Overboard

Found this over at Cute Overload this morning and thought it was worthy of a post here as well. Now, I realize that there are adults out there that enjoy children cartoons and characters. I, myself, enjoy Winnie-the-Pooh. In fact my toaster is a Winnie-the-Pooh toaster and even sings a song when your toast pops up (a fact that displeases me at 6 or 7am). Having an item or two from a childrens character line is ok, but an entire Hello Kitty house, not owned by the Hello Kitty Corporation, that is so overboard there isn't a word for it. The interior of the house is Hello Kitty as well, with custom Hello Kitty shaped chairs and cushions and pink everywhere!

Peaceful Weekends

Dave and I spent this past weekend as we spend most of our weekends, peacefully enjoying what little time off we get. We usually have grand plans of cleaning the house or doing something active but never really get around to either, which doesn't bother me one bit. We do laundry, watch movies, play video games (mostly PS3 for Dave and computer games for me) and make better food then we do on the weekdays. We do get out of the house at least once every weekend, sometimes this means shopping and other times it is a to visit a museum, walk around the neighbourhood or simply hanging out with friends.
We enjoy our quiet life and low-key activities, unlike most people our age who would find the things we do, or do not do, rather boring and uneventful.

One Minute Writer #25 - Celebrity Deaths

Why do celebrity deaths deeply affect so many people?

There have been quite a few celebrity deaths this week and they do seem to affect people quite deeply. It seems odd that someone could be so heavily affected by the death of a person they probably never met. But if you think about it, you don't need to met a person to feel connected to them. They can touch you in ways that only a celebrity could, like overcoming adversities similar to your own or by simply being the kind of person you aspire to be.

In the case of Michael Jackson, who died on Thursday from a heart attack (at least that is the assumption right now), a great deal of people grew up watching and listening to him. He was a superstar right from the beginning of Jackson 5 and eventually became one his own. He was the first African American to to successfully crossover music genres on MTV and was also one of the few artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He had a pretty memorable fall from grace what with the sexual abuse charges and frequent changes in his physical appearance, but his true fans stood by his side. With his fancy footwork and eccentricities, he was hard to ignore and even harder to forget.

Farrah Fawcett also died this week at the age of 62. She lost her battle to cancer despite her valiant fight. She had been diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006 and underwent a great deal of traditional and alternative treatment in an effort to beat it. She had her good friend document her journey through film which was released as a two hour movie some time ago. She didn't leave anything out, including the loss of her trademark hair, as she stated, it was all part of cancer. Her rise to fame took off when she was on Charlie's Angels and then moreso when she made the famous poster shown on the left. It was a record breaking poster in terms of sales - the best selling pin-up poster of all time. She influenced the lives of many people, spanning multiple generations. She is an icon to this day and will likely remain so.

Ed McMahon died on Tuesday of this past week. Many people my age likely do not know exactly who Ed McMahon is, but have definitely heard his name. He was basically a TV personality similar to Dick Clark. He actually worked with Dick Clark on a TV blooper series for some time. The thing I remember him most for, is as the presenter of the American Family Publishers Sweepstakes. I remember people getting letters in the mail stating that Ed McMahon wanted to give them money. Then on TV there would be a camera crew and Ed McMahon showing up on someone's front lawn with balloons and a giant cheque. Ed McMahon is considered to be one the the greatest sidekicks in TV.

Maritimes

My parents called last night mostly for one reason: to let me know that they are heading out east today for up to two weeks. I am very happy that they are doing some sort of vacation. My dad has a vacation every year when he goes out fishing with his friends in Ompa, but my mom on the other hand, tends to just sit at home during her vacation every summer. Anyway, they are taking Comet with them which is what makes this vacation so perfect for them as finding someone to watch their puppy is hard since he has separation anxiety and other little quirks that make him special.
I am not sure what their plans are, or what route they are taking though I know the driving is going to be my dad's favourite part of the trip. He loves long drives and road trips.
Originally, Dave and I had planned on making a road trip out east, but then the car accident happened and we can no longer afford a big trip, as mentioned in a previous post. This was the time that I was wanting to go on the maritimes trip though, so I am a little sad that we can't go. But I really hope that they have a good time and hopefully are able to get some good pictures.

