Jamestown and Williamsburg

Day One. Or two, however you look at it, if you count my travel day where I did nothing but drive and stop at a few places to get something to eat. Really, a Saturday wasted.

Anyway, Day One - Sunday, September 28, 2008.

I did Williamsburg and Jamestown, with the intention of getting Yorktown done as well, but it didn't turn out that way. Because I didn't foresee enjoying Jamestown as much as I did and ended up spending about five hours there, and then theres this pesky thing of hours being from about 9 to 5.

Which completely sucks when you are a tourist that wants to go do stuff and you are in a city completely devoid of a Nightlife (aka, Williamsburg)

Anyway, as mentioned before, I got to Jamestown at early in the morning and kind of enjoyed the quiet peacefulness of being away from everything.


Well, for some reason I thought Jamestown was still a town for some reason. I didn't realize that it was in ruins. So, what's the appeal of Jamestown anyway?

It's considered the birthplace of our nation, as it was the first location where the English landed and settled, and it is the first permanent English Settlement.

Granted, there's nothing here now, the only structure that still exists is an old church, and the church has been rebuilt several times. The tower of the church is the only structure that is from 17th century Jamestown.


Anyway, as soon as the gate opened, I found myself at the Glassblowers.



And I just watched them make this 'octopus bowl' for about thirty minutes, enthralled by the whole process. It might be the artist in me, I'm fascinated by different artistic techniques. And they are dressed to the period so they blow the glass just like they did back then.


I wanted that Octopus Bowl after it was done. I also wanted to get a good picture of it but I didn't want to get in their way by asking if they could pose with their work of art.

Besides, by the time I realized that they had finished, they put it in the cooling container and that was that.

Hmm. . .


Most of what Jamestown looks like now. There is a cool museum to check out (I am going to be museumed out after this trip)

Anyway, afterwards I went to the Jamestown Settlement, which is a re-inactment of how things were at that time, as well as a gallery of what life was like. Very cool, I enjoyed it muchly.



this was to give you an idea of how the indians lived, they had people cleaning skins and gardening and basically living as they lived at that time. Funny, some of them didn't really look indian.



Then there were the ships.


This is a replicate of the Susan Constant. It was cool. I liked.

I don't have a lot of pictures of me, because that would require me trusting my camera with a complete and total stranger, but every now and then, when I felt like they can't get far in case they decide to run, I asked if somebody could get a picture with me in it.


And sometimes I got pictures with the people who were in on the re-inactment. Or whatever it's called.


So this is apparetnly what Jamestown looked like before it crumbled away into nothing.



When being a goober and trying on various items they allow you to try on, it is wise to make sure you put on the adult sized items.

Why is there no longer a thriving community in Jamestown? Well, apparently it wasn't the greatest location due to lack of clean water, causing the inhabitants to starve to death the first couple of years and butcher everything in sight. 2/3s died. They managed to live alright until the late 1600's, and then decided to move to a more doable location. Like Williamsburg.


For some reason, I decided that pictures weren't that important in Williamsburg. Or I couldn't bring myself to spend $35 on a ticket to see whatever I wanted to when I spent five hours in Jamestown goofing around and checking things out and lost track of time. So I got to Williamsburg and by the time I figured out that if you want to go inside the historic buildings you had to buy a ticket, I didn't think it was worth it to spend that much money to only use it for two hours. So I stayed on the street and the shops. And forgot about my camera.



I didn't forget about the horses though.



I took a lot of pictures of the horses. Mainly because I could just get different angles. Looking back, I should have went up to the re-inactors and just started taking their pictures while they weren't looking or get some candids. I love those.



But I got some good ones of the horses. Figures.

I should have stuck around longer in Williamsburg. However, at the point I was at, there was nothing left to see unless I wanted to buy a ticket. And I decided I would check it out if I came back the next day. Alas, I didn't.

If you want to visit the triangle, give yourself plenty of time to see it, or else it isn't worth going. I would say two days to it. I was planning on possibly coming back to Williamsburg again the second day after Yorktown but decided to move on. There is a lot of things to do and I would like to enjoy the whole bit. Yorktown has a little more freedom in seeing things on your time, and Williamsburg to a point, you can wander about and the taverns are still open even after all the shops are closed, but Jamestown you are stuck with the hours they provide.

