I'm missing my family right now, hard. I talked to Mom on the phone today (which is kind of a rare occurrence since I moved to Texas; I think she's still upset that I left, but getting over it) and we cried some. This is the first Thanksgiving in over eight years that I'm not making the dinner and cheesecakes, taking care of the family, and it's difficult for me.

I'm out in Canyon Lake, TX, house-sitting for Cate and John and the boys while they're all at Disney World. Canyon Lake is roughly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by hills and space and hours away from "civilization." And I knew going in was going to be a little lonely for me, because Allan's working the football events at A&M all day Thursday, and we won't have our Thanksgiving until Friday. But Cate's my BFF, and her familia es mi familia, so I said, "Hell yeah, I'll watch the animals and house while you take a vacation, woman!" and so here I am. Because she'd do the same for me, and Christ, talk about somebody who deserves a vacation.

So! Instead of being a whiny bitch about it, I'm counting my blessings. I am healthy, still have my folks, WONDERFUL friends, a really supportive family, my own place, skills that keep me in electricity and groceries (mostly), a FANTASTIC boyfriend, and the rare ability to keep a flame of hope alive in whatever maelstrom might come my way.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

p.s.: The Menu (for Friday) in case you missed it the first time. It's okay to admit you're jealous.

-Turkey (with coriander rub): Chef
-Mashed Potatoes and Cream Gravy: Chef
-Cranberry Orange Chutney: Chef
-Green Beans with Pecans: Chef
-Cornbread Stuffing (w/sage and chorizo): Chef
-Brussels Sprouts Au Gratin: Me
-Basil Cream Biscuits: Me
-Pumpkin Cheesecake: Me

Finally done with "Poppies," and I must say, I'm pretty freaking pleased. Original, sold; Prints available (size 11x14") for $70.

"Poppies"
Original 9x14"
Colored marker and India ink on illustration board
Time for completion: 350 hours

click for larger

Okay, as some of you may know, I draw full-time, and market the work full-time. Which means a lot of time sitting with my head over a board, sometimes 16 hours a day. As I draw, I can't listen to music because I get into the music too much. It distracts me. So what I do is, "watch" movies or TV on my computer. I've been on a horror kick, and I'm okay there, but I've run out of TV shows on which to get hooked. See, I like to do back-to-back episodes of shows, just *boom* click the next episode and it's like an hours and hours-long movie.

But I've run out of shows! These are what I keep up with (or have revisited), but have watched all of:

-X-files
-Bones
-Californication
-Dexter
-Mad Men
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
-Grey's Anatomy
-Fringe
-Dollhouse
-House
-Dead Set
-30 Rock
-Arrested Development
-Big Love
-Firefly
-True Blood
-Angel
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer
-Heroes
-Sons of Anarchy
-The Office

I like linear story lines, although there are a few non- in there. I prefer getting really into some characters and it getting semi-dramatic, usually funny. Any suggestions? What's not on this list, is hopefully at least a few seasons old, or even not on anymore? (I watch all the L&O's, so that's kind of out; I catch up with them when I can. They're all pretty much the same, so...yeah.)

p.s.: No "24" or "Lost." Tried both, and I just can't do it.

Oh! And the Chef and I are cooking for each other on the day after Thanksgiving. He's got to work at A&M on Thanksgiving because good lord, the University of Texas Longhorns are coming to College Station that day to play the Texas A&M Aggies. These towns are so preemptively crazy about this event, you'd think the Pope was banging Cher on national television or something. Anyway, here's our menu:

Turkey (with coriander/something rub): Chef
Mashed Potatoes and Cream Gravy: Chef
Cranberry Chutney: Chef
Green Beans with Pecans: Chef
Cornbread Stuffing (w/sage and chorizo): Chef
Brussels Sprouts Au Gratin: Me
Basil Cream Biscuits: Me
Pumpkin Cheesecake: Me

YUM! WITH A CAPITAL F!

So last week I'm toolin' down the road and some dude pulls out RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and I narrowly avoid a complete T-Bone with my already well-established ninja-like driving skills, saving my life AND HIS but clipping my van in the front and his in the rear, and long story short, my van got totaled by Geico.

