Pets in costumes...

Happy Howl'oween y'all! You know, I always thought animals wearing clothes was a little bit frightnening in itself-

I think I went to high school with that girl.

Construction worker bulldog

Some people seem to go a little overboard.

Hello Kitty??? Man, no self-respectin' dog should have to stoop so low.

"As soon as you take this goofy head off me say goodbye to your sofa"

This reminds me a little too much of the movie A Christmas Story. "Ralphie, you look like a pink nightmare! Do you want to take that off?" "uh huh"

If looks could kill...

Have a happy safe Halloween folks!

Breeders Cup...

Way to go Curlin

Not only can he run, but he can swim too!

Congrats to Steve and all his connections.

Photo credit Molly Riley / Reuters

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally...

I decided I need to take my required math class next semester to get it over with... and plus so that Hubby and I can take it together. Maybe between the two of us we can drudge up out of the distant reaches of our memory how to do this algebra stuff. We both excelled at math while in high school and were in advanced classes, and yet we both have had far too many alcoholic beverages over the years and the first brain cells to be killed were the ones that did math.

We have to take a placement test before registering for the math class, so I've been studying this weekend. Yeah, it's all starting to come back to me now. I'm only trying to cram about 6 years of algebra into a few hours of studying. You know, they should have a math class for adult students returning to college... oh wait, they do, it's called "Remedial Algebra" haha.

Being in this math mood I came across this funny video on YouTube. It goes too fast to read in some spots, so just hit the pause button to slow it down...




Love the Bush speech.

FYI, the Aunt Sally thing is apparently something taught to remember the order in which to solve equations... (P)arenthesis (E)xponents (M)ultiply (D)ivide (A)dd (S)ubtract.

I'll warn you now, this is a rambling, complaining post.

None of my artworks were accepted as entry for the college district-wide juried show. So no show for me at the FW Community Arts Center... not YET anyway.

But that's not what I'm going to complain about.

There were close to 300 entries, only 50 were selected. And they were selected by one person rather than a panel, so it was one person's subjective opinion. That's fine with me-- I know that what one person likes is different from another person. Art is in the eye of the beholder ya know. No biggie... just move on to the next project.

What chaps my hide is our instructors' reaction to it. Several of us in my class tried to enter and none of us were selected, but trying to find out the info on who was selected was like pulling teeth. I asked a couple different teachers point-blank if I got in or not, and each one hem-hawed around not answering the question, instead they gave long lectures about how shows aren't everything. They simply wouldn't tell me "You didn't get in", but talked in circles instead about how good I was and the shows don't matter. When I then mentioned going forward and working toward another competition coming up, one of the instructors said "Don't waste your time. Getting into art shows is like playing the lottery."

Excuse me?? A college instructor saying DON'T apply yourself? DON'T put yourself out there to create a name for yourself? What kind of motivation is that???

I can only guess that either A- they want to spare my feelings so I don't feel despair about my work, or B- they didn't have very good experiences with their own work in shows and therefore don't think others should try either.

Response to A- I've been in competition before (showing horses as a teen), and I know I'm not going to win everything. My esteem's not so fragile that I can't handle criticism, it makes a person better. Some people will like my stuff, others will not, that's their opinion and I'm not going to take it personally. I will however draw upon the experience to try to advance my art skills. That's what motivates me to become better at what I'm doing. I know I have a long way to go to become really good, but the motivation of having a reason to get better is what's driving me.

Heck, that's why I didn't work on my art for the last 15 or so years... I didn't feel like I had a reason to. But now that I have the motivation going to finish college and do something with my life, don't tell me not to bother trying! If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it... or if an artist paints in the forest and nobody sees it... does it matter? Okay sorry for the bad cliche.

Response to B- the same instructor then said she herself entered 10 art shows but was only selected for 3 of them. That's why she thinks it's like playing the lottery. Well I say, you can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket! Being accepted to 3 out of 10 shows isn't a bad thing... the glass is half full after all! So don't tell me not to at least TRY. I will always try. If I don't get in, oh well, I'll try again with another.

