Tattooooos

Finally, photos of my tattoos!

I’m Here…

Some sort of password glitch prevented me from logging in to this blog for almost a month. Thankfully, here I am now.

Next step: Figure out what to do with this place.

Quickie

I’m on a kick of Russian authors. Currently, I’m reading Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment; next, I plan to read his books, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, Nabakov’s Lolita, and Tolstoy’s Anna Kerenina.

If you haven’t read Crime and Punishment, you should. It’s amazing. AMAZING. Raskolnikov is one of, if not the most nuanced, fleshed-out characters I’ve ever encountered in literature.

Inked (Again)

I got my tattoo touched-up and added to last night! Now it’s much closer to what I originally envisioned. It looks a lot better in person, in context (on the inside of my forearm), but it wasn’t easy getting this shot! Here are the before and after shots:

 Before

 After

You can’t really see it in the photos, but the colors were done in much deeper shades this time, and look a lot better.

Heath Ledger… Or Legend?

The Dark Knight rocked so hard. Heath Ledger was miraculous, and Christian Bale was amazing.

Well…

…I’m officially a student again. I’ve enrolled in a certificate program for Professional Photography, and I’m thrilled. Just because I’m not working due to all these health issues, it doesn’t mean I can’t be productive and work toward something I want very badly. And, fortunately, as I’d been planning for this for some time, I was able to pay my full tuition up front so I won’t have that hanging over my head. That only gives me even more incentive to work hard, because it’s coming out of my own pocket.

Me so happy.

HOLY SHIT

O……….M…………F………..G.

I found my first “serious” boyfriend on Facebook.

Mind you, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. We were together for two years, from age 15 to 17, and he was a very, very, VERY bad boy. So bad, that when I broke up with him, he stalked me and threatened my mom and my friends; I ended up getting a restraining order against him, and it turned into this huge, frightening ordeal. Of course, that was fifteen years ago, and from his Facebook profile, it looks like he may have straightened out, gone to college, etc. But still…

It seems like such a long time ago — forever, even. And, in retrospect, it wasn’t really love, at least not in the mature, adult sense. But, wow, does this bring back memories. Plus, he’ll always have a special place in my heart because he was my first for almost everything — my first “love,” my first sexual experience, my first break-up (my first stalker… heh). To this day, certain smells remind me of him and take me right back to that time in my life.

You know, honestly, I’d figured that, by now, he was either dead or in jail. The fact that he’s alive and on Facebook is more than a little jarring. I’m actually a bit shaken. It’s so weird being confronted with a dark time in your past, even if it’s just in the form of a photo on an online profile.

Last Chance To See

One of my favorite people in  the world is the late author, Douglas Adams, best known for being the creative genius behind the wacky, madcap series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a “trilogy in five parts”). Those books have brought me an immense amount of joy — but the chance to know Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and the rest of the colorful (and arguably insane) characters making up Adams’ Galaxy, are only part of why I love him so.

Though he made his name as a science-fiction comedy writer, Douglas Adams was so much more than that. He was obsessed with technology (especially all things Mac-related), a self-described “radical atheist,” a pathological procrastinator and a passionate proponent of environmental and animal conservation. And it was this, his devotion to the earth and its creatures, which lead him to write the book he was most proud of in his career: a quiet, little title that few have heard of called Last Chance To See.

Last Chance… is an elegy to the endangered species struggling for survival in our world. It chronicles Adams’ journey across various continents in search of amazing, but nearly extinct creatures such as the silverback mountain gorilla in Zaire, a flightless bird called the kakapo in New Zealand, and the half-blind baiji dolphin in China.

Adams’ trademark humor is evident on every page, but there’s also an enormous sense of melancholy present in what he writes:

I suddenly felt, well, terribly old as I watched a mudskipper hopping along with what now seemed to me like a wonderful sense of hopeless, boundless naive optimism. It had such a terribly, terribly, terribly long way to go. I hoped that if its descendant was sitting here on this beach in 350 million years’ time with a camera around its neck, it would feel that the journey had been worth it.

I highly recommend Last Chance To See to every human being inhabiting this planet. It’s a funny, moving farewell to the animals we’ve lost, and a call to action for the ones we’re about to lose.

Taking This Blog to Video

I just bought a new webcam, because, even though my little point-and-shoot camera takes video, I wanted something that would make it easy to do the occasional video blog.

OMGIMSUCHADORK … I KNOW!

But, please, when one is sitting here all summer stuck inside with nothing to do because of the oft-mentioned leg injury, dorkism is something to which one has no option but to resort.

I have an old ancient webcam that I used to have attached to my (now defunct) desktop — but it’s TOO antiquated to use on this laptop. Also, after the mail-in rebate, I will have gotten this new webcam for $15, when it’s originally $60!  Dude. Awesome.

So, yeah, I know you’re all sitting there squealing from the pure excitement and anticipation of my first video blog. Don’t lie. Bwahahahaha!

Crap

A quick update of the last week or so.

• My sweet, little hamster died last Wednesday evening. He was old and it was his time, but I miss him terribly. I know it’s not the same as losing a cat or dog, but even the little creatures can leave big holes — and Jack did. Fortunately, I was able to hold and cuddle and kiss him as he died, so he left the world surrounded by love
• My grandparents were both in the hospital for a week — my grandfather for a relapse of his celulitis, my grandmother for what was either pneumonia or Legionnaire’s disease. As of today, both of them are home, safe, sound and on the mend
• I’m still on crutches, and — according to the orthopedist I saw on Monday — probably will be for the next 6-12 weeks
• My step-mom, Liz, was diagnosed with breast cancer and is going in for a lumpectomy and thirty rounds of radiation

I guess that about covers it. I’m OK, though. It’s life, ya know?