Wednesday was a typical Wednesday at work--busy. But I had some help, and the instruments behaved. Six months to go. I am accumulating sketching supplies; ordered a small backpack that should do the job, and a folding tripod stool that I figure can be belted onto the backpack. Planning a couple of drawing boards made of Coroplast, one small, to go into the backpack; the small one can go into my briefcase. Found some equipment suggestions that look good--clip-on water containers for washing brushes (a double palette cup plus wide-mouth screw-top 60 ml Nalgene bottles to go into same), a page clip for bound sketch books (intended for music books/sheet music). Thinking a lot about mixing watercolors. Know what my primary pen(s) and ink will be. Still too cowardly to give it a whirl. Studying. Thinking that construction sites might be a good subject hereabouts; the bullet train viaduct over the river is coming along; not sure how close one can get to it.
Alan, can you work from photos? If so, go to Google Images and search for "California bullet train viaduct construction." I think I'd rather sketch an orchard or vineyard, but to each his own. :-)
I want to learn how to sketch from the originals, not try to reproduce photos. We have some old and not-so-old buildings downtown that offer some interest, but not a lot. There is an office building, originally the headquarters of a big fertilizer company, now occupied by the County Board of Education, that has a striking interior--but I think I won't be up to handling that for some time. Around here orchards and vineyards seen pretty humdrum--like painting cornfields (which we also have). Construction sites should offer lots of straight lines and perspective exercises, as well as color. Adding people doesn't seem intimidating if they are so far away they need only be suggested.
"Abramson begins by warning us that Trump has no policy positions, writing that: “We need to never again discuss this man with respect to policy—it’s become more than clear in nine months that he holds no policy positions. So if you support Donald Trump because of any view you claim he holds, I don’t ever want to hear about it. The man holds no views.
He goes on to explain that not only is Trump’s administration “the most corrupt ever,” his goal is to “systematically and willfully terrorize his own populace daily” through his near-endless stream of statements and tweets.
“Not one story of honorable conduct has emerged from this White House,” Abramson writes, adding that: “Instead, it’s been lies, deception, corruption, graft, propaganda.”
But the most important thing is this: this is the first U.S. president to systematically and willfully terrorize his own populace daily. His changeability is intended to keep us anxious and on guard. In fact, he’s admitted publicly, many times, that this is a tactic of his.
Noting that Trump’s “corruption is equally studied,” Abramson writes that Trump knows “that his worst-case scenario was not getting re-elected to a job that he never really wanted. That’s why he hasn’t eliminated his conflicts of interest, delivered on his promises, ‘drained the swamp,’ acted as any kind of leader.”
Susan, I think he has no agenda or plan of any kind. He has no memory or ability to project. He is in the minute. If it makes him feel good, he does it; if not, he doesn't. He has the IQ of a gray crayon.
Puddle, I take exception to that remark! don't go putting down gray crayons. Orange crayons perhaps... :)
Seriously, one of the things that seems to make the Cheeto-in-Cheif feel good is belittling and sneering at others, not to mention making sure his cheering section sneers at them too. What a small, pathetic man who can only feel big by stomping on others.
I can't forget that collection of excerpts from TV interviews he had in his thirties or thereabouts, contrasted with today. The man is clearly suffering from some sort of dementia, be it Altzheimer's disease or something else. His speech patterns have changed dramatically.
The nerve damage from shingles seems to last a horribly long time. This is actually how I experience it: A small Olympic team of ant divers marches across my left eyebrow from left to right, then slide down my eyelid and then each takes an eyelash and they bounce up and down in preparation for their dive. My actual eyeball was all clear on my last visit, but the nerves! Be gone! I have to go back 11/10 to make sure it's not coming back.
Susan, it sounds atrocious! Your description is so colorful and vivid that I found myself wincing. Splendid and evocative. Leaves the reader in no doubt about just how much pain you're in.
It is horrible and I completely sympathise in every way and for every cell. ♥ Mine took two years to go away, Susan. But I'd had shingles on and off for months before it was finally seen at the right moment to diagnose it. Hopefully yours won't last as long. Are you still taking an antiviral? They had me on it for months and now I'm on it for life. I'm not sure you can take Acyclovir or Valcyclovir ongoingly, but Famciclovir is A-OK!
As for the nerve pain, two Aleve every 4-8 hours as needed. Once you've quelled it for 24 hours, you can back off to one Aleve every 4-8 hours and see how it goes. Unless you are super sensitive to NSAIDs, your liver can handle it for a time. Drinking lemon water also helps to clean out one's liver.
Oh, and puddle recommends alpha lipoid acid which is said to be great for diabetic neuropathy and for the skin and retinas. So I wonder if that might be useful for you. They say to take 600mg per day, and puddle says to be sure and get the Timed Release sort so it's not hard on your stomach. Maybe Google it and see what you think. WebMD has some info about it, for sure.
