Bleh. If I never hear another kid scream "Look mommy! It's Nemo!" I'll die happy.
(For the uninformed - lucky people, you - ''Nemo" is the title character from the Disney movie. Specifically, he's a clownfish. So anytime a kid who's seen that movie sees a clownfish...)
We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It was more driving than I ever want to do again anytime soon - but it was /amazing/.. they have walk-thru tunnels, where you can .. well, walk through water and see all the fish swimming over, to the sides and UNDER you.. which is weird when it's sharks and little manta-rays. /little/ being the operative term - none of these guys were more than three feet long, if they were that big.
Saw the seals - seals are interesting. Saw the otters - little brats were mugging for the cameras. ^^
The other interesting thing there - they have a sort of 'petting zoo' type thing - a pool in which they have star-fish and anemonies you can touch. I have laid fingers on a starfish.. several starfish. Some of 'em are rough, but they had one or two that were soft.. interesting.
Didn't have the guts to pet an anemony though. ^^

Glass cats - the nearly transparent catfishie-critters. I wouldn't mind having one of them. Still debating the cichlids. Need to find an excuse to go by Kraemers and see what all they have this week .. if they have any Corydoras, I might get a couple - we shall see. Or platies - Mom was /raising/ platies for a while, so I'm familiar with the breed. Heh.

Oh - someone pointed out that there's no link to the gallery here. Never occured to me that that might be a problem - so I'll see about fixing it.
In the meantime - that should hold you. ^^

I'm now contimplating what other sorts of fish to put in the tank.
Want some corydoras catfish - there's a guy in Newberg who's got albinos. That's tempting.
Also, he's got tetras. I happen to /like/ tetras. ^^
I was also thinking guppies - but they'd kill my snails. So that's maybe not so great. I don't want gouramis, nor am I all that fascinated by the bulgy-eyed goldfishy things. I'll investigate the local Petco and Kraemers.. maybe something suitable will catch my eye..

I've got some new sketches, too - I did Kyrial and the terrible trio, and a sketch of Esha that I'm debating actually uploading .. might be a few days...

In the meantime - I've got a new blog-toy. Lutra found it first. ^^
(One of us discovers something, the next thing you know, /everyone/ has to have one.. ^_~)
This is neat...

Fish're here.
They're /smaller/ than I expected - the golden male, particularly.. The green male isn't looking too snappy, we'll keep an eye on him, but the other two are doing pretty well. Mom offered 'em some white worms (live) and frozen brine shrimp, and initial 'what the hell is THAT?!' aside, they ate 'em.
So, we'll see what we've got in a week or so..

Ah - and I now have a cover for my tank. Mom bought one last week, turned out to be a cover for a five gallon tank. Not gonna fit, obviously. So I took it back and exchanged it. The salesgirl was a little surprised - the boxes are practically /identical/.
I'll tweak the plastic bit later - the main part of the cover is glass, but the back piece is made to be clipped to fit around the filter/heater whatever else you have back there.

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Yea, verily: Who is that, rampaging along the mini-mall parking lot! It is Sylverthorne, hands clutching buzzsaw hand extensions! And with a mighty cry, her voice cometh: "I'm going to bruise you all the way to Micronesia!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

*snickers*

Eh. They call it the School of Hard Knocks - and I'm intimately aquainted with it....
... I'm not sure if it's heartening to know that I'm not the only one who ever had issues with other kids while I was growing up, or scary as all hell.
Went through my childhood pretty much a loner - although I always wanted to fit in, I never knew how to manage it and usually failed miserably when I tried... so I too, know what that's like.
All I can say is hang in there - in the end, it's worth it.
(I still want to slap the guy who said that 'talent has a price' or somesuch drek - it do, but I'd like to think that happiness isn't included!)
Anyway - hang in there. We're here, we're rootin' for ya - and we'll help if you decide you want to go apeshit with a baseball bat. ^_~

Aquarium news - tank is humming along.
I've got plants and snails - little.. well, maybe not /little/... golden snails. Much more interesting than the dinky little brown ones I vaguely remember from the first tank I can remember.

