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July 19th, 2009
mandy_moon
 | 08:50 pm
Poor Susan. I keep meaning to make her a body and some legs and a decent heart, but for now I've put her head in a giant glass jar in the bedroom with the big mirror on my dresser opposite her. That way when I look in the mirror to comb my hair or whatever, I see her staring at me from over my shoulder.
Funny how I had much more time at age 23 to make clones than I do now. The other problem is that I've been sidetracked with another project that I'm having a lot of fun with. Jon gave me a dozen canvases or so for Christmas and I thought that I would use all of them for a single theme. I waited around for the right theme to come to me and it did:
I decided to depict the dominant/most interesting/ top predator/ cutest species from each of the periods, epochs, and what have you from the geologic timescale- you know, like the Jurassic period and the Pleistocene epoch- everybody's heard of those ones. But there are a bunch of them, and depending on how meticulous you want to be, you can subdivide them nearly as much as you want to. I decided to jump right in, but I wanted to have at least some decorum in this thing and so I decided to do them in order.
So normally that would be the Cambrian period of the Paleozoic era of the Phanerzoic eon, since that's when animals stopped being blobs and started to look- well, not like animals as we know them today, but they definitely looked like *something*.
But I wanted to start with the very, very beginning and so I had to go with that eon before the Phanerzoic, formerly known as "precambrian", but which is now divided into Hadean, Archaean, and Proterozoic eons. I know that to someone who is less impatient than I am to get into the good stuff- the Cambrian period- there are plenty of life forms of interest, most of them prokaryotic, most of them unicellular, but I decided to celebrate the precambrian eon with what I chose to be the most representative species of the time.
And so I give you-
~545 MYA: ROCK
Welcome to the precambrian era. This is the Rock. There wasn't much around except other rocks in those days, but the Rock was quite content with that. It was the Age of Rocks, after all. Sure there were life forms floating around in that forbidding, smoldering primordial soup, but they were insignificant compared to the Rock, by far and away the dominant species. In every kids' science book I've ever read that deals with the earth origins and life origins, there is *always* an erupting volcano in the background and usually meteors as well, so I wanted my painting to be as accurate as possible. Then again, in those same kids' science books, there is an erupting volcano in the background of every single period in the geologic timescale up until and through the Cretaceous period. Apparently the Age of Mammals that exploded after the extinction of the dinosaurs forever extinguished those ancient flames that had burned endlessly for 485 million years straight. But right now, in the precambian, this rock has no fear of new brothers and sisters ceasing to slide from the Great Mother Volcano's mighty mound in a gush of searing red birthwaters. Times were good for rocks back then. This rock has even learned to speak, albeit not well. All it can speak of during this eon is rock. And this more than enough.
So there you go. Stay tuned and I'll show you my first living thing from the Cambrian period. That's when things really start to pick up.
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kore
 | 04:16 pm - Color u peach and black
goofy video from yesterday
summer from roxanne on Vimeo.