I've had a rental car for a week, made arrangements to buy some friends' car, went to empty out the van today and pick up my check. But see...the Missouri title on my car says the following:

"Donna G****** TOD Adele S****"

The "TOD" is a cool little thing that the State of Missouri lets you do with your car where if I kick the bucket, whomever I designated takes clear title of my car. TOD=Transfer On Death.

So Geico says, "Whoa, wait a minute. We can only issue payment to the name EXACTLY AS STATED ON THE TITLE." And I say, "Whoa, wait a minute. That's clearly not a name, but a designation of "Transfer on Death," which means if I die, then my Mom, who does not currently own my van, gets it free and clear."

Geico: "But we can only write it out to the name, "Donna G****** TOD Adele S****" because that's what it says on the title.
Me: "But there's no such person in the world. Or if there is, I don't know her. How am I supposed to cash or deposit this check?"
Geico: "THAT'S NOT REALLY OUR PROBLEM. YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT WHEN YOU GOT YOUR TITLE WITH THAT NAME."
Me: "So my choices are to accept a check I can't cash or..."
Geico: "That's your choice."
Me: "Then I'd like my van back."
Geico: "Um, your van is in pieces in our back lot."
Me: "So before I officially even sold MY CAR to you, you went ahead and parted it out."
Geico: "Yes."
Me: "Oh my God, you suck."

So I have this piece of paper that I'm supposed to have my Mom sign as "Co-Seller" even though she's not, and I'll have a check issued to "Donna G****** TOD Adele S****" and send it to my Mom with my name signed as "Donna G****** TOD" and her with her regular name underneath and see if her bank clears it.

I even called the State of Missouri to see what to do? And their ideas were to a) Go ahead and try to cash the check with a bogus name, b) "Try harder to convince Geico that 'TOD' is not a name" or c) have Geico call them and they'd explain it.

All of which seem less likely a satisfactory solution than just giving them a signed piece of paper that means nothing, getting a signed piece of paper in return that means nothing, and putting said piece of paper into a bank where I might get back green pieces of paper.

Whole thing makes me want to live even further off the discernible government grid.

I'm working on this piece, "Poppies," which is definitely a departure from anything I've done previously. You can click the image for larger and larger, if you're interested in seeing how the stipple works in the coloring and shading.



It's relatively big for the process (colored marker and paint in stipple and wash on illustration board) and so far, I'm really digging how the fade out and focus in of the camera is representing on the board. Maybe two weeks to go? I'm about 200 hours in so far.

New piece for submission to the grant committee. Hopefully the whole ball of wax goes to them by tomorrow. I'm obsessively tinkering with everything.

"Nasturtiums"
9x9", marker on watercolor paper
$600

I'm proud every day to say tinywarrior is my very best friend, in the history of ever best friends. This might sound trite, but she fights the good fight every fucking day, at home and at work. Whatever it takes to save a family, any family, her own included, she'll do. Making sure all sides are represented, all evidence is carefully weighed, all opinions closely heard, all options painstakingly scrutinized and pared down...It's a potential nightmare of holding in one's hands the fate of a family. I can't imagine any harder job, in her office or in her house. And she manages it. Sometimes at a secret, dear price.

Some days I want to whisk her away to a tropical island and fetch her suntan lotion and frothy cocktails. In a totally non-gay way.

Go hug a prosecutor/mom today.

This is one of the pieces I'm submitting to the grant committee:

"Giverny Lilies"
8-1/2x11"
Stipple technique in marker on watercolor paper

It's for sale, $800. illustrationink@gmail.com

(Click x3 for large image)

*note to self*: Do not be nice to dogs by letting them hang out inside on a rainy day. They will pee on your stuff and poop in the pantry · And eat all the cat food.

I'm dog- and baby-sitting for Cate and John while they're out of town for a few days, and so far the kids are awesome, but dogs are covered in asshole. Just...asshole*.

