Circadian Creation: Rose 5.30.06

Our lives

May our lives be ever intertwined, our love keeping us together. We will build a home that is compassionate to all, full of respect and honor for others and each other. May our home be forever filled with peace, happiness and love. --Author Unknown

Circadian Creation: Fakir 5.25.06

Circadian Creation: Repetition 5.24.06

Cat and Girl

Cat and Girl

Circadian Creation: Acceptance 5.23.06

Circadian Creation: String 5.22.06

And multitudes disappear

Tied up in strings
Of their past and dreams lost
They cry in the shadows, Hiding
their tears from the masses.

Curling up in corners,
Bellies up against the wall, They
abandon the sunshine for the dark
depths of despair

Their cries are silenced by the night
And no one sees the stains
on their flesh; Or the streaks in their eyes
And they seamlessly melt into the core
Of us all.

-By me so don't steal

101 in 1001

I came across this project in my surfing and it's such a great idea that I've decided to do it as well.

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

My list may change depending on my mood, temperature, location, outfit.... but the list to start is:

1. Go on a romantic picnic with blanket, wine, and fine food
2. Volunteer for an environmental cause
3. Volunteer for a social cause
4. Plant flowers
5. Grow vegetables
6. Start an herb garden
7. Paint a huge canvas – outside if necessary
8. Create an assemblage piece
9. Have a garden party with pretty lights and good food and wine (after I plant some flowers!)
10. Bike ride under the moonlit sky
11. Go whitewater rafting
12. Have my art in a gallery
13. Buy a digital SLR camera
14. Work on (and finish) an art project together
15. Visit another country
16. Read at least ten books on my “to-read” list
17. Enjoy a romantic candlelight dinner under the moon
18. Redesign my website
19. Design a portfolio website for Dave
20. Go on a long walk at least once a week
21. Read Atlas Shrugged
22. Learn to screen print
23. Back up and organize all of my digital photos
24. Print out my favorite digital photos and put them in an album
25. Acquire a bicycle – and ride it!01/29/08 Bike acquired - now need to ride it
26. Learn how to cook 5 incredible gourmet meals
27. Learn how to cook 5 quick and healthy meals
28. Take an actual yoga class (instead of just doing in on my own)
29. Go out to dinner alone
30. Host Thanksgiving dinner
31. Make a new friend
32. Make money from my artWell, I do work as web designer but let's go for the fine art side here
33. Visit at least 5 states I have never been to
34. Actively pursue freelance work
35. Take a short backpacking trip
36. Go to at least one art exhibit every two monthsDave being grad school for fine art helps
37. Go TV free for one weekstriking this because we have no cable anymore - zero TV reception - but there is still netflix
38. Create a budget (and stick to it)
39. Refinish an old piece of furniture
40. Sew a skirt for myself
41. Make at least 5 pieces of art as gifts
42. Make a platform bed
43. Organize my CDsCDs? What year did I write this list?
44. Save $4 a day
45. Eat fruits and vegetables every day
46. Go skinny-dipping
47. Pick berries
48. Start saving money for retirement
49. Make a book (even if it’s never meant to be published)
50. Become strong and stable enough to do handstand (unmodified)
51. Go ice-skating
52. Volunteer to help with a hiking trail
53. March on Washington
54. Learn my grandmothers’ stories
55. Donate clothes I haven’t worn in over one year
56. Visit a sculpture garden
57. Get a tattoo
58. Watch less TVI can still download shows but I watch A LOT LESS
59. Take a trip to a tropical location
60. write letters to friends when I move
61. Go to the drive in
62. Host an outside art party
63. Concentrate more on spirituality – specifically eastern ideas
64. Practice Flash
65. Ride a motorcycle
66. Have a water balloon fight
67. Be on the way (in some form) to being a mom
68. Eat a meal with fingers (one that would ordinarily require a fork)
69. Play in the rain
70. Play tennis
71. Drink tea and have breakfast outside in the sun
72. Continue to not eat fast foodFast food eliminated
73. Take a spur of the moment weekend trip with cheap plane tickets
74. Use eye cream regularly
75. Get a library card
76. Join a club/group when we move
77. Put an entire week’s pay directly in my savings account
78. Renew passport and get it stamped
79. Set up a real studio space for myself
80. Make attending farmer’s markets a part of my regular routine (unless I can grow enough to not need it)
81. Go on an all girl weekend trip
82. Unless dining out, only eat organic animal based products (eggs, chicken, cheese, etc…)
83. Get my teaching certificate
84. Go sky diving
85. Fill up at least 4 journals
86. Get married
87. Pay off my car loans and school loans
88. Make a substantial dent in my credit card debt
89. Dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean or the Caribbean
90. Make a website for a non-profit for free
91. Be closer to my family and friends – through regular letters, phone calls
92. Identify 5 summer and 5 winter constellations
93. Go rock climbing (outside or on a wall)
94. Enter a photography contest
95. Go snow tubing
96. Go on a kayaking trip
97. Build a savings account of at least $5000
98. Sort mail as it arrives Yeah, right!
99. Write a short story (and complete it!)
100. Finish Marly’s book and Kerilyn’s book
101. Finish this list

I got the idea here

Moods swirling around like butterflies on a bad trip

What causes these moods to just speed in and smash us down? And is it “us” or is it just “me”? Do all of us sometimes feel like manic depression or psychotic moodiness is invading our psyche even though we would never really be diagnosed with a disorder found in the DSM? How is it that, after feeling fine and positive and in the mood to face the world and life, that something so miniscule (and often usually unidentifiable) can just knock everything off balance and put questions and paranoia in parentheses around every word, action and motion made and said to us and toward us and sometimes even the ones that have nothing to do with us whatsoever. I know I should stop saying “us” but maybe it feels safer that way.

