Shifting blogs again.

So many blogs and so little time. I'm shifting over to just using the MySpace blog, rather than posting there and copying here. So, muh as I like this format, this blog will no longer be updated.

If you want to look at the MySpace blog, check this url: http://blog.myspace.com/drawbridgep

And if you want to use RSS, update the feed to this:
http://blog.myspace.com/blog/rss.cfm?friendID=24738794

Cookies are my weakness

I'm not sure where it started, but I seem to have this reputation of a cookie monster. It's true I do like cookies and I usually have (an empty) cookie tin sitting on my desk. And I have fixed a few peoples computer problems for nothing more than some home made cookies. Is this really a bad thing? There are plenty of things worse in this world to be addicted to than chocolate fudge cookies. I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't even drink that much, so I think I have nothing to worry about by eating a packet of cookies in a day. It's not like I NEED the cookies. I can quite happily go for a week or two without them. The other day there was a box of cookies at work and I didn't eat a single one. I'm pretty particular about the cookies. I'm not a fan of Oreo's and really only eat chocolate chip cookies. I like a cookie that I can dunk in my tea without it falling apart or leaving a sludge of crumbs in the bottom which I discover as I drain the cup.

Here's an interesting point. Until I moved to America, I didn't even call them cookies. In England they are all called biscuits. What we call cookies are a very precise type of cookie. For example, Oreo's are biscuits. Oatmeal "cookies" are biscuits, but chocolate chip "cookies" are cookies. Don't ask me, it's too hard to explain. So I guess I only became a cookie monster when I moved to America. Before that, I was a biscuit monster.

Good and Bad

Sci Fi Weekly is an online magazine linked to the wonderful Sci-Fi channel (anyone who doesn't watch Battlestar Galactica needs their head examining) and each week they pick artwork to go on the cover. This week they've picked one of my pictures, so take a look here. (Just this week)

The only niggle I have is the way they've cropped it. My original was cropped in a certain way that I liked, but the way it's been cropped here makes it feel squashed. I think it's lost a sense of scale. You can see the original here

But anyway, I'm on the cover! that's four times this year!!

Out of Control

You see what I mean? I've missed a day already I'm just out of control. I think I'll not go back to missed topics, but just skip to todays, which is "Out of Control" (You see what I did there?)

If you know me, I hope you would find it hard to imagine me out of control. I like to think I'm a calm person and always in control. It's true, people (read customers) annoy me at times, but that's what they're paid for. But I've only once annoyed a customer so much that they came back. Luckily my boss had wittnessed the original discourse and could see that I was right and the lady was wrong and besides that, I didn't lose control. As for being out of control, I really couldn't tell you a time when I have been. Is that a bad thing though? Should I go out of my way to antagonise people? Is that the American way? I don't think so. Most of the natives I've met since I moved here couldn't have been nicer. You're all going to go out of your way to antagonise me now aren't ya?

I stopped at this point since I couldn't really think what else to write about being out of control and started surfing. I came across http://www.deletecensorship.org which is linked to Half Price Books and was skimming through the pages. Now, I'm all for classification in movies and books, but censorship is a totally different kettle of fish. But I approached the list expecting to find material that even I would question should be printed. But to find books that I know and have read on the list was a little surprising.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is that classic that even if you've never read the book, you've seen one of the numerous movies. There's really nothing that can possibly be objectional, right? In 1905 it was banned because “Huck not only itched but scratched, and said sweat when he should have said perspiration.”, but that was 1905 so who can tell what was proper then. It was also banned in 2004 after an African-American student said the book degraded her and her culture. Instead of the school explaining it to her, they banned it.

This one made me laugh - “The American Heritage Dictionary” was banned by the Anchorage School Board (1987) for having slang definitions for words such as “bed,” “knocker,” and “balls.” Which is just crazy! Why else would seven year old boys open a dictionary if not to look up “objectionable” words.

AND “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown which is a book i've not read, but the reasoning just makes me shudder, was removed from by a school district administrator for being “slanted.” They were quoted to say, “If there’s a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it.”

Now THAT's out of control.

Unreached Goals

Today is the first day of my "try and write something everyday" phase, which will probably last around two days.
I didn't think it would be so hard to just sit and stare at a blank screen and wait for the words to flow.
I do this all too often, I set my self a goal and usually have every intention of trying to reach it, but after one or two days weeks or months, I give up.

Not just with artistic endeavors either. Exercise is a great example. There was a time when I bought a set of free weights and for the first month I followed the plan religiously. I measured and weighed myself, wrote down in the little chart and then did the exercises and by the end of the month I could see the changes. By the end of month two, the weights were gathering dust under the bed and my belly was gathering size. When I moved out, I actually put them in the trash can and wanted to see the garbage man try to lift it, but alas I missed him.

I bought a set of watercolours a year or two ago with every intention of trying to take up traditional painting again. I've painted maybe two picutres and I'm half way through a pen and ink render and now, the really nice art box is sitting gathering dust on a shelf behind me.

In my adult life, I've had four guitars and with each one I fully intend to learn how to play. Twenty years later and I still barely know more than three major chords and can play two songs. Ok, maybe four songs, but only two that anyone would recognise. So now the guitar sits in the corner, taken out on the rare occasion that I'm waiting for the computer to do something.

I currently own three bicycles, all of which are hanging in my parents garage four and a half thousand miles away slowly rusting away. One of them was really rather expensive and to be fair, I did actually crank up a lot of mile. But moving to America isn't my excuse for not using it. I didn't cycle at all for the last two years thay I lived in the UK.

I'm sure it's not just me who has this problem. I would also think that the owners of eBay are glad we all have this problem. Just imagine how much smaller ebay would be if it wasn't selling unwanted Bowflex Extremes, Jack LaLanne Power Juicers and trampolines.

Prompts and Practices

I've checked out a book about writing today. It's a simple little book with a few pointers and then suggestions on what to write about each day of the year.
It has a few guidelines which I like the sound of:
Don't stop to edit
Don't worry about rules (grammar, speeling etc)
Tell the truth(ok, maybe not that one)
and few others that I may apply when I feel the need.
So, I'm gonna try an post a blog each day. Which, to be frank, ain't gonna happen. But at least I'm going to try.