Plants - mixed bag. Lots of mixed bag. I'll borrow the digital camera and take some pics.. but there's long skinny stuff, fluffy stuff, stuff that is sort of skinny and sticks out in lots of directions, and floating mossy stuff.. Most of it's green, but there's this one that is kind of grassish that is red..
Fish will get here, I'm told, Wenesday. And there are three of them coming. *shrugs* Should be interesting - have /no/ idea how this is gonna work out.

That said, the pair my mother is hoarding are boppin' right along - the male's building a nest and the little female is .. I think .. beginning to stripe. So we may have a batch of fry coming along... *sighs* jars and jars of little bettas.. oi. ^_~
The 29 gallon is half full - the cat (Fetish - the big black one) fell in it earlier (no, sorry, didn't get pics of that, didn't even /see/ that except to note all the water that was flung everywhich way when he exited...) and it now has a cover and the rest of the plants and snails. Which reminds me - should get some food for /my/ snails..

Oh - and a coloured version of the 'Peering Through' sketch - I've had that around for a bit, and meant to upload it.. Corel, again. REALLY pleased with that one!

*chuckles*
Informal request, and me experimenting on said character both uploaded - only one is wearing clothing. *snickers*

Was rather pleased with the ending results - wow. That's /three/ pics finished in one day! Not a record, but more than I've managed for a while. And I baked today too - LOTS of chocolate chip cookies.
It's been a pretty productive day, in the physical get your hands in and /work/ sense, as opposed to the engage brain and type sense.. ^.~

Now, of course, I'm plotting .. ^^

One more character to the Gallery - Adrienne.
Got to experimenting a bit - so it's mostly b/w with only a little colour to highlight - in the eyes and that one earring. Corel again - came out not badly.

I think I'm having fun here... the aquarium is doing it's thing in the background, burbling away happily.
Had some issues finding a pump that worked though - the little one we had didn't have enough oompth for that tank. (Go figure - I think we were using that little pump in a two gallon plastic bowl before...) Still waiting on the fish - they will be here by wenesday, so I'm told. In the meantime, I've been folding Origami Angelfish. Can we tell I've been sorta bored?

Still got an informal request to finish - 'informal' meaning I'm doing it as a trade. ^_~

New pic in the Gallery - Headshot of Shimmer, one of my 'unplayables' and a fixture of Hunter's Destiny.
Hey, you can't say I don't /eventually/ find them homes.. ^_~
Anyway - pencil, coloured in Corel. M'not so happy with this one as I was with the one of Sasha... her mane gave me /major/ issues..

Anyway. My knees are mostly recovered. I'm still limping, but I'll not bore you with the details of THAT.

We've sorted the fish out - in a week or so we'll get three more in the mail. Two males and a female. I think we're starting a ruddy breeding colony here... Anyone want a /very/ nice betta after we finally sort out the breeding thing? Whioaaaahrrrow. o.O

Aii - it'll be a while before I can get my head around anything techinical .. so going over the interesting email I got from Joules will have to wait until I've sneezed out the last of the wool and the dwarves in spiked boots... I'm glad everyone is having a good week though - that's heartening. ^^

... Okay, it was worth it.

Spent the day before yesterday walking my legs off. Specifically - we went to Silver Falls St Park and did the Trail of Ten Falls.
.... we got to walk behind two of them. Very cool. Literally. ^_~
I have some pics - once I get the roll of film that survived my camera losing it's mechanical mind (Damnit!) developed, I'll figure out how to post a couple of them..
Some beautiful falls, trails and whatnot. It's a nice park.
We had some difficulties with finding official /people/ there, though... apparently, they don't open any of their little booths in the off season. Or, if they /do/, they didn't that day... ah well. We walked our feet off, took lots of pictures, then collapsed in one of their 'rustic cabins' ... *snicker* Sure. Rustic. AH huh. Pull the other one, guys - last I heard, rustic meant a roof and four walls and not much else - not a half- furnished room with a mini'fridge and a microwave...
I still think we should have taken the tent and said th' hell with it - that at least we wouldn't have had to bother them at the park office for! *shakes head*

In other news - almost everyone in the house has come down with a cold. I've got it too, which is most annoying, since I happen to /like/ breathing through my nose.. *grumble*

No, I haven't accomplished anything web-page related - been too busy limping and sneezing. Great combo, ne?