Limericks

Hiakus are easy, as previously mentioned, and quick. On average, they take me about 3 minutes to write and would take me less time but I triple-check my syllables.
This past weekend, Chris mentioned I should try my hand at limericks, which are still on the easy side of poetry but aren't as simple as haikus. I think this suggestions stems from the fact that she does not like haikus and probably doesn't want to read too many of them on my blog.
So according to Wikipedia:
"The standard form of a limerick is a stanza of five lines, with the first, second and fifth having eight or nine syllables and rhyming with one another, and the third and fourth having five or six and rhyming separately. Lines are usually written in the anapaestic meter, but can also be amphibrachic."
Since I really only a couple meters and neither of those mentioned ring a bell, "an anapaest or anapest, also called antidactylus, is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one". And "an amphibrach is a metrical foot used in Latin and Greek prosody. It consists of a long syllable between two short syllables".
An example of a limerick, again from Wikipedia, is:

"The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical,
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean,
And the clean ones so seldom are comical."

So I will try it out, maybe make one this weekend and see if it is any good. If not, then at least we all learned a little bit about Limericks.

Haiku #4 - Insights

Insights are most rare,

They come unexpectedly,

Often bring great change.

Zuma

When I was in university, living on Glen Ave with Chris, I played Zuma quite a bit. I forget how exactly, but Dave got it installed on my computer and I absolutely loved it. When he got the PS3 just a little while ago, we downloaded the demo PS3 version of it and I have been playing it over and over again ever since (about a week and a half or so).
Yesterday, Dave decided to buy it for me on the PS3 and now I am obsessed with it again. It is harder on the PS3 as you can place your mouse where you want the ball to go like I would on the computer, and there are actual 'slots' where the frog can point whereas on the computer he could point literally anywhere. It is taking me longer to beat the levels and I have actually died a couple of times, but it is still very fun.

One Year at 1212

As of June 18, 2009 , Dave and I have been renting our house at 1212 for a full year!! Isn't it exciting?!

Last year at this time, I was packing our stuff into totes, boxes and bags and we were slowly, but surely, moving them over to the new house any way we could (Thanks Yan for letting us use your car so much). After about 7 car trips, 2 or 3 bike trips and one long walk we had most of the small, non-everyday items moved.

Mom and Dad came up the beginning of July and helped us move our larger items over to the new house (thanks to all the friends who came and helped out), which took about 4 truck loads, with the trailer in tow! It wasn't until we were trying to fit it all in the house that I realized just how much stuff Dave and I owned (okay mostly just me).

Shortly after moving in, we started a garage sale pile that never made it to a garage sale and is still located in our basement. A large portion of our items are still in boxes, totes and bags to this day and will likely never be unpacked. They too could probably be sold or donated as we likely will never need or use them again.

I love our house so much and have really enjoyed the last year living in it with Dave. We have been able to purchase larger and nicer items without the fear of them being broke or mistreated, not that any of our past roommates would purposely do either of those things. We have started our own garden in tiny backyard and a gym in our basement. Our house is a compilation of stuff from our parents' homes as well as a few things we have bought for ourselves and is slowly getting closer to 'our style', though at the moment I couldn't tell you what that is. It is perfect for the time being and I hope the next year is as joyful as this past one has been.

Baby Gulls

A couple days ago, a week at the most, Dave and I were talking about baby seagulls and how neither of us had ever seen one. Today the below image was up on Cute Overload and I found the timing to be perfect.

One Minute Writer #24

Write a one-minute synopsis of a movie you'd like to see, or like to make.

The movies I want to see are generally the movies being made on a regular basis. I really like the typical romance movies were person A meets person B funny, witty things are encountered and usually one or both person(s) are changed for the better and they eventually realize they are destined to be with one another and end up as such. I also really enjoy animated movies where something unfortunate happens to the main character and they fight to get their life back the way it was before and along the way encounter new friends and a new, better life in the end that they didn't even realize was possible. In general, that is what I like to see in movies, though it is rare when I pay to watch movies at the theatre for the first scenario (romance movies) but the latter (animated movies) I would, as long as it is made by Pixar.

