Art, Websites, Apocalypse, EA and RP

I love making websites, the art involved in coding, layouts and images is really interesting to me. I started making a rp site, which I wasn't really thinking of opening because I only rped on a friends site and didn't feel the need to get involved in a second one, I just wanted an art project. However, the website I was rping on closed and I decided that I might as well open the one I was working on. All the pages are based off of quotes from Emilie Autumn's new CD (FLAG), which was not so easy to work in considering the site is about the apocalypse.

Anyway, I don't know if anyone is interested in role-playing sites, but I figured I could at least offer. If anything I invite you to please look at at the purdy pages I toiled over.

Heres the link to the site

Blahblahblah, Cute Bat Picture!

(My "post title" brain machine thing broke xP)

I am doing an independent field study project for my sociology class where I am studying the formation of stereotypes and a snazzy little hypothesis about them that I'm not suppose to talk about because I am inviting the lovely bloggers of the world to participate.

It's really simple, actually. Just record or type up the answers to a short (one side of one page) questionnaire and send them back to me. You don't have to include any information you don't want to include. All I ask is that you are as honest as possible. It's really important to me to involve the blogging community into the project so that I could get answers from across the globe.

So, if it so tickles you! Please email me at talia.wagner (at) pcae.k12.mn.us.... (my school email) for the questions or any questions you may have...

My grade and I would find that really swell... (insert clever brain swelling joke here. xD or maybe not...) now here's the cutest picture of a bat EVER!

Theatre is Evil.

One of my favorite musical artists, Amanda Palmer, has just released a new CD with The Grand Theft Orchestra named "Theatre is Evil." I first came across Amanda Palmer years ago when I heard "Coin Operated Boy" which is a song done by Brian Viglione and herself as apart of The Dresden Dolls. I've followed her ever since. She has a bold style of playing the piano and emotion filled lyrics. She's proven that she can do a pretty song, but not all of her songs are meant to be such. I think my favorite part of her music is the little pieces of sarcasm in her songs and the way she can take a really serious or sad topic and make it something upbeat.

The style of her CD's change vastly, it's rarely the same sound from album to album. "Theatre is Evil" is her most different CD yet, its much more.. rock-ish... I guess... It's different anyway. But still amazing. Amanda Palmer has a really great idea of "Pay What You Want" when it comes to the release of her music, on her website she says "i firmly believe in music being as free as possible. unlocked. shared and spread. i believe that in order for artists to survive and create, their audiences need to step up and directly support them. honor system. no judgment. if you're broke- take it. if you love it, come back and kick in later when you have the money. if you're rich, think about who you might be karmically covering if you really love this record." She has a version of her album available for free download and another where you can choose to pay any of five dollar increments between 1$ and 20$. The actual CD is ten dollars. Her website also sells other CD's, posters, vinyl, Apparel and my favorite thing of all-- The Companion. With every album she releases a beautiful Companion Book filled with art, sheet music <3, hand written bits, stories behind her songs and tons of other tidbits. I have "The Dresden Dolls" and the "Virginia" companion book. I'm hoping to get the "Who Killed Amanda Palmer" and "Theatre is Evil" books for the holidays.

Below are a couple music videos from her new album, but I also suggest you go here and here to watch more of them. She has really great music videos that really sing with her songs. Both of the music videos are uncensored. The Killing Type gets bloody at the end and Want It Back contains a small bit of nudity. They're both of artistic tastefulness. But you are thusly warned. ^^

The Killing Type-

Want It Back-

Again, you can get her album and other merchandise, keep up with the band or whatever at her website.

New Rock Boots!

Last spring break I spent my week trapped on a chair for hours on end whilst I baby sat creepy old construction workers as they put sprinklers into the apartments, (You know, after the building burned down.)
I was watching TV but they kept bumping the satellite, so I decided to read. 14 books later, (They were short, around two hundred pages) ...and they were still working. So I spent the rest of my time watching the Direct TV symbol travel across the screen. Everyday for a week. It sucked, they left the door wide open for hours, walked in and out without knocking and left a ladder blocking the only path I had from my chair to the rest of the house.
Good came of this though, my mother in return gave me 200$ to spend on a pair of New Rock Boots, which I never thought I'd ever be able to get due to my general high school poorness.

