All these cigar boxes had belonged to my great uncle George Doyle and date from the 1920′s to the 1940′s. I come from a long line of collector’s, skilled tradespeople, homesteaders, artists, thinkers and tinkerers. While each of us currently collects things that mean something to us, many of the items we have are simply not something we need or want to keep but may be something you would enjoy owning.

With that said, My Dad and I recently began stocking the Doyle family vintage shop again, last week. We will continue to stock it with knicks knacks, collectables, paper ephemera, period advertisements, tins, houewares, supplies, Saint John NB historical items, WWII themed things and many more wonderful pieces of history!

I do all the online work, photographing, listing and packaging. While my Dad, cleans the items and together we date them. His living memory goes back 65 years, so this certainly is more advantageous than my 37 years. Together, we expect to have hundreds of listings added to the shop during the next few months. I’ll be blogging about select items here on the blog as I did in the past too. There is a vintage category.

This is my hobby folks, while art creation is my job. And if you have a hobby and haven’t been practicing that hobby for a while, then you are all to aware with what happens when you neglect your hobby for months or years…

So, today I’m happy to share with you a collection of five vintage cigar boxes.

Pictured Cigar Boxes

1. Tucketts Marguerite Cigar Box
2. Rare – Rob Burns – Invincibles – For Auld Lang Syne Cigar Box
3. Pandora Cigars – Aged in Cedar, Patented – Panetela – Cigar Box
4. Rob T. Burns – General Cigar Co. Limited – Invincibles Cigar Box
5. Benson & Hedges – Number 7 Cigar Box

This collection of vintage cigar boxes can be purchased in the Doyle Family Vintage Shop, OLDisNEW.

What are your hobbies? Do you get cranky and become unfocused when you can’t or choose to not to practice your hobby and procrastinate instead? I hadn’t practiced my hobby since late 2009! It’s been far too long.

Over the years I’ve published numerous posts and artwork related to love, hearts and Valentines along with the broken, sad and less spoken about kind to.

Love is wonderful and giddy

1. Happy Valentine’s Day

Love feels sad yet hopeful

2. For Uma in New York and Rick in Fredericton

Love draws little swirls of joy

3. This flamboyant heart says Happy Valentin’s Day!

Love creates itsy bitsy things

4. Miniature Valentine Greeting Cards

Love brings back memories of ex-husbands

5. Do you love me she says as she grabs his curled foot…

Love is unconditional

6. You just made my day

Love is reassurance

7. And I say gosh darnit people do love me!

Love heals old wounds from decades ago

8. In the walking one finds solace from the haunting past

Love turns seconds into painful days when all you want is relief from sadness

9. December sixteenth in the year two thousand and six

And mostly love just takes you away…

10. Another land another day another dream

It’s not often that I’ll share my process with you on how I create an illustration from beginning to end for a few reasons. Namely, it’s uber difficult when hit with inspiration to stop what you are working on and scan that in or take photos of it in equally timed steps. Two, it’s apparent that one runs the risk of being copied and I’m not talking about being inspired or learning from another artists work. Where would any artist be without being inspired! Three, I’m shy.

So, here I am revealing to you how I created this whimsical illustration aptly entitled Evolution.

Step 1 – Ink on paper

Using Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens I drew the mandala shape freehand on Strathmore flower petal paper. I do not draw in pencil first and then ink over top. I eliminated that step a while back. I tend to use the Brush (B) tip to draw the illustration with and refine it with both the Fine (F) tip and Small (S) tip artist pens.

Update – And thanks to Lorrie who asked “how big is it?” Final finished size is 8×8 inches / 20,3cm by 20,3cm.

Step 2 – Watercolour on ink

By painting a thin wash of watercolour within the petals and varying shapes I created the underpainting of the illustration. I paint using Windsor & Newton Watercolour with a #8 long handled Deserres Turquoise Brush.

Step 3 – Coloured pencil

After the watercolour dried I highlighted and shadowed the mandala with Prismacolor Verithin Coloured Pencils. The image is beginning to pop now!

