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Sunday, 28 April 2013

Writing Java Micro Benchmarks with JMH: Juicy

{UPDATE 03/09/14: If you come here looking for JMH related content start at the new and improved JMH Resources Page and branch out from there!}
Demonstrating use of JMH and exploring how the framework can squeeze every last drop out of a simple benchmark.
Writing micro benchmarks for Java code has always been a rather tricky affair with many pitfalls to lookout for:
  • JIT:
    • Pre/Post compilation behaviour: After 10K(default, tuneable via -XX:CompileThreshold) invocations your code with morph into compiled assembly making it hopefully faster, and certainly different from it's interpreted version.
    • Specialisation: The JIT will optimise away code that does nothing (i.e. has no side effects), will optimise for single interface/class implementations. A smaller code base, like a micro-benchmark, is a prime candidate.
    • Loop unrolling and OSR can make benchmark code (typically a loop of calls to the profiled method) perform different to how it would in real life.
  • GC effects:
    • Escape analysis may succeed in a benchmark where it would fail in real code.
    • A buildup to a GC might be ignored in a run or a collection may be included.
  • Application/Threading warmup: during initialisation threading behaviour and resources allocation can lead to significantly different behaviour than steady state behaviour.
  • Environmental variance:
    • Hardware: CPU/memory/NIC etc...
    • OS
    • JVM: which one? running with which flags?
    • Other applications sharing resources

Here's a bunch of articles on Java micro-benchmarks which discuss the issue further:
Some of these issues are hard to solve, but some are addressable via a framework and indeed many frameworks have been written to tackle the above.

Let's talk about JMH

JMH (Java Micro-benchmarks Harness or Juicy Munchy Hummus, hard to say as they don't tell you on the site) is the latest and as it comes out of the workshop of the very people who work hard to make the OpenJDK JVM fly it promises to deliver more accuracy and better tooling then most.
The source/project is here and you will currently need to build it locally to have it in your maven repository, as per the instructions. Once you've done that you are good to go, and can set yourself up with a maven dependency on it.
Here is the project I'll be using throughout this post, feel free to C&P to your hearts content. It's a copy of the JMH samples project with the JMH jar built and maven sorted (see update below on current state of samples) and all that so you can just clone and run without setting up JMH locally. The original samples are pure gold in terms of highlighting the complexities of benchmarking, READ THEM! The command line output is detailed and informative, so have a look to see what hides in the tool box.
I added my sample on top of the original samples, it is basic (very very basic) in it's use of the framework but the intention here is to help you get started, not drown you in detail, and give you a feel of how much you can get out of it for very little effort. Here goes...

It's fun to have fun, but you've got to know how

For the sake of easy comparison and reference I'll use JMH to benchmark the same bit of code I benchmarked with a hand rolled framework here and later on with Caliper here. We're benchmarking my novel way of encoding UTF-8 strings into ByteBuffers vs String.getBytes() vs best practice recommendation of using a CharsetEncoder. The benchmark compares the 3 methods by encoding a test set of UTF-8 strings samples.
Here's what the benchmark looks like when using JMH:
We're using three JMH annotations here:
  1. State - This annotation tells JMH how to share benchmark object state. I'm using the Thread scope which means no sharing is desirable. There are 2 other scopes available Group (for sharing the state between a group of threads) and Benchmark (for sharing the state across all benchmark threads).
  2. Setup - Much like the JUnit counterpart the Setup annotation tells JMH this method needs to be called before it starts hammering my methods. Setup methods are executed appropriately for your chosen State scope.
  3. GenerateMicroBenchmark - Tells JMH to fry this method with onions.

A lot of good tricks, I will show them to you, your mother will not mind at all if I do

To get our benchmarks going we need to run the generated microbenchmarks.jar. This is what we get:

Nice innit?
Here's the extra knobs we get on our experiment for our effort:
  • I'm using some command line options to control the number of iterations/warmup iterations, here's the available knobs on that topic:
    • i - number of benchmarked iterations, use 10 or more to get a good idea
    • r - how long to run each benchmark iteration
    • wi - number of warmup iterations
    • w - how long to run each warmup iteration (give ample room for warmup, how much will depend on the code you try and measure, try and have it execute 100K times or so)
  • To choose which benchmarks we want to run we need to supply a regular expression to filter them or ".*" to run all of them. If you can't remember what you packed use:
    • v - verbose run will also print out the list of available benchmarks and which ones were selected by your expression
    • l - to list the available benchmarks
  • If you wish to isolate GC effects between iterations you can use the gc option, this is often desirable to help getting more uniform results.
  • Benchmarks are forked into separate VMs by default. If you wish to run them together add "-f 0" (you shouldn't really do this unless you are trying to debug something... forking is good). The framework also allows you to run several forks for each benchmark to help identify run to run variance.
The output is given for every iteration, then a summary of the stats. As I'm running 3 iterations these are not very informative (this is not recommended practice and was done for the sake of getting sample outputs rather than accurate measurement, I recommend you run more than 10 iterations and compare several JMH runs for good measure) but if I was to run 50 iterations they'd give me more valuable data. We can choose from a variety of several output formats to generate graphs/reports later. To get CSV format output add "-of csv" to your command line, which leaves you to draw your own conclusions from the data (no summary stats here):
The above has your basic requirements from a benchmark framework covered:
  1. Make it easy to write benchmarks
  2. Integrate with my build tool
  3. Make it easy to run benchmarks (there's IDE integration on the cards to make it even easier)
  4. Give me output in a format I can work with
I'm particularly happy with the runnable jar as a means to packaging the benchmarks as I can now take the same jar and try it out on different environments which is important to my work process. My only grumble is the lack of support for parametrization which leads me to use a system property to switch between the direct and heap buffer output tests. I'm assured this is also in the cards.

I will show you another good game that I know

There's even more! Whenever I run any type of experiment the first question is how to explain the results and what differences one implementation has over the other. For small bits of code the answer will usually be 'read the code you lazy bugger' but when comparing 3rd party libraries or when putting large  compound bits of functionality to the test profiling is often the answer, which is why JMH comes with a set of profilers:
  1. gc: GC profiling via standard MBeans
  2. comp: JIT compiler profiling via standard MBeans
  3. cl: Classloader profiling via standard MBeans
  4. hs_rt: HotSpot (tm) runtime profiling via implementation-specific MBeans
  5. hs_cl: HotSpot (tm) classloader profiling via implementation-specific MBeans
  6. hs_comp: HotSpot (tm) JIT compiler profiling via implementation-specific MBeans
  7. hs_gc: HotSpot (tm) memory manager (GC) profiling via implementation-specific MBeans
  8. hs_thr: HotSpot (tm) threading subsystem via implementation-specific MBeans
  9. stack: Simple and naive Java stack profiler

Covering the lot exceeds the scope of this blog post, let's focus on obvious ones that might prove helpful for this experiment. Running with the gc and hs_gc profiler (note: this should be done with fixed heap for best result, just demonstrating output here) give this output:

The above supports the theory that getBytes() is slower because it generates more garbage than the alternatives, and highlights the low garbage impact of custom/charset encoder. Running with the stack and hs_rt profilers gives us the following output:
What I can read from it is that getBytes() spends less time in encoding then the other 2 due to the overheads involved in getting to the encoding phase. Custom encoder spends the most time on on encoding, but what is significant is that as it outperforms charset encoder, and the ratios are similar we can deduce that the encoding algorithm itself is faster.

But that is not all, oh no, that is not all

The free functionality does not stop here! To quote Tom Waits:
It gets rid of your gambling debts, it quits smoking
It's a friend, and it's a companion,
And it's the only product you will ever need
Follow these easy assembly instructions it never needs ironing
Well it takes weights off hips, bust, thighs, chin, midriff,
Gives you dandruff, and it finds you a job, it is a job
'Cause it's effective, it's defective, it creates household odors,
It disinfects, it sanitizes for your protection
It gives you an erection, it wins the election
Why put up with painful corns any longer?
It's a redeemable coupon, no obligation, no salesman will visit your home
'What more?' you ask, well... there's loads more functionality around multi threading I will not attempt to try in this post and several more annotations to play with. In a further post I'd like to go back and compare this awesome new tool with the previous 2 variations of this benchmark and see if, how and why results differ...
Many thanks to the great dudes who built this framework of whom I'm only familiar with Master Shipilev (who also took time to review, thanks again), they had me trial it a few months back and I've been struggling to shut up about it ever since :-)

Related JMH posts:
UPDATE (1/08/2013): If you are looking for more JMH related info, see Shipilev's slides on benchmarking.
UPDATE (1/07/2014): The samples repository has been updated to reflect JMH progress, sample code may have minor differences from the code presented above and command line options may differ. I will follow up at some point with a re-vamp of JMH related posts but for now you can always reproduce above results by reviving the older code from history.

  1. Hi Nitsan,

    Great post, we'll be looking into those for sure! Quick note on your code sample. You could perhaps make it a Java 7 example with TWR to eliminate lots of the boiler plate. The sample would then focus more on the JMH aspects.

    1. Thanks :)
      The code is JDK 6 to allow those poor soul stuck in the past to enjoy it with us :P I agree it cries for some TWR love.
      Hope it doesn't take too much from the sample.

  2. Why NSFW picture at the end? I would not be able to circulate this otherwise good article at my workplace.

    1. This is 5 pixel nipple, surely no one would mind? The Hipster Hitler picture is considered more offensive by most... In any case glad you enjoyed it

  3. The command line argument for CSV output is "-rf csv -rff results.csv". This will select the 'csv" report format and output into a file called "results.csv"

  4. Do you know if it is possible to hook in a regular profiler? The provided profilers are quite basic and it would be a shame if I can't reuse the testing framework to do some more in depth profiling.

