10:30 am - Banana and a couple handfulls of mixed nuts.

1 pm - Veggie burger from the 99.

9 pm - Cucumber filled sushi rolls.

Today marks one week of my two challenges successfully completed.  Danny and I weighed in at 181.75 and 181.2 respectively.  That puts me out to a small early lead, but may be misleading because Danny was on travel and didn't have complete control over his diet and exercise.  Like he suggested, week two should be a much more indicative representation of what we (and those of you keeping score at home) can expect for the rest of the challenge.  I feel as though I need to up my game a bit.  Brian offered to do weights with me before work.  I think I am going to take him up on that.

My run today felt as good as the run I went on yesterday.  Part of me is happy about that, another part is afraid that my body might be adapting to my lower calorie intake.  It would be awesome if I could keep my body in the state of shock it was for this first week.  I vaguely remember reading online about a diet that shifts from week to week so that the body does not get its calories from the same sources it did during the previous few days.

Since this weblog hasn't had anything beyond text in a few posts and my hits have been going down, I decided to include this doodle of Danny I did in Microsoft Paint.  Enjoy.

This my sketch from two days ago. I just tried to draw student uniform... Guess still have to improve (a lot) ^^; Any comment, anyone? Oh and I may use this char for... something in the future...

Anyway, about few days ago, I found out that my room is the only room that have unsecured wi-fi. So my smart ass neighbors used my wi-fi for free. *sigh* humans (lol). Is anyone house use unsecured wi-fi like me?

All Hail SlipKnot!!

Head Shot Doodle
Open Canvas 3.05 E Plus
2008

Inspired by Hyung Tae Kim though I think I didn't put my very best in the anatomy. But I had fun colouring it.

Head Shot Doodle
Open Canvas 3.05 E Plus
2008
Character Belongs to Ryu Souichirou / reryu
From the [GINRYU] Project

Sakuya is a taboo child. Having her father as the Emperor to the Royal Family of Japan, she is no longer safe. The secret of her being a child to the emperor and her mother as the emperor's mistress is out of the bag. What will become of Sakuya and her mother? Out in the streets? killed? Stay tune to the [GINRYU] Project and find out!

Head Shot Doodle
Open Canvas 3.05 E Plus
2008

Head Shot Doodle
Open Canvas 3.05 E Plus
2008

But it's not as bad.

If I were playing the part of a movie pulp fiction detective (think Bogart's "Sam Spade"), and a leggy blond perched on the end of my desk asked me to take the "Too Happy for Words" case, a mystery in the form of an essay, the first question I would have is: Why in the world did someone (me, in real life) doodle a guy chasing a hare (or is it a rabbit?) on the last page of an otherwise straightforward essay about marriage, motherhood and fiction writing? I'm sure of one thing, the real me didn't unconsciously doodle the image as an audition to illustrate the text. If by some chance I were to get such a gig, a rabbit would be the last thing to occur to me. I just re-read the McDermott essay (excellent, by the way), and there are no rabbits or hares in it; and discounting human babies, no small animals of any description. So far, then, my investigation has dead-ended.

The "Too Happy for Words" essay by novelist Alice McDermott ("A Bigamist's Daughter, "That Night," "Charming Billy"), is collected in the book The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work, a paperback published in 2003. From the rereading I've concluded that the essay is concerned mainly with the different attitudes to marriage and motherhood held by some wary young feminists and their older "sisters," many of whom have married and are, on the surface at least, happily raising kids. It seems the question the younger women are asking (and some of the older women are asking themselves), is to what extent, if at all, does familial devotion stunt their ambition and creativity. Here's how Ms. McDermott puts it: "I wonder if it's superstition: if we feel that to admit to such contentment in life would compromise our status as artists—perhaps recalling the poor actress in The Portrait of Dorion Gray who fell in love and lost her talent." And Ms. McDermott goes on, "As a writer I recognize that much of this can be accounted for by the demands of plot—no doubt all happy mothers are like happy families: alike. And as Tolstoy warned us, sustained joy doesn't make much of a story."

This final McDermott quote I marked provides the clue I need to solve the case. On the last page, just above my doodle, she writes: "Fiction requires the attendant threat, the dramatic reversal, not only because these are the things that make for plot and tension and a sense of story, but because without them any depiction of our joy might appear overstated. We hesitate to include in our fiction what so often strikes us in life as something too good to be true."

Put another way, Ms. McDermott is talking about conflict, the device that drives all story telling. And with that I think I've found my little insight, the knowledge which logically leads to a solution of the original query. Rabbits are famous for having lots of babies, right? In fact, they are the very symbol of fecundity—motherhood squared, so to speak? And is there anything cuter than little bunnies hop, hop, hopping in a field of flowers or down the road? But what happens when you add a man pursuing the bunny with something else in mind, perhaps something sinister like dinner? With those questions in mind I think I can say that the mystery of the connection between and among marriage, motherhood, fiction writing, and my doodle, is solved. My unconscious illustrator seems to have come up with an idea my conscious mind would have surly missed, or rejected: The "attendant threat" of a man on the hunt, and the joy he finds in that, contrasted by the sheer terror felt by his prey. Case closed.

