, that no one else seems to be questioning.

"His victims have a life sentence."

Part of what is happening with the demonizing of pedophiles is the weakening of its victims. Yes, being molested can be devastating. Yes, it can be a traumatic experience. It can also screw up one's self image. It can also be put behind one.

There are many people who were abused as children, sexually or not, who have overcome the damage done. They have grown, healed, and moved on with their lives. Now, the media would ask them to go back to being damaged, to satisfy their creation of monsters.

Why should a survivor of sexual abuse come forward, if they are going to be treated as "damaged goods" for the rest of their lives?

In the current climate of fear, it would seem best to shut up about it.

An autonomous adult, competent and forward looking, does not need people coming up to her and saying, "Oh, you poor thing!"

I am not a poor thing. The crimes committed against me are not my identity. The person who committed those crimes is not a demon. He's just a sicko. I would not like to meet him on the street, but I won't run screaming if I do.

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The molecule dance

2008-07-13T14:58:00.002-06:00

Oxygen atoms dance in the atmosphere. They don't really like to dance alone, so you will usually find two dancing together, arm in arm. (O2)

Picture a charming couple, two oxygen atoms, making a molecule. They swirl with the other couples in the atmosphere, and the sun calls the tune. Hotter, faster, up! Up! Cooler, slower, down, down.

They dance happily along, and spot a crowd of other molecules close together. Something interesting is happening! They take a closer look. Suddenly, swoosh! They are swept with the crowd into the dark cabaret of a pair of lungs. They catch a hemoglobin shuttle in the blood stream, and are carried off into the hugest party ever.

Our oxygen atoms get separated at some point, as they investigate the goings on. One helps out in the liver, where gangs of carbohydrate and protein molecules are distributing sun energy into the body. The other joins up for a while with a group of molecules to form an antibody, and fight off a virus gang of party crashers, intent on making trouble.

They dance with many other atoms, and see many things. The slow chess games of calcium atoms in the bones, and the swift, shocking dance of the nervous system. Eventually our two oxygen atoms meet up again. What a wonderful time they have been having. A handsome carbon atom tells them that, if they think this is fun, they ought to try out a plant party. There's a whole different set of adventures there!

So the three of them link arms (CO2) and catch the nearest vein to the lungs. Whoosh! They are back in the atmosphere, off to new adventures.

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Amazing Ancient Feats

2008-07-13T09:40:00.002-06:00

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Really. I am impressed by "Amazing Feats of the Ancients", but I am not amazed.

People write and talk about things like Stonehenge, the Pyramids, the Mayan Calendar, as if there is something mysterious about their construction. "How did they do this? Where did they get their information?"

There's nothing amazing about any of it. It's impressive, but not amazing.

First, feats of construction:

The only people who are amazed live in industrialized parts of the world. They have forgotten just how much can be done with plain brute force. They also underestimate how strong people used to be.

The people who built the Pyramids, and who raised the stones at Stonehenge, did physical labor all their lives. They not only had the muscle and bone, they had the physical knowledge of how to use it efficiently. You can meet people like that today. Here in New Mexico, you can go to the Pueblos, and meet people who have done traditional farming or herding all their lives. They are like living rocks. They can snatch a fleeing 200 pound sheep with one hand and stop it short. They can pick up 50 pound bales of hay and toss them around like nothing. And they can do this ALL DAY.

Get a bunch of well built people like this together, and you don't need mysterious forces to raise great hunks of stone. Add one person with some ideas on how to focus the energy of a group of people and you get Chichen Itza.

Astronomical Feats:

Some people are amazed by the accuracy of ancient calendars and astronomical information. These calendars are all produced by agrarian cultures who depended for their lives on accurate predictions of the seasons. They were motivated to have accurate calendars.

What does it take to have an accurate calendar? Careful observation and recording. That's all. These people had unpolluted skies, undimmed by artificial lights. It does not take a telescope to observe such skies.