It took some sorting through the thousand styles, and some persuading to buy from a European country (American companies tack on an extra hundred dollars) but finally I had a pair ordered.
The people there were really nice, the first pair that I ordered was "waiting fulfillment" for a few days before we were told that the only pair they had left was damaged but they gave us the exact amount in store credit. This bothered my mother to no end but I had my second pair, which I loved ten time more, picked out within five minutes of the notice.
Shipping cost just under thirty bucks, which is better than it could have been. They arrive much quicker than I expected, the box was still in good condition which is nice because the shoes that I've been ordering lately come in destroyed boxes. The shoes themselves came perfect.
The only grumble I had was that I'm a size 8 in American W omens, which translates into a half size. I went with the half size down rather than half size up and now I'm trying to break them in/stretch them out a bit. They're not unbearably tight and I think they'll fit wonderfully after wearing them for a week or so.
They're so comfortable, to me it feels like walking on a trampoline. I've been wearing converse a lot recently so that I can practice driving so they're a bit heavier than I'm use to. But I hate tennis shoes.
I can't take any pictures now because I'm at school but here's a store picture:

 In other news, my Devil's Carnival DVD arrived as well, same day-- yesterday. While not nearly as shiny as my new stomp-y boots, still exciting. I had a dream last night that because of the DVDs release my school was playing the soundtrack over and over again throughout the intercom system, (The possibilities of a crazy art school...) and it was driving me insane.

Schools silent today. Hope you all are having good days with shiny stomp-y boots weighing down your feet.

Language of Music

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(CHEESY POST TITLE ALERT!)
Nah, I wanted to talk today about bands whose lyrics are in a language you can't understand. I have no problem admitting that 90% of the bands I regularly listen to are in English. Not so much because I have a problem with music in other languages, rather living in America and reading in English I far more often run across bands of the same language.

But everything, including art including music, travels so quickly these days that I run into all sorts of music. Korean bands were insanely popular at my previous high school, Japanese rock is growing in popularity and on a more alternative level: Goth is a worldwide subculture so it makes sense that there are goth bands of many languages.

Apart from what I randomly stumble into, awhile ago I downloaded "Unquiet Grave- The Ultimate Goth Collection" to give me the opportunity of  hearing different bands and there are a few songs of various languages (Eventually I'll do a review of album but I haven't finished sorting through what I like and what doesn't fit my tastes.) Also, reading/ listening to Bats and Bunnies "Tuesday Tunes" has introduced me to a few German bands, (Xmal Deutschland, whom I really like and Welle: Erdball).

I want to know what you guys think of bands whose lyrics you can't understand. It is true that music is a universal language, but do you miss out by not getting the lyrics? Does it not matter if the melody is good? Do you look up the lyrics?

Lyrics are something I pay close attention to in songs and that is important to me but it's not something that keeps me from liking a band with good melodies and harmonies. (Well, shallow lyrics sometimes turns me off of a band). I love how different languages flow... differently but I also usually end up looking for some sort of translation out of curiosity. But translations are very open to different interpretations as far as syntax and word choices are concerned, so how can you really get the full artistic picture of a song without understanding the language?

The nice thing about music or most art in general is the ability for the viewer/reader/listener to come up with their own meaning and perspective within the piece, so on the other hand, you could argue that it doesn't matter if you understand the language or not.

I haven't really explored non-English music a terrible amount, but I'd like to brush of the boundry in the future so I'm curious to other perspectives. Any non-English bands you absolutely love?

In other news, my father got fancy new camera that sits on his shelf, free for my personal usage. I love it, (I love photography.) I've also settled in nicely to the new school year so I'm able to post more frequently AND keep up with the posts of the blogs I follow. (and I do honestly go through and read all the posts when I'm keeping up.)

Source: Me! ^^ Yay for mirrors.

