New Additions

Here they are, in their internet debut.

Kitten labor services, please be informed that although I will certainly be exploiting these little sweethearts and their adorable faces in MANY photographs, they will never be harmed or disturbed in the process. This gig is rewarded with much love and good food/company.

To everyone else, please meet the most lovely and handsome, Cali and Hobbes.




Hobbes, is the orange tiger stripped (mackerel) tabby, and Cali, his sister, is the grey and brown mackerel tabby, who sports a few golden, calico-esque spots. They are the most recent additions to my life and home, and are little bundles of amusement, joy, and yes, just a little bit of aggravation. Generally speaking though (after only a few days of knowing them), they bring far more joy than stress to life.
Kittens, of course, come with a whole batch of hurdles to tackle. Luckily, Cali and Hobbes, are both taking very well to their litter boxes, and have made a great transition from being essentially feral kittens (living under my dad's deck) to being happy, well adjusted indoor felines. They still tend to shy away a bit when approached to quickly, but Cali loves massages, and Hobbes has been known already to sprawl out and enjoy a good belly-rub. I'm guessing that within the week we'll be on pretty familiar terms.














Tavi, is a big fan of our new friends. Sadly, they come at a time when one of his childhood cats (at home with his mum) may be on the verge of passing away. She is quite old, and has lived a full life...and although its really going to be difficult when she goes, I'm sure it will be peaceful. She is in good hands.

This weekend has been a whirlwind of adjustment...even including a run-in with many ticks. I'm glad to say we've all made it through. Tavi especially had a wild ride - or run, rather, as he participated in the Tough Mudder competition in WI this weekend. He did great...lots of cramps and some beaten up knees, but that's life in a nutshell, right? If you're not sure what Tough Mudder is, definitely check it out here. It is a very impressive course, designed to push participants to their limits. If you're interested, I'm fairly certain there are still plenty of events still open for registration.

That's all for me tonight. I'm beat, and still recovering from a bit of a summer cold.

Stupid summer cold.

Anyone catch THAT reference?

Kitten(s?)

Yeah, that's right. Tomorrow. :)
I couldn't be more excited!

Well, I probably could, with a few more changes...but that's NOT the point.

More to follow shortly!

A Very Brief Introduction

My name is Whimsy.
I am the unlikely daughter of
Prudent and Carefree.
Nights long past gone
Created everything I am,
But nowhere near all that I will be...

On Writing

The story has to come from somewhere.

In the meantime, often the writer feels lost, searching in vast expanses for something entirely intangible, feeling that it will come, but hardly knowing from where or when.

This, quite possibly, is why many great writers turn to journalism. The story presents itself, organically as the world turns in front of them. They must wallow in trenches and hike daunting distances, mind ready to pounce at the hint of any detail worth collecting. Their journey is difficult, certainly, but differs from the quest of a novelist. The novelist requires patience of another suit.

Patience is a tricky thing. And sometimes, it is best to forget about. But other times, a writer must cling to it like the life raft with a slow leak in the middle of the Atlantic that it most assuredly is. Hopefully, in time, a story will pass by, pick them up, and whisk them off to Productivity. If not, then they will drown...and with any luck, that will be an even more interesting bit of inspiration than they had hoped for to begin with.

I am clinging to my raft right now. It is yellow (a color I despise, as it is bad with my complexion, and reminds me of agitation and uncomfortable hunger for things other than what currently are), and although it seems sturdy enough, I know that the sharks of my own mind are circling nearby, waiting for a storm.

This is a good thing, I think - as long as the storm makes it onto the page.



Also, on an unrelated note, I made this in Michigan this weekend. My back is now completely charred as a result. Camping is always a good distraction. :)

Young Eagle

Nothing super special to say today. In fact, I'm rather busy getting ready for Great America with everyone from work tomorrow, and prior to I was working on a personal motion graphics project. Nonetheless, I wanted to keep up with the posting, so here is a photo from Alaska. It was taken outside of Ketchikan, near a Bald Eagle's nest. It is a young Bald Eagle, and you can just start to see a bit of her color coming in (I'm assuming she's female, as the female's are larger than the males, and already this one is quite large).