    1. You could run for very long iterations and attach an online profiler of your own choice. If you look to integrate a particular profiler I would suggest you post a question to the JMH mailing list:

  5. Seems to be that Alexey slides is now here:


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Defending the family

Judge rejects latest stay request from Kentucky clerk Davis

Reuters is reporting

A federal judge on Wednesday denied Kim Davis a stay of his order requiring her office to issue marriage licenses to all eligible couples who want one, the latest setback for the Kentucky county clerk who went to jail rather than issue licenses to gay couples.

Lawyers for couples suing Davis have said that since her return to work, the Rowan County clerk has interfered with the issuance of marriage licenses in violation of orders by U.S. District Judge David Bunning's in Louisville.

An attorney for Davis has said she has made a good-faith effort to comply with Bunning's orders. She has said licenses granted by her staff are invalid because she has not given them that authority.

One posted opinion comments (and we agree here at Public Advocate)

"US Supreme Court made a law.
Judicial branch acted as legislative branch.

Federal court is enforcing the legislation.
Judicial branch acting as executive branch.

Clearly, the judicial branch is usurping its authority by assuming the role of the other two branches."

More News Articles

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 Search Results: "mary brian"
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  • 1:01:53 Popular The Amazing Adventure (1936)

    The Amazing Adventure (1936)

    by Don Added 656 Views / 1 Likes

    A millionaire’s boredom leads to a bet that he can get a regular job and support himself for a year. Fun and romance ensues as the man attempts to enter the working class. Starring Cary Grant, Mary Brian, and Peter Gawthorne. Directed by Alfred Zeis


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If offered in certain ways, choices are very beneficial to children.

First, choices give a child a sense of control or empowerment over his life. Second, the child gradually learns to exercise his muscles of problem solving. This skill will benefit him in situations when you are not around.

This does not mean your child can just do whatever he wants. For a small child, give him strict boundaries but within those boundaries allow him some control. Keep in mind you don't keep repeating the choices like you are begging him to comply, and there are certainly times when you just need to tell him what he needs to do. However, I find that during the times when you really need him to do something, he will be more cooperative if you have given him choices at other times.

Examples of what he can choose:

  • To go to bed now and get a long story or go to bed in 5 minutes and get a shorter story.
  • To get 2 oranges or 3.
  • To wear a blue shirt or green shirt to school.
  • To leave the store hopping like a bunny or walking like a giraffe. If he still chooses not to leave, he can choose to walk out on their own or be carried out.
  • To buy Cheerios or Wheaties. He can’t have free choice of everything on the shelf.
  • Which toy he can play with once he gets in the bathtub.

Offering limited choices empowers your child in many ways. It also makes life easier for the parent because the child will be less rebellious.

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Friday, February 27, 2015

Chogyam Trungpa

"You are absolutely comfortable and happy the way you are, yet at the same time you find it excruciatingly painful.  You are not certain whether you want to stay the way you are, which is very pleasurable, or not stay the way you are, because it is very painful at the same time.  That kind of pushing and pulling happens all the time.  That seems to be the motivation and the contagious quality of Buddha nature, which is trying to shine through all the time."

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Pure Creations

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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Badge –Sing Don’t Speak

Badge –Sing Don’t Speak/California Saga –Pagoda 256 (1973 Argentina)

Argentina? Yes, I have picked up a few interesting ones from this country as there were a clutch of Glam-tinted releases at the time. One particularity is that several of them were covers of the hits-of-the day –check out Albatross’s English AND Spanish cover of Abrazame Y Complaceme (c’mon...easy to work out...). Another particularity is that the Argentine 45 in fact often played at 33.3rpm! Although Argentina had a healthy underground scene, Glitter did not gain a strong foothold in Las Pampas, some like Norah had to move to Spain in order to fully accomplish their stomping mission (more on her soon). John Bright’s I’ve Tried It is suitably raucous, but its country of origin is uncertain as is Sunday's who released the splendid Hard Way To Go. Still, there is bound to be more to be discovered from Argentina and South America in general.
Anyhow Badge’s cover of Blackfoot Sue’s 2nd hit is pretty credible, it has a nice bouncing groove and the fuzz is fuzzy in a matchbox-kind-of- manner, and is on a par with the Italian Multiple Sound’s Ultra fuzzed up version (I need that one!!!). Badge released at least two singles as they also covered Blackfoot Sue’s Standing In The Road. It is still unclear if they ever covered Glitter Obituary...

Hear a full version of Sing Don’t Speak

1 comment:

jens said...

HI Robin, Infact this is the same version as MULTIPLE SOUND i´m quite sure of. see you in utrecht in november


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Monday, 12 April 2010

Professor Green - F64 on SBTV

Stay with it, from 1 minute in it gets serious... Pro Green is super talented, his new single "I Need You Tonight" is not my cup of tea, but I'm not the core audience so that's probably a good thing, and I do like the track he did with Maverick Sabre (coming soon I believe).

Props to SBTV

Related Posts with Thumbnails


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5 Battles: Son Of Sanford

I recently bought a Son Of Animus and this is the first team I’m trying it out on.

H/H Fel Flame (Flame Breath, Scorched Earth, Conflagrate)
H/H Scourged Whelpling (Tail Sweep, Death and Decay, Plagued Blood)
P/P Son Of Animus (Metal Fist, Touch Of The Animus, Extra Plating)

SOSteambigWhen I was planning on how to use my SoA I had to choose between Touch Of The Animus and Siphon Anima. I liked how Touch could benefit other pets, not just the SoA. I was looking for a good DoT partner when I thought of the Fel Flame. Then I realized that the Flame could benefit greatly from the Combination of Scorched Earth and Touch. After that it wasn’t a reach to throw in the Scourged Whelpling. In case you’re not seeing it yet here’s the plan: Use Scorched Earth, Death and Decay, then Touch Of The Animus. That way both the Fel Flame and the Scourged Whelpling will get a nice amount of healing from the Touch. If Plagued Blood is up then there’s even more healing.

Well that’s nice and all, but how’s the offense? Scorched Earth and Conflagrate will put up some decent damage. Metal Fist hits reasonably hard doing 379 damage at 95% accuracy. The H/H Whelpling isn’t really known for its offense, but it can take many pets down through attrition.

How about other types of Synergy? The team doesn’t have a wide range of attacks. Four to be exact: Mechanical, Dragonkin, Undead and Elemental. There’s not much coverage here either. There is no avoidance. There is some mitigation for the SoA from Extra Plating, which is a really solid move. 50% damage reduction for three turns is pretty good. Enough theory, time to get down to business…

Battle 1: Darkmoon Tonk, Alpine Foxling, Lesser Voidcaller
I figured that my opponent would start off with the Tonk so I started with the Flame, which is what I wanted to do anyways. The Tonk throws a Minefield and I Scorch the Earth. With no avoidance for the Tonk and knowing I will hit two times on any of these targets I use Conflagrate on the second round. The Tonk swaps to the Voidcaller, who does indeed take two hits.

I get a Curse of Doom put on my Flame and use Flame Breath on the Voidcaller when I see a world of hurt around the corner. The Fox is going to Howl me as the Curse hits. If I don’t want that to happen I’m going to have to swap out and detonate the Minefield. I’m going to take the Curse anyways and be close to dead on the backline if I swap so I make the choice to do as much damage as possible with my Flame before dying. Maybe I’ll even be able to wait out the Minefield.

The Fox comes into a Scorched Earth and Howls as expected, I’m able to get a Conflag off on the Fox before the Curse of Doom kills me with 1130 damage.

ani2I was two turns short of the Minefield expiring so I have to take it with my Animus. I get Flurried and then use Metal Fist to finish the Fox. The Tonk comes in and we duke it out. The Tonk wins the final coin flip (they’re both 260 speed) and kills the Animus, but dies to the Scorched Earth.

The battle ended with my Scourged Whelpling easily finishing off what was left of the Voidcaller.ani1

1-0. I didn’t get to use the Touch to heal the other two pets as planned, it just didn’t work out that way. The Voidcaller is not a very good pet in general, it’s not a pet to be proud of beating. The Howl/Curse combo was pretty good from my opponent, luckily I didn’t freak out from all the incoming damage. Sometimes it’s wiser to sacrifice a pet rather than take unnecessary damage trying to save it.

Battle 2: Crawling Claw, Pandaren Earth Spirit, Kun-Lai Runt
It started out as KLR vs. my Scourged Whelpling. My opponent used Deep Freeze right off the bat without waiting for my Whelpling to be Chilled. It hit but didn’t stun. I used Plagued Blood. My opponent swapped to the Claw and put up Curse of Doom.

Again I have a feeling what’s coming. The Claw is going to try and swap me right before the Curse hits so I expire on the backline. Knowing this I stay in and Tail Sweep until right before the I think the swap is coming. I swap to my Flame and yes, here comes the Death Grip, brining my Scourged Whelpling right back out. The Curse doesn’t bring me to 0 like I thought it would and the Claw the misses a Shadow Slash as I take it to 0 hp.

