Dagobiscuit

http://fursuit.livejournal.com/2826105.html Here's a link for dying with Sharpies. The pictures weren't loading when I last checked but the info is all there and it really helps. I tried a lot of different methods before I stumbled across this info and it really made a difference. Good luck with your MLP plushy! Doing is learning!

I love summer! It's the very best time of year. It's also the busiest for me because I work in a place that hits its peak in the summer months. I always try to get a vacation at the end of summer, usually around August when costs are lower. The past few years I've been going to Walt Disney World and trying to get to know it as well as its west coast counterpart. I don't know if I'll be able to afford it this year, it's been a crazy year for me, but I'm keeping a positive and hopeful outlook.

I like making art, squishing my plushies and watching movies and cartoons. Sometimes I watch home movies of past vacations. My go-to stress reliever is watching my favorite movies in the altogether with a very small glass of wine (when the doc says I can safely imbibe).

I really dislike sewing as a rule, but just the same I often find myself doing just that. I make custom plushies for my niece and one of my favorite fabrics to work with is Minky/microplush. It's so versatile and doesn't fray when it's cut. It also stretches nicely but in only one direction. I sometimes work with long faux fur but getting it with a long enough pile is getting tricky these days. The best I've found is about four inches, and getting it in the right color makes it trickier still. Luckily I came across a site online that showed me how to dye faux fur using Sharpie markers and it really worked great. There's an amazing variety of fabrics out there now; much better than the simple felt sheets I used when I was little (and I still think they're great in their own way!)

To be honest I have a hard time thinking of 2D characters I don't have some little crush on. With some it's superficial, with others it's an obsession. The fact is, I love these characters. They bring light to my life and I care about them. They're not just two dimensional renderings on an animator's work table, but living, breathing beings; actors have imbued them with personalities, artists with beauty and character, writers with the substance that makes them real. I have a particular love for most Disney characters but it's not limited to just those. I couldn't imagine life without these special characters, it would be much too painful and empty.

I do believe in the paranormal. This includes ghosts, UFOs, Sasquatch and so on. I don't always swallow everything I see on TV, in books or by word of mouth, but I don't just discount it without consideration either. I have an open mind that seeks to understand things beyond the narrow view our senses (and resources) typically allow. I like to appraise evidence and put my mind and instincts to the task of finding the truth as it speaks to me. Others may or may not agree with my views and that's okay. It engages my own mind and that's all I require.

I often relax with a multi-tier sensory immersion including soothing nature sounds from my Echoes of Nature CDs, my home planetarium putting the cosmos just a few feet above my bed, a calming mini fountain on my bedside table, and of course, a good deep snuggle with my special plushies. Sometimes I change this up with my favorite cartoons just before bed and some scented candles (vanilla and lavender is a particular favorite). I like anything that takes me away into my own personal universe.

In a lot of ways I AM Rapunzel. She has lots of quirks, concerns, desires and aspirations that match me exactly. It's like they based the character on me when they wrote her, so I consider her a true kindred spirit. I also have more than a few traits in common with Belle; always brushing a stubborn part of my hair out of my eyes as well as...well, everything else. (Someone at Disney must be spying on me!!) And Rarity has a lot of my tendencies when it comes to creativity (Art of the Dress says it all). Ariel is extremely similar to my younger self. All these personality aspects have been with me as long as I can remember. For that matter, some of these characters have been to, so there may be a subliminal influence going on, but I really just think I'm like these characters by nature. Heh, makes me feel like I've got something going for me after all!

I love Rapunzel and Eugene because they have such rich chemistry. I love Belle and Beast because,,,they're Belle and Beast. Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Tod and Vixey, Bernard and Bianca also get high marks on the list. For fun, let's add Chip and Gadget, and maybe Peter Pan and Tinkerbell (keeping some fun tension going with Wendy!) I could go on and on and really delve into a lot of obscure ones but I wouldn't know where to stop.

Annie: A Royal Adventure, which was good fun. And Rogue One...again.

Yeah, video games consistently make me mad, frustrated and upset more than just about anything I can think of. I'm typically calm and collected and I'm a really good sport, but video games take me from Lady Jekyll to Miss Hyde in a heartbeat. It seems as though video games are designed to put your emotions right on the edge and then, when you're at your weakest and most vulnerable, throw every possible irritation and outrage they can summon to the screen in an avalanche of stupidity, cliche and impossibility. Where shooters are concerned, no human animal has ever been capable of shooting a monster the requisite eleven times right in the melon (unless they're one of these twelve year old prodigies) and survive the simultaneous attack of dozens of other monsters (which often materialize out of nowhere in a closed room that's already been searched and secured). It's unrealistic, frustrating and I always end up dead. And since when does a whole clip of ammo to the noggin fail to bring down even the most minor of beasties? Why do bosses, who by definition are the baddest of the bad, always seem to need twenty or more backup henchmen to erode my health bar when I'm trying to fight? Why does every game seem to follow the same exact format to the extent that I can tell you two stages ahead of time what's going to happen and when? There's no originality, the opponents are impossible to defeat and almost every game I play seems to repeat these factors to the letter. Quest games have often succeeded in drawing me in only to face me with an impossible obstacle halfway through the game, bringing everything grinding to a halt just as it's getting interesting. Even 'game' games like Mario Party, etc, let me down because they never work the way they're supposed to. The controls aren't intuitive (I shouldn't have to hold one button down while pressing two others simultaneously to perform the simplest task), and button mashing is impossible, at least for me. When I'm compelled to play, as is often the case with my friends or family, I get stressed out because I know what's coming and dread making myself into the creature I become behind the joystick. I lose myself and my dignity; often swearing with such vitriol that most people would assume I'm possessed by some dark entity. I hate video games and what they turn me into. Even though they're just games, they push all of my buttons and take away that perspective. It's shameful really, and I want no part of them.

