Tiny Little Lights

Psst... you wanna know a secret?

I really like Christmas lights.

They may be one of my most favorite things actually.

I mean... I know they're basically pointless and a drain of energy and may possibly make people who don't celebrate Christmas feel uncomfortable or lonely or sad or something.

I'm mostly guessing at that last bit because I do celebrate Christmas so I really have no idea how the lights make people who don't celebrate Christmas feel.  I'm basing this guess primarily on a song a fictional 8-year-old made of construction paper sang once.  I'm realizing this might not be the best basis for a guess ever.  Unless I'm playing some kind of game about beliefs held by the characters on South Park.  That would be a really hard game - those kids change their damn minds a lot.

That was what we in the biz refer to as a "tangent."  By "biz" I mean... uhhh rambling professionally.  Only not professionally.  Because I don't make money doing this.  Amateur rambling.  Olympic qualifiable rambling.  Yeah.  That "biz."

So, anyway.  Back to Christmas lights.  Despite their possibly less desirable qualities, I really like them.  They're just neat.  In my humble opinion.

They just make me feel... good inside.  I'm not so sure I'd go so far as to say they specifically make me happy.  But damn I love Christmas lights.  They're just great.

...And now that I've written all of that and spent a lot of time looking at these pictures I realize they kind of look like little penises.


UPDATED:  Oh man... I just realized that I only took pictures of our outdoor lights which are all white, because I like white lights outside and the multi-colored ones on the tree.  But the ones inside weren't focusing correctly and eventually I gave up and didn't save any pictures of them.  So now my Christmas lights might be racist as well as insensitive to other religions.  Before I was just suddenly worried my lights were those jerks who insist on saying Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays because they know it makes some people uncomfortable and/or sad.  Now I'm worried my lights might be part of the Klan or something.  Which, you know, way worse.  I mean, those people suck but they're not the klan.... oh jeeze.

FURTHER UPDATED: Just to be clear: I'm joking.  And trying to be funny.

No More Rhymes Now, I Mean It!

I don't have an art rant for you today.  Just so you know.  You can continue reading without fear.  I can't really think of anything to particularly talk about today, but I'd like to get back in the habit of blogging since... well I like it, and I like to do things I like.  Weird, I know.  So hmmm.... here are 13 totally random facts about me.

q) As you well know, I start my lists with point q.  I'm still not telling why.

2) months ago I started a playlist to try to figure out what I want the daddy/daughter dance to be at my wedding.  I've made a lot of cuts and it currently has 57 songs in it.  This is the most planning I've done for my wedding so far.

3) I have officially become a hockey fan.  I believe this proves that if I just see enough of a sport I will become a fan.

4) Based on number 3, I will continue to avoid lacrosse as much as possible.

5) I secretly like the broadcasting for the Wild better than the same for the Twins.  This is because there's less Robby Incmikoski, who bugs the crap out of me.

6) This morning the mere fact that I didn't have to wear two pairs of gloves to face going outside made me happy enough to keep me smiling until at least 10:30.

7) I actually really love living in the twin cities, even when it's so cold that -13 degrees no longer warrants a warning from the weather channel.

8) In June I will be biking 150 miles in two days from Duluth to the Twin Cities to raise money for MS research.  I don't own a bike and I think the only thing I've ever done for more than, like, three miles is drive.  I have no idea HOW I'm going to do this.  BUT I WILL.

9) My bologna has a first name (it's o-s-c-a-r) but I prefer his cousin salami.

10) I wake up with the oscar meyer bologna song inexplicably stuck in my head roughly twice a month. I can only pray this is just due to some weird coincidence and not a recurring dream about lunch meat.

11) I really wish I would have started studying art before I visited France.  I think I would have been less of a smart ass about the Venus de Milo.  Probably would have, if possible, increased my disdain for the Mona Lisa though.

12) If I ever went back to school for art history, I would strive to write a paper about how and why the theme song of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is completely wrong.

12a) Scratch that, if I ever go back to school for anything I would strive to write a paper about how and why the theme song of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is completely wrong.

13) Any time I can work "anybody want a peanut?" into conversation, I will.  Because I roll like that.

There you have it - 13 pretty random things about me.

And now, a picture of a tree.

Fancy Camera

Somewhat randomly Steve had a very fancy camera in his possession for about 20 hours or so early this week. Some of those hours included our walk at Como Park on Monday so we took it along and I got to play a little bit.  Big fun.  Especially as there were just tons of puppies in the park that day.

If you look closely, there's a big ol' bumblebee on that flower.

 

There is a puppy hiding in those bushes!

Looking down at a bit of the man-made waterfall.

 

Some ivy or something growing on the rocks around the waterfall.

 

Some late afternoon light shining on this absolutely beautiful lily.

Look at how deep that red is.  Just gorgeous.

  

We always seem to see something completely random when we go to Como.  An unicyclist is no guy walking around with a full-grown monkey on his shoulder (oh how I wish I'd had my camera with me last week) but it's random enough for my tastes.

A very happy puppy.  I think I saw this dog "pulled over" about four different times so he could be pet by small children who were clearly in love with him.

 

A nice view of the lake.

 

A shot of a wild rose that was blooming a little way away from the bench where we were.

 

A cool looking plant that I was fascinated by a the time.

 

I liked the way the light was hitting the leaves on this tree.

 

An adorable little puppy that was very, very happy to see every single person that passed.

A cool lakeside house.

The actual waterfall (now that I've posted pictures of the stuff around the waterfall.)

This was such a pain in the butt.  It was still as can be until I decided I wanted to take this picture.  Then the wind started blowing like mad.  It figures.

 

Some cool sort-of back lit thistles.

 

An interesting collections of greens around the edges of the lake.  (Not shown: the disgusting, SMELLY scum/algae that's still covering a good portion of the lake.)

 

A nifty Birch tree.  I always try to take cool pictures of birch bark because I think it's super cool, the pictures usually turn out lame though.

 

Some very deeply veined bark.

This tree had some weird stuff hanging from its trunk.  It kind of looked like old clothes or something.  The sun was shining right on it so it was rather hard to tell.

 

Finally, a happy cloud!

Fun with a fancy camera!  Woo!