Friday the 13th ♥

It's Friday the 13th! Muah ha ha ha! What does that mean? The reverse in my world. I actually see Friday the 13th as a lucky day.

The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia. The whotie whatie? Yeah. That. How can any Friday be a bad thing?

I used to work with a woman who's fear of Friday the 13th was so great that she would refrain from going to work and hide out at home. So, again, I ask, How is that a bad thing? She's taking a day off from work? lol 

Factoid: What I can tell you is that I've never seen the movie(s). **gasp** Why? You ask? Mainly because I'm a chicken. Pak pak pakuh. True story. I suspect Mr. Freddy Kruger is at fault for my horror flick dismissal. Yep. I blame him.

Anyhow, there's tons of information on the "scary" urban legends related to today's date found here. I think the only one that's the most interesting is that many tall buildings don't have a 13th floor. But they do! It's called the 14th floor!! **pa dum tss**

Happy Friday! ♥

Travel Goals

Subway -- Zion National Park by JB Crane

My bucket list is full of places I'd like to travel to. It seems that once I scratch one off the list, several more have been added. I haven't made my trip to Yosemite, yet, and I'm already researching Zion National Park in Utah. May as well start early so that I can figure out a budgeting plan. Besides, I need to take advantage that my Mini Me still wants to hang out with me. :)

The above photo is one of the many reasons I absolutely love Flickr. Although there is some valuable information on websites about parks or locations, photos can say so much more. I'm also a big fan of blogs because they relay secret treasured spots that only locals would know of in certain places. It all requires a little bit of research in order to fall into these photos or blogs.

We'll have to see what the future holds in my traveling endeavours. ♥

All Aspects of ME

Narcissism, as in excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance. noun

Believing that the world revolves around you is supposed to be a bad thing, right? And yet, it does; at least for me. The world I’ve built for myself revolves around the choices I’ve made. If I failed a class, who cared? Me! If I changed jobs, who cared? ME! If I moved, who cared? ME! I chose to pass or fail. I chose to change jobs. I chose to move. I chose the world I’m in whether I like it right now or not.

My world isn’t like your world. I like different things. I like different people that suit my world. Within my world, are mini worlds like my creative venues, my social venues, my jobs, my family, my home, schools I’ve attended and so on. Not everyone will belong to each of my mini worlds and that’s quite alright. This is why we all have different friends in different aspects of our lives. We’re all different.

However, it becomes a problem when I become involved with someone that doesn’t find any of my mini worlds interesting. If a friend is interested in visiting one of my mini worlds, it’s ok. They’re just a friend. BUT, when that significant other refuses to visit those mini worlds of mine, they become less avid travelers in my entire world. Their lack of traveling becomes a major turn off.

I express myself through various venues that don’t just include my vocal chords. For example, Facebook, Blogger and Flickr, have become social venues where I can, as my blog description states, “Basically, it'll be a place to rant and take a load off.” Those venues are part of my mini worlds that revolve around me. If I’m involved with someone that fails to encourage or support my many creative loves, then guess what? I lose interest in that person.

My first interest is of myself and then of others. My success means the success of my child. The more I have, the more I can give. It’s still about ME and my world. Right? I mean in reality, who feels good when a donation exchange happens? Both parties! The donator and the receiver.

Here’s the thing that future travelers have to understand: I have several aspects of me. I like to do A LOT of different things and have A LOT of different goals. If you have zero hobbies or interests of your own, then that’s your choice. My world may not be good enough for you or be too complex. The choice is this, do you want to know all aspects of me or just belong to a mini world and be a friend?

Additionally, if that special person has interests outside of your own, you may learn something from them and gain a new interest. :)

Take a Hike!

I can't pinpoint the exact moment I decided that hiking was an activity I enjoyed. However, there are a variety of reasons why it's become an endeavour I have embraced. I was seldom exposed to nature outside my own backyard as I was growing up. I can count on one hand how many places I was taken to before the age of 22 that offered me the opportunity to explore Mother Nature in a different form.

It wasn't until I met my ex-husband that I was truly introduced to hiking while we camped in the Gila Wilderness Forest. I used to think it was funny that people defined a walk or stroll on a trail a "hike", but that's what it was/is. When we moved to Austin, I began to explore the city's hidden trails and treasures on my own.

When we moved back to El Paso, TX, my hiking adventures stopped for a bit due to mommyhood. I really looked forward to the day that I got to take my Mini Me camping and hiking for the first time. I only had to wait a year before we took him camping into the forest. On his first hike, we came across some horses and he was ecstatic!