Why should one be amazed, then that these people had accurate calendars?

I think these attitudes are based in the idea that "primitive" cultures are stupid.

Just because they did not have the advantage of hundreds, or thousands of years of previous research and design, does not mean they were stupid.

As I said, I am impressed, but not amazed.
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2008-07-09T08:16:00.003-06:00

I am sometimes asked, "Do you believe in Evolution, or in Creation?"

"Evolution" is usually meant, in the question, to mean that the universe just happened, and is how it is now purely by chance.

"Creation" is usually meant to mean that God made everything, and nothing happens by chance.

That's why people see a conflict. There are many people who see no conflict. God made everything, and the process of evolution is just how he made it. This view makes the answer to the question, "Yes!"

I see things yet another way.

I see a higher power, but not outside the universe. It's not so much that the power created the world, but that it IS the world. The changes over time described as evolution are its movements. It's making things up as it goes along. There is no ordained Master Plan. Galaxies spin, planets revolve, mountains rise and sink. It's a dance of joy. We can tune into it, and dance along, or we can resist, and spend our whole lives trying not to fall down.

This view makes the answer to the question, "No." There is no outside power, and it's not all chance, either.

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Bumper Stickers

2008-06-18T08:36:00.003-06:00

I don't really understand the appeal of expressing one's opinion on the back of one's car.

I kind of understand putting something witty on your bumper. It's sharing a joke.

But the political and religious ones just seem rude. It's as if the owner of the car thinks they can change someone's mind with a random remark. "Abortion stops a beating heart".

Why, yes, so it does. And you are telling me this, why?

I don't think anyone should put anything on a bumper that they would not wear on their shirt everywhere they go.

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Gay Marriage

2008-06-11T07:46:00.002-06:00

There are two kinds of people who oppose making changes in the law to allow same-sex marriages.

There are the people who just don't see what all the fuss is about, since there are other legal ways of being partners.

And, there the the people who see it as homosexuals trying to legitimize their evil ways.

Today, I am going to slap around the second group.

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People who think that gay marriage is about making gay sex "okay" hold a couple of world views I find disgusting.

First of all, they think marriage is about sex. (I suspect this is behind the high divorce rate.) A marriage license is not a sex license. The courts really don't care who is fucking who. A marriage license is a court document recognizing the merger of two individuals into a household, with shared responsibilities and liabilities.

Also, they think homosexual relationships are about the sex. They aren't about the sex any more than straight relationships. Sure, there are some people who just get the hots for each other, and that's all they want from each other. These people don't want to get married. People who share a deeper relationship than sexual are the ones who want to get married.

It "erodes the sanctity of Matrimony". We are not talking about a religious ceremony here. We are talking about a court document. You can still have your church wedding, and the sacrament of Matrimony, and it is still different and separate from secular marriage. If non-standard marraiges erode the sanctity of Matrimony, worry about all those Buddhists, Muslims, Athiests, Agnostics, Unitarians, Pagans and other people who are getting married outside your perceived blessings of God.

Again, I think the cure is to just get to know people.

People I have met who are against "gay marriage" don't know any gay couples.

Anyone whose mind is not calcified by dogma can see when two people are a "couple" and not just sex partners.

..

Pride Day is coming up

2008-06-11T07:34:00.003-06:00

And once again, I am going to have a booth at the fairgrounds, selling my artwork.

I encourage everyone to go to these events. Call me idealistic, but I truly believe the best cure for prejudices is for people to get to know each other.

I have been trying to explain transgender to someone I know. He insists that a t-girl is just "a man pretending to be a woman". I think, if he met my transgendered friend Julia, that he would see that she is indeed a "she", no matter what's under the skirt.

I can try to explain eight ways till Tuesday, how Julia is not pretending to be something she is not, but being what she really is. Bob won't get it. But Julia herself is a simple explanation. Spend a few hours with Julia, and it makes sense. She doesn't even have to talk about transgender.

