Skylar’s Blog

Well, more than 7 months after my first post, perhaps it is time to update a bit on things that i have accomplished from that original list. I’m just gonna list things that i did do, and not worry about the rest, some of those things were pretty long term goals anyway .

As of now, i have:

Baked bread from scratch. many times over now. I love it, cooking, baking, it’s fun!! So i have baked white bread, wheat bread, and banana bread, and while i was still at my dad’s house, i had been baking the wheat bread on a fairly regular basis. very tasty! Not hard to do, just mix the ingredients, let the yeast make it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, bake it, and walah! bread! dash gone good bread too Now that i am in own apartment, haven’t begun the baking yet, but i do have the ingredients .

This year i did help immensely with the home garden, and i have been enjoying the fruits of labor since the beginning of summer. now that i am out of the house, i don’t have as easy access to the tasty plants, but i have tried to have some on every visit to my dad’s house. I also built several planters out of the same boards i made that crazy sled out of during winter, and have the planters set up at the new apartment on the balcony. haven’t planted anything yet… soon soon….

The learning of Russian hasn’t been a real hardcore thing, but i do feel like have learned a lot, and have become at least a little familiar with the language. i hear… like… every 3rd or 4th word .

At the end of this spring, i finished up an associates degree! word, not that it will get me far, but i am working on the next step here at OSU in the fall. New goal: B. S. in two or so years.

Remember that t-shirt thing? well, never did actually make a t shirt for cameesa, but did put that stuff on Cafe Press, and… have so far sold 2 tshirts!!!! woot woot! made 5 bucks… split between me and Oksana. wow, profits just rollin in…..

Totally made a white wings.

I was working on Learning the night sky pretty hardcore at one point, but then kinda slacked. I learned a lot, and feel pretty familiar with several of the major constellations, but i would definitely say my knowledge is incomplete. a little harder to keep up with here in Corvallis too, but i think i can handle finishing this one up in the near future.

Though i haven’t really reaped any profits from a website, i have started a project in the direction, in collaboration with my good friend Tom, with Goji Berries Facts. I may consider putting google ads here at this blog as well in the future. At this point the blog does get regular traffic, but not much, and mostly for insignificant and un-focused keywords. Certainly, won’t be pulling in more than a few dollars anytime soon, but money is money.

So, that’s the story. I pretty happy that i could say all that had been done actually. Perhaps the next blog will be an updated list and what i see for myself in the near future.

In other news, I am engaged! And getting married within the month! It’s craziness, but i am filled with Joy

Funny how some days one feels the creative spark, and some days not. Quote from the Indian to Dustin Hoffman in “Little Big Man” after the Indian comes back down the mountain, “Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

The night sky hasn’t been affording me much to see as of late. Oregon winter = cloudy nights with light rain. First good night in the near future I am still very much anticipating viewing Saturn. Its getting about the right time of year, and i suppose as soon as this next full moon passes and a clear night comes, there will be a prime viewing opportunity. Also, i received a birthday present a little early, seeing as my birthday is Saturday, a set of binoculars. Something i asked for, something that is easy to take with me for viewing the night sky. If and whenever i ever get around to the backpack hiking, they would be something that i would love to have with me as well. I wasn’t very specific when i was asking, other than they be 50 mm objective lenses, a good medium size. And of course i got a great pair of 20 zoom binoculars, but it is an interesting thing what is best for viewing the night sky. Turns out that there is a relationship between the objective lens and zoom power that affects the size of the image presented to your eye. A 20×50 (20 zoom and 50mm main lens) presents roughly a 50/20 = 2.5mm image to the eye. In bright light conditions the pupil constricts to roughly this size, making a 20×50 appropriate for daylight use. However, at night, the pupils can dilate up to as much as 7mm to absorb more light, and when the image is only 2.5mm, much of the pupil’s light absorbing ability is wasted. For night use, with the same size pair of binoculars, it is better to have a lower power set, and as such i swiftly returned my pair for a 10×50 pair. I dislike returning gifts, bu i really like the 10×50’s. I must also say, 20 zoom was really too much for hand held use. They had to be held very very steady to see what you are looking at, and the 10 zoom are much easier to use quickly. Now just for the clouds to pass… or maybe a really interesting looking bird to come by…

