blargity!

Okay, you all know by now that i get infatuated with stuff all the time.

So… right now?
Questionable Content.
I’ve been reading for two weeks from teh first one and I’m just caught up.
I am definitely a Faye kind of person- no touchy!
rawr. fckin awkward hilarousness.

also, yall are invited to my halloween party.
*nods*
I’m going to be Coraline.
And Cash will be Dogzilla.
Gotta modify his costume.
apparently he’s too beefy for an XL and I need to add elastic bands if I want his mostrous legs to fit in the sleeves.

another thought- that thingie in between our top lip?
I bet they get more pronounced as we evolve- it’s so very helpful for drinking out of bottles.
I bet angelina jolie has one hell of a time drinking out of plastic bottles with that huge upper lip.
Naw, I bet she’s all self conscious of it and lways asks for a straw.

Lots of folks around here are gettign all swine flu-ed. I am trying to keep my distance, but meh- it’s probably just a matter of time.

Matt finally posted my Die O Rama! But left out some good pix.
Post um tomorrow. gotta jam!

folding knives suck.

hey guys-
as a note of tact, don’t email your girlfriend to tell her you just got stitches.
FOR ANY REASON.

A phone call is much more personal, and will be be easier on her psyche if she can hear that you’re okay.

*sighs*

I don’t care if Rudy has stitches, I’m gonna kick his ass tonight.

Shoe Box Die-O-Rama…

Since almost everyone that reads this goes to X-E, you know the results.

If you don’t- well, to be simple, I lost the Die-O-Rama Contest.
Pretty badly, if I do say so myself.

I’d talk about it- but I’m not feeling very happy, or good about myself- and it involves lots of cursing.
So.
I’ll just leave it at that.

Honey is Home!

Stopped by the shelter today to see if Honey was still there. Part of me was so angry that I put her life in danger- our shelter only allows rescues to adopt pit bulls and Honey only had 8 days to be claimed before she was put down. I could only think of the misery and suffering she must be enduring in that lonely, cold cell. I figured if she was there, I’d say hello and let her know that she’s not alone.

So I stopped in, and one of the Animal Control officers recognized me. She knew that we had brought in a dog yesterday and informed me that Candy (her name is Candy! how cyoot!) was picked up yesterday. So she wasn’t even at the shelter very long before her owner got her!

Also turns out that Candy doesn’t live too far away.
Not sure where, but ACO told me that they live only a block or so away.

So I can rest and breathe easy again. I did exactly what i should have, and it panned out.

Lost but not found.

Sigh.
As if my life wasn’t busy enough with halloween on its way and assistant coaching a team of nine year old girls and my Dog group…
God (or whoever it is up there that runs this show) has decided that throwing the most beautiful stray dog into the mix is just the right amount of crazy for me.

It started last light, around 6 pm. I had stayed home from work because I blew out my throat at the county fair. Rudy and I were coming back from the store and we stomped hard on teh brakes right around teh corner from our house.
There was a dog- a beautiful blue dog, rolling in the lawn of our neighbor’s house. Rudy and I gasped- it looked just like Cash!
We freaked out. I jumped out of the car and rudy went to park it. I called Cash- but the dog got up and I realized it wasn’t Cash.
It looked just like him- it was a blue brindle Pit Bull- a girl.
Part of my stomach flipped- if I didn’t get her and rein her in, she’d be a goner quick. Who knows who would pick her up and what kind of life she would have.
She could get hit by a car. Someone could be missing her.
So we corraled her in- some treats, a looped leash… and I got her bagged. SHe was such a good girl.
I walked her around the neighborhood, hopign someone would recognize her.
As I asked, people kept asking- That’s not your dog?! People thought she was Cash.
Eventually I got directed down thE backside of my block, where a gentleman was conviced that she was his neighbor’s dog. The dog didn’t respind to her name, which was “Socks”.
We put her in her backyard and left our number with the neighbor to let us know how it pans out.

Fifteen minutes later, we got a call- The dog wasn’t Socks. We had to go back and get her.

So my friend Kim and I went to get her. By this point, I was calling her Honey, cause she was just so amazingly sweet.
She hopped into Kim’s car and we cruised the neighborhood for a bit hoping we would see soemone looking around for a dog.

Eventually we realized she’s going to have to go SOMEWHERE. Since we didn’t know her temperment we were reluctant to take her to our own homes- so we decided to put her in teh overnight boxes at the shelter.
God threw another wrench in our works- Of the 6 overnight pens at the shelter, two were big-dog sized and four were small dog/cat sized.
And Both big dog pens were full- one with a very sick looking teacup poodle, and another with a young mother cat and 6 kittens.

