Sauntering Vaguely Upwards...

I'm still standing...

2023-10-19T15:00:32Z

A friend recently posted here that they were still around. I enjoyed them doing it, so I'm doing it as well. I am also still around!

I have moved to the South to get away from the crap show that is Los Angeles. It is admittedly more boring, and hard to make new friends, but I definitely feel safer and the house is much nicer.

I am churchier than I used to be, which was also part of the location choice.

Picture Post! Seattle!!

2016-05-12T20:37:23Z

Thanks to the generous love of the Lind family and my God, a trip fell into my lap for me to go to Seattle! I got to meet a Baby Lind! And see things! If you would like to see a Baby Lind and Seattle, you may want to click through this cut right here.

This here is Lake Washington. It's a pretty relaxey place.

This is a beautiful Amber, holding a beautiful little Ezra.

I love the kid in this shot.

A Seattleites reaction to finally having a warm and lovely day.

Ezra, taking in his new world.

Hat Hat Baby. Bonus points to anyone who isn't Richard who gets that reference.

"This is a pretty interesting place."

"O Hai!"

My friend Austin (A.K.A. mearn4d10) showed me around the downtown Seattle area, and was wonderful. We got coffee and wandered about while I took too many pictures. Here's the waterfront on Puget Sound.

Doesn't this place look fun?

More waterfront.

This is vaguely ominous, though.

I got to hug a giant pig!

This shot is required by Washington State Law if you enter Pike's Place.

Jason asked me to fondle some fish for him. This is me fondling a fish. It was actually a reasonable amount of fun. I would fondle a fish, again.

Fresh tulips in the Pike's Place market.

Fresh flowers at a vendors are really danged photogenic.

"Eat me!"

...and no marketplace is complete without a giant squid.

I went into a chocolate store and bought nothing. This is pretty amazing. Granted, I can't say the same for the tea or spice store.

This picture is also required by state law.

"Pay no attention to me. I'm just making fresh cheese right in front of you..."

Market shot!

When leaving at the airport, security stopped me. They said "I see you have a camera with you. Did you take a picture of the Space Needle?" I showed them this shot and then they allowed me to leave the state.

Lake Washington in front of a majestic Ranier.

Later in the trip, Mrs. Lind took me and the Ezra child to Snoqualmie Falls, which has a permanent rainbow during the day from the mist off the falls.

These falls, specifically.

A distant train trestle through the woods.

Mom and baby! And some falls!

Have I mentioned I find public seating shots to be really relaxing, because I can insert myself mentally into the picture?

Proof I was actually there!

One more falls shot...

Some of the beautiful flora of Washington State.

Big grateful thanks to the Lind Family and God for this fun, sweet trip!

Canada Day 6 - A Saturday in Canada

2014-11-08T19:06:06Z

This is a quiet set, with a farmers market, some flowers, some fruit and a hungry stag.

A quiet farmer's market in Cranbrook.

In Canada!

Berries for sale at the market.

A big tough-looking dude with a tiny foofy dog ^_^

Flowers in the adjoining park.

Heather found a stag eating berries from a tree in the parking lot of the court house, maybe 6 feet from her car. This is how the deer are there. Wow.

Om nom nom...

Apparently, these are stone fruit ^_~

Best shot.

August in Canada and the leaves were changing. It's November here and ours haven't started yet.

Some flowers in a storefront downtown.

The Cranbrook clocktower, behind some local art.

The clocktower and a country fair sign ^_^

Surprise! Another picture post! Canoga Park Dia de los Muertos

2013-11-06T20:54:21Z

Sunday our city had its annual Day of the Dead festival/car show. I went! I got pictures!

We started out in the gallery instead of the big loud festival. They had several homage paintings to famous artists. Most were cute but pedestrian. This one wowed us, though. I looked up the artist, and she's 11 or so 0_o

They had a huge table area covered with a big city of skeleton people. Here's the carnival, with its merry-go-round, ferris wheel, roller coaster and swings. In front are people queuing up for the roller coaster.

It's a pretty extreme roller coaster.

The merry-go-round, with its rainbow hologram center. I love the guy on the right holding onto the pole. He looks so pleased.

Happy butterfly person!

There was a huge church set up at the end of the plaza, with cemeteries on both sides.

A wedding inside the church.

I love this happy pet on a balcony. "Hello! I has balcony!! Fweeeeeeee...."

Meanwhile, there's a fiesta in the plaza.

There were shops and such set up all around, like a chocolate superstore stall and several Mexican restaurants. Here's what looks like a fruit seller, selling something green to the world biggest Fruit Fan.

"I have a green fruit! It's always been my biggest ambition to own a green fruit! I can not be happier!!"

A pretty lady sitting by the sign for a Mexican restaurant.

A display near the cityscape.

Let's go out and see what's going on in the festival!

