Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Diomedes' LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Thursday, January 4th, 2007
3:20 pm	Absence Yes, I have been away from here. Mmmm. Didnt seem to be enough connection to keep me puting things up, with so limited feedback, except from the few that I care so very much about. I may return nonetheless. The swampcat is still alive, yes, but up to limited good. Ah well. To any and all of you who ever posted here, thank you. To those special few, and you know if you are one... everHugs. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 17th, 2005
4:07 am	I'm still here! Wow, has it really been this long since I last posted. How time flies. Hmm. Anyways, I am still here, still alive, moving forward, or sideways or something... at any rate still moving. I have math and horses for my two classes, and they are almost drawing to a close. Horses are great. I've been having a blast there, and am confident enough to be able to get on a horse and ride, and to use techniques to train them too if need be. Okay, a quick entry, but thats all I wanna lay down for now. Ciao. Current Mood: amused (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 1st, 2004
11:13 pm	lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my Finished my Mammals of Alaska course. Very interesting. It was a 2 weekend, 4 hrs/9 hrs, 4 hrs/9hrs format. I really enjoyed it. Its not completely over. There is a 200 question test I have to complete here at home and mail it in within the next couple of weeks. 2 more geology lab classes, and then its only movie class from here on out. Yippee! I really liked examining the skulls that the teacher brought in.... (various animal skulls, not former students). I learned quite a bit about examining a skull to determine which animal it belonged to. Ok, enuf, enuf. Ciao bella. Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: News jabber (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 19th, 2004
1:25 am	Greeks, and Mongols, and Showers, oh my! Ok, a bit of a mix here. I responded to a fellow's query about Greek ship design of the 6th as opposed to the more prevalent 5th century BCE offerings on the archaeology users group here on livejournal, under the heading "ships". I also checked out a nifty column there from MSNBC on the finding of Ghengis Khan's palace, and hopeful discovery someday of his tomb. I LOVE famous dead guys and what happened to em after they were big shots. So thats what I've just been up to here. Oh, and the Showers? Well, the Chinese are at fault here. Actually, its a pretty good movie that I watched in my film class. Its called Showers, and involves an aging father and his two sons as they are faced with the prospect of modernization in China, specifically as dealing with the father's bathhouse business. A recommendation from the swampcat! Yay. 'till next time. Current Mood: content Current Music: theme from "The 300 Spartans" in my head. (Comment on this)
Monday, October 18th, 2004
1:28 am	Bush the warmonger. mmhmm Was going to put something in here about politics and elections, but...who cares? Basically I feel whoever is going to kick the most terrorists' butts should win. Thats probably Bush. Terrorists are scum from underneath the shit bucket. All the wimpy coddlers who sit in their nice airconditioned homes hoping the terrorists dont do anything to hurt them, and whine their "oh please dont do anything to upset the muslims so more terrorists come into play" drivel, all the while calling someone who tries to do something about it, like Bush, a warmonger, are prime candidates in my book for bringing back the fine art of horsewhipping in public. Oh, darn, I guess I wasnt going to say anything political here, was I? :p Current Mood: bitchy Current Music: Somebody Told Me - The Killers (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004
3:29 am	eeeep To whomsoever reads this: Help, I need to know the code for puting something long in so it doesnt take up half a webpage when I post it. Its been so long since I've been here, I've forgot. *looks embarrased* Anyways, I did want to put something up from school last year. But I'll wait on that. Today we got to wear just our regular clothes to work instead of ties, white shirts, black pants, aprons... urgh... It was great being able to dress like my salary. *laughs* Nuff for now. Current Mood: relaxed Current Music: the theme music from "In Search of the Trojan War" (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 12th, 2004
