HHB-BookMaster

Man, I've been gone a while.  No new art, no comics, uggghh.  Well, I'll explain what's been going on in a sec.  I wanna have some fun with a journal meme my twin sis did.  How to play:
1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, ETC on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.
5. Put this on your journal.

Sound good?  OK, ready...set...GO!

1. If someone says, "Is this okay?" You say?
"Somebody's Watching Me"
[It is NOT OK! They are WATCHING!  (o_O)]

2. How would you describe yourself?
"My United States of Whatever"---Liam Lynch
[Apparently I'm apathetically patriotic.]

3. What do you like in a guy/girl?
"Back Here"---BBMak
[Wait, I'm not that bad, I--HEY COME BACK!]

4. How do you feel today?
"Rock Steady"---Kool and the Gang
[Wow, that's fitting in theory but far from the truth.  I'm actually quite stressed out about my whole job and housing situation right now.  I guess this is good advice.]

5. What is your life's purpose?
"Get Another Boyfriend"---Backstreet Boys
[Yeah right.  I need to get a FIRST one before I get ANOTHER one.]

6. What is your motto?
"I Wonder as I Wander"---Kim Robertson (Celtic Christmas CD)
[*dies laughing* Wow, that's good.  Yeah, I have some random stuff on my iPod that just kinda took root there.]

7. What do your friends think of you?
"The Answer to Our Life"---Backstreet Boys
[Now that's sweet.  I hope so.  They're actually MY answer, really.  ^_^]

8. What do you think of your parents?
"Once Upon a December"--Deana Carter (Anastasia soundtrack)
[I guess I'm looking forward to the Holiday visit.  Well, I AM working on something for them...]

9. What do you think about very often?
"What a Feeling"---Laura Branigan
[Which one?  I moodswing.]

10. What is 2 + 2?
"Breath"---Breaking Benjamin
[If you know the lyrics, you'll know that math is the death of me.  ^_^]

11. What do you think of your best friend?
"Ghost of You and Me"---BBMak
[I'm thinking we're...dead?]

12. What do you think of the person you like?
"Everything You Do"---M2M
[Everything this person does is great!  But who do I like?]

13. What is your life story?
"I Never Had a Dream Come True"---SClub7
[Excuse me, I'm going to go cry--right after I'm done laughing.]

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Further Away"---Evanescence
[GET AWAY FROM ME!  I'm gonna be a HERMIT!]

15. What do you think of when you see the person you like?
"Testify to Love"---Jericho Road
[Wow, that would be romantic if I DID romance and if I actually LIKED somebody!]

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
"Hit Me With Your Best Shot"---Pat Benetar
[Is this a dance or a fight?]

17. What will they play at your funeral?
"Save Me"---Shinedown
[A little LATE for that!]

18. What is your hobby/interest?
"Spinning Around"---Jump 5
[My hobby is getting dizzy!]

19. What is your biggest fear?
"Haunted"---Evanescence
[LOL!!!!  Ghosts, apparently.]

20. What is your biggest secret?
"It's All Coming Back to Me"---Celine Dion
[It seems I forgot but if you hang around for a moment, I'll have it.]

21. What do you think of your friends?
"Forgotten"---Linkin Park
[What friends?  What's my name again?  Why couldn't this come BEFORE that last question?!?]

22. What will you post this as?
"Whispers in the Dark"---Skillet
[Bwahahahahaha!]

OK, enough nonsense.  This is what I posted on my comic site to explain my long hiatus:

Graduation: This was a huge mess that spanned months and was a real hassle. I had to visit a psychologist to prove why I couldn’t handle taking foreign language classes. What I learned taught me a lot about myself and why I have some of the problems that I do (many that affect my efforts with my comic, too). I learned that I have a math disorder that disrupts my ability to estimate time effectively (yeah that happens with this comic a lot). I also have both a reading AND a writing disorder, which explains my spelling errors. The doctor thought that was ironic, considering how I’m an English major. She also thought it was weird that I only had an average memory but my vocabulary was better than 99% of tested people in my age and education bracket. I also have an auditory discriminatory disorder, which explains why I have such a hard time understating people sometimes when they talk to me, hearing on the phone, or hearing dialogue from the TV. In addition, I also process information much slower than the average person, which slows down everything I do. In spite of all this, I still have a very high IQ! ^_^ If it weren’t for these brain anchors, I’d be at genius level. I’m satisfied with being on the superior level, though, so I’m not too bummed. I’m just jazzed that I’m smarter than I thought I was. All this was certainly enough to deal with the whole foreign language problem, and as of August 2007, I am a proud graduate of the University of Washington! ^_^

Moving: I moved to Utah this summer. This was a BIG DEAL. I had to clean and pack for weeks. I haven’t moved since I was five or something. Now I’m getting ready to move again, but it’s just a short ways away so it’s not as big of a deal. That first move was a NIGHTMARE. >_<

Injury: I injured my neck back in the end of August. BADLY. The fourth vertebrae is still out of joint. I was in serious pain for a few months and since then I have occasional bouts of pain that make me want to lie down and not move. This is a serious setback for an artist since working on my strip or other art aggravates the injury. I have no idea when I’ll get better.

