How I learned not to pack pick axes.

What with my trip tomorrow, I have been perusing the TSA website for potential lulz, and by potential lulz, I mean for lists of things that sane people would probably NOT try to bring on a plane.

As a collector of snow globes and meat cleavers, I can't tell you how disappointing this is.


*FYI, pre-purchase of art from the "Cheeseblarg Takes Manhattan" project through the donation link on "The Good, the Bad, and the Cheeseblarg Takes Manhattan" is available until October 29th.  After that, art will be available for sale on Cheeseblarg's Etsy site at retail prices.

How I learned to be happy thanks to Harry Potter.

Up until 2002, I suffered from a terminal case of "cool kids disease."  This is an affliction wherein you are WAY too cool to pay attention to anything that is popular to the masses.  In fact, instead of just ignoring these things, you actively hate on them and make obnoxious comments about how stupid everyone who likes anything popular is.  It is a terrible affliction that hundreds of thousands of teens and young adults still suffer from.

I, however, found my cure in cheapness.  See, I actively avoided Harry Potter, though many of my friends and acquaintances loved it, and so when "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" came on HBO, since I was PAYING for the dumb channel anyway, I recorded it to watch when there was nothing else on. And it was in that moment, when "Eh, it's on and I am paying for the channel so I might as well watch the stupid thing" beat out, "I'm WAY too cool to watch popular things," that I learned that sometimes, thing are popular, because they are freaking AWESOME!

And so I watched the movie, and then forced my husband to watch the movie, and then watched the movie a billion more times (every time it was on, East and West Coast). And as soon as it opened, I went to the library and checked out all the books and read them in rapid succession.

At that point, the series was only up to"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "The Chamber of Secrets" was just coming out in the theaters, and so I joined in on the Harry Potter mania with full gusto.  The next year, I pre-ordered "Order of the Phoenix" from a local bookstore and spent an entire family vacation worrying about whether I would make it home in time to get my copy. I attended all the midnight premiers from "Prisoner of Azkaban" on. I read the supplemental books, and re-read all the books each time a new one came out. I read Mugglenet everyday, and drew fan art, and read theories, and immersed myself completely in fandom. And I was happy. I was no longer avoiding things to be cool and missing out on things that had the potential to bring me immense joy.

So now, when some popular book, or show, or movie comes along, instead of willfully ignoring it, I investigate. I want to know for myself if this could be my next Harry Potter, or at the very least, just a moment of happiness I would have otherwise missed out on by being too cool to like things.

Comment Marauder

It has been pointed out to me that I am strange in my habit of reading comments on other people's postings.  I do this for pieces of art, blog posts, videos, facebook pages... pretty much anywhere someone posts something to solicit comments, I am going to read the comments.  To me, the reason for sharing things on the internet is to interact with other people and as such, the interaction is part of the experience.

The response that I get when I tell people this is usually, "Well, I read my comments!"

Yes, I read your comments too. I want to hear what people say about things that I take the time to read, for the most part. Comments are really interesting, often funny.  There are whole websites dedicated to seeing people's replies (for Facebook, at least).  So yes, usually, I click and read everything that everyone says to my friends.  I even go back when I have nothing better to do and check if there are more comments.

Okay, fine, maybe I am just a creepy stalker...

And hey guys, my friend, Pat, is looking for support for a short movie he is trying to make.  If you would be interested in helping out a beginning director with his horror movie, please check out this link.

The Case of the Cotton Candy Tree- SOLVED

So you know how I posted this tree the other day?

It was a tree Farmville didn't have*, which is why I drew it... 'cause a cotton candy tree is pretty boss, right?
And apparently someone at Farmville thought so too, because 5 days after I posted this image... which received an enormous amount of hits this weekend, thanks to a link from Cakewrecks, they created THIS:

Hrm, what an awesome idea... a cotton candy tree!

With a grey trunk, with white stripes on it...

That they are selling... 

That seems to be made on the fly because it is programmed with the information for a gum tree, not a cotton candy tree, but these things happen, right?

I'm not saying that Farmville has people stalking me to steal my ideas, because that would just be nutty, but I don't think it is outside the realm of possibility that my tree was seen and it inspired someone to create this as a result.

Until it is proven otherwise, I think I should put "concept artist for Farmville/Zynga" on my resume'.

*Proven otherwise, apparently they had it as a special item for a week during November, when I wasn't playing...I'm a dork... total coincidence, this is what happens when you're neurotic kids. Sorry FarmVille... nothing to see here.

Detectives Don't Get Surprised.

There is a problem with being a detective.  See, I don't really choose to be a detective all the time, but I am. I pick up little details.  I am aware of my surroundings and listen to what is going on around me.  As such, I have never in my life been surprised when something is supposed to be a surprise. It's kind of sad.  I would like very much to be surprised... positively, I mean.  Jumping out at me and telling me we're getting a divorce or Mom's dead or some other horrible thing is not what I am looking for... but I would be very pleased if some day, someone planned something nice for me, and then was extra special careful to not ever drop any hints in front of me.

See, there was a certain present I wanted.  And I told my husband that if he were to get it for me, I'd like it  to be a surprise, so he shouldn't ask me to order it for myself and he shouldn't tell me he ordered it.  His instructions were to conspire with someone else to get it for me if he could get it so I wouldn't know and could be surprised.

So far, I have been told that Santa would be good to me (yup, I only asked for the one thing), my mom has repeatedly asked me questions about features on the thing I told him I wanted without mentioning the actual item, and the price of the requested present on a credit card bill has been mentioned while I was in earshot.

Maybe someday.

Thanks so much Mr. Narwhal...

Narwhal Detective Agency

Although I am awesome at being funny and drawing, I think I would make a great detective. I am very good at deductive logic, researching, and have a vast library of stored knowledge in my noggin. Plus, I look great in a trench coat and hat.  I mean, all a private detective is, really, is just a stalker who gets paid, so I should be awesome at it.

I guess I could be a personal online assistant, or a library research assistant although the wardrobe isn't as exciting.  I'm just really good at finding things online, so I figure either I have amazing researching skills, or everyone close to me is totally inept at googling.

Interesting fact: Narwhals have no teeth.  I just learned that by researching it.  See, awesome detective.