Alright, end of ramble. Sorry for all the cliches. I'm going to bed now, and tomorrow's a new day and has new things to look forward to. And new shows to enter.

I don't know, his eyes look like he's about to turn into deranged helter-skeltercat...

Say it ain't so!...

Today Hubby and I were talking about his grown son who's in California. Franklin has been married a few years to a woman who has a couple kids... so Hubby mentioned something about himself being a grandpa and that's when the thought hit me...

does that make me a .... grandma?????

Ugh, I think I just aged about 10 years in a split second.

Something different...

I played around with ink today for fun. This is my dracaena plant, in a wash of green and red inks.

Hubby wants me to show this next charcoal drawing... by Pablo Picasso's very distant cousin, Juan Picasso... (haha)

I think I said before, Hubby's taking a drawing class at school. He's never drawn anything before, but is taking the class to understand more about what I'm doing. I'm surprised at how well he is doing. The above drawing of a section of blanket is from 2am the other night when he had an epiphany of how this shading stuff works. The instructor hasn't been telling them much about HOW to draw, other than saying "draw what you see". Well, I guess that's like a teacher giving you a calculus problem and saying "here, solve this" when you don't have the slightest clue where to start. I suppose drawing is the same way to people who have never tried it... they don't know where to start and how to do it. So now that the class is working on "values" (the lightness and darkness and varying shades of grey in between) I was helping him with it the other night. More specifically he was trying to show folds in fabric. And by george, I think he's getting it. More importantly, he's excited about understanding it.

Boring painting...

Yet another crummy cellphone photo of the last painting I did for class. I need to invest in a real digital camera one of these days, these photos look so dang yellow and the colors are just... BLAH. The bear is purple, not grey like it appears in this photo.

Next photo is the still life scene we were looking at in class. Our painting instructor had us all bring stuff from home and she piled it all across a long shelf...then we picked out an area to paint. I brought the bear, and I think a lot of the other students hated me for bringing this "challenge" since they opted not to paint the furry hair.

Plus, the objects were moved around a bit, cloth was draped differently, wine bottle in top left corner disappeared... so it doesn't look exactly the same... just another obstacle I guess is improvising.

Occassionally I get bored with realism. Like right now. Problem is, I can't help but try to make things look real. I want to do different brushstokes, more expressionist wild strokes, or impressionist spots of color, a little variety from what I normally do. Something more contemporary. But dang it I keep coming back to the same old style. I could give my own psychological analysis of why I think I keep coming back to the realism, but I doubt y'all really care that much.


I should have at least made the bear look evil or something. Stuffed bears ARE evil ya know.

Anyway, I need to make a conscious effort to do something more interesting with the next project. Break out of this painting funk I'm stuck in.

On Football...

My team's leading on the fantasy football league. I'm 4-1-0, tied with another guy but ahead by points. I won't complain any more about Farve, for the most part he's usually been doing much better this year.

I did have to swap a bunch of players on my team though, due to byes and injuries. I picked up running back Marion Barber who's been doing an awesome job for Dallas breaking past tackles left and right, and wide receivers Kevin Curtis, Braylon Edwards, and Patrick Crayton that were available on the trading block.

This almost makes it sound like I know a little bit about football, huh?

HA!! HAHA!! Not really.

All this fantasy football stuff proves is that with an automatic draft and a lot of luck even I can lead the league. Not that I expect it to last long.

I do like watching football. To a point. I didn't grow up in a football-watching family (gasp, sacriledge! Growing up in Texas with a dad that didn't watch football??? Say it ain't so!). But I learned one thing early... guys like it when you watch football with them.

But like I said, I like it to a point. Even after years of watching, I couldn't recognize a "prevent" defense if I tried, even though I've heard Hubby yell about it a thousand times. And I'll admit my eyes get a bit glazed over after about 10 minutes of listening to encyclopedic knowledge about each player and how the teams stack up against each other that week. Ah, so the Seachickens are playing the Tampa Suckineers? Doesn't matter much to me. I don't follow those teams. But I realize to men it's like war, scrutinizing which are the best plays to run in their battleplan, what's the best way to attack and trick up the other side to be the best, to be the winner.