..

2008-04-21T09:10:00.003-06:00

What amuses me about the creation/evolution debate is that those are not the only two options.

Someone once asked me "Do you believe in Creation or Evolution?" and the only honest answer I could give was, "No."

To say that "God created the Universe" is to posit a God who is separate, and outside of it. This Deity would then either use something existing outside Itself, or part of its own self, to make a universe.

If it used something outside itself, this would imply that the God and the Universe are still separate things. As if a man were to build a house. He could live in it, but not BE it.

If the Deity used its own self for this creation, then it would BE the creation. The act of creation would be shaping itself. This would be something more like body building.

The idea of the Omniscient Being who knows every detail of every atom would require that the Deity BE the universe, not be outside it somewhere.

In that case, the fossil record would be signs of what the Deity has been in the past. What we see now is the Deity. So, what are we doing when we breed animals for specific traits?

No, we are not doing anything unholy. If the Deity is the universe, it is also us.

So, what we do every day is an act of God. What kind of life you have depends on that kind of God to decide to be.

----------------------------

Intelligent design thought exercize, part 2

2008-04-20T10:36:00.002-06:00

We have a drinking glass. "Obviously" created by a deliberate act of an intelligence, namely, Man. I take this glass to the top of high building, hold it out over the edge, and let it go.

Does the theory of Intelligent Design make any predictions about what will happen?

Does anyone reading this doubt that the glass will shatter to bits? How do you know this? Will the pieces be in any kind of order?

Who is responsible for the resulting arrangement of shards, glass powder, and concrete chips?

I'll drop the watch from Part One over the edge, too.

Now what do we have? "Natural Forces" which, according to Intelligent Design, were ordained by God, have been allowed to act freely on these objects.

Is God's design to reduce everything to Chaos?

Dropping these objects from a height was a deliberate act of Man. To what degree is the chaotic result of the action God's work, and to what degree it is Man's?

Intelligent design thought exercize.

2008-04-16T08:29:00.005-06:00

Let's take a look at the concept.

There are formal logical flaws all through it, but let's play on their level.

Part 1:

The idea is that, if one looks at the workings of a watch, the complexity and inter-connectedness of it leads one to conclude that it "obviously" was man-made, or created by an intelligence. Then, one looks around at the universe, and sees complexity, and inter-connectedness, and concludes that it too, was made by an intelligence.

Okay.

What about a drinking glass? Surely, this is just as "obviously" man-made. Yet, it has no complexity or inter-connectedness. What do the watch and the glass have in common that we see as evidence of their intelligent origins?

The quality is orderliness. The glass is smooth, clear, homogeneous, and has a regular shape.
The watch parts fit together neatly. The gear teeth are evenly spaced, the metal is smooth, and also homogeneous. THESE are the qualities that cause us to conclude that they are man-made.

Why do we see these qualities as evidence of intelligent origin? Our perceptions of man-made versus natural (God-made) are based on our accumulated experience moving through the world.
Man made things have order and purpose, naturally occurring things do not. (or if they do, we can't perceive it)

So, using the same sloppy logic as the original premise, it falls apart. Our perception of intelligent creation is based on how things are NOT like the universe at large.

-

Atheism

2008-04-10T07:44:00.003-06:00

Someone once called me "an Atheist and a Satanist". I had to point out to them that it is not possible to be both. Satanists believe in God. They're against him, but they believe in him.

Since then I paid more attention to Atheism, and have noticed that there are three different types.

Political-Atheists: The most visible type. They are the ones who campaign to have slogans changed and signs taken down. They are in it for the reaction value. To them, it is not so much a religion, as a way to be a royal pain in the ass. The advantage of this approach is that, if you get beat up, you can claim to be a victim of religious intolerance.

If people quit getting upset about Atheism, Political-atheists would give it up and do something else for attention, like try to legalize marijuana or ban abortion.

