Invasion Of The Mother-In-Law: Day One

Music at the Moment: Teena Marie - Shangri-La

John retrieved his creator at the airport at 2:15 and stopped to grab a sandwich while Myshe and I finished tidying the house and then ran some last minute holiday errands. We met back at the house around 6 and there she was. Small like I remember her, but far more talkative than the first time we met. She's very sweet and always laughing. I'm incredibly relieved. We went shopping for groceries for her stay here and ingredients for all our holiday cooking. Thankfully the Baked Brie is ready to go and beyond the apricot-glazed turkey the most time-consuming recipes are the apple walnut sausage dressing and the very interesting pumpkin bisque. The jury's out on that last one. It sounds yummy, but the ingredients leave me and my mother with an arched brow a la Mr. Spock.

"Fascinating. Never before have I encountered black olives in a pumpkin soup. This is certainly different from the Plomeek Soup available on Vulcan."

So, thus far the One Who Made John is great and I have less trepidation about the remainder of the visit. I just hope the meeting of the families goes well. Update later.

Christmas Sans Wreath or Randomly Spewed Holidation

Music at the Moment: Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko

Despite all that's happened to stress me out on the path to impending holidays, things are looking good. John called at 5am to inform me he would just about be on time for crew change for the first time since dinosaurs roamed the earth. I am much elated over this. The living room carpet was steam cleaned buy us last night and looks impressive! It even smells good. I still want to kill that wreath-stealing chum-bucket. Did I mention she looked jewish? Why would a little jewish bitch want a damn christmas wreath? Asshole. I wish I knew Mel Gibson's number. I'd totally call him and tell him what happened. That and I'd tell him what a dick he is for making The Passion of the Suck. What a steaming pile of feh. Kitty's fatter. Don't buy Hercules Hooks. I paid an extra 15 dollars for rush shipping 3 weeks ago. Still not here and talking to Lokprakash..I mean Bob was no help at all. They credited me my rush shipping cost, but I still get the hooks in 3-4 weeks. I needed them today at the latest. Ugh just talked to John and he still has 2 hours to get here. That's so damn long. I think I jammed my birdy finger. It's sore and aching and has been for days off and on. That Oxy rug steam cleaner solution smells nice. If eggs are considered my protein for nutrisystem, do you think nog counts as my dairy?

4th Term Final Call:

After much waiting and correspondence over an overlooked assignment, the verdict is...

Hallelujah!

Merry %$@!*#& Christmas, Whore of the Devil

>>> WARNING<<<



This is a Phred tirade. If you are sensitive to colorful vocabulary or harsh sentiments, proceed with extreme caution. Repeat, this is a Phred tirade*.

*Phred tirades may cause heart palpitations, blindness, bleeding eye sockets and ears, brain lacerations and increases in blood pressure. Please consult your physician before enjoying a Phred tirade. Phred tirades are especially hard on Aunt Kracky's and Mothers. Again, proceed with caution.



>>>END WARNING<<<



So...I had a festive day yesterday with my Mom and Dad. We did some shoe shopping for Mom and tied up some loose crimmus present ends after a nice lunch. It was so wonderful to see them laugh and enjoy themselves after losing my brother Dillon only a few days ago (I say brother even though he was a Lhasa apso because he was definitely their kid and not a pet.) We were even put in a genuine holiday spirit when we stopped in at the Mall Starbucks and ordered a round of Lattes only to find that a local pastor had come in the morning and paid Starbucks 300 dollars to treat as many customers for Christmas as it would handle. That gesture made me warm and fuzzy and I really felt christmassy for a change. We are all e-mailing that church to thank them for being so human and in the spirit of the season. So, all-in-all I had a great day.


After Myshe got home we ran to pick up a couple presents from some shops and a pair of boxes to ship some of my baked goods to friends. We went to Michael's Crafts which we'd visited a lot already this season. We'd eyed this wreath while in there a couple times before and I’d mentioned how pretty it was, but it was nearly 50 bucks so I wasn't feeling the price tag.


