Update

So I do plan to post something, but probably not until Friday or the weekend. This is a big week at school so I've been scrambling around and everything but this one thing has been placed on the back burner until the end of Thursday. I do have plans though. I've been able to take note of any ideas for posts and I have a couple written down. Might do a Shakespeare post at some point in honor of Shakespeare's 400th death anniversary. I also have Star Trek updates to give and praises of Enterprise to sing, DS9 as well. And then the Sherwin-Williams logo is a fun topic. So that's that. Long week, stressful week, scrambling week. Until the end of this week, Sanders out.

Peacocks and Cat Calls

Female Peafowl - Peahen

Peafowl. Peacock. Peahen. Peachick. Peawhatever. Where was I going with this? Right. Male peafowl are gorgeous. With their long tails and iridescent feathers, peacocks strut their stuff and show off to attract a peahen. They vocalize and show of their tails to court a female which results in a loud beautiful display that tends to attract humans as well. Recently, I was able to get some amazing shots of a male peacock showing off. But what made the shoot special was that the peacock wasn't showing off for a peahen (at least I didn't see any around at the time) instead he seemed to be showing off for me. A peahen is plain compared to a peacock. She has a brown head, some color on her neck, and a brown body. That day, I was wearing my new Phantom of the Opera t-shirt, which is tan, and had my camera taking pictures of the peafowl (mostly peacocks). My camera's lens is black and the body of my camera is red. I was crouched down and I guess I looked like a peahen. A male peacock strutted over and the peahen he was focusing on ran off somewhere and he put his tail down. I took a few shots of this head and after a minute or so he started putting his tail back up. I rolled with it and got some great shots. I started to look around for the peahen and didn't see one that would actually see him. I realized that he was turning around and facing me with his tail fanned like his life depended on it. I started wondering if I was took close and shifted a little. He looked square at me and then did a strange thing towards me. He vibrated his tail at me and kept doing it. He would turn around a few times and then vibrate this tail again. After he did this a few times, he opened his mouth and let out that classic peacock sound, the cawing that sounds like a cat after a while; I call the sound a cat call).  The peacock showing off for me got closer to me and each time he stepped closer he would vibrate his tail. I wondered a few times if what he was doing was a warning to me to stay away or something. I wondered if I was about to be killed by a peacock and if I should move away as I kept taking pictures like the idiot I am with no sense of self preservation. I decided that he was showing off for me as there weren't any peahen's nearby. So I decided to work it to my advantage. I turned to show the tan shirt off more and kept snapping away. Eventually, the peacock decided that he wasn't going to get anywhere with me and lowered his tail before stalking off to find a peahen, an actual peahen. I got up and decided that what just happened was strange and the poor thing must be really desperate if he's decided that a human is a peahen. Seriously, I don't know much about peafowl but I'm pretty sure they know the difference between a human and one of their own species, at least I hope they do. I decided it was fluke or something, but then it happened again. I'm still not sure if it was the same peacock or two different ones. Either way, I think I accidentally attracted two peacocks to me or managed to wound the pride of one enough to try to court me twice. Still, I got some great photos out of it.

He started out trying to court this peahen.

After she walked off, he did his thing towards me.

 

At this point, I can't help but wonder if maybe he knows what a camera is and is therefore posing.

Peacocks aside. I also got the chance to shoot with a 600mm lens. But on my camera it registers as 810mm. Here's one of the photos I took with the short time I had with the lens. Side note: None )of these photos have been edited yet, so yeah. I have a new anime show to watch that I've been waiting a long time for now. So, Sanders out! (Runs off yelling, "PHOENIX WRIGHT IS AN ANIME NOW!!! WHOOO!!!")

Really Brain, We're Going To Do THIS Now

It's been a while since I've done a total brain dump so I'm going to do one now. What's a brain dump? A term I just came up with to describe the random stream of consciousness inner musing thing I do every now and then because I think my brain is so strange and my life so random. Anyway, brain dump... [cue theme music and title sequence].

Random Sticky Note
I have a random sticky note on my desktop. On it, it says, "Flash drive is a representation of my life." I wrote that about a week ago or something, I really don't know. Anyway, now I'm trying to remember why the flash drive represents my life. It was probably because things get added to it, taken out, and, when I don't keep track of how often I've used it, probably has a lot of random stuff on it that I forgot existed. Yeah that sums everything up. It gets used and guarded and for a while, the only goal is to not lose it. I live and try to not die (I'll get to that at some point) and for a moment, everything is more or less in order and I try not to loose my marbles or something. I lose it, or leave it somewhere and look at it everyday but still forget that it exists. My life falls apart (happens semi-often), or I loose my hold on reality and the plane of existence and only go through the motions of life. It's small and easy to forget about (old memory from my past that I don't like to dredge up). It's contents change but the outside stays the same. Okay, so I don't look the same but the basic concept is there, I grow, I change, I have character traits that are very different from the ones I had when I was younger. The flash drive is a representation of my life... I like it.