Karsh Festival

This past Wednesday, while driving to Milestones to have dinner, I saw a bus ad for the Karsh Festival at the Science and Technology Museum. I of course wanted to go very badly as Yousuf Karsh is one of my favourite photographers and I find his ability to capture a person's entire character on film absolutely amazing.Today, Dave and I went to the exhibit and it was absolutely wonderful. Firstly, we got in for free as we have the 3 museums, 1 card memberships (we get into the Agricultural, Science and Tech and Aviation museum for free for the next year) and secondly, it was a great exhibit full of breathtaking photos. Alongside his photographs were some of his tools like his floor to ceiling enlarger capable of creating 40" x 50" images. There were also a bunch of brushes, inks, dyes and sharp tipped objects used for editing and retouching negatives that I found really interesting. I was even able to describe the use of most of the tools to Dave as he had never really seen or heard of any of the darkroom techniques Karsh used.
The exhibit had a hands on component as well, like most exhibits in the Science and Tech Museum. There was a 'view camera' and portrait studio set up that could be used to create your own Karsh inspired portraits. I put view camera in quotations as it was really just a digital camera in a view camera setup (with the upside down, mirrored image and similar moving mechanisms). It was particularly fun because no one seemed to be interested in the portrait studio so Dave and I were able to take a couple shots of each other. You could then email them to yourself and I of course then put them in Photoshop and worked on them. There wasn't much that could be done to them as the quality of the images was so low, but I did try to lessen the noise and graininess of the images and adjust the contrast as well.My favourite one of Dave was the above photo. I like the pensive pose and his shadow in the background. Normally I wouldn't like shadows in this type of photo, but I think it works here.Dave did a really good job in the portrait studio as well. I did, however, need my 'security blanket'/prop - my camera. We took another with the typical Stephanie pose of me looking through my camera but I still think I like the above photo better.
Admission to the Science and Tech museum is $5 I believe and it is definitely worth it. The Karsh Festival runs at the museum until the middle of September so there is still lots of time to go and take a look at some of Karsh greatest works, and take a shot at it for yourself in the portrait studio.

An Observation about One Minute Writer

So I was looking over my One Minute Writer replies and I noticed that the ones I select from the site often get me talking about my dreams of being a photographer professionally. I am not sure if that is because the questions sway towards the ways of dreams and jobs, etc or if I make them go in that direction so I can write about photography more. It could also just be because it is something that is really prevalent in my life right now due to the increased course load and great weather for photography. Either way, please bare with me as I really do enjoy the One Minute Writer questions and I am sure there will be some soon that will get me talking about other things, like #20 which was about my childhood.

Weight Loss Blog

So I started my weight loss blog, The Road to A Better Me, quite some time ago and was very dedicated to it - initially. As my weight loss slowed, the posts on that blog did as well. Recently though, I have started posting regularly again and have found that it is really helping my weight loss. In case you read it before and stopped due to the irregular posting, please visit it again and see if you are once again interested. I am posting regularly not only about my progress, but also with tips and recipes I am encountering along the way.

One Minute Writer #23

What one piece of advice would you give to someone graduating from a college or university?

Stay positive. Jobs will come, good jobs will come after those and great ones later on. Spend your time now enjoying yourself and following your dreams as much as possible - no matter what they are.

Haiku #3 - Workouts

Workouts are not fun,
Exhausting exercising,
Very glad when done.

One Minute Writer #22

As a kid, what job did you dream you'd have as an adult? What job do you have now?

As a child I always wanted to be famous but never for the really popular things like film or alternative rock music. I wanted to be a famous opera singer or Broadway star. I wanted to be a famous artist and have painting hanging in all the world's best galleries. These dreams mostly faded when I learned that I am not musically gifted and learning to sing or play an instrument would be a real struggle for me and I have never really been that good at drawing or painting from my mind though perhaps I could have with a bit of training and practice.
I know work as an Environmental Engineer as that is what I went to school for and have a degree in. I am working towards my Professional Engineering license and better positions in my field. I am also taking night courses in Photography and hope to start doing some things with that on the side. Who knows, maybe my dreams of becoming an artist are not dead after all.

John Ratzenbeger and Pixar

As promised, here are the roles that John Ratzenber played in each Pixar movie. Let me know how many you got right (without assistance from the Internet).

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (as well as the upcoming Toy Story 3): Hamm the Pig
A Bug's Life: P.T Flea, the Circus ring leader
Monsters, Inc.: The Adominable Snowman
Finding Nemo: School of Fish
The Incredibles: The Underminer
Cars: Mack (the tractor trailer)
Ratatouille: Waiter Mustafa
WALL-E: John (the male human 'awakened' by WALL-E)

And as an added bonus, in the most recent Pixar movie, UP! Ratzenberger plays a construction foreman named Tom.