Current Music: prince / strange relationship
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July 18th, 2009
kore
| 07:34 pm - you're as sure as there's a sun
playing with my hair, listening to prince's parade album
(braxton got me the record ♥), making pasta salad
for dinner (organic wheat rigatoni, olive oil, s&p, diced tomatoes,
pine nuts & basil from our plant that lives on top of the window
box air conditioner) & going to watch the tudors on netflix
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our_nest
 | 08:04 pm - im going to get all political on you
on a common road i pass a women's clinic and every saturday, sometimes on friday there are all kinds of people outside making a spectacle holding crosses, and christian flags, praying, etc. no matter my convictions about the topic of a woman's right to choose (which is unapologetically pro-life) the emotions that are stirred in me over the scene is equally about the horrible displays of "Jesus" as that over the heartbreak im sure the women's choice might be. today i literally wept when we drove by and saw "the signs" plastered everywhere. i dont think anyone among us has never seen them (which i've heard them to be fabricated fyi - what a jerk move honestly) but seeing them USED was entirely different than having an intangible idea of them in a fantasy context. i struggle so deeply with Christians. i mean i say that from within the Body but yeah, a lot of fundamentalist Christians blow my mind with their displays of Jesus. really? you REALLY think Jesus would sit outside a clinic offering abortions and TAKE THEIR PICTURE and hold up signs condemning them while brandishing signs of aborted fetuses? REALLY!!? on what planet does that line up with the gospel of love, compassion, and non-judgment? regardless if someone has done something wrong, you don't a) stop loving them b) throw their wrong in their face c) and dont you dare pull the God hates you card. i mean seriously, have you ever even read the bible mr. and/or mrs. wack a do sign holder? clearly i have a lot of repentance, anger, and forgiveness i need to work out in my own life. it is just hard to accept that we are spiritual brothers and sisters trying (both in vain ill add) to serve the same God. a few weeks ago my pastor said something like "the more i know the more i have to forgive them". absofrickinlutely. anyways my heart has been heavy as a stone today thinking about that entire scene - both sides seem to have lost something in different ways. my friend amanda said today "there is no good in me, except Him". amen amen amen
i know this is a heavy topic, am considering turning off the comments but i dont really roll that way. so i might or might not respond to comments but it's not for lack of love. this topic just exhausts me and like let's just love each other and not make this the divisive issue that it has the potential to be, know what i mean?
Current Music: Longwave - Tidalwave
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kore
| 03:16 pm
have been rereading miss macintosh, my darling. lots of lines
pop out & i realize i read them before & really remember them...
i was in college when i read it the first time, a copy from the ojai
library. i didn't remember that the sentences are so long. they
are amazing, snakelike sentences; railroad tracks. when you've run out of breath
they keep on until yr blue. but there is something really
complete about them; reading byron & shelley, the clauses
get really complicated and doubled over, and i forget what is going on,
but with young the length of the sentence is mostly repetition of image,
so you're trapped on that one idea until she's exhausted it.
"The great, sea-blackened house with golden spires and cornices and towers peeled by the salt air, dark allees, hidden interiors, the empty drawing rooms where the hostess had not set foot for many years, as many drawing rooms as tideless years, the rooms too many for mortal use, chambers within chambers, the gilded, mirroring ballrooms where no one danced, the hangings of scaly gold and rain-stained velvet, the heathen monsters everywhere, the painted, clouded ceilings illuminated by partial apparitions of the gods, the silken, padded walls, the ropes of rusted bells, the angels and the cherubim and the immortal rose, the dream of heaven, the lily-breasted virgins sporting in fields of asphodel, the water-gurgling gargoyles coated by dust, the interior and exterior fountains, the broken marble statues in ruined gardens sloping towards the sea, the disc throwers, the fat cupids, the thin psyches with flowing curls, the mute Apollo Belvedere, the king’s horsemen, the life-sized chessmen seeming to move against the moving clouds that moved above the moving waters, the sea light lighting their wooden eyes, the seagulls perched like drifts of snow upon their heads." [9-10]
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aimeempayne
 | 08:41 am - Vision Issues
Last year about this time, I bought a shiny new pair of glasses as well as a pair of fancy-pants sunglasses. It cost me close to $500, but I had glasses and prescription sunglasses so I paid and went about my business.
A few months ago, I started to notice that my right eye didn't seem to be working as well as my left. When I received an email reminder for my annual check up, I went ahead and confirmed.
Whenever I get to that huge owl-mask they use to determine a new prescription, I always feel rushed to decide which option is clearer. (A or B? I don't know!) However, this particular optometrist took his time. Instead of asking me all rapid-fire which was clearer, he asked me to tell him which was the clearest or was it too close to tell. The examination still went quickly, but at the end I had what felt like the clearest prescription ever.
