So today was my big PSU orientation. I got to the campus at 9am, and I didn't leave until almost 5pm. It was a long, exhausting day. I went on a campus tour, heard faculty speak about various things (how PSU is "cool", how financial aid works, a little bit about the library system), heard and read propaganda about getting involved in school clubs (see that? I'm making the jerk off sign with my hand), got a bunch of free pens and pencils, and registered for classes.

I had been silently freaking out in the back of my mind about needing to take a bunch of foreign language classes, and for the past few days I'd been in the process of convincing myself to just embrace it (remember when I posted on Facebook about how I was learning Spanish while I sewed?). Well, much to my excitement, I discovered that you get to choose to go for either a BA or a BS in the Graphic Design program at PSU, and I already have all the general study requirements for a BS. Hot damn, I say! No foreign language requirements for me.

Also, I randomly took Art 115 at Clark College in spring of 2004 because it was literally one of the only classes that would work with my schedule that term, and I needed a total of 12 credits to get financial aid. Turns out that class is a prerequisite for some of the first classes I need to take in the Graphic Arts program, so I saved myself a bunch of time and money by taking that class already. I remember that Art 115 class was a total bitch (my heart just wasn't in it since I wasn't an art student at the time, plus I didn't have the right computer programs at home). I'm so grateful it ended up being completely worthwhile five years later.

Anyway, for my first quarter I'm taking Idea & Form (Art 112), Intro to Communication Design (Art 118), and Computer Graphics (Art 120). The teacher for Art 112 is a friend of Chas', which rocks.

Whew. After today, my brain has started to adjust to a new school schedule already. I keep forgetting that school doesn't even start until September 28, and I still have over two (glorious) months of summer left to enjoy.

I don't often talk about political things here, but some recent friends' posts [on Facebook] have got me thinking.

A lot of people (me included) are strongly disillusioned with our political good-old-boy system here in the US. We've been struggling with this for the past 230-odd years, and it seems the more we fight, the deeper we become entrenched. How in the hell do we counteract such a deeply ingrained paradigm?

Don't talk to me about armed revolution. That is exactly what the white supremos and the nuttier denizens of the militia movement want - a legitimate excuse to start shooting "kikes, niggers, fags, commies, mud people and race traitors" (their terminology, not mine). Let's try to think about this rationally if at all possible. I will not listen to screaming invective from the right nor the left. I believe we're all adults here. Let's act like it.

I honestly don't know what to do about the system from the top down. But I do have some suggestions for fighting it from the bottom up.

Get yourself off the grid as much as you possibly can. Barter and trade for goods and services. Grow your own food and shop at farmers' markets; only eat what's in season. Join your local co-op. Invest in solar power and rainwater collection. Convert your car to biodiesel. Or get rid of your car and use public transit or ride a bike. Shop at thrift stores, used book stores, rebuilding centers. Buy reconditioned electronic equipment or learn how to do it yourself. Make your own stuff - shampoo, soap, candles, cleaning products, clothes, etc.

When you do have to make purchases, think local. Try to buy as much as you possibly can from local companies; this reduces transportation costs the company has to pay to get the stuff to you, and you're supporting local businesses who have to compete with Wal-Mart and the like. Buy only Energy Star-rated appliances. Buy staples like flour, sugar, etc. in bulk. Don't buy anything in those damn plastic containers that break easily and are not recyclable.

As far as politics go, study your local political scene, find out which district you're in and who your representatives are. There is much more room for political diversity at the city/county/state levels than at the national levels, where anyone who isn't a "Republicrat" is considered a whack-job. And let's face it, these are the levels that affect us the most on a day-to-day level anyway. So really be thoughtful here. Vote for those candidates who most closely share your values and will bring them to the political table - Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, Green, Socialist, whoever they may be. Let's not forget that politicians work for us. They can be fired and replaced. (Who is "The Government," anyway? IT'S US. Or at least it's supposed to be.)

If none of the candidates at the national level meet your expectations, don't vote for them. But please be a participant at your local level. I believe that's where the real impact is, and where real change can happen.

The idea here is to take the power out of the hands of the ten rich white men who own everything and put it back in the hands of the people, where it belongs. Change happens slowly - but if more of us work for it, it happens steadily as well. It's not impossible.