"Come and play with usssssss." o_0

Not at ALL creepy.

Display in a stall.

There were MANY pretty ladies all dressed up with the traditional makeup.

Here's another. I think there were 5-6 different stalls doing face painting, from a free area to expensive setups where you could get jeweled.

Another stall display.

Purse dog is ever vigilant.

An awesome hood ornament in the car show area.

We ran into our friend Monica in the car show area. She looks like she's having a pretty nice day!

Monica/Richard hug. Awwwww ^____^

Someone actually has this license plate. I think that's pretty awesome. It also tells you the direction most of the cars in the show leaned.

There was a car painted like this. This is a closeup. It's got rainbow glitter ALL OVER IT. And the good stuff, not the hologram glitter, but the iridescent. Look at this. LOOK AT THEEES. I want my car like this. I would totally drive my car with iridescent glitter all over.

Retro window display.

Another fantastic hood ornament.

.....aaaaand the pimpmobile. Look at this thing. It has a POLE by the mirror ball, as well as a liquor dispenser. I am thinking this man must have a serious thing for midgets, because I can think of no other reason for that pole. Dig the front of this thing, though. Look at all those switches! I'd love to know what they do.

The man covered his steering wheel with purple plush. Lord.

I don't even. But it's amusing how distrustful this guy is to the dude on his back.

I got several shots of the people and the art in the chalk area, but this one was just such a lovely shot...

Monica wanted to do lunch, but I was so low on spoons (link pdf warning) that I had gone into debt with some forks, so we went home and collapsed.

I hope you enjoyed checking out a Dia de los Muertos festival!

Random Pile o' Icons

2013-10-19T02:16:37Z

I present to you today a random pile of 49 icons. Why 49? Because. In any case, here are the categories presented within...

Animals (1-13)
Looney Tunes/Warner Bros. Cartoon (14-25)
Powerpuffs (26-27)
Anime (28-32)
---Azumanga Daioh
---Spirited Away
Avatar/Airbender (33-34)
Movies (35-40)
---Hocus Pocus
---Lilo & Stitch
---Little Mermaid
---Avengers
---The Mask
Food (41-45)
---Coffee
---Wine
---Bacon
Etc (46-49)
---Psy
---Glee

Rules: Generally I ask people to credit me, fritters, in keywords on your userpic page, and add that commenting, while not required, makes me more likely to make the sort of icons you prefer. Lately, though, I'm not really putting a lot of time into making icons, most are things that I simply took and shrunk down and threw a border on. So how about this, if there's text on it, it would be nice to be credited.

Previews: 35. 39. 48.

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27. 28.

29. 30. 31. 32.

33. 34. 35. 36.

37. 38. 39. 40.

41. 42. 43. 44.

45. 46. 47. 48.

49.

Pusheen Icons

2013-10-19T01:19:42Z

I'm presenting here 40 Pusheen icons. I DID NOT ANIMATE THESE. They are from pusheen.com, which is awesome and fun and cute and you should visit it. Normally, I ask people to credit me in the keywords for the icons, but I MOSTLY just shrunk and optimized these, so if you want to fine, if not, fine. If you like any of these, though, check out pusheen.com.

Preview:

15. 23. 34.

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21.

22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27.

28. 29. 30.

31. 32. 33.

34. 35. 36.

37. 38. 39.

40.

Comments are not required, but when I get nice comments, it lets me know what people actually like and use and that helps me make more of what you want ^_^

Day 5: Arecibo! Sort of...

2013-09-21T02:56:11Z

Okay, above title is confusing. When most people think of Arecibo, they think of that great big ol' dish in the ground. It was decided that what with the drive there and back, and San Juan the next day, that the extra time TO the dish was not WORTH the dish. I HAD promised the girls I would buy them food at Salitre, though. So... the REST of Arecibo.

I still can't believe you guys voted to have more pics on these pages a while back. Look what you made me do! Thirty-six!

We didn't want to be there too late, but we didn't want BREAKFAST either, so we showed the girls around the wacky little lighthouse park they have in Arecibo, first.

For those of you who are newer here, and missed my last little trip to Isla Encanta, this place is filled with lots of plaster people and aquarium fish, in an attempt to be historical and educational, and it mainly comes across... earnest. The lighthouse is gorgeous, though.

A big, scary pirate ship!

We never actually trekked up to the lighthouse. There's pretty much nothing up that hill except a lighthouse you can climb, and a "museum" of about 12 things sitting on the floor that are vaguely lighthouse related. It's photogenic, though!

On the other hand, the water here is GORGEOUS. Do you remember the shots of the beach where I giggled like a maniac? This is the lighthouse in the distance. The beach is over behind those rocks behind Susan in this shot.

That's the view.

Look at that splash!

LOOK AT EEET!