12:40 am	Movies I watched a good film in my class today. It was called The Station Agent. It involves a dwarf, no, not the Tolkien kind, but a short-statured person, who inherits an old train depot and meets some other offbeat people that become his friends. I really enjoyed it. I also turned in my report on Road to Perdition, another good film that we watched. Movies in school! Yay! Ok, a short one today, but at least I did write something. I think I'll put up some old school papers in a time or two. Ciao for now. Current Mood: chipper (Comment on this)
Monday, October 11th, 2004
3:37 am	The Swamp Cat Strikes Back! Okay, okay, so it has been forever. I know. NO apologies, no excuses. Its just me. But I am here now, for what that is worth. School is going well, and why wouldnt it with a film analysis class where we get to watch movies all day! Yippee! I have a double weekender coming up, so that will raise the ante though. On Thursday the 21st I will be going to Kodiak for my sister's funeral. She died a couple of weeks ago from cancer. She was a brave lady. Fought it to the end, and I am damn proud of her. For those of you who know about it, my wife is doing better, though still now with me. She has meant too much to me for me to just say "see you." I'll be here for awhile yet, waiting. There are those who have stood by me through all of this, and who I am very close to. You know who you all are, so I'll just say "I love you", and not just because you were there for me, but because you let me be there for you. Okay, enuf of this. Maybe some fun stuff next time. I'm allowed!! :p Current Mood: pleased (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 20th, 2004
2:15 am	Thoughts on Troy For those of you who havent seen the movie Troy, and don't want any spoiling, don't read what is coming up in the next paragraph or two. Troy - A Review First off, I liked the movie. Its my kind of film. High adventure, big screen action, romance, drama.... and swords. You have to love a movie with swordplay, or at least I do, and Troy has it. The sets are fine, the acting is competant, the direction is good. The battle scenes are well-staged, and the music is first rate. Ok, enough praising, now on to a few specifics. The actor who played Agamemnon was excellent, as was Peter O'Toole as King Priam. Eric Bana was convincing as Hektor, and Sean Bean made an excellent Odysseus. Brad Pitt as Achilles? No problem here, I think he did a competant job. My problem was in a few script changes. First, Menelaus and Ajax both die at the start of the war! Huh? They are both around at the end of the Iliad, so that was uneccessary I think. It does make man-slaughtering Hector stand out, so as a film trick, I suppose I can give em a nod. They left out a lot of interesting characters though, of course my ultimate is Diomedes. The second best Greek warrior, bar none. Diomedes, left out! Wahhhh! Ok, I'll get over it. Then there is the part about Achilles being in the horse. Huh? One of the main reasons that they had the horse was that Achilles had died while trying to get through the gates, where Paris shot him. The movie puts him in Troy, for the love interest, ok, ok, ok....gotta have that love interest.... ahem. ITS a WAR STORY! Where's the love interest in Saving Private Ryan????? Where's the love interest in Platoon?????? Where's the love interest in The Longest Day??????? hmmmm Helen is the love interest of course. They really didnt have to have Achilles in the horse. AHEM Diomedes WAS in the horse :p The decision not to use the Greek Gods was ok, i suppose, though they used Achilles mother Thetis perfectly well, they could have used the others in th4e same way. I think there is ultimately room for another Iliad movie, just as there have been umpteen remakes of Hamlet. I say film The Iliad just as it is in the book, with adjustments here and there of course....but the drama is Achilles vs Agamemnon. Oh, and about that famous Achilles vs Hektor matchup. If you recall, the wrath of Achilles {sing O muse}, it was ....totally bonkers! He attacks a river! He kills everyone in his reach in a berserker, chaotic, absolutely horendous spasm of ecstatic mayhem, and THEN culminates in killing Hector. The movie has him mope after patroklus death and then riding out ALONE to face Hector. No wrath of Achilles. Though I did like the fight. And I liked the matchup of Paris and Menelaus, and all the action indeed was firstrate. Just a few plot mixups here and there, in my book. Ok, nuff said. See the movie if you havent, it is worth it, despite the grumblings I have. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 3rd, 2004
9:55 pm	School is Out Finally. I love school, but I'm glad its over for the summer. I think I did pretty well. Horse class was amazing, and I hope to keep up with it in the spring. Now I am concentrating on my website and my photography for the summer. *HUGS* to everyone that I know that thinks I would give them such. :p (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 17th, 2004
