Is there anybody out there...

You will, too...

Good heavens, it's been about a year and a half since I've last made a blog entry... Not that it matters, really. I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that no one reads my mindless drivel anyway. That's okay... I write this mostly to amuse myself. But I always hope someone else is reading this and being amused or at least somewhat engrossed by my randomness. I like to make people laugh or give them something interesting to think about.
But, looking back, my last few entries were... pretty fucking depressing... I guess is the best way to put it. I was in a pretty dark place, there, for a while. That's what usually comes when I have a massive creative block or a lot of stress weighing me down. Saying my life was a giant shit storm for a time is an understatement. It was more like a category 5 shit hurricane. And it's been like that for several years. I lost a very close friend of 27 years to cancer, a few months later my brother-in-law suddenly died of a heart attack, then I watched another loved one falling prey to and deteriorating from cancer until she finally passed away. No wonder I had these blocks... It's taken me quite some time to come to terms with all these deaths of people so close to me. I'm not sure I've totally come to terms with all this, but I'm a bit better, mentally, than I was. I'm sure that's understandable to most everyone.

Thanks to The Brothers Johnson...

At the very least, as you can see, my art block is being slowly lifted. I won't lie and say it's totally gone and I'm a creative machine. There are days I try to work on art or a story I'm writing and either nothing happens or I get so far before my brain just shorts out. But at least there's something rattling around in my skull again. That makes me happy.
As an example, turn your eyes to the right... This is my latest work. I've actually done a multitude of versions of this concept, but I like this one best. Maybe because I put a lot of detail in it, a lot of time and effort... Maybe because I managed some pretty funky effects. Who knows...
This work was inspired by the funky seventies tune "Strawberry Letter 23" by The Brothers Johnson. It's such a wonderful song! In particular, the instrumental mid tune... So I've read, the brother who composed it was inspired by a girlfriend he had at the time that would send these letters (I believe they were strawberry scented) to him. In the song, he referrences Strawberry Letter 22 the entire time, as the twenty-second letter was the last he received. The title referrences his anticipation of the next letter he'd receive from her, the twenty-third... Most impressive is the fact that he was only seventeen years old when he wrote it. Pretty sensitive content for a horny teen to write...

Llama tunes...

On another, stranger note...

I've always had this odd love of llamas, ever since I was about seven years old. My parents had taken my sister and I to the Game Preserve (which is now referred to as a "zoo") to see the animals. They even had a petting area so you could get up close and personal with the animals. You have to understand... this was a long time ago when people weren't afraid that farm animals would hurt you and there was no paranoia of, "Oh my god, you touched an animal... WHERE THE FUCK IS THE HAND SANITIZER?!?" Hell, we had an open sandbox my parents built that the cats... well... you know what they thought it was for. We would just toss it out and keep playing. And we're still here to talk about it... But back to the llama discussion... The petting area had goats, sheep... and llamas. Yeah, they didn't consider or worry that they spit. It wasn't an issue anyway... Now, it was the first time I had ever seen a llama and I just adored them from the start. I was petting one in particular for a long time, talking to him. When I walked away to pet another animal, I suddenly felt something bump me in the back. It was the llama I had been petting. I gave him a few more strokes, talked to him, then walked off to pet another animal. Again, I felt a bump in my back, turned around and there was my llama friend. I got a lot of stares that day... Everywhere in the fenced in area that I went, this llama followed me, bumping me with his head when my back was to him, so I would pet him. He was almost like a puppy... We couldn't figure out why he was following me. I didn't give any of the animals feed. I didn't even have any on me. I suppose, for whatever the reason, this llama was enamored with a seven year old girl. It was so bad, my mother had to open the exit gate and I had to run through so she could slam it shut behind me. If I hadn't, that llama would have followed me everywhere! That was when my love of llamas began (sadly, they've since done away with the petting area).

Dali Llama...

When I was in my early twenties, I had gone to a company picnic with the boyfriend I had at the time at the home of his boss. His boss was loaded... I never saw such a lavish place! For the kids, he had animals to pet. He had a few reindeer and llamas! I was ecstatic! I ran right over to pet the llama. The boyfriend I had yelled, "Don't pet the llama! They spit!" My reaction was, "Pffft..." I went to pet it anyway. He was so sure I was going to be spit on. You can imagine his shock when it didn't and that it was in no way aggressive with me (though it didn't like him). I told him my story and told him I must be a llama whisperer or something...
Llama products have never been easy to find, however... The stuffed llama (the above picture with my old iPod) I bought at the same place where I had first met an enamored llama years ago. But that was pretty much it. Recently, however, llamas are the trend and it seems everything is llama! You can imagine how much I'm loving this! I've been overspending on anything and everything I find that has to do with llamas. Stuffed animals, pajama bottoms, slipper socks, wash tape, planners, journals, stickers... If it is a llama or it has a llama on it, it's coming home with me or I'm ordering it from some website. I've even looked into finding llama farms near me where I can go see some and pet them. Maybe I can get pictures with some, too! Aren't llamas great...?!

If I strip for you, will you strip for me...?

In another entry, I mentioned that I had made all these gif files for forums I used to belong to... Most of these gif files were made from scenes from music videos. More specifically, videos from Japanese rock bands... I really have no use for them anymore since the forums are defunct, but I really like some of the gif files I made, avatars, signature bars, etc... So what the hell, I'll close this entry with one of my favorite gif files I made from the SID video for "Sweet?"
I just love watching the way Aki rips off that tie, over and over again... Who knew such a simple act could be so damned hot and sexy...?
I'm assuming he knew or he wouldn't have done it for the video...

Wow... how hypnotic... and distracting...