We couldn’t leave her at the shelter.

With some string pulling, we were able to find a place to put Honey for the night- the side of our yard away from Cash’s kennel. She had to stay outside becuase She is NOT GOOD WITH CATS and the cats take the garage for the night.

Rudy is taking Honey to the Shelter today.
We hope her owners are looking for her and the Shelter is the first place I would look.
However, Our shelter only adopts Pit Bulls to Rescues- so if Honey doesn’t get claimed in Seven Days, she’s gone.
I’m hoping that if Honey doesn’t get home, we may be able to get my friend Ann- who runs a rescue- to get Honey sprung.

If worse comes to worst, we may foster Honey- but I just want Honey to go home.

dress up!

 said I would, so I am.

My dog Cash is a great goober of a dog.
One could say I’m biased.
But you would be hard pressed to find a dog willing to do many of the things Cash does for nothing more than a small nibble of a treat and a bum scratch.
Especially since many of his stunts involve wearing a variety of mildy functional attire.

I tell you, this dog puts up with anything i dish out at him. It’s a testament to his breed- the American Pit Bull Terrier is known for being able to be manhandled by his owner with nary a whine or complaint.
Well, Cash will sometimes let me know he’s not happy by pawing or attempting to back out- but a treat will cause him to stand stock still and take the “abuse”.

Some of my bully-owning friends say that dressing up a Pit Bull perpetuates the breed poorly- people may get the idea that they are easy to take care of and are good dogs for average people.
Other people say that dressing them up makes them less macho.

And I say- If dressing my dog up causes strangers to have a GOOD REACTION to a pit bull, how is that BAD?
If People feel more comfortable asking me questions if my dog is in a dinosaur costume than bare skin- that’s fine with me.
He doesn’t care- he gets pets and cookies- so he’s happy as a clam, despite the goofy getup.
It’s about EDUCATION, not about image.
Talking about the breed, teaching people how to act around dogs, teaching them NOT TO FEAR.

Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that no, this breed isn’t easy.
Owning a dog isn’t easy. If you think it is- then you’re doing something wrong.

Dogs have the mental capacity of a two-year old.
Now add the heft of 80 lbs to that and a stubborn streak- and you got yourself Cash here.
How can THAT be easy?

So, off my high horse.
And on to the photos!

*  *  * 
Cash has a variety of functional items that he wears.

Raincoat for a wet day- no one likes the smell of wet dog, and not giving Cash his daily walk is the equivalent of a fuzzy wrecking ball.

His Doggy backpack. When we go hiking, we carry backpacks. Why not let cash do the same? That way he can carry his own water, his own snacks instead of us breakign our back for him. He also really likes his pack- it means ADVENTURE!

A couple I pass off as functional, but are more for my amusement.

This dog sweater makes him look like a tough guy- like that bruiser bulldog from the Looney Tunes cartoons.

The doggles are my newest acquisition. I claim that they are to protect his eyes from teh sun and the gravel- he likes to stick his head out of the truck and that’s dangerous!
But honestly, how can you be afraid of a dog wearing goggles?! YOU CANT!

And A couple are just to see what he will take- how far he will let me go.

 His halloween costume last year. He was a shark. Freekin’ hilarious. I thought the blue would match better, but whatever, eveyone was drunk.

For the Christmas Prade, I made Cash a Jingle Collar and bought a matching hat. I thoguth he was going to try and eat that hat, but no! He would rather eat ham chunks I had in my treat bag.

I am still begging for photos of Cash from the Saddle Horse parade… I hand made Cash a vinyl Saddle! He had no problem wearing it and people thought it was great.

dear smoking motorists…

please stop flicking your smoldering cigarette butts out your window.

You’re setting fires.

It may not be so bad in say, a suburban area with paved gutters and maintained lawns.
But in cattle land, farms and wild lands- you’re gonna set something ablaze.
ESPECIALLY after the harsh summer we’ve had.

Besdies, you shouldn’t be throwing shit out your car in the first place.

Have you seen the carnage you cause?

You torch thousands of acres.

You put hardworking men into jeopardy.

You inadvertently kill animals, people and ruin the livelihood of ranchers, farmers and park rangers.

And I’m not saying you don’t HAVE TO SMOKE.
It’s a free country.

I’m just asking you to NOT THROW YOUR DAMN GARBAGE OUT YOUR WINDOW!
That’s what ashtrays are for.
And if you don’t have one- FUCKING GET ONE.

I’d say thank you- but hell, you should know better.

notld90- last night

so. I said I was going to finish it last night, and by the gods I DID!

