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| WHOOOOOOOOOOSH |
| 05.31.06 (1:42 am) [edit] |
Just got back from just over 4 days in NY. We had such a blast. Our friend Darlene has a new townhouse in Rochester, and we spent the weekend with her and her boyfriend, Tom. The first day, we flew in late afternoon and bummed around the house until Tom flew in. Then we drove over to a little BBQ joint called Stick-Lips BBQ - that place was SO adorable. It was really old fashioned and 1940s style. Awesome food too - what great BBQ, I'm surprised I wasn't on the toilet all night! Then they showed us around a few more places downtown and came back home.On Saturday, we drove out to Six Flags Darien Lake. That was SO FUN. Omg. They have a roller coaster there called the "Superman Ride Of Steel". HOLY. CRAP. That was the first ride we went on, and... I cannot put into words how awesome it was. The whole place is mainly roller coasters, so Dad and Darlene usually sat it out and waited for me and Tom. Dad doesn't like roller coasters that much, and Darlene can't ride most of them because they throw her back out. Anyway, "Superman"? Yeah. It was 208 feet tall at the tallest point, and had a 205-foot freefall. That was the first part of the roller coaster. You just go up this HUGE slope, then WHOOSH - zero G's. Talk about having the shat scared out of you!! Oh, but I loved it. It's actually over a mile long (as I've just read). The maximum acceleration (after the first drop) is 73 mph, and the whole ride is over in about 3 minutes. The best part about waiting in line is seeing the peoples' faces when they get off, heh. This one kid, in a green t-shirt, was just leaning out to the side with a blank look on his face and his jaw wide open. He was like that for at least a minute. I was laughing SO hard. Then we finally got on the ride, put the seatbelt on and lapbar down (with which you cannot move an INCH, and it crushes your shins), and then... I almost freaked out. You go up the first HUGE hill, then WHAM - down you go. I swear, that is the best roller coaster I've ever been on in my life. There's two more huge hills and freefalls during the ride, but they don't compare to that first one. This one might not twirl around and go upside down, but it doesn't need to. Yeesh! It's faster and twice as tall as "The Incredible Hulk" at Islands of Adventure! I'll never enjoy "The Hulk" the same - I'm now spoiled. The second ride we went on, Dad and Darlene went with us. It was called "The Predator" - it was an old wooden one from the 30s. I think it's the same one that used to be in the old Crystal Beach amusement park - they moved it to Darien Lake. I....did not like it. It was bumpy and banging and jolting and I kept slamming in the side of the car and it gave me a terrible headache, and... the HARD bumpiness really hurt my chest. Dad was all, "So you didn't like it?" Well durrr. I can't enjoy something when I'm in terrible pain the whole time. Seriously, I hated it. In fact, after we got off, I told Dad it was "demonic". I can't remember what we did next - I think it was the ferris wheel. I was less than fond of that one. I didn't hate it, but that kind of height really bothers me a bit. The slight swinging every time somebody moved, the not-being-strapped-in... the windiness.. I didn't like that. I was clinging to Prancing Paddy's arm the entire time. Yeah, he didn't like it either. LOL. After that, I went on a water ride with Tom and Darlene - Dad wussed out and didn't want to get wet. It was one of those "rapids" rides, where you're in the round boat thing that swirls and bumps all over the place. Tom was whining like a baby at how wet he got, it was sooo funny. Darlene barely got wet at all - she made sure to situate herself between me and Tom, and stuffed her jacket and purse into Tom's Panama Jerk hat, so she was good to go! Tom was complaining and we were laughing hysterically the entire time. Then after that, we went on another water ride in a log-shaped boat. OMG. That was SO FUNNY. Dad actually went on that one - he kept looking at the people getting off and saying, "See? They're not getting that wet! I'll go on this one!" Most people were going on the boats in two's, but it was possible to fit four people in one, so... all four of us got in one boat. HEH. Now that was funny. Dad was against it and pleaded that we sit two in a boat, but we talked him into all of us getting in one. See there's two spots, one in the front and one in the back, where you sit on a bench-like seat, and then the second person sits between the first person's legs. So Dad got into the back section, Darlene got into the front, then I climbed in between Dad's legs (and squashed his shins against the sides), and Tom got in front of Darlene. So us girls were in the middle, Tom in front, and Dad bringing up the rear. The whole boat sank down over half a foot once we were all