Cuz see, Cate warned me not to let the pug mix and the poodle mix hang out because there's been bad blood there, and I'm not a morning person? So at 6:45 when Buggy the Pug was already outside, I let out Riley the Shitbird Poodle out there too. I even saw them sniff each other and went back inside for coffee. Except I'm only NOW getting coffee, cuz holy shit, I just broke up a dog fight. [Don't freak out, Cate. There's only a tiny little bit of blood and I think it's Riley's. I can't find wounds on either one.]

All I can think is that Riley said something to Buggy to piss him off, because Buggy was attached to Riley's neck in a way that can only be described as, "Holy SHIT! I JUST HIT BUGGY IN THE ASS WITH THE HOSE REPEATEDLY AND HE'S STILL NOT LETTING GO!" I sprayed them with the hose and all they did was laugh at me. They're snarling and growling and grappling and spit's flying everywhere and they're rolling around the deck in a unified ball of kill and the OTHER DOGS? All, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" mixed up right in, on and around the periphery. BECAUSE DOGS ARE ASSHOLES. So I finally reached in, bent two fingernails and snatched Buggy's collar and hauled him off, and pushed Riley away with my foot. While I'm practically choking Buggy out, dragging him to the house, Riley's trying to sneak in and get in more shots. Asshole.

Oh, and I'm in a bra and yoga pants back there, screaming at the top of my lungs, "RILEY QUIT IT YOU FUCKING SHITBIRD GODDAMN IT MOTHERFUCKERS QUIT IT!!"

Total time of fight: One minute. With freak-out chill factor: One hour.

So yeah, lessons:

1) Listen to Cate
2) Dogs are assholes
3) Hoses don't work on dog fights
4) Water doesn't work on dog fights
5) My fingernails hurt
6) Dogs are assholes
7) When breaking up a dog fight, all kinds of crazy shit runs through your head like, "I hope neither of you motherfuckers gets hurt because I DON'T HAVE MONEY FOR A VET and if it's you, Riley? I'm going to smoosh your head with my van to put you out of your misery and tell Cate you ran away, and if it's you, Buggy? I'm going to look all over town for a weird Pug mix just like you, replace you with your doppelganger, bury you up in Pflugerville and then run away from home."

*And by "asshole" I mean, I'm an asshole.

This is my workspace, every day from approximately 7 a.m. till 9 or 10 p.m. Glamorous, no?

You want cute? I'll give you friggin' cute:

Me and my brothers, 1966 and 1967, in San Juan, Puerto Rico:

I just made THE BEST mix CD's for a friend:

( Soft, Hard, Mssr. Dancy-Pants. )

Today, I wrote twelve 500-word content pieces, and knocked this out:

"Blanche"

I just realized something very important:

Craig Shaffer is to David Boreanz



as Dennis Boutsikaris is to Ron Silver.

Only slightly NSFW: ( Stripper Shoes )

"Invisible Girl #5" ($125):


Plus (in progress) "Courtyard, Interior":

Kinky Friedman's jumped the Independent ship to run as for Governor of Texas as a Democrat. $3000 raises for every teacher, gambling in Texas (instead of sending that money to Louisiana), abolishing the toll road system and encouraging the light rail? Oh, hells yaw. Plus, Willie Nelson is onboard. Who doesn't love Willie Nelson? NOBODY.

This is Fat Louie (of the Chicago Lou Malnati Louies) (f/k/a just plain Louie), and he's currently engaged in a Siamese stand-off with Spoogie (foreground) and Max (bookcase). I impulsively adopted him today, along with kitty treats, flea medication, a litter box and Louie food. He's 12 years old, a seal-point, and I ain't getting in the middle of this unless there's blood. He was doing that crazy "I KEEEELLL YOU WITH MY VOICE" moan, but he's stopped.

Spoogie:  I'm just going to give him a tiny laser eye zap...
Max:  Ooo Ooo!  Me first!
Fat Louie:  I can HEAR you fuckers!

Who can give me quick lists on "must-see" attractions in the following cities?:

New York City
Los Angeles
Chicago
Philadelphia
San Diego
Boston

I've got my own lists going, but I'd really appreciate some different perspectives. THANKS!

There are fleas in my apartment.

