NaBloPoMo

So somewhere along the path today, I stumbled across this site (okay, so I know how I got there....I went from one blog to the next, and that lead me to yet another, and at some point, here's this icon on someone's blog talking about how they'd just signed up for NaBloPoMo).

What is it you might possibly ask? (Even if you didn't think to ask, it's okay...I've got your back....I'll tell you anyway.) It's National Blog Posting Month! Duh!

"NaBloPoMo is an alternative to November's NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, the program wherein you crank out a novel in thirty days.

Post every day for the month of November. That's it. The deadline for getting your url on the participants list below is, oh, let's say November 1 at 11:59 p.m. Not that I'll be up that late, waiting, but that will be your last chance to get your first day's post in. No cheating and backdating posts, either. You're on your honor."

They have all sorts of prizes that are being given away at the end of the month by random drawings (the shirt above is one of them). The list of participants is 'huge' and within a few minutes I found a couple new blogs to keep an eye on occasionally. The good thing about these is that they'll be posting for the next 30 days, at least, so it won't be like some of the random sites/blogs I run across where they seem really interesting....and then they're not updated for a month and I've already lost interest by then. Don't get me wrong...I'll lose interest in most of these, too, but at least I'll have something to base my interest off.

And look at the buttons they have for participants to use:

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Changes for November/NaBloPoMo '07

So NaBloPoMo has officially started and while most people took yesterday to reintroduce it and do some chit chat about the event, I decided to hold off. I made a few changes around here, but nothing too noticeable.

...well, except for the fact that I am officially back from my month of pink! It feels so good to be blue again. I noticed on one of the sites I'm a member of that I still have a screenshot of my first layout/color scheme posted. I definitely like this one better, but I'm thinking it's about time for a new banner, too. I may put together something specifically for the holidays later on and then work out a new semi-permanent one later.

My sidebars have changed a bit, too. I didn't have much of a blogroll here because I read blogs through other places and generally just talk about the blogs I like here, so I got rid of the few listed. I tidied up the "other places to visit" section, too....some of the sites didn't even exist any more and it was just taking up room.

I've added in the NaBloPoMo participant badge on the side and there's some talk about a survivor badge for afterward, so this is a nice placeholder. I really don't like having so much in the side bars, but I'm not ready to lose it all yet either....at least it's not splattered with ads instead, right?

On a slightly different note, I've considered getting my own domain. I like Blogger, to be honest, minus a few little disadvantages, but from my involvement on some blog forums, it keeps coming up how it's sometimes better to have your own domain. At this point, it's not like QuirkyJessi is really headed anywhere big, but at the same time, it'd be kinda nice to start working on traffic 'now' to my own domain instead of getting my .blogspot.com address so built up and then starting over. I'm not sure. What do you guys think? Have any suggestions for a good place to buy the domain and host a site of my own? The cheaper, the better, of course, because I don't use ads, but at this point, I'm just browsing around.

~Edit~ One of the main reasons that sparked this post, I didn't even talk about. I also added a Bookmark button to my post layout so that you can see it at the end of each post. If you scroll over the top of it, you'll notice that it'll pop up a list of other sites you can bookmark the posts at (all the major ones are there: Digg, StumbleUpon, Del. icio.us). I've never used them much, but I know other people love them, so I thought I'd make it easy on y'all. Also, you guys know I'm all about linky love, so if you happen to place something of mine there, I'll return the favor in some way or another.

NaBloPoMo! Consider this Quirky Art Month

Or maybe not Quirky Art Month....QAM doesn't sound that cool, huh? Month of Art Quirkiness - MAQ? Or just QUIRKY -- Quirkiness United In Revealing Kaleidoscopic Yodels.

Yeah, I like that one. Hey, don't tell me there's no yodeling here. Yodel: a songlike cry in which the voice fluctuates rapidly between the normal voice and falsetto. Come on, I do that all the time. One second you're reading words normally and all of a sudden, I'm throwing in exclamation points and rambling through words of excitement! You can imagine just how high-pitched my internet voice gets! I totally yodel and you know it. :P And this place is certainly a kaleidiscope....and I reveal quirkiness all over the place, united all in one place here at Quirky Jessi.

You know it fits. You just think I'm crazy for thinking so. And that's why I love you, hehe.

Anywho, I'd been going through all my links and catching up on newsletters and saved sites, etc, when I started sorting some things into categories to save myself from an even larger mess than I already had. I was planning to split this month of NaBloPoMo into 4 "category" weeks. So each week was going to be a different subject or theme. I have folders for everything from advertising to videos (there's no w, x, y or z because things like "zebra" fell into the "animal" category and who would've predicted that I'd be blogging about yodeling, huh?).

About 4 days into my project of going through all this stuff, getting caught up, and starting a nice little backstock of blog posts, though, my "art" folder was overflowing already. It even had subcategories like "photography" within and I realized that if I was ever going to get through this folder of amazing artwork (I'd already pruned it down quite a bit from my original pruned pile of "oh, that's pretty/beautiful/interesting/*insert generic adjective here* to "this is really quirky-worthy"), then there was no way I could sum it all up in just 7 posts.

