Yeah, you probably noticed that I made a few changes. I don't know how long I'll keep this design, but I needed a change; I was tired of looking at the old banner image. This new look is Crooked Timber-inspired, as you can likely tell. If I do decide to keep this, I realize it needs a lot of work; I need to figure out that PhotoShop gradient tool to get rid of that seam separating the banner image from the background color. I also need to do a host of other things, but I'm not going to mess with it anymore tonight.

I got the cat image from the new-ish Creative Commons search engine. I searched for cat, specifying image as the format and permission to make derivative works, and I found several cat photographs by Anne Moss at freenaturephotos.com.

I've once again been having especially vivid dreams that stick with me throughout the following day, narrated here for your amusement and interpretation. The first two are from the night before last; the third is from last night:

New Mexico

I'm in a bus. There are people on the bus, but I don't know any of them. It's a little like Nightmare on Elm St. II, Freddy's Revenge, when Freddy is driving the bus, but not as scary. I ask someone, "Where are we?"

The person says, "New Mexico."

I look out the window and see a reddish landscape resembling a freshly plowed field, with small hills and valleys and lots of rocks. Perched atop some of the hills and rocks are ominous-looking Mayan and Aztec statues. There are also some gnarled shrubs, dried up, with no leaves.

"I hate New Mexico!" I declare to no one in particular.

The bus stops and we get out. Someone leads me to where I'll be staying. It's a rundown cabin with swarms of flying insects inside. I'm horrified. All of a sudden, Scott is standing beside me. He says, "Yeah, those flies'll get you."

Yeah, it's just what it sounds like.

Via flea.

Whew, what a relief. I'm now almost ABD, pending the results of the oral exam. In case you were wondering, yes, I am going to post my writtens, but I've needed some time to reflect on them, add html tags where necessary, etc. I'll be posting them here using Drupal's collaborative book module. The questions I ended up answering are already there.

Old photos of my grandparents (on my father's side) from...the early 1950s? I'm not sure. My mom found the negatives when I was in college; they were medium-format and made great prints. I made small prints of these and some others she found and made my dad a book for them. As you can see, I got a little carried away with the Marshall's paints (cringe). I still have the negatives and, if I ever have access to a darkroom again, will make better prints and leave them black and white.

On angryalien.com, you can see several famous films abridged to 30-second animated clips featuring bunnies: The Exorcist, The Shining, Titanic, and Alien. I wonder if they've gotten any cease-and-desist letters yet for these unlawful derivative works? :)

Here I am with my cousins and my great-grandmother on my dad's side, whom we all called Mother Myrtle (we called our grandparents on my dad's side Daddy Worth and Mama Rene, as their names are Worth and Irene). I'm sure you can guess which moppet I am:

I'm enjoying these precious couple of days of downtime before the semester starts, just walking around all calm and dreamy. It will be good to start the semester, though, because for the past few weeks, I've been experiencing intense moneylust. It's completely socially irresponsible, and I need something to take my mind off it. I think about money all the time, about having lots and lots of it, and what I'd do with it. I've been initiating discussions with friends, asking them what they'd do with a lot of money. If I were wealthy, I'd have:

A townhouse in New York City, not sure where exactly, but I'd have celebrities for neighbors, and an estate somewhere in the south (outskirts of Atlanta or Nashville, or somewhere in North Carolina). In each home, I'd have a darkroom with the best equipment, a photography studio with lots of windows for beautiful light, a big office, a $100,000 kitchen with an island in the middle and one of those ovens that bakes your cheesecake and then chills it. I'd have a huge room with art all over the walls, like 27 Rue de Fleurus. Edited to add: I'd also have track lighting in most of the rooms. My homes would be decorated in a minimalist sparse, simple (I don't want to throw around such a loaded term, I've decided) style with a few hipster kitschy touches, like, say, a Cookie Monster or Smurf cookie jar in the kitchen.

A top-of-the-line hybrid car, with customizations like a high-end stereo and extra-comfortable seats

Every new, small, fast, high-res, multiple-gig-storage techie gadget. I'd have the best PDA, cell phone, digital camera, iPod, laptop, desktop, etc. And TiVo. And a Bose stereo.

Massages several times a week, and manicures and pedicures

A personal trainer, personal chef, and personal assistant

Unlimited credit at Sephora, Saks, Bloomingdale's, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, and Neiman-Marcus for when I'm in the South.

Yeah, I know, I'm in the wrong line of work for this lifestyle.