in, then it started moving forward, but was tilting to the right, so Dad and Tom started screaming, "OMG WE'RE TILTING!! LEAN TO THE LEFT!! LEAN TO THE LEFT!!" Darlene and I were laughing so hard we were almost crying. We got up to the first slope, and the chain was straining to pull us up. Dad was like, "Omg, do you know how wet we're gonna be with all this extra weight?!" And I was just saying, "Wait, who wanted to get on this ride? And who said we wouldn't get that wet?" "THAT WAS IF THERE WERE ONLY TWO PEOPLE IN THE BOAT." *WHOOSH* Weightlessness. Splash. Dad and Tom got soaked. Darlene and I only got a teensy splash on our arms and feet. LOLOL. Of course we gloated!! After we got off that, finally stopped laughing, and took pictures of the sopping wet guys, we headed towards the other roller coasters. Before I forget to mention, we did go on a couple of those smaller, spinning, carnival-type rides in between, which were fun, but they weren't that big of a deal. The last one made me feel a little sick (I never get sick from rides), so that was enough spinning for the day. Next, we got on a roller coaster called the "Mind Eraser". It's the kind that does all the loops and corkscrews and you're in the kind of seat where your feet hang. I like the feet-hanging ones. It was fun, but not that huge a deal. It was a bit too jerky and short. I love Islands of Adventure's "Dueling Dragons" waaaaay better - they're pretty much the same thing, but much smoother and a LOT longer. There was another roller coaster at Darien Lake, a big green one called "The Viper", but it was shut down for some reason. Shucks - that was the second largest roller coaster in the park, and looked like a lot of fun. We had a Papa John's pizza for dinner on a park bench in the early evening, then I took a huge dump (after days of constipation) which I was very happy about, and then it started getting chilly outside so Tom ran out to the car to get our jackets. While he was doing that, we watched an Elvis impersonator on this little stage near the wooden roller coaster. (I think he was the same guy that was impersonating Neil Diamond earlier in the day). Let's see, I can't remember the first song he sang, but he sang "Blue Suede Shoes" (my favorite Elvis song), then "Viva Las Vegas" (I like ZZ Top's version too), then..."Love Me Tender". The guy looked straight at me the entire time he sang the line, "For my darlin' I love you, and I always will..." Heh, heh...yeah... Once Tom came back with our jackets, we started heading back to the Superman roller coaster. Yeah, we were darn sure going on it again!! Since it doesn't go upside down or have any corkscrews, Darlene figured her back would be all right and went on it with us this time. Dad still didn't want to though, so he sat it out again. Darlene convinced us that riding in the back row is the best - and she was right. When you're in the front, going over the edge of the freefall spot, you don't get the full effect of it because the front part has to wait until the middle of the cars clear the top before it starts to fall. But in the back row, you fall the entire way since the front and middle have already gone over and started to fall (dragging the back cars with it). Does that make sense? I think it does... Anyway, the little cars are only two seats wide, so Darlene and I were in the very back row, and Tom was in the row in front of us. I hated the beginning. There was nothing behind us but the backs of our seats, and here we were ascending twenty stories. I would not look back. Tom kept yelling, "Hey you guys! Look how high we are! Isn't it awesome?? We're so HIGH!!!" I would have strangled him if I could. I think I said "Shiat." at least five times before we went over the top. I couldn't help it... Oh, did I mention that it was dark outside by the time we got through the line and onto the ride? Yeah. It was getting chilly and foggy too, which made the ride even more awesome. WHOOOOOSH, straight down into the darkness and fog. I was screaming SO HARD, I think it was scarier the second time around! They take your picture right near the end of the ride as you're going over a good-sized hump, and my mouth was open all the way, Tom was looking like...Tom, and Darlene was screaming too. The picture is SO funny. Tom bought one and I'll post it here once he scans it and sends it to me. I might sound cynical in my description of this, but I don't mean to sound like it wasn't fun! I haven't had that much fun or that great of a rush in a very, very long time. It really puts "The Hulk" to shame. It's by far the best ride I've ever been on. Isn't it funny having the crap scared out of you? Just be sure to relieve yourself before getting on, or else you'd probably definitely wet your pants. Here's a great picture I found of the roller coaster - you ascend up the right side and fall down the left, in the picture. Huge. Simply huge.
