Barking Mad

Why I'll Never Be a Professional Animal Photographer

1. I lack the patience to run upstairs and get one of my good, professional DSLR's.  Instead, I grabbed my point-n-shoot!  The result...blurry photos because the dang thing is too freaking slow! 

2.  Geronimo thinks I might make a tasty snack as evidenced by him licking his lips and the expression on his face.  That's what I get for expecting him to pose with a flower. The chances of being a decent animal photographer when your subject wants to eat you lessen the chances anyone will ever see the finished product!

 

3. I obviously lack any decent "cat-whisperer" skills, like the fabulous Nap Warden and her ever-patient Smokey.   Geronimo immediately rolled over when I put the "cat necklace" on him, which made taking a photo, a decent one anyhow, nearly impossible! Trying to get him to pose was about as likely to happen as me being the next Miss America!  Oh and yeah, that really is a "cat necklace"...or that's what the package at Petco said it was.  Although, I'm pretty slow and that could have been code for "The perfect accessory to make your feline despise you and plot your ultimate demise!"

 

4.  I'm pretty sure, by the look on his face in this next shot, that he's conspiring with Griffy and Gracie, our other two cats in residence, to commit some dastardly deed that ends up in me falling down the stairs or meeting my fate some other gruesome way! 

 

5.  Almost immediately after I took that last photo of Geronimo; Griffy jumped up on the couch and rolled over in what is typically his, "Human! Come rub the belly!" position.  But I'm no dummy!  

 

...I knew what he was really saying was, "Come on, I dare you in 3...2..1...CLAWS!" 

And to think that I had delusions of taking pictures of big cats like lions...or tigers and maybe even some bears!  OH MY!

 

I Don't Care What She was Thinking, I Like It!

A few days ago when I opened my browser and landed on my homepage, which happens to be Yahoo.com I happened to see a picture of Katie Holmes that was slapped up on their "Today" section. Underneath the photograph of Katie Holmes was something to the effect of her having a major fashion disaster.  Normally I don't give too much thought, or time to the goings-on in Hollywood or celebrity fashion and I'm not particularly intrigued with Katie Holmes or her couch-kamikaze husband, Tom Cruise.  However, for some reason I decided to click on the article and what popped up under Yahoo's omg!What Were they Thinking?! section was this photo of Katie...

 

Just to reiterate, I don't really follow Katie Holmes or fashion.  So, admittedly, perhaps I'm really out of touch with what's going on, fashion wise.  Having said that, I have to be honest, when I first looked at this picture and her wardrobe ensemble I didn't see anything wrong with it.  As a matter of fact, I immediately thought of Audrey Hepburn and how I recalled seeing photographs of her looking absolutely stunning in similar outfits.  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis came to mind as well.  Both were absolute fashion icons outside of their celebrity status and no one ever would have thought twice about the classic lines of an outfit similar to this, that they wore. 

Personally, I think it looks great on Katie.  She easily brings images of the former First Lady to mind (isn't she slated to play her in an upcoming bio-film?), and I thought she looked stylish and comfortable.

If Katie had stepped outside in something like the trash that Lady Gaga (call her fierce if you will, but I think some of her outfits are over-the-top ridiculous!) wears, I could perhaps understand her being worthy of a spot on the "What Were They Thinking?!" page.  Then I remembered, this is Hollywood, this is the media, and the clowns that write this stuff are the same ones that probably contribute to the inane notion that if you're of celebrity status and dare to show yourself in broad daylight in anything less than what they deem fashionable, then you're automatically worthy of being asked, "What were you thinking!!!???!!!"

I'm not sure why I felt this was worthy of an entire blog post.  Something about the feature on Katie's outfit just struck me as completely asinine and absurd.  But then, what do I know? I'm just a fat girl who spends too much time sitting on her butt, wishing she could wear the kinds of things Katie wears.

Were I to have the long, slender lines that Katie has, I'd wear the same outfit (especially this time of year, with crisp white linen blouse? You bet!) in a heartbeat.

And thus endeth my journey into the hellish pits of the fashion industry and celebrity gossip rags!  I just had to get that off my chest!

UPDATE -  OK so perhaps I can kinda see some merit in a few of the comments pointing out how ill-fitting her pants are.  Yes, I will admit that a better fit would be nicer looking.  I must be way off on this one.  However, I still stand by my original post.  The outfit is not an overall disaster.  Not in my much-uneducated opinion anyhow. 

 

Quote of the Day - Overcoming Adversity

   

image credit

"A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner."

~English Proverb~

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I know that a quote isn't really considered an entire post, but as rotten as I'm feeling, I hope you'll cut me a little slack as I'm still trying to work my way up to posting more often, in an attempt to get back into the swing of things.  I also really like that painting and the proverb is really apropos for where I am right now in my day to day life.  I need to keep reminding myself that adversity is nothing more than an opportunity in disguise! 

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I spent most of today at my doctor's office being poked, prodded, swabbed, and when they weren't doing all of that, they were taking chest x-rays.

The throat swabs came back negative for strep - something I was really worried about.  My sore throat has taken on epic levels of pain and both lymph nodes in my neck now resemble angry bratwursts.  Seriously folks, they are that big.  Oh, and sore.  And when I swallow, it's like trying to force a bunch of ten-penny nails down my throat. 

After looking at my chest x-rays and talking to a toxic allergen specialist, my doctor thinks that my body is reacting to the black-mold spores I was exposed to when the ceiling in our bathroom collapsed and all those months worth of stagnant water came down along with it.  I was already fighting off a nasty UTI and then bam!  This happens.  Let's be honest...obese people often aren't real healthy and right now my body is waving the white flag of surrender and slowly caving in to everything that comes it's way...despite the baby steps I'm taking to get back on track.  

So, I'll cruise through this valley of potholes and get over it.  I have to tell ya though, I was having a hardcore talk with the Powers That Be after my throat was swabbed and I gagged so hard that I sent the doctor leaping backwards about 5 feet, while she pulled her white coat just a bit tighter around her...I looked up and said, "Yo, PTB, it sure would be nice if you could arrange a way to have an air conditioner dropped off at the house today...it's like 95F+ with 80% humidity and I'm trying to fight this crap out of my body but I am suffocating at home!"   I think I was only kind of half serious.  We had been talking about getting an AC unit, at least for the upstairs because it was well over 100F+ and unbearable.  Our bedroom and the office and loft are all upstairs and it was miserable! However, for the foreseeable time being, buying an air conditioner just wasn't in our budget.

A bit earlier this evening, our landlords phoned and asked if they could come by and do some more work on the bathroom in an effort to continue the repairs.  After warning them that the house looked like a herd of angry wombats had ran through it, I told them it was fine.  Gareth and Gaby buzzed through the house like nothing I have ever seen and did an amazing job of tidying things up.  By the time the landlords arrived it only looked like perhaps a grumpy wombat or two had ambled through the house. 

Well, I'm just going to tell you right here and now that we have absolute ANGELS for landlords.  Not only are they one of the nicest couples I have ever met, they are so kind to Gaby (and Gaby just adores Mrs. Landlord...I think she kind of sees her as a grandma figure and Mrs. Landlord just dotes on Gaby!), and so very nice to us.  Before I knew what they were doing, they were carrying a huge box upstairs in which was a brand new air conditioner!

Thank you Universe, Thank you PTB and Thank God and great landlords that I am about to lay my tired head down on a genuinely cold pillow and not one that I have stuffed with ice packs. Our landlords went on to tell us that if the downstairs area was getting to be a bit too stifling, to let them know and they'd install an even larger unit down there. 

Our landlords really are cooler than the other side of the pillow!