Arguing with a Political-Atheist is like wrestling with a pig. You get tired and filthy, and the pig likes it.

Rational-Atheists: I can respect these people. They have simply thought about it, and don't see any reason to believe in any kind of Deity. It is possible to discuss religion and cosmology with them, without things degrading into chaos. (I did once convince one to allow for the existence of Chi. ) You hardly ever know about these people, because they really don't care one way or another about other people's superstitions.

Emotional-Atheists: You've met them. They really do, deep down, believe in God. But, they are mad at Him for some reason, and are trying to get back at Him by refusing to believe in Him! They are the ones who argue doctrine. "If God is Love, why does Hell exist?" is one of their favorite complaints.

I just want to shake them and tell them to stop blaming God for all their problems, and start solving them.

-

2008-04-08T22:33:00.004-06:00

2008-04-08T09:40:00.003-06:00

This was necessarily a quick sketch. A dog wandered into the studio while I was working with a model, and seemed to like her.

Jesus Had a Penis

2008-04-05T08:22:00.003-06:00

Somehow, the idea that Jesus was asexual has really taken root in the Christian world.

Ask around. Jesus died a virgin! He never even masturbated!

I have a little trouble with that. Part of the sacrifice of Jesus was that he had a very Human and mortal life. He was scared spitless of what he had to do, because his Life was good. Jesus was not some emotionally untouchable Holy Being, he was a Man, and subject to the entire range of human suffering and desire.

I've read the Bible. I've read different translations of it. Nowhere can I find any reference at all to Jesus' sexuality. The Bible says nothing about whether or not He ever had sex.

I think there is a very important reason for that.

I think it is because IT DOES NOT MATTER!

There are many years of Jesus' life that are not mentioned in the Bible. What was he doing then? Probably just being a Man. Earning a living, learning about life. Experiencing what we all experience. If any of those details were important, they would be included in the Bible.

Normal human beings have sex, at least with themselves.

If we are to follow the teachings of Christ, his lesson is not that "sex is bad". His lesson is that in all things, including our sexual behavior, we should take care not to hurt anyone. If we do hurt someone, we should do what we can to repair that harm.

The Woman taken in adultery committed a crime according to her culture, but Jesus overrode her punishment. He tells her, "Go, and sin no more." Where is she going to go? Back to her husband, of course. She would go back to her husband to repair the emotional damage she had done. Killing her may have satisfied her husband's immediate anger and frustration, but would not have restored his faith in women or love. For her to go back to her husband, and the two of them, keeping in mind that neither was perfect, to work things out, was a better spiritual solution.

Jesus really understood the weakness of the flesh. Being the Son of God, he had the spiritual strength to resist all temptation. But he certainly felt the desires. There would have been no point in his sacrifice if he did not. He knew the desire to live. He knew the desire to have a family. I believe he did not have children, because he knew what he had to do with his life, and would not want to have to abandon an Earthly family to grief. That's just my belief, though, I have no evidence to support it, and I am not going to argue with anyone who disagrees with me.

But I will argue with people who say that sexuality in and of itself is a sin. If that was so, Jesus would have made a point of saying something about it.

In every action, in every Parable, in every speech, Jesus reinforces the idea that the spirit is more important than the flesh. He repeats often that it is more important to treat each other with love and respect, than to perform or refrain from performing certain acts.

So, according to the Bible, there is nothing wrong with sexuality in and of itself. The sin lies in satisfying oneself to another's detriment. That's right, practice safe sex.

-

Bible literalism

2008-04-05T07:59:00.003-06:00

There are many debates based on the concept that the Bible is literally true, in every respect.

The Bible says that God created Man out of the clay of the earth, and evolutionary theory says that Man developed from other, earlier forms of life.

There are places in the Bible that refer to the Earth as flat, and the night sky as a tent roof with holes in it. Literalists have come up with complicated explanations of how that isn't really so.

