Delusional Rants...

The Toy Wooden Arrow industry needs bailing out too!

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:53:12 -0700

Tax breaks for companies who manufacture toy wooden arrows? I... wow lobbyists are good. I had no idea that was needed in a Wall Street Bailout bill.

House in foreclosure sells for $1.75 on eBay. lol wow what do you know, there ARE houses I can afford ;)

Who let October sneak up on me? This means I'll have a birthday this month (feel free to send money, gift cards, your deepest darkest secrets, a house since I hear they're cheap now, or nothing, whatever, you have a few weeks to decide) but it also means I need to figure out what to get my sister for her birthday -- despite the same birthday about all we have in common is we both like the colour orange and um... hmm yeah. Hrmph. It also means I need to start thinking about what to get her, mom, and KeeKee for Christmas as it will take me a few months to figure it out. If Keegan still wants to build robots when he grows up then he's easy to shop for, something Robot'y and designed for a kid 1-2 years older than Keegan is. Or hell maybe some toy arrows, it seems they need the money!

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Self Portrait Done

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 02:08:02 -0700

Selfportrait2008

Ok I did mom’s self portrait thing already! Yeah I was quick for once. As I was working on it Brian said it resembled Karina (he hadn’t seen the latest picture of me so I showed that to him too). I reminded him Karina IS my sister. He told me he realized that but he’d never noticed a resemblance before. We do have different dads but how could he not notice any resemblance? Mom’s genes are super strong, I’m not sure that physically there is any of my dad showing in me at all, heh. Anyway, I’ll take it as a compliment, my sister is pretty.

Now I’ve decided I need another new project. Still can’t get the Misi one right, argh I’ve given myself until Christmas to finish it at least. Even though I’ve no desire to run off to see the Twilight Movie when it comes out (I do want to see it when it comes out on dvd to see what they do with it and because I am a little curious — just not curious enough to have Brian kill me which is what he’d do if I were to drag him to the theater for a teenage vampire love story) I do like some of the posters for the movie from an artistic standpoint, the colouring etc. I showed them to Brian and told him I think I want to do digital paintings of them next due to the limited colours. He said he couldn’t do it. Hmm and here I thought my art is “cheating” Now I’m challenged. So that’s my next project. Mr. gets paid to do art for a living can’t do it? And I think it’s cheating… I started one, it is actually hard to do. I’m not trying to recreate the poster image exactly. I’ve given up on pretending I can even attempt photo realism, etc…. Just going for my style. But… yeah. Now I know why Brian said he can’t do it, it’s a bitch.

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Family values and what I think being a Dem means...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:19:56 -0700

Cindy McCain's sister is voting for Obama. Sorry "Half Sister". Sorry... Cindy McCain is an "only child". *gag* Family values. La la la. Myself, my sister, my brother we have different fathers. Perhaps as little kids I MIGHT have heard the term "half" but I can't remember using it (well maybe ONCE when I was really pissed lol). They're just my brother and my sister. And I'd consider them as such even if we'd not been raised together or met. Granted we'd not be close, etc. I'm not close with my brother at all. I still say he is my brother. Period. The term half seems almost insulting to me. And to not admit you have a sibling at all is pathetic. Just say yeah I have a sister I don't really know, or I have a sister I hate, or whatever. Sheesh.

And I talked about this with Melissa on LJ in comments but I'll put it in simple terms here quickly I hope (I know I ramble) --

There are religious, straight, never have / never would have an abortion Democrats. The fact that we don't want religion in politics, want gays to have rights, want abortion to be legal doesn't make us evil. Doesn't mean we want to force those things on you. We respect your right to religion it's actually WHY we don't want religion in politics, to protect your religion -- imagine if yours isn't THEIRS and it mixes with theirs then what happens? And plenty of non religious straight people marry, does that bother you? I married when I wasn't religious, didn't work out, I divorced and now live with someone and won't marry, does that affect your marriage? No? Neither does a gay marriage.

I've never had an abortion and except for medical reasons probably couldn't, but there are millions of children, including children I would call babies, who aren't being adopted now because they're too old, too sick, not perfect. There are women who would find ways to abort even if it weren't safe or legal. I'd rather they have the choice of it being safe and legal and that you find homes for those troubled or older kids before you worry about these women.

We're not evil, we don't hate your morals or your religion. If anything we respect it more than you know, because the Republicans and others have told you that we HATE your religion, we want to kill your babies, we want to diminish your marriages. I promise you that's not the truth. There are millions of Democrats who personally feel about issues as you do, but politically and socially want to keep options open for others. AND want to HELP those who are less well off. Who want health care for us all. Who want to end wars not create them. Who want equality for women, gays, people of all colours. The Democratic party has failed to defend itself when the Republican party makes vicious claims about what its views mean. Well to me, that's what our views mean. Not that you MUST have an abortion, you shouldn't... you should just leave the option open for the hopeless. You shouldn't think I hate you for your religion, I don't! I just don't think you should force it on political offices, because it's dangerous, including for YOU. etc.