My Devil's Carnival Experience/Review

(Note: The main body of this post is a piece of writing I've recently done for my Literary Arts class. I wrote it to not focus on the Devil's Carnival as much as my experience afterwards, I've added parts to round out the experience but I'm using the piece because I really wanted to focus on the two parts, both The Devil's Carnival, and my experience, but also a lot about the after experience which I think might be relate-able to many of the bloggers and maybe I can get some personal advice out of it.)

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Today was the first day that I’ve listened to the Devil’s Carnival soundtrack since seeing it this summer. For those who aren’t aware, the Devil’s Carnival is a movie series created by Terrance Zdunich (Zuh-doon-itch) and Darren Bousman, the same pair who came together to write and direct Repo! (Exclamation point). Darren also directed Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV.  

 The first episode came out this summer. We went to the encore tour viewing because we missed the original. The ‘we’ being my father and I, and I’ve already said that we don’t much get along. The event ran for 10pm to 2am and expectedly, we got in a fight before we left because I was running late. It’s hard to tie corset laces tight enough by yourself but I am usually to stubborn to ask for help until the clock strikes ‘desperate.’ The amazing thing was however that after we got in the car we stopped fighting. We got along quite well in-fact, although there wasn’t much talking. It didn’t matter much anyway, we were greeted by a long line that I'm not convinced would be much shorter or less enjoyable had we gotten there earlier. A young woman dressed in a deliciously Victorianeque carnie outfit walked up and down the line, chatting, breathing fire, taking piggy back rides and various combinations of all three at one time; making sure that we would not have one dull moment while there. 

The line moved quickly once it got started and we stood, waiting for the doors to open, in the foyer of the theater. It was one of the most amazing things for me, as I don't get to spend time with many other alternatives, to see everyone so different, so unique and interesting hanging out in one place. The snack counter was open, although my father and I didn't get anything. Soon we were ushered into the theater seats. 

As we sat down, another lovely woman, similarly dressed called to our attention "Hey!" she said, "The movie isn't starting until every one of these signed soundtracks are sold. There's only five thousand total so get them while you can!" Everyone laughed and we threw money at her and got CD thrown back. When there was another calm moment I urged  my father to move over to seats to the side of the theater. He obliged but not full-heartedly, "Is it a play? A movie?" he asked. And I shrugged,  I went in with no expectations, I hardly knew what it was about. I refused to look at the promo, or hear songs before I saw the movie. I wanted to go in completely open minded with the experience of just being there.

"Well if a play then these seats will be fine, but if its a movie the other seats we had were the best in the house." 

"For you," I said, laughing, "You're tall, I can't see over the top hats and hair thingies! And they are awfully pretty but not exactly why I'm here."

The girl who sold the CDs went up on stage and introduced new items, entertained us during downtimes and just had fun. The production also hired a local sideshow from whatever city they stopped in and while I don't remember the name of the pair that preformed for us, I remember me, my father, and everyone else wincing. Especially when he slapped his hands on a board with mousetraps on every finger. 

There was a Repo! sing along, which I laughed delightedly at and watched, but I've never watched Repo! so I sadly couldn't participate. (I have it, just haven't gotten around to watching it.) 

Then we were introduced to Darren and Terrance, and took our oaths to sinfully be on our best behavior and not record parts of the movie (etc. etc.) Then it finally started!
 

The movie is amazing. I don't want to say to much, but, music is beautiful, even in the parts where its not suppose to be. The set, characters, costumes, camera work... all amazing. Honestly, the best way to describe it is that its something you watch and then wish actually existed so that you might actually get to go and be a carnie.  The basic plot-line of this episode is that three souls ("a conniving kleptomaniac, a gullible teenager and an obsessed father") die and find themselves being tested in Lucifer's playground--The Devil's Carnival. The stories are loosely based off of Aesop's Fables with a twist (of a knife.)

The two masterminds came back after the movie for Q/A. There were serious questions, funny questions and a multitude of entertaining answers. At one point one of them was talking about how before such sessions they sat down and thought about some questions that could pop up and  how they could answer them, and you could definitely tell when someone asked something unexpected. (One person asked "if you had to get a tattoo of someones face who would it be, why, and on what part of your body?" and they passed the microphone six times before answering. Another great thing about it was that the lovely lady who was up on stage and selling disks also answered questions from her perspective to.  And by that point the crowd of strangers was very intimate, like an odd family. 

