It seems like everyday there are more revelations about sexual harrassment and assault in the media. This is truly horrific and it is not surprising that it is so wide spread. The one that is the most depressing to me is George Takei - I have really enjoyed following his presence on Twitter and Facebook and I really agreed with his posting. It upsets me that he would do something like what he did to another person and then be so outspoken about Kevin Spacey. The person came forward because of the inherent hypocrisy.
Anyways. Early in my career I dealt with these issues and had to brush off this kind of stuff in the workplace but nothing as extreme as what people are revealing in the media. More sideways comments and inappropriateness at work gatherings but easy enough to deflect. I have never been assaulted or anything like that. I really feel for women and men who have had horrible experiences with this. I really do.

In other news - I have had two phone interviews for that job I applied for and am waiting to hear if they will have me in for an in person interview. I don't have anything to wear so I am going shopping today for some kind of blazer suit thing. All my clothes are too big (a good thing) but I have to have something to interview in. I got my nails done yesterday and am getting my hair done tomorrow. I will be ready to rock and roll. Got to look good. So wish me luck and don't mention this on FB. No one knows at work.

I have been having fun making icons and graphics. Getting back into that. There is some life in the graphics communities so feel free to look at my sidebar for active communities. I am posting offers in - thyncke_phyncke, enchanted sea and enchanted realms. So join there if you want stuff.

I am also very excited about the holidays this year. I am going to go low key and have my friend R*** coming in for Thanksgiving and then I am going to be here for Christmas. I am looking forward to just relaxing and not traveling and decorating for Christmas. That is about it. I am going to try and not spend too much money this year. We are going out for Thanksgiving to a seafood restaurant so no one has the burden of preparing the meal - we will have dessert at my friend J***'s house. So all good there.

I hope you are doing well there and having a nice Fall season. I really love this time of year. The crispness of the weather and the smell of fallen leaves.

Happy Fall!

 It is Fall and of course still California Summer here so it will be 85 degrees here in Berkeley. I really hate the hot weather in October. Give me cold crisp Autumn days and leaves under my feet. It is this time of year that I really miss New England. Oh boo hoo hoo. 

I am good in general. Work is low stress. I saw a job on the web that I am both interested in and qualified for so I think I might apply for that. I have strange overtures from my landlord here - he has asked me if I want to do a buy out of my rent control tenancy and I am seeing what to do about that and researching that. His number is way lower than my number, of course so I doubt that this will work out. But it is a little stressful and ominous on that front. I spend a lot of time looking at Bay Area housing which I cannot afford and trying to figure out if I can get him to a number that would be worth it. I am only posting about this here on LJ so any Facebook peeps should not mention this there. This is totally hush hush. The rental board says I don't have to do anything and I can refuse his offer. 

So I am spending a lot of time right now thinking about scenarios that might never happen and looking at the unbelievably expensive housing in the Bay Area. If I could get enough money to pay for a house of my own - that would make it worth it. 

Anyways. That is my biggest worry right now. So that is something. Could be a big deal or it could be a big nothing. I have lived in my apartment for 24 years - almost half my life. I love my apartment. So there is that too. Also - my rent is well below market rate. That is worth preserving. 

Anyhoo. Just thinking onto the journal. This is not keeping me up at night or anything but if I could improve my situation - that would be good. 

Hope all is well with you there.

I have started making graphics again at the following LJ comms - 
thyncke_phyncke
enchanted sea
enchanted realms

Just for fun. Hope to see you there!

<a href="http://s208.photobucket.com/user/phyncke_graphique/media/My%20Work/Blinkie%20Gallery/devikagoth-bl-sample-phyn-1_zpsd08cb58f.gif.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/phyncke_graphique/My%20Work/Blinkie%20Gallery/devikagoth-bl-sample-phyn-1_zpsd08cb58f.gif~original" border="0" alt=" photo devikagoth-bl-sample-phyn-1_zpsd08cb58f.gif"/></a>

And all through the house...

Well there is just me here but I am stuck in my house as today there is a Cal Football game - not just any game but THE BIG GAME between Cal and Stanford. Thousands of people will descend upon my neighborhood and be obnoxious. I cannot move my car because there are no parking spaces to be had. It is just - well - inconvenient. I am staying in the neighborhood and will do things within a walk of the house. I can go to CVS - do laundry and might just get my nails done as something to do for me. My nails look terrible and have for a while. I would love to have my nails done. So I might.

So next week is the big gobble - Thanksgiving. I am going to try and eat reasonably. I am doing this thing called - Maintain - Don't Gain. And I don't want to gain weight this holiday season. In fact, I would like to lose a couple of pounds this holiday season. So I am going to try that. Maybe one pound.

I am having a friend over for Gobble Day and we are going to have chicken and sides from Whole Foods. We will watch movies. I am going to see if we can do some walking that day and get some exercise. That sounds healthy. Then Friday we are going mini-golfing and then Saturday I don't know what is up.

Tonight I am going to see Hunger Games Mockingjay 1. I am kind of excited about it. I really like this series and read all of the books. So that is cool. The books were great and I read them pretty fast.

Anyhoo. Work is work. My supervisor has a work style that is really alienating. She likes to do everything at the very last minute - with very little planning. This is not really my work style. I like to do things with planning and well in advance. So - getting used to skin-of-the-teeth things here. It is pretty stressful and not that comfortable. I am going to look around and apply for other jobs. I am not liking how things are going.