*splort*
... Don't ask.
Anyway - another of my drow - N'yati Rez'ul. Or, as she's currently answering to - Nayet. Yes, it's /supposed/ to be hard to tell what gender she is. ^_~

Other Webpage follies - Mom has FINALLY got the wherewithall to put up the Turriff site. (Server, domain and all and me, doing the coding) - gods, I could happily KICK the dungwit who decided to fix what wasn't broke... Now I have to learn to write Style sheets so the page'll be readable in any browser .. *sigh* Hey, Joules? Can I trade you a couple of prints for a couple of lessons? *hopeful*
Anyway, if anyone's curious, it's at www.turriff.net - no content yet, of course. ^^

Fish. Lookie! ... We're going to dicker for this guy - and maybe a female to match him. Lots of pretty fish - and this guy has several of the nicer ones. Including the red-black that died on me - the concensus was that one bruised himself against his little baggie in shipping. >.<
In the meantime, I will set my tank up... maybe by the time that's all sorted out I'll be ready...

'Nother new pic in the Gallery - Amriel, playing with Still Image.
Heh. I /could/ say she's giving someone the bird - but someone might well get the wrong idea! *snerk*

Anyway.

The guy Mom got my fish from (Auctions. Gotta love 'em, but I'm not enclined to mess too much..) might be willing to replace him, even though he died /after/ he turned up ...

And I found the most amazing Crowntail in one of his auctions... My god... if he's got one like THAT going begging...... ^_~

Gotta go wash gravel. *sighs* I don't WANT to wash gravel. But I should anyway.. it /has/ to be done .. *mutter*

New pic in the gallery - I got to playing with the blue pencil, and the ink pen - not too shabby, if I /do/ say so myself..
Hey, I thought it came out good. ^^

Spider-phobes would probably not want to look though. ^_~

In other news - my fish died. >.<
*sigh* This is just my luck, I think - Mom's fish are /both/ doing well, the little female eats anything that falls in the little tank, and the male is flaring up whenever he catches sight of her, or his own reflection.. Heh. He's pretty, but not too bright. *amused*

Not entirely certain what I'm going to do now - Finding another one like mine is an expensive proposition, and all the local fishies are so .. common. Bleh. Well, I'll get the tank set up. Who knows, eh?

Gotta go check for chicken - I recklessly said I'd make Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner Sunday - and I'm feeding five. EEeeeep! I just realised - we have almost NO fresh veg! Yiiiii!

.... I'm doomed, eh? ^.~

Whoo!

Beach. Lincoln City beach, to be precise. Flew kites.
I've got access to about 12 kites now - a dual-line Trlby (and an add-on, to fly in train!) a cheap little stand-off dual-line stunter, a floppy blue/purple dual-line delta, a 45' dragon (with a dragon on it! ^^) a large diamond kite, two box kites (one standard, one that rotates as it flies - Mom's, /very/ impressive), a DC (delta-conye - the delta kite with the triangle keel), a paper fighter kite (too pretty to fly - but maybe someday..) .. Mom has an 'indoor' kite - a tiny dragonfly, and .. oh! I have a skate-board kite. *grins* Never flown it.
What was flown today, before the wind started blowing too hard, was the trlby (and later the pair, after I bought the add-on) and the roto-box. Got complements on the roto - /should have/ gotten pics! Ah well, we'll go again, and take Mom with. ^.~

I also discovered that the guy who runs Flying Things (one of the kite shops in Lincoln City) has light wind kites! The Beetle - a good light wind stunter, and what looked like a Wren. Might actually have been the Pro Wren, but I'm not sure - I'd need to take the catalogue and ask /lots/ of questions next I go. ^_~
(Anyone who's curious can go to Into the Wind and poke around - there's some beautiful wind art and yard decorations too.)