So I'm not. I'm writing up this draft back on September 24 and I'll probably tweak it by the time I actually publish for the first of NaBloPoMo, but I already have 40+ links/pieces/artists/creative works of "stuff" that I'd like to share. It'll probably get trimmed down more or I'll meld together my categories into even smaller categories so that some of my posts will feature more than one somewhat similar thing/place/animal/vegetable/mineral.

We'll see. But for now, my theme for the month is going to be "art" related. And remember that people view different things as "art" so some might not look like art to you, but they'll still be here.

Here it is, folks. The beginning of posting every day for month. Want to participate yourself or see others who are doing it? Go here.

NaBloPoMo Is Over and I Survived---Now What?

Yep, it's over. And as much as I enjoyed participating, I know my content dropped here. Yes, I know, there's not much "content" to speak of anyway, but some of the things I posted usually would've come fully equipped with witty commentary and quirky descriptions. Instead, I resorted to posting short things.

The funny thing is, it's not because I didn't have more to say or that NaBloPoMo was stressing me or anything. It was more like....I knew I was going to have to be posting every day and I was afraid I'd run myself thin by the end....which somehow lead me to be "thin" all month long so I didn't have to think about it. And there were days where I had 2 or 3 posts I wanted to make, but then I'd tell myself to wait until the next day, but then not have time to put the effort into them that I wanted.

And now that the month is over, my "Things to Blog" folder is just as full as ever and I still have several things I want to talk about. Notice I said "talk about"....so they won't necessarily be the quick posts you guys have gotten used to. They won't be a mile long either, but there are some quirky products I'd like to toss out there to you guys with a bit more than "hey, click this link...it's cool," lol.

For now, though, this is my last post of the event and we'll be back to regularly posting a few times a week with a bit more emphasis on each post. Thanks for sticking with me and I hope you all had fun. :)

NaBloPoMo Again Already....and I'm Doing It!

Okay, so I did it. I signed up to participate in NaBloPoMo. If you were with me last year, then you heard me ramble about it a few times. Basically, a bunch of bloggers sign on to blog every day of the month, and that month just happens to be November. It may not seem like much, but it's a difficult task and takes lots of commitment. There's no cheating allowed....no skipping a day and making it up by posting twice the next day. Nope. Every day. Period.

Along with meeting lots of great people and stumbling across tons of new fascinating blogs thanks to a randomizer feature (Half of the current blogs I read are a result of browsing through them last year and it'll greatly hinder my performance this year, especially considering how many other things I have going on to deal with).....there are also prizes offered.

I had a lot of fun last year browsing through everyone else's fun, so this year, I thought I'd give it a go. I figure it might just be the kick in the butt I need to sort through all this crap I have sitting here, waiting to be blogged...but I'm not blogging! We'll see, right? I'll have a huge research project, midterms, finals prep, work, and life in general to deal with next month, so who knows if I'll actually have the time and dedication to put into it.

Who am I kidding? Blogging is so much more important than ace-ing my classes, hehe.

Nablopomo 2009 -- Should I even bother?

For a while now, I've been posting every other day, for many reasons.

NaBloPoMo is something I discovered early on in my blogging days, though, and it holds a certain sentimental value to me, even though I completely disagree with what it's become and it's no longer what it originally was.

I've started writing up some posts and at this point, I'll be doing a gaming theme. Last year I did an art theme and a had a lot of fun compiling 30 posts specifically for that, so I think I could do the same with a quirky gaming theme. If nothing else, maybe it'll get some of this Nintendo posting out of my system.

NaBloPoMo....The End

Well, it is officially December 1, and that means that NaBloPoMo is over. I was amazed how many people committed to doing this, and I obviously expected many to fall out of the running...but I did not expect 'that' many people to stop posting everyday. Yeah, it's a hard thing to do, but considering only those who truly thought they could do it were likely to add their name, it was crazy to see some people fall out of the running within a couple days, and sad to see those who made it 3/4 of the way before having to drop. Life happens....I don't see not blogging everyday to be a failure, to say the least. I just found it interesting to watch. I'll be even more interested to see the final tally of who made it all the way through and how the prizes are distributed.....it's nice to see them rewarded for their efforts, and even some of them who missed a day or two, kept on trudging because they got their own personal benefits out of it. I met a lot of great people through this contest, so I'll continue to read some of their blogs on a regular basis from now on. This post really doesn't have a real point, other than to acknowledge that it's over and say congrats to those who made it, so yeah, yay!

(The picture is a lurker, by the way, because that's what I did since I couldn't participate....I did leave a lot of comments along the way, but for the most part, I just watched and read....)

