Friday, October 31, 2008

Bleh

Hosting karaoke for a Halloween party sounds fun, doesn't it? Only no one is singing yet, so I'm sitting here, almost in the dark, playing Halloween song after Halloween song. I don't know anyone here except for the staff. I'm bored, people.

Luckily, I found this list. I'll be using it all night.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sorry

Liz called me yesterday. She said, "You must really like your Wii, cause you haven't blogged since Sunday, and I'm bored at work. Get on it." So, I'm getting on it.

I do love my Wii, and it has lots more cool features than I realized. I especially like being about to browse the internet on my TV. Big fan.

But more importantly, I had Jury Duty all week. Even people who served on Tuesday's jury were expected back Wednesday...it's been a horribly long week of sitting and waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Then, going home, coming back, and waiting, waiting, waiting.

On the upside, I made some friends, because I'm like that. Brian and Tasha are 2 people I had met, but didn't know very well. We've spent the whole week amusing each other, and I'll actually miss those guys.

I've been a little tired all week...I just can't get up the energy to do much more than I have to.

And last night, Allison puked out the window while I was driving. Just like old times. :)

I have lots of things I want to talk about, like the election, my wii, my play, some of Jon's work that has been all over the internet...lots of stuff, really. But it will all have to wait. I have some sitting around to do.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Over the weekend.

One of the things that I'm doing and loving is working on the marketing committee for the Hickory Museum of Art. On Saturday, there was this great festival, with all sorts of things to do. I emceed the outside portions, and hosted some karaoke. It was a wonderful time. Here are some pictures...some are of the party, and some are just because I'm working on my photography.


And tonight is Matt's birthday. We're celebrating by pimento cheese burgers, cookies and home made icecream. And lots of Wii.

People!

I got a Wii, and a Wii fit. And while perhaps a little fiscally irresponsible, I think it will change our lives. All night, we've been anxiously waiting our turn to exercise! It is fun, and it tracks your fitness for you. You can make a Mii, which is an avatar for you, so when you play the games, you look like you.

The fit has all these wonderful yoga treats, balance games, and even strength training.

If you're my friend, come to my house and play!


Wii

Friday, October 24, 2008

Flickr

I went and got myself a Flickr account...not because I was unhappy with Picasa, but because I'm nearing my limit, and Flickr is cheaper to upgrade. So, I'm playing around with features. I think I like this slideshow better than the ones I've been using.


Monday, October 20, 2008

5 things, and a love letter to my blog.

From my friend, Amy D.

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Starting to figure out who I am.
2. Trying really hard to get a Teaching Fellows Scholarship, without once considering that with my grades I could have gotten many scholarships, scholarships that didn't come with an 8 year commitment.
3. Taking Mr. Rob's drama class, and deciding that I should be a drama teacher. This is not necessarily because he was a good drama teacher. He was a very cool person, though, and gave us enough space to figure ourselves out. Classes were not always drama related, and it was easy to do whatever you wanted, but it helped me over all. But, I was thinking back then that I could be a drama teacher and actually teach.
4. Dating Cameron Pozyck, and thinking it would last forever. It lasted till about half way through freshman year.
5. Working at Varsity Barbecue and Creamery. Mmmm. Barbecue and fresh ice cream. I put on a little weight.

5 things on my to do list today:

1. Finish my rehearsal schedule. As I'm writing this, I'm done with that. It took 8 hours. I was dealing with 26 people's schedules, and a big long play. But, it's a work of art, I tell you.
2. Type up ideas for the marketing committee meeting at Hickory Museum of Art. I like the marketing committee.
3. Clean my bedroom so my husband doesn't strangle me. It's been a mess for a while, and it is completely 100% my fault.
4. Grocery Shopping.
5. Maybe finally go to Eddie's trivia game. I've finished everything on the list except for this, and I need to throw myself out the door now if I'm gonna make it.

5 snacks I love:

1. Celery with ranch.
2. Muscadine Grapes
3. Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
4. Brownies
5. Triscuits with my homemade pimento cheese.

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Move to Saba, OR these other 4.
2. Start a Restaurant/Theatre.
3. Go to China with my mom.
4. Throw a really awesome party for everyone in the world that I like. And people, I mean awesome.
5. Monstrously equip Jon and myself with all of the photography and computer toys we could ever want.

