Cryptic Clues, Slogans and Codes

WOW! It's hard to believe I haven't updated this blog since 2007! Things have changed so much for me since then. New friends, new home, new life, several jobs and a new fandom! Since "Leverage" premiered on TNT in December of 2008 I've discovered a new hobby, made lots new friends.
I'm planning to keep this blog for non-Leverage posts of a more personal type. I'll eventually get around to deleting the archived posts when I have time. For the time being, I'd like to read through some of them. Kind of a walk down memory lane as it were.
I've started a new blog for those of you who find this one. It's all about Leverage.

The New Face of Obtuse Views

During the next few days (or weeks, depending on how much time my ADD will allow) I am revamping my blog into a "Saving Money" blog. I have been finding all kinds of specials and coupons to use and have the desire to pass these on. I also have had a lot of questions from people concerning the surveys I participate in and would like to have a place to get all that information together. These will be surveys that pay in REAL MONEY or rewards and do not require you to sign-up through 3 levels of credit cards and other useless time-wasters.

If anyone has any suggestions, or tips of their own, I welcome comments. My other blog posts will either be moved to another blog, or be deleted.

Hope we have fun!!!!

10 Things I Hate About Blogs

I just visited my “poor neglected blog” for the first time in ages. I guess I wanted to see if it was still there. And it is. The Stephen Fry YouTube video is still there, waiting to be played. I feel somewhat guilty because I haven’t updated in so long. I know there is at least ONE person (you know who you are) who is visiting my blog periodically to see if I have updated. I appreciate your loyalty and perseverance. The latter, they say, always pays off. I guess “they” are right.
Why haven’t I updated???? It’s hard to say. Maybe because I have ADD and subsequently do start things I don’t finish. Also, I haven’t really had anything I wanted to publicly discuss...no, that’s not true. The truth is, I don’t know why. Maybe I got bored with writing. Maybe I had writer’s block. I’m certainly not uninspired.

I’m not one to write in blogs about myself. I’ve read other blogs in which the owners go on in great length about themselves. I’m always tempted to write a top 10 things I hate about blogs. Hey, that would be a great topic for a blog!

Top ten things I hate about blogs

1. Music that plays automatically - I resent being assaulted with someone elses music, especially when it’s not my cup of tea.

2. Blogs that mention the weather - “it’s raining cats and dogs and....” as if that were inspiration for writing. Who cares? And have you ever SEEN it rain a cat? or a dog for that matter. (I have seen it “rain frogs”, however.)

3. Blogs that exist solely for the purpose of giving the writer a reason to write. These blogs always consist of a narration of daily events in the writer’s life. “I got up and fed the cat. Then I called my mom and checked my email.”

4. Blogs that haven’t been updated in 6 months. a-hem...

5. When you pull up a blog and there is this box that prompts you to write something in it, then you can’t get rid of the box, or navigate the page, or get to your “back” button. The only thing you can do is alt-ctrl-del and close the browser. grrrrr.......those people should be banished from the Internet forever!

6. People who don’t care about the English language enough to barely be readable. Bad grammer can be forgiven, but people, please! Try to at least be comprehensible! Here is an example, a sentence I copied off a blog.
“The people that say this, really feel the need or just feel it and are those that need to value them because they said.” Eh.....What? Looks like the writer sent it through “Babelfish” before publishing.

7. Ad blogs. Blogs with no purpose except to display “google ads”. They usually have YouTube video content or titles like “Autos and Videos” to pick up hits from search engines.

8. Ad blogs with links that trick you into going to other ad blogs. No, really. They exist.

9. Blogs with numerous pictures of the owner and nothing else. No comments, no writing, nothing. That’s not what a blog is for. There are sites for pics, such as Flikr, Imageshack, and Photobucket.

10. People that think they know so much about blogging, that they can write about how not to blog! Ha!

Stephen Fry 'The Letter'

Found this on "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" second season DVD. It's hilarious!

Sweet Freedom!

WOO-HOO!!! I just took my last exam! I feel like I’ve been released from prison!!

Anyone who has ever gone back to college knows how I feel….no longer do I have to do something I don’t want to do, forcing myself to write when I don’t feel like it, always being judged, people nitpicking over everything I do…plus, family, chores, work, bills…..I swear, there were times I wanted to blow my brains out.
Thank GOD I don’t have a gun!