Since it was a Pearle Vision center, I took my brand-spankin'-new prescription over to the glasses people. I had my glasses from the year before - which still looked new - in my grubby little hand. I explained that I loved my frames and would like to only replace the lenses, and could they do that please. They examined the frames and said they saw stress fractures. Since they did not use an electron microscope, l felt as though they were being a bit disingenuous. Then, they said they could do it but it would cost me $305. I have a pretty low prescription, so it's not like I needed the fancy super light lenses so I wouldn't have coke-bottle eyes. $305.
I said, thank you very much then took my glasses and went home. This winter, I ordered a spare pair of glasses from a website called 39dollarglasses.com. They were fast, the glasses looked good, and the prescription was correct. They also have a program where I could have my glasses fit with new lenses for about $60. (Which was pretty much what it cost to buy new glasses at that site, but I liked the old frames.) I should have them sometime next week.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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July 17th, 2009
nurse_students
[fallbaby08]
 | 06:18 pm - Applying for school; it's TEAS time!
Hello Everyone!
After completing all of my nursing school pre-reqs, the time has come for me to apply to school. I'm currently going through the application process and it just so happens that they are still accepting for August of this year. I won't actually start until August of next year because I have my pre-reqs already done but there's always hope that I can sneak in early and start in May like my best friend did.
Anyway, because I made it in by the hair of my chinny chin chin, I'm facing back to back testing with little time to prepare. Part of me wants to delay the TEAS in exchange for extra study time but the other part of me wants to get this show on the road. If I delay, my expected start date would be pushed back to January 2011 and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Problem is, I really need to kick this new self-doubt that has suddenly come over me the last 2 weeks. I think it comes from the fact that I've been waiting a long time to finish my pre-reqs and get to this point and now that I'm here, I'm simply nervous. I have always been very confident and ready to take on any challenge but since being out of school for over a year, I'm feeling a little shaky.
So, here I turn to you for comfort and support! If you're familiar with and/or have taken the TEAS before or have any general words of advice/comfort, please share. :) I take the test Monday evening with a back up retest date of July 25th. I'm keeping with the frame of mind that the back up date is NOT there and I MUST pass on my first try.
TIA!
(On a positive note, I took the Wonderlic this afternoon and passed. I know I can do this!)
Edit: I did purchase the ATI study manual for this test. I have one 12-hour shift to work over the weekend so that leaves me with tonight, tomorrow night after work, all of Sunday and most of Monday to prepare. Oye!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/shock.gif) nervous
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thatsassylassie
 | 10:16 am - Further attempts to seduce your inner spendthrift
 Well, dang. If yesterday's post of my Ed McMahon literature collection didn't convince you to come to our yard sale, I don't know what will. ARE YOU PEOPLE MADE OF STONE? Ok, this is my last shot:
And there will be more than just books. LOTS more. We got art, we got kitchen stuff, electronics, furniture. Come, buy things. please.
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July 16th, 2009
nurse_students
[yesdog]
 | 06:43 pm - DONE!!!
I took the NCLEX today!!! I am done! I got 75 questions. I think I did fine. It was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. All I used to study was Saunders. I did a lot of practice questions.
Now all I have to do is wait for my results and......
GO TO DISNEY LAND!!!
WOOHHOOOOO!!
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kore
| 03:23 pm
i love heather ross' fabric.
it is really expensive tho, i dunno if i should get it.
this one, too. less $.
i haven't made anything since the skirt class; i ordered pinking shears &
i need to wait for them. plus, i go to CA next week and i think i might
just take my stuff with me so my mom will be around to help
if i get messed up. she has a singer sewing machine she got for her
high school graduation.
going to the movies with marream.
it's been hot & lethargic; not doing much
but watching masterpiece theatre productions
of british melodramas. i particulary like
wives and daughters, the way we live now
& under the greenwood tree.
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thatsassylassie
 | 12:05 pm - More reasons to attend my yard sale this weekend
You can add gems like this to your personal library for very little cash. Like you don't think this book is a collector's item! RUN, DON'T WALK....many more priceless treasures await you!!!
