Author: ShebaMakeda

I’m officially BACK!

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yippee!!! got my laptop back from repair and i’m good to go!  i’m now back to surfing wirelessly from the comfort of my living room couch, wrapped in my fave blankie with a cup of tea rather than being stuck in that subterranean teenage hellhole i’ve suffered through over the past few weeks.

I have lots of old posts to catch up on so to begin: here’s one new beadie i’m particularly proud of – my first successful encased floral!! It’s about 1.5″ long and has 3-4 large red and yellow flowers and about 6-8 tiny yellow flowers.

my first encased floral

this is my 4th attempt (i’ll have to take a photo of the very sad three previous attempts, lol) and other than the clear encasing being a little burnt it came out pretty good.  the flowers are nicely defined and they didn’t smear even when i pressed it so all in all not too shabby.   

Generally speaking i’m not really into flower beads but encased florals are such a very classic lampwork technique (they require a certain amount of skill and mastery of heat control) that just about every glass beadmaker attempts to master them at some point.  Being able to make one (in my opinion) serves as proof of a certain level of skill development i’m happy to see i’ve finally achieved.  My motivation to make these is a floral bead exchange on LE – it was just the push I needed to force me into trying something out of the norm.  I’ve challenged myself to make at least three error-free encased florals by the exchange deadline (May 31st).

Here’s a close up of the other side.  I added a navy centre to the big flower this time in addition to the bubbles.  As soon as i get time to torch again i’ll be making some more…

other side of my first encased floral

My kitten is hilarious…

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Busta striking a pose2 

i mean, can you believe this pose????  He was lying there sleeping in the sunlight just like that and when i called him he kinda rolled his head to side and gave me that look…

Busta striking a pose

…and then he just stretched back out and dozed off again. In the wild, i believe this pose is known to predators as “Eat me”.

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 This pose is known as “Eat me…” too.  “…with ketchup”.

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I wish you could have seen the contortions that preceded this photo: he was stretched out on his back napping (right in the middle of the way, as usual), when he saw his own tail twitch.  So of course he had to chase it.  But how do you bite the other end of your body when you’re lying on your back…?  By kinda spinning in circles like this.  (yes, he did catch that darned tail!)

Busta in a normal cat pose

And finally, here he is pretending to be a normal cat… rather than the dog that deep down he truly thinks he is.  The Teenager calls this pose a “kitten loaf”.

Unbelievable.

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I miss my laptop sooooo much.  Part 2.

The Teenager sat me down last night for “a talk”.

He carefully explained to me that while he didn’t mind me using his computer, it was important that i remember to show a little more respect and reverse any changes i make to his desktop settings when i’m done so as not to interrupt his computer experience once he gets back on his machine.

It was all i could do not to twitch, slouch, pout, whine and make excuses about the non-existent ergonomics, the filthy desk, my back and neck pain, his ridiculously high monitor resolution that decreases desktop icons to the size of pinpricks, etc., etc. 

Instead, I hung my head, apologized and promised to do better next time.

…and yes (in case you’re wondering), his talk bore a striking resemblance to a chat i’d had with him a few months back when he’d borrowed my laptop. 

oh well, at least he kept a straight face through most of it…

Siiiiiiiiigggggghhhhhhhh……

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Imissmy laptop sooo much. 

Sinceit’s off forrepairs, I’mcurrently usingthe Teenager’spooter inthe basement which as you cantell has a malfunctioning keyboard space bar. 

Iaskedhim why didn’t he/fix replaceit? First, hejust looked atmelikei was insane (cuz of course ishouldknow by now that all hisfunds go strictly forvideogames and gaming paraphernalia).  Now,this child just spent severalhundred dollarsreplacinghis PS2gaming systemwhich he’d sold a couple yearsagoandsince regretted (cuzthey have the BEST games,mom!)and allthe gameshe’d had with it. He hasHUGE (like think’80s huge)$80 earphones to gowith histiny littleMP3(cuz it’sfunny in an ironic way andthey lookcool withthe ‘fro,duuuuh?). 

So when iaskhim whyhis keyboardhas missingbuttonsand has keys thatstick hisresponse tomeis “TYPE harder” andthen toproceeds todemonstratetome how i must HAMMER each key totypea bloody sentence.

Whatever.

Andifthisdamn keyboard wasn’t badenuf,i’malsosittingathis desk surroundedby violentvideogames (Most Wanted!Fear!CounterStrike!Enemy Territory!Battlefield!Ghost Recon!,etc.,etc.), dirty dishes,assortedcrap,dustbunnies andoldfoodstains,(despitethefactthathe’ssupposedtocleanthebasementevery weekend).  And I’mpretty sure every few keys strokessomething jumps upfrombetweenthekeys – i’mhoping it’sjust crumbs but mostly trying really hardnottothinkabout it. 

Sooo not conducive togood beady karma….

Now i’vegot lotstosay (as usual) and icould surmount my current pooter conditions however,this last issue is what doesmein every time and explains why i can’t spendmuch more than 15mins at his desk (just enough tocheck my emailand blog stats).

Flexibility. 

yup.  His pootersetup wouldmake an ergonomics expert burstinto fullblown whackedout,outtacontrol, sobbing tears.  Now i’ve seenhimworkandneverthought twiceabout his contortedbody position (are TeenagerseverNOT in somecontortedbody position???) but experiencingit myselfissomething completely different.  the monitor and cpu are tothe left but the keyboardfacesforwardsoifyou sit inthe chair facingforwardthen you havetotwistyourhead to the left toseethe monitor.  BUT becauseof the spacetakenup by the videogames the keyboardmustfaceforward soimagine- my wholebody andneckaretwistedtothe left but my arms and shouldersaretwistedtothe right…

huh.

I suppose the Teenager’s supple adolescence makes thisa non-issue howeverformy much lesssupple and flexiblemiddle-aged(whiletotally maintainingthe appearanceofultimate youth andhotness, of course) body is suffering.  withinabout 5mins of typingmyneck andshoulders usually start toache andright now mybackisstarting tothrob right in the area whereit’s twisted.

Ow.

Ihope y’allappreciatethe sacrifice i’vemade in typing this tokeep you upto date.  I’dplanned toposta pic as well but to behonestithink i’vereached my limit.  Will try again tomorrow. Right now i gottago findthe Tiger Balm…

p.s.OOOOOWWW!!!!!My neck hurts…

p.p.s. that Fearvideogame is actually pretty awesome.

p.p.p.s. good grief,i’mtrapped!  ithinkmy leftleghas fallen asleep!

Wondering why i’ve been so quiet?

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Out of order, originally uploaded by leftlaneends.

my laptop’s hard drive is corrupted so my various programs keep failing.  and it’s so bad that i can’t even do a drag and drop folder backup i have to go by small groups of files. why oh why did i wait so long between backups??? (sigh)

anyhoo, cross your fingers for me that a quick reformat and reinstall will fix my problems.