phyncke

 I just made this icon I am using because I am rewatching Stranger Things on Netflix again. I just love that show. The ensemble cast and the storyline - it is just so good. I really hope they don't ruin it. It is such an amazing show. Anyways. Here is Hopper finding the bug in his house. LOL. All the characters in this show are amazing. Winona Ryder is especially good as Joyce Byers too. Just love her. And the kids. Just good on so many levels. 

So I am finishing up work for the holidays next week. We are done at noon on Wednesday. I have been having knee issues - having pain there and went to an orthopedic surgeon (referred by my doctor) and he wants to do an MRI next week. I am getting that done on Wednesday afternoon. Trying to get this done before the holidays. The ortho (a very handsome man) said I likely don't need surgery so that was good. He will know more with the MRI. I cannot do much with this knee - it hurts to walk any distance at all. So it is impeding my life. Kind of sucks. 

I am doing another pandemic Christmas this year. Not going anywhere - no East Coast trip or anything like that. Staying put and doing not too much. I feel like things are getting bad again with covid and it is better not to risk a plane trip right now. So better not to do that. My dad is in the rehab place recovering from a fall (broken bone) and it just seems better to stay here. So going to do that. I hope to go visit next summer 2022. 

Work is hard to predict. I do all these lectures - not sure if those will actually happen or not - given the pandemic. I saw that Robert Reich just posted that he expects to be teaching remotely this spring - and he teaches at Berkeley - so that is an indicator of how things might go. I have to see what January looks like. So will see. If I have to pull the plug on these lectures - I will do that. Have to be safe. If things keep going this way - I don't think people will want to be in a room with 100's of other people. So there is that. 

So that is all I have. Hope you are doing well there with your holiday preparations. I am looking forward to the turn of the year. Bring on 2022. Let's do that and let this all go. On to better things, I hope. Be well and comments are welcome. 

PS - not sure I have time to do the fiction swap this time. I have to see. I hate sitting out but I have a lot going on with work. 

I made two icons for the release of Batman v Superman - feel free to snag with credit to me.
Cheers!

I have been playing with graphics tonight and realized that July 4th is coming up very fast. I had a nice animated GIF that worked for this holiday and adapted it for this occasion.

Here is the result.



Free for the taking and comments are welcome.

And now I am off to bed.

It is so nice and quiet here in the hills. I really like having a house to myself. You don't realize how much noise there is in the city until it is all gone.

So I have been in correspondence with a 3-D artist. Rogerio Gasi, from Brazil who does wonderful work. He has done renderings of the heraldry of Tolkien's elves, mainly first agers but some others.

Here is an example. I am using Fingolfin as I am a fanatic about him. *grin*



Quite incredible. I am posting this entry with the other version of it that I have seen so you can see the difference. It leaps out at you this way. Just great.

More of these can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/otsoandor/Heraldry.htm

So in all this he gave me a JPEG of one of Tolkien's original sketches of Melian's heraldry and I thought it would be fun to make an icon of it. I know there are lots of Tolkien-peeps on my friendslist, so feel free to grab this if you want it. I am also posting the big picture of the sketch so you can see it. He really was a good artist...I need to look up more of his art.

( Heraldry of Melian as drawn by JRR Tolkien... )

The icon:


With Border:


Credit and comments are always welcome.

So it has been a lovely Friday night so far. It is almost bedtime. Very close in fact. Moments away.

I am house sitting in the hills here and it is so quiet here. In my neighborhood there are sirens and people yelling and just noise in general. Here all I hear are the crickets outside, none of that urban noise that surrounds my apartment by the Avenue. I usually keep music playing most of the time (unless it is late at night) to drown out the sounds of the street. Here it is like being in the country. Sounds like the forest all around. It really is nice.

I spent the evening with the little boy. Well he would not say he is little, he is eleven. This one goes to eleven. We watched Sponge Bob. Had mac and cheese. Made smores in the microwave and played silly video games for a while. I let him stay up hours past his bed time because I am the cool "auntie" and I can allow that while his regular units are away. *nod* We can sleep in tomorrow.

The Saturday agenda is Our Day of Fun. Here it is:

1. Morning cartoons while Jane becomes functional over coffee.
2. Big brekky of french toast.
3. Lounging.
4. Video games.
5. More lounging.
6. Off to lunch at the mall.
7. Movie....Open Season.
8. Book store.
9. Schmei at the mall.
10. Forage for food at the mall.

This seems to be a packed, exhausting sort of day. I think I better get to bed so I can be well rested. He he he.

Take a gander at my new icon. I took the piccie with the camera phone. The pumpkins were at the local supermarket and I think it came out nicely. *preens*

Good night all.