I’m proud of myself.
A small part of me is freaking out, of course- it always is.
I worry that it’s not good enough, that people will laugh, that I will lose.
But I’ve committed to it, I put in ten hours and it looks good- really good.
So I’m gonna just suck it up and do it.

get that email together, send it off.
and then… that’s it.
It’s done, no takebacks.

Okay.
I told you I would show you SOME things, but not the completed die-o-rama.

So- let’s go with the props.

i did the cross- but couldn’t attach it to the bolo zombie without wanting to murder someone or destroying him, so i didn’t.
Huge bummer for me. It was so important to me to do it. But alas… am I the only one who really cared?
Perhaps.
But it’s there. so at least it counts for something.
And teh glasses.
Whose is whose?
The black ones I made first, so they have a more delicate curl.
The gold ones… enh, not so much. That wire was just NOT cooperating. Coated wire can be like that.

And the Box!

This was the hardest part, I think.
I started with still images of the Film.
Meaning, I took pitures of the film with my camera while I watched it.
I then had to take measurements of the box, take my still image and break it into three panels to span the back of the box.
Then, I took my lightbox, traced the stills and then colored it.

Rudy says I should have gone and done it in photoshop to give it a comic book feel- and while I do agree, I basically ran out of time.
I was being driven insane, since a variety of my pens have dried out-
i actually sawed my green pen apart to get to the ink tube, to get the last of the ink out for the grass.
That pen was dead anyway, at least now it died for a cause.

So this thing is due tomorrow.

And in the next week, it will be judged.
I feel ill.

I’m such a weirdo.

notld90: night eight.

So now, I’m totally freaking out.

I have Soccer Practice Today.
I have Soccer Practice Thursday.
I have to sometime shop for groceries this week.
And I don’t have my Die-o-Rama Completed. And it needs to be done by SATURDAY.
I don’t even think I was this stressed in Art School.
Go figure, huh?

It might have to do with the concept that I have only a vague idea of what I want to do for the BG and haven’t even begun to flesh out if it’s truly going to work.
I mean- what if it doesn’t? back to square one background-wise. And I don’t have time to do that.

Anyway. I know what i need to do- I just need to make the time to do it.
Maybe I should take it easy at Soccer Practice and not push myself, so I have energy to work tonight.
Even then, I’ll maybe get an hour, hour and a half under my belt tops.
Is that going to be enough?

Maybe for the walls, no way for the ground.

Hm… I wonder how many hours I have spent on this?

I think… at least six already. Two painting. Two to 3 on sculpting. An hour in study.
Gods, I’m not even getting PAID for this.

*shrugs*

But it will be SO AWESOME!

So- I told you I painted them. I did.

Barbara was boring, not interesting at all. I hate that dress. I hate Barbara until she gets all crazy-bitch later in the movie.

Johnny was kind of fun. I guess I just liek painting blood. I can’t wait to make a blood puddle around his head. And on the tombstone… And all over the place…

The Bolo Zombie is just Awesome. I was debating with myself. I already went pretty simple cartoon-like with the characters. Should I go all realisitic on the zombie? or Just enjoy it and go cartoony?

As you can see, I went Cartoony. I love LOVE LOVE! that green. This guy is great. If you look close you can see I’m goign to have to go back and rework some details around his bolo tie. It was so hard to get around those arms-I wound up breaking off a finger, but you can’t tell, so I won’t tell you where or which.

I’ll update you with some background accents before I submit. I won’t show it all, that’s what X-E is for!

NOTLD’90: night 6

So last night i got to do the funnest part.

I GOT TO PAINT!

However, I didn’t have my camera so I couldn’t take pics.
Except i actually DID have my camera and didn’t know it.

So then I started debating if I should show you becuase it’d then be a sneak peak at my die-o-rama and I don’t know if releasing a behind the scenes shoot is really conducive to building the drama that will be my Scene.
I mean, I didn’t even want to TELL you guys about it for fear that someone would see how high I was shooting and aim higher.

That’s been one of my major fears- well, of my whole life.
I never shoot for the best, becuase I always know someone is going to be better.
For gods’ sake there are 9 year olds on the soccer team that I assistant coach that play better than me.
Crushes me sometimes, but hell. Not like I’m freakin’ Pele over here.

So, I try, but don’t go balls out.

But this time…
because I don’t know who my competition is and what they’re doing and I really want to win…
I AM GOING BALLS OUT.

So the idea that a competitor can see what I am doing and go “HA! I can do better!” becuase they’ve seen the competition…
that would totally cripple me.
I would be really damn hurt if I lost.
It does make me try harder, for sure.

But is my best good enough?

So I think maybe… I’ll show you the painted guys.
And some construction details of the diorama box.
but that’s it.

You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
Can you do that?

I knew you could.