Anyways - hope all is well with you where you are and I have caught up on reading LJ - just not commenting much. I have lots of graphics to make so I might do that today. Get on my old XP PC and do that. La.

See you around and have a great weekend!


by autumn_mist at juicy_grapes on livejournal

Things seem a bit better today. I was super productive and adopted a no stick attitude. I have decided to be impervious to things that happen and work more on getting out of my current position. This shift in thought put me in a better frame of mind. I also was super productive and I got a lot of things done on bitchetta's event. I am professional and would never let her thing effect how I perform on a project. That is how I roll.

Anyhoo. Glad, I am that it is Friday.

So my old PC has decided to crap out on me. I think it is finally dying. I do have another computer (a mac) but the PC was my graphics making machine so not sure what I am going to do about making graphics right now. I cannot decide if I should replace the PC or not. What do people with macs do about making graphics? Are there programs out there for the mac? Just checking.

So that is about it from this end. Thanks to everyone for the supportive comments on my last post. Really appreciate it.


by portus at blinkiedoodles on livejournal.com

And having an evening cup of coffee. Woo hoo. Party party. Friday night! Go me! Made it on my Keurig. It tastes good too. Green Mountain something or other.

So I got my new timesheets at work which confirms that my reclass went through. I get to delete my hourly ones and fill out these new ones. I only have to put in time off I take and no longer have to report hours worked. I am exempt! Wootly woo! Professional person me! That rocks! My HR person is working on my raise so will see where that goes.

I am looking forward to the weekend and made some cool icons from papers tonight. They came out well. All different and interesting. I have to remember to look back on my gallery as Agie reminded me tonight, I have some pretty things on there that I have no offered. I guess I move forward and forget what I have there. I have 831 icons there so that is a lot!

Happy weekend to everyone on my flist. Hope you are enjoying your night. Here is a pic I shared on facebook and just adore. I thought I would post it here and send this out to you all here. Just love this.

I made this today and thought I would share it. This doll is so very Aegnor to me. He kills it!











I just love him! His hair could be a little spikier but it pretty much works. Sharp Flame, the Fell Fire! Font is Ringbearer to keep with the Tolkien theme.

Not taking requests, I am just sharing what I made. Please don't ask for this one.

Here is the guy with his underoos. Woo. Our guy Ryan...he has a lovely arm here. Hot.

*Not safe for work*

( More this way... )

In other news...

Work is going well but I am starting to make inquiries about other, higher paying positions on campus. This is to think about my future, retirement level etc. I have a phone interview for a specialist position on Monday at lunch and will see what happens with that. Woot. What I really want to do is negotiate my current position into a better paid set up. So wish me luck!

This weekend seems to be the weekend for all sorts of online tangles. Not going into it just not positive interactions. I guess it happens sometimes...not fun. Mainly over graphics which makes that really not fun. Oh wells.

Other than that, things are good. Laundry on the plan today and food shopping. Getting some things done for the week. --Cheers.


by dinoraurx

Here is today's selection of Bunday material. A worthy one, black and white from Dylan Rosser. Rafael.

*Not safe for work!*

( Here he is... )

I have been having a calm and quiet weekend. It is raining today which makes me want to do indoor projects. I did an exercise walk yesterday. I think I will work on house projects. I might venture out to do some errands etc.

Next week I am taking a mini-vacay to the Seattle area to go to some hockey games with khylea and her folks. The Silvertips are the local Everett, WA team up there and my inner Aegnor really loves to watch the rough and tumble-ness of the game. Slammin and all that. I used to watch hockey when I was a kiddo in Boston -- back when the Boston Bruins were a dynasty so I really love hockey. Hockey players are in super shape and skating is fun to watch. Woot.

So that is my plan, getting ready for my trip and other things. I am taking a break from some of my graphics commitments and stepping back on that. Too much computer time and stuff. So I will do less on that and come back to that in March.

I expect to get my SV story back from beta any minute now and will be working on that to get that submitted. I hope to finish that before my trip.

So that is my update and hope you are having a good weekend.


by cherany

New material on the "We Love Guys" site. This makes me happy as I was running out of material on my stomping grounds. This one is pleasing to the eye, and that is for sure.

*Not safe for work!*

( Here he is! )

In other news...

Hope you all changed your clocks. It is the fall back thing. So extra sleep. I love that.

Today, I am going to get my nails done and then I have this empowerment yoga workshop for the afternoon. I am finding it really good. It combines some group work and the yoga thing. Really good activity. This meeting is our long 5 hour one so woo.

I am getting more comfortable with the new dresser here so that is working out. Adjusting.

Also--to let those of you know who know my graphics work, I am taking the month of November off from that due to neck and shoulder strain and will be back doing that in December if I heal up well.

Cheers and hope you all had a good weekend.

Green things...

My cat has a green collar, I have a green back back, a green tote bag, I wore a green shirt, my iphone case is green...uhhh...I have green plants in my house. So no pinching me!

:P

I want to feature the graphics I requested for St. Patrick's Day as a greeting to my friendslist today:

By sweetkisses13:


By darklingfae:

By deaana:

By aglarien:

By partyofive:



By nienna_weeper:

By bethie_p:


A big thank you to these talented makers for my really cool graphics. I wanted to feature them all in this post today. :)

Cheers and hope you all had a suitably green day!