After Superman, the park was starting to close so we headed out to the car and drove back to Rochester. I think we got home past midnight, but what an awesome day!! On Sunday, we decided to go to Niagara Falls. We went to Fort Niagara first, which was down the river quite a ways, before we went to the falls. That was really awesome, I guess the fort was mainly used during the War Of 1812. There were reenactors all over the place, and quite a few were out in the field in the middle of the fort, firing blanks and showing how firing manuevers were done in the different wars. First were the 1812 soldiers, then some Civil War guys, then a WWII platoon came running out, using the scoot-and-move tactics, firing their guns and hitting the dirt. The "enemy" was actually the 1812 soldiers, who had moved off to the side when the WWII guys came out, but they acted like they were getting shot and fell all over the place - that was funny. After the reenactors were done, I went to find the bathroom which was in a small building on the far end of the fort. It was a tiny restroom with two stalls, and I was the only one in there. As I was washing my hands, I suddenly hear Dad yelling for me, "Mal, you in there? I have something for you!" I was like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Then he goes, "Hurry up! It's a photo opportunity." So I was like, "Oh...okay..." then I walk outside and go, "Oh. ooOOOOhh!!" One of the 1812 reenactors, a young guy, in a bright red British uniform with a long rifle and everything, was standing there. I think my reaction was a bit stronger than I meant for it to be ("Oh. ooOOOOhh!!"), but at least he got a laugh from it. I took a lovely picture with him. Heh. We walked all around the fort, and it was so hot out. I kept thinking, could you imagine being a soldier back then, in all those layers including a wool coat, in the middle of summer, having to do guard duty, walking back and forth around the fort in the hot sun ALL DAY LONG? Yeesh. The last building we went in was a watch tower - all the WWII reenactors were up in there... I got some great pictures of them, including three in the top of the tower... heh. Next, we drove to Niagara Falls itself. Okay, how COOL was that. I'd never been there! I wanted to see it, but I wasn't that hyped up about it simply because everybody who ever talked about it was all, "You've NEVER been to Niagara Falls?!! You HAVE to see it." Therefore...my rebellious subconcious made me not want to see it. If there's a lot of hype about something, chances are it's overrated and probably not something I'd like. Well, I loved Niagara. Loved it. I liked the American falls better than the Horseshoe falls (which we saw from the US side). We took the elevator down to the "Cave of the Winds" at the base of the falls (which isn't actually a cave, but I guess there used to be. It just takes you on an evelator down through the rock, to a boardwalk at the base of the American falls). That was SO. COOL. They give you ponchos and cheap rubber sandals (which are actually quite comfortable), and you can walk RIGHT up to the falls. We got soaked, but it felt so awesome, and you could just feel the amazing power of all that falling water! Dad wussed out because he didn't want to get his pants wet, but Darlene and I were right in the most soaking spot. Now I know why it's called the "Hurricane Deck"! Something funny we noticed is that, on the "Hurricane Deck", there was also a sign that said "No smoking". WTF? That HAD to have been put there as a joke. We then found out that we'd be able to cross into Canada with just our I.D. cards or drivers licenses, so we went over into the city and walked around for a while. That was cool - the Canadian side of the town is definitely better developed and more fun. We only saw the falls from a distance, but we couldn't have gone to the Canadian falls then, as late as it was. So we just watched the light show on the falls from across the river, then headed back, crossed back into the States and drove home. That was another late night - we were exausted. On Monday, we slept in, then drove over to Seabreeze and another little area that I can't remember the name of because I'm stupid. Had lunch at a cute little diner (where I had the BEST grilled ham and cheese sandwhich I've ever eaten), then walked around a park and beach area. Just mosied around the whole day. Dad, Tom and Darlene walked out along a very long pier, but I stayed and sat on a concrete wall to wait for them. My feet were hurting so bad from the last couple days. I have flat feet, and no shoes I buy seem to help. I bought inserts to help my arches, but they lifted my feet up and gave me terrible, deep blisters on my heels. So it's darned if I do, darned if I dont. The inner edge of my heel and arch were all swollen and hurt to the touch. They're still swollen and painful, but don't hurt to the touch as bad as they did. So anyway, I wussed out and sat on the wall until they came back. It was nice though, there was a nice breeze and Lake Ontario was gorgeous and it was fun watching all the weird people going by. I like to people watch. After that, we drove back home, watched Chicken Little, and went to bed. We were nonstop the entire trip, I have no idea how we crammed so much into those three days. I'm sorry to say that my great uncle Ted and aunt Trisha weren't able to meet us - we were very sad about that. We started home Tuesday morning and got here in the late afternoon. I watched Dukes of Hazzard, then unpacked and took a nap, got up and took a shower, and here I am at 2am writing this. If there are any typos, or if something doesn't make sense, just remember what time it is and I'm dead tired - I'd normally reread the entire thing but I don't feel like it. All this crap happened in three days (five actually, but the first and last days we didn't do anything but travel and eat). I took a mess of pictures, as did Tom, so I'll put those on D&D once I get them! I really can't wait to get the one of us on the roller coaster, that'll be a riot. Next on the list - Israel. I can't imagine how long of a blog that's gonna be, heh! We're leaving a week from now. I'm dreading the 13-hour+ flight, but we're gonna try to get a little portable DVD player and just watch movies the whole time. All three Back to the Future's and all three Indiana Jones' and we'll be there! Dad's gonna be evil. He's usually such a grouch after long flights, and this is over three times as long as anything we've done. I'm off to bed... can't wait to sleep in my own bed. My neck and shoulders are achy from the bed I slept on at Darlene's house - the mattress was really hard and I'm used to soft ones. I almost forgot - I got a new cowgirl hat! It's straw color but weathered with dark patches, and has an Indian-style beaded band around it. Darlene got one too - it looks really awesome on her with her long brown hair. I also got two vintage-style t-shirts - a Smokey and the Bandit one and a Blues Brothers one (which Dad also got. Crap, I don't wanna match him!). I LOVE the Bandit one especially. It's bright green (which I don't usually wear but this shirt is so awesome), has Snowman's truck, Bandit's car, and Sheriff Justice's car on the front, with the movie title and a Jerry Reed quote on it, "Welcome to the biggest game of chicken, boys! ~The Snowman" I think that's all I wanted to write, now. I can never properly end these things... OH WAIT!!! Gary has grown a LOT in five days! My uncle took care of him for me. I can't believe he grew so fast. Isn't he the CUTEST thing?!