Myshe saw a sign stating that all silk flower arrangements were 50% off. I assumed it excluded wreaths, but Myshe pointed out that the sign was hanging off a display of wreaths. I asked and surprisingly they were half price after all! My spirit was getting even better. before long I’d be completely possessed by holidays and wearing felt reindeer antlers with bells and singing carols.


Myshe and I looked over the rest of the wreaths, but already pretty much knew we were getting that one with the pretty burgundy grapes, golden leaves and pine cones and the gorgeous maroon and gold bow. I tried to reach the wreath, but being only 2' 3" It was out of my reach. I began to walk to the register as Myshe asked if I couldn't reach it and began tom swat at it herself. I commented that she wouldn't be able to reach it if I couldn't and that I'd just get someone at the register to get it down for us. As I was telling her this I had to excuse myself past this woman with a buggy who was looking at and listening to us as she perused an end cap. I weaved around a display to get out of her way and she bee-lined to a register ahead of me.


I thought nothing of it.


So I'm standing in line and the douche bag..er, woman (The tirade is desperately trying to come through too early) gestures to the wall and mutters something to the cashier who leaves to retrieve a hook for getting high items off the wall. The employee heads directly to our patch of wall and asks the woman "Which one?". Satan's slut pointed to the wall and indicated our wreath!


I said "You're kidding me." as the cashier returned and they both looked at me. I painfully tried to smile and said "That's the one we were coming over here to get." The little evil Christmas Killer looked at me blankly and said "Oh really?" I narrowed my eyes at her KNOWING she knew and said "Yes, you were standing there watching us try to reach it and heard us talking about getting it down." This fucking cunt just looked at me dryly with her wrinkled expression of pure, unadulterated bitch-assness and said "Oh. I thought you were just looking at it." then proceeds to turn back to the cashier and buy it anyhow!


I was beside myself in awe of how this fucking bitch could simply knowingly commit such a heinous wreath ganking during the wonderful fucking holidays that I was, until that precise moment, beginning to fucking like again! She WATCHED us try to get it. And she LISTENED to us talk about having it taken down. And then the little cock goblin raced to a register to get the fucking jump on us! BITCH!!!! You fucking BITCH!


As far as I was concerned, she might as well have impaled the little baby Jesus, beat Mary, framed Joseph for rape, sicked the INS on the three wise men and torched the damn manger! I was seeing red. I felt it brimming in me and all i wanted to do was push past her leathery hanging jowl and crush her fucking neck with my bare hands until I felt her blood pour down my arms. I would be smiling the entire time, mind you.


Not once did she say "I'm sorry about the mix-up." Because why? The twat wasn't.

Not once did the look at us once again. Why? Because the Nut-wart KNEW what she'd done and had no fucking heart.

I guarantee she was the bitter, frigid, ball-busting wife of some haggard old doctor whose kids are eight shades of fucked up because of their upbringing. I'd put money on this bitch and her whole family being the poster children for Webster's entry for the word Dysfunctional. But you know what? At least they’d have a fucking nice wreath on their door in the picture. BITCH!!!


All night and into today I have been tense thinking about this act. Why does it bother me so much? I have no idea. It shouldn't. I should simply pity her for being such a smack-nasty dog-fart of a whore, but I simply can't get past it. I wonder what Maya would do...






"I would use my molecular transformation to change into some horrid beast and FUCK HER SHIT SIDEWAYS, DOG. YOU FEEL ME?"


I'm so with you Maya.

So, my holiday cheer is shot to Hell in a pink El Camino driven by Sara Michelle Gellar with Chamillionaire playing on the radio. I still wish the world Peace, Love and Cheer and I'd buy everyone a coke if I could. For me though? What do I want for Christmas? Ignore the list I've talked about until now. All I want is to bust a cap in that fuck-monkey's eye hole while nailing her to that fucking, albeit beautifully done, wreath. Please Santa, come through on this one.

I haven't been this excited about a game in a good while. I'm hoping we get an XBox 360 before the game drops.

Mass Effect

191 pounds! I'm about to be 20 pounds from my ideal weight! The pizza craving is gone by the way. Now it's cookie dough. Not cookies...just cookie dough. I think I also want a cannoli. That italian blood is boiling apparently.

192! What a time to want some pizza.

192! What a time to want some pizza.