Enjoy!

Hey, You!

Yeah, you.

If you're reading this, and you enjoy reading this, then I have to ask...are you following my blog yet?

Your answer should be yes. And IF its not, well then you are EVIL. PURE EVIL. People like you make blog writers like me cry ourselves to sleep at night (or really early in the morning, as is often the case).

It's okay though, because this is a wrong that can easily be righted. All you have to do is click "follow" at the upper left corner of this blog, or down at the middle of the right-hand column. From there you choose which existing provider you would like to follow with (google, yahoo, etc.) or simply sign up for blogger yourself. THEN, I can feel appreciated and know that all of this finger exercise is NOT in vain, and YOU can be a good person again. Plus, you'll be making my day, which, is kind of a big thing (almost like hanging your kid's crayon drawing on the fridge).


SO, you know what to do.

That is all.

Thank you! :)

Paint Fumes

This has been an incredibly unique day.

I woke up this morning to the sound of thunder, first loud, but distant, than increasingly, rather alarmingly quick and close. Jumping from bed, I ran to the living room to see if Tavi had left yet for work (he bikes), which, to my slight horror, he had. This was only horrific, because at that point there were seemingly gallons of water falling from the sky, accompanied by gale force winds, so that all of our neighborhood trees were nearly parallel with the ground. I called Tavi, who luckily found shelter in a parking garage.

Upon leaving to deliver Tavi his rain jacket and offer him safe transport to the train, I found myself a bit stunned to see some of the damage resulting from the short burst of a storm. Power lines down, stop lights out, entire trees blocking lanes of the road. How did this all happen so quickly?

I have to hand it to nature...it was an incredible bipolar move; from sunshine in the morning (reportedly - I was not awake in time to see it), to nearly tornadic - with a decent amount of destruction, and then back again to sunny, and stunning.

Anyway, I was able to shower and head to work about a half an hour early. The plan was to get in early and maybe take off at 5:30pm for a nice bike ride. Secretly, I will admit that prior to leaving I wished for the power to be off. Imagine my surprise when I drove over the hill on the way to my office to spot a fire engine parked near the curb, and a handful of firefighters examining our smoking transformer!

Long story short, we were out of power, and were all sent home. Free day!!! Hells Yeah!

I painted, which I've been wanting to do for quite a few weeks now, but simply haven't had the free time. And since I didn't take any photos today, I figure I'll share the painting, thus far. There still may be some details and textures to add, but more or less, its a humpback whale coming up to feed - roughly based off of a photo I took outside of Juneau, Alaska, with a few creative color enhancements. Oil on wood.

While you scope it out, I'll be sitting here with my right eye twitching, because I've spent entirely too much time with oil paint and turpentine fumes today! Guess that's how it goes...sit at a computer all day and gain a few pounds; paint all day and gain a few muscle spasms. ;)
And yes, Mom, I did/do have the windows open.

I hope you like!

Just Another Night (with a sunset and a moonrise)

If anyone in the Northern Hemisphere has had the pleasure of noticing the moon this weekend, I'm sure you'll agree that it has been stunning. A fine waxing gibbous, our lady lunar has had a rich, rusty tint, and has seemed at times even to be glowing golden. If she were one capable of giving birth, I might in fact be so bold as to tell her she seems practically pregnant in her beauty, especially now, as she reaches nearly 81% of her full capacity.

But she is far now, from the sun. And although we are but one planet, and she is but one moon of many orbiting our star, it is easy to imagine her as the perfect counterpart to that brilliant orb which daily graces our skies. And if she is his yin, and he her yang, then strange, how beautifully she shines so far from his presence, and conversely, how shadow cloaked she be when he is near. Lovers with a push and pull so great they must dance, forever, in a delicate waltz, dictating with their yearning the flow of our seas and the kisses which the oceans gift to the shore. Balance in love - how cosmic a quest!



