Christmas Day

Yeah, it’s been a couple weeks ago. I’m just now getting around to moving the pictures off my card and editing them.

You might recall our last miserable Christmas. Jared was in Afghanistan, I was sick, my parents were sick, Grandma ended up in the hospital, and we had no tree. This Christmas was a HUGE improvement, Jared was back, everyone was healthy, but we still didn’t have a tree. Instead we used a poinsettia on the piano bench. :)

After I took this picture I kind of forgot about taking any more until we got over to Grandma’s house.

I gave my cousins two “Simon’s Cat” books for Christmas. If you haven’t seen any of those videos, you really need to. Just search for “Simon’s Cat” on YouTube. They are SO funny!

Jared gave both Mom and Grandma camel hair blankets that he bought in Afghanistan.

As you can see, I didn’t take many pictures that day. The next two days I took quite a few more though, as I went to two after Christmas parties. Those will have to wait for now…

To be continued… :)

Vintage Photographs #2

You probably recall awhile back when I posted about learning how to restore photos for my digital photography class, and then using what I’d learned to restore some pictures for my grandma. I posted the before and after versions which you can find HERE if you’d like to see them again. You might also recall that I mentioned I was working on some more to use in a Christmas gift for her.

Well, I finished the last 6 that she had given me when I started the photo restoration assignment for school. I put them all into an album which I gave to her for Christmas. She really liked it and I told her I would do some more and have them printed and keep adding to her album. And of course, I will share my progress here as well, so here are the most recent pictures for my grandma’s album.

That is my Grandma on the right. That may be her mother in the middle, but I’m not sure who the little girl is. You can’t really tell with these pictures, but there were little cracks and scratches, and tiny little pieces missing from the original. The online version is too small for those imperfections to be very noticeable.

  

This is a picture of my Grandma and Grandpa.

  

I do not know who these two women are.

  

My Grandma.

  

I don’t know who this woman is. And again, most of what was wrong with this photo you can see at this size on the internet, with the exception of that crusty spot over her fingers.

This is a picture of my Grandma’s mom, and those are her two older brothers. There was some writing on the back from her mother who had sent this picture to a friend some time in the distant past. She wrote to her friend, “Don’t look at me.” Which I found to be hilarious. :D

Grandma recently gave me an envelope with more pictures that she would like to have restored, so when I get the chance, I will be working on them. But, school starts again tomorrow already, so I’m not sure when I‘ll have a whole lot of free time. When I finish some of them I will post them for you all to see.

My Introduction To Cryptozoology

As I was writing my blog posts for my papers about cryptozoology, I got to reminiscing about how I first got interested in cryptozoology. My brother reminded me awhile back of a conference we went to as kids, and as I thought about it I realized, my fascination with cryptozoology began at that conference. It could have been a homeschooler’s event, or it could have been a creation science event. It may have been both, but I couldn’t remember. I really couldn’t remember much of anything about that day except the speaker talked about dinosaurs.
The main speaker talked about an expedition to find a dinosaur, from the details I remembered about the dinosaur it was probably the Mokele Mbembe. I couldn’t remember many of the fine details of the story he told, but I did remember he claimed they found a live dinosaur in an African swamp. A long necked dinosaur, like an Apatosaurus. Something had happened earlier that day and they did not have their video equipment, or it had been ruined, again, I couldn’t remember, but I thought the guy said that the only thing they had working was an audio recorder, which they used to capture the sounds the creature made. He played it for us and said they had run it through every database of animal sounds they could and no computer could identify it. He seemed sincere, and I would love it if it was true, but I’d never heard this story since then. I’ve tried to keep up to date with dinosaur-related Creation science, and cryptozoology, and in neither field had I found a similar story, so I really couldn’t say one way or the other.
After I typed out that memory, I stopped writing to do an internet search. I really wanted to find something, ANYTHING about that guy that matched my memory and that would help me remember the story better. My search turned up almost nothing. Except for ONE single post on an internet forum with details that matched my memory.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread343548/pg1
I’ll copy the forum post here in case the link goes dead sometime in the future. I’m not going to bother editing out all the spelling errors since I didn’t write this, and there aren’t that many of them. Most likely they won’t bother you as much as they bother me. :)