Employment: I HAVE A JOB! I got it back in September. I do data entry. No, this does not help my neck any. >_< It’s not up my education level but it’s just temporary so I can build a resume.

Miscellaneous reasons of questionable importance: There’s been other stuff too and I’d be lying if I tried to pretend that all my hiatus reasons were good ones. I did do a bit of goofing off, such as getting involved with insanely long shows (Babylon 5 DVDs and the fansubbed Once Piece anime) that I just couldn’t stop watching. My bad.

On the up side, I now have the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection!  I have a whole STUDIO on my computer!  And my new computer rocks, by the way.  We've named it Dark Knight 'cuz it looks like the Batmobile.  ^_^



My twin sis!   And her friend (and mine by proxy):   And another friend

Clubs:
    
Plus more pending...

Anybody know any good clubs (if there are any) for:
-Dragons (found a couple, waiting to be admitted)
-Mythical creatures (in general or any in specific)
-Mythology (Greek, Norse, etc.)
-Slayers (the anime/manga/novel series)
-Animation in general
-Fantasy writers (or the genre as a whole)
-Swords
-Webcomics and/or cartoonists
-Ghostbusters
-Mormon/Christian Deviants
-Marchen Awakens Romance (MAR)
-Lord of the Rings
-Shakespeare
-Sherlock Holmes
-Graphic arts/design
-Abstract photography

O.K., I'm trying to recover from a severe case of Bronchitis and a series of relapses that made me miss much of the first two weeks of the school quarter (I'm on day #21 of this illness and while I'm doing much better, I haven't fully recovered yet).  Before that, I had a seriously stressful time involving a crisis with my eligibility for graduation this spring (which has still not been settled).  So basically, the month of March was the worst month of my life (see, this is what happens when you not only forget to wear green on St. Patrick's day, but you forget the holiday entirely) and April doesn't look too promising either.

Check this out.  I'm still keeping an early bedtime so I can recover, and last night I hear a loud CRASH outside at a little after 11:00.  I thought it was somebody messing with the dumpster in the nearby school.  It happens a lot.  Frankly, I don't see the attraction in playing with a trash receptacle, but whatever.  I guess some people like trash (just turn on the TV and you'll see just how much demand there is for trash these days).  My hypothesis seemed to be incorrect, however, since the following sound of squealing tires definitely came from the street in FRONT of our house and not the school parking lot behind us.  My mom was the first one to look out; I heard her gasp and call for my brother and say that his car got hit.  

Alright, there is NO CHANCE in this vast, limitless, void we call a universe that is full of what the History Channel insists are ill-intentioned chunks of rock and iron waiting to pummel our tiny little planet (yeah, I over-dosed on that channel the other day), that I was going to stay in bed after hearing this.  Outside, members of my family and that of several neighboring families slowly collected at the scene like zombies freshly risen from the grave only to forget what zombies are supposed to do next.  This is what I understand happened, and I think you'll agree with me that no sane, un-drugged, or sober person would drive like this:

The setting: the street is shaped like an upside-down "T".  The main road is partially intersected perpendicularly with a short street ending in a cul-de-sac.  My family's house is located on the main road, right across from and facing the cul-de-sac street.
What happened: this maniac lady barreled down the main road, whipped into the cul-de-sac street, and plowed into the front of a van that belonged to one of our neighbors.  She backed up, turned around, and (judging from the carnage) floored the sucker, took out the aforementioned neighbor's mailbox, and crushed the front of my brother's car.  She backed up again, gunned the engine AGAIN, and rammed my family's car, knocking it into Dad's truck. She reversed one final time, and took off over the hill, only to stop a few houses down.  When my brother and my dad started running up to her, she called out something about needing to pick up her son, and took off again, essentially leaving the scene of what can now be legitimately called a crime. Of course, she never came back.  Dad tried to follow her with the family car (which could still drive, unlike the other two vehicles she hit), but came back shortly after the police arrived without any luck.  We did get her plate number, though.  Someone we spoke to said she looked like she was displaying the signs of a meth addict.