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nursing
[jesuisgringoire]
 | 07:45 am
can anyone explain to me the requirements to be a CNA in Massachusetts?
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banshee
 | 08:04 am
It feels like summer hasn't really started yet, and yet it seems like it's almost over.
I've wasted two beautiful weeks puttering around the house and popping Advil, which sucks. I can get around slowly, but driving is no fun at all. I finally had to get in the car and go grocery shopping last night when M got home, and had zingy back twinges every time I step on the gas/brake. Not cool. I don't want to drive the kids around like this. :(
I really should have called the doctor days ago, but last time they told me to basically suck it up and wait, so what's the point? And now we've got family coming for the weekend, so too late. Complain, complain! Sorry. :)
Ok, children need breakfast...
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July 15th, 2009
handstil
 | 07:55 am - 99 Cents Only! store comes to Rodeo Drive.
I have a really good story about donny miller, but it might give him acid flashbacks.
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augstone
 | 12:46 pm - mmmmmmmmmm............
organizing even just 2 people to get together and do something is a very difficult task indeed, and 3 or more seems well nigh impossible, but often when important events are in the cards, things magically seem to come together. as in last evening where ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) beingdjc, willjsm and i (and intermix joining us for a bit to eat most of jdc's food, an aspect of girlfriends i had forgotten about ; ) ) sampled what could now arguably be my favourite restaurant in london. though maggie jones will always have a special place in my heart and stomach. feeling rubbish most of the day fighting off a cold, it was a good thing i knew that by dinner time i would most likely be feeling better and eager to get out of the house.
erebuni is located in the basement of a hotel in lancaster gate, making it, among other things, difficult to find. and reminding me of another eastern european restaurant - the czech place in west hampstead - also situated in a hotel. seems somewhat apropos to me, putting one in mind of exiled governments in london during WWII (or at least how they're portrayed in stephen fry's excellent film of 'bright young things').
a cozy little bar up front, though they didn't have kilikia, my favourite armenian beer, or any armenian beer (and i really don't care for russian lager) so i opted for an estonian one - viru. not bad.
the food was amazingly good. putting one in mind of phrases from last summer - "superfuckingawesome" and "muthafucking delish". seeing it on the menu, i just had to try the black caviar (esp. over the red) which was so unbelievably good even with the tiny portion that you'd expect for £7.20. on boiled eggs. mmmm....it was caviar, albeit red, that i broke my 10 year long vegetarianism for, inspired by reading donleavy's "are you listening rabbi löw", strangely, just as i am at the moment, and with me at the restaurant. but boy did that little helping pick me right up, feeling 100 times better. the vegetarian starters were tasty too. as well as the georgian white wine, and i don't even like white wine.
so many options to choose from, necessitating a return visit. but i opted for the lula-kebab (lamb), as it seems to be the thing to judge armenian restaurants by. so good. and then a honey/walnut cake for dessert. yum. with armenian cognac at £8 a glass. which was worth every freaking penny. with a bouquet that would knock your socks off but was freaking delicious and somehow not as strong as its scent implied.
i must say, even being the "ponce" who ordered black caviar, i found the bill staggering. but worth it. a delightful experience. and us being given complimentary shots of perhaps cranberry port as we were leaving. not even a raise of the eyebrows as i offered 'spasiba' and he shot right back with 'polzhousta'.
more of these adventures. with july being proposed as international food month. or perhaps a society should be formed - the London International Cuisine Klub.
Current Music: jay & the americans - "come a little bit closer"
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aimeempayne
| 08:02 am - Adventures in Lawn Mowing
I know it sounds kind of wimpy and girly, but I mowed the lawn for the first time since I was about twelve years old on Monday. It went okay. Before starting, my biggest concern was whether I would be able to get the mower started. But it started right up. Since another ten minutes of unchecked growing would turn the back yard into the Great Plains, I started there.