After questions died down we were instructed that we could leave along the left aisle or wait in the right aisle to buy merchandise and meet Terrance and Darren. We were also advised to "boo"  at the people leaving, which we amusingly enough did. (One quit-wit shouting "go to heaven!"). We waited in line for what felt like ever, although it was not entirely boring. I spent a good chunk of my cash pouncing on things that went on a "half price for the next three minutes while Darren and Terrance go on a quick potty break" I ended up with a signed soundtrack (4009 out of 5000), two pre-signed posters that my father and I got with our tickets, a Painted Doll (Emilie Autumn) poster that I got signed and a deck of artistic poster cards for each of the characters. 

I'm one of those people who, if I can't think of anything to say, am perfectly happy to not say anything rather than flail for random words. I was still in happy shock at the evening, which was nothing like I've ever been to. (all the concerts recently are 18+). But they seemed like normal people and I didn't feel the need, (or on principle want to) fawn and fluster at Terrance and Darren's feet when I walked up to get my poster signed. That and it was one thirty in the morning and my brain was dying. But I think they might have felt slightly awkward as they introduced themselves to me, which made me laugh because I was there for their autograph and already a fan of them both just by the movie. I didn’t see them as ‘amazing Mr. Zdunich and the incredible Sir Bousman.’ Rather I saw them as, like I’ve been writing, Darren and Terrance: warm and friendly, and probably cool to hang out with. 

Plus I was so tired that by that point, the evening was becoming less of a moment and more of a memory. And though it will eventually be a happy memory, and I suppose even now is, the evening left me nearly debilitated in pain for the next week-- pain so strongly psychological that it became a physical ache. Surely I could point to the spot inside of me that hurt and contemplated, nay plotted for days of how to cut it out as if that would solve the problem. You see, the event seemed to be something that should be life changing. It felt important, like things would never been the same after-- and then it threw me back into a tortuously normal life that I had never before questioned. But I did now (which I suppose, in actuality, should make it an important moment), I asked “am I happy?” and the pain in my near my heart screamed, “No! You’re not happy!” Because I was envious of them; not so much even of Terrance or Darren, but of the burlesque fire-breathers who laughed in entertained in stripy gartered tights, bustled skirts and tight stringed corsets. They were living! Not stably or easily I’m sure but fully, in the moment with what made them happy, even if they risked falling off the wire with no safety net below.

                That’s where I want to be when I get out of school but I just live. And the life set up for me is filled with just living. Set up to walk a staircase of perfectly parallel steps in a color not offensive to my family, guard railings on either side of me. But I have no clue how to break into where ever they are, living so vivaciously. And, being brought up so practical, I don’t know if I’d allow myself the chance if it was offered to me. So for a week I lounged about, doing everything I could to rid my head of the memory but feeling utterly trapped all the same. 

After a while it subsided which brings me back to today, where for the first time I’ve listened to the CD. Pain flares through me with every beautifully sharpened note and recalled memory, and I feel trapped all over again, hiding from the life I just live and cradling the aching spot. I once again push it all away so that I might be happy with all the same that I live in. The songs sing through my head uncontrollably, teasingly and I shove them off with another catching tune of incredibly different taste. But this song just enforces my prison.

“Olly, Olly Oxen Free,” It mocks in my ear

“All the people you will never be.”

 I struggle, hapless in my cell, throw myself pointlessly at the fail-safe walls my mind created without permission. Finally I fall to the floor and glare at the teasing voices running through my head. I appeal to the manipulative side of me who enjoys such games, irony and small amusements by responding with more lyrics.

“Olly ollly olly olly

Higher than the king can

See no evil

Hear no evil

Capture me

And throw the key.”

I’m daring it, sarcastically, disdainfully but it certainly doesn’t seem to see it like that. The lyrics, the walls hug me tightly as if given permission. Chipping away at all the barricades until finally I’m forced to succumb and listen to them, sitting there with the ache, knowing that it’d still be there no matter how many different pairs of scissors I’d use to cut it out. For all my fail-safes I’ve forgotten for leave myself a way out of the ‘normal’ I thought I’d be happy in. I fall asleep singing desperately along to the song.

