Tony and I went to our local McKay store today and, outside in the "free book dump bins" I found a gem: Elinor Ames' book of Modern Etiquette. No dustcover, in good condition. Published in New York in 1935. It has wonderful chapter titles like: If You Must "Come Out"!; the Divorcee -- Gay or Otherwise; So You're Going Away?.

After reading some of the text I can say there will DEFINITELY be a photo essay about this book, probably this weekend. It's too good to not do one. More on this later, I'm sure.

If you haven't seen this yet you NEED to watch it! Soooooo funny!

"Single Ladies Gone Wrong" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN5YbfFszlI

So lately I've taken to shaving my head. I mean, razor and shaving cream shave, not just clippers with no guard. I like how it looks and how it feels. I just HATE the upkeep, having to shave it daily. Anyhow, here's what I look like at the moment. I think I look kinda psycho in these pictures but hey, they were taken in a hurry. Two standard, two "I was bored and opened Photoshop."
( Close shave )

So there's a park here in town called PetSafe Park. I don't know if this is something other places have or not, but it was the first time I'd ever been there. It's specifically for dogs and has two different areas: one is filled with play/training equipment and a course dogs can run; the other is just open fields with a small, shallow pond that has a creek leading from it to a larger, deeper fish pond. Well, after Oscar realized that he wasn't on his leash and there was water to play in, he took full advantage. Here's the proof! Just a few of my favorite photos, the rest are in the slideshow below.

Sometime back in May, Tony and I ventured to one of my favorite places in Knoxville, the UT Gardens. They've been doing work on the grounds for a while now, making new plant beds, moving old ones, and adding a very nice double koi pond/waterfall/stone steps/rose garden area that, when done and in bloom, will be THE spot for weddings, I'm sure.

Anyhow, the point of this all is that, shock of shocks, I took some photos while there. Here are my favorites from the bunch. Click for bigger and enjoy!
( Flowers, Fish, and Bugs )

I'm off for the next four days. My camera and I need something to do. Challenge me! Give me a subject/topic, anything you want. Not saying I'll do them all (if I get any suggestions that is) but I just need some inspiration and who better than you guys to give it to me!

I was sitting here, just a moment ago, surfing around, being bored. I had a large plastic cup, that earlier had been full of ice water, sitting on the corner of my desk. The cup had been empty for a while and because wet cups annoy me I made sure to wipe off all the condensation and any that that had gotten on my desk. Dry cup, dry desk, me half-awake.

Then, from the corner of my eye, I see something move. I turn and my cup is moving toward me. Remember: DRY CUP, DRY DESK. I've seen cups "float" on water before and move like that. This wasn't that. I've joked a lot that there's a ghost in our house because doors open by themselves and such. But having that cup move, just a foot away from me, is rather creepy to say the least.

And now, thanks to that, I'm pretty much awake and wondering what ELSE will move if I go to sleep.

Yeesh...

This absolutely cracked me up.

My entry for the May Photo Challenge: White on White. I thought about taking other photos but I really liked this one of me, covered in white powder in front of a white backdrop.

So, I was feeling like taking some photos this past weekend, so I ended up shaving my head and face completely and then covering myself in baby powder and experimenting with lighting and contrast. The results are behind the cut. They didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, any of them, but I thought I'd post them anyhow. Enjoy!
( ...face at first just ghostly... )

I know, I know, all I post is photos on here anymore. I don't see that trend stopping anytime soon, especially since I'm about to do it again. Insane!

Today, it was color and light. Out of almost 120 photos taken these 24 made the cut. click for bigger and enjoy!
( There's only color and light... )

...making me cry. I know, I know, that's nothing new. What can I say? I'm emotional! This time it was "Desperate Housewives." Again. That show has a habit of making me leak from my eyes. I'm glad I was alone while watching it; I hate crying in front of other people. If you watch the show and haven't seen this latest episode, just be prepared: Keep a hankie close by.

My entry into this month's photo challenge:

I'll be a picture-taking fool today, starting with these. Thank the gods the weather is warming up again. Happy Spring!

I got some new Iron & Wine songs, and a few of them were other artists featuring Sam Beam, so I looked them up. One of the songs was "Red Rover" by Rosie Thomas. Jesus... Talk about heart-wrenching. I kept tearing up listening to it, then I found the video.

From my impromptu photo session with Tony. This was my favorite from the batch. Click for bigger.

A while back, I went with Tony on a picture-taking excursion, this time with Tony doing the photos. He likes to take photos of his toys; this time it was his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, based on the original comic art. So he took the photos and I processed and edited them. Here are the results!
( Totally radical, dude! )
If you want to see the others from this set, check out my Flickr page.

Wow, being sick makes me post a lot. So, just as I was starting to get over my horrible cough and my snotty nose, I woke up this morning with an earache so bad I almost cried. It felt like my ear needed to pop but it wouldn't. That, coupled with my already bad sinus headache and pressure, didn't make for a happy me.

Finally broke down and went to a walk-in clinic where I got to see a nurse practitioner, who diagnosed me with an ear infection and sent me on my way with a couple of prescriptions. Still, no more than an hour after I got home I was in bed crying from the pain.

I have it under control for now, but if this keeps up I'm gonna have to see someone else about this. I mean, I shouldn't be in this much pain, right? The entire left side of my face is sore to touch, my ear is killing me, I have no voice from all the coughing, and I also found out that my blood pressure is, apparently, sky high.

*sigh*

Yes, other people have it worse than I do but, dammit, I'm sick of being sick!

Well, back to bed with another Buffy episode. At least I'm getting caught up on something during all of this.

...a sneezing and coughing fit causes you to shit your pants.

Thank you, that is all.