And we're back - NaBloPoMo Quirky Cookery

Yep, as planned, I focused on Quirky Cookery this last month to post every single day for the entire month. I've done Nablopomo on this site the last few years, but I had a lot of fun shifting the focus to showing you guys how much I play with my food. Well, and how much other people play with theirs, too, hehe. 

If you haven't been checking in over there, here's a taste of what you missed just from the pictures:

Be sure to hop on over there for hundreds of fun food posts and subscribe if you want some food-induced giggles on a regular basis. :)

 

 

 

Care for some cats?

How about some food instead? Or maybe some life tips and tricks?

Well it's a new year and I've gradually been working through all the fun stuff I have to share for you. Back in September and October, I did a lot of viewing, reading, deleting...and sorting.

If you remember NaBloPoMo back in November, it was all about art. Well guess what? I have a dozen or so other folders full of fun, hehe. No, I'm not going to do themes for the next 12 months or anything. If I tried doing that, all my current content would be used up, but then I'd have all this years' to get through!

I do have a few things I would like to clump together, though, but not all in one post for each, so I think I'm going to do a few weeks of sequences. I don't want it to get monotonous (can quirky get that way? yikes! I hope not!)

So consider this your warning. I'm getting some major quirkiness out of my bookmarks and into this blog...whether you like it or not! Hope you're ready. :P

The ABCs of QuirkyJessi--Who Is She?

So we're officially over the hump of NaBloPoMo. So far, I've posted mainly short topics, both in an attempt in an attempt not to get bored/stressed by this and to keep people's interests....because most of your randomizers want quick fixes and move to the next blog.

I've had this blog for over a year now and have yet to really talk about myself. To be honest, up until just now, I had every intention of keeping it that way. I have separate identities across the web and although I don't explicitly try to hide them from one another, I don't make it a point to connect the dots either.

It's 4:30 a.m. and I should obviously be sleeping. After tossing and turning for an hour, though, I decided to get up and go through some blogs instead. Why waste my time if it was apparent I wasn't falling asleep, right? I figured I'd quickly get drowsy again and shut my laptop before finishing the journey.

Boy was I wrong.

Instead, I landed on Momisodes' blog and found myself staring at yet another meme. This one caught my attention, though. I still can't put my finger on what it was about it that made me actually skim it for more than 5 seconds, but it did. There's nothing unusual about it--just another chain-letter-in-disguise-reformatted-for-blog-addictees, instructing those who are 'tagged' to write any number of things that have been seen a million times in other memes.

But it was different, wasn't it?

Otherwise, why would I be here during the wee hours of the morning, suddenly wide awake, and getting ready to spend another hour typing up something that most people won't read. After all, you guys want quick fixes.

So after a long year of semi-anonymous blogging, I've decided to tell people a bit about the person behind the name. And if the above babble wasn't enough to convince you of my random irrational reasoning....then I'll just loosely blame it on Sandy, saying that she 'made' me do it. She "tagged" everyone who read the post, so I just had to do it. She even said that she watches who visits the blog and she'd been lurking here soon. So, um, that's a threat, right? Gotta do what I can to avoid the wrath that what surely occur if I didn't heed her warnings. It's like when the chain letters say you'll have bad luck for a year.....yeah, I don't want that, hehe.

(But for the record, I have *never* forwarded an email that even closely resembles a chain letter with horrendous side effects attached. Those things drive me crazy! And memes get rather annoying, too, but this is for a good cause, so bear with me!)

(Now I remember why I write much shorter posts now. When I first started blogging, I was in a phase where I would write between the hours of 3 and 7 in the morning. That's when I tend to ramble, no matter how awake I am.)

Okay, so yeah, right. This is going to be a long enough post as it is without all this rambling. Gah! Onto the rules:

Rules: List a word that describes you for every letter of the alphabet. Offer as much or as little explanation as you wish. Please keep the words positive (for example, don’t use “fat” for F or “lame” for L), and feel free to get creative. Tag as many or as few people as you wish.

A: Ambitious--I always have tons of short and long term goals and work quite hard to accomplish them. I don't expect to "make it big" or become the best at everything, but I've done a pretty good job so far and will continue to work my butt off to succeed at the things I work toward.

B: Busy--Oh boy am I ever busy. My high school friends used to tease me that I was going to have a heart attack by the time I was 21 and would hit my midlife crisis at 25. I used to be such a workaholic and now I'm, well, okay, so I'm still quite the workaholic, but on different things. I only work one job now (instead of 3), and just have several projects going at any one given time.

C: Crazy!--Self-explanatory. Extra tidbit--my first license plate was "CrazyJ 1" because everyone thought I was absolutely nuts on so many levels. I still am, I think. I have some odd habits and phases I go through, too, so it's apparent.

D: Dangerous, Daring, Dirty, Ditsy? Nah, we'll go with Daughter of an amazing mom--Seriously, I couldn't ask for a better one and I don't think I've ever told her that specifically. She knows I think she's great and she's one of my best friends, but words can never express how much she's appreciated.