Step 4 – Ink details and coloured pencil refinement

I added the central stamens using a white opaque Pilot pen and added highlights with minuscule little dots to the ocher green watercolour. These pens are great and will remain opaque on most darker surfaces. And I added green ocher ink to the outer perimeter of the mandala.

Step 5 – Final

Drawing feathery wisps using a pretty pink Pilot pen I finished the outer perimeter of the Mandala and added a similar shade of pink with coloured pencil to create the illusion of melon… Well, that’s what I’ll call it. Melon.

Materials Used

•Prismacolour Colored pencils
•Windsor and Newton Watercolour
•Faber Castel Pitt Artist Pens
•Pilot Hi-tec C Pens

I welcome your feedback and hope you enjoyed learning about my creative process. Please feel free to share this post and/or link to any of your creative process blog posts within the comments below.

The original Evolution illustration is for sale in the shop and is also available a limited edition archival print.

1. All orders are shipping out on time
2. Milton the Fish made the Friday Finds Fish List!
3. Very close friend leaves to build snow bridges for four to five months in Northern Manitoba on Wednesday morning so companies can get their precious oil out while the marshland ground is frozen and accessible
4. Do you love me featured on Ahora que hice
5. Censorship by Bananas and his sexier female flowered counterpart featured on Medusa de Lumbre – Thank you!
6. Finished custom bottle and box rendering work for Liquid Sunshine new product launch
7. My profile on Flickr just surpassed 20,000 views excluding the views on individual uploads
8. 284 Twitterites are following me, thank you
9. Quietly opened shop on Artfire which has currency converter built in when you are logged in to buy or sell
10. My artwork is on five continents now – Wow!

Sadly, the rotating gallery of Gawker Artists was stripped from my blog’s sidebar as it was in violation of WordPress.com TOS.

Sadly, the ad is not an ad.

Sadly, I will not be able to showcase that rotating exhibit of other artists work from Gawker Artists in this blog’s sidebar.

Sadly, the ad was displaying on my blog for a full two months!

Sadly, someone must have reported me to WordPress.com when I finally announced my acceptance to Gawker artists two days ago.

Sadly, WordPress.com responded back to me, “I suspect that it is being automatically stripped because we’re not keen on it – sorry about that!”

Sadly, I will, respect WordPress.com rules.

…because I love blogging on WordPress.com.

Yes, it is that day of the year again where I can honestly say that I am sober of GHB addiction.

Five Ways to Make it to 4

1. Don’t hang out with people who use the drug you were addicted to no matter how much you like them steer clear because a moment of weakness could strike at any time.
2. Do something else. Pick up a pen and write or call a friend and talk out what you are feeling.
3. Exercise. Do anything! Walking. Gardening. Swimming. Renovating. Picking berries. You don’t need to have an expensive gym membership to get in shape. It’s a big world out there folks… get outside regardless of the weather. I walk an average 15K a week and splurged on expensive sneakers instead. I rarely drive.
4. Eat super healthy food all day long. Cut out or significantly cut down on fast food and processed foods and give your digestive track and waistline a break. I was a monstrous Pepsi addict. Yes, I consume Pepsi and drink on average two cans a day down from the 10 to 14 cans a day of two years ago.
5. Find the love and honesty within yourself first and you will attract those qualities in others afterwards.

Bonus!

Change your vocation if you need to. My career choice of 10 years was making me sick. The more I worked in an office the more I wanted to use and pull my hair out. And this is not easy. I went from earning thousands every month to meager hundreds per month and lived in the most expensive city in Canada at the time.

I don’t have any words of wisdom or advice on how to quit what you are currently addicted to. I still smoke cigarettes as of today and someday will quit those to. What I do do is this; ONLY smoke outside! That choice in itself has cut my smoking in half. I never smoke inside ever! I am diligent with washing my hands and never smoke when creating art, packaging or printing. My studio is bright, south facing, smoke-free and clean. And to test whether or not your art smells of art or smoke simply ask a few non-smokers to smell it. It only takes a few moments of their time and will give you the piece of mind that when your customers buy your stuff it will smell of what it was created of and not of smoke. My art, reproductions and supplies smell of paper, ink and art supplies. Those non-smokers told me so!