Pixar's UP!

I don't mention it very often here, but I love movies. I love seeing movies in theatre and at home. I like watching my favourite movies over and over again until I know them by heart, eg. Empire Records. I enjoy our vast movie collection and like to watch it grow, it will soon need another cabinet to contain it all as the entertainment unit if almost full. One of my favourite cleaning activities around the house is to find all of our DVDs and put them away in the unit, alphabetically of course.
One of my proudest movie collections, and most watched, is that of the (Disney) Pixar movies and movies similar in style to them such as Robots and Meet the Robinsons. I believe the collection started with the Incredibles, possibly my favourite Pixar movie, and grew from there. I recently finished the collection (ones released on DVD to date of course) by purchasing Pixar Animated Shorts collection Volume I. This set includes shorts made by Pixar from the very beginning up until last year or so, everything before WALL-E I believe. It will be some time until Volume 2 is released.
Dave and I also recently went to the theatre at South Keys and watched UP!, which is Pixar's most recent movie. It is a story about an old man and his attempt to follow his dreams. I won't give too much away, but there are some really sad, touching moments in the movie as well as hilariously, funny ones. Pixar definitely kept up its reputation of super movies and great animation with this one. John Ratzenberger of course has a role in the movie although this time it is pretty small in comparison to his characters in some of the older movies like Toy Story.
Speaking of which, try to name the characters John Ratzenberger has played in the following Pixar movies (without using Google, IMDB Wiki, etc.):
Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (as well as the upcoming Toy Story 3)
A Bug's Life
Monsters, Inc.
Finding Nemo.
The Incredibles.
Cars.
Ratatouille.
WALL-E.

Vacation #2 and #3

Vacation #2 - Montreal and Cirque du Soleil.
I ordered tickets for Cirque's new show Ovo just now. It is a show about the world of insects and I am very excited about seeing another Cirque show - and in their hometown no less! The show is on a Sunday and we plan on going to Montreal Saturday and spending the day at the Biodome and Botanical Gardens, likely with our friend and old roommate Yan. We are going to take both the day before and the day after the trip off from work to be able to really enjoy it.

Vacation #3 - Cottage on lake Erie.
For the past two years Dave and I have gone to Chris' cottage on Lake Erie. Usually we spend the August long weekend there and are home in time to go to work on the Tuesday. This year we have decided to make the trip longer and stay until the Wednesday, returning to work on Thursday. I can't wait and even the idea of the longer stay makes me very happy. With the addition of Jerrica last year and Justin (possibly) this year, the trip keeps getting better!

One Minute Writer #21

Think of the biggest goal or dream you have. Is life giving you a red, yellow, or green light?

I think everyone who reads this knows one of my biggest dreams and career goals is to be a photographer. I believe life is giving me a yellow (amber) light right now. I am taking the night courses at Algonquin to advance my skills but at the same time could never really go after my dream right now as I need the money from my engineering job (and the experience to be able to get my P.Eng in a few years). So I am moving forwards but not nearly as quickly as I would like. But hey, at least I am moving faster than I was a few years ago and am actually doing something to get closer to my dreams.

Haiku #2 - Photoshop

Really great image,
Put in some time and effort,
Made even better.

Sims 3

This past weekend while browsing the items at Future Shop, I saw that Sims 3 had been released. I didn't buy one right away as i wanted to read some reviews about it and see how different it really was from Sims 2 (which had been a huge improvements from the original Sims). I got home and was too tired to really look into it that evening but did Monday evening when I got home from work. I watched a trailer and two gameplay videos and instantly knew I wanted the game. I drove to Future Shop and picked up a copy right away. It was $50 and in my opinion, it was well worth it.

The differences are pretty substantial. You can now alter anything in any way you want. You may like the design of that couch but none of the colours it comes in, you can change that. You like that shirt but want it to be some funky design with custom colours, you can do that. Everything is 100% customizable and it will make the game last so much longer.

I spent most of my first evening making Sims characters that were supposed to look like Dave but I was disappointed when I was unable to get them quite right. The game does have great facial construction tools which surpass those of the first two Sims game but they take some time to master and I just wanted to play so I settled on some faces that don't really match us at all, but that is okay for now.