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| 4 Comments |
| The Bad, the Good, the Gary, and the General |
| 05.25.06 (11:59 am) [edit] |
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I don't know what I'm gonna write about but I feel like blogging so I'll just start writing crap. I'm not in the best mood right now, so forgive me if it shows in my writing..... Okay I just got the idea to simply make a list. Wait, I have a better idea - I'll make a list of twenty things I'm mad or upset about, and then twenty things I'm happy about. Let's get the shiat over with first: Bad: ——— 1. I'm a bit depressed and let down. I won't say why. 2. I was up all night. It's almost noon and I haven't slept yet. I'm running on Gatorade here and can hardly keep my eyes open, but I have so much to do! 3. We're leaving tomorrow for a few days in NY. Enemy, Yankee territory, I'd better watch out and stay on the high ground! LOL. I'm happy about the trip, although, at the moment I just don't feel like going somewhere. 4. I just had one of the worst PMS times ever. Thank the Lord my period started on time this once, I couldn't take that emotional crap and moodiness any longer! It was REALLY bad. 5. I cried in the shower a few days ago because our shower head had broke, Dad had bought a new attachment, but it made the water come out so hard it HURT and you couldn't move the head around and I couldn't get AWAY from the dang water. I just couldn't get away from it and wash myself, it was making me clastrophobic, so I started to cry. Sad huh? I told you I PMSed bad this time. (We've now got a lovely, new shower head, btw. I didn't have to cry last time I showered. LOL). 6. I'm sick of the drama! 7. I'm scared to go to Israel. I LOVE the place, but I don't feel the need to go there, especially considering what's been happening in that part of the world. Pray for us, please! We leave in the beginning of next month for ten days. I'm not happy about the 10-hour+ overseas flight, either. 8. Anne's away in TN, and I need to talk to her about something, dangit! (but, I hope you're having fun!) 9. Goshdingdangit, we're leaving tomorrow morning and I ain't packed yet. 10. I have to go to Walgreens for last minute goods, what if I forget something... 11. The milk is frozen and we're out of cheese. 12. I need more green tea to keep the cramps at bay! 13. I don't know what to wear tomorrow. What shoes should I bring? Are we gonna be walking a lot? Is it safe to just wear my cowboy boots? Probably not. If I wear my hat, is it gonna get in my way when we're on the plane? 14. I'm feeling like absolute crap over somebody. 15. It's gonna take me forever to get all the seasons of Dukes of Hazzard on DVD. I have season one... well, it's a start! 16. Mike didn't so much as acknowledge my comment and the graphic I spent an hour on. 17. I'm feeling small at the moment. I only wish it was physically. LOL! 18. Nancy doesn't like Bo. Shame, shame, everybody knows your name! HEHEE! 19. Aunt's gonna have to take care of my Chia Pet during both trips. I'm gonna miss his growth!! Crap, I hope I don't miss his first steps... 20. For the first time since Christmas, Caroline chose to come down the one weekend both us and Darrell will all be out of town. *cries* ——— Good: ——— 1. I've reestablished contact with an old, dear friend of mine whom I have missed very much! 2. My Chia Pet is sprouting nicely! I named him Gary. Heh. Hey, I had to name him because he's alive and growing. It's a PET, you HAVE to name a pet. Stop looking at me like that. 3. I got a Blackfoot tour book from 1981 or '82 in the mail yesterday - omg, there's so many new pictures of Rickey... he's so awesome it hurts... I love him. I've loved him for almost sixteen months! 4. Johnny Van Zant had surgery but is doing great!! 5. I hope Selsun Blue Salon will cure my frizz and put an end to the aloe. 6. I found a half-hour long color video online of "Lynyrd Skynyrd - 1974 Rockpalast - WDR Musikhalle Hamburg Germany Dec.5" - I got it on Bittorrent and it took over three days to download but was worth it. Watched it this morning, and holy crap, Bob and Ed were still in the band! That was awesome to see. 7. I found my Hawaiian dashboard girl! - her feet are broken off but I'm gonna glue them back on. LOL. 8. I made a Keith Urban CD and organized all the CDs that have overflowed from my CD racks, including a new Blackfoot CD, their very first album, "No Reservations". I got "Tomcattin'" not long ago too; they finally have a neat little place in the CD rack next to "Strikes", whereas they were in a large pile of CDs haphazardly sitting on the edge of the desk, before. 9. My good ol' buddy ol' pal sent me the instrumental version of the song "Cells" by The Servant which plays in the DVD menu of Sin City - I LOVE this song. I must've listened to it at least fourteen times this morning, I don't know why I like it so much! I love that movie too, no matter how gory and strange it is, I gotta watch it again. 10. I found my cousins on Myspace! 11. Anne knows that I adore Rosco. 