Oh. My. God. I thought I was going to die. It was so much harder than I remembered. Of course, when I was a kid we lived in the country. We had a riding mower and a self-propelled push mower. As the oldest, I was most often the only one allowed to drive the riding mower. So there I was sweating like Seabiscuit, my shoulders aching from heaving a hunk of metal around the back yard. Then I realized, if I pulled back on the metal handle, the damned thing would propel itself.
Gah.
Once I actually used the technology at hand, the job went much easier. By that time, though, I was ready to collapse. I stumbled into the house. Since I was sweaty and had grass and sand stuck to every exposed surface, I had to hold myself upright long enough to shower.
At least there weren't any snakes.
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July 14th, 2009
thatsassylassie
 | 11:57 am - Head spew
There's a lot on my mind and I'm not talking about any of it lately. I don't know where to start and when I do, I feel conflicted about sharing any of it, so I opt not to, mainly because its convoluted and saying it out loud makes me feel like a bitch. So, aside from things that I'm not talking about....
I'm really over this Junuary gloom. I could deal with grey cloudy days through about July 4th, then I expect some damn summer. To me, summer can be at least 75 degrees, AT LEAST. Sorry to those of you that wilt like a flower in that level of heat.
Went to the most awful bachelorette party (for a college friend) this weekend. Aside from several aspects of the party that simply went awry (not due to lack of trying or planning on the hostess's part) it tanked in an even bigger way. When you end the party by trying to have an intervention with the bride to convince her the groom is a horrible person, going to ruin her life, and she shouldn't marry him....well, you just shouldn't have a bachelorette party to begin with. Instant drama, just add alcohol.
I feel a little withdrawn right now because I'm really examining the quality of my friendships and relationships with people, (NOT including Tim, that is wonderful as usual). I'm coming to find there are some folks I actually like more than I thought and others that I'm not sure about. Its a little sad and unsettling. I know that my tendency is to just avoid people or situations I find unpleasant. I am wondering how that is going to affect my even more limited ability to socialize once school starts.
And apparently the GR has a mad quota to fill, two of my friends have lost pets in the last week and my old boss's ex-husband died. (he was only 39, and it was not expected).
I'm ready for these dark clouds to blow over and start some happy times. Can we please make with the happy already. geez. bummer post. sorry.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/square/y/okay.gif) listless
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banshee
| 10:00 am
Last night I put together a Martha-Stewart-for-Kmart console table (on clearance!) that works perfectly as a mini-desk for Owen's tiny room. It's only 15" deep, just enough for a flat-screen monitor, keyboard, mousepad, and not much else. Bonus - no room for clutter!
We also moved his bed to another wall, took out the play kitchen and other things he doesn't play with, and pretty soon he'll have a brand new 'big kid' room. The bedrooms here are so teeny. It's like a dormitory.
I have so many projects lined up; it's crazy. I have to finish painting the hallways a pearl grey (the downstairs hall is almost finished). I have to paint O's room a soft light blue. I have to paint the upstairs bath a sort of cafe au lait, and clean white trim throughout the house. Gotta paint that metallic vertical stripe in the living room. Gotta hang mirrors and bracketless shelves.
The problem with waiting until you can thrift accent pieces and artwork and frames and furniture is that you're never done. Still, I don't think I've bought anything for this house that didn't come dirt cheap from a garage sale or was on deep-discount clearance. Holla.
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July 13th, 2009
icedkarma
 | 05:08 pm
happiness is alex and mel being in winnipeg, the return of my septum piercing, stella's brunch, hot new flats for work (and anywhere), flying to vancouver to get my haircut (and see dana!), the joy in my heart that is my boyfriend, raspberry mimosas, all day tyson dates in toronto, fake nails: removed, glassblowing lessons, and american apparel's genie sweatpants.
sadness is a faulty macbook charger.
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