Watercolors I

Watercolor is my favorite medium. I don't always have get to spend as much time as I would like with it, but here are some of my paintings I've saved from my last watercolor day. I have a lot to learn, so hopefully my paintings will be getting better.

My favorite subject?

Rabbits of course!

Dexter

Peter Rabbit

A card I made, inspired by a card I picked up in Norway over 5 years ago

That's all for now folks!

(please do not take what is not yours. all pictures owned by Starmint. all rights reserved.)

Videos

In the left hand column you will find a link to some awesome music videos.

2011 Yeartext Wallpapers

Download from here: click

Weather Balloon

three...two...one
disconnect, reality is making me sick
why worry? nothing i can do
filling my desk with chocolate's the only
way to break out and continue

sometimes my fears rise up and wrap ugly
fingers round my neck so i sit up straight
close my eyes
three...two...one
disconnect, reality is making me sick

if i'm scared, deep breath do it anyways
if i'm stressed, deep breath plunge ahead
i'd sit and cry if i thought it'd do any good
i'd lay down and sleep if i thought i'd escape
my plan is to have a plan and make it all okay
i might complain but when you don't listen
i end up giving up complaining, anyways

Sketch

A drawing from 2006.

High Expectations Lead to Frustration

The harsh robotic sound of someone's English grandma chirps from your windshield, In 300 yards, turn left. "BUT I CAN'T TURN LEFT YOU STUPID THING! ARGH!" This is a common response to the gentle prod of the GPS as it kindly, but unfalteringly directs you to your destination. For as much as we yell, the GPS calmly responds to our mistakes and hysterics with the calming and rational statement of facts: Recalculating

Your computer is running slow. The video of cute puppies your aunt sent is not loading like it should. You grit your teeth in frustration and while you're waiting open another tab or two to your Twitter page, daily feed and a game you'd been hooked on for weeks. All the little circles are spinning....as you wait....and wait....and wait.... The video gives a little hiccup and you sit up from your slumped position. Wiping the drool off your face your eyes gleam, hope! Only to find the video hasn't buffered enough to start playing in full. Angrily you shove some chips in your mouth trying to occupy yourself as the computer slugs along.

Frustration at technology. Is it really all the technologies fault? Is it your GPS' fault that you haven't updated it's maps in so long it still thinks the Union of Myanmar is called Burma? Is it your computer's fault that you haven't emptied it's trash in so long there are now possums gnawing on your screen? No dear reader, it is not the technology's fault. But perhaps you have realized this all years ago and now you are frustration free. My sincere congratulations! One of the secrets to happiness has now been unlocked, you may buy it in the store for 1,600 gold pieces.

But for others, the frustration may linger. The solution? Lower your expectations. Technology is great but it can only do what it was meant to do or what you tell it to do. You are the superior being, take a lesson from the GPS and be more civil, even when you're upset. :D

Fall

Heels

her dandy decorum
did not stall the forum
of the seven headed beast; eying her hungrily


her screams were music
as he slowly chooses
which part of her looks best; to eat


the only balm for her tears
as it steadily nears
is that she looked so nice they'll say; when she went

Microexpressions

There's a show on FOX that came out in Jan 2009 that is based on the scientific research of Dr. Paul Ekman. It is facinating. What did Ekman study?  Applied psychology: interpreting microexpressions, through the Facial Action Coding System, and body language. A microexpression is "a brief, involuntary facial expression shown on the face of humans according to emotions experienced. Unlike regular facial expressions, it is difficult to fake microexpressions. Microexpressions express the seven universal emotions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise, and contempt. They can occur as fast as 1/15 to 1/25 of a second." (Wikipedia)

   When I found out about this, it opened a whole new world. Who knew? The true emotions we feel are fleetingly betryed on our faces. Stating it that way makes it sound obvious, of course our faces reflect our emotions. But what about emotions we try to hide? Like the nervous worry that is felt when lying? Or the guilt we feel when we've made huge mistakes? Maybe even the anger we experience when a friend has mistakenly broken a CD they borrowed. Our face can give us away in a millisecond, without our consent, without our knowledge. And useually it doens't matter because most people can't read microexpressions anyways. A study that tested nearly twenty thousand (20,000) people found that only a little more than fifty were able to tell if a person was lying. (Source)

   But there is a lot more involved. For example, here is a picture of Bill Clinton, lying, saying, "I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Several things give him away (of course, in retrospect this is a lot easier but it proves the point) and it is the composite amount that shows the whole picture. He is pointing and looking in two different directions. Why? When someone is lying, the brain can’t fully put everything together and the finger ends up pointing in the “wrong” direction. He also calls Miss Lewinsky "that woman." This is called distancing language; the phrasing used by people to "distance" themselves from a statement, either to avoid thinking about the subject or to distance themselves from its content. People can also try to distance themselve from a lie by stepping back, maybe folding their arms.


        Notice Nixon stepping back and crossing his arms trying distancing himself from his words here.