8:21 pm	To Ride with Elan Elan: Spirited self-assurance; verve; dash. Ok, thats the dictionary definition. Elan the horse probably has some of that when he's fired up. Of course getting him fired up is a bit akin to the amount of energy needed to lift all those Apollo missions off the ground. Still, I did ride him today, and it was fun. I also took several pictures of horses and related subjects today. Getting back into the swing of picture taking. Took a roll to my favorite developers in Wasilla. Back in the saddle it seems. Current Mood: satisfied Current Music: Ice House - Hey Little Girl (in my head) (Comment on this)
Monday, April 12th, 2004
9:14 pm	Photo shoot Went for a long walk around the blocks with Conner and his mother and Eve, the dog. I had my camera with me, so was able to do a little shooting. It felt good, as I've been a bit rusty over the past several months. I'm also signed up for the first sale on May 1st, and teh Highland Games, which comes some time after that in June. I'm going to send in an article for a contest in the local paper, one that I did in a previous class, and I'm also sending in some poems to the same contest. It feels good to have some things up and running again. Other than that, I'm treading water quite competantly. Current Mood: productive Current Music: Depeche Mode - in my head (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 10th, 2004
9:22 pm	Back in the Saddle Today's horse class was a lot of fun. There was a lot of feedback and discussion about last week's performances. One girl really liked the performance with the girl who ran Delilah 50 times around the round pen, and thought that her performance showed more of a grasp of the "wholeness" of the horse. Everyone else, including myself and the teacher (and Delilah, I might add, as Delilah did "join up" with me and not the other student) disagreed. At any rate, I was pleased with my performance, and got a 100% for it from the teacher. Also today we mounted a horse for the first time. It has been 30 years since I was on the back of a horse, so in effect it was my first time. I sat tall, and didnt fall off :p, and got to walk Elan around the arena for a bit. I enjoyed it a lot, and will be looking forward to next week. Also helped to brush, saddle, and lunge-line Elan before riding. When I finally got him to Canter in the round pen, I tripped over an orange cone, almost fell over but didnt, and Elan kicked up his hind legs at my stumbling, to which one of the students shouted, "Yee Hah!" All in all, a most excellent day with the horses. Was with the family today briefly, unfortunately that goes along with my wife' mother's brother having just passed away, and she (mother inlaw) is going down for the funeral and will be gone a week. All that being said, it was not a bad time with them, and my Wendy even seeming to let me give her a hug without too much work. For now I'll accept that as progress. Current Mood: relaxed Current Music: U2 - New Year's Day (Comment on this)
Monday, April 5th, 2004
8:57 pm	Puting out Fire with Gasoline Fire of the heart. Fire of desire. Tonight I drove for an hour, stopping at various bars, but going in none of them. I had just spent an evening watching a film with my wife. A romantic comedy. We sat near one another, and I tried to get her attention at several times. Do any of you know what it is like to hold the hand of someone who seems oblivious as to what holding hands is supposed to mean? Romantic comedy. Tragedy I can relate to. And so I drove around after dropping her off. Looking for... hell, I dont know. The only reasons I'm not in the bars right now trying to pick someone up is A. I keep hanging on to some shred of hope that things will change again. B. My mother, who lives with me, and who needs me at home. C. My dear friends here, without whom I would have self-destructed a long time ago. Hell, maybe I'm self-destructing anyways, just in a way I havent put a handle on yet. I spoke with her doctor a couple of days ago. She knows what is going on. She even asked me if I've thought of divorce. yeah. I've thought of it. Hmm. You know my wife and I made vows to one another before we made them on our wedding day. We pledged to each other twice. Twice. Here I thought that love was supposed to be something that God would honour for the rest of our lives. I guess only until a medicine change overrides God's design. *shrugs* Current Mood: horny Current Music: Nirvana (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 3rd, 2004