Oddly enough, I am more worried about my art smelling of smoke than I am of myself being addicted to smoking.

1. Don’t visit the Etsy forums. EVER. period.

These days the Etsy forums resemble a mad hatters tea party on acid except everyone is serving nastiness and it’s become non-positive in every way shape and form. I can’t weed out the negative anymore. They can and will suck your creative spirit dry. As of today I will no longer peruse them. Good Bye!

2. Don’t sign up for Plenty of Fish.

I signed up last year. Then after three weeks of idiots never logged back in until two weeks ago. The idiocy has begun anew with a vengeance. To deter the idiots I made my profile mean (brutally honest). The idiots multiplied. How is this possible that such a small community as Saint John, New Brunswick is so full of rednecks! Moments ago I deactivated my account.

3. Don’t overexpose yourself to noise and crowds.

I love all the people in my life. Don’t get me wrong on this. My social life has been increasing more than I can handle both online and offline. Clubs. Parties. Weddings. Get-togethers. Family Gatherings. Drunk people. Loud Music. POF. Etsy forums. My creativity has seriously wained as a consequence. Thus, it is time to hibernate picking up and using flickr, blog and pen. I need some down time. Really. Badly. I sleep with ear plugs and my cat. I like it quiet just like that.

Just by doing those three things listed above I am adjusting my aura. To much socializing and not enough time alone to re-energize will make me sick. I learned while in treatment for anxiety and addiction that I am an introvert which simply means I need much more alone time and one on one time in small groups than 90% of the rest of the world who are extroverted and need people time all the time to re-energize.

This fact is good. This realization, that I am on the road to an unhealthy lifestyle makes me smile. Haha! Because I realize it and have pinpointed the three main sources of my anxiety. Now, I put it into practice by focusing on the good things.

I feel normal. As most normal people know when enough is enough. Much of my life I didn’t know what was enough or what was lacking. To “know” this empowers me to move into action creating masterpieces for your walls!

Life is an ebb and flow of ideas, choice and change.

In eight days I will be sober of GHB for three years. How about that!

^{Image credit – Aura, Acrylic painting on 2 by 2 foot board by me, Jessica Doyle. Both the original painting and prints are available in my art shop.}

What I want.

• 3 columns using the Tarski theme currently activated on this blog with either column on each side of the main posts
• The ability to delete the custom header image if I want
• The custom header image size increased to the width of the new design
• Comments to appear immediately after the post rather than at the bottom of the blog
• Tags hidden from each post with only categories showing
• The main body where posts are needs to remain 500px wide
• An HTML version of the Etsy mini so that I can insert items I have for sale in my shop into my sidebar. The current Etsy mini is only available in Flash or Javascript and WordPress.com allows neither.

If you can do this please leave a comment on this post and I will email you or you can directly email me at: eastvanesica (@) gmail:DOT:.com

What I’ll Do

I will trade art prints for custom WordPress.com CSS to update the look and feel of my blog. I will mail the print(s) directly to you wherever you live in the world. You can see the art prints in my shop. We can discuss the cost of barter privately via email.

Comments on this post will close once I reach an agreement with a CSS designer.

Thank you.

Elephantine tagged me! Thank you.

Here are THE RULES:
Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
•Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
•Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
•Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Random Weird Things

1. I haven’t had sex in 5 weeks. Seeing as my sex buddy and I broke up.

2. I prefer red wine to white wine. A number 2 is just fine.

3. My bedroom doubles as a studio. Oddly enough it is much more studio than bedroom.

4. I know how to sand and finish antique plaster walls and ceilings.

5. I can and do grow some of my own food organically.

6. My cat, Missy Two Shoes loves to have her hair blow dried and combed.

7. I have lost 31 pounds in 2 years. I am now a comfortable size 6 down from a size 12 and weigh 135lbs.

I tag Range, David, Scott, Candice, Jafabrit, raincoaster and Robyn.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Where to find the best art supplies – a top five list

–

Next Week’s Tip – Why you should comment on art blogs

^{Last week’s Tip}

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

So What do you do with that dormant artwork piled in your closet?