There are many trivial passages in the Bible that seem to contradict each other, and Literalists have come up with flimsy explanations of those as well.

Then there is the book of Revelations....

Every Bible believer that I have ever encountered says that it is metaphorical. The ten-headed beast is really the government, or science, or the Roman Empire. We are not really going to see these monsters, they all represent something else.

Interesting. The Bible is literally true in every respect, except that the book of Revelations is metaphoric?

How about this. Other parts of the Bible are metaphoric as well.

The Bible really does refer to the Earth as flat, and the sky as a tent as a metaphoric way of describing the unimportance of physical settings when dealing with the spirit.

One of the Gospels says that Jesus and his followers were on their way into Jerusalem, and another says they were on their way out of Jerusalem, when Jesus cursed the fig tree. Maybe that contradictory detail is still in there because it does not matter whether they were going into town or out of town, just what happened as they passed by.

And, perhaps, the description of God creating Man from the clay of the Earth is a more elegant and poetic say of saying that he made Man through a long complicated process that involved shaping other creatures first, and then refining them over eons.

-

Marine flinging a puppy, observations.

2008-03-09T09:33:00.003-06:00

I am both amused and disgusted by the most common response to this video.

Such a large number of people are arguing that it must be a hoax or fake of some kind. I looked at it. If it is a hoax, we have got some world class writers and actors in the Marines.

The arguments for the video being a fake are really, really reaching. The simplest, and most plausible explanation for the video is that it is exactly what it seems to be.

Maybe that makes me sound cynical about human nature. Which is worse, though? That one person committed an impulsive shocking act to see how the people around him reacted, or that a group of people planned to make a shocking and defamatory video?

I am amused that so many people are trying so hard to work out a way to look at the video and say that no one threw a live puppy off a cliff.

I am disgusted that so many people are unwilling to face the facts of life. Things like this happen. Not everyone in the world is nice. Young men in combat get screwed up.

Working hard to explain it away will not make it have not happened.

The callousness in the video is only one of many instances that happen every day. This is just a clear, uncomplicated expression of it. Many of us have had our moments of not caring, of impulsive viciousness. We just find ways to justify it to ourselves in our minds.

Tell me you have never done something you are ashamed of.

Tell me you have never told yourself: "Well, I was just a kid, and I didn't know any better. I would never do something like that now."

Emotional illness and Subculture

2008-02-26T11:45:00.003-07:00

This musing actually started with the old question: "Do crazy people know they are crazy?"

Looking back at my twenties, I can see clearly that I was nuts. At the time, though, it was not so clear. I knew something was wrong, that I was unhappy, but that was all. Every once in a while the magnitude of my emotional injury would be clear to me... and then I would go back to not really understanding my problem.

I got to wondering why this was. Perhaps it was because I didn't have the coping skills to face my madness entirely. Maybe it was like being in a car crash. All you really need to know is that you need to go to the hospital. You don't need all the gory details. Maybe it was familiarity. I had been screwed up for so long, it seemed "normal".

Then I realized that most of the people around me were also screwed up, in similar ways.

Is emotional damage endemic in some places?

Think about how we find a comfortable social circle. We tend to gather with people who are like ourselves in some way. Not necessarily in a good way. Alcoholics and heavy drinkers hang around with other drinkers. They hardly ever meet non-drinkers. Stoners socialize with stoners. and so on. So, when you look around you, you fit in. You are "ok". Your social setting becomes "the norm".

So why not a society of damaged people? Women who think that if they love their husband enough, he will change. Men who cheat on their women. People who deceive themselves, and everyone around them. Grifters. Users. A whole culture of it.

It's not so fantastic. I lived there.

Rural East Texas in the '80's. People listened to country music songs about cheating and getting drunk. (while complaining that their kids listened to rock music that was all about sex and drugs!) They all cheated and got drunk. It seemed that nothing could be accomplished without a cooler of beer. The people I moved among married and divorced, and fought. They got busted for drunk driving. Anyone I met that was over 21 had an ex, and children. Sometimes children by several different exes. "Friends" lied about each other behind their backs, women saw each other as threats, and no one had a financial plan. All the women were miserable.

