Ok, I'm a little tapped out creatively right now... so, in a feeble attempt to please, all I can offer is these... some more pictures of me!

This is Me ;)

...patiently waiting for a kiss ;)

Another drawing

I sketched this little number when I was bored out of my mind during a training session at work. It's pretty simple, and pretty rough, but it's the first comic strip I ever drew. It makes me think of my manager, Inga. Lol. I keep it posted on my workstation wall to remind me that she's always there.

Family

I came across these photos when I was perusing my Aunt's facebook page. They are of my grandmother Mildred, affectionately known by us kids of Gramma. When she was my age.










It's funny, when I see look at her face in this portrait, I see features that I recognize from my siblings and me; not so much my fair haired siblings as the others. Which is kinda weird, because my fair haired siblings definitely got the lionshare of their genes from her - no one else in our family has that fair appearance. 

She was so kind. I remember loving her deeply when I was a small child.. I regret we weren't as close when I was older, before she passed. It makes me want to reach out to people more; to break out and say I am Lianna, I am here, and so are you, so who are you? Mostly, I don't. I'm shy. But, I am learning. And so far, I've learned that reaching out can reap great benefits.

I guess I'll keep on, then :)  

My Secret Identity

Losing Trends - by Matthew Brown (or, "My Very First Music Video - you'll see. Windows Movie Maker Rocks!)

My dear friend Matty wrote this song a few years ago. He wrote it after breaking up with a girlfriend, and while my own situation is quite different now (yay :), I've always thought it was a beautiful song. A song doesn't have to be about me for me to sing/play it, right? That's artistic license, lol. I once told him that I found comfort in the lyrics, and thanked him for writing and sharing it. I hope I've done it justice :) 

(I had to use Movie Maker to sew two clips together - that's the blip near the end. That program rocks :) 

Easter!

Colouring eggs yesterday after our walk; I was trying to get Nikoli to pose with the eggs he made, but he insisted on laughing instead. Sigh. Kids. Just don't listen, lol. We used this kit that came complete with little bags to dye the eggs in - you just had to add a drop or two of the colouring and voila! - you can see it there on the table. Hardly any mess at all, it was great. 

Halfway through decorating the eggs, my neighbour who also happens to be a friend, sent me a text to see if I was home 'cause her and her mom had just made cupcakes. I texted back, "sweet! (pun intended :D ) come on over!" They brought over the cutest little Easter plate - actually, now that I look at the pic again, I think that's a Christmas plate, lol - complete with chocolate eggs in additon to the cupcakes. (See that gap between the cupcakes at the bottom end of the pic? That's were the cupcake that I had to eat before I could even think of taking a picture was before I took the picture. It was sooo good! And so were the other 5 that I've eaten since then, lol. It's such a shame that Nikoli doesn't like sweets... not.) How much does that so totally rock? My neighbours are awesome!

Nikoli got a hold of the camera while I was bringing the cupcakes in... you can see how happy I was about it, lol. He's quite a little photographer... upward angles suck, generally speaking, but I can't blame him; it's not his fault he's short. 

So, then we coloured some egg hunt "clue's" - little signs with arrows on them to give a kid a general idea of where to look for the eggs. Those sure were handy too, though I think they made the hunt a little too easy; we probably won't use them again next year. Though they were great for helping me remember where I hid the darn things in the first place. I like the little crayons that came with the egg-hunt kit - they're these new twistable ones made by Crayola. The colours go on really smooth, kinda like pencil crayons and not so waxy like crayons, and the twist thing is great for someone like Nikoli who can't really peel a crayon label. 

Anyways, here're our finished products:

These five were my favorites... see the bunny I drew? That's a picture of me, made by Nikoli, right next to it - the resemblance is remarkable, lol. 

And this one just sings "you are my sunshine..." lol. What a psychedelic holiday. 

OUCH!!! mumble mumble.. ... ... ... ... ... (deep breath) It's okay, I'm still okay!

Remember my burn from Friday? Yeah, well, it was feeling so much better that I forgot all about it as I was diggin around on the top shelf in my closet, and don't you know it, I ripped the protective layer formed by the Aloe right off. OH! that really hurt. 

Does this look infected to you?

Lol, just kidding, it's not. More aloe, more aloe, whimper whimper... aw, what an easter. But really, I'm okay! See?

I'm too happy to feel the pain, mwuh ha ha ha! (ouch!... you didn't hear that, right?) lol

Neon Crosses (almost)

I just love Baz Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet. I love the music, I adore the completlely believable delivery of Shakespeare's original dialogue in such a modern setting, and I find the imageryto be stunning. One particular aspect that always struck me was the use of neon crosses in the church scenes... 