Here is a list of 10 possibilities

1. Give it away as a gift
2. Sell it on Etsy
3. Auction it off on Ebay
4. Cut it up and use it for collage purposes
5. Re-work it using that new paint!
6. …and finish that piece from 1982!
7. Take pictures of it and share it online
8. Create greeting cards from it
9. Hang it on the wall
10. Or if worse comes to worse you will die and your children will be filthy stinking rich when they sell it!

Next Week’s Tip – How to get good at drawing one thing

^{Last Week’s Tip}

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

1 – Earning about a dollar more than minimum wage per hour when the Canadian dollar is worth a quizillion dollars on world markets today

2 – Tapering off Paxil without proper medical care due to inequalities in the Canadian Medicare system

3 – Having your friend / sex buddy move away to Northern Manitoba to work building ice bridges facing the danger of sour gas until late January

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Learn to manage time effectively.

During the month of May
I go to be tested for
ADHD -eh.

On a waiting list for 18 months.
This is a long time.

I got the call:
“Ahhhhhh really…
Whaaaaaaaaaa?” went I.

To be living in a friendly bug environment. That is, bugs that drink human blood for a living are not welcome. This brings thoughts of returning to a vegetarian diet with dairy products and fish diet.

Go to orientation at Gallery Gachet.

MailArt continues. New MailArt to send and pics of what has been sent and since arrived.

Blog about design. GULP the fear. _{I will be shedding fur on this.} Take the fracking word “expert” off of my resume. Dammit. Old habits die hard. Think abote dat. Writing down expert is what I learned to do. Notice past tense.

Ask questions when uncertain before whirlwinds ensue!

Purchase missing/lost mini-dv camera parts so I can snap pretty pictures. It is not possible to scan my garden. What would the neighbors think? Agfa hovers above my garden. A bright white light… mania ensues. Google knows.

Find my memory. Joking.

This is funny.
Kitchen table and no chairs.
Drafting table and no drafting table chair.
Two love seats and no coffee table.

Officially announce that I joined the experiment.

I am now a Scientologist. That is a joke to. I can identify with being Catholic as I was raised such, and have that guilt that many people whisper of. Is that what I believe. I believe in people, ideas and common ground. Public ground? Does belief hurt?

Be kind to the unknown.

Plant tomatoes and other warmer weather lovers.

Revisit the idea of routine.

Right the wrongs and be.

Practice coding.

Strive to do what you write and say what you believe.

This a personal note to myself that I am progressing. You are welcome to read and comment. I edited and updated the original list which can be found here.

1. I was commissioned back in January to paint four paintings (by a person who wishes to remain anonymous) or as one large painting that depicts the four seasons in my own style of painting. There was no time period set as a completion date for delivery. I will set one now. Friday, April 20/2007. I have set up an almost functional artists studio. Yay. I am currently on the look-out for a drafting table chair or another chair suitable for the existing drafting table already in the studio.
2. I am now completing the design and logo for Scott Wallick and his wife Binita. I have begun the project and have already sent the initial proofs and they have since come back to me for alterations. Things got out of hand this week Scott. I am making the necessary changes in my life to complete this project. Date for completion – April 08/2007.I moved all my office furniture and computer related geekery into the second bedroom . I bought myself a pot of daisies; violet, yellow and white. They sit on the computer desk beside Missy in her basket.
3. I need toothpaste.Found: a tiny travel size toothpaste in the bathroom. Will need toothpaste soon.
4. Rodrigo Pradel’s MailArt arrived in the post today. Made my day dude! I have yet to open the package and peer inside. I am excited about this. I hope my packaged MailArt arrives to you soon. I sent it regular mail as I could not afford express mail.