“See no evil,

Hear no evil,

Capture me and throw the key away.”

I'm writing this post now because the DVD is available for pre-order, and yes, in spite of my melodramatic response I've pre-ordered it. According to their website the DVD is available October 23. I'd high recommend getting it whether you were able to see it during its tour or not. I'd also recommend going to any future episodes. 

On a personal bit, the experience has me thinking of what I want to do with my life. I know many of the bloggers are artists, crafters, street-performers and otherwise partakers in otherwise eclectic hobbies and occupations; so I ask of you: What do you do? How did you get into an artistic scene, any tips or experiences to share? Might be a good future blog-post to think about. ;D

*Lyrics: Olly Olly Oxen Free--Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra. 
**Pictures of characters from the Devil's Carnival Website (Link posted above.)

Birthday Post!... but not mine...

I made this video forever ago, when it was my Amazon's birthday. One of her favorite songs to chatter to is Ultravioletfly by I:Scintilla. That is the song that is playing with this video. Ironically enough, I didn't alter the video's speed in anyway and she is playing to the beat of the song for the most part. This form of play is her favorite past time. She turned thirteen in July I believe.

Life Update

Actually, to be honest its more along the lines of "Gone Schooling" which I suppose in the right context could still be about riding, but these are not such correct contexts. I'm finally settling down into the new school year. If you're one of the rare people that have been following my personal blurbs I started going to Perpich. Which is an arts school. I get here at 7:30 and get picked up at 5:20. However, I've reached the point where I really will start rebuilding the blog, honestly this time. I have plenty of free time with the laptop in quiet moments of the school day. (For example now, since its during lunch.) You can expect the posts to start flowing again this week. Maybe. Also, now that my Lit Art class (I'm going to the art school for Literary Arts, we have a two hour class at the end of the day.) forces me to write a ridiculous amount, I've gotten out of my writers block. I have about ten half written blog posts in my drafts.

I hope everything has been going okay for everyone?

More Later,
<3

Photography Soiree

A couple of months ago my photography partner thought it would be a wonderful idea for the two of us to break out our summer clothes and go take pictures at the nearby lake. Since I don't particularly love my picture taken, nor believe that March/April are summer months, I resisted against this suggestion. However I was persuaded in the end and we set out with my crappy camera.
Scenery shots:

I would've been happy with nature photos alone, but I was ultimately there to take my photography partner's picture, (She loves having her photograph taken). Because I didn't ask permission to put up pictures of her, I will only show two of my favorites:

And of course she insisted that she take pictures of me. I think together we took over two hundred photographs. Although it didn't seem like that many! I have to admit that despite the faint tan line and freezing cold water, I had fun hanging out with her. These ones are of me, taken by her:

I was so worried about falling off the tree and into the water, but the view that it gave was so lovely that I risked the life of my camera to take a picture of each side:

Still Breathing

It's been forever since my last post so before I jump back into my semi-regular posting I thought I'd send a shout that I am still alive.
I have many posts to catch up on and much news to share, but here's a couple of quick things:

Around the time I was swept up by AP testing and finals and such I found out that I was accepted into the literary program of a small art school. The school day is a bit longer to compensate for the program's class on top of the normal high school classes but I've never heard any complaints about the longer school day and I'm absolutely ecstatic about being accepted in.

I've found Gwydion a new home that was perfect for him. The woman who bought him offered me another bird but after careful consideration I realized that not only did I not desire a new one, I also would be making a mistake to get one.
However, after a while the house seemed unbalanced. For over half my life we've had two cats, a dog, two birds and a small animal of some sort. After the usual pro/con arguments (and after seeing if I could afford it) I decided to get a Royal Python. I've always liked Royal Pythons because they have the beauty of large constrictor snakes in small packages but I hadn't worked with snakes all that much. Lizards yes, snakes no.
I fell in love with a baby Super Pastel Royal while I was visiting a reptile store in the city that also happens to be a reputable breeder thus Morpheus became a part of the household.