Now, this event is so loaded with irony, you'd think somebody wrote the scene for a bad sit-com.  Parked at our house are four vehicles: the family van, which is older than dirt and prone to more problems than Michael Jackson at a scout camp; Dad's truck, which isn't too old yet but has also been having problems lately; and the family car and my brother car, both of which are newly bought from a good used-car dealership.  Figures, it's the new, operating-just-fine cars that get hit hard, my brother's car most likely totaled.  Dad's truck was just scratched and the van, the ONLY vehicle we have that's almost totaled itself anyway, is unscathed.  Yeah, laugh it up, irony gods.  Oh, and just a few yards down the street from my brother's car is a car one of our neighbors said is perfectly fine to hit, since he's looking to trash it anyways.  Did it get hit?  Nooooo.  And now another irony; my bro took the collision insurance off his car because he couldn't afford that and college.  Need more irony?  Try this: both of our cars that got hit (the new-used ones) have been in accidents before we got them and were declared to be totaled, but got fixed up anyway.  Then they go and get hit at the same time.  Not enough irony?  Have some more: my bro usually hangs out at his friends' houses until the wee hours of the morning, but on this ONE DAY he decided to come home early to finish his homework.  And his car gets hit.  The other half of this irony is that if his car wasn't there, this crazy lady would have driven onto our lawn and right into either our living room or my brothers' bedroom, where my youngest brother was sleeping.  Considering that, the car is the much better option.

God protects us.  I know it.  I've seen too much evidence of this to be able to deny it.  He may not always stop bad things from happening, since that's how we grow, but he protect us and will help us deal with the challenges we face when things do go awry.

Aiee, my nerves are on edge.  I had some funny stuff to say on this, but I'm just not in that groove at the moment.

My twin sis!   And her friend (and mine by proxy):

Clubs:
    
Plus more pending...

Anybody know any good clubs (if there are any) for:
-Dragons (found a couple, waiting to be admitted)
-Mythical creatures (in general or any in specific)
-Mythology (Greek, Norse, etc.)
-Slayers (the anime/manga/novel series)
-Animation in general
-Fantasy writers (or the genre as a whole)
-Swords
-Webcomics and/or cartoonists
-Ghostbusters
-Mormon/Christian Deviants
-Marchen Awakens Romance (MAR)
-Lord of the Rings
-Shakespeare
-Sherlock Holmes
-Graphic arts/design
-Abstract photography

OK, I think it's high time I did a new journal entry, don't you?  Yeah, I thought so.  I'll make this a basic report.

I've picked up new and addictive hobby: crochet.  It's like knitting, only with a hook.  Stop laughing!  I'm serious!  This hobby is addictive!  Look, see - -*zip!*- - I have a half-made scarf in by school backpack.  I can't even leave the stuff at home anymore.  Of course, I want to finish this sucker before the cold weather leaves, but that's not the point.  This is a fun thing to do when watching a movie or something.  Hey, where are you going?  OK, I know it sounds lame, but it's actually a lot of fun.  Really.  Yes, really.  I told you to stop laughing!  I started this hobby back in 2002, but I only really made, like, one small thing a year.  This past December, I finally sat down and really got into it.  I made three pairs of washcloths plus a potholder as gifts.  Now that I've memorized the washcloth pattern, I've been making them nonstop just to see what they look like with different color combinations.  I also bought some REALLY soft yarn to make a scarf, which I'm currently working on.  You've completely tuned me out by now, haven't you? Fine.  Be that way.  I'll talk about something else and my yarn and I will have fun later all by ourselves.  And the TV.  I like to watch stuff while I work.  You're not invited.

Last November I bought a Nintendo DS Lite (I'm a big fan of hand-held gaming)! I was going to make a journal entry titled, "Let There Be LITE!" (clever, huh?  Just smile, nod, and pretend you agree), but I'm both busy and lazy.  With some money I got for Christmas, I totally snazzed it up. Now my black DS Lite has white handgrips (it needed 'em; the darn thing is too small to hold without cramping my hands), a magnetic stylus with a magnetic stylus holder built into the grip, a nice black lanyard, and cool lightning sticker skins (so the front, back, and top screen area have hot, white/electric blue streaks of lightning slashing across a black background).  I also have a bunch of games for it, but since I don't have a WiFi connection, it's pointless to go giving out my friend codes.  What a bummer - - I would really like to play somebody intelligent in MarioKart DS.