I have since opened his and he has opened mine. And the tale of two cameras & lone scanner. Go stretch your neck a bit.

5. Discontinue use of Pepsi tomorrow. I began drinking an awful lot of it during the past week and especially last night. I am drinking Pepsi and I like it.
6. Return all bottles/cans for money tomorrow. Buy toothpaste and cigarettes with money. I’ll be walking a few bags to the redemption center every other day to get out and exercise and earn some money at the same time; albeit a few bucks per trip. Returned.
7. I have enough food. My hydro and internet bills are current.
8. I will need to cover another $500 in rent if my ex-roommate stops payment on her check for this month. I have 3 months to cover that. I DO Have to cover the other half rental related expenses. she did not pay I have until the end of the 2 months to cover that.
9. I will be signing a new lease with my landlord in my own name. No roommate, no ex-boyfriend. And the hard feelings I have for them are fading. I am as much a part of this mess as they were.
10. Breathing. Breath deeply in and out for 10 breaths.
11. I got myself into this mess and I will get myself out of this mess. Messes can be organized. I will am doing my best.
12. Try not to Think about the past. If it comes into mind, accept this and, it will pass. The future is not now; therefore the present is. peaceful of mind.
13. Do NOT go into more debt. I have not gone into more debt since my ex-boyfriend left. It has been hard but I am doing it. Continue working. Working is good. Working pays off debt.
14. I can not begin selling my artwork online through Etsy because I cannot and choose not to use my Visa. I have four two more payments to make and Visa will be happy. I had already negotiated with them back in January to make 6 equal payments and not use the card while making them. I have made two payments thus far. I am proud of myself for doing that and am sticking to it. These negotiations have kept me out of collection. I had excellent credit through my twenties and early thirties. I hope to have that back again as I enter my mid-thirties.
15. Go see my doctor and speak with her about a prescription. I went and purchased Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride (Benedryl) to combat an extreme anxiety attack where I broke out in hives and something leaked in my right ear. Talk to the doctor about this. Show her the pages I wrote out after the attack. Ask about getting my hearing and vision checked.

Anxiety can fuck ya up fer real. Trust it will pass. Reality will seep in eventually. Physical symptoms will ease. I still find it incredible that, an anxiety attack can last weeks and produce physical symptoms. It’s akin to having a flu particularly affecting thought and emotion coordination. I haven’t experienced hives come on that fast since late 2003. I had forgot what to do and now remember again hence the purchase of antihistamine. What I don’t quite understand is why I freak out.

16. Pray to whatever is out there.Meditate.
17. If you are interested in sponsoring this Blog? please get in touch with me. You can Contact me. easily now. I created a contact page And thanks to an article on Lorelle’s Blog that pointed me to a great contact plugin by Mike Cherim. Note to self – Donate to the plugin creator via paypal today. Done. Thank you, Lorelle and Mike.
18. Contact AstroNutrition for any immediate design work they need done, today.I am currently freelancing for AstroNutrition and the work will be finished this evening.
19. I contacted Gallery Gachet located here in the city of Vancouver two evenings ago. They specifically work with mentally retarded people. Strike that. They work with Artists who are facing mental health issues and who use their feelings to create their art with. They have many links to organizations who work with artist’s to overcome personal fears and in so doing, help them make a living through their art. I hope they respond to my inquiry. Gallery Gachet responded to my inquiry by mailing me a brochure through the post. I am also attending an orientation session on May 7th. I am hoping to write a proposal to them, for an exhibit idea. The deadline for this is in July for possible 2008 exhibits.
20. Respect all those around me, including myself. Remain Be calm and to focus. on on the above numbered tasks.

