Ball Pythons

I think I have a semi interesting post coming up, but I'm about to lie down for a nap before I pass out so it will have to wait. For now, I thought some of you would enjoy seeing some pictures of my ball pythons? I uploaded several pictures of various things from my phone to my laptop, so look forward to numerous picture-laden posts in the near future.

To start, here is my Mario. He is the younger of the two, more shy, and he is about to shed so I didn't take him out for his photo shoot. The pictures are obviously low quality. The lighting is terrible in my basement, and Linux doesn't like to read my camera's memory card so I have to use my phone for now. However, you can get an idea of his pretty pattern:

And his characteristic "curl into a ball when stressed" move:

I was able to get better pictures of Luigi, because he is not in the blue and is more friendly. (-: Here are a couple of my favorites! The first one shows off his neck stripe:

And this one shows his tail stripe! This shot is now the background on my phone.

I'm excited about my boys, even if they did cost me an arm and a leg. (-:

~

I was thinking, and I really enjoy listening to songs others share with me. I decided to start including some of my personal favorites, or whatever's on my mind, in my posts. If you'd like to, please feel welcome to leave me a link to one of your favorites! I will listen to it and either post my comments or talk to you personally. (-:

Click here to listen.

"I Dreamed a Dream", from Les Miserables. I really enjoy this soundtrack, and this is one of the more popular, and beautiful, songs.

"I dreamed that love would never die,
I dreamed that God would be forgiving..."

"But the tigers come at night,
with their voices soft as thunder.
As they tear your hope apart,
as they turn your dream to shame..."

"I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed."

You don't have to be emo to love this song. Listen to it, adore it. Check out the Susan Boyle version if you'd like some variety; this is the song that propelled Boyle from countryside nobody to international star. And it's no wonder; the raw emotion and vulnerability is breathtaking.



Sleepy time. Fare thee well. Leave me notes about the snakes, about the song, and most especially about songs you'd like me to listen to!

Bloggerstock: What inspires you?

It is that time again. Time for Bloggerstock, the holidays, New Years, all kinds of crazy stuff. It is a fun, exciting and sometimes a stressful time. That being said, here I am taking over Mollie's blog for a guest post because you know that I need something else to think about at this time of year.

So, the theme for bloggerstock this month is:

“What inspires you?”

What or who inspires you to do whatever it is that you do be it blogging, writing, school or your job.

I thought that this topic would be easy to write about, but as I sat down to write I found it a lot more difficult. What inspires me to do what I do? Well that is a good question. I have always enjoyed what I do, I love working in the theatre. I think that one of my biggest inspirations is my father. Though not in theatre, I think that his being in a related field guided me to where I am today. I like to think that I make him (and my mother) proud by doing what I do.

I suppose it is also because of my father that I also peruse photography. Every day that I go out with my camera I think of my father. Most of the time I can hear him giving me pointers in my head. I think that he provides inspiration every time I hit the shutter release. Looking through the view finder I always think of what he tells me about framing and composition. Las summer we actually got to go on a photo workshop together which was really fun. Now, this weekend I am off to shoot portraits for a friend.

So, the biggest inspiration in my life has to be my family. They have always been there for me and I am there for them. I do my best every day to make them proud and I think that I do pretty good. I suppose that is the best thing to ask for at this time of year. To be able to have a family that supports you and to be able to make them proud is a great thought for the new year!

Well, that was an atypically short kinda ramble for me, but I think that it is to the point. If you are interested in more of my ramblings you can find them at icewolf08.com. If you are interested in bloggerstock, please visit the website. If you are looking for Mollie's post, you can find it over on Nugs' blog.

.... no more adventures please.