So, I would look around me, and decide that I was sane.

But, deep down, I knew better.

Bad Dreams

2008-01-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

Not exactly nightmares, but still very unpleasant. I am tired of having these bad dreams.

I dream that my husband is gone for some reason, and I have had to move back to East Texas and live in a crappy little apartment, and work in a filthy factory with no safety equipment.

It's a relief to wake up, and realize it was a dream, and I am in my nice bed, in our house in New Mexico. But the sadness hangs on.

I don't know why I am having these dreams again. Maybe because sales are bad this month, and I am behind on the studio bills. Having to return to my former life would be about the worst thing I can think of. Rationally, I know it can't happen. I have too many friends here, and more skills. I have been clean and sober for 15 years. I have so many more resources than just my husband.

Maybe the dreams must mean that my life would be crap without him.

Creationism vs. Evolution

2008-01-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

I am amused by people who "don't believe in evolution" who own breed dogs.

Hunger Studies 1

2008-01-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

People speak of "World Hunger", and don't realize how vague they are being.

There are three different kinds of hunger, quite different from each other.

Simple Hunger: This is what we feel when our stomach is empty. Most of us are familiar with this one, and know that it is pretty easy to ignore for a while. It is known worldwide, but can hardly be considered a problem.

Systemic Hunger: This is what we feel when our blood sugar is low. It is felt in the body in general, rather than in the stomach. This is not easy to ignore, but is not always recognized as a need for food. Systemic hunger is a problem in parts of the world where people cannot lead a regular lifestyle, and eat erratically. It can cause anxiety and hysteria.

In parts of Africa, rashes of young women being struck down with screaming fits were found to be easily cured by an injection of glucose. Widespread systemic hunger may be behind many unstable cultural situations, an unrecognized disruptive influence.

Survival Hunger: This is felt when the body's fat reserves are depleted. It is as imperative a need for food as the need for air. This hunger can NOT be ignored*. Our bodies need at least a little internal fat to get through a night's sleep without having to get up and take in more calories. Very few people in a stable culture have felt this.

People who deliberately keep their body fat low have felt it briefly. Ballerinas and fashion models report having sudden binges of eating everything they can get their hands on. Body builders sometimes find themselves skipping the protein shake, and gorging on something deep-fried.

This starvation is usually what people mean when they say "World Hunger". However, it is not something that can be solved by throwing food at it. Since the industrial era, all famines are caused by politics, not nature. The demands of survival would drive these people toward food, unless they were stopped by another deadly threat, such as the point of a gun.

*Anorexia is an emotional disorder in which the sufferer seems to ignore survival hunger. They are not ignoring it. They are feeling it as a sense of accomplishment, or in some other distorted way that allows them to continue refusing food.

Thoughts on the Abortion Issue

2008-01-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Pro-life and Pro-choice are two views that will NEVER be reconciled. The debate centers around whether or not a fetus has a soul. This is something that can never be determined by science, or by faith.

Even legislation will never be able settle the issue. No matter what laws are made, there will be protests, and efforts to change it.

However, I would think both sides of the issue could agree on one thing. Abortion is a tragedy.

The fact that an abortion takes place means that a pregnancy, which should be a cause for celebration and anticipation, has become a cause for fear and doubt.

From that viewpoint, wouldn't the solution to the abortion debate be to prevent unwanted pregnancies? Then, whether or not a fetus has a soul is moot.

But no, they disagree on how to do that. One side wants to teach birth control, and intelligent sex, the other wants people to wait until they are married to have sex at all.

Again, it is the battle between moral stricture, and personal choice.

Personally, I can't see why anyone who wants to see an end to abortion would want to deny people access to birth control.