1. I was commissioned back in January to paint four paintings (by a person who wishes to remain anonymous) or as one large painting that depicts the four seasons in my own style of painting. There was no time period set as a completion date for delivery. I will set one now. Friday, April 20/2007.
2. I was commissioned to complete a design and logo for Scott Wallick and his wife Binita. I have begun the project and have already sent the initial proofs and they have since come back to me for alterations. Things got out of hand this week Scott. I am making the necessary changes in my life to complete this project. Date for completion – April 08/2007.
3. I need toothpaste.
4. Rodrigo Pradel’s MailArt arrived in the post today. Made my day dude! I have yet to open the package and peer inside. I am excited about this. I hope my packaged MailArt arrives to you soon. I sent it regular mail as I could not afford express mail.
5. Discontinue use of Pepsi tomorrow. I began drinking an awful lot of it during the past week and especially last night.
6. Return all bottles/cans for money tomorrow. Buy toothpaste and cigarettes with money.
7. I have enough food. My hydro and internet are paid up to date.
8. I will need to cover another $500 in rent if my ex-roommate stops payment on her check for this month. I DO need to cover the other half of the damage deposit she did not pay. I have until the end of the month to cover that.
9. I will be signing a new lease with my landlord in my own name. No roommate, no ex-boyfriend. And the hard feelings I have for them are fading. I am as much a part of this mess as they were.
10. Breathing. Breath deeply in and out for 10 breaths.
11. I got myself into this mess and I will get myself out of this mess. Messes can be organized. I will do my best.
12. Try not to think about the past. If it comes into mind accept it and it will pass. The future is not now. The present is peace of mind.
13. Do NOT go into more debt. I have not gone into more debt since my ex-boyfriend left. It has been hard but I am doing it. Continue working. Working is good. Working pays off debt.
14. I can not begin selling my artwork online through Etsy because I cannot and choose not to use my Visa. I have four more payments to make and Visa will be happy. I had already negotiated with them back in January to make 6 equal payments and not use the card while making them. I have made two payments thus far. I am proud of myself for doing that and am sticking to it. These negotiations have kept me out of collection. I had excellent credit through my twenties and early thirties. I hope to have that back again as I enter my mid-thirties.
15. Go see my doctor and speak with her about a prescription. I went and purchased Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride (Benedryl) to combat an extreme anxiety attack where I broke out in hives and something leaked in my right ear. Talk to the doctor about this. Show her the pages I wrote out after the attack. Ask about getting my hearing and vision checked.
16. Pray to whatever is out there.
17. If you are interested in sponsoring this Blog please get in touch with me. You can contact me easily now. I created a contact page thanks to an article on Lorelle’s Blog that pointed me to a great contact plugin by Mike Cherim. Note to self – Donate to the plugin creator via paypal today. Done.
18. Contact Astronutrition for any immediate design work they need done, today.
19. I contacted Gallery Gachet located here in the city of Vancouver two evenings ago. They specifically work with mentally retarded people. Strike that. They work with Artists who are facing mental health issues and who use their feelings to create their art with. They have many links to organizations who work with artist’s to overcome personal fears and in so doing, help them make a living through their art. I hope they respond to my inquiry.
20. Respect all those around me including myself. Remain calm and focus on on the above numbered tasks.

Today I am 33 years old. As the day progresses, I will list 33 things in this post. If there is something you want to know about me simply ask me in the comments. Don’t be shy! Seriously.