"The Tale of the Hare" is the second in a series of occasional posts under the title Marginalia. In these posts I will display and comment upon a full-page scan from one of my personal library books on which I've doodled and/or underlined—or, as some would claim, otherwise defaced a scared text (to the true bibliophile all text is scared). These folks, shocked by the desecration, predict (and seem to wish), that I will suffer some vile punishment for my transgressions.

[IMAGE] Drawn in ink. A6 (approx 4"x6").

I've just started a painting based on this drawing. Good old Owen.

Warning: A lot of these pranks are a bit juvenile and some of them can get you banned from ever coming back to the restaurant (it has happened).  Seriously think about it before trying and do not do it if it is too extreme.  Some of these even I will not do.

Waiting

Some restaurants force you to wait.  This is a perfect first opportunity.

• If calling ahead for reservations, call with a complicated foreign name or almost dirty sounding name (careful, some may hang up thinking its a prank call).
• Or, even better, say it like "Ka-Noots," but then spell it "K-N-U-T-Z" even if they don't ask you to.
• When you get called, chances are it will be someone other than whoever answered the phone.  Make sure you make a big deal out of him/her mispronouncing it.
• Tell them your party is twice as large as it is, and the others are still coming.  Sit separated from each other as if the others will show up soon.  When you order deny you ever mentioned your party was larger.
• Have your entire party bring handkerchiefs.  Cough, sneeze and wheeze into them, pretending to fill the entire waiting room with germs.

Ordering

Chances are, your waitress/waiter is used to quirky people.  That's why you have to take it up a notch.

• When ordering drinks, make sure you express a lot of interest in the soup du jour.  Ask the waiter about every ingredient and act as if you are savoring it.  When ordering the food, forget all about it.  Ignore the waiter when he mentions it.
• When the drinks come, switch orders with your party.  Pretend that you ordered the iced tea and your friend next to you ordered the Coke.  Make sure you make the waiter do all the switching of glasses.
• Try to see if you can order an entree as an appetizer.  Insist on it.  When it comes, wait for everyone else's entree to come before eating.
• Insist on seeing the dessert tray before you order an entree, even if the restaurant doesn't have one.
• If there are a lot of people in your party, have one person order something and have everyone else, one by one, say they'll have what he's having.  Each time, he'll have to make a new number on his pad.  Likely, the waiter will have to check if they can serve that many of a particular entree.  Even if he comes back to say it's okay, have the first person change his order and, one by one, have everyone else change their order to that entree.
• Try to use coupons for fast food restaurants (for things your restaurant has), like free coffee or medium soda.

At the Table

Sometimes food can still be a long way off at this point.  Try to see how much you can get away with without being kicked out.

• Everyone fall asleep at the table.
• Go through all of the bread in the shortest amount of time possible and keep asking for more.
• Play the Left-or-Right game with waiters and waitresses carrying trays of plates and meals.  Basically, walk through the aisles aimlessly until you and the waitress are walking toward each other.  Try to block her path by figuring out which side she means to pass you on, and then walk towards that side.  Then switch simultaneously with her.  See how long this can go on.
• Take out McDonald's Happy Meal toys and play with them at the table.
• Be loud and obnoxious until the manager comes out.
• Light stuff on fire with the candle at your table.
• Play sword fights with the bread sticks.
• Have one member of your party change into a grim reaper costume in the bathroom.  When he comes back, have him stand behind another member of your party for as long as possible.  Have everyone ignore him completely.  Either stay there for the remainder of the meal and exit with the rest of the party, or have a watch alarm go off and walk out alone.
• Transform the table into a mobile office.  Do your best to bring laptops, land line phones, a cork board with papers and pictures tacked on to act as a cubicle wall, pen cups, staplers and as much other stuff you can think of.
• Take out food you brought with you and start eating it.

Eating

Here is what you've been waiting for.  Hopefully, you haven't completely filled up on bread.

• Make "OMNOMNOM" noises as you eat.
• Ask for extra napkins (if paper napkins).  Hide them when you get them (most restaurants give you hundreds to begin with) and ask for more.
• Treat your non-paper napkins like tissues.  Blow into them very loudly.
• If you are a man, ask for the ladies' room.  For a woman, ask for the men's room.  Do not make it seem like you are asking for someone else.  Then, go to the correct room (they're usually near each other anyway).
• Take a blender from out of your bag, find an outlet, and puree your food.
• Wear rubber gloves while eating.
• Drop anything you can find at your table into your drink.
• Count every french fry and complain that "there are only 56 fries.  Last time you gave me 61."
• Don't eat any of your food, have it wrapped, and have the waiter send compliments to the chef.