One of the things I love about my apartment is something that reminds me of this scene everytime I look at it, though I must've looked at it dozens and dozens of times by now... Looking out my bedroom window, (there's my purple car on the right! - I know, you can't tell it's purple, it just looks like a shadow here... but it is!) ... 

and then to the left and up, across the alley,




there's my very own almost-neon cross - it's actually backlit, not neon, but just as bright it seems :) 






It's even more impressive in the blackness of deep night here (arriving by 6 pm in the middle of winter, but considerably later now that we're over the hump and sliding down that delightful slope towards spring and summer) - it shines ever so much more brightly, and is like a beacon of hope reaching through the darkness. 

When I see it, I don't think of the morbidity of that final funereal scene in the movie, but of the simple symbolism of it. I think of one of my four favorite things in life - signs. I just love how people make and leave signs for each other, even something as simple as "push" or "turn left"... it's like a little simple way that we're all looking out for each other, all leaving instructions to help each other navigate, operate, achieve, or just stay safe. And this sign, to me, is a sign of compassionate people, a sign of refuge, a sign of common goals, a sign of care and nuturing. For I choose to focus on the positive side of society's endeavours, so while I can understand how humanity's corrupt tendancies in every area of civilization, including organized faith, can have caused feelings of mistrust and resentment for some when seeing this particular symbol, and while I may feel some of these feelings myself, I've always thought the use of modern lighting (ie neon or backlit) in crosses creates a new message, one that screams out "I am reaching out for you, and let the old ways and old doctrine, the old masking of meaning with trappings and tradition, be damned, for all that matters is that you are safe, and you are loved".

I should note, my particular almost-neon-cross is atop the St Patricks Catholic church, a group quite indulgent in tradition and trappings, so the above statement is probably not what they were going for when choosing that particular adornment. But that's what it says to me, and in my version of faith/spirituality, that's all that matters. 

For Life...

............(0 0)

     .---oOO-- (_)----.

    ╔═══════════════╗

    ║     CHECK IT OUT!!!     ║

    ╚═══════════════╝

     '---------------oOO

    ............|__|__|...........

    ...............||...||.............

    ............ooO Ooo..........

I've always liked tattoos. When it's well done, a tattoo can be very beautiful. And I deeply admire the skills of a great tattoo artist - I mean, there's no erasing when you're in this business. I have to admit, I also always thought it would an ideal job - sit around in a shop surrounded by this great, cool, modern and classic art, listening to tunes, b-s'ing with your coworkers and drawing. 

But you'd have to be really good, or it would suck. 

I used to talk about this with my buddy Matt. So much in fact, that he decided he was going to build me a tattoo gun. He's pretty awesome like that - I miss him a lot since he moved away. But, getting back to point, he was good on his word.  He built this for me, from scrap parts - he's pretty clever :)

He even decided that the gun wasn't enough, it had to come with somthing nice to carry it in:

So he swiped this little handpainted box from his Mom (she was pretty PO'd at him when she found out, and I felt bad, but then he told her to stop making him feel bad 'cause he was tryna do something nice, so she forgave him, lol.)  and he added a latch, again, from scratch :)

So, I have this to always remember him by. I think it's probably the coolest thing anyone has ever given me :D  Sadly, it's in need of repair, so it's been sitting on my bedroom shelf for some time now.... you can see the unused India Ink I stocked up on, patiently waiting for me to get a round tuit and fix the darn thing. 

Lucky me though, I did get to use it one time before the wiring came loose for good. It took a while for me to decide what I image I would use for my double-first tattoo - "double-first" because not only was it the first tattoo I ever put on my body, but it was also the first tatttoo I ever drew! It had to be something simple, something small, and something that meant something! Something that would mean something for the rest of my life... then when it came to me, it was so obvious that I couldn't believe I didn't think of it right away... 

 A double note. 

A very simple symbol of my love for music, 

doubled 'cause it's my double-first :) 

In case you're wondering, it's on my knee. 

Btw, until tonight, I had no idea just how difficult it is to photograph your own knee.

More Rainbows :)

Long promised, finally delivered... it's pictures of the rainbow sweater!!! (fanfare)

...wait a sec .... how do I work this thing again? 

Ooops! There we go. Okay, now this is the side view:

And here's the front! 

Fabulous, isn't it?

:)

Blurry, but happy, portrait pair

I was uploading photos while waiting for the sun to go down so I can take some fresh pics for an upcoming post when I came across this. It's blurry as all get out, but we both look so happy, I just had to share it... 'cause that's just how I'm feeling today :D

This is me :)

Connie, a coworker, emailed me this link: 

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

It's a classic personality test. I took it... lol. Here're my results:

http://keirsey.com/handler.aspx?s=keirsey&f=fourtemps&tab=3&c=counselor

http://typelogic.com/infj.html

 I can't really argue with anything it says about me, so I guess that makes it pretty accurate. It's pretty neat :)