So, nearing the end at last. This term has been a little trying with my crappy photoshop class and all. (The teacher was pretty much useless and the book aspires to be a useless coaster) Everything I learned in the class was: 1) on my own. 2) trial and error until I got what I needed. And 3) from a CS2 for Dummies book I bought. I could have saved the money and taught myself.

Regardless, here is my final piece for the class. It needed to be original with at least 3 photos incorporated seamlessly and showing a proficiency in Photoshop. It also had to have text. I decided to visualize my feelings about the class and since a picture of a pile of horse manure wouldn't net me an A+ I opted for something more emotional. I guess we'll see how I do when the teacher gets around to grading my last 3 weeks of work.

"Frustration" by Phred, 2006

193 today!

Blogtagious

I was cleaning my desk today and uncovered a small note that Jennifer had given me containing her blog information. I'd completely forgotten she had a blog!! So a little late, but nonetheless, I welcome Jennifer to the ranks of my blog links list. Harass her at your whim.

BIRD!

Thanks. Yay.

What a day to break my plateau. 194!

Phun with Photoshop

Okay, so it wasn't loads of fun, but it was better than it's been so far. Admittedly I was excited about taking my image editing class and learning about Photoshop. I love Illustrator and was ready to get further into other prgrams. So far I hate it. I don't think it's the program so much as the shitty book we have that explains very little and skips steps assuming you're already familiar with the program. I'm going to grab a better book on it and see what I glean. Anyhow, this week's assignment was to make your own space scene. So this is what I ended up with.












I like it okay. I wasn't happy with some minor glitches that showed up after all was said and done, but it'll pass.

I wonder if Maya likes it.




"I totally have a summer home there."

Wow Maya, you so rock.

Happy Feet Soundtrack

While, surprisingly enough, I really like the soundtrack, Nicole Kidman doing Prince's Kiss is wrong like lipstick on a dog.

It's Always A Brighter Day With A New Prince Tune

Yay! Myshe directed me to AOL Music today which had Prince's contribution for the upcoming movie "Happy Feet" up for listening. "Song of the Heart" fits in perfectly with the theme of the movie and is bouncey, light-hearted and lends itself well to a tapping penguin. I'm actually looking forward to see this movie next month and this as well as so many othe great artists on the soundtrack only helps!

Prince - Song of the Heart

A New Appreciation

Music at the Moment: Justin Timberlake - "Let me talk to you/My Love"

Anyone that knows me knows that I am NOT a Justin Timberlake fan. I liked "Cry me a River" and almost all of his new CD (Except that god awful crappyback sexycrap song) chiefly due to Timbaland's involvement. (Love me some Timbaland!) I've never understood the general gay fascination with how incredibly hot he is (yech!) nor how it's implied that he's so far beyond his fellow N-Sync members (In fact, I loved JC Chasez' last CD, which interestingly enough was VERY similar to this latest Timberlake release and well before it.)

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the other day that the second release from the new Timberlake CD was "Let me talk to you/My Love" which I really like. However, I can like the song and still not be terribly impressed by the "performer".

So I went to bed last night and, as is custom, flipped on the television to wind down before actually drifting off. Surfing I landed on VH-1 to watch the end of some video that I can't recall now. I figured I’d cut it off after it ended and hit the hay. As it ended I heard the music for Timberlake's new tune so I said "eh, I’ll se how he showcases in this one and does little else". Pretty much the first half of the video was as I expected. Flashy set, Timberlake walking around in a suit trying to look all mature and cocky with some minute little "look I have rhythm" moves here and there.

Then we transition to the second half of the video.

I sat up in my bed and watched the remainder of the video with slack jaw. I was returned to a day when I would perform every weekend with my dance partner Snowy and lived for the next Janet Jackson video because I knew it would be on time. Admittedly, this new Janet album is fun and that made me happy, but the "So Excited" video, while decent and dancey, is not the caliber I’ve wanted back from Janet since the days of Rhythm Nation and Janet.

This video delivered what I’ve wanted for so long. The choreography is tight with a capital flawless and made me want to ring Snowy and say "Okay, this is the next routine we're doing". Kudos to Justin and the choreographer. I will certainly pay more attention to you from now on.