5 places I’ve lived:

1. Hickory, NC Ages 23-Current
2. Boone, NC Ages 18-22
3. Salisbury, NC Ages 14-17
4. Concord, NC Ages 12-13
5. Sanford, NC Ages 0-12

5 jobs I’ve had:

1. My current complicated situation...Freelance karaoke host, trivia host, photographer's assistant, agent, props person and model, substitute teacher, and theatrical director.

2. Drama Teacher. I can't sum that up in a sentence, so I'll move on.

3. Annie Oakley at Tweetsie Railroad, where I got to dress up and shoot the boys I worked with all day long.

4. Waitress, Waitress, Bartender, Waitress. Yuck, yuck, cool for a bit, then yuck, and yuck.

5. Techie at Farthing Auditorium. I did that for 5 years, all throughout college. I worked lights or fly rail for traveling shows, and did a lot of focusing/hanging/ and general maintenance for those shows and the theatre. It was an awesome job. I worked with really knowledgeable people, who were thrilled to help me learn along the way. I also had a complete insider's view into no less than 100 different theatrical companies. I could really see how things worked. Throughout that time, I was majoring in theatre, and acted in, stage managed, directed, and whatever else, nearly every show. I kept that pace up for 3 years, and took it a little easier the last 2 years. But, I was learning a lot, is my point, and that job was perfect for a theatre major. I left college knowing that there wasn't a job in theatre that I didn't know how to do...and that is just exactly what I wanted. I've squandered that, really, by teaching elementary school for 4 years, but that's another blog entry entirely.


And a note on my blog: My blog has changed my life. It has given me a place to write down goals and aspirations for the world to see. Then, I kind of have to follow through. It's a place to share all of the stupid things I want to share with people. It's a stage. It's a cool format...you get words, slideshows, pictures, videos, customization out the wazhooh...All available instantly. Such gratification.

I don't know who reads my blog, really. Some of you comment, and some don't. But, whoever you are, thanks for reading. You save me thousands in therapy.

Bathroom!

My very first blog entry, a year ago, was all about how awesome my husband is and how beautiful the bathroom he remodeled was.

Well, a year later, my husband is even more awesome. We've connected and bonded to the point that we are as necessary to each other as breath.

And, I have another new bathroom to share with you!!

Obama O' Lantern

It's supposed to be Obama. Can you tell?

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy birthday to my blog! I've been a dedicated blogger for a whole year. I've got no great prizes going out or anything, but I will have a post later in the day about this birthday.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Some Context

I posted a very funny picture of McCain, but I had no explanation for it. Here is some.

I'm really starting to like taking pictures.

We've been working on getting a second digital body that will work with all of Jon's lenses. It would be a back up for him, and a wonderful new camera for me. But, my concern was that it would be too much camera, and I would just mess up pictures trying to figure it out. So, I've been taking this new camera for a test drive. I love it. It is much more fun to take a picture of something when you have more control over how the picture will look. I'm sure I can get good enough at this to be helpful to Jon.


I'm reposting a slideshow of my Patio. The first 23 or so are new...the other ones are older. Or, see it here, much larger.



Constructive criticism?

Friday, October 17, 2008

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Lies and Race

This is Obama's response to the email that really got me ticked off. Ticked off enough to want to drive right out to his campaign headquarters and get a sticker for my car.

The email was full of quotes that were ridiculously twisted or misrepresented. Obama doesn't even respond to all of the quotes that were in the email, but I found several other websites that did. Not a single one was scary in the proper context. It really gets my goose to have an inbox full of this crap. And I understand why people forward it...it really presents Obama as a person they should be scared of. And they kind of want to believe it, so they do and they don't bother to check the facts.

And I may as well briefly talk about race. Someone in my family sent an email out that said, basically, that the only reason not to vote for Obama is because you are racist. That is stupid. You may just be Republican. But there are lots of people who will not vote for Obama because he is black. Fortunately, most of those people are not the type to vote, or Republicans, so no one was counting on their vote anyway.

I taught this lesson in school that was neat. I presented 4 issues, and split the class into 4 groups. Each group researched the positions of both candidates and then presented them to the class. As they did, I had each student write which candidate he agreed with. At the end, I had them write who they would vote for.

One of the students paper looked like this:

National Security/War: Obama
Education: Obama
Economy: Obama
Illegal Immigration: Obama
I vote for McCain.

So, of course, I talked to him later and asked him why he would vote for McCain when he agreed with Obama's positions. His simple response: "Because he is black."