12. Nat loves another guy with a crap haircut. EMU! 13. Josée went on the most awesome trip and I can't wait for pictures! 14. It's thundery and rainy out, I've missed these gorgeous summer storms. 15. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. 16. I'm having fun with Myspace, man. Really pimped out my page, man yeah rock on peace out. Have a look-see, I'm swamp_music! 17. Mattie-boy looks spaced out and retarded on Into the West, but I LOVE that miniseries. Josh Brolin was in the first episode and was really HOT. The Indians were hot. Come to think of it, men, in general, are hot. I like men. 18. Gow chica chica chi gow gow, chica chica, gow chica chica chi gow gow... 19. While we're in NY this weekend, hopefully we'll get to meet up with my great aunt and uncle while we're there! Haven't seen them in over a year (or was it two or three?), miss them very much! 20. I made some awesome GIFs of the General Lee on Dukes of Hazzard. Got a great shot of him jumping the river, and another of him coming at you and spinning around... ——— Here's Gary:  And here's one of the General Lee GIFs - I just love this car! Sorry if it takes a long time to load, I compressed it as much as possible without making it look too crappy. The graininess makes it look like an old movie or something, though:  |
| 7 Comments |
| Flowers, for little ol' me?? |
| 05.18.06 (3:15 pm) [edit] |
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Last weekend, I had a heckuva surprise when our friend Charlie came over to have dinner with us and Darrell, and he brought me.....two dozen white roses (from Hawaii). OMG. I was in shock. I literally stood there with my jaw hanging open like a fool and said, "....YOU'RE KIDDING. Those are for me?" I was thinking maybe Charlie had temporarily lost his mind. Of course, I flipped out and thanked him. I really didn't know what to say... Charlie works at FedEx, and some lady there was selling roses for Mother's Day. She accidently left some behind when she left, and Charlie called her up and told her, and she said, "I can't get them now - isn't there somebody you can give them to?" And so, he gave them to me and paid her the next day. All right, so maybe he acquired them by accident, but is the first time anybody's bought flowers for me, besides Dad. That's pretty sad, huh? They're wilting a bit now, and some are rotting (let's just say, I don't know how to take care of flowers very well), but I just stripped all the rotting leaves off, trimmed the stems, and changed the water - they still look pretty good. I took the biggest, prettiest one out and put it in a root beer bottle to sit next to my computer. I also got stuck by thorns more times than I care to count. All I could hear inside my head was one line from that song by Poison, playing over and over and over... every rose has its thorn... every rose has its thorn... EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORN..... That reminds me, I like the video for that song. The lead singer looked hot in the black hat with silver conchos... of course, almost any guy looks nice to me when they're wearing a hat like that, especially with longer hair... Reminds me of Donnie... Oh, uh...right! Anyway, about the roses. Here's a shatty picture of them (when they were new).  Ain't they pretty! Oh and, I'm also growing a Chia Pet dinosaur, courtesy of Tree and her lovely box of surprise gifts!! I spread the seeds on the thing a couple days ago, how fun that was. They were all gooey and sticky and wouldn't come off my fingers to stick to the danged dinosaur... I finally got it evenly coated, I hope I did it right. My hands smelled like rotten plant matter for the rest of the day. We're going on a couple trips in the next few weeks, so my poor aunt is going to have to keep him watered for me. I can only hope he turns out as nice as the one on the box!  In closing, I'd like to say... I love Rickey. That is all. |
| 5 Comments |
| What kind of muscle car are you? |
| 05.16.06 (8:08 pm) [edit] |
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I usually don't take these quiz things but this one looked like fun, and my result is something I like very, very much. I didn't even know the possible results, and I got the '69 Charger - how cool is that? Too bad it ain't all orange though, with an "01" on the side and a Confederate flag on top.....you get my drift. Take the quiz: |
| 5 Comments |
| New wallpaper |
| 05.16.06 (4:31 pm) [edit] |
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Just made this one of Rickey last night - I made it out of a crappy screencap I took of a Blackfoot video I've got from 1982 - he's playing a slide solo in "Train, Train" on his Black Beauty, here.
Here's also one that I made last year, but I've never posted it on here, and.... well, it's my favorite Rickey wallpaper, with my favorite picture of him. And so, I MUST post it.
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| 6 Comments |
| Stupid. |
| 05.14.06 (12:17 am) [edit] |
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I just spent twenty minutes sitting on the toilet for a turd three quarters of an inch long. What's the world coming to nowadays?