I'm sure you're getting the message here, and it can be reduced to those two hackneyed bumper sticker slogans:

1) THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY

2) REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

We're all in this together, folks.

neilfred invited Tim and me to the International Jugglers' Association Convention's grand finale show. :D We did this a couple of years ago, and jumped at the chance to go again!

It's apparently really strange that the convention ended up in the same place within such a short time frame, so if you're in that area, or up for a drive, I highly recommend it - it might end up being a once-in-a-lifetime thing. :D It was completely sold out last year, so you may want to secure tickets ASAP, if you're considering attending.

The interesting thing about this show, though, is that the performers are performing for... well, performers. They (naturally) pull out the absolute most difficult stunts possible - which aren't necessarily big and flashy. And, I suppose, part of the reason these professionals are the top of the crop are because they make extremely difficult things look easy to the untrained eye. I was surprised at some of the things that got applause - and what didn't (because flashy isn't necessarily difficult, I suppose).

Also, I was intrigued by the range of what was considered juggling. There were definitely some heady modern art pieces at the beginning of the last show, that mostly used contact juggling as a medium for some pretty dark artistic expression.

( Description of the event, along with where and when, behind here )

Iyawo Omi L'ade (that's me) is 2 months old today!  Go me!  Maferefun Orisha every day!

Originally published at exoskeleton cabaret. You can comment here or there.

From Monday’s studio shoot with Finn von Claret and Chance Koehnen. Starfish Studios, Seattle, WA. July 2009.

Photography by Libby Bulloff. Another image from the set, also shot with a single 300-watt monolight.

So my boyfriend was cool enough to build me a little art studio down stairs. We were talking and he says i need my own work space (rather than trying to paint in the kitchen during dinner, or draw on the couch, or try to balance a giant canvas on the tiny bedroom desk), so he got me a HUGE wood desk, lots of supplies and things to keep organized, and I love it! i've moved all my artwork downstairs and it feels great; its my first real art work space! I think it will help me concentrate because I'll have less distractions and perhaps help me find inspiration.
What about you guys? what's your workspace like? Advice, tips?

Be careful with whom you share your personal information. Someone will play emotional games with you if you are the least bit difficult to deal with. Put your efforts toward improvements at home. 3 stars

I was bored when I got back to my room, so I decided I would play with makeup. I realized that I'd been wearing work-makeup every day like a good little professional, and hadn't done a single gothy look.

It started with liquid liner. I decided this wasn't quite enough, so I drew on good, old-fashioned racoon eyes with an eyeliner pencil. Then I decided it wasn't quite black enough, so I added "fluidliner" and black shadow ('carbon'). Then I decided it needed glitter, so on went more shadow ('black tied' I think).

Besides looking pretty old school goth right now, it finally dawned on me that I failed to bring any makeup remover with me.

Um.

-shuffles feet-

-wistfully stares at toiletries-

I suppose I shouldn't use brush cleaner wipes on my eyes, huh?

Originally published at exoskeleton cabaret. You can comment here or there.