"But why do we still idolize a lifestyle in which men are allowed to serially collect and dispose of women’s bodies? Hefner’s hedonism may have been relegated to the 22,000 square feet of the Playboy Mansion, but his impact undoubtedly lives on in the entertainment industry, where R Kelly and Cosby were allowed to carry on their crimes for years.
A critical look at Hefner’s legacy is even more crucial today with a serial sexual abuser in the White House who has cycled through statuesque trophy wives and tacitly endorsed violence against women. Women have made so much progress, yet they are still normalizing and idealizing the men who collect them, decorate them with shiny jewelry and sexy clothes, dispose of them when they gain weight or show wrinkles, and then replace them with a younger, bustier version."
When I was 24 Larry Flynt hired me for his new club Talk of the Town in Dayton, Ohio. When I went to the costume fitting and saw what they wanted me to wear I quit before ever working there. And a good thing too, because the cops shut the place down before it had even been open a week.
See, these are the kinds of stories I love because of how they reveal true character and offer historical context. Someone should write a novel of your life Susan.
Today was COOL! Hurrah!! Hurrah!! I *LOVE* IT!!! We actually had WIND and CLOUDS and leaves were blowing around. I got to wear an extra layer and that was so much fun!
Thursday was Root*Center*Son's 37th birthday, so most of us met up at McGillicuddy's for dinner and cake. Our two youngest Vermont grands were there, too and that was such a laugh! Then we gave them sugar and let them run around outside. Hahaha!
I can't recall if I mentioned this, but Root*Center*Son is planning to offer a lot of one of his fields to make a Community Garden in his town next Spring! :-)
Not to be a wet blanket--I think it's a great idea--but he should get educated about how to fend off claims of adverse possession. The relevant laws vary from place to place, but I remember one road in the woods near where I grew up that was on private land, and every year for some period of time (2 weeks?) the owner pulled a log across each end. The rest of the year it was open to the public. (It was a very convenient shortcut.)
Wednesday was a typical Wednesday at work--busy. But I had some help, and the instruments behaved. Six months to go. I am accumulating sketching supplies; ordered a small backpack that should do the job, and a folding tripod stool that I figure can be belted onto the backpack. Planning a couple of drawing boards made of Coroplast, one small, to go into the backpack; the small one can go into my briefcase. Found some equipment suggestions that look good--clip-on water containers for washing brushes (a double palette cup plus wide-mouth screw-top 60 ml Nalgene bottles to go into same), a page clip for bound sketch books (intended for music books/sheet music). Thinking a lot about mixing watercolors. Know what my primary pen(s) and ink will be. Still too cowardly to give it a whirl. Studying. Thinking that construction sites might be a good subject hereabouts; the bullet train viaduct over the river is coming along; not sure how close one can get to it.
ReplyDeleteAlan
Alan, can you work from photos? If so, go to Google Images and search for "California bullet train viaduct construction." I think I'd rather sketch an orchard or vineyard, but to each his own. :-)
DeleteI want to learn how to sketch from the originals, not try to reproduce photos. We have some old and not-so-old buildings downtown that offer some interest, but not a lot. There is an office building, originally the headquarters of a big fertilizer company, now occupied by the County Board of Education, that has a striking interior--but I think I won't be up to handling that for some time. Around here orchards and vineyards seen pretty humdrum--like painting cornfields (which we also have). Construction sites should offer lots of straight lines and perspective exercises, as well as color. Adding people doesn't seem intimidating if they are so far away they need only be suggested.
DeleteAlan
http://samuel-warde.com/2017/09/seth-abramsons-terrifying-analysis-trumps-presidency/?utm_content=bufferaf5b4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
ReplyDeleteFrom the article:
"Abramson begins by warning us that Trump has no policy positions, writing that: “We need to never again discuss this man with respect to policy—it’s become more than clear in nine months that he holds no policy positions. So if you support Donald Trump because of any view you claim he holds, I don’t ever want to hear about it. The man holds no views.
He goes on to explain that not only is Trump’s administration “the most corrupt ever,” his goal is to “systematically and willfully terrorize his own populace daily” through his near-endless stream of statements and tweets.
“Not one story of honorable conduct has emerged from this White House,” Abramson writes, adding that: “Instead, it’s been lies, deception, corruption, graft, propaganda.”
But the most important thing is this: this is the first U.S. president to systematically and willfully terrorize his own populace daily. His changeability is intended to keep us anxious and on guard. In fact, he’s admitted publicly, many times, that this is a tactic of his.
Noting that Trump’s “corruption is equally studied,” Abramson writes that Trump knows “that his worst-case scenario was not getting re-elected to a job that he never really wanted. That’s why he hasn’t eliminated his conflicts of interest, delivered on his promises, ‘drained the swamp,’ acted as any kind of leader.”