I was reading an article on msn the other day about 2008 being the gayest year yet in Hollywood. First off, I must mention that i do not harbor any resentment to the gay community, I guess honestly i don’t harbor much of any strong feeling for the community. However as i was reading the article, I noticed a profound change in my perspective of gays. I can vaguely remember being a high school student, and my perspectives at the time. I would say at that earlier time that the idea of a gay man bothered me. The act, the idea of a man with another man, well, just didn’t fit. I’m straight, go figure. However, at that time in my life, i would be lying if i said the idea of lesbians did not capture my attention (just a little bit, i swear). So, as a very young man, gay men bad, gay women hot. Now I’m reading this article, and i realized a funny thing was happening. Every time I read about a new gay guy that came out in Hollywood, I really wasn’t bothered in the least. However, every time I read about a lesbian in Hollywood, well… my thoughts were, “gosh darn it, she’s gay now!? she’s hot, that sucks.” And damn Ellen marrying this young hot chick, she’s like a sugar daddy? I dunno, I wouldn’t say that lesbians frustrate me, but… you know, the fewer lesbians, the more women on the market, and the more gays, the fewer men to compete with! lol, anyway, seriously not trying to make a political statement, I personally am fine with the idea of gay marriage and rights and whatnot, but its a funny thing how perspective changes.

Well, once this blog is posted i think I’m gonna go make a white wings.

Oh yeah, and I’m leaving the country in two weeks.

Yay snow! It snowed Friday night, stuck through Saturday, and is still on the ground as of now, Sunday night. I feel kind of sad, because I really don’t feel the same fascination with it from when I was kid. Its exciting, but its also cold, wet, and slippery. When I was a kid it was like a whole different world out there after it snowed. Every familiar place needed to be re-explored in response to the snow. These days… I just think brrrrrrrr. What a wuss. Ah well, at least its beautiful, as well as an excellent excuse to light the wood stove, which I also love.

Current weather restricts the star gazing, and I don’t really want to go out when its not coming down, because its freezing! Seriously, It’s not that I couldn’t go out, its just that I don’t really want to. So just trying to keep up on Stellarium, as the winter sky slowly changes. I’m still very much looking forward to observing Saturn, should be right around the corner.

So, I have a few things to note towards achieving some of my other goals. Something I have failed to mention previously is that I have had an ongoing, albeit small, effort towards learning Russian. I like the idea of simply broadening my horizons with this project. I purchased several beginners language books, including Russian several years ago. It’s nice to finally actually be going through one of the books. I am also fortunate, and grateful, to have an extra resource in this matter from a special friend .

Previously, I had found an introductory free audio course in Russian on Itunes called A spoonful of Russian. While definitely qualifying as introductory, it was very helpful in presenting various aspects of Russian speech as well as information on Russian culture. The author is of Russian origin, and quite friendly. However, even though I found the program interesting, it is also simplistic. Very recently I came across another free audio course at www.book2.de. The audio recordings are much more traditional, and not nearly as personal, but they were just the kind of thing I needed to increase my vocabulary beyond saying hello and thank you. I really haven’t gotten that far with this goal, but I would really like to persevere, just a little bit here and a little bit there. It was such a rush when I learned how to read the Cyrillic alphabet, even if I didn’t understand the words. I am really looking forward to hearing simple conversation and being able to understand what is being talked about.

Also, I have been thinking about making that cameesa t-shirt design. I’m really not much of an artist, but that’s just more motivation to flex my unused artistic muscle. All I have to do is come up with something simple, using a minimum of colors, and make it appealing to the eye. I’m not sure where the actual idea will come from, but I’m sure something will find me. Something I have realized over the years, is that I often tend to have friends that are far more creatively inclined than me. Always drawing, writing, singing, dreaming, and being creative. Its funny, but it seams like many of the most important people I have met in my life seem to have this creative penchant, whereas I feel relatively uninspired. Funny thing, dunno what to make of that. Anyway, point being, I think I will have to consult with some of these friends if I want to get anywhere in this matter.

I also keep telling myself to go make white wings! But I keep not getting to it. It’s not like I have a busy life right now, but no time for making paper airplanes? It’s a sin! Things happen though, work continues on the addition to the homestead, here and there. Other things come up, daily boring life things I guess. Well, not all boring ))).

Scott, one of those creative people I was talking about earlier, has invited me to his work’s Christmas party in Seattle. I’m psyched!!! Not everybody gets to go to a SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) Christmas celebration! And I’m not even a huge video game nerd! Only a medium sized nerd. Makes me feel like a pretty lucky bastard. Thank you Scott. Word!