E: English expert--The English language is pretty screwed up, but somehow, I have a knack for it. You won't see it in this blog really, because I intentionally loosen up my own rules so that it feels more conversational around here and less formal....but if you had me an article or essay to edit, I'll tear it apart with all those rules you never knew existed and will wish didn't exist after I'm done. I'll be nice about it, of course, and in fact, I'll even leave some mistakes, just so it doesn't seem so harsh, but I can pick them up with ease. It's scary sometimes.

F: Fan of chocolate--I used 'crazy' for C, so gotta add it here. I don't eat chocolate often...I don't even crave it much....but I make it clear to most people that I like chocolate and will exaggerate my obsession with hit. Hey, the stuff is good!

G: Giggle-worthy--Hehe. You'll see me use this phrase around here quite often, along with quirky-worthy.

H: Happy--I'm a generally happy person. I was brought up to believe that I have control over myself. I definitely have fits of emotion outside of 'happy' and I'm not one of those overly happy people that are oblivious to the world....but I do my best to keep a positive outlook and take advantage of good moments to enjoy happiness.

I: Indecisive--When it comes to big decisions, I have no problem weighing the options and deciding on the best choice. When it comes to the smaller stuff, though, I have a bad habit of not being able to choose the simplest things. Don't ask me what I want for dinner, what my favorite song is, or what I want to do tonight. I'm more likely to tell you what I don't want/like/need, and leave the rest up to you. Side-note---I'm really struggling with choosing which words to use for which letters, but my ambitious side has made a goal to resist the urge to choose more than one word for each letter, hehe.

J: Jessi!--That's what the majority of people refer to me as now, but I didn't choose the shortened form myself. I also respond to variations of Jen/Jenny/Jennifer, too, because those who can't remember my name, have a 99% chance of calling me one of those. It's never bothered me much, but it's certainly become an adopted nickname, heh.

K: Kitty cats--(Doesn't that make me sound like a third grader?) I've always had a soft spot for cats, although I'm an animal lover, in general. It's not uncommon for me to take on the persona (ironic use, heh) of kitties, too, but I won't give too many details for fear or being deemed crazy. Oh wait....I already did that myself. Nevermind. ;-)

L: Laughable--I love to laugh and I love to make others laugh. It's part of being happy and I truly enjoy seeing others smile...and a laugh is even bigger, so I love it!

M: Make--Okay, I wasn't sure how to word that, so we'll just leave it with one word. I enjoy making things....whether it be Christmas gifts or home cooking meals from scratch. Because I'm so busy, I don't really put that into practice as much as I'd like, but it's still something I enjoy.

N: Naive-breaker--Again, not sure how to make it work, so we'll leave it. I have prejudice against naive people, however, I have no problem bursting their little bubbles and telling it how it is. Sometimes I do it carefully, but other times, I'll be as blunt as possible and really put them into shock....and for those who I choose to do the later, they always appreciate it in the end.

O: O-H....I-O!--For those who get this, great. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, no, I wasn't born and raised in Ohio. I do, however, attend school there currently and was brain-washed to yell I-O every time I hear O-H.

P: Procrastinator--I'm stealing Momisode's here. I put things off till the last minute, no matter how much I try to plan it out to do it sooner. I have a 20 page Lit Review due Monday and I'm sitting here at 5:15 a.m. blogging. What gives? Lol. Also, I'm getting my degree in journalism, which is pathetically ironic considering I'll be expected to hit deadlines on a daily/weekly basis. It's just another one of those incidences where I'm doing something that pushes me further than what my procrastinating side would like, heh.

Q: Quirky!--Okay, so you can't tell me you didn't see this one coming. I have so many little quirks that I could probably go through these ABCs with a list of quirky things about myself alone. Maybe that's what I should've done. Hmmm.

R: Responsible--I think I took on a greater sense of responsibility at birth. Yes, it was me who brought myself into this world and not my mother's pushing, heh. I've always taken on more than was expected of me and I've enjoyed every moment of it.

S: State-hopper--I've never lived anywhere incredibly interesting, but I've never lived in a place more than 3 years. In fact, it seems that we moved 'every' 3 years with the exception of once or twice when I was growing up. I'll have been here for 3 years next Fall and plan to move after that, too. Old habits die hard, I guess, but I love the experience! It's certainly not for everyone and I do plan to settle down into one spot later one....I don't want my kids to do that kind of hopping....but for now, I wouldn't have changed all the moving.

T: Trustworthy--Stealing Momisode's again. There aren't many people who I would confide in, but everyone seems to confide in me. People know almost immediately that I can be trusted...and I can be...with anything.

U: Understanding--And again with the word theft. This fits me, also. I may not always understand the way a person wants me to (they may want me to sympathize with them, while I choose to understand 'why' they want that sympathy and respond in a way I think is beneficial)....but I always do my best to put myself in others' shoes and take things into consideration.

