Law of Unintended Consequences
When I moved my workspace into the basement, I moved myself out of the range of broadcast TV signals. It never occurred to me TV wouldn’t work down here, we used to get signal down here. I guess broadcast signals aren’t as strong anymore.
I have been watching an endless stream of Netflix. First, I went through all the available episodes of Fascape. Then Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Doctor Who, Torchwood, all kinds of the fun stuff. Some I’ve seen, some I haven’t.
Now that school is out and I don’t need to be at my computer working, I could go upstairs and watch regular TV, but I still don’t. I think, I am tired of shows about dead bodies, serial killers and that little known forensic detail that points straight to the wrong doer. I know 30 years ago those shows would have been science fiction; DNA, giant databases of fingerprints, mass spectrometers that identify every little particle, etc.
As bored as I have become with procedural crime dramas, reality shows, situation comedy, soap operas and talk shows have never interested me. I like science fiction (and I use that term loosely), but also I like science shows, history shows, historical dramas. I watch PBS on purpose! (Well, I did when I could get the TV to work.)
I have been pondering what these things have in common. Science shows are about how things work, history shows are about how people survive, historical dramas are about how people work and science fiction is about what it means to be human. I know those who aren’t fans of science fiction never get past the “but it isn’t real” aspect, even though by definition fiction isn’t real. Just because the setting isn’t “real” doesn’t mean the story doesn’t have something to say. When you come right down to it, aren’t shows about solving a murder a little morbid? Yes, it is fiction and not real.
So from now on, I am going to try and post reviews and commentary on the world of science fiction.
Note: I use that term loosely because I can’t think of a better one.
Etsy Listing Vintage Shoes
Four beautiful pairs of vintage shoes size 8 or 81/2.
They are from the late 1960′s or early 1970′s. I would keep them if they fit me.
There is a pair of gold bedroom slippers, a pair of silver sandals, a pair of black heels and a pair of patent leather heels. Grammie had nice taste in shoes.
I hope they find a good home.
New Template! And Other News
New Template! (Yes! Again!)
I know I’ve said this before -like about once every six months or so- but I think I found a WordPress template I can live with. This one seems to be working really well for me. I do want to learn to build WP themes from the ground up, but that has proved challenging, since I only have time between semesters and I do not know PHP. I really love the transparent background in the text area, I can’t wait till I have time dig around a figure out how that was done!
For right now I would like to spend my effort re-organizing the site. It had become simply unmanageable with a separate page for each of my print-on-demand designs. I did a lot research this summer and I have concluded that I am not using WP to its best advantage and the site would be better off if I used more the BLOGing features to organize information.
Fall Classes
Back in school for nearly a month now. I’m adding Flash, 3D Animation and Digital Video to my repertoire of skills and software. I feel slightly nuts taking all of these at once, but due to the way they are scheduled this was the best option.
We are still working on the software basics, but my head is just spinning with ideas for projects. I want to get a jump on the artwork, so hopefully I can narrow down the possibilities soon.
Untitled
Thinking of a sick friend.
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.by William Ernest Henley
The poem was written, in 1875 when Henley was 17. It was written in the hospital after Henley last his foot to a bone infection.
Originally untitled, the title Invictus (Latin for “unconquered“) first appeared in 1902.
Zombie Apocalypse Are You Ready?
Last week a CDC blog post concerning emergency preparedness crashed their servers. What was so dire that it sent thousands to this particular post? Preparing for a Zombie Apocalypse!
So few of us take this threat as seriously as we should; I’ve decided to try help raise awareness.
The Crosby Festival of the Arts
OMG!!! HOT!!! STICKY!!! It is that way every year… sometimes it rains… I guess that is what happens when you live in a swamp. Honestly it wasn’t too bad in the walk ways but the booth were like little ovens. Is that what they mean about suffering for your art? The poor artists were melting.
So many fascinating things. A lot of collage art work this year. As always quite a bit of pottery and glass, Toledo Botanical Gardens does house the pottery and glass guilds. I don’t know if could describe everything there if I was typing as I walked around. I would take a thousand pictures but a lot of the artists don’t like that. For some reason the “black cat from “Chat Noir” kept showing up. Recycling was big, too; there some really great stained glass incorporating old cut glass bowls and platters.
I’ve going to the art Festival for as long as I can remember. I wonder what Mr. Crosby would think of his old horse farm? It is now sculptured gardens, there are pieces modern sculpture, the stable is a conference center and the creek has large ponds. Not the place we used to run around as kids.
Anyway…
My sister got tickets for the preview party on Friday night. That really nice to wander around not in the noon sun, and when things weren’t so crowed. I went back Sunday morning to look again. I am feeling very inspired but I don’t know where to begin.
Almost Afraid to Leave the House Today
Ever have one of those weeks when you are almost afraid to leave the house by the end of the week? Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were so traumatic I don’t even remember Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday I spent all day trying to assemble some two sides tri-fold brochures. The school printers do not print two sided, and the work tables are sitting height not standing height so my back was killing me by the end of the day. It was pouring rain and I got soaked on my way to my car. My car was acting a little funny so I was supposed to drop it off at the mechanic after school. I got on the highway and immediately realized my car was not up to the task and started aiming for the next exit, so I round the bend and what do I find? Stopped traffic on N475. It took me 2.5 hours to get home, usually takes 20 minutes even with the detour to mechanic it should have been more than 40 minutes.
For some reason I didn’t get any sleep that night and couldn’t concentrate on studying -the aching back and the stress overload from 2.5 hours in stop and go traffic in soaking jeans might have had something to do with that- so Thursday test in Typography did not go well at all, the word “FAIL” comes to mind. Then the instructor got mad at me for being confused. I got my car back in the afternoon.
Friday I got up ran some errands and went to work. A few hours later I went to go get lunch and my battery was dead, my power locks wouldn’t work dead. Someone jumped it for me, it ran for 10 minutes and died again. This wouldn’t have been so bad but I work on the other side of town and I didn’t have anyone to call to come help me. I had it towed to the mechanic and the the driver gave me a ride and my wonderful mommy gave me ride from there.
The terminals were corroded underneath and the battery wasn’t making contact. The mechanic fixed it for free because they missed it, which really was understandable, I looked right at the battery and didn’t see it either. I’m not very mechanically inclined but I can tell corrosion when I see it, I know battery contacts need to be cleaned sometimes.
My car got a severe scolding on the way home from the mechanics today. Which is slightly more effective than scolding the cats… but still completely useless in the end.
Do you see why I might like to hide in my house today?
But I did go out, went to the student art show reception. Even drove my mom and we all survived. Next week will be better hopefully.
Spring Break Came and Went
I got nothing much done and now I’m struggling to get back into my class work. I don’t know why, I just can’t seem to focus. I am so not making the Honor Roll this semester; oh well, its not the grades that are important, it is the experience, the knowledge and the contacts.
I changed around my website some, still haven’t got most of my content back up. It had become such an unmanageable mess, I opted to reinstall the WordPress software. Hopefully, I will be able get all the pages and more back soon-ish!
My son put together a new computer for me. Works great! Doesn’t turn itself on. He is a total Superhero Kid!
The paperwork is at the lawyer office. I don’t know how all that will go. I really don’t want to deal with it now, but has to be done.
I also need to get my knees x-rayed. They apparently aren’t supposed to sound like rice crispies in milk when I bend them.