If I were to do it again, I would have done Yorktown and Jamestown in day one and Williamsburg the next.

The World Runs 9 to 5. . .

. . . and I don't.

It might have something to do with being used to getting up at 0430 and staying up working until whenever. But funny thing is I used to be a night owl of the worst kind. I am totally a morning person now. It is not uncommon for me to find myself crashing by 9 PM, which before May was unheard of. I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning and now I don't.

You know, it's actually a good thing. Being a morning person that is. You feel like you get more out of your day, unless you get off work and find yourself crashing at 5 in the afternoon because you have nothing better to do (not unheard of for me, I am such a boring (or bored?) person right now its ridiculous.

I woke up on Sunday morning at 5 am and kind of got myself cleaned up a bit and then headed into town. . . to discover that most things didn't open until about 930 or so. So I went to Jamestown, thinking I could perhaps walk around there for a bit, only to discover that they are locked at that early. . .

. . . hmm. . .

then everything closes at five-ish. I was planning on doing Jamestown in the morning, Williamsburg in the afternoon and Yorktown in the evening. Or something like that. It didn't work out that way and I saw Eagle Eye Sunday night instead.

I adjusted a little bit yesterday, and actually slept in,(until about 630) to find myself in Yorktown early in the morning, and discovered that I could have wandered the grounds there.

Why hadn't I gone to Yorktown first? I could have probably squeezed the whole Historic Triangle in one swoop instead of taking it into two days.

Today I slept in until seven. Wandered a National Park and saw Assateague Island, which opened at 6am, wish I had ajusted a little bit then.

Now I'm in Washington DC. Which fortunately, looks like it will be a bit more accomodating to my perferred schedule of early morning.

Next three days in the nation's capital. Good times to be had, if I can see it all. With the crap going on in the nation right now I bet it will be easy.

shhh, don't tell anybody I'm a conservative.

Pictures to come.

On Leave

Which means I can talk about what I'm doing again! Awesomeness!

There have been many times in the last four months where something has come up and I am thinking 'man, I want to blog this' and had to bite my tongue and refrain. You should see the number of drafts in my queue that will never be published.

Anyway, I left on leave and I'm currently in Virginia. I kind of have an idea of what I want to do and where I want to go, because its good to have a plan, but I don't want it so stringent that I have to keep a tight schedule such as. . .
Wakeup: 0445
Shower: 0500
Breakfast: 0530
Williamsburg: 0700-1400
Trans to Jamestown 1400-1430
Jamestown 1430-1600
etc etc.

You know, have your life rigorously micro managed in the way of, I don't know, the Military. Damn it, I'm on LEAVE! For the next two weeks, I'm a freakin' civilian. I don't know the difference between Parade Rest and Present Arms. Yeah, that's my mentality, for the next two weeks. The army? I don't know Nothing!

Meanwhile, the trip over was alright. I had intentions of leaving enough space in my schedule that if I wanted to do something, I would just stop and do it. So if I saw anything interesting, I would go check it out.

There was a few things I wanted to go do on the way over, a few items in West Virginia had caught my attention in regards to some of the parks and forests they have, but I ended up driving through becase A) a lot of the cool things to do in West Virginia requires putting aside some time to do them, like a full day and B) it was raining quite heavily. I have nothing against rain, but some of the things I was wanting to do required me taking pictures with my big monster camera, and my camera doesn't like rain.

So tomorrow its Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. There is some flexibility in the next few days after that, I think I might hit Chincoteague Island just because of nastalgia reasons, I might go back to Richmond and see some historical sites, or I might just say screw the confederacy and spend most of my time In Washington DC.

There will definitely be some historical sites being seen.

Good News: Now whenever a soldier asks me about Fort Lee and Fort Eustis, I will at least now know exactly where in Virginia they are at.

The Loss of a Child

My sister Arah went through a tramatic experience of losing her daughter shortly after birth last November. However, she took this very trying experience and have used to to help others in her same situation. I have a lot of respect for her because of it, I don't know if I could handle a situation like this with the strength she has shown.

The local newspaper interviewed her in regards to the various support groups she is now a part of in regards to her experience. You can read the article Here. It is very well done, and a bit of a tear jerker for me.

Her account is here. Her blog has a lot of accounts of her dealing with the loss of her daughter just over ten months ago. The groups she has taken part in has really helped her cope with her loss and has given her daughter's life meaning. I'm very proud of her.

Games We Play

I'm kind of on a bit of a BS detail right now, mostly to keep us occupied as we wait to get out of here, but it provides enough amusement.

See, I'm on a 'babysitting' detail. Meaning I sit in a dental office and make sure the In Training Personnel don't head over to the dental office thinking they got a freebie pass out of training. They have a 'hat' watching the waiting room and so on.

It's totally a sham job. I have my laptop and CNN is on so I can listen to the news and see for myself the left-leaning bias. I've also got my Nintendo DS and some reading material to keep me occupied. Because I'm here ALL DAY.

Frankly, it can get boring, because we're basically making sure they aren't sleeping (that's a no-go) or getting all rowdy.

Well, it gets boring when you just yell at them to 'wake up' (I don't smoke 'em, I got in trouble for that once, long story, I'll tell it to you sometime) so sometimes you have to get creative.

Well, there was one private that was just laid back, his hands resting behind his head, just out. I see him and watch him for a moment, he doesn't notice that I see him, so he must be out. There are others in the waiting room, they see that I see him, I wait to see if any of them say anything to their battle buddy. Nobody says a thing.

So I get my hat, put it on, and casually sit next to the sleeping soldier. He doesn't stir. I sit there and stare at him for a bit. He doesn't move. I creep closer. He still doesn't move. I get right in his face. Nothing.

After about a minute, I think he's slept long enough so I whisper his name. He stirs, looks at me, and pure and utter terror feels his face as you can see his brain working in panic mode. He calls me "ma'am" and stumbles to his feet after a brief pause, going to parade rest. I probably could have smoked the crap out of him. Instead, he gets to stand until his appointment.

I love that look of pure panic. I didn't get to play games with the privates enough. And there are a hundred and one games you can play with them.

There is a purpose to 'em. I don't know what it is about that hat, it causes panic when a soldier realizes he's been caught doing something wrong (I know without the hat I am far from intimidating).

I really only got on Privates for calling me Ma'am and then apologizing by calling me a "sorry drill sergeant", but for the most part, I have been laid back. Any of the Joes who got to know me would attest to this. Again, back to me getting in trouble for smoking a private.

And again, long story.

Only the Fools Jump

UPDATED with More Photos. Intermixed with the previous.

So, that's an item off my bucket list.

I think I'll do that again.




I have always wanted to skydive, and I've had a huge desire to do this over the last few summers, and I made it a vow that I would go skydiving this summer, after we graduated, as a gift to myself. It did become largely that, a release for the crap i had to put up with, and a reward to myself for not completely losing my mind.

Well, the fact that I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane might be the first sign that I've completely lost my mind. Hah!


this is Jim, who owns the establishment. A part of me wanted to go by myself, but I'm glad I went tandum because I wouldn't have had a clue as to how to do this, there is a lot to know and he walked me through it.


Practicing jumping out of the plane, I was really nervous and giddy with excitement. Heheh


In the airplane. Some of the pictures blurred, but I was getting ready to jump out for real.


They give you a series of steps you have to go through to successfully jump out of an airplane, but when you jump, sometimes everything escapes your brain as the only thing you can think about is "I'm jumping out of an Airplane!!!"


The soumersaults followed. And spinning in the air as you hit terminal velocity.




Look, I'm UPSIDE DOWN!!!



The air just wraps around your cheeks, and you look a little like a freak. But hell, adreneline is pumping, blood rushing, this is a freakin' TRIP!!! Holy cow, you can't believe you did it!







Checking altitude, you have to be at the right point to pull that ripcord.


The landing, again, a little blurred *sighs* but we landed like pros, on the ground and no falling on my face.


I should go through the windblown look more often. It's very becoming on me, don't you think?


That, right there. all I can think is 'hooah!'