There are new traits you assign to your Sims (and that get assigned to children, etc who grow up in the game) such as athletic, loner and party animal. You select five for each Sim and then select a lifetime goal for you Sim such as becoming an astronaut or super spy. You can also have lifetime goals like maximize all guitar and writing skills or things of that nature.

I have only been able to play for a few hours so far due to work, class and homework but I love it and really want to play some more. If your computer is up to it, I think everyone should go and pick up a copy of this highly addictive game.

One Minute Writer #20

Write about the first item you remember saving up to purchase.

The first thing I remember saving up for were twin dolls.
When I was little, sometime around grade 2 or so, my Mom's Dad gave me $50 for Christmas. My parents matched that and I therefore had $100, which is an unheard of amount for someone that young. I knew exactly what I wanted - twin dolls from Canadian Tire.
The old Canadian Tire in Prescott had this backroom where most of the toys were and that is where I had found the dolls a few days or weeks earlier. They were matching dolls, one boy and one girl in a blue and pink outfit and with brown and blonde hair respectively. They had soothers and would cry if they were not in their mouths (as long as the dolls were turned on). They were much higher quality than any other crying doll on the market and in my opinion are still higher quality than most dolls on the market today. I loved them very much and my friends and I played with them for years. I took them to show and tells at school and daycare and pretty much dragged them to every ball and hockey game Tyler played in. Stephanie and Stephen were their names as I had just learned what the male version of my own name was and for whatever reason named them both after myself. They are still stored at my parents house with all the rest of my toys and are still great dolls which were well worth the money.

My Laptop

(photo taken by Pat Koning)

I purchased this laptop through my work about 9 months ago and have been very happy with it since. I am technically still paying for it through deductions in my paycheque every two weeks, but am not paying interest on it and got a really good deal since DST gets company discounts.
The laptop has developed a few problems since I got it, for example a dialog box pops up when it first starts asking Yes or No but with no actual question. It is a virus of some kind that my current software cannot detect but it hasn't had a real affect on my performance so like the other little problems it has, it isn't a big deal.
I love this laptop and haven't touched my PC in months because of it. Dave has even used his PC significantly less since I bought this laptop. It is pretty much exactly what I needed and definitely what I wanted - keep it up laptop.

Seeing Eye Goat

A great conversation came up at work today about goats, apartment porches and sod. It ended with AD saying the following: It's my seeing eye goat - It needs to eat stuff to see.

Toronto Zoo

As part of our vacation Dave and I went to the Toronto Zoo. It was really fun. We walked around the entire zoo and saw so many animals and I of course took a ton of photos. I really enjoyed the monkeys this year and they all seemed to be doing a pose similar to the one above where they had their arms wrapped around them. It reminded me of humans trying to comfort themselves or warm themselves up on cold days. I thought it was really neat and I have never seen them do this before - or I haven't ever noticed before.We also went into the temporary exhibit at Stingray Bay. We got to touch Stingrays and even Nurse Sharks. That's right everyone, I touched sea animals - specifically sharks! Dave touched the shark (above) and told me that they felt rough and that I should try it, so I did (below).The entire Zoo trip cost about $100 with food and admission, etc. Considering it was the most expensive part of our trip (including gas costs) that is really good!! Not to mention the fact that it was well worth the money.

Vacation's Over

My first vacation while working at DST is over. We went to Peterborough for Jess' convocation, to the Toronto Zoo and my mom came down for a day in Ottawa. It was very pleasant and relaxing and didn't cost that much overall which is really awesome. Now I just need to decide when I want to take some more time off and what I want to do with it.

Haiku #1 - Armored Core

Armored Core on screen,
The game says mission failure,
Another attempt.

Haikus

When I was in elementary school we learned what a Haiku was. Basically it is just a short poem consisting of three lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second 7 syllables and the third 5 syllables. I wrote them every now and then and always chose them as a poetry form when choice was given. When I was in residence at university I covered our bathroom full-length mirror in Haikus and silly phrases and didn't have much difficulty thinking of them.
I am writing this post because I want to start writing Haikus again as they are creative and thought invoking without taking a great deal of time or effort to create. I want to try of write at least one Haiku each week for a little while and see how it goes.

One Minute Writer #19

How much money would you have to win in the lottery for your life to really be changed? How would your life be affected if you won that much?