I WANT A WII SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for school this quarter, I have two classes: Studies in Film and Intermediate Poetry.  The poetry class is alright; I'm learning stuff.  I really should post some of my poems and short stories in DA.  I'm enjoying the Film class (which is an English class, believe it or not) since it's taught by the same teacher I had for my Senior Seminar on Adaptation Theory and she's really cool.  The theme of the course is "Humans and Technology". We're watching a lot of movies, some of which are "R" rated and since I never watch "R" rated films unless I'm forced to for school, I'll be looking away from the screen during scenes of gore, sex, or nudity and plugging my ears when needed. Luckily, my mind can filter out light swearing, so that won't be as much of a bother unless it gets really thick.  We watched a lot of silent films, such as "Sherlock Jr.", "The General", "Man With A Movie Camera", "Metropolis", and "Modern Times" (which is a mostly silent Charlie Chaplain film with a few bits of sound dialogue).  Recently, we watched "Dr. Strangelove" and "Brazil".  I had to watch "Brazil" years ago for a class, and it is the strangest thing I've EVER seen.  Other movies we'll watch are: "Blade Runner", "eXistenZ", "Ghost in the Shell", "Terminator", "Terminator 2", and "The Matrix". If anybody out there has seen "Blade Runner", "eXistenZ", or "Ghost in the Shell", let me know if there's anything a sensitive PG-rated person like me should know about so I can look away or something.  I'm aware of what I need to watch out for in the other movies, since I've seen edited/TV versions and have been told what was cut out.  Aside from the unpleasant content of some of the movies, this has been a very fun class so far.

'Till next time, audios!

My twin sis!   And her friend (and mine by proxy):

Clubs:
    
Plus more pending...

Anybody know any good clubs (if there are any) for:
-Dragons (found a couple, waiting to be admitted)
-Mythical creatures (in general or any in specific)
-Mythology (Greek, Norse, etc.)
-Slayers (the anime/manga/novel series)
-Animation in general
-Fantasy writers (or the genre as a whole)
-Swords
-Webcomics and/or cartoonists
-Ghostbusters
-Mormon/Christian Deviants
-Marchen Awakens Romance (MAR)
-Lord of the Rings
-Shakespeare
-Sherlock Holmes
-Graphic arts/design
-Abstract photography

Blogger, GO! *throws Pokeball* Halloween Blog Attack!

If you looked at the stores, you'd think this holiday to be alive and well.  If you looked at my street last night, you wouldn't even know it was Halloween.  Like, where the heck IS everyone?  We had maybe almost ten trick-or-treating groups (by groups I mean a family or a small pack of friends) come by our house, and we were giving out full-size candy bars and other stuff.  Over half the trick-or-treaters were in high school.  Sure it was cold outside, but the number of trick-or-treaters has been dwindling the past few years anyway (while the average age seems to be rising).

My second little brother, who's a freshman in high school, went as Calvin from the comic "Calvin and Hobbes".  He bought a stuffed tiger, wore black pants and a back striped red shirt, and spiked his hair and sprayed it all yellow.  My brother is addicted to the funnies and "Calvin and Hobbes" is one of his favorites.  He came home with a HUGE bag of candy that my Dad raided before my brother had the time to finish yelling, "Dad, back OFF!"  My brother has a thing about taking mental inventory of his loot before sharing it.  He's very good about sharing, though to his credit he's had little choice with four older siblings and a father who wants his peanut M&Ms.

My brother told us about one house in particular where this old guy had a gi-hugic bowl of mini Tootsie Rolls, and told the kids to take only one. There's like, maybe twenty trick-or-treaters out tops, this guy has a bowl containing a bajillion mini-Tootsies, and he tells the kids to take ONE. Scrooge, thou hast moved to Halloween.  A bad idea, since the Ghosts of Halloween Past, Present, and Future are more likely to eat your head than help you redeem your soul, given the nature of this holiday.

As for me, I went to school yesterday in my medieval dress I made several years ago for a Lord of the Rings themed Halloween party where I went as Galadriel under the influence of the One Ring (BWAHAHAHA).  I didn't have the wig or Ring and I couldn't bring my sword, Celebril (which means "Silver Brilliance in Tolkein's Sindarian Elvish language), to school, so I just went as some random Celtic person.  I only saw one other costume at school; a classmate who dressed up as Alice from Disney's "Alice In Wonderland" (though she said she saw a few more costumed students about campus).  Ironically, both our outfits are hand-made.