Seriously Brain, Why?!?!
In my Lit class, we are reading Arcadia. So after day one of reading about carnal embrace and the running gag that followed, I walked into class with my inner self really wanting to make a "That's what she said" joke. Skip to the end of the day, I'm in 7th period and my teacher has a couple of the guys go get some butcher paper.

Guy 1: What color paper do you want?
Teacher: I would prefer white, but really something I can write on.
My Brain: That's what she said.
Me: Why brain, why?

Stop It Brain, You KNOW This
Another thing my brain has been doing is registering things strangely. Like I know, my teacher was wearing a navy shirt, but my brain was registering it as purple. Like legit, I say to myself, "That shirt is navy" and in my mind would say "That shirt is purple." And then a friend of mind takes Spanish and I know she takes Spanish. That's all she's taken since freshman year. And my brain was like, "She just came from Chinese class." My brain is strange and I'm pretty sure I'm going mad. It's irritating to look at something and have to process for a moment what the heck it is. I just looked at my camera, my partner in crime, my one true love (too far? Too bad *sticks out tounge*) and was like, "You are red... You're a Nikon... I gave you a name... Ooo pineapple juice, wait that can is empty... Oh! You're name is RoA... Wait, that's right but wrong... Ages, Rock of Ages." And then I turned to my beautiful film camera and was like, "I think you're Ted. No Ted is my favorite chart. You're Colonel. Not that's not right. General? No... Major, like Major General Sir. Right..." I'm loosing myself right? Maybe not... Who knows. I don't, and my brain sure doesn't. I would say stranger things have happened, but I can't think of any examples.

Lines Of Dialogue, But No Plot
I'm a creator. I create things. Whether or not those things come to physical form in the real world is another mater. I see a blank room and I think about the different ways I could paint and design it. I visualize photo shoots that I would run if I had the money or contacts. I come up with creatures and beings that I would love to be able to draw and give life to. I write to share what's in my head. The characters I create and take time to give a past to mean so much to me. In my head, there is a section dedicated to them, like a large room really (like the room of requirement in Harry Potter) where I can mentally check on them and see what they are doing at the moment and can listen to them and converse with them sometime (I usually keep my original characters separated from the characters I'm attached too from various fandoms- Bryan Caplan and Tony Stark must never meet... Same with Conrad Heist and Anthony DiNozzo... Don't get me started on the disaster that would be Loki and Ryan Colbert [daddy issues to the max and Ryan is impressionable right now]). Anyway, lately I've had only a few ideas on how to move my plot lines forward. What I have in surplus are various dialogues that don't really fit with anything, and it's not dialogues that are feel good fluff pieces either. I'm getting snippets of pure sarcasm and internal monologues that aren't mine. I'm getting words that mean nothing to me (it's my brain's way of trying to speak Latin, that much I know). I'm getting supernatural beings that I'm slowly creating. I'm getting images of groups in cloaks paired with gothic instrumentals. It's strange. My brain gets like this every so often when I get stressed with the world and such. It's been a while. The last time it happened I created my own "universe" (our world, my terms) and two casts of characters with a connection between two, one from each cast (Neil Heist and Conrad Heist, brothers). I really don't want to end up with another acronym obsessed character Bryan Caplan is hard enough to deal with (once I've taken the time to give them a personality I don't have control over what they do). So for now, I'll probably just jot down ideas, write lines of random dialogue, and maybe even do some character creation. I'll probably also take a few back to the drawing board and either rework them (if they go willingly that's a sign I'm doing the right thing) or add to their pasts and personality (that can be fun, but sometimes painful because reasons).

So that's my brain dump. I'm probably slowly loosing myself or something but that's okay I always find myself again in the end. So for now, Sanders out.

Life Keeps Getting Stranger... Or Maybe It's Just Me

Where to start... Ok...

Email from Oglethorpe that basically says, "Hey, you've started an application to our school. Yay! Finish it and turn it in before Nov 15 and your application fee is waved. But that's not all! Your essay is also waved and the teacher recommendation letter isn't required."

My reaction: Wait, what?! Totally awesome school say what? I've already got my essay, just have to edit it. And my teacher already said he'd write me a letter of recommendation. And I'm applying through Common App... What does it all mean?!

I emailed them and got an answer back from them, which was helpful, but then I had another question and now I'm waiting for that answer back. I've got this, totally.