"Abstinence only" ignores the well documented fact of the "weakness of the flesh". Fercrissake, it's described in their own holy book.

Why can't the approach be, "Wait until you are married, but if you DO fall to the weakness of the flesh, here is how to limit the damage."

(I have never liked the idea of keeping information from people for their own good. Separate rant on that later.)

A "good girl" doesn't carry a condom in her purse, because she does not intend to have sex. So, if does have sex, she can say, "It just happened... I didn't mean to." What a set up.

How about this concept: The good girl DOES carry a condom in her purse, as a tool to keep herself a virgin. Really! A guy who does not respect her is not going to want to use the condom. Demanding use of the condom can slow down a seduction, and give the girl a chance to regain control of the situation. Then, if the weakness of the flesh is too much, even for this, at least there is less chance of unwanted pregnancy and disease.

Sex education should include use of contraceptives, and why using them is a sign of self-respect.

Besides, to my point of view, the idea of two virgins marrying, and vowing to only have sex with each other for the rest of their lives is sort of..... kinky!

My car is in the shop... again.

2007-12-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

This time, the carburetor is worn out. The nearest replacement immediately available was in Denver, and cost nearly $600. Nick scouted one out online in Miami, that only cost $300, including shipping.

It's on its way, but I won't get my car back until sometime next week at the earliest.

I really, really, really, really hate not having my wheels!

Figure studies

2007-12-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'm getting back into the habit of sketching from a model on a regular basis. It's like doing finger exercises for a pianist.

2007-12-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have had some thinking to do. It's rather annoying. On top of that, I have caught a cold for the first time in many years.

So many interesting discoveries about my family last week. What my parents told me about the appearance of the Unknown Grandson was completely different from what my brother told me.
(long story, I'll save it for a separate post).

Also, while I was putting my parents at a distance, they were shutting me out altogether! They never dropped me a line about the death of my Aunt Virginia, or my Uncle Alton. Never thought to mention that my Aunt Diane had adopted 8 children.

My father has mellowed out a lot, and is no longer frightening. My mom is correspondingly less anxious. I could probably have a reasonably healthy relationship with them now. I just don't know if I care to. I have never turned to my mother for support or advice, and I still wouldn't.
One of this weeks revelations has convinced me that she is a total idiot.

All these years, I thought of my mother as a moral weakling who shirked her responsibilities as a parent. It turns out, she has just been an idiot all along. She didn't protect by brother and I from our father's outbursts of anger. I now suspect it was because she didn't think there was anything wrong with the situation.

That's a big difference.

"Mom, why didn't you stand up for us?" hurts more than "Uh, mom... this is not how it is supposed to go."

What was the thing that convinced me, you wonder? I'll tell you. It was a photograph of my brother and I, in 1968, ready to go to our new elementary school in rural East Texas... wearing school uniforms from the Catholic school we went to the year before in New England.

Yeah. My mom had no clue.

so... I can forgive her for being an idiot.

I am back

2007-12-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

I have just gotten back from the airport, and I am very tired. Details tomorrow.

I just got a phone call from my mother

2007-11-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

It wasn't about my father. My nephew was killed in a traffic accident this morning. He was twenty.

I haven't seen my brother and his family for nearly fifteen years. The last time I saw C, he was a young child. I remember how bright he was, and how interested in everything. I remember how he would grab my hand to take me to see his garden.

My mother wants me to come out there, and of course I will. But not for my mother or father's sake. I'll go for my brother's sake. I remember when C was born, my brother holding him, staring in awe at the tiny life that was now in his care. He must be devastated. He was so proud of his son.

For me, C left my life when I left my family. I have had a few letters, and pictures sent by e-mail. I sent Christmas gifts. But, really, I don't have an emotional connection to the person he was today.

I would have liked to stay in closer touch with C and his sister, but I could not find a way to do so without getting sucked back into the hole I was trying to climb out of.

