Yes I know that is absolutely VITAL information and you're MUCH better off for having heard it (psh, whatever), but I finally got on the music player bandwagon.
My taste in music can be VERY weird and eclectic, so...yeahthereyougo.
I'm trying to work on my latest assignment picture for Gothique Beauty. In case any of you aren't familiar with the contest or just REALLY need something to look at, I'll share my last few shots:
7 Stages of Grief = ANGER
See accompanying poem HERE (near the bottom)
7 Stages of Grief = GUILT
See accompanying poem HERE (near the bottom)
7 Stages of Grief = DENIAL
See accompanying poem HERE (near the top)
Our latest assignment is BARGAINING. We still have a few days to work on it (actually, I thought the deadline was 2morrow, but it seems to be next Tuesday), but it's really really difficult and the ideas in my little pea brain don't translate so well onscreen. Sooooo...we'll see. Not sure how this one will turn out honestly.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
My Mean Little Pleco
I thought I'd share a pic with you all. A couple of nights ago I was up ridiculously late and checked in on my fish before going to bed. I keep this cool blue LED bubble curtain in there and sometimes keep the light on at night sans the bubbles.
Anyway, my plecostomus (around 12 inches long; just as mean and greedy as he can be) hangs out on the back wall often, and that night he was hanging upside down next to the LED light. It cast this WAY cool blue shade on him, and I tried to capture it as best I could (I could really use a new, decent camera, so please bear with the quality). I had to brighten it up a touch so that you could really see him, but the coloring and everything else is exactly as it was (click to enlarge):
It came out looking kinda dramatic! o_O
(by the way, if anyone knows exactly how to keep a solid image on a transparent mainbar, please let me know...)
Anyway, my plecostomus (around 12 inches long; just as mean and greedy as he can be) hangs out on the back wall often, and that night he was hanging upside down next to the LED light. It cast this WAY cool blue shade on him, and I tried to capture it as best I could (I could really use a new, decent camera, so please bear with the quality). I had to brighten it up a touch so that you could really see him, but the coloring and everything else is exactly as it was (click to enlarge):
It came out looking kinda dramatic! o_O
(by the way, if anyone knows exactly how to keep a solid image on a transparent mainbar, please let me know...)
Labels:
life stuff
Sim Exhibition Update: New Anime-Inspired Sim Pics
I just finished updating Sim Exhibition with new pics (7 new females). If I don't upload any of these sims, I will make some to upload that will have detailed lists of all cc and mods used (I use most of the major sliders and non-default skintones).
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Labels:
sim exhibition
Monday, April 26, 2010
Moar UPdatEs!
I just found out about TMN's response to my last blog post, and boy was I shocked! I had no idea they kept up with anything I said or did, LOL! But they gave some good advice, and I got some excellent responses and ideas from people in comments.
Sooooo...I'm going to start updating more. I won't be doing a 5-times-a-day type of deal, but I really do neglect the updating. What's the point of going to a blog every day for a week and not seeing ANYTHING new?
I'm working on an update for Sim Exhibition right now (I was doing that before I saw the Mare's Nest post, and now I'm lighting a fire under my butt to get it finished). I also want to create some sims that will actually be available for people to download (sorry to be so selfish with that...), so I'll get on that soon too.
Sooooo...I'm going to start updating more. I won't be doing a 5-times-a-day type of deal, but I really do neglect the updating. What's the point of going to a blog every day for a week and not seeing ANYTHING new?
I'm working on an update for Sim Exhibition right now (I was doing that before I saw the Mare's Nest post, and now I'm lighting a fire under my butt to get it finished). I also want to create some sims that will actually be available for people to download (sorry to be so selfish with that...), so I'll get on that soon too.
Friday, April 23, 2010
I need an angle, a niche
I feel like I need some sort of niche. Everyone has such unique blogs with SO much to offer -- some people are great at creating & uploading beautiful & unique sims, others have AWESOME stories, some bloggers always have something funny or insightful to say, and others blogs are just sweet-ass party central. And mine...is...meh.