Econ homework that was on JunoEd... I didn't get that memo. Like legit, didn't get the memo that we had homework on JunoEd. I didn't get the memo twice that week. Evidently we had a JunoEd assignment on Tuesday night and on Thursday night... I didn't get those memos.

Thick envelope from University of West Georgia... Congratulations! You've been accepted to this wonderful institution of learning!

My reaction: Yay! Ok moving on... What do you mean I took that too chill? Am I supposed to be screaming "I got in!" from my roof top?

Watched Shark Tank. Decided that if I had a drone I would probably fly it through my school's hallways terrorizing the freshmen. Then I thought of the Prime Directive and wondered if I'd be violating it... Decided that the Prime Directive doesn't apply because I'm not Star Fleet. And because Star Fleet doesn't exist in our world (but I wish it did).

Decided for whatever reason, that one day I'm going to own some creature (most likely a male cat) and name him Gatsby. And refer to him, like I call Scamp, my current cat, Bud, as Old Sport.

Looked through my Twitter feed, wondered why on Earth I was following Hillary Clinton. Proceeded to fan girl over J Michael Tatum.

And today... Found out one of my teachers is my next door neighbor.

My reaction: I'm done. So done. My doneness level is all the way up here (above my head), when it should be here (just below/at my forehead). By the way, I saw the pictures of your house on your listing, it looks really nice. Babble about neighbors.

I was looking at the house listing last night (I didn't even know my teacher lived there) and flipped through the pictures of the interior... It looks really nice. I was all like, "Dang, I'd buy the house if I had the money." [Me who wants a studio apartment and on the fence about owning a house at all one day]

Yeah, life is strange... Or maybe it's just me. Probably just me. Anywho, Sanders out.

Color-Coding Life

Can I color code my life? No? Yes? Maybe? Meh, I'd probably [no most likely] just ignore my color coding. Anyway, my life is currently chaotic. I've got an environmental lab report due tomorrow at midnight. I've got a presentation to give in environmental tomorrow (finished my presentation already). I've also got math work that if I don't do, my teacher will turn into a dragon and bite my head off then spit it out because I have the mind of a future lit major and not a STEM person. (Insert my lit teacher's sigh here). I'm also awaiting the call of a fellow trainer because we are training together on Saturday and I have yet to know my part. So right now I'm taking a break from work and I'll get back to it eventually. Or not... Sigh I've come back to typing this post about two hours later... Can of worms that has been open and now... I don't know how I'll be able to operate tomorrow... Because reasons. Eh, Sanders out.

How Is This My Life

Random happenings in my life at the moment...

My cat went to the basement and caught a baby mouse. She left it on the carpet where I study and it was dead. I came down stairs with my head phones so I could do an assignment, looked down at just the right moment because I was about to step on the dead creature. I put my stuff down and looked at the mouse. My cat had managed to tear open the chest, so while it wasn't sitting in a puddle of blood, there was some blood. Had there not been blood, I would have dealt with the body but considering there was blood, I had my dad deal with it. He got the mouse up and I cleaned up the single spot of blood from the carpet. My cat was annoyed that we threw her catch to the owls. How do I know it was one cat and not the other? Well, the killing isn't my other cat's style. His style is to capture and then release so he can chase it again. He generally doesn't kill things unless he gets tired of stuff which to be honest, is rare. However, the cat who caught the mouse, her style is catch it, kill it, leave it. Plain and simple. That's her style.

My dad sold his motorcycle a month ago I think. Anyway the thing made it's way home for a brief visit. The guy who bought the thing came by with it. He had taken it in to get fixed and now that thing purrs. It looked great, no longer dusty from the garage. When he left I could hear the engine and like I said, that thing purrs.

A Korean Baptist confronted me in front of the Asian market. I thought she was selling something so without hearing her first question, I said no. I'm guessing I accidentally said I don't believe in Jesus because next thing you know I'm being told that everything in the bible isn't belief, it's fact. Then I'm being shown a picture of a history book and a photo of one of the pages. In a little blurb bubble, it says something about the resurrection happening. Finally I escaped by saying I had homework but not before receiving a paper on how Jesus can save me. Evidently, I should have said that I'm Catholic.

I cooked dinner for my dad and I. Cooked cat fish with Weber's New Orleans seasoning and some garlic and herb seasoning in the skillet that had a tablespoon of butter in it. I also made a box of Zatarain's red beans and rice, so basically it was Cajun night. It was good. I have enough rice left over for a couple of meals. It was slightly spicy but worth it. I wasn't sitting there crying about it being so hot but so good while eating it. Anyway, dad and I ate on the porch listening to Evita. It was a nice dinner.

All of the events above happened in one whole day. How is this my life? Sanders out.