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| 5 Comments |
| New Skynyrd stuff |
| 05.11.06 (4:53 pm) [edit] |
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A couple days ago, I downloaded PowerDVD and figured out how to make screencaps. I took frame-by-frame shots from several spots on the Lynyrd Skynyrd Vicious Cycle Tour DVD and was able to make animated images out of them. I made them in Adobe ImageReady - it took me over three hours to do the first one. I was such an idiot. I was editing each frame in Photoshop, copying it, making a new frame in the ImageReady file, and pasting it. It took FOREVER. And what did I figure out last night? There's this handy little feature in ImageReady where you can import an entire folder of images as frames in ONE. CLICK. I was not happy. I mean, I was happy about the feature, but I was so frusterated that it had been there all this time while I had been doing things the longest, hardest way there probably is. So instead of taking three hours to make one, I can now make one in twenty minutes or less. I got a lot of great shots, mainly of Rickey doing his twirl. Here's the first .gif I made of him, I think it turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself ("Which I do!"). Sorry it takes so long to load, I compressed it as much as possible without making the image look like crap. I've always loved it when he does this - now I can watch him spinning any time, at my own leisure!! Have I ever mentioned how much I love this guy? I've admitted this only to a few people, but I love Rickey MUCH more than I did Johnny Depp when I was in love with him as Captain Jack Sparrow (and that's saying a lot). Don't get me wrong, I still like Jack, but not like I once did. I've been in love with Rickey for well over a year now and am not showing any signs of tiring of him. Jack never lasted this long. I don't think I'll ever get tired of Rickey, as much as I adore Skynyrd, Blackfoot, and his bandmembers. Rickey just seems... right. I loved Jack, but he was a fictional character whom I knew absolutely nothing about. Rickey's real, and I feel like I know him through his music. Um....anyway, back to the .gif image. Here it is, doesn't he look SO awesome?? By the way, don't you be stealing this for your own use unless you ask me! I usually don't care if people use my stuff without permission, but this one took a LOT of hard work.
I also made a new wallpaper of Skynyrd's bassist, Ean Evans. He's from Georgia, but lives in Mississippi, and they call him the "Mississippi Kid", after the title of a Lynyrd Skynyrd song. He wears a shirt that says "Mississippi Kid" on it, which is also sold on his website. I bought one last month and love it, but I was determined to find out which font is used on it. So from the picture of the shirt that's on the merchandise section of his site, I cut the "M" out of the graphic and uploaded it to WhatTheFont, which is this really cool page where you can upload a font graphic and it'll try to figure what font it is, then give you a list of possibilities. Well it figured it out right away - the font on the 'ssippi Kid shirt is called "Pristina"!! I just love figuring things out! Although it's a commercial font, I was able to find and download it on Limewire. And thus, I got to use the font on the new wallpaper! Big deal right? I'm really stoked about it though... Here it is!
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| 12 Comments |
| God, guns, and LYNYRD SKYNYRD!! |
| 05.08.06 (2:02 pm) [edit] |
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I saw Skynyrd last night. Oh my gosh, I don't know where to begin. They're just so amazing, they blow me away! I love that band so much, I can't put it into words. They were at the SunFest in West Palm Beach. We headed up there around 1PM and mosied around most of the afternoon. Went with Darrell and Randy; Randy's brother-in-law was the president of SunFest this year, and Randy went and asked if he could get us back to meet the band before or after the show. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do that and said if he'd heard from us five weeks ago, he could've gotten us front row seats and back stage passes! Dangitall. Ah well, it's God's will - maybe next time! Got to the concert area I think around 4 or 5 - there was a band up there called Tribal Tongue, a Native American Southern rock band - they were pretty darn good! They closed their set with Mountain's "Mississippi Queen", I was digging it. Next on was a band called Rambler, they were all right too. They had one song, "Skynyrd Fantasy", that I really liked. The area we were sitting in was right behind the reserved area, which was seperated by a chain-link fence. We were about five to ten rows back, but I found a loose chair and was able to get up to the front. Then, some people in the front row left and gave me and another woman their seats! Other than the reserved area, I was in THE best spot there was in the entire place. I was directly in front of the middle of the stage, about 150 feet from it. Closer than I got at the Orlando concert! Dad, Darrell, and Randy were still a few rows back, but they had a great view too. After Rambler left the stage, we could see all the stagehands doing their work. That was fun to watch, seeing all the guys bringing out the equipment and getting the lights and everything set. Music was playing over the speakers in between concerts, and ZZ Top's "Tush" came on right before Skynyrd came out - that was fun. I was singing along of course, as were a bunch of redneck boys sitting behind me. Skynyrd came out at about 7:30 - it was still daylight and hopefully I got some good pictures. The only problem I had was the battery in my camera was on the verge of dying and would only work once in a while. So I only got about ten pictures, but I'm PRAYING they're good ones. They opened with "Saturday Night Special", I'm so glad they're playing that one again! They played all the hits, as well as some they've not played in a long time. It was especially awesome to hear "T For Texas". A couple other old ones that stood out to me were "Don't Ask Me No Questions" and "Cry For The Bad Man". The only new song they played was "Red White & Blue" - they did it as a special tribute to the troops and veterans, as they always do. They really got the crowd going on that one! The whole band not only sounded amazing, but they looked so good. I can tell they've all lost weight!! Gary and Billy were leaner, Rickey and Ean were thin and in great shape, Johnny looked great, Michael the drummer was looking awesome in his peace sign shirt, and what can I say about Dale and Carol? They were absolutely beautiful! Johnny had his Sopranos shirt on, with a sleeveless denim shirt on over it. Rickey looked hotter than h*ll in a black, button-up shirt with his chest showing a bit. I must note that he was wearing my favorite pants