So, if I fail to answer...just speak into the cat.
- Angel (with an) a
06/06/2011
Hold my calls, please.
05/28/2011
04/15/2011
Foggy Morning Drives
Sometimes, my morning drive to the office looks like the photo I snapped above. Soup thick fog has always sent my imagination into overdrive. I imagine movement. I see things that aren't there. Ghostly shapes, willowy figures. The worst feeling being when something does actually materialize from the fog and you:
a) curse
b) swerve
c) scream
d) spill a hot beverage on delicate bits
e) or a power combonation of the above
However, thanks to a movie fest had last summer with the always fabulous Cavatica where he introduced me to The Mist. My foggy morning drives have not been the same. Given the things that crept and flew out of the mists in that flick...you can imagine how I'd much rather see a few gorillas instead.
So, what kinds of games does the fog play in your head? Do you see movement? Ghostly shapes? Creatures large, small...gorillas?
When all is said and done, lets all just be happy that it's safe to assume we won't be running into the thing sighted below. If we did...then I'm going to have to come up with an f) for the above multiple choice question. Something that involves a change of clothing in some delicate regions.
- Fog Freakin'
via youtube.com
04/11/2011
Baby what station?
This one was compliments of J who snapped this one at our local Applebee's. Yes, we're easily amused and have no doubt caused awkward moments in public restrooms with our photographing habits.
Here's hoping somebody stencils a 'C' back on to this Baby Changing Station, like outlandish warnings found on everyday thingsin life, one never knows how things translate into the minds of other. This is one of those translations that would not have an amusing or desirable result.
Things people do in restrooms...I guess said person didn't have a cell phone or something to amuse themselves with. :P
Happy Changing...because the 'C' is not optional.
- Hoping for a [C]orrection
03/18/2011
Be gentle. Be kind.
My name is Shelby Dotin and I’m a freshman in high school. At 14 years old I weigh about 192, I’m a size 14 US, and i have 38Ds. I’ve always struggled with my weight and been made fun of it for it. But after being teases constantly on a website called Formspring, I discovered I don’t need to listen to them. Because I am beautiful no matter what size I am.
My weight does not define who I am as a person.
I have met a lot of awesome people I probably never would have met or have been possible to meet via the internet. In the 15+ years I've been here I've begun to see more and more what I disliked about real life human interactions begin happening in a more frequent and vicious manner online.
How sad.
How shameful.
How disappointing.
Ugly behavior is ugly behavior no matter what form it's created in...even if you live the life of a coward and refuse to sign your real name when you leave nuggets of idiocy for people to find. That alone should be a testament to the kind of person sitting behind the keyboard dealing out daggers. Daggers that one day will be returned as the Universe often returns to us (with interest) both the good and the bad we do along the way.
I'd offer up the notion of - if you wouldn't say it out loud or in real life to a person, then why are you posting it online? But...I've heard people say such things in public to others with the intention to cause pain, so instead...
I wish for those who've lost the ability to empathize or have shunned the art of being human(e)...that they find their way and understand that we will have plenty of 'jerk' moments in life, but choosing to be one for the sake of being one and being unapologetic when you recognize someone was/got hurt - well, that just makes you an a$$hole.
Be one long enough and the only thing you have left is the crap you continue to serve...and that's a foul dish served hot or cold. Nobody likes spending time with someone who spews it on a regular basis. Eventually you'll find an entourage of one and I've heard word that it's one of the loneliest numbers.
So...
Grow up.
Be humane.
And True Ugly is the kind that reveals itself in fugly words and actions.
For those on the crap end of fugly actions: You're beautiful, handsome, and full of awesomeness. The Fugly targets the amazing because they tend to be at odds with themselves and spend a lot of time keeping company with self loathing. I'm sorry you have to go through this pain. Never let the meaness of others define the who that you are or have the potential to become. Let your true friends and your family be your support. <3
- Angel (with an) a
03/11/2011
02/13/2011
And the aisles ran slick with red...
..but if you were expecting an exalting 300 reference...you're about to be sorely disappointed. I popped this photo before getting into the checkout line, proof of the pink and red tide that had flooded the front of Walmart. As I commented on foursquare: It's like cupid threw up in the checkout aisles. Wow.
Despite the magical Monday has yet to clot the calendar, employees were already in the throes of tearing down the Valentine’s Day candy aisle in the grocery section. I’m guessing (or at least hoping) they were relocating it to join the rest of the Love-a-palooza fest happening at the front of the store.
There were flowers by the dozens, frosted cookies, heart shaped cakes, Mylar balloons professing various Valentine’s Day phrases or cutesie-wootsies to delight the girlie or boyish at heart. There’s plushies, clothing in various shades of love, unmentionables, and booze in case your Valentine needs some heart valve lubrication. There’s something for everybody…Valentines, like many other holidays has been commercially covered.
If the store was as busy as it was on Saturday, I can only imagine what it may become as Monday quickly approaches. The kind of busy I’m sure that St. Valentine never intended unless you’re more of an Al Capone fan and think of Valentine’s Day as a 1929 version. Which…one very well might…if they leave their Hearts Day Shopping to the last minute in hopes of cashing in on bargains.
Oh Valentine’s Day…when did you get so complex?
What happened to picked flowers (or filched) flowers, handmade cards, dinner, or a movie?
