Losing my religion?

Like many Americans who want to reassure themselves that they are "rational" and"open-minded", my beliefs concerning religion, spirituality, and other cosmic ephemera are sketchy and vaguely defined, mutable and about as solid as fresh goat cheese.  Also like many such Americans, I am easily swayed by people I perceive to be "witty" or "cool".  And I like to put stuff in quotation marks to be swotty.  So, basically, like Kevin Smith would say via Chris Rock, I don't have a lot of firm beliefs, but I do have a few ideas.  Maybe.  Sometimes. Kinda.

Who knows if there is a higher power and whether or not it gives a shit about the human race in general or an individual specifically?  No one.  It are not a fact.  Now, I'm not saying I'm ruling out such a divinity, but I certainly stopped asking it directly for guidance a long time ago.  It's not like it ever answered me directly, personally.  Reading a book or a series of books will simply mean that I'm left to decipher my own answer, anyway, right?  So I've decided to switch to something, or rather, someone, a little more...real.

I've decided to try praying to Brian Lynch.  Why?  He's funny.  He's may also be a genius.  He certainly manages to shake a bunch of stuff together and sift out new answers.  After reading his comparison of 30 Rock to The Muppet Show, I figured, why the hell not?  We pray to a perceived being greater than ourselves in order to try to draw to ourselves some quality or essence of that being in order to be more than what we are, for we see ourselves to be inadequate.  What if I want to be as witty as Brian Lynch?  Therefore, perhaps praying to Brain Lynch will imbue me with some of his coolness and I can share quips back and forth with people like Kevin Smith.

I figure it makes about as much sense as any other religion.

Decisions, decisions.

Ever gotten so close to someone else's rock bottom that you could see all the grisly details?  Did it strike you so viscerally that you feel like maybe you'd better change something fast so you don't find out what your own rock bottom looks like?  I think I have.  It was nauseating.

I think I need to give up a lot of toxicity in my life.  Booze, smoking, going out until 4 in the morning like I'm still 17 and don't need the sleep...maybe it's time to grow up.  What if it kills my marriage?  What if in 20 years I look back and the things I regret most aren't that I didn't take every opportunity life threw at me, but that I let what was most important slip through my fingers?  

I've started to write "QUIT" on my arm everyday so I can see it and remind myself that some things are more important than other.  Quite frankly, I think I'm an alcoholic and it needs to stop.  I don't want a lousy chemical to own me.  

Mmmm....tattoos....

So I was thinking about starting a blog for every kind of tat I've ever considered getting that doesn't already have one here on blogspot.  There's already a Batman tattoo blog and a phoenix tattoo blog.  There's a Bettie Page blogspot thing already, so doing a purely Bettie Page tattoo blog seems like overkill.  That way I could get tons of submissions like the Batman one and see what sorts of things people are putting on their bodies in regards to that particular image.  I could do a raven tattoo blog.  Haven't found one of those yet.

Oh!  I never posted pics of my Poison Ivy tattoo!  Check it out, and feel teh envy!

Poison Ivy has always been one of those icons I always wanted to be growing up.  Don't ask me why.  She's a sexy redhead who loves nature and kicks major butt.  Who wouldn't want to be her?  I totally do.

Role Models and Resources for a Better Me

Found a model I can finally fall in love with: Crystal Renn.  She's smokin' hot and a healthy shape and size.  There's someone a gal like me can look at and say, "I want to be healthy so I can look like that."  She looks like a comic book heroine!  On the cover of her book, for example, she looks a bit like Wonder Woman.  Gals like me lose faith they can ever be pretty (read slimmer) again because we see anorexic super-models and think: we have way too far to go to ever get there.  Crystal Renn, however, is an example of hot that just might be attainable.  I'm not built to be a size 2, nor would I want to be.  I like breasts and hips and curves, and you do NOT get those on twiggy super models.  Definitely need to check out her autobiography.

Link to her info on Squiddo, including links to other plus-size models!
Link to her autobiography (I prefer the jacket cover with her in the corset-dress-thing).

Also found a website called Hungry Girl, which is a site devoted to one woman's life-long love of food and her struggle to balance that love with a healthy life-style.  Mainly it's devoted to her low-calorie, low-fat, low-carb finds that still taste great.  I think it will be a good resource as a shopping guide.  She compares the "figure-friendly" recipe with the average example of said food item, and some of the things I take for granted are hella calorie-packed!  She found a way to make a 125 calorie margarita that looks just as tasty as the regular thing (which is 350 calories on average).  I think someone should start a restaurant based on these kinds of recipes.  All kinds of tasty, tasty foods, but at a fraction of the personal cost, if you follow me.

Coraline Costume Final Update

See, I knew I'd slip up and forget to post regularly.  Boo on me.

Anyway, here are some pics from Liv's Halloween as Coraline!  The boots I ordered from Amazon, the shirt was from Wal-mart, the rain jacket I had to order online and it was waaaaaaayyy too big, but who cares?  The wig was six bucks at Gerbes (grocery store), which my mother resized and trimmed to suit Liv.  I made the blue and pink dragonfly clip by finding some dragonfly patches at Wal-mart and sticking on some self-adhesive rhinestones, then super-gluing it to a barrette.  I used a eyeliner pencil to dot on some freckles on her cheeks.

For all our efforts, the silly wig kept slipping back. ^.^

Coraline Costumes Minor Update

So here are a few things I've dug up for Liv's Coraline costume:

Hair:
So far the best hair I've found is an adult's wig at Gerbes.  Here's hoping it will fit Liv.

Shirt:
Not orange and pink, but a good substitute.
Also possible, and better for anyone with older girl.

I feel like I already have a suitable shirt, but it may have been an old shirt that she no longer wears.

Boots:
Perfect boots!

I may skip hair altogeher if I get her a hat.  Mebbe put some blue temp color on the ends.  I dunno.  If I went with the hair and clip combo, I could make my own dragonfly clips. 

Projects of the Comic Kind

Been planning a few webcomic strips.  Not sure if I want to go strip style or page format.  Thinking of very, very, very loosely basing some of the characters off of real life peeps.  You know, taking a bit of this guy and melding him with a smidge of that dude, etc?  Except for the main character, who mostly just be me, only hotter.

I like me.  ^.^

Also considering including a Liv.  Nerdy kids are hilarious.  In fact, two of my strips involve her already.