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Good...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:12:14 -0700

I almost forgot, it's not always bad news. On the personal front there is some good. Thank to my state not being as stupid as the rest of the country a family member who has been with his partner about as long as I've been alive is now legally married.

Granted all but one other state says that means nothing. But here in California, it means a lot. Seeing the picture mom sent me made me wanna cry, they look so happy. I was raised knowing it was normal if someone is gay. But I also knew they'd never legally be recognized as couple even if they wanted to be. I was wrong. Now they are. I don't care what you believe. THEY have always treated people well, done charity work, have probably outlasted most if not all of the relationships of people reading this. And they deserved the rights they now have because they wanted them too. Now me, I think marriage is crazy, of course ;)

And to all who may read this who'd say it's wrong, I am wrong, and who want to change my state's law, go away and worry about your own lives, they've been together 30 some years I think and haven't affected you in the least and their new piece of paper won't change anything for you but will for them.

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History... race... gender... just... wow.

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:23:36 -0700

You know, now that I'm over the initial w00t, political geek aspect of Obama being called as our Dem nominee, I almost wanna cry over how historic this is.

Clearly I'm not black. I can't pretend to understand the race aspect. To look at me I'm about as white as they come. That's not to say race never touched my life personally. My dad had brown skin, not white. His last name was Chavez. My grandpa was basically Archie Bunker. I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled he was that my mom was dating my dad, let alone that she was going to have his baby. When my dad died, my mom became a single mommy and during my lifetime she dated, not a lot but she dated. I never found it weird that she dated a black man...

And then we moved to Coos Bay, Oregon. I quickly discovered that California norms and morals aren't representative of the rest of the country, not even representative of the west coast. I mean, Santa Maria is about as conservative as Cali gets and it is, by Cali standards, a relatively small town. And yet... WOAH Coos Bay opened my eyes some. I had no idea there were full towns, communities where white was the norm and anything NOT white, not pick up truck driving, not gun toting, not beer drinking, not church going = ridiculed, harassed, threatened. Somehow I didn't know the KKK still REALLY existed, until more than one resident there told me they had a large population of members locally *blinks* That was in 1990... I was 17 years old.

But even now, race conflicts still make the news. No matter what you think of the Jena 6 case -- a noose hanging on the "white tree" of a high school because black kids sat there is NOT acceptable. All of these years later, since I was 17 and figuring out that race really was an issue for people -- and those kids younger than I was when I first really saw it, have to deal with that? I never had to see THAT. To be afraid of THAT. To be bullied like that. I can't even imagine, I thought just discovering hicks at 17 was eye opening.

And well I've seen plenty of WTF? Democrats in hick'ish states (thank you YouTube) shocking me with their anti-Obama rants claiming to be TRUE die hard Democrats who will vote McCain if Obama is our nominee -- some brave(?) enough to admit that it's because of Obama's RACE... You can't say you're a TRUE die hard Dem and vote against what you believe in if you'll vote against what you believe in due to someone's race...

But yeah, I'm rambling now...

My point is this, despite the fact that race is still an issue, always has been, we now have a black candidate for president... It's history being made before my eyes and it's not only a black candidate, it's one who can win...

I realize Hillary's run was historic as well -- I am, after all, a woman... I don't think it would have been AS historic. I don't think she's the one to do it for us... But she did open that door for others now. And the women saying they too will vote against dems even though they're true die hard Dems, offend me... Voting against what you claim to believe in due to who the nominee is -- when THEY most represent what you do claim to believe in? You shouldn't be allowed to have a voter registration card.

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Politics, Dutch, health

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:31:14 -0700

Politics:
Hmm Insomnia posted yet another interesting post, I'll just let you read his post here instead of ranting about it myself as he rants far better than I do ;) But basically, it seems that voters in predominately black areas of NC received calls explaining they only needed to sign and return their voter packets -- WITHOUT VOTING, to be eligible to vote. In other words a. they clearly think these people are stupid and b. this woman's organization targeted mostly black voters trying to suppress their votes. I'm a news junkie and haven't seen it on mainstream national news yet so, errm... wtf?

In other political news, mom once wanted to nearly disown me because I liked the Clintons. That was before Hillary ran in this election. Hillary has now convinced me that she's a closeted Republican so I no longer support her and with Edwards gone I support Obama. My sister has taken up my to be disowned spot by announcing she'll be voting for Hillary in the Oregon Primary, heh.

Dutch:
I have picked up my Dutch books only to, as predicted, read the first few chapters, again! BUT, I also have Pimsleur beginner Dutch CDs and have listened to lessons 1-6 (of 10 lessons I think) during the last few days. So far, since it is beginner stuff, it's a lot of hello, how are you types of things. Which is good, I know to spell those things I'm hearing. Lesson 6 has moved onto the would you like something to drink types of things. Eeek. I always said the Dutch letter g scared me, and it does. But hearing the word "graag" eeek. *hides* I know it's nowhere near the worst, but it's the first gr word and multiple letters g word I've heard. Oh man if I tried to say that in front of a Dutchie they'd be laughing for a year. Guess I have to go back to being an American now.