It broke my heart. As long as parents raise their children to see a difference in black and white, this racism problem will never go away.

But it shouldn't be a factor in who you vote for. You have to vote the issues. I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman, and I can't let race dictate my vote in November.

But you Obama fans...be careful throwing around that whole racism issue. Some people are racist, sure. But some are just Republicans.

I'm angry.

I have said for a while that the biggest reason I'll vote Obama is because McCain has run a dishonest campaign. This country is in a hell of a mess. We have been lied to, on a regular basis, and more than is normal for the last 8 years. We were somehow convinced as a nation that invading Iraq was convinced to fighting those responsible for 9/11. Deception, even if it isn't an outright lie, is a lie.

I hear ads constantly, approved by John McCain himself, that outright lie about Barack Obama. From the beginning these lies were easily detected to be lies to anyone who dug a little. The fact that he felt like he could just feed those lies to a hungry nation, and we would just eat it up...believe it because he said it...it makes me really mad. He's not even President, and he demonstrates such a disregard for truth.

Today the McCain campaign called me for say, the 8th time. I do not want to pay a cell phone bill to hear a man who scares me tell me a lie about a man I respect. I don't want to hear a man who may be my President lying right into my ear.

North Carolina is a major battleground state right now. Based on some polls I've seen, It's looking good for Barack in the nation, but it is close here. If your vote is ever going to count, it's this year that it will. So please, take some time to do some unbiased research...it is hard, but possible.

The link I'm about to give you isn't unbiased. It's on Obama's own website, but is a response from his camp for nearly every ridiculous or believable forwarded email you may have received.

http://fightthesmears.com/

If you will notice, there are LOTS of lies that they have responded to, very reasonably and honestly.

I think a dishonest person, and a person who obviously doesn't even see the importance of truth, is not someone I want in control of my nation.

I am not saying Obama is perfect. I'm saying he will at the very least activate some change, and that will be good.

But again, whoever you're voting for, vote, especially you North Carolinians.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Fish

I think I may be getting the hang of this photography thing.

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Beach



I took a lot of pictures this weekend. I'll get around to posting more, but I have a huge pile of things that have to be done first. But for now, my favorite: A stingray.

Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Life in General

Ooh boy my calendar is filling up. It's a nice feeling, but I have to admit that sometimes I get a little nervous looking at it.

I had auditions last night for my play, The Greatest Christmas Pagaent Ever. I have auditions again tonight and next Monday and Tuesday at 5:30, at Hickory Community Theatre. I need more people! I need boys and grownups especially!! You should come on out. ;)

Jon and I are going to the beach with my Dad Friday, and that's exciting as well.

Know what I hate? When I mention that I quit teaching, and people are all "What are you doing with yourself these days?" They always phrase it in a suspicious way that makes me feel like they think I'm up to nothing. But I'm a busy girl. So, I'll answer the question here:

I'm substitute teaching a lot.
I'm directing a play.
I'm on the marketing committee for the Art Museum.
I teach classes at the Art Museum.
I'm trying my hardest to market and promote Jon.
I'm handling a lot of the dealing-with-people end of Jon's business, and I go with him to shoots, and I smile pretty for him a lot.
I've got these trivia games, and they are doing swell.
I'm a member of Footcandle, and we meet once a month.
I'm hosting karaoke parties here and there.
I'm also doing all of the normal, day to day life stuff.

But my usual answer...
"Not too much...just trying to stay busy."

Thursday, October 02, 2008

I forgot Bertha

I labeled the dog in my pics too.

Google has done it again!

3 major cool developments that I learned about today (and I have to admit that I spent a good part of the day playing with this stuff):

1-There is a new version of Picasa. It's still in Beta, but it covers 2 of the 3 things. I can now touch up pictures...you could do a lot before, but that big pimple was going to stay right where it was. Now, it goes away! Same for wrinkles in old scanned pictures.

2-You can write words on your pictures now. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but I've really been needing a program that would do that. I've been very upset that I couldn't add words on several occasions...when making banners or flyers or what-not. So that's awesome.

3-You can label your faces in Picasa now. So then you can say you want to look at all the pictures of your husband, for instance. And it is such a smart labeler. My albums have tons of faces, mostly because of school pictures and trivia...but after a while, it would pull up nine faces of Jon and basically ask "Hey-are these all Jon?" You have to try it!

And for your viewing pleasure:
Me
Jon
Allison
Matt
My Mom
My Nana