So why DO I watch football?

1. If it's important to your man, it should be important to you too. If the ref makes a bad call against his team, walk around the house and complain about it. If his team loses, don't tease him ( oh LORDY don't tease him about it) but mope around all night just the same as him. And trust me, you're married into being a fan of his team... I'm a Cowboys fan but I'm also now a legally-binded Broncos fan too. Til death do us part.

2. I like rooting for a team. I like cheering them on. I don't need to know the stats of each player or even their names for that matter. But it's fun to watch the plays and yell and carry on during the game. It's like rooting for a cause, cheering on the "good guys" against the bad guys. It's just fun.

I can't speak for all females, but that's my view on it.

Spiders, Lizards, and Snakes, oh my!...

This post is going to make me sound like a wimpy girlie, so let me state for the record: I like the outdoors. I enjoy wandering out around fields and streams, seeing the sights and what kind of creatures I might come across. I DO NOT however like for the outdoors to come indoors.

It's like the pact that Hubby says he has with sharks-- "I don't go where they live, and they don't come where I live." I THOUGHT I had the same pact with snakes.

Until the other night...

I went out into the garage to the dryer, and when I turned around to come back into the house- there was a BIG GREEN SNAKE on the threshhold of the door, looking right at me. It had to be 4 feet long. Or 3 maybe.

"DEAR!!! Come HERRRRRE!!!" I shrieked shrilly.

So of course he comes and laughs at me, saying "It's just a little brown snake."

"It was a green snake, and it was BIG and looked at me in a menacing way!"

"Brown snakes can be green too, and it's harmless."

By this time it had slithered into the hot water heater closet, and Hubby said it would find its way back out, which I suppose it did. Or I hope it did. In the meantime I'm wondering where my posse of protective cats were and how the snake got past them. Some line of defense they were.

Then the next day....

I'm walking into our kitchen, and in the center of the room about 3 feet away dangling halfway down from the light fixture was a HUGE, BLACK, HAIRY jumping spider. He was about eye-level and wiggling his long spidery legs everywhere.

Now, spiders take me to a whole new level of wimpy girlie, bothering me a lot more than snakes. Do you remember in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off when the sister (Jennifer Grey) kicks the principle in the face and then runs away screaming? That was me....

AAAaaaaaaaAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhh! as I ran around the corner and out the front door of the house.

Unfortunately Hubby wasn't home, so I had to fight this battle myself. I grabbed a big can of Raid and bravely went back in the house. The spider had decended to the floor, so I aimed the Raid and gave it a quick spray which I thought would cause it to curl up on the spot. But this was no ordinary spider, it was a mutant spider that had built up a resistance to insecticides. I am not kidding on this, it RAISED UP ON ITS BACK LEGS AND RAN FULL SPEED TOWARDS ME WAVING ITS FRONT LEGS IN THE AIR THREATENINGLY. So I'm backing up and spraying the Raid directly at it the whole time, and the damn thing is still running at me!!! I must have sprayed half the can at him before he finally began his death throws. I then turned tail and ran out the door again, squealing at a pitch only the dogs could hear. I don't think I've ever hit that note before.

And then last night...

It's 2am and I finally go to bed and pull back the covers... and a little lizard runs across my pillow. Startled, I again give out a short shriek.

So what did I do next?

Well actually, I chased it down under the covers and scooped it up in my hand, and took him outside and set him free on the porch. And do you know what the difference is? Oh c'mon people, little lizards are cute! How could I be afraid of a sweet little lizard??

But still, I wish all this wildlife would stop coming in to visit!

Is there a beautician in the house?!?...

Note to self:

If the stylist cutting your hair says, "Do you want to try something fun in back?" the correct answer is NO.

The correct answer didn't occur to me however. "Sure, I'm open to trying something new."

Bad answer.

I now have a very short bob haircut.

Worse yet, in the course of the conversation the stylist mentions she hasn't finished beauty school yet. In other words, she's a beauty school dropout.