V: Versatile--Tell me what you need, and I'll make it work. I take on numerous different roles on a daily basis and have no problem switching to coordinate with what's expected of me. I can't make everyone happy and I won't try to, to say the least (that'd be sure to have me taken advantage of...no thanks). Being chameleon-like works to my advantage (and others') more often than not, though.

W: Why-asker--I like to ask the question "why?" even when it's not necessarily needed or when I already know the answer. I want to know people's opinions and I enjoy delving into their minds. Asking "why?" can do so much....

X: X-rated--Okay, this is the last word theft of the night, lol. I wouldn't have chosen the word on my own, but because she said it first, I'll go with it. Select portions are x-rated...but I keep my identities semi-separate, so that's okay, right? Hehe.

Y: Yaarrrr! dater--I associate my boyfriend with pirates, and therefore, 'yaarrrr' has special significance to me, lol. Don't ask. Seriously, you'd regret it.

Z: Zapatos-freer--I had to come up with a word other than 'zany' or 'zoo', so zapatos it is. And that's Spanish for shoes, if you didn't know. And by 'freer', I mean, I was instructed not to use negative connotations, so I'm saying I like to 'free' shoes....and by that I mean, I hate wearing them, lol. I would much rather be barefooted and will instantly slip off my shoes whenever possible (this means class, work, as soon as I sit down in a car (I won't drive with shoes on), any time I'm sitting). This poses a problem when winter hits because I wear boots and not something that's more easily slipped off--but I will still remove them as soon as I get home, when I start to drive, and will even occasionally unzip them while in class, at work, etc, just so I can slip my foot up out of them partially without it being obvious I'm taking them off, lol.

Okay, so that's it. And here is my list of words that were synonymous with "quirky" and "crazy" that I forced myself not to repeatedly use in the ABCs. Yes, I'm that out-there that people often describe me as such on a daily basis. Anywho, here ya go:

Batty
Bizarre
Cracked up
Crazy
Eccentric (I actually used this one and then changed it)
Freak
Goofy
Kooky
Loony
Nonsensical
Nuts/Nut case
Odd
Screwy
Silly
Strange
Unique
Weird
Zany

And I'm sure there were others, lol. So it's almost 6 a.m.....and my alarm is set for 10. Sounds perfect! Good night guys!

Knee-High to a Grasshopper

Lisa, over at amerideutsch/Raison D'etre (the woman who I talked about her nose piercing for those of you not keeping up), passed along the post about Girls vs. Women from a couple weeks ago. She mentioned that I was a youngin' (and that I am, by the way, although not nearly as young as this kid....Reilly's Best Friend....a twelve year old that was spotted by Crap-O-Rama while she was doing the review list for NaBloPoMo....some of it is actually kind of interesting to read through like his post about how Mother Nature ruined his chance to skip school to go hunting....it's a nice trip down memory lane of the little things from our childhood that we've likely already forgotten.)

Okay, anywho, enough of the links, geesh! The point is, when she called me a youngin', I had a sudden flashback of when people you haven't seen in a long time say (put on your best old hick accent for this one) "Well I haven't seen you since you was knee-high to a grasshopper!" Most people tend to say "since you were a baby" or "in a long time," etc, but there's something about the old country generation that likes to refer to you as a comparison to a bug. And not even a cute bug. Not a ladybug (which although I don't find cute anyway, they seem to have an effect on Halloween costume). But a grasshopper. Now I know that people are always cooing about babies/kids being "cute as bugs," but when I hear the idiom about grasshoppers, I picture this old, brownish, spiny, tobacco spittin' monster that was apparently twice my size the last time I was seen. (And for the record, I imagine him standing up....more like on hind legs like a human would....as opposed to how the picture is at the top).
You see, I played with my fair share of bugs when I was a kid. Quite a bit of that time was spent in Kentucky where I was surrounded by tobacco fields and these grasshoppers that spit nasty brown tar stuff all over the place (and no, it's not really tobacco...it's partially digested food...and I don't know why they love to spit it, but it's not pleasant). They weren't those cute little bright green ones....or even the lazy dull green ones. They were big....and ugly....and yes, I still enjoyed playing with them....but it doesn't make for the greatest comparison. "Oh! I remember you. The last time I saw you, you were standing next to this huge nasty creature and you only came up to his knees. No wonder I haven't seen you since!"

This is where my imagination gets me in trouble. Why on earth do I have to have mental images accompany absolutely everything I see?

And speaking of images, I was going to end there and just add a couple pictures like I always do. I thought it'd be cute if I could find a shot of the idiom....a kid standing next to a cartoon grasshopper or something. What's the first thing I come across, though, before I even click the 'image' tab so that I can just look at photos?

Knee-High to a Grasshopper
Why I went ahead and clicked the link, I'm not sure. Curiosity seems to be another one of those traits that takes me down weird paths. It's just a kids' clothing store. Nothing too out of the ordinary about that....until you read the invitation that states:

Come on in and have a peek at our "kid-bits"

I think I grew up in the wrong generation because the first thing that came to mind was how inappropriate that is. It's just asking for trouble and child porn comments. For those that spent the majority of their lives without constant reference to Michael Jackson and priest molestation, it's another story. But for me, it makes me subconsciously scream "That's sooo wrong!"

To make matters worse, I was afraid to click further into the site. Yep, that's right. My curiosity will take me all over the net and I've viewed things that I'll never be able to erase from my memory....but I was too hesitant to click that one. It's still opened on that page, but I don't want my suspicions confirmed that it's actually a child porn site in disguise. I think I'll just leave the kid-bits for someone else and hope that no one was harmed in the making of that website.

Blog Surfing

So for the four hours of my shift at work, I've been blog surfing. Not only did I check every single one of the blogs that I have listed in my bookmarks and in RSS feeds, but I also spent much of the last 2 hours flipping through last year's NaBloPoMo Randomizer.

I'm posting here sparingly at the moment because I have so many ideas and would like to save some of them for November....but that, of course, means the anticipation is slightly getting to me and I'm browsing everyone else's blogs twice as much, lol. I've found a few new additions to my regular readers, but I'm not sure that's a good thing....how will I find the time??

Anywho, just a quick meaningless update to warn you of the time-draining blog surfing addiction. Be careful!

Amerideutsch Has Left the Blogging World Without a Trace

So Amerideutsch is gone. I don't know why. I don't know what sparked it. And I don't know if she'll ever be back....but it doesn't look like it. I can't link to her because the site is completely gone....not even archives are left and the post I saw last night that briefly told that it was over and she was headed back to reality has even disappeared by this evening. I'm glad I saw it or I wouldn't know what was up and I'd just assume the site was down and would be back shortly. Sadly, that is not the case.

Here's the first time I mentioned her (and the second when I give her a shout out).....the first time I randomly linked to someone and was shocked to find them commenting on my post within days. I was kind of embarassed because I really didn't think she'd follow me back...after all, I hadn't contacted her....but I was new to blogging and she was the first blogging 'friend', of sorts, that I checked in on frequently and we often commented back and forth on each other's pages. Of course, neither of us really knew one another and we never spoke outside blog comments, but it's disheartening, nonetheless.

I suppose the most shocking part is that there was no warning. There was no post about how she wasn't sure she'd want to continue blogging. In fact, she'd just posted about how she'd signed up for NaBloPoMo....which meant she'd be posting for 30 days straight, starting in a couple weeks. And now the site is completely gone without a trace of her ever being there or a hint at what happened. This isn't just a blog that gets tossed into my hiatus blog folder to be checked back in on in a few months.....it's gone. And it's sad. Bye bye Lisa. ;-(

All the leftover (Mario) game stuff

Alright, it's the last day of NaBloPoMo and that means it's the thirtieth day in a row that I've posted about gaming-related things. I had several more things sitting in tabs that I could've posted, but I didn't, so I'm doing a sort of leftover post. Think of it as the weekend after Thanksgiving, but instead of getting sick of turkey, I'm going to make you sick of Mario. :P

Space Invaders ice cube tray


For the record, I think that's the only non-Mario piece in this post, so stop scrolling now if you hate Mario. Or just hate me linking to him this month. :P

Graffiti


Pixelated bedset named "Supermario"



1-UP license plate



Mario theme song played on Stepper Motors with an Arduino (technical geeks ftw, wee)

Slightly inappropriate picture

This one doesn't exactly fit with the appropriateness of this blog, so if you want to see, you'll have to click.

Mario soda



Most adorable Halloween outfit duo ever



Alright guys, that's it for now. Thanks for sticking with me, hehe.

Photo Journal Challenge

February was a slow month around here and part of it was because I decided I'd jump on the bandwagon for March. NaBloPoMo has gone monthly, but posting every day, all year long, is not my thing at all. I just don't have the time for that. Allison decided that for March, why not just do photos, though? Pictures are worth a thousand words....so why not just let the photos speak for themselves?

Well, knowing me, I won't do too well with 'just' posting a photo, but I don't think I'll be writing novels this month either. I'm gonna do what I can to post a photo a day, with or without words. Considering the majority of this blog has a photo with every entry anyway, that part won't be hard at all. This time, though, I'm gonna 'start' with the photo, and go from there, I think. Depending on my time and schedule, though, there will likely be non "PJC" posts along the way, too.

I probably should've told you ahead of time, but it's just now the weekend for me to get around to it! If you want to join in, come on in and start posting those photos! It'll be fun. :D

Ramble Behind the Next Post

(This post started off being titled "Time Consumers," but then I got off on a random description of what I was going to post instead of actually posting it, so now the actual purpose of this entry is being bumped to a new one...hehe)

For many of us, our time is viciously eaten up by school or work or both....toss in family and a halfway decent social life, and that leaves little time for showering, eating, and sleeping, not to mention those added bonuses here and there that a few of us would like to actually indulge.

