fenrisdelapena's Profile

I like the way it looks, but animal fur around food kind of grosses me out. I'm pretty sure it stems from my family butchering their own food when I was a kid, but animal remains (of any sort) around food just screams 'unfinished butchering job' instead of design. Don't get me wrong, I've got a sheepskin at the foot of my bed - it's just around food that it skeeves me out.

I feel bad for finding this so funny. First the actual post, then the comments - just what I needed after a long day. Thanks guys! <3 Hey, everyone goofs now and then, right? :)

Aww...well, I do live with my mom (double-full-time student) and honestly? Now that we're both super-busy I kind of miss her being around. My only complaint in living with her is that she's majorly into feng shui, so every time I put up anything decorative I have to clear the meaning/elements/color with her first. Her career bagua (sp?) has been the biggest challenge. I have stuff to put there, sure - but none of it is 'career-friendly' apparently. At least she lets me organize my room the way I want it, head of the bed under a window and all. :P

Oh, boy -

Well, the last place I lived in was advertised as a three-bedroom. Third bedroom was an attic, which we viewed during the winter. Summer hit and I found out that the attic? NO. INSULATION. AT. ALL. You could see the seams of the plywood they used for the walls...

Also, the water heater broke like, three times because the landlord was convinced he could DIY that. :S

Now I've got only three very minor 'issues' in what is generally an AMAZING home which I <3 to pieces.

Weirdness 1: The closet in the master bedroom is kind of like a box built up against the wall. Which is fine. Except there's this weird space above it - not quite small enough to be unobtrusive, not quite big enough to make for proper storage.

Weirdness 2: There is NO storage in the bathroom. None. So someone cut a hole into the wall and extended a sort of cubbyhole through the bathroom wall and into the hallway closet. Except they took the shelving with them when they left. So it's kind of just like a ridiculously deep and long cavern in the bathroom wall. Easily fixed with a plank of wood, brackets, and a curtain - but it's weird...

Weirdness 3: You know that awful popcorn ceiling texture? Well, when they built the office add-on, they apparently got sick of the lovely wainscotting three-fourths of the way in and went batshit with the texture. A whole wall of it. Floor to ceiling. My solution was to paint it a dark, matte color, put floor-to-ceiling bookcases and cover up the rest with a big canvas.

AWESOME! Giving and being classy while doing it. I know having beautiful and functional surroundings which are more like an actual home would do wonders for a family's inspiration and a person's sense of self-esteem. Like Joan in SB said, not feeling like you're in an institution. Love the beautiful design and the creativity with such small space too, omg. <3

'For god's sake the world is a VERY violent place, and if you want to hybernate in your little pink bubbly world, by all means feel free to remain ignorant.'

I don't live in a little pink bubbly world, thank you very much. I'm a nursing student - I've seen people who have been stabbed, beaten, raped, shot, neglected (elderly), car accidents, entirely non-malicious but still violent accidents (ladder falls, saw accidents, et cetera) you name it. I have a friend who's going into the Air Force. I'm from the Philippines, and there are many struggling people well below the poverty line there. I come from a family who suffered and barely scraped by alive during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. I have a friend who had to flee the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The stuff I've seen her go through and the things she's told me (and my family has told me) inspires incredible respect for them.

I am extremely aware that the world can be a VERY violent place. I have respect for that and it is my life's work to heal that violence in people's lives, one person at a time, even if it's just a little, tiny bit.

So that's why when I see things like grenades (and bullets as necklaces/belts, and idealized war images), I find it abhorrent *for my own style*. I do not insulate myself from it in my own home, either - I have cut-outs of articles regarding homelessness, war, AIDS-prevention, books on these subjects, and other items around my home, to remind me to do my damned best in school. However, *I personally* find written pieces and tasteful photographs much more respectful of the subject than using grenades to decorate. It is the way I perceive it, and I totally understand that other people will perceive it differently.

I fully understand the artistic sense of turning an image of violence into a thing of beauty, and for those people? Rock on. However, just because I find it unsettling FOR MY OWN DWELLING SPACE does NOT mean I - and the others who share my opinion - are ignorant of the realities of the world, ffs.

*steps off soapbox*

thebev - that'd be so cool. Maybe a matte wall with semigloss stencil? <3 I just finished painting the bathroom and now I want to go back. Hmm...

I've kept bettas for many, many years, and I've had a couple shipped to California from Thailand. (for you aquabidders, if Chaba is still selling, he's awesome and his stock is beautiful! Oh, and Linda (the in-between), if she's still around, takes excellent care of the fishies - darn near spoils them, I'd say - packages them amazingly well, and even includes an adorable betta fish magnet with the shipment. :D )

Betta fish can survive in small environments, sure. Just like you can, technically, survive in a 4x4 room without a toilet. Ideally, they should be treated like any other tropical warmwater fish - 1 gallon per inch of fish, kept at a steady temperature. I kept mine in 2.5 gallons with a mini heater, and they lived 4 years with regular water changes and suctioning out poop and food with a turkey baster every day. It's easier than keeping a litter box, that's for sure.

The whole 'you can keep them in cups' myth stems from finding them in small puddles in rice paddies *during the dry season*. They can survive that way because they can breath straight air from the surface via the labyrinth organ, but that's a worst-case scenario coping technique. The rainy season relieves them of permanently living in that environment.

Believe me, you keep a betta fish in a good environment with a good diet (and include some shiny things - seriously, I've seen healthy fish roll marbles across the floor of their tank and other such cute things. Why? I don't know), their coloration is brighter, and they display more natural and inquisitive behavior. You keep them in a crappy container, they die off, get sick, and some start ripping their own fins apart. Honestly? It's the humane thing to do. No one NEEDS a fish, so if someone gets a fish, that fish should be taken care of. A 2.5 gallon tank takes up almost NO room and is still beautiful with the right decoration.

Sorry for the rambling - I'm a bit of a fish geek. :P

I Love Upstate - I hear ya. When I was doing heavy graphic work, I did it on a mac. Now that I'm in school and most of my creative work is writing, I don't see any reason why I need more than a $400 netbook since all I really use is word processing, music, movies, and internet. So I sold my macbook and got one. <3

ShopgirlCA - Mac hasn't come out with a netbook yet, and I have NO intention of hauling around anything close to a standard laptop textbooks supplies every day. If they come out with something similar to an HP mini, then maaaybe - if I have enough dough at the time. <3 I'm still very leery of the iPad. It looks cool, but I don't know how practical it is, so I'm waiting to hear from other people before I look into it. :)

From PC, to Mac, then right back to PC. Personal preference. Just sayin'.