I didn't know when I wrote the title of that last post that I was condemning myself to more adventure than I bargained for. I went to Denver today to get my ball pythons. The seller informed me that it was supposed to snow heavily in the evening, so I got up early and had my new pair of tires put on the car and we left by 9:30am. It started snowing at 11am, but it was a pretty light snow so I wasn't too worried. It's been really warm so the snow just melted when it hit the ground. We got the boys, who are just lovely and I will put up pictures soon, and were on our way. It kept snowing, and the roads were a little slick, and the temperature dropped quite a bit so it was very cold out. Everyone was going 45mph on the interstate where a more typical speed is 80mph, so I thought we were being pretty safe. Plus I had new tires in the back and not-as-bald tires on the front so I of all people should be pretty safe right?

Well, I noticed the suburban right in front of me suddenly start veering to the left onto the shoulder [we were in the left lane of a three lane section] and quickly puzzled out in my head that the car in front of him must be slowing down suddenly. I hit my brakes, which thankfully are ABS so I didn't have to pump them, but could tell I wasn't going to slow down fast enough. If I went to the shoulder I'd hit the suburban. If I stayed straight I'd hit the car in front. If I went one lane over I'd hit that car, and there was a semi that was also in the center lane but there was enough room for me to slip by. I cross the center lane and tried to stay in the right lane, but had lost too much forward motion to regain control and was sliding sideways right towards the beginning of a guardrail. I pointed my tires in the direction I was headed which gained me enough control to go ahead and go all the way off the road, miss the guard rail, and slide into the ditch. There was some rocks to the right; big rocks like in a drainage area to prevent erosion. I tried to steer between the rocks and the big sign post (which is what the guardrail was guarding) but ended up clipping a boulder w/ my right front tire which popped it. We slid to a stop, facing the right way, not flipped over, and not so much as whiplash to ourselves. Whew!

A cop stopped by and told us where a nearby parking lot was to change my tire, which my buddy did for me because she's awesome and I'm not so much, and we drove to Discount Tire where we waited an hour and a half for them to give me two more new tires. We drove home, taking twice as long as normal because the roads were still bad. My alignment is off but she drives fine. So... yeah. I spent $600 on a new set of tires today, a five hour trip took eleven hours, my pythons were cool to the touch by the time I got them home and into a warm cage, and my friend and I are perfectly healthy and fine and home. Plus as I was asking if she was okay and apologizing for the little escapade, the first thing she said was "That was actually some really good driving". And my parents are all impressed at how I kept a cool head and didn't stress out through all of this. So, it's pretty nice to get compliments in the middle of a crazy day. Tomorrow... I'm hoping for more fun, less money spending, and less danger!

Adventure - ho!

Today:

- Call and reschedule Bagheera's vet appt. CHECK
- Have dad look at tires. CHECK - Verdict: replace front two tires
- Go replace front two tires.
- Go to my therapist appt.
- Doggie play date with blogger Kandace and her dog Trent (oneredwall.wordpress.com)
- Go to vet appt and get Bagheera's last puppy shots.
- Finish cleaning room.
- Coffee and games w/ DG and JL, guy friends from my group.
- Get house picked up so cleaning lady can come tomorrow. Get a check for her.
- Withdraw cash for snakes?
- Call principal to get letter of recommendation. Or e-mail. CHECK


Tomorrow:

- Go replace front tires if it didn't happen today.
- Drive to Denver to get ball pythons, to another city to get furries I was suckered into accepting, and back home. All day trip.
- Be back by 6:30 to do coffee and stuff w/ EG and AG, gal friends from my group.
- Completely re-arrange all my pets into their various new cages.
- Exercise and train Bagheera; every day!
- Do first steps of broken glass jello.
- Finish and turn in application for furniture store greeter. Woo.


Friday:

- Get a head count for my New Year's Eve party.
- Go shopping for said party.
- Make sure house is sparkling clean.
- Finish broken glass jello and prepare any other snacks.
- Give Bagheera a bath and grooming.
- Have people over around 7 and party until the new year comes.




Oh and I guess I'm supposed work out each day too since I haven't done that yet... which brings me to my new motto:


"Time is not found, it is made."

Ponder it. Live it. Peace.