Now excuse me, I need to go sign up to jump again.

Edit skydiving twice in one day will kind of make one nauseous. But yes, I will have to do this again in the not to distant future!

Because the first pictures blurred a bit, and I signed up for a second jump, they took some more pictures. the camera they took it with is very similar to my Canon, so I showed them how to fix the settings. Can you tell which ones were taken on the second jump?

I don't know why I like this picture, but it might be the casual candidness of it.

(Arch your back when you come out of that plane!)
Kentucky Skydive

7 Questions

My sister tagged me. I've done memes like this before but whatever, let's see how that answers differ from the last one.

Question #1: Where were you 10 years ago?
I was in my senior year in high school. I was a suitable nerd for high school standards, having no sense of style and just kind of a bit of an outsider. Didn't really have a clique per say, I mostly floated around.

Question #2: What's on your to-do list today (this list includes today and tomorrow morning's list)?
1. Clean House
2. Finish posting the Kilo pictures
3. Watch Drillbit Taylor and Forbidden Kingdom and return to video rental.
4. Fine tune vacation plans
5. Buy another travel book from Barnes and Noble
6. Clean out the car
7. Skydive
8. Do Laundry

Question #3: What if you were a billionaire?
I would go to school to get the job I've always wanted, travel the world at my whim, and eat lot's of sushi.

Question #4: Name 5 places you've lived.
1. Winnemucca, Nevada
2. Colusa California
3. Spokane, Washington
4. San Antonio, Texas
5. Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo

Question #5: What are 3 bad habits you have?
hahaha...only three?
1. Surfing the internet when there are far more productive things I could be doing, and rechecking the same sites just to see if they have updated.
2. I talk to myself. People often wonder if I'm crazy. I'm willing to confirm it.
3. I pick. At anything and everything. Not necessarily my nose, but I have a tendency to pick, especially if I'm deep in thought. If I don't to much and keep my hands busy, I don't pick.

Question #6: What kind of snacks do you like?
Sushi. I love sushi. I also like to curl up with a bowl of cheerios and raisins. Bagels with creme cheese. I also like an english muffin with a bit of turkey and some mayonaise. And hot cocoa on a cool day, or chocolate milk on a warm day.

Question #7: Who will you tag??
I don't tag. But if you do it, tell me in the comments and I will check it out!

Meme Time, Arrgh. . .

ARRGH! It be INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE Day!

Ahoy there, mateys! I got me a meme to accomplish today. Arrgh.

MEME INSTRUCTIONS:
Take a picture of yourself right now.
Don't change your clothes.
Don't fix your hair.
Just take a picture.
Post that picture with no editing. (Except maybe to get the image size down to something reasonable. Don't go posting an eight megapixel image.)
Include these instructions.



There be nobody to credit for this meme, because everybody be doing it. Arrgh.

I be just completing me physical training when I took this here photograph.




I cannot do a pirate accent. To bad the joes are gone, I would have fine tuned it.

Sarah Palin Name Generator

One thing that has a lot of people talking is Sarah Palin's unusual choice of names for her children. Honestly, I like a little unusual-ness in names, its always fun when you are an Emily or a Jason and you go to school with fifteen other Emilys and Jasons (though it appears these names are no longer as popular lately).

So, what would your name be if your mother was Sarah Palin?

Click here for the Sarah Palin Name Generator

Kami Erickson, if you were born to Sarah Palin, your name would be:
Bullet Bodycheck Palin

Hahah, PERFECT!

I love it!

Why couldn't my parents name me something cool like Bullet Bodycheck???

(actually, I couldn't imagine having a name like that. I'll stick to my own, danke.)

Underground Fighting

See more funny videos and TBT Videos at Today's Big Thing.

I saw this a few weeks ago, and it made me laugh out loud.

I kind of saw it coming though.

Hey, found it online!

This website is somewhat addictive

Women and Firearms

Warning - This Post is Rambly
I've been reading a lot of right wing blogs lately, mostly because I like to keep up on the latest going ons of the political season, and for some reason I get particularly energized during presidential election years (and pretty much ignore politics the rest of the time).