Art shot. Pavilion on the viewing platform with the perfect sky behind.

We then entered the pirate caves, because they were cooler and had aquariums inside. Here is one of the educationally earnest pirates.

Gold! Valuables! MWAHAHahahahah!

Next are a lot of fish pictures. I like taking shots in aquariums. I really like it. There's only one problem, though.

Fish are notorious photo-bombers.

"Can I be in the shot? Can I? I pose real well!!"

The photo-bombing category also includes sharks.

There! That's a little better!

"Let me dance for you the dance of mah peeple!"

"Can I PLEASE be in some shots? I pose real well!!"

Me: Well, okay, I guess...

"Look!! Headshot! I'm an actor!"

"How about over here? I look good HERE, don't I?"

Oh, no! While I was busy taking fish shots, Susan got bit by a shark!!

In all honestly, words cannot describe how much I love that picture of Susan. It's just perfect.

Here's a little more sedate shot, though. Heather and Susan.

Seahorse!

That's a moray!

Yes, I make this joke every time I take a moray eel shot. Expect it in the future as well.

A fish! Of some sort!

"Can I be in a shot?"

Me: Well, only because you asked SO nicely.

A more colorful fish!

Okay, no more unidentified fish, I promise.

Susan, enjoying the wares in the gift shop. (Of COURSE there's a gift shop!)

It was getting lunchier, so off to Salitre. I'm a little sad we didn't go after dark at any point, because Bats, but it was hours from BOTH of the cities we stayed in.

The cannon at Salitre! Notice the dappled sunlight and the perfect lighting!

Here's a panorama of the patio...

What's that on the horizon? Is that a storm coming in?

Hermie checks out my passion fruit mojito.

I also tried out an Atlantic Sunset (Midori, Don Q, passion fruit and strawberry)

Front is Caribbean mash followed by cheese croquettes, in the back is Martin's asopao. You seriously expect a day in the Caribbean without food porn?

Front left is the coconut shrimp, on the right are shrimp and crab cakes. (I said I didn't like fish, I actually enjoy SHELLfish...)

Remember how I mentioned that storm coming in?

Yup. It rained. It rained like whoah. Like gangbusters... on... a gang. POURED down. It was honestly impressive as heck to me. I loved it. I was sad for the Canadians at the table, who get plenty of that at home, but I get almost NONE of the really GOOD rain and was inwardly giddy.

We also had a famous retired wrestler at the table next to us (no idea who), which reduced our service a little because of the Fawning Rays, but it was still a pleasant lunch.

Art shot.

On the bright side, when we got home, we were greeted by this.

Would you like to support malware?

2013-03-24T15:52:07Z

This morning I found malware on my phone leading me to buy Once Upon a Wine brand wine. I tracked down who makes it, and the company is Diageo, run by Diageo Inc. in England. I decided to let my friends know the main brands so you can stop supporting malware if you like. (I realize some of my friends are very loyal to these brands...)

Click here to see the brands they have, so you can stop paying for malware to be installed on people's phones.

...and more brands.

Saeed Abedini

2013-03-22T19:28:00Z

I've just created a petition at whitehouse.gov asking the government to increase pressure on Iran to release the American Christian pastor Saeed Abedini. Could you please repost this petition so that we can help this tortured American be released?

http://wh.gov/stP2

Oy...

2013-02-27T00:28:00Z

I have been getting the Shit Daughter Award so much lately that I'm running out of room on my display shelves.

Stolen from Lonewulf

2010-03-28T19:39:32Z

Graphic designers have nightmares like this, BTW. It would be funnier if this wasn't so accurate.

Pictures of the kids...

2010-03-26T01:25:36Z

This post is mainly for Auntie Sarah, because she is now in Idaho and can't see the kids as easily, but anyone interested in my cats is, of course, welcome.

Hunley bein' beautiful...

Yesterday I was trimming some things to put in my scrapbook, and Max decided to try out for stuffonmycat.com, by lying in the trash pile. Max LIKES paper.

Max on catnip...

Hunley, and the first "fairies" of the season.

The Sound of Freedom

2010-03-24T18:34:17Z

For those of you who might be interested, I have made a second wallpaper of the Buy-Moria flag with screencaps from Chuck vs. The Beard that you can download at my deviantart account. The original is 1600x1000 but most OS's can scale down for you. Hit the download button of the left of the screen to get the original size.

Viva Buy-Moria!

2010-03-18T00:45:19Z

For those of you who might be interested, I have made a wallpaper of the Buy-Moria flag that you can download at my deviantart account. The original is 1600x1000 but most OS's can scale down for you. Hit the download button of the left of the screen to get the original size.

Featured!

2010-03-17T19:04:34Z

Go here!