Now I could swap out the Whelpling instead of letting the Claw take it to 0 hp on this turn, but no overwhelming benefits come to mind so I decide to keep it in and put down nine more rounds of Death and Decay. I take the hit an am down to 0 hp. The Earth Spirit comes out and I use my Undead turn to apply Plagued Blood.

ani3Now it’s the Earth Spirit vs. my Fel Flame. There was nothing too exciting here, they went blow for blow, my Flame ended up the winner thanks to Rupture not stunning and the extra hp I got from Plagued Blood.
The Runt came in and finished off the Flame, now it’s my Son Of Animus vs. the Runt and it’s Elemental attacks. It seems bad for me, but here’s where the Extra Plating pays off. I use it on my first round in, the Runt Chills ani4then Deep Freezes me. It hit for a strong 419 damage which would have been 832 without the Plating. I use Touch, I get some healing from my Touch and Metal Fist, another win for Son of Sanford.

2-0. I still haven’t utilized my initial plan of the other two pets getting healing from Touch Of The Animus. It just hasn’t worked out that way yet and I’m not going to deviate from a winning strategy just to make it happen. Maybe next time.

Battle 3: Dark Phoenix Hatchling, Kun-Lai Runt, Flayer Younling
It started off Elemental vs. Elemental. Even though I knew it would help the other Conflagrater I decided to Scorch the Earth. I’m not sure if that was a good idea. After I took some damage (including the Conflag I deserved) I swapped to the Scourged Whelpling and put up Plagued Blood.

ani6After my Scourged Whelpling took out the Phoenix the Flayer came in. It did well and took out the Whelpling fairly quick, but I did apply both Plagued Blood and Death and Decay. Remember the Fel Flame is still healing from the Scorched Earth ticks and Plagued Blood.

ani5Now Comes the moment I’ve been waiting for, my Son Of Animus comes in, uses Touch, the last Scorched tick heals the Flame for 177 hp plus another 61 from the Blood. Not that big of a deal, but it made a difference. My Son Of Animus kills the Flayer. The Runt comes in and finishes off my Mech fast with a Deep Freeze and Takedown. It’s going to be close, but the extra hp from the Touch and Plagued Blood allows my Flame to both Scorch the Earth and Conflagrate for the win.

3-0. Not only did I put my healing plan in action but it allowed me the extra hp necessary for the win. Nice.

Battle 4: Stunted Direhorn, Anubisath Idol, Ghostly Skull
ani7I see this team and am excited to have some real competition. Let’s see what my team can do against a top-flight team. The Skull starts out and I start with my Flame. I Scorch the Earth and Conflag before swapping to my Animus. I apply Touch Of The Animus and the Fel Flame is getting a lot of healing. It’s almost back to full health. The Skull casts Ascension and I use Extra Plating in preparation for the Ghostly Bite, which hits on the next turn.

Now the Idol comes and finishes off my Son of Animus. I bring the Flame in and it’s a weather war. Who will flinch first and apply their weather so that the other person can overwrite it next turn? I am able to win that one. I cast Scorched Earth over Sandstorm. Will the Idol Deflect on the first turn or is it more head games? They Deflect my Flame Breath instead of the Conflagrate they were expecting. I Conflagrate next turn but don’t take out the Idol. The Idol is able to cast one more Sandstorm before death, but my Flame has 600 hp. The Direhorn comes out. As long as I don’t get interrupted by the Direhorn I will be able to change the weather back to Scorched Earth and I have a full-health Undead waiting to take out the Direhorn.

Then the Direhorn crit my Flame for 677 damage, taking it out. No weather change, we’re stuck with Sandstorm. The Direhorn used Trihorn Shield, I’m now only gonna hit the Direhorn for 20 damage the next four out of six turns. It was no contest. Trihorn Shield in a Sandstorm is so hard to get through. I’ll leave it at that rather than rant on about it.

3-1. The first loss comes from the dreaded (by me, at least) Sandstorm and Trihorn Shield combo. I should have saved the Son of Animus for the Direhorn. The back line healing plan using Touch worked out really well this time.

Battle 5: Clockwork Gnome, Kun-Lai Runt, Crawling Claw
I thought my opponent would start with the Claw and they did. My plan was to soak the Curse of Doom with my Whelpling and try to get some of the hp back with Touch Of The Animus. As expected, the Claw Cursed me then Slashed before Gripping me out. I put down Death and Decay and used Plagued Blood before the swap came.

ani8In comes Animus and the first thing I do is put up Touch of the Animus. The ticks from Death and Decay are giving the Whelpling some nice heals because of Plagued Blood and Touch. After the Curse hit I can see the Whelpling’s health meter going back up fast, it’s nice when you have a plan and it works. Animus Fists the Claw down to 0 hp, getting some heals from Touch but also getting Cursed. I know the Grip is coming so I swap to the Whelpling to let it soak some more damage. My opponent is performing the predictable moves with predictable pets so the flow is easy to, umm, predict.

Animus is swapped back in, my opponent brings in the Runt. It’s looking good for me now. I know the Frost Shock is coming, but a good Runt user will often use back to back Shocks to make sure they don’t use Deep Freeze as their opponent swaps. I decide to not play these games, if it ends up with my Whelpling and Flame against the Runt and Gnome I’ve got an advantage. Another consideration is the speed of my Animus. It’s slower than the Gnome so if I bring it back in later to face the Gnome I’ll go last. All these factors point to sacrificing my Animus, I’ll take whatever the Runt throws at me rather than dance around it and potentially waste turns.

The Runt Shocks, I use Touch, the Deep Freeze comes right away. Animus goes to 0 hp and is stunned. After my Animus resurrects from its Failsafe the Kun-Lai Runt Shocks again and the Curse of Doom finishes my Animus off. Now that the runt has used its main CD it’s relatively harmless for a few rounds.

ani10I bring in my Whelpling, my opponent swaps to the Gnome. I use Death and Decay and Plagued Blood then swap to my Flame. The Gnome has put up a Rocket. I’m expecting a lot of swaps now to try and gain the advantage but my opponent tries to take out the Flame with the Gnome. I use Scorched Earth, Conflagrate, then Flame Breath, all the while receiving heals from Plagued Blood. The Gnome is finished.

ani11My Flame uses Flame Breath on the Runt, I swap to the Whelpling who gets stunned on the swap, but it had enough hp to withstand the incoming Thrashes. One Plagued Blood plus the Flame’s DoTs is enough to finish the Runt.

4-1. The healing combo of Touch and Plagued Blood really worked well this battle. It’s great when the plan actually works out like it’s supposed to.

Overall Assessment:
This is not a bad first attempt at a Son Of Animus team. Touch of the Animus is an amazing move. Combining Touch and Plagued Blood provided a lot of healing. Really any DoT along with Touch will provide some nice healing. I’m definitely looking forward to creating more teams based around Touch Of The Animus.

2 Responses to 5 Battles: Son Of Sanford

  1. SuperD says:

    After leveling my Animus, I was wanting to get a team together. I’ll have to give this one a shot. Thanks!

    • Discodoggy says:

      I hope it works well for you. I’ve made a few other teams that use Touch Of The Animus along with DoTs but I’m still searching for that perfect fit myself.

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Friday, July 5, 2013

Severian's Contemplation

I received a commission from someone who loved the work of Gene Wolfe so I was led to re-visit the fantasy world I had illustrated many years ago. I put together retro-futuristic images for the ruined spaceport and added poetic Roman-style Baroque ruins for the foreground. The debris piles in front are the wreckage of hundreds of thousands of years of civilizations. Severian sits on a fallen cornice (lower right hand corner) contemplating his future in a world of only past. This picture seems like it should be large but the original is only 10 1/2" x 8".

"Severian's Contemplation" is ink and watercolor on Crescent illustration board, 10 1/2" x 8", December 1999. Click on the image for a larger view.

1 comment:

Tristan Alexander said...

These are all amazing, they do look like they should be large paintings!


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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

It's a....

Boy or Girl?!?!

I had to "wrap" up the envelope with the gender so that I wouldn't peek before our trip!!

Ah!!! The suspense is driving me crazy!!

@ our spot on the beach in Malibu, Ca -Oct. 3rd, 2013

Guess intelligender was right for us! We are having a lil boy! :)

We couldn't be more thrilled! Either way we would have been so excited.. all we really want is a happy and healthy baby.. (I know everyone says this.. but it's true!) I feel so blessed and lucky to be having this baby that it really didn't matter to me if it was a boy or a girl. I just wanted to KNOW! :) I kind of secretly did want a little boy first.. to be the "big brother".. in case we have a lil girl one day :-p...

Quick version:
It was such a special moment when we found out! I will forever cherish the memory.
We actually took a special trip back to the place where we met and fell in love just 9 short years ago -UCLA! (to the very date.. Oct. 3rd). We had the gender sealed in an envelope and went to our special spot on the beach where my husband first told me he loved me. We opened the envelope at the exact same spot.. and found out we were going to have a son! :) What a special way to celebrate that I will never forget. We later watched the ultrasound video together and it was amazing to see our lil boy wiggle and move around! He's such a cutie :)

The next day we went around UCLA's campus taking pictures of our lil "Pookie".. in blue or pink. Then we finally announced it to friends after calling our parents the night before of course!

I couldn't wait to go shopping for boy things! I found some really cute things... I never imagined it would be so fun to shop for a boy! I will have to do a baby buys haul video to share what I found!

Hard to believe it has already almost been one full week of knowing it's a boy! I really couldn't be more excited! :)

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COMMERCIAL AIRSHIPS.; Mr. McCready Advocates Vacuum Idea, with Steel Cylinder Devoid of Air.

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August 01, 1909

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The Case of Judge Loring.