I am not sure about an exact number as I do not play the lottery game at all but I would think a few million (perhaps 10) would have meleaving this job. In the grand scheme of things, a few million would not be enough to live on for the rest of my life with no worries whatsoever, but it would mean I could follow my dreams a little earlier than I am currently planning. I would probably finish my schooling faster and maybe even enter in a full-time photography program. I would start my own photography business and try to get it running successfully. I would invest in Dave by paying for the helicopter training he is dreaming about and we would likely get own our place (rather than rent). Basically, our lives would just be more comfortable and filled with our dreams.

One Minute Writer #18

Write about an encounter you had with nature that left you awed, inspired, or overwhelmed.

This isn't entirely nature based but the encounter that comes to mind right away is Stonehenge. This is the place I had written about, talked about and dreamt about visiting and when I finally got to so in January 2008 I was not disappointed. The experience was so unbelieveably amazing that I have been unable to properly explain it since. I was awed, inspired and overwhelmed and so much more, words cannot even begin describe it. I was and still am left rather speechless about this amazing experience. I can't wait to visit it again in the future.

One Minute Writer #17

If you could research one thing for a living, what would it be?

As you could probably guess it has to do with Photography - but to be more specific I would love to use my photography to capture the research rather than researching photographic techniques. I would love to spend time in the forests, mountains or plains photographing animals in their natural wildlife going about their daily lives. I think it would be so incredibly interesting to see them doing what they do naturally rather than someones depiction in a zoo or a documentary (as good as some of them are). It would be so great to have the animals learn who I was and that I was not a threat, to have them allow me into their lives and be able to capture them up close (on 'film' of course). That is both how and what I would want to research for the rest of my life - wildlife in their natural habitats with my camera.

Trent

The first session of the Trent University Convocation was this morning and Dave's sister Jessica was part of it. She graduates with a Bachelors of Arts Honours degree - with the president's award! Congratulations Jess.

Facebook Aps

I have never really been a fan of the Facebook Applications (Aps). There are tons of them out there that quiz you on different subjects or tell you about some aspect of your life. There are also ones that are little games or objects to send all your Facebook friends. I have installed a couple and then quickly uninstalled them as I really didn't find them interesting or fun at all. Like I said, I have never really been a fan of Facebook Aps - until Farm Town.
Farm Town is a Facebook Ap that is basically a little economy based game (like the economy side of any RPG or strategy game). You plant trees and crops in your little farm and gain experience. You sell these harvested crops for coins and are able to plant more trees and crops. If you don't get them harvested in time, they rot - well the crops do, trees do not rot. The funny aspect of this game is that you actually make more coin if you get other farmers (players) to harvest your crops for you and you harvest their crops. This is very unlike real life in which you would always try and harvest your own crops so that you didn't have to pay any farmhands, but I suppose it is all about Internet socializing.
I have gone up in levels pretty quickly in this game and am loving it - it is pretty addicting but you can't really play it too long as the crops grow in semi-real time (ie. a grapes field will take 4 hours to grow before it can be harvested and other crops like sunflowers take 3 days) and there is really no point in gaining a billion coin from harvesting other farmers' crops.
I think if you have Facebook you should get Farm Town - whether you are an Aps fan or not.

One Minute Writer #16

Write about an experience that made you feel like a "grown up."

There have been several experiences in the past little while that have made me feel like a "grown-up": the car accident (or rather dealing with the car accident), the purchase of the new car, getting the taxes without my parents (and filing as a common-law couple with Dave), Jess graduating tomorrow, driving to and from parents' homes (mine and Dave's) without their assistance, dinners with friends during which we talk about the economy, co-workers getting engaged, friends from back home getting married and/or having children, thinking about getting a dog, and just turning 25 in general. So many things have made me feel grown-up and I don't know if I really mind. Sure the care-free days of childhood were great, but they came with a loss of freedom and though now I have responsibilities and have to go to work almost everyday, I am able to afford really cool stuff and do things I was unable to before. I just don't know if I want to grow up anymore.

May Posts

For whatever reason I was able to post a great deal in the month of May. Some of this could be attributed to the Tulip Festival and the growing flowers in the backyard while others are probably due to my new found liking of the site One Minute Writer. But in looking back in the posts there were a lot that were unrelated to any of the aforementioned topics. I enjoy posting on a regular basis and hope that my readers enjoy it too. I don't get a great deal of feedback from people, in fact I get almost none, but I still enjoy this blog and I can tell that people do visit from the counter. So here's to another great month of regular posting - hopefully.