1. From Bridgett Walther, my favorite astrologer, the Scorpio forcast for November 8: You feel almost as if you’re back to square one this morning, and wonder if you’ve been spinning your wheels or if others haven’t been paying attention. Mercury remains retro in your sign. This is far from fatal but does have a way of forcing one to revisit one’s expectations, timing, etc. A financial matter continues to weigh very heavily on your mind, but can be satisfactorily resolved within the next couple weeks, so don’t panic. In the meantime, count on your most trusted experts and advisers for direction and advice.
2. I watched the sunrise this morning. It was beautiful.
3. Breakfast today was a marmelade and crunchy peanut butter spread on Oat & Nut with Honey Bread.
4. Funniest google ad from Sitemeter. Image shown is just a screen capture.
5. My favorite number is 3. I like odd numbers more than even ones.
6. Until the end of this year, you could sponsor this site for UPDATE $25 $99 (I honestly had to adjust this price to reflect my/the times. In the coming year this price will take effect) a month through Performancing. Go and ask Dee how he likes it here And a big thank you to Dee for being my first sponsor!
7. My two favorite porn sites. This may offend some people. Be warned these two sites are 18+ only, ask your mom or ask your dad before clicking through to XNXX or StileProject. Stile Project on the weekends offers some feature length film downloads in WMV format for FREE. muahahahahahhahaahaaa!
8. I am overcoming a fear of selling my artwork for money. As odd as it may read, there lingers intrinsically built into me that… that just wants to share it. All of it. I am working in LuLu readying a pdf release of The Mushroom’s Rhyme. I want it out there. Fear BE GONE. poof! UPDATE – it is uploaded, however the cover is not appearing properly yet *scratches head*. UPDATE It works NOW!
9. I’m re-considering having written #7, =^.^=
10. I’m none too sure about my programming skills but I know enough to be formatting this list. My site does not validate. Nope. I do the best I can.
11. Naps are good.
12. I have been blogging since March 18, 2006.
13. Two places I would like to live; Venice, Italy and Ireland.
14. Two places I would like to visit; Japan and Brazil
15. I have never owned a car. I have been licensed to drive a motor vehicle since age 17.
16. I do not own a cell phone. Never have.
17. I recently switched to using widgets in my sidebar.
18. At the local clothing optional beach and The ball is under control have been uploaded to Flickr. The preview of the latter is visable further down in the sidebar on this site.
19. This interview with David Moose of the Ontario Gallery of Art on the Gnostic World of Candy Minx is as fabulous as it was informative to read. The discussion afterwards in the comments I highly recommend reading also.
20. This is the most comments I have ever had on one post. I want it to be my birthday everyday! Well no. Thanks to everyone who is stopping by.
21. My pink eyed man just left to go buy some wine and ciders. I do have the occassional drink.
22. …and yes I am still sober off of GHB since August of 2005.
23. An emailed horoscope from my mom this evening. It reads a little different than number 1 of this list. What do you think?
    

    Born today, you are a highly creative individual, but you are prone to behavior and activities that may prove, at times, rather self-destructive. When you are engaged in such activities, you tend to be rather inattentive to your own safety or well-being, which can certainly aggravate the situation considerably. When you are on a roll, you can be counted on to be positive and productive; when you are not, you may well prove a disappointment to others as well as yourself. Your own determination, however, can keep you from staying down for long; you always recover.

    You have great longevity, and, when you choose to stick with something through thick and thin, you are a formidable adversary -and you can prove quite effective in the political arena. Of course, you are one of those rare individuals who will almost always speak true.

    This is a good day to take a chance — but you’ll want to calculate as best as you can every possible outcome. Err on the side of safety.
    

24. Scrabble is my favorite board game.
25. I cut my own hair.
26. I wear my boyfriends yellow plastic raincoat that his mother baught for him while he was in boyscouts at age 12. It fits me mighty fine and is a much needed item of clothing when you live in Vancouver, BC during the winter.
27. Blog I miss most.
28. Birthday wish. Only, if you believe I deserve it.
29. The Blogging Times just got a kick-ass new look! Woot!!! Minic it is looking wonderful!
30. I’m always in my barefeet at home
31. It began in Afrika
32. I was 32 years old yesterday
33. That’s it. I’m off to molest my crippled boyfriend who is laying on the couch.

Night all! Thanks for celebrating with me.

Update-
Someone, an un-named one emailed me the site PinkWorld as another Porn site to look at as an addition to number seven on this list. Honestly it was not as good as the other two. It could use some basic CSS styling. The dark yellow on pink is not legible enough. One bonus was this; it has very minimal unobtrusive ads.

And another someone thought I deserved it in number 28. Thanks.