Well, that's my Halloween!  I hope you all enjoyed yours!  Have a party gorging on candy!  acman:

Clubs:
    
Plus more pending...

Anybody know any good clubs (if there are any) for:
-Dragons
-Mythical creatures (in general or any in specific)
-Mythology (Greek, Norse, etc.)
-Slayers (the anime/manga/novel series)
-Animation in general
-Fantasy writers (or the genre as a whole)
-Swords
-Webcomics and/or cartoonists
-Ghostbusters
-Mormon/Christian Deviants
-Marchen Awakens Romance (MAR)
-Lord of the Rings
-Shakespeare
-Sherlock Holmes
-Graphic arts/design
-Abstract photography

*WARNING: LARGE BLOG DUMP*

Here's a list of things that happened over the summer.  Perhaps you can spot some good reasons why I haven't put up much art during these last few months.  Among them, Ill include a couple rants:

Rant 1:  The Curse of the Technology Vampire

You see before you the typed-out words of the technologically accursed.  Virtually everything electronic I touch breaks down either immediately after purchase or just after the warranty expires.  I went through numerous tape players and one CD player (not including my little sister's, which really did break down immediately after I touched it) before I advanced to the systematic but unintentional destruction of MP3 players.  An RCA Lyra managed to last a couple years before the only freaking moving parts on it (the joystick menu control and the volume control) broke down.  I then bought an iPod Nano the day they first came out.  That one went back to the store within a week.  Apparently, since I've managed to outsmart the whole "moving parts" problem inherent in everything else I spread my curse to (such as electric fans, fish tank pumps, and K-Nex motors), fate decided to add digital glitches to my affliction.  Must've happened a while ago, given how many computers break down once I've used them for a while (all my favorite comps at the school computer lab are constantly plagued by out-of-order signs).  As for my current iPod, it started glitching and then stopped when I began taking steps to send it in for repair.  Now, I'm not exaggerating on this one.  The VERY DAY the warranty expired, the problems started up again.  *crashes to floor*  Oh, and let's not discuss how many pairs of ear-bud headphones I've been through.  I usually have to buy several every year.

Now to get to the point I've been leading up to.  Just after Spring Quarter, my @$!@#! tablet broke. Something wrong with the cord, it seems (at our house, we call it "corditis"). Of course, the warranty expired a couple months before the problems began.  It's been on the fritz during spring (contributed to the lateness of some strips, but just a little) and then decided to just up and DIE. Well, it can throw itself off a bridge for all I care, because I bought a new last week! It's silver and has two programmable buttons and...wait for it...a scroll wheel! Wheee! And the clear cover is SO much easier to take off so it's not nearly as much of a hassle to customize the background photo. Since my comic strip had evolved into something that I really needed the tablet for, I was rather helpless without it. I could've used the mouse, but it'd have been sloppy and would have taken twice as long.  I need the tablet for my art too, so that was also out of the picture.

Next item on the agenda is our thrice-cursed computer. If you've been following my comments on my website for a while, you might have an idea just how unreliable our family comp is. After fighting it all summer I still can't run Photoshop effectively (once a file reaches a certain size in graphics, the comp's reaction slows considerably despite the good quality graphics card we have on the thing and the should-be-suitable amount of memory). I'd really like to swear this isn't my fault, but for all I know, I could be sucking the effectiveness from this piece of junk just by living near it.  Once I get my check from Financial Aid, I'm SOOOO getting that laptop I've been looking for. I have to keep putting it off for various reasons, but it's getting closer. I can feel it.  But please don't break down...

Rant 2:  I'm worried about my Mommy!

On a more serious note, another problem this summer brought on would be with my dear mother. She badly ruptured three disks a few months ago (OUCH!), just below her neck, and lost a lot of strength and feeling in her right arm. I've had to help out around the house more than ever before since she hasn't been up the job (not for the lack of trying; this woman just can NOT sit and do nothing). She's doing better, the pain has subsided somewhat at least, but she hasn't improved as much as the doctor would like and he's concerned her arm will atrophy permanently if she can't get her strength back. She's had two injections to help stop the inflammation, but it's not doing the trick. The doctor is now recommending surgery.  He just told Mom this a couple days ago.  Mom's putting on a brave face but Dad says she's scared.  I really hope she gets better.  If she does end up going in for surgery, I hope she recovers alright.  So, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you all to keep Mom in your prayers, OK?

Rant 3:  Will Somebody Just HIRE Me Already!?