   There are tons of websites and books with all sorts of good information on this subject. Learning how to read microexpressions really helps us understand people better, it's not just about catching people lying. Check out some of the links below for more information:

> Microexpressions

> Signs of Lying

> "Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage" By Paul Ekman

> "Emotions Revealed" By Paul Ekman

> More about Paul Ekman

Ray Bradbury Deserves Some of Your Time

List of top five Ray Bradbury books: Top Five
You should read at least ONE before you die. Who knows? Maybe it will change your life.

Sparkcomics for Children of the Future

My student wasn't in school today, so I had a lot of down time. I read and ate lots of junk food. Then I walked down to the storage closet and grabbed a brand new composition notebook and started drawing. Here's what I came up with: Sparkcomics of "great" classics. Why bother reading all those Sparknotes when I found I could fit a whole book into a mere five frames? So I give you ladies and gentlemen, the first official Sparkcomics. See if you can figure out the books they portray 'cause telling you would be just too easy.

Poem 1

Locked in my little car
I am the only person in the world
That sees this view
Hazy sun off to my left
Seeing the dark side of trees, ebony
Beautiful Maya blue sky - luminous hue
Grass fresh and Harlequin
Early morn never looked this good to me
I must travel on my way
Wish I could stay
I'd lay on the lawn
Close my eyes, smiling at dawn

Room Results

Here's how the stripe in my room finally turned out! I decided to paint the anomalies just like the rest of the room.

Thank you everyone who helped me figure out what to do. Your rapid responses were wonderful! I'm so glad I have so many friends who care so much. Even if that includes just caring how my room looks. :D

Quick side note to anyone with a GMAIL account, under the new Buzz tab located on the left of your screen under "Inbox" you can follow other people with gmail accounts. It's really nice and an it lets you know when the people you are following blog, tweet, or even upload pictures to Picasa or Flikr etc. So just a nice way to keep updated for all of us with our busy lives!

Ali - To Know Her Is To Love Her

It was a boring, snowy day at work, with nothing to do, when I was hit by the silliness of my dear sister's life. And how it would be awesome fodder for a comic strip. I already had drawn her as a comic for the t-shirts I'd made her and Adam for their engagement so it was perfect!
Behold! Ali in crayon and 2D!

Click to see all the gory details!!!

The Human Mind

Roy stepped out of the ventilation shaft and into the hallway. Glancing around he made his way left past the large murkey windows looking out onto the street. With one hand in his pocket, he fingered a small piece of plastic that was so vital to make everything right..............................

Ok, quick! Don't read what anyone else wrote, just comment and write what you saw in your mind. For example, does Roy have brown hair? Red? Blonde? Purple? How old is he? Etc. Write only what you saw. And if you're over zealous, write more about the story too. :)

To read after you post:

In a flash of not so brilliant light, I thought of the first sentence to this post very randomly. That got me thinking about how different people would see this picture that was in my head if I only wrote down only a few words that were not specific enough to be decisively descriptive. And so I thought I'd share with all of you and see what sort of automatic or generic picture came into your mind and imagination with very little provocation.

When I read the first sentence in a book, I usually get some picture in my head that is shaped as I continue reading by the author's descriptions, and even then I sometimes still stick to my original pictures! So I was just curious as to how everyone else's mind worked too!

La la la LAA!!

Listen to this song by Owl City in the sidebar located left if you haven't heard it on the radio already. I'm sharing because I can, and because it's a fun song! Check around for more periodically. Update: Unfortunately the music service I was using to play the song (lala.com) is disconinuted. Sorryz!

Calling Shotgun

    Calling "Shotgun" is not unusual today, nor is texting "lol," neither of which I have ever felt the need to participate in adding to my vocabulary. But that's just me.

    I don't remember when I first heard someone "calling shotgun" but eventually I deduced it meant sitting in the front of the car (though at first I thought it applied solely to sitting in the front middle seat, which is not present in all cars), which puzzled me. Why "call shotgun" when you could simply say, "I wanna sit in the front?" Which I guess has more syllables but who ever came up with this phrase? And why have I never felt the need to participate in saying it?

    The answer to the latter question I believe is because my parents were never caught up in the phrase and neither were any of my friends growing up. So the phrase was foreign to me until early high school therefore not entering my vocabulary early enough to stick.

    As for where it came from, there is actually an answer to that that I would like to share with you. The simple answer is located at WikiAnswers.com which says, "Riding shotgun refers to stagecoaches. One person handled the reins, the other handled the shotgun."

    Wikipedia offers a more detailed explanation stating that the earliest reference in print was in 1905 in the book "The Sunset Trail" by Alfred Henry Lewis. (I would not suggest reading the Wikipedia entry as it is weird). It also states: "The expression was used to refer to riding as an armed guard in the front of a stagecoach, next to the driver (this would usually have been on the left, as stage drivers traditionally sat on the right, near the brake). An earlier term for the same duty was "shotgun messenger." The use of the phrase in print to refer to automobiles occurred in 1954 simultaneously with the TV series Gunsmoke, which became extremely popular, and used the terminology of riding shotgun nearly weekly."