“Gather 'round While I tell you of an account I once heard from the man himself, who had investigated the jungles of Africa and FOUND a living breathing dinosaur. This professor took his story and his piece of evidence around the country giving seminars, and I was priveleged enough to go to one when I was a kid. I have not been able to find him, his name, or his story since, but I KNOW that Behemoth is a well known crypto to this day, and that a supposed Japanese photographer has a photograph. The Behemoth resides in a lake in the Congo (I believe) and the locals refer to this Dinosaur as Li'kele-bembe. I will dig up more info on this cryptid if I can.
First to begin the story: a familiar question opted by another thread:
Could man live with dinosaur? YES. And probably HAS and probably IS CURRENTLY living with dinosaurs on this planet. They are rare specimens but the accounts are there.
We see these creatures and we call them sea monsters, or we hear about them from native lore, (the thunderbird, the behemoth). Certain species did survive extinction of the Dinosaurs, Alligators, Turtles... we know this.
But according to the man I heard, there are probably rare specimens that have been alive, and may still be alive.
I once went to a conference of a man who went to see the African Pygmies about their local monster. It was 'Behemoth' - it was a giant dinosaur. When showed a picture of a Brontosaurus (now a Bracchiosaurus (sp?) they said that was Behemoth. In fact, they were so certain that the Bracchiosaurus was their Behemoth that they demanded to know how the western people knew of it...
So they claimed a massive Dinosaur was living in their jungle. They would hear it at night time and it lived in a particular lake that was forbidden to them for a whole generation.
Well, this guy and a small crew of locals and one of his friends went in to the jungle. They approached the lake where the monster was. The locals would go no further. So he and his friend set up camp. They boated out onto the lake and let the water still.
After fifteen minutes, a massive head rose out of the water and looked at them. It was a Dinosaur. They fumbled for their cameras while shouting in excitement and the thing slowly submerged. They paddled back to shore as fast as they can - about to have a heartattack. The camera had no footage except the shaky water after the Behemoth submerged. They were devastated, but hoped to see it again.
They didn't see the thing for another full day. The conditions were miserable (mosquitos, humidity and heat). Basically, they were risking sickness and predators in an area far from help. They knew they couldn't stay long.
They were spending their last night in the area, when they awoke in the middle of the night. The Behemoth was crashing through the forest nearby and bellowing. The man grabbed his audio recorder and pressed record.
He played for us that recording. Whatever the creature was, it was enormous. After every bellow, you could hear a 'clack'. You could hear trees creaking under stress, then cracking and slamming on the ground. You could hear the steps of the Behemoth, it sounded like massive boulders being dropped onto the ground from an inch up. The sounds of this thing bellowing totally washed out all the background noise of the jungle, (which at night, is VERY noisy). The Behemoth walked about like this for a full 3 minutes before 'disappearing' (possibly entering the lake.)
The man took the audio tape back to America and it was examined by several different colleges and professionals: IT WAS AUTHENTIC. No editing was done to the tape, no tampering could be found, and no animal or possible hoax could explain the frequencies present within the Behemoths recording... This was no man made tape, this was not an animal familiar to modern science. And the 'clacking' which followed every bellowing roar was determined to be the sound of the Behemoths massive jaws closing.
This was and is the only modern account I know of where a person saw a dinosaur and had evidence. I have not seen this man or heard of him sense... but the lecture was amazing and apparently he went all around the country sharing this story. : PEOPLE SIMPLY DID NOT BELIEVE HIM. Even AFTER having heard the tape.
The idea that a gigantic Dinosaur was actually alive in the Jungles of Africa seems almost too fanciful and too perfect a setup for a Hollywood movie. But my friends on ATS, I do believe it was reality.
This man had everything to lose and nothing to gain from sharing this groundbreaking experience, and I am afraid he both gained nothing and lost everything for sharing it. In any event, I wanted to share it with you. I wish with all my heart that recording had made its way to the internet, but if it did, it gained no notoriety and is impossible to find. I have also failed to ever recall the mans exact name or find mention of him. But his story is still amazing to me. And I will never forget hearing that tape.