Anyway, good day. Tired, a bit - and sandy. I managed to hit myself in the face with the winders when I was launching the Trlby - it's a bitch to launch them all by yourself when you can't get the kite to stay down long enough for you to run back and grab the other end... that's what kept me getting the blue and purple delta airborne....... Single line - easy. Hold it up - wind grabs it - you're in business. Dual-line? ... Get a helper. I did get it flying, finally. Not too long after that, my 'Helper' got it's lines untangled! (I was using the lines for the cheap stand-off - I should wind 80' or so of dacron onto those winders - I dunno /what/ that stuff is that's on them now)

There was a guy there - he turned up a little after we did - who had a matched PAIR of dual-line kites he was flying. I think he had one in each hand, but I could be wrong - he was using a pair of quad-line handles, and I was too busy fighting with the blue and purple kite to either take pictures or go and ask him about it. Now, of course - I wish I'd done /both/! ^^

Oh oh oh! My fish came. *smirk* I now have a gold and black (with pale markings) betta. He's /gorgeous/. The tank of course, is still in the works. *shrugs* My Dad is working on the shelf - he forgot about it. Heh. Now all I have to do is rearrange everything. Again. *chuckles* Nothin' permanent, in here.. Nothing.

Accomplishments: Not a hell of a lot involving webpages. ^^
However, I've now been to the Oregon Zoo. We had a pretty good time, all in all - managed to avoid most of the monkeys (the lemurs were sort of interesting..) but there was a howling great crowd (I should have known - free admission. Of COURSE there's going to be a crowd. We should go again sometime - and pay for it.) and of course, most of the animals were avoiding us.
However, I have seen great big snakes, seen a lorrikeet close enough to damn near touch, and some godawful big spiders.
(Black widows and a few tarantulas. The rose-coloured one was playing hide and seek, naturally...).

Leopards and tigers ... The tiger, of course, didn't feel sociable... the Leopards did, though - pair of them decided to have a wrestling match right near one of the big windows. ^^

Anyway, we had fun. Next time, we may trek out to the Japanese Gardens and the Hoyt Arboritum - the Zoo was a day trip in and of itself.

... I'm really getting the hang of this stick-shift thing... ^_~

Okay, I take it back ... there IS a sort of an update.

Three new images in the Miscellanious gallery - an elven ranger - or maybe a druid *chuckles* peering through the thick grasses at you, another elf - heavily tattoo'd and showing off a little.. Heh.
And Eshana, proving a point. What it is, you'd have to ask her, but there you have it. ^^

Other news - 'Hidalgo' was very good - I quite recommend it.
'course, I tend to enjoy most the movies the critics hated. ^^
Anyway, it was a good movie. They didn't get into the romantic aspect (thank god, it would have ruined it if they had..) overmuch, and the race was fascinating to watch. A bit predictable - but you can't do much about /that/... ^^

Heh.
Forget about updates for a while - I've got a friend - from WAY the hell out of state! *laughs* - staying for a while.
We're having a pretty good time thus far - My feet're gonna hate me, but I'll manage. ^^

Tomorrow, I think we're going to go inflict ourselves on the local movie theatre and see 'Hidalgo' - THAT looks like fun, and not just 'cause Viggo Mortensen is starring as whatsisname. Hey - horse racing, tall dark guys swinging swords at each other and a cowboy a LONG way from home .. what more could you ask? (Well, a plot would be nice, but I won't bitch. ^_~)

In other news - I have mastered the manual transmission - occasional hiccups aside. Guess it's about damn time, eh?

Anyway - I am busy to the eyeballs, so don't expect anything like regular updates. ^^