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April 28, 1855

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Between a Rock and a Soft Place
Tibor de Nagy
724 Fifth Avenue, at 57th Street
Through May 19

The title of the 10th New York gallery show of Kathy Butterly, the immensely talented and original ceramic sculptor, announces a problem borne out by its contents. Wonderful as they are, her latest efforts seem suspended between the rock of genuine risk and the soft place of tried-and-true success. They are too much like their predecessors: radiantly colored, exquisitely detailed, suggestively deflated, discreetly lascivious and rife with decorative, corporeal and stylistic asides.

While not quite up to the level of her previous shows, this one may thrill first-time viewers. For long-term observers, however, it indicates that it is time for Ms. Butterly to turn the page and try something completely different.

She may be trying. All the pieces are larger than her past work and several are more pared down, which emphasizes their collapsed, sculptural volumes. Unexpected twists, turns and apertures also encourage a degree of in-the-round perusal unusual for works that are still no more than nine inches high.

But in busier pieces the details seem off and hokey, especially in the handlike forms of ''Grabber'' and the ruffled parts of ''More Plenty'' and the tellingly titled ''Mesmerchandize.'' A new note is struck only by the elaborate ''Blue Crawl,'' with its extravagantly crackled blue-brown glaze and piled, sometimes oozing forms strapped on top.

Ms. Butterly, however, needs an entirely new song. The shifts and about-faces of Ken Price's extraordinary career in ceramics are the precedent. Maybe straight edges and corners are worth trying. ROBERTA SMITH


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22 Questions to Ask Before Developing a Website #ask #a #geek

#websites to ask questions

22 Questions to Ask Before Developing a Website

I developed this Website Development Questionnaire in 2002. It is old, but it still serves me well, so I thought I would share. I don t actually add the bold or italic sections below. Those were added here to help you understand the rationale for the questions:

Company Fax Number

Other contact information

Business hours of operation (store hours / when phones will be answered, if relevant)

2) Domain Names and Hosting:

Main Domain Name:

What other domain names do you own?

Do you have web hosting? If so, what type (IIS, Apache?)

3) Briefly describe what your company does:

4) Adjectives: Please list 5 (or more) adjectives that you think describe your company or should describe your company in order of relevance / importance

This information is used to get a sense for design, and to help in SEO

5) Competitors: Are there any websites that you would consider your â€œcompetitionâ€? Feel free to provide more information on how they are your â€œcompetitionâ€, but, at minimum, provide for each competitor, include the company name, web address, and a list of â€œkeytermsâ€ that describe what they do and/or sell.

In addition to getting a good look at what key terms they may be targeting, I take a look at these sites to get an idea of the features they may need, target audiences we should be considering, and what the competition will be like in terms of SEO

6) Favorite Sites: Please list 5 websites you like. Include the URL, what you like about each site, and what you would improve upon.

These sites don t have to be in the same business realm. By getting sites they like, i get a good feeling for their design sense. By finding out what they would improve upon, you learn alot more about what they are looking for in their site.

7) Least favorite sites: Please list 5 websites you donâ€™t like, Include the URL. What donâ€™t you like about these sites? What redeeming qualities to they have?

The pitfalls they list tells you what you need to avoid. Though redeeming qualities are rarely included when clients fill out this list, I get a good sense of what they like when they do answer that question. I usually find that the redeeming qualities from this answer helps me understand better their answer to question 6 above.

8) Products / Services: List the top ten products / services you provide

This should be redundant to the answer of question 5. If it s not, I usually have to do some business development with the client to get them to focus the purpose of their site. I ask this question this way as well because I don t want to start developing a site for a client if they haven t finished developing their business strategy.

9) Selling points: Tell us why you, your products or your services are better than your competition (both online competitors from question 3, and offline competition)

10) User goals: Why do you think people will visit your site? When people don t know you exist, why would they find you or happen upon your site? Why would they come back? If they do know you, why would they take the time to visit your site?

Most clients think users will just come to their site. This question helps them focus on why an average Jane or John Doe may end up on their site. Many brochure sites get most of their visits from people looking for an address or phone number. You can create a one page website for that. This helps the client focus on what the site s real goals should be.

11) Target Audience: What types of visitors do you want to get? Who is your target audience? (age, education, and other demographics? Job status? Economic status? Role in the community?) Describe your â€œaverageâ€ visitor as best you can.

The layout targeting a Japanese middle school students will be very different from a site targeting rural agricultural workers or British graduate school applicants. Knowing your target audience, their culture, their technical savvy, and their internet expectations can help you design your page in terms of look and feel and help you determine site functionality and user experience design

12) Secondary Audience: What other visitors is your site going to get? Job seekers? Board members?

This helps me determine what additional pages to include in a site. Your client may be a sole proprietor, but they may want to hire, incorporate and/or get venture capital funding. Making sure your site can grow to accommodate future features is important. Thinking about those potential features before beginning the design process give you an added edge.

13) Technical: How technically savvy is your average visitor?

14) Accessibility Usability: Will web visitors have any special needs? (eyesight, language, mobility, reading level?)

15) Site Purpose: What do you want the visitor in question 11 (and 12) to do when they get to your site? What are your goals for the web site in terms of visitor actions? What do you think your site visitor should accomplish on your site?

16) Site Goals: What are your goals for the web site in terms of you company goals? How is your site supposed to help your business? What is the purpose of your site?

17) Site Analytics: What are your goals for the web site in terms of popularity and virality? What type of exposure do you anticipate your website, when â€œsuccessfulâ€ should achieve?

This question has dual purposes: The first is to help set numeric goals for the site that can be tested with common analytics. The second is to guage the sense of reality of the client: if they expect to reach 1,000,000 page views their first month, they ll let you know their expectations via this question. This is the time to take some sense into them so they aren t disappointed and don t set their expectations too high

18) Site Features: What features do you think your website should include? (calendar, forum, login, price comparison chart, contact form, anything?)

For each feature, please state the goal of said feature.

Some clients want the moon. By stating the goal of each feature, they may realize they don t need the moon. Other clients have no clue what is available to them. They never ask for a contact form at the initial contact, but i have yet to have a sole proprietor client who doesn t want a contact form after reading this questionnaire they just never thought of it. This question helps define which features are necessary even if they weren t originally thought of, and which ones sounded good originally, but really won t help.

19) Site No Nos: Do you have any definite remarks on what you DONâ€™T want to have on your website? (Flash, splash page, the color pink?) Sharing why you donâ€™t want a feature will help me get an understanding of your user experience tastes, so feel free to elaborate.

This question is really helpful as is. Adding the examples has helped me explain against the dreaded splash page.

20) Other: Anything else I should know?

21) Product Manager: Company Contact(s) Information for web decisions:

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Category Archive: paddles

information on our SUP and Outrigger paddles including new designs and prototypes

Jul 18

QB FAQ: What Length Should My Paddle Be??

In this FAQ video, Jimmy discusses the long debated question.. what length paddle should I get??

Aug 17

The Ladies at Jamie’s Race

As mentioned in our previous post – the Quicksilver Watermen’s Festival was a tremendous success on all levels. From the opening 5 mile and 1 mile races to the exciting Survivor series- the full day of racing went by in a blink of an eye. Of all the races over the weekend none was more …

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Aug 17

Now that’s a TRIFECTA (and then some) -The Guys at Jamie’s Race!

This past weekend was the inaugural Quicksilver Watermen’s Festival. The brainchild of our own Jamie Mitchell, this event was a world class paddle race in a family friendly, fun atmosphere. The crown jewel was Jamie’s innovative Survivor Format. A last man standing kind of race series that features five races in one. Competitors race an M course …

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May 18

We Have Vector Net Paddles! And So Should You!

After lots of experimentation that came from our Matchsticks program we are so happy to announce the wide release of our new Vector Net paddle line up. These are really beautiful paddles! So what is this construction? It is both carbon and fiberglass – a hybrid construction. We start by painting the core of the …

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Feb 11

Welcome Our New Blade Sizes! V 71 and Trifecta 76

After the success of the V Drive and Trifecta we started to get a number of requests from the groms and smaller paddlers of the world — Can’t you make me something smaller? Well, guess what… we did.. and we did so in a couple colors as well as our traditional all carbon construction. The …

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Jan 15

QB Matchsticks!!

Match Sticks! They were all the rage at the SURF EXPO in Florida this weekend. And from the ringing phones and emails, sounds like you all are just as excited about these new paddles as we are. Truthfully, the concept was hatched by the mad scientist about a year ago. After seeing the prominence of the …

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Jan 14

What’s in Their Hands? Paddle Stats, Part 2

First off, thank you to everyone for all of the amazing comments, thoughts and sentiments after we did the last post about our paddles being used by more of the world’s top 25 racers then any other paddle brand. If you missed that original post, check it out here. Since the original post, our friend at …

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Dec 08

The Trifecta and V Drive FG/CA

After a year of R and D, we are so excited to announce the release of our FG/CA Trifecta and V Drive paddles just in time for the holidays. These are the exact same molds and templates as their winning all carbon cousins. The new paddles also come in fleet of new color choices ! …

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Nov 24

QB Stocking Stuffers 2015 (Under $25 QB gifts)

It’s the holidays and that means gift giving. We not only make the best paddles for the best paddlers, but also a whole bunch of accessories and other items designed to help you live the aquatic lifestyle we all get to enjoy. I thought it be fun to list off some of our favorite QB stocking stuffers …

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Sep 23

Try The Paddle First

I am one of the people (along with Stacey and Hugo) who take all of the incoming calls to Quickblade. If you call us during office hours, chances are you will be getting at least one of the three of us on the phone. Most may not realize it – but our average phone call …

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Monday, September 24, 2012

Wife of former Nama official facing lawsuit resigns post - The Irish Times - Fri, Sep 21, 2012

ALICE KRAMER, wife of the former Nama executive who is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly taking confidential information from the agency, has left her job at professional services firm, Ernst & Young.