This is Chance, who should be cloned a million times. The extra hand belongs to Finn. I plan on posting more of these images as the week progresses.

~~~~~

Studio shoot with Finn von Claret and Chance Koehnen. Starfish Studios, Seattle, WA. July 2009.

Photography by Libby Bulloff. Shot with one 300-watt monolight at about half power.

Hi everyone!

Finally back home in Florida! It has been a BUSY summer. But luckily I am always painting no matter what state or country I am in! So tonight I have a new original painting - actually TWO new original paintings - FRAMED together and starting at one penny!

The new painting(s) are called "Sisters of Light and Dark" - two beautiful small portrait paintings of two sisters - one fair haired and one dark haired - despite their surface similarity, you can be sure that their personalities may be quite different..... Matt has popped these two together into one single "double window" Victorian frame - oval cutouts - looks phenomenal! These are ORIGINAL acrylic paintings on masonite panels (not prints!). The ornate wood frame really brings the two together. Of course you get both paintings together (as they're framed that way, lol). And guess what? Bidding starts at ONE PENNY with no reserve! "Sisters of Light and Dark" is up for a 7-day auction ending the evening of Wednesday, July 22nd at 7:14PM Central Time, and you can see the Sisters here:



Sisters of Light and Dark - ORIGINAL FRAMED - 13"x9"

To see all of my currently available original paintings, click below:

Jasmine's Original Paintings

Okay! New T-shirts! Also - I must add - Zazzle is currently running a free shipping promo anywhere on the planted with NO minimum. Just enter the code enter JUNESHIPFREE for free shipping anywhere on the planet, with no minimum order! ALL MY SHIRTS ARE AVAILABLE IN BABY SIZES UP TO 6X ADULTS! You can also select them in ANY style (such as hoodie, tanktop, t-shirt, baby onesie, etc.) and ANY colour - just be sure to click on the "Select a Different Shirt Style" link by the sizing options - customize it just how you like it! Again - this is true for ALL my shirts. Even if it shows an XS female wearing that painting on a black shirt, you can still go to "Select a Different Shirt Size" and get in in a size 6X Men's white T-Shirt, makes no difference.

To see all my shirts and other Zazzle stuff, visit my Zazzle store here

Or individually, some of my favourite new shirts....

Here is my new "Three Witchy Sisters" on Shirts

Now here is my "Still Life with a Mermaid" painting on a shirt! (I know, sounds like and odd choice but makes a great shirt!)

There are DOZENS of other T-shirts (again, all are available for all sizes & genders and ages in all colours!) - just go here and click on "T-Shirts" on the left hand navigational bar!

Enjoy!

Until next time...

-Jasmine

create custom t-shirts at Zazzle

Here is the feral cat we rescued - "Tigrillo"! We made a den for her out of a doorless cat carrier filled with towels. Food & water up front. Kinda dark in there! We have her in a closed off bathroom so she feels safer and so she won't interact yet with our other cat Mama Wolf =)

Swooping, sick feeling
We're back on the skids again
My true love and I.

Yesterday one of our students asked me if I'd ever heard of a country called Georgia. I said yes and she said, "I don't mean the state. There's a country called Georgia. Did you know that?" I said yes again and she said, "I never knew that before."

We're home in Florida!

Been about a MONTH since we were here last. So much to do, yardwork/housework/utility bills to get caugh up on, etc.

Today also we're picking up a cat from the vet. "Tigrillo" we've been calling her - she's a feral cat that has lived in the alley behind our house for the past half year or so. A VERY emaciated (weighed in at 5 lbs for an adult cat!) silver tabby-like thing. We finally trapped her after a receiving a warning notification about a local rabid raccoon by our house. So about a month ago we took her in the trap to the vet to get spayed & vaccinated. Lo and behold (being a WILD feral cat) she bit a vet tech right BEFORE getting vaccinated and they had to keep her in Florida State Rabies Quarantine for the past few weeks. She's healthy though, and they've since spayed & de-wormed her, so now we're going to pick her up and take her home.

We're going to try to acclimate her for indoor living (as this area is NOT safe for outdoor cats - too many other wild animals, alligators, etc.) and try to tame her as an indoor cat. Our current cat (Mama Wolf) was also a feral rescue, as was our little Quan-Yin of years past. So we're used to little wildcats. Hopefully she won't be tooooo much more trouble (she's already racked up $1000s in vet bills and I've never even touched her or petted her once, lol), and maybe someday she'll be a sweetie like Quan-Yin was or Mama Wolf is today.

I'll keep you all updated!

Be aware of the possibilities in order to stay on top of what's going on. You will discover something beneficial to your future by observing the way someone handles a situation now. New beginnings are apparent. 3 stars

Hello Everyone

