The Largest Trash-heap in the World

How many of you knew about the "island" of garbage twice the size of Texas that is currently floating in the Pacific ocean about halfway between San Francisco and Hawaii? Am I the only one who didn't know about this?

Oceans of Garbage

There is also a link to a five-part LA Times story about the oceans. Chilling.

Dreams, and Happiness

After having dreams all night about Buffy the Vampire Slayer (we are watching the series from the beginning with iamthespark who has never seen them before) I woke up this morning not with thoughts of television, but with a memory from when I worked at the metaphysical store years ago. A woman who was a regular customer came in and spoke to me one day, telling me that her husband was not "into any of this" (I guess meaning spirituality) as he was a successful corporate type person. He apparently tolerated her spiritual notions but regarded them as nothing more than a fanciful waste of time. On one occasion he accompanied her during one of her visits to the store and sat in one of the reading chairs near the front of the room while she did her shopping and chatted with the staff. At the end of this visit I spoke to her about something that for the life of me I can't remember; probably about some type of spell-working or meditative process, rang up her purchase and they were on their way. On a subsequent visit she told me that while her husband had always regarded "this stuff" as being worthless, his attitude began to change simply upon seeing how happy I was. "Obviously," he told her, "he must be doing something right."

Where do you find your happiness? What drives you and makes your life filled with joy? How do you cultivate happiness in your life and in the lives of those around you?

And if you can't think of something... what can you do right now (no matter how big or small) to bring some happiness for yourself or others into the world today?

Oh, don't I look famous?

A rainbow of flavors...

faerywolf took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Desires a conflict-free haven offering security an..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Happy Birthday!

Happy
suthrnboyinca 
Day!

New Art!

I've been really busy as of late, but I am proud to announce another piece of art coming out of my studio.

Here is a Witchboard that I designed for Carnivalia:

'Eye of the Storm'


(Click image for more info, or to purchase.)

I was originally hired to produce the above design for a small movie company for an upcoming horror film, but when they flaked I decided to make it available from Carnivalia instead. The original specifications had me design a board in the style of the old world boards that were popular in the heyday of Spiritualism. They wanted it to appear to be on ancient wood, complete with wormholes. We plan on offering a special version, complete with the worm-eaten effect for Halloween. For now here is my take on an 'old-school' spirit board. Each element was hand drawn by me, including the font which is based on Berylium, one of my favorites. The faux wood-grain is from several photos of wood that I combined together. The planchette is an original design by chas_bogan.

I am also working on some new paintings, some of which will make an appearance in this next Witch Eye, which we are busily working on as I write this. It should (hopefully!) be available in the next couple of weeks.

Another Quiz...

Yanked from the journal of soulfire06:

You fit in with: Spiritualism Your ideals are mostly spiritual, but in an individualistic way. While spirituality is very important in your life, organized religion itself may not be for you. It is best for you to seek these things on your own terms. 40% spiritual. 80% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Bay Area Tech Writers?

I know that this is a long shot, but it can't hurt, right? Does anyone in the SF Bay Area know of any companies that are hiring for technical writer positions? My good friend Scott (iamthespark) has recently moved here and is in need of this job, since this is what he went to school for. Any help or leads will be appreciated.

So much craziness...

Hey! I got nudged! ;)

I've been really busy lately. For the past couple of weeks we've been getting our house ready for Scott (iamthespark) who will be staying with us for the next several months from Minnesota. We've been painting, cleaning (LOTS of cleaning) and generally beautifying our place so that his first impression would be a good one. Truth be told it's all stuff that we've been talking about doing for a long time, but this just gave us an opportunity to actually do it.

Here are some pictures of before and after. "Before" pics are what the house looked like when we bought it a little over three years ago. "After" is, well... now. ;)


Old view from when you enter the front door (sorta):


New (this is a more accurate view of entering the house):


Old view of stairs:


New:


Old Formal Living room (get a load of that teal leather!) The front door would be just to the left of this picture:


New:


Old Kitchen:


New:


Old Upstairs (Loft) Living Room:


and, finally the New view of the upstairs living room:




Right before Scott arrived with boyfriend in tow, Chas got a case of strep! Yuck! So I've been taking care of everything... him... the house... his mother... our business... my classes... trying to keep everything running smoothly until Chas can get better and I can have a break.

Scott's boyfriend Sean will be leaving on Thursday, but Scott will be staying (along with his dog) while he looks for a job and such. We've been trying to get him to come back to California for years and were rather surprised that it suddenly is happening. Surprised, but happy. He's to be staying in my temple room, 'cause we just don't have any other space for him. Luckily we can work it out so that it wont affect my classes, but I still wish I had a dedicated guest room. No matter how big a house you get, it's always one room shy, right? ;)

I've also been compiling the submissions for the latest edition of Witch Eye, which I am hoping will be available sometime in the next three weeks. There's some really good stuff that has been sent in this time. I'm really excited! I have also been working on some new art (paintings, mainly), some of which will make an appearance in the latest issue.

So... busy, busy, busy... but there's a break on the horizon. I'm hoping to be able to get back into the swing of things in the next few days. It largely depends on how soon Chas gets better, and whether or not his mom comes down with it. (She's on the fence right now, so keep your fingers crossed for us.)