I captured a small bit of sunlight this evening. In fact, I captured a few quick things, in an effort to shoot today - and every day. This shot is my favorite. Simple, but sometimes that's just right.

tummy

I have had a stomach ache for a week.

LAME.

Apparently, its nothing serious. Just a minor bug worth checking out, but made worse by feminine issues. Fun, eh? Anyway, I'm ok. But, I have been urged, yet again to visit a neurologist, so today I set up the appointment for that in August. We'll see where that leads. I'm guessing it will be somewhat like this:

Neurologist: "Hi Jen, did you realize you have migraines?"

Me: "Why yes, I did rather suspect as much from the regular searing pain in my head..."

Neurologist: "Oh, great! Well then, here is a list of common triggers. Check it and try to stay away from things that effect you. Medications are also an option..."

Me: "sigh." (I've already read most lists, created my own list of most triggers, and found the only things that effectively eliminate my "severe headaches" are baths in dark silent bathrooms and Advil Liqui-gels. I refuse to ever take long term or prescription medication for migraines.) Then I will hand over lots of money.


ALSO, I am now scheduled to go see a dermatologist. Yes, it seems to be a genuine waterfall effect. You visit one doctor, and they send you to five more! They are all in allegiance, I tell you!

And of course, the dentist...I know two people who will give me the evil eye if I don't go see the dentist soon. Grrrrr.


Anyway, that's my big exciting news for the day. Now I'm going to get a little sunshine and forget about the medical world for a bit.

Happy Friday!

Violent News

This evening, I happened to see the news. I don't often turn it on, as generally I prefer to seek out my daily dose of current events online, from choice sources, or barring that, listen to NPR in the car. But tonight I saw a clip, and although I was able to turn it off fairly quickly (thanks to the excuse provided by my tv diet), I was pretty shocked to see that the first three stories all involved extreme violence and death in the Chicago area.

Now, I am not naive. I realize this is, unfortunately, a fairly common place thing here in Chicago, and other cities worldwide. But what was difficult was that all three stories involved teens and children as the seemingly innocent victims (I say seemingly ONLY because there was little report into what happened previous to the stabbings, shootings, beatings, etc. - with the exception of one boy who was beaten to death for sticking up for a friend, which, of course, is heartbreaking).

Coincidentally, what I had been watching previous to the news coming on (for my hour of tv today), was a NOVA special called Ape Genius, which more or less detailed the few differences and MANY similarities that the ape brain has to the human brain in terms of social interaction. The characteristic that most resonates with today's news is the keen knack both apes and humans have for copying and mimicking actions that they watch. This, in humans, is a part of learning, which in our case is paired with teaching/a yearning to teach. Apes, on the other hand, learn entirely from this. They are not taught by other apes, in a proactive manner, instead, they simply learn by mimicking. Mindlessly doing what they see to reach said outcome. They do not expect to gain any further insight by repeating the steps of those they follow. Apparently, we do.

I'm not sure what exactly we are expecting to teach our children by beating others for honor and kindness, or stabbing strangers for minor offenses in the street, but we show them these things daily. Now they repeat them amongst themselves - sometimes living to continue the cycle, sometimes dying along the way. It seems perhaps we should consider what we are trying to enforce upon them from this repetition before we further it.

Ironically, another characteristic that sets apes apart from humans is their emotions. They are impulsive, often easily provoked, and in many cases, prone to violence. Researchers believe that this has prevented them from developing fully logical minds. This is not to say that they do not have logical minds, because, in fact, they do. The difference is their apparent lack of ability to use them to cooperate in the way that we do. It appears we have grown able to separate emotion and logic enough that we can function cooperatively in social situations in ways that they simply cannot.

Yes, certainly we are right in thinking so highly of our emotional control; We never act out in very violent, entirely impulsive ways.

I just wanted to draw a few lines here...give us all something to mentally munch on for a few moments. Feel free to gather from this what you will, then set the rest back down and read a book before bed to forget about it.

Ciao.


P.s. If you are at all interested in this intriguing special on apes, you can find more information here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/ape-genius.html)