Now I can do what I want to, when I want to, like I want to. I can go on with my life without having a deadline, no wait…FOUR DEADLINES EVERY WEEK hanging over my head.

The greatest thing about it is, this is a new era for me. The road is diverging and going off in another direction. I have decisions to make. And now I have leverage.

So what are my plans?

A week of doing what I want, make beads, possibly write some poetry, catch up on my yard work, organizing all the junk that’s been piling up for three years since I’ve been afraid to move anything for fear I’d lose something I need for school!

Hhmm….. perhaps this will be a good time to “reinvent” myself.

The Realms of the Unreal

The world seems so quiet tonight…. where is everyone? I’m alone…I feel like I’m in a state of suspension…a netherworld feeling…the last time I felt like this I went into a “fugue” state that lasted a week.

Maybe I’m just tired…spent the day with my mom, which these days is somewhat like being with a 4-year-old. She has trouble counting money…making simple decisions such as whether to buy large browning bags or a turkey-size bag for an 8-lb turkey breast…. wondering how someone can afford to rent a house and sell one at the same time…and asking the most annoying questions! Then I screwed up and forgot to get with the girl that makes the schedule at work to make sure I’m off Saturday. Hell, I didn’t even realize Saturday was Christmas Eve!

I’ve been so busy pushing and working towards finishing this semester and now it’s over. I feel drained, lost, empty, without a purpose. But on the other hand, waiting for my grades is much like waiting for the results of a pregnancy test!

I just watched a documentary I got from Netflix about this janitor who spent over 60 years writing this book called “The Realms of the Unreal” for short. The entire title of the book is The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, as caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. This is pretty much the synopsis of the book too. He was an artist and slaved over his illustrations using many different techniques. Watercolour, pencil, pen, collage, and copying drawings from thousands of pictures he collected. Pictures of young girls from newspapers, magazine ads, and storybooks led many people to portray him as a pedophile. The documentary didn’t touch on this subject, which is a moot point since Henry Darger died in 1973.They found volumes of his works, which included the 15,000 page “Realms of the Unreal” in the room he rented. He obviously didn’t know much about human anatomy because he when portrayed the little girls in his story naked they had tiny little penises. Maybe he knew more than we think. Maybe he just exaggerated.

The artwork is primitive, surreal, and sells for around $60,000 at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago Illinois, where Darger lived. Fascinating story and art, however, the documentary was boring. It was too long and spent too much time on the story, was well plotted but belonging in one of those dreadful pulp novels of the 40’s. Dakota Fanning narrated and contributed to the voice of the Vivian Girls, the heroines of the novel. The narration went well with the art, but I would have like to hear more about the contents of his room, not just quick glimpses of his material.

I wonder what they’ll find in my room when I die?

Dave Navarro Online

Wow. I have been so-o-o-o-o busy. I have had things to write about, but I haven't had time! Two more weeks of study and another semester will be behind me.

But one thing I've been doing is hanging out with Dave Navarro online. Yes, the same Dave Navarro who had his own reality show on MTV "Til Death Do Us Part", that chronicled his wedding to the lovely Carmen Electra. Earlier this year, he played co-host and mentor to the contestants on RockStar:INXS. Now he has his own "reality website." He's been hosting a radio show with Billy Morrison called the "Camp Freddy Radio" show on Indie 103.1 on Saturday night, 6-8 p.m. If you miss the show, Dave has in archived on his site. During this time, a chat room opens up, so he can see who's listening and give them a shout out on the radio. Recently he decided to take it one step further and add a webcam in the studio and anything goes on the Internet, folks!

Dave's been really busy lately with his own band, The Panic Channel, which consists of Steve Isaacs, Chris Chaney and Steve Perkins. He's also playing clubs and charity events with Camp Freddy, which is Billy Morrison of the Cure, Donovan Leitch of television and Camp Freddy Radio, Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver, and Chris Chaney of Jane's Addiction and who ever else shows up.

Now he's streaming his own show from his bedroom…live radio, off the cuff, totally uncensored, whenever he feels like it, folks. Sometimes he opens a chat room during the broadcast, AIM is open for requests, comments, and whatever. Unfortunately, no webcam has appeared in the bedroom. I wonder if maybe his wife, Carmen Electra nixed that idea.
It's great fun and shows that he really cares about the people out there, the ones who listen to his show and buy his records. Check it out. It's a blast!