of his - the same ones he wore on the Vicious Cycle Tour DVD. Gary was wearing a white shirt (it said something on it but I couldn't make it out) with a black blazer on over it and his hat with the cross on the front. He looked so good. Ean, the Mississippi Kid, was dressed all in black with a long-sleeved shirt on - he was so hot last night! They left the stage for a few minutes after playing "Sweet Home Alabama", and the whole crowd was screaming for "Free Bird". When they came back on stage, I noticed that Rickey had changed his shirt - it was now a black tank shirt that said, "GOD, GUNS, & LYNYRD SKYNYRD." on the front. I knew I loved that guy for some reason!! That was the coolest shirt, and I've now made that phrase my email signature. It reminded me of my old signature, which said, "Skynyrd, grits, and trucks.". But I think this one's better. Anyway, they played "Free Bird" and kicked major butt - it was so, so, so awesome. Before starting the song, Billy was on stage by himself playing the most beautiful piano solo. It lasted at least two minutes, absolutely gorgeous. He has such talent... he can flawlessly play that fast, roadhouse piano, then turn around and play the most beautiful classical piece you've ever heard. Then he started the beginning of "Free Bird" and the rest of the band joined him. They smoked it! Rickey played the solo better than ever. They never cease to amaze me. The whole crowd was going nuts - I think there was about 10 to 15,000 people there. Probably more than that. It really was a great, loud crowd. You know how it sounds when your ears are clogged or have water in them? That's how I felt last night. I didn't notice it until after we got home. I'm surprised my voice is fine too - I was screaming at the top of my lungs and singing every single song, it was so fun. Johnny sure knows how to get us all going!! And Rickey? What a showman! You can tell how much fun he's having - he just goes nuts! He started doing that twirl he does in "Gimme Three Steps" - I LOVE it when he does that. He's the best... I'm in love with him now more than ever. After "Free Bird" ended and they were thanking the crowd, I don't know if somebody threw something up on stage, or maybe something popped off his guitar, I couldn't tell. But it looked like something hit him in the face or eyes - he was rubbing his eyes and face with his arm and waved at the crowd and left the stage pretty quickly. It didn't look like anything serious but I was still concerned. I asked Skynyrd's webmaster (who's really cool, btw) if Rickey was okay, and he replied, "I would assume that Rickey is fine. No one mentioned anything so it could not have been too big a deal." - well that's a relief. On another note, Skynyrd fans are so cool. During the afternoon, we saw quite a few other people in Skynyrd shirts - there's this immediate recognition from both sides when you see each other. I can't explain it! The SunFest is a huge event, so it wasn't all Skynyrd fans there. But when you see another one, it's like you're seeing kin or something. Somebody you can relate to, that stands out in the rest of the huge crowd. There was a stand that was selling Skynyrd shirts and other memorabilia - they had some gorgeous shirts but they were so expensive. I already had a few of them, but there was this one shirt that totally tripped me out. It was a steer skull with feathers on the horns, and the skull had a rebel flag inlayed into it. I wanted it so bad, but it was $40 and I don't even have 40¢!! I've looked for it online but haven't found anything yet. One lovely little souvenir I got was given to me by Randy's sister. She was selling beads (the Mardi Gras types) as the festival and when she came to say hello to us, was wearing one necklace with little monkey faces on it and a bunch of bananas. It was SO. CUTE. I was like, "Oh my gosh that's adorable!" and she was like, "You like it?" and gave it to me. She was selling them so she could get more, anyway. She said she'd sold out of those before anything else, everybody loved them. What's funny is that my first Lynyrd Skynyrd concert was during the Mardi Gras celebrations at Universal Studios, Orlando, FL. I didn't catch any beads then, but after the concert a woman walked by with at least fifty bead necklaces on. I asked if I could have one as a souvenir from my first Skynyrd concert and she gave me a blue one. So I've got Mardi Gras beads from both concerts, how funny is that! Oh I almost forgot: Darrell never really liked Skynyrd. In fact he used to hate them, I don't even know why, I guess they just weren't his thing. But hanging around me and Dad made him change his mind a little bit, plus his tastes are changing, and he started liking a few of their songs. Then he agreed to come to the concert with us and likes them a lot more now. We've got another convert!! I think he said his favorite song is "Gimme Three Steps". At least he's acting a bit more interested now, instead of thinking we're crazy fans who only wear Skynyrd shirts. Heh. He's either the seventh or eighth Skynyrd convert we've made. After the concert, we left and headed a few blocks down the road towards the car, but decided to stop at a little resturaunt to get hot dogs before we went home. Well, I had to pee like a horse. I mean, the last time I'd gone was in a little port-o-pot that afternoon, well before any of the concerts. I must've been holding it for at least three or four hours. But the ladies room in this resturaunt was either clogged up or had no paper - a girl coming out down me it was pretty nasty so I didn't even go in there. I figured I'd just hold it, but it wasn't getting any easier to hold... So Randy went with me down the road to find a different resturaunt with a bathroom. We stopped by two of them - one of them was closing and wouldn't let me use the dang toilet. So we tried another one - they told me I couldn't use theirs either. It wasn't getting any better. We finally found a fairly nice resturaunt bar and I went in there. We had to walk over two blocks just so I could take a leak! Sheesh, people are so nice, you know? The first place we had tried was closing, but there were still people in there finishing their dinners. Would it REALLY have been too much trouble to say, Hey, the restroom is in the back, just as long as could right back out and don't try to stay here. Put yourself in my shoes, stupid girl! Oven Mitts is on his way to Walgreens right now to develope the film... PRAY it turns out good, please! Until I get those pictures back, here's the ones that are on the Palm Beach Post's website. Click to see the full versions! And keep in mind, these really aren't that great of pictures. They don't do them justice at ALL of how great they looked. I wish they'd taken pictures of Billy, Michael, and the girls too. I'll post my own pictures once I get them, and probably make a new page for the concert on D&D.
