Last night I was unable to make my usual post because I was busy gift wrapping. I hate waiting until the last moment to gift wrap. It feels rather pointless for me to make the gifts all pretty only for others to destroy it a short time later. I’ve done it as late as Christmas Eve, and trust me… that sucks. Do you have all your gifts bought yet and if so, are they all wrapped? I actually still have some more to do, but I won’t see those people until after the holiday, so there’s no rush but I’d still like to get them done soon.
Today I’ll be doing a lot of holiday baking. Every year we make a gingerbread house with a recipe that has been passed down through the generations. It’s my job to make the template for the house so it all fits together (yay high school drafting classes!). No prefab for us! I’ll also be making my favorite orange, chocolate cookies and my mint chocolate pinwheel cookies. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I have to go to work so this is my only day to bake my cookies. Too bad you can’t be here to share in them, but trust me… they’re tasty. ^_^
Well seeing as the end of the world is tomorrow (or today… depends on when you read this), I’ll take this time to say thank you to everyone that’s been coming to visit my little piece of the internet. It’s been lots of fun drawing toon porns for over 10 years, but… it had to end some time. Too bad too, because there are so many naughty things I still wanted to draw (coughVonSchweetzcough!) Looking back I have to say some of my favorite pics where…
the Jersey Devil…
Jewel…
and Random dropping her ice cream.
Oh, and Messy Roxanne! Can’t forget that one.
But seriously everyone, I can’t thank you enough for sharing and supporting my smutty habit, and thank you for understanding when I don’t draw as much as other artists. Should it all end tomorrow, I have no regrets.
Okay, I do regret not making my Random Mysteries indie game. That would have been awesome.
So take care everyone. Maybe we’ll hang together on the other side. Better take part in that end of the world orgy before it’s too late.
For the past three or four days I’ve had this song suck in my head. It’s called Heterosexual Man by a Canadian band called The Odds. It came out in 1993 so it’s damn near close to 20 years old. Holy crap! I had no idea it was that old… now I feel really old. o_O Anyway, I just can’t get this out of my damn head. I find myself head bobbing to the beat with out even realizing it throughout my day. It’s there when I wake up, as I work and when I relax in the evening and it’s starting to get a little old. Oh well, at the very least I can say I’ve taught you a little about Canadian alternative rock from the 90’s.
Seasonal Affective Disorder. For those that might not know what this is, it’s when the lack of sun light or day light hours can bring on feelings depression. It used to be called “the winter blahs” and passed off as just feeling bummed out because you can’t go out a lot during the snowy season. Not any more though. It’s now being recognized as an real disorder, and it happens to a lot of us up here in Canada after the summer days are gone and we flip the clocks back during daylight savings. The month of December is, in fact, the worst for those that suffer with SAD. Even though you’d think that it’s a time to be happy, it can actually make things much worse. Everyone else is happy and celebrating, and you feel like crap because you can’t share in the joy… and you don’t know why. In fact the feeling of depression can get so bad that it can drive those with it to suicide.
The medical reason for the winter blues is in the amount of sun that is taken in through our eyes. The pineal gland makes melatonin during the night and makes us sleepy. The sun light triggers it to stop. In the winter months the sun isn’t around as much and so we’re not receiving the light that we should to trigger the stop of melatonin. Thus, the winter lows kick in.
I do not suffer from SAD. In fact, I love the winter time and can wait for the cold days to come. I do, however, have close family members that suffer with it to a great degree. They’ve confided in me the feelings they have and how hard it is to just go on during this time. It can be scary and I can only hope that they do not do any thing rash.
There are some treatments for those with SAD. One is to go on a trip down South during the winter months. Many Canadians totally do this, but not everyone can afford it.
You can get light therapy lamps as an alternative. These special lamps are a pure white which help with the suppression of melatonin and improve ones mood.
There are also dawn simulation lamps/alarms. These will brighten the room you sleep in and help in the halting of melatonin in a more natural fashion. You can also get medication to help with the depression and up your vitamin D levels. I don’t know how well these things work, but I think I’m going to start looking to them more and try to help my family members.
I hope that none of you suffer with SAD during the winter months.
This past weekend we visited my Dad and Step Mom for an early Christmas. We all gather together at the century home in the country play games, have wonderful meals, talk and have a lot of fun. It’s the kind of family gathering that I really enjoy because, I love the classic country Christmas setting. My Dad’s house is filled with antiques so it really does feel like I stepped back to the past. It’s fantastic! I love that I’m able to have this since most people live in the city/suburbs. We sit and talk, eat, play games and have a wonderful time.
I especially love (being of Dutch decent) all the dutch treats that get made. Traditional goodies like Oliebollen, which is a doughnut with raisins and dusted with icing sugar. Apple flappen, which is a deep-fried apple ring dusted with icing sugar and my favorite, Krokets. That is deep-fried stewed beef that is battered, spiced and delicious.
Do you have a favorite place to visit during the holidays or do you prefer to stay at home?
I finished the art job I mentioned a few days ago. It was fun but I really was pushing my limits to get it done on time. It was a rush job, and I knew that going in, but the money was very much-needed. I was generally staying up till 1am drawing and then going to bed and waking up at 6:30am to go to work. Ugh… so tired. I didn’t even do that sort of schedule when I was in college. But now that it’s done and I plan on going to bed at a decent time and getting some rest. Much needed rest. Yawn….. -_-
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