8:48 pm	Websites and Horses     Wow, a lot to put here. First of all, I have completed my website, www.Alaskaphototravels.com for those of you who are not aware of this. I invite everyone to stop by and say hi, and send me a message about the site. I plan on updating every several months or so, or basically when i get around to it. :) Its been a long time doing.    Second, here's an account of my day with the horses: I showed up a couple of minutes after 1pm, (fashionably late, as is my wont :p), and went into the arena, a double-barn size building where we train with the horses. A new horse was in the round pen, a white and tan mare called Snow, who they had just got off a trailer after a big battle. She was very nervous, so several minutes went by while they worked with her. The horse I was going to work with, Delilah, was being walked around by one of the students who was also going to use her. So I watched events and waited.     First to perform was the girl with snow, then the girl with Delilah. She was going to do a hands-on performance, showing some of the touch methods used to identify horse injury and discomfort. She got Delilah in the round pen, and Delilah wouldn't stand still. That's Delilah. The teacher said, well, let her run around a bit and we'd wait for her to calm down. She always gets excited when she goes in the round pen (Delilah, not the teacher :p ), and so I walked over at that point and said that I had planned on using Delilah too, for a join-up. The teacher said, "ok, good, then you can go now." I was glad of that, so I started my performance.     Basically, in getting a horse to join up in the round pen, you are establishing that you are the dominant of the two, so the horse can learn new things. This is accomplished by doing something, i.e., getting the horse to use its flight instinct and move away from you, so you advance, keeping the pressure on. In Delilah's case, she's always in flight mode, so all i had to do was keep turning her. When she'd get a way's around, I'd direct the whip towards her shoulder, and shed turn back into the fence. I had one interesting observation that Delilah guessed what I was going to do at one point, and did her part without my asking. That may sound good, but it is not. You don twant the horse taking charge. Clever girl, she had seen me switch the whip to my left hand. As she was going counter-clockwise, this meant that I was just about to turn her the other way. She knew this and turned herself! But I had noticed this, and next time she came around I switched the crop behind my back, so she didnt know where it was, then it came out and I turned her easily. Finally, after one near-stop, she finally started to have enough, began licking and chewing, and near the back of the pen she turned and looked me in the eye. I approached, looking down, and she approached me. And she lowered her head and I petted her between the ears and eyes. Then I turned, and she followed me. It was just like it was supposed to go. The teacher was pleased, and one of the students told me later that it was a very good job. I was uber-pleased.     But that is not the end of the story. Delilah was used by two more students over the next hour and a half, and inbetween time she remained in the pen, pacing, endlessly pacing because she wanted out where everyone else was. Finally, another student had her turn, and was going to try the same thing I had done, only using a lunge-line instead of a crop. This is basically a rope that is thrown at that part of the horse you want to move away from you. In this case, the student was spitting out info as if she was in a horse-training video, getting Delilah to move. She ran her around several times, and then turned her, and then several times in the other direction. At this point, one of the ohter students and I started wondering about what was going on. She kept driving Delilah, which really is unnecessary. Delilah wants to run naturally. This student kept throwing the line at her hindquarters, keeping her running. Delilah was happy doing this, but was also getting very tired and sweating something terribly. The teacher made a comment like "ok, now shes gone around 40 times, what are you going to do". She kept getting Delilah to run more instead of trying to turn her more often, which automatically will get her to stop, before she turns, which slows her. The student next to me was getting irritated because Delilah A. always wants to run, not much reason to keep pressure on her to do what she wants already, because she will not join up, as she loves to run. B. Delilah had been going since before noon. She was tired. There were new horses in the area, several students had already run her through the paces. She was overworked. Several of us noticed this, and the teacher probably would have stopped it if it had gone on for much longer. Ultimately, though the student stopped several times, looking down, turning away, using all the proper body language, Delilah did not join up with her. Too much pressure I thought. Overkill.     So that was my day at the horses basically. And this is the longest thing I've ever written specifically for the LJ. eeeek. For those of you who made it this far, *hugs*. Current Mood: accomplished (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, April 2nd, 2004
9:17 pm	Performance Hmm.. Tomorrow I have to do a performance with one of the horses. Im nervous about it, but i think I"ll do ok. I just hope that when Im finished Im not having to sing "My My MY Delilah." *s* 3 1/2 days left on vacation. Its been nice. I'm not ready to go back to work. Blah. :p (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 27th, 2004
7:35 pm	Sweaty! Had a good time in the horse class today. The test was... mmmm... a test, not so terrible, but not great. But the after-time with the horses was neat. I got so spend over a half an hour in the round pen with Delilah, actually making her do what I wanted, at least somewhat. She's a sweet horse. She got all sweaty, and so did I. Which means I got to help brush her down and such. I enjoyed it. Then I got to go home and clean the house some, and get even more sweaty. Phew. Now I'm sitting and feel much more relaxed. I have something of a plan on what to do for the performance on Saturday, and I still have.... 9 1/2 days off left to go! Wahoooo. Current Mood: accomplished (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 24th, 2004
8:50 pm	Vacation, still early We went to a little dollar store today, a favourite of ours. Lots of little nicknacks for 1 or 2 dollars apiece. I got a new horsey to put up above my monitor, joining another horse, a cat, a parrot, and a gargoyle that are already there. :) Conner and I played his favourite race car game, in which he beat me...twice. He is very good. I was not letting him win either. No changes on my usual situation. My thanks to the best water sprite I know for her advice. It will not fix things, but it did give me some insight into how things might be, and was helpful. *very special hugs*. I'm close to getting the website up and running. Working on the galleries right now. If I dont have this all finished by the end of this vacation in two weeks, would someone please, please, come over here and shoot me. You have my permission. :P Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Star Wars Episode 1, Phantom Menace - John Williams (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2004
7:47 pm	Time Off I have it. Two weeks off. Now I can at least relax a bit. My life is all screwed up, but at least now I can get away from some of it and rest up a bit. I'm going to keep puting things here. Now that my best friend online is no longer puting things up, I'll have to at least make an appearance. I hope she still reads this from time to time. I know not many others do. Oh well. For those who do, I will reiterate: I am always here, for my friends, for those whom I deem to let into that space, and they are not so many. Whatever you need, if I can in any way help get it for you, I will. These things I hold most dear in all the world, having known the razor pain of losing them: Love. Friendship. Loyalty. Family. Understanding. Intimacy. Forgiveness. Faith used to be there. Faith is still there, somewhere in the back, along with Hope. I do not believe I have lost either, but they are so quiet at times. Still, they remain, as do I. Current Mood: relaxed (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, March 20th, 2004
9:10 pm	The Best I Ever Had - Vertical Horizon So you sailed away Into a grey sky morning Now I'm here to stay Love can be so boring Nothing's quite the same now I just say your name now Chorus: But it's not so bad You're only the best I ever had You don't want me back You're just the best I ever had So you stole my world Now I'm just a phony Remembering the girl Leaves me down and lonely Send it in a letter Make yourself feel better Chorus: But it's not so bad You're only the best I ever had You don't need me back You're just the best I ever had And it may take some time to Patch me up inside But I can't take it so I run away and hide And I may find in time that You were always right You're always right So you sailed away Into a grey sky morning Now I'm here to stay Love can be so boring What was it you wanted? Could it be I'm haunted? Chorus: But it's not so bad You're only the best I ever had I don't want you back You're just the best I ever had The best I ever had Best I ever... Current Mood: tired Current Music: Best I Ever Had - Vertical Horizon (2 Comments |Comment on this)