I don't know how long it will be up for, but do you see the featured personas? Do you see the two with shamrocks on them, a dark one and a light one? The light one is MINE! Out of thousands of personas made by hundreds of people MINE is one of the few featured! I'm sure it's because of the holiday, and some of the others have more effort in them, obviously, but one of my designs MADE THE FRONT PAGE!

Awesome sauce!!

*dances*

Louise Brooks Desktops

2010-03-11T02:56:16Z

I've finished the Louise Brooks desktops that I was trying to get input for. The thumbs are under the cut and linked to the large .png wallpapers. These are standard widescreen, by the way.

YAYZ!

2010-03-10T22:24:37Z

[happy geek mode:on]

My Jerry Colonna CD arrived!

YAY!

Let me know if you need any mp3s from this ^_^

[happy geek mode:off]

Picture Post: Royal/T Alice High Tea

2010-03-10T03:16:54Z

On Sunday I was blessed enough to be invited to moonshine246's 17th birthday party at Royal/T, Los Angeles' only maid cafe. Royal/T is having a special Alice in Wonderland High Tea this month only. (There's also more info here.) More than half the party was in costume, and I, of course, took photos.

postrophe and Krystal were nice enough to offer me a ride with them to the party. Here they are dressed up uber-nice for the party at the entrance to the cafe.

The birthday girl, moonshine246, known hereafter as Amber, dressed up and brought her friend Wesley, who also looked fantastic.

ladypixel and kingu did not dress up, bless their hearts, because I didn't have a single darn appropriate thing to wear. Thanks, Lori and Gary!!

Here are our costumed attendees in front of a Royal/T Alice promo.

I thought Richard looked particularly spiffy in this shot. He should use this as an icon/avatar, don't you think?

For the Alice High Tea, they bring out a tray of various delectables, as seen here.

...but, of course, you want a close up of the cupcake.

We did actually get one shot with me in it. Left to right you have Lori, Gary, Krystal, Richard, me, Wesley and Amber.

I love this shot of Amber, I think it turned out really well.

The birthday girl also got a special birthday (cup)cake.

Behind where we were eating, there was a very cool glass room. We went and played there a while and took pictures, but you are warned that glass rooms are very reflective and not conducive to photography. The furniture was too fun not to take photos, though.

You see in that last picture the big open area behind? That's the art gallery. I think everyone's favorite piece, which has been there as long as I've known about the place, is the Porta Party.

What's that?

Yes, from the outside it looks like a porta-potty crossed with an ipod, inside is, well, a tiny party. One more reason if you're in L.A. you might want to check the place out ^_^

Hope you liked the picture post!

A moment's entertainment

2010-03-08T23:41:33Z

Two fauna pics...

2010-03-07T00:13:01Z

In an effort to stave off my Illustrator homework 5 more minutes, here are two pictures...

This is Yelling Bird. I think he's a house finch.

...and this is our traditional shot of Wanda, because the only time she sits still long enough to get her picture taken is when she's getting a treat.

That is all.

sigh

2010-03-05T06:16:39Z

Livejournal is doing things that invade users privacy, with tracking outbound links. Go here to opt out of the sneakiness.

Icon!

2010-03-04T22:40:24Z

I like my new icon so much I feel the need to make a post just to show it off.

^_^

Picture Post: Manhattan Beach

2010-03-04T17:45:13Z

Last Sunday a friend of ours from out of town, obadiah, was in town for Gallifrey. Another friend who we hadn't seen in ages, although usually in town, was also attending Gallifrey, kippurbird. So thudpucker and I swung by the Marriott and dragged them both off to The Kettle in Manhattan Beach for lunch. Afterwards, we bummed around the pier a while before returning them to the Planet from Whence They Came.

Firstly, Thudpucker (Martin), Obadiah (Cliff) and Kippurbird (Gabby) outside the kettle...

On the pier...

"What anti-bird spike? I don't see an anti-bird spike..."

Pier...

The waves that day.

"...He's...he's right behind me, isn't he?"

Gabby...

Group Shot.

"Yep, it's impacted, look like it's going to have to come out..."

Not the sort of sign you expect to come across...

...and some birds.

As usual, comments gleefully welcomed.

Picture Post: Potpourri

2010-03-04T17:27:57Z

Self-explanatory. Some random pictures from the last week or two.

Hunley, sleeping well.

Max, asleep on a shiny pillow.

Martin bought me some daffodils, which bloom when you put them in water, so we got some shots and made a movie of them blooming ^_^ The last few were throughout the night, so it's more jumpy, but I still think it's cool...

And blooming...

This is what California looked like last week...

...which, while awesome, is not as awesome as this shot.

...enhance.

Hmm....

2010-03-04T16:32:48Z

A thought occurred to me and it turns out it was accurate. I'm not sure what it means, though. The Whittier, recent San Francisco quake and the Northridge quake all occurred in El Nino years.

This is an El Nino year.

Hmm....