The End

I think I’m scrapping this blog. It’s been a good run, but I barely use it anymore because I spend more time on LiveJournal, Facebook and other various sites. I may start a new one from scratch at some point (sooner rather than later, I’m sure), but this one just feels like it served its purpose. I went through relationship woes, a bad break-up, medical (and other) issues, a major diagnosis and several jobs; I feel like I need to cleanse myself of the bad juju this blog now carries.

So I’ll probably leave it up a little while longer and then kill it (after I back it up, of course). Here’s all my contact info (most will require you to request an addition to my friends-list, because almost all are set to private):

• LiveJournal
• Facebook
• Flickr
• MySpace (hardly ever use it)
• Twitter
• Email: gwingil [at] gmail [dot] com or heather [at] eyeflashes [dot] com

Please, if you send me a friend request, tell me who you are. I NEVER add random strangers who send requests; I only add friends, family and people with whom I’ve had some prior connection.

Happy Thanksgiving

I almost didn’t post this, because I don’t believe in doing charitable acts only  to turn around and tell the whole world about it. Charity should be something done quietly, and not for accolades. But I really wanted to share what I did today in the hopes that maybe it will inspire someone else to do something similar.

This year, instead of having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, my family and I decided to volunteer at the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans. I’ve wanted to do this for years, but the timing was always off for one reason or another.  Finally, this year, the stars aligned…

It was, without a doubt, one of the most moving, humbling, fulfilling and greatest experiences of my entire life — and it was the single best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. In fact, this is how I plan to spend all my Thanksgivings from now on. The veterans we met were so incredibly kind, so gracious, and so undeserving of their unfortunate circumstances, and although I wish we could’ve done more for them, they were so grateful for what we did do.

There’s absolutely nowhere else I would rather have spent my holiday.  It was amazing.

By the Way

I just want to remind anyone reading this that I’m also on Live Journal. I have my LJ set to “friends-only,” so you need to leave a comment or message me there for me to add you. I’m very active on LJ, so if you’ve got your own account or are interested in setting one up, let me know!

(Egger, you should sign up for an account!)

Oh Yay

I’m such a fatass. I had my annual physical last week, and though I usually try not to look when they weigh me (because I find it very triggering), I happened to see my weight written down and I almost fell off the exam table.

Of course, part of the problem is that the computer takes your height and weight and calculates your BMI, and mine was outrageous — or so I thought. Turns out, they had my height as 4′10″ instead of 5′9″. That’s a difference of a foot (basically)! So, thankfully, that was NOT my actual BMI. I don’t know what it really is, but at least it’s not what I thought it was.

But still… I have definitely gained weight since the last time I allowed myself to know what it was, and I need to drop it.  Blah. Now is the winter of my discontent fatassery.

Oh, and, please, allow me to vent about one more thing: I  am on TWELVE  daily medications, some of which are more than once a day. Granted, two are vitamins/calcium supplements — but even those were prescribed by my doctor (because some of my other meds actually deplete my natural store of vitamins). The sad thing is, there are at least two more that I may be put on soon.

SIGH.

Tattooooos

Finally, photos of my tattoos!

I’m Here…

Some sort of password glitch prevented me from logging in to this blog for almost a month. Thankfully, here I am now.

Next step: Figure out what to do with this place.

Quickie

I’m on a kick of Russian authors. Currently, I’m reading Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment; next, I plan to read his books, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov, Nabakov’s Lolita, and Tolstoy’s Anna Kerenina.

If you haven’t read Crime and Punishment, you should. It’s amazing. AMAZING. Raskolnikov is one of, if not the most nuanced, fleshed-out characters I’ve ever encountered in literature.

Inked (Again)

I got my tattoo touched-up and added to last night! Now it’s much closer to what I originally envisioned. It looks a lot better in person, in context (on the inside of my forearm), but it wasn’t easy getting this shot! Here are the before and after shots:

 Before

 After

You can’t really see it in the photos, but the colors were done in much deeper shades this time, and look a lot better.

Heath Ledger… Or Legend?

The Dark Knight rocked so hard. Heath Ledger was miraculous, and Christian Bale was amazing.

Well…

…I’m officially a student again. I’ve enrolled in a certificate program for Professional Photography, and I’m thrilled. Just because I’m not working due to all these health issues, it doesn’t mean I can’t be productive and work toward something I want very badly. And, fortunately, as I’d been planning for this for some time, I was able to pay my full tuition up front so I won’t have that hanging over my head. That only gives me even more incentive to work hard, because it’s coming out of my own pocket.

Me so happy.