Susan, I think he has no agenda or plan of any kind. He has no memory or ability to project. He is in the minute. If it makes him feel good, he does it; if not, he doesn't. He has the IQ of a gray crayon.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree! He's always searching for "feel good" stuff for his fragile ego, regardless of consequences.
DeletePuddle, I take exception to that remark! don't go putting down gray crayons. Orange crayons perhaps... :)
DeleteSeriously, one of the things that seems to make the Cheeto-in-Cheif feel good is belittling and sneering at others, not to mention making sure his cheering section sneers at them too. What a small, pathetic man who can only feel big by stomping on others.
I can't forget that collection of excerpts from TV interviews he had in his thirties or thereabouts, contrasted with today. The man is clearly suffering from some sort of dementia, be it Altzheimer's disease or something else. His speech patterns have changed dramatically.
DeleteAlan
The nerve damage from shingles seems to last a horribly long time. This is actually how I experience it: A small Olympic team of ant divers marches across my left eyebrow from left to right, then slide down my eyelid and then each takes an eyelash and they bounce up and down in preparation for their dive. My actual eyeball was all clear on my last visit, but the nerves! Be gone! I have to go back 11/10 to make sure it's not coming back.
ReplyDeleteSusan, it sounds atrocious! Your description is so colorful and vivid that I found myself wincing. Splendid and evocative. Leaves the reader in no doubt about just how much pain you're in.
Delete*hug*
No, it doesn't hurt, it just itches until you want to tear your skin off!
DeleteAnd if you do scratch it, you get searing pain.
DeleteIt is horrible and I completely sympathise in every way and for every cell. ♥ Mine took two years to go away, Susan. But I'd had shingles on and off for months before it was finally seen at the right moment to diagnose it. Hopefully yours won't last as long. Are you still taking an antiviral? They had me on it for months and now I'm on it for life. I'm not sure you can take Acyclovir or Valcyclovir ongoingly, but Famciclovir is A-OK!
As for the nerve pain, two Aleve every 4-8 hours as needed. Once you've quelled it for 24 hours, you can back off to one Aleve every 4-8 hours and see how it goes. Unless you are super sensitive to NSAIDs, your liver can handle it for a time. Drinking lemon water also helps to clean out one's liver.
Oh, and puddle recommends alpha lipoid acid which is said to be great for diabetic neuropathy and for the skin and retinas. So I wonder if that might be useful for you. They say to take 600mg per day, and puddle says to be sure and get the Timed Release sort so it's not hard on your stomach. Maybe Google it and see what you think. WebMD has some info about it, for sure.
DeleteI had an attack of it years and years ago, on one side of my neck. I envisioned a little malevolent being with a gimlet working over that area.
DeleteAlan
Here’s How Much of Your Taxes Have Gone To Wars - Click
ReplyDeleteHope the link works.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/hugh-hefner-misogyny-legacy
ReplyDeleteFrom the article:
"But why do we still idolize a lifestyle in which men are allowed to serially collect and dispose of women’s bodies? Hefner’s hedonism may have been relegated to the 22,000 square feet of the Playboy Mansion, but his impact undoubtedly lives on in the entertainment industry, where R Kelly and Cosby were allowed to carry on their crimes for years.
A critical look at Hefner’s legacy is even more crucial today with a serial sexual abuser in the White House who has cycled through statuesque trophy wives and tacitly endorsed violence against women. Women have made so much progress, yet they are still normalizing and idealizing the men who collect them, decorate them with shiny jewelry and sexy clothes, dispose of them when they gain weight or show wrinkles, and then replace them with a younger, bustier version."
When I was 24 Larry Flynt hired me for his new club Talk of the Town in Dayton, Ohio. When I went to the costume fitting and saw what they wanted me to wear I quit before ever working there. And a good thing too, because the cops shut the place down before it had even been open a week.
ReplyDeleteSee, these are the kinds of stories I love because of how they reveal true character and offer historical context. Someone should write a novel of your life Susan.
DeleteToday was COOL! Hurrah!! Hurrah!! I *LOVE* IT!!! We actually had WIND and CLOUDS and leaves were blowing around. I got to wear an extra layer and that was so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThursday was Root*Center*Son's 37th birthday, so most of us met up at McGillicuddy's for dinner and cake. Our two youngest Vermont grands were there, too and that was such a laugh! Then we gave them sugar and let them run around outside. Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteI can't recall if I mentioned this, but Root*Center*Son is planning to offer a lot of one of his fields to make a Community Garden in his town next Spring! :-)
Not to be a wet blanket--I think it's a great idea--but he should get educated about how to fend off claims of adverse possession. The relevant laws vary from place to place, but I remember one road in the woods near where I grew up that was on private land, and every year for some period of time (2 weeks?) the owner pulled a log across each end. The rest of the year it was open to the public. (It was a very convenient shortcut.)
DeleteAlan