I now have a very short bob haircut with a hack-job in back that looks like she used a dull battleaxe on it.

Let's see, hair grows at the rate of a half-inch every month... *sigh*.

Too much truth to this...

I just had to copy this from the sports-talkers board... this was a good one TruForm...
------------------------------
1947 vs 2007

Scenario: Billy goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.

1947 - Principal comes over, looks at Billy's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Billy.

2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Billy hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
-----------------------------
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1947 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.

2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Mark started it.
----------------------------
Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.

1947 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.
---------------------------
Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1947 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2007 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.
--------------------------
Scenario: Sheri gets a headache and takes aspirin to school.

1947 - Sheri shares an aspirin with a student.

2007 - Police called, Sheri expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.
--------------------------
Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1947- Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
--------------------------
Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.

1947 - Ants die.

2007 - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Homeland Security and FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
--------------------------
Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Heather. Heather hugs him to comfort him.

1947- In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2007 - Heather is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in state prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy

APRIL! Stay out of the beer!...

I'm in ur kitchen...

stealin ur beerz!

Leave it to April to be caught snatching beer... but Crook was probably the mastermind...

:)

Art & stuff...

Our college art department faculty has an exhibit of their artwork at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, so tonight I dragged Hubby to the reception. I didn't have to tie him up kicking and screaming, but he DID pay me back... by telling one of our instructors "Angela likes to watch porn".

What??? Where did THAT come from??? Granted, I'm taking this out of context from the conversation which was a humorous one with a cool teacher, but still... I was so shocked I couldn't even defend myself. According to them I turned 5 shades of red. Very funny people, very funny. Paybacks are hell ya know.

Moving right along...

On another note, I've thrown together an artwork website - riderang.bravehost.com . There's some glitches I need to fix regarding the window sizes of artwork when you click on them, so ignore that problem for now. This HTML crap is a pain sometimes.

I had posted those crummy cellphone photos of my artworks the last few weeks, but in preparation for the juried art competition my painting teacher took some better photos and gave them to me. So if you want a better look at these pieces, click on each one and it will show a larger view and with MUCH better color, more true to the original artwork.

The Night Mares
soft pastel on matboard
32" x 40"

Break Between Work and School
oil on canvas
18" x 24"


This next one I did specifically for the juried competition in November. Being that it's a student competition, I decided I needed a subject that all college students could relate to and understand. So I came up with this:

Study Break
soft pastels on matboard
40" x 32"

There's not a college student out there that hasn't had a night like this, either cramming for finals or trying to complete a project due the next day. In spite of all the "study aids" (i.e. energy drink, candy, music etc), in the wee hours of the morning they still succumb to their fatigue. What starts as a short break results in being zonked out.

Again, that will be the November show at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. I may not drag Hubby to that reception...

:)

Lecture boredom...

My English prof, although he seems to be a nice enough man and appears fairly intelligent, must be the most boring lecturer on Earth. Things that most normal instructors would take 5 minutes to explain he instead drones on with for over an hour. In most classes I'm pretty good about paying attention to everything said by the instructors, trying not to miss a thing. In English however, I find my mind wandering thinking about my next class... what I'm going to make for dinner that night... or about the squirrels playing a happy dance outside...

But at least I stay awake, and in the upright position. In fact, I've noticed something about the sexes- the girls in the class are all polite enough to at least feign interest, sitting up and looking at the prof as he talks to us. Fortunately he can't read our minds to know we're no longer in the same atmosphere.

The guys on the other hand... they don't even try to act interested. Today, sitting at desks right in front of the instructor, two guys lost the sleep battle. One tried to put up a fight, he rested his head on his hand and for 10 minutes he did the "rubber-necked head bob", each time his head tilted over and then he'd jerk it back up just to nod off again. The other guy didn't even put up a fight, he put his head down on his arm and got a good 40 winks.

Amazingly the instructor never said a thing even though the students were right under his nose. Man, what happened to the days of the teacher who drops a book on the desk to give a sleeping student a heart attack??

This prof's just no fun at all.