Job hunting. Again. As usual. Every summer. With the same result: NOTHING. Oh! But there's one good thing! I was actually called in for an interview! Nobody's even given me that much of a chance before! It was for GameCrazy, but they hired someone else before the big boss had time to go over the recent applicants. -_- A totally awesome job and I missed it.. I don't think people like my resume because I haven't held a job since 2001 due to my inability to work and go to school at the same time, but I can't GET any more work experience if nobody hires me! I may have a chance this quarter, though, with my school's workstudy program (now that I'm finally eligible). I've tweaked my schedule so that I only have two days of classes, so I hope to be able to work part-time and still have time for study and the webcomic. Assuming, of course, I get a job.

Rave 1:  Vacation Time!

Vacations! Yeah, I went on a few.  Just the usual trips for my family. One was to the ocean where we flew our kites (my family is getting really into kites and growing dahlias). I tried out my new "Alpha +" delta stunt kite that Mom and Dad gave me for my birthday and it just about dragged me down the beach. That thing's big! We enjoyed the hot-tub at the chalet we rented, went for walks on the beach, and watched a lot of cars, trucks, and a monster RV get stuck in the sand during high tide. Here's some advice: never drive a vehicle the size of a small house onto loose sand unless it's a monster truck, a CAT, or some kind of tank.

We also took my twin sister back down to her school, so that took up a week too.  I got to see her new apartment and meet all her cool roommates.  We tried to visit the Mt. Timpanogas (sp?) Caves, but the tours were all sold out.  That BIT.  So instead we visited this hunting gear store (was it Cabella's?  Carbella's?  The name is foggy) and looked at their museum of real live...er, ex-live stuffed animals.  Man, this world has some wild and crazy critters in it.  My twin sis and I beat each other over the head with stuffed fish (toys this time, not real ones) and I bought some keychains to add to my keychain collection.  We hung out mostly at my Dad's parents' place, and they're really awesome people.  I also spent the day at the home of one of my sis's friends and had a real blast.

Oh yeah, did I mention that our van started overheating during this trip?  I SWEAR it's not my fault!

Rave 2:  Do the Puyallup and Other Fairs!

In addition to vacations, we attended several fairs. The first one was the Scottish Highland Games, which as SO incredibly awesome. It felt good to get in touch with the Scottish part of my heritage (I come from at least four clans!). I bought some cool stuff, including a cool dagger and a sword-shaped pin with the MacMillan clan's crest on it.  We also heard an army of bagpipe bands perform.  I love the sound of bagpipes and the performance was awesome...but listening to them all warm up and practice AT ONCE has to be one of the greatest audio nightmares ever.  I still loved it, though.

I also went to the Puyallup Fair (the official Western Washington fair and the biggest fair in the nation) a few days over the course of a couple weeks with my family to show off our dahlias in the Novice category. We did awesome, and even took "best in show for single bloom flower" in the second and harder round (and with a mysterious magenta ball flower that we question the origin of). After next year, we'll be able to move up to the Amateur category.

Rave 3:  I Dream of Dahlias

Speaking of dahlias, here's a quick explanation.  My mom likes dahlias.  Therefore, more than a few years ago, Dad bought a few tubers from Costco.  They grew, they were pretty, and we enjoyed them.  Then Mom and Dad started looking at dahlia farms.  The rest is history.  I swear, growing dahlias has to be right behind drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes in the list of the most addictive activities.  We've converted two sides of our backyard into dahlia gardens armed with well over a dozen varieties with plans on buying even more next year.  They're taking over our backyard!  Well, so is the giant pumpkin plant, but that thing isn't staying in its' bed and prefers to covet all areas where people are guaranteed to trip over it.  I was just about to accuse the flowers of being the alien invaders, but I think the pumpkin is more malicious on a second thought.  Anyway, we have so many flowers my littlest brother started selling bouquets and has made a killing.  Meanwhile, the rest of us bring flowers to just about everyone wherever we go.  To church, to work, to school, to visit friends...we've given them to family, friends, church leaders, Dad's boss and coworkers, teachers, and my mom even gave a bouquet to this nice man who works in a neighborhood Bartell's.  These things will NOT stop blooming.  They're like the flower equivalent of zucchini.  Dad says they'll stop after a couple frosts, though, and then next spring we can work on splitting a million mutated tubers apart and have enough tubers to redraw the state boundary lines in this country with flowers.  Or so it seems.

OK, so that's it for my Blog of Boring Doom.  Hope you weren't too bored reading it.

My twin sis:

The clubs I have joined: