I'm Special (Ed.)

Today I helped my parents deliver thanksgiving plates to people around town who either didn't wanna cook or had nowhere to go.  This plan came about 3 years ago by Debbie Cox (totally awesome woman!) and her husband Ricky Cox (totally awesome man!)  I do enjoy volunteering and helping people out regardless of if they need it or if they just want it.  Most of the time I really don't like people.  I got really annoyed this morning at McDonald's.  They had the Macy's Thanksgiving stuff on TV and there was an awesome performance by who I think was the Broadway cast of Billy Elliott.  Anywho, there's a part in the dace where Billy's friend hands him a tutu and he starts dancing with the fluffy pink skirt on.  At which point this group of men sitting next to the TV started making fun of this little "gay" boy as they called him.  I wanted to stab my own eyeballs out with my straw.  I can see where that misconception would come in, dude in a skirt=gay dude.  What annoyed me was that these kids were putting on an AMAZING performance and here are these old farts making fun of the "gay kid".  Not saying damn those kids sure can dance or Gee whiz! what a fun show!  Just got on my nerves a bit.

Anyway, I documented delivering the T-Day dinners in the form of status updates on my facebook.  You can read the story below:

Leona 'Sunnydale' Ryder Today we find our hero on an epic journey delivering thanksgiving plates to those in need! What perils await this brave warrior?

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  Leona 'Sunnydale' Ryder The first leg of the journey brought my crew and I to the county jail! We pulled into the sally port and made haste with our delivery, barely escaping certain doom! Onward knights!!!

  • Leona 'Sunnydale' Ryder The stress is taking its toll on the crew. Dissention is beginning to break out.
    

    
    
    

    Leona 'Sunnydale' Ryder After receiving a message of goodwill from a mysterious stranger, we came upon a wizard with a beard down to his waist. He wished us well as we were entering the zone of no return...to face the evil Prince of Nowhere!!!

    
    
    
    

    Leona 'Sunnydale' Ryder The final battle was fought! Our heroic crew has survived with minimal injury. Now for a feast of meat and ale!

    
    

    I made my T-day a total adventure!  I think I'm going to do this more often....or are those the first symptoms of Schizophrenia?

Finished Portrait!

I finished a portrait for a friend of mine and her husband.  I'm pretty happy with it...so HERE IT IS:

I'm about to start a few more portraits of my bestie's children and the above couple's dogs! Exciting!  This was my first portrait drawn from real people.  Most of the time when I draw I use animated faces or comic book faces for reference.  This particular work was really an experiment for me to see if I could draw someone real who actually looked like the person.  The end result is satisfactory to me so I've decided to continue working on this skill and hopefully I'll continue to get better as I go!

Sheet Music "Poker Face" Cover

Finally I have posted the sheet music for the cover of "Poker Face" I did a while back.  I transposed it to Aminor I think the actual song is in G# minor which made it really difficult on trombone...(I didn't want to practice that much.)  Anywho here ya go ;)!

Xanadu....

....was the beginning of the apocalypse. I finished this Painting!  OK finished is a strong word.  I'm not exactly happy with it so it's going to have to hang on my wall until I get annoyed enough to fix it.  The faces are very awkward, and willow's whole vibe is completely off.  Other than that, it's great.  In over my head seems to be a common trend with me lately.  I keep saying yes to things that I honestly don't know I can do.....so far I've been successful.  My qualm is will there be a fall? and how hard will it be if there is one?  Honestly I'm at a point I haven't been at in a LONG time.  Everything is functioning properly....though I am skeptical that it will last.  Because it's a scientific impossibility to think life will not ebb with the tide, I'm not putting faith in it staying this way.  I'm entering a song or two in a songwriting competition. Wish me luck!

News and Stuff!

My dad went to the grocery store to buy chicken.  When he saw the price of a package of chicken breasts, he asked the butcher if that price included the bra!  Which brings me to my point...my parents are HILARIOUS!

That being said I have a few pieces of news from the past week.  FIRST off, I tried HIP's energy drink called Pink.  Initial thoughts--Delicious!  Tastes like grapefruit.  Wonderful.  Anywho, the real excitement came from the slow rise in energy with no sudden drop off.  No jitters, no crash.  Just the right amount of energy to keep me alert and sharp.  I absolutely LOVE this product.  If you're interested in trying or buying you can contact me and I will get you in touch with my sales rep.

SECONDLY, I saw a UFO last night.  It was weird and I thought it was a flock of birds.  Basically what I saw was a V formation 4 lights on the left side, but only 3 lights on the right.  All were evenly spaced and didn't change their spacing in the couple of seconds I saw them.  It flew overhead pretty quickly so I ran across the street to get a better view and it was gone.  Really odd experience.  May have been birds...just awfully quiet birds.

Thats all for now...more later...much much more!

Somebody Has to Say It

Today my dad commented during a conversation that "kids don't wanna work these days".  At the time I just brushed it off, no big deal; but the more I've stewed over it, the angrier that simple comment has made me.  It's strange to me how the older generation looks down on us as lazy.  Why? Because instead of working out in the sun we tend to go more for inside jobs that are physically less demanding.  My generation (twenty-somethings) definitely goes more for technology and computers than getting out and digging ditches.  NOBODY wants to dig ditches! NOBODY wants to be out in the sun all day.  The only reason people still do it is because you can make pretty good money doing those types of jobs.  Therefore, if you can make the same amount of money if not more sitting on your ass playing with technology, why not?!  Sounds like a lot more fun to me.  Work doesn't have to be miserable in order to be considered work.  That's my rant for today.

In the Verse

My latest project  is a band called In the 'Verse.  The original idea came from me being a HUGE Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan.  I started writing a story for fun about the slayer after Buffy.......many many years later actually.  Out of that story I started noticing certain parts of my story were written more like songs.  Since then, the idea has completely morphed into it's own entity, not set in the Buffyverse at all.  So now I'm working on writing and recording a series of concept albums that will accompany the story.....which I hope to release in comic book form as well as online video and art.  If you know any good comic artists send them my way!


I'm also looking for band members and/or tour musicians lead guitar, keys, drums, bass....maybe an extra rhythm/lead guitarist so.....w00t!  Overall I'm shooting for an indie pop/rock sound a la Deathcab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley, Tegan and Sara, and Eisley.


I'm also working on some solo songwriting which I will be posting on my solo myspace  sometime in the near future.


OOH and I recently bought the five season set of Angel.  I LOVE IT!  I mean I'd already seen the whole series before, but now I'm rewatching and taking notes.  I'm already on season 3.  Joss Whedon is the source of much of my inspiration.