talking to my computer.

No, I am not crazy,  I'm just having soo much fun with our MacBook. today when I was looking for a way to record an audio track with the built in microphone, I stumbled across the voice recognition software in the computer.  all I have to do is push the special key on the keyboard and talk to the computer in "a normal voice" and it will do various so called "tasks".  I can ask it what time it is and it will tell me in a voice that I pick off a menu, (you can pick voices with names like"hysterical" or "bad news" ,"good news" or just plane old Fred. how boring.)   you can also ask it to open up your web browser or you can ask it to open up your current window in a sticky note, you can even ask it to tell you a joke. here's an example:

Me: "tell me a joke"

Computer: "Knock knock"

Me: who's there? (can you hear the question in my voice?, isn't it so exciting!!!)

Computer: "Orange"

Me: "Orange who?"

Computer: " Orange you glad you bought a Mac OS10!!!"

wasn't that exciting!!!,  the suspenseful questions, the quick reply,  and finally the witty climax. oh the glory of it all!. I cant wait until I can tell it to make me breakfast,   that 'twill be the day, yes, it 'twill be the day.

now I will go and continue my nerdy exploits,  ignoring all others as I delve deep into cyberspace. ( just kidding, I still need to find that darn recording software, I know it's hiding in there somewhere)

see you at the chat room, (yeah right...)

phapboy.

here they are...

Here's the pictures of some of the beautiful gifts that we left on the doorsteps of our ( I'm sure) grateful fellow neighbors. here we go,

here's Levi opening up the gifts that we will be re-gifting to our "happy" neighbors,

then we opened this incredibly amazing enamel frog picture frame!!!!, holy tacky picture frame batman!!!,

and here is a picture of all the gifts in their full glory, untainted by sticky fingers or cold outdoor weather, yet. we left most of these items on the doorsteps of many a-now-happy-person-who-lives-on-our-block.
she also gave us this brand-spankin-new cassette player, made of solid steel and weighing in at about 2.3 tons. it features TV quality sound!!!, now that's quality, no kidding, maybe.
and last but not least, Levi with one of the four figurines that grandma sent us, can you see the ecstatic excitement on his face?, the joy, the wonder, of this deeply moving piece of artistry?, it's THE Christmas gift that every boy has ever wished for since that Chinese guy threw himself into his own furnace of pottery creating a new kind of pottery that has no equal anywhere else in the world. (isn't it funny that the fore-mentioned Chinese guy's apprentices actually used the baked china that he "dismissed" himself in, and discovered that the addition of bones to the clay actually made good pottery???. who woulda thunk.)


well now go and pixie you neighbors with tacky( or not so tacky) paraphernalia of all sorts. and always remember, they're is no such object that is so tacky that it cannot be pixied to someone.
happy pixie-ing!,
phapboy.

'Tis the Life a a "pixie" person.

tonight we went pixieing. pixieing is the act of randomly picking houses in (or around) your neighborhood ( or anywhere for that matter,) to leave "gifts" at. tonight we went around our block with a boxful of goodies, and left them at all the houses we could get to without setting off the motion light sensors. so far we have left two Beautiful deer, a couple of intertwined geese, about 3 ties, 2 perfume bottles, some incredibly amazing picture frames,( AKA, some enamel frogs peeping over the backs of some gaudy gold frames) a red enamel egg thing that's on three legs and opens up to reveal a secret empty space thing to hide minuscule tangible objects of GREAT value!!!. ( I think it's from Dollorama, but don't tell anyone I said so) we also set out two plastic bowls ( also from Dollorama) and a set of measuring spoons. and all these treasures were donated by my amazing grandma. she bought us all of these treasures for Christmas( OK, yes, we opened them a little early, sue me.) and we decided that the best thing to do was to spread the joy and make sure no one ever found out who gave them those BEAUTIFUL, ( hack, hack,) ummm.... for lack of a better word, things, that they found on their doorstep that fateful morning in December.. I can just imagine the neighbors faces when they wake up in the morning ready to go to work and face the day, opening up their doors, stepping outside, and then seeing these things on their doorstep. ( did I mention that we also left the worlds ugliest little Indian figurine on a doorstep?, it was quite the thing to behold. ) I will try to post pictures of some of the "treasures" that we pixied away, and then you will be sooooo jealous that YOU don't live in our neighborhood. well I better go now, their are SOOOO many houses, and they just wont pixie themselves.
so long for now,
phapboy.
( PS, we got the idea of pixieing from the lady's at LIFT, thanks for the idea, it was soooooo fun!)

explosive cranberry juice.

