The Bunny Box

So, I recently re-downloaded GIMP because I heard that they had made the features a little more user friendly and I was beginning to get a little more savvy with image editing software. Well, I decided, for fun, to edit a picture I had on hand just to try it out. I removed undereye bags, whitened teeth, got rid of some blemishes and fixed the eyebrows. The Original: The Edited Version: Thoughts? Comments?

This past week, it very suddenly came to my attention that we are about to end a decade. Granted, this is based on the Christian/solar/Gregorian calendar, so for us Jew-folk it doesn't really mean a whole lot. But it's still kind of fascinating to me for two big reasons: 1) The close of this decade has us all looking back over the past ten years to pick out the cultural phenomena that will come to be known as the markings of the 2000's (Like big hair in the 80's, or the rock and roll of the 60's). 2) This past decade has really been one of enormous change for me, and probably for anyone else in my age group. First, let's discuss the cultural phenomena. I recently (and when I say recently, I mean within the past week or so) have become acquainted with the concept of "memes." Meme is defined in Wiktionary as "Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another...

Sometimes I get these rude awakenings. These moments where I'm suddenly reminded that I'm really just a kid and that I'm terrified. They come when I suddenly have to face an adult problem, like not having enough money to pay my bills. It ambushes me when I'm confronted with the unknown and it shakes me to my core. Suddenly, I feel this need to crawl into bed and pretend I'm 10 and that mommy and daddy will take care of everything. But of course, that doesn't work. Because mommy and daddy can't take care of everything , only some things. And when I finally creep out from under the covers with bloodshot eyes and tear-stained cheeks, I discover all of my problems just as I'd left them. They all come rushing at me, even the ones I'd managed to temporarily push out of my mind before. So what's the best way to deal with these problems? The things that I can only wait out and hope everything turns out okay? Window-shopping therapy, of course. ...

Well, we've got well over a foot of snow here and are expecting another 5-10 inches overnight. I adore snow, so I took a lot of pleasure in sitting in the warmth of my parents' house and watching it come down. After shabbos, we decided it would be simpler to walk home then to dig out their car and get a ride. Luckily, my parents felt so guilty for making us walk that they let us raid the pantry and pick out some things to enjoy when we got home. I grabbed a box of brownie mix, some bags of popcorn, a whole chicken (for tomorrow night?), a bottle of soda and some frozen soups. The walk home was fun. I've always loved walking in the snow, especially when I'm all bundled up and warm. Some of the drifts were as tall as I am, and I felt this strong need to linger and take in the beauty of the, as yet, untouched snow. Yaakov wasn't in such a lingering mood, though, so we trudged on. I wished I had my camera with me. Smooth, freshly fallen snow has a distinct calm...

So, a little over a month ago I bought myself an external tablet for my laptop. It's a Genius brand tablet with a pretty big work space and it works very nicely. It came with a photo editing software from Corel that I tried to play around with but found very confusing as someone with no experience. So, I started trying to find some decent art freeware and after doing a bit of research, I stumbled on Artweaver . It's a very impressive piece of software which has all of the best drawing features of Photoshop (a large array of brush types, shapes, textures, etc) but in a much simpler to use form. Unlike GIMP, Artweaver gives you a straightforward setup that even a novice like myself can quickly figure out. So far, I'm really enjoying it and have been able to get started on my web comic. Hopefully, once I've made more than a dozen or so comics, I'm going to set up a website and start posting them. Yay! In other news, food! Yes, I made latkes twice so far this C...

Ok, I was supposed to post by this past Sunday and didn't. Sorry to all of my avid readers! (All two of you.) Nothing very interesting has been going on. The challahs I baked a couple weeks ago came out delicious and I'm definitely going to make them again in a week or so. This time, though, I'm going to make them smaller so I can have more of them. In other news, my semester is soon to be over. I have my final next Thursday and today was my last day of class. Woot! Following this, I've got a few weeks with no school so I can hopefully get some more work hours in, or at least get some other things done in the free time. Then, on January 17th, it's off to Israel for my brother's wedding (which will be in B'nai B'rak on January 25th.) I went to the dress gemach last night and found a really gorgeous purple dress that looks very nice on me. I just need to get it taken out in the shoulders so I can move my arms. I was surprised how quickly and eas...