I'm going to nuke this site from orbit.

Happy birthday to mah sugar tits, Lian! I heart you, doodles!

I somehow managed to land in Texas during this: The worst drought in 50 years. Plus? Look at the temperature in my van from just an hour ago:



You whiny babies everywhere else? Shutcher cock holsters!!!

Happy birthday, jonthedull. You're one of my favorite people. It's going to be a great year for you, sweet pea.

My entire Friends List (and beyond) hasn't joined the_good_dollar? What worthier cause at such a low price than philanthropy in the form of a vote and a buck, once a month? It's democratic, it's one friggin dollar, and I'm not sure why there aren't hundreds of us involved already.

Get in on this goodness, please?

I'm almost finally fucking done with two of my four big pieces. Christ, I'm sick of them. And in love with them. And hate them.

Random facts about me: The ending of "Children of Men," when she tells Theo that she's naming the baby "Dylan" always makes me cry, every time. And in my primary biological family, each of us have different colored eyes: my dad gray; my mom hazel; my older brother green; me brown; my younger brother blue. Weird, huh?

"Let Grande's Services Help your Child Excel in School!

With cable service from Grande, teens and kids can expand their knowledge of the world with educational programming on quality channels like Discovery, Animal Planet, the History Channel and the Weather Channel. These shows are visually stimulating to young, growing minds and peak their interest in learning. And, Grande's Digital Cable customers have free access through Grande Interactive TV* to educational games such as Bookworm and Bob the Builder on channel 900."

The word is "pique."

I cry.

Okay, if you're like me, and you know you are, you're hooked on "True Blood." And you're upset by this past episode. I mean, POOR SAM! What the FUCK! Give the motherfucker a break! But cool plot twist with Bill. And I've been telling my Mom that I keep seeing Briget from "The Bold and The Beautiful's" boobs. It horrifies and titillates her. See what I did there? (She's the deer/pig/waitress.)

Go join the_good_dollar. It's the right thing to do. Tell your friends and see if we can't make little differences.

Turn up your sound system to setting: VERY LOUD
Watch/dance
Be happy.

Thanks, Allen!!

[I can't stop watching/listening]

Okay, this update's mainly for my FaceBook crew, since a) a lot of my LiveJournal friends have mutinied and gone over the the facile side and b) a lot of my FB peeps are not on LiveJournal.

I moved to Austin on March 17th, actually north Austin, a town called Pflugerville. I'm about 15 miles north of Austin's downtown; about an hour and a half from hill country. For those of you who don't know, I moved down here for a change of mental and physical scenery, and my best friend Cate lives in the hill country. I blame her for a lot of this geographical decision.

I get out and see my friends Lian and Jarod, Cate and her family; last weekend I got to see Kat and Joe and Kylie from Houston. I'll be doing some mini-roadtrips to Houston and Dallas soon.

I've been drawing a LOT, the goal being to get into Austin's booming art scene. So far, I have some gallery interviews, but no shows lined up yet. I've done a couple of commissions and that's keeping the bills paid (somewhat). So yeah...I plug away at getting seen, do the art almost constantly and occasionally come up for air.

The last time I poked my head out into the sun, it was for a week-long capital murder trial, where Cate was the prosecutor. Dude is a baby-killer; she got him life in prison with no possibility of parole for a life-long birthday present. For a week, I was Cate's trial monkey, sitting in on every stage of the proceedings, going to lunch with her, picking lint off her suits and listening to every second I could take of what happened to this tiny six month-old. I'm proud to have been a part of sending that douchebag to prison.

Anyway, it renewed in me my desire to volunteer at Victims' Services, so I'll get on that next week. I might be looking for a "regular" job? I kind of hope not. Although I fervently miss someone else paying for my health insurance.

I date a lot...a lot of first dates, anyway. I am not unlike the protagonist in "Let the Right One In." Guys here are...Okay. Same as anywhere, I guess, except they say "y'all" and are now or have been a musician at one point.

