Monday, November 15, 2010

Episode III: An Update


Stanley. He's my muse.
Seriously, though, how could a stuffed animal turkey vulture with a fake moustache NOT be inspiring? Just look at this mug! That fashionable neck ruff, his cute little beady eyes... ahh. What a fine figure of a stuffed animal.




It is also crucial to rememer that You Can Always Trust a Snake. Especially yellow eyelash vipers, which may me the cutest venomous animal ever. I have decided this and thus it shall be. (I mean, really... eyelashes. Need I say more?)



These two are painted on a wonderful (albeit odd) surface called aquaboard. It's a super-absorbant, stiff, sort of toothy board that is all sorts of wonderful. The paints soak in quickly, but I find that you can almost always go back over it with a stiff brush and water to blend. I'm a fan.
AQUABOARD! Check it out if you like watercolors or goache.

And now, for a new episode of Maranda's life.

My New Job
I am now a dog grooming assistant! No more fried food, grease spills, incompetant managers, or unhappy shifts. I basically get paid to hang out with dogs all day and I earn a 40% commission from all my sales. I am blissing out about this, for sure. I must have racked up some excellent karma to get this gig. All six months of my suffering at the deli led to this! The world can be a fair place to be, after all. Between the puppies, people, and clean atmosphere... this new job is wonderous. Plain and simple. Life is looking up. I have also learned that English bulldog puppies are sleepiness incarnate. They get nap attacks like nobody's business. That kind of cuteness is unfair. It really is.

My Skin
Ever heard of burrows solution? Smells like: vinegar. Feels like: pond water! Makes my skin feel like: a goddess's.
Soaking cotton material in the solution and wearing it (cold, wet, jumping into a mountain lake at 3am) at first was not fun. Miserable, even. I have to do this odd treatment because of my dermatologist. Upon visiting him, I was told that I was to a) avoid Stark's house because of the cats and b) chill out! Because the stress was making my skin worse. So every day since then, I woke up early and jumped into a black garbage bag sandwich: burrows-solution-soaked cotton pajamas and me being the meaty bits. Cold! Cold! But half an hour later I was leaping out and moisturizing like a madwoman. The morning and evening ritual gives me time to reflect (and watch the best anime ever: Mushi-Shi). I find that waking up at 5:30am, slipping into icy clothes, and sitting still for half an hour gives me time to wake up and clear my mind. When I rush out of the door in the morning due to waking up 20 minutes before I have to be out the door, I find it hard to finalize thoughts or regard events with any significance. I float through my day in a haze and end up quite grumpy because of it. As odd as it sounds, freezing my butt off every morning really gets the juices flowing! (And wow, did that sound odd.)

That is all for now, friends.
Oh, and also, you should buy Dice Sprites for your friends for Christmas. Or whatever winter gift-giving holiday you celebrate.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/claymancers

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Necessary Evil

Lately, on Facebook, some friends (and others) have been involved in heated debates. This is my response to it.



Making a tough decision-- to change your mind, to prevent a travesty, to save yourself-- does not make you a monster. It does not make you a beast, unholy, or immoral. Sometimes life calls for hard decisions. Understanding that some evils are necessary is fundamental to understanding each other as human beings. Life is hard, and we often make decisions we do not want to make.

It makes me SO sad that we continue to argue about certain topics (abortion) as if the issue is black and white. It is really not black, white, or red. It is grey. Grey. No one can be correct and there is no right answer. I don't care if your science says you're right or your religion says you're right. I don't care.
I just want us to understand each other.


But I guess that just isn't going to happen, is it?