Health:
So I slept on and off from 4 am until 4pm yesterday. We've been having record high temps for this time of year. It's finally supposed to drop down now... to record lows possibly. Ugh. My body doesn't like when the weather jumps all over the place. Especially not when record highs start early in the year. Brain aliens in full effect. Pain alien been around. Exhaustion alien. MS IS NOT HAPPY. MOTHER NATURE MAKE UP YOUR MIND ABOUT THE WEATHER! In fact if I get extra ranty or mess up lots of words, yeah, brain aliens around, sorry.

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I stole the pic from my sister's MySpace

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:34:14 -0700

Keekee is a rock star!

He's so grown up now. Eeek. He'll be 7 in a few weeks. Where the hell did the last 7 years go? I started to get sick around the time he was born so I only got to carry him around the first few months, then the tingling started and I was afraid to be left alone with him or hold him too often as well dropping a bag of groceries when your hand goes tingly is one thing, dropping a baby is quite another. Still during the first 1/2 of his life even if not home alone with him I ended up taking care of him alone a lot, so I love the munchkin like he's my own.

I love my niece too, of course, but I haven't even met her so it's different as I've seen a few pictures in a year, usually if mom sends them or the rare MySpace ones, Pat told me he posts them somewhere else usually but then not where. He's not much for keeping in touch even with mom and Karina and Keegan and he lives in Portland. My sister spams my phone with cheesy I love you types of fwd msgs and we occasionally comment on MySpace / email each other. With Keegan it's more like wow my little guy is growing up sooo fast.

Mom should be coming down this summer (even if she mostly spends this year's vacation in San Diego to help out with David she ~~should~~ better be here a few days) and will have to bring him :) I can't wait. Now, what to buy a 7 year old for his birthday... eeek need to order sooon.

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A call for help

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:35:13 -0700

Dear Artsy types,

My mom made this post on her livejournal. For those too lazy to go read it, here's the summary:

My uncle was awoken by the dogs early Friday morning. He tried to figure out why the dogs were playing with David so early, and realized David couldn't speak or move. In October they came dangerously close to losing their house in the fires which mom had also posted about and now this. David is currently in a telemetry unit after suffering a stroke.

Mom wants to cheer him up with some art cards and is getting the address from my uncle. So if you'd like to help cheer up a very good man (if you use Adobe products he's probably benefited your life in some way) who's quite frustrated that he's stuck in bed, unable to speak, who now has a long recovery ahead of him, let me know. As soon as I get the address I can get it to you or you can post in my mom's post about it and she can.

I know you guys don't know him, but a little random act of kindness for someone who's gone through a lot the last few months and who deserve something kind to help get him through? Hell if you're not that artistic or crafty, kid like drawings, something? He'd appreciate it all, I'm sure.

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Some bright and some not so bright...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:57:14 -0800

Art:

Sunflakes

We went to DickBlick today, and I got
Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens
(3 sets -- The set of 4 nib Sanguine, the set of 4 nib Black, the set of 4 nib Sepia) and
Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens
. I am already in love with all of the pens. I drew this with them, with two of them anyway. Brian was impressed at least, heh. So was I! I didn't know I could do that with just two pens!

Family / Medical news:
To make a long story short, mom went in for blood work. Blood work isn't enough. She's going for an MRI Tuesday. Her doctor is leaning towards possible MS or maybe she's had a mini stroke in her sleep. Yeah... Having MS means I wouldn't wish it upon anyone of course, especially my mommy. But if she's going to be have something wrong and if those are the only two choices I'm gonna have to hope she's got MS and not that she's having strokes. So I dunno if you pray, think positive thoughts, whatever, she can use it. As if my family isn't cursed enough. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

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Mom called...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:34:18 -0800

Family drama time. My aunt died. She's an aunt by marriage. My mom feels she lost a brother when he married his wife. She sympathizes in the sense her brother lost his wife, their kids lost their mother, but beyond that... She didn't really know the woman and hasn't really known her brother since he married her. So it's not like she lost a friend or family really. As she said, she knows her garbage man better.

Now my aunt (my mom's sister) lives in that part of the country. She feels they should all be at the funeral. That's a big expense for someone you don't know. Taking time off of work. Etc. My mom told her she won't be able to and even if she could she wouldn't. She assured my aunt if it were her who had died, yes she'd find a way, she's just not doing it for someone who has never been in her life. Seems logical eh? Guess not. My aunt broke out mom's middle name :P So she's in trouble.

Last time she was in trouble was over my grandma's memorial service. Mom and I were with my Grandma the day she died. Mom had gone so far as to take a second job at the convalescent hospital she died in. We watched her die for years. Cared for her. And both myself and my mom felt we said our goodbyes and I for one was too much of a mess to do a public memorial service, didn't feel it was for me, etc. Myself and my mom not going = my aunt didn't talk to my mom for years. I hope this is not a repeat. I know my mom loves her sister, but eeek. Hard to believe they're sisters ;)

*cough, sneeze, ugh* Cold for new years... fun fun I'm gonna go sleep, a lot. Enjoy the celebrations, but please stay safe. DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!!!

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