I never come up with any cool stories or funny/quirky posts, rarely feature a Mare's Nest-esque exposé about the TS3 forum. I'd love to come up with something that will keep people entertained and interested in coming back (other than to see if I have updated over the past week), but I have no IDEA what to do!
Is there anything you guys would want to see? I'm at a loss...I just feel like I need to do SOMETHING to keep this place active and relevant...but what...?
I never come up with any cool stories or funny/quirky posts, rarely feature a Mare's Nest-esque exposé about the TS3 forum. I'd love to come up with something that will keep people entertained and interested in coming back (other than to see if I have updated over the past week), but I have no IDEA what to do!
Is there anything you guys would want to see? I'm at a loss...I just feel like I need to do SOMETHING to keep this place active and relevant...but what...?
Labels:
blog updates,
ponderings
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Not very good at updating, huh?
LOL I've been out of pocket for a few days, and I haven't had a decent update in MUCH longer than that! I'll post something decent after tomorrow -- we're F I N A L L Y getting a new ISP! I haven't had many problems with the internet provider we have now (Verizon), but they sent us this wooooonderful letter in the mail a few days ago saying that our service would end on May 31st because the would no longer be servicing our apartment complex.
Labels:
life stuff
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Just added a few new games here!
I'm a game freak (...okay, I'm just a freak in general, but you get the idea), and I know this page is littered with games. I just added some of my all-time favorites: Simon, Frogger, and Pac-Man. I should probably have all of these games grouped together...but whatever -- that's why it's called Bijou Sweeney's MADNESS, not Bijou Sweeney's Neat Tidy Organized Portfolio.
If you have a slow internet connection, the games might be choppy. If it's too much of an issue (especially with the page loading), let me know, and I'll axe some of 'em.
If you have a slow internet connection, the games might be choppy. If it's too much of an issue (especially with the page loading), let me know, and I'll axe some of 'em.
Labels:
blog updates,
games
Sleep Well Sweet Princess...my thoughts on a recent tragedy
I've been seething about this story for a while, but after watching Dr. Phil just now, I felt compelled to post about it. I just wanted to send out a prayer to the family of Phoebe Prince, the 15 year old girl who committed suicide presumably because of intense bullying. It's a sad commentary on the state of our world and our young people, and it's just as sad story period.
I've always wondered what exactly it is that makes people feel they have the right to torment others. I'm sure it's a combination of bad/lax/inefficient parenting, a lack or moral teaching, entitlement issues, peer pressure...many things. But no matter how you slice it, no matter what sort of label you want to put on it or how you want to make excuses for it or defend, it's just. plain. wrong. End of story. There's NO excuse for pushing someone to the brink of ending their own life. The shit ISN'T FUNNY. These demented prick children and their brain-dead gaggle of followers even went so far as to create an entire Facebook page MOCKING the girl's death, and that doesn't include all of the sickeningly evil, disgusting comments that people made on her own memorial page.
I have heard some vile, despicable, evil and demented things in my life, but this is among the lowest.
There are so many failures here it isn't even funny. The school, and even the entire district, failed Phoebe. We as a society failed this girl. It doesn't seem that a DAMN THING has been learned from the Columbine tragedy, and that was more than 10 years ago. People knew what was going on with those guys...school officials had been warned that something might happen, but it all went on deaf ears. Phoebe's mother tried to get help from school administrators, but was sadly met with indifference, disbelief, and bureaucratic bull.
I wish I had 5 minutes alone with those so-called "Mean Girls". Somebody needs to show them what "mean" REALLY can be. I swear that none of them would last 15 seconds in some schools...the whole thing infuriates me to the point of a migraine.
I was bullied relentlessly in Jr. High school. It lasted from 8 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, five days a week, every week until the end of the year, BOTH years. Prior to that, I had NEVER been bullied -- on the contrary, I was always the one that people came to for defense from bullies. I won't go into all the details here, but it was torture every day. I can't begin to tell some of the things that went through my head during that time, and when I look at Phoebe's story I can ONLY say 'there but by the grace of God go I'. It could've been me. It should've been me by many definitions, but thankfully I'm still here.
