This journal will remain available until I have copied over all the messages I care to save to my new LJ ID.  Please visit my new LJ home at rhunel and take a second to add me to your Friends list if you haven't already. Thank you so much and have a great day!

I promised long ago to post every haiku I've written, but I don't think I did. Since I've written three in the last month, I may as well share. As I write more, I'll add them to the end of the list. Be sure to enjoy the fashion show and song lyrics following the haiku. ;-}

My Haiku (in order of creation):

Far from the foam-edged
Shoreline, a loon mocks the
Stillness with its cry.

A single candle
Beckons in the night window;
Someone is away.

Shadow; faint, dancing
O'er the cliffs; I looked up and
Saw a butterfly.

The lakeshore shrine at dusk –
Hushed, strains of distant honking,
A flurry of cranes.

A cat is fluffy
And sweet, and gets his own way
By purrs and meows.

Train, rumbling by in
Endless cars; I close my eyes
And am transported.*

The frozen willow
Leans on the pond, its advance
Stopped, in still deténte.

Her laughter, his smile,
Gone like a dream – it's so hard
To say I'm sorry.

What do we do, then,
When all our heroes are gone?--
Go on, climb, be one.

Project Runway show with music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDWJGrnOIGQ
Lyrics: http://music.yahoo.com/Enrique-Iglesias/Tired-Of-Being-Sorry/lyrics/44325022

*The train haiku is a replacement, I lost the original one.

OK, enjoy this quiz first!

Alright, now about the picture! There is a website called http://www.portraitadoption.com which serves as a place where roleplaying gamers can commission portraits of their characters by submitting descriptions which may or may not be created as art by any of the artists who frequent the website (actually I'm not sure what the rules are for becoming a featured artist). Portraits which aren't adopted by the person submitting the description go in the up for grabs section, and I snagged the electronic version of this beautiful portrait for the ridiculously cheap price of $5!



Since I had the opportunity to name her, I call her Sylvana, High Elven Priestess. She is by Camilla Drakenborg (strangesunshine@hotmail.com)

Jealous? Start shopping now, it's fun!

Elven grins,
Debra

p.s., I was browsing on Deviant Art today, as you may remember, I am a fan of this lady's comic-in-ongoing-progress, http://blackandblue.comicgenesis.com/, and found this picture in her gallery journal (by another artist). I thought you might enjoy.

Nautilus Report: Cover 2 by *erisdoll on deviantART

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid7146619 Finished the 3rd of 3 outfits for that Paula Abdul commission doll Sunday afternoon, photographed her Sunday evening (mandatory team meeting was cancelled), and made her OOAK certificate and boxed her (except for shipper) tonight. (the CENTER outfit, Cher and Beyonce are in Mattel-made Barbie outifts except white bodysuit). Outfits 1 and 2 are in the Picturetrail album link above).



NOW I can finally work on something *I* would like to, after I clean up this place, get rid of stuff I can sell, and play a little. Whew, I am exhausted, didn't sleep well tonight (smoke alarm went off twice, low batteries, but before that I sort of half-dozed), could be that staying up til 2:45 am on the computer after loading the pictures on PT. I also cleaned up the albums and amazingly, I have space leftover to put things in my Items for Sale album, yaaay!

Still broke, but Daphne (the buyer) said she would pay me soon, which means less to borrow to pay the rent. ;-P

Well, that's it for tonight, except for this final word. Schlotzsky's stinks!

Used to be my favorite place to go on a weekend, computers where I could check my mail for free, great coffee and pastries, and good sandwiches. Now, it seems they want to focus on being a sandwich shop. If I want just good sandwiches, I will go to Quizno's! Sigh. Only two Schlotzsky's have any computers left. At least the one down south has the coffee and cranberry walnut scones that I love still. Hope it stays that way!

Best wishes for a good week y'all.

Finished!!!!!!!! Hooray!!!

And tonight I watched "Batman Begins" which I bought last year used on DVD and recently recovered from the pawn shop (before I had to repawn the LOTR trilogy which I'd also gotten back). Heh, revolving door for DVDs there but anyway,
excellent movie, oh yes, heck yeah!! Glad I saved it for Thanksgiving, just the thing to watch, don't mind missing Smallville and Supernatural although both I'm sure were good episodes tonight.