As I got my life together, I kept thinking I ought to try to get back to my family, but never really had much of a drive to do so. After all, I have my new "family" here; sane, supportive people who I can count on. I have my career, my loving husband, a decent house and reliable car. Why would I want to cozy up to a pack of crazy people, who live like animals, and take a chance of getting saddled again with the baggage I have finally left behind?

Sad. But, that's how it is.

I'll go and offer what comfort I can to my brother. My husband will be with me, so I won't get sucked back into the mire. It'll be grey and rainy. But, then, I will come home again, and live in the sunshine.

I hate grey weather

2007-11-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

That's why I moved to New Mexico. For the sunshine.

It's grey today. Phooey!

Most excellent butterscotch fudge

2007-11-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

My latest experiment is a success!

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 sticks margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk

Butterscotch baking chips (11 oz minimum. 12 oz is best)
small jar of marshmallow cream
vanilla

Grease a pan to cool the fudge in. Make sure you have a hand held mixer ready.
_______________

Melt the sugar, margarine and milk in a large pot, stirring slowly but constantly, bring to a boil. Boil 4 minutes at sea level, 5 minutes in the mountains. It'll get frothy.

Take the pot off the heat, add a dash of vanilla, and stir in the butterscotch chips. Then add the marshmallow cream. Beat until well mixed and glossy, and pour it in the pan.

That's it! Cut it and store it in a sealed container. (If it lasts that long, of course.)

I highly recommend using a wooden spoon or silicone candy spatula to stir, and a non-stick pot. It's so much easier!

2007-11-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what I will do with this little creature. First I have to decide if he is a demon, faerie, or alien.

I think we will be seeing more of him, though.

2007-11-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

I'm up early this morning.

I was awakened by the telephone. If I hadn't had that e-mail from my mother yesterday, I would just have checked the message when I got up later. But, I staggered out of bed and went to the phone. I picked up, but the caller had already left their message and hung up.

So, I checked the message.

It was a co-worker of my husband, calling to see if he had overslept or something. Hm. About half an hour after he's supposed to be there. Yup, he took his motorcycle to work this morning. Twenty degrees outside, and he's on his motorcycle.

Probably it's just a traffic jam, after all, it is the holiday season, and it only takes one idiot...

Nope. No way I am going back to bed.

Wednesday morning thoughts

2007-11-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

I'm doing my usual morning routine, checking my e-mail, my newsgroups and forums, and ad campaigns. Ambling around the internet while I drink my one cup of coffee for the day.

I will be going to the studio later today, to meet someone about doing some shows in December.

What is on my mind though, is the e-mail I just got from my mother. My father is going to Houston to see the cardiac surgeon again. He's 71, and his health has been breaking down for some time.

The first thing I think of is the fact that my mother only e-mails me when something is bad. She is an amazingly discouraging person. The only way I could make any headway on my own anxieties and depressions was to stop talking to her on the phone. E-mail only.

So, I wonder, how bad is this? Is it a routine checkup, or should I be shopping for a black dress?
All she sent was a note that they were going (it's a four hour drive from where they live, unless my mother is driving, then it's six) and that she would let me know more later.

I replied, asking for more details, but I don't expect a response for several days.

I suppose I could e-mail my brother, and see if he knows anything.

...but that would only encourage him to send me more of his religious ranting.

The real problem is that I don't know if I [i]care[/i] any more. Let's just say that my father and I never got along.

I guess I will continue with my morning routine, go to the studio, and do my business, and see what happens.

Kitty

2007-11-26T16:21:00.002-07:00

A quick sketch in my notebook. I think I will just leave it as it is. Maybe a magnet of it?

Pencil sketch

2007-11-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

This was the working drawing for the second drawing in the Fairlyn series, "Invitation to join the Brotherhood".

Like I need another way to waste time online.

2007-11-26T15:46:00.000-07:00

I have started this blog. Just on a whim. I will probably use it to post sketches of work in progress and ask for comments.

Or, I might just ramble.