As I read this post my memories of the man’s presentation came flooding back. This is the exact story I heard as a kid. Maybe whoever wrote this was at the same place I was? He never mentions it as being a creation thing, so maybe I was remembering details that weren’t true. I think I went to more than one creation and/or educational things as a kid, so maybe I am mixing memories and this had nothing to do with that. Either way, I know the whole thing was about dinosaurs, and this event was what got me interested in the fact that dinosaurs could possibly still be alive, and eventually in cryptozoology as a whole.
Maybe this is my inner paranoia kicking in, but the fact that I have never again heard of this guy, and the fact that the person who wrote on that forum was not able to discover anything about him, or the recording, just strikes me as odd. Maybe in a conspiracy theory way… I’m not saying the government shut him up or had him killed or anything, but doesn’t anyone find it weird that no one knows who he is? Maybe I’m way off, and he is famous, and I just don’t know it. If anyone does know, please tell me! I’d love to know more about him and what he’s been doing since I saw his presentation as a kid.

It’s the End of the World!

I mean... Uh… Happy New Year! For now… Since, you know, according to the ancient Mayans, who were OBVIOUSLY all seeing and all knowing, this is the last year of ever.

So, next year at this time, with this being the end of the world and all, Mars can take our place as the third planet, and with us gone, maybe it can move close enough to the sun to sustain some life of its own. Grow some plants, start up it’s own little ecosystem, maybe a raise few little Martian creatures. And hey! Pluto! With no snobby earth scientists around to raise their noses in the air and tell you you’re nothing more than a useless dwarf, you can go back to being your own planet! Less than a year till we’re all gone! Start the countdown guys! You can get in on this too, Ceres! Get out of that asteroid belt and get to being your own planet! You totally don’t need to have that whole “Dwarf Planet” label limiting your career options either! You deserve to be a planet just as much as all the others. You and Pluto should totally take back your planetary titles!

So spread the word guys! I know there’s lots of smaller planets out there who have been shamed into obscurity by our bigoted, anti-dwarf-planet scientists! Rise up! In less than a year we’ll be gone and you can all come into your own and be the best planets you can be!

Here’s to 2013! The year of the dwarves! WOO HOO! :D

Happy New Year, Everyone! :D

Judges Comments

So I just discovered this half finished post in my drafts folder. I ended up completely forgetting to finish this this post, which I started months ago. It’s now the end of the year and I think it’s high time I finish it!

I started this post mainly to share what the judges had to say about each of my entries for the fair a few months ago. When contestants enter artwork and photographs in the fair the judges write down what they think of the pieces on index cards and staple them to the ribbons. Aside from sharing what they had to say, the other point of the post was to show how terrible some of the judges spelling was. Most of it was ok, but some was just downright awful. (They let these people pick the winners?!) I am leaving all the comments as they were written.

Let’s start by getting the worst comment out of the way. And by worst, I am referring to how it was written, not what was written. This was actually one of the most complementary comments I received, but it was enough to give an English teacher night terrors for the rest of their life.

First Place

“wew I made this kinda thing when I was in high school 40 years agoin

well balanced Design

love how colurs Blend”

It was very hard for me to transcribe that without editing… (Even now, as I proofread this post, I am having to restrain my fingers from correcting those horrible, horrible errors…)

The next one is my drawing.

No Award

“All very grey. Should be placed in “modern art” for its good abstraction. More texture on “berries”. Could repeat more shapes.”

The next two are my paintings.

No Award

“Very flat – Need more darks/lights for contrast… shadows would help! Cool that creature comes out of fire! – also dolphins coming out. – Maybe have a way to have the viewers eye to follow around – could use color/shape/pattern.”

Third Place

“Monochromatic – good to be all one color! Could use more definition of waves”

The last ten are my photographs.

The handwriting on all the photographs was almost unreadable. The writer used cursive, but wrote so fast that most of the letters looked exactly the same, and it took me a long time to figure out what they were trying to write, and then once I figured that out, I had to try to figure out if they had spelled the word right. For the most part I think they were a pretty good speller, they just wrote WAY too fast. There were a few words that I was completely stumped by, so for those I marked them with an asterisk. * If you see one it means I could not figure out the word because the handwriting was just way too bad.

Third Place

“Very Creative”

No Award

“Excellent capture of colors and action Ideally however should watch eyeess* in back ground (peoples backs) Focus is good.”

No Award

“Good color choice for mat. Interest center good, but would be better if pic was vertical and worms eye view of pole not so much over Wey* altui* spole* that distracts from pic.”