The High Court heard last week that former Nama senior portfolio manager Enda Farrell e-mailed confidential documents to Ms Kramer before he left the agency in March to join private equity group, Forum Partners.

His action sparked investigations at Nama and at Ernst & Young, which carried out its own inquiry following a request from the State agency. The firm has completed its inquiry and passed the results to Nama.

It is understood Ms Kramer resigned from Ernst & Young within the last few days. She had a senior role in a division advising clients on compliance and other issues.

Ernst & Young has not commented beyond confirming that it carried out an investigation and passed its findings on to Nama.

The agency confirmed last week that it reported to the Garda that an internal investigation showed a former employee had taken confidential information without authorisation.

Nama said there was a possibility a criminal offence under section 202 of the Act that established the agency “may have been committed”. It also raised the issue with the Data Protection Commissioner.

The statement did not name Mr Farrell, but on the same day that Nama issued it, the agency brought proceedings against him and Ms Kramer to the High Court’s commercial division.

The issue came to light after it emerged the couple had bought a four-bedroom house and two acres of land at Sundays Well, Lucan, Co Dublin, from property dealer, Thomas Dowd, for €410,000, while Mr Farrell was still working for Nama.

Mr Dowd, a director of property investment firm Asvestus – which was originally controlled by Derek Quinlan – is a Nama client.

After learning of the deal last month, Nama suspected it may have breached its procedures and hired Deloitte to audit the purchase.

As a result, the agency learned confidential material may have been removed without its authorisation. The material included spreadsheets and other documents containing details of its largest clients.

It subsequently took in camera High Court proceedings against the couple, where it got a series of orders “directing the defendants to deliver up all documents, communications and materials which contain confidential information relating to Nama”.

It subsequently recovered data from the defendants’ computers and other storage devices and is now analysing that information.

The proceedings were moved to the Commercial Court last week and their in camera status was dropped at Nama’s request. The case is due back in court on October 4th.

Forum Partners hired Mr Farrell last March to head its Irish division. The fund, which manages $6 billion worth of assets, has reportedly begun to focus Europe’s distressed debt markets.

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Woo-hoo! (Hmm, I don't use that very often--it sounds silly!) I now have a YouTube Channel! And one measley little video on it! :) That happens to be my Florida Cow Cavalry Promo...Check it out and give me some feed-back. I got the idea Thursaday while doing the 'flooded creek shoot'. I did a couple of rough-draft takes on it that afternoon. Yesterday, after deciding on what I wanted to say, I went out there and blabbed at the camera for at least on hour and a half. 17 takes + some (if you count the 2-3 times in some clips). I used 4 different locations (all around the bayhead) and a couple different positions. I finally settled on a head-on, straight to the camera style. Once I came in and settled on the take I was going to use, I plopped down at the piano and played my rendition of Dixie half a dozen times. The one I used fits amazingly! (I think...)

Other than forgetting what I was supposed to say, or mixing my words up, the biggest thing that went 'wrong' was those stinkin' bull frogs! In a pause in the words, I'd get this big ol' "gruck". Actually is was kind of funny once I realized what it was. I was keeping a close eye out for gators and snakes! I was carrying the .22 pistol, not that that would be much good on a gator--unless I shot him right through the eyeballs...but anyway. I was thankful that it was just bull frogs and lizards interupting me.

'Bites' refer to the first part of the outdoor adventure. I shot some more video. I haven't looked at it yet, however, so I can't tell you how it looks. Anyway, I got some more creek shots (overflowed creek, by the way), and some of me standing there blabbing. I'm toying with a 'teaser trailer' idea. I found out that I can turn the LCD screen all the way around and so I can stand in front of the camera and watch myself! That was pretty neat. And no, I'm not being narcissitic--it really is helpful...that way I didn't have to record--then go check where I showed up at in the frame. I also used a filter, so I look forward to seeing how that turned out.

'Bits', 'Bucks', and 'Bounces' refers to the second, more grueling part of the afternoon. I first had to fight the bit into Snip's mouth. I didn't exactly lose my temper, but I came awful close. I'm tired of his dumb fighting. He knows how to take the bit--he just makes me work at it. Brat.

Almost as soon as I got on him and took him through the gate ('the' gate...ha! as many gates as there is on this property that is rather undiscriptive), the bad boy started to actually buck! Now this wasn't any of that half-hearted trying stuff that he's done before, either. I guess I'm an okay horsewoman 'cause I stayed on--even after my feet (or at least one of them) came out of the stirrups. I kept my head and a steady pressure on the reins. I'm a tad sore in a strange place, but I don't know if that is from the bucking or the other almost 'Racheal went flying' moment. That happened at the other end of the pasture.

Snip decided, as he streached his neck into a faster run, that he wanted to go down that little hill to the wet creek area. Uh-huh. Well, all was fine (as far as my seat went) until he skipped through a bull hole and continued his left-ward drift; speeding up as he did so. Left foot took to the sky. I came *this close* (hold up fingers) to cracking my head into the ground again. (If I had, at least it would have been squishy--that whole area is wet and boggy right now.) I hung on to the saddle horn, pulled on the reins, squoze with my knees (as hard as I could while bouncing down a hill), and tried to throw my weight to the left. Well, I guess it worked because I stayed on and got the stinker stopped.

He really wanted to RUN RUN RUN today. So even though it was hot, I ran him. There were no 'sweet Snippy' feelings today. It was 'Boy, you are going to behave.' I was somewhat more forceful--I'm thinking that is what he needs. Reading pro's writing they make it sound so easy: you ask--and give the animal time to respond--but some how I think they do a bit more 'making' the horse behave than they let on. Snip finally decided that he would at least pretend he was paying attention to me. It was after that that I quit. I needed a drink.

Stink pot. Anyhow...it isn't like I have even been naughty! :)

Some surprises, like the one I received this morning, are exciting. This surprise also put some new life into my fire over the Cow Cavalry.

You see, I checked my e-mail as usual this morning, really not expecting anything of any import. I got two e-mails of interest; but only one of them needs be mentioned for this post. A certain gentleman contacted me with an offer of any assitance that he could provide concerning my Cow Cavalry documentary! Of all places that he found out about me was off this here blog. He said that he stumbled on my blog while doing some research. Personally, I don't know what I said that made him so fired up interested; I went back and read what I said before on the subject and I don't see how any of it was that awesome. But anyhow, I shot off an answering e-mail and got another in exchange. To that one I also sent an answer, going into a little more depth about the project and what goes on in my brain.

On a related note, I really need to get down there to the creek and get some more footage before the water goes down. We have had a tropical storm over us for days so the water is up back there. But I'm sticking to the house today on account of the sunburn I contracted yesterday. Boy, is it a beaut! :) It also hurts in a couple of spots. It is nice and sunny, so that it is a bit of a bummer that I would want to stay in...

Ho-hum. Today was the day to rotate the cows. So, I went out and after a good long fight, in which I had to go get Savannah for assistance, finally got the bit in Snip's mouth. Saddling took just moments after the bit was inserted.

The wind was (still is) blowing like crazy, so that didn't help matters any. For some reason wind makes Snip frisky and less complient. It also didn't help that almost as soon as I mounted the sky start hurling some big and somewhat painful raindrops at the ground. Snip put his rump towards the south and wouldn't move. My back got soaked. Finally he got moving. I rode over to the west gate and opened that. We goofed off for a few minutes in the north pasture trying to encourage the cows to start moving. They were a bit skeerdy since they didn't know what a horse/person combination is. They sort of know me, so I think that helped keep them from really going nuts.

Well, I left them to themselves after a bit and zipped off and opened the gate into the woods--on the south. Then I tried to get Snip to go ankle deep in the flooded creek area. He was like, "Uh-uh...I ain't  goin' to do that!!" Finally he did get a bit wetter than he wanted.

After that I returned to the north side and went back and opened the gap gate. From there I came up behind the cows and gently started pushing them toward the open gate. Snip behaved himself wonderfully. The only animal I felt I really needed to keep an eye on was 'Gorillia Cow'. She's been a bit more obsinate lately. Eventaully, she decided to move. I followed her, but gave her plenty of room--don't crowd a hairy cow :) When she stopped, I did. Then I'd move Snip in one or two steps and stop again. It worked.

Once I got them all moved I shut the gate (I did a lot of on and off today!) Then I did some serious galloping (oh yes, that was after I rode him down the drive way and checked the mail! More gate work...) I didn't work much on circles, but just simple weaving. That row of old orange tree stumps is great for that--including the close proximity to the electric wire. It keeps him from going too far 'thataway'...but also it helps with his trust in me that I won't run him into anything. (I wish I could say the same. Some times I abort an action simply because I have this sixth sense that he's going to drag my leg on something. It happened not to long ago. I'm just glad we weren't going super fast when it happened or tht would have really hurt.)

The whole ride there was wind and on and off sprinkle. Perfect training weather! :) :)
(Inside joke ;} )

Well, he wasn't quite sure of that once he got here...but I think he'll be fine.

I rode the fat bay from where he had been being kept to Granddaddy's this afternoon. I think it is about 3-4 miles. To start with, he didn't want to leave through the front gate so I had to get off and walk him out and across the road. I figured riding over next to the orange groves would be safer. I was grateful to the people who, when they drove by, slowed down and eased over to a more central position on the road. I didn't have too much problem.

At one point, a guy on a porch hollered at me that the flank strap was dragging. (Not suprising, seeing as I barely got it hooked anyway--Snipper's gotten FAT!) Once I finally realized what he said (it was rather far), I grabbed the strap and stuck it up behind me on the saddle. I also yelled, "THANK-YOU!!" back to him.