2003 - Willow Creek, Gila Wilderness Forest

My boredom with the El Paso area encouraged me to seek surrounding venues to explore when my husband (at the time) was willing to explore with me. I felt "safer" hiking with him than alone with my Mini Me. Eventually, there came a time when begging him to go hiking with us became something of a chore. I decided to suck it up and brave the trails on my own with my Mini Me in tow. I slowly became an avid hiker seeking new trails to discover within 100 or so miles from the city. The best part of it all was that my Mini Me fell in love with hiking, too. We've both cleared miles and miles of trails, eaten several pounds of trail mix and beef jerky, chugged liter after liter of water, all while discovering nature's beauty.

His love for hiking is shown in his selection for this year's birthday gift. I asked him if he wanted a birthday party (which I tend to go all out on) or a trip of his choice. After thorough contemplation, he chose to visit Yosemite National Park. I'm so proud! :) We get to hike the same trails and terrain that Ansel Adams did at one time. I get to shoot the marvels of the trip!

His love of nature comes from me and his dad. I'm glad that seed was planted early on because he appreciates nature and respects it for what it has and offers. ♥

TAKS- The four letter word

**Disclaimer: These are MY opinions regarding TAKS and education**

This year, my Mini Me gets to experience taking The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. He’s been taught to take the TAKS since beginning school in kindergarten. 75% of what he’s learned has all been in an effort to create a great test taker by the time he’s reached 3rd grade. His school has been Exemplary for three years in a row, which the administration loves to reiterate to its student body. What does it all mean? It means they have added pressure to produce positive results. The focus on taking the TAKS is so brutal that it creates nerve-racked test takers. My Mini Me surprised me when he said he’d rather get pink eye and miss taking the TAKS than have to sit through two days of tests with no recess and no P.E. He’s a smart kid. He’ll breeze through the TAKS test. However, everything that the school administration stresses on passes on to their students. If our schools are focused on teaching our students how to test, why not include lessons in de-stressing or meditation?


I don’t believe in the TAKS test or any other State Assessment test. Why? I don’t believe in it because more and more of our graduating high school seniors are ending up in remedial college courses. Why? Students have been taught to test, not to advance or be prepared for the university level courses. The introduction of these state assessment tests haven’t created more knowledgeable students. They’ve created overly stressed 8 year olds with the weight of 2 days worth of tests to determine whether or not they learned. It’s no longer left up to the teacher to dictate whether or not the student should go to the next grade. One test, and that’s the final determination on passing to the next grade level? How is this TAKS test dictating whether or not my child is a well-rounded individual? Does it test on art? History? Science? Music? Languages? Etiquette? Manners? No. It doesn’t.

I have to agree with Sir Ken Robinson that our education system is broken. Not all children learn the same. So, why are they lumped together by age? Each child should progress at their own level and be moved up as they acquire the knowledge, skills and understanding. It really bites to hear my Mini Me’s teacher say, “I can only teach as fast as the slowest learner. So, most of the time, your Mini Me is waiting around for everyone else to catch up.” If I could afford to home school, I would take great consideration to do so. He’d learn tons more with the one-on-one interaction, BUT he’d lack the social skills that are needed in order to be a member of society.

Here’s hoping the kiddos do well during the TAKS!

Enjoy the following 11 minute animation adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson :

Art & Me

UK-based graphic designer Chris Thornley made this great “I love drawing” design that’s a take off of Milton Glaser’s iconic “I Love NY” logo.




The earliest I can recall myself drawing was in 1st grade. My teacher, Ms. Battoon, gave the class a “busy” project. She gave us a “ditto” (which is what copies were called back then) of a cartoonish illustration consisting of 3 astronauts floating in a ship in space. The instructions were as follows, “You are to copy, not trace, the image of the astronauts onto another sheet of paper.” Easy. I laid my ditto and white sheet side by side. As I began to draw, I began to overlap my white sheet with the ditto. I wanted to be able to draw the faces of the astronauts as close to the ditto’s was as possible. I was paying attention to detail a little too close for comfort for Ms. Battoon. She tore both sheets out of my hands and gave me a BIG, FAT ‘F’. She assumed I traced, when in fact I hadn’t. My pleas meant nothing and the ‘F’ remained. As an adult, I recall that day as if it was yesterday and realize that it was a hidden gem. As a 7 yr old, I was good enough to make my adult teacher believe my drawing had been traced. I was so young that I didn’t understand it at the time. All I know is that it made an impact on me and I was extremely upset. Had she been a little more observant, she may have nurtured my art ability from the get-go. Luckily, the incident didn’t turn me off from drawing. I only wish I had that drawing stashed away in a box, rather than decomposing or recycled sometime years back.