In other news, I got up at 2:30 today (had a strange nightmare about Conchi), ate side dishes and a not-so-good desert at Luby's (I saved the stuffing for supper), did a load of laundry, and cooked a nice Thanksgiving meal for myself with enough leftover for tomorrow. I had a small ham steak, skillet cooked with a bit of liquid smoke, margarine, pancake syrup, and shallots. I put the sauteed shallots in with the stuffing, and put them in the toaster oven next to the mashed sweet potatoes (gotta love a can with one ingredient, nothing added) to which I added marg, brown sugar, and crumbled pecans. I cooked some frozen turnip greens with diced turnips, and made glazed carrots with marg and honey, and sat on my broken sofa and watched the movie while I ate and drank Coke.

When I was done eating, my neighbor from upstairs, bless their hearts, again came down and brought me a Thanksgiving dinner plate all wrapped in foil. Included was apple pie and pecan pie with whip cream. So I ate the apple pie and saved the pecan pie for tomorrow. I washed the dishes and put them to dry and now I am checking email. Soon I will go to bed.

The only thing I DIDN'T do today, was work on the doll commission. A shame, but I can't do everything, this wasn't a day of work, so, except for what had to be done, I didn't. And no regrets, although tomorrow, tomorrow, I must finish her outfit.

Hugs and hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Purrs from Rafael.

Debra

I leave you with two songs which I meant to put in my Fourth of July entry. I just realized that time got away and I should have done so by now, so here they are. Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" and Rob Thomas' "Little Wonders". Enjoy!

I am watching Hotel Rwanda on TV tonight. Three cheers for the CW for having the balls to air it while most of us are preparing to gorge ourselves on Thanksgiving turkey and launch ourselves the following day into our holiday shopping. It makes me feel like not such a bad person for staying at home tomorrow, cooking for myself, doing laundry, and working on the doll commission that I promised to finish and photograph by this weekend, so that I'll have money to pay my rent. I forgot when I paid my car note at the Wells Fargo that I'd scheduled it to be paid online, so three transactions bounced and I was $162 in the hole again this past week. I pawned the LOTR DVD's again for cash for gas and food and other small sundries to make it through today, so, although my account is positive again, it isn't enough for rent.

Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to everyone. Even if we don't live in Rwanda, many of us need it.

I completed a collage last week--here is a scan. The original is 8.5x11 color copies (acid-free paper with acid-free glue).



I wasn't aware there's a poem from which various painters were drawing their inspiration, so I cannot say my version is influenced by it. Nevertheless you may find it interesting reading....

http://www.bartleby.com/101/633.html

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I also wrote a haiku last week. I write these very infrequently, I trust more wouldn't be better, but I like the ones I've done. I'll update the list, I'm sure it's on my LJ somewhere.


The frozen willow
Leans on the pond, its advance
Stopped, in still detente.

Prayers and hugs to the people in San Diego County (particularly one doll artist by the name of Brenda who had to evacuate, and now is safely home).

Yahoo is running extremely slowly. It's either that they have many servers in SoCal, or that I downgraded to basic service to prevent a potential overdraft. Or both. Ray says it's been slow for him too so it probably is the servers.

Have a good week, my quiet, faithful friends.

Debra

Well, let's hear it for the generosity of people.  I went to church today (to pick up the schedule of Lectors and Eucharistic Ministers) and I was on today.  Jose' asked how I was doing.  Being honest, I told him.  Had a bad migraine and allergies, $0.03 in the bank account and $1 for gas for the entire week.  I served, and then after Mass, he told the other Eucharistic Ministers that one of them was going through financial difficulties and he was going to put a basket out for any contributions anyone could make.  I sat on the bench hiding my face behind my bulletin, couldn't stop the emotion from showing on my face, but my shoulders were shaking.

I said my prayers before leaving, and while I was sitting there next to the alter he gave me the contribution.  I thanked him, didn't look at it then, and didn't go to breakfast because (a) I couldn't compose myself, and (b) my migraine was really too bad, I just wanted someplace darker and cooler than...oh, you know, I realized just now that breakfast wasn't served today anyway because it was the day after the annual Jamaica fundraiser.   

So I went to Schlotzsky's, ordered a hot chocolate and took some more aspirin and decongestant, which made me feel better (they had given me $50) and got sidetracked trying to customize my LJ which would not cooperate, while I waited for the doll store to open.  I went and as usual, watched my doll friends play with their expensive dolls, finally got bored, after buying a $1 doll (actually a very useful one, which I'll get to later), and my migraine was coming back, so I went home (after putting $2.50 gas in the car and taking more medicine).