Anytime I passed a place where there are horses, Snip almost started dancing. After passing the bridge, which was an adventure in and of it's self, the pony that lives right there literally came galloping up. I had to fight Snip to get him to keep going forward. At one point I kicked him and smacked his rump with the reigns at the same time and he reared up on me (not very far, but enough that it was noticable). I had no problem staying on and after that he moved off like he was supposed to.

Back to the bridge though. I arrived and urged him forward. He would not step on the wood. I got off and lead him out a bit. Once he seemed comfortable, I got back on. The whole time, a car was sitting there, waiting patiently for me to cross. I was quite thankful. (Like as not they were enjoying the show.) After about two steps, a truck comes up (I've seen this truck many times.) Well, Snip starts backing up, even though the truck also stopped. I had to get off again and lead him off the bridge. The man in the truck, on the upper side of 50, I'd guess, asked me who I was. I told him and added, that I was my granddad's grandaughter :) For some reason I had a feeling that he knew Granddaddy. As soon as I told him, he grinned and said, "Oh!" in a very understanding tone of voice and added something like I "should know what you are doing then". I made sure I mentioned that I was still training the booger. I stayed off and calmed Snip while he drove off and the other waiting vehicles (for now there were two) crossed the bridge.

We made it home safely. I grinned like an idiot a couple of times on the ride and I talked to Snip almost the whole time--as much for my nervousness as for his. I was suprised that I wasn't more nervous than I was. Snip...well, it was all new and he was curious...which means he wasn't as well behaved as he might have been. Of course, it surely didn't help that he hadn't been ridden in a week. (At least.)

And what was the weirdest? Well, the fact that half-way up the driveway, he turned toward the south and whinnied. I have only heard him whinny, maybe three times before...he's a silent kind of animal. At anyrate, this was the first time I've heard him whinny while I've been on him.

So I finally got the pictures from J.P. and Debora's wedding up.

I thought I would post some other random pictures of me and stuff...
This is my Uncle L. look :)
This is 'Blah'...you would understand if you heard her.
I'm impressed with how great my hair looks here. It is quite obvious that Savannah braided it and not me!
Mock Gibson Girl hair-do...
So, maybe you enjoyed these...maybe you didn't. Anyway, I have to scoot...I'm finally getting around to doing my lighting test. I interview "Cousin Hank" (aka Mr. Hendry) tomorrow!

Yesterday, I started out working on the horse lot. I got three posts in the ground--two for the H-frame and the dead-man. I was ready to put the cross-bar on when I realized I had no nails. I looked in the barn, truck, garage, and house. None. (At least the size I needed.) So, I plowed off to Do It Best. I found the nails I needed and picked up a couple of pakages of zip-ties--for use as stays :)

I came home just in time--the two W. brothers, Ricky and Tommy, who helped us work cows today, were just fixing to head of into the pasture and to the pens, with the others. Anyway, we got everything figured out. Then was lunch.

As Ricky had said that we would need more worm-medicine (which turns out we didn't--Daddy was right, there was plenty), I headed to Smith's. While Skyping with Daddy after lunch, I must have mentioned that there were some work in the pens that needed to be done. So, I also got some boards at Smiths. That was--to say the least--interesting. First off, I drove back to where I figured the wood would have been. Well, nobody came out and I wasn't sure, so I started to drive up to the front of the building--I was going to talk to the 'old man' (disrespectful I know, but somehow I doubt he would really mind), since he knows who I am and I know who he is--sort of. Anyway, a tall, skinny, long-haired, drummer-player looking dude is standing there. I slowed down and then backed up a bit. A big "hint-hint". He took it and asked if I was the person for the boards. "Yes." About this time, I saw in the rearview mirror, the Redneck fellow I mentioned in a pervious post coming out of the back of the building with a "what does she think she's doing" look on his face. (Hey, this was my first time getting boards!) Anyway, with the directions straightened out, I drove on back and got loaded.

That was fun :) Redneck (I have to give them nicknames--it helps in the story-telling) put the first 16 foot pine board in the back (16' is the only length for pine). He made some mention about tying them down and I crawled into the back of the truck, "I have a chain here." I started pulling it out from under the fence posts, while stradling the board. All of a sudden, I realized that Redneck had reached out and grabbed the board. I'm glad he did, or I would have gotten a rude shock! Anyway, I looked over my shoulder at him and we both grinned and laughed. I said something to the effect of "Thanks--that would have been uncomfortable!"

As he headed off to get the second board, I sat on the edge of the truck and put my foot on the one already in there. The old man came up and within minutes, he and Redneck had my five boards loaded. I wrapped the chain around them (the boards, of course!) and the Ol'man said something about getting some rope to tie them in better. Very well, I was to drive to the front of the barn for that process. Redneck sat in the back of the truck and held the boards down and helped with directions as I backed up two or three times to maneurver in a tight spot. Up at the front of the barn, Redneck and Ol'man proficently got me ready to head out. Drummer-dude showed up and got some pine sap on his hand--and made a semi-big deal out of it. Both of the other men baiscally said, "It's just pine sap--no biggie." I wonder if Drummer-dude felt the "what a whimp" coming off me.

Anyway, I got home without knocking into anything or anybody with the (at least) six feet of board sticking out of the bed--at an angle. I'll have to let the old man know I had no problems next time I go to Smith's :)

I promptly put some of those boards to work, fixing a section of the chute in the pens. Last time we worked cows, Daddy just about got hit in the head with that broken board.

This morning, ten minutes before my alarm was set to go off (6:oo), Savannah opened my door and told me it was time to get up--Granddaddy was trying to rouse us :) (Maybe that was why I was mostly awake anyway.) Anyhow, after dressing and having breakfast and coffee, we started out to push the cows into the pens. (By the way, the cows put themselves in the trap last night! There was no need for the bag of pellets...) Just then Ricky and Tommy showed up. Ricky has a real nice diesel Dodge Ram pickup :) So three pick-up trucks holding a total of five people, headed to the pasture. The cows worked real nice today.

Once we had the cows in the pens, I strolled around doing a few last minute things while the fellas (and one gal) drove around the way we always do. Here's the work order: Granddaddy was on the squeeze-chute tailgate (through which we let the cows out), Tommy was medicating the cows, Ricky was working the hopper gate (from up on the fence--he does it different--but it is actually safer), Savannah ran the beef gate, and I did any extra leg work (i.e. pushing cows from one holding pen to the next, encouraging them up the chute, climbing up the fence on the other end of the hopper to encourage the cows to exit). We started by parting the calves from the cows. As we pushed the cows up the chute, Tommy sprayed them with the worm poison. Once all the cows were finished (we forgot to count them!), Granddaddy came up to the hopper and basically ran that gate and made the call on which calves went to market. Ricky and I did the parting. At one point, I was standing there and one of the white calves was standing on my spur! I couldn't move and he wouldn't :) I guess it is good 'hopper experience' to work with the calves like that--a good starting place. They won't hurt you as bad as a grown cow will.

After that Savannah and I went with Ricky to Al C.'s place to pick up his trailer (I guess Ricky always uses Al's trailer). I was in the front so I got gate-duty. Fine with me :) Then we came back and loaded the calves and took them to market! I rode with Ricky and Tommy, while Savannah drove Granddaddy. Granddaddy was seller 19. The auction starts at noon and it was about 9:30 or 10:00 when we got there. Somebody said something about not many people would be bringing calves in today because of some beef convention going on. So, hopefully the prices will be real good. Oh, by the way, the load was 16 calves. There was another one that for some reason Granddaddy said to keep--it was a bull and big enough to send. But like Ricky said, it was good for Granddaddy to be out there and making those decisions. I certainly agree--even though I disregarded the order to leave a particular gate open...I had previous orders from Daddy. I'm going to rotate cows this summer and now is as good a time as ever to get started!

Savannah and I played some music...Granddaddy slept through (at least most of it). He is tired; it was big day for him.

I love working cows!

Friday was J.P. and Debora's wedding; which we attended. The story of the day is as follows...

We arrived at the S.'s house and ate lunch. Shortly thereafter we piled into the car to head to Clearwater. We met up with a young fellow named Charlie for coffee at Starbucks. I say this at the risk of sounding totally not hip--this was the very first time I have put foot inside a Starbucks. The coffee was good. We must have sat there for two hours while the conversation rolled freely.

At the end of that time we had to leave to make it to the 6:00 wedding on time. Turns out the 6:00 wedding was actually scheduled for 6:30; but it didn't get underway til closer to 7:30!! As Tope told us later--for Haitians it is culturally acceptable thing to be anywhere from 1-2 hour late. (So...if you want an event to come off at 6, you should tell them 4!)

J.P. and Debora had a beach wedding--neither one had ever attended a beach wedding before so they wanted something different. It was a beautiful event even with the rain. At least it didn't pour down rain, but rather just sprinkled. Debora was just georgeous and J.P. looked debonair. Andre became an unoffical part of the wedding party because he held the umbrella for Dr. T. It was kind of funny:)

The ceremony was held on the beach (of course!) in a heart drawn in the sand and lined with flowers and shells. I will post pictures once I take my stick to Savannah's laptop. (Besides, I think I had better use the big computer...it would literally take me ALL DAY to post them on this one.) I helped Mr. S. get the video camera set up early on. He had to stand there holding an umbrella over it most of the time...

I am having a difficult time putting into words the dee-lightful time we had pre- and during the ceremony. The entire day was great. It is always a ball to hang out with the S.'s no matter what the occasion.