Here is a link to the VH-1 video list. You can pick Justin on the right menu to play the video. Make sure you right click the screen of the video to put it on fullscreen. Then you can see the sublime moves up close.

Timberlake Video

YAY!!!

Hallelujah Jeffrey!!!





















I could not be happier at the outcome of this season!

I guess he didn't need those shorts after all, huh Laura? Bitch.

I Still Hate Math

Music at the Moment: Jet - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Okay, so I'm actually picking Algebra up. Hallelujah. I still can't stand math.

Jet is hot. I think they're actually a fixed addition to my favorite rock groups list. I bet they hate math too.

I wonder how Maya feels about math, being that she's a scientist from an advanced culture.


I @#%$ hate Math! All I'd ever hear from Mentor was "Check your math!", "Math is good!", "Math will rejuvenate our dead world!" I mean #!*&! Enough with the math already. Maybe I want to be a $!%@* baker!



I totally hear you Maya. I guess I'll manage and pray that it doesn't weigh down my other classes. What would Maya do?







I'd molecularly transform into a Croton Fire Beast and destroy all math books. You're SOL though Phred, because you aren't a shapeshifter. Sucks to be you.

I know Maya. You, in your infinite wisdom, totally rock.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

3 Down. 12 To Go. Oy.

Music at the Moment: Tori Amos - Mr. Zebra

Music at the Moment: Scissor Sisters - Kiss You Off
(Whatta ya do? Mr. Zebra was over by the time I typed it.)

And the verdict is...





So thankfully I've held onto my G.P.A. for another term. I hope I can do it for another 12.

Below are pieces from my DI final that I promised some friends I'd post. We had to do a package design for a product of our choice plus some design collateral. I chose Ye Olde Cereal. It was rather fun!

Yay!

a huge

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Linwood!




















Wish you were nearby so we could take you out!

Craft on crafta'

Spawnage

Music at the Moment: The sound of my stress-filled weeping

New nephew Tyler. Cuter than shit. That is all.

Music at the Moment: Kitty Quacking

197 today. Yay. Too tired to really get excited.

I Passed Go And Collected 100 Dollars!

So I went to see Jenn up at the Circle K and to grab a cup of coffee today. Hanging around chatting with her, I decided to throw 8 bucks away on scratch-off cards. Mind you, this is like my second time ever buying these things. I think the last time was 1832. I absent-mindedly cleared the little windows and saw that I'd won a ticket. I was excited! It's rare I win anything you see. So I collected my other ticket and summarily won 100 dollars. Yay me!

28 years Sexy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to my favoritist man in the whole wide world!
I love you more than I can ever express John!!

And yes Sarah, his ass still won't quit.

Dirty Phun!

Play this quick little interactive game. Dirty Dirty Dirty! *ecstatic giggle*

The House

Continuing Progress

Music at the Moment: Morris Brown - Outkast

198!

This is great! I'm thinking of keeping this tapeworm and naming him George. I will squeeze him and pet him...

Time To Go WABAC

I awoke in agony with nothing to look forward to other than continuing the wailing, life-draining abomination that is my Animation final. Have I mentioned how much I hate animation? Anyhow, I was greeted with an uplifting bit of news that helped make my day a lot shinier thanks to Myshe.

There was hardly a morning I didn't watch The Rocky & Bullwinkle show while getting ready for school. Personally I abhored Rocky and Bullwinkle, but I lived for Aesop and Son, Fractured Fairytales and my favorite: Peabody's Improbably History.

Dreamworks has a chance to treat a childhood favorite of mine with respect now. I PRAY it doesn't go the way of Dudley Do-Right or The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle.

Peabody's Improbably History

From Morning Chai to Mourning Chai

Music at the Moment: The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes

So, I've come to the tear-filled and sorrow-laden conclusion that my chai latte addiction is not conducive to weight loss. So, after much deliberation and soul-searching I've come to the decision to bid farewell to chai until I am to my ideal weight. I shall simply have to find a suitable substitute in the meantime. Perhaps I'll fill the chai void with crack, smoking, cutting and random piercings, but it just won't be the same. Damn thee Sarah and Jane. I am a slave to the chai.