I have been meaning to open a Zazzle store for about 2 years now! LOL how sad is that! One of my friends kevinhurtack opened a store up a couple of years ago & it seemed too good to be true so I put it on the back burner because I was doing Cafepress at the time. I have been seeing so many artists have cool Zazzle products like Carrie Hawks, Jasmine Becket-Griffith & Myka Jelina, I guess I sort of couldn't resist! hehe (sorry ladies I don't mean to be copying you!)

I presently have about 4 images uploaded but they are on loads of products like T-shirts, mugs, skateboards, magnets, stickers, keychains & even shoes! I love the way the shoes turned out.

I will post updates as I add more images & products!


make custom gifts at Zazzle

take care!
~ Deanna

I'm sorry I used non-iyawo-appropriate language in that last post (someone also took me off their friend list after that, but it was someone I don't even know anyway). But that kind of thing makes my blood boil and steam come out of my ears.

Anyway, I've been meaning to write for a while and apologize for not doing so. I was even going to use bullet points, but I don't have the presence of mind for that at the moment.

Mom has been doing surprisingly well. The last few times we've seen her she's been alert, engaged and seemingly content. Yesterday she had one of her sweaty/clammy/dizzy spells again and apparently passed out briefly while they were getting her dressed. They called the hospice nurse to come out and see her. I guess even before the nurse got there she was improving, color getting better, etc. I'm going out to see her this afternoon.

I've been getting at least two good walks around the neighborhood a week. Tuesdays evamoon comes over after work (all the way out from Tualatin, bless her heart) and we walk around for a while. Last week kik_inouye joined us and that was fun. And then on Thursday mornings, byroncaloz and I have started visiting Mom before Byron goes to work. When we're done he drives as far as the turnoff to the St. Johns Bridge, drops me off and I walk the rest of the way home. It's a pretty good workout. Now if I can just get myself doing something similar the other days of the week.

I'm feeling really inspired to work on Radio Bastet lately. There's a site redesign in the works, and I'm in the process of moving the LP cover gallery to Flickr. When I first started uploading pics, I neglected to consider the "safety rating." Somebody flagged the set as "not safe for everyone," and I got a nastygram from the Flickr overlords. Oops. I didn't realize women in sparkly bedlah displaying their feminine pulchritude = DANGER WILL ROBINSON! So the default safety level is now set at "moderate." FOR GOD'S SAKE WILL NO ONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN? I've been updating the RB pages at Facebook, Tribe, MySpace and here - you guys all know there's a Radio Bastet community here, right? radio_bastet Join today or be uncool forever - and there's even a Twitter page now. Links to all those can be found on the info page at radio_bastet. And, if byroncaloz can get me some space cleared out at Zolac Media (aka his office), I have some LPs I haven't digitized yet and some album covers to scan. I can't draw, paint, or sculpt, but I can sure digitize music and make websites with tiled backgrounds. Yep, I can.

The house reorganization/getting rid of old junk continues apace. The ARC van will be dropping by tomorrow to pick up a bunch of stuff. There is now such a nice clean space on the floor of the closet in the bedroom that Marvin has started sleeping there.

Speaking of the kitties, they are fine too. There are a bunch of new cats in the neighborhood who keep picking fights. Marvin continues to charm the neighbors into giving him treats. Sirius keeps sneaking in and helping himself to the food supply and sleeping in my computer chair or on the futon. He is one bold and brazen cat. If you pick him up he hisses, which is understandable. But the other day I made the mistake of letting him come inside and petting him, and then when he went for the food I said "NO!!", and he hissed at me! I didn't even touch him! He's getting too much of a sense of entitlement. No more petting him when he sneaks in, I guess. Bad kitty. Bad me!

Iyawo-wise I'm doing well. The endless washing of whites continues, and I'm pretty much done with sitting on the floor for meals (done in my head, I mean, not officially yet). Spirit work at my boveda is going well, I've got a Seven African Powers altar going (if I can keep Marvin off of it, that is), I've got my santera supplies cabinet packed full o'goodies, and I'm feeling very centered and grounded spiritually for really the first time in my life. I wonder how that happened? :-D

Speaking of spiritual stuff, I'm thinking of hanging out my shingle again, but only as a spiritual altar worker/candle worker/light setter. I will dress candles, I will pray, and I will try to do candle glass divination. That's it. No complicated spells, I'm not a psychic, none of that sort of thing. I still need to think about this, but the pull is strong. I would probably apply to be listed here instead of attempting another ladyhearted.com type of thing.

And, speaking of other stuff I'd like to do once my year is up, I'd like to take fencing lessons and learn how to play the theremin. Also, I'm going to start growing roses.

So, there you go.