Random things about the ceremony: J.P and Debora hired a duo to play music for the wedding. I think they were a father and son...the elder playing the cello and the younger the classical guitar. (Which I believe was a Cordoba like mine! Only this one had an amp jack.) They played beautiful music like Bach's "Minuet in G" and Pachabel's "Canon in D" (my Favorite!) During the exchange of vows (or part of them at any rate), J.P. held this big multi-colored umbrella over them--it was sweet.

What was so awesome was the entire lack of racial tension--black people and white people rubbing elbows, laughing with each other (even when the latter's umbrella is unkindly--though unhelpably--dripping on the former), and rejoicing with one another.

The reception got started around 9 or so and ended shortly after 11 p.m. I blew my diet--I ate some rice. I really needed to eat, so I did. I think Savannah and I probably should do the GAPS introducry phase this week. It wouldn't hurt. The dancing afterwards was stuff that we didn't know, so we sat out--expect for the first song. I had done this dance at my cousin Beth's wedding several years ago. You should have seen J.P. bouncing around out there! It was hilarious!

It was about 12:30 by the time we got back to the S.'s house and closer to 1 (if not after) by the time everyone got to bed.

Saturday was a slow day...Mrs. S. made a delightful breakfast for us and I will be honest, I cleaned up the leftovers. However, I also washed the dishes (all three meals we ate with them). Mr. S. jokingly said that Mrs. S. wouldn't want me to go home since I took care of the dishes :) I don't think they would really--I eat a lot!!

Later, Dave and Lucy came over so Dave could get a hair cut. Dave also put something on the S.'s computers while Mrs. S., Savannah, and Lucy went to the store for lunch material. We (minus Dave and Lucy) had lunch not long after they got back. It was about 2 by the time Savannah and I finally turned our tired noses back home.

After we got home I curled up in front of the computer to watch "As You Like It", my favorite Shakespeare play. I'll write a review on it here in a bit.

Anyway, the weekend was tiring, but throughly enjoyable. It is probably actually a good thing that we decided not to try to mooch a ride to General Assembly. We really wanted to go, but decided it wouldn't be best.

P.S. Grrr...irritation has jumped me...
We just found out that my uncle has been over here this afternoon...and he must have taken the cat food!! It has simply disappeared. WHY would he take the cat's food??
That's right...I got out of bed busy (practically--actually it is post-Bible time when I get busy).

The morning started with me planning out the remainder of my day...as soon as I put my breakfast away and washed the dishes, I went outside and got ready to poke off for our place. Granddaddy had started mowing and ran out of gas about 10 feet from the barn. I helped Savannah with the gas can. I was halfway down the driveway when I remembered that we needed to shut a certain gate in the pasture in preperation for working cows (hopefully) next week. So I turned around in the drive and zipped back up. Savannah got in the truck with me and we went and closed the gate. When we got back to the house, Granddaddy had gotten the lawm mower stuck in the fence; the yard kind of drops off into the pasture in that corner and apparently one wheel had dropped over and pulled the rest of it into the fence. We pulled and pushed it out of there--then it wouldn't start. So I left and Savannah hauled the thing back to the barn and hooked it up to the battery charger.

Once at our place I opened up the honey house and barn and hooked up the Kubota to the battery charger--so I could mow later in the day. Then I meandered back over here and managed to get the fire started in the horse lot. I was planning on burning some more today, but it poured down rain again last night so the wood will be too wet. *shrug*

I worked on that til lunch time, coming in a couple of times to get some water and watch Cannon for a few moments at a time. After lunch I washed the dishes...as usual.

Then the real adventure began: First I cleared out the back of the pick-up (much needed) and swept it as best I could--wet sand is hard to sweep. Second, I headed for town.

I went to Smith's first for 20 fence posts. I walked in and asked for 20 posts. The older gentleman working the counter asked me what size I wanted. I went, "Umm, the ones that are about this big around." (Holding my fingers up in a circle). He laughed. While laughing he repeated my hand motions and said, "This big around?" I said something stupid and inconsequental at this point (I can't remember what). But anyway, he got me straightened out...now I know that next time I need to ask for 3-3 1/2" posts :)

Next he asked me how I was going to pay and I told him to put it on Granddaddy's account. He said, "I should have known that. You're [his] granddaughter, right?" "Yes." "Is that your Dad who comes in?" "Yes." "You look kind of like him." What is funny about this conversation is that last time I was at Smith's, this same gentleman asked me how Granddaddy was--without me letting on in any way, shape, or form who I was. It must have been the pick-up truck.

The posts were loaded by two young feller's. The older one I have seen before--a rather average looking redneck. The younger one--who looked to be about 15--I had not seen before. He is one of these very fair-skinned people and as such he was covered in freckles. Looks like he's from Irish stock--down to the short, broad shoulderedness.

From Smith's I went to Bryan's for horse feed. That was a painless opperation. Then I went to our place. Once there I cranked the Kubota and mowed. The cows were anxiously waiting for me to rake up the grass and pitch it over the fence.

Snip was happy to see the feed I brought with me. I took him out of the front pasture where he was, back to the pens and run. On the way across the lot, we paused and he ate a bunch of mineral.

I really was flithy. I was soaked with sweat and therefore was plastered with dirt. I've heard it said that ladies don't sweat, they either 'glow' or 'prespire'. Sorry, folks; I don't do either--I sweat.

Today, I plan on at least getting started with building the fence around the horse lot. I like this kind of work :) :)

I have seen our elusive calf!! It is a heifer...a little tiny, white heifer with faint carmel colored spots. As she gets older she will get a little more buff in color.

I went over to our place to open up the honey house and empty the trash-can we put under the leak (that can was almost half full!). Savannah had told me to air the house too, but I though it was still dryer inside the house, so I didn't do that. I did gather some stuff for my 4th of July costume (we are having a party!!). After I opened the honey house I went and sat on the back of the truck and read a lovely epistle that I got in the mail. I giggled over some things, grinned over others, and got that stinker look in my eye at other points. When I was done reading it I closed the honey house back up and left.

At some point this afternoon I went out under the trees and practiced the Declaration of Independence. I went through it twice--the second time through I got all kinds of ant bites on my feet. Boy, was I itchy! Another couple of days, and I think I can pass the book off to Savannah. I will certainly still need prompting, but I'm already using it as a crutch in some places. I have done enough public speaking to know when to pitch the script and have someone prompt--you actually get stuff memorized better that way I think. (I will be quite honest, I have to work on the pronunciation of some of those words--like 'magnanimity'. *grin*)

I made the fish-cakes for supper (they were pretty good, if I do say so myself)...but that just sounds like bragging :)


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January 27, 2010

140Hours Haitian Relief Auction

140Hours, the online art auction, is raising funds to help Haiti through a major auction taking place this Friday. Artists are donating works and 100% of the proceeds are being donated to the International Medical Corps. Here is some information from the website on how International Medical Corps uses the money donated:

"International Medical Corps' Emergency Response Team is on the ground in Haiti, focusing on providing lifesaving medical care and relief to survivors of this devastating earthquake. We need your help to work as quickly as possible while lives can still be saved.

$200 ships $2,500 worth of life saving medicines and medical supplies to help our Emergency Response Team provide critically needed care.

$100 buys water filtration systems that would provide clean, safe drinking water to at least 3 families.

$25 helps fully immunize one child under the age of 5 and protect him or her from illness.

$10 provides hygiene kits to 2 people to help protect them from sanitation-related illnesses, and provide a basic level of comfort and dignity.

The response draws on 25 years of experience in emergency settings, including last September's earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, and the massive 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

Already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti struggles with widespread poverty with 70 percent of its population living on less than two dollars a day."

This cause speaks for itself and I have donated my image 'Joy' from The Outsiders series.

It is printed on Canvas at 16x16inches and is stretched and ready to hang.

Bidding opens Friday 29th January at 9pm US EST (New York time) and goes for 48 hours. More information can be found on the 140 hours home page: www.140hours.com

If art isn't your thing (!!!) you can also donate directly by going straight to the International Medical Corps website.

This is a great way to help an extremely important cause.

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Thursday, November 21, 2013

How To Decorate A Foyer For Christmas

 Remember the time you started looking at old photos from several Christmas seasons past, and you were surprised to see this one of the bathroom
 And you thought about all the keepsakes that were loaded in this tree in the dining room
 And you sighed when you saw the soft white and gold that lit the stairway that year
 And you wondered how old this glass ornament is
 And you thought about how much you love your husband and how this year he told you all the places he enjoyed seeing a Christmas tree in the house
 And you smiled when you saw the photo of this little ivory tree that was used so much it fell apart
 And you decided right then and there that someday you wanted a bunch of white Christmas trees to decorate in "sherberty" colors to make the house look like a Dr. Seuss Christmas house
 And you thought that the gold on the mantel could have been toned down just a touch with some white or silver
 And you reminisced about the second Christmas you were married and a new friend was depressed and wasn't going to decorate for Christmas or clean her house
 And you told her that her children needed to have some Christmas cheer
 So you cleaned and decorated her house for Christmas because Jesus loves her and so did you
 And you wonder what ever happened to her and her children
 And you thought about how fast time is passing
 And you chuckled when you remembered your daughter saying she had decided that the lamb was God's favorite animal because the Bible sure talked about lambs a lot
 And you wondered how you should decorate your own foyer this year
 Because if you don't hurry up, you won't have time after decorating for other people
 And you thought about the year that you used a lot of lavender  Christmas decor around the house and how you were definitely tired of that look because it seemed so "last Tuesday" or something
 And you really loved the white and gold and silver that you used that one year and you wondered if you would like to use it again
 And you remembered that these poor little trees were used so much that they fell apart too
But you remembered that you had used fabric that you had on hand from other projects and it was really budget friendly to achieve this look in the foyer

 And you almost, yep almost, laughed out loud when you remembered that last year you put this tree in the window seat?
Yeah, did you remember all that as your memories flashed before your eyes?
 And the look in the foyer was understated and quickly put together...and it showed.
But you knew that whatever you decided to do with the Christmas decor,
Christmas would come and go
and all you really needed to
decorate the foyer for Christmas
for those who live here
and those who come and go through your door.