Remembering 911

Music at the Moment: Psapp - Hi

I remember 911 is that emergency number you have to call if your roomie lops off an arm or if there are 6 masked men with guns standing in your foyer looking at you as you turn on the light in search of a midnight drink of water.

Also, 911 is eerily mystical in nature. 9+1+1=11! And then if you add 1 and 1 you get 2 which added to 9 is 11!!! Consider also that if you add 911 to itself you get 1822. In November 1822, Luis Arguello became the first governor of California under Mexican rule! Luis! Louis! Louis Cypher! Lucifer! Even more uncanny is that the same trick with Lucifer's name was used in the 1987 movie Angel Heart which I must have seen 911 times!!

Further, 9 sounds like Nein which is German for No. 1 is also one that can represent a person. 1 is also won which is the past tense for being victorious or succeeding in a competition. Do you realize that this, loosely translated, means "No one won!?"

I'm fairly certain Kitty weighs 911 pounds.

When I was 9 I had a crush on an 11 year old. Together, he and I witnessed two 1-year-olds beat up a 9 year old. We tried to stop them by hurling the bricks we were playing with at them. I must have thrown 9 of those things, but my friend only threw 2 and hit each one of them squarely on the head. One of them had to have 526 stitches while the other had 385. That adds up to 911 stitches!

I had a breakfast bar this morning that was 90 calories. I remember having thought to myself, wow I could eat 11 of these. Gasp! Coincidence?

So, remember that the numbers 911 are very mysterious and you should always remember to never forget that it's good to always remember not forgetting to not forget what you should always remember to always never forget.

As I head out to my car adorned with it's 1,456 different "I support" ribbons, my Choose Life tag and my 50 or so ingeniously witty flag stickers, I shall get in and head proudly to Starbucks to order my Chai Latte which most likely has 911 calories per venti all while cursing liberals and talking on my cell phone.

Weight Plateau Destruction: "Fatality!"

Music at the Moment: Goldfrapp - Strict Machine

Welcome to 200! Finally I broke through that damn 206ish barrier that would not let me pass. Come Christmas and the great initial meeting of the mother-in-law entity I shall be Gorgeulicioufabulantastic!

Maybe my TRIMminent thin godliness is already visible? The really cute, short, blond contractor that was here for our replumb said I was a liar when i told him I was 36. He said I was no older than 25-26 tops. He's now tied up in the room and I'll be marrying him next week.

Heroes Are Hard Work

Music at the Moment: The Silence of late night and sleeping cats

So was anyone surprised that Feedback won Who Wants To Be Stan Lee's Next Tool? We sort of all knew it from day one. He deserved it, but I missed Major Victory. Stan Lee is a total dimwit. Some of those "challenges" were rridiculous and let's not even go into the constant contradiction of criteria to win challenges Stan would vomit forth with each episode. Le sigh.

School has been a pain in the ais this week and I just finished my first and most involved assignment this week. This one was for Digital Illustration. We had to take a photo of a relative, a friend or ourselves and make a superhero comic cover from it. Yay you say? I did too, until I slaved over it. What a headache. At least it's done. I used the only real hero in my life as my subject...my hubby. I love you John!

When an enthusiastic field reporter and avid storm chaser happens onto the site of a secret weather controlling experiment gone awry, little does he know that he is about to become his next big story...

S'update

Music at the moment: Muse - Supermassive Black Hole

John's father passed on August 12th :(

We made it into the polybutylene class action suit and are having our house completely replumbed from top to bottom at no cost to us. :D

School is kicking my ass this term, but I'm hanging onto that 4.0 for dear life. :

I never want to be an animator. >:(

I've lost about 10 pounds on nutrisystem. :)

My neck seems to be getting better. :)

This season of Project Runway is rather lackluster. :

Josh is coming this weekend for his B-day. :)

My CoH toon finally made it to 50 and I'm fiddling around with my Kheldians. :)

I had to do a self portrait again. This time it was in Art History of all things. What's more is she wanted it done on the computer...freehand. So I got to use Illustrator and the pencil tool to try and draw my picture with the mouse. Yech. I need a graphics tablet.