Now, of course, judging from how many posts I've added to this blog already, most of you would assume that I have lots of time on my hands, when in all actuality, I'm just replacing other things with this new found habit.....and I can guarantee that I am *always* doing something else while blogging (which means, when you run across a typo or I start making less sense than usual, that's why).

My next several blog entries will come from my multi-tasking skills being put to use. Today, while sitting for two hours in an econ experiment where I made $97.60 cash for doing next to nothing, I spent probably an hour of that total hitting the NaBloPoMo randomizer and copying/pasting links that were worth my 5 seconds of time. Because I made that random cash and I spent the majority of the time finding links that I felt work re-link worthy, I feel no shame in being able to spend a few minutes here and there typing up my findings. And that's exactly what I'm going to do now that it is once again 4:30 am and I've already completely two major papers and have outlined two more. I have the entire weekend to finish them up and start the next set, so I'm already ahead considering it's only Thursday morning and I only have one class to attend tomorrow.

/ramble.....begin next entry instead....

DonorsChoose.org--Helping Teachers Across the Country

Jenny's birthday is coming up and she has a unique birthday request.

Who is Jenny/Jennifer/Jen? I have no idea, lol. I ran across her on the NaBloPoMo forums where she spoke of her birthday desires. It caught my attention and I thought I'd pass it along.

Now I don't typically like asking for money and I'm not going to do it this time either. I'm going to let 'her' ask you, hehe. Basically, she found a site called DonorsChoose.org and this is how she describes it:

a site that allows teachers to submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. Individuals or companies can search through literally thousands of proposals categorized by region, subject, type of school, project cost, etc and add them to a challenge. As people donate you can track the donations and the impact those donations have on students.

Jenny has chosen a few causes that she'd like to help out....like one is asking for help raising the money to get internet access in the school and another is...and another is hoping to get a decent digital camera for daily activities/projects. If technology isn't quite your thing, some of the causes include getting new books and one is a request put in by the school's first theatre arts teacher who has no supplies at all to help teach her students.

Point being, it's not only a good cause, but it's 'several' good causes that are helping America's young people when the schools can't afford to offer them better. Each request ranges from just a couple hundred dollars to a thousand or so. Jen's birthday goal is to raise $5,000 by her birthday (December 24) and help several of these small requests (which are huge improvements in their lives). Let's see if we can help her and her causes out some.

Why We Do Not Let Men Take Messages

Yep, another short entry....just trying to tie up some loose ends, hehe. I'll be back to normal, longer posts once NaBloPoMo is over. :D

Winning a Contest, Lady Language, and the First Picture of Quirky Jessi Ever Posted!!

*Deep breath*

Okay, so this post keeps getting pushed further into my folder of "things to blog." It keeps getting ignored on my lists of "things to do today." It keeps getting dropped from my mental agenda of things I want to get taken care of this week, month, year....and to put it simply, I'm tired of something so simple getting shoved to the side, as with so many other things I've tossed aside in the last few months.

Except this is different. This isn't some random link that can wait a year and still be relevant to my blog. It's not some useless meme that makes no difference if I ever respond to.

No. This is personal. And Quirky Jessi doesn't really do "personal" here. I don't avoid it either, of course, because I don't have anything that I'm trying to hide, lol....but this blog swayed away from 'my' life after the first couple months....even though shockingly enough, I've stuck with the blog title of "The Quirky World of Jessi."

