The whirlwind

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. I'm not really sure what it is--the atmosphere, the snap of the cold air that I don't totally mind just yet, the food--but it's always been pretty cool. Even in college, I spent time filling stockings for friends, playing Christmas music and having an awesome few days before flying home (where I'd usually have an awesome 3 weeks of hanging out not really doing anything, eating home-cooked meals and seeing family).

This year seemed to be extra-packed with craziness. My niece came 5 weeks early in the beginning of the week. I think we're all still in shock. Christmas Eve was full of Santa riding past the house on the firetruck (normal), the mother and [beastly] daughter next door having a fistfight with the grandmother trying to break them up (yay trashy neighbors!), Rocket (ha, I didn't make up that nickname, but he's a cool guy) completely trashed, singing and hanging all over everyone outside when we went out to stop the fight, and two white horses riding down the street pulling a sleigh with carolers (not normal).

Our cousins from SC came up, and we were lucky enough to spend 2 days with them. Always great times and the best laughs.

Tomorrow, I think I'll get to see baby for the 1st time!!!

And there's that pesky OBNJ poster that I'm supposed to finish, not to mention the freelance gig that isn't getting done.

Plus New Year! I'm happy I got a few different invites this year. Not really sure which to accept, and just realized now that I only have about 36 hours to figure it out (Yay decisions!).

I'm thinking of sticking around for baby's first New Year, though aside from sleeping and pooping I don't think she'll be doing anything much.

I don't have to go back to the big house till the 4th and I'm already dreading it! It's going to fast, and dare I say it, I'm having too much fun...

Pumpkin

I sort of always liked Halloween. Some years it's more fun than others, and some years I get more involved than others. But I think it's the combination of the season mixed with the potential for good times with friends, and the ever-important creative element intertwined.

['Course, I won't get into how I don't have a costume for the party I'm supposed to go to on Saturday, but that's okay. How 'bout a Bayside Tigers t? Haha. Yeeeeah.]

Pumpkin carving has become a fun little Halloween activity for me. Especially after looking through Extreme Pumpkins and its successor. Last year I made a "Carrie Pumpkin", complete with tiara, tears and blood flow. This year, a couple more people jumped in on the action and we adapted the "Drowning in a Bag Pumpkin" to "Suffocated Pumpkin." My excitement bubbled over [even though most of the people I texted didn't seem to share my enthusiasm.]

But here he is:


Of course, not to be outdone by:

Clone Trooper Pumpkin!

Pink Flamingos

As I opened the shades this morning to get some light for ironing, I was greeted by a sight which actually made me laugh out loud. Upon our front lawn sat not one, not two, not three, but FIVE pink flamingos. (Okay, so not REAL flamingos, but still.)

It was awesome. It's actually a fundraiser for the ACS Strides Against Breast Cancer event in October. One of my former Relayers, a breast cancer survivor, left us this year to concentrate on that event. I played around with the idea of getting involved in that too, for my mom, but it might be too much...

So now I have pink flamingos! We'll have to pay some money to make them flock away. Although I sort of like them there.

It's funny too because we were going to do a similar thing for Relay (except with purple flamingos or some other lawn decoration). I wasn't sure how receptive people would be or how easy it would be to get off the ground. With a small committee it's hard to get spearhead so many different things. But based on my reaction this morning, I'll think we'll have to do it next year. Maybe dueling flamingos?!

Awesome.

$36,628.85!

That's how much this Relay has raised so far!!! That is more than TWICE what we raised online last year, and if memory serves me correctly, scant hundreds less than what we ACTUALLY raised last year.

I can hardly believe it. With all that's been happening and with the event barreling down on us... Holy crap! Haha.

I want to push for $40,000.00 by the weekend... Maybe even $45,000.00 by the event? Is it possible?

(That's not to mention the $10,000.00 I'm pushing my team to raise. We're at $7,337.57 right now. If I can sell all those t-shirts, that'll give us another $1,200. Another bake sale, maybe another $400... Who's got $1,000 for us?!)

That itch to fly...

"I had the itch to fly and I flew." As you can probably tell by now, I LOVE that line. And here's the song which provided the sweet lyric.

And actually, this live version kicks so much ass. I think I need to go to another show soon. Guster?! Haha. Jimmy?! Hmm...

I find myself thoroughly enjoying this along with "Trying To Put Your Heart Back Together." All thanks to my Gregarious friend! [Where's my favorite DJ when I need him?]

Oh, yeah!

I just sent in a submission for this contest that good old Ringling was doing called the Ringling 100. I can't tell you how many times I talked myself out of it just to talk myself back into it.

Either way, I'm proud, haha.

Had lots of little flashbacks throughout this time around. And it wasn't even the piece itself. Maybe it was just the mindset? Or talking to my Beastie about the project. Thinking of all those hours in the labs. Painting all night. Falling asleep in paintings. Studios and fumes. The passion and angst and laughs and all those other feelings of accomplishment for doing some great (or bummed-out-ed-ness for doing something not so great).

Shit I miss that. [and i miss them too.]

So this is another new leaf for me I think. Smart Mike has given me unflinching encouragement and is pushing me to be that "art kid" that I keep talking about who's sorta strange but not too socially awkward. (Haha, well I'm already socially awkward.)

I have a freelance gig lined up (with no deadline! Arrgh!) and a wedding chock-full of save the dates and invites (I swear I didn't forget) and a painting unfinished on my easel....

And there's a smile on my face that feels good.

Who do you GoodSearch for?

You know I love Google like crazy. However I almost never, ever use it for searching things online. Instead I use GoodSearch, a Yahoo-powered search engine which donates roughly a penny per search.

(There is also a link on the GoodSearch page for GoodShop which runs on the same basic idea. You click on the link to a store--BN, Best Buy, Amazon, eBay, iTunes, Dell... practically anything you could ever want can be found in the participating merchant stores--do your online shopping, checkout and bam, a percentage of your purchase is donated to your cause. I GoodShop'd Zappos for shoes!!)

Who do I GoodSearch for? ARF! Or the Amyloidosis Research Foundation. Amyloidosis is a rare group of diseases that effects proteins in the body which in turn mess you up. A couple of good friends have this disease and have lost too many family members to it. I feel bad that most of my time and energy is devoted to Relay, but I feel a little better knowing that alot of the 3,900+ searches (read: over $39.00) in 2008 were because of my searches!

I tend to do lots of searches either for work or reference for a project. Did I also mention I'm an uber nerd and comic book geek... Just think of what that does to a guy.

Now, I'm not going to preach about how it's important to volunteer and get involved and make a difference. You know that already, whether or not you actually DO something about it or not. But here I am, giving you a way to DO SOMETHING about a cause. Literally all you have to do is go to GoodSearch and look something up.

So I'm asking you to use it. Even if you don't do it for my cause, you should do it for some cause. Making a difference has never been so easy.

Why so serious?

I think The Dark Knight is one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I had the pleasure of seeing it again last night in iMax with a couple friends who hadn't experienced it like that.

Totally amazing. Plus I was like a little kid going into the theater. I think that amused them. But it's important to portray the little kid vibe sometimes. Who wants to be some stuffy old person anyway?

The first time the Joker growls those words "Why so serious?" gives me chills still.

Next movie to look forward to: Watchmen. Also coming out in IMAX. Very good indeed.