End of Term 2

And again I find myself at the end of another term of school. What is your GPA this term Phred, you ask?












That's right. With a 100 in English to boot.
Eat it Mrs. McDonald and Mrs. Webb.

< On Psycon we have a saying Phred: "Dorcons suck, but you freakin' rock"

Thanks Maya, you freakin' rock too!

Batman II: Jokeback Mountain?

I like him, but will he work?

Ledger to play Batman's Joker?

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

14 juillet - Fête Nationale









Pierre dit...




< Happy Bastille Day! Dreenk wine and eat cheese!





Phred dit...

Pauvre Zidane. Pourquoi?! Pourquoi?! Je suis triste.

French or Italian, Triste still means "sad".

That's right, I'm sad.. I'm bummed that France lost when they were so close to winning. I'm sad Zidane played such a great cup thast could have been an incredible swan song for such a sexy football player. Head-butting at the end of overtime is bad.

I was torn anyhow, but i really wanted France to win a little bit more than Italy.

Je suis triste.














****************************************

But at least it was a sexy team that won. John and I want a Gattuso Cannavaro sandwich.

Fathead Freaky Baby

This is for Miss Sarah, who wanted to know if I had this model. There you go Miss S! Isn't he great!!! I wish he was my kid. I'd take him to the mall and let him scare people.

Feelin' Sketchy II: Sketchy With A Vengeance

So here's my medium time limit sketching assignment. These were 5-10 minutes instead of 10-20 seconds.

Action




















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Crouching/Squatting




















***************************************

Standing





















***************************************

Exaggerated




















Fun stuff. Next week is sequence sketching. That should be a hoot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE-O!!!

Feelin' Sketchy

Music at the Moment: Nelly Furtado with Timbaland - Promiscuous Girl

So this week we had 60 sketches to do. Oy. Tired and so sick of pencils. Standing, Action, Crouch/Squat and Exaggerated assignments below.
*************************************************

Dance Music Sex Romance

MERRY PRINCEMAS!!!




















You go boy! Keep on keepin' on.

Objets D'arrrgh

More assignments from the drawing and perspective class. Yay.





















My technique drawing. Hatching, Cross-hatching and Stippling.
I love stippling, which I'm told is rare.
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My upside down Stravinsky drawing. Drawing upside down is the devil.
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And lastly, my self portrait. Not too keen on it, but it's better than I'd expected.

Music at the Moment: Nikka Costa - Around the World

I figured I'd post my art assignments as I did them no matter how blech they are. Unfortunately I haven't had much time to blog and it annoys me. Usually I'd have had my X-Men 3 review up the hour after I saw it opening day. Suffice it to say, it was underwhelming and Brett Ratner was a questionable pick. It amuses me to no end that I keep hearing people talk about how hot Juggernaut's body was and his yummy abs and chest. It's amusing because that's a latex abdomen. I guess they think Gumby is pretty hot too huh? *just shakes his head* The saddest thing is that I’m more excited about that other Bryan Singer superhero movie than I was about my long-time love, the X-Men. Please Bryan, reconsider giving up Logan's Run!















This is my initial Blind Contour Drawing and then my modified one. Yay.
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My first perspective drawing. Feh.
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This was my plotted cube drawing. It was long and involved. I had to draw all the particular points like the eye line and ground line and eventually map out the dimensions of my cube. It was interesting to say the least.

BOOYAH!

Guess who made the Dean's List this semester? *bows*

So there, Mrs. Conklin.

Bitch.

Thassmy Post

Thassmy music at the moment: Masha Qrella - Destination Vertical

Thassmy new car















Thassmy next purchase
















Thassmy girl!





















Thassmy GPA for my first term













Thassmy update.

School Daze

Music at the Moment: Owusu And Hannibal - Delirium (Morgan Geist Tongues Remix)

So this mid-term thing is a pain in my ass. 9 weeks of info crammed into 5 and teachers that demand a little too much. Joy.