He's 11 months old now, I believe. He's very docile, slightly head-shy and nervous about being submerged into water. Sheds well, eats well, active, interested in his surroundings. I'd consider him sweet although snakes don't exactly love you like a kitten would.

I'm going to keep this post short because I have a bunch of other planned out posts to write and many of blogs to catch up on reading. Welcome to summer everyone, hope things are pleasant.

Birthday Post~

Today's my birthday, so I figured I should post. I turned 16, however, today has kinda sucked. Woke up late, missed the bus, was late to school, looked awful, felt awful. etc, etc. It put me in a downward spiral for the next six hours until I lectured myself and got over it.
Just turn up the radio in your head and ignore the sullen anger, frivolous emotion that it is.

I also just got the news that I can't re-pierce my lip until I get my hard-copy photo permit, I only have the paper version at the moment. I'm trying to be patient but my piercing was important to me and I was really looking forward to getting it done this weekend. It's my fault, I don't care much about driving at the moment so it's taken me forever to get my permit. 

To add onto this I might've found Gwydion a new home. Which is good, it's what is best for him. But I really do like the little guy.
Plus it rarely feels like my birthday on the actual day because I always end up opening presents on other days. Since this is the case I'll have to wait a while before showing what I get.

It wasn't all bad, however. The furniture store brought over our new couch, and I went and picked out a lamp to go with it since we couldn't fit a table lamp like before and there is no overhead living room light. My parents don't seem to mind that their house is slowly being taken over with subtle gothy influences.

Like always, check to see if you won the give-away. Sorry for lack of links and pictures, simple post today. Better ones to come, promise.

Cogs, Gears and... Stirrups?

Tonight's post is about mechanical horses. No, we're not talking about carousels or coin operated machines, we are talking mobile, engine powered machines. Let us start with a few examples throughout history:

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(1933 but possibly before 1915) I wanted to start this one because even though it isn't engine powered, or mobile, it is one of the earliest I came across in my research. I even found rumors that they were used as early as WWI. The picture describes the use for these wooden horses better than I would.

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(1925) While this is a modern picture, the mechanical horse in the above photograph was (U.S.) President Calvin Coolidge's. It was said that he was allergic to horses and that the machine was given to him as a gag gift, but after he rode it on a dare he found out he absolutely loved it. He was said to ride it often and even took it home with him after his presidency. It supposedly had four gaits.

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(1933) This was the earliest metal one I came across, it's for children and is claimed to have worked. Visually, it is not screaming horse, however it would've presented great technological possibilities and imaginations.

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 (1947) The last two pictures are a magazine article about "Blowtorch" who is a very successful mechanical horse. While it still looks slightly off, it looks much more like a horse than the previous one. I know it's a bit a text, but I'd suggest reading the article, I personally thought it was fairly interesting.

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(1951) This picture is actually of the 1954 version, however it did not change much over the years outwardly. It was said to work fairly well, especially on brick and to be strong enough to pull an man. It is small but realistic and has four gaits, not to mention that fact that it pulls a cart behind it.

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(1982 was first developed) The Equicizer is the machine shown above. The first is the earlier, standard version while the bottom was a modified version actually use for shooting a few scenes in the movie "Seabiscuit." While not mobile and only partially realistic, the Equicizer is a good machine to end off on as useful, modern, mechanical horses. These horses are used in teaching, rehabilitating and therapy.