So far, Pflugerville is a lot like Des Moines, or Orlando, or any other Big Box town. Not a lot of character; walks are boring, because there's no real town center, and not a lot of character. I'll probably move further south, into Austin-proper, once my lease is up here. Although I do love this apartment! It's got everything I was looking for, including a W/D and an obscenely large bathroom! The cats are happy with the balcony and fascinated by grackles.

I get to Kansas City at least every month and a half to hug my family; it's a really short, cheap plane ride.

I miss them a lot, but am really glad I made this decision.

The power went out last night intermittently due to thunderstorms, the last time lasting maybe half an hour? This turned my building into a block party, boom boxes coming out, people drinking on their balconies, pounding up and down the stairs laughing. Fucking weird. Also, till fucking 1 a.m. So I slept in a little only to be woken up by my phone, which has a ring tone AS LOUD AS THE SUN (since fixed) and "Great White Buffalo" in my head? What the everloving...What?

Get out, terrible Ted. Out. When has anyone EVER woken up with the Amboy Dukes in their head? I might has well have channeled Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush.

p.s.: "Pineapple Express" is hilarious.

Everybody gets these emails, but I had two, back to back, that had me laughing out loud:

"Attack your lady harder -- of punic" and "Sharpen your love-sword, but constitutionally".

I have no idea what the content is of either message, because it was enough for me to know that someone out there is priming his love-sword in order to attack me harder. Because shit! Who doesn't want that! A pointy pointy love sword comin' atcha!

Okay, off to court.

Do I have any EXTREME Mac wizards on my FL? I'm having this issue with my G4 Mac (OS X 10.5.6 (9G55)), where the Console stops responding and I'm unable to delete some very sizable (7 gigs) private/var/log/asl files. I've tried installing OmniDiskSweeper and I can *see* the logs, but I can't delete them. If I try to access them from the Console, it just runs and runs and no reports generate (it shows as non-responsive). I d/l'd TinkerTool System and ran Cache Out and Onyx, too, to no avail.

What the hell? From what I've read, these log files are useless, and I just have to tweak an update setting to get them to stop adding themselves over and over again until my disk is full, but in the meantime? They're just sitting there (the oldest one from February).

This is eating into my valuable pornography storage real estate! (I kid. Maybe.)

Go buy your mom (or A mom, or your mother-figure) something pretty at lu_shines's Etsy Store. Shit's amazing, and WAY UNDERPRICED (Carrie, I'm looking at you). Get in on it while she's still out of her gourd. Plus! Gift-wrapped, supports our home-grown artists, and the stuff's BEAUTIFUL.

Go do it. Don't make me go The Donna on your asses.

I'm disappointed at the number of my LJ friends who are either going the Twitter route or have eschewed this experience altogether in favor of Facebook or Myspace. It's not the same thing, and y'all know it. There's no real writing being done at any of those places, and if there is, it's all too easy to forego real interaction with a quick "Thumbs Up" or throwing a sheep at someone. What I value about this place is the depth of community, the real sense that people are reading from beginning to end, and actually caring about what you have to say, whether or not they comment every day. I appreciate the fact that were it not for LiveJournal, I'd have never met any of you folks, most of you in real life. Relationships that I still have today. I've never met anyone from Myspace or Facebook. Not one person. Oh, yeah. I probably friended them over there because I know them from here. Or they're related to me.

I miss your actual posts.

I hope this change is cyclical, like LJ does. That it's not a mass exodus to the shinier side of the internet.

I told Cate that leaving LiveJournal for Facebook is like going from the Champagne Room to Romper Room.

I don't know what to do!! My upstairs neighbor is in love with some band that sounds like Gogol Bordello threw up an Irish fetus and peed on it in a ditch, to the volume of VERY LOUD. And my downstairs neighbor is some kind of psychiatric patient requiring total silence! I'm trying to combat the evil with Eagles of Death Metal and Del Amitri, set to alternately loud, then medium (when the pounding starts) and going vaguely psychotic myself in here. The meat in the horrible sandwich of Pfluger-life. I hate you people!

Haahahahhahahaaaa!!!! "YEEEHAWWWW! WILDCARD, BITCHES!" "That'd be a waste of a perfectly good rape van."