Oh, and, here are my monkies:
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| 7 Comments |
| Want Action? |
| 05.06.06 (3:36 pm) [edit] |
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I'm having a great day. I was up most of the night and am very, very tired at the moment, but I'm happy as all heck and gone. First of all... I'm seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd tomorrow night. *tries to contain self* I'd have posted about it earlier if tBlog hadn't been down!! I've known about the concert for months, but we weren't sure if we'd be around to go or not. Found out not long ago that we are, indeed, going, so... I'm on cloud ten. Oh my gosh... I'll get to see Rickey again! *DIES* And Johnny! *dies again* They'll be at the SunFest way up in West Palm Beach - all the reserved seats are already bought out, but hopefully we'll be able to get pretty close. Soooooooo excited. Second of all... I ordered Into the West and The Dukes of Hazzard: The Complete First Season on DVD, and they both got here today!! The early Dukes episodes are the best, but I haven't seen many of them so I can't wait to watch these. 13 episodes!! I've also really been missing Into the West as of late (stupid me didn't record it when it aired on TNT), and I FINALLY found it for a reasonable price on eBay. It's usually well over $40, but this was less than $30. It's used, but in mint condition. Let's see, what else was I happy about... oh yeah, I burned a lovely ZZ Top CD last night with all my favorites on it. I've been listening to it all morning, and while doing that, I sent Josée all my ZZ Top songs, as well as a full new album of Blackfoot songs (from "Tomcattin'"). Here's another thing I'm stoked about - I finally found this Photoshop filter that we've been trying to find for AGES. There were a couple tutorials online that we wanted to do that required this filter called "Fibers" - it's only available in the new Photoshop CS, but we have Photoshop 7.0. I spent hours looking for it online because I was frusterated at the fact that I couldn't find it, whether I needed it that badly or not. Well, I finally found it on Limewire!! I was trippin' out, yeah man. Now we can follow this really awesome tutorial that A.E. had found a while back, that teaches you how to make a picture look as if it's all worn and weathered on the side of a wooden crate or fence. I made the following with the tutorial - love how it turned out! And by the way... isn't there something extremely kinky going on with this dude? It might not've been considered so back then, but really, think about it. He looks REALLY British, for one. That in itself is... rowl. Yeah. He's asking you if you want "action". To quote A.E., "heh heh... *yeah*." And he's got this suggestive grin on his face, while holding his hand out as if he's saying, "Come on baby, let's get down on the beach right here and now...!"  I think I'll go watch The Dukes now! Oh and... yes. I want action. Goin' my way, soldier? |
| 4 Comments |
| Tea, man. |
| 05.02.06 (2:34 am) [edit] |
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You guys have got to try AriZona's new Southern Style Sweet Tea. It's SO good. I only first tried it a couple days ago and figured I'd hate it, but I love it! I've aquired quite a taste for tea since I started drinking AZ's green tea. I used to hate it - I'd only drink the peach or raspberry flavored ones because the fruit flavor masked the taste of the tea. But this sweet tea? Lovin' it. Oh, and, it's Southern style. So of COURSE it's good. That reminds me of one of Molly Hatchet's latest songs, "Son of the South". There's a line in it that says, "I like my women Southern style", which of course, can be taken in more than one way... Anyway, about the tea. I LOVE the bottle, too. Those AZ bottles are always so pretty. This one's got magnolias and a plantation on the front, with Southern belles in Scarlett-style dresses. Gorgeous. So you can sit there going, "Mmmm" at the tea whilst "Ooohing" and "Aaahing" at the pretty scenery on the bottle. It's totally tubular 'n' some stuff, or some junk about being pretty 'n' Southern styled man yeah PEACE OUT.  |
| 12 Comments |