Before a few minutes ago I had a 100 in Success Strategies. Then I got hit with the "You weren't elaborate enough" bomb on my last assignment and dropped to a 95. When a question asks for a certainty or black and white fact, why do I have to pretend to be a in a fakakta creative writing class? Is it really necessary for me to answer "What is your favorite color?" with something like "The color that i love is purple. Purple is my most beloved color. It is not red, nor is it blue. It is not green or brown or even yellow. While lavendar is nice and mauve is interesting, they are not the purple I love. To adore a purple it must be the right mixture of red and blue or i cannot adore it. Not too much red, nor too much blue. Neither too little red nor too little blue will do either. Pink is right out. It must be purple and and purely so." I mean really! If that's what you want from me, you stay here and hold this holy hand grenade while I go search for the meaning of life. Jesus.

Computer Applications is a 99.3 right now thanks to two incorrect answers on last week's quiz. One was an accident of clicking the wrong box rather than the one I was going for and not noticing it soon enough. The other was a bona fide wrong one on my part so I'm not disappointed.

Song switch: Wumpscut - Our Fatal Longing (Thank you Josh for re-igniting my love for Ratzinger!)

I'm actually enjoying the threaded discussions more than I'd expected as they give me a chance to stretch my writing wings. John says my last post sounded like a textbook (He assures me in a positive way) and one of my teachers said one of my many talents must be writing. Yay! Let's just hope that he feels the same after my last post which, after posting, looked immense. There were some larege posts on the thread already, but when mine went up it dwarfed them all. I don't want to look like an overachiever or some teacher kiss-ass. I just tend to take a topic and go when I write. I hope it's okay and not to my detriment.

Now for some entertainment...

The people in my classes are, thus far, very nice. But oh....my...god...

I don't get some of them. Let me share with you a few from the threaded forums.

Our Computer Applications class discussion for this week is very ease-in simple. We simply need to answer the following questions:

1. How do you protect yourself from e-mail-based computer viruses? What programs do you run? What other practices do you follow?

2. How many SPAM messages do you receive each day? How can you reduce SPAM?

3. How do you organize the messages you receive?

4. How do you access your e-mail messages when you are traveling?

5. Do you use multiple e-mail accounts? If so, how do you manage them?

So you just pretty much post the answers to each initially and then as the week progresses, we post twice again with responses and ideas about other's posts. Simple right?

One Ms. Elly Quent responded to the 5 point discussion question with:

"YOU WOULD SHUT DOWN .THREE DAY."

That's it. Her bellowed initial and only post made. If anyone translates this bit of profound logic, please let me know.

There are a LOT more where that one came from, but we'll move over to Success Strategies for another treat!

in SS we were given a scenario where two students are both talking about dropping out of school because of issues with completing assignments. Tracy is a single mother with upteen billion children and works a 659 hour week as well as taking classes. Ricardo is a whiney slacker. Our job was to assess their issues and discuss how to resolve their particular problems. We were also to discuss a time where we had our own problems with time-management and invite others to offer solutions. To round it up we were asked to talk about the pros and cons of a classic classroom situation compared to online learning. Again, simple right? Yeah...right.

Let me point out that the syllabus asks that our posts in the threaded discussions are complete sentences, well thought out with good grammar. Really...I needed to point that out to you.

WARNING: Please be sitting down and remove all sharp instruments from your proximity before continuing.

Marjorie McWutthaphuk posted her splendid answers yesterday:

Tracy who has responsible of 3 kids and house hold. She has to manage her time wisely. She got to remember what a steak. Tracy needs to slow down to 1/2 or 3/4 time because she will give her more time for her study. Or she should look in a degree that meets once week for 2 1/2 years. A example is business at our locate college.

Ricardo is struggling at time management. He needs direction on how to manage his time. On example would be to write out big ca lender for his semester with everything on it. Now he can add social life on it too. The next step is he needs to block out couple hours at time for write his papers.

My example is current issue that us department manager deal with daily. About two weeks age, Lowe's across the board wipe out all overtime for salary employee. At the same of this our new store manager more on our shoulders. Weekly we have cycle counts, daily we IRP, code 3, code 99, code 50 and to fill in the gap in our department. By the way we are short hand to. Now Jim has place checkbook project on our shoulder. This is exactly fun. How do you fill in the blanks of time management issues? Please remember there is only 40 hours to work. I all already cover 1/2 it in coverage.