To top it off, I knew I was going to take a while to write the post. No, not going back to fine tune every word I said....in fact, I won't even go back over this to nip typos in the butt because I know I'll end up deleting, altering, and screwing up the post if I do, hehe. The main time sucker will be once I start linking. And I know I'm going to ramble because uh, I already am. :P

~~~Intermission: Great. I've already said "nip, shoved, butt, and sucker" all in the same post. I can't wait to see what kind of random searchers I end up with now. *Rolls eyes....and then hides*~~~

So right....my point. Almost 2 months ago to the day, I stumbled across Lady Language. I couldn't have even told you how if it weren't for the comment I left them that day (I was fumbling through the NaBloPoMo randomizer, commenting on random blogs I found).

A fashion blog.

Actually, one step worse/better. A fashion blog there because of the store they own/run. Great, I thought. <--Sarcasm at that point. You see, not only was my intent that day to comment on other blogs in hopes of them following me home back to Quirky Jessi (of which I didn't think a fashion blog/store owner would be interested), I also don't keep up with fashion. As if you haven't noticed by my randomness here, I tend to march to the beat of my own....well, I can't play the drums, but you get the idea, hehe.

I can tell you what looks good on a persona....and I can tell you what looks bad...but I'm certainly not going to tell you what's "in fashion" right now because it doesn't make much difference to me at all. I wear what suits my body and what I *feel* like wearing.

And I've been on "fashion blogs" before......those that cling to the every item of clothing that drapes from one celebrity's body or another. No thanks.

So why the heck am I blogging about Lady Language? Because this blog *wasn't* like that. And because the top post was about this hot little red dress that read "Holiday Sweepstakes" Okay, so I took a deep breath and opened the comments. I was going to find *something* to say if it killed me because I'd already spent more than my allotted 10 second time deadline pondering whether to click the "randomize" button to pass to the next blog.

But it was a sweepstakes...and there weren't that many commenters. And even though I don't wear dresses with Christmas right around the corner, I thought it could be a nice little surprise gift for someone I knew if I happened to win. So I tossed out a comment about how gorgeous the dress was (because well, it was, lol....but I don't wear dresses and haven't since I was little, so it also made me envious of those with bodies to pull off dresses, heh)....and moved on.

A while later, I had a message in my inbox showing me someone else had replied to the blog post, and she made a relevant point....the point that was going through my head, but mine was in not-nearly-as-nice words:

Any body type, you say? I'd like to see that. I've had no luck finding flatering dresses, of late.

Exactly. This dress was a fiery red plunging v-neck halter top dress:


At a mere 4'11", that dress would not only swallow me, but it'd make me look like a bright red penguin. It would hang to my knees, the v-neck would show my belly button, the back would dip to my waist line, and that flowy, care-free fabric blow that screamed "wide load" at the waist-line already? Oh yeah, it'd show that my hips were twice the width of my top half that would 'not' be flattered by such a gaping neckline. Heck, I'm lucky to find split pieces to fit various parts of my body appropriately...trying to find a one-piece to cover all proportions? Ha!

As I said before, I don't pay attention to fashion, but I'm not going to go outside dressed in something that makes me look awful unless I'm proving a point, lol. And to put myself into a dress after convincing everyone that I'd wear blue jeans to my wedding instead of a wedding dress? Psh. No thanks.

But the dress 'was' nice. And it's not like I was going to win anyway, right? And I knew other people that might love it 'and' have places to wear it (because well, I don't have that either...the occasion to wear a dress like that to). So I just watched. And I waited. And I kept going back to the site to see what else their store offered. And I read through blog posts to see what else they talked about....because it wasn't a normal fashion blog. This was 'real' people, talking about 'real' clothes, and selling 'real' items at 'real' affordable prices.

Pretty cool if you ask me.

And then lo and behold, I got the email. Don't tell me you're surprised. I wouldn't have this kind of build-up if I was going to be drastically disappointed by my loss at a random blog that was talking about something that interests me little and gives away something I don't wear.

But I won. Yeah, me, QuirkyJessi, non-winner of anything ever, non-wearer of dresses, non-buyer of things that make me look like enlarged penguins. I won.

And I was giddy.

The site was new, though, so maybe this was all a gimmick for page hits. Maybe they weren't really going to send anything out, I'd get the run around, and if I tried to question it, my IP address would be blocked? It certainly wouldn't be the first time it's happened in the internet world.

But then the follow-up emails guiding me through picking a size that would fit me best and congratulating me personally. This wasn't a gimmick. I'd really won something...and a dress at that!!

And I wasn't going to give it away either. It was MINE. And a few days later, it arrived promptly, safely, and perfectly....right before I had to leave for work and I had no time to try it on, lol. What a way to prolong the excitement! (And well, the fear of it being a disappointment, not fitting, etc).

The next day I tried it on and it actually fit...and didn't look half-bad really. I made a few alterations....experimented with how tight to tie the halter-top because it would create totally different looks, tossed on heels so I didn't look so frumpy, and paired it with a strapless, half-corset underneath to add a twist of covered comfort, contrast, and decreased sloppiness. And it 'was' comfy! The fabric was so soft and breezy and because it didn't cling in all the wrong spots like many things do, I wasn't nearly as scared of the dress as I had been.

Yeah, that might work.

So after all this rambling of avoiding the picture (I've never posted a picture of myself here and I'm still not going to really because the face isn't there), here it is:
Judging from that photo, you'd never guess that I struggle to find clothes to fit me (although the length 'is' still too long for that style of dress, but hey, I'm short...'everything' is too long unless it's kids clothes, and even then, kids are getting so tall these days!!)....and you'd never guess that I was scared to death of a dress, lol.

If you've stuck with me this long (hey, we all skim....it's okay if it only took you 20 seconds to get down here), Lady Language is still doing give-aways even now that the holidays have past. There's even a $250 shopping spree give-away going on right now, so better hurry. Prizes or not, though, the chicas over there are pretty cool and it's not your average "fashion blog." But if you 'are' into fashion, well, so are they....and their store offers great deals on a variety of clothing.

Make Your Own Splatter Art

Splatter art without the mess

Last day of NaBloPoMo and QAM, so now it's time to make some art yourself. When you click, it'll be a blank page.....but move your mouse around. Click and watch what happens....move faster or slower. Having fun yet? ;-)