I’ve also heard that saying 3 special words is a crowd pleasing delight…and no, it’s not: Get in bed.
However you see fit to spend your Hearts Day, be safe and tread lightly if you dare to meander into any Valen-crazed stores - it really is a massacre in there.
- I survived the Valentine's Day Aisle and all I got was this photo
In a heartbeat...
via Allcreatures:
An animal rescue centre is struggling to rehome this cat, because it looks like evil Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter films. Workers at The Blue Cross in Southampton say visitors have been scared off by the white cat’s resemblance to Ralph Fiennes’ character in the movies. The abandoned cat, named Charlie, had to have its ears and nose removed after suffering from skin cancer. Vets say Charlie’s pale skin left him at risk of developing the potentially fatal disease. They are now desperately trying to rehome him and say a family of Harry Potter fans could offer their best hope. Charlie was living as a stray before a woman adopted him, fed him and took him to the vets for surgery.
News story can be read here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/8318202/Pic...
Adoption information can be found here for those in the Southampton area: http://www.bluecross.org.uk/2574-83377/Charlie.html
...we'd give Charlie a home with us.
Growing up my parents and grandparents always voiced the importance of peering past outward appearances to the heart within, that everything I needed to know about the living was housed in the heart/soul of others. Nature would eventually shine through ones demeanor and Wonderful can just as easily come in not so pretty packages as Vile could come in beautiful.
To be fair, I've been both: Wonderful and Vile, though very few would ever pick the latter unless you were on the receiving end of it.
I'm sure Charlie doesn't speak parseltongue. In fact, I'd wager Charlie would be more apt to bring you gifts of serpents to show you what a great provider and super keen hunter he could be. This of course providing you keep this white ball of cute from getting too much sun as it was the rays that took both his ears and nose.
In a time where cancer and war takes hair, limbs and other bits from those we know and cherish one would hope we'd move past: OMG it looks like Voldermort from Harry Potter! Boo. Hiss. Run.
Regardless if you loved the books or not it's fiction, Charlie's not. Charlie's real and he needs a home.
A friend once shared that sighted people could be a stupid lot, making swift judgments on appearance alone. This was at a time where I'd become self-conscious of the scars that chicken pox had left behind when I was 10 and I was feeling socially awkward in high school, which I traded for college as soon I could make it possible. This he said, as he felt my face and shook his head that he felt beauty and if sighted people didn't see it too, then he wasn't the one who was blind.
Ears and a nose doesn't a cat make. Like people, they come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes with/without (and even with spare) parts. While I've loved the character that funny noses and ears have provided some of my most beloved pets past and present...it wasn't their bits I adored, but their personalities that have earned those past immortality through stories or those present their own blog and a collection of photos and tales to go with. Those stories ones that have often been the cause of passing grades classes or their photos earning features on photography and art sites.
Charlie is a cat. More importantly he's a cat who's survived cancer and one who before lived a life on the streets. So he bears a striking resemblance to He Who Can't Not Be Named...in most of our family units we bear a resemblance to some family member I'm sure we don't always want named...but our families and friends still love us anyway. Just like Charlie who I know would make an awesome family addition to anyone fortunate to open their hearts and home.
- Angel (with an) a
02/10/2011
There's a sign...
...in my office that says 'Welcome'.
However, there are days where I'm tempted to take my white chalk, erase the invite and write: The Mean Girl is In. Somehow, I don't think I need to advertise. Something tells me I broadcast this loud and clear when boundaries need to be drawn.
To save on chalk I ought to just bring in my wooden sign that says: The Witch is In
But...then what would I use at home?
- She Cackles Freely
02/08/2011
Firestarter
...too bad though, I'm no Drew Barrymore and I can't start fires with my mind. Although, in giving that a good hard thought, it'd probably be a lot safer if I could.
So, over the weekend the family and I celebrated my cousin's birthday and they took us to this swank little tool store in the next city over. A tool store that had some pretty sweet deals. It's one of those places where you do a lot of 'oooohing' and 'aaaaaahing' because the price alone will do that, but one if you wander the store long enough with said item in hand - you can talk yourself out of (maybe).
J and I had a lot of stuff we walked around the store with and the bulk of it we did put back. We try really hard to nix impulse buys because it can easily turn into a: Where'd all our money go? Scenario, which is not fun. However, the pencil torch made it out of the store.
It's small. It's compact. It's re-usable. And I'm sure J and I can use it for 1001 purposes it was never intended to be used for (let's hope we only attempt 5 off that list). What I charmingly said with a smile and a batting of lashes was: Oh, I can make Crème brûlée now, see.
Yeah...sure I can, but will I at home? Probably not.
It's not that it won't be used, because I'm sure it will, but not for any of the aforementioned kitchen appointments we had laid out for it. Though, we may surprise ourselves. What we're hoping DOESN'T happen is that I wind up setting something I shouldn't on fire. I have a penchant for using flames in projects and past entanglements have been near misses.
I will say I come by it naturally. My Dad had a not too distant experience with his outdoor grill. The proof is in his eyebrows - the parts of them that still haven't grown back well (if at all). Here's hoping that once we take it out of the package and begin to use it...that all of our eyebrows stay intact...among other things.
So here's to safety with fire...after all Smokey says only you can prevent forest fires...or fires in general. Ya get my drift, right?
- Sinjin Muse
[The above photo is part of the Self-portrait Project 365: #1]
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