Secret #30 The Grand Finale

So I understand that I never really finished my 30 Secrets project (until today) and I want to explain what my thoughts about that were. In a strange way it turned out to be accidentaly perfect. I'll admit that for the longest time I had severe writers block and couldn't think of any secrets I was willing to divulge to the masses. I mean we all have those secrets we'd prefer to keep private, and I feel I've unloaded myself with a few secrets that were hard to let go. Anyway back to the explaination, this last secret is simply that I still have many secrets in my life. I like that about me. Secret 30 represents all the things you might be able to squeeze out of me, or random things you might discover when I feel like it. I like to think of myself as a well rounded yet interesting person and I love that people can learn something new and random about me whenever they come in contact with me. I'm often reminded by other of some crazy thing that I did once and I love that. Who cares if I remember them they are for you just as they are for me.

So, If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to have anyone who knows me and who reads this page to please leave a comment about something that I did or said or taught them that perhaps made you laugh or think or impressed you. Think of this as you adding to my secret collection. It will now be our secrets that we share with others.

p.s. the picture is suppose to represent mystery and the many sides of me, even though I'm pulling the same face in every one.

Secret # 29 Office Supplies

So it has been a while and I feel really guilty about not posting these last two secrets, but it was pointed out that my posts were getting slightly depressing. This is most likely because I usually think of these things when I'm alone and bored, which is not the best state of mind to be in. So, with that in mind I've found a happy secret that I decided to share. I am in love with office supplies. I love to fiddle with them. Tape, post-its, and paper clips are my favorite. I love taking these very simple ordinary things and creating things out of them. Sometimes is as simple as making a paper crane from a post-it or a yellow electric tape mustache. On occasion I have made more complicated creations. I once made a collection of historic figure finger puppets out of office supplies. They're small things that give me tons of joy.

Now I only have one secret left!

Secret #28 Alone

One of my biggest and most frequent fears is that my life is empty and that I will end up alone and friendless. I'm sure many people experience this fear, but I always seem to think that I feel it more than others. This may be because I am a social person and there are days when I do not see anybody that I know. Those days suck for me. Now I do not want this to be a pity party, because in some way I know I'm sort of overreacting, but I have had days when I do not even get a call or text message from anyone. This does not mean that everyday is like this, it's just that I really hate those few lonely days when they occur. I do have this feeling, however, that I am not alone in feeling alone. If you share my feeling today or any day, just give me a call or text and I will see what I can do for you.

Secret #24 May

May is my unlucky month. It seems that every year in May I have a lot of problems: either something bad happens, or what I have planned that month falls through. I specifically noticed this trend when I bought my first car. I bought it in May and it didn't make it out of that month before I had a $750 repair I had to make. Now every year I have to take my car in for registration, and every year there is something that needs to be fixed, and every year I have to struggle with the money to pay the repairs. It's not just the car has problems. My plans seems to often fall through in May. I don't know what it is about this month in particular, but I do know that I have already started to see the bad luck of May. I just hope I can make it to June. Everything is much better in June.

Secret #23 Dr Pepper

Hey, sorry it's been a while. I was stressed with finals, then after finals I just didn't want to write anything anymore (since I wrote like 50 pages of stuff for school in the last two weeks), but I'm back now.

Dr Pepper is the only soda pop that I truly enjoy drinking. (I may be addicted) I've gone through spurts where I've enjoyed other soda's (Welch's Grape, Sunkist, and Ruby Red Squirt), but I always come back to my Dr Pepper. The amazing thing about Dr P is that it has no taste...that's right; you heard me. Instead, it has a delicious after taste. When you drink it, see if you taste the soda. then, wait just a second afterwards and opp...there it is, cool smooth deliciousness. That's what makes Dr P so great. My brother is trying to get me to drink Diet Dr Pepper, but I feel like the diet and the Dr P aftertastes would compete with each other and I just don't want that. So, I stick to what I love, the original Dr P.

Secret #14 "Lookout" Point

I love going to "lookout" points. When I've had a bad day, and I just need to relax and enjoy life, I love to drive up to Squaw Peak and enjoy the scenery. I roll down the windows and feel the wind rush on my face as I drive the long winding road to the summit. Of course for me I am alone and actually enjoying scenery, unlike most people who go there; they're looking at a whole different kind of "scenery". Currently, Squaw Peak is closed because of snow, but I discovered a nice lookout point just two blocks from my apartment (photo above, and yes it is photoshopped, see Secret 6). So now, when I have writers block, or life has gotten me down, I just take my knife (just in case there's deer or wild dogs) and go walk quietly to the look-out. The walking really lets me get my creative juices flowing (no pun intended). I talk out-loud too to organize my thoughts and figure out my problems. It's very therapeutic. Every time I go I receive a cool calming peace...Oh, I also enjoy noticing all of the "makey-outers."