At home, I ate some leftovers, and feeling better, I swapped out bodies on the dolls using the one I obtained today.  Three Kiras and one Midge all traded around bodies and got something better, and I put the Superstar head on a body that was for sale or to get rid of anyway.  The doll that is "happiest" with the trade is the former Empress of China (an oriental Midge, who looks like Catherine Zeta Jones, but needs the top 2/3 of her head rerooted because her hair was so short I pulled it out and she has a loose ponytail to hide that now), she is the recipient of the ballet-foot new body.  Second happiest is a formerly disembodied Photo Pockets Kira of green eyes, she now has a high heel poseable body which my Empress of China had (which actually belonged to my Vespa Kenzie).  Third happiest is the Lisa Mills repaint Egyptian-style Kira, who traded from a Happy Family Midge convertible slim-belly/pregnancy body to a Hollywood Nails Barbie body with loose knees the Palm Beach Midge former redress Skating Champ had.  Least happy is the Palm Beach Midge who is now preggers, LOL.

At that point I had 2 hours left on my decongestant and aspirin so I tried taking a nap.  That lasted an hour...too much outside noise.  I decided I was feeling better so I went out for a drive, just to get out and make something more of the weekend.  I went and saw Ray.  We went to Taco Cabana (I had a kids' meal), followed by Half Price Books.  Ray got me the book I was going to buy, Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon.  Not sure I mentioned, I had read Marque and Reprisal, which is the second book in the series, so it was good to find the first.   We went to HEB (I spent $6.64 on 4 days food), and I came home via another service station, where I put $4.22 more gas in the car (and it's still barely above the E line), I swear it used to last longer.

Home and playing on the internet, customizing my LJ right, thanks to Ray's tip, played some Orbitz putt-putt, and I need to take some more medicine, and go to bed, as it's now almost 11.

I might live through this week.

Y'all have fun too.

Love,
Debra

 Got caught up with

rayasmith today, had not seen any posts by him on my friends list for a long time, thought it unusual but didn't email him about it.  Turns out it had been a whole MONTH since I last saw an LJ entry by him.  Still don't know why he's not turning up on my Friends list, even though according to my Managing My Friends page, he and I are friends.  Bizarre!  Well, anyway, yes, I figured out how to put a link to LJ usernames too.  Pretty simple, if you use Rich text, there's an icon for it!

I'm posting this Quiz which was on his journal to mine so that more can share the fun!  Please tell me what you get!

Also, I have a bunch of things on eBay.  Come check them out.  Yes, I'm broke again (same song, 293rd verse). (Note: didn't it say PROSPERITY, SUCCESS AND WEALTH above? Got That one wrong!!! ;-P )
I have no cell phone until I get more money in to supplement the money I borrowed so that my student loan autodraft won't bounce (because of the overdraft fees from the day after two paychecks ago, when I missed one check in my calculations and set off a $192 cascade of owies).  I am managing as well as you can imagine I would manage in such a situation, painfully!

Chances are if you're reading this, you're not into dolls but c'mon and cheer me on by watching them at least! I can use all the good thoughts I can get!
http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=rhunel

Hugs, that's all for now--

My Barbie-related auctions are posted, as of 2:40 a.m. (thank you for the Who Wants to Be a Superhero tape loaner, Ray, it kept me entertained while I worked). Here they are:

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=rhunel

I still have numerous things in my Items for Sale album which I haven't listed on eBay (yet, or perhaps not, I'll decide more later).

http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid969511

I am bummed out that Parthenon got picked to be sent home last week. Hygena was clearly lagging in all the tests, I'm just really sad that Parthenon missed the clue only once and got eliminated as a result. I think his character would have had more appeal to a slightly more mature audience than 4th graders. I understand Stan keeping Hygena in to preserve a female in the contest, but at this point, it feels almost like sexism, like she's being kept in as a token female and one of the men had to go, and the only one to show weakness this week was Parthenon, so he had to go. Yeah, I'm still rooting for the Defuser (local guy, who's also a cop), but at this point it could be any of the three, just Please NOT Hygena!

Company picnic is tomorrow, I need to get some sleep. Still didn't do laundry tonight. Oh well, I'm only human!