    So there you have it. Next time you're driving and some one calls shotgun think carefully about accepting that person as your bodyguard and/or cohort in crime for they are responsible for your safety!




Coming soon....

Lazy susan... who was she? Was she really lazy enough to have a spinning disk named after her? Tune in next week for the answer to this preeminent question and and more!

Comics

Our Sunday comics are slowly going down hill. The only time there was an improvement was when they stopped running "Ziggy." Bleah.

As far as good strips there's "Foxtrot" and "Pearls Before Swine." And most of the rest are tolerable. And then there are the intolerable too but I read them anyways because they are there and they are comics.

But Ali and I have found a solution to most of our problems! Comics.com where we get a whole pile of any comics we want daily for free!

And I wanted to share 3 strips from "Liberty Meadows" that show the true nature of dachshunds. Just of like Rolf, our local dachshund. And so you can see what I live with... cute, but

brainless.

If it's too small to read just right-click and open it in a new tab to see it bigger. Sorry, but it's just the page formating.

Enjoy!

Not that Rolf ever plays fetch but if he did:

Help!

We started getting the basement ready tonight for painting. I'm moving down there a.s.a.p. on account of Ali and Adam getting married and taking over the upstairs. Colors are dark blue on the bottom half, a nice copper penny color orange-ish stripe in the middle, and a lighter blue on top.

Here is my dilemma and I need help, quick! Before we start painting! There are two... anomalies in the room. One is a hot pipe that runs from ceiling to heater and is wrapped in foam, as you can see below:

Any ideas on how to make this look nicer? It might be hidden behind my desk a little but any ideas would be greatly appreciated!! Same with the big white box below sticking out of the wall here:

I think I will continue the paint around this box, painting the top half blue bottom dark blue and stripe in middle.

One last question, should I paint the large white strip up top also? Or leave it?

Please leave your comments and opinions! I'm counting on you, thanks!!

Ciao!

Welcome! Thanks for visiting!

I just got back from Italy and boy was it different! The three main areas we visited were Rome, Florence, and Sorrento; in order from largest to smallest as far as cities go. Rome and Florence were surprisingly covered from head to toe in graffiti. We didn't really take pictures of it but I did like this specific one so I took a picture of it.

But Sorrento, which was probably my favorite was BEAUTIFUL. It's located in southern Italy on the coast. It's a little ways down from Pompeii, about half and hour by tram. At the edge of the city are beautiful cliffs and we could see Mount Vesuvius looming in the distance. There were lots of street vendors selling all kinds of things, sometimes guys would approach us on the street trying to sell umbrellas when it was raining out, which was pretty much the whole trip. We went to museums and saw famous paintings and statues like "David" which was really amazing. It's 20 ft. tall!

We went to a Sunday meeting though it took forever to get there and we missed most of the talk but the people there were all so different and from so many different cultures. We walked everywhere and by the end of each night we were beat! But I got to try all sorts of different drinks which was really fun. Champagne, wine, mixers etc. The best wine I had was actually flying from Naples to Paris on an AirFrance plane. They gave us kuskus and scallops (can't believe I actually loved it!) a small bottle of white wine, a beget and cheese. It was to die for. I was so happy!

I bought a lot of different things, a watch, bracelet, wallet, shirt, boots (with heels!!) and lots of chocolate. Gelatos were AMAZING. Had pear, yogurt and Nutella, strawberry, and some other ones I forget.

Here's a picture of some brothers who were standing outside the train station at 7 a.m. handing out the Watchtower and Awake in all different languages.

I really enjoyed saying the little Italian phrases I learned. I didn't know "Ciao" means hello and goodbye. It was so similar to Spanish too that it was easier to understand than other foreign languages, like Norwegian. It sounded like a cross between Spanish and French.

Famous places we visited:

Trevi Fountain

Colosseum

Museo Nazionale Romano

Mouth of Truth (from "Roman Holiday")

Ancient City of Pompeii

Statue of David

And we had a 19hr layover in Paris too so Dad and I climbed the Eiffel tower. It was only 4 euro to use the stairs! (about 7$) It was 2 to 3 times more for the elevator. It was freezing cold that night in Paris and we walked about 5 miles seeing famous sites. I think all our faces had wind burn the next day. We started at Notre Dame and walked the whole way down to the Eiffel Tower. We passed the Conciergerie, Palais de Justice, Louvre (where the Mona Lisa is at), Invalides, the Grand Palais and finally the Eiffel Tower. We never made it to the Arc de Triomphe. It got way too late. All the buildings were beautiful and the courtyard of the Louvre was stunning. Everything looked beautiful at night time and the Hotel de Ville had bright flashing lights all over it. So did the Eiffel at the top of the hour.

I'll post a link to view more photos later, but for now, ciao everyone!