Hi there, I've been really busy lately so I haven't had a chance to blog for awhile, but I just HAD to blog about this. we opened up a bottle of cranberry juice the other day ( the big no-name kind of jug) and it's been sitting on our counter for the last two days or so and tonight I went to have some and on the label in fine print* it read: IMPORTANT: PRODUCT MUST BE REFRIGERATED AFTER OPENING. Okay, Fine with me. but in smaller print underneath fore-mentioned statement it says:

Do not store opened container
at room temperature
as pressure build-up may occur,
causing possible injury.



possible injury???!!!, who knew that the cranberry juice in your fridge could be potentially harmful to your health and your sanity.
picture this,
your sitting in the doctors office getting a piece of plastic removed from your body and the doctor asks you how it got there.
you give him this explanation: "I forgot to put my cranberry juice in the fridge and it tried to kill me by blowing itself up in my face"
the doctor looks at you funny and asks you what your name is.
Josh T-----k** you answer.
oh, he says. He's silent for a minute or two, then says
"have you ever been diagnosed with any mental illness in the past?"
no, why?, you ask. wondering why he would ask such a silly question.
oh, nothing. he says as he yanks a piece of plastic out of your abdomen with a pair of needle nose pliers. "I got these" he says, snapping the pliers in front of your face, " at Michael's on sale for 40% off, great deal Eh?
you gulp.
half an hour and twenty stitches later you are let out of the hospital with a sore tummy and an appointment to a psychiatrist.
why would he ever give you a appointment to a psychiatrist?, you ponder this as you walk down the sidewalk into a setting sun. happy that the evil cranberry juice had lost the battle and that you got a free sucker from the lady at the front desk of the doctors office.
THE END.
sheesh, it makes you wonder what else is in your kitchen that could be "potentially harmful"
anyway I guess I better go and get to bed, I have to go to a psychiatrist in the morning and she wants my complete medical history on hand.
some people are so odd.

(*yes, I AM one of those people who reads the fine print on EVERYTHING.)
(** the characters names have been left out for the protection of themselves, I guess. and besides these thingies(*) are fun to play with.)

NaNoWrimo

well I joined NaNoWrimo and I have started writing my novel. my word count so far is 3021 and I just finished another paragraph that has not been counted in.
anyway,
my story is about a rabbit ( but I think I might change him to another animal. and don't ask me why three of my four characters are animals. the other one being a chimera. they just are.)
who is on a quest to get the Golden Latte for a chimera who has promised him (my main character) an apple of Iduna. if you Google Iduna it'll probably give you some history on her.
so in order to get the Golden Latte, he has to get the Platinum Pound Cake. because the Golden Latte was hidden by an evil king and the location of the Golden Latte is engraved on the bottom of the cake.
that basically sums up the plot.
it'll develop more as I write.
I hope.
well that's all I have to say for now,
Josh.

November is Novel writing month

Well hello everybody. I am debating whether or not to join NaNoWrimo. NaNoWrimo is a novel writing um... ahh.. thing? where you write a novel in one month. the novel has to be 50,000 words long and 175 pages. anyone can join and if your 12 or under there's a youth writing competition for a 2500 word novel. otherwise your screwed to 50,000. anyway, the deadline for joining is October 30 at 11:59 o'clock. you can outline your novel but your not allowed to start writing it until November 1st and it can be about anything,
here's the website, http://www.nanowrimo.org/
so if you want to join go ahead!,
the critics are waiting... ( just kidding!)
Josh.
phapboy.
RunsWithScissors.
His Most Serene Highness, PHAPourus Lord Josh the Infinite of Withering Glance.

we got a mac!