Anyway, I write this to the internet and listen to the hum of the computer and Beth Orton’s magical voice is singing about regrets and lessons and I feel like it’s all about to come together and make some sort of sense and that there will be some great positive spin on it all. I mean, come on…. “it’s like catching snow on my tongue…” how great is that?

And after all, the future is filled with exciting changes and new locations and art and mountains and positive activity, but I’ll explain all that another day.

Flower Girl

a little flower portrait . . . before she wilts . . .

Gary Markstein - NSA comic

Gary Markestein

Illustration Friday: Angels & Devils

Jump in!

"...The lesson being, head in the direction you are drawn to, even if you think it's impossible or you don't know how you will manage. Once you make the decision completely to do something the universe will jump in to help you out." ~Keri Smith

Photo Friday: MASTERPIECE

It's been quite a while since I've contributed to PhotoFriday, but here goes. It's a natural masterpiece with perfect light and shadow.

Save the Internet

So I'll leave my America bashing to a minimum, but lately this country never ceases to amaze me (and not in a good way).

So, seriously, there is legislation before Congress right now that would allow network owners to basically charge website owners for traffic. If you don't pay your fees your website may not even load in people's browsers.

So, say for instance you receive your internet through Comcast. You are trying to look up music on a certain website but that website has not payed these prices that have been requested. You may not even be able to load that site.

Want to donate to a charity online? What if that charity has not payed the price to the internet provider? You may not be able to even log on to this charity's site! Sounds like the payers may end up being the only players in certain circumstances.

Sign the petition: http://civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/

Take action: http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet

Learn more about how this affects you: http://www.savetheinternet.com/=threat

Here is a more thorough explanation from SaveTheInternet.com

Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First Amendment -- a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you -- based on what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.

Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn't speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online.

This isn’t just speculation -- we've already seen what happens elsewhere when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Last year, Telus -- Canada's version of AT&T -- blocked their Internet customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to workers with whom the company was having a labor dispute. And Madison River, a North Carolina ISP, blocked its customers from using any competing Internet phone service.

How would the gutting of Network Neutrality affect you?

• Google users—Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
• Innovators with the "next big idea"—Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
• Ipod listeners—A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
• Political groups—Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
• Nonprofits—A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
• Online purchasers—Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.
• Small businesses and tele-commuters—When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
• Parents and retirees—Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
• Bloggers—Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.

Blocking Innovation

Corporate control of the Web would reduce your choices and stifle the spread of innovative and independent ideas that we've come to expect online. It would throw the digital revolution into reverse. Internet gatekeepers are already discriminating against Web sites and services they don't like:

In 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked their DSL customers from using any rival Web-based phone service.

In 2005, Canada's telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a contentious labor dispute.

Shaw, a major Canadian cable, internet, and telephone service company, intentionally downgrades the "quality and reliability" of competing Internet-phone services that their customers might choose -- driving customers to their own phone services not through better services, but by rigging the marketplace.

In April, Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com -- an advocacy campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send e-mail scheme.

This is just the beginning. Cable and telco giants want to eliminate the Internet's open road in favor of a tollway that protects their status quo while stifling new ideas and innovation. If they get their way, they'll shut down the free flow of information and dictate how you use the Internet.

Scene

...from Jersey City...

Circadian Creation: 4.24.06 Planck Length (late)

The Planck length is the natural unit of length, denoted by . Length cannot be measured with an error smaller than the Planck length, even in principle, so in some sense it is the smallest meaningful length.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Circadian Creation: 4.27.06 Shiny (late)

Circadian Creation: 4.28.06 Determinism

Free will or determinism? Your choice. Or is it?

Circadian Creation: 4.7.06 One (late)

One
...can be so lonely and so sad or so positive and strong...
...is the loneliest number...
...is what we try to attain...

Circadian Creation: 4.13.06 Freedom (late)

...or lack thereof.

Circadian Creation: 4.11.06 Nothing (late)

what started out as freedom ended up as nothing, as in life.

Circadian Creation: 4.25.06 Ethereal (late)

Self Portrait Challenge: Introduction

So this is the first post to the new, official Self Portrait Tuesday site. So it's introduction time (though I think a lot of the not a lot of people who read this blog already know a bit about me or a bunch about me). I'm a searcher and guess I always will be. Searching for that elusive...something. I'm an artist, a computer geek, I try to be funny, I'm scared of ridiculous things, I'm moving soon (to a yet undisclosed location), I have an awesome family, an awesome boyfriend, great pets in my life (even Simon the Annoying Cat). I can be way too melancholy at times but I think I've learned some new ways in the past year or so to just let the feeling pass. I try to be creative as much as possible, which is something that I neglected for quite a few years but I'm happy to be back on that track. I yearn to travel but don't do enough of it. I love to read but have had trouble finishing a book lately. That's enough for now.

Want to see more cool self portraits? Visit self portrait challenge.