Oh yeah, I got paid the deposit on the next Paula outfit this morning, so Yay! I can have my cell phone turned back on...soon as it hits the bank. Also need to put the rent check on the bedside table again so I drop it off today for real this time...got caught up doing other things today.

Well, hugs and goodnight all (my two readers, LOL),
Love,
Debra

This is off her upcoming CD, Songs of Mass Destruction. Sounds good, doesn't it? Enjoy!

I am busy getting things together to put on eBay. September is no-listing-fee month and I'd really like to take advantage of it, especially since my cell phone is temporarily disconnected (and I haven't gotten paid the next Paula outfit deposit, where has she been since Monday?).

Hugs and prayers on your own Dark Road--

There are more pictures at http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid7146619.

You know, I don't want to be disrespectful to the opportunity this commission has given me to stay in my apartment and continue eating, but I am looking forward to being done with it, because I want to work on whatever I feel like working on. Yeah, hopefully I can raise some money while I'm doing it, but I want my artistic freedom back...even though I suggested two of the three outfits, the one I didn't want to do but agreed to, looms ahead. I hope I can avoid dragging my feet for as many weeks as this one took. There was always a good reason at the time for it, but still, I feel guilty.

On the bright side, I finally got the Kenzie with Vespa I couldn't afford 2 years ago at Christmas, which I kept sporadically getting outbid on, at a reasonable price now! She's going to become a pumpkin fairy...well, not a real fairy, but delivering her family's entry into the Pumpkin Festival while dressed in a fairy costume as she'll play one in the festival. I'll strip her and sell her outfit and she'll sit in my nude bin while I work on other projects first (she won't be my next OOAK doll, I'm pretty sure it'll either be Goldenmorn or a Kelly). I found the right pumpkin 2 weeks ago at Big Lots, just big enough to sit on the back of her moped!
http://cgi.ebay.com/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290149704757

I've also been making some really good food this week, due to being too short for comfort before the next paycheck and just preparing what's in my fridge and pantry. OK, I have $0.20 in my account, and $1.58 in cash to buy gas if need be before Thursday evening. I'm waiting for the commissioner of Paula to PayPal me the deposit ($17.50) on the next outfit, but still, it won't hit my account before Friday even if she sends it tonight. Low fuel light is on. Whee, life in the fast lane, what else is new? Oh yeah, I've been sick since last Friday evening so my weekend was totally not fun and I'm just getting through at work.

More later, enough for tonight!
Blown kiss,
Debra

I got them transferred to a CD and then to a USB and onto my computer. I did some editing but didn't have time to do the majority of them, in part because I wanted to read my email, got sidetracked reading a funny blog Christina posted, and was watching Seraphim Falls again on DVD. It's a western set post Civil War, is pretty grim (but beautiful), and has a surprise ending you'll like. Anyway, on to the picture because it's late. This is my favorite of the seagull feeding pictures. As I mention in my Picturetrail album, this was one of those moments where I handed off the bread I had been feeding to the seagulls so that others could experience the joy firsthand and I could actually get some pictures taken. I like this picture best because the mom (holding a baby) and two of her children are enjoying themselves.

Have a blessed day, ttyl.
-Debra

This was winner of the Audience Award, PBS Independent Lens Online Shorts Film Festival (February 2007. Also,
Winner: Best Short Documentary, Melbourne Independent Filmmaker Festival (November 2006)

Produced and Directed by Robert Lughai and Tashai Lovington.

A docu-fantasy short which peers into the world of doll remakes. Discarded and alone, the plastic protagonist must undergo a rite-of-passage in order to discover her true nature. (January 2006)

To learn more, go to: http://www.tarazod.com/filmslafee.html

Hope you like it!

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I also like these YouTube videos...

An animated music video (AMV) to Aqua's "Barbie Girl". No, that's not Aqua's version, I didn't look it up, but I love the song, in fact the CD is nice!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zEzh10_xoqw

And here's a version with some Sims. I didn't know people could do that, it repeat the same clips but otherwise good. I'd like to see one with the Shrek3 princesses, LMK if you see one done!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xSiLGAVcmU0

OK, I couldn't help it...one more video, completely unrelated to Barbies. But I love this song too! I was responsible a few years ago for getting Mix 94.7 to play it for probably about 2 months, because I sent them on their bulletin board a video a fan of the song had made. It's a real catchy, pick-me-up song by O-Zone. Enjoy! I really am leaving now, LOL!
http://simsoverdrive.com/numavideo/