Secret #13 Facial Hair

Okay so this isn't the biggest secret. I love my facial hair. I hate shaving and put it off as long as possible (sometimes a bit too long). But, I just can't stand it. Even when I had jobs where I had to shave I would prolong the inevitable as long as I could. I'd go just as long as I could without it showing too much and then I shave it off. Currently I have an nice patch under my mouth and some long chops (sometimes they get too bushy when I haven't had a hair cut in a while). I'm also upset that I have only 2 months till I have to shave it all off to work at EFY...sniff, sniff...tear. But, I think I'll push through and be okay.

Secret #6 Photoshop

Original Photoshoped

I've given up trying to take really good pictures. It use to be that I would see something beautiful and think "Man! If only I had my camera here to capture this moment. It would be so amazing!" So one day I decided to pack my camera along with me. I saw some nice things and felt so lucky I had my camera with me. (Now, granted I am not a professional photographer. I've had not training of any kind. I just like to take pictures.) The problem is that nothing seemed to turn out the way I wanted it to. My eyes cannot seem to transfer to the camera. Now I just take decent pictures (like the one on the top) and edit them in Photoshop to be slightly better (hence the one on the bottom). I prefer this method right now, but I am still slightly perturbed that, although the Photoshoped picture looks better, it still cannot capture completely the image as my eye saw it. Usually it's a completely different image.

secret #5 Noses

I hate noses! I think that of all the parts of the face, when it comes to looks, that the nose is the most disgusting. It's not even that I hate my nose all that much... I just don't like them in general. Understandably I can see benefits to the nose: being able to breath in a second location, adding a nice balance between the eyes, and filling up dead space in the face (there is a lot when you look at the edited picture of myself). But they protrude out in such a fashion that a nose by itself is simply ugly. Granted people can have a nice looking face, and the nose can fit that face perfectly, but the nose by itself is still ugly to me. That's how it is. It's just how I feel.

Secret #3 Road Rage

I get intense road rage when I'm driving in the car by myself. I know that it's not good and worrisome but I control it pretty good. It's not like I always have road rage when I drive. It just happens occasionally. In some ways I find it a nice release since driving in the car is one of the only times that I think about my life and work through any problems I have. I've been able to figure out a lot of things in my life while driving around. I think sometimes I'm screaming at my problems more than I am the people who cut me off.

Secret #2 Taco Bell

I am in love with Taco Bell. Specifically I love their 7 layer burritos. The problem is that when I am with friends and we're trying to decide where to eat I usually do not suggest Taco Bell because I think other people consider it a "second rate" fast food place. As if Wendy's and such are better than it and only trashy people eat there. So I eat there usually by myself and feel slightly guilty for loving a "second rate" restaurant.

30 Secrets in 30 Days

So I found out about this real cool thing that people are doing. It's not one of those tag things where since I did it now you have to do it, it's just a fun thing to let people in on who you are. So this is how it goes. Each day you post a secret and a picture (simple or not) that represents that secret on your blog. You do this every day for a month or 30 days. It can be a huge secret, or a small simple secret. People will find out about me and I have fun thinking of secrets and ways to reveal them. Now, I cannot promise that I will have a secret everyday. I'm just not that diligent, but I will promise that eventually I will have 30 secrets on my blog. So here we go:

Secret #1

Often I am amazed at the way I deal with the people around me. I was an actor for a while and I have a talent for figuring out what people are like and mimicking their personalities while still attempting to maintain my own. It has occasionally gone so far as to "adopt" their political or moral beliefs. I have found myself wondering at times if I did what I did because of who I am, or if it was to appeal to the people around me. I question who I really am if I am constantly adapting to please others. Sometimes it scares me.

I Just Can't Get Enough

So I never can seem to stop using myself as a medium... This first one is simply one of my favorite pictures of myself.

I thought it'd be cool to try to make a pumkin carving of myself. I failed but instead made this nice picture of myself.

Andy Warhol seems to still influence me still. I think this one is more like his pictures than the last one.

More stuff from Photoshop!

So I decide to do some more stuff with Photoshop. Just so you know I'm not a vain person, it's just that I don't have any pictures of other people on my computer.

This is one of my favorites:

I liked it so much that I thought I'd make multiples of it. Andy Warhol eat your heart out!


This one is cool because it looks like a colored pencil drawing up close. I really liked the effect, and the face I'm making as well.


Oh! Where'd I go? It's like I blend into the background.


That's all for now. I'll probably have more later.

A Bit on the Creepy Side

I'm having way too much fun with Photoshop today.
Here is my favorite picture of my niece Kate
Before:

After:

And Again:

Even More

Here is another one I made for Jinj because she liked them so much.

Photoshop Fun

So I decide to play around with some pictures on Adobe Photoshop using a picture I got from Jinjer that I think makes me look good. Anyway here are the results. Tell me what you think.