Actually, I think I would be more of a political blogger if I wasn't in the military, but my military standing keeps me neutral in the scheme of things, though by all rights I will say that I will most likely vote McCain/Palin and snicker at the multiple fallings of the Obama/Biden ticket lately.

However, with all of this energized talk of Sarah Palin and what she adds to the ticket, I find it interesting about how people talk about her because of her stance on gun issues. Here is a woman that actively goes out and fires weapons all of the time. And hunts.

Is a woman who uses firearms really that big of a rarity? Is shooting a rifle considered a predominantly male hobby? It seems like people are talking about Sarah Palin and her love of guns as an abnormality, and thereby some people have been referring to her as a hick and ignorant, because, well, only rednecks like firearms, right?

So she has been villified on the left, glorified on the right, here is a female politician, a woman, who is very outspoken on gun rights, is a member of the NRA, and actively goes out and hunts moose.

Granted, I'm not much of a hunter myself (I, like a lot of girls, like soft furry woodland creatures and feel a little guilty at the thought of killing them, but I won't say no to venison, as long as I'm not the one shooting it)

So, where does that leave us women that actually do like guns? Is the love of something that goes bang really that monopolized by the male gender? I mean, from my own experience on the subject, and becoming semi famous for toting around an M203 with a look on my face that I want to cause you bodily harm, I had a lot of guys who seemed to oggle the fact that here is a girl who can hold her own (sort of), but more importantly, liked to go out and fire weapons. Because it's a hobby. It's fun! Why the bloody hell not?

Guys aren't the only ones who are allowed to enjoy the power that handling a firearm can bring, and besides, if you really think about it, do you know how much safer this world would be if everyone knew how to fire a gun? Who would actually want to rob anybody at the thought that they might easily get shot?

So, is that the appeal of Sarah Palin by those on the right? It must be something along the lines of having that awe of femininity while being interested in something men are as well, that being firearms. And hunting.

And then there is the left. Is that the same reason why she causes such a raw intensity of hatred, because she embraces guns, manages a family of five children, one of which has down syndrome, without considering the impact that it might cause on mother earth, and so happens to have a successful political career? Wait, weren't career women a strict Democratic Demographic?

You can't be a woman and be a politician, and be FOR GUNS, while having children in the house. What kind of woman are you? You are supposed to nurture and love, not want to kill things.

Indeed, one of the reasons why I like Sarah Palin so much is I can identify with her.

But I also can say I liked guns before Sarah Palin made it cool for women to like guns.

My Listy List of Lists

Alright, so I like to do posts about lists, quite a bit actually. Despite being a highly disorganized, very hight strung individual, I often times like to write down goals of what I hope to accomplish, and hope to someday accomplish them.

Take for instance my new years resolution. I generally write my resolutions down January 1st and then I don't really look at them until the following January 1st. For the record, I just looked at them and I'm already on epic fail mode. But I'll discuss that on January 1st.

In the great tradition of lists, seeing as my time has been freed up quite significantly, I rented The Bucket List and it got me to thinking about how I would like to make a list of things to do before I die, or just things to do in my lifetime, what I want to accomplish, whatever. Because things to do before I die does sound a bit morbid.

I could have sworn I had blogged about this before, but I am having difficulty finding that particular post.

Hmm. . .

BTW, I surfed the internet looking for things that interested me. Some of these may never be attainable, but who knows? Life is short, but a lot can happen. Some items are big, others are miniscule. But they are all things I would like to do before I die.
THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE

• Step foot on every continent.
  
• Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
  
• Walk along the Great Wall of China.
  
• Go on an African Sufari
  
• Visit Dubrovnic, Croatia
  
• See the Louvre
  
• Backpack across a country
  
• Scuba Dive the Barrier Reef
  
• Climb the Pyramids in Egypt
  
• Go to all 50 States
  
• Hike the Grand Canyon from one side to the other
  
• See the Statue of Liberty
  0 - Adventure:
  
• Swim with Dolphins
  
• Learn to play the Guitar
  
• Write a novel and get it published
  
• Illustrate a Children's book
  
• Learn to Surf
  
• Bungee Jump
  
• Sky Dive
  
• Paraglide
  
• Get my Pilots License
  
• Compete in a Triatholon
  
• Earn My Wings
  
• Run Bloomsday in under an Hour
  
• Run a Half Marathon
  
• Run a Marathon
  
• Participate in an Improv Everywhere Project
  
• Do a trick, in the air, on a snowboard. And don't kill myself doing it.
  