I find online course time management easier, this is because I'm not driving back and forth. I save about two hours daily great study time. I can study when the kids do their studying also. I take to heart the ca lender idea. I write everything out. I can see how to plan. My kids fill in the blank where there are blank.

*blink*

*blinkityblink*

Okay, so after peeling my nails out of my eyeballs I stopped and gave her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps english was a second language. Or in this case, forty-second. So I investigated her introduction post. Nope. Whitey McWhitebread lives in Whitebreadville in Whitebreadton Falls with little whitebreads running around her whitebread feet. Now read it again knowing that and try not to abuse someone nearby with a blunt instrument.

My personal favorites and the ones that caused me bodily harm? "What a steak" and "ca lender"...twice.

Can things get any more interesting in thread land? We'll see I guess.

Music at the Moment: Van Hunt - Ride, Ride, Ride/Mean Sleep

I completed orientation for school today. I'm getting excited about starting classes next week. Let's hope things go well.

I ordered my Easy Media Suite 8 so I could be more up-to-date on my CD/DVD software and I'm waiting for it to arrive. My Epson All-In-One arrived only 2 days after I ordered it, but I have yet to install it. It's big and pretty though.

Ron, bless his soul, is sending Myshe and me school copies of Office 2003 Pro and XP Pro licensed for multiple student use. That's saving us a good deal of money and it turns out we can get a free copy of XP from school as well, so we're good all around. We can't order our program kits yet, but I'm sure they'll be pricey given all the hard/software we'll be getting.

song switch: Ratatat - Seventeen years (This whole album rocks)

So, I'm totally loving 6 days at the gym and yoga on wednesdays. I admit that's a completely alien statement to me and I can't believe it's coming out of my mouth. My schedule starting on Mondays is LA LA walk LA LA walk. By this, I mean Mondays is Legs, Tuesday is Arms, Wednesday is Cardio (Treadmill for me), Thursday is the off day and the routine starts back up on Friday. Every workout is essentially the same. We stretch on the machines, do our ab work on the bouncy balls then hit our Legs/Arms whichever we're doing and our core stuff (Back extensions and then cardio). Wednesday and Sunday are core only with respect to thye Yoga class on Wednesday night.

Yoga actually sort of rocks. The first week we did it I walked like Tim Conway's old man for two days after, but today I'm not even the slightest bit sore so I guess I worked the kinks out of my "Yoga Muscles". I'm enjoying the Yoga a lot more than I thought I would and I'm going to stick with it as long as I can. The Yoga lady Anna (I think that's her name) is very groovy and totally down on the organic tip so I'll be getting some food info from her and renewing my membership at Everman's health food store.

song switch: House of Pain/Everlast - Black Jesus

I'm actually thinking about taking some time each day to dredge up old routines and go through them with the music cranked. I didn't have a problem with weight and tone or staying active when Snowy and I danced regularly and I miss jookin' on a weekly basis.

*pause for Cat's demanding attention by destroying the homestead.*

song switch: Kelly Clarkson - Walk Away

I think tomorrow my quest for an iPod or something similar begins. I'm finding more and more I'd really like one to have for working out when nothing is on the treadmill televisions or when i'm on the other machines that don't have any entertainment. Listening to music helps me focus by not focusing if that makes any sense. I also tend to do more for longer if I have a beat driving it.

I already decided on the portable drive I'm going to get for picture/document storage for all my art and such. I just have to go ahead and order it. It'll certainly make carrying my art around a lot easier. Evacuations will be a snap!

Okay, enough rambling for today. John's home in less than a week. Hallelujah! I miss him terribly this time out. :-(

How To Start A Phred Day Right:

Music at the Moment: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion (Could Karen O be any more Siouxsie Sioux 2.0?)

This was all I needed to see to set the great tone of my day!

















All you Prince naysayers can kiss my ass.
Mr. Nelson and I will laugh all the way to the
music store.

The Greatest Bumper Sticker

Don't get me wrong, I adore the Mutant Fish and the Darwin fish and especially the Cthuluhu fish, but this one is out of this world. I'll be ordering it and, with John's permission, placing this on our car. It'll be our first Bumper Sticker!