I put two of my long-time-personal-collection dolls for sale. The ostensible reason is to afford a doll that Donna Anne Masi is selling, although each time I put something on eBay it seems the price others are willing to pay for anything I have to sell is less and less. Here are the dolls: http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=rhunel

Pardon my sounding discouraged, I received my review at work today and it was 3's and 4's on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being best). And the amount of each person's raise was reduced by the fact that all the stores in our cluster did not meet their quotas last year, the other stores did worse than ours though. So I'm terribly frustrated because the raise I've been waiting many months for, including the market rate adjustment of 3%, still will leave my hourly pay under $9, and the next review isn't for another year. The only thing that will increase it is getting that promotion which I've been desperately striving to get the required training completed for.

Sigh. Oh, it doesn't affect the paycheck until the second pay period in September. We just got it early because our boss Caryn is leaving next Friday. She got that Compact CAR Manager spot (basically a mini-store with 3 or 4 employees) and they need her sooner, so her last day will be during the vacation time I had scheduled. Damn! And she'll be moving that weekend, while I'm allegedly out of town, assuming I can.

My car's deferred maintenance needs are stacking up, and I'm going to have to do something about it soon--what the heck am I doing trying to buy a fancy doll with the proceeds of things I own, I just hate to have to reduce my collection down for trivial things like...oh, living expenses! At least I sold some of my nudes to Elaine, a fellow customizer!

Hugs,
Debra

You know, it's been so long since I updated I don't know what to put here. At first it was going to be something belated like about Independence Day and my new resolutions and how I've done so far on them. Then, maybe about my growing dilemma about what to do about the fact that I no longer want to be part of the...well, not going to talk about that yet. Or the fact that I ...not going to talk about that yet either.

Or I could talk about the mundane, trivial stuff that fills my days. About the same old money woes and how they're going to eventually get better once such and such is able to happen and...et cetera.

But no, I waited long enough that something else happened in the interim.

Something the day before yesterday. A neighbor committed suicide. ...not that I want to talk about it here... but if not, where? You don't just blab it to everyone at work...I guess. Not where you're all so busy and you want to keep things light (more about work changes later).

Yeah, anyway. So the former neighbor who put a gun to his mouth and shot his brains out lived in the apartment across and above mine. Hardly ever saw him...okay, twice, maybe three times in the three months or so he lived there. Heard he had a wife and newborn baby who weren't living there, had some sort of argument and weren't together at the time he chose to end it. Heard he'd recently been diagnosed with diabetes and had bad financial woes, this from the friends who came over in concern, opened the door he'd left cracked, found his body and went into hysterics. Cops, detectives, medical examiner, relatives everywhere. Curious residents who quizzed me when I had to go back and forth to get my laundry done because I had nothing to wear to work. Relatives who gave a damn, who cried in gales or more quietly, and who behaved like normal dysfunctional relatives, in shock that someone they stopped having contact with or who chose to pull away from them, could do anything so drastic, so final. Makes you wonder, if he could have seen into the future how badly some of his family would be hurt by his abandonment of this life, would it have changed his mind. Of course, but it never happens. Those deep in depression can't see that there are people who love them and want to help. Neighbors who notice little things like nothing on the patio and hardly ever seeing someone, act like typical neighbors and let things as they are...let the strangers have the privacy they prefer, it's just the way the world is. Well, damn and poo on that.

I don't even know what his name was. Or his wife, or the friends who found him who sheltered on my porch, or who were some of the relatives I lent an umbrella to while they were being interviewed in the rain. I learned that a spirit of a suicide clings to the body for awhile at least, when the police brought the body down on a gurney (horror). And today, I felt pity for the relatives with the unenviable task of carting his personal belongings out of the soiled apartment, the place where that happened, with no doubt, the blood evidence on the floor.

No, I don't envy them in the least. Their lives will be changed forever.
Mine, not so much. I've seen, I know what an empty patio means. Sometimes you don't really want to meet your neighbors, get to know them...but every thing we do, or don't do...may have eternal consequences.

Love, and that's it for tonight,
Debra

p.s. In the midst of this I sat on some bubblegum and ruined a lovely pair of brown stretch velvet leggings that were a Christmas gift multi-years ago. Sad!! :( Well, bye again, and have a good weekend, now that I've been such a downer--sorry!!