Third Place

“Good Color and composition bee careful to not center horizon line.”

No Award

“Good color butterfly is just not quite as focused as it could bee.”

No Award

“Interesting composition just not quite as clear as should be.”

Third Place

“Unique structural design Excellent clarity”

Second Place

“Unique subject, very clear – unfortunately the pink mat distracts from your subject”

I mounted this on a pink mat to complement the picture. A friend who helped me mat this (Who does this professionally) recommended it. This was a very picky judge…

Third Place

“Striking color, very clear focus, just wish you had more of the bird especially the body. – feather detail is very clear”

The entire point of this photo was the tail feathers. NOT the bird. Obviously the judge couldn’t figure that out…

First Place

“Excellant action and colors very clear”

So, there you have them. A few months late, but better late than never, right? :)

The moral of the story is, take what you will from the judge’s criticism, but in the end they really have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to your personal artistic interpretation. If I want to take a picture of a bird’s tail, I’m not going to include the whole bird, no matter how much better the judge thinks it will make the picture.

Oh, and the other moral is, LEARN TO SPELL!!!

Facebook Photos(hops)

As you may have guessed, all of the pictures that I use for my “Facebook Friends” posts are Photoshopped. I actually put quite a bit of work into them, so I thought it would be fun to share the original pictures with you so you can see what all I did to them.

The first picture I ever did was “Lil’ Tinkles in the Toilet”. I’m sure you all remember that one. :) (You can find that post HERE) It was a combination of three different pictures merged into one. I find most of my pictures just by doing internet searches.

Combine them all together and:

Instant kitty horror. :) Well, not quite instant. These take quite awhile. :)

The other ones were the pictures of destruction and horror caused by Mamma Frazzled’s children. (You can find all those pictures HERE) For those, I began with more pictures I found on the internet. Two I found by searching for “Kids making a mess” or something like that, and the other one I just completely put together myself.

This was what I started with for my first picture.

But after a lot of work, and the addition of a digital alarm clock in the toilet, I ended up with this.

The next picture I did I decided to just start from scratch. I rather doubted there would be any actual pictures of children leaping off of a roof, so I decided to build my own. I started out by searching for a good roof picture.

Then of course I needed a picture of a kid jumping, and most any kid who’s ever jumped off anything was probably imitating Superman, so I also searched for a Superman cape while I was at it.

After I combined all those elements, I ended up with this.

The last picture I made, I again started out with a messy kid, but not quite as messy as the end result.

And again I just used the basic Photoshop tools to multiply the mess, add an empty bag of Cheetos, and stain a bunch of things orange.

So there you have it. A lot of work went into those four quick jokes, but they were fun to make, and if they made anyone laugh it was worth it. :) If I do any more pictures like these, I’ll put together another post showing what I did. I think it’s as much fun to tell how I make these as it is to just share the end result. :)

Dark Humor

I’ve always had a thing for dark humor. A small thing, but a thing nonetheless. I never knew why. Until recently. I figured it out. Why do I think that death can be so funny sometimes? What was it in my past that causes me to find humor in things that other people might find gruesome?
3 words.
Calvin and Hobbes.
I am a member on the Go Comics web site, so I get a comics page e-mailed to me every day. One of the comics I get sent is repeats of Calvin and Hobbes strips. This was the one they sent me a few days ago. I definitely remember this one from when I was little. I would imagine that reading this back when I was about 6 or so would most likely affect what kinds of humor I would find funny later in life.

I miss Calvin. :) I loved reading his adventures over and over when I was a little kid. Of course that wasn’t the only thing I read, I also read a ton of Garfield, Peanuts, Luann, FoxTrot, and The Family Circus, The old ones, not the saccharinely sweet ones of today. I still remember one in particular that always made me laugh.

“Raisins are so dead grapes! Aren’t they Mommy!?”

And of course, probably the reason for my love of all things random, (See Blog Title :) ) was the library’s collection of “The Far Side” books. I had a very balanced humor diet as a child. Not too dark, not too sweet. :) But the dark side of my funny bone definitely had to have come from Calvin and Hobbes. :)
Now if you’ll excuse me. I need to go figure out where all my old Calvin and Hobbes Treasury books went to. :)