Hello everyone, we got a Macbook!, it's really really nice too, mom and dad went to bestbuy to get us (Levi and I) a new computer ( because ours keeps spontaneously shutting down, due to "thermal errors") and they decided to buy a Macbook because we've always wanted a laptop.
so now I get to learn how to use a Mac and I get to teach Mom and Dad how to use it to...
well that's all I have to say,
Josh.

scary people.

I saw the weirdest thing in Sobey's the other day, we were walking down the ice cream isle and Mom stopped to look at something and while I was waiting for her I saw a package of ice cream with a picture of a dog on it, having nothing else to do at the moment I read the package, and it said "frozen treats for dogs". FROZEN TREATS FOR DOGS!!!!, that's crazy!, insane and just plain weird!. who would buy there DOG a Popsicle! . some people are a little scary about their pets, just a Little....
anyway that's my rant for the week.
RunsWithScissors.

Hello again!

Hello. Yes, I know I haven't posted for about a billion years. but I'll try to start posting again. well I have been playing piano all this time and I just got Invited to play at an upcoming festival and *maybe* have a string quartet and a children's choir accompany me. and CBC radio might record the concert! so I am writing a song that's been in my head for awhile to perform, and I'm really really really R E A L L Y excited!. I am also in an online course called Before Tolkien, basically we read about half a book every week and then have a colloquium about the book. me readings so far have been: The Children of Odin, The Odyssey, and The Iliad.
well I don't know what to say so I guess this is the end of my first post in a billion years...
PhapBoy
(RunsWithScissors)
(His Most Serene Highness, PHAPourus Lord Josh the Infinite of Withering Glance etc etc...)
(PS here's a cool paper Airplane link, www.geobat.com . and how do you like my titles, pretty spiffy eh?)

some new drawings

Hi, I've kinda been distracted from blogger for a while, so here are some new pictures that I have drawn ( and sent away). the Pegasus is my favourite, but I still like the other one a lot.
well I hope you enjoy!!,
PhapBoy.

new markers!!!

Hi all, I just HAD to tell the world about these, "they" are a set of 78 Prismacolor markers. sooooo nice, and best of all, they're mine, my own, my preciouses'es.

RunsWithScissors.

Basilisk

Hi all, I drew this Basilisk to send to a friend, I used crayola markers but I just ordered some nicer ones.
hope you enjoy!.
RunsWithScissors

mini book

Hi all, I started to making this book yesterday, It's hand bound and it's are covers are stamped and made of polymer clay with embossing powder rubbed into it. and, PHAPers, It's already been claimed by you know who. RunsWithScissors.

painting

Hi, I did this painting a while ago, I took a course at the Wetaskiwin art club on acrylics, and this is what I came back with. hope you enjoy!
RunsWithScissors.

sea serpent

Hi all, I drew this picture for a friend to send in the mail. it was kind of a last minute thing, but hey, doesnt EVERYONE work better under pressure?.
hope you enjoy!,
RunsWithScissors.

Valentines ATC's

I made these ATC's for an upcoming Valentines swap.
I wandered around the studio and grabbed bits and pieces of paper to use.
I also used a lot of copper wire to "stitch" the paper on.
so long,
Runs With Scissors.

elve face redone

Hi all, here's a before and after picture of the Elve face I did, but this time it's inked. I really like the way it looked and I might try this technique again.
please leave some feedback,
Runs With Scissors.

rabbit

Hi all, I picked up a rabbit for a friend in Grande Prarie so here are a few pictures. and no mikayla, Mom is not going to keep him.
Running
With
Scissors.

Models

Hi all, here are a few pictures of the models I just built, there " in order". These models were built out of polystyrene, or, if you want, packing foam. Then I painted them a couple times, added some weathering(not shown here) and some moss(not shown here either.) so I hope you enjoy it!,
PhapBoy.