It's blazing hot here in Southern Cal. Temperatures are expected to push the triple digits, and I'm loving every bit of it.

Most of the best pizza places I've experienced are the standalone, non-chain restaurants. Stand-outs include Geno's Pizza in Massachusetts, Nima's Pizza in Arkansas and Grizzly Bear Pizza in Northern Cal. Chain pizza places I like are Figaro's Take N Bake pizza (they really pile the toppings to the roof!) and Pizza Hut, which has the best pan crust, nice and greasy.

Zombie movies. Honestly, there's only so much that can be done with the same thing again and again and again... I'm also really tired of cartoons with nothing but toilet humor and bad animation.

I would not update older films with newer effects because the state of filmmaking at the time these films were made is a matter of history. With Star Wars, seeing what they did in the '70s and '80s is miraculous. The original trilogy still stands up today alongside any movies in the world. When I watch these movies I always go with the originals because the old physical effects look better to me. George Lucas once said that old films aren't forgotten; they're abandoned. This is one of the few things I've ever disagreed with him on. I can understand his point of view as an artist and innovator, but history matters too. There's a nostalgic element that people want when they revisit these movies. It speaks of the time, place and circumstances of their creation. Not everything has to look like to overpolished digital monstrocities that fill the theaters today. This era has its good points, but so do the decades that came before and none of them has the monopoly on good filmmaking. Let them all stand on their own feet.

I'm not really much of a sports fan, but I do admire the New England Patriots. They're the best and they take a lot of crap for it. They do incredible things against all odds and that makes me want to stick with them.

I like Lancelot because he's so torn between his loyalty to Arthur and his love of Quinevere. He's strong but also tragic and that's just beautiful. I'm a little intrigued by Pellinore and his hunt for the Questing Beast. Nimue has a lot going on as well; she makes me want to know more about her motives. But I could go on and on, so I'll just leave it at this.

What drives me nuts is people who pronounce 'sandwich' as 'samwich'. There is no 'M' in Sandwich and people sound like three-year-olds who don't yet know how to pronounce their words when they say it like that! Even commercials, which are supposed to have actors with decent diction, can't get it right. On a separate note, I hate the keyboard on my computer. It has flat keys with little space between them and I get typos in every stinking word! I must spend the equivalent of three days a year just correcting all the typos this keyboard causes, DIE KEYBOARD DIE!!!

I had a nice workout at the gym tonight as part of my physical therapy. It's the first really good exercise I've had since before my surgery in February and it feels great to be getting back to living my life.

I'd be against the idea of cloning a loved one. The point of cloning one's self to raise one's children in the event of a tragic demise is an interesting one; the kids would have someone familiar to deal with as opposed to a distant relative or even a complete stranger. But on the other hand, kids are more perceptive than most people give them credit for and I don't think they could love a clone as much as the original parent. They would know the difference and to try to sell off a clone as the real deal would be a lie. Clones are little more than carbon copies. They do not have the soul of the original, and thus are little more than programmed machines that came in late to the party.

I have a sister four years older than me, and a brother two years older than me. I'm the youngest of the family (after I was born mom and dad must have figured enough was enough!) None of us live at home anymore, but we all live fairly close together so we see each other often, which is nice.

I dislike commercials that waste my time with so-called humor that makes little sense and fails to perform on any level. If there's a product to sell, do it and get me back to my shows. Otherwise, don't waste my time with lame commercials that cost bundles of money to produce yet apparently took no time at all to think up. Bad art in any form, even commercials, always makes me cringe. And the serious commercials are even worse. If I hear the sounds of a piano or acoustic guitar playing in the background, I flick the channel then and there. I have no time for false sentiment, especially when it's designed to manipulate me into spending my money.

I enjoy being with others because it's good to step outside one's self and get a fresh perspective rather than stewing in the same old internal juices. I like being around people and it can be rewarding on many levels. On the other hand, I'm with other people so often that, in the interest of balance and my personal sanity, I absolutely must get away by myself sometimes. My alone time is special to me and I treasure it. It's a good time to improve mental sharpness, find inspiration and contemplate the infinite. If anyone interrupts me during my few moments of personal solitude I'm not usually very happy about it. I don't rip their heads off over it (but I might be inclined to make faces at them behind their backs when they're on their way out).

I had a turtle named Morton. That was waaaaaay back when I was really little. A fond memory though.

I'd love a cheese sandwich right about now. It's not my favorite thing to eat but right now it sounds soooo comforting and nice, especially with several different kinds of cheese blended together.