Soooo... I seem to be getting good at updating yearly... :D

Anyone still around?

Current Mood: tired

Happy Happy Birthday Birthday gloire gloire!!! :)

Current Mood: bouncy

I just got nudged!

Current Mood: awake

Heh, way to go, odd little red-haired lady who asked Bush why he actually went to war. Boo to Bush's half-assed answer. And yay to her for trying to interrupt him over and over.

I wish he'd give it up. He's not going to drum up support for the war. Especially when he won't answer difficult questions, and when he does, he gets so visibly flustered that you can't believe a thing he's saying.

Current Mood: annoyed

Okay, this is how it happened.

I was out doing some photography stuff for Mike's group. On the way home, my stepmother called and said that a girl who looks like me just came over and asked for me, and so they gave her my address and stuff.

So I hurry home, and a bit later a girl walked up, and introduced herself as Ebony. Behind her is my biological uncle, James, who I already knew (but had lost contact with for the past 6 years). He confirmed that she was my sister, and that they live in Las Vegas.

See, I was adopted when I was 1, and then in '96, I found my biological father and his family. He passed in 2001, and I had remembered him saying that he had 3 other kids, out west somewhere. That's all he'd said, and that's all I knew. I didn't really think a whole lot about it because I didn't even know names/sex/location/anything.

So anyway, Ebony and my uncle, James, went to the neighborhood I lived in back in '96, which my dad happens to live in now. He doesn't live super close to my old place, and he lives in a house - I had lived in an apartment complex. They couldn't find me at the apartment complex, so they decided to stop at a random house to see if those people might have seen me around or anything. It happened to be my dad's house. My stepmother questioned them extensively until she was confident that they were being honest, and then told them where I live now. So they show up, and now I know my sister, my brother, and various other relatives - 2 aunts, several cousins, and - get this - the cousin that I was named after!

Granted, this is all my biological family, and I was adopted away from that family when I was a baby, but it's so awesome to finally have relatives that look like me. Blood relatives. I can't get over it. :) And Josh looks JUST like my brother. :):)

Here's a picture of us a few mins after we met. :)

Current Mood: surprised

So this girl who looks a lot like me walks up to my house on Saturday.

It turns out she's my sister.


That I didn't know existed.

She's visiting from Las Vegas, and she'll be here for a week. We're going up to Richmond today to do a bunch of photography stuff. She's as into it as I am. :)




...can I just say "Holy Shit!"

Current Mood: shocked

I stumbled over this article earlier. I am honestly shocked that this wasn't all over the news. (With abortion being such a hot topic lately, especially.)

( Abortion is a felony..? )


I have to say that it's really sad that this legislation was even signed by the Governor. Yeah, I know it probably won't actually go into effect, but what if it does?

Now, for clarification, I don't approve of people using abortions as birth control or anything, but I think it's extremely wrong to dictate that women don't have a choice over their own bodies. What if a woman's life actually is in jeopardy, but the doctor doesn't think it's that serious? What if he doesn't do an abortion for her, and she dies? She'll be martyred because she died for her child, but the kid, if it lives, will have to live without a mother... all because of a law?

What about the people who are pregnant because of rape? What if a teenaged girl is molested by a relative and gets pregnant?


I know that most arguments can be answered with: 'Well she should have taken precautions beforehand to prevent pregnancy.' While I agree with that, I think that this law would create more trouble than anything else. Do they really want people to go back to back-door abortions?

The more things change, the more I wonder what the hell is going on. Liberties are taken with everything, more and more, yet there are some things that seem to be going in reverse. Now women are losing control over their bodies... Huh.

Current Mood: okay

Pharaonic tomb find stuns Egypt
Archaeologists have discovered an intact, ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the first since King Tutankhamun's was found in 1922.
A team led by the University of Memphis found the previously unknown tomb complete with unopened sarcophagi and five undisturbed mummies.

The archaeologists have not yet been able to identify them.

The Valley of the Kings near Luxor in southern Egypt was used for burials for around 500 years from 1540BC onwards.

The tomb, the 63rd discovered since the valley was first mapped in the 18th century, was unexpectedly found only 5m away from King Tutankhamun's, a member of the team told the BBC's World Tonight.

Patricia Podzorski, curator of Egyptian Art at the University of Memphis, said the team had not been looking for it.

Surprise

"The excavation team was focused on the tomb of a 19th Dynasty pharaoh, King Amenmesses," she said.