• Max the APFT at least once before getting out of the army.
  
• 100 push-ups
  
• Make up to Combatives Level 3
  
• Take up a Martial Art
  
• Be an Extra in a Movie (and actually show up in the completed film)
  
• Take a Photography Course
  
• Learn Archery
  
• Fence
  
• Learn to Juggle
  
• Learn how to dance (swing, salsa, tango, all that jazz)
  
• Get a belly dancing outfit and learn how to belly dance.
  
• Learn to speak German Fluently
  
• Do a 24 Hour Comic
  
• Participate in Nanowrimo successfully.
  
• Marry my Best Friend
  

OFF THE LIST

• Drive Across America
  
• See Europe
  
• Ride in a Gondola in Venice, Italy
  
• Ride a horse on the beach
  
• Spend the summer in a National Park
  
• Go to Oktoberfest in Munich Germany
  
• Buy a DSLR Camera
  
• Do a Webcomic
  
• Paint a Self Portrait
  
• Ride in a Helicopter

Some sources of inspiration?
The Best article - 50 Things to Do before you Die
Your100Things
2do before i die
100 Things by Squido

This is a work in progress. I'll keep adding as I go.

Military Motivators

I found this blog called Military Motivators earlier this summer and wanted to post something on it, but since i was kind of given an ultimitum of posting anything military related, I just kept mum on the subject.

Unfortunately, the blog was taken down, because the military apparently wants to thwart anything that might be related to military matters on the internet. No matter what.

One of the reasons why I have been mum on the subject. And I continue to be mum on the subject.

Still, you can find a few of them online, you just have to google 'em.

some of my favorites.




There were a few others, but I can't seem to find them *sighs*

I made a few of my own, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post them. that, and they are more along the lines of demotivational parody posters, and they use pictures of the troop we just got finished training.

Yeah, I post them, I'll get hosed. So I'll post the one that you can't really tell who it is. Besides, the subject getting his head thwacked is getting out, so its not like he's going to be targeted by some terrorist group who saw him get knocked out on the internet somewhere.



I did about a half dozen of these, maybe one day *when i get out, hah!* I'll post the rest of them.

Parody Motivators HERE!

The Plan is in Play

I don't know what is going on with me at the moment. I don't think anybody really knows what is going on with me at the moment.

But suddenly, today I realized something.

I've got 15 days of paid vacation. That's just over two weeks, where I can go and do whatever I want. I need to either take it while working (and after next week, I'm not going to be doing a whole lot) or I can get it paid out when I leave here.

I was thinking about this in one of three ways. One, I can continue to work off the rest of my orders, not sure what they are going to have me do in the meantime, and pay off my vacation time at the end (where I'll get the most money, but however, I won't be getting a much needed break), I can refrad early and go home asap, and pay out my vacation (which is what I was thinking about doing, long story, tell it to you some other time) or I can stay to the end, and take my vacation NOW.

There is an upside to the latter plan. See, if I do the second plan, its kind of hectic to go back east to go back west, but if I take my leave NOW (or rather, in the next couple of weeks), I can plan my vacation around that instead.

And believe me, a vacation is much needed at this time.

Also, it has sparked an excitement in me as I think about this. 'ooh! A vacation! I'm in Kentucky, and DC is only ten hours away!'

Yes, my friends, I am plotting a Road Trip as we speak. I've got to get the fine details plotted out, but it basically entails me, my car, my camera, and a debit card to pay for the gas. I'm thinking of doing a loop, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio.

I really want to see some historical landmarks, Jamestown is on the list of places to see, as is Gettysburg. Of course, there's the Capital, and I would love to see New York. Granted, I could probably spend my entire two weeks in either of those places, but seeing as I have a limited amount of money and want to see as much as I can in two weeks as possible, I think I'm going to limit those two cities to three days (possibly more depending on how much I decide to cut out of the trip)

But as my mother can attest, when it comes to planning these things, I can cram as much crap into as little time as humanly possible.