Paying and Tipping

The waiter and management thinks this is their big payoff, but it's actually your big payoff.

• Sign your name as something goofy on the check.
• Doodle all over the merchant's copy of the receipt.
• Tell your waiter the mints were the best part of your meal.
• Instead of the pen they provided, use a pink pen.
• Better yet, use red ink and mark the check with a circled "C+," noting all the poor quality foods on the check itself, and marking "good improvement" on the bottom.
• Leave the waiter grocery store coupons for tips.
• Leave the waiter a gift card for the restaurant you are at, if they have one.

The Exit Prank

Only do this once you are ready to leave.  I'd advise against actually doing this because the ensuing chaos could be dangerous and I am pretty sure it is breaking some law.

Disperse your party amongst the restaurant's empty tables.  Before any of the wait staff realize this, walk a few steps into the kitchen so that you cannot be seen by anyone.  Count to five slowly in your head, and once you have reached five, come out and scream "Someone has poisoned the soup!" at the top of your lungs.  At this cue, have everyone else in your party scream and run towards the exit.  Hopefully, the entire restaurant will do the same.

This is my most epic post ever

You could say The Carpool Heretics show is still going on, it's just not being recorded.

Recently we listened to the audio-book "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop. If it had been a regular copy of the book, I'd have stayed up all night to finish it. As it was, it occasionally caused an additional trip around the block. Carolyn begins her tale with the night of her escape. Even though we knew going in that she already had escaped, we were still gripped with fear for her as she struggled to get her eight children into a car that didn't have enough gas to get to town and was only able to reach her meeting point with her brothers by coasting the last part of the way.

From there she starts over at the beginning. What it was like to grow up as a 6th generation polygamist. Stories from her grandmother about the 1953 Short Creek raid, mishandled by the government and resulting in a public relations debacle, that reinforced on members of the community the dangers of the outside world and the mistrust of outsiders. Though written before the recent raid in Texas of the YFZ group (a group started by her ex-husband Merrill Jessop) her stories of the Short Creek raid were almost identical.

She describes in detail her unwanted and unhappy marriage. The power battles between the wives and even the children. The deterioration of the FLDS to a bizarre cult (this is her perspective, though she does now agree it was a cult all along it just wasn't as bad before.)

After thirteen years of bondage and abuse, it was her fear of Warren Jeffs that finally motivated her to flee. She was convinced that Warren Jeffs, the Prophet, was preparing the FLDS for a mass suicide.

It's a tale like this that starts an internal debate in my head between personal freedoms, which I believe in to an "extreme", and the desire to protect people from fraud, predators, dogma, pedophiles, etc. In my opinion the government shouldn't "marry" anyone. I didn't originally have this opinion, and I forget how it was introduced to me, but it was a sufficient argument to change my mind about the Gay Marriage issue. Governments shouldn't perform marriages--period--for anyone; they should only acknowledge and record legal contracts such as "civil unions". Be they male-female, same gender, polygamy, polyandry, or communal units. The key in my perfect imaginary world is that the people entering these unions are all informed consenting adults.

Second, I do believe that everyone should be allowed to believe whatever woo they want to as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. Do you want to practice Hoodoo? Go ahead. Santería? Fine. Celestial Marriage? Enjoy.

The problem and the internal debate is how does a fair and free society insure that people are allowed to become "informed consenting adults" at the same time as protecting everyone's religious freedom? Carolyn Jessop was of legal age when she was "married", the ceremony was performed by The Prophet so it wasn't a legal ceremony. But the social pressure she was under from her family and her religion didn't give her the ability to say no. The Prophet reveals what God wants and who was she to question God? Who was she to bring humiliation to her family by being willful and disobedient? It took her 13 years to discover and develop the strength to break away.

While I would love to see all children receive a secular-only education and leave the religion in the home I have to acknowledge also that our school system sucks and, for many responsible and irresponsible parents, home schooling an affordable alternative. Plus, since I don't have children, I'm not really in a position to lecture others in this area.

However, a book like Escape does open up a wealth of talking points regarding Religious Freedom versus Individual Freedom versus Parental Control versus Governmental Control. A book that has you thinking and debating with others or just yourself is definitely worth a recommendation.

Oh my, it's SxePhil before all of his hair was chopped off.  Poor phil.

Anyway, this is obviously not one of my better doodles. I think it would have came out a lot better if the eyes were drawn in. However, I'm still not quite good at that and try to avoid it as much as possible. This was one of those times where I pressed the escape button and hoped for the best.  It should be still presentable though.

Enjoy!

]]> http://ronfive.wordpress.com/?p=10 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:36:57 +0000 ronfive http://ronfive.wordpress.com/?p=10 Yeah, so I am becoming the late majority

Ink, gouache and Photoshop.

can't think. can't sleep. can't create. it's sort of healing work. doesn't help anyway..

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