"They were working in front of the tomb looking for foundation deposits possibly related to that tomb, and clearing away some workmen's huts from the 19th Dynasty that were both to the left and right side of the tomb," she explained.


"Underneath these workmen's huts, they found a shaft."

Four metres below the ground was a single chamber containing sarcophagi with coloured funery masks and more than 20 large storage jars bearing Pharaonic seals.

The sarcophagi were buried rapidly in the small tomb for an unknown reason.

Ms Podzorski said the tomb was thought to date from the 18th Pharaonic Dynasty, the first dynasty of the New Kingdom which ruled between 1539BC and 1292BC and made its capital in Thebes, the present city of Luxor.

The discovery has come as a surprise to many, Ms Podzorski added.

"People have been saying the valley was done for 100 years," she said.

"They said it before Howard Carter found King Tutankhamun's tomb and they said it after. But, obviously, they are still wrong."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4700032.stm

Published: 2006/02/10 11:03:49 GMT

Current Mood: mellow

So I want to make something really great for dinner tomorrow night. Not for any specific reason really, I just want to. I need ideas...

Vegetable selection is very limited, so the veggies in it can't be super off-the wall. Nothing extremely spicy, and I want to make a dessert too.

Suggestions? :)

Current Mood: hungry

I've had mushy love songs in my head for 2 days. I can't really figure out why, but they wouldn't go away, so I had to go download a bunch of them last night. So today, I get to blast cheesy music while I clean. Here's a question... Whatever happened to the goober-y love song? They're just gone now. Songs like... (for very different examples) ... Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden, or... I Don't Want To Miss a Thing by Aerosmith, or... You're My Inspiration(or really almost anything by Chicago), most of Michael Bolton's stuff, Anything I Do/ When You Really Love A Woman by Bryan Adams... The stuff that was popular through the later 80s and 90s.

That kinda stuff... Did it just fade away, or is that where the Barbie-clone types came from?

Current Mood: curious

I found this joke today and damn, it's funny as hell. And I normally don't like blonde jokes 'cause they're usually lame. :)

Current Mood: giggly

What the...

Glow in the dark pigs?


If they can do this to pigs, can they do it to humans? :x

Current Mood: shocked

I really want some new icons/userpics. Any suggestions?

Current Mood: thoughtful

Friday is International Blame Someone Else Day. Make sure you put the day to good use.. you can really get away with a lot tomorrow. :D

Current Mood: amused

Isn't it supposed to be winter?




...prove it.

Current Mood: pleased

So some of you have asked where I've been. One of the things I've been doing is working on losing weight. I'm really proud of how far I've come so far. :) Here's a picture of me:



The first two were taken in early spring of last year, and the last one is current. :) It's really shocking to see how fat my face was! Good Grief, it looks like it was a struggle just to smile. And the double chin thing... Bleh.


So far I've just just over...






Drumroll Please!!!








50 Pounds!!

Current Mood: accomplished

And here's a couple of my own baby pics. :)


Still looking for the good one.. this was one of the 'outtake' shots.



Yeah, everyone has nekkid baby pic. :)
Gotta love that 70s carpet... Youch.

Current Mood: sleepy

Here's my kiddo when he was just a tiny thing... hard to believe he's growing up so darn fast!



Quote for the day:
Parents spend so much time teaching children to walk and talk... then spend the rest of the time trying to get them to sit down and be quiet. :)

Current Mood: nostalgic

Happy New Year everyone. I hope the next year is exactly what each of you want it to be. :)

Current Mood: cheerful

The Rules
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview Me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others asking to be interviewed comment, you will ask them 5 questions.



pana's questions!
1. What college did you attend and did it suck?
Well I've attended 3 - one community college, one 2 year college, and one university. The community college sucked, but the other two (Allegany College and The University of Maryland) didn't suck. I'm still at UM. :)
2. What is your second-favorite Waterhouse painting?
Man, this is a hard question. If it's one along the same lines as Windflowers, I like Boreas. One of my favorites in general is I am half sick of shadows. But just overall as a second favorite, it would have to be St. Cecelia.
3. What is your favorite foreign dish?
Pad Thai!
4. What color do you wish your hair was?
A darker red.. kind of like auburn.
5. Country chic or Asian fusion? Explain your choice.
I guess I'd have to say Asian fusion. I prefer clean, sharp lines as opposed to that intentionally worn look. I like everything to look fresh and crisp and new.. Country chic is also too cluttered and crowded. Oh yeah, and I don't like birdhouses :P

Current Mood: awake