Who Needs Role Models?

I have been writing professionally since 1993, but I haven’t spent a lot of time writing for myself. So this space is where I’m allowing myself to write about what interests me. If it interests you as well, well, I’m glad. But if it doesn’t, frankly, I don’t care. Here is the boring info about me: I write about HTML and Web design at About.com I’ve written two books that my mother has read (or at least looked at) but you probably haven’t I’ve worked as a manager, Web designer, Web producer, Webmaster, Web writer, and Tech Support Rep I’ve also herded monkeys and cats, cleaned up after toddlers and library patrons, taught English, translated Uzbek, and bitten baby sheep – all for some sort of remuneration If I could I would spend my days doing three things: playing with my son, reading Science Fiction, and riding my horse If I ruled the world, mean people would be executed, but sarcastic people would be rewarded – as long as it wasn’t mean sarcasm. Rambler, Jennifer, and Jaryth

In the spring of 2010, I took an art class at Everett Community College. In that class I learned about a whole lot of different art techniques including: drawing in graphite and charcoal drawing with pen and ink drawing with color pencils painting with ink and brushes painting with watercolors And I fell in love with watercolor painting. Previously, my efforts at watercolor were ugly at best, but this class showed me different techniques, different paints and brushes, and different papers (Yupo paper is really cool!). And I decided to do my final project as a watercolor painting of the NGPA in our backyard. But our instructor had us do more than just draw something or paint a picture for our final project. She wanted us to write a proposal for the project, and include in it what the purpose and intentions were for the project. Now I could have said something like: “My intention is to create a painting for my final project.” But that would have been weak and somewhat pointless. Then I was looking at my blog, and getting frustrated again that I was using a blog template rather than my own design. And it hit me!…

I’m hot, which is a nice change from the whole of June, where we had fall weather, but still, hot is no fun. Because it’s hot I’m furious that the post office can’t seem to mail my post cards. I’ve sent the below postcard twice already. And yes, i’ve added new stamps to it. And this is one of three that the postal carrier can’t seem to grasp DOESN’T need to go here. I understand that the post office is mostly automated, but where is the brain that my postal carrier is supposed to have. I mean SERIOUSLY, can’t s/he read? It says “TO” next to the to address and “FROM” above the from address. Also, why would I put 98cents worth of stamps on a postcard to myself??? I like the post office, most of the time, but sometimes their complete reliance on machines to the point of idiocy makes me mad. If there were a way to send post cards by UPS I would do it! [caption id=“attachment_155” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“I have already spent $1.96 to send this card twice! Stupid PO.”][/caption]

I love reading Marc’s Green Living Blog. I do try to be conscious of eco-friendly or green choices, but his blog offers so much more than just that. Yesterday’s post “Finally, My Flying Car is Here” is a great example! I mean, would you really think of flying cars as something green? I mean, heck, they’re totally important, don’t get me wrong. As an avid Sci-Fi reader I’ve been waiting for the promised flying car for years! But to learn that not only is this car legal to fly with only 20 hours of flying time, but it also gets better gas mileage than my truck. Now if they’d just invent a flying trailer to go with it - or a truck that gets better than 13MPG and can still tow a 2-horse trailer. In other news: Jaryth’s site is back up. So if you’ve been jonesing for pictures like this, your wait is over. I’ve built it so that I can add new pictures by just uploading them into a directory. Lazy, yes, but heck, the photos are on the site again, so I’m happy, and hopefully his faraway relatives are too. ☺ I asked him to “smile” as I took the picture. This is the result. [caption id=“attachment_145” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Jaryth Smiling for the Camera”][/caption]

I know, I don’t need any more sweets in my life. But Pepperidge Farms hit the jackpot with me with their Chocolate Goldfish Grahams. Jaryth doesn’t like them, but that’s okay, I do. :-)[caption id=“attachment_139” align=“aligncenter” width=“99” caption=“Yum!”][/caption]

Jaryth was a bit scared of his first lesson. But as I told Danielle, his teacher, starting low means he has more room for improvement. He cried less on day 2.

We are participating in a garage sale today and tomorrow, and it’s been interesting. In the morning you get all the people who look like they are searching for a Van Gogh hidden among our clothes. They glance at the stuff and sniff or if they are feeling sorry for us tell us they like our house/barn/dog/tree before they walk away. They do an awesome job making you look at the detritus of your life and think “wow, I bought a lot of crap!” and then you consider dropping the prices even though you have only been out there for an hour. But you stand firm, after all none of them even made an offer let alone bought anything. Then around mid-day the neighbors start showing up. They ask how your dog is doing (he died a month ago) then comment on how big Jaryth is getting and how they see us walking every day. I think most of our neighbors know us by sight, but we only know the one or two who come out. It’s bizarre to be greeted by people who comment on how big Jaryth is, and they are complete strangers to you. It’s 3pm now and we’ve done pretty well. Most of the big baby things are gone. One monitor sold. And some jewelry. The computers will have to go to Costco, I suspect. And the baby toys and clothes to charity. But we still have one more day!

I was talking to my Dad today about Jaryth’s language. He was wondering if we spoke baby talk to him or if we tried to encourage him to speak correctly. I then commented on how we had been trying to get him to use the pronoun “I” rather than “he” or “baby” or “Jaryth” when referring to himself. So, just now, Jaryth came upstairs and was asking me where the remote controlled car was. Mark told him and then Jaryth said “he wants it”. Meaning that he wants to play with the car. Mark then said, “no, you should say ‘I want it’ to say that you want it.” Guess what Jaryth is now saying over and over and over? “I want it.” “I want it.” “I want it!” He cracks me up. He’s still downstairs telling Mark, “I want it.”

One of the reasons I struggle with writing a blog, is the idea of audience. When I write in my personal journal, I know that my audience is me. (Except in the unlikely scenario where Mark picks it up and reads it - luckily I’m very boring…) The challenge with a blog, no matter how much I know that my audience is really just me, myself and I (and, yes, we can be a narcissistic bunch), there is the idea that maybe, possibly, in some outer realm of probability someone else is reading this stuff. So I find myself censoring. “What if my dentist reads this?” I think, and erase the snarky comment about dental drills. “What if I need to get a job in the coffee industry” and out goes the aside about Starbucks. It got even scarier on the days leading up to Tuesday this week, because that was the day I was presenting my layout/design to the class. Yes, it was going to be on an overhead projector with very little visible (the projector isn’t big like my iMac…). But what if someone actually read what I wrote in the three minutes it was up on the screen? And then of course, in the days leading up to the presentation, I sent the URL out to several of my friends, relatives, and colleagues. Luckily, most of them are too busy to come back after the initial “follow Jenn’s link so she won’t be mad at me” impulse. But ultimately it comes down to this. For me, writing this blog is a personal exercise. It’s just that putting it on the Web makes me hope that someone is reading it, someone is finding it not boring, some one is (dare I ask it?) laughing at my jokes. I’m trying not to care about whether anyone other than the three of us are reading it. I’m pretty sure Mark never opens it, and he’s the only one I would think might. But I don’t write about PC games or Windows hardware, so he’s not likely to arrive. The best thing about writing for myself, is that I don’t get mad when I don’t post a new picture or excerpt for a while. I just post when I feel like it.

So, my design is scheduled to be presented tomorrow, and I’ve already got a new design in mind. Holy, cow, Jenn! Why not stick with a design for, oh, say a week to try it out? Or at least until you’ve finished your presentation. But the “shiny!” Step away from the shiny, Jenn. You’re feverish, just walk away from Dreamweaver for right now.