Donnie Pirtle said...

Beautiful and Beautiful! Wish you could come help me re-arrange and decorate. Have a wonderful day.

Salmagundi said...

Great post! Love to look back on Christmases Past! Sally

Carolyn said...

Hi Rachel,
A lovely thoughtful post! I enjoyed
all the photos but the one that caught my eye was the tulle on the stairs because I just bought some at a thrift shop to decorate our stairway with. It looks very pretty.
I am remembering your sweet comments on your last email to me~ thank you,I was honored.
Hope you have fun decorating!

Judy said...

What a fun post, I wish you could come and decorate my home, beautiful!!


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Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Virgin on the cheap

Credit: Virgin/Wireless Group PLC
Virgin Radio is back!   After relaunching as Absolute Radio in 2008, new owners Wireless Group have relaunched the iconic brand.

However the connection with the old Virgin Radio ends there, this is a completely new radio station which while keeping the playlist guitar skewed, this is targeted at a younger male than the old station.

Justin Timberlake, Blackstreet, Dr. Dre and Notorious B.I.G. feature alongside the AOR fare of Travis and new bands, making it a hybrid of Radio X with a dash of Absolute.

The presenter line-up appears to be a mix of youth and experience.  Edith Bowman made the jump from the Beeb to present breakfast while Jamie East, the former editor of gossip site HolyMoly presents mid-mornings, Kate Lawler is on afternoons, formerly of rock station Kerrang, comedian Matt Richardson is on drive, while former Xfm Manchester breakfast presenter Tim Cocker is on evenings.

The first show was on a Virgin Radio branded train from Manchester to London.  As you'd expect, there were cut outs during links, but they did get the bands on live as they booked time to stop at railway stations for them to perform in the carriage.

Like sister station talkRADIO which launched last week, Virgin has suffered from technical problems with the DAB transmission, such as poor audio and problems with the studio equipment.    It appears that these two stations had very quick studio builds which has led to the equipment not being fully tested.

The first use of the so called 'Red Room' at Virgin's new HQ in Hatfields, London also had technical issues with the performance from rock band 'Reef' which didn't help when presenter Matt Richardson's mic kept distorting and cutting out.

On the positive side, the advertisers and branding consultants like the return of the brand and the launch today, which gives Wireless Group some breathing space, but a normal day on Virgin will be the key to this station's future success.  Can they build a new station on new younger listeners while older listeners to the brand in the past stick with the hybrid urban/AOR mix or return to the sanctuary of rival Bauer's Absolute Radio's brands of which the original Virgin is based on?


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See What is going on!

Asia – destination photography

Posted By On 08 Sep 2016

Dear couples in Asia. From today I’m on the Fammary’s website, which means, I am available for destination wedding photography in Japan (Tokyo / Aichi / Osaka / Hyogo / Kumamoto) and China as well. If you like the images do not hesitate to contact me. Please visit my page on the Fammary’s website:

Scott Kelby and my images

Posted By On 18 Aug 2016

Last night  Scott Kelby and Terry White (Adobe guy) were reviewing my images in live broadcast “on the Grid” and saying that both of my images are “terrific”… that feeling is awesome! Thanks Scott and Terry! My images are at 1:02:10 at the video:

International recognition from the Fstoppers

Posted By On 05 Aug 2016

The Fstoppers ( which is one of the leader photography site in the world featured one of my image among their top images again. Featured Photo from the Fstoppers Community – Title: Patrik Photographer: Rafael Orczy @Rafael_orczy — “Outdoor cinematic headshot. From the right side I used a 20 inch octobox, I used a silver reflector […]

Another “people’s choice” award

Posted By On 28 Jun 2016

Hasselblad X1D the game changer – Hasselblad X1D medium format mirrorless camera

Posted By On 22 Jun 2016

Have you seen the new Hasselblad camera system with the new Sony sensor? (x1d-50c)….here is the pocket beast.

I can be found on the onethreeonefour site from today

Posted By On 03 Jun 2016

The beginning of the week the onethreeonefour international wedding site contacted me. Now you can find me along with images and pricing on the following link as well:

Staff Favorite & People’s Choice in Subtle erotica Monthly Photo Challenge winning

Posted By On 09 May 2016

In the last 2 months I received 2 big awards on on the Viewbug which is currently one of the biggest photo sharing site. For the winning images click here: and here

Review: Sleeklens – Wedding Lightroom preset, Forever Thine Wedding Workflow

Posted By On 30 Apr 2016

Couple a days ago the contacted me and asked me to write a review about their Lightroom workflow. The page sell professional workflows to photographers who are looking to cut down time editing their photos and get better results.   For me as for any other professional photographer the biggest issue is always the time what I spend with […]

A quick interview with me by the Fiercely Boudoir

Posted By On 12 Apr 2016

For the interview please click on the linkt:

A huge recognition from a leading fashion site – my image is on the Breed

Posted By On 14 Dec 2015

One of the leading fashion site of the world chose one of my image for their weekly showcase. click here


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Oops, my finger slipped.

The library apparently doesn't have The O.C., but I may have just casually happened upon season 4 on eBay for $3.68 including shipping, and now it's maybe on its way to me to complete my collection. I'm pretty sure less than six minutes passed between the discovery and the decision. I can't be entirely positive I even made sure it was shipping from the U.S. or that it was a region 1 disc, I was just so delighted to find it at rock-bottom pricing. Literally the only way it could get cheaper is if it's $2 at the HPB warehouse sale, and besides being 2 months away, I have never seen season 4 stocked there.

I mean, sure, it makes my soul feel gross to have Accepted Love Interest Taylor that close to me, but I want a higher quality visual of The Night Moves. Also I whipped myself into a frenzy today reading about the first 3 episodes of that season, which I'm pretty sure I never saw because they look amazing as far as being deadly serious about acknowledging the fallout of S3, wholly unlike the nonsensical mess that followed. (On second thought, I must have known about them a little in order to write Keep Pretending, but if I did, I have done a good job forgetting everything beyond Summer's role in them).

The latest addition to my "synopses of novels that could exist based on this show if the show didn't exist" features a plot that about grief recovery that starts with the deadly car crash, makes liberal use of happy flashback to establish their relationship, and follows the general arc of these 3 episodes but ends in a Taylor-free place of returning to normalcy with the help of family.

....and now I'm wasting time googling for real YA novels in which a boy is getting over the death of his girlfriend. Naturally I know of at least two that go the other way around, but I've lost count of how many times I've fruitlessly tried to find a male protagonist in the right scenario, because I can't find decent male narrators in fiction even without imposing conditions.

All right, after 10 minutes, I've got one link to "18 YA novels with car crashes" and another claiming "Teen fiction about grief," so let's see if they yield anything.

1. Ashes to Ashes: it's a female ghost protagonist, and it gets all mixed up in weird Vengeful Spirit Good vs. Evil nonsense, but it also says: Here she meets a striking and mysterious ghost named Thatcher, who is meant to guide her as she learns to haunt and bring peace to the loved ones she left behind.With Thatcher at her side, Callie watches in agony while her father, her best friend, and her boyfriend mourn her SO ANYWAY I have all of those stock characters locked and loaded for Marissa. (Honestly, even if Thatcher is some weird Hot Boy Ghost, I got Ghost Johnny in my back pocket, so.)

2. OH MAN. I never cast anybody in particular for Amy & Roger's Epic Detour. And it always bugged me that they slept together. I can arrange for a way for that to not bug me.

3. Running Loose, which as a Chris Crutcher novel I am leery about, just as I am leery about the prominence of football. But damned if it doesn't ring a bunch of other bells:Louie Banks has it made.He's got a starting spot on the football team, good friends, and a smart, beautiful girlfriend who loves him as much as he loves her. Early in the fall, he sees all his ideas of fair play go up in smoke; by spring, what he cares about most has been destroyed. How can Louie keep going when he's lost everything?
Like, honestly, that's even better than my dream summary. Probably has less attempted murder as a coping mechanism, also.

Finally, I read through all my S4 reviews that are on this journal, and boy, that was a trip and a half on top of reminding me why I was so "twenty thumbs down!!" on this series by the time it shuffled off this mortal coil. Right now my chief complaint is the existence of Frank. I didn't like him then, and I like their choice to introduce him as Genial Goof Kevin Sorbo so much less now in direct contrast to the, idk, basically monster he is implied to be in S1. But on the bright side, I am pleased by how much of my own writing can still tolerate reading, given that it was an entire decade ago and LJ was much less severe than Tumblr about shaming young'uns out of their tendency toward offensive remarks and/or embarrassing themselves with emotional gushing.

( 2 comments — Leave a comment )
Aug. 10th, 2017 09:15 am (UTC)
"Looking for Alaska" might fulfill your criteria?
Aug. 11th, 2017 06:53 pm (UTC)
If you mean the John Green book, it is possible I might have some negative feelings about it.

But I appreciate the thought.
( 2 comments — Leave a comment )

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