As horrible as my situation was, it almost pales in comparison to what some kids face these days. I was tortured relentlessly, but at least we didn't have the internet to worry about, or at least not in the same capacity that we have it now. Social networking has exploded since then -- I didn't have to contend with the big, scary mean bully girls AND Facebook & MySpace attacks AND lurid texts AND Tweets and all the other anonymous bullshit of today. In the same shoes, who can say how they would've reacted? Phoebe took the wrong way out -- in my mind, there's no question there, and no matter HOW dark the storm, it will PASS. But I understand her actions to such a degree that it literally makes me feel sick to my stomach. My heart bleeds for that girl, and for every other young person driven to such an end.
I am so goddamn sick and tired of this whole "Mean Girl" mentality -- it isn't even seen as a bad thing anymore. Those girls are cool and sexy and fun and trendy and mean and vicious...and people eat it UP. It's all just some big goddamn joke. School administrators have their heads in their asses...they're too worried about test scores and funding to pay attention to REAL issues going on in their own schools. Teachers have been lamenting these problems for YEARS -- they're on the battlefield and in the trenches and on the front line EVERY DAY and they see so much of these things that go on. And while some of them could be more diligent and are too lax with discipline, most of them simply have their hands tied; corporal punishment is non-existent, and you can barely even raise your goddamn VOICE at a kid now without getting slapped with a lawsuit. There's only so much they can do, but they MUST do more. And the administrators MUST do more. The parents ABSOLUTELY must do more -- be more involved in what's going on with their kids. They want to act like their children are perfect, well-behaved little angels, but they don't realize that they're the Devil's angels, not ones of sparkling light and peace and song.
I understand that many parents today know little or nothing of the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, and other social networking bullshit, but they HAVE to become informed. Once upon a time there were no televisons or VCRs, but parents had to learn to adapt to those technological wonders and get with the times. They had to be diligent and learn about different tv shows and movies and what effects they were having on their kids. Eventually we got Parental Controls, but that's only HALF of the answer -- a parent still has to be there physically, and many of these pussy parents of today haven't a clue. Not one damn clue.
Villages don't raise children anymore...whorish celebutantes do. Facebook Friends do. School cliques do. ANTM does. Are you fucking kidding me? Where are the examples? Where are the REAL role models? And somebody for the love of Christ, Buddha, and Vishnu tell me WHERE THE HELL IS DISCIPLINE? People are so damn afraid of coming across as "mean" or hurting someone's fragile little feelings or even getting sued that discipline -- REAL DISCIPLINE, not standing in a fucking corner for 2 minutes or getting SAC or saying "bad girl!"-- real discipline is just dead with the dodo. It makes me shake my head in disbelief and regret and just plain sadness.
Sometimes I sit around and think about what my future children will look like, how smart they'll be, or talented or funny. And then I have to ask myself if it's even FAIR to bring a child into this world. What sorts of challenges would they face? I'd like to believe that I'd be involved and be vigilant like my own mom was when I was growing up...but would it be enough? If someone tormented my child the way I was tormented, or the way they tortured Phoebe Prince, then heaven help them ALL -- I don't know WHAT I'd do. I'd most likely end up in prison, I can tell you that.
I want to believe that this fake, plastic, shallow, overly-sensitive, disillusioned society that we live in will evolve into something we can all be proud to be a part of, something that the gods themselves would smile upon (yours, mine, all of them). I want SO BADLY to believe that we can redeem ourselves somehow and at least begin to correct the grave mistakes and miscarriages of justice of the past. I want to believe...I want to have hope and faith in that. But I don't see it happening in my lifetime. Maybe it will take another couple of generations, once these kids' kids' kids are older and have children of their own, and once the internet and social networking are mere afterthoughts. Parents will be used to having to parent in these new and different ways, and they'll be able to look back on us in disbelief. Maybe they can usher in a new Golden Age, a social Renaissance, if you will. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man's torments." ...