As an adult, my biggest achievement in the design field was having my little company, CXR Design, contracted to work for Microsoft as a graphic designer. It was fun trying to interpret post-it scribbles and creating them into clean vector images ready for publication. The best part was being published in 2 of their books! It’s probably my only proud job description so far.

Microsoft patterns & practices publications :)

I’ve only sold one fine arts piece as of today. It was a heart wrenching/exciting moment. From within, I wanted to scream and say, “NO!!! Please! Buy another piece from one of the other artists!! This is my baby.” As most of my art pieces, they each have a piece of me that becomes part of the final product. The art piece, Cristianeske, is an abstract, surrealist painting of my son (seen below).

Cristianeske

It used to hang in my bedroom before I displayed it at my first art show. My son loved it and was sad to learn that mommy had sold the piece. He drove with me on the day I delivered the 2’ x 3’ painting to its new home with its new owners. The owners were happy to have their new addition and invited us to take a look at where it would be displayed. In addition, they told my son that if he ever wanted the painting, they’d only re-sell the painting to him and no one else. We both left feeling better about leaving the painting in its new home. Now, a little piece of me and my son are making someone else happy. Maybe someday I’ll make more someones happy with original artwork. :)

HTC HD2 vs Galaxy S

While out hiking in the Sacramento Mountains this weekend with my Mini Me, my HTC HD2 phone gave out. The HTC Sence didn't work anymore so I couldn't make calls, text or take photos. This was my 3rd replacement this year of the same model of cell phone. In all honesty, when it worked, I loved it. What I wasn't fond of were the Windows apps since the majority in stock weren't freebies. Nor was the selection much to drool over. What I would put as #1 was the size of the screen for photos. I took a lot of great shots with it and it came w/ flash (though I rarely used the flash feature since I prefer natural light). I also liked that my Facebook would sync to my contacts even if my contacts were named differently in my contact list. And it would update their profile photos on the HTC HD2. In essence this is what it had or didn't have:

      HTC HD2

• Lots of glitches with freezing
• HTC Sense (Touch) would stop functioning (which meant time to replace phone)
• Minimal app selection
• Amazing screen size
• Awesome photo resolution
• Flash for photos
• A great light indicator notifying you of missed calls or received txts
• Sync contacts w/ Facebook friends (including their profile photos)
• Bluetooth with my car was a problem on the receiving end. I had to YELL!
• Came with Transformers 1 AND 2

 

So because it was the 3rd time I'd returned it, I went from this...

to this...

I think the girl behind the counter was much more excited about the phone than I was. I the agitated customer who loved a phone that didn't want to play nice all the time. Given that I wanted to have the same type of phone (touch) I was introduced to the Galaxy S 4G. I heard somewhere that 3G and 4G are the same thing. That basically it's all in the labeling. It gives the customer the sense that it's better if the # is greater but it's just a name change. It's heresay though. I haven't researched it thoroughly. Anyhow, the girl behind the counter said, "The phone has been out for 1 month and we haven't received any complaints." Hmm... well, let's just say that after day 1 of being an owner of the Galaxy S, it froze!!!!!! Since it wouldn't shut off, I attempted to remove the cover I'd bought for it in order to access the back of the phone to remove the battery. I broke the cover within a matter of minutes. Grrr!

Other than that, it did sync all of my contacts but it won't sync my contacts profile photos from Facebook. Boooo! I do have access to a ton of free apps now. That's a huge plus. I haven't had a chance to play with the photo feature like I'd like to. The screen size is disappointing but it'll have to do. I also miss having a little flashing light indicating that there's a missed call or text. The Galaxy S doesn't have that feature. So far, this is what I've observed:

      Galaxy S

• It has two camera features (facing rear or forward)
• No flash for photos
• Higher-Res photos
• Tons of free apps and widgets
• 7 pages to fill your cell desktop with apps or widgets
• No light indicator signaling missed calls or texts
• No option to remove the voicemail envelope indicator (I hate that)
• Came with Inception on a 16G memory card
• Bluetooth seems more compatible w/ my car. No yelling! :D
• Google Talk feature for easy texting while driving

I'm slowly coming to love my taped up new Galaxy S. Yes... I used Scotch tape to put my cover back on my phone. Gives it character. lol