Ever have one of those things that you wanna do, and you expect to be pretty simple, but then once you tear into it, not so much?

Yeah, me too.

Having decided it was time (or possibly past time) to learn at least the tiniest bit about CSS, I figured my webpage would be a good place to play around and have some fun before tackling anything larger. I didn't think it would take that long since I found a couple of reasonably nice templates at oswd.org that could form a starting point and the website isn't that big.

One week later....

Okay, so it's now up and running (and I found that Nvu has a couple of interesting bugs in its CSS editor), and I actually kinda like (which is cool, because I hated the old design which I threw together at about 3am in about an hour, and which pretty much sucked). Wanna see it, it's at Whimsicle Dreams  . I want to add text versions of stories and/or versions for handheld (mostly to figure out how on the latter), and also title graphics for at least some of the stories, but for the moment, it seems to be up and running and so I'm happy with the universe.

Really, that's about it for this week. Yes, I really am this dull some days.

Current Mood: lazy

Okay, so it was college game day (we won!), and since I have to have something to do with my hands while watching, I opted to put together a silly little PhotoFake using one of the recent promo photos. Haven't done a fake in a long time so it was kind of fun to play with. I'd forgotten how hard it is to hide edges. Eeks.

Thankfully, this one almost seemed to be structured for this fake. Honestly, if they'd been thinking of how to put it together just for me, I'm not sure they could have done it better. True, it's not perfect (bu then nothing is), position wise, and there are some spottable flaws, but overall, not bad.

Lessee, layers: about 20. Size: about 133megs and 3500x4000 pixels. Time spent: 4 hours give or take.

Btw, I am absolute crap at icons and that sort of thing, but if anyone wants to use this piece to make some, fine by me (please not the other artwork though--sorry, it's just a freaky personal preference--the artwork's sort of a part of me when I'm done, tied to my identity in a way, and it's too weird to see it attached to others unless I've gone in with the intention of doing something like that). I just ask a bit of credit and link.

Wow, this can't be right. Nearly everything I voted on went the way I wanted. Not quite all, my idiot senator remains (though no more calls, thank god), but the vast majority of issues I voted on--and the ones I really cared about--went my way---even most of the propositions. Hell, even the anti gay marriage proposition crashed and burned here *shocked look*. This NEVER happens to me, but I like it.

The house has traded hands, the senate looks likely to do so as well, Don Rumsfeld is being run out of town on a rail...er, is resigning...

Happy sigh. If this is a dream, please don't wake me up.

Really, just let me sleep the clueless sleep. It feels good.

Current Mood: giddy

OW! Shit, piss, fuck, goddamn.

Warning, this is officially a whining zone. My back is in spasm like it hasn't done in ages...so fucking bad that I can't keep my head upright and raising my left arm much above waist level is likely to cause screaming.

Owwwwwwwww!

Current Mood: crappy

In honor of the election tomorrow (and possibly, at long last silence from my extra phone line), I give you my political score.

Your Vote Score: 27% Republican, 73% Democrat

While you don't always agree with the Democrat party, it's a pretty good match for you. Do be sure to research each candidate. A liberal Republican or independent candidate might fit you better at times.

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead... But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place. You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

Current Mood: uncomfortable

Well, okay, so it's not actually morning, but when you work till three am, and get up at 11, it feels like morning till early evening. But the good news is that I'm kinda, sorta starting to figure out this LiveJournal thingie in a sorta, let's push a button and see what happens kinda way (and the answer is sometimes good things, sometimes, not so much).

Three more calls this morning from my senator, all pre-recorded this time, and two from supposedly laudable sorts who, I assume, are supposed to convince me to vote their way. Problem is I don't listen to the calls, just hang up and curse their mothers. So the laudable sorts have gone down in my estimation and the senator has not gone up. Oops. Really, I have to wonder if any of these prerecorded calls do a bit of good. It's like the spam in my email box has expanded to my phone and it just pisses me off more.

Now onto hopefully a more entertaining topic (assuming I ever post this link anywhere or any poor, unsuspecting soul stumbles across it), namely artwork. I realized the piece I posted last night is too small, and also needs a zoomed in version, so voila.

Zoomed



Larger Version


Plus I thought I'd go ahead and post my first attempt at painting these two. Not the best, though massive amounts of cropping helped. There are some flaws with her face, and I think I got a little overly rambunctious with the color trying to hide that, but it's still kinda fun.

Okay, so here's hoping this works. First attempt time, doing this through the galleries option (though I'm not thrilled with the resolution).



For the moment, I'm calling this one Confessions. It's the product of my recent obsession with Battlestar Galactica (hah, those two really need to get laid). Not entirely thrilled with the expression between them. The eye contact works in close up, but the medium shot (as posted) doesn't quite work. Ah well, not bad for only the second finished pic. Layers? Something like 30. Number of versions? The final was F so that makes six. File size? 50 megs give or take. Proportions? Original: 2000x2000 pixels. Final: in the area of 2000x1500 pixels.

Hey look, ma, it worked...after a considerable amount of futzing around to try and get something reasonably inoffensive. Well, I feel better now.

Okay, so I now have a blog...I guess. And I finally gave in and got a cell phone last month (for those of you muttering "luddite" under your breath, I should hasten to add that I've been using computers for almost exactly 25 years now---and no, that's not a typo---so I think I should be forgiven one or two dislikes on the technology front).

Sigh, actually, I think it's less a dislike of some technologies (well, partially: I really do hate phones though) as the sincere doubt that I really have all that much to say. Which is probably an odd thing since I've spent much of my life as a writer in one capacity or another, but then I suppose I'm like an actor who can only go onstage when in character and panics when asked to appear as themselves. Much easier to stick to fictional worlds than do something that...well...dangerous, I suppose would be the word.

Meh, of course there's also the distinct possibility that this is all just self important navel gazing in the interests of figuring out how this program works (yeah, it seems simple now, but five will get you ten it doesn't work quite the way I expect---because nothing ever does, you know).

However, since I am here, I suppose I ought to mention something at least mildly interesting or barring that, mildly topical: namely the fact that I would really like to donate my current senator to a charity somewhere along with the frakking paid phone callers, pre-recorded calls, volunteer phone banks, and anyone else who cares to dial my secondary line in the interest of politics.

AAAAAGHGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently we have become something of a battleground state or somesuch (though curiously the dems aren't calling me day and night). It has hit the point where I'm leaving the phone off the hook or online or anything to keep the calls out because if it's open, then it's pretty much guaranteed that at least one call, and probably two will come in within five minutes (they frequently come in pairs--one pre-recorded, one live person). Literally, dozens of calls in a week on a line that's never been listed on any form anywhere. It's gotten bad enough that I've taken to complaining every time it's a real person (which roughly translates as the Apocalypse has begun because I hate phones and am possibly the least confrontational person alive). The callers have been everything from nice to officious to rude to outright lying (I've been promised some many times that they'll take me off the list that it's just getting funny).

The irony, of course is that I'm in the other party, never intended to vote for the bozo, but he did get me to do something with all the harassment...er informative calls. I donated a hundred bucks to his opposition.

So to any burgeoning young political policy wonks, take note. Annoying the crap out of people is not the way to win elections.

Okay, I feel better now at least. Now off to see if this actually works.