...I guess I'll have to be tormented a little longer, then.
I've always wondered what exactly it is that makes people feel they have the right to torment others. I'm sure it's a combination of bad/lax/inefficient parenting, a lack or moral teaching, entitlement issues, peer pressure...many things. But no matter how you slice it, no matter what sort of label you want to put on it or how you want to make excuses for it or defend, it's just. plain. wrong. End of story. There's NO excuse for pushing someone to the brink of ending their own life. The shit ISN'T FUNNY. These demented prick children and their brain-dead gaggle of followers even went so far as to create an entire Facebook page MOCKING the girl's death, and that doesn't include all of the sickeningly evil, disgusting comments that people made on her own memorial page.
I have heard some vile, despicable, evil and demented things in my life, but this is among the lowest.
There are so many failures here it isn't even funny. The school, and even the entire district, failed Phoebe. We as a society failed this girl. It doesn't seem that a DAMN THING has been learned from the Columbine tragedy, and that was more than 10 years ago. People knew what was going on with those guys...school officials had been warned that something might happen, but it all went on deaf ears. Phoebe's mother tried to get help from school administrators, but was sadly met with indifference, disbelief, and bureaucratic bull.
I wish I had 5 minutes alone with those so-called "Mean Girls". Somebody needs to show them what "mean" REALLY can be. I swear that none of them would last 15 seconds in some schools...the whole thing infuriates me to the point of a migraine.
I was bullied relentlessly in Jr. High school. It lasted from 8 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, five days a week, every week until the end of the year, BOTH years. Prior to that, I had NEVER been bullied -- on the contrary, I was always the one that people came to for defense from bullies. I won't go into all the details here, but it was torture every day. I can't begin to tell some of the things that went through my head during that time, and when I look at Phoebe's story I can ONLY say 'there but by the grace of God go I'. It could've been me. It should've been me by many definitions, but thankfully I'm still here.
As horrible as my situation was, it almost pales in comparison to what some kids face these days. I was tortured relentlessly, but at least we didn't have the internet to worry about, or at least not in the same capacity that we have it now. Social networking has exploded since then -- I didn't have to contend with the big, scary mean bully girls AND Facebook & MySpace attacks AND lurid texts AND Tweets and all the other anonymous bullshit of today. In the same shoes, who can say how they would've reacted? Phoebe took the wrong way out -- in my mind, there's no question there, and no matter HOW dark the storm, it will PASS. But I understand her actions to such a degree that it literally makes me feel sick to my stomach. My heart bleeds for that girl, and for every other young person driven to such an end.
I am so goddamn sick and tired of this whole "Mean Girl" mentality -- it isn't even seen as a bad thing anymore. Those girls are cool and sexy and fun and trendy and mean and vicious...and people eat it UP. It's all just some big goddamn joke. School administrators have their heads in their asses...they're too worried about test scores and funding to pay attention to REAL issues going on in their own schools. Teachers have been lamenting these problems for YEARS -- they're on the battlefield and in the trenches and on the front line EVERY DAY and they see so much of these things that go on. And while some of them could be more diligent and are too lax with discipline, most of them simply have their hands tied; corporal punishment is non-existent, and you can barely even raise your goddamn VOICE at a kid now without getting slapped with a lawsuit. There's only so much they can do, but they MUST do more. And the administrators MUST do more. The parents ABSOLUTELY must do more -- be more involved in what's going on with their kids. They want to act like their children are perfect, well-behaved little angels, but they don't realize that they're the Devil's angels, not ones of sparkling light and peace and song.
I understand that many parents today know little or nothing of the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, and other social networking bullshit, but they HAVE to become informed. Once upon a time there were no televisons or VCRs, but parents had to learn to adapt to those technological wonders and get with the times. They had to be diligent and learn about different tv shows and movies and what effects they were having on their kids. Eventually we got Parental Controls, but that's only HALF of the answer -- a parent still has to be there physically, and many of these pussy parents of today haven't a clue. Not one damn clue.