Now I have to figure out what to do about lodging.

So, any recommendations of what i should see in particular?

Bored?

I think I need to bookmark this page.

Lately, I come home and don't have anything to do. I think i need to start getting creative. Or something. . .

Create a Painting

Click here to create your own painting.

Ok, that is completely and utterly random.

You answer a bunch of questions related to your mood and what you like and it spits something out.

I found this on Bored.com and thought I would give it a shot. It just looks like some random generator took a few brushes out of Adobe Photoshop and puked them on the screen. And is that supposed to be a bird disappearing into the maroon horizon?

Call me skeptical. But somehow I don't think this could be classified as Art.

Yearbook Yourself!

You know when you get into those moments of insanity where boredom strikes, you know you are supposed to be working but bloody hell, you have been working for 14 weeks and you can't do anything any how until somebody else gets with you on what you need to do so for crying out loud, you are going to go surf yourself some internets and find out more about what the left has to say about Sarah Palin.

Or you can be like me and find yourself on amusing websites like YearbookYourself.com. where you can poke fun at yourself to your endless expense. And I'm very good at poking fun at myself.

So you have a gob of pictures taken through the ages, from 1950 to 2000, and you upload a picture of yourself looking straight into the camera (or therabouts) and off you go.

Of course, first you must find yourself the perfect picture. I had a hard time coming up with this part because most of my pictures are not here, but on my desktop back home.

So I had to make do with the ones of me using my point and click and snapping pictures of myself. Because, well, usually I'm bored when I do this.


this was taken in one of those 'man, do I really have to go to work today?' phases where I just didn't give a flying rat's behind. It was a linen day, so sue me if I just wanted to crawl under the table in my living room and crash for the entire day (I'm good at doing that when i have my few hours off by wasting them crashed out on the couch somewhere, and not even the excuse of having drunk myself into oblivion the night before. No, really, I'm that boring.)

Well, I'm looking at the camera right? So, this one works, right?

If you like the whitewashed look, perhaps. But otherwise, not jiving with it.

For kicks and giggles, I decided to try my infamous 'NOT SORRY FOR VOTING BUSH INTO THE WHITEHOUSE' gung ho kickass pose that made me semi famous for all of fifteen minutes and the scourge of liberal nutcases in the Democratic Underground.


Hehe, sorry, couldn't help myself. For some reason, a chick with a 203 larger then herself looks alright making that face, but when you superimpose that on a wholesome 50's gal, something comes quite off about it.


I could never rock that hairstyle. thankfully, I was born in the 80's.

Or is that a good thing?



Yikes!


What is with the uniforms? I'm telling you, I'm low on pictures right now. But I decided maybe if I toned down the look of "I will slaughter you using only my eyes" and see if that might work a little better.



It's doable. But of course, I wouldn't want to have the gloom and doom picture on my highschool yearbook, and I don't think that was the fashion in '76.

Well, I don't have access to my own high school pictures (they are awful, I had no fashion sense whatsoever) however, I do have (in the theme of this post seeing all of my pictures are in uniform) my military pictures.

Including my basic training pic. Heheh.


Yes, before the beret, there was the garrison cap. It had other less PC names as well. I won't go into detail.

But, well, the cap is kind of in the way.


Whoever thought those glasses were sexy? Some fads just need to stay dead, and I hope the horn rimmed glasses remain a thing that stays dead in the past.

But that damn garrison cap.


Back in 2005, when I decided it would be a brilliant idea to chop my hair off (and then I spent the next year trying to grow it out, but look, I'm actually SMILING), I took this picture. A rarity, I know. But it's nearly head on, and the tone of the picture isn't so off that it completely whitewashes these hideous pictures. And what's more, they actually WORKED!

Except for a couple came out with Double Chins. heheh, scary how some of these are fairly accurate depictions of what I would look like if I was in that era

from 1950 - 2000


Um, those last two are '98 and '00. And I graduated in '99?
I think I'll take my senior pic, thanks.



I wish I had a larger image online (that I knew where it was)

PS - I think I could totally work the 'fro, doncha think?