This leads beautifully into the next focus of the post, my personal opinion on mechanical horses. I have a fairly basic standpoint when it comes to them, especially as a tool in the actual riding of horses. I see their usefulness in rehabilitating injured riders, and as therapy in multiple areas, however I simply do not agree that they would be especially useful for many aspects of learning how to ride. Especially if the rider is just a beginner. Machines have a set way of doing things, they are predictable. Horses on the other hand are not predictable, they are creatures who think, who have fears and likes/dislikes. I believe it is unfair to have a rider get use to a machine and then throw them on an actual animal.
Also, riding is a partnership. Relationships and trust must be formed between the horse and rider; and the rider must understand that horses might disagree with what you're asking them to do. I believe it is important for riders early on to understand that sometimes horses will be confused on what you want them to do, sometimes horses will get spooked and jump or takeoff, sometimes a horses gait will be disjointed and that riders should learn early on how to take care of these things. Machines don't make mistakes, so there is nothing to to fix.
Riders also must learn early on to anticipate their horses flaws. Every horse will have something that they don't want to do and some way to get out of it. Some, for example, will go around jumps or refuse them, others only like going clockwise or counter-clockwise, some will be aggressive towards other horses or horse reflections, some will tend to get antsy and speed up or prance in place. It is the job of the rider to proactively keep these from happening. Machines do not have flaws.
Keeping in mind that I see strong advantages in rehabilitation and therapy, I ultimately believe that riding is a team sport, and while the team involves only you and the horse, it is still a unit that learns and grows together.

On an end note, don't forget to check the results of my giveaway to see if you were one of the lucky winners!

Golden Hearts Giveaway Winners!!

Those who entered were put into Random.org's List Randomizer as many number of times as they had entered. I took the first person from the first randomized list and then the first person from the second randomized list for who got first choice and who got the remaining piece.

The first winner and the one to the right of first pick is... (Drum-roll please):
The lovely Green Fairy at http://sydneysomething.blogspot.com aka If I Only Were a Goth aka "The Shiny Green Blog" if you follow my thought process.

The winner of the second list, thus the second winner yet still not second place is... (Again, it'd be helpful to have a drum-roll here):
Kitty Lovett; the Unadulterated Cat Anonymousgothcat.blogspot.com aka Bloggery of a Gothcat aka "The Blog of Cat Awesomeness".

Congratulations you guys! I'll need first pick's preference. You can just choose, or you two can work out who gets what, doesn't much matter to me. Then I'll also need your e-mail addresses then we can do addresses and measurements and such via web-mail. Just put the info in the comment section below the page, I'll delete your email addresses from the comments as soon as I get them.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'm on the laptop today with people working on the sprinklers and I'm being lazy. =P Thanks to all who entered, all the store name ideas, all the new followers and all the nice comments that made my days.

And one last thing, the two blogs above are awesome, read them if you don't already. (Who would've thought? Winners get free advertising too!)

Following the Month's Theme...

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 Since I've been doing random bits of posts all month and the months almost over, I figured I'd just keep with it. The only real reason to this post is to remind everyone that my giveaway ends tomorrow. I was worried I'd have a whole three people participate, but I'm rather happy with how it's turned out. I'm still contemplating all the names for the Etsy store (Or if I should even start one) but I'll be using at least one of everyone's names as a title for a piece of jewelry.
I was also pleasantly surprised today when I stumbled across blogger to find that I had 32 followers. That's thirty-two people who went to the effort of pushing the "Follow" button in the corner so that I could tell myself I wasn't just writing to air. =3

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I've been spending my day with red dye. When I was buying it, I got the darker red instead of the lighter because I didn't want it to seem pink or orange. However, this color looked a whole lot like pink after I rinsed it so I went back over it with another bit of dye. This is why red is not a color I particularly care for. Actually, it's because of a timed puzzle game I played when I was a child, but you don't need to know that.

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 I'm still not having any luck re-homing my darling bird. Which isn't surprising as chicks are born in the spring and my bird is in her terrible two's and hormonal... She was cute today though, I kissed her head and she made a kissy sound against my hand as she tried to preen my invisible hand feathers. I've gotten her to stop throwing fits too, now she just says "hellohellohello (ect)" Its fairly warm so I'll probably give her a bath/shower today. I'll make sure to take pictures of her rolling around in the sink.

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Other than that I've been reading the Stephanie Plum books recently. But wait, didn't you say you 
weren't going to read those anymore?! Yep; I also said they were highly amusing books. After my hit or miss week I figured I deserved to spend a few days laughing at someonelse's mistakes. Especially since I'll be spending my spring break watching strangers tear down my walls to install sprinklers in the house. (To bad they didn't do that before half the building burned down.)

Oh, and about the horse pictures: I've been contemplating mechanical horses lately. I'd share my thoughts, but I think I'll save it for a winded equine post later.