Villages don't raise children anymore...whorish celebutantes do. Facebook Friends do. School cliques do. ANTM does. Are you fucking kidding me? Where are the examples? Where are the REAL role models? And somebody for the love of Christ, Buddha, and Vishnu tell me WHERE THE HELL IS DISCIPLINE? People are so damn afraid of coming across as "mean" or hurting someone's fragile little feelings or even getting sued that discipline -- REAL DISCIPLINE, not standing in a fucking corner for 2 minutes or getting SAC or saying "bad girl!"-- real discipline is just dead with the dodo. It makes me shake my head in disbelief and regret and just plain sadness.
Sometimes I sit around and think about what my future children will look like, how smart they'll be, or talented or funny. And then I have to ask myself if it's even FAIR to bring a child into this world. What sorts of challenges would they face? I'd like to believe that I'd be involved and be vigilant like my own mom was when I was growing up...but would it be enough? If someone tormented my child the way I was tormented, or the way they tortured Phoebe Prince, then heaven help them ALL -- I don't know WHAT I'd do. I'd most likely end up in prison, I can tell you that.
I want to believe that this fake, plastic, shallow, overly-sensitive, disillusioned society that we live in will evolve into something we can all be proud to be a part of, something that the gods themselves would smile upon (yours, mine, all of them). I want SO BADLY to believe that we can redeem ourselves somehow and at least begin to correct the grave mistakes and miscarriages of justice of the past. I want to believe...I want to have hope and faith in that. But I don't see it happening in my lifetime. Maybe it will take another couple of generations, once these kids' kids' kids are older and have children of their own, and once the internet and social networking are mere afterthoughts. Parents will be used to having to parent in these new and different ways, and they'll be able to look back on us in disbelief. Maybe they can usher in a new Golden Age, a social Renaissance, if you will. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man's torments." ...
...I guess I'll have to be tormented a little longer, then.
Labels:
ponderings,
social discussion
Monday, April 5, 2010
Another Casualty of War
Kelle announced today that she's leaving the TS3 Forum.
While I'm REALLY sad and disappointed about her decision to leave, I'm MORE sad and disappointed at the CIRCUMSTANCES that have DRIVEN her and others to make that decision. I'm completely supportive of her and anyone else who chooses to do so, and I don't think she should be penalized one bit by community members, n00b or no n00b.
While I'm REALLY sad and disappointed about her decision to leave, I'm MORE sad and disappointed at the CIRCUMSTANCES that have DRIVEN her and others to make that decision. I'm completely supportive of her and anyone else who chooses to do so, and I don't think she should be penalized one bit by community members, n00b or no n00b.
Labels:
forum issues,
rant
Friday, April 2, 2010
Now I lay me down...to...*ssnnnoooooorrre...*
I have been up working on this blog for an embarrassingly long amount of time...I'm a beginner with all this stuff, so please forgive and don't laugh! Or...whatever. Laugh, knock yourself out. I sure have!
Anyway, to celebrate being done with this for the...morning...I watched one of my favorite online vids, a crazy-funny prank call. It's not everyone's sense of humor, but I'm in stitches every time I watch it. Enjoy!
http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/3/The-Greatest-Prank-Call-Ever-691114.html
And by the way, all of my blog links were somehow mysteriously erased, so I'll have to go back and re-list all of them. I'll have them back up asap!
Anyway, to celebrate being done with this for the...morning...I watched one of my favorite online vids, a crazy-funny prank call. It's not everyone's sense of humor, but I'm in stitches every time I watch it. Enjoy!
http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/3/The-Greatest-Prank-Call-Ever-691114.html
And by the way, all of my blog links were somehow mysteriously erased, so I'll have to go back and re-list all of them. I'll have them back up asap!
Labels:
funny vids
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Animal Madness!
Not much to tell just yet -- while I'm thinking of something worthwhile to say, check out my new animal friends! Enjoy watching my frog gobble up flies (which you can also feed to him yourself), play turtle bumper-cars, or waddle along with the penguins.
Like I said...animal madness!
Like I said...animal madness!
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