(no subject)

Thanks to grumpymonkey for the link - this has xtingu written all over it: an unusual car...

A few minutes for an update...

Ok - I decided not to go to my place for lunch today, but rather to sit here and jot a few notes on my lunch break.

Here they are in no particular order:

MTM's stock (MTMC) seems to be on the rise for the first time in a while. I don't generally follow such things, but I've started paying attention to that particular stock lately. I'm not saying that I'm going to jump right in and buy now that it's on the rise, but it just seems interesting to note.

I've started work on learning how to use CSSs in earnest. Many thanks to www.boutell.com for directing me to www.w3schools.com which is where I've been doing my homework. They have a rather impressive setup there with well written information and even a quiz at the end (which I scored an 80% on my first time through). In order to put my new found knowledge to good use, I've begun a mock-up page for the new and improved www.dragonbones.net over at what will become my new homepage - www.lightinthewoods.com The idea is pretty simple: www.dragonbones.net will become my professional portfolio site, while www.lightinthewoods.com will become 'everything else' - my more personal page. Please understand that there's basically nothing there right now (lightinthewoods) because I'm learning the basics of CSS and I'm playing around with the nuances of the existing page. As with most CSS docs, the idea is to come up with a really good set of style sheets and base more or less everything off of those so that website wide modifications require less effort. I have to say that it feels really good to be learning something since...

...the bank has been slow. I mean dog slow. I mean pine sap in January slow. Yeah. Like that. It's alright now that I have net access when I want it, so I find that at least I can entertain myself, and since I'm not right with the group of folks that I actually work with there's little risk of someone looking over my shoulder and getting upset that I'm not doing something 'important', but I just can't shake that part of me that worries like hell whenever the work seems to dry up. Some old habits die hard. I guess the positive way to look at it would be that this is a perfect time for me to brush the cobwebs off my resume.

We all seemed to have an awesome time this weekend at xtingu 's party for her birthday pie. Six years old. Where does the time go?! Anywho - I wanted to thank those of you who were able to make it and waggle my fingers with my thumb pressed firmly to my nose at all those who couldn't make it. What? You're going to let a little thing like a well planned wedding get in the way of our (more or less) last minute BIRTHDAY PIE PARTY? Silly mortals. (ed. note: in case you missed it, I'm being sarcastic here - were you missed? yes. do I really blame you for not making it? if you don't know the answer to that, smack yourself in the head and ask the question again - something's worked itself loose.)

I wanted to let the folks who took part in my little challenge that I haven't forgotten them. Life got in the way (as I have a bad habit of letting it do) and that challenge went a little bit 'back burner' for a while. I'm getting back to it shortly. Re-formatting my pc and the subsequent re-installation of all my software took a while, but everything seems to be back up and running properly. What's more, I'm sorta re-dedicating myself artistically these days and I'm working pretty fiercely on the concept of 'likenesses'. I'm working more from reference, and within that umbrella, I'm focusing more specifically on portraiture. The idea is to be able to do classic portraits and caricatures within as short a span of time as I can reasonably do. Both of those abilities seem to be regularly in demand, and while they don't appeal to me in a "my soul yearns for this amazing thing" kind of way, they also don't repulse me like  a lot of professional art work does. What does this mean? Well, I don't think that I have the kind of dedication to art to make any kind of decent living through art, so better to do something 'part time' as a side job for extra income. The thing is, if I'm going to take anything on (even part time) I want it to be worth while to me, so it had better either A. pay a butt-pile (it's a metric measurement - look it up!) or B.be something that I enjoy. Portraiture, and more-so caricature both seem to have fairly high levels of both of those elements. You professional art types who read this should feel free to correct me if you think that's not the case, or if you think I would be better focused on something else.

And while we're on the subject